Band-Aid: A Healing Hero

by BionicPocahontas

Summary:

Izuku manifests a incredubly strong healing quirk named 'Sympatheic healing'. A Quirk that allows him to heal people as long as he himself is in some sort of pain. Izuku is excited as it will be an amazing hero with this quirk. Inko is terrified.

Years down the line Hawks is taken to a hidden HPSC facility after being injured and meets a fluffy green bean of a child. Hawks wont let another child be under the HPSC's thumb and vows to get him out of there. Even though he feels way out of his depth the whole time.

Aizawa is roped into a dangerous rescue mission, on paper it is for one child, but he knows that this is actually a rescue of one child and one young hero. His protective (some might say paternal) instincts might seem excessive to some, but he thinks its only logical. His fiance thinks its cute.

Notes:

So I wanted to be that author who updated regularly and had a nice stalk pile before I started. but I just keep starting more and more fics and then after a few chapters I just start a new story and add on to the older ones from time to time. So they are getting worked on but just not in any specific order or in any particular schedule. I go where the dopamine hits most. So I decided to go thru and just... edit and post all the things I have written so they are out there and then maybe I will be motivated to work on them more? or at least then they aren't a crushing weight of google docs in my "to publish" folder lololol

But I really like how this fic is going! It has been really fun to work on and plot out :D I will make 0 promises for update schedule but I do really enjoy this fic and plan to update when I can! Enjoy!~~~

Chapter 1: Izuku is having a bad day

Izuku was having a bad day. 

 

Not like it was terrible or anything, but the four year old woke up to his mom loudly talking through his door that he was going to be late for daycare. Which startled the little boy, and he scrambled to get out from the tangle of blankets and plushies that threatened to swallow him up as he slept. Instead of a smooth trip out of bed, Izuku ended up falling and slamming into the ground hard. Worst yet, he had ignored his Mom’s promptings to pick up his toys the night before and he landed on top of one of his All Might action figures.

 

Not only did he break off the arm of one of his favorites, but it also left some painful bruises and even a small cut from where his cheek scraped across the pointed plastic signature hairstyle of the number one hero. 

 

Izuku was a big boy and didn’t cry… much. For him. Which for most people would probably be considered ‘a lot’.

 

But who could blame him? It was his favorite Bronze era figure. It was a gift from Kacchan and he broke it. And not only that it really hurt. 

 

Once the little boy had calmed down his mom told him that they were now running late. Instead of being able to sit and eat at the table, Izuku would have to take his breakfast to go and eat it once he got to day care. 

 

However, Izuku knew that the rule was that you could only eat at meal and snack times. So Izuku wouldn’t be able to eat breakfast until it was cold. And no one wants to eat cold eggs. And Izuku was hungry now. He didn't want to have to wait until later . 

 

The train ride was fine, except for the fact there was a guy asking people about their quirks. He wanted to thank someone about something. It was weird and the man wouldn’t stop asking him and his mom questions. 

 

Apparently, the man was convinced that Izuku had manifested his quirk. Which… wouldn’t make sense, as Izuku didn’t do anything today except be cranky and break his toys. And if that was his quirk he didn’t want it. 

 

Finally, he made it to daycare and it was once again bad . 

 

Ms. Kendo told Izuku he couldn’t eat his breakfast even though he explained about the toy and being late and the man on the train. He was once again told he was only allowed to eat at meal times, and that Izuku was usually a good boy and knew the rules. Which made him cry, which led to Yuri making fun of Izuku for being a cry baby, which then caused Kacchan to get angry which always sets off his quirk. And the sparks from Kacchan’s hands then left burns on Mezo who then cried, because burns hurt! 

 

Izuku couldn’t help but feel it was all his fault for crying, he was the first domino to fall, ending in the burns. During break time he went over to apologize to the still sniffling boy. 

 

“Sorry you got hurt.” Izuku pointed to the bandages on his arm. “How's it feeling?”

 

“It's feeling a lot better actually.” Mezo wiped his eyes before poking the bandages. “Actually they feel good.” 

 

Izuku’s face broke into a large grin. “I’m glad! Burns hurt.” 

 

Mezo nodded slowly, lost in thought he was poking his arm again and again. It was a little weird. 

 

“Do you want to play Heroes and Villains with me?” 

 

“I think my burn is gone.” 

 

“What?” Izuku gaped at the little boy, before screaming, “DID YOUR QUIRK JUST COME IN?!” 

 

Izuku flapped his hands around excitedly. “A self healing quirk is amazing! Regeneration is super helpful in heroics! What a cool quirk. I wonder if it only works on burns? Or maybe it is a speed thing as you didn't heal right away? Or maybe there is some other activation thingy to make it happen! Oooo are you gonna go to a quirk doctor to see–” 

 

Mezo waved his hands in Izuku’s face, stopping his excited ramble. “My quirk has already come in. I am able to help plants grow faster.” 

 

“Oh.” Izuku slumped forward a little, disappointed. “Healing quirks are fairly rare so that would have been super cool.” Izuku’s eyes widened. “Not like your quirk isn’t super cool! It really is! Plant manipulation is also big in heroics too! And is also good for other things too!” 

 

Mezo nodded. “I actually have a cousin who is working to get into Shiketsu’s hero course. He can control wood and is super cool.” 

 

“That is so cool!!! You are gonna have a pro-hero in your family?!!?!” 

 

Mezo grinned. “I know, Nishiya is amazing! And I want to be like him!” 

 

Izuku nodded like a bobble head. “So you wanna play?” 

 

“Sure!” 

 

Izuku’s day got a little better after that, at least until he was supposed to be headed home. His mom was running a little late due to a hero fight delaying the trains, which was a bummer. Izuku liked to watch that sort of thing, but maybe if he got home quickly he could watch the recap on Hero News. 

 

Izuku was waiting outside the daycare, sitting by a tree and picking at the grass when the little boy heard shouting from the distance. 

 

“Give it back!” 

 

Izuku twisted to look behind him. He saw a group of three older elementary aged kids laughing and holding a notebook over a fourth shorter kid. The one holding the notebook sneared.

 

“Why don't you make me, or are you too chicken.” The kid let out a mocking chuckle. “Oh wait, you weakless Q-na ’s can’t fight someone with a strong quirk like me.” 

 

“Oh, the little Quirkless is crying, so pathetic.” One of the bullies practically spat out. “Why don’t you just leave and never come back.”

 

“I doubt he even knows what is happening, the Geneless are pretty dumb you know.” 

 

“I am sure I can teach him that he is useless garbage.” The kid holding the notebook grinned as they held up the notebook. The kid took a large breath and blew a jet of fire onto the book. The thin book quickly went up in flames, little flakes of ash blowing away in the slight breeze. The shorter kid’s fists tightened at their side. Izuku could see how those fists were shaking as the main bully crumpled the black ashes of the book, cackling with the other bullies. The shorter boy snapped, tackling the fire-quirked kid to the ground punching the kid a few times before the other bullies jumped in pulling him off the other bully.

 

Izuku’s mouth gaped. Jumping up he started to run over. Izuku watched as the three bullies started punching and kicking the other kid, who was now curled up on the ground. His arms were protecting his head as the other kids screamed mean things at him. Izuku took a deep breath and shouted as loud as he could as he continued to barrel towards the group of bullies. 

 

“LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU BULLIES!!” 

 

The bullies paused and looked up, one stepped back and grinned. “Oh lookie here Geneless, you have to get pip-squeak like him to–” 

 

Izuku's body slammed the bigger kid, who stumbled but didn’t fully fall to the ground. Izuku reached out grabbing the arm of the kid and chomped down on the yellow skin. The young boy grimaced, as the skin tasted bitter. The kid howled and pried him off, throwing Izuku to the ground.

 

“TWERP JUST BIT ME!” The yellow kid stomped over to Izuku and placed a heavy foot onto the little boy's chest. “You are going to regret that.”

 

The kid proceeded to stomp down on Izuku’s chest. The little boy gasped as a bright spark of pain shot out from where the thick sole slammed into his sternum. Izuku tried to roll away only for the kid to kick his arm. Izuku heard a loud cracking sound even over the sound of his loud sobs. Izuku curled up on himself not really paying attention. He just glad that the attacks stopped. 

 

“S—, I think that was his arm.” 

 

“We gotta get out of here.”

 

The little boy listened as the sounds of quick steps slowly faded away. Izuku curled up tighter, holding onto the throbbing arm close to his chest. He bit his lower lip as he whimpered, moving his arm hurt so bad. 

 

“Hey, you okay?” A soft voice came from above. “Uh, dumb question. Ahh… Where does it hurt the worst?”

 

Izuku blinked his eyes open. The view was a little wavey from the tears still in his eyes but he saw the kid who was being beaten up before. His straight black hair was a wild mess, some bruises and dried blood spread across his face, a large flow coming from his crooked nose. The kid’s wide eyes looked worried as he rubbed his lips together. Izuku slowly sat up with a sob as the movement jostled his arm.

 

“Thanks.” The older kid blurted out. Izuku looked up at him with a confused face. “Uh, for helping me out.” He gave Izuku an awkward thumbs up. “Real hero behavior.” 

 

“Really?” Izuku warbled out as he sniffed. 

 

“Really really.” The older kid nodded like an excited bobblehead. “You probably shouldn’t try to fight kids twice your size though. How old are you?”

 

“Four.” 

 

“Oh, yikes, I’m ten. Really shouldn’t be fighting kids over twice your age…” The kid trailed off.

 

“Izuku.” the boy scrunched up his nose, looking up at the other boy, “And you are so old. ” 

 

“ Hey, I’m ten, not thirty .” The kid put a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Wow and here I was calling you a hero.” 

 

“All Might says heroics don't have an age limit.”

 

“But heroes probably shouldn’t be calling the people they save old.” The kid squatted down and introduced himself with a smile. “I'm Mako.” 

 

“Hi” The little green haired boy suddenly was feeling a little shy. 

 

“Hi yourself. You got a parent coming to pick you up?” Izuku nodded. “Good. You okay if I wait with you till they come?” the little boy shrugged with one shoulder. 

 

“Alright.” 

 

They fell into a slightly awkward silence. After a few beats Izuku looked out of the corner of his eye at the older boy who was poking at the bridge of his nose. A confused face slowly grew as the boy poked harder and harder. Izuku was pretty sure it wasn’t good to poke at a bleeding nose, but he wasn’t going to tell Mako in case he was wrong. After a few more pokes the older boy turned to the younger. 

 

“Do you have a healing quirk?” 

 

Izuku snapped his head to look at the boy with confusion. Mako laughed a little.

 

“I am gonna take that as a no?”

 

“I don’t have a quirk, not yet.” 

 

Mako hummed, his eyes squinting down at the little boy. “I think it might have just manifested then, little man. My face doesn't hurt at all anymore. Impressive.” Mako nodded and gave Izuku a wink. 

 

“You think that's my quirk? Healing?”

 

Mako shrugged, a crooked grin spreading across his face. He lifted his foot up and wiggled the toe of his bright red sneakers. “I got extra joints in my toe, so it ain’t mine bud. But I think that is your mom so let's go talk to her about it.” He gestured to Izuku’s mom down the street, her bright green hair shining as she turned, looking around for Izuku in front of his daycare. 

 

Izuku nodded and stood, wincing as his arm throbbed. The two kids walked to the woman who looked like she was just starting to panic when she turned and spotted the two boys. Relief washed over her, before the tension returned triple as she spotted how ruffled the two kids were. She darted over to meet the boys, slamming down onto her knees in front of Izuku and clasped his shoulders. The tight grip made Izuku’s arm burn and the little boy whimpered, which made Inko let go like Izuku was a hot pan. 

 

“Baby, where’s the pain?”

 

“M-my arm and c-chest.” Izuku struggled to get the words out of his mouth through the lump in his throat. Inko turned to the older boy with a pointed look. 

 

“I’m fine.” 

 

“Yeah, no. The blood all over your face is telling a different story. Try again.”

 

“I’m telling the truth. Izuku here healed me all up.” The kid leaned over to gently ruffle the boy’s green curls. The boy leaned into the touch as he blinked the tears out of his eyes. 

 

 Inko’s face twisted in confusion, looking between the two. 

 

“What.. Izu doesn’t have…” Inko’s eyes widened as she looked at her son. “Baby, did your quirk manifest?”

 

Izuku shrugged. “I didn’t do anything. So I don’t know.” 

 

“That is okay, let's get you to the hospital and we’ll get them to check for your quirk too, how does that sound?” Inko pulled out her phone starting to dial and as she put it to her cheek she turned to the older boy. “You are coming with us, if Izuku did use his quirk on you we need to make sure there aren't any side effects.”

 

Mako nodded. “When you are done can I borrow your phone? I’ll need to call my mom.” 

 

“I’ll talk to her to explain.” Inko nodded back before turning to start talking to the emergency responder on the other end of the line. Izuku tuned out the conversation as Mako squatted down to look Izuku in his watery green eyes. 

 

“Thanks again, little hero. You saved me a third time.” 

 

Izuku looked at the boy with confusion. “What was the second?”

 

Mako held out a hand and started counting on his fingers. “Well first, you came and tackled my bullies. Then, you fixed up all my injuries. And finally you helped me from having to come up with a lie as to why I was late home with my mom.” 

 

Izuku itched his cheek on his shoulder. “Lying is bad. You shouldn’t do it.” 

 

“You are so right, so there you go, you saved me a fourth time!” He threw his arms up in the air excitedly. 

 

Izuku let out a little giggle. “You are being silly.” 

 

“I sure am, what's the point if you aren’t a little silly, ya know?” Mako made a few funny faces at the boy, making him smile and laugh.

 

Izuku was having a bad day, but even on the worst days sometimes someone is able to make it just a little lighter. 

 

—

 

After getting a yellow cast and a long barrage of tests, Izuku was now incredibly bored. Mako’s mom had come to the hospital to pick him up after the elementary school boy was given a clear bill of health– but not without a promise of the two boys setting up a playdate. Mako’s mom cried when Izuku called the older boy ‘a cool older brother’. Izuku thought it was really weird when Mako’s mom blurted out that Mako had no quirk. Then it was even weirder that she had started sobbing when Inko had told the crying woman that Mako and herself were welcome in their home whenever, quirk or no. After some hugs, things seemed to calm down and Izuku wanted to ask what was going on but she whispered that she’d explain later. Izuku was a big boy and could wait, even though he was really curious. 

 

The tests and the talking to the nice nurse about her cool glitter quirk kept him busy. But now that the tests are over and all the nurses are gone? There was nothing to do and the little boy was so bored. He wanted to know how much longer he would be stuck here waiting. Izuku slumped into his mom and heaved a large sigh.

 

“Baby, I know you’re bored but I can’t make the doctors go any faster. So I would appreciate less sighing.” 

 

“But Moooooooom,” Izuku flopped fully into his mom’s lap. “I’m so booooored. Can’t we play a game or something?”

 

“I’m sure they’ll be right back any second now, Hold out for just a bit longer, okay?”

 

“But we’ve already been here forever.” 

 

“It's been maybe twenty minutes, I wouldn’t call that forever.” 

 

“That’s a whole episode of All Mighty Heroes! That is forever!” 

 

“Why don’t you tell me about the most recent episode. I think I missed it.” Her little smirk told Izuku that she was only asking to keep him entertained. 

 

But keep him entertained, it did. In no time at all Izuku’s animated full body retelling of the way All Might and Gang Orca took out the H2Ogres was interrupted by a frazzled looking doctor coming into the room. His large rabbit ears twitched as he quickly crossed the room to bow slightly at Inko and Izuku.

 

“Apologies for the wait. I wanted to triple check the tests before filling out the quirk registration paperwork.” With that the doctor sat at the desk, placing a file in front of him on it. 

 

“Why did you need to check three times? That seems like overkill.” Inko folded her arms in front of her, pursing her lips. 

 

“Well,” He looked a bit sheepish as he scratched behind one of his large ears. Izuku thought they looked very soft and wanted to touch them, but he knew it was rude to ask someone he just met. After a second the doctor dropped his hand to the file to open it up. “Izuku’s quirk is in what is called a ‘protected class’ of quirks. So Double testing was mandatory. The third was just for my own peace of mind.” 

 

Izuku felt his mom tense at those words, he wasn’t sure why because that sounded really really cool. He had some special quirk that probably would make him an even better hero when he was older. 

 

“What does that mean? How can a quirk be protected?”

 

“After the introduction of the registry the prevalence of trafficking skyrocketed. I’m sure you’ve heard about that.” 

 

“Yeah, that’s why my parents voted against the registry before I was born. They worried what might happen if there was a way to just search up every quirk.” 

 

“Well, more and more safeties have been added to the list. It has even gotten difficult for police and heroes to gain access to it without justification in specific cases. An addition was additional lockdowns on the files for those with quirks that hold a high risk of trafficking.”

 

“Wouldn’t that still make them targets? My son having a redacted quirk status might as well be a bright target on his back. Tell me honestly, Is my son going to be a target for traffickers?” Izuku felt his mom reach a hand to brush her fingers through his loose curls. She sounded stressed, he didn’t really like that. 

 

“I don’t think I explained well enough, apologies. He’s not going to even be searchable on the online registry. Healing quirks are exclusively stored on paper copies. To the electronic lists that periodically get hacked, he will be a complete ghost.”

 

Izuku perked up at that. “My quirk allows me to become a ghost?! Like the pro-hero Poltergeist?!”

 

“No, not quite.” The doctor smiled down at the excited boy, his ears twitching. “Your quirk actually is a very very powerful healing quirk.” 

 

Izuku gasped. “Like Recovery Girl?!”

 

“Even better.”

 

 Izuku frowned, there is no way he is cooler than Recovery Girl. She was the longest running healing hero there has ever been, with more than a million rescues attributed to her and she has helped during a few major epidemics working long hours healing injuries to keep the doctors at hospitals able to focus on the ill. There is no way he could be better than her. 

 

“First off, you don’t have to do any of that gross kissing to heal people.”

 

Izuku turned to his Mom, standing up on his chair to shake her shoulder. “MOM!! MOM!! DID YOU HEAR THAT?! DID YOU HEAR THAT?!” Izuku felt like he was buzzing, this was all sooooo cool. 

 

His Mom laughed lightly and pushed him on his head to get him to sit back down. “Yes baby, I am right here, so I did hear. It is very cool.”

 

“Yep!” The doctor nodded, “All you have to do is have those injured in the same area as you are and, as long as your activation requirement is fulfilled, they’ll be as good as new. As you age there is a high chance the area will grow. Right now as long as someone is within just over a meter to you they’ll heal.” 

 

“What is the activation?! Is it talking?! I know lots of quirks have you talk to activate it! Can I do it now??”

 

“Your healing probably is already active with your arm being broken.” 

 

“What?” Izuku’s mom sounded upset again. He looked up from his yellow cast and up at the adults who were giving each other weird looks. Izuku was a bit confused. 

 

“To activate his healing, little Izuku here needs to,” The doctor swallowed, “needs to be in pain or injured in some way. The speed of the healing is likely proportional to the damage to his body. The area of influence might also be impacted by the severity of the injuries, but the tests are rudimentary. Normally we would do more practical tests to better understand the quirk, but... for obvious ethical reasons, we are not going to do that.” 

 

“That's–” Izuku watched as his mom’s eyes filled with tears. He started sniffing as his eyes filled too. Izuku leaned into her side as she reached around to squeeze his shoulders into her more. 

 

“That is why his paper trail is being protected and hidden. Lots of bad people would be desperate for a quirk like this. There is no ‘off switch’ for his healing, if he is in pain and close enough people will heal. Regardless of if he wants to or not.” 

 

“Oh G-d. What– What am I going to do to protect him?” Izuku’s mom leaned forward, her hands catching her face. Green hair making a curtain in front of her face.

 

“Ms. Midoriya,” The doctor leaned forward to push the file closer to the crying woman. “I can’t promise perfect safety– but this will not be information that just anyone would have access to. Additionally, there are ways to downplay the quirk. Minor healing quirks, while not as common as, let's say fire quirks, are just as protected as major healing quirks, but are not as sought after. It would be fairly simple to under-express how capable Izuku is to others. Even easier if he is kept away from those who are suffering from major injuries and that he is able to avoid major injuries himself. It can be played off as just a simple ‘cuts and bruises’ cure.” 

 

“Just how powerful of a quirk is it?” Inko looked out from under her green fringe, her green eyes just barely catching the light. “How concerned should I be?”

 

The doctor opened the file, flipping pages before pointing at some chart. “I have never seen Recovery Girl’s quirk results personally– But if I was to guess they would be at least on par with what we see here. Given the correct activation Izuku could heal broken bones in milliseconds .”

 

“S—”

 

“Again, This isn’t the hardest activation to hide” 

 

“Doctor, Izuku is a child. He is going to get cuts and scrapes. H—, he broke his arm today. I can’t just pull him out of pre-school until his arm isn’t broken. And I am not going to wrap my boy in bubble wrap and stick him in a closet for his whole life. I can’t take his life away from him.” 

 

“I understand. I am not saying you need to lock him away or totally hide the quirk— just down play it. Healing some bruises on the playground wouldn’t catch much attention especially if that is all that is believed he can do.” 

 

I– Okay. Alright.” Inko finally straightened and smiled at the doctor, brushing her fingers through Izuku’s wild curls once more. “Thank you doctor, I do appreciate it. And apologies for freaking out, this…. Is a lot to think about.” 

 

“Don’t mention it, this is my job and it is not everyday that I have these kinds of conversations, but this has been far from my first. But now to the more fun talks!” The Doctor clapped his hands and turned to the little boy who had started fidgeting with the edge of his shirt. “We need to come up with a name for your quirk!”

 

Izuku was absolutely stoked, he’d been so excited to get to name his quirk for so long that now that the time had come, he felt a little nervous. He told the adults he was nervous and they offered to help him come up with ideas, which the little boy was very grateful for. After a small brainstorming session between the three, Izuku ended up choosing to call his quirk Sympathetic Healing. Izuku noticed that his mom wasn’t overly excited by the name like he was but he thought it fit. Well, he did once the nice doctor explained what ‘sympathetic’ meant. 

 

After Izuku and his mom had gone home with a large packet about Izuku’s quirk, Inko stopped her son from running off to his room. Izuku was a little confused at the very serious face that his mom had as she squatted down to look him in the eyes. 

 

“Izuku, I need you to promise me something.” Izuku nodded, while shuffling a little back and forth. “You need to never tell anyone how much you can heal, okay? Cuts and bruises only. Can you do that for me, baby?”

 

Izuku nodded again, then turned to go to his room. He wanted to play with his action figures. 

 

“Okay Izu, what can your quirk heal?”

 

“Cuts 'n' bruises,” He murmured. He didn’t really understand why but it seemed important to his mom that he say this. And the wide smile on his moms face was worth the confusion at being told to lie.

 

“Thank you. Now I think I promised a movie night– What we watchin’?”

 

Action figures forgotten, Izuku jumped up and down as he screamed, “ALL MIGHTY HEROES: THE EDGE OF GLORY!” 

 

Inko chucked as she ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Why would we ever watch anything else? Go set up the couch for a cuddle party. I’ll go get us some snacks.” 

 

Izuku bounded off, forgetting the weird looks and strained conversation, excited to watch his favorite movie with his mom. 

Notes:

edited 4/8/2025 :)
I have realized i am bad at editing and doing a second pass through is maybe a good idea lolol

Chapter 2: Keigo is Having a Bad Day

Notes:

There is some mentioned violence in this chappie but like this is a fan fic based on a show that like has a lot of fighting so its no worse then the show. lol just saying haha

But enjoy!! :D

Hawks was having a bad day. 

 

Most people would be after being smashed through not one, but four concrete walls. Since the introduction of Quirks the general human body on average was more durable, even quirkless folks were a touch less fragile. So one or two walls and Keigo could’ve limped away with some badly ruffled feathers and maybe a broken bone or two. But four walls AND a villian that had a fireball quirk? He had no chance. Sure, Hawks might be jumping through the ranks as a new up-and-coming hero but even he wouldn’t be walking away from this one. Boring white walled hosptial rooms were in his near future.

 

Keigo dazed, stared up at the bright blue sky above him. One fluffy white cloud looked a bit like a chicken drumstick. He was a bit hungry and turned his head to try to see if it was lunch break yet. The movement made the whole view smear as his stomach lurched as the world went tumbling sideways. 

 

Moving is a no go. Good to know. 

 

Keigo mentally cursed. No moving meant no chicken for him. He’d been kind of excited to try out the new place he had spotted earlier on patrol before the whole big fight. Curse his bad luck. 

 

As the ringing in his ears faded Hawks realized the sounds of the fight had ended at some point. The crashes and sounds of shattered glass had been replaced by the faint sound of voices. Voices that were calling his name. Huh, they were probably looking for him.

 

Keigo opened his mouth to try to answer, but only a wet gurgle came out. He tried to cough and a small spray of red shot into the air for Keigo to see.

 

Oh boy. That was not good. 

 

Hawks had no idea where he was or why exactly the people shouting couldn't find him but he couldn’t move out of fear of making everything worse. Unknown to popular belief Keigo doesn’t want to die. He was just a bit reckless because he wants others to live more than he doesn’t want to die. It is a fairly simple concept if only his handler understood it. Because the man never seemed to be able to wrap his mind around it. Keigo was probably in for another long winded lecture. He just hoped that they wouldn’t throw in some of their more dramatic punishments. Those were never fun. 

 

The throbbing in his– everything– brought Keigo back to the problem at hand; being injured and probably lost to those searching for him. Ideally it was some heroes and some competent EMTs. And in a perfect world they would also have a bucket of fried chicken. The likelihood of it being this perfect world is basically zero, but a man could dream. 

 

Laying wherever he was just slowly breathing wouldn’t catch the attention of those searching. He needed to do something to help them find him however, he refused to move or shout out or… Keigo felt the lightbulb flash and flicker on. His Quirk! He could send off some of his feathers to dance around to try to get people's attention. 

 

Lucky for the injured hero his left wing was spread out to the side, and he was able to identify five contour feathers from his mid wing that would be good enough to send off on their new mission. Keigo closed his eyes to try to help him focus on controlling the feathers. Splitting his focus on even just the five feathers felt like an impossible task. Keigo would notice one feather dropping onto the rough ground and prompt it back into the air just as one of the other feathers would start to drop. He felt like he was juggling the feathers instead of truly controlling them. Which was incredibly frustrating as he had trained extensively to be able to simultaneously control around a hundred of his feathers at a time. So five feathers shouldn’t be giving him any trouble. But it was.

 

He… probably had some sort of head injury. A bad one. Yippee. That was going to suck. 

 

Keigo tried to groan in frustration as three of his feathers hit the ground at the same time, only to choke on the blood that was slowly pooling in the back of his throat. After catching his breath he felt something grab one of the feathers. The vibrations of voices around the now trapped feather was a sensory nightmare. Normally he would be able to understand the words but not now. Not when just breathing as calmly as he could was leaving him feeling tired. Not with how much his vision was swimming. 

 

He maybe was more injured than he originally gave himself credit for, which sucked. But the vibrations and tight grip on the shaft of his feather sucked more. 

 

Keigo ignored the other feathers, letting them rest on the ground. Focusing, he wiggled the one feather out of the grip and away from the rough fingers. Guiding it back to its home in his left mid wing, he groaned. Screw being saved, if they followed it cool, if not he couldn’t be bothered to care anymore. He was about to work to get the other four missing feathers back to him when the wound of yelling started to surround him. 

 

“Hawks! I found Hawks!” Loud crunching footsteps got closer. “S—. Hawks? Can you open your eyes?”

 

Keigo opened his eyes, he had kind of forgotten he had closed them. The blue was partially covered with a smeared orange blob. Hands started pressing down on his stomach. Keigo hissed. 

 

“I’m sure this hurts, but I need to slow the bleeding.” All the colors disappeared from Keigo’s view. The pressure on his stomach grew forcing a pained gasp out of his mouth.

 

“Oh no you don’t. You gotta keep your eyes open, Mr Hero.” 

 

Keigo cursed the orange smear person. Some faint part of him knew they were correct but he also was tired and seeing was just so nauseating. Everything was too much. As more people flooded into his view there was more yelling and more hands and more pain. Keigo let out a long sigh and closed his eyes. The yelling got louder as he let himself slip away into the abyss. 

 

—

 

Keigo blinked awake and groaned as he was still very much in pain. He wanted opioids please and thank you. It felt like every bone in his body was shattered and all his guts had been scooped out with an impressively dull spoon. Patches of his skin had to still be on fire. He’d been trained in emergency medicine and he was pretty sure that putting out any literal fires on your patient was close to step one. If not the first step. So whoever around him must be terrible at their job just letting him roast while trapped on this gurney. 

 

The commission will make heads roll when they find out that their ‘precious birdie’ was being mistreated. Only they were allowed to mistreat him and claim it is all ‘just for training’. Abusive possessive b___rds.

 

Keigo blearally opened his eyes to try to gain his bearings. He was in some medical ward. The classic blank white walls, blinking equipment and burning scent of antiseptic really gave it away. There were also a few medical staff milling about, cleaning and bandaging his body. None of them seemed to be worried, which was weird. Especially since he still was in a ton of pain and felt… wrong.

 

He couldn’t move– even if he had wanted to. He could move his eyes but anything else seemed to be out of his control. There was a tube shoved down his throat which was forcing his lungs to fill and empty in a slow rhythm. It was too slow. He tried to take over breathing only for the machine to shove more air into his lungs. It felt like he was being drowned but the dizziness from actual drowning was absent. Because he wasn’t actually being suffocated, it just felt like it. The mounting panic grew and grew until something started flashing out of the corner of his eye. It must’ve clued someone in as the medical personnel closest to him noticed and gave him a tight smile before turning to shout. 

 

“Hawks is awake, we gotta put him under again.” 

 

Woh there, hold up. Keigo’d just woken up and he wanted to know what was happening– thank you very much. He didn’t want to ‘go under again’ he wanted someone to take this tube out of his mouth and to explain what exactly was going on. 

 

A nurse in dark blue scrubs half jogged into the room with a brown bottle. They stood next to his bed by the arm that had an IV already placed into the crook of his elbow. Huh. Keigo hadn’t noticed the IV until right then. Hopefully that bottle from the nurse had some better freaking pain meds. 

 

Keigo was about to close his eyes when a kid– a tiny little kid heavily limped into the room to stand next to his bed. No one else in the room seemed to take note of the short green haired child. Keigo made eye contact with the bright green sparkling eyes surrounded by the cutest smattering of freckles and half hidden under the curly green fringe flopped over the kids forehead. The kid then gave the hero the brightest smile which put Keigo at ease. Only for that ease to evaporate into terror at the child's manic grin as he pulled out a fairly large tactical knife from his hoodie pocket. 

 

What the f___.  This had to be a hallucination. This cute freckled baby couldn’t be some scary assassin sent to kill Hawks… Right? Maybe the pain meds were playing with his mind. Yeah, that had to be it. There was no way that the cutest kiddo was about to kill him. He just had to stay calm and ride the horrible drug trip until he could mention to the doctors to add whatever drug this is to his “don’t f___ing give this to me again” list. It wouldn’t be the first medicine to be added to that list. Curse his avian quirk messing with his biochemistry in some weird and unexpected ways. 

 

Keigo had almost calmed down from the sight of a (probably) fictitious child brandishing a large knife when the kid rolled up his sleeves and the manic glint in his green sparkling eyes mellowed to one of determination. 

 

“Don’t worry Mr Hawks, sir. I’ll get you fixed up in no time.” 

 

Keigo didn’t even have time to be confused before the tiny adorable child in front of him slashed his own arm repeatedly in quick succession. Mayday Mayday, doesn’t matter if this was a hallucination, what the actual f___! This child was bleeding heavily onto the ground and all Keigo wanted to do was to dart forward and grab the knife to throw it away. Then wrap the bleeding arm tightly in his own hands to slow the splattering of warm blood from pooling on the tiled floors. And then probably wrap the kid in bubble wrap, too. But Keigo couldn’t do that. All he could do was watch in horror as his frozen body forced him to watch this hellish nightmare. 

 

The kid winced at the gashed before putting the bloody knife on the edge of his bed. Keigo tried to move his hand to try to take the weapon away but his fingers barely even twitched under the thin blankets. Keigo almost missed the kid reaching into his hoodie pocket once again, but saw right as the kid held up what looked to be a salt shaker before taking off the top. The kid must have sensed his confusion as the bleeding child shot the hero a strained and wobbly smile. 

 

“It’s okay, It has to hurt to heal. You’ll be all better quickly. It– It’s okay.” 

 

Keigo once more watched in numb shock as the kid dumped the whole shaker of salt into the deep cuts. The kid fell over and slipped out of Keigo’s view but he could hear the muffled screams and bit off moans of the child in obvious agony. Hawks tried once more to move to scream to do anything to help the child in pain but he couldn’t do anything. And no one in the room was reacting to the kid beyond quiet hushes and grumbled comments about blood on the ground.

 

Keigo had never felt like more of a failure than in that moment. 

 

The icy feeling of whatever drug they flushed into his IV finally hit his veins. The heavy drugged sleep weighed down his thoughts and started to drag him under. Keigo fought it as long as he could, he didn’t want these drugs anymore. The pain would be worth it if he could only help the kid still making impossibly quiet keening noises below his bed. Keigo could imagine the twisted expression as the kid squirmed on the dirty floor bleeding out. He didn’t care if the child was hallucinating or not, he didn’t want to sleep comfortably as the kid was suffering. 

 

Not like Keigo could fight the drugs forever, try as he might his view faded to black and the pained whimpers were dampened by the swirling drugs warping his hearing. But before he fully fell into his drugged slumber, Keigo promised himself that he would find and save this boy if it was the last thing he did. 

 

—

 

Keigo woke up once again, but this time he felt… well, he felt 100% normal. Not in the ‘I ache but I'm in the hospital and I should take what I should take what I can get’ normal but the fully normal normal. The ‘I got a good night's sleep and had a night off from patrolling’ normal. Which wasn’t actually all that normal for the young hero. But, he felt good and wouldn’t complain about that no matter how odd it was. 

 

Keigo didn’t think that he had totally lost it and had dreamed up the whole smashed through multiple walls and was burned to a crisp thing. It was pretty fuzzy but he was fairly certain that all happened. Keigo was also pretty sure that the green haired knife-salt kid was real and not some messed up hallucination, even though he has no real evidence to back it up.

 

If later down the line he comes to find out that this all was just his brain misfiring… Hawks refused to look at deeper into what knife kid could mean to his psyche. He knew that his childhood– of lack thereof– had messed him up. But he just turned 19 and might just crack the top ten this next ranking. Hawks couldn’t have some psychotic break yet. He needed to be a hero. And taking time to fix and resolve some mental breakdown would ruin his ability to help people which was literally his whole purpose in life. So the kid was real and he was going to do his job and save him. 

 

A doctor in dark blue scrubs (like every other medical personnel here) and a white lab coat walked into Keigo's plain white medical room. The doctor had long maroon hair and had a pair of matching maroon half moon glasses. She smiled at Keigo as she crossed to stand by his bed. 

 

“Glad to see you awake hawks. You gave us quite a scare.”

 

“What happened?” His voice sounded like he had gargled acid for days on end and was barely audible. Luckily it didn’t really hurt but he still winced at how bad it sounded. 

 

“Ah, I will go get you some water. I will be right back.” 

 

The doctor darted out and before Keigo had a chance to mentally wander off, she came back. In her hand was a cup of water with a straw. Keigo sat up and made grabby hands at the cup letting his wings fluff up behind him. The Doctor handed over the cup and Keigo chugged it. 

 

“Don’t make yourself sick. We did a lot of work to keep you alive and well. Let’s not immediately throw it all away now, hmm?”

 

Keigo rolled his eyes. He couldn’t care less he was Thirsty.

 

“What happened? Where am–”

 

The doctor cut him off. “What do you remember?” 

 

Keigo tensed and worked to keep his feathers from fluffing up. He felt like this was some sort of test. The doctor's eyes started to glow as the suddenly tense silence spread between them. Keigo needed to lie. Something instinctual in him screamed at him to not mention the little green boy. If that happened Keigo knew it would end badly for the two of them. 

 

“I– Uh. I think I went through one too many walls? Which is embarrassing. I think afterwards I used feathers to get help? I am not totally sure it’s all pretty fuzzy. I probably got a concussion, yeah?”

 

The faint glow faded from the doctor's eyes as she relaxed. Keigo let out a slow breath as he realized he must have passed the first obstacle. This doctor probably had some form of memory altering quirk. Or Keigo is being paranoid. At this point it was probably a 50/50 chance on that front. 

 

“Actually, you had a bad brain bleed along with another five or so career ending injuries. And this is one of the Commission's experimental medical centers. We had to do one of our newer experimental treatments and even that was a bit touch or go for a bit, but after some minor recalibration the method was successful in fully healing you.” 

 

“What even were all my injuries?”

 

“I apologize, but that’s classified. I shouldn’t have told you about the brain bleed.” She held up a hand to silence the hero. “The method is in the very early stages of testing and if it spread around what exactly it is capable of doing there would be negative consequences.” 

 

Keigo just nodded to that, biting his tongue. He could read between the lines. He would be the one to get punished if he told a single soul. The winged hero felt a heavy sinking weight settle in his gut. He knew that somehow his miracle cure came at the expense of the poor green haired child. Keigo hoped the kid was okay. 

 

“Good. Now Hawks, you’ve been given a clear bill of health. There is a shower and a change of clothes in the bathroom. A commission driver will wait outside your room to take you home.”

 

“Thank you, doctor.” He gave her a small bow without cutting eye contact, Keigo couldn’t help but feel anxiety about showing his back and wings to her without supervision. She put him on edge for reasons that he couldn’t put his finger on and he was a paranoid b___rd. The eye contact seemed to amuse her as she gave the bowing hero a small smirk as she looked down her nose at him.

 

“You’re welcome, Hawks.” She gave a very small bow before walking out of the room. 

 

Keigo watched the door as it slowly shut before he let himself collapse back onto the stiff medical bed with a groan. He had no idea how to start his search into the green boy but he knew that this was important. He didn’t want the commission to be in sole control over another child. Not again. But this facility was a special one. Probably because he was so injured, 'brain bleed' was intense and if his fuzzy memories were to be believed, one of his wings had been very solidly crushed. which meant unless he tried to almost kill or cripple himself again (which he didn't really want to do, but it could be a back up plan if everything else failed), he doubted he would ever come back to this facility. And there is no way that they would let him just look out the window of the car as he left. The commission could be weirdly possessive of people knowing where their secret labs are. Keigo would know as he grew up in one. 

 

The hero threw an arm over his eyes and wiggled his wings out to keep from being trapped under his body. It also allowed his sensitive wings to be at least ten times more aware of his surroundings. The almost sensory overload was better than the suffocating anxiety of having his wings be trapped under him. 

 

Keigo, however, was grateful for his trained hatred of trapped wings when he sensed the faint thump come from the ceiling. Internally he groaned, the commission genuinely couldn’t sink any lower. They had sent some poor agent to spy on him from the ceiling. Which was in addition to the cameras and microphone Keigo had already clocked in the corners of the room. How sad, a physical spy on top of the electronic spying seemed like overkill to a pathetic degree.

 

He sighed and peaked under his arm, above him was the air vent to the room and he sent the best glare he could to what poor junior agent they sent. His golden eyes met the shining green eyes. 

 

Holy s___. 

 

Hawks froze, looking at the wide green familiar eyes. There was no way that he had that good of luck. The commission wasn’t dipping into wild surveillance overkill, but instead struggled to control a child. Which was another thing Keigo kinda understood– he knew how to get away from his handlers if he needed space for a few hours. It always came with bad consequences but he still did it . The kid was definitely breaking protocol to be spying on him from the vents. Keigo was a little proud and also embarrassed that he’d never thought about using the vents. In Keigo’s defense he probably wouldn’t have fit well with his wings. It was probably totally idiotic for the kid to be up there, but Keigo had never been happier at the audacity of a child. 

 

Not wanting the actual surveillance to catch onto the child’s rule breaking, the hero stood quickly and made a dramatic show of exploding his flight and contour feathers off his back, straining to control each of them into a chaotic whirlwind around the whole room. He slipped one of the smaller feathers up into the vent to poke the kid's nose. The child squeaked a little but quieted and froze when the feather shifted to press against his lips to shush him. 

 

Keigo then moved the rest of the feathers to lay on the bed in a pile. He picked up one of the longer flight feathers with a grimace. The barbs were a chaotic mess and grime and dirt were caked into the small divot in the shaft. All his feathers needed to be deep cleaned and the preening was going to take hours, if not a whole day. But there wasn’t much he could do about it here, he needed the various small brushes, little contraptions he'd made to flip hard to reach feathers, and products at his apartment. Knowing the commission, having shampoo and conditioner would be a huge ask, Keigo was likely going to walk into the utilitarian shower and there be nothing more than a simple bar of soap. Keigo was vain, but could go one shower using bar soap in his hair and skipping the conditioning but he refused having the cakey feeling of using bar soap on his feathers. He just wouldn’t do it. He'd rather just leave them nasty.

 

Getting into the very small commission showers was always a little awkward. With all but his down feathers off his wings, they were smaller but never enough for the tiny stalls. So it was a cramped fit and trying to avoid his down getting too wet was always a challenge. As he rinsed off the last of the bar soap out of his hair (Keigo had called it ) he felt the kid skitter away with his feather down the vents. His feather was gripped in his small hand but he was pleasantly surprised that the kid was so gentle with it.

 

Keigo finished drying himself off and got dressed as he focused on that feather as it traveled and finally stopped… wherever it was. About thirty-five meters south east of where he was. Probably the kids room, as the kid had dropped down with the feather placed between his lips. Keigo bundled up his dirty feathers into the sheet on the bed, shoving the whole package under his arm, and walked out the door of his room to nod to the commission driver. 

 

Hawks worked to fight a grin as he got into the back of the car and was asked to put on a blind fold, one feather lighter than he had been coming into the facility. As the car started and pulled out he felt the homing of that last feather. He would be able to track it back no matter how far even after the new pin feather started to grow back in after a twenty-four hours of it not being returned. He’d be able to track the kid for around two weeks, or until the new pin feather cracked it's casing. He bit back a giggle as the kid started to chase the feather around, obviously having fun playing tag with Keigo from a distance. 

 

Finally Hawks was returned to his apartment, knowing that the driver drove in circles making sure that the time and the distance didn’t line up at all. But knowing it would take Keigo no more than a half hour flight at his top speed to get to the facility was annoying since they had driven for four hours. Keigo was paranoid but he’d gotten it from the masters, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in this case. 

 

Once Keigo entered his apartment he threw his bundle of feathers onto the bathroom counter and turned on the large bath to fill with warm water. He then went through the whole apartment and did a once over for new microphones and cameras that he needed to discard or hack. He found two mics and three cameras which was a pretty weak showing for them so they must not be too concerned, which was a good sign. Returning to the bathroom he rolled up his sleeves and moved the feather oils to be next to the filled tub. He then grabbed the feathers to put next to the stool he sat on by the tub. Keigo then picked up one of his main flight feathers and dipped it into the warm water and started gently massaging the grime off of it. 

 

About 230 km to the south west Keigo felt a rhythmic tapping start to be pressed into the feathers shaft. It was some slightly stilted morse code but it made the man break out into a grin. Keigo split his focus between cleaning the feather in his hands and the tapping. 

 

HI HAWKS IM IZUKU

 

Smart kid. Keigo was impressed as the kid then let the feather rest in his flat palm obviously awaiting a reply. Not wanting to let the kid down he shifted the feather to tap back. 

 

HI IZUKU CALL ME KEIGO I'M HERE TO HELP

 

For the first time in his life, Keigo felt like a real hero, not just some commission goon. 

 

—

 

Hawks knew he needed to treat this situation with caution. He didn’t Know exactly what was going on so what he needed was information. Lucky for him the green haired child– Izuku– had that in spades, and was more than willing to talk to Keigo– which was a bit alarming how quickly he latched onto Keigo. It showed that the kid was starved for attention. 

 

Over the next few days Hawks was inundated with anecdotes and stories from the boy’s childhood, learned the entire plot and deep lore of some really old TV show the hero had never really heard of before called Avatar, and also most importantly some hints as to why the boy was trapped in some commission facility. The kid was pretty tight lipped about his current life and whenever Keigo did poke at that the kid gave short responses that sounded tinged with sadness. Hawks could relate, he also didn’t like talking about parts of his life for a bunch of different reasons– but he’d been trying to give the kid– who was eleven, Keigo found out– more information as Izuku was a huge hero nerd and in his words ‘wanted to know more about the first hero who will brake the top ten by nineteen’-- which was very cute but also a bit awkward as Keigo always had a small wiggling thought in the back of his mind questioning how much of his rank was him and how much was actually the commission altering his metrics to place their little winged pawn into a place of power.

 

He’d probably never know– which Keigo didn’t know how to feel about. But finally after three whole days of chatting with Izuku, the hero got up the nerve to ask Izuku for his full name. The kid took some reassurance and was wildly reluctant claiming that he’d been told not to mention his family name to anyone and could get in huge trouble for talking to Hawks and sharing his given name. The boy broke protocol by talking to him but by giving him anything but his alias: Panacea. Izuku had told him this could get him in a lot of trouble and could put people at risk again. 

 

Keigo hated all of that but even more he hated how much he understood the boy's nerves. He hadn’t told anyone his family name since before he was taken in by the HSPC, and Izuku was the first person he told his given name to in years. Through gritted teeth and some anxiety he told the kid his full name and his actual birthdate, not the one listed on all his commission made socials, as a show of faith. 

 

The pause of any type of communication was too long and too stressful for Keigo. He sat on the couch preening his feathers on his wings in an attempt to self soothe for a few solid minutes before the kid slowly tapped out his full name.

 

Keigo wouldn't even deny the loud snort he made when the kid told him that his family name was Midori-ya. It’d be like Keigo being named McRedwing as his wings are the most prominent trait. He couldn’t help himself and teased the kid for being so cagey for such an obvious option. Izuku was flustered if the wildly waving feather was anything to go by. Imagining the kid blushing and sputtering made Keigo chuckle even more. 

 

Once Izuku calmed enough to respond it was his self-assigned bed time. He told Keigo he needed to sleep a little earlier as the next day was a ‘big day’ for him and he needed as much rest as he could get.

 

Keigo hated not knowing what that could possibly mean. His horrible imagination was running wild and he couldn’t ask to assuage his nerves because the kid wouldn’t even tell his full name without lots of prompting. The kid would freak out if Keigo kept probing, and he needed to make sure the kid was okay and cutting off communication would be worse. So instead of doing what he wanted and begging the kid to let Hawks bust in and fly him far far away from the Commission, Keigo wished Izuku sweet dreams and told him he hoped tomorrow went smoothly for him. He also asked the kid to reach out once his big day was over. 

 

With a quick “WILL DO” Izuku stashed the feather wherever he always did when not actively chatting with the hero. The constant muffled pressure flattening the feather was pushed to the back of Keigo's mind.

 

Practically flying, Keigo sprung off his couch to scramble to his hidden laptop. There was a chance that the Commission had found this one and wire tapped it, but he had hidden it behind a false panel under his kitchen sink. And the specific bottles he’d placed as a signal of tampering had not been obviously altered. Getting information on Izuku was worth the risk. 

 

Booting up the laptop was taking forever and Keigo couldn't help but drum his talons along the edge of the laptop. He couldn't bring himself to even move out of the awkward crouching position in the middle of his kitchen floor. He needed to get the info on the kid now . Later he could bring on other heroes and make plans. Maybe other heroes. He wasn’t totally sold on the idea as he was never totally sure who was in the Commission's pockets and who wasn’t. But depending on what he finds he might need more help. Figuring out who will be a bridge he crosses when he gets there. 

 

Finally the laptop logged on and Hawks rolled his shoulders back and got to work. Thank goodness for poor Ms Joke, and the hero license Hawks swiped off of her at a gala a few months back. He felt a little bad when he heard second hand how she’d ended up in a lock up for a few hours on vigilante charges. She had swapped patrols with some underground hero and the police didn’t recognize the twilight hero as she was from a few cities over. Keigo couldn’t be mad at the police, it is unreasonable to know all the heroes in Japan. And Ms Joke seemed to have a good sense of humor about things so she probably laughed it off. But Keigo still felt a little guilty about it. 

 

Using her ID number it wasn’t too hard to crack into the hero net under her username– which is a little concerning but it worked in Keigo’s favor. But once logged in, Hawks started a search in the police database regarding one Midoryia Izuku. There were a handful of different records and reports on file. Starting with the oldest, the hero started reading. 

 

Reading the first report made Keigo laugh, he wished he was surprised but honestly it was in character. The report detailed the kid being caught up in a villain attack and being used as one of a handful of hostages two and a half years ago (when the kid was only nine, poor kid). He got caught because he “forgot to run because Miriko is just that cool.” Lucky for the kid, he only had minor injuries and every other hostage ended up being totally fine. Izuku had been left off with a reminder that the best thing that a civilian can do to help the Pro Heroes was to get out of the way. 

 

Keigo sighed, thinking of all the people who’d not followed that advice even in his short career. So many people ended up becoming a major nuisance, or worse, injured or dead, because they were fangirling or trying to assist in some way. Bless civilians but they were dumb 95% of the time.

 

Feeling a little reassured, Keigo opened the next report. Only filed a month or so later. Izuku and some older boy named Onishi Mako were brought in to the police by an off duty sidekick. The hero had seen the two boys beating up two other kids. Keigo frowned at the way the report stated that the Onishi kid was a bad influence on the younger boy and how he couldn’t help being a troublemaker given what they are but pulling the bright young Midoryia was despicable. 

 

Keigo really hated how that all sounded. If it looked like discrimination, and it sounded like discrimination— it was probably discrimination. The Onishi kid probably had some mutation or ‘villainous’ quirk. From the few days Keigo had been chatting with the boy, the hero had gotten the overall feeling that Izuku wouldn’t go around beating up kids for fun. Or even get pressured into it from a friend. He would however do it if he felt it was justified. And kids bullying a friend? The exact type of justification that a big hero nerd like Izuku would consider worth the possibility of getting in trouble. 

 

The next two reports solidified the bullying theory. Over that year the kid had gone to the precinct two separate times with photo evidence, and video evidence the second time, of quirk discrimination at the local middle school. A few of the adults had been complicit and egged the other teens to harass each other. The first report seemed half hearted and the only follow up was just a brief email to the school, which the school’s response either never happened or was never recorded. 

 

The second report must have gotten to someone who was less incompetent (or less quirkest) and a few convictions were made of the teachers and disciplinary actions were set against some of the students. Keigo was impressed– Izuku’s evidence was actually legally acquired and was able to be used in court to help prove the various crimes. Specifically against Onishi’s homeroom teacher who had been restricting his student from eating his lunch daily for weeks on end and assigning borderline dangerous tasks to the student. The teacher ended up in prison for multiple counts of quirk discrimination, child endangerment and abuse. It took a lot of guts and smarts for a nine to ten ish year old kid to do all the research to know how to legally obtain evidence like that, and then follow through to collect it– twice. Color Keigo impressed. If the kid was at all interested in being a hero still after being freed from the HSPC (which seamed likely), Hawks would take the kid under his wing (ha pun totally intended) and do nothing but sing his praises.

 

Moving on to the next few reports put a bad taste in his mouth. They were all reports of possible stalking of Izuku all reported by one Midoryia Inko, a name the hero jotted down for reference, it had to be the mom. The first in a series was from just over a year ago. The first two were spaced by two weeks. Then the third three days after. Then there were two reports back to back demanding the police to do something. An overview document mentioned increases of paranoia of the woman and how she was totally convinced that the people following her son were from the government and that the government wanted to take her son away, even with a lack of viable evidence. 

 

Keigo pursed his lips as he read about how the police had sent a social worker to do a wellness check on the child after the first two paranoid calls and Izuku being pulled from school. The report stated that there were no signs of abuse or neglect and ended with a follow up meeting being set and that the social worker had shared mental health resources with Ms Midoryia. Keigo didn’t like where he was pretty sure where this story led, but he needed to finish reading the last few reports. 

 

As expected it was as bad as he’d thought. According to the reports a salesman had knocked on the paranoid Midoriya door and the woman snapped and assaulted the man with her quirk, pulling his eyes out of his skull.  

 

Holy S___! And Ew! Double ew! 

 

It took a second for Keigo to get back on track from learning that the woman who made “the best Katsudon” and “gave the biggest warmest hugs” also ripped some guy’s eyes out. Shaking himself, smoothing down his ruffled feathers, he focused back on the reports. 

 

The man had fought back with his quirk leading to a fire. In the chaos Inko had run off with Izuku. There had been a man hunt for the two once the eyeless man was found after the neighbors called about the noise and smoke. The hunt only lasted just shy of 24 hours, when Midoryia Inko was found walking aimlessly down a boardwalk near a beach in Mustafu. She was covered in dried blood from herself, the salesman and her son. Izuku was not found with her and when asked she broke down crying and efforts to calm her down ended with her lashing out. She had testified later that there had been more people with the salesman who had taken her son before the fire had started, and it was only when she realized her son was going to be taken that she pulled the man’s eyes out and ran to try to follow the group of kidnappers. After some time she had lost the trail. The detectives with minimal evidence believed that it was possible that Izuku was killed by Inko and hid at the beach, which was a fairly common dumping ground for both trash and bodies. They believed it was possible that to protect herself from the reality, her mind had concocted this larger plot and refused to acknowledge the truth. The evidence they used was the history of paranoid calls.

 

The file had multiple testimonials from therapists that all stated the woman showed signs of possible paranoid and high levels of agitation, but it was not apparent if her story was delusions, was caused by some illusion quirk or was just an outright lie. With the apartment being mostly ash there was practically no evidence to help balance the ‘he said; she said’ of what happened that night. 

 

Midoriya Inko ended up being sentenced to fifteen years in a prison made for the purpose of housing those with mental illnesses focused on rehabilitation and providing mental healthcare to the criminals. She had no possibility of parole until the end of those fifteen years and only on the decision of the doctors on sight. She’d been lucky and dodged the homicide charge from a lack of evidence, but even just the charge of second degree aggravated assault using a quirk, was not something that someone would want on their records. There was a footnote that mentioned that she could’ve taken a plea deal but refused. She stuck to her story of self defense, which helped convince the judge to specifically send her to the facility they did. The judge recorded that there was enough evidence for them to believe that Ms Midoryia was suffering from delusions and paranoia and needed help to re-enter society.

 

Keigo had seen the evidence and felt that was a bit harsh and unfounded, but he was a hero not a judge or lawyer. 

 

Also, Hawks was biased. And probably would be deemed paranoid to go to a similar facility if he was ever convicted of a crime. He hated to be thankful for the HPSC but he knew that if he ever got caught for one of their missions they'd do everything in their power to cover it up. Small mercies, unless he really snapped and went against the commission he'd probably never land in jail.

 

However, Keigo actually believed her story more . Firstly, because Keigo had seen the missing kid with his own two eyes and he was very much not murdered by his apparently paranoid, delusional mother. 

 

Secondly, this is the exact type of nonsense the Commission would pull if they needed a quirk badly enough. And Keigo had yet for any of these files to include the kid's quirk status, meaning he was a protected quirk holder. And from first hand experience the kid had to have a healing quirk, and a powerful one at that. So of course the HPSC wanted him.

 

Third, The kid’s abduction lined up concerningly close to when All Might suddenly went ‘overseas’ for a ‘long term mission’. Which Keigo knew to be ultimate hogwash. He had been a bored seventeen year old at the time and was big on eavesdropping on various agents, a whole group of the more yappy agents were cursing the number one hero for causing so much extra work for them. Talking about how the false media reports would be for who knew how long as All Might had been almost dead injured. Keigo had none of the specifics of the event, but it lined up and since the number one hero had been able to bounce back as quickly as he did. It implied the possible use of the kid’s quirk.

 

He had none of the specifics but in all likelihood the Commission had probably been following the poor kid for a while. Probably was flagged for observation by his impressive take down of the quirkest teachers or just from someone snooping through the protected quirk registry. They might’ve even approached the family in person to offer a similar program as Keigo’s mom had. But Ms. Midoryia obviously said no to selling her child to the government, where his mom had said yes. Keigo was a tad jealous, but glad the kid had a good mom. 

 

The Commission probably backed off a bit just watching, until the need was great enough. The sloppy work from whoever tailed them ended up working in the HPSC’s favor as they could use Inko’s reports to paint a picture of a paranoid woman and then kidnap the kid right in front of her. 

 

The kid was also declared ‘Assumed dead’ much too soon after being flagged as missing. His body wouldn’t have been half decomposed, if he had been dead. However, once a missing person was officially missing but assumed dead their photos were no longer actively sent to all the local hero agencies. The Commission probably wanted less people to have memories of the kid if they planned to train him to be a hero like Hawks. They’d scrubbed his record which looked suspicious as heck, this story however was the perfect abduction and death story. Someone at the HPSC was probably patting themselves on the back for such a smooth and perfectly wrapped abduction. They could reintroduce the kid after half a decade with a Hero Alias and a mask/hood and even friends would likely never realize it was the missing boy. 

 

It did make Keigo wonder what Izuku’s side of the story was. What story had they sold the kid, because there was no way it was the same story as the outside world was sold. The sweet and caring mom in all of Izuku’s childhood stories never could be twisted into some villain for the kid. If Keigo was to hazard a guess they’d probably told him that she had died a hero trying to save him from the first set of kidnappers. Then had an agent act as a lesser known hero to ‘save him’. Keeping him there would be difficult but they might have been able to convince a ten year old boy that he was in some weird witness protection. Or just told the Hero Fanboy that All Might needed his quirk and jumped at the opportunity. Keigo would love to ask but if getting the kids full name was a challenge there was no way he’d answer this line of inquiry. 

 

For such a chatty kid he was surprisingly tight lipped. It was both a very fun and infuriating challenge. 

 

Keigo closed the laptop and closed his eyes. The imprint of the boy's death certificate was burned into his retinas and he could still see it in the back of his eyelids. He stretched his wings out to the sides and leaned back to rest his head on the side of his kitchen island. Keigo let out a long sigh.

 

He needed other heroes for this. Heroes who’d believe him. Heroes that would be okay going up against the commission and possibly going borderline vigilante and breaking the law. Heroes that were able to go under the radar to collect the evidence they needed. Heroes like—

 

Keigo sat up, slapping his hands on the floor to launch himself up with his wings, flapping them to maintain the smallest shred of balance. The wind he created was enough to knock over his trash can. The young hero ignored the empty take out containers that now spread across the tiled floor. Keigo darted to his room, quickly checking his phone clock to check the time. It was half past ten, which was perfect.  He'd still be out by the time Keigo flew there.

 

Throwing on some dark maroon joggers and slipping on a fleece lined black tanktop and a thin black athletic windbreaker with wing holes, Keigo held back some inhuman screeches. He wanted to, but the natural bird calls had been beaten out of him, so he was able to hold himself back. Blinking, he turned to look at himself in the mirror. He scowled. The very obvious huge bright red beacons sprouting off his back screamed ‘I’m Hawks!”. Even trying to be understated he’d stick out like a sore thumb. Yanking on a dark blue winter hat, which did nothing to really hide his identity, he decided that there wasn’t much that he could do on such short notice to hide his identity. At least he wasn’t in his hero suit and his blond hair was covered? Maybe people would think that he was just some other winged individual going for a midnight flight. He sighed as he slipped his trainers on his feet. He had no doubt that if anyone who followed his career saw him they would immediately clock him as Hawks. 

 

Maybe there is a way he could use that to his advantage?

 

Nodding to himself slowly, he slid his balcony door open stepping out into the crisp midnight air. He could use his very identifiably feathers to his advantage here. Honestly It would probably make the whole interaction smoother. Keigo climbed up on the railing of his balcony before falling backwards over the edge. His wings pressed tight to his back to help him gain speed before snapping them open as he twisted midair, heading toward Mustafu. 

 

Everyone knows that Unders are unlikely to just follow any random guy to a secondary location. That’s how heroes disappear or die. 

 

And Eraserhead had been in the game long enough to know how to not just survive in the most dangerous hero field, but how to thrive in the Underground. 

Notes:

Edited: 5/25/2025 :) Some of them sentences were a mess (some still are lol but I tried xD) Also fixed the tenses (if y'all see any mistakes.. no you dont lol or tell me in the comments and then I can fix it)

Chapter 3: Aizawa is Having a Bad Day

Notes:

Enter Dadzawa!!! <3 There is not really any warnings that I can think of lol so enjoy!
Also I can't not make this man overly protective and just have him mentally adopt children. He just wants to do it so badly. and I cannot keep him from doing it. Sorry not sorry :P

Aizawa Shouta was having a bad day. 

 

He’d been woken up by Hizashi much too early, especially for only getting a measly three hours of sleep. His stomach was a little queasy from the lack of sleep, making his large cup of mandatory morning coffee sit very wrong in his gut. But there was nothing he could do about it, unless people wanted him to commit murder and forgo the cup. 

 

His homeroom class this year held potential– only a handful had needed a reality check– but with the nature of teenagers, some days being a teacher was more akin to herding cats. And today the class was being rowdy, a few notes were passed, loud giggling, some singing paired with some weird series of dances. The teenage shenanigans ramped up, ending with a more volatile quirk being activated accidentally melting a desk and leaving a slight dip in the floor. 

 

Shouta was a strict teacher on a good day, but he does realize that he’d given the students free time to work on their essay for his Laws and Ethics class. And that specific student had worked hard to reign in their quirk and had been doing very well the past month or so. The rational part of Shouta knew that it was an accident and the levels of rowdiness wasn’t generally obscene, and was probably a good thing for the high strung hero course students to let loose and be children from time to time. 

 

However, it was not a perfectly rational Aizawa-sensei that tackled the event. No, it was the very nauseous, grumpy and exhausted Eraserhead that responded. He had given the whole class detention for letting things get out of hand and chewed them out before forcing the class to sit in silence for the rest of the period. 

 

Giving a class of 17 students detention for three days for acting like fifteen year olds when they were fifteen was probably an abuse of Shouta’s power as a teacher. He would have to apologize to Yamamoto– it wasn’t her fault that her highly destructive quirk was caused by laughter. He also needed to make it up to the class– maybe he would make their detentions something relatively enjoyable. Maijima had his third year class design new obstacle courses for an assignment that needed test subjects. The support classes also were always in need of people to test their gear too. Shouta made a mental note to email Majima to make sure he has some things for his class to do the next day.

 

One positive from his day was that he had been able to finish all his grading at lightning speed, mainly because he didn’t assign anything new and the last few days had been discussions on various practical situations regarding topics Shouta had lectured on the week prior. Putting in participation points to the grade book took no time at all, so he was able to sneak in a full two hour nap.

 

One solid negative was that that nap was rudely ended by Nemuri tripping over him . She’d kept from fully crashing to the floor by doing some very complicated footwork– but in doing so she ended up taking her very sharp heel and stepping onto, and a little bit into , Shouta’s shoulder after she had already kicked him in the face. 

 

Nemuri had apologized repeatedly and had personally carted him to Recovery Girl, while his fiance had to sit down because he was laughing too hard. The traitor. 

 

After the embarrassment of being thrown over Nemuri’s shoulder like a sack of rice, Shouta hadn’t thought it could get worse until Recovery Girl herself refused to heal him. She went on and on about how his staminal levels were concerningly low and that if she’d tried there was a non zero chance he’d ended up in a 24-48 hour coma. 

 

Saying that sounded like a good vacation and saying to ‘bring it on’ was apparently the wrong move. As the elderly healer had just gone back into another tirade about how he needed to take care of himself to be an example to his students, if not for the people who cared for him. 

 

Nemuri was smart and had slid out of the room as soon as the woman started ripping into Shouta the first time. When Recovery Girl got into “angry healer lecture’ mode,  no one was safe. Having his whole medical history thrown in his face wasn’t pleasant,  from the absolutely obsessive training he did at UA after Oboro died, to his refusal to seek medical after fights and almost bled out a handful of times, to his smoking and coffee drinking habits. She also seemed actively affronted by his work schedule and how even on the best days he’d never be able to have a consecutive five hours of sleep between his time teaching and then the late night shifts he pulled as an underground hero. And his schedule frequently caused him to skip meals and use meal replacement jelly pouches, sometimes for days on end. It was like every aspect of his life gave the woman heartburn or something.

 

Apparently, the woman was concerned . 

 

But the long winded lecture finally let up with a guilt inducing plea for the man to take better care of himself, even if it was just one thing. Shouta couldn’t spit in her face and fully ignore her, so told her he’d work towards cutting back on the smoking. Which was something he’d wanted to work on for years, but just hadn’t made a lot of progress on. There were always higher priorities. 

 

Apparently this was the correct thing to say, as the elderly woman relaxed and switched from angry lecture mode to genuine advice and offers for assistance and a box of nicotine patches. Shouta was grateful for the options and promised to check in with how it was going, but it meant that he didn’t have time to go home before he started his shift. He almost reached for the jelly pouch before the echoing voice of Recovery Girl chimed in his mind and the tired hero sighed and headed to his favorite udon place getting a ‘real meal’ for once. 

 

Only for the place to be closed unexpectedly . Which was fine but he was now really craving udon, so he had to go eight blocks out of the way to go to the second best udon place in the area. The cashier was also chatty and wouldn’t let Shouta take his udon in silence. Extroverts were the worst. The too long conversation left him having to eat his udon quickly. He burnt tongue. It wasn’t the end of the world but it was just one more little thing to add to a less than stellar day. 

 

Jogging lightly to get to his shift on the surveillance case on time, Shouta started feeling nauseous again as the broth he’d just downed sloshed around. 

 

This is why Jelly meals were superior to regular meals, but he wouldn’t be caught dead saying that in front of Recovery Girl. 

 

The mid-evening was wildly boring as the case subject who normally went and did things both legal and illegal, decided today was the best day for a day in. The suspect was likely a higher up in a quirk trafficking ring and they had yet to get any hard evidence for it. Shouta understood this sort of thing took time, but sitting on a roof, listening in on bugs they’d place and periodically checking that the man was still watching some inane TV show through his high rise apartment window was boring. And Shouta would be fine with boring normally, but today he had to constantly fight his body’s valiant efforts to force him to sleep. It was a little alarming how hard it was to stay awake, he used to be able to go for three or four days on maybe an hour and be fine. Today he’d had five hours and even with multiple cups of coffee he was on the edge of passing out the moment he was still for longer than 30 seconds. 

 

Maybe Recovery Girl had a point that he needed to take better care of himself.

 

But maybe Shouta didn’t care. Burning the candle at both ends gives the world more light. He was a hero; he was expected to give his all and then some to benefit those around him. 

 

(Maybe he did care. Maybe the man was sick of being exhausted constantly . Maybe he wanted to be a bit selfish. Maybe he wanted to curl up next to his fiance and just peacefully sleep through the night for once. Maybe he wanted to not feel out of breath and shaky at the end of a shift. Maybe if he was better he wouldn’t lash out at his students the way he had today.)

 

Finally, after what had felt like forever, Clover, the Under who was scheduled to take over the surveillance after Shouta, arrived. Giving a half hearted solute, he jumped off the roof using his capture weapon to swing down to the alley. The adrenaline of the controlled fall helped wake him up, and he was off to do his active patrol. 

 

No longer on the verge of falling asleep, Shouta jumped from roof to roof, stopping petty crime and he even walked a few drunk young adults home after they got lost and turned around. It was fairly routine and made the Underground hero smile. It had been the first thing in his off day that had finally felt normal and actually good. 

 

That was until a large feather streaked into his peripheral vision. 

 

Eraserhead twisted around, searching for the possible owner of the feather. Seeing no one, he creeped closer to the feather that was floating mid air. The very bright red feather. 

 

Internally, Shouta groaned. Even with all his efforts to actively ignore all daylight heroes (Barring Present Mic and some of his UA coworkers), Shouta knew of Hawks, the new hero who had been taking the charts by storm and breaking records left and right. One of his students this year could fly, and she obsessively followed his short career. She was also very loud about her fangirling that even with all his efforts to tune it out, he still picked up on most of it. However, knowing that Hawks has ‘dreamy eyes’ and ‘hair that begs to be ruffled’ according to a fifteen year old, gave Shouta little to work with. 

 

To add to the fangirled rambled numbers and anecdotes from his socials, there were also whispered rumors about the young hero. About how naturally talented Hawks was. How even the best trained heroes from the various schools couldn’t even begin to match his ingrained reflexes. How the teen, while flashy and personable, never talked of his past in interviews. How no hero school claimed him as his alma mater. How his medical care was always handled in house at HPSC facilities.

 

Shouta knew that Unders could be huge gossips, especially if it was at the possible expense of a flashy daylight hero— but he couldn’t deny that he’d gone and searched up and watched a few videos where Hawks behaved more like a lifelong Under who had been pushed into the spotlight as opposed to the new hero he is. Checking exits, never relaxing, keeping everyone in his sightline were just a few of the concerning behaviors. 

 

Shouta would bet money that Hawks was some creation of a shady organization within the HPSC. Shouta couldn’t help but wonder if his push back and refusal to work with the HPSC was finally coming back to bite him. Unders went ‘mysteriously missing’ semi-regularly after speaking up against some of the shady BS the HPSC pulls. This might be his time and his curiosity of what happened to them might finally be satiated. 

 

Eraserhead, now on full alert, reached out a hand to grab the feather that had just been lazily twisting in a circle. Just as his calloused fingers brushed the red feather, it moved out of reach. 

 

He sighed, and reached again. Only for the feather to once again slip out of his grasp. This repeated a few times before the feather twisted into an ornate pirouette before gesturing for the hero to follow. 

 

Eraserhead looked at the neighboring roofs once more, before mentally slapping himself. This was Hawks, the hero known for his ability to fly. He looked up. 

 

Shouta saw a fast circling shadow at least 100 m into the night sky. He watched as the shadowy blob flew across the sky before dipping down more than a few kilometers away. 

 

The feather wiggled again trying to get Shouta to follow it in the same direction Hawks had landed.

 

The Underground hero sighed, before following the blasted thing. 

 

Something told him that his long tiring day was just about to get a whole lot longer. 

 

—

 

“You’re so slow.” The words rang out from above in the vast void of the unlit scaffolding. The voice was a touch whiny, similar to some of the students he’d taught and it set Shouta’s teeth on edge.

 

“Some of us are not blessed with quirks that help with mobility. Be glad I came at all.” 

 

Shouta walked to the middle of the abandoned warehouse, his hands dug deeply into his pockets as he slouched in his faux relaxed posture. He hoped that Hawks was like other idiotic daylight heroes and wouldn't pick up on the tension in his shoulders, nor the loose loop of his capture weapon easily accessible. The winged hero fell from the inky blackness that was the unlit ceiling to drop in front of Shouta. Gold eyes flickered as they raked up and down the underground hero. A small smirk tilted his mouth as the young hero mimicked the tired hero’s posture to a T. Shouta did everything in his power to not react, but he was equal parts enerved and impressed. It was rare for a daylight hero to clock the readiness Eraserhead was always at, let alone be able to mimic it flawlessly in less than five seconds. Or if Shouta was being more honest, less than two. 

 

The curling concern wrapped itself around Shouta’s gut. He didn’t want to read too much into what it could mean for this barely nineteen year old to have skills he doubted his fiance had after a decade of daylight hero work. The whispers and rumors overlapped each other in his mind creating a symphony of chaos. 

 

The smirk grew into a full on grin. Hawks’ wings puffed up in the ways that the videos of excited Cockatiels that he would send to Hizashi to make fun of him. They flapped a little causing swirling eddies of dust to fill the warehouse.

 

Shouta thought it was cute, and then immediately pushed that thought down.

 

“I knew I made the right choice. I can smell the protective instincts on you. You will be perfect. ” 

 

The man gestured to the hero before turning to grab at the papers rolled in his pocket. Hawks was focused on the papers and working to unravel them. Shouta felt off kilter by the whole interaction.

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“You like kids, yeah?” 

 

Shouta felt his face twitch in confusion. The papers were held against his chest like they were something precious. The winged heroes' gold eyes bored into him. The intense look made Shouta feel a little self conscious, no one ever looked that intensely at Eraserhead, not even his students during a lecture. 

 

“Is this some sort of test?”

 

“If I say yes will you answer honestly?” The intense look somehow increased by a factor of ten. The feathers along the edge of the hero’s wings sharpened into a row of spikes. 

 

“I find kids infuriating and exhausting.” Shouta held eye contact with Hawks. Something told the underground hero that he needed a more honest answer, more than what he usually told people. “However, illogically I cannot help but feel the need to protect and care for them. They are annoying, but are learning to be people so I can't fault them for it, and I would be a bad hero if I didn’t try to help guide and care for them when I can. I have temporarily fostered a few children as the remaining family members have been tracked down or long term placements can be made. And I am sure you are aware I am a UA teacher.” 

 

The sharp feathers loosened, practically vibrating as they lost their razor-like points. Shouta was going to take that as him passing whatever test that had been thrown his way. He had no idea where this was going anymore and decided the best course of action was to collect more information. 

 

“Why do you want to know?”

 

“One more question before I share more.” Shouta squinted but slowly nodded at the young hero. “Is the protection and safety of a child more important to you than following protocol?”

 

Oh this was a test. This was something he would pose to his Ethics class at UA as a hypothetical. However, there was no way that this was just a hypothetical. Hawks for some reason caught word about a child who was in danger, enough danger that he needed backup. Warning bells were screaming at Shouta. Hawks was likely a HPSC agent in some way. He was too tightly connected with the organization to not be. And needed back up when normally the hero had the backing of the HPSC . An organization Shouta was known to be critical of. Or as critical as he could without suddenly ‘retiring’.

 

The Hero Public Safety Commission had a child. One that Hawks clocked as needed saving. 

 

Those B___rds.

 

A fire was lit under Shouta and he wanted nothing more than to storm into whatever building and steal back the child from whatever hell they had put them through. The familiar feeling of his hair raising up off his scalp startled him. It had been some time since he lost control of his quirk from emotions. He blinked, carefully keeping his face still to hide the embarrassment. 

 

“From that reaction, I am now more curious about what you are about to say.” The winged hero was still tightly wound but the easy going smile looked less plastic and the death grip on the papers had loosened. 

 

“The safety of a child is more important than any protocol. The first thing I teach my students is ‘prioritize the rescue’. If anything gets in the way of the safety of those we as heroes swear to protect, then the Hero isn’t doing their job.”

 

“How about laws?” The gold eyes were guarded as they searched Shouta. 

 

“What about them?” Dark eyes returned the searching expression to the winged hero. 

 

“Would you be willing to break laws to save a child?”

 

“Yes.” Shouta didn’t even have to think about it. He shrugged. “It honestly wouldn’t be my first time.” 

 

And it really wasn’t. He had broken multiple laws to protect kids he’d found on his patrols. He also had bent and twisted hero protocol too. And that wasn’t counting the number of times the man had technically committed vigilantism his first year of UA before transferring into the hero course. He had been bitter and an idiotic teen. In the grand scheme of things some counts of vigilantism wasn’t the worst form of teen rebellion.  Which was why he'd always been soft on other vigilantes, letting things slide he knew deep down he probably shouldn't.

 

“Even if you could end up in Taurus?” Hawks took a tentative step closer to Shouta. 

 

Holy s___, what did Hawks find?

 

“If the laws and protocol of the HPSC are so broken that they can endanger a child I would gladly take the fall if the child is freed.” Shouta let his apathetic expression twist into the grin that made his students shudder. “And I’d love to see them try. I wouldn’t go down without a fight.” 

 

Neither would Hizashi. Honestly people were scared of Shouta for ‘radical thinking’, believing that he was the unhinged one in their relationship. But those who truly knew the couple knew that Shouta was actually the rational even keel to Hizashi’s almost manic desire for violent chaos when prompted. 

 

Shouta wasn’t the only one breaking vigilante laws in High School. He just never got caught. 

 

Hawks didn’t seem surprised that Shouta had obviously put a few things together. He nodded and held out the papers. They were printouts of police reports and hand written notes. A black and white picture of a grinning kid with the wildest plume of hair, no older than nine or ten. There was a gap in his smile and his chubby freckled cheeks squished his eyes almost closed with how wide the smile was. Shouta skimmed the very brief overview on the kid. Midoriya Izuku. Male. Birthdate July 15th. Doing some mental math, the kid was eleven. Quirk status: P. 

 

Oh. oh. HPSC was quirk trafficking. Or something too close to it. Protected Quirk explained why the kid was targeted. Most protected quirks related to healing, teleportation, time travel, precognition or mind control. All things that criminal organizations paid high dollar for. And apparently the HPSC would also go for them too. He wished he was surprised, but this seemed almost logical from the things he did know about the organization. The next leap for Shouta to lose whatever scraps of faith he had left in humanity.

 

Shouta quickly flipped through the other pages. A few police reports of bullying. Stalking. Violent disappearance. Looked like the mom was assumed to be at fault. Her questionable sentencing. 

 

Smelled fishy from the cursory look through. Reading it fully likely would bring more to light. He flicked his eyes up at the winged hero and raised one eyebrow. 

 

“I doubt you would waste my time on a dead kid.” Shouta drawled.

 

“Izuku isn’t dead. I talked to him earlier tonight. Finally got his full name and found about all… this.” 

 

“Why does a high ranked hero like you seek out an Under like me for this? Why not reach out to some of your Daylight buddies?”

 

Hawks looked down and away chewing on his lower lip. A few feathers moved from the wings to twist and turn in the air around his hand. The young hero focused on the dancing feathers for a few moments before one landed in his hand. He started twisting it between his fingers. Shouta couldn’t help but be surprised by the show of vulnerability and anxiety. He didn’t follow heroes religiously like some, but he’d never seen the young hero so blatantly stressed. Either this was weighing so heavily on his mind that his walls had come down or Hawks had decided to show Shouta more to help him realize how important this was.

 

“I was injured badly. I probably should have died or at least turned out crippled.” Hawks frowned, dropping the feather controlling it to join in with the other swirling feathers. “But I was taken to a special HPSC facility. One I had never been to before.” 

 

Hawks looked up from the feathers to look Shouta in the eyes. The wide eyed stressed look made something in Shouta’s heart ache. Hawks was still technically a teenager and in the moment the look in his gold eyes made him look like a child. The hero was not that much younger than his students in the grand scheme of things. That deep desire to protect pulled at Shouta’s chest. 

 

“I was fairly out of it so at first I thought that I was hallucinating. But I saw the green bean, Izuku, come into my room as they were about to put me back under. He then proceeded to cut open his own arm and rub salt into it.” 

 

The feathers froze for a few breaths before they continued on their lazy loops.

 

“I’ve seen some s___.” He huffed a laugh, his wings rustling. “Every hero has, but that was horrifying. I couldn’t do anything. I just laid there as the drugs put me back under.”

 

A feather moved to do slow circles around Shouta. He reached out a hand, palm up as an invitation for it to land. The feather landed and he started to lightly fiddle with the feather. The young hero gave a small smile as he watched Shouta ghost his fingers over the soft barbs of the feather. 

 

“I woke up feeling totally healed about a day later. I was able to catch a glimpse of the kid, in the air vents of all places. Slipped him a feather.” Hawks scratched the back of his head. “I have been ordered to keep the exact details of my quirk hidden, which most heroes do, it's safer that way, but I can do more than just control the movements of my feathers. I can actually sense touch and if I have enough feathers in an area I can sense air vibrations and can do a form of surveillance. It isn’t 100% accurate, similar to lip reading, but I’ve been trained and can fill in blanks fairly well. I wanted to be able to listen in but figured hiding that number of feathers was asking a lot of a child. So he has one. Figured I could trace it back to him at a later date to get him out of there.”

 

A soft smile grew on Hawk’s face. “The kid is a huge hero nerd, and wanted to talk to me. I don’t know how he knew my quirk details but he tapped out morse code onto the feather. We have been chatting back and forth ever since.” 

 

Shouta nodded. “What's the goal here?”

 

“To get him outta there?” Hawks looked at Shouta like he had said the sky was bright orange. “What do you think the goal was?”

 

“A known HPSC affiliated daylight hero comes to a Underground hero known to be outspoken against practices of the HPSC with a request to not only go against the organization but to likely break the law?” Shouta tossed the feather up in the air. It darted away to swirl with the others, he put his hands back in his pockets. “It almost sounds like a set up to take me down.”

 

Hawks let his head fall backwards, his wings collapsed down the tips sweeping the ground. A single hand raised to cover his face. He let out a long groan, before looking through his fingers at Shouta. 

 

“Anyone ever told you, you’re really paranoid?” He let the hand slowly slip down his face, his eyelids pull down enough to show the pink. Shouta felt his lips twitch into a small smirk. 

 

“My fiance tells me every day.” 

 

Red wings twitched and gold eyes sharpened into an intense stare. Good, he caught it. Eraserhead never shared information about personal life, but Shouta just dropped a huge nugget. It was an offered hand of trust, Hawks just needed to take it.

 

“So– are you willing to help?” The large wings puffed up even though the rest of the young hero’s body stayed totally still. The unending golden gaze made Shouta almost jealous, He wished he could go without blinking for just as long. 

 

“Absolutely.” Shouta tilted his head forward in a half nod. Hawks let out a soft sigh as his shoulders slumped and his wings shook in excitement. “I said I would take the fall if I can keep this kid safe, and I wasn’t kidding. Just from the little shown here I am willing to risk the chance that I will end up in some HPSC cell.” 

 

Hawks bobbed his head. “Good good. I just want Izuku out of there. I won't report you if we break any laws. I just– Being under the HPSC isn't horrible, but no other kid should go through that.” The feathers started swirling in more and more complex patterns. The young hero started shuffling a little as he watched the dancing and twirling feathers. “He has to have it worse in some ways from what I saw too, I’ve asked him about it, but Izuku won't talk about what’s happening to him and I hate to assume the worst, but my handlers like to use mind twisting logic and awful punishments to get me to do–” 

 

The almost manic ramble came to a screeching halt. The feathers drifted to the dusty floor as Hawks twisted on the balls of his feet to face Shouta once more. The young hero's eyes were wide, his wings spread fully out like he was about to take flight but all his flight feathers were razor sharp and glinting in the limited light of the dim warehouse. His breaths were fast and labored. He was the poster boy for the start of a panic attack.

 

Shouta raised his hands slowly, curling his shoulders, hunching and bending his knees to be about the same height as Hawks. He let his face soften in ways he only does when his students or civilians need reassurance. Cursing his naturally gruff voice, he tried to soften the harsh edges as he quietly spoke. 

 

“Hawks, It's okay. I am on board with you, Izuku needs out of the HPSC. I am not going to hurt you. You don’t need to explain your position with the commission. If you want to, I am willing to listen, I’m not going to judge you either way. But what we need to do is get Izuku out of there. Anything else is secondary.” 

 

As Shouta continued talking the kid slowly relaxed. Hawks sank into a seat on the ground. His wings switched back to puffy feathers and slowly moved in to almost make a protective shield around him. Not being able to fully see Hawks from the wings shading him, Shouta couldn’t tell if he’d fully relaxed, but the labored breaths had slowed and evened out. After a few minutes the hero poked his head out of his feathery cocoon, his gold eyes shimmering with unshed tears in the dim light. 

 

“Sorry, ah– I dunno what that was. My bad.” He let out an awkward chuckle. “Um– but we need to make some sort of plan? To get Izuku out? Right?”

 

Looking at the unsure look on the kid's face broke Shouta’s heart. The usually self assured to almost cocky hero looked about as sure as his most self conscious first years– meaning not at all. The lost look had an underlying desperation, screaming for reassurance and direction. Hawks was practically a child still, shoved into a situation that was obviously out of his comfort zone and likely incredibly triggering. Shouta was honestly impressed he hadn’t freaked out more. 

 

Shouta wasn’t an idiot and could read between the lines. Hawks at some point was like Izuku and was likely legally transferred into HPSC custody, or somehow illegally trafficked, and wasn't just trained to be a hero but was raised to be one. Shouta knew he threaded the needle as a UA teacher between raising future heroes and creating child soldiers. But the HPSC was obviously tipping the scales solidly into the child soldier side of things. It made Shouta fill with a cold form of rage. Hawks had said he’d delt with ‘mind twisting logic’ (which sounded an awful lot like manipulation) and ‘awful punishments’ (likely physical abuse) by the hands of the HPSC for who knows how long. Shouta swore to himself that not only would he help Izuku, but that he would help Hawks as well. His closeness to the HPSC was likely not a choice or even remotely healthy. 

 

Shouta knew a Rat that would likely love to take a little bird under his protection. Especially if Hawks can provide blackmail for the HPSC. The excessive security at UA could also hold Izuku from being recaptured illegally and the need for warrants and other bureaucratic nonsense would at least delay and hold off the commission if there was some legal trail for their custody of the kid. 

 

He was probably getting ahead of himself. 

 

“I have a few ideas and people that I trust implicitly. Some are powerful enough that they could hold off the HPSC from getting back at Izuku, or anyone else that needs protection.” Shouta pointedly looked at the young hero, the golden blank stare gave nothing away. “I will need to read all of the intel you have collected. I am assuming you are being watched?”

 

“Yeah,” Hawks nodded, as his wings shifted Shouta saw he was hugging his knees. “Almost constantly, I have ways to get around with some things. Like meeting up with you I trashed the cameras and mics in my apartment, which I’ve done periodically since I was sixteen. So they won’t freak out and will just replace them when I am patrolling tomorrow.” 

 

Shouta grimaced, but nodded. It was horrifying that Hawks was so normalized to that all. 

 

“I figured it might be something like that. I will want to talk to Izuku’s mom to get her side of things, I will also reach out to my contacts to make strategies for protecting Izuku and who could assist in the extraction and gathering more insider intel. There is no point in extracting the kid if he is captured again. Make sense?” The kid nodded, and let out a soft cooing noise as he closed his eyes and set his head on his knees. Shouta crouched down into a squat and awkwardly shuffled forward to be about half a meter from Hawks. 

 

“While I do all that organizing you have two main jobs.” The kid didn't raise his head, but his eyes flashed open and looked at Shouta with rapt attention. “First, you need to act like nothing's wrong or different, continue your patrols, do your public relations nonsense, smile for the cameras, all that. You are good at putting on that show, keep it up so the HPSC can’t sniff that there is something up. Are you willing to do that?” Hawks nodded, his cheek grinding into his knee. His face was blank, but Shouta could tell he wasn’t overly fond of that task. Tough luck, it was needed. 

 

“Secondly, I need you to keep up the contact with Izuku as much as you both can.” This got the kid to snap his head up, the blank look was sharp and focused. His feathers puffed up as his wings twitched. Shouta bit back a smile, this was a task the young hero was obviously excited for. “He is going to need support and having a hero there to help be emotional support will be key. Building that trust will be helpful depending on how we plan to extract him. Additionally, if he shares any helpful information we might be able to get him out faster. But we don’t want to push too hard. Does that make sense?” 

 

Hawks bobbed his head. And Shouta let a small smile twist the corners of his lips. 

 

“You seem to be doing a good job at this too, taking three days to get his name might seem like a long time but I have worked with contacts for months before learning their full name. You gained that boy's trust quickly but not pushed to scare him off. And you reached out for additional help the same day, so we will get Izuku out of there as fast as we can. And that was all because of you. You are going to help save Izuku. You are a good hero.” 

 

“Thanks,” Hawks’ big gold eyes looked a little shiny and his voice was just a whisper. His wings fully tucked behind his back, showing the tight grip he had on the legs of his sweatpants. 

 

Was Shouta treating Hawks like one of his stressed out, overachieving, perfectionist students? Absolutely. But the kid needed someone to take over the reins it seemed, this all was too close to him and it was abundantly clear. He also needed that reassurance, and Shouta mentally cursed the commission for denying this kid from the things he obviously needed. 

 

Shouta telegraphed his movements as he reached out a hand towards the kids messy windswept hair. The kid didn’t seem to be stressed over it, so Shouta rested his hand on the young hero’s head. The golden hair was soft under Shouta’s fingers and after a soft tussle the underground hero was surprised to find some long very thin feathers mixed into the strands of hair. Hawks leaned into the touch with a very bird-like coo. The action melted Shouta’s heart even further. Either this kid is the best manipulator of all time or was actually just an overwhelmed teen. Shouta should listen to his paranoia, but the larger part of him really believed that Hawks was just in over his head and needed… a lot. Shouta let a genuine smile soften his face further.

 

“Any time, Hawks.” And while Hawks might realize it, Shouta meant it literally. He would be there for this kid, he was so capable of being a hero, just needed someone to be there to reassure him that there would be someone to catch him if he fell. Shouta doubted the kid would ‘fall’ in any meaningful way but reassurance can go a long way. 

 

“Keigo.” 

 

“What?”

 

“Keigo, my given name.” Hawks– Keigo ’s big molten gold eyes looked up at Shouta. Shouta felt the same raising joy he’d felt when he got the alley kittens to trust him to feed out of his hand. 

 

“Okay, Anytime, Keigo. ” Shouta stood, his knees popping dramatically. Before he twisted to leave, he smiled at the kid once again. “Aizawa Shouta. I look forward to working with you.” 

 

Hawks nodded, wiping his eyes with the palm of his hand. A red feather just longer than Shouta’s hand swayed and fluttered from Hawk’s mid-wing to just in front of the underground hero’s eyes. 

 

“Use this if you need to contact me. If there is an emergency, break it. And I’ll be there.”

 

“I will keep you up to date on my end. Let me know how it goes with Izuku. We’ll get him out of there.” 

 

“I know we will.” 

 

Shouta nodded and turned. Almost out of the warehouse he turned his head over his shoulder to look back at the young hero who was still curled up on the ground. Keigo was looking much more relaxed but a hundred times more exhausted. 

 

“Take care of yourself, kid.” With that Shouta left the warehouse. Using his capture weapon he catapulted himself up to the roof of an apartment. He was supposed to be patrolling for another 45 minutes but the papers tucked under his arm were screaming to be read. 

 

Shouta decided to text the neighboring patrolling underground hero that he was having to leave a little early. The hero sent back a text stating that they were okay keeping an eye out for the hour. With that Shouta headed back to his apartment to start his investigation. 

 

Hopefully he’d get a few hours of sleep, or his trip to the prison would be incredibly unpleasant. 

Notes:

edited 5/27/2025 :P Man I loved to tense shift and type Shotua instead of Shouta lol

Chapter 4: Aizawa Meets with Inko

Notes:

SO I REALIZED A THING In the last chapter Aizawa said that his *husband* existed. I forgot that in this story they are just engaged (dont write multiple stories at the same time lol) so i fixed that in the last chapter! but just a warning!

But here is the newest chapter! There is a single trigger of the discussions of possible SA but its what I would concider fairly clinical and no specifics are given but just a warning to those who might be sensitive to that here is your warning!

But hopefully yall enjoy! <3

Kyoto Women's Facility for the Criminally Insane was concerningly easy to get into. Shouta had made one phone call, gave them his hero ID and they told him that they would drag Ms. Midoriya out immediately for whatever he needed. The man on the phone insinuated that if he wanted they could give the two of them a room with no interruptions or ‘extra eyes’ if he’d prefer it that way. 

 

Shouta, silently horrified, said he could work around her schedule and that normal protocols for visitors would likely work just fine. The man just laughed it off and said if he ever changed his mind just call back and they’d make it work out for him. Hanging up after getting the time that Ms. Midoryia was free, Shouta stared at the shiny black glass of the phone in his hand long after the screen had timed out. 

 

He hoped that wasn’t implying what he thought it was. But it probably was . 

 

Shaking his head to make himself focus, Shouta turned his phone back on and scrolled through his contacts. He hovered his thumb over the contact listed as “Rat-Boss”. After a few tense seconds he opened the message app. It was too early to call Nedzu. 

 

It was always too early to call Nedzu. 

 

>>Possible abuse of power at Kyoto Women’s Facility for the Criminally Insane. Implications include prostitution of inmates and likely neglect of proper care. Additionally, there is a topic that I need to speak with you in person about later today.

 

The Principal's response was almost immediate. Shouta hated morning people.

 

>> I appreciate the tip, Shouta-kun! It has been too long since I have been able to shut down a corrupt institution. This will be a delightful task to warm up my brain this morning! A little birdie told me that you and I will both be free today during tea time at 4pm. I am excited to hear more about what might be ruffling your feathers and offer any assistance that I may. With my eagle eyes I might be able to swoop down and see a good solution to whatever troubles you

 

>> I will be there.

 

>> I look forward to it!

 

Shouta pocketed his phone, suppressing a shiver. He wished he was surprised that his boss already knew at least something about what was going on, but the Rat always seemed to be at least tentatively aware of everything all the time. Shouta knew some of his tricks of how he gained his information, but it was only a fraction of his arsenal. The principal had joked about trackers and subcutaneous microphones enough that Shouta wouldn’t be surprised if he’d chipped all his teachers at least.

 

He tried not to think too hard about it and was just grateful that Nedzu was on their side. 

 

It also made Shouta’s life a little bit easier a lot of the time. It was illogical to deny the usefulness and efficiency of Nedzu's questionable methods. No matter how creepy and invasive they were. 

 

Looking at the clock on the wall of his and Hizashi’s apartment, he saw that his fiance would be waking up any second now. Shouta sighed. There was no way that he would be getting any sleep, so he might as well make a nice breakfast for the two of them before he skipped class to head over to the prison facility. 

 

Hizashi stumbled into the kitchen, his glasses were askew and his hair was an absolute mess. Shouta turned, handing him a plate with an omelet steaming on it. He smiled at the slightly bleary and confused face that contorted his Fiance's face. Hizashi took the plate with a small bow and sat at the table. Slowly booting up Hizashi tucked the loops of his blond hair behind his ears out of the way. Shouta followed him with his own plate and a cup of coffee. He let himself collapse over the cup of coffee drinking from it deeply, ignoring the burning of his tongue. 

 

“So, what’s the special occasion?” Hizashi lifted a piece of the omelet into the air with his chopsticks before taking a bite. “Not like I mind waking up to a breakfast made with love on a random day.”

 

“Maybe it’s just because I love you.” Shouta mumbled while staring blankly at his Fiance over the rim of his mug. 

 

“I love you too, but you look stressed and like you haven’t slept all night.”

 

“I haven’t, not really.” 

 

“Shou,” Hizashi’s whole face softened as he stretched a hand forward to put his hand over Shouta’s. “Why didn’t you wake me? You know I don’t mind helping you after nightmares, and you know it helps–” Shouta cut him off.

 

“Wasn’t nightmares.” Hizashi didn’t look convinced. Shouta put down the mug. “It wasn’t.”

 

“Ooooookay,” he took another bite before looking back up. “So, what was it?”

 

“A new case from an unlikely informant. A bad one. Needed immediate attention.”

 

“Shouta, I could’ve helped with that too. You know that.”

 

“I do. You just looked too peaceful, I didn’t want to wake you.” Shouta felt his cheeks flush and cursed how well Hizashi could read the small facial cues that hid behind his deadpan. The bright teasing grin on his fiance's face made Shouta’s face burn hotter. 

 

“As absolutely adorable that is, you can wake me up even when I am too cute.” The grin softened as Hizashi squeezed Shouta’s hand. “I want you to take care of yourself, and sleeping is part of that. So if I can help speed some of your late nights up, I’d do it gladly.” 

 

Shouta nodded as he slid his hand out from under Hizashi’s. He took a big bite of his omelet, not fully trusting his voice. He just loved Hizashi too much and soft moments brought it forward to the forefront of his mind again and again. 

 

“So, can I help with anything? Case or generally?” 

 

Swallowing, Shouta started to slide the now organized file towards the other hero. Hizashi looked a little confused when Shouta didn’t let the file slide out from under his fingers. Making eye contact, Shouta set down his chopsticks on the edge of his plate.

 

“If you read this you might end up aiding and abetting a major felony or being complicit in efforts to take down a part of the government. Taurus level punishments if this goes down wrong. Keep that in mind before choosing to read what’s in this file.”

 

“Holy s—, Shouta what did you stumble into?” Hizashi laughed before wiggling his eyebrows. “And you know I’m a bit too ride or die to not help, love. You are stuck with me and maybe I can sweet talk the guards to let us have some conjugal visits, or better yet, a shared a cell.”

 

“I’m being serious, Hizashi.” Shouta looked into Hizashi’s green eyes, hoping the seriousness of this case would entail with only a hard stare.

 

“So am I.” The green eyes looked back at the black eyes with stubborn reckless abandon. 

 

Shouta raised his hand, letting his fiance take the file. With a sigh he started to explain everything that had happened last night with Hawks. Talking about his personal research into the Midoryia family and tentatively the families that were friends of the Midoryia’s. How his phone call earlier with the prison center Midoryia Inko was being held had gone. Groaning about how Nezu was now involved a tad earlier than he’d originally planned due to it and how he had two meetings today, both of which would likely impact his ability to teach his classes. 

 

“Well, I could cover two of your classes during my break periods and Nemuri could do the last one which would line up to your meeting with Ms. Midoriya.”

 

“I don’t think you are qualified to teach law to the third years, Hizashi.”

 

“Excuse me, I am a hero and had to take law classes too, and I got better grades than you at UA, if I remember correctly. And I was just planning on just giving them some class time to work on the essay I know you assigned them.” He looked back down at the file, flipping through the pages a little absentmindedly before his head shot up. “Wait– hey why is Nemuri more qualified to teach the third years than I am?”

 

Shouta grinned as he drank the last of his now lukewarm coffee. “She doesn’t have a vigilante conviction on her records.”

 

“You went out more often than I ever did! How can you teach them then?”

 

“Ah, but I have no convictions on my record. So I might as well be a model citizen.” Shouta laughed at Hizashi’s strangled scream as he stood and put his plate in the sink. As Shouta moved into the back of the apartment to get ready for the day he heard his fiance grumble about hypocrisy and how he’d show Shouta a ‘model citizen’. It took everything in Shouta to not bust up laughing. 

 

–--

 

Walking into the Kyoto Women’s Facility for the Criminally Insane was– an odd experience for Shouta. He had visited prisons and mental institutions before but the way this place mixed the two left him feeling off kilter. 

 

The guards (or were they nurses?) were dressed in slightly off white scrubs, but had tasers or billy clubs strapped to their thighs. Shouta had signed in at the reception on a simple clipboard, but also had to go through what felt like eight levels of security to be admitted. The cheerful paintings on the walls and the ‘pop of color’ tiles floor juxtaposed with the thick steel cage doors and the shackles that were seemingly worn even inside the cells. 

 

Observations of the women left a sour taste in Shouta’s mouth. Some were pacing, the clinking and clattering of the chains echoed down the halls to mix with the low level muttering and a few low moans and sobs. Others were curled up on their thin mattresses or sitting on the floor against the wall looking bored out of their minds, some were obviously drugged. The worst however, were the few women whose silent pointed looks cut him right to his core with their hostile distrust peppered with resigned exhaustion. 

 

Had Shouta not already contacted Nedzu, he would have after walking through these halls. The reactions and interactions he’d had in such a short time of even knowing about this place screamed that something was wrong. Unfortunately he knew that he needed to keep his thoughts and theories to himself. Possibly having to play along if necessary. He didn’t want his suspicion to clue in the bad actors in this institution. Nedzu liked the chase and would dig them out regardless, but things needed to be dealt with quickly. And with how open they are to showing their bad behavior Nedzu could have this institute shut down within the month. Maybe even a few weeks.

 

As their walk continued Shouta felt himself tense, coiling ready to spring to action. Eraserhead had done undercover work in the past, but somehow infiltrating an illegal quirk fighting ring felt safer then whatever insidious thing hid in this building. Lucky for Shouta, there weren't any overt illegalities playing out in front of him– the only highly questionable thing being a warning from the nurse-guard that had been leading him giving him a warning about how the camera’s wouldn’t shut off until 30 seconds after the door buzzed closed. Shouta only nodded before he turned to walk in the room, only to be stopped but a firm grip on his arm. He turned back to look directly in the hard eyes of the other man. 

 

“A word for the wise. Midoryia in there might be pretty and looks harmless, but she’s sent more people to the hospital than any other inmate at this point. So proceed with caution.” The man looked him up and down, then smirked. 

 

“But– You seem like the type to be into that kind of thing, so–” He clapped a hand on Shouta’s shoulder, the smirk growing larger. “Enjoy.”

 

Shouta was practically shoved through the door, stumbling, his hip hit the sturdy metal table that was bolted to the center of the floor, The chairs around the table were luckily pushed in all the way or he would have tripped over the once closest to him. Pulling out his own chair, he felt sick and off kilter. Shouta hoped that his imagination and paranoia had mixed to make some greater horror then what he was imagining. He hoped that there was some innocuous and non-sinister explanation to what he’d seen, but Shouta was a realist (Hizashi would say a pessimist) and he doubted that would be the case. 

 

After a few seconds the door on the opposite side of the table opened with a buzz and Ms. Midoryia walked through the door with thin chains restraining her wrists and ankles. The woman who had walked in behind her knelt down to release the chains from around the tight cuffs on her ankles, then stood to do the same with her wrists. No one in the room made any noise during the process, only the metallic sounds of the chains sliding onto the floor cut through the oppressive silence. Once finished the woman paused, staring straight at Shouta with a look he couldn’t begin to identify before she turned to leave. The door loudly slid shut before the electronic buzz sounded making Ms. Midoriya jump. If Shouta was being honest, he had jumped a little too.

 

The two looked at each other standing on opposite sides of the small room with the metal table wedged between them. Shouta took the time to take in Ms. Midoriya. She was a short woman, the top of her head might reach his shoulder on a good day. Her bright orange scrub-like jumpsuit clashed with her loose long hair, making her look a bit like a pumpkin or a carrot. Her cheeks were round with a few faint freckles darkening the tops of her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. It gave her a youthful innocent look, but the bright green eyes with deep circles under them bore deeply into Shouta and screamed danger. This was a mother bear ready to do absolutely anything she needed to to get back to her cub– even if that meant going through Shouta to get there. 

 

Good. The reports Shouta had read on the woman were accurate. She cared deeply for her son. And being trapped here for the past year had not dimmed that love but only heightened it making it more heightened and aggressive. Distance might make the heart grow fonder, but it also spawned parents like Ms Midoryia to rain down fire and brimstone on those that forced it. Shouta couldn’t deny he looked forward to the light show. 

 

Ms Midoryia opened her mouth, about to speak, only for Shouta to hold up a finger. Confused only for a moment before realization dawned over her face, settling as her eyes flicked to the corner where the camera was screwed to the ceiling only to flick back to him with a slight nod. Shouta blinked in surprise, most civilians he’d interacted with hadn’t been that quick on the uptake. Once his mental count hit thirty, Shouta nodded and slowly moved to sit onto the uncomfortable metal chair. He gestured for Ms Midoryia to do the same. She only looked at Shouta with suspicion, refusing to move from her spot close to the far wall. 

 

“Who are you?” Her voice was harsh in a way Shouta hadn’t expected. Green eyes flashed in the oppressive fluorescent lighting, her posture coiled ready for a fight. 

 

“I am a hero, I just want to help.” 

 

Ms. Midoryia leaned against the wall and crossed her arms with an unbelieving huff. She reminded him of some of his more ornery students. Even down to the eye roll paired with a small shake of her head.

 

“My quirk,” she flourished her right hand, wiggling her fingers towards him, “Is resistant to inhibitors, as you likely know.” 

 

Shouta had indeed not known , and stored that information away making sure to not let his face change in his surprise. It wasn’t common to have a resistant quirk, but it wasn’t unheard of. Ms. Midoryia took menacing steps forward, gracefully moving around the table similar to the way a cat would when on the hunt. Her sharp observant neutral expression took on a menacing manic edge.

 

“You are far from the first to come here to try to tame me, Mr Hero. ” She leaned forward, looming over him, the hate dripped from each syllable making Shouta flinch back slightly. Her voice lowered to a dangerous purr as she slinked forward, closing the distance between the two. Shouta could feel her puff out a small breath, now practically nose to nose every freckle and each faint wrinkle around her eyes were in high definition. He was so focused on the face that he almost missed what she hissed out. 

 

“Try to touch me and say bye-bye to your testicles.” 

 

Color Shouta impressed . It was hard to intimidate someone so thoroughly, especially with so many points going against Ms Midoryia. But he felt the adrenaline flood his veins as his heart pounded in his chest. He was almost disappointed the camera’s were off as this would have been a great master class for his students on intimidation. So many students complained about being born without the things to make them intimidating, but Ms Midoryia proved him right, anyone can be intimidating if they worked with what they had. Shouta mentally shook off the ways he’d love to integrate her example into his lectures focusing back on Ms Midoryia. He blinked up at her slowly observing how the short woman was doing her best to tower over him. He had to hold back a grin as he realized that she’d been standing on her tip toes and he hadn’t even realized . He needed to defuse the conversation but hoped he’d have a chance to congratulate her without it sounding horribly condescending. 

 

“I wasn’t planning on touching you in any way, so glad to know that my balls will be safe.” 

 

The intimidating aura rippling off of Ms Midoryia slowly evened out as confusion took over. She sank back onto her heels, her eyes only slightly above Shouta’s as he sat. She took a few steps back to stand by the empty chair. She looked at it warely before glancing back at Shouta like the metal chair was somehow a trick. 

 

“I am only here to ask a few questions. I don’t plan on doing anything else. Sit or stand, it doesn’t really matter to me.” 

 

Shouta hoped that Ms Midoryia would sit, but it was more for her to be comfortable. He made sure to stay totally still, even taking measured breaths in a hope to put her at ease. It worked as Ms Midoryia ever so slowly lowered herself into the chair. She was wound tightly, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Shouta took that as a win and slumped back into his chair. The metal dug into his back. He felt like he had gotten an alley cat to take a few steps towards him, but not quite close enough to pet. His obvious relaxed posture let Ms Midoryia relax slightly in her own seat. Her hands bunched up the thin orange fabric over her thighs.

 

“I’m not big on pleasantries, but I will introduce myself. I am the Pro-hero Eraserhead. I’ve come to get your side of the story regarding your son’s disappearance.” 

 

She slumped further into her seat. Her face loosened to look utterly exhausted in ways that Shouta could empathize with. She took a deep breath before she spoke plainly.

 

“I don’t know what I could tell you that hasn’t already been said a thousand times. But I did not murder my son.” 

 

“I never thought you did.” 

 

That caught her attention. The haze of exhaustion blinked away instantly, only leaving clear and intense focus. She leaned forward over the table. The thin cuffs on her wrists clattered on the table. 

 

“You don’t think I killed Izuku? You don’t think I am some sick woman who snapped under the weight of being a single mother?” Her face was guarded and her words were even, but Shouta thought he could see some spark of something hidden in her green eyes. He shook his head. Ms Midoryia leaned back with a small huff and a tiny smile. 

 

“Well, Mr. Eraserhead, this is a first. What makes you any different?”

 

It was Shouta’s turn to slowly lean forward. “I have a witness who not only saw, but has continued communication with your son.” 

 

“Izuku’s alive?”

 

Shouta nodded, giving her a soft smile. Green eyes flooded with tears as Ms Midoryia’s whole body collapsed back in relief. She took some deep stuttering breaths before she wiped the tears that had cascaded down her round cheeks. She rolled her shoulders, her gaze hardened with determination as she shifted to the edge of her seat. 

 

“I’ll tell you everything.” 

 

And she did. She was a wealth of information, giving him her story in vivid detail. Shouta had taken out a recording device and asked a few questions here and there to guide her, but she only needed prompting a few times as she was methodical. 

 

Ms Midoryia– ‘Call me Inko’ -- spoke of many letters and agents reaching out trying to convince her to sign over her parental rights. They used complex legalese to explain how it would be safer for Izuku, how they would make sure she got visitation, how they would care for her son and make sure she was well compensated. At first she’d thought it was fairly innocuous as Izuku had gotten some local publicity due to his efforts to help his friend with quirkless discrimination in the local middle school. 

 

She’d always refused the agents and ignored the letters and got more and more concerned as they got more pushy and frustrated in tone. But she’d brushed it off as it was the HPSC, a part of the government and she’d never imagined them being able to do anything more than be an annoyance. A thorn in her side. 

 

One day Inko’s friend had told her about some strange people in suits asking about her and her family. Then people at her job started asking about the daily rotation of people asking about her, but would disappear if they went to go get Inko. One, Bakugou Mitsuki, only half joking, asked Inko if she’d somehow gotten mixed up with the Yakuza. It was that comment that really pushed Inko over the edge and led to her first call to the police. 

 

Once she’d accepted that there was a real danger to her son, and possibly her, she’d started to notice the constant strangers tailing her. At some point Izuku also noticed and was genuinely terrified. Inko described through watery eyes about how her son had broken down in tears about how he didn’t feel safe anymore, and asked if they were going to steal him away because of his quirk. She’d contacted the police again that day and only got a CPS visit. Izuku had refused to go to school or leave the apartment even with a friend with a ‘volatile quirk’ and her walking with him, so she’d pulled him out and transferred him to an online curriculum. She’d called out to work taking all of her sick days and vacation consecutively and started making plans to move up north with her parents, hoping that it would all blow over, and maybe having two additional adults could make Izuku feel more safe. 

 

Of course before anything could actually get solidified, five people broke into her apartment, breaking down the door while she was making dinner. Inko heard the door splinter and ran out to try to fight the five people off the best she could. She had used her quirk to attract knives from the kitchen block to shoot out and got a few good cuts. All but one of the people ducked behind the living room furniture. They were able to grab Izuku and brought him out with a hand gripped tightly around his throat. 

 

Inko’s eyes at this point cycled between shame, horror and pride as she graphically described pulling the man’s eyes out of his skull. The man had apparently screamed and let go of the boy. Inko grabbed him and ran out of the apartment. She didn’t know who started the fire but she smelled the smoke as she got to the end of the hall. One of the remaining kidnappers had some sort of agility quirk and had been able to catch up much faster than the rest. Inko had kicked them, pushing Izuku to run down the stairs. She tried her best but when the other three circled, she’d been overwhelmed. She pulled with her quirk doing who knows what type of damage to their internal systems, and kicked. bit and scratched to keep them from going down the stairway. But once she’d finally fallen to the ground and had one of the kidnappers kicking in her ribs she’d heard a scream that she said she still heard every night in her nightmares. 

 

It had been Izuku, her son, screaming as he ran out of the stairway and tried to tackle the man kicking his mom. Being a small ten year old it hadn’t worked and the kidnappers just struggled to hold on to the kid as he squirmed and tried to get out of their hold. One of the kidnappers had a nail sharpening quirk and had moved to slice the kid’s cheek, deeply. Inko pounced on the kidnappers as they were distracted. She’d struggled to Izuku who was crying and she’d held his bleeding cheek, he looked stricken and frozen curled up by the wall. She felt a hand wrap around her neck. So she quickly gave her son a kiss and told him that she loved him. The kidnapper tore her away, chucking her down the hallway away from the stairs and then grabbed the boy.

 

They all ran off once Izuku was in their grip, totally ignoring as Inko ran after them. She’d been able to follow them for a decent amount of time. She had used her quirk to ruin their getaway car, pulling on any small parts that she could get a grip on with her quirk. From the distance she’d given herself a nosebleed and was dizzy but kept chasing them. The kidnappers had ducked into a local illegal dump site of Dagobah beach. She’d lost them in the massive piles of trash, and collapsed from quirk exhaustion and her various half healed injuries. Once she woke back up some time later the world was still fuzzy and off, Inko was honest and said she wasn’t sure if it was shock or some head injury but in her haze she knew she kept walking around the trash searching for Izuku. She’d continued her fruitless search until she was taken into custody by the police. 

 

Hearing her side as the justice system failed her again and again was painful for Shouta as she listed hundreds of times she’d been accused of lying, being a hysterical or crazy woman or being met with hostility being outright told that she deserved the rough treatment as she was obviously guilty of killing her own child. 

 

She cried as she told Shouta that she believed that she had killed her son but not in the direct way that they had ment. She hollowly told him how everyone had stopped looking for Izuku almost immediately after starting. Shouta felt his heart crack as Inko’s eyes went distant as she told him about how police had come to her with Izuku’s death certificate telling her that she should just tell them where his body was so her little boy could get the rest that he deserved. 

 

She’d never backed down from her actual story and Shouta couldn't help but admire her for it, even as she confessed to him about being left confused and mentally conflicted as she was almost convinced that it had all been some psychotic break.

 

Looking at the woman pulling herself together again and again as she told her story, a determined glint in her eye as she wiped her face, Shouta hoped that Izuku had inherited her tenacity and determination. If he hadn’t Shouta feared what mental state the kid might be in when they rescued him. He was worried regardless but with that level of mental fortitude might allow the kid to heal and possibly have a relatively normal life after all this. Shouta’s brow was deeply furrowed in thought when Inko cleared her throat, derailing his train of thought. 

 

“Please, please, save my Izuku.” She swallowed as her eyes flicked to the corner of the room. Her voice was hoarse and clogged with emotion. She looked Shouta directly in the eyes, making him want to squirm. “I never thought I’d even have the chance to see him again. Thank you for giving me hope again.” 

 

Shouta actually shifted in his chair, something writhing deep in his gut. Statistics of kidnappings echoed in his mind as visions of dead and maimed children flooded his mind's eye. There was a solid chance that he was here giving this mother hope only to have to later crush it under his heel. 

 

“I can’t make any promises, Inko. I need you to understand that.” 

 

Inko’s red rimmed irritated eyes softened as she gave him the most genuine smile. She reached forward to give a comforting pat to the back of his hand. 

 

“I don’t doubt that you’ll do everything in your power to help my son, Eraserhead. And for that I am forever going to be grateful.” 

 

Shouta nodded as he ducked his face into his capture scarf. He slipped his hand from under her’s to cross his arms. He felt like his skin was squirming and he wanted the attention off of him. He blurted the first thing that came to mind. 

 

“Tell me about him.” Inko blinked, surprised.  

 

“Izuku?” Shouta gave a quick short nod. Inko then melted into a wide grin. “He is amazing . And I know that all mom’s say that but my baby is genuinely spectacular. He almost single handedly rooted out quirkless discrimination from our local middle school for a friend. He is smarter than I ever could be. He can figure out how a hero's quirk works from a short clip online. He seems to have memorized every single hero and is wildly obsessed with some of the most obscure ones that I’ve definitely never heard of.” Her smile shifted into something more intimate and glowing. 

 

“He is so kind, not just nice. He is always willing to help, sometimes he is so selfless that it scares me. He wants to be a hero so badly, and I know if given the chance he will save so many–” Inko’s red rimmed eyes filled with tears, a few tears rolling down her lightly freckled cheeks. 

 

“I just– I know him well enough that he’ll one day give too much of himself and he won't be able to come home to me.” A bitter laugh soured the warm atmosphere. “I worry he’ll be forced to give too much of himself before you can get to him.” 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

Inko looked a little confused by his question before the lightbulb flickered on behind her eyes. 

 

“His quirk. The doctor who tested him told me it was likely on par with Recovery Girl’s. But instead of a kiss he heals whenever he is injured or in pain. He cannot control it past avoiding injury, or staying away from other people who are injured. It’s a chronic quirk.”

 

“Holy S___,” Shouta mumbled to himself, rubbing his hand over his stubble. “No wonder he was taken.” 

 

“I tried to keep it hidden as much as I could. My friends don’t even know the full extent of his quirk. But how was I supposed to hide it from the organization responsible for the registry.” Inko looked haunted by years worth of sleepless nights and endless anxiety. In that moment she embodied exhaustion in ways that Shouta, the man known for looking tired, couldn’t even begin to attempt. 

 

Shouta leaned forward and offered his hand to Inko. She looked surprised as she took it. Shouta gripped it as he hoped the rolling internal emotions were funneled into outward determination. 

 

“I’m going to do everything I can to not only save Izuku but help him be safe in the future. No child’s life should be destroyed because of their quirk.” 

 

“Please, take care of him.” Her voice was nothing more than a faint whisper. Her eyes were misty once more. She moved her other hand to squeeze his hand tight enough her hands shook and it hurt. It was like she was trying to use the grip to make up for how quiet her words were. Shouta met her wet eyes with solidifying resolution. 

 

“I will see to it personally.” Something in Shouta settled with his words, he would do everything to keep this promise. 

 

Inko sniffed as she nodded with a smile. She removed her hands from his to scrub at her face. Shouta leaned into the hard edge of his seat and watched as she once more pulled herself back together. 

 

“I’d like to help you too, you know.” 

 

Inko paused, a hand on her cheek as her wide eyes bore into him. She squinted at him before quickly finishing up her self cleanup.

 

“What do you… know?” She sounded and looked hesitant in ways she had yet to show in their conversation. She refused to meet his eyes, which constricted something in Shouta’s chest. He sighed, bringing a hand up to rub his eyes.

 

“Only that something is majorly wrong here. But nothing concrete. I was practically forced to talk to you here unsupervised. The way the women I passed acted along with the guards' attitudes have been off. And of course the fact that a kindhearted woman like yourself felt that her first words to a hero should be to threaten their manhood is a bit of a red flag.” Inko let out a strangled squeak as her face flushed bright red. Shouta bit back a smile as he took a short pause to compose himself before continuing. “I can tell it’s off in ways that are obvious, but I'm going to need more than just a ‘hero's intuition’ or ‘bad vibes’ to genuinely fix anything.” 

 

Inko nodded, looking pensive. Before she finally made tentative eye contact. She looked scared.

“Let’s just say that you aren't the first hero or official who has come in there and asked for one on one time with an inmate they don’t know." She paused, her face scrunching like she’d tasted something sour. “Some of the women here call it the Kyoto brothel. Not everyone is taken aside…. It’s only the ones that have been flagged as having psychotic episodes. Anyone with a supposed tentative hold on reality who tries to come forward about an attack can be passed off as taking a break from reality or being paranoid.”

 

She shrugged like she was remarking on something as simple as the weather. Shouta knew that he was normalized to a lot of horrible things but seeing someone who should be horrified just not be, felt wrong to him. 

 

“Have you been attacked before?” He mentally crossed his fingers hoping Inko had not. 

 

“Well, they’ve tried but none have been successful.” A small smirk twitched at the corners of her mouth. “Learning that I can pull on a person’s eyes or you know–” She flicked down towards Shouta’s crotch briefly and cleared her throat. “ Other similarly sized organs have been of great use here.” The playful aura faded as her shoulders slumped. “Others here have not been so lucky.” 

 

“Do you have any names of those that attacked you or others?” Inko shook her head. 

 

“No, sorry.” 

 

“Don’t apologize. You have already given leads for other possible victims to talk to. Or which visitation records to look into. You have been very helpful.”

 

“Thank you, I know a lot of the women here did commit crimes, but–” Shouta cut her off.

 

“No one deserves this type of treatment. Criminal record or otherwise.” Shouta suddenly felt tired. He let out a sigh as he rubbed his eyes. “I likely won’t be heavily involved in this investigation. I’ve got other priorities as you are already aware. And honestly this sort of case is outside of my normal wheelhouse. That being said, I have already flagged this institution as a concern to the pro-hero Nedzu to look into. I have it on good authority that dismantling corrupt organizations is one of his favorite pastimes, so he has likely already started his own investigation. I say this all to ask if it would be okay with you to give him the recording of this conversation and give your name as a witness?”

 

“I’d love to help in any way I can.” 

 

“Good.” Shouta stood, his knees popped loudly. “I will try to come back to update you once we’ve made progress regarding your son. I might also have to send a different hero depending on how it goes. But fair warning. It might take a while.” 

 

“I‘ll learn to live with the suspense.” She stood and then gave Shouta a low bow. “Just knowing that people like you are out there trying to help him means the world.” 

 

Shouta felt his stomach twist once again as he gestured for her to stand up. He looked into her watery eyes. He saw a spark that was not there before they’d spoken. She looked exhausted and wrung out but lighter and hopeful. He felt like he needed to say or do something but wasn’t sure what. After a slightly too long of a pause Shouta gave her a slight bow.

 

“Take care of yourself, Inko.” 

 

“You too, Eraserhead.” 

 

“Shouta.” 

 

He didn't know why he felt he should give her his name, but he did. He hadn’t even given his family name, but jumped right to his given name, one that he hadn’t even let his best friends use for years. Sometimes when he was feeling petty he made his fiance call him Aizawa instead of Shouta. But it felt right and seemed like the correct thing to do as Inko lightened even more with a smile.

 

“Thank you, Shouta.” 

 

Without another word, Shouta moved to buzz the guard to let him out. Shouta looked back at Inko briefly, as the nurse-guard rechained her cuffs. Her green eyes sparkled as she watched him leave. Shouta shivered as he exited the facility. 

 

He needed a shower. Hero worship always made him feel dirty.

Notes:

Edit: 5/29/2025 -- I forgot legit after this chapter I made Mic have hearing aids lol so I cut the references to it cuz it was literally no where else. but dont worry, i have plans :))) so if you love Deaf Mic just wait... a long time (lol). I also fixed a few sentences and typos :P

Chapter 5: Keigo is crushed under the weight of his responsibility

Notes:

Helooooo So I got the next chappie! It is Hawks POV and dont worry! We are ever getting closer and closer to Izuku's POV >:)
The next chapter is written I just need to edit it lol So fret not! There will be an update in the next few days after this lol
This chapter def has some harsher themes as Hawks is having like a slow mental break down so like there is some panic responses and whatnot the poor baby is dealing with. So just a warning :D

But without further Ado! Enjoy~~

Keigo hated to admit it but waiting was going to actually kill him. Full dead. Heart stopped on the floor naked in the bathroom dead. 

 

He’d told Eraserhead– Aizawa– that he would be able to play the perfectly normal, happy, healthy, media savvy, suave, new up and coming hero. But it had been less then four hours since he’d made that promise and Keigo genuinely wasn’t sure he would be able to last the next 24 hours.

 

Keigo tried sleeping only to last fifteen minutes, if he was being generous . He tossed and turned before he gave up. He tried to write reports for the commission and for his agency. After the thousandth time Keigo had to go back and reread what he had just written, he decided that middle of the night Keigo might be too tired and wired to write anything that would be cohesive. Shoving work off onto future him, he tried to lay down and watch TV, only to fail at that too. He shut off the TV after realizing a whole episode of whatever he’d put on had gone by without him noticing and all he’d done was pace around his apartment fiddling with feathers on his wings and fluffing up the cushions in his living room. In a fit of desperation he’d downed a mug of lavender chamomile ‘calming’ tea while listening to ambient ocean sounds. He still felt wired so he laid on the floor and tried to force a meditation. But like everything else it didn’t work.

 

The feather that was tucked away in some secret HPSC facility was constantly in his mental cache. Checking it again and again and again was gumming up his mind, spiraling deeper and deeper into the mess that was the parts of his mind that Keigo always shoved to the side and ignored for more important things– like being a hero. But this was making that seem impossible. 

 

What he actually wanted to do was go flying, but doing that twice in one night would be suspicious to any of the agents that were likely watching his apartment until they could bug it again. Hawks needed to act the part, but Keigo just couldn’t get it together. 

 

The unending worry consumed him– dragging him down faster then he could flap his metaphorical wings. There was no escape, just continual constant unending worry with flashes of more brutal and intense training. Punishments and tests Izuku could be going through. 

 

Keigo might be awake but that was (sort of) by choice, but was Izuku also awake? Was the commission playing loud music and shining bright lights to prep him for the long sleepless nights of hero work? Or was he being shoved in a room so silent and dark that Izuku couldn’t tell where he ended and the darkness began? Was he in pain, trying to self nurse the cuts and bruises from the brutal training the commission agents were exceptional at? 

 

Was Izuku cutting open his skin and dumping salt in the bleeding wounds to save another failure of a hero, again ?

 

He just couldn’t know and it was killing him. He felt his mind spin and grind, circling in the anxiety and imagining increasingly graphic images of the trapped boy in worse and worse situations.

 

Keigo jumped up off the floor once again and started to dart around his apartment with manic energy. He used a feather to dust the generic art on the walls. He switched his lounge chair with the bean bag and then decided he didn’t like that only to switch them back. He took all the books off his shelf to then reorganize them by size. He went into his kitchen and switched the canned food shelf with his boxed food shelf and went through his fridge throwing out all the off vegetables and the empty sauce containers he hadn’t gotten around to throwing out. 

 

At some point he’d stopped his middle of the night reorganization and instead stood frozen, eyes facing the balcony window but not actually seeing anything. It felt like between one blink and the next the night sky was replaced by the rising sun painting the sky in stunning pinks, yellows and reds. 

 

Keigo tilted his head at the sunrise and blinked. It was pretty. 

 

Could Izuku see the sun rise in the facility? 

 

He hoped he could. The excitable boy seemed like the type to appreciate little things like sun-rises. 

 

An alarm blared in the other room, shaking Keigo from his frozen stupor. He needed to get a grip on himself, acting the way he had been would only raise suspicion. Keigo needed to pull himself together, act the way he had a week ago. Before he’d been injured. Before he’d seen the green bean. Before he has gotten to know the kid over feather instant messaging. Keigo wanted to go back to that so badly. But some line had been drawn in the sand. Some dam broke in Keigo’s heart. The binary of Before and Now was so harsh that Keigo didn’t know how to begin to pretend that his mind wasn’t filled with visions of Izuku being trapped and tortured, sad and alone in the commission facility. A churning nausea rolled in his stomach, Keigo had to swallow back the acid trying to escape. 

 

On paper Keigo knew his assignment– be normal. Play the part of Hawks. Raise no suspicion. He’d been given harder assignments, morally reprehensible assignments that left him filled with sleepless nights, or ones that left him feeling empty and hollow for days or weeks on end. This should be easy. He always played a part. Keigo was nothing if not an actor. Every smirk to a camera, every peace sign and wink to a fan, every willing bow as he took on one more assignment from the commission, all an act. He lived his life on a stage and he couldn’t wait for the day he could take his bow and leave without being dragged back to do yet another encore. He was tired and this felt like he’d somehow ended up on stage with lights blinding him and not only did he not know the lines or blocking of the production, but everyone was speaking in Vietnamese. It shouldn’t be such an impossible seeming task but it was. 

 

A second alarm started over top of the other. A more soothing melodic tune joined with the screeching beep-beep. Keigo blinked seeing the now blue sky over the other buildings out of his window. His mind felt like molasses as he realized that was his alarm warning him that he needed to head out on patrol. 

 

Keigo numbly pulled at the shirt he’d worn last night to meet Aizawa and just blankly stared at it. He consciously knew that he needed to change into his hero suit. But he wasn’t really attached to his body anymore, more like whatever that made him him grew like a moss on the outside of his body. His body was a rusted machine stuck and no matter how hard he tried, Keigo couldn’t force his joints to move.

 

But he was no quitter so he kept trying and after some time he was able to woodenly stumble down the hall to his room. Mechanically he changed his clothes, the feeling of the soft fringe on his flight jacket rubbing along his cheek was like WD-40 allowing his joints to move, allowing him to settle a little further into himself. He had a leg swung over the balcony before he stopped himself remembering that he had to do the bare minimum daily hygiene. He shuffled back to the bathroom and was extra grateful he did as the sharp bite of the spearmint on his tongue clicked everything back into place. The rhythmic brushing let him feel like he had a tentative hold on his own body. He splashed cold water on his face and felt the hold tighten. 

 

Looking at his own reflection in the mirror, Keigo grimaced at the blank exhausted expression. 

 

Ugh, today was going to be rough.  

 

Dropping out of his window, he felt the rush of adrenaline as the air flew past. He snapped his wings open and ginned at the pounding in his chest and the energy that rushed through him. Finally, whatever nonsense from this morning was getting in the way was pushed to the side and he could do his job.  

 

Technically, Hawks was supposed to go to the winged agency building in person every morning before he started his patrol, but the idea of trying to pretend he wasn’t maybe on the cusp of falling apart as his life got turned on his head was something that he just couldn’t do. Skipping out on the in person aspect of the check in was something that he did semi-regularly so it was unlikely to send any warning flags to the commission plants at his agency. It was doubly likely after an ‘embarrassment’ like slamming face first into a billboard after being distracted by a kid picking up one of his feathers to ramble about some obscure aquatic hero, as a totally unrelated example and not something that had happened the day before. However on an unrelated note, Hawks wanted to look up more about Periphyton: the Encrusting hero, she sounded cool. 

 

Keigo chewed on his lip as he soared high above the city, sending off some feathers here and there. Some went to help carry groceries for some older folks, others to stop children from running out into the street, and a small group of feathers to help a pet cat out of a tree. He wasn’t going to lie– he was kind of bored. Don’t get him wrong; he didn't wish for tragedy on the civilians in his area, but a small part of Keigo wished for more and was a little bit bummed over the lack of meaningful distractions. He sighed and focused in on the feathers on the ground to ‘eavesdrop’ on the small group that had formed and was pointing up at him. He picked up on the disappointed words over the fact that he wasn’t coming down for a few seconds to chat. They seemed to respect a hero who was focused, but Hawks was usually good at multitasking and ignoring the group was a little weird for him. Keigo gave the thought of going down for a full four seconds before he dismissed it. This high, Keigo didn’t have to plaster on a fake smile and choke out even faker jokes. The idea of having to do that song and dance right now made his skin crawl. It wasn’t like he couldn’t ignore the various people waving up at him though, so he put on a bit of a show for them from the air. 

 

Many dives and rolls later with feathers arching up and away in fun patterns, Keigo moved on. He was having a bit of an off day and he hoped that this would be enough. He really really didn’t want to get a phone call, or even worse a visit, from his handler. She wasn’t near as bad as the one that he’d had growing up, but her face was stone, literally, and impossible for Keigo to read. She made him uncomfortable as he couldn’t tell what she was thinking, ever, so he just worked hard to avoid her as much as he could. The commission was well aware of the aversion he had and instead of using it to their advantage they’d make sure to only send her when he’d really messed up. Most of their interactions were over text or in anonymous drop offs of files into his apartment. It was nice having a bit more freedom normally, but he knew that if the commission got even a single whiff of what he was up to she’d be sent and any freedoms he’d been able to claw out of the commission would be gone. 

 

H—, if he was being honest with himself this might be enough to be terminated.

 

Keigo flew to a roof and sat on the edge. He kicked out his feet, biting down on his lip hard enough to draw blood. He gripped his hair and yanked hard. He held his breath knowing if he’d scream if he let the air leave his lungs. 

 

It didn’t make sense. He didn’t know why this whole situation was affecting him. Hawks had helped free kids half as young and in twice as messed up positions as Izuku. Keigo knew first hand that the commission took pretty good care of their assets. Izuku was in no real danger. They’d never let one of their toys get totally obliterated unless they had a spare. And Keigo doubted they had another healing quirk in their pocket that was of his caliber from the lengths they seemed to go to to get the kid under their control. 

 

Ergo, Izuku would be fine .

 

The kid would still be breathing and alive even if it took them a few weeks before Eraserhead gathered the intel and heroes needed for the rescue.

 

However, the little voice in the back of Keigo’s head was screaming that the gap between alive and okay was as close as Earth was to the Moon. And worse yet that the commission was more than fine with keeping their favorite pets in the vacuum of space between the two. More so if they felt that it was in the HPSC’s best interest.

 

Keigo felt his wings shudder and puff up, curling around his shoulders like a protective shawl. A vice ratcheted around his lungs suddenly making it difficult to breathe. He needed to leave . He heeded to move . He needed air. 

 

Before he knew it, Keigo was tumbling towards the pavement. Sloppy. He caught himself and shot off into the sky. Once above the buildings, he pushed himself to go as fast as he could. He needed to go. He couldn’t be here anymore. He angled his wings into a slip stream adding a boost to his breakneck pace. 

 

The anxiety and fear couldn’t catch him this fast. The wind whipped his hair in a way that soothed the constant aching desire to be preened. The roar of the wind filled his ears, drowning out any of the spiraling thoughts. The warmth of the sun on his back and feathers left him feeling unstoppable and invincible. Each beat of his wings was a bellows stoking the burning fire that started along his back and shoulders but wrapped all the way around his chest. The fire burned away everything but the need to get away which propelled him further and further away. Seeing the ocean below him finally snapped Keigo out of his mad dash. Slowing to a circling glide he looked around. 

 

The water shimmered in the midday sun. The enclosed bay was fully visible from his view and small boats bobbed in the water. A city rose up on both sides of the bay, but the one to the east was larger and had a few recognizable buildings. 

 

It was Kumamoto . 

 

Hawks checked his phone with a tight grip. Only about ten minutes had passed. He had gone about a hundred km in ten minutes. 

 

Holy s—.

 

Six hundred km/h even with wind was insane.  

 

Last time he’d been tested his top speed was just shy of 400 km/h. He couldn’t do that forever but he had the stamina to keep that up for a good half an hour. No wonder his flight muscles hurt and his face felt wind burned and numb.

 

Keigo glided down to the nearby shore line. The sand was sure to get into his feathers, boots and flight suit, but it was too late now. He stood on the sandy shore and let his head tilt back with a sigh. He closed his eyes to soak up the warm afternoon sun on his face, it was a good contrast to the cold winter air. His wings shook a little before he let them rest on the soft sand. 

 

There was no way he could shake off that little stunt as part of some embarrassment. The HPSC would be sending his handler in person, he just knew it. His phone buzzed in his pocket. That was probably them, and there was no way he was answering right now. He was going to ignore them for as long as he could, they were already angry so what's the point? It's not like responding promptly ever lessened the punishments. Keigo also knew that being in the public eye kept him safe from the worst punishments now, so he could ignore the phone call. He could also ignore the zing of anxiety that shot through his body and left his fingers and toes tingling as his phone stopped buzzing only to start buzzing again not even two seconds later. It was fine.

 

It was fine.

 

Keigo shifted his wings in the sand, cutting a semi circle around him. The grit of sand felt amazing and he started pressing his wings deeper and deeper into the cool sand. A part of him wanted to lay down and wiggle on his back like a dog scratching their own back, but held himself back. He relaxed his wings, stopping the slow stirring he had been doing, and focused on anything but his animalistic desires.

 

He took a few deep and metered breaths, counting along with the low waves lapping at the shoreline. It was pretty, soothing. The shine of the sun on the crystal blue waves looked like glitter, the faded greens and grays of the further shoreline cut the vibrant blues of the ocean and sky like the wide cracks in an old sidewalk. The smell of the salt brine in the air mixed with sunscreen and a distant cart selling fried food of some kind. The soft crashing waves and the distant sounds of laughter from a group of young adults playing volleyball slowly unwound the hero. They sounded so carefree that Keigo couldn’t help but smile. As a hero it was his job to take the hard things onto himself so others can have those carefree joyful moments. He could do that. 

 

Keigo felt his smile widen as he looked over the ocean one more time as he shook out some of the sand from his wings. He felt like he was shaking out the nonsense that had been plaguing him all day, all week as he got the sand out. Keigo could be Hawks, and Hawks could be the hero that those happy civilians needed. Hawks could save people with incredible speed and a playful smirk. Hawks could save Izuku. 

 

He turned to walk away and his stomach growled loudly. He felt his face flush with embarrassment. 

 

Hawks could save everyone– after lunch. 

 

—

 

After a nice lunch of teriyaki chicken and an awkward phone call, he was as free as a bird. The call was with one of his agency’s side kicks and it… went. But looking on the positive side he was able to talk his way out of the psych eval and mandatory three days off and instead just got the rest of his shift covered with the promise he’d talk to her in person the next day. Heron was a mother hen at times but she’s been a sidekick for as long as Keigo has been alive and she seemed to have decided to take him under her wing the moment she laid eyes on him. Her going out on a limb and fudging protocol was nice of her. He didn’t realize there was even a protocol for when a hero answered a texted question of ‘Why’d you fly 100 Km south? Are you good?’ with ‘I think I just had a panic attack and flew really really fast lol’. Apparently this sort of interaction fell under ‘signs of mental strain and/or fatigue’ and was ‘wildly concerning, not funny’. 

 

Good to know for the future. No jokes about panic attacks. Especially with Heron. 

 

Having the rest of the day to leisurely make his way back to his apartment was nice at least. The lack of pressure of having to be an effective and proper hero was also nice. The unending looping thoughts loosened from their suffocating spirals around his lungs, allowing Keigo to breathe for what felt like the first time in weeks. 

 

Sitting back on the beach with his toes in the sand was also probably helping. Beaches were second only to flying high in the sky for calming locations. The Hawks HPSC Approved PR answer to why he likes beaches so much would be something along the lines of a joke about how he liked to show off his amazing hero abs and seeing all the cuties in their swimwear finishing off with a flirty wink. But in reality Keigo liked the steady rhythms that he could get lost in. The waves moved in a constant rolling rainstick of rushing and curling water, shifting in and out and in and out along the sand. A crab’s legs looked like a wind up toy as its legs hit 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 as it darted across the sand. A swimmer's arms curling up and then back into the water at an even tempo. Even the squawking cries of the seagulls had a consistent back and forth, making Keigo want to join in with his own raptor calls. He never joined in but his base instincts wanted to see how they would react to his own piercing screams, but the HPSC would have an actual conniption fit if he did something like that in public. 

 

Keigo leaned back and slowly started swirling his wings into the sand. Getting the sand out of his wings was an absolute pain but it was able to scratch the itchy skin that no matter how hard he tried his fingers just couldn’t quite scratch right. This is why beaches are better than the very close third of forests for calmest locations. Can’t sand bathe in a forest, usually. 

 

He sighed as the sand finally reached the dry itchy skin of his wings, letting out a quiet coo. With his mouth closed it could be mistaken as weird humming, so he wasn’t too concerned and let himself coo again. He shouldn’t lean into his more bird-like tendencies, as letting loose a few times usually lead to him losing control of the harder to hide ones. But he’d had a bad day. And from the outside this was just a guy playing with sand and humming, not a weird bird freak having a dirt bath and making happy bird noises. 

 

A shiver shot up his spine as he felt one of the many pin feathers he couldn’t quite reach between his shoulder blades finally cracked its casing. He bit back a full on happy screaming call and scrambled to sit back up.

 

He needed to get back to Kyushu. He shouldn’t even be here, and he’s wasted enough time already. He slammed his feet back into his boots, ignoring the bunches of sand he laced them up. It’s not like he uses them for more than landing and take off anyway. Why walk when you could fly?

 

After standing he closed his eyes and concentrated on vibrating every individual feather on his wings in a vague attempt to shake out as much of the sand as he could. It was a little overwhelming feeling all the sand shake out and the feathers knock into each other. But it wasn’t quite enough stimulus to drown out the feeling of small shaking hands clasp onto the distant feather. Keigo froze, totally zoned into the sporadic tapping. Everything else around him fell away as he struggled to decipher the garbled morse code.

 

“YOU THERE KEI?”

 

Keigo felt a strange mix of bubbling excitement over the nickname and anxiety over how early Izuku was reaching out to him. He’d told Keigo that he usually talked to him after he finished his school work for the day. Keigo prayed that the kid’s ‘big day’ was actually just exams that ended up letting out earlier than normal. 

 

“ALWAYS IZU” 

 

It was a little forward to give the kid a nickname back without asking but the kid shortened his name and morse code was tedious. 

 

“I CAN’T–”

 

The tapping was so shaky after that even though Keigo was really trying to put the unsteady stuttering morse code together but it just was unintelligible. The gaping hole that had been punched through his stomach widened. The tapping stopped and he reached out with the feather to tap back. 

 

“YOU CAN’T WHAT?”

 

“DO THIS ANYMORE. IT HURTS. MAKE IT STOP.” 

 

The return response was slower and more steady but the content sent adrenaline pumping through his veins. Keigo reminded himself that he was a hero and was trained for this sort of thing. He took a breath and responded as Hawks.

 

“WHAT HURTS?”

 

“EVERYTHING”

 

Ice shot through Keigo’s chest and out to his hands and feet. He started to feel numb and tingly and focused even further into the feather that was in Izuku’s hands. It was pressed against what had to be the kid’s face as it started to vibrate with muttered words… or possibly sobbing. Keigo wasn’t quite able to make it out and it gutted him. He should have left more than one feather then the kid could have just been able to talk, none of this morse code nonsense. 

 

Trying to tap out soothing words to Izuku only made Keigo feel like an even greater failure as the kid just tightened his grip on the feather pressing it deeper into his soft cheek. Needing to change tactics Keigo started to just softly stoke the tip of the feather against his cheek. After what felt like an eternity just focused on the soft cheek and slight dampness of what had to be tears, Izuku finally tapped out a response. 

 

“SORRY.”

 

Keigo hated that. The kid shouldn’t feel like he needs to apologize for crying.

 

“IT'S FINE. YOU OKAY?”

 

There was a pause. A long pause. Too long of a pause where Izuku just stroked along the thin shaft from the tip to the quill with a shaking finger. After an eternity the stroking slowed and the pressure of the kids full hand rested gently on the feather and a finger started to tap along the barbs. 

 

“NO.” The hand shifted before a rushed set of letters were tapped. “BLEEDING AGAIN.” 

 

Keigo didn’t have any memory of taking off but suddenly he was in the air heading off towards the kid. The soft pressure of the kid's trembling hand guiding his path. 

 

“WHERE?” There was no response. Keigo pumped his wings faster and faster. “WHERE BLEED”

 

The flat pressure shifted to curve around the feather in a weak grasp. Keigo tried one more time for a response. 

 

“IZU? PLEASE RESPOND”

 

A shuddering spasm went through the small hand clutching his feather. It snapped. 

 

Keigo’s breath stopped as the fading sensations from the feather filled his whole mind. The dripping wetness, the still hand loosely around the break, the flat surface the tip and quill rested on now that the feather was in two. He zeroed in on any dregs of sensation as the feather’s ability lowered to nothing more than a general location.

 

Keigo heard a distant shout and snapped open his eyes. He was practically in a nose dive and snapped his wings back open and caught himself before he hit the ground below him. Thank goodness for that person or he would probably be a smear on the pavement. 

 

He tried to follow the broken feather’s faded sensations only to feel a different feather shift in a different direction. It must have been in a pocket and jostled against a much larger calloused hand. 

 

Eraserhead. 

 

Aizawa Shouta .

 

Rolling his wings into a tight turn he set a new trajectory. He flapped his wings even harder and wished for another slip stream as his flight muscles screamed at him. 

 

Izuku needed saving now.  

 

Keigo prayed that Eraserhead’s reputation as extremely efficient was accurate.

Chapter 6: Aizawa (and Posse) off to the rescue

Notes:

:D helllooooooo
Seeee told you it would be a quick turn around! two days is pretty frickin good if i do say so lolol
enjoy the chaos of this chappie. <3 thanks to my bestie for reading and being my favorite beta fishhhhh <333 She doesn't even know MHA and she reads all my nonsense lolol <3 luv you @sassy_chemist All the commas you see? all added by her hallajuah. Im horrible at grammer x))

She also told me it was "a bit graphic but not too bad" as a warning :)
Lets just say I was not very nice to our lil baby boy >:)

But without further ado!!! Enjoy!

Aizawa had just finished explaining everything that he had learned about both Midoriyas to Nedzu when he felt something tug in his pocket. The small red feather that Hawks had given him zoomed away from him and zipped over to the window. Shouta felt his face twist in confusion as the feather started clicking against the glass. Nedzu chuckled as he lifted his teacup to his constantly grinning mouth. 

 

Nedzu’s chipper, “Incoming!” was Shouta’s only real warning before the large red blur that was Pro Hero: Hawks smashed through the window. The young hero hit the ground in a tangled pretzel of limbs and wings, his face was now bleeding from numerous cuts from the broken glass that filled the room like confetti. 

 

Shouta was on his feet in an instant, his practiced hands pulling out the first aid kit from his utility belt. Kneeling carefully to avoid giving himself any cuts, a shot of anxiety struck him about how still Keigo was. If the kid was unconscious after smashing himself through triple pane glass windows he was going to feel no sympathy if Hawks complained about a headache later. Heck if the kid gave himself a concussion it might be a good thing so he learns to slow down . 

 

When Shouta’s hands got close to his bleeding temple, Keigo lunged. He grabbed Shouta’s wrists so tight it was sure to bruise. 

 

“Hawks,” Shouta grunted as the grip compressed even tighter. He felt his bones start to grind together. Ow. “Hawks. Hawks. ” 

 

Shouta was now worried that the kid was going to squeeze his wrists so tight they would break. He was sure it was all in his mind but he swore he could hear his bones creek like old wood as the obviously panicking Keigo kept squeezing impossibly tighter. Shouta hissed through his teeth.

 

“ Keigo .” 

 

Unnaturally fast, Keigo’s head twisted to look at Shouta. Something flip flopped in his gut as he watched Keigo’s gold eyes dilate and flip rapidly between almost all black with the thinnest ring of iris to almost all gold with just a pinprick of the pupil. It didn’t really seem like the kid was all there and Shouta had a feeling that it wasn’t from a concussion from the window. Something had made him rocket himself into Nedzu’s office. Shouta was no expert in human behavior, but this was no normal afternoon activity. It screamed of distressed panic.

 

Nezdu started to move towards the two, only for Hawks to let out the most blood curdling animalistic screech. Nedzu froze and Shouta flinched. It was honestly loud enough to make his ears ring and already aching head throb. Shortly after the screech finished, the kid started thrashing, Shouta tried to stop him, but it wasn’t very effective from his position crouched on his knees and both hands basically in human vice grips. Shouta winced as he watched glass dig its way into Keigo’s arms and legs. Shouta darted his eyes over to the now puffed up Principle, they exchanged glances before Nedzu nodded and backed away. Shouta isn’t sure how Hawks could sense Nedzu from behind him but once he was further away Keigo’s thrashing transitioned into him being flopped on the floor. Full body shivers wracked him as he kept a hold on Shouta’s wrists. Keigo’s sharp fingernails had curled into the soft skin of the underside of his wrist, little beads of blood welled up and rolled down the palms of Shouta’s hands. 

 

“Keigo, you have to let go or let Nedzu get closer.” Shouta tried really hard to smooth out his low gravelly voice into anything remotely soothing. It clearly wasn’t enough as Keigo’s nails dug deeper into his skin, making Shouta quietly gasp in pain. The kid shook his head vigorously and Shouta held back a sigh. 

 

“You need to let me help. You’re bleeding.” 

 

Somewhere in Keigo’s brain wires must have gotten crossed in this full blown freak out, or maybe it was smashing through the window. Shouta didn’t really know, and he didn’t really care beyond the minor embarrassment as the kid took every single one of his efforts to calm him as signals to freak out more.

 

And, oh boy, did he freak out more. 

 

Feathers shot out in every direction, lucky not sharpened, as he let out a series of loud distressed bird-call screams. All six of his limbs started thrashing once more but now somehow with more vigor. Feathers were now knocking paintings off the walls and a few sharpened just as they hit the furniture embedding themselves in the cushions. Hawks was kicking up the shattered glass into the air and digging the bits embedded deeper into him. 

 

Annoyingly through all of this the grip on Aizawa’s wrists stayed incredibly steady and he had no choice but to try to dodge the flying glass, feathers, and limbs. It reminded him of some of the absolute hellish trainings Nedzu had forced on him during his own time as a UA student. He held out for a decent amount of time until he dodged a handful of glass from getting him in his eyes only for his eyes to widen as a muscular wing came from the other direction, hard and fast right into the bridge of his nose. 

 

The loud snapping pop and searing pain made Shouta’s eyes water. He could feel how his nose was broken and now slightly displaced, the warm bubbling blood flowed down his face. He growled. 

 

He was done with this f—ing s— . Shouta was running on next to no sleep, too many cups of coffee and the absolute worst timing. He’d told Recovery Girl he’d try to stop smoking so the pounding headache of nicotine withdrawal about quadrupled with the addition of a broken nose. 

 

He activated his quirk making all the feathers not attached to the still thrashing kid drop to the floor. Seeing an opening, Shouta jumped up and over Hawks’ shoulder to couch between his wings. Keigo’s arms were now crossed tightly to his chest, a straight jacket of his own making. Shouta moved his elbows to guide the still flapping wings forward. It was a bad recreation of the self soothing position Shouta’d seen the kid make the previous night. Something about it seemed to sort of calm Keigo, or he was getting tired as he switched to mainly jerking his shoulders like he was trying to buck Shouta off his back. Jokes on the kid, this was far from his first rodeo in restraining panicking teens who were dangers to themselves or others. Some days, being a high school teacher was Hell.

 

Once Shouta was fairly sure Keigo was calm, in relative terms, he dropped his quirk. He counted to three and with no additional feathers exploding from the older teen, gave himself a little nod and used his foot to shift the dropped first aid kit closer to him. The awkward contortions of using his knees, elbows, and toes to twist himself to get the kit up to one of his still trapped hands reminded Shouta of the importance of stretching. Next time his class complained about stretching he would make his class do this exact thing as a drill. Maybe even come up with a few other horrible contortionist adjacent activities. Might save their lives, or someone else's life. Finally, with the kit in one of his hands he worked to try to open it with one hand. Keigo jerked forward just as Shouta got a single gauze packet out of the kit. The rest of the kit fell and spread across the floor, mixing with the glass.

 

Shouta bit back a frustrated growl. He ripped the packet open with his teeth and slapped it over the worst cut that was visibly free of glass on his temple. Shouta moved his other hand to press onto the other side of head when he flinched away from the highly questionable first aid. Feeling the blood seep through the gauze and mix with his own blood on his palms, Shouta let out the growl. 

 

It wasn’t Keigo’s fault, not really. He was having a full on meltdown over… something . Probably the pressure of the tasks Shouta had given him. He’d worried it would be too much to pretend to be normal but this seemed extreme… but it was clear the kid was absolutely traumatized from whatever the HPSC did to him so maybe it's Shouta’s fault for not taking that more into account. 

 

“Hawks, Keigo. I need you to breathe and try to calm down. You need first aid, you are bleeding.” 

 

“Not me,” Keigo’s voice sounded strangled and strange, split between ethereal and erie, as a slightly quieter screeching came out over the top of the words. He tried to shake his head, but couldn’t as Shouta was working hard to keep his head still. “Not me. Not me. Not me. ” 

 

Shouta wished his nose wasn’t broken or he would lean his head forward to hit Keigo’s back with a sigh. Instead Shouta just let out a long sigh. This didn’t make any sense and he was getting nowhere. Irritation boiled under his skin. He was just about to spit out something he knew he would regret when Nedzu piped in from the corner. 

 

“What do you mean, Keigo-kun?” The too chipper words caught Keigo’s attention and the hero froze.

 

“Not me. Izu. ” 

 

“What about Izuku-kun?”

 

“He’s bleeding.” Shouta couldn’t see his face but he sounded wrecked. Keigo started to try to rock softly forward and backward, this time in a self soothing pattern. Shouta loosened his grip on the sides of his face, moving with the kid. 

 

“Asked for help. Begged. In pain. Lots of pain. Bleeding. Snapped feather. Can’t reach him.” The kid let out a hiccuping sob as he sank back into Shouta’s chest. 

 

“Can’t help and he's bleeding.”  

 

After saying that, Hawks crumpled like a wind up toy who finished its spring. The tight hands around Shouta’s wrists finally let go. Shouta slipped his hand out and stretched out his fingers, feeling as the blood flooded back into them. Keigo’s arms thumped into his lap. Shouta couldn’t see his face in full, but he could tell it was slack. Shouta furrowed his brows with a deep frown as he started applying some less questionable first aid to the kid. 

 

Tweezers dyed red as band-aids and medical tape was added to the kids face, arms and legs. Shouta thought he saw some blood coming from in between some of the feathers in one of Hawks’ wings but couldn’t really get down to skin without the vacant kid shifting away. He worked efficiently and in no time at all he was rubbing his own antibiotic ointment and bandages around the crescent shaped cuts on his wrists. He ignored the now drying blood on his upper lip and chin. It would just start bleeding again when Recovery Girl set it, so it was illogical to clean up until after then. Shouta was gingerly poking at his nose when Nedzu cleared his throat. 

 

“I’ve cleaned up as much of the glass as I could. If you could move Keigo-kun to the couch I can finish.” 

 

Shouta glanced over at his boss. In his small paws was a small broom and dustpan, which he was using to gesture towards the couch furthest from the now broken window. Shouta’s knees popped as he stood awkwardly crouched over to hold Keigo sitting upright. Shouta stepped over his shoulder, careful to not kick his head, only to crunch some glass under his boot. Keigo flinched at the noise which surprised Shouta. The kid looked so zoned out and his eyes were glazed and half lidded, but was still at some level aware of his surroundings which… Shouta decided to take it as a positive thing of maybe Keigo slowly working his way out of it and not a sign of alarming hyper vigilance. 

 

As slowly as he possibly could, Shouta reached out and lifted Keigo up and over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The loose wings were an added obstacle forcing Shouta to awkwardly shuffle to avoid stepping on the now ruffled, glass filled feathers. With a grunt he lowered the kid to lay on his side. Shouta maneuvered his arms and wings to not be trapped in any way, hoping that it was a comfortable position. 

 

Making him comfortable was the only thing that Shouta could do for Keigo at this point. He hated that there wasn’t anything that he could really do to fix– whatever this was exactly. The kid was obviously as close to okay as Shouta was to Venus, which is to say, not at all. 

 

Behind the distant, glassy eyes, Keigo looked exhausted and scared. Shouta’s hands started feeling twitchy, like they needed to do something to help the distressed kid in front of him. Impulsively, Shouta leaned forward and ran his fingers through the dirty blond, windswept hair. Keigo let out a soft, slightly surprised coo before he leaned into the hand. His eyes closed as Shouta ran his hand through the hair a few more times. With each stroke, the clear distress on his face faded into a blissful relaxed expression. Small coos and happy huffs fell out from between lax lips. Shouta couldn’t help but smile as Keigo nuzzled his head into the cushion below his head and curled one of his wings up and over his body. A hand reached up and over the edge of the fluffy red wings like a child might hold the edge of a blanket. It took Shouta an embarrassingly long time to compose himself and turn back to his boss. The wide, knowing grin on Nedzu’s face made Shouta scowl. 

 

“Shall I get adoption papers made up?”

 

Shouta crossed the room to Nedzu’s desk and collapsed into one of the plush chairs. 

 

“Is now really the time to be joking?”

 

“Ah, likely not.” Nedzu skittered up and into his own large plush desk chair. He tapped the disheveled pile of papers onto the desk a few times, forcing them into order and placed them back into the file. “I’d hoped for more time to perform any amount of reconnaissance. But from this update we may need to update the schedule and improvise as we go as it seems like time is of the essence.”

 

“What an understatement.” Shouta dragged a hand over his face only to immediately regret touching his broken nose. He felt something gush inside his face and only barely moved fast enough to cup a hand under his face to catch the spurt of blood that fell out. Nedzu handed Shouta a very nice looking embroidered handkerchief which he didn’t think twice about holding up to his bleeding nose, undoubtedly ruining it. Served the Rat right for treating Shouta’s capture scarf like his own personal nest and his shoulder like his own personal ride. Really, Shouta usually didn’t care, but the additional wear and fraying from the principles kneading with his claws lead to him having to get scarfs more often. And Shouta had just gotten this one about a week ago. Looking down at the now large splatters of quickly drying blood, he sighed. Hizashi would force him to get a new one at least for classes as blood stains were fine for villain intimidation but not for students. What a pain.

 

A soft warbling noise came from the far side of the room and Shouta sighed again. 

 

“I don’t think Hawks should be on the team.”

 

“I don’t think we really have a choice, Shouta-kun.” Nedzu clasped his paws together in front of him on the desk with a sigh. “He is the only one who has any ability to pinpoint exactly where Izuku-kun is being held. I might be able to use hacked cameras once at the facility, but that might be impossible. And regardless, we will need Hawks to help point us to the greater area we need to be headed in.” 

 

Shouta slumped forward, using only his elbows on his knees to prop himself up. A large wave of exhaustion rushed over him. 

 

“I– I know.” He ground his teeth together. “I just don’t like it.” 

 

Twisting to look over his shoulder, Shouta watched the very much vacant Keigo curled up on the couch. He pointed with his thumb as he turned back to look at his boss. 

 

“If this is his response at this stage he will be a liability. And if Izuku is found dead–” Flashes of more feather filled meltdowns filled Shouta’s mind before Nedzu’s voice cut in.

 

“We will just have to rescue the boy poste-haste then.” The grin that stretched across Nedzu’s face was balanced on a razor's edge between normal and feral. A shiver ran down Shouta’s spine.

 

“Now!” Nedzu clapped his little paws together as the grin widened, sliding off the fine line and settled squarely on the feral side. “Let’s get down to business!” 

 

Nedzu was out for blood, which never failed to be terrifying. Shouta, not for the first time, was eternally grateful that he and Nedzu were on the same side. 

 

—

 

It was only a few hours later when the small team of rogue heroes pulled up to a forested area close to, but hidden from, the commission facility. The heroes were all sitting around in the back of the van. Nedzu was sitting in the far back on a computer. He was connecting to the security network. Hacking was not one of Shouta’s handful of illegal seeming talents, so he had no idea what exactly the Rat was doing as he clacked on the keyboard. But the manic grin implied that he was having a good time. Which was objectively terrifying. 

 

Keigo sat right across from Shouta, and he was concerned. The harsh concentration that furrowed Keigo’s eyebrows and twisted his mouth into a severe frown felt wrong. Only about an hour or so ago the kid was still blinking back the haze from his impromptu nap on Nedzu’s couch after having a total meltdown. Shouta doubted that Keigo was actually over the dramatic reaction he’d had to Izuku’s message, but instead had pushed it to the side. It was a thing the kid had to have done hundreds, if not thousands, of times from how he was able to switch on a dime back into focused hero mode. It left a bad taste in Shouta’s mouth. Bottling up these sorts of things didn’t end well, as he knew more than most. The downturned corners of his mouth deepened. Having Hawks here was a bad idea. The kid was a bit of a ticking time bomb, and Shouta hoped the explosion would be where Keigo was safe to go off and not inside the facility. 

 

A shoulder bumped into Shouta’s shoulder. He blinked up at the concerned look of his fiance. Hizashi’s hero persona was nowhere to be found both in the serious expression on his face and also in the generic black tactical uniform they were all wearing and the simple golden braid tossed over his shoulder. Hizashi’s eyes twitched back and forth, not even trying to hide how intensely he was searching Shouta’s face. He must have seen something as his eyes warmed and he threw Shouta a reassuring smile. 

 

“Stop worrying so hard.” He leaned forward to whisper right into Shouta’s ear. The low tone and air hitting his cheek made him shiver. “He is a good hero, trust him. It’s just in and out. It’ll be easy.” 

 

Shouta shot his fiance a flat look. 

 

“That’s easy for you to say, Mr. Get-away driver who gets to stay in the van.” 

 

Hizashi shrugged with a playful smile. 

 

“What can I say, I’m here to keep us legal.”

 

“I don’t think any of this is all that legal, Hizashi.” 

 

“Ah! That’s where you are wrong, my sweet Shouta!” The biggest, cheesiest grin was paired with matching annoying finger guns. “I’m the only one here with a driver's license and I'm the one driving! So it's all totally legal!” 

 

“If we get caught and get a trial, I want you to say that word for word. I want to see the judge have an aneurysm.” 

 

“You got it, babe.” Hizashi gave him a wink which Shouta rolled his eyes at. He hated to admit it but the idiotic conversation did make him feel better. He leaned into Hizashi’s shoulder a little bit and Hizashi reached an arm around his shoulder and squeezed him in. Being like this made it a little easier to breathe. 

 

An excited chittering from the corner made all the heroes turn to Nedzu.

 

“You in?” Nemuri, who’d been quiet since she got brought in on this half-baked plan, finally piped in. It felt wrong only having her give one single half-hearted joke about how she was being sexually repressed, stating that she needed a skin tight catsuit not some standard tactical outfit. It made Shouta feel a little less nervous that she seemed to have settled a bit.

 

Nemuri had struggled with child trafficking cases for years now. Shouta still remembered watching her break down in a karaoke bar as she choked the story out through tears. It was her first year as a full fledged hero and the heroes were too late. The traffickers decided to ‘cut their losses’ and kill all twenty or so kids and teens that they had when they got a whiff of the heroes being on their tail. Nemuri had given vivid descriptions of dead poisoned children as an upbeat pop song played in the back of the bar. Shouta had struggled to sleep that evening, and can’t imagine how much it must have wrecked Nemuri.

 

This kid was in a totally different circumstance, but Shouta had learned that emotions are irrational and don’t care about that sort of thing, much to his chagrin. He trusted Nemuri to be professional and keep a level head even with her history. He trusted her with not only his life but Hizashi’s life, too. But being the only one on the extraction team that wasn’t totally thrown off kilter by this case was setting his teeth on edge. Emotions this high can lead to mistakes no matter how hard a hero is able to compartmentalize. This was a mess and he was trying really, really hard to avoid being pessimistic, but it was getting harder every passing second. 

 

“I have been able to loop all the cameras to the security feed. I have also secured a map of the facility and will be able to lead you out once you all are able to extract Izuku-kun.” Nedzu handed out the in-ear comms. “Is the extraction team ready?”

 

Shouta didn’t feel ready. He wanted more time. He wanted more information. H—, he wished he at least had a cigarette to calm his nerves. But annoyingly, he’d handed Recovery girl his last pack when she, red in the face and about ready to blow a gasket, came to Nedzu’s office to set Shouta’s broken nose. Handing over the box had appeased her just enough to save him from another, much worse, lecture. He could feel the waves of frustration over the fact that it had been just about 24 hours since her last lecture and he still hadn’t really rested in any meaningful way, had a broken nose, lightly sprained and bleeding wrists, still hadn’t healed from his shoulder injury, and was about to go on a dangerous raid. As he couldn’t get kissed by her to make all of that go away in fear he would slip into a possible coma from drawing too much stamina. She had growled at him as she slapped prescription grade Acetaminophen and glared at Nedzu. She’d told him through grit teeth that she’d be ready for everyone when they returned, and they better all be in one piece, or without any additional injuries. The last bit was aimed at Shouta and he couldn’t even bring himself to be annoyed, as he’d also wished he’d stop getting injured. 

 

Hizashi squeezed his arm, bringing Shouta back to the present. He rubbed his hand up and down in an attempt to comfort him. Shouta gave him a tight smile, which from Hizashi’s deeper frown, probably came out more like a pained grimace. Slumping forward, Shouta let his head hang loose, his long black fringe covered his eyes. He sucked at being reassuring, which was part of why he went into underground heroics. 

 

“You’re a good hero, too, Sho.” Hizashi moved his head to duck down to look at Shouta’s face. From the corner of his eye Shouta saw his fiance’s wide smile. “It’s just like any other raid.” 

 

Hizashi gave him one more squeeze before he stood and did an awkward half crouched walk back to the driver’s seat. Shouta blankly watched as Hizashi disappeared behind the seat. It didn’t feel like any other raid. A lot was riding on their success. Most importantly was the wellbeing of one Midoryia Izuku. 

 

He took a deep, centering breath and nodded to Nedzu.

 

“I’m ready. Next time you see me we will have Izuku.” 

 

Nedzu nodded with a grin. The extraction team jumped out of the back of the van, securing the coms and gas masks onto their faces. Shouta hoped that he wasn’t lying. He was going to do whatever it took to get this kid.

 

Getting into the building was surprisingly simple. Hawks carried Midnight to the roof, flying silently as Eraserhead used his capture weapon. Eraserhead had gotten flack for his illegal seeming skills for years. But lockpicking had been useful again and again, and once more it was coming in handy. Using a rake pick he was able to open the roof access door in less than twenty seconds. That made all the years of nonsense from law enforcement worth it. The three heroes ran with light feet into the facility.

 

The inside of the building felt clinical. The white tile, white walls, uncomfortable looking plastic chairs against the hall with the random indoor plants and bland decor hung between the various doors all just screamed generic medical location. Hawks took point as their guide to Izuku as there was no camera showing Izuku according to Nedzu. Midnight was second to take out any agents with her gas quirk and Eraserhead was last. 

 

The hallway twisted and turned until they got to a door to a stairway, where Hawks aggressively threw open the door. Luckily Midnight caught the door before it slammed into the wall. Shouta grimaced. This was the type of thing he was worried about. Keigo looked sheepish enough for Shouta to drop it but it didn’t fill him with confidence. Keigo jumped down the center of the twisting staircase to just drop three stories, and caught himself with a snap of his wings.

 

Midnight gave Shouta a puppy dog look and he sighed, wrapping an arm around her waist. She grabbed onto his shoulder tightly with a grin, unfortunately it was the one that had the puncture wound in it. She shifted her grip at the pained huff he let out. He shot his capture weapon out to wrap around the handrail. He then threw himself and Midnight over the railing and rappelled them both down to where Hawks was pacing by a closed door. 

 

Shouta wished he could see all of Keigo’s face, but beyond the obvious reasons, the gas masks were to assist in obscuring their identities. He thought that was fruitless as the three of them had very unique quirks and Eraserhead was one of maybe three heroes in Japan that used a capture weapon, and the other two used it as a back up and not as their main weapon. The kid was shifting and his eyes were flicking all over the place. It was too late to switch up plans at this point so Shouta would just have to keep an eye on Keigo and hope for the best. 

 

Nemuri poked her head out of the door only to motion that it was clear. The three were once again silently running down more winding hallways before Hawks abruptly halted in front of a closed wooden office door. The comm beeped before Shouta’s boss's voice filled his hearing. 

 

“There are six agents behind this door. They are all sitting at desks against the walls, doing computer work.” 

 

Eraserhead nodded directly into the nearest camera. Midnight unzipped the zippers sewn into her sleeves revealing a long strip of skin from her shoulders down to her elbow. Purple gas started to waft off of her as she nodded to Eraserhead, who cracked the door open just ever so slightly. Hawks used a few hand length feathers to make a small fan angling the gas to funnel into the cracked door even quicker.

 

Shouta held his breath as he listened for any signs that the agents noticed anything off. In no time at all the sounds of slumping bodies were followed by a few quiet snores. Opening it further, Eraserhead peaked a head in to scan the room, ready to activate his quirk if needed. All of the various agents were in scrubs and collapsed over their desks or leaned back in their office chairs. 

 

He fully opened the door for the other heroes to enter. Hawks crossed the room to the opposite door and Midnight followed closely behind. Eraserhead started across the room but paused searching the files that were strewed out in front of and slightly under a sleeping agent, their keyboard pushed to the side. Her long blue and purple striped hair obscured a few of the pages, but between the strands Shouta was able to see a complex-looking graph labeled ‘Panacea’s healing output v. input’. Shouta shifted the hair to only have his heart flip flop. It was a photo of Izuku bleeding fairly heavily from his arms. Horrifyingly the kid was smiling even though the flash of the camera had lit the tear tracks making them look like they were glowing on his rounded cheeks. 

 

He shuffled the papers, gathering them as quickly as he could. He slipped a few sheets out from under the woman’s face, leaving the single sheet that seemed stuck to her makeup. Leaving the one page was annoying but, the file was fairly thick as is and gaining twenty to thirty pages of information with a few holes was better than nothing. He tucked the file into his shirt and ran out to the room and into the new hallway to catch up with Hawks and Midnight. They stood, paused in front of the next door as Eraserhead sprinted over.

 

“Next two rooms are attached by a single door, possibly locked. But,” Nedzu paused like he was at a loss for words. That made Shouta incredibly nervous. “It looks like they have yet to clean the second room.” 

 

Ah, well, that's cryptic. But Shouta shot the camera in the corner of the room a nod before flicking his eyes over to a still nervous Hawks. He was pretty sure he understood. That second room was likely to be triggering to the kid. Taking a deep breath, Eraserhead opened the door.

 

This first room was clean and looked like any other hospital room. A simple medical bed was pushed against the far wall, a myriad of medical instruments hung on the walls above the head of the bed or were on carts or stands near that wall. There was a series of cabinets and a sink in one corner. 

 

Midnight crossed to the door. Her whispered “It’s locked” might as well have been a whip cracking in the silence, but got the point across quickly. Eraserhead moved around the frozen Keigo, whose eyes stared intensely at the empty bed for some reason. His wings shifted between puffed up and totally sleek and smooth. Shouta bit his lip as he crouched in front of the door, as he pulled out his kit he looked over his shoulder. The kid didn’t seem too stressed... yet. Shouta just hoped it stayed that way. 

 

The weight of his lock picking kit in hand, Eraserhead focused back on the locked door. He pushed aside his worry to focus on applying steady pressure on his tension wrench and focused intensely on the small clicks of the pins of the lock. As the last pin clicked, he swung the door open. He couldn’t help but let out a soft gasp at the sight and smell. 

 

The overwhelming antiseptic citric smell and blood mixed together so that even Shouta with his stuffed up and broken nose under a gas mask couldn’t help but gag a bit. He hoped Hawks had base-human senses but from the way the kid was covering the lower half of his face he felt the kid had enhanced senses. 

 

The room was a twisted mirror of the previous one. Just on the other side of the wall from the nice medical bed was a stainless steel table with raised sides. Seeing the drain, Shouta realized it was an autopsy table. However it must have been modified as most autopsy tables don't require heavy padded straps to hold a person down. The drain at the base of the table didn’t have anything hooked up to it and just splattered directly onto the ground. A trail of diluted dried blood crossed the floor to a central drain. The blood was likely half heartedly cleaned, explaining the citric bite in the air. Around the table were shelves which mocked the medical equipment in the previous room. They were filled with various glass containers filled with chemicals Shouta didn’t recognize the names of, plastic bins with names of torture devices on their labels, and a few kitchen knife blocks that looked a little blood stained. 

 

He felt sick. Eraserhead had seen much worse in all reality, but no matter how many times he’s searched crime scenes it never failed to twist something in Shouta’s gut. Sometimes he wished he’d just hurry up and be desensitized, but something in him refused to let him. He darted his eyes over to Keigo, checking in on the kid. And he almost regretted it. The kid’s face was painfully blank, albeit a little pale. His golden eyes flicked over the room, looking totally blasé to the scene. Like this was what he expected and that this was normal . Shouta swallowed back the creeping acid in the back of his throat, as his mind reeled, coming up with worse and worse things Keigo might have dealt with as a child. 

 

No matter how blank the kid’s face looked, his wings betrayed the repressed or hidden feelings simmering underneath. The feathers were sharp and glinted in the oppressive fluorescent lights, the wings were angled down like he was trying to make himself look bigger and more threatening. 

 

Shouta just saw a cornered animal, a scared young man in too deep. 

 

Midnight’s voice once more broke the silence.

 

“Not locked,” She raised a hand to her com in her ear. “What's behind this door?”

 

“No camera. Proceed with caution.” 

 

Midnight opened the door, posed to release her quirk. The room was dark, lit only by the bright fluorescent lights from the doorway that bled into the entryway. There was the corner of a bright blue throw rug over the tile. It looked like it had a few faded stains, but was relatively clean. A book shelf was against the wall just far enough to not be hit by the door swinging open, the large side of the shelf obscured a chunk of the view. The very edge of the light touched the far wall where there was a bed pushed into the corner. Next to it was a small bin, likely the source of the acidic smell of vomit. Tucked under a thin blanket was a person. Their head was obscured by the shelf, but the broken red feather tucked under a loose fist made it clear who it was. 

 

They’d finally found Izuku. 

 

Eraserhead stepped into the room and flicked on the light, and Midnight let out a strangled noise. Turning to the kid, now illuminated, Shouta couldn’t blame her. The kid looked  wrecked… it wasn’t clear if he was even still alive. 

 

Before Shouta could even take a step, Hawks was kneeling beside the boy. His thin gloved fingers were against his neck, his other hand had his wrist held near Izuku’s nose to check his breathing. 

 

“S—” 

 

The quiet word sent shivers down Shouta’s spine as he darted across the room to couch by the bed. 

 

“Is he–” Hawks cut him off. 

 

“Breathing’s shallow and uneven. Pulse is all over the place, and way too fast.” 

 

From close up,Izuku looked even worse, if that was possible. His green hair was wet and oily, likely from fever, if the flush over his cheeks meant anything. The unhealthy pink stood out dramatically against the clammy pale white of the rest of his face. His closed eyes were puffy and looked swollen, possibly inflamed. Dark rings hung under them. The corners of his mouth looked bruised and cracked, his lips looked more blue then Shouta felt comfortable with. Drool and blood mixed together leaving a gory trail down the side of his face. The one arm over top of the blankets, holding onto the broken feather, had strange thin trailing welts. They were bright red and raised. In the crook of his arm was an IV that linked up to a clear bag. Shouta assumed it was some fluids and maybe, hopefully, was some helpful medication. The rest of the boy was bundled under the light blue blanket. Shouta hated how still the boy looked under the harsh lights, how dead he looked. They would have to move him, and he couldn’t help but worry the kid wouldn’t make it to the van, let alone the trip back to UA. 

 

“S— indeed,” Midnight mumbled. A little louder she continued, “I’ll keep watch.” 

 

Shouta let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding, and pulled down the blanket. The sight under the blanket was somehow worse. Izuku’s other arm had the same trailing welts. He was wrapped in a crinkly uncomfortable looking hospital gown that had raised up a little, showing the blood stained bottom edge of some All Might boxers. Izuku’s thighs were tightly wrapped with gauze and the bandages were soaked through. The sheets had been stained where the kid must have kicked around before he fell unconscious. His feet were terribly swollen with the swelling going all the way up his calves. Small white pinpricks, that looked a little like inflamed pimples, covered his feet and ankles. Shouta almost dismissed the large lump on Izuku’s left shin for just more swelling but looking closer his left foot was cocked a little strangely to the side and he realized the kid’s shin bone was broken and was visibly displaced. 

 

Getting to work, Shouta tossed Hawks a roll of bandages, which the young hero almost fumbled.

 

“Add more to his legs. We can’t have him lose any more blood.” 

 

Hawks nodded and mechanically started on his task with precision. Shouta watched briefly, making sure Keigo wasn’t about to lose it, before turning looking for anything to use as a splint. 

 

The room wasn’t full but it wasn’t empty either. The book shelf was half full of folded clothes and half full of notebooks and various little hero themed knick knacks. Against the other wall was a desk. On top of it was a straight edge layed out over a drawing of… what looked like some tunnel system over a floor plan. Probably vents. Shouta felt himself smile at the little childish doodles of various heroes around the edges as he grabbed the straight edge. Searching the drawers for anything else that could work well for a splint he came up fairly empty. Turning to the notebooks on the book sleeves he took one. The cover of the notebook said ‘Hero analysis for the future volume 11’, Shouta couldn’t help but smile again as he crossed back to the boy and tied the straight edge and notebook to the broken leg. It wouldn’t be great but it would be better than nothing. 

 

Hawks had finished wrapping his thighs at about the same time Shouta finished. He frowned down at the welts around his arms and the swollen feet. He wasn’t sure exactly what caused either of them and wasn’t sure what to do to make them better. Coving them seemed like the wrong call with the amount of swelling and inflammation, so he decided to leave them for Recovery Girl to figure out. He moved to take the IV off the wall when a loud screeching alarm went off.

 

Looked like their time was up.

Notes:

ehehehe >:)
Sorry, not sorry about the cliffie >:)
Next chappie will be Izuku's POV so y'all'll be hangin' for a sec >:)
However its almost all written so it might a close ish turn around (not two days but like within the week probs)

Chapter 7: Izuku's Big Day!

Notes:

okay MAJOR TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER PLEASE PAY ATTENTION
I forgot to warn my poor beta fish of half of this stuff D: and she was like "omg please put a warning" so this one is a HEAVY CHAPTER but this is the WORST ITS REALLY GONNA GET

Triggers: Abuse/Neglect of child, Flashbacks/dissociation, Brainwashing, dehuminization, torture, blood (Im not HUGE into gore tho), vomiting, monsters parading as a human being (you will understand once you meet Izuku's handler), also maybe self harm adjacent

Izuku baby, im--- im so sorry

ALSO if at ANY POINT you start to feel this chapter effect your mental health PLEASE STOP I will have a general list of what happens and what you will need to kind of know for future triggers but my stupid fic is not more important then your well being. heck I FELT WEIRD after reading and editing this chapter and I WROTE IT. I really warped the kiddo and needed to walk away a few times cuz its heavy and i KNOW the good things that are coming. so no shame if you go "oh gah, nope cant." the last section is Izuku's perspective of the feather convo with Keigo (there are three sections split by breaks) and that one is PROBABLY would get you any info you are missing.

Izuku woke up with a sigh. He slithered an arm out from under the blankets to tap his alarm clock. Big Days were rough. And they kept getting rougher every time. 

 

Sitting up with a big stretch, Izuku forced a smile on his face. Maybe today they would let him actually meet All Might! Ms Komori got him a signature from the hero right before she was switched for Mr Watanabe. Izuku couldn’t help but miss Ms Komori. She was a good guardian. She made sure that Izuku got not only what he needed but some fun things too.

 

Not like Izuku wasn’t grateful for having Mr Watanabe as his guardian! Don’t get the wrong idea, Izuku was very grateful that Mr Watanabe made sure Izuku was fed and healthy but… the man was just so…. 

 

Intense. 

 

The few times that Izuku had asked for anything beyond the absolute bare necessities he’d just blankly looked down at Izuku. It kinda freaked Izuku out enough to just stop asking. It just made the various hero action figures and drawing supplies all that more special. The collection of hero merch was nowhere near what he’d had growing up but knowing half of the All Might figures came from the man himself ?!

 

It made them priceless !!

 

Izuku threw off his covers and shivered. It was always just a little colder than Izuku preferred it, but it gave him an excuse to wear the FatGum hoodie that Ms Komori had gotten him. Don’t tell anyone but it was better than his All Might one. He knows, a huge fanboy like him shouldn’t hate, but it was softer and oversized in the best ways that the All Might one just wasn’t . 

 

It also wasn’t blood stained yet. But that isn’t really the sweatshirt’s fault. 

 

Thinking about blood, Izuku twisted his arms around to check the bandages. They were pristine white. Score! The cuts on his forearms hadn’t reopened overnight. He could wear the bright yellow hoodie without too much concern then! With a bright smile he jumped off his bed and collapsed to the floor with a surprised grunt. On the floor Izuku let out a world weary sigh. He’d forgotten about his leg. Again . 

 

Izuku knew something was wrong with it. Ever since that first day here a knobby bump stuck out from his shin. It’d taken almost three months before he could really walk on it. And even a year later, if he stepped wrong it’d just crumple under him like a sheet of paper in a disgruntled artist's hands. Izuku crawled to the edge of his bed and hoisted himself up with his good leg and arm. Trying again, he took a tentative step. And then another. And another. 

 

His leg seemed okay now. Beyond the normal zings of pain that radiated from his knee, ankle and hip. That just was how it was now, as long as he could walk it was fine. Izuku let himself smile as he limped the last meter or so to his bookshelf. Excitedly, he pulled the rumpled hoodie off the shelf and slipped it over his head. He traced the simple little boxy pattern on the front replicating FatGum’s hero suit. Curling his hands into sweater paws, Izuku limped across the room to his desk. He pulled out the office chair and collapsed into it with a huff. 

 

Opening his bottom drawer in his desk, he grabbed his school books. It’d be a few hours before Mr Watanabe came to unlock his door so he could go brush his teeth and shower. If Izuku really needed the bathroom before his door was unlocked he’d learned how to navigate the vents so it really wasn’t that big of an issue anymore. Izuku started towards the piles of books before pausing. Instead, he pulled out his vent diagram and ruler with a smile. He ran his fingers over it. He was proud of his work, but no matter how much he wanted to work on his fun project, school came first! 

 

Cracking open his math textbook and notebook he read the first equation.

 

(1/6)+ (4/6)=?

 

It wasn’t hard, but Izuku couldn’t bring the pencil to paper to write down the answer. His mom had always loved math, and Izuku loved asking for help with it. Not because he didn't understand, though sometimes it was because he didn’t understand, but it was more from just how excited Mom got. Her eyes sparkled, and her grin was open and easy every time. No matter how tired she’d looked, it would perk her up. She also got so silly with the explanations. Drawing little elephant friends who needed help dividing their peanuts. Or little stick figures who were shopping for strawberries. One summer she’d even forced him to calculate hero ranking statistics because he’d struggled with long division and long multiplication. Statistics were kind of hard but he’d figured it out. Izuku had had a weird mix of excitement and annoyance while doing it. But Mako and Mom had helped him get through the top 100 in no time at all.

 

Looking down at the page of fractions in the book, Izuku sniffed. His eyes filled with tears. He didn’t really want to do his math homework anymore. The equations smeared and warped as the tears bubbled out of his eyes. Izuku closed his eyes and gnawed on his lower lip. He listened to the soft pat-pat-pat of the tears hitting the textbook pages. 

 

After a few minutes he took a deep breath and wiped his face. It wasn’t like he could actually skip his school work. Not only would that be wasting the time of the nice tutors and Mr Watanabe expected him to do well in his studies, but Mom always told Izuku that school was cool. And that he was her cute little nerd when he’d agree wholeheartedly. She’d always wanted him to do his best at school, even if his best varied by subject or unit. She told him again and again that what really mattered was if he gave it his all. 

 

And he was going to give it his all.

 

Izuku swallowed around the rock lodged in his throat as he looked back down at the first equation.  16+46=?. Grabbing his pencil, Izuku nodded to himself, determined to make his mom proud. He wrote a confident 5/6. Izuku continued down the page with a wide smile, imagining Mom sitting next to him, clapping and cheering him on with each answer.

 

In no time at all, Izuku had finished all his math and moved on to his other subjects. Literature was a bit challenging as it was a poetry unit. His homework was writing poems in different meters. He struggled to come up with topics, but ended up writing about two of his favorite heroes; All Might and Hawks. 

 

Hawks- Keigo - was so cool . He wasn’t All Might cool, but he was cool nonetheless. Izuku had never had the chance to see Hawks up close before last week, but he had seen him on TV before. He’d seemed really cool on TV, but Keigo was about ten billion times cooler in person. Most adults just zoned out when Izuku would go on excited rants about heroes (except his mom, or if she did she’d apologize and ask him to repeat himself). His peers bullied him for it, calling him a freaky fan boy. Even Kacchan, one of Izuku’s closest friends yelled at him about it. But Keigo listened so closely even with how long and complex tapping back and forth through the feathers was. He spent hours just listening to Izuku, and every time he worried that Keigo had maybe stopped listening, the hero would ask a question or interject a thought about whatever he’d been talking about.

 

 It made Izuku feel warm all over, even in the chill of his room. 

 

Beyond Mako and Kacchan, Izuku had never really had many friends. And Keigo… kind of felt like the cool older brother he’d always wanted. Not like Izuku knew what having an older sibling was actually like, but he was pretty sure it was similar. 

 

He trusted Keigo. And Izuku had to constantly stop himself from telling Keigo the things that Mr Watanabe had told him were off limits to talk about. It was all for his safety. The villains were still at large. But it had been a year with few leads who had killed his—

 

Well, let’s just say it had been forever and Izuku was getting impatient . And it felt silly keeping things so secret when it wasn’t like Izuku ever got to leave the facility. And if anyone was trustworthy with a secret like this it would be a hero like Hawks . So of course he ended up caving and giving Keigo his name. It was Keigo , a hero who was known for being secretive, who gave Izuku his given name without second thought. He knew how high of an honor it was to know something so personal. 

 

Honestly, Izuku had decided to tell Keigo everything. It’d been a long time since he’d had someone like Ms Komori, someone he could just talk to and know they would listen. Having another person like that was really, really nice. 

 

And Hawks had amazing hero statistics (he would know, he’d calculated them), and he’d understand why Izuku needed protection and maybe would take the case on himself. Make some headway, maybe even find the villains and capture them! If that happened, maybe Izuku would be allowed outside again. 

 

Izuku had never really been a super outdoorsy person, but he missed it. Just the thought of seeing the sunrise had him vibrating in his seat in excitement. His mom had promised to get him a telescope for his birthday… which didn’t happen obviously. He might not have one, but maybe Keigo had one? Keigo seemed to like wide open spaces. Better for flying. Maybe he liked stargazing. Izuku would have to ask this evening.

 

The last time he had been allowed outside was the day before Ms Komori got transferred. Izuku couldn’t help but feel that his incessant asking to go outside and her caving was the thing that got her transferred. She’d told him it wasn’t his fault at all and this was actually a good thing as she was promoted partially from how much of a hard worker he was. Izuku wasn’t really sure how much he believed her though. Something about the way she’d given him their first and only hug. How it was overly tight. She’d also leaned in and whispered in his ear. “Don’t let them take your spark, Izu-kun.” At the time he’d just nodded over what she’d meant. But after some thought he’d decided to put it along with his mom’s desire for him to do his best and to stay kind. And Izuku could do that!

 

What Izuku wasn’t sure he could do was wait any longer to go to the bathroom . Izuku set his now completed homework in his drawer while he squirmed in his seat. His clock said 8:45 am. Mr Watanabe said that punctuality was of highest importance for an agent (or in Izuku’s case, future hero), but the man was doing the ‘practice what I preach and not what I do’ thing that adults do.

 

If Izuku knew that the man would be there at nine on the dot like he said he would, Izuku could probably wait. But if it was like the one day that Mr Watanabe hadn’t shown up at all and only sent some other agent to let him out around eleven, he would not make it. It was shortly after that day that Izuku started his escapades into the vents. Izuku wasn’t going to be caught peeing his pants ever again. Izuku had just started actually mapping out the vents in the past few weeks. He kinda hoped that he might figure out a way to get outside for some fresh air. 

 

Standing, Izuku slid his desk chair to the wall next to his desk. Ever so carefully, he clambered up onto the seat. He made sure not to let the chair shift or swivel; he’d fallen off before and it had hurt. Izuku finally understood why Mom had told him time and time again to not stand on their wheeled computer chair. It was as dangerous as his mom had said. 

 

Once he was fully upright, Izuku was able to step up onto his desk. He leaned heavily onto the wall for balance. In the wall above his desk was a large vent cover. A vent cover on which Izuku had ruined the stiff plastic of an All Might action figure hand to unscrew the corner screws. A different day he’d been able to pocket one of the knives and used it to carve the thin aluminum screw holes to be bigger. Instead of holding the plate close to the wall,  the vent cover now just rested on the screws, like a painting hanging on the wall. It made it much easier to just reach up and take the cover off the wall. It had been totally worth the days it had taken to scrape the metal down.

 

Gripping the edge of the vent, Izuku flexed his arms and hauled himself up and into the vent. Izuku grinned. When he’d just started exploring the vents it had been really hard to get into them. But now, months later, the muscles in Izuku’s arms were super strong! He was kind of glad as it would definitely make him a better hero. He would be great at helping move rubble or fight villains! It might even help him get into UA. If he was allowed to go to actual school by then. 

 

Izuku sighed as he took the two lefts followed by a right to get to the nearest bathroom in no time at all. He’d gotten really good at crawling in the confined space with only three limbs. Izuku slid his fingers into the grate, and popped off the bathroom’s ceiling vent. It was a little tricky, but by this point Izuku was proud to say he was practically a pro.

 

Izuku took a steadying breath before dropping just his legs down the hole and let them dangle. His arms holding him up started to shake just a little as he started to swing a little. He searched with his toes of his good foot for the top edge of the bathroom stall wall. After a few tries he found it and gripped as well as he could with his toes. Next was that hardest part. Izuku took a deep breath and pushed off while ducking his head to his chest to feel the edge of the vent brush his wild green curls, just missing his head by centimeters. It took a lot of tries to figure out how to do this without whacking his head, but he had persevered. It had been really hard to explain the additional cuts and bruises to Mr Watanabe. Now, he had it down to a science and was able to duck in such a way to keep the momentum to arch his body up and towards the corner post of the bathroom stall to grab it with his hands. 

 

After his hands slapped the post, Izuku grinned. He always felt a little like a cat as he walked across the top edge of the stalls using the ball of his good foot and his palms. His bad foot was used more just for balance, as it did not like being weight bearing in this awkward position. Finally he reached the larger handicapped stall, Izuku swung his legs over the side to rest his good foot on the bar attached to the wall. Then he lowered himself to the floor. 

 

It felt so nice to finally do his business, wash his hands and even splash some cool water on his face. In the past he had used some paper towels to scrape off some of the plaque, but today he was on a time crunch. Mr Watanabe was more likely to be close to on time on a Big Day. Izuku would be brushing his teeth soon anyway, so it was a waste of time. Instead, Izuku just cupped his hands and took a quick sip of the cool water, swishing and spitting once or twice to try to rinse off some of the scuzz. 

 

Izuku looked in the mirror and grinned. He was proud of how good he’d gotten at taking care of himself. It’d been hard to figure out at the beginning, but he had a rhythm now! 

 

He looked around, wishing not for the first time that someone would install a clock in this bathroom. Sure, it would be weird, but it would make Izuku’s life so much easier. He was pretty sure he had maybe five minutes to get back. He looked at his reflection directly in its green eyes. Giving himself a determined nod and huge grin he whispered to himself. 

 

“I bet we can do it in three .”

 

With no way of knowing for sure it was three minutes, Izuku checked how long he was gone in full. He was proud to admit that the whole round trip had only taken just under twelve minutes. Which was a new world record! 

 

Izuku settled back at his desk, working on mapping out the vents… or more like doodling as he waited. Little cartoon Hawks taking fun fighting poses around the edges mixed in with the little FatGums, Mirikos, Present Mics, and of course many All Mights. He slid off his chair the moment Mr Watanabe had come in at 9:08. 

 

Izuku wanted to show off the little doodles. They were really good! But with them being on his vent diagram he kept quiet. Something told him that Mr Watanabe would not be impressed with his vent adventures. He might even make it really hard for him to continue. Izuku was having too much fun plotting out the vents to risk it. Also, if he started talking about the vents, he’d for sure mention Keigo and the feather that was tucked between his mattress. And he knew that Mr Watanabe would be angry that he’d been talking to the hero. So, no talking about anything that might lead to loss of vent privileges. 

 

Mom had explained the saying “It is better to ask for forgiveness instead of permission” after it was used in an All Might movie. She’d told him that with her he could always ask permission and that it was best to ask permission for his safety and well being. She’d also promised to listen to his ideas if he promised to do the same with her points in response. It had worked great at home, but here? Izuku had learned that it might actually be better to just… not say anything. Then, he didn't have to get permission or forgiveness. It had worked for him this far, and Izuku wasn’t going to change now. 

 

A loud snap of fingers from the now distant Mr Watanabe made Izuku jump to attention. Izuku’s eyes widened at just how far behind he’d gotten. He knew he might have pushed himself too much this morning between waking up super early to get all his class work for the next two days done and making a new world record breaking bathroom speedrun. His leg ached something fierce and he was tired . 

 

The snapping grew more impatient. Izuku bit his lip as he sped up from his less painful slow limp to an awkward shuffling jog. Each time his bad leg hit the ground hot flashes of pain bounced from his ankle up to his knee. Tears pricked at the back of his eyes. He caught up to Mr Watanabe who rested a firm hand to Izuku’s back. He pushed him forward into the bathroom suite. Izuku made sure to be slow so the man would have to push a little harder. Even though he knew that it was just to make sure Izuku didn’t dawdle, he couldn’t help but use his imagination with the pressure. The firm hand melted and morphed into the comforting tight hold of one of Mom’s hugs.

 

It was nice. He liked to think that it was so easy to imagine it because Mom’s spirit was with him. He also was pretty sure his mom had sent Hawks to be his friend (and maybe big brother). That made Izuku smile.

 

“Clean yourself. I will be outside to bring you to the cafeteria.” Mr Watanabe’s stern tenor voice was filled with authority. Izuku dropped his smile. 

 

“Yes, sir.” Izuku gave him a small bow before clumsily twisting into the bathroom. Mr Watanabe closed the door behind him.

 

This bathroom was different then the one he’d used this morning. This one was nicer, set up more like a bathroom in an apartment. The other one was more like the kind of run down bathrooms found in some public beach parks. All old tiles that are a little stained, with stainless steel toilets and sinks. But this one was full of warm orangey brown tiles and a roomy tub-shower tucked in the corner and an actual white porcelain toilet. Izuku was pretty sure that he was the only person who used this bathroom. The fluffy hero-themed towels never moved unless he used them. 

 

He grabbed his toothbrush out of the mug that was shaped like All Might’s head. The little hair tufts made it impossible to drink out of without poking out an eye, Izuku knew as he’d tried to find a way. He hadn’t been successful but he’d found a good use for it, bizarre design and all. Izuku was quick in brushing his teeth and taking a shower. He’d tried to go to the bathroom again but it really hadn’t been that long since he went. It was always better to take the opportunity though! Never knew when the next one would arise!

 

Izuku… really wanted to dawdle, but not only had Mom told him there was a time and place for dawdling, but Mr Watanabe always got frustrated if he took too long. And it kind of felt like any amount of time was too long for the man, but Izuku kept trying to shorten his showers while still getting clean. And he wanted Mr Watanabe to be happy because maybe today was the day he was able to convince the man to let him actually meet All Might. To do that he would have to be perfect and fast. Izuku slid out of the now steamy bathroom in probably six or seven minutes, eight tops .

 

Mr Watanabe stood from the uncomfortable looking chair that was pressed against the wall across from the bathroom. His red eyes traced up and down Izuku’s body. Izuku couldn’t help but shuffle a little before looking down at himself. 

 

Izuku could feel how wet his hair still was, watching as water drops plopped onto his simple black T-shirt. His fresh bandages on his arms were sloppy, but at this point they were more a way to keep him from picking at the long, thin scabs. The loose, scrublike, dark blue pants were just a little too long and dragged on the ground under his heels. He was wearing a pair of silly Present Mic socks. The long yellow tubes of his “Hair” and triangle shades were hidden under his pants, only to have the sock depiction of the hero look like he was wearing a dark blue bandana. Izuku wiggled his toes. A smile cracked across his face as the wide grin of the two sock Present Mic’s stretched in silly ways. 

 

“You look acceptable. Follow quickly.”

 

Izuku nodded and tried to focus better on keeping pace with the long strides of the tall man. Rounding the corner of the hallway, Izuku looked up at the stony expression chiseled into the man’s rectangular face. Izuku curled his fingers into tight fists and took a deep breath.  The worst that he could say was no, Izuku reminded himself. He was still nervous, but tried to fill himself with confidence and determination as he opened his mouth. 

 

“Uh– Sir?” Izuku cringed. His voice came out more of a squeak, not the confident tone he’d aimed for. He swallowed, cleared his throat and tried again. “Mr. Watanabe?” 

 

The man slowed, but didn’t stop. His red gaze shifted to Izuku. Something about it made him feel a twist of nerves. Izuku flicked his eyes away, looking at some weird fern pushed against the wall. He crossed an arm over his chest and picked at the already fraying edge of his bandages. 

 

“Um, I– uh, I, um I was wondering if– um–”

 

“Spit it out, boy.” 

 

Izuku flinched out a nod before taking a deep breath.

 

“It’s been a long time that I have been– uh– healing All Might now. And I only got to see him that one time and um– he was unconscious and looked awful .” Izuku couldn’t seem to stop the word vomit from tumbling out of his mouth. Instead of stopping his shoulders just raised like they were being slowly cranked towards his ears. “I just– well I was hoping that I could actually see some of the progress? He is really, really cool and my favorite hero and I want to make sure he is actually okay. Not like I don’t believe you, but I’d like to see it with my own eyes? And I was hoping to maybe get to talk to him?”

 

Izuku stopped and looked down at his feet as he wiggled his toes in the silly socks. He bit his lip before continuing a little softer. 

 

“I wanna tell him I’m a big fan and I'm glad he’s okay.”

 

At this Mr Watanabe finally paused in the middle of the hall and turned to Izuku. Izuku couldn't bring himself to raise his eyes, a little worried what he would find in Mr Watanabe’s face and hard red eyes. After just enough time for Izuku to seriously regret his life choices and start to mentally beg the floor to open up and swallow him whole, Mr Watanabe responded. 

 

“No.” 

 

With that simple response, the man started back down the hall. Izuku slumped his shoulders with a heavy sigh. He gave his toes one final wiggle. It kind of looked like the socks were laughing at him. If Izuku was honest with himself, he knew the answer would be no. Izuku wanted to maybe ask again, but he knew that Mr Watanabe didn’t like repeating himself, so his word was final.

 

It wasn’t fair though. Izuku had been healing All Might at least once, sometimes twice, a month for most of a year . And for Izuku’s safety he couldn’t even see the hero?! His Favorite hero?? Who was Izuku more safe with then the number one hero himself?! 

 

Izuku would never say it out loud, but he highly doubted that Mr Watanabe would win if the villains who were after him attacked the facility. All Might though? Undoubtedly he would win. Even with his new injuries. There was no way any commission agent was more capable than All Might. So it just didn’t make any sense. But Izuku had known for a long time that adults didn’t make any sense. 

 

A few impatient snaps forced Izuku to stumble into a painful jog once more. Izuku was hungry and didn’t want Mr Watanabe to tell Chef Jessica to give him cold porridge again. 

 

—

 

After a filling breakfast of eggs, rice, and miso soup from Chef Jessica, Izuku started the process of preparing for his big appointment. Izuku thought it was ridiculous how long it took every time. He’d rather just get everything over with quickly instead of dragging it all out. But the doctors had told him again and again that every step was important and was for his own good. 

 

It started with a simple health check up. The doctors and nurses checked his blood pressure, his height and weight, iron and blood sugar levels, and a bunch of other little tests that Izuku had asked in the past but couldn’t really remember what they were for. The doctors were usually better than Mr Watanabe about questions, but Izuku didn’t want to push it. 

 

After the medical check up, Izuku would be taken back to his room for a while while the doctors worked together to tailor the procedures to his health levels that day to make sure it was never too much for him to handle. It was nice to know he had a whole team of people making sure he was going to be okay. It always settled the buzzing anxiety that filled him on these big days. They all wanted the best for him now. Make sure he is comfortable through the whole process. They would make sure to explain every step of every single procedure. They also listened when he was unsure about the order or specific steps. They were always calm and would explain why things were the way they were and when they could they would switch things around. It kind of reminded Izuku of his and his mom’s conversations about serious matters. It was really nice. 

 

Of course in emergencies, the medical team couldn’t go through all of this, but with their help he’d made a list of what he was okay with in a pinch. He preferred things that he could do to himself if he was going to be honest. Not like he didn’t trust the agents that helped him, but having the knife in his own hand was less scary than it being in someone else's. Unfortunately, All Might’s condition kept the hero needing consistent, hefty healing sessions. Ones that Izuku couldn’t begin to do to himself. 

 

Izuku’s vision was replaced with that of a year ago. His favorite hero laid out on the hospital bed. Blood was everywhere , the smell filling Izuku’s nose. Nurses and doctors were running around, using their red-slicked gloved hands to hold squishy looking things into the gaping hole in the hero’s side. So many tubes and wires were attached and shoved into him. The agent's tight grip on his arms as he thrashed around, hot tears carving harsh tracks down his face. The loud shouts and medical equipment screaming as All Might flat lined. The vision of All Might shifted to the last expression of his mom. Her green eyes wide with worry, blood streaking down her face, her arms outstretched grasping at the air as Izuku drifted further and further. The piercing scream of unadulterated parental rage as Izuku finally turned the corner out of her vision. The scream cut off abruptly. The silence rang in his ears the way the scream never could. 

 

Izuku blinked, back in his room. He hated going on those little trips. He always felt a little funny afterward but just let himself sink into the oversized sweater he had put back on. The soft fabric made him feel a little better, so he tightened his grip on his pencil to work on his vent diagram. 

 

All Might was fine now. He had survived . Izuku had done that and was proud. It was Izuku’s continual efforts that was keeping the number one hero able to continue to keep the streets safe. Izuku had been told that time and time again. So it was all worth it.

 

The plan up for this session had been a bit scary. More than usual. But Izuku wanted to be a hero and sometimes heroes had to do things that were scary. Izuku had given the doctors a shaky smile before signing the digital forms. He agreed to it, so now all he needed to do was follow through. Even though he kinda regretted okaying it now. 

 

But he could do it, for All Might. A blossom of pride bloomed in his chest when the doctor had called him brave. The taste of the little hard candy was still on his tongue, even though the candy was long gone. 

 

The knock on his door made Izuku jump. He started to twist his fingers, wringing his hands. It was time. Mr Watanabe opened the door and gestured for Izuku into the healing room that was attached to his bedroom. The room was a bit scary. The large metal tub-table-bed-thing with straps was hard to look at and the stinging of disinfectant made his eyes water. Izuku was glad his room had two doors and he only used this one when he was having to heal someone. He was glad he could sometimes go weeks ignoring that this room existed. He even avoided the vent paths that crossed over this room just so he didn’t have to think about it Even though it was a more direct path to the bathroom, he just didn’t want to.

 

Izuku felt himself start to tense as he took more slow steps into the room. He rolled his shoulders before berating himself. It has to hurt to heal, he knew that, so this room and everything that happens here were a necessary evil. If heroes like All Might or Hawks were not able to patrol, the villains would go crazy! Izuku needed to do this; it kept people safe. 

 

No matter how many times he reasoned with himself, Izuku felt his heart race and sweat pool on his skin. He wiped his now sweaty, trembling hands on the sides of his pants. He hated this room. He preferred it when he was allowed in the other room, doing his own procedures. That usually only happened in emergencies where the patient was unconscious. Well until Hawks, he’d been sort of awake. But Izuku is pretty sure that had been a mistake because afterwards the doctors had told him again and again that it was okay as Hawks didn’t remember him so he was safe. 

 

Which, of course , he was safe. It was Keigo . 

 

Adults made no sense most of the time, but he’d just nodded and let them say what they were going to say. 

 

Izuku didn't want to wish an emergency on his favorite hero, and was very glad All Might was conscious and doing well. But a part of him really wished he didn’t have to be in this room. 

 

Mr Watanabe grabbed Izuku’s wrist and yanked him to the center of the room, obviously annoyed it was taking him so long. The tight grip kind of hurt his scabbed wrists and the stumble had jarred his bad leg, but he made sure not to make any noise. After the man let go, Izuku tried to subtly massage the arm as he stood on one foot. He watched as Mr Kurage and Ms Itadori walked into the room from the other, warmer, medical room. 

 

A large hand pushed Izuku towards the two from behind making him stumble forward. Without thinking, Izuku tried to catch himself with his bad leg. Before he could hit the floor, he felt the long thin hands of Mr Kurage catch his elbows and push him back upright. Izuku knew the man’s quirk was inactive. The mushroom-like dome of purple hair was not glowing, but he still flinched at the cool fingers for some reason. Almost like he was expecting it to hurt, but they hadn’t started yet, so that was ridiculous. 

 

“Easy there, kid.” Mr Kurage let go of Izuku’s elbows with his dark hands. He took a step back. Izuku finally felt like he could breathe. 

 

“Change into this. We don’t want your nice clothes ruined.” Izuku’s view of the thin dark hands was obscured by Ms Itadori’s tanned olive tone hands wrapped around a bundled up hospital gown. Izuku had mechanically grabbed it from her and started to strip down. In the past he had gone back to his room to change. The last few times the mix of his aching leg and the exhausting nerves made him too slow for Mr Watanabe’s liking. To avoid the man’s ire, Izuku stopped seeking out privacy. 

 

Now stripped to his All Might boxers, Izuku slipped on the crinkly gown. He hated the feel of the fabric of these gowns. But it was the thing that kept him from staining any more of his clothes. And while FatGum and Present Mic were not in his top ten favorite heroes he didn’t want his precious merch ruined. Even in the name of healing All Might.

 

Ms Itadori stiffly took the clothes from Izuku and disappeared into his room. He was jealous. He wanted to go back to his room. 

 

A loud scraping noise made Izuku jump. Spinning around, he just saw Mr Kurage pushing the metal footstool over with his foot. The incredibly thin man patted the metal tub-table-bed-thing. Each of the echoey booms flipped and flopped Izuku’s heart in his chest. Izuku tried not to dawdle but he found himself jumping at the sharp snapping of Mr Watanabe. Izuku scuttled up and onto the table as fast as he could.

 

 By that point, the short, plain-looking Ms Itadori was back, the purple silicone wrapped stick for his mouth in her hand. Izuku swallowed his spit before he let his mouth creak open. Sometimes the stick would have nice flavors rubbed on soft silicone. This time it just had the sharp tang of disinfectant. Except for the taste, it was honestly nice to gnaw on. He focused on the feeling of it squishing around his teeth as he pointedly ignored the clicks of the strap being latched behind his head. The first few times he’d agreed to any procedures he’d gotten overwhelmed and ended up screaming and biting his own tongue. After that one of the doctors had brought him the biting stick. He still could bite the sides of his mouth or tongue if he tried but usually once the procedure started he just clenched his jaw as hard as he could, so it was rarely a concern. 

 

Ms Itadori gently pushed Izuku’s head down onto the hard foam pad, forcing him to lean onto the table. It was cold under his bare arms and legs. The cool metal slowly sucked the heat through the thin material of the gown making Izuku shiver. Both Mr Kurage and Ms Itadori worked efficiently together to buckle the soft wrist, ankle and waist straps that held Izuku to the table. Izuku during this counted the ceiling tiles. He already knew the number was 184, but he counted them again anyway. 

 

The walkie talkie on Mr Watanabe’s hip chirped. Izuku’s chest ached. The crackling voice over the radio broke Izuku’s count at sixty two. 

 

“All Might is in position. You may start the procedure.”

 

“Understood.” 

 

Mr Watanabe clipped the radio back to his belt and turned to Izuku. A little spray can was in his hand. “Are you ready to begin? Remember–” The other two adults joined in, “it has to hurt to heal.” 

 

Izuku nodded and gave the ‘okay’ sign with his left hand. Mr Watanabe’s lips twisted and curled into what Izuku thiught was a smile. It had taken him a few months to recognize it as such, and he tried hard not to judge a person based on appearance, just like Mom had taught him. But it was all teeth and sharp in a way that made Izuku’s skin crawl. Izuku broke eye contact and held his breath, not able to keep looking at the excited man. 

 

“Thank you for your sacrifice Izuku. I am so, so proud of you.” From the corner of Izuku’s eye he saw how the can was raised up to his eyes. 

 

He didn’t see Mr Watanabe’s finger move to the trigger, but it must have happened. The familiar burning of the pepper spray filled Izuku’s eyes. He squirmed as he shut his eyes tight. It was unpleasant but at this point, not really that bad. The worst part was the anxiety from not being able to see. 

 

Months ago he had asked the doctors if he could have the pepper spray be after the other more scary procedures. But after a long discussion it had been decided that him flinching preemptively was negatively impacting the effectiveness of the treatments. Izuku hated the pepper spray, but the soft blind fold was worse. At least with the burning pain in his eyes, not being able to see was his choice.

 

Izuku listened to the soft shuffling and even breaths in the quiet room. He mentally mapped out who was where. The doctors told him to try not to brace at all for the pain, to just let it happen, but Izuku just couldn’t help it. Sneaking a peak, Izuku opened his watery eyes just a sliver. Tears were thick in his eyelashes, making his vision basically useless. But after a moment, through the wavering shimmering vision Izuku spotted the soft purple glow smearing across his vision. Izuku bit down tight on the stick and squeezed his eyes shut.

 

The cool caress of Mr Kurage’s fingers almost tickled before the looping trails erupted into sharp prickles of pain. Izuku felt his arm muscles flex and relax in quick succession as the man’s thin fingers continued to trace along Izuku’s clammy skin. Izuku had never been stung by a normal jellyfish and wondered how it compared to Mr Kurage’s quirk. 

 

The painful and soft touches paused. The footsteps made Izuku assume that Mr Kurage was shifting to his other arm. The stung arm trembled, feeling a strange mix of numb and searing, itchy pain. The reprieve from the pain was only a few short breaths before the soft loopy touch swooped up and down his other arm. 

 

Izuku started to count his breaths. Ms Komori had taught him how counting breaths can help a person keep calm and give them something to focus on. Izuku found it helped, but that counting to four over and over was boring, so he’d turned it into a little game. He would start with breathing in for a count of two then out for two, then he’d add one to the number to see how high of a number he could get. His record was around twenty two or twenty three. At that point it kind of got hard to suck any more air into his lungs, or his vision would start to fuzz with black dots. Izuku was sure that he could get to a higher number if he counted faster, but that felt like cheating. 

 

Izuku had gotten up to a count of twelve when what sounded like sand poured onto the table. Izuku knew to expect the skittering tinny sound at some point, but it still made him jolt a bit against the straps. Slowly the eerie ticklish sensation of hundreds of tiny insect feet flooded over his feet. It took everything in Izuku to keep still through the sensation. He wanted to rub his feet together or roll his ankles against the cold metal below him. But he didn’t want to kill the ants; it wasn’t their fault that they were tickling his toes. They were just following Ms Itadori’s instructions. These were a new species. Bullet ants the doctors had said. The pain would be more than the bites he was used to, but was needed to make sure All Might stayed at his best. 

 

The bites started, and it felt like long red hot nails were being pounded into his feet. Izuku sent a small mental apology to the ants he squished as he rolled his feet. He didn’t want to, but the bites were excruciating. They said it would be a little worse than the fire ants but this had to be about a million times worse, if not a bazillion . Izuku shifted and squirmed, tugging against the straps. It hurt. It hurt so much worse than he’d thought it would. A pained hiss leaked out of his mouth followed by wet ragged gasps. With another wave of bites Izuku arched his back he bit down on the bar only for his mouth to fill with the metallic tang of blood. The bite bar had slipped a little. Izuku twisted his head to let the blood and spit dribble out of the corner of his mouth. Izuku was a little out of it and his mental map had gotten really fuzzy so he wasn’t sure anymore who it was but someone tightened the bar strap fairly aggressively. He let out a small whimper as they ripped out a small section of his hair. 

 

“Be quiet.” Mr Watanabe’s voice filled Izuku’s ears and shot ice into his veins. The man's sour breath blew along his ear and wet cheek. Izuku pulled a little at the bindings trying to shift away. “We can’t have All Might hearing you. It’d be dangerous. The villains, remember?”

 

Izuku bit back a sob as the waves of stings, burns, and stabs radiated throughout his body. Tears cascaded down his face faster as he nodded like a bobble head. He could be quiet. Of course he could. He had to be quiet. But it was so hard. Izuku had never realized how much pain that his small body could produce. It felt like every single one of his nerves were active and screaming. He wished he could join in their silent symphony. Instead he bit down feeling his jaw and teeth creak and groan at the pressure. The throbbing low beat of ache from his jaw and stretched lips created a bass beat to support the mid tone stings with their looping arpeggios written up and down his arms. And then over it all was the warbling screeching melody of the nail-like ant bites, digging deeper and deeper into his inflamed feet and ankles. It all was unrelenting and jarring. Nausea rolled in his stomach like a timpani.

 

Izuku swallowed back the bile. He did not want to choke on his vomit. The acid always made him feel like he was drowning and the cough lasted weeks before it cleared up. He tried to play In and Out again, but he kept losing count and couldn’t get past four or five. There was another wave of pain and Izuku felt his body roll and arch off the table again before slumping to the table with a soft thump. The burning in his eyes was clearing with each tear that fell down his face and onto the hard foam cushion below his head. The tears mixed into a nasty slurry with a little bit of blood, spit and sweat on the plastic fabric cover. It grossly stuck to his cheeks as he rolled his head from side to side.

 

He hated this. He hated this so much. There was no way of knowing how much longer was left. It was getting harder and harder to keep from making any noises. He really wanted to scream. 

 

There was a beep. The walkie talkie. Relief flooded through him. Oh good, that meant that Izuku was close to being done. 

 

Izuku furrowed his brow. They weren’t stopping. The radio going off meant they were done. Why were they not stopping? There were words, but Izuku struggled to understand the staticky voice of the radio.

 

A firm hand pressed into his chest. It made it a little hard to breathe. Izuku opened his eyes and saw the much too close, blurry face of Mr Watanabe. The view faded as Izuku’s eyelids flickered closed again. He was tired and cold and everything hurt.

 

The hand pushed harder on his ribs, pushing out a grunt from Izuku. He opened his eyes when a different hand slapped his cheeks. There were a few barked out words Izuku didn’t catch. All the new pain stopped, only the throbbing echos making him shiver. He was able to focus up on the face above him a little better. 

 

“Izuku. We need more. All Might isn’t healing fast enough. Do you consent?”

 

Izuku almost gave himself whiplash as he tossed his head from side to side. No. No no no. This is NOT what he’d agreed to. They’d promised to never switch it up once the plan was in place. He could handle it if he agreed to it before but he didn’t like it when plans were switched up at the last minute like this! He couldn’t do more. He couldn’t, he couldn’t . This was too much already and they wanted more?!

 

Izuku’s stomach twisted and his heart pounded. He felt dizzy. It was too hot and too cold. All his limbs were heavy and trembling uncontrollably. His eyes burned and prickled from the constant tears and pepper spray. The stretched skin around his lips and clenched jaw ached. Even the little patch of skin at the back of his head throbbed where the hair had been torn. How was this not enough? 

 

They wanted too much . 

 

He just wanted his mom.  

 

Izuku slumped back into the table. That wasn’t an option anymore though. She had died a hero trying to save him. His eyes drifted to the expectant expression on Mr Watanabe’s face. Izuku wanted to be a hero. Like Keigo. Like All Might. 

 

Like Mom.  

 

He nodded slowly. Izuku felt lighter than the red feather hidden in his room. He was made of mist.; if someone blew too hard he’d just dissipate into the air. 

 

That kind of sounded nice if Izuku was going to be honest. 

 

Mr Watanabe was no longer in Izuku’s view. He wanted to ask what he’d just agreed to but he couldn’t. The sound of spray and the spicy smell filled Izuku’s hearing and nose. He barely felt the sting as he screwed his eyes shut. More nails were pounded into his feet and ankles. More looping stings were added to his arms. Izuku’s mist body was slammed back into his normal body. It felt like he’d been thrown through a brick wall of pain, and he sputtered out a small gasp. 

 

Any focus that Izuku had gained disappeared into the waves of nausea and pain. The sound of the knives being pulled out of the knife block rang out just overhead. Oh, cutting. He slumped against the table. Cutting Izuku could handle. The sharp staccato of quick criss-crossing cuts sliced across his thighs, settling perfectly into the rest of Izuku’s symphony of pain. Izuku felt himself float away again. The pain was both there and also not. His body trembled but he was just an observer now. Distant. Removed. 

 

Izuku liked this. It was a lot easier this way, even if it was a little weird. It almost felt like when he did those meditations with Ms Komori. He was vaguely aware of the wet feeling sliding over his thighs and dripping down the sides of his legs, pooling under him. It made the normally cold table feel warm and sticky. He didn’t like it. 

 

The addition of new pains paused. 

 

Maybe… maybe he was done? Izuku screwed his face up, confused. He hadn’t heard the radio beep. Maybe he’d missed it, wouldn’t be the first time that happened. He blinked open his eyes just in time to see Mr Kurage upend a large glass jug over his lap. 

 

Izuku’s vision whited out as the liquid sloshed over the flayed skin. It burned. It felt like his skin was disintegrating. Izuku let out a warbling scream. 

 

A large hand slapped his face, covering his mouth and nose. It dug the bar deeper into his cheeks and mouth, hitting far enough back that he gagged. The overwhelming smell of lemons or oranges field his nose. It mixed with the smell of blood, sweat, and pepper spray. He gagged again, and this time bile filled his mouth. The hand over his mouth forced him to hold the disgusting acid in his mouth in fear of breathing it in. It was hard to breathe. 

 

Izuku scrambled, scratching uselessly at the smooth metal. He thrashed his head back and forth trying to shake the hand off his face. He kicked his legs. Thumping loudly against the table he let out a pained moan at the horrible pain that cascaded through his body. Like a series of bombs exploding. He shifted and squirmed and screamed from under the hand. More hands joined in the efforts to hold him down. He bucked and fought back as much as he could. But he was tied down, dizzy, and felt really awful. 

 

A whisper pierced through his panic making him freeze.

 

“All Might heard, you brat. Stop it now or I’ll slice your throat open.”

 

The razor sharp feeling of a knife pressed against his throat. 

 

They’d never threatened him before. What was happening ?

 

Izuku felt a pain tighten in his chest as his heart thrummed. It kind of felt like it was going to pound out of his chest, to break his ribs from the inside.

 

He felt really, really dizzy. 

 

He opened his eyes only to be met with fuzzy black static.

 

Oh . He was passing out. 

 

Izuku let go. 

 

—

 

Izuku woke up later with a whimper. 

 

Everything hurt still and his whole body felt too hot and too weak and just all around awful. He was clammy and shaking. Throbs radiated up from his feet and over the skin on his arms. His thighs burned and he wasn’t even totally sure what had happened to them but they hurt. The feeling of nails embedded in his feet felt just as stark as when the ants had first bit him. He had no idea how long it had been but it should have faded by now, right? This pain wasn’t a permanent thing, right?

 

Right??

 

He threw his head over the edge of the bed. Vomit splattered into the bin that someone had placed with surprising precision. Like they knew that would happen. There was a pinching in his arm. Oh good, he was on an IV. He collapsed back to his pillow and wrapped his blankets into him tighter. He shivered violently. The thin blankets felt like they were doing nothing in the icy room.

 

He couldn’t do this. His mind swirled at the fuzzy memories. They’d broken their promise. They’d hurt him. He hadn’t really been okay with it and they did it anyway. Izuku wanted– Izuku wanted to go home . He wanted Mom. 

 

He sobbed into his pillow. But there was no way out. He was stuck in this cycle. It was just pain, pain, pain. He was just a kid. Izuku wasn’t a hero yet so he had no idea what he was supposed to do.  

 

Izuku stuttered in a breath.A light bulb flickered on in his mind. Izuku wasn’t a hero but he did know one. 

 

Kei could help. Kei would help. 

 

Izuku felt like his arms were dead fish with how much they flopped and felt painfully numb. Each movement sent a zing of pain, but overwhelmingly they felt detached from his body and impossible to control. It took some time but Izuku was able to shimmy his way to the side of the bed and slide his hand between the mattresses. His hand shook as he pulled the feather out. 

 

Izuku felt his eyes flood with a new wave of tears at how hard it was to control his fingers. How all his attempts at morse code were failures, just like him. It was useless; he couldn't get his fingers to work. Keigo probably wasn’t even listening. Probably was too busy. Izuku was about to roll over, to forget about the whole thing, but he felt the feather twitch and vibrate in his hand. The way that it always did when something Izuku had said intrigued him. Right before Kei would ask a question.

 

Izuku sobbed as he smiled. Of course Keigo was listening; he'd never not been willing to listen. Izuku took as deep of a breath as he really could and coughed a little. He really didn’t feel good. But was more settled so he was able to tap slowly in a way he prayed was close enough for Keigo to understand.

 

“YOU THERE KEI?”

 

“ALWAYS IZU” 

 

Izuku let out a loud wet sob. He felt so alone and like Keigo was right next to him at the same time. He curled his knees up towards his chest before he started trying to explain . He wanted to say everything but he also was really tired. He was struggling to keep his eyes open as is and knew it would take too long and everything just hurt too much. So he started, hoping he could sum up.

 

“I CAN’T–” 

 

A wave of pain washed over Izuku making his whole body flinch and spasm. His chest hurt and he was pretty sure that he just bit his tongue. The metallic tasting spit made him gag. Izuku rolled and only just made it to the bin in time before a wave of bile came up, stinging his throat. Izuku slammed back into the soft pillow under him. He was breathing heavily as his head spun. 

 

“YOU CAN’T WHAT?” 

 

Keigo always asked questions. Something squeezed in his chest. He coughed again, breathing heavily. Izuku wished Keigo was here. He wanted a hug. Not some imaginary made up thing but a real genuine hug. He bet Keigo gave great hugs. Maybe even on the same level as Mom. Izuku felt something in him break and an absolute wave of emotions flooded through him.

 

“DO THIS ANYMORE.” He felt as tears poured down his face. He scrambled to curl up tighter and tighter around the feather. “IT HURTS. MAKE IT STOP.” 

 

“WHAT HURTS?” 

 

More questions . He cares . Izuku sobbed as something warm and fuzzy bubbled up in his chest. 

 

“EVERYTHING.”

 

Everything did hurt. The throbbing of his head, burning eyes, stinging arms, pounding crushed feeling in his chest, the rolling nausea, the acid burn in his throat and nose, the dull ache of all his joints, his feet that felt a bit like pincushions filled with hot coals, the list went on and on. It was overwhelming. Too much. Izuku wanted it to stop. He pressed the feather to his face, tight in his hands. He wanted to be closer to Kei. He wanted him to be here. Keigo could make it better. Izuku knew he could. 

 

“Kei, please. Make it go away. I can’t do this. They lied. They lied. It hurt. It hurts so much. Kei please Kei. Kei . I need you. Please make it stop. Make it stop. I can't– I can’t do this.” 

 

Izuku rambled and at a point he wasn’t even sure if he was even forming words. Maybe it was just babbles, mixed with wailing sobs. Izuku was too far gone to really care. He just was begging for some release, for help . 

 

At the edge of his awareness he felt the rushed tapping of the feather against his cheek but he couldn’t focus to decode the tapping into letters. He kept babbling and pleading to his hero for help. Slowly the soft tickling feeling of the feather lightly dusting his cheek brought him back to the present. 

 

Izuku sniffed and rubbed his eyes with a weirdly limp hand. It was more like slapping himself in the face repeatedly but the tears were away from his eyes. It was so dark in his room it didn’t really matter but he liked to pretend he could see the welcoming crimson of the soft feather. With a trembling finger he tapped out his message. 

 

“SORRY.”

 

“IT'S FINE. YOU OKAY?”

 

Izuku felt his face crumble as another wave of tears fell onto his pillow. He wasn’t okay. And Izuku didn’t think he'd been okay in months . Honestly, probably since his mom died. Ms Komori was great but she wasn’t family. And then she disappeared . Izuku was so lonely. He hurt and felt sick and didn’t want to be here anymore. He didn’t know where to begin so Izuku just stroked the feather in the same pattern that Kei had stoked his face. It was soothing. 

 

Izuku kinda zoned out on the feeling of the feather under his fingers. He shifted his legs trying to find a position that didn’t send shooting pains through his feet. His knee hit a wet patch on his sheets. Izuku snaked his other hand down between the sheets and the crinkly gown. Reaching some bandages tied around his thighs, he started to gently poke around. The front of his thighs were drenched with sticky liquid. 

 

Oh. That's not good. He moved his hand to try to press down. That's what you do when you are bleeding right? Izuku started to feel really dizzy again.

 

Keigo might know what to do, he should ask. Izuku slowly blinked as he tapped out the message.

 

 “BLEEDING AGAIN.” 

 

“WHERE?” Izuku felt the blood totally coat his hand. He sat up to try to press the blankets into his bandages. Izuku slumped his forearm onto his thighs with a hiss. His other hand held his tether to Keigo. He couldn’t let go of that even as it bounced around sending messages.

 

“WHERE BLEED”

 

The tapping continued but Izuku was feeling really lightheaded and nothing really made sense. The room was spinning. It was pitch black and there was no way for him to know which way was up. Izuku squeezed his eyes tight as he took quick breaths. His chest felt like it had a bunch of rubber bands around it. Each breath was harder than the one previous. He twisted back to face the feather, just a hair too fast. Gravity went haywire shifting all over the place. The world went tumbling and took Izuku along for the ride. Flailing, Izuku tried to use his flopping numb arms to brace himself. His hands tightened into fists and he slammed into the… soft wall?

 

Oh wait no. That was just his bed. Izuku was a little confused how his bed was suddenly now attached to the wall but in a world of quirks anything was possible. Roll with the punches and all that. Izuku nodded to himself and patted around where he thought Keigo’s feather was, he felt it under his fist.

 

In two pieces.

 

“No. Oh no no no. This can’t be happening. This can't be happening. ” 

 

“KEI?” He tried to tap the feather, get it to move and it stayed lax. Unmoving. 

 

Dead. 

 

Ice shot through his chest, and his breaths came out in a swift sharp staccato beat. He couldn’t lose his connection to his hero. He couldn’t lose another person. He hadn’t told Kei everything yet. He hadn’t gotten a chance to tell him he was one of his favorite heroes now, if not his favorite. He never got to tell Kei that he saw him like a big brother, like family. 

 

He never got to hug him.

 

Izuku felt a stabbing in his chest as his heart fluttered. He felt so sick, he was still dizzy even though he was pressed deeply into his pillow. He felt too hot and too cold as he was slick with sweat but shivering violently under the blankets. He wanted Kei.

 

He wanted his brother .

 

He tightened his shaking hand into a fist around the broken feather. Izuku moved his head to be as close to the small piece of Kei as he had. He felt tears dip onto the back of his hand, the broken feather tickled the side of his chin.

 

Izuku’s mind got even fuzzier. It was really hard to stay awake. Impossible even. He let his eyes slide closed. 

 

Maybe when he woke up Kei would be here and he could get that hug he so desperately wanted. 

Notes:

IM SO SORRY

(any death threats to me will be forwarded to Mr Watanabe)

Summary:
Izuku gets up, does his homework while nervous about how its a Big Day. It is clear he is broken up about a lot of things most of which his mom's death. He turns a lot of horrifying things into games to cope as he is a child. He has to take care of himself in ways that children shouldn't have to do, including figuring out how to sneak around the vents to go to the bathroom. It is implied that there was a time that Izuku didn't have that and he ended up peeing his pants from being forced to wait to long. Izuku implies that his leg has been broken for a really long time (about a year) from the 'first time'.
Mr Watanabe, Izuku's handler is a monster who dehumanizes the boy constantly and treats him like a negletful dog owner. He snaps his fingers at the boy when he is limping to slow, doesn't let the boy go to the bathroom consistantly, refrences to withholding food are made. The man is sturn, Izuku is obviously afraid of the man (derogatory) and we do no know his quirk. After a while Izuku asks if he could finally meet All Might as he has been doing healing sessions monthly for a while now and he is a huge fan. The answer is no as it would be unsafe for Izuku as the Villains taht killed his mom are still out to get him. Izuku thinks thats rediculous but doesn't say that.
the doctors do tests for his health and come up with a plan of what torture will be done that day to tailor to his health that day. Izuku is nervous as it is a lot more then normal. He also says he likes when he is allowed to do his own procedures more then if someone else is in charge of it. the doctors make him sign of his consent to the procedure and the doctors give him candy and call him brave.
Once in the room he is made to strip to his underwear infront of Mr Watanabe, Mr Kurage and Ms Itadori and put on a hospital gown. After that he is given a silicone bit that is strapped to his face and then is strapped to the table via Wrists, Ankles and waist. All might is in the other nicer room throughout all of this Izuku is shown to obviously be trained to make no noise for this. He is pepper sprayed right at the begingin so he can't see anything, not really at least. Mr Kurage has a jellyfish quirk and starts stinging up and down Izuku's arms. Ms Itadori has a bug control quirk and has upgraded to bullet ants which are a lot worse then the other biting ants he is used to. He starts to feel sick. The other room radios and says that All Might is healing less fast so they need to step it up. Mr watanabe tries and suceeds in forcing the kid to give the go ahead, he does as he has been brainwashed to think this is okay/needed. His thighs are cut/flayed and then Citric acid (technically he isnt aware of that but I AM so it goes here and i have dropped lots of hints this will also be plot relevant) is poured into the cuts. Izuku looses it at this point and starts screaming and fighting the bonds. Mr watanabe presses a knife to his throat and threatens him if he makes any more noise as "All Might heard, you brat" < this line is important for later. Izuku freezes but is freaked out cuz not only did they lie and switch it up after making the plan they had never threatened him like this before. He passes out.
He wakes up in pain still and reaches out to Keigo, finally admitting how messed up, lonely and awful this all is. He has a thing for questions and people asking him them, it makes him feel loved/cared for (this is important for later). He is dizzy and physically unwell in a lot of ways (Nausea, vomiting, heart acting funny, breathing problems, confused, bleeding, dizzy, in pain, etc). He reaches out and during the convo he realizes his legs are still bleeding, tries to sit up to put pressure gets SUPER dizzy/confused. he falls back onto the bed and the feather breaks under his arm as he tried to catch himself. he freaks out about loosing his connection to his hero and (self claimed ) brother. He passes out but his last wish is that when he wakes up Keigo will be there and he'll actually get a chance to hug him

that. wow writitng it up like that I might be a monster. BUT HE IS GONNA GET CUDDLES I PROMISE OKAY HE WILL <3 I GOT SO MUCH FLUFF PLANNED FOR HIM.
But Id say I hope you enjoyed but i dunno if people can enjoy... this. but Im hard at work on the next chapter! so we'll get some more stuff cleared up soon!!! :D

Chapter 8: Keigo (and posse) gets Izuku outta there

Notes:

:D We back at it again folkssss
I wish we were outta the thick of it but this fic is ummmm front heavy with the angst but i SWEAR were getting ever so slowly closer to some happier times! Thanks again to my beta fish @sassy_chemist for fixing so much of the grammer lol I wrote a lot of this at like 2 am so there was some... questionable grammer lolol so thanks bestie <333

Trigger: Hawks is having a melt down for most of this but trying to keep it together, bless him he is doing his best. so like there is some dissociation, some questionable self talk and like some solid violence. I am not a huge fan of gore so i try to keep it to a minimum but like there is mentions of like blood.

All y'alls comments are giving me life, know each comment has me kicking my feet and twirling my hair. also fuels the hyperfixation I have on this fic rn lololol so like if you keep feeding the beast, the beast will keep feeding you, just saying lolol

but wtihout further adoooooo!!!~~~~~ enjoyyy

In the back of Keigo’s mind he knew that there was an alarm loudly blaring and lights flashing. His ears were ringing and he felt disoriented, but his world had narrowed to a pinprick. All he could hear was the soft huffing breaths and fast thrumming heart beat. All he could see was the oily, sweaty hair plastered to the ghostly pale face. Under the flushed cheeks Keigo could just see the outlines of freckles. He hadn’t realized Izuku had freckles. 

 

He didn’t realize a lot of things about Izuku, it seemed. Most important of all was how awful his situation had been.

 

“We need to go.” 

 

The gruff voice was ignored. Keigo was focused on Izuku and anything else was irrelevant. All that mattered was watching to make sure the kid kept breathing. He watched the rise and fall of his small chest. Keigo wanted to reach forward and touch him but worried that if touched the boy would disappear. Like a bubble, so pretty but if you touch it, the beauty would pop. Keigo couldn’t let Izuku pop, so he watched on, unblinking. 

 

A frustrated growl almost entered Keigo's awareness right before a large calloused hand grabbed the side of his face. The hand pushed and tried to turn his head. It was trying to turn his head away from Izuku. Keigo tried to fight the pressure, letting out a sharp distressed call, but the hand was relentless. After a short struggle his neck gave way and was turned. His vision of his injured chickadee was replaced by the exhausted face of Eraserhead. 

 

“Keigo,” The hand shifted from his cheek to brush through Keigo’s hair. “Izuku needs you right now. You can’t shut down.”

 

“We don’t have time for this.” It was a feminine voice. Annoyed. Keigo felt himself frown; he should know this one. Keigo blinked a few times, feeling his brain come back online. Midnight . 

 

“I know . Two seconds, Nem.” 

 

The hand squeezed the back of his neck in a tight pinch. Keigo gasped as everything clicked back into place. Eraserhead, Commission, Izuku. He flicked his eyes to the boy. They needed to get out of here yesterday. 

 

There was a tapping on his forehead, making Keigo send a glare at Eraserhead.

 

“Good, you look back. If you promise to keep it together I’ll let you carry him.” 

 

Hawks nodded, before scooping Izuku into his arms. The kid was light, but not in a malnourished way ‘didn’t get enough food’ way. He was just so small . 

 

Midnight started out the door, her heels clicking loudly on the ground. Hawks pointedly ignored the two medical rooms as he started to sprint after her. The still light steps of Eraserhead behind him were barely audible under the loud alarm. He followed Midnight, who must have been getting directions as Keigo was getting turned around as all the hallways blended into a bland med center colored smear. 

 

Keigo looked down at the boy swaddled in his arms. He hated the way Izuku’s arms and legs flopped with each pounding step. This couldn’t be good for the boy, but there was no way that keeping Izuku here in the new eighth ring of hell would be better. There were too many times in Keigo’s life that there was no good answer. It wasn’t fair.  

 

Nothing about this was fair, but the cards were on the table and Keigo had to bluff his way so maybe, just maybe, this time he could get the whole pot. 

 

Keigo didn’t know what he would do if he didn’t win this time. And that scared him.

 

Hawks felt an arm wrap around his shoulder and he swung around into a roundhouse kick, rolling Izuku even closer to his chest. He was ready to fight anyone off who got in his or Izuku’s way.

 

It was Aizawa who’d touched him. And luckily for him the man had excellent reflexes as he’d ducked just in time. Keigo felt his wings relax at the sight of the man with his hands raised. He tilted his head towards the door he was holding open. He started waving his hand to usher him faster before he just reached forward and pulled Keigo into the room. 

 

It was a closet of some sort, with shelves of cleaning supplies and some brooms and mops in the corner. It was a tight fit for all three adults and Izuku. Midnight’s back was pressed against one of the shelves with Hawks facing her, Izuku gently cradled between them. If it wasn’t for the burn of chemicals in the air he was sure he’d be able to smell her breath. Hawks could feel the crouched Eraserhead ducked down strangely between his tucked wings. He turned his head around to see the underground hero with his ear to the door, a look of pure focus on his face. After a moment he stood and stepped closer to Keigo, his chest brushing a few of his secondary feathers. He shivered. It felt a little weird to be this close.

 

“They passed us. We should quickly figure out where we are going from here.” 

 

Keigo nodded before looking down at Izuku. The kid looked so unwell, his breathing hitching in a concerning way, and even unconscious, there was a pained wrinkle between his brows. Keigo tightened his grip on Izuku. It was uncomfortable in this closet, but it was much easier to listen to the halting breaths and fluttering heartbeat. He could almost ignore the other two adults pressed close to him as he looked down at the boy. 

 

Izuku seemed so small, curled up in Keigo’s arms. So innocent. Keigo directed a few of his coverlet feathers to fly up and around to rest around Izuku’s neck. It made the kid look like he was wearing a strange high fashion feathered collar, but it let Keigo relax as he could feel the thready pulse and small puffs of air gently pass over the soft barbs. A spare feather was raised to brush Izuku’s hair back from his forehead and stroke the top of Izuku’s green hair. He could feel the small trembles that spread through the kid. If Keigo didn’t need his feathers for fighting he’d bundle the kid up in his long primaries and fluffy down to warm him up. A flash of rage burned through Keigo’s chest

 

How could the commission do this to a child? How could they take such a pure and innocent child and twist and bend and pull at them till they break like this? How could they live with themselves as they destroy the life of the sweetest child? How could the commission have done all of this again?

How did Keigo never see this coming ?

 

“Keigo, are you listening?” Aizawa barked out from behind him. Hawks blinked up and twisted his neck to look at him from the corner of his eye. 

 

Keigo had indeed not been listening. So he shook his head before turning to look back at Izuku. All his focus was on the child in his arms. Izuku’s heart hiccuped in a way that sent a knife through Keigo's chest. His focus was on the dying child in his arms. How was Keigo able to focus on anything else? Could no one else see how Izuku was the most important thing right now?

 

A soft hand clasped his arm. “We agree with you, Keigo. Izuku is the most important right now.” 

 

Keigo looked up to see the stressed face of Midnight. She looked so concerned, and her eyes held so much tension as they flicked back and forth looking into his own. He felt the hand rub up and down on his upper arm, another joined on the other side. Tension in his shoulders relaxed. He hadn’t realized it was there until his shoulder collapsed downward. He blinked, suddenly feeling more centered, Midnight’s voice was soft and lilting, her tone melodic. Keigo bet she was a great singer, but in the moment it made it easier to focus on. 

 

“But I gotta be honest, Kiddo, you are also not doing so hot either. We– Izuku – needs your A game, okay?” Keigo nodded. He could do this, he had to for Izuku. “There is a whole cafeteria between us and the door where Hizashi is bringing the van to. Nedzu counted about twenty people hanging back to guard the door. It was dinner time when the alarm went off.”

 

The words swirled and spun in Keigo’s head. After a few seconds they clicked into place. 

 

“We go to that door… why?” Keigo’s tongue felt heavy but he was able to push the words out around it. 

 

“Closest door.” The deep voice of Eraserhead came from behind Keigo. “Next nearest is back to the roof, then after that is across the whole building.” 

 

Keigo leaned his head down to bump his forehead against the crown of Izuku’s head. He took a deep breath in, the thick smell of sour sweat filled Keigo’s nose. There was the smallest faint tang of artificial strawberry scent, and he couldn’t wait till the kid’s head all smelled like shampoo. Keigo let out a little hum.

 

“Windows anywhere?”

 

For some reason that made Eraserhead let out a humorless snort. “No, no windows for you to smash this time.” 

 

Hawks sighed. That would be faster, but a lot of Commission buildings had metal plating that would fall over any windows in case of emergency, so it wasn’t much of a surprise. But fighting through twenty agents wouldn’t be easy per se, but it wouldn’t be the most complicated training exercise that had been asked of him. He wasn’t handicapped, well– Hawks looked down at his precious cargo– not having hands is better than blindfolds or going wingless. 

 

“Okay. I’m ready.” 

 

Hawks’ feathers flared. He was being scrutinized. He snapped his head and twisted his torso to look behind him. Eraserhead’s tired, bloodshot eyes peeked out from under the flop of black fringe. The dark eyes were practically boring holes into the side of Hawks’ face. Hawks narrowed his eyes. He knew this was an off limit ‘predatory’ look, but he didn’t care. He was a predator and sometimes he needed to make sure those around him knew that too.

 

Eraserhead and Hawks were trapped in a staring contest. Hawks felt a zing of pride as his dominance display worked as Aizawa blinked and looked past Hawks’ shoulder. The hero nodded before he turned to the door, grabbing his capture weapon. Eraserhead opened the door, slowly peeking his head out. He finished swinging the door open holding it for Hawks and Midnight. Once the three heroes were out of the closet they all started sprinting down the hallway. 

 

Hawks could smell the scent of food right as they turned a corner. There was a double door labeled “Cafeteria”, and in front of that door were two agents. One was a tall, thin man with dark skin and purple hair that looked almost like there was a small umbrella over his head. Next to him was a fairly plain looking woman, tan skin, brown cropped hair, athletic build. There were no real indications of their quirks. 

 

Hawks sent sharpened feathers to pin their clothes against the wall. The woman started to struggle, her eyes glowing gold before her quirk was snuffed out by the red glowing eyes of Eraserhead. She growled as she tried to yank the fabric of her pants out from the feather. The man swung a hand out to press against the woman’s chest. She stopped struggling then turned to shoot him a confused look. The man turned to the heroes, his eyes tracked over all of them before landing on Izuku’s unconscious form. 

 

“Will you be able to keep him safe?”

 

Keigo froze at the man’s question. He didn’t understand what was going on. 

 

“Of course.” 

 

Aizawa seemed to know what was going on. Good. Hawks tightened his grip on the boy and let the other hero take the lead. 

 

“They’ll come for him, you know. They won’t stop. He is too valuable.” The man paused before tilting his head to the side. “They’ll be after you too.” 

 

“We’re aware.” 

 

“What are you doing??” The woman cut in with a hissing whisper. Pushing the man’s arm off her chest she started struggling against the feathers in the wall. “Why aren’t you–”

 

The man cut back in. “Don’t you think we’ve done enough ?”

 

That made the woman pause before slumping against the wall. She had a complex expression flash across her face before she flicked her eyes down to the corner of the hallway. The man watched her for a moment before letting out a large sigh. He shook his head before he turned to the heroes, a glint of something in his dark eyes. He tilted his head towards the door.

 

“Good luck, heroes.” 

 

Keigo didn’t understand what was going on but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting Izuku out.

 

Aizawa gave a curt nod before pushing the doors open. Midnight was right on his tail, and Hawks took up the rear. The doors crashed loudly against the wall, making the various agents immediately look up. A few had hand guns, others raised glowing or flaming hands. Hawks sent a barrage of sharpened feathers trapping as many arms and legs to the various tables and chairs spread throughout the cafeteria. Next to him, Eraserhead’s hair raised, waving in the air as one of the agents looked at their hands, confused, before Erasherhead snapped his capture scarf to yank the agent off their feet. 

 

Midnight darted out and crossed her arms to grip the bottom of her shirt and yanked it over her head. The red lacy bra was almost immediately overtaken by the purple smoke that exploded out of her. A few of the agents closest to her fell to the ground with a series of thuds. Others towards the edges of her smoke bomb started wobbling on their knees before slumping into chairs or sinking slowly to the floor. The sound of soft snores were peppered between the grunts, slaps, and thumps of the fighting. 

 

Hawks focused on keeping the agents immoble while Eraserhead and Midnight quickly cleared the path to the door to the kitchen. Over the opening cut out in the wall with a serving counter,  Hawks could see the large loading bay door in the back corner of the kitchen. Next to it was a smaller, human-sized door. He wanted to just up and fly Izuku out, but there were too many obstacles and Hawks couldn’t be all that useful if he snapped his wing bones trying to fly through an industrial kitchen. An agent tried to sneak up on him from behind, but Hawks spun on the ball of one foot and beat his wings hard . The agent tumbled to the ground, and before they could spring back up Hawks used more feathers to pin them to the floor. 

 

Looking back at the other heroes, Hawks couldn’t help but be impressed. They were basically totally finished clearing out all the agents. One of the last agents swirled their arms around and all the purple gas was blown into the floor and out from the fighting area towards the walls. Only four agents were left standing, Hawks glanced over each one, looking for any weaknesses when he recognized one. 

 

Keigo saw red . 

 

Before he could even understand what was going on, Keigo was flying full speed with his legs out in front of him giving the man, no– the monster, a hefty kick to the face. The tall, muscular man rolled with the kick before turning to smirk at Keigo. His eyes lowered to Keigo’s chest and the smirk twisted into the unholy grin Keigo saw in his nightmares. 

 

“Looks like two of my favorite pets have become friends.” 

 

Mr Watanabe took a step forward, a sadistic grin stretched with excitement lighting his eyes. Keigo took a few scrambling steps back, tightening his hold onto Izuku. Keigo curled over the injured boy flaring his wings and let out the loudest, most distressed screaming animalistic screech. 

 

Keigo needed him to back off.  

 

Instead of backing up the man sauntered forward, slipping his hands into his pockets. Keigo let out a series of spitting hisses as he cowered over Izuku, a wing twisting around the two of them in an attempt to shield them from the man. 

 

“Oh, this is why you were always my favorite. Baby bird .” Keigo flinched at the man’s cooing voice. His other wing circled the first making a feathery cocoon. He could hear how Mr Watanabe stepped ever closer. “You never lost that fire, never broke no matter how hard I tried.” 

 

He reached in between Keigo’s wings to force his head up. Keigo felt his heart thrum in his chest and his breathing stutter as he looked into the hard red eyes. The large hand shifted from under his chin to stroke through Izuku’s sweaty hair.

 

“My little puppy here reminds me of you that way.” He frowned at Izuku, confusion dusting his face. “What did you do to him?”

 

Keigo felt something in him snap. 

 

“What did YOU do to him??”

 

He shot a leg out in a wide curve, knocking Mr Watanabe off his feet and onto the floor. With a snap of his wings Keigo stood over the man, a leg on his chest and a long primary feather, razor-sharp, pointed against his throat. The man swallowed, bobbing his Adam's apple into the sharp point and the feather softly caressed the curve in his throat. Keigo made a strangled scream down at him with an angry sneer. Mr Watanabe smirked. 

 

“Oh poor little Hawks with his little bird brain. Did you forget?” He reached up a hand to Keigo’s ankle, his smirk twisting into his sick grin. “You can’t hurt me.”

 

With that Mr Watanabe yanked Keigo’s ankle to the side, knocking him off balance. He tried to keep himself upright but ended up stumbling back and falling to his back, his wings and arms trying to brace Izuku closer to his chest. The boy’s breath stuttered at the impact. Keigo scrambled with his legs and wings trying to get as far from the man who was stomping towards him. He couldn’t seem to get his legs under him enough to stand, his arms still cradling Izuku, his wings fluttering across the floor trapped under him. Panic thrummed in Keigo. He needed to save Izuku but he couldn’t do much more than wiggle along the floor. Keigo heard an evil chuckle as he curled into the fetal position on his side clutching Izuku to his chest. He screwed his eyes shut as he braced for the impact of a heavy steel toed boot. 

 

It never came. 

 

Keigo snapped his eyes open to see Midnight, still shirtless, squatting with her arms out. 

 

“My quirk doesn’t seem to affect him. Let me take Izuku to the van.” 

 

Keigo wanted to cling tighter to the boy, but Hawks forced himself to let go with creaking joints. Midnight cradled the young boy against her chest and sprinted out of the facility. Keigo sat up only to see Eraserhead fighting Mr Watanabe. They traded blows, back and forth, Eraserhead with the grace of a ballet dancer swirling and twirling as he connected to the other man's knee, chest and jaw. Mr Watanabe was like a machine, heavy straightforward punches and kicks made with deadly precision.

 

Crumpled on the floor, Keigo watched on in horror. He felt like a little kid again as his parents beat each other bloody while he watched from the cracks in the door of the closet. Like he was back in his training knowing he was up next. He knew he was breathing too fast, but everything was too much. The lights overhead were bright and were buzzing. The sickly sweet smell of Midnight’s quirk filtered through his gas mask. The sounds of the fighting with its grunts and thumps felt like thunder pounding in his ears. There was some grit on the tile floor under Keigo’s balled up fists. The scratchy fabric of the tactical suit itched where it touched his skin, the holes cut into the back of the shirt too tight around his wings. The neckline felt like it was choking him. 

 

“Keigo!!” 

 

Keigo snapped his head up to see Eraserhead, his eyes glowing red, hair floating as he stared at Mr Watanabe. His blood stained capture weapon wrapped around the struggling man. Eraserhead nodded towards the man.

 

“Feathers. Sharp. Go .” 

 

His aim was off as his vision was watery from tears, but Keigo shot off a handful of feathers in the direction that Mr Watanabe was. He would send out more but he didn’t want to hit Shouta, or slice the capture weapon. There was a pained hiss, and Keigo blinked. The tears in his eyes rolled down his cheeks, clearing his vision. 

 

A thick trail of blood fell from the thin cut across Mr Watanabe’s cheek. A few slices across his clothes also had blood start to stain their edges red. The capture weapon was held by a thread between Eraserhead and Mr Watanabe. The man’s face filled with shock as he rubbed the cut on his gray shirt smearing blood across his shoulder. Looking down at the red smear on his shirt, the man’s wide eyes filled with genuine fear as he turned his head to Keigo. 

 

“You– you actually cut me?” Mr Watanabe’s normally hard voice was wobbling and unsure. It made some sick part of Keigo swell with pride. Hawks stood, dusting off his knees as he unclipped the gasmask from his face. He tilted his head back and looked down the bridge of his nose. He grinned, big and wide and manic . 

 

“Oh,” Hawks purred. “I have wanted to do that for years. ”

 

Hawks pounced, a whole arsenal of his feathers sharp and flying next to him. He pounded the man into the ground. Cut after cut after cut after cut. Keigo watched, laughing. The bubbling euphoria of knowing he was finally free filled him with bliss. This was as good as flying high in the sky on a sunny day, better than the calming beach, and was incomparable to the joy of walking through a forest. He wanted to feel this way everyday.

 

 Mr Watanabe, under the barrage of feathers, was able to stumble back towards one of the two doors to the kitchen. He tumbled backwards through the swinging doors. Hawks stalked forward, only to be stopped by a hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Keigo stop, we need to go.” 

 

Hawks rolled Eraserheads hand off his shoulder, but let himself be guided to the other door leading to the kitchen. Passing through the doors, Hawks froze from the sound of laughter. Mr Watanabe, with his sandy hair a little mussed up and a few small splatters of blood on his face and arms, stood up on the other side of the room. He was lightly chuckling and clapping. 

 

“You got me once. Impressive, baby bird. But you are as much of a failure now as you were as a kid. Your quirk is nothing against a quirk like mine. ” 

 

Keigo raked his eyes up and down Mr Watanabe. He looked… smaller than Keigo remembered. The hard look in his eyes was clouded with insecurity. His hands shook slightly. His posture was ever so hunched. The smell of nervous sweat filled the air between the two. Keigo furrowed his brows before it clicked. 

 

Mr Watanabe was scared.  

 

Keigo kicked his feet against the tiles as he ambled towards the man, and each little scuffing noise made Mr Watanabe twitch and flinch ever so slightly. Keigo got nose to nose with the man. Mr Watanabe’s breath was rank as he huffed against Keigo’s face. Keigo wanted to wrinkle his nose in disgust but Hawks kept his face perfectly smooth. 

 

“You know Mr Watanabe.” Keigo reached over towards the knife block resting on the table next to them. He curled his fingers around a large chef's knife. “There is a lot more about life than quirks. ” 

 

The knife slid out of the block with a shing . Keigo arched the knife to slice through the soft front of Watanabe’s neck. Keigo felt tight bands wrap around him and let himself get pulled back. His focus was on the burbling red cascading down Mr Watanabe’s front. The color matched his wide, scared eyes perfectly. The expression of horror washing over his now pale face made Keigo grin down as the man fell to his knees. Mr Watanabe reached behind him and fell over. His arm flopped around to his front.

 

He had a gun . 

 

Keigo flared his wings, shielding Shouta with his hardened wings. Shots rang out in quick succession. Hot slicing pain flashed through Keigo. His leg. His left wing twice, then his right. Two in his gut. 

 

The gun clicked and fell from the limp hand of Mr Watanabe. There was a small upward twist of a smile on his dead face. Like he had had the last laugh. And from the way Keigo felt himself start to collapse to the floor, he might have. 

 

Strong arms looped from behind Keigo, keeping him from hitting the floor. 

 

“Easy, kid. I got you, you're okay.” Shouta’s voice was unbearably soft as he slowly dragged the staggering Keigo across the kitchen out the now open loading bay door. Globs of red made the floor slick and slippery, but Shouta’s grip was firm and steady. In no time at all they were outside.

 

Keigo’s vision flicked as his eyelids started to feel really heavy, but in the flashes he saw the large van they had come here in. The back doors were open, and he could see Midnight sitting on Izuku, pushing down on his chest again and again. Keigo was confused until it clicked.

 

He was in the van in milliseconds, screeching and clawing his way towards Izuku. Towards his kid. Tight bands tightened around his chest and wings restraining him, something deep in his gut twinged, dull pain radiated, but he kept trying to get to Izuku, nothing could stop him.

 

He was dying. And Keigo couldn’t do anything. 

 

“Hizashi!! Drive!” 

 

The whole world lurched and rumbled. But it didn’t matter as long as he could get to Izuku. 

 

“Stop, Keigo. Hey .” 

 

Hands were pushing him against a lumpy wall, and he kicked out trying to get away and to Izuku. That is all that mattered. There was a grunt and a curse before a hand came up and slapped him in the face. It wasn’t that hard, but it jarred something in Keigo, making him freeze. 

 

“Sorry. Sit.”

 

Keigo let himself be guided down, watching in horror as Izuku’s chest was crunched under Midnight's hands. Small sticky pads on Izuku’s chest with wires trailing off to the side. Nedzu sitting by the boy's face with a resuscitator in his paws. The blue plastic bubble being pushed in an even rhythm. Hands came up to Keigo’s chest and ripped his shirt down the front. The buttons dinged and plinked as they bounced the metal floor and benches. There was a confused noise as calloused hands gently poked at his stomach. Keigo flinched back a little. It tickled. 

 

“Right.” The deep voice muttered. “Healing quirk.”

 

Keigo watched blankly as he heard the crunch of the bones in Izuku’s chest, with the forced whoosh of blood. He listened as the blue bubble crinkled plastically as air whooshed into Izuku’s lungs. After a moment of silence an electric zap went off. Izuku jolted. Only for the process to start again and again.

 

“Keigo?”

 

 A soft hand combed through his hair. It was nice. It kept him from floating away. After a few strokes there was a deep sigh. 

 

“Nem, switch out. And maybe use your quirk on Keigo. We don’t want him to freak out again.” 

 

The hand left. He let out a distressed squawk pawing his restrained hand towards where he thought it went. A different hand replaced it. It was thinner and a little colder. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it until the sharp nails scratched his scalp in a heavenly way. He leaned into the scratching with a deep breath, the air was sickly sweet. His mind swam, suddenly dizzy. One of the thin hands caught him as he started to lilt to the side. 

 

Another electric zap sound. Followed by some sputtering painful gasps.

 

“Oh, thank G-d, We got a pulse.” 

 

The soft feeling of lips being pressed to his temple lulled Keigo the rest of the way into a dreamless sleep.

 

“Goodnight, Keigo.”

Notes:

>:) I cannot express the satifaction i felt in writing Mr Watanabe's demise.
I was just like: Get em baby. I give you a murder. Just as a little treat <33

Chapter 9: Shouta gets a nap; finally a lull in the action

Notes:

HULLOOOO
so i was gonna wait to post this tomorrow but i literally have zero chill lololol this chapter is more of an interum chapter i don't wanna call it filler but like there was some house keeping i needed to get done so it is less intense then the last few (lol duh) and both the babies are sleeping (or I guess I should say are unconcious? lol) so the adults get some stuff done x)
I have the next chapter after this also written because i have no chill and have outlined the next like... five chapters after that ehehe
also we are getting SO CLOSE TO JUST LIKE PURE FLUFFY CHAPTERS so SIT TIGHT
I dont think there are any triggers here? Its pretty chill :D

Shouta stood bent over Izuku, his fingers shaking as they pressed against the kid's neck. With each fluttering beat tapping against his fingers, Shouta felt something slowly relax inside him. The pressure that had been building finally found some release. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, mentally counting each too-fast beat. The van bounced, making Shouta lurch and stumble, His arms snapped up to brace against the van wall. 

 

“Sorry!” Hizashi’s voice was high pitched and strained. “Only a few more minutes!” 

 

Minutes Shouta couldn’t help but worry that they wouldn’t have. He was no doctor, but he was trained in hero grade first aid, which was only a fine line below an EMT. Shouta knew how to perform CPR and was well practiced, but he couldn’t deny how in the aftermath his hands always shook, doubly so when it was on a child.  

 

Shouta, as a hero, usually wasn’t in charge this long. He would keep up with CPR until the actual full medical professionals could take over, letting Shouta move on to the next person in need. It was almost unheard of for heroes to take the ambulance rides with a victim. Shouta finally thought he understood why. 

 

Rescue and raids of this sort were already high pressure, adrenaline creating nightmares. But they were over and done surprisingly fast. They were a flashbang, hot and fast, leaving the heroes exhausted and needing to rest. But being in this van just watching the kid they’d done everything they could to save struggle to stay alive while not really being able to do anything was torture. It was like holding a piece of burning charcoal in his hand: he could only watch as his skin bubbled over and was full of pain and anxiety that had nowhere to go. It was a totally different experience and trying to do both back to back was exhausting. 

 

Shouta found himself hoping that Izuku’s abused and failing organs held out just a little bit longer. That his blood would make it one more circuit around his small body. That his rattling lungs would fill one more time. His fingers twitched wanting to do something more than monitor a pulse. He was an ambush hero, he was normally capable of incredible patience, but normally the instant Eraserhead was able to Identify a problem he was able to jump in to help. 

 

He couldn’t help here. Shouta couldn’t beat the kid's heart for him or push oxygen into his lungs, not really. CPR and rescue breaths were a poor substitute for the real thing, and even though the kid’s vitals were much too low, they weren’t zero. Not yet, not again . 

 

So he waited, frozen over the kid. Fully coiled, ready to spring into action the instant the kid tanked again. Pushing adrenaline through his body, the constant loud thumping of his own heart made it difficult to feel Izuku’s weaker beat. Shouta would give half of his healthy beats to the kid if that meant Izuku would make it. He swallowed and looked around the van, needing a small distraction.

 

Since forcing Keigo to sleep, Nemuri had been quiet as she sat with Keigo’s head in her lap. She was lazily petting his head making sure to lightly scratch the teen’s head with her sharp nails. His face was relaxed and smooth, he looked so peaceful.

 

Shouta couldn’t relate.

 

A soft paw tapped his thigh.  “You did everything you could, Shouta-kun.” 

 

“Yeah well,” Shouta crossed his arms with a grunt. He immediately regretted the loss of the tangible thrumming that proved Izuku was alive. “It wasn’t enough.” 

 

Nedzu sighed. “We’re heroes, not miracle workers. Less than twenty four hours ago we didn’t even know that Izuku existed. But now we have him free from his captivity, and while he is not well, we are working to transfer him to someone who can help him recover.”

 

Shouta’s scruff prickled as he scratched the side of his face. He leaned forward, finally giving into the urge to check the pulse. It was still like a hummingbird’s wings, but it was still beating. Shouta sighed before he crouched down next to the boy. 

 

“It–” Shouta’s voice cracked. “It still wasn’t enough.”

 

“‘It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life.’”

 

“I hate that quote.” Shouta sent Nedzu a glare. “You say it constantly. Stop it.” 

 

“I’ll stop quoting it when you stop blaming yourself for being human.” 

 

Shouta reached up to rub his mouth. Before mumbling to himself under his breath. 

 

“Says the f—ing rat.” 

 

Nedzu definitely heard his comment if the twitch of his ear and playful grin meant anything. He just patted Shouta’s knee.

 

“Ah, well, not all of us can be perfect. And even if you were somehow in need of atonement, which you are not, Izuku is just at the beginning of his journey. You will have time to continue to help him, to make up for your self-assigned blame.”

 

“You have a lot of faith he will make it.” 

 

“I have faith in my staff and their pure stubbornness to squeeze life hard enough to force out miracles. He’s made it this far, we can get him the rest of the way.” 

 

Shouta pursed his lips. He ran a hand through Izuku’s sweaty hair, then checked his pulse and breathing again. Both were still there. 

 

“Hold on, I’m turning into UA now!” Hizashi called out loudly from the front. Shouta threw himself over the kid just in time for Hizashi to yank the car into a tight 90 degree turn. The jostling rolled the kids head, his mouth was slightly open and a string of drool started to pool onto the bench below him. The van bounced a bit before it screeched to a halt. 

 

Shouta was up and opening the back before the van fully stopped, and he stumbled forward at the final kick back. Recovery Girl was just exiting the door to UA with a gurney. Shouta jumped out and practically threw the gurney against the bumper. Nemuri was ready with a cradled Izuku and lowered him gently onto the medical mattress. Nedzu jumped onto the bed and sat by Izuku’s head, one paw pressed against the child's neck, the other held the IV they had left in once reading the label stating it was saline just solution. The kid needed all the fluids he could get. Shouta felt glued to the ground as he watched Midnight sprinting with the gurney into UA. Recovery Girl was right on her heels. There was a slam of a car door and Hizashi appeared. 

 

“S—.” Hizashi ran a hand over his gold hair. “ S—.”

 

Hizashi turned in a tight little circle before he started madly kicking the back tire of the van repeatedly. Distantly Shouta was glad his fiance was wearing steel toed boots or he would be breaking his own toes. 

 

“G-d!”   Kick.  

 

“F—ing!”  Kick.

 

“D— it!” Kick. Kick. Kick.

 

Shouta shifted closer to Hizashi, his hands raised in a piss poor attempt to calm him down. 

 

“Hizashi, now is not the time.” 

 

“I'm going to kill them.” His green eyes practically glowed with righteous anger. “If that boy dies– dies, again – I’m going to kill them all. ” 

 

“Keigo already did.” Shouta’s voice was dull and lifeless, he shrugged. “Well, he got one for sure, I wasn’t really paying attention to everything. He could have easily gotten others with his quirk and I wouldn’t know.” 

 

“What?” Hizashi froze mid kick before twisting so fast he lost his balance and awkwardly caught himself on the side of the van. “What?! What all even happened back there?”

 

“Not now, we should get Keigo to the infirmary. He seems fine at the moment but he was shot. At least three times that I could see.” 

 

Hizashi rubbed his forehead before he shook his head. 

 

“G-d, this is a s— show .” 

 

“You have no idea .” 

 

Shouta stepped up into the van after Hizashi. Keigo was still very much asleep and bundled up in the remaining half of Shouta’s capture weapon. Shouta laid a hand on Keigo’s blood-splattered hair. The small frown on the kid’s face faded at the touch. It was obvious that he liked his hair messed with. Shouta had used that fact a lot to his advantage already. He would have to apologize for it later. Or maybe he wouldn’t and just use it for the next time the kid had a breakdown. Shouta’s shoulders slumped as he wished it was an if and not a when . He didn’t know everything Keigo had gone through but if the overheard conversation with the ‘Mr Watanabe’ character was anything to go by it was clear that the parallels between Izuku and Keigo were more than he’d originally thought. It made Keigo’s ability to keep it as together as he did as impressive as it was worrying. 

 

“Honestly, ‘Zashi, It wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it’d go.” He paused, reevaluating his statement. “Well, barring the murder.” 

 

“Barring the–” Hizashi cut himself off. His head collapsed down into his hands. He took a few deep breaths before a small wobbly voice came from between his palms. “I’m so sorry, Sho.” 

 

Shouta guided his chin up with a gentle hand so he could really look at his fiance. Hizashi looked wrecked. His blond hair looked like he had run his hands over it a thousand times. His green eyes were bloodshot with drying tear tracks under them. The pinched expression felt wrong on his face. With his middle finger and thumb, Shouta flicked his fiance’s forehead with a short grunt. Hizashi pushed the hand away.

 

“No, I’m being serious here Sho, I– I couldn’t be there for you. ” He took an unsteady breath. “When I heard the gunfire over the radio I had the thought ‘I might never get to see him again’.”

 

“I’m right here.” Shouta put a hand on Hizashi’s cheek.

 

“I know.” Hizashi leaned into the hand and brought his own up over it. 

 

“I love you.” 

 

Shouta rarely said those words but that didn’t mean he didn’t mean it any less. And Hizashi was closer in his thinking than Shouta would like to admit. If Keigo hadn’t blocked all the bullets with his own body, there was a chance Shouta would be in the infirmary next to Izuku, if not worse off. They had all been incredibly lucky with this whole thing and leaving anything unsaid was just illogical. Shouta might need to say it more often with the way Hizashi’s whole demeanor lightened, like a huge weight was taken off of his shoulders. 

 

“I love you, too.” Hizashi leaned forward to peck a kiss on Shouta’s cheek. And then went in for another, and then another.  

 

Shouta shoved Hizashi’s head away, rolling his eyes. But he couldn’t fully smother the small smile that grew across his face. 

 

“Okay, but we do actually need to get going. Keigo needs to be checked over still and Recovery Girl might need help. She doesn’t have a medical team, it's just us.”

 

“Oh, right. I didn’t even think about that. Usually we are done once we hand victims off.” 

 

“I know, it’s a bit weird.” 

 

Hizashi bent over and picked up Keigo’s legs, and Shouta wiggled his hands under his bound arms. It was a bit of an awkward shuffle for them, but Hizashi had parked the van to the closest door to the infirmary. So in no time at all Shouta was using his elbow to open the door. The lack of immediate cacophony and complete lack of yelling made him relax, but left him nervous. He needed to know the kid was still alive. He twisted his neck to look behind him. 

 

Izuku was hooked up to a handful of different medical equipment. Wires trailed out from the collar of an oversized UA gym t-shirt, hooked into the side of a screen with his vitals scrolling across. An air mask was held over his nose with a thin band of elastic. His finger had a pulse-oximeter clamped over it. He had what seemed to be a new bag of saline going into one of his IVs. The boy now had a second one in his other arm which was attached to Nemuri instead of another bag. She was laying on the bed next to Izuku, her arm stretched out, slowly squeezing a stress ball. Recovery Girl had a serious expression, but was calm and collected as she wiped antiseptic over the boy’s still bleeding legs. She frowned at the pad as the oozing blood dyed it red. Nedzu rolled a cart closer to Recovery Girl, a suture kit and rolls of bandages and some various ointments laid out on it. The principal gestured to one of the empty beds across from the kid.

 

“You may place Keigo-kun over there.” 

 

Shouta nodded, grunting lightly as he and Hizashi hoisted the young hero onto the medical bed. 

 

“Blood types. What are they?” Recovery Girl didn’t look up from her well practiced stitches. Shouta was a little mesmerized by her quick, precise hand movements. It almost looked like her fingers were dancing along Izuku’s skin. 

 

“Both B. I’m negative, Sho’s positive.” Hizashi stepped to stand next to the still frozen Shouta. His fingers slid between Shouta’s “Will that work?”

 

“No,” Recovery Girl sighed. “The kid here needs O blood. For some reason he isn’t clotting right. He has some chemical burns on his legs so they might have put some anticoagulant on him, or maybe he’s just hemophilic. I’m working blind and on a pretty intense time crunch. So I was hoping I could get another donor so I could replace what he’d lost with healthy, non-contaminated blood.”

 

“It’s okay!” Nemuri grinned from her bed. “I’m universal, so I got this!” 

 

“We are not bleeding you dry. He might end up needing more than I can safely take from you.” She tied off the thread before switching to the other side, starting on the other leg. “We’ll have to come up with a better solution if he doesn’t stop bleeding soon.” 

 

“Vlad might have some sources.” Shouta mumbled. 

 

“I will message him.” Nedzu pulled his phone out of his waistcoat. “Any other immediate concerns we could help with, Chiyo-san?”

 

“More concerns than I’d like to count, but not much we can do but monitor and wait. The fluid and blood has already dramatically improved his blood pressure. It’s far from healthy, but it seems to only be improving. The slight fever I will keep an eye on until I can do some tests for possible infections. You could maybe start looking for methods to get good antibiotics and pain meds under the table.” 

 

Nedzu nodded and typed something out on his phone quickly then slid it back into his waistcoat. Recovery Girl finished stitching up the other leg quicker, tying it off. While she bandaged it, Shouta wondered how she decided which of the cuts needed stitches and which didn’t, as they all looked bad. She stripped her bloody gloves off and immediately slid on a new pair. She squeezed some tube of ointment onto her fingers before reaching to gently rub it into his arms. 

 

“I’m fairly sure that these are some form of sting. It's similar to a jellyfish or poison ivy if I was to hazard a guess. From how raised and inflamed it is I worry about a larger histamine response. Same with what looks like possible spider bites on his legs.”

 

Shouta felt Hizashi shudder at the mention of spiders, and started rubbing small circles onto the back of his hand with his thumb. 

 

“At this point my goal is to just keep him stable until the tests finish and his stamina is higher so I can use my quirk on him. Until I know more, there isn’t much I can do here beyond that.” Recovery Girl switched from rubbing the ointment on his arms to his legs. She was extra gentle with the obviously broken one. “Once his vitals are a little better I plan to get him some x-rays. He definitely has a broken leg and probably some rib fractures from the CPR, and who knows what else.”

 

“So, is he going to be okay?” Shouta’s voice was strangely hoarse and strained; he knew his question was a bit redundant but the long explanation was making his exhausted mind swim. Hizashi’s hand squeezed his and Shouta squeezed back. 

 

“I can’t make any promises at this point, but I’ll do my best.”

 

“You are already doing us a great service, Chiyo-san.” Nedzu bowed to her and Recovery Girl waved him off. 

 

“What kind of doctor or hero would I be if I turned a child away out of some concern for my comfort. I would happily fight in the courts if the HPSC came after me for this.” She paused her ministrations for a moment before continuing. “Honestly, after all of this I’d love to give them more than just a piece of my mind.”

 

The energy in the room slid into something sharp and aggressive. They all were out for blood. Shouta knew he wanted to rain hellfire down on the commission, so the others likely were mentally planning ever increasingly painful murders. It would be justified for what they were complicit in doing. Shouta slid his eyes from the sickly looking Izuku to the sleeping Keigo. He still looked peaceful wrapped in the remaining half of the capture scarf.

 

Keigo had rained a bit of hell onto the commission, or at least that one agent. Shouta vividly remembered watching the capture weapon be totally shredded under the violent barrage of feathers. The small gray scraps had burst out from the explosion of red like rocks and ash off a volcanic eruption. The kid in that moment had been a force of nature, unrelenting, unstoppable, and terrifying . The manic laughter still echoed in Shouta’s mind, sending some ice through his chest. 

 

He needed more information. He didn’t want to pass judgment until he understood what had happened. Keigo was in for a long list of questions that Shouta wouldn’t let him squirm his way out of when he woke up. If Shouta was going to have to testify that whatever that was was ‘totally legal’, it better have been at least justified. 

 

Shouta pulled out the file from his shirt, cringing a bit at the blood that had soaked into the manila folder and along the edges of the pages. He handed it to Nedzu. 

“I collected these. They looked like files on Izuku. Thought they might be useful.” 

 

“Thank you, Shouta-kun!” Nedzu chittered a little and looked giddy as he cracked open the file and started to read. 

 

“Also, I should mention, Keigo was shot.” Recovery Girl let out a strangled noise and ran over to Keigo’s bed side. Shouta was quick to add. “But he seems fine now.” 

 

“I’ll be the judge of that. Now, where? ”

 

“I saw three of six shots make contact. Stomach, left wing, right thigh.” 

 

Recovery girl twisted the capture weapon to make it loosen its coils and pulled open Keigo’s already ripped open shirt. She used an antiseptic wipe to clean off some of the dried blood. She paused at the lack of bullet holes. If Shouta squinted, he could almost see the faint scar where he had seen Keigo get hit. Recovery Girl moved to the leg and then the wing. No injuries were found. Shouta was startled as she grabbed his chin and poked his broken nose. He braced for pain– only for it to never come. Shouta blinked a few times poking at his own painless nose while Recovery Girl turned to look at Izuku.

 

“Impressive. Even in this state he is using his quirk.”

 

“Actually,” Nedzu flipped a page of the file, the normally present smile concerningly absent. “If what this file says is true Izuku-kun’s quirk is likely at its very strongest.” 

 

He held a page out to Recovery Girl. “Here is the plan for his procedure labeled today’s date. It doesn’t have an explanation of the cuts on his thighs. But there is a handwritten note stating that ‘additional input was required.’”

 

Shouta watched the elderly hero skim the page with pursed lips. She nodded and practically threw the page back to Nedzu. 

 

“I’m going to need to do research. I don’t know anything about bullet ant or Portuguese-man-of-war stings. But large amounts of any type of venom or toxin would likely make the hypovolemic shock worse leading to cardiac arrest. Might explain the fever too if he is having a reaction. All of this might end up having some long lasting consequences and I’d like to know what to expect.”

 

She turned with a sigh, looking over to Nemuri, who was looking a little pale and starting to breathe a little heavier than normal. 

 

“And you, Missy, are done.” Recovery Girl started towards the heroine only for Nemuri to turn, moving her arm away. 

 

“Oh, no, I’m fine.” Nemuri blinked heavily. “I can take it, I'm fine .” 

 

“No you aren’t. Don’t lie. I like to limit the number of passed out individuals in my infirmary. I left you for too long already, so you are a few minutes from making that number rise to three .” She held out a hand. “Arm. Now.” 

 

Nemuri pouted a little before she passed her arm to the healer. Her IV was taken out efficiently, and after the bandage was pressed into the crook of her arm, Recovery Girl squeezed her shoulder. 

 

“You’ve done enough. He is safe. Izuku is not like last time. You made it in time. You gave part of yourself to make sure he’d make it. I’ll take it from here, okay? You did it.” Recovery Girl's voice was soft in a way Shouta had never heard before. Nemuri’s eyes filled with tears. Shouta turned away, feeling like he was intruding on something private. Hizashi roped an arm around his shoulders and pulled them closer together. 

 

“Now,” Recovery Girl clapped, her voice back to normal. She pulled out a basket of various sweet electrolyte drinks and held it out to Nemuri who was still wiping her eyes. “Drink this and sleep if you feel you need it.”

 

After Nemuri took an electric blue bottle, Recovery Girl turned to Shouta and held out the basket.

 

“No.” Shouta hated the flavor of those drinks. He’d rather just eat a jelly packet, so much better. Hizashi thought it was ridiculous as he claimed they tasted the same artificial sweet flavor, chemically parading as fruit. But he was wrong, these were disgusting. 

 

“I’m not taking no for an answer. I have no idea how Izuku’s quirk works, but lots of healing quirks work off of stamina and if his quirk used any of your own, you are likely two seconds from collapsing. You have been running yourself particularly ragged this past week. And I’m not risking it. Now. Sit.” 

 

Grabbing a red one with a frown, took a sip and grimaced. The red was the most bearable, but it was still bad. 

 

“Don’t you dare make that face, Sonny. And be glad Izuku healed any injuries I'm sure you got on this raid or you would have gotten an earful.” 

 

“I didn’t get hurt, actually . Thanks for asking.” 

 

“Good for you, it’s a first.”

 

Shouta resented that. He didn’t get injured all the time, he just was in a more dangerous sector of heroism than the rest of the UA faculty. So it looked like he was a reckless idiot. But compared to his underground peers, he was actually far more cautious and less prone to injury. He was about to open his mouth to say just that when Recovery Girl raised a finger. 

 

“Before you try to use it again to get out of a lecture, I am very proud of your efforts to quit smoking. Keep on that, but don’t expect it to get you out of lectures. I am a teacher too. You know I can tell when someone is trying to distract me from the main point. You might’ve thought you were slick last time, but it was obvious what you were doing.” 

 

Nemuri openly cackled from across the room as Shouta felt himself flush. Part of Shouta wished he could just be swallowed up by the floor. Or maybe punch Recovery Girl. He was split 50/50. 

 

“You’re trying to quit smoking?” Hizashi shot Shouta a bright grin then kissed him on the cheek. “I’m so proud of you!” 

 

“It’s been like a day. Calm down.” 

 

“Still proud!” He went in for another kiss and Shouta caught him and pushed Hizashi’s head away, feeling a feedback loop of embarrassment as the blush deepened. 

 

Shouta then let himself get pushed into the bed so he could cover his face with the thin medical blanket. Nemuri started laughing even harder at the action, and Hizashi’s cough was definitely him covering up a laugh. Traitor. Shouta curled the edge of the blanket down to glare at his fiance and friend. Only making both of them dissolve into another giggle fit. 

 

“Stop glaring at them and sleep.” Recovery Girl shook her heavy needle shaped cane at him. “And if you don’t at least try , I will wack you over the head to make you.” 

 

“What happened to limiting the number of unconscious patients?” Shouta sassed back. 

 

“For you, Shouta, I’ll make an exception.”

 

“I feel honored .” Shouta rolled his eyes as he shifted trying to get comfortable on the thin medical cot. Hizashi leaned down to squeeze his shoulder with a smile.

 

“Rest, love. I’m going to head off to plan next steps with Nedzu. We’ll figure it all out while you nap, okay? You’ve done your part.” 

 

Shouta sighed. “Don’t let him take over the world, or burn everything to the ground. I would like to still have a society when I wake up, okay?”

 

“Aye aye, cap'n!” Hizashi did an overly dramatic salute and then winked. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep him in check.” 

 

“I was talking to Nedzu.” Shouta failed to deadpan as a small smirk slipped out at Hizashi’s betrayed squawk. 

 

“You wound me, Sho! My own fiance!” Hizashi dramatically clutched his heart and sank to the floor. “You think I’d do that?”

 

“If given the chance? Absolutely. I rein you and Nedzu in.” He closed his eyes with a smile. “But I am tired and under doctor's orders to nap , so I’m gonna.” He paused for a moment before opening his eyes back open. “Also, I want to see them all burn. So, go crazy. Have fun.” 

 

Shouta let his eyes slide shut and let out a sigh, letting the breath take all of the remaining tension in his body. He hadn’t realized how tired he was until he almost immediately slid towards sleep. The sound of Hizashi’s warm chuckle and soft lips on his forehead lulled Shouta the rest of the way into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 10: Aizawa has a conversation with Keigo

Notes:

Oh hoho! are we getting a side of COMFORT to go with the HURT??
mayhaps! you'll just have to read to figure it out >:))
I love all these idiots. and Keigo and Shouta bless them are emotionally stunted little beans. just absolute cabbages. I just wanna squeeze their cheeks so this was the start of me doing just that <3 so here is the starts teh dadzawa!! (lol bold to assume it wasn't Shouta's first chapter ehehe he mentally adopted Keigo two seconds into meeting him. He needs a dad, and Shouta is like "I volenteer")

The only trigger is some compulsive hair pulling and a lil dissociaton :( cuz i am still a little mean

Aizawa knew that this conversation was already overdue. He’d told himself that he would have it the moment that Keigo woke up. But that was days ago at this point, and he really couldn’t keep putting it off. But every time he would open his mouth to try, Shouta just couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Not with how the kid was acting.

 

Since waking up Keigo had been a ghost, just silently haunting the infirmary. Shouta could count on one hand how many words he had heard from him in the past three days. The kid might not be naturally as chatty as his hero persona, but this seemed abnormal from what Shouta had come to expect from him. It was also uncanny how silent he was in everything he did, or more realistically, didn’t do. 

 

After startling Recovery Girl a few times by silently sneaking up behind her, she had placed a stool for him to perch on. And perch he did. He sat like a gargoyle silently watching over Izuku, only really leaving that first day when Hizashi had somehow convinced the kid to take a proper shower. It had been a whole seven minutes and Keigo left large puddles under his still dripping wings, but they’d all taken it as a win since he was no longer covered in blood and smelled of old sweat. 

 

Those who were in the know about Izuku had been taking turns sitting with Keigo. At first it was out of concern that Keigo would lose it, again , if Izuku’s condition took a turn for the worse. They had genuinely been concerned he would attack Recovery Girl, and she begrudgingly agreed that she couldn’t fight off panicking Hawks and treat Izuku at the same time. But as the days passed and Izuku’s vitals raised from critical to almost passable, the babysitter duty switched from protection to just caretaking. 

 

Keigo seemed totally unaware of the passage of time. They made sure to bring him food, reminded him to drink water, and sometimes forced him to go to the attached bathroom. No matter how many times they tried to explain that Izuku was improving and was well on his way to healing and no longer in any serious danger, it just didn’t sink in. Shouta would bet money that Keigo would only really relax the moment he got to see the kid's green eyes. He’d tried to convince the kid to sleep a little, but the piercing golden gaze just peeked out from under the thin medical blankets. Shouta figured just laying down might at least let the kid's body take a break from his tight ball on the stool, so he let him watch Izuku all night long from the bed. Last time he’d seen Nemuri, she’d been muttering under her breath about idiot children and forced nap times, so Shouta knew that if he didn’t sleep soon under his own volition, he’d be forced to. Quirked sleep wasn’t as restful as natural sleep, but at this point any amount would be better than zero.

 

Trying to pretend that a portion of the faculty wasn’t on edge was also becoming more and more of a challenge. Midnight had been subdued and looked like a zombie from blood loss she couldn’t explain. Hizashi had a dangerous edge to everything he did that normally was fully hidden under his bubbly hero persona, and even the first years were even gossiping about it. Recovery Girl had cordoned off the infirmary, making injured students meet her in the classroom next door. She was a little shifty every time she had to lie, stating there was a case of a contagious and embarrassing quirk accident victim. She was obviously having a little fun and was coming up with worse and weirder things to keep the students from prying. Nedzu luckily could just hole himself away in his office as he was one to do, especially in the winter, claiming hibernation. 

 

For Shouta, he found himself just a little distracted and on edge. It didn’t help that he happened to have two green haired students and a student with a transformation quirk that let her turn into a large vibrant red dog. A dog the same shade as Keigo’s wings. So during class, green or red would flash at the corner of his eye and he would think that maybe that was the kids that were constantly on his mind, only to twist around and get a funny look from his students. The thinking was totally illogical. Even if Izuku woke up, there was no way the kid would be up and moving, and Keigo was practically welded to Izuku at this point. So Shouta found himself having a shorter and shorter fuse as he got more frustrated at himself each time his heart raced at a silly flash of color. 

 

It also didn’t help that there had been no consequences for their nightmare raid as of yet. A man was dead, many more were injured, they had stolen files and a child out from the HPSC facility, and their response has been distressingly absent. There was no way that the commission didn’t know who was responsible. They didn’t really try to hide that Eraserhead and Midnight were on the raid. Nedzu’s involvement could be inferred from the camera hacking, so the fact it had been three whole days and nothing had happened was stressing everyone out. 

 

Hizashi and Nedzu had shown Shouta their massive logic tree map of plans, back ups, and contingencies for every conceivable path and action the commission could take. It was beyond comprehensive and was clearly their way of dealing with the anxiety of not knowing what was to come. Shouta had nodded along, committing none of it to memory. Shouta knew he was a smart guy, but even he knew he was leagues behind Hizashi, not even mentioning Nedzu . All the moving parts and squirrely paths left him with a headache. Once a path was decided on, he would gladly fall in line and take action to keep the dominoes from falling on their heads. Until then, Shouta would lovingly let his fiance stress talk though plan seven hundred twenty two for the third time as he sipped at his cup of tea while Eraserhead spent his patrols looking over his shoulder and kept an ear out for more information. 

 

Which brought Shouta back to why he was practically dragging his feet to get to the infirmary. He growled to himself as he tucked his face deeper into his capture weapon hiding a nasty scowl. A few students that were still in the halls scattered, one slamming face first into the wall, before all disappearing into classrooms. Shouta couldn’t deny that it was a little fun to be the scary teacher of UA.

 

“If you are quite done frightening the student body we should get to Keigo-kun.” 

 

Shouta blankly looked out of the corner of his eyes at Nedzu, who was looking much too pleased with himself to be sassing the person who was giving him a ride. 

 

“I think there are a few more students I could scare before we head there.” 

 

“Shouta-kun.” Nedzu’s voice was ever so clipped. Shouta knew he was at the end of the road.

 

“ Fine .”

 

Nedzu had the audacity to pat Shouta on his cheek before hunkering back down into the slightly pink stained capture scarf. It was his back up for school as it wasn’t blood stained, but instead got put in the wash with one of Hizashi’s bright red vintage outfits that stained anything put with it. So far no student has been brave enough to do more than look at it a little confused. Anyone who does ask will get extra credit. 

 

But Shouta in this moment wished he could just punt his boss into the sun for more than just the condescending little pat. Shouta didn’t want to do this, and was pretty sure it was a bad idea to push the very obviously traumatized kid into talking before he was ready. But it had already been three days and they did really need more information. Additionally, on paper the kid did commit a fairly serious crime and as heroes they should be passing this investigation to police detectives, but they were trying to keep this in-house as much as they could. 

 

Shouta had tried to argue that Hizashi or Nemuri would be a better pick for this conversation. They were better at working with traumatized civilians. Telling Nedzu that Shouta was usually more of a guy who is brought in for intimidation would not work in this situation. Unfortunately, Nedzu was able to talk circles around all of Shouta’s very logical talking points. Which is how Shouta found himself in the infirmary, staring at the petrified kid, wondering where his ability to speak went. 

 

His mouth felt dry, his hands were a little sweaty, and Shouta had a sinking feeling in his gut about how this was going to go. Shouta was not what most would consider sociable. He was blunt, aggressive, and didn’t have the energy for normal pleasantries. And Shouta would be the first to tell anyone that he was far from the most empathetic. Shouta was known for ruffling feathers, and the kid had a lot of feathers to ruffle. He knew that he was going to mess this conversation up and somehow push the kid over the edge that he was holding onto with nothing but his fingernails. 

 

A small paw poked at Shouta’s jaw, a little warning to get moving. Shouta glared down at the beady little eyes that glinted up at Shouta from the folds of the capture weapon. Nedzu could hold his f—ing horses. Shouta was already being forced to do this even with every fiber of his being screaming at him that this was a bad idea. Instead of chilling out, Nedzu reached up his second paw and started kneading at his jaw. Shouta growled before swatting the little paws away from his face. 

 

Shouta sighed. He might as well get this show on the road if Nedzu was going to be annoying. 

 

“Keigo?” The kid’s wings started to fidget, and he ever so slightly straightened his back. Shouta took that as a sign that he was listening, even though his eyes never left Izuku. “We have a few questions. Can we chat?”

 

For a split second Keigo’s gold eyes flicked to Shouta before darting back to Izuku like a compass finding magnetic north. After a beat Keigo gave the slowest nod as he chewed on his bottom lip. 

 

“Thanks, kid.” 

 

Shouta moved a stool to be next to Keigo. Sitting, he studied the kid. The sharp eyes had deep purple rings under them. His body was filled to the brim with tension, and small scratches were in the wood seat of the stool from his tight grip. His feet were perched on the top rungs, his back hunched and his wings were held a little from his back. The feathers were puffed and randomly a handful of individual feathers would shake. Keigo’s blank yet expressive face twisted and pulled something in Shouta’s chest. His eyebrows were ever so slightly downturned, angry. But the illusion of anger was totally undercut from the wide, scared eyes. 

 

The desire to just wrap the kid in blankets and hold him was strong. He’d gladly take every single burden off of Keigo’s back. He’d obviously been carrying them for too long and needed a break. No one that young should be that world weary. 

 

“How are you doing?”

 

That… was not the question Shouta had originally planned to say, but it slipped out. Keigo just let out the longest, saddest sigh before shrugging. He slumped forward even more to press a cheek into his knee. One arm wrapped around the knee, while the other reached up only to get tangled up in his hair, fidgeting with it lazily. 

 

“I’d like to apologize.”

 

Keigo’s face screwed up in confusion before he turned his head to look at Shouta, squishing his cheek further into his knee. His wide gold eyes slowly blinked at Shouta for a whole ten painfully awkward seconds before he shifted back to Izuku. While the prolonged eye contact made Shouta feel like there were thousands of millipedes crawling over his skin, he couldn’t deny that Keigo had looked cute. 

 

“For?” His voice was gravely from lack of use, but getting the kid to say anything felt like a major win. Shouta vaguely gestured to Keigo’s hand in his own hair.

 

“During the raid I kept combing back your hair, using your enjoyment of head rubs to my advantage. I never asked if it was okay, and I uh– probably should have.”

 

Shouta mentally cringed as he gave a small bow, feeling Nedzu had to cling to his shoulder. Served the rat right for forcing this to happen. Shouta sounded so awkward. He felt so awkward. This was so incredibly awkward and Shouta would rather teach in Midnight's hero suit for a month straight than be here doing this. 

 

Keigo seemed to not really feel the same level of mortification as he just kinda froze. His hand tightening around a handful of the thin feathers mixed in between his dirty blond hair. Shouta couldn’t react fast enough as the kid violently ripped the feathers out. Shouta grabbed Keigo’s hand, the dirty blond feathers doing little flips and twirls as they calmly flitted to the floor. 

 

“Hey, hey. Gentle.” Shouta moved closer, shifting Keigo’s hair around a bit to check to see if he was bleeding. He wasn’t, but his scalp didn’t look happy about it. As Shouta flipped the hair back, Keigo shivered a bit.

 

“Sorry.” Shouta mumbled, feeling worse.

 

Keigo shrugged. “‘S fine. Feels nice.” 

 

“Do you want me to…” Shouta trailed off with his hand raised. Before Shouta could second guess himself Keigo snapped into action forcefully smacking Shouta’s hand to his scalp. The kid seemed to realize what he did, and with wide eyes, pushed it away with a high pitched hawk-like call. After a second Shouta saw Keigo look longingly at Shouta’s half raised hand. 

 

“I don’t mind.” Keigo snapped his eyes up to meet Shouta’s. The stare was intense and unblinking. It made Shouta squirm. “If you want me to, I mean, I wouldn’t mind. I play with Hizashi’s hair a lot and um– well if you don’t want me to I also am fine with that too, we can forget I–” 

 

Keigo once again snatched Shouta’s hand out of the air, but this time placed it much more gently into his hair. He patted the back of Shouta’s hand like he was apologizing for partially punching Shouta’s hand into his own head. Shouta let out a little laugh. 

 

“Okay, let me move my stool.” 

 

Shouta moved to sit behind him. Keigo was practically vibrating and the expression on his face could only be described as emotionally constipated. Excitement, anxiety, fear, delight, and apprehension fought for dominance until it was all replaced with bliss the moment Shouta started running his fingers through his feathered hair. The tension slowly evaporated with each stroke. 

 

One feather that was close to the patch Keigo had ripped out was stuck at an awkward angle. Gently, Shouta coaxed it to smooth back into the slight cowlick the kid had. The moment the feather flowed back into the rest of the hair Keigo melted. It was almost like the thin strings that were holding him up snapped. He slumped back into Shouta’s chest with a soft screeching coo. It was a little hard to reach around the wings to play with his hair but the small delighted bird sounds and soft sighs made the discomfort worth it. After a few minutes Keigo spoke, a little slurred. 

 

“Thanks. ‘M not supposed to do that.”

 

That made Shouta frown. “No problem, you obviously needed it.”

 

Shouta used his nails to brush wavy lines against Keigo’s scalp. Something twisted in Shouta’s gut when Keigo bit back another delighted whistling screech. 

 

Keigo shook his head and hummed. “Shouldn’t be a bird. It’s weird and creepy.” 

 

“Who told you that, Keigo?”

 

“Dunno,” he shrugged. “Everybody, I guess.” 

 

“Well, I don’t think it is weird or creepy.” He thought it was sweet and cute, but you wouldn’t catch him saying that outloud. “I doubt anyone at UA would think that either.” 

 

“They’re just too polite to say it. I know it’s true.” 

 

“What about me? I actually like it.” 

 

“Don't count. You’re weird and creepy, but by choice not by nature.” 

 

Shouta snorted. “Thanks kid, tell me how you really feel. Boost my self esteem.” 

 

The most spastic squawking screech of a laugh tore out of Keigo. It was a strange mix of human laughter and bird calls. It startled Shouta. He had heard Hawks laugh previously and it had seemed totally genuine, but after hearing Keigo’s ugly but authentic laugh, that fake laugh paled in comparison. Shouta couldn’t hold back the smile, as he reached up and pulled on one of Keigo’s earlobes. It only set the kid off again into a cackle. 

 

It was adorable , sue him. And it was relieving to see the kid make so much noise .

 

After Keigo settled, Shouta started combing his fingers through his hair. He didn’t want to ruin the kid’s mood, but he did still need information.

 

“So, did that man from the raid tell you you were weird and creepy?”

 

Keigo tensed before his shoulders sagged. His wings fell to rest on the floor between their two stools. He nodded. 

 

“What else did he say to you?”

 

“Growing up he called me a dumb bird, that I’d be an awful hero, that I am a failure.” Keigo’s voice wavered. “He called me his pet.” 

 

Shouta felt a bit sick. He’d caught some of that from the fight, but in this calm atmosphere it felt more wrong somehow. 

 

“I’m sorry he said all that to you. None of it is true, I hope you know that.” 

 

Keigo shrugged.

 

Well, that was something to work on with the kid. 

 

“I know I should feel guilty.” Keigo’s voice was soft. “But all I can feel is relieved.”

 

“Why do you think that you should feel guilty?”

 

“I'm a hero? Heroes don’t kill people?” Keigo’s voice held the teenage ‘no duh’ tone. “I– I killed Mr Watanabe. I should go to jail right?”

 

Shouta hummed. “If a child who had been beat down daily by their guardian one day snapped and killed the adult in an attempt to get away, then what would the courts likely sentence?”

 

“I dunno, jail time?”

 

“No,” Shouta frowned, Hero courses all go over this sort of law, Keigo should know this. “This is placed under preemptive self defense. In severe abuse, if it is reasonable for the victim to expect more abuse from a guardian, then taking action, even violent action, to subdue and get away isn’t charged as murder, even if they die. The highest charge might be that of manslaughter depending on the situation. Most of the time the child is given mandatory therapy and community service.” 

 

“I’m not a child.” 

 

“I never said you were.” 

 

“You call me kid all the time.” 

 

“That’s because you are.” 

 

Keigo let out a frustrated huff. “That doesn't make any sense. How am I not a child but I am a kid?”

 

“I dunno, I don’t make the rules.” 

 

“But you…” Keigo rolled his head back to look up at Shouta. “You think I wouldn’t go to jail?”

 

“I can’t say either way, Keigo. I’m not a lawyer. But from what I saw Mr Watanabe had a gun, shot you and you killed him in pure self defense. You only lived because of Izuku’s quirk.” 

 

“That's not the order that happened and you know it.” 

 

“Do I?” Shouta raised an eyebrow. “That's how I remember it.” 

 

“So, you are going to lie and make sure I don’t go to jail.” 

 

“Maybe a little, but you asked me once if I would break the law to save a child.” 

 

Keigo snorted. “So, I am a child.” 

 

“Kid, child it's all the same.” 

 

“You just said it wasn’t.” 

 

Shouta hummed, fighting back a grin. He continued brushing through Keigo’s hair until he heard something crack. Looking down he saw what looked like a feather that was encased in some hard cover, it felt a bit like thin brittle plastic. The moment it cracked Keigo cringed, letting out a gasp. Shouta paused, worried he’d hurt the kid somehow. He was going to have to do some research on feathers and birds so he wasn’t caught unaware again. Shouta started to remove his hand, his mouth open to apologize when Keigo shook his head.

 

“No, Don’t stop. It is just a pin feather. It felt really nice .” He paused. “You can– you can finish breaking it open uh– If you want?”

 

Keigo’s voice was tentative but hopeful, bordering on desperate. Shouta felt like he was missing something. But he didn’t have an issue with it so he hummed and went to pinch the encased pin feather. The outer casing cracked under the soft pressure and he was able to slide it off, freeing an incredibly fluffy looking blond feather. Keigo let out a large sigh. 

 

“Thanks.” His voice was small but the gratitude filled the single word till it cracked.

 

“Anytime, kid.” 

 

“Not a kid.” Keigo slurred out. 

 

Shouta let out a laugh, before sobering. He hated to have to circle back to the pain, but they still needed more information and Keigo seemed to be open to sharing right now. 

 

“Keigo, what else did they do to you?”

 

“Mr Watanabe?”

 

“Yeah, or the commission.”

 

“Can’t talk about the commission. It’s not allowed." After a second Keigo added a little softer, ”It’s a secret.” 

 

Even if Shouta had been colorblind, he would have been able to identify that red flag. It was big and blaring and made Shouta want to throttle every HPSC agent. 

 

“Okay, what about just Mr Watanabe?”

 

“He got assigned as a handler for the more volatile quirks. Was mine growing up. His quirk is kinda like yours? But it only stops quirks when reacting to him. So he likes to taunt those with more aggressive quirks, calling himself invincible. He liked to push buttons and laugh when they tried to attack him only for it not to work. He also was a sadist. Liked to beat all us trainees to a pulp at any chance he got.” 

 

“Trainees? There are more kids?” Shouta felt a zing of anxiety knowing that he might have to go through what he did with Izuku with an untold number of other kids. It sounded exhausting, but he’d do it. 

 

“Not anymore.” Keigo paused, looking back at Izuku. “Or so I thought. I was the only one who finished to become an actual hero. Said they closed the program as it didn’t really work. Most of the time as a teen I was training with other adult recruits.” 

 

“How young were you?”

 

“Mom sold me at I think six? Maybe seven. I kinda lost track when we were homeless.”

 

That was a veritable minefield, Shouta felt like if he stepped wrong, the calm that he’d somehow managed to build would be blown to smithereens. He wanted to ask, but knew that now was likely not the time for digging there, the HPSC was the goal. He was grateful for the distraction in the form of hair, and just focused on massaging the scalp under his fingertips. After just slightly too long, Shouta spoke. 

 

“Thank you for telling me. Sounds… scary.” 

 

Keigo shrugged. Shouta frowned. This kid was way too nonchalant about all of this, it was enerving. 

 

“What types of training did you have?

 

“Dunno, pretty normal hero training.”

 

“Let me be the judge of that.” 

 

“Alright, it really wasn’t that bad. We did hand to hand, battle and tactical training, weapon training, PR classes, first aid, sleep and food deprivation training–” 

 

“Deprivation training?” Shouta was going to be sick. It took everything in Shouta to keep his hands from shaking in Keigo’s hair. 

 

“Yeah, you know, test how long you can go without food, water, and sleep. They didn’t do food and water often as it would stop me from being able to do other training for a while after. But they liked sleep deprivation training. Said it would be helpful for the long hours heroics requires.” 

 

“What– what was it exactly?”

 

“Nothing too fancy. Just loud music and bright lights. They never restricted people from visiting and gave me cases to solve or other puzzles to help me stay awake so it wasn’t like solitary confinement or anything.”

 

“Keigo–” Shouta struggled to swallow. The warm fingers tangled in Keigo's hair was the only warmth left in his body. It was like the kids' words had sucked all the heat from the room. “How old were you?”

 

“Probably started about Izuku’s age. Why?”

 

“No reason.” There sure as h— was a reason. Namely: What the f—?!?

 

“It wasn’t too bad, they’d let me out early if I finished the puzzles. So I just got really good at puzzles.” Keigo grinned up at Shouta. His eyes looked hazed over, distant.

 

Shouta mentally cursed, thinking back to the raid and how Keigo mumbled and let some of his thoughts slip without obviously realizing. And the kid looked exactly like that right now. Who knows how much of this Keigo would have spilled if he wasn’t half dissociated. Shouta felt dirty. He’d taken advantage of the kid’s walls being down because of a trauma response . He’d pushed and now needed to live with the consequences. They had more information, not near enough, but Shouta was done. He wasn’t going to push anymore. Not until the kid was actually ready and willing. 

 

Shouta felt like a monster as he ran his fingers through Keigo’s hair. Bile burned the back of his throat as Keigo let out another happy high pitched screech. The noise had been cute but now felt like nails on a chalkboard to Shouta, a reminder how he’d messed up. 

 

“Keigo, you eat yet?”

 

The kid was practically a puddle against Shouta’s chest, his eyelids at half mast, looking more relaxed then Shouta had ever seen him. Keigo slowly rolled his head against Shouta’s collarbone in a slow lazy shake. 

 

“Nah, not yet.” 

 

“Alright,” Shouta pushed the kid up slightly. It was mostly unsuccessful and only left Keigo stuck even closer to his side. “How about I go grab you something. Any requests?”

 

“Chicken.” 

 

Shouta snorted a little at how quick the response had been. He hadn’t been able to finish the question before Keigo responded. Kid obviously had a favorite. 

 

“Alright, kiddo. Chicken it is.” 

 

Keigo didn’t move from his heavy lean into Shouta. Shouta shook his shoulder, knocking Keigo’s head off its perch. He caught himself before he totally fell over, and grunted as he forcefully put his head right back onto Shouta’s clavial. 

 

“You gotta get up if you want food, kid.” 

 

Keigo groaned, before grinding the back of his head painfully into Shouta’s collarbone. Shouta grimaced. He was getting nowhere, fast. 

 

“Keigo,” A voice from across the room piped up. It was Recovery Girl. Her voice made the kid open his eyes and perk up. “You look really tired. The bed next to Izuku is open. Taking a short rest while Shouta goes and gets you food would be for the best.” 

 

Her voice was soothing and upbeat, a small smile was on her face, but the distressed pinch between her eyes shattered the illusion. Of course she’d overheard, her office door was open and he’d never even noticed. Shouta mentally cursed again. Not only had he manipulated the kid into spilling about his life to himself and Nedzu, but Recovery Girl was also now aware. 

 

Recovery Girl shot Shouta a tight smile as Keigo clumsily stood and shuffled to then faceplant into the bed. Shouta had to shoot out a hand to keep Keigo’s stool from clattering to the ground as one of his red wings grazed it as it dragged along the floor. Shouta huffed a laugh and rolled his eyes. If nothing else, that dramatic show solidified Keigo’s classification as a teenager. He might be an adult on paper, but nineteen was still a teen . 

 

Shouta stood and stretched out his back. Groaning, his spine sounded like someone tap dancing on bubble wrap. It felt really nice. Additionally, the way Recovery Girl's face shifted from horror to unimpressed was worth the future lecture as Shouta walked backwards out of the infirmary with a bland smile and two thumbs up. 

 

“I pray for your bones,” she sighed out as the door started to swing closed. 

 

Through the door Shouta raised his voice with a slight laugh, “You and me both!” 

 

After turning down the first hall Shouta let himself collapse against a wall and scrubbed at his face. He wanted to feel less gross, but it didn’t really work. Just for a day, he’d like things to be less complicated. He wished, not for the first time, that there was some cosmic complaints department. He had some words for the managers. He would even go in person and wait in long lines to have those words because he was more than frustrated over how everything has gone down lately. 

 

“I apologize.” Nedzu’s voice broke into Shouta’s mental screaming into the void. “I shouldn’t have pushed this.” 

 

“Yeah, you think ?” Shouta pushed off from the wall with a kick and stormed off to the cafeteria. He had known it would be bad, but not this way. He thought Keigo would get belligerent, angry, violent , not… this. He wanted Keigo to trust him, to feel comfortable enough to talk to him but this felt wrong, twisted. He tightened his fists till they started shaking. 

 

Shouta messed up and might have broken the kid’s trust, but he wasn’t going to mess up again. 

 

He was going to get his kid the best G-d d— chicken ever, even if he had to threaten Lunch Rush to get it.

 

—

 

In the end, Shouta did not have to threaten Lunch Rush. The hero had been delighted by the request and only a short time later came back with a steaming plate of delicious smelling chicken katsu with a side of the fluffiest looking rice and some steamed vegetables. Lunch Rush had also slipped a bag of cookies into Shouta’s pocket like he was doing some drug deal, with a finger to where his lips would be under the mask and a thumbs up. 

 

Shouta rolled his eyes but he felt lighter. All of the UA faculty had caught onto the tension in the others, and with confidentiality and the dangers of heroism, this sort of tension was common. And those who are outside would watch on while quietly trying to do small things to help lighten the load. Shouta couldn’t deny that it made being a hero just a little easier. He didn’t know how he did it as a solo under before joining UA. Well, he knew how. But he wouldn’t advise it as it would give Recovery Girl an aneurysm. If his self care was bad now, it was nothing like the few years he was solo. This was better.

 

On the walk back to the infirmary, Nedzu popped back out of Shouta’s capture weapon, his phone in hand, and a frown on his face. 

 

That couldn’t be good. 

 

“It looks like the Commission has made their move.” 

 

The phone was moved towards Shouta’s face. It was slightly too close and he had to cross his eyes a bit to see the screen. On it was a quietly playing newsreel. A photo of Hawks was in the corner and a news anchor woman looked serious as she spoke. Nedzu used a paw to turn up the volume.

 

“... Safety Commission has put out an APB on the hero turned villain Hawks. He is quirk trained and highly dangerous. Three days ago, Pro Hero Hawks had some sort of psychotic break, flying erratically all over the island of Kyushu. He was taken in by the HPSC agents. In custody after trying to test for a rogue quirk, the hero snapped and attacked over twenty agents, many of which are in critical condition and one which is confirmed dead. The public is warned to not approach as he is erratic and volatile, but to call this number immediately if spotted.” A number flashed across the screen. “Once back in custody, it will be determined what was the cause and measures will be put in place to change hero procedure to keep this from happening in the future. Now, we will hear from Pro-Hero Heron, the last person he contacted before entering HPSC custody.” 

 

The screen scrolled from the news anchor to a distressed looking hero with a feathered face with black marks like Hawks along her eyes but about three times as long. Her shoulders had fake light gray feathers in a motif of wings. Under her face was the tag of “Pro Hero: Heron – Side kick at the Winged Agency.”

 

“What do you remember from your last interaction?” asked a voice off screen. 

 

“He seemed on edge leading up, more so than usual, and told me he had a panic attack over text so I called him. He talked me out of pulling him for longer than a day. I believed him when he said he just needed a short break. I should have seen this coming. He is so young and has burned so brightly, too brightly.”

 

“Why do you say that?”

 

“He’s only been a pro hero for just a little over a year, and he just became the lead of an agency and is well on his way to the top ten before he hits twenty , which is unheard of. I’ve been a pro hero for longer than Hawks has been alive, and still have moments I feel overwhelmed and underprepared. All heroes do. Younger people can of course do amazing things, but this might have just been too much, too fast, especially for someone so young.” She turned to look directly into the camera. 

 

“Hawks if you are out there and listening, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to help you more, and to the heros put on his case–” She sniffed, tears starting to run down the various feathers on her cheeks. “Be gentle. I don’t think this was malicious, Hawks doesn’t have a vicious bone in his body. He is sweet and kind. He doesn’t show that side much, but to those closer to him, it is clear how much he cares, so please. Take care of him.” 

 

After that the news anchor wrapped up the story and moved to the next story. Nedzu clicked his phone off with a sigh.

 

“I will collect Hizashi. It looks like we are going with a variation of plan four hundred forty seven.” He unwound Shouta’s capture weapon just enough to slide down it like a rope. “Make sure Keigo-kun is well fed and well hidden. We will see you shortly.” 

 

Shouta blankly watched as his boss skittered down the hall. He looked down at the warm plate of food in his hands and sighed. It seemed that there was no break for these kids. He turned with a sigh and went to deliver the food. 

 

Entering the Infirmary, there was an immediate shushing noise. Shouta sent Recovery Girl a flat look as she excitedly waved him over. 

 

“I apologize,” she whispered, guiding him around the curtains. “I didn’t want Yamada to wake them, he is always so loud.” 

 

“I am aware.” 

 

“But in good news, Izuku woke up right after you left, albeit briefly. They are now both sleeping. Keigo just needed to see Izuku awake and he was out like a light.”

 

Shouta passed around the curtains and melted at the sight of the two. Keigo was wrapped around the boy, loosely holding him against his chest, a red wing thrown over the two of them like a protective blanket. Izuku’s mouth was wide open, and little snuffles ruffled Keigo’s shirt. A small hand clenched the fabric right over Keigo’s heart. The younger boy made a small whimper and flinched only for the sleeping Keigo to nuzzle his nose into the green mop of hair. Izuku relaxed. A soft mewing came from him followed by a soft bird sound from Keigo. They both looked so peaceful. 

 

Shouta moved one of the stools from earlier over closer to the bed and sat watching the two sleeping boys. Recovery Girl took the plate of food and moved to her office. A soft knowing smile on her face as she returns.

 

“I put it away, but I’ll make sure that he gets to eat once he wakes. He needs the rest.” 

 

“He really will need it. The commission finally made their move.” 

 

“Is it bad?”

 

“Not the worst, but not great .” 

 

She nodded, patting his thigh. 

 

“You are a good hero, and they have a good team around them to support them. We’ll figure it out.” 

 

Shouta just nodded. He should go back to the meeting with Nedzu, figure out what they were going to do. But the warm sleepy atmosphere was like a black hole that had sucked Shouta in. Shouta smiled. It was more like a cool pool on a hot day that he’d gladly jumped into. It was the first moment of peace he’d felt since that first feather poked him on patrol half a week ago. 

 

Nedzu and Hizashi could wait a few minutes before Shouta joined them.

Notes:

Shouta you're an idiot. Keigo is just happy he finally got preened. chill out.

also cuz im mean and the anticipation will kill ya >:))
next chappie is written just needs editing and
IT'LL BE THE BOYS HUGGIN <3333 We saw the end but lets show it allllll
so thats just more fluffy nonsense for ya before we get into the thick of it a lil more >:))

Chapter 11: Izuku gets his hug <3

Notes:

This is fluff
~y o u r w e l c o m e~
This is the fluffiest frickin chapter i SWEAR just adorible from top to bottom I figured throw yall some crumbs before i start to turn up teh heat again >:)
(well, a bit haha nothing will be as bad as Izuku's big day lol promise... or well not in part one lolol I've got some teen Izu plans... um and like cannon is full of a lot of violence guys so like nothing that like cannon wouldn't maybe alude to in part two lol)

But enjoy~~~

Izuku woke up feeling a little confused and floating. Something in the back of his mind whispered that something was missing, something important. But his mind felt stuffed full of yummy cotton candy, and it was sticky and held all his thoughts from getting anywhere. Which was fine, cotton candy was great and it wasn't a horrible feeling, just odd. 

 

What Izuku did know was that his arms itched. Now that he was thinking about it, it was unbearable how itchy they were. Moving his arms felt like swimming through concrete, but the satisfaction Izuku got from scraping his nails against the deep prickling itch was worth the struggle. 

 

There was a strange squawk from nearby. Izuku ignored it. He was focused on digging his fingers deeper into his arms. It felt heavenly. Maybe if he pressed hard enough he could pick out all the tiny needles that must have embedded in his skin. 

 

“Izuku? You awake?” The voice was vaguely familiar. Izuku felt like he should know it, especially with the anticipation dripping from every syllable. 

 

Izuku hummed in response. Was he awake? He didn’t really feel awake. But he did know he was itchy . 

 

“Come on Izu, just open your eyes?”

 

“Mmmm itchy.” Maybe the voice could make it better.

 

“Your… eyes are itchy?” The voice sounded confused. Maybe they couldn’t make it better. 

 

“No. Armmmms.” Izuku dragged out the word as he dragged his fingers against his skin. He pressed as hard as he could and it felt amazing. 

 

There was another squawk as a hand grabbed his arms and separated them. Maybe there was a bird in the room?

 

“Hey, hey. Gentle.” 

 

Izuku squirmed trying to paw his floppy hands closer to his arms. The arms were doing a good job keeping Izuku from itching. It wasn’t fair. He let out a long high pitched whine. 

 

“Recovery Girl? Uh– A little help?”

 

Izuku heard some words that sounded jumbled and far away and then some quick steps. More hands moved to rest on his shoulders. 

 

“Hey Sonny, can you open your eyes for us?”

 

Oh, that's why it was so dark. He’d just assumed the lights were still turned off. They did that sometimes. Izuku opened his eyes only to immediately slam them back closed with a full body flinch. It was bright. He wanted to try again, but this time he went slower and squinted through his green eyelashes. 

 

The first thing that Izuku noticed was an old lady standing over him, her gray hair tied back in a huge bun. Her face looked pinched like she’d eaten a sour candy, and she looked as tired as Mom did after a weekend full of double shifts at the hospital. But there was a sparkle of relief in her eyes, like something good had just happened to her. Izuku frowned as he looked at her face. She was really familiar, and Izuku knew that he should recognize her. He slowly dragged his eyes down over her clothes, to see a lab coat thrown over a hero suit–

 

“RECOVERY GIRL?!” Izuku sat up abruptly, his cheeks stretched over a wide grin. “Recovery Girl the Youthful Heroine?! You are in my top five favorite heroes!! I gotta get your autograph!”

 

Her pinched expression shifted into a wide smile. “I’m honored, Izuku. And I can get you one later, how does that sound?”

 

Izuku nodded so fast he made himself dizzy. Recovery Girl chuckled. 

 

“So how are you feeling? Any pain?”

 

“ Itchy. ” He tried to itch at the skin at his arms again only to once again have his plans be foiled. 

 

“Ah, with stings like you got I’m not surprised. Can I put some ointment on to make it itch less?”

 

“Yes, please.” Izuku held his arms out to her. She snapped on some gloves and smiled. 

 

“Might be a little cold.” And with that she started to rub small circles against his skin. It was the best feeling Izuku had ever had. The itching was replaced by cool relief. He loudly sighed as he stopped fidgeting. 

 

“I’m glad it feels good, Izuku. Can I check a few other things? And we can get you some water, which might help your scratchy throat.” 

 

Izuku nodded. Now that she mentioned it his throat was a little scratchy. In what felt like a millisecond there was a bottle of water pressed against his lips. The cool water felt amazing on his dry mouth. Izuku let out a happy hum, delighted at how it didn’t feel bad to do so. So he did it again. 

 

“Should he be so out of it like this?”

 

“That would be the pain medication.” Soft hands felt around Izuku as he kept humming little tuneless melodies. “I didn’t want the poor boy waking up in pain.” 

 

“Hey Izuku?” He looked back up at Recovery Girl (!!!!!) with a lazy grin. “Are you in any pain?”

 

“Nope. Mmm Floaty.”

 

The other voice snorted as Izuku started shaking his head. He felt himself start to lilt to the side, so he tried to catch himself. But his arms felt like they weighed a bazillion kilos, so they only half heartedly flopped towards the edge of the bed. Other hands darted out to catch him. Izuku followed the hands up their arms and got distracted by the super cool UA PE uniform! How lucky!! UA was the best hero school! It was where All Might learned to be a hero AND it was where Recovery Girl worked! Izuku hoped to go to UA when he went to high school!

 

There was a snort from the UA uniform. “I’m sure we can swing that, Izu. We know a lot of the faculty now. I bet we could get you a good word.” 

 

Izuku’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know I knew any UA teachers. That's so cool.” He reached up to stroke the thick white lines of the uniform. It was so soft. More soft than Izuku had been expecting. But duh, it was soft. UA was the best!

 

While he was distracted poking at the nice rich blue of the sleeve, his other arm was gently guided away. Which was fine because he could poke with one hand. And there was someone else's hand rubbing wide circles across his back which felt amazing. Everything felt amazing. It was different and nice . 

 

The rip of velcro was followed by a tight feeling of pressure wrapping around his upper arm. Izuku froze. The blue no longer felt inviting, the circles on his back felt oppressive, the tight band of a blood pressure cuff pumped along his arm, but it felt like it was wrapped around his throat. It was hard to breathe. His eyes filled with tears and his lip trembled.

 

It wasn’t amazing anymore. It wasn’t nice. 

 

Izuku tightened a fist around the blue fabric, bunching it under his fingers. After a few seconds he was able to hitch a breath through his tight throat enough to speak. 

 

“I– I don’t think I can do any procedures today.” Izuku whispered. The circles on his back and the hands around the blood pressure cuff froze. He felt himself start to shake. “Tell whoever it is, I'm– I’m sorry.” 

 

His throat grew a huge stone making it harder to breathe as tears and snot ran down his face. Izuku shook his head, ignoring how dizzy it made him feel.

 

“I’m sorry. I can’t. I can't, I can't .” Izuku suffocated as a sob ripped out of him. The dizziness took over and he flopped back. He curled onto his side and drew his arms and legs into his body. He let out another sob at the aching thrum that the movement created. He didn’t want to hurt anymore. He was done. It was supposed to be over.

 

In the back of Izuku’s mind he knew that there were people talking, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Someone was breathing really really loud near him, their loud hiccuping sobs drowning out the other noises. He clasped his arms over his chest and realized the loud panting was coming from him. Izuku pinched his eyes against the bright lights and tried to squeeze his arms against his chest as hard as he could. Sometimes giving himself a hug made it feel a little better. He let out a small distressed noise. His self hug was so weak he could barely feel it even though it made his arms shake with effort. That didn’t help at all!

 

Hands tried to grab him. He flinched and let out a whimper. The hands left. Izuku felt so alone .

 

Everyone left. Those hands left. His dad left. His mom left. Ms Komori left. Even All Might left Izuku alone in the room. The only one who didn’t leave was Kei, but Izuku broke the feather. He broke his lifeline to his hero. Izuku hoped that Keigo didn’t feel lonely. It wasn’t on purpose, he didn’t mean to leave. Izuku felt himself hiccup after a harsh sob. He missed him. He missed him so much . 

 

A soft, gentle, familiar feeling stroked his cheek. Izuku reached up with shaking arms to grab it. He opened his eyes, feeling them creek open like an unoiled door. In between his fingers was a gorgeous red feather. Izuku traced a shaking pointer finger along the fluffy edge and then along the smooth center part. Keigo had told him it was called the shaft when he’d asked. Izuku studied this feather. It was a little longer and slightly different shade of red, and this one had flecks of almost brown on it. It was pretty. Izuku carefully brought it up to his cheek and started to tap out a message.

 

KEI, YOU THERE? 

 

 Maybe he could tell Kei that he didn’t leave him. Tell him that he isn’t alone anymore. 

 

“Yeah, Chickadee,” The voice whispered, thick with emotion. The voice itched at the back of Izuku’s mind. He knew that voice. “I’m right here.” 

 

Izuku opened his eyes and shifted to look at where the voice had come from and froze.

 

It was Kei . 

 

Tears exploded from his eyes. Izuku scrambled, wiggling like a fish out of water to get to Keigo. One of his arms gave out in his mad dash and he face-planted into the bed. Pain rushed through his chest and shot out to all of his limbs. Curling slightly, Izuku whimpered. He just wanted to get to his brother.  

 

Shy hands landed on Izuku’s cheeks. They were feather light as they guided Izuku’s head to turn. Half of his face was squished into the hand as it was trapped against the bed under his head. His cheek forced one of his eyes closed, the other wide as he saw his brother. Izuku’s vision wavered and shimmered with tears as he looked at Keigo. 

 

Keigo looked tired, deep circles carved into the skin under his eyes. The golden eyes were wide and unblinking. The piercing gaze made Izuku feel like they could cut down to his core. He felt totally seen and like he was his brother's only focus. His hair was a chaotic frizzy mess and was a little greasy. He had a few red acne bumps on his chin. But none of that took away from the most important feature: the tiny, tender smile that slowly grew, brightening his face like a sunrise. 

 

“You’re here.” 

 

“Yeah,” Keigo breathed out, his thumbs arched in smooth curving strokes on Izuku’s cheeks, his expression practically reverent. “I came as fast as I could.” 

 

“That’s really fast.” 

 

“Yeah,” He let out a watery chuckle. “I’m the fastest. ” 

 

“ Kei” Izuku whined as he slid a hand over the smooth sheets. He made little grabby hand motions towards his brother. “ Oniisan.”

 

Faster than Izuku could comprehend, strong arms were wrapped around him. Keigo really was fast. Izuku’s head was pressed against the soft UA uniform as blue filled his vision. The fingers that tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck also pulled at some snarl that had wrapped itself around Izuku’s heart. He was suddenly grateful for the arms as he shattered , the arms the only thing holding him together. 

 

As he sobbed and keened and wailed, Izuku felt the knot around his heart unravel. The soft steady pressure around his body burned like an inferno, but Izuku clawed closer, craving the heat. He finally felt warm. Izuku didn’t know how cold he’d been until he felt heat again. Izuku’s breath was sputtering and uneven, but he had found a soothing rhythm to follow as he was rocked back and forth. The arms shifted to hold him tighter as Izuku thawed, melting further into the hold. 

 

He let out a peaceful hum. This felt nice. It was so similar to his mom’s hugs, but was distinct. Mom’s hugs were full of tender serene love, an invitation. They were like an evening drinking cocoa by a warm fire. This hug was full of unshakeable love and had a declaration of protection wrapped up in it. It was possessive and rattled like a snake's tail, loudly warning others to be careful. It made Izuku feel so safe . It made him feel so loved . Fat tears slowly rolled down his face as they swayed in the tight hug. 

 

“You’re here .” Izuku breathed out, feeling awed. 

 

A nose was shoved into the crown of his head, pressing through all of his crazy curls. A shaky breath tickled the top of his head. 

 

“Always, Otouto . You call and I'll be there, okay?”

 

“‘Kay.” Izuku let himself completely slump into Keigo’s chest. “You give really good hugs.” 

 

“Thanks. You do too, Chickadee.” 

 

Izuku nuzzled his face into his hero's chest like a cat. He closed his eyes. “Mmm you’re warm.” 

 

The hold around him shifted a little, making Izuku groan until a blessedly cool hand was pressed into his forehead.

 

“Hey bud, can we check your temperature real fast?”

 

Izuku hummed a yes. He didn’t really care as long as he kept being held. A finger tapped Izuku’s chin. 

 

“Open.” A slightly metallic tasting thin stick was put in his mouth. Izuku grimaced. After a short time there was a beep and the gross stick was pulled out of his mouth. Izuku let the words following flow over him.

 

“38.3”

 

“Is that… high?”

 

“Not more than it has been. It's on the high end of a low grade fever. I already tested for an infection and there was none. It is likely from shock and the built up toxins.” 

 

“Shouldn’t it be better by now?”

 

“Keigo, It’s only been three days. I might have a healing quirk, but that doesn’t make me a miracle worker. These things take time.” 

 

There was a sigh. A hand reached up and combed through Izuku’s hair. He let out a happy hum. A light chuckle rang loudly into Izuku’s ear.

 

“Such a sleepy little chickadee.” 

 

Izuku’s world tilted and shifted, jostling him. He threw out a panicked arm with a scared gasp. His other hand tightened its grip on the soft fabric of the UA shirt. Everything froze.

 

“Shh, it’s okay, I’m sorry. I was just trying to get us more comfortable.” 

 

Izuku hummed. Comfortable sounded nice. He was lowered, much slower this time. Keigo was right, laying down felt amazing. Hands started carding through his hair, untangling the little knots and scratching smooth patterns into his scalp. Izuku shivered and let out another blissed hum.

 

“I like being preened, too.” Kei whispered into his ear, like it was some secret. Izuku smiled and lazily blinked his eyes open to look up at his new brother. He wiggled closer and leaned in to whisper a secret back. 

 

“Hawks is my all time favorite hero.” Izuku paused to bring a finger up to his lips. “Don’t tell All Might.” 

 

Keigo snorted, pulling an invisible zipper over his lips. “My lips are sealed.” 

 

“Good.” Izuku tapped a hand heavily against Keigo’s cheek. “I don’t want him to be sad to be bumped down the list.” 

 

Keigo let out a huff and kissed Izuku’s hand then moved it from his cheek to be pressed against the soft UA uniform on his chest. Izuku’s fingers latched onto the fabric. 

 

“You’re a really good kid, you know that?”

 

“Mom says I’m the best. ” Izuku’s eyelids felt so heavy, and he tried to keep them open but just couldn’t. The image of Kei grinning wildly faded to black. 

 

“She’s absolutely right. You are the best.”  Lips pressed into his forehead. Izuku shivered. “You cold?”

 

Izuku has been cold for a long time. He hummed a yes. A warm, heavy weight silently settled over him. Izuku melted into a gooey puddle as he was wrapped in the cozy cocoon. The weight shifted and the fluffy feeling of feathers brushed across his arms. Oh, his blanket was made of Keigo’s wings. Izuku felt a fuzzy bubbly feeling settle in his chest. He was pretty sure it was love. 

 

“Sleep Izu, I’ll be here when you wake up. I’m not leaving you, you are okay.” 

 

“Mmmm ‘kay.” Izuku bumped his head lightly against Keigo’s shoulder. “I love you, Niisan .” 

 

There was another startled bird call quickly followed by another tender kiss to his hairline. And once again like it was a secret, Keigo whispered. 

 

“I love you too, Chickadee. I love you too.”

Chapter 12: Keigo is an embarrassed lil guy filled with too many emotions

Notes:

Helllooooo <333
Here is the next chappie for your reading pleasure!
Keigo is such a funny guy lol bless him x) but mmmmm he is not well~~
But we'll get there lol
Also continue to thank @sassy_chemist for her wonderful editing as a beta fish for meeee <3 She doesn't know MHA so she a true homie haha

Also the fan fic writer curse hit. the job i thought I had lined up fell thru so I went to play my guitar to chill out and then... my phone stopped working lol so then i went well this is trash so imma write I GUESS
So not only am i going to continue to be only bairly employed (long story) but I also am leaning into the writing of this fic which is a win win for yall lol cuz after this chapter I got a whole two written cuz i was peeved and will continue to have a lot of free time lol

But y'all actually are here to learn more about our BOYSSSS so please ENJOYYYY ~~~~~~~~ <33333

Spontaneous combustion might just be Keigo’s fate. Maybe the commission was wrong and he wasn’t a hawk quirk holder but instead a phoenix. He could just crumble into a pile of ash after a pretty light show and Keigo 2.0 could deal with all this. He was done and he couldn’t be in the same room as Shouta– Aizawa– ever again. 

 

After actually sleeping for almost fourteen hours straight, Keigo snapped out of whatever funk he’d been slogging through to be struck with unending debilitating horror and, most importantly, embarrassment as his actions.

 

He let Shouta– Aizawa, d— it!-- preen him. He even cracked pin feathers. 

 

Only flock– family– does that. 

 

Keigo’d forgotten what is was like to have the instinctual draw to a person. And this might just be torture. The moment Aizawa walked into a room, Keigo found himself drifting to his side. The urge to fix the way his hair flopped around, to untangle the messy loose curls, to run his fingers through it, to braid it, was hard to ignore. Aizawa had preened Keigo. Therefore in the stupid bird brain logic, it was Keigo’s turn to preen Aizawa. 

 

But that was freaking weird and you can’t just walk up to a guy and ask to play with his hair??? So Keigo was just… ignoring it. Or trying to.

 

He also felt the same draw to Izuku, and now that he thought back to it, all of the ruminating and nerves leading up to the rescue probably was exasperated by the instinctual attachment he’d made with the kid. His kid brother. He still felt giddy every time he thought about how Izuku had claimed him in the same way. Keigo didn’t even try to stop his feathers from fluffing and happily shaking every time he would sneak after school hours into the infirmary to hang out with his new baby bro. He’d even let Izuku preen his hair and wings a few times. Even with how weak and tired the kid got, he was determined to help. It was cute, and Keigo was able to brush out Izuku’s hair after the kid conked out.

 

Keigo shouldn’t be actively trying to strengthen the bonds, but it felt like some gaping, weeping hole in his chest was finally being filled. And he couldn’t stop , not with Izuku. And no one had really called him on it yet. Izuku was a child who needed comfort. Keigo… wasn’t.

 

No matter what Shouta said. He wasn’t.  

 

His tether to his parents had never been that strong to begin with and the preening they did was out of necessity to keep feather mites out of the house and not for any sort of actual comfort or bonding . And it was distressing how strong the pull Shouta had on him was after one instance of that comforting bonding. More distressing was knowing that a lot of the comforting words and touches were all just acting and lies. Keigo was almost glad he’d been shoved in some old musty dorm apartment UA used when students come from far and couldn’t find a local apartment, just so he had an excuse to keep the awkward interactions to a minimum.

 

All the heroes  had held a few meetings to come up with plans and back up plans and discussions of Izuku’s medical progress and whatnot. And in every single one of those meetings, Keigo made sure to keep a tight rein on his stupid bird desires, to not be weird, to just act professional and normal with the underground hero. Eraserhead was a hero known for his perception, but Keigo was doing everything right, and yet somehow the man must have picked up on something. Shouta was keeping an uncomfortable distance, never making eye contact and was obviously shoving Present Mic in between them constantly. 

 

Keigo couldn’t deny that a small part of him worried that Shouta had lied. He said he didn’t think Keigo was creepy or weird, but he might have just been saying that to manipulate him to get more information out of him. He really, really didn’t want to think that though, so he was just… avoiding him. It was better not to know. It hurt less.

 

And Keigo had already spilled the information, so no turning back now. If Eraserhead planned to use the information he learned to turn Keigo in and get him seriously punished, so be it. Even if that was how this all went down, Shouta was for sure ready to die for Izuku, if the interactions Keigo had seen in passing meant anything. 

 

He just wished he could have that sort of protection too. But Keigo understood that Izuku took priority and that Hawks was the only one with a major target on his back. Well, until today . 

 

During their morning meeting going over the plans again , which had basically just consisted of ‘make Keigo sit in a boring box for days on end while the real heroes go out and do real hero work’, Midnight had shared some great news. And by great, Keigo ment awful . 

 

During her evening patrol, she’d been stopped by a criminal who’d been an informant for her in the past on some of the underground criminal and villain buzz. Apperentally, Midnight saved this criminal's little sister, which is why she was sure it was credible. But she’d been told that some ‘unknown organization’ had put a hit out on Midnight and Eraserhead. And it was more than a pretty penny, so there was an actual worry that any two-bit villain would be out for blood. 

 

People would do a lot of crazy things for five hundred million yen . For that, people would even go after two heroes that had a fairly intense reputation as being bad news in criminal circles. 

 

Which brought Keigo back to gladly bursting into flames. Nedzu, in his infinite wisdom , realized that the box that he’d shoved Keigo in had more space. So, Keigo was now mentally trying to prepare himself for the fact that when Recovery Girl finally kicked him out of the Infirmary this evening, he would be going back to his little prison only for three other heroes to be bunked there. 

 

Including Shouta. The man that Keigo desperately needed to avoid. 

 

The dorm was spacious, the individual rooms roomy enough for Keigo to spread his wings fully out to only graze the walls. But the six rooms shared a large bathroom, living space, and a kitchen. Keigo could be jump scared by Shouta just making coffee, or him just passing to take a shower while Keigo was brushing his teeth, or an infinite number of other ways. 

 

It was going to be impossible to restrain his stupid instincts 100% of the time. He didn’t want the man to be uncomfortable, but Keigo knew that the moment that he let go, Shouta– Aizawa – would leave horrified. Or worse. 

 

Keigo just planned to hang out with Izuku as much as Recovery Girl would let him. He wished there was more he could do, but Nedzu had all but clipped his wings, making it clear how bad it would be for Hawks to make any sort of appearance. The principle was against Keigo leaving to visit Izuku, which had felt like an icicle through his heart. 

 

Luckily, Shouta was ready to advocate for Izuku’s well being and told Nedzu that Izuku had latched onto Keigo and needed stability, and ripping another person from him would be detrimental to his well-being. Which Keigo couldn’t agree with more. 

 

Izuku was… better, but not great. Keigo’s heart ached knowing there was a good chance his little brother would never really fully be totally healthy again. Recovery Girl had given a cursory report in the first few days after Izuku had woken up and actually allowed her to take some tests. It was full of long words Keigo didn’t know and scared him, but luckily Present Mic and Shouta both had asked a lot of questions, and it made a little bit more sense afterwards. 

 

The worst issues were the broken leg, nerve and ‘autonomic issues’, and some concerns from his heart attack. The leg, according to Izuku, had broken about a year ago. It hadn’t received any care, and had what was called a malunited fracture in his shin bone. It was going to require a pretty intense surgery where they would have to rebreak the bone and surgically shape it back into place. It was something Recovery Girl couldn’t do, as it would need a specialist surgeon. A thing that the heroes couldn’t bring in, not until the HPSC were off their backs. So in the meantime, Recovery Girl had made a 3D printed removable cast for Izuku to help support the bone as much as they could. They also got Izuku a pair of crutches and a wheelchair, waiting to see which would work better for him once his feet healed a little more. 

 

Keigo was baffled. How was it possible for the HPSC to rationalize letting one of their assets just not get healed? Even after bad sessions in training, Keigo got checked out from medical. They needed their assets well cared for. Mr Watanabe… was a bit of an exception but most of those beatings were triggered by Keigo antagonizing him. Keigo had asked Izuku, but the break happened before he even had a handler. Keigo was extra confused by that. What asset didn’t have a handler ? But Izuku had asked if they could talk about something else after that, so Keigo had dropped it. 

 

The toxins from the jellyfish and ant stings had apparently caused some nerve damage, leaving Izuku with weaker hands and feet. Seeing his little brother struggle to do something as simple as hold chopsticks was really hard. Keigo felt a little sick to think this way, but when he’d heard that Izuku’s feet were mostly numb, he’d felt relieved. Even a week out from the rescue, the feet looked awful , still puffy and inflamed. Recovery Girl’s quirk was able to heal the stings themselves, but she couldn’t force his body to clear out the toxins any faster. But that would make things like walking harder for Izuku once his leg was fixed. 

 

Keigo had been there when Recovery Girl learned about Izuku’s propensity for fainting . So that part of the report wasn’t a surprise, but hearing about it again made it feel like Keigo’s heart was going to stop. Better him than Izuku. Something in his brother's body decided that regulating his blood pressure, and sometimes heart beat, was just not a priority anymore. Recovery Girl didn’t want to be too preemptive as she didn’t have the equipment to test it, but she’d tentatively diagnosed him with POTS, or something at least adjacent to it. Which basically boiled down to Izuku just passing out if he sat up too fast and random spells of his heart constricting and beating wrong. It was horrifying to watch as Izuku’s eyes rolled back as he hit his pillow, or watch as he shifted only to clench at his chest looking terrified. Recovery Girl thought that it might also be adding to the fatigue Izuku felt, but that also might just be from all the back to back healing sessions. She was hopeful it could improve, but just wasn’t sure.

 

All Keigo knew was it was hard to watch, his hands twitching to fix it, only for him to not be able to do anything but hold Izuku’s hand as he came to, or wipe his tears after he had an episode. 

 

It also didn’t help that anyone who had a cardiac arrest was at a higher risk of another attack, stroke, or blood clots for a few weeks after. Recovery Girl had told them to try to keep an eye out and not stress him out, so every time Izuku rubbed his chest, or worse clutched it, Keigo felt a nasty twist in his gut. It made him nauseous, but he also couldn’t avoid his brother. It wouldn’t be fair to him.

 

Avoiding Aizawa was fair. He obviously didn’t want to deal with Keigo’s weird bird things. So Keigo wouldn’t force it on the man. If he waited long enough, maybe the bond would just fade away like his parents’ had. He hoped it would. The thought of having to be in the same building as Aizawa for too long made him nauseous. 

 

Maybe Keigo was just nauseous. Oh well. Stress always screwed with Keigo’s digestive system. It would probably go away once things calmed down a bit. 

 

“Kei?” 

 

He hoped it was soon though because his constantly rolling guts were getting really distracting. 

 

“Keeeeeiiiiiiiigoooooo.” 

 

A hand pressed into his arm. Keigo snapped to attention, looking over at his brother. He looked fine, a little tired, and had a small concerned pout. But nothing seemed wrong. Keigo felt himself relax. Izuku raised the cards in his hand.

 

“It’s your turn.” Izuku tapped the draw pile. 

 

“Oh thanks, Chickadee. Got lost in thought.” 

 

Keigo drew a card and frowned as he glanced over his cards. He didn’t really know how to play this game. He’d only half listened to the directions, hoping he’d kinda just pick it up as they played. This was their second go through, and he still didn’t really get it. It was some strategy card game called Seven Wonders that Present Mic and Aizawa had apparently brought Izuku. They’d brought other more simple card games like Uno, but Izuku was a little nerd and liked the more complex games. Said they were more fun. Keigo would be ecstatic normally about this, but he wasn’t really feeling his best with all the stress and flip-flopping stomach. He’d already been trounced by the kid once, and his pride kinda smarted knowing that there was no way that he’d even get close to the score he was pretty sure Izuku had already racked up, even if he did know how to play. Keigo sighed. 

 

“Would the little genius be willing to help a guy out?” He showed his cards to Izuku. “What do you think I should play?” 

 

“Probably this one.” Izuku pointed to some card with a painting of a battalion of Roman soldiers. “You already have played a lot of resource cards, but if you play this I wouldn’t dare go to war with you.” 

 

“Alrightee,” He put the card down. “Wouldn’t wanna fight you. You’re too sweet, it’d be like attacking a bunny.” 

 

“I dunno,” Izuku smirked as he picked up a card. It took him a few tries, which made Keigo’s aching stomach twist even tighter. “I think Mirko could take you, so maybe don’t underestimate bunnies.” 

 

Keigo cringed. Mirko could totally take him in a fight. He’d never ever say that to her face though. She had a whole… thing with fighting him for publicity. Hawks had played into it a little bit, but honestly the size of her thighs alone scared him. One good kick and his little bird bones would be toast. The only way to win was to not engage . 

 

“Are you doubting your brother's ability, right now? Should I be worried about my ranking on the most important hero list AKA Izu’s faves? Is Mirko the new Number One?”

 

 Keigo leaned over to tousle Izuku’s crazy curls. He tried to bat Keigo’s hands away, but he only put his cards down to add a second weapon into the fray. Izuku giggled before weakly grabbing Keigo’s wrists and trying to push them away. Keigo’s stomach twisted at how the pressure was practically non-existent, but he let his hands get moved, only for him to immediately regret going with it as Izuku licked his hands. 

 

“Oh gross.” Keigo fake gagged, which almost turned into a real gag. He swallowed before letting out a long dramatic whine. “Whyyyyyy, Izu??”

 

“I wanted to win. ” The little gremlin cackled. “This was the best way!” 

 

“This is mutually assured destruction actually.” Keigo grinned before clamping his spit-covered palms onto Izuku’s freckled cheeks. Striking forward, he licked from the tip of the kid’s button nose all the way to his hairline. Izuku shrieked, giggling as he tried to wiggle his way out of the hold. Keigo was not going to let the gremlin have free range this time. He didn’t want any more spit on his body. No thanks.

 

 His wide smile faded as Izuku’s eyes started to roll back. 

 

“S—, wait no.” Keigo let go only for Izuku to fall back onto his pillows. Keigo felt his heart stutter in his chest. Trembling fingers reached over to check Izuku’s pulse. It seemed steady, but Keigo didn’t trust that he didn’t just kill his Chickadee. He practically teleported to Recovery Girl’s closed office door, pounding on it. The door was yanked open and an irate Recovery Girl who only just dodged Keigo’s fist. 

 

She sent him a flat, disappointed look before walking to Izuku’s bed. She quickly checked his pulse and then grabbed the blood pressure cuff. Right as she strapped the velcro over his thin arm, Izuku was blinking his eyes open. 

 

“Hey sonny,” She stroked back Izuku’s hair from his eyes. “How are you feeling?”

 

“A little dizzy.”

 

“How were you feeling before you passed out? Any warning signs?”

 

“I had a bit of a headache and felt a little dizzy before.” 

 

“Okay, thanks for telling me.” She wrote down something in the little notebook next to Izuku’s bed. “Can I check your blood pressure while you tell me what you were doing?”

 

Izuku nodded, and Recovery Girl started pumping the cuff up. She wasn’t looking at Izuku but she had an air of expectation. She wouldn’t let this go. Izuku chewed on his bottom lip, flicking his eyes between Keigo and Recovery Girl. After a few beats he slumped further into his pillow. 

 

“We were wrestling.” Izuku whispered, pushing the forgotten cards into one big pile, one card at a time.

 

Keigo could feel the burning glare sent his way, but refused to look anywhere but at Izuku. He knew he’d messed up, he didn’t need a reminder, thank you very much. The look intensified. Keigo could feel himself heat up with a blush, or maybe it was a fever flush. He opened his mouth a little to pant out some of the heat. This felt a bit more than just embarrassment. After a few tense seconds, Recovery Girl sighed. 

 

“I know it’s hard for you boys, but until we get this more under control, we need to keep the excitement to a minimum. No wrestling. No horse play. Nothing too strenuous. Not until I give the okay, understand?” Both boys nodded, shifting a little under her stern gaze. After a second she softened. “I don’t want you to not have fun though, just be smart about it. You both are intelligent. So use your brains. ” 

 

With that, she gave Keigo one last glare before walking back into her office, pointedly keeping her door open. Ouch. Keigo just got demoted from trusted babysitter to ‘on thin ice’.

 

He couldn’t even be that upset at Recovery Girl. He was pretty sure he had felt the ice under his feet crack and flood his boots with frigid water when Izuku passed out in his arms, again . Keigo couldn’t keep his brother safe from this. What a horrible hero he ended up being. Maybe Mr Watanabe was right. He sighed before mentally shaking himself. It didn’t matter, the man was gone. 

 

Izuku lazily blinked up at him. His wide green eyes looked tired, his freckles stood out against his too pale cheeks. The fever flush had disappeared a few days ago, which Keigo was so grateful for at the time, but now he wished he could switch the fever for whatever this nonsense was. At least the fever had medicine that helped it and it wasn’t a nebulous ‘maybe forever’ thing.

 

Gathering up the cards and tokens, Keigo sent Izuku a tight smile, before throwing them all into the lid of the box. There was some actual organization to the various decks of cards and tokens in the little plastic cubbies in the box, but Keigo couldn’t care less. Present Mic and Shouta could deal with it when they visited.

 

Izuku made little grabby hands at Keigo, which made something in Keigo’s heart flutter with excitement and warm up. Being incapable of refusing such a cute demand, Keigo slipped under the blanket, laying his head next to Izuku’s, sharing a pillow. He shifted the blanket to be wrapped around Izuku, before throwing a wing over them both. Keigo smiled as Izuku relaxed into the mattress, his eyes closed. A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips. 

 

“Sorry, chickadee. I shouldn’t have let it get so out of hand.” 

 

“‘S fine.” Izuku half slurred out before cracking open an eye. “If you wanted to win, though, there were better ways. ”

 

Keigo sputtered, and another bird noise slipped out. Which… had been happening more lately. It was concerning . Usually he had a better grasp on these sorts of things.

 

“Izu, you have to know that is not what I was trying to do.” 

 

Izuku hummed and then shrugged, his smile grew. “I dunno, Kei. Felt targeted. Maybe I should tell Recovery Girl that you are out to get me.”

 

“Izuku,” Keigo reached up to grab Izuku’s shoulders, shaking him ever so lightly. “My delightful little brother, my stunning little green bean, my cute little chickadee, please . You gotta know that was an accident.” 

 

“If you get more of those cookies, I might keep it between the two of us.” 

 

Keigo hesitated. Any other request he would have agreed to in a heartbeat. But those cookies had come from Shouta– Aizawa . He had no idea where the man had gotten them. For all that Keigo knew, the man had a secret talent for baking and had made them himself. 

 

There was no way Keigo was going to ask , that would require seeing him. Which he decidedly didn’t want to do.

 

Keigo brushed back his hair, his hand clasping the hair and thin hidden crest feathers at the nape of his neck. He chuckled, but it sounded a little awkward and strained. 

 

“What if I try to make some for you instead, how’s that sound?” 

 

Izuku perked up at that. Score! Keigo could get around having to interact with Aizawa.

 

“This sounds like I could get double cookies.” 

 

Nevermind, his brother was a gremlin. He didn’t want to say no to Izuku, but he also really, really didn’t want to interact with Shouta.

 

“I dunno, Sho– Aizawa gave them to me. I don’t know where he could have gotten them.” 

 

“So… ask?” Izuku shot Keigo a confused judgemental look. Like Izuku’s suggestion was obvious . 

 

Which it was obvious, but it also wasn’t going to happen.

 

“Gremlins only get one set of cookies, and you are being a gremlin right now.” Keigo tugged at Izuku’s earlobe. One of his green eyes peeked out from a squinted glare.

 

“Hey, I’m not a gremlin .” Izuku shut his eyes, shifting to tap his forehead against Keigo’s shoulder. “You’re the one being weird.” 

 

“I’m not acting weird.”

 

“I dunno, you are the one who is acting like you are afraid of asking about cookies . That’s weird .” 

 

“Have you seen Aizawa? I think anyone would be scared of him.” Izuku opened his eyes and shot a flat look up at Keigo. “What?”

 

Keigo felt like a bug under a microscope as Izuku’s green eyes searched his face. And then something painful twisted in Keigo’s stomach when his brother pursed his lips with a squint. Keigo flushed. He just got seriously judged by an eleven year old. That was a little embarrassing.

 

“Okay.” Izuku neutrally said. It was very clear he wanted to say more, but decided against it. 

 

“Okay? Okay what?”

 

“I’ll take your cookies.” Izuku closed his eyes and curled up closer to Keigo. “I like peanut butter, but I’ll take whatever. You got two days.” 

 

Keigo laughed. “I think I was just a victim of blackmail.” 

 

“I think it's more of a ‘business deal’.” His hands slipped out from under the blankets to do little air quotes.

 

Keigo snorted, grabbing the hands, shaking them lightly. “Criminal masterminds don’t use air quotes when using a euphemism.”

 

“Euphemism?” Izukus’ eyebrows furrowed, his head tilted a little against the pillow. “What’s that mean?”

 

Keigo opened his mouth only to close it.  

 

“Honestly, I have no idea how to define that for you. It’s uh– I guess like a metaphor but not exactly? So calling blackmail a business deal is an example of one?”

 

“I’ll ask Aizawa-san later. He’s good at defining things.” Izuku let out a sleepy hum before smirking. “Might be able to ask him where he got those cookies.” 

 

“This right here?” Keigo gripped Izuku’s nose and shook it a little. Izuku batted his hand away, his nose scrunching in an adorable manner. “Gremlin behavior.”

 

“Cookies are good .” 

 

“You are a cookie gremlin.” 

 

Izuku hummed again. He was obviously falling back asleep. Keigo was impressed it had been a good three hours, close to four. When Izuku first woke up, he couldn’t seem to stay awake for longer than maybe an hour before conking back out. He’d made a lot of progress in the past three days. 

 

“Sleep Chickadee, you’re obviously tired.” 

 

“Mmm’not tired.” 

 

“I think you are lying.” 

 

Izuku raised a limp hand to slap it against Keigo’s face and pushed his head back. Keigo let out a little squawk of surprise before his own gremlin lightbulb blinked on over his head, stretching an evil grin across his face. He opened his mouth and turned, licking leaving a thick wet trail along his brother's hand. 

 

“Whyyyyy, Kei??” Izuku whined before rubbing the spit on the fresh UA PE uniform. Well,  now less fresh than it was just seconds ago. 

 

“Because I love you.” Keigo singsonged out.

 

“I love you too,”  Izuku grinned, cuddling up closer to Keigo’s chest, the spit hand moved to clutch the edge of Keigo’s wing. “But your spit love is a little gross.” 

 

“I know you love it.” 

 

“...I do.” Izuku paused for a second. “Makes me feel warm.” 

 

Keigo curled closer around Izuku. Wrapping an arm around him. “You aren’t gonna be alone again, alright?”

 

Izuku nodded into Keigo’s chest, his breath hitching a little. Keigo caressed the back of his head, rubbing little lazy circles through the green curls.

 

“Shh, sleep Chickadee. I got you.” 

 

“Okay,” Izuku breathed out. He took a few more breaths before he slumped, letting out the little mew he always did when he finally fell asleep. It was distressingly adorable, and also really helpful to figure out when he was faking it or not.

 

Keigo laid there, and the aching in his stomach burned red hot. He gasped, as the radiating burning filled his whole abdomen. He wasn’t nauseous at the moment, which was a win. He might be a little feverish if the general ache through his shoulders and the way the room felt a little too cold meant anything, but he didn’t think it was too high. Keigo curled the blanket a little higher around him and Izuku. 

 

This might be worse than stress. He really didn’t want to have the stomach flu. He closed his eyes, but didn’t actually fall asleep. He wasn’t all that tired, and the aching pain would keep him awake even if he tried. Also it’s not like he wanted to leave Izuku without saying goodbye. 

 

Ugh, he’d have to say hello to his new roommates and pretend he didn’t feel awful. Which would just suck. Maybe if he asked really nicely, Recovery Girl would let him move into the infirmary. Keigo sighed. That would never happen. Usually by now she was kicking him out by now so Izuku could rest ‘on his own’. Which was bogus as Izuku was perfectly happy sleeping curled up under Keigo’s wing.

 

Keigo was happier this way, that was for sure. 

 

The door to the infirmary opened, making Keigo freeze. From the steps he could hear it was two people. One stepped much heavier than the other person. If Keigo was to guess, it was Sho– Aizawa and Present Mic. 

 

“Awwww! Sho, look at how cute they are!!” 

 

“Hush Hizashi, you’ll wake them.” 

 

Keigo was right. It was Aizawa and Present Mic. Keigo relaxed, curling a little tighter around his little brother. Present Mic let out a high pitched squee.

 

“Oh my G-d, Shouta. That is so cute. Are you looking? I think I’m going to die. They are adorable.”

 

“Stop shaking me,” There was a little slapping noise. “I have eyes, I can see them just fine.” 

 

“Okay grumpy gills, what’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing is wrong.”

 

“Your little pout is really sharing a different story.” 

 

“I don’t pout.” 

 

“Keep telling yourself that, buddy.” 

 

Shouta sighed, one of the wood stools by the bed creaking as the man sat down. 

 

“I dunno, I just— I’m worried.” 

 

Keigo felt his stomach flop, the nausea was back and mixed with the swirling of nerves and light tentative warmth. Maybe he was worried about them, about him . There was some creaking of leather and some rustling of fabric. Keigo felt his feathers along the back of his wings prickle. He didn’t like not being able to see people behind him, but at least he knew who it was. 

 

“Share with the class? Please?” Mic’s voice was so soft in a way that Keigo had never really heard before. It was sweet.

 

“Izuku has attached himself to Keigo, sometimes I worry it's… too tight? Keigo’s also dealing with a lot and I don’t want them to get hurt.” 

 

Keigo felt his blood turn to ice. The uncomfortable rolling heat from his stomach and hot flush over his cheeks was the only heat in his body. It made bile shoot up the back of his throat, making his jaw tingle. Keigo swallowed aggressively. He wasn’t going to throw up. He felt his eyes prick under his eyelids, he scrunched up his eyes. He also wasn’t going to cry.  

 

Or maybe he was. A few stray tears streaked down the side of his face. One rolled over the bridge of his nose and it tickled, making him twitch his nose. He was suddenly glad the two men sat behind him. 

 

It hurt, it hurt more than Keigo could explain. He would never hurt Izuku. He physically couldn’t do it. And the idea that Shouta would think that carved Keigo’s heart out of his chest leaving a gaping hole. Because he would never.

 

A flash of Izuku filled his mind's eye, his big bright green eyes rolling up as he fainted while Keigo’s hands held his round cheeks. 

 

Or maybe… Shouta was right. Keigo had hurt Izuku, and would likely keep doing so. Keigo kept trying to be gentle, but Izuku was just so fragile. One of these days, Keigo would push too hard and Izuku would shatter under his hands like bone china. Keigo was cursed to be alone. Anyone who he got close to was injured or taken away or decided that Keigo wasn’t worth it and left. How long until Izuku realized this? How long until the other heroes decided he wasn’t worth the trouble he was causing and they kicked him to the curb? How long until he was back under the thumb of the commission? How long until Hawks woke up in Taurus ? 

 

Keigo bit back a sob, swallowing it down. He needed to stay silent. The emotions curled in his pained nauseous stomach. He’d just wanted to save Izuku, and he’d done that. But now Keigo got a taste of… of family . And he wasn’t sure if he could let go of that. Each measured breath was like a bellows to the burning inferno in Hawks’ chest. 

 

How dare they think they could take Izuku from him, especially not without a fight. Keigo knew he was being selfish, knew for Izuku’s well being he should probably turn himself in to the commission to keep them off his kid brother’s back, knew that it was only a matter of time for him to get caught and pull down all the heroes working so hard to support Izuku. If he was a real hero, he’d sacrifice himself for all of them. Needs of the many versus the few and all that. 

 

But the white hot coal of rage at the mere thought of someone forcing that sacrifice on him made it hard to stay still. Keigo clenched his fists under the blanket, squeezing Izuku a little tighter to his chest. He fought with the instinct to harden and sharpen the outer feathers across his back. He knew the feathers probably shifted a little, but Present Mic and Eraserhead seemed to be too focused on their conversation to notice.

 

“Shouta, Keigo is clearly devoted to Izuku. There is no way he’d do anything to hurt the little guy. H—, he’s more likely to kill another person before hurting Izuku.” The tone shifted to be a little harder, a dangerous edge to the tone. “Which I can honestly vibe with, yo.” 

 

Keigo felt his stomach clench. He wanted to refute it. Keigo never really thought he would ever kill anyone outside of a mission that required it, but he couldn’t deny that Present Mic was right. He would kill for Izuku again if it came down to it. And that scared him.

 

“You can’t commit murder, we’ve gone over this, ‘Zashi.” 

 

“And we’ve gone over how I could drop a man faster than you could use your quirk on me. So you can’t really stop me if I really get a hankering for murder.” 

 

“Oh my G-d, why are you like this?” Aizawa let out a soft groan. “And I don’t think Keigo would do anything on purpose, I just– accidents happen. He broke my nose and could have easily pummeled me more if I wasn’t a well trained hero. I don’t want to put a wedge between them, but I can’t help but worry something will set Keigo off and Izuku will be in the crosshairs.”

 

Hearing that frayed the thin tether that his instincts had created between him and Aizawa, but it wasn’t snapped. Not yet. Keigo didn’t know when he broke Aizawa’s nose. Keigo was dangerous to be around. He hurt people close to him. Keigo had been losing control lately more and more. It was becoming apparent from the increase of bird calls, the constant preening, the flock bonds, and just about everything else. He needed to tighten his grip again, but it felt like grabbing flowing water. He could cup his hands for a little bit but the water dripped between his fingers and was cascading over the edges of his hands. It felt like trying to hold all the water in the Pacific Ocean, a gargantuan task that he had no idea how to begin to do.

 

Maybe it would be better if he just– locked himself away. He didn’t want to hurt Izuku, not in the way he'd obviously already hurt Aizawa. No wonder he was so awkward around Keigo. He was scared of him. Who wouldn’t be a little scared of the person who broke their nose and killed a guy? Keigo’s mind raced faster than he could fly. It made him feel a little dizzy.

 

“We haven’t seen any signs of Keigo having another meltdown like that again. And all of them seemed to be triggered by Izuku being in danger. Izuku is safe, so Keigo is calm.”

 

“What if we can’t keep Izuku safe? What then? Just let him lose it?” 

 

“This sounds like the start of a doom spiral.” There was a pause and a sigh. “Don’t glare at me, you know I'm right. Nothing is set in stone right now, but we are actively working on it. That kid has no idea how many heroes he has as his beck and call, we’ll keep him safe.”

 

“And Keigo?”

 

“Keigo will be on the front f—ing lines if push comes to shove. And you know it, fight the doom spiral.” 

 

“Yeah, you’re right. They’ll be fine.” Shouta let out a grunt. “We should probably wake Keigo, he’s gotta get back to the dorm.”

 

“Keigo? Hey Keigo, wake up.” Keigo felt the hand go for his shoulder, and before he could think about how suspicious it would look, he sat up and twisted, grabbing Present Mic’s wrist in a painful hold. He blinked and let go. G-d, Aizawa was right, all he did was hurt people. Keigo felt his heart hollow out, a spreading empty numbness deepening the hole. Keigo felt his organs scramble like eggs as he watched Present Mic rub his wrist with a pained smile.

 

“Oh sorry. Probably shouldn’t touch you as you wake up, huh? I’ll keep that in mind.” 

 

“My bad.” Keigo could hear how mechanical his voice was. He kind of felt like a robot, stiff and awkward. He wanted to ask Mic if he was okay, but couldn’t bring himself to. He didn’t know if he could live with the answer. “Is it time to go?”

 

“Yeah kid, it is.” Shouta stood his hands slipping into the pockets of his hero jumpsuit. His face was blank, like he was holding back his real feelings. It made Keigo nervous.

 

Keigo nodded before slipping off the bed, working hard not to jostle Izuku. Once he was standing, he turned to tuck his little brother in under the blanket, slipping a long secondary feather into Izuku’s little searching hand. Keigo felt something melt in him as he watched Izuku smile and hug the long feather to his chest like a teddy bear. Just in case, he flew a few smaller feathers to rest near the edge of the bed. If Izuku accidentally broke one in his sleep Keigo would just replace it. Wanting to brush Izuku’s hair back but knowing that was weird, Keigo leaned down and kissed Izuku’s cheek instead.

 

“I love you, Chickadee.” Keigo whispered. Izuku let out a little happy mew, melting him just a little more. 

 

Turning to the other heroes, Keigo felt frost settle over him. He refused to look above their chests, not wanting to see the disappointed or angry expressions in the heroes’ faces. He was also scared he’d see the fear he knew should be there. He nodded, standing at a parade rest. The two heroes seemed a little hesitant before Shouta– Aizawa— gestured to the door. Keigo gave a quick nod before walking towards the door. The two heroes followed close behind him. 

 

“So Keigo, have fun with Izuku?” Mic asked, a strange lilt to his voice. 

 

Keigo felt his feathers ruffle and fluff up at the question. It felt like an interrogation. He was likely checking to make sure Izuku was safe in his dangerous care. It made Keigo want to throw up. Actually he wasn’t sure he would make it to a bathroom before his dinner made another appearance. 

 

“Yeah. See you at the dorm.” The words tumbled before Keigo flapped once or twice to take off. He stuck close to the ground but pushed as fast as he dared. While in the air Keigo, put a hand over his mouth and the other over his clenching stomach. 

Oh G-d , he hoped he made it. Keigo hated being sick.

Chapter 13: Izuku is a Conniving Little Gremlin

Notes:

HELLOOOOO
back at it again with another chappieeee <333
Holla at my beta fish (@sassy_chemist) once more, her comments and edits give me life and make this fic make like 300% more sense lolol Also for listening to my ravings of a mad man as I plan out the plot and cute moments. It is dissjointed and make me sound insane but she's down for it every time <3 Thanks bestie

But we get some DADMIC up in the house in this chapter cuz Aizawa's gotten some Moments with Keigo, now we need some Mic moments with our little baby boy <3 So there aren't really... any warnings needed for this chappie :)

The adults were acting weird. Izuku wasn’t dumb. They were keeping things from him. Keigo was particularly bad at trying to distract him from his questions, or the ones that he didn’t know how to answer. When he asked what happened between him falling asleep and waking up in the infirmary with Recovery Girl (!!) and Keigo (!!!!), all the adults would pat his head or give him a soft smile telling him not to worry about it, or would try to distract him with something else. A lot of the adults told him to focus on healing, which Izuku thought was dumb. There is no focusing on healing, it just kind of happened, it was all just boring waiting. And it was fine when he got visitors, but for some reason Eraserhead and Present Mic really only visited around lunch time, and Keigo only visited in the evening. Midnight just sort of popped in whenever, and rarely for very long. So there were hours where it was just Recovery Girl and Izuku, which was fun as she was teaching him cool things and they even played a few games together. But she sometimes told him that she needed to work on things and he needed to entertain himself. 

 

Like now. So now Izuku was stuck being bored on the bed. At least this time he had a challenge to mentally tackle. Last night Keigo was acting extra weird about Aizawa-san for some reason. Izuku didn’t see the big deal about asking for cookies, so maybe something happened between the two in the time that he was sleeping, or when they weren’t in the infirmary. UA was huge, so there was a lot that could maybe have happened. 

 

Izuku had no idea what it could be, but something in his gut told him that the two could be friends if they could work through whatever this was. He also kinda wanted all the adults to get along, and them not getting along so obviously was a little stressful. Aizawa-san looked a little scary at first, but he was actually really patient and liked to ask questions. So many great questions! And he didn’t mind all the questions Izuku asked about his quirk and his hero work. Mako and Izuku had gone through and tried to find any heroes that didn’t have physical quirks and Mako ended up finding out about Eraserhead on some underground hero fan group forum. They both fell in love with all the intense stories, and he had some of the wildest stats for underground heroes. If he was included in the hero ranking, he’d be top fifty from his villain takedowns alone. Maybe even top twenty. It was also cool to see a hero who had a cool quirk, but most of his success came from non quirk related skills. The quirkless and the healing quirk kid had looked up to him since learning about him. Kacchan thought he sounded like a boring hero. But Izuku knew that Kacchan was an All Might fanboy through and through. Izuku still thought Eraserhead was cool anyway. 

 

But now Izuku knew Eraserhead! He’d played Uno with him and Present Mic!! 

 

And sure, Aizawa-san made Izuku feel a little nervous with how blank his face was at times, but if he looked in his eyes, Izuku could usually see how warm they were. His eyes were nothing like Mr Watanabe’s empty blue diamond look. All sharp edges and painfully hard. Instead they were like the gooey chocolate chips of those delicious cookies he’d brought. 

 

Maybe Keigo struggled with eye contact and didn’t realize Aizawa-san’s blank face wasn’t scary. Not really. Izuku never felt that Keigo struggled with looking him in the eye, but they were also brothers now. So maybe that made it easier? He wasn’t sure. 

 

He needed more information. Keigo wasn’t going to tell him more, that much was clear after last night. And… asking Aizawa-san felt invasive. Izuku had gotten the impression that he was more of a reserved, bordering on shy, man. Izuku smiled. He knew who he could maybe ask. It was a little underhanded, but Present Mic and Aizawa-san were obviously super close friends as they always seemed to come visit together. 

 

Izuku could just let the adults try to figure it out, but he was bored and wanted to help. And like All Might said in an interview from a few years ago, ‘Giving help when it's not asked for is the essence of being a hero’. So helping Keigo and Aizawa-san become friends was Izuku being a hero!

 

With that he sat up slowly, a plan formulating in his mind. 

 

“Recovery Girl?” Izuku could see through the open doorway of her office how she spun to look at him. “Do you think I could talk to Present Mic?”

 

She stood, looking confused as she walked over. “I could text him to see if he is busy. May I ask why?”

 

“I want to help Aizawa-san and Keigo become friends. I thought he might be able to help.” 

 

Her face held a sad, tight expression that warmed with a soft smile. “I don’t know if that is a good idea.” 

 

“Do you know what’s wrong? Kei won’t tell me anything.” 

 

“I think they are both just embarrassed.”

 

“Oh if that’s it then this will be easy! We’ll just have to come up with an activity that they can do together! The embarrassment will fade with more memories!” 

 

“I don’t think–” She cut herself off with a sigh. “Izuku, sometimes adults are a little complicated and this is a situation that might be a little more complex.” 

 

Izuku let himself fall back to the pillow with a dramatic sigh, and there were a few seconds of his heart thumping uncomfortably hard. It felt like it was knocking against the inside of his ribs and made his whole chest squeeze strangely. Izuku ignored it. That seemed to just happen to him now when he moved too fast. It was one of those ‘unfortunate consequences’ from his last procedure. Once his chest went back to feeling next to normal, Izuku let out a small whine.

 

“Why are adults so dumb?” Izuku rolled his head to look at Recovery Girl, who was biting back a smile. “Couldn’t I still ask Present Mic? He seems close to Aizawa-san so he might know what's happening.” 

 

Recovery Girl looked up at the clock on the wall, before turning to Izuku with a small smile. “It is actually passing period right now. If I call him right now he can tell you when he is free. But remember, if Present Mic tells you to drop it, you are going to have to drop this Izuku.”

 

Izuku snapped to sit up with a bright grin. He felt hands press into his back, holding him up as he got a headrush and his vision grayed out. Right. Slowly. He’d forgotten again. 

 

“Oh, oops.” 

 

As Izuku’s vision returned, he was able to hold his torso up. Recovery Girl stood to his side with a disappointed look. Izuku felt himself flush with embarrassment. The goal of today was for Izuku to not pass out, and he just had a close call after a whole morning of no incidents. She let out a huff with a shake of her head. She put her phone up to her ear. Izuku felt excitement and nervousness rise in him. 

 

“Hello, Mic.” She paused. “Izuku was hoping to talk to you if you are free?” Another pause and Izuku could almost hear his peppy voice though the phone. “It’s not an emergency, no. He’s hoping to help Aizawa and Keigo become friends. Thought you could help.” 

 

Izuku could hear the laughter echo over the phone. Recovery Girl sent Izuku a smile and hummed after Present Mic said something. 

 

“Okay I’ll tell him. See you soon.” She hung up. Izuku wiggled to the edge of his bed and gave puppy dog eyes to Recovery Girl. She let out a happy huff and patted his head. “Mic said he would be ‘delighted to help with such a noble goal.’ It happened to be his study period so he is going to swing past the cafeteria and bring some snacks.”

 

“Yessss,” Izuku fist pumped and pushed himself up to sit, glacially slow. He pointedly stared at Recovery Girl, low-key showing off that he can remember to be slow. She smiled and shook her head. 

 

“If you need me, I’ll be in my office, okay?”

 

“Okay!” Izuku nodded, absolutely ecstatic. 

 

Present Mic was a great hero! And actually being able to meet him had only made him so much cooler. Growing up, Izuku always listened to his radio show and enjoyed it. If he’d told his nine year old self that one day he would be meeting up and eating snacks with the hero to try to make two other heroes become friends? Younger Izuku would think that older Izuku was crazy. Izuku felt like the current Izuku was crazy. 

 

Sometimes he wondered if this was all some fever dream. It felt almost too good to be true. Izuku felt some of his bubbling excitement fade as he looked down at his tingling buzzy feet that were bundled up under the blankets. He then shifted to looking at arms, tracing the thin looping scars. They had faded from the bright red angry welts to just slightly raised skin with a light purple-y pink color. Izuku thought it kinda looked like a weird tattoo, and it was almost pretty. He kinda hoped that they would fade a bit more though, as he didn’t want anyone to think he was part of the yakuza. His smile slid off his face as he continued to trace the squiggly scars. 

 

Maybe this wasn’t too good to be true. There were a few things he’d like to change. Izuku looked at the thin line of sunlight that peeked between the curtains over the window. It was across the room. He felt his lip start to tremble. Izuku knew he’d been sick the past four days since waking up. But he really wanted to go outside. He would take just seeing the outside through the window. Izuku felt tears start to roll down his cheeks as he looked longingly at the simple white curtains.

 

Izuku didn’t know when he’d go back to the commission, probably only after he was fully better. He should take advantage of the window, but just the idea of walking on his weird numb feet with his hurt leg sounded challenging. And that didn’t include the fact that Izuku kept passing out when he’d sit up too fast, and he was a little concerned standing would be worse. 

 

But he really, really wanted to look out the window. Maybe he could crack it open to just smell the outside. Izuku hoped that it had rained recently. The smell of the rain was always his favorite. Izuku sniffed and rubbed his eyes. Izuku heard the door of the infirmary slam open.

 

“HELLLOOOO LITTLE LISTENER! I GOT GUMMY WORMS!”

 

 Izuku scrubbed at his face twice as fast. Lots of adults didn’t like crying kids. He hoped Present Mic wouldn’t care, but he really didn’t want him to leave without helping first. Izuku listened to the steps as he walked around the curtain. The footsteps stopped suddenly, and he spread his fingers so he could peek at Present Mic’s reaction.

 

The blond man was in his leather hero suit. There was a small stain on the collar of the white shirt under the black jacket, and his shoulders were slumped. His hair was pointed up into a slightly curved point. It looked a bit silly, but Izuku thought it was unique in a fun way. The triangular shades over his eyes were slid halfway down his nose. He looked sad, with a small frown and furrowed brows. It was weird to see him fully done up in his hero suit but missing the wide media grin. 

 

“I’m sorry.” Izuku sniffed and scrubbed at his eyes with his fists. Present Mic started walking forwards and threw the bag he held in his hand at the foot of Izuku’s bed. 

 

“You don’t have to apologize for crying, Little Listener.” His voice was like a warm blanket wrapping around Izuku. It made more tears roll down Izuku’s round cheeks. 

 

Present Mic sat on one of the wood stools and reached a hand out towards Izuku with a smile. Izuku looked down at the outstretched hand before reaching out to grip it, unsure but hopeful that was what the hero was offering. It must have been right as Present Mic’s face broke into a smile. It was a little different from his media smile, but Izuku thinks he liked this one more. The hero squeezed Izuku’s hand ever so slightly. 

 

“What’s gotcha so down?” 

 

“I miss the outside.” Izuku’s voice broke as he looked over at the white curtains. “It’s right there , but I can’t go look.” 

 

There was a wave of some emotion over Present Mic’s face before it was replaced with the smile again. 

 

“Oooo, I think I can help you with that, Little Listener!” The man jumped up and stood right next to the tall bed. He squatted just a little so his hip was right in line with the edge of the mattress. He pulled a little with the hand that was still holding Izuku’s, and held out his other one to the side. “I can be your legs for the little field trip, how’s that sound?” 

 

Izuku felt a new wave of tears rise in his eyes as he nodded. That sounded really nice actually. He wiggled his way to the edge of the bed and swung his numb feet clumsily over the side of the bed. Present Mic lifted Izuku’s arms to be loosely around his neck, sling across his shoulders. The man slid his hands under Izuku’s thighs, and in Izuku’s ear asked, “You ready?”

 

Izuku nodded and he was suddenly being held against the tall hero’s hip. It was kinda fun to be so tall. It also had been years since he’d been held like this. It made his chest warm. Izuku tightened his hold and set his head on Present Mic’s shoulder. It only took the hero four or so steps to cross the room to the white curtains. Izuku felt the excitement boil over in him and he started to shake. Present Mic smiled down at Izuku before pointing at the curtains in front of them with his chin. 

 

“Wanna do the honors?”

 

Izuku shyly nodded before clutching the curtain. The fabric was rough under his fingers as he gripped it, his hand shaking in anticipation. Present Mic tightened his grip and leaned to counter balance as Izuku slid the curtains to the side. He let out a shuddering gasp as his wide green eyes filled with tears. 

 

It was beautiful.

 

The infirmary was on the ground level and right outside of the window were thin spindly branches of a bush, trimmed to just frame the bottom edge of the window. Past the wisps of wood was a field of brown grass. It must be cold out because each and every blade shimmered in the sunlight. The frost encrusted grass looked like it was embedded with diamonds. There was also a walking path and the almost blue tinted pavement curved around a fancy looking park bench placed under a tree. The tree had no leaves, but from the shape, Izuku knew that it was a willow tree. Its long vine-like branches almost looked like hair as they swayed in the wind. The knobby twisted branches looked perfect to climb on and Izuku could almost feel the rough bark on the palms of his hands and the smell of crisp air in his nose. The sky was an icy blue only marred by a handful of the wispiest clouds in the sky. High overhead was the sun.

 

Izuku leaned forward, pressing a steadying hand along the smooth cold glass. He shivered at the cold slowly pulling the warmth from his hand. Izuku closed his crying eyes and pressed his forehead against the window. After a few seconds Izuku felt his face tingle from the light. A sob burst out from Izuku’s throat. Present Mic’s strong steady hand on his back started rubbing small circles. 

 

“You okay, Little listener?” Mic whispered.

 

“Y-yeah.” Izuku sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve. He leaned forward again leaning his face against the window again. “ It’s beautiful .” 

 

Present Mic shifted, standing ever so closer to the window. They both watched as a cardinal swooped down to land in the willow. Izuku smiled at the bird. The bright red feathers of its head reminded Izuku of Keigo’s wings. A trio of chickadees flew down shortly after to hop and peck around the base of the trunk. He could almost hear the various bird calls through the glass between his wet breaths. Letting out a long satisfied sigh, Izuku wished to have this view forever. Present Mic’s arms tightened their hold in almost a hug.

 

“You’re right, kiddo.” He whispered in Izuku’s ear. “It is beautiful, I’d almost forgotten.” 

 

They stood, or in the case of Izuku, was held, by the window silently for a few long minutes. Only the soft sounds of their slow breathing and some distant sounds of shuffling papers or clacking keys broke the calm atmosphere. 

 

Izuku felt Present Mic shift his hold for the fifth time in a short period. He was probably getting tired. Izuku was eleven and he might be on the short side, but he couldn’t imagine it would be easy to carry him for too long. Izuku let his hand slide from the now lukewarm patch on the window. He twisted around to lean his head back to the hero’s shoulder. Wrapping his arms around Present Mic’s neck in a loose hug, he whispered. 

 

“Thanks for being my legs, Present Mic. You can put me down now.” 

 

“Any time, Little Listener.” He smiled down at Izuku as he walked back to Izuku’s bed. His eyes looked so sad, but he had a warm happy smile. “And call me Hizashi. It’s only fair. I call you Izuku, so you can call me by my given name too.” 

 

Carefully, Izuku was lowered to the bed. Mic’s hand tousled the green curls as Izuku shifted and tucked the blankets around his buzzing feet. Looking up through the green fringe now half covering his eyes, Izuku playfully smiled. 

 

“Actually, you call me ‘Little Listener’ not Izuku.” 

 

Present Mic– Hizashi – laughed. The sadness washed away with each passing guffaw. Watching the sadness flow off the hero warmed something in Izuku. 

 

“You’re right, just call me Big Listener then.” 

 

Izuku hummed as he tapped his chin with his knuckle. After a moment he put his fist in his other hand with a small smack. 

 

“How ‘bout ‘Loud Listener’?”

 

“Oooo,” Holding up his pointer fingers and thumbs in the shape of L’s Hizashi grinned. “We’ll both be LL’s then! I like that!” 

 

Izuku grinned back as Hizashi sat on the wooden stool by the bed. One foot was still on the floor, the other was propped up on one of the rungs. He leaned forward propping up his chin on his fist and playfully wiggled his eyebrows. 

 

“So, I heard you’re wanting to get Eraserhead and Hawks to be friends? What’s your plan?”

 

“Well,” Izuku fiddled with the edge of the blanket in his lap. “Do you know why they are acting so weird?”

 

“I can’t speak for Keigo, but Shouta’s just being awkward. He likes to overthink things. I don’t think that it’s that big of a deal, but he is silly and is a pro at making mountains out of mole hills.”

 

“That makes sense.” Izuku started tapping his chin with his knuckle again. “Kei said that Aizawa-san is scary, but I don't really think that he thinks that. He just made an excuse to not ask about the cookies. Maybe Kei just picked up on all the awkward and is making Aizawa-san feel more awkward?” Izuku, blushed, realizing he’d started to shift into what his mom called his ‘mumble storms’ “Does that make sense?”

 

“That seems right from the short interactions I’ve seen at least. They’ve made an awkward feedback loop.” Hizashi sat up with a clap. “So! Now we gotta figure out how to break the cycle.” 

 

“My mom once forced me and Kacchan to do a craft together after we got in a fight and ignored each other for a week. Could we do something like that?

 

“Might be fun. I don’t know if I could convince Sho to do a craft though. The man doesn’t have an artistic bone in his body–” Hizashi cut himself off with a finger to his lips. “Well, if you promise to keep this between us, but Shouta actually really enjoys dance and is really good at it. He claims he only does it to stay limber and flexible for hero work, but that’s a bold faced lie.” 

 

“Eraserhead does DANCE?!” Izuku’s eyes widened, his fingers twitching, desperately searching for pen and paper to take notes on one of his favorite heroes. 

 

“Yup,” Hizashi popped the p. “Lots of types too. From tap to ballet. He even did figure skating for a while.” 

 

Izuku was overjoyed and was practically vibrating with excitement. He snapped to sitting up and threw his hands up in the air. 

 

“THATS SO COOL! Maybe we could have a dance party!” Izuku shouted before clutching his chest with a grimace. He was suddenly a little woozy and his chest felt heavy. Izuku closed his eyes counting out his breaths and listened to the harsh thumping against his ribs. Hizahi’s hands helped guide Izuku down against his soft pillow. Thin fingers touched his neck, checking his pulse. After a few seconds, Izuku was feeling better, but worried it’d come back if he moved too much. He blinked his eyes open to only frown.

 

Hizashi’s light green eyes were sad again. His hands hovered a little awkwardly over Izuku, long thin fingers twitching like they wanted to do something to help. Izuku sighed. He wished they could help too. 

 

Leaning over, Hizashi brushed Izuku’s hair back, pausing on his forehead, like he was checking for a fever. It was the same thing Mom did when he was sick. The thought made his eyes watery. 

 

“How you feelin’, kiddo?”

 

“‘Mm, okay now, thanks.” Izuku sniffed and pawed at his eyes. “But, I– uh– I don’t think I’d do good at a dance party right now.” 

 

“That’s okay, Little Listener. It was a good idea. But we gotta find something everyone can have fun doing, ya dig?”

 

“I know Keigo likes flying and the beach?”

 

“Well,” Hizashi bobs his head back and forth. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t fly. And UA has lots of things, but we’re fresh out of beaches and the pool is closed for winter. How about a movie night?”

 

“That could be fun I guess.” Izuku slumped further into his pillow. He couldn’t lie, he was bummed about no beaches. He turned to the window, curtains still open showing the view of the outside. Izuku longed to go outside. Now that he had a taste, it was a desperate craving. “Could– Could we go on a walk?”

 

Hizashi leaned forward, putting his other foot up on the rung to support both his elbows. An excited grin cracked across his face. The expression made Izuku excited too. 

“Actually, I think I just got the perfect idea.”

Notes:

AS I WENT TO POST THIS I REALIZED I AM NOT SURE KEIGO'S BEACH TRIP WAS WRITTEN LIKE IT WAS WINTER. So if it wasn't and you've read thus far pretend it was, imma go back and find it and add in something that makes it clear it is like mid january, maybe a line about it being supprisingly warm for a winter day. like some small things But as a SOLIDLY Northern hemisphere costal girlie i promise I totally went to the beach in january and swam around like a little freak. So with quirks imma just hand wavey some of it lol.

I forgot when Keigo's bday was so when writing this one chapter I looked it up cuz I want it shortly after his 19th b day. and its in the end of december??? so I set it in winter lol so oops? sometimes posting as you write means that stupid mistakes are made lol

Chapter 14: Izuku gets to go outside

Notes:

Hullooooo foolksssss <3
Im back at my nonsense :P
And now ya'll get to what the plan is!!! And we get to see how this goes down... hopefully it goes well >:))
Also RIP to y'all cuz things after this point are gonna heat up again >>:)) ehehehe so enjoy the more fluffy bits while they last >:))
Know i had maybe too much fun writing this chapter lololololol
And thanks to @sassy_chemist for editing as alwaysssss she da best beta fishie and also thinking a typo i had was legit what I meant which I then went nah but thats funny, so i added it to the scene totally changed it in what I think is hilarious

But hopefully ya enjoy~~~~~~

It had taken a bit of planning, but Izuku and Hizashi had done it. But not until after the two had downed a whole bag of gummy worms and half a bag of chips and got a short lecture on nutrition from Recovery Girl. There was also a fun hiccup when Midnight came to visit and Hizashi had to forcibly shove her out of the room before she spoiled the plans. Izuku’s stomach hurt from giggling so much. The two adults were being so dramatic, it was fun. As the hours dragged on, it was hard for Izuku to sit still. All he had to do was sit tight and wait, but after what had felt like an eternity, it was time. 

 

Recovery Girl caught Izuku’s attention out of the corner of his eye with a wink. That was Izuku’s cue. He was vibrating with excitement as he flopped over to pause the movie they’d been watching on a laptop. Keigo shot Izuku a questioning look, half a strand of licorice hanging out of the corner of his mouth bouncing as he chewed. He swallowed before pulling the remaining candy out of his mouth. 

 

“What’s up? You look… like you are about to explode.” 

 

“I just remembered that Recovery Girl gave me permission to go outside today.” 

 

“That's great!! But uh–” Keigo sat up with a mix of excitement and confusion. He turned to look at Recovery Girl who sat in a chair next to the bed, close enough for her to watch the movie too. “Is it… safe? For both of us?”

 

Izuku was a little confused why it wouldn’t be safe for Keigo. He was a hero . And the villains after Izuku couldn’t get to Izuku if Hawks was there. Not even mentioning that Eraserhead and Present Mic would also be there.

 

“Keigo-kun, you’ve been sneaking between the dorm apartment and the main building for four days now. One quick walk in one of the Nedzu-sanctioned locations I’m sure will be fine.” She smiled as she stood. “He cleared the roof tops, you know. The two of you could go watch the sun set.” 

 

Rolling over, Izuku shook Keigo’s shoulder– or more like shook himself in an attempt to shake his brother. Keigo was heavy . 

 

“Come oooooooon, Keigoooooo! It’ll be fun!!!” Keigo rested a hand on the top of Izuku’s head with a smile.

 

“Deep breaths, Chickadee. I’m not gonna say no to sitting high up on a roof. But it is gonna be a little cold.” 

 

“Don’t worry! We got blankets!” Izuku cringed before he slapped a hand over his big mouth . He laughed nervously. “I mean– uh– we can go get blankets!” 

 

Keigo squinted at Izuku like he was trying to use his eyes to x-ray him. Izuku tried not to squirm, with marginal success. No one could really blame him, he was excited! And Keigo was going to figure him out and then the surprise would be spoiled! Izuku had never really done a surprise party before and this was equal parts nerve wracking and exhilarating. After another whole eternity, Keigo finally blinked, the appraising squint gone. Izuku felt the tension snap out of him as he sank back into his pillow. He was reveling in his new found relief as Keigo jumped off the bed then stretched his arm across his chest. 

 

“All right, where are these blankets?”

 

“Huh?” Izuku felt like his brain was buffering. 

 

Keigo switched arms, and his shoulder popped. “If we wanna catch the sunset we gotta go now.” 

 

Recovery Girl walked to her office and came out holding a basket that was almost overflowing with plush cushions and folded fluffy blankets. A few feathers darted out and pulled the basket out of her hands. Izuku giggled as two longer feathers slithered under his armpits. They tickled. They slowly lifted him off the bed. A third feather almost as long as Izuku was tall, scooped his knees, raising them into a more comfortable seat. 

 

“Keigo-kun. Put Izuku down. We have a wheelchair .” Recovery Girl snipped out, with her hands on her hips. 

 

“Awww, please??” Izuku rotated his neck to look over at the doctor. His eyes were wide and pleading. She was steady until Izuku ‘brought out the big guns’ and pushed his lip out into a little pout. She instantly crumbled and sighed, rubbing a hand over her eyes. 

 

“ Fine . But take the wheelchair. You’ll want it once you get to the roof.” 

 

“Thanks, Recovery Girl! You’re the best!” Izuku grinned at her, and she shook her head fondly.

 

“Just have fun, you two. But don’t stay out too long. It is cold.” She turned to the floating Izuku and pointed. “And if you feel off in any way–” 

 

“We’ll come right back, promise!” Izuku cut her off, shooting her some finger guns like he’d seen Hizashi do earlier. Her flat look made him laugh. He turned to Keigo. “Now let’s go, Kei!”

 

Keigo rolled his eyes, putting his half eaten licorice stick back in his mouth. Some feathers flew over to the wheelchair and pushed it to be in front of Keigo. The basket was dropped across the arm rests of the wheelchair. 

 

“Okay, let’s shove off.” With that Keigo started pushing the wheelchair towards the door and Izuku floated next to him. They paused right at the door, and Keigo turned back towards the curtain, and shouted back. “We’ll be back, Recovery Girl!” 

 

“I’d hope so. Enjoy your outing!” 

 

“We will, now let go! Let's go !!” 

 

Izuku was ecstatic and Keigo was laughing at him as they finally left the infirmary. Izuku scrunched up his face at his brother, and tried to push him only for the feathers holding him up to move him to be just out of reach. Izuku kept trying only for more feathers to zip out to press against his chest as he started to tip forward. Izuku wiggled over and under as feathers moved and shifted holding him up. He never got any closer to his brother, staying just centimeters out of reach. Izuku didn’t stop trying to get at Keigo though. He wasn’t worried he’d be dropped. He trusted Keigo, but his brother was being annoying and wouldn’t let him get back at him for it. 

 

“You are making this a lot harder for both of us, Izu. You could just stop,” Keigo said between laughs. 

 

“Never! You are laughing at me!” 

 

“Can you blame me?” 

 

Izuku paused his struggle to look him dead in the eyes. “Yes.” 

 

Keigo let out one of his screeching laughs. They were Izuku’s favorite. They were usually paired with the most open and free looking grins, and this was not an exception. It loosened the bands that were around his chest. Izuku started his efforts to get his brother back up only to start to feel dizzy. He stopped, flopping forward into the various sized fluffy feathers holding him up, his arms loosely hung down. Keigo shot him a worried look and brought Izuku closer, so they were almost nose to nose. 

 

“You good? If you aren’t feeling good we can–” 

 

Izuku grinned and snapped a hand out to flick Keigo’s forehead. Keigo screeched and looked betrayed as he rubbed his forehead. Izuku cackled as he was carried further from Keigo. 

 

“Vengeance is mine!” Izuku threw fists up in the air and let himself fall backwards, soft feathers darted around to make a plush landing. 

 

“Ever think about how maybe gremlins don’t get roof time?” Keigo slyly smirked. “I could take you back to Recovery Girl right now. I bet she’d agree with me–” 

 

“Oh no, Kei no! I’m sorry! I won’t flick you again, promise. Vengeance is yours and yours alone!” Izuku laughed until he saw Kei’s face twitching in a weird way before a fake smile was plastered over top. Izuku cringed, He wasn’t sure what exactly he did, but Keigo wasn’t happy. But Izuku didn’t want to make another awkward feedback loop so he quickly apologized. 

 

“Sorry, I really won’t flick you again, promise. I didn’t mean to make you upset.” 

 

“It’s fine, Izu. Just… stupid adult things. I’ll figure it out, though, promise.” 

 

The smile softened into something more real. He looked tired in a way that a long nap couldn’t fix. Izuku hoped that this might help. Izuku’s stomach twisted. Maybe this was a bad idea. As they got to the elevator, Izuku wondered if he should warn Keigo. It would ruin the surprise, but Izuku wasn’t sure if Keigo would enjoy being thrown off guard. As the elevator started moving up, Izuku decided it was better to ruin the surprise. At least a little. 

 

“Oh, Kei?” Gold eyes flicked to look at Izuku out of the corner of his eyes as he hummed. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but I –uh– I might have invited some others to watch with us… if that's– if that's okay?” 

 

Keigo reached up and ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Yeah, that's fine, Chickadee, Thanks for the heads up though. I’m glad you have so many people in your corner.” 

 

Izuku leaned into the palm on his head. “It’s nice that we have that.” 

 

The strange twitching was back. It was more hidden, but Izuku was paying attention. He really hoped that this plan worked. Something deep in Izuku needed all of his heroes to get along. 

 

The doors opened and Keigo pushed the chair out of the elevator. The short five steps up to the rooftop access made Izuku grateful that Keigo was already carrying him. Floating over them was much easier than trying to figure out how to get the chair up. Izuku was going to have to start asking about surprise stairs in future plans if he was going to be using the wheelchair more. 

 

Keigo opened the door to the roof and Izuku was blasted by the stinging cold air. He took a huge deep breath, feeling like he was inhaling air for the first time in forever. His lungs felt alive. The frigid air made the inside of his nose tingle. Breathing out through his mouth, a huge cloud of mist puffed around his face. He felt like a dragon . He did it again, and giggled. 

 

He’d forgotten how fun it was to just be outside.

 

Izuku turned and blew a huge cloud towards Keigo’s face. His brother had the most open expression of tender affection. His usually fierce gaze was unusually soft, the gold of his eyes were made of a lazy summer ray of sun. The tiny curve to his smile was so genuine and natural, it made something click into place for Izuku. All he wanted was his people to be happy. Izuku blew more air at Keigo with a giggle only for the smile to grow. Keigo reached over and ruffled Izuku’s hair. 

 

“Come on, let's go find those others, we got a sunset to watch.” He tilted his head away from the door. Izuku nodded and let Keigo float him along. 

 

Looking all around the roof, he couldn’t really see Hizashi or Aizawa. Izuku chewed on his lip. Mic said that he’d make sure that he and Aizawa were in place before Izuku brought up Keigo. Izuku fidgeted. He hoped Mic hadn’t forgotten or decided it was a stupid plan. He’d seemed really on board with it but that was a few hours ago. And a lot could happen in a few hours. The roof was fairly open, with a few short half walls and other weird metal things obscuring the view. After a few seconds, Izuku finally heard some talking, just far enough that he couldn’t make out the words. The tension in Izuku’s shoulders relaxed as he sighed. 

 

The voices were coming from behind a half wall pointed towards where the sun was just starting to touch the distant hills. Once they rounded the corner, Izuku smiled. Laid out was a thick blanket with the most snacks that Izuku might have ever seen spread out over top. There were bags of chips, candy and there was a plate of the cookies right in the middle. They looked like they were still steaming . Izuku held back the urge to make grabby hands at the cookies. He was proud of his self control. Off to the side of the blanket were a few kettles which Izuku knew held different teas and some hot cocoa. Izuku wasn’t sure what Keigo would prefer, so having a few options seemed right. Seeing all of this set up exactly like he’d planned made Izuku’s eyes itch. He pawed at them as Hizashi spoke up.

 

“Ah! There are the guests of honor!” Hizashi jumped up and held his hands out like he was going for a hug. Izuku shifted to dive off the feathers and into his arms, latching on with shaking legs and arms. Hizashi scrambled to hold him up. “Oof. Little Listener, I’m always down for tackle hugs, but I don’t wanna drop you, so maybe a warning next time, ‘kay?”

 

Izuku nodded, the lump of emotions taking his voice. He tucked his face into the thick hoodie the man was wearing. Izuku took a shuddering breath, having to spit out some of the fine blond hair out of his mouth. Hizashi’s blond hair hung loose around his shoulders. It was a little weird seeing Hizashi with his hair down, but Izuku didn’t hate it when it wasn’t in his mouth. He bet Keigo would love playing with it. 

 

There was a grunt followed by the sound of joints popping. A third hand raised and started rubbing circles on his back. 

 

“Hey, kiddo, you okay?” 

 

Izuku twisted to look at Aizawa and gave him a wet smile. “Y-yeah, I’m just really happy.” 

 

Aizawa’s gooey chocolate chip eyes melted even further as he smiled. His scarf he wore was smaller than his capture weapon and his attempt to tuck his chin to hide the delicate smile failed. Seeing that small smile settled something in Izuku. He sat up, turning back to Hizashi. Izuku was met with a wide affectionate grin, so wide that it crinkled the corners of Hizashi’s green eyes. All the worry and fear seemed to drain out of Izuku. Everyone was happy, everyone was okay. 

 

“I know you wanted more of those cookies Sho brought you the other day, so we got a whole plate from Lunch Rush for ya.” 

 

“Heck yea, cookies!” Izuku cheered as Hizashi lowered the two of them onto the blanket, Izuku comfortably sitting on his lap. He immediately went to grab two of the cookies, one in each hand. He heard Keigo sigh.

 

“What a gremlin.” 

 

Izuku shot his brother the stink eye, which made Aizawa snort. 

 

“Gremlin is right,” Aizawa reached down to grab two of the cookies. He took a bite of one and held the other out to Keigo. “But I don’t know anyone who isn’t a little bit of a gremlin when it comes to Lunch Rush’s cookies.” 

 

Keigo blankly looked at the cookie held out for him. Izuku thought he looked like he was buffering. He didn’t get why his brother was being so weird still. Aizawa was obviously trying a little bit. Izuku bit his lip before letting his eyes dart up to Hizashi. The hero was just watching the weird cookie stand off. Izuku looked back, feeling something wriggle in his gut. Slowly the cookie was brought closer to Keigo. Just as it looked like Aizawa was about to drop the cookie, his face tinged with distressed panic, Keigo, like a snail, reached up and grabbed it.

 

“Thanks,” Keigo said woodenly before he took a bite. The cookie must have been filled with magic as Keigo relaxed after swallowing. “Oh, that’s really good.” 

 

“I told you Kei!” 

 

“That you did, Chickadee.” Keigo smiled at Izuku as he finished the rest of the cookie. 

 

Izuku looked around at the two heroes and cringed. Keigo was standing awkwardly at the edge of the blanket, his wings held slightly out and his feathers were all fluffed up. His arms were crossed in front of his chest and his shoulders rolled like he was trying to hold himself from moving. His face was just plain weird, with wide eyes, an awkward grimace, and his eyebrows scrunched. Izuku wasn’t sure Keigo even knew what he was feeling from the strange expression. 

 

Aizawa wasn’t any better, standing on the other side of the blanket. His hands were loosely tucked into the sweats he was wearing, but Izuku could see that in his pockets he was fidgeting. The loose slumped posture was weirdly forced like he was trying to come off like he wasn’t shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously. His face was blank except for the pained guilty expression in his eyes whenever they’d dart to Keigo.

 

Izuku rolled his head to shoot a look of panic up at Hizashi. He returned the look with a ‘yikes’ expression. Izuku flopped further into his chest. At least Hizashi wasn’t being a big ball of awkward.

 

Flicking his green eyes between the two heroes who were just coiling tighter and tighter into their awkwardness, Izuku perked up. 

 

“Blankets!” Izuku’s voice was a little too loud and he cringed at how he had startled Aizawa and Keigo. His brother even made a bird screech as his feathers flashed sharp. They both snapped to look at Izuku.

 

“What about them, kiddo?” Aizawa squatted down. His elbows rested on his knees as one of his hands grabbed a caramel and he started to unwrap it. 

 

“I– uh– It's cold. So we should get the blankets out so we can watch.” Izuku waved a hand at the sky, which was just starting to tinge pink. “I think there are only two, so umm.” 

 

Izuku was pretty comfy where he was at, and this was a great opportunity to force the other two to maybe get over the awkwardness. Izuku fidgeted with the long ties of the oversized UA hoodie Midnight had brought him a few days ago. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to ask to stay in Hizashi’s lap. If he asked, it might be taken away. It was a little confusing here at times. 

 

Hizashi pushed Izuku’s fringe back, petting his head. “I think me and the Little Listener here are pretty comfy as is, so we can take one.” Izuku melted back into Hizashi, grateful he didn’t have to ask. A lilting playful tone entered Hizashi’s voice. “The other one you and Keigo can share.” 

 

“I’m not cold.” 

 

“I’m good with my wings.” 

 

The two responded, almost clipping Hizashi’s words off, their words overlapping. They looked at each other briefly, a strange charged energy in the air. Izuku did not like it. 

 

“But— But it's more cozy?” Izuku was floundering. He had no idea how to fix this. His plan was not working from what he was seeing; it might just be making this all worse. “Why not share a blanket?”

 

“Kiddo it’s not just me–” Aizawa started only to be cut off. 

 

“If Aizawa’s fine with it... I guess… We could cover our legs?” Keigo was practically hopping from foot to foot, his face scrunched up as he at the start of the sunset. His hands flexed open and closed quickly at the end of stiff arms. Izuku thought he looked like he was in pain. 

 

Izuku watching it felt like he was in pain, but not one he was used to. It made something clench in his gut and made him rub his numb slippered feet together. Part of him wished he could sink through the floor to escape.

 

“I– uh– I’d be willing to share.” Aizawa looked surprised as he watched Keigo. “But only if you are okay with it.”

 

“Yeah, that’s uh– fine.” Keigo nodded, his large wings flexing out and collapsing into his back in a weird flapping motion. 

 

Aizawa grabbed the basket off the wheelchair next to him and threw a few of the pillows at Hizashi and Izuku. The blanket flew over to smack into both of their faces. Hizashi whined as Izuku giggled. Aizawa grumbled out a mumbled apology. Or what Izuku was pretty sure was one, but he couldn’t really understand it. Aizawa pulled out the other blanket, setting the two other cushions on the ground next to the half wall. He blinked up at Keigo after a moment.

 

“I– uh– with your wings would you rather us sit on the half wall? So you can–” Aizawa did some really stilted charades. Izuku was pretty sure he meant to let Keigo’s wings or feathers hang down instead of being pinned to the wall. Izuku now knew to never play on Aizawa’s team when doing charades; he was really bad at it. None of it was really clear from the up and down motions he was making with his hands by his hips. He was really stiff and his hips kinda thrust forward and back with the motion of his hands. 

 

Keigo went pale and jumped back with a loud screech. He was crouched, his wings fully raised about ready to bolt off the roof. He shot Aizawa with a horrified expression. His hands were curled up and kind of looked like T-rex arms. Aizawa just looked confused at the reaction, and then froze. Realization of whatever had freaked out Keigo hit Aizawa, and he collapsed the ground fast enough for Izuku to miss it in a single blink. He was curled up on his knees with his hands covering his face. Izuku could see between his fingers as Aizawa’s face turned the same shade of pink as the sky. He let out a pained moan which only made Keigo take a few hopping steps back.

 

Hizashi let out the most strangled noise before he squished Izuku as he collapsed forward, howling out a laugh. Keigo screeched and jumped about three meters into the air before settling back down in his careful crouch. Aizawa just fell forward even more, his knees spread to allow his forehead to hit the edge of the blanket. Izuku, from his trapped position, just bounced his attention between the three heroes, feeling like he’d missed something. It was obviously important as their plan was obviously toast as it looked like Aizawa was about to implode from awkwardness and Keigo was about to try to fly faster than the awkward could get him. The only saving grace and thing keeping Izuku from melting down was the fact that Hizashi was laughing. 

 

Laughing was good… right?

 

It took Hizashi a long time to be able to let in a wheezy breath, allowing him to finally sit up and wipe his eyes. Giggles and wheezy huffs broke up his words, but he was finally able to speak. 

 

“Keigo– Oh g-d, I’m dying. Shouta’s an idiot, he didn't mean it that way. ” He then turned to Shouta and covered Izuku’s eyes with his fingers. Izuku froze, not liking that, but Mic just giggled as he continued. “There’s a baby present!  So Sho, don’t accidentally proposition nineteen year olds. Especially in front of your fiance .”

 

Aizawa let out a pained groan and Keigo let out a series of strange almost clucking sounds. Izuku hadn’t ever heard his brother make that noise and wasn’t sure what it meant. And he needed to see. Izuku reached up and tore the thin fingers off his face. Mic jolted under him. The laughter seemed to be sucked out of the hero as he focused back on Izuku. 

 

“You good there, Little Listener?” 

 

“I don’t–” Izuku cleared his throat. It felt weirdly tight. Izuku watched his feet shift the blanket as he rubbed them together. It was strange that he couldn’t feel it. He swallowed and tried again. “Don’t like my eyes being covered.” 

 

“I’m sorry, Izuku. I’ll make sure not to do it again, okay?” Hizashi’s voice was sad and gentle, a big difference from just a little bit ago. It was giving Izuku whiplash. He had no idea what was happening. But Izuku nodded. He trusted Hizashi to keep his word. He had so far, and not covering his eyes was easier than getting all the snacks and stuff prepared. Hizashi tucked the blanket closer around Izuku. 

 

Aizawa seemed to have sort of pulled himself back together and was now looking distressed at the blanket bundled up in his hands. Keigo was tense and frozen, his wings raised like he was ready at a moment's notice to beat them once and be gone. He looked a little green, like he was going to throw up. Izuku felt something roll in his stomach. This wasn’t how this was supposed to go. This was supposed to make things better, not worse. 

 

And this was noticeably worse. 

 

“I’m– oh- g-d, Keigo I’m so sorry, that is not what I meant at all. I meant your wings, I just wanted to– to make sure that you had space for your wings. That they wouldn’t be uncomfortable. Not… that . G-d, never ever that. ” He spoke to the blanket more than Keigo, his hands shifting the fuzzy fabric. It kind of reminded Izuku of a cat kneading blankets. 

 

“I– I’m glad to– uh– hear that. Um.” Keigo’s wings folded behind him, and he took a small step forward. “And I’ll just…take them off.” 

 

Aizawa finally looked up from the blanket, confusion clear on his face. “Take off...your wings?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What?” Aizawa tilted his head. “How?”

 

“I just…” Keigo kinda shivered as most of his feathers fell away from his wings in large loops. It was mesmerizing seeing the feathers all fly, it reminded Izuku of when Keigo slid a feather to him in the facility. It was a chaotic red explosion, but it almost looked like the feathers were dancing as they all slotted themselves into the now empty basket. All that was left were Keigo’s wing bones covered with incredibly fluffy feathers. Izuku couldn’t deny seeing his brother without his large wings was weird. It was like something was missing. 

 

“Oh, wow.” Aizawa went to touch the feathers in the basket before he aborted the motion half way, dropping his hand to his lap. “That’s convenient.” 

 

“Yeah, it's.. Not the most comfortable as I can sense more with them this way, and it’s weird to have… my main weapon and transportation not on me. But it makes things like car rides… bearable.”

 

“Oh I can understand that. Hizashi hid my capture weapons before we came up here saying it was a social gathering and no weapons were allowed. But it feels… like some part of me is missing when I don’t have it. And it’s not an actual part of me. If you want, you don’t need to take them off if you’d be more comfortable with them on.” 

 

“It’s fine. Really.” 

 

Aizawa stood and held his arm out to Keigo, the blanket hanging down from his fist. One of the corners brushed the now cooled cookies. The way he was back lit made a strange red glow around him, making it hard for Izuku to see his expression as it was pointed at the ground away from the sunset. 

 

“You must be cold without the feathers so… Here.” 

 

Keigo waved his hands in front of him. “No it’s fine, you can… you can keep it.” 

 

“No, you’re going to catch a cold like that, you are already shivering, just take it.” 

 

“Oh I couldn’t–” 

 

“Please–”

 

“Just share!” Izuku cut them off, slapping a hand over his face. He shouldn’t have interrupted but they were taking forever .

 

The two looked at each other, the orangey reds and pinks highlighting their silhouettes. They both looked tense. 

 

“I’m… fine with it still. If… you are.” 

 

“You sure, kid?” 

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Okay then, you… good on the ground?”

 

“I already took my wings off.” Keigo shrugged. “So might as well.” 

 

“If you want to put them back on we can sit on the wall. I’m really fine either way, whatever makes you more comfortable.”

 

“Really, it’s fine.” 

 

“Alright. Um, yeah okay.” Aizawa sat on the pillows and patted the one next to him. Izuku could see the bright blush across his cheeks as he started to throw the blanket half over his legs.

 

Part of Izuku was glad they were interacting but this was so painful. He didn’t know how Keigo and Aizawa weren’t being crushed under the awkwardness, because he was pretty sure he was being crushed as a witness. Izuku let himself wriggle, kicking his feet and cringed, trying to get out from under the crushing embarrassment. Hizashi made a small pained huff and Izuku kinda slammed his head back into his sternum. Izuku mumbled an apology. He was tired of watching this and started to pull the blanket up and over his head to hide, only to stop at his nose. It was like watching a trainwreck. Izuku couldn’t fully find it in him to look away. Hizashi must have noticed his dilemma and bit back a snicker. Izuku sent him a little glare, which got him to at least attempt to compose himself. 

 

Aizawa and Keigo sat next to each other like they were marble statues. Until Aizawa tucked himself forward and grabbed at the mugs.

 

“Uh, who wants drinks?” 

 

“I’d like some cocoa.” Izuku whispered out. Hizashi snaked an arm around his chest giving a strange little half hug. It helped him relax. 

 

“I’ll take some licorice tea.” Hizashi said. Keigo perked up at that. 

 

“You– have licorice tea?” Keigo turned to Aizawa and tilted his head. 

 

“Yup.” Aizawa nodded as he poured a steaming cup of cocoa and passed it to Keigo to pass it to Izuku. “It’s one of my favorites, so we make sure to always have it on hand.”

 

“Oh, it’s my favorite, too.”

 

Keigo passed the drink to Izuku with a soft smile, making sure not to let go until both were sure that he had a good grip on the mug. Holding things has been kinda hard lately. Izuku blew the steam to try to cool it down a little faster. 

 

“Then we’ll make sure to ask Nedzu to get more for the apartment.” 

 

“Cool. Sounds like a plan.” 

 

Aizawa finished passing out the drinks and then leaned back with a sigh. Izuku sipped on his cocoa, relishing how nice the warmth felt on his hands. The sky was also gorgeous, a gradient of bright colors melted over the sky, with a few thin clouds painted in bright pinks and reds. The distant hills made shadows over the city. A few sounds of distant birds mixed with the sound of the wind. Izuku smiled. This was nice. 

 

“I– this might make the awkwardness worse, but I want to apologize again.” Aizawa’s murmur broke the near silence. 

 

Izuku turned to look at the two but Hizashi clawed his hand over the top of his head and gently guided him back to the sunset. He leaned forward, and whispered. “Nah, let them do this without an audience, Little Listener. Enjoy your cocoa and the pretty view.” 

 

Izuku nodded. But it was hard as they were maybe a meter and a half away… tops. 

 

“What.. for?” Keigo sounded a little confused.

 

“I did it again. I said I wouldn’t abuse your enjoyment of people playing with your hair and– I did it again.” Aizawa cleared his throat. “I understand if I broke your trust, and I’d like to work to–” 

 

“What are you talking about?” Keigo now sounded totally confused.

 

“Right before Izuku woke up… do you not remember?”

 

“Of course I remember! I was creepy and did my weird bird thing. How could I not remember?”

 

“I–” Aizawa sighed. “I don’t think you are creepy, Keigo.” 

 

“You do think I’m dangerous.” 

 

“S—,” There was a thump. Izuku darted his eyes over for a second to see Aizawa slumped back into the wall. He then looked back at the sunset. It was shifting to deeper, more vibrant colors. It was pretty. “You heard that.”

 

Keigo scoffed. “You guys aren’t particularly quiet .” 

 

“I don’t think you would hurt anyone on purpose without due cause.” 

 

Izuku felt his neck prickle as he saw his brother turn to look at him. He wanted to turn so bad, but instead watched the slow path of a flock of geese cross the sky.

 

“But I broke your nose.” Keigo’s voice was a broken whisper. Izuku pressed into Hizashi’s chest, and the hero's strong arm wrapped around him, squeezing him tighter. 

 

“Keigo, I am not going to hold something you did in a full blown panic against you. I never would. But if you need to hear it, I forgive you.” He paused as Keigo sniffed. “And anyway, it's all better so it’s really not that big of a deal.”

 

“ But I broke your nose. ” 

 

“Yeah and got stepped on by Nemuri while I was napping on the floor the day before you broke it and don’t hold it against her. And about a month ago, I bit Hizashi when he woke me up. He was just trying to nap with me and I drew blood. He doesn’t hold it against me.” 

 

“I don’t.” Hizashi piped it, turning to the two chatting. Izuku scowled. It didn’t seem fair that he got to interject, but Izuku wasn’t allowed to. “I honestly just think it’s funny.” 

 

“Yeah, exactly. Kid, we are heroes. We are trained to act before we think in life or death situations. That can be really good, but sometimes we do it when it’s not life or death. That’s just part of the job. So I think you are as dangerous as Hizashi is.” 

 

“Why then is Hizashi not being told he was going to hurt Izuku? Seems like a double standard.” 

 

There was a pause and then a long tired sigh. Izuku turned his head only for Hizashi to turn it back. He scrunched his nose as he took the last sip of his cocoa. This felt like a double standard. 

 

“I shouldn’t have verbalized my worries in front of you. For that I apologize. You haven’t done anything that would point to you hurting Izuku. And no, breaking my nose doesn’t transfer, that was an outlier. Since Izuku woke up you’ve… been a lot more stable.”

 

“Yeah, well my brother isn’t–” Keigo cut himself off with a huff. Izuku really wanted to reach out to give him a hug but knew Mic would hold him back. He’d just make sure to give him a bear hug later. Izuku did, however, lean forward to grab another cookie before leaning back to look at the sun just about to fully dip below the hills. 

 

“Exactly, my point. My worries are just that. Worries . There is no evidence to back them up, zero, and I should work harder to make sure they don’t get out of control. You shouldn’t have to bear the burden of my anxiety.” 

 

“So– you don’t–”

 

“No. I don’t.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

The smallest sliver of sun bathed the sky in colors as it faded to purple. Izuku looked up and thought he saw the North Star. He smiled. The awkwardness was... there, but it was so much less. 

 

“Is this what has been making you avoid me?” Aizawa’s voice was calm, and nonjudgmental. It reminded Izuku of his mom when they were having a serious discussion, which soothed something in him. Hopefully it did with Keigo too. 

 

Keigo let out a little nervous chittering bird noise. He coughed to stop it. “Uh sort of. Yeah.” 

 

“Anything else? I don’t want you to be scared of me or anything. You’re a good kid and I’d hate to have done something–” 

 

“It’s really not you.” 

 

“Well, I’m not upset about anything you’ve done. I am a little confused as to the tension between us if it wasn’t my actions or words.” 

 

“That’s because I haven’t done it yet.” Keigo sounded tense. Izuku wished he could turn, but held himself back. 

 

“Done what, Keigo?” 

 

“ It’s embarrassing. ” 

 

“I promise you it won’t be worse than what I did earlier.” 

 

Keigo snorted. “You know what, that's true. I don’t think much could be worse than… that.” There was another pause. And in a whisper Keigo continued. “But this… might be close.” 

 

“Let me be the judge of that.” 

 

Keigo mumbled something. 

 

“I’m old, kid. I couldn’t quite catch that.” 

 

“You’re not that old.” 

 

“Okay, fine, I live with a human megaphone and have bad hearing then.” Hizashi scoffed at Aizawa’s words. He ignored the noise... Or maybe he didn’t hear it? Izuku needed to keep an eye out and maybe make sure to speak up around Aizawa, just in case. “Point still stands, I’m not gonna judge–”

 

“I imprinted on you!” Keigo cut him off, sounding distressed. “Are you happy now? I’m a f—ing freak with a quirk that after one positive interaction decided to see you as part of my flock!”

 

Izuku didn’t care; he needed to see his brother. His brother’s small wings were wrapped around his shoulders, his hands clutching at his hair, yanking hard. Tears were in his eyes as a handful of hair and thin feathers were pulled out. Izuku wiggled, trying to get to Keigo, only to be held back by Mic. He let out a strangled noise before Hizashi started whispering soothing words in his ear. Aizawa darted a hand out to keep Keigo from ripping out more of his hair.

 

“Kid, gentle .” 

 

Keigo shook his head as more tears fell down his face. Izuku thought he was looking too pale. He needed to get to him, but his fingers were too weak to pull at Mic’s arms around him. He couldn’t even pry up one of his fingers. Izuku let out a sob at the same time Keigo did. 

 

“No, no you don’t understand . This isn’t allowed . This isn’t normal .”

 

“But it is, Keigo. It is. Heteromorphic quirks regularly come with additional instinctual–”

 

“But I should be able to control them. I need to!”

 

“No, Keigo, that's not– You shouldn’t–” Aizawa sighed, then after a beat raised the hand that wasn’t holding Keigo’s hand away. He reached forward towards Keigo’s hair. “May I?”

 

“It’s weird. ” He started to struggle, kicking the blanket off both their legs. Aizawa didn’t break eye contact. 

 

“Keigo, may I?”

 

After a beat Keigo let out a sad strangled bird call and nodded. “ Please. ”

 

Aizawa started preening Keigo. Izuku watched as his brother did a 180, going from painfully tense and crying to loosening and cooing. Izuku stopped struggling and let Hizashi pull him back fully into his lap. Hizashi started rocking the two of them, humming out some tunes that Izuku almost recognized. In no time, Izuku was limp against Hizashi’s chest and Keigo was curled up on Aizawa’s shoulder. Both boys were half lidded and about ready to fall asleep. Aizawa leaned down to mumble near Keigo’s ear. 

 

“Kid, you may think it’s weird or unnatural or whatever, but human beings regardless of quirk status need connections. We need physical touch, we need emotional bonds. It’s not weird to form them or to crave them when we don’t have them.”

 

“But–” Izuku watched Keigo try to shift away from Aizawa, who was having none of it and pulled him back to his shoulder. 

 

“No buts, you need physical touch because you are a human being , Keigo. Maybe your quirk has given you specific types of touch that you are more fond of over another, but none of this is weird. Understand?”

 

“I guess. But–” Aizawa sighed as Keigo continued quieter. “Do normal people want… want to do it back?”

 

Aizawa looked down at Keigo. Izuku could only just make out their silhouettes now that the sky was basically totally dark. He lifted the blanket up higher over his shoulders. It was getting cold , but he also really didn’t want to interrupt. Hizashi wrapped himself tighter around Izuku, pulling up his hood before rubbing up and down his sweatshirt sleeves. He let out a happy hum. 

 

“Keigo…” Aizawa paused. “Do you want to preen me?”

 

“ G-d, yes. ” Keigo sounded desperate as he sat up, his hands twitching just out of reach of Aizawa’s head. “ Please .” 

 

Izuku thought he saw the flash of Aizawa’s white teeth before he shifted, turning so Keigo could more easily get at his hair. 

 

“Go for it, kid.” Before he could even finish speaking, Keigo’s hands were in Aizawa’s long, thick hair. Izuku slumped into Hizashi as he watched. Keigo’s small wings were wiggling and flapping excitedly as small screeching chirps and warbles echoed over the rooftop. Izuku smiled then closed his eyes. With the awkwardness finally being gone, Izuku was tired.  

 

“And Keigo,” Aizawa waited till he got a little bird call in response. “I want you to know that I’m honored that you’ve imprinted on me.” 

 

The excited and happy bird-calls mixed between sobs of his brother made Izuku grin as he slipped off into dreamland. 

Chapter 15: Surprise, Shouta! It’s a Boy!

Notes:

HELLOOOO~~~
So low key forgot about this chapter lol so I know I played up a big game saying things are hitting the fan and um this is the ramp up to it but this is... not the absolute things hitting the fan, but we getting there >:) I was in the thick of writing the more climaxy part when i wrote the last authors note so sorry about that lol
but as always! Thanks to @sassy_chemist for being my beta <3 even tho you are so busy you still help me out and enjoy reading it <33
There is a lot of EraserMic in this chapter tho <3 so this chapter is more for me lol cuz i frickin love them <33333 (and like to ya know move the plot along some ehehe)

But without further ado enjoy the chapterrrrr <333

The next morning, Shouta was hoping to see Keigo before heading to the early morning meeting, but there were no signs he was going to wake up. Shouta had been hoping to reiterate that Keigo could lean on him for things that he needed, that Keigo wasn’t weird for needing basic f—ing human needs like physical touch, and to just… check in with the kid. 

 

Last night, Hizashi had ended up carrying Izuku back to the Infirmary, while Shouta led the very sleepy Keigo back to the dorm. Shouta could not deny that the way the kid was tripping over his feet and how his head bobbed as he fought falling asleep on his feet was a little cute. Keigo had curled up on his bed, instantly falling asleep, and Shouta threw the blanket over him. Before leaving for the night, Shouta had brushed his hair back one last time only to frown. The kid was… a little warm. The flush Shouta had thought was from cold might have been the start of some illness, and he wanted to keep an eye on it. 

 

Hizashi told him to stop being such a worried dad about it when he’d told him the night before, which earned Hizashi very cold feet to his warm back. 

 

Shouta was not Keigo or Izuku’s father. He was just… a concerned citizen. Anyone would be concerned when it came to the two boys. They were filled with neon red flags and were clearly searching for any sort of stability. And Shouta could provide that, and would do so gladly. That didn't make him even a father figure to the boys. He was just… an adult in their lives. Maybe someone could call him a mentor. 

 

That being said, a small part of Shouta’s brain was mentally looping over the fact that Keigo’s quirk-linked instincts had imprinted on him, which was a thing he’d quickly researched last night. He learned that imprinting mainly happened between close familial relationships, most commonly between parent and child . 

 

He was pointedly ignoring the light, borderline bubbly feeling reading that had given him the night before as Shouta prepared two breakfasts. The deceptively strong, lithe arms of his fiance wrapped around Shouta’s shoulders, and a quick peck to his stubbly cheek made him blush as he dished the eggs into the bowls of rice. 

 

“Mmm what did I do to catch me such a good partner who makes me breakfast?” Hizashi murmured in his ear.

 

“This is for Keigo, not you. Make your own breakfast.” 

 

Hizashi sputtered before just letting out a full laugh. “Ah, not even married yet and you are picking our kids over me.” He dramatically put the back of his hand to his forehead and stumbled back. “Oh! Whatever am I to do, knowing I’m a measly third place in my love's mind?” 

 

“You can start with making your own breakfast.” Shouta handed Hizashi the wooden spoon with a smirk. “Pan’s still hot, and there is a little bit of leftover rice in the cooker.” 

 

Shouta picked up the bowls, feeling Hizashi’s devilish grin prickle the back of his neck. He sent his fiance a confused look, which only made the smile widen. 

 

“You didn’t deny it.”

 

“Deny what?”

 

“That Izuku and Keigo are our kids.” 

 

Shouta almost dropped the bowls in his hands. He tightened his grip and mentally ran through the interaction and cursed. Hizashi just leaned forward and patted Shouta’s cheek, which was now as hot as the surface as the sun.

 

“Awww, It’s cute, Sho. Don’t be embarrassed. ” Hizashi’s grin sharpened as he slowly ran his hands over his chest, down his abs, and curved to rest his hands on hips. He ran his tongue over his teeth and wiggled his eyebrows. 

 

“Honestly, I think it’s kinda hot, if ya know what I mean.” Hizashi’s hands started to migrate lower and around to rest on Shouta’s butt. He squeezed. Shouta took a quick step back, just out of Hizashi’s reach, checking down the hallway before shooting Hizashi a sharp look. 

 

“This is a public kitchen , ‘Zashi. Have some self control.” 

 

Hizashi just shrugged before he turned to the pan to make his own eggs. Over his shoulder he winked. 

 

“I’ll have self control when you stop being so cute, Love.” 

 

“G-d, why did I agree to marry you, again? Maybe that was a mistake.” 

 

“You asked me, Sho.” Hizashi rolled his eyes before cracking two eggs into the pan. 

 

“Must be Stockholm syndrome, then.” Shouta tried not to grin, only to fail at Hizashi’s flat look. 

 

“Okay, fine, see if you can hurt my feelings. Sticks and stones, babe. I know you love me.” Hizashi poked at the eggs with a spatula. Shouta walked over to kiss his cheek with a smile. 

 

“I do.” 

 

“Sap,” Hizashi pushed Shouta’s face away. “Now, go feed our teenage bird son before he starves.” 

 

“He isn’t gonna starve .”

 

“Well, he might if he never gets his lovingly prepared meal.” Hizashi pouted as one of his yolks spilled out. Shouta rolled his eyes. That's what he got for constantly poking at the eggs. Hizashi sighed before he turned to rest against the counter, his arms crossed. The serious expression made Shouta pause.

 

“But, after thinking about it, I think you are right about him being sick. He has looked a little green off and on during the past few day’s worth of meetings, and has been refusing the little tea cakes Nedzu always offers. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him eat since Izuku woke up. Also, the ginger and mint teas. I thought it was just a preference, but he might be hiding a stomach bug. I don’t want him to feel like he has to hide it. If he’s sick we can help take care of him.”

 

Shouta nodded and started to leave the kitchen, only to lean back around the doorway with a smirk. “And who’s the dad, now?” 

 

Hizashi made the noise of a deflating balloon as Shouta chuckled all the way down the hallway. He looked down at his hands full of breakfast. Shifting one to balance precariously on his forearm, he quickly knocked on the door, and grabbed the bowl again before it fell.

 

“Keigo? Kid, are you awake?” There was a groan from inside. There was the sound of shifting and Shouta could almost imagine the way the kid might be covering his head under the covers, a grumpy look on his face. “Kid?”

 

“I’m sleepin’” The words were sleep slurred and sounded extra muffled. Shouta might have been correct in the blanket hiding. The thought made him smile.

 

“Wanna open up? I made breakfast. Once I deliver it, feel free to go back to sleep. I just wanted to check on you.” That was a little more honest then Shouta was originally planning on being, but there was no taking it back now. 

 

There was a series of grumpy sleepy teenager noises, all of which did not make Shouta grin. The door lock clicked before the door creaked open. The kid was sitting up in the bed, shirtless, his blanket pooled around his waist. He was rubbing his eyes, a light flush still across his cheeks, but Shouta wasn’t really focused on that. Instead he was laser focused on the kid's torso. 

 

Keigo’s chest was covered in scars. Gunshots made divots and pot holes in the light tan skin, slices and slashes healed in raised in thick ropey scars, and some shiny discolored burns curled over the muscular torso. Shouta was not without his own scars, and his own body was probably about the same but… Hawks had been an active hero for just over a year, tops . Shouta, on the other hand, was coming up on a decade as an underground hero and then an additional two years of internships and work studies during his time at UA. He should be scarred. Keigo, as a young spotlighter… shouldn’t, or at least not to this level. Shouta had to rein in his rage at the commission once more. He didn’t need to know the details because the shadows and imprints they had made in Keigo told enough of the story.

 

Mr Watanabe, the f—er, got off easy. Too easy. If he wasn’t already dead, Shouta would have loved an uninterrupted day with the man. Give him a taste of his own medicine. 

 

Shouta took a slightly unsteady breath before looking back at Keigo's face. His gold eyes were unfocused, his hair sleep mussed, and he had a blank face that was ever so tinted with some grump. Someone didn’t like mornings. Shouta could relate.

 

“Good morning.” Shouta crossed to Keigo’s bedside and held the bowl out. “How you feeling?”

 

Keigo blinked at the bowl before grabbing it and placing it in his lap. “Tired.” 

 

Shouta snorted then crouched down to a squat. “Sorry ‘bout that, kid. But I noticed you were a little warm last night. Wanted to make sure you were okay before I head off to a meeting with Nedzu.” 

 

“Mmm.” Keigo’s eyes slid closed for a second before he blinked them back open. “Always run warm. Bird thing.”

 

“If you say so,” Shouta reached over to catch the bowl before it fell off Keigo’s lap. He placed the bowl on the nightstand and brought a hand up towards Keigo’s forehead. “Can I check anyway?”

 

Keigo shrugged and leaned forward, closing the distance. The kid… wasn’t boiling but he was warm. Shouta squinted at Keigo’s lax face pressed against his palm. There was a chance this was all in Shouta’s mind, that he did just naturally run warm. But it was just as likely that the kid was just trained to not take care of himself and hide any and all weakness. If he was sick, it didn’t seem like a serious thing, so Shouta would check in after classes. Recovery Girl was also going to be getting a long list of questions from Shouta during lunch on how to take care of a sick kid. 

 

Shouta brushed his fingers through the fluffy dirty blond hair once. Keigo let out a short series of sleepy bird-calls, his head pressed into the hand. Shouta felt something warm in his chest, but also felt the rage boil under it. It was sweet that Keigo had such a positive response to touch, but the subtext as to why made Shouta murderous. He stood, clasping a hand on Keigo’s shoulder. His thumb rubbed along the bubbled, shiny skin of a burn.

 

“You’re obviously tired, so go back to sleep, Keigo.” 

 

Humming, Keigo flopped back into his pillow. Shouta snorted before leaving the room. He’d been worried about how awkward living in the same dorm would be just yesterday, but now Shouta couldn’t help but feel a little excited. Maybe he was going to be able to help the kids just… be kids for once. 

 

Watching through the crack as Keigo curled around his pillow, hugging it tight to his chest. Shouta smiled as he slowly closed Keigo’s door with a click. 

 

Yeah, Shouta wanted to be a support for these kids. 

 

—

 

Shouta’s hand tightened around his almost empty coffee mug. He knew that Hizashi and Nedzu wouldn’t reasonably be able to make much headway in the past twenty four hours. It would be illogical to think otherwise, but hearing that there were no new leads on the agents after he’d been benched for his ‘safety’ made Shouta’s blood boil. 

 

Shouta knew that this boss was doing all he could both legally, and a little illegally, to make headway. He’d been clacking away at the computer almost non stop for the past week now, and Shouta couldn’t help but feel surprised. Usually Nedzu was able to crack things faster. But from the borderline rumpled look to the rat’s suit and the way his fur looked lackluster, Shouta wasn’t going to mention it. He was clearly giving it his all and was just as frustrated at the lack of progress. 

 

Hizashi was also sprinting at full speed, schmoozing politicians and other celebrities who had done interviews on Hizashi’s radio show and asking around his other pro hero contacts for any sort of information or leads. They would take gossip at this point. He’d only seen his fiance in the short moments before school, during their lunch visits to Izuku, and maybe, if he was lucky, they’d share a kiss on the cheek at the end of the school day before they headed off in their separate directions. Shouta had no idea how Hizashi had reorganized his schedule to watch the sunset with the kids last night, but it had been nice to see him. 

 

But even with all the work that they all had been doing, they had seemingly come to a dead end. The only thing they had as ‘evidence’ was the horrifying document that Shouta had snatched with its detailed write ups of the experiments and torture they had done to a child. All in the name of ‘science’ to figure out the nitty gritty details of his quirk. Which would back up any testimonies they could get from Izuku, but they were hoping for more before they asked the kid to go into detail about what was sure to be highly traumatic.

 

Shouta was still unclear why they couldn’t hunt down All Might, who seemed to have been a regular recipient of Izuku’s quirk according to the file. Nedzu had explained over and over about how he was ‘dealing with All Might’. Shouta hoped that he wasn’t lying. And if All Might knew what was happening? Endeavor was in for a sudden promotion to Number One.

 

Nedzu had even sent a drone to see if the facility might have more details and might be worth breaking back into, but the remote camera view showed the building to be abandoned, totally scrubbed of whatever other atrocities they were doing there. Shouta hoped that Izuku’s story was a fluke, a total outlier, but what Keigo had told him and the size of the building made him doubt that. 

 

Shouta wanted to argue to make another trip to the facility. Even if it was abandoned, they might gain insights. Maybe they left clues behind. There was also part of him that hoped that he could convince them to let him back on the investigation. He was fine with the hit out on him, it could be worse. However, the sharp look and tight shake of Nedzu’s head when Shouta had thrown out the idea meant that arguing would be a waste of everyone’s time. Doing nothing was making Shouta’s skin crawl, but at this point it seemed that was all he was going to be allowed to do at the moment. 

 

Keigo had been basically sitting on his hands for days at this point, and Shouta had no idea how he was handling it so well. Thinking about it, Shouta made a mental note to check in on the kid about this along with any possible illnesses. There was no way Keigo was actually dealing with being benched well. 

 

His mental list was just getting longer and longer. Shouta sighed and downed the last few mouthfuls of his coffee. 

 

“This new list of individuals for investigation and covert interviewing will hopefully shine some light on the branch of the commission, and may bring us ever closer to bringing indictment against the individuals and the commission as a whole.” Nedzu closed the file with the list of names they had come up with. It was pitifully short, and left Shouta feeling like an even bigger failure. He’d reached out to his underground contacts first thing, but none of them knew anything. Now it felt like they were all grabbing at straws. 

 

Shouta looked down at the brown ring at the bottom of his mug with a sigh. He was tired in a way that a thousand coffees or a year of uninterrupted sleep couldn’t fix. He’d give anything to just be able to bring the HPSC to justice. Or pummel everyone involved into the ground. Shouta wasn’t picky at this point.  

 

“Now,” Nedzu pulled out a thick file and set it on his desk. Shouta furrowed his brow. He’d figured it had been the end of the meeting. “We need to discuss the future of Izuku-kun.” 

 

Shouta straightened. Izuku seemed… not fine, but his normal last night. Shouta shot Hizashi a worried look. If the kid had made a turn for the worse health wise because he tried to resolve Shouta's and Keigo’s problems, he didn’t know if he’d be able to live with himself. Hizashi reached a hand out to squeeze Shouta’s knee, a tight smile on his face. He appreciated his fiance’s attempt at being reassuring, but Shouta was having none of it. 

 

“Is he okay?” Shouta worked to keep his normal apathetic monotone, but even he could hear the desperate edge in it. 

 

“Chiyo-san reassures me that Izuku-kun has been slowly making progress towards recovery, which I doubt has changed in the last hour.” 

 

Hizashi groaned and Nemuri slumped back into her seat. Shouta just felt relief. 

 

“Nedzu, man,” Hizashi scrubbed at his face, his glasses pushed askew. “You have got to get to the point quicker, or make it less ambiguous. That scared all of us thinking the Little Listener had made a turn for the worse.” 

 

“Ah, my apologies.” Shouta gave the rat props, he did look a tiny bit apologetic. “Human communication is elusive at times, thank you for the clarification. But this is not negative, just crossing T’s and dotting I’s.” 

 

Nedzu opened the file, continuing, “With the aim of keeping Izuku-kun safe long term both physically and legally, plans needed to be put forth. It took some time to collect the needed documentation and permissions, but we now are able to officially place him in protective custody that will hypothetically shield him, even from the Commission.”

 

Shouta hated that ‘hypothetically’. It left too big of a gap the kid could slip through. Nedzu pushed the thick stack of papers around the edges to straighten them, like they weren’t already perfectly in line.

 

“Thus far, Chiyo-san has been an interim medical guardian, as she is able to do as a healing hero in cases of medical emergency. Until today, due to Izuku-kun’s situation there had been no real legal options. According to the government he is dead, his mother in prison, and in his paperwork before his ‘death,’ he was practically a ghost from quirk protections. It took time to work with the bureaucracy to rectify the situation.” Nedzu tapped a paw on the stack of papers. “I have filled out everything, only needing the signature of the volunteer–” 

 

“I’ll do it”

 

Shouta blinked as everyone turned to stare at him. It took him an embarrassingly long time before it hit him that he had said that outloud. Panicking, Shouta turned to Hizashi; he had in no way discussed taking legal guardianship over Izuku with his fiance. And here he was just volunteering to take a whole child without a single conversation. Hizashi chuckled and shook Shouta’s knee which was still under his palm. 

 

“Sho, breathe. We’ve already basically mentally adopted them, some papers won’t change anything.” 

 

Shouta would beg to differ. This would change everything. It made it legally binding. Concrete. More. His hands suddenly felt clammy, and it felt a little hard to get a full breath. Maybe volunteering had been a mistake. Joking about Izuku being one of ‘his kids’ was one thing, but actually signing the papers made the kids well being in every conceivable way Shouta’s responsibility was… a lot. Shouta might want this but… he’d never had a great example and he was nervous to mess the kid up even more. 

 

Izuku was obviously comfortable around Hizashi, but at times he’d seemed almost shy around Shouta. What if… the kid was only putting up with him because he and Hizashi were a package deal? Would Izuku want Shouta to take him, or would he be more comfortable with Hizashi?

 

“We should ask Izuku.” Shouta swallowed, flicking his eyes between Nedzu, Hizashi, and Nemuri. “He– he might have a preference.” 

 

“... While that may be true, I am not sure how much of an option we realistically have. I am glad that you and Hizashi-kun are on board however as it makes it simpler. The two of you were my first choice. As archaic as it is, two legally bonded adults would be more of a challenge for the commission to pull Izuku-kun from, both legally and physically.”

 

Shouta felt and practically heard his brain do a record scratch. Hizashi cleared his throat as he squeezed Shouta’s knee once again. 

 

“Nedzu, I’m sure you are aware, but Sho and I aren’t married.” Hizashi looked back at the still frozen Shouta. “At least, not yet.” 

 

“This is true, but of the small group of us that are aware of Izuku’s existence, the two of you are the closest to matrimony. And,” Nedzu leaned forward onto his little elbows, his paws clasped in front of him. He grinned. “What’s really the difference between being married today or in your originally planned six months from now?”

 

“Six months, that's the difference.” Shotua grumbled and dragged a hand down his face. “And a massive headache because Hizashi’s family will not be happy at all about missing the wedding.” 

 

Half the Yamadas were deaf, which one might think would make them quieter, but in actuality it only made them what had to be eight times louder. Or maybe it was just all their extroverted personalities. Shouta didn’t know; all he knew was that he would never hear the end of it if he not only ‘stole away Hizashi’ from them, but then also eloped. He would be forever grateful to his future in-laws for their support through… everything. But sometimes Shouta thought that it would be easier if they were more like his parents who he hadn’t spoken to since he had turned eighteen. 

 

“We could just… not tell them?” Hizashi didn’t seem all too sure with his own half baked and terrible idea. He cringed when Shouta shot him a flat look.

 

“Your sisters would sniff it out if you didn’t just spill the beans on accident beforehand.” 

 

“We… could explain?” Hizashi sounded hopelessly desperate, grasping for any shred of hope before he let go and collapsed back heavily into his chair. He sighed before muttering to the ceiling. “But, for the Little Listener’s safety that probably isn’t a real option either, huh?” 

 

“You might just have to face the wrath of Mama Yamada.” Nemuri snickered.

 

“More like overdramatic pouting and at least a decade of pointed comments about how her ‘little baby is all grown up and it’s so sad,’ and how ‘tragic it is that Hizashi is drifting further and further from me,’ and ‘Shouta is a bad influence and dragging our perfect little angel down.’” Shouta signed along as he spoke, the signing overly dramatic, a strange contrast to the monotone grumbled words. Hizashi batted at Shouta’s hands. 

 

“Excuse me, my mother loves you and would never call you a bad influence” He paused, wincing, “But you are absolutely correct about everything else.”

 

“If it’s for Izuku’s safety, I think I can handle an upset mother-in-law.” 

 

Hizashi grinned. “Dad’ll be just as bad, and Rei and Kazuko might skin you alive when they find out you took their chance to be the maids of honor.” 

 

Shouta just groaned as he let his head hang over the back of his chair. Hizashi just cackled.

 

“So, we making a trip out to city hall?” Nemuri piped in. “As I refuse to miss this, and you will need a witness.” 

 

Shouta rolled his head along the backrest to face Hizashi. “I know this isn’t exactly what you’d hoped for.” 

 

Hizashi’s face crumbled before he caught his head in one hand. Shouta wished he could better see Hizashi’s face from this angle but he couldn’t. But from the few steadying breaths his fiance took before sitting up with a very fake shaky smile, Shouta knew he wasn’t really okay. 

 

“It’s.. not what I wanted, but I would rather the Little Listener be safe and have some form of stability. One stupid, silly, little party doesn’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things.”

 

“Our wedding isn’t just some silly or stupid party, ‘Zashi.” Shouta frowned as he put a hand over Hizashi’s leather-clad back. Under his palm, he felt Hizashi take stuttering breaths. A lump in Shouta’s throat made it hard to speak. “I know how excited you’ve been to plan things for it. It’s okay to be upset over this.”

 

Hizashi nodded as his eyes filled with tears. “It's just– I finally struck a deal yesterday to get your favorite udon place to cater. They don’t even do catering but I’d finally gotten them to agree.” The green watery eyes met Shouta’s as Hizashi gave the saddest smile. “It was going to be a surprise.” 

 

Shouta felt his normally dry eyes prickle with tears. He got up from his seat and crouched in front of Hizashi, grabbing his hands. Clutching the hands tightly, Shouta pointedly ignored the fat, wet drops that hit the back of his hands. 

 

“We can still have a celebration and ceremony. This can just be us signing some additional paperwork to get Izuku safe and under our care. It doesn’t have to mean anything more if you don’t want it to. I’ll be your fiance until we’re married the way you want us to be, okay?” Shouta sniffed as a few tears started to slowly roll down his cheeks. He gave Hizashi his softest smile. “Screw the government and all that, they can’t define us.” 

 

Hizashi let out a watery laugh before sliding his hands out from under Shouta’s hold and wiped his eyes. 

 

“You’re right. I’m just being dramatic.” 

 

“No, you really aren't,” Shouta shook his head. Hizashi’s face screwed up like he’d eaten a lemon. Shouta rocked Hizashi’s knees back and forth, letting them softly hit each other. “ You aren’t . This is disappointing.”

 

“But Izu-kun’s safety is more important.” 

 

“Both can be true, ‘Zashi. Izuku is more important and it is disappointing.” Shouta stood up, his knees popping loudly. He wrapped his arms around Hizashi. It was a little awkward as Hizashi was still sitting, but Shouta didn’t care. And from the way Hizashi’s fingers twisted themselves into the back of his hero suit, his fiance didn’t care either. 

 

“It just feels childish,” Hizashi whispered in Shouta’s ear. “To be so upset about this with everything else that is happening. With Keigo and Izuku and the commission.”

 

“It’s not.” Shouta kissed Hizashi’s wet cheek. “And even if it was, I want you happy so this doesn’t have to negate any of your plans. I will gladly suffer through a thousand loud parties, a century's worth of passive aggressive comments from your family, and whatever wedding pranks Nemuri and you have planned for me.” Nemuri grumbled something but Shouta plowed over her. “I love you, even if this isn’t how we wanted this to go, I’m just happy that I have you, through all of this.” 

 

“Sho,” Hizashi was so choked up it was almost hard to understand him. “We're getting married. ” 

 

Shouta leaned back with a smile and put his hands on Hizashi’s cheeks, wiping the tears with his thumbs. “That was always the plan, yes.” 

 

“We’re getting married, today. ”

 

“Legally, yes. It seems so.” 

 

“We’re going to be husbands .” Hizashi started to laugh... or maybe sob, Shouta wasn’t completely sure. “Today, I’m going to be able to call you my husband .” 

 

“If… that's what you want.”

 

“Of course that’s what I want, you idiot. ” Hizashi lightly kicked Shouta’s shin before a strangled laugh ripped out of his throat. It sounded a little unsure, but accepting. “I just need to get used to the idea. I thought I had another six months before we were husbands. But tonight we’ll be husbands. Husbands! Us!!”

 

Hizashi’s voice slowly solidified and gained an excited tone as he spoke more and more. And as he listened, Shouta felt himself start to feel giddy each time Hizashi said the word ‘husband’. 

 

“Yeah.” He kissed Hizashi’s cheek. “Tonight we’ll be husbands.” 

 

“I still demand my party, though.” Hizashi’s grin was authentic and huge, and seeing it was like a breath of fresh air. Shouta snorted as he sat back in his own chair. 

 

“I wouldn’t dream of taking away the wedding you’ve been mentally planning for a decade.” 

 

Hizashi wheeled around to a now frozen Nemuri. 

 

“NEM, HOW COULD YOU?!” The slightest edge of his quirk made Nemuri’s long hair blow back in the powerful sound wave. Hizashi slapped his hands over his very red face, muttering an apology. His words were muffled as he spoke to Shouta. “It’s not my fault you are really pretty. Who didn’t plan a wedding with you in high school?” 

 

Hizashi’s hand snapped out to shove Nemuri’s hand down from where it had risen. He shot her a sharp look. “ Snitches don’t get to participate in shenanigans. ” 

 

Shouta laughed at his fiance and friend’s nonsense, before a small sound of the clearing of a throat made him turn to look at Nedzu. The rat looked sheepish and genuinely regretful. 

 

“It looks like I need to apologize, again. I did not take the possible emotional responses into this plan or I would have introduced it differently. I… miscalculated.”

 

“It’s…” Shouta searched the more centered looking Hizashi. He was a little pink and still weepy, but was smiling and fidgeting with the gold chain Shouta had gotten him. “Fine, I guess.” 

 

The idea behind their matching engagement chains was that the rings that they planned to get would be safer on chains than on fingers. Shouta suddenly felt a wave of sadness that they didn’t even have their rings yet. He wanted his sturdy silver chain to be weighed down. For a ring to rest on his sternum, warmed by skin contact. For the date nights and other special occasions when he’d be able to slip it on his finger and feel as it pinched his fingers as he and Hizashi held hands. Shouta wanted that, and knowing that they wouldn't have that was disappointing.  

 

They weren’t getting the wedding they both had hoped for. It was for the greater good, but it still left a hollow feeling in Shouta’s chest. 

 

“We should go ask Izuku if he is okay with us being his guardians, though. It seems wrong to not ask.” Hizashi said quietly. “Then if he seems okay with it we can go get married after school.” 

 

Shouta leaned over to slide his fingers in between the fingers of Hizashi’s hand. There were no rings between their fingers pinching them and being a constant reminder of what they’d promised each other. There wouldn’t be for some time. But feeling the way their hands fit together, the warmth he felt as they finished up the meeting, Shouta knew choosing Hizashi was the best decision he’d ever made. 

Chapter 16: Izuku Gets Two New Guardians!

Notes:

Hellloooooooooo follllksssss
I just reread this chapter and I dont think there are any triggers, not really lol at least I dont think there are lemme know if you dissagree
Also Thanks to my Beta @sassy_chemist as always <3 she is teaching me how commas work! Which honestly has been really fun lol I used to hate english class but man if they'd just... like let me write fanfiction and then edited my grammer I would be mortified as an adult looking back but I bet I would have learned a lot about grammer lololol
As it was mentioned, apperentally last chapter was still a little angsty lol I guess I made it sound like it was sunshine and roses lol but this chapter is also full of emotions ehehehe >:) I love giving my boys emotions <3
But! without further adooooo

warning: some mentions of vomiting

Enjoy!!~~~

Izuku woke up with a smile on his face. His plan had worked! Aizawa-san and Keigo broke out of the horribly awkward feedback loop and seemed to hit it off. There was that whole… middle bit where Izuku was really lost and cringing at the awkwardness, but they made it through! He’d excitedly relayed the whole evening to an amused Recovery Girl as she took his blood pressure and pulse in the morning. After they were done, she’d even told him that Hizashi had left some of last night's snacks for him. It made Izuku glad as there had been so many snacks but most of them really hadn’t been eaten. Also, it had taken some work on Izuku’s part, but after a pair of potent puppy dog eyes, Recovery Girl caved and gave him a cookie after breakfast. 

 

Izuku was just licking the crumbs and bits of chocolate off his fingers when Aizawa-san and Hizashi walked in. Izuku perked up; they were so much earlier than normal! He retreated back, pressing himself into his pillow. Hopefully nothing was wrong. The two heroes looked tense. It was also clear from Hizashi’s red rimmed eyes that he had been crying. 

 

Stiffening like a statue, Izuku froze. Was Keigo okay? Did something happen? Was… it time for Izuku to go back to the commission? Did… someone need his quirk?

 

It was selfish, but Izuku didn’t want to. He knew that he had been feeling a little better than how he had felt when he first woke up in the infirmary, but he had really really hoped that he could have had more time with the heroes before he went back into protective custody under the commission. 

 

He didn’t really want to see Mr. Watanabe again. He wanted to go outside a few more times before going back to his room. He wanted to watch more movies and play more card games. At least this time there would be less of a reason to keep heroes like Hawks, Recovery Girl, Eraserhead, Present Mic, or Midnight from seeing him, so he might be able to still have game nights with them! Also Izuku had overheard the heroes talk about investigations and interviews so hopefully they were finally making headway on the villains! 

 

Hizashi waved to Izuku, and he gave a small wave back. Aizawa-san shot him a tight smile. It looked more like a grimace, but the man was just kind of like that sometimes. He wasn’t the first man who had weird, borderline scary smiles. Izuku could ignore the way that some of his smiles made his heart race as long as he could search the dark eyes to see the soft emotions. 

 

This time all Izuku could see was nervousness in the bloodshot eyes. It made Izuku’s gut twist. The wooden stools creaked as the two heroes sat. Izuku raised his knuckle to his mouth and lightly chewed on it as he rubbed his numb feet together under the blanket.

 

“Hey kiddo, we had a question for you.” Aizawa-san's voice was his normal gravelly monotone, but the nervous eyes softened. Izuku felt some of the tension in his shoulders dissolve. 

 

“Yeah, Little Listener, we just wanted to make sure to ask your opinion before making any big decisions on your behalf.” 

 

All the air was sucked out of the room. Izuku felt his chest rise and fall, but there was nothing that filled his moving lungs. His mind started to spin as panic shot through his whole body. It was almost like someone had poured resin into Izuku’s veins at some point and he’d finally finished curing. He was a statue, able to look out, but not able to interact anymore. 

 

Adults only asked for his opinion like this for procedures . He’d really thought that with how nice Present Mic and Eraserhead had been that they would at least wait until Izuku was actually feeling better. But Recovery Girl-san’s medical checks must have shown he was better.

 

Izuku disagreed. He really wasn’t actually that much better. Not really. Not enough for procedures. He tried to keep a smile on his face and stay positive about it all like a hero was supposed to, but it was getting harder every day. Everything in his body was pulling him down, but Izuku was treading water against it to keep smiling. But there never seemed to ever be any forward movement as it took everything in him to just keep his head up. 

Or in the case of days like today, he was stuck half a meter down, and couldn’t breach the surface no matter how hard he tried. Today was just terrible, seemingly out of nowhere.

 

His feet were a pendulum swinging between numb and floppy to the borderline painful buzzing ‘pins and needles’ feeling and cramping. His aching chest felt tight or uncomfortable most of the time. Floppy noodle arms were capped with barely controllable fingers. His scarred skin tingled and prickled in ways that left him feeling itchy. And itching the skin made it feel like it was burning, so he tried not to touch it. His bad leg, even resting it like he had been, ached from the hip to his numb toes, and each joint felt like the bones ground together each time he moved them. More often than not, he had a headache, felt dizzy, or was having what Recovery Girl told him was minor heart palpitations from time to time. 

 

They never felt minor to Izuku. They were scary. 

 

Izuku was clawing his way towards happiness but every ache, pain, and disconcerting sensation wrapped chains around his ankles and slowly was dragging him further and further away from it. He kept trying, and it was easy to push the weight of it away when he had visitors, or even from himself when he was distracted, but it was getting harder to ignore it. And Izuku was not a fan. 

 

The idea that the commission was planning on asking him to do more was too much. He was tired and didn’t want to and was just in pain, constantly. The scientists probably knew he wouldn’t be happy to consent, so they probably sent some of his favorite heroes to ask. It would be harder for him to say no to his heroes, and they knew that. The hollow feeling that settled in his chest made Izuku reach up to rub his sternum. He needed to check to make sure he was still whole. 

 

Both the heroes seemed more concerned as Izuku’s mind continued to race. Izuku tried to reassure them with a smile, but he could feel how it came out wonky, and their reactions made it clear he’d failed. Eraserhead tilted his head deeper into his scarf and his eyes filled with worry. Present Mic sighed before giving Izuku a soft smile. 

 

“Sorry Little Listener, this is probably scary for you, huh?”

 

Izuku nodded, as his eyes prickled with tears. This was scary, but he felt a brittle sense of determination settle in him. He was going to say no. He wouldn’t do another procedure. Not yet. He needed more time. Even if they asked nicely, he’d say no. He had to. Izuku wiped his sweaty, shaking palms over the soft blanket. He liked the texture, it gave him something to focus on. 

 

“We just wanted to ask if you’d be okay with Sho and I being your new guardians.” Present Mic smiled.

 

Izuku opened his mouth ready to argue, only to blink. There was no way he’d heard that right. 

 

“Yeah kid.” Eraserhead leaned forward, his capture scarf shifted revealing the touch of a smile on his lips. His eyes were gooey. “If you’d be okay with it, we’d love to take care of you. The paperwork to put you in protective custody was finished today. We wanted you to be part of the decision though.” 

 

Izuku was more than a little confused. He already was in protective custody? And last time he was transferred, the paperwork didn’t take all that long? Maybe it was because he was going from Commission agents to heroes? Did that mean he… wasn’t going back to the facility? Izuku didn’t hate the idea that he’d stay at UA. Also, if this was like the transfer from Ms Komori to Mr. Watanabe, that meant the man was getting a promotion, which Izuku felt conflicted about. On one hand, he was relieved to not have him as a guardian, as he was not very good at it. On the other hand, Izuku didn’t think that Mr. Watanabe deserved a promotion at all. 

 

“So, Mr. Watanabe–” Izuku felt his heart pick up as he whispered the man’s name. “He– he wouldn’t be my assigned guardian anymore?” 

 

Both men had a weird expression flash across their faces when he asked that. Izuku mentally kicked himself. Guardians didn’t like questions. He’d almost forgotten. 

 

“You’ll never see that… man again.” Eraserhead spoke through gritted teeth, his face totally blank and his eyes were hard and angry.

 

Izuku blinked back tears, trying to keep them from rolling down his cheeks. He hadn’t realized that the kindness Mr. Eraserhead had shown thus far would disappear in the blink of an eye like this. It was a bit terrifying. Izuku petted the soft blanket over his lap as he rubbed his feet together, cringing at the buzzing painful tingles that shot through them every time they touched. 

 

“Do you have any questions, Izuku?” Present Mic’s voice was warm as he ducked down to try to get a better look at Izuku’s face. 

 

Millions of questions rattled around in Izuku’s mind. He knew that he’d already asked one that seemed to be the limit for Mr. Eraserhead now, but Mic had just asked if he had any so maybe one more wouldn’t hurt. 

 

“Would this… change things?”

 

“What do you mean by changing things?” Mr. Eraserhead’s voice was back to the softer gravelly monotone. Maybe he was okay with more than one question, but Izuku was too nervous to check his eyes. Instead he focused on the soft fibers that he bunched between his fingers. 

 

“Will– Will you still like, visit and play games and stuff?” Izuku felt his blood run cold, before he tacked on, “Will Kei still be allowed to visit? Or just you two?”

 

Izuku knew he was pushing it by asking three questions in a row, but he needed to make sure he could still see his brother. He also did really enjoy playing games with the heroes and didn’t really want that to stop either. 

 

“Oh, we wouldn’t dare take you from your brother, Little Listener.” Izuku sagged back into his pillow. Mic leaned forward, leaning his hands on the edge of the mattress. “And I for one hope to be able to go on some more walks and maybe have movie nights.” He winked with a grin. “Might even be able to convince Sho here to actually have that dance party.” 

 

That let something settle in Izuku. Hizashi was still acting normal. He wasn’t so sure about Eraserhead yet, but he was hopeful. 

 

“I can’t believe you told him I do dance.” Eraserhead had a light dusting of pink over his cheeks as he grumbled in Hizashi’s direction.

 

“And I can’t believe you don’t shout it from the rooftops. You’re talented. ” Hizashi reached over and patted his pink cheek. “I’m going to get you to agree to a dance at our wedding one of these days.” 

 

“Wait– You’re dating?!” Izuku slapped a hand over his mouth. He froze, his eyes flicked between the two heroes, waiting for their reactions. Hizashi grinned as Eraserhead nodded. Neither of them looked mad at the unprompted question. Their question tolerance was pretty high, but Izuku didn’t want to learn what the limit was. 

 

“Yup! Engaged actually.” Hizashi sent Izuku finger guns. “We’re actually headed to get hitched this afternoon!”

 

More questions exploded in Izuku’s brain. He chewed on his lower lip, like he could maybe eat the words before they could fall out of his mouth. 

 

“Soon we’ll be husbands, not just fiances.” Aizawa-san looked at Hizashi, his eyes gooey as he smiled. At least that hadn’t changed. Izuku was glad. He liked it when both adults looked happy. 

 

“Congrats.” The word felt like sandpaper as it fell out of his mouth. He was happy for them! He really was, but he didn’t know what was allowed yet. So the fewer words the better until he knew what their limits were. Maybe it would be better to try to figure out a gift or something to show his excitement on their behalf. If his hands worked better he’d draw them a card, but holding a pen was kinda hard. He’d have to think about it. 

 

“Thanks, kiddo. We’re pretty excited.” Aizawa-san slowly reached out a hand headed for his hair. Izuku flinched before realizing that he was probably just going in to ruffle his hair like Keigo does. Quickly, he leaned his head into his palm. The calloused fingers gently carded through his curls a few times before they retreated. Izuku missed it, but knew he couldn’t ask for more. 

 

All he could hope was that Aizawa-san would be that gentle once the procedures started back up. Hizashi also might even break the rules and not use the blindfolds. He’d said he wouldn’t cover his eyes again, so Izuku kept that promise in the back of his mind. He’d really like to not have his eyes covered next time. There was a chance that Aizawa-san would do it instead, allowing Hizashi to keep his promise and have him be blindfolded, but Izuku was still hopeful. He really hated not being able to see. 

 

“But, Izuku, would you be okay with us being your guardians?” Aizawa-san asked.

 

Izuku had never been asked this before. And he really would rather not have a guardian at all , but he understood that he was still a kid and someone had to do it. So he nodded, which must have been the correct response as both men’s faces broke out into smiles. Hizashi’s smile was wide and excited, bordering on giddy, Aizawa-san’s was more calm and small, but Izuku could see the relief and warmth in his eyes. 

 

“I promise we’ll do our best to support you, and if there is anything we do that makes you uncomfortable let us know, and we’ll talk it all out, okay?” Hizashi gave Izuku two thumbs up. Izuku responded with a tentative thumbs up. There was no way he’d push his guardians like that, but he appreciated the offer. Everything about the procedures was uncomfortable anyway, so Izuku didn’t really know what they would be able to do about it.

 

“We also have another surprise.” Izuku’s heart sank. This was where they asked to use his quirk. Hizashi grinned and spread his arms out wide. “You’ll be coming back to the dorm apartments to see your new room! We can take you there now!” 

 

Izuku perked up at that. A new room sounded nice. Maybe this one would be further from the procedure room. Maybe he’d have his own bathroom .

 

“Yeah, and you can keep an eye on Keigo for us,” Aizawa-san drawled out. 

 

Izuku sent him a confused look, not sure why Kei would need to be watched. Hizashi chuckled at the face before leaning over a hand cupped over his mouth to stage-whisper to Izuku.

 

“Sho is just being a mother hen. Keigo was looking a little under the weather this morning.” 

 

Izuku nodded. That made sense. He could make sure his brother was okay for Aizawa-san. 

 

“We should get headed over before the students start arriving.” Aizawa-san stood, twisting his back to crack it. Izuku grimaced; it sounded awful. Hizashi laughed at his face. 

 

“Same, Little Listener, but Sho swears that it feels better after breaking his own spine like that.” 

 

Izuku shrugged at that. He couldn’t really argue with that. Sometimes he liked to pop his knuckles. Hizashi then stood and moved to push the wheelchair closer to the bed. Aizawa-san picked him up and placed him seated in the wheelchair. Recovery Girl came out of her office to give him one last lecture about his health. Izuku only half paid attention as he was dizzy and his skin was starting to prickle and burn. He’d also heard this lecture a few times now. Once she was done she placed the basket of snacks that Hizashi had left on his lap. Izuku immediately dug into it to pick out another cookie. It took him a few tries to grip the soft cookie to pick it up. He took a huge bite. 

 

Recovery Girl rolled her eyes. “Watch this one, he has a killer sweet tooth. It’s like he can sniff out sweet treats from a kilometer away” 

 

Izuku resented that. It was more like ten kilometers, thank you very much. And who wouldn’t want the skill to sniff out cookies this good? 

 

“Don’t worry, RG.” Hizashi gave her a dramatic solute. “We’ll take good care of the Little Listener. Right, Izuku?” 

 

He nodded, the cookie hanging out of his mouth. He put up two thumbs up to really reiterate the point. Recovery Girl sighed as she shook her head with a small smile. Hizashi just laughed as he started pushing the wheelchair out of the room. 

 

“Ready to go, kiddo?” Aizawa-san asked. Izuku looked up through his green curls to check his eyes. They were soft and gooey again. He slumped back into the back of the chair with a nod. He was pretty excited to see his new room and hang out with Keigo. 

 

The excitement almost distracted him from the headache that radiated up from the base of his skull and the ache in his hip. 

 

Almost. 

 

—

 

“Cupcakes,” Izuku mumbled into Keigo’s side, just loud enough to be heard over the movie he’d only been half paying attention to.

 

“What about them?” His brother turned to look down at Izuku, looking a little lost. But he also looked a little relieved. He’d seemed a little stressed when he’d come to the dorm and Izuku wasn’t sure why and had tried to figure it out as he silently followed his brother around as Keigo gave him the ‘grand tour’. Izuku wasn’t able to figure out what had been stressing him out, but was glad whatever it was seemed to be gone. 

 

Izuku wiggled to sit more upright, mumbling an apology as he dug his elbows into Keigo. He leaned heavily into the back of the slightly scratchy fabric of the couch, letting the headache and dizziness dissipate. The angle made his knee ache horribly but there was not really a better way to put his leg with how the two of them were tangled together on the couch. Keigo looked a little green and was taking low slow breaths, but that was probably from Izuku pushing on his ‘slightly tender stomach’. Izuku apologized again before explaining his sugary interjection. 

 

“There are cakes at weddings.” 

 

“...yeah, and?” Keigo’s voice sounded a little thin, but his pale face was slowly filling back up with color. 

 

“Aizawa-san and Hizashi should have cake too.” 

 

Keigo nodded slowly, still looking confused. “What does Shouta and Mic have anything to do with weddings?”

 

“They’re getting married today.” 

 

“What?” 

 

Keigo seemed a little slow today. Izuku wondered if he didn’t sleep well last night after all the stress and being a little under the weather. That happened to Izuku sometimes, so he’d make sure to keep an eye out. Just like Aizawa-san had asked him to.

 

Izuku shrugged. “I didn’t know they were engaged until this morning.” 

 

“Okay, I think I’m following now.” Keigo rubbed at his eyes as he sat up with a short groan. “Do you want to make them some?”

 

“ Yes .” Izuku rolled his eyes, before kicking himself. It wasn’t Keigo’s fault that he was feeling sick and not at his best. Izuku just needed to make up the difference to help him. “Sorry.” 

 

“All good, Chickadee.” Keigo stood and stretched his arms up. He dropped a hand to rest on his stomach before shooting Izuku a pained grimace. “Why cupcakes though?”

 

Izuku shrugged again. “Dunno, thought it’d be nice.” 

 

“It is nice. I’m sure they will both love it.” That made Keigo’s face lighten with a warm smile. He leaned over to ruffle Izuku’s hair, and Izuku met him halfway. Keigo chuckled. “I think we have everything for cupcakes in the kitchen. Wheelchair or feathers?” 

 

Izuku shot his brother a flat look. It was obviously better to be carried around by feathers than be trapped in a wheelchair which Izuku couldn’t even fully control with his weak arms. Keigo just laughed, his true laugh, before he stopped. His face flashed white as he slapped a hand over his mouth.

 

“I’ll be right back.” Keigo rushed out from behind his hand. He darted down the hall where Izuku knew the bathroom was. He wanted to follow him, but the way his feet felt like heavy lumps, his bad leg throbbed, and how he was a little lightheaded, Izuku was pretty sure he wouldn’t make it the length of the hallway. Izuku froze when he heard the very faint sounds of gagging followed by splattering. 

 

Keigo was dying. 

 

Before he knew it Izuku was across the room, his body screaming at him, and his vision tunneled to a pinpoint. Izuku’s shoulder hit the corner of the wall and he collapsed down into a tangle of throbbing limbs and aching joints, surrounding a pounding chest and throbbing head. He felt really sick, but Keigo needed him . Izuku tried to reorient himself to crawl towards the bathroom only for him to hear a distressed bird call. Izuku felt the way the floor shook at each quick footstep. 

 

Cold fingers shook as they shoved their way under his jaw to press a little too deeply into his neck. Izuku cringed away from the feeling as Kei let out a shaky breath. Gently, shaking hands untangled Izuku, laying him out on the floor. His head was lifted to rest on Kei’s warm lap. Kei’s cold fingers combed through Izuku’s hair, faster then he usually did it, almost like he was trying to reassure himself that everything was fine. 

 

Izuku didn’t think everything was fine, not really. Today seemed way harder than yesterday for no reason. He really missed yesterday. Everything today just kinda made him want to cry. Soft hands wiped away the wet tracks from his face, Izuku hadn’t realized they were there. He blinked open his eyes, looking up. Kei’s pale face hovered over him, upside down. He looked incredibly worried as he chewed on his lower lip. When they finally made eye contact Izuku saw the way Kei’s whole body slump, relaxing. He gave Izuku a tight smile.

 

“Hey, Chickadee. How– how are you feeling?” Izuku could smell the nasty acidic smell on his breath. 

 

“You were dying.” Izuku scrunched his face as the tears started streaming from his eyes. His vision totally shot, he closed his eyes again hopefully to stop his head from pounding. “I heard you dying .” 

 

Izuku was shifted into Kei’s arms. The sudden movement made the room spin, but he knew that his brother would hold him tight through it. Izuku opened his eyes once the room settled, only for his view to be just a smear of red. The fluffy edge of Keigo’s feathers grazed his nose. 

 

Oh, Keigo had cocconned them in his wings. Izuku felt himself melt into Keigo’s hold. It made him feel safe. 

 

“I’m fine Chickadee, just a stomach bug, I swear. Sorry for scaring you.” 

 

“‘S fine.” Izuku dug his nose into Keigo’s warm neck. “Sorry for scaring you, too.” 

 

“I’m just glad you are okay.”

 

“Yeah.” His throat felt tight and the word came out more of a whisper.

 

Izuku didn’t really think he was okay anymore. He wasn’t getting better and everything hurt worse today and he didn’t know why . Healing was just supposed to get better naturally, right? His leg a year ago had been an exception because he’d scream at anyone who’d try to touch it, and then even after a long time it started feeling a little better. However, this time he was letting Recovery Girl do her unending tests and he took the medications and rested like he’d been told. But he still felt awful. It wasn’t fair.

 

After a few minutes of just being lightly rocked in a soothing manner, Izuku squirmed. The joints in his leg felt like they were on fire from the tight angles, and the skin under the plastic cast itched. Keigo sniffed before the feathers of his wings ruffled as he tucked them close to his back. 

 

“You still wanna make cupcakes? Or should we go back to the movie? I bet if we wait for a better day they won’t mind, so either way.” 

 

“Cupcakes.” Izuku whispered. He really wanted to start this guardianship off right and with something nice. It didn’t matter that the idea of moving around to make cupcakes sounded like a nightmare. He wanted to make them, and he’d been laying around all day already. All week really. He wanted to do something. 

 

“Okay, Izu.” Keigo gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Feathers detached from Keigo’s wings and practically cradled Izuku. He wasn’t sure why but the way the red feathers tenderly scooped him up made Izuku’s eyes water as a lump grew in his throat. He felt so warm. Izuku reached out and stroked a hand down the shaft of one of the feathers. It made Keigo’s smile finally reach his eyes.

 

“Alright, kiddo. Let's go make some cupcakes. A thing I have definitely done before and have no doubts will go flawlessly on the first try.”

 

Izuku felt a small spark of humor shoot out from the thick dark viscous feeling that had settled in his chest today. He smirked at his brother.

 

“Think of it as baking practice for the cookies you still owe me.” 

 

Izuku snickered at the dramatic way Keigo fell back from his kneeling position to lay on the floor. The back of his hand pressed to his forehead as he let out the longest sigh. 

 

“What am I to do with my blackmailing brother! His demands know no ends!” 

 

Izuku peaked over the edge of the feathers that held him up. Keigo looked pale, save for the bright red over his cheeks. The deep circles under his eyes looked more hollowed out than normal. He was breathing a little heavier than normal, too. Izuku felt his chest tighten. Keigo was sick, and maybe demanding cookies and cupcakes was a little much. 

 

“... if you don’t feel up to it we can do something else. You’re sick.”

 

Keigo looked up with an intense stare. Izuku ducked down a little under the harsh gaze. Keigo’s eyes softened, as he waved him off. “Nah, Chickadee, I’m just being dramatic, I don’t mind baking.” 

 

“How do you know that? You just said you’d never done it before.” 

 

Keigo scoffed as he stood and started working his way towards the kitchen. Turning to Izuku floating behind him, he grinned.

 

“How hard could it really be?”

Notes:

Lemme know how you think the kids baking adventures are gonna go scale of 1 to 10 xD

Chapter 17: Izuku Makes Cupcakes with his Brother!

Notes:

hello folks!
hopefully you've had a few great days <3 we now get a lovely continuation of our day!
It's a long day for our favorite found family lol I didn't realize how LONG it was haha it covers like 6 or 7 chapters but a lot happens eheheh
lots of emotions
kinda a rollercoaster if imma be honest :D
and thanks as always to @sassy_chemist for being a tru bestie and editing and being my hype man hahaha
BuTTTT without further adoooo

OH ALSO WARNING: there is some vomiting here but i dont think its... too graphic or bad. I guess the last chapter did too lol ill add taht warning for those who are grossed out by that :P

Enjoy~~~

Last time:

Keigo scoffed as he stood and started working his way towards the kitchen. Turning to Izuku floating behind him, he grinned.

“How hard could it really be?” 

---

 

The answer to Keigo’s question turned out to be really hard. 

 

The first batch of cupcakes came out burnt to a crisp. They did not trigger the fire alarm only because Keigo used feathers to fan the smoke out the same window that he’d chucked the ruined cupcakes out of. The second batch was weirdly goopy no matter how long they put them in the oven.  Izuku had thought it was impossible to double bake something and not burn it. The third batch he was pretty sure they mixed up the sugar with the flour and they were gritty and hard in a strange way. Keigo claimed it was because they were cursed. Izuku giggled, saying both things might be true. The fourth batch got stuck in the tin and came out as crumbly bits when Keigo got frustrated and violently used a butter knife and a spoon to scoop them out. It made Izuku giggle as his brother cussed out the cupcakes under his breath. They snacked on the bits as they tried again. At least that one was technically edible, and Izuku honestly thought they tasted pretty good. They were making progress! 

 

And now, finally on the fifth batch, they had pulled a single cupcake out of the tin as a test, and it looked, and smelled, delicious. It was on the top of a tupperware container as all the other dishes had become casualties of the various attempts. Tan and looking just slightly moist, the raised half sphere steamed over top of the green silicone cupcake cup they’d found in the back of a drawer after trial four. The warm vanilla smell overpowered the slight burnt scent that had settled in the corners of the once clean kitchen. Looking over it now, the kitchen looked a bit like a warzone, but it was worth it if this one finally worked. 

 

Keigo cleared his throat. “Not going to lie, I’m a little scared.” 

 

“What for?” Izuku asked, confused.

 

“If this one is bad I think I’m going to give up.” He slumped over the kitchen island, not seemingly caring about how his cheek slid into some splattered batter. He closed his eyes with a low moan. “I would rather throw in the towel now than have to do all these dishes twice .”

 

Izuku grimaced at the large pile of dishes and bowls that filled the sink, counters, and even spilled onto the floor. He could understand that; it looked like a lot. He wished he’d be able to help Keigo with the cleanup but honestly, he thought he would be more of a hindrance than a help. After dropping four spatulas, Keigo had dubbed Izuku the “grand manager” and given Izuku the recipe and had him keep track of the numbers, as Keigo kept losing track of where they were at. It was fun since he’d get to show off his knowledge of fractions as the options for measuring cups dwindled as they ended up in the sink.

 

“It’s okay, Kei, I got a good feeling about this one.” 

 

After cutting the frostingless cupcake in half Izuku took his half. They ‘clinked’ their halves together before taking a bite. 

 

It. 

Was. 

Amazing!  

 

Izuku kicked his feet as he enjoyed the amazing texture and flavor as Keigo let out some happy bird-noises, hopping around. 

 

“We did it! We did it!!” Keigo pulled Izuku into a hug. He spun in a circle. “We–” 

 

Keigo went pale before he ran to the bathroom again. Izuku grabbed onto the slightly shifting feathers as they undulated under him, in time with the sounds echoing down the hall. Izuku sighed. Keigo had run off a couple times throughout this whole thing. He’d gotten his brother to nibble on some cupcake and sip some tea, but Izuku didn’t even know what he was possibly throwing up anymore. It was making him nervous. When Aizawa-san got back Izuku had a long list of things to tell him about how Keigo was doing. Most importantly, the fact that he was decidedly not well. 

 

It took a few minutes before Keigo wobbled back out into the kitchen. He leaned heavily against the doorway. Izuku thought he looked terrible. He was sweaty, shaking, and his normally tannish skin might as well be camouflage for the apartment's white walls. Keigo’s wings were held loose, the few long feathers that were still attached were dragging along the ground, his shoulders shivered as he held his arms across his chest. His gold eyes looked shiny and unfocused, and his hair looked greasy and wet from sweat. Izuku felt a zing of anxiety at how bad Keigo looked. Maybe he should lay down. 

 

“Hey, ‘m back. So, we on frosting now?” Keigo struggled a few times before finally pushing himself off the doorway, crossing to where the cupcakes were set out on a plate. 

 

“I dunno, Kei, you look like you should lay down.” Izuku reached out to check his forehead for a fever. Keigo batted his hand away.

 

“Nah, I’m fine. We can’t give ’em bald cupcakes.” Keigo’s arms shook as he propped himself up on them as they rested on the kitchen island. Izuku watched as Keigo closed his eyes and took more than a few seconds to center himself before passing the recipe to Izuku with a fake smile. “What’s the first step?”

 

“I think the first step is you laying down.” Izuku mumbled. “You really don’t–”

 

“I’m fine , Izuku.” Keigo snapped out, making Izuku jump. Keigo slumped onto the counter. His head hit with a dull thump before he grumbled into it. “Sorry.” 

 

“It’s okay, it's hard to be happy when you don’t feel well.” Izuku was just close enough to pat Keigo’s head. It was a little gross from how wet it was, but the way that Keigo rolled his head to smile at Izuku made his heart swell.

 

“Yeah, it can be hard.” 

 

“But– um– after we make the frosting will you take a short break?” Izuku fidgeted with one of the feathers that was holding him up. “I really think that it could help.”

 

Keigo flopped bodily around to lazily look around the mess in the kitchen. After a second he shrugged. “I should clean, but honestly that sounds like way too much work.”

 

“Okay, good” Izuku brought the recipe up close to his nose to read it. Hopefully they could finish fast so Keigo could rest sooner. “Also the first step is getting three cups of powdered sugar and putting it in a bowl.”

 

Keigo nodded, grabbing a large tupperware container and the bag of granulated sugar.

 

“No, powdered sugar.” 

 

Squinting at the bag, Keigo frowned. “What’s the difference? It’s all sugar.” 

 

“That stuff’s all hard, we need the soft sugar.” 

 

Keigo rubbed a hand along his forehead, smoothing out the wrinkles from his confused frown. “Couldn’t... we try it with this stuff?”

 

“It wont work Kei, we need the powdered sugar.” 

 

They had a staring contest until Kiego’s shoulders drooped and he nodded. He shuffled around checking the various cabinets and drawers before he groaned. “I don’t think we have any.” 

 

“Do you think the… main kitchen might have some?” Izuku chewed on his bottom lip. He didn’t think he would be allowed out with just Keigo to protect him, especially when he was so sick, but it was worth a shot. If it didn’t work, he could just make Keigo lay down.

 

“I– maybe?” Keigo flopped his back neck to look behind him at the clock on the wall, his mouth open. He squinted as he ran his tongue over his teeth. Izuku cringed at how Keigo’s neck cracked as he rolled it back. “Classes got out maybe half an hour ago, so it should be clear to check.”

 

“Wait, really?” Izuku perked up, excited to go outside again. 

 

“Yeah,” Keigo nodded, before scrubbing his hands against his face. “Lemme go grab our jackets. You want slippers? It’s probably gonna be cold for bare feet.” 

 

“Yes, please.” 

 

It took Keigo a long time to gather up the things. He was moving pretty slowly. Maybe it was a bad idea. Izuku didn’t think Keigo would appreciate being told he should maybe lay down again, so he kept his mouth shut and just kept his eyes open. He just added to his list to Aizawa-san. It was getting really long, hopefully he’d remember all of it. 

 

Once they were both dressed in their fresh UA PE uniform sweaters, and in his boots for Keigo and slippers for Izuku, they headed out. It was a gray and drab day. A storm had rolled in after sunset the night before, and all morning it had been pouring rain. The pitter-pattering of the drops on the roof of the dorm apartment had let up around the start of cupcake attempt four, so it was still pretty wet. Looking at the dark clouds, Izuku frowned. He didn’t think those clouds looked quite done, so it might get more wet here shortly. 

 

Keigo walked really slowly, and it was more of a stagger as he swayed down the wet path to the main building. His feathers didn’t wobble and held firm under Izuku, but he started to chew on his knuckle, nervous. He really, really wanted to say something. He knew it was better to not say anything, but it was getting hard to hold himself back. It started to sprinkle a little and Keigo shifted his wings to be used like an umbrella. Izuku appreciated it as he was dry, but he also didn’t like how it left Keigo walking more unsteadily. 

 

They almost made it to the main campus building when Keigo let out a gagging sound. He dropped to all fours in the wet grass and hacked up thick, stringy bile. He groaned as he fell to his side panting and gripping his stomach tightly. After a few minutes he started keening as he tightened further into a ball on the lawn. 

 

The feathers that held Izuku up shook like it was taking everything in them to hold him up until gently the feathers drifted down to the ground. Izuku wiggled over to his brother and put a hand to his forehead. It was absolutely boiling. Ice shot through Izuku’s veins, he shook Kei’s shoulder.

 

“Kei? Keigo?” The teen in question only let out a whimper as he scrunched his eyes closed even further. Izuku didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t really run to get help. His quirk never really did anything for disease. And even if his quirk worked on illnesses, he didn’t have any knives or anything to activate it. 

 

Izuku blinked up at the UA building looming over them. It was probably only five or six meters away. But Izuku couldn’t make it across a single room, and this was almost three times as far just to get to the front door. Izuku ducked his head down into Keigo’s side and cried. Keigo just laid there shivering under Izuku’s forehead. The damp spot from Izuku’s tears faded into the cold wet rain that finally started pouring. Izuku shivered.

 

He felt so alone. So cold . Everyone left him. Why did he think Keigo would be any different? A sob tore out of Izuku. He rolled his head trying to find any heat, only to end up with his face pressed up to his brother’s neck. The sickly rolling boil that rippled from Keigo heated his face. Izuku sobbed again. 

 

This needed to be fixed. Izuku needed to fix this. Keigo was just sick, not gone, and help was right there. School might be over but Izuku knew that Recovery Girl seemed to never leave the infirmary, even for the evening. And she’s a doctor, so she should be able to fix it. Determination flooded him as he sat up. He just needed to make it to the infirmary. That wasn’t too far, just another ten meters once he got through the door. So maybe fourteen meters total. He could do that. He had to. For Keigo. 

 

Izuku whimpered as he shifted to a squat. His feet prickled just on the edge of pain, and the angle made his knee and hip throb. Slowly, Izuku stood, bent over using Keigo’s shivering shoulder for balance. His legs shook under him as his heart pounded out an unsteady staccato beat against his ribs. Once he was sort of stable on his noodle legs he moved his torso upright. Standing fully up, Izuku felt a little light headed, but he was not fully dizzy so he mentally cheered that he’d done it right. Izuku started taking unsteady steps. The rain and grass soaking into his slippers made them icy cold and squish horribly with each step. His leg screamed with every small movement. His head pounded. Rain water stung as it got in his eyes. But he kept walking. 

 

Right as he was about to leave the grassy area, only a meter and a half from the door, Izuku felt his slipper slip. Izuku tried to catch himself only for his back to crash in the cold mud. The air was knocked out of him, and he gasped and gagged as the rain pelted his face. 

 

Finally catching his breath, Izuku sobbed. His everything hurt. He was cold and wet and the idea of trying to stand back up sounded like an impossible task. He curled up on his side hugging his good leg to his chest, cringing at the thick feeling of mud pressing into his cheek and tangling in his wet hair. This was too much, and because Izuku was too weak, too broken, Keigo was going to die. 

 

Just like his mom. 

 

Sobbing, Izuku wished the harsh icy rain would just wash him away. Just erode him away for his bits to sink into the mud below him, or run off to the grates that lead somewhere far, far away. Maybe if he was gone he’d be able to see his mom again. 

 

It was so cold. The clacking of his teeth as he shivered, mixed with the hiccuping sobs and pounding rain, almost drowned out the voice. 

 

“Izuku? Is– is that you?” The voice sounded shocked. There was a thud, followed by running. “Oh G-d, Izuku. ” 

 

Blearily, Izuku opened his eyes and squinted through the heavy rain. A jacket was thrown over him, followed by an umbrella being propped up next to him. The teen next to him had long black hair that was held back in a low ponytail, the UA uniform white dress shirt was already see through from the rain, a green graphic T-shirt now visible under it, and he had a slightly crooked nose. A crooked nose Izuku recognized.  

 

“M-Mako?” The relief in his friend's face was palpable. Izuku smiled at the now wet and muddy UA jacket over his chest. “You made it into UA?” 

 

His friend barked out a laugh. “Only you would have that be your first words after falling off the face of the earth for a year .” His voice was lower than Izuku remembered, but it was jovial in the way it usually was. 

 

Izuku smiled. “Hey, it’s a valid question!”

 

Mako laughed a few times until it transitioned into a sob. Suddenly, Izuku was being crushed in his older friend’s grip. The change was quick and Izuku felt lightheaded, but after taking a breath he scrambled his cold fingers into Mako’s back. A hand curled around the back of his neck and rocked the two of them. Izuku was still shivering and drenched, but he didn’t feel as cold anymore. 

 

After taking a deep breath Mako leaned back in the hug to look at Izuku. He grimaced and started to rub Izuku’s arms, in a poor attempt to warm him up. 

 

“S—, Izuku, your lips are turning blue. Let's get you inside.” He stood, trying to pull a limp Izuku up with him. He frowned as Izuku reached out back towards where Keigo was. “Oh, G-d, are they dead?”

 

“Not dead,” Izuku spat out. “He's just really sick. It's my brother, please he needs help.” 

 

“You’re brother?” He crouched back down. “You… don’t have a brother.” 

 

“Yes, I do. ” Izuku clawed at the ground sliding over the mud to get back to his brother. Mako held him back with a tight grip around his wrist and Izuku wheeled around and screamed right in his friend's face. “LET ME GO!” 

 

Mako let go like he had been touching hot iron. Izuku was able to roll and scramble and crawl back to his brother. He checked Keigo’s breathing and pulse. He couldn’t really tell much with his too cold numb fingers, but the heat radiating off him was nuclear. Izuku threw himself over his brother and let out a keening whine. He’d ruined whatever progress he had made, but at least he knew he was still alive. Mako had functional legs so maybe he could go get Recovery Girl.

 

“Holy s—, that's Hawks .” Mako’s voice was thin. “Izuku, come on, back away from him.” 

 

Izuku shook his head into his brother's side. He gripped the soggy fabric covering the burning Keigo.

 

“No, seriously, Izu, you gotta come with me. He’s not safe.” 

 

“SHUT UP! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT!” Izuku screamed. He felt light headed from snapping up, but he continued. “HE SAVED ME, KEIGO SAVED ME. HE IS MY BROTHER AND MY HERO!”

 

Through blurry vision, Izuku watched his friend take a step back, his hands raised. “I dunno what he told you, but he has an APB on him. There are warnings nightly about how he is unstable and dangerous. That he is a hero turned villain.” 

 

Izuku felt like the world had been flipped on its head. That didn’t make any sense. “Wh-What?”

 

“I need you to– Wait, have you been with him since you disappeared?” Mako squatted just a meter or so away, his hands still raised. Izuku completely ignored the question.

 

“What do you mean he is a villain??” 

 

“Come on, Izu,” He reached out, his palm up towards the pelting rain. “It’s too cold and wet out here. Let’s go into UA, we can get you warm–” 

 

“I’m not leaving him. He’s my only family. ” Izuku practically hissed out as he curled up tighter around Keigo. Izuku wished he was bigger so he could block all the rain. 

 

“Izu– I don’t know what he’s told you this past year or what happened but you have a family. And he isn’t part of it.” 

 

“YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! MOM DIED, ALL I HAVE IS KEIGO!” Izuku’s voice tore at his vocal chords. The words were chopped up between all the emotions slicing through him. He reached down and yanked up a chunk of grass and threw it at Mako. “HE SAVED ME! HE SAVED ME!” 

 

The chunk of grass smacked into the ground right in front of Mako. Izuku let out a frustrated scream. He was so weak he couldn’t even throw some grass right. How was he supposed to help his brother? He fell back down over Keigo. He was starting to really feel dizzy, and his vision tunneled from shifting around and yelling so much. His heart was thumping strangely in his chest.

 

“Izuku…” Mako looked really unsure as he took a crouched step forward. His voice was soft. “Your mom is alive.” 

 

“No, she died . She died right in front of me because I was too weak to save her.” He sobbed. “And now I’m gonna be too weak again. I’m going to lose my family, again. ” 

 

Mako was now knelt next to Izuku. A tentative and nervous hand touched his shoulder. “She’s not dead, Izuku. Mom and I just visited her a month ago.”

 

“You’re lying, she died!” Izuku’s voice broke as he swatted the hand away. “She died trying to save me! I was there! I was there!” 

 

The vision of his mom’s blood dyeing the knuckles of one of the villains as he hit her again and again, fingers dripping red, flashed in his mind. The sound of her choked off scream. The villain's stale breath as he whispered that Izuku had just killed his mom for struggling too much. The icy arrow that had shot through his heart that day had spread and filled his whole body with permafrost. He was so cold. Izuku felt himself shivering harder. He was always so cold.

 

“She’s not though. She’s alive.” The words cut through the overwhelming sights and sounds that jumbled Izuku’s mind.  “Why would I lie to you, Izu?”

 

It was a good question. Izuku’s mind creaked and groaned as the gears turned. Mako was a good friend. One of his only friends. He had never lied to him before. Getting Izuku’s hopes up only to pull the rug out from under him would be mindless cruelty. And Mako was neither mindless nor cruel. 

 

“You wouldn’t.” Izuku whispered out. He peeked out between his dripping locks of hair. “My mom’s alive?” 

 

“Yeah, she is.” 

 

The ice that Izuku had been filled with for so long shattered. The tiny ice crystals cascaded out of him at Mako’s words. It left him feeling hollow, but not in a bad way. He thought that is what peace might feel like, but Izuku wasn’t sure. Mako smiled as he rubbed his hand across Izuku’s wet back. It was a little harder than was comfortable and the drenched fabric rubbed horribly on his back. 

 

“Can– Can you call her?” Izuku felt a bubble of hope balloon in his chest. 

 

Mako’s face fell. “I– I can’t” 

 

The balloon popped.

 

“What do you mean you can’t?”

 

“I can’t . She’s in prison.”

 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN MOM’S IN PRISON?” Izuku screamed, overwhelmed by… everything. Everything was too much, too fast, too cold, too painful, too wet, and in Keigo’s case too hot .

 

Pounding footsteps echoed closer and Izuku jumped up to protect his brother. He was terrified that it was the villains that… Didn’t kill his mom… But then why wouldn’t he go back to her ? Why go into protective custody? Why was she in jail? He shook his head, pushing off the questions and focusing on the dangers of now. His head spun, but he held his ground as he crouched over Keigo’s still form. 

 

Sprinting up the path was a very wet Aizawa-san, followed by an equally drenched Hizashi and Midnight. The two men were in suits, Aizawa-san in his usual black, his red tie flapping behind him. His capture weapon was loosely looped around his arm. Hizashi was missing a jacket but in a black dress shirt with maroon slacks. Midnight was holding a maroon suit jacket over her head and shoulders as she ran, her pretty blue dress ripped up the side. All three of them were soaked and sprayed with mud. The sight of them made Izuku feel like the band that was holding him upright snapped violently. 

 

The vision of a panicked, wide eyed, sprinting Aizawa-san reaching out towards him spun and faded to black as he fell. 

 

Izuku was out before he hit the ground. 

Notes:

Dun dun duuuuuuuun >:)) I'm mean to have two cliffies in a ROW (well this one is more of a cliffe but like now knowing how the cupcakes go is also a cliffie??? right? xD)

But our boys are not having a good time lol I wonder whose fault is that ehehehe >:)

Also who else is a little devistated that they never got to frost the cupcakes :// I fo sure am

Chapter 18: Shouta Thought Weddings Were Supposed to be Happy

Notes:

I was gonna post this evening but I forgot I volenteered to do a talent show for some old folks home lol so Imma be tired so I figured I'd do it earlier in the day :P
BUTTTTTT I figured no one would be MAD about hanging on a cliffie for less time :D So we get some resolution about the whole thing :D
There is however lots of uhhhh angst and emotions in this one so like its a bummmpyyy riiiddeee
As always shout out and huge thanks to @sassy_chemist my IRL friend who reads, edits and is my hype man for my writing lol <3 you da best!

Triggers?: Like beyond some uh poor mental health in the senset of anxiety, dissociation and like panic attacks I can't think of any concerns? lemme know if you disagree lol Oh I guess Nem is a part of this so there are some (fairly mild) sex jokes if you are sensitive to that sort of thing lol

WITHOUT FURTHER ADOOOO ENJOY!!!!!

Shouta thought getting legally married was maybe too simple of a process. He knew that Nedzu had pulled some strings to get Hizashi and himself a license and an appointment with a judge the same day, but even without his boss's assistance, it felt too simple. Too small. Not for something that felt so important. Rationally, having it be simple made sense. Lots of people got married and streamlining the bureaucracy wherever they could would normally be something Shouta could get behind. But for some reason, Shouta thought there should be a little more fanfare, a few more hoops to jump through. But that wasn’t the case. Hizashi and Shouta were now, in the eyes of the law, bonded. That felt like a huge thing. A decision that should take more than ten minutes to have ratified. 

 

Efficiency was something that Shouta has always appreciated, but he couldn’t deny that the few short words from the judge after they all signed the paperwork rung hollow. However, Shouta did feel fluttering excitement as he kissed his now husband . 

 

It was going to take a second to get used to that. 

 

Hizashi was driving them all back to UA in his ridiculous sports car. He’d bought the blue Mustang shortly into their careers as heroes, before they moved out of his parents’ house. It had been their first real fight as a couple. Shouta thought moving out of the Yamada’s basement and getting an apartment was more important than a fancy car. Hizashi thought Shouta was being a party pooper. It had taken almost a month to resolve it because they were dumb kids. Shouta stroked a hand along the pleather that covered the inside of the passenger side door. He smiled. 

 

They had come so far from the traumatized, angst-riddled teens they had been. Shouta couldn’t help but feel proud. If someone had told Shouta eight years ago during the height of that fight that one day he’d happily be sitting in that car after signing all the papers legally marrying himself to Hizashi, he would have scoffed. Or maybe laughed in their face. But looking over at his new husband as he shifted gear, Shouta only felt warm butterflies filling his stomach. This was only a step in the direction they’d been heading in for years. But it was one that quietly filled Shouta with so much joy that he didn’t know where to put it all. 

 

“Y’all are sickening. You keep making lovey eyes at each other.” Shouta looked at Nemuri in the rearview mirror. She had a cheshire grin. “I’ve heard that car sex after a wedding is absolutely euphoric. Feel free to pull off. You don’t have to hold back on my account, you know I wouldn’t mind if you touch each other.”

 

Shouta felt his face burn as Hizashi barked out a laugh. “Nem, as delightful as that sounds, I think Sho would implode.” 

 

“You prude.” Nemuri reached over to tug at a lock of black hair that had slipped out of his low bun. “Ruining all my fun!” 

 

“Have wild voyeuristic sex after your own wedding. Butt out of mine,” Shouta grumbled as he looked out the window. He rubbed a hand over his stubble. Maybe he should have shaved. Oh well, it was too late now. 

 

“ Fine ,” Nem rolled her eyes. “Be boring. I’ll be nice this one time because this isn’t really what you wanted.”

 

Shouta turned around in the car seat to send her a flat look. “Thank you for your sacrifice.” 

 

“You’re welcome,” she purred out.

 

Shouta wanted to wipe that smug grin off her face, but instead he just shook his head with a sigh. He sometimes wondered why all his friends were like this. 

 

“Okay, beyond any possible fun times this evening, do you two have any celebrations planned?”

 

Shouta and Hizashi quickly exchanged glances. Hizashi looked back at the road as he made a left. 

 

“Not really,” Hizashi tightened his grip on the wheel. “This was kind of sprung on us, Nem.” 

 

Shouta reached over to clasp his new husband's shoulder. Hizashi relaxed under the touch and shot him a small smile. Nemuri’s two fingers popped up on Shouta’s elbow and she walked them down towards his hand. She swirled her sharp nails lightly on the back of his hand.

 

“You sure you don’t wanna stop somewhere?” She wiggled her fingers as she dodged Shouta’s slapping hand.

 

“If we stop, it is going to be us kicking you out of the car. You got legs, you can walk.” 

 

“I thought we were friends!” Nemuri gasped as she punched the back of Shouta’s car seat. “There is a hit out on me!”

 

“Yeah,” Shouta twisted in the seat with a creepy grin. “ And ?”

 

“I’m hurt Sho-chan, do you hate me that much?”

 

“Hizashi, why don’t you pull–” 

 

“Fine! I’ll shut up!” Nemuri threw her hands up in the air with a huff. 

 

“Oh wow. She can learn. Didn’t know that was possible,” Shouta deadpanned. Hizashi laughed as Nemuri sputtered.

 

“Hey, I was going to offer the nice bottle of tequilla I had stashed under my bed. But now I’m not gonna. Enjoy your wedding night stone cold sober. See if I care.” 

 

Shouta felt his heart clench as he leaned his forehead against the window, mindlessly watching the buildings pass by.  He felt Hizashi’s eyes on the side of his face when they hit a red light. 

 

“Welllllll,” Hizashi drew out the word as the car accelerated. He flicked his eyes to wiggle his eyebrows at Nemuri. “I for one would like to remember everything I do to my new husband with crystal clear clarity. So thanks for the offer, but I would have said no anyway.”

 

“G-d, the two of you are so boring. ” She groaned as she leaned back in her seat. “Settled down, all married and s—.”

 

“I’m fine being boring.” Shouta shrugged as he closed his eyes. They didn’t have much longer, but he might be able to squeeze in a quick nap. Getting to sleep a few minutes and escaping this social interaction; it was a win-win. 

 

“I dunno what to tell you Nem,” Hizashi’s voice had the edge of a smile. “Shouta here is a Dad , now. I am, too. Parents are supposed to be boring.” 

 

“Not a dad, just a guardian,” he grumbled, squinting a glare over at his grinning husband.

 

“Sure,” There was a quick pat to his thigh. “Keep telling yourself that, bud.” 

 

Shouta huffed and tilted the seat back ever so slightly. He rolled to be facing away from the two. “Hush, I’m going to nap.” 

 

“We’re maybe five minutes out. Maybe .” 

 

Shouta started to fake snore, which made Hizashi sigh and Nemuri snicker. 

 

“He got you there, ‘Zash. Man likes to sleep. Let him sleep.” There was a pause and Shouta felt a shift in the air, she was gonna make a sex joke, he could tell. “Sho-chan needs his beauty sleep now. You know you are gonna keep him up all night, ‘Zash.”

 

Wow. How did he know? It is almost like he was psychic. He mentally sighed. And twisted to face her. 

 

“We are going to have two kids in the dorms with us. Along with you. Nothing is happening. Now, drop it.” 

 

Nemuri must have realized that Shouta was no longer in a playful mood as she did drop it. She started up some conversation, asking Hizashi about some American show that she’d gotten him hooked on. Shouta had tried, but just couldn’t get into it, so he just sort of dozed as they talked about it. The rain started absolutely pounding the outside of the car, almost drowning out the voices. The harsh rain mixed with Nemuri’s lilting laugh and the excited chatter of Hizashi. It allowed him to fully relax into the seat. By the time the car was parked, he was almost asleep. Until the disturbingly wet lips of his husband slid across his cheek. Shouta sat up, fully awake, and glared at the giggling Hizashi. 

 

“Why?” It came out clipped and grumpy.

 

Hizashi shrugged, and his grin only grew. “Because I love you.” 

 

“Love me less. ” Shouta wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.

 

“Never.” Hizashi looked out of the front window, his smile fading at the harsh rain. “Nem, is my umbrella back there?”

 

Nemuri shuffled around some of the jackets and papers around the back seat. She shook her head. “No, I don’t see one at least.” 

 

“I think…” Hizashi rolled his lips in and pinched them between his teeth with a squint. It kind of looked like he ate a lemon. He audibly popped his lips before continuing. “I forgot it by the front door.” 

 

“Well, go get it!” Nemuri leaned forward between the two seats, her sharp nails digging into the soft pleather. “This dress is actual silk, I don’t want to get water stains!”

 

“I meant like our apartment door. When we were quickly packing. I– I left it.” Hizashi gave Nemuri’s blue silk dress a once over. “I could give you my jacket?”

 

Nemuri sighed before she held her hand out. Hizashi struggled a little to pull the maroon suit jacket off while in the car but finally was able to hand it over. She threw it over her shoulders like a cape and started kicking the back of Shouta’s still reclined seat. 

 

“Come on Sho, you gotta get out so I can leave. Unless… you want me to straddle you as I climb out. Mmm, actually that sounds like a nice time.”

 

“Absolutely not.” The seat snapped upright, as he slammed the door open and practically tucked and rolled out of the car into the rain. He turned around and with one hand grabbed his capture weapon, and with the other pulled the lever to move the seat to access the second row. “Out.”

 

“Way to hurt a girl's feelings.” Nemuri ducked her head as she exited the car. Frowning up at the raining sky, she lifted Hizashi’s jacket to cover her head. 

 

“I just married a man. What about that would make you think I would be interested?”

 

“Some variety?” She grinned at the exasperated sigh Shouta made as he ran a hand down his now wet face. Hizashi ran around the car with a grin that screamed he was about to say something that was bound to make Shouta regret his choice in spouse, when in the distance there was a distressed scream. 

 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN MY MOM IS IN PRISON?”

 

 It was Izuku . 

 

Shouta was sprinting through the rain before he could process further. The quick steps of Hizashi and Nemuri followed close behind him. As he ran, Shouta felt his heart squeeze as how wrecked his kid sounded. Izuku’s voice had cracked through the syllables just like the distant thunder, almost making them unintelligible. The distress dripped off the words, pooling on the ground like the large puddles Shouta splashed though. The tone froze Shouta to his core as he felt the icy rain soaked through his suit. Something was wrong and Shouta wasn’t there.

 

Turning the corner, Shouta couldn’t help but be a little confused. Keigo was lying on the muddy grass, unmoving. Izuku, covered in mud, was very shaky and swaying heavily, but on his feet, standing over Keigo. His posture mirrored what Shouta saw Keigo do in the facility while trying to protect Izuku, just minus the wings. The kid felt backed into a corner, trapped. 

 

In front of Izuku, strangely enough, was Onishi Mako from his law class, his UA jacket rumpled and caked in mud a few meters from them. He looked like he was trying to calm Izuku down, words tumbling out of his mouth. Shouta couldn’t hear them as they were soft enough to be lost in the pounding rain. 

 

Shouta felt his heart stutter as Izuku’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. Pushing himself to go faster, he reached out a hand, only to miss Izuku by a hair as he fell to the ground. Shouta slammed his knees to the ground, feeling his dress pants immediately soak through. He shoved his shaking fingers into Izuku’s neck. His pulse was concerningly thready, but not stopped. He efficiently shifted Izuku into the recovery position before twisting to Keigo. Before he could even start to check the kid for a pulse or breathing, Shouta felt the heat radiate off Keigo’s flushed skin. 

 

“Birds run hot, my a—,” Shouta grumbled. Snapping his head up towards Hizashi, he pointed to UA. “‘Zashi, take Izuku and get a stretcher for Keigo.” His husband nodded before ducking down to cradle the cold wet child to his chest. Shouta briefly watched as Hizashi sprinted off with Izuku. 

 

One kid dealt with, two more to go. 

 

Checking Keigo’s vitals, Shouta took a deep, relieved breath. His pulse and breathing seemed fairly fine, maybe a little elevated compared to normal. However, his temperature was horrifying and the lack of response through all of this was a terrible sign, but the kid was unlikely to die in the next few minutes. The icy rain that soaked them all probably was actually helping keep him cool. Shouta sat back onto his ankles and looked up at the petrified Onishi.

 

Nemuri was rubbing the kid’s wet arms while quietly talking to him. Onishi was obviously in shock. He was pale and was frozen as he stared in the direction that Hizashi had gone. The kid’s lips were slowly turning blue and he was shivering violently. 

 

“Nem.” She flicked her eyes over but made no other movements. Shouta stood and squatted in front of his student. “Help Hizashi with Keigo. I’ve got this.” 

 

Nodding, she gave the shocked teen a tight smile as she patted his shoulder. She stalked off to crouch over Keigo, rechecking his vitals. Shouta focused back on his A+ law student.

 

“Hey, Onishi, let's go in where it's a little warmer.” He lightly guided his student towards the door of the UA building. Onishi resisted, his face screwed up in confusion.

 

“Why would Hawks kidnap Izuku?” he mumbled under his breath. 

 

Shouta would be lying if he said he wasn’t thrown off by the question. He tried to push his student to the door again. This time Onishi took a stumbling step forward, letting Shouta guide him. Right as they were getting to the door, Hizashi crashed it open. A foldable stretcher tucked under his arm, he ran out into the rain. Shouta caught the door with one hand and steered the shocked kid into UA. The rush of warm air felt great against his cold, dripping skin. Shouta pushed the kid down to sit against the wall. 

 

“Wait here, I will be right back.” Shouta waited for the kid to absentmindedly nod. Onishi was not really focused, but better than Shouta was really expecting. 

 

Briskly walking down the hall, Shouta heard the door crash open again. He stepped out of the way as Hizashi and Nemuri jogged past. Shouta cringed as he saw Nemuri in her ripped and ruined dress. Somehow, he was going to get roped into buying her a new one. Following at a slightly slower pace, Shouta entered the infirmary. 

 

In the infirmary, Recovery Girl was cursing as she jogged from the half stripped Izuku to Keigo. She snapped out an order to finish with Izuku to dry and warm him up, which Nemuri jumped to take over. She focused on Keigo and snapped out some orders to Hizashi about grabbing ice packs. Shouta quickly collected a UA PE uniform, grateful they had so many on hand incase of emergency, and one of the blankets that was still in the basket from the night before. As he left, on a whim, he grabbed a handful of the candies that Recovery Girl kept in a jar by the door. 

 

Half jogging back to Onishi, Shouta almost slipped on the now very wet tile floors. He only just caught himself, before finishing the fairly short trip. The half smile on his student’s face cued him in to the fact he’d been caught slipping. Shouta bit back a scowl. It was a good thing the kid was calming down. Even if that meant he’d seen Shouta almost biff it. He threw the blanket on a mostly dry part of the floor, before tossing the bundle of athletic clothes to the kid. 

 

“Change out of your wet clothes.” He pointed to the bathroom on the other side of the hall. The kid went to open his mouth. Shouta cut him off. “Nope, need to get you warm first, kid. I’ll hear out any questions, but only after you aren’t at risk of hypothermia.” 

 

Onishi gave a tight nod before clumsily standing. He got all the way to the bathroom before looking over his shoulder. “Was that really Izuku?”

 

“Yes, now change.” He made a shooing motion. The kid finally went into the bathroom. 

 

Shouta had no idea how his student knew Izuku, but it was clear that they had some sort of a history. He contemplated it until Onishi came back out. His hair was still dripping, but he already looked less miserable. He held the bundle of drenched clothes awkwardly to the side. He walked forward, looking nervous as he fidgeted and shuffled back and forth. Shouta picked up the blanket and wrapped it around his shoulders. He put a hand on Onishi’s mid back and led the kid to the nearest empty classroom. He pulled out the chair from the desk closest to the door and then dropped the handful of candies onto the table top. Shouta then crossed to grab the chair from the teacher’s desk and rolled it over. Onishi just stood, looking perplexed, holding the blanket around his shoulders with one hand and his wet clothes with the other. 

 

“Sit.” Shouta gestured to the comfortable chair behind the desk as he sat in the other. “I am sure you have questions.”

 

Onishi slowly sat, looking at his bundle of dripping clothes briefly before tossing them to the floor by the edge of the desk. The kid looked lost and still a little out of it. Shouta used a finger to nudge one of the wrapped hard candies towards the kid. Mechanically, Onishi reached out and unwrapped it, popping it in his mouth. Shouta followed suit with one of the carmels. After a few seconds, the kid finally looked up at Shouta. 

 

“Hawks…?” He trailed off. Shouta figured he should give a small overview. Onishi was a quiet kid and he wanted to become a wrongful conviction lawyer… Shouta felt the lightbulb flickering behind his eyes as his brain made connections. 

 

“Wait, before I explain: do you remember our conversation at the beginning of the semester?”

 

“Huh?” This seemed to throw the kid off, which was fair. 

 

“You are my only Gen Ed course student in my law class. I asked why, as it is rare for non hero course students to take the class.” 

 

Onishi slowly nodded, dragging the candies into a nice even line with a single finger. “Yeah, I want to be a lawyer.” 

 

“A lawyer specifically for the mother of a good friend who is in jail through no fault of her own.” Shouta leaned forward. “You were talking about Midoriya Inko, weren’t you.” 

 

The name made the kid snap his head up to Shouta. “How did you know that?”

 

“Doesn’t matter.” Shouta shook his head. “But you have to know, I’m going to give you the bare minimum information. You seem to know Izuku and Inko, but you are going to have to keep this to yourself. Treat this as a test for your future as a lawyer. None of this can leave this room, understood?”

 

“Attorney-client privilege,” he mumbled to himself. He sat up and spoke louder. “Okay, I can do that. So, where was Izuku?”

 

“For your safety, I cannot actually say.” The kid scowled but nodded. “But a year ago he was kidnapped and quirk trafficked. Hawks got word of Izuku and his predicament and reached out for assistance. Myself, Hawks, and a few other UA teachers held a raid to retrieve Izuku. He has been staying here ever since.”

 

“But Hawks–” Shouta cut him off.

 

“Don’t listen to everything you hear on the news. He is no more a villain than I am.” 

 

A lightbulb slowly flickered on in Onishi’s head. He slowly picked up a second candy and plopped it in his mouth. “It was the government, wasn’t it. They are framing him. And… probably after you and Midnight, right? There is a rumor that the two of you came out of the dorm building together this morning.” 

 

D—, Shouta hated smart, observant kids. “Really, kid, I’m not gonna tell you.” 

 

“So, I'm right .” 

 

Shouta gave him a flat look. The kid flinched, making him feel bad for forgetting how jumpy he was. Which, now that he was making connections to the vague overview from Izuku’s file, made perfect sense. Kid was harassed by his peers and his teachers throughout middle school, all for being quirkless. Shouta softened his expression, dropping the harsh teacher facade. 

 

“Regardless of your astute observations, Izuku is here now, along with Hawks.”

 

“What did they do to him?” Onishi’s voice was small. “Izuku seemed… different. Unstable.”

 

“A lot.” Shouta felt bad for his bluntness as the kid flinched back again. “We don’t know half of it, but if you know how his quirk works, you can imagine it was less than pleasant.” 

 

“Why did… Why did he not know about his mom?”

 

Shouta mentally kicked himself. He should have realized the kid would react poorly to the news his mom was in prison. Easing Izuku into it would have been better. On the other hand, Shouta also knew that the last few days Izuku had seemed… relatively stable and no one had really wanted to rock to boat. It had seemed like a bad idea to stress the sick kid out more than absolutely necessary. 

 

“That’s on me. I should have told him she was in prison sooner.” 

 

“No, no– that’s not it, he thought his mom died. ”

 

“S—.” Shouta caught himself, and he ducked his head in the slightest bow. “Apologies.” 

 

“Nah,” Onishi shrugged under the blanket. “S— is the correct response. He was going off about how Hawks was his only family left and how I was lying . I think I finally got through to him right at the end though. Right before he… He’s–he’s gonna be okay, right?”

 

“Yeah, he will be. He is still recovering from everything and between the stress and cold it probably tanked his blood pressure. Given some time to rest, he will be perfectly fine.” 

 

Perfectly fine was probably not… totally accurate but, from Recovery Girl’s reports, there was a chance this was just Izuku’s new normal. Shouta couldn’t help but hope that with time it could get at least a little better. If nothing else, more manageable.

 

“G-d, okay, good.” Onishi’s eyes started filling with tears. “Okay. That– that was terrifying, but I’m glad he is okay. Or, I guess, will be.” 

 

“He’s safe and we are doing all we can to help him stay that way.” 

 

“Does Inko know?” 

 

Shouta shook his head. “Not yet. We haven’t had a chance to update her of the rescue. She knows Izuku is alive though.” 

 

Onishi’s shoulders slumped, looking relieved. “Honestly, just that would mean the world to her. She– she was devastated thinking Izuku was taken and possibly dead.” 

 

“Soon we plan to update her, but we are tying up some loose ends first.” Shouta stood. “Which is why you need to keep this to yourself.”

 

The kid nodded before peeking up from under his wet black fringe. “Can– do you think I can see him?” 

 

“Not right now, and it might not be for some time. But I’ll talk to Izuku about it. When he is feeling up to it we can set something up.” There was no way Shouta was going to keep Izuku from a part of his support system. The kid needed as many people on his side as he could get his hands on. And Onishi was a good kid. “Sound good?”

 

He nodded as he also stood. “I– I should probably get going. Um– the last train leaves soon.” He looked up at the clock on the wall, panic spread over his face. “Oh, shoot I might miss it.” 

 

“Wait here, I’ll get my husband to drive you to the station.” The small gasp made Shouta freeze, realizing what he said. Curse how cold and tired he was. Shouta looked down at Onishi, who looked about as shocked as he did while standing in the rain earlier. Which felt a little rude, but Shouta shook it off. “Uh– forget I said that.” 

 

“It’s okay, I just–” 

 

“Didn’t think anyone would want to marry me.” Shouta drawled out, a little grumpy.

 

“No, a lot of people think you were dating Midnight-Sensei? Especially after this morning… So I just kinda figured…” Onishi fidgeted as he shrugged.

 

Shouta looked into the middle distance. He heard the tinkle of Nemuri’s laughter echoing in his mind, every reverberation giving him psychic damage. This news was going to haunt his nightmares. “How many people think that?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Nevermind. It doesn’t matter.” He started towards the door. “Wait here.” 

 

Shouta was not running from the gossip. He just wanted to make sure his student made it home safely. 

 

He entered the infirmary, and this time it was a bit less hectic. Recovery Girl was back in her office, bent over some medical machine. Nemuri had taken off her dress and was in a pair of UA sweats and her bra, a towel twisted up and around her long hair. She sat on one of the chairs against the far wall. Hizashi had also changed into the blue UA sweats and a loose T-shirt. The sweats were just a touch too short, showing the long blond hair on Hizashi’s lower leg. His hair was wet but pulled back in a bun, which normally Hizashi would say was a crime against hair care. His face was worried as he stroked Keigo’s hair back. Keigo was laid out on one of the medical beds. His scar covered torso was bare, probably because shoving the kid’s wings through a shirt would be too hard. There were ice packs, wrapped in towels, shoved under his armpits and on his bare chest, and an IV was in the back of his hand, trailing up to a bag of fluid. A thin sheet covered his legs and hips. Just one bed over was Izuku, laid out, a warm blanket doubled up on top of him. He looked like he was sleeping, but there was a pulse oximeter clipped to his finger. He probably was still passed out. 

 

Hizashi looked up from Keigo and raked his eyes over the still dripping, slightly shivering Shouta. “Oh, love, go change. You’re soaked.” 

 

“Onishi needs a ride to the train station, and I offered you as a way to get him there.” Shouta moved to the shelf that held the spare clothes. He looked over his shoulder with a grimace. “He is in the first classroom by the door, but uh– I might have accidentally spilled that we were married.”

 

“And you were so sure I would be the one who couldn’t keep my mouth shut about it.” Hizashi huffed and shook his head. He walked to the bathroom before tossing his keys up in the air to catch them. He grinned. “You didn’t even make it an hour. I’m going to hold this over your head forever, you know that right?”

 

“Sure, whatever.” Shouta rolled his eyes before focusing back on the shelf. It took a few pass overs until he found a size that would work. Hizashi ruffled Shouta’s wet hair as he passed behind him. “And thanks, Hizashi.”

 

“No problemo, Sho.” He gave a two fingered salute before he left. 

 

Shouta changed in the bathroom, dropping his drenched suit onto the pile of other muddy ruined formal wear. He used a towel to dry his hair before using a finger to pull at the silver chain around his neck. Shouta smiled, looking at how it shined in the bright lights of the bathroom. He tucked the chain back under the edge of the clean white shirt and left. 

 

“S—.” The quiet curse of Recovery Girl as he entered the main room, made Shouta’s blood turn to ice. She scurried out of her office only to place a hand on Keigo’s stomach. Shouta took a few steps forward as Recovery Girl pointed to him. “Did you see exit wounds for the gunshots?”

 

Shouta frowned, looking down at the healer's hand. It was covering one of the healed gunshot wounds from the raid, It looked… a little puffy and inflamed.

 

Oh, Shouta knew what was happening. S— was right.

 

“No? He wasn’t bleeding at all once I got a chance to check.”

 

“I can't believe I missed this.” Recovery Girl threw the blanket off Keigo’s legs. The kid whimpered as he curled up a little. “You said he got hit in the leg too, right?”

 

“From what I saw, yes.” 

 

“How many shots, again. In total.” 

 

“Five.” 

 

“G-d, okay.” She darted into her office coming out with some scanner and a glass bottle with a syringe. She pushed Shouta out of the way. After filling the needle she inserted the medication into the IV line. She then moved to put the scanner over his body. “Glad Nedzu got intense antibiotics in case Izuku needed them. According to the tests, Keigo is practically septic with infection. The shots must have perforated his bowel and whatever small amount of bacteria just spread. Having lead bullets in him also probably isn’t doing him any favors. So I am going to have to remove them now.” 

 

She quickly finished the scan and cursed again. She rolled up Keigo’s pants leg and poked around just above his knee. “Only three are still in him. Two in the gut, one in the leg.” 

 

Scowling, Recovery Girl scampered to a supply closet. She pulled out a myriad of different packages and darted back to Keigo, placing them next to Keigo on the bed. She then turned to Nemuri. 

 

“Nemuri, I am going to need you to play anesthesiologist with your quirk. Go put a shirt on, wash your hands, and get gloves on.” Nemuri nodded as she started on her tasks. 

 

“You are going to do surgery ? Here ?” Shouta couldn’t keep the bewildered tone out of his voice.

 

“I don’t have much of a choice , Shouta. If we take him to a hospital, he might not get any care due to his villain status. And if I don’t take out the bullets and try to clean out as much of the infection as I can, he will most likely die.”

 

“Is it– it's that serious?” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

This had to be some horrible nightmare. He’d seemed fine this morning. It hadn’t even been 12 hours since then; how could it have gotten that bad in such a short time? Shouta felt tingly and like there wasn’t enough air as he looked at Keigo laid out. His face was lax, pale as a sheet except for the cherry red flush across his cheeks. His wings were disheveled and muddy; half the feathers were not attached, making them patchy and uneven. There was a lock of goldenrod hair twisted forward and plastered to his sweat soaked face. Shouta desperately wanted to reach out to put it back in line. To give the unconscious kid some comfort. To give himself something to ground himself. He held himself back, knowing he’d only be in the way.

 

Recovery Girl slid towels under Keigo’s back, covering the dirty feathers. Stepping slowly through what felt like Jello, but was only air, Shouta finally reached Keigo’s side. He tenderly slid another towel under him. Not able to hold himself back, he fixed Keigo’s hair. It was a little slimy and left an oily film on Shouta’s fingers, but he didn’t care. The kid was nineteen, technically an adult, but laid out like this looking so sick, he looked so much smaller. He looked fragile. The small pants that puffed out of Keigo’s lips stuttered as Shouta continued to comb back his hair. Shouta froze, as Keigo’s gold eyes flickered, twitching before loosely opening. He looked up at Shouta as his eyes filled with tears.

 

“Don’ feel good, Da’,” Keigo moaned. He blinked, forcing the tears to roll down his flushed cheeks. “I don’ feel goo’, a’ all.” 

 

The moaning sob tore at Shouta’s chest. He leaned down to put both his hands on either side of Keigo’s face, using his thumbs to stroke the tears away. In the back of Shouta’s mind, he knew that Recovery Girl had darted off, leaving him with Keigo. Probably to scrub up like Nem. 

 

“We’re gonna make it better, okay?” Shouta prayed his voice came out soothing and not as panicked as he felt. Stabbing emotions tore through Shouta with each of Keigo’s whimpers. He felt the painful prickling of tears filling his dry eyes. “I’m right here, Keigo, you’ll be okay. Just–” 

 

“Kei?” 

 

S—. Izuku was awake. Shouta looked up just in time to see the dawning horror wash over the younger boy. Izuku immediately started thrashing, throwing himself bodily to get to Keigo. Shouta jumped over Keigo’s bed just in time to catch Izuku from falling off his bed, pushing him back as Izuku started screaming. 

 

“LET ME GO! KEI NEEDS ME! HE IS DYING I CAN SAVE HIM! I CAN SAVE HIM!” 

 

The words faded into unintelligible howling. Izuku started punching and kicking, albeit not that hard, but not for lack of trying. Shouta was able to hold him down fairly easily, only having to dodge a weak slap from time to time. Nemuri darted out of the bathroom and moved to Keigo’s bedside.

 

“Oh, no you don’t. Stay down. ” 

 

Shouta turned just in time to watch Nemuri shove Keigo back into the bed. He looked out of it, but one of his arms was draped out towards Izuku, a worried expression deeply etched into his face. He let out a distressed bird call as he closed his eyes. Izuku then got a good swipe at Shouta’s face, his nail catching the skin and actually drawing blood. Shouta hissed, only for the pain to fade in seconds. 

 

Right. Healing quirk. Kid must be in pain from kicking with his broken leg . Shouta, focused on the impossible task of getting Izuku calm , totally missed Recovery Girl coming back into the room until she cursed behind him loudly. 

 

“S—. He’s seizing. Nem, get more ice packs, he’s spiking again.” 

 

Shouta’s whole world became a pinprick as he watched his kid shake unnaturally. Slivers of rolling gold peaked out from the twitching eyelids. His whole body jerked and trembled. It wasn’t as dramatic as seizures could be, but it didn’t make it any less terrifying to watch. A thud from behind him finally brought Shouta back to the present. Turning, Shouta found his other kid sobbing laying in a crumpled ball on the floor, awkwardly crawling towards Keigo’s bed. 

 

“The wounds are healing as soon as I make them. Shouta, get Izuku out of here. ”

 

He nodded. This was a dream, it had to be. Maybe following the orders would get him to wake up sooner. Feeling like his world was imploding, he robotically reached down and picked up Izuku around his waist. Shouta tried to be gentle, but Izuku started howling and thrashing again. He even tried to bite Shouta’s arm. He ended up having to restrain the boy against his chest, ignoring the way each shrieking wail destroyed Shouta from the inside out. 

 

“KEI! NO! NO! LET ME GO BACK! I CAN HELP!” The kid struggled against Shouta’s arms around his torso, almost shivering. He kicked out, buckling in two trying to wiggle out of his hold. “NO! NO! WAIT MOM?! NO! LEAVE HER ALONE!” 

 

Shouta could barely see the door through his tears as he stumbled towards it. The kicks from Izuku made it difficult to walk. Shouta turned around and used an elbow to open the door as he shuffled back out of the infirmary. Izuku was able to shove his head forward only to slam it into Shouta’s collar bone. Hard. It might have cracked, but Shouta couldn’t hear much beyond Izuku’s screaming in his ear.

 

“MOM! NO! TAKE ME BACK, YOU MONSTER ! THAT'S MY MOM! THAT’S MY MOM!” Izuku’s voice cracked all over the place. As he kept screaming, it started to come out more and more scratchy and hoarse. 

 

Izuku slammed his head back again, and this time Shouta was able to catch his face and held it tight to his already pain free collar bone. The kid under him went silent and limp. Shouta looked down, perplexed and worried Izuku might have passed out again.

 

“Move your hand.” Hizashi’s voice was harsh. Shouta looked over at his fian– no wait, husband – confused. Hizashi’s keys were just coming to a stop from where they were being spun on his finger. His face was hard and serious as he stood frozen. “Sho, you’re covering his eyes . Move your hand.” 

 

Shouta blinked down at the lax kid in his arms. His large hand was covering Izuku’s eyes and half his forehead. He moved his hand like he’d touched a hot pan. He knew what Hizashi had told him about the possible trigger, and he did it anyway . Shouta closed his eyes, feeling the hot streaking tears tear down his face. He felt like he was being flayed alive. He was just like the monsters from Izuku’s screaming flashbacks. How could he have done that?

 

Arms slowly moved to take the wilted kid from Shouta. He tightened his grip and growled. Nothing was taking Izuku from him. Even if he was a terrible guardian, he could protect the kid from the other monsters. 

 

“Sho, It’s okay. It’s just me.” Shouta relaxed at the sound of Hizashi. He’d forgotten that he was back. He opened his itchy eyes to look up at Hizashi. He didn’t remember crouching down but he must have at some point. “Can I take Izuku?”

 

Reluctantly, Shouta relinquished the kid to Hizashi. He struggled a bit with how the kid’s limbs were like rubber tubes, flopping left and right, but after a short while he was able to get a good grip on him, holding him in a bridal carry. Izuku’s face was blank. His normally wide green eyes lacked his natural sparkle, looking dull and empty. The empty expression made him look like a doll with a painted smattering of freckles over cute round cheeks. Shouta, looking at the blank kid, felt numb. Empty, just like Izuku might be feeling. He wanted to reach out, but knew he’d just make it worse. 

 

Hizashi craned his neck down to kiss Izuku’s forehead. The kid continued to stare into the middle distance. Hizashi’s face was distressed. Shouta wanted to wipe away the sad frown. But could only stand woodenly, staring down at the dirty tile floor of the hallway. 

 

“We should take him to the dorm.” Shouta mumbled, his tongue felt too big for his mouth. “Keigo is getting surgery and Izuku’s quirk–” 

 

“What, surgery? Why?” Hizashi’s panicked whirl to the closed door of the infirmary made one of Izuku’s arms fall from its perch. Shouta’s hands burned where their skin touched as he gently put it back. Almost like Izuku was made of holy water, repelling the monsters that filled him.

 

“Bullets still in him. Causing the fever.” 

 

“F—” Hizashi’s shoulders slumped as he looked torn between Izuku and the closed door. 

 

“Did Onishi make it in time?”

 

“What?”

 

“To the train. Did he…” Shouta trailed off as he realized this wasn’t important, not really. He didn’t know why he’d asked. His brain felt a little scrambled. 

 

“Oh yeah, the listener made it with more than enough time to spare.”

 

“Good.” 

 

They both stood there for a few minutes in silence. Shouta mentally tried to catch the thoughts that floated by like ghosts, putting them slowly back in place. He was making good progress when Hizashi sighed. 

 

“Let's go. RG and Nem will update us.” 

 

Shouta nodded as he followed Hizashi outside. Shouta blinked up at the sky. The storm was over. There was a crack of blue breaking up the now white clouds. Shouta was pretty sure the storm had just migrated to be inside him, as he felt the howling winds and pounding rain rattle his chest. He’d rather it be this way. He would gladly let the storm rip him apart from the inside, if that meant Izuku didn’t have to suffer from it anymore. Each step felt harder than the last, but the heavy weight was something he’d just have to carry. Shouta paused to pick up the rumbled, half broken feathers off the ground. It was the least he could do for Keigo.

 

Finally they reached the dorm. Shouta opened the door, letting Hizashi swing Izuku over the entryway. This felt like a twisted version of the tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold. Usually it was a happy, slightly ridiculous moment between couples. This felt far from happy and was much too serious. 

 

Hizashi set Izuku carefully onto the couch, he threw a blanket over the blank boy. Tucking him in, Hizashi stroked his hair back. Shouta felt like he was intruding. Izuku and Hizashi had a connection. Shouta was just the weight around Hizashi’s neck, the monster getting between the two. 

 

“I’ll– I’ll go make some tea.” 

 

“Thanks.” Hizashi’s voice sounded wrecked. He was on the edge of tears. Shouta could relate. 

 

Shouta dropped the dirty, busted feathers on the floor where he stood. Half stumbling into the kitchen, Shouta froze. It looked like a hurricane had passed through. Every dish seemed dirty, and there was flour and half dried batter splattered around the counters, floor, and some was on the ceiling. The oven was still on, which Shouta quickly turned off. Turning around, behind a pile of bowls on the island, was a plate of unfrosted cupcakes. Next to it was a piece of paper that was soaked in oil, which made the lines bleed and run on the page. On it was a cute doodle of what had to be Keigo and Izuku from the small wings and freckles on the cheeks of the little drawn people. They were holding oversized cupcakes in their hands. Under the little chibi kids were words written in thick marker.

 

“HAPPY WEDDING! CONGRATS! Hopefully you had a great time! –Izuku and Keigo” 

 

Shouta felt his eyes fill back up with tears as he squatted down, pressing the oil drenched paper to his forehead. Shouta had never felt like more of a failure. After a few short minutes of quiet crying, Shouta stood and started the kettle, which had somehow survived the chaos of baking unscathed. He moved to the sink, uncovering one side of it. He turned on the water and started scrubbing the dishes while the water heated up for the tea. 

 

A failure he might be, but this was something even he couldn’t screw up to make it up to his kids and husband.

Chapter 19: Izuku Likes Floating; It’s peaceful

Notes:

Helloooooo!
firstly! the old people that I did the talent show for thought my song about wanting to be a chicken was hilairous so thats nice
additionally I have family coming into town lol so I have not had a chance to write as much leading up to it (lol ive been doing so much cleaning) and I might not be able to get much else out this week tbh :( I have some writen but I gotta go thru and edit and stuff so like this might have to tide yall over til next week :/ just a warning. I might have been on a roll but alas. I do actually have a life outside of this fan fic??? I know bonkers lolol
BUT this is a little softer chappie for yall <3 and as a treat for baby as he deserves soft things <3 and me I needed some after the chaos of the last few chapters lol
and as always thanks to @sassy_chemist as always for beeing a true homie and the best beta. I was gonna wait cuz she literally just read it today lololol but I have no chill and I apprechiate that she doesnt judge me for my lack of chill lolol <3 thanks friend <3

Warning: Dissociation. like baaad this is from Izuku's perspective of "drifiting"

BUT WITHOUT FURTHER ADOOOOO~~~ ENJOYYYY

Izuku was pretty sure he was drifting. Or maybe he was just dreaming. He wasn’t actually sure, but everything seemed distant. Normally Izuku knew that he’d probably hate how he was now trapped in amber while the world moved around him on fast forward. Now, however, it felt right. It felt safe. 

 

All of the facial tics, every movement, every change of tone didn’t need to be analyzed anymore. Izuku could just… exist. It was nice. Calm even. It soothed something deep in Izuku that he’d thought had been forever broken. He’d almost forgotten that life could be peaceful. No thoughts; head empty. Izuku could just float along like a jellyfish, just going wherever the waves took him. Just like jellyfish, he still reacted to some stimuli too.

 

Sometimes, there would be a spoon by his face. Izuku would bite down on it only for his mouth to be filled with the warm salty broth. It warmed him up from the inside. He’d then float and drift until he ended up in a bathroom. He would do his business as one can’t ignore an opportunity. He blinked and was in a warm, lavender scented bath. Warm water poured down his head. Hands massaged his wet hair and made his head tingle. He liked it. He blinked again and he was being rolled in the warmest, fluffiest towel. It wasn’t scratchy at all and felt like a blanket. Blinking again, Izuku realized maybe the towel had been a blanket the whole time. He was laid out on a cloud tightly wrapped into a soft blanket.

 

He decided to close his eyes for a little while, enjoying the soft feelings. Distantly, Izuku could feel the thumpy headache behind his eyes and the throbbing pain deep in his joints, but it was all removed. It was all so distant. It was like the pain along with everything else was on one side of a canyon and Izuku was on the other side. Izuku was infinitely grateful there wasn’t a bridge; he really liked how nothing could get him here. He was safe. 

 

At some point a fluffy red smear of something was brought up to his face. A little curious, Izuku focused. It was a large red feather. Something in Izuku swelled up and he felt a little like he was choking. He coughed as he realized he needed to hold the feather. Controlling his arm to reach up and grab it was his own personal marathon. It took a few tries to do anything more than just twitch his fingers. After what felt like an eternity of struggling, he was finally able to grab the feather. Izuku felt accomplished. The little wave of pride twitched Izuku’s lips up into a small smile. The feather was warm in his hand as he stroked it with jerking, shaky hands. 

 

Izuku blinked and the feather was set aside. It was in view but was just out of reach. There was a squeezing pang in his chest. He coughed trying to loosen it. Izuku coughed again. And again. 

 

A straw appeared in his vision, pointed towards where Izuku was pretty sure his mouth was. Sucking in the cool water felt heavenly on his burning throat. The water put the fire out, and Izuku relaxed. It was peaceful again. 

 

Singing started just to Izuku’s left. He liked it even if he couldn’t really follow the words, and the tune was soft and soothing. It was a good background to him laying on his cloud as he drifted. He smiled at a tune that scratched at the back of his mind. He recognized it. He rocked his head back and forth a little to sway with the beat. It was nice. 

 

At some point the music stopped, but it was replaced with a spoon by his face. The tang of some different broth hit his tongue. He missed the singing, but the warm food felt really nice on his throat. Between a few spoonfuls he coughed, again. Izuku didn’t know why he kept doing that, and a small pinprick of annoyance stabbed at the back of his skull. He pushed it off as he shivered. Drifting was better and he couldn’t drift if he got annoyed and thought too hard. The annoyance kept pricking him as he shook harder, and an icy cold washed over him giving him goosebumps. He missed the warm broth. 

 

The world shifted quickly and he felt the world spin around him. It was a little scary, but it all settled when he was squeezed between two sturdy warm blobs. As he coughed, something rubbed his back. The soft blanket was pulled tighter around him. Izuku slumped to the side, basking in the warmth. He felt himself slip a little deeper into the lazy stream he drifted in. 

 

Soft voices washed over Izuku. He could clearly hear the voices but the meanings of the words slipped through his fingers like sand. The idea that there were people nearby should scare him, but for some reason it didn’t. Not this time. He just continued to feel warm. 

 

“I’m worried.” 

 

“When are you not worried?”

 

“Don’t be like that, ‘Zashi.”

 

“I’ll stop when you stop.” 

 

Izuku let his eyes follow a piece of dust that swirled around in the sunlight. It was pretty. 

 

“It’s been two days. ” 

 

“Yeah, and?”

 

“Isn’t that, I don’t know, kind of a long time?”

 

“Recovery Girl checked on him, Sho. Beyond the cold nothing physically seems wrong. Well, beyond his normal issues.” 

 

The dust particle did some fun loops and swirls. It was like it was dancing in the sun’s rays.

 

“But–”

 

“He’ll resurface when he feels safe to do so. We knew this sort of thing might happen when we agreed to sign those papers. And don’t give me that face. This is not your fault. It was probably a long time coming. If I’d been through half the stuff he has I’d also want to check out from time to time.” 

 

A series of harsh coughs cracked out of Izuku’s ribs. It sent the dust shooting off at light speed. He frowned. He couldn’t track them if they moved that fast. 

 

“I just– I feel like this is all my fault.”

 

“Not your fault. Tensions were high and we probably don’t know half his triggers. This will probably happen again.”

 

“I know that,” A hand ran over Izuku’s hair. He leaned into it. It felt really nice. “But I just feel so useless.” 

 

“Join the club, babe. This sucks but it’s probably three hundred times worse for the Little Listener.” 

 

Izuku recognized that term. He tried to focus but the world was slipping further away, just out of reach.

 

“I do have one idea that might help.” 

 

Izuku blinked and it was warm and dark. He was back on the cozy cloud, fully cocooned in his soft blanket. In the faint light, he could see some feathers laid out by his face. The gargantuan effort to move one of his limp hands up to rest on them was worth it. The hollow, aching cold in his chest was filled with the soft red feathers. Closing his eyes, Izuku smiled. Drifting like this was nice. 

 

After another bath and spoonfed meal, Izuku sat. He was propped up against a warm thing. There was also a rumbling fuzzy ball on his lap. At the edge of his awareness were flashes of colors and sounds. It was a movie, but Izuku couldn’t tell which one. Izuku felt a pang of loss as the rumbling weight shifted and jumped off his lap. He coughed a few times. A straw was offered to him.

 

It was juice this time! Izuku let out a little satisfied rumble just like the warm weight on his lap had been doing earlier. He liked juice. 

 

“Kiddo? You with me?” The voice sounded so hopeful. It made Izuku happy to hear. He hummed again. It tickled his throat which triggered a cough. Izuku realized he… didn’t feel great. He wanted to sink back into the soft drifting again, but another part of him wanted to peek out. He was curious, but was ready to let go to plunge himself back down just in case. Izuku took a deep breath.

 

Only for it to tickle his throat, sending him into a coughing fit, again. Izuku was getting really sick of coughing. There was a soft, relieved chuckle as a hand carded through his hair. 

 

“Yeah, colds are the worst. I also pout when I get one… Just don’t tell Hizashi I actually admitted that.” 

 

Oh, it was Aizawa-san. 

 

Izuku felt like he was swimming through concrete as he craned his neck up. Between long slow blinks Izuku saw the dark, bloodshot eyes of his new guardian. They were so warm and gooey that they were leaking. That just wouldn’t do, Izuku needed to fix it. 

 

“Welcome back, kiddo.” Aizawa-san’s voice was thin. Emotional. Izuku really needed to fix this.

 

It took forever, but Izuku finally was able to reach his hand up to swipe off the tears. Izuku’s hand prickled on Aizawa-san’s long stubble. He rubbed his fingers together, a little in awe of all the sensations. It almost felt like his nerves were making little electric zaps as his fingerprints slid against each other. His hand kinda felt wet. It was all kinda cool as it all felt so new. 

 

A large hand covered Izuku’s, and from the calluses and scars over the knuckles, he could tell it was Aizawa-san’s. It was warm. 

 

“Hey, let me dry your hand real quick.”

 

Aizawa-san, ever so gently, pried his fingers apart. A soft cloth stroked from his palm to his fingers. Izuku shivered at all of the sensations. It had been a while since he actually felt so much so clearly. It was a little overwhelming, but in a good way. Izuku didn’t think that made a lot of sense, but didn’t really think about it too hard. 

 

Izuku leaned into Aizawa-san’s warm side as a firm pressure rubbed large circles into his back. Slowly, Izuku tightened the blanket across his shoulders, making blanket paws around his hands out of the bunched up fuzzy fabric. He coughed into the blanket paws, only for more of the juice to be offered via straw. The iced liquid felt heavenly on his throat. Izuku hummed in gratitude, digging his head into Aizawa-san’s side. 

 

“You’re worse than the cats, ” Aizawa-san grumbled, but Izuku, even half dazed, could hear the humor that oozed from between the syllables. 

“Izuku?” 

 

Izuku hummed. That was his name! 

 

“I don’t know how much you are really aware right now, but there is someone who wants to talk to you. And I bet you’ll enjoy it.”

 

Izuku squinted, trying to think. It felt like his brain was full of dust and moth balls. The gears in his mind clanked and sputtered loudly as they ever so slowly started to turn, grinding the cobwebs to dust. The only person that Izuku had wanted to talk to lately was… 

 

All Might. 

 

Izuku started to squirm, lightly rubbing his buzzing feet together. He shifted back and forth in his seat and started to fidget with the blanket encasing his hands. Izuku felt himself lean forward, only for Aizawa-san’s arm to ever so gently catch him and guide him back into a slightly stiff cushion. He wondered where his cloud went as he heard a huff.

 

“Hold your horses, kiddo. I gotta make sure she’s ready. But I’m glad you are excited.” 

 

Of course Izuku was excited. He was All Might’s biggest–

 

Wait. She? 

 

Izuku blinked and in front of him was a phone screen. It wasn’t All Might. It was millions of times better. Maybe billions. 

 

It was his mom . 

 

Like snakes, Izuku’s arms striked out gripping the phone closer to him, practically pressing it to his nose. Raking his eyes over the image on the phone, Izuku felt hot tears rush down his freckled cheeks. He hadn’t had any photos of Mom in the facility. He’d tried to draw her a few times but it’d never turned out quite right. He still had them. Izuku could never bring himself to throw any of them away, even if they were wonky. He studied the image, drinking it all in like he had been lost in the desert for weeks and stumbled across an oasis full of water. 

 

Mom looked tired. Almost like she’d had a whole week of double shifts. Maybe more. Her green hair was pulled back, showing the slight loss of weight on her face. She was wearing bright orange. It wasn’t a shirt Izuku remembered. She was violently crying, but the most elated grin brightened her whole face. It made Izuku cry harder, his breathing stopped as a hand reached over to the phone. Izuku yanked it away, with a hiss. No one could take Mom away. Not again. 

 

“Izuku, I just want to turn up the volume.” As slow as a glacier, Izuku held the phone out from his chest where he’d hid it. He tracked Aizawa-san’s hand as it ever so carefully reached out and turned up the volume. 

 

“Hey, baby.”

 

The sound of his mom’s voice made Izuku violently slam back into his body. If before had felt overwhelming, this felt like he’d been plunged into some all consuming hellish eldritch nightmare. The shifting fabric of the blanket burned his skin. The collar of his t-shirt felt like it was too tight and was choking him. His leg and shoulders and lower back ached. His head felt like a thousand kilos and throbbed. His throat felt like it was on fire. His mouth was dry and tasted funny. His own wet, unsteady panting breaths sounded like loud drums in his ears. The heat that had accumulated where Izuku was pressed into Aizawa-san felt like lava. The light from the window hurt his eyes. It was too much. 

 

Izuku desperately wanted to sink back down, to drift and float and let go . He really really wanted to. But he couldn’t .

 

This was his mom. She was here.

 

Izuku let out a keening whine that almost immediately devolved into weak coughs. Aizawa-san tried to offer a cup with a straw. He pushed it away roughly, and a little of the cool liquid splashed onto their laps. But Izuku didn’t care. He just wanted his mom.

 

“I’ve heard you’ve been having a really rough time, baby.”

 

What an understatement . Sobbing, Izuku wished he could crawl through the phone to be with his mom. 

 

“Shh, baby, I’m here. It’s okay. I’m alive. I love you so much, so, so much. And we’ll see each other soon, okay? It’s okay, you’re okay.” 

 

Izuku was decidedly not okay.  

 

“ Mom.” Izuku’s throat felt like he was swallowing hot coals. The word was no more than a hoarse whisper. He tried again, only for it to be more strained. “ Mom.”

 

“I know, Izu, I know, baby. You’ll be okay. You’ll be okay.”

 

Izuku had no idea how his mom’s words were so clear through her thick tears. But they were, and Izuku couldn’t help but cling to them like a lifeline in the raging storm around him. It took Izuku a long time to calm down enough to form a coherent thought. His mom kept talking through his breakdown, which helped. Being ripped from that nice cozy distance made things so hard, but with his mom he thought he could give it a go again. 

 

Izuku would go through the past year all over again if he could get just a few more minutes with his mom. 

 

Finally able to take a full breath without sobbing, coughing or hiccuping, Izuku whispered to her. 

 

“Hi, Mom.” 

 

She grinned, looking relieved. “Hi, baby.” 

 

“I–” His eyes welled with tears again. “I really missed you.” 

 

Mom choked on emotion as she stumbled through her words. “Sweetheart, I missed you so much. I never gave up on getting you back. Never, ever. I thought about you every day.” 

 

“Me too.” Izuku slumped back into Aizawa-san’s side. He was really tired. But he’d stay awake for his mom. “I love you.” 

 

“I love you, too. I’m so glad you are safe.” 

 

“I like being safe. I’m warm here. I hope it stays warm.”  Izuku paused just looking at his mom. He smiled as an uncomfortable twisting sensation tightened in his gut. “Hey mom.” 

 

“Yes, baby?”

 

“Is this real?”

 

Izuku felt bad at his question as his mom broke down into tears. Questions were allowed with his mom though and he needed to double check. She struggled to compose herself, not able to do anything more than sob and let out strangled cries. The phone shifted slightly and the edge of a face peeked into view. 

 

“Yes, Izuku. This is real.” It was Hizashi, his eyes were sad but he had a soft smile. It was nice. 

 

“Oh, good.” Izuku paused. “Hi, Hizashi.” 

 

“Hi, Little Listener.”

 

 Izuku hummed.“Hey, Mom?”

 

“Y-yeah, Izuku?” His mom’s voice was really shaky. He didn’t like that.

 

“Why aren’t you happy?”

 

“Oh, I am. I’m really happy.” She sobbed before she pawed at her face with a wet chuckle. “Remember, Midoryia’s are big into happy tears. These are happy tears, Izuku.” 

 

“Okay. That’s good. I want you to be happy.” Izuku shifted a bit as his leg ached. He dropped the phone to rub at his knee. The phone fell to the floor, and he whined as he couldn’t see his mom anymore. Aizawa-san picked up the phone off the floor and held it for Izuku. It was nice because Izuku was really tired. It was getting hard to stay awake.

 

“Mom, remember how you always said it didn’t matter why or when, but I could always get a hug?” Izuku paused to cough a few times. It kinda hurt to talk, but this was important . “No matter how tired you were? Even if I had to wake you up?”

 

“Absolutely. Do you want a hug Izuku?”

 

“Yes, please.” 

 

Izuku waited, briefly. There were no warm arms wrapping around him. No crushing hug. He squirmed, confused. Mom was good about giving hugs when he asked and he didn’t know why there was any wait.

 

“Shouta, if you don’t hug my child right this second I’m going to break out of jail to murder you.” 

 

Arms crushed Izuku. It wasn’t as soft and tender as Mom’s hugs were normally. Definitely not as squishy. The chest he was crushed against was a lot harder than usual. The strong smell of coffee and the distant scent of tobacco made Izuku’s nose wrinkle. He wondered where the lilac and green tea smell went. He didn’t think he was super fond of this new perfume, but it was okay. Izuku craned his head up to see that it was Aizawa-san. Right, his mom was on the phone, not here with him. He’d kind of forgotten, which was okay.

 

It wasn’t his mom, but it was still really, really good. A great hug even. All the tension in Izuku snapped, letting him go limp. The hug was a little different than normal, but the thick, strong arms made him feel so safe as they held him up. It was kinda like Keigo’s hugs, but a little less desperate. It kind of felt like Izuku could let go and not worry as these arms would hold him up above the water. It made Izuku feel really warm. Izuku let his eyes slide shut as he slowly rocked. The chest he was pinned against rumbled as voices floated over him. Izuku was done paying attention, but he decided he wasn’t going to fully float away, not at least for a while. 

 

“Hey, kiddo you awake?” Izuku hummed, his eyes still closed. “Okay, your mom has to go, do you want to say bye?”

 

Izuku hummed again and nuzzled into the chest. He was really tired. 

 

“Bye, baby, It was so nice to see you.” Izuku cracked an eye open in the direction of his mom’s voice. He smiled at her smile. “I’ll talk to you as soon as I can, but it might be a second. Be good for Shouta and Hizashi, okay? Think of them as your babysitters, only till I come get you.”

 

“Okay.” Izuku closed his eyes as he grinned. He could do that, easily. He was a good kid. 

 

“Alright, Bye, Izuku. I love you. Sweet dreams.”

 

“Bye, Mom. I love you, too.” 

 

The strong arms around him picked him up and after a moment he was laid back down onto his cloud-like bed. Izuku let out a lazy sigh. It felt really nice. He felt himself drift, but not in the way he had been. This was less of the distant floating and more of a familiar cozy blanket wrapping around him. Right before he sank into a peaceful sleep, Izuku heard the click of a light switch and a low mumble. 

 

“Sleep well, kiddo.”

Notes:

:) a little respit for y'all <3
but dont worry theres a LOT that still needs to be sorted out >:)
SO BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELTS FOLKS

Chapter 20: Shouta Doesn’t Think Fatherhood is Meant for Him

Notes:

HEYYY IM BACKKKKK!!! AND STILL ON MY NONSENSE EEHEHEHEH
Premptivly imma say sorry :) This is in the words of my beta reader "a rollercoaster of a chapter" ehehe
Thanks as always to @sassy_chemist, also <3 Always be making my day with her comments and making my grammer 300% better hhahaha
But lets be real here folks. Aizawa? is not okay. :( so plz be kind to him okay? Honestly no one is okay here hahaa So be nice to all of them mentally send them all the hugs ♥(˘⌣˘ )⊃
and its gonna be a few chapters til people are okay again :D so im so sorry about the lack of fluff hahahaahahahaha >:) or maybe im NOT sorry we'll see >:D

Triggers: there are some!! but they are in the end notes out of fear of spoiling :P but no one dies! (I can't bring myself to ever do that lol)

But without further ado!
Enjoy~~~

Grading papers was never an exciting activity, but was a necessary evil as a teacher. Shouta tried to go through them as quickly as possible, but unfortunately some of the students this year had handwriting right on the cusp of where Shouta would throw them out and give them a zero for being illegible. But he was going to mark them down for it, as it took a few extra minutes for every sheet. Shouta tried to respect the students' time, thus they should learn to respect his time too.

Shouta should probably start dinner for him and Izuku soon. Hizashi, after meeting up with Inko early this morning, had gone out on his patrol, and then was going to go to the radio station to do some recording. Normally he would grab food at a restaurant on long days like this as he wouldn’t be home till pretty late. The kid had definitely slept through lunch after finally talking for the first time in just under three days. Shouta wasn’t sure if he was awake yet, but he hadn’t come out of his room and figured the kid might need some space after seeing his mom and having a complete breakdown. If it had been Shouta, he’d probably need a full week of space to deal with it all. And that doesn’t include the s— show that was their wedding day with Keigo collapsing and Izuku learning about his mom all while being out for who knows how long in a winter rain storm.

Looking back, Shouta wanted to kick himself. Of course Izuku didn’t know. They had never sat down with the kid and explained anything out of concern for stressing him out triggering a worsening of his health.

That had backfired on them. Spectacularly.

Izuku probably also had a bunch of other weird misconceptions that needed to be addressed. Not like Shouta knew how to do that. He wasn’t good with this sort of thing; he didn’t know where to even begin. He figured later this evening after Hizashi came home they could work together to make a game plan. Hopefully, between the two of them they could figure out a way to talk to him to avoid triggering the kid into sinking back into another long borderline catatonic episode. Shouta already felt like a horrible guardian, and he didn’t know how he could live with himself if he did it again.

At least his idea of having Izuku video call Inko hadn’t totally backfired. He still wasn’t sure if it had been the best for the kid, but Shouta couldn’t stand watching the normally animated kid act like a total zombie. It was terrifying looking at his dull eyes as he’d take bites of soup, or the empty expression as he loosely gripped one of Keigo’s freshly cleaned feathers.

Shouta had needed to do something to help make the kid feel safe, and he knew that he wasn’t going to cut it. Hizashi, maybe, but not him. Shouta scared Izuku half the time and he had no idea what he was doing wrong. For the first time in his life, he regretted his skill of being naturally intimidating, especially towards children. He loved watching his students squirm, but seeing the same nervous mannerisms in Izuku left a sour taste in Shouta’s mouth. Hizashi kept telling him that the kid was nervous around everyone, but he was pretty sure he triggered the nerves the most.

Looking up from the couch where he’d been grading, he craned his neck to see down the hall. Only a sliver of Izuku’s door was visible from his position. It was still closed. Shouta sighed and stood. He twisted back and forth, his back sounding like a sack of river stones clattering next to each other. He smiled, imagining Hizashi’s horrified grimace from the noise as he walked to the kitchen.

He pulled out a pot, setting it on the stove. Shouta decided to make curry, knowing that they had some paste along with the potatoes and other vegetables. He rinsed the vegetables, then diced them he slowly started adding them to the pot. First the onion and garlic in some oil. Then the potatoes, carrots, peas and cabbage. He could never remember if the paste went in before or after the vegetables were mostly soft, so he just threw it right in the middle, when nothing was totally hard or totally soft. No one would call Shouta a culinary genius but his food was… usually decently edible. Most of the time. Okay, maybe 40% of the time, but he was getting closer to 50% with every attempt. Shouta set the pot to simmer and moved to start the rice cooker. He was working on rinsing the rice when a door opened. He perked up, turning to see who it was.

“Oh Sho! What a strange scene to walk in on.” Nemuri waltzed into the kitchen and leaned heavily onto the island, her chin resting on her clasped fingers. “I didn’t know you could cook from how many of those horrid jelly packets you eat.”

Shouta sighed, focusing back on the meal. He had kind of hoped the door would have been Izuku finally coming out, but nope. It was the other hero banished to the dorm for safety reasons. The other very annoying hero who after only a few short days was getting on his nerves. Don’t get him wrong, he loved Nemuri, but having unfettered access to him was too much of a temptation for her and she just kept bothering him.

“What, not going to respond? I’m hurt, Shouta.” He could hear the pout in her voice as he finished with the rice and pressed the buttons to start it cooking.

“I’ll respond when you say something that warrants a response.” He moved back to the curry to stir it.

“Ouch, I see how it is.” Nemuri stood and grabbed a cup and filled it with water. “So, is this a meal that is being shared with pretty little Moi? Or am I to be thrown to the wolves?”

“You can have some once it’s done.”

He frowned down at the pot. The potatoes were soft but the carrots were still rock hard. He might have messed up the order again. Normally, he’d just just eat it with harder bits, but he’d wanted it to be good for Izuku. Maybe he should have made something simpler like instant ramen and just zhuzh it up with egg and some vegetables. Well, it was too late now. Hopefully the kid could forgive some questionable quality curry. Next time he’d make sure to actually follow a recipe.

“Okay, thanks.” She sank down to rest her cheek on the island, staring at the glass of water as she slowly spun it next to her head. “I’m super tired. I made the mistake of giving all of my art history classes essays at the same time and reading all of their terrible essays is slowly driving me insane.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Shouta mumbled out as he stirred the curry, silently praying the carrots would magically soften. It didn’t work.

“I appreciate it. Being a teacher is sometimes more exhausting than being a hero.”

“That has been my experience.” Shouta smirked over his shoulder at Nemuri. “Why do you think I’ve expelled so many students? Makes my life a little easier.”

“Actually, I have seen how much paperwork you need to fill out to do your ridiculous ‘let them experience a safe death’ thing. There is no way it actually makes your life easier. You are just a sadist and like to watch kids freak out.”

Shouta cringed. She wasn’t wrong, but all he could envision was the way Izuku would switch between dodging eye contact and making aggressive eye contact with him. How the kid would rub his feet together, fidget with the blankets in his lap, or chew on his knuckle when Shouta was around. How the kid had called him a monster as Shouta pulled him away from the infirmary. How Izuku went limp in his arms as Shouta covered his eyes. Shouta knew logically that Izuku thought he was some past tormentor, not himself, but it still haunted him.

“Okay, that came out wrong. You like it when your bratty teenage students squirm. Because it is both good for them and also hilarious.” Nemuri’s hand clasped Shouta’s shoulder. He refused to look up from the curry he was stirring. The carrots still seemed too hard. He couldn’t even do this right.

“It’s okay. You were right the first time.” Just through a few walls was proof that he was good at making kids freak out. Shouta hoped that he could figure out how to stop doing whatever he was doing to hurt Izuku now that the kid was more coherent.

“No, I wasn’t. Not really. You are actually really good with kids and can clock what kids need faster than I can. Sometimes faster than Hizashi or Nedzu. There is a reason you are given the problem children every year.”

“Yeah, it’s because Nedzu is a sadist and likes to torture me.”

“You know what, you are absolutely correct, but what I was going to say was that you get saddled with the problem kids because you are good with them. You stay level headed, and have the uncanny ability to do what they need. I don’t think you even realize how much you shift your methods to tailor everything you do to the individual classes and to each student.”

Shouta turned off the stove and set the spoon in the pot, maybe with more force than really necessary. He turned and leaned against the counter to give Nemuri a tired, flat look. “That is just not true. I am an a–hole to all of my students evenly and most of the student body is genuinely terrified of me.”

“Ah! But that is where you are wrong!” She wagged a finger at him with a grin. “I just overheard a group of third years you taught go on and on about how they wished Snipe was as good at being a teacher. Said in the moment it was awful, but in retrospect they saw how much you cared by how you pushed them and motivated them. Said you had unwavering trust in their potential, even the ones you expelled and then reinstated. Called you a teddy bear dipped in concrete, and that once the hard facade was cracked, they could see how soft you really are.”

Shouta was pretty sure he knew exactly who that group probably was. They were troublemakers who had given Shouta a year-long headache. They were good kids, but just couldn’t seem to help themselves from their teen shenanigans. They turned in homework written in black or blue crayon as the syllabus said those were the only colors he’d take for assignments, ignoring that he clearly meant pens. Their super moves were all named after stupid memes which Shouta had to pretend not to have to search up to see if they were some new innuendo and not appropriate for most hero work.

For one semester, the group had changed their hero costumes to be identical to his, claiming that they did it for ‘utility’. But in reality was clearly to mess around as they would giggle through their water breaks as they would slouch and quietly mimic him during class, always just far enough from him that Shouta was pretty sure they thought he was out of hearing range. They never were inherently disrespectful in their strange play acting, so he never called them out on it.

Deep down a part of Shouta felt... honored, as they were usually giving each other pep talks and motivating the weird little group to do their best. They never did anything that was actually against the rules, but just pushed boundaries as teens tend to do. That group was weird though, and had never really seemed that scared of him from day one. He was both excited and sad to see them go at the end of the school year.

That being said, Shouta didn’t think the outliers should speak for the majority. Probably that weird set of teens would have done the same thing to Vlad or Ectoplasm, he just happened to be their homeroom teacher. Shouta wasn’t allowed to be soft, and the students knew he was a no nonsense teacher, and acted accordingly. And he pushed them out of duty to keep them alive, not because he cared.

“Alright, I give up. You actually are some horrible, terrible, demon teacher and no one knows why they keep you on the payroll. Exactly like you seem to believe,” she huffed while rolling her eyes.

Shouta knew that she was joking, but also hearing the same types of things that his brain told him on a regular basis out of the mouth of his friend didn’t exactly make him feel great. But he knew that Nemuri had almost no patience for his “doom spirals”, as Hizashi called them. Honestly, Shouta had less patience for them then Hizashi seemed to. He in no way deserved Hizashi, but was grateful that the man was now his husband regardless of the obvious gap in quality between the two.

Nemuri stood up and stretched her arms up over her head with a soft groan. “I’m going to go change and maybe lay down for a bit in my room. Lemme know when dinner is done. Enjoy stewing in your self-hating funk.”

She left, wiggling her fingers towards him. Shouta sighed. He should be a better friend to her, but lately that seemed too hard. In all reality, everything seemed a bit too hard to Shouta the last few days, which was not a good sign. He should probably talk to Hizashi about it, but he was so busy and Shouta didn’t want to be another burden on his husband. There was already too much on Hizashi’s plate. Shouta didn’t need to add a huge serving of his nonsense to pair with the chaos of Keigo’s infection and villain status, or the thick messy lasagna of Izuku’s layered myriad of issues. He would talk to Hizashi if it continued, though. But Shouta really hoped that with just a little less stress coming from his unending worry about Izuku, it might all get a little easier.

Shouta would gladly take 1% easier. At this point, he’d also just take the carrots getting soft. But that seemed to be asking too much of the universe.

The rice cooker chimed. Shouta sighed, heaving himself up from where he’d been leaning heavily against the counter. He scooped the rice and curry into three bowls leaving them on the kitchen island. He thought about taking the bowls to Izuku’s room and eating there, but he figured he’d ask where the kid wanted to eat. If Izuku wanted to eat not in his room, having his hands free would be the easiest.

On the way to Izuku’s room he knocked on Nemuri’s door. “Food’s done. It’s on the counter. The carrots are still a bit hard, just a warning.”

The door opened, to a tired looking Nemuri in fluffy pajama bottoms with cats on them and a sports bra. She smiled at Shouta. “Thanks, beggars can’t be choosers. I think I’ll survive with some hard carrots.”

“Good, I’d hate for you to die on me.”

“Awww,” she patted his cheek as she slid past him. “I knew you cared, deep down.”

He rolled his eyes before turning to go to Izuku’s door. Shouta knocked really quietly in case the kid was somehow still sleeping. Neither Hizashi or himself could figure out if Izuku had actually been sleeping when he’d closed his eyes, so if he hadn’t slept in two and a half days then taking the whole day to sleep would make sense. He listened to the inside of the room and didn’t hear any movement.

“Izuku?” He knocked again. “Are you awake?”

There was still no sound. Shouta felt a small spike of anxiety shoot through his spine. His hand gripped the door knob tightly ready to open the door, before he paused. He didn’t want to encroach on Izuku’s personal space but, at the same time, if he’d slipped back into his deep dissociation he probably wasn’t even aware that Shouta was asking for him. Slowly, Shouta turned the knob and cracked the door open, peeking his head into the dark room.

In the dim light coming in through the window and from the now cracked door, Shouta could see Izuku swaying as he stood in the middle of the room. The desk chair was in front of him and he was using it like a walker, holding to the back rest tightly. Shouta snapped a hand out to hit the switch. The light snapped on and Shouta felt his heart clench.

Izuku looked wrecked. He squinted against the light. His eyes were puffy, his cheeks were wet, and his nose was running from crying. There was a pained wrinkle between his eyebrows. His fingers were white from clutching the back of the chair tightly. His eyes were lowered to look at Shouta’s slippered feet, but they darted to the corner of the room briefly. Shouta followed the gaze only to see a strange mix of broken pencils, some tightly folded papers, a fragmented ruler and a pencil sharpener which had been taken apart. It was all sort of around the vent that was inlaid in the wall near the floor. Which… was weird, but not deserving this level of panic. Shouta was missing something. Noticing that Shouta was looking at the corner of the room, Izuku’s face turned ghostly white as panic washed over it. His breaths picked up and the kid stifled a cough.

Shouta took a few steps forward only for Izuku to let out a whimper and flinched. Shouta froze, not sure what he was doing wrong to trigger the kid. Izuku started to squirm looking anywhere in the room but at Shouta. Couching, Shouta tried to get a little closer to the kid without freaking him out.

“Hey, kiddo, it’s okay, what's got you so upset?”

Izuku through rough breaths gave Shouta a confused look before taking a step back from the chair. Shouta saw as his bad leg buckled under the kid, but was just far enough away there was nothing he could do to stop it. Izuku hit the ground and let out a quiet pained gasp, the sound ripped through Shouta’s chest. He wanted to help but couldn’t, he could only watch as Izuku half curled into the fetal position on the floor.

“Izuku, what do you need me to do? Do you need me to talk to you? Or do you need me to leave?” Shouta knew Hizashi preferred just listening to endless rambling as something to ground to. He personally liked just having a moment to ride out panic attacks. But Izuku wasn’t either of them, and might want something else. Thinking back to the conversation Izuku had with his mom he came up with an idea. “Or do you… need a hug?”

The kid just screwed his eyes shut, shaking his head violently as he writhed a little on the ground. His good leg was crossed over his bad leg and his hands were pressed against his groin. It kind of looked like the kid was doing a weird form of a toddler’s ‘potty dance’ along the ground. Shouta froze, that might actually be it.

“Do… you need the bathroom?”

Izuku practically sobbed in relief as he nodded. Shouta quickly moved to grab the kid, only to have Izuku flinch back. Slowly, Shouta tried again and Izuku still reacted negatively but, less dramatically. The kid squirmed in his arms as he stood up. There was some major breakdown in communication if the kid was this nervous to go to the bathroom. The wheel chair was still tucked by his bed and he could have left at any point, but didn’t. Whatever this was, it needed addressing now.

“Why didn’t you go to the bathroom, Izuku?” Shouta used his foot to hook the half closed door fully open.

Izuku looked at Shouta like he’d said the sky was burgundy and the moon was made of bleached coffee grounds. Izuku’s voice was gravely and quiet, probably painful between the crying, sore throat and lack of use for a few days. “Door was closed.”

“The… door isn’t locked.”

“What?” Izuku looked shocked. Almost like he hadn’t… even checked. Was he really expecting to be locked in the room? That made something thick gurgle and writhe in the depths of Shouta’s stomach. They’d messed up. He’d messed up.

“You can leave your room, anytime. If you need anything or just want to.” Shouta shifted Izuku to open the door of the bathroom. The kid looked so conflicted and confused by his words. Obviously the commission had locked this kid up for hours on end so often that the kid wasn’t just resigned to it, but baffled by it not being the standard anymore. G-d, that made him sick. Shouta would explain more once Izuku got a chance to do his business.

“But isn’t that... one of the rules?” His voice broke and triggered a violent coughing fit.

Shouta smelled the bite of urine before he could feel his shirt and sleeves start to get damp and drip. He went to reassure Izuku, as the boy was likely to be embarrassed, only to have the kid throw himself out of his arms, slamming into the tile floor next to the enclosed toilet stalls. He started to crawl backwards on the palms of his hands, dragging his feet behind him. Izuku looked terrified and in Shouta’s surprise he’d missed some of the quiet whispers the kid was mumbling under his breath. He focused in on them as he crouched back down, ignoring how the wet, smelly fabric of his shirt stuck to his stomach and arms.

“...I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Don’t hurt me. Please don’t…”

The words felt like a sucker punch to Shouta. He’d never hurt Izuku. Especially not over something like this. It was an accident, pure and simple. But the commission was full of sick monsters who likely had no qualms over punishing a child for something like this. Shouta opened his mouth only for all the air to get sucked out of the room with Izuku’s panicked mumbles.

“I’ll be good, Mr Watanabe, please, I’m sorry. I’ll clean it up. I’m so, so sorry. Please, don’t hurt me.”

Shouta didn’t know what to do, Izuku thought he was that f—ing b—rd. It made Shouta feel horrified that once again Izuku’s flashbacks made him the monster in his waking nightmares. He tried to mentally fight the whispering voice that told Shouta that the kid was right to do so. He was only half successful, but the kid needed to get cleaned up and Shouta needed to be the adult here. He couldn’t break down. As slowly as he could, Shouta awkwardly slid across the floor in a crouched crawl to be by Izuku, who was now leaning against one of the closed stall doors.

It was clear that Izuku wasn’t fully aware of what was going on. His small hands were bunched in his shirt, shaking slightly. His good leg was bent, his knee pressed up to his chest. His bad leg stretched out in front of him, the plastic cast clacking against the tile as Izuku trembled. Shouta reached out knowing that any touch might be a bomb just hidden under Izuku’s skin ready to be triggered. Izuku was already sick, he didn’t need to sit in soiled clothes like a neglected infant, too. If it was just a flashback, Shouta would let the kid ride it out. But they really couldn’t afford to let the kid get a UTI on top of everything else he was dealing with, or at some point the kid would be crushed under all the health issues. Shouta knew he needed to intervene. However, the knowledge that no matter where he grabbed the kid would probably make this whole situation worse made him pause.

Mentally cursing, Shouta clenched his fists by his sides as he blankly watched the panicking kid in front of him. What was f—ing wrong with him? What happened to all that hero training to jump in even when things are terrifying? When did Shouta become a man of inaction, instead of action? He was a person who jumped in head first to fix problems. The problem at hand was that Izuku was dirty and needed to be cleaned. The solution was to reach out and clean him. It was logical, simple even. But something in Shouta screamed and tore at every centimeter of his insides at the idea.

His fingers creaked as he forced his hands out of the tight fists. Shouta’s hands shakily reached out and wrapped their way to rest feather light around Izuku’s wrists. The boy bolted upright, looking just past Shouta’s head. Izuku opened his mouth and let out the longest and loudest blood-curdling scream.

Shouta had f—ed up. Again. Always.

He let go of Izuku and scrambled back, watching as Izuku slammed his head into the door of the stall again and again. There went his hope to make Izuku’s health better. Shouta felt tears flood in his dry eyes. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t figure out what the kid needed. F— what Nemuri said, he was horrible at this sort of thing. How could he have been so stupid to think that he could be an actual point of stability for the kid. Izuku liked Keigo and Hizashi, two outgoing and charismatic heroes. Even with all of Keigo’s… issues it was clear that he cared. They were both a soft landing pad for Izuku to rest on. Shouta, with his antisocial, awkward personality and uncanny ability to trigger the boy, was more of a never ending pit. The kid could fall and fall and keep falling into the depths and only find darkness and panic. Forever.

He thought he could be a guardian. Maybe… even a father one day, but he wasn’t built for it. Better to know now before he got attached to the idea. Shouta thought it was stupid that he thought he could ever do it. He had no real example of a father until he was eighteen and moved in with the Yamadas. And Shouta was nothing like Mr. Yamada and never could be. He could never be what Izuku needed. Shouta felt him fall into his own never ending pit of despair when the door to the bathroom slammed open. Nemuri darted in, sliding in her socks across the tile floor. She quickly took in the scene of Izuku thrashing, but no longer screaming, and Shouta frozen on the other side of the bathroom. She pointed to Shouta.

“Report, Eraserhead,” she barked out. He straightened and concisely gave his report of the situation.

“Izuku didn’t realize he was allowed to go to the bathroom. On the trip to get him to a toilet he soiled himself. He flipped out of my arms and started to have a flashback.” Shouta swallowed and looked to the corner of the room. He tried to not flinch at each of the deep thumps as Izuku slammed his head or fists into the door behind him. “I tried to grab his wrists to start to move him to the bath to clean him and he screamed.”

“Anything else of note?

“He thinks that I’m Watanabe.” He spat out the name. And Nemuri looked down at Shouta, her eyes filled with pity. He didn’t want her pity, he wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep for a thousand years. Or cry into Hizashi’s shoulder. He wasn’t picky.

Nemuri pointed her head out towards the door as she squatted down. “Okay, I’m going to tap in. Go take five, or h— take fifteen, just try to calm down. If I need you I’ll come get you okay?”

Shouta gave a tight nod and moved to the door. He caught himself on it as he watched how Nemuri was able to slink towards Izuku without him flinching back. She caught his head with a hand to keep him from braining himself against the door again. She whispered something that was lost in the ringing in Shouta’s ears. Izuku slumped into her with dramatic tears. She hugged him, rocking the two of them back and forth.

He slid out of the bathroom, walking into his and Hizashi’s room. He clawed the urine covered shirt off his body and threw it across the room. It slapped against the far wall, joining the pile of discarded clothes that had accumulated, since the clean clothes were in the hamper. Shouta slammed his back against the door, and sank to the floor. He ran his fingers against his scalp, ruffling his own hair. He growled and pounded his fist against the door frame. It hurt the side of his hand. He let his head fall back against the door heavily, and let out a shaky sigh.

Shouta slumped forward resting his head on his knees. He took a deep breath, the smell of now stale urine filling his nose. He held it in, before letting the air out slowly. Shouta did it again and again. Trying to calm himself. It was letting the hot anger slough off, only leaving the raw pain that was hidden underneath.

Why… Why couldn’t he do what Nemuri did effortlessly? Why was he incapable of giving Izuku a modicum of comfort? Why couldn’t the universe give the kid a break? Just for a day. He just wanted Izuku to have a full day, was that too much to ask? He would forever be grateful that Izuku could find comfort in Inko, Keigo, Hizashi, Nemuri and even, seemingly, Recovery Girl. He needed as many people in his corner as he could get. That, however, didn't stop how much it hurt knowing that no matter how hard Shouta wanted it, it looked like Izuku just… didn’t want him in his corner. Or more realistically, it was for trauma response reasons.

It was illogical to force someone who was bit by a dog and is now scared of them to live with a big, scary dog. Shouta stood up and wiped away the tears that had accumulated on his face. He was Izuku’s big scary dog. It wasn’t logical to force himself on Izuku longer than he had to. He had to take a step back, let Hizashi take point. Shouta seemed to have a good rapport with Keigo… maybe they could divide and conquer with the kids, help them individually. The idea gutted him, he liked Izuku, but for his benefit he’d stay away.

Moving to his nightstand Shouta slid open his drawer. Under some pens and a notebook, he grabbed a mostly full pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He’d confiscated these from a third year a few days ago, and couldn’t bring himself to throw them out. He’d never planned to smoke them per se, but it was just in case it all got too hard. Well, it was now too hard.

Shouta knew that he’d been doing a surprisingly good job avoiding smoking. It had been almost two weeks. He also knew that it was 100% because he didn’t want to risk Izuku getting even a sliver of second hand smoke and he was trapped on campus. So it’s not like he can just go out and buy more. But if he was going to stay away the kid, Shouta might as well take the stress relief.

His mind made up, Shouta walked out of his room and to the kitchen sink. He washed the now sticky urine off his skin. He heard the sound of the bath running from the open bathroom door. Shouta walked the front door, pausing with his hand on the handle, he turned to look down the hall. The bath water stopped and soft sounds of splashes and words drifted down the hall. Izuku was… giggling.

Something huge slid around under the thick ice that encased Shouta’s emotions. He heard the thick ice crackle and fracture. He didn’t want to know what it was. He couldn’t… deal with it. It would crush him if he tried.

Nemuri’s door was cracked. Shouta left the front door and walked into her room. He got down on his hands and knees and pawed around under her bed. He felt what he was looking for and pulled it out. He knew it was a bad idea for so many reasons, and his heart raced as the voices in his brain were screaming at him to stop. The more insidious self-destructive side whispers cut through the screaming that this was what he needed to do to truly feel calm. To lock away the beast waking up in him.

Nemuri had Izuku, they were giggling together. He'd be fine.

Sliding his hand into his pocket he clutched the cigarettes. His other hand wrapped around the neck of the tequila bottle. He left the apartment into the icy cold ignoring how the wind sent shivers up his still uncovered torso.

—

Waking up, Shouta felt terrible. His mouth was so dry it felt like it would crack and bleed if he moved, it tasted like an ashtray, and his lungs felt tight. Opening his eyes was a challenge as his eyes were extra dry this morning and his eyelids felt like sandpaper rubbing across his corneas. The light coming in the window felt like spears going through his eyes. He hissed out in pain only for it to set off the deep throbbing of his head into new screaming heights. Shouta groaned as he pulled the blanket up over his head, curling up into the fetal position. Maybe if he curled up tight though he could escape the hangover from hell.

The door to the bedroom slammed open, and the sound of his husband's voice sounded as loud as a jet engine.

“Oh good, you’re awake.” Hizashi sounded pissed.

Shouta couldn’t even blame him. He’s pissed at himself. Shouta tightened further into the ball under the blanket.

“Yeah, no, we are not doing that. We need to talk.” The warm blanket was torn from Shouta leaving him exposed to the blinding, painful light from the cursed sun. He covered his eyes with a hand. There was a sound of a cup being slammed down on the nightstand. A small bottle hit Shouta’s bareback, rattling as it bounced and rolled across the bed. “I got you water and some pain killer. Because I’m a f—ing loving husband.”

Shouta sat up, feeling nothing but rotting self hate festering in his chest. Not deserving of the kindness of the pain pills, Shouta ignored them, going for the water instead. He coughed before taking a sip of the water.

“Take the pills, you masochist. I know you don’t want to but I need you to be at whatever your best can be right now.”

Grimacing, Shouta searched the wrinkles of the sheet with his hands before he found the bottle. He popped out two pills and dry swallowed them. Shouta slid back to rest his back against the headboard, and brought his knees up to his chest. He didn’t want to look at Hizashi, to see the totally earned vitriol. Instead, he picked at the sheet.

“How–” Shouta grabbed the water, taking another sip when his voice cracked painfully. After downing half the glass he mumbled out his question. “How is Izuku doing?”

Hizashi sighed. His voice was a little less clipped. “He is doing as best as we can expect with... everything. He is out with Nem going on a walk around the grounds. He is worried about you by the way. I told him that you have a bad headache, which I’m sure is f—ing accurate. He wanted to make you pancakes to cheer you up.”

A weird mix of warm bubbling happiness and horrid self loathing churned and rolled in Shouta. Izuku was… too good. Shouta couldn’t even begin to parent such a delightful kid. He’d just ruin him. Taint him with whatever pollutant that was caked over Shouta’s soul. He didn’t deserve the kindness the kid wanted to give him. Shouta was the monster that haunted his nightmares.

The sharp sting of fingers flicking his forehead yanked Shouta out of his internal doom spiral.

“Pay attention. Don’t disappear into your f—ing doom spiral on me, I'm angry at you.”

Shouta flicked his eyes up to see Hizashi between the long strands of his fringe covering his face. His husband was in comfy sweats and an oversized t-shirt, clearly skipping class as it had to at least be eleven thirty if not after noon. Or maybe it was the weekend? Shouta had kind of lost track of what day it was. Hizashi’s face was hard, anger carving deep lines across his normally smooth face. However, under the burning acidic anger in his eyes, was a deep pool of worry. The anger he could handle, but Shouta didn’t deserve the worry, and seeing it so clear on his husband's face made something crack in him. He let out a small hiccuping sob before bringing the back of a fist to his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered out.

“Good.” Hizashi started to pace, his hands waving wildly as he spoke. A few signs were thrown in here or there for emphasis. “Do you know how terrifying it is to come home to a quietly panicking Nemuri who can’t find my husband? The husband who was not answering his calls because he left his phone in the apartment. The husband that sequestered himself up in some tree in one of Nedzu’s camera blindspots, before drinking so much stolen tequila that he passed out over the thick branch. The husband that totally could have died of hypothermia from not wearing a shirt in almost freezing temperatures or asphyxiation from throwing up in a tree, if we didn’t run through the right part of the forest f—ing looking up. How dumb can you be, Shouta?? Do you want to die?”

“I’m– I’m sorry.”

Hizashi threw something at Shouta. Ducking to protect his face, Shouta braced, only for something light to hit his knees. It was the box of cigarettes, now empty.

“I get the alcohol. Nemuri told us about it. I don’t even know where or how you got these, and relapses happen, sure, but what a way to go out with a bang, Sho. What a two for one deal! Can you even breathe? The way you reeked of smoke I bet your lungs don’t feel great, that's for sure! Worth losing any progress you’ve ever made? I’m just glad it's been raining off and on the last few days, ‘cause with the number of non-snubbed butts I saw under the tree, I’m surprised you didn’t start a fire. What were you thinking? Oh wait! You weren’t!”

“I’m sorry.” Shouta wanted to implode into a black hole. It would be fitting as he’d suck everything down with him until it was all just one massive pit of nothing. He had known it was a horrible idea to go out the way he did but he did it anyway. And all he could do was say ‘I’m sorry.’ What a pathetic excuse of a person.

“I don’t want you to feel sorry, I need you to be better.” Hizashi gestured at the pitiful lump that Shouta had become. “I can’t do this alone. I can’t. I am at the end of my rope with everything. And I’m not going through this all again, Sho. I did this with you all before, remember? It wasn’t f—ing pretty, but I was an adult who could handle it. Keigo? Izuku? They really can’t stand around waiting for one of their self-assigned parents to stumble their way out of a drunken stupor. What if the commission somehow breaks into UA and tries to take Izuku and you are blackout drunk? Poof! Bye bye, baby!”

“I know, Hizashi.”

“Do you? Do you really? Because I remember you b—ing about your dad doing the same f—ing thing all throughout high school. It’s like you didn't learn anything from his bad example!”

“I’m nothing like my father.” A spark of anger lit in Shouta.

“I dunno, Sho.” Hizashi looked down his nose at Shouta. “Maybe the apple doesn’t fall that far from the tree.”

Rage boiled over in Shouta and he jumped up off the bed to get up in Hizashi’s face. Hizashi looked a little surprised as he took a step back. “Even totally f—ed up I would never hit the kids. Get that clear, I’m not my father. I messed up, okay? I know! I hate myself enough for the two of us! It’s not going to happen again, and if it does, f—ing divorce me and take the kids. I’ll move. I don’t want to be a danger to them or you. I don’t deserve any of you already and if I f— it up again, that’s it. No third chances.”

“Shouta…” Hizashi quietly took a step forward, his voice soft. Shouta cut him off.

“Maybe I should leave anyway, it might be better for everyone. Izuku is scared of me. Keigo, even after imprinting on me, can’t trust me enough to tell me when he is actually dying, and then there is you! Hizashi, you are so much better than me in every way to the point that it physically hurts to think about. I’m confused by, and have to fight daily to be even a fraction worthy of your love!”

All of the fight evaporated away leaving Shouta feeling hollow. He fell back onto the bed and curled up on his side. His voice came out in a dull monotone, a stark difference from the emotion filled yelling. “Don’t worry, I’ll do better. I have to. But for what it’s worth, I am sorry.”

Hizashi sighed before falling backwards onto the bed next to Shouta. They both bounced a little before Hizashi rolled to his side, one of his hands reaching up to rest on Shouta’s upper arm, his thumb rubbing a soothing arch along Shouta’s bicep.

“I’m sorry too. I– I was just really worried, Sho. Not just about you, but I took it all out on you. Which isn’t fair. I don’t think you are anything like your father, and I know you’d never hurt either of the kids. You practically bend yourself into a pretzel just to get them a sliver of more comfort. I shouldn’t have said any of those things.”

Shouta shrugged. “It’s okay.”

“It’s really not.”

“Well,” Shouta shimmied himself forward and slid his arms around Hizashi. “I forgive you.”

Hizashi let out a stuttered breath right into the cook of Shouta’s neck. “I forgive you too, but seriously. Don’t do it again. I don’t think I can survive you spiraling like last time. Not again. Not without my parents’ help and with two very traumatized kids along for the ride. It’d be too much.”

“I’ll dump whatever was left of the bottle and talk to Nem about needing to keep it out of the dorm.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Hizashi waved a hand, like he was waving away Shouta’s misdeeds. It rubbed Shouta the wrong way, he needed to be accountable.

“No, I should have told her years ago. She might be less pushy about taking me out to bars to ‘get me super drunk like I used to do all the time’ if she knew I have a problem controlling my drinking.”

“Oh, I– uh. I meant about pouring out the bottle.” Hizashi moved his head back to nervously look up at the ceiling. “I… might have finished it off after we got you back to the dorm?”

Looking at the pained expression and how his husband was a little pale, Shouta felt a smile tug at his mouth. “You hung over, too?”

“Mmhm, but only slightly.” Hizashi nodded before rubbing his forehead. “I didn’t realize how low my tolerance’s gotten. Not really drinking for almost five years has apparently made me a lightweight.”

Shouta let out a laugh as he rolled onto his back. “Wow, we are both disasters.”

“Sudden onset of parenthood with wildly stressful problem children might do that to people.”

“Yeah, I think we are too young to have an eleven year old. Let alone a nineteen year old.”

“If they were ours biologically then we would have been,” Hizashi rolled onto his back and held a finger out to do the mental math in the air like it was a white board. “Sixteen when we had Izuku and… eight with Keigo. Oh gaah, I hate that.” Hizashi covered his eyes with an arm, his hand half slapping Shouta’s face

“Yeah, not great math.”

“Should we stop calling him childish nicknames? Like I always knew he wasn’t that much younger than us, but on the other hand… he’s a baby.”

“If Nem got away with calling me ‘baby-Sho-chan’ with her being only a year older than me, until I was twenty-two, I think I can call Keigo a kid.”

“Do you think he minds?”

“Honestly? I think he kinda likes it in the “no stop, you’re embarrassing me” but totally revels in it sort of way. From what he’s told me he… never really had anyone want to take care of him before. So, as long as we don’t belittle his genuine skill, I doubt it will be an issue. But if you are worried, when he wakes up we can ask him.”

“Good point.” Hizashi nodded, absentmindedly. After a few beats, Hizashi turned back to face Shouta. “Anything else we need to discuss, with maybe less yelling and insults this time?”

“Izuku didn’t know that he was allowed to leave his room to go to the bathroom.”

“What?” There was an edge to Hizashi’s quirk, amplifying his voice to rattle the walls. He sent Shouta an apologetic look.

“I don’t think we should... leave his door fully shut anymore. He can close it if he wants to but I think since he didn’t close it… he just assumed it was locked? He didn’t even check it. I don’t want him thinking he can’t come to us, or grab water, or go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. He never seemed to have an issue going to the bathroom in the infirmary as it was always just cracked a little.”

“S—, yeah I think that might be a good solution. At least until it is clear he knows that’s all okay. I also think we should keep our door cracked at night, too. Just in case he wants to talk to us or has nightmares.”

“Sounds good to me. Any news on Keigo, while I was… uh, out?” Shouta internally cringed at the reminder that he’d been out of sorts for more than a few hours.

“RG thinks he is probably going to wake up today since his fever is way lower, and seems to be staying that way. But we’ll have to see.”

“That's–” Shouta relaxed into the bed with a relieved sigh. “That’s great news actually.”

“Yeah, it really is.” Hizashi shifted to curl up next to Shouta. He put a hand over Shouta’s chest, rubbing circles through the smattering of hair. After he changed the pattern of the hair to lay in a nice little circle, Hizashi propped his head on Shouta’s shoulder. Shouta lazily looked down into Hizashi's eyes. They were warm, all the anger and worry replaced with just love. It took Shouta’s breath away, some fire starting in him wanting to be better, to be deserving of the love Hizashi had in him.

“I want to make it clear, I didn’t mean any of those nasty things I said. I know you ruminate on things a lot. So I want to be super clear about that.”

Shouta just blinked in response. He wasn’t wrong.

“But you are an amazing teacher, and will be an amazing father figure to these kids. I have no doubt you’ll connect with them and make them feel safe and loved. You also can and will do everything in your power to keep them safe. You’ll be the hero they need, not just the one they want. It’s one of the things I love about you. Shouta, you are capable of providing whatever your charges need, even when it forces you out of our comfort zone.”

“Thank you.” Shouta leaned down to kiss Hizashi’s forehead. He didn’t really believe the words personally right now, but he’d learned to believe that Hizashi believed his words. And that could be enough until he could find it in himself.

“I love you, Shouta.”

“Love you, too.”

Hizashi sat up abruptly, jarring Shouta a little. He jumped off the bed and ran around to the foot of the bed. Shouta sat up as Hizashi bent down to the floor. Popping back up, Hizashi’s arms were full of the large blanket that he’d ripped off of Shouta earlier.

“Okay!” He walked back to the side of the bed and gestured with his chin as his elbows flapped. “Scootch over, we’re cuddling and watching dumb cat videos on our phones until Izuku gets back. Then we can invite him in on it, too.”

“Not Nemuri?” Shouta raised an eyebrow.

 

“Nah, I don’t wanna hear about how we now owe her a nice dress and a bottle of high-end tequila... Again. She can go actually do her grading instead of just b—ing about it. Now, move over.” He started flapping his elbows faster, looking totally ridiculous. Shouta loved it.

Chuckling, Shouta shifted over to the far side of the bed. Hizashi threw the blanket, only half successful in spreading it out before he slid himself under the covers and glued himself to Shouta’s side. Shouta grabbed his phone off the nightstand and pulled up a compilation of cat videos. Hizashi, under the covers slid a hand into Shouta’s hand and wove their fingers together with a slight squeeze. Shouta still felt like a failure and a horrible teacher, parent, and hero, but with Hizashi cheering him on he might just be able to turn it around and keep walking towards the finish line.

Notes:

Triggers: Panic attacks, ptsd flashbacks, a lot of self deprication and just like depresso thoughts from aizawa. IZuku does head bash as a form of self harm. binge drinking as an unhealthy coping mechanism (off screen) but hes UNWELL, there is also pee in this :/ which some people eeks people out

Note: I did math with blood alcohol levels. And learned Sake is like wine lol i didnt realize that I thought! IT was like Vodka! And was a hard spirit! RIP so I went back and changed the bottle Nem mentions to being tequila :P so anyone with good memories might be like huh? and this is me going. I know. I had to change it ahah

Also I know in cannon/the lite novels Hizashi is like basically shown to be a boarderline 'functional alcoholic' or at least a heavy drinker and Shouta doesnt drink as much. my personal headcannon was that Shouta like spiraled younger and then went oh shoot this is a BAD PATH and took a step back when he was younger. Hizashi never really had that so he just kept drinking. so in THIS AU I took that but had Shouta spiral right after they moved out of the Yamada's house into their first apartment. It was messy and he refused to admit that he maybe had a problem for a hot second but did get there when he like went on a patrol still a little buzzed and someone got hurt (not badly) or maybe a villian got away. And because Hizashi is a freaking caretaker at heart was like. well if he can't im not gonna drink either, and only has a drink here ot there socially (only when Aizawa isn't there) and usually its something super light. Which forced HIM to deal with more of his grief and guilt instead of numbing it away which is how we have the more mentally stable adults in this fic instead of the full blown dissasters we have in cannon lol I COULDNT have them be as messy as they are in cannon. like i needed them to be good parents in this story so I forced them in the past to like deal with some of their issues lolol They are still messy and broken people but like not as bad as they normally are haha so this was my nod to that xD

So hopefully yall enjoyed Shouta's sad boy hour, this will force the adults to actually talk to each other! and SOON WE MIGHT GET THE KIDS TALKING TO EACHOTHER ??????? AND THEN THE KIDS TALKING TO THE DADS!?!?!? IS THERE GOING TO BE COMMUNICATION IN THIS HOUSE??? wild. didn't know that it could happen hahaha xD but I SWEAR we are working towards resolution here hahaa

Chapter 21: Keigo Talks to Izuku

Notes:

HELLOOOOO FOLKSSSSS!!!!
Thanks as always to @sassy_chemist, best beta and her comments made me cackle.

Also I am ruined by science so I think in metric for distance but not in temperature. Thanks America. So I hope it wont take yall out to much but I realized some might not know metric/imperial so I put the secondary one like this (TempF) its literally one but i figured I'd save a google for someone lol im not gonna change the distance things cuz i believe in y'all.

But here is some communication between the brothers! <3 :D

Enjoy <3333

Also triggers are in the bottom comment

Keigo woke up and immediately regretted doing so. He moaned, begging to go back into the dark abyss that was sleep. He felt terrible. He was all shivery, meaning he had a fever, his throat burned, his mouth was the actual Sahara, and he didn’t even want to talk about his stomach. It felt like someone had gone in with a spoon and just stirred around his guts. His wings also felt weirdly empty which made it feel like half his senses were trapped in a pool, making everything feel a little off. It put him on edge. His wings were also pinned under him which he hated, but the idea of moving sounded worse. The only positive was he wasn’t all that nauseous anymore. Small blessings.

 

Frowning, Keigo tried to remember what he’d been doing before ending up in medical. He vaguely remembered throwing burnt and still smoking failed cupcakes out a window. He was pretty sure he and Izuku had tried a few more times… honestly it was really fuzzy. 

 

He hoped they had been able to get some edible cupcakes. It had seemed so important to Izuku to make something to celebrate Shouta and Present Mic’s wedding. Which he guessed was fair, weddings were a pretty important thing for most people. Keigo would hate it if some stomach bug ruined that for Izuku. 

 

It was embarrassing to be taken out so fully by something as dumb as some vomiting. Keigo had thought he had been eating and drinking enough to keep from keeling over, but he was obviously wrong. It sucked, but such is life, he’d live. 

 

Keigo thought he’d be able to be normal about his wings being pinned but, nope. The bands of anxiety were tight around his chest and were clicking ever smaller with each passing second. He was over it. Shifting and wiggling he tried to pull them out from under his body. He couldn’t move them, not enough. He tried to tug them out from under himself again, and again, and again. The motion of his wings was concerningly weak and shaky, only making him panic more. He tried to yank his wings out from under him which rocked him, sending searing pain through his abdomen with every jolt. He let out a distressed screech. 

 

The commission knew not to pin his wings. They knew that he flipped out, and it wasn’t worth the damage he could do to himself or others in the meltdown. They had it written in his file. It had been years since they’d ‘conveniently’ forgotten. He’d been good. He’d been good. What did the b—rds want from him now?  

 

Hands pulled his wings out from under him. Keigo immediately relaxed. With his wings free, his mind cleared. He felt like an idiot. He wasn’t with the commission right now. There was no reason for him to be so scrambled. It was just his wings, it shouldn’t cause that level of a meltdown. Not really. He tried to fight the embarrassed flush that burned across his cheeks. It was unreasonable for Recovery Girl to be aware of his weird thing with his wings being trapped. But a small part of him still resented her for it. Probably the same part that the bird noises and the desire to be preened came from. He wished his quirk would just stop with all the creepy stuff. 

 

“Keigo? Are you awake?” Recovery Girl’s voice was calm. At least she was pretending that he didn’t just lose it. He could ignore the lapse in control if she was also down. He actually preferred it this way. Actually, he might just ignore her for now, he’d rather she think that he wasn’t fully awake for his freak out. 

 

He fluffed up his now freed wings, only to be mildly horrified by how spartan they were. He could tell that the removed feathers had been unattached for too long and he’d have to wait at least three weeks for his wings to be full. It would also be a nightmare dealing with that many blood and pin feathers at the same time. He was not excited. At least he knew that Izuku and Shouta would probably be willing to help with the hard to reach ones.

 

Mentally following the itching awareness of the detached feathers he found that just under half his feathers a short ways away, still on UA campus. He was pretty sure they were in the dorm apartment but he might have been a little turned around. The ones that weren’t broken were clearly laying in a pile on what felt like a soft mattress. He decided to poke around and directed one of his long primaries to move around and find the perimeter of the room. 

 

Only part way through its journey a smaller hand grabbed it out of the air. Keigo let it be manipulated. From the way that it was twirled and had the shaft stroked and its soft fluffy edges brushed against smiling lips, it was in Izuku’s hand. Just like every other time his brother played with his feathers, a bubbly excited warmth filled him. Keigo directed more of the feathers to dance around his brother. One booped his nose in morse code. 

 

MISS ME?

 

The vibrations of Izuku’s excited shriek echoed across his many feathers. There was basically no guesswork to figure out the words. 

 

<“KEI-NII IS AWAKE! WE GOTTA GO VISIT! LET’S GO! LET’S GO! LET’S GO !!”>

 

Feeling the excited words made Keigo grin. He loved his little brother. 

 

“Keigo? Can you open your eyes for me?” Recovery Girl tapped the back of his hand. “You can go back to sleep afterwards.” 

 

He’d actually rather not open his eyes, thank you very much. Not only did he not want to ‘fess up to the freak out, he also thought adding to the sensory input he was having to deal with would be a nightmare. With half his feathers active and not able to be returned to his wings, he was having to deal with being aware of every small hum, vibration and air changes in two separate locations. Trying to mentally deal with all that and seeing sounded like a lot right now. 

 

Using his sensitive wings was more than enough, and now that his wings were open and free he could easily track everything that happened in the infirmary. Also, on that subject, medical centers all had horrifically bright lights. Just the buzzing from the loud fluorescent above him set his teeth on edge. He did not need to add seeing the bright light in his sensitive eyes to the mix. He opened his mouth to explain all that to Recovery Girl

 

“No, thanks. Mmm, bright.” 

 

Nailed it. He had originally planned to say way more than he did, but that plan got severe revisions the moment he opened his mouth. Talking felt like gargling hot lava and he sounded like a dying frog. 

 

“Ah, one second, dearie.” 

 

Keigo mentally followed Recovery Girl as she walked across the infirmary and around the curtain to the door. She reached up her hand to the wall and the incessant fluorescent-light buzzing came to an abrupt halt. Ooo, that felt nice. 

 

No longer worried about having icepicks of light slammed into his corneas, Keigo opened his eyes. Recovery Girl was back lit from the dim light coming in from the mostly dark window. The soft light made her gray fly away hairs glow like a halo around her head. The blue-ish gray light from the moon gave the infirmary a calming air. Keigo was not a fan of full pitch black, it reminded him too much of the “calming room”. Which was a misleading name, as it had done nothing but make him freeze in fear and made his mind race. But this lighting was perfect for an actually calming room. He felt himself settle even further into his pillow. He bit back a satisfied coo. 

 

Some of the tension returned, making his stomach twinge. He really needed to reign that all back in. He had really let himself go in the bird department for so long that it was going to be incredibly hard to stop. He mainly blamed the two bonds that his idiotic quirk had made. It was hard to keep from following through with the intrusive bird thoughts when there was a thrumming animalistic joy that flowed under everything he did just because he finally had flock-mates. It was weird to feel the gap in his chest be full for the first time in years. It was almost uncomfortable how much his idiot bird brain wanted to just hop around, flap his wings, and bob his head excitedly while screeching with excitement. Holding all that back was a challenge. But he needed to because that was just too weird. It was a hundred times harder to hold back if Shouta or Izuku were present however, so he should start practicing now. 

 

However, from how fast one of the smaller covert feathers was moving around in Izuku’s hand in the dorm as he got ready, Keigo doubted there would be a ton of time before both Izuku and Shouta would be making an appearance. 

 

Recovery Girl interrupted his thought process by holding out a cup with a straw. Taking a sip, Keigo sighed and a satisfied coo slipped out. He scowled. He didn’t even last ten seconds. Maybe he should just give up and lean into his creepy ways, since they seemed uncontrollable. It seemed to work for Shouta. Keigo could rock the underground hero thing as no one would want to follow a creepy bird guy. 

 

Honestly, it might be kinda funny to watch the commission lose their ever loving minds as he slipped off the hero charts and into oblivion, AKA underground work. It’d be a great way to just spit in their face. Smirking, Keigo mentally shelved the idea for now. He wasn’t sure he’d actually be able to follow through. But it would be satisfying and funny. 

 

He took a few more sips, appreciating the feeling of the cool water as it calmed the dry ache in his throat. Once he felt like talking wouldn’t end with him feeling like he was choking on sand, he rasped out, “Thanks.”

 

“No problem. How are you feeling?”

 

Taking a moment to really analyze the general ‘death warmed over’ feeling, Keigo shrugged. “I’ve been better.”

 

“Heaven, help me. There are two of you, now.” She flicked her eyes up to the ceiling, looking absolutely done with life. She leveled a glare at him. “Try again.”

 

“Hey. I resent that.” Keigo wasn’t sure exactly what she meant, but he knew when he was being insulted. “And no, that is my answer. I’ve been better .” 

 

“Keigo, I don’t think you realize this but your fever spiked to 41C (106F). You had two seizures before I could remove the two bullets in your stomach. I had to scoop out as much of the infection before stitching you back up. You are still fighting the dregs of that. You still have one bullet in you just above your knee. As that one wasn’t massively infected from a previously perforated bowel, so I deemed it lower on the priorities list. I needed to stabilize you as you were this close to dying,” She held up her fingers pinched really close together. 

 

“That first thirty or so hours I honestly thought I was going to have to tell Izuku that I wasn’t able to save you. Luckily for all of us, a whole three days of intense antibiotics seemed to have done enough to get you stable and cognizant, but you’re clearly feverish. And I am sure you are in a ton of pain, as out of concern for heteromorph drug reaction syndrome I couldn’t give you anything more then tylenol for pain relief. So, when I ask you how you are feeling, I am going to need more than the idiotic response of ‘I’ve been better’.” She rubbed at her wrinkled forehead with a frustrated sigh. 

 

Keigo just blinked blankly at her tirade. That… was a lot to take in. Good to know he was taken out by infected bullets and not some salmonella. Less embarrassing, but more horrifying. Keigo kind of wished it had just been a stomach bug. ‘Cause, holy s—.  

 

“Since you aren’t even willing to be communicative, I guess I’ll just have to collect it myself.” She shuffled over to her office and grabbed a handful of medical gadgets. Mumbling under her breath the whole time she collected the supplies. 

 

“‘I’ve been better’ G-d, I’d hope so. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that Keigo and Shouta were actually related. Idiotic, self-destructive heroes and their dumb, stupid answers.” 

 

Keigo felt himself bristle as Recovery Girl returned with a huff, his feathers cycling between fluffed up and smooth. She took a deep breath before pasting on the fakest looking smile. She dumped the various medical devices on the edge of the bed. She held her hand out. 

 

“Arm,” she barked out.

 

“Why?” Keigo wasn’t feeling all that cooperative. In all honesty, he was now fully in what his handlers always called a mood.

 

“Mind your tone,” she snapped out. “Arm, now. ”

 

“Mind your tone.” Keigo held back a hiss as he twisted his torso away from her, making it impossible for the short woman to reach his arms. The pain was worth it. He twisted his head back to look over his shoulder. “I’m giving you nothing until you explain why.”

 

Recovery Girl looked at him for a second and slumped her shoulders, exhaustion settled  over her. She closed her eyes and counted to ten on her fingers. The counting ruffled whatever was left of Keigo's feathers. He was not being that difficult, but if she wanted to act like he was being completely unreasonable, he could turn up the intensity. Keigo readied himself for a verbal fight. 

 

“Keigo, I need to check your vitals. I apologize for my tone, I am frustrated at myself and took it out on you.” She gave a deep bow. “I’m sorry and I will work hard to avoid doing it again.” 

 

Keigo… didn’t know how to feel about any of that. But his small spark of belligerence sputtered out at her cooling words. It was weird to be apologized to. Usually it didn’t matter what happened, Keigo was the one forced to apologize. He wasn’t actually sure how to deal with this. The UA faculty were all so strange. 

 

“It’s… fine.” He sounded unsure to his own ears. He hoped Recovery Girl didn’t pick up on it. 

 

“I would also like to apologize for the medical negligence.” She somehow bowed a little deeper, Keigo worried she’d tip over. “Even with intensive quirk induced healing, there is a standard of care, including observation and testing for this exact reason. Healing quirks can be a miracle cure, but can just as soon cause unseeable damage. And, as not just a medical practitioner, but as a healing quirk wielder, I should have known better. I’m sorry and will do everything I can to help speed along your recovery.” 

 

Blinking at the still bowing doctor, Keigo felt like the world had been tipped on its head. Someone who was so clearly his senior, and a medical professional at that, apologizing to him so sincerely felt… wrong. That just didn’t happen. It was just expected that Keigo took whatever was thrown at him. Not… this . 

 

“Okay?” He worked to keep a straight face as Recovery Girl craned her neck to look at him, still bent deeply in half. A concerned, searching glare was lasered into him. Keigo forced himself to freeze like a statue to keep from fidgeting. He even held his breath. She squinted, then abruptly stood up. Keigo let out a silent, relieved breath. 

 

Crisis averted. 

 

He wasn’t… actually sure what the crisis had been that he’d averted, but he for sure passed whatever test it was. 

 

“I would like to take your vitals. If you would allow me too.”

 

Keigo very slowly gave her his arm. She gave him a genuine smile as she clamped the pulse oximeter over his finger. Recovery Girl continued with all of the other various tests, taking note of all of the various numbers. Keigo only had a tentative, vague understanding of what the numbers all ment, but he must be doing okay based on the way she seemed neutral. A few of the numbers she rattled off under her breath she seemed genuinely pleased about. Keigo tried to reign in the sense of pride he had over a healthy blood pressure, and was only half successful. 

 

Sue him, it felt nice to have a medical professional actually happy with him for once. 

 

The door to the infirmary slammed open just as Recovery Girl was ripping the velcro’s blood pressure cuff off his arm. Keigo startled as loud shouting filled the previously quiet infirmary. He couldn’t hear it, but in the dim light he saw Recovery Girl droop with a dramatic sigh before scurrying into her office. 

 

“KEI!!! IT'S BEEN FOREVER!”

 

“HELLOOOOOO LISTENER! HOW ARE YOU FEELING?”

 

Present Mic, surprisingly in just a hoodie and some jeans, came barreling around the curtain. Izuku was clinging to his back like a little monkey. A weird mix of emotions washed over Keigo in quick succession at the sight. Pushing everything else aside, he focused on the small bubble of happiness at seeing Izuku’s wide smile. The sight of a happy Izuku settled something he hadn’t realized was riled up from the moment he woke up. He still felt awful, but he hadn’t totally screwed everything up by collapsing. Keigo knew that Izuku was sensitive right now.

 

Things might be a little fuzzy, but Keigo did remember how cagey Izuku had been acting during his dorm tour. How silent and small he’d made himself in his wheelchair. Keigo wasn’t sure what had happened to make his brother so quiet but it had made him nervous. The last people Izuku had interacted with had been Mic and Shouta. 

 

Keigo tentatively trusted Shouta. They had a bond , and by extension he gave Present Mic some of that trust too. But, Keigo couldn’t deny the paranoia nipping at his heels, constantly wondering if it’d been misplaced. If maybe his mind had been clouded by his cursed quirk bonds. He wanted it to be good, for it all to work out. But at the same time he was watching and waiting for the other shoe to drop and for it all to fall apart around him. Keigo pushed the thoughts off as Izuku tried to swing himself off of Mic’s back and onto the bed. Mic caught him, barely . 

 

“Kei, it's dark.” Izuku sort of asked in his roundabout way, as he squirmed in Present Mic’s arms. 

 

“Lights were too bright.” Keigo answered as he shifted to one side of the bed with a hiss. With the precious few feathers he had left, he cradled Izuku the half a meter to him. Izuku wriggled to cling to Keigo’s side like a limpet. A small finger poked at the edge of the bandages tightly wound around his torso. Wide green eyes filled with worry and unspoken questions as they peeked out from under the messy green mop of curls. Izuku poked the bandages again. 

 

“Hey now, Little Listener,” Present Mic reached out to stop the third poke. “Keigo is still healing, so we gotta be gentle.” 

 

Izuku looked between Mic and Keigo a few too many times. He seemed incredibly confused about something and Keigo was about to ask what it was but was interrupted by Shouta entering the infirmary. 

 

“Isn’t running in the halls against the rules, Mic- sensei. ” Shouta, who was wearing what after a second glance wasn’t his hero suit, but just black sweats, hoodie and capture weapon around his neck, parked the wheelchair off to the side before collapsing into it, looking exhausted. After a moment he quirked an eyebrow up, sending a playfully judgmental look to Present Mic. “Shouldn’t you set a good example for the students?”

 

Mic waved the comment off. “It’s a weekend. There are no students so it’s fine!” He turned to Izuku and poked his side making him squirm away from the ticklish fingers. Mic grinned at Izuku’s quiet giggle. “And you had fun running in the halls right, Izuku?”

 

A small nod was followed by a few small wet coughs. Keigo snapped a hand out to run his fingers through his little brother's hair, pausing to covertly check his temperature. Not like he knew how to check temperature via hand, not really. But it felt like the right thing to do. Izuku’s forehead felt… warm? Izuku was the human average, which should be at least a little warm, but was this too warm? Not warm enough? Keigo had no reference and he felt himself spiral into a panic. 

 

Wait, he did have a reference. He'd just been told his temperature. He slapped his other hand against his own forehead, and immediately relaxed. Keigo was clearly warmer than Izuku, but not dramatically so. From what Recovery Girl’s measurements said, if Izuku had a fever, it was incredibly low grade. Keigo ran his hand through Izuku’s hair before doing the same to himself. He tried to play off the panicked face slap as… not what it was. 

 

Keigo pouted a little at the amused looks the two adults were sharing. Present Mic was practically vibrating, about ready to explode with what had to be laughter and Shouta’s face was disgustingly soft. He’d failed playing it off and being cool. Whatever, he was allowed to worry about his brother. So they could shut up. Not like they’d actually said anything, but their faces were too loud. Keigo decided to ignore them and reached over to boop Izuku’s nose with a smile.

 

“So, what has my lovely kid brother been up to these past few days? Anything fun?”

 

Keigo was instantly on edge as Shouta bristled in the wheelchair and Present Mic tensed into a standing statue. Something had happened. Izuku, with his back to the two other adults, seemed none the wiser to the thick tension. A dreamy smile spread over his face as he started to lazily rub his thick socks together.

 

“I got to talk to my mom ,” he said in a reverent whisper. “It was really nice to see her. Even if it was only over the phone.”

 

Keigo held back a grimace as he pulled Izuku into a hug. His stomach was angry at the movement. After a few breaths, allowing the pain to recede a bit, Keigo whispered into Izuku’s ear. “I’m so happy for you chickadee. That sounds amazing.” 

 

“Me too.” Izuku nodded into Keigo’s chest, whispering. “I thought she’d died .” 

 

Izuku started to sniff, clearly holding back tears. Keigo tightened his grip, ignoring the searing pain deep in his stomach as he flexed the cut up muscles. 

 

“She didn’t, and you’ll get to see her again, I’ll make sure of it.” Keigo glared at Shouta and Present Mic over Izuku’s head. He was practically daring them to claim otherwise. A part of Keigo hoped they did, he was in a fighting mood for some reason. 

 

Shouta sighed before he stood with a groan. He ambled over to the bedside, then gingerly ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Kiddo, the moment it is safe for you to leave UA, we’ll go visit her. We’d never keep you from her. She's your mom and you love her.” 

 

The words were perfect, the rumbling baritone should have been soothing and technically it still was, but Keigo froze. Under the minty bite of fresh toothpaste and the subtle scent of the man’s deodorant and ever present coffee smell was the fairly strong smell of tobacco and alcohol.  

 

Keigo had always been aware the man smoked, which he’d idiotically believed was his only vice. It was a hard thing to hide from Keigo with his very sensitive nose, and as long as he didn’t smoke in front of Izuku it was whatever. But alcohol consumption was concerning. Keigo searched Aizawa’s face. He didn’t look drunk, or buzzed, or high in any way.

 

But… Keigo’s mom got really good at pretending to be fine just long enough for the CPS agents to leave. She’d act like a perfectly sober, loving mother only to totally ignore him as she laid down to do another shot or hit of whatever drug she’d gotten her hands on. It was hard to tell if Aizawa was pretending or not. Being on the other side of it, he suddenly had a little more empathy for the CPS workers. It wasn’t as obvious as he’d thought it was growing up, Keigo just didn’t know him well enough to tell. Nothing seemed off, but that meant nothing. The only thing that was visible was the slight pained wrinkle between his brows, signaling a headache. 

 

Which, if Aizawa got totally sloshed when he should have been taking care of Izuku, it served him right. Honestly, he should have more than just a headache if that was the case. But Keigo tried to push that off. Innocent until proven guilty, and he didn’t have enough evidence yet. 

 

Switching to Present Mic, Keigo couldn’t see anything off. He knew him even less then he knew Shouta though, so it would be even harder to tell if he was pretending. The man had also showered recently so all he could smell was the thick smell of artificial strawberries. It also didn’t help that Keigo knew Present Mic was one of the more media savvy heroes out there. He’d be able to hide drug use behind his persona, likely with minimal effort on his part. Keigo would just have to keep an eye out for more evidence. 

 

It might have been a one off from celebrating their wedding? He hoped that it was a one off. He had thought that Shouta and Mic were good options for Izuku. In theory, they were efficient heroes in their own right, and filled the gaps each other had well, and would be able to hold off any commission agents that came for Izuku. Or any other group for this matter. Doubly so with the backing of UA. 

 

They also seemed kind. Which meant a lot to Keigo. 

 

Up until now, Keigo had had no concerns with their interactions with his new kid brother. But he knew first hand how bad things could be behind closed doors. He cursed his infected bullet wounds. He should have been there for Izuku. But he was here now, and he’d figure it out. 

 

Keigo couldn’t leave Izuku with neglectful guardians. Or worse, emotionally or physically abusive guardians. He’d take his brother and run before letting Izuku grow up like he had. Well, until the commission had dipped their toes into his life, making things a weird mix of better and worse.

 

Keigo knew that his mom had some sort of messed up love for him, and there were bouts when she was… amazing. But something would happen and he’d become a distant second place to her roulette of addictive substances. She’d hugged and cried when she’d sold him to the commission. Whispering that she’d use the money to get sober and come back for him. That he’d at least have a roof over his head again, three square meals a day, a chance to be better than the son of a criminal and a junkie. That she was sorry that it was the best she could do for him. 

 

He’d never seen or heard from her after that day. Knowing the statistics, she had probably died from an overdose years ago. He still held out hope he’d randomly run into her one day in a coffee shop or in the streets. Or maybe she’d recognize him on TV and seek him out at a convention. He could use his access as a hero to look her up, but he’d always chickened out before he could enter her name into the search. 

 

That being said, he’d never want that for Izuku. Keigo knew that his childhood had messed him up in millions of ways. Which was why his goal was to make Izuku’s life better than his had been. Starting with making sure that these guardians were actually good. He had nothing pointing to either of them being anything like Keigo's horribly abusive father, thank God. If Izuku ever got a single unexplained bruise, the two men would never breathe again and Keigo and Izuku would disappear into the wind. 

 

Keigo was pretty sure that with his training he could stay off of the HPSC and UA’s radar. It’d be difficult but he could do it. Probably. Maybe. At least for a while. Being homeless and on the run was not what Keigo wanted for Izuku either, but if it would be safest, he’d make it happen. But he was getting ahead of himself. All he had to do now was dip into the small well of hope he had in humanity and do some reconnaissance to just double check. He took a few deep breaths to try to calm himself. Being worked up was only going to make his hero work messy. 

 

Recovery Girl returned, snapping Keigo out of his funk. She looked at Shouta and Mic and used her head to gesture them over to her office. Both men walked over and she closed the door. Keigo could still hear them if he focused. She started hissing out a soft whisper. 

 

“Nedzu just called. Commission agents are at UA gates.”

 

Whatever modicum of calm Keigo had been able to reclaim went up in a puff of smoke. Agents? Here? Did they finally decide that they needed to take Keigo in? Did they know Izuku was here? Were they coming for both of them? Was Keigo going to need to fight to protect Izuku? To fly?

 

He wanted to screech and tear out his hair at that last thought. He doubted he had enough feathers to do much more than glide, let alone fly. All the feathers back at the dorm were controllable, but couldn’t reattach to his wings at this point. Functionally, he had clipped wings right now. 

 

 Did… did they do that on purpose to trap him here? No. They wouldn’t do that, it wouldn’t make sense.

 

Or would they?

 

If he used any additional feathers off his wings to fight he’d lose even the ability to glide. He needed those detached feathers. He started having a few of the longer primaries swirl and dart around the apartment looking for exits for them. Even if he just got two for feather swords, then he’d have enough for close combat fighting. He needed them, and felt panic swell in him as the feathers failed to find exits. One got stuck trying to wiggle between the slats of the vent. Another wedged under the door. Using two feathers he tried to figure out how to open the window, but there seemed to be a key needed and lockpicking with his feathers was hard. 

 

He kept trying. One would have to succeed at some point. 

 

“Does Nedzu need backup?” Shouta’s low monotone brought Keigo mentally back to the infirmary from the brink of a full on panicked meltdown.

 

“He was hoping that both of you could join him to get the HPSC off campus as quickly as possible. I will stay back with the boys.”

 

“Sounds good to me.”

 

Keigo wanted to scream that he wasn’t some child that needed to be protected. He was as much of a hero as they were. He hated how he was being shoved to the side again . They were treating him like some caged bird and it was frustrating as much as it was stifling. No matter how much he wanted to scream until he was blue in the face, he stayed quiet, making sure to keep his face as neutral as he could as the door opened. Shouta and Mic gave hasty goodbyes and empty promises to Izuku that everything was fine and they’d be right back. 

 

Maybe he should have said something for his own satisfaction, reminding them that he had ears along with his very capable heroic training. Instead after the two heroes left and Recovery Girl went back to whatever she did in her office, Keigo stewed in his frustration and anger. Complaining about it wouldn’t actually change anything, so he just sat in silence. 

 

He was useless right now. Plain and simple. Between being sick, not being able to fly, and being labeled a villain with that lie being smeared across every news broadcast for the past week or so, he’d been trapped. Logically , he knew that what the heroes had decided to do was really the only option that they had. If he’d gone with them the commission would have just cause to do a full raid on UA and find Izuku. Therefore, he had to stay back. That knowledge didn’t make being forced to sit here any easier though. 

 

It was similar to his feelings about the cameras that were all throughout the UA campus. Keigo had tried to ignore them, but now they felt like they were pressing into him. Logically , he could explain them away. This was a school. They needed security to protect the students. However, as he looked up out of the corner of his eye at the small dark lens, he couldn’t help but listen to the voice in the back of his mind screaming that he’d just switched one cage for another.

 

At least this cage pretended to be better, and was better in some ways. He had Izuku here. Keigo wanted that to be enough. He was tired and wanted to just rest. But he knew that it was selfish to force Izuku to be raised in any cage for Keigo’s own comfort. Even a nice gilded one like this. The chickadee deserved to fly high and free, not be trapped with his wings clipped like Keigo perpetually was. He sighed. He was so tired trying to figure all of this out.

 

Keigo caught Izuku’s finger before it reached his cheek. The flat expression he sent his brother earned him a sheepish look. 

 

“What was that for?” He shook Izuku’s hand before letting it go.

 

Izuku just shrugged before nuzzling his head closer into Keigo’s side. It reminded him of a cat. No matter how cute that was, no real answer was going to fly. Not this time. Not with Keigo this on edge.

 

Keigo poked Izuku’s cheek, which earned him a scrunched nose and a dirty look. Keigo did it again, only for Izuku to bat his hand away. Slipping the smaller feather out from Izuku’s pocket, he poked it into his other cheek. Keigo grinned at the exasperated sigh and rolled eyes. 

 

“I could do this alllll day, chickadee. It’ll be easy for both of us if you just tell me.” 

 

“I dunno,” Izuku shrugged. “You looked… upset? So I–” He poked the air to demonstrate, adding another shrug. After he finished he started to pick at some of the dry skin around his thumb nail.

 

Reaching an arm around to squeeze Izuku tighter into his side, Keigo frowned. His guts, instead of the searing pain he’d expected, only gave an uncomfortable twinge. It took a second for Keigo to make the connection.

 

Izuku was in pain. His quirk was obviously active, even if it was a little slower then it’s been in the past. The visions of bruises and abrasions hidden under clothes made Keigo nervous. He couldn’t just point blank ask. That just would back Izuku into a corner having to dodge and lie. Keigo had hated doing that growing up when someone caught his bruises, and he wouldn’t do that to him. So instead he gave Izuku a gentle hug, checking for flinches around his ribs and backed off with a smile when there were none. 

 

“I was a little upset, but I’m better now. How are you feeling?”

 

“I’m great!” Izuku’s wide grin was stiff and just shy of reaching his eyes. Keigo would have had to be blind and deaf to miss that lie. Izuku was a terrible liar. 

 

“Wanna try that again? You don’t have to sugar coat it for me.” 

 

Slumping back, Izuku’s plastic grin slid into something more authentic. The small world weary smile caused Keigo’s chest to clench. 

 

“I’m okay. Nothing outside of normal. I’m actually feeling better than we were– uh–” Izuku’s eyes darted around before he finished with a whisper. “Making cupcakes.”

 

“Same, chickadee.” Keigo ruffled Izuku’s hair. Which made the smile grow. “How’d Shouta and Mic like them?”

 

That must have been the wrong question to ask as Izuku’s eyes glazed over vaguely staring  into the middle distance. He started to chew on his lip and rub his feet together. After a few concerning moments, Izuku seemed to come back to himself as he turned back to Keigo with a shrug. 

 

“I dunno. I never got to see their reaction.” 

 

“What?”

 

“It’s not like we finished them. Who wants to eat bald cupcakes? The frosting is the best part. So…” He gave a soft sigh and shrugged again. “They probably threw them out, it's not like I’ve seen them laying around.” 

 

Keigo pursed his lips, biting back choice words. If they threw out Izuku’s gift, he was going to show the world a real villain, not the various lies they kept spewing about him. He was tempted to do it just from the sad wistful expression on his brother’s face. 

 

“I’m sure they loved them so much that they just ate them all in one sitting.” 

 

“I guess.” Izuku went back to picking at the dead skin around his cuticles. Keigo didn’t really like that. 

 

“Well, what else did you all do while I was cosplaying Sleeping Beauty?” He shifted so he could rest on his side, propping his head up on a bent arm. Keigo was grateful that the pain in his stomach was basically gone now. He still felt like death a bit, but the lack of pain was fantastic. And it was only fair that since Izuku had taken away Keigo’s pain, it was up to him to try to make his brother’s day a little better. 

 

“I dunno what to tell you, I really basically just talked to my mom and came here.” 

 

Izuku kept saying that he didn’t know, which was concerning. It was setting off some warning lights in Keigo’s mind.

 

“You didn’t do anything else? What, did you just veg out in your room for the past three days?”

 

The little flinch paired with the way Izuku bit down on the inside of his lips and widened his eyes set off every alarm in Keigo’s mind. He was now DEFCON 1, lights flashing and everything screaming that he needed to get to the bottom of this. Keigo opened his mouth only to flick his eyes up to the small camera boring down on the two of them. He closed his mouth so fast he bit his tongue as his teeth clicked together. That model of camera didn’t have a microphone, but with Nedzu being involved, no one could be too sure. 

 

Directing the smaller covert feather Izuku had brought with him to settle between them and out of the view of the camera. He tapped out morse code onto the back of his brother’s hand.

 

I THOUGHT THIS MIGHT BE EASIER. WHAT HAPPENED?

 

Izuku looking dejected, just shrugged, again. Another thing that was concerning was his brother's behavior. He flipped his hand over to tap back his response. 

 

NOTHING HAPPENED KEI

 

Keigo shook his head. He couldn’t let this slide. If there was something happening, he needed to know. 

 

I DON’T BELIEVE YOU

 

Izuku’s face flashed with hurt before anger filled it. “Maybe you should . Nothing’s wrong.” 

 

“Izu,” Keigo flicked his eyes up to the camera, deciding to risk it. “I just want to protect you.” 

 

“They are also heroes! And they haven’t even done anything yet! It’s fine!” Izuku let out a few hacking coughs from the slightly raised voice. 

 

Keigo listened to see if Recovery Girl was making any motions like she’d heard. She seemed totally engrossed in whatever she was working on. Good. 

 

Focusing back on what Izuku had said, he felt his gut fall through the floor as he actually thought about it. Yet . What a small but powerful word in that sentence. The hope he had that this was a good situation for Izuku crumbled under him. They must have threatened him or implied some sort of harsh punishments to keep him in line. Maybe that’s why he is being so tight lipped. Telling Keigo what was wrong was not allowed for Izuku. 

 

The commission was big on unspoken threats, so maybe the UA heroes were too. Izuku was also smart enough to pick up on that sort of thing. Something in Keigo broke as he thought about Shouta– no, Eraserhead – threatening Izuku, possibly while combing his hair back in a sick possessive way. He blinked back tears as he imagined Present Mic twisting his excited rambled words into sharp and pointed warnings to keep Izuku in line. Making sure that Izuku behaved. He hated that, he’d trusted them with more than just himself, but with Izuku . He sniffed, his nose starting to run from the held back tears. 

 

Clinging to Izuku in a tight desperate hug, Keigo moved his head to whisper in Izuku’s ear. “Okay, I hear you. I’m sorry. I’ve got you no matter what, okay?”

 

“Thanks, Kei-nii.” Izuku melted into the hold as he dug his fingers into Keigo’s back. His ten nails felt like ten little reminders that while Izuku was technically safe for now, that was precarious and at any time it seemed that could change. Lifting a finger to Izuku’s back he tapped out another question.

 

HOW DO THEY PLAN TO HURT YOU?

 

Izuku just shrugged. The shrugging makes sense now knowing what Keigo knew about the last few days. It was hard to pretend things were normal when there was so much hanging overhead. Doubly so if he’d been warned to not say anything. Shrugging was a good non-answer. Seeing Izuku stifled like this hurt. 

 

“No one has told me the plans yet, but it's going to be to use my quirk so…” Izuku hiccupped out a small sob into the center of Keigo’s chest. His brother's breaths were uneven and shaky. Something in Izuku snapped and he started clawing and scrambling at Keigo trying to somehow get closer to him even though they were already flushed together. Keigo just held the crying Izuku tightly, shushing and rocking them as best as he could while laying on a half raised medical cot. He wrapped one of his spartan wings around and over Izuku, hoping it could give some additional comfort.

 

The noise must have finally reached Recovery Girl as she stood and walked out of her office. A small bowl of snacks and two cool water bottles were in her hand. Her eyes were filled with concern for Izuku as she set them next to the two of them. Keigo just gave her a tight smile and a thumbs up behind Izuku’s back. She pushed the bowl with her hand towards the two of them with a stern look before backing off and going back into her office. 

 

Izuku let out a soft whine followed up by a few coughs. He seemed to be calming back down, so Keigo cracked open one of the water bottles and grabbed the chocolate peanut protein bar he knew Izuku favored. He handed both to his brother. Watching as Izuku choked down the bar between hiccups before he chugged the water down, Keigo’s resolve hardened. 

 

This was not a good environment for Izuku.That much was clear. He needed to get them out of here soon. Tonight, if he could swing it. The metal bowl caught the dim light of the room streaming in from the window and from Recovery Girl’s office. UA had lots of resources that he could utilize. Steal, if he was being more honest. It probably had enough that it could tide the two of them over until Keigo could figure out something better. Sneaking around probably wouldn’t be too hard, he liked his stealth training. And at the risk of sounding prideful, he was pretty good at it, too. 

 

Pushing the plans on what to steal and where they were going to go after they dipped from UA, Keigo realized he needed to get more information. If he could hold out a few days, they’d have a better chance of not getting caught. Keigo tapped out another question into the back of Izuku’s hand.

 

WHAT MAKES YOU NERVOUS ABOUT ERASERHEAD AND MIC?

 

“Hizashi doesn’t make me nervous, not really. He is silly and nice. I also think he sang to me while I was drifting? But I’m not really sure.” 

 

At least one of them was relatively safe. Keigo wanted to ask about what this drifting was, but decided to circle back to it once he got what he needed. Keigo cracked open his own water bottle and took a small sip. 

 

“What about Aizawa?” 

 

“I– I don’t think he really likes me?” Izuku squirmed a bit before he drank the last of his water. Keigo held out a hand to put the now empty bottle back in the bowl of snacks. “But that doesn’t really feel right either? I don’t know. He is kinda intimidating, but most of the time his eyes make him safe as they are super gooey. But last night he was suddenly super scary out of nowhere. Like, for a while I couldn’t even recognize him after I–” A strange series of expressions rolled over Izuku’s face. Keigo felt his world crumble around him. He let out a sad screech. He cursed his quirk for mourning something that it had made. People let him down all the time, making quirk bonds just made it worse. That’s why the HPSC worked to keep him from forming any for so many years. 

 

“Well,” Izuku started back up again, “after everything, he said I was allowed out of my room but then left me with Midnight, totally disappearing. Hizashi said that he had a headache this morning but I think he was lying. I think Aizawa-san was avoiding me? I might be wrong though. We did watch some silly cat videos before we ate and came here. But the whole time he was acting all stiff? If that makes sense. I would let it go, but Hizashi was sending weird looks to Aizawa-san and also acting all tense. At least the videos were fun? There was a pretty funny one of a cat chasing a laser until it got startled by a mirror. It made me laugh.” He shrugged again, rubbing at his face. 

 

“You’ll have to find it for me sometime. Sounds like a great video.” 

 

“It was pretty great.” Izuku whispered. 

 

“What would you–” Keigo checked to look at Recovery Girl. She was still focused in her office, clearly not paying attention. Turning back, Izuku was looking intrigued. “What would you think about going on an adventure? Just the two of us.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Like leave UA.” 

 

“I– I don’t think that's a good idea, Kei.” Izuku’s eyes were wide with fear. “Isn’t it safer here? With the other heroes?”

 

“What, you don’t think I can keep you safe?” Keigo bristled as his wings fluffed up with agitation. 

 

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Izuku rolled his eyes. He held up a hand to count on. “With you, Aizawa-san, Hizashi, Midnight, and Recovery Girl, that’s five heroes. Five is going to be better than one. And that isn’t counting all the other heroes that work at UA.”

 

“I could protect you, though. You’d be safe.”

 

“ Yes. ” Izuku groaned. “You aren’t listening . You can. I don’t doubt that but there are— there are dangerous people after me. And– and I don’t want you to be hurt in the crossfire.” He shimmed closer and thumped his head against Keigo’s chest. His voice was thick with emotion as he croaked out, “I can’t lose a family member. Not for real this time.” 

 

“Okay,” he whispered as he wrapped himself around Izuku. A wing flung over the two of them as Keigo ran his hands through the curly green locks. Keigo couldn’t force his brother to leave with him. Not after that confession. If Izuku thought he could handle the threats, Keigo would be there to support him. Hopefully, he’d be able to take any punishments on his behalf. He would be a feathered shield. “Alright. But the moment it is safer outside UA then it is inside we’ll go, okay?”

 

Izuku craned his head up from the cocoon Keigo had made for him. A strange expression washed over his face. After an almost too long period of eye contact, he nodded. 

 

Keigo let out a soft relieved sigh as he carded his fingers though the hair at the nape of Izuku’s neck. Massaging small circles, he helped his brother relax deeper into the hold. Izuku closed his eyes as he shuffled a bit, obviously settling in for a nap. Keigo felt sick still and wanted to join him, but knew he needed to watch over him. As Izuku started to let out little mewing snores, Keigo planned for their inevitable escape. He even got some of his feathers out of the apartment and started having them poke around to collect supplies. 

 

Sometimes, Keigo did really love his quirk. 

Notes:

Triggers: mentions of drug use, child abuse, the commission... which is like just bad. paranoia thinking, anxiety thought processes and generally just like unhealthy behavior from our boy Keigo

eheheheh I DIDN'T SAY IT WAS GOOD COMMUNICATION >:D

Keigo is jumping to conclusions the way Aizawa does parkor. Izuku and Keigo are both talking to eachother but like ships in the night they just miss eachother xD

Keigo is having a Paranoid Moment :) bless him he is struggling and having like a month long mental health crisis lol he WILL get help tho he is doing his best but he is an overwhelmed youngin' and his brain is dumping all his trauma on him all at once cuz he finally got safe and got a support system for like the first time in his life and brain went ahhhh we can just... process all this now. which is just how this sort of thing goes (at least from my life this is how this goes lol and its Unplesant)

Chapter 22: The Commission Comes Sniffing Around, Eraserhead, Present Mic and Nedzu Deal with it

Notes:

Hello again folksss!!!
So some people were a little upset that i made it sound like the communication was happening eheheh
know it made me kick my feet and twirl my hair at the peeved and upset manor that was taken. That was 100% my goal there hahahaha
BUT I will not lie. this isn't teh happy go lucky time we want. we are ever getting closer and closer tho. I swear im not trying to make it take longer then i need it to. there just was to much logistically happening to make it not take some time lol so thanks for being stung along ahhaah but there is some good communication between the adults? as a lil treat? :'D
But sometimes the plot needs to actually like progress lol so like now we get the commission being annoying once more :P
triggers:I dont... think? there are any like triggers beyond like the barest mention of child abuse? but if you disagree feel free to lemme know like on any of the chapters ever.

As always thank you to @sassy_chemist also double thank her as she helped me decide to keep this chapter as one as I thought about splitting it haha so you get a Fat Chappie partially with her and the grammer being decent is a lot of her so thanks to her always <3

ALSO I like thoughts and ideas on like cute ideas for the family lol so if you have any feel free to throw em in the comments. I have a nice list of ideas but like we are gonna get a uhhhhh fairly large chunk of just fluff up and coming (in a ways ahha) so like I have a few ideas but im always down for a few more ones! I cant promise I will use all of them tho so don't be upset if i dont fit all of them in!

Shouta regretted listening to Hizashi. Apperentally, wanting to be in his hero uniform twenty-four seven was ‘concerning’ and a ‘cause for alarm’ and a ‘clear symptom of his PTSD’ according to both Hizashi and his therapist. 

 

Logical and pragmatic were the words Shouta would use, thank you very much. His jumpsuit was not only comfortable but it was also slash, stab, and fire resistant. On raids he even had a thin bullet proof vest he’d slide under it, but it was heavy, so he didn’t wear it on every patrol, and it was hard to nap in. 

 

If he started wearing the bullet proof vest all the time again, then he’d agree that he was going too far.

 

However, when Shouta had finally gotten up this afternoon and Hizashi had thrown a soft pair of sweats and a hoodie at him with a sharp look, he’d slid them on. After his major screw up that was just… all of yesterday, Shouta figured that he wasn’t going to fight his husband on it. And it was going to be a lazy day just lounging around, and helping Izuku settle after the past few mentally taxing days. 

 

Now though, as the two of them half jogged to a possible fight in lounge wear, Shouta was on edge. He had his knife and capture weapon because he wasn’t an idiot. He was always prepared, or in Hizashi’s opinion, paranoid. But Shouta knew Hizashi was a huge hypocrite as he watched his husband slip a small taser into the pocket of his jeans and wrap the more compact collar-looking directional speaker around his throat right before they left the apartment. So really Hizashi might try to play-act mentally well-rounded and stable, but he was just as paranoid and hyper vigilant from his PTSD. He just hid it better.

 

“What awful timing,” Hizashi whined. “I was hoping we could have had the long overdue clarifying conversation with Izuku and Keigo. Now that they are both conscious and aware.” 

 

“The Commission is an evil government agency. I think them showing up at all would always be bad timing.” 

 

“You’re right, but still. ” Hizashi made a strange, annoyed noise. “Is it too much to ask for the Little Listener to be happy and healthy? He’s clearly not there yet. The convo could’ve helped get him moving in that direction. Keigo too.”

 

“It’s what I want also.” Shouta grabbed Hizashi’s arm, stopping him. “Wait a second. I don’t think we should have this talk in front of Keigo.”

 

“What? Why not?” Hizahsi craned his neck over towards the direction of the front gates, Shouta also looked over. There wasn’t really a clear view, but there wasn’t any noises or anything overly concerning so they had a few seconds. This was important.

 

“Izuku was so sure that he couldn’t leave his own room that he ended up peeing himself. He’s eleven, and he is probably embarrassed about it. I wouldn’t want to make it worse by spilling something like that to Keigo, his self assigned sibling who Izuku clearly idolizes.” 

 

“Oh s—, you’re right.” Hizashi’s shoulders slumped. “He probably wouldn’t want Keigo to know, or if he does it should be his choice to tell him.” 

 

“Exactly,” Shouta nodded before frowning. “Also who knows what other twisted mind games they played. I don’t want Izuku to feel ashamed or embarrassed about any conclusions that he’s made. Also the pressure of trying to be good in front of Keigo might make him clam up.”

 

“That makes sense.” Hizashi ran a finger between his thin collared directional speaker and his throat, obviously thinking. After a beat, his face twisted into a pinched expression. “Also Keigo is so protective of Izuku. Concerningly so, and I would hate for him to react badly to something Izuku says. They might also have similar triggers both having to be under the Watanabe f—er. And that’d be bad .” 

 

Shouta felt himself droop in a mix of exhaustion and relief. “I was worried about that too. We knew that Keigo wasn’t remotely stable, but he was better at hiding it, so I think we just ignored it to a degree. Collapsing like he did… I’m hoping it will be a reality check for him to help chip away at the walls so we can actually help him.” 

 

“You think we need to have a one on one chat with Keigo, too?”

 

“Absolutely.” Shouta rubbed his eyes. He hadn’t used his quirk today but his eyes burned from how dry they were. “G-d, we are gonna have to have so many heavy conversations in a row. We haven’t done them yet but I’m already tired.” 

 

Hizashi grinned. “Aren’t you glad we went to a year and a half of family counseling? We are gonna use the h— out of those communication skills.” 

 

“We should start going again.” Shouta looked towards the gates, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he was filled with shame. “As I am clearly slipping.” 

 

“Babe, neither of us are doing well. So getting some help is a good idea.” Hizashi reached over and grabbed his arm, rubbing Shouta’s bicep with his thumb. “We went from a couple with a cat, to a family of four with a cat. And the kids are stuffed so full of trauma they are legitimately ripping at the seams. Of course we are struggling, there is a steep learning curve to all of this. We can email Dr. Hamamoto tonight, and until then we just keep on doing our best, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Shouta nodded before tilting his head towards the gate. “We should go, or Nedzu will skin us alive for being late.” 

 

“Yeah, but first,” Hizashi yanked Shouta into a tight hug. For a brief moment Shouta froze, surprised, before hugging Hizashi back just as tightly. The coil of anxiety loosened in his chest as emotions filled his throat. Hizashi let go after maybe two seconds, with a sheepish smile. 

 

“Sorry, I needed that.” He wiped his eyes. “Let’s go.” 

 

Shouta reached out to hold Hizashi’s hand with a squeeze as they started to full jog this time. “Don’t apologize. I did too.” 

 

Hizashi sent him a warm smile as he dropped the hand, to be able to run faster.

 

In no time at all, the two of them were in view of the gates. They were only partially cracked open. Nedzu was standing in the center of the gap between the massive door. Over his boss's head, Shouta could see two people in suits on the other side of the doors. One was a man who was tall and stick thin. His hair was lilac and flickered and twitched like it was a flame. Possible fire emitter. The other female agent was short and stocky. Her dark hair was cropped short and her skin was lime green with a slight shimmer to it, the street lamps making her look like a leaf covered in dew. Possible plant based quirk, but could just be a secondary mutation. 

 

Not knowing made Shouta slightly nervous because regardless of their quirks, the agents would be highly trained and dangerous. A thought that only brought up how ill prepared he and Hizashi were if this was to devolve into a fight. And from the way Nedzu’s fur was raised, he was already frustrated and riled up. Which wasn’t a great sign. 

 

Shouta hoped that between Nedzu, Hizashi and, to a lesser extent, himself, that they would be able to talk their way out of a fight. He really didn’t want to have to go on the run from attacking government officials. It would make caring for Izuku and a still sick Keigo much harder. 

 

Finally within ear shot, Shouta focused on the conversation. 

 

“... not unreasonable to allow us to search the premises.” The male agent said evenly. A too wide smile stretched his mouth. “UA is a large campus, so you must understand that there has to be gaps in your security for him to be hiding. We are searching all locations in a five block radius of the last Hawks sighting. UA is one of those locations. We don’t mean to intrude, but we only are doing our due diligence. You must understand.” 

 

Shouta understood that this man was a prick, and was bordering on smarmy. He highly doubted that there was a sighting, as Keigo had been dead to the world for the past few days. He also doubted that there were other agents actually scouting out the non-UA locations but were more of ‘back up’ for if this went south, there were other agents nearby. Shouta understood Nedzu’s subtle frustration having to deal with this, as he sure didn’t want to have to hear this man talk any more and he just got here. 

 

“And you must understand that this is an educational institution filled with heroes, we will perform our own search of the premises now that you have brought this to our attention,” Nedzu said in his high-pitched voice. Shouta watched as his boss’s fur smoothed back down as his beady eyes flicked over to Hizashi and himself. His smile widened. “Ah, and here they are now! Once I inform them of the situation they will perform a search. If we find anything of note we will go through official channels.” 

 

The female agent huffed before crossing her arms. “We are already here, why won’t you just–” 

 

The thin arm of the other agent was raised to cut her off. “Ah, ah. We mustn't get testy now, Tokido. We all have the same goal here.”

 

“I must agree.” Nedzu nodded. “We are all here to do our part to protect individuals. Which is why I must ask you both to leave.” 

 

The man’s face twitched and Tokido took a step forward, looking like she wanted to punt Nedzu. Shouta took a step forward, glaring at the woman, ready to attack if she swung first. He could empathize with the desire to punt Nedzu, but it was another thing entirely to act on the urge. 

 

“Why, pray tell, do we need to leave?” the man said through gritted teeth. 

 

“Uwabe-san, this is an educational institution that houses the future heroes of tomorrow. In an attempt to dissuade villains from harming our precious students, I have implemented numerous safety measures, some of which would disarm even the most capable heroes. All of the more… extreme security measures have bio-sensors.” Nedzu gestured to Hizashi and Shouta with a paw. “Bio-sensors that will not react to known entities. Like two of my teachers.” 

 

Nedzu’s smile sharpened. “Of course if you’d like to test my security system go right ahead. I just added a few more exciting security measures and would be delighted for a first hand report on how they function.” 

 

Tokido’s green skin paled as her eyes widened a little in fear before she looked over at her partner. She was clearly a newer agent or just the muscle. Uwabe didn’t react beyond a slight squint of his eyes, but still had all the small signs pointing to him being frustrated. 

 

“Couldn’t you add in our bio-scans to allow us to look around? You seem to be fighting this strongly. Almost like you are hiding something.” 

 

“The process to provide unfettered access is complex and bordering on invasive. Students aren’t even given that sort of access. If you deem the efforts of two highly capable heroes not enough, feel free to come back with a warrant. I would then provide the seven and a half hour session of rigorous bio-scanning to whomever the commission sends, but until then, Present Mic and Eraserhead will have to do.” 

 

Shouta had no idea what Nedzu was talking about. The bioscan to become a teacher was maybe fifteen minutes, tops. However, he didn’t doubt that the rat could stretch out and add in things to torment anyone in the future who forced their way onto UA property. Probably did a quick mental calculation to get to seven and a half hours. Or already had a plan mapped out. It was a 50/50 chance either way. Regardless, Nedzu was terrifying. 

 

“Is this true?” Uwabe turned to Shouta and Hizashi. 

 

“We both have been scanned.” Shouta drawled out in a monotone with a slow nod. Hizashi standing beside him was doing all the acting. His eyes darted around, was visibly stressed, breathing a little unevenly and somehow was sweating. How did he do that? Hizashi looked like he was in the throes of a war flashback. Shouta wanted to roll his eyes at the antics, but it definitely sold it. Tokido yanked on Uwabe’s arm. She looked ready to sprint away. Uwabe’s calm facade cracked down the center as he pointed harshly at the ground between them.

 

“We will be back with that warrant. UA is hiding something valuable ,” he spat out. “And the Commission wants it back .” 

 

Shouta only barely grabbed Hizashi to hold him back from going into a fit of rage. His quirk burning his eyes, just in case Hizashi slipped in quirk control. Or more likely, “slipped” in quirk control. His husband’s arm was trembling under the weight of his fury. Shouta could almost feel the harsh waves of bloodlust pounding into him from his husband's glare. Shouta just sent him a look and watched as Hizashi closed his eyes and took deep calming breaths. Blinking, Shouta felt his hair flop back over his face.

 

Good. Hizashi wasn’t going to kill anyone in the next ten seconds, but Shouta needed this conversation to wrap up, now . There is a high chance that if another comment like that was made, Hizashi wouldn’t let himself be held back. And Shouta, if he was honest with himself, wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to try. 

 

“Then I will be ready with the scanning process.” Nedzu looked at Hizashi briefly before turning back to the agents. “However, Eraserhead and Present Mic need to start the search of the grounds. So, if you will excuse us.” 

 

Nedzu took a single step back to get out of the way of the gates as they slammed closed with a loud bang. 

 

“Don’t you think that was a bit dramatic, Nedzu?” Shouta sighed out as he let his head fall to rest on his shoulder. He reached up and unwound just enough of his capture scarf for Nedzu to have to jump a little to grab the end. 

 

“On the contrary!” Nedzu scrambled up the scarf end like a rope before settling on Shouta’s other shoulder. “It was the perfect amount of drama!” 

 

“I’m going to kill them,” Hizashi growled out, his fists white and shaking. “If they come back, I’m going to kill them.” 

 

“Hizashi.” Shouta reached a hand out to cover one of the fists. “Deep breaths.” 

 

Shouta had to hold back a laugh as Hizashi batted his hand away and hissed like a cat. Laughing would only make it worse, but sometimes Hizashi acted like a feral alley cat. Plan two it was then.

 

“Alright. How about letting off some steam? Does that sound better?”

 

Hizashi gave a sharp nod. Good, he was getting somewhere. 

 

“Sound proof room or sparring?” 

 

After a few seconds Hizashi spoke, his voice modulating in the way that meant he was on the edge of losing control, which wasn’t great. “...Could we do both?” 

 

“Okay. I’ll meet you in Gym Delta. Grab a pair of sound proof headphones for me, I’ll walk Nedzu to the door.” He leaned over and squeezed Hizashi’s hand. “Try taking some deep breaths. I’ll see you soon.” 

 

Shouta felt some of the concern fade as Hizashi gave a curt nod as he took a needed slow deep breath.  Before he jogged away, Hizashi gave him a tight smile. Shouta was pretty sure that Hizashi would be fine alone for a few minutes. But didn’t want to let his husband stew for too long, so he turned to quickly drop Nedzu off.

 

“I could walk if you need to follow him.” 

 

Shouta shrugged. “He’ll be fine and you already are on my shoulder.” 

 

“I appreciate it.” Nedzu settled down into the capture weapon.

 

“You got our next moves?” Shouta looked at his boss out of the corner of his eye. 

 

“We have a few options, but none of which are as… clean cut as I would prefer.”

 

Well, s—. That was bad. Shouta rubbed a hand over his mouth. His stubble was more like a thin beard at this point. He really needed to shave.

 

“How much time do you think we have before they come back with a warrant?”

 

“I’d calculate a minimum of twenty-four hours and a maximum of thirty-six.” 

 

They arrived at the front door of the main building. Nedzu slid down the scarf landing with a slight flourish. Shouta sighed.

 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” 

 

Nedzu gestured towards the direction of Gym Delta with a paw. “Calm Hizashi-kun down and send him my direction once he is at least partially rational and at minimum, thirty percent less blood thirsty. We can plan as you work to care for Izuku this evening.”

 

Shouta nodded. There were no doubts that he could calm Hizashi down. He’d helped his husband reign in his anger for years now. However, taking Izuku back to the dorm without the buffer of Hizashi made him nervous. Nemuri could help, but the kid wasn’t as attached to her as he was to Hizashi. Shouta would do his best regardless, but couldn’t stop the sinking feeling and sweaty palms at the idea he might trigger Izuku again. 

 

Nedzu patted Shouta’s shin. “You may not think so, but you are doing a good job with Izuku-kun and Keigo-kun.” 

 

Shouta really must be looking stressed if Nedzu felt the need to reassure him. Pulling himself together, Shouta pushed open the door for his boss. A boss who looked up at him with a wide grin and a sparkle in his small black eyes. 

 

“Thank you, Shouta-kun. I look forward to watching your spar from my office. Try not to get pummeled too much.” With that, Nedzu skittered off. 

 

Huffing, Shouta let the door close. Knowing Nedzu would do a write up on his performance, Shouta let out a little groan. It was going to be like being in high school again. Nedzu’s class reports were brutal and he was not looking forward to his ex-teachers', now boss’s,  comments. 

 

Running off towards Gym Delta, Shouta wondered if he could subtly guide Hizashi into screaming at just the right frequency and direction to break the cameras. Starting to make plans, Shouta grinned. 

 

Maybe letting off some steam would be good for the both of them. 

 

—

 

“I am so sorry. ” Hizashi was dabbing at the bleeding laceration across Shouta’s cheekbone. “I thought that you saw the DJ punch coming.” 

 

“It’s fine, ‘Zashi. Barely hurts.” Shouta waved a hand, it was sparing, small injuries happened. 

 

Hizashi let out a noise which could only be described as ‘the call of a dying moose’. He collapsed over Shouta’s lap, the bloody towel being held to his cheek still by an arm that was awkwardly bent and stretched to keep it in place. Shouta thought Hizashi was being a bit dramatic as his husband had done much more in the past than given a cut and a black eye. 

 

“Seriously, love, it’s fine.” Shouta ran his hand over Hizashi’s soft blond hair. He shook his head into Shouta’s lap. Letting out a long sigh, Shouta patted the back of the still shaking head. “Okay, want to explain why it’s not fine?”

 

“We’re married, ” Hizashi whined. 

 

Shouta wasn’t following. But Hizashi went from filled with rage over the commission to bursting into tears in less than a second. There were a lot of emotions bouncing around in his husband right now, so there might be some wires that got crossed. Hizashi was a genius, but at times his big brain made leaps and jumps in ways that made him an idiot. 

 

“Why does that matter?”

 

Hizashi contorted in Shouta’s lap to keep the towel on his cheek and be able to look up at him. Shouta internally prayed for his husband's spine. The twisting looked painful.

 

“I hit my husband . I made you bleed. ”  Tears were in his eyes as his face paled in horror. He whispered to himself more than to Shouta, “Is this domestic abuse ?” 

 

Shouta couldn’t hold back a laugh. He tilted his head back pulling away from the towel Hizashi had been using to catch the bleeding. He couldn’t stop laughing and was practically wheezing when Hizashi started smacking his shoulder lightly with the bloody towel.

 

“Hey, stop laughing! This is a legitimate question!” Hizashi froze and looked at the towel he’d been using as a weapon and dropped it like it burned him. “Oh g-d, this is a pattern . I’m a horrible husband.” 

 

It only made Shouta laugh harder, falling to the side to curl up on the ground, cackling. Hizashi dramatically flopped over him with a distressed whine. Shouta tried to get a handle over himself, but everytime he thought he was done there’d be a new wave of giggles. Doubly so with each of Hizashi’s small moans and dramatic comments about being the worst.

 

Finally, Shouta was able to roll Hizashi off of him and sat up. Hizashi was in a dejected crumple on the floor before he pushed himself up onto his elbows. He was pouting in a more playful way, but there was a nugget of genuine sadness in his eyes. Shouta smiled and threw the now very dirty towel at Hizashi. 

 

“Sorry for laughing, but– Hizashi we’ve broken each other's bones in bad spars before. But now a tiny cut is what takes you out?”

 

“We weren’t married then!” Hizashi sat up in full and threw his hands up with a huff. “I shouldn’t hurt my husband!” 

 

Shouta huffed a light laugh, shaking his head in amusement. “I love you, but you are being an idiot. We were sparring. ” 

 

“ Hey, ” Hizashi bundled the towel up and threw it at Shouta’s face. Shouta peeled the towel off his face revealing a wide grin. 

 

“I call it how I see it, ‘Zashi.” Shouta shrugged. “And a certificate from the government doesn’t somehow make injuries when sparing illegal.” 

 

“I just feel bad.” Hizashi’s head fell forward. Shouta reached out and with a hand under his chin, raised his head.

 

“Don’t. Honestly you gave it your all which is exactly what I needed you to do.” 

 

“What?”

 

“Nedzu threatened to watch us and I got you to wreck the cameras early on in the first match.” 

 

It was Hizashi’s turn to laugh. “Oh, that’s why you were dancing around so strangely right at the beginning.” 

 

“Yup. There are now no thirty page breakdowns of how sloppy our fighting was in our future.” 

 

“Just maybe a single sheet in the form of a bill for the camera replacement.”

 

Shouta grimaced. “Oh, I didn’t think about that. How expensive do you think that's gonna be?” 

 

“It’s okay babe, I’ve got you covered.” Hizashi smirked as he patted Shouta’s non bleeding cheek. “At least you’re pretty.” 

 

“ Hey.”

 

Hizashi cut him off by putting a finger to his lips. 

 

“You said the cameras are busted, right?”

 

“...Yes?” Shouta was wary of the tone Hizashi had. 

 

“Good. The PDA rules don’t apply, then.” 

 

With that, Shouta suddenly had a lap full of his husband who was deeply kissing him. Hizashi was being very gentle as he held Shouta’s head, clearly making sure not to touch close to the bruised and bleeding cheek. It was sweet. Shouta started to reach his hands around Hizashi’s hips dragging him further up onto his lap. Hizashi let out a low moan as Shouta moved to kiss just under his jaw. He grinned, as he switched to the other side of Hizashi’s throat.

 

A buzzing started above them from the gym’s speaker system. There was a clearing of a throat before Nedzu spoke. “While the cameras may be broken, the microphones are still active. So please refrain from any extracurriculars. ” 

 

Shouta and Hizashi froze. Mortification filled Shouta as he felt like a horny teenager again being caught making out on the roof during lunch, or in the bathroom, or deep in the library in a section they were sure no one would find them. He felt his face flush realizing how often they’d been caught by Nedzu when they were at UA. Somehow this was worse now that he’s their boss. . 

 

“We weren’t–” Hizashi’s voice squeaked and cracked like a prepubescent teen. He cleared his throat, flushing bright red. “We weren’t doing anything.” 

 

“Hizashi-kun, you always tried to say that.” Shouta could hear the rat’s grin. “I didn’t believe you then, and I don’t now.” 

 

Shouta bit back a laugh, but it must have been clear on his face as Hizashi gave him the stink eye and pushed him. Shouta let out a barking laugh as he let himself fall back to the floor. Hizashi snaked a hand under his hoodie and pinched at his side, making him jerk to the side. 

 

“You just finished calming your husband down, Shouta-kun, don’t rile him back up .” 

 

Kill him now. Shouta covered his face with his arm. He was never going to be able to look Nedzu in the eyes again. He wondered if this counted as sexual harassment? Probably not. It was kind of their fault for making out on campus, doubly so for making out where he knew Nedzu had cameras that he was focused on. Microphones weren’t unreasonable. 

 

Bucking Hizashi off his hips, Shouta stood. Hizashi reached a hand up, wiggling his fingers, nonverbally demanding assistance. Reaching down he yanked him up to standing as he rolled his eyes. 

 

“Hizashi, go make plans for some world domination with Nedzu. I’ll go get Izuku from Infirmary.”

 

“Sounds good.” Nodding, Hizashi dusted off his knees. Once he was done he shot a sympathetic look at Shouta “I hope this won't take too long but…” 

 

“I’ll talk to Izuku.”

 

“Good, I’m sorry I won't be there, but it needs to happen.” 

 

“It’ll be okay.” Shouta gave Hizashi a tight smile. Hizashi returned it with a soft smile and a hand caressing his cheek, fingers flitting along the edge of the bruise.

 

“Even if it’s not, we’ll figure it out. It’s better to try with communication than let things stay unsaid. And if you trigger him again, it's okay. And not your fault. It’s all on the commission for torturing a child. Got it?”

 

Shouta nodded. Hizashi patted his cheek softly. 

 

“I love you.” He kissed Shouta’s cheek just under the bruise.

 

“Love you, too.” 

 

Hizashi darted off to make plans with Nedzu. There was a pep back in his step as he practically skipped off. Shouta was a little concerned about leaving them to make plans by themselves again, but he had more important things to do. 

 

Namely, having a heavy discussion with a kid who likely found him triggering. First question he was going to ask Izuku was what Shouta might be able to do to seem less scary. He’d wear a clown costume, talk through a door, or do a handstand for the entirety of the conversation if it helped the kid. Heck, he’d do all three at the same time if it’d help. 

 

Shivering in the cold night air, Shouta let himself fall into a slight jog, in the hopes to warm up but also get to the main building faster. Gym Delta wasn’t particularly close to the main building. By the time he arrived at the building, he had a slight hitch to his breath. He needed to start doing more cardio during his workouts again, now that he wasn’t really patrolling. 

 

As he entered the infirmary, he noticed the room was dark, even Recovery Girl’s office, and there were the soft snores that Shouta had heard from Izuku before. It was cute, kind of like a kitten snoring. Passing around the privacy curtains, Shouta felt himself melt at the sight of his boys. The window across from them was uncovered, giving just enough light to douse them in the soft glow of the street lamp.

 

Izuku’s mouth was hanging ever so slightly open with his head tilted back over Keigo’s bicep. His hands were curled around the edge of the rough looking wing that Keigo had thrown over top of the two of them. His other wing was folded up behind him and his other arm was resting lightly over Izuku’s chest. They shared a blanket that was haphazardly tangled around and between their legs. Instead of the peaceful expression like Shouta had seen Keigo’s face every other time he’d caught them sleeping in the same bed, he was frowning. 

 

“Keigo? You awake?” Shouta whispered. But from the way Keigo jolted, his eyes slamming open, anyone might think he’d screamed the words. Shouta couched next to the bed trying to avoid looming over the kid. “Shh, you’re okay. Sorry for startling you awake.” 

 

“‘S fine.” Keigo slurred out as he rubbed his eyes. “How’d it–”

 

He let out a loud squawk as he sat up, his eyes wide as he focused in on the laceration on Shouta’s face. Izuku let out a sleepy moan, likely from his pillow being violently yanked out from under him. That stole Keigo’s focus long enough for him to tuck the pillow under the kid’s head and wrap the blanket tighter around him. Izuku mumbled out a thank you before settling back to sleep. At the first mewing snore, Keigo’s sharp gold stare zoned back onto the bruised cheek. 

 

“Did you fight the HPSC agents?” Keigo hissed out. Shouta… wished he was surprised that Keigo had somehow figured it out. He probably had above average hearing and used it to his advantage. Gotta keep an eye out for that and make sure to keep sensitive conversations out of earshot.

 

“No, we were able to convince them to leave, but they will likely be back with a warrant soon. Nedzu and Hizashi are coming up with options and plans.” 

 

“Then how…” Keigo pointed a circling finger towards the side of his face. 

 

Reaching a hand up Shouta traced along where he knew the small laceration… should be. He felt the cheek again, confused for a moment before he flicked his eyes to the sleeping kid. Izuku’s quirk was active, but much slower than it had been last time Shouta saw it in action. His cheek was still tender, but he guessed that instead of being dark and purple, it was likely a faded mustard greenish yellow. He hated that the kid was in some degree of pain even while asleep, but he couldn’t help but marvel at the quirk. 

 

“Hizashi.” Shouta focused back on Keigo’s question. “It was Hizashi. We were sparring and he got me when I wasn’t totally focused.” 

 

“ Bull s— .” Keigo’s voice was dark and filled with… something. Shouta felt like the rug was pulled out from under him, this reaction was out of nowhere . “Who spars this late at night?”

 

“Firstly, nine is not that late. Secondly, we do it regularly. It is a good way to let off steam.” 

 

“Does he hurt you like this regularly?” The kid's voice was shaking with rage and his patchy wings twitched as the feathers flashed between hard and soft. 

 

For some reason, Keigo was convinced Hizashi was abusive. Which was bizarre, usually people assumed it went the other way, as Hizashi was a ray of sunshine and Shouta was, well, Shouta . 

 

Beyond the concerning comment about his mom selling him while they were homeless, Shouta knew nothing about Keigo’s family. He didn’t even know his family name. But this screamed of a kid with a history of domestic abuse. Shouta knew he needed to treat this seriously, even though the idea of Hizashi, who had just been practically crying over a small bruise, being properly abusive felt laughable. He had laughed at it, but to Keigo, this was far from a laughing matter. 

 

“You are going to have to trust me on this one, but Hizashi would never hurt me.” 

 

“But you just said he did.” 

 

“In a spar . And before you ask, it was my idea to spar, not his.”

 

“But you offered it for him , right?” Keigo was breathing heavily as he crossed his arms, setting his elbows on his knees. Even in the dim light, Shouta could see how pale he was and how sweat was beading on his forehead. 

 

“Keigo, Hizashi isn’t abusive. I’m totally safe with him.” 

 

“Answer my question.” He spat out.

 

“I don’t think that I have to. I have told you that he isn’t hurting me. Me offering to spar with my husband, who is the sparring partner I’ve had over a decade, isn’t unreasonable.” 

 

“But why were you sparing out of the blue?” 

 

Shouta let out a sigh. “We both had pent up energy after interacting with the agents.” 

 

“Both of you or just him ?” 

 

“Okay, I think we all need to take a breather.” Shouta stood from where he’d been crouched next to the bed. “We aren’t getting anywhere with this conversation.” 

 

“I think we should figure it all out now.”

 

Keigo wiped the sweat off his forehead. His gold eyes looked a little glassy. Shouta wondered if his fever was rising again. He wanted to check the kid’s forehead, but he knew that Keigo would claw his eyes out if he tried right now. The kid was hunched in a dangerous, defensive way. His sharp nails dug into his own arms, only stopping short of drawing blood. Shouta wanted to get the kid to stop, but knew mentioning it while he was this worked up would backfire. 

 

“No, you just want to fight over this for some reason. You are still recovering. I am willing to continue this tomorrow after you get some sleep.” 

 

“I feel fine .”

 

Keigo jumped up out of the bed with a growl. He stumbled and in his attempt to catch his balance, he snapped his wings out. One hit Izuku’s face, which woke the kid up with a yelp. Shouta was able to catch Keigo by his elbows before he hit the ground. He tried to wiggle himself out from Shouta’s grip, but he held on tightly as he guided him back to the edge of the bed. The way that Keigo’s knees were trembling was concerning. Shouta was fairly sure that if he let go, Keigo would hit the ground before he could understand what happened. 

 

“No, you don’t. You are pale, sweating, and just look terrible. Sleep. We will talk tomorrow.” 

 

“Don’t boss me around!” 

 

Shouta raised his hands to try to show he wasn’t a threat. From the way Keigo’s wings bristled, it backfired.

 

“I am not doing this right now, for your own well being, it’s late. Tomorrow, I promise.” He turned to the younger boy who was scrubbing at his eyes. “Izuku, you ready to go?”

 

“Where are you taking him?” Keigo raised his wings, shielding Izuku from Shouta’s view. 

 

“Just back to the dorm.” 

 

“Why can’t he stay here?”

 

Keigo’s face held a desperate emotion that Shouta couldn’t quite identify. He didn’t know what had gotten into Keigo, but something was up with the kid. Shouta wished he just knew why, as this seemed more pointed than thinking Hizashi was abusive. But for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what it could possibly be.

 

“His bed is there and I want to talk to him. Hopefully clear up a few things.” Shouta craned his neck and popped up on his toes to peer over the spread wings to look at Izuku with a soft smile. “It’s nothing bad, Me and Hizashi just want to make sure we are all on the same page about expectations and what is allowed. We don’t want another yesterday.”  

 

Izuku nodded, giving Shouta a small thumbs up as he yawned. Seeing how tired the kid was, he wished he could wait for the next day. But they really couldn’t keep putting it off. He’d just have to keep it short and then maybe bring it back up for a lengthier discussion tomorrow. The red wing snapped up to cover Shouta’s view once again. He settled back down onto his heels. 

 

“Talk here then. I want to know, too.” Keigo snarled. 

 

This was passing ridiculous and into falling into unsettling territory. Shouta had no idea what triggered this or how to help calm him. The only thing he knew that could help at times was preening, but he knew that wouldn’t be an option here. He just hoped staying level headed would be enough.

 

“Izuku is going to need to sleep, Keigo. In his bed. It makes more sense to just have the conversation–” Shouta was cut off. 

 

“There are more than enough beds here. So talk here and then Izuku can sleep here , with me .”

 

“Keigo…” Izuku’s smaller hand reached up to the edge of Keigo’s wing, pulling it down. For a brief moment Shouta saw how confused the kid was. At least Shouta wasn’t alone in his bafflement. Keigo snapped his wing back up to cover Izuku.

 

His eyes narrowed to just slits, the gold of his iris caught the light and practically glowed in the faint light. “Is there a reason why you refuse to just tell me what you are talking about? Are you hiding something?”

 

“What?” Shouta felt off balance from trying to follow the kid’s mental path. Keigo was making leaps and jumps of misplaced logic. Shouta could see Keigo bobbing across the sky, but none of the things he was landing on were visible to Shouta. And he didn’t know how to get the kid back to the ground. “No. Last night it came to my attention that we might not have been on the same page about some things and I want to clear them up.” 

 

“Kei, it's okay,” Izuku crawled under one of the wings, between the gaps of two longer feathers. “I’ll go with Aizawa-san.” 

 

“No!” Keigo grabbed Izuku and yanked him into his lap. “I don’t want Izuku out of my sight.” 

 

“I’m definitely taking Izuku now.” Shouta took a slow step forward, reaching his hand’s out to grab Izuku. “I think it will be good for the two of you to have some space. This is unhealthy.” 

 

“Don’t you f—ing take him from me.” Keigo hissed as he tightened his grip on Izuku. His breaths were heavy and uneven. Izuku looked scared as his green eyes filled with tears. 

 

Watching both of his kids be so distressed hurt Shouta. He wanted to jump in. To comfort and fix it. But there was no quick fix to this, especially not knowing what triggered this whole episode. He crouched back down, giving Keigo the height advantage. It must have helped a little as the crushing grip he had on Izuku loosened ever so slightly.

 

“I want you to listen to yourself for a second. Izuku will be perfectly fine away from you for an evening.”

 

That was the wrong thing to say as whatever dropping into a crouch had gained him was immediately lost at his words. The grip was so tight around Izuku’s chest that he looked like he was gasping for breath. Shouta needed to de-escalate, but nothing was working. Why was nothing working ?

 

“You just want to take him from me forever! Don't lie to me!” 

 

“No, Keigo. I don't.” Shouta sat fully on the floor as he shook his head. “I just want what is best for Izuku, and right now you don’t seem to be what is best for him. You are holding him too tightly.” Keigo squawked as he realized he had been holding Izuku in a death grip. Izuku took a deep breath once he was released from the human vice grip. Which was at least something. 

 

“I think you need to rest and take a few deep breaths. I’ll come by first thing in the morning to talk through all this. If it goes well, I can bring Izuku to come visit in the evening for a movie or games or something. Sound good?”

 

“No! You’re just hoping to get him alone to force him to use his quirk!”

 

“What?!” Shouta was officially and totally lost. Where had he picked up that idea?

 

“You just want to separate us, you’re all just as bad as the commission! I don’t know why I never saw it until today!” 

 

“Keigo, no that’s not–” 

 

Keigo jumped up off the bed, cutting off Shouta. His shaking knees didn’t collapse under him this time. Feathers exploded from what seemed like everywhere . The mess of red made it hard to see anything, but Shouta heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass. 

 

“Kei-nii! What are you doing ?”

 

Shouta stood in the flurry of red and darted towards the large, now broken window. He jumped out of it, seeing the half gliding half running silhouette of Keigo in the distance, almost to the wall around UA.

 

Holy s—, even sick and unable to fly, the kid was fast.  

 

Shouta dropped into a full sprint trying to keep up. At the edge of his hearing, the two boys kept talking.

 

“We’re leaving, it’s not safe for you anymore.” Keigo said, the words interspersed with breathless huffs.

 

“What, Kei, no stop . We have to go back.” Izuku sounded stressed. Shouta could relate.

 

“You don’t have to pretend anymore, we’ll be safe. We’ll both be safe. Don’t worry. I’ve– I’ve got a plan.” 

 

The detached feathers that were flying after Keigo shot forward to build a feather staircase. Shouta almost turned his quirk on to stop the kids from escaping but Keigo likely couldn’t fly in his state, and they were already high enough there was a chance of injury. Instead he threw his capture weapon out fully, hoping he was close enough to catch Keigo’s ankle. He was only a half meter short. Shouta cursed as Keigo jumped over the wall, leaving UA. 

 

Shouta sprinted to the gate and it cracked open just enough to let him slide out. Grabbing his phone out of his pocket, he called Hizashi. He picked up on the second ring.

 

“Shou? What’s up?”

 

“I’m losing sight of the kids. Keigo was acting all paranoid and ran with Izuku. They are only a few blocks from UA at this point. Get the car and track my phone, now.” 

 

Shouta used his capture weapon to yank himself up onto the roof of an apartment complex, spriting after the kids’ distant shadow as Keigo half gilded between buildings. Maybe he should have just let the kids get injured, he was bound to lose them at this point. 

 

“Nedzu said he got trackers on them.” 

 

“ What?! ” Shouta hissed out as he leaped between two buildings, ending in a roll. The gravel on the roof dug into his back. He jumped back up to continue sprinting. 

 

“They were in UA PE uniforms.” Over the phone, Shouta could hear how Hizashi was running, his keys jingling. “They got tags in case of an emergency, he activated them and will be sending the link to your phone, just in case you lose visual.” 

 

Shouta felt his phone buzz with a notification. That was Nedzu. He’d only open it if he lost sight lines. He kept sprinting, wishing his legs to go just ever so faster as he watched the silhouette get further and further away. 

 

“We’ll get them back, Shou.” He heard the sound of the car starting.

 

“We’d better.” Shouta growled out.

 

Hizashi let out a strained laugh. “We will. I’m going to hang up now so you can use both hands. I love you. And good luck.” 

 

Shouta just grunted as he slipped his phone into his pocket. He didn’t even hang up, Hizashi could do it. Shooting his capture weapon out once again to swing up to a taller building, Shouta pushed himself harder. 

 

He couldn’t lose his kids. He just couldn’t.

Notes:

welp. feel free to come for me with pitchforks and torches, I realize that I made the top note much more upbeat and not even hinting we are ending on a frickin cliffie lololol. I fully support anger this time (as i did last time haha) even tho it wasnt totally puropseful i just didnt wanna spoil! xD

Also no one can come for my baby, Keigo. he is having a well earned breakdown here. He has had a crap life and is losing it and is making Bad Choices but he is also dealing with like PTSD Paranoia and that messes with a person. But if anyone is worried Keigo and Izuku are going to be okay! I promise!

But! good news! I have the next chapter written hahaha just gotta edit it xD

Chapter 23: Keigo’s great escape! (It’s not all that great!)

Notes:

:)
hi there
:)

So y'all were less angry then I thought you'd be lol but ya'll were just worried about the babies which... fair.
BUT thanks to my beta @sassy_chemist as always her comments bring unending joy <3 thankssss

I know ya'll arent actually here for my yappin' so enjoy the storyyyy

Triggers listed at the other notes at the end

Keigo wanted to curl up in a little ball and sleep for a million years. However, that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Instead, he was pitifully half gliding and stumbling his way over the rooftops of Mustafu, a city he didn’t really know. Being dead tired didn’t matter, not until Keigo got the two of them safe. 

 

Unfortunately, nowhere was going to feel safe and Keigo had no idea where to go. 

 

His head swam and Keigo almost took a tumble. He felt so sick. Whatever strength he’d been able to gather from his rest was gone about five kilometers ago. Maybe ten. Keigo shook his head forcing his eyes from sliding closed. He couldn’t stop now, no matter how much he wanted to. 

 

Shouta– no, Eraserhead– was still following them. All of Keigo’s attempts to lose the tail had failed. The underground hero was really showing all of his skills. Reaching out to Eraserhead, one of the best underground heroes, had sounded like a great plan at the time, but now Keigo internally cursed his past decisions. It was making it really hard to cut ties when the man was so capable. He wanted to regret it, but on the other hand if it wasn’t for Eraserhead, Izuku would likely still be trapped at the HPSC and Keigo would be dead. Or worse, squirreled away in some remote Commission facility until they knew what to do to him for his major lapse in judgment and disobedience. A part of Keigo was grateful for Eraserhead for all he’d done, but the other was livid at the man’s choices to threaten Izuku.

 

It was confusing. Keigo desperately wanted to hate Aizawa, but just couldn’t bring himself to do so. 

 

It was probably the stupid quirk bond screwing with his brain again. Or it might be the pounding headache which made every thought an uphill battle.  Keigo didn’t really know.

 

Taking in a ragged deep breath, Keigo smelled the faint smell of the ocean. He let out a hawk call, before he choked more sounds back. There was so much rattling around in his brain that only made his head throb, a soothing location might allow him to actually screw his head on straight. Additionally, Keigo could probably lock the two of them into a beach front bathroom. It wouldn’t be pleasant, but it’d have running water and would protect from the frigid winter wind biting into them. 

 

The abrupt turn he took towards the briny smell almost sent Keigo plummeting to the ground. Maybe… it was time to just glide down to the street. Making sure his grip on Izuku was firm, but not too tight, Keigo snapped out his wings. With a running jump he transitioned into a sad little glide. They were losing air fast, but not dangerously so. It was mostly just annoying that he’d lost connection to so many of his feathers and could barely hold a glide. Usually Keigo was more careful about that sort of thing, never removing enough feathers to bar him from flying, but he’d let down his guard. 

 

No one would catch him doing that ever again. Especially not now, since he was going to have to take care of Izuku. He had to keep him safe. And now Keigo knew trusting people would be out of the question, so he would just have to become enough for Izuku. 

 

That… honestly sounded like a lot and would be totally exhausting, but it was better to do this then let Izuku be hurt and controlled again. Keigo would just have to be better and take it one step at a time. 

 

And that first step was to get away from Aizawa. The loose tail was passing the point of  begrudgingly impressive and settled in infuriating. He just wanted to be left alone. Was that too hard? Why was he following? Was Izuku’s quirk that much of a need when they had Recovery Girl? So why couldn’t they just leave Izuku alone?

 

Keigo’s feet hit the ground and he started to stumble into a sprint. Or as close as he could get to one right now. Sending a mass of his non-attachable feathers to Aizawa to hopefully slow him down and obscure his frustratingly amazing sightline, Keigo wormed his way down a few narrow alleyways and streets. He moved closer and closer to the subtle brine smell, ignoring the ever strengthening dumpster smells. Keigo allowed himself to smile when he felt Aizawa slow from the barrage of feathers. 

 

Eraserhead had come to a full stop batting at the feathers, but surprisingly didn’t break or damage a single feather. It was… odd, but he pushed off the thought. The brine smell was so close, and safety took priority. There also had to be some horribly nasty dumpsters near the beach front too. The putrid smell of rotting trash hit him like a brick wall as Keigo turned the corner. It made him gag. 

 

The beach was absolutely full of trash. 

 

His breath hitched as he tried to bite back a distressed screech. This was not a calming beach. This was not a place he wanted to take his brother. This was not somewhere that they could feel safe. 

 

Keigo felt the hot tears stream down his face as he limped closer to the glorified landfill. His breaths were hitching and it felt like he couldn’t catch his breath. He felt nauseous. He wasn’t sure if it was from the insane sprint he’d just done, the fever he was sure was only rising, or from the smell that filled his nose. Regardless of the reason, Keigo found himself having to swallow back bile that burned the back of his throat. 

 

Izuku’s shaking hands tightened around Keigo’s aching shoulders. Keigo squeezed his brother into a tight hug. And took a stuttering deep breath. 

 

This was a certified disaster.

 

He had wanted to properly plan, take a few days, collect up more than the small bowl of snacks and water bottles he’d been able to swipe from the infirmary in the mad dash out of there. They had no cash, no blankets, nothing that would actually help long term. 

 

It was mid winter. It was really cold. Keigo didn’t even have a shirt. The bandage around his torso was starting to peel around the edges from his sweat. Izuku luckily was wearing a too large zip up hoodie over the PE uniform that the two of them had worn exclusively in the past week and a half. 

 

Keigo brushed a hand over Izuku’s head as he shuffled down the slightly slanted stairs to the sand. Izuku’s green eyes were wide, the moonlight highlighting the panicked tears that threatened to spill over. 

 

His heart clenched at the sight. He hadn’t meant to scare Izuku, but this was necessary. Izuku needed to be safe. Keigo would get them there. It might just… take a second. Which was fine as he could figure it out. He had to. 

 

Keigo kissed the fluffy curls as he ducked between some of the piled refrigerators and other miscellaneous appliances. He pinned his wings as close to his back as he could. The pile of rusting and disintegrating appliances seemed unstable at best, so he didn’t want to brush against something accidentally and knock any of them down on top of Izuku.  

 

He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he was the reason Izuku got hurt. 

 

Ducking around the tall towers of trash, Keigo finally spotted a set of door inset in the concrete wall at the edge of the beach. 

 

Bingo. A bathroom. 

 

Sending a few smaller feathers ahead to pick the lock, Keigo let out a relieved sign. He had a location where they could rest for a bit. Aizawa was also close to the beach, but had to have lost the trail by now. The feather diversion had worked well enough. Hallelujah. 

 

Focusing back on his current location, Keigo smiled. He had been successful in picking the lock with the feathers. His arms were full of Izuku, so he used the feathers to push the door open with a loud creak. 

 

The bathroom looked old and run down, there were cracks in the concrete floors and walls, and the stainless steel of the stall doors was dull and scratched up. It wasn’t filthy but it was clear that it had been a long time since anyone had been inside. Which was probably a good sign: they could maybe make this a base until he could find something better. A thin layer of dust covered every surface. Sacrificing two feathers from his unattached stockpile, he cleaned it all up. The feeling of cobwebs and dust tangling and caking each of the barbs of the two feathers was a sensory nightmare. Keigo held his breath trying to keep from vomiting. It was awful. 

 

Once done, he sank to the cracked floor. It was ice cold, which made him shiver. He could deal with it, it was fine. The two now nasty feathers were sent out to try to erase the path in the sand. And also to maybe clear out some of the horrible feeling out of them. He locked the door behind them with another feather. The gritty sand cleaned the two feathers enough that Keigo was able to relax back into the frigid concrete. The nausea abated, which was wonderful. 

 

He felt awful still. His head pounded and that achy sick feeling weighed down every cell in his body. He could tell his fever was higher from the way he was shivering and his head swam. Keigo was still able to somehow find the energy to smile down at his trembling brother. 

 

Izuku sat up in his lap, breaking out of his hold, turning to look at Keigo. The small bag of snacks was carried closer by a feather. Another feather joined in the effort to pull out one of the peanut butter bars and a water bottle, handing it to Izuku. Keigo wasn’t sure he’d be able to really move his fatigued arms anytime soon. Izuku was a little small for his age, or Keigo was pretty sure he was, but he was still eleven. And Keigo was tired before sprinting across town holding an eleven year old to his chest like a toddler. 

 

Keigo smiled as Izuku tentatively grabbed the food and water. He struggled a little with his shaky and weak hand, but he was able to open it himself. Which was good. Izuku had struggled with water bottles, so seeing him crack open the cap filled Keigo with pride. Keigo was worried that even hidden like they were, that Eraserhead and the other UA heroes, or worse the commission, could maybe be listening, so he whispered. 

 

“Hey, sorry about that. I am sure that was probably really scary.” 

 

The tears that had been trapped finally fell as Izuku let out a distressed whimper. Keigo's arms felt like a million kilos, but he was able to bring them up to caress the round freckled cheeks to gently wipe the tears with his thumbs. 

 

“Shh, Shh. It’s okay now, Chickadee. They won't be able to hurt you for your quirk again. No one will hunt you again. I’ll make sure of it.” 

 

Izuku started shaking his head before he collapsed forward to nuzzle his head into Keigo’s chest. Each of his soft sobs tore at the brittle walls that caged Keigo’s emotions. Tears filled his own eyes as he brought his exhausted arms up and around his brother in a warm hug.

 

Keigo hated this. If there was any other option, he would take it in a heartbeat. He knew first hand how terrifying it was to be suddenly homeless as a kid. Izuku wouldn’t have to deal with the worst parts, Keigo would shield him from them. Izuku wouldn’t know how it felt to stick a hand into some unknown wet and nasty thing while dumpster diving. Izuku wouldn’t have to stand on the street corners trying to look dejected and ‘cute’ to try to get more charity. Izuku wouldn’t have to learn how to have sticky fingers and dodge heroes and cops just for some food. He would never have to deal with any of that. Keigo had done it once, he could do it again. Shoplifting had been fairly easy for him as a kid, he could only imagine that it’d only be easier with his heightened control over his feathers. 

 

Blankets, food, clothes, and some hair and feather dye would be the first things on the list to steal. Once they could maybe slip into a crowd unnoticed, he would go to a library and search for a possible better location. It would be harder for Keigo since he was a fairly well known hero, but he hoped if he dyed his feathers and hair black he might be able to pass under suspicion. 

 

But that was for future Keigo. Tonight, he just needed to rest. He was already struggling to keep his eyes open. Which was surprising considering his pounding head, aching everything, and how every square centimeter that was in contact with the concrete was already numb from cold. Keigo wrapped his puffed up wings around Izuku, making a cocoon of warmth. Keigo’s slight shivering stopped, the ice on his back evened out from the heat from the front. 

 

It was about as far from comfortable as a person could get, but honestly, he couldn’t find it in him to care. Between still being sick and dealing with what had to be one of the largest adrenaline crashes of his life, he was exhausted. Tilting his head back, Keigo let his eyes slide closed. He’d figure out the next steps in the morning. 

 

Just as Keigo was sliding into an uneasy sleep, soft mumbles and hissed whispers filtered through the door. His eyes snapped open, totally awake and focused on the voices just on the edge of his hearing. 

 

“You sure they’re around here? It’s nasty.” It was Present Mic. 

 

“Yes, Hizashi. Between the trackers and the half hidden path through the sand, they’re in there. It also is a logical location, few would look here, it’s out of the weather, and there is probably clean water. It’s a smart choice.” That was Aizawa. 

 

Keigo tried to beat down the expanding pride from getting a compliment from Shouta. It shouldn’t matter, he was hunting them to harm Izuku. No matter how hard he tried, his feathers still fluffed up and the desire to let out a pleased trill filled him. He hated his stupid quirk, making him feel these dumb things. 

 

“I guess, but the most logical would be staying at UA.” Present Mic grumbled. He sounded tired. 

 

Aizawa sighed. “I agree, but Keigo obviously doesn’t. For some reason.” 

 

Keigo mentally scoffed. It was pretty clear why it wasn’t logical to stay at UA.

 

“I don’t like this. What even set him off?”

 

“We all knew that Keigo was a little codependent on Izuku. I… don’t think any of us realized how out of control it had really gotten though. I think he saw me taking Izuku back to the dorm as a threat to his relationship with him.” 

 

That was not the issue, they had to understand that. Did… they know he could overhear this? Was this some strange manipulation to get him to trust them again? He didn’t think he’d told any of the UA heroes about his enhanced hearing. But with Nedzu being involved, anything was possible. 

 

“But the Little Listener has to sleep, and he seems less anxious outside of medical facilities. So the dorm is the best choice for him.”

 

Keigo hadn’t really noticed that Izuku was all that nervous in the infirmary. Not like he had spent a lot of time with him anywhere but the infirmary. He frowned. Keigo would have to keep an eye out about that.

 

“I know that. You know that. But right now Keigo doesn’t seem to know that. And for their safety we might have to force him to realize that.” 

 

“So we’re going to what? Kick down the door and take them back kicking and screaming? That is a horrible idea, Shou.” Disappointment dripped off the words. 

 

“What? No. Why would you think that was the plan?? I was thinking we knock on the door and talk to them .” There was a pause. “G-d Hizashi, I’m socially awkward, not a f—ing idiot.” 

 

“Why not both?” 

 

A barking laugh was stifled shortly after it burst out. Keigo was pretty sure it had been Mic. 

 

“Sorry. Sorry. That was unprofessional.” Humor brightened Present Mics voice. 

 

There was a long, world-weary sigh. Probably Aizawa. 

 

Keigo tightened his grip on Izuku before shifting him to the slightly warmer ground where he had been slouched. His brother looked confused and terrified as he clutched at Keigo’s shoulders and the edge of one of his wings. Izuku opened his mouth, only to be cut off by one of Keigo’s fingers pressing into his lips. He froze, green eyes crossed to look at the finger before looking up at Keigo. He looked so scared before flicking his eyes to the door in question. Keigo nodded as one of the smaller covert feathers floated to Izuku. It hardened it into a small knife. Swallowing, Izuku reached out a shaky hand to grab it. Keigo smiled reassuringly at his scared brother. Hopefully he wouldn’t need the knife, but there was no way that he was leaving him unarmed.

 

Silently, he padded to the door on his raw cold feet. Luckily, they didn’t seem to be bleeding. Half crouched, he stood by the door. One hand was poised over the lock, the other over the handle. 

 

A quiet knock rang out through the bathroom. 

 

“Keigo? Izuku? You in there? You don’t have to open up but we just want to make sure you are–” 

 

Cutting Aizawa off, Keigo slammed the door open and lunged at him. The underground hero had been obviously caught off guard as he fell back onto the sand easily. As they hit the ground, Aizawa let out a grunt as Keigo scrambled to pin him. Sitting up, Keigo clawed at his chest, the black fabric disintegrated under his unmanicured talons. Eraserhead was able to slide an arm out from under Keigo’s sloppy leg-based pin. He flipped them to reverse the position. As the two turned, he used his capture scarf to pin Keigo’s arms and wings to his torso. 

 

Keigo thrashed and screeched and screamed. The feeling of his wings being pinned was only made worse by the tightening of the fabric as he tried to wiggle free. The man was bucked off of him, but the bindings were still holding his wings too tight. He hated it. He hated it. His vision was getting spotty as he realized he was hyperventilating. 

 

“Keigo, Keigo! Breathe , kid. You need to breathe. You need to calm down.”

 

Keigo would do no such thing . Not with his wings trapped. Not with Izuku in danger. He hissed in Eraserheads face, struggling and straining harder. The bindings held firm. 

 

Snapping his head to the side to follow some movement he’d noticed out of the corner of his eye, he froze. It was Izuku being held, gipping Present Mic’s chest tightly, as he sobbed. Mic was half jogging past his struggle, but before they ducked around the corner of some trash Izuku turned his head. He looked so relieved. 

 

Something gross and slimy wound its way around Keigo’s guts. He felt betrayed and just a little bit jealous. Sure, a dirty run down public toilet wasn’t ideal. But how was the labyrinth of punishments and threats, both spoken and unspoken, better than going on the run? Did Izuku not trust that he could care for him? Was he just choosing the known threat over the unknown? 

 

Keigo knew he should be able to relate, as that was the main reason he had stayed with the commission for as long as he had. Izuku was the only reason he’d chosen to run. So Keigo should really have been able to relate, but the hot anger flooding his veins and kept him from empathizing. The betrayal only grew as he heard Izuku’s soft voice whisper to Mic. 

 

“I wanna go home .” 

 

Those four little words gutted Keigo. He held his breath, listening as Izuku’s hitching breaths and sand-dampened footsteps of Present Mic faded. Keigo felt like a massive failure. Izuku not only wasn’t safe in his care, but his brother chose his tormentors over him. Keigo slammed his head into the soft ground, letting out a series of mournful calls. 

 

He stopped slamming his head into the sand and slumped, exhausted. If only he’d had more time . Time to collect supplies. Time to plan. Time to explain. He could have shown Izuku that he was capable of keeping him safe. 

 

Maybe Keigo still could. 

 

If he could ditch the supposed tracker they had on him and then set up a place for Izuku, Keigo could sneak back into UA, explain, and then Izuku could see that Keigo could take care of him. That might just work. He hated the idea of just leaving Izuku with them, but it would only be for a short time. 

 

“Keigo, kid? You with me?” Aizawa sounded unsure. Tentative. 

 

This was good. Catching Eraserhead off guard seemed like the best strategy. If he thought that Keigo was zoned out, he’d play zoned out. Shifting his eyes out of unfocus into the middle distance, Keigo heard the underground hero let out a soft sigh. Keigo only needed the capture weapon to loosen for a single second to be able to slip out. 

 

Eraserhead’s face came into view. He was standing over him, bent as his waist loomed over him. Keigo had to hold back a reaction to the devastated concern that was plastered over the usually minimally expressive face. 

 

“Oh, kid. I’m not sure what is going on in your mind, but we’ll help you, okay? You aren’t alone in this.”

 

Keigo bit back a scoff. He was alone though. Keigo had to fight back the part of him that yearned for the connection to Aizawa, as he’d shown his true colors. Izuku had turned away from him and gone with Present Mic. Keigo had made dangerous enemies with the HPSC and now UA as a whole. He also had no friends. Not really. There was absolutely no one in his corner. And he was okay with that. 

 

Really, he was.

 

Keigo closed his eyes, in part as unfocusing his eyes was making his headache worse, but also to ward off the stinging tears that had filled his eyes. A few fat tears rolled down the side of his face and across the bridge of his nose. 

 

Aizawa shifted a bit, pulling out what had to be his phone from his pocket. A soft ringing was cut off by Present Mic’s voice. 

 

“Shou? I just got back to the car. You need help?” 

 

“No, I don’t want you to leave Izuku alone. The beach isn’t too far, so go drop Izuku off at UA and come back. It… looks like Keigo is down for the count and might be for a little while more.” Aizawa’s voice sounded strained. 

 

“Is Keigo okay?”

 

There was the sound of shifting fabric. Aizawa let out a sharp hiss. “Oh, ouch .” 

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Just some minor scratches from Keigo’s claws or talons or whatever they are called. I’ll be just fine, I just forgot and twisted wrong.” There was a pause and much quieter he continued. “And Keigo is fine, just dissociating. I think.” 

 

“S—” Mic cursed. “Another one, really?” 

 

“I’m– I’m hoping that he’ll snap out of it faster. Maybe being older will… help?” 

 

“I want to commit so many crimes. Arson is sounding really f—ing nice. Murder, too. Lock me in a room with all the agents. I’ll give them some memories to dissociate from.” The sound of the car engine was audible over both the speaker of the phone and also from the street a short ways away above them. The engine faded from Keigo’s hearing. After a beat, Mic continued talking, the tone was softer. “It’s not your fault.” 

 

“Sure. Whatever you say.” Aizawa’s voice was hollow. Clearly he didn’t believe that. 

 

“Shouta, it’s not–” There was a long sigh. “Later. We’ll deal with that all later. Just sit with him. I’ll be right back.” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

“I love you.” 

 

Shouta just hummed warmly. After a moment, Present Mic’s laugh came over the receiver.

 

“This is when you are supposed to–” Mic was cut off by Aizawa hanging up. He huffed out a laugh before letting out a groan. There was a dull thud as he sat down close to Keigo. 

 

It was impressive that he’d kept the tension in the capture weapon through sitting down like that. Impressive and annoying. Keigo hoped if he kept ‘playing dead,’ then Eraserhead would relax, slipping up, but there was a chance that the man wouldn’t relax. But he would wait, he just needed one second, and then he’d be gone. 

 

“Well, kid, between you and Izuku, I am going to be fully gray by my thirtieth birthday. So congrats.” Aizawa’s low monotone was soothing. The stupid quirk bond pulled at Keigo’s emotions, only getting more desperate as the tattered, blood stained hoodie was draped over him. Keigo couldn’t begin to hold back the flood of fuzzy warmth and didn’t even try. Instead, he just let himself relax. It’s not like the bindings were loosening, so Keigo could enjoy the feelings while they lasted. 

 

“I know that it’s not much, but from the way you’ve stopped shivering, I think it helped.” There was a pause. “I read that talking can be grounding for this sort of thing… but I don’t really know what to say, Keigo. Hizashi is the chatty one. Not me.” 

 

Keigo laid there silently, feeling Aizawa’s eyes on him. The wind shifted, allowing the nice brine scent to cut through the overwhelming trash smell. The adrenaline was fading once again and out of concern of falling asleep Keigo opened his eyes. His view was mostly Aizawa’s bleeding torso. He watched the thin trails of blood slowly roll down his bare, scratched up chest. The man reached up to rub his hands up and down against his visibly cold arms, trying to use friction to warm himself. The sight made something flop in Keigo’s gut. 

 

Confusion made his head spin. The kindness didn’t make any sense . Why would Aizawa give his jacket to Keigo on a cold winter night one moment only to turn around and plan to harm Izuku? What could possibly be his motivation for all of this? Was it some weird form of brainwashing? Some attempt to force Keigo into Stockholm syndrome? To care for his captors? 

 

If that was the goal, it was working , frustratingly enough. He felt the quirk bond softening his resolve. He wanted to let go and fall into the soft tones and the kind actions. He wanted to just close his eyes and believe all the lies. He wanted to, so bad. It would be so much easier. 

 

But he couldn’t . He needed to protect Izuku and opening himself up to that would only lead to more pain. He needed to stay vigilant against it. He needed to escape. 

 

Keeping his eyes unfocused to sell the ‘zoned out’ look, Keigo slowly moved his eyes to look vaguely at Aizawa. There was a bone deep, weary sadness that soaked the man. He looked wilted, like a cut flower past its prime. 

 

“I can’t believe I’ve done this again.” 

 

Aizawa collapsed forward, his head falling into his palm. Keigo felt the slightest shift of the bindings that wound tightly around his middle. It wasn’t quiet enough to escape immediately, but it was enough to slowly start working one of his wings out. Now that Aizawa wasn’t focused on him, Keigo dropped the zoned out look and instead leveled his sharp stare into the side of the man’s face. The man was slouched and looked so defeated. It felt wrong on the hero. 

 

A bitter and very watery chuckle almost made Keigo pause. Either Aizawa should get an award for best acting or he was genuinely distressed. Keigo wasn’t sure, but the hero hadn’t ever struck him as a great actor, so he was thinking it might be real.  

 

“G-d, I’m such a f— up. Everyone keeps trying to tell me that I’m good at this s— but I’m pretty sure I’m only making things worse.” There was a small choking sound before he continued. “I thought it was bad enough seeing Izuku all out of sorts. Somehow, Keigo, seeing you like this is worse.” 

 

Keigo felt his mind fill with static. This man just confirmed that he’d harmed Izuku, or at least witnessed it. Not only that but he had the audacity to sound upset about it. Keigo wanted to hurt him. How dare he mess with all of his emotions like this?

 

Just as the fury boiled over, Keigo got his wing free. He slid out and pounced. Sand flew everywhere as he used his wings to add extra power to shove Eraserhead against a rusted old stove. The underground hero’s muscles shifted under Keigo’s hands. He was about to retaliate. Keigo needed to pin him, now. There was no time to think as he fell back on his training.

 

Gripping a primary feather Keigo stabbed through the torso, just to the left of the belly button. Keigo distantly heard a groan of pain over the pounding in his ears. He had been exacting and swift like he had done a thousand times in training. His handler might actually be proud of him. They wouldn’t be able to follow him pinned to the appliance, and he’d done it in milliseconds while feeling like death. That had to mean something, right?

 

Keigo stood on shaky legs, turning in a slow circle to look for his handler. Odd. They weren’t here. If it wasn’t outside, he’d assume cameras… huh. What was going on? He readied his wings, poised to fly away as something was clearly wrong. He should leave. From how fuzzy his brain felt, maybe he had been drugged?

 

A soft voice cut through the confused haze that had settled over him. 

 

“Keigo? Don’t go. It’s okay. You’re safe. It’s okay.” There was a sharp hiss. “It’s– ugh– It’s just me, Keigo. It’s Shouta. You are okay.” 

 

The voice scratched something in the back of his mind. He knew that voice. He liked it too. 

 

Robotically, Keigo turned to face the soothing voice. 

 

The first thing he noticed was the thick trail of blood flowing out from around his feather. The second thing was a pair of the kindest looking tired eyes. It took Keigo’s throbbing brain too long to identify what emotion exactly was swimming in those eyes. 

 

It was love. Unconditional and deeply forgiving. 

 

Taking a step back, Keigo widened his focus. Taking in the whole view, he’d realized what he had done. It hit him like a freight train. He didn’t even feel as his hands and knees hit the sand below him as he threw up what little he’d eaten. 

 

He’d stabbed Shouta. 

 

His quirk was screaming at him. He’d harmed a flock member. On purpose . 

 

He’d stabbed his dad.  

 

Crawling to his side, Keigo flopped down. His whole body shook as a sob tore out of his throat. Grabbing the loose fabric of Shouta’s sweatpants, he squeezed. Keigo was so confused. Nothing made sense. His head hurt. His heart hurt. It was getting way too hard to breathe. His dad’s warm calloused hand started preening his head, but Keigo didn’t deserve care. He shook the hand off, and moved his hands up to his crest and yanked. The two handfuls of hair and feathers were dropped onto the sand. He went for a second set of handfuls when Shouta’s hand shot out and loosely grabbed his wrists, holding them back.

 

“Gentle. We aren’t doing that.” 

 

Keigo wasn’t allowed to be gentle . He’d just stabbed his dad. He needed to be punished . 

 

Yanking his hands away, he smacked the side of the appliance. A concerning creaking came from above and Keigo realized what was happening. He pushed himself up onto Shouta’s lap, arching his hardened wings to create a shield. A tower of old, rusted appliances fell. The heavier ones jarred the joints in his wings, while the sharp edges bruised the sensitive skin even through the hard shell. A few feathers snapped under the pressure. 

 

Once the trash stopped falling from the sky, Keigo focused back down on Shouta, letting his wings relax. Only for him to be flooded with terror. The blood was now flooding out of Shouta’s stomach. The feather was now soft, he must have dropped it with the others accidentally. Keigo’s hands twitched as he let out a warbling sound.

 

“Oh wow . That feels weird.” Shouta went to poke the soft feather, but Keigo batted his hands away and hardened the feather, focusing to make sure that the sharp edges were dull this time. Shouta gasped in pain. Keigo felt awful, but he couldn’t let his dad bleed out, and this was the best way to plug up the hole. Noticing that Shouta was looking a little pale and had started shivering in the cold, Keigo threw the ruined hoodie back at him. The pained moan when it hit the feather, jostling it, sent shivers up Keigo’s spine. 

 

He’d hurt him again.  

 

“I’m sorry.” Keigo tripped over Shouta’s leg as he tried to force some distance between the two. The words tumbled and smashed into each other in a slurred, messy mantra. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry .” 

 

“Keigo, it's fine. Just–” 

 

“NO!” The word was screeched. Keigo reached up and pulled on his hair, not enough to rip it out but enough to hurt. “No! It’s not! It’s not fine! I hurt you!”

 

“And I forgive you . This is far from the first time I’ve been stabbed. I’ll be okay.” 

 

Keigo’s knees gave out and he fell down. He crossed his arms, trying to hold back the wave of emotions threatening to burst out of his chest. He wasn’t fully successful as the wave started rushing down his face from his eyes. 

 

“I scared Izuku. I scared my brother. He never wants to see me again.” 

 

“I’ve scared Izuku multiple times. It is easy to do right now, Keigo. He is also very forgiving and he loves you.” Shouta took a few gasping breaths. “He will want to see you again. I promise.” 

 

The reminder of why Keigo had been trying to cut ties with Shouta felt like a plank of wood hitting the back of his head. Glaring at the pale sweating underground hero, Keigo growled. Shouta’s eyelids flickered back open as he shot Keigo a confused look.

 

“‘Scared him multiple times.’ What a weird way to explain away threatening a child.”

 

“What?” Shouta shifted like he was gonna try to stand only to groan, a hand reaching to press the scrap fabric around the injury. He panted, his eyes screwed closed. “What… are you talking about ?”

 

Keigo was confused. Shouta was genuinely shocked. Did… he not threaten Izuku?

 

“... Izuku said you told him that you were going to use his quirk? Like the HPSC did? Did that not happen?”

 

“S—. No, that never happened.” Shouta leaned his head back with a sigh before he mumbled half to himself. “How did he think… what did we do… I knew we should have had that chat earlier.” 

 

“What… do you mean?” Keigo started crawling back next to Shouta. He brought his knees up to his chest before wrapping one wing around him and placing the other gently over Shouta’s legs. He was careful this time to avoid the quill sticking out of his dad’s torso.

 

“It had become increasingly clear that Izuku has more than a few misconceptions regarding his rescue. He seemed to be doing relatively well and I don’t think any of us wanted to bring up anything that might be painful for him so we let it… fester. This is probably one of those ideas.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

“Yeah.” Shouta absentmindedly started to run his fingers through the feathers. “What did he tell you exactly?”

 

Thinking back Keigo realized… that Izuku really hadn’t said much. He’d kind of taken a few dots and connected them in a panic. “Uh. Only that the two of you were going to use his quirk. I– might have, maybe added, um… embellishments?” 

 

“G-d, we all need to learn how to talk to each other.” Shouta let out a small huffed laugh before he groaned, curling slightly around the stab wound. Keigo reached out to hold him still. 

 

“Talking would be good. Probably would lead to less stabbings.” 

 

A full barked out laugh shook Shouta. It must have hurt as he started panting harder curse words peppered between the fast breaths. Keigo awkwardly just helped hold him still against the old stove. Maybe it was bad timing for a joke. 

 

“You can’t make me laugh.” Shouta’s half feral grin glinted in the moonlight. “At least wait til I’m un-stabbed .” 

 

“I don't think that's a word.” Keigo cracked a small smile. “Aren’t you a teacher?” 

 

That made Shouta snort. “You’re killing me here, kid.” 

 

Keigo sat his head down on his knees and closed his eyes. His humor was like an hourglass and he’d finally run out of sand, and didn’t have the energy to flip it back over. 

 

“Keigo, you didn’t kill me, I’m not going to die.” His voice was soft, his free hand started preening the small section of wing it could reach. 

 

“Yeah. I guess.” Keigo shrugged.

 

“I for one would be down for less future stabbings, so talk to me, kid.” Keigo glared over the edge of the wing, Shouta was clearly holding back a laugh. “Sorry, too soon?” 

 

“I started it so it’s fine, I guess…” Keigo tailed off with a shrug. 

 

He wanted to talk to Shouta. He remembered how nice it had felt after Izuku and Present Mic had cornered the two of them on the rooftop. Instead of having to try to play 4D chess to read minds and tiny facial and tonal cues, Keigo was just able to… ask and have his dad explain himself. It was terrifying , but a large part of Keigo really wanted that clarity. He was exhausted and unmistakably kept reading the situations all wrong. 

 

“So.” He started, his heart pounding in his chest. “You didn’t threaten Izuku?”

 

“No, I didn’t. And before you ask, no one else did either.” 

 

“Did you… ignore him?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Keigo bristled. “So that’s a yes.” 

 

“No,” Shouta spoke clearly even though the words were tinged with pain. “It means I want clarification as to what you mean by ignore him.” 

 

“I smelled alcohol.” 

 

Shouta’s face twisted into an unreadable expression. “ That was a mistake, one that I won’t be repeating.” 

 

“That’s what my mom said after a bender too. But a few days later I would be left alone and ignored after she got her hands on something new.” 

 

“You can ask Hizashi, up until yesterday I’d avoided drinking for five years.” 

 

“Any other drugs?”

 

“No. I do smoke, but very recently I’ve started to try to quit that too.” 

 

Keigo squinted at him. He wasn’t lying. He felt all the muscles in his shoulders relax. That was bothering him more than he wanted to admit.

 

“You and Mic aren’t planning on using Izuku?”

 

“No. Absolutely not. If it was up to me the kid would never have to access his quirk again. I don’t want him to be in pain.” 

 

“Okay, good. Um. What… what about me?” He couldn’t look at Shouta as he whispered out the question. 

 

“No, Keigo. We don’t want to use anyone.” There was a pause. “What exactly are you worried about with us using you?”

 

Keigo scratched at his cheek. He thought it was pretty obvious what they might want from him, but maybe Shouta was just as confused as Keigo was about everything that was happening. It felt like they were living in a different world with different rules and were finally sitting down and learning each other's cultural customs instead of just stepping on each other's toes. 

 

“All the UA heroes have been so helpful and… kind to me and Izuku. And I haven’t been able to help at all with the case. And I just…” Keigo ran a hand through his hair. The echo of Shouta’s voice in his own mind saying ‘gentle’ was the only thing that kept his fingers from curling up and pulling. “I just don’t know what you are going to end up forcing me to do when I have to pay it back. And that is… I was trained to be a honed knife for the Commission… If asked I can be deadly… You should know that first hand.” 

 

“I want you to know that what you are worried about would never happen. We are doing this to help you, not for you to be in our debt. We are heroes, it’s what we do. No strings attached.” 

 

“That's for civilians. The people.” Keigo waved a hand to the side at the hypothetical ‘others’. “Not heroes. Not… me.” 

 

“You deserve help. Everyone does when they need it”

 

“Sure, people deserve help.” he shrugged.

 

“You’re a person, Keigo.” 

 

Keigo didn’t know how Shouta got to the crux of the issue so quickly. 

 

“Am I?” He whispered the question like it was a horrible secret. 

 

“Of course you are. You are a person, Keigo.” Shouta tried to reach out to put a hand on Keigo’s head. It must have shifted just enough to hurt as he made a horrible groaning gurgle in the back of his throat. His pained expression wavered as Keigo’s eyes filled with tears. 

 

“I’m not Keigo. Not really.” 

 

“Who… are you then?” His teeth were clenched as his words were said between pained gasps. 

 

“I’m Hawks, the Commission’s pet . Keigo died the moment my mom sold me to the Commission. Maybe even when Endeavor sent my father to jail. I don’t know.” His chest spasmed with a sob. “You know I forgot about my own name for a while? I snuck into the archives when I was sixteen. I was curious what they’d saved from my childhood. I saw some agents swapping embarrassing childhood photos in the cafeteria. I– I wanted to see if I had any. Found the file labeled ‘Hawks – Childhood Development’. Saw my birth name under my photo. Takami Keigo. I realized I’d forgotten only after I saw it. I wrote it on the bottom of my foot for a month to help me remember it, until I was found out. Never forgot it again though.” 

 

Keigo gripped his hair and laughed hysterically. “Actually, I think in the past ten minutes I’ve been called that name more than I have in the past ten years with the Commission. I only told you and Izuku it on a whim. It felt right at the time, but Keigo is less of a person then Hawks is. And Hawks is just a hero persona covering the dangerous creature inside of me. I haven’t been able to be Keigo as much… but I don’t think I like him.” 

 

“I like you Keigo.” 

 

He flicked his eyes up and made eye contact in the intense way that his handlers and tutors told him was creepy and unhero-like. Shouta didn’t flinch, and his face was sad but honest. 

 

“You might not believe me yet, but I do.” Shouta smiled at him. “And I know from personal experience that it can be hard, but you can learn to like yourself too.” 

 

Keigo just sniffed and pawed at his face. He thought that sounded too good to be true, but he’d be willing to try. He nodded.

 

“Okay.” 

 

“Good.” Shouta let his head fall back again, and he closed his eyes. The gasping short breaths came even quicker. The sweat on his face started rolling down the side of his pale face. Keigo was getting nervous, but unless he wanted to throw dirty trash on the injury there wasn’t much he could do. 

 

From a distance Keigo could hear the unique sound of Present Mic’s car. He was clearly speeding. Looking back at Shouta and seeing how unwell he looked, that was probably a good thing. 

 

“Mic is almost here. I hear his car.” 

 

Eyelids fluttering open, Shouta groaned. “I should probably call him to give him a heads up about… this.” He gestured at his very much stabbed torso. “Grab my phone for me?” He pointed to his pocket. 

 

Keigo chittered as he gently slid the phone out of his dad’s pocket. He really didn’t want to hurt him again. 

 

Shouta smiled as he used a shaky hand to grab the phone and to call Mic. The phone barely finished one ring when Mic picked up.

 

“I am parking right now. What’s wrong?” 

 

“I’m fine, but–” 

 

“How much blood?” The sound of a door slamming came over the receiver. 

 

“I didn’t say–” 

 

“You didn’t have to. How much?” 

 

Keigo could hear the loud pounding footsteps over the phone and also slowly at the edge of his hearing. He was running, likely close to full tilt from the fast staccato beat. 

 

“Uhh.” Shouta moved the sweatshirt to look at the wound. Keigo let out a whimpering whistle. He hadn't been able to tell, but the dark fabric was totally saturated. Between the low light and the horrible smell keeping him from smelling the blood, he hadn’t noticed. Now all Keigo could smell was the metallic tang of blood and all he could focus on was the thick liquid turning the edges of Shouta’s hand almost black in the low light. 

 

“Not… much?” Shouta grimaced as he pressed the fabric back against the injury. 

 

“S—. Are you going to pass out?” 

 

The voice was close enough for Keigo to hear it. Mic must have hit the sand as Keigo couldn’t hear the running anymore, but his breathing was a little faster. 

 

“Mmm no. I got a good thirty minutes. It’s blocked up again so I’m fine.” 

 

“Did you try to re-stab yourself again? You know that doesn’t really work, it just means you were stabbed twice .” 

 

“Again?” Keigo quietly asked.

 

“More like the weapon is capable of switching between knife and not knife mode. And did in my guts.” 

 

“A feather then?” 

 

Shouta flicked his eyes to Keigo. “Yes, but we’ve talked it over. I’ve forgiven him, it was a big miscommunication.” 

 

Mic rounded the corner and gave out a sigh. He hung up and pocketed the phone. He hit the ground next to Shouta and pried the sweatshirt back to quickly check it. 

 

“At least you won't need another tetanus shot. I was a little worried it was some of the trash.” He turned to Keigo. “If we snap the feather, what will happen?” 

 

“Uh.” Keigo hadn’t been expecting an even toned question. Honestly he’d been bracing for yelling. Possibly quirked yelling. This was all making his head spin. “It’d get soft. I can't control broken feathers.”

 

“Okay. You feeling up to helping extract Shou from the stove? If not, that's okay.” 

 

Taking a moment to check in with himself… he realized he felt awful still. He was cold, everything hurt, throbbed or ached. He was sweating and was a little queasy. Keigo wasn’t sure he’d really be able to walk from how shaky he felt while sitting. But… Keigo flew the feathers he’d hidden around the alleyways around the beach. It didn’t take them long to move to surround the stove. 

 

“Yeah I can help.” 

 

“That will never not be cool.” Hizashi’s eyes sparkled a bit as he watched his feathers. Keigo felt himself flush at the complement. It was just his weird quirk. It wasn’t cool.

 

After a moment Mic blinked and turned back to Keigo. “So on three, I will hold Shouta and try to stabilize the feather. You pull back as smoothly you can. Sound good?”

 

Keigo nodded, a little excited. He’d caused this, and still felt terrible about it, but it made him feel like a hero again to fix it. He felt like a peer for the first time since arriving at UA. He finally felt like he was helping. 

 

Present Mic counted down and Shouta was removed from his pinned state with a long moan. After checking that Shouta hadn’t passed out, Mic reached over and started to sling one of Shouta’s arms over his shoulders. Keigo wharbled loudly, stopping Mic in his tracks. 

 

“Um, let me.” Keigo moved the feathers from the stove to cradle Shouta and raised him off the sand, making sure to keep from shifting his position. 

 

“Wow. That's so helpful.” Mic turned to Keigo and held a hand out to him. “You need help?”

 

“Uh… yes?”

 

Keigo took Present Mic’s hand tentatively. His smile was warm, as he helped Keigo to stand. It was weird, Keigo had just injured his partner, but he was easily reaching out to help. Flicking his eyes to look at Shouta, he only was met with another soft smile and a nod. He’d messed up, and instead of punishing him, he was getting help. It was so different from what he was used to.

 

This definitely wasn’t anything like the Commission. With their manipulations and harsh punishments.

 

It was different from the horrible home he’d been born into: neglectful and abusive.

 

Keigo wondered if this is what a family should be like.

 

As his arm was slung over Present Mic’s shoulders, Keigo felt something warm grow in his chest. 

 

“Let's go home.” Shouta mumbled. 

 

“Yeah,” Keigo smiled. “Let’s go home.”

Notes:

Triggers: mentions of child abuse/neglect, blood, vomiting, self harm (hair pulling, head slamming)

Alt title was: "What's a stabbing between family?" or "Tis but a flesh wound" but i didn't wanna spoil it ahahah
AND BEFORE ANYONE IS MAD ABOUT SHOUTA BEING STABBED I PROMISED THE BABIES BEING OKAY I MADE NO PROMISES ABOUT THE ADULTS BAHAHAHHAHA >:D
Also I needed everyone to just like... STOP and this was how it ended up happening which like. sucks.... but Shouta is my favorite punching bag :D sorry dude you are just damagable! <33333

Chapter 24: Izuku can help!

Notes:

HELOOOOOOO~~~~ I'm not dead I SWEAR
Is this chapter hecking long? yes! It is!!! (its about 10400 words give or take lol)
BUTTTTT this is Izuku's moment for clarification! Keigo got a second and now its babys turn! :D We love communication in this houseeee
As always thanks to @sassy_chemist <3 *shoots finger guns* you are da best beta and bestie I could ever ask forrrrrr <333

Also there are trigger warningsss like fairly serious ones so out of fear (and not wanting to spoil things for others) I beg to read the bottom notes if you got things you try to avoidddd

but without further ado ENJOYYYY

Everything seemed to be moving too fast for Izuku as he clung to Hizashi’s neck. Millions of questions bounced around in him and clogged his throat, keeping all of them from tumbling out. Why did Kei take him? Why did it look like Keigo was fighting Aizawa-san? Were the two of them going to be okay? Where was Hizashi taking him? Where even were they? Was this Dagobah beach? Had… the villains infiltrated UA? Was there someone with a hypnosis quirk that took Aizawa-san over and that’s why they were fighting? If a group did infiltrate UA, how did they do it?? UA was known for their crazy sophisticated security systems, so seriously how could anyone get in? If UA was compromised did that mean that it was time for Izuku to… go back?

 

Tears started to fall down his cheeks again. He was such a crybaby, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. This was all terrifying . It reminded him too much of that night. He shoved his cold, wet nose into Hizashi’s warm neck. The hero startled slightly, but instead of backing away or saying anything he cradled the back of Izuku’s head, pressing his head further into the warm neck. The action made Izuku feel safe. Protected even. The pressure in his voice shifted just enough to allow a few strained words past.

 

“Hizashi, I’m scared . ” 

 

The fingers on the back of his head started massaging slow circles. Izuku melted into the touch. 

 

“That’s okay. This is scary, but I’ve got you, okay? We’ll figure it all out, you’ll see.” 

 

“Kei-nii seemed really scared, too. And sick. Really sick.” 

 

Izuku kind of thought that undersold it. Keigo seemed to be completely losing it. He’d been hyperventilating, mumbling indecipherable plans, tripping all over the place, and when there was enough light, he looked flushed and Izuku could tell he was feverish. He also kept talking about people chasing them and trying to lose a tail, checking over his shoulder, clearly paranoid. Izuku checked too, but never saw anything except a few flashes of Aizawa–san in the distance as he followed them. 

 

It was kind of cool to have Eraserhead be one of the heroes keeping him safe, even though it would have been smarter for Keigo to slow down to let him be closer in case the villains caught up. Or if nothing else Keigo could have handed Izuku over to Aizawa-san when he started to really struggle to hold him up. Keigo really just needed to lay down and rest. Izuku understood that emergencies happened, but it was clear his brother was not well. He’d wanted to say something, to tell Keigo to stop and get help from the other heroes, but his words had dried up and found himself having to just go along for the ride.

 

“He did look pretty scared. Being scared is totally normal. I know he scared Shou and I by running off like that.” 

 

Izuku hummed in a questioning tone. He wasn’t ready to ask anything directly, but he was curious about that comment.

 

“When Shouta and I agreed to guardianship of you, we knew that Keigo would be a part of the package deal. Knowing the two of you took off was scary to us. As your guardians, we like to know where you are, so I’m glad we got the two of you back safe and sound so quickly.” 

 

Hizashi gave him a tight hug right as they got to the street. However, Izuku barely felt it. The static that usually only lived in his feet had spread everywhere. His face felt numb and tingly as he felt himself slowly drift away. Vaguely he heard Hizashi’s voice as he was delicately manhandled into the car. There was the click of the seatbelt.

 

“Little Listener? Izuku?” There was a pause. “ S—. Looks like you are dissociating again. It’s okay, kiddo. You’re safe. You’re okay. I’ve got you.” 

 

Izuku closed his eyes as fingers moved through his hair. The voice continued to talk. It washed over Izuku, it made him feel comfortable and safe. Instead of trying to focus, Izuku let himself lean back, falling deeper into the drift. The voice mixed with the rumbling of an engine, making a soothing lullaby. Needing a break wasn’t a bad thing and Izuku knew he needed one, and drifting was one that seemed to help.

 

He’d come back to earth, but just… later. 

 

Once things didn’t seem so overwhelming.

 

—

 

Izuku was cozy. A soft blanket was wrapped over his shoulders. The loose fabric pooled in his lap. He flipped his hands over to better grab at the plush fuzz. The sensations made his fingers tingle as he kneaded the soft folds. 

 

Taking a deep breath in through his nose, Izuku frowned, his nose scrunching slightly. The strong bite of antiseptics was unpleasant. Trying to hide from the smell, he ducked his head into his chest and used his chin and mouth to shift the fabric to cover his nose in a rudimentary mask. The clean smell of laundry detergent was much better and allowed him to relax. 

 

Feeling like a computer booting up, Izuku rapidly blinked up at the bright overhead lights. Slowly, the neurons in his brain started firing as the infirmary came into focus. Midnight was seated next to him. She was looking at the far wall with a pinched expression. Izuku reached a hand over the wheelchair’s armrest to pat her thigh. It must have startled her as she jolted upright. 

 

Oops. He had just wanted to comfort her. 

 

Midnight centered herself quickly and turned to focus on him. He watched as her mouth moved. The friendly expression slid into a worried one again. Izuku wished he could follow what she was saying, maybe then he could help her not be so upset. 

 

She smiled as she fussed with the blanket wrapped around him. Izuku smiled back. Something to maybe show his gratitude. 

 

The red stained lips once again moved before she stood and walked away. The smile must not have been enough gratitude. Clumsily, Izuku tightened the blanket around his shoulders. He suddenly felt really cold. 

 

He blinked and an unwrapped yellow hard candy was being held up in front of his face. Manipulating his arm felt like puppeteering a marionette with half the strings tangled, but after a few tries he was able to grab the candy and pop it in his mouth. 

 

Only to immediately regret it. 

 

The candy had to have been a lemon bomb . Izuku felt his face twist almost to a painful degree. After a moment he was able to open his mouth just enough to slide his tongue and the sour ball out. The sour abomination rolled off his tongue and he heard it patter and roll across the floor. 

 

A bell-like laugh made him pout, which only made the laughing louder. A hand with long nails combed wavy lines over his scalp. He shivered; it felt really nice. The laughter was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing. 

 

Midnight took a few steps away to answer the phone. Izuku made sure to focus on the words. He was curious and it wasn’t really eavesdropping if they were only maybe two meters away. 

 

“Hey, you got Keigo?” 

 

Izuku perked up at his brother’s name. Maybe they would bring Keigo here! Izuku would like that. 

 

“What do you mean he’d been stabbed?! How!?” Midnight’s voice sounded agitated. 

 

Oh. Keigo got stabbed. A distant wash of nerves licked at his heels. Izuku needed to see Keigo so he could fix it. 

 

“Tell him I'm glad he is not dying. ” Pushing her glasses up her forehead she pinched the bridge of her nose. “G-d, this is a mess. And yes, we will have the infirmary prepped.” 

 

She paused to listen to the other side of the phone call. Izuku wished he could hear the other side, but it was just quiet enough he couldn’t hear the words. But from the tone, it sounded like Hizashi. Izuku hoped he was okay. Midnight walked over to him and ran a hand over his head. He blinked up at her as she looked at him with an expression he couldn’t quite identify. But it didn’t seem like an upset or angry face, so Izuku figured she was probably fine. 

 

“He still seems pretty out of it, but I can move him into a neighboring room. We wouldn’t want another idiot not telling us they were going septic.” 

 

Neighboring room . 

 

The words rang in his mind. Izuku was frozen, trapped in his own body as he was wheeled from behind. He wanted to cry, to kick, to scream, but instead he sat frozen. He knew what was coming but was unable to do anything about it. 

 

He wasn’t ready. No one asked for his permission, his consent. There were no nice doctors explaining the planned procedures. He didn’t know what was expected, what was going to happen to him. 

 

Even in an emergency, they’d tell him which one of the pre-planned actions they wanted him to do to himself. Not knowing what Aizawa-san and Hizashi were going to do to him was terrifying. He needed to help Keigo though. He… he could be brave. 

 

His brother got stabbed so he could do this. 

 

He had to. 

 

Whatever happened, he could bear it. Afterwards, he’d try to bring up the rules and safeties that the HPSC followed. It was possible the heroes just didn’t know how this all was supposed to go. Izuku had never seen any of the binders of his quirk testing history here, so they just didn’t know.

 

And that was okay. Really. 

 

Izuku could teach them. He’d helped the Commission with their own learning curve on how to best use his quirk and make it the best experience for everyone. He did it once. He could do it again. 

 

He could. 

 

Maybe like the Commission, if the heroes… overstep the first time round, Izuku would be less afraid of anyone touching him and he’d get better care like he had last time. He didn’t want another wonky leg. But after the Commission president had personally apologized to him, they were able to work together to allow Izuku to be a hero with plans and safeties to keep anything like that first time from happening again.

 

Which… hadn’t really worked. But it had for a long time before the last time, so maybe it only needed a few more tweaks to get perfect. Izuku was pretty sure that his new guardians would be more than willing to follow the plans and come up with better ways to keep him safe. They seemed to genuinely care for Izuku, and tried to make him happy and comfortable. It was really nice. 

 

They also had just saved him from the fight at the beach… he thought they did at least, it wasn’t really clear what happened. The only thing that made sense was that the villains got into UA, Keigo took him for safety with Aizawa-san as a partner in that effort, while the other heroes stayed back to deal with them. It was smart to send Hawks and Eraserhead together as they could complement each other well in fighting style, quirks, and just so many ways. It also didn't hurt that they were both in Izuku’s top five favorite heroes. It also explained why Hizashi came later, once things must have calmed down at UA to bring him back. 

 

Izuku was a little excited. If UA took all the villains out then… maybe he was finally safe? Maybe he could stay here at UA until his mom was not— Hopefully, Izuku got to stay here. He didn’t want to go back to the commission. He really liked going outside. He liked being friends with a bunch of cool heroes. And most importantly, he got to see his mom here. 

 

Soon, he really needed to gather the courage to ask his new hero-guardians if he was staying here at UA. Especially if they were able to get the villains that had taken him. He also probably needed to ask for clarification on all of today. He was pretty confused about that. And if Izuku asked it well, they might also explain… how his mom was in jail and not—

 

 He’d have to think about it. But he really, really needed to know some things. 

 

Questions were super hard though. The rules around questions always seemed fuzzy and confused Izuku. At the HPSC he learned that basically everyone would be okay with one or maybe two if they were clarifying what they were telling him. Mr Watanabe was… a little more confusing with his rules, but Izuku just never asked unless it was needed. Guardians had weird rules that made questions so hard. 

 

Mom was very pro question. She asked him for more on topics that she thought he had more on. There was no limit with her and if she got tired or didn’t know, she’d write them down for later. Izuku was pretty sure that was just because she was his mom. That was a parent's job, so the rules were way simpler. 

 

Keigo was easier to ask questions too. He was closer to his mom, wanting him to ask questions. But a lot of times Izuku’s questions regarding anything with the commission or current things, he got upset. He’d also dodge the questions. So Izuku just stopped asking anything that wasn’t just fun things or about heroics. 

 

The heroes were his guardians. But at times their rules seemed to be closer to his mom’s, or they seemed to maybe lean that way. Izuku just would ask what the rules were but adults lied about that sort of thing. And pushing it too much with guardians was never a good idea, so he had to do cautious trial and error. But so far, they’d been open to answering his questions. Izuku was pretty sure he could ask a few of the most pressing questions on his mind without too much trouble. 

 

At least he was pretty sure. If nothing else this would be a good time to test it out. 

 

Izuku focused back on Midnight, who was crouched in front of him again. She put both of her hands on his cheeks and smiled.

 

“Hey Kiddo, I don’t know how much you are hearing, but I’ve got to go help Shouta, okay?”

 

Izuku frowned. If it was Midnight and Aizawa-san doing the procedure then it would be less likely for Hizashi to be there. A stabbing shouldn’t be a big day type of procedure. Unless it was a lot worse then he’d been led to believe. He started to feel really lightheaded. 

 

If Hizashi wasn’t helping, blindfolds would be back on the table. No one else promised to not cover his eyes. Izuku forced his eyes wider like he could stockpile on seeing , but couldn’t actually make anything out through the wavering vision. 

 

Oh, he was crying.

 

“Shhh, it’s okay, Izuku. Breathe with me. Once we’re done I’ll bring you across the hall to see him. Shouta is just going to need a little kiss, okay? I’ll be able to show you everyone is fine. Just hold on for a little bit.” 

 

Breathing in time with the slow arcs that Midnight was making with her thumbs over his cheeks, Izuku felt himself calm down slowly. It was nice of her to give him an update on Aizawa-san being okay, as he was fighting on the beach and might have had possible close calls with the villains. But at the same time, all he really wanted was to know how Keigo was doing. 

 

You know. The one who was stabbed. 

 

But Izuku knew that he just had to work with what he was given and any information was better than none. He should be grateful to know this much. 

 

Vaguely looking at the door to the classroom, Izuku had a flash of concern send a spike through his chest. He’d crossed a whole hallway, and was a good two meters from the door. Recovery Girl also seemed fond of using the far beds, the ones closest to her office. The ones that were furthest from the door. 

 

Added all together, it was way further than even the deepest injuries could reach. By a pretty significant degree. 

 

Unless they… wanted to try a new method to almost triple the distance he usually could reach. Izuku… wasn’t really up to more experiments. The Commission had done lots of tests. And it felt like there was nothing that could possibly be left to try.

 

Izuku was an avid quirk analyst and information about quirks was always cool… 

 

He learned so much from those tests. Broken bones increased his range further than a knife stabbed to the same area. Damaging more areas of his skin would speed his healing, but infected wounds didn’t increase his quirk speed or area. Direct nerve stimulation was only half as effective as actual injuries, but left him feeling shaky and off for days afterwards. Pain medications also could decrease his quirk speed, but not the area of effect weirdly enough. When he was at the edge of what he could handle, Izuku could even stimulate stem cell growth in individuals. Meaning he could heal to ‘rejuvenation levels’. He didn’t really know what all that meant but the doctors seemed really excited and called him a hero, so it had to be a good thing.

 

…But he could have been happy not knowing all of those things. 

 

It was a bit of a relief when he learned that the more serious injuries like broken bones and stabbings took some of the speed away and put the energy towards expanding the area. So after that first time he saved All Might, he hadn’t had that sort of thing happen outside of testing. Izuku counted that as a win as they were way scarier and took longer to heal. 

 

Anxiety rushed through him. Did.. the heroes know all of this? Or would they have to learn just like the Commission had?

 

The image of a blank faced, cold eyed Aizawa-san standing over him with a baton made Izuku’s breath hitch. Next to him was Hizashi holding a thin knife up and an evil grin stretching his mouth unnaturally. He could feel the hard impacts all over this body as he covered his head. Izuku gasped as he heard the loud popping crack from his leg. After an eternity, the attack stopped. Exploring fingers gently danced over the broken leg, Izuku blinked in surprise. He had been expecting pain, but instead his fingers only felt the smooth plastic of the stabilizing cast. 

 

Izuku heaved a shuddering sigh as he collapsed back into the back of the wheelchair. It wasn’t real. He’d gone on a mental trip again. These daytime-nightmares were unpleasant, and he wished whatever Yokai that had decided to latch onto his dreams would stop chowing down. 

 

Or at least would leave Aizawa-san and Hizashi out of them. 

 

He liked them. 

 

Realizing it wasn’t real only made him feel a little more settled. His hands still shook and he felt a bit nauseous, but only time seemed to make the after trip problems better. Izuku bet that a hug would make it better too, because hugs make everything better, but that was maybe an experiment for another day. Maybe one he could do once he healed Keigo.

 

Which, thinking of that, he needed to figure out how to fix this. If his new guardians didn’t know it was too far, he’d just have to take things into his own hands. Mr. Watantabe always seemed almost pleased when Izuku would jump in and do the procedures on himself for the agents around him. The doctors would congratulate him on being proactive, too. 

 

All Might always said being proactive was a big part of hero work. It would make sense that heroes, and hero teachers at the best hero school in all of Japan, would also appreciate that trait. 

 

They might be expecting it. Maybe that’s why they hadn’t come to do the procedure yet. This was probably some sort of test. One that Izuku wasn’t planning on failing. He needed to help Keigo.

 

Izuku focused, only to realize that he was alone in the large classroom that he’d been wheeled to. Midnight must have left at some point while he was thinking. If this was a test, she was probably nearby to observe. He rolled his shoulders back as his chest filled with determination. 

 

Unburying his hands from the blanket, Izuku flopped his arms over the arms of the chair. It was a bit cumbersome and awkward to reach the wheels as the chair was a touch too big, but he could do this. He wanted to prove he could be a hero.

 

Glancing up at the camera in the corner of the room, Izuku nodded at it. Someone was sure to be watching since this was a test. That also explained why Keigo was acting so strangely about the cameras before he ran off. Keigo had been in on it, but was clueing him into the fact this was all a test. Which was nice of him. 

 

It also explained why Keigo and Aizawa-san were fighting each other. There was no reason to make others get involved in a test. Hizashi not being involved in the procedure also made sense. He’d told Keigo that Hizashi didn’t make him nervous. It was a test about facing his fears, a thing that heroes needed to do. That's why he was sorta kidnapped, watched as two of his people fought each other, his brother was injured, and the looming threat of blindfolds and procedures being done by the guardians, all things that made him more nervous. 

 

It was a test of courage. 

 

Izuku grinned. He could show these heroes what he was made of! He could be a hero that faced his fears head on! 

 

He was practically already a hero now, and was fairly well versed in facing his fears. He had an alias too. He didn’t love the name Panacea , it was long and sounded kinda stuck up.  Healers were also called the heroes of heroes. Izuku had been told he basically single-handedly kept All Might on the streets since healing him that first time. Also all the larger procedures for ‘upkeep’ were supposedly helpful to the number one hero.

 

If Izuku could do all that to keep All Might on active duty, then he could heal a small stab wound for his brother. It was the least he could do for him. 

 

Pushing the door open, Izuku struggled to juggle the door, pushing the wheelchair, and keeping the blanket from falling into the wheels. Frustration flashed through Izuku. He held the wheels as tight as he could, and kicked the door with his good leg. It was hard enough for the door to slam open and crash into the wall. The slow arc of its closing was just enough time for Izuku to slip out of the room and into the hall. The infirmary door slid open from the side and just stayed open.

 

Izuku wished all doors were like that. It was much easier. 

 

Quietly, Izuku rolled himself into the infirmary and parked himself right next to the privacy curtain. He hoped that he would be close enough, but it wasn’t like he could get closer so he’d just have to listen to see if he’d need to change from procedure plan two to maybe three or five? Izuku was hoping he could just stick with two though. It was his favorite. 

 

“Well, lucky for you, from the scans it looks like somehow most of your major organs were missed. There seems to be a small nick in your small intestine, but once I clean it, you should be fine. But you will be taking a round of antibiotics.” 

 

Izuku felt himself relax at Recovery Girl’s words. Keigo is going to be fine. There were lots of important organs in the gut. Not only did Recovery Girl sound pretty sure he’d be okay, but he had a decent history healing that sort of wound so it would for sure be fine. Sliding his hand into his hoodie pocket, he wrapped his fingers around the shaft of the feather. Carefully he slid it out, making sure the razor sharp edges didn’t cut the fabric. 

 

Looking at the crimson feather, Izuku smiled. It was nice that the feather would be used to heal instead of to hurt. Even if it would have been only in self defense, this was a much better use of the gift from his brother. It was going to be a tool to help Keigo, so it was perfect!

 

Shimmying out from under the blanket and hoodie, Izuku frowned. He now had access to his deeply scarred arms. His eyes traced the looping purple-red scars that crossed over the numerous thin white lines that ran up and down his arm. He wasn’t really sure how he felt about how his arms looked, so he usually avoided looking at them. It was impossible to avoid looking at them now though. He took a breath and moved the feather knife to rest on his skin. He took a deep breath. 

 

“Now that the scans are done, are we ready to take it out now?” Hizashi’s voice was serious in a way Izuku had never really heard. It was jarring. He almost didn’t recognize it. “He’s losing a decent amount of blood.”

 

He paused, the feather knife held to his skin, but not yet drawing blood. If the knife or whatever that was stabbing Keigo was still in him, then Izuku’s quirk would probably make it worse. There was a reason that he was always asked to wait before he was sent in to heal the heroes, agents, or whoever. They needed to be ‘prepped’. 

 

Sweat beaded on Izuku’s brow as his hands started to tremble around the quill of the feather. He hated having to wait like this. It was so much easier to just start right away, rip it off like a band-aid. But he could do it for Keigo; he’d done it before. The silently mouthed mantra of “it hurts to heal” helped with some of the nerves. All he needed now was some sort of signal that Keigo was good to go and that Izuku could start. 

 

“Yes. Nemuri, be ready with the gauze. Hizashi, hold him down. Even with the local anesthetic, this will likely hurt. Shouta, are you ready?”

 

Izuku took a deep breath through his nose and bit his lip like a mock biting stick. He was also ready. Aizawa-san grunted. There was then a wet slurping sound followed by a low pained moan. 

 

Before he could chicken out, he dragged the knife against his skin. Before the sting could even register, he’d already started the next slash just half a centimeter from the last one. He let out a slow breath, mentally counting to five like he’d been taught. The red lines grew in number as he repeated the breathing pattern a few more times. At some point his mouth filled with the taste of iron. He kinda missed his soft bite stick, his lip was a bad substitute. 

 

Maybe he could ask Hizashi for one for his birthday? That was a good ways off, but Hizashi felt like a big birthday celebration kind of guy and would probably be excited to get him a gift. 

 

Finishing the line of cuts, Izuku dropped the knife onto the now blood covered blanket in his lap. He dug his fingers into the cuts. He let out a quiet hiss as tears flooded his eyes.

 

“What was that?”

 

It was Keigo.

 

Izuku pressed the blood covered hand over his mouth. He needed to be quiet. That was a rule. Only sleeping patients gave him the luxury of sound. And clearly, Keigo was still awake. 

 

Enough time passed that Izuku thought that he’d gotten away with it. He reached to grab the knife to do another row just in case, but was interrupted by the curtain being pulled back with a loud swoosh. 

 

Keigo stood where the curtain had been, right in front of Izuku. His gold eyes widened as they filled to the brim with horror. Izuku blinked and Keigo’s hands gripped the blanket tightly over his bleeding arm. He hadn’t even seen his brother lunge, but it had added momentum enough for Izuku to be pushed away from the now half open curtain. 

 

No words came out of Keigo’s mouth, but it looked like he wanted to say something. After a few seconds, a long, distressed hawk call finally came out. It was piercing and shrill. Izuku… didn’t like it very much. It was kinda terrifying, like there was something wrong. 

 

His brother squatted in front of him as his sharp gaze flicked all over Izuku. Izuku’s green eyes returned the favor, checking his brother as he was just healed. Keigo… didn’t look great. He was pale and sweaty and his cheeks were flushed but it didn’t… look like he was stabbed. 

 

From the way that he was moving, his stomach wasn’t even tender? That couldn’t be right. This wasn’t a big procedure, it was a small one. He should still be a little tender. His quirk was fast, but it wasn’t that fast. Keigo shouldn’t be up and moving like nothing was wrong with his guts. 

 

… maybe nothing was wrong with his guts? But… what ?

 

Was this part of the test? Was it all fake?

 

And if it was all fake, why was Keigo so obviously upset? Using his quirk was a good thing. He hurt to heal people. When Izuku used it, it made him a hero. He didn’t understand. He must have missed something. Some clue as to what he was supposed to do. Maybe they wanted him to do plan three or five and not plan two? Either way, as Keigo continued to visibly panic, Izuku had the sinking feeling that he’d messed up somehow. 

 

He hoped his guardians weren’t super into punishments. He liked the offer of constant bathroom access and all the warm yummy meals he got. Izuku froze. They’d probably take his outside access away. Izuku felt a stone lodge in his throat. He didn’t want to be trapped inside again. He really, really didn’t want that. 

 

“Keigo? What is it?” Aizawa-san’s strained voice came from behind the curtain, just out of view. 

 

Izuku shook his head. He’d messed up somewhere and maybe Keigo could help fix it, give him a clue. But if he ratted him out right now, then his guardians would know that he’d failed and there would be no chance for him to fix it. 

 

There would be no way he’d keep his outdoor privileges. 

 

Keigo had never ratted him out to Mr Watanabe about his vent adventures, so Izuku was pretty confident that he wouldn’t do it here. His brother's face twisted before he let out a croaking, warbling sound that after a beat, Izuku realized was words.

 

“It’s Izuku, he’s hurt. ” 

 

There was a grunt and then a dull thud. 

 

“Lay down, Shouta.” Recovery Girl growled out. “I’m not done.” 

 

The curtain slid the rest of the way open as Midnight opened it. Leaning, Izuku could see the pale face of Aizawa-san as he weakly struggled under Hizashi’s arms. Hizashi’s back was to him and the long golden hair was braided. The thin rope of hair was swishing as he struggled to hold his husband down. 

 

“Shou, if you bleed out and die because you are an idiot, I will pee on your f—ing grave . Stop. Struggling.” Hizashi hissed out right into his face. Aizawa-san stopped struggling, and slumped into the bed. It allowed Hizashi to press down onto his stomach, which made the man groan in pain.

 

Izuku swallowed, Hizashi was scary. Maybe… he would have to reevaluate his ‘who makes him nervous’ list.

 

Midnight crouched next to Izuku, pulling him from the scene in front of him. She had a tight smile and a worried wrinkle between her brows. Her voice was soft and calming, just like it had been last night. “Hey, kiddo, let's clean you up, hmm?” 

 

Gently, she used a wet wipe to clean off his bloody face. The smell of rubbing alcohol filled his nose. As she ran the towelette across his split bottom lip, he flinched back a little.

 

“Sorry, it probably stings.” 

 

He nodded. In the background, Izuku heard fast whispers and muttering mixed with some pained noises from Aizawa-san. But between Keigo’s nervous chittering and the low soothing babbling from Midnight, he couldn’t really tell what was going on. Izuku wanted to know what was going on, and it seemed that whatever was happening with Aizawa-san, Hizashi, and Recovery Girl was important. He tried to peek up and over the two crouched heroes, but Midnight only walked back to the curtain to close it once again, blocking his view. 

 

“We don’t need you seeing all that, Izuku.” He scowled at her as she grabbed a new wipe and finished cleaning his face. She winked at Izuku with a smirk. “Shouta is a fighter. He’ll be up and back to his normal idiot self in no time, you’ll see.” Midnight said the last part a little louder as she pointed her head towards the curtain. 

 

“I heard that.” Aizawa-san called back.

 

“Oh my g-d, Shou,” Hizashi groaned. “I love you, but shut up and stop moving. ” 

 

“Hey, Izuku.” He looked at Midnight again. She had a reassuring smile on her face. “Keigo here is doing a great job covering your hurt arm. But I need to look at it to see if it needs stitches or not. So I want you to look away, we don't need you to see it. Okay?” 

 

“I can look just fine, it’s just cut up. Nothing major.” Izuku was confused. He hadn’t even gotten to the other arm, and he’d seen his arms and legs in much worse conditions; some simple cuts wouldn’t be hard to look at. He didn’t understand why she was reacting this way. Was this… also part of the test? He was really confused about what this test could possibly be about if it was. Nothing was really making any sense anymore. 

 

“Shouta’s done,” Recovery Girl called out. “Wheel Izuku over.” 

 

“Oh good.” Midnight stood and walked around to the back of the chair to push it. “Recovery Girl is much better at this sort of stuff then I am. You’re gonna get all healed up by the Pro. ”

 

Izuku was pushed around the curtain. Keigo’s grip was almost as painful as he awkwardly shuffled and sidestepped alongside him. Jumping down from her stool, Recovery Girl met him as he was parked next to Aizawa-san’s bedside. 

 

Aizawa-san looked pale and absolutely exhausted, thick bandages wrapped around his torso. His eyes were soft as Izuku made eye contact, which was nice. Next to him was Hizashi, who also looked exhausted. There was a lot of anger in his eyes as he stared at the window. Izuku… didn’t really like that. The feelings of unease and fear tripled as that angry gaze was leveled at Izuku. The expression softened, but the stiff way he smiled made it clear that Hizashi was still upset at him. 

 

He must have really failed this test. He didn’t know how, but he messed up big time. Izuku needed to figure out what he did that was wrong ASAP so he’d never get this reaction again. He hated it. 

 

“Izuku, I’m going to look at your arm. Is that okay?” Recovery Girl asked. 

 

Izuku nodded as he excitedly started to rub his feet together. If he was lucky maybe he’d get to see Recovery Girl’s quirk in action! He hated that he wouldn’t be able to go outside because he failed, but maybe this might be worth it?

 

It wasn’t, but sometimes Izuku had to look on the bright side. Things got… heavy… if he didn’t. 

 

Recovery Girl turned to Keigo. “I need you to let go now.”

 

“I can’t, ” Keigo growled out. 

 

The grip around Izuku’s arm tightened. He let out a whimper. His brother’s nails were digging into the blanket and more importantly his arm. It kind of hurt. 

 

“Keigo, you need to let go.” Aizawa-san’s voice was calm but firm. “You are hurting him.” 

 

“I know! But I can’t. ” His gold eyes filled with unshed tears.

 

“We can’t heal him if you don’t–” Aizawa-san was cut off by Keigo yelling.

 

“I can’t let go!! I can’t!! It’s a stupid f—ing stress grip!! What’s so hard to understand about that, Dad? !” 

 

Everyone in the room froze. Izuku was pretty sure Keigo even stopped breathing. 

 

“Keigo–” Aizawa-san breathed out.

 

“F—.” Keigo cursed and dropped Izuku’s bleeding arm like it was a hot coal. A strange look flashed across his face as he looked down at his slightly bloody hands. “ F—. Forget– forget I said that.” 

 

With that he darted out of the room. Hizashi sighed and followed him. 

 

“I’ll make sure he’s okay.” 

 

“He called me Dad?” Aizawa-san whispered to himself.

 

“Yup. You’re a Daddy now, Shouta.” Midnight grinned. She turned to Recovery Girl. “Do you need anything?” 

 

“No.” She finished blotting the cuts. “None of these are deep enough to warrant stitches. The bandages and antibiotic cream I have here should be enough.” She looked up to look Izuku in the eyes. “Hurting yourself isn’t healthy, but I’m glad you didn’t hurt yourself worse. You could seriously injure yourself doing this, sonny.” 

 

Izuku nodded as she finished bandaging up his arm. He knew it could be really bad. He had to be taught the best ways to make sure not to cut too deep. He’d had to practice, but now it was second nature. 

 

He sniffed as his eyes welled up. Izuku felt like he was in a movie that everyone else knew the plot and the script, but he wasn’t even clear about what the genre was. He was so confused and it was terrifying and he just wanted things to calm down. 

 

He wanted to understand.  

 

“I don't understand,” Izuku mumbled, looking up at his guardian through wet eyelashes.

 

“What do you not understand, Izuku?”

 

“ Everything .” A sob forced its way out of his throat, rattling his whole chest. Recovery Girl started rubbing a soothing circle into his back. 

 

“Hey, Kiddo?” Izuku’s view of Aizawa-san was wavey and warped through tears. “Can I– Well, I want to give you a hug, do you want one?”

 

A hug sounded amazing. And Izuku knew now that Aizawa-san gave great hugs. He nodded like he was a bobble head and reached his arms up towards the man. He made grabby hands and whined. 

 

He could probably walk, but the last few times it had been so painful he really didn’t want to. He also already felt dizzy, and the idea of standing up sounded like a bad one. He let out a sob as he realized to get his hug he’d have to as Aizawa-san was just stabbed. 

 

Why hadn’t anyone told him it wasn’t Keigo, but Aizawa-san? 

 

Strong arms moved to pick Izuku up and his vision grayed and the room spun at the sudden movement. He tucked himself close to the person holding him and smelled the strong lavender and chamomile smell that followed Midnight. Izuku was pretty sure it was her quirk. He sniffed and muffled his sobs into her shoulder. After only a few steps he was gently placed onto the bed.

 

Different strong arms pulled him close into a firm hug. 

 

Izuku felt himself break. Snot and tears mixed onto Aizawa-san’s bare chest. Whimpers and keening gasps filled the room as he was rocked back and forth. Everyonce and a while his guardian’s low voice would rumble through his chest, like a cat’s purr. It felt nice. He felt safe like this. 

 

It took a few minutes for Izuku to calm down, but even after he did, Aizawa-san didn’t fully stop holding him. Instead he shifted so Izuku could sort of be propped up on the shared pillow in a loose hold. 

 

“Are you feeling better?” Aizawa-san asked.

 

Izuku shrugged. He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t feel like he needed to cry anymore. 

 

“It's okay to not know. And Izuku, I’ve wanted to sit down and chat with you for a little while to explain some things to you. I’m sorry that it took this long to do so. I’m sure everything is really confusing to you right now.” 

 

“It… it is.” Izuku reached up and rubbed his eyes with the edge of his palm. “Nothing makes any sense.” 

 

“I can imagine. Let's start with one thing. You can ask about as many things as you need until you understand, okay? I’ll be here all night if we have to.” 

 

Izuku nodded. He hoped that was the truth, but adults lied about asking and answering questions. He’d risk it this time because he really needed to know what was going on. 

 

“I failed the test.” 

 

“What… test?” Aizawa-san sounded as confused as Izuku felt. He kinda felt bad about it as being confused wasn’t fun.

 

“The test of facing fears, I– I think.” 

 

“There is no test. We aren't testing you Izuku, we just want you happy.” 

 

“Oh.” That didn’t clear things up at all. “There was no test.” 

 

“You are correct, there was no test.” 

 

“You are upset. I thought it was because I failed the test.” 

 

“I'm not upset, I'm worried. And concerned that you felt you needed to do that. Which you didn't have to. Even if Recovery Girl couldn't heal me, I can heal naturally, or go to a hospital. I don't like seeing you hurt. None of us do.” 

 

That was weird. Izuku was right here, and his quirk didn’t put a drain on anyone, unlike Recovery Girl’s. But it sounded like he wasn’t… supposed to help? What type of hero would he be if he just stood back and watched Aizawa-san be stabbed and not help? Why are they rewriting that rule? That was the most clear and straightforward rule that he’d been given.

 

“But it has to hurt to heal.” 

 

“No, kiddo. It doesn't.” Aizawa-san shook his head and looked sad.

 

“ It has to hurt to heal.” Maybe saying it a second time would help him understand.

 

“To access your quirk it does, but we have other options. Better ones. And you're a child. It isn't up to you to fix us.” 

 

He wasn’t getting it, but Izuku didn’t know how to make it more clear. “It has to hurt to heal. I have to hurt to be a hero.”

 

Aizawa-san’s bloodshot eyes searched Izuku. It made him squirm a little bit, but it wasn’t scary as his eyes were still filled with worried affection.

 

“Did the commission tell you that?”

 

Izuku nodded.

 

“Izuku, I want you to listen to me. They were wrong. You could never use your quirk again and still be a hero. There are lots of heroic acts that don't need quirks.” 

 

“Pro heroes need quirks.” 

 

“They… usually do use their quirks in their hero work, but it's just one of the many skills they hone to help others. A highly skilled quirkless person could be a hero. They might be a little more limited in the types of heroics they could do, but quirks aren't a requirement for heroics. Even if they are incredibly helpful.” He paused, his face softening as he ran a hand through Izuku's hair. “But, kiddo, you aren't a pro hero. There are tests and exams to get licenses before you can get there.” 

 

“There is a test in the future, then. UA is a hero school. I’m here to become a hero.”  

 

That made sense as to why he’d be transferred over to UA. He wished that the heroes would teach him how to be a hero instead of just throwing him in situations hoping he’d be a good hero. He wasn’t really trained in that, and clearly what he was trained in wasn’t what they were hoping for. 

 

“No. You’re here to stay safe. You could apply to come to UA if you decide one day to become a pro-hero, but we haven't tested you, and won't. It would be a crime to test and license anyone under fifteen. And anyone under eighteen is provisional and has more restrictions. You're eleven.”

 

Huh. Well that ruined that theory. He didn’t understand what changed to get him out of the facility and to UA. Izuku was kind of glad that there weren’t any tests that he had to watch out for. At least until he was fifteen. It didn’t explain why everyone was so upset earlier though. 

 

“Did the commission test you? Did they give you a license?”

 

“There were lots of tests. No license, but I was given a hero name.” 

 

“What type of tests? And would you mind telling me the name they gave you?” 

 

“Panacea and mainly quirk tests. To figure out how my quirk worked.” 

 

Aizawa-san nodded at the information. He absentmindedly started to comb his hand through Izuku’s hair again. Izuku leaned into his hand. It felt really good. 

 

“How did they test your quirk, Izuku?” 

 

“They would injure me in different ways and see how fast or how far away injured agents would heal.”

 

”They never should have done that.” Aizawa-san’s words were clipped and sharp even though they were even. His mom sometimes sounded like that when she was upset but trying to hide it. 

 

“I agreed to it. I consented. So it’s fine.” Izuku started to rub his feet together to try to get the buzzing feeling in them to calm down. It didn’t really work.

 

“Did you honestly feel like you could say no?” 

 

“I–” Izuku swallowed. “I did say no to some things. Like– like blindfolds.”

 

Izuku made sure to bring that up now. Maybe he could convince Aizawa-san to not use them, or the pepper spray. Izuku was pretty sure he’d be able to keep from flinching too bad, so they weren't needed.

 

“I'm proud of you for saying no, I'm sure that was scary. I want you to know you can always tell me, Hizashi, or anyone no and they will respect it here. If anyone doesn’t please tell me right away. Okay?” Aizawa-san paused long enough to see Izuku softly nod. He could follow that rule. It was pretty easy, at least in theory. “Did they respect you saying no? Or did they try to convince you to do it anyway?” 

 

“I–” Izuku's eyes filled with tears. “They still sometimes used it, but mainly did agree to stop, only using it when it was really needed and that was only a few times afterwards. They switched to p-pepper spray so I couldn't see and flinch back. So they respected it, I guess. 

 

“Oh, g-d,” Aizawa-san mumbled to himself as he ran a hand over his face.

 

“I’m sorry, we can change the subject.” Izuku curled up. He didn’t mean to upset him. Aizawa-san seemed to be weird about his quirk and the commission. Just like Keigo was. Maybe avoiding those topics would be better? But Aizawa-san seemed dead set on talking about all this. Izuku thought it was strange that he wanted to focus on the things that made him so upset. It was better to avoid them.

 

“No, no Izuku, this is… good.” Aizawa-san cringed at the word choice. “I uh– mean it is good that you are telling me these things. I can only help as long as I know what’s going on. So thank you for telling me but… kiddo, that's not okay. None of that was okay for them to do.”

 

Izuku rested his head on Aizawa-san's shoulder as the man squeezed his shoulders into a side hug. 

 

“Firstly, the commission very obviously went against your consent. You said no and you said they used it after you said no. That's not okay. Secondly, switching from one thing that was bad to another thing that is equally bad, if not worse, is not okay either. It sounds like it was a silent punishment for saying no to something that made you uncomfortable. That's manipulation, and is wrong. Did you ever worry that if you said no to anything else they’d switch it for something equally bad, if not worse? Like they did with the… blindfold and pepper spray?”

 

“... yes.” Izuku whispered it out. It felt like a deep dark secret. He shouldn’t feel that way about the Commission. They were protecting him. And he’d agreed to everything they did. But deep down he was terrified if he said no again, he’d get something worse. He tried to push it off or ignore it, but they’d done that sort of switch over and over again. 

 

That's how he got pepper spray instead of the soft blind folds.

 

That's how he ended up with Mr Watanabe. 

 

Aizawa-san moved to brush his hair back only for Izuku to flinch back. His eyes filled with tears as his guardian moved away from him. He liked the contact and he felt so cold now that he wasn’t touching him anymore. 

 

“Hey kiddo, it’s okay. Sorry for startling you.” He shot him a sad smile. “I know I can be intimidating and downright scary. I don’t want to make you so nervous. Do you think there is something I could do to help you not be so nervous around me?”

 

Shrugging, Izuku wiped his eyes. He wasn’t actually that scary. Aizawa-san shifted to lie on side and propped his head up on his hand.

 

“Maybe we could brainstorm. Would that help? Earlier, I thought if I wore a clown suit that might help. I bet I wouldn’t be all that scary if I had one of those big red noses.” He mimed the nose with a hand. 

 

The image of Aizawa-san in a pair of oversized shoes, a weird jumpsuit that was green and blue with big white polka dots and a yellow frilly collar made Izuku giggle. 

 

“Pretty ridiculous right? But I’d do it if it helped. Whatever you need me to do to make it less likely to make you nervous. I’m serious.” 

 

“I’m pretty sure lots of people are scared of clowns, Aizawa-san.”

 

“Are you though?” 

 

“No.” 

 

“Would it help? I think Hizashi might have something that could at least pass for one until I can get a real clown suit.” He looked at Izuku with a small smile and the warmest eyes.

 

“You don’t need a clown suit. You’re not all that scary.” He didn’t look like he believed Izuku. Shuffling closer to him, Izuku gave him a tentative hug. “You’re not scary. Promise.” 

 

“... Izuku.” His voice was thick, like he was about to cry. “I know I’ve scared you.”

 

“Everyone scares me.” Izuku whispered. He knew it wasn’t very nice to be scared of people, but it was true. “But your eyes are usually so gooey that it’s hard to stay scared.” 

 

“Gooey?” 

 

Izuku tilted his head back. The expression on Aizawa-san’s face was fairly blank, but Izuku knew better. 

 

“You care. I can see it in your eyes. You try to hide it, but your eyes are like warm cookies. Gooey and soft.” 

 

“Oh.” 

 

Izuku smiled and nestled back into Aizawa-san’s chest. His guardian tentatively wrapped his free arm around Izuku’s shoulders. It was the perfect amount of firmness and made Izuku feel protected. “You also give good hugs. I like hugs a lot. Mom calls me a cuddle bug.”

 

“So if you are upset or scared should I remind you to look in my eyes and offer you a hug? And I’ll make sure to position myself so you can see my face. Would that help?”

 

“Probably.” Izuku shrugged. “Sometimes it's hard to pay attention to words though when I’m really scared.”

 

The arm tightened around him and Izuku for some reason felt tears well in his eyes.

 

“Okay. We can brainstorm some more non verbal options tomorrow. But until then I’ll stick to words. Sound good?”

 

Izuku nodded into his guardian’s chest. He was pretty tired.

 

“Hey, kiddo I got a few more things I wanna ask you before you sleep. Sorry to keep you awake, but I want to make sure we are on the same page. Okay?”

 

“Okay.” 

 

“Thanks.” Aizawa-san shuffled back just far enough so Izuku could look him in the eyes. It was nice he was immediately doing what he said. It made something flutter happily in his chest. “It’s a bit of a heavier question, but why did you tell Keigo that we planned to use your quirk?”

 

“... Because you are?” Izuku asked. 

 

His eyes widened as he slapped a hand over his mouth. He’d forgotten and asked a proper question . 

 

“Izuku, I’m not upset. Look at my eyes.” 

 

Slowly, Izuku dragged his eyes up Aizawa-san’s chest, over his lightly bearded chin and up to his eyes. They were heartbroken and full of worry, but still soft. Izuku relaxed and Aizawa-san gave him a small smile.

 

“Well, good to know that does work.” Izuku nodded with a small chuckle. Aizawa-san wiped the few stray tears off Izuku's round cheeks with a gentle knuckle. “What triggered that, kiddo?”

 

“I asked a question.” 

 

“You can ask questions.” 

 

“... can I?”

 

Searching his guardian's face for any sign of annoyance at another question, Izuku found none. Not even the normal hidden frustration at them. Maybe… Aizawa-san really was more like his mom and liked questions. 

 

“Izuku, believe me when I say this, but you could ask me a million questions every day and I’d do my best to answer them. And if I can’t answer it right then because I’m busy or because I don’t know, we can write it down for later.” 

 

“Just like Mom rules. Okay, I can do that,” he whispered more to himself than to his guardian. 

 

“Do you have any questions for me?”

 

He had so many questions that they crashed into each other like marbles in his brain. Opening his mouth to ask any of them, Izuku felt them all clog his throat once again. He couldn’t get any of them out, he could only let out a strained croak. Hot, frustrated tears streaked down his face.

 

“Hey, it’s okay if you can’t ask them right away.  Don’t force it if they aren’t coming right now. We can get you a pen and paper tomorrow if that would be easier to ask with?”

 

Izuku nodded. That would be easier, but that was tomorrow and he wanted answers now. He sighed as he rolled to lay on his back, one of his hands resting on his forehead. He closed his eyes against the bright lights in the infirmary. A tentative finger reached out and started to tap slowly against the palm of his hand.

 

YOU KNOW MORSE CODE, RIGHT?

 

Izuku felt his face break into a grin as he nodded. He twisted to his side, able to see the hand Aizawa-san left between the two of them, his palm up. Izuku reached out and figured now was as good a time to really test the million questions a day comment and rapid fire asked all the things that could come to mind.

 

WHY DID KEIGO TAKE ME TO THE BEACH? IS HE GOING TO BE OKAY? WHY WERE YOU STABBED? ARE YOU OKAY? WAS IT THE VILLIANS THAT ARE AFTER ME? WHEN AM I GOING BACK TO THE HPSC? SINCE THERE WAS NO TEST AM I STILL ALLOWED OUTSIDE? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CUPCAKES? WHY ARE THE CATS NAMES SUSHI AND DUMPSTER? WHEN DO YOU PLAN TO DO MY NEXT PROCEDURE? WHAT THINGS ARE YOU PLANNING WHEN WE DO IT SO I CAN BE PREPARED? CAN YOU MAKE SURE NOT TO COVER MY EYES?

 

Aizawa-san raised a hand, signaling Izuku to stop.

 

“I don’t want to cut you off, Kiddo. But I want to address some of these right away. Okay? After that you can keep asking for as long as you’d like. Alright?” 

 

Excitedly, Izuku nodded. He liked this unlimited question rule, it was almost like Aizawa-san wasn’t a guardian. 

 

“Firstly, you are not going back to the HPSC. We saved you from them. They were abusing you and hurting you and we aren’t going to let you go back to them. Along with that, we don’t plan on using your quirk at all. No procedures, ever, and we all know now not to cover your eyes.” He moved his hand closer to Izuku. “I can see you have a question. Please, ask.” 

 

Reaching out slowly Izuku started to tentatively tap out his question.

 

NO PROCEDURES? BUT YOU ARE MY GUARDIAN?

 

Aizawa-san looked as confused and Izuku felt. “What… do you think guardians are?”

 

Shrugging, Izuku whispered through his tight throat. “Mr. Watanabe was my last guardian. He did the procedures, it was his job.”

 

“Oh g-d.” Aizawa-san collapsed back into his pillow with a groan. He massaged his temples with his hands. “That's— okay. That’s where the breakdown was.” 

 

“Sorry.” 

 

“Nope, don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong. This is good.” He twisted back up onto his side to look at Izuku. “When me and Hizashi asked to be your guardians, we didn’t mean that we’d be like your past guardians, or anything you had at the commission. When we said we’d be your guardians, we meant we wanted to be legally responsible for you until your mom can take you back. We want to house, feed, and take care of you. We want to help you be safe and happy.” 

 

“Oh,” he blinked. That was very different from what he’d been thinking. They wanted to be his parents . “So you want to be my dad.” 

 

“Uh– well– um.” 

 

“Is– is that why Keigo called you dad? Are you his guardian too?” 

 

Aizawa-san flushed bright red and he opened his mouth only for a strangled gurgle to tumble out. It took him a few tries but he finally was able to properly talk. “Maybe? Sort of? His quirk makes bonds... Uh– and he bonded to me.”

 

“That makes sense.” Aizawa-san gave him a strange look like Izuku had grown four new heads. “It does. Keigo trusts you, more than anyone else. I can tell.” 

 

Izuku grabbed Aizawa-san’s hand and flipped it over to tap out his question.

 

SHOULD I CALL YOU DAD THEN?

 

He sputtered. “If– if you want to, you could c-call me Dad.” He whispered the title like he couldn’t believe he just said the word. “But you can keep calling me Aizawa, or you could call me Shouta if that would make you feel closer and more like a– uh– family?” 

 

“Okay,” Izuku nodded, making sure not to laugh a bit at how awkward the man had gotten. But he couldn’t deny it was really funny. “Shouta.” 

 

Watching how Shouta relaxed at the name, Izuku stored the use of the ‘dad’ label in his back pocket. It might be funny to see how he reacted to it later. Families tease each other and this was perfect ammo. 

 

“Going back to your other questions.” He paused to remember and counted on his fingers as he answered Izuku's questions.

 

“Dumpster got her name from being found in one on a patrol and Sushi was just named that, I’m not sure why exactly. We put the cupcakes you and Keigo made in the freezer. Hizashi cried over them, I don’t think we told you that. He was so happy and said that once everyone was… better, we’d finish them and then eat them together. And you can always go outside, or if the weather is bad we can set you up near an open window. We won't take that away from you. And I am fine, and Keigo… did stab me but he was stressed and wasn’t thinking clearly. So it’s fine.” Shouta shrugged only for his eyes to widen briefly.

 

“Which doesn’t make stabbing okay. Just to be clear. Don’t stab people,” he tagged on, the words almost tumbling over each other trying to get them out. Izuku let out a chuckle.

 

“I won’t.” This would be one of the easiest rules he’d been given. Izuku didn’t really want to stab anyone. It hurt to be stabbed. 

 

“Good.” Shouta relaxed back into the pillow with a sigh. “Oh and I don’t know what you mean by villains that are after you. The only people I’m aware of looking for you is the Commission.” 

 

Huh. Well Izuku guessed the heroes weren't on the case, which was a little frustrating. Between Hawks, Eraserhead, Present Mic, and Midnight, Izuku was sure that they’d be tracked down in no time at all. But they might as well start today. They’d for sure make faster time then the Commission had.

 

“The people who… the people who took me from my mom. I thought they killed her, but she survived. A hero saved me from them and took me to the commission for protection.”

 

“Those people were also with the commission. Or were hired by them. The only bad guys are the commission.” 

 

“But they saved me from them.” 

 

“They didn’t though, kiddo. They wanted to use you and orchestrated your kidnapping and rescue before locking you away to hurt you for their personal gain. They framed your mom and put her in jail to keep her from being able to take action against them.”

 

“Oh.” Izuku wiggled towards Shouta and rested his head on his sternum. His strong arms wrapped around him, giving him the tight hug that he’d wanted. He closed his eyes and felt himself being dragged down to sleep with each breath he took. “I– I think I’m too tired to ask any more questions.” 

 

“That’s okay kiddo, you can ask as many as you want tomorrow. And even more the day after that. I’m not going anywhere.” 

 

“Good.” He felt a blanket be shifted over his legs. The soft warmth let him drift closer to sleep.

 

A tentative kiss was placed on the crown of his head. 

 

“Sleep well, Izuku.”

Notes:

Trigger warning: Self harm (cutting), discussions of child abuse, Child who was abused being confused from basic human frickin decency which is heart breaking ngl, Blood mentions, dissociation (baby does that a fairly decent amount)

Plz come for me if you must for making Izuku do this to himself but like. I tried to get him to be honest about thinking that they were gonna do teh procedures and it felt stilted and weird ngl I was GONNA have it be later in the story but I really wanted that to be cleared up NOW.

But As an apology for stabbing Shouta, making Keigo go off the deep end and having Izuku injure himself I made Keigo actually verbally call Shouta dad adn gave like a THICCCCC helping of Dadzawa so hopefully this is the start of me making it up to all yall for making ya suffer hahahahaha

but thanks for reading <3 yall make my DAY

Chapter 25: Keigo chats with Hizashi

Notes:

eheheheh lookie me goooooo
I almost waited a day but then i made a joke to @sassy_chemist, my lovely amazing beta, about posting and wondering if i could make it to tomorrow and she was all "post it now" lol so we get two thanks to her for helping both the edits and just being a true homie and enabling my addiction to comments and kudos and just writing this freaking fic.
Did you know when I started it I said "oh wow it'll be like 15 chapters tops for this first arc!"
And look at me now. on Chapter 25 lol

Triggers: There some hair pulling in this chapter (Keigo bless him has some unhealthy coping mechanisms

BUT DADMIC IS ON THE CASE BABYYYYYY WE GET A CUTE DADMIC CHAPTER MAYDAY WE GOT DADMIC IN THE HOUSEEEE

But without further adoo~~ Enjoy!

Keigo stumbled out into the hallway, leaning heavily on the wall. His legs shook with fatigue as he slowly slid to the floor. Checking the area, his head on a swivel, Keigo cocooned himself with his wings. 

 

Why did he say that? What was wrong with him!?

 

It might be hard to believe, but Keigo wasn’t an idiot or delusional. He knew Shouta wasn’t actually his father. The man was only a handful of years older than himself! Which made it even more weird to call him—

 

Tangling his fingers into his hair, he grabbed his hair into both his fists and yanked. The sound of his hair and a few crown feathers being ripped out filled his ears. The sting that followed wasn’t enough .

 

His mind still ran at the speed of light. The rest of Keigo had been left behind by his racing mind. He couldn’t keep up, and it left him painfully split in two. Reaching for his hair to maybe find the reigns to pull his mind back, a hand gripped his wrist, restraining him.

 

Keigo panicked. Without thinking he swung out with his other fist. He made contact and his wrist was dropped with a grunt. Thank g-d. He didn’t want to be restrained anymore.

 

“No touching. Got it.” 

 

Snapping his eyes to the voice, Keigo realized it had been Present Mic. He was rubbing his jaw a few paces away. Noticing the eye contact, he smiled as he crouched down to be closer to Keigo’s level. It was stupid, but Keigo felt himself relax marginally at the action. He’d always been uncomfortable around anyone looming over him. 

 

“Sorry for grabbing your arm like that. I wasn’t thinking. I was just worried because you were hurting yourself.” He looked down at Keigo’s arms and frowned. “You still are.” 

 

Keigo let his eyes drift off the hero, down to his arms. His unclipped, sharp, talon-like nails were biting into his skin. Most of the fingers had even managed to fully puncture the skin. Small beads of blood filled the indentations. 

 

“Oh.” It wasn’t the most intelligent response, but he was surprised. He hadn’t noticed. How had he not noticed? He tried to let go, but it was like his hands had been filled with cement and his fingers replaced with thick coiled rebar. 

 

The stress grip was back. Keigo wished he was surprised. He wasn’t though. He might have been able to let Izuku’s arm go out of surprise. However, the stress that caused it was still very much present. Keigo felt tears prick at his eyes. Instead of showing his weakness, he tucked his head below his wing line. Resting his head on his crossed arms, he sighed. 

 

He felt sick and shaky. Keigo was also exhausted. He wished Mic would just leave him alone to break down in peace. Maybe this time he’d just fully erode away, and he wouldn’t be a problem anymore. The man was stubborn though and Keigo had just stabbed his husband, which was very much a crime. So he was probably just sent out to keep an eye on him. 

 

They probably should have made sure there was always someone guarding him the moment he got to UA, so he couldn't hurt anybody. At least they’d realized he was something to keep in check now. Hopefully he wouldn't hurt anyone else this way.

 

“I’d ask you how you’re doing, but I’m pretty sure the only reasonable response to that would be for you to tell me to f— off.” 

 

Keigo snorted at that. Mic wasn’t wrong.  

 

“However, I’d like to help if I can. I’ve got it on good authority that I’m a good sounding board when life gets overwhelming.” 

 

“Why?” Keigo croaked out, his tears making it hard to talk. 

 

“Why, what?” 

 

“Why help me?” Keigo lifted his head just enough to see Mic. Mic shot him a confused and slightly hurt look, so Keigo continued. “I just punched you.” 

 

“Eh, not the first time, won't be the last. I should have tried talking before just grabbing.” He smiled, making grabby hands from the other side of the hall towards him. The smile and motions set Keigo’s teeth on edge. 

 

“I functionally kidnapped Izuku.” 

 

Mic blinked, confused before he responded. “Yes, but I think you learned that Shou and I will just hunt you down to drag you back.” 

 

“I stabbed your husband.” 

 

Mic shrugged. “Who hasn’t?”

 

“I’d imagine a lot of people?” Keigo lifted his head fully to look at Mic. He has no idea what expression he had, but it made Mic let out a small laugh.

 

“You’d be surprised. But it’s water under the bridge. Shouta said it was resolved. And I trust him.”

 

“What if I do it again?”

 

“Are you planning on doing it again?”

 

“No,” Keigo snapped out. He felt horrible over this time. Why would he do this all again?  

 

“Then it’s resolved.” Mic waved a hand in the air like all of Keigo’s mistakes were smoke, able to just be dispersed into the air. Mic should have been furious but he just wasn’t . For some reason that pissed Keigo off. 

 

“I thought you were abusive! I thought that you were going to hurt Izuku! That you had hurt Shouta!” he spat out. A queasy glee washed over Keigo as he watched as Present Mic’s smile wavered. He thought he’d found the weak point, only for Mic’s smile to return. 

 

“Now at least I know why you ran. And I hate that you felt that way, but I’m glad to know that you have Izuku’s best interest in mind. But you don’t have to run again as none of that is true. I would rather saw off my own arm than harm my family. I’m pretty protective of my people.” 

 

Keigo growled. Not protective enough in his opinion. How protective could someone be if Keigo got a free pass kidnapping and stabbing their family? He thought he was making progress to break through the annoying fake happy-go-lucky bulls— that Mic was pulling, but he was wrong. 

 

“I lied about feeling fine to your face. I almost died because of it.” 

 

“That’s far from a crime. But I would rather you be honest, especially about your health.” 

 

“I gave Izuku the feather he used to hurt himself!” 

 

“You didn't force the Little Listener to use it, did you?” 

 

“No, I'd never do that.” 

 

“Then it’s not your fault.”

 

Keigo growled, again. Mic wasn’t reacting correctly. 

 

Why wasn’t he acting correctly?

 

“I haven’t helped the investigation at all. You’ve done most of it almost single handedly at this point, which is a lot on your shoulders.” 

 

Hizashi sighed as he shook his head.

 

“This investigation has been far from a one man band. I happen to be good at networking and gathering information. And I’m one of the few heroes in the know that isn’t in active danger. And for the record, you have been helping. You’ve watched Izuku when the rest of us heroes have been busy. And you’re healing, taking a break is good.” Keigo opened his mouth to argue, but Mic held up a finger to stop him. “Most importantly Keigo, if you hadn’t reached out to Shouta, Izuku would still be trapped with the HPSC, or worse. You saved him.” 

 

“But that’s not enough!” Keigo felt more blasted tears fill his eyes as he screeched. “It’s never going to be enough!” 

 

“I doubt Izuku would see it that way.” Mic’s voice was soft and quiet, it was odd. The hero was known for being obnoxious and loud, but he had flipped the script on Keigo. It was driving him insane. 

 

“I killed a guy! I killed him! And I enjoyed it!” Keigo huffed, feeling his stomach sink and twist as Mic stayed silent for a few beats. He’d done it. He’d finally gotten Mic to see the real beast behind the front that Keigo had hastily thrown up. 

 

It made him feel nauseous, but it had to be done. 

 

“Keigo,” Mic’s voice held a strange tone to it. Keigo refused to look at him to figure out how much he’d ruined the man’s view of him. He wasn’t sure he could handle it. “Why are you trying so hard to get me to hate you?”

 

Keigo flicked his eyes over to look at the hero. The open hurt plastered over Mic’s face confused him. Mic didn’t get it. He wasn’t reacting right. He was supposed to hate Keigo and he just refused to do so. 

 

“Because I’m a monster.” His voice cracked painfully. He sniffed and then wiped his nose on his sleeve. It was gross, but what’s the point? His arms were finally loose enough for him to release the grip. He rubbed at his raw eyes. Covering himself fully with his dirty wings, he forced himself into darkness. Monsters don’t deserve comforts like knowing when the punishments are coming. They just have to take it. 

 

“You’re not a monster. You want to know why I know that?” 

 

Keigo felt a surge of frustration at how obtuse Present Mic was being. 

 

“I think you’d tell me either way,” Keigo snapped out. 

 

Mic let out a short laugh as he scooched a little closer to Keigo. “You’re not wrong. I’m a talker, what can I say?” 

 

The pause after that was long enough for Keigo to get curious enough to peek out from under his wings. To really look at the man. Mic’s clothes were covered in blood down the front and sand fell off him as he moved. He sat casually, with one knee up and held it loosely with a hooked elbow. His braided hair was half flyaways at this point and the shorter hairs near his face looked greasy. Mic’s thick rimmed glasses were smudged with fingerprints and framed exhausted acid green eyes. What stood out to Keigo was the sharp, piercing stare that Mic had. 

 

It was the same one Keigo naturally had. The one that he’d been told year after year was unheroic. That it was once more highly creepy byproduct of his avian quirk. 

 

Present Mic didn’t have a secondary avian quirk. Or Keigo was almost 99% sure he didn’t. 

 

Was… was it not a quirk thing? Present Mic interrupted that thought process when he spoke. 

 

“You killed a monster, Keigo. Nothing more.” Mic’s hard tone quivered in a way that warned of the danger that the man held in his voice. It made Keigo’s feathers stand on end. Mic cleared his throat and continued, the wobbly tone gone. “Mr. Watanabe was a monster. You are nothing like him. He was the monster in this story, not you. And narratively, who kills the monsters, Keigo?”

“I dunno, other monsters ?” Keigo grumbled as he rolled his eyes. “I never f—ing went to school so why would I know Mr. Teacher-man .” 

 

Mic sent Keigo a flat look. “I know for a fact that you are literate, so you got some sort of education. And you’re smart. Stop being purposely obtuse. So… Who fights and kills the monsters?”

 

“Heroes,” he said through gritted teeth. 

 

“Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!” Mic’s students must hate him, this was infuriating . “If we look at all the things we’ve learned, we can figure out what you are! Soooooo, if Watanabe was the monster, heroes kill and defeat monsters, and then you killed Watanabe… What does that make you?”

 

“This isn’t a story though, Mic! This is real life!” Keigo pounded a fist into his knee, sending pain jolting down it. “I can’t just kill a guy and have it have no consequences! I can’t stab Da– Shouta or kidnap Izuku and have it just be brushed off! I keep screwing up, but no one seems to care! Why does no one care?!” Keigo pulled at his hair once more, but not hard enough to rip it out, just enough for it to hurt.

 

“I think it is because we care.” The soft words coming from the normally loud man was still so jarring. It was enough to get Keigo to let go of his hair.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Mic sighed. “I will be the first to say that you’ve made some… interesting choices. But I can’t blame you or judge you for them. You acted the way you thought you had to to protect Izuku or yourself. That's admirable.”

 

“No, it’s not!” Anger exploded in Keigo like a flash bang. He slammed a fist into the wall. The dry wall crumbled under the strong blow. Opening his hand, Keigo watched in horror as the paint flecks and dust fell from his hand.

 

Ice flooded his veins as Present Mic stood. He dusted off his pants. Keigo was in trouble now. His footsteps sounded like thunderclaps, matching the decibels of his pounding heartbeat in his ears. The slight air current off the movement made swirling jetties in the previously stagnant air. Keigo could feel each and every thread and fiber that made up the borrowed clothes he still wore. His stomach churned, and his skin felt hot and sticky with sweat. Sand rubbed his skin raw under his clothes and between the quills of his feathers. His exhausted muscles were split between being overly lax and trembling from where they were taut like a guitar string. The strong scent of Mic’s strawberry shampoo made Keigo’s eyes water and his nose sting. Each of his detached feathers demanded attention as they practically buzzed with sensory information. 

 

It was all so much. He wanted it all to stop .

 

A hand was held out in front of his face. Keigo held back a flinch by being a complete statue. 

 

“I have an idea. The art studio is two doors down. Let’s go.” Mic wiggled his fingers in an offer to help Keigo up. 

 

His fingers creaked as he opened his hand to take Mic’s. He let out a squawk as he was hoisted up. Keigo stumbled only for Mic to swing the arm he’d lifted him with over his shoulder and moved the other arm gently under his wings, his hand on Keigo’s waist. They very slowly made their way down the hall. Keigo’s head spun at… all of this. 

 

Was the art studio some sort of punishment? Was it a goal to get him alone? To be far enough from Izuku and Shouta that they couldn’t hear? Mic… wasn’t like that though. Keigo just didn’t know . Dread pooled in his gut with each slow step.

 

Once in the room Present Mic dropped him off on a stool at a tall thick wood desk. He scurried to disappear into what had to be a supply closet. 

 

The empty classroom was spacious, as was everything at UA. Half of the room was filled with more of the desks, the other half was completely open. There were some folding chairs stacked next to one of the walls along with large wood cubbies that held what looked like pottery wheels. On top was a pile of what looked like folded easels. The empty tile floor had flecks of paint and every square meter of the walls either had some artwork. Clay creations were on mismatching shelves. Colorful paintings were next to charcoal illustrations next to glass mosaics. It was chaotic, but in a good way. Mic had only turned on half the lights in the room, which was a delightful change of pace from the constantly blasting overhead lights in the infirmary. 

 

Present Mic barged back in holding a box. He flipped the box over and a bunch of small plastic cylindrical tubs spilled all over. Keigo had to catch a few as they careened towards the edge. Flipping the yellow container to see the label, Keigo shot Present Mic a flat, incredibly judgemental look.

 

“Play-doh?” Mic nodded in response to Keigo’s question. “What? Are you going to have me  eat it as a punishment?”

 

“What? G-d no, that’s nasty. There’s no punishment for the wall. I won’t tell, if you don’t.” He winked. “I’ve busted a few walls in my day. If it becomes a pattern, we’ll revisit it, but I’d probably just make you fill them in. Natural consequences and all that. Oh, I’d also try to get you to see an anger management counselor, too. But don’t worry about today. Everyone in this family gets a free stabbing and one punched hole in the wall.” Mic grinned. “You just happened to speed run those freebies, so keep that in mind if you start feeling violent, starting now.”

 

“What.” It wasn’t even really a question. Like it was, but it came out more like a statement. Keigo felt so lost, but Present Mic didn’t seem to be listening and just kept talking.

 

“Oh also don’t worry. Shouta and I used our freebies on each other years ago. It was kind of a joke, but also not because we both felt so bad , and there the rule was made . So you’re safe from us, at least. I highly doubt Izuku will use his freebie on you, so you are probably pretty safe overall.” Mic paused, clearly contemplating something before he continued. “However, we might cut Izuku’s free stabbing pass. I’d be worried he’d take that as a free pass to injure himself to use his quirk and I don’t think we should promote that.” 

 

Keigo just blinked at all… that. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. Mic, totally unfazed, just dropped a ball of purple Play-Doh into his own hand and started rolling it into a long snake. Without missing a beat, he started talking again. 

 

“The real purpose of this is to give you something to do with your hands. A way to safely get some of those emotions out.” He wrapped the snake into a tight spiral on the surface of the table. 

 

“See if you feel the need to smash–” Keigo jumped as Mic slammed his hand down loudly on his little creation. Picking his hand up, he gestured to the now squished purple mass on the table. “This is a perfectly acceptable target, yo! So go on and squish the doh!” 

 

Mic did some finger guns. Keigo just put the small tub down on the table and rolled his eyes. 

 

“This is stupid and childish.” He crossed his arms.

 

“Sure, maybe, but who doesn’t like playing with play-doh?

 

Quickly morphing the purple blob, Mic stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth. Keigo thought it was supposed to be a wonky little guy, but he wasn’t sure. All the limbs were different lengths and thicknesses. The head was lumpy, and the intense look of concentration on Mic’s face made Keigo roll his eyes as he used his nail to carve a creepy smiley face on the play-doh guy. Present Mic turned the freaky little guy to face Keigo. 

 

“Squish me, Keigo! Squish meeee!” Mic ‘spoke’ for the play-doh with a high pitched, incredibly grating voice. “I know you want to Keigoooooo! I’m super annoying and–” 

 

Keigo reached out and slammed his fist over the purple play-doh man. Mic only barely slipped all his fingers out of the way. 

 

“Happy now?” Keigo snapped out.

 

Mic grinned. “Immensely.” 

 

Keigo watched as the adult man sitting next to him started to morph it once more into who knows what. An important realization dawned over him.

 

Present Mic was just insane. 

 

It explained a lot, honestly. This was a grown a— man who just wanted to play with a children’s toy. Who was Keigo to stop him? 

 

The man in question upended a container from high up, forcing a green blob to splat onto the table in front of Keigo. His green eyes played an intense match of ping pong as they flicked between Keigo and the blob on the table. Keigo sighed, squishing the green blob with his thumb.

 

When in Rome and all that… right?

 

Mic let out a loud excited holler, and Keigo rolled his eyes. But he did roll the dough into a ball between his palm and the table. 

 

“Why does UA even have Play-Doh?” Keigo asked. 

 

Mic just shrugged. “Ask Nem, she’s the art teacher. I think she uses it for warm ups and teaching the beginning concepts of clay work? Maybe? I’m not really sure. But I honestly just see students pocket the little tubs and play with them at lunch the most often.”

 

“Huh. Okay.” Keigo started to shape the soft green ball into the shape of a face.

 

“Yup. “ He popped his p. He squished the little cube stack he’d made and started making something else. 

 

They sat quietly just molding and fiddling with the Play-Doh. Keigo couldn’t deny that having something to focus on was actually kind of soothing. His racing mind had finally exhausted itself and finally came to a stop. Keigo was almost uncomfortable with the absence of bombardment from his mind. He wasn’t having to fight off or chase it, for the first time in what felt like forever. He didn’t really know what to make of it. Instead of thinking too hard about it, Keigo just used the edge of his sharp nail to carve and shape wavy curls onto the top of the face. 

 

“Why are you not upset at me?” Keigo surprised himself by asking. He hadn’t meant for the question to tumble out, but it had, and there was no way to take it back now. He just focused on squishing down the askew eyes and trying again. 

 

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m not happy that you stabbed Shouta.” 

 

Keigo cringed. This was where the punishment came. He shouldn’t have brought it up. 

 

“But, Listener, you’ve had a horrible time, seemingly for your whole life from what little I’ve picked up on. You’ve been doing your best, we all can see that. Mistakes happen, especially when only half the needed information is provided. We’ll work together on making sure it doesn't get this bad again. And you obviously are beating yourself up over it. There is no reason for me to rip into you, too. Unless my goal was just cruelty. And I try not to be cruel, especially not to my family.” 

 

Keigo poked the sharp point of his nail too deep as he made freckles, making a long slice across the soft green cheek. He looked up at Present Mic. He was smiling softly at the basket of small purple spheres he’d made before he mushed it all together to knead it along the table. 

 

“I’m not….” Keigo trailed off, his voice so thick it was impossible to force any more out. 

 

“You are, though, Keigo.” Mic met his green eyes with Keigo’s gold ones. His face was soft in the way Keigo had only seen when he was talking to Shouta or Izuku. Something painfully twisted in his chest. He couldn’t decide if it was desire or repulsion at the realization. He felt kind of sick. He didn’t think he was going to throw up, but he briefly searched the room for a trashcan. Just in case. 

 

“At least you are to me. You don’t have to feel the same way, but the moment that you and Shouta bonded I have thought of you as my kid, my family. Doubly so since we became legal guardians for Izuku. I promised to never break up sibling groups, and I don’t plan to go back on that now.”

 

“But I’m…” 

 

“You aren’t a monster.”

 

“But I am .” Keigo hid his face in his hands as he felt tears to fill his eyes.

 

“Can I give you a hug?”

 

Keigo wanted to nod, to take the offer for comfort, but he didn’t deserve it. He didn't need it. He needed to be strong enough without it. He shook his head and curled in on himself.

 

“Kiddo. If you are a monster, then I for sure am one.” 

 

Confused, Keigo snapped his head up. Present Mic was no longer focused on the table but was hyper focused on Keigo. His eyes were piercing and it sort of felt like he could see all the way into Keigo’s core. He squirmed, his wings fluttered behind him. 

 

“Not only have I killed multiple people before in my hero career, but in my opinion you were merciful to Watanabe. ” He spat out the name like it was a curse. His hands shook in fists, one of the hands had purple ooze out of the creases. “The quick death you gave him was better than he deserved. The only reason that I haven’t hunted him down and yelled him into oblivion is because he’s already dead.” 

 

“But…” Keigo searched the man’s face, he was totally honest. 

 

“If taking decisive action during a raid makes you a monster, a thing I’ve had to do multiple times, wouldn’t my genuine desire to commit full premeditated murder make me worse, right?”

 

“But I also–” Keigo gestured behind them towards where the infirmary was. Letting out a distressed caw, the image of the scared and crying Izuku filled his mind. He could practically smell the blood and trash fill his nose. The heavily breathing and soft grunts and groans of a stabbed and injured Shouta echoed in his ears. 

 

“Your little running away act was the loving sacrifice of a worried sibling protecting a younger, and very vulnerable, sibling. And from your perspective, Shouta was one of the people harming him, right? You could have killed him, but you didn’t. Just pinned him down, and he is going to be fine. You’ve done nothing but minimize harm in your decisions. You are a good person, Keigo, not some monster.”

 

Keigo shrugged and focused back on the little sculpture that he’d been working on. Present Mic sat next to him, laser focused on him, but Keigo just tried to ignore him. It didn’t work but at least he tried. After a while Mic just sighed. 

 

“You don’t have to believe me on that, but I hope you can believe that I think that you are great. And I hope that you let me be a part of your life even after,” he gestured wildly, “All this s—.” 

 

Shrugging, Keigo slowly nodded. “If you want that, I guess that sounds okay to me, Mic.” 

 

“Yes!” Mic yelled as he threw a fist up in the air. It kind of hurt Keigo’s sensitive ears, but the man seemed so excited he couldn’t ruin it for him. “If you want you can drop my hero name then, call me Hizashi.”

 

Keigo tilted his head to the side. “... Not Yamada?”

 

“Family doesn’t call me Yamada, and I’m pretty sure Keigo is your given name anyway. So really, we’ve all been super rude jumping right to that. I think you can make up for lost time and just skip ahead to Hizashi.” 

 

“I don’t mind. It’s my name.” Keigo shrugged as he turned to finish his little play-doh creation. The smile on it wasn’t quite right, but it was close enough. He flicked his eyes to the hero sitting next to him.

 

“... Thanks, Hizashi.” He gestured at the table. “This was… actually really nice.” 

 

“Any time, Listener, I like playing with Play-Doh, so anytime. Just lemme know when and I’ll be there.” He winked with a grin. 

 

For some reason Keigo was pretty sure that Hizashi meant that for more than just acting like a four year old and playing with childish toys. A pull from his quirk made Keigo blink in surprise. He wanted to let Hizashi preen him. Badly . Ignoring the urge was almost physically painful. Keigo chewed on his thumb nail, it was salty from the small bits of Play-Doh trapped under it. 

 

“Hey! You did a great job! That’s Izuku, yeah?”

 

Keigo nodded and a small proud hawk call slipped out, his other hand reaching up to his head. Maybe he could calm his stupid quirk himself. Hizashi was still focused on the small slightly lopsided green play-doh Izuku he’d made. Keigo started to brush his crest back, digging at the feathers with his nails, and a few of the loose ones fell out. 

 

“I should get you in contact with Nem, I bet she’d love to give you access to actual clay–” Hizashi looked up and his excited expression evaporated as he watched a few of the thin feathers float down to the floor. The borderline dejected expression looked so wrong on the man and Keigo let out a sad whistle. 

 

“Keigo, what’s–” Keigo cut Hizashi off. 

 

“Could you check my head?” The words ran into each other as he said them. He felt himself flush. 

 

“I think–” he cleared his throat, starting over. “I think some of my feathers are um– loose or uhh–  flipped. Could you…” 

 

“You want me to preen you?” Hizashi’s voice was soft, but there was an undercurrent of giddiness to the words. 

 

Chittering, Keigo bit his lip, hoping to stop the noises. He avoided looking at Hizashi and focused on the small Izuku he’d made. Thinking about how much he’d scared Izuku, Keigo felt himself tear up again. He needed to learn to trust others to care for his brother. Today made it clear he really couldn’t do it alone. 

 

But it was terrifying . He needed to find it in him to at least try. 

 

Keigo reached out and mushed the carved face then turned to Hizashi. Moving his eyes up from Mic’s– Hizashi’s chest was a genuine challenge, but once Keigo made contact he knew he’d made the correct decision. Looking at Hizashi’s soft expression it felt like he’d come home for the first time. The warm inviting expression and loose open arms promised kindness and protection that Keigo didn't think he’d really had before all of this happened. 

 

He wanted it. He wasn’t going to run from it anymore. 

 

“Yes, please.” Keigo felt his heart race as he turned his back on Hizashi. It was a mix of terror and exhilaration. He kind of felt like he was going to throw up; instead he gripped the edge of the stool and took a deep breath. 

 

Hizashi’s thin fingers were cold against his still feverish skin. It made Keigo shiver and he let out a coo. It felt different then how Shouta’s sturdy calloused fingers worked gently to right the feathers and hair, tentative like he was going to crush them. Like Keigo was something precious and delicate to be protected and handled with care. Or Izuku’s shaking weak hands just running his fingers through it all, brushing it back with excitement. More of a bonding activity than actually functional. Hizashi’s hands were confident and caring as he checked the tender spots Keigo knew were bald. Twisting the feathers and hair to lay correctly, Hizashi ran a hand over his head. Keigo’s neck was loose and he let his head get pulled back into the chest behind him. Keigo closed his eyes as Hizashi combed back the hair. Keigo felt as sand worked its way out of his hair. With each pass he made over his hair, Keigo felt himself relax and slump further into Hizashi’s chest. 

 

He could practically feel his tentative trust weave itself into a bond. He felt tethered in a way that he’d assume a month ago would make him feel trapped. But he’d never felt more free as he let himself sink into the terrifying bubbly warmth. Instead of dragging him down, the bonds were pulling him up. 

 

On the edge of sleep, Keigo woke up enough to squawk as he was lifted up onto Hizashi’s back. He slid down enough to send Keigo into a panic. His wings started flapping wildly, gaining a little bit of lift. The tubs of Play-Doh on the table scattered everywhere in the wind. He tightened his hold around Hizashi and his ankles crossed as he scrambled to get a better hold. Keigo heard him gag, and realized he’d maybe choked the man out. 

 

“Sorry.” He shifted his arms to be more around Hizashi’s shoulders.

 

“Guuuuuh. It’s fine. Didn’t wanna wake you.”  His voice was strained as Hizashi walked out of the room. 

 

“I can walk. I’m awake now.” That was only sort of a lie. His eyelids flickered, begging to close. But he was awake.

 

Just not for long.

 

“And we are basically already there. So it’s fine.” 

 

And it was true. They were walking through the infirmary’s door before no time at all. It was amazing how fast someone could go when they didn’t feel like death and yet still went on a paranoid sprint across the city. 

 

A strangled, excited gargle came from the man as they made their way around the privacy curtain. Keigo lifted his head to see what it could possibly be. 

 

He melted at the sight. 

 

Shouta, looking too pale and too exhausted, was sleeping. He was on his side, his mouth was slightly open, a trail of drool falling onto the pillow he shared. Nestled in his arms was Izuku. Only his wild green curls were visible between the blanket that was practically covering him up to his nose, and Shouta’s arm that was protectively wrapped around Izuku’s shoulders over the blanket. Izuku’s little kitten snores mixed with the slow heavy breaths from Shouta. 

 

Keigo understood the strange noise Hizashi had made. That was adorable . 

 

Hizashi set him on the bed next to the other two, and darted off to the shelf that held the spare UA uniforms. Grabbing two sets, he darted back, throwing one to Keigo and then shut himself in the bathroom, presumably to change. Hearing the small shower turn on, Keigo kicked off the sweats and shimmied his way into the new pair while on the bed. Using one of his sharp nails, Keigo ripped the fabric on the back of the shirt to make wing holes. He frowned after pulling it on. The holes weren’t… in the right places, but he was too tired to care too much. He let himself flop onto his front. He’d try to grab a blanket, but he had no idea where they were and he was mostly asleep without one already, so he was sure it would be fine. 

 

Keigo woke back up with a start. It was dark. And there was a shadowy figure standing over him. Keigo felt all his feathers sharpen.

 

“Sorry.” Hizashi whispered out and Keigo relaxed. “I was trying to be quiet. Obviously failed.” 

 

“‘S fine.” Keigo rubbed his eyes. “I’m a light sleeper.”

 

“I found a blanket, if you want it.” 

 

Keigo saw the single blanket hanging over his arm. He looked around the other beds and saw nothing but sheets in the faint light. He frowned. 

 

“Do you have one too?”

 

Hizashi rubbed the back of his neck. “Nah, but I’m fine. You’re still healing. I can handle sleeping with just a jacket for a night. If I wasn’t feeling lazy, I’d just go and grab one but it’s late. Also this is my fault. I hid all the other blankets for the infirmary back at the dorm for our rooftop escapade shenanigans, and forgot to put them back.”

 

“We could share.” Keigo only thought about the offer after he’d offered it, and started to immediately backtrack. “I– uh– I mean if you–”

 

“Sure.” Hizashi shrugged and spread the blanket over Keigo, grabbed a spare pillow and climbed in. The beds were spacious and for that Keigo was grateful. But even then, he shifted to be teetered all the way on the edge of the bed. He used one of his wings to hold himself up. 

 

It was wildly uncomfortable.

 

“While I appreciate the space, get over here, you look like you are about to fall off. I don’t bite, promise.”

 

Keigo blushed as he shifted his way closer to Hizashi. The man opened his arms offering a hug and Keigo decided to f— it and shuffled into his arms. Something that was twisted in him loosened as he relaxed into the hold. He gripped the back of Hizashi’s slightly wet shirt. In the corner of his eyes Keigo saw the light flash on Hizashi’s teeth as he grinned.

 

“And hey, this way I don’t gotta be jealous of Shouta, ‘cause now we both are getting kiddo cuddles.”

 

Keigo closed his eyes and thumped his head against Hizashi’s chest. He wasn’t a child. Hizashi just laughed at his sleepy frustration. The jerk.

 

“Shh,” Keigo hissed out, half asleep already, his words came out slurred. “You’ll wake ‘Zuku and Dad. And the cuddling ’s too cute to stop ‘em.” 

 

Realizing what he’d said again, Keigo froze. 

 

“I know he won’t mind.” Hizashi reached a hand up from under the blankets stopping just shy of his scalp, in a silent question. Keigo nodded and the man started running his hand through his hair. “Deep down, I’m sure he feels incredibly honored under like five hundred layers of embarrassment and anxiety that he’d do a bad job.” 

 

He could see it. Both he and Shouta were… kind of bad at feelings, but it was clear that if Shouta was seemingly fine with Keigo stabbing him, he’d probably be fine with him accidentally slipping up and calling him Dad from time to time. 

 

He’d try to get his quirk to chill out though, he’d hate to do it infront of other people. He’d die of embarrassment. 

 

Keigo grumbled out something unintelligible even to himself as he hunkered down. One of his wings curled over the two of them, the other pressed into his back. Right as he drifted off, he felt Hizashi place a soft kiss into his hairline.

 

“Goodnight, Keigo. Sweet dreams.”

Notes:

also anyone who is all "mic's never killed anyone!!" I dunno man. with his quirk I bet he's had to collapse a few walls and killed some villians. I don't think it was mallicious or exactly purposeful but like a quirk like his makes DAMAGE and you can't control that sort of thing. Also a handful in a decade is pretty good odds still so he's not out here killing people left adn right, but there are deaths that he counts as his fault.
Which he definitally stuggles with, and would basically never talk about but opened up to Keigo cuz the kid needed reasurance. CUZ HIZASHI IS A GOOD DAD OKAY SUCH A GOOD DAD I LOVE HIM AND SHOUTA they have different styles but they are both so loving ToT ajdfkajsbfkjasfkj
I;m so normal about them I SWEAR lolol (I'm not ahha)

but behold! I can write more fluffy bits! (we arent full saccrine yet but like!! the angst cloud is slowly lifting!!!!)

Chapter 26: Shouta, Hizashi and Recovery Girl have a chat

Notes:

HELLOOOOOO
This is some fluff and shop keeping so no real triggers beyond maybe minor mentions of truama. and im talking people saying "lol these kids are traumatized" levels of discusions which if you've made it this far and that sort of thing is triggering.... how bud? how'd you make it, like im impressed but like yikes what a choice

Oh I guess we also get some instances of Hizashi (and a touch of Shouta) being a lil horny boy. So some sexual comments are made for sure. In his defence they have been married like a whole week and the only time they've even gotten CLOSE was some heavy kissin' in the gym which Nedzu interupted. And they will be interupted again and again cuz i think its 1.) funny and b.) a great way to avoid getting close to writing smut (cuz i couldn't I just... sorry folks not for me) and C.) sometimes I don't wanna do a hard black out cut and finally IV.) it is really NOT THE TIME BOYS! YALL LOVE EACHOTHER AND THINK THE OTHER IS PRETTY I GET IT BUT GUYYYYSSSS REALLY STOP BEING HORNY ON MAIN RN YOUR CHILDREN NEED YOU

BUT thanks to @sassy_chemist for always reading this and leaving grammatical assistance and great comments. also for teaching me that some words I think are real words... arent lol so thank youuuu <333 ALSO for noticing that i have done some research for this chapter. OH THAT IS A WARNING!! Handwavey half explinations of quirk science happens in this chapter not a trigger per say but i am a scientist (technically) but like I am not a medical professional nor do i really think real world science can... explain quirks lolol but I am doing mah best lol so if there are other science thingies that might 'fit better'. no. there arent lololol

HOPEFULLY y'all enjoy some (in my opinion) cute fluffy scenes and some convos between the adults :D
Enjoy~~~

Shouta jerked awake at the loud sound of a snore. It was followed by muffled giggles. Between the giggles and snores, he could hear the distant sound of the shower. The cycle continued as he got his bearings, blinking away the last dregs of sleep. 

 

G-d, he was exhausted. He could sleep for a million years and probably would still be tired. If he did sleep that long, then maybe the throbbing behind his eyes might disappear. 

 

From the way the sun streamed into the window, it was early. Even though he wanted to just close his eyes and drift back to sleep, he let his eyes drift down to look at one of the sources of the giggles. Peeking up from under the edge of the blanket, twin twinkling green eyes looked back at him. The top sliver of his freckles cheeks gave away the fact the kid was grinning behind the soft fabric.

 

Shouta realized that he’d wake up early and exhausted if he could see this sort of thing every day. The kid was cute, he couldn’t deny it. And the delighted giggle he made after each of the drawn out and downright dramatic snores upgraded him to adorable.  

 

Seeing Izuku just be a happy kid did things to Shouta’s heart. 

 

“Morning, Izuku.” Shouta’s voice was gravelly. He rubbed his dry eyes and cringed at the pain. He didn’t remember falling asleep last night, but he must have conked out shortly after Izuku fell asleep. Shouta was very pro sleeping, but he really needed to stop forgetting his nightly medicated eye drops. Not only did his eyes ache but he just sort of felt gross between the scuzz on his unbrushed teeth, the sand that was trapped between his toes, and the vague smell of trash that had settled on him. 

 

“Good morning, Shouta.” Izuku wiggled his way closer to Shouta, just like he had the night before. His chest ached at the memories of their conversation. It had only covered a third of what he’d wanted it to. But it had been late, and he was pretty sure that Izuku hadn’t really understood everything that Shouta was trying to tell him. It wasn’t Izuku’s fault, not in the slightest. But it was painful to watch. 

 

Last night’s uselessness filled Shouta as he had just held Izuku while he totally unraveled in his arms and gutted him. Every other thing he said felt like a gut punch. It all proved that they should have talked to Izuku earlier. 

 

Way earlier.

 

Their child had been so sure that they were going to torture him. And instead of asking them not to, he’d only asked for them to not cover his eyes. And knowing that Izuku had issues with verbalizing questions made the tumble of tapped out questions made Shouta feel awful. He’d clearly wanted to ask so many questions but just didn’t know how. He should have picked up on that. It was so obvious looking back, but the kid had found roundabout ways to communicate some of his questions. Just rarely directly. 

 

Gloomy smog filled Shouta’s mind, dragging him down. It tried to convince him that he was a worthless failure. How he’d done everything wrong with Izuku at every turn. That the kid would be better off without him.

 

And that totally ignored the… everything that happened with Keigo. Which Shouta also had a lot of… thoughts about. 

 

None of which made Shouta feel great about himself. 

 

He took a deep breath and started to fight against the thick smog. He smiled at Izuku and threw an arm over him. From the way the kid beamed up at him, it had been the correct choice. It helped dissipate some of that smog. If he was a true failure, Izuku wouldn’t smile at him like that. And Shouta knew it’d be a long road, but knowing what he did now, he felt like he was at least on the path to help Izuku. 

 

Izuku giggled again at the weirdest sounding snore that Shouta had ever heard. And he’d heard Nemuri’s snores after a night of binge drinking, so that was saying something. The bird noises that were woven into the snores really took the mystery out of who it could be, but he was focused on Izuku right now. Keigo needed the sleep, and if his other kid was making that much noise while sleeping and not waking up to the giggles, a miracle had occurred. Keigo was a light eerily silent sleeper. And if the kid was that deeply asleep, Shouta wasn’t going to break the spell. 

 

“What’s got you all giggly?” 

 

Izuku’s response was to grin as he popped his head up to peek over Shouta’s torso, pointing behind him. Turning, Shouta bit back a laugh. 

 

Keigo’s wings covered a decent percentage of the bed. Shouta knew that Keigo had huge wings, but seeing them drape over the edges of the bed only to droop on the floor made it apparent. The kid’s face was totally lax and one of his cheeks was mushed up into his eye. He must have nuzzled his face into Hizashi’s shoulder before settling. From what little he could see from under Keigo’s large wings, Hizashi was being totally trapped under octopus-like limbs. Only the bottom half of his husband’s face was visible from under the fluffy red down. 

 

“How’s it going, ‘Zashi?” Shouta struggled to keep a straight face. 

 

“Save meeeee,” Hizashi whispered, and a few visible fingers wiggled out from under Keigo in Shouta’s direction. 

 

“Save yourself.” Shouta snorted at his husband’s dramatic pout. 

 

“Come on, Shou, you know I can’t wake the baby or he’ll be super grumpy.” 

 

“Kei-nii is nineteen.” Izuku chimed in. 

 

“Yup. And that is a certified baby.” Hizashi whispered as he nosed his face most of the way out of the fluffy feathers. 

 

“I’m eleven.” Izuku’s face screwed up looking confused. Shouta thought it might be him asking a roundabout question. 

 

“If you’re asking if that makes you a baby too, the answer is yes.” 

 

“The smallest cutest little baby,” Hizashi added with a grin. “Practically an infant .” 

 

“I don’t think that’s how that works,” Izuku grumbled, clearly not enthused to be called a baby.

 

“When you turn twenty seven, I promise you’ll get it.” He ruffled the disgruntled baby’s hair. Izuku just pouted, which really only solidified his place as a baby in Shouta’s mind. 

 

“I still don’t think that’s how that works.” Izuku mumbled under his breath. Shouta just huffed out a laugh as he sat up. 

 

“Where–” Izuku fidgeted under the blanket and chewed on his lip. Shouta made sure to duck down to make eye contact with Izuku with a smile. The kid relaxed as he searched his face. Shouta knew exactly what he wanted to ask, but he wanted to give Izuku the chance to verbalize it. “W-where are you g-going?”

 

Shouta had never felt more proud. He wanted to twirl the kid up in the air and shout from the rooftops, but instead he just pointed with his thumb to his suffering husband. 

 

“To save Hizashi.” 

 

“Oh thank G-d. It was cute for a while but holy s—, Shou. He’s so heavy. I thought he had a bird quirk? Where’s the hollow bones? How the h— does he fly? I feel like I’m being slowly crushed.” 

 

“Well if you put it that way, maybe I should leave you. Now you know how it feels when you do this to me.” 

 

“Come on Shou, love, sweetheart.” Hizashi gave puppy dog eyes with a little pout. “You wouldn’t leave your husband to suffer these–” 

 

Hizashi was cut off by Keigo shifting, tightening his hold and covering Hizashi’s face with the wing. A muffled sigh came out from under the feathers. 

 

“...circumstances.” 

 

Shouta stood with a stretch and turned to Izuku, who was snickering at Hizashi. “So, kiddo. You think I should help him?”

 

“I dunno.” Izuku tapped his chin like he was thinking really hard. “Have to decide if it's worth it. This is pretty funny.” 

 

“Not you too, Izuku! You couldn’t leave a poor soul trapped like this. Please find mercy for a poor, squished hero!”

 

“W-what’s in it f-for me?” Izuku’s eyes flicked to Shouta, like he was checking if this was all okay. It hurt to see but it made sense. Shouta just nodded and turned to Hizashi.

 

“Yeah, ‘Zashi, What’s in it for us?”

 

“This is extortion!” His voice still mumbled and was almost lost under a loud snore from Keigo. 

 

“Yes. Now, let's see if you’ve got enough to sweeten the deal.” 

 

“Gah, I can’t believe the two of you.”

 

“I l-like cookies.” Izuku slowly sat up letting the blanket pool around his waist. 

 

“Done, little listener.” 

 

Turning to Shouta, Izuku nodded. “Free him.” 

 

“Wait, I want something too.” Shouta smirked at Hizashi. Only to feel a little concerned at the laugh that his husband let loose. He suddenly felt like he’d messed up somehow. 

 

“Oh Shou,” The flirty tone made Shouta’s stomach sink. He had messed up. “I’d love to tell you in detail what I could do to you but I don’t think you’d want the young ears to hear. But if you insist I’d love too–” 

 

Shouta crossed and shoved his hand under the wing and flicked his husband’s forehead. He knew that his face was bright red so he didn't uncover Hizashi’s face. 

 

He doubted he could live with the constant reminders of his embarrassment. 

 

“Shut up, or I’ll go get Nem to make sure Keigo stays sleeping for a good long time.”

 

“But you didn’t get an offer,” Izuku looked confused. “Hizashi was going to tell you. But you stopped him.”

 

Curse curious children. And curse his husband who was just quietly cackling. He’d like to just melt into the floor, but as apparently the only mature adult in the room he had to actually answer the kid’s indirect question. 

 

“Hizashi was going to be gross and offer kisses and stuff.” 

 

“Oh, gross.” Izuku’s nose wrinkled.

 

“Yeah, and stuff.” Hizashi purred out. 

 

“Hizashi.” 

 

“I’m done. I Promise.” 

 

“You better be,” Shouta hissed out as he started to help extract Hizashi.

 

It was surprisingly difficult. Not out of fear of waking Keigo, the kid was out like a light. No, it is because the kid must have a secondary sticky quirk as it felt like he could attach himself to anything that touched him like this. Shouta found himself having to extract himself as much as help Hizashi escape. They were taking one step forward and two steps back for a long time before Izuku finally ended up piping up with the idea of giving Keigo something else to cling to. Shouta felt like Indiana Jones as he offered the sleeping Keigo a pillow. It took a few tries but finally Hizashi and Shouta were standing over Keigo as he wrapped himself around the pillow. The loud snores mellowed and fully stopped as he nestled deeper under the blanket and into the pillow. 

 

Shouta was pretty sure he was still sleeping. But he’d been wrong before. 

 

“Sleep well, kid,” Shouta whispered as he moved the blanket to cover him more fully.

 

“What a dad. ” Hizashi whispered into his ear. He could feel his ears heat up and he shot his husband a look, which only earned him a laugh. 

 

Hizashi turned to Izuku and grinned at the kid. “Okie-dokie, Little Listener, I’m thinking we could go for a short walk before going and making breakfast. Or we could flip the order. Which would you rather do first?”

 

“Walk.” 

 

“Alright, can do. Then afterwards, what do you want for breakfast?” 

 

“... Fried chicken is Keigo’s favorite food.”  

 

“And what about you?”

 

“I like American pancakes.”

 

“Sounds like a wonderful breakfast.” Hizashi looked over at him with a silent question.

 

Shouta shrugged. He thought it was a bit of an odd choice, but he’d had weirder meals.

 

“Alright then, let's go!” 

 

“Hold on.” Recovery Girl at some point had come out of the bathroom fully dressed, but her hair was down and still visibly wet. “I need to check Shouta and Izuku over before I let them out of my sight.” 

 

Shouta grumbled as Recovery Girl poked and prodded him, double checking that, yes, his stab wound was fully healed closed. And, yes, he was going to take the antibiotics just in case. And that, yes, he’d come talk to her right away if there was anything off. He avoided medical situations, but he wasn’t an idiot. Keigo was too close of a call to let Shouta feel comfortable ignoring medical advice. 

 

Izuku got a way softer treatment than Shouta. Which, as a mature adult, he was not jealous of at all . Recovery Girl gently unwrapped Izuku's arm to check the wounds. Her ministrations were so different with him; Shouta could see it from the way she explained every small thing she did before she did it, how she rubbed more antibiotics over the cuts before winding new bandages over them. She waffled for a few moments before deciding to plant a warm kiss on the kid’s temple. Shouta was glad he was sitting next to Izuku as he swayed and his eyes rolled back a bit before he shook himself. 

 

“I’m sure you’re tired, but your arm is healed now. I would have done that last night, but your stamina was a bit too low for me to have felt comfortable doing that.”

 

Izuku rubbed his eye and gave a tired nod.

 

“If you want to sleep more you can do that, or I do have some energy gummies if you’d rather stay awake. It’s your choice.”

 

“We were going to go on a walk and have breakfast.” Izuku’s eyes flicked up to look at Shouta behind heavy eyelids. 

 

“If you want we can do all that after you nap. I promise we won't mind.”

 

“Oh, okay.” Izuku slumped further into Shouta’s side. He thought there was no way the kid fell asleep that fast, but when the little kitten snores started, Shouta knew Izuku was actually asleep. 

 

Shouta would be openly jealous of that. He only dreamed that he could fall asleep that fast. 

 

Hizashi quietly laughed from the stool where he’d parked himself. His face was so soft as he watched Shouta tuck the limp Izuku under the covers. “Wow, the Little Listener must have been exhausted.” 

 

“He was. I was genuinely worried about using my quirk on him. But the fact he stayed awake even for a short time is a good sign though. He’ll probably only sleep an hour or so before waking back up.” Recovery Girl turned to them. “I tried not to eavesdrop on your conversation with Izuku last night, but what I did hear made me wildly concerned. I know it is a hard situation, but he needs mental health treatment.” 

 

Shouta shot a look at the sleeping Keigo. He didn’t want to be wrong and have the kid overhear things and extrude it into something twisted again. “Maybe we should go elsewhere, I would hate to wake the kids.” 

 

“Good idea.” Hizashi nodded. “I didn’t get a chance to clean up the art classroom yesterday so we could go there so Nemuri won't get mad at me.” 

 

“I’ll leave my phone and a note.” Shouta quickly made a note and unlocked his phone. If either of the kids went snooping, all they’d find were cat photos, as all of his more personal photos were password protected. Being an underground hero was dangerous and he wasn’t going to let something as simple as his phone background give away his loved ones. 

 

Once they were all sure that if one of the kids woke up they’d have easy access to talk to them, they all walked to the art room. Seeing the spread out play-doh, Shouta smiled.

 

“So did Keigo like messing with play-doh?”

 

“He is actually wildly talented? I gave him a green tub and I have no idea how he did it, but he made a pretty recognizable Izuku out of it. I’d love to see what he could do with actual art supplies.” Hizashi started moving all the small tubs into the box. They hadn’t really made much of a mess so it was picked up in less than a minute.

 

“Don’t let Nem hear you say play-doh isn’t art supplies.” 

 

Hizashi ignored the comment. “I also… don’t think he’d ever gotten a chance to just play before? It was hard to convince him at first, but he got really into it once he started. I did it more because he punched a hole in the wall and kept trying to rip his hair out. But he got really focused and it basically stopped the aggression and self harm. Just to keep in mind for later.”

 

“Keigo also needs extensive mental health treatment.” Recovery Girl sighed. “I have a feeling, however, that he will be a lot harder to convince to go”

 

“I’d hate to use his guilt over… everything.” Hizashi looked at Shouta’s stomach. “But we might be able to convince him that he has to at least give it a try, so he doesn’t hurt anyone else?”

 

“No.” Shouta shook his head. “He was so twisted up just over breaking my nose, I bet he’ll be more upset over this, even if he doesn't say it. He was already worried that he was dangerous. We can’t use that.”

 

“Shouta…” Hizashi spoke tentatively, he looked apologetic. “Keigo is dangerous.”

 

“ Hizashi ,” Shouta recoiled. He couldn’t believe his husband could think that. 

 

“He’s right, Keigo is dangerous to himself and others,” Recovery Girl added on. Shouta stood, horrified at the two. “Sit down, Shouta.” 

 

Frowning deeply, he sat. He would hear them out. The swirling disgust would make it hard to stay totally calm, but he’d try.

 

“In just the past two weeks Keigo has broken your nose, given you multiple bruises and cuts and scrapes from his nails, and has stabbed you, if you’ve somehow already forgotten. I’ve had him swipe at me a few times when he woke up wrong. If I was less spry, I would also probably have bruises or cuts. He also refused to get medical care for himself when he was very unwell , and has a concerning disregard for his well being which is clear from his hair pulling and stories I’ve overheard him tell Izuku about his hero work. He also went against every reasonable choice when he took Izuku from UA, putting Izuku and himself in danger.”

 

“But he was just scared.” Shouta couldn’t refute what she said, it was all true… But Keigo wasn’t some dangerous person. He was… just a kid. A kid doing his best in horrible circumstances. “He… is just scared.” 

 

“That doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous, Shouta.” Hizashi’s voice was soft. “I’m not saying we should lock him up or anything like that, but he needs help or he is going to keep hurting people around him or himself. And if we need to push him to get that help...” 

 

“I’m not going to manipulate him.” Shouta crossed his arms. “None of us are, not if I have any say in the matter. We aren’t the commission.” 

 

“It’d be for his best interest. Especially if he is being stubborn.” Recovery Girl nodded at Hizashi.

 

“No. We can’t do that.” Shouta felt like he was going insane. How could they want to use the kid’s guilt like this? “Let… let’s at least try to just talk to him normally. I doubt anyone has ever honestly offered help before. I don’t think we are giving him enough credit. He’ll want to get better. He’s a good kid.” 

 

“He is, but I just–” 

 

“I don’t know what he told you, Hizashi. But he barely thinks of himself as a person . He called himself a pet. ” Shouta spat out the word. “He already thinks he is dangerous and lesser. I don’t know about you but I refuse to support that sort of thinking. It’d only scare him more.” 

 

“I– okay. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking.” Hizashi slumped forward with a sigh. He looked exhausted as he pushed his glasses up to his forehead as he rubbed his eyes. “I just… I’m worried.” 

 

“What are you worried about?”

 

Hizashi sat back up and leveled a look at Shouta. “You. I’m worried about you.” 

 

“What? Why?”

 

“You can’t deny that you are at times selfless to a self destructive degree.” He held up a finger, stopping Shouta before he was able to jump in. “Nope, No arguing. This is a fact. You would let Keigo cut all of your limbs off and still would forgive and advocate for him. I love that about you, you genuinely see the best in the kids you take under your wing and you help them get there. But, Shouta… that leaves me to be the person that has to protect you . I don’t want to be the bad guy here, but I–” 

 

Hizashi swallowed, blinking rapidly. Shouta reached out a hand and grabbed Hizashi’s hand as a single tear escaped down his face. “I can’t lose you.”

 

“You aren’t going to.” Shouta squeezed their joined hands. “Definitely not to Keigo. ” 

 

“I know. And you're right, Keigo is only dangerous because he’s scared. We need to help him be less scared, not more. I just…” Hizashi sighed. “My brain got ahead of me. Sorry.”

 

“You were worried. But don’t be. It’ll be okay. We’ll just have to talk to him, and he will understand if we are honest.” 

 

“G-d, so many heavy conversations back to back.” Hizashi put his head on the table with a groan. 

 

“Yeah. This is what happens when we put them off until they all pile up.” 

 

“I’m a teacher. I tell my students not to procrastinate on their homework all the time. How’d I get here?”

 

“If I remember correctly the two of you ended up in my infirmary from shotgunning energy drinks back to back to stay up for three days straight during midterms due to procrastinating your work. And both passed out,” Recovery Girl said blandly.

 

Shouta looked at Hizashi and smirked at the mortified expression he had. “Looks like you haven’t gotten all that much better from highschool.” 

 

“You also passed out,” Hizashi snipped out.

 

“Oh, but I’ve known I’m a hypocrite as a teacher from the beginning.” Shouta grinned at Hizashi as he tapped his head against the table a few times. “I’m a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ sort of guy.” 

 

“I think both of you are just ‘doing your best kind’ of guys.” She did air quotes around the words. “Keigo is an adult so all we can legally do is offer care and hope he takes it. But we should discuss Izuku as the two of you are his legal guardians.”

 

“As a medical professional, what would you recommend?”

 

Recovery Girl let out a large sigh. “That boy is going to need extensive therapy, ideally with someone trained for children with severe abuse. From what Izuku has said and from what I’ve read, I would also want to have a specialist in torture recovery involved. Izuku might not recognize that what he went through as torture yet, but that is what happened to him. I’m not a psychologist, nor do I pretend to be an expert, but recovery will likely involve Izuku… unraveling, as he comes to terms with and accepts what happened. I can’t begin to speculate how that will happen, but the two of you will need to be ready to support him through a wide array of responses. This is the sort of thing that… most people don’t fully recover from, but just learn to live with it.”

 

Hizashi cleared his throat. “I can’t speak for Shouta, but I feel totally out of my depth. I’ve helped with general depression, anxiety, and some PTSD. But Izuku’s catatonic dissociation? Keigo’s violent mood swings? I don't know what I am doing. I feel like I'm stumbling around in the dark and I—” He paused, swallowing. The vulnerable expression pulled as Shouta’s heart strings. “I don’t want to make it worse than I already have.” 

 

“Hizashi, none of this is your fault. It’s just–” Shouta was cut off. 

 

“Keigo thought I was abusing you. He told me that was why he ran off.” Hizashi’s eyes shone with held back tears. “If i’d just been able to control my anger without pummeling you, we wouldn’t be in all this mess.” 

 

“It wouldn’t have mattered what we did. Izuku told Keigo that we planned to use his quirk like the commission did.” 

 

“Hold on.” Hizashi shook his head. “The Little Listener thought…” 

 

“Izuku equated guardianship with his commission torturers.”

 

Hizashi rubbed his hand over his mouth before he sighed. “G-d, I’m going to be sick. So he thought this whole time that we were going to…” 

 

“Yeah.” Shouta wanted to be able to help his husband, but wasn’t sure there was anything he could really do. Learning that Izuku fully thought he was going to participate in something like that made him feel gutted and raw. Especially knowing the kid still reached out to them for comfort. It made him feel off kilter and gross. 

 

“How’d we mess that up?” Hizashi’s voice was so small and pained. Shouta could tell he felt similarly to him, and put a hand on his back. He wished he could answer, but he’d had the same question bounce around in his mind enough times to know there was no good response.

 

“The two of you are being much too harsh on yourselves. I saw how the four of you were sleeping this morning. Obviously, the two of you are doing something right, as they trust you. You’re both good with them. And each of you have come to me one on one and asked me enough questions about both of the boys’ physical well being alone to fill huge medical books. You both care and are doing your best, and that is going to go a long way.” Recovery Girl leveled a serious look at the two of them. A weird mix of feeling chastised and like he was given a pep talk clashed in him. He didn’t exactly love the feeling, but he didn’t have time to figure out himself as Recovery Girl continued. 

 

“Both boys are going to have misconceptions and will jump to incorrect conclusions. They will be confused, upset, angry, scared, in denial, and so much more. Triggering them is going to happen, and unless for some reason you did it on purpose, it’s not your fault. I doubt either boy will be able to tell you a full list of what will set them off. You will just have to learn as it happens. Even then, there is a chance it will be nebulous and indiscernible. It would be impossible for the two of you to read their minds and never trigger them, but help them to practice healthy coping skills and come up with ways to work through it. Talk to them and make it clear that you are there to support them and I have no doubt that the four of you will find a healthy balance.”

 

“You’re right, but G-d, how can we even bring a psychologist to talk to Izuku or Keigo right now? We decided to wait to bring on a specialist for Izuku’s very broken leg until the threat of the commission was dealt with. Are they going to just have to wait to get mental health care? Is this enough of a crisis to bring someone one immediately? If so, who? What will be the vetting process? What are the chances of them being a commission spy? If the commission comes for Izuku and we need to run, what would we do then? Take them with us?” 

 

Hizashi was working himself into a tizzy. Shouta grabbed his husbands shaking hands.

 

“Deep breaths. One step at a time, okay?” Shouta took exaggerated deep breaths and waited for Hizashi to take a few. With a tight smile, Hizashi nodded. Shouta turned to Recovery Girl.

 

“Do you think this is enough of an emergency to bring someone in?”

 

“Absolutely.” Recovery Girl nodded. Shouta agreed but his stomach still dropped, wishing that somehow the kids weren’t in the middle of a long, drawn out breakdown. “Unlike with Izuku’s leg, which won’t get much worse within a few weeks of it not being treated, their mental health is clearly degrading. Ideally, we can get someone who can handle both of them to minimize news getting out about the two.” 

 

“Would Hound Dog be qualified? I doubt it would be the ideal fit, but he’d be able to come in almost immediately. And we wouldn’t have to vet him.” Hizashi’s voice was thin and it made Shouta ache. 

 

“I can ask him how comfortable he’d feel helping. He is trained to handle more common high school problems. Dating and friend drama, self esteem building, eating disorders, and moderate levels of depression and anxiety. All of this… will likely be out of his training, but having someone professionally trained would likely be better than no one at this point. If he thinks someone else would be better, then we can go from there. I agree that he’d be the easiest to bring on, but I doubt he’d be a long term solution.” 

 

“I’m just concerned about Keigo’s quirkism,” Shouta mumbled. 

 

“Wait what? Keigo’s quirkest?” Hizashi asked, surprised.

 

“He calls his more animalistic traits creepy and off putting. I’ve seen him stop himself from making his calls and other more bird-like behavior. He was trained by the commission to see the heteromorphic side of his quirk as bad and wrong.” 

 

“S—, you’re right. I didn’t even think of it that way. Hound Dog might be a horrible fit if Keigo feels that way towards other heteromorphic quirk holders.” 

 

“Or seeing someone open with their animalistic traits might be exactly what he needs.” Recovery Girl piped in.

 

“I hope it’d go that way, but I haven’t seen Keigo interact with anyone with a heteromorphic quirk.” Shouta sighed. “I just don’t know.” 

 

“The best we can do currently is offer Keigo Hound Dog, as long as he agrees. Bringing someone on for him would be more complicated with the APB out on him. If Hound Dog or Keigo refuses, we can figure out alternatives then.” 

 

“And Izuku? Beyond him having about a whole house full of mental health concerns and the whole we are hiding him from his government kidnappers thing, are there any other concerns?” Hizashi asked, before snorting to himself. “Because, you know, that isn’t enough to worry about.” 

 

“Nothing big that I can think of. I’d like to offer one of us to be with him for the meetings as he seems nervous around people, so giving him the option might be good for him. Also we need to get him a small whiteboard.” Shouta knew that somewhere in UA was a whole box of small whiteboards and markers. He wasn’t sure exactly where though, but hopefully Hizashi or Recovery Girl knew. 

 

“A whiteboard?” Recovery Girl asked. 

 

“Izuku struggles to verbalize questions. With some prompting last night, he tapped out some in Morse code, but writing would be faster and more universal.” 

 

“But the Little Listener has asked me…” Hizashi trailed off as his eyes flicked back and forth like he was speed reading. He must have realized something as he slumped over the desk, catching his face in his hands. “F—. It started after we took guardianship. How did I not notice our baby stopped asking us questions?” 

 

Shouta rubbed his hand across Hizashi’s back. He wasn’t going to say it, but a fairly significant chunk of that time Izuku was totally checked out, barely responsive let alone verbal, or he was sleeping. But reminding Hizashi that the kid hadn’t really been okay at all since they took guardianship seemed counter to his goal of comforting his husband. 

 

“None of us noticed, ‘Zashi, but we know now so we can help him.” 

 

“I don’t want my child so scared of me that he can’t ask me questions ,” he spat out, all the muscles across his back coiled tight under Shouta’s hand. 

 

“He isn’t scared of us because of anything we did, he’s… just scared. In general.” He started massaging the taut muscles, hopefully to calm Hizashi down. It took a few passes but his shoulders slumped and Hizashi sighed. 

 

“You’re right. I just hate it.” 

 

“I talked to him about this last night. He is very tactile. Physical touch seems to ground him. Talking probably won't work as he said it was hard to hear when he was really scared.”

 

Hizashi let out a humorless snort. “Good to know. Keigo is dead opposite. He punched me pretty good in the jaw after touching him.” 

 

“You okay?” Shouta moved Hizashi’s jaw to get a better view. It looked perfectly fine. 

 

Hizashi nodded. “I think I slept close enough to Izuku. I woke up with no bruises or any pain.”

 

Shouta turned to Recovery Girl, expecting her to jump up to check over Hizashi like she had done to him. Instead she stayed looking in the middle distance, clearly lost in thought. “Are you going to look him over?”

 

“No.” She turned to him. “Why would I?”

 

“Izuku used his healing quirk on him?” She’d just a few days ago gone over how dangerous healing quirks could be if not handled correctly. She’d just been acting like Shouta was still injured even though he felt fine. He didn’t understand the sudden flip. 

 

“Ah. I see. I don’t need to, not for this.” She gestured towards Hizashi’s jaw. “Speeding up small injuries like this are so rarely a cause for concern. Just like most wouldn’t need to go to a doctor for a bruised jaw, using a healing quirk to speed it up doesn't need monitoring. On the other hand, larger injuries like fractures, large lacerations, or burns, or anything of the sort could have complications. The degree of complications depend on the mechanism of the healing quirk itself. For instance, I knew a doctor who could perfectly set and heal broken bones with a touch, but couldn’t do anything for the surrounding soft tissue. So the soft tissue damage would need to be checked out. Izuku on the other hand, under normal circumstances seems to only speed up the process. If he was close enough to a misaligned bone, he’d heal it quickly, but likely wrong. His quirk also does very little against infections, only helping keep inflammation down.” 

 

Well that was news to Shouta. He knew that Recovery Girl had been working to understand what they’d done to Izuku, but beyond the basic details of Izuku’s quirk, she hadn’t been super specific. If he had time, he’d love to read the report, but it was technical to a point that he doubted he could really understand. 

 

Also reading the details of how Izuku was tortured left a sour taste in his mouth. As much as he wanted to know, he also really didn't.

 

“Also this part of the report is more vague and some of it was clearly written to be hard to parse out, but it seems that the HPSC was able to figure out that if pushed to an incredibly dangerous degree, they were able to force his quirk into a state of almost full rejuvenation. It was just… difficult to achieve.” Her voice shook at the end.

 

“Rejuvenation? They were doing all this to get a little younger?” Hizashi sounded ready to burn the world into ash. Shouta couldn’t blame him; if that was the case he’d help.

 

“No, medically, rejuvenation is a quirk enhanced healing that leaves practically no signs of injury and in some cases can help erase past, already healed injuries. You two might have interacted with a medical professional who has a scar tissue negation quirk. That is a highly specific form of a rejuvenation healing quirk. Izuku’s heightened quirk seemed to be like his more natural state, and was general. And general rejuvenation healing quirks are incredibly rare. Only a handful are on record in the centuries since quirks started. Even just general healing quirks like mine and Izuku’s are incredibly rare. We can give an incredible speed boost, but for large injuries there is still evidence that there was an injury, sometimes smaller than if it was to heal totally naturally, but it is still there.” 

 

“So all of this was to heal some major injuries in someone? And they… could do it again?” Shouta’s mind raced. He finally understood Inko and her blatant paranoia. If this got out, Izuku would never be safe again. He was barely safe now. How could anyone possibly protect against probably everyone in the criminal underworld and the government? He was a hero, this sort of thing was his job, but he had never felt more inadequate. 

 

He was just one man. 

 

Shouta was startled by Hizashi’s hand on his knee. There was worry in his green eyes, but determination overshadowed it. Shouta's shoulders slumped. At least he wasn’t alone in all this.

 

“Yes and no,” Recovery Girl pursed her lips. “It seems that in their efforts to push his quirk further and further, it got harder and harder to reach that state of rejuvenation. I am missing the pages that focused on this aspect of his quirk. I’m not sure exactly why, but from what I have been able to parse, the torture led to Izuku's chronic low level pain which meant his quirk was active, which for some reason made it more difficult to reach the heights needed to reach rejuvenation.”

 

“So the torture of a child was their wax wings and their efforts made them fall like Icarus and whatever sick plans they had failed? Leaving Izuku to deal with all of the aftermath?” Hizashi shook his head and scoffed. “I sure as h— hope whatever plans they had were f—ing worth it. I for one am not going to let this go. I’m going to hunt down everyone involved and make them pay. ”

 

“Hizashi.” Shouta grabbed Hizashi’s hand and let it hang between the two of them. Hizashi squeezed hard enough that Shouta felt the bones of his hand grind together. Shouta ignored the pain. “I am angry too, but we need to focus on the kids. They need us, not our anger.” 

 

“I know,” Hizashi said through gritted teeth. “I just– This is all a lot and it f—ing sucks.” 

 

Shouta nodded with a soft grunt. 

 

It did f—ing suck. 

 

Recovery Girl sighed. “You are not wrong. I should head back, I don’t feel comfortable leaving the boys alone even if they are sleeping. I will reach out to Hound Dog to see if he is available and comfortable taking this on on the most foundational level. I will leave talking to Nedzu to the two of you, you will need to sort out how much to tell Hound Dog about the situation as a whole.”

 

“Alright.” Hizashi stood, grabbing the box of play-doh. The dejected body language and tone seemed strange with the children’s toy in his hands. “I wish there was more we could do for them. If I could just fix it, I would.” 

 

“Just being there will be more helpful than I think you realize.”

 

With that she slipped off the high stool and left. Hizashi went to put the box back in the closet. Shouta stood with a groan, putting a hand to his stomach over the scar he knew would be there. It didn’t hurt anymore, but the bone deep exhaustion and lightheadedness screamed of recent blood loss. 

 

Sometimes, Shouta wondered what life would be like if he wasn’t a hero. The idea that he might not be intimately knowledgeable of what blood loss exhaustion felt like boggled his mind. The idea that a non hero Shouta might just know one or two forms of exhaustion, instead of a good fifteen, made his head spin.

 

Or maybe that was the blood loss. 

 

Hizashi shimmied up next to him, pulling him into a side hug. Shouta loved his husband, but he was not as subtle as he thought he was as the arm that was wrapped around his waist helped support him. However, it was probably a good thing as Shouta stopped swaying. He hadn’t even realized he was doing that. 

 

Maybe he should sit back down.

 

“You look pale. And I mean more than your borderline vampirical refusal to go into the sun standard. You stand up too fast?”

 

“I did try to go slow.” Shouta closed his eyes as he leaned into Hizashi. He rubbed his eyes with one hand. The lightheadedness was slowly fading as his blood pressure evened out.

 

“Yeah, at a point standing is just hard when you don’t have enough blood.” 

 

Shouta groaned as they started walking towards the door slowly. “Annoyingly, yes. All I feel like doing is laying down and sleeping for a million years. But I really want to shower.” 

 

“If you want, I’ve heard sponge baths can be an incredibly sensual experience.” Hizashi wiggled his eyebrows and Shouta rolled his eyes.

 

“I’ve had enough sponge baths to know they really aren’t.” 

 

“Well, I’ve never given you one before.” Hizashi leaned in to whisper, “And you know I know how to make you feel amazing.” 

 

Shouta felt himself flush. “I just want a real shower, ‘Zashi.” 

 

“Then… could I join you?” There was a weird tone to his voice. Shouta was too tired to try to parse out what it could be.

 

“Assuming I was interested, which I wouldn’t be right now, if you think that we could even get up to anything in that tiny shower while the kids and Recovery Girl were just one room over, you’d be delusional.”

 

“Shou, I’d never ask to do something like that.”

 

He shot his husband a bland look, which made Hizashi laugh. “Alright, I totally would. But I'm not this time.” 

 

“I don’t even think we’d both fit. ” Shouta hadn’t really meant to say that outloud, but wasn’t upset by how it made Hizashi laugh again.

 

“Oh come on, we’re both flexible, I bet we totally could do it.” 

 

“I’d take that bet.” 

 

“What?” Hizashi’s head snapped to the side, startled as his eyes searched Shouta’s face. Shouta just grinned.

 

“I want to prove you wrong. ” 

 

“Wait, are you being serious right now?”

 

“I want to be able to rub it in your face.” Also Shouta couldn’t deny that he wanted to be close to Hizashi. And… to have backup in case he got dizzy again. 

 

It was only logical. 

 

“Shouta, this is a challenge I am going to win.” 

 

“Whatever you say, dear,” Shouta deadpanned as he patted the side of Hizashi’s face. 

 

“Just for that, I’m going to make sure we don’t even get water on the floor, you’ll see.” Hizashi’s excited grin made Shouta feel warm. 

 

Things sucked, and probably would for some time, but at least they had each other. 

 

—

 

Shouta was technically proven wrong; they did both fit, barely , but the two of them got more than a little bit of water on the floor. So it had been decided that it was a tie. 

 

There were also some wandering hands on both sides, but in their defense, they couldn’t get further than maybe a hand span from each other. Shouta had a perfect view of how beautiful Hizashi was as he rinsed his hair. He couldn’t stop himself from kissing along his husband's collar bone. Nothing got too far, especially when Shouta fell onto the wall of the shower, dizzy. 

 

Hizashi shut everything down after that and with almost militaristic efficiency finished washing and rinsing Shouta off. Then sat him on the toilet seat, wrapped in a towel as he finished rinsing the conditioner out of his own hair. Shouta just sat there and took deep breaths. His head was tilted back and he closed his eyes. He focused on the feeling of the water drops rolling down his back from his hair. He already felt back to his exhausted normal just by sitting down. He was pretty sure that between standing for a while, the heat of the shower and… getting a little excited, his blood pressure had just tanked. 

 

Which was embarrassing . 

 

The shower turned off and a towel was draped over Shouta’s hair. He flickered his eyes open to see Hizashi calmly drying his hair, his own long blond hair tied up in a towel. Normally, he would fight him and take back over as he was perfectly capable of drying his own hair. But this time, he just indulged his husband’s desires, reveling in the feeling of being taken care of. He should let him do this more often, it made him feel like something precious. For some reason, he felt his dry eyes prick like they wanted to fill with tears. 

 

“Sorry,” Shouta mumbled.

 

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Hizashi’s voice was soft as he started to run his fingers through the still damp hair.

 

“I keep worrying you.” He leaned his head back to rest on Hizashi’s chest. “That’s not fair of me.” 

 

“I’m going to always worry over you, Shou. I love you.” He smiled before pecking a quick kiss on Shouta’s forehead. “But I would love it if you stopped going out of your way to get into situations where you get harmed.” 

 

“I didn’t know Keigo was going to stab me.” 

 

“I know you don’t try, but you’re too much of a hero, and will keep getting into trouble because of your big stupid heart.” 

 

“I honestly don’t know what even happened this time. One second he was totally checked out, and the next I had a meter long feather sticking out of my stomach.” 

 

“Sounds like one more thing we should talk about with Keigo.” Hizashi brushed back Shouta’s wet hair one last time before grabbing the clothes they’d snagged before showering. “We can speculate forever, but we should probably actually go out and talk to the two of them. They might be awake by now.” 

 

“Is it bad that I hope they are both still sleeping so I could sneak in a nap too?”

 

“No, and since when have you ever felt bad for sneaking in a nap, Mr. I-sleep-through-classes-that-I-am-the-teacher-for?”

 

“Good point.” Shouta smiled as he started to get dressed. 

 

Leaving the bathroom feeling much cleaner, Shouta felt something melt as he heard the excited mumbling between Izuku and Recovery Girl, or more Izuku at her. A whiteboard was on his lap and it was totally covered in writing. They were quietly talking about her quirk and her time as a hero, making sure to not wake the still sleeping Keigo. Shouta could see how Izuku was rubbing his feet together excitedly under the blanket. He thought it was cute how he did that. It was like he got so excited that the energy was too much and boiled over. 

 

Shouta sat heavily on the foot of the bed and patted the kids' twisting feet. Hizashi darted around to sit next to Izuku. 

 

“You feeling better, Little Listener?” Hizashi asked.

 

Izuku nodded, before wiping the filled board with his bare hand, leaving black smudges on the side of his palm. Shouta made a mental note to get him an eraser. Or at least a cloth. The marker squeaked as he wrote his question. 

 

Can we go on that walk now? 

 

“Of course, kiddo,” Shouta spoke, ignoring the sharp look from his husband. 

 

Was going on a walk a good idea when he’d grayed out showering? No. But from the way Izuku lit up, it was totally worth it. 

 

“Shouta,” Hizashi’s voice was a little tight. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” 

 

“One second, Hizashi.” Shouta smiled at Izuku, who was nervously pouting. “Izuku, I was wondering if you’d be okay sharing your wheelchair for the walk? I’m still really tired, but still want to go with you and Hizashi. Does that sound okay?” 

 

“I think the wheelchair is big enough if I…” Izuku started to pick at the edge of the blanket. “If I sit on your lap.” 

 

“You can sit on my lap, kiddo. I wouldn’t have offered the idea if I wasn’t okay with it.” 

 

“Okay. That makes sense.” 

 

Shouta turned to Hizashi, giving his exasperated husband a bland smile. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?” 

 

“Sometimes, Shou, you are impossible.” Hizashi rolled his eyes as he stood, stretching his arms dramatically with a groan. “If I’m going to push the two of you I better get prepped.” 

 

“Oh, if you don't want to push us we don’t need to go on a walk,” Izuku whispered out.

 

“Hizashi is just being dramatic.” Shouta leaned forward to stage whisper, “I bet if you give him puppy dog eyes he’ll try to run as fast as he can while we ride.” 

 

“Oh, you don’t even have to ask , what is the point of having wheels on a chair if not to go as fast as you can! That’s obviously why wheelchairs were made!” Hizashi winced at the loudness of his voice, quickly checking that he didn’t wake the still softly snoring Keigo.

 

“I’m pretty sure wheelchairs weren’t made to go fast, but to help people who couldn't move, move.”

 

“Kid’s right, ‘Zashi.”

 

“Betrayal, from my own family!” 

 

Izuku struggled to keep a straight face as Hizashi dramatically fell back onto the bed next to him clutching at his heart. Shouta felt something in him loosen at the sight.

 

“Telling you the truth isn’t a betrayal.” Izuku leaned forward to whisper just like Shouta had done to him. Giving Hizashi a quick pat on his shoulder he grinned, “It’s just crushing your dreams.” 

 

Hizashi sputtered and it took everything in Shouta not to cackle. He couldn't contain all of it and did quietly laugh as Hizashi let out a series of strange noises. He settled on throwing his arm over his eyes and groaned. 

 

“How is that better ?”

 

Izuku shrugged, a fake innocent look settling over his face. “Never said it was.” 

 

“If you all plan on going on the walk I think it would be wise to go before Keigo wakes up. We only have the one wheelchair and three people will not fit on it.” Recovery Girl stood. “And Izuku, it was very fun to chat with you. You have great insights, hopefully we will be able to talk again. Ideally when there is no one in my infirmary.” 

 

Shouta felt a little insulted as she threw him a sharp look before sliding into her office. 

 

“Well, little listener, ready to go?” Hizashi jumped up to grab the wheelchair. He parked it next to Shouta, making it clear that he wasn’t getting out of the joy ride. He rolled his eyes as he slowly stood up. 

 

“Yes I am!” 

 

The moment Shouta finished lowering himself slowly into the chair, he was given an armful of squirmy child. 

 

It was hard to make eye contact with the kid on his lap, but Shouta craned his neck around to catch the corner of Izuku’s eye. “You good, kiddo?”

 

Izuku gave him the fakest smile and an overeager nod. Shouta was glad Izuku didn’t want to go into acting as it was clear as day that something was bothering him. 

 

Holding out his palm in front of Izuku, Shouta spoke clearly. “You can ask me anything. I wasn’t kidding. A million questions, Izuku.” 

 

Izuku chewed on his lip before reaching out a tentative finger to tap out his question. 

 

ARE YOU SURE HIZASHI IS OKAY PUSHING US?

 

“I’m sure, but if you want I can ask him just to make sure?” 

 

Out of the corner of Shouta’s eye he could see Hizashi watching the whole conversation from behind them. Knowing Hizashi, holding back was slowly killing him, but Shouta was grateful he was giving Izuku the time he needed. After a fairly long time, Izuku squirmed in his lap only to shake his head. 

 

Not exactly what Shouta had been hoping for.

 

“Why not? I don’t mind asking, and double checking with people is a good thing, Izuku.” Shouta mentally prayed that somehow that would sink in. He also hoped that it’d somehow sink into Keigo through sleep osmosis. Shouta wasn’t sure if he could survive another massive miscommunication like this again. 

 

The kid didn’t respond, only fidgeted with the edge of the oversized sweatshirt he’d given Izuku days ago. It was almost a full minute before Izuku rolled back his shoulders and turned to look over Shouta’s shoulder at Hizashi. One of his hands gripped the front of Shouta’s t-shirt so hard it shook. 

 

“H-Hizashi? Are you s-sure you’re fine p-pushing us?” 

 

Shouta wrapped one arm around Izuku in a half hug as his voice trembled. He was so proud, it almost felt like his chest was going to explode. Izuku was pushing through his fear, but that also worried Shouta. He didn’t want the kid to wear himself out.

 

Hizashi’s arm snaked out from behind Shouta to ruffle Izuku’s wild curls. “Of course, little listener. I’m actually pretty excited to push the two of you. I love helping. And I’m so happy that you double checked, I'd hate for something like this to make you anxious. Feel free to ask me anything at any time, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Izuku whispered out. His death grip on the front of Shouta’s shirt was dropped as Izuku wiggled himself into a more comfortable seat.

 

They started towards the infirmary door and Shouta squeezed Izuku into his chest. He leaned down to whisper in his ear, “I’m really proud of you, Izuku. That was really brave.” 

 

“Heroes are brave and I want to be a hero.” Izuku shrugged.

 

“You’re one of the bravest people I know,” Shouta leaned his cheek on the top of Izuku’s head. His green hair tickling Shouta’s nose. “I have no doubt that you will make an amazing hero one day.”

 

Shouta heard Izuku sniff a few times before some warm tears dropped onto the back of his arm. He tightened the hug, turning his head to kiss the forest of curls. 

 

“Thanks, Shouta.” 

 

“Anytime, kiddo. Now, let's enjoy this walk.”

Chapter 27: Shouta goes on a nice walk with his family

Notes:

well hello folks. Happy american thanksgiving to those who celebrate. I guess any canadians happy thanks giving to you too but like further away lol

BUTTTTT as always thanks to my delightfl beta for helping me out. you da bestest @Sassy_chemist <33333 your comments bring me joy and the number of times you called shouta a dad in this one brought me life cuz oh mannnn teh man is a dad all the frickin time btu you called him out on it so much it was making me laugh.

sorry shouta you were designated dad and cannot escape :) not like i think he wants to (and mmmmm if he tried id march him right back to dad land as im sorry dude youre the Dad.

As for triggers Ill throw them at the end of the chapter but like if you've made it this far.... you are probably gonna be more than okay lol

BUT ENJOY A CUTE WALK WITH THE FAMILYYYYY <3333 :D

Shouta was glad Izuku decided to go out on this walk. Listening to the birds and feeling the crisp air in his lungs didn’t magically make his exhaustion disappear. However, watching Izuku point to a brightly coloured cardinal and blow out visible breaths like he was a train lifted a heavy weight off his shoulders.

 

Things weren’t okay, and they wouldn’t be for a long time, but between the cracks they could find the small things that made life livable. And he just needed to focus on that.

 

Shouta heard a twig snap, and was immediately on edge. His head was on a swivel as he searched the area. He only saw trees and foliage. They were walking in one of the more naturally forested parts of campus. Shouta tried to convince himself that it was just some animal roaming around, but he tightened his hold on Izuku, ready to run at a moment's notice. 

 

Hizashi made a choked gagging noise from behind. The sound of a struggle filled Shouta’s ears as he sprang into action. His vision grayed as he stumbled into a sprint. 

 

D— his blood loss. 

 

He slowed to a jog and manhandled Izuku to be chest to chest with him, in a reverse piggyback ride. 

 

“Hold on,” Shouta ordered between heaving breaths. The kid complied immediately. 

 

The earth shaking shouts from Hizashi sounded strained, like he was trying to modulate and control his voice. S—. That probably meant the portable directional speaker was busted. That wasn’t the worst thing to happen but meant that Hizashi’s very dangerous quirk had all the safeties off. 

 

Shouta continued to run as fast as he could down the path, but he was flagging and it’d only been maybe a hundred meters. As he neared the treeline, five people dressed in all black jumped down from or slipped around the large trees. They were now blocking Shouta’s way. 

 

The weight of his capture weapon around his neck felt like chains as he realized with his hands busy holding Izuku, it’d be almost impossible to use it.

 

One of the people took a step forward, their hands raised. It took Shouta a split second to recognize him, but the dome of purple hair and the lack of immediate hostility triggered his memory. It was the agent that was borderline helpful during the raid. 

 

“We don’t want to hurt anyone. Just hand over Panacea and we’ll go.” 

 

Shouta growled as he felt Izuku try to bury himself deeper into his chest. “Bulls—. I’d never hand Izuku over to you.” 

 

“Then I apologize in advance.” 

 

The man lunged, hands first, his hair glowing. Shouta’s now raised hair was grazed as he ducked out of the way only for a different agent to kick him in the side. They got his ribs, but missed Izuku. Shouta tried to duck and twist out from the circle that now surrounded him, but couldn’t get out. He ducked under punches and over leg sweeps, canceled the quirks of glowing hands and twisted and turned to make sure that any hits which did connect missed the kid. He kicked the knee of one of the agents, sending her howling to the ground, only for one of the agents behind him to elbow him in the back.

 

Shouta’s spine was going to be horribly bruised at the end of this. But maybe not. He wasn’t sure if it was adrenaline or Izuku’s quirk, but he didn’t feel as bad as he thought he should. 

 

Looking over his shoulder, his eyes blazed red as he canceled out what seemed to be some sort of weak fire quirk. He donkey-kicked the guy in the groin, sending him to the ground. 

 

Three to go. 

 

Spinning around he got a hand to the face, right over the eyes. Reflexively, Shouta blinked. 

 

And immediately regretted it as a stinging pain blinded him. He grunted as his eyes watered and the skin around his eyes swelled. He collapsed to one knee, shielding Izuku with his body. Shouta wasn’t really capable of fighting without his arms and also blind . But he hoped he could hold out as a human shield long enough for backup. 

 

Hands, both stinging and normal, grabbed at him and tried to get to Izuku. Shouta just held the boy tighter, ignoring the almost searing feeling as what felt like a million needles shot into his skin wherever the one man touched his skin. One of the agents kicked his back over and over, making him stutter out a grunt. G-d he hoped someone came soon, they should have triggered the security by now.

 

“ERASER, EARS!” 

 

Shouta snapped his palms up to cover Izuku’s ears, curling even closer to the ground to cover the boy from any possible debris. 

 

“F— OFF.” 

 

The ground shook, and small branches and pine cones fell on Shouta’s back. The sharp ring of tinnitus clouded any possible sounds around. Warm liquid ran out of his ears. 

 

Well, s—, he was now blind, deaf, and still armless from holding Izuku. This was just great. 

 

Forcing his eyes open was difficult from the swollen skin and the stinging pain making his eyes run with tears. Through the hazy vision, he saw that the three agents that had been attacking them were on the ground. The blur, who he was pretty sure was Hizashi, was sprinting towards them, gesturing behind Shouta. It was more watery smudges. And they were getting closer. Fast. 

 

Hizashi could handle this. Shouta and Izuku just needed to get out of the way or they would end up being casualties. Jumping up from the fetal position he’d been on the ground, Shouta ran as fast as he could off the path and into the trees. He rapid fire blinked, trying to keep his vision clear enough that he wouldn’t run head first into a tree, ignoring the scratches from branches that hit his face periodically. Even though Shouta could only hear the high pitched ringing, he could feel his husband’s shrieks and yells as they shook the ground and could see the trees vibrate.

 

He didn’t even make it another hundred meters before he felt his knees start to give out and his heart pounding almost painfully in his chest. He slammed his back into the trunk of the closest tree, trying to catch his wheezing breath. This was embarrassing. He was a hero. He graduated from UA, and was a teacher there now. Why couldn’t his blood depleted body get the memo now was the time for some Plus Ultra spirit? 

 

Instead of doing what his body wanted to do, which was lay down and sleep, he stood braced against the tree with shaking limbs, a heart that threatened to pump its way out of his chest, and lungs that ached for oxygen that seemed to be absent. 

 

A small hand reached up to tap Shouta’s cheek, avoiding the painful skin. He did his best to look through the tears at the kid. He was mouthing something he couldn’t quite make out through his rapid fire blinking. Shouta opened his mouth only for Izuku to put a finger over his lips.

 

Ah, there was someone near that Izuku saw that Shouta hadn’t noticed. 

 

Izuku gently tapped his stinging temple, pointed to what had to be Shouta’s eyes and then tangled his hands in his long hair and then lifted it up in the air. He then pointed around the tree that Shouta was leaning on. 

 

Shouta frowned before it clicked. Izuku wanted him to use his quirk. That was going to be… A challenge. His eyes demanded him to blink, and using his quirk on already painful eyes was actual hell. But he’d do it to keep Izuku safe. 

 

Rolling himself to be able to peek out from around the thick trunk, Shouta squeezed his eyes shut, forcing the excessive tears out to prepare. He leaned out and opened his eyes. The hot flash of stabbing pain made him almost blink his quirk away immediately, but he was able to hold out just long enough to focus in on a short woman whose eyes were closed as she chanted… something. 

 

Izuku startled in his arms from something and looked up and around at the sky. Maybe the alarm was finally being triggered? The woman also jumped and looked around. Shouta rolled out back to lean his back against the tree. 

 

He was pretty sure she hadn’t noticed him. 

 

Maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part.

 

His knees buckled as his vision wavered, but not in the eyes-filled-with-tears-because-of-pain-way, but in the he-pushed-to-hard-when-suffering-from-blood-loss way. Slowly, Shouta let himself sink down leaning up against the trunk. 

 

G-d he was tired. But he couldn’t stop now. He needed to protect Izuku. 

 

But on the other hand he really needed his head to stop spinning. 

 

Izuku’s head darted to the side and Shouta grabbed the knife out of his own pocket, ready. 

 

What seemed to be an army of small drones flooded through the forest. A few stopped to seemingly stand guard next to Shouta and Izuku, small blue lights on their underside started to flash. The rest of the swarm flooded past them. Shouta leaned out to look behind the tree to see the woman surrounded by the drones, small barrels raised from the center to point at the woman. Knowing Nedzu those were probably lasers or some other weapon. Shouta was glad when the woman slowly sank to the forest floor on her knees. 

 

Shouta let his head tilt back, the rough bark tangling into his hair. Thank g-d for Nedzu and his penchant for excessive security. He sighed as he let his stinging eyes slide closed. He held Izuku, and felt as the kid’s tears left a wet patch on his shoulder. When his breaths became erratic Shouta mumbled out soothing nonsense as he just held the kid tighter. The ringing in his ears finally was fading and he could almost hear muffled noise. 

 

After some time there was a tap on Shouta’s shoulder. Snapping his eyes open, he saw a worried Nemuri. The stinging pain had lessened to the point he could at least keep his eyes open, even if they were still a little squinted. Nemuri tried to say something, but it sounded like she was talking underwater half a kilometer away. He shook his head and pointed to his ears. He almost laughed as he was able to lip read her next word. 

 

<S—> 

 

She pointed at Izuku with a questioning expression. Shouta looked down at his kid and saw that at some point he’d checked out again. He wished he was surprised, but he wasn't, not really. It might even be good for the kid to mentally run away right now as this had got to be terrifying. 

 

However, if this ruined walks for Izuku, Shouta was going to personally castrate every agent in the commission. He shook his flat hand making the sign for ‘so-so’ at Nemuri. She frowned as she reached out her hand to help pull him up. He took it, making sure his other hand was holding Izuku’s back to his chest. 

 

Nemuri had to help steady him, but on shaking legs he was able to walk back to the path. Nedzu stood over by the rounded up agents, which were handcuffed and had the drones surrounding them. A few of the agents had some darts sticking out of them and looked to be sleeping. 

 

Ah, that’s what was in the drones, good to know. 

 

The agent with the purple domed hair seemed to be the main one talking to Nedzu, the others around him looked upset at him. Hizashi ran up from where he was talking on the phone, he was talking, but just slightly too fast for Shouta to make out what he was saying. Nemuri must have explained as Hizashi deflated, devastation painted thick on his face. 

 

“It’s not your fault.” Shouta couldn’t really tell if he was talking too quietly or too loud, but from the way Hizashi’s face somehow fell even more, he at least knew his husband heard him. “I mean it. Recovery Girl has fixed my ears before, it’ll be fine.” 

 

Hizashi placed a hand on his shoulder, his other hand resting on the top of Izuku’s head. Shouta could see how he desperately wanted to cuddle up next to the two of them, but showing relationships so openly was dangerous. Shouta just sent him a small smile and tilted his head over to squeeze the shaking hand between his ear and shoulder. It worked, as Hizashi let out a long sigh before smiling. He took over helping guide him from Nemuri and handed her the phone, she flinched as she put it up to her ear. A low buzzing matched with her mouth movements, the faded sounds slowly seemed to be returning. 

 

Hizashi moved the whole group slowly to the now knocked over wheelchair, quickly righted it, and guided the now trembling Shouta into the seat. It felt really nice to sit down, turning Izuku to be more cradled in his lap. Shouta was willing to carry Izuku as long as he had to, but even a small eleven year old was still heavy. And Shouta was still tired, so a short break was nice.

 

Crouching down in front of Shouta, Hizashi raised his hands to sign. Very clearly Hizashi spoke as he signed, and between his very muffled but slowly returning hearing, lip reading and the signing, Shouta was able to know what he was asking.

 

“Are you or Izuku injured?”

 

“No.” Shouta combed back Izuku’s hair. The glassy look in his green eyes tore at his insides. He reminded himself that it wasn’t his fault, that there was no way for them to anticipate this. His husband’s hand shook his knee. 

 

“Nedzu called the other UA heroes. We are to take care of Izuku and talk Keigo down…” Izuku shifted in Shouta’s lap dividing his focus as he needed to visually check the kid over. Hizashi kept talking, but he sped up just enough to lose Shouta.

 

“What’s wrong with Keigo?”

 

Hizashi pursed his lips before very slowly speaking, his hands clipped as they signed. “He is angry.” 

 

For some reason, he was pretty sure that was an understatement.

 

“We should go to him. Izuku isn’t safe out here right now, and Nedzu and Midnight seem to have it under control.” 

 

Hizashi nodded and started to push the two of them back towards the main building. He started going at a light jog to get back swiftly. 

 

He’d figured Hizashi would run with them in the wheelchair on this walk. But not like this. 

 

—

 

Even with his damaged hearing, Shouta could make out the loud bird screeches and yelling echoing down the hall the moment that Hizashi opened the door. 

 

Ah, so Keigo was doing great.  

 

Out of the distant Infirmary door Keigo stumbled, leaning heavily on the wall. Recovery Girl followed closely after, blocking his path as best as the 115 cm woman could. Keigo’s wings were raised and fluffed up. He was making himself look big and scary, but Shouta could see how he was curled up onto himself and the distress he couldn’t hide in the sounds he could hear made it clear. The kid was scared. 

 

“Keigo!” Shouta called out as Hizashi pushed them closer. His husband had stopped running when they entered the building and Shouta understood, but was still a little peeved, he needed to get to his kid now . “Stand down.” 

 

Keigo’s piercing gold gaze raked over all three of them as they approached. Concern filled his eyes as he looked at Hizashi. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Izuku. A small frown grew as he looked over Shouta. He tried to step away from the wall to get closer to them only to have his legs collapse out from under him. Recovery Girl shook her head as she crouched down, obviously checking Keigo over. Hizashi darted around Shouta and helped Keigo up, slinging one of his arms over his shoulder. The kids' wings were loose as they dragged on the floor as they slowly ambled back into the infirmary. Shouta awkwardly moved the wheelchair in small little half curves towards the door as he switched arms back and forth between holding up Izuku and moving. He was just making it into the door when Hizashi came back to get them. 

 

“Oh, Shou, I was going to come back.” Hizashi’s voice was a little strained and wobbly. Which was concerning, but at least Shouta could hear it.

 

“Thank G-d, I can basically hear you now. You won't need to play interpreter.” Shouta was astounded. It was almost clear. It just kind of sounded a little muffled, like his hearing did after a bad cold. He was pretty sure he had ruptured his ears again, but maybe it hadn't been that bad.

 

Hizashi smiled before he gently started to push them around the privacy curtain. Once they arrived at the bed next to the one Keigo was sitting on, he moved to pick Izuku up in a bridal carry. 

 

“It probably was the little listener.”

 

“Right, his quirk.” In the heat of the moment Shouta had totally forgotten that the kid’s quirk was always at least a little active. 

 

“What did Izuku heal this time?” Recovery Girl sounded exhausted. Shouta could relate.

 

“My ears.” Shouta paused, thinking back to the fight. “And probably bruising on my back and some sort of quirk reaction over my face and eyes.” 

 

“I’ll be right back.” Recovery Girl darted off to her office. The blessed sounds of her muttering under her breath and slamming things around to get at whatever tools she needed was music to his ears. Shouta didn’t particularly like being down a sense. Hearing was more bearable to lose then sight, but he was glad both were basically back.

 

Recovery Girl came back in a whirlwind. She didn’t even ask before tilting his head and shoving a probe into his ear. He flinched as it was invasive as heck, but also it was cold. He stopped dodging the probe for the second ear when Hizashi shot him a look from where he was sitting with Izuku curled up on his lap. He frowned and crossed his arms at his husband. He’d sit through it, but he wasn’t going to be happy about it. 

 

“Looks like they are healing nicely, but after they are fully finished and things calm down I want you to get a hearing test done.” 

 

She moved onto his eyes, pulling the lids back and shining a light in them. 

 

“Your eyes themselves are their normal dry selves. The skin around them looks to be inflamed, looks like jellyfish stings, similar to Izuku’s. I’ll keep an eye on them, but I’m assuming a lot of the swelling and irritation has gone down?” Shouta nodded at her question. “Good. unless something weird happens, that you will tell me about immediately , you are probably fine. Now, shirt off.” 

 

Rolling his eyes and huffing, he pulled his shirt off. Her cold hands made him shiver as she poked at his back and sides. She threw the shirt back at him.

 

“The bruises are still visible but faded, more like week or two old bruises. Unless they start to grow in size or increase in discomfort, you are likely fine there too.” She sighed. “I also want to make it clear that just because you now now have a child that can heal you, you should still be cautious and avoid–” 

 

 Shotua cut her off. “Are you implying I did this on purpose ?” 

 

“I didn’t mean it that way, I just am worried. You have always been a regular, but this is getting ridiculous.”

 

“If I could avoid commission agents from ambushing me, while on a walk with my child I would,” Shouta spat out. 

 

“Alright, maybe we need to take a breather,” Hizashi croaked out, rocking Izuku slightly in his lap. “I’m usually all for anger, but I think the little listener is still picking up on the negative vibes.” 

 

Izuku was shaking and slow tears rolled down his eyes. The sight took all the wind out of his sails.

 

“I apologize, Shouta.” Recovery Girl gave a curt bow before darting over to Izuku and Hizashi. She was so gentle as she checked Izuku over. She cradled the back of his head as she looked over his ears. “And Izuku’s ears look totally fine, was he injured at all?”

 

“No, I made sure he was never hit.” 

 

“Good.” She turned to Hizashi and tilted his head back. Shouta’s eyes widened, He hadn’t even noticed but there was a thin red angry welt across Hizashi’s neck right along his collar, deep bruises spreading up and down from it. “How’d this happen?”

 

“Someone with a wire manipulation quirk got me, cracked the small directional speaker I have.” He coughed. That's why his voice sounded wrecked, it wasn't just quirk use, Shouta felt horrible for not noticing earlier.

 

“Any trouble breathing?” 

 

“No, I just bruised, I think.” He cleared his throat after his voice cracked. “And I doubt using my quirk a bunch helped at all.” 

 

“I agree, I’d rather not rely on Izuku, so I am going to heal you as you have enough stamina, but you will likely be tired.”

 

“Already am,” Hizashi held out a hand, “So, kiss away.” 

 

Recovery Girl kissed his hand but looked exasperated as she gathered up all of the tools and medical equipment she’d brought out. “I expect all of you to rest. I will be calling in Lunch Rush here shortly to make food for all of you, as I am assuming Nedzu is calling in all the heroes to come help.” 

 

“He is.” Hizashi said sleepy as he settled back into the pillow Izuku rested on his chest. 

 

“Good. This has gotten out of hand, and trying to stay covert hasn’t worked as well as I think we all hoped.” She moved towards the door of the infirmary. “I am going to step out. If there is so much as one additional scrape or bruise on a single one of you when I get back, I will give the lecture of a lifetime.”

 

“We’ll be fine. Go.” Shouta shooed her out, which only made her scowl. It looked like she wanted to say something but her eyes settled on Izuku and softened. She gave a terse nod and left.

 

The silence that followed was a bit tense. Everyone was still trying to come down from various adrenaline rushes. After a long time, Keigo’s feathers ruffled as he curled his knees up to his chest. 

 

“What’s wrong with Izuku?” His voice was nervous and small. “Why… why does he look so empty?”

 

Shouta internally cursed. Keigo didn’t know , he’d been unconscious for the three days Izuku had first been dissociated, then the shorter time last night he’d been kept away from Izuku because he was already freaking out over Shouta being stabbed. It was only mentioned to Shouta after the fact in passing, so there is no way for Keigo to know about Izuku’s bouts of severe dissociation. 

 

“This has… happened a few times before.” Shouta stood with a huff before he half fell into a seat at the foot of Keigo’s bed. “When things get really scary for him he dissociates.”

 

“But he looks so…” Shouta heard Keigo’s voice wobble and saw a flash of tears before his wings covered him.

 

“He’ll be fine Keigo. Things just need to calm down for him, and he’ll come back.”

 

“What if he doesn’t?” The muffled words were hard for Shouta to make out, but the pain was clear. “What if he’s like that forever?” 

 

“Then we take care of him.” Shouta smiled as Keigo opened his wings just enough for him to see one of his eyes. Thin trails of tears cut down his cheek. The sudden need to hold this hurting kid filled him. “Keigo, I know it’s rough right now, but it will get better, you’ll see. It just is going to take time. In the meantime, if you’d feel up to it, I’d love to help you take care of your wings. I can see how ruffled the feathers have gotten.” 

 

Ruffled was an understatement, bordering on a lie. Half broken feathers were peppered along the outside, twisted and bent feathers were spread across them, and there were large patches where the normally fluffy down feathers peeked out and looked overly greasy or overly dry and brittle. The normally bright vivid crimson was dull and some of the feathers were smeared with dark… something, probably grease from some appliances from the beach. 

 

“... would you want to?” The feathers flared, like they were excited to be fixed. “You wouldn’t mind?”

 

“Wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t willing.” 

 

“It's just…” Keigo trailed off, grabbing the edge of one of his wings and started fidgeting with the feathers. He looked anywhere but at Shouta, before whispering, “I stabbed you.” 

 

“And I’m totally fine, think of it as a freebee. Just try not to do it again.” 

 

Keigo did finally look at him after that, a strange expression flashed across his face before it smoothed over into something more neutral. 

 

“Alright. I think… I’d like that.”  He slowly shuffled his way around to have his back face Shouta, and stretched out one of his wings.

 

“Tell me if I’m doing anything wrong. I’ve never preened wings before.” 

 

“Just make the feathers lay flat, don’t worry if some fall out, I’ve got a lot of loose ones right now. If I had the oils I have back at my apartment, I’d show you how to properly cover the feathers to keep them from drying out. But I don’t have them right now, so just… be careful some of them are really brittle. Oh also avoid the blood feathers if you can, they're slowly growing back in and are really sensitive.”

 

Shouta reached towards the top of the wing and started to right the feathers. Lightly twisting them into what felt right and running his hand along each one as he moved slowly across the wing. He wished he could clean the feathers as he went, but just bushing off the small flakes of debris hopefully would be enough.

 

“Keigo, we could’ve gotten those oils for you.” Hizashi’s voice was slurred, half asleep.

 

“It’s fine, Hizashi. They are hard to find, only in specialty stores, and they're expensive.” 

 

“We still would have done it.” Hizashi’s voice filled with sleepy determination slowly started to fade, “Shouta, weasel the brand out of our idiot teen and I’ll make sure we get him some hopefully by tomorrow… maybe today. Snipe owes me a favor…” 

 

Hizashi let out a soft hum as he sank into the pillow, and his arms loosened around the blank faced Izuku.

 

“And he’s out.” Shouta snickered at the way Hizashi’s glasses were pressed half off his face before turning to Keigo. “I do want that oil brand, now.” 

 

“It’s really not an issue.” He flinched as one of the more brittle feathers snapped even under Shouta’s careful ministrations.

 

“Keigo,” Shouta tilted his head to catch Keigo’s eye. “Let us take care of you. We want to.” 

 

“... Alright.” Keigo mumbled out the brand and Shouta quickly texted it to his husband, so he wouldn’t forget. After a moment he decided to send it to Snipe too, calling in whatever the unspoken favor on his behalf. Knowing the two of them, Shouta didn’t want to know what had led up to the favor being owed. After a second, Shouta added a few things to the shopping list for Snipe. 

 

He had an idea for later. 

 

Shouta went back to his gentle ministrations. The repetitive task was soothing, and he was able to find a slow rhythm in it. Keigo, when a particularly ruffled section was smoothed over and loose and brittle feathers were removed, would let out happy trills and relaxed coos. 

 

Every once and a while he’d go to cut himself off, which just wouldn’t do. This was obviously an important part of Keigo, and it was painful to see him try to suppress it over and over again. Shouta learned that if he dug his fingers into the soft down and massage the wing around the base of the larger feathers the kid would melt and continue expressing himself with the bird calls. 

 

Just as he was about to finish the back of both of Keigo’s wings, Shouta’s phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket to see that it was Nedzu. Frowning, he answered, squishing the phone between his cheek and shoulder, keeping his hands free to finish the last little bit of preening. 

 

There was no way that this was going to be a pleasant conversation. It would also likely stop the process that was calming his kid. The least he could do was at least get to a good stopping point. He’d do the inside of the wings once whatever this was had been dealt with.

 

“Nedzu.” 

 

“Eraser, are you with Keigo?” Nedzu skipped all formalities and jumped straight to his inquiry. Normally, Shouta was all for cutting out all the time wasting social niceties but with Nedzu…

 

It only meant there was something wrong. 

 

“I am. What’s wrong?” 

 

Keigo’s relaxed posture flipped like a light switch. All the loose muscles had tightened, and he was like a spring, fully coiled and ready to fight. 

 

The underground hero in him was impressed at the response time, which had definitely saved countless lives already and would likely save countless more. The heroics teacher in him mentally applauded the perfect snap response time, the normally impossible ideal in someone so young. Shouta, however, mourned the childhood that was lost to mold this kid into the hero that he was. How he’d been meticulously carved into a perfect little soldier. 

 

“Nothing immediately.” Shouta relaxed at Nedzu’s words. Slowly Keigo relaxed back under Shouta's tender touch. Nedzu continued, “After having a lengthy and enlightening chat with Mr. Kurage, here, I believe we really only have one plan of action that will ensure the safety of everyone involved and to stop the Commission’s efforts in their tracks.” 

 

“What does that have to do with Keigo?” Shouta stroked the long feather he had adjusted. He’d finished. Keigo shivered before twisting face him. His face was blank and his eyes were guarded. 

 

“He is going to have to go on record and publicly tell his story.” 

 

“What?” Shouta yanked the phone from his face to look at it with shocked confusion. His boss had lost it. That didn’t seem like it would help at all. And it’d definitely only stress Keigo out even more.

 

“I can’t do that. I can’t do that. ” Keigo’s hands slowly inched their way up towards his hair. Shouta intercepted one of them and gave it a squeeze. Gold eyes flashed up to him raw terror filled them. “I’m not supposed to talk about my training. It’s a secret. I’ve already broken that, but only with fam— uh, I mean, a few of you. If they find out … They can’t know. ”

 

“Keigo, shh, it’ll be fine. We’ll protect you.” Shouta’s hand was thrown back at him as Keigo shuffled to the edge of the bed. 

 

“No, it won't matter! They’ll turn on me, and then the Commission will get me back. It won’t matter.” 

 

Keigo only got one foot on the floor before Shouta reached forward to stop him from standing. There is no way the kid could honestly get anywhere. Between the long exhausting chase last night, the emotional roller coaster that has been the past two weeks, and still fighting off an infection, Keigo could barely stand. 

 

Shouta needed to stop him. He pressed his palm into his forearm.

 

“Who do you think is going to turn on you?” 

 

“Everyone!” Keigo brushed Shouta off and jumped off the bed. Shouta stood, ready to grab him if he crumpled. Or from the way his legs trembled, when. “If the public learned what they had to do to force me to be a person, let alone a hero, I’d never be able to help anyone again. No one would want me to. And if I can’t be a hero, then the Commission will have to dispose of me. I can’t tell. I can’t.”

 

“Keigo.” The kid’s knees gave out, and Shouta shot forward, dropping the phone on the bed, catching him under his arms. Keigo stiffened as Shouta wrapped his arms around him, pressing him into a tight hug. 

 

Shouta held on to the frozen kid. He felt like a statue. Worried, Shouta was about to let go, remembering what Hizashi had just told him about Keigo's dislike of physical touch when stressed. He felt his kid shift ever so slightly. 

 

Trembling arms reached up and latched onto the back of Shouta’s sweatshirt. His sharp nails bit into his skin, and for sure left holes in the fabric. Shouta didn't care, he just held him. Keigo’s head slowly rested onto his chest, his face deep into the coiled fabric of his capture weapon. 

 

“I can't,” he mumbled. “I can't.” 

 

“I’ll help you.” Shouta breathed out towards his ear, rocking them slightly. “And if that's still not enough, Hizashi will too. Same with Nem and all of the UA heroes.” 

 

He wanted to tell Keigo he didn't have to, that they could figure out how to fix it without forcing the kid to do this. But if Nedzu thought it was the only way, then it likely was the only way.  

 

“Everyone is going to hate me.” 

 

“I won’t hate you.”

 

“I don't understand how.” Keigo snapped out, tightening his hands into the fabric, scraping his back. Shouta was pretty sure he was bleeding, but there was no way he’d ask Recovery Girl to check. Not after her threats, he didn't want another lecture.

 

“What doesn't make sense?” 

 

“I hurt you. A lot. And you still are—” he cut himself off, and a distressed call came from the kid. “I just don't see how you're willing to be around me.” 

 

“I care, and forgave you the moment you hurt me. It's not any more complex than that, kid.” 

 

“No one has before. So it seems like it has to be pretty complex. Or you're lying.” He sniffed. 

 

That stung. Knowing Keigo had no one for so long felt so wrong. He was such a good kid, and it just wasn’t fair. But he had them now, so Shouta just would have to make up for lost time.

 

“It’s harder for some people. And I'm not lying. I'm here for you, Keigo. And even if everyone else, for whatever reason, hates you, I'll still be there for you.” 

 

“I think…” he trailed off before leaning back to make eye contact. “I think I finally believe you.” 

 

A burst of pride exploded in Shouta’s chest. He was so proud of his kid.

 

“Good,” Shouta smiled as he cradled the back of Keigo’s head back into his shoulder. He gave him a squeeze before leading him to the edge of the bed. 

 

“Now, are you ready to hear out Nedzu?” 

 

Keigo pawed at his face, clearing away the tear tracks, but the vibrant red and puffy eyes made it clear he’d been crying. He nodded, looking nervous. 

 

“If there is something you don't want to do or say, we can discuss it together okay? And if it gets too much, you can tap out to take a break, no questions asked. I'm here for you, kid.” 

 

“Okay.” He rolled his shoulders back, his wings flaring. He picked up the phone and handed it to Shouta. “I’m ready now.” 

 

“I’m so proud of you, Keigo.” 

 

Shouta hit speakerphone and held it out between the two of them. His other hand shook Keigo’s knee with a small smile.

 

Keigo took a shaky breath and shot back a tight smile. He was nervous, but Shouta could see the trust Keigo had in him.

 

It was going to be hard, but they could get through this together. 

 

“Alright, Nedzu. What is your plan?”

Notes:

Triggers: Violence (heck yeah Hizashi and Shouta lets go), dissociation (sorry izuku), blood (small ammounts like so small, sorry shouta), panic (sorrt keigo)...and im like 99% sure thats it lol

but wasn't that such a nice walk!!! what a splended little walk! What a good family bonding experience! no notes! perfect walk! a 10/10 from me!!!!

Also big RIP to Keigo :(( baby bird is not having a good time, and next chapter is him really not having a good time. but the plot must progress!

AND FOR THOSE WHO ARE WONDERING: the lady chanting had a quirk i've dubbed 'see only evil' (its what i called it in my notes lol itd probably be called something like unoticable mantra or whatever lol) so basically if she chants the names of the people that she wants to go unnoticed by everything/everyone they are able to fly under the radar until they interact DIRECTLY with an individual so like if they'd just... like walked past instead of getting in the way/ attacking? probably wouldn't have crossed their minds lol but they literally attacked so then it didn't work on Shouta, Hizashi and Izuku. Also I figured she'd have to be within a specific range. so the agents were sneaking in and saw them comming and ambused them. :) But this is the ONLY REASON that teh commission was so bold lol they thought they'd be able to like sneak in and not be noticed at all but baby was being protected and the agents pounced... which was maybe a bad strategic move but in my thought process 2 heros are better then a possible 15-20 so like that's my thought at least. oh but the moment her quirk was cancelld by Shouta the alarms and security went off lol. I tried to make this as clear as I could but i just wanted to expound on the quirk shinanigans and explain a bit more (as I don't think imma be able to fit in any type explanation into the story lol)

but hopefully yall enjoyed :D and I know I know this aint fluff but were getting thereeeee we got a lil bit of fluff mixed in eheheh so like enjoy your morsels >:) I will sprinkle fluffy bread crumbs for you basically for the rest of the fic as these idiots are now a family even if they wont admit it to themselves >:D

Chapter 28: Keigo tells his story

Notes:

Hulloooooooo :D
First off gotta thank my beta @sassy_chemist for always making me smile with the comments and also fixing some WOW glaring grammatical errors and making this fic much smoother <3 thanksssss (shes great)
secondly! RIP to the baby bird :( as one can imagine this isn't gonna go well. (spoilers I guess? lol but like it would be totally out of character for this is be super smooth lol

Triggers are at the bottom but its not anything we havent already seen. not really. :)

But I was actually pretty proud of this chapter ngl I thought I got good emotions in it :D

but without further adooooo~~
Enjoy!!!!

Keigo was going to throw up. Again. However, if he threw up he knew that Shouta would get that sad, concerned look in his eyes as he rubbed his back, again. Hizashi would try to find more crackers because Keigo was ‘just a growing boy’ . Even the eerily empty Izuku would find enough energy to surface a little once more to furrow his brows and anxiously shift in his seat.

 

He couldn’t deal with all that. Instead, he just swallowed the creeping acid back down, hoping and praying that just this once, things would go his way and the crackers he had nibbled on earlier wouldn’t make a second appearance.

 

They all obviously cared. Keigo couldn’t deny it, even as his mind screamed at him that it was all a facade. A carefully manufactured lie to get him to do what they needed from him. A way to really make him really suffer when he finally let his guard down, leaving his back ready and open for stabbing. It wasn’t any of those things, however; for some reason outside of Keigo’s comprehension these people decided to care for him. 

 

It didn’t really make sense that they’d choose him , of all people. But they had and he didn’t want to let them down. 

 

The bile seared his throat as his stomach churned. He took a sip of the water he’d been handed, forcing it back down.

 

Turning against the Commission, airing out their dirty laundry like this, was horrifying. There is no way that it would be safe. The HPSC had eyes and ears everywhere . Keigo would never be able to relax again. They would hunt him down, either because they needed their precious Hawks for some important mission or to punish him for his disobedience. Probably a mix of both. 

 

Keigo had tried to argue with Nedzu, but he knew it was a losing battle from the beginning. But he at least had to try to explain to the other heroes about how far-reaching the Commission was and how there was no way that they were prepared for the backlash. At that point, Hizashi had handed him another d—ed tub of play-doh for some reason, which gave him something to focus on which was nice. But it was embarrassing to be sculpting a small Eraserhead while sitting next to the man as he, Nedzu, and Hizashi all took turns trying to explain and reassure him about this decision. 

 

It was going to backfire on them, but they were so sure that this was the best course of action. That this is the only way to keep the HPSC off their back. According to Nedzu, he’d been able to accumulate enough evidence to warrant an investigation. Between the files from the raid, small illegal and shady dealings Nedzu had been able to track down, and the mere existence of Izuku, there was enough to start something . The concern was that the files were collected during a raid not a crime scene, so it might not be admissible in court, the illegal dealings Nedzu had been able to uncover were minimal and wouldn’t likely lead to any large systemic changes, and Izuku was a minor and it was illegal to openly publicize what had happened to him. The chance that a corrupt judge could get brought in to have sentencing be minimal was high as there would be little to no official news coverage. What they needed was a figurehead, something to rally around and force the HPSC’s nonsense into the public spotlight.

 

Apparently, that figurehead would have to be him . 

 

To add to the pressure, as if that wasn’t enough, one of the Commission agents said they were willing to turn coat if he got some protections for him and his apparently blackmailed family. But only if Keigo told his story first. 

 

Which was all bogus garbage.

 

Nedzu was right , with him and Kurage coming forward publicly, other government agencies would be forced to start a large-scale investigation of the HPSC. And having a high ranking hero like Hawks would make the pressure even higher on everyone, making the process faster. The public backlash against the Commission would stop any fight in their tracks. 

 

The principal kept saying that the public would find his time with the Commission ‘disturbing’ and proof that they ‘failed to protect his bodily autonomy and human rights.’ Keigo agreed that the public would be upset, but more so because the Commission had sold him as much more than what he was. The public loved the laid back, capable hero Hawks. But Hawks wasn’t real and when Hawks was taken away all that’s left was Keigo. And Keigo left a lot to be desired. 

 

They had gone over the main points that they wanted him to say earlier. The note card with the list felt heavy in his pocket as he took another sip of his water. Looking into the black lens of the camera faced at him, he took a shaky breath. 

 

At first, he’d thought that this all was going to be live like most of the media appearances and press conferences he’d done and about keeled over from a heart attack. However, Hizashi practically tripped over himself explaining that they were going to record it and that he could take as many tries as he needed to. They were already on take five. The last one had ended so dramatically that they had to move rooms. 

 

Who knew that Nedzu’s carpet was something fancy that needed a special cleaning solution?

 

One of the poor heroes that had been called in to help ensure security was probably doing their best to clean out the vomit. He’d been told it was fine, that it was a natural reaction to stress and yadda yadda yadda. But Nedzu leaving looking a bit ruffled after Keigo had been shuffled to the infirmary where the tile would be easier to clean up didn’t make it feel fine to him. And Keigo wasn’t stressed, he was scared s—less . 

 

Totally different things. 

 

The only perk was that Izuku was a little closer then he’d been in Nedzu’s office where they’d originally been. Keigo hated seeing his little brother like this but Dad– Shouta had tried to reassure him that it’d be okay. And he was trying really hard not to freak out over it and give the Chickadee time to… wake up. However, it was a little easier with Izuku curled up on one of the beds with an insane number of pillows piled up behind his back, a blanket half covering him. Periodically Izuku’s hands would rub across the fuzzy material, or spastically knead one of the pillows, but mostly he sat there blank-faced, his eyes vacant. Hizashi had slipped his bulky headphones over Izuku’s ears, at the very edge of Keigo’s hearing the soft soothing guitar songs could be heard. 

 

They’d tried a few different ‘grounding techniques,’ but when nothing seemed to work, they deemed it best to just try to keep Izuku calm and resting. Keigo hated it. He hated all of this. 

 

He just wanted his little brother to be safe and happy. Not this.

 

Midnight had gone back to the apartment to grab Keigo some clothes that didn’t have vomit splatter on it, and had come back with one of Hizashi’s tank tops and an old, beat up sweatshirt of Shouta’s. The tank top was a racer back, so no holes needed to be cut. He’d tried to explain he’d be fine without the sweatshirt as he didn’t want to ruin his dad’s— Shouta’s hoodie, but no one was having it. Recovery Girl herself cut wing holes in the back stating that he still had a ever so slightly elevated temperature and sitting in the chilly room would be bad for his health.

 

Keigo didn’t exactly believe her, but took the sweatshirt. It was a little cold and the smell on the hoodie was comforting. The strong scent of coffee and tobacco mixed with the more faint artificial strawberry and green tea. He tried not to shove his nose into the borrowed fabric, but he did focus on the way they settled a fraction of the buzzing anxiety with each inhale.

 

Midnight had also brought the two cats back. She claimed it was because they’d been ignored for the past week or so because of all the everything that had gone down. But he could tell it was to give him something to focus on for a short while when the other heroes set up the camera and whatnot. He didn’t hate just being handed a laser pointer and told to go crazy. However, the laser pointer was quickly forgotten the moment Keigo had detached two smaller feathers to get the cats to play. It had been pretty fun watching them go absolutely ballistic. Sushi bailed first, clearly tired, and she curled up by Izuku’s knees. After a few more minutes, Dumpster also ended up plopping down at the foot of Izuku’s bed and started to lick himself. At least the cats had good taste and chose Izuku as a cuddle buddy. 

 

Now however, there were no distractions. The cameras were all ready. His stomach didn’t honestly have much to offer beyond bile, so he doubted he’d actually throw up again. All the heroes were zeroed in on him and it was terrifying. He felt his breath start to speed up as he grabbed the note card out of the hoodie pocket. His hands wanted to wring the paper until it was pulp, but he fought the urge. 

 

He honestly missed the play-doh. It was childish and dumb but at least it gave him something to do with his trembling hands. 

 

“Hey, Kid.” Keigo’s head shot up to look at his Dad. “Follow my breathing, okay?”

 

His dad started doing dramatic, slow, even breaths from the other side of the camera. Keigo did his best to follow, but it wasn’t his best job. 

 

G-d what a failure he’d become, he couldn't even breathe properly without assistance anymore. 

 

“There you go, Keigo.” Shouta’s voice was a low monotone and it was distressingly soothing. “Is there something we could do to make this easier?” 

 

Keigo shook his head. The only way to make this easier was if they lobotomized him first. There was no way to stay calm when he knew what the Commission was capable of. 

 

“Alright. What if we give options? We can try different things to make this as easy as we can make it,” Hizashi pipped in. 

 

Keigo shrugged. Nothing could honestly help, but he wasn’t going to stop them.

 

“I know you like preening, would you like me to finish the inside of your wings?” Shouta asked.

 

Keigo shook his head. The idea of being touched right now sounded like a sensory nightmare. He was so wired he swore he could hear things with his teeth, taste things with his eyes, and could see with his feathers. If someone so much as brushed against his wings right now, he’d probably lose it. 

 

“Do you want something to do with your hands? I have some fidget toys in my office and I still have the play-doh.” Hizashi waved the small tub in his hand. 

 

Keigo shook his head again. He didn’t think he could concentrate on sculpting and he didn’t want to bother Hizashi with something that probably wouldn’t work. 

 

“I can do this. I have to. Let’s–” He swallowed back the bile once again. “Let’s do this.” 

 

He felt the heavy gaze of Shouta, Hizashi, Midnight, and Recovery Girl on him. 

 

“... Alright.” Shouta didn’t sound very sure, but he did lean forward to hit record on the camera. 

 

The blinking red LED stole all of Keigo’s focus. He could feel the crumpled note card in his hand, but for the life of him he couldn’t look at it. His whole life was now wrapped around that small light. Using it as a metronome for his breathing, Keigo heard Hizashi say something, but couldn’t quite catch it. He should care, but couldn’t find it in him to follow through. Keigo needed to say something. This whole thing was for him to tell his life story. He opened his mouth.

 

“Imma be sick.” 

 

A small bin was shoved into his chest before he even finished his sentence. Curled over the bin, Keigo was able to spit out the burning bile. His stomach churned at the smell, drowning out the comforting smells. He dry heaved again. There was a hand rubbing his back. He was pretty sure it was his dad. Hizashi tapped him on the shoulder and handed him an open water bottle. Keigo took it with a shaking hand and swished the water around before spitting it in the bin. He then took a few large gulps to get the burning out of his throat. 

 

“Alright this isn’t working,” Shouta grumbled. “If it’s too much–” 

 

“No!” Keigo sat up straight with a squawk. “I can do it! I promise!”

 

“Kid…” 

 

“No, I can, you’ll see I just… I just need…” Keigo trailed off. He needed off the rollercoaster that was his life. He needed to be able to sleep for a month straight. He needed to just get over himself and do this f—ing recording. 

 

Hizashi crouched down to be next to Shouta. He put a hand on Keigo’s knee and rubbed a soothing arc with his thumb. “Anything Keigo, just tell us what you need.” 

 

“I don’t know!” Keigo grabbed at his hair and yanked. “I don’t know!!! If I knew how to make this better don’t you think I would’ve done it by now!?” 

 

“Hey, hey. Gentle.” Shouta tapped his elbows. Keigo relaxed his grip, and let out a series of distressed whistles. “We don’t mean to pressure you, we just want to help.”

 

“Yeah, listener.” Hizashi gave him a warm smile, “If you don’t know we can just start brainstorming and trying things. Throw spaghetti at the wall and all that. Sound good?”

 

Keigo brought his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his shins and looked off to the side with a grumble. “Throwing spaghetti at the wall won’t make me feel better.” 

 

“Have you ever thrown spaghetti at the wall?” Hizashi asked.

 

“No?”

 

“Then how do you know? Don’t knock it till you try it!” 

 

Keigo rolled his eyes. Hizashi was insane, he didn’t know what he was expecting. 

 

“I could give you drugs. That should help the anxiety,” Recovery Girl piped in.

 

“What?” Keigo felt off kilter. What hero just offers drugs? Especially to other heroes? “Isn’t that illegal?”

 

“ Medicine . For anxiety. It will help with the nerves.”

 

“I can’t–” 

 

“You can.” Recovery Girl was firm. “I am perfectly within my rights. I have a medical license. They wouldn’t be a long term thing, I keep some on hand when there is a case of major test anxiety. It is a low dose, and I have researched that there shouldn’t be any concerns with your heteromorphic quirk leading to strange side effects, just the normal ones.”

 

“What are the normal ones?” Shouta asked.

 

S—. This was really happening. They were going to drug him. What the h— .

 

“Most just feel a bit sleepy, and of course a lessening of anxiety. Some people get some nausea, but that is more rare.”

 

“What do you say, listener? You can try it if you want.” 

 

“I… I don’t know.” 

 

“What are you unsure about?”

 

“Everything?” Keigo felt his hands seize up around his arms. F— his quirk and the stupid stress grips. 

 

“If you can be more specific, we might be able to help walk you through things better.” Shouta’s low monotone was soothing. 

 

“Drugs seem… extreme.” 

 

“They might seem that way, but honestly, you are having some pretty extreme reactions to doing this, so it might be the thing that will help.” Shouta drawled out. “I know I’ve taken this sort of medication in the past. Probably will need it again in the future too.” 

 

“Me too, probably soon if life keeps dishing out this much s— to us.” Hizashi patted Keigo’s foot. Which was a bit odd, but he didn’t mind. “There is nothing shameful in needing a little assistance. That’s what the medicines are for.” 

 

“But if you really aren’t comfortable doing that, we can come up with other solutions and ideas.”

 

Keigo sat there, the silence stretched on. He was torn. On one hand taking a pill to magically make all of the chaos and panic that was inside him just go away for a little bit sounded amazing, bordering on way too good to be true. On the other hand he should just be able to just deal with this. He should be able to just open his mouth and speak even if he thought it was a bad idea. Instead he couldn’t string two words together without throwing up or wanting to cry. Or both. 

 

It was embarrassing . 

 

He felt his eyes well with tears. He scrubbed at his face, trying to get rid of them. “I… I don’t know what I’m doing.” 

 

“That’s okay.” Hizashi smiled, “You are very charismatic and obviously had media training. I’ve seen your interviews. Just… try to use what you can of that to help you do this.”

 

“Hawks was in the spotlight. Not Keigo .” He spat out, “This is different.” 

 

“It is different.” Shouta bounced a little on his toes. His feet must be getting sore from squatting for so long. “But I believe in you , Keigo. You have all the skills of Hawks, just minus the persona.” 

 

Keigo grabbed the bin from where it had been set on the floor and dry heaved. Hands tried to rub his back again, but he shooed them off with his wings. After he was done he looked up at Recovery Girl.

 

“Do… Do you think the meds would help?” His voice was a touch gravelly from the acid burns.

 

“Absolutely.” 

 

“Okay. I’ll try.” Keigo set the bin down. He was sure he looked green from their reactions. He sure felt nauseous still. “I don’t think… I’ll be able to do this any other way.” 

 

“Alright, I’ll be right back.” Recovery Girl scurried off to her office. 

 

Midnight also stood and quietly slipped out of the room, her phone in hand. Probably off to update Nedzu or something. Keigo didn’t really care. 

 

Shouta sighed before softly speaking. “You don’t have to do all this if it’s too much. We can figure out a different—”

 

“It’s fine.” Shouta didn’t look like he believed Keigo. “ I’m fine.” Now Hizashi looked skeptical.

 

Keigo laid his head on one of his knees with a sigh. “Seriously, I need to do this to keep Izuku safe. Nedzu explained it. It makes sense. I’ll be fine. It’s just… hard.” 

 

“Kid…” Shouta shifted to fully sit on the ground, his hands half reaching towards Keigo before he dropped them. “I don’t want you to feel pressured–”

 

“Well too f—ing late.” Keigo spat out, the pang of remorse at his dad’s flinch was overtaken by a rush of fury. “It was laid out pretty clearly that this was the only way that the Commission will stay off of Izuku’s back. This is my only option here.” 

 

“It’s really not, Keigo.” Hizashi threw his braided hair back over his shoulder as he shifted to fully seated next to Shouta, his legs loosely crossed in front of him. “If the camera and verbally saying it is too much we can have it be a written thing. We just thought this would be more impactful, but don’t think you are being forced into doing this.” 

 

“What if I say I don’t want to say anything at all? What if I’m too much of a coward?” he snarled. 

 

Deep down, he wanted the magical world that they were saying that this would be enough to get the Commission off his and Izuku’s back for good, that people would go to jail, that there would be justice for the chaos and abuse they put them, and others, through. He wanted the world where they could all be some weird messed up little family, that he could watch his brother grow up to be the hero he wanted to be. But Keigo knew that was all a pipe dream. The Commission would come for him and Izuku relentlessly, even if a few of the people involved took the fall. They could be patient, and the moment that they all dropped their guard, they’d swoop in and snatch them. Keigo couldn’t live like that. He was too tired. 

 

Not like the alternative of just running would be any less exhausting.

 

“You’re not a coward, Keigo. Get that thought out of your mind right now.” Shouta was stern, bordering on mad, but softened as he continued. “I have never seen you do anything that would make you any degree of cowardly. Scared? Absolutely. But even when terrified you’ve done nothing but put the needs of others above your own fears.”

 

“I stabbed you.” He shifted to hide his face between his knees. He hated that he had to keep reminding everyone of this, but they kept acting like they forgot. 

 

“I know and that was heroic. I hope that if we are ever in a situation like that again you’d stab me again.” 

 

Keigo shot his dad a look. He had no idea what he was feeling exactly as it was all tumbling around in him too fast to even begin to identify it, but whatever it was must have been clear on his face. It made Hizashi laugh pretty hard. 

 

“Sorry. I shouldn’t laugh but that is the perfect ‘What the f—” look.” He sat up from his doubled over crouch and wiped his eyes with a wistful sigh. “Oh, I wish I had a camera.” 

 

Keigo pointed to the video camera that was still blinking its recording light. “Pretty sure it was caught in 4k.” 

 

“Oh my g-d,” Hizashi stood and ran to the camera. “Christmas came early, this is the best news of my life.”

 

He fiddled with the camera and turned it around to show Keigo his expression on the small screen. Hizashi was biting back a grin.

 

Snorting, Keigo smiled. It really was a pretty good ‘what the f—’ face. 

 

“Right!? It was great. Please let me print this out so I can throw it at Shouta when he says something stupid.” 

 

“ Hey .” Shouta stood and dusted off his pants. “I don’t say as much dumb s— as you do. Maybe I’ll need that photo for you. ” 

 

“I talk a lot, you talk less, so realistically if we go by percentages you are going to have a higher percentage of spoken ‘dumb s—’. So ha. I win.”

 

“I think both of you spout idiotic and concerning things daily.” Recovery Girl had returned, medicine in hand. “I also don’t think that this should be a competition. ” 

 

Keigo snickered at how both his dads shifted from foot to foot and refused to meet Recovery Girl’s eye, like reprimanded teens. 

 

He blinked at his thought. Huh. His quirk at some point had dubbed Hizashi as parental. Which… he didn’t mind even though the man was insane. Hizashi was easy to talk to, when he wasn’t being annoying, and it was pretty fun to just let go and do childish things with him too. He’d slipped up with Shouta by calling him Dad, but this time he hoped not to embarrass himself and keep those feelings hidden. 

 

It would be mortifying. And Shouta seemed to be pretending Keigo never said it. Hizashi, however, would never let Keigo live it down. 

 

The medicine was shoved into his hands, knocking him out of his thoughts. The single small pill felt like a thousand kilos in his palm.

 

“Take this. It’s a low dose of Diazepam. Under other circumstances, I wouldn’t offer this without consulting a psychiatrist, but the anxiety is clearly and severely negatively impacting you. This is the best short term solution I can provide.” 

 

Nodding, Keigo tossed back the medicine and dry swallowed it. Hizashi made a face and handed him the water bottle he’d been drinking from before, but no one mentioned anything. Keigo… was incredibly nervous. He’d taken meds before for a bunch of different things, but nothing that was supposed to impact his brain. Or at least not directly like this. It was a bit nerve wracking. But there was no turning back now.

 

Not unless he threw up again right now, but he really didn’t want to do that. 

 

“It will take about twenty to thirty minutes to really start working, so you might want to wait a bit before trying again with the recording.” Recovery Girl gave him a soft smile. “Don’t look so grim, medicine is here to help you. And I’m sure this will.” 

 

Slowly nodding, he chewed on his lip. He really hoped that this somehow helped. If it didn’t, there was no way that he was going to be able to string two words together, let alone make a sentence that made sense. 

 

“Alright, kid, what do you want to do while we all take a breather?” Shouta asked. 

 

Keigo’s wings fluttered against his back. He’d actually really like to finish having his wings preened. He was still stressed, but having it pushed off for a bit made it bearable, and finishing it would be great. Shouta had just done the harder half earlier that day. He could finish the inner side of his wings himself. However, it was so much nicer to have someone else do it.

 

“Snipe arrived on campus a while ago. He texted me. I can go grab the oils if you’d like me to finish–” 

 

“Yes, please.” Keigo cut Shouta off and slumped forward. The words tumbled out of his mouth before he really realized what he was saying. “My wings are a disaster . I hate it. It’d make me more presentable. Make me more like Hawks, or as much as I can right now. They might like me more. Or at least make me more credible.” 

 

Hizashi put a hand on top of Keigo’s head, pushing the hair out of his face. “We're doing this for you, Keigo. We don’t care if you look presentable or not. We just want you happy.” 

 

“Yeah, if Hizashi cared about people looking nice and presentable he never would have married me.” Shouta deadpanned. That made Keigo laugh. “I’ll be right back.” 

 

Keigo watched as Shouta walked out of the infirmary. As he walked past Izuku he slowed, dragging his hand across the bottom of the boy's bed. Keigo’s eyes wandered back to Izuku once the door slid shut. 

 

Dumpster, the calico, stretched out their paws before sauntering up next to Izuku’s chest. Blinking, an uncoordinated arm shifted to rest on the cat’s back. It was all painfully slow. Logically, Keigo knew that this was all just how Izuku was dealing with everything. But it was freaky. He didn’t think he would ever get used to seeing his brother so blank. However, if what Shouta and Hizashi said was true, he would at least have to learn to live with it. 

 

“The little listener is going to be okay.” Hizashi’s voice was soft as he stroked back Keigo’s hair once again.

 

“You keep saying that...” Keigo trailed off as Izuku rolled to his side. His hand slowly petted the cat. It was unsteady and loose, but Dumpster didn’t seem to care as Keigo heard the cat start to rumble. Izuku’s lips twitched like a wind up toy that was broken, but still trying to do its actions. He was trying to smile, but Keigo couldn’t help but feel something heavy settle in his chest at the sight. 

 

“He’s actually a lot more responsive than his first time like this. I figured we’d try the grounding exercises with him again after we finished with you.” 

 

That made Keigo squirm. “Shouldn’t you be focused on–” 

 

“Nope,” Hizashi popped the p. “We pushed too hard the first time and I think we scared the little listener even deeper. We need to talk to a mental health professional, but from what Recovery Girl has found from her research, being checked out like this isn’t necessarily harmful. As long as we keep him safe and work to ground him, in time, he’ll resurface. It’s just his coping strategy. We’re watching him and gave him music and the cats to help lightly ground him. Sometimes people just need time. And I, for one, am more than willing to give it to him.” 

 

Keigo just nodded, as he watched the small spark of awareness fade from Izuku’s face, his hand came to a slow stop on the back of the cat, who wiggled out from under the weight. Keigo let out a sad coo. If his legs weren’t jelly, and he was sure he could walk that far, he’d curl up next to Izuku, and fill the place that Dumpster left. 

 

“Hey Keigo,” Hizashi’s voice was patient, but firm. It felt like a monumental task to tear his eyes from Izuku, but he was able to make eye contact with Hizashi. Eventually. “I don’t want to be one upped by Shou. Do you wanna show me how to preen your feathers while he is fetching the oil?” 

 

“Sure.” 

 

Hizashi pulled up a seat and Keigo flexed one of his wings out and around them in a semicircle. He quickly went through a small section, explaining as he went along. There were less broken feathers, as no heavy trash fell on the inside of his wings, but there were a few examples. Mostly the feathers were dry and brittle and ruffled and twisted to all h— . There was also a ton of the small budding pin feathers as he’d taken more feathers from the internal side of his wings. They itched from how dry they were, and were sensitive too. He told Hizashi how to handle and moisturize them without it hurting. 

 

Keigo was far from a perfect teacher. Between tripping over his words and struggling to articulate things, he was surprised he understood anything at all. But Hizashi was a model student. He was absolutely captivated, asking clarifying questions that Keigo wouldn’t have thought of in a million years. He was a fast learner, and it felt like it was no time at all before Hizashi was hands deep in his wings confidently straightening and smoothing out everything he touched. 

 

Tears welled in his eyes, as some emotion swelled in him. Shouta walked in. Keigo blinked them back, not wanting to be caught crying. 

 

“I got the goods.” He held up a full shopping bag hanging from his fingers. 

 

Keigo tilted his head in confusion. Unless Snipe had bought upwards of twenty bottles, there had to be other things in the bag. Feeling nosey, he shifted his head trying to look inside but couldn’t quite see. Shouta rolled his eyes as Hizashi reached towards the bag making grabby hands at it.

 

“Gimme.” 

 

Shouta sighed, passing the bag over Keigo’s still stretched out wing. Through the thin plastic Keigo could see other shapes of what seemed to be bottles and boxes, but couldn’t make out what they were exactly. Hizashi looked in the bag and only made Keigo’s curiosity sky rocket as he just raised an eyebrow at Shouta. 

 

“I had an idea. I’ll explain later, but it's for me.” Shouta mumbled out. 

 

Hizashi grinned. “I vote bright pink.”

 

“Noted, but not your decision.” 

 

“Aww,” he pouted. ”But I’m your husband. I don’t get any input?” 

 

“Not for this, no.” 

 

What in the world could they be going on about? Hopefully, Keigo was within earshot of that explanation as he was ravenous for the details. It didn’t seem to be anything… concerning, just something innocuous to uncover. 

 

Keigo knew he shouldn’t still be looking for suspicious things, but he couldn’t help it. He trusted them… but this was just some reassurance that he’d trusted correctly. 

 

It kind of made him feel insane, but if it worked for Hizashi maybe it could work for him too? He’d have to think on it. 

 

Shouta had, at some point, pulled up a chair behind Keigo, his hands grazed over the already fixed feathers. They lifted slightly, puffing up under the gentle pressure. 

 

“So, kid, how do we do this?”

 

Keigo turned to look over his shoulder at Shouta. A small bottle of the oil was in one hand and the other was resting on his wing. He turned back to Hizashi and he also had a bottle in hand and a warm smile on his face. 

 

The tears that he’d pushed down earlier came back with a vengeance. 

 

“Oh Keigo, it’s okay.” Hizashi cooed out, “If this is too much–” 

 

“No, it's good .” His voice was thick. “It’s so good. I just… this is all… thank you. ”

 

“No problem, kid.” His dad ruffled his hair from behind. “You’re always welcome.” 

 

— 

 

Keigo wasn’t sure if it was the fact that his wings, while still patchy, were now glossy and clean, or the drugs kicking in, or the half an hour of pampering he’d gotten from his dads, but for what felt like the first time in his life he actually felt… calm?

 

It was a wild experience. He was pretty sure it was the drugs. But his brain felt quiet in a way that even the play-doh hadn’t been able to create. 

 

He also was dead tired. That also might be the drugs. But also probably a mix of everything else that had happened in the past few weeks. All he wanted to do was lay down and just… exist like this for a while. 

 

Unfortunately, he had a job to do. 

 

Huh. Thinking about it didn’t send him flying off the deep end. There was a deep sense that he should be, but he just wasn’t. Like that part of him had been covered by a blanket, still technically present, but so muffled he could ignore it.

 

That was for sure the drugs. 

 

“I think I can do the interview… thing, now.” Keigo waved towards the camera that was still on the tripod but had been pushed to the side. “What would this even be called?”

 

“An exposé?” Hizashi didn’t sound sure, but Shouta just kinda shrugged. 

 

“Good of name as I could come up with.” Turning to Keigo he smiled, “I’m guessing from the fact you asked a coherent question about this without panicking, the meds kicked in?”

 

“Yeah,” Keigo nodded before adding, “G-d, I like drugs. My brain is so quiet .” 

 

“Well, I’m no doctor but if they are helping this much it might be good to bring it up with one. Possibly get you a prescription for something similar at least.” Shouta tapped his knee. “You got the note card?” 

 

“Uh.” Keigo reached into the sweatshirt pocket and pulled out the torn and crumpled paper. “Yeah, I do.” 

 

“Good.” 

 

Shouta moved to set up the camera. Hizashi joined him, making sure it was framed right. They nonverbally bickered as they set it up. Shouta sending withering looks as he tried to turn the camera on and hook it up to the laptop. Hizashi stuck his tongue out as he shifted the camera millimeters with a single finger, making Shouta miss the plug. Keigo snickered at their childish antics. 

 

“Oh, listener, before we start do you want anyone else in the room?”

 

“Do.. do I have to have anyone else?”

 

“Not if you don’t want them to be here.” 

 

“Then I’m fine with just us.” He turned to the open door to Recovery Girl’s office. “And I guess Recovery Girl too, if she wants to watch?” 

 

She turned her rolling desk chair to face Keigo through her open door way. “If it would make you more comfortable, I can stay in here. However, I would prefer to be able to be nearby. I am not a trained mental health specialist, but I would feel more comfortable if there was some medical person monitoring this.”

 

“Okay.” Keigo thought that was kind of dramatic, but thinking about how he couldn’t get past three words in before he threw up earlier, maybe she was being reasonable. 

 

Also, If she’d not been present, he wouldn’t have gotten these beautiful, brain-quieting meds. 

 

“Also, I want your permission now, that if I deem it to be necessary, could I bring in a mental health specialist? I just got word that our school psychologist, Hound Dog, is on campus.”

 

“Sure?” Keigo now actually thought she was being dramatic, but he figured he’d appease her. “I don’t see a problem in seeing a different doctor if that’s what you think I need after this. But I think I’m going to be okay. I feel fine.” 

 

Keigo frowned as Recovery Girl, Hizashi, and Shouta all looked relieved. He was a bit miffed under the thick blanket over his emotions, it was like they expected him to fight it. Sure, he wasn’t thrilled by the idea, but learning he almost died from not going to a doctor he sure as h— wasn’t going to ignore an order from a doctor. At least not for a while. 

 

And he didn’t think he would die in this situation, but Recovery Girl had saved his life once already and made his brain quiet. So if she thought something was a good idea, he’d try it out. 

 

“Thank you, Keigo.” She turned back to her desk, still clearly listening, but giving him space. It was nice of her. It would be easier to tell just his dads.

 

He just had to ignore the fact that they plan to release this to all the reputable major news agencies and upload the full thing online. The whole of Japan might not see it, but it would likely end up with a large percentage of them. 

 

Dang these drugs were magical. The fear was only a distant pang as he pushed away the thoughts. All that mattered was just telling Shouta and Hizashi. He could do that. Everything else would come in time. 

 

“You ready, kid?” Shouta looked at him from half behind the camera. Hizashi sat next to him giving him two thumbs up.

 

Keigo nodded and Shouta hit the record button. The light started to flash, but instead of panicking Keigo sank into his training and gave a media smile. 

 

“Hello, I’m Tamaki Keigo, probably better known as the pro-hero Hawks. Only known as Hawks actually, as my civilian identity was taken away from me by…” His hands started to shake and his feathers flared. Keigo’s eyes darted to look past the camera to both Shouta and Hizashi. Shouta was stoic, but his focus on Keigo was warm and inviting, and it made him feel like what he was saying would be taken seriously. Hizashi had a small encouraging smile, and it made something warm fill him. His feathers smoothed down and he continued. 

 

“Taken away by the Hero Public Safety Commission when they purchased me from my mother. Since I was young, I was trained under the Commission. I am only coming forward now as I learned two weeks ago about a child that had been taken by the commission and was being used for their quirk.” 

 

“Due to the nature of the individual being a minor, and the quirk protection acts, I will not go into much more detail here on their identity or what exactly happened to them. But know that it was horrific .” Keigo spat out as images of the injured Izuku laid out looking dead in the facility flashed through his mind. “I also want to state that they are now safe from the Commission due to the efforts of myself and a small team of other heroes who put their own safety aside for the safety of an endangered child. The team of heroes plans to keep protecting them.” 

 

His eyes flick over to Izuku. He was kneading the soft blankets again, but the bruises and blood that flashed in Keigo’s mind were long gone. A healthy color filled his cheeks,and  the deep bruise-like circles under his eyes were still dark but were less prominent and hollow. He gave a small smile. Things weren’t perfect, but they were so much better than they had been just a few weeks ago. He sometimes lost sight of that.

 

“In the process of the raid to take him out, individuals on both sides were injured, and one Commission agent died that we know of. Due to my disobedience of taking an asset from the HPSC, the smear campaign was started, likely to try to scare me into coming back to the Commission with the child or to turn the individuals who helped me and the public as a whole against me in some capacity. None of what they stated was true.”

 

Keigo didn’t fully agree with that, as he was dangerous. He’d stabbed Shouta, endangered Izuku, and punched Hizashi. The Commission claimed he was unstable and… they weren’t exactly wrong, but he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of agreeing with anything they said. It also wouldn’t help with their goals to say that to the public. 

 

“The heroes have been gathering evidence against the Commission as myself, some of the other heroes, and the child are kept out of the public eye for our safety. They planned to go through official channels to open an investigation, but the Commission forced our hand. This morning, while I was resting from my injuries from the raid-” Keigo was stretching the truth a bit, but the infection was caused by the bullet wounds? So it sort of counted. Unless pressed, he didn’t want to openly admit to running away in a panic like an idiot. “The commission attacked two heroes who were with the child at the time. Luckily, no one was majorly injured on either side and the heroes were able to, in most cases, nonviolently incapacitate and restrain the agents.” 

 

“They were trying to kidnap the child, again. ” Keigo tightened his fists around the loose fabric of his pants. “Our aim here is not to stir up controversy for no reason. This child deserves peace and rest, but I cannot stay quiet and allow the HPSC to do things like this to another child. Crimes were committed and there needs to be checks and balances, and currently it seems the Commission has too few holding them back.” 

 

Kegio looked directly at the camera. “I’m not going to let that happen, and forcing this into public light will not only allow for the law to get involved, but also for the court of public opinion to weigh in on the matter. I will not tell the child’s story, but I can tell my own.” 

 

Pausing, he shifted. Up until this point, this was very much like a press conference. He’d done them before, it wasn’t hard to do, he was more removed. Professional. This part however was different. It was harder and more personal. 

 

“I–” His voice broke and he swallowed, “I will do my best to keep it brief, partially for you to not sit through over a decade of uh, a-abuse, but also for me as this isn’t something I was really allowed to talk about, ever. ” He flicked his eyes to the ground as he scratched his cheek. “This is difficult so please, uh, don’t be a—holes.” 

 

He looked up at Shouta and Hizashi, “Am I even allowed to say that?” 

 

His dads looked at each other before they shrugged. Which wasn’t helpful, but if it was a problem Nedzu or whoever could deal with it. Keigo was too tired to care. 

 

“But, um, it started when I was homeless with my mom. I saved a bus full of people using my quirk and caught the Commission’s eye. They digitally scrubbed the news story, but I bet there are physical copies of it for those who demand proof. But uh, they offered her money and she took it. I don’t blame her, and I hope no one else does either. She thought they would take care of me in a way that she couldn’t for reasons outside of her control. Don't search for or harass her.” 

 

His feelings were way more complex than that, but if she was still alive Keigo didn’t want to have the media totally turn on her. That wasn’t fair as Keigo could see how much of a horrible position she was in. She made a bad decision in a sea of s—y ones. It didn't make it hurt less, but he at least understood.

 

“But around the age of six, I was taken in by the Commission. I was put in combat training almost immediately. They also trained my quirk and body to the point of exhaustion or splitting headache most days. I was punished… pretty severely whenever I failed to meet their expectations, so I learned not to fail. They would do deprivation training in case I was without food or water or sleep as a hero. Everything was set up as tests and training, and at any point they could barge in and take me away for another round. I was their tool that they were honing, nothing more, so they stopped calling me by my civilian name, and only Hawks, as being a hero is my only— uh, was my only purpose.”

 

“I was sent on dangerous missions before I was legally allowed to, or at least I’m pretty sure sixteen is too young for solo missions from what I’ve heard from other heroes. But maybe I’m wrong. I didn’t get my hero license until I was seventeen so I know that at least, really wasn’t allowed. I’ll compile a list of what things I remember doing for the Commission for the investigation. I looked into one of the more uh, violent missions I was tasked with recently, and I know that there was a still open investigation into it. I want to help.” 

 

Blinking back tears he let out a shuddering breath. “I just want to help .” 

 

Centering himself, he brought one of his knees up to his chest on the chair to hug it. “Even as a hero, out of the facility I grew up in, I had eyes on me at all times. Between cameras and mics that bugged my apartment, my handler that would check in on me, and the missions the commission demanded of me, I still wasn’t free.” He let out a choked laugh, “Internally, I’d joke with myself that I was a caged bird. I knew that it was all f—ed up, um, I mean messed up, but it didn’t feel like I could do anything about it. I was alone and like an idiot assumed I was the only one, as they ended the program I was in when I was a teen. So it was fine. I could handle it. And as a hero I'd been able to get enough freedom to deal with it. I planned to just quietly go along with it, but then I met the child we rescued and saw someone in greater need of saving, so I saved them.” 

 

“Every waking moment since I was taken in by the HPSC, they attempted to force me to be their perfect little soldier, under the guise of being a ‘hero’.” Keigo sniffed as he felt tears streak down his cheeks, he smiled softly in Izuku’s direction. “I’d been called a hero for a long time, but it was the first time I actually felt like one.” 

 

“Um.” Keigo checked the notecard, it was a bit hard to read through the tears, but he checked that he’d hit all the main points. He had… more or less, but if they needed clarification hopefully they could do it a different day. Or ideally, never. He was done. “I’m sure more information will be needed for the investigation, I plan to participate fully and make it as easy for everyone involved. I just don’t want… I can’t… I know lots of people will want more information but please, I…” 

 

“This is terrifying .” Panicking, he made eye contact with Shouta, who nodded with a small smile. Hizashi was softly crying, holding Shouta’s hand hard enough his fingers were white. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do this again. The authorities will provide more information as they see fit, but please, leave me alone.” 

 

Keigo jumped up. If it wasn’t for the stool he used to hold himself up, his shaky legs would have given out. He lunged forward, Shouta met him half way and half dragged him to sit on one of the beds. His dad’s strong arms wrapped around him, one hand pressed into the back of his head as it guided his face into the loops of the capture weapon. Keigo scrambled his fingers along his back until they found bundles of fabric to squeeze. In the back of his mind, he heard Hizashi finishing up the video, but he couldn’t really focus on it. Between his panting breaths and muffled distressed squawks, his ears were filled with the low soothing monotone in his ear saying that he was so proud, that Keigo had done well, that it was over and that he could rest now. 

 

That they all could rest now.

 

Closing his eyes as they slowly rocked back and forth, Keigo smiled at the thought. 

 

Resting sounded really nice.

Notes:

Triggers: major anxiety, vomiting, medicine taking, dry swollowing pills (this is for my sister lol she is the inspo for Hizashi's horror at Keigo lol), and I think that's it but as always lemme know if i missed anything?

Firstly I want you to know:
1.) Birds that have anxiety are given the literal same meds as humans. I learned this fact as I resarched for this fic and needed to add this in so I did. Also I cut like 4 pages of Keigo just freaking out more and I went "get this man a benzo" and I went... wait a minute. and thats how we got here
2.) The next chapter I SWEAR IS FLUFFY (those who know... you might have caught the not subtle hint as to what is coming next ehehehe)
3.) Baby bird was in NO WAY READY to do this and I feel bad making him anyways :( But the commission is GOING TO BURN cuz of this and it needed to happen :((
4.) Keigo's reaction to meds was my first reaction to meds. ngl they were life changing folks. they arent for everyone and take a few tries for sure but DANG so helpful ToT but REMEMBER THIS BOY GOT BENZOS when he ya know. magically stops being as chill (sorry folks he is still not well)
5.) Therapy is coming (in a few chapters) and I am learning so much about CBT. and like c-ptsd and ptsd lol but PLEASE I BEG OF YOU REMEMBER IM NOT A THERAPIST (sorry im anxious about this chapter as I am currently writing it and wow I am learning why I didn't go into psycology for a degree lolol
6.) from here on out its more about healing ToT so no more stabbings or injuries. promise. If I as so much make anyone stub their toe imma print out this book and eat it. cross my heart hope to die. #IAmInRecoveryAsAWhumpAddict #PleaseForgiveMe #LetTheBabiesRest #StopStabbingShouta #NapTimeForAll #HizashiGotOffEasy #GiveRecoveryGirlABreak #WatchoutLoudManImmaComeForYouNextArc
7.) I swear I haven't forgotten Keigo has a bullet in his leg. there just hasn't been time. it isn't infected but like lead poisoning isnt GREAT D: so I'm gonna try to get that out (Ideally in a hospital/doctors office lol so we're gonna have a feild trip!! but in a second)
8.) this list was much to fun. I love yappin' but I will let yall dip until next time <3

Chapter 29: Cupcakes and hair dye; Shouta’s family gets a break

Notes:

HALLO
THIS CHAPTER IS FLUFFY! ABSOLUTELY UNENDINGLY FLUFFY FRICKIN OH MY GOSH ITS HAPPENING!!!
Thanks so much to @Sassy_Chemist, she left 208 comments on this bad boy both edits (I capitalize weird words a lot lolol) and then also lots of "Awwww's" so I think it is toothrotting lolol so brush yo teeth after reading, kay? :D
Also remember. fan fiction is totally self indulgent. this is me being self indulgent. If you don't like cupcake decorating as a family, or hair dye self insert other forms of fluff lolol x) in the words of my sister "its cute but a little weird as a family bonding activity" WHICH BLESS HER she said as she we were dyeing eachothers hair??? so idk folks that one threw me for a loop lol xD So if it aint your cuppa, my B. I think its frickin adorable.

no triggers beyond like mentions and hints to like all the BS I've put this family through. :D

but hopefully yall enjoyyyyyy the fluffffffff <3

Shouta was going to be forever grateful to Recovery Girl for drugging Keigo. Which sounded weird, but watching him absentmindedly scratch shallow holes into his skin that visibly healed over, pull at his hair, and even at times his feathered wings, was painful. The kid was obviously not aware of what he was doing and he and Hizashi tag teamed as best as they could to distract him from it, to middling success. 

 

At least Keigo didn’t make any more bald spots, and wasn’t actively bleeding anymore. Which Shouta was going to take as a win. 

 

Keigo also calmed down fairly quickly after his small, well-deserved breakdown. Now he was sitting on the couch in the communal living room space of the dorm. His golden red-rimmed eyes gazed down into the steaming cup of licorice tea like it could answer all of life's mysteries. His wings folded to the sides and behind him in such a way for the long feathers to not be crushed under him, but also took up more than half of the couch. It was keeping Shouta perched on the edge of the couch to keep from squishing the large wings. He could move to be further away, but felt that the kid needed close proximity right now. From the way he absentmindedly shifted to lean on Shouta, his assumption was correct. 

 

Long term however, he and Hizashi really needed to invest in some furniture that would better accommodate Keigo’s wings. But that was way down the line; right now he just needed to be there for the kid. 

 

Which luckily was their only task for the next few days at least. 

 

Nedzu had brought in all of the UA staff and a few other heroes to assist in the clean up with the Commission. Classes had been canceled for the next week or so to ‘ensure security,’ and to also allow the teachers time to deal with the mess that was sure to rain down in the wake of Keigo’s video and the scramble to get the investigation going. Hizashi and Shouta were given the singular task to keep Izuku and Keigo calm, happy and away from the news . 

 

Which was not going to be easy. 

 

To prepare for their pseudo vacation from life, Hizashi and Shouta had, one by one, quickly met with Ectoplasm and Vlad King and recorded their statements on what happened on the raid and that morning. The two of them would pass on the information to the investigators. Keigo and Izuku would need to give official statements, but that would be for later. Nedzu had promised that he could provide enough detail from their original half baked discussion with Keigo to keep the investigators off their back for at least a short while. The principal also had written reports of the original raid from both heroes, and the investigators would have access to Nedzu and Midnight for further questions. He also would make it clear that both Keigo and Izuku were in hero protective custody and would be easily accessed, but only after a mental health professional deemed them stable enough to be interviewed. 

 

Apparently there was some obscure law or regulation that Nedzu had found that he was using as a minor loophole to give them all at least a few days to cool down. Which let Shouta breathe a little easier. 

 

Now just to keep the kids calm, happy, and away from the news. 

 

Avoiding the news was going to be the easiest task, which he’d hopefully already dealt with. He’d just taken the chord for the television and hidden it. He’d bring it back out if they decided, as a group, to watch a movie, but he didn't want them to accidentally stumble onto the news. As the news app on his phone was making it abundantly clear, this story was all that anyone wanted to talk about. Keigo and Izuku didn’t have phones or laptops. Izuku for obvious reasons, Keigo likely because he knew his were bugged by the Commission and left whatever he had back at his apartment. Nedzu also planned to keep them updated via texts, in an attempt to keep verbal discussions to a minimum in case of wandering ears. And Shouta had never been more grateful to know sign language as he and Hizashi were going to need to discuss things that if Keigo overheard would make him upset. He wished he was as fluent as his husband, but at least this way he was going to get more practice.

 

Keeping the boys happy and calm on the other hand seemed like an impossible task. Especially from where he sat with a despondent Keigo sipping from the cup next to him, and a still dissociated Izuku curled up in Hizashi’s lap across from him. 

 

Izuku was a bit more responsive than last time, so they hoped to be able to bring him out. Hizashi was ever so slowly going through the various grounding exercises that Recovery Girl and Hound Dog had provided them. Hopefully, they’d figure out which things seem to help the kid the best for next time. 

 

As it was now very clear that there would likely be a next time. 

 

Before sitting down, Hizashi had run warm water on Izuku's hands, held ice against his palms, and wrapped the kid in a dryer warmed oversized hoodie. Since sitting down, he’d held up strong but pleasant smelling oils to his nose, given him a long deep pressure hug, and talked quietly into his ear almost the whole time. Currently, Hizashi was giving Izuku a massage, starting at his shoulders and working his way down to his hands. 

 

The goal was to make the kid aware of his body again. It seemed to be working as he was reacting more and more fluidly, even going as far as handing Hizashi his left hand when his right was completed. A small smile grew on Izuku’s face and the kid started to slowly rub his feet against each other like a little cricket. 

 

Shouta couldn’t help but feel relieved that at least Izuku seemed content when like this. 

 

Also the kid seemed at least half aware, now humming in response to Hizashi’s low monologue. He was going on about some of the shenanigans that happened a few years ago at his radio show when it was still first taking off. He finished the massage and moved to the last planned grounding technique: using his sense of taste. 

 

Hizashi unwrapped a lemon candy and held it up for Izuku. The kid, with only a minor delay, identified it for what it was and opened his mouth. Hizashi popped it into his mouth. Izuku’s face scrunched up and the awareness finally washed over his eyes. He turned, only to give Hizashi the most betrayed expression Shouta had ever seen.

 

“‘Zashi, why ?” He whined, long and high pitched.

 

Shouta broke . He bent over his knees and cackled. It wasn't that funny, but after the h— that they had gone through just today , it felt long overdue. And from the way Keigo laughed next to him, his real laugh, at least Shouta wasn’t alone. Even Hizashi snickered after he got done sputtering.

 

It didn’t take too long for Shouta to calm down, but the small smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth couldn’t quite go away. 

 

“Hey, kiddo, you not like lemon drops?” Shouta’s words caught Izuku’s attention.

 

“They’re so sour .” Izuku spoke awkwardly around the drop that was visibly curled up in his tongue. 

 

“But do you hate them? Wanna spit it out?”

 

Izuku paused, sucking on the drop a little before he shook his head. 

 

“‘S not bad. Just a surprise.” 

 

“Good.” Shouta nodded, shifting back only slightly.

 

“Little listener,” Hizashi wrapped an arm around Izuku’s middle, pulling him up further into his lap. “Do you understand what just happened?”

 

Izuku rolled his head back as far as it could go to look up at Hizashi. “I was just drifting… right? It happens.”  

 

“Oh, that’s what he meant.” Keigo mumbled to himself. Shouta raised an eyebrow at that, only for Keigo to shrug and whisper back. “He said that to me earlier… uh right before I ran off. I didn’t really know what he meant at the time.”

 

Shouta nodded. It was good to know.

 

“Did it happen a lot at the Commission?” Hizashi asked as he stroked Izuku’s hair out of his eyes. The kid was going to need a haircut soon. 

 

“Sometimes. Usually when I was alone in my room or uh a few times when, um…” He trailed off, his eyes growing hazy again. Shouta wasn’t about to let Izuku slip away again, and darted forward. He knelt in front of the kid and grabbed both of Izuku’s hands and gave them a squeeze. 

 

“That’s okay, you don’t need to talk about it if you aren’t ready. We just want to be able to help you better.” Izuku blankly stared down at their clasped hands. He squeezed back in a pattern. More morse code. Shouta almost missed it. 

 

OKAY

 

“There you go kiddo. Let's ask some more fun questions, we can all take a turn. You can answer verbally or by squeezing or tapping my hands. How does that sound?”

 

Izuku nodded. 

 

Shouta knew this kid was a huge hero nerd from some of the rants he’s had the pleasure of overhearing. “So Izuku, who is your favorite hero?”

 

I ONLY CAN CHOOSE ONE? Izuku squeezed, looking devastated. Shouta chuckled. 

 

“Top five better?” 

“Yeah,” His voice was soft, but clearly excited. “Kei-nii is obviously number one, then Recovery Girl, ‘cause she’s my heroic role model. Um, then All Might and…” Izuku darted his eyes to the side, freckled cheeks flushing slightly. “And Eraserhead are tied for third. Then Edge Shot, and finally Present Mic.”

 

Shouta tried to ignore the massive grin that was on his husband's face. He also was pretending to be much worse at reading lips as Hizashi mouthed ‘You tied with f—ing All Might?!’

 

“Izuku,” Keigo said from behind Shouta, a smile audible in his voice. “I might not have as big of a brain as you do, but I can count. That’s six heroes.” 

 

“Not fair, third place has two!” 

 

“And whose fault is that?”

 

“Eraserhead and All Might for both being way too cool!” Izuku seemed totally focused on the present again, which Shouta reminded himself was a good thing. He looked over Shouta’s shoulder at Keigo with a playfully distressed expression. “How am I supposed to decide between the two!? Eraserhead has amazing hand to hand combative skill and fantastic analytical prowess. And he’s super great at underground heroics, and is only as well known as he is because of the number of people that he has personally saved who have joined together in online forums to swap stories as very little is publicly available, but from what people have been able to put together he has to have some of the best villain take down numbers of any late night hero! And that’s not even adding the number of people he’s been able to help get home safely, talk off ledges, and other non-combative but super important heroic things. There is a lot of discussion on some of the underground hero fan servers that he also is a big deal on large raids and investigations, but without official publications, most of that is speculation. But even if that isn’t true, he’s just a really cool hero.” 

 

Shouta regretted his question. He could feel his soul rip away from his body like velcro slowly being pulled apart. He was glad that this was helping Izuku stay grounded, but holy s— he wanted to sink into the floor. 

 

“And then the other option is All Might .” Izuku slid one of his hands out from under Shouta’s and gestured wildly. “He’s the number one hero! So of course he’d make the list.” 

 

“But, tied for third ?” Keigo asked. 

 

“Well, yeah.” Izuku slid his hand back into Shouta’s, looking a little nervous. “He used to be first for like, forever, but, um, I’ve recently reshuffled the list.” 

 

“Can my question be what your list looked like before it was reshuffled?” Hizashi smiled, and Shouta dreaded the playful edge it had. He knew that if Eraserhead was still on the list he was never going to hear the end of it. Ever. 

 

“Oh yeah, sure.” Izuku bobbed his head back and forth as he quickly listed off the heroes. “All Might, Recovery Girl, Eraserhead, EdgeShot, Present Mic.”

 

“Awww, so we were already both in your top five?” Hizashi squeezed Izuku from behind. His voice was soft and lilting, but the wicked grin he shot Shouta over Izuku’s head made him want to shrivel up and die. Shouta was never going to hear the end of this. 

 

“Yeah, I always listened to your radio show, even though it’s late at night. Sometimes I’d get to stay up to listen, but most of the time Mom would make sure to record it so I could listen the next day. I always liked when you did interviews with other heroes. It’s cool. And even though a lot of your heroics work is almost more underground with how little it is mentioned, it’s cool to see when you were in raids and stuff. You probably are big into investigations and less into daily patrols, yeah?”

 

“Yup! Absolutely correct, little listener!” He hugged Izuku from behind and rocked him back and forth a few times. “A quirk like mine isn’t great for simple patrols. I’ll fill in for people when needed, but I'm not usually on the regular rotations. Also, if you are a fan of my radio show, maybe one day I’ll give you the grand tour of the place where all the magic happens.”

 

“ So, cool. ” Izuku was practically vibrating. 

 

“Wait, can I ask a question now?” Keigo asked from behind. 

 

“Absolutely.” 

 

“Who are your top five favorite heroes, Shouta?”

 

Shouta groaned. He definitely didn’t have a top five favorite. He however had a list of heroes he thought were showboats, were terrible at their jobs, and were insufferable. But he didn’t have a nice list of five favorites . 

 

“Aw, come on Shou! I can think of one delightful Voice hero that I bet is in the number one spot.” Hizashi blinked his eyes flirtatiously. 

 

“Who? Do you mean Dynamica the Vocal hero?” Shouta smirked as Hizashi pretended to be insulted. 

 

“That poser? Who took my whole shtick!? Her hair isn’t even naturally blonde. She’s nothing more than a Present Mic copycat. ”

 

“I dunno, she’s got a slightly different quirk than you,” Izuku chimed in. “She can get loud and does use it like you use yours, but her quirk is less versatile. Your quirk has to have a wider range than hers with how loud it can get, and also more precision to the frequency you talk at. That, or she just isn’t as good at quirk control. But I think it is more of a baseline quirk thing than a lack of practice thing.” Izuku paused before an evil little grin cracked across his face. He looked up, the evil expression hastley hidden behind innocent doe eyes. “What she lacks in quirk power is easily made up for by her style. She has a cooler leather outfit.” 

 

One of Hizashi’s eyelids twitched. “It’s electric blue with a hot pink fringe. ”

 

“Yeah, and it has so many rhinestones, it sparkles.” Izuku smiled. He was the picture perfect image of innocence. Shouta was impressed . The kid was a little s—.

 

Hizashi was less aware of this new discovery about Izuku and was opening his mouth only to close it, looking a bit like a fish gasping for air. Shouta laughed, deciding to save his husband. 

 

“Obviously, you are number one Hizashi. I like the more traditional punk style.” Shouta felt himself flush as he continued with a small smile as he made eye contact with his husband. “I’ve also always thought Present Mic was easy on the eyes.” 

 

“Oh, gross.” Izuku muttered between the two. Shouta thought it was only fair for being a sassy little gremlin. 

 

“Booo! Boring!” Keigo called out from the couch. “Choose someone else!”

 

“Do I have to pick pro-heroes?” Shouta turned to Keigo with a raised eyebrow. 

 

“I– guess not?” He shrugged before he shifted to lay stretched out on the couch. He looked much more relaxed that way, which was good. The kid needed rest.

 

“Then my other four are the groups of people that eradicated tuberculosis and malaria, the politicians that put metahuman protections in place when quirks first appeared, the groups that are working to put in quirkless protections now…” 

 

“Boooo. Still Boring!” Keigo called out giving Shouta a thumbs down. “Last pick better be a real hero!”

 

Ignoring Keigo’s outburst, Shouta thought for a second before continuing. “Then it’s Izuku.” 

 

“What? Why me?” Izuku squeaked out.

 

Shouta shrugged, and focused in on Izuku. “You were a hero this morning. You identified a threat, kept me from talking, created a decisive plan, communicated it to me when I couldn’t hear, all while I am sure you were terrified. If that doesn’t make you a hero, then no one deserves the title.” 

 

Izuku looked at Shouta blankly, and slowly blinked three times before bursting into dramatic tears. He ripped himself away from Hizashi to throw himself at Shouta. He rocked the kid back and forth as he cried, mumbling what he hoped was soothing words. After a short while Izuku sat back to look at Shouta. His big green eyes flicked between Shouta’s, searching for something. He reached up a finger to tap on his chest. 

 

YOU THINK I’M A HERO?

 

“Yeah, kiddo. You’re my hero.” It was sappy as h— and bordering on embarrassing to say, but it felt right. 

 

Izuku curled up in Shouta’s lap with a sigh, resting his head against his shoulder. He grabbed one of Shouta’s hands and started to fiddle with his fingers.

 

“But… it didn’t hurt.” Izuku whispered. 

 

Now wasn’t that just a gut punch. The words ‘ it hurts to heal’ in Izuku’s childish tone echoed in his mind. Shouta was pretty sure all of the air in the room got sucked out. But he wrapped his free arm up and around the kid’s back and guided his head closer so he could kiss the top of his head. 

 

One conversation wouldn’t break that sort of thinking, and Shouta knew that. But the evidence being laid out so clearly felt like a potato peeler slowly stripping out thin slices from his core, hollowing him out. He wanted to fix it immediately, make the kid know that being in pain wasn’t all he could bring to the table. However, this would likely take months if not years to unravel. If Izuku was anything like him, it might take a lifetime to learn. 

 

“It shouldn’t have to,” Shouta whispered. The wild curls tickled his nose as he lightly rested his head on Izuku’s. 

 

Izuku tightened his grip on Shouta’s hand. “I was a hero today.” 

 

“Yup.” He nodded into his kids head. 

 

“With no pain.” 

 

“Absolutely.” 

 

“Huh. Okay.” Izuku sat there for a beat before he flipped Shouta’s hand over and started tapping. 

 

CAN I ASK MY QUESTION NOW?

 

“Always, kiddo.” 

 

WHAT ARE KEI-NII AND HIZASHI’S TOP FIVE?

 

Shouta relayed the question. Keigo groaned and Hizashi grinned. 

 

“Okay, but can we all agree Shouta’s were all a cop out except Izuku?” Keigo sounded exasperated. “Most of his were groups of hundreds of people, and the only pro hero was just his husband.”

 

“You’re just jealous that you were the only one here not on his list, Kei-nii.” Izuku taunted, a wide grin on his face.

 

Keigo shot him a dirty look and stuck out his tongue. Hizashi snickered.

 

“Well my top five are probably Eraserhead as he is also very easy on the eyes and incredibly capable.” Shouta felt himself flush as Hizashi wiggled his eyebrows at him. “Fatgum has been a great hero and partners with UA to take work-study kids and is very good at doing that. I’ve always been fond of Wash, he’s just a funky little guy, but very good at his job. Then probably EdgeShot because secretly he is actually very funny in a dry humor sort of way that throws people off which I never fail to find hilarious, and then finally Midnight.” 

 

“I’m going to tell Nem she’s fifth.” Shouta snarked.

 

“She wasn’t even on your list.” Hizashi pushed him with his foot.

 

“She wouldn’t be surprised. But she will be annoying to you about trying to get higher on your list.” 

 

“G-d you’re right. Please don’t.” HIzashi let himself slide onto the floor to sit next to Shouta. “I’d hate to see what nonsense she’d pull to try to be raised.” 

 

“Mmm tempting. But I’d hate to be caught in the crossfire so I'll let you off this time.” Shouta bumped his shoulder into Hizashi, who rolled his eyes.

 

“So, Keigo, what’s yours?” Hizashi asked.

 

“Endeavor as he saved me as a kid so I've always looked up to him. Uh, one of the sidekick’s at my agency, Heron, has always watched out for me and is very capable. Miriko is fun but scary, and we have done some hang outs after press events that were enjoyable. Then Best Jeanist, even though he harasses me about my eating habits, still brings me fried chicken whenever we partner up, and uhhhh.” Keigo refused to look at anyone in the room as he slowly turned red, “I guess then tied, is you two, as… you’ve both done a lot for me.” 

 

Shouta couldn’t help but notice the through line that connected all of these heroes. He was just glad that there had been heroes here and there that were looking out for his kid in various ways. None of them were likely aware of what had been going on with Keigo. But as much as Keigo was pretty good at hiding behind the thin facades and heroic personas, they were at times paper thin. The reason he got away with it for so long was likely through smoke and mirror tactics and just isolating himself. It explained why Hawks was known to never go to any of the hero galas or social events. 

 

Since taking Keigo in, he’d been curious how different Hawks the persona was from Keigo. Shouta had watched some older interviews late at night, his debut interview was particularly jarring. Subtle signs and warning signals were peppered throughout his interactions, if one knew what to look for. The heroes he mentioned weren’t stupid, and probably figured something was going on and made sure to reach out when they could.

 

They were probably in for a bit of a surprise, as most heroes just assumed other heroes who are acting a bit off just were dealing with some PTSD or mental health slump from a bad raid or horrible fight. This would likely clear up some stuff, but also surprise them with how bad it actually was. Honestly, Shouta was surprised the kid lasted this long without having a total nervous breakdown. 

 

He made a mental note to reach out to all those heroes for possible support for Keigo after things calmed down a touch, minus Endeavor. The number two hero had always rubbed Shouta the wrong way and didn’t want to have to interact with him more than he ever had to. 

 

“Awww, thanks listener.” Hizashi smiled at Keigo. 

 

“I thought you could count, Kei-nii. Pretty sure that was six.” 

 

“If Shouta can choose to list like a thousand people, and if you got to put six people in your top five , then I think I can also say six heroes.” 

 

“Okay, I guess that’s fair.” 

 

There was a short lull in the conversation, before Hizashi scrambled to stand. 

 

“Wait! I have a great idea!” He shouted before he ran out of the room, towards the kitchen. Shouta was pretty sure he knew where this was going, but it was funny to watch both boys look at each other, and then turn to him in twin confused and questioning expressions. 

 

Shouta shrugged. “Just because we’re married now, doesn’t mean I know what that man is thinking.” 

 

However, this time they absolutely were on the same wavelength as Hizashi bounded back into the room, waving the large tupperware full of the frozen cupcakes above his head.

 

“We were never able to actually eat these amazing cupcakes the two of you made. Which thank you so much by the way, it was so sweet of you both. But I was thinking if we throw them back in the oven to get them warm then we can decorate them! Together!” 

 

Izuku stiffened in Shouta’s lap. He leaned down to whisper in the kid's ear. 

 

“If you don’t want to, we can do something else.” 

 

Slumping into Shouta’s chest, Izuku sighed. “It’s fine. I just feel bad we couldn't finish them… before.” 

 

“Try not to, nothing that happened that day was your fault. This will be fun.” Shouta ruffled Izuku’s hair into an even wilder mess. “And even if it isn’t, we’ll get to eat cupcakes afterwards.”

 

Izuku paused, thinking about what he said. He started fiddling with Shouta’s fingers again before whispering, “I do like cupcakes.” 

 

“Do you dislike anything sweet?” Shouta asked as he shifted the kid so he could stand.

 

“I don’t like how sticky maple syrup makes my hands? But it's super good on pancakes.” Izuku wrapped his arms around Shouta’s neck and tightened his knees against his waist. 

 

“I'm going to just take that as a no. And as more evidence that you have the biggest sweet tooth.”

 

Shouta stood, one arm wrapped around one of Izuku’s thighs and the other pressed up against the kid's spine, holding him upright. He was glad he held Izuku that way as the swooping action of picking him up must have been enough for him to gray out, briefly lilting to the side. Izuku blinked a few times before resting his head against Shouta’s shoulder with a small reassuring smile.

 

“I’m okay.”

 

“You sure?” It was like his heart was trying to make up for Izuku’s wonky blood pressure and was beating twice as fast as it needed too. 

 

“Yeah, I’ve just been extra dizzy since I stopped drifting. It’s probably a blood pressure thing.” Izuku shrugged.

 

Pursing his lips, Shouta held his tongue, but internally screamed. Hopefully now that they weren’t hiding the kid, they’d be able to take him to some specialists to figure out what was going wrong. And hopefully make it better. 

 

“Okay, but if it gets worse, I want you to tell me or Hizashi. Or if you get any other symptoms for that matter.” 

 

“I can do that.” 

 

“Good.” 

 

With that Shouta walked into the kitchen. Hizashi had already gotten the cupcakes into the tin and was pushing the various buttons on the oven. He was definitely failing to pre-heat it, but was instead somehow fighting with it trying to exit out of resetting the clock. Wheeling around Hizashi held his arms out and made grabby hands at Izuku. 

 

“I give up. Give me the baby, you fix the oven.” 

 

“There is a button labeled ‘bake’ right there. So how did you–?”

 

“Baby! Now!” Hizashi darted over and started pulling Izuku off him. His face was bright red and his expression bordered on mortified, so Shouta let it drop, and helped in the transfer of the child. 

 

“‘M not a baby.” Izuku mumbled once he was settled against Hizashi’s chest, who just cooed. Izuku nuzzled his face into the shirt Hizashi was wearing, looking very much like a tired toddler, albeit oversized.

 

Shouta smiled to himself as he worked to start the oven. It was adorable seeing him fawn over Izuku, even if it was mainly to hide his embarrassment. He loved Hizashi. He was so smart and incredibly capable, but periodically, he was the dumbest man on planet earth. 

 

“I dunno, Chickadee, from my view you might just be a tiny baby boy,” Keigo said as he leaned heavily against the door frame, looking about two seconds from collapsing. Shouta pressed the last button with the oven and moved to help Keigo. He could barely walk from fatigue, and the idiot knew that. Shouta was glad he got there when he did as just as he swung one of Keigo’s arms over his shoulders to help hold him up, his knees half gave out. He would have fallen to the floor if not for Shouta. He gave Keigo major disappointed side eye and the kid just grimaced. Shouta dragged the kid across the kitchen to where the folding step stool was and pushed him into the seat. 

 

“I’m only eight years younger than you and you’re an adult,” Izuku said.

 

“Well I’m only eight years younger than them ,” Keigo waved a hand between Shouta and Hizashi. “And for some reason I’ve been dubbed ‘kid’. So, if I’m forced to be a kid at nineteen, you are forced to be a baby at eleven. I don’t make the rules.” 

 

“I’m still not a baby.” Izuku’s nose crinkled as he pouted. He was really bad at fighting the ‘baby’ allegations if Shouta was going to be honest. The kid was just too precious. 

 

“And I’m still not a kid, but here we are Izu. We’ll just have to suffer together.” Keigo let out a dramatic sigh.

 

“We’re actively helping make cupcakes for the two of you to eat.” Shouta shot out as he put the frozen cupcakes in the oven. “Neither of you are suffering .”

 

At least, not anymore. And if Shouta had any say in the matter , never again. 

 

“Well,” Hizashi moved to let Izuku sit on the corner of the kitchen island. He ducked down to grab some bags that he’d shoved into one of the cabinets in the island. “I think we are going to suffer as I just realized we’re going to have to let them cool to frost them. But I did get a chance to grab frosting and supplies a few days ago. I even got some fun sprinkles!” 

 

Shouta watched as Hizashi excitedly talked through all of the things he’d purchased to a nodding and wide eyed Izuku and an obviously judging Keigo. He was probably trying to hide it, but the overly blank face kept twitching in a way that screamed ‘judgy teen’. 

 

Apparently, he thought that edible glitter wasn’t the ‘absolute coolest thing’ and rolled his eyes with a scoff. Shouta leaned down and put a heavy hand on his shoulder. 

 

“Let them have their fun.”

 

Keigo eyed Hizashi as he pulled out a case of frosting tips and started to enthusiastically hypothesize what the different shapes were for. Izuku babbled back, giving his ideas and wondering if they should do some tests before they actually tried to decorate the cupcakes. Hizashi let out an overjoyed yelp and went off about how that was genius and started madly flying around the kitchen getting ‘supplies,’ some of which Shouta couldn’t begin to fathom why they’d need them to practice with frosting cupcakes. 

 

“Is Hizashi always like this?”

 

“What? Like a kid on cocaine?”

 

Shouta smiled as he watched Hizashi fill a piping bag, only to forget to put one of the tips on first. A large glob of frosting fell out onto the cookie sheet. Izuku giggled as Hizashi dramatically bemoaned the loss of frosting, before the kid swiped half the frosting with a finger and licked it all up. His husband squawked as he fitted one of the weird shaped tips on the piping bag. He was very stern and ‘adult’ as he stated that they couldn’t eat all the frosting before the cupcakes were done. However, he was really undercutting it as he actively squeezed some onto his own finger and then to Izuku’s outstretched hand as he said it. 

 

“... yeah. Like that.” 

 

Shouta shrugged. “It ebbs and flows. He is just excitable. And feels the most comfortable putting on a show. Being stressed about wanting the two of you to have a good time probably is making him play it up a little right now, but he just is like that naturally to a degree.” 

 

“Huh.” Keigo watched Hizashi and Izuku with a wistful expression. It was something he’d seen on students regularly. Usually, he just let the students figure out on their own that joining in when they want to was actually easier than sitting to the side to ‘look cool’ or whatever. As a teacher, he didn’t feel like it was his responsibility unless the kid was seriously struggling. However in a… more parental role, Shouta probably should do something about it.

 

“If you don’t want to join in, you don’t have to. Hizashi can be a lot. I’m sure you’re tired and might want to lay down. I can bring you a cupcake once we’re done.” 

 

Keigo frowned before he turned to Shouta. “Just because I’m maybe a little tired and your husband is a lot, doesn’t mean I don’t want to help.” Keigo sat up and sent out a few feathers to grab an empty piping bag and one of the open tubs of frosting. “I started these cupcakes. Imma help finish them.” 

 

Keigo then got the attention of Hizashi and Izuku and offered his services on trying to figure out the ‘weird tips’. They both were overjoyed as he shuffled the stool to be a little closer to the island. Izuku explained what they were doing and the various little tests they’d come up with. 

 

Shouta bit back a grin as he watched Keigo stick his tongue out as he focused on his task. It never failed to tell a teen that they ‘didn’t have to do something’ to give them the push to do the thing they wanted to do. It was dumb and a bit silly, but there was something about it that never failed to be humorous. And this time, sweet. Keigo was nineteen, but at times acted more like he was twelve and others like he was a thirty year old grizzled and seasoned pro. Just seeing him try to make a frosting flowers only for it to somehow devolve into a sprinkle throwing fight when Izuku swiped more of the frosting let Shouta relax.

 

Knowing that he’d likely be the one to have to clean up all the sprinkles, he spoke up. Pointing to the floor that had various shapes and sizes of sprinkles the boys had thrown at each other. “Hey, I get having fun, but let's choose something a little less messy.”

 

Izuku flinched, his eyes filling with tears as his eyes focused on the floor. Keigo protectively flared his wings and turned on Shouta. He wished he’d not said anything. But instead of letting himself slide into the guilt spiral, he squatted down so he could try to catch Izuku’s eyes.

 

“Hey kiddo, look at me.” Shouta worked to keep his voice soft, Izuku’s eyes flicked between his face and the floor as he spoke. “You aren’t in trouble, not at all. I’m just lazy, and didn’t want to have to sweep too much more. And I knew this guy,” He pointed to Hizashi with his thumb, “will give himself a massive sugar crash off the cupcakes, and it’d all be on me.” 

 

Izuku inhaled a little shaky before quietly asking, “We’re… really not in t-trouble?” 

 

“Not in the slightest.” Shouta stood and opened his arms, offering a hug. Izuku nodded and was wrapped in Shouta’s arms. He let go after the tension in Izuku relaxed, which luckily didn’t take too long.

 

“Actually kiddo, I had an idea earlier about what we talked about. About how sometimes when you are scared you can find it hard to understand words.”

 

Nodding, Izuku fiddled with one of the now almost empty piping bags. In the background, Shouta vaguely noticed Hizashi and Keigo whispering to each other. Neither of them seemed to be upset, so he continued to keep his focus on Izuku. Hizashi could deal with calming Keigo back down.

 

“I figured that when you got that scared and I was around, if I had something eye-catching near my face it might be easier for you to focus.”

 

“A bright hat might work.” Izuku started to use the edge of the counter between his knees to squeeze the last little bit of frosting together towards the tip of the piping bag. 

 

“Oh I didn’t even think of that.” Shouta mumbled to himself. “I came up with a slightly more… permanent idea. A hat might have been better to start with.”

 

“Don’t let him fool you, Shouta here bought like fifteen different colors of hair dye.” Hizashi had at some point walked behind Shouta and clapped him on the shoulder. “He seems pretty excited about the idea.” 

 

“Snipe bought them, not me. I just asked for ‘an assortment of the brightest colors of hair dye’,” Shouta grumbled out before turning back to Izuku. “But I figured I would ask you which color you think would be the most eye-catching for you.” 

 

“Not purple.” 

 

The answer was too fast to not mean something. Shouta and Hizashi made eye contact and had a short back and forth with faces and came to agreement that they weren’t gonna push it right now, but they’d both caught that this meant something.

 

“Alright.” He nodded. “I think I can do that.” 

 

“You could maybe do your favorite color.” Izuku finished with the piping bag and slowly watched as he pushed the pink sugar through the star-shaped tip. “Depending on what it is.” 

 

“Izu, the man wears all black. His hair might be his favorite color already.” Keigo gestured to Shouta’s all black outfit.

 

“My favorite color is bright pink.” Keigo looked shocked, and Shouta just pulled at his black shirt. “Black clothes are less likely to stain. It's a practicality thing.” 

 

“Also, Shouta is my emo little man.” Hizashi said in a silly voice as he patted his cheeks with a grin. Turning he continued, “It’d be weird to see him in a ton of color. But I, for one, am ecstatic about the idea of your hair being cotton candy pink.”  

 

“You’ve wanted to dye my hair for years.” 

 

“Yup!” Hizashi stepped back with a clap. “I just think it’d be fun.”

 

“So, kiddo,” Shouta leaned against the counter next to Izuku and crossed his arms. “You think pink might be okay?”

 

Izuku nodded. “I think it’d be good, and also it’s your favorite color.” 

 

“Yeah, it's a win-win. But even if it was my least favorite color, I’d do it if it’d help. And if pink doesn’t work we can try other colors.” Shouta bumped lightly into Izuku’s side with a small smile. “We have fifteen choices, so we can experiment if we need to, okay?” 

 

“Okay.” 

 

The oven timer went off and Hizashi ran over to take the cupcakes out. As he put them on the now messy kitchen island he spoke. “Alright, these are gonna take a while to cool enough to frost them. Shall we dye some hair while we wait?”

 

“Yeah!” Izuku cheered out.

 

Keigo shrugged. “Sure.” 

 

Hizashi grinned as he turned to Shouta, practically vibrating. His husband had mentioned wanting to dye Shouta’s hair for the first time in highschool, something about wanting to try to bleach hair but not really needing too with him being blond. It had seemed impractical lightening his hair for no reason, but now there was a reason. And deep down, a part of Shouta was always a little intrigued by the idea.

 

“Just don’t fry my hair too much. I’d rather not go bald.” 

 

“You’ve trusted me with your life before so you can trust me with your hair. I’m sure it’ll be fine!” Hizashi started pushing Shouta out the door. “Now go get the stuff and I’ll clean up a little in here.” 

 

Shouta let himself be pushed out of the kitchen, smiling he overheard Hizashi talk about possibly throwing some dye in his own long hair and giving some options for Keigo and Izuku too. 

 

If Hizashi got his way, it was probably a good thing that Snipe got as much as he did. No one would be safe. 

 

Smiling at the bag full of bleach and dye, he reached in and grabbed the pink. Rubbing his thumb over the bright colour on the front, he sighed. 

 

He’d better get used to this shade of hot pink. Even though it was his favorite, it was still a lot. If it helped Izuku, he’d likely be seeing it for some time. 

 

The things he was willing to do for his kids.

 

 

 

Notes:

Okay. so folks. hopefully I could fullfill your fluff desires lolol I'm delighted by this chapter personally lol
I tried to imbed the photo but I dunno if thats gonna work ToT so I posted it to my tumblr:

 

Family Bonding

 

so its here. so plz enjoy lolol or don't I just think its cute ToT

Also If there is any fluff ideas plz lemme know I have a few chapters adn things planned and written but like I'm always down for more ideassssssss :D

Chapter 30: Shouta and his family might be on break but some things are gonna follow you home

Notes:

HULLLOOOOOOO friendsssss!!! :)
Here is the next chappie. this is my version of fluff? I guess its more the comfort side of the hurt/comfort than fluff lol x)

but as always thanks for @sassy_chemist for being my beta. All oyur comments bring me unending joy <3 and also thanks for laughing at me for accidentally writing that Shouta put cupcakes in the sink instead of plates with me eheheh (Don't write when you have a fever if you want it to be any good lolol)

Trigger: some panic and minor hair tugging. which isn't too heavy for this fic tbh.

But plz enjoy!!! <3

Shouta laughed as Hizashi madly tried to scrub his hands in the bathroom sink while Shouta brushed his teeth. The man had gotten so enthusiastic in his dyeing of everyone’s hair to the point he’d forgotten gloves, and now his hands were a blotchy mix of pinks, greens, reds and blues. 

 

Both kids conked out shortly after the cupcakes were frosted and the hair dye was washed out. Both had opted for only partial dye jobs. Izuku went with a cute stripe of crimson above one eye, in his words ‘to match his favorite big brother’. Keigo dyed the underside of his hair a green as he wasn’t going to be ‘out brother-ed’. 

 

It was cute.

 

Spitting out the foamed up toothpaste, Shouta looked at himself in the mirror. He… looked different. It would take some time to get used to seeing himself with bright pink hair, but if it helped Izuku, he’d be glad to have done it. 

 

Hizashi also went all out on his hair and chose multiple colors that in what Shouta would call ‘peacock-y’ tones, and they cascaded down his back in a nice gradient. 

 

He was going to laugh at Hizashi when he would have to jell his hair up in his ridiculous hero hairstyle for the first time. It would be far from the first time Present Mic had coloured tips, but usually it was for a publicity stunt to promote a cause of some sort. But this specific color scheme was going to make Hizashi look like a peacock with flared feathers. And Shouta would be ready to make fun of him for it. 

 

“It looks like I murdered a rainbow with my bare hands,” Hizashi whined as he watched the water run totally clear over his still very colorful hands. 

 

“A bit.” Shouta rinsed his mouth out at the neighboring sink.

 

“Why am I sensing zero sympathy from the love of my life?” 

 

“I’ll give you one guess.” 

 

Hizashi shut off the sink with a deep sigh. “Abandoned in my time of need.” 

 

“Yup.” Shouta splashed water on his face, reaching for the soap. Hizashi squawked and threw the hand towel at him. It half ended up in the sink, but it was still dry enough to use to dry his face. Over the edge of the towel, he shot Hizashi a dry look. His husband just smiled.

 

“Hey, so what should we do now?”

 

“Sleep.” 

 

Hizashi snorted. “Why am I not surprised?” 

 

Shouta hung the wet towel on the hook off to the side. Turning, he half sat half leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “Probably because it is my favorite activity.” 

 

“You’re still my cute energy saver Shou.” His husband pecked a kiss on his cheek. “I still gotta finish getting ready for bed, but you can head off.” 

 

“I’ll probably go clean up a little bit before going to bed.” Shouta yawned with a shrug before continuing, “Knowing you, it’ll take forty minutes before you are ready and if I lay down now, you’ll probably wake me up.” 

 

“I can be quiet,” Hizashi pouted. 

 

“It’s fine. I also don’t want to leave the frosting dry onto the countertop.” Shouta grabbed Hizashi’s long fingers and pulled him close into a kiss. Hizashi startled before sinking into the embrace. He pulled away from his husband who had a slightly confused fond look on his face.

 

“What was that for?”

 

Shouta shrugged, a small smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. “Do I need a reason?”

 

Laughing, Hizashi turned to the sink and put his toothbrush in his mouth, his words a little wonky as he spoke around the toothbrush. “I guess not.”

 

Watching Hizashi do something as mundane as brush his teeth settled Shouta. The familiar way his husband started in the back left corner of his mouth and meticulously scrubbed each tooth down. The sound of Hizashi gagging as he brushed his tongue just a touch too far back. The way he bundled his hair over his right shoulder to hold it as he spit the toothpaste out. How, after Hizashi rinsed out his mouth, he did a cheesy grin and gave himself a wink and finger guns in the mirror. 

 

Shouta couldn’t hold back the smile that grew on his face. He really loved Hizashi. 

 

“As much as I love it when you ogle me, which you can do anytime you want, by the way, you know I like to put on a show,” Hizashi looked at Shouta from the corner of his eye, wiggling his eyebrows, “but if you actually want to clean you might want to, you know, go clean.” 

 

“I love you.” The words tumbled out, but Shouta didn’t regret them from the grin it earned him. 

 

“I love you, too.” Hizashi grabbed Shouta’s hand and pulled him up from his heavy lean on the counter. He dragged him into a spin under the joined hands. Shouta stopped and Hizashi stepped forward to be chest to chest with him. Slipping his fingers between his husbands, Hizashi leaned in to kiss him. The two types of mint toothpaste mixed together before Hizashi stepped back, squeezing their hands together. “Now, shoo.” 

 

Shouta huffed out a laugh as Hizashi lightly pushed him towards the door before turning back to the sink, putting all of his moisturizers, cleansers, and shaving tools in order. His husband had gone over his whole process more than once. However, Shouta was still lost over what half the stuff was really for, but if it made Hizashi happy, he was happy. 

 

Entering the kitchen with a sigh, he got to work. It really wasn’t that bad. Sprinkles needed to be swept up. The counters needed to be wiped down from both frosting that was smeared and where one of the cups filled with dye had tipped over. A small puddle of red dye pooled on the counter. He collected up the various cupcakes onto one plate, putting the other plates in the sink for later. 

 

Smiling down at the levels of effort in the decoration, he hesitated to cover them with the large mixing bowl he’d gotten out. Immaculate swirls with a perfect sprinkling of glitter sat next to the blobbed out glop of frosting. A cupcake with a thin layer of frosting but a meticulous smiley face made out of sprinkles sat next to what Hizashi had claimed was a flower, but looked more like the tentacles of kraken reaching out of the sea. He did end up covering the cupcakes to keep them from drying out too much or attracting bugs, but the image of the mix of cupcakes didn’t leave his mind. Neither did the happy smiles, giggles, and intense focus that everyone of his family had at some point that evening. 

 

It was important to focus on the good times, and ignore the little voice telling him that this happiness was going to be yanked out from under them. That the other shoe was going to drop. That any enjoyment he got from seeing his family happy wasn’t going to last, and it was selfish to try to hold onto such tiny fleeting moments. 

 

That little voice could die in a fiery car crash. Shouta hoped that tomorrow would bring more joy. And the day after that and the day after that. Ideally, forever. And even when there were stressful and even downright awful days, they’d get through it.

 

Take that, negative little voice. 

 

Shouta shook his head, feeling a bit like a crazy person as imagined a tiny Hizashi kicking the daylights out of the negative voice. He finished wiping down the counters and was just dumping the dust pan when Keigo tumbled into the kitchen. 

 

The kid had a wild edge to his eyes, and hadn’t seemed to notice Shouta yet as he manically riffled through the cabinets with trembling hands. Under his breath he was mumbling about not finding anything yet and that there had to be some somewhere. 

 

Shouta slowly turned, his hands raised. “Keigo?”

 

Keigo jumped a good half meter into the air with a screech, his wings slamming into the fridge and knocking the broom that was leaned up against the island to the floor. Shouta watched as the feathers lost the sharp shine as they fluffed back into their soft state.  

 

“I didn’t see you, sorry.” Keigo rubbed one of his eyes. He swayed, looking exhausted.

 

“It’s fine. What are you doing up?” Shouta very slowly took a step forward.

 

Hizashi bounded into the doorway, his face dripping and one eye closed where soap was visibly dripping into it. “Everyone okay?”

 

Keigo dropped to the floor and scrambled to sit in the corner of the cabinets, his wings covering him. Shouta could hear Keigo’s stuttering breaths between small aborted bird calls. 

 

“Yeah we’re fine.” Shouta raised his hands to quickly sign. Keigo came out obviously stressed, I got this.

 

“Alright.” Hizashi pursed his lips at Shouta, looking disgruntled. Don’t get stabbed again. He turned to leave, only to stop, hands raised once more to sign. I’ll be listening if you do need help, just yell. But baby bird obviously needs space, so I’ll go.

 

Shouta bit back a grin at the name sign. It wasn’t the time or place, but he did wonder what moniker Hizashi had given Izuku. Pushing that thought to the side, he lowered himself to the floor after walking to the same side of the kitchen Island, but still on the far side of the room. 

 

“Kid, do you need anything?” 

 

Keigo’s feathers shook and shimmed, but there was no real response. Shouta only saw Keigo’s shoulders raise up to his ears as he sank deeper into himself. The stuttering breaths were becoming more erratic, but the kid’s body language screamed ‘stay away’.

 

“Okay, if you need me I’ll be right here, unless you want me to leave?” 

 

“S-stay.” The word was strained, but clear enough. 

 

“Alright. Take your time. I’ll be here.” 

 

For the next ten minutes or so, Shouta just sat there. He counted his own slow breaths, hoping to help guide Keigo from a distance. It took a while, but he noticed that the kid was obviously trying to follow the pattern. He watched as the thick muscles across Keigo’s shirtless back loosened, and the wings that half covered him slowly slumped to the floor. He tilted his head back against the wood cabinets, shutting his eyes. Deep circles under his eyes left him looking exhausted.

 

“Sorry,” Keigo breathed out.

 

“Don’t apologize. We startled you. It happens.” 

 

“I–” He opened his eyes. He chewed his lip a few times before sighing. “Yeah, okay.” 

 

“Do you want help getting up? You need more sleep.” 

 

“Can’t.” 

 

“Can’t what?”

 

“Can’t sleep. Not yet.” Keigo got a far away look in his eyes. “Maybe not ever.” 

 

“What’s stopping you?”

 

“Gotta… do a sweep for cameras and stuff.” Keigo sounded exhausted, but resigned. 

 

Shouta was well aware there were no cameras inside the dorm. That was deemed invasive. 

Shouta also knew that Keigo knew there weren’t any cameras as he’d been told there weren't any when he moved in because the kid had point blank asked . Or at least, he should know that. Telling him that there were no cameras wasn’t likely to help.

 

This wasn’t a logic thing. This was an emotion thing. 

 

“Could I help you search?”

 

Keigo blinked and snapped his head to Shouta. “You’d… you’d do that?”

 

He shrugged, “Sure, why not. If it’ll help you get to sleep, absolutely.” 

 

“I… yeah. I think that’d help.” 

 

“Wanna start now, or give it a few more minutes?”

 

“Now.” 

 

Shouta nodded and stood, his body snapping and popping in increasingly distressing ways. Keigo shot him a concerned look that Shouta waved off. He knew he sounded like a rice crispy treat at times, but it rarely hurt. Holding his hand out to his kid, he couldn’t help but feel a little honored as Keigo tentatively reached out and let him help him stand. It was another small display of trust that made Shouta feel warm. 

 

Keigo was a bit shaky on his feet, but after a full day of rest, he was no longer teetering on the edge of collapse with each step. Even with that being the case, Shouta kept an eye on the kid and didn’t stray too far out of reach. Just in case. 

 

They started to systematically check each room. They looked through the cabinets in the kitchen, looking in and under lamps in the living room, removing all the cushions from the couch and even searching inside the fabric covers of the cushions, looking under the sinks in the bathroom, in the vents, under bookshelves, anywhere and everywhere. 

 

Hizashi ignored them as they crawled around the bathroom, and later pretended to keep reading his book in the bedroom when Keigo started sliding his hands between the mattress and box spring under him. He did shoot Shouta a concerned look as Keigo left, Shouta just signed Later to his husband. Hizashi just nodded, relaxing back into the pillows.

 

Luckily, Nemuri had been called in by Nedzu to help with the investigation, and Shouta let them into her room. It was an invasion of her privacy, but she’d probably understand. Shouta also knew she’d forgive him if he just told her the unending horror he felt when he opened one of the drawers to her dresser only to find an ungodly number of sex toys. They weren’t even planning on being in the dorm for that long, there was no reason to have that many. He’d never hear the end of it and would likely have her start hiding all sorts of things for him again. He was not excited to have to deal with being jump scared by progressively stranger sex toys, but he’d live.

 

Pacing outside of Izuku’s half cracked door, Keigo started to scratch fairly aggressively at his skin at the back of his neck. He looked conflicted as he stared into the doorway.

 

“I need to check,” Keigo’s voice was low as he started to tug on a lock of newly green hair. “I need to check. But… I don’t want to invade his space.”

 

“Gentle.” Shouta pointedly looked at the hand. Stopping the tugging, Keigo looked at his hand surprised, before crossing his arms tightly across his chest.  As gently as he could, Shouta continued, “There aren’t any cameras in there. I promise.”

 

“I know that,” Keigo scowled, his fingers turning white from squeezing his biceps. “But I don’t know that.” 

 

He let himself fall against the wall and slowly slid down to the ground. “That makes me sound like a crazy person.” Pausing, he ran a hand through his hair. “I probably am a crazy person.” 

 

Shouta squatted down in front of him. “You’re not crazy.” 

 

“I sure feel like I am.” Keigo sniffed as he looked away.

 

“Is it really paranoia when they’re really out to get you?” Shouta smirked.

 

Keigo rolled his eyes with a huff. A small twitch of a smile brightened the kids face. “That’s terrible.” 

 

“But was it funny?”

 

“No.” 

 

“D—,” Shouta deadpanned. “I thought I had a good one.” 

 

There was a lull where they both just sat there. The heating whirred to life, and Dumpster slid out of Izuku’s room, checking out what was going on. The calico rubbed up against Shouta’s knee in the cutest way possible with a quiet mrrrp, earning him some chin scritches before he sauntered off. 

 

“I just–” Keigo sighed. “I know I won't be able to go back to sleep if I don’t check.”

 

“What if first thing in the morning we check?” Keigo shook his head at Shouta’s question. He didn’t think that would work, but he figured it was a good try. 

 

“What are you worried about if there is some camera in Izuku’s room?”

 

Keigo snapped his head to Shouta and looked at him like he was insane. “You’re kidding right? It’s obvious.” 

 

“Humor me,” Shouta sat fully down, scooching back to lean against the far wall of the hall. “Maybe I’m an idiot.” 

 

“You are an idiot,” Keigo mumbled more to himself than to Shouta before he spoke up. “If there are cameras, then they would have proof he is there. They could come back. Figure out what we are up to, and counteract any measures we have to protect him.” 

 

“Anything else?”

 

“They could use the footage to use as evidence to sell the kid to the highest bidder.”

 

“And?”

 

“You have got to be kidding me, how is this helping?” Keigo scowled. “They just could use it to hurt Izuku, when they get him back they could–”

 

“They aren’t going to get him, Keigo.” Shouta cut him off.

 

“You don’t know that.” His voice broke. “You can’t know that.”

 

“You’re right. I’m not Nighteye, I can’t know the future.” Shouta raised one of his knees up to his chest and leaned forward. “But, I do know all the safeguards that we have in place right now for Izuku.”

 

“They broke in. They already did it once.”

 

“And I know that the quirk user that made it possible; One,” Shouta started counting on his fingers. “Is currently in custody and has quirk suppressing cuffs on. Two, could only make a fairly small bubble of technical blind spot from what Nedzu said. Three, her quirk was able to be canceled by mine allowing the nightmarish swarm of drones to flood in immediately. Four, quirks like hers aren’t that common and it would likely take the commission more time to do a second attack as, five, Nedzu clocked the blind spot in security and is working on fixing that and in the meantime the rest of the UA facility is doing regular sweeps. And of course six, there are three very capable heroes only meters from Izuku.” 

 

“Are you saying I shouldn’t care if the commission was spying on him? Because he’d just magically be safe,” Keigo growled out.

 

“Not in the slightest.” Shouta shook his head. “If they were spying on him, I would be livid and horrified. Also, it’s not magic, it's strategy and a lot of effort.”

 

“You’re bad at the reassurance thing, you know,” Keigo grumbled.

 

“I actually do know that, thanks for noticing. But I’m also not finished.” Shouta shot Keigo a firm look, which shut the kid up. “What I’m failing to convey is that in the next eight to ten hours Izuku, even fully monitored by the HPSC, would be fine. We can check his room in the morning.”

 

“I won’t be able to sleep.” Keigo’s eyes filled with tears. “I really, really won’t be able to.” 

 

“Alright, I’ll stay up with you then.” Using the wall Shouta stood up, dusting off his sweats.

 

“What?”

 

“I’ll stay up with you.” Shouta turned to look down at Keigo, who looked so small all curled up against the wall. It didn’t help that the kid was now silently crying, the tear tracks caught the light as he looked up at Shouta. “We can put on something mindless on the TV and just stay up.” 

 

“But wouldn’t you be tired?”

 

“I always am, wouldn’t be anything new.” Shouta held out his hand once again. Keigo just examined the hand, his eyes slowly raking over every centimeter of it, searching for something.

 

“But that… I’m not… Sleeping is…You…” Keigo once again looked like he’d sucked a lemon, before slumping with a sigh. He reached up and firmly took Shouta’s hand. “Okay.”

 

Pulling his kid up, Shouta held a hand out near his head in silent question. Keigo leaned forward, and Shouta ran his fingers through his hair a few times.

 

“I promise, I don’t mind,” Shouta whispered out. “Now, go get settled on the couch, get out some of the blankets. I’ll grab the cord for the TV.”

 

“The cord?” Keigo cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow. 

 

“Just a precaution. I didn’t want Izuku to accidentally watch the news as it is sure to get… messy.” Which wasn’t a lie, but it sure wasn’t the full truth either. From the way Keigo pursed his lips, he knew that it was also for him. 

 

“Right,” Keigo scrubbed at his cheeks. “I guess that makes sense. The media is sure to have a meltdown over all this.”

 

“Understatement,” Shouta grouched out, always willing to speak ill of the media. “I didn’t want anyone to have to see it before they were ready. Myself included. The media is going to take this in whatever way they will, and I just wanted to protect us all from it.” 

 

“I… I know. And it makes sense.” Keigo nodded to himself. “I should get the living room set up and you should get the cord.” 

 

Shouta nodded, and walked to his room. He hoped that the kid really did understand.

 

“I heard.” Hizashi was standing by the door holding the bundled up power cable. “Sorry for eavesdropping, I didn't mean to, but you were both right there and the door was open.” 

 

“It’s fine. I should have thought of that when I started that conversation.”

 

“Go give Keigo a hug for me, and go watch some mindless TV with him.” Hizashi caressed Shouta’s cheek with a soft smile. “He needs you.” 

 

“Are you–”

 

“I’ll be more than fine,” Hizashi cut him off and turned him around, pressing him slowly towards the still open doorway. “Now, go, our son needs reassurance. And some cuddles.”

 

“Also,” Hizashi turned to the door and spoke only slightly louder, “he probably could hear this whole thing with his super great hearing, so Keigo, if you are paying attention, I’m sorry for eavesdropping.” 

 

“I don’t mind, I knew you were listening.” Keigo’s voice was soft but traveled far enough to be heard. 

 

Shouta shook his head, rubbing his forehead. He sent Hizashi an exasperated look and Hizashi just grinned. 

 

Baby Bird is gonna keep us on our toes, he signed before pecking a quick kiss on the cheek and pushing Shouta the rest of the way out into the hall. Cookie Monster will too.

 

I wouldn’t have it any other way, he signed back. Shouta smiled as he took Hizashi’s hands in his and leaned in for a kiss. Hizashi made a soft, pleased noise in the back of his throat as he wrapped his arms around Shouta’s neck.

 

From the other room he heard exaggerated gagging noises. 

 

Shouta leaned back with a soft laugh as Hizashi thumped his head against his shoulder with a soft groan.

 

“We’re never gonna be able to have sex again,” Hizashi whined. The gagging from the other room sounded more genuine this time around and shifted into some coughing. 

 

Serves the little eavesdropper right.

 

“Nope,” Shouta kissed Hizashi’s temple, snickering. “Probably not.”

Notes:

:( Keigo is having a Time :(
But at least he got his dad to help him outttt ToT

Also Merry Christmas to any who celebrate! I will likely not post until after the holidays <3 so until next timeeeee <3333

Chapter 31: Izuku's cupcake heist

Notes:

Whats UP!?!? New year baby!!!! keeping on track with my resolution to be less mean to my characters by providing some fluff! (We'll see how long this lasts ehehehe >:) cuz lets be real im a big meanie)
But happy new year to y'all <3

And of course big thanks to @sassy_chemist as always, she gave me lots of awwwww's so this is not a drill i did actually write something pretty fluffy <3 (I'm learning!)

Triggers: not any that I can really think of tbh.

Enjoy the Heist!

Izuku bolted upright the moment he woke up. Sushi scampered off his bed from where she was curled up. His head swam slightly, but he ignored it. Nothing was gonna stop him from his goal. 

 

He was gonna sneak a cupcake before breakfast. 

 

As Hizashi bleached and then painted the thin strip of his hair bright red last night, they’d gone over house rules. Shouta had chimed in from time to time, too, but it had mainly been Hizashi. It was nice to have a solid understanding of what was allowed. What was expected . 

 

Izuku was allowed out of his room whenever and for whatever reason. The door couldn’t even be locked from the outside so he could always leave. He could go into any other room with an open door and could knock at any point on closed doors to ask permission to enter. Any food in the kitchen was up for grabs no matter what time, but the food needed to stay in the kitchen or living/dining areas. Also any injuries, or illnesses needed to be brought to Shouta or Hizashi as soon as they happened or were noticed. It was expected anytime he felt ‘off’ in any way that he’d go to one of them, so they could help. To use the TV, he’d have to ask permission, but Shouta said that in time they would revisit that rule. He also was allowed to ask to go outside whenever he wanted, but until ‘things calmed down’, they didn’t want him going off without at least one of them with him, just in case. Izuku didn't think he’d want to go off on his own as that sounded terrifying, so he really doubted that’d be an issue. 

 

He also was told that at the end of the day Izuku, with either Shouta or Hizashi or both of them, would sit down and just have a chat. It would be a time where he would have a chance to ask any questions that had built up over the day, and for them to check in to see how he was doing, with the possibility of tweaking and changing some of the rules if there were any concerns for Izuku’s safety and well being. They made it very clear that he would always have a say in any new or changed rules, and that if and if they made him uncomfortable or were confusing, to ask about them.

 

Last night during their first little meeting, Izuku had made sure to double check the rules that allowed for the cupcake heist. Hizashi seemed relieved that Izuku was double checking the rules as Shouta gave examples of different things that would be allowed within the rules. He’d specifically said if he woke up before anyone else was awake that he was allowed to grab any food or drinks from the kitchen. 

 

Which sounded a lot like the cupcakes were totally up for grabs.

 

The only thing that might make it impossible was if for some reason the cupcakes were taken out of the kitchen. If that happened, he’d check the snack shelf, as that’s where his mom had always stored the oreos. 

 

Oreos were no cupcakes, but they’d do in a pinch. 

 

Mom had a rule that said no sweets until after he’d eaten lunch, at least . Hizashi and Shouta, however, said no such thing. So the plan was a go. He slid out from under the warm blankets and delicately lowered his feet to the cool floor. Izuku wished he had slippers, but it wasn’t like his feet were dirty, so it would just be a little cold. Also it wasn’t a rule, so it should be fine.

 

Using mainly his good leg, he slowly stood. The wheelchair was near the foot of his bed, but honestly he didn’t really want to use it if he didn’t have to, it was clunky and awkward. It wasn’t like he was going too far, so it’d be fine, and he’d gone much further in the past without the help of the cast. He stopped himself from just taking a step, remembering how he’d collapsed a few times after doing that, and instead decided a small trial was in order. It had been some time since he tried to put weight on his bad leg, preferring to be pushed in the chair or, even better, to just be carried. It seemed backwards to Izuku, but not using his bad leg made using it hurt more when he did get around to walking. So he needed to be careful. Gradually, he put more and more weight on the leg. The bump burned, and the pressure sent jolts up the front of his leg. His hip, knee, and ankle had a deep throbbing ache from the weight on them, but it didn’t collapse. 

 

Score! Izuku pumped his fists in the air.

 

However, he didn’t really want to risk getting stopped before he made it to the cupcakes by falling to the floor loudly. This was a heist after all. And falling wasn’t sneaky at all. He shuffled to the wall and used it for additional support as he limped his way out of his room. He bit his lip to keep from making a noise as he stepped wrong as he turned. Pausing, biting his lip, he waited for the wave of electric zapping pain to wash over his leg.

 

From the room across from him, there was the sound of soft snoring. It was probably Shouta or Hizashi. He thought about peeking in as the door was cracked open, but decided his curiosity wasn’t more important than cupcakes. He probably also shouldn’t walk more than he had to as it kinda hurt.

 

As he walked to the kitchen, he noticed Keigo’s door was shut. Izuku had thought about roping his brother into the heist, but he was probably still sleeping.

 

Izuku was going to be the only early bird getting the worm, or in this case the kiddo with the cupcakes. 

 

As he was about to slide into the kitchen, he heard someone clear their throat behind him. Izuku startled and spun around on his good leg, smashing his elbow into the door frame. He leaned against the wall on one foot and whimpered quietly as he held his elbow. 

 

Shouta was sitting on the couch, his face full of concern as he looked between Izuku and Keigo, who was curled up sleeping on his lap. He started to shift like he was going to stand and Izuku waved his hands in the air to stop him.

 

“I’m fine,” Izuku whispered, “Just hit my funny bone.” 

 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you,” Shouta whispered back.

 

Keigo started to shift like he was going to wake up. Shouta stroked one of Keigo’s wings and his brother settled back down. Frowning down at Keigo, Shouta started tracing a rectangle in the air with his fingers and then mimed writing in the space he’d traced. 

 

Izuku nodded and slipped into the kitchen. He wanted the whiteboard. Shouta didn’t want to wake up Keigo, which Izuku could respect. He’d found himself in similar positions with his mom growing up after a bad nightmare. And it always took a while to fall asleep after a nightmare, so Keigo probably still needed the sleep.

 

He grabbed the whiteboard and marker off the counter by the fridge. Next to it was an upside down bowl. He lifted it and found the cupcakes. Izuku bit his lip, and tapped the marker against his chin. Mentally, he debated the likelihood that Shouta would be upset that Izuku was eating sugar this early in the morning. They hadn’t said anything about it being an issue, but they might have forgotten to tell him. That was the whole point of the heist. The goal was to not get caught, just in case. 

 

Sighing, he grabbed two cupcakes and balanced them on the whiteboard. It wasn’t a bribe per se, but Izuku always knew that his mom had been more likely to let him fudge some of the rules when he’d include her in the rebellion. 

 

Here's to hoping Shouta was the same way. 

 

Timidly limping out into the front room once more, Shouta’s brow wrinkled as he watched Izuku approach with a frown. Izuku froze about two meters from the couch. Was Shouta… mad? It was sometimes hard to tell with him and that was stressful. Focusing on the face framed by the bright pink hair, he relaxed. Shouta didn’t look angry, but he was obviously upset about something. It might be disappointment, but that didn’t feel quite right. Izuku cocked his head to the side with a squint, trying to figure it out. Unfortunately, the expression changed to obvious confusion before it smoothed out to his normal almost blank expression. 

 

It was a bit of a bummer. Izuku was making progress on figuring it out. 

 

Maybe. 

 

Shouta gestured with his head to the empty seat on the couch next to him. His hands were resting in Keigo’s hair and the wing flopped over his own torso. Izuku lowered himself into the seat with just his good leg and quickly handed Shouta one of the cupcakes and scrawled out his thoughts on the white board.

 

‘Sorry if you don’t want the cupcake, I came out here to grab one and figured you might want one too? Hopefully you aren’t upset.’

 

Izuku felt his stomach clench as he twisted the cap of the marker back and forth. His handwriting was terrible. His hands were way better than they had been when he’d first woken up, but still were a bit weak and trembled when he did things like write or use chopsticks. Recovery Girl said to give it time as the nerves were still healing, but he couldn’t help but find the small reminders frustrating. Izuku never had the prettiest handwriting, but it was annoying that it was way worse. Izuku knew five year olds with better penmanship. He doubted Shouta would care, but sometimes people were weird about that sort of thing, especially teachers. 

 

Shouta’s hand came into view and tapped the corner of the whiteboard with his nail making a soft click. Izuku flicked his eyes up only for the man to take the largest bite out of the cupcake he possibly could. More than half of it was gone. Izuku was equal parts impressed and horrified. Some frosting smudged at the corner of his mouth as he chewed. He gave a bland thumbs up before gesturing for the marker. Izuku handed it over to take a more reasonable nibble on his cupcake. He wanted his treat to last.

 

‘I’m not mad, thanks for the cupcake.’ He drew a smiley face next to the words, which Izuku thought was kind of funny as Shouta’s actual face was blank as he drew it. ‘ Where is your wheelchair? It looks like it hurts to walk.’

 

He handed the marker to Izuku, the cap still snapped onto the back. Izuku sighed. 

 

‘My room. It doesn’t feel great to walk but I’ve had way worse so it’s not that big of a deal. The wheelchair is annoying.’ Izuku paused to watch Shouta look over his note. A strange flash of various emotions played in his eyes before they settled on… soft concern. He finished off his cupcake in a second large bite, like a heathen, before taking the marker back to respond.

 

‘Okay, we’ll come back to this when everyone’s awake to figure out a better system. I don’t want you in pain.’

 

Izuku nodded as he rubbed his feet together and chewed on his lip. He didn’t want to tell Shouta that his leg was going to hurt if he walked or not, at least a little. Kind of like how his feet flipped between distracting buzzing or were numb. Or how his arms felt weak and it was hard to do things like draw or hold utensils sometimes. Or how he got dizzy and his heart pounded in his chest if he moved too fast. He just needed to learn how to work around it. He’d figured out at the facility it was easier to just ignore things like this and move on. It might hurt to walk, but this way at least he didn’t have to deal with the clunky wheelchair. 

 

It actually was a little easier to walk with the cast they’d given him as he was less worried about his leg getting painfully bashed or collapsing under him. But the pressure directly on the bump on his shin made it have a constant low level throb. 

 

Thinking back on the rules, he wondered if this is something that he was supposed to tell one of his guardians. They said it was expected to tell them if something was ‘off’. But Recovery Girl had told him some of these things might just be things he’d have to learn to live with, or at least until they could make meetings with specialists. He wasn't sure if this was ‘off’ or the new normal. Taking another nibble of his cupcake, he decided that he could at least let Shouta know, but he didn’t want him to be too stressed over it as it wasn’t that big of a deal. 

 

‘My leg always hurts, so it’s fine.’ Izuku shrugged and took another bite of his cupcake when Shouta just blankly looked at him. He kept staring for what felt like a really long time. It was kinda making Izuku uncomfortable, so he switched to look at the wavy pink hair. 

 

Hizashi had done a good job making sure that all his hair was evenly colored, and it was for sure eye catching. It also undercut the serious expressions the man regularly had. It was kinda hard to find him intimidating with cotton candy hair. Something about knowing he’d done something so permanent just in the hope to make Izuku more comfortable made him feel important. 

 

It made him feel cared for.

 

Shouta tapped the whiteboard next to his response, snapping Izuku out of his thoughts. ‘We should be able to get you to a specialist to fix your leg fairly soon. Hopefully they will be able to help with that.’

 

Izuku nodded with a smile. He’d like that. Being able to walk again without a ton of pain would be nice. Shouta added to his note. ‘What got you up so early?’

 

Izuku finished his cupcake, and wrote out his response. ‘Just woke up. And I wanted a cupcake. Why are you and Keigo out here?’

 

‘Keigo had a rough night so we decided to watch TV to help him fall back asleep. He only fell asleep as the sun was rising.’

 

Nightmares were rough, Izuku could relate. He hadn’t had a bad nightmare since he’d been… removed? Taken?... rescued? … Well, the last time he’d had a nightmare he was at the facility. Probably because most nights he’d fallen asleep with someone. He was honestly surprised last night he hadn't had any nightmares as it was one of the few nights he’d fallen asleep alone. It was really nice to not have nightmares, but Izuku was sure it wouldn't last forever.

 

‘Did you get any sleep?’ Izuku looked up at Shouta, whose face shriveled like he’d filled his whole mouth with those sour lemon drops. From how deep and dark his eye bags were, there was no way he’d gotten enough rest, if any at all. Izuku let out a sigh. ‘Recovery Girl told me all about how important sleeping is–’

 

Shouta pulled the marker out of Izuku’s hand with a huff. ‘I get lectured enough from that woman, I don’t need you to lecture me too. ’

 

Giving Shouta a flat look, Izuku held his hand out for the marker. He dropped it into the open palm, looking off to the side, very clearly embarrassed. 

 

‘Recovery Girl also told me that you were bad at following medical directions. Tasked me with ‘keeping an eye on you’. Said it would be good practice for being a healer in my future.’  

 

‘What are you, a narc?’ Shouta smirked as he handed the marker back. Izuku pointed to the word ‘narc’ and shot him a confused look. Shouta quickly scrawled out ‘person who tattles/tells’ above it. Izuku just grinned and nodded. 

 

‘She said she’d get more of those really good chocolate chip cookies if I tell.’

 

Collapsing back, Shouta’s head thumped on the edge of the couch. He very quietly muttered under his breath, “I can’t believe my kid is a narc. ” 

 

“I’m a narc for cookies .” Izuku whispered back, biting back another grin as Shouta let out a soft groan, before he reached out and scribbled out a response. 

 

‘Hizashi called you a cookie monster last night. He was right.’  

 

‘And Keigo called me a gremlin. But it’s not gonna stop me, I like cookies.’

 

‘If I offer you more cookies would you not tattle on me?’ Shouta underlined the word a few times, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

 

Izuku paused, before slowly and very clearly writing out, ‘How many we talking?’

 

Shouta rolled his eyes. ‘I feel like I’m making a deal with the yakuza.’

 

Izuku just tapped the back end of the marker next to his original question, sending him an expectant look. Shouta barked out a laugh, which unfortunately shook Keigo enough to wake him up with a start. He loudly screeched and rolled off the couch. He ended up crouched on the balls of his feet, his wings half extended out and around his shoulders, and had two arm length feathers in his hands. Keigo’s eyes darted left and right, searching for something. He looked like a hero ready to fight.

 

Which was so cool.

 

“Hey, Keigo.” Shouta slid very slowly off the couch and knelt on the floor half in front of Izuku. His voice was low and calming. “You’re safe, I just woke you up by accident.” 

 

Izuku frowned. Something was wrong. 

 

Keigo let out a pained wheeze before his wings fluttered, settling against his back. The two feathers looped in the air as they flew back into place and he shifted to a more comfortable squat. He let out a warbling scared-sounding coo.

 

“What do you need, kid? I can talk, be quiet, offer a hand or a hug, keep my distance or leave.”

 

“Talk.” Keigo breathed out. “Quietly.” 

 

“Okay. Let me tell you the story of when Hizashi got hit by some kid's quirk and turned into a cockatiel. He tried so hard to get us to figure it out but it took us three whole days. I thought I was just being harassed by some dumb bird. He got fed up and pooped on me. Still refuses to apologize for it.” 

 

Izuku watched as concern washed over him, only half listening to the story. This seemed… worse than just a nightmare. Keigo looked terrified. Like he didn’t feel safe. His arms wrapped around himself, his breaths were too even and harsh to be natural, and his eyes continued to dart around wildly. He wondered if Keigo also went on scary mental trips and had the terrible awake nightmares too. He really hoped he didn’t. Izuku wouldn’t wish those on anybody. 

 

Fingers twitching, Izuku held himself back from jumping off the couch to hug Keigo. He wanted to help. To give a hug to make it all better. But Shouta had offered a hug and Keigo only asked for talking. Izuku wanted to be there for Keigo, but at that moment, it seemed that all he really needed was the low relaxing voice. 

 

As the story wrapped up, Keigo relaxed, falling back into a loose seat. Wings flopped on the ground in an arch around him. His eyes focused on some random spot on the floor. Izuku couldn’t see anything unique about it, but it had his brothers undivided attention. 

 

“How you feeling, kid?”

 

Keigo grunted. “Tired.” 

 

“You and me both, you think you can go back to sleep?”

 

Keigo’s eyes flicked up to Izuku before going back to that point on the floor. Izuku felt something in his chest shatter as Keigo’s face crumpled and his eyes got shiny with unshed tears.

 

“No… not yet.” 

 

“Can I come closer?” The moment Keigo nodded, Shouta started forward with a strange bouncy almost walk while fully squatting down. He stopped within arms length of Keigo and sat cross legged. He leaned in and whispered, “Keigo, you can ask him. I doubt he’ll mind.” 

 

“I just feel like a crazy person.” Keigo hissed back. “And it’s invasive.”

 

“I don’t see it that way. Izuku won’t either.” 

 

Izuku wanted to join in, as it was clearly something to do with him, but he also was pretty sure he wasn’t actually supposed to be hearing this. He squirmed, wondering if this counted as eavesdropping. 

 

It kinda felt like eavesdropping. 

 

“It’s Izuku’s room. I don’t want to go in there and–”

 

“The door is open.” Shouta’s and Keigo’s head snapped to look at Izuku, making him jump. His voice was a little less sure the second time as he pointed toward his room. “T-the door is open.”

 

“Izuku…” Keigo trailed off, looking back at that one patch of floor. 

 

“I-I don’t mind. You can go in. The door is open.” 

 

“You don’t even know what I want to do in there.” 

 

“No, but I don’t have to. It’s open.” Izuku stood, a bit shaky, and hobbled to be near Keigo. He held his arms open. “You look upset. Hugs help me when I’m upset. They might help you, too.” 

 

Keigo scrambled to a tall kneel and gripped Izuku’s middle. It was a bit odd to be the taller person in a hug, so he awkwardly wrapped his arms around the back of Keigo’s head. Izuku fiddled with some of the newly green dyed hair. It wasn’t a super long hug before Keigo let go and he sat back on his feet, pawing at his wet eyes. 

 

“Thanks, Chickadee. I think I needed that.” 

 

“Any time.” Izuku shrugged. “I like hugs.” 

 

“Izuku, would you be upset if we checked your room for cameras?” Shouta asked.

 

“Oh, there aren’t any.” Izuku had looked around when… he’d been searching for a way to get to the bathroom. There had been no cameras which kind of surprised him at the time. “Or at least I didn’t find any before uhh... before we took that trip to that beach.”

 

Izuku felt a little bad as Keigo flinched at the reminder. It seemed to be a touchy subject for him. “Maybe once things calm down we could go to the beach? All together?”

 

Mom always told him that sometimes making good memories can make the bad ones hurt less. And Izuku didn’t want his brother to have beaches ruined for him. Beaches were fun…. Most of the time.

 

“You… want to go back to that dump?” Keigo’s face flickered between concern and confusion.

 

“No,” Izuku rolled his eyes. “One without trash.”

 

“I think we can make that happen.” Shouta stood with a grunt and some popping knees. “And Izuku, we don’t think there are actually cameras in your room. We just want to check.” 

 

Izuku frowned. It was a bit odd to check for something you don’t think will be there. But maybe it was kind of like when he’d asked Hizashi about pushing the wheelchair. He’d been pretty sure Hizashi was fine with it, but a part of him was still nervous. It was possible Keigo had a thing about cameras, as they were a bit creepy. That would explain his weird looks into the cameras for the not-test before they took their beach trip.

 

He fiddled with the edge of the shirt he wore as he quietly spoke. “It is good to double check if you are nervous.” 

 

Shouta paused, before the warmest smile spread across his face. His eyes shot past the gooey and soft point into something more . He reached up and ruffled Izuku’s hair. It made something fuzzy spread throughout Izuku’s chest.

 

“Yeah kiddo, it is.” He turned to look at the wall at the clock. “It’s getting to a more reasonable breakfast time, so I’ll go wake Hizashi and then help Keigo look around. Sound like a plan?”

 

Izuku nodded with a smile. That honestly sounded great. Cupcakes were good, but breakfast sounded better.

 

Keigo stood before frowning down at Izuku. “Are you supposed to be walking around?”

 

“Nope, he isn’t.” Shouta called out over his shoulder as he walked out. “And I will be telling Recovery Girl that her little spy is just as bad as the rest of us.” 

 

“Hey! No fair! Not sleeping is worse, walking barely hurts!” Izuku took a fast step towards Shouta only to hiss as the hot ache worsened into a brief flash inferno. 

 

“I don’t believe you.” Keigo sang out as he swooped down and picked Izuku up from his middle and threw him over his shoulder and walked to the kitchen. Izuku breathed through the brief pounding tightness in his chest. “That was a pain noise. Can’t have that. No siree.”

 

“Put me down! I can walk!” Izuku slammed his fists on Keigo’s back, which only made Keigo laugh.

 

“Ah, but you don’t have to. You wanna know why?”

 

“Why?” Izuku felt his heart thump and pound weirdly as Keigo arched him off his shoulder and onto the countertop of the Island in the kitchen.

 

“Because I AM HERE.” Keigo did the one of the worst, if not the worst, All Might impressions Izuku had ever seen or heard. 

 

“That was embarrassingly bad .” 

 

“I dunno,” Keigo pushed Izuku’s forehead with a finger, “I thought I did a good job.” 

 

“ My mom can do a better All Might.” 

 

“Alright, if you think you can do better then show me.” Keigo was looking smug. But Izuku was All Might’s biggest fan, for years, and had perfected his impression forever ago. 

 

“I AM HERE!” 

 

“ Holy s— . Never mind you win, Chickadee. I bow to your impression skills.” Keigo started doing rapid fire little bows. 

 

Hizashi walked in, stepping over Dumpster, who had flopped on the floor in the middle of the doorway, his colourful hair in a messy bun, and wearing soft PJs. He let out a yawn as he leaned against the door frame with a sleepy smile. “You can worship Izuku later. Shouta is free to help ya. And I got breakfast to make.” He pushed off and started rifling through the cabinets and drawers. 

 

Keigo ruffled Izuku’s hair before leaving. The moment he left, Hizashi wheeled around, grinning. 

 

“So, now that he is gone, I was thinking, breakfast is gonna take me a second to make. In the meantime, wanna have a cupcake?” Hizashi winked and put a finger up to his lips. “It can be our little secret.” 

 

Izuku grinned and nodded excitedly. 

 

His heist didn’t go exactly as planned but he got two cupcakes out of it so it was undoubtedly a success. 

 

Notes:

Izuku is going to learn so fast that he can absolutely play Shouta and Hizashi like fiddles lolol he is going to end up with diabetes lolol (Don't worry I actually do have a plan to put back in the 'mom rule' of no sugar before lunch lolol so babies health isn't going to get worse from here. this is proof. new year. new me << and man my blorbos are so happy to hear this)

also lets be real a part of me absolutely wants to write the three day adventure of Bird!Hizashi harrassing Shouta lololol but i need to finish this first x)

But hopefully you have a fantastic day :D

Chapter 32: Izuku and Hizashi have an afternoon together

Notes:

HELLO DOUBLE UPDATE IN A WEEK?!?!?!?
what a nice suprise!!!

This is a shorter chapter. it was orginally at the end of the cupcake heist but then i went... well. it kinda doesn't fit super well? i liked ending with Izuku getting that second cupcake lolol so I turned it into it's own little chapter (since the next chapter is from Keigo's perspective and I am trying to keep one perpective per chapter) But I added some to what i originally had and decided it'll just be one of the cute chappies lolol

but thanks to @sassy_chemist for all her work and by work i mean fixing my commas (they are of the devil) and then also the hard work of leaving cute comments and thoughts as she goes <3 always brings me joy <3 thanks bestie <3

AND THEN ALSO THANKS TO FRICkIN @jadeleopard (Ao3)/@fuzzydefiance (Tumblr) FOR MAKING MY LIFE!?!?! I about cried tears of joy on the bus when I got the email notification and saw their FAN ART??!?!? its a cute moment from the cupcake heist and its in water colour so def go check it outtttt

https://www.tumblr.com/fuzzydefiance/772113206238969856/doodled-a-scene-from-the-latest-chapter-of?source=share

Ive never gotten fan art of my work before. I have peeked as a person. So huzzah for sure

Also since im going on about thank yous --- Thank everyone whose left comments. I was talking to my friend earlier today and I genuienly didn't think that this was all that good but I just was being tortured by about a million WIPs and chose at random to jsut start posting one to see if I could get my hyperactive little brain to go "no stick to this one" cuz ive never finished anything more then like a one shot before ToT so thanks for joining me on this journey with me and being the fuel to help me keep going <3 I apprechate all yall <3

But enjoy the baby chapter with the baby!!!! :D

It didn’t surprise Izuku that after a delicious breakfast, Shouta and Keigo both went to nap. Keigo had been struggling to keep his eyes open as he shoveled the omelette into his mouth, and Izuku was pretty sure he watched Shouta put salt into his coffee instead of sugar. He downed it regardless, but from the way he swayed back and forth, standing in front of the coffeemaker with his eyes closed, Izuku wasn’t sure he even noticed . 

 

They were both exhausted . 

 

Izuku was definitely going to tell on the two of them. Half because Recovery Girl told him to report back, and half because he was worried and maybe she could help them sleep. Shouta might tell her about his walking around, but he was pretty sure that he could explain why it wasn’t a big deal. And if that didn’t work, he’d pull out the big guns and go innocent doe eye on her. Recovery Girl was gruff at times, but his mom told him everyone would succumb to his ‘cute face’ with time. 

 

Which hadn’t been the case at the commission… so he might need to reevaluate who ‘everyone’ could actually be. But he was 90% sure everyone he’d met here wouldn't be immune. 

 

Or maybe 75-80% sure. But those were still pretty good odds!

 

But now Keigo and Shouta were away sleeping, and Hizashi was looking at Izuku expectantly. Something deep in Izuku squirmed as he had no idea what he was wanting as he’d been kind of spacing out. He squirmed in his chair, kicking his buzzing feet and rolling the edge of his shirt between his fingers. Izuku sniffed, before a few stray tears slid down his face. 

 

“Little listener, hey,” Hizashi knelt down next to Izuku, gently putting his hands on Izuku’s knee. “What’s got you all worked up? Would it be easier if I gave options instead of just asking outright?”

 

Izuku was now just confused . He pawed at his face, gearing up to just ask Hizashi what he’d missed. He opened his mouth only for it to feel like his throat was stuffed full of cotton balls. Izuku put his head on the dining room table with a small whine. 

 

Why couldn’t he say anything? Izuku was almost 100% sure that Hizashi wasn’t going to be weird about him asking for clarification. It was really rare that anyone was weird about clarifying questions, and Hizashi and Shouta had reassured him over and over now that they were fine with any and all questions. They even welcomed them! So why was this a problem now?

 

Hizashi’s thin fingers ran through his hair, his fingernails softly dragging loose squiggles along his scalp. “All right, baby, you’re fine. It’s okay, take your time. We’ve got alllllll day.” 

 

The soothing words cascaded over Izuku, smothering the swirling emotions till they were once again just embers. He sat up with a hiccup, miming the same way Shouta had earlier when asking for the whiteboard. Hizashi rubbed Izuku’s back as he stood with a nod. 

 

“Whiteboard, got it. I’ll be right back.”

 

A sob bubbled out of Izuku as he watched Hizashi leave his view. Mentally, Izuku knew Hizashi was going to be right back, but deep down he felt that he was going to be gone forever . And that Izuku was going to be all alone. 

 

Even Sushi, who had been curled up on the chair next to him, at some point left the room without him even noticing. 

 

He was all alone, and it was awful . 

 

Hizashi returned before Izuku could work himself up too much more. He dumped the whiteboard and marker on the table in front of Izuku and lovingly draped one of the soft throw blankets over his trembling shoulders. Letting himself burrow a little into the blanket, he took a deep breath.

 

He hadn’t left forever, he had done exactly what he said he would, and then also brought Izuku a blanket. It took more than a few deep breaths to center himself, but Hizashi just knelt back down by Izuku rubbing circles across his back. Once he felt less like he was a glass ornament threatening to shatter, Izuku slid his trembling hand out from the warm cocoon and uncapped the marker. 

 

‘Sorry’, Izuku looked towards the doorway, watching as Dumpster sauntered in with a toy mouse in his mouth. He dropped it in the corner and sat down and started licking his back leg. Izuku sniffed as he collapsed into himself, hating how having Hizashi and one of the cats made something in himself feel more steady.

 

“You don’t have to apologize for having emotions. You’re going to have them, especially big ones. It’s been really scary for a while now, so it’s to be expected, okay?” Hizashi ducked down to make eye contact with Izuku with a smile. He smiled back, but even he could tell it was wobbly. Hizashi didn’t seem to care and just beamed back. “There you are! Now, was there something that happened that caused that?”

 

Biting his lip and kicking his feet, Izuku just watched as Hizashi’s wide smile faded into a small frown. “Even if it was something I did or said, I’d rather know so I can avoid it in the future, ya dig?”

 

Izuku shrugged. He wasn’t really sure how to explain why he started to cry. He just felt overwhelmed. Then Hizashi left and made it all worse. 

 

“It’s okay not to know, but if you ever do know what causes these sorts of reactions, I’d really like it if you tell me, okay?”

 

Throwing him a thumbs up, he nodded. That rule wouldn’t be as easy as some of the other ones as he was never really ever sure , but maybe this was part of the idea of if he ever felt ‘off’. If nothing else, he could go to Hizashi when he was upset. 

 

Being around him made Izuku feel better, so he definitely wouldn’t mind.

 

“Great, so we kind of have the next few hours at least to ourselves, maybe longer if Shouta and Keigo decide to go full nocturnal and sleep well into the afternoon. Do you want me to list options of activities we could do?”

 

Realization dawned on Izuku. His whole breakdown was probably all because he’d missed Hizashi asking him a question of what he wanted to do today. That's why he’d looked expectant. That made more sense.

 

Izuku shook his head. He wasn’t feeling up to much after crying, but also didn’t want to be alone, so really there was only one main option he’d be up for. 

 

The marker squeaked as he wrote, ‘Watch something?’

 

“Sounds splendid!” Hizashi smiled. “Are you thinking more like a movie or silly online videos?”

 

“Movie.” Izuku whispered before scrawling out the title of the movie.

 

“How to Train your Dragon?” Hizashi cocked his head to the side as he looked at the whiteboard. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that one.” 

 

“It’s really old, but good. Me and Mom found it online when we both had the flu.” Izuku's eyes were dragged back to Dumpster who was now playing with the mouse, looking almost like he was wrestling with it. Izuku smiled. It was cute. And as silly as it was, having one of the cats returning to the room made him feel less abandoned.

 

“Dragons are always cool, so it sounds good to me!” He turned around, crouching with his back by Izuku. “Hop on, I’ll take you to the couch.” 

 

Half flopping onto Hizashi, Izuku felt a small spark of warmth grow in his chest. It grew as he made sure Izuku was comfortable before slowly rising, and grabbing the whiteboard. It expanded further as Hizashi set him down before quickly pulling up the movie. It completely filled his whole body as Hizashi pulled him over to lay on his chest, throwing the blanket over the two of them. He melted into the loose hold as the movie started with swooping images of the animated island. Sushi hopped up and joined them on the couch. Izuku smiled.

 

It took a few minutes to realize that the warmth was the feeling of being loved. 

 

Tears rolled over his cheeks once more, but this time it was for a good reason. 

 

—

 

By the time the movie was over, Izuku felt better. Practically back to his cheerful normal self, which was great. This time when Hizashi very tentatively asked what Izuku wanted to do, he had an answer ready. 

 

“It would be fun to build a fort.” 

 

Hizashi laughed. “Wow you were ready with that answer. ”

 

“We have lots of blankets and pillows,” He held up the corner of the one still wrapped around him. “We should put them to good use.” 

 

“Alrightee, I’ll go grab more building supplies.” 

 

This time when Hizashi left the room Izuku didn’t immediately burst into tears, but it was a close thing. It felt like there was a metal band around his ribs slowly ratcheting tighter and tighter, making it hard to breathe. A small part of him was concerningly calm and removed from the spiralling panic that was racing through him. It wondered why he was so terrified of being alone. 

 

The panicking side of him spat and hissed at the calm side that it was now dangerous to be alone. That he had no way of knowing what was going to happen. That Izuku couldn’t do anything the first time he was attacked with his mom, and now he was only weaker and more vulnerable. The only reason he was fine this last time he was attacked was because he had been with two very capable heroes. If he was by himself when more people came, there wasn’t anything he could do about it. 

 

Shouta had called him a hero, but he really hadn't done that much. Mostly he just froze and felt overwhelmed during it all.

 

Izuku wanted to be a hero, but what type of hero couldn’t even help themself? 

 

Hot tears started to fall from his eyes. He let himself tip over, curling up on the couch and wrapping the blanket tighter around himself as his breaths rattled and shuttered with stifled sobs. 

 

Hizashi came back into the room and dropped the blankets, darting immediately to his side. The loud thud he made as he dropped to his knees made Izuku wince, as it had to have hurt. Leaning into the hand that cupped his cheek, Izuku closed his eyes. 

 

“Hey baby, you know what’s wrong? If you don't, that's okay.” Hizashi’s voice was smooth and reassuring. His thumb rubbed away the tears as Izuku tried to center himself enough to respond. 

 

“I think I don’t like being alone,” he whispered. “It’s kinda scary.” 

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Hizashi slid his other hand between the couch and his other cheek, wiping away those tears too. Izuku leaned into the touch. “I didn’t even think about that.” 

 

“It’s okay.” Izuku blinked his eyes back open to give Hizashi a watery smile. “I don't think I knew either.” 

 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” His light green eyes met Izuku’s emerald eyes. The moment Izuku looked into his eyes, he had no doubt that Hizashi would, if necessary, move heaven and earth to make sure whatever he said next would happen. It was the same type of look his mom would give him after he came home from school crying with bruises from the bullies or when he was just having a rough day and needed cheering up. It made him feel warm, so loved, and like he wasn’t so alone. And luckily for Hizashi, Izuku didn’t need anything huge to feel better.

 

“C-could I have a hug?” His voice was small and timid, practically inaudible, but Hizashi just smiled big and proud like Izuku had done something impressive.

 

“One hug coming right up.” 

 

Hizashi scooped Izuku up and gave him a tight hug. The strong arms squeezed in just the right ways, allowing Izuku to finally breathe. He just sat there letting the anxious thoughts and feelings sink down like snow in a snowglobe. The tension in his whole body oozed out of him.

 

Once he was fully draped on Hizashi, Izuku rubbed his face against his chest in an attempt to get closer. “Thanks, ‘Zashi.” 

 

“No problem, little listener.” Hizashi leaned back just enough to be able to look down at Izuku. He combed back the shaggy green and red hair that flopped down into Izuku’s face with a smile. “So, wanna direct me in the fort building, or keep cuddling? I’m fine either way.” 

 

“Fort.” Izuku sat up, gesturing to the room. “I want this whole room to be one huge fort before Shouta and Keigo wake up.” 

 

“Aye aye capt’n!” Hizashi saluted before he hopped up off the couch, grabbing the pile of blankets and pillows he’d dumped in the walkway. “Here are our building supplies. We might have more in a different room, but this should get us most of the way.” 

 

Izuku felt a small twisting deep in his gut. He didn’t want Hizashi to leave him again, even if it was for a short time. “This-This is a good number. I’m sure it's f-fine.” 

 

“If we need more we can adventure onward!” Hizashi drastically gestured towards the rest of the apartment. He then made sure to catch Izuku’s eyes, a serious look in his eyes. “We’d go together on this journey of course.” 

 

Relaxing back into the couch with a sigh, Izuku smiled. “Yeah, together. Of course.” 

 

Pointing to a specific blanket in Hizashi’s arms he then pointed to the bar that the window drapes were held onto. “Do you think that purple blanket could be tied to that bar?”

 

Jumping immediately into action, Hizashi dropped the fort building materials on the couch next to Izuku and practically skipped to the window, purple blanket in hand. “Only one way to find out!”

 

It took a few tries, but the knot held. They both celebrated with a fist bump. They then started adding more and more to the fort, using the purple blanket as kind of a saggy angled roof to reach over the couch, with the help of some string they’d had to adventure to find. They ended up having to tilt the coffee table onto its side to help make another wall and stole the broom from the kitchen to help the roof from collapsing down too far. 

 

Hizashi had also texted the other heroes at UA seeing if anyone could spare time for a short trip to the store to get a string of faerie lights only for Power Loader to briefly stop by. He had a whole box of faerie lights all tangled that his students used to strip the lights off of for projects. Told Hizashi that they could take any that were still whole and left.

 

 It was kind of fun to sit there and untangle the lights. Mind numbing, but also took all his focus in the best ways. It was extra great as Hizashi kept getting frustrated and muttering wilder and sillier threats to the strings of lights. Half way through untangling the lights Izuku had told Hizashi he was hungry. Half because he was getting hungry, and half to force the hero to take a break. 

 

It was funny, but Izuku also didn’t want him to actually be upset.

 

After the simple stir fry lunch, they went back to untangling the lights, hanging them and doing the last finishing touches of making sure every square inch of the floor was padded with thick blankets and pillows. 

 

Izuku had to shush Hizashi a few times throughout the whole process as he’d get just a touch too loud and the goal was for this to be a fun surprise for Shouta and Keigo. If Hizashi woke them up before it was done that’d ruin half the fun. 

 

Crawling out of the fort, Izuku grinned up at Hizashi who was whipping away invisible sweat off his brow. 

 

“Wow, little listener, it was hard work, but this is the best fort I think I’ve ever made, and my sisters and I made quite a few absolute banger forts growing up. We did good work!” He held out a hand for a low five with a grin. Izuku immediately slapped it with a matching grin. 

 

“It’s perfect !” he shouted. 

 

Hizashi put his hands on his hips and bent down with an eyebrow raised. “What happened to being quiet?” 

 

“It’s done now,” Izuku gestured to the large blanket fort. “So if they wake up now, it’ll be fine.” 

 

Hizashi just huffed a laugh and shook his head. “Alright, I guess that does make sense. Now what you wanna do now that the fort is built?” 

 

Izuku shrugged, “I dunno, what do you want to do?” 

 

“I’d be down to play some card games in our shiny brand new fort?”

 

“The fort doesn’t look all that shiny to me. It's fluffy,” Izuku said with an innocent grin, internally laughing as Hizashi gave him a flat look. “But, I do like card games.” 

 

“Perfect! I’m pretty sure we stashed most of them in the entertainment center under the TV.” 

 

Izuku nodded as he slowly scooched his way back into the fort. He laid down on his stomach on a particularly fluffy spot of the fort’s floor with a satisfied sigh. Hizashi came back babbling about the various games they had and absentmindedly tussled Izuku’s hair. It felt so natural it almost made Izuku cry, but instead he just rolled over to lay next to the cross legged Hizashi looking over the instruction sheet for the games with him. 

 

A soft warmth filled his chest and tingled as it spread throughout his body. It felt amazing , and for the first time in a long time he was pretty sure the warm feeling was there to stay.

Notes:

I stan DadMic. gotta give him time with the baby <3 And Baby ain't gonna complain

Also gotta give sleep deprived Dadzawa and Keigo a nap x)

Hopefully yall have a great rest of the week!!! <3

Chapter 33: Keigo and Izuku have a quick chat

Notes:

HULLLOOOOO
im still at it with my nonsense eheheh

Thanks as always to my best beta @sassy_chemist for all her sweet comments and edits. She makes my day every day <3

BUT TODAY ON THE DOCKET WE GOT SOME HEALING!!! Keigo is full of pain and were gonna help with some of that this DAY!! Im going to FORCE this family to be happier and healthier >:(( even if its the last thing i do >>:((((

buuuuuuut there are a few triggers for this chapter, some very minor self injory (concidering Keigo's standard lol), some suicidal ideation (nothing explicit, Keigo just has a history of being unwell and is currently not at his best), and I think thats mainly it?if there is anyhting else lemme know but also like... lets be real this is far from the worst chapter for triggers in this fic lol

But hopefully y'all enjoy <3

Keigo woke up splayed out on his stomach on his bed in his warm, dark room. He stretched out his wings, reveling in the spacious nature of the room. Growing up, his quarters at the commission wouldn’t even let one of his wings fully stretch if he stood in one corner and held it out to the other. His apartment the commission rented for him was slightly better, but it was nothing like this. Pointing one of his wings back low against his back and fully outstretched, the muscles shook and trembled. The primary feathers curved as they hit the wall, but since they were no longer brittle, Keigo wasn’t too worried about them. Mainly because this felt amazing and everything else didn't matter anymore . It had been too long since he’d really been able to just stretch out his wings. He switched sides and let out a satisfied moan. The coiled muscles almost ached as they shifted, but the brief discomfort was worth the absolute bliss.

 

Stretching a few other ways, he then folded his wings back down, reveling in the feeling of freshly stretched wings. Relaxing, his face smooshed deeply into his pillow, he let out a long breath. He was on the brink of sleep when a delighted giggle yanked him away from the ledge. 

 

It was Izuku. 

 

Keigo smiled to himself. Izuku deserved to be happy. And he would be lying if he wasn’t still haunted by the mental image of Izuku’s blank absent face. Seeing it made him feel like a failure, a reminder that he hadn’t been there when his… family were attacked. 

 

He had to admit it, even if only in the privacy of his own mind. They were his family. A weird, non-standard one, but they were all there for each other in ways that Keigo only could dream of only about two weeks ago when he first met Shouta. It was something he’d always wanted deep down, but never thought he’d have. Now that he did, he wasn't going to let anything happen to his family.

 

Not to sound pompous, but Keigo had been briefly told what happened during the commission ambush. He would have been able to hold them back faster and with less injuries than the two other heroes had been able to. The fight was messy, and honestly for commission trained agents, pathetic even .  

 

Keigo cringed thinking of what horrible punishments a showing like that would have gotten him. They weren't him though, so they wouldn't have been as harshly punished, but even a heavy reprimand could hurt. It made Keigo feel a bit sick to think about, and it made it worse when he thought about how him not being there made the whole situation get as bad as it did.

 

Not knocking their skills, but Eraserhead’s style of fighting wasn’t great in ambushes where he was outnumbered. Not impossible for him, but it just wasn’t his strength. Present Mic’s quirk was a heavy hitter. But being basically a noise cannon would regularly be a detriment to missions where there were civilians and other heroes mixed into a fight. A quirk like Voice was dangerous and the chance of friendly-fire was high. 

 

Keigo hated knowing that if he’d been there, if he hadn't been an idiot and worn himself out over nothing , Izuku and his dads would have been saved from a lot of pain. His quirk allowed him to literally be in hundreds of places at the same time and gave him heightened senses. Fierce Wings was the perfect quirk for something like that, but he hadn’t been there. Even with his depleted feathers he could have been a major player in the fight. His quirk was only good for heroics, but he couldn't use it if he was asleep. This time the rest of him had been too weak to just keep going like he’d been trained to do. He couldn't keep them safe because he’d decided he was too tired.

 

That pervasive thought that he’d failed his family felt like weights around his wrists and ankles, but also sparked and crackled in his chest. He was a chaotic mix of wanting to lie down forever and also wanting to run around and do everything in his power to make sure that he never screwed up again. 

 

It was ridiculous, but a not so small part of him wanted him to check for cameras. Again . It hadn't even been 24 hours, but he really didn’t want the commission to have even the slightest chance of covertly watching his people. If they got in again, then Keigo really would be a failure. He needed to make sure that they’d be safe.

 

He needed to be safe. 

 

Scrambling to a seat, he sent out a feather to slam the lights on. Jumping out of bed with a muffled screeching call, he started to search his room in a fevered frenzy. He couldn’t look insane in front of Shouta again, but in this bedroom he let himself just act like he wanted to, unrestrained. 

 

The UA uniforms he’d been wearing and the various shirts and jackets from Shouta and Hizashi were thrown every which way. The sheets and blankets from the bed were bunched up in the middle of the now cattywampus mattress from him looking between the mattress and the frame. The hangers that were originally in the small closet were now half on the floor and hanging from each other in a tangled mess after he’d aggressively slid them across the bar to check behind them.

 

There were no cameras. 

 

He knew there wouldn’t be any cameras, but he needed to check. 

 

Keigo felt like he was going insane. But he really didn't want to stop. He couldn't stop. He needed to make sure they all were safe.

 

The rest of the house was going to be more complex if he didn't want to get caught. He wished his feathers could search for them, but cameras and microphones were just too small. And while sensitive, Keigo’s feathers weren’t that sensitive. He’d just have to be a bit more covert about his search. 

 

Shouta has seen his little search once, and he didn't need to shove that on the man again. And he’d overheard Shouta mumble to Hizashi about what happened. Keigo didn't want to get the disgustingly empathetic look of concerned understanding from Hizashi again. He could keep it on the down low. 

 

While planning out how to act nonchalant as he searched the rest of the dorm, and what path through all the rooms would make him look the least crazy, Izuku’s high pitched giggle sounded off again with Hizashi’s low groan under it. Keigo froze, listening in. They seemed to be talking about whatever game they were playing, Izuku having beat Hizashi for the fifth time in a row. He felt himself relax, uncoiling with a sigh.

 

They were still safe, and from the sounds of it, happy even. 

 

Keigo was going to keep them that way. He’d failed too many times already. He might be a screw up on a million different levels, but he had been trained for this sort of thing. Keigo wasn’t going to fail them again. 

 

Half sneaking out of his room, he slid out from the small crack he’d made between the door and the wall. His eyes darted around the hallway searching for possible cameras. As he walked closer to the happy noises of Hizashi and Izuku he ran a finger around the framed artwork. He’d fully taken it off the wall last time he’d checked, but he needed to not come off like he was losing it, even though he was. 

 

He didn't need to take the painting off the wall. He really didn't. 

 

But he did lift it off the wall a bit so he could check behind it. 

 

Shame slammed into his chest and he realized he was acting crazy again. There were no cameras. There were no cameras last night. There would be none today. 

 

But he needed to protect his family.

 

He ripped the painting fully off the wall and tapped around the back side of the wood frame, listening for hollowed out spots to put microphones. 

 

Just like yesterday, there was nothing . 

 

He was going crazy. He had to be. He needed to get a hold of himself.

 

Being locked away due to whatever psychotic breakdown this was would be horrible. If they carted him off to some mental institution, then he couldn't keep his family safe. So he’d just have to not raise suspicion, even if the gnawing ache in his chest told him to tear apart the apartment like he’d done to his room. He just had to squash that urge down as much as he could, as he couldn't have people thinking he was crazy.

 

Keigo had hidden things before, he could do it again. It would be more challenging as he usually just avoided the office or threw himself into hero work when he got a little weird. For some reason, he doubted Shouta, Hizashi, or Izuku would let him get away with locking himself in his room until this passed.

 

And after what he said on that recording… no one would even want him to save them. So it was better to not even imagine him doing hero work. 

 

It didn’t help that Keigo wasn’t sure his go-to ways of dealing with these sorts of things would even work for whatever this was. This seemed…. more extreme. Just like everything else had been since he learned about Izuku's existence. In the past, he’d had days where he had some issues keeping the energy up for the Hawks persona or having the unending aching urge to just fly away and never return. 

 

At his worst, he’d had some moments where he seriously thought about letting the villains take him out. But he’d always chicken out and fight back.

 

Now he was stabbing people and kidnapping children because he was a little nervous. He was going insane looking for things he knew weren't there .

 

Maybe it would have been better for everyone if he had let the villains take him out. But… then Izuku wouldn't have been rescued. So, realistically, he was glad he hadn't followed through with that plan. Really, he just wished he could stop being crazy.

 

He’d checked for cameras millions of times over the course of his life, but he always knew that the chance was high that he’d find some. At best it was 50/50, but usually it was more like 80% of the time. This time however was strange . There was no doubt in his mind that he would find nothing.

 

Keigo wanted to be able to blame it on his quirk being weird, but that just wouldn’t make sense. 

 

Maybe it wasn’t his quirk that made him creepy and weird. Maybe it was just him . 

 

Shaking his head, Keigo pushed that thought aside. It didn’t matter; what mattered was that he needed to keep them safe, and if there were cameras, then they wouldn’t be safe. 

 

Keigo was about to walk into the kitchen when something in the main front room caught his eye. It was a giant mess of pillows and blankets hung up and draped over furniture, and twinkling lights were visible through the wide opening. Izuku and Hizashi were curled up playing some card game. And from Hizashi’s playful pout and Izuku’s wide grin, it seemed that Izuku’s winning streak was going to move from five to six. Hizashi’s eyes flashed over to Keigo and the pout switched to a small smile. Izuku must have noticed and twisted around to face the doorway. 

 

“KEIGO!” Izuku shouted, “You’re awake!!” 

 

His wings twitched, but he kept his hands and face still. His eyes flicked between Izuku and the kitchen twice. He wanted to check for cameras. Really badly. But Izuku clearly wanted him to stay. It was hard to take his first step towards Izuku and away from his task at hand. Keigo mentally started fighting with himself to make hanging out with his younger brother the correct choice. The logical one. 

 

Sticking to Izuku’s side meant that he’d be right there if anything happened. Keigo logiced circles around the screaming little voice telling him he needed to check now , finally settling on the idea that sticking close to his very vulnerable little brother was a better utilization of his time and energy. 

 

Also, he could easily check for cameras later. 

 

It might not work, but he could at least try to search for cameras with his feathers? He sent off a few smaller covert feathers and fluttered his wings to hide their flight paths to the different rooms. It shouldn’t be too challenging to try to poke around with the feathers as he chatted, nothing like some of the trainings he did growing up. 

 

This way he could try to hit two birds with one stone. Or maybe use one bird to hit two stones? He let himself smile at his terrible joke as he bounded over and squatted down at the entrance of the blanket cave. Izuku half rolled and half crawled to the edge, throwing himself at Keigo. 

 

“Good morning. I missed you, Kei-nii,” Izuku mumbled into his shoulder as he hugged his neck tightly. Keigo squeezed back. 

 

“I missed you too, Chickadee, but I gotta sleep sometime.” 

 

Izuku leaned back, his green eyes practically dug into Keigo’s soul. It both made his chest swell with a bubbling joy and also squirm both from being seen so intensely.

 

“Most people sleep at night.” His words were measured and full of concern. 

 

“I’m not like most people,” Keigo winked with a smirk. “I’m better.”

 

“Everyone needs sleep.” Izuku rolled his eyes as he crawled back to his previous seat. He patted the space next to him, his wide eyes full of excitement. The thick layer of blankets and pillows squished under his hand. “You can sit here.”

 

“Okay.” Keigo crawled after him. He wasn’t going to ignore an invite as cute as that one. “What’re you playing?”

 

“He is less playing and more pounding me into the ground,” Hizashi moaned. “You know I used to think I was good at strategy games.” 

 

“You are good.” Izuku paused, clearly trying to hold back a grin. “I’m just better .” 

 

“Oooo, them’s fighting words. Izu, you sure you can beat him?”

 

Keigo looked down at the various cards laid out on and around the space between the two of them. He had no idea what was going on, nor how to really identify who was winning. 

 

“Yup!” Izuku laid down a few cards, flipping things and shifting things around before he grinned. “‘Cause I just did!” 

 

Hizashi looked over the cards Izuku had just played and let out a long low whine. “I know I’m the adult here but man, this doesn’t seem fair.” 

 

“I followed the rules.” 

 

“I know, and that’s what makes it worse somehow.” Hizashi half threw his hand over the laid out cards, and fell back with a groan. “At least when I play with Shouta I know he is cheating eighty percent of the time.” 

 

“Cheating is wrong.” Izuku’s eyebrows pinched together.

 

“You are absolutely right, cheating is wrong, and I give you full permission to call him out for his bulls— whenever. Honestly, it would make my day if you called him out next time we played games.” 

 

Izuku nodded excitedly. “I’ll be a narc.” 

 

Keigo did a double take, not expecting him to say that. “What? A narc ?”

 

“Yeah someone… someone who tells.” Izuku said a little unassuredly as he turned to Hizashi. “R-right?”

 

“Yeah, that is one definition.” Hizashi tapped his chin in thought, “Usually there is a connotation of it being a negative thing. It also started from narcotics or drug officers, or others who would turn people in for selling illegal drugs. Over time it shifted to anyone who tells authority figures about things that could get people in trouble.”  

 

“Shouta called me a narc… like it was a bad thing. And heroes, specifically underground ones, deal a lot with illegal drug rings.” Izuku’s face screwed up into a mix of confusion and frustration. “Shouta is an actual professional narc.” 

 

“That he is.” Hizashi nodded, looking absolutely delighted.

 

“But he still called me a narc for saying I’d tell Recovery Girl he didn't sleep. Like it was a bad thing.” 

 

“He really hates medical anything . And the two of them have a strange relationship because of it. So I'm not surprised.”

 

“That’s dumb.” Izuku started to gather all the cards together. “If he is a narc as a hero helping others and it’s good, then how is it bad when I’m a narc as a future hero trying to help him . It doesn’t make any sense.” 

 

Hizashi let out a laugh. “Please I beg of you tell him all this but slide the word ‘illogical’ somewhere in there. I want to see his reaction. It also might be one of those ‘out of the mouth of babes’ moments. He might actually listen.” 

 

Izuku nodded, but grumbled out something about not being a baby. Hizashi just laughed before ruffling his green and red hair, and then helped Izuku finish cleaning up the cards.

 

Keigo just watched the easy interaction between the two, feeling a bit like an outsider. A flare of jealousy burned in his chest but he pushed it down. He needed both his dads to help in his mission to keep the family safe and, ideally, happy. He had decided to trust these two; they had only been helpful and obviously trying to genuinely help. He couldn’t allow himself to get jealous or get in the way of Izuku’s wellbeing in any manner. Even if he wished that he could joke around like that with Izuku. 

 

He knew he’d probably broken whatever camaraderie he had with him when he’d functionally kidnapped Izuku and taken him to that gross beach. Izuku might act like he was totally fine, but Keigo knew that in time he’d realize how messed up and wrong he’d been. He was just waiting for that shoe to drop.

 

“Well, since Keigo woke up, I actually need to go use the bathroom, and while I’m up I might go check on Shouta. If he's awake, we’ll probably chat briefly. So it might be a few minutes.” Hizashi leaned forward to rest a hand on Izuku’s stretched out knee, just above the stabilizing cast. “Is that going to be okay?”

 

Izuku squirmed under the hold, which sent warning bells off in Keigo’s mind. He bit back his immediate urge to yank Izuku back from the man. He’d promised himself that he was going to trust them. And he did! But he couldn’t control his knee jerk response. 

 

Not as much as he wished he could. 

 

“Y-yeah.” Izuku stuttered out, his arms crossed in front of him as he curled over his lap. “I-I won't be a-alone. Kei-nii is here. I’ll be fine.” 

 

The muscles in his body twitched like they weren’t sure if he should relax from the relief his brother wanted him around and or tighten in apprehension at the responsibility he was being tasked with. Last time he’d been left alone with Izuku, he’d gone off the deep end and ran off. And with how tentative his grasp on himself he’s been with the last little bit, he was worried that he might make things worse somehow. Keigo would never forgive himself if his slow breakdown came to a head and he hurt Izuku.

 

Well, hurt Izuku more than he already had. 

 

Was… was he a threat to his family? Shouta seemed dead-set on keeping him around, regardless of how horrible Keigo was to him. Hizashi had told Keigo that he’d claimed him as family less than an hour after stabbing his husband. Izuku… mentally disappeared because of Keigo’s negligence. 

 

To really keep his family safe…. Did he need to leave?

 

Hizashi definitely said something as he left, but Keigo couldn’t really hear anything outside of the ringing in his ears. The shirt he wore felt constricting around his neck, he pulled at it with a hooked finger to keep from being strangled. The lights pounded into the back of his eyes and the unending buzz of the fluorescent bulbs, usually ignorable, sounded like buzzing hornets. The feeling of his own feathers rubbing against themselves as they shifted made him want to scream. 

 

He didn’t want to leave. He liked it here. He liked playing games and cuddling with Izuku. The way his eyes sparkled when the two would chat made Keigo feel like he was on top of the world. He liked the weird banter he had with Shouta. The way his dad preened him like it was perfectly normal made him feel precious and more special than he had any right to feel. It filled the aching hole in his chest that Keigo hadn’t even realized was there until it was gone. He liked Hizashi. At times he was annoying, but even though the man was a chatterbox, he was a surprisingly good listener and gave good advice. The way that he’d just welcomed him into his family just because Keigo’s creepy quirk made some psychological bond to his husband meant something to him.

 

He didn’t have to be alone anymore. And that meant the world to him. But for their safety he would–

 

A hand touched his shoulder making him jump, cutting off his train of thought.

 

Izuku jerked back, dodging the flared wings. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. You looked upset. But Hizashi will be back soon, he said he would, don’t worry. He keeps his promises.” He gave Keigo a wobbly smile, tear filled eyes shining in the too bright light.

 

“Thanks, Chickadee. I wasn’t upset. I’m fine.” Keigo gave Izuku a media smile, hiding the horrible ache in his chest and the twisting in his gut.

 

“You know… you don’t have to lie to me.” Izuku shuffled further into the blanket cave to be able to lean up against the side of the couch, his legs stretched out in front of him, and patted the spot next to him. His face was serious. “I know Hizashi and Shouta are always calling me a baby, but I am eleven , not a baby. And I’m not an idiot. You’re sad. And I want to help.” 

 

Keigo shifted to sit by Izuku, pulling his legs up and hugging them to his chest. He let his wings slump to the ground behind him, and tilted himself sideways against the side of the couch too. He sighed. 

 

“Hizashi was right. It’s annoying and totally not fair that you are so smart. You know that?”

 

“Yeah, and it makes me good at strategy games, but that’s not what is important right now. Heroes help people and I want to be a hero. Let me help you.” Izuku’s wide green eyes bore holes into Keigo. He didn’t really like the feeling of being observed like a bug, it was uncomfortable. But Keigo could brush it off and hopefully divert Izuku's attention away from him. 

 

“From what I heard from Shouta, you already are a hero.” Keigo smiled. “Saved the day and everything. The alarm wouldn’t have gone off if you hadn’t directed him to use his quirk.”

 

Izuku rubbed his feet together as a bashful smile warmed his face. “Yeah now we’re both sort of heroes,” he whispered out. “Maybe we can have an agency together once I’m an actual hero, too.” 

 

“Oh absolutely,” he purred out, plastering on another media grin. He ignored flashing pain in his chest as he did it again. “We’d make a great duo! I fly through the city stopping crime while you follow along to help heal the people. We’d be an unstoppable force for good! We’d be so efficient that all the other heroes would be able to kick back and relax as we’d have everything under control.” 

 

Keigo leaned on the Hawks persona, but it felt… off. Like a sweater that shrank in the wash, or a pair of old sweats that the elastic was worn. It wasn’t a dramatic difference, but he could tell something was wrong. Maybe he was just rusty. 

 

Or maybe he was more broken than he’d thought and the persona no longer fit over his shattered self.

 

“Kei-nii,” Izuku’s eyebrows pinched together as he very slowly reached up to wipe at his face. His fingertips came back shiny and wet. “You’re crying.” 

 

The media smile fractured. He could feel the way his face twisted and twitched trying to hold on even as distress oozed out from between the cracks. A long high pitched whine was the only precursor to Keigo letting out a short series of sobs and chirps. He tried to stop it, but he couldn’t. He slammed his face into his knees and gripped his calves. He felt how his untrimmed nails bit into the skin under the sweats. 

 

“Sorry, I’m sorry.” Keigo practically blubbered out. “I scared you so much, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted you safe. I only want to keep you safe. But I keep failing . I’m so sorry.” 

 

“Keigo you didn’t fail–” 

 

“No,” He took a series of quick breaths, trying and failing repeatedly to fill his lungs before finally getting it right. His voice was wrecked, cracking and warbling all over. “No, I did . I did fail. I took you to that f—ing trash beach. I scared you so much you– you checked out . Then I was sleeping when you needed me most and I–” 

 

Izuku’s thin fingers clawed under Keigo’s forehead and forced it up. His eyes overflowing with tears too, yet somehow his words were steady. “You didn’t fail, you saved me.”

 

“What?”

 

“You are my hero, Kei-nii.”

 

“Hawks is.” He shrugged and whipped his face off a bit on one knee. “Hawks is just a hero persona, he’s not real, Izu. I’m just Keigo.” 

 

“No. You are my favorite hero.” Izuku pushed a finger into Keigo’s chest. “Keigo is my favorite hero.” 

 

“I’m… I’m not.” 

 

“You talked to me after I healed you. Even though… Even though it was against the rules. Which was brave. You let me talk about anything and everything. I knew you’d always be there for me. You asked me questions and let me ask you questions. Then the moment I asked for help, you came. I—” 

 

Izuku got a distant, far away look in his eyes that sent a flash of panic though Keigo. He quickly grabbed Izuku’s hand and squeezed like Shouta had the day before. Some of the life came back into the green eyes, but they were still a bit hazy.

 

“I– I think I would have died.” His voice was barely a whisper. “I was bleeding and felt so sick. I was really scared. But you came . You made it better . You saved me.” 

 

Keigo shuffled forward to grab and hug Izuku to his chest, kissing the mop of hair right where the colours changed from green into the red. 

 

“Izuku.” Keigo’s voice was a broken little thing. “I still failed after I got you to UA.” 

 

“I don’t think so.” Izuku rubbed his face even closer to Keigo’s chest. “You sat with me as often as you could. You let me call you my big brother. I know we aren’t real brothers, but you act like it. You make me feel safe. Protected.” 

 

“But the beach–”

 

“From what I hear,” Izuku leaned back to face Keigo. His hands snaked out of the now loose hug Keigo was still giving him and pressed his hands to the sides of his face. “Brothers are allowed to make mistakes. It was scary, but that was because I didn’t really know what was going on. I forgive you. Just don’t do it again.”

 

“But–”

 

“Nope,” Izuku shook his head. “I forgive you. No take backs, no more guilt allowed. However, if you really want some sort of way to make it up to me, I do want a real trip to the beach. Probably when it’s not winter though, maybe for my birthday.” 

 

“Why?” Keigo wasn’t really sure what he was asking about, but it was definitely more than just Izuku’s desire to go to the beach.

 

“Because I know they’re one of your favorite places, and I’d like to play in the water. Maybe build a big sand castle.”

 

“Oh,” Keigo felt his eyes fill with tears again as Izuku smiled up at him, patting his cheeks before letting go of his face. 

 

“I bet if we asked nicely, Shouta would let us bury him in the sand.” 

 

Keigo chuckled. “Honestly, he might like the excuse to just take a nap.” 

 

“You’re probably right,” Izuku snickered back.

 

The two faded into an easy silence for a few beats before Keigo whispered out. “Are we actually okay?”

 

“Yeah,” Izuku nodded. “We are.” 

 

“You… don’t hate me?” He winced after he said it. His stomach gurgled and twisted as he feared the answer. A large part of him didn’t want to know. 

 

An offended look flashed over Izuku’s face. His voice was firm when he answered. “I could never hate you, we’re brothers. ” 

 

Some part of the tangled bundle that was his emotions snapped at those words. The thin threads that held him down slowly worked their way free of the tangle, and they all slipped away. Izuku didn’t hate him, and probably never would. At least not for this. Keigo wrapped Izuku in a bear hug. He felt lighter than he had in a long time. 

 

“I dunno,” Keigo whispered. “What if I ate all your cookies?” 

 

Izuku headbutted Keigo’s shoulder, grinding the top of his head into his collar bone. “I’d be upset, but I wouldn’t hate you. I’d also definitely call you an a–hole.”

 

“Hey, language.” 

 

“‘Hey language’ yourself. You would be an a–hole if you stole my cookies.”

 

“Dang, Chickadee, where’d you get the potty mouth?” Keigo huffed out a laugh as Izuku leaned back with a flat look.

 

“If you think me saying a–hole is ‘having a potty mouth,” Izuku did air quotes around the words. “You should meet my friend Kacchan .”

 

“Sounds like a delightful kid.” Keigo deadpanned.

 

“He’s great. Gonna be the number one hero someday.” 

 

“Nice, I’ll just have to fight him to the top.” 

 

“It’s okay, you’d still be my number one.” 

 

“Aww thanks, Chickadee.” Keigo gave Izuku a gentle noogie ignoring how he tried to bat his hand away. And ignoring the way his brother’s words made him feel like he was floating. “You’re my number one also.”

 

“I’m not even a hero yet.” 

 

“Nah, you are in my book. You saved the day yesterday. Helped me figure things out with Shouta… forgave me for… uh, yeah. You’re the best, I lo…” He trailed off.

 

Keigo suddenly found the far wall really interesting. There was a blob of texture that almost looked like Hizashi’s head when he was in hero uniform. He flicked his eyes back over to Izuku, who was looking up at him patiently. 

 

Keigo was a coward, and flicked his eyes back to wall-Present Mic. He leaned forward and leaned his head on Izuku’s and purposely let out a series of long happy trills. It felt so wrong, but so right at the same time. At the end of the ‘song,’ his syrinx felt a little sore. He couldn’t remember a time he made bird noises on purpose, let alone for so long, and it showed.

 

Izuku wrapped his arms around Keigo and dug his fingers deep into his feathers. He nuzzled his head against his chest with a happy sigh. 

 

“I love you too, Kei-nii,” he whispered.

 

Keigo just hugged him tighter, kissing his forehead. 

Notes:

I love their siblingship. I love it so much. I don't think anyone mentioned it as it was REALLY SUBTLE but I had been trying ot make Keigo a lil more distant idk how well that worked narrativly but like Keigo has felt bad so he was kind of taking a back seat :(( which great for Hizashi nad shouta to have some nice moments with the baby but also meant Keigo was just in the back stewin' :(( but we got some solid healing here and he isn't gonna be too worried about Izuku hating him which is so good ToT I know this is questionably fluffy but I think the helaing and to soft moments make up for a lack of actual saccrine fluff

which tbh not to be that guy but a lot of my 'fluff interlude' is kinda more this and has been lolol one day i'll learn how to honestly and genuenly write just pure fluff.

or maybe i wont lolol only time will tell x)

I also want you to know i wrestled with waiting to publish this chapter for a solid 45 minutes before I went "why wait" x) so be grateful I have literally no chill so y'all're getting rapid fire updates x)

but hopefully yall have a great day!!!!! <3

Chapter 34: Keigo and his parents talk therapy

Notes:

HULLLOOOO

So after some thought (and at the suggestion of my amazing beta @sassy_chemist <3 love youu) The chapter got split in two. it was long as heck and had two solid arcs. they were basically two chapters in a trench coat tbh so it was really easy to just split em lol so enjoy getting more chapters (even tho.. its the same technically amount of words haha)

But this chapter is me pushing things along in a lot of ways aka we need to get these boys therapy (please. oh my goodness PLEASE) cuz i refuse to start them back up on the plot without some sort of mental health councilor to sort of be there? idk it wont be perfect but it will be SOMETHING (thank nedzu for really taking point on the investigation front for now lolol I really couldn't make Shouta nad Hizashi juggle the kids and then also the investigation oh MAN that would have been a night mare haha)

Trigger warning: Keigo has a bit of a Moment here remembering his past with the commission so nothing is TOO graphic but like baby boy hasn't had a good time :( he also has maybe a flashback, but for sure is dealing with a lot of anxiety :( but a lot of his concerns about therapy are resolved here! so fear not!!!!

But without further ado (as ive already had much lol) Enjoy!

After Keigo felt like he was calm enough to speak actual human words again, he offered himself as a sacrifice to Izuku as a player two to whatever card based strategy game he’d been playing. Warmth spread throughout Keigo’s chest as Izuku’s eyes sparkled when he excitedly explained the game to him, slowly showing what each card did and how to win in the different rounds and whatnot. 

 

If he was being honest, Keigo wasn’t paying attention and instead was focused on the disjointed conversation that was happening two doors down. Hizashi and Shouta were obviously using a mix of sign language and verbal words. At least, Keigo assumed it was sign language from the soft sounds of slaps and thuds that he could hear periodically in the gaps in speech. It was next to impossible to decipher in full, but he couldn’t help himself but try anyway. 

 

He needed as much information as he could if he was to keep them all safe. 

 

“ What if he says no ?” Hizashi mumbled out before a long silence. 

 

“... During the first phase of your turn you start with drawing a card into your hand…” Izuku drew a card.

 

“I think you’re thinking too hard about this,” Shouta responded . “It can’t be harder than getting me to go.” 

 

“ It very much could be. And you know it .”

 

“ Fine. Then he’ll be like getting you to go to your anger management classes .” 

 

“ G-d, I hope he’d be easier than that. It was like pulling teeth .”

 

“... And then when you play this sort of card you can summon a…” He flipped a card over, showing it to a mostly zoned out Keigo.

 

“ Let me handle Keigo, you talk to Izuku. They’ll both understand. It’s only logical to go to therapy .” 

 

“ S—, Shouta, sign language,” Hizashi hissed out. 

 

The damage was already done as Keigo practically rolled out of the blanket fort and stormed off towards the two. His heart was pounding so hard he almost missed Izuku’s scared whisper.

 

“Keigo? Are you leaving me?”

 

He froze right at the start of the hall. His feathers cycled between slicked down, puffed up, and razor sharp. His breaths were ragged. Keigo was pretty sure the amount of air in the room had somehow halved. 

 

This couldn’t be happening. He’d… failed at hiding his freaky nonsense, but he figured Shouta was so chill about searching that he’d gotten one free pass. He’d gotten one for stabbing Shouta. He also married Hizashi, someone who regularly acted very strange, so Keigo thought it was fine. Of course it wasn’t fine though; Keigo was always too creepy. Too weird. Shouta was probably just acting polite until he could shove him into some institution far away from the rest of them. 

 

If he was locked away, he wouldn’t be able to keep them safe anymore. 

 

Keigo’s breath hitched before slowly sinking to the floor. An airy trill accompanied his long shaky exhale. 

 

“Keigo?” Izuku’s voice was much closer this time. “Do… Do you want a hug?” 

 

Pausing, he thought about it. Being touched right now sounded overwhelming, but how many more chances was he going to get? He focused on his feathers to get them under control before he nodded.

 

The heavy weight of Izuku’s upper body thumped into Keigo’s back. Izuku nestled himself comfortably between his wings and squeezed him from behind. It wasn't as overwhelming as he thought it’d be. It was almost a soothing weight across his shoulders and back.

 

“We don’t have to play if you don’t want to,” Izuku mumbled out. “Sorry if I scared you.”

 

“Wasn’t you,” Keigo forced out between harsh breaths. “Never you, chickadee.” 

 

Maybe at whatever institution he was going to be dropped in they’d teach him how to f—ing breathe right. He hated how his lungs clenched and shuddered as he tried to force them to do their job. It had been happening a lot as of late, and Keigo was frustrated cuz it had been years since he locked down how to avoid this sort of attack. It might be worth being dragged away from his family if they could teach him that one thing, but it’d likely be more like the dark room. They’d want to keep him quiet. So giving him sensory deprivation was the best way to shut Keigo’s brain off. Or more realistically, just force all of it inside to bounce around in his skull when he sat there frozen. It was only a matter of time before they figured out that trick. It only took the commission a few years to try it the first time, and then a few months to really perfect it.

 

He’d been able to survive it before; he could probably do it again. He’d miss his family, though. 

 

However, if he was being forced to leave, he needed to make sure they were all safe. Keigo straightened up and craned his neck behind him.

 

“S—,” Keigo gripped his hair with one hand as his eyes darted around the room checking for cameras. 

 

“Are you okay?” Izuku’s eyes were wide and watery. He sniffed a few times as the frown on his face grew. From this close, Keigo could trace patterns between his freckles with his eyes. 

 

Keigo nodded, paused, and then shook his head. “I need to check for cameras.” 

 

It’s not like acting like a crazy person again was going to change the outcome of this. And he might as well scratch the unending itch before he could never do it again.

 

“Oh, okay.” Izuku nodded knowingly and leaned back, “I can help you. I’m pretty good at finding things.” 

 

“Thanks, Chickadee.” Keigo breathed out as he recalled the feathers that had been half heartedly checking various rooms, and added them to the handful of larger ones he used to lift Izuku into the air, who let out a delighted giggle. 

 

He didn't particularly like how the gaps in his feathers were now more than sections with feathers. It made his wings shiver behind him. Keigo hated feeling vulnerable.

 

Keigo stood just as Shouta and Hizashi entered. They both had neutral expressions, but there were faint undertones to their body language. Shouta’s eyes looked guilty, his actions ever so slightly jerky and awkward in the ways he got when he was unsure and nervous. Hizashi’s fingers ever so slightly fidgeted at his sides, and his green eyes flicked back and forth to either side of Keigo, but never landed on him for longer than a few milliseconds.

 

Scowling, he flew Izuku into the kitchen. He turned to the two and hissed out,“Before you f—ing lock me up in some insane asylum, let me make sure Izuku’s safe. Let me at least say goodbye.” 

 

Keigo gritted his teeth as his hands shook in tight fists. He couldn’t stand to look at their surprised faces any longer, so he locked his eyes on the floor right in the middle of the triangle of feet in the hallway. His long, talon-like toenails almost curved to the floor. Shouta was wearing simple slippers, and Hizashi’s feet were wrapped in mismatching socks. One foot had cute cats, and the other had lines of music curled around it.

 

 “I know I’m f—ing messed up and definitely crazy, and maybe everyone would be better off if I was—”

 

“We went about this wrong again, kid. I’m sorry.” Shouta squatted to be in Keigo’s eyeline. He looked exhausted and pained. “But we don’t want to lock you up. We want to help you.” 

 

“But you said you wanted to force me to go to therapy,” Keigo spat out. “I heard you.” 

 

“Ah, ah. Not force.” Hizashi waggled a finger as he dropped to kneel next to Shouta. “Offer. We wanted to offer it to you. And you wouldn't even have to leave UA.” 

 

“We really think it would help.” Shouta’s face was begging, and more open than he usually let it be. He wasn’t lying. 

 

“But I… I thought…” He trailed off with a frown.

 

“Keigo, you are an adult.” Shouta’s voice was firm, but not unkind. “We joke about you being a child, but we aren’t going to take away your full autonomy as an adult. We aren’t going to force you to do anything.”

 

“If you come to the conclusion, with a professional, that an inpatient program would be best for you we’d support it, but…” Hizashi searched Keigo’s face before continuing, “I don’t think taking you away from your new support system, your family, would be good for you. And selfishly, I know I would miss you.” 

 

“We only just got you, Keigo. We aren’t going to send you away.” Shouta raised his hand out in an offer. Keigo was torn. He wanted to take the hand, but he also couldn't ignore the swirling fear that tore through him.

 

“But what if I just… snap. I could hurt you.” He flicked his eyes to Hizashi’s jaw and then Shouta’s nose and stomach before settling on the wall. “Again.” 

 

“We’re hoping that talking to someone might help with that.” Shouta dropped his hand to rest his elbow on his thigh. Keigo regretted not taking it.

 

“Why can’t I just talk to you?”

 

“You definitely can, but having an external person who is specially trained can be helpful,” Shouta said.

 

“I like to think of it this way. Imagine you had a large cut on your arm. One that needed stitches.” Hizashi gestured with his hands like they were different sides of a scale. “On one hand, I am perfectly capable of threading a needle, and sewing up the cut. I’ve gotten a very basic understanding of the process and have even done it a few times. But it would be messy, and would likely badly scar. On the other hand, going to someone like Recovery Girl, who not only was trained heavily in medicine but also has decades of experience, would lead to a cleaner outcome. The scarring would be less, the process would be smoother and she has access to things like pain numbing medicines that I just don’t have. Therapy is the same way, just for your mind.”

 

“And that’s not saying you can’t talk to us,” Shouta jumped in. “Actually, please talk to us, we want to help you, but we just think that having a mental health professional be involved can and will make things easier for you in the long run.” 

 

“We want you to heal, Keigo. We want you to be happy.” 

 

“I—” Keigo slumped into the wall. “Okay.” 

 

“Okay?”

 

“I’ll do it.” 

 

“You will?” Hizashi stood, his fingers twitching at his sides.

 

“Yeah.” 

 

Shouta stood with a few pops from his knees before clasping a hand to his shoulder. “Proud of you, kid.”

 

“Will… will Izuku be going too?” To steal from Hizashi's analogy, Keigo didn't want Izuku to be all scarred and heal wrong. His brother deserved the world.

 

“We want to talk to him about it first, but yeah.” Hizashi said with a smile, before scooching closer to doorway to the kitchen. “You got any questions, little listener?”

 

Keigo turned his head to see Izuku still floating on a feather seat just inside the kitchen, in clear view of all three of them in the doorway. He was biting his lip and squirming, but didn’t look scared or distressed. It loosened something in his chest. At least he hadn’t screwed up in that regard again. Keigo gave his younger brother a tight smile before he slipped into the kitchen. It didn't take him long to decide to just start searching. He’d put it off for too long as it was, and the screaming voice in his head was demanding it. 

 

Apparently, once more, he’d made a mountain out of a molehill. Worried over something that wasn’t going to happen. Keigo wasn’t going to be thrown into an institution for his new brand of crazy. He trusted Shouta and Hizashi to be telling the truth on this. 

 

They’d yet to lie to him. 

 

Which was both comforting and concerning. What would be the line? At what point would his creepy and concerning behavior finally be the last straw? He shook the thoughts off and just passed everyone and entered the kitchen. He opened one of the cabinets and started rifling through the shelves of canned goods. He needed to keep his family safe now. He could figure out the rest of that later. 

 

“Um, uh,” Izuku started before miming something out of Keigo’s view.

 

“I’ll be right back with it.” Hizashi darted out, only to return shortly with the whiteboard and handed it to Izuku, who started scrawling out question after question. 

 

Ah, Izuku was struggling with his words again. Keigo frowned before shoving the bags of dried goods to the side, searching behind the rice once again for listening devices. He paused before opening the bag to search in the bag. It would be a horrible place to hide a microphone, but he wouldn’t put it past the commission to do something unhinged. 

 

Not like he would actually find anything. He might be crazy, but he hadn't completely lost touch with reality.

 

It would actually be easier for him if he had lost his grip on what’s real. Worse for Shouta and Hizashi though. An absolute nightmare for Izuku, too. He hoped whatever downward spiral he was on didn’t lead there. It would be awful for everyone involved. 

 

“You searching for cameras again?” Shouta leaned against the counter by him, his hands in his pockets. Keigo looked up from his squat as he started removing all the boxes from the shelf and onto the floor. Shouta wasn’t even looking at him, but instead was watching as Hizashi slowly worked through all of Izuku’s written questions about therapy.

 

Instead of responding, Keigo just went back to work. Maybe if he didn’t admit it, Shouta wouldn’t have to deal with his weirdness.

 

“It’s okay if you are, I just was going to offer to help again.” 

 

Keigo grunted, setting down a box of cereal only to pick it back up and search the inside of it. He felt something in his chest squeeze as he popped the seal. There is no reasonable explanation for that. It was sealed. And while the commission was capable of hiding a mic in a box of sealed cereal, it would be strange to do so. 

 

But he needed to keep his family safe. Images of them flashed in his mind like powerpoint slides. Izuku, back in his room at the commission, bleeding and injured; dying. His emerald green eyes sparkling down at him from the vents. Izuku, arm slashed open, pouring salt as the crimson blood flowed down his arm and dripped onto the floor while Keigo was stuck frozen, watching, trying not to vomit as the metallic smell of his younger brother's blood filled his nose.

 

Shouta being forced into similar trainings that filled Keigo’s childhood, dodging thrown knives, having to duck under flame throwers, fighting a seemingly unending barge of agents until his knuckles were bruised and bleeding. Him having to nurse headaches in the middle of the night from massive quirk overuse, his nose bleeding from the strain. His dad being woken up with ice cold water dumped on him before being dragged out of bed for a kidnapping training exercise.

 

Hizashi, floating aimlessly in the water inside the tank in a dark room. The silence and darkness so oppressive it smothered his bright smile and muted his excited chatter. Hizashi’s cheeks slowly hollowed more and more, becoming gaunt as they deprived him of basic necessities. His normally energetic dad so lethargic that he mostly slept just outside the bathroom as anything more was too much of a chore. 

 

He ripped the cereal box into pieces and put the semi clear plastic back back on the shelf. Keigo continued to do that to all the other boxes. The plastic was clear enough Keigo could see inside. The boxes were too much of a danger. Too much of a threat. Things could be hidden inside them.

 

Keigo slumped forward, his head thumping against the edge of the shelf. His hands were full of small scraps of thin cardboard. There was no way that boxes were a legit threat. But the part of him that was screaming to check again and again was quieter now. Not gone, but ignorable. He rolled his head back and forth against the edge, the sharp corner biting into the skin of his forehead. 

 

“What’s going on in your brain, kid? Talk to me.”

 

“I’m trying to tell myself that cardboard isn’t a threat.” Keigo dumped the scraps in his palms into the small pile next to him.

 

Shouta knelt next to Keigo. He picked up a single piece and flipped it over back and forth, studying it. He let it drop, watching as it plopped back into the pile. “If it puts you at ease, it sure ain’t a threat anymore.” 

 

Keigo shot his dad with a dry look.

 

“Too soon?” Shouta raised his eyebrows, a small humorous curl to his lips lightened his otherwise blank face.

 

“Yeah, probably.” Keigo rolled his eyes as he lightly shoved him. “You have terrible timing.” 

 

“Yeah,” he shrugged, “I really do.” 

 

“Maybe you should work on that.” Keigo finished setting everything back in the cupboard, shifting his focus on the next one over. 

 

“Eh.” He shrugged. “I could, but Hizashi tells me it’s part of my charm. So I’m fine.” 

 

Keigo huffed as he started to pull a pan off the shelf. “Hizashi is biased.” 

 

“Yeah, probably.” Shouta leaned back onto the cabinets under the sink and shut his eyes. 

 

After he finished with the pots and pans shelf, Keigo paused his knowingly fruitless search to study his dad. The bright pink hair was eye catching to say the least, which was the point, so kudos to his plan. It was a bit frizzy, clearly unbrushed, and flopped over his face. However, even the deep shadows of the long hair couldn’t hide the enormous dark circles that hung heavy under his eyes. His eyelashes gently brushed his cheeks, making him seem at ease. However, there was a slight pained tightness leaving a small wrinkle at the corners of his eyes and a furrow to his brow, ruining the facade of peace. Keigo’s stomach squeezed as he slowly traced the crooked nose with his eyes. It was close to straight, but from this close he could tell it was ever so slightly off. The stubble covering the lower half of his face teetered right on the edge of full beard at this point. Shouta’s thin lips were chapped and exhaustion weighed them down into a soft frown.

 

Keigo had known that the past few weeks had been tough on everyone, in theory. But he’d been so wrapped up in his… nonsense that he’d kind of forgotten that Shouta was just as affected. He wondered if there was anything he could do for him to maybe lighten the load. Hizashi too. And ideally something fun for Izuku too. 

 

Hmmm, he’d have to think on it. But he wanted to be helpful.

 

While Keigo’s mind was a thousand kilometers away thinking much too hard on possible ideas, he stared intensely at Shouta. His dad cracked open one eye before raising an eyebrow. “You finished?”

 

Flushing from being caught, Keigo snapped his head back to the next shelf he still needed to search. “No, not yet.” 

 

“Alright, take your time. If you want help, I’m right here.” Keigo heard Shouta’s head lightly thump against the wood. Sneaking a quick look, his dad was back to his previous position, with his eyes closed. 

 

His arms elbow deep in chaotically stacked tupperware, Keigo realized that the shame he had felt at some point had shifted from the frantic desire to hide his crazy to a dull throbbing embarrassed ache. This was all still weird. Checking for things he knew wouldn’t be there was strange. He didn't want to be doing this. It was a bit terrifying that he couldn’t keep the urge to do so in check. But, looking to the side, he saw his dad just calmly breathing as he sat close by as Keigo tore the kitchen slowly apart. As he reorganized the tupperware to be less messy and, more importantly, easier to search in the future, he listened as his other dad patiently explained for the third time the expectations and ‘rules’ of therapy to his younger brother. In the back of his mind he felt as Izuku, who now sat on the counter, played with one of the long feathers he’d snatched out of the air as Keigo took back all the others. 

 

Smiling as he stacked the lids on the shelf, Keigo’s chest warmed. It was odd and more than a bit strange, but they were all there for each other, helping in whatever ways they could. 

 

And maybe that was enough.

Notes:

I love Hizashi and Shouta doing a lot of 'divide and concour' type parenting lol. but to be honest these kids just contantly need adult supervision ToT

Also remember! Keigo was drugged when he was chill about therapy last time! rn he doesnt have nice antianxiety meds flowing thru him so he catastrophizes here. he is not really being rational. he thinks he is but he really aint :( once he is reasured some of that fear is able to go away and he goes back to being okay with the idea of therapy. jsut in case someone thinks its weird that he backtracked on his chill vibes from earlier i figured i'd explain lol. He also is self aware enough to know that he is clearly unwell and that he needs help even if he really hreally doesnt wanna. so he'll do it but might not be overjoyed (who is tho??? sorry therapy low key sucks. it helps but like guuuuuuh unpleasant a lot of the times)

also RIP to teh cardboard boxes. but this will make checking easier for him in the future ToT so it will be a chiller time <3 cuz its gonna take a while till he feels like things are safe enough to like chill on the checking

Chapter 35: Keigo goes to therapy!

Notes:

OMG HELLO!!!! WE FINALLY ARE GETTING SOME THERAPYYYYY?!?!?!?

Also plz dont be too mean to Hound Dog (or me) I am not a therapist lol so if there is anythign wrong... blame that. I know study fish, not psychology ToT

As always thanks to @sassy_chemist for being the best beta leaving so many comments and helping me not feel super stressed about this chapter. (cuz i was. cuz again. not a therapist lol and I *need* birdie and baby to start healing ToT)

But baby bird isn't... doing... great? so TRIGGERS: a lil bit of dissociation. and like talking about some of his abuse growing up.

we're gonna start seeing some progress for him tho ToT which is all we could want for himmmm ToT

After Keigo finished deconstructing and reorganizing the kitchen, Hizashi started to make dinner with Izuku’s help as Keigo ransacked the rest of the dorm. He’d been able to leave the blanket fort mostly alone, only having to shift the floor around to check under it, and patting down the blanket walls. Once the yakisoba was finished cooking, Keigo was able to take a break to eat. He didn’t particularly want to stop, but sitting right next to Izuku helped calm the constant itch. He was right there to keep him safe. 

 

As they ate, they discussed the logistics of therapy more. Which was apparently happening after dinner, now that they both had agreed. Keigo wasn't really sure how he felt about the quick turnaround. On one hand, he was glad he could get it over with and not stress about it. On the other, he had basically no time to prepare.

 

It was also clear that it was so quick as to not allow him to back out of it. Which was smart, but also frustrating as he now felt he couldn’t back out, even if he really really wanted to. Which only a small part of him did. 

 

After some back and forth, it was decided that it might be easiest to use one of the two empty door rooms as the meeting room. Keigo was pretty sure that it was mainly chosen for him as he’d been given full reign of the room to deeply search it. He wished he hadn’t combed over every square centimeter before Hound Dog arrived, but he absolutely had. Keigo was doomed to be a creepy weirdo, but knowing that there was no chance for anyone to be spying on him or Izuku calmed the anxiety that normally bubbled in him. 

 

Keigo loved that Shouta had offered the room as an option so he wouldn’t have to explain to Hound Dog why he needed to destroy his office even as his dad’s words made him cringe. He hated the understanding tone that Hizashi had as he walked Keigo into the room and offered to help move the furniture while Shouta did the dishes, even as it made him feel incredibly cared for. They knew too much; it was like a soft blanket over a burn or a cup of tea on a hot day. In theory it should be comforting, but in practice it chafed as much as it helped.

 

It sucked finally getting the care he’d been silently and secretly craving his whole life only for it to hurt .

 

Izuku also said he liked the idea of not having to go far, just in case. Everyone in the room visibly flinched when he’d said it. Keigo clearly wasn’t the only one who was feeling guilty over failing to keep Izuku safe. Izuku picked up on the tension and blurted out that he needed to go write out all his questions for Hound Dog and jumped up from his seat. 

 

It had been too fast, and his eyes rolled back before he could complete a single step. Keigo grabbed him before his head hit the edge of his chair, but it’d been a close call. 

 

Too close. 

 

Izuku quickly came to, and did everything to try to reassure them he was fine. Keigo knew none of them really believed him. Especially as he kept rubbing his chest like it hurt and he was too pale and shaky. After a few minutes he regained his color, and Shouta left to grab paper for Izuku to write his questions as Hizashi started to ask Izuku what he already knew about Hound Dog. 

 

Keigo personally had never heard of Hound Dog before, but like seemingly every hero in Japan, Izuku knew a disturbing amount of information on him. 

 

Shouta returned with a thin stack of paper and a few pens tucked under one arm, but stopped in the doorway. A soft expression lightened the exhaustion as he leaned against the doorframe as he watched. Hizashi excitedly nodded between bites of noodles and grinned as he followed along with Izuku’s rapid fire rambling of various stats and fun facts about the hero. Keigo couldn’t blame his dads, Izuku’s hero otaku tirades were always adorable. 

 

In too short of a time, however, Keigo found himself in the empty bedroom. Hound Dog, who introduced himself as Inui Ryo, sat a few meters away while Keigo leaned against a stool.

 

And he was dying . 

 

Drowning in what Keigo could only describe as a vat of toxic awkwardness, Keigo wished to evaporate on the spot. Inui seemed perfectly fine, which was frustrating. Keigo couldn’t bring himself to even blink as they stared at each other, having to remind himself to breathe. Inui seemed perfectly relaxed as he sat in the simple chair, a note pad balanced on one knee. He wore perfectly normal clothes, just a pair of jeans and a cream colored cable knit sweater. 

 

When he’d first arrived, Izuku had shyly whispered to Keigo that his hero costume was much cooler with fur and leather and a stylized muzzle to cover his elongated snout filled with sharp teeth. Which the mental image of that outfit and the honestly boring outfit of the man sitting in front of him left Keigo reeling at the juxtaposition. If Izuku hadn’t gone on and on about how Inui was a hero, Keigo would just have assumed that the guy sitting in front of him was just any random civilian guy. Albeit a fit one. 

 

Keigo had been expecting the exhausting posturing and passive aggressiveness that so frequently came from lower, less well known heroes. Many seemed to envy his quick rise through the ranks. He found it dumb when they were upfront about their jealousy, but that was at least better than the ones who brown nosed, tried to earn his favor, or worse, tried to manipulate him, thinking he was too young to notice. But so far Keigo has picked up on none of that bulls—. And he sort of didn’t know what to do about it. 

 

He hadn’t really known what to do about it when he’d realized that Hizashi, Shouta, Recovery Girl, Nedzu, and Midnight also didn’t subscribe to it either. 

 

But he’d been able to roll with it a bit better then. This time, his brain totally shut down when Inui had asked a simple and pleasant ‘how are you?’. No overtones or undertones, only genuine curiosity.

 

Who answers that question with screeching out a panicked “No” quickly followed by the tumbling word vomit of, “wait no, yes . No, no, that doesn’t make any sense. Hold on. I’m Keigo, s—, no, we did that part already, uh… I’m okay?”

 

Keigo did, apparently.

 

Which was why he was now floating in a vat of unending awkwardness. He brought his feet up to perch on the top rung of the stool, wrapping one arm around his knees. He’d been the idiot here messing this up in the first ten seconds, he was going to have to be the one who fixed it. 

 

“Uh, sorry. I don’t know how to do this.” Keigo felt his face heat as he scratched the back of his head before tugging lightly at the hair at the nape of his neck. “Obviously.” 

 

“Not to worry, I mostly work with high schoolers, most of which are new to therapy.” Inui leaned forward slightly. “Would it be helpful if I explained my purpose here?”

 

“I heard Hizashi explain it to Izuku at least seven times. I think I got it. You are here to help me ‘deal’. I bet everyone is hoping this will make sure I don’t stab anyone else and stop me acting all creepy and crazy.” Keigo flicked his eyes over to the striped down bed tucked into the corner, swallowing. “They are also probably already sick of me tearing apart the apartment, too.” 

 

“Are these goals that you share?”

 

“For the record, I don’t enjoy stabbing people. And definitely don’t plan on stabbing anyone anytime soon. It just sort of… happened with Shouta.” 

 

“Not harming others is an admirable goal. And selfishly, I’m glad, as being stabbed is unpleasant.” Hound Dog chuckled, “If you ever decide to change your mind and that you do want to stab me, I’d appreciate a heads up.” 

 

Keigo let out a tight laugh. “I think I can do that.”

 

“Thank you.” Inui smiled as he leaned back into his chair. “However, in my personal experience, stabbing someone isn’t something that just ‘happens’.”

 

“It… might have been a bit more complicated than that.” 

 

He picked up his pen. “Care to elaborate?” 

 

“And if I say no?” Keigo snapped, his feathers fluffed up and he had to mentally smooth them back down. He didn't want to give away how his heart sped up or how his stomach twisted at the question.

 

“Then,” he shifted the pen to be tucked just under his pointer finger as he flattened his hand to the pad of paper, “we can switch topics. Possibly about what you meant by ‘acting creepy and crazy’ or why you’ve been tearing the apartment apart.” 

 

Keigo’s arms tightened around himself. “I don’t want to talk about those things either.” 

 

“Alright. What would you like to talk about?”

 

Keigo blinked. He’d been ready for a fight. Or unending pointed questions until he got tired and spilled it all anyway. Instead he’d just taken the no at face value and dropped it.

 

“’Alright’… that’s it? You aren’t going to, I dunno, push it?”

 

“You said it earlier, I’m here to help you. Not to force you to do anything, Keigo.”

 

“But if you don’t force me to spill, then how are you going to fix me?”

 

“First off, I’m not here to ‘fix’ you, not really, just to help guide you and probably teach some healthy coping mechanisms. I also hope to work towards getting medication as I've been told that seemed to help you. Secondly, forcing you to open up would be harmful and counter to my goal here. Ideally, with time, you’d come to trust me, so you’d open up naturally. And feel free to tell me at any point if you feel you can’t open up with me. If that happens, we can jump start the vetting process to find someone else that you can be open with.” 

 

“Huh.” Keigo felt strangely numb. “That’s…. Huh.” 

 

Inui leaned forward, his elbows rested on his knees, the notepad held loosely in one hand. “You’re in control here, Keigo. Nothing will leave this room. If you want, we can sit here in silence, or we can talk about something that’s bothering you, or we could play tic tac toe on my notepad here. No one but the two of us will know. The only time I will share anything is if you tell me you plan to hurt yourself or others. And you are smart enough to understand why I’d need to do that, but just to be clear, it’s a safety thing.” 

 

His lips stretched over the his sharp teeth into a smile. “However, you just told me that you don’t plan on stabbing anyone, so I think we are fairly safe on at least that front.”

 

“I don’t want to hurt anybody.” Keigo rolled his eyes. “Happy?”

 

“Actually, I very much am happy to hear that. It’s a good thing.” 

 

“Of course it’s a good thing. And I’m a…” Keigo frowned as he trailed off. 

 

“You’re a what, Keigo?”

 

“I was… going to say hero.”

 

“Why did you stop yourself?”

 

“Am I a hero still?” Inui looked confused, so Keigo elaborated. “I mean the commission, the agency in charge of hero licenses, are the same people that have been doing a pretty successful smear campaign against me. It isn’t a stretch of the imagination for them to decide to rescind Hawks’ license. Especially if they want me to get in trouble for the raid for Izuku. I could go to jail for a long time if they backdate it.”

 

“I can text Nedzu to see.” He pulled out his phone. “That is, if you want that?”

 

“Yes. Please. I need to know.” Keigo wasn’t sure why a thing he hadn’t thought about until this second had become the most important information to him. The thought consumed him like a flash inferno. The intensity was frightening. He also couldn’t figure out if he wanted his license to still be active or not. But it being Schrodinger's license was eating away at him like acid.

 

Inui typed out the text and only seconds later got a response. “Ah, Nedzu must have already been on his phone. But, he says that when they first started reporting on your disappearance you were placed on medical probation. But after a few days, they quietly rescinded your license officially. No backdating however, which is good. Nedzu offered to try to appeal for it to be turned back to active, but it is usually easier to just retest.”

 

“I’m not… I’m not Hawks anymore?” His voice sounded distant and airy as a large emotion rolled over Keigo, squishing him under the weight of it. His stomach undulated and he had to swallow back bile. His face tingled as he felt himself shift just a few centimeters to the left of his body. The feeling of disconnecting made him feel fake. Like he was a wax doll. 

 

Keigo couldn’t really remember a time when he wasn’t Hawks. He had vague memories of his time before the commission, but it was only a handful of painful childhood memories, and looking over them at the commission he’d still felt like Hawks in the memories. It wasn't until he’d told Shouta to call him Keigo on a whim that he’d started to be anything but a small wisp of a person swaddled in the thick blanket of his hero persona. 

 

And now he was only Keigo. Only a wisp. 

 

He wasn’t sure what he felt about that. He wasn’t sure about anything anymore. He wasn’t sure if he was even real anymore. Keigo hadn’t been real for so long that he was only just starting to form. Maybe it was better this way.

 

The commission had built Hawks to be their perfect hero. Now, Keigo could be built to be what his family needed? He was malleable again. Doubly so with how hollow and fake he currently felt. He was ready for instructions for him to blindly follow. He wouldn’t fight them, that only led to him being punished. And he didn’t really want that. 

 

“Keigo?” 

 

Keigo snapped to attention, ready.

 

“Can you tell me how you are doing? You just had a pretty big shock.”

 

“I’m not Hawks. Only Keigo.” 

 

“You’re still you, regardless of if you have a hero license or not.”

 

“But, who… is Keigo?” Keigo needed to get instructions on who he was supposed to be. He’d been wrong too many times already. Stumbling around in the dark was getting him nowhere.

 

“I can’t answer that, only you can. How would you describe yourself, Keigo?”

 

“Creepy and crazy.”

 

“Why those words?”

 

“I used to think only I was creepy because of my quirk, but I think it’s just me. I’m creepy. And I fought with cereal boxes earlier today and keep searching for cameras I know aren’t there. So, crazy, too.” 

 

“That sounds like a stressful way to live.” 

 

“Yeah.” Keigo felt really tired. He looked over at the bed and thought about just dipping on this conversation and just… laying down. Instead he leaned over his knees, folding himself in half, and let his arms and wings dangle down. “It is.”

 

“May I ask why you think your quirk made you creepy?”

 

Keigo shrugged. “My quirk is creepy. I make inhuman noises, I stare at people, it makes strong bonds that make me act weird at those people, when stressed I grab things and won’t let go. I hate it.”

 

“None of that makes you creepy, Keigo.” 

 

“Sure. Whatever you say.” Even to himself his voice sounded dull and lifeless.

 

“Do you think I’m creepy?”

 

“What?” Keigo blinked and rotated his head to look up at Inui. “No?”

 

“Because my quirk makes me growl like a dog when I get overly excited or upset. I sometimes get the urge to sniff people when I first meet them, especially if they have an interesting scent. I can and will chase after things people throw without second thought, as embarrassing as I sometimes find it. I also pack bond with people close to me, becoming wildly loyal to them. Aggressive on their behalf. Does that make me creepy?”

 

“No, but people like dogs.”

 

“Lots of people like birds too, but you aren’t a bird, and I’m not a dog. We’re people. People with animal heteromorphic quirks, sure, but still people.”

 

“I still think I’m creepy.”

 

“Ah, I like that phrasing much more.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You think you are creepy versus you are creepy. Do you see the difference?”

 

“… I guess?”

 

“Why do you think the difference might be important?”

 

“Uh,” Keigo tried to get his molasses filled brain to think. “I… don’t know?”

 

“That’s okay. It’s about absolutes. There is a difference between something that is, like how your wings are red or you are currently sitting on a stool. And an opinion or perception, like me thinking this pen writes nicely or that chicken curry is delicious.” 

 

“Chicken curry is delicious.”

 

“I agree, but it's an opinion, and variable. I’m sure there is someone out there who dislikes it. And the same person might try a chicken curry later in their life and realize they like it. Or vice versa. But it’s the same thing with your quirk. You have an opinion that it makes you creepy, but that isn’t an absolute. Just an opinion, or a better word for this would be perception.” 

 

“And… perceptions can change?”

 

“Ones like this can, it sometimes takes a lot of work to switch them. At some point I’m guessing someone made you feel creepy because of something to do with your quirk?”

 

Keigo couldn’t help but be barraged by a series of memories. His tutors hitting the back of his hands with rulers every time he made any bird calls. The blindfold they’d tie over his face if he couldn’t stop his intense stare. Every time he overheard the quirk trainers point blank saying his quirk was creepy as he learned to use his sensitive feathers to eavesdrop. Mr. Watanabe calling him his pet, throwing bird seed at him or mocking the screeches he’d made during training. The posts he sometimes saw online of people upset that some unholy tainted creature like him was not only existing, but also successful. 

 

“Yeah.” His voice was small. “A lot of people actually.” 

 

“I’m sorry that you experienced that. I want you to know that they were wrong to do so.” 

 

“It’s fine,” he shrugged.

 

“It doesn’t have to be.” 

 

Keigo sniffed. His nose was running from the tears that threatened to escape his eyes. They lulled into a brief silence. This time Keigo was numb instead of awkward, still half real and shifted out of sync with his body. 

 

“May I ask if there is anything you like about your quirk?”

 

“Flying.” His answer was immediate. He may hate his quirk, but he’d never hate flying. A few stray tears finally rolled down his face. “I really miss it.” 

 

“Why don’t you? UA definitely has space.”

 

“Can’t.” Keigo shrugged, wiggling his wings out to show the patchy spots. “Lost too many feathers. I can only glide ‘till they grow back in.” 

 

“UA has some fairly tall buildings, it wouldn’t be the same, but you’d probably be able to have some air time.” 

 

“I just have to wait a week or two and the pin feathers will have grown in. I’ll be fine. It’s not like I want to be seen after the… uh video, anyway.” 

 

“If it is something you enjoy doing, you should do it.” 

 

“… why do you care so much about this?” Keigo sat up and tilted his head. 

 

“I’m going to be blunt, if that’s okay with you.” Keigo nodded slowly and Inui continued. “I’m concerned with the level you seem to hate your quirk. It is a large part of who a person is, as much as a limb, if not more so. It's particularly hard for those with animal mutation quirks as they regularly impact every aspect of our lives. We see the non standard additions to our bodies, deal with instinctual reactions, some people have to go to specialty shops for clothes and other supplies. If every reminder is making you upset, that is concerning as there is no escape from who you are. I imagine you just sit and stew in self hatred on a fairly regular basis. Which is far from healthy.”

 

“Okay, but why me?” 

 

“I know we just met, but I do care about your well being. To the same level I would anyone else under my care. I would react with the same level of concern if Aizawa walked in and said he deeply hated his left foot.” 

 

Keigo just sat there as Inui stared at him. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to say anything so he didn't. Inui didn't sigh or react like him staying silent was wrong. So Keigo had made the right choice. 

 

Maybe.

 

It wasn't all that clear what he was supposed to do here and it was always harder to think when he was like this. All vague shapes and loosely tied together parts. He could hold things together just enough to avoid suspicion that he was fake, but not much more. And this whole conversation felt like it was full of pit traps and trip wires. Unfortunately he couldn't see them being like this, but he was doing his best.

 

“I like to leave people with simple ‘homework’, I want you to do something with your quirk that you genuinely enjoy. It could be gliding or something else. But as you do it, I want you to verbally say ‘I like my quirk, it is a part of me,’ even if it is just under your breath. Do you think you can do that?” 

 

“Do I have to?” Keigo didn’t really like the idea of saying something so dumb. Especially a lie.

 

“I’m not going to force you to do anything, remember? But I think getting out and stretching your wings would be good regardless of if you do the simple affirmation or not”

 

“I do like flying.” Keigo turned to look out the window behind him. It was dark. Maybe it wouldn’t be too much of an issue if he glided now as it wasn’t like the media could film any good footage with it being so dark. 

 

“I hope you do it, you deserve to do things you enjoy.” 

 

Keigo wasn't sure about all that. But he did really like flying.

 

“I’m going to go right now,” Keigo stood, and started towards the door. He could practically feel the icy wind on his face, prickling like needles. The way the air rolled across his feathered wings. Hear the roar as he cut through the night sky. A loud screeching whistle squeezed out of his throat. 

 

He needed to go right now.

 

It might shift whatever was wrong with him back into place. Blow that fake feeling away. He was always real in the sky. 

 

And it didn’t matter if he was Hawks or Keigo when in the air. All that mattered was flying . 

 

“Oh, okay.” Inui stood and followed him out. 

 

Keigo walked into the front room. Izuku looked nervous, the string lights’ reflection twinkling in his moist eyes. It looked like he was trying to burrow his way into Shouta’s side as Sushi curled up in his lap. His dad’s arm was wrapped over the thin shoulders of his brother. Shouta and Hizashi turned to look at Keigo. Hizashi stood from where he’d been kneeling near the other two.

 

“Everything okay, Listener?” 

 

“I’m going flying. Or, well, gliding.” As we walked past he grabbed Hizashi’s hand, pulling him behind him as he bee lined for the door. “You are coming with me. If someone shows up you are good at talking. I don't wanna talk.”

 

Keigo didn’t want to have to explain himself, or talk to anyone if he accidentally ran into anyone. Hizashi would make a good buffer. He half fought him as Keigo tried to drag him out the door. Hizashi made eye contact with Shouta, who nodded. He stopped fighting him, but tapped the back of his hand and spoke. 

 

“Woah, I’m loving the energy here, but can I at least get my shoes and a jacket so I don't freeze?”

 

Keigo let out a sad coo, but dropped his dad's hand. 

 

“I promise I’ll be right back.” With that Hizashi jogged down the hall and into his and Shouta’s room. 

 

From behind him he heard Shouta quietly talk to Izuku. “Are you going to be okay with just me joining you? If not, we can do it later.” 

 

“No, I’ll be fine.” 

 

“You sure?”

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“Okay, if that changes, just tap my knee and we can leave.” 

 

Hizashi returned bundled up in a thick jacket, a hat, fuzzy socks, and a scarf. He moved to the door and started to shove his feet into his leather boots. 

 

“You going to get dressed?” 

 

Keigo looked down at his borrowed tank top, chopped up hoodie and UA uniform sweats. He shrugged before sliding his bare feet into his boots.

 

“Uh, no socks?” Hizashi sounded like he was trying, and failing, to not sound disgusted.

 

“Haven’t cut my nails, I ruined the two pairs I had.” 

 

“Oh, we are so totally fixing that tomorrow morning. Same with the general lack of clothing thing. I can probably con Vlad into going to your apartment or to buy things if you’d rather just get new items.” He wheeled around to Izuku and pointed. “You too, Little listener, everyone in this house needs more clothes! I’d take you both shopping, but going to a mall right now sounds like too much of a hassle.” 

 

Izuku nodded, throwing Hizashi a thumbs up. Keigo threw him a thumbs up too as he turned to open the door. Keigo didn’t care about clothes, all he wanted was to fly. Hizashi over his shoulder yelled out a final goodbye and good luck before yanking Keigo behind him. 

 

The frigid cold hit Keigo, making him shiver. As they trudged along towards UA’s main doors, his wings vibrated in anticipation. 

 

Maybe Inui was right. Maybe doing things he enjoyed was a good thing.

 

He might end up sounding like an idiot, but just to make Inui happy, he’d even say the stupid sentence a few times while in the air, far enough that Hizashi couldn't overhear.

 

It wouldn’t hurt to at least try.

Notes:

I want yall to know that Keigo's first interaction with Inui was exactly how my first therapy apointment went lol poor guy I went how would he react and I went "lol poorly." and then went "oh no he might pull my nonsense" So I made him do that which lemme tell yall. almost made me keel over on the spot. I am not swave like at all but that was exquistly embrassising. XD

Also in the words of @sassy_chemist "What a teenage boy response to the cold"
Buddy ToT plz you're gonna get a cold! You just got over (most, he still has some fatigue) of your infection! Put on a hat you heathen! (he wont get a cold cuz I cant do that to my baby (lol not like I havent already drug him like hell and back xD but cold? thats some true pain I can't put him thru??? lol what a weird line in teh sand to draw xD

But hopefully yall have a great week!! <3

Chapter 36: Shouta sits with Izuku through therapy!

Notes:

HELLO FOLKS!!!!!

Like last chapter this is a therapy chapter. I am not.... as confident about this as I would like, but there is only so much editing and rewriting that I can do before I actually go insane lol So if you are some professional in this field... hello! idk what I'm doing :D but im doing my besttttt

But thanks to @sassy_chemist, she told me this chapter that i have majorly improved with my comma placements and that she was proud of me ToT which is not only so sweet but also only because she's sat down and shown me where the commas are supposed to go ToT so thanks for making my inanity more grammatically correct <3

Also for triggers: we're talking about dissociation and like some small bad things but for a therapy chapter I was trying to keep it prettly light :D baby is not ready for heavy things

Shouta tried to keep his surprise to himself as Izuku fully clammed up around Hound Dog. He hadn’t spoken a single word since Keigo left. However, Shouta learned that the two of them should definitely play charades, ideally on the same team, as the kid was pretty good at miming what he wanted and he was good at figuring it out.

 

Which, this time it was asking for a piggy back ride.

 

Entering the room, Inui followed and closed the door. Izuku’s grip around Shouta’s neck tightened. 

 

“Feel free to sit wherever you feel the most comfortable.” Inui gestured to the various seats set up about equal distance to each other. 

 

A small tug on a lock of his hair made Shouta turn and look out of the corner of his eye at his kid. Izuku pointed at the bare bed that was tucked in the corner of the room. The unspoken question bounced behind his wide green eyes. Shouta nodded and gently set Izuku down on the edge with a crouch. 

 

He didn’t let go. 

 

“Kiddo? You going to let go?”

 

Izuku’s hands clutched at the front of Shouta’s shirt as he shoved his shaking head into his spine. 

 

“Oh, okay.” Shouta stood, gripping the boy under his thighs tightly as he stepped up onto the bed. He lowered himself into a cross-legged seat. Izuku slowly slid down his back to sit onto the bed, still curled around Shouta like a back pack. 

 

Hizashi had warned him about the newfound clinginess and separation anxiety. But Shouta hadn’t really seen it yet as he’d been fairly normal during their meal. Well, as normal as the anxious kid ever got. He was a bit of a weirdo, in the best ways possible. Now, it felt like he had a shy toddler clinging to his coat tails. 

 

“So, Izuku, I heard you had some questions for me?” Shouta could tell that Inui was doing his best to come off as far from intimidating as possible as he sat calmly in his chair. He smiled at them from across the room while Shouta and Izuku half cuddled on the bare mattress.

 

Izuku shoved his nose even deeper into the cardigan Shouta had thrown over his shirt when he woke up. Thin fingers twisted up into the knit fabric as Izuku brought his uninjured leg to curl around Shouta’s middle. A small whimper squeaked out from behind him. 

 

Craning his neck, Shouta frowned. All he could see out of the corner of his eye was the wild curls and how they shivered. 

 

“Kiddo?” Shouta breathed out. “You okay?”

 

Thus far, Izuku had been fairly communicative, outside of the dissociation episodes. Even as he struggled to ask questions or use words, he found ways to make what he needed known, doubly so since the introduction of the whiteboard, tapping morse code, and charades. This intensely shy behavior was equally startling as it was concerning. 

 

After a beat, one of the slightly shaking hands let go of their death grip. Shouta felt as it trailed down his back and into the hoodie pocket squished between the two. Folded papers covered in messy handwriting popped up in the corner of Shouta’s vision.

 

“Y-yeah ‘m okay,” Izuku whispered as he tapped the papers against Shouta’s shoulder, half waving them in his face. “Pass, please.” 

 

“Of course.” Shouta gripped the half crumpled pages and underhand tossed them to Inui. Showing off his killer reflexes, Inui caught it mid air between two fingers. 

 

Shouta held back from rolling his eyes, but felt Izuku perk up at the show. Maybe, it was less showing off and more trying to entice Izuku out of his shell. If that was the case, the man could showboat as much as he pleased, especially since it seemed to be working. 

 

Unfolding the pages, Inui whistled. “Wow, these are some great questions.” He flipped the page over and smiled. “Oh, I haven’t even thought about my fight with Jackal in years. You sure know your stuff.” 

 

“I like heroes.” Izuku mumbled out as he relaxed into Shouta’s back. Out of the corner of his eye, Shouta could tell that he was peeking up over his shoulder. His hands reached up to half drag Shouta’s shoulder down for a better view. 

 

“I can tell. It is very impressive.” Inui wiggled the pages in the air with a soft smile. “Before I go through all these, I am curious though, do you have any favorite heroes?” 

 

Izuku hummed, nodding. A thin finger reached over and tapped in morse code on Shouta’s collarbone. 

 

TELL HIM MY TOP FIVE, PLEASE.

 

Twisting around, Shouta saw the pleading look as Izuku half ducked down. “I can tell him, but you are going to have to correct me if I get anything wrong, okay?”

 

Izuku flashed a quick thumbs up before he clutched at the back of his sweater again. Shouta rattled off all of the six heroes in Izuku’s top five, pointedly ignoring the wash of amusement that flashed over Inui’s face as he said his own hero name. 

 

“That’s a really good line up. All great heroes. Thanks for sharing it with me, Izuku.” 

 

Thanking his lucky stars. Shouta let out a relieved breath as Inui clearly decided to not make any comments. Thank G-d that someone at UA had any form of professionalism. 

 

“Thanks,” Izuku breathed out. 

 

“You’re welcome. Now,” he held up the list of questions. “Shall I start going down this list?”

 

Like a bobble head, Izuku nodded excitedly. He was fidgeting with the back of his sweater and wiggling, but something about the movements signaled happy anticipation instead of the twisting anxiety of earlier. 

 

As Inui slowly worked his way down the list, Shouta realized that he didn’t really know much about Hound Dog’s hero career. The two of them had never been the closest coworkers, but got along fine. Most of their interactions came from Shouta telling him that he was going to send a hero course student his way. Either because they were struggling, or because he expelled them. Their longest conversations came when a student had a particularly dramatic reaction to their temporary expulsions. 

 

Sitting back and watching as Inui masterfully coaxed Izuku out from his hiding spot, Shouta was impressed. He was basically giving the most in depth interview, but it was working. Izuku slowly moved from fully hiding, to peeking over his shoulder, to ever so slowly shifting to sit next to Shouta, albeit flush with his side. This almost made Shouta regret the buckets of work he’d dumped on the man over the years from expelling students left and right, making him deal with a large chunk of the aftermath. 

 

He wasn’t going to stop expelling students, however. If nothing else, this made Shouta know that they would be well cared for after the shock. It might actually make him more likely to do it. 

 

Once finished with all of the questions, Inui folded the papers and set them off to the side. “This was delightful, I appreciated the chance to reminisce. Before I go, I did want to talk to you about a few things, if you are up for it?”

 

Shimming closer into Shouta’s side, Izuku tensed. Shouta squeezed his shoulder, giving a half hug. After a few seconds, Izuku relaxed. 

 

“Okay.” 

 

“The first thing I wanted to know is if you have been enjoying staying with Aizawa and Yamada?”

 

Izuku perked up, a shy smile growing as he leaned into Shouta’s side. “Yeah. They’re the best.” 

 

Being a grown man, Shouta was not going to cry. He was however flooded with a sense of relief so strong his normally dry eyes welled up and it was suddenly very hard to swallow. But he was not going to cry. 

 

“Oh?” Inui leaned forward ever so slightly. “Why are they the best?”

 

“We do fun things like play games, and we talk a lot, too.  Last night we decorated the wedding cupcakes, which was really fun. During it we all dyed our hair, Shouta’s is pink to help me not be as scared. Or that’s what we are hoping. Which is really nice of him, ‘cause that’s a pretty big change.” 

 

“It is.” Inui nodded.

 

“Mmhm. But I think this is better than a clown suit, even though that would also make him less… not scary but… almost scary? There is a word...” Izuku twisted his head to the side and jutted his chin into Shouta’s side. A mix of frustration and deep thinking swirled on his face. 

 

“I think the word you’re looking for is ‘intimidating’,” Shouta said.

 

“Yeah,” Izuku gestured towards him. “That.” 

 

“What about Yamada?”

 

“Oh he’s also great. Today he stayed with me all day since Shouta and Keigo were sleeping. We made a blanket fort, ate good food, watched a movie, and played some games. I totally wrecked him, though. Six to zero.” Izuku grinned, much more loose and open than he’d been the whole time Inui had been in the apartment.

 

“That is impressive.”

 

“Yeah, Hizashi is pretty good at games so it was close a few times.” 

 

“Sounds like a fun day.” 

 

“It was.” 

 

“How about when days are a little less fun, is it still good?”

 

“Uh,” Izuku wiggled a little in his seat as he twisted the edge of his shirt around his fingers and stretched the fabric out to his knees before letting it snap back to his middle. Shouta ran a hand over his head, hoping to help the kid’s anxiety. “I-I don’t understand.” 

 

“I’ll rephrase the question. On less fun days, even bad days, do you still like staying with Aizawa and Yamada?”

 

“Oh, okay, that makes more sense.” Inui nodded and Izuku sighed. “They are… fine, but when I’m really scared, Shouta gives really good hugs which help a ton. Hizashi does too, and he also sometimes hums or quietly sings. He’s got a good voice, so it's really soothing. We also went over all the rules and now I know what is expected, which makes it all much less complex.”

 

“How so?”

 

“It’s hard to figure out the rules.” Izuku shrugged. “This way I know what is allowed instead of having to try things and not knowing if I’d get in trouble or not. It's less scary.”

 

“I’m glad it has been helpful, then”

 

“Yeah, we also have a set up like I did with Mom where if there is a rule that isn’t working, I am allowed and expected to bring it up, and we’ll talk it out.” Izuku curled into himself and continued in a whisper. “Which is way better than Mr. Watanabe’s system.”

 

Just hearing the scared whispered name made Shouta’s blood boil. Shoving all of the rage down, Shouta closed his eyes and mentally counted to ten. Izuku, the hyper aware child that he was, likely noticed the way Shouta stiffened next to him. His big green eyes wandered all over him.

 

“Sorry Shouta, I know you don’t like it when I mention him.” 

 

“It’s fine, I never want you to feel you need to avoid talking about things on my behalf, okay? I am here for you, I can control my… dislike for him.” 

 

‘Dislike’ was a gross understatement, but the words he actually wanted to use were not exactly child friendly. 

 

“Oh, okay.” Izuku nodded.

 

“I’m happy to see such open communication.” Inui said, making a small little note on his pad.

 

“Ah,” Shouta felt his face heat up. “We’re working on it, there was a big confusion a bit ago that could’ve been resolved if we talked more.” 

 

“We talk every evening now. Just so I can ask my questions and so Hizashi and Shouta can check in to make sure I’m good.” Izuku’s face scrunched up. “You should maybe do that for Keigo, too.”

 

“We didn’t last night, well, not as formally as we did with you. But I will talk to him about it. Might be good to check in with him.”

 

“I… think he is struggling. So talking with his dad might help. Talking with Mom always helped me.” Izuku shrugged, a small smile on his face.

 

Shouta felt the eyes boring into him, but he refused to look at Inui. He could barely handle Izuku looking up at him, all cute and innocent. Shouta just nodded, he didn’t trust his mouth to not just let his spirit slip out. Or scream. A part of him wished he could just let his spirit leave his body. But that would likely traumatize Izuku even more, so Shouta would have to ignore the urge and hope he could ride the wave of embarrassment. 

 

“It’s really nice of you to make sure Keigo is being taken care of, Izuku.”

 

Izuku turned to look at Inui and Shouta felt like he could breathe again. The focus was off of him, thank G-d.

 

“He’s my brother. I care for him.” 

 

“I'm glad you have that sort of relationship. And we’ll definitely help him, don’t worry. But I want to know if there is anything you are struggling with?”

 

Izuku shrugged. Chewing his lip, he slipped his feet over the edge of the bed and swung them back and forth. “I get really scared sometimes. I also don’t like being alone.”

 

“That sounds really hard.” 

 

“It… is.” He reached out a hand and patted Shouta’s knee. “But it’s okay. I’m not alone here, and I get hugs when I’m scared.”

 

“You have a lot of people in your corner.” Shouta reached over to squeeze Izuku into his side as he kissed the top of his head. “We’re here for you.” 

 

“Yeah I do.” Izuku rubbed his feet together over the edge of the bed and softly grinned.

 

“I hope that I can be one of those people for you too, so feel free to add my name to your list.” Inui smiled. 

 

“You answered all my questions. And you’re nice.” Izuku brightly grinned in the way that never failed to melt Shouta’s heart. “You’re invited to my corner.” 

 

“Thanks, Izuku.” Inui’s whole demeanor softened in the way Shouta recognized. The man was tied around Izuku’s finger, even if the kid didn’t realize it yet. The kid was collecting heroes like Pokemon cards. “I’ll do my best to help where I can.”

 

“Okay.” 

 

“Are you ready for the second thing I wanted to talk to you about?” 

 

Izuku nodded, looking a little unsure, but nowhere near as nervous as he had been at the beginning of the meeting. Shouta felt a swell of pride for Izuku’s continued bravery, and a bubble of gratitude for Inui’s gentle methods. If he was going to be honest, this was going better than he thought it would go.

 

But he’d always been a bit of a pessimist, so he wasn’t all that surprised.

 

“Recovery Girl also told me that you’ve been experiencing dissociation. Which is just a fancy term for when someone mentally disconnects or separates from what's around them, or themselves. People sometimes describe it as floating, or having an out of body experience or sometimes feeling buoyant. I can make the world or yourself feel dreamlike or unreal. Does any of that sound like something you’ve experienced?”

 

Izuku hummed, grabbing one of Shouta’s hands to fidget with. Focused on slowly curling and uncurling each of Shouta’s fingers, Izuku whispered, “I call it drifting.” 

 

“That is a good word to describe the feeling. Drifting, or dissociation, is one way that the brain reacts to really scary, stressful things, or things that are traumatic. Sometimes when someone has been badly scared a lot of times in their life it becomes like a habit and it is easier to slip out of reality and drift away. Have you experienced this before you were with us at UA?” 

 

“Yeah.” Izuku sniffed. 

 

“Thanks for telling me. Was it often?”

 

“Uh, it depended on what we uh…” Izuku squirmed before sliding his fingers through Shouta’s fingers. He lightly clasped their hands together. “Probably normally two or three times a week. Never more than once a day at the worst…. Is… is that a lot?” 

 

Shouta wanted to cry and scream and throw things. He wanted to burn the commission facility to the ground and pull out his hair. He wanted to resurrect Mr. Watanabe only to kill him again, but this time, make it slow and painful. 

 

Two to three times a week was a lot. Once a day was a lot. And that's just the instances his kid noticed . Who knows how often he just snapped out of it not realizing he lost time. Or considering how Izuku had drifted for multiple days in a row, who’s to say he didn’t have an episode like that at the commission? He’d probably never know. But at least now Shouta could feel relieved that at least being at UA and the s— they'd gone through wasn’t actively making his dissociation more regular.

 

“Dissociation is a coping mechanism, or a way for people to handle those scary situations. And considering how scary I am sure that your past year was, you drifted as often as you felt you needed to, to get through it. If your brain isn’t fully there, then it is easier to handle them, does that make sense?”

 

“Yeah.” 

 

“It was the way you were able to keep yourself as safe as you could, so it doesn’t matter if you did it a few times a week to multiple times a day, okay? Whatever you needed was perfectly acceptable.”

 

“Okay.” 

 

“The concern we have is now that you are safe, that habit is still there, which is perfectly normal. We want to help reteach your brain other methods of handling stress. I am sure you might have noticed that even small reminders of those scary times can be enough for your brain to start drifting.”

 

“Like blindfolds.” His voice was thin and airy. His eyes started to glaze over. 

 

Shouta squeezed their joined hands and shook them lightly. “Yeah kiddo, like any type of eye covering.” 

 

The slight fog behind Izuku’s eyes evaporated as he blinked up at Shouta. “Yeah. I don’t like my eyes being covered.” 

 

“This is a good example of a trigger. One of those things that remind you and make your brain slip into its habits from when things were scarier. Anything can be a trigger: thoughts, sounds, smells, objects, people, places, flavors. Each person who goes through something scary will likely have their own sets of triggers. Does this make sense?” Izuku nodded. “Good. Triggers can also lead to other reactions, not just dissociation, or drifting. Sometimes they make people want to run away, or fight, or panic.” 

 

Inui paused when Izuku frowned, a wrinkle formed between his eyebrows. He brought the hand not in Shouta’s, up to his chin. Making a fist he lightly bounced it off his chin. After a few moments, he sat up, a light bulb blinking on over his head.

 

“Like Keigo.” 

 

“What about Keigo?” Inui leaned forward. 

 

“He ran away with me that one time. He was very scared, and he…” Izuku turned to Shouta, “He was fighting you.” 

 

“He was.” Shouta nodded.

 

“Security cameras make Keigo nervous.” He turned back to Inui. “They… might be a trigger.”

 

“They might be, I however don’t know.” Inui flicked his eyes to Shouta. “It might be a good idea to have a family meeting to collect up any possible known triggers.” 

 

“Noted.” Shouta had already been half planning it.

 

“What can…” Izuku started, before hiding his face into Shouta’s side. He offered a hand to Izuku, who reached up to tap out his question.

 

WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP KEIGO?

 

Shouta repeated the question. 

 

“That is a great question.” Inui smiled at Izuku as the boy peeked out from his hiding space in Shouta’s side. “Once we know the triggers of those we love, one of the best things we can do is to help that person avoid them. At least, until they are ready to work on becoming comfortable with them again, ideally with the help of a professional. So, if cameras are one of Keigo’s triggers, finding places that are camera free might be a great place to take him to destress.” 

 

Izuku tugged at Shouta’s sleeve. His wide green eyes peered up at Shouta. 

 

“Do… do you have any triggers?” he whispered out. “I’d like to avoid them, too.”

 

Shouta felt bubbling pride at Izuku’s desire to help those around him. It was sweet. He reached out to give his kid a half hug. 

 

“Yeah, I do.” Shouta swallowed. If it had been anyone else he would have told them to f— off. He basically had only told Hizashi the few things that really set him off. A few were not child appropriate, as Shouta had seen more than his fair share of gore. And there was no way he was telling Inui or Izuku that he struggled with alcohol in the past… and recently had a small relapse. Also, those things that caused that were different.  So there was really only one option that was left. 

 

“Collapsed buildings are one of my big ones.” Shouta swallowed, the image of large chunks of rubble all wet from the pouring rain, filled his vision. The smell of wet concrete filled his nose, the chill of the rain made him shiver. The trail of red ran from under a large chunk of rubble to pool around his feet. The horrible realization that— Shouta shook his head, cutting off that train of thought before it could get too far from the station. “The others I’ve worked on enough that I can be around in small doses without too much issue, or don’t bother me much at all.”

 

“Okay. I think I can do that. All the buildings will stay upright.” Izuku nodded very seriously.

 

“Thanks, kiddo.” Shouta combed a hand through Izuku’s curls. “Anytime you think of a possible trigger, let me know. I’d love to help you too.” 

 

“That actually gets to the homework I planned to assign the two of you. I figured Mic would participate too.” Inui slid a paper out from his pad of paper and handed it over to Shouta. It was a simple page with a cutesy cartoon person printed saying ‘Triggers: Let's figure them out!’. Next to the character was a table with three columns labeled ‘the trigger’, ‘how I reacted’, and ‘action plan!’. Shouta handed the paper to Izuku to look over.

 

“The idea behind this little chart is to help you figure out the things that make you upset and how you reacted. Then, once we have a few to work with, we can make action plans to help you break some of the habits your brain developed or at least replace some of them with habits that are better. Aizawa and Mic can hold onto the list and help you fill it out, sound good?”

 

Izuku nodded, yawning. “Sounds good.” 

 

“Perfect. Unless there is something else you want to discuss Izuku, I’ll see you in a few days.” 

 

“Okay. I don’t have anything.” Izuku yawned again, rubbing his eyes.

 

“Alright, rest well, Izuku. It was nice to meet you.” Inui stood.

 

“You tired?” Shouta turned to Izuku only to get a lap full of half asleep kiddo. Izuku hummed before closing his eyes with a satisfied sigh. Shouta chuckled. “I’m going to take that as a yes.” 

 

He manhandled the kid into a bridal carry. Inui held the door open for them, a knowing smile on his face as Shouta passed. He gave the man the stink eye before sliding into Izuku’s room, settling him down to sleep. Shouta should make sure Izuku brushed his teeth before sleeping, but the kid was doing his soft kitten snores and was fully limp in his arms. He brushed back Izuku’s hair and left a kiss on his forehead. 

 

He must have been tired.

 

“Goodnight, kiddo, sleep well.” 

 

Shouta backed out of the room, making sure to keep the door cracked open just a sliver. From behind him he heard a soft chuckle. 

 

“Who knew Eraserhead had a soft side?”

 

“Watch it,” Shouta snarled. 

 

“Apologies.” Inui raised his hands in surrender. “He seems very attached to you.”

 

Shouta sighed, guided Inui to the front room and collapsed onto one of the two chairs not wrapped up in the blanket fort. “That is a new development.” 

 

“How so?” He joined Shouta on the other chair.

 

“Probably from the fact I’ve never seen him act remotely like that at all. The kid about passed out from talking Hizashi’s ear off the first time they met because he forgot to breathe. He always was a little more reserved around me. I thought it was because I was intimidating, which was partially true. But it was equally because the kid thinks Eraserhead is cool .” 

 

“Oh, what a nightmare,” he said with a humorous lilt.

 

“I know you are joking, but it honestly is.” Shouta leaned his head back over the edge of the backrest. “We’ve known I’m his third favorite for just about twenty four hours and I think I’ve gotten at least 20 messages from Hizashi reminding me of that fact. Half of which he knew I was asleep for.”

 

“Have you told Mic that it bothers you?”

 

Shouta rolled his head to glare at Inui. “I see what you are doing, and I refuse to let you therapitize me. I already have an appointment with my therapist in a week and a half, I’m fine.” 

 

“Alright, but if it’s ever not fine, know my door is always open, both to therapitize you,” Inui chuckled. “Or just as a listening ear.” 

 

“Thanks.” Shouta leaned forward, catching his face in his hands. He started to massage his temples. “Now, tell me about my kid.” 

 

“He’s resilient and intelligent. Absolutely adorable, too.”

 

“I could have told you that.” 

 

“I don’t know much, Aizawa.” Inui sighed. “One short meeting isn’t going to magically give you all the answers. This is going to take time.” 

 

“I–” Shouta heaved a large sigh. “I know that. But I just want to help him.”

 

“You are.” 

 

“Not enough.” He grumbled into his palms under his breath. 

 

“You are doing more than I think you are giving yourself credit for. I saw how you interacted with him. He struggles to talk, you have provided alternate ways to communicate. He is scared and clings for support, and you give it to him openly, even when it makes you uncomfortable. You've changed your appearance for his comfort. You opened up about your own triggers, normalizing them for him as I’m sure Izuku might end up with more than you and I combined. All of those things are benefiting him.”

 

“Doesn’t feel like enough.” 

 

“It isn’t.” Inui shrugged.

 

“Wow,” Shouta shot Inui a flat look. “Way to make a guy feel great about his efforts.” 

 

“It’s a good thing that it isn’t just you who are there to help Izuku then, huh?” Inui smirked as Shouta rolled his eyes. “Seriously, you are doing great with him. He is clearly comfortable with you, which for a situation like this is hard to come by. Lots of kids with his levels of trauma find it hard to trust adults. So you must be doing something right.” 

 

“I dunno.” Shouta dug the heels of his palms into his eyes. “I think Izuku is just built different.”

 

“That may be true, but doesn’t take away from the fact that he has chosen to trust you, and you are taking that responsibility seriously.” 

 

“Alright,” he sat up. “What is the plan from here?” 

 

“Honestly, I am not fully sure. It will vary drastically on Izuku. I don’t think he has fully realized how bad and traumatic his situation actually was. There is likely some level of denial. I don’t think he’s ready to have that realization, and I don’t feel like we should push it. Which is why our meeting today was so short. His unique form of selective mutism and separation anxiety will likely need to be handled sooner rather than later as open communication will help him greatly and becoming totally dependent short term might help him cope, but long term would be harmful. But depending on what seems to be the easiest to tackle, I’ll choose first.”

 

“The easiest?”

 

“It will give him an easier ‘win’ and help motivate him through the tougher things that are to come down the road. I know other teachers use this strategy, but I am not surprised you’ve never heard of it, you hard-a— ”

 

“My students survive my mistreatment of them. Most are better for it.” Shouta crossed his arms, leaning back into the chair. 

 

“I wouldn’t necessarily call it mistreatment. I don’t understand it, but your students that go through my office swear by your methods even as they cuss you out, so I won’t refute it.” Inui shrugged before grabbing his notepad. “I should probably go, I hope to write up my notes and make plans for Keigo and Izuku tonight. I also have begun communication with some various specialists that we will likely transfer them to in time. After meeting them, I feel comfortable providing the introductory care, until some of the commission threat is dealt with. But long term, I am just not equipped to provide the therapeutic care that they need.”

 

Shouta stood with a soft groan, guiding Inui to the door. “We assumed that would be the case. But we appreciate whatever you can provide. It's better than us just wandering around in the dark hoping the kids magically turn out fine.” 

 

Slipping his feet into his boots, Inui crouched down to tie them. He gave Shouta a once over which made him squirm. Therapists had this knowing look like they could read minds, and Inui was doing it to him and he hated it. It was like being a bug under a microscope and it never failed to leave him feeling exposed. 

 

Finished with tying his shoes, Inui stood. That knowing look still zeroed in on Shouta. Not wanting to feel examined any further, Shouta crossed his arms and focused down the hall. From this angle Shouta could almost see the edge of Izuku’s door. Inui sighed knowingly, which was somehow worse than the look. 

 

 “I know you know this, but just a reminder, Nedzu and the rest of the faculty are working around the clock to deal with the commission. We’re going to get the kids the help that they need and make sure that they are safe to do so.” 

 

“Thanks.” Shouta handed Inui his jacket from off the hook on the wall. He grabbed his jacket, slipping it on as Shouta slumped against the wall.  “You all do your long laundry list of tasks, and me and Hizashi will scramble to do our few things.” 

 

“Your things are bigger.”

 

“Our two things are traumatized, struggling children where just keeping them fed, watered, and well rested is a full time job. Let alone the trying to keep them happy part.” 

 

“They seem happy to me.”

 

“You haven’t seen them mid breakdown.” 

 

“No, I haven’t, but I’m sure having their dad around is helpful.” 

 

Shouta scowled at Inui’s wide grin. He’d hoped the man would forget that little tidbit. Or at least have the grace to not mention it.

 

“I can f—ing kick you out right now. You know that right?” he growled out.

 

“I’m already leaving.” He gestured to his shoes and the door. “But I apologize. I just… it’s a good look on you Aizawa. It’s like seeing a whole other side of you, it’s endearing” 

 

“Kill me now.” Shouta whispered as he let his head tilt back, his eyes closed. 

 

“Sorry, no can do.” Inui huffed a laugh and then winked.  “You’re barking up the wrong tree.” 

 

“Oh,” Shouta groaned. “That was terrible.” 

 

“What can I say, I like dog puns.” Inui shrugged. “But I really should be off. Feel free to text me if you need anything before I stop by again.

 

“Alright, thanks again.” Shouta opened the door.

 

“No problem.” Inui smirked. “You have good kids.” 

 

Shouta growled and shoved Inui out the door, all but slamming it behind him. Through the door Shouta could hear the man laugh. He hid his flushed face in his hands and bit back a scream. 

 

If it wasn’t unfair to his class he’d expel them all just to make a ton of work for Inui. 

 

F—ing therapists.

Notes:

I want yall to know I read so many articles and looked up so many things for child psychology. I am not a therapist nor a psych major but like I wanted it to be as good as possible. But this is why I HAD to add the nonsense that is child psych worksheets. Folks. some of them make me feel insane. they will talk about they heaviest thing but then there will be like a frog holding an umbrella cuz sometimes we feel like a rainy day or something like that. and Im like. guys this is trying to help kids understand like major depression but its so cute???? so I thru that vibe in lolol

Also everyone gets enjoyment from calling Shouta Dad. he is so embarrased bout his feelings about it (there is a lot of LIKEING it so he is like a cat freaking out over a wash basin whenever it is mentioned lolol)

To any curious why this was shoutas POV and not Izuku's, it is cuz i started to write it in Izuku's and then realized Izuku would focus on the heroics stuff. and I didn't wanna BS my way thru 3874283749 questions about Hound Dog. lolol I also... have Izuku's side of some of the things disscused in other chapters to kind of see his perspective as a retrospecitve. this way I also could include the end talk between SHotua and Inui all in one fell swoop :D which I wanted them to have a check in. ALSO ALSO Inui and Shouta don't talk about Keigo cuz like... confidentiality. but Shouta deep down is so curious to know how it went. Additionally, they DO talk about Izuku and will even for the sessions that Shouta/Hizashi aren't there for. This might breech confidentiality but Izuku... kind of needs it at times. and It wont be a ton of Inui spilling the beans but there is likely to be moments, but Keigo's sessions are lock and key, baby. no one is gonna know unless Keigo says so.

thanks for listening to my yappin' xD I just have lots of thoughts about my fic xD Till next time!!!! <3

Chapter 37: Keigo gets to spread his wings and gets some unexpected news

Notes:

Heloooooooooo follkssssss <3333

Here is a fluffy chapter :)) sometimes I do gotta be nice to my faves lol
Thanks as always to @sassy_Chemist, shes the best adn her happy comments gave me much life for this chapter <33 cuz there was much cooing over sweet moments lol <3

But there are like no triggerwarnings. folks. this is a real fluffy moment (at least I think it gives the warm fuzzies. I know I gave em to Keigo lolol)

Enjoy!!! <3

As Keigo swooped and curled through the air, he had never felt more alive. The fake, dream-like haze that had settled over him blew away in the freezing stinging wind. His face prickled, and it felt like knives made of ice sliced through his face, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The rustling of his feathers tickled and he could practically feel the endorphins rushing through his veins. His teeth ached from the cold, but he couldn’t stop the delighted shrieks, shouts, and trills from being released from deep in his throat.

 

And this was just gliding, which was nothing like the full heart pounding, exhilarating, fully freeing experience of flight. But it was close enough. 

 

Landing, he had no idea how long he had been out, but it was long enough that he’d passed through the feeling of cold and was a mix of numb, feeling swollen and burning. Which was… maybe concerning. It was definitely time to go back in. 

 

… After one more glide. 

 

Keigo should probably check in with Hizashi first though. He had dragged his dad out into the cold, and plopped him on the roof of the building before he did a running jump going head first off the roof. Now that he was thinking clearly that was all a little rude. 

 

And remembering the way Hizashi screamed from Keigo’s jump, he probably owed his dad an apology. Oops. 

 

In Keigo’s defense, he had very large wings and told him that he was going to go gliding. He had no idea what Hizashi was thinking when he screamed. But, to play the other side for a moment, it wasn’t particularly normal for people to just throw themselves off buildings. So, he could almost get it. 

 

Almost. 

 

If Keigo hadn’t been totally consumed by the need to go fly, he might have given his dad a warning. But the only thing that mattered in that moment was getting into the air. He definitely needed to apologize for scaring him.

 

But Keigo was still going to make fun of him for it later. Because, what the heck.

 

Just as Keigo was about to push open the door to the main building, Hizashi barreled out. He did a strange little skidded hop on one foot to stop. Then did a weird skipping hop to eliminate the distance between the two and grabbed his elbow. A perfect smile was pasted on his face, but tightness wrinkled the corners of his eyes as they darted around. 

 

Something was up. 

 

“Hey-o, listener! Sorry to cut this short but we should probably get back.” He started dragging Keigo off by the elbow.

 

Keigo dug his heels in and shook his dad’s hand off his arm. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Why do you think anything is wrong?” Hizashi chuckled. 

 

Keigo cut him an unimpressed look. His dad was lightly shifting his weight between his feet. His eyes kept sweeping the horizon. The smile might as well be chiseled from stone for how natural it was. It was obvious that Hizashi was on edge. 

 

“Don’t insult my intelligence.” He crossed his arms. 

 

Hizashi cringed. “Sorry, Keigo. I just didn’t want to sour the mood. But Nem just called me and—” 

 

“HAWKS, MY BOY!” 

 

Keigo did not jump about a meter in the air before diving behind Hizashi like a scared child. He had… just made a tactical retreat. 

 

Or maybe he had been spooked by the booming words and he was now hiding behind his dad. 

 

Regardless, just because he was feeling a bit more settled after flying didn’t mean that he wanted to talk to people. 

 

Especially not people who were also the number one hero in Japan. An absolutely massive man that Hawks had met in passing once . 

 

Hizashi snapped into a combat ready stance. His arms spread wide as a boundary. As much as Keigo appreciated his dad’s willingness to act as a human shield, there was only so much that the lithe hero could do to hide Keigo and his wide wings. The only dimension that Hizashi had on him was height. And the ten or so centimeters were going to do nothing to hide him. 

 

Keigo curled his hands over Hizashi’s shoulders, being careful not to trigger a stress grip, or cut into the nice puffy jacket with his sharp nails. Popping up on his toes, Keigo peeked over to look up at All Might. 

 

If standing next to Hizashi or Shouta made Keigo feel a little short, standing a few meters away All Might made him feel like a child. He was as wide as Izuku was tall, and had at least a head and a half on Keigo. Keigo was infinitely grateful that the hero had stopped fairly far away as he was under no assumptions that he’d handle a man incapable of not looming over him well. 

 

Keigo didn’t trust himself not to just stab if startled right now, if he was going to be honest. He really needed to work on that.

 

Most of him wanted to just jump into the sky and take off. He wanted to be taller, to look down, instead of being looked down on. He needed to have the advantage, but he couldn’t.

 

Curse his luck to be surrounded by freakishly tall people. 

 

A whiny, screeching coo squeezed out of his throat as he reminded himself that he couldn’t fly. Hizashi bristled at the number one hero at the noise. His normally bubbly and excited voice was flat and deadly as he spoke. “I’d recommend you leave us alone, All Might.” 

 

All Might took a step back, crouching. He raised his hands in surrender. “I apologize, I just hoped to–” 

 

Hizashi cut him off, his voice wavering with that dangerous edge hinting at his quirk. “Does ‘leave us alone’ mean something different to you?”

 

“Well, no.”

 

Hizashi stopped him from continuing again. “Well then, we’re leaving. Don’t follow.” 

 

The gloved hand of his dad reached back and took Keigo’s wrist, pulling him along. Hizashi kept himself between Keigo and All Might. Which made him… feel…something. He wasn’t sure what it was, but it wasn’t unpleasant. Just new. 

 

Looking over his shoulder, Keigo let out a breath he’d been holding once they turned around the corner. All Might was finally out of sight, and would likely stay that way as he’d made no movements towards them. 

 

They continued to the dorm, Hizashi setting the pace. Keigo had to trip and stumble on his cold numb legs to keep up. The whole way Hizashi grumbled, sometimes flipping into and out of English. 

 

“That F—ing daylighter! No wonder Unders hate them so much. Thinking ‘cause he is the number one that he can just prance around and talk to whoever at whatever time. That s— pisses me off. We told them the kids were off f—ing limits! But did that b—-rd care? F— no! Everyone else agreed on at least a few days. So who the f— does he think he is?!” 

 

“Uh,” Keigo felt like his mind was also stumbling a few meters behind, the two of them trying to catch up. “The number one hero?” 

 

Hizashi slammed his feet down into a stop, Keigo almost stumbling into him. His dad’s expression stormy as he wheeled around to face Keigo. 

 

“That shouldn’t f—-ing matter!” 

 

Keigo flinched at the loud outburst. Hizashi’s quirk was nowhere to be found in the words, and it was barely a yell. Keigo was just being a baby. 

 

However, the anger in his dad’s face instantly cleared. Exhaustion and regret filled its place. He let go of Keigo’s wrist and took a step back. 

 

“S—. I’m taking my frustration out on you. I’m so sorry.” 

 

“’s fine.” Keigo shrugged. It wasn’t like Hizashi hit him, it really wasn’t that big of a deal. Especially since his heart had already started to slow back down from its fast tempo and the urge to fly away was gone. 

 

Mostly gone. 

 

Hizashi sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose under his glasses. “It’s really not. I’ll try to be better at not snapping, okay?”

 

“… alright.” 

 

“Good, now I’m sure that Izuku and Shouta are close to done, if not totally done.” Hizashi tilted his head towards the dorm, before starting in that direction again. The pace was much more comfortable, edging towards sedate. Hizashi didn’t grab him again, but instead acted like a security guard. His head was on a swivel and he stuck ridiculously close to Keigo’s flank. 

 

That feeling from earlier was back. He still wasn’t sure what it was, but it pricked at the back of his eyes. The air he was breathing was frigid,  but his chest felt almost unbearably warm. It was overwhelming. But not in a bad way. It honestly just made him want to hug his dad. 

 

Which was a bit odd. But Keigo might need to just embrace the fact that he was a freak. No one seemed to care but him. So as they made it to the door, he decided to go for it. His Dad let out a soft ‘oof’ as Keigo all but body slammed him. Strong thin arms tentatively, and a little awkwardly, snaked up and around his wings. Once settled, the arms tightened confidently. Keigo hid his face in his dad’s chest as his throat grew a stone. 

 

“Thanks, Dad,” he choked out before freezing, realizing what he said. Mortification squirmed through him like maggots. 

 

“Glad to help.” Hizashi’s pause was just long enough to make Keigo wonder if he had actually heard what he’d just said. But it was also short enough to put doubt in his mind. 

 

Regardless, Keigo wanted to become one with the ground. He’d wanted to be honest with himself, but not with Hizashi . He also needed to let go of… his dad. But if Keigo dropped the hug, then he’d have to make eye contact with him. 

 

And that sounded like a terrible idea.

 

After slightly too long, Keigo dropped the hug. He stepped back and looked down, one arm crossed. He flicked his eyes up.

 

Hizashi had totally heard. F—.

 

His dad’s eyes were practically twinkling. He could see the urge to joke shimmering behind the green, and the desire to comment pulling at his lips. But showing more restraint than Keigo thought he had, Hizashi just smiled, and passed a hand over Keigo’s wind swept, tangled hair.

 

Turning to the door, his keys jingled as he took them out of his pocket. And Keigo felt like he could breathe. It was strange that Hizashi hadn’t mentioned anything. Everything that he knew about the man pointed to him picking at it until Keigo wanted to die. But… he didn’t.

 

Was it really just because he picked up on Keigo not feeling comfortable with it? Was it really that simple?

 

Something in him whispered that it was. 

 

That feeling was once again back. It pressed against his heart making it thump too hard. The feeling burbled up through him, like the wax in a lava lamp. 

 

He had parents. He had a brother. He had a family, albeit not a standard one. They cared for him. He wasn’t alone anymore. He didn't have to always be okay, to force a smile, to keep trudging through everything. He didn’t have to be ready at the drop of a hat to solve every problem that came his way. He didn’t have to be ready to fight. He didn’t have to deal with pesky Number One heroes if he didn’t want to. 

 

His dad was willing to do it instead. 

 

For the first time in his life, he actually felt excited for what came next. Giddy, he clawed at the book of his life to flip the page, like he couldn’t get there fast enough. 

 

He started to cry. 

 

“What’s wrong?” One of his dad’s hands was clasped on his upper arm, but his focus was down on the cracked door. Dumpster was trying to escape, and Hizashi was playing goalie with the cat. 

 

“Nothing.” Keigo sniffed back and smiled. “I… I think I’m just happy. Really happy.” 

 

Hizashi froze in his efforts with the cat to smile up at Keigo. “…Really?”

 

Shouta darted around the corner just in time to scoop the attempted escapee into his arms. “I’m glad you are happy, but you are letting the warm air out. Get in here.” 

 

“Oh, sorry.” Keigo ducked between Shouta and the door. Hizashi followed close behind and closed the door. Quickly toeing off his shoes, Keigo walked into the front room and squatted to look in the blanket fort. “Where’s Izuku?”

 

“Sleeping,” Shouta slumped into one of the chairs. Dumpster, desperate to escape, was squirming every which way. Shouta ignored the efforts and just scratched his cheeks. “He was really worn out from therapy.” 

 

“Will he be…” Keigo trailed off, shifting from a squat into a proper seat at the edge of the fort. 

 

“He’ll be fine, just tired.” Shouta’s voice was reassuring, letting Keigo relax. “So, how was flying?”

 

“Gliding,” Keigo corrected. “It was just gliding.” 

 

A blanket was thrown at Keigo, startling him. Hizashi wiggled his fingers in his direction. “I saw you shivering earlier, so wrap up. I took down part of a wall for you. So I want you to actually get warm.”

 

“Oh, thank you.”

 

“No problem.” Hizashi crossed to comb his fingers through Keigo’s hair once before he sat on the arm of Shouta’s chair. “And to answer for Keigo, from the hooting and hollering he was making, flying was super fun.”

 

Hizashi started into a dramatic explanation of his side of the ‘Keigo threw himself off the roof’ story. As he progressed through it, he slowly slid off the armrest and wedged himself between Shouta and the side of the chair. When Shouta finally shimmied himself over to give his husband room, he glared. Hizashi just kissed his cheek in response, barely even pausing in his story as he transitioned into explaining how All Might showed up. 

 

Shouta’s head snapped to Keigo. “You okay?”

 

He just shrugged. “It wasn’t that big of a deal.” 

 

“Keigo…” Hizashi trailed off. 

 

“It’s fine.” Keigo snapped out before tightening the blanket over his wings and around his shoulders. He sighed. “I just… don’t want to talk to anyone.”

 

“Okay.” Shouta’s eyes roamed over Keigo. “If it’s ever not fine, I’m here to listen. Or to tell someone to f— off.” 

 

Keigo nodded with a wan smile, not trusting his voice to work around the thick lump at the base of his neck. Hizashi jumped back in, taking the focus off Keigo by prattling on about something or other, Keigo was only half following. Instead of listening, he was watching his parents interact. The way Hizashi inched his legs further and further onto Shouta’s knee. Rolling his eyes, Shouta lifted his husband’s legs up and over the armrest, letting Hizashi fully invade his lap. Shouta grumbled under his breath about how Hizashi was impossible, but didn’t push him away, and instead reached over and wove their fingers together. 

 

That feeling filled him to the brim once more. The almost overwhelming, happy one.

 

It wasn’t like this wasn’t something he’d seen before. Shouta and Hizashi behind closed doors were always hanging off of each other to a degree. They frequently chatted and joked with each other easily, just like they were doing now. They weren’t acting differently. Keigo was. 

 

It was like the stress had built up, settling on him like sediment layers. Years of stress packed down on top of him, making it harder and harder to breathe. Flying had slowly eroded some of that stress away, chipping at them until something beyond the crushing panic could flow into the groundwater, eroding it even faster. It was like now he was able to see everything in a new light. Like Shouta and Hizashi.

 

His parents obviously cared for each other.

 

Keigo felt his throat flutter into a long trill, similar to the one he’d made to Izuku earlier. He thought about pressing down on his syrinx, forcing it to stop. But remembered the raw concern Inui had for Keigo. How he’d promised to do things he liked about his quirk. 

 

He… didn’t hate the bird calls, not really. Keigo just hated how they made him inhuman and creepy. How the people around him would always turn on him the moment he so much as cooed. But… maybe he didn’t have to think that forever. This was his chicken curry. Shouta shouldn’t hate his foot. Keigo shouldn’t hate his quirk.

 

Just thinking it left a sour taste in his mouth, but he didn’t stop the excited trilling. Instead he remembered the awe in Izuku’s eyes as he sang like a bird. Remembered all the small smiles from Shouta when he’d slip up. Remember the few times that he’d caught Hizashi mimicking the calls with his own quirk. Keigo had thought he was making fun of him, but now looking back, it was probably just one of those weird things Hizashi did absentmindedly, like when he fiddled with the zipper of his leather jacket in strange rhythms or hummed pop songs.

 

Focused on the here and now, he could currently see how Shouta and Hizashi were desperately trying to not bring attention to the trilling, but also couldn’t stop focusing on it. Their conversation got a bit stilted and weird as neither of them were focused on it anymore. Keigo couldn’t deny that he kinda found it funny. 

 

Finishing up, Keigo coughed. Today he had used his syrinx more than he had since… basically his whole life. It was quite sore now. Shouta kept shooting him looks, even as Hizashi picked back up where he’d left off. In the first lull, Shouta jumped in. 

 

“So, you… did leave therapy… abruptly.” His words were measured and awkward, like he was worried about ruffling Keigo’s many feathers. 

 

Keigo tipped over to lay down on the padded floor, making sure the blanket was still curled over him. “You can just ask me how my meeting went. I don’t mind.” 

 

Shouta ducked his head down, an embarrassed grimace almost hidden behind Hizashi. 

 

“You caught me. How’d it go?”

 

Keigo shrugged, lifting his head up on one hand. “It was fine. Talked some about my quirk, which is why I went flying. Discussed how chicken curry is great. But the biggest news is that I learned I’m no longer legally a pro-hero.” 

 

“WHAT THE H—?!” A touch of Hizashi’s quirk in the words made the windows rattle, and Keigo’s ears ache. Shouta was quick to activate his own quirk with a glare. Hizashi bit his lip and looked bashful as he signed something quick to Shouta. Keigo didn’t know sign, so instead he focused on the way the pink hair waved calmly in the air. It looked like alien seaweed. It was kind of soothing to watch. 

 

“I know you’re sorry.” Shouta sighed, pushing his husband off his lap and pointed down the hall. “But you need to go check to see if you woke Izuku. You know he won’t be happy to be left alone.” 

 

Hizashi whispered a quick sorry to Keigo before scurrying down the hall. Shouta turned back to Keigo.

 

“While much too loud, Hizashi was right. What the h—-?” 

 

Keigo huffed a humorless laugh, curling back up on his side. “I’m only Keigo now. Hawks is gone.” 

 

“What even happened?”

 

“Commission decided to revoke my license since I’m a danger to society.” Keigo shrugged. “No biggie.” 

 

“That’s unreasonable.” His dad rubbed his eyes with one hand with a sigh. “Maybe Nedzu can—” 

 

“No,” Keigo cut him off. “Nedzu said he could try to appeal it, but said it would be easier to retest.”

 

Shouta slowly pulled his hand down, dragging his lower lids down to show the pink. He sighed, his eyes closed, hand now rubbing across the stubble on his cheeks. “That will take months.” 

 

Keigo ducked his face down into the edge of the blanket draped over him. He slid one hand out of the blanket to push the hair that fell into his face. He absentmindedly tugged at it. “It… will. But after uh, that video I don’t think-” His voice cracked, so he cleared his throat and tried again. “I don’t think people would want Hawks around anymore.” 

 

With a quiet groan, Shouta stood. He collapsed down next to Keigo’s head on the edge of the fort. Gentle hands untangled his hand from his hair. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” 

 

“Huh?” Keigo twisted his neck to look up at his dad. 

 

The bright hair was a mockery of cheerfulness as it framed the morose expression. Lines cut from the corners of Shouta’s eyes and across his face parallel to his nose, the ever present bags looked like bruises, and the small frown tied the whole look together.  Shouta looked sad. It weighed down his already exhausted eyes.

 

“I don’t know if you always realize it, but I’ve noticed when you’re nervous you scratch at your skin and pull on your hair and feathers. You’re hurting yourself.” He slowly started to massage Keigo’s scalp, taking care of the sensitive skin where he’d been pulling. 

 

“It… I’m fine.” 

 

“It’s okay if you’re not.” He carded his fingers through Keigo’s slightly greasy hair. “I just don’t like to see you in pain.” 

 

“It doesn’t hurt, not really.” 

 

“Keigo, you’ve made yourself bleed. There’s no way it doesn’t hurt.” 

 

“Okay, it hurts a little but…” He trailed off. 

 

“But what?”

 

“It… helps?” Keigo cringed. “That sounds bad.” 

 

“Can you explain it to me?”

 

“It gives me something to focus on,” he shrugged. “I dunno, it just helps.” 

 

“Alright.” Shouta nodded half to himself. “This is probably something you should probably bring up with Inui. He might have more ideas and options, but what if we try to find other things you can focus on? I know Hizashi has some fidgets in his office.”

 

“I guess I'll talk to him about it.” Keigo didn’t particularly want to, but Inui had been right about going flying making him feel better, so might as well give it a try. He also didn’t really want to make Shouta sad again. “And I can try them… I kinda liked the play-doh.” 

 

“Good.” Shouta patted his head. “Also, to what you said before, I think you need to see this.”

 

He pulled out his phone and pulled up some news app. Clicking on the top article, Keigo’s stomach twisted. He thought Shouta didn’t want him to watch the news, and a part of him was glad to have that not be an option. He’d always hated the way he’d sometimes obsessively refresh feeds of his branded tags and reread articles about himself. It wasn’t a constant thing, but when his handlers would make comments about his failures, he felt the need to check to see if the public was about to turn on him too, finally deciding he wasn’t worth it. Realize he was a fraud and barely a hero. 

 

Now he just wasn’t one at all, so they would be correct to hate him. 

 

Keigo usually avoided it when he could as it never made him feel better, but sometimes the truth hurt. And the truth was, no matter what he did, someone seemed upset about it. Usually, it was his handlers. But at times it was disgruntled civilians, or other heroes. 

 

Shouta’s hand once again pulled Keigo’s hand out of hair. Clasping their hands together he gave them a little squeeze. “This is a good thing, I promise.” 

 

Wiggling to be at a better angle to see the phone, Keigo nodded. Shouta started the news clip. The news anchor was a conventionally pretty lady with large ram horns curling around her ears, and a thick curly plume of white hair looking like a cloud around her face. She smiled at the camera, clearly reading from a teleprompter as she spoke. 

 

“Late last night, a video was released that shook hero society to its core. We have already covered the story of Hawks, AKA Takami Keigo, and his recent exposé on his experience with the Hero Public Safety Commission. For anyone who has missed this, he shared a disturbing overview of abuse, both of himself and that of an unnamed second child victim. Some thought it was far-fetched until the UA agency, headed by pro-hero Nedzu, released additional testimonies and documents supporting the video.”

 

Keigo cringed. Of course it was disturbing and people thought it was far-fetched. The HPSC didn’t do this to everyone. Most heroes could interact with the commission and be none the wiser. They did this sort of thing to the people who needed it. People like him. 

 

His dad shook their still clasped hands and whispered, “Keep watching.”

 

“However,” the anchorwoman continued, “for a more positive story, we wanted to report on the response this all has had. In the last twenty four hours there has been an unending outpouring of support. And just outside of the HPSC main public building in Tokyo, we have Takahashi to report.” 

 

The screen split to show two views. A nondescript man standing outside under a street lamp spoke into the large handheld microphone. “Thanks, Uramichi. Over the course of today, a large group of civilians, police, and pro-heroes have set up camp outside the HPSC main public offices.” 

 

The man gestured to the side and the camera panned over the half lit courtyard and street. It was not totally full, but Keigo was shocked to see as many people as he did. They were clumped in groups, some gathered around some fire users warming their hands. Others holding up their signs, their distant shouts almost audible through the speaker. Others were just sitting on the ground chatting with each other, and a few were playing games or eating. 

 

“The group is demanding answers, and justice for Hawks and the recently rescued child. Throughout today various high ranking and famous heroes have rallied the efforts. Just a few of the more notable heroes included Best Jeanist, Mirko, Gang Orca, Wash, and many others. All Might even made a brief appearance. We were able to hold a quick interview with him, which we will show now.”

 

The view shifted. The sun was up in the recording and All Might filled the screen. His normally booming voice sounded tinny and small coming from the phone speaker. “I cannot stand by as a hero, let alone the number one hero, knowing that the organization in charge of heroes has failed so spectacularly. This has left me disgusted at the HPSC and disappointed in myself. All of us heroes have a responsibility not only to civilians, but to each other. One of our own needed saving and we stood by, blind to it. We have failed. I have failed.” All Might bowed to the camera, long and low. Keigo felt something in his gut twist and squeeze at the action. “I promise as the top ranked hero, I will not rest until this injustice has been righted.”

 

All Might stood, his smile a mile wide as he looked directly into the camera. “Hawks, if you are listening, rest easy. For, I AM HERE!” 

 

The image of the video flipped back to the male news anchor. The after image of All Might’s smile still burned into Keigo’s vision. He finally understood why he was the number one. Something about that, while cheesy and over the top, was so earnest that Keigo couldn’t help but believe him. And something about All Might joining in the fight against the HPSC made it seem like just maybe they might be able to actually win. 

 

Or maybe he’d just listened to Izuku’s hero rants one too many times. 

 

“There has been a huge level of support rolling in for Hawks, and well wishes for the rescued child. Many people who have met here have been swapping stories about how Hawks saved them, or a close friend or family member. The love for the Wing Hero: Hawks has been intense.” 

 

A series of clips from throughout the day flashed in quick succession. People in his merch holding signs, silently yelling. The signs holding phrases like “Justice for Hawks”, “HPSC? More like Horrific Child Abuse Commission” and “Hawks spoke his truth, what’s yours?” with the HPSC symbol with a thick red no symbol over it. Then a series of people in surprisingly good Hawks cosplays, one showing off his homemade mechanical wings that moved realistically. A group of young girls with bright red wings painted across their faces like masks. They held a sign which said “We <3 you, Hawks!”

 

Each person that had been shown had a bright crimson feather tucked behind their ear or tucked into their hair or hats. Even the news anchor. Keigo was finally shown why. As the next clip showed a… familiar old man handing out these feathers from a box. The old man looked to have one of Keigo’s actual old feathers. As it was about the size of his forearm. 

 

Keigo vaguely remembered, only a few weeks after Hawks’ debut, stopping a villain from ruining a noodle shop in Fukuoka while on a trigger-drug induced rampage. The villain had somehow gotten away while Hawks was distracted putting out literal fires and keeping the various civilians alive. He’d given the old man a feather just in case it wasn’t a one off and the villain came back, warning him that after a while he wouldn’t be able to sense if he broke the feather or not. The old man, instead of doing the normal civilian response of gratitude, just clicked his tongue and told him he was “much too thin” and “looked too tired,” that “he needed more meat on his bones”. 

 

To this day, Keigo wondered if the man had a strength augmentation quirk as he’d seemingly very easily manhandled him into one of the knocked over chairs before running back into the mostly unruined kitchen to make him some ramen. After a bowl, he’d been handed a second meal to go as he was pushed out of the shop, a little dazed. The old man had told him to come back anytime for a meal on the house as apparently “someone needed to make sure new upstart heroes actually took care of themselves.”

 

Hawks had never gone back to the shop, and Keigo had almost forgotten about the man. But he clearly hadn’t forgotten him. His eyes pricked with tears. There were so many people. Some of which had to have traveled for hours to get to Tokyo. Maybe… Nedzu had been right. The public as a whole wasn’t going to turn on him. 

 

Maybe they still viewed him as a Hero. 

 

He liked the sound of that.

 

“Of course, not everyone could make the trip out here, so there has also been an intense online response to the news.” The new man was slid to the side while screenshots of posts flashed on the screen. Part of Keigo was glad that thick tears warped his vision so badly that he couldn’t read them. “Thousands of individuals from both Japan and abroad have offered words of support. People have also been self policing those who are trying to hound the hero’s socials, shutting down questions of where Hawks is, and why he isn’t responding or more visibly involved in the investigations. The hashtags #HawksIsNesting, #LetTheBirdSleep and #LeaveHawksAlone have been on trending, along with #StandWithHawks, #HPSCisRealQuiet, and #DownWithTheHPSC.” 

 

Keigo used the blanket’s edge to wipe his eyes, and Shouta lightly shook their still joined hands. 

 

“Unfortunately,” the man turned serious, “there are small groups of anti-mutant activists that have attempted to cause issues both online and in person with a small counter protest. However Mirko and Gang Orca were able to break up the hate group and online, the comments have been berated for being highly bigoted.”

 

The man smiled at the camera. “But the negative reaction has been far from the majority. And on the off chance that Hawks is watching, we wanted everyone to have a chance to thank you and give words of encouragement.” 

 

The screen scrolled through the various people from before, and some new ones. The girls in face paint screamed thank you in unison.

 

“You saved my sister! I never got a chance to thank you.”  The cosplayer with the fancy mechanical wings had tears in his eyes. “I wish I could do more, but I stand with you.”

 

“I’ve looked up to you since you debuted!” said someone holding a sign over their shoulder.

 

“Thanks for all you’ve done!” A guy holding a half eaten sandwich shouted. 

 

“I wanna be a hero just like you!” A young girl, no older than eight, with wide brown eyes, red feathers tied in her hair and small leathery bat wings sprouted from her back. Keigo felt himself shudder out a breath. She reminded Keigo of Izuku when he’d look starry eyed about being a hero in the future. 

 

“We stand with you, Hawks” Gang Orca bowed deeply.

 

“I still want my fight, birdie. But only once you’re up for it. It’s gotta be fair.” Mirko growled out with a wink.

 

He chuckled. Keigo was going to die, but it might actually be fun. 

 

“We’re all like the cotton threads that make up a fine denim. We cannot let one thread snap or we will all unravel. We stand with you.” 

 

Keigo let out a watery laugh. Best Jeanist was such a weird guy. The laugh morphed into a choked back sob as Heron flashed on screen. 

 

“I had no idea, Hawks. I am so sorry. I should have been there for you more then, but wasn’t. But I can be there for you now, in whatever way you want me to be.” She smiled. “You are not alone. Not anymore.” 

 

Keigo shifted and Shouta slid his hand out from Keigo’s and ran his fingers through his hair. Feeling exhausted, he set his head in his dad’s lap, leaning into the way he was slowly preening him with one hand. 

 

Another string of civilians and lesser known heroes flashed across the screen. 

 

“We’re here for you!” 

 

“We won’t let them get away with this!” 

 

“Rest easy, we’re fighting for you!” 

 

“You’ve helped so many, let us take it from here.” 

 

“We love you!” 

 

The old man, his hands still holding the box of feathers, looked directly into the camera. Keigo swore he could somehow see through the phone and to him directly. He clicked his tongue. 

 

“I watched the video. Hawks, you are still much too thin.” A small smile grew on his wrinkled face. “There’s still a bowl or two of ramen waiting for you at my shop. Stop by. We need to get some meat on you if you plan to continue saving us all at the speeds you’ve been going. Let us help you, the way you’ve helped us.”

 

Closing his eyes, a soft muffled twittering hummed in the base of his throat. This was all too much. Never in a million years did he think people would do something like this for him. He almost didn’t believe it. But what would be the point of lying? Even though he didn’t understand, it was obvious that there were a lot of people there for him. People believed him. More voices washed over him, the well wishes lost on him as he instead focused on his dad’s gravely mumbled words. 

 

“It’s not just them, Keigo. We’re here too.” 

 

Keigo sat up with a turn, the blanket tangling in his wings awkwardly. He clung to Shouta at an uncomfortable angle but he didn’t care. His dad didn’t seem to mind either as he set his phone down and wrapped his arms around him. Calloused fingers swirled through the now green hair at the nape of his neck. He melted into the touch. 

 

“Kei-nii?” Izuku whispered, slightly slurred from sleep.

 

Rolling his head he and squinted up at his brother. Izuku was clinging to Hizashi’s side like a koala, his eyes were at half mast, and looked a little puffy like he’d been crying.

 

“Yeah, Chickadee?”

 

“You okay?”

 

Keigo looked around the room. Izuku nuzzled his head into Hizashi’s shoulder, Who hiked Izuku further up onto his hip, jutting it out ever so slightly more to balance the weight of the small eleven year old. His green eyes jumped between the mostly asleep Izuku and the crying Keigo, a small worried smile on his face. 

 

The pink fly-a-ways glowed around Shouta’s head in the dim faerie lights, looking like a strange halo. A soft expression was on his face, the antitheses of the hard reputation Eraserhead had. He reached a hand to brush Keigo’s hair back once again. 

 

It all felt right. Like puzzle pieces that clicked together flawlessly. He grinned. 

 

“Yeah, I’m alright. What are you doing up?”

 

Hizashi’s face morphed into playful melodramatic remorse, his head dropping back with a heavy sigh. “I have committed the most heinous crime. I fear that I woke the baby!”

 

“You’ll never be forgiven,” Shouta drawled out immediately, his face deadpan, but there was a sparkle of mirth in his eyes. 

 

“’m not a baby,” Izuku mumbled under his breath before yawning. Keigo thought he kind of looked like a kitten as he slumped against Hizashi, his eyes closed. 

 

“Baby or not, you don’t look like you are going to be awake for much longer.” Keigo grinned as Izuku stuck out his tongue just slightly to the left of Keigo as his eyes were still closed.

 

“’Zashi said we could all watch a movie.” 

 

“Did he now?” Shouta shot his husband a sharp look, and Hizashi cringed. 

 

“In my defense, Izuku is adorable and movies are great to fall asleep to?” It was less a statement and more of a question. Keigo figured he’d throw his dad a bone. 

 

“Sounds good to me.” 

 

Hizashi’s shoulders slumped in relief and he mouthed a quick thank you. Keigo shot him two thumbs up and a dry smile. Shouta, seeing the exchange, just rolled his eyes. 

 

“Fine, as long as that one,” he pointed to Izuku, “gets ready for bed now.” 

 

“I am the only one who has to get ready.” Izuku cocked his head to the side in question, his eyes flickering between mostly closed and fully closed. 

 

“Yup, kiddo.” Shouta smiled as Izuku’s eyes forced themselves totally open before they quickly slid shut. “You are already 90% asleep. And I sure am not gonna brush your teeth for you.”

 

Izuku hummed as he nodded, his eyes fully slipping closed as he leaned back onto Hizashi’s shoulder. 

 

“Alright, little listener, we better go now or you’re going to be totally out before we can wash your face.” 

 

Hizashi carted him off chuckling at Izuku’s sleepy whines. Keigo watched, the jealousy he’d felt earlier was gone. I was replaced by that warm bubbly happy feeling. It was good that they got along so well. As Keigo watched them walk down the hall, Shouta got up and booted up some streaming service on the TV. 

 

“You got any preferences?” His dad sat back down next to him.

 

“Nah, just… something light.” 

 

“Makes sense.” He was clicking through the various options. 

 

Keigo fixed the blanket to wrap around his legs better. Once he finished, he felt himself start to grow tired. His own head bobbing and his eyes flickering shut as he started to doze off sitting upright. Shouta’s hand reached out and guided Keigo to lay back down, his head in his lap.

 

“Sleep kid, you’re obviously tired.” 

 

“But I didn’t brush my teeth.” 

 

“Tough luck. I guess your mouth will be all gross in the morning.” 

 

Keigo chuckled, closing his eyes. “So mean,” he whined.

 

“Yup, I’m awful.” Shouta pat the top of his head. 

 

Now horizontal, Keigo’s grasp on wakefulness was slipping like sand through his fingers. He let out a sleepy bird call. 

 

“Sleep well, Keigo.” 

 

He was out before Izuku even got back.

Notes:

I KNOW MANY WERE CONCERNED ABOUT THE MEDIA BUT HAWKS IS FRICKIN GREAT AND ENDED UP BEING NUMBER TWO IN CANNON I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THERE ARE AS MANY PEOPLE WHO HATE HIM AS HE THINKS THERE IS!!! >:(((

So people be out here supporting him. they kept him from the media in case of issue. and also to just like... avoid thinking about it and ruminating on it but like most are there for him ToT

Also: A Wild All Might appeared!!! He is hard for me to write (I just finished the chapter in the future where he is... more present then here lol and oof. guys. oof. but I am doing my best lol I like him so there isn't going to be all might bashing but like the man is flawed and an idiot lol)

and can we get some love for noodle man??? he is the true MVP. He saw Keigo and went "Oh idiot teen boy. must care for him" and then clearly became the biggest fan/supporter of him ToT what a weird little guy. I have a list of little interlude one offs I wanna write and I might end up adding Keigo taking his family to said noodle shop lol who knows/ we'll see lol but I like noodle man xD

but thanks for reading <3333

Chapter 38: Izuku just wanted eggs, but got much more than he bargained for

Notes:

HELLOOOOO MY LOVELY FRIENDS :D

As always a thanks to @sassy_chemist for being the bestest beta. She also sent lots of 'awws' and 'what a dad' comments so like get excited. this chapter is a bit of a rollercoaster at times but thats life baby.

Also thanks to all the comments. i honestly didn't... really think anyone would be that interested in this wack-a-doodle story when i threw it up here haha but there are quite a few of you lol so thanks! makes my day every time!

Warnings: flashbacks, Mr watanabe mention (sorry), a bit of panic. getuitous fluff afterwards. a lot of mentions of eggs? idk sometimes im not sure what to write for this lol

but without further ado! enjoy~

Izuku woke up to a feather tickling his nose. He slapped it away and rolled over. It was the wrong time to be bothered. He was cozy, and nothing was going to get in his way of staying that way.

 

“Izuku,” Keigo sang out. “Wake up!”

 

The blanket he was curled up in was ripped away.

 

“Noooooo,” Izuku whined. Half curled up, he started pawing at the ground, searching for his warm blanket with his eyes still closed. “Give it back.” 

 

“No can do, Chickadee. It’s breakfast time.” 

 

Finally opening his eyes, Izuku slowly sat up. He grimaced as his leg throbbed from his hip all down to where the feeling got weirdly fuzzy around his ankle. He used a fist to try to massage some of the stiff pain out of his thigh. It didn’t really work, but it was worth a shot. He decided to try to ignore it. 

 

Switching to massaging his eyes with his fists, he yawned. He was still very much waking up.

 

“Come ooooon.” Keigo grabbed one of his elbows, shaking him enough to make him slightly sway back and forth. “Doesn’t it smell good? Don’t you want some? I sure do.” 

 

Sniffing the air, Izuku nodded. He specifically smelled eggs and felt his mouth water. Eggs sounded really good. 

 

“Now, am I going to have to throw you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes or are you going to come willingly?”

 

Izuku pulled his elbow out of Keigo’s light hold and yanked the blanket off of his lap, throwing it over himself as he fell backwards. His feet buzzed as he half kicked Keigo in the motion. He peeked over the edge of the blanket with a grin. 

 

Keigo clicked his tongue, shaking his head. Izuku was a little confused when his brother started fixing the blanket to cover him, then rolled him up in it. But it all made sense when he threw him, now a blanket burrito, over his shoulder. Izuku didn’t totally black out, but his vision flashed and his heart thumped painfully in his chest. 

 

Slumped over Keigo’s shoulder just riding out the uncomfortable feeling, he realized that barring last night when he very much messed up and stood up way too fast, he hadn’t truly passed out for a good few days. He might actually be getting better! Recovery Girl hadn’t been sure and had explained that this might or might not be a forever issue but helped him learn things that could help until they could do more tests. 

 

Izuku was holding out for it being reversible, like the broken lump in his leg. Having weird blood pressure issues wasn’t very fun. It was actually solidly the opposite. 

 

Honestly, he’d rather take the leg pain being a forever thing over the blood pressure stuff. Pain he could deal with. The way his heart clenched, thudding a million beats a second, skipping beats as it sprinted along, along with the feeling of slipping into unconsciousness, and the constant dizzy spells were as annoying as they were terrifying. 

 

“Izuku?” 

 

He hummed at his brother’s question.

 

“You good? Usually you squirm more than this.”

 

“I’m a sack of potatoes right now. Potatoes don’t squirm.” 

 

Keigo snorted as he gently placed the still bundled up Izuku down on the chair. Shouta walked in with a stack of plates, a steaming cup of coffee balanced on top.

 

“Good, you’re up.” He set one of the plates in front of Izuku. “Sleep well?”

 

“Mmhm.” Izuku nodded. Sliding an arm out of his blanket bundle, he pulled the plate closer to himself. “A-and you?”

 

“It was alright. Kinda cold since someone,” Shouta craned his neck to face the kitchen and spoke a little louder, “totally steals the covers.” 

 

“Can’t blame a guy for wanting to be warm, Shou!” Hizashi called from inside the kitchen.

 

“I can when it means I get to be cold every night.”

 

Hizashi walked into the dining room with a steaming bowl. “It is not every night.”

 

The bowl was placed across the table from Izuku. The smell of eggs hit his nose, making his mouth water. He was hungry. He looked around for a spoon or something to grab himself some eggs. He frowned. There wasn’t a single utensil on the table. 

 

“Okay, I’ll concede, it is every other night.” 

 

Hizashi squawked and caught his hand on the doorway, peeking back at Shouta with a playful glare. “It is not even close to that often.”

 

“Says the man who is dead asleep every night because he isn’t freezing. And I’ll give you one guess as to why that is.” Shouta pushes Hizashi’s shoulder through the door, presumably to grab more things for breakfast. Izuku could still clearly hear them as they made their trips to and from the kitchen to the table. They were all great things to eat, but none of them were utensils or anything he could use to grab the eggs with. 

 

“Because I have the best husband in all the land and that knowledge keeps me warm at night?” 

 

“No, because I married a guy who hogs the covers every night.” 

 

“I do not.” 

 

“Do too. Why do you think I am so grumpy all the time?”

 

Izuku used the tips of his fingers to corral the large bowl of eggs towards him from the far side of the table. He bit his lip. Maybe he could lift the bowl and tip some of the eggs onto his plate? Izuku tried to lift the ceramic bowl of eggs. He set it back down with a soft sigh, worried that his weak, sleep-addled hands would only make a huge mess when he ended up dropping the heavy bowl. A part of Izuku wanted to just do it anyway, but didn’t want to be a problem.

 

 He really just needed a spoon. Letting his head fall back into the wooden chair back with a dull thud, he looked forlornly at the open doorway leading to the kitchen. 

 

Rubbing his numb feet together, he looked down at his tightly wrapped legs. Izuku technically could get up and walk into the kitchen to get his own spoon. To do that, he would need to extract himself from the warm cocoon. It would also really hurt since today seemed like one of those random days that everything just ached just ten percent more for seemingly no reason at all. Izuku would really just rather not deal with walking. He really just wanted to have someone read his mind and hand him a spoon.

 

“Shou, there is no way that you are grumpy because I steal the covers.” 

 

“So you admit it.” Shouta smirked as he placed cups on the table. 

 

Izuku grabbed his cup from where Shouta placed it and flicked his eyes between it and the bowl of eggs. One could argue that a cup is just a really big, handleless spoon. But, then Hizashi placed some juice on the table and Izuku grimaced. The idea of egg mixing with his orange juice was disgusting. He would hold off on the cup-spoon idea for now. 

 

“I never said I didn’t do it, I said I didn’t do it every night. There is a huge difference.” 

 

“Hmmmm, sure there is.” 

 

Hizashi tossed the napkins on the table and darted back into the kitchen. Izuku heard Shouta grunt after there was a thud. Izuku was pretty sure he was tackled. 

 

“There absolutely is a difference.” 

 

Izuku’s stomach growled loudly. There still were no utensils! How was he supposed to eat if there was no way to get it from the dishes to his plate or even worse from his plate to his mouth! Soon he might just start scooping it into his mouth with his hands, even if it was kind of gross. 

 

If he could just ask then it wouldn’t be an issue. But adults don’t like interruptions, it was rude. Izuku paused, blinking. Actually, he… could ask Hizashi or Shouta. They weren’t normal adults, they told him repeatedly they wanted him to ask. They set up times to specifically ask him to ask THEM questions. They were parents, even if temporary. That made them different, weird in what rules they had. Mom never minded when he’d ask for help grabbing things. Even if sometimes she’d tell him that his legs weren’t broken. 

 

Wiggling his numb toes on his bad leg, he wondered if a previously broken leg would negate that or if it was still an option for a response. He… was pretty sure that if he asked, they wouldn’t make him grab his own spoon. Shouta hadn’t seemed pleased when he was walking around during his cupcake heist, and this morning Hizashi was acting like a butterfly flitting between flowers. He would have more than enough energy to grab an extra spoon or two. 

 

Nodding to himself, he decided to ask the next time that they came into the kitchen only for the couple to sprint into the room. Hizashi, being chased, circled the table, yanked a chair out and into Shouta’s path, who quickly jumped over the obstacle. Shouta caught up to Hizashi right back at the doorway and tackled him into the kitchen. Just out of view.

 

Izuku slumped back into his chair, despair filling him. His stomach growled again.

 

“I’m going to starve,” he mumbled to himself.

 

Keigo snickered. “You’ve been awake for less than ten minutes.”

 

“Yeah, ten minutes I could have been eating.” He gestured at his empty plate. 

 

Keigo reached over to ruffle his hair. Izuku tried to bat his brother’s hand off, but Keigo won. Because of course he did. He was a high ranked pro hero, Izuku didn’t really stand a chance.

 

Shouta and Hizashi came into view of the doorway. Hizashi was bent over and trapped in a headlock. He was flailing, trying to get Shouta off of him. 

 

“Come on Hizashi just admit—” 

 

Izuku, exploding out of the blanket, slammed his hands on the table and perked up. It was his chance.

 

“I NEED A SPOON!” Izuku froze as all the eyes were on him. He had not meant for it to come out as loud or demanding as it did. He’d just been nervous and panicked he’d lose the opportunity to ask again. His face was hot as he slid his hands off the table and bunched them into the soft fabric pooled in his lap. 

 

“I-I uh, could I- I mean, uh,” he stammered. “Can I have… um. Spoon, please?” 

 

Flicking his eyes up to his temporary parents he watched as they quickly rebooted from the outburst.  Shouta dropped the headlock, letting Hizashi stand. Hizashi’s bright green eyes raked over the table before he slapped his forehead.

 

“Ah, I thought we were forgetting something. Utensils! I’ll be back in a jif!” Hizashi snapped his fingers.

 

The world slid away as Izuku jumped up, ignoring how his leg burned at the movement. It didn’t matter, Mr. Watanabe wanted something. The fire in his leg would just make him heal faster, so it was fine. Silently, he mourned the blankets' warmth as it slid off him and onto the cold floor of the facility. He would grab it and wrap back up in it, but Mr Watanabe was fast and he needed to be able to move quickly. 

 

Being wrapped in a blanket was a luxury Izuku couldn't afford right now.

 

There was also a chance it would be taken away if he brought it to his attention. Soft things seemed to be the first things to be taken away here. 

 

Izuku let his arms rest loose at his sides, eyes focused on the bright colors of his socks. He wondered what today would entail. It wasn’t a big day, they always told him that a few days in advance. That was the rule they decided on. But it was rare that there were no procedures or tests. He just hoped it was a slow day, his body ached enough already. 

 

“Oh s—. Izuku? Keigo?”

 

Izuku frowned as he heard the voice. Did Keigo need a procedure done for him? Last time he needed one, his wings looked like a total wreck, he’d been concerningly pale, and burns had covered him. He’d also woken up, something about forgetting to take his mutations into account with the drugs. Had something happened on one of his patrols? Or was it from a raid?

 

He swallowed down the questions. Mr. Watanabe wouldn’t answer them if he asked. And he’d probably be able to figure it out once he saw Keigo again. Especially if he used the vents to ask Keigo directly what happened once he was feeling better. 

 

“Hey, Kiddo. It’s okay, you’re okay. You with me?”

 

Izuku shuffled a little side to side. It was weird for Mr. Watanabe to… be so reassuring. Also the question made no sense and Izuku didn’t know what he wanted. Of course he was with him? They were clearly in the same room? 

 

Mr. Watanabe closed the distance between them. Izuku froze. It was never good for him to be coming directly for him after not answering a question. The blanket was probably going to be gone, probably something else too. His stomach growled. It would probably be warm food again, he hated it when that was taken away. 

 

His guardian stopped only a hand span away and crouched down to be in front of him which was weird— and Izuku’s eyes narrowed onto the swash of bright pink. Half hidden under the bright pink were gooey eyes. He blinked back tears, pink with warm eyes meant safety. 

 

He wanted that, so he reached out and touched the pink. He pinched a lock of the coarse hair and felt it rub against itself and his fingers, kind of similar to sand. He slowly blinked again and saw Shouta crouched in front of him. He furrowed his brow as he looked at his temporary parent. Eraserhead didn’t have a teleportation quirk. How did he switch with Mr Watanabe so quickly?

 

“Shouta?” Izuku felt like his tongue was a sock filled with marbles. He scraped his tongue against his teeth to try to get rid of the feeling. 

 

“Yeah, kiddo, it’s me.” 

 

“Where’d he go?” 

 

“Who?”

 

Izuku tipped forward, Shouta caught him before he fully fell over. He cupped his hand with one hand and whispered, “Mr. Watanabe.” 

 

“He’s not here. He will never bother you again.” 

 

“Promise?” 

 

“Promise.” 

 

Izuku felt something warm swell in his chest as he rubbed his eyes with a fist. Shouta wouldn’t lie to him about this. 

 

“But… I heard him. He snapped his fingers.”

 

Shouta shook his head. “It wasn’t Mr. Watanabe. It was Hizashi who snapped.” 

 

“Oh.” Izuku sniffed. Hizashi wouldn’t ask for anything bad, Izuku didn’t mind him snapping. “What does he want?”

 

“Nothing.”

 

Izuku screwed up his face and just stared at Shouta. “But… he snapped?”

 

“He forgot the utensils, and snapped when he remembered. It wasn’t anything more than that.” Shouta reached down to grab the discarded blanket and wrapped it around Izuku’s shoulders. “Do you remember?”

 

“I… uh.” Izuku, blinking in the bright light, looked around the room. It was the dining room in the dorm. The table was set, food was in various bowls and on plates. There were two chairs tipped over on their side. There was a broken mug on the floor, what smelled like licorice tea spread out around it. Izuku’s eyes settled on the large ceramic bowl near him. The smell of eggs hit his nose and his stomach gurgled. 

 

“I wanted eggs.” Izuku frowned at it. “I asked for a spoon.” 

 

“Yeah, pretty loudly.” Shouta huffed out a laugh and Izuku felt himself flush. The soft look in Shouta’s eyes deepened as he slowly reached up to ruffle his hair, the same way Keigo had earlier. Izuku leaned into it. “It’s fine, kiddo, I married Hizashi . I can handle loud talking, promise. You don’t gotta be embarrassed. I’m just proud you asked.”

 

Izuku felt himself smile as he dropped the lock of hair he’d been playing with. He bonelessly slumped into Shouta, no doubt that he’d catch him. And he did, the strong arms wrapped around him holding him close. Izuku nuzzled his nose into Shouta’s neck.

 

“I-I think I just had an awake nightmare again.” 

 

“Does that happen a lot?”

 

Izuku hummed, nodding. “Small ones happen all the time. Bigger ones are a few times a week, kinda like me drifting… uh, dislocating?” 

 

“Dissociating.” 

 

“Yeah, that.” 

 

“We’ll need to talk to Inui about it, but what I think you just had was a flashback.” 

 

“Oh, that is a much shorter name for it.” 

 

“Just a bit.” Izuku’s stomach growled which made Shouta lean back with a soft chuckle. “Let's go get you that spoon so you can eat your eggs.” 

 

Izuku was lifted and before he could fully compute that action, he was being handed a handful of utensils to hold like a silver bouquet. Focusing on the cold metal in his hands, Izuku felt like his brain was rebooting. By the time he was being placed back in the chair and the blanket was being tucked around his legs, it felt like his mind was basically back online. He handed off his metallic bouquet to Shouta with shaky hands and a smile. Shouta smiled back at him and passed him back a single spoon, which Izuku promptly used to grab some eggs out of the bowl. 

 

Chowing down on the eggs, Izuku kicked his feet a bit as they only just grazed the floor. After a few bites Izuku cocked his head to the side and looked over to Shouta, who was also eating. 

 

“Where’s Keigo?” Pausing he listened for movement in the kitchen. “And… Hizashi?”

 

“Checking the apartment.” Shouta scooped some eggs into his mouth. 

 

“Then he was… triggered?” He flicked his eyes over to Shouta to check if he used the word right. 

 

Shouta nodded. “You were too.” 

 

“We should add snapping to the paper.”

 

Nodding, Shouta reached a hand out to tap the table by Izuku’s plate. “I agree, but after breakfast.” 

 

Grinning, Izuku shoveled a few spoonfuls of eggs into his mouth. And before swallowing, he turned to Shouta and tried to say, “You don’t gotta tell me twice!” But it really came out around the eggs more as a garbled, “’Oo dn’t tata tell mm twooce.”

 

Shouta cringed. “No idea what you just said, but please, swallow.”

 

Izuku blushed before swallowing. “Sorry.” 

 

“It’s not gonna kill me.” He reached over and patted Izuku’s hair down. “It’s just gross.” 

 

They ate the rest of the breakfast in a comfortable silence. Keigo and Hizashi did a fairly quick pass through on their camera search just as Izuku was finishing up his breakfast and Shouta was waiting with him, slowly sipping his coffee. Keigo searched under the edges of the chairs and at the table Hizashi served himself up a bowl of food. He winked at Izuku as he took a bite walking out of the room, following Keigo. Izuku kicked his feet a little faster with a small smile as he took his last bite. 

 

“You done, kiddo?” 

 

Izuku nodded, and watched as Shouta tipped his mug back, drinking the last of his coffee and piling the dirty dishes into a nice stack. He stood and walked into the kitchen.

 

Leaving Izuku, alone. 

 

His eyes flooded with tears and he felt his ribs tighten, making it impossible to breathe. About to let out a scream, Shouta came back into the room, stopping him. Horror washed over his face as he dropped to his knees in front of Izuku. 

 

“I’m so sorry, kiddo. I totally forgot. I should have at least warned you I was leaving.”

 

“I’m eleven, I should be able to be alone.” Izuku’s voice was waverey and thin. 

 

“Hey now, remember how Inui said that anything could be a trigger?” Shouta reached up to wiggle Izuku’s knees. Izuku nodded, wiping his eyes. He remembered. “Maybe being alone is one for you.” 

 

“I never want to be alone again.” He sniffed. His nose was running, so he sniffed again. And again.

 

Shouta leaned over to grab a napkin for Izuku and held it out for him. “Well, I personally can think of more than a few times I bet you’d prefer to be alone. The bathroom is at the top of the list, at least it would be for me.” 

 

Izuku huffed a silent laugh before blowing his nose. 

 

“But we can work our way up to you being comfortable being alone, okay?”

 

“Okay.” Izuku mumbled out as he tucked his now snot filled napkin into his empty cup. He… wasn’t sure how he felt about the idea of being alone or working towards being okay being alone. That sounded hard. He’d rather just be with someone. But… heroes regularly needed to be alone; patrols and investigating and in disaster situations. Izuku could be in a duo, but even then there would be times he wouldn’t be with his partner. As much as he hated the idea being left alone, he hated the idea of not being a hero more. Izuku rolled his shoulders back as a small smile lightened Shouta’s face at the movement. 

 

“Okay.” He said more confidently. “But we should probably add it to the list.” 

 

Shouta nodded as he stood, his knees popping loudly. He pulled the folded paper from his pocket and Shouta quickly scrawled out the two new triggers. Izuku rocked back and forth, feeling a weird sense of excitement. He didn’t like how he felt after he dealt with the trigger and really didn’t like seeing the list of things that scared him grow, but knowledge was power. 

 

Izuku liked knowing things, and having a set list was nice so he’d know what to avoid until he was ready. He knew he wasn’t ready now, but if Shouta was able to take his list and work through them, so could he. 

 

Eraserhead had always been cool, but actually meeting him only made him cooler. Recovery Girl was still his heroic role model, because of the similarities in their quirks. And All Might had been his absolute favorite for years… well, before. But now a large part of Izuku hoped that all of the amazing heroic things that Shouta, Hizashi and Keigo did would rub off on him.  It was more than Izuku could ask for, having so many of his favorite heroes living with him. He was getting a lot of up close and personal experiences, which were just making all of them that much more amazing!

 

“Stop… looking at me like that. You are going to give me hives.”  Shouta grumbled out as he slid a hand over his face. Before he hid it behind his hand, Izuku saw the embarrassed grimace and slight dusting of color over his cheeks. 

 

Izuku leaned forward with a grin and Shouta tilted his head back ever so slightly. His eyes were still soft and were not even remotely upset, so it was okay. Shouta deserved some hero worship, and Izuku had it in spades. 

 

“Can’t help it. You’re cool.” 

 

“Ugh,” he grimaced. “Now I am definitely going to get hives.” 

 

“There is a first aid kit in the bathroom. It might have cream that could help.” 

 

Shouta huffed out air through his nose as he set a heavy hand on Izuku’s head. His eyes rolled up as a small smile curled at the corners of his mouth. “What would I do without you, kid?”

 

Izuku playfully shrugged. “Have hives, probably.” 

 

Full on chuckling, Shouta pulled his phone out of his pocket to check it. Izuku tried to not be nosy, but he looked over to see that he was checking a text that had a ton of emojis spread throughout it. He flicked his eyes back to the table. It was rude to read over someone's shoulder or… in this case just sitting side by side. It didn’t take long for Shouta to skim the text, the smile on his face replaced with a more serious expression as he turned to Izuku. 

 

“Nemuri has clothes for you and Keigo. She asked if she could come by for you both to try them on and then also take a nap, but wanted to make sure that you and Keigo wouldn’t mind her coming.”

 

“I like Midnight. She’s nice.” 

 

From the front room Keigo shouted, “I don’t mind either!” 

 

Shouta sighed before he craned his neck towards the front room, his voice only slightly raised. “Eavesdropping is a bad habit, Keigo.” 

 

“Says the underground hero! That’s like half your job!” 

 

“Okay, it’s only fine if you get paid for it .”

 

There was a pause, before Keigo laughed. “Hizashi just handed me 1000 yen, I think I have a new job!” 

 

“It’s fun to keep you on your toes, Shou!” Hizashi chimed in, laughing. 

 

Shouta leaned forward, his head making a dull thud as it hit the table. He groaned. “I thought it was bad enough when it was just Hizashi and Nemuri. Now I’ve got Keigo, too.” 

 

Izuku leaned over to pat Shouta’s shoulder. “There, there.” 

 

“Thanks, kiddo.” He sat up and started typing out a response before pausing briefly. “Also, Vlad King bought the clothes, so if they are terrible, don’t hesitate to say so. No one’s feelings will be hurt, Hizashi gave him a vague list and some sizes so no one is super attached to these clothes.” 

 

“Oh, okay.” Izuku nodded. He wasn’t going to say anything even if they were the wrong size, or horrible textures. They went out of their way to try to get him clothes he wasn’t going to be ungrateful. 

 

Not even five seconds after Shouta hit send on his phone and slid it back in his pocket, the front door slammed open. 

 

“I’m home!” Midnight sang out. “Did you all miss me? I bet Shou did the most.”

 

Shouta let out a pained noise as he draped himself over the back of his chair. “G-d, why me?”

 

Izuku giggled before tapping his shoulder once again. “There, there.” 

 

Midnight came racing around the corner. The bags she was holding dropped to the ground, one of them ripping and spilling fabric out over the floor, as she gasped. Her face was a wash of raw surprise, her eyes laser focused on the bright pink curls. 

 

“OH MY G-D. WHAT THE F— DID YOU DO TO YOUR HAIR!?”

 

Shouta leveled a flat look at her. “I’ll give you one guess. I think even you could figure it out.”

 

Midnight darted forward, digging her fingers into the frizzy hair. Shouta fought her off as best as he could, but she ended up pinning him by sliding his chair into the table, trapping him in his seat. The moment he gave up his fight was apparent as he let his head fall back with a grumpy sigh and his shoulders slumped. Midnight seemed to investigate every single square centimeter of hair until Shouta hissed as she yanked on one of the pink locks. 

 

“Sorry, just needed to make sure that it wasn’t a wig.” 

 

Izuku didn’t think she sounded all that sorry, in his own opinion. Shouta seemed to agree as he scoffed. 

 

“Right. You could’ve just asked.” 

 

Midnight, ignoring the comment, continued. “When Hizashi sent a cryptic text about exciting surprises, this was not what I was expecting.”

 

“Get used to it.” 

 

Izuku felt something warm bloom in him at that sentence. He started rubbing his now buzzing feet together as he smiled to himself. 

 

“I promise, I am trying.” Pinching a section of Shouta’s hair between her fingers, she made it twist and twirl and wiggle like it was a worm. From behind his head she mouthed ‘It’s so pink’ to Izuku, a borderline horrified expression on her face. Izuku had to cover his grin at Midnight's shenanigans. Shouta’s face was carved with disgruntled frustration, but his eyes softened as he looked over to him. 

 

“So…” Midnight took a thin section of hair and started to loosely braid it. “Is there something that brought this all on?”

 

“Do I need a reason?” Shouta’s eyes flicked to Izuku before rolled his head back to look up at Midnight. 

 

“If you don’t give me one I am going to assume this was a cry for help. Or at least attention, which for you would be a cry for help.” She curled her arms around his head covering his face, squeezing his head into her chest. Izuku was a little worried until he saw that she shifted to make sure his nose was uncovered. Shouta could still breathe.

 

“It’s okay, honey.” She purred out into his shoulder in a strange baby voice. “Mommy Nem is right here. I’ve got you, let it alllllllllll out, you don’t have to be so strong anymore.” 

 

Shouta started to struggle again, first by clawing at her arms, which did little from the modified headlock she had him in. He tried to then use his legs to free himself out from the pinched position between the table and his chair and only gained a few centimeters. He paused, in his efforts. Izuku, from the strip of skin between Midnight’s elbows, saw the hint of a smile before Midnight jumped backwards away from him. 

 

“Oh my G-d, Shouta. Did you just lick me? That is so gross!” 

 

“It worked, didn’t it?” He pushed himself the rest of the way out from the table and stood. A smirk was on his face as he turned to drop down, offering his back for a piggy-back ride for Izuku. Izuku was a little bummed to have to unwrap himself from his blanket, but slid himself out and flopped onto Shouta’s back. He was warm enough, but just wanted to chase any chill away from him. 

 

As he wrapped his arms around Shouta’s neck, Midnight stage whispered to Izuku. “Careful with your arms, don’t let them get too close, this one likes to lick ‘em.” 

 

“I only lick deserving arms,” Shouta pipped in. 

 

“I’m pretty sure my arms will be safe, but thanks!” Izuku grinned at Midnight as Shouta walked past her. Stepping over the discarded bags of clothes, he left her in the dining room. 

 

Izuku was half dumped on Keigo, who was lounging in the slumping blanket fort. Keigo caught him with his wings and rolled him down to lay on his back, nestled between his wings. It would have been fun, but it jostled his bad leg and also made the corners of his vision gray out. Izuku laid his head down on Keigo’s shoulder, focusing on his breathing, riding out the faint feeling. 

 

He’d like this to stop. It made doing things kinda hard. 

 

“Watch your brother,” Shouta mumbled out before leaving.

 

“Aye aye.” Keigo half saluted.

 

Catching himself in the doorway, Shouta smirked. “I was talking to Izuku.” 

 

Keigo squawked before grumbling about being a responsible adult pro hero. Izuku giggled and patted his brother like he had done to Shouta earlier. Shouta returned with a handful of clothes and Midnight followed him with the other bags. They were upended into a messy pile right on the edge of where the blanket fort floor ended. Izuku slowly sat up and slid off Keigo’s back, curious about what they’d gotten them.

 

“This isn’t a full wardrobe by any stretch of the imagination, but it will be better than wearing UA sweats and borrowed clothes all the time.” Shouta fell into a cross-legged seat next to the pile of clothes, working to fold them into various piles.

 

Izuku pulled at the wildly oversized hoodie he wore. It was for some band Izuku had never heard of before. The fabric was pilled on the inside and kind of scratchy around the arm cuffs. However, Hizashi had grabbed it for him when they were making the fort yesterday. Izuku had been zoning out tracing and scratching the slightly itchy scars that ran up and down his arms. He’d been feeling chilly and was shivering. The moment Hizashi noticed, he had pulled it off and thrown it at him. Izuku said he’d be fine, but Hizashi just crossed the room and half wrestled the hoodie onto Izuku claiming no one in the house was allowed to be cold and he’d wrap each person up personally if he had to. Izuku had giggled the whole time; it made him feel warm.

 

He didn’t want to lose that. 

 

“But… I like these.”

 

“We’re not going to force you to wear these if you don’t want to, little listener.” Hizashi slumped down on the other side of the pile of clothes Shouta was still folding. He reached in and grabbed a red bundle with a grin. He tossed the bundle of red at Izuku. “However, I couldn’t help myself. I told Vlad that if he didn’t get this specifically, I’d dump paint on him during his next class.” 

 

Unraveling the bundle, Izuku gasped. He knew exactly what this was.

 

“IS THIS THE LIMITED EDITION HAWKS HOODIE?!”

 

Hands shaking, he ravenously ran them over every centimeter of the soft fabric. His weak fingers wrapped around the small fabric wings that sprouted out of the back. He flapped them as he sniffed back happy tears. After a moment, he flipped the hoodie over and traced the embroidered silhouette of his brother. Keigo had been mid-flight in a dynamic pose. He’d seen the photos that this silhouette was based on. The bright, almost cocky grin filled Izuku’s mind as he leaned forward, shoving his face in the fabric. He took a deep breath. It smelled like a new hoodie, but he wished that it would have the almond-y smell that Keigo now had since he’d been better about preening his wings with the fancy oil. 

 

Maybe if he asked nicely he could dip the small plastic fake feathers covering the ends of the hoodie string in the nice smelling wing oil. Or maybe he’d just have to cuddle with Keigo right after Hizashi or Shouta helped put the oils in. That’d be easier. And then he’d also get cuddles out of it. Win win. 

 

Izuku lifted his head from the fabric, his fingers dug into the fabric. He choked on his words between tears. “This is the best day of my life. Thank you, ‘Zashi.”

 

“I’m glad you like it, Cookie.” Hizashi’s voice was delicate, the nickname said like it was the most precious thing. It made a new wave of tears streak down his face as Hizashi grabbed a pile of now folded clothes from Shouta. “I told Vlad your top five favorite heroes. Looks like he got some sweats and t-shirts with heroes on them. It’s not as good at picking your own clothes, but I thought—” 

 

Izuku cut him off with a tight hug, the folded clothes being trapped between the two. “No. It’s perfect . I lost my hero collection. Twice now actually. Thank you.” 

 

Hizashi pressed his face into the top of Izuku’s head as he whispered. “Sounds like we’re going to have to build it back up together then.”

 

Izuku nodded before pushing away from Hizashi. He wiped his eyes as Hizashi reorganized the now rumpled clothes. He sat back, the clothes on the plush blankets between his knees. His fingers trailed over the bumps and textures of the printing on them. He found some merch from each of his favorites. Except for one, of course. 

 

As he traced the words of a ‘Put Your Hands Up’ shirt, Izuku mumbled to himself. “Too bad Eraserhead doesn’t do merch.” 

 

“… so about that.” Hizashi grinned as he grabbed a rolled bunch of fabric. “With it being winter, I thought this would be appropriate.” He unrolled a long off-white scarf and wound it around Izuku’s neck. “It’s not official merch, but I think this is better. You can be a little mini-Eraserhead this way.” 

 

Izuku shoved his whole face in the fabric, nuzzling into the nice texture. “It’s so soft.”

 

“Awww,” Midnight cooed out, the soft clicking of a camera followed. “You are adorable.”

 

Peeking up and over the edge of the scarf, he watched as Midnight took a few more photos. Izuku flicked his eyes over to Keigo. He was poking through his own stack of clothes, seemingly oblivious to the camera. 

 

Maybe cameras weren’t a… trigger. Only video? Or Izuku was totally wrong about the camera thing. But it really seemed that his brother had a thing when it came to cameras. 

 

He wanted to ask, but as Keigo silently held up a plain looking shirt, Izuku could see how exhausted his brother looked. He usually hid things like that, but when he thought no one was focused on him it was more obvious. Izuku got good at checking like this during his long stay at the infirmary. 

 

Asking when Keigo was clearly tired seemed kind of rude. Izuku was also pretty tired from the waking nightmare, or flashback, earlier. Inui had said helping avoid triggers was something that family could do for each other. Izuku could ask for clarification later. Right now, his goal was to make sure Keigo didn’t realize there was a camera. Just in case. 

 

“Kei-nii!” He leaned into his brother’s shoulder with a grin. “What ‘cha get?”

 

“Too much.” He swallowed as he ran a hand over the back of one of the shirts. 

 

“What do you mean?” Shouta asked. 

 

“…these are… these are quirk specific clothes. The shirts have openings for my wings.” 

 

“… Yeah? It is easier just buying these, than cutting holes in the back.” 

 

“Quirk specific clothes are expensive.” Keigo gripped the edge of the shirt in his lap.

 

“Not really? Like maybe a few hundred extra yen, but the costs aren’t that different.”

 

“But they are specialty!” 

 

“I guess they are, but people with mutation quirks need clothes too.” Hizashi added with a shrug. “And your wings are special, I’m not denying that, but honestly wings or some form of limb sprouting out of the back isn’t that uncommon, so these were probably pretty easy to find.” 

 

“But… I was told… I just…” Keigo gently folded the shirt in his lap and placed it on top of the small stack next to him. “I thought this would be way more expensive.”

 

Shouta pulled out the receipts from one of the empty bags and held them out to Keigo. “I don’t know what location you have been buying your clothes, but your clothes were about a few thousand yen less than Izuku’s clothes.” 

 

Izuku cringed, not wanting to be a burden. Shouta was quick to level a serious look at him. “That doesn’t mean you are allowed to feel guilty, kiddo. We’re more than willing to do this for you, both of you. Okay?”

 

“Okay,” Izuku mumbled out as he ducked his head into the scarf and dug his fingers into the hoodie he had in his lap. 

 

Turning to Keigo, Izuku frowned. His brother was frozen except for his golden eyes quickly flicking between the two receipts. The wrinkle between his brows deepened as he slowly brought the papers to his face. 

 

“This,” Keigo looked up at Shouta, “has to be wrong.”

 

“It’s not. You must just be shopping at high end stores.” 

 

“I… I’ve never actually gone clothes shopping.” Keigo brought his knees up to his chest and curled around them, his wings fluttering slightly around his shoulders. “My clothes were provided to me. They took food, housing, and clothing costs out of my pay… Said it was hard to get what I needed. Easier if they did it so I could focus on heroics.” 

 

“They were wrong. Vlad bought these at a standard clothing shop.” Shouta’s voice was firm, but not unkind.

 

“Why would they lie?” A strangled screech was swallowed back as he picked up one of the shirts and flipped it over to be totally focused in on the alterations to the back.

 

“I don’t know, Keigo.”

 

“But we aren’t lying to you,” Hizashi added with a sad smile.

 

Izuku reached an arm out around Keigo’s hunched over back. “It’s okay. I can show you around the mall once things calm down, okay? They can be super overwhelming, but shopping can be sort of fun.” He paused before whispering, “Actually, it’s only fun when it’s shopping for hero merch. The rest of the time it’s only alright.” 

 

Keigo laughed, lowering his knees, he sat up straight with a smile. “You’re really selling the idea of shopping here, chickadee.” 

 

“Mom calls shopping a necessary evil. But I also know that she actually secretly loves it. Maybe you’ll be like her?”

 

“We’ll just have to see.” He brought his own arm around Izuku, completing their side hug.

 

Izuku broke off from the half hug to lean over to tap the pile of clothes. “‘Kay, but what did you get ? This is like Christmas or your birthday. You just got a ton of presents. You can’t not show them off!” 

 

A strange look passed over Keigo’s face. Izuku out of the corner of his eye caught the tail end of what seemed to be some sort of meaningful look between his temporary parents. Izuku feels like he just missed something, but shook it off as Keigo started to show off his various clothing items. 

 

They were all neutral colors and pretty boring in all honesty. But Izuku nodded along and smiled when Keigo’s wings shuddered in excitement as he showed off the various methods his shirts allowed for easier access to putting them on. Some just had slits, others were racer back tank tops. Izuku thought the button up shirt with the two corset ties up the back was cool. 

 

Instead of a cool Hawks hoodie, Keigo had been given a warm fleece lined jacket. It looked similar to his hero jacket, but was a darker brown. Izuku honestly thought it was super cool. Keigo seemed to like it as he smiled as he ran his hands over the soft fleece. 

 

“Thanks,” Keigo said. “I really appreciate all this.” 

 

“No problem, I wanted to make sure that you’d have something that would keep you from freezing as you fly.” Hizashi tapped the jacket. “And if it doesn’t work, let me know, we’ll get you a better one. I don’t know if I could live with myself if I knew one of my kids was cold.”

 

“We have the receipts so actually, if anything doesn’t fit or isn’t to your liking, just let us know and we’ll get someone to switch it out.” 

 

Izuku nodded. These clothes were perfect, so he wouldn’t need to exchange anything.  Kneading the hoodie in his lap, he smiled at how his nose rubbed against the soft scarf still wrapped around his neck. Izuku was stupid excited to try the hoodie on. It was so soft, and the fabric was thick, so he knew he’d always be warm if he wore this. Sliding his hands into the ends of the sleeves, he traced along the inside seams. The inside of the hoodie was even softer than the outside. He started to rock back and forth, excitement overflowing from him. He grinned to himself.

 

“Kiddo,” Izuku snapped his eyes over to Shouta, who leaned towards him. “You can try it on.” 

 

He didn’t have to tell Izuku twice. Shouta hadn’t even finished his sentence before he was clawing the scarf and hoodie off. In the process, he got half stuck in the fabric he had been swimming in. A hand of someone helped the fabric over his head. He shivered as the cool air hit his back, and he realized he’d also yanked his shirt off too. He couldn’t be bothered to try to untangle the t-shirt from the large hoodie, and instead dove head first into the bright red hoodie. 

 

Izuku let himself sink back onto the floor. The hoodie felt like a cloud was hugging him. He sighed blissfully, his cheek pressed against the soft fabric of the bunched up Eraserhead scarf. Exhaustion hit him as he laid on the floor. Izuku might just nap here, it's not like he hadn't slept on the floor last night, so clearly there wasn't a rule against it.

 

“Oh my G-d, that was so cute,” Midnight squeaked out. 

 

“I know, right?” Hizashi chuckled. “Also you better share all those photos of the baby with us.”

 

Izuku couldn’t even bring himself to grumble about being called a baby again. All that mattered was how soft and warm he felt. He lifted his head and pulled the hood up and curled up on the blanket covered floor, his back now facing the adults. 

 

“Oh, the tiny little wings! I’m going to explode, this is so cute.” She made a high pitched squeal before it was abruptly cut off. 

 

“Will you be quiet? He is adorable, we know,” Shouta drawled out.

 

Izuku closed his eyes with a sigh. He hadn’t been awake for all that long, maybe an hour. But he was really tired. He wasn’t surprised, awake nightmares– flashbacks– usually zapped his energy. 

 

“Aww, Shou, did the baby finally melt your frozen grumpy heart?” Midnight teased.

 

“Mmmmm no’ a baby.” Izuku slurred out. He pushed his lower lip into a pout. Maybe he was a bit closer to sleep then he thought he was. 

 

“Sure honey, whatever you say.” 

 

Izuku half turned his head towards the adults and stuck his tongue out. She snickered. 

 

“So cute. Just like a tiny kitten.” 

 

Slumping back into a limp puddle on the floor, Izuku nodded to himself. Kitten was infinitely better than baby. So he’d take it. A heavy fabric was thrown over him, startling him half awake. 

 

He squinted up to see a smiling Keigo sitting next to him. Looking down he saw the new flight jacket resting over him. 

 

“Couldn’t let your new little wings get cold.” He winked as he patted his hip.

 

“Thanks, Kei-nii.” 

 

He snaked a hand up to the plush edge of the jacket, pulling up to his nose. He curled his good leg up to be almost next to his chest, sliding up under Keigo’s jacket. The cast on his bad leg and the radiating ache in his hip stopped him from curling that leg up too, but lucky for him the UA sweats would be warm enough. He rubbed his head into his impromptu scarf-pillow as he settled down. The soft warmth swaddled him as the voices of those he trusted mixed together into a sweet lullaby as he drifted off.

Notes:

I want the hawks hoodie so bad.

Also I was called out for Nemuri being a self insert and while ABSOLUELY CORRECT!!!!! But bestie... you don't gotta call me out like that XD I just wanna be the fun auntie!!! Can you BLAME ME???? I also missed her :( im glad shes back (also thank every star in the sky Hizashi and Shouta are getting TIRED)

I also was... okay so i plan to have little interlude chapters (wedding, noodle man meet up, a few other ideas Ive had etc). and then i have partially plotted out the cannon arcs with this AU. I ORIGIONALLY planned to have all of that be one large ao3 story. however i also thought this pre cannon bit would be 20-25 chapters. lol. clearly im bad at judging the lengths of things lol. im now mostly done writing it (48 of what is looking to be 50) so I guess I'm wondering if people would want it all in one massive thing or break it into a series?

If i turn it into a series I will likely rename this post finishing it and then turning the whole series under the Band-Aid name and then I am going to take a BREATHER and work on other things (with maybe an interlude every month or two of the inbetween bits of now and then the start of high school BOOK) and then I'll start the second part down the line lol cuz i need to finish some of my other WIPs cuz ive neglected them for so long cuz this became a brain worm lolol

But lemme know if there are preferances either way :P cuz if I leave it all together... its gonna be like 100+ chapters xD which like is chill and I can do that but also is insane lol

But hopefully y'all have a great week!

Chapter 39: Izuku has a time :(

Notes:

hello friends!!

Thanks to @sassy_chemist for helping me out even tho she's very busy <3 her comments bring me joy and also she caught a few sentences that were very much not clear lol so thank you <3333

There ARE WARNINGS but i dont wanna like spoil the chapter so they are at the end <3

This is not a fluffy chapter :( sorry folks. but we get some... progress. unfortuinatlly some progress doesnt come during a fluffing family bonding chapter :((( This needed to happen

without further ado ENJOY~~

Izuku woke up an hour or so later, feeling really sore. His leg throbbed as he gingerly sat up. Clenching his teeth, he grimaced down at his stupid leg. It was super frustrating; sometimes it would just decide to be mad at the world and hurt worse for no reason. Izuku had tried to figure out what it was, but hadn’t been able to figure it out. These bouts of deep aching pain weren't tied to things he ate, the amount he walked, or what procedures he went through. Like walking more would make it hurt more, and some procedures did hurt his leg, but it didn’t always line up. Not really, it just would happen . 

 

He was over it. But his leg didn’t seem ready to stop hurting. Which… was fine. 

 

However, Izuku wasn’t about to let some pain ruin the day he got his new favorite hoodie of all time. Maybe he could shift it around to get it hurt less. But trying to move it at all made Izuku bite back a whimper. Riding the wave of pain, Izuku blinked back tears. 

 

No movement. Got it. 

 

It had been a while since it had hurt this bad. It also had been a while since he’d taken the plastic cast off. Maybe his leg just needed to breathe? That… probably wouldn’t help, but he might as well try. 

 

He needed to try something.

 

Incredibly slowly, Izuku inched his way forward, making sure to keep from jostling the leg. He bit his lip hard enough he was pretty sure he bruised the skin as his hip screamed at the action. Finally able to wrap his fingers around the first velcro tab he yanked it off with a satisfying rip. 

 

“Woah there Cookie, what cha doing?” Hizashi set down the book he had been reading in the chair and crossed to Izuku in the blanket fort. 

 

“It hurts. I think it needs to breathe.” 

 

“Here, let me.” He ducked into the fort and finished pulling the cast off. Hizashi was gentle as he raised Izuku’s ankle to pull the cast off, but he still gasped at the pain from the movement. Hizashi frowned as he dragged his eyes from Izuku’s face down to the bump on his shin. The green eyes traced up and down the various scars and marks on the now exposed skin. His thin brows like magnets worked their way towards each other forcing the skin between them to wrinkle. 

 

Something about the focus made Izuku’s skin crawl. He let out a barking cry as he forced his bad leg up to his chest, shoving his previously rolled sweatpants leg down to hide it. Tears filled his eyes from the pain and a few rolled down his face. 

 

“Thanks. It’s all better now.” Izuku’s voice was small as he wiped the tears off on his shoulder. 

 

Hizashi’s concern only grew, his eyebrows basically touching and a deep frown weighed down the corners of his mouth. 

 

“I can go get you some pain killer. You are clearly still in pain.”

 

“That’d slow my quirk. It’ll be less effective that way. I’ll be fine.” Izuku fiddled with the small plastic feathers on his hoodie, clicking them together. He figured Hizashi wanted him to be honest when he felt off, so he shrugged before continuing. “Just a bad day, tomorrow will be better.” 

 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hizashi slump forward with a sigh. His voice slightly clipped. “Izuku, I don’t care about your quirk’s effectiveness. I only care about you. I don’t want you in pain.” 

 

That surprised Izuku, even though it probably shouldn’t. Peeking out from under the edge of his hood, he snuck a look at Hizashi. His hair was braided into a waterfall of colors, draped over his shoulder. The normally happy face was heavy with sorrow and concern. There was also an undertone of frustration, too. It lacked the shine that made Hizashi, Hizashi . The thick frames were slid down his narrow nose so his bright green eyes could look over the top of them. He was intensely focused on Izuku. 

 

Chewing on his lip, Izuku spun one of the plastic feathers between his finger and his thumb. “But what if you need—” 

 

“We won’t,” Hizashi cut him off. “If anything did happen, we have Recovery Girl on speed dial. You don’t need to worry about us, in any capacity, but especially not physically. We’re here to make sure you are okay, not the other way around. We’re the adults, you’re the kid. So focus on healing and having fun, and we’ll do the rest, alright?”

 

“… Okay.” 

 

Izuku wasn’t going to argue with his temporary parent. They had hospitals and doctors and Recovery Girl. He knew that Hizashi and Shouta had both told him multiple times that there would be no procedures and that they didn’t plan on using his quirk in any capacity. So they wouldn’t. Heroes weren’t liars. 

 

But… Using his quirk was more effective and quick. His quirk could do things that Recovery Girl’s couldn’t. There was always a chance that tragedy would strike and that he’d need to be ready. And pain pills were never allowed by the commission once the tests showed they totally ruined his quirks effectiveness. That it took hours for the effects of medication to wear off. It was better for him to just be in pain so people could benefit from it. He couldn’t take pain meds, because he couldn’t live with himself if he couldn’t help just because he was being a little selfish. 

 

However, on the other hand, having a quick break from the thumping pain down his whole leg that jolted with each of his heart beats sounded amazing . Medication could help with the soft headache that bloomed from behind his eyes from the crying. They could maybe help with the dull zing that his shoulders always seemed to have on bad days. He could massage it away most of the time, but that sometimes made his hands hurt. His now bruised lip might not smart as much if he took them. 

 

Maybe… it was okay to be a little selfish. If Izuku was being honest he hurt and really, really, really wanted the pain to stop. Hizashi just said it was his job to heal himself and have fun. Medication helped with healing and being in pain was definitely the opposite of fun. 

 

Also, from the long list of heroes that Hizashi and Shouta have been name-dropping as coworkers, it was unlikely for there to be another break in. And even if there was, Recovery Girl was more than capable of healing most things, and if not, she could keep them alive long enough for Izuku’s medication to wear off. But that was a worst case scenario type of thing. 

 

And it wasn’t like his quirk was totally gone when he took pain meds, only dulled and significantly slowed. So it would probably be fine. 

 

“I t-think I-I’d like some pain killer, please.” 

 

“Absolutely, coming right up.” Hizashi winked as he pulled out his phone briefly fiddling with it before holding it out on his palm halfway between them. It was ringing and on the screen it said “My love <3” before timing out. From down the hall Izuku could hear the ring tone once before it was picked up. 

 

“Huuunnnngh,” Shouta groaned. “What’s wrong?”

 

“We are asking for a special delivery. Pain pills. But the kid remix.” 

 

“What happened to Izuku?” His voice lost all of the sleepy haze it had had, and instead was intensely focused. Izuku could hear both over the phone and in person how Shouta thumped and clambered out of what he assumed was his bed. The door slammed open.

 

“He’s fine, deep breaths, Shou. Just some leg pain.” 

 

“G-d, f—ing h—, Hizashi, don’t scare the s— out of me like that.” Izuku bit back a smile. It kind of sounded like Kacchan with all the cussing and how grumbled it was. It was extra funny as Shouta usually stuck to ‘kid friendly’ words when around him.

 

“Ah, just a warning.” Hizashi flicked his eyes over to the grinning Izuku. “You’re on speaker.”

 

“Oh,” Shouta paused and Izuku could hear riffling over the phone. “Hi, kiddo.” 

 

“Hi Shouta.” 

 

“Probably… don’t… repeat those words.” 

 

“Okay, Shouta.” 

 

“Good.” He trailed off. Rattling came over the phone in the silence. “What kind are we thinking? We have basically every OTC pain killer and some questionably legal Vicodin from my last hospital visit, too.” 

 

“We’re not giving the baby Vicodin ,” Hizashi hissed out. He turned to Izuku, speaking much more normally. “How is the pain?”

 

“… it hurts?” Izuku tilted his head to the side.

 

“Ah, bad question. Can you tell me what hurts and how it hurts? Like, is it a sharp stabbing pain, dull ache, crushing, burning, electric zings, anything like that?”

 

“Oh,” Izuku felt kind of embarrassed for not realizing that's what Hizashi meant the first time. But it was a pretty easy fix, he’d gotten pretty good at telling the researchers at the commission how things hurt. He pointed to his leg. 

 

“The worst is here. It is a bit stabby right around the break, but also feels like a knife has been cut through the skin and is sawing up and down my shin. Especially when I move it. Deeper, it kind of feels like when you get a painful injection into the muscle and everything just feels like it's in the wrong place ever so slightly, but also kinda like acid burns? The burning fades out but flares at the joints. My knee is a little better today, unless I move it then it feels like it's about to fall off. My hip feels swollen, kinda like it does after it was just dislocated? There is a zapping that shoots from my hip down my leg which matches with my heart beat. Which is kinda cool to know my pulse at all times, but it's kind of creepy when I can tell when it’s an uneven rhythm. So, I’m not a huge fan. I can't tell if my ankle hurts or not, not really since it's started to be all buzzy and tingly, but it used to hurt a ton before I came to live with you. Especially on days like this. Moving it feels kind of stiff and awkward, so I think it also might be swollen like my hip?” 

 

Izuku looked up at Hizashi, who looked devastated. His posture was similar to a wilted flower, one hand held his braided hair, the other, which still healed the phone, propped him up on his crossed legs. His glasses threatened to slide off his nose and his eyes were shiny. 

 

Biting his lip, Izuku winced at the slight pain. He seemed to have upset Hizashi, but wasn't technically done. He’d try to finish up quickly.

 

“Um, my lip hurts a little from biting it earlier. And I have a headache, I think that's from crying. And my shoulders have that dull ache that always happens on bad days, but that's usually not that big of a deal as I can sort of squeeze the pain out with my hands.” Izuku mimed the action over one of his shoulders. 

 

Flicking his eyes up to Hizashi, Izuku froze. A few stray tears slowly rolled down his face. Panicking, Izuku leaned forward to pat his knee. 

 

“It’s okay! This isn't really that bad! Don't worry about it, I’ll be fine, I don't need the meds. Please don’t cry.” 

 

That didn't seem to help as Hizashi practically snapped in half as he collapsed into his hands. He took a few shaking breaths. 

 

“No really, it’s not so bad, I can still move, see!” Izuku started to shift his leg all around plastering on a fake smile, hoping Hizashi wouldn't notice the tears streaming down his face. The pain the motion caused almost made him nauseous.

 

 Hizashi sprung into action, trapping his leg with his hands. Izuku could feel his heart speed up for a moment before it settled. Hizashi’s hands stopped the movement, but his hands were gentle, the grip soft enough to hold flower petals and not bruise them. Izuku was okay. He was safe. 

 

“Izuku, baby.” Hizashi's voice broke. “Stop moving.” 

 

He’d already been mostly stopped, but relaxed and ended his attempts at the words. It was the right choice as Hizashi also relaxed, a broken smile spread between the tear tracks.

 

“Sweetheart.” He reached forward to comb his fingers through his hair. He paused at the back of his head, caressing it in a way that reminded Izuku of his mom. “That sounds pretty bad. I didn't realize you were dealing with all that. I’m so sorry.” 

 

The apology confused Izuku. It wasn't Hizashi's fault for not knowing. And it definitely wasn't his fault for the pain. Something squirmed in Izuku, it felt a bit like an eel digging around through his stomach. He needed Hizashi to stop crying.

 

“I’ve had way worse. And you didn't do anything, this just happens.” Izuku shrugged, leaning into the hand at the back of his head. “So, it’s okay.” 

 

Hizashi's hand dropped down to his shoulder, softly massaging the tight muscles. Izuku let out a soft sigh. The hand after a moment or two switched to the other side, and Izuku let out a small happy hum. It felt amazing. 

 

Finishing the brief massage, Hizashi brought the phone up closer to his face.

 

“... Shou, you hear all that?” Hizashi's voice sounded weird. Like it had microphone feedback distortion. Izuku frowned at him, before Shouta's quick entrance distracted him. 

 

“Yeah, I did. I grabbed Ibuprofen, and some water.” 

 

Shouta dropped to squat next to Izuku. He handed over the medication and then the glass of water. His face was blank, but his eyes were sad. 

 

Izuku hadn't meant to make his temporary parents sad. 

 

“Here, kiddo. Take this. Hopefully this will help a little bit. And if not, we can talk to Recovery Girl to see if we can get you something stronger.” 

 

Izuku quickly swallowed the pills and downed half the glass of water. He hadn't realized he was so thirsty. 

 

Shouta turned to Hizashi. “Go take a walk.” 

 

“But–” 

 

“Nope. I’ve got this. Go. Fifteen minutes, Hizashi, as a minimum .” 

 

Nodding to himself Hizashi stumbled to a stand. He paused before bending back over to whisper into Shouta’s ear. Izuku was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to hear, but he did. 

 

“I’m going to kill them, Shou.” 

 

“I know, and I won't stop you.” Shouta mumbled back, reaching up to grab a few of Hizashi's fingers, he wiggled his arm. “Now. Go.” 

 

Standing back up with a light pop, Hizashi’s dark expression softened as he looked at Izuku. 

 

“Feel better, Cookie.”  

 

Izuku waved as Hizashi all but ran down the hallway. He sipped on the glass of water.

 

“Anything I can do to help, Kiddo? I know when I get headaches massaging my temples helps. Or I can put something on the TV to help get your mind off it until the meds kick in?”  

 

“Hizashi started already, but my shoulders like being massaged.” 

 

“I can do that.” Shouta shifted to sit behind Izuku. His legs stretched out on either side of him. His fingers felt like the soft paws of a kitten before Shouta slowly added pressure. Izuku felt himself melt under the massage. Shouta’s breath washed over him as Izuku fell back into his chest. 

 

“Izuku, it’s kinda hard to massage your shoulders if you're slumped into my chest.” 

 

Izuku hummed, closing his eyes. He could lean forward, but he didn't want to. He was comfy like this. Izuku briefly perked up as he heard what had to be a series of loud thuds followed by Hizashi’s stomping steps. Izuku opened his eyes only to see him briefly, before he passed behind one of the blanket walls. Hizashi was all bundled up, ready to go out in the cold. Izuku heard the door be ripped open, slamming into the wall before it was closed behind Hizashi with a loud thud. 

 

Shouta signed before he pressed his lips into the top of his head, hugging Izuku from behind. 

 

Izuku pulled one of Shouta’s hands away and started to fiddle with his fingers. He liked doing that, especially to Shouta as the man had so many unique callouses. It was fun to imagine him using his capture scarf and trying to figure out how the man held it to get the calluses he had. 

 

It also gave Izuku’s restless hands something to do. 

 

“Hizashi seemed upset,” Izuku mumbled.

 

“He is. But that's why he is going on a walk, hopefully to calm down.” 

 

“He was crying, too.” 

 

“He was just sad you were in pain, and probably a little overwhelmed.” 

 

Izuku chewed on his lip, focused on curling and uncurling Shouta’s fingers, looking how some of the callouses met up on either side of his fingers. 

 

He didn't mean to make Hizashi upset. Definitely didn't want him to cry. He’d just been trying to follow the rules. To be honest and tell either Hizashi or Shouta about when things hurt or felt off. Not only that, he was just answering Hizashi's question. None of the researchers and doctors at the commission reacted that way when Izuku had to describe pain to them. 

 

Maybe this was like Shouta with collapsed buildings or Keigo with cameras. Maybe he should avoid telling Hizashi about his pain?

 

Next time Inui-san came over, Izuku was going to ask more questions about this trigger nonsense. It seemed way more complex than he’d originally thought. It seemed impossible to avoid everything that upset people. And this one went against the rules Hizashi and Shouta had set out which made him worry if there were other rules that might be an issue. 

 

Izuku also really didn't want to make anyone else cry. 

 

“Did…” Izuku wrapped his fingers around Shouta’s thumb. “Did I do something wrong?” 

 

“Absolutely not, you did everything right.” 

 

Izuku didn't get it. How did he do everything right, but still made Hizashi cry ? Izuku had just wanted to follow the rules. He just wanted to answer Hizashi's question. 

 

“I’m supposed to tell you or Hizashi when things felt off.” 

 

“Yes.” 

 

“Hizashi cried.” 

 

“He did.” 

 

“I shouldn't tell Hizashi again.” 

 

“No. You’re wrong.” Shouta's voice was firm enough to make Izuku flinch his hands away from Shouta's. He shifted to Izuku’s side, one leg curling in front of him, the other sprawled out behind Izuku. A hand pressed into the top of Izuku’s spine. It was a comforting weight as Izuku nervously looked up at his temporary parent. His eyes were still soft. Izuku let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. Ducking down to be at eye level, Shouta started running a soft circle into Izuku's back. 

 

“Even if it makes us sad we want to know, Izuku. We need to know.” 

 

“Why?” Izuku hated the whine that slipped into the question. He didn't understand. It was better to avoid upsetting things. So, why would Hizashi and Shouta want him to upset them? Why would they need that? It seemed selfish. It seemed unheroic to purposely upset someone like that. 

 

“We can't help what we don't know about.” 

 

That didn't really answer the question. He was getting really frustrated. He hated not knowing things. He hated making people upset. He hated being confused. He hated rules that had unspoken clauses to them. He hated asking questions and then not getting answers. 

 

He hated being in pain. He hated how he felt like everything was too much today. He hated how tiny little things like not having a spoon or not knowing something kept making him want to scream. He hated that his special day from getting the hoodie was being ruined by pain. He hated how he could never know when he’d have a good or bad day.

 

He hated this. 

 

“ Why?” Izuku tightened his hands into fists so tight they shook. 

 

“We care about you. We don't want you in pain.” 

 

That still didn't answer his question. At least not enough.

 

“I don't understand .” 

 

“What doesn't make sense, Izuku?” 

 

Izuku felt a burning white hot rage slice through his chest as his eyes flooded with tears. He slammed his fists into the ground on either side of his thighs. A crescendoing wail ripped out of him as he started to pound the ground again and again, only barely missing Shouta’s shin. 

 

“I made Hizashi cry! And I made you sad! I didn't want that! I was just trying to follow the rules! I wanted to be good! I just wanted to be good!” 

 

Everything was too much and Izuku was feeling dizzy under the chaos of everything happening inside him. He fell back over Shouta’s leg with a distressed cry before he started to sob. He slapped the floor with open palms. Kicking his legs out, slamming them into the ground, he gasped as white hot flashes of agony ripped through him. 

 

Izuku was suddenly scared , he felt totally out of control. He was acting like a baby having a tantrum, but couldn't stop. He hated it. Which only made the feelings worse. He moaned as he kicked his legs out again, but this time his bad leg was stopped by a firm hand. Izuku tried to jerk free but the steady pressure didn't let up. 

 

“Kiddo, stop kicking, I don't want you to hurt yourself.” 

 

Another wet wail tore its way out of Izuku as he quickly sat up only to slam himself back down, his spine curving uncomfortably over Shouta’s leg, his head snapping into the floor. His minor headache bloomed into something much more solid.

 

“S—.” A hand gingerly cupped itself over his forehead, lightly holding him down to keep from doing it again. “At least the ground is padded.” 

 

Gasping for air, Izuku tried to count the breaths, like he’d been taught at the commission, trying to calm down. It was terrifying as nothing worked. It was like some angry Yokai had slithered down his throat and taken over. He was a passenger in his own body and it was awful. 

 

Shouta's knee ground into Izuku's back as he struggled against the hold. Izuku squirmed, turning and twisting in the perfect way to ramp the dizziness and pain into full on nausea. 

 

Rolling his head to the side, Izuku dry heaved. He was quickly manhandled to be held up over Shouta's arms. His hands gripped around Shouta's wrist. His legs both laid limp out behind him.  Facing the ground, he gagged, and the quick movement made the dizziness worse. 

 

Hot burning acid shot up and out of Izuku's mouth, splattering on the blanket and Shouta’s knees. He groaned as his stomach clenched again. The tingle along his jaw signaled another round, but Izuku shook his head, willing it to stop . 

 

“Shhh, it's okay, Izuku. Let it out if you need to. You're fine. I’ve got you. You're okay.” 

 

Izuku whimpered before throwing up again. After finishing, he collapsed into Shouta’s hold, not even trying to hold himself up. He felt wrung out and twitchy, but at least he was back in control. Bringing a shaky arm up to wipe his face, Shouta stopped him by shifting him to a seat on the far side from him. 

 

“No, let me.” He used the edge of the sleeve of his sweater to wipe Izuku's face. “We wouldn't want your new hoodie to get all nasty.”

 

Izuku felt more tears flood his eyes as he slammed himself into Shouta's chest. Clutching at the back of the knit cardigan, Izuku dug his snot-covered face into his temporary parent’s chest with a long keening whine. 

 

“Shh. It's okay. Deep breaths, follow me, Izuku.” 

 

Shouta started to slowly rock back and forth as he took long slow deep breaths. Izuku tried to follow the breathing, but kept being interrupted by a hiccup or a hitching sob. 

 

“There you go. You're doing great.” 

 

Izuku shook his head, his nose squished into his chest. He couldn't follow Shouta's breathing pattern, even though it should be simple.

 

“You’re… not doing great?” Shouta carded back Izuku's hair.

 

Izuku nodded, his voice impossibly small. “Keep making people upset and can’t follow directions.”

 

“Oh, kiddo.” He breathed out, the air tickling the top of his ear. “No one is upset at you. We just hate seeing you in so much pain. You don't have to worry about us though, okay? We can manage our own feelings, you just gotta focus on you.” 

 

Izuku hummed. It still sounded incredibly selfish and unheroic. But he thought that about the pain meds, too. Shouta and Hizashi were both heroes and wanted him to focus on himself. Maybe it really was okay to be a little selfish.

 

“Also, I want you to know I would cut off my arm for students even half as good at following directions as you are.” 

 

“Please don't,” Izuku rubbed his face on Shouta's chest, “we never got to testing to see if I could heal amputations.” 

 

“I…” Shouta cleared his throat. “Don't worry. I wouldn't actually do that. I'm pretty attached to my limbs. I would cut my hair off for it though.” 

 

Izuku shifted and reached up to grab at some of Shouta's pink hair. He twirled it around and pursed his lips. 

 

Shouta smiled. “I see your face. It’s just hair. It’d be worth it.” 

 

Izuku fiddled with the ends of the hair before letting it drop. He patted it lightly. “Hizashi would cry, he just dyed it.” 

 

Shouta chuckled. “You're absolutely right. I wouldn't want to make Hizashi cry. I guess I’ll just be doomed with teenage hooligans in my class forever.” 

 

“Maybe I'll get into UA and then be in your class.” 

 

“I’d like that. I’d rest easy knowing there’d be one I wouldn't need to expel.”

 

“Expelling them seems kinda mean.” 

 

“You're absolutely right, chickadee.” Izuku sat up from his heavy lean on Shouta. Keigo was scary silent at times, so it wasn't surprising that Izuku had missed his entrance and him perching next to the two of them. 

 

Keigo reached out and ruffled Izuku's hair. Pausing with a smile as he combed back to the red dyed section of his hair. “If you didn't figure it out yet, Shouta here is actually a big meanie when it comes to his students. Even though he’s sweet to you.”  

 

“How do you know that?” Shouta grumbled.

 

Keigo shrugged, a smirk lifting half his mouth up. “I listen.” 

 

“Your ears are way too good, and are going to get you into trouble.” 

 

“Well, me and my good ears are here to help save the day.” Keigo pulled out a water bottle from under his arm, cracked the seal before retightening the cap and handed it to Izuku, along with a small mixing bowl. “I heard what was happening from the kitchen and figured I could help out for once.” 

 

He peered over them to look at the pile of sick soaking into the blankets behind them, and Keigo’s nose wrinkled. “I could smell it, too. But, I grabbed some stuff so you could rinse your mouth out a little. I hate the gross taste of vomit that always lingers in my mouth. Sometimes it makes me throw up all over again.” Keigo stuck his tongue out, and screwed his face up in disgust. “It's real nasty.”

 

Izuku nodded as he swished the water around his mouth before spitting the bitter spit out into the bowl. He stuck his tongue out with a croaking gag.  It was gross, but his mouth did taste a little better. He started the process over. Hopefully doing it a few times would make his mouth less foul. 

 

Keigo pulled out a bottle of pills out of his pocket and tossed them to Shouta. “I got some more meds, ibuprofen, right?” 

 

Shouta nodded and Keigo’s wings puffed up before flicking out and settling back down against his back. Keigo flicked his eyes off to the side and scratched the back of his neck. 

 

“I… don't know how much he really got down so I thought bringing more might be good?”

 

“It was a good idea. Thank you, Keigo.”

 

His brother's wings flared and fluffed up again. Keigo bounced a little where he was squatting, inching closer to Shouta's side.

 

“Should I go grab Hizashi? I peeked out the window and saw him on a video call just outside the kitchen. He was wildly signing into his phone, but isn't far.” 

 

“Ah, good. He’s probably talking to his mom. Leave him to it, things are more public so he’ll be able to talk through some things.” Shouta started to rub large circles across Izuku's back as he spit once again. 

 

Izuku wrinkled his nose as a long string of spit stretched down from his lower lip into the bowl. “Ugh, gross.”

 

“Eh, a bit. But that's okay.” Shouta handed Izuku an additional pill. “I’m pretty sure you threw up before the meds were able to work, so let's try to get some of that pain under control. Even if you didn't, this is still within a safe dose.” 

 

Izuku took the pill and swallowed it, chugging what was left of the water bottle. He set it off to the side. His mouth was still gross, but it was now bearable. With a large sigh he fell back into Shouta's chest, avoiding the wet smear of tears and snot on his shirt. 

 

Closing his eyes he groaned. He’d only just woken up from a nap but, wow he was ready for another one. 

 

Today felt like a two nap kind of day. 

 

A peaceful silence fell upon them. Shouta slowly rocked back and forth as he hugged Izuku loosely against his chest.Turning his head, Izuku watched his brother flit about, picking up the empty bottle and spit filled bowl and took it out. Only to return a bit later and start to bundle up the vomit covered blankets. 

 

“You don't have to don't have to do that.” Shouta's chest rumbled under Izuku. 

 

“It's okay. I want to. It's… I just want to help.” Keigo started back up his efforts to clean. Izuku bounced between his brother folding the blankets, but Keigo’s movements became stiffer at Shouta's disgruntled face. 

 

After Keigo stood woodenly, his face blank, his arms full of dirty blankets, Shouta blew the hair that hung in his face straight up. A brief flash of frustration was washed over with reluctant gratitude.

 

“Fine. I’ll let you do it, but don't feel obligated to do this sort of thing.” 

 

“It's just laundry ,” Keigo muttered under his breath before leaving. 

 

Shouta rolled his eyes after Keigo left then focused back on Izuku, he rested his head on his shoulder to get a better view of Izuku's face. 

 

Izuku gave him a little two finger wave, which made Shouta smile. 

 

“How ya feeling?” 

 

Izuku shrugged. Everything still kinda felt like a lot, but it was less of a lot. Which didn't really make sense, but was exactly how he felt.

 

“How's the leg? Better? Or worse?” Shouta flipped his head to his other shoulder. “Or about the same?” He straightened up fully. 

 

Izuku let his head flop in the same direction Shouta’s had been for ‘better’. 

 

“Good, I'm glad the medicine is working at least a little.” 

 

Izuku nodded. He was glad too. The pain was still very much there, but it was distant in a way that felt amazing. The swollen feeling in his hip had also shrunk, which was great. 

 

“I don't know about you, kiddo, but I’d like to clean up a little.” 

 

Izuku cringed, ducking his head down. He’d thrown up, cried and wiped his snot all over Shouta. Of course he’d wanna clean up, and it was all his fault. 

 

“Hey, none of that.” Shouta shifted him, hooking one arm across Izuku’s back, the other carefully snaking under his knees. Izuku braced for a dizzy spell as they stood, but Shouta took it disgustingly slow, so he ended up feeling totally fine. “In the wise words of Keigo, ‘it's just laundry.’” 

 

Izuku sighed with a tiny smile. 

 

“How does a movie sound after we get new clothes and you brush your teeth?” 

 

Flashing a quick thumbs up, Izuku nodded. 

 

“Good. Start thinking of a good movie.” 

 

As they entered the bathroom, and Izuku was placed on the counter, he noticed how tired Shouta looked. His eyes had almost purple rings under them, his shoulders were sloped down and his steps had been slow. 

 

Maybe Shouta also felt it was a two nap kind of day. 

 

Movies were a good lazy activity, and if he chose a good one, they were great backgrounds for naps. 

 

Rolling his shoulders back, a small spark of determination flashed in his chest. He’d find the best napping movie for the two of them. 

But first, he really needed to brush his teeth.

Notes:

Warnings: descriptions of pain, mentions of medications, meltdown, vomiting

Also if you count the number of times i have shouta joke about cutting off limbs its like three or four. i cannot stop myself. i think it is hilarious every. single. time.

and poor baby boy. i gave him some of my chronic pain ToT i feel bad but also ooo the catharsis

Chapter 40: Shouta is tired (and is having a hard time)

Notes:

HELLO LOVELYS

Hopefully y'all are doing splended. <3 this chapter isn't very fluffy as one might imagine Shouta is doing great from having to watch Izuku have a full on melt down. :)) He'll be fine, but like he is having a sad boi hour lolol

AND AS ALWAYS thanks @sassy_chemist for all of her comments and edits <3 she is the best beta reader and friend I could ask for (also everyone send hearts her way as she's been having a rough go lately, i will not explain further as it aint my life but but she is a trooper and deserves the world ToT <33333)

WARNING: This idk is a depiciton of a depression spiral, like Shouta is going to be fine and it's not like Suicidal at all, just like this is how my depression expresses itself so like idk, if that sort of thing might be triggering, like be warned. BUT SHOUTA GETS SOME COMFORT!!! and there are some lighter moments lol

But without further adoooo!!!
Enjoy!

Shouta passed out within the first five minutes of the really old animated kids movie Izuku had picked out. Apparently, a few years back he and his mom got on a kick of watching old kids movies and found some favorites. Hizashi said they’d watched one with dragons that was pretty good. This one was something with robots in space and Izuku had quietly told him that there was a boot that had a plant in it that was really important to the plot as he was trying to ‘sell’ it. Not like Shouta would know, as he slept through all of it, but it did sound pretty cute in concept. 

 

Normally, he’d wake up during movies from sudden loud noises, but either the movie was surprisingly quiet or Shouta was just that tired. He was leaning towards option two. 

 

Only two weeks into being Izuku’s guardian and he was totally spent. Shouta knew it would be hard going into it, but he wasn’t expecting it to be that much worse than having a horrible, accident-prone class. He figured being in charge of roughly twenty kids for half the day could be similar to two full time.

 

He was dead wrong. 

 

The fatigue he felt was as if every muscle in his body had been overworked for a month straight and then he was asked to carry a backpack with fifty kilos up a mountain. He was trudging his way up, but as was shown by his major tumble in the form of a relapse and whatever the h— was currently going on in him, he wasn’t doing a great job on this journey. 

 

Shouta hated to even think about it, but sometimes he wished he could get his hands on another pack of cigarettes and another bottle of alcohol. He wouldn’t , but the craving didn’t really go away with the logic of how dumb of an idea that it would be. The buzz would be pleasant, and ignoring the crushing feelings of inadequacy, even for a few hours, would be heavenly. 

 

A part of Shouta was glad he was basically trapped on campus, as it took most of his vices from him. He sure as h—- wasn’t about to ask one of his coworkers to bring him cigarettes or alcohol. So, the feelings were here to stay, no numbing allowed. Only healthy coping mechanisms. 

 

Recovery Girl would be so proud.

 

Fighting the constant ‘depression thoughts’ wasn’t new to him. It was exhausting, but he’d learned to do it years ago. Most of the time he followed through on fighting back, and ignored what he couldn't. However, Shouta had gotten distracted and slipped up. He got his breakdown already through, and restarted his efforts at fighting them and building himself back up. He should be okay by now, and the fact he wasn't was equal parts annoying and discouraging.

 

He actually had been doing better. That was until he watched Izuku have a nuclear level meltdown only a short time after a bad flashback. 

 

Kid couldn't catch a break and it was breaking Shouta's heart.

 

Something about having to hold the child in his care, as he threw up from emotional turmoil or possibly pain, made Shouta feel like a complete and utter failure as a guardian. Again. 

 

He wanted to be what Izuku needed, but no matter how hard he tried, he always seemed to get it wrong. There is a learning curve to all new skills. For Shouta it might as well be a cliff face on the side of a mountain. One he wasn't sure he had the strength or skill to climb.

 

The worst part was how Keigo had to step in. He’d brought more meds and water for Izuku, cleaned up the vomit covered blankets, and cuddled up with Izuku as Shouta just started a movie. Keigo shouldn’t have to do that.

 

Shouta was the parent, Keigo was the child. 

 

But in that moment Shouta couldn’t help the pure relief he had felt as Keigo took the load from his weary shoulders. He couldn’t tell Keigo how close to breaking he had been at that moment, or the gratitude that flooded him at the assistance.

 

Shouta couldn’t let that happen again, though. He’d seen what happened to older siblings when their parents lean too heavily on them. His mom had practically turned his older sister, Mihoko, into an emotional support crutch, and also dumped him on her at every possible opportunity. 

 

It made sense in retrospect, as an adult. His mom had been dealing with his father’s alcoholism and violence. Shouta wasn’t the only one to learn how to hide bruises in the family. His mom was the pro, as she frequently would get in the middle when his father would really lay into him. 

 

But that didn’t make forcing Mihoko into a parental role so young okay. 

 

It had hurt when she left a few weeks before he started high school, totally cutting ties with the family. He’d felt incredibly abandoned, which didn't help the sting of failing the hero course exam. She had basically raised him, but he couldn’t fault her for bailing. 

 

But teen Shouta was a ball of angst with a chip on his shoulder the size of China. Now, as a debatably stable adult, he couldn't fault her for it. Even Shouta bailed before he graduated, so she stuck it out longer than he had been able to. The moment he walked into the Yamada’s front door with a black eye at the start of his senior year that he couldn’t explain away from heroics, they’d offered a safe place for him to stay. He took that offer immediately, packed his things, and never went back. 

 

Every once and a while he wondered if he should try to find and reach out to his sister. But he always ended up deciding against it. 

 

But he wouldn’t turn Keigo into Mihoko. He couldn't live with himself. When talking about kids with Hizashi, he’d always said he’d want to end the cycle of abuse. To be better. Shoving his responsibilities onto Keigo wouldn’t be fair, and would prove that Shouta was no better than his parents. Shouta signed the paperwork, not Keigo. 

 

His phone buzzed in his pocket. Checking his phone, he saw he had a few notifications. A series of texts from Hizashi which all boiled down to a ‘thanks for realizing I was too upset and needed to cool off. I’m a little better now’. Just with more cussing and more emojis. Shouta didn't respond, and moved to the next set of texts.

 

A few updates from Nedzu about the investigation. Which seemed to be going very well with a bunch of the agents involved with Izuku’s capture being turned over to detectives and intelligence heroes to be interviewed and charged. A few were still at large, but a significant number were being dealt with. Shouta left the rat on read. Nedzu wouldn’t expect anything more from him and would just keep sending updates as he had them.

 

He also had a text from his supervisor at the underground heroes agency he was signed on with, asking when he would be available for patrols again.

 

To be honest, he didn’t know how he was going to juggle the boys and the classes that would start back next week, let alone the boys, classes, and patrols . He might end up needing to take a fairly long sabbatical, which he always hated doing. Crime always seemed to spike when he’d leave for too long. 

 

Shouta left that text as well. He’d discuss it with Hizashi, then get back to his supervisor.

 

With a sigh he looked at the most recent notification. It was Mama Yamada, all but demanding a phone call with her, or better yet for them to meet up for a chat . 

 

Well, that answered the question of how long it would take Hizashi’s family to learn of their marriage. To be honest, he was kind of surprised that it took this long. It was illogical and irrational, but a part of Shouta was convinced that Mama Yamada would feel some cosmic shift regarding her ‘precious baby boy’ the instant that they signed the marriage license. He imagined her stomping up to their front door and just pounding on it, making the door shake, a wedding gift tucked under one arm, and a deep scowl on her face. She’d be ready to throw the gift into Hizashi’s arms, forcing him to be silent as she would sign at the speed of light about their audacity and how they couldn’t hide from her love forever. That she would be celebrating her baby’s wedding. That there was nothing that could stop her.

 

Actually, since they packed up and left so abruptly, there was a possibility she had still done that, but only just learned where they were staying. 

 

Suddenly, Shouta was very grateful for UA’s upped security. 

 

He loved his mother-in-law (that was weird to think about), but she was a lot . 

 

Luckily, he had a great excuse to not call as he now had children that were his responsibility. As a mother of three, she would understand them taking priority. 

 

And no, he was not using his kids as an excuse to avoid social engagements. No matter what the little voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Hizashi said. He wasn’t using them.

 

Okay… He absolutely was. However, a more legit excuse was that if she didn’t know that he and Hizashi were now guardians, he sure as h— wasn't going to be the one to break the news. If she knew she had more grandbabies, not even UA security could stop her from meeting the boys. 

 

Izuku’s eyes were potent, but even his cute kid wouldn’t save him from all of her wrath at hiding them. Both Yamadas loved being grandparents to their three little toddlers. And they would love to dote on Izuku and Keigo. They would go overboard the moment they got a whiff of their backstory. All the Yamadas had an aggressive form of love and care that was more than a bit overwhelming at first. 

 

If they learned that Keigo likely never had a real birthday party, like Shouta and Hizashi now believed to be the case, the Yamadas would single-handedly rob a bank to pay for the disgusting number of presents they’d buy him to make up for all nineteen missed years. They’d also just buy Izuku a whole hero merch store once they got a whiff of his passion for heroes.

 

It would be good for both boys to have such open and caring people in their lives. People who would bombard them with love over and over and over. Just… not yet. The dust was still clearing, and they were all just starting to settle from the chaos of the past few weeks. The Yamadas were well meaning, but would likely spook both Izuku and Keigo. 

 

Also, Shouta was tired and he loved his in-laws (still a weird thought), but he also really didn’t want to deal with them. 

 

But Shouta didn't really want to deal with anything currently, so it wasn't really their fault. It was taking everything in him to just handle existing, breathing, sprawled out on the floor. He’d deal with the tangle of chains that seemed to be piled on top and tied tightly around his chest later. 

 

Imagining the far distant future where the Yamadas could meet the kids was… lighter. There would need to be some logistics before they all could meet. The boys would need to learn enough signs to be at least polite. Which would suck for Hizashi and Shouta’s super secret system of using sign language around the boys to communicate covertly. When he didn’t f— it up that is, and just started talking because while fluent, his brain liked Japanese more. The boys would also need to be more settled and stable. The Yamadas were capable, but they weren’t heroes. They couldn’t handle being violently attacked if Keigo lost it. They would also need to be prepped on triggers for both, and how to help Izuku stay grounded. 

 

Deciding to ignore all the messages for the foreseeable future, he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He could answer them later. Or not. He was too tired to make any decisions.

 

Keigo had scampered off once the movie ended, which was what had woken Shouta. He’d slipped out of Izuku’s spider monkey hold with a grace that made Shouta jealous. Hizashi was clingy in his sleep and made slipping away without waking him up impossible. To Shouta’s questioning expression, Keigo had mumbled some half coherent fragments about forgetting timers and needing to check on… something. 

 

Shouta needed to check on him . He hadn’t seemed to be too upset, but no part of Shouta trusted Keigo to not hide a complete breakdown. 

 

Last time he’d let Keigo simmer on his own, Shouta had ended up skewed in a glorified landfill. So, he felt a bit justified in his concerns.

 

In all likelihood, Izuku’s meltdown stressed Keigo out. He was probably doing his hyper vigilant searching that he’d settled into doing once or twice a day. Even when not actively tearing the dorm apart, Shouta had caught him sending feathers out to ‘patrol’, sticking aggressively close to Izuku’s side, and placing himself in the room to be watching exits. Just a bunch of small behaviors that added up to Keigo not feeling safe.

 

It was like Keigo felt he needed to be on high alert at all times. Which wasn’t sustainable. However, Shouta had no idea how to help him, except to be there. 

 

If he knew how to stop hypervigilance, he’d start with himself. Hizashi also struggled to keep from constantly checking in on ‘his people’ when he was stressed. So it wasn’t like they were perfect examples for Keigo to emulate. Shouta was on high alert more often than not, triple checking locks, sitting where he could view exits, and rarely going anywhere without his capture scarf and a few knives. Shouta had also noticed Hizashi more than once in the past few days double and triple checking on Keigo and Izuku and immediately resolving issues as he noticed them. And while it was sweet to see Hizashi sprinting at breakneck speeds to try to resolve every small issue in this weird little family, Shouta has seen how this thing totally wore his husband out.

 

A worn out Hizashi was more likely to have impulsive bouts of shopping and angry, sometimes violent, outbursts, which wouldn’t be great for anyone. 

 

There was a reason that the Yamadas gave them an ultimatum of getting therapy or ending their relationship. Not only was Shouta in absolute tail spin right after graduation, but Hizashi had been too. 

 

Luckily, Shouta and Hizashi were in a better place, but bad habits are hard to kill and rarely stay dead. That’s why Shouta had slipped up. That’s why he’d sent Hizashi to have a time out before he did something he’d really regret. That’s why he really needed to get the f— up off the floor and check on Keigo. He couldn’t let Hizashi run himself into the ground. 

 

Instead he was going to run himself into the ground. Shouta sighed, draping an arm over his eyes. 

 

What a f—-ed up mentality. Maybe it was good he had an appointment scheduled with his therapist already. It couldn’t come soon enough.

 

A strange mixture of dull apathy and aggressive passionate concern swirled under the invisible weight pressing him down. The emotions, like a lump of coal shoved deep in the earth, slowly turned into a hard diamond, all sharp edges slicing his organs open every time he moved. He wanted to do what he’d always done, to stand up, to ignore the pain from his harsh emotions. To push past the empty gauge, moving forward and forward and forward . 

 

But he just couldn’t . He’d reached empty at least a week ago and now was so far past empty now it wasn’t even funny. He was a continent away from just being exhausted. All that was left of him was the husk that couldn’t be cannibalized to keep going. He was rusted, creaky scaffolding around the remains of a burned down building. A lot of his emotional reactions to the past two weeks had been regularly pushed into boxes labeled for ‘later’, then shoved into the closet in the back of his mind to smolder and burn away at his insides.

 

It seemed ‘later’ was going to have to be now. Which was just s—y timing. 

 

Shouta stood by his choice to compartmentalize all of his s—. Izuku and Keigo had needed him, all hands were on deck, and then some. Unfortunately, that meant that there were no hands left for himself. Hence the massive depressive slump he was now going to have to figure out how to slog through, until it just magically went away. 

 

And by ‘magically went away’, Shouta meant do a f— ton of work, some therapy, and probably at least one really good cry. He hated it, but getting out of a slump like this always started with a solid cry. Something about releasing pent up emotions or whatever. At least that’s what his therapist always said. 

 

Which sucked as it was incredibly embarrassing. Shouta couldn’t just let out a few stray tears and be fine. No, no, he needed a headache-inducing snot fest full of small keening whimpering sobs. 

 

Hizashi was the only one who had seen him like that. And that was only a few times. Now, he lived with a child who couldn’t see him break down like that at all, as he needed to be the adult. And an adult teenager who had incredible hearing, who would also have his own thoughts about Shouta sobbing like a toddler. Izuku and Keigo needed Shouta to be strong. They couldn't see him as someone too weak to help carry their burdens, they’d hide them more than they already did. He’d hate for his kids to feel they couldn't go to him for help.

 

Shifting the arm off his closed eyes, he sighed. It took all his energy just to roll onto his side and curl up ever so slightly. Acidic despair washed over Shouta. This was going to be a bad one. He needed to tell Hizashi. His attempts to keep his s— off Hizashi’s shoulders always ended up backfiring. 

 

This was horrible timing. If he could kick his own brain he would. 

 

Normally, he was better than this. He’d see the signs then do the stupid actions that boosted his stupid fragile mental health before it got even close to this bad. He wasn't… great at self care, but he wasn't an idiot. He couldn't help others if he didn’t at least to the bare minimum, so he’d do just enough to keep going. But this time he hadn’t had time, there was no way he could have taken time to decompress from the f—ing s—show that had been the last two weeks. 

 

This morning, in his now daily fight to get out of bed, Shouta was a bit taken aback as he mentally listed all the things he’d gone through in such a short time. Logically, he’d known it was a bad time, but as the list grew Shouta really realized just how horrible the last two weeks had been.

 

Shouta had participated in a half thrown together raid. He’d watched Keigo get shot and efficiently kill one of the abusers of both himself and Izuku. The child they rescued needed to be resuscitated as they’d taken too long to get there. He’d watched at Izuku’s bed side, unsure he’d survive. Also unsure if Keigo would survive if Izuku didn’t make it. He’d mentally adopted a traumatized adult teen with a list of issues that could fill a book, and was adopted back as a pseudo father to him. In doing that, he’d had any tentative trust he had in the government and the society he fought for totally destroyed as Keigo slowly opened up about what they’d done to him. 

 

He eloped with the love of his life practically on a whim to get official guardianship for the other traumatized child. Only to immediately stress the boy out repeatedly from doing things that seemed so innocuous at the time, but now in retrospect, with more understanding of what Izuku has been through, could come across as terrifying for the boy. He then sat by as Izuku quietly dissociated as Shouta stressed over Keigo’s massive infection. Only for Keigo to wake up, steal Izuku, and sprint him over rooftops, ending with Shouta getting stabbed. 

 

Just on a physical level, he’d also broken his nose, ruptured his eardrums, and was stung around the eyes. Then there was the emotional drain of all the times he’d helped Keigo and Izuku through flashbacks, panic attacks, dissociative episodes, and paranoid anxious house searches. 

 

On a personal level he’d also relapsed in a magnificent way, and was back on the sober train and the attempt to quit smoking. Less because he wanted to, and more because he couldn’t access cigarettes. And again, there was no chance in h— that Shouta was going to ask . 

 

It wasn’t unheard of for heroes to have drinking problems. It was way more common than anyone would be comfortable admitting, but it was rare for a hero to smoke, as it was absolutely horrible on one's lungs. Heroics was an active career, and doing something that so clearly impacted one's health negatively was definitely a choice . So other heroes were frequently judgy about it.

 

However, he could not be bothered to care most of the time. If it wasn’t for being trapped on campus and not wanting a million concerned and judgy looks from his coworkers, Shouta would’ve been a f—ing chimney through all of this. D— his health, nicotine was definitely something that helped him push himself past his limits on a regular basis. 

 

With everything listed out, Shouta couldn’t help but wonder how he lasted this long with only one solid breakdown. Or, more realistically, now two.

 

Soft footsteps padded down the hallway. It was too loud to be Keigo and too quiet to be Hizashi. Probably Nemuri. 

 

“Shh, Shouta’s still sleeping,” Izuku hissed out. Which was sweet, and entirely not true. Shouta wondered when the kid woke up.

 

“Oh, thanks for letting me know.” He was right, it was Nemuri. Her voice was soft and shifted down to be closer to the floor, probably squatting down next to Izuku. “How are you doing, sweetie?”

 

“’m okay. I… Kind of need to go to the bathroom.” 

 

Shouta felt like a s—-y parent. Of course the kid needed to go, he should have thought of that and actually offered when he’d woken up. Not like he’d known Izuku was awake until he spoke. But that didn’t matter. Izuku shouldn’t walk, so Shouta needed to be more on top of that. 

 

He didn’t want another accident. Izuku was so upset the first time.

 

“Do you want me to carry you down the hall?”

 

“Yes, please.” 

 

Never mind, Nemuri seemed to have it together in ways he just didn’t anymore. 

 

“All right, you ready?”

 

“Mmhm.” Izuku hummed. “Thank you.”

 

A small bubble of warmth simmered under the thick layer of self hate. Izuku was such an adorable kid. 

 

Shouta listened to the shuffling as Nemuri took Izuku away. Her light footsteps faded into the distance. The relief he felt at being alone had a second wave of self hate and pure disgust slam into him. How dare he feel better when the child he agreed to take responsibility for was being taken away and cared for by someone else. It wasn’t Izuku’s fault that Shouta was a mess and couldn’t handle a small breakdown. Feeling relieved felt twisted and wrong. 

 

Part of him worried that he actually secretly resented taking on the kids. That one day he would parrot the hate filled words his father spewed over and over about the birth of him and his sister. That he’d throw an empty bottle over their heads slurring about how they ruined his life. About how they were ungrateful brats and he wished they'd just die already.

 

He couldn’t do that to Izuku and Keigo. He didn’t resent them, he was just tired and worried about the possible parallels between him and his father. During the better times, he actually really enjoyed how his family was expanding. But the hard times were hard and the better times were few and far between.

 

Taking a deep breath to try to center himself, Shouta frowned. 

 

Something was burning . 

 

A small degree of panic flooded him, providing the energy to overcome the gargantuan task of standing up. He half stumbled into the kitchen. 

 

Depressed as he may be, he wasn’t going to let the dorm burn down. 

 

Finally reaching the kitchen Shouta couldn’t help but crack a smile. Smoke was billowing out of the oven. Keigo was flapping one wing in small fast motions just below the smoke alarm, forcing the smoke away from the sensor. Stressed chirps and trills filled the room, along with the soft thuds as the kid hopped from one foot to the other.

 

Leaning into the doorway, Shouta crossed his arms. 

 

“What’s burning?”

 

Keigo jumped. And by jumped, Shouta meant almost took flight , as Keigo’s hair all but grazed the high ceiling. A few feathers shot out from behind the wings and made a small circle of the perimeter of the room.

 

Shouta felt a little bad. Keigo was so aware all the time, it had seemed near impossible to sneak up on him. But Shouta had just succeeded. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it.

 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” 

 

“It’s… fine.” Keigo had a hand to his chest, clearly mentally working to slow his breathing and heartbeat. “I just got distracted.”

 

“Fire will do that to a person.” Shouta waved a hand in front of his nose, watching as the smoke haze swirled around it. He grunted as he forced himself off the door frame and crossed the room to open the window above the sink. Cold wind bit into Shouta’s face, both making him scrunch his nose but also peeling off one thin layer to the ever present exhaustion. “Opening a window can help keep the alarm from going off. Fresh air and all that.”

 

“Ah, yeah. That makes sense.” Keigo started flapping, sending much of the smoke out through the window. 

 

Once the kitchen was mostly clear, Shouta slid the window shut, but paused at the view. Large snowflakes fell from the sky, and the bushes near the window had a thick layer of snow on them. The ground glimmered as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds for a brief moment. From experience, he knew all sounds would be muffled under the blanket of white. 

 

Quiet, calm, and beautiful. 

 

Shouta wanted Izuku to see. Shouta wanted to watch as his kid experienced all the small joys of the world. The sparkle in those deep green eyes as he saw a swooping bird, or pointed at a cloud in awe would never get old. It made the hard days worth it. 

 

He just wanted to see his kids happy. 

 

Turning around, he barked out a laugh. Addendum to his previous statement, he wanted to see his kids happy, or whatever the h— Keigo was currently feeling. 

 

The kid was curled over the still slightly smoking baking sheet. Arms braced on either side of the hot pan, bright blue oven mitts still on his hands. His gold eyes focused on the now charcoal lumps of his failed foray into baking. The desperate look of utter defeat mixed into something edging on delusion. It was like if Keigo looked deep enough into the black blobs, they would somehow turn back into something at least resembling food. His patchy wings were slumped down on either side of him, mostly on the ground, really adding to the almost comic levels of despair of the moment. The only movement in his whole body was him bouncing one leg behind him, catching the foot with his toes, his long talon-like toenails clacking with each strike. 

 

He shouldn’t laugh, but G-d, it was funny. 

 

Patting Keigo’s shoulder, Shouta reined in his mirth. “It’s okay, It could be worse.”

 

“How?” Keigo croaked out, his eyes not leaving the baking tray.

 

“Hizashi once forgot a chicken pot pie in the oven on a day we both got called out on raids. We were gone the whole weekend. The apartment was totally fine, thank G-d, but what was left I swear fused with the tin. And not to mention the smell that lingered for months .” He leaned over the counter to lazily gesture to the tray.  “So, this? Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

 

Keigo sniffed before standing upright, but still looking down at his failed attempt. “It doesn’t seem like it should be this hard.”

 

“You’d think, but Hizashi, a man who is actually pretty great at cooking, is utterly useless when it comes to ovens. It’s almost embarrassing, but I am actually better at baking than he is, and to be clear, I’m not good.”

 

Keigo sighed before covering his face with his hands. His wings shuddered as they folded up and slumped against his back.

 

“I just wanted to… I don’t know. "

 

“Wanted to what?”

 

“To do something nice for Izuku? He’s had a really rough day.” Keigo lowered his hands, his eyes a little watery. “I am also pretty sure I’m about a million cookies in debt to him from all the weird deals we’ve made, too.” 

 

“Sounds about right. He is a little cookie mob boss in the making.” 

 

“G-d you have no idea . He has so much s— on me that he is keeping from Recovery Girl.” 

 

“You should just tell her, keeping things from a doctor—” 

 

“If I do it, you have to do it too.” Keigo flicked his eyes over to Shouta, one eyebrow lifted. Shouta felt something in him shift at the small smile that played at the sides of Keigo’s mouth.

 

“Snowball's chance in hell I’m doing that. I also owe the cookie monster a few dozen.”

 

“We should just call him the cookie mob ster.”

 

Shouta snorted. “That’s terrible.” 

 

Shrugging, Keigo jumped up to sit on the counter with a small smile. “I aim to please.” 

 

They settled into a calm, easy silence. Shouta hadn’t realized how much he needed to just quietly exist. No crises, no large attempts at cheering up, no loud screams or laughs. Just the two of them breathing the same slightly smoke scented air, existing in the same space. Shouta felt himself relax as he watched Keigo poke at one of his ‘cookies’. It crumbled under the light pressure. 

 

“What should I do with these?” Keigo breathed out, half to himself.

 

“Hide the evidence?” Keigo shot him a look. “What? You think Hizashi knows half the dumb s— I’ve done? Nah, I hide it. If he knew the half of it, I’d never rest again.”

 

Shouta slid the window open, gesturing to Keigo. 

 

“That, I 100% believe.” Keigo tested the pan with his fingers before picking it up and chucking the whole tray out the window. Shouta frowned when there was a clattering of metal hitting metal. He was about to lean out the window to see what the tray hit, when Keigo darted forward and slammed the window closed, one wing flared out to cover the window from view. He chuckled nervously and half guided, half pushed Shouta away from the window. “It's as good as gone! Nothing to see here!”

 

Keigo was hiding something. The realization should have made him more curious, given him energy to investigate, to do something . But instead it sucked what little energy he’d been able to scrounge together. He caught himself on the counter as his knees half gave out under the weight of everything crashing back down on him. Deciding here was as good of a place as any, he let himself slide down the cabinets and onto the floor. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes.

 

“…Shouta?” Keigo’s voice was small and tentative. Under the ever present exhaustion Shouta felt a twinge of pain. He shouldn’t have his little breakdown in front of the kid. This was exactly what he was hoping to avoid. “Are you… okay?”

 

He grunted before forcing his eyes open with a small shrug. “’m fine, just… tired.” 

 

That wasn’t really the right word for it, but there was no way in h— that he was actually going to explain it all to Keigo. The kid had more than enough on his plate as is. 

 

“I bet you’d sleep better in a bed, not on the floor. But if you wanna sleep in the kitchen I can go grab you a pillow?” Keigo gave him a crooked smile, but Shouta could see the worry behind the thin facade of bravado.

 

“I'm not going to sleep here. It’s not that type of tired.” 

 

Keigo immediately started his small hops from foot to foot again, as his face flashed with raw concern before smoothing out to blank. Internally Shouta cringed. That was way more honest than he wanted. Keigo wasn’t an idiot. He probably knew what was going on, at least generally.

 

“Do…” Keigo paused his rocking. “Do you want me to go get Hizashi?”

 

“Is he back from his call?”

 

“Uh, yeah.” Keigo’s shoulders slowly raised up to his ears as his hands started to clench and unclench at his sides. Distantly, Shouta was glad he wasn’t digging his sharp nails into his palms or pulling at his hair. “You were asleep, but he came in during the movie. He’s talking with Midnight and Izuku right now.” 

 

Shouta really didn’t want to lean on Keigo again. As much as he didn’t want to be like his mom, he wasn't sure he even had the energy to pull his phone out of his pocket to call Hizashi, let alone get up to go to his husband. 

 

G-d, he hated feeling like this. 

 

“Yeah, go grab him.” 

 

“Okay!” Keigo all but ran out of the room with a half salute. 

 

Shouta felt his lips twitch up, like they wanted to smile. It was cute, how eager Keigo obviously was to help. Shouta couldn't abuse that, he needed to be stronger. He did mourn the energy Keigo was using, however. It wasn’t like he was going to keel over if Hizashi wasn’t here immediately, there was no need to run. 

 

Even if part of him kind of did feel like he was going to implode without his husband by his side. He was actually fine, no matter what his mind was telling him. 

 

“Hey Shou.” Hizashi crossed the kitchen to sit next to him on the floor. “How’re you doing?”

 

“Phenomenal. Never been better,” he deadpanned.

 

Hizashi flicked his forehead and made a buzzer sound. “Incorrect. Try again.”

 

Shoving his shoulder into his very annoying husband, Shouta growled. “I feel like s—. Happy?”

 

“I’m not happy you feel like s—, but I am happy you are being honest. What’s wrong? Keigo just told me you were ‘acting weird’ and needed me.” He craned his neck over to look at the door to the kitchen. He raised his voice slightly, “I also told him to not eavesdrop and to hang out with Izuku and Nem.”

 

Raising his hands he switched to signing. If you would rather, we can sign. If it's not for listening ears .

 

“Talking’s fine.” Honestly, Shouta’s brain was like molasses and his arms felt weighed down by concrete. He’ll just have to embrace that Keigo would in all likelihood hear his little breakdown. Later, he’d have to work twice as hard to make sure the kid knew Shouta was someone he could still lean on. That he wasn't some weak wilting flower. “It’s just… been a long day.”

 

“Yeah, it has been,” Hizashi whispered before bumping into Shouta’s side. “I need to apologize.” 

 

“What for?”

 

“For being so mad at you for your relapse.” 

 

“No, I majorly f—-ed up, you should be mad at me.” 

 

Hizashi held up a finger. “Let me finish. I am not happy you totally went off the deep end. And I was livid, don’t get me wrong, but I was mostly scared . You could have died out in the cold or choked on your own vomit if we didn't find you. But, Shou—” His voice broke. “G-d, Shouta, I think I get it.” 

 

Shouta pulled Hizashi into his side as he started to cry. “This morning watching Izuku and Keigo both get flashbacks at something so simple as me snapping my f—ing fingers gutted me. I still feel awful about it. I clamped it down in the moment as the kids needed us to be calm. I figured I’d be fine, that I’d cry about it in bed tonight, and it’d be whatever. But then Izuku goes and says the most horrible list of pain I’ve ever heard in my f—ing life so flippantly, like it was normal . And then knowing him standing and trying to walk around while having a flashback was my fault? I’m usually more of a tear the world down around me and then take myself out kind of guy. But in that moment, if I could've just curled up in a ball and disappeared, I would have done it in a heartbeat .” 

 

Hizashi wiggled closer and rested his head onto Shouta’s shoulder. “G-d, I feel so guilty. I know it's irrational and not my fault, but my brain refuses to get the memo. The idea I could just… numb it. Make it all go away, even briefly, sounds amazing . Which I’m sure doesn’t help you to hear,” Hizashi let out a sad laugh. “But, I’m so sorry for being so mad, because now being the person to trigger a large episode, I really think I get the urge to just down a whole bottle of vodka. And that’s without the history you have. The fact you lasted as long as you did was impressive, because this is f—ing awful .” 

 

Leaning his lips to rest on the top of Hizashi's head as he clung to Shouta, he sighed. “It’s a pretty s—y feeling. I wish you never had to feel this way.” 

 

“It sucks, but it was going to happen at some point.” Shifting around, to find a more comfortable position, Hizashi pecked a kiss on his cheek as he wormed his fingers between Shouta’s. “We’re in this together. Thick and thin, all the way.”

 

“Yeah, to hell and back.” 

 

“And then back to hell again, because why not?” Hizashi planted his chin on Shouta’s shoulder, a playful expression peeked up from over the rim of his glasses. 

 

Shouta huffed, rolling his eyes. “I’d like less hell, thank you.”

 

“Nah, with our luck we get at least three trips a year. Maybe four. It seems to be our favorite vacation spot.”

 

“Since it's only January and we’ve had an elongated stay, could we maybe just… not visit again?” Shouta hated how small and broken his voice was towards the end. He wanted to keep joking, but just couldn’t. Hizashi, being a perceptive b—rd, wrapped Shouta into a hug and reversed their position from earlier, tucking him into his side. He stroked the back of his head, and Shouta felt his dry eyes ache as they tried and failed to form tears. 

 

“I’ll do everything I can to keep us from coming back, okay?” Hizashi’s voice was feather soft as he slowly rocked the two of them. 

 

“Okay.”

 

They sat on the floor for a while. Hizashi humming and rocking, Shouta puffing out shaky wet breaths into Hizashi’s shoulder. He mentally begged himself to just release the tears so he could start to feel a bit better instead of sitting on the edge. They never came, which wasn’t a huge surprise. It’s not like anything in Shouta’s life was easy. 

 

Pulling back from the hold, Shouta leaned into the hand that was pressed into his cheek. 

 

“How’re you doing now, sweetheart?”

 

“Not great, but better.” Which was true. Hugging Hizashi was like being plugged into a charging cable. No matter how depleted and empty he felt, it would always help him feel at least marginally better. 

 

“Better is better than nothing.” Hizashi rubbed a thumb over Shouta’s cheek bone. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

 

“Just being here is helping,” Shouta shrugged. “Beyond that, I don’t know.”

 

If Shouta knew how to ‘release the pent up emotions’ he would. But it was never the same thing that would lance the emotional boil. Shouta slumped into Hizashi’s side, letting his head rest heavy on his husband's shoulder. Glancing up at the window, he watched the large flakes dance and swirl as they fell. Hizashi kissed the top of his head, and grabbed one of his hands again.

 

“Izuku had a full on meltdown when you were on the phone.” The words fell out of his mouth.

 

“What?” Hizashi sat up, ruining the nice position they’d settled into. “Is he okay?”

 

“He’s… fine now.” Shouta half guided Hizashi back down so he could lean on him again, he missed his pillow. “It was pretty intense though.”

 

“What happened?”

 

“Between the bad morning, and being in a lot of pain, and then being confused over something just sent him into a tailspin. I…” Shouta swallowed, but it was hard to do around the rock lodged deep in his throat. “I don’t know if I did the right thing, but he was slamming his head back and kicking, so I had to hold him down to keep him from hurting himself.” 

 

“No wonder you feel like s—.” Hizashi held Shouta tighter. “That’s horrifying.”

 

“Yeah, he ended up throwing up a few times before slowly calming down. Keigo helped do laundry as I cleaned up Izuku and myself. We watched the movie because I didn’t know what else to do and didn’t want Izuku to get worse.” 

 

“That explains the change of outfits. But, G-d, Shouta, that’s…” He trailed off clearly searching for the words and failing to find them. 

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” 

 

“It’s okay. I just… probably won’t be of much help for the rest of the day.” Shouta felt awful about it, but just briefly having a conversation with Keigo about failed cookies made him tired enough to need to abruptly sit down. If he couldn’t fully finish that, he’d likely just need to be a ghost drifting through the rest of the day.

 

“I’m tempted to roll you up in a blanket and make sure you sleep for more than just a few hours.” 

 

“I probably wouldn’t stop you.” Shouta looked back at the snow out the window. “But, I’d like to see Izuku’s reaction to the snow. I think he’d like it.” 

 

“Do you think either of you would be up for that?”

 

“Izuku likes walks, or we can set him up by the window, if nothing else. And the pain meds seem to be helping at least a little bit.” 

 

“I don’t want you to push yourself, either, sweetheart.”

 

“I understand, but…” In his mind there was a flash of a wide smile, green twinkling eyes and the echoing of an excited giggle. A squawking, trilling laugh joined with the blur of red and gold. “I want to see them happy. Even if it’s brief.” 

 

“Okay.” Hizashi tucked some stray hairs behind Shouta’s cheek. “If you’re up for it, I’ll go round up Nem and the boys. Take your time, but be bundled up or I’ll throw more clothes at you.” 

 

“I’m going to walk out in just underwear, now.”

 

“Mmmm. A man can dream.” Hizashi trailed a hand down Shouta’s chest only to slide a hand under the edge of his shirt to hold his cold fingers against his now tightened abs. He smirked, humming as he traced the muscles before tapping Shouta navel. “But, you’d be too cold. If I see more skin than around your nose and eyes I’ll forbid you from our journey.” Hizashi slid his hand out and tapped Shouta’s nose.

 

“Alright.” Shouta stood gracelessly. Hizashi stood with him, keeping a hand out just under Shouta’s elbow to steady him. He looked concerned. “I’m going to be fine, ‘Zashi.” 

 

“I just haven’t seen you this shaken up over something since… Well, it's been a while.” Hizashi gave a tight smile. “I’m going to just be a mother hen for a bit.” 

 

Pushing his husband towards the door, Shouta sighed. “Be a mother hen, but aim it at the kids . They need it more than I do.” 

 

“I can mother hen three people.” Hizashi rocked back on his feet at the push, only to get closer to Shouta and grab his hand.

 

“Prove it. Go get the boys ready.” 

 

“That’s only two, Shou.” 

 

“You know Nem isn’t going to wear enough layers. And will fuss the most out of all of us.” 

 

“Oh my g-d, you are so right. She’s going to freeze if I don’t help her!”

 

Hizashi took a few steps until their arms were stretched out between them. He hadn’t dropped their hands, their fingers still woven together. Slowly, he turned back towards Shouta. He was biting his lower lip and a deep winkle cut between his brows. Shouta squeezed his hand, shaking it slightly. 

 

“I’ll be okay, promise.” Shouta smiled. He could tell it was a sad, small, little thing, but it was honest. “And if that changes, you’re the first I’ll call.”

 

The trepidation on Hizashi’s face eased into soft relief before he yanked Shouta to him in a tight hug.

 

“I love you.” 

 

“I love you, too.” 

 

It took Hizashi a few minutes to let go and leave, but Shouta wasn’t going to complain. Hizashi was his personal sunshine, and he was just a small plant who got to bask in his warm glow.

Notes:

And the next chappie :)) flufffff <3 cuz we need it <33

SNOW DAYYYYYYY :D LETSSSS GOOOO

 

Also I have now finished writing the whole story (hence me capping the chapter count (also what a nice round number holy heck) I am going to add the short omake I have writen, turing this into a series (probably around i think chapter.... 43 or 44?? it matches one chapter but is from an alt. perspective lol). I do have plans for some interlude fluff and things that didn't fit in the narrative of this story (i.e. the Emic wedding!!!!) so if anyone WANTS to follow it into the interludes and then once I get to writing the 'cannon' era stuff for this AU that'd be the time to like sub and whatnot lol. But this also means i have been rereading the story from the begining and WHEW BOYYYY I have found some small things I need to edit lolol, so I might start over again and just like do an edit sweep of grammer/spelling errors. and ALSO ONE OR TWO CONTINUITY THINGSSS???? (shhhh i didn't forget that I mentioned Hizashi having hearing aids one (1) time and then literally never mention it again lolol so I might just cut it... maybe i'll give him hearing loss in the interlude between this story and the cannon era one... hmmmm we'll seeeeeeee. I also forgot I did the MATH WRONG for ages and orginally had Keigo be 18, and then I went. hold up no. that isn't great math. and then changed him to be nineteen lol OOPSSSS I thought I caught all the mentions.... I had not hahaha. but like beyond MINOR things like that I don't plan on changing things retrospectivly lolol so don't worry haha)

Chapter 41: Shouta and his family get to have a snow day

Notes:

HELLO FOLKSSSS <3

thanks to @sassy_chemist as always for filling me with joy with your comments and also your edits <3 you are the bomb dot com and then some more <3

This one is fluff. i wrote a good half of it WHILE it was snowing acutally lol so it was wish fullfillment cuz i was stuck inside and i wanted to go OUT and play in the snow!!!! D: but this was a good way to deal with that. I did end up making a snow man later that day to be clear, but it was a quick little thing while i was waiting for my bus home from work lol it also stayed chillin on the bench for like a good three days before someone smashed it so that brought me unending joy tbh

there really arent any triggers that i can think of :P

From his room getting ready, Shouta couldn’t help but crack a smile as he could hear the cacophony that was Hizashi trying to herd their little family into getting ready for a trip outside. 

 

Keigo practically whined that he was an adult and knew how many layers he needed. Then he claimed that birds ran warm so he was fine with what he had. Then, that he had feathered wings he could use as a blanket in a pinch. 

 

Hizashi was having none of it. Shouta had no idea how many layers Keigo was trying to get away with, but it was clearly not enough for the mother hen trying to prove his worth. 

 

Nemuri was just as bad, but it seemed to involve less talking and more manhandling the woman into more clothes, if Shouta was interpreting the sounds coming down the hall right. Apparently, Hizashi demanded that she wear ‘real pants’, whatever that meant.

 

Izuku, however, was praised and touted around as an example of a perfectly bundled baby, which from the soft grumbles and dramatic sighs, the kid was not thrilled with it, but there weren't any major arguments. 

 

Keigo had quipped that Hizashi’s favoritism was showing. Which led to Hizashi chanting all his favorite things about Keigo. Which must have overwhelmed the kid as he loudly ran away. Hizashi did not let up, following him around the whole apartment, half singing his praises as Keigo tried to get away. Keigo's pleas and squawks were getting more and more desperate the longer it went on.

 

Which was such a mood. Shouta now couldn’t wait to be able to introduce the Yamadas to Keigo. He was going to actually implode.

 

Keigo had peeked in briefly, looking at Shouta for help. A wide chaotic grin spread across Shouta’s face before he muttered, “I’m not going to save you.” 

 

Keigo had just scrunched up his face and darted away before Hizashi could catch him. 

 

The whole interaction made something in Shouta loosen, some part of him starting to finally relax and let go.

 

Totally bundled up to the degree that he knew Hizashi would allow, Shouta moved to the front room. He leaned against the far doorway to look in. 

 

 It was a chaotic mess. Clothes were thrown all over, half of the blanket fort had been totally ruined, the walls slumped and pooled on the floor, the floor of blankets and pillows were rippled up like sand dunes around the tracks of running footsteps. Everyone was ready by now, totally bundled up and ready for time in the snow. 

 

Hizashi was doing his last minute futzing with their outfits. The scarf around Keigo’s neck got a second wind. Hizashi used one hand to reach behind him to check that Izuku’s hat covered his ears. Shouta got a once over and a nod. Nemuri’s jacket got zipped up to her chin. Only for her to zip it back down with one hand as she flipped him off with the other. 

 

Everyone snickered or laughed at that, even Shouta. 

 

“Alright, Except for Nem, who needs to zip up her jacket , we are good to go!” Hizashi gave thumbs up around the room, only flipping it down in front of Nemuri with a deep frown. 

 

“G-d, you get a few kids and you go disgustingly domestic. I’m a big girl. I can dress myself. Promise.” Muttering half to herself she rolled her eyes and crossed to the door yanking it open, leaving the rest to follow. 

 

A few stray flakes blew in with a gust of frigid air. 

 

“We ready?” Hizashi asked, getting a round of yeses. 

 

“Okay, let's go!”

 

Shouta couldn’t help but smile at the way Izuku vibrated as he clung to Hizashi’s back with a massive grin, muttering about things he could do in the snow. How Keigo’s wings fluttered as he lightly bounced on his toes as he walked in clear muted excitement, just like any teen trying to play it cool, but failing. The sediment layers that buried Shouta started to crack at the sight, large fissures growing, and in time he would be able to break through. 

 

Or at least he hoped he would break through. There would be something poetic that the thing that brought him some relief would be a reversal of the thing that buried him. Shouta trudged after the group, at a much more sedate pace, just experiencing the snow for himself as he watched his little family. 

 

The crunch of the fresh fallen snow under his boots grounded him. The sharp sting of the cold air on his face woke him up in a way that he hadn’t felt in weeks, if not months . His nose started to run almost immediately, and would likely end up being bright red from the cold by the time they returned. Shouta could bury it in his warm capture weapon, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to stop the experience. 

 

The rest had found a nice open field of snow and ran into it. Shouta ambled up to stand next to a snow covered bench. He closed his eyes briefly to bring his face towards the sun peeking out from a break in the clouds. He smiled at how the rays made his skin tingle.

 

It was no Hizashi, but it did warm something frozen deep in him. 

 

Maybe Hizashi and Recovery Girl were onto something when they said he needed to get more sun. It felt really nice. 

 

The snow dampened all the noises of the world, making the world feel smaller. More intimate. All Shouta could hear were the excited laughs, short bird calls, and babbled words between his people. 

 

Shouta opened his eyes just in time to see Izuku slide off Hizashi’s crouched back onto a thick bank of snow. The kid giggled as he started to make a snow angel, before he very carefully sat up and held his hands up. Keigo had come over to pull Izuku up onto one leg and slowly shifted him into a piggy back ride. It was a bit of a tight fit, but Izuku seemed to appreciate being nestled between the large red wings. And Keigo seemed to enjoy it too, or at least he seemed more relaxed this way.

 

A few of the feathers shot off his wings, which startled Shouta into a fighting stance, only for them to slam into the snow around the snow angel. 

 

Shouta relaxed. It wasn’t a fight. It was just Keigo playing . The thought lodged something in his throat.

 

“Now, that’s a real snow angel.” Keigo said with a wide grin, gesturing to his addition with one hand.

 

“Kei-nii. Now I have two sets of wings!”

 

“All the better to fly with, Chickadee!” 

 

“I gotta make another one now!” 

 

“Nah, if you get too wet, the cold police are gonna come for us,” Keigo stage whispered up over his shoulder to Izuku.

 

“I heard that!” Hizashi called from where he and Nemuri were starting to roll a few balls along the ground. Probably starting to make a snowman. 

 

“So, you don’t deny it! You are as bad as the cops!”

 

“Kei-nii. You’re a hero .”

 

“Yeah, and?” 

 

“You know what, never mind.” Izuku shook his head, looking perplexed at his brother. “Let’s go make a snowman.” 

 

“Yeah, let's make a bigger one than the stupid adults.” 

 

“They aren’t stupid,” Izuku said at the same time Hizashi started laughing loudly.

 

“So you finally admit it! You are a kid!” Hizashi hollered from the other side of the field area.

 

“I’m nineteen!! I’m an adult, just you are both… more adulty adults!” 

 

“Sure thing, it totally doesn’t sound like something a kid would say. I totally believe you,” Hizashi drawled out, sarcastically.

 

“You know what?” Keigo reached down and grabbed a handful of snow before throwing it with insane accuracy, looking like a missile locked on to its target. The ball flew in a straight line, exploding into a halo around the back of Hizashi’s head.

 

Holy s—-. Shouta couldn’t ever fully forget that Keigo was one half-step away from a trained assassin, he had the scar on his torso to keep him from doing so, but at times the knowledge would fade. Only for one of his skills to come out and slam it back to the forefront of his mind. 

 

Hizashi had frozen briefly, obviously stressing Keigo out from the way he went from totally frozen to flaring his wings out, ready to attempt to take off in flight. Hizashi swiveled on the balls of his feet in the smooth movements that Shouta knew meant Hizashi was absolutely in ‘fight mode’. His husband’s face grew a playful feral grin as he tilted at his waist, one leg raising half behind him as he grabbed his own handful of snow.

 

“Oh, kiddo,” Hizashi purred out as he packed the snowball. “You are so going down.” 

 

“Kei-nii! Run, run, RUN!!” Izuku shrieked, ever louder, as he pounded on Keigo’s chest.  

 

Scrambling with both his stumbling legs and his wings acting as counterbalance, Keigo made a sharp 180 and started sprinting away from Hizashi who was cackling like a mad man. Keigo was graceless, clearly not well practiced running in snow, and had to catch himself by flapping his wings to right himself more than a few times. 

 

Hizashi finally caught up and hit Keigo square in the side of the head, the snow shrapnel exploding over both the boys’ heads. Keigo froze, giving Hizashi a chance to throw a quick second snowball to Izuku’s back.

 

“Ha! I win!” Hizashi started to do a silly little dance in celebration.

 

Keigo flicked his eyes over his shoulder to Izuku, who whispered in his ear. They both grinned at each other. A few of the medium sized feathers slipped off Keigo’s wings and started to push snow into loose balls, and flew them to the boys’ waiting hands. 

 

“You sure about that, old man?” Keigo taunted as he caught his two snowballs with one hand and brought them up, shaking them towards Hizashi.

 

“Y-You’re going down.” Izuku grinned holding two additional snow balls. 

 

“Oh s—-.” It was Hizashi’s turn to about-face and sprint for his life. The cackling boys followed close behind, pelting the now yelping Hizashi. 

 

Shouta felt a shudder run through that buried emotional part of him. It was an earthquake unearthing parts of him that hadn’t seen the light of day for some time. As he started to dust the snow off the bench for him to sit down, he felt a swell of emotion bubble up like a lava lamp just starting to heat up. 

 

He was startled from the feeling as Hizashi face-planted into the show. He was tripped by a few snowballs thrown around his legs, and one of the larger balls Nemuri had been placing around the area clearly just to add in her own chaos to the game. Hizashi rolled over and made a big dramatic show of ‘dying’ adding in a whole soliloquy about how much he loved his parents and sisters and he hoped they would be able to move on without him. Adding in that he hoped the law would be kind to his poor, misguided babies who clearly didn’t know what they were doing. He also shouted out how much he would love and miss his handsome, amazing, talented husband, which Shouta cut him off with a shouted, “Just die already!” 

 

Which made everyone laugh. Hizashi tried to play offended, but he couldn't fool Shouta, who could see the mirth in his husband’s eyes as he looked over at him. 

 

He could see the relief, too. 

 

Nemuri really saved the day by picking up one of the larger, head-sized obstacles she’d made and just dropped it on Hizashi’s gut. He grunted from the weight, stopping his dramatics briefly. She put one of her heeled boots over his shoulder and held up a hand to high five the two boys. 

 

“We killed him, boys. Good job.” 

 

“Traitor!!” Hizashi dramatically wailed. “We were the stupid adults together!” 

 

“Speak for yourself, ‘Zashi. I’m not a stupid adult.” Nemuri picked up an armful of snow and once again dumped it over Hizashi. 

 

The whole field filled with laughter. The fast paced high pitched giggles, mixed with the lower sporadic coughing laugh, mixed with squawks and trills. Hizashi’s groan and deeper, slower laugh added depth, while Nemuri’s tinkling laugh soared over the rest like a descant. 

 

Shouta felt something in him shatter, the cold aching numbness flushed away in milliseconds as a few hot tears sliced down his face. He blinked the tears back to let the image sear itself into his brain. 

 

Hizashi, half buried in snow, was grinning, even as Keigo’s feathers grabbed more snow to drop on him. Nemuri stood half bent over Hizashi, her long hair feathered out around her face. Her nose was pink from cold, but wrinkled up from how wide her smile was. Keigo stood by Hizashi’s head, his face relaxed in a way Shouta had only seen on the kid while he was sleeping. The lack of tension around his eyes made him look younger, without burden. His smile wasn’t that perfectly even one that he’d flash to try to prove everything was okay, but it was skewed to the left ever so slightly, showing too much gum. The smile raised Keigo's cheeks so much they almost covered the dark markings at the corners of his eyes. 

 

Shouta bit back a sob, and he stood to leave. He didn’t want to lose it in front of everyone. Peeking over his shoulder to check if anyone noticed, he couldn’t help but be glad he did. In the few seconds he stood to leave, Izuku had peeked his head out from between Keigo’s wings.

 

Izuku looked so carefree. It took Shouta’s breath away. Surprising everyone, Izuku was a generally happy kid even with everything he’d been through. He was quick to smile and to laugh. But lately those smiles have been a bit more wobbly. Slightly less bright. A little less often. It was probably a good thing as the kid was obviously only just beginning to process all the things he’d been through, instead of pushing them off. But it never failed to make Shouta ache, as he saw the fear and uncertainty float just below the surface of his green eyes. How the memories of what happened to Izuku clearly bit at his heels almost every moment of every day. 

 

But, in this moment, it was like all of that was lifted, at least for a small time. The bright eyes were clear and glittering with mirth. His freckled cheeks rounded even more than normal from how he grinned; it was so big his teeth didn’t even fully meet together. Puffs of white air curled around Keigo’s ear with each of Izuku’s laughs. He wiggled along Keigo’s back to grab one of the balls of snow from the feathers, weakly throwing it down to Hizashi’s chest.

 

“Not my baby boy turning on me too!” Hizashi wailed, tossing a snow covered arm over his face.

 

“We take no prisoners,” Izuku giggled as he threw a second lump of snow. 

 

Shouta made it a few steps around the bench before his knees gave out. He curled up into a ball, hugging his knees to his chest as another wave of laughter flooded the field. The winter wonderland wavered as the tears multiplied. Shouta felt a flush of embarrassment as he let out a wet whimper, lucky it was covered by the loud laughter. He shook his head, half wiping his runny nose on his knee as he let out a shaky breath. 

 

They were all safe . They were all happy . He hadn’t failed them. He wasn't his parents. He hadn't ruined them by his presence. He could take a moment. He could rest.

 

All his family was happy. And Shouta finally realized he could be too. 

 

An ugly laughing sob ripped out of him. Only he would realize he was allowed to be happy while being a disgusting crying mess. It was messy and illogical and a large part of him resented it. But another part of him was just relieved he, at least for a while, might be able to stop looking for the next shoe to drop. He could stop and just revel in how warm he now felt, in spite of the cold winter air and snow damp clothes. 

 

After a quick minute or two of Shouta trying to have his breakdown as quietly as humanly possible, he heard the crunching of boots in the snow coming closer to him. Twisting to look behind him, he saw it was Hizashi. His husband gave him a small smile and settled in the snow next to him. Hizashi pulled Shouta into his side, rubbing the side of his arm. They just sat side by side as Shouta cried for what felt like an unbearable forever , but was likely no more than ten minutes. Once Shouta had calmed down, Hizashi ducked down to catch Shouta’s swollen eyes.

 

“How’re you doing, love?” 

 

“They’re so happy, Hizashi,” Shouta sniffed, his voice rough from trying to cry quietly. “In spite of everything.” 

 

“Yeah, it was a rocky day, but they are resilient.” Hizashi pulled Shouta’s head down to his shoulder and kissed it. “You are too.” 

 

“Hizashi?” Shouta’s voice cracked through the whole name. Curling up tighter, Shouta shifted his head to peek through the slats of the bench. He could see Nemuri with both the boys making a proper snowman. Hizashi stiffened next to him as Shouta cleared his throat.  “I think I really love them.”

 

Hizashi let out a breath as he dropped the tension. “Yeah, Shouta. You do.” 

 

“That’s terrifying .”

 

“It is, but it’s going to be okay. They’re going to be okay.”

 

“I can’t,” Shouta’s voice broke. “I can’t lose another person, Hizashi. I only barely survived when… I can't do it. Not again.” 

 

“I know.” 

 

“How can you do it?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Not be terrified.” 

 

“Love,” Hizashi gripped his chin, gently turning Shouta’s head to look at him. “I live in constant fear that I will lose someone. If it's not you, it's Nem. If it's not Nem, it's my family. If it's not them it’s a coworker or a civilian. Adding in two more people for me to freak out over is almost manageable.” 

 

“Almost?” Shouta bumped his head against Hizashi’s.

 

“I’m dealing with it.” Something about Hizashi’s tight smile and anxious eyes pulled at Shouta's gut.

 

“Can I help?”

 

“You already do, Shouta. You gave me a time out and took the kids.”

 

“If you need more time, I can…” Shouta trailed off.

 

After his small breakdown, instead of feeling numb, exhausted, and hollow, he was just brittle. The glue holding his cracks together was still wet, small bumps now might shift the pieces out of place. In time, he might be whole and would over time slowly fill back up with some energy. But, he… could take the kids again if Hizashi needed him to. It’d be hard but—

 

“No,” Hizashi cut off his train of thought. “Shouta, no. We’re in this together. Partners in crime remember? Knowing that you’re there for me and I’m there for you when we're at the end of our ropes is how this works. I got my moment, you get to have yours too. I’m sure this will be far from the only time we will need to trade off.” 

 

Hizashi shook Shouta by the shoulder with a grin. “Anyway, Nemuri told me her goal is to solidify herself as the ‘favorite Auntie’ anyway. So she’d be more than willing to be helpful as well.” 

 

Shouta huffed as he pressed the heels of his palms into his throbbing eyes, massaging them. “She would make it a competition. Between her and your sisters, she might win.” 

 

“I don’t know,  Rei might be able to steal that title, she’s pretty good with troubled teens.” Hizashi pushed him with his shoulder. “I know that she did good with high school you.”

 

Shouta huffed in lieu of rolling his eyes. “Kazuko might actually help Keigo with the bird noises, too, as you know she can’t help but mimic fun noises she hears. I can imagine her just adding that happy trill he does to her go-to noises.” 

 

“Oh, you are so right. We’ll just have to make sure he knows that she does this out of love.” Hizashi pulled at one of his wrists. “You shouldn’t squish your eyes like that.”

 

“Oh,” Shouta hadn’t realized how hard he’d been pressing until he stopped, the burning slowly returned as the painful stabbing pressure was removed. He groaned, letting his head fall back. The bright sun made him see red from behind his eyelids, the bright color giving him a soft throbbing headache. “I hate crying, it hurts.”

 

“You need to go lay down?”

 

Opening his eyes, he squinted back over to the kids and Nemuri. Their snow man had at some point been given boobs (likely from Nemuri) and a bright red tuft of feathers sprouting out of his head like a crown (probably Izuku’s idea, but clearly Keigo’s feathers). They seemed to be having a good time. Keigo’s gold eyes slid over to the bench for a moment, only for them to dart away. He looked a bit embarrassed to be caught clearly eavesdropping.

 

They were really going to have to work on that at some point.

 

“No.” Shouta started to stand, brushing off the snow. He hated how wet the back of his pants were, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He reached down to help Hizashi up with a grin. He spoke a little louder, making sure Keigo would be able to hear. “I can’t just let the murder of my stunning, amazing, delightful husband go.” 

 

Hizashi laughed. “They are so f—-ed.” 

 

“Oh s—-,” Keigo swore loudly as he started to sprint off, half using his wings to get a few meters of air to speed the process. “Midnight, run!” 

 

Looking up from the snow sculpture, Nemuri looked over at the two behind the bench and dropped the snow in her hand and sprinted, catching up with the tired Keigo in seconds. Which was less a sign of how slow Keigo was, and more of testament to how fast Nemuri ran. 

 

This was going to be fun. 

 

Hizashi’s face morphed into a cheshire grin, a predatory twinkle in his eye as he turned to their now running prey. He pecked a kiss on Shouta’s cheek. “Let's go hunting.” 

 

Shouta reached out to grab Hizashi’s hand. “Yes, let's.” 

 

—

 

No matter what Nemuri said, Hizashi and Shouta won. Hands down.

 

It wasn't all that fair as Shouta, a heroics teacher, knew the UA forest best, and was paired with Hizashi, the teacher who knew it next best from helping Shouta set up for classes from time to time. They were up against Nemuri, who had a vague familiarity with the area, with Keigo and Izuku being totally unfamiliar.

 

Nemuri had been the ‘largest threat’ to some of their location based plans. Within the first ten or so minutes, she had been tied to a tree using Shouta’s capture weapon. Her angry screams were a great backdrop to their ambush of Izuku and Keigo in one of the creepy old gazebos hidden in the forest. 

 

These two didn’t know that they were built up for heroics exercises to help train for identifying booby traps. Keigo’s quick reflexes almost saved them from the powdery snow that shot out at them. But his exhausted shaky legs from sprinting with Izuku slowed him down just long enough for the two to be covered from head to toe with the loose snow flung at them. Shouta had then dropped down from his hiding place and threw snowball after snowball. Izuku and Keigo started throwing some back from the snow that now surrounded them, but once Hizashi joined in, Keigo and Izuku ran out of ammo and had to concede. 

 

Everyone at that point decided it was time to go inside. They were all very wet and more than a bit cold, and left to drink cocoa and tea to warm up. Or in Shouta’s case, coffee. 

 

Shouta shouldn’t gloat. He won against a team made up of a disabled child, an exhausted young pro hero who would never leave his younger teammate, and Nemuri. It wasn’t like things were overly fair. However, that being said, Shouta couldn’t help but snicker a little to himself every time Keigo huffed or his wings ruffled as he pouted into his mug. Nemuri had been much more vocal before she went to take a hot shower to warm up. 

 

Apparently, using a hero grade restraining weapon in a snowball fight was cheating. Keigo seconded the notion.

 

Izuku said all was fair in love, war, and snowball fights. Which earned himself a high five and some promised future cookies. 

 

It was that point Nemuri left grumbling under her breath about showering and the ethics of buying off children, or the lack thereof. 

 

The rest had quickly changed into lounge clothes or PJs and had curled up in the messy front room, pulling down the last few remaining blanket walls to wrap around shivery shoulders. They all sipped their warm mugs, Hizashi sometimes throwing out the odd comment to fill the quiet. 

 

“I-is Auntie Nemuri actually up-upset?” Izuku stuttered out.

 

Shouta mentally rebooted at the name. He’d missed that development. “No, kiddo. She’s just being dramatic.”

 

“Oh, okay.” Nodding, he took a small sip of his cocoa. The nervous fidgets stopped. 

 

Holding in a sigh, Shouta wished the kid would stop trying to regulate everyone else's emotions. He wished he’d stop thinking it was somehow his responsibility. It wasn't Izuku’s fault. Not really. It was just one of the many demons that Shouta couldn’t fight for him, no matter how much he wished he could. He might not be able to fight them, but he could at least be back up or support. Leaning over he ruffled the kid’s hair, messing up the red and green hat hair.

 

Izuku gave him a questioning look, which Shouta just shrugged to. Izuku blankly stared at Shouta before shrugging back and then slowly reached a hand up to ruffle Shouta’s hair back. 

 

His heart might explode from the disgustingly fond emotions spawned from the small interaction. Or he might just cry again. Either way it would be bad. 

 

His phone ringing saved him. Checking to see who it was, he quickly left the room, signing quickly to Hizashi before he left. 

 

It’s Nedzu . 

 

Hizashi gave one quick nod before launching into his personal telling of their second year sports festival. Or in Hizashi’s words, ‘the magical story of when I met the love of my life and he immediately kicked my a—’. It was one of Hizashi’s favorites. Mainly because he knew how frustrated his “embellishments” were to Shouta. 

 

Shouta did not steal a kiss on national TV when he had Hizashi in a grapple. Hizashi did not whisper ‘I think I love you’. No one in the audience waited with bated breath to see where the budding romance would go. Shouta didn’t play hard to get when he’d finally moved classes, playing with poor Hizashi’s heart. There wasn’t any insane back and forth of 4D level of mind games till they finally caved, confessed dramatically in each other's arms in the dead of night, and started dating. 

 

Shouta had actually just been wildly confused that some random classmate he’d totally embarrassed on national TV was making the motions of trying to be friends. At first, Shouta had thought Hizashi was just trying to embarrass him back by pretending to be his friend. Shouta was never the most socially welcoming individual, but in high school he’d been past the point of prickly and was regularly just down right rude to his now husband. Especially before he realized Hizashi and Oboro were actually genuinely wanting to be friends.

 

Hizashi liked to call Shouta his ‘Tsundere dream boat’ in this story, which annoyingly was the only part of the story Shouts couldn't actually refute. High school him could be realistically described as a bit of a tsundere. But it was less purposeful and more him being incredibly dense and a bit closed off to the idea of having actual friends, let alone more . 

 

Hindsight being 20/20, it was disgustingly obvious Hizashi was interested, but high school Shouta had no idea for an embarrassingly long time. And having to correct the story to be more accurate made Shouta look a little like an idiot. Nemuri and Oboro had to shove them in a closet until they shared their secret crush to each other. Hizashi knew that it always made Shouta’s ears red with embarrassment, so he’d usually make sure to tell the story in settings he couldn’t leave and would feel obligated to correct the lies.

 

Telling it as a distraction for the kids was both a blessing for him to not have to hear it, but also horrible since Shouta couldn’t correct whatever false story they were about to be fed. He’d just have to give a bullet-pointed list when he’d finished talking to Nedzu. Which was just as embarrassing for him. Which was probably the goal. 

 

B—-rd. 

 

With a sigh he held up his phone to his ear. “What’s wrong?” 

 

“I have good news,” Nedzu squeaked out. “With the addition of All Might to the investigation into the HPSC, it has progressed near light speed. Many agents involved with both Izuku-kun’s kidnapping and Keigo-kun’s mistreatment have come forward and turned themselves in, striking deals and implicating others involved. We are close to having enough leading to the President of the Commission herself that we will legally be able to arrest her and have it stick. The public has been calling for that since day one, but she’s been able to hide behind the narrative that this was a secretive rogue faction of the HPSC that was performing ‘inhumane trials’ on healing quirks and that she would be cracking down and ratting out any other horrible groups that she has unfortunately missed. She made an appearance where she tried to come across as the victim and that she was just as blindsided by Keigo-kun’s announcement about Izuku-kun as the rest of the world. It was never outrightly stated, but it was heavily implied this was the same with Keigo-kun’s situation.”

 

“That’s bulls—-.”

 

“Correct. It will backfire spectacularly in time. We have no hard evidence, but we have more than a few testimonies implicating her. The public outrage about this whole thing is destabilizing people’s view of hero society, so the courts are planning on expediting these cases, pushing everything else off. The hope is some of the first will begin mid April.”

 

“That is a fast turn around for something like this.” Shouta took a large swig of his coffee. “This is good news, but doesn’t warrant more than a quick text. I’ll ask again, what’s wrong?”

 

“Perceptive as always, Aizawa-kun. Unfortunately due to the expedited nature of everything else, there has been a push to also collect the victim testimonies.”

 

“No.” Shouta’s voice was stormy. “Neither of the boys are even remotely ready. Hold them off for longer.” 

 

“I might be able to keep them from your doorstep for twenty-four hours, but I’m already stretching some loopholes to get us this much time. A few of the investigators have insinuated that we’re keeping things on purpose by not having Izuku-kun and Keigo-kun coming forward first thing.” 

 

“Bulls—-!” Shouta covered his eyes and counted to ten to keep from punching the wall. “How could they think that, let alone say it?”

 

“Humans are highly capable of lacking empathy for each other, which is a surprising trait for such a social species. I have yet to figure out why this is the case.” 

 

“Well, if you figure it out, let me know.” Shouta sighed. “Is there really no way that you can get us more than one day?” 

 

“Shouta-kun,” The use of his first name made Shouta stand up straighter. “I don’t think we should push for more time at all.” 

 

“Why not? These kids deserve the rest. They need it.” 

 

“I will not deny the need for rest, but how much rest will a possible twenty-four hours truly give them? Or even forty-eight. Wouldn’t it be better to get it over with in a carefully planned time and as calm an environment we can provide? How much more disruptive to their journey to healing would disgruntled investigators knocking on their door be?”

 

“They are going to backslide on any progress we’ve made.” 

 

“A trail traveled once will be easier to walk again.”

 

“Yeah, well Izuku can’t f—ing walk,” Shouta growled out.

 

“Apologies, a poor choice of phrase.” He squeaked out the apology, allowing Shouta to calm some of his mounting frustration. “But once Izuku-kun has this one meeting, he will not be bothered further. Being a minor, I have been able to secure an investigator with a lie detecting quirk. He will be able to testify to the truths of Izuku-kun's recorded testimony. He will be able to focus on nothing but healing once this is done.”

 

That was good to hear at least, it was likely Tsukauchi. He was a good detective. “And Keigo?”

 

There was too long of a pause before Nedzu answered. Which meant Shouta was going to hate whatever answer his boss gave. 

 

“Due to Keigo-kun’s more active participation in many of the HPSC’s concerning actions and his status as an adult, he will have to testify. Likely in every single trial to satisfy the bullet pointed plea deals that I've seen being thrown around.” 

 

“How many?”

 

“Currently we have seventeen cases we’re actively building, but it will likely end up to be around thirty five, possibly as many as fifty. Not including his own.” 

 

“F—.” Shouta rubbed his hand down his face. “That’s… that’s a lot.” 

 

“It is. It will likely take close to two years to complete all of them, even with the attempts to speed up the process. There are a lot of people involved that need to face justice.” 

 

“I understand, but… that is going to take a lot out of him.” 

 

“It is a good thing that he is building a very sturdy support system then, hmm?” He sounded smug. The stupid rat. 

 

Shouta scowled. “I’ll talk to the boys. I will ask them how they feel about it. If they say they need the 24 hours, you will figure out how to get it for them.”

 

“If they really do need it, I will provide it.” 

 

“Anything else?”

 

“Nothing of note.” 

 

“Good.” 

 

Shouta hung up. It was rude as h— but he just didn’t care. And if Nedzu was really bothered by this sort of thing, Shouta would have been fired within his first month at UA. 

 

Tipping back his mug, he chugged the remaining lukewarm coffee, and started for the kitchen to grab a second mug full. If he was going to have to break it to the kids that they were going to have to be interrogated on their deepest traumas in the morning, he was going to need more of a chemical boost. 

 

Neither were ready and his gut was telling him it would go terribly. Shouta felt on more solid footing now after his small breakdown and snow day, though. So, no matter how this crumbled, he would be there to help pick up the pieces.

Notes:

BUM BUM BUMMMM the plot continues!!!!

Who knows how Izuku and Keigo will handle this development! :D
(probably not great!!!! :DDDDDD)

hopefully yall have a delightful day! <3

Chapter 42: Who knew that Interviews were so nerve wracking? Izuku, didn’t

Notes:

HELLOOOOOO FOLKSSSSSS

So life went sideways for a hot sec there. Esp for my Beta reader @sassy_chemist. but shes a trooper and has been doing great with having the Ao3 authors curse hit her HARDDDDDDD the last month or so. I also am sick with a nasty cold tbh lol so its been a wild time I also got a second job and joined a comunity theatre play that my friend is directing so again. crazy month lol BUT today you are being blessed with the lead up to the INTERVIEEEWWWWWWWW

(It was gonna be the whole interview with this but it would have been like 15k words for a single chapter and i have long chapters sure, buteven that is a bit long for me haha)

BUTTTT I also have a little omake I wrote cuz the angst was getting to me and i thought it was silly haha moment. so I will also add that as a second part of the series :D and I will likely add more>>> it is a drabble of Tsukauchi's reaction to the pink hair lol

without further ado enjoy!!!!

(oh wait triggers!!! Baby boy has a dissociative moment but works thru it <3 so nothing to insane. if you've made it this far you can read this chappie!!)

Izuku squirmed in his wheelchair as he was pushed closer to the UA main campus building. The glass reflected the grey sky making the building look dull. It always looked so bright and blue in the photos online, welcoming in a way it just wasn't. At least not today. It was kind of daunting, like it loomed over Izuku. It wasn’t like he could back out now, not for something as silly as the building seeming a bit scary. Izuku knew it was just a building so it would be fine.

 

Last night he’d jumped on the opportunity to help with an active investigation. This was the real side of hero work that they never really show on TV or in articles! This was the real meat and potatoes of what being a hero was to a lot of pros. Izuku wanted to be a hero, so this would be great practice.

 

Keigo had just quietly nodded, then zoned out for a while. After a while he jumped up without warning and darted out of the front room. Probably to do a lap around the dorm to search for cameras again.

 

Shouta and Hizashi both were very weird about asking him last night, double and triple checking that he’d be fine and that if he was nervous that was okay. Shouta kept saying if he needed they could reschedule it. And Hizashi just seemed to quietly be pissed the whole time, but was clear about saying it wasn't Izuku who was making him frustrated, but that the investigation team hadn't given them more time to prepare. 

 

He wasn't sure what preparation was needed, since it was just answering some questions. It wasn't like Izuku needed to prep the questions. And Shouta and Hizashi weren't even being questioned. So it didn't really make sense to ask for more time.

 

Izuku didn’t regret putting their worries at ease; saying that he was excited to help was the truth. It was easy to agree to tell them if he got ‘cold feet’, since he wasn’t going to have cold feet. However, as they got closer and closer to the building, the nerves were building just as high as the building in front of him. 

 

And the main UA building was pretty tall. 

 

It didn’t really make sense why he was so nervous about this. Shouta and Hizashi were going to be with him this time, unlike with Inui-san. They also said if he felt overwhelmed at all, or like he was about to drift or have a flashback, to tell them so he could take breaks. Hizashi had gently held his hands and rubbed his thumbs over Izuku’s knuckles as he’d quietly told Izuku that it was also okay to not be able to finish and no one would be mad if he had to back out and finish another day. 

 

The promised Lunch Rush cooked meal would come regardless of how far into the interview Izuku got. It was a reward for doing his best, and if his best was waking up and saying they needed to do it another day that was perfectly fine. 

 

Izuku wasn’t going to back out. He wanted to experience an interview like this. He really did!

 

If only he could get his twisting stomach and trembling hands to get with the program, then it would all be fine.  

 

Hopefully, with practice that would all go away. A hero needed to be able to handle this sort of thing on a regular basis. It had to be stage fright or something. People could overcome stage fright, so Izuku could too!

 

Even All Might, once in an interview, said when he was first starting as a hero he was nervous in front of cameras and he had to practice his smile in the mirror every morning until it became second nature to him. So, at least Izuku was in good company with people with stage fright. 

 

He just wished stage fright came with less nausea. If it kept up, he might throw up, which would make the Lunch Rush meal taste less great. Which would be a major bummer. 

 

It was also a bummer that Keigo couldn’t come with him. It was difficult to hold back tears as Keigo broke off from the rest of them to follow the two officers who had come to show him where his interview was going to take place. Izuku had frowned as he watched his brother’s restless wings disappear around the corner of the hallway. 

 

It didn’t seem fair to Keigo that he had to be alone. He’d said as much to Shouta and Hizashi. The latter knelt down to explain that Keigo was an adult. Which Izuku knew. And that there were regulations about non-legal-family being involved in official interviews. Which Izuku also knew. And that they all would be able to meet back up once they were all done, so Keigo wouldn’t be gone for very long. Which, once again, Izuku knew . 

 

The rules were just dumb. It just wasn’t fair that Izuku got both parents and Keigo got none. Especially since it would be super obvious to anyone with eyes that Keigo was really nervous. Probably as nervous as Izuku was.

 

Izuku didn’t think Keigo got stage fright. He was very charismatic as Hawks, and had cameras in his face for interviews regularly as a high ranking pro….

 

Actually, maybe that’s what the thing with cameras stemmed from? Izuku didn’t know, and as much as he wanted to help his brother, he should probably focus on his own interview for now. 

 

Entering the teachers’ lounge, Hizashi started to blabber on about everything and anything as Shouta pushed Izuku around. Hizashi pointed out the cracked open doorway to the meeting room that they would be doing the interview in a little bit. But he also showed the best couch in the office for napping on, where his and Shouta’s desks were, and also an explanation for the eulogy labeled ‘The Late Latte: She shall be missed’ that was tacked to the wall. Hizashi had explained that the very nice coffee maker that had been in the teachers’ lounge for years had finally stopped working a few semesters ago and had been replaced with a much less fancy one. The teachers had mourned her to the degree they decided to have a mini funeral for her. 

 

Izuku thought it was all very silly. Shouta had just sighed and said “I still miss her,” which definitely made Izuku laugh. 

 

It was all almost enough to have him forget the nerves that still made his chest hurt and his stomach squeeze. Almost. 

 

Finally, Hizashi went back to the first room he’d shown and held the door open as Shouta pushed Izuku through the door.  It was fairly inviting. A nice painting on the wall, the two dark brown couches facing each other with a low table between them. There was even a bouquet of fake flowers on the table. 

 

Izuku for some reason couldn’t seem to rip his eyes away from the flowers. They weren’t anything fancy. He even thought they were kind of pretty. They were a nice mix of blue, white and yellows. Izuku didn’t know much about flowers, but he was pretty sure some of the yellow ones were daisies. 

 

Daisies were his mom’s favorite. She always bought a bunch of them on her way home from her last shift of the week to ‘liven up the front room’. 

 

A broken vase with trampled flowers strewn over a burning, blood-stained carpet flashed in Izuku’s mind. He whimpered. The last time he’d seen daisies was the last time he’d been with his mom. The day he’d been taken. 

 

“Hey, cookie, what's wrong?” Hizashi crouched down in front of Izuku, and grabbed his hands. Izuku could barely feel it as Hizashi squeezed his fingers. 

 

“I don’t— I— Uh, I don’t,” Izuku’s mind felt a bit fuzzy, like he was going to slip away. The only thing he could focus on was the happy yellow rings of thin silk petals. That was until his vision wavered from the tears that filled his eyes. 

 

Turning to follow Izuku’s sight line, Hizashi spotted the flowers. “Shou, the flowers.” 

 

“On it.” Shouta, like a cat stalking its prey, gracefully moved around the wheelchair and the furniture to pounce. He all but ran out of the room, holding the vase out of Izuku’s line of sight. 

 

Izuku let out a long sigh, feeling a little like he was bobbing in a warm bath. Thin layers of water washed over him, only for him to resurface, catching just enough through water filled eyes and ears to start to get a flash of a picture only to go under again. It was really disorienting. Hizashi grabbed one of Izuku’s arms and started to slowly massage it, starting at his shaking fingers and working his way up his arm. 

 

“Izuku, can you tell me five things you see?”

 

He hummed, and nodded. He could do that. Hizashi started on the other arm, his green eyes flicking up at Izuku, expectantly. 

 

“Okay, can you verbally tell me your list? If not that okay, I can come up with a nonverbal grounding exercise.”

 

“Oh, right.” Izuku felt a bit dumb, and started listing off things. “You, the couches, the t-table, the painting, the uh- wall?”

 

“Good, you’re doing great. Can you tell me four things you feel?”

 

“Can I say you again?”

 

Hizashi laughed as he dug his thumbs into Izuku’s shoulder. “Yes you can.”

 

“Good. Then your hands, the wheelchair, my clothes and uhh…” He’d kind of run out of things that were touching him. And he still needed one more.

 

“Here,” Shouta had at some point walked back in, and held out a steaming mug. “It’s some tea.” 

 

Izuku held out his finger and poked the mug, turning to Hizashi. “I can feel the mug.” 

 

“Do you want to hold the mug, too?” Shouta asked, blankly looking at his extended finger. 

 

“Oh, yeah, I can do that.” The warm mug was carefully transferred into Izuku’s hands. The heat from the trailing steam hit his face, pushing away some more of the fuzz in his brain. 

 

Hizashi shifted from massaging the fronts of his shoulders to the back of his shoulders. Izuku closed his eyes and melted into his hands. It was impressive that he was able to give such a good massage even through the thick material of the Hawks hoodie. 

 

“Woh there,” A hand darted out and grabbed the mug, steadying it. “Don’t want to spill hot tea on yourself.” 

 

“Oh,” Izuku opened his eyes to focus down on the mug in his hands. He’d forgotten that he was holding it the moment it was out of view. “Maybe… I shouldn’t hold it.” 

 

“That’s okay,” Shouta set it on the table behind him. “Once it’s a bit cooler you can drink it.” 

 

Izuku nodded, missing the nice warmth the mug radiated. It felt nice on his shaking hands. 

 

“Alright, little listener, let's finish off now. I need three things you can hear, two you can smell and one you can taste.” 

 

“I can hear you and Shouta talking. Well not right now, but like before I started talking. If that makes sense. I can also hear the air coming from the vent over there.” Izuku pointed up to the vent. He then took a deep breath to focus on smell. “I can smell the tea and… strawberries? There are no strawberries here, so that is a bit weird.”

 

“I use strawberry shampoo,” Hizashi said with a smile.

 

“Oh, that makes sense.” Izuku paused before pointing at the tea. “I don’t really taste anything but I could take a small sip of the tea and then be able to taste that? I don’t know if that counts.” 

 

“I think it does. It’s just preemptive tasting.” Hizashi patted his shoulders before walking back around to kneel in front of Izuku. “How are you feeling? You seem way more present.” 

 

“Yeah, I’m better.” He turned to Shouta and whispered, “Daisies.”

 

“What about them, kiddo?” Shouta’s voice was also soft.

 

“I-I think they need to be on the list too.” 

 

“Okay, I can add them.” He quickly pulled the folded paper out of his pocket and scribbled onto it, before putting it back. “Are you still up for the interview?”

 

“Yes.” Izuku nodded. He felt a bit like a wobbly top, just a little off kilter. But he hoped he would even out and keep spinning, not fall over. It was just answering some questions and he could do that. 

 

“Okay, let's get you onto the couch. Then I’ll go get the detective, sounds good?” 

 

“Sounds good.”

 

Shouta stood, knees popping before picking Izuku up out of the chair and transferring him to the plush couch. Izuku was a bit surprised. The couches looked firm and he thought they'd be a bit uncomfortable, but actually they were pretty soft. Hizashi sidled up next to Izuku, throwing one arm across the back of the couch, opening up his side. It was a clear invitation for Izuku to wiggle up next to him and lean into him, which is exactly what he did. Izuku almost missed Shouta leaving as Hizashi started telling another wacky story about some shenanigans that he and Snipe had gotten up to. Izuku only half paid attention, which he knew was kind of rude. 

 

He was trying to psych himself up for the interview. His excitement for it seemingly dried up, leaving only the thick crust of anxiety at the bottom of Izuku’s stomach. 

 

Maybe the tea would help him feel less nauseous.

 

“H-hey Hizashi?” His temporary parent paused, giving Izuku his full attention. Hopefully it wasn’t too obvious he hadn’t been listening. Izuku would hate for Hizashi to feel bad. “Um, I think the tea is cool enough now. Could you… uh, pass me it?”

 

“Of course.” His shoulders slumped as he smiled, grabbing the mug. He seemed relieved. 

 

Izuku tested to make sure it wasn’t going to burn his tongue, before taking a large sip. It tasted similar to one of the herbal teas his mom had always made for him after waking up from a nightmare. She called it a calming blend. This tea had some sweetener in it, but not the same honey as his mom always used. It was probably just sugar. 

 

Taking another sip, he shimmied deeper into Hizashi’s side. Izuku decided he didn’t mind the difference. Mom’s tea was a bit more herby and the honey had a different sweetness to it, but this one was still good. Differences weren't always a bad thing, even if he missed his mom’s tea, he still had the tea that Shouta and Hizashi could make him. They were all sweet, warm and relaxing, which is all he could really ask for in tea. 

 

Shouta peeked his head in. “You ready?”

 

Izuku took a sip and nodded. A determination-filled balloon grew in Izuku’s chest as Shouta walked it. He could do this. 

 

The balloon popped the moment that a fairly average looking man with short cropped dark hair walked in with a long trench coat folded over one arm and a black, hard, plastic carrying case in the other. Izuku ducked his head down into Hizashi’s side, nose digging into his ribs. Izuku folded his good leg to his chest, squirming his slipper-covered toes under Hizashi’s thigh, and carefully moved his bad leg to drape over his knees. He dropped the half empty mug onto the floor. His hands tightened around the ends of his hoodie sleeves, making little paws. He moved his sweater paws to knead and rub at his chest in a slow rhythm. He knew it didn’t work that way, but a part of him still hoped that the movement could calm his pounding and skipping heart.

 

Hizashi carded his fingers through Izuku’s hair as Shouta cleaned up the mess before he sat down close to Izuku, His hand pressing firm circles across his shaking back. He felt himself relax, now that he was book ended by his temporary parents. Nothing could get at him like this.

 

It was just the detective. He knew it was just the detective. But for some reason he was terrified. And frustrated . This was now a pattern, one he didn’t like. He’d been freaked out by Inui-san, and he was a hero, expressly there to talk and to help.  Izuku knew that he wouldn’t hurt him. Shouta had been right there the whole time! But it didn’t seem to matter. He’d also clammed up when Power Loader had dropped off the lights for the blanket fort. At the time, Izuku had thought it was just from being excited to meet another hero, but in retrospect it had been less stars in his eyes frozen and more deer in the headlights frozen. 

 

And now he was scared of the detective. It didn’t make any sense that this kept happening. He’d met Keigo, Hizashi, Shouta, Recovery Girl, and Auntie Nem with zero problems. So, why was this happening now?

 

Izuku needed to face his fears though. And this one… this one seemed like one he could maybe deal with. He remembered being pretty shy around adults when he was little. Other kids were fine, but adults were just plain scary. His mom had helped him by holding his hand and introducing him to her friends and their neighbors one by one. People she knew and promised would be kind. She’d also given him a script to follow at first, with some basic questions and pleasantries that he could fall back on if he got nervous. She’d even gotten him to draw and write one or two words onto a small stack of cards as a reminder if he got overwhelmed. It had been really hard at first, but after the first few it had gotten easier and easier, until he was able to meet new adults no problem. It was never his favorite thing as adults could still be a little scary, but he could do it without bursting into tears. 

 

Now he was back to his five year old self freaking out over just a little talking.

 

It might be little-kiddish, but maybe he could remake the cards to help him. I also might help if talking got hard so he could just show what he wanted to say.

 

He also kinda missed his whiteboard. It made things so much easier, but for this meeting the hope was that it all would be verbal. Hizashi said if it was too much, Izuku could write with pen and paper and then he could read it out for the recording. It seemed like the same as if he had his whiteboard, but there needed to be proof it was from him so they would need to have a more solid record. Meaning, no whiteboard.

 

However, none of it would matter if he couldn’t even be in the same room as the detective without being this scared. 

 

He mentally made a script for himself and practiced mouthing the words a few times. Taking a deep breath, Izuku rolled his head down, so the crown of his head was shoved into Hizashi’s side instead of his face. Squinting through his wet lashes, Izuku flicked his eyes over at the detective. Maybe looking at him would help him be less intimidating.

 

The man was just very quietly setting up what seemed to be some sort of audio device and a small camera. Which made it more silly that he couldn't just use his whiteboard, but he didn't make the rules. 

 

Izuku just watched for a while, mentally chanting his script, breathing in and out to the rhythm of the long strokes Shouta made across his back. The detective accidentally dropped a wire off the edge of the table and when he grabbed it he ended up making eye contact with Izuku. 

 

Izuku opened his now dry mouth, planning on spouting off his script real fast when the detective smiled and beat him to it. 

 

“Hi, I’m Tsukauchi Naomasa and I’ll be the detective interviewing you today.” 

 

Tsukauchi-san’s eyes were nowhere near as soft and tired as Shouta’s, as playful and caring as Hizashi’s eyes, or as protective and focused as Keigo’s sharp eyes. But they weren’t scary. Not really. He was here to help. Just like Inui-san with therapy or Power Loader with the fairy lights. It would be okay. Izuku took one last deep breath and sat up.

 

“Hello, I-I’m Midoryia Izuku. I’m a little n-nervous, sorry.” It sounded robotic and painfully rehearsed. Which was a bit embarrassing, but Izuku couldn’t help but feel a little proud that he was able to say anything at all. 

 

“You don’t have to apologize for being nervous, Midoryia-kun. It’s actually pretty normal.” 

 

“R-really?” Izuku felt some of the tension leave his body. He shifted to more fully look at the detective. Reaching up, he snatched two of Hizashi’s fingers that dangled over his shoulder. 

 

“Yeah. I’ve interviewed a lot of people, and I’d say most people are nervous.”

 

“Even h-heroes?”

 

“Even heroes.” Tsukauchi-san smiled before he turned to continue setting up the recording stuff. “I have interviewed all of the top ten heroes at this point actually, and barring Endeavor, all of them were at least a little nervous.” 

 

“You’ve met All Might ?”

 

“Yes. Actually, we’re friends.” 

 

Izuku felt his brain buffer for a few long seconds, before he shouted, “YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH A HERO!?”

 

Tsukauchi-san nodded before sitting back, the set up must have been complete. Izuku felt his mind tumbling with questions about All Might when Hizashi chuckled and leaned down to stage whisper to Izuku. 

 

“Hey hate to break it to you, little listener, but I’d like to think you are now friends with at least one hero.” 

 

“Yes,” Shouta joined in. “At least one very loud hero, one feathered one, a healing hero, and then Midnight. That’s four, kiddo.”

 

Izuku tilted his head back to look at Shouta upside-down with a frown. “I am also friends with you, Shouta. And you’re Eraserhead . But,” He threw one arm out to gesture towards the detective. “He knows All Might. All Might . You all are… different.” 

 

“I thought Eraserhead and All Might were tied for third favorite together?” Hizashi asked, the wide grin audible in his voice as the fingers still wrapped in Izuku’s hand tightened, wiggling his whole arm.

 

“Well, yeah.” He sat up to look at Hizashi, a little confused at the question. “But, right now, I live with Shouta. If I have questions about being Eraserhead I can… just ask? Here I have a chance to maybe ask some about All Might. I probably won’t get another opportunity like this.” 

 

Izuku slipped his hand out of Hizashi’s fingers and grabbed the hoodie strings. He clacked the little feathers back and forth like they were swords. He started to chew on his bottom lip. Mentally he reminded himself that Shouta and Hizashi wanted Izuku to ask questions. They set up times for him to do it. They gave him tools to make it easier. It was part of the household rules, that if there was a question, even one that had been asked before, it was allowed to be asked as many times as needed and at any time. 

 

However, for some reason saying it out loud like this made him nervous. Maybe personal questions weren’t the same as asking Hizashi to pass him the tea. There was another person in the room, and sometimes that made adults act differently. They could say that Izuku was wrong about the rules, and take it all back as fast as it would take to snap their fingers. He really didn’t think they would, but they could .

 

He hoped they wouldn’t, though. He liked the rules as they were. 

 

A hand landed on his head and ruffled his hair from behind. “I’m nothing special, but you can ask anytime, kiddo.”

 

“You are special though!” Izuku spun around as fast as he could, his legs draped over Shouta’s lap. With how rough he’d done it, it kind of hurt. It wasn’t too bad since he’d been given more pain medication again this morning. Which was really nice. He grabbed one of Shouta’s crossed arms and guided his hand into Izuku’s lap to be fiddled with. “Eraserhead has some of the most amazing stats! It is super cool that—” 

 

“Izuku,” Hizashi tapped his shoulder. “I absolutely hate to cut you off, but we probably do need to start soon, especially if we want to be able to have a reasonable lunch time from Lunch Rush.”

 

“Oh, right, okay.” 

 

“Don’t worry, little listener, I am going to ask you to go into intense detail as to why Eraserhead is super crazy special after we’re done. I want to hear all about it, okay? Just not right now.”

 

Izuku nodded. He understood. His hero rants could be long, particularly when he was having to defend a hero’s coolness. His mom had to do the same thing a few times, but she almost always remembered to ask about it later if it wasn’t a good time. He was pretty sure Hizashi would be the same way. Shouta and Keigo, too.

 

“Alright, if we are ready to begin, I will need some signatures.” Tsukauchi-san passed a folder of papers to Hizashi, who immediately started to flip through them. “It’s all standard stuff, agreements for interviewing and recording a minor, proof that the two of you were present, signing permission to use the recording in court in lieu of an in-person testimony. There is also a legal agreement that everything on our end will be sealed and redacted to protect Midoryia’s privacy. All in accordance with the minor protection acts and quirk protection acts, and it says the investigation team will be liable for any emotional or physical harm or possible defamation that the information might cause if it were to be leaked to the public.” 

 

Izuku suddenly felt overwhelmed. He didn’t really follow any of that. If he was going to be signing any more paperwork he would like to understand it. When he was agreeing to procedures at the HPSC they at least tried to make it clear what they were going to do before they did it. That was part of the deal after the first time.

 

Here, Tsukauchi-san seemed to only be talking to Hizashi, using words Izuku had no idea what they meant. And Hizashi seemed to be nodding along and quickly reading the papers like he knew what was going on. 

 

Izuku didn’t like not knowing what was going on.

 

“Kiddo, you’re squirming a lot, what’s wrong? Do you need to go to the bathroom?” Shouta leaned down to mumble in Izuku’s ear. 

 

Izuku, now even more lost as Hizashi started to ask questions about whatever was on the page that he pointed to, started to fiddle and curl Shouta’s fingers in his lap. 

 

“No bathroom, I just don’t understand what’s happening, what all those papers mean.” 

 

“Well, me and Hizashi are legally in charge of you, and as a protected individual, both for your quirk status, as a minor and, uh,” Shouta paused, his face twisted in a way that Izuku wasn’t sure what it meant. But it wasn’t positive. “And as a victim of serious violent crime, done by a government agency, no less. We need to make sure that legally you are actually being protected. So, all the documents created over the course of the investigation will be locked away, your name will likely be changed for the trial and the recording will be blurred and distorted. Ours will likely be altered too to help protect you.”

 

“Oh.” Izuku nodded, that made a bit more sense. “But, I’m not a victim. I agreed.”

 

“Kiddo… That’s not…” Shouta’s voice trailed off as he clearly searched for words. 

 

“But, I signed papers. Like, every time. I agreed .” 

 

“Wait, that’s true.” Tsukauchi-san piped in looking at Izuku, kinda intensely. It made him shrink into Shouta’s side. “You signed paperwork?”

 

“Yes? They said it was to make sure that I was consenting. And uh, that I understood beforehand so I wouldn’t freak out again.”

 

“True. Do you know where that paperwork went?”

 

 “It was all on a tablet, so maybe it was saved there? They also wanted me to sign it with my hero name, or I guess they called it a code name or alias, but I kept spelling it wrong, so they were getting frustrated. But they never actually told me how it was spelled , just that to make it ‘binding’ it needed to be spelled right. But, I am convinced ‘Panacea’ is just impossible to spell. I tried everything . After a while, I just started signing my actual name and they didn’t seem to mind too much.” 

 

“All true.” 

 

 “I’m not lying,” he grumbled. Izuku was more than a little bit frustrated that the man kept saying true, like at some point it was going to be false . Izuku wasn’t a liar. 

 

“Detective, isn’t this the sort of discussion that should happen after we finish signing the paperwork?” Hizashi’s voice was sharp and predatory. Izuku thought he should maybe be a little nervous about the tone, but he actually relaxed. It was a bit odd, but it was nice to not be scared for once.

 

“Apologies. This is just great news. If there is a known digital trail, Nedzu will be able to find it. And it will be very damning if there is a digital paper trail, likely getting back to the president, if we’re lucky. This would be a clear violation of contract law if nothing else. I would actually like to tell Nedzu now to pare down his search of the massive web of databases for this specifically.” He pulled out his cell phone and started to type into it. He was quick and pocketed his phone again. “This just will help focus the searches in a way we hadn’t fully been able to do. And going file by file takes time.”

 

“I understand, but let's finish the paperwork before you interrogate my son.” Hizashi scowled at the man as he finished flipping through the file folder of papers. 

 

Izuku felt really warm. He hadn’t been called a son in… a really long time. And he knew that Hizashi and Shouta were only his temporary legal parents, but it was nice to hear it out loud. He’d also… never really had a Dad before, since Izuku’s dad left his mom when he was still a baby, moving to America. They’d met a few times, but it had been awkward. It was really nice to now have two. Even if it was just for a short time.

 

Tsukauchi-san looked a little embarrassed as he handed Hizashi a pen. “I shouldn’t have gotten ahead of myself, I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.The last page is the quirk use agreement as I am incapable of turning mine off, as both of you are aware.” 

 

Izuku straightened at the mention of quirk use, his head tilting to the side in question. Looking the detective up and down once more, he couldn’t figure out what type of quirk it might be. It might be a memory storing quirk, or possibly some form of empathy quirk, or maybe it was mind reading! He started mentally envisioning ever weirder and funnier scenarios to see if the detective reacted. He didn’t. Probably not mind reading then.

 

Hizashi finished signing the papers, periodically passing some of the sheets for Shouta to also sign, and then handed them back to the detective, who quickly flipped through them and nodded before setting them back into the plastic case he’d brought with him. He sat back and smiled at Izuku.

 

“I wanted to tell you my quirk since you don’t know it, Midoryia-kun. I can detect lies.”

 

Izuku’s mind exploded. Questions and thinking how cool and useful a quirk like his must be on the police force tumbled and wrestled in his mind. What were the rules of the quirk? Like if someone believed something was true, really strong, but was actually wrong, what would the quirk tell Tsukauchi-san? How did he even know? Was it a feeling or like a voice only he could hear or was it a physical thing, like a light flashing? He looked like a fairly standard human, so probably not a physical thing then. Did it work when the detective read things? What about languages he didn’t know? What about white lies? 

 

The detective continued speaking and Izuku’s whirlwind of thoughts were slightly reigned in. “I also want to make sure that you are also okay with my quirk, Midoryia-kun. Even though you won’t have to sign papers for it, I just need a simple yes or no.” 

 

“Yes!” Izuku nodded. Maybe he could test a few of his ideas, but he didn’t really want to lie. Not during an interview. So maybe he could just write out some questions for him after they were done. “Your quirk is so cool!” 

 

“Thanks, I’m fond of it.” The detective smiled. “So, you ready?”

 

Izuku nodded. “I’m ready.” 

 

“If at any point you feel uncomfortable you just let me, or one of your guardians—”

 

“They are temporary parents,” Izuku interjected. “Not guardians.”

 

Blinking Tsukauchi-san, slowly nodded, clearly confused. “Alright, just make sure if you are uncomfortable, just tell one of us and we can take a break. Sounds good?”

 

“Yep.” Izuku nodded. Being told over and over that he might be uncomfortable and that he could take breaks was making him more and more nervous. Maybe this was going to be way harder than he thought it was going to be. It was just talking, though. Answering some questions. He could do that. 

 

It shouldn't be that hard. But maybe the adults knew something he didn't.

 

“Well, unless you have any more questions, I’ll start the recording.” 

 

Ignoring the about twelve million questions about the detective’s quirk, Izuku gave him a thumbs up. Tsukauchi-san leaned forward and pressed a button on the recording device with a small nod. A simple red light turned on the side.

 

It was finally time for the interview.

Notes:

Also thanks to @(Frickin someone I tried to go back in the comments to find who it was, but I was chatting with like one of yall about possible triggers and you said about like side triggers of things that wouldn't come stright to mind as something that would be triggering and I was going to give credit but im tired cuz im sick and I'll try to remember to go back to properly credit but bro maybe tomorrow lol but know if you said something along this line??? you were the inspo for the flowers lol)

Hopefully you enjoyed and def check out the silly Omake :)))))

Chapter 43: Izuku gets interviewed

Notes:

hey :) hi :) hello :)

rip to anyone who was having a good day. this one is HEAVY like we get MOST of the answers (not all sorry folks Izuku doesn't know everything) but we finally get a solid handle on what baby dealt with so like trigger warning for a lot

Tiggers: dissociation, panic attacks, mentions of child abuse (like full on torture), montions and discriptions of incidious manipualtion of a child, everyone wants to kill the HPSC :) So y'all aren't alone! Some like hints to like stockholm syndrome-y type things (aka having possitive feeligns towards abusers), Izuku has a SERIOUS fawn response to like everything so like if you find that triggereing oof maybe skip this one, idk if you all see something else that should be mentioned let me know there are mentions of like blood adn some gore but it isn't graphic.

But id normally hope you enjoy and i still do dont get me wrong but like oof this one is a rough one. also Looooooong (its like 8700 words)

<3 im sorry <3

“This is a recording of the interview of Midoryia Izuku. The time is,” the detective checked his watch, “9:27 am, on January 19th, 2XXX. The interviewer is myself, Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa, ID number 524967. In accordance with the Minor Protection Act, Midoryia’s legal guardians, Aizawa Shouta and Yamada Hizashi, are present.” 

 

Something squirmed in Izuku’s stomach at the term guardian. That’s not what Shouta and Hizashi were. Tsukauchi-san must have sensed Izuku’s discomfort and continued with a smile. “However, for the rest of this recording they will be referred to as Midoryia’s ‘temporary parents.’”

 

Izuku let out a small sigh, relaxing into Shouta’s side. He didn’t want anyone to mistake his temporary parents for a guardian. They were nothing like Mr. Watanabe, or even the nicer Ms. Komori. The longer that he was with them, the longer he thought of his temporary parents more like Auntie Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru, or even his mom. They were slowly becoming more like family and less like adults. 

 

“Alright, let's start at the beginning. What do you remember about the first time the HPSC came to talk to you and your mother?”

 

Izuku was a little surprised to start before he’d been taken. For some reason he figured they would only want to know about his time at the commission. This would be a lot longer than he thought if they wanted other information, too. 

 

“Oh, well, not much? My mom interacted with them more. They knocked on our door after I’d left for school at least once or twice. I’m pretty sure they left letters in our mailbox, maybe they called too? I’m not really sure.” 

 

“True. And that’s okay, it was a long time ago, whatever you remember will be helpful.” 

 

“Okay, I know Mom was freaked out about it. She started out grumpy but they wouldn’t stop and she got more nervous.” Izuku scratched his cheek, remembering the constant prickly feeling of being watched. “I was being followed, so I stuck close to my friend Kacchan. He’s got a powerful explosion quirk, I’d hate to make him use it, because that’s illegal, but I was kind of scared and I figured it’d be okay. ‘Cause of self defense, ya know? Mom was always really secretive about my quirk, I only ever told people I could help speed up small cuts and bruises, still cool but… less. I figured it must have leaked and some criminal groups were after me, but… I don’t think that’s what happened now.” 

 

“True. What is Kacchan’s full legal name?”

 

“Oh, It’s Bakugou Katsuki,” Izuku fought back a blush as he very carefully sounded out Kacchan’s name. It was silly that even at eleven his mouth wanted to mispronounce his friend’s name every time. It’s one of the reasons he stuck with the childish nickname. Kacchan said it was stupid that Izuku struggled with his name, but he never told Izuku to figure it out or stop using the nickname. Izuku was pretty sure deep down Kacchan kind of liked it. 

 

“True. Thank you,” The detective made a quick note on a small notepad he had. “You may continue.”

 

“It was uh, the last day that she let me out of the apartment before I was… taken. Kacchan was frustrated that I was sticking so close to him for weeks, so he’d pushed me into the grass and ran away. I’d tried to catch up, but Kacchan has longer legs, so I fell behind and lost him. I wasn’t fully sold on the idea I was being followed. I had noticed there were three adults on rotation that just were always around on my walk to and from school. It could’ve been a coincidence, but… I tested it. And it wasn’t.” 

 

“True. What do you mean you tested it?” The detective leaned forward.

 

“Uh,” He looked between Shouta and Hizashi. “Don’t tell my mom, she’d be really upset, but instead of coming straight home like she’d told me to do, I took a detour to a local hero merch shop. I poked around to see if I could see if any of the adults followed. Because if we just happened to share a commute that would be one thing, but the likelihood they also randomly went to a merch store the same day and time as me felt… really unlikely.”

 

“True. And a very smart plan to figure it out, but listening to your mother and going straight home would have been safer.” 

 

Izuku flinched a bit. “I knew it was dumb the moment I saw the woman who’d been following me poking at some Mirko figures across the shop. I wasn’t all that close to home and I got really freaked out. I sprinted all the way home, and saw one of the men jogging behind me. But it was really really clear at that point that they were following me. I told my mom and I was pulled from school. She told me to just stay inside and that she’d figure out what to do. She was really stressed and making lots of phone calls. I tried to make sure to help with the cooking and cleaning, until I was, you know, taken.”

 

“True. Can you tell me about the night you were taken?”

 

Izuku’s mouth went dry. He started to maybe understand why everyone was making it super clear he could take breaks because he really didn’t want to talk about it. He knew thinking about that night freaked him out, so he usually just pushed any thoughts off. He also had nightmares about it, not really since he’d gotten to UA, but it had been a really scary evening. 

 

Sometimes just thinking about his mom too much at all made him think about that evening and then he’d just sort of slip into a drift. He could think about her more now that he knew that she was alive . He just had to think of this all like Mom being at one of the nurse trainings up north. One had even lasted a week and he’d been left with Auntie Mitsuki, Uncle Masaru, and Kacchan. Mom wasn’t gone gone, just not here. That made it… easier. 

 

“Kiddo?” 

 

Blinking, Izuku turned to look up at Shouta, his furrowed brows mostly hidden under the pink fringe that laid on his face. Izuku hummed, tilting his head to the side. 

 

“You back with us, Cookie?” 

 

Feeling a little like he was moving through jell-o, Izuku twisted to face Hizashi. He… didn’t remember Hizashi moving to kneel in front of the couch, but at some point he must have. His light green eyes filled with open concern as they darted all over Izuku’s face.

 

“Did… I leave?” That didn’t really make sense, Izuku was pretty sure he’d notice if he’d left. 

 

… But he had missed Hizashi moving to the floor. So maybe he could have moved and not noticed? That still seemed unlikely. Looking down at his lap he saw Hizashi’s hands massaging up and down one hand, Shouta doing similarly to the other. Izuku frowned. He hadn’t even noticed until he saw it. But now that he saw Hizashi knead at his forearm with his fingers and Shouta pop his knuckles, Izuku realized how nice it felt. It was a sensation he could focus on. The fog in his mind started to clear as Shouta leaned closer to Hizashi. 

 

“Should we give him one of the lemon drops?”

 

“Noooo, they’re so sour.” Izuku whined. 

 

All the adults chuckled. Hizashi stood and settled behind Izuku on the couch giving him a shoulder massage. 

 

“If they help you stay present, then the sour is good, kiddo.” Shouta brushed Izuku’s hair out of his eyes, before practically conjuring a candy into his hand. “Do you want to try one?”

 

“I guess.” Izuku sighed, opening his mouth. Shouta huffed as he unwrapped the candy and popped it into Izuku’s mouth. The explosion of sour and sweet rebooted his brain. His eyes widened. “Oh, wow.”

 

“Sour?” Hizashi asked.

 

“A bit, but it’s mostly sweet.” Izuku didn’t realize how off he’d been until things clicked back into place. It was kind of terrifying that he’d not been able to tell how foggy it had been. He was not going to dwell on that. “It’s good.”

 

“I’m glad.” Shouta carded his hand through his hair again, before asking, “Do you want a break?”

 

Izuku shook his head, moving the candy around in his mouth so it clacked around his teeth. “No, I’m okay. I can continue.” 

 

Shouta didn’t look enthusiastic about that choice, but leaned back. Hizashi continued to give the shoulder massage, but it was less intense, more like Hizashi needed to just do something with his hands. 

 

“Do you remember the question?” Tsukauchi-san patiently asked.

 

Izuku nodded. “I was... About to tell you about the uh, night I was taken.” Shifting all the way around, he forced Hizashi to stop the soft ministrations, and grabbed one of his hands to fiddle with as he sucked on the slightly sour candy. Izuku tucked his good leg up and rested his knee on top of Hizashi’s crossed legs. His bad leg left to dangle off the couch, he turned Shouta into a back rest, slumping into his side. 

 

Hizashi’s hand had less calluses than Shouta’s, but that didn’t make it any less interesting. He traced a raised scar on the back of his hand on the fleshy part between his thumb and pointer finger. Izuku tapped it. 

 

“What’s this from?”

 

Hizashi leaned forward with a small smile. “I was baking cookies, failed spectacularly at cutting butter with a butter knife, and then stabbed myself real good.” 

 

Izuku was not sure what he was expecting, but that was not it. 

 

Hizashi laughed at whatever face Izuku was making and just grabbed his hand and shook it. “I’ll tell you the full story when we’re out of here, how’s that sound?”

 

“Please.” He needed more details. How does someone stab themselves cutting butter ? Was a butter knife even sharp enough to stab someone enough to make that thick of a scar? Shaking his head, he shoved all the other questions from his mind and focused back on the question at hand. He focused back down at Hizashi’s hand as he fidgeted with it. 

 

He really needed to answer the detective's question. No matter how much he didn't want to. Licking his lips, Izuku spoke.

 

“Uh, well, it was a pretty normal day. I helped my mom around the house, did some self study. That was until the guy knocked on our door. He was one of the three that had been following me. The jogging one. He and my mom started arguing and then suddenly they were fighting. He used his quirk, setting the carpet on fire. Then there was blood coming out of his eyes and onto the floor and he... screamed… a lot.” 

 

 “I… think that was my mom. I…” Izuku swallowed. “I once asked her if she could like, move small objects even if they were part of a ‘whole’? She said she didn’t know and she tried to move my fingers and it did sort of work. It was cool when she would ruffle my hair or tug on a finger to remind me of something. I felt really cool teaching my mom something about her quirk. I never… I never thought about what would happen if she used it on someone’s eyes .”

 

“True.” The detective leaned forward again, “What happened after the fight broke out?”

 

“A few more people dressed in all black broke the door down and dragged me down the hall. I was screaming and hitting them the way my mom told me to do if I ever got taken. I… I’m pretty sure I bit one of them. My mom came running after me and I—” Izuku gripped Hizashi’s hand, curling over it. “I tried to fight them and help my mom, but I failed.” 

 

Izuku’s eyes flooded with tears as the weight of his failures lodged his throat making him cough. He finished his forward curl and pressed his forehead into Hizashi’s chest. Shouta put a heavy hand onto Izuku’s curved back.

 

“Baby, you didn’t fail,” Hizashi whispered. 

 

“I heard my mom die . And I wasn’t able to help .” Izuku sobbed, before shaking his head against Hizashi’s chest. “S-she didn’t . She didn't die. But, but, I thought she died. I-I thought she was dead for so long . She stopped mid scream. She was bleeding from her head, and it was…. And it was…” 

 

“Shhh, breathe, kiddo.” Shouta started rubbing up and down his spine in that slow pattern. Izuku tried to match his breaths to it. “That’s it, Izuku.” 

 

“It—It was awful . I froze and someone was able to throw me over their shoulder and run. We ran like that for a long time. We ended up at Dagobah beach, and a van picked us all up. Once I was in the back of the car they tied me up and… and used a blindfold.” Izuku finished with a whisper.

 

“True. Is there anything else from that night you remember?”

 

“Yeah, I thought that path was… Weird.” Izuku wiped his nose with his sleeve, only to be handed a tissue a few seconds later. He blew his nose. “I could tell that the villains just… circled the city? They only took left turns. Which doesn’t get someone very far. I only noticed because I was trying to remember the path if I did escape so I could maybe, I don’t know, get back? But I lost track of how many left turns after about thirty. After a few hours, something hit the side of the van and it spun out. The back doors were ripped off the van by the pro-hero: Cannonball.” 

 

“True. Are you sure that it was a pro hero? Specifically Cannonball?”

 

“I know heroes, sir. It was the pro-hero Cannonball.” 

 

“I would trust him on this Tsukauchi. If Izuku says it was a hero, it was a hero,” Hizashi added. Izuku couldn’t help but smile.

 

“Alright, this is another thing I should update the investigation on immediately.” He pulled out his phone and started typing quickly. “But please, continue.” 

 

“I thought I was saved. He grabbed me and ran. Cannonball was shouting that there were other heroes to take care of the people who had kidnapped me and that he was going to take me somewhere safe. We ended up at some weird empty apartment where I met some Commission agents.” 

 

“True. Do you remember any of their names?”

 

“No, sorry.”

 

“That’s okay,” Tsukauchi-san gestured for Izuku to continue. 

 

“Uh, but they told me that the people who kidnapped me were part of a bigger organization, that they’d wanted me for my quirk and that the HPSC was going to take custody of me until they contacted my mom. I, uh, I told them that she’d died and that I didn’t have any other family, at least not in Japan. They told me then they’d just keep me until they were able to take out the villain organization, so I’d be safe.” 

 

“I tried to be grateful, but I just wanted to go home.” Izuku’s voice cracked. “I still just want to go home.”

 

Sitting up like he’d been shocked, words tumbled out of him. “Not like I hate UA, it’s been good here. So much better. I like it here and I’m super grateful but it's, I just, it’s not… I don’t know.” Izuku trailed off, chewing on his lip. 

 

“It’s not home. We get it.” Hizashi gave Izuku a half hug. Letting out a shuddering breath, Izuku settled back against him. 

 

“All true,” the detective half muttered to himself. “What happened next?”

 

“I was taken out to a smaller car. It was really late at this point and I was really really tired so I ended up falling asleep on the ride. And woke up at the facility that you all got me from. It… was a really unpleasant wake up.”

 

“True. How so?”

 

“Well, I got dragged out of the car by the wrist, a ton of adults were all shouting over each other. I couldn’t really follow what was happening. I thought maybe the kidnappers were back. I was with people who were supposed to keep me safe, so I just sort of followed along. I tried to ask a few questions and was told to shut up. After a while I picked up on someone needing medical help. It seemed really urgent. They put a medical mask over my face and then I was pushed into the room and,” Izuku swallowed. “It was awful.” 

 

Izuku felt himself start to float away, but he didn’t want to drift, he needed to finish, he didn't want to do this again now that he knew how much this sucked. In a blind panic, Izuku threw his arms out to grab a hold of anything to keep him on earth. One hand ended up clutching Hizashi’s shirt, the other grabbed the edge of the cushion of the couch. He was holding on for dear life, as a hand came up from behind to press slow soothing circles into his curled back. A large part of Izuku was pretty sure that the hand on his back was keeping him from shooting off into the stratosphere, as his hands shook and felt weak. He took a deep breath. 

 

“Uh, it was… All Might was on a metal table. There were… way too many wires and tubes. And there was… so much blood. I—I don’t know what happened but I think I could see some of his organs from where some of the doctors were elbow deep into his chest. I—I think I threw up, I don’t know, but it was really scary and really gross. A few doctors ran over to me and screamed over each other that All Might was going to die. That Recovery Girl was too far, and that her quirk would have killed him anyway since he’d been in surgery off and on for days. He didn’t have the stamina. They said I was his only hope… If I didn’t.. He would’ve… Just like my… They said I needed to be a hero.” 

 

Izuku’s eyes welled with tears. “But I never said okay. I never agreed. I froze. Again . They just shoved me to the ground and started— they started— they, uh, they, they started—”

 

“Breathe, kiddo,” Shouta’s deep voice reminded him from behind. Izuku took a quick deep breath.

 

“They attacked me!” He wailed, curling tighter to Hizashi’s side. “They attacked me. Kicking and punching and whacking me with those metal ex-extending s-stick things. I heard my leg, it, it… my leg crunched . S-same with my r-ribs. It-it hurt so bad. I was so scared. I was supposed to be safe. I was supposed to be safe!” 

 

Izuku sobbed a few times. “I-I-I thought I was going to die. I’ve been in a few f-fights before, bullies are the w-worst. But it was nothing like t-that. I think at s-some point they hit my head, be-because the next thing I remembered was waking up alone on the floor. My head hurt r-really bad, but I noticed All Might had also been moved, before I passed out again.” 

 

“I woke up again to some of the agents trying to m-move me. I don’t know what they wanted, but I freaked out. I didn’t want anyone near me. I bit one of them and I think I broke another one of their noses. I don’t really know, I just wanted to get away. I crawled under the metal table and found a bloody s-scalpel. If anyone got close I-I you know.” Izuku mimed stabbing.

 

“True,” Tsukauchi-san's voice was tight. It looked like he was trying to stay calm, and mostly failing. “Clearly you let someone get close at some point.”

 

“Y-yeah, it was Ms. Komori. She-she was my first guardian. After, I don’t know, a few days? She came and just… sat by the door. She’d sing or talk or just sit there quietly after sliding me some food across the floor. S-she also brought me a futon and blanket that fit under the table after she noticed I was shivering. She took care of me. I liked her, she was nice.” 

 

Hizashi’s hand froze on Izuku’s shoulder, tightening ever so slightly. Shouta shifted behind him. Izuku didn’t know why, Ms Komori was nice, good even.

 

“She told me that no one would touch me if I didn’t say okay first. She was the only one I was okay with being in the r-room. I-I couldn’t walk but it was o-okay because she showed me how to-to use a splint for my-my leg, and even let m-me use crutches l-later. It-it was just the two of us for a while. She wasn’t scary. But I was still really scared.” 

 

“True,” Tsukauchi-san breathed out. 

 

Izuku pressed his nose into Hizashi’s shoulder, letting out little coughs between harsh breaths. Wrapping his arms around Izuku, they started to lightly rock back and forth. A soothing hum vibrated Izuku in time with the rocking. After a few minutes Izuku turned his head away from his temporary dad’s chest. 

 

“After a while we’d just chat. I ended up t-talking about quirks and she started asking about my quirk. I-I didn’t really know much about it, my mom never wanted me to use it. She thought it was too dangerous. Ms. Komori offered to help me learn more about it. I was curious so I said yeah. The next day she came back with some simple plans. Just some shallow cuts on both our wrists to see how quickly she healed. I-I said no. I didn’t want her to have to hurt herself to test my quirk. That didn’t… that didn’t seem right. She said it was o-okay since she agreed. She c-consented. We ended up doing t-the, um, the simple test. It,” Izuku sniffed, wiping his nose on the edge of his sleeve. “It was actually kind of cool. I could see her cuts heal. And then she wrapped my own cuts. She then offered other ideas to test some of the questions I’d come up with. But…” 

 

Izuku squirmed a bit in Hizashi’s hold. “I always had the questions, but I didn’t… I don’t know, I never expect answers? Not really? Maybe when I started training as a hero. I thought about it and knowing more would really give me a step up on heroics training. But I was so scared. Ms Komori was one thing, but she’d offered others and… I didn’t want to be attacked again. I told her that, and that’s when the HPSC president c-came to show me the—”

 

“True, sorry for cutting you off.” The detective was leaning forward, a strange excited look was shining in his eyes. “But you met the president of the HPSC, did they say their name? Can you describe them?”

 

Izuku sat up, and scrubbed at his face. “Uh, if I remember right it was Kobayashi? Maybe? But she had blonde hair, blue eyes, and was shorter than Keigo but was definitely taller than my mom. She wore a suit and had a nice looking metal necklace and some simple dangle earrings. I d-don’t know how helpful that is.”

 

“Did she look like this?” The detective pulled out a photo from his case. 

 

It was definitely the president so Izuku nodded, whispering a quick, “That's her.”

 

“True. And this is immensely helpful.” Feverishly Tsukauchi-san pulled out his phone again. He shot off an additional text, and then asked, “What happened with the president?”

 

“We just talked. She formally apologized to me, saying the commission didn’t handle my treatment well and that they would do better moving forward. She said that Ms. Komori would report directly to her to make sure I wasn’t mistreated again.” 

 

“She’s the one who came up with the papers. Contracts, she called them. Said that it was the least she could do for the hero that saved All Might. The president was the one who gave me the alias, Panacea, too. She wanted me to make sure that the paper trail couldn’t get tracked back to me. To p-protect me. She said that they can rework the contracts as many times as we needed until I said yes, and signed them. She wanted to help m-me become a h-hero for the heroes and that quirk t-testing would be the first step. To be a hero I would have to heal, and it has to hurt to heal. So I agreed. They, uh, they started small, but they, uh, it, um, they…” 

 

Izuku whined, his throat drying up. He really missed his whiteboard. 

 

“True.” With a small tight smile Tsukauchi-san pulled out a stack of papers. “Midoryia-kun, if it would be easier I can go through and read a list of the records we’ve found of your time and treatment and you can say yes or no. Then if we missed any you can add on. How does that sound?”

 

Izuku nodded, throwing a thumbs up in the direction of the camera. 

 

Tsukauchi-san listed off test after test, throwing in procedures too. Izuku nodding, giving thumbs ups, and the occasional squeaked out ‘yes’. Izuku was a little freaked out about how long the list actually was. He knew that they had done lots of tests and procedures but hearing it like this was a lot. It hadn’t felt like that much at the time. Well it did , but they had been a little more spread out. One a day, maybe two to four on a busier day with then a few break days in-between. Hearing it all in a glorified bullet pointed list was harrowing. He felt himself start to drift off again when the detective mentioned ant bites and broken fingers. 

 

Izuku let himself fall back to lay on Shouta’s lap, stretching his legs more or less over Hizashi’s lap. Blinking up at Shouta, Izuku could see how surprised he was at the action. Izuku didn’t care anymore, he was tired and laying down was better than sitting up. This way he also got Shouta’s tentative fingers to play with his hair like he’d seen his temporary dad do to Keigo. Izuku understood why Keigo liked it so much, it felt really nice. The calloused fingers on his scalp slowly became the only real thing in this room, everything else seemed like a mirage. 

 

The detective finished up the list. “Do you want a break?”

 

“No, I can… continue.” Izuku felt numb and strangely out of breath for someone laying down, but he just wanted to finish . 

 

“...Alright, if you’re sure. Can you say anything else on how the tests were performed?”

 

“Ms. Komori did a lot of the tests at the beginning. It was a lot of the… smaller things. Cuts, bruises, burns. Figuring out base rates of healing. How distances were affected. That sort of thing. It wasn’t… too bad. That was until she got transferred and then I was handed over to Mr. Watanabe and…” 

 

Izuku didn’t even notice that he had trailed off until Shouta leaned over him with a pinched worried expression again. His bright pink halo had half woken Izuku up from his moment of zoning out. His tongue felt heavy as he spoke. “Actually, I think I do want that break, now.” 

 

He hoped that people could hear him over the high pitched ringing that had filled the room. The adults said things, or at least were mouthing words. Izuku decided it couldn’t have been too important for him to know or they would poke him or something. He just sort of half zoned out for a while until the pain in his leg started to cut through the gentle drifting he’d been doing. He started massaging his thigh, which only made him more aware of the zings of pain.

 

“Mm, leg hurts,” Izuku mumbled out. He blinked and then there was a cup and some pills being held out to him. Shouta helped him sit up just enough to take the pain medication. It kind of made Izuku feel like he was being cradled. Like he really was a baby. And for the first time, he really didn’t mind being treated like one, part of him craved it. It made him feel safe, being in his temporary dad’s arms like this. 

 

As Shouta started to put him down, Izuku whined and nuzzled in closer. His point must have gotten across as instead of being laid down, Shouta just shifted him to be cradled closer to his chest. With a satisfied sigh Izuku continued to half drift, the adults continued their talking, but this time he was a little more aware. 

 

“Should we finish tomorrow?” the detective asked. 

 

“I’m tempted to call it off, but I'd rather not stretch this if we don't have too. He’s been fairly aware this whole time. Let’s give him a little longer to see.” Shouta’s chest rumbled in the best ways as he spoke. It was soothing. 

 

“Yeah, the little listener has been doing great.” Hizashi’s hand patted Izuku’s good knee. “I was kind of hoping that he’d be able to do it all in one day. Rip it all off like a band-aid, but he looks practically asleep.” 

 

It took way too long, but Izuku pried his eyes open. Grumbling what he had planned to be words, but none really came out clearly, he stretched his arms out. Shouta had to shift to keep Izuku from falling

 

“Good morning, sleep well?” Shouta sounded apathetic and monotone, but his eyes were fond.

 

“No sleep. ‘m wake.” Izuku rubbed his eyes, pushing himself up off his temporary dad's chest. Shouta helped steady him when he started tipping over. “Less go. ‘m ready.” 

 

“Kiddo, you are still 90% asleep. We can finish tomorrow.”

 

“Mmm,” Izuku yawned. “60% asleep.” 

 

“75% minimum ,” Shouta started to guide him back down to lay across his lap. “Which I don’t know if you know this, but that is a passing grade in sleep. We can finish tomorrow.” 

 

Shaking his head, Izuku pushed himself back upright, shrugging Shouta’s hands off his shoulders. He patted his cheeks to wake himself back up. “I want to finish today. I want to help.” 

 

“You don’t have to push yourself, you’ve already helped a lot and you can help again tomorrow,” the detective chimed in. 

 

“Yeah, baby, it's perfectly fine to need a break.” Hizashi said.

 

“I-uh, If I stop now…” Izuku grabbed the edge of his hoodie and twisted it. He also started rubbing his numb feet together. “I-I don’t think I’ll be able to start again. This… is hard.”

 

It didn’t feel like it should be. It was just talking , but Izuku knew that if he stopped now he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to do all of this again. At least not for a really long time. 

 

Izuku looked between all the adults in the room. Hizashi’s shoulders were sloped down, his glasses slipping towards the tip of his nose. His face was a mix of sympathy and distress as he reached one hand to Izuku’s good knee, rubbing his thumb in a curve on his thigh. Shouta’s face was blank, but his blood-shot eyes were that deep tired his mom would get sometimes, the tiredness that wasn’t fixed by sleep. He looked sad, but in a subtle way. Tsukauchi-san’s face was pinched and his hand was gripping his little notepad tight enough his knuckles were white. 

 

“You can ask me a question. I’m… I’m ready.” Izuku’s voice was a lot shakier than he’d like but he just needed to finish and then he’d be done . 

 

“If you are sure,” The detective flipped open his notebook slowly, like he was giving Izuku time to back out. He wasn’t going to, he didn’t want to do this again. Tsukauchi-san let out a small sigh and asked his question. “I’d like a few more details about Ms. Komori. You said that she did a lot of the tests, but how did she treat you outside of them?”

 

“She was the nicest person at the facility. She was kind of like a distant teacher? If that makes sense. She’d listen to me to a point and would sometimes answer my questions, I could tell if I rambled too long she’d start to tune me out though. But that is fairly normal for adults, so I didn’t mind. I can talk a lot. She was also fairly patient and got me the things that I needed like a bed and food and water. And of course she also did get me some more fun things like hero merch or drawing materials. Usually it was like a reward when I wasn’t fussy during the tests. It was usually some sort of clothing thing like a hoodie or some socks, but a few times I got action figures and once I got a poster signed by All Might.” Izuku smiled, “She said that All Might signed it for me specifically, I know she was lying because All Might is really good about making sure if it’s for someone specific to write their name and a small message and it was just his name. But it was still really cool.” 

 

“True. What did it mean for you to be ‘fussy’?” 

 

“It wasn’t… super clear? Like no one told me exactly what I was and wasn’t supposed to do, but it was pretty obvious after some time that they didn’t want me to make noise or cry. Also, if I said it hurt before they asked for feedback they would usually snap at me and get mad. Not Ms Komori, she’d just tell me not yet or politely shush me, she was the only one who was okay with me talking at all during experiments. Most of the others just wanted complete silence once we started.” 

 

“True. You said her experiments were less intense than others?”

 

“Yeah, they were working up to see if it might be worthwhile to look into implanting like a nerve zapper thing when I was a hero. Or something similar. So once we got the baseline, they started doing tests with electrode diode-y things and some injections and stuff. They were trying to find ways for it to hurt but not harm.” Izuku shrugged. “It got dropped a little before Ms Komori was transferred as nothing they tried was as effective as just cutting was. So we started making sure I could cut without bleeding too much. We started to take turns, and then she also taught me how to bandage myself. Since, uh, I really didn’t like it when the doctors and researchers got too close.”

 

“True.” 

 

All of the adults seemed to have storm clouds above their heads, and none of them looked pleased. Izuku didn’t know what he said, so he decided to move on. Hoping that adding more of the positives might… make them less upset. 

 

“Oh! Actually, she also was a pretty good teacher for other things too, like the breathing game to make it a little easier for the more intense tests and procedures. It was super helpful, especially after she left. She also would sometimes just play little word games with me while we were waiting, and helped me with my studies since my tutor was kinda scary and didn’t like questions and would get really grumpy when I didn’t understand. Which I thought was dumb since that was his job , but whatever. Ms Komori also came up with the salt trick so the cuts could be even shallower, but still as effective. Which was great.”

 

Izuku’s plan to calm them down didn’t work as Hizashi looked like he was about to implode, Shouta looked like he wanted the couch to swallow him whole, and the detective’s professionalism was hanging on by a thread as emotions clearly swirled behind his eyes. Izuku squirmed a bit in his seat wondering what to do to make it better. 

 

“True. What was the salt trick?” the detective asked.

 

“It’s when you sprinkle salt over a cut. It burns a lot, but I was able to do less cuts that way with the same output. I also learned that salt is good at killing bacteria so once we did that I got less infected cuts, which was good. But I did notice that sometimes the cuts were more itchy and scarred thicker. So I didn’t do it every time.”

 

“True. You said she was transferred, were you ever told why?”

 

“I don’t know where she went, but…” Izuku started playing with the little plastic feathers on his hoodie string, pinching it between his nose and upper lip. Taking a deep breath his nose was filled with the almond-y smell he’d nabbed off Keigo. He dropped the little feather to dangle down, resting on his chest. “It was kind of my fault she was transferred.” 

 

“True to not knowing.” The detective made a small note in his notebook. “Why do you think that it was your fault?” 

 

“I hadn’t been outside for a really long time. And I was dropping hints that it had to be getting warmer since it had to have been at least two months. And that I could walk at that point. Okay, maybe not walk , but if I had a wall or a crutch or someone to hold onto I could get around. I figured if there was a courtyard or something I could at least get some fresh air. She always said no, but didn’t seem upset about me asking again and again, so I did. And one day she finally woke me up super early and said to get dressed as we were going outside for a picnic. The sun hadn’t even fully risen at that point, which was weird for a picnic but I didn’t really question it. Probably less likely for people to come looking for me at like five in the morning, I don’t know.”

 

Smiling at the memories of the soft pink flowers in some of the trees, and the vivid green grass that slowly was lit by the early morning sun, Izuku continued. “It was really pretty and I was just excited to be outside. It was a lot farther than I thought we’d go and it didn’t feel great to hike out that far in crutches. I asked a few times if it was actually safe since I knew that people had just tried to kidnap me. She said that we were safe, but she also kept looking over her shoulder? Nothing happened so it was clearly fine. Which of course it would’ve been, since no one was actually trying to kidnap me. It had been a few hours and I was starting to get hungry so we stopped to eat in a field…. And then it… got weird.” 

 

“True.” Tsukauchi-san leaned forward. “What was weird, Midoryia-kun?”

 

“I don’t know what I did, I just thanked her for the nice hike and the sandwich. I said I wished I could go outside everyday, but understood that wouldn’t be possible. I was glad I at least got the one chance. And then she started to cry. Which was super weird. She didn’t really show that much emotion most of the time, uh—” He flicked his eyes over to Shouta. “No offense, kind of like you, but even less so.”

 

“None taken.” Shouta just reached out and ruffled his hair. He did that a lot. Izuku reached over and ruffled his hair back. It was obviously the right action as it seemed to make his temporary dad brighten ever so slightly. 

 

“Yeah, but the crying was totally out of nowhere. She started to clean up the little picnic that we had. As she did that she asked a few times if I thought I could keep walking, and how far and how comfortable I’d be walking without her help, how fast I thought I could go. A bunch of weird questions. I… honestly didn’t think I could walk back to the facility let alone any further and then back, my leg hurt super bad, even with the crutches she gave me. She ended up having to give me a piggyback ride back to the facility. It was odd on the way back, too. I thought she only kind of liked me. Just tolerated me, ya know? But she was super nice the whole way back, telling me all the things she liked about me, giving me advice for the tests and how to talk to the researchers to keep them from being too mean. It was weird, but wasn’t terrible. She even gave me a hug when we got back to my room.” 

 

“True. What happened next?”

 

“That evening when she took me to dinner, she ended up having to carry me again as my leg couldn’t hold my weight and my arms were shaking from using the crutches so much. As we ate she told me that she was getting a promotion partially because I was such a good kid and that she was being transferred.” Izuku sniffed. “I don’t like to call people liars, but I’m pretty sure it was a demotion. I-I think I got her in trouble for taking me outside. I-I’m pretty sure it was my fault.” 

 

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Hizashi said. “Nothing at all, okay?”

 

“If you say so.” Izuku wiped at the corner of his wet eyes preemptively.

 

“I know so.” Hizashi held a hand out for Izuku to grab, which he did.

 

“Tsukauchi-san, uh,” Izuku looked at the table with the recording equipment, watching the little red light flash. “If, uh, if you see Ms. Komori, could you tell her thanks? And that I’m sorry I got her transferred. I still feel bad about it.” 

 

The detective looked somber as he nodded. “If I ever get a chance to, I’ll make sure to let her know.”

 

Izuku noticed that he didn’t make any notes in his little notebook, which he’d done a bunch of other times when Izuku mentioned someone. The adults all shared a strange look, Tsukauchi-san ever so subtly shook his head. Izuku was clearly missing something. Something about that made his stomach twist.

 

“You were not at fault for what happened to Ms. Komori.” Shouta’s voice was firm. Izuku’s gut didn’t care as it flip flopped some more.

 

“But—” 

 

“No buts. I want you to say that it wasn’t your fault.”

 

Shouta was being kind of weird, but he was regularly kind of weird, and the easiest way to deal with it was to just do what he asked. “Ms. Komori’s transfer wasn’t my fault.” 

 

“Good.” Shouta ruffled his hair again. And Izuku ruffled it back. He got a small smile for it this time.

 

“True.” The detective chimed in, with a smile. “Technically my quirk doesn’t work like that, but it is true. It’s not your fault.” 

 

Izuku felt his mind start to rev like an engine with that tiny sliver of information about the detective’s quirk, but the man in question continued, stopping the questions from fully forming. “I know this might be a harder question, but you mentioned your next guardian, Mr. Watanabe. How did he treat you?”

 

“He, uh, he was d-different from Ms. Komori.” Izuku started to fiddle with Hizashi’s hand which had been resting on his leg.

 

“True. How so?”

 

“Well, a lot of the rules were similar. No c-crying or noise during tests, um, but it started to be like that basically all the time. I could sometimes ask questions but it was super hit or miss if I’d be punished for it. And there were no rewards if I did well.” 

 

“True. What types of punishments?”

 

“Normal things, I guess, I’d get time outs in my room if I was fussy. I didn’t like being left in the dark, but it wasn’t… it wasn’t that bad. He said it would help calm me down, but honestly my room had no windows so it was mostly just super dark. I thought, uh I’d gotten over my fear of the dark from when I was a kid, but, um. I guess I didn’t, not really.”  

 

“True. Anything else?”

 

“The first time that I had a procedure I screamed pretty loud so he left me in the dark for a really long time. I think they didn’t feed me dinner that night and the rest of the week I only got cold food. They also took the crutches away, ‘cause I ended up throwing one at one of the doctors. They would also sometimes take my blankets or pillow. After a while I got pretty good at not screaming or fighting it, and even when I did get punished, I figured out how to get into the vents so I could go to the bathroom or get some light to draw. I also started hiding a blanket and a few hoodies so if they took them, I wouldn't be too cold.”

 

“True. You used the word procedure, what was the difference between those and the tests?”

 

“Tests were to figure out my quirk better, volunteers would be injured and it all would be measured. Procedures were just to heal people, and if they could measure they would, but most of the time it wasn’t really an option. I don’t know why.” 

 

“True. Did the procedures only start with Mr Watanabe?”

 

“Sort of? There was that one really bad one on my first day with, uh, with All Might. And, I don’t know if it counts but after tests agents who were injured would ask to sit closer to me at meal times since my quirk would still be active and then sometimes tests would be formed around an agent breaking a larger bone out in the field. But actual fully pre-planned procedures started the first week I was with Mr Watanabe.” 

 

“True. How did they start?”

 

“I was told that a bunch of agents were badly burned on a mission to deal with the people who had kidnapped me. The healing quirks they had on hand wouldn’t work well on burns, so they asked if I would be willing to help out, since they had helped me. I was g-given a knife but, but it wasn’t enough? It was still too slow, something about worrying about thick scar tissue, I don’t know. But they offered a secondary option to, uh, to try and it w-worked.” 

 

“True. What was the secondary option?”

 

“N-now that I’ve d-done lots of procedures it wasn’t anything t-too crazy. But they um, strapped me to the metal table, tub, thing and then put lemon juice in the cuts I-I’d already made. They, uh, also used a pumice stone to rub the skin on my legs r-raw and then when it still wasn’t fast enough, they got, um, they got out one of those metal extending sticks and didn’t break anything this time, but did bruise my t-thighs.” 

 

“When they offered it, it didn’t really sound that bad so I-I agreed, but once it started I freaked out and started screaming, and when they got c-close with the extending sticks I-I threw one of my crutches. W-which was kind of d-dumb looking back since it really wasn’t that b-bad of a procedure, not r-really.” 

 

“True, to the actions. I disagree with it not being too bad. My quirk is also telling me that was a lie, so I believe you also think it was bad.” 

 

Izuku felt tears streak down his face as he whispered. “All the procedures were bad. Some were just worse .” 

 

It felt like he’d just told some terrible secret. He kind of felt like he was going to be sick, but he swallowed it back down. He needed to get through this. He tightened his grip on Hizashi’s hand. 

 

“True.” Tsukauchi-san looked pained. “What sorts of things did the procedures have?”

 

“Is this necessary?” Shouta half snapped out. “We already went over the list of what they had recorded, does it matter if it was a test or a procedure?”

 

“Good point, I apologize. A better question is how often were the procedures done?”

 

“Uh, at first it was just once a week or twice, but then smaller ones were increased to be more regular, like every other day. But the really big ones were only once or twice a month.”

 

“True. Did you know who was being healed?”

 

“Most the time, no. T-they didn’t want my location to be known by the kidnappers, so I was usually on the other side of the wall. If it was a hero and they were unconscious and I was doing the procedure on myself, I was brought into the room so I could see them. They knew I liked heroes so it was kind of cool that they let me see them… except when they were really beat up, then it uh, was less cool.”

 

“True. Were you aware that you were helping All Might beyond that first day?”

 

“Yeah, I knew. No one really explained why but once a month or so they would schedule a really big procedure for him. They said I was what was keeping him from retiring. And I-I didn’t want him to retire! It's All Might, so it’s not like I could say no .” Izuku curled into himself. “I couldn’t be the reason All Might retired. He saves so many, it-it was the least I could do. It hurt and was really scary a lot of the time, but I want to be a hero. It has to hurt to heal.” The words felt like ash in his mouth.

 

“It, uh, it has to hurt to heal.” He whispered and instead of the normal wash of determination, he felt hollow doubt. 

 

Shouta had told him that being a hero wasn’t just about using one's quirk. And even in just the short time he’d been at UA, Izuku had been a hero, or at least helped the heroes out. They’d all said it in different ways. 

 

Shouta called him his hero for helping him during the fight. Recovery Girl had said as a future healer in training, watching out for signs of Keigo getting worse or not resting would help her sleep at night. Hizashi told him that his efforts to get Keigo and Shouta to talk to each other after he first arrived was very kind and helpful. Auntie Nem even told him after their snow day that he was a good kid and from the way he’d been handling ‘it all,’ he’d make an amazing hero one day. Even right now, he was helping the heroes by doing an interview with Tsukauchi-san, which if he was going to be honest, he really didn’t want to do anymore. He was only pushing through because he knew it would help.

 

And then there was Keigo. Izuku was pretty sure his brother had thought that he’d been asleep at the time, but one of the nights when he’d still been in the infirmary, Keigo had whispered into Izuku’s ear. He had quietly told him how happy meeting Izuku had made him. Keigo said that Izuku had saved him by surviving and that having a younger brother was the best gift he’d ever been given. 

 

And if that wasn’t heroic sounding, Izuku didn’t know heroes. 

 

The thing was that none of the things they’d mentioned hurt . Some were unpleasant, but most were just things Izuku wanted to do, enjoyed even. Izuku might need to hurt to use his quirk, but his healing quirk wasn’t the only heroic thing about him. 

 

He didn’t have to hurt or heal to be a hero. He could just … be a hero. 

 

“Kiddo? You with us?”

 

“Huh?” Izuku snapped his head to the side to look at Shouta. He was a blur of pink until Izuku blinked away the tears.

 

“You spaced out for a pretty long while, baby. You okay?” Hizashi spoke from the other side of him. Izuku turned and only when he saw Hizashi’s hands massaging up and down his arm did he start to feel it. He frowned, he’s pretty sure he didn’t need to see things to feel them, but that kept happening.

 

“Uh… yeah. I think so.” Izuku was half drifting again, but was slowly sinking at least closer to the ground. “I’m… almost done, yeah?”

 

He really hoped he was. Izuku was wrung out. 

 

“All we need is your side of meeting Keigo and then the lead up to you coming to UA.” The detective said. 

 

“Okay. Can do that. Keigo was hurt, so standard procedure.” Izuku felt a little removed from his voice, it sounded off. Monotone and flat in a way his voice rarely was. He knew if he stopped he wouldn’t be able to keep going, so he just kept talking weird, hoping it would be okay.  “I cut my arm, used salt. I was in the room, and Keigo woke up. Heteromorphic quirks can be weird with medications, so I think that’s why. I wanted to check up on him so I went into the vents. Keigo saw me and slipped me a feather. We started using the feather to talk. Morse code. It was nice. Became friends, he listened and asked questions.” 

 

“True.” Tsukauchi-san’s voice sounded distant to Izuku's ears, like he was talking on the other side of a canyon, not just a room. 

 

“I had a big procedure day. Something went wrong. They changed the plan. They changed the plan .” Izuku blinked and realized he was trembling. “It was just supposed to be new ants, stings, and pepper spray. But they changed the plan.” 

 

“True. What did they change it to?”

 

“They cut my thighs and poured something into them. It hurt.” Izuku felt like he couldn’t breathe. “It all hurt.”

 

“Deep breaths, baby.” Hizashi reached an arm around Izuku holding him close to his side. Izuku was able to better follow the loud breaths of his dad. His head stopped spinning. 

 

“I passed out. Woke up in my bed, bleeding. I was scared. I tried to talk to Kei-nii. Broke the feather. It was an accident. Passed out. Woke up at UA.” 

 

“True. Last thing and I will let you go. Do you remember any names of agents or anyone who interacted with you?”

 

Izuku, like a robot, rattled off all the names of the people he could remember. He was sure he was missing a few. If he was less exhausted he might care, but he felt like a phone at 1% battery, clinging on in the hopes of getting to a charger. 

 

“That is a great list,” Tsukauchi-san said as he snapped his little notebook closed. “You have been very helpful, Izuku. And very brave for sharing. This sort of thing is really hard, you should be proud of yourself for doing it.”

 

Izuku hummed and pulled his hood over his head, and laid down. Sprawled out over both his dads’ laps, he closed his eyes. The world was spinning and he felt nauseous, but at least he was done.

 

“I’ll end the recording now.” The detective rattled off some numbers and words, but Izuku didn’t really care. He was done and that was all that mattered. 

 

“Hey, baby,” Thin fingers twirled the red and green curls that peeked out from the edge of the hood. It was Hizashi. “Lunch Rush is going to be done with food in about twenty minutes. Rest, but know we’ll be waking you up in a little bit.” 

 

Freeing a thumb from his hoodie sleeve he gave a quick thumbs up. Food sounded great, but rest sounded better. 

 

“Proud of you, kiddo.” Shouta whispered. He patted Izuku’s good shin.

 

Soft humming filled the room and lulled Izuku to sleep.

Notes:

3 Im sorry 3

Summary:
Realized he was being stalked, thought mom died, was kidnapped, a hero "saved" him and brought him to the commission, Was dragged same night to All Might who Izuku was told was dying (And was bleeding and unwell), commission people said that he needed to be a hero and beat him up and broke his leg, izuku never got a chance to say yes and FLIPPED OUT and got a scalpel and hid under a table for a moment. First handler was manipulative and gave basic things to earn his trust, used his curiosity to start testing his quirk first on her than on others, The HPSC president visited IZuku and started the contract thing, Komori ended up taking him outside after teh commision abandoned the plans to do an implant for pain, it was sussy (shes looking around and then when izuku says he cant go further she ends up hugging and crying and taking him back via piggy back ride adn tells him he is a good kid and how to survive) and she ended up being transfered away (there are some implications it might be more than that but it is not touched on here), Watanobe was a monster and did most of the bad procedures that got more intense as time went on. then Izuku met Keigo and was rescued. Izuku stuggles thorughout the whole thing but slowly is breaking down the denile and walls that kept him from thinking or talking about it. The adults also provide comfort. it ends with him falling asleep after being told food will be done in 20 minutes. Izuku is wildly helpful by giving many names, and backing up records of what happened to him.

I think that's basically everything? if i really hard core missed a major point lemme know lol i skimmed the chapter to make this but its a LONGGGG boy lol so i might have missed something

 

**for anyone curious about Hizashi's scar, it is actually one i got. and he got it the same way i did. when i was like 13 or so i was asked to bring a treat to a youth group thing for church. so i was making chocolate chip cookies and i needed a stick adn a half of butter and normally i have no issues cutting butter even stright out of the fridge. its hard but not THAT hard. so i went to try to cut it and the knife snapped in two right wehre the handle and the blade met up. the metal went into my hand and i screamed. it was then i reaslized i was alone and i thought iwas going to die so i slammed my other hand over the large slice and threw it over my head cuz i just did a first aid trainning lol. so my mom came home maybe 5 minutes later and found me and was reasonablly freasked out and she asked me what happend and STARTED TO LAUGH AT ME and i was a teen and was all "MOM IM GOING TO DIE! IM GOING TO DIE FROM CUTTING BUTTER WITH A BUTTER KNIFE DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARRASING THIS IS!?" she then full on started laughing as she put butterfly bandages on the cut (I absolutely should have gotten stiches but america health care is stupid expensive lol). we ended up buying cookies for the event and i had to EXPLAIN to a bunch of my friends what happened. and then when i got home because my family are a bunch of punks they made (new) cookies and claimed they were the "blood cookies" and that they were "super delicious" and we "should add blood to all the cookies from now on" lolol at the time i was horrified, looking back it is kinda funny lolol But just like idk imagine some rendition of this but Hizashi as like a high schooler lol I might write this i might not who knows lolol

but take care of yo' selves <3

Chapter 44: Izuku has a lovely lunch :)

Notes:

Hulllooooooo folkssss

hopefully yall are having a great day <3 Today has been fairly solid for me, so i hope everyone else could have a similar one (I am just happy cuz i got a free tub of guac and literally folks, that is the DREAM I freaking LOVE GUAC). But im also deligted cuz i actually really like how this chapter turned out :D
To avoid spoilers imma have the triggers at the bottom!!

But hopefully y'all enjoy :D

Izuku usually found using the wheelchair to be annoying. He could walk, and when he didn't want to, everyone seemed more than okay just carrying him around. But this time, he’d forgive the super uncomfortable and slightly too large seat, as he was happy to just half curl up and be pushed around. He didn’t want to put in the effort to hold onto Hizashi or Shouta’s back. If Izuku was honest, he’d love to just be cradled in their arms and be carried, but it would be too embarrassing to ask for that. He was eleven, not a baby.

 

So, wheelchair it was.

 

The smooth rolling across the tile floor slowly pushed him into a light doze, only for the mouth watering smells of food to perk him back up. Opening his eyes, he realized he was in the huge cafeteria. There were tons of rectangular tables set in rows, nice seats placed on either side of them. Between the rows of tables there were planter boxes with various plants growing inside. There was a set of stairs that went up to a landing that seemed to have more tables. Under the landing was a large opening in the wall, showing the inside of a kitchen full of stainless steel. Two of the walls were just floor to ceiling windows, showing the winter wonderland outside. 

 

The January sun shimmered on the snow blanketing the ground. The gnarled branches of the trees and bushes gave the snow twisting, whimsical shapes. The almost black tree bark and pure white snow made the most chaotic, spindly ying yang. Tension bled out of him as Izuku let out a happy sigh. It was pretty outside. 

 

Shouta pushed Izuku across the large room to the edge of one of the tables. Hizashi half skipped up to the opening of the kitchen. He grabbed the tray full of steaming plates and bowls. Izuku twisted in the chair to try to get a look at the Food Hero. He didn’t seem to be in the kitchen. Izuku cocked his head to the side in question as Hizashi passed out the dishes. 

 

“You got a question, little listener?” 

 

“Lunch Rush isn’t in the kitchen, but the food is still warm.” Izuku pointed with his thumb to the empty kitchen behind him.

 

“Ah, yes, Lunch Rush can be a bit shy. Likes to be more in the background.” 

 

“We also thought it might be nice to have it just be us.” Shouta added before standing, “I’ll go grab drinks. Any requests?”

 

“Water, please.” Izuku’s mouth felt really dry from all the talking he’d done, and water sounded heavenly. 

 

“Same for me! Gotta stay hydrated, yo!” Hizashi struck a pose, making Shouta roll his eyes. Izuku smiled. His temporary dads were ridiculous, but in fun ways. 

 

The food was placed in front of him and Izuku felt his aching eyes fill with even more tears. It was pork katsudon, with a side of rice and steamed broccoli. It was his favorite . And was the meal his mom always made him in celebration, or when he needed cheering up. Izuku couldn’t remember if he’d told anyone at UA about that, maybe Kei-nii, but what mattered is that somehow they learned and then they remembered . 

 

It was something so small, yet meant so much. It made him feel extremely cared for.

 

“Hey, baby,” Hizashi’s voice was soft. “How are you doing?”

 

“I- uh,” Izuku watched as fat tears splashed onto the thick red fabric of his Hawks hoodie. Izuku wanted to say that he was great, to not worry about him, to plaster on an All Might worthy smile, but he just couldn’t. Instead, he wiped his face with a  sleeve and was honest. “I-I don’t know.” 

 

“It’s okay not to know. If you want, I can try to help you figure out how you are doing. Shouta tells me I’m pretty good about that sort of thing.”

 

Izuku’s stomach gurgled. Hizashi laughed as Izuku felt his face burn with embarrassment.

 

“However, I think your stomach has spoken. Eating comes first.”

 

Izuku nodded as he grabbed the spoon that had been placed next to his plate. Normally he’d use chopsticks, but after everything it was hard to get enough pressure to actually get the food to his mouth. After making a mess a few times, he’d just started to only use spoons and the occasional fork. Izuku was glad that someone had told Hizashi and Shouta so they just brought him what he needed. He was allowed to ask questions, but that didn’t mean he wanted to ask more than he had to.

 

Shouta returned with water and a mug of coffee for himself. They all began to eat. Scooping up some rice and a small piece of the cut up pork, Izuku bit down. The flavors exploded in his mouth. It was delicious. Unable to contain himself, he took another bite and then another. He rubbed his buzzing feet together as he filled his cheeks with the meal. 

 

“Pretty sure you are supposed to chew your food, kiddo. Don’t want you to choke,” Shouta said between his own bites.

 

Flushing, Izuku nodded and slowed down, making sure to chew. Shouta’s slight smirk softened to a small smile and he reached out to tussle Izuku’s hair. 

 

“I’m glad you are enjoying it though.” 

 

Izuku gave two thumbs up, before going back to inhaling his meal like a ravenous dog, making sure to chew from time to time. It was super good and Izuku was hungry. He’d never tell his mom, but this might actually be better than her pork katsudon. But in Izuku’s defense, it was Lunch Rush. So of course it was going to be fantastic. 

 

Periodically Hizashi or Shouta would say something back and forth to each other, but mostly they all were just focused on their meals. It was kind of like the lazy Saturday lunches he and his mom would share. Neither really trying to be social, just both existing in the same space. The location and the people were different, but the feeling was familiar. 

 

Taking a bite of some broccoli, Izuku felt himself tear up. He frowned, trying to wipe the tears without being caught. Izuku had always been a bit of a cry baby. It was genetic, as his mom always joked through her own tears. But usually he could sort of know why he was crying. Instead everything was muddy and unclear. The only thing he was sure about was that everything felt like a lot. 

 

Which might mean he just needed to take a nap. He sure felt like he needed to take another nap. 

 

Izuku never realized how tired just talking could make a person. 

 

But, if Izuku was honest, everything lately has made him tired, and he’d been taking a ton of naps. It was bizarre, but Recovery Girl said he’d need to rest since he couldn’t really use her quirk to fix more long term issues, like the nerve damage in his hands and feet. Which meant his body was having to fix them naturally. She also warned that the blood pressure and slight arrhythmia might make him more fatigued. He didn’t think that would account for how exhausted he felt all the time, but he’d never really had to heal nerve damage before or have weird heart things, so he didn’t really know. 

 

It also didn’t really account for his overwhelming desire of just wanting to curl up in a ball on the floor and cry.

 

Izuku took a bite of his food, hoping the feeling would go away, only for it to crash into him full force. Izuku quickly swallowed, since it kind of felt like he was chewing cardboard. Something in him squeezed. It kind of felt like his stomach had shriveled, acting like cling wrap around the meal. It made him feel a bit sick, so he took a small sip of water which helped a little. He put his spoon down and pushed the plate away.

 

“I think I’m full.”

 

That kind of felt like a lie, but he didn’t really know what to call what was happening. He wanted to keep eating, but didn’t want to waste the good food. He knew right now he wouldn't enjoy it.

 

“Okay, baby,” Hizashi looked pained as he stood, grabbing the dish. “I’ll go wrap this up for you. You can have it later, okay?”

 

“Okay,” Izuku whispered. He started to rub his sore eyes. Pressing on them felt good as it cut through the throbbing headache he had. 

 

“Hey, Izuku,” Shouta leaned over as Izuku peeked over his sweater sleeve. He reached his hand into the coils of his scarf. “I might or might not have committed a confectionery based crime earlier.” 

 

He pulled out a small box and dropped it into Izuku’s lap. It was a small brown paper box with a small plastic window on the top. Inside was a swirled cinnamon bun. The glaze was thick on top and dipped down the sides of the pastry like sweet stalactites. 

 

It looked fantastic . 

 

Izuku started to open it, only for Shouta’s words to finally click. He slid it fully shut again.

 

“You stole this.”

 

“You could say that, but is it stealing if you don’t get caught?” Shouta smirked.

 

Giving a flat look at Shouta, Izuku held up the stolen pastry. “Yes.”

 

“Oh, well, darn,” he held out his hand. “I guess I can put it back then.”

 

“Hey, I didn’t say we needed to put it back.” Izuku yanked the box back and tried to stuff it in his pocket only for it to not fit. He looked for an alternate hiding place, and ended up quickly tucking it up under the bottom of his hoodie. Shouta let out a breathy laugh. 

 

“Now, do as I say, and not as I do. Stealing is wrong, so don’t do it.”

 

“Got it.” Izuku nodded, pretending to be deadly serious. “Especially if there is a chance of being caught.” 

 

Shouta started to nod in agreement, only to abort the motion halfway through. “Wait, hold on, Kiddo—” He rubbed a hand over his mouth, and sighed. 

 

“I can’t believe people thought it was a good idea to give me a child,” he mumbled into his palm. 

 

“I dunno.” Izuku pulled the cinnamon roll out, tore off a small piece and popped it in his mouth. “I think you’re a good dad.” 

 

He couldn’t hold back the smile as he watched Shouta mentally blue screen. Izuku reached out to pat his shoulder, only for Shouta to collapse forward, catching his face with his hand. 

 

“You are only saying that because I stole you a cinnamon roll.” 

 

“I do like cinnamon rolls,” Izuku shrugged. “But it's more than that. Temporary or not, you’re a good dad. I know Keigo agrees, too.” 

 

“Oh, what is Keigo agreeing on?” Hizashi said as he walked back to the table. 

 

“That Shouta is a good dad.”

 

At Izuku’s words, Hizashi’s warm smile sharpened, becoming predatory as he slid into the seat next to his husband. 

 

“Oh, so we’re doing compliments for dad, now?” Hizashi purred out as he walked his fingers up Shouta’s spine. “Are we talking about how attentive and thoughtful a parent he is? Or maybe how kind and caring he is as a father. How about how he’s done everything he possibly could for his kids. How about how it’s only been maybe two weeks but he’s seamlessly slipped into his paternal instincts so flawlessly?”

 

Izuku couldn’t hold back his laughs as he watched Shouta’s ears turn as pink as his hair. 

 

“Yeah!” Izuku nodded. “I was going to add how patient he is with both me and Keigo, and how nice it was to dye his hair and sit through all my meetings and stuff.” 

 

Shouta gave up any attempts at sitting upright, and let his head hit the table with a dull thunk. He took a long deep breath, and let it out as a long strangled groan. 

 

He had been totally right when he’d thought that calling Shouta Dad would be funny. This was hilarious. 

 

“I know you hate it, but it's good for you.” Hizashi patted Shouta’s shoulder, only for him to bat him off with a light hiss. Looking fond, Hizashi shook his head with a quiet laugh. 

 

“Also, Izuku,” Hizashi turned to him. “Your food is being wrapped, and I also got Lunch Rush to agree to box up some of the cinnamon rolls that he made this morning.” 

 

Bending in half, Izuku started cackling. He felt as the box in his lap crumpled, only making him laugh harder. Shouta groaned and started hitting his forehead against the table. 

 

“What’s… so funny?” Hizashi sounded really confused. 

 

Still laughing, Izuku snaked his hand around the now crumpled box and tossed it onto the table. Hizashi picked it up and snapped his head to Shouta. 

 

“Did you steal this?”

 

“Maybe,” Shouta grumbled at the same time as Izuku giggled out a “yes.”

 

“Lunch Rush always bakes a ton of extras, you could have just asked!” 

 

“I know,” Shouta rolled his head along the table to rest on its side to look at Hizashi. “I just didn’t want to talk to anyone. Stealing it was easier.”

 

“Talking isn’t that hard, Shou.” Hizashi gestured vaguely at Izuku. “Shouldn’t you want to be a better example for cookie monster?”

 

He shrugged before pointing at Izuku. “What I teach you?”

 

“Stealing is wrong.” 

 

“See, Hizashi? No harm, no foul.” 

 

Izuku grinned, before continuing, “Unless it is to avoid talking to people, and to only do it if you know you won't get caught.”

 

“Wait, no—” Shouta groaned before hitting his head on the table one more time. “I’m going to ruin a child.” 

 

Izuku started laughing, quickly joined by Hizashi. Shouta after a bit threw in a few chuckles. Izuku still felt weirdly heavy, like every action was slogging through thick mud, but it was a little lighter. 

 

Maybe it’d all be okay.

 

“Sorry for interrupting, but I heard someone was a fan?”

 

Izuku gasped, and snapped his head around so fast he made himself dizzy and his vision grayed at the edges. He should go slower, but he recognized that voice.

 

“ALL MIGHT??!” 

 

All Might crossed to be closer, striking a pose. In one hand was a pastry box, in the other the wrapped plate from Izuku’s leftovers. 

 

“I AM HERE… with cinnamon rolls.” All Might placed the food on the table in front of Izuku. 

 

Shooting a hand out to the nearest person, who just happened to be Shouta, Izuku grabbed his shoulder and started pushing him back and forth in excitement. “Oh my g-d, I died and I’m dreaming this can’t be happening. Oh my G-D this is INSANE. That is All Might, oh wow, that is All Might. Holy s— , I’m in the same room at All Might, we’re breathing the same AIR.”

 

All Might’s booming laugh filled the large cafeteria. Izuku felt his heart start to pound and squeeze. It was exciting that he was here, but that odd heaviness hadn’t been shaken off. He’d ignore it for now, All Might came first. 

 

“Oh wow, Naomasa wasn’t kidding, you really are a fanboy!” He gestured to the open seat across from his temporary parents. “May I sit?”

 

Izuku was about to squeak out a yes, when he saw Hizashi and Shouta share a strange look. Hizashi beat him to the punch. 

 

“We were about to leave as it’s been a pretty challenging day. I’m sure you can understand.” His light green eyes flicked to Izuku before boring back into the side of All Might’s face. 

 

“I wasn’t planning on being long, I just wanted to meet Midoryia-shounen here.” 

 

“Oh my g-d, All Might knows my name ,” Izuku whispered out. 

 

It was a little awkward as silence fell on the group. All Might stood, and Hizashi just looked unrelenting before letting out a small breath. “Fine, but keep it short.” 

 

“Yes!” Izuku pumped a fist in the air as All Might perched on the seat. Even in a normal sized chair, that man looked a bit like when his mom had to attend parent teacher meetings when he was a really little kid and she sat on one of the kid chairs. He looked kind of funny, and a little uncomfortable on the edge of the chair. He swayed slightly, his fingers tapping his knees. He was so animated. 

 

So alive . 

 

Izuku, while still seeing the present, also got a faint overlay of the past, like a reel of film that had been exposed twice. The ghostly vision of All Might on the table was overlaid over him in the seat. Blood dripped onto the floor as doctors and nurses scrambled around him, shoving tools and arms into his chest, mixed with him leaning forward over the cafeteria table. All Might’s booming laugh cut through the beeping and yelling filling Izuku’s ears.

 

Izuku blinked, looking at All Might's familiar smile. It blew away the bad memories like one might blow steam away from a cup of tea. Izuku felt himself relax from the statue-like tense state he’d been in. Sliding his hand down Shouta’s arm, he grabbed his temporary dad’s wrist. The slow steady heart beat thrumming against Izuku's fingers was something for him to focus on. 

 

That had been a year ago, All Might was clearly better now. Izuku had made sure of it. 

 

But… if he was better why would he need regular procedures? 

 

“So, Midoryia-shounen, I’d like to—” Izuku cut him off. 

 

“Are you really okay?” 

 

The question stopped All Might in his tracks, surprising him. The smile on his face dimmed slightly, which made Izuku’s stomach twist. All Might can’t lose his smile . 

 

“That was rude, sorry. It’s just, I-I saw you. And last time you were, you were bleeding. Like a lot . And, and I’m pretty sure your heart stopped for a bit and, and, and—”  He started to cough, like his body was trying to expel the words trapped in his throat.

 

Mumbling quietly between soothing shushes, Shouta twisted and started to rub his back, using the hand that wasn’t trapped in Izuku’s tight grip. Izuku felt as the words untangled themselves at the back of his throat. It was easier to breathe. Taking another deep breath, he hadn’t realized he’d been feeling dizzy until it went away.

 

“S-sorry, All Might,” Izuku whispered out.

 

“No need to apologize, my boy. It is a good thing to check in on people and see how they are doing. But to ease your worries, I am doing well. Thank you for asking.” 

 

Izuku recognized the softer tone that All Might only brought out when talking with panicking victims or scared children. He finally understood why All Might did it, as his words made him feel so safe and understood. It was clear why All Might was the number one, he was really good at this.

 

Izuku rubbed at his eyes with a small nod. While he felt a little better, that heavy feeling was back and under it was a slow painful twisting inside him. It left his insides feeling raw and nauseous. He wished the feeling would just go away. 

 

“I did want to thank you, Midoryia-shounen.” 

 

“What?” Izuku sat upright. “Why?”

 

“You saved my life that day. It never should have happened, this never should have fallen on your shoulders, but because you did save me that day I have been able to save the lives of many others. I will forever be in your debt.” All Might stood and then gave Izuku a long, low bow. “Thank you, Midoriya-shounen.” 

 

Izuku was pretty sure he was having an out of body experience. This wasn’t like drifting though, it was different. Instead of everything softening and fading into the background as he floated away, it was like the world was in a crisp 4K. But he didn’t have the hardware to run it. So he was frozen, trapped by how much world there suddenly was around him. Every neuron in him worked on overdrive, trying to crunch the data of All Might bowing to him. 

 

It just refused to compute. 

 

Vaguely, Izuku was aware of Hizashi speaking. All Might standing up and saying something. He wasn’t sure, but Shouta might have said something too. But there wasn’t enough space inside him. Half formed thoughts were smashed together into the tornado that had previously been his mind. Izuku opened his mouth, not sure if it was for words or vomit to come out. 

 

“Did you know?”

 

Oh good, it was words. 

 

“What was that, my boy?” All Might responded.

 

“Did you know?” Izuku flicked his eyes up to the hero and the chaos inside him came to an abrupt halt. It was like he was in the eye of the storm. 

 

“Did I know what?” He looked confused.

 

“That it was me?” Izuku sounded out the words clearly, “That I was the one healing you?”

 

“No! Of course not! Or I would have—” 

 

“How did you not know?” Izuku felt something in him crack, the storm that had been raging was back, full force. However, now it had a small hole to escape from. It was like it had been pressurized and was now exiting out of him like a fire hose. 

 

“HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW?! I was right there . It was a thin wall. I heard you! I heard you ! Did you not hear me??? You’re All Might! You could have saved me! It was just a wall!! You could have saved me but you DIDN’T!!” 

 

Izuku’s vision was blurred with tears but the wash of white, blue and yellow shifted to be much smaller, like All Might was kneeling next to him. 

 

“I didn’t know you were there.” All Might’s voice was thin, a tone Izuku had never heard before. He didn’t like it. 

 

“HOW?!” Izuku screeched as he shifted forward in his chair, slamming his fists into the arms of it. “I screamed! I cried! I sat in the dark because of it! I got punished again and again because I made too much noise! I wanted you to take me away! I wanted you to save me!” 

 

Izuku jumped up out of the chair, screaming. “YOU’RE ALL MIGHT AND YOU DIDN’T SAVE ME! YOU COULD HAVE AND YOU DIDN’T! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME?!” 

 

Collapsing forward to the swash of colors, Izuku started slamming his fists into the sturdy, unmoving chest. He let out a guttural scream as his efforts did nothing to move the man. 

 

Arms wrapped around his middle, lifting him off the ground, opening up his legs to start kicking wildly. Any semblance of control Izuku had over himself had slipped away as he tore at the arms around him and kicked out into the air and into the knees behind him. Screeching and howling he fought, rage fueling him, pushing out the part of him that was terrified at what he was doing. His bad foot slammed into something hard, and he felt a crunch. He screamed in anger and pain. He tried to kick again to the same place, but his vision was too hazy. 

 

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU ! YOU WERE MY FAVORITE AND I HATE YOU! IT’S YOUR FAULT! IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!” 

 

Izuku tried to bite the strong arms that held him back, but before he could latch on, he was thrown over their shoulder. His head swam as his wobbly vision cut out entirely. It was so dark. Izuku let out a keening whimper. He didn’t like not being able to see. 

 

His vision slowly blotted back into place as his heart flipped in his chest. Too tired and worn out, Izuku stopped kicking, but kept half heartedly thumping his fists against the person who grabbed him. The boiling rage and chaotic storm of emotions still lurked in him, but his body was shutting down. His yells and screams were peppered with gasping sobs. 

 

He didn’t know who was carrying him. He didn’t want to be taken again, but he was just too exhausted to fight anymore. 

 

He also felt really sick, and the pressure of the shoulder on his gut wasn’t helping. Slapping the back under him, he loudly gagged. Hands moved to grab him but it was too late, as Izuku felt hot acid burn the back of his throat. 

 

Whimpering some more, Izuku felt another wave of dizziness as he was shifted again, this time to be cradled in arms. There were soft whispers, a calloused hand combing through his hair as something soft wiped his mouth. Opening his eyes he saw a blob of pink. 

 

It was Shouta. 

 

Humming filled his ears as he closed his eyes. Under him the chest started to vibrate, and Izuku let himself go limp in the hold.

 

It was Hizashi. 

 

His dads were there and they would keep him safe.

 

It would all be okay.

Notes:

Triggers: panic attack, vomit mentioned briefly, All Might is being an idiot but like a well meaning one I don't think there was anything else tho

I'm sorry :)))

In my defence and before anyone comes for me for ruining the baby's already horrible day, this did need to get out. I thought about giving Izuku a day but there is no way that the adults would let him out and about the day after all of that chaos and i was trying to manufacture a meeting via a walk or something and just let the lunch be a fun happy time and instead i went "nah" partially for pacing of the story. this breakdown was a long time coming (each POV character each got Two big breakdowns actually! and like a smattering of smaller ones. but this was Izuku's big break! so its finally all out in the open so now we can start the healing :D so its basically only up from here!)

Chapter 45: Keigo doesn’t stab anyone, so progress!

Notes:

Hellooooo folksss!!!
Hopefully y'all're haveing a fantastic day :D I actually had a great weekend! Me and my sister had our first in person sale day for our side hussle (Recycling/upcycling textiles into making tote bags and hats that look like lil cat ears) and it went better then we thought it would!! so WOOHOO! (for some horriblely gratuitous self promotion here is our website if that's the type of thing you'd be interested lol: https://salvageshack.online/)

And as always thanks to @Sassy_Chemist for being the bestest Beta and enjoying this silly story <3 Her comments make me giggle and kick my feet everytime lololol xD Love you!!! <3

BUT to the real reason y'all are here!!! the Fan fic!!!!! I had this chapter planned legit from... chapter 15? 20? so i was VERY excited to finally get to it and write it lolol This is some of the immedate fall out of Izuku's meltdown :D as we can all imagine Keigo has some thoughts!!!!

As for triggers.... Keigo is Not Okay mentally for part of this chapter. IDK what to call this tbh lol. I just mentally called it "an Episode". Heck if I know any actual terms, im a fish scientist not a psychologist. It just Felt Right. But if you've gotten this far im sure you'll be okay :)

Keigo took a chance to stretch his arms and wings as he walked down the spacious hallway that he was pretty sure led to the cafeteria. 

 

The investigators who had been questioning him told him that they were going to take a break when some other detective came in saying that Izuku’s questioning was over. Keigo had assumed that he’d just be left to twiddle his thumbs in the empty classroom as they had their little meeting, but instead they had surprisingly told him he was good to leave to eat some food with his family. But was warned he couldn’t stray too far from the building.

 

It was a wild choice that they just let him walk around. At least Keigo thought so, since he’d just gotten through telling them about his more violent missions. It had taken a while since they were having to check to see if there were any investigations for them. 

 

Keigo was glad he was able to help close three homicide cases and a suspected suicide. He always hated the more violent missions. He preferred his civilian facing heroics work, so closing the cases felt like he was finally closing that part of his life. He didn't want to kill anyone else. 

 

But, Keigo also knew that killing people was absolutely a crime, a very serious one. He’d been very upfront about how he’d personally killed four individuals. Explained how he’d been given four names over the years, and used his feathers to kill three of those names. 

 

The last name had gone differently. Just shy of a year ago, he was called in and slid a file by Madam President saying the woman had committed treason against the HPSC and needed to be put down. Flipping open the file Keigo had frozen. It had been one of his old tutors. But he'd taken the job. It's not like he ever really had a choice. 

 

The only reason he didn’t kill her directly was because he’d hesitated . She’d been a nicer tutor, believing in positive reinforcement, not just unending punishments. She was still like all the other agents, manipulative and on the edge of psychopathic in her severe lack of empathy, but Keigo couldn’t find it in him to hate her. If nothing else she’d been nice and had listened . When the time came he couldn't bring himself to sharpen his feathers.

 

She quietly reassured him that it was okay. That she knew this was coming. That she wasn’t going to make him dirty his hands by disposing of her. Her small smile and whispered apology as she grabbed her gun and pulled the trigger was seared into his eyelids. Her death haunted him as much as any of the other deaths, if not more so. Hawks might not have dealt the final blow, but Keigo sure felt responsible for her death. 

 

Normally, he emotionally removed himself from the people he’d killed for the commission. They were just missions to complete, just like any other mission asked of him. He’d rationalized it with the thoughts that he wouldn’t choose to kill anyone. He didn’t enjoy it. He never would enjoy it.

 

But he was just a full on murderer now. He had chosen to kill his ex-handler. He didn’t even feel regret over Mr Watanabe’s death. At times he was disgustingly proud of it. Which looped back to how insane it was to Keigo for him to not be locked up and in handcuffs currently. 

 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. It was a security camera following him as he walked down the hallway. He nodded to the camera. He understood, he was still being monitored. He didn’t like it as it made his skin itch, but it made sense. 

 

The cameras being so obvious made it easier to act accordingly. He could play the docile little birdie for his audience. Not like Keigo… wanted to be anything else. He didn't actually enjoy being violent. But he was so used to having people watch him that it was almost calming knowing that they were watching. It was familiar, in a weird way. 

 

Shaking his head, Keigo switched his arms to stretch his other arm across his chest. He half skipped up to a little sign on the corner where two hallways met up. It looked like a map and he was very excited.

 

He wasn’t lost, but his pit stop to a bathroom ended up taking him further from the directions the detective had given him. And he might have gotten slightly turned around and maybe had to backtrack a few times to finally find what was the direction he was aiming for. Maybe. 

 

Okay. Keigo might be totally lost. Sue him.

 

He really needed to just give Izuku, Shouta, and Hizashi feathers, so then he could just use them as a homing beacon. Honestly, it would probably make him feel better about letting them out of his sight, too. Maybe he’d sneak some smaller coverts into their clothes when he finally figured out how to get to the cafeteria. 

 

Clicking his sharp nail against the sign, Keigo sighed. He… wasn’t all that close to the cafeteria. Somehow he’d gotten more turned around than he thought, as he was going in the total wrong direction. High schools didn’t seem like they should be so hard to navigate, they were literally built for children. He’d been in HPSC buildings specifically built to be squirrely and confusing that were easier to navigate than UA. 

 

That might have been an exaggeration, but getting lost in a high school was a bit embarrassing. More so as Keigo remembered mentally making fun of the panicked first years in a movie he’d watched when he had the flu. He never went to school, but he’d been so sure that there was no way that he’d get lost getting to class. Now he had proof that he’d be no better than those tiny first years. 

 

At least he wasn’t panicking about it, just lost. And maybe a tad frustrated.

 

Huffing a cynical laugh, Keigo about faced and started back actually towards the cafeteria. Maybe getting lost in a high school was some human rite of passage. The few teen drama shows he’d been able to watch, during the various times he’d been sick or too injured to work, sure made it seem like it was a strange rite of passage. Maybe he’d ask Izuku, not like he’d been to high school yet, but at least he’d been to school . 

 

Shifting into a half jog, Keigo grimaced. He hoped that his impromptu adventure around UA didn’t mean that he’d miss out on eating lunch with his new family. 

 

Growing up, he shared lots of meals in cafeterias full of agents. As a hero, he’d shared meals with his sidekicks from time to time or eaten food shoved on him by thankful civilians. He’d even had some tense and overly stiff meals with Madam President as he was brought on to shmooze or impress politicians. But none of them held the same weight as just eating with his new family. 

 

He’d spent so long around people that he never realized how different it felt to really be with people. 

 

It was exciting to watch his dads both relax and mess around. He melted as Izuku would get passionate during a rant on heroes and accidentally throw his spoon out of his hand, sending it and food flying. Even the quieter meals when they were all focused on just eating, he loved learning more about them. 

 

Izuku, while loving sweets, also was partial to spicy, grabbing seconds of the hot curry then dumping insane amounts of chili flakes to it. Shouta seemed indifferent to whatever was on his plate, but usually ended up sneaking more salt onto the food when Hizashi wasn’t looking. He also seemed to secretly dislike peas but ate them even though he would have a slight frown the whole time. Hizashi would subtly click his chopsticks in little rhythms between bites, and ate all of his meals in a rotation, eating one bite of each part of the meal until it was all gone. He also very much enjoyed peas, always grabbing a little extra for himself. 

 

Keigo had never really considered his view on peas before, always just grateful to have food. And like Izuku, was somewhere in between the two sides of the pea spectrum. 

 

It was all so new and exciting and he was fascinated by the little things he’d been able to pick up about all of them. His wings fluttered a bit along his back, giving away his genuine excitement to have another chance to learn more little things about each of them. 

 

He hoped that he’d never be forced to leave, he wanted to keep learning about them all.

 

Keigo heard a scream from the distance, and like a flip was switched, he dropped into a sprint. 

 

He couldn’t be totally sure, but it sounded a lot like Izuku. 

 

Turning the last comer to the cafeteria, Keigo watched as Hizashi slammed his back into the door, forcing it to violently swing open. In his arms was Izuku, floppy and passed out in a bridal carry. Hizashi looked about ready to murder anyone who got in his way, but the stormy expression lightened to a grey sky as Keigo skidded to a stop in front of him. 

 

Keigo clamped down on the thrumming panic in him and let himself fall back hard into his training. One hand was held under Izuku’s nose, feeling the small puffs of breath, Hawks’ other hand pressed against his neck. 

 

“His pulse is a little thready, and way too fast.” 

 

“Not f—ing surprised,” Hizashi growled. “Izuku just had a total meltdown, I’m going to take him to Recovery Girl to be checked over.” 

 

Hizashi shifted Izuku to be closer to his chest and stalked off in the direction of the infirmary. Hawks could see what looked, and smelled, like vomit trailing down Mic’s back. 

 

“What happened?” Hawks called after him. Mic turned around, walking backwards.

 

“F—-ing All Might happened!” Mic switched back around and grumbled under his breath. “I’m going to end up with a vendetta against the b—-rd if he doesn’t start leaving us the f— alone.” 

 

Hawks nodded, All Might was the target. He might be the number one hero, but the man needed to learn an important lesson. 

 

No one was allowed to harm Keigo’s family. 

 

Silently, Hawks stalked up to the door to listen. He cracked the door open and slipped in just enough feathers to more fully sense what was going on in the cafeteria. The area was large, and on one end he could sense Eraserhead and All Might standing and seemingly facing each other. No one was in the room. Only one threat and one ally. Good odds. 

 

“I would like to apolo—” All Might was cut off by Shouta stomping his foot.

 

“Save it.” He took a few steps towards All Might, his steps soft like a cat stalking its prey. “There was a reason we asked everyone to keep their distance unless absolutely necessary . I need to hear what idiotic thought process led to you thinking coming into here and interrupting was a good idea.” 

 

All Might tried to speak but Shouta cut him off again. “I was not done. Right now you are on trial and I am your very partial judge. In my mind you are currently guilty and this is your one chance to prove your ignorance, not innocence . Explain to me why I shouldn’t make sure your already broken nose will never be straight and media worthy again.”

 

“I wasn’t lying, I just wanted to thank Midoriya-Shounen. He saved my life. I owe him.” 

 

Hawks’ calm objectiveness was incinerated under the red hot rage of Keigo. It felt like a bomb went off inside him. 

 

Slamming the door open, he saw All Might cowering under Shouta’s glare. He’d been pinched between a table and his father. He half sprinted, half glided to them. With one large beat of his wings, he jumped high, flipping over his dad and All Might’s head, landing on the table behind the number one hero. While in the air his feathers flew out from his wings and surrounded All Might, sharpening in a silent threat of becoming a pin cushion at any slight movement. The man was smart enough to freeze. Keigo pulled a medium length primary and from behind slipped it up against his thick throat.

 

“Did you know?” Keigo’s voice was low, sounding calm in a way he was in no way feeling. 

 

“Know what?” A small bead of sweat rolled down the side of All Might’s temple. Keigo could smell the sweat and blood on the man. There was an underlying sick smell as well. It was all disgusting. He gripped All Might’s shoulder, making sure to dig his claws through the hidden seams of the reinforced fabric along his shoulder. The man hissed as he drew blood.

 

“I will kill you where you stand, did you know ?”

 

“Keigo,” Dad’s voice was soothing and low. “Put the feathers away.” 

 

“Codenames in the field, Eraser,” he snapped. Dad should know that. “I’ll stop once he answers .” 

 

“I don’t—” All Might was cut off by his dad once again.

 

“You, hush.” Dad side-stepped to be in full view, catching Keigo’s eye as he held his hands up, showing them empty. He knew his dad wouldn’t hurt him, but it was nice to have more evidence of that. “Okay Hawks, can you help me understand what you are asking? I can help with this interrogation, but I need to be filled in.” 

 

He felt himself relax ever so slightly. Having back up was always so much easier, and Eraserhead was a great hero. There was a reason he’d reached out to Shouta in the first place. 

 

“I need to know if he was complicit. If he knew what the HPSC was doing.”  Keigo snapped his head to the side to hiss into All Might’s ear, making the man flinch. “Did you watch as my baby brother sliced himself open for you? Did you listen as he writhed on the floor, whimpering in pain? Did you sit back as the smell of blood filled your nose? Did you know and do nothing ?”

 

Keigo let go of the feather with his hand but held it in place with his quirk. He stumbled a few steps away, escaping from the bubble of sharp feathers still pointed at the number one hero. Keigo hissed as he failed to duck one of them and sliced his own cheek. He wrapped his fingers in tight fists in his hair, tugging with each syllable.

 

“Did you know?” Keigo felt like a record stuck on one line, “ Did you know ?” 

 

Shouta very slowly walked towards the far side of the table, close to where Keigo was. Keigo squatted down. It felt wrong to be so much taller than his dad. Peeking through the space between his arms he let out a series of distressed chirps. 

 

“Dad, did he know?” Keigo whispered out.

 

“Keigo, can I touch you?” 

 

Nodding, he shuffled right to the edge of the table. His dad tucked Keigo’s head under his chin, the bloody cheek pressed up against the thick fabric of the capture weapon. Gentle hands untangled Keigo's hands from his hair. His twitching fingers were guided to cling to the wraps of off-white fabric around Dad’s neck. His strong arms wrapped around Keigo making him feel safe, small and protected. 

 

“He didn’t know, Keigo.”

 

“Promise?”

 

“Promise.” There was no hesitation in his dad’s voice. 

 

Almost completely naked wings slumping to the table behind him, Keigo let his feathers fall to the ground. Shouta started to massage the base of his wings. Keigo cooed. 

 

“I didn’t want to hurt him, not really. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.” 

 

“I know.” 

 

“I don’t think I want to be Hawks anymore. He hurt a lot of people,” Keigo whispered. It hurt to say, like lancing a boil, but it felt so much better after saying it.

 

“You don’t have to be. You can just be Keigo.” His dad gently flipped some feathers left in his wings that were askew and massaged the itchy skin around a few blood feathers. It felt really nice. 

 

“I just don’t want anyone to hurt our family,” Keigo felt himself tear up. “Why do so many people want to hurt us?”

 

“I don’t know, Kei.” Shouta sighed as he shifted from his wings to instead play with the hair and the nape of Keigo’s neck. He melted into Shouta’s chest, shifting to sit on the table, with a trill. Slowly, Keigo guided his feathers to swoop off the floor and into place on his wings. 

 

“Are you going to be calm enough to hear All Might out as I talk to him, or would you like me to call Nemuri to take you to Hizashi and Izuku?”

 

Keigo flicked his eyes over to All Might. His face was unreadable past the thin layer of concern. He didn’t have the guilt of someone who was lying or involved in the torture of a child. All Might really hadn’t known. 

 

“If he didn’t know, I don’t care. But I can walk by myself.” 

 

“Keigo…” 

 

“I can.” Keigo was ignoring the fact that he’d spent half of the last thirty minutes wandering around totally lost. Shouta didn’t need to know that. 

 

“I would feel better if she walked you there.”

 

“I’m not a child.” 

 

“I know, this is for my peace of mind, not because I think you aren’t capable of walking across campus. This way she can also bring a bandage for your face.”

 

Keigo frowned, but didn’t stop Shouta as he grabbed his phone and called Nemuri. One of his dad’s hands absentmindedly brushed through Keigo’s hair. Half listening to the quick conversation, Keigo eyed All Might. 

 

For such a giant, he was doing his best to attempt to be smaller. He was half crouched, his shoulders hunched, his head ducked down between them. It looked wildly uncomfortable. Blood ran down from his now crooked swollen nose over his deep frown. 

 

Keigo didn’t know the man could do anything but smile, but he had gore covered proof in front of him that he could. It felt wrong, somehow. All Might was a solid pillar of determination and joy, always laughing in the face of danger, always saving people with a smile, selfless to a fault. The paradigm of heroics. The bar they all reached for, but fell short of. 

 

The impossible standard the HPSC shoved down his throat his whole life.

 

However, in this moment, he never looked more human. 

 

Keigo wondered if All Might was like Hawks. Under the thick layers of heroic persona was there a withered broken wisp of a person underneath? Was he also choked under all the pressure and expectations of perfection? After decades was there anything left of the person, or was All Might more like a speck of sand in an oyster, slowly layering over himself growing into a shiny pearl. 

 

“My name is Keigo. What’s yours?” 

 

The question tumbled out before Keigo could think about how incredibly rude it was. It was a massive faux pas to ask a hero their name. He was about to walk it back when All Might answered. 

 

“Toshinori.” He looked a bit startled by his own quick answer. 

 

“I’m sorry for threatening to stab you, Toshinori.” 

 

“It’s…. Fine, Keigo.” Toshinori slowly moved to sit in the chair at the far end of the table. He looked a bit on edge still. Keigo couldn't really blame him.

 

“It doesn’t have to be fine.” Keigo started fidgeting with his dad’s scarf, he couldn't let go quite yet as his hands were tight in a stress grip, but wiggling it between his fists just the right way would make the end twitch and flick up like a cat's tail. The end slapped Shouta’s cheek a few times, which earned him a soft warning glare. Keigo stopped, half turning to All Might again. “I promised myself I wouldn’t stab anyone else, and I got really close to stabbing you. So, I’m really sorry.” 

 

“Nem is on the way.” Shouta cut in.

 

“You’ve stabbed… others?” Toshinori brought a hand up to rub along the faint red line that was still visible on his neck. Keigo felt bad, he really shouldn’t have gotten that close to hurting him. 

 

“Yeah, he stabbed me.” Shouta rubbed a hand up and down Keigo’s back, between his wings. He twittered and rested his head against his Dad’s sternum. “There was a misunderstanding that was left for too long. It was an accident of sorts.” 

 

“Are you okay?” All Might asked.

 

“I’m perfectly fine.” 

 

“Sorry,” Keigo whispered as he shimmed himself closer to his dad, forgoing all his fidgeting with the scarf.

 

“You’ve already apologized,” Shouta mumbled to Keigo.

 

“I still feel bad about it.” 

 

“Try not to.”

 

“Okay.”

 

A stilted and awkward silence fell over the three of them. As Keigo slowly raised back up from the strange fog that had filled his mind, the awkwardness exponentially grew. He felt his face heat up. Not only did he threaten to kill the number one hero, he also called Shouta dad again, all while acting like a five year old. Which was only made more mortifying by the audience of the number one hero, who he, once again for anyone who might have forgotten, he had threatened to kill.

 

Maybe it was a good thing that he’d already lost his hero license. Instead of being in the top ten for the billboard rankings, he’d be lucky to still be in the top hundred. Probably lower if it took a while to get his license... Which, from his multiple breakdowns in such a short time, it might take a while. He wouldn't want him on the streets protecting people, not how he is right now. As long as he stays off that top ten stage when the time rolls around, Keigo wouldn’t have to ever look All Might in his eyes again. Underground heroics was sounding better and better by the day. But it was probably too late for him to switch now.

 

His thoughts were broken up by the sharp taps of Midnight’s heels against the tile. There had never been a more beautiful sound. He could now escape the suffocating humiliation. Midnight walked up to the table, quickly going through the motions of some pleasantries with Shouta and All Might. Keigo didn’t look up from her shoes as she gently cleaned his face and bandaged it. She lightly kissed his now bandaged cheek before asking him if he was ready to go. 

 

Keigo hated how all the other heroes were treating him like some little kid needing a soft touch and reassuring words. Midnight basically just ‘kissed his boo-boo better’ which was patronizing as h—. It irked him, but he swallowed it down. He might be an adult and a trained hero, but he hadn’t been acting like one. If he was going to be honest, he had been acting like a stressed out and lost child. If the roles were reversed he’d be treating them the same way. He needed to get it together. He kept trying, and he thought he’d been doing okay but looking back, he failed as often as he succeeded. 

 

Which was more than a little frustrating.

 

Climbing off the table, Keigo silently followed Midnight, or Auntie Nem , if Keigo was going to call her what she’d asked him too. Which he wasn’t going to do. Crossing his arms, gripping his elbows, he spun around before leaving the cafeteria and bowed.

 

“I really am sorry, All Might.” 

 

“It’s all right, my boy. I don’t blame you. You were trying to protect your family, which is admirable.” All Might’s voice screamed of ‘hero calming scared civilian’ tone. Keigo had practiced that tone until he could use it concussed and totally out of it. 

 

Blinking back tears as he all but ran out of the room, Keigo swallowed down a distressed screech. Even All Might was treating him with little kid gloves. He’d almost sliced his throat out and he was acting like Keigo was some scared civilian casualty. Midnight pressed a hand into the small of his back guiding him forward. 

 

He wanted to be someone Izuku, Shouta and Hizashi could lean on. A protector, a helper, a brother and… maybe even a son. But instead of taking care of his family like he wanted, it seemed that all he could be was a burden on them . 

 

As he walked just ever so slightly in front of Midnight, Keigo bit his lip. She’d been great during the raid, and then has been gone doing a ton for the investigation from what he’s overheard. He could also tell that both his dads trusted her. Maybe he’d see her thoughts on… everything. 

 

“Midnight, do you think I’m weak?”

 

“No,” Midnight’s voice left no space for doubt. “I think you’ve been strong for a long time. Maybe even too long.” 

 

“Is that why everyone treats me like a little kid?”

 

“Maybe. But I don’t see it that way.”

 

“How do you see it?” He asked, curious.

 

“I see it more as us treating you with empathy. You’re a human being, one who has been through a lot of terrible things and needs kindness , and at times, a gentle touch. We can all see how hard you are trying to keep it together, and we’re not going to punish you for slipping up.” 

 

“I almost stabbed All Might, that’s not a ‘ slip up ’. Yet no one seems mad at me. It’s weird.”

 

No one was arresting him for it, even though there were cameras. There had been no punishments. No yelling, even. It’d be easier if they would just get mad, punishing him for his transgressions. But a small voice in the back of his mind whispered that it wouldn't happen. He was slowly starting to trust that voice.

 

“We’re not mad. And let's be real, that all sounds like progress. Not too long ago, you followed through with the stabbing.” 

 

“It was really close,” Keigo whispered as he looked down at the floor of the hallway.

 

“But you didn’t do it.” Nemuri used her long nails to scratch Keigo’s scalp, making him shiver. “Which is progress.” 

 

“Doesn’t feel like it.” Keigo ducked his head out from under her hand. Only to regret it, her nails felt super nice. 

 

“It probably won't for you, but I promise I see it. You’ve been carrying this heavy weight around, but I can tell you’ve finally shared some of the load with Hizashi and Shouta. So, progress.” 

 

“They shouldn’t have to.” 

 

Keigo pulled at the dyed green hair at the back of his neck. A finger tapped on the back of his hand and he let go. Midnight slipped a weird ball made of looping thin blue and green rubber bands into his palm. He looked at it confused, before holding it out. Midnight reached over, demonstrating how to pull on the various strands. Keigo started to fiddle with the strange toy as they kept walking down the hall. He liked it a lot.

 

“In a perfect world, sure, but life is messy. And bad things happen to us all. We just have to find the people who help us through our bad and that we can in turn help them through their bad. That's what family is.” 

 

“But there is so much bad,” Keigo sniffed as a few stray tears rolled down his face as he pulled on the ball, snapping the bands back into place. “Too much. I can’t put that all on Hizashi and Shouta, it will crush them.”

 

“They’re stronger than they seem. And when they’re not, that’s why they have me and Hizashi’s family, and even the other UA teachers for some things. We can help share it, spreading it out makes it less debilitating.” 

 

“But—” 

 

“Keigo,” Midnight stopped walking, her arms spread wide like she was offering a hug. “We hate seeing you be crushed by all this. We’re happy to help hold it up so you can crawl out from under it. That’s what family is for.”

 

“But, none of us are related, not really.” 

 

“Doesn’t matter, we’ve found you and we’ll have you as long as you’ll let us.” 

 

“Why me?”

 

“Does it matter?”

 

“Kind of, yeah.” Keigo didn’t want to be used for his quirk. Not again. And that's all anyone really ever wanted him for.

 

“It probably isn’t the answer you want to hear, but a lot of it boils down to you needing help and we were willing to provide it.”

 

“That’s a terrible reason.” He crossed his arms, tucking the weird ball into the crook of his elbow.

 

“Sure, but we’re heroes,” She shrugged. “We’re people with too much empathy. Idiot bleeding hearts and all that.”

 

“So any sad person who comes along who needs help will end up being adopted into this weird little group?”

 

“No, we offer help, probably to more people than deserve it. But some people just fit, so they stay.”

 

“And I… fit?”

 

“Yeah, kid, you fit.” Midnight smiled. “I know I don’t know you as well as Hizashi or Shouta, but I can still tell you fit really well. If I didn’t know better I would assume the four of you had been a little unit for a lot longer than two weeks. You’ve got a place, Keigo, no one is going to take it from you.” 

 

“Huh.” Keigo never really felt like he fit anywhere he went. His blood family, the HPSC, hero society, no one wanted him , they just liked what he could do for them. He was always the square peg pretending to be round. Sometimes shaving down or bulking up parts of him to try to fit better.

 

He’d been feeling like he’d found his space, his people, a place to finally rest. But he’d been worried and down right terrified that if he wasn’t perfect and what they wanted he’d… lose it. But from the sound of it they honestly just wanted Keigo… for Keigo. Not for some ideal Hawks like hero, or some ideal helper, or a well trained agent. They just wanted him because he fit . 

 

Which felt impossible but also tied all the words and actions that had been confusing him together into a perfect little bow. It made sense.

 

Maybe it was okay that he was a broken wisp. Maybe he didn’t have to be more than he was. He didn’t really know who Keigo was, but maybe he didn't need to know. 

 

Reaching the infirmary, Keigo saw Izuku curled up on the edge of the bed. Hizashi sat in a chair next to him, one hand loosely held by the sleeping Izuku, the other on the edge of the mattress propping up his head. Keigo kicked his shoes off by the edge of the bed and climbed on. Midnight pulled up another chair and sat next to Hizashi.

 

Curling around Izuku, Keigo threw a wing over him. Izuku, even in his sleep, relaxed under the weight and warmth. Hizashi gave him a tight smile over Izuku’s shoulder. 

 

“How’re you doing, Keigo?”

 

“Better,” Keigo nuzzled his head into the pillow. 

 

“Good,” Hizashi smiled, before absentmindedly stroking and flipping the rumpled feathers on the part of Keigo’s wing closest to him.

 

He might have almost stabbed All Might. He had called Shouta dad again. Izuku was passed out laying in the infirmary once more. He probably was going to get reprimanded for totally bailing on the investigation. Nothing was really going well. But Keigo couldn’t help but smile as he laid there, curled around his younger brother, being watched over by one of his dads and his aunt, his other dad dealing with the aftermath of his royal screw up. 

He had a place he fit and Keigo wouldn't have it any other way.

Notes:

Everyone be proud of Keigo for not stabbing All Might. What retraint!
Watanabe got stabbed (to death!!! huzzah!)! Shouta got stabbed! All Might??? No stabs!!!

We all get to be impressed in our lil guy <3333 look at him go <333 such progress <33333 Fly high lil man <3333 we're all cheering for ya <3333

>>>ALSO I have been going back thru chapters and fixing some small grammer errors I find and a few... continuity things like I mentioned Hizashi's hearing aids ONE time in chapter three so i... took it out lolol I'll make him HoH later dont worry xD I'm also not changing anything huge, promise. just tiny things that are inconsequential. I however haven't gotten to a mention of Keigo never killing anyone and part of me fears i did throw that in... if i did... no i didn't lolol (I flip flopped between it a lot and then i DID go back and try to skim the chapters I thought it would be mentioned but I might have missed a sentence implying it or outright saying he never did. if I find a mention I'll... alter it once i get there. This is what happens when you write and post at the same time xD but i can't seem to not just... post things lololololololol its fun!!! what can I say xD

But until next time!!! <3

Chapter 46: Shouta and All Might have a chat

Notes:

HELLOOO ALLLL <3

Thanks to my bestie @sassy_chemist!!! She's amazing and everyone clap as without giving too much personal info she just finished GRAD SCHOOL WOOHOOOOOO BESTIEE YOU"RE SO FREAKING COOL!!! But she also reads my nonsense and leaves fun comments even tho she has never watched MHA lolol so it's great cuz she was on some streaming service and saw the MHA short intro video and it was all just Izuku and All might and she texted me going all "i forget this is isn't a show that focuses on a bunch of weird teachers and one very cute child." Took me out xD I have given her the impression Aizawa and Mic are much bigger characters then they are in cannon. Same with Hawks lololol

Also i somehow misscounted the chapters???? so there are actually 51 not 50. oops lololol I had two chapter 35's in my document somehow???

But this chappie is a lot of chattin, but important chatting :D

I don't think there is much to triggery but there is some blood (like All Might's nose is broken yo) but its fairly mellow :)

without further ado~~ ENJOY!!

Shouta frowned as Nemuri guided the still dazed Keigo out of the cafeteria. A cleaner bot came in and started cleaning up the vomit, likely sent by a watching Nedzu. It was a nice gesture, but didn’t actually fix any of the major concerns. 

 

At least now Shouta wouldn’t have to clean it up. Small blessings.

 

What a s— show.  An absolute disaster through and through. Izuku had another full on meltdown, enough to pass out, which was worrying in itself. There were serious concerns with his already wonky system that this level of stress could end up being catastrophic, both mentally and physically. His husband had stormed out of here on the warpath, finger held tight to the trigger of his quirk. Totally ready to decimate anyone who dared get too close to the precious cargo in his arms. Keigo just about skewered the number one hero, one of the most powerful men in Japan, from about fifty different directions. Clearly, he was in the middle of some sort of mental health episode since he’d been confused and acting off, which if anything else happened to Izuku, would likely only get worse. 

 

Then, Nemuri was called in as calvary, which Shouta deeply appreciated her for doing, and would go as far as to say she was a trusted friend, but she was more of an enabler of bad behavior. And he had tasked her with keeping Hizashi and/or Keigo from killing, maiming or in any way harming anyone at least until Shouta dealt with All Might and could babysit the two of them. Depending on how persuasive Hizashi was feeling, Nemuri would go along with his plans without any thought. So there was a 50/50 shot that by the time Shouta left this meeting someone would be dead, or headed towards death. 

 

Not great odds. 

 

But that somehow left Shouta to play diplomat, to try to smooth talk and possibly try to manipulate All Might into not making this even more of an incident. Which was a task Hizashi could do in his sleep. However, seeing the seething rage in Hizashi’s eyes, Shouta knew that there was a zero percent chance of him being anything but a nuclear bomb primed to go off. Leaving Shouta to do it instead. 

 

Which… better odds then if Hizashi took it on, but not great odds. Shouta has never been all that persuasive or charismatic. And never would be. It didn't help that he also really wanted to be a rage machine and wreck All Might for being an idiot. But he was capable of thinking logically and compartmentalizing his feelings in high stress situations. At least, he was slightly better than Hizashi at it.

 

His husband had always been a bit of an over protective guard dog of the people he’d claimed. Biting and mauling people without second thought if he got the tiniest whiff of a ‘bad vibe’. It had caused more than a few issues over the years, especially when they were just starting out as heroes. 

 

Honestly, that attack first, ask questions later attitude was shared between Hizashi and Keigo. Which wasn't the most fun thing for Shouta to learn. Being a logical rock for the irrational Hizashi was already a lot at times. He’d do it for Keigo too, but the kid was more irrational than Hizashi at his worst. 

 

Shouta prayed to any divine beings out there and listening that Izuku would somehow be more logical. He seriously doubted that would be the case, but a man could dream.

 

Turning his attention to the number one hero and his monumental task at hand, Shouta suffered from an electric zap of regret at being the heroics law teacher. All the possible charges that All Might could rain down on Keigo was like a marquee sliding across his mind’s eye. Shouta slumped into one of the seats, cursing every life decision that led him to have to do this.  Heaving a sigh, Shouta gestured to the seat on the other side of the table from him. 

 

“Please, sit.” Shouta’s voice was monotone, but that was better than the clipped tone he’d like to use.

 

All Might tilted his head in a shallow bow as he sat. 

 

They then both just sat there. Shouta had no idea how to begin. 

 

G-d, this was awkward .

 

Staring at All Might, he watched as the number one hero started to subtly squirm. A sick sense of satisfaction sparkled in Shouta’s chest. The man had hurt Izuku, so Shouta wouldn’t feel the smallest speck of pity for making him a little uncomfortable while he gathered his thoughts. 

 

After a good three and a half minutes of total silence, All Might raised a hand to the back of his neck, and his plastic grin shifted to something a touch more sheepish. 

 

“Ah, well. That could have gone better,” he awkwardly chuckled.

 

“ F—-ing understatement ,” Shouta hissed out before sitting back, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. 

 

Maybe he was a little less level headed than he originally thought he was. He needed to stay logical and calm, though. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he pushed on his aching eyes. His quirk had been right at the surface, ready to activate the whole time Keigo was threatening All Might. The only thing that stopped him was the concern it would make it all worse, mixed with years of training to not activate his quirk in high stress situations. Shouta could feel it still chomping at the bit to be activated, making his eyes burn. 

 

He really needed to calm down. 

 

“Has Keigo always been so….” All Might paused, “Assertive?”

 

Shouta let out a humorless snort, dropping his hand. “If by assertive you mean aggressive, frequently crossing into full violence, then yes, the whole time I have known him.” 

 

“I feel I would have heard rumors of this sort of behavior. Being so young and popular I’ve heard much about Hawks both good and bad, but nothing that would have hinted to… this. It is quite worrisome.” All Might’s normally booming voice was surprisingly gentle. It took some of the edge off Shouta’s ire. It wasn’t the voice of some prissy daylight hero ready to sue and throw the whole book at another very damaged hero. It was the voice of someone honestly concerned. Shouta could work with that. 

 

“He’s… acting out.” Shouta grimaced at the wording. But he wasn't sure what else to call it. “I am sure you watched the video. I happen to be privy to some more of the details of what the commission put him through. The fact he is managing to keep it together as much as he is, honestly is a miracle. Getting out from under the HPSC has been nothing but a net positive for him, but it’s still been too much change too fast. He has a hair trigger for fight or flight mode right now so we try to just… keep him calm. Then hope for the best.”

 

“Is he getting help?” All Might was clearly asking about professional help, if the look in his eye meant anything. 

 

“He is getting assistance from a variety of sources and will continue to do so.” Shouta drawled out. It was none of All Might’s business, but Shouta needed to play nice. 

 

“Good.” All Might started to rub his chest, almost like it hurt. “If there is anything I could do to help, just let me—” 

 

The hero started hacking a crackling cough. It sounded horrible, and Shouta was wildly concerned. One of All Might’s hands covered his mouth, his other gripping his side. Shouta felt fear slice through him as he saw some fresh blood seep through the fingers over his mouth. 

 

That was a sign of internal bleeding.

 

Kicking his chair back, Shouta stormed around the table. He pointed to the hand gripped over what had to be a hidden wound. 

 

“Show me.” 

 

A wound that likely slipped past Shouta’s awareness as he focused on Keigo. That Keigo might not have been fully cognizant of doing with how off he’d been throughout the whole… thing. It’s not like Keigo had seemed fully aware as he had stabbed Shouta, not until after it happened. All Might was a self sacrificial idiot if he was hiding a stab wound. But Shouta wouldn’t put it past him.

 

And it’s not like Shouta hadn’t tried to hide a stab wound before. And as a heroics course teacher, he’d had to weasel some insane hidden injuries out of his students. 

 

Heroes were idiots with no self preservation. All Might being the number one idiot. Shouta needed to get to the bottom of this before the man died from blood loss.

 

“I beg your pardon?” All Might removed the hand over his mouth once he stopped coughing. Fresh red mixed with the mostly dried blood from his nose. He was absolutely bleeding internally. 

 

“S—, you are bleeding.” Shouta yanked All Might’s hand away from his side starting to palpate the area, it didn’t feel wet….  No holes in his uniform. Nothing visible to explain the blood and obvious pain. But there had to be something . 

 

“I need you to strip.” 

 

“ Excuse me ?” All Might’s voice pitched up, as he moved to cover himself like he’d been caught naked. Shouta moved the hand off his chest to wave it around, showing the fresh blood coating his palm, and now staining the front of his hero suit. 

 

“You’re coughing up blood. I’d be a horrible hero if I didn’t make sure you weren’t dying.” 

 

“I promise, it’s nothing out of the ordinary! I am perfectly fine!” All Might smiled his wide media smile, but it was severely undercut by blood stained teeth. 

 

“Bulls—. Now explain in the next two seconds, or I will strip search you to make sure you aren’t bleeding out.”

 

“Now, that will not be necessary. I am perfectly—”

 

Shouta sighed to himself wondering if this was how Recovery Girl felt all the time, before pouncing on the man, activating Erasure. 

 

All Might disappeared into a thick cloud of steam. Shouta stumbled forward, grabbing what felt to be a wrist. The wrist in his grasp was more on par with Hizashi or Keigo’s wrist, not what he’d been expecting from the massive muscular build that All Might was famous for. 

 

Something was very wrong. Which was made all the more apparent as Shouta blinked in surprise as the steam faded away. The sight before him made Shouta widen his eyes. 

 

The familiar blond hair was a little messy, the weird rabbit ears of hair framed his face instead of sticking up. Electric blue shaded eyes practically glowed from under the deep brow, just like All Might. The man in front of Shouta, even sitting down, was clearly as tall as All Might, but gone was the massive wall of muscles that made the number one hero up. All that was left was a lithe man swimming in a now too large jumpsuit. Even his face looked pale and more hollow, not dangerously gaunt, but not the full jaw angled with strong muscles. 

 

Occam's razor was giving Shouta a run for his money. Sure, this could be an impostor with a transmutation or illusion quirk. But at the same time All Might’s quirk was always… a bit of a conundrum and no one could pin it down fully. Izuku had just gone on a rant about it a few days ago over a meal. About how it couldn’t just be a strength modifier as it just wouldn’t make sense.  

 

It could honestly go either way at this point, impostor, or some weird aspect of a quirk. And it was giving Shouta a headache trying to figure out which way was more likely. 

 

But what Shouta was sure about was that whoever was in front of him looked ill. 

 

“...All Might?” 

 

“Yes.” he sighed. “You must be Eraserhead.” 

 

“… Yeah, I am.” Shouta let go of All Might’s too thin wrist. The man rubbed it, before gesturing to the chair Shouta kicked over. “Sit, it looks like I will be explaining much more than I had originally planned.” 

 

“Are… you okay?” Shouta asked as he sat down. He might as well be in the middle of the Amazon rainforest for how lost he felt, but he couldn’t ignore the bright crimson that rolled down the other man’s chin as he coughed again. The man was still bleeding. 

 

All Might just waved, like the blood wasn’t a big deal. “I will explain in time, but I wasn’t lying, this is normal.” 

 

The explanation All Might gave only furthered Shouta’s bafflement. Not only did the man’s explanation not make any sense, it was also insane. A fight of the magnitude All Might described Shouta could believe, but an injury doing… this to a quirk just didn't make any sense. However, Shouta couldn’t just ignore the explanation as All Might was right in front of him, too small and clearly unwell. He had even shown off the twisted inflamed mass of scar tissue that made up a good third of his torso. 

 

Shouta swallowed. Izuku had healed that. This would line up with the organs and blood that Izuku mentioned that morning along with the regular procedures after. This wasn't the sort of injury someone could walk away from without major long term consequences.

 

All Might really should be dead right now. The only reason he wasn’t was likely the systematic torture of a child. 

 

G-d what an interconnected s— show. He’d known it had to have been bad, but seeing the aftermath of the injury was much worse than what his mind had conjured up. Shouta wanted to get off whatever chaotic roller coaster his life had become. 

 

“Let me get this straight.” Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose with a small huff. “You got injured in a fight. Bad enough for it to alter the nature of your quirk? And don't try to claim otherwise. Having a quirk like Erasure means I had to study quirks to make me more effective as a hero. And while extremely rare, injury and disease can affect quirks. This just seems to be an extreme alteration. So… whatever this is, isn’t just some ‘sucking in your gut’, this is quirk related bulls—, anyone who truly believes otherwise is an idiot. But even if your quirk allows you to ‘suck in’ and hide your clearly failing health… are you what, banking on no one noticing that the number one hero is this unwell? Are you just setting timers so you don’t run out of stamina and hope you never have to over exert yourself? How long do you think you can actually do this? Why not just retire ?”

 

Shouta knew he was being rude asking so many very personal questions. But honestly learning that the ‘symbol of peace’, the person that kept half the criminal underworld in check, was not only cracking, but fully cracked, past tense , and also actively crumbling, put Shouta’s teeth on edge. 

 

“Retiring is not an option at this time. However, timers would be wise to include in my heroics, so I thank you for the idea.” 

 

“G-d,” Shouta leaned his head back over the back rest, covering his face with his hands. “This is not how I saw my day going.”

 

“Likewise.” 

 

“I guess that… that,” Shouta grimaced at the memory of the horrible injury as he leaned forward to vaguely gesture at it. “Is what Izuku healed?”

 

“Yes. I don’t know as much about what happened as I would like. I was unconscious for much of it, for obvious reasons. I was told that Recovery Girl, an agent with a suspended animation quirk and an unnamed healing quirk user was used, in tandem with countless surgeries. I thought nothing of the cloak and daggers, as I have heard the harrowing stories that Recovery Girl has shared about her early years as a well known healer. The commission having healing quirk users on hand, but not publicizing them seemed totally reasonable. In my mind it was just protection. Now, however, I have been made aware that Recovery Girl couldn’t heal my injuries at all, as my stamina was almost completely depleted. It was likely that they used the suspended animation quirk for as long as they could as they kidnapped Midoriya-shounen.”

 

All Might leaned forward, his face was totally earnest. “If at any point during this process I was made aware of what was being traded for my life I would have refused. As a hero I knew there was a high chance that I would die from a fight. I made peace with that years ago. So, the idea that the abuse of anyone, let alone a child, for my benefit makes me sick. This is the type of heinous evil that I actively try to fight as a hero.” He pursed his thin lips, some of the dried blood from his nose flaked off his face.

 

“I understand if you need to hate me. I am the reason Midoryia-shounen will never have a normal childhood and will be physically and emotionally scarred for life. I will hold that with me until the day I do die, and I can carry the hate to make all of your burdens lighter. But I want to make it clear that I in no way condone what happened on my behalf. The moment I learned what had transpired, I wished they’d let me die on the operating table, saving the child the pain.” 

 

Shouta crossed his arms. All Might might be laying it on thick, but it was very clear the man felt genuinely terrible about what happened. Trying to put himself in All Might’s position made Shouta nauseous. He had been a self destructive mess over just triggering a few panic attacks. If Shouta learned that a child had been put through horrible torture and pain for close to a year and it was his fault? It would destroy him. Full stop. Shouta would die under that weight. 

 

If he was honest, Shouta would probably very actively speed the process along.

 

All Might sniffed and pinched his eyes tightly, obviously trying to tame back tears. Under the cracking mask was raw devastation. The man was drowning in grief. Shouta sighed, he couldn't push the man deeper into despair. All Might already held the weight of the world on his shoulders. Shouta didn't want to be the needle to break his fragile, straining back.

 

“You know,” he leaned back, enunciating his words carefully. “I really want to hate you. But when you say things like that, I can’t bring myself to.”

 

Relief was painted thickly onto All Might’s face. Shouta held up a hand making the man pause before flinching at Shouta’s blunt words.

 

“I don’t hate you but, I am still massively pissed off. We gave everyone at UA clear instructions, and you did not follow them. You are an idiot, but annoyingly, a well meaning one.” 

 

“I… appreciate the honesty.” All Might lied. Shouta sent him a blank look, before deciding against calling the man out on his bulls—-.

 

“The one thing that I still don’t fully understand is the continued healing sessions.”

 

“Like you claimed earlier, it was a lot of ignorance on my part, and a lot of naivety.” All Might grimaced, his eyes glazed into the middle distance past Shouta. His hand slowly inched toward his injured side. “I was honestly surprised that I woke up from the battle. It had been… bad. They told me they couldn’t explain what all they did to heal me. I had to sign NDAs and paperwork as ‘top secret methods and individuals’ were used. I had no reason to be suspicious, so I believed that the methods would at least be legal, if not also ethical.”

 

“It took me about a month to try active hero work again, as the lack of lung and stomach along with the other massive organ damage took me a while to… acclimate to. Once I started however, it was clear that there was a… deficiency in my performance. It wasn’t long after that HPSC agents were sent to my agency. As I wasn’t the only one who noticed that I was lacking.” All Might flushed slightly with embarrassment. “The agents told me that the commission had been working on a secret project to merge healing quirks together in tandem to create regenerative effects. I am ashamed to admit it, but I jumped on the opportunity. I should have done more research, but it sounded plausible.” 

 

All Might slid his eyes to look at Shouta. “And don’t take this as an excuse, but as an explanation. I’m All Might, the symbol of peace. If it was known that I was in such a sorry state, I feared what the villains would do. I needed to be better, and fast.”

 

“The commission also did a good job faking the quirks, and in retrospect they were all used to hide what they were doing. One said they had to cover my ears with their hands, which played ‘healing music’. Another had an illusion quirk making tiny fireworks and swirling lights above me, it had a minor hypnotic aspect to it. The last would just silently meditate at the foot of the bed, and we’ve since learned that she had a memory altering quirk, able to force memories to act like faded dreams. I have been told that she refuses to speak to any of the investigators, so I may never know if she used her quirk on me.” He frowned, the skin wrinkling between his brows. 

 

“After the first session I was able to hold my full power for longer than the five or so hours I had been able to. It was close to nine or ten. But it slowly waned, like a fatigued muscle. I didn’t want a crutch to prop myself up, but…” he trailed off. 

 

“You clearly kept going.” Shouta interjected.

 

“At the time it seemed the most reasonable. And I believe it was session three they’d been able to make a ‘breakthrough’, which makes me sick to think about what they did to get the results they did.” All Might looked a little green. Shouta couldn’t blame him, Izuku’s whispered yeses to the ever growing list of horrors echoed in his mind. “I don’t know what they did, but a damaged part of my kidney regenerated fully, along with what they now call my ‘pseudo lung’. It is not a… full lung, but it helped stabilize my O2 levels, but the capillaries are too close to the surface and dry air can burst them. Similar to a bloody nose. And while unpleasant, isn’t dangerous or causing long term damage from what the doctors can tell. After that, I was even more willing to participate, as I had proof that it was working. I never once questioned it further. I was sometimes even excited as I knew I would feel better, possibly gain more of my function back. I was grateful .” 

 

Slamming a fist onto the table, a spiderweb of cracks shot out from the impact. Shouta lightly flinched, but didn’t jump, only because he had a lot of experience with loud outbursts from living with Hizashi. All the fight bled out of All Might as his shoulders slumped and he ran his now flat hand along the cracked wood. He was the picture of regret, remorse oozing from every part of him. Shouta knew it wasn't for the cracks he traced with his fingers. 

 

“Midoriya-shounen is right to blame me. It was my fault any of this happened. If I had stopped, paused to look deeper into the things they were telling me I might have been able to-”

 

“No,” Shouta cut him off. All Might opened his mouth to continue, but Shouta beat him to the punch. “No. If you honestly didn’t know, it is not your fault."

 

“But-”

 

“I’m not going to stop you from blaming yourself. But you are not all knowing, or infallible. In my mind the only ones at fault are the ones who knew and let it happen, or directly harmed Izuku.”

 

“I still would like to atone, to make it better somehow. I’ll do anything you ask.” 

 

“Then leave us alone.” 

 

All Might reeled back. “But, I can—”

 

“Nope,” Shouta shook his head. “Any direct action you could take will make it worse. I am a hero too, the urge to jump into the thick of it is easy to fall into, but this?” Shouta swirled his hand around hoping to encompass everything. “This is delicate work. And you are the bull in the china shop. I just need you to leave so I can clean all the glass off the floor.” 

 

“… Alright.” All Might sounded bitter yet resigned. Shouta could only hope that it would stick. “I will stay away, but to add to the metaphor, at least let me offer to pay for the busted merchandise?”

 

Shouta frowned. He didn’t like the feeling that he was being paid off, or bought out. He could care for Izuku, he didn’t need All Might’s charity. Something must have shown on his face as All Might waved his hands in front of him and started back tracking.

 

“This is only because Midoriya-shounen saved my life, at his own expense. I owe him a life debt. There is not one single thing I can do to make up for what he went through, but I am willing to dedicate whatever you need from me to make his life easier and more comfortable. I am sure that he will need expensive specialists for his physical needs and will need an education. I can financially assist, freeing up you and your partner’s time and energy to be there for the boy.” 

 

It wasn’t like Hizashi and Shouta were hurting for money. They both were well paid teachers and pro-heroes and Hizashi also had his radio show that made a decent amount on the side. But that was before they doubled the mouths to feed and people to take care of. They’d have to move. Get Izuku a full wardrobe and Hizashi would want to fill his room with hero merch and games and other toys. Keigo needed… normal experiences, like going to an aquarium or just the mall . Anything removed from the HPSC and heroics. Anything that could make him feel normal. Both needed intensive therapy. Izuku would need physical therapy, surgery, medications and probably a ton of other things Shouta couldn’t even begin to imagine. 

 

And once Keigo was reinstated as a hero, it wasn’t like he couldn’t pitch in, but that would take at least months, maybe years depending on court decisions, mental health screenings, and a myriad of other things. That was, of course, assuming Keigo still even wanted to be a hero. Shouta wasn't sure where the kid would land and wasn't going to push him in either direction. If he decided to go into something else, that might take him even more time, which didn’t matter. Shouta fully intended to just provide for the kid until he could get back on his feet, so Keigo didn’t have to worry about how to feed or house himself and instead could just focus on healing.

 

Doing some rough mental math, it would be doable.

 

Probably. 

 

Nedzu had offered himself as a resource when they’d signed the papers for Izuku. The rat had money to burn and then some. Shouta wasn’t ever going to question where he got his money, but he knew that the tuition from students in no way was enough to pay for the nonsense that UA did on a monthly basis. Shouta knew that they’d be fine, he’d hate to take Nedzu’s charity. It would in some ways feel a bit like selling his soul to a demon. But he’d do it in a heartbeat to make sure Izuku and Keigo were taken care of.

 

However, if All Might was to foot some of the bills, then Shouta and Hizashi could take a longer sabbatical from their heroics work without financial concern. And not taking a ton from Nedzu would be good for Shouta’s peace of mind. They might be able to even take off from being teachers for a while, if Nedzu give them his blessing. Which might be key to helping the boys settle more, and this way it wouldn’t bite into their savings, or more accurately gobble it all up. 

 

Bills don’t stop even in the face of life’s bulls—-. 

 

It would also keep Hizashi from taking it out on All Might, as Shouta could very easily see Hizashi being petty and doing something at the next heroic event that they both were in attendance. It wouldn't be the first time. His husband had once set up a string of events that Shouta was still a bit confused on, that lead to some lesser known hero having a whole gallon of wine dumped on them in front of the paparazzi after saying a snide and unsavory comment about Eraserhead and Unders in general. It tanked the man’s rank as he had lost it on camera and attacked Hizashi who played up his ‘lovable idiot’ persona. Blaming him for what from the outside seemed like an accident which in no way involved Hizashi looked deranged. Even though Hizashi point blank told the man earlier that by the end of the night he’d be made a fool, there was no proof of it and the media had a heyday.

 

A target as high ranking and well loved as All Might wouldn’t stop him. Honestly, it would just be a fun challenge for Hizashi. Shouta usually would just let his husband have his fun, but he’d rather Hizashi focus his energy on helping the kids instead of on petty revenge. 

 

Taking the money might also assuage All Might from being an idiot again, helping calm the guilt in him to actually keep him away. 

 

Win win. All around.

 

“We… might be willing to discuss ways you could financially assist in Izuku’s care.” Shouta chose his words carefully. All Might smiled, a small relieved thing. Honest in a way that left Shouta feeling a little off kilter. Daylight heroes weren’t quick to abandon their masks around him normally, so seeing the man so clear out from under the mask surprised him. 

 

“Good, and we can of course discuss exacts later, but I could easily set aside 6.5 million yen¹ a month, and I could shuffle my finances to—”

 

Shouta choked on his own spit. Doing some of the fastest mental math of his life, Shouta’s jaw dropped. “That’s just over 75 million yen ² a year.” 

 

“Yes?” All Might had the audacity to sound confused. Like he hadn’t just thrown out an insane amount of money. 

 

“Do you know how much it costs to raise a child, right?” Shouta might not know all the ins and outs of every expense that went into taking care of a kid, but 6.5 million a month was crazy, even with medical bills. 

 

Massive wealth had a way of making people lose touch with reality, but this seemed extreme. No sane person would count up everything needed and land on the amount Shouta made from underground heroics in a year being the costs per month . 

 

“It might take me a month or two, but I could organize it to be 10 million ³ a month. I know children are expensive, doubly so with health concerns and—”

 

“F—,” Shouta wheezed. “Wrong direction. Less, it’s less .”

 

Apparently, All Might was insane. Good to know the number one hero was totally removed from reality, and thought giving a small fortune annually wouldn’t be enough. 

 

“Ah, so 6.5 million would be sufficient?”

 

“Half it⁴ and it’d still way more than we’d need. G-d just how rich are you?” 

 

Shouta had never felt more like some second class citizen. He’d never been totally destitute because of the Yamadas caring for him out of high school. But he knew without their kindness he’d have likely ended up homeless, or in some crappy rundown place run by a slimy slumlord. New underground heroes don’t make all that much. Even established, he didn't make a ton. And being young and dumb and in pain he’d definitely spent what little money he had made numbing any and all emotions he had for a good few years, instead of saving what he could. But even now, financially stable, the numbers All Might was just casually throwing around made Shouta feel extremely poor.

 

“Enough to know that three million a month would make me feel that I wouldn’t provide enough to provide genuine security for the boy. A quirk like his needs more precautions than just living in a simple apartment or house could provide. Even with heroic guardians.” 

 

Cursing under his breath, Shouta felt himself caving. All Might had a point. Shouta might find it stifling to be tucked in some high security gated community, but it would give everyone some peace of mind. And no one would think too much of it as Hizashi was fairly vocal about the dangers of para social relationships and how they could go too far. He’d had his fair share of creepy stalkers. No one would look twice at Izuku when Hizashi was right there.

 

All Might, like a shark in the water, sensed Shouta’s weakness. “How about for now I plan on five million and we’ll add as needed?” 

 

“3.5, 4 million max . Only because I know high security housing is expensive . But, me and Hizashi are not some starving charity cases, we can care for our son.”

 

Shouta cursed as he felt his face flush. He hadn't meant to call Izuku son. But he couldn't deny it felt right. All Might, oblivious to Shouta's internal conflicting emotions, just waved his hands.

 

“I don’t doubt it. I apologize if I came across patronizing or condescending. I just want the best for the boy.”

 

“I do too, which is the only reason I am even considering this. If housing is much less than I am tentatively thinking it might be, then we will be renegotiating to something much more reasonable.”

 

“If that makes you feel better, but I will be setting at least the 6.5 million a month aside for the boy regardless of how much you take as he is still a boy. I will work up to the 10 million as a goal. If you wish for me to wait and put it all in a trust once he is of age, that is also fine.” 

 

Shouta was going to go insane. All Might was stubborn as h— and if he was going to just give Izuku the money anyway, what was the point of the weird haggling they'd been doing? This felt a bit like talking to a brick wall. Part of him just wanted to take the money and run. Treat his little family to a long vacation in Hawaii. H—, if it wasn’t for American healthcare costs he could just move to Hawaii on the number one hero’s dime. But, Shouta knew that it would be too destabilizing for Keigo, and he’d hate to take Izuku further away from his mom. Hizashi would probably hate being far from his family, too. And in all honesty, Shouta himself would probably find the heat and sand unbearable long term. His English was also horrible, so it wasn't really feasible.

 

Didn’t stop him from fantasizing about it though. He scratched his cheek, before rubbing his palm against the stubble on his chin.

 

“Put whatever you want in a trust. It’s your money. I can’t tell you what to do. But I’ll give you my contact information so we can fully solidify… whatever the h— this is.”

 

“… Child support?” All Might offered with a small smirk.

 

Shouta snorted. “You know what? Sure. Child support.” He might as well lean into whatever brand of crazy All Might suffered from. 

 

They exchanged numbers. Saving the number one hero's number under ‘Child support’ felt odd, but the man had asked to not use his hero name. Shouta wasn’t about to ask him for his name. He’d technically overheard it earlier, but Shouta might ignore a lot of social niceties, but that seemed a step too far. Underground heroes usually didn’t have much of a distance between their civilian and heroic identities, at least not with other heroes. But he’d been with Hizashi long enough to know that wasn’t possible for a lot of daylight heroes. 

 

Present Mic, even after a lot of effort, still had a few callers to the radio show that toed the line of what was strictly appropriate. Shouta always secretly thought it was funny as they were barking up the wrong tree. Hizashi, for whatever reason, had chosen Shouta to an almost sickening degree. If after everything he stuck around, even Shouta’s catastrophizing brain honestly couldn’t imagine anything that would change his husband’s mind.

 

But, the callers seemed to honestly upset Hizashi some days, especially when they were too familiar and flirty. He’d come home and curl up with Shouta bemoaning how horrible it was and how exhausting it was to shoot them down without hurting their feelings too much. He’d go on about how he wished he could just say he was taken. But they had decided a long time ago that they didn’t want to be in the public eye like that. Both for Shouta’s underground work, but also Hizashi’s deep fear that some crazy fan or villain organization would target Shouta. It was a bit ridiculous as Shouta was more than capable of handling himself, but he knew it was just his husband running with his worries, not a sign of Hizashi thinking he was incapable. 

 

He’d never say it out loud, but it was kind of cute.

 

Hizashi also regularly said that worry was the only thing keeping him from screaming about their relationship from the rooftops and there was a good chance that he wasn’t exaggerating. Shouta would rather be saved the embarrassment of Hizashi actually screaming out declarations of love for all of Musutafu to hear.

 

Thinking of his husband, Shouta felt a hollow ache in his chest. He missed Hizashi. It had been only about an hour since they had been working together to try to keep Izuku’s mind off everything. Like some twisted honeymoon, they had actually been spending more time together than they usually had the time for since taking on the kids. It was gross and sappy and disgustingly domestic, but Shouta missed him being at his side or able to be heard just a room away. 

 

Going back to teaching next week was going to be hell (assuming they went back to teaching so soon). Adding patrols on top of that will be super-hell.

 

“Is there anything else?” Shouta asked, hoping the answer would be no. He wanted to go back to Hizashi and check on Izuku and Keigo. 

 

“Beyond a few more apologies that you will likely reject? No.” 

 

Shouta sighed. The man’s guilt was not his problem. “Just… learn from this. Do better. That's all we can do.” 

 

All Might smiled, real and genuine. “I’ll keep that in mind.” 

 

Standing, Shouta shoved his hands in the deep pockets of his hero jumpsuit. His fingers grazed the side of a soft feather. He… didn’t know when Keigo slipped him a feather. Shouta made sure to run a gentle finger down the quill. He hoped it could give Keigo some sort of comfort. The feather vibrated before shifting to press into Shouta’s palm. Taking that as a positive, he continued the soft ministrations. Shouta turned to All Might who was also standing. 

 

“Actually, before I go, do you plan to press charges against Keigo?” Shouta mentally crossed his fingers. At this point he didn’t think All Might would, but people surprised Shouta from time to time. He’d rather be able to prepare for the headache than be blindsided and have to scramble. 

 

“Whatever for?” All Might replied, baffled.

 

“He threatened you with his quirk. It could very easily be considered attempted assault with a deadly weapon.” Shouta felt like he was explaining basic laws to his third year class. A group that should 100% be past that point.

 

“Ah, right.” All Might waved him off. “All water under the bridge. I’ve seen my fair share of over reactions from… let's call them, jumpy heroes. It is not an easy job, and too many of us forget that. Keigo’s young and needs help, not punishment. And while it might have been far from ideal, I could have handled it myself if I believed him to be an honest threat.”

 

“Still can’t hate you.” Shouta mumbled under his breath as tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. “You set both my kids off and are a massive idiot. And for some reason I still can’t hate you. You’re too g-d d— likable.” 

 

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he smiled.

 

“I don’t like that I like you.” 

 

All Might laughed. “You don’t have to. I had a mentor who turned a blind eye to some of the… questionable choices of my youth. She took me under her wing and helped me be the hero I am today. Was practically a surrogate mother for a troubled teen. I’d be a hypocrite and a fool to get in the way of two people going on a similar journey together.” 

 

Shouta had to bite down on the embarrassment that he felt. He wanted to be that type of person for Keigo, but also he didn’t want anyone else to notice. And he definitely didn't want anyone to mention it. Shouta was much more comfortable with the one sided care he gave his students. He appreciated the distance and even preferred it when they cursed his name. 

 

The alternative was terrifying. 

 

All Might referencing Keigo and his own relationship reminded Shouta that Keigo had called him dad again. Just knowing deep down Keigo did see him that way, made Shouta’s chest flutter. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, but the positive feelings did seem to outweigh the sick nerves and embarrassment about it. Shouta knew what Keigo’s imprinting meant. He… really didn’t hate being called a father, a dad. 

 

Secretly, he actually really liked it. Which was why it was equally embarrassing and frightening.

 

“One last thing: I am sure you are already aware, but what I told you about my injury, really can’t be spread around. If it was, it would be catastrophic.” 

 

“I wasn’t planning on telling anyone.” Shouta wasn’t an idiot, that type of information could kill the man, which would cause crime to run rampant. Selfishly, he wouldn't spread this around because it would make his job as a hero three thousand times harder. Less selfishly, it’s just basic human decency to not share personal information, especially the kind that can get someone killed .

 

“Good.” 

 

“Take care, All Might.” Shouta gave the hero a curt bow.

 

“Likewise, Eraserhead.” All Might bowed back. 

 

Shouta felt this was a conversation between civilians, not heroes. He wouldn't ask, but he figured he would offer his name.

 

“Aizawa Shouta.” 

 

“Yagi Toshinori.” 

 

Huh, what a normal sounding name. Shouta didn’t want to admit he’d fallen into believing All Might was some larger than life figure, but to a degree he had. Sometimes he forgot that there was still a person under all the bravado. But this conversation ripped all of that away. He was just a person, as much of an idiot as the rest of humanity. 

 

If not more so. 

 

They bowed to each other again, before both leaving the cafeteria. All Might, for lack of a better term, poofed back to his large form before giving a two finger salute and heading off in the opposite direction of the infirmary. Shouta walked down the hall, the box of cinnamon rolls and a wrapped up plate in his hands. The moment he turned the corner, Shouta broke into a sprint. 

 

He was done being the level headed adult. He’d held out through the whole conversation with All Might. But he was done. He missed Hizashi. He was worried about his kids. 

 

He just wanted to be with his family.

Notes:

1. 6.5 mil yen = 45.5K USD ^{[ ▲ ]}
2. 75 mil yen = 525K USD ^{[ ▲ ]}
3. 10 mil yen = 70K USD ^{[ ▲ ]}
4. 3.25 mil yen = 22.5K USD ^{[ ▲ ]}

Man I hope my coding worked lol I used a tutorial so we'll seeeeeeee xD if not I'll be trying to figure it out hahaha. If it does work know i feel so frickin cool. Even tho i did basically nothing beyond some copy and pasting ahha
EDIT- IT FREAKING WORKS OH MY GOSH THAT IS SO FLIPPIN COOL OH MY GOOOOOSHHHHHH
Thanks to Vigs at https://archiveofourown.org/works/20192773#2note1

Also I love all might. he is an IDIOT but i don't think even his worst things in cannon (like being dumb with izuku around the slime villian and like shooting down his dreams and what not) came from a place of malace. I read him as a socially awkward lonely guy who is just doing his best and failing periodically. And I wanted to be true to that. I also freaking love all might. I cannot include some dadmight in this fic (for OBVIOUS FREAKING REASONS Izuku is just NOT ready for anything like that) but we do get a taste of the weird little freindship they kind of have in cannon (its at least mutual respect) and i want them to both have more friends :(( cuz i love all my boys and i want them to have more connections :D I might need to absolutely wreck them to get them there tho eheh >:D

Chapter 47: Keigo Doesn’t want to leave Izuku

Notes:

Lol okay so one day I will actually have self control and I won't just post the same day the edititng to a chapter is completed (this is a lie. don't listen to me. I will never have that level of self control) HOWEVER be proud I made it a whole three hours thinking i'd be able to do it hahaha xD

BUT thanks to @sassy_chemist for using her time stuck in an airport to beta read this chapter lolol She is a great beta fish <3

ALSO WE IN THE HOME STRETCH BABYYYY just tying up loose ends and getting some of the more fluffy bits :D WHICH MEANS COMMUNICATION 👏 IS 👏 IN 👏 THE 👏 HOUSE 👏 which is super exciting!!!!

TBH beyond some idk sensory overload thingies its a pretty chill chapter so legit i don't think there are really any major triggers in this bad boy <3 which is always a great sign <3

Enjoy!!!!

“Keigo, you can’t just lay there. You need to go with Tsukauchi. You need to continue your interview,” Shouta grumbled. 

 

Tightening his grip around Izuku, Keigo ignored what seemed like his dad’s thousandth comment along this vein. It had been a few hours since Izuku had collapsed, and about twenty minutes since the detective had shown up saying that Keigo had to return. 

 

However, there was no way he was leaving Izuku’s side. Not while he was so vulnerable. It was unthinkable. 

 

“You can’t just ignore this, kid.” 

 

“Watch me,” Keigo spat out as he covered Izuku and himself with one of his wings, hardening the external feathers. 

 

“Keigo, you need to go.” Shouta knocked on the outside of his wings. He sounded frustrated. “ Keigo .” 

 

Gliding his fingers over Izuku’s freckled cheeks, Keigo cooed. He hoped that even mentally far away, he could give Izuku some amount of comfort. His green eyes were dazed and vacant. The slow blinks pushing tears onto his eyelashes and out of the corners of his eyes. Using a thumb Keigo caught one fat drop off the bridge of Izuku’s nose. He rubbed it on his own shirt before pulling down the bright red hood and started preening his brother’s hair. 

 

He hated thinking it, but the dissociated thousand meter stare was so much better then how Izuku had been shortly after waking up. Keigo had never seen Izuku lose it so fully. He had listened to it from the kitchen as he madly tried to wash the raw eggs off his hands and again as he sprinted down the hall to the cafeteria. But listening and seeing it was very different. Izuku had a nightmare or just had left over panic from whatever happened with All Might, and woke up, swinging . 

 

The only thing that saved Keigo from a black eye was his quick reflexes. He grappled his brother, holding him tight to his chest as Izuku screamed and struggled. After a few of the most terrifying minutes of Keigo’s life, Izuku had gone slack and totally silent. Keigo thought Izuku had died for a few seconds until he felt him take a slow breath in. 

 

The blank look was eerie, but knowing what the alternative was… Keigo couldn’t help but be glad Izuku wasn’t having an active meltdown. 

 

Shouta tucked his fingers around the edge of his wing and started to pull it up and away. Keigo screeched, flicking him away with a wing. He heard a loud thud before Shouta grunted. 

 

“I'm fine, ‘Zashi.” Shouta groaned. Which was good. Keigo didn't want to hurt his dad, he hadn't meant to shove him that hard. He just needed Shouta to leave the two of them alone .

 

Jittering his feathers so they would purposely be angled out wildly, he sharpened them. He was now a glorified hedgehog. Keigo would like to see either of his dads get past that . 

 

Tightening his grip around Izuku, he bit back tears. Having his wing like this was sensory hell. The hard feathers angled and rubbed against his still sensitive down and even more sensitive pin feathers. The patches of the soft feathers were even more accessible to the open air, able to sense the small wind patterns and the vibrations of Shouta’s grumbles and Hizashi’s tapping foot. It was worth it if he got to stay by Izuku to protect him, though. 

 

Keigo felt his feathers go lax, and he couldn’t hold back a relieved coo. It was less unbearable like this, but now they were both defenseless. He peeked his head out and glared at Shouta. 

 

His dad’s pink hair was raised, eyes glowing red. Arms crossed, Shouta stood leaning heavily on one leg. His face was tight with frustration, one side of his jaw flexing over and over. Shouta looked pissed .

 

Keigo didn’t care . Hissing like a cat he pulled the wing back up over his head, tucking his feet up too. It might not be as solid without the hardened feathers but his wings were still a form of barrier. 

 

Sighing loudly, his dad’s hand brushed the edge of his wing again, before Hizashi stood. 

 

“Shou, let me try.” 

 

“Go ahead, just be prepared to duck unless you also want to be slammed into a f—ing wall,” Shouta grumbled, sounding more than a little miffed. Keigo heard him collapse heavily into a chair. A small part of him felt bad for being difficult, but most of him just needed to protect Izuku. 

 

“Keigo, I need to know you are listening.” Hizashi patted a hand on the mattress just outside of his cocoon. “Gotta see some action, or maybe those pretty golden eyes, baby bird.”

 

“Don’t call me that.” Keigo half sat up, growling. “I am not your pet.” 

 

Hizashi had taken a step away from the bed, his hands raised. Slowly, he knelt to be close to eye level and shuffled forwards on his knees. “I won’t call you that again. I’ll just need a new moniker for you in sign, as I’d chosen that for you and ‘cookie monster’ for Izuku. I should have made sure it was okay with you first. Is there something you’d be more comfortable with?”

 

Keigo relaxed back down to lay next to Izuku. He knew Hizashi didn’t mean it like Mr. Watanabe had. His dad liked using weird nicknames. Izuku had like five with the man. A part of Keigo was excited to have one too, but most of him prickled at it. 

 

“I…” Keigo started playing lazily with Izuku’s hair. “I don’t know.” 

 

“How about treasured feathers?” Hizashi quickly did what Keigo assumed was the signs for it. One hand used all five fingers to just barely claw the end of his chin pulling down, making a fist. Then with two fingers held together he wiggled his hand up his arm.

 

He…. Didn’t hate it. He felt his feathers shake and smooth out. He actually kind of liked it. 

 

“Isn’t it… kinda sappy?”

 

Shouta snorted from his position, fully collapsed back into the chair looking at the ceiling. “Kid, I promise you Hizashi doesn’t care about that.”

 

“Nope!” Hizashi grinned while doing jazz hands. “I’m as sappy as a tree.”

 

“I guess it’s okay then.” 

 

“Treasured feather it is then!” Hizashi signed along with the moniker. “But now that I very much have your attention, my lovely treasured feather, we do need to to get you to go and finish the interviews.” 

 

Keigo growled and slipped his wing over his head again. He wrapped himself around his brother, trying to make it clear he was not leaving Izuku. It didn’t matter what Hizashi said or did, he wasn’t going to budge. Izuku needed him. And he couldn’t just abandon his brother.

 

Hizashi huffed. Keigo could tell that he and Shouta were signing to each other.  His wings were able to pick up on some of the movement they made in the air along with the sounds of their clothes rustling. Something about it twisted his stomach. 

 

“Stop talking about me.” Keigo hissed out. “I know you are.” 

 

“Sorry, Keigo,” Shouta mumbled out. “We’re just trying—” 

 

Keigo snapped his wing back, cutting him off. “You’re trying to make me abandon Izuku! And I'm not going to! So stop trying!” 

 

“No, feather, we’re not.” Hizashi put his elbows on the edge of the bed.

 

“Yes you are!” Keigo bit back a loud screech when he saw Izuku try to half wiggle away from the yelling. He needed to be what Izuku needed and right now he needed calm. 

 

Which sucked because he wasn’t calm at all. 

 

His everything was freaking out. The room was too bright. His head was throbbing from what he knew were quiet sounds, but to him sounded like drums. The idea of letting Izuku out of his sight sent his heart into a chaotic sprint. Part of him knew he needed to go. He needed to finish the interview. But the other part of him hated every aspect of the idea and wanted to spit on the idea and stomp on it until it died.  

 

Unfortunately for everyone involved, that angry part was very much winning. He just wanted to scream ‘no’ repeatedly until everyone just left him alone. 

 

He’d never really been allowed to just say no before. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. 

 

He kept the mental mantra from Nemuri’s weird talk about how ‘he fit’ repeating in his mind as he took a deep breath and thought about how he could explain. Talking had worked when he’d freaked out over the therapy thing. And somehow things got resolved after he’d stabbed Shouta, and the weird check in chats had made things go way smoother. 

 

It made sense that open communication worked. But Keigo was still surprised every time. This time would probably be no different if he could figure out how to explain it. That there was some rabid protective dog in him and he couldn't figure out how to make it heel. 

 

Keigo trusted them enough not to use whatever was wrong with him against him, they just wanted to honestly help. He knew he needed to leave Izuku, but like with searching the house, he couldn't figure out how to stop.

 

“I can’t leave him. I can’t. I know I should go. I know you want me to. But, he’s so… fragile.” Keigo’s voice cracked as he tangled his fingers in the hair at the nape of Izuku’s neck. The soothing circles as much for him as it was for his dissociated younger brother. He was still slowly crying. Each drop felt like a knife to Keigo’s chest. “I need to protect him. To be there. I know I need to go but… I don’t know how to leave .”

 

Curling around Izuku’s lax form, he warbled. He didn’t know what to do, he needed help.

 

“Clearly, Keigo needs more time, Tsukauchi, isn’t there—” 

 

“I’ve already pushed it off as much as the other detectives will allow. I’m not the lead on this side of the case, you know that.” 

 

“Yes, but—” 

 

“Aizawa, I can’t just break procedure. And the fact they’ve been willing to bend protocol so much is nothing sort of a miracle. This is a huge case and everyone is chomping at the bit to get things done so we can make solid arrests. We’re destabilizing a pretty large section of the government each day this case goes on. Social unrest is at an all time high. It’s been fairly tame, but everyone silently is worrying what would happen if this takes too much longer. We’ve given as much time as we can.” 

 

“I want to help. I really really do. I just…” Keigo swallowed, before making eye contact with Hizashi. “I don’t know how .” 

 

“We’ll help you, Keigo.” Hizashi reached a hand out and started smoothing out some of the still askew barbs from his attempt to get Shouta to leave him alone. Keigo couldn't bite back the satisfied chirps, it felt so good. “We just gotta figure out the first steps, you just gotta work with us, okay?” 

 

“Okay.” Keigo shifted his wing to be closer to Hizashi, so he could reach more of the messed up feathers. His dad smiled as he started working his way through the feathers. 

 

“Alright, problem solving. We can’t have you hold Izuku for the questioning. That’d be bad for Izuku and also is against procedure. Maybe a camera set up?”

 

Keigo didn’t love that idea. But he might be able to do it.

 

The detective piped in, “Wouldn’t be allowed, unfortunately.”

 

Never mind then. Keigo wouldn’t need to deal with the mental breakdown cameras on Izuku would probably cause.

 

“Wait. The eavesdropping,” Shouta said. 

 

“Oh, that’s a good idea.” Hizashi grinned at his husband before turning to Keigo. “You think that’d work?”

 

Keigo couldn’t help but feel like he missed like three steps to the conversation. “What?”

 

“We can take care of Izuku one room over. You have your interview, but you’d be able to hear.” Shouta explained. 

 

“We can probably convince the detectives to do the questioning in the same room as Inui used, making it even easier for everyone involved.”

 

“I…” Keigo wanted to say ‘no’, itching to say it, even. Instead he thought about it. He wouldn't like it, but it was doable.

 

“Could… I leave some feathers with him, too?” 

 

“I am not sure, but I don’t see why you couldn’t.” Shouta turned to Tsukauchi. “Do you know if that would break any of the rules?”

 

The detective sighed. “I’m not sure, but I can look into it.” 

 

“Would the other detectives be able to move locations?” Hizashi asked. 

 

“They absolutely could , but might throw a hissy fit about it. I don’t think they’d twist this into Keigo breaking his plea agreement, but ‘full cooperation’ is incredibly vague and if they think it’d be in their benefit to lapse the agreement, they will.” 

 

“They didn’t define it? That doesn’t feel right,” Hizashi added. 

 

“I read it, and nothing is well defined.” The detective sighed. “It’s all more vague than it should be, but it was majorly rushed with very minimal information going into its creation. But since it was signed, the best that can be done is to try to follow the most reasonable definitions.” 

 

“Well, that’s s—-.” Hizashi mumbled out. “Keigo do you remember what they said as they went over it with you? We might be able to get an idea of the way they’ll interpret it.”

 

“I just signed it.” Keigo pulled Izuku’s red hood up over his head, smiling as his brother softly nuzzled his cheek into the soft inside. “I didn’t even really read it.” 

 

“Not at all?” Shouta added. 

 

“I sort of skimmed the first paragraph?” 

 

He knew that was dumb in retrospect; however, in the moment he just wanted to get the questioning over with. It wasn’t like he’d ever really had a say in anything before. He’d signed lots of papers to the commission about pay, his hero agency, his apartment, and a ton of other things. He didn’t ever think twice about it as he signed the pages. He just did what he was told.

 

“Okay. Not ideal, but they didn’t walk you through it at all?” Hizashi paused his preening, a strange edge to his voice. It put Keigo on edge. 

 

“No?” 

 

“Did they offer to explain, at least?” 

 

Keigo shook his head. They all had seemed just as interested in moving things along as he had been. Hizashi blinked twice before turning to Shouta.

 

“I’m going to kill them.” 

 

“Hizashi, you can’t.” Shouta sighed out. 

 

“Watch me,” he growled as he stood. “If they are over here being mad that Keigo needed a few hours to calm down, only to turn around and not explain a very important plea agreement because they are a little impatient? Heads will roll.”

 

“Killing them isn’t going to solve any problems. Only make new ones.” Shouta’s voice was monotone and devoid of any emotion. Like he’d gone over this before. He probably had.

 

“It’d make me feel better,” Hizashi snapped back.

 

“No, it won’t.” 

 

Hizashi deflated, sinking back to sit on the edge of the bed. “It… won’t. But this is very much not okay. I need to get my hands on that plea agreement.” 

 

Detective Tsukauchi shifted on his feet. “I shouldn’t offer, but I might be able to get a copy for you. There are definitely some rules I’d be… bending. But I can get a copy for Keigo. I can't stop him from showing others…” 

 

“Thank you.” Hizashi sounded genuine as he started to preen more of Keigo’s feathers. “Is there a way we could get you in the questioning sessions?” 

 

He shook his head, “I am going to be busy, looking into all the information Izuku provided. I should be doing a ton currently, but I offered to retrieve Keigo after All Might told me a bit about what happened… earlier.” 

 

Keigo felt his face heat up. Hizashi’s hands rubbing around one of the very itchy pin feathers was the only thing that kept him from tucking himself back under his wing. He still couldn’t believe that he’d accused All Might of being complicit in Izuku’s treatment. In the moment, thanking Izuku meant that the man had to have known , or at least was okay with it. Now, with his head being a little more clear, it was obviously not the case.

 

All Might just was just thankful he was alive.

 

“Could we get someone in there we trust? A lawyer? An advocate?” Shouta chimed in.

 

“There was a lawyer,” Keigo mumbled out. 

 

“And they didn’t do anything to stop you signing the papers? They didn't at least explain it first?” Hizashi sounded horrified.

 

“She showed up after I signed them.” Keigo shrugged. He’d been surprised he’d been given a lawyer at all considering everything. He hadn't even asked, assuming he was clearly guilty and there’d be no need. 

 

“Yeah, that’s not happening again. I’m going to go talk to everyone involved. There is expediting the process and then there is taking advantage of a sheltered and abused nineteen year old.” Hizashi stood to leave, this time he seemed much calmer. 

 

“I’m not sheltered.” Keigo grumbled out. “I know… stuff.” 

 

“You do, feather, lots of stuff.” Hizashi’s voice was lilting. Keigo rolled his eyes, feeling like Hizashi was being more than a little condescending. “I don’t mean to put you down in any way. But, your hero work was more on the villain take down and rescue side of heroics and you are extremely capable at that. I’d be the first to say it. But, I doubt you’ve ever been this involved in an investigation before, right?”

 

“… Not really, no.” His feathers puffed up. 

 

Keigo’s work ended before they even got to the police station most of the time as it was common for his sidekicks to take over once the police arrived. His work with the commission was usually cut and dry missions. Someone else did the investigating, he just followed orders. There had been discussions of adding more investigating and possible undercover/infiltration into his agency work, but they just hadn’t gotten there yet.

 

Now they never would.

 

“Which is to be expected,” Shouta stood with a small grunt. He slid into the place on the side of the bed Hizashi had been previously sitting, his hands starting to smooth down the last of the ruffled feathers. “Heroics is vast. Even I don’t think it is reasonable to expect every hero to know every aspect of each and every heroic specialty. Especially not so early into their career.”

 

Hizashi snorted before muttering under his breath. “I bet your students beg to differ.”

 

Shouta leveled a look at Hizashi, “Aren’t you supposed to be talking to the detectives right now?”

 

“Oh, look at the time,” Hizashi tapped at his empty wrist like it had a watch. He flicked his eyes up to Shouta, “You good to get the boys settled back in the dorm?”

 

“Yep. Go work your magic.” 

 

“You got it, babe.” Hizashi winked before turning to leave. He grabbed Tsukauchi by the elbow, dragging him out with him. “You’re coming with me.” 

 

Keigo didn’t love the idea of being away from Izuku. Not having his arms wrapped around him, safe and warm. Knowing that Shouta and Hizashi would be with him helped, along with knowing he’d be able to hear if Izuku needed him. It wasn’t even that hard of a solution, but Keigo wouldn't have asked, assuming it wouldn't be allowed. 

 

This had to be what Nemuri had been saying. He’d shared what felt like an insurmountable issue and then Hizashi and Shouta helped carry it. Looking back at the last few weeks, Hizashi and Shouta had already been doing that in small and large ways this whole time. But this was the first time Keigo fully let them take it without major reluctance or full on kicking and screaming. Keigo offered it up, knowing that they had his and Izuku’s best interest in mind. 

 

It felt freeing.

 

“Okay kid, you ready?”

 

“Yes.” Keigo nodded, grabbing Izuku as he stood. His arms might have been weighed down by his catatonic brother, but Keigo might as well be floating. He had never felt lighter. 

 

—

 

Keigo didn’t know how he did it, but Hizashi had gotten the detectives to agree to move locations, had come up with a more specified break schedule, and made sure the lawyer was present 100% of the time. He honestly wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Hizashi did when one of the detectives made aggressive eye contact with his shoes after catching a glimpse of his dad. 

 

The detectives even gave a halfhearted apology for rushing the process and retroactively went through the plea agreement. The lawyer was clearly displeased with its wording, but she added her own take on some of the points. 

 

It was nice to know why they let him walk around UA without any specific oversight. Less nice to know that if he wanted to leave campus (and the range of insane monitoring UA had) he’d need a hero or police escort. At least until he was officially exonerated by a judge.

 

It also really sucked that since he’d be basically trying to remember and give information for his entire life that this process was going to end up taking a really long time. He’d kind of been hoping he could just spill his guts for a few hours and have it be over. However, after actually talking to the investigation team, the first round of questioning would likely take a week, and then there would likely be a second or third round as more details were uncovered and things needed to be clarified.

 

Keigo was already tired and it was only day two. It didn’t help that every time Izuku would drift to sleep, he’d wake up screaming a few hours later. 

 

Needless to say, no one slept well last night. 

 

He’d kept an ear out the whole time he was getting questioned. He listened in as his dads took turns. They read to Izuku, sang to him, and fed him. Hound Dog had even made a short appearance working his way through grounding exercises with Izuku. With no external signs of him ‘coming to’ he ended up leaving, promising to drop by to talk with Keigo that evening. 

 

Which, yippee. Therapy.

 

The feathers he’d left in the room had been placed next to Izuku as he dozed. When his brother woke dramatically, the detectives had even allowed Keigo to go and hold Izuku’s hand as he faded back into his own mind. 

 

Probably because they could hear the loud screaming through the wall, too.

 

As Keigo exploded into Izuku’s room, he found Shouta wrapped around Izuku, keeping him from hurting himself and Hizashi shushing and saying soothing words. Keigo wanted to do more for Izuku, but he had to let himself be guided back to the other room to answer more questions about his training. He had to trust his dads to have this. 

 

Once the detectives were gone for the day, Keigo all but flew out of the room and into the front room. He’d overheard his dads talking about giving Izuku a change of scenery about half an hour ago before shifting him to be a few rooms further away. Hizashi loudly decided that he was going to make karaage for dinner at the same time. From the smell of hot oil and spices, he must have started.

 

Ready to take a shift, Keigo squatted down in front of Izuku and cooed at the sight. He slouched in a chair faced by one of the windows, the circles under his eyes a little darker and skin a little paler. His expression was just slightly pinched, like he had a headache, but still very much vacant. He was bundled in some EdgeShot branded sweats and the Hawks hoodie which had basically become second skin to him. Keigo’s wings puffed with pride, at being his brother's favorite . Izuku’s body was almost totally lax, his head only upright because it rested against the slightly curved edge of the back of the chair. The only part that wasn’t loose was the curled fingers that surrounded one of the feathers he’d left him. The sight made him smile. 

 

“Hey chickadee, enjoying the view?”

 

Keigo didn’t expect an answer, but not getting one gutted him anyway. He craned his neck around the chair to look at Shouta. He sat on the floor next to Izuku, his back against the side of the plush chair. One arm propped up on his knees, the other mindlessly petting Sushi next to him. He had straightened when he saw Keigo enter, but the lethargic blanket that had settled on Shouta a few days ago hadn’t fully shaken off. It was very much weighing him down. 

 

It kind of freaked Keigo out when Shouta just broke down crying while they were all messing around in the snow. But it must have helped since he’d been basically back to normal, albeit just a touch slower. Which was head and shoulders above falling to the floor in the kitchen because of emotions . 

 

It was terrifying to watch him go down, but it was almost comforting knowing this all was a lot for his dad, too. Keigo wasn't just some weak little kid, overwhelmed by the smallest things. This actually was just a lot.

 

“How’s he doing?” Keigo asked.

 

“He's okay. He only woke up in a panic once. We think he got an hour more sleep after you left, but it can be hard to tell. He’s of course still catatonically dissociated, but he’s not crying right now. Which has to be a good sign.” Shouta tilted his head back against the armrest of the chair. With the light shining directly on his face, Keigo couldn’t pretend that the dark circles under his eyes were just shadows. They were carved deep and a sickly purple. Shouta looked worn down and exhausted, close to as bad as the day he’d half collapsed in the kitchen. 

 

Well, that's not a good sign.

 

Keigo remembered what Nemuri had said. Families share hardships. Shouta and Hizashi had done a lot for him. He could do a little to give back. He wanted to. Shuffling forward, Keigo put a hand out towards Shouta’s head, his stupid bird brain desperate to preen his dad. To comfort him. Shouta sighed with a nod and let Keigo dig his fingers into his pink hair. After working most, if not all, of the knots out to the frizzy hair, Keigo sectioned off a small bundle by his neck and started weaving a small braid.

 

“Why don’t you go lay down, I can sit with him for a bit.” 

 

“I’m fine.” Shouta’s eyebrows twitched.

 

“You love laying down. And I want to help. Win win, right?” Keigo half joked out. Finishing the little braid, he tossed it down, putting his hands on his knees.

 

“I’m not going to force Izuku on you.” Shouta glared over his shoulder at Keigo.

 

“I’m… offering?” Keigo rocked back onto heels, wings fluttering out to balance. 

 

“And I’m saying I’m fine .” He half spat out, in a way that screamed ‘I’m not fine at all’. 

 

Keigo didn’t know what had gotten into Shouta. He was tempted to go get Hizashi, which seemed to have worked last time that he’d been acting weird. 

 

Actually, that wasn't a bad idea. Directing the feather he’d hidden in Hizashi’s pocket that morning to tap his dad’s shoulder, Keigo focused in on the distant sounds of the kitchen. The humming stopped as Hizashi reached out to stroke the feather. 

 

“What do you need, my treasured feather?” It was just on the edge of loud enough for Keigo to hear it, doubly so with him talking so close to the feather. He was pretty sure Shouta couldn’t hear it at all. If he could, it was muffled.

 

Holding back a reaction to the quietly spoken pet name, Keigo pushed forward tapping morse code into his dad’s palm. He tried to explain in as few words as possible. 

 

SHOUTA ACTING WEIRD AGAIN. NEEDS YOU. MAYBE ASK FOR HELP WITH DINNER? IDK.

 

“Ah, thanks for telling me.” Hizashi slid the feather back into his pocket with one last pat. Keigo followed as his feather got closer to him. Hizashi walked in and leaned against the entryway, crossing his arms. In one hand he had a pair of tongs which he started clicking together. 

 

“Hey, Shou, come help watch the chicken. I need to make the sides.”

 

Shouta frowned as he looked back at Izuku. “But, Izuku—”

 

“Keigo’s got eyes. He can watch him,” Hizashi said.

 

Shouta’s hands started to twitch as his face scrunched up. He was clearly not loving this plan. But he was on the edge and just needed one last push. Or two.

 

“Go help ‘Zashi, I’ve got him.” Keigo did a little shooing motion as he shifted from his squat into the seat. 

 

“Keigo…” 

 

“Love, Izuku isn’t going to explode if you aren’t next to him 24/7. Dinner might if you don’t come help.” Hizashi gestured with his head. 

 

“Fine,” Shouta grumbled before standing, his joints popping like a package of fire crackers. Doing fancy footwork over and around Sushi, who weaved between his feet, Shouta grabbed the tongs out of Hizashi’s hands as he left. 

 

“If you need anything Keigo, just holler.” Hizashi smiled before mouthing ‘Thank you’ and turned to leave. 

 

Keigo did his best to ignore the whispered conversation in the other room as he started talking to Izuku. It was hard to see him so despondent, so empty, but it was still his little brother. His attempts at first were stilted and awkward, but in no time at all he found himself falling into some sort of one sided conversation.  Even as Keigo started to feed his brother small bits of the fried chicken, rice, and vegetables later, he continued talking to Izuku like he was fully aware of what was happening.

 

It wasn’t much, but it was something he could do to help his brother, and in turn help Shouta and Hizashi share the load as well. 

 

—

 

Keigo wanted to pull his hair out, but he wasn’t going to because he was trying to be better about that.  

 

Especially since a few days ago he’d gotten out of the shower only to find a full on bald spot. It had startled him, he’d… pulled at his hair a lot growing up, but he never let it get this bad. The commission never let it get this bad. Keigo was a little vain, and he didn't want patchy hair, so he was really trying to resist the urge. 

 

Which is why he had the stupid elastic band ball Nemuri had given him. It wasn't as satisfying as the pull-pain of his hair. But at least it filled his need to pull. And if he snapped the elastic right, it did kind of sting his fingers.

 

It sounded insane, but the sting helped.

 

Izuku has been totally checked out for three days now. Which would be fine , but it was also day three of Shouta fighting him on every stupid f—ing little thing . Or if not fighting him, he was giving weird looks and triple checking he was okay doing something as small as carrying Izuku to the bathroom or feeding him. 

 

It didn’t make sense and it was driving him insane. And now he had been sent to his room to sulk. 

 

Hizashi had put Shouta and Keigo in time out after their small spat. It was over putting dishes in the sink, not even doing them, just walking them to the kitchen. Keigo had been feeding Izuku and figured that he could see the task to its conclusion. Which in his mind included putting the dishes in the sink. 

 

Shouta, for some reason, found that to be a personal front to his being and started arguing. Said he’d put the dishes away. Maybe he forgot Keigo had legs and could very easily walk to the sink . H—, with his quirk Keigo didn't even need to get up from his chair to get the f—ing dish to the sink. It was stupid and dumb and Shouta was absolutely in the wrong.  

 

It ended with the two grabbing the edges of the dirty dish in some weird form of tug of war until it ended up shattered on the ground. Hizashi said he was fed up with them both and if they were going to act like children he was going to treat them like children. 

 

Which is how Keigo was now curled up on his bed in his room for the next nineteen minutes, or more like ten at this point. ((“One minute for each year you've been on this G-d forsaken earth… yes, Shouta that means you get twenty seven… Don't make me make it fifty f—ing four, Shou.” )) Hyper focused on the feather that Izuku was half stroking with a few fingers, Keigo blankly looked up at his ceiling. Only half thinking about the ball he was stretching and twirling in his hands, the rest of him was trying, and failing, to let all the frustration in him go. 

 

It had been stupid to fight over a plate, but Keigo didn’t think it was really his fault . Normal people didn't get mad about people doing things like putting dirty dishes in a sink. At least he didn’t think that was all that common.

 

Hizashi had told him he’d talk to Shouta, after his dad had stormed off, his hand shaking around the dustpan full of broken plate bits. But he’d also told Keigo that just because Shouta ‘started it’ doesn’t mean Keigo could just go throwing plates around. 

 

Which… okay, fair. But, In his defense the plate was a little oily and slipped . 

 

Sort of. 

 

Maybe he’d kind of thrown it. He felt bad the moment it left his fingers though.

 

Keigo had been angry! It just sort of happened . And he didn't think it was that unreasonable of him to feel that way since Shouta was acting insane . And had been for days. Keigo could only be patient for so long.

 

Something was going to break under the stress. It just being a plate seemed like a major step up from what their little group usually dealt with during blow ups. No one was stabbed, punched, or maimed, and there were no threats of bodily harm. 

 

“Improvement,” Keigo mumbled to himself. It didn't really feel like it though. He mainly just felt bad for losing it, again.

 

The lack of uninterrupted sleep wasn’t helping any of them from snapping at each other. This was the first time it had fully devolved, but there had been more than a few tense moments and clipped words in the last few days. Keigo couldn’t fault Izuku for waking up screaming only to wake up the whole house. It was a trauma response, and Izuku wasn't really aware right now to do anything about it.

 

However, Keigo very much resented his own brain for starting to create its own nightmares where his family was in danger and he was alone to try to fix it. Every few hours or so of the night, Keigo was being woken up, either to his brother's screams or to a deep panic. Half the time it made him freeze under the covers, leaving him awake for hours unable to move. The other half left him compulsively checking for cameras or keeping watch to make sure that they were all safe. 

 

Either way, Keigo was stupid tired. And from the deep purple circles under Shouta’s eyes and the hollowed out and pale look to Hizashi’s face, his dads were just as exhausted. 

 

There was a knock on his already cracked door, swinging it open, filtering the light from the hall into his room. 

 

“Hey kid,” Shouta shuffled in with his hand in the pockets of his sweatpants. 

 

“Pretty sure the nineteen minutes aren’t up for me, so I know your twenty-seven isn’t over,” he grumbled.

 

“Good old fashioned jail break?” Shouta shrugged, trying and failing to joke. Keigo wasn't having it and snapped some of the bands in lieu of a response.

 

Shouta sighed. “Hizashi and Nem are on a walk with Izuku, something about fresh air being good for him.” 

 

“I know.” Keigo had not only overheard it first hand, but Nemuri had stuck her head in to warn him that they were leaving for a bit at the same time Shouta was told by Hizashi. 

 

“Right.” Shouta rocked back and forth, fiddling with the feather in his pocket. It soothed something deep in Keigo, but that just irked him more. He didn’t want to be pacified, he was frustrated .

 

“I can feel that you know,” he snapped.

 

Shouta immediately stopped. “Sorry. I forgot. Does it bother you?”

 

Normally, not even a little bit. A part of Keigo was delighted that Shouta often would just stroke the small feather he’d slip into his pocket every morning. Hizashi would pull his out and absentmindedly flicked it back and forth over the tip of his nose or put it behind his ear like a pencil. Nemuri usually kept hers tucked into her ponytail. Izuku… well he sometimes half held it, but most of the time it’d just sit by him. Keigo had never… explained the feathers, but neither of his dads had asked. Nemuri gave him a raised eyebrow, but then just shrugged as she stuck it in her hair. They’d just silently integrated the feathers into their day to day. 

 

Keigo felt a large portion of his frustration dissipate as he slumped further into his pillow. 

 

“No. I don’t mind.” Keigo cheeped as Shouta started again. It sounded almost exactly like a baby chick, which was mortifying, and Keigo cleared his throat trying to stop the high pitched peeps. He was mostly successful.

 

“Good, I find it… comforting. I’d hate to have to stop.” Shouta’s words were stilted and awkward but genuine. 

 

“I… do too.” Keigo responded just as awkwardly. 

 

“I just came in to apologize for earlier. I shouldn’t have been so upset.” 

 

“It’s fine.” It really wasn’t, but Keigo didn’t want to make it a big deal.

 

“It’s not, kid. I’m an adult, I shouldn't be fighting you.” 

 

“I’m an adult, too.” Keigo gripped his elbows. “I know you see me as some infant needing coddling, but I am an adult.” 

 

Shouta paused, pulling the feather out of his pocket, spinning it in a circle right in front of his face. A thoughtful frown etched deeply into his face. 

 

“You know…. Just like how I forget you can feel your detached feathers… sometimes I think I forget you’re an adult.” He stopped twirling the feather. “I need to work on that.”

 

“I don’t care if you quietly think I’m twelve. I’m capable . Just let me do things. Let me help. ” Keigo slipped into almost a whine which he mentally cursed. That wasn’t really selling the adult thing. 

 

“I know you are capable, I just…” Shouta’s shoulders slumped as he crossed his arms. “I don’t want you to have to be.” 

 

“I don’t.” Keigo sat up, hugging his knees to his chest. “I haven’t. I’ve just dumped my problems on you and Hizashi. I’ve caused more problems than I’ve solved since coming here.” 

 

“Keigo that's not–” 

 

“It is true.” He felt his eyes sting with tears. “And it’s fine. I’ve got a lot of s—. I’m glad you both are helping me with the big things because… I can’t.” 

 

Shouta crossed into the room and sat on the edge of the bed, and Keigo leaned over to rest his head on his dad’s shoulder. He took a shuttering deep breath in. 

 

“I can't… I really can’t do the big things, but I want to help with the small ones I can do. I don’t have to, but I want to. I want to be helpful. I want to contribute .” 

 

“Okay.” Shouta started slowly combing Keigo’s hair back, his fingers rubbing around the aching base of some of the pin feathers. From experience, Keigo knew some were close to needing to be unsheathed, which meant right now they were itchy as h—, but it also hurt to move them too much. Shouta’s gentle fingers helped the itching, but never crossed the line into pain. It made Keigo want to cry. He was being so gentle and caring even though they had just had a fight.

 

“I can help with Izuku, I can do chores.” 

 

“Yes, you can.” 

 

Keigo snapped his head to the side to look at his dad. “Will you let me, though?” 

 

“I’ll do my best, but I might mess up.” Shouta sighed, exhausted lines cut through his face. “I don’t want to burden you. I don't want you to be forced to raise Izuku on your own.” 

 

“Me doing some dishes and carrying my little brother around isn’t a burden. And I'm sure as h— not qualified to be his dad.” Keigo rolled his eyes before offering his head to Shouta’s still raised hand. His dad’s face lightened, the deep lines faded as he started combing back his hair again. “It’s just small things to help out. Share the burdens where possible. And I’m… pretty sure that’s what good families do for each other.” 

 

Keigo held his breath as Shouta froze. Slowly his dad’s fingers creaked as his hand slowly opened and worked their way through a small tangle of Keigo’s hair. Shouta smiled, huffing out a breath.

 

“Yeah, kid, that is what good families do.”

Notes:

GUHHHH im so in love with this family. It's almost like I wrote basically 300K about them. That is unhinged behavior and no, I will NOT apologize for it xD.

This chapter I specifically wanted to show how much progress tehy have made AKA these two actually communicated without any major outside influence forcing them (lol we all know Hizashi in the background is all "shou talk to him. If you care at all for my sanity you will talk to our new teenager and figure out how to deal with your nonsense") And then I also really wanted to show how people esp. broken people can have issues that perfectly butt heads with eachother and how that can be worked through <3 I love when the found families are perfect from the get go and just like magically work but i also love the messiness and chaos that having multiple people trying to come together brings lol idk how well i showed all that but that was kinda what I was hoping for haha <3 but thanks for reading!!

Chapter 48: Keigo Takes Care of Izuku

Notes:

HELOOOOOOOOO :D

Thanks as always to @sassy_chemist. know I almost choked on my spit when I saw the email notification earlier this evening. I have a problem and that problem is getting comments xD I'm totally addicted and I can't seem to get past the "admit you have a problem stage" lololol I might never recover xD BUT she is always down to help me with my silly writing and gives great comments and I love her for it <3 thankssss

Also thanks to all y'all who have stuck thru thick and thin, and everyone who has provided for my comment addiction, i am deeply grateful lolol But were in the HOME STRETCH BABY!!!! WE'RE GETTING THERE!!!

There really aren't any triggers tbh. like some minor panicking and some mentions of previous freakouts but honestly for the rest of this story we basically have no major triggers that I can think of cuz were in the more soft fluffy end of the story <3 so i'm probs going to stop adding this section from here on out unless i actually have forgotten my own story and there IDK magically has another stabbing (we don't but idk anything is possible adn with this family stabbing seem a likely thing lolol) I'm trying to do right by my boys xD we'll see how well i actually do lolol but I think its pretty great, but I;m biaseddddd xD

Without any more further ado Enjoy~~~

By the grace of whatever deity that might be out there, Shouta let Keigo actually help with Izuku and around the house. And not only that, the day after they had their little conversation, Shouta, through clenched teeth, asked if Keigo would be interested in filling in for a three hour span that Monday that Hizashi, Shouta, and Nemuri were all going to be at a UA teachers’ meeting and then teaching the first few classes of the day. The rest of the day they would be able to trade off on who could sit with Izuku so Keigo could go off and get questioned more. 

 

Keigo had of course jumped on the opportunity. This wasn’t just some measly little olive branch, this was a whole f—ing tree . 

 

Hizashi, biting his lip, looked like he was about to burst into applause as he unabashedly watched the interaction from the couch. He signed something to Shouta with a grin, only for Shouta to walk over and lightly shove him over to half sprawl out on the cushions, making Hizashi laugh.

 

If Keigo was to hazard a guess it was probably something along the lines of “proud of you”. He doodled the signs that night on to some scratch paper, planning to search it up once he got his hands on a computer or phone.  He knew that sometimes they needed to talk without ‘listening ears’ or stressing Izuku out. But the signing was stressing Keigo out. It also just irked him seeing people so blatantly talk behind his back in front of his face. He was going to learn the language the moment the opportunity arose. 

 

They made fun of his eavesdropping, but in his defense, he couldn’t just turn his ears off. Maybe it would be better to try to curb the habit; however, a significant part of him needed to know what they were saying. Needed to know what they thought about him when they thought he couldn’t overhear. So the eavesdropping was here to stay, and the language barrier just made it more of a challenge. One Keigo was actually excited to work around.

 

If he learned it in secret, there would absolutely be some comedic moment down the line where he could respond. Making them second guess all of their secret conversations up until that point. Keigo felt his feathers fluff up in excitement. To double the fun, he might even try to get Izuku in on secret learning. 

 

At that thought, the bubbling giddy feeling faded as he turned to Izuku. He was curled up on his bed, eyes closed, sleeping. Next to him was Dumpster, purring loudly, while Sushi was loafed by his feet. Izuku’s slow breaths hitched ever so slightly, which Keigo had picked up as the first sign that Izuku was soon to wake up screaming. They all had tried everything they could think of to soothe Izuku to stay sleeping, but nothing seemed to prevent the dramatic wakening. 

 

Keigo hated to say it, but he’d almost gotten used to the cycle. It’d been multiple days of it happening every few hours, and one very exciting hour where it happened twice . But at this point, Keigo had memorized the simple blocking and morbid script. He knew how to hold Izuku so he wouldn’t hurt himself, but could still be viewed as a comforting, not just restrictive. The trills and mumbled words that seemed to help Izuku from spiraling further into panic tumbled out of him like an actor on the last week of a long run of a show. It was fully rote and bordered on robotic. Any combination of Shouta, Hizashi, Keigo, or Nemuri could now be thrown in to do any part of the dance, working together seamlessly in tandem. They were also perfectly capable of doing it alone.

 

It didn’t make the slide from pure panic to vacancy easier to watch. It didn’t stop Keigo’s heart from aching as Izuku’s screams would fade as his abused vocal chords cracked and strained. It would never eliminate Keigo’s wish for it not to be happening to someone he cared so much for. But the moment Izuku lost it, Keigo knew how to jump in to help. Which was the only thing that kept his own panic from overwhelming him. 

 

Keigo slid out of his chair, putting down the book he’d only half been reading. Shooing the cats off, Keigo crawled into the bed. He curled around his brother, combing through his curls with one hand, his other arm draped over his shoulders, ready to squeeze him against his chest, ready to brace his brother to keep him from further injury.

 

“Hey Chickadee, it’s just a dream. You’re fine. We’re all fine.” The words tumbled out. It felt fruitless as Izuku started to whimper and moan, twisting a little in Keigo’s loose hold. Soothing coos and soft trills filled the room between the words. 

 

“It’s gotta be scary right now, but we’ve got you, we won’t let you get hurt again. I’m here, nothing will get to you. I’m right here.” 

 

Izuku’s eyes sprang open with a loud gasp and Keigo slammed his brother into his chest in a tight hug. One of his legs efficiently hooked over Izuku’s hip, gently looping behind his brother’s legs loosely to keep him from kicking. Keigo kept trilling and crooning out his soothing words.

 

But the screaming and thrashing from Izuku never came. Instead, quiet choked sobs filled Keigo’s ears as small hands shook as they gripped the front of Keigo’s shirt. He tried to lean back to get a look at Izuku, but his brother whined at the centimeter shift, trying to burrow himself deeper into the tight hold. 

 

“…Izuku?” Keigo held his breath, trying not to get his hopes up. “Can you hear me?”

 

Izuku nodded into his chest as he took rapid fire breaths. Keigo frowned. If he kept that up, he’d pass out. 

 

“Hey, hey. Breathe with me, okay? Long and slow. In and out.” Izuku clearly was trying, but they were shaky and small hiccuping gasps broke them up. “Keep breathing with me, chickadee. It might take a second but we’ll get there together.” 

 

It took what felt like an eternity, but was probably less than ten minutes before Izuku slumped into the bed, his breaths more or less even… honestly way closer to less even than more. However, Izuku was no longer on the verge of passing out. So it felt like a win.

 

Keigo shifted back again, expecting to see Izuku once again checked out. But by some miracle, the vacant expression was nowhere to be seen. Izuku’s eyes were flicking between Keigo’s, and he looked exhausted and a bit dazed. 

 

However, there was light behind those eyes. Real cognition was happening. It wasn't just the unthinking electric sparks of a panic episode. Izuku was finally home. 

 

Keigo found himself holding his breath, worried if he blew out too hard it would tip Izuku back into his dissociation. But after probably a bit too long, Keigo had to exhale.

 

“Hey Otoutokko¹ , how’re you feeling?”

 

“Kei-nii,” Izuku’s voice cracked from the pendulum of abuse to disuse it had been on. His already wet eyes flooded once more with tears. “ Kei-nii .” 

 

“I’m here.” Keigo hugged Izuku tighter, wrapping one of his wings over top of them both, making a warm cocoon, sliding one hand to cradle the back of his head. “I’m here.” 

 

“Kei-nii, I’m scared .”

 

“That’s okay. It’s okay to be scared.”

 

“I can’t stop thinking about it. I want it to stop. I want it to stop .” Izuku was getting worked up again.

 

“It’s okay—”

 

“NO!” Izuku shrieked, half thrashing. “It’s not okay! Nothing’s okay! It can’t be okay!”

 

Like all his strings were cut, Izuku went totally lax. His wide emerald eyes shimmered with tears as they arced up to Keigo. 

 

“ I’m not okay,” Izuku whispered. “I don’t… think I have been for a while.” 

 

Keigo used a hand to wipe gentle fingers over Izuku's wet freckled cheeks. Sniffing back his own tears, Keigo pushed through the aching in his chest. “No Chickadee, you aren’t okay.” 

 

“What they did to me… was wrong. All of it. Just bad.” 

 

“It was downright villainous,” Keigo said, clipped, doing everything in his power to not sneer. 

 

“I just wanted to be a hero. They took me and they… they used that.” Izuku closed his eyes and pressed his face into Keigo’s chest. “I just want to be a hero .” 

 

“You already are one to everyone who counts, and one day you’ll be in the pro-hero charts as one of the greats. I have no doubts.” 

 

Izuku shifted just enough to peek up at Keigo with one eye. The other was forced closed by his cheek squishing into Keigo’s chest. His voice was interwoven with delicate hope.  “Like you?” 

 

Keigo felt a smile curl his lips. His chest bloomed with subtle warmth. “Yeah, like me.” 

 

“I’d like that.”

 

“I’d like that, too.” 

 

“Side by side?” 

 

“Absolutely. I'd be number one, you’d be number two.” 

 

Izuku sniffed. “No, Kacchan is one, you're two and I'm three.” 

 

“You think I can't beat your friend?” Keigo quirked an eyebrow up.

 

“Maybe if you wanted to, but being number one sounds like a lot of work. Lots of cameras, and press tours. Being number two is better.” 

 

“Still a lot of press tours.” 

 

“Sure, but it'd be less, and I think you’d prefer that.” 

 

“You're not wrong. But I’d do it all to stand next to you.” 

 

Keigo felt something pull in his gut as he said it. He wouldn't just do annoying press tours and smile for Izuku. It was terrifying how much pull his brother had over him. If it wasn't for Keigo distressingly personal awareness of Izuku’s quirk, he'd wonder if his kid brother had some sort of persuasion quirk.

 

Izuku hummed as he tucked his head under Keigo's chin. The two sat there like that for long enough to have Keigo wonder if Izuku had zoned out again or fallen asleep. Only for Izuku to roll to the side to look at the ceiling, sadness soaked into him like an old sponge. It oozed out of him.

 

“I don’t know what to do now,” Izuku mumbled.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I feel heavy. Tired.”

 

“Then sleep. You haven’t been sleeping great the last few days.” The echoes of the screaming filled Keigo’s ears, but he shook it off.

 

“I don’t want to sleep.” Izuku shook his head. “I’m… pretty sure I’ll have nightmares.”

 

Keigo was almost 100% sure he’d have them if the last few days meant anything, but he wasn’t about to say that. “How about a movie then?” 

 

“No.” 

 

“Card game?”

 

“No.”

 

“I could read to you?”

 

“No.” 

 

“We got Play-doh?” 

 

“No.”

 

They continued on like that for some time, Keigo quickly running out of ideas and some patience. 

 

“Is there anything that you want to do?” Keigo hated the small bite in his voice, but he wanted to help Izuku and had no idea what to do.

 

Izuku just shook his head and he sank into himself, which took all the frustrated wind out of Keigo’s sails. Instead, he just watched his brother fiddle with a small feather he’d flown over to Izuku when he’d offered to do some of the weird quirk tests Izuku wanted to try with fierce wings. Keigo had hoped that it would be exciting for his brother being the budding quirk science nerd he was. But if anything, it made Izuku retreat even more into himself then his snippy question did. 

 

Keigo didn’t know what to do and he hated it.

 

“Okay, if you want we really can just lay here quietly.”

 

“I don’t want that either.” 

 

Keigo bit back a frustrated sigh. He wasn’t sure how to fix this. He wasn’t sure how to help. His simple rote scene got ripped out from under him. It was like he got pushed on stage mid improv scene and was floundering to make a coherent show.

 

Making everything more difficult, Keigo emotionally felt like he was once again on the table as he watched Izuku bleed out below him. He couldn’t seem to reach him even though he was right there, needing help. His heart raced and he was a little queasy. This really sucked and he was scrambling mentally for anything .

 

He just wanted to cheer Izuku up. Get his mind off of everything, at least for a short while. The snow day didn't fix anything, but it now was a frustrating mental reminder that things could be better . That Izuku could smile and laugh, that Shouta and Hizashi could mess around pushing off the weight of the world put on their shoulders for a moment or two, that Keigo could drop the buzzing fears that threatened to unravel him at the seams. He just… wanted that light feeling back even for a single second or two. 

 

He pursed his lips, and squinted up at the ceiling. He had a stupid idea. Keigo’s idea was sure to get him chewed out, but he couldn’t deny that the longer he thought about it, the more fun it sounded. It also was genuinely the stupidest thing he had ever thought about doing in his entire life. He was about to get in so much trouble.

 

Turning to his exhausted brother he spoke. “I’ve got one final idea, but… it might get us in trouble.” 

 

But if it helped Izuku even a fraction of a percent, then it’d be worth whatever punishment they threw at him. 

 

Izuku shrugged, and Keigo sighed. At least it was some sort of response, which was better than he had been getting the last few days. Keigo had gotten very good at one-sided conversations. He might as well use his new found skill.

 

“UA classes started back up. I know that Hizashi is just a boring English teacher, but Shouta said that his heroics class was having a training this morning about stealth. Said something about it's hard to be stealthy in the snow, and it would be a good opportunity to use it before it all melted since it’s supposed to warm up soon. If the students are close to the same area we were in for our snowball fight we could sit on the roof of the main building and watch. It might be fun to watch some baby heroes run around the forest.” 

 

Keigo grinned. “However, I was thinking if we wanted to really shake things up we could give the students a bit of a surprise .” 

 

Izuku’s despondent expression twitched with interest. “What… sort of surprise?”

 

“I was thinking that there is probably quite a bit of snow still on the roof, all of it absolutely begging to be turned into balls and thrown at the students.”

 

Izuku frowned. “We wouldn’t be able to throw that far.” 

 

“Ah, see my dear lovely little brother, that is where you are wrong,” Keigo detached a handful of his feathers and had them dance and twirl around the room. “You make them, I’ll deliver.” 

 

Izuku didn’t quite smile, but it was a near thing. And Keigo grinned big enough for both of them. 

 

This was going to be fun.

 

—

 

“You know I just got the weirdest call from Shouta just now,” Hizashi said as he ambled out onto the roof. He kicked a rock, making it ping against the wall near Keigo, making him flinch. There was something dangerously sharp hidden deep in his dad’s tone. 

 

That couldn't be good. Here came Keigo's reckoning for being an idiot.

 

Hizashi continued, a pleasant smile glued on his face. “Something about how his students kept getting absolutely obliterated by snowballs seeming to just appear out of nowhere. One student however said they saw ‘a streak of red from the corner of their eye’. You happen to know anything about that, Feather ?”

 

Keigo froze, trying to look innocent from where he was perched on the short wall around the roof’s edge. The snowball in his hand made it difficult to feign innocence. Izuku was lounging on a small pile of floating feathers next to him. He’d relaxed back since he was tired after making an absolute arsenal, which was lined up nicely along the edge stretching out a few meters. 

 

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” 

 

There was more than enough evidence to make Keigo look guilty as h—, which he absolutely was. But this was more than red handed; this was as if he had bathed in blood. 

 

But the last hero student he’d brained with a snowball yelped spectacularly as they biffed it. It also was totally visible from the roof. Izuku had actually cracked a small smile and giggled, so it was a thousand percent worth it.

 

“Keigo, you are holding a snowball right now,” Hizashi sounded disappointed.

 

He dropped it off the roof of the building and showed his empty hands. “No, I’m not.” 

 

Hizashi heaved a gargantuan sigh as he pushed his tinted hero glasses up to his forehead as he rubbed his fingers over his eyes. Something in Keigo twisted. He didn’t want to give either of his dads grief (just Shouta’s students). He just wanted to cheer Izuku up.

 

“You know, when Shouta decided to trust you with Izuku, when both of us did, neither of us ever thought—”

 

“It was my idea,” Izuku whispered out his lie, finally twisting to look at Hizashi.

 

His dad’s eyes opened wide with a gasp. His glasses fell back down to the tip of his nose as he stumbled forward to grab Izuku’s gloved hand. Hizashi’s eyes looked a little wet as they peeked over the edge of the glasses. His face washed with wonder as he fell to one knee.

 

“Izuku?” Hizashi’s voice was so small and shaking. A relieved smile stretched across his face.  “Hey, baby, how are you doing?”

 

“I’m not okay,” he whispered again. The words gutted Keigo as he watched his brother fold into himself, the small spark of almost joy faded from his eyes as the lifeless despairing expression smothered it. Fat tears rolled over his freckles as he slowly blinked. “I don’t know how to be okay anymore. And pretending is too hard.”

 

“Thanks for telling me.” Hizashi reached up with one hand to caress his face, rubbing slow arcs on his cheek. “But, you don’t have to be okay right now, sweetheart.”

 

“But I want to be okay. But I don't think it's possible. ” The brittle words broke, cracking under the weight of the emotions crushing Izuku. 

 

“It absolutely is possible. It might take a while, and might look a little different than some, but you can be okay again. Happy even. We’ll be with you every step of the way as you relearn how.” Hizashi stood and wrapped Izuku in a tight hug. “We haven't known you for super long, but we love you, Izuku. You’re not alone. Never forget that.” 

 

Keigo turned away, giving them the illusion of privacy as Izuku sobbed into the front of Hizashi’s hero uniform. Stacking the snowballs near him into a nice tower, he listened to his dad whisper soothing words to Izuku, his brother breaking down in his arms. After a while Izuku slowly calmed down.

 

“Alright, cookie.” Hizashi leaned back to fix the beanie that had started to slip off Izuku’s head. “I’m going to text Shouta an update real quick, but we can go back to hugging if you want to once I’m done.” 

 

“D-don’t you have class?” Izuku mumbled as he rubbed his nose on his hoodie sleeve. Keigo cringed at the line of slime it left. They were going to have to clean it when they got back to the dorm. 

 

Hizashi was madly typing out on his phone as he shrugged. “Yeah, but I gave them a challenging worksheet and told them if the whole class got it done before the end of the period today, then tomorrow I’ll give them a free period, so none of them are going to be misbehaving, and if anyone tries, the class will turn on them.” 

 

He hit send, struggled with sliding his phone back into his tight leather pants, and then opened his arms back up for Izuku to all but body slam him. 

 

Keigo couldn’t hold back a coo at the sight. Smiling as Hizashi started to gently sway while humming, Keigo squished his snow tower into a smaller mound. He took a smaller feather and hardened it and started carving it down into the vague shapes of two people hugging. The snow buckled and shifted making it more abstract than he would have liked, but if Keigo squinted he could sort of see what he’d been going for. 

 

Maybe… that was wishful thinking. It was unknowable blobs. He slammed a fist over the failed attempt, exploding the snow out in all directions. 

 

Play-doh was easier to shape than snow was. But it was equally fun to smash.

 

After a few minutes Keigo’s eyes snapped to movement at the edge of the forest. It was Shouta sprinting full tilt towards the building. He slowed, covering his eyes from the sun while looking up. Keigo waved to his dad before gathering all the feathers that still laid in wait in the forest and the few functional ones still left on his wings and rocketed them into a platform next to the still sprinting Shouta. His dad caught on quickly and hopped on, before Keigo shot him up to the roof. Shouta jumped off a bit earlier than Keigo had expected. His dad made it onto the ledge no issue, but not before Keigo let out a strangled panicked screech.

 

Maybe he shouldn’t have mentally made fun of Hizashi for his minor freak out over watching him jump head first off the roof. There was something instinctual about panicking when people you cared about were too close to steep drop offs.

 

Shouta nodded to Keigo, looking at least slightly apologetic, as he bee-lined to Izuku, still wrapped in Hizashi’s arms. 

 

“Hey, kiddo.” Shouta put a hand on the top of Izuku’s head. “Nice to see you up and about.”

 

Izuku sniffed and nodded. Shouta and Hizashi shared an unknowable mix of pointed looks and disjointed half signs. Keigo took note, trying to decipher what it all meant. This time, he had no solid idea but assumed it was likely to do with Izuku finally coming to and how he was very much not okay. They were probably game planning, strategizing on the fly how to help him. 

 

It was only then that Keigo realized he really should have reached out to Shouta and Hizashi first thing. He’d done his best with Izuku but asking for help might have been a smarter move. 

 

He’d have to remember that for next time. Ideally, there wouldn't be a next time, but knowing their luck, there would be.

 

Keigo felt something light fill his chest. He had people who he could genuinely ask for help and he fully trusted that they’d actually help him. It was new and novel and he hadn’t forgotten per se, but it just didn’t come to mind as an option in the moment. He was looking forward to it being a habit and second nature. It sounded nice.

 

Shouta squatted down once they had finished their quick discussion. Keigo could've raised the feathers Izuku sat on, but both Hizashi and Shouta just lowered themselves to Izuku's level without thinking much about it. Something in Keigo's chest warmed at the sight. 

 

“Hizashi told me you’re having a rough time?” Shouta spoke.

 

Izuku bit his lip, nodding as his bloodshot eyes filled with even more tears. Keigo shot a few feathers off towards the infirmary, planning on stealing one of the water bottles from Recovery Girls’ stash. He didn’t want Izuku to get dehydrated. He also might steal some of her snacks too. 

 

“Is it from anything specific or just a general bad time?” 

 

“It’s all just… a lot,” Izuku whispered. 

 

“Yeah, Izu,” Shouta shifted his hand from Izuku’s head to his shoulder. “It can be a lot. But we’re all here for you, and we can do our best to help make the ‘a lot’ a little less.”

 

“Okay.” Izuku tilted his head to squish Shouta’s hand between his cheek and his shoulder. 

 

Keigo’s feathers finally returned with the stolen goods. One had gotten pinched under what had to be Recovery Girl’s cane, which just proved that while old, she still had killer reflexes. He was ignoring the angry morse code that she tapped into it. Keigo would just apologize and explain later. 

 

Maybe he’d ask one of his dad’s to text her to explain that, no, there wasn't a medical emergency, and that he wasn't about to run off again. It was a secret third option. 

 

Izuku needed water and snacks. 

 

Hopping off the wall, he held out the water bottle, protein bar, and three hard candies to Izuku. Keigo grinned as Izuku swiped the candies and immediately unwrapped one and popped it in his mouth, stashing the other two in his pocket for later. Hizashi cracked the water bottle open and held it out for Izuku, who drank a few sips, before setting the open bottle in his lap. 

 

“I’m really tired,” Izuku breathed out.

 

“Then sleep,” Hizashi said. 

 

Izuku shook his head. “Nightmares.” 

 

“If you have them, one of us will be there, baby. And eventually, with time, they’ll fade.” 

 

Keigo hoped Hizashi wasn’t lying about them fading. Not just for Izuku’s sake, but for his own. 

 

Izuku’s eyes slid to half mast, as Hizashi grabbed the bottle from limp fingers.  From the slope of Izuku’s shoulders and how loose he was as he sat heavily on Keigo’s feathers, he might be exhausted enough to actually sleep for longer than an hour or two. There still might be nightmares, but it would be a huge step in the right direction. And from the way his dads were shooting each other relieved looks over Izuku’s bobbing head, they were probably thinking the same thing. 

 

They all waited with bated breath as Izuku finally fell hard into what seemed to be a very deep sleep. Hizashi and Keigo booth cooed as Izuku started with his small kitten snores. Shouta picked Izuku up off his seat of feathers, cradling into his arms. 

 

“There isn’t much left in the time I allotted for my class. I was going to be watching him next anyway, so I’ll go take him home to sleep.” He kissed Izuku’s forehead before looking at the two of them from under his brow. 

 

An absolutely feral and downright eerie grin cracked across his dad’s face. It made Keigo shiver. “There are just under ten minutes before I told my class to head back to their classroom. Give them hell.” 

 

With that, he turned and left the roof, presumably to go back to the dorm. Keigo turned to Hizashi who was grinning, holding some of the snowballs Izuku made. 

 

“So, how many more do you think you’re going to need in the next ten minutes?” 

 

Keigo grinned back. 

 

This was really going to be fun.

Notes:

1. According to a few sources this is similar to "little bro" (affectionate; familiar) in Japanese ^{[ ▲ ]}
Also folks since learning how to code the little hyperlinked note things i will never not take a chance to use them. holy heck they are so cool xD BUT THINGS ARE NOW LOOKING UP BABY!!!! WE ARE IN THE HOME STRETCH And while bittersweet??? I think this chapter was a lot more sweet then bitter. But like. baby boy is not okay now but he got people who are going to surround him in love and help him get there ToT Gosh I love this family <3

Chapter 49: Izuku (and Co.) goes to the hospital

Notes:

HELLO ALL!!!! WELCOME BACK TO MY INSANITY!

Shout out to @sassy_chemist for sending so many hearts and other lovely comments as she read thru this chapter. Also all cheer for MODERN MEDICINE HECK YEAH BABYYYY LETS GOOOOO Izuku will not be 100% okay but oh boy!!! he will make some pretty solid progress!!! (Over time lol this is one meeting haha)

There is not really any real warnings for this chapter that i can think of. its mostly just wrapping up some of the medical things and then some cute moments as they try to cheer Izuku up after a long day of doctors apointments <3

Enjoy! <3

Izuku knew he should pay more attention to the doctor. She seemed nice enough and it was rude to just ignore her. But, ever since he… talked to Tsukauchi-san and then freaked out in the cafeteria, everything seemed like an impossible struggle. His brain felt like it was on half speed and it was easier to just half pretend like he was listening then actually try to follow along. 

 

Ever since ‘coming to’ or ‘waking up’, as everyone kept calling it, Izuku had felt a weird mix of hollowness and weighed down. It was like while he drifted, someone had come in and scooped up what was inside him and replaced it with sand. That would also explain why it sometimes felt like he was made out of static instead of bones and organs. It was just the sand shifting around in him.

 

Yesterday he just nodded when asked if he would be okay going to the hospital to get checked out. They’d said something about it being safe enough to go out since most of the people from the commission were in police custody at this point. His temporary parents wanted to have the appointments as soon as possible and scheduled them thinking he’d still be fairly out of it. Now since Izuku was awake, they’d told him that if he felt like multiple hours they had scheduled was too much for one day, they could move around some of the appointments for later this week, spreading them out.

 

However, they said they needed to attend at least three of the appointments today: one with the general doctor over his case to do the various tests he needed, a meeting with the pain management specialist, and a meeting with the cardiologist.

 

Izuku knew he should care, should react, but just shrugged. Just getting out of bed felt like a lot, so the difference between an hour and a half and four and a half hours didn't seem important. The sand in him barely even shifted at the news. 

 

It was similar to what he was doing now with the doctor. He knew Shouta and Hizashi had asked her a bunch of questions, making sure that they knew what was going on. Izuku had a sneaking suspicion that they were also trying to ask enough questions so that he would also understand what was going on without having to ask himself. Of course, he’d have to be paying attention to catch it all though. It was really nice of them and any other day would probably make him cry. 

 

But today he was heavy and filled with sand.

 

The only real time he’d felt much of anything but the sandy static was when the doctor had first walked in. Some sort of sand monster had writhed deep in him when she’d walked in and stood next to him. Immediately, he had thrown up on her nice white lab coat. She’d laughed it off when Hizashi had apologized, leaving her in just her bright pink scrubs with printed cartoon candies on it. The pink was only a few shades lighter than Shouta’s hair and the candies reminded him of Recovery Girl’s stash. 

 

He liked her scrubs.

 

Izuku wanted to tell her, and also apologize for throwing up on her, but talking felt like a lot, especially to a new person. Part of him was still terrified of new people, but the exhaustion made doing more than stewing in the worries and tightening his hold on Hizashi’s hand insurmountable. 

 

They’d taken scans of his leg, took blood samples and a ton of other tests, had weird sticky pads placed around his chest to wear for the next few days to do a longer term monitoring of his heart, got measured for a correct sized wheelchair and a better leg brace. They had talked to a surgeon, a pain management specialist, a cardiologist, a psychiatrist and a psychologist all over video chat. 

 

A physical therapist also came in and walked Izuku through some hand strengthening exercises and some stretches for his bad leg to hopefully minimize the pain until it could be fixed. He was pretty young and kind of reminded Izuku of Keigo at times. It didn’t hurt that he also was a dirty blond, had gold eyes, and cracked terrible jokes. Izuku decided he liked him, but didn't tell him that. Maybe next time there’d be less sand in him and he’d thank the guy. Also, maybe Izuku would be able to learn and remember his name.

 

They set dates and times for more meetings with all of the various people. Hearing dates set out as far as three, or in one case, close to six months from now made his head spin. This was going to take a really long time. 

 

It all made Izuku more exhausted, which he hadn't realized was possible. He didn’t want to be doing all of this, he just wanted to go home. Maybe if he took a long enough nap, the sand would leave. Laying down might at least stop it from shifting, at least quieting the static buzz in him. 

 

At some point Izuku was prompted to climb onto Shouta’s back, which he did. Hizashi shot him a sad smile as Shouta slowly stood up. 

 

“Hey, cookie. You look real tired, but you did it, we’re done.” 

 

Izuku tried to shove all the exhausted grumpy frustration at having to do this at all into his face. It must have worked as Hizashi’s sad smile got a dash of humor as he chuckled. “Ooo, what a look . But it needed to be done sooner rather than later. We all want you to feel better as soon as possible.” 

 

Izuku sighed, nuzzling his face into the loops of the capture scarf on the back of Shouta’s neck. It made a pretty good pillow, honestly. He closed his eyes with a satisfied sigh.

 

“Do you know where Keigo and Nem are?” Shouta quietly asked.

 

“Lemme check.” Hizashi pulled his phone out. “Ah, they’re waiting for us in the lobby, they only finished fifteen minutes ago.” 

 

“Okay, good.” 

 

Izuku was half lulled to sleep by the soft rocking of being carried, but woke back up as a hand was pressed into the small of his back. He flinched away from the touch with a sharp inhale, his heart flipping painfully in his chest. Izuku tightened his hold around Shouta’s neck.

 

“Sorry, cookie, you were slipping,” Hizashi murmured. 

 

Relaxing at the sound of his temporary dad’s voice, Izuku yawned as he squinted into the bright light. 

 

They were back in the big open lobby area the group had entered a few hours before. A large rectangle fountain that was made out of cut black granite and looked like a waterfall bubbled in the center of the window-filled room. The shimmering stone caught the light from the bright winter sun. There was a part of Izuku that wanted to touch it. He wondered if he spread his fingers out against the smooth granite, letting the cool water rush over his hand, if that would wash the sand out of him. Even if it didn’t, it would probably still feel really nice. 

 

There were lots of plants scattered throughout the large lobby between the various couches and chairs. From behind a larger plant, Izuku saw a sliver of bright red wings. Across from his hidden brother was a very unhidden Auntie Nem sitting in a simple cushioned seat, still in her hero costume from teaching.

 

“Hey-a!” She stood, waving. She bounced over to them, her heels clicking loudly on the tile floor. “How’d it go?”

 

“Pretty good!” Hizashi gave her two thumbs up. “Dr. Li seems very on top of everything. She had been in contact with Recovery Girl for a while now, and had organized all the people we’d need to talk to. Luckily, they all had time to squeeze in at least short meetings today to at least get the ball rolling, and a few longer ones as well. Now that we have specific dates to meet them, they'll be able to travel to meet up in person. Basically all of them seemed optimistic that they’ll be able to treat Izuku, hopefully getting him to a more manageable pain level and reasonable mobility point within the year.” 

 

“Oh, that is good news!” Nemuri craned her neck to look at Izuku with a soft smile. “But, you okay kiddo? I’m sure today’s been a lot.” 

 

Izuku blankly shrugged. A dull pang rang throughout his chest as her face fell briefly before she plastered the smile back on. He was worrying her, along with Shouta, Hizashi, and Keigo. Hound Dog and Recovery Girl had also stopped by to talk to him and do a quick check up yesterday and they were more subtle, but were also concerned. He should try to not upset them, but he was just too tired. 

 

“How was Keigo?” Shouta asked Nemuri. 

 

She grinned, pointing a thumb over her shoulder at him. “Doing good. He chatted with the psychiatrist about medication options. Then he got the surgery done. He’s on some insane pain killers right now, something about his quirk making them need to use extra. And he was very loopy for a while after they took the bullet out of his thigh, but seems more with it now. Just spacey. He swore he wasn’t going to fall asleep until Izuku came out, but only twenty seconds after he settled he was out like a light.” 

 

Hizashi snickered as he crossed to the sleeping Keigo, crouching down by his head just peeking out from under the wing over him. “Aww, he looks so peaceful. I wish we could leave him like this.” 

 

“If you want to wait a little longer, he got a few prescriptions that needed to be filled. Now that you both are back I can go pick it up for him?” Nemuri offered. 

 

“Would you be allowed to?” Shouta asked.

 

“Oh yeah, birdie would never let either of you hear this, but he filled out the paperwork to put the three of us as next of kin and as emergency contacts for him. He looked so embarrassed asking the receptionist how to make ‘non-biological, non-legal family-people’ be like family members legally for medical stuff. Called the two of you dad again and me his aunt, to the receptionist as he was trying to figure out the paperwork. He looked about ready to pass away from embarrassment. I was sworn to secrecy, but I crossed my fingers behind my back, so it didn’t count. I figured the two of you should know.”

 

“Don’t call him birdie,” Hizashi whispered over his shoulder, with a wide grin. “But the rest of that is the cutest s— I’ve ever heard.” 

 

“Noted, and I about melted, it was so f—ing cute.” Nemuri nodded before she started to walk backwards with a salute. “But, I’m off on my medicine retrieval mission. Wish me luck.”

 

“Good luck, I’m sure it will be your hardest mission to date,” Shouta deadpanned. He moved to crouch in front of the chair Nemuri had stood from. Izuku didn’t really want to let go of Shouta, but he shuffled his way back onto the chair. He pouted. It was stupidly firm for a cushioned chair. He missed the deceptively soft chairs at UA.

 

Shouta collapsed into the seat next to Izuku. “So, kiddo, we wanted to give you an option on what we do next.” 

 

Izuku sighed as he half fell over the arm of the chair, one arm dangling towards the floor. He hoped one of the options was just to go home. He was so tired. 

 

“Hey, I get it. But save the dramatics for after I tell you what the options are. First option,” Shouta held up a hand, “is to just go back to the dorm and probably just hang around watching movies. Second option,” Shouta held up his other hand, but Izuku knew he’d choose the first option no matter what the other was, so he trained his eyes on that first hand. “We make a detour to the facility where your mom was transferred. It’s close to—” 

 

“Mom!?” Izuku sat up with a gasp, cutting Shouta off.  “I can see my mom?” 

 

Shouta nodded.

 

Something slashed across his chest and the sand started to slowly pour out of his chest. The empty gaping hole left behind ached as his eyes filled with tears. “ Mom . I want to see Mom.”

 

“Okay, we can do that.” 

 

Like a spider on a string of silk, Izuku’s hand slowly descended and wrapped around Shouta’s wrist. It shook as he squeezed. “I need to see my mom.” 

 

“Once Nemuri is back, we’ll head out.” 

 

Izuku whined, slumping back over the chair arm. That was going to take forever . He wasn't sure he was going to make it that long. Shouta grimaced and put a hand on his head. 

 

“Sorry kiddo, maybe we can… do something to pass the time?” He sent a half desperate look to the back of Hizashi’s head. Hizashi seemed to be totally unaware, and continued to just sit by Keigo, slowly fixing the ruffled feathers and massaging the base around the ready pin feathers, cracking a few of them free of their shells. Izuku decided to throw his temporary dad a bone. 

 

“I missed Mom’s birthday.” 

 

“… do you want to get her a gift?” Shouta asked.

 

“Mango mochi,” Izuku mumbled out. “We always made mango mochi on her birthday.”

 

“I don’t know if there will be anything like that in the hospital gift shop.” 

 

“There is a convenience store just down the street. A block or two,” Hizashi said over his shoulder. “They’ll probably have some.”

 

Shouta grunted as he stood. He held his hand out towards Hizashi. “I’m going to need the keys. We’re not walking.”

 

“Shouta, you don’t have a licence.” 

 

“Yeah, and ?” He flicked his fingers.

 

Snorting, Hizashi pulled the van keys out of the pocket of his leather pants, before tossing them to Shouta. “You know what, great point. Knock yourselves out, just don’t get pulled over. I’ll play babysitter for sleeping beauty here, but I’d love a snack.”

 

“It’s only a few blocks, I won’t get pulled over. And I’ll grab you something.” Shouta tucked the keys in his pocket and squatted just in front of Izuku again. Izuku wrapped himself around him, holding tight as he slowly stood. 

 

As they left the lobby, Izuku closed his eyes as he tilted his face towards the bright sun. The light wind was biting and cold, but between the gusts he could feel the prickling rays of the sun warming his face. The space between himself and Shouta’s back also radiated heat. Izuku’s hands snaked into the loops of the capture scarf resting close to his temporary dad’s collar bones. It was practically a furnace, keeping his fingers toasty warm.

 

His lips curved into the smallest smile. 

 

It was nice to feel warm even when the world was so cold.

 

—

 

The package of mango mochi shook in Izuku’s fist as he was carried through the jail. The warden had to check the mochi over and Izuku almost bit the man as he pried it from his hands. That was his mom’s gift. 

 

Hizashi had soothed the man with some words, and Izuku was quickly handed back the package. He hissed like a cat as he was lifted back up onto Shouta’s back. Keigo and Nemuri both seemed proud and also like they were doing everything in their power not to laugh at the whole interaction. 

 

Izuku was a bit surprised that Keigo and Nemuri were coming too. He assumed they would also be tired. Keigo had surgery today. But in his words, he ‘didn’t want to miss a chance to meet Mama Midoriya’ and he ‘had crutches and great pain pills’ so he’d be totally fine. Nemuri said she didn’t want to feel like a dog being left in a car in a parking lot. 

 

Hizashi had to jump in again to somehow get the whole group allowed to visit as it was ‘too many’. Their only saving grace was that Inko had been a model inmate since being transferred and that they were all a bunch of pro-heroes. At least that’s what the warden said. Izuku was pretty sure they’d technically just done a weird bribe trade thing as the man had looked in awe at the signatures from Present Mic, Midnight, and Hawks, for both himself and his son.

 

Izuku understood the awe, as heroes are super cool. He also was about to see his mom . He would be quiet if they'd given the man an actual cash bribe. Whatever it took. 

 

They walked through a few buzzing doors before entering a large open room with a lot of spaced out tables with chairs bolted to the ground. One whole wall was full of barred windows, the other had some paintings and potted plants, there was a shelf of books, card games, and puzzles. A few guards in scrubs stood in the corners, and a few people sat at different tables with one or two people around them. One group was doing a puzzle together. 

 

But the most important thing in the entire room, if not the entire universe , was on the far side of the room, sitting at one of the larger tables. 

 

It was her .

 

It felt like the world shifted into slow motion. Mom stood, stepping out from her seat at half speed. Shouta’s normal pace became a snail's crawl. The room stretched, making the journey feel like an eternity. 

 

Fed up with how slow it was all taking, Izuku pushed himself off Shouta’s back. He yelped as he landed on the ground. Ignoring the sharp pain in his bad leg with each step, he stumbled through a sprint to his mom. His eyes were so full of tears by the time he made it that she was nothing but a grey, tan, and green smear across his vision. He slammed into her, wrapping his arms tightly around her. Her arms snapped firmly into place. 

 

His mom was a little thinner, she smelled different, her clothes rougher than the soft sweaters she preferred. Izuku must have grown a little as his arms were higher up around her torso than they had a year ago. But none of that mattered, because this was everything he’d dreamed of since forever . 

 

He thought he'd never get to do this again. Even after being told she was alive, part of him didn't believe it. Even talking to her on the phone had felt like a dream. Izuku didn't let himself get his hopes up. But now she was here, tangible and alive. Something that had been missing in him clicked back into place.

 

“I love you,” Izuku sobbed into her chest. 

 

“I love you, too, so much, baby. I love you more than there are stars in the sky.” Mom leaned her head onto his, he felt her rub her cheek over his curls. Her breaths were just as shaky as his as she tightened her hold. It felt like she’d never let him go.  

 

It made that sand filled staticy feeling ebb as the warm desperate need to be with his mom grew. Scrambling to somehow get closer to her, he pulled and yanked at the back of her shirt. She shuffled the two of them to the chair, plopping down. Izuku climbed into her lap immediately, and she cradled him against her chest. Rocking him, Izuku sobbed harder while she quietly hummed the lullaby she’d used when he was a baby. Coughs and soft keens broke through the tears at the memory of the song he’d all but forgotten. He’d missed her so much. By the time she’d finished the song, Izuku had turned into putty in her arms. Some of her hair was in his mouth, gritty and horrible feeling between his lips, but he didn’t care. 

 

His mom was holding him. She was here.

 

“Missed you,” Izuku whispered. 

 

“I know, baby,” She reached a hand up to pull her hair out of his mouth. His mom knew he hated when her hair would get in his mouth. He didn't have to say anything, she just knew and would fix it. He felt his eyes fill with more tears. He loved his mom so much. “I missed you, too.” 

 

Mom pushed his hair out of his eyes, her emerald eyes shimmering with tears enough to reflect the red and green. “Love the red, but you need a haircut.” 

 

“It’s to match Kei-nii’s wings.” Izuku sniffed before wiping his nose on his mom’s shirt. It was gross, but he really didn’t care. She didn't seem to mind either.

 

“We’ll get him one,” Shouta mumbled out. 

 

Izuku blinked. He had honestly forgotten Shouta was there since his whole world became just the space between his mom’s arms. Rolling his head to look over the table, he saw that Shouta, Keigo, and Auntie Nem sat across from him and his mom. Hizashi sat on the short end of the table between Shouta and his mom. He wiggled his fingers with a smile when Izuku slowly blinked at him.  

 

“Hey, cookie, feeling better?” 

 

Izuku nodded, rubbing a fist against one of his aching eyes. What a stupid question. Of course he was feeling better, his mom was here. His other eye focused in on the trampled looking package of mochi in front of Hizashi. He shot an arm out, making grabby hand motions with his fingers towards the package. Hizashi chuckled as he handed it over to Izuku. 

 

Pressing it into his mom’s chest, he felt his throat close up with emotion. He whined before shoving his nose into her shoulder. Words felt impossible again, which wasn’t fair . Izuku wanted to talk to his mom.

 

“Did you get me my favorite treat?” Mom asked soothingly as she pet back his hair again. She kissed his forehead. “What a thoughtful son.”

 

Izuku nodded, digging his nose even deeper into her shoulder. He reached a finger up to her other shoulder and tapped out a few words. 

 

MISSED BIRTHDAY

 

“Baby? What—” 

 

Izuku thumped his head against her shoulder, frustrated that he’d somehow forgotten that she didn’t learn Morse code when he and Kacchan had, right as Keigo pipped in. 

 

“He said it’s for your missed birthday.” His brother paused. “In Morse code. Words, uh, can be hard for the chickadee.”

 

“Oh,” Izuku’s heart twisted at the tone of his mom’s voice. She started rocking him again as she cleared her throat. “I guess I’ll just have to finally learn Morse code, huh? You tried to get me to learn for months when you first learned. I should have listened to my smart baby when you said it would be helpful someday.” 

 

Izuku huffed a silent laugh as he reached up to tap against her shoulder. 

 

MORSE CODE IS COOL. ALL HEROES LEARN IT.

 

Keigo translated again for his mom, who laughed. 

 

“So, will I get to be a hero once I learn?”

 

“Mm-hmm. Pro-hero: Best-Mom,” Izuku was able to breathe out, squeezing it out around all the emotions rolling around in him. The chuckle he got from everyone was worth the effort of talking. But now he was done, and Izuku just wanted to exist with his mom for a while. Mom noticed and pressed his head back into her shoulder as she turned to focus on the others for a bit. Izuku had no idea how she knew, but she was good at picking up on stuff like that. It was amazing. 

 

“I’ve met Shouta and Hizashi. You must be the ‘Kei-nii’, my Izuku mentioned.” 

 

“Yes, ma’am. I’m Keigo.” 

 

“Oh no, none of this ‘ma’am’ nonsense. Call me Inko. Izuku’s claimed you as a brother, so you’re family.” 

 

Izuku smiled as Keigo let out a trill that was a mix of surprise and delight. He was glad that Keigo was finally meeting his mom, he had been pretty sure they’d get along well. Mom got along with most people, and Keigo was amazing. It would’ve been really weird if they didn’t. 

 

“And unfortunately, I don’t know you,” his mom sounded a bit sheepish. 

 

“Kayama Nemuri, also known as Pro-hero: Midnight.” 

 

“Midoryia Inko, nice to meet you.”

 

“Likewise. Your son is adorable.” 

 

“I know. I got the best little boy.” Mom sounded smug before she kissed his temple. “I am guessing you all were involved in getting him safe?”

 

“Yes,” Shouta said. 

 

“If my arms weren’t already a little busy, I’d prostate myself on the ground in gratitude.” She let out a watery laugh. Tucking a curl behind Izuku’s ear, her hand trailed down to caress his cheek. “I thought I’d never see him again. So having him in my arms again means the world to me. There isn’t much I can do from in here, but if there is anything I can do, name it and I will try my best to make it happen.” 

 

“You don’t have to do that,” Shouta said. “It’s our job to save people.” 

 

“Also, Izuku is a good kid,” Hizashi added on. “I told you before, but all of us are more than happy to help the two of you out.” 

 

“I just don’t know what to say,” Mom sounded close to tears, Izuku squeezed his arms around her, grabbing handfuls of her shirt. “I am just so grateful. You brought my baby back to me, and helped me too. I’ll be forever in your debt.” 

 

“No, you’re not.” Keigo’s voice was tentative, Izuku could hear how his brother's wings were rustling. “This is… this is just what family does for each other?” 

 

“You’re right, kid,” Shouta said as his chair creaked. 

 

Mom laughed, cradling the back of his head with a hand. “You know, Izuku always told me he wanted a bigger family as a little kid, and I felt bad that I could never give that to him. I guess he went out and built his own.”

 

“Yeah, I did,” Izuku whispered out, giving his mom a small smile. She started crying again, which made Izuku’s eyes fill with tears too. The tears were less intense this time. Less desperate and more cathartic. Tension bled out of both of them as they held each other as they watched each other shed tears.

 

Mom wiped her face off with a chuckle, “Sorry, I’m such a mess.”

 

“For this? There's no such thing,” Hizashi said as Auntie Nem handed Mom a tissue. She blew her nose.

 

“Well, I want to know all about the people who have been taking such good care of my little man. Beyond being heroes, I don’t know much about the four of you.” 

 

Hizashi started giving a quick overview of himself, and had to poke and prod Shouta to say more than being a hero and a UA heroics and law teacher. After some effort he’d added ‘liking naps, coffee and cats.’ 

 

Keigo awkwardly stuttered out that he’d been with the commission as a kid, and that he liked flying and the beach.

 

Nemuri, much like Hizashi, was smoother to introduce herself citing being the UA art teacher and some work she’d done for some charities that help people who suffered from sexual violence get back onto their feet. She said it can be really shocking even to have threats of that sort of violence and that she could be an empathetic listening ear as a survivor herself. Auntie Nem said that weirdly pointedly, but Mom had seemed to relax at the comments, so Izuku shrugged it off. No one was upset, so it was fine.

 

Hizashi jumped back in to tell the story of how he and Shouta met. Last time, Shouta retroactively had to make sure to fact check Hizashi’s highly embellished story, which had been pretty funny. Having it be real time was even more comedic.

 

Izuku half listened to his weird eclectic family introduce themselves to Mom. He shifted in her lap, reaching up to her hair. Sectioning off a small part just behind her ear, he started to braid it. It was a little more uneven and loose then he had been able to do before everything. His hands were frustratingly too weak and awkward, but it wasn’t horrible. 

 

“Hair tie,” Izuku mumbled out. His mom looked a bit pained, until Nemuri, Hizashi and Shouta each held one out. Laughing, Mom plucked the one out of Shouta’s hand and handed it to Izuku. 

 

“There you go. And looks like you can probably do two more if you want, Izuku.” 

 

He hummed as he split another small section of green hair away from the rest. He liked braiding his mom’s hair, so he was absolutely going to make two more. He started rubbing his buzzing feet together as he slowly wove the hair together. 

 

The group continued chatting and laughing together. And Izuku let it wash over him. He was still exhausted. Everything felt hard, like he had a thousand kilos wrapped around each of his limbs. There was still some horrible sandy static in him, tucked in the corners and crevices. But, at least right now, a feeling of warm belonging filled him. 

 

Finishing his last braid, tying it off with Hizashi’s tie, he sighed as he settled his head against his mom’s collar bone. In one ear he could hear his mom’s beating heart, with the other he heard the voices and laughs of all the people that had collected together to be there for him. 

 

He closed his eyes and softly smiled to himself. 

 

Izuku liked his new big family. They made him feel so warm.

Notes:

eheheh did i jump scare any of you with inko >:) IZUKU GOT A HUG FROM HIS MAAAAAAAAMMMMMM WE GOT MAMA MIDORYIA BABYYYYYY LETS GOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! I FREAKING LOVE INKO SO MUCH !! SUCH A GOOD MOM!!!!

Also know keigo is high as a freaking kite this whole chapter lolol he is having a great time xD

Chapter 50: Keigo dreams of a soft landing

Notes:

HELLO FOLKSSS

Welcome back to this storyyyyy<3 this chapter is all about tieing up all my loose ends (if i missed one, no i didnt lolol) and being incredubly self indulgent xD aka it gets sappy folks thats your only warning ehehehe

Thanks to @sassy_chemist as always for her comments and edits, you made my day <3 Also thanks to all yall who have stuck around for the insanity that has been the ride that has been this story <3 I never expected to have this many people have their eyeballs on my work so im grateful for all your kind comments and everything <3

There's only one more chapter after this and its more of an epologue/time skip so this is kind of the false end lolol so I'm having emotions~~~ so bare with me here <3

But I hope you all enjoy <333

Ever since Izuku ‘came to’ about two weeks ago, the whole group had fallen into a rhythm. Keigo thought it was much nicer than the previous cycle of holding down the panicking child until he dissociated, and then care for said catatonic child. All while holding out hope he’d wake up, but never verbalizing that hope in fear it would scare it away for longer.

 

The days would now start with Hizashi and Shouta rolling out of bed. Hizashi would run out to the kitchen to start breakfast while Shouta would stumble after him, turning on the coffee machine. About five minutes later, Nemuri would go to the bathroom and shower. Once Shouta had downed one cup and bordered on being a human being, Hizashi would leave him with the rest of breakfast to finish while he’d run to the bathroom to shower and start working on building his ridiculous hero hair. 

 

Keigo would inevitably be woken up at some point during the other heroes’ morning routines. None of them were trying to be loud, but Keigo was notoriously a light sleeper. Which was very helpful as Keigo’s bed had been moved into the corner of Izuku’s room and Izuku would usually wake up in the middle of the night with a gasp and start crying. 

 

On bad days, everyone in the dorm knew when Izuku woke up. 

 

There had been a discussion on continuing the rotation of who would stay with Izuku overnight. That was until Keigo said he’d like to do it every night. Shouta looked like he wanted to flat out say no, but instead through gritted teeth asked why. Keigo, with awkward stumbling words, explained that he was the only one that wasn’t doing patrols or teaching, and he could be a little tired for the meetings with the investigators. At the very end, he also quietly tacked on that the nights he’d been with Izuku his own nightmares were less. 

 

That finally got Shouta to back down, only with a mumbled offer to be back up if Keigo ever needed a night off. Later, while the two were working on doing the dishes after dinner, Shouta quietly said if Keigo ever woke up from a nightmare and needed someone, he was happy to sit with him. It wasn’t just for Izuku. It was super nice, but embarrassing as h—. Keigo was an adult and had dealt with his nightmares alone for years. So he appreciated the offer, but he’d be fine. 

 

Keigo told Shouta just that. 

 

However, that same night he ended up waking Shouta up in a panicked tizzy. Izuku had woken up only a few minutes after Keigo had gasped awake, heart pounding, from a horrible dream where he had been tasked to kill both his dads. Keigo wanted to be there for Izuku, but he couldn’t do it. Instead, he watched Hizashi sleep, sitting next to the foot of his bed, like an absolute creep. All while listening in on Shouta as he tried to lull Izuku to sleep by giving a glorified lecture on heroics. 

 

Which was a dumb idea as Izuku was elated to get a heroics lesson and in no way went back to sleep. But he was at least calm and no longer panicking.

 

So, Keigo took it as a win.

 

In Shouta’s defense, it had been three AM. No one thinks their best at three AM. 

 

But, once Keigo woke up, he’d wake Izuku up. It usually took a few tries on a good day to get him to sit up. On bad days, it would sometimes take until the teachers demanded hugs and hair ruffles as a short goodbye, before he sat up. 

 

Normally, once both were awake, Keigo would carry Izuku to the kitchen to hang with them as Shouta and Keigo finished breakfast. Mostly Shouta, as Keigo could still smell the burnt failure of thoroughly destroyed oatmeal in his nose, and was reasonably cautious to try again without a lot of oversight. Izuku sometimes helped, too, and sometimes he’d just curled up on the island, or clung to Shouta or Keigo’s back like a koala, depending on the day. 

 

Once the food was done, Shouta would take Izuku out to the dining room to go over his new daily therapy homework. Keigo, with a flurry of feathers, transferred the completed food and dishes to the table. Really hot things like the coffee pot were taken with his hands, as heat and his feathers did not get along. 

 

Keigo would find himself having to bite back a reaction to Izuku’s homework. Some days he wanted to smile as Izuku quickly listed off the three activities he wanted to do that day. Other mornings, Keigo bit back a distressed coo as Izuku and Shouta went over his emotions chart from the day before.

 

Hound Dog wanted Izuku to work on identifying his current emotional state and see how it fluctuated throughout the day. Which unfortunately lately was usually bouncing between ‘not great,’ ‘bad,’ and ‘downright abysmal’. Keigo thought it was also a way for the adults to have a check in point twice an hour, since his brother was doing pretty badly mentally. They’d tried to do the overview at night, but Izuku asked to move it to the next morning. Which they did immediately.

 

Usually once the table was set, Nemuri would prance out of the bathroom, fully ready for the day except for her make up. It was hit or miss if Hizashi would be done, but he had told them not to wait up for him, so they would start to eat. Nemuri would usually throw out a comment about how she was going to miss bumming free meals off Shouta and Hizashi when they all moved out soon, in lieu of a ‘thank you’. Shouta would groan about how wasn’t going to miss being her personal chef, but that he was only going to miss a live-in babysitter, the lack of commute, and having to wake up earlier, instead of a ‘you're welcome’. 

 

Keigo was always quiet during that exchange as he… didn’t really want to go back to his empty apartment. He wasn’t even sure if that would be an option. He had been told by Nedzu that the dorm would be open to him until ‘other arrangements could be made that would please everyone involved’. He wasn’t fully sure what that meant, but hearing about leaving the first place that had ended up feeling like a home was more than a little upsetting. He usually just focused on eating or chatting with Izuku.

 

There was an unspoken competition between all the heroes to see who could make Izuku talk the most during meal times before he would fade off into the quiet depressed haze he spent a lot of time in. Keigo was currently winning as he got Izuku going on a short tirade about Underground heroics for a full twenty minutes during dinner which then devolved into Izuku gushing about Eraserhead for an additional ten. Much to everyone's delight, except Shouta who looked like he wanted to die, doubly so when Hizashi started quoting Izuku later that evening. 

 

Hizashi was runner up as Izuku gave a ten minute dissertation about frogs . It surprised everyone, Izuku had never done anything that would imply he had any thoughts or feelings on the creatures. When asked Izuku just shrugged, as he put his head on the table mumbling that ‘frogs are cool.’ 

 

Later that morning when Izuku was dozing, Keigo ended up watching a documentary on frogs. 

 

Which proved Izuku right, frogs were pretty cool.

 

At the end of breakfast, Hizashi would take Izuku to the front room. Nemuri would go finish getting ready. Keigo would shower and no matter how quick he tried to be, Shouta would be ready and at least half way through grading a paper or would be sprawled, half asleep on the couch. 

 

It was kind of insane how fast Shouta was in the morning. The man, even with showering, only took what seemed five minutes to get ready. Which made his comments about waking early for the commute even stranger as he could sleep in much more than he currently did. Shouta was an enigma and Keigo really needed to stop trying to make him make sense.

 

On good days, Izuku would be sitting up chatting with Hizashi, playing with a laser pointer with the cats, or quietly asking Shouta about the assignments that he was grading. On bad days, he’d be zoned out aimlessly watching the TV, usually playing some old kids movie or nature documentary. On really bad days, Izuku would spend the whole morning picking at his food or still be in bed, refusing to leave. Keigo didn’t like any version of the bad days, but the real bad days he would curl around Izuku and just hold him. He was never sure what else to do, but desperately wanted to make it better. 

 

The teachers would all hug Izuku and tell him one by one that they’d be back soon, reminding him of the schedule which, barring a few strange days, was fairly standard. The morning was Keigo. Then right before lunch Shouta would take over so Keigo could go to his meetings, now all set up to fill the afternoon. A few hours after lunch, Nemuri would pop in to take over for a few hours until Hizashi finished off the late afternoon. The days with hiccups, Hound Dog or Recovery Girl filled in for an hour or two, but that had only happened once or twice. 

 

The morning with Izuku was usually pretty chill. At times Izuku was still tired and would just nap until lunch. Other times Izuku would try to accomplish one of his fun tasks by playing card games with him or watching a movie. Sometimes on bad days when Keigo was curled around Izuku, he would quietly whisper what was on his mind, which was frequently the nightmares from the night before. Hearing the monstrous things that Izuku had been through made Keigo’s heart feel like it was thrown into a garbage disposal. After sharing, sometimes Izuku would lightly dissociate, which was always a bit terrifying. So far Keigo had been able to bring him back down to earth with the grounding exercises, some time, and usually a lemon drop. 

 

On those bad days, Keigo understood the covert use of sign perfectly. He always wanted to give Shouta an update, but his brother was usually right there. Keigo would hiss out the bare minimum or would slip a small hand written note, before heading to the room in the main building that had been designated for his meetings. They'd moved it out of the dorm since the idea of leaving Izuku didn’t send Keigo into a full on anxiety spiral now that he was more aware. 

 

That also might be the anti-anxiety meds. But Keigo was just happy that he wasn’t acting as insane anymore. He didn’t really care about the reason behind the change.

 

He still ended up searching the dorm once or twice a day. But the urge to do so took a lot longer to build, and was easier to ignore.

 

Once UA classes were all over and Keigo was back from his meetings, the little family would switch up the activities they did together. 

 

Nemuri would rarely participate as she and Nedzu had taken on the investigation into the facility that Inko had previously been at. Keigo had not realized that there were any issues with the facility until Nemuri and Inko had shared pointed looks and a thinly veiled conversation. Later he’d asked Hizashi and got the full scoop. Keigo was grateful that Nemuri was spearheading the investigation. Midnight was well known for being merciless against those who sexually abuse others. 

 

Keigo didn’t want anyone who hurt his brother’s mom to have a chance of getting away with it. 

 

Izuku would usually perk up on the days he was allowed to go visit his mom. But that was unfortunately only twice a week. On the days in-between, they’d play games, go on walks, watch movies, bake, or steal art supplies from UA to do weird crafts or anything else they could think of until dinner. Hizashi and Shouta would trade off on who would join in so they could do their grading or cook.

 

After dinner, Izuku would be flagging and would usually end up napping. Keigo would clean while Izuku would sleep on the couch as Shouta and Hizashi would slip out. An hour or so later they’d slip back sweaty and sometimes bruised. Keigo was pretty sure they were sparring, but there is no way he was going to point blank ask just in case it wasn’t also something… more . 

 

He was pretty sure he once saw a hickey poke out between the loops of the capture weapon and Hizashi had strutted around the rest of that evening like a proud peacock. They were adults in a long term committed relationship. Keigo loved watching them be head over heels for each other. It was clear they were disgustingly in love. He was happy for them.

 

But, G-d, he didn't want to know .

 

Once they were back, Izuku would usually wake back up and Keigo would slip out. He had a few similar therapy homework assignments to Izuku. Along with a spreadsheet of hourly emotional check ins with the goal of tracking his anxiety, Keigo was also tasked to do at least three things a day that he enjoyed doing with his quirk. So, every evening he had started slipping out to just go flying with his freshly full set of feathers. 

 

Even though it felt a bit like swimming laps in a kiddie pool with how often he had to switch back over the whole of the UA campus, it was just long enough that he could get a decent  workout. It got his blood pumping. And while not even close to Keigo’s top speeds, it was fast enough to make his hair a full on mess that Hizashi would spend a good fifteen minutes untangling as Shouta helped put the oils on his wings, before they all went to bed. 

 

Looking back on his life, Keigo had no idea how he’d made it this far without people like Hizashi, Shouta or Izuku. The warm feeling in his chest and the fuzzy feeling that made him want to sing like a bird (literally) never fully went away anymore. He had a place he fit. He had a home. He had a family which filled the ache in his chest where his quirk would mourn the lack of flock. And no matter how weird it was, he had parents. They weren’t technically his parents, but they filled the role in the same way that Izuku slotted in as a younger sibling. Even Nemuri was slowly gaining the mental ‘auntie’ moniker Keigo knew that she craved. It all felt like an insane dream to Keigo, but he really liked it, and hoped he’d never wake up from it.

 

It had been so different from what he was used to, and different was terrifying. It was like he’d tripped and fallen into a hole and for a long time he was panicking. Just thrashing as he tried to do anything to slow the descent. But now, it was like he’d hit the bottom and it was nothing but plush pillows and soft landings. He still at times would have moments of vertigo, but it finally felt like there was something under his feet.

 

And he hated knowing that some part of Izuku was still falling. Keigo was desperate to figure out how to make a soft landing for his little brother. A place he could build himself back up from.

 

As he heard Hizashi and Shouta get up off his own bed, Keigo softly curled closer to Izuku. The light streamed through the small opening between the curtains making a soft line of yellow across Izuku’s blanketed shoulders. There was more than enough light to see the dark circles, swollen eyelids and dried tracks of salt crusted onto Izuku’s freckled cheeks. It had taken hours for Izuku to calm down last night after his nightmare, it also took the whole crew. Which meant no one slept well last night. 

 

Keigo reached up to gently massage the small wrinkle between Izuku's eyebrows. Even sleeping, he looked beat down and exhausted. Keigo bit back the bird call that threatened to bubble out of him; he didn’t want to wake Izuku up.

 

Shouta moved to crouch by the two of them, as Hizashi slid out of the room, likely to the kitchen. 

 

“Let him sleep, we’ll bring the two of you some food once it’s done,” Shouta whispered before standing up. A hand was placed on the side of Keigo’s head, fingers patting his forehead before Shouta bent over to mumble in Keigo’s ear. “It might not seem like it now, but he will be okay someday.” 

 

Keigo nodded as he bit his lip. He blinked back a few tears as he looked at his dad out of the corner of his eye. “Someday can’t come soon enough.” 

 

“I feel you kid.” Shouta sighed. “All we can do is be there for him.” 

 

“Be the soft landing.” Keigo absentmindedly nodded to himself. Thinking of ways he could maybe help more. He was drawing a blank. Keigo just needed more sleep to come up with some magical solution, or more realistically, conjure up some additional patience to wait out the storm.

 

G-d, he was so tired, but he could do sleep deprivation. So, he’d be fine.

 

“Yeah, be back soon.” Shouta stood back up, cracking his spine with a sharp twist as he left the room. 

 

Watching the strip of sun’s slow march up closer and closer to Izuku’s eyes, Keigo listened as the rest of his family got ready for their day. 

 

It had been a bit since Shouta silently slipped in with a simple meal of miso soup and some cut up fruit. The food sitting on the nightstand was probably cold by now. But there was no way that he was going to shift and move to eat it when that could wake his brother. Izuku needed the rest, Keigo could survive being a little hungry for a little longer. 

 

Hizashi peeked his head in with a worried frown. 

 

“He still sleeping?” Hizashi whispered.

 

Keigo turned his head towards the door and whispered back. “Yeah.” 

 

Crossing into the room, Hizashi placed a folded sheet of paper by the two bowls of the now cold soup. “We thought that might be the case, so we wrote a quick note for Izuku when he wakes up. It just goes over when we’ll each be back and some well wishes.” Hizashi tapped the page with a finger, before gesturing at the food. “Don’t forget to eat your own food, feather.” 

 

“I won't." 

 

“Good.” Crossing back to leave, Hizashi paused, hanging on the door frame, not wanting to leave.

 

“Enjoy class,” Keigo whispered out.

 

“Take care.” Hizashi kissed his fingers before wiggling them towards Keigo as he slipped fully out of the room, leaving it cracked. 

 

The light from the hall stretched across the room, almost reaching the strip of light from the window, now over one of Izuku's freckled cheeks. Four feathers flipped and twirled back and forth weaving through the light a bit before he sent three off to the heroes about to leave for classes.

 

The last one Keigo kept playing with, watching how the edges of the feather caught the light. The shine off the main vein almost twinkled as it darted in and between the two thin stretches of light. Small darts of light reflected onto the walls and ceiling in random patterns.

 

The start of an idea tickled at the back of Keigo’s mind. It wouldn’t solve any of Izuku’s fears or issues, but it might be at least something to show he cared. That they were all next to him trying to help as best they could. 

 

Hopefully it could be a soft place to land.

 

—

 

The day had not gotten much better. Izuku woke up totally nonverbal, not wanting to even use his whiteboard. Keigo had to poke and prod to get Izuku just to eat a quarter of his breakfast. His little brother ended up zoned out on the couch with Sushi purring in his lap. Keigo had put on one of the movies Izuku had introduced him to a while back, but no one was actually watching it. 

 

It was a bit too close to the days Izuku was catatonic for Keigo’s anxiety. Even with the medication calming him, it took everything in him to peel away to his meeting. Shouta with slowly waning patience repeated over and over that Keigo needed to go to the meeting. 

 

It was one of the last ones for a while so he couldn't just not go. Nedzu was also going to be there as part of the decisions being made would revolve around where Keigo was going to be staying long term. Since Nedzu, or really UA as a whole, had vouched for him and taken him into their custody, Nedzu needed to be present for the discussion. 

 

It probably should be unnerving having someone he didn’t know all that well in full control of his future. However it wasn’t that much different from the HPSC, with the major difference of Keigo was pretty sure they had his best interests in mind. Or at least would listen if he said no. 

 

Which was novel and exciting. 

 

The meeting was actually fairly bland. There was some paperwork regarding his willingness and ability to attend the already scheduled court dates. Ms. Wang, his lawyer, was present and explained the papers to him, which would delight Hizashi. 

 

There… were already a lot of court dates. Nedzu pointed out this was only the beginning. 

 

Which Keigo didn’t love. 

 

There was also a thick packet of paperwork that was daunting. 

 

It was Keigo’s personal ‘how-to’ guide to getting back to being a licensed hero. Multiple government agencies had stepped in to work together to work as a stop-gap HPSC. Something about hero work needing to continue even with the massive overhaul being done. Many really important people had reviewed his case and decided that Hawks: the Pro-hero’s public service outweighed Hawks: the HPSC agent’s crimes. Being told the prime minister signed off on this plan absolutely freaked him out.

 

What if he couldn’t do it? How many people would he be letting down?

 

Nothing in it was that abnormal. It started with Keigo needing to continue with his plea agreement terms. There will be a tribunal/court meeting where a judge will go over his actions and decide if this plan was even going to be enacted or if he was to be imprisoned, or more accurately given a full trial. But there was no way if his case went in front of a jury he wouldn’t be found guilty.

 

Ms. Wang made it clear that the meeting with a judge was more of just getting a stamp of approval to this plan. She told him there is no real reason for a judge to go back on what the multiple agencies that had been put in charge of the HPSC in interim had chosen. Parliament signed off on it as well, so this was just to cross T’s and dot I's legally. And if for some reason the judge did double back that would break the terms of the plea agreement, which meant there would be precedent to sue since his agreement did have a line on providing reasonable steps and plans to allow Keigo to become a fully licensed hero again. 

 

The whole conversation made his head spin, and he didn't understand half of it. But it was nice knowing that the first court meeting that next week was for this. So he’d know sooner rather than later if he would be able to be a hero again. He might hate being Hawks, but he did really like being a hero.

 

To become a hero he had a list of classes, tests, physical and mental check-ups before he could get relicensed, but first only provisionally. A long three year probationary period, where he needed to be signed on with a hero agency of a hero who had very specific qualifications. So not just any hero could sponsor him. During that time, he had to attend therapy and pass regular mental health check ups. If he didn’t pass, there were plans and mechanisms to help him get there. Keigo wouldn’t be allowed his own agency for at least five years after the end of his probationary period. Which… he didn’t really mind. He hadn’t really run his agency and had no idea how to do so. He just wanted to help people and agency or not, he would be able to help people this way. 

 

It was honestly a lot more lax than he deserved as an actual bona fide murderer. 

 

Inui would sigh if he heard Keigo call himself that, but that’s what he was . Inui was convinced the murders all fell under the umbrella of self defense, that he did it to survive. But Keigo was going to have to disagree. He wasn’t some poor victim backed into a back alley and attacked. He agreed and took action. He could have said no. And in the case of Mr. Watanabe, he even lacked remorse, which most days tore him up worse than knowing he had killed people. Keigo was just going to have to learn to live with it, not pretending it didn't happen, or calling it something it’s not.

 

Once the plan was signed, it was on to figuring out where Keigo was going to stay. He was still technically working through his plea agreement and while not deemed an active flight risk, there were concerns. 

 

The various people in the meeting were arguing back and forth about options. One would argue that if Keigo were to snap again, it would be a risk to the students at UA, so he should be locked away until his many court dates were finished. Which was shot down as there was no actual evidence of Keigo snapping in the ways described by the HPSC. That his stellar time as a pro-hero shouldn’t be ignored for government sanctioned slander. 

 

It seemed Nedzu was going to stay quiet on the fact that Shouta’s torso would prove otherwise. Keigo kept his mouth shut too. It's not like he’d really run into any students as he slipped in and out during classes. So it probably wasn't that big of a deal.

 

Another spoke up saying he should stay at UA as it was the easiest to monitor him while not breaking the agreement not to detain him. Others stated that he should be put on house arrest in his HPSC apartment, only for that to be shot down by Keigo. 

 

He didn’t want to go back there. It wasn’t a bad place, but he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep in a place he knew he had been under regular surveillance. … He also didn't want to be that far from his family.

 

Nedzu clearly knew something as his smile sharpened. 

 

“I think I have a solution that will solve all parties' concerns.” Nedzu pulled a file out of his desk and placed it in the center of his desk, right in front of Keigo. Opening it and reading the first few lines Keigo felt his eyes water and a warbling squawk bubbled out of his throat. 

 

Shouta and Hizashi were the worst . They said nothing about them appealing to have Keigo join them in some house in some high security gated community, one that could, if required, have similar monitoring that UA had installed. 

 

Keigo thought they lived in a f—ing apartment before all this. When did they have time to buy a house? Where did they get the money for it?

 

But as staff of UA and as capable heroes, they claimed that they could fulfill the requirements of the plea agreement and also provide safety and security for Keigo. The only thing needed was him to have a meeting with Izuku's newly assigned social worker, and to take classes to receive a foster license to be able to live with them long term.

 

B—-rds. Both of them . Keigo thought to himself as he wiped at his eyes, handing the document over to his lawyer to read out loud. 

 

It was unanimously agreed upon and signed. Nedzu said he’d already signed Keigo up for the classes and the social worker was going to have a meeting in the next day or two. The way he said it made Keigo pretty sure somehow Nedzu knew the social worker would say yes. 

 

He wasn't going to touch that with a ten foot pole. Keigo didn't want to know.

 

Legally, he now couldn’t be taken from his family. Unless Keigo was an idiot and stabbed someone else. Which, as he sometimes joked with Inui, still had no plans on doing. 

 

As everyone else was leaving, he caught Nedzu’s attention. 

 

For his idea to work properly he might need the Principal’s okay. After quickly explaining, Nedzu gave permission with a warm smile. 

 

“Hopefully, Izuku-kun has a good time.”

 

He also hoped Izuku would have a good time. 

 

Keigo all but sprinted to the dorm to finish the plans. Hizashi would be there and he could definitely help with the organizing. If he and Izuku could plan the little sunset watching in a few hours, then Keigo and him could plan this. 

 

—

 

Nerves ate at Keigo’s stomach lining. He was going to have ulcers if he didn’t chill out soon. But he wanted this to be the best evening for everyone.

 

He wanted it to be perfect .

 

Hizashi told him that his idea was adorable and had jumped in with both feet to help get it organized. The box of supplies was passed to Keigo as he knew where he wanted to set up. Shouta and Hizashi had hung back to stay with Izuku.

 

It took him a good hour to set everything up that he wanted. He got frustrated and ended up hanging some of the things up by stabbing hardened feathers into a few trees and the ground. Which was a choice, but he had the feathers to spare now if they broke.

 

Doing his last walk through, Keigo nodded to himself, grateful that the weather had cleared up. It was not warm , but wasn’t bitter cold anymore. He crouched on the ground and looked up at the darkening cloudless sky, the sun having just set over the horizon. He smiled. 

 

It wasn’t as perfect as he’d like, but it was pretty darn close. 

 

Walking a few feet away from his set up, he did a little hop skip before beating his wings, darting off into his sky. 

 

He was excited. One of Izuku’s goals he’d set this morning was just ‘going outside’. If nothing else, he was helping his brother accomplish his goals. He hoped Izuku would like it for more than just that though. 

 

Touching down in front of the dorm, Keigo all but slammed the front door as he ran into the living room, not even kicking his boots off.

 

“It’s ready!” he exclaimed.

 

Shouta, Hizashi, and Izuku sat in a circle on the floor, playing some simple card game. Izuku leaned against the couch. Shouta was technically laying on his side, his head held up by a fist. Dumpster loafed on his hip. Hizashi sat cross legged in front of Shouta’s legs. 

 

Izuku looked mildly confused under the pale exhaustion and puffy eyes. His hair was also a messy disaster. Keigo knelt and mindlessly started preening, flipping the hair and twisting the wild curls back together around his fingers. Izuku leaned into his hand. 

 

Hizashi grimaced at the dirty boots on the carpet, but didn’t say anything. However, something in the expression screamed that Keigo would be cleaning it up later. Keigo ignored it; vacuuming wasn’t hard.

 

“What’s ready?” Izuku whispered out, his face devoid of any emotion.

 

“It’s a surprise.” Keigo winked. “But from what I’ve heard, dinner will be served and it might or might not be from Lunch Rush.”

 

“Oh.” Izuku sat up a little straighter. Keigo grinned. He had piqued his brother's interest. Food usually did the trick.

 

“I’m also pretty sure Hizashi made sure to ask him very nicely for some more of those cookies.”

 

“Oh?” Now there was almost a twinkle in the dull green eyes. That really piqued his interest. Keigo laughed a little to himself. Even depression couldn’t fully stop his brother’s love for cookies. 

 

Lunch Rush’s cookies were fantastic, so Keigo couldn’t even blame him. 

 

“Yup!” Hizashi popped the P as he jumped up to stand. “I got everything ready in the kitchen.” 

 

“Dinner usually is soon,” Izuku asked, looking at the clock on the wall.

 

“We can leave now, unless you need to go to the bathroom first?” Keigo turned so Izuku could climb on his back. Izuku shuffled forward, flopping onto Keigo’s back, nestling himself between the fluffy wings. 

 

“Just went,” Izuku whispered as he shook his head.

 

“Good, then let’s goooooo!” Keigo stood and started half jogging around the room, jumping over Shouta a few times. Which scared Dumpster away with a yowl.

 

His dad sighed before rolling his way into a slow stand. “Well, I for one need to go to the bathroom. And Izuku needs socks and at least slippers.” 

 

“Aye Aye, Capt’n!” Keigo darted down the hall, grinning as Izuku’s breaths hitched into a half laugh.

 

“Keigo, stop running. You still have stitches!” Shouta called after him.

 

“I cut them out a week ago!” Keigo called back. It wasn’t like he needed the allotted two weeks after cuddling up with Izuku for a day or two. Even with the pain meds, Izuku’s quirk was still impressive.

 

Keigo snickered as he heard Shouta grumble under his breath as he passed Izuku’s room to the bathroom. Focusing on his task he got Izuku ready to go, tossing his Eraserhead scarf to him to bundle around his neck as Keigo gently put his socks on. 

 

“Ready?” 

 

“It’s a surprise. I’m not allowed to know what we are doing.” Izuku’s feet rubbed together and he fidgeted with the trailing edge of his scarf. He was ducked down and peeked over the edge of the many wraps of the plush scarf. It made Keigo smile; it was a perfect parallel to Shouta with his capture weapon. 

 

“You can know if you want to.” Keigo brushed Izuku’s hair out of his eyes. They still hadn’t gotten Izuku a haircut, much to Inko’s chagrin. It was getting kind of out of hand, but Izuku said he didn’t want to cut it. And when asked all he’d do was shrug, so they all were leaving it alone for now. “Do you want to know?”

 

Izuku shyly nodded. 

 

“We’re going stargazing!” Izuku perked up even more, making the excitement in Keigo unbearable. He started fluttering his wings and bounded a bit on his toes. “I noticed how there are some areas of campus that are pretty dark and I was able to see some stars. I thought it would be fun. I also remembered how nice it was for you to organize the sunset watching and wanted to do something similar for you. So, I picked a location out away from campus and set up a nice place to look up. I asked Hizashi to help get the food stuff together.” 

 

“He’s good at that sort of thing.” Izuku nodded. “Smart to ask him.” 

 

“I thought so!” Keigo grinned. “He even got a telescope somehow. I think he called in a favor with Ectoplasm, I’m not sure.” 

 

“Telescope?” Izuku leaned forward and put his hands on Keigo’s cheeks. “What planets are in the sky tonight?”

 

“Uh, I don’t actually know?” Keigo scratched the back of his head. He hadn't even thought to check anything beyond there not being clouds . Internally he cursed, he should have. “I… have never really used a telescope before?” 

 

“That’s okay. I can show you. We might be able to see Mars or Venus. Let’s go.” Izuku gestured for Keigo to flip around so he could climb on his back, which he did.

 

“How do you know how to use a telescope?” Keigo asked as he slid into the front room.

 

Izuku shrugged. “School project me and Kacchan did on space. His dad bought him one. It was pretty cool.” 

 

Hizashi bounced up off the couch, his arms full of a large box and a bag of two hanging off each shoulder. His hair braided back and a warm hat covering the top of his head. Eyes dragging over the two of them clearly checking for coats. Keigo rolled his eyes. He really was the warm police. 

 

“Are you both ready to go?”

 

Izuku hummed in confirmation as Keigo threw him a thumbs up. 

 

“Perfecto! All we need is Shouta and then we’re outta here!”

 

Shouta walked into the room wearing a jacket and sighed as he looked at Hizashi with all the bags in hand, his eyes drifting to Hizashi’s sock-covered feet. 

 

“Forgetting anything, ‘Zashi?” 

 

“No?” Hizashi started flapping his arms around his load. “I got dinner, snacks, the telescope, the speakers for some tunes, a new chill playlist on my phone, the star guidebook, and an extra blanket or two. I did feel like I was forgetting something. Did I miss something important?”

 

“No, that sounds good to me.” Shouta crossed to the front and started lacing on his own shoes pointedly glancing at Hizashi’s feet. Keigo bit back a smile. Izuku silently laughed, the puffs of air tickling Keigo’s neck. Shouta opened the front door and started to walk out. He tipped his head back with a wry smile. “But, don’t complain to me when your socks get muddy.” 

 

Hizashi kicked a foot out to check and groaned. “I thought I was forgetting something. Now I have to put all this down again.” 

 

“I got it.” Swooping feathers grabbed the bags off Hizashi’s shoulders and picked the box up, shooting off through the door towards their final destination. Shouta and Hizashi just watched as the stuff faded into the growing darkness. 

 

“D—, that’s so nice.” Hizashi mumbled. He shook his head a little and threw his boots on. “Cool f—ing quirk. Can’t help but be jealous. All I can be is loud.”

 

Keigo’s feathers fluffed up before shaking back down all smooth. He had been warming up more and more to his quirk and hearing his dad appreciate his abilities made his chest warm.

 

As they walked to the location, Keigo took point, leading the way, Izuku on his back. Shouta and Hizashi quietly horsing around behind him. The gnawing nerves were back. Izuku seemed excited as well. Or he was as excited as he was about anything lately. But Keigo really wanted this to be perfect.

 

As they got to where he’d set up, which took so much longer walking to get to, a feather that he’d left with Nedzu started vibrating. A small paw patted it twice and all the lights around campus turned off. It was almost pitch black out this far, which was perfect.

 

Izuku squeaked and started choking Keigo out as he scrambled his arms tighter around his neck. 

 

Okay. Maybe not perfect. Izuku was going to kill him.

 

Keigo hacked out a gurgle as he madly sent a feather ahead, flipping the switch. As he stumbled the last few meters.

 

Izuku gasped as the lights flipped on. Keigo gasped in a breath through his now free neck. 

 

“Oh wow,” Hizashi said, looking up and around the set up.

 

“Good job, kid,” Shouta tacked on, ruffling Keigo’s hair as he passed by.

 

Keigo’s feathers fluffed up as he stood slightly higher. He did do a good job. He had found a nice clearing in the trees. Blankets hung off rope stretching to distant trees, similar to how the fort had been built in the living room. Making a nice large square in the middle of the clearing, the corners tacked down with feathers to keep any wind from disturbing them. A few blankets were on the ground over top of a tarp, his old detached feathers from a few weeks ago added a little extra cushion to even out some of the bumps in the ground. Around it, he’d stretched the twinkle lights back and forth, making sure the light wouldn’t be above the blanket walls, as he didn't want to take away from the sky. From the ropes and the lights he’d hung little stars and planets that he’d cut from some thick paper he’d stolen from the art room. 

 

Izuku reached up past Keigo’s head to poke one of the stars. It swung a little on its short string. Keigo smiled as Izuku poked a few more before curling his arms back around his neck. 

 

Ducking into the little open roof tent, he realized a mistake. Shouta held his phone flashlight out as Hizashi started spreading the food around. Keigo felt a little like an idiot as he forgot they’d need light to eat before they looked at the stars. He set Izuku down by Shouta and ducked out. Using some feathers he quickly rewrapped the end of the lights around the bottom edge of the square. It wasn’t… elegant, but at least it was enough light to see by. Shouta didn’t stop using his flashlight annoyingly, and even asked if Keigo would be willing to hold it up over the meal with a few feathers. He did it, but felt a bit like a failure. 

 

No one else was acting like it was a big deal, so Keigo tried to pretend as well. 

 

The dinner was good, as all meals cooked by Lunch Rush were. However, it was lukewarm. Which was Keigo’s fault for choosing a location so far because he forgot not everyone could fly . 

 

Walking was unbearably slow.

 

It was a quieter meal, but not awkward. Or only Keigo was feeling awkward. Hizashi and Shouta seemed perfectly fine as they tag teamed to get Izuku to whisper out all the space fun facts he knew. Shouta also cracked the book open that had been swiped from the UA library, and was reading a little between bites. Izuku leaned up against Shouta and listened as he read, looking at all the photos. 

 

Keigo for some reason felt off balance. He missed the giddy excitement from earlier. And the nerves were also absent. As they all finished, Keigo couldn’t help but feel a little hollow as he helped clean up the plates.

 

It really didn’t feel like enough . His eyes pricked, and he sniffed. Keigo rubbed his face. 

 

He was not going to cry. This was supposed to be a happy evening.

 

Hizashi’s green eyes were sharp as they glanced at him over the top edge of his glasses. He tilted his head towards the black plastic case he was about to open. Keigo nodded and shuffled over on his knees. Hizashi checked over his shoulder at Shouta and Izuku, who were both engrossed in the book again. 

 

“You’re doing great, treasured feather.” As his dad’s thin fingers brushed through his hair, Keigo felt a few hot tears slice down his cheeks. 

 

“It doesn’t feel like it,” Keigo grumbled, rubbing his face.

 

“Doesn’t make it any less true. This was a good idea.” Hizashi pecked a kiss on Keigo’s hairline before turning to the case. “Want to help put it together?”

 

Keigo nodded, grabbing the tripod.

 

Taking a breather helped Keigo feel a little less like a failure. And by the time the telescope was fully built, Keigo even had a small spark of excitement again. 

 

“Telescope’s ready,” Keigo turned to Izuku with a smile. “Wanna show me the ropes, chickadee?” 

 

Izuku nodded before scooting on his butt backwards towards Keigo, his bad leg awkwardly held in the air. It looked ridiculous, but he was just glad Izuku was interested enough to put that much effort into it.

 

Izuku mumbled about how telescopes work as he held one eye up to the telescope. Trailing off mid sentence, he looked up at the phone light and then down at the twinkle lights around the bottom edge. He scrunched his nose up. 

 

“It is hard to see.” 

 

“Ah, let me fix it.” Keigo’s feathers darted out making the lights slither out under the blanket walls. Shouta grunted as his phone dropped on him. 

 

Izuku almost smiled at Keigo as he looked back through the telescope. He started moving it around, silently this time, tilting his head back to just squint up at the sky every once and a while before shifting the telescope and fiddling with the knobs. After a while Izuku sat back with a small, genuine smile. 

 

“I found Mars.” 

 

Keigo wanted to cry at how peaceful Izuku looked in that moment, how satisfaction cut through the exhaustion that had been dragging him down. Instead, Keigo chirped as he scooted forward.

 

“Can I see?”

 

“You have eyes. You tell me.” Izuku’s smile grew smug as Keigo rolled his eyes with a huff. 

 

“Okay, punk, scoot over.” 

 

Keigo gently pushed Izuku to the side and his brother giggled. Full on, not the breathy thing he’d been doing for the week. Keigo swallowed against the stone lodged in his throat as he put his eye up to the telescope.

 

A pretty clear view of the orangey-red planet surrounded by the black abyss of space was in view. A slightly blurry speck of white was at the top of it. 

 

“Oh wow. That’s really cool.” Keigo sat back and put his hand on Izuku’s head. “I take back my punk comment. I’m just impressed.” 

 

“Mars is easy to find.” Izuku shrugged with a smile dancing at the corners of his lips. “Venus can be harder.”

 

“I bet we can figure it out.” 

 

Keigo grinned as Izuku sat up, rolling his shoulders back like he was prepping for a fight instead of looking for a planet. 

 

“Yeah, we can.” 

 

It took a while, but they were able to find Venus. They did end up having to take one of the walls half down to see it, as it was really close to the horizon but was tucked between two of the trees. 

 

Continuing to mess with the telescope a few minutes after finding Venus, Izuku was just shy of vibrating as he told Hizashi to look and see what he’d just found. Hizashi had just gasped asking excitedly if that was Saturn. Izuku nodded with a small proud smile. It wasn’t super clear, but the rings were visible around the out of focus circle. Izuku went on about how it was his first time finding the planet, as last he’d used his friend's telescope Saturn wasn’t in the sky. But he’d been able to see Jupiter, but it seemed this time it wasn't in the sky. He gestured and pointed at the sky as he spoke with more than a full monotone.

 

It was so close to Izuku’s past normal rambles, Keigo couldn’t help but listen, totally enraptured, small chirps and trills tumbling out from the back of his throat. It was just really cute, and it was nice to see Izuku having a good time.

 

After that he was visibly flagging, so they decided to just lay back and look at the stars. Shouta and Hizashi laid out on their backs. Keigo smiled as they slowly linked fingers. Izuku was half curled on Keigo’s chest, laying on his wing. He felt his heart speed up at his pinned wing, but after curling the edge over Izuku, the panic faded. It wasn't pinned , just circling his brother. The other wing was stretched fully out to the side, half slid under one of the blanket walls. His feathers basked in the starlight. The quiet guitar music from Hizashi's playlist added to the peaceful atmosphere.

 

Periodically, Shouta, Hizashi, or Izuku would point out a constellation. Shouta usually based on what he’d just read. Izuku added details to the ones Shouta pointed out. Hizashi’s, however, were very much fake. Keigo didn’t know much about stars but he refused to believe there was a constellation called ‘Hot brooding husband’, ‘Baby’s freckles’ or ‘Upside-down corndog.’

 

But they did make them all laugh.

 

After a while in the silence, Izuku’s breath hitched and Keigo felt a wet spot grow on his t-shirt. 

 

“You okay, chickadee?” Keigo whispered as he half tangled his fingers in Izuku’s curls.

 

“Y-yeah.” Izuku nuzzled his face into Keigo’s chest. “I’m glad you’re here.” 

 

“I am too.” Keigo smiled before booping Izuku’s nose. It scrunched in the most delightful way, so Keigo did it again. Izuku stuck his tongue out at Keigo before settling back into his chest. They sat like that for a while, before Izuku shifted, putting his chin on Keigo’s shoulder.

 

“Thanks for making the bad days a little better.” Izuku whispered to Keigo, the drying tear tracks under his wide emerald eyes sparked like the stars above them. Craning his neck to Shouta and Hizashi, he spoke a little louder.  “All of you.”

 

“Any time, kiddo,” Shouta said, his voice thick with emotion. 

 

“We’re just glad we can help, cookie.” Hizashi sat up and kissed his fingers, reaching over his husband to press his hand to Izuku’s head. 

 

Keigo opened his mouth but instead of the words that he’d planned to say, a long melodic trill filled the space. He cut it off only for Izuku to grab his nose. Keigo frowned, reasonably puzzled, ‘cause what the h—, who grabs a person's nose like that?

 

“No, I wanna hear it,” Izuku whispered. “It’s how you say ‘I love you’.” 

 

Keigo was so rarely purposeful in his bird noises, but was trying to be better about it. This felt wildly vulnerable, but it had felt right the last few times.

 

Mouthing a quick ‘okay’, his heart squeezed in his chest. Keigo filled the space with his song. It was at times a bit strained or out of key, but Keigo continued as he watched the stars reflect in Izuku’s eyes. He closed his eyes trying to hold back tears when Hizashi started humming in harmony with his song.

 

He had for sure never had anyone join in before. He had fumbled the tune as emotions wove and tangled around and through his throat. He really did belong and every day proved it more and more.

 

Izuku slapped his chest, and pointed to the sky. “Look, a shooting star!” 

 

By the time Keigo opened his eyes it was long gone, but he smiled. Izuku’s face was full of childlike wonder and his brother relaxed into his side.

 

“You gonna make a wish?” Hizashi asked.

 

“Mmhm.” Izuku nodded. “Already did.” 

 

“What’d you wish for?” Keigo asked. 

 

“You don’t say wishes out loud,” Shouta said. “Not if you want it to come true.”

 

Izuku grabbed Keigo’s hand and started to fiddle with it. “I can say this one. I know it’s going to happen, wish or no.” 

 

“So, what was it?”

 

“That I’ll be okay,” Izuku stopped fiddling his fingers and looked directly into Keigo’s eyes. The somber look melted into a wide smile. It was a little broken and drenched in sadness, but screamed of hope. “And when I’m not, I’ll have help getting there.” 

 

Keigo crushed Izuku in a hug. “We’ll always help, we’re your heroes.”

 

“No, you’re better.” Izuku whispered. “You’re family.” 

 

Keigo looked over Izuku’s head and saw Hizashi and Shouta in the faint starlight. Hizashi’s face held fierce protective love, it screamed and demanded attention. It was a loud siren with flashing lights, a warning to those whose aim was to harm, but a blessing to see and hear for those needing immediate aid. He would tear anything and everything down to give a single scrap of peace and happiness for those claimed as his. 

 

Shouta’s face was full of the same love, but subtler. It was a whispered promise in the early morning, a low steady drone that itched at the back of one's mind. It was relentless and was as deep as a bottomless well. He was a persistent predator, ready to travel over mountains and through rivers to provide for his family and keep them safe. 

 

He was sure that the same sharp edged protective love radiated from him as Keigo nodded to his dads. They nodded back in a silent pact. 

 

It had not been a perfect evening. It was a thrown together outing. Keigo had scared Izuku by turning off the UA lights, then didn’t think through the lighting for dinner which ended up being cold. It was a miracle that they were able to find any of the planets and without the book they would have been lost trying to identify any constellations. Keigo spent most of the evening oscillating between being excited and nervous. Izuku was still weighed down by memories and trauma. But it didn't need to be perfect for it to be successful.

 

Izuku got his soft landing. 

 

And nothing could take that away from him.

Notes:

I'm ngl the number of times i've made myself tear up editing this story is no joke so many times. ToT but they say to write what you enjoy and MAN i love sappy bittersweet family moments and by golly this is the sappiest more bittersweet family moment to ever moment <3 hits me right in the feels and its cringe as heck but oh buddy boy I am so far into this rabbit hole with this world that I cannot even care anymore <3333

But thanks for reading!!! See y'all in the epologue <3

Chapter 51: Epilogue at the Beach

Notes:

Hiiiiiiii!!!!

This chappie is a BEAST (10k ish) but i dind't wanna cut much of anything out lol so to fat trimming today this is all the nonsense xD but its cute nonsense. So it took a million years to finish (I also go a job and like helped at a local commuity theatre for a hot second there doing tech stuff so lemme just say a lot of my writing went to the wayside haha so thanks for yo patience

THANKS TO @sassy_chemist FOR ALL HER LOVE AND SUPPORT <3 YOU ARE THE BEST BESTIE <3333

ngl i might cry this story has been my baby for over a year now and it's finally done (like i still got the second book and I have like six???? of the interludes partially written at this point lol so it aint over but this still feels like a major accomplishment ToT and im just so happy for all of yall who've commented, bookmarked, left kudos or even just read it. I had no idea that this many people would be interested in my silly fan fic and i've been delighted <3 So thanks and enjoy <3

Shouta dropped the heavy bags onto the sand as he kicked off his slides. Hizashi quickly threw out a set of beach towels, which Shouta all but collapsed onto. Izuku lowered himself slowly onto the one next to him, making sure to not put any weight on his newly straightened leg (good boy). Shouta nodded to the kid before closing his eyes. Keigo snickered as a shadow blocked out the red bleeding through his closed lids. Cracking open one eye, Shouta’s whole view was a wall of red feathers, but he could hear Keigo fighting with their slightly broken beach umbrella above him. 

 

The thought of helping crossed his mind, but Keigo and Hizashi seemed to have a handle on the setup of their beach day. And laying down felt splendid on his bruised, sleep deprived body. 

 

When he had asked for a night off from patrols he’d hoped to actually get the night off . But there was a summer cold going around and heroes were dropping like flies. So yesterday when his agency came to him on hands and knees begging him to do at least a half a shift, he agreed. 

 

It had been fairly mellow, only a few short interactions with some drug dealers and a few drunk college kids needing to be walked home. That was until ten minutes till the end of his shift when some idiot decided that it was the perfect time to rob a bank and then tear up half a block of pavement in an attempt to get away. As the only hero working the area at two AM, he’d had to handle it basically on his own. Which was fine as the man relied heavily on his quirk and had only gotten one good hit in when Shouta blinked. But one good hit with a rock based telekinetic quirk meant Shouta went flying, smashing into a brick wall, and bruising his ribs and back. 

 

Which hurt.

 

Luckily it wasn’t bad enough to need to go to a doctor, but he had gotten checked over by an EMT with an X-ray quirk, which meant no broken bones. If only for Hizashi’s future peace of mind. The EMT agreed with his assessment of not needing a hospital, and just bandaged the few scrapes and sent Shouta on his way.

 

However, no matter how much he had wanted to just dip out and slip into his comfy bed with his wonderful husband, he couldn’t. Instead, he had to madly fill out the paperwork for the encounter as fast as he possibly could. Which meant that Shouta wasn’t really able to get home until just before four AM. The moment he got home, he kicked off his boots, tripping over Keigo’s shoes before practically running to his room. He collapsed onto the bed, not even able to get under the covers or take off his hero suit before passing out. 

 

Waking up only two hours later to Hizashi’s alarm was hell, but a familiar one. He was tempted to stay home for the weekend, but Izuku had been bouncing off the walls for the past few days and Keigo’s excited chirpings that morning would have kept him up until they left anyway. He decided to go. And if Shouta was honest with himself, it would be lonely for a whole weekend by himself in their still mostly empty large house. 

 

Getting up with a small groan, he’d been a zombie as he got ready, and then downed enough coffee to restart the heart of a corpse. Which still wasn’t enough as he immediately passed out in the car, which earned him some worried words from Hizashi when they had arrived. As coffee was ‘supposed to keep people awake, are you sure you are up for this, Shou?’ as his bruises were ‘pretty gnarly’ and if he was ‘sure the EMT said he didn’t need to go to the doctor?’.

 

Hizashi was just being a mother hen. Shouta was fine .

 

After the two and a half hour drive in the car with Izuku, Shouta was only just a little sore. Small blessings. And his back having a thin cover of light green and yellow bruises after such a long time in close contact with Izuku was a sign that the kiddo was having a good pain day. Bigger blessings. 

 

This whole trip was a headache inducing blessing. All Might, out of the blue, offered his private f—ing beach and beach house . ‘Offer’ was too soft of a word, the man all but ordered them to use it. Something about wanting Izuku and Co. to have a soothing weekend after the chaos that had been the HPSC president’s trial. Seeing Keigo less twitchy and Izuku be ecstatic for something was enough for Shouta to swallow his tangled emotions about the number one hero’s distant yet consistent efforts to help them. 

 

It wasn’t like Shouta wasn’t grateful, but also the man was a master at hanging right on the fence between ‘just involved’ and ‘absolutely overbearing’, even over text sometimes a whole country away. 

 

Hizashi was better at handling the man, but for some reason All Might still mainly went through Shouta. Hizashi had just patted his cheek and told him that he was proud of Shouta for making more friends.

 

Shouta didn’t appreciate the joke. Nemuri thought it was hilarious. 

 

The offer of the beach house with good security and a small private beach area was an opportunity Shouta couldn’t pass up. Not with the number of cameras that had been shoved in Keigo’s face and how he’d basically sworn off the outside world the past few weeks. Even Hizashi got some media goons chasing after him as he was known to be assisting in some capacity. 

 

Shouta wasn’t surprised by the media, just annoyed. 

 

It wasn’t every day that the president of a government agency gets sent to jail for life with no option of parole for multiple counts of child endangerment, abuse, and murder among a laundry list of other horrible things. It had been an incredibly messy trial with the media being much too involved, a lot of insane slander being thrown around in every direction, and the HPSC working to be more open with their policies as they were reinstated, only making matters worse as Hawks’ files were leaked only days after the trial started. 

 

Nedzu said that he’d ‘handle’ whoever leaked it, and Shouta didn’t want to know.

 

The kid had spiraled more than just a bit when the public learned he’d killed people for the commission. And while some of the public were horrified, most focused on the pages and pages of other horrors done to Keigo.

 

Shouta had about one gram of sympathy for the new president. He was in for a bumpy ride as a large portion of the public was livid on Keigo’s behalf again.

 

Even though it was a messy month-long trial, Shouta couldn’t deny that he was glad at the outcome. Corruption on a massive scale was actually facing justice instead of just being swept under the rug. He’d been keeping an eye on the reformed HPSC and they were putting in more systems of checks and balances to keep this sort of thing from happening again. And a h— of a lot more transparency, too.

 

It almost made Shouta have faith in humanity again. But, he was not going to hold his breath in case it didn’t last.

 

Rolling over to his front to get off his aching back, he used his arms as a pillow. Shouta sighed as he dug his toes in the smooth sand. He should put sunscreen on before he fell asleep. He really didn’t want to move, but the umbrella over him was known to close randomly and his legs were not shaded. And sunburns were the worst.

 

While fully capable of tanning, a life spent mostly in a full-body black jumpsuit working mostly swing shifts, meant he was pale. Just last week, Hizashi had joked about how he was winning the tan competition, as the now sun kissed blond was now a half a shade darker than him. Which for Hizashi, was impressively dark. But also meant that Shouta was a thousand percent going to burn if he didn’t lather up. 

 

After this weekend, even with sunscreen, Shouta was going to be darker than Hizashi. His husband chose the wrong person to start a competition on being tan with. Which probably was the goal of the comments, as Hizashi has gotten it in his mind that Shouta needed more sun. Which was probably true.

 

Being mostly successful at quitting smoking ( Thank G-d for nicotine patches ) got Hizashi on a health kick on Shouta’s behalf. It was equally sweet as it was frustrating. It even dipped into adorable when Izuku would join in on it, explaining why it was important and healthy to do X,Y or Z things. 

 

He did it for Izuku without complaint, but told his husband to f— off fifty percent of the time. Even though, if he was being honest with himself, this was the best he’d felt in years. 

 

Annoying how self care worked . How frustrating.

 

Deciding he needed to get up, Shouta pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He loudly groaned as stretched out his spine like a cat. It snapped and popped, releasing some of the pressure that had built up. A soft happy hum slipped out as he flipped over into a loose seat on the towel. Izuku huffed a little laugh out next to him. 

 

“What’s so funny?” He quirked an eyebrow up at the kid. 

 

“You sound like you are eighty, not twenty-seven.”

 

“Well, I am almost twenty-eight. That’s got an eight in it. So, I’m basically eighty.” He unzipped one of the bags and started digging through it for the sunscreen.

 

“That’s not how math works.” 

 

“Oh, darn.” Grabbing the sunscreen, he gestured at Izuku with it. “This is why you need to keep up with your studies. Don’t be like me.”

 

“I’m already ahead in my math book. Don’t worry.” 

 

“Probably further than Shouta ever got,” Keigo snickered. “I see why you don’t teach math.”

 

“Hey, I can do math.” Shouta frowned. 

 

“I don’t know, you just said that twenty-eight and eighty were almost the same. That doesn’t sound like a guy who knows math. Your students would suffer under that level of–” Keigo cut himself off with a screech as Shouta threw the sunscreen bottle at him. The bottle bounced off his wing and landed next to Izuku, who picked it up, waving it in the air.

 

“Can you get my back, Shouta?”

 

Nodding, he turned to face Izuku as the kid as he struggled to pull off his thin long sleeve shirt. Shouta was glad the kid was facing away from him as he knew he didn’t mask his reaction well. Even after all these months, seeing the scar covered torso and arms gutted him. The looping lavender sting scars overlapped with the thin white cut scars on his arms. Bubbled burn scars and electric shock scars spread across his shoulders and front. Some healed cross hatching from a whip or a switch marked the skin of Izuku's lower back. The kid shivered under Shouta’s gentle ministrations, the lotion probably felt cold, or sometimes hands directly on his skin brought up memories for Izuku. Shouta paused briefly before Izuku shifted, pressing his back firmly into the lotion covered hands. 

 

Focusing back on the task, making sure to press more firmly, Shouta frowned as his hands slid over the bumpy skin. No kid should have this level of scarring. Not even Shouta had this level of markings. H—, All Might with his insane injury and being a pro-hero for decades wasn’t as marred. He didn’t want Izuku to feel awkward about it so he pushed back his emotions. 

 

Clearing his throat, he shot the smug Keigo a flat look. “This right here is why Izuku is my favorite. He doesn’t come for my perfectly adequate math skills and asks very politely for help with his sunscreen.” 

 

“Okay, Mr. Math Wiz,” Keigo crouched to be next to them. “Ignoring how you said this morning Hizashi was your favorite for making coffee and I was your favorite yesterday for feeding Dumpster when you forgot. Let's put your math skills to a test, hmm? What’s eighty-one, subtract twenty-eight?” 

 

“Uhh.” 

 

S— , Shouta mentally cursed. He hated mental math, specifically subtraction. Something about the way Keigo’s feathers flared, he knew Shouta wasn’t great at it.

 

Pausing mid slather, Shouta looked into the middle distance, trying to get past the fact he was sure it ended with a three. Eight subtract two was six, but he had to carry to deal with the one subtract eight... Deep down, Shouta knew he was taking just a bit too long so he started to softly twitch his fingers along Izuku’s back to just count it out. Izuku slid a hand up his back, trying to play it off ‘itching’ but failing to be nonchalant. He flashed the answer with his fingers. 

 

“Fifty three,” Shouta drawled out. He wiped his slimy hand off on his swim shorts before ruffling Izuku’s hair. Izuku almost mindlessly turned to half slap Shouta’s forehead to ruffle his hair back. It made him smile. He didn’t know why Izuku did that, but he loved it every time.

 

“Alright, sure. But that was clearly cheating.” Keigo rolled his eyes. “Izuku is practically a human calculator at this point.” 

 

“It’s not cheating,” Izuku tilted his head to the side innocently. “Shouta was just using his resources. And if we’re testing math skills… What’s one hundred seventy seven minus fifty six, Kei-nii? Or maybe sixty four times eleven?”

 

“Oh, would you look at that beautiful ocean!” Keigo jumped up and started to slowly creep backwards towards the rolling waves. He pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “No time to do math, Chickadee, the waves are calling my name.” 

 

Izuku carefully stood, using Shouta’s shoulder to stabilize himself as he grabbed his crutches, all on one foot ( good boy ). The metal brackets on the side of his brace clacked against his forearm crutches as he side-stepped out from around the bags and towels. Shouta held back a laugh at how Keigo, playing a long, started moving in extreme slow motion away from his brother, giving him a chance to maneuver with the handicap of crutches on a beach. Finally free from the obstacles between him and Keigo, Izuku grinned. 

 

“No ocean! Only math!!”

 

He charged forward shouting math equations, Keigo darting to the side to sprint backwards down the beach, refusing to give any reasonable answers. He once answered an addition question with ‘Sliced Kiwi’, succeeding in getting a rise out of Izuku as that was ‘not even a number’. 

 

Shouta knew Keigo was holding back dramatically, and he wasn’t even hiding it. Jogging backwards with his hands in the pockets of his shorts didn't scream ‘trying hard’. From the expression Shouta saw on Keigo’s face, he was lightly taunting Izuku, only to squawk in surprise when he got whacked with a crutch when he got a little too close. Keigo started to take the chase more seriously, or at least was keeping a wider berth around his younger, armed , brother

 

Hizashi chuckled as he sat behind Shouta, grabbing the sunscreen out of his lap. 

 

“He is getting really good on those crutches.” Hizashi said as he squirted some of the sunscreen into his hands. Shouta shivered as his husband spread the cool lotion over his back. “I still don’t get his hatred of the wheelchair, but I’m glad he is happier.”

 

“Crutches are more mobile, less clunky. So, I kind of get it.” Shouta shrugged. “He also asked me the other day if there was a chance of integrating crutches into a fighting style as a hero. Since there is a solid chance he’ll need them long term.” 

 

“If you told that boy no, so help me Shou…” Hizashi trailed off as his nails bit into Shouta’s tender back. He squirmed out from under his husband’s grip with a huff. 

 

“G-d, Hizashi, Izuku has more potential than my last two classes combined . Of course I told him yes.” 

 

Izuku, in the distance, slammed both his crutches into the sand and swung up arching into a leg first jump tackle. Keigo screeched in panic as he scrambled to grab Izuku as they both  fell backwards into the sand. Izuku started cackling as he tried to half grapple Keigo, and Shouta chuckled. 

 

Kid sounded like an unhinged evil scientist finally seeing their experiments work, in the best possible ways. 

 

Keigo was able to break free of the hold and flipped Izuku over. And from there it devolved into a very loose wrestling match, or more accurately, just rolling around in the sand. From between the wings and crutches flying out, Shouta saw multiple times Keigo pillowed Izuku’s head and shifted the injured leg from holding any weight or hitting the ground. Keigo was being extremely careful, but not shutting down the play fight. After a few more rolls, Keigo slipped out from under Izuku and kicked the crutches towards his brother before prompting the chase to continue up and down the beach. 

 

Hizashi laughed at the sight as he crawled around to sit in front of Shouta, passing the bottle of sunscreen over his shoulder as Shouta threw the blond braid over his shoulder. “I was going to ask if you showed him any moves on crutches, but I think that answered that. Maybe wait til after the doctor okay’s more than ‘gentle walks’ and some ‘mild cardio’ before teaching our boy to fight on his crutches.” 

 

“For the record, I didn’t have him do anything, I just showed him some ideas. And it’s not like you are running over to stop them right now.” Shouta grumbled as he massaged the sunscreen into Hizash’s back. 

 

“This is… mild cardio.” 

 

“Sure.” He patted Hizashi’s back as he finished. “Keep telling yourself that.” 

 

Hizashi slumped into Shouta’s chest with a dramatic sigh. “Okay, I know it’s probably too much, but s— Shou, they are both having so much fun. I don’t want to be a buzz kill.” 

 

“You just want me to be the buzz kill.” Shouta hooked an arm around Hizashi in a half hug half squeeze.

 

Hizashi grinned as he slipped his fingers between Shouta’s. “You were assigned the buzz kill when you were born, love. I’m the fun dad.” 

 

Shouta rolled his eyes. “That’s just because you are a child yourself.” 

 

“Hey now, that’s–” 

 

Hizashi was cut off as Izuku dramatically biffed it, face planting directly into the sand, feet curved up before slamming back into the ground. Keigo was next to him in an instant, his wings twitching. Izuku, however, popped up to stand on both legs, ignoring the crutches on either side of him (ooo, bad boy ).

 

“Oh, that was too fast,” Shouta mumbled to himself.

 

“Don’t worry!! I’m…” Izuku’s yells faded as he started to lilt to the side. The last word swallowed up by the loud waves as his eyes rolled up into his skull. Izuku barely had a half second to crumple before Keigo’s smooth hero-trained reflexes grabbed him. The calm motions of laying Izuku out and lifting his legs were undercut by the loud constant panicked chittering screeches from Keigo. 

 

He was holding it together for now, but only time would tell how long it would last. Keigo didn’t usually handle Izuku passing out well. Kid was always convinced it was his fault. Even when he was in no way involved.

 

Shouta pushed Hizashi up to stand with one hand as he slid his other into the bag by him, grabbing one of Izuku’s electrolyte drinks and the finger monitor. Tossing them both into Hizashi’s waiting hands, Shouta moved to stand. 

 

“I got the baby,” Hizashi motioned for Shouta to sit, “I’ll send the stressed feather your way.” 

 

“Got it.” Shouta nodded, and Hizashi did a two finger salute before sprinting off down the beach. Sand sprayed towards his face from the quick steps, and Shouta grimaced as he shut his eyes.

 

He did not want sand in his already dry eyes. He only had one bottle of eye drops to last the whole weekend. 

 

Hizashi made it to Izuku in no time, and gently helped him into a seat. Izuku looked a bit dazed as he leaned heavily into Hizashi’s side and sipped on the electric blue drink. His husband clipped the finger monitor onto Izuku’s middle finger and frowned, switching to double check the pulse rate with his fingers. 

 

Shouta didn’t love that look, but it wasn’t a ‘we need a hospital, stat’ frown. It was just a ‘hmmm, that’s not ideal’ frown. They really needed to get a better monitor, but Shouta had swiped this one from Recovery Girl. It wasn’t… the most accurate blood pressure meter, which was the main reason she hadn’t come for Shouta for stealing her equipment. She had a much better pressure cuff she preferred. They should get one, but it honestly hadn’t felt like a priority. And it wasn’t like they hadn’t been busy with moving, the trials, teaching, heroics, hospital visits, and their wedding. Shouta mentally cursed his oversight, mentally moving it up in priority on his never ending to-do list.

 

Between his meds, the electrolyte drinks, and learning to not stand up too fast, Izuku had been doing really well. But, being excited all morning, wrestling, and then popping up like that was too much. Shouta was honestly impressed he’d made it over a month since the last time he’d fully passed out. It really was improving, and it gave him hope that it might be close to a non-issue for the boy in the future.

 

Keigo on the other hand looked like he was going to implode at any second. He was hopping from foot to foot, strangling his distressed bird calls in ways Shouta hated, and was tugging ever so slightly on the recently re-dyed green hair at the nape of his neck. His wings also looked like they were hyperventilating as they fluctuated between fluffed up and smoothed down in rapid succession. 

 

Hizashi shooed Keigo with a hand. Izuku even gave a weak thumbs up, but Keigo only half turned to Shouta. Hoping to help him, he beckoned the kid towards him with a small wave. 

 

Dragging his feet, Keigo started to creep towards Shouta. His head was craned back just a bit further than seemed natural. He started to slow his steps and then fully stopped, his focus on Izuku. 

 

“Keigo!” Shouta shouted out and the kid snapped to attention. Patting the section of towel next to him, Shouta waved him over again. 

 

Accelerating as Keigo moved down the beach, it was like the magnetic pull switched from Izuku to Shouta. The last stretch was sprinted and instead of coming to a stop like a normal person, Keigo beat his wings and fell into a roll. Which sprayed sand everywhere . 

 

Which meant Shouta’s dreams of not having sand in his eyes was short lived.

 

Shouta opened his now tearfilled eyes to a lapful of adult-teen, nonverbally begging for preening as he nuzzled his head into the back of his hand. 

 

No one with a heart could deny such an open request. And as Shouta blinked the sand out of his eyes, he started brushing back Keigo’s hair, making sure to scratch lazy wavy lines into his scalp. The crumpled expression smoothed as the kid relaxed, letting out a series of self soothing coos and twitters. 

 

It was impressive the progress the kid had made in such a short time. Shouta remembered how stiff, awkward, and panicked that Keigo got the first few times he’d gotten preened. How the gentle touches and any reference to his animal instincts or traits would send him spiraling. Keigo would end up a puddle even in the early days, but now just the idea of the social activity would soothe him into that relaxed zen. Which thank g-d there was something that could help the kid’s anxieties. He held it together pretty well most of the time, but when Keigo would peel back the layers of sass and bravado, he was just a bundle of nerves and insecurities. 

 

Shouta was proud that he let them see it all and then help. Even in small ways, like preening. Smiling, Shouta’s practiced fingers worked to gently untangle the strands of hair and massage the base of a pin feather that looked ready to crack. Keigo flinched and Shouta backed off from the feather. Either Shouta was wrong about the feather or Keigo was mentally trying to back away from the care. 

 

“Sorry,” Keigo’s voice was wobbly. He moved his arms to squeeze himself in a self hug. “You can… the feather. Um. Yeah.” 

 

Pendulums swung less than Keigo. But the kid always came back, even if it took a second for him to remember that he had people who wanted to care for him. Hizashi joked that both boys took after them in various ways. Shouta hated to admit it, but Keigo ‘inherited’ his own guilt complexes, convinced that every bad thing was his fault and then desired to punish himself for it. From the not so subtle devastated looks towards Izuku, that’s what this was.

 

“It’s not your fault.” 

 

“I… know that.” 

 

Shouta hummed, not believing him in the slightest, as he slowly rubbed the pin feather between his finger and thumb, cracking the sheath. An explosion of happy bird calls filled the silence as Shouta slid the crumbles off the new feather and worked his way up the vane, spreading out the barbs. This feather was a similar blond to the rest of his hair, but had a more strawberry undertone to it. He’d noticed that Keigo’s crest feathers were slowly shifting more and more red, and his wings were gathering a mottled pattern in a deeper red over the bright crimson. Shouta wasn’t going to say anything about it, but wondered if it was a lack of stress and more regular care, or if Keigo was going through some bird puberty. 

 

G-d, he hoped it was just a lack of stress or better self care. 

 

“I’m…” Keigo trailed off, derailing Shouta’s train of thought, before starting up again. “I’m really trying to respect Izuku’s wishes. But holy s—, when he does stuff like that it’s so hard.” 

 

“It is a balancing act. But it does get easier with practice.” 

 

“Does it?” Keigo’s gold eyes were wide and begging for reassurance. Shouta hated how young he looked like this. How it made him want to wrap him in a blanket and shove him in his room where no one could ever hurt him again. Shouta squished down the urge as he moved from his kid’s head to massage and preen the base of his wings. It wouldn’t be healthy for Keigo to be totally coddled like that, nor would it be good for Shouta, no matter how much he wanted to do it. 

 

“I figured it out with you didn’t I?” 

 

“I don’t think this is the same thing.” 

 

“I was overbearing because I believed you needed protection and you snapped at me, rightfully I might add, because I was coddling you. Is that not similar?”

 

“But I’m… mentally broken. So it makes sense for you to… do that. I should… I don’t know. Izuku isn't broken. I should be better.” 

 

“You’re not broken, just a little ill. And Izuku will likely be physically disabled for the rest of his life and pass out periodically. If that’s not broken, I don’t know what is.”

 

“You shouldn’t call your children mentally ill and physically broken,” Keigo rolled his eyes with a huff. “People will start to talk .” 

 

“We’re all a little ill and broken in different ways, Kei.” Shouta shrugged. “And people will talk no matter what. What’s important is we figure out how to best support each other in the ways we both need and also want . That’s what I’ve been trying to do for you, and you can do it for Izuku as well. I think I’ve been doing better, you can too. You have been.”

 

“I don’t know,” Keigo smirked, poking Shouta’s thigh. “You are still an overprotective dad to me and absolutely still treat me like I’m four half the time.” 

 

Shouta shoved Keigo’s head off his lap. Keigo laughed, his hair and eyes catching the sun as he rolled onto his back out from under the umbrella’s shade. “I treat you like you’re four ‘cause you act like it, you brat.”

 

Taking a page out of Hizashi’s playbook, Keigo put the back of his hand on his forehead and dramatically sighed looking like a Victorian woman about to succumb to the ‘vapors’. “Oh, woe is me, I will now wither away in the sun, because I’ve been pushed away from my loving father’s arms.” 

 

“Oh my g-d, you are not going to die from some sun.” He rolled his eyes at the melodrama playing out in front of him.

 

“But, I didn’t put on sunscreen. Thus, death by sun.” Keigo dramatically waved his hand around toward the sky.

 

“Okay, so you’ll get skin cancer, but you aren’t going to whither.” Shouta grabbed the sunscreen bottle, shaking off the sand that was stuck to it. “Now, as the overbearing dad you think I am, get your butt over here.”

 

Keigo laughed again as he rolled back under the umbrella and pushed his wings around his shoulders, exposing his spine. Shouta squeezed some of the lotion straight onto his skin, and he squawked. Grinning at his minor revenge, Shouta let the lotion slowly roll down Keigo’s spine for a few seconds before working it in. An easy quiet settled between them.

 

“You are doing a good job with Izuku, Kei.” Shouta said as he started to slide his hands between his wings and shoulder.

 

“I… don’t think I am.” Keigo’s wings tightened around his shoulders, trapping Shouta’s hand.

 

“Izuku was upset you kept treating him like glass. I watched the two of you rough housing. That’s not glass.” Shouta wiggled his fingers.

 

“Oh, sorry.” Keigo loosened his wings letting Shouta slip his hand out. And he half turned his body to face Shouta, legs bent and loosely hugged to his chest. “And sure, we were running around and stuff, but it, I don’t know, I wasn’t really trying . And Izuku had to have picked up on that. And that’s not fair to him.” 

 

“Keigo, If you were to go all out on your disabled twelve year old brother who fairly recently had surgery, the two of us would be having words. Hizashi would likely have very loud and painful ones.” 

 

“But–” 

 

“Nope, you are being an idiot.” Shouta ignored the quiet ‘hey’ , and continued. “You are a highly capable, trained pro-hero, before everything you were on the path to be in the top ten before you hit 20. Kid, if you went all out with Izuku, you’d actually kill him.”

 

“I’d never do that.” 

 

“Yeah, I know. Izuku knows that you’d never hurt him as well. He also knows that you are going to be better than him at this sort of thing. With his hero metrics and rambles about our fighting styles, I promise. He knows.” 

 

“But…Isn’t that still treating him like glass?”

 

“He just wants to have fun. To be treated like the kid he is, not an invalid, or a victim. Or a villain needing to be taken out.” 

 

“You seem to know a lot about how Izuku is feeling,” Keigo huffed out, resting his head on his own knee.

 

“Yeah, if you don’t trust me, talk to him about it. But he was upset at me a few weeks ago for the same thing. Apparently, not showing him fight moves only days after coming home from surgery in fear he’d try to do them is bad parenting.” 

 

Keigo grinned. “There is no way Izuku said it was bad parenting.” 

 

“He didn’t, but g-d his face fell so fast when I said no I felt like a bad parent. He then gave me the subtle disappointed cold shoulder he does for two days until I agreed. I made him promise to not use anything I showed him until he was more healed, which I need to talk to him about what ‘more healed’ means as a few weeks post surgery is not what I had in mind.” 

 

“You are a pushover.” 

 

“Only with you two… And sometimes Hizashi.” Shouta leaned forward and brushed Keigo’s hair out of his eyes. “But Izuku explained why he was so upset about it. Which is why I know that it is irrational for you to think that he wants you to go all out on him. I met Izuku where he was physically, and you did the same thing today.” 

 

“He still passed out.” 

 

“And that might just happen from time to time. You were messing around before he passed out, but that doesn’t make it your fault. He stood up too fast.” 

 

Keigo just shrugged as he popped up into the balls of his feet and took tiny bobbing steps to face slightly away from Shouta, facing out at the ocean. It looked a bit ridiculous, but was an aggressive ‘I heard you, but I’m not listening’ action. Keigo’s sharp nails started to bite into his skin. Shouta sighed, before tapping the elastic band ball, one of Keigo’s favorite fidgets, to his upper arm. He’d pass the play-doh, which was his favorite, but figured getting sand in it was a bad idea. Stretching the bands on either side of it, Keigo started bouncing it back and forth, almost smacking himself in the face. Shouta would laugh, but Keigo’s gold eyes searched out over the rolling waves, looking so lost.

 

“Talk to me, kid.” 

 

“I dunno what to say.” He let go of one side of the stretched ball and it careened into his other hand with a snap. He started tossing it back and forth between his hands. “Just generally nervous. It’s all been… a lot.” 

 

“We’re here to decompress.” 

 

“I am decompressing,” Keigo snapped out. Shouta raised an eyebrow. Scrunching up his face in a scowl, Keigo tossed the ball at Shouta. He caught it with one hand, tossing it up in the air a few times, before tossing it back to Keigo.

 

“The media will calm down with time.”

 

“Yeah. I know.” Keigo nodded, obviously not too worried about it. He tossed the ball back to Shouta, starting a very close game of catch as Shouta tried to figure out what was actually stressing Keigo out.

 

“Izuku will be fine.” 

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“Yeah, I know.” 

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“He loves you, a lot. We all do.” 

 

Toss. Catch. 

 

“I love you all, too.” 

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“We’ve got a good two week break before you have another court date.” 

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“Thank G-d, I need a break after the last one.” 

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“Is it too much?”

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“No? I don’t think so. Inui actually said it’s been pushing me to ‘talk things out’. Said I’m being more open about what I… went through.” 

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“Good.” 

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“I don’t love it, but the other trials weren’t as bad.”

 

Toss. Catch.

 

“Your letter will come.” 

 

Keigo flinched, missing the ball. They both watched as it hit the sand. Keigo chittered nervously as he slowly picked the ball up and stretched it out again, snapping a few of the bands.

 

“Uh… actually it already did?” His voice pitched up as he curled into himself more.

 

Shouta sat up, spine perfectly straight, feeling the most awake he’d felt all day. “What did it say?”

 

There was no way Keigo failed the exam, maybe the psych evaluation, but even that was unlikely at this point. So, his reaction was concerning.

 

“I…” Keigo tucked his face between his knees. And at the every edge of Shouta’s hearing he could hear the whispered words, “I couldn’t open it.”

 

A few feathers looped off his back. They unzipped and dived into one of the unused side pockets of the bags, pushing out a slightly weathered envelope, dropping it into the sand between the two of them. One of the feathers brushed the sand off like a little broom before flying back into place. 

 

“I’ve… actually had it for a week.” Keigo’s face was full of apprehension as his unblinking eyes were laser focused on the paper.

 

“Keigo, why didn’t you say anything?” 

 

Finally breaking the focus, the gold eyes trailed down the beach, to Izuku. The kid was slowly rising to stand, both hands shaking in Hizashi’s, his bad leg kicked out in front of him as the other acted like a jack. 

 

“I didn’t want to be a disappointment.” 

 

“No one would be disappointed.” 

 

“I’m his favorite though.” Keigo’s wings shuddered as his voice was overtaken by twittering. “What if they… changed their mind and don’t want me?”

 

“Any sane person would want to reinstate a capable hero like yourself.” Shouta was about to continue as Keigo was still on the edge of imploding, when the envelope smacked into his face. 

 

“You open it!” Keigo screeched as he ducked himself into his feathered cocoon. His breaths were harsh as his panic took hold. “I can’t!” 

 

“Okay.” Shouta waited a moment, to make sure the kid was starting one of his calming routines. The distinct pattern of square breaths and the way he could see Keigo rolling his ankles, slowly digging his feet into the sand made a swell of pride bubble up in 

Shouta’s chest. 

 

He slid his finger into the worn edge of the paper and slipped the folded sheets out of the envelope. His smile widened as he skimmed the letter. He was really really proud of his kid. Tapping the outside of Keigo’s wings with the envelope, he swallowed down the desire to pull a Hizashi and scream from the rooftops, and instead spoke in his normal monotone. 

 

“You can come out, kid, you passed with a near perfect–”  Keigo pounced on Shouta, kneeing him in the gut as they slammed to the ground. Shouta groaned as Keigo ripped the letter out of his hands, kneeing him again , as he shuffled over him to sit back in his original seat. His gold eyes darted back and forth so fast that there was no way he was actually comprehending anything. 

 

Sitting up, Shouta rubbed his now sore stomach, and ignored his freshly throbbing back. Mentally joking to himself he wished Keigo would treat him like glass, he sighed. On top of the bunched up folds of the beach towel next to him was the shiny white back of a hero license. Flipping it over, Shouta inhaled sharply, shoving it closer to his face. 

 

He ignored the photo of Keigo, and the vertical bar of orange indicating a provisional license. And instead focused on the text. He rubbed a finger over it as if that would change what he saw. 

 

But it didn’t. Clear as day the black text read: 

 

Hero Alias : The Feathered Hero - Keigo

Hero ID# : 102-58426

Civilian ID : Aiyama Keigo

Blood type: B+

 

Shouta’s dry eyes burned trying to make tears. He let his head fall back, the kid’s new family name seared into his mind. 

 

This d— kid. 

 

It was clear as day that he’d used the first character from both his and Hizashi’s family names to make his own. Shouta thought he’d finally gotten through all of his stupid emotional reactions to both Izuku and Keigo claiming him as family, as a dad . Inko told him that they never totally went away, after Izuku had called him dad for the first time, in front of her no less. She said they would blindside a person like a swift hit to the head with a two-by-four. Which was horrible, yet seemingly true. 

 

He tried to rein in what felt like an infestation of bugs in his chest. Termites had eaten large tunnels through his thick emotional walls, leaving a path for thick writhing larvae to burrow deep into his heart. It was f—ing uncomfortable and terrifying. But as the moths tumbled in his stomach and lightning bugs flashed in behind his aching watery eyes, Shouta realized he wouldn’t have it any other way. 

 

Keigo leaned into his side and trilled in Shouta’s ear, which just riled the bugs in him even more. 

 

“Not my best picture,” Keigo’s fingers slowly pulled the plastic card out from Shouta’s loose grip. “But it’s nice to have a license again.”

 

“Keigo, not Hawks?” Shouta’s voice was deeper as the words had to push back the large beetle that had taken up residence at the base of his throat. 

 

“I toyed with going by Feather,” Keigo chuckled as he sat up, massaging the back of his neck. “I decided to not do that because I thought Hizashi would be insufferable.”

 

“Smart move.” Shouta chuckled as he rubbed his eyes. “He would’ve died of joy.”

 

Keigo smiled. “Yeah, can’t have him die. Not of something so embarrassing.” 

 

“We’d lie, say it was super heroic.” 

 

“But we’d still know.” 

 

“Of course, we’d make fun of him enough for him to go full poltergeist.”

 

“Oh, I see this is a whole plan to make sure he sticks around.” 

 

“Yup.” Shouta slid an arm around Keigo’s shoulders, pulling him closer. 

 

Keigo settled on Shouta’s shoulder. His eyes were a little misty as he slowly tracked a sailboat as it moved across the ocean. “I also didn’t want to be tied to what I did for the commission. I don't want to be Hawks, not really. I like just being Keigo, so it felt the most… right.” 

 

“Yeah, Aiyama Keigo.” At Shouta’s words, Keigo went stiff as a board. “I pronounced it correctly, right?”

 

“Uh… yes?” Keigo tried to shuffle out from under Shouta’s arm, but he wasn’t letting him. “I’ve, uh, never said it out loud? So, probably?”

 

“Well, how would you pronounce it?”

 

“You want me to say it now ?” Keigo’s voice was pitched higher than Shouta thought was possible for the nineteen year old. He might have a future as a soprano.

 

“Is there something stopping you, Aiyama Keigo?” Shouta bit back a smirk at the distressed embarrassment playing out on Keigo's face.

 

“Oh g-d, you are going to be insufferable about this, aren’t you.” 

 

“Maybe,” he shrugged. “Maybe I’ll chill out if my adult child could say his own name .”

 

Keigo whispered so low that even right next to him, Shouta couldn’t hear him.

 

“You aren’t beating the four-year-old allegations this way, kiddo. If you can’t say your name, maybe we should get you one of those metal tag bracelets with your name and address so when you get lost you can point–” 

 

“AIYAMA KEIGO!” he screeched, face flustered, as he half tried to shimmy out from Shouta’s tight hold. “Happy now?”

 

“Immensely, Aiyama .” Shouta knew his face screamed smug as Keigo groaned collapsing into his side. 

 

“This is not chill .” 

 

Shouta shrugged. “You took a gamble on a maybe, not my fault.” 

 

“Could my embarrassment pull on your heart strings just enough so you chill before Hizashi and Izuku make it back?”

 

Shouta waved to Hizashi, who was still very slowly making his way back with the tired looking Izuku. Hizashi tilted his head in question. Shouta quickly signed, Hold on, cherished-feather needs time. Nodding, Hizashi dropped to his knees by Izuku and said something that was lost to the crashing of the waves. They both snuck not so subtle looks in their direction. Izuku rubbed at the corner of one of his eyes and nodded. Flipping around Hizashi let Izuku flop onto his back, and picked him up. They started meandering in circles, Hizashi squatting down to pick things up and put them in his pockets from time to time when Izuku pointed to the ground. 

 

“I just need you to chill, I don't need time .” Keigo pouted and picked up a stick and started doodling little patterns into the sand. 

 

“Yes, you do.” 

 

“No, I don’t”

 

“Listen to your father.”

 

“Alright,” Keigo smirked as he tilted his head to focus his hearing. “ Hizashi is telling Izuku he isn’t sure why and that it’s not his… fault. Oh.” 

 

Keigo’s wings fluttered a bit as his shoulders dropped. His doodling slowed to a stop as his face fell. Shouta leaned forward catching Keigo's eyes.

 

“Actually, really do listen to your father. Maybe it will sink in that this isn’t your fault either.” 

 

“Why would Izuku think it’s his fault?” 

 

“He is the one that passed out.” 

 

“But I was wrestling him!” Keigo snapped the stick in his shaking fist.

 

“And as the parents, me and Hizashi could have stopped it. We could play the blame game for days, but it’s no one's fault. Not really.” 

 

“ Fine .” He threw the two halves of the stick towards the water, both tumbled in the sand. Keigo harrumphed as he leaned his head heavily on Shouta’s shoulder again. 

 

“Good.” A beat of silence passed before Shouta bumped his head into Keigo’s. “I gotta know, why Aiyama?”

 

“You both are more my parents than my parents ever were, so I wanted something to… tie me to you and Hizashi. And neither of you took each other's name so I just smooshed them together. Is… is that too weird?” 

 

Keigo collapsed in on himself and Shouta could only watch as his kid spiraled. It was better to let Keigo talk when he got like this, even though it hurt to see.

 

“I knew it was too weird. I should have just hyphenated. I mixed them ‘cause I worried if I put one first it would be favoritism, but I like you both . So I figured alphabetical phonetically would be the least likely to get me flack, it also sounded nice. But will Hizashi feel left out? ‘Mountain’ isn’t all that uncommon a kanji, should I have done something from your first names? I thought about that but didn’t feel like it was a family name anymore. I was going back and forth for weeks mapping out every option. And then I needed to pick something because I didn’t want Tamaki on my application back in May so I panicked and just–” 

 

Keigo jerked up and arched back, catching himself on his hands. Starting to crab walk away he nervously chuckled. “Application!? There’s no applications! I misspoke, I uh, mean for the tests, yeah, the err, paperwork for the hero tests!” 

 

Shouta frowned. “You’re lying. What application?” 

 

“Can I pay you to forget I said that? Make you cookies? Anything?” 

 

“I’m not Izuku and I’ve got All Might money now, so no. Now spill.” 

 

“D— it.” Keigo let himself drop to the ground. His wings spread wide before they started to work their way into the sand. “I… I'm not even sure if it even is a good idea. I wasn't going to say anything until I decided if I was going to go or not.” 

 

“Go where, kid?” Shouta’s heart thrummed. Keigo wasn't stupid, not by a long shot, but he was painfully naive to how the world worked to a frequently concerning degree. They’d been working on it, but at times it still would throw all the ‘more adulty-adults’ off when it became clear Keigo didn’t really understand something simple, like clothing stores or ATMs. Hearing that his kid was debating on going somewhere that in his words might be a bad idea, was terrifying. 

 

Shouta's mind filled with images of Keigo slipping in with one of the horrible quirk cults or with a creepy older man who’d manipulate him in gross and terrible ways. He grabbed Keigo's ankle, wrapping his hand around it like a teather. Shouta wasn't about let his Icarus fly away into the sun. “Where are you going?” 

 

“Well, I might not… go? I was meaning to get advice as I figured you and Hizashi would be the best people to ask, but I wasn't sure how to bring it up. I might ask Auntie Nem, too. She always has a unique perspective on this sort of thing. I just want to do a good job, but it’s not like I’ve done anything similar. So, I just don't know.” 

 

Mouth as dry as a desert, Shouta tightened his grip on his kid's ankle. It sounded more like a creepy old man, especially with asking his gay dads for advice . Nemuri was also very… open, so it made sense. G-d, Shouta felt sick. At least Keigo said something before just skipping out in the middle of the night.

 

“Where did you find this… application?” 

 

“Online? It wasn't like it was hard to find. It was also pretty easy to do. But I might have been able to do it over the phone or mail in a letter?” 

 

“Okay.” Shouta swallowed, and took a deep breath, wishing for patience to help Keigo understand. “I don't care what they told you, you aren't going. Full stop. We will be talking about this later and I will need details. I want you safe and happy, and this wouldn't be safe .” 

 

“It isn't safe?” Keigo lifted just his head to send the most baffled expression. “Didn't you and dad do some college courses? Ya know, to become teachers? Nemuri, too?”

 

“Wait,” Shouta’s brain did a massive record scratch as his kid’s words finally sank in. The anxious spiral of plans to hunt the predator down and fake alibis for both Hizashi and himself came to a screeching stop. “ College ?” 

 

“Yeah? What did you think I was talking about?” 

 

Shouta felt his face heat up. If anyone asked he’d say he forgot sunscreen on his face. “Don’t worry about it. Tell me more about your college plans.” 

 

Keigo squinted, before letting his head fall back into the sand. Shouta was glad he let it go. Heroics mixed with the last eight or so months had totally skewed his brain to think of the worst possible options first. College was absolutely more normal to apply for then a f—ing sugar daddy . 

 

“It's a very wobbly plan.” Keigo’s words were drawn out and unsure. “I just know I won’t be able to be a hero forever. And I used to just be… fine knowing I’d just die in the field. H—, I used to count down the days till it happened, blaze of glory and all that. But I’ve… got reasons to work really hard to avoid that, now.” 

 

“I’m glad to hear it.” He reached over to rest a hand on Keigo’s shin as an aching warmth filled Shouta’s chest.

 

“But like, I’m also not dumb. Heroics is dangerous. And…” A few feathers flitted up and started weaving in and out in some intricate dance. “I’m… fragile. I’m not a tank like All Might or Endeavor. I’m good, but one bad hit and I’m going to be grounded, probably for life. Honestly, if it wasn't for Izuku I probably would be down for the count already.” 

 

The feathers stopped their dance and fell to the sand around Keigo. He sat up and collected them by hand, poking them into the sand like a little feather fence. “I could keep going as a hero if my wings… break. But it’d be way more dangerous and harder, so I thought having a back up would be good? Does that make sense?”

 

“It does.” Shouta nodded, and grabbed one of the feathers out of the sand and started twirling it between his thumb and finger. “Hizashi, Nem, and myself are all teachers for a reason. Hizashi does his radio show, too. Diversifying is important.”

 

“I just… would it be okay?”

 

“Okay to do what?” 

 

“I’d be part time hero, part time student… I wouldn’t be able to pay you and Hizashi back or for rent or anything.”

 

Shouta squeezed the base of the quill just enough to make Keigo sit up straighter and glare. “If you try to pay me or Hizashi back for anything, we will wire a million yen back into your accounts.” 

 

“But, you both have done–” 

 

“Keep talking and I’ll make it two million.” 

 

A bemused smile spread across Keigo’s face. “You know, that… isn’t really a threat? I’m not sure if I should keep arguing to get the number to go up or drop it.” He chuckled. “I think the wealth has gotten to you. You’ve got rich people brain damage.” 

 

 “Blame All Might, he keeps ‘sneaking’ extra money into our accounts and sending us ‘opportunities’ like this trip. It is absolutely ridiculous,” Shouta groaned. “But, the point is that we don’t want you to pay us back. We said we’d support you until you felt secure enough to leave, and more importantly, wanted to.” 

 

“Okay. Thank you.”

 

“You’re always welcome, kid.” 

 

“I know, which means you’ll never get rid of me.” Keigo grinned. Shouta rolled his eyes with a smile.

 

“Oh, how terrible. Whatever will we do.” He deadpanned.

 

Keigo snickered before grabbing a handful of sand and let it slowly fall out from the side of his fist. As the sand slowed, he bit his lip.

 

“You’re a strict teacher. Be honest. Do… you think I could even do school?”

 

“I do.”

 

“Really?” Keigo’s apprehension melted away and he looked hopeful. “I’ve never been in a class before, and I’ve heard essays are kind of a big thing with school. I’ve… never really written one? The commission tutors did everything verbally. Or like short written answers. Something about it helping me with media presence, or whatever. I’ve written lots of incident reports, but I don’t think that’s the same thing.”

 

“There will probably be a learning curve.” He shrugged. “School isn’t easy and you’d be jumping into the deep end of the pool, by going straight to college. But you’re smart and stubborn as h—. If you want to do well, I know you will. And I’m throwing Hizashi under the bus here, but he is good at essays. He can help you.” 

 

“Not you?” 

 

“I never did great at writing, honestly.” Shouta flashed his ‘creepy-teacher’ grin. “I only assign essays because the students' faces are priceless . More fun to be on this side, until I remember I need to grade them.” 

 

“So, what you’re saying is you’d be a good person to read over them once they are done?” Keigo smirked.

 

“I think I could read over a paper or two, yeah.” Shouta glared as Keigo smugly signed Softy . “So you applied to college, do you have a plan once you get in, or just going to take classes?”

 

“I got in,” Keigo mumbled out. “Kyoto University.” 

 

“Congrats, I’m proud of you.” Shouta stroked the feather in his hand and Keigo cooed. “Question still stands, though.”

 

“It’s… stupid. I applied on a whim. Which is dumb. I didn’t even think I’d get in.“ He slumped into himself, pulling all the feathers in front of him into his lax wings. Shouta was glad he didn’t take the one he was still fiddling with. “You will think it's a bad idea.”

 

“Assumptions. Let me tell you what I think.”

 

“A– out of you and me. I know, Inui is the most annoying about that.” He scrubbed at his face with his hands.

 

“I’ve heard he is annoying about a lot more than just that.” Shouta smirked, tapping the edge of the feather against his chin. “But he’s right.”

 

“Which is the worst part, the smug b—rd.” Keigo dropped his hands with a growl. “But whatever , I want to help people, the ways that I've been helped.”

 

“An admirable goal.” 

 

“Maybe, but I can barely keep myself together half the time, I don’t know why I think I could help other people keep it together. How could I possibly be a therapist?”

 

Shouta wasn’t sure what he thought Keigo was going to say, but that wasn’t it. But it made sense, in hindsight. Keigo had gotten kind of into psychology with Inui and his psychologist Dr. Nguyen, all but eating some of the books they’d given him. Shouta had peeked in some of them and they ranged all over, but most had focused on child psychology. He’d assumed that Keigo was trying to figure out how to better help Izuku, but obviously it had been more than just that.

 

“I’d say you could do it, but honestly, I don’t know.” Shouta shrugged. Keigo let out a muted disgruntled screech as he fell backwards with a thud, he shifted to his side pulling one wing over his head. “Have you asked Inui? He might have more insight than I do.” 

 

“He said I should go for it,” his words were muffled. “We even looked for a back up if it felt like ‘too much’. And I think I could be a decent social worker.”

 

“I have more insight into that, and I know for a fact you’d be a great social worker.” Shouta smiled as Keigo peeked out from under his wing. Holding the feather in his flat palm, he offered it back to Keigo, who directed it back into his wing. “I’ve been working with Izuku’s social worker, and have helped rehome some students in… bad situations. It would be a good back up to heroics. H—, it’d probably be just as important as the work you do as a hero. Same goes for therapists, if that's the path you choose.” 

 

“That’s… what I was thinking.” 

 

“So, you going to move to Kyoto? Do dorm life and all that?” Shouta tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. 

 

He liked having Keigo around their new house. Coming home to him passed out, cuddled up with Izuku on the couch in the main room, never failed to make Shouta smile. All the weird little sculptures he’d been making from the large block of air-dry clay Nemuri got him, peppered all their shelves. The idea of not having the kid proudly walk into a room to put another one silently onto some random shelf made Shouta sad. Shouta would even miss tripping over his boots that he always just kicked off in the middle of the walkway, constantly ignoring the shoe rack off to the side.

 

“Nah,” Keigo sat up and stretched his wings out fully behind him. “What’s the point of these bad boys if I can’t use them?” 

 

“Kyoto… isn’t all that close.” 

 

“I flew to meet you from Fukuoka. Multiple times.” 

 

“I still can’t believe you did that. I thought you were just in the area.” 

 

“I’m fast, all of Japan is ‘in the area’.” Keigo shrugged and let his wings slope back next to his back. “It only took a few hours. Flying full of nothing but panic, it was only an hour and a half. So, Kyoto? It’d be a lazy hour and a half flight. And I’ve reached out to a few heroes in the area that would fit the requirements I'd need. They all said that if I needed to crash for a night, they have sleeping areas attached to or by their agencies.” 

 

“You said this was a wobbly plan. Sounds like you’ve really thought this through.” 

 

“... I might have lied.” Keigo cringed.

 

“Big time. But this sounds like a good plan. You decided who you want to go with then?”

 

“I’m torn between Best Jeanist and the lesser known hero Ms Joke–” 

 

Shouta couldn’t bite back his groan at her name. Keigo shot him a confused look before crawling to sit next to Shouta again on the beach towel. 

 

“Is… there a problem with her?”

 

“No,” Shouta said through gritted teeth. “She’s…” He didn’t know how to word it without explaining . “Just if you see her, run in the other direction.” 

 

Shouta didn’t want to explain. But Keigo seemed intrigued and wouldn’t drop it.

 

G-d f—ing d— it. 

 

“Is this you being dramatic and hating all heroes that don’t live up to your insane standard, or like…” Keigo’s smile dimmed, “do we need to get Nedzu to deal with her?”

 

“She’s not a criminal,” Shouta huffed. “Unless being annoying is a crime.” 

 

“We’d all be serving life sentences at this point if it was,” Keigo snickered. “But what did she do to get this amount of hate?”

 

“Nothing.” Shouta spoke too fast. And Keigo just shot him a disbelieving look, and shuffled himself onto his feet into a squat.

 

“I’ll go ask Hizashi, I bet he knows.” 

 

Shouta shot out a hand and yanked Keigo back to the ground before he could fully stand. “F— no. I just got him to stop making fun of me for this.” 

 

“Oh?” Keigo sounded delighted as he shuffled up next to Shouta and leaned on him with a wide grin. “So there’s a fun story?”

 

“I will explain once . And you will not bring it up to Hizashi or Nemuri.” 

 

“My lips are sealed.” Keigo mimed zipping his lips. Shouta just sighed. 

 

“Me and Joke were in the same teaching course. It was a year and a half long thing, so we’d switch around who we were partners with. Unfortunately, we got assigned together fairly early on, before I realized that… I needed to cut my hours as a hero to realistically do a good job with the classes.”

 

“So, you were sleep deprived. What else is new?”

 

“There was about two months straight that the only sleep I got was a handful of hours on the train two and from classes and my patrols. And a few times I fell asleep leaning against a wall.” 

 

“Oh, that’s pretty bad.” 

 

“Let's just say it wasn’t one of my finest hours.” Shouta grimaced. “The project went… fine. She isn’t a horrible hero, and is honestly a good teacher. But after the project she… asked me out .” Shouta whispered it out, like it was some dirty secret.

 

Keigo’s face screamed that he was trying not to burst out laughing. His feathers rustled with delight. “Oooookay. That’s less annoying and more awkward. But, just tell her you were taken and, presumably, gay?”

 

“I– yes, that’s what I tried to do, but I was tired–” 

 

“And flustered.” Keigo added.

 

“I’d also just gotten the matching chains that day.” Shouta hooked his finger through the wedding band, pulling the chain out from around his neck. Butterflies erupted from his stomach as he heard the chain clink against the tungsten band. It didn't stop being exciting to realize he was married . “I was planning on proposing that month, once we got a matching day off.”

 

Shouta let the ring fall back against his chest. The cold metal of the wedding band was in stark contrast to the flushing warmth he could feel spreading across his whole body. G-d he didn’t want to say it. “It just… went poorly. And she made fun of me for it. It was… fine.” 

 

“Nope, not letting you back out, or I will choose her just to ask and I am sure she’d love to tell me. What did you say? ” Keigo poked his side. 

 

That was by far the worst option. Hizashi would be better than her.  

 

“Fine, you brat.” Shouta swallowed his embarrassment, ignoring how just thinking about it made him do a full body cringe. “I wasn't thinking great and… crouched down to pull out the necklace from my bag, popped it open and said, ‘No, I’m proposing’.”

 

There was a beat, where Shouta thought he was safe before Keigo erupted. Twittering ugly wheezing cackles broke out of him. He fell over, into Shouta’s lap, half kicking his legs, sending sand everywhere . Shouta shoved him off his lap grumbling curses and Keigo just laughed harder as he rolled onto the sand. 

 

Every time he’d start to settle down, he’d look up at Shouta and start right back up again. Once, as he was clutching his stomach, Keigo giggled out about how Shouta’s face was the same colour as his hair. Or more accurately, Keigo had pointed to Shouta’s face and then gestured to his hair cackling, “So pink. It’s all pink .” It only made him flush deeper which made Keigo wheeze out “Oh, tomato now” before losing any ability to talk through the laughter once more.

 

Hizashi had even called out to Shouta asking if Keigo was okay. Which, fair, it kind of sounded like he was dying. Shouta had just waved him and Izuku off, signing that it was fine, just needed a little longer. They continued just collecting shells and whatever else they were doing, Shouta didn’t really care, as long as they were far enough away not to know what they were talking about.

 

“G-d, that’s so f—ing funny.” Keigo wiped his eyes with another wheeze. 

 

“Yeah, laugh it up.” Shouta collapsed forward, propping himself up, his elbows resting heavy on his knees. “I explained, once I… realized how it looked and sounded. But she’s never dropped it, thinking it was hilarious. Even years later she just constantly jokes about how we are engaged.” 

 

“Can you blame her?” 

 

“ Yes. ” Shouta scowled. 

 

“I am so tempted to go with her now. Just for this reason alone.” 

 

“Please don’t.” His voice was thin.

 

Shouta let his head fall forward. As much as he wanted to just tell the kid not to, it was also Keigo’s decision and he shouldn’t sway him away from her. Even though the idea of a fifth person to gang up on him and needle him sounded like living hell, even if it was just via Keigo. He grit his teeth. His personal feelings shouldn’t sway such an important decision. 

 

“I mean, don’t use this as your reason to choose her. She’s a… capable, diligent, hardworking hero.” 

 

“Don’t hurt yourself. That’s a lot of nice things to say…” Keigo grinned like the Cheshire cat.  “But I guess the two of you are engaged.” 

 

Shouta pointed out towards the ocean. “I am going to walk into the sea and never return.” 

 

“No you won’t, you’d miss us too much.” 

 

 Shouta sighed. “Yeah, I would.” 

 

“Softy.” Keigo sang out as he grabbed the elastic ball from its half buried state and threw it at Shouta.

 

“Brat.” Shouta tossed it back. “Anything else of note you wanna tell me?”

 

Keigo shook his head before settling down to Shouta’s lap, fidgeting with the ball. “I don’t think so, that was basically it.” 

 

“No other well thought out life plans, or name changes?” Shouta started to brush his fingers through Keigo’s now sand filled hair.

 

“Well, I guess there is one thing.” 

 

“What is it?”

 

“If it wasn’t for Hizashi being your borderline soul mate,” Keigo looked up at Shouta from the corner of his eye, a half hidden smile curling his lips up “You and Joke would make a really cute couple .” 

 

Shouta blinked once, keeping his face totally blank. “Because I’m feeling generous, I’m going to give you to the count of three before I tackle you.” 

 

Keigo screeched and was gone . Sprint flying down the beach, he shouted to Hizashi and Izuku that Shouta was going to kill him . 

 

Hizashi’s only response was “Did you earn it?” 

 

G-d he loved his husband.

 

Shouta stood, and cracked his back with a twist. And then he took off after Keigo. Activating his quirk caused Keigo to trip and fall from surprise. Shouta was on him immediately and they started wrestling. It was clear that this time, Keigo wasn’t pulling any punches. 

 

Keigo was very good, but was chaotic and a little unbalanced at times, clearly used to using his wings to his advantage. Most heteromorphs count on people being thrown off by additional limbs, which worked with most people. 

 

Shouta was not most people. 

 

In no time Keigo was pinned face first in the sand. Shouta craned his head to whisper in Keigo’s ear.

 

“You’re good kid, but don’t forget, I’m better .” It was a close thing though. Shouta was going to have to up his game if he wanted to keep winning. Keigo started to try to buck Shouta off of him, but he wasn’t going to let go. 

 

“Now,” Shouta pitched his voice down into an intimidating growl. “Who do I make a cute couple with?”

 

Keigo spat out some sand. “Hizashi!” 

 

“My one and only husband, who I love dearly, anyone else?”

 

“You are grossly in love, you know that?” Keigo looked about to laugh.

 

“Keigo,” Shouta warned.

 

“Nope, just Hizashi. I can’t see you dating, married or engaged to anyone else. Promise.” 

 

“Good.” Shouta let go and climbed off Keigo. 

 

Keigo scrambled to stand and looked over his shoulder to look at Hizashi and Izuku, who were making their way over to them. 

 

“You know, I don’t think normal people use intimidation tactics to profess they love their husband. Kinda weird, ya know.” 

 

Shouta just shrugged. He’d never tried to be normal and wasn’t going to start now. He turned to his husband. Izuku over his shoulder was waving, a large shell in his hand.

 

“Shouta! Look what we found! It’s so big! And it's got these small holes in the side, which is super cool and it’s got such pretty spots and the inside is so shiny! Do you know what it is?” 

 

Looking over the shell, Shouta nodded. It was oval and about the size of his palm. Oblong holes were in a line making the shell look naturally perforated. It was pearlescent lavender on the inside, and brown spots peppered the outside. 

 

He also had no idea what it could be.

 

“A shell?”

 

Izuku sent him a flat unimpressed look, “No, duh, it’s a shell.”

 

“Fine, it’s a pretty shell.” 

 

“Shouta,” Izuku whined.

 

“We can look it up later. I honestly don’t know.” 

 

Shouta and Hizashi were getting really good at searching weird obscure things for Izuku. The kid was a sponge for information, desperate to understand everything . It was making Shouta more curious about the world as he saw the wonder Izuku had for the things he ignored or took for granted. 

 

However, Shouta would never memorize as many hero stats as that kid. He was a living heroics encyclopedia.

 

“Do you want to make a sand castle?” Izuku asked with a wide slightly tired smile. Shouta couldn’t help the pride bubbling up at the non-stuttered, unprompted question. Izuku had a ways to go, but he’d come so far already. “I thought it would be fun to use the shells we found to decorate it.” 

 

“Sounds great, kiddo.” 

 

The group walked a little closer to the waves, just far enough for the water to not hit them, but far enough in for the sand to be wet. Keigo darted a few feathers off to grab the little buckets and shovels that Hizashi had bought the same day they’d decided to take All Might up on his offer. 

 

Shouta knelt in the sand and covered a yawn with the back of his hand. Izuku, the perceptive kid that he is, caught him and pointed back to the umbrella and bags. 

 

“If you need to nap, that’s okay. I know you are tired.” 

 

“Yeah, Shouta, you look tired. We can build another one tomorrow.” Hizashi gripped his shoulder with a little squeeze.

 

Making sure to avoid the piles of shells and rocks, Shouta laid back and patted his stomach. “Why not do both? Burry me, I’ll be the foundation. I will take a nap and help out. Win win.”

 

Izuku’s green eyes darted to Keigo’s, and they both snorted. 

 

“You were right. ” Izuku tilted his head back as Keigo walked behind him. He tossed the buckets next to Izuku and combed his hair out of his eyes.

 

“Of course I was.” Keigo pecked a kiss on his forehead. “I’m a genius .” 

 

“Sure, Kei-nii, whatever you say.” Izuku shook his head lightly as he worked to fill his bucket and patted it down. 

 

Shouta just closed his eyes, and tucked his hands under the back of his head. Siblings were weird, and half the time it felt like the two of them were speaking in a foreign language. Or at least jumping from topic to topic faster than Shouta could keep up. Hizashi was better at weaving himself into the conversation, but even he at times was at a loss between these two. 

 

Hizashi, Keigo and Izuku made quick work of adding a thin layer of mostly wet sand over him. It felt amazing on such a hot day, like a cool weighted blanket. Shouta felt himself start to drift off. A heavy weight plopped on Shouta’s navel, waking him up enough to crack an eye open. 

 

One cylinder with crumbling crenulation stood tall just over his belly button. A bright red feather stuck into it like a flag, and Hizashi leaned over to press a green bit of sea glass into the side. Shouta let his family’s warm discussion of plans for the castle wash over him as he closed his eyes again, feeling his eyes prick. 

 

He loved them. Shouta was infested with it, the love and care had wormed its way in so deep that the only way to eradicate it would be to fully burn him to the ground. 

 

Before the start of this year, Shouta wouldn’t have thought anyone but Hizashi would be able to pass all his barriers. His husband was like a bull, slamming down wall after wall, forcing Shouta to admit that he cared. Nemuri would knock at the doors at all hours, until Shouta, extremely grumpy, would let her slip past his walls, but would kick her out from time to time. However, Izuku and Keigo had circumvented all his barriers like thieves in the night to steal his heart. One day Shouta just woke up and they were just sitting within his thick emotional walls, his heart in their hands. 

 

It was still terrifying, and overwhelming to have so many people that mean so much to him. But it was also the best thing in his life and continued to bring him joy daily. 

 

Something about being sleep deprived filled him with disgustingly paternal thoughts, but Shouta was a dad now. He was allowed to be sappy.

 

On the edge of sleep, Izuku’s voice caught his attention. “Kei-nii, I need more feathers.”

 

“Aye Aye, chickadee.” 

 

“We should add these to look like a path to the door.” Hizashi added.

 

“Yes,” Izuku’s smile was audible in his voice. “It’s perfect.” There was a pause and Izuku’s voice was watery. “This is perfect.” 

 

“Oh, baby,” Hizashi cooed. “It’s okay. We’re not going anywhere.”

 

“I know, and that’s what makes it so perfect.” 

 

Wet chuckles were overtaken by the soothing bird song. Hizashi’s soft hums jumped in to harmonize. Izuku even whistled a few lines with Keigo. Shouta just laid there and listened as the sunny warmth in him went supernova. 

 

Shouta thought Izuku was right, things were as close to perfect as they possibly could get. 

 

“Love you all,” Shouta mumbled through his sleep lax lips. 

 

There was a round of “Love you, too’s” and one cheeky “I know” before soft lips kissed Shouta’s. His husband's ring tapped the side of his jaw. 

 

“Sleep, love. We’re all safe and happy. Rest, we’re okay.” 

 

With permission, Shouta finally tumbled into a peaceful slumber. 

 

—

 

A week later, when Hizashi and Izuku were showing Inko photos of their trip, Shouta smiled to himself. 

 

They must have taken a photo shortly after he’d fallen asleep, Hizashi stretched up on his knees pointing the camera down to make sure to have the castle and everyone’s faces visible, the side edge of his face was missing, as he’d shifted his head out of the way to see more of the castle. Shouta laid next to him, covered in a large pile of sand. His hair was a faded pink halo around his head with a few centimeters of black at the roots. He was smiling peacefully in his sleep. Izuku sat on the other side of him, his braced leg stretched out right against Shouta. His green eyes were watery, and his face a little wet, but his freckled cheeks were stretched over the widest grin as he looked up at the camera. Keigo sat behind Izuku, his wings loose to the ground, a crooked smile on his face and a pair of bunny ears poked up behind Izuku’s head. 

 

Shouta got it printed out and added it to their ever growing wall of memories. And if he got a smaller one printed and tucked it into his desk at UA. Only he would know. 

 

Well, only until Nemuri and Hizashi walked in on him grinning like an idiot at the photo after Keigo sent him a text saying he passed all his finals the same day Izuku had called him saying he’d been lasted the whole morning by himself without panicking or dissociating. 

 

Shouta didn’t even mind the jokes. He loved his family too much to care.

Notes:

The End <3

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Band-Aid: The Healing Hero