Chapter Text
Hizashi leans over Shouta’s shoulder behind the couch as he eyes the website brought up on the dragon’s laptop. “He just offered to do this?” Hizashi asks, skeptical. They’re currently alone, Izuku taking a walk around the neighborhood to see where exactly he’s been staying for so many weeks now that everything is settled.
“Not in so many words,” Shouta huffs out, scanning the school’s main page as he reads over the info provided on its homepage. “You know how Endeavor is. Why say words when he can just growl and punch something instead?” Shouta huffs out. “My guess is he’s hoping to introduce Izuku to Shouto. From what I’ve come to understand of his bitching, Shouto is refusing to do anything he says,” Shouta adds.
“I don’t blame him,” Hizashi grumbles under his breath. It had been quite the scandal eight years ago. The death of someone’s child, especially someone famous, made all the headlines. The news called it an accident, a child’s quirk getting out of hand, ending in their death. It happens sometimes when they don’t have control of a powerful quirk.
Shouta knows better, knows the Commission covered up the scandal of Endeavor attempting to force his eldest son to become a dragon. Between his already powerful quirk, genes that didn’t help protect him from said quirk and a forced change…it hadn’t ended well. Shouta, being one of the older dragons at the time in the area with Yagi being out of the country at the time, had been called in by the Commission to try and salvage the situation.
Touya had been in bad shape when he got there, burned so badly. He honestly has no idea if he’s still alive or not. The Commission, once he explained what had happened, had secreted him away in the hopes of keeping him alive. A child of two dragons is rare in this day and age. He had wondered if they planned to use him like they did Hawks, but there’s been no sign of Touya anywhere and with how badly he was hurt…he honestly doubts he survived. If he did, it wasn’t without cost.
It wasn’t long after that Rei, Endeavor’s wife, snapped. The loss of her child on top of whatever life is like living with Endeavor caused her to lash out at Shouto and hurt him. Last he heard, Endeavor still has her locked up in a mental hospital.
Then of course came the news of Shouto turning at the unheard of age ten. Foul play was called by many in the dragon community. He’d already attempted to turn one child unwillingly to disastrous results. Now another was turned?
A whole tribunal was called, the local dragon kind coming together to investigate whether he had forced Shouto to turn. After weeks of interrogating and investigating, it unfortunately turned out to be just a rare occurrence. Sometimes, those directly born from a dragon parent will turn easier than those further descended. A child born from two and Shouto never stood a chance. He’d walked in on Endeavor training in his dragon form and just being in proximity caused the change. It was a freak accident, but no one was ever truly convinced Endeavor didn’t engineer it somehow.
Either way, there was no way to change it and Shouto was taught how to be a dragon just like all over Hatchlings. Shouta has kept a close eye on the Todoroki household ever since. As the second eldest dragon in the area and Yagi too busy being All Might and looking for a successor, it’s fallen on him to make sure nothing more happens. There have been too many scandals in the Todoroki household and he’d like to keep more from occurring.
“True, but…it might be good for Izuku to have a friend who’s like him. It will certainly make adjusting easier. Between Shouto and Mirio, they can help explain things about being turned so young,” Shouta adds, looking up at Hizashi.
“Hatchling playdates?” Hizashi asks excitedly.
“If you want to call it that. Shouto has been a dragon long enough that he’s not really a Hatchling anymore, but still,” Shouta waves off Hizashi’s excitement. “I did speak with him a bit and he did say the principal of the school is from Oni stock and is very welcoming to other kind. We wouldn’t need to worry about them treating him badly due to being quirkless,” he points out.
“That’s good,” Hizashi agrees, coming around the couch to take the spot next to Shouta and makes grabby hands until Shouta hands over the laptop. “I’ll start making enquiries to the school and see if we can get him in. If Endeavor is offering to throw his name around, I’m more than willing to use him to our advantage,” he adds as he locates the school’s email and opens up a new email to start writing them.
Shouta snorts, but nods, leaving that to Hizashi as he stands with a stretch. It’s been three days since everything with Yagi went down and they had officially welcomed Izuku into their home. They had meant to get his schooling settled over the weekend, but between him confronting Yagi, finishing getting Izuku settled and not finding any schools they liked enough to try to enroll him, the weekend had just passed by in a blur.
It had actually been Endeavor who contacted him privately after his last update in the group chat. He’d pointed him towards Odoba Academy, a private school for the rich certainly, but they also catered to supernatural kind too. Endeavor had offered to speak with the principal of the academy to secure Izuku a spot for the next semester.
Honestly, it might be easier to wait for the next semester to start and just homeschool Izuku until then. According to his grades from Aldera, he’s a horrible student, but Shouta has seen some of the books Izuku has been reading at Yuuei. There’s a mind in his head that is incredibly smart. It might be a good idea to figure out where he shines and where he needs help before throwing him back into school. Plus, it will give him time to start working closer with Izuku so he can be in control of his dragon side. Shifting aside, there’s a whole other spectrum of abilities that can arise in their kind that Izuku needs to be prepared for and helped to learn.
Maybe he can get Nedzu to offer some of his testing materials to see just where Izuku places. The rodent certainly seems keen by the mind behind those green eyes, though he’s been respectful and stayed at a distance. No need to get on Shouta’s bad side by over stepping his bounds just yet.
He doesn’t even ask if Hizashi wants coffee as he makes them both a cup and doctors it how he likes it. He comes back to Hizashi quickly typing away at what looks like a chat window rather than an email. Quick answers are good. “Here,” he murmurs, handing over the cup and Hizashi smiles at him gratefully before turning back to the screen. Leaving him to it, Shouta aims for his room to get dressed in his gear. He’s got a patrol tonight and he wants to get a nap in before heading out.
~*~
For Mirio, life has been…interesting these last few long months. He’d been so excited when he got into Yuuei. Even more so when Sir Nighteye of all the heroes out there offered him a work study and the chance to train his quirk so he could control it better. It had been the opportunity of a lifetime he took wholeheartedly.
He hadn’t been expecting the whole…well, dragon thing. Not that it’s a bad thing. He’d always loved reading fantasy novels and seeing movies with strange creatures, but who would ever think that those things from fiction aren’t as fictional as they were taught.
Sir Nighteye hadn’t been expecting him in his personal training room, that’s certain. Mirio had heard his heated phone call and the angry crashing in his office. He’d followed, hoping to make the man laugh and ease whatever had him so angry. He’d walked into the training room and hadn’t been fast enough, with his quirk or dodging in general, from the thin spike that had been launched at him from the partially changed hero.
It had hit him in the shoulder and then the room had gone still as Nighteye had realized what had happened. He’d apologized profusely, but Mirio didn’t mind. Things happen and he should have knocked first. It’s one of the first things they train into students at Yuuei. Always knock in case someone is using a volatile quirk that could hurt someone unexpectedly.
What he isn’t expecting is a long and somewhat awkward conversation from Nighteye as he patches up Mirio’s shoulder: a conversation that starts out stating bluntly that dragons, and other supernatural creatures, are in fact real, and ends with him explaining that Mirio is going to become one too. It took a bit more explaining and Nighteye admitting that he knew about Mirio’s possibility of turning if like this were to happen. Nighteye never meant to turn him, never planned on offering it. They don’t force this on people, usually, and that this accident happened is not the norm.
His parents are called in and some old family truths come to light from his dad’s side of the family. Apparently, his great grandmother is a dragon, or was a dragon. She died some years before he was born in a villain attack. His dad knew, his mom didn’t. He never expected something like this to happen so he never told.
Hours after the accident, he turns in a wash of a lot of pain and heat. He’s taken afterwards to Nighteye’s apartment where it’s safest, his parents consenting. He’s introduced to a few people, heroes and even a couple civilians, who are dragons while he recovers and regains his strength to eventually return to his human form. That some of the teachers at his school are dragons is a strange thing to find out, but it’s nice to know there are people he can talk to.
After he changes back, he meets some of them all over again now that he can speak and then his training begins in earnest. Nighteye takes full responsibility of him, claiming him as his ‘Hatchling’ and calling himself Mirio’s ‘Sire’. It’s strange, but nice. There’s a visit to the Commission as well which is a surreal experience to know that the government knows about all…this.
Needless to say, it’s been a rollercoaster for him, but he’s had a lot of support along the way and people helping him out. So when he overhears Nighteye on the phone with Eraserhead about a new Hatchling, he’s excited to have someone who he can perhaps talk to. The only other person near his age is Todoroki Shouto, but he’s not had a chance to talk with him, Endeavor staying clear of Nighteye’s agency and from Yuuei.
When he learns what really happened to this new Hatchling, his heart sinks. He was an accidental turning too, but he had Nighteye and so many others looking out for him. From what Nighteye tells him, this person, this kid, had no one even looking for him and it was only Eraserhead finding him that kept the Hatchling from dying out on the street where he’d been for weeks.
He offers his help, of course he does. If anyone knows what this person is going through, he does. He’s actually given a chance to meet them, Eraserhead and Present Mic needing to attend a meeting at school and wanting someone to keep an eye on them. They say his name is Izuku.
Mirio agrees easily and goes to meet them. They’re tiny and green. They’re tinier than he was at first; he’s seen the pictures Nighteye took of him. They’re curious though, when Mirio changes, coming closer to get a better look. They spend the two hours curled up close to each other, Izuku manipulating the tablet left in the room and putting on a movie.
They don’t do anything else and he changes back once the two heroes return, but he’s glad for the time, even if they weren’t able to truly introduce themselves to each other. He keeps an ear out for any more info on the new Hatchling and makes sure they all know he’s more than willing to help out when needed.
He’s not expecting to literally stumble over Izuku at the school library, though. He’d just been stopping by to return some books before lunch when a familiar scent had hit him. He’s still learning how to use his new enhanced sense, so it had taken a second to place where he recognized it from.
The colors had matched, black and green curls on a smaller teen’s head, green eyes glancing up anxiously when he’d called the teen’s name, a frown marring his face in confusion. When Mirio mentions their last encounter the confusion clears up some, but not the awkwardness. Mirio doesn’t let it get to him, knowing that he went through a similar stage as he learned to navigate through this new life.
He doesn’t want to overwhelm him or make this even more awkward, so he makes a few more comments and offers to hang out if Izuku ever wants to. The teen nods a little uncertainly and then Mirio leaves, meeting up with Tamaki and their newest friend, Hado, who apparently seemed to just decide to adopt Tamaki after working on a project together in 2-A.
Neither is aware of the new development in his life, thinking he’d just been sick for a few weeks before coming back. He’d like to tell them, he hates keeping secrets from them, but he’s not sure how to broach the topic with Nighteye and he’d hate to be told no. The whole supernatural community lives by secrecy, he understands, but they’re his friends and he’d really like to not have to keep lying to them about dragon things.
It’s a few weeks after meeting Izuku in the library that Mic-sensei asks him to stop by his office after class to ask a favor. Apparently, Izuku won’t be starting back at school until the next semester, it being too late to really get him enrolled without a lot of issues, but they don’t want Izuku to be stuck either at Yuuei all day or home all day without some interaction with kids his age. He wants to know if Mirio would like to hang out with Izuku.
Mirio agrees easily, had been hoping for this opportunity in fact. Maybe he can answer some questions for the younger dragon and help him feel more comfortable with everything. Yes, it’ll probably be awkward. He’s aware that this is some weird dragon playdate thing trying to socialize the newer dragon, but Miro is fine with that. Maybe he’ll make a new friend while he’s at it.
A date is set for the following weekend.
~*~
When Yamada springs the plans on him, Izuku is unsure how to take it. On the one hand, another dragon to talk to. On the other, it feels like the adults are trying to throw him together with someone near his age in the hopes they’ll become friends.
That’s basically what happened with him and Kacchan before the whole quirkless thing became a wedge between them. They were thrown together so much they just assumed they were friends until something actually made them realize they weren’t, not really. Izuku had wanted to stay friends, but once he was labeled as ‘other’, well, nothing was the same after that anywhere.
Still, Yamada hasn’t really asked much of him, besides a few shopping trips, the man being very accommodating and understanding of what Izuku has been going through. So, begrudgingly, Izuku agrees. It’s only the once and if nothing comes from it…well, he can at least say he tried. Aizawa also seems to agree with him, saying it’s actually quite common for the younger dragons to gather and help each other out, giving tips and tricks that sometimes the adults forget to tell.
So Saturday arrives and Izuku is up and dressed to go out. Yamada keeps giving him encouraging smiles, while Aizawa lies on the couch pretending to nap. He knows he’s pretending because he keeps hearing soft huffs of laughter every time Yamada runs off on a tangent.
There’s a knock at the door, and Izuku tenses. Yamada heads over, Aizawa sitting up to greet Togata and soon the younger blonde is being welcomed in. “It’s good to see you,” Aizawa says with a nod.
“Of course. Sir says hello, by the way, and that he might have a case for you later,” Togata greets with a grin.
“I’ll message him later. I guess we can do proper introductions now,” Aizawa says, motioning between the two of them. “Izuku, Togata Mirio, second year heroics student and a dragon sired by Sir Nighteye. Togata, Midoriya Izuku, my Hatchling, sired by…well, that’s something for later,” he mutters with a faint glare into space.
“Hi, it’s nice to be able to talk with you this time,” Togata greets with a big grin, looking excited.
Izuku can’t help, but smile, the larger teen’s cheer infectious. “It’s nice to meet you properly too,” he admits.
“Well, ready to go?” he asks, the awkwardness suddenly increasing.
“Wait,” Yamada says and walks over to Izuku. “A hug,” he says with a grin and pulls him in, Izuku leaning into the hug and soaking up the warmth. Even after the last few weeks, he still not used to being hugged so much. He might have been a little touch starved before. “And here,” Yamada adds as he pulls away and holds out some money. “In case you want to grab some lunch or see something you like.”
“Okay,” Izuku says and tucks it away in his pocket.
“Bye,” Izuku says to Aizawa who is watching this with an amused smirk.
“Have fun, Hatchling. Keep your phone on you and call if you need us,” he reminds Izuku.
“I will,” he promises and then they’re both out the door and it’s shutting behind them. “Um…shall we?” Izuku murmurs softly.
“Of course,” Togata agrees and leads the way down. Izuku’s spent a few days here and there wandering the area, so he’s not exactly lost when Togata picks a direction and starts to walk. “Sorry if this is a little…awkward,” he admits with a faint chuckle and Izuku shrugs a shoulder. “We don’t really have to do anything, if you don’t want to, but I would like to talk. I figured you’d have questions and I know it’s hard sometimes to ask adults things,” he admits with a knowing look and Izuku actually smiles a little bigger at that.
They walk for a while, Izuku having to speed up a bit to keep up with his longer legs, but he also slows down a bit, so it evens out. “Um…what’s it like working with Sir Nighteye?” Izuku asks suddenly, curious about a hero he knows and likes.
“He’s a good teacher. He’s taught me a lot about being a hero and harnessing my quirk. He’s a good Sire as well. I…I was an accidental turning too,” Togata admits with a wry grin. “Walked in at the wrong moment and well, one thing led to another. Apparently though, my great grandmother was a dragon, so my dad was already aware. That made it a little bit easier,” he explains. “And you?” he asks curiously.
Izuku shrugs. “I…I found a scale on the ground and it accidentally cut my finger. I didn’t know what was happening until I got almost to my group home and changed in some alleys,” he explains as bluntly and simply as he can. “Um, Aizawa-san found me and took me in,” he adds.
“Ouch,” Togata says with a little sympathy, but no pity in his voice which is nice. “I thought it was rough changing at the agency, but to change in the middle of an alley. You must have been terrified,” he says, a slow whistle coming out as he considers what actually happened.
“Yeah,” Izuku admits with a swallow, remembering that long terrifying moment where he thought he was dying.
Togata, sensing the shift in his mood, doesn’t press about what happened, instead leading the way towards a nearby park as they walk in silence for a few minutes. “Do you have any questions?” he asks suddenly, looking inquisitively down at Izuku.
Izuku frowns, wondering what to ask first. “Um…is there anything I should look out for? Weird abilities or something like it?” he asks.
Togata frowns, considering his question seriously. “Well, the whole full transformation is something to get used to,” he admits with a chuckle and Izuku nods. He’s only been able to do the scales and even that is still strange to him. “The enhanced senses are strange too,” he adds.
“Senses?” he asks.
“Yeah,” Togata says with a grin. “It doesn’t present right off the bat, but as you get further along with being able to change, your senses will start to enhance. Sir described it as a bleed over between the two, something that you can bring out without having to change,” he explains. “Smell and hearing are the worst,” he admits. “I never realized how much there is to smell and hear until I could. How people with enhanced senses from quirks go about their day is a mystery. It’s so distracting,” he bemoans good-naturedly.
“I…I’ve read some blogs people have posted that they have things to help: ear plugs, special masks, altered glasses, things like that to help reduce the input when they don’t need it,” Izuku admits aloud.
“Oh, like support gear, but for normal people. That’s smart. You don’t hear much about civilian support gear,” he points out.
“It’s so regulated and hard to get without a medical professional saying you need it, plus it’s so expensive as well. Most people just go with cheaper methods until they can afford to get better stuff,” Izuku explains, falling into his element of quirk related knowledge.
“That’s not fair. I thought there were laws to help people with their quirks,” Togata says with a frown.
“There are, within reason, but the support industry is incredibly centralized around heroes and the few that cater to civilians aren’t forced to lower their prices since their main business is with heroes,” Izuku continues explaining.
“Wow, I didn’t know that. You know a lot of stuff on the support industry. Are you looking to go into the support industry?” he asks curiously.
Izuku freezes, panicking at the question and finally shrugs. “I…I’m still deciding. I just like to look things up,” he brushes the question off, hoping he won’t keep pressing.
“That’s okay. Nothing wrong with being undecided,” Togata says cheerfully and Izuku sighs internally. “Back to our original topic…,” he trails off, considering. “Have you had any weird cravings yet?” he asks.
“Cravings?” Izuku asks in shock.
Togata nods with a grin. “Yep. Every once in a while, I get a craving for oysters and it’s all I can think about until I’ve had some. Thankfully, I like them or it would get real weird, real quick,” he jokes with a huff of laughter.
Izuku considers his words, but can’t recall craving something like that. “Not yet,” he admits.
“Well, be prepared just in case. Usually it’s meat related, but Sir once told me about a dragon that craved cashews for some reason,” he jokes and Izuku laughs. This is such a strange topic to be talking about and yet it’s nice to have someone to talk with. Maybe this was a good idea after all.
“I’ll keep an eye out just in case,” Izuku promises. They keep walking in silence for a bit before Izuku asks, “Have you met any other supernatural creatures?”
Togata nods. “A few. Sir works with some and from what I’ve been told, there are many heroes in the underground that are supernatural. It’s easier to hide things when it’s dark,” he explains.
“That’s smart and since underground heroic identities are kept so secret, the likelihood of someone finding out is slim,” he points out.
“Exactly,” Togata agrees as they leave the park and start to wander down the side of a business front, windows displaying different things. His expression lights up as they near a section with lots of lights on the front, posters covering the windows displaying different ads. “I haven’t been to an arcade in forever. Wanna go in and see what games they have?” he asks.
Izuku nods, Togata’s enthusiasm infectious. They head inside, exchanging some money for tokens to put in the machines. Izuku quickly loses track of time as he and Togata play at some of the arcade games.
~*~
“Stop pacing,” Shouta calls out, hearing Hizashi stand from the kitchen table again to glance out their window that faces the street. “He’ll be fine. Togata won’t let anything happen to him.”
“I’m just worried,” Hizashi huffs before turning to walk over to the couch instead of the window. He settles on the coffee table across from Shouta’s head where he’s lying on the couch. “How are you not worried?” he demands.
“I’m always worried,” Shouta admits, opening one dark eye to eye Hizashi. “I just don’t let it show,” he admits before reaching out to grab Hizashi by the arm and pulls him into a forced cuddle, not that the blonde fights him. “He’ll be fine,” he adds.
Hizashi sighs, but nods against his chest and settles into the cuddle as they both nap the time away. A few hours later, Shouta hears two pairs of steps approaching the door, Hizashi still asleep on his chest.
“You really didn’t need to come up with me, Togata-san,” he hears Izuku murmur through the door.
“It’s alright; I just wanted to make sure you got back okay. I’ll text you later though, okay?” Togata offers.
“Okay…and thank you, for answering my questions,” Izuku adds.
“It was no problem. I’m always free to answer any questions if you think of any more, though I’m sure Aizawa-san would be a better source of answers,” he adds.
“Yeah,” Izuku agrees. “Bye,” he adds and Shouta hears the door unlocking as Togata starts to walk away. The door opens and closes softly, Izuku slipping in on quiet feet. Shouta tracks his movement as he takes off his shoes and jacket.
“Have a good time?” Shouta asks quietly, pitching his voice so Hizashi won’t wake up.
Izuku’s head peers over the back of the couch. “Yeah…it was nice,” he admits.
“I’m glad. Hizashi made some lunch if you didn’t eat,” he adds.
“Okay,” Izuku agrees with a small smile. His head disappears back over the couch and Shouta listens to him grab some of the food and heat it up before his steps head to his room and the door shuts. The soft ding of a text comes from the room and Shouta smiles faintly. Definitely a good idea. He’ll have to thank Nighteye for the offer. He settles back into his nap secure in the knowledge that everyone and everything is as it should be for the moment.
Chapter Text
Izuku glances up as Yamada comes into the living room, a stack of papers in his hands. “What are those for?” he asks curiously. It’s been a little easier to ask about things and not be afraid he’s going to make them angry.
“These,” Yamada says with a flourish and a grin as he holds them out, “are for you.”
“Me?” Izuku asks in surprise, not sure what exactly the papers are.
“Yep,” he says, coming around the couch to settle next to him. “Now that we have your school stuff figured out, we need to figure out where you stand academically. Normally, I would have just gotten your records from your previous school, but after all the atrocities I’ve found at the horrible excuse for a school, I highly doubt it is an accurate representation of your true abilities,” he states simply.
Izuku blinks at him in shock, not sure how to take in the fact that Yamada is apparently looking into Aldera, or that he’s seen Izuku’s file and doesn’t believe anything on it. “So these are?” he asks instead of commenting on Yamada’s words, not sure how to process that info at the moment.
Yamada seems to get he’s still processing and doesn’t push. Instead, he holds out the paper packets to him. “A favor from Nedzu. He altered some of his assessment packets for you so we can get a base line of where you’re at. You don’t need to stress over them or even do them all at once. They’re just so we know what you do know and what you don’t,” he explains as Izuku flips through them and sees pretty standard subjects that he’s done throughout his school life.
He does find a few on subjects he never took in school, but has read a lot about and is curious about the test and what Nedzu may have added. How does he know Izuku is knowledgeable about these subjects? It’s not like he advertised it, most people mocking his fascination with all things quirks.
“So I just…do them?” he asks with a frown, letting the papers settle back in a pile.
“Yep, though let us know when you are doing one. They technically need to be proctored by a teacher to make sure there’s no cheating, of course. We need to know what you know without outside help, but we can do them from the comfort of home,” Yamada explains, patting the couch they’re on and Izuku grins.
“Okay,” Izuku says with a thoughtful frown. “I can start now, if you have time,” Izuku says, reaching out for one of the pens always littering the coffee table from their own grading.
“Of course. How about you do it at the kitchen table and I’ll make us both some lunch?” Yamada bargains and Izuku easily agrees.
He really wants to grab the interesting ones he spied, but decides to wait and just grabs the first one off the top: math, geometry to be specific, and settles at the kitchen table to start. Yamada hums as he makes their food and Izuku finds he doesn’t mind the quiet and calm.
~*~
Izuku follows behind Aizawa nervously. It’s been a few weeks since his day out with Togata and every day, he’s been training with him, pushing his transformation a little further. The first time he got claws and horns had been strange. Now though, the older dragon says it’s time to push all the way through and change fully.
He’s a little scared though, recalling the first time he changed into a dragon and changed back. It had hurt so badly and he doesn’t want it to hurt again. Aizawa has reassured him that it shouldn’t hurt if they take their time, but still…what if he messes it up? What if he’s a horrible excuse of a dragon? What if he can’t change without being in pain? What if he can’t fully change at all and stays stuck in a weird halfway phase and goes no further?
His thoughts are spiraling and he doesn’t realize they’ve arrived, or that he’s said some of this under his breath, and startles when a gentle hand rests on his head. “You’ll be fine,” Aizawa says again for the umpteenth time with the same level of patience, confidence and reassurance as every other time Izuku has asked similar questions. “If it doesn’t happen today, it doesn’t happen. We’ll keep trying, but nothing will change how we feel about you, okay?” he adds, guessing Izuku’s real anxiety.
His whole life changed for the better because of one accident. If he can’t keep showing he’s dragon material, surely they’ll get rid of him? He hates his mind sometimes.
Izuku takes a slow breath and lets it out, like Aizawa showed him weeks ago and feels himself calm down. It’s only as he does this that he realizes how fast his heart was beating and how tense he was. As his muscles slowly release, the tension across his shoulders and head fade, leaving behind a faint ache.
He follows Aizawa further into the gym and lets the doors close behind them. It’s the weekend and the campus is pretty much deserted aside from a few students working on projects and a few other teachers finishing up some work of their own.
Still, he hears the beep of the alarm being set on the gym and the click of the locks engaging as Nedzu sets up a safe space for them to work at this. They fall into a familiar routine, grabbing some mates to place on the floor to be comfortable. They take their shoes off and settle in a meditative pose like they usually do.
The questions have mostly tapered off, the goal achieved of getting Izuku comfortable with them and to learn more about him, but they haven’t completely stopped. Now though, they’re in the middle of the day or randomly over dinner rather than a give and take to give him control.
Aizawa starts the count off and Izuku settles into the breathing pattern, his body responding quickly after weeks of doing this. He’s trained it a bit to respond to this favorably and guesses that was the point.
Once he’s calmed and relaxed, Aizawa taps Izuku on his knee and Izuku opens his eyes. “Alright, Hatchling, let’s start slowly. No forcing anything. If it feels like it even might hurt, you back off. I’d rather we do this right than rush anything, okay?” he orders sternly and Izuku nods, anxiety rising a little.
“I know you can do this, you’ve done it once already. Now it’s time to do it consciously, okay?” he reminds him and Izuku nods again. “Alright, let’s start with the scales and go from there,” Aizawa says.
Taking a slow, calming breath, Izuku focuses. Slowly, the familiar tingling sensation of his scales emerging on his skin slides down his arms. It always starts on his arms. When he’d asked if it’s the same for everyone, Aizawa had said no, that it’s different for everyone…apparently Aizawa’s start on the back of his neck.
Taking another steadying breath, Izuku pushes further and feels the scales spread up his arms, over his shoulders and down his back. He can start to feel the faint pressure on his fingertips where his claws are just starting to emerge, the pricking in his scalp where horns are just starting to press through.
“Any pain?” Aizawa asks calmly, softly, voice barely heard beyond their small area of mats. Izuku shakes his head slightly, afraid to speak and lose concentration. It’s surprisingly hard to change one’s shape at first. “Alright, keep going,” he murmurs.
The scales spread further, the pressure on his toes now as more claws emerge, the horns now more than just little nubs as they start to emerge from his hair. This is the furthest they’ve come so far and now he needs to push it further.
Concentrating, he keeps pushing at the part of himself that is dragon. He feels the base of his spine shift slightly and freezes, breathe catching in his throat. “Breath, Izuku,” Aizawa murmurs and Izuku does. “We’re getting into the true physical changes of the body now. It will feel weird, but you need to push through it to change. Remember, stop if you feel pain,” he reminds him and Izuku nods again, eyes still closed as he frowns.
He pushes again and feels that shift at the base of his spine again. It takes a second to realize it’s his spine starting to grow as a tail starts to emerge and isn’t that a strange thought. He can feel pressure in his hips as well, not painful, but achy a little. He’s seen Aizawa and Togata in their dragon forms, he knows the anatomy of a dragon is quadrupedal and that a human’s hips aren’t shaped to support that so they change, but it’s one thing to know, another to feel.
“The biggest changes are the hips, shoulders and face, the joints needing to change position and the face elongating,” Aizawa speaks up and hearing his voice soothes him a little. For a second, he’d forgotten he was there. “Once they change, the rest follows through fairly quickly. You might not feel it now, but eventually, you’ll find the cusp of your change, the point where you can’t stop the change when you pass it. It will be scary once you pass this point and can’t stop it. Just remember to breathe and know that I’m here, okay,” Aizawa murmurs and Izuku nods, jaw aching with how hard he’s clinching it.
Taking another deep breath, he tries to loosen his jaw to relieve the ache only to realize it’s not just him clinching his jaw that’s causing the low ache all across his face. He keeps pressing further, heart beating quickly in his chest, knowing that soon he won’t be able to pull back. He can hear Aizawa still, the man exaggerating his breathing to give Izuku something to focus on and he does.
The rest of the change happens quite suddenly. One moment he’s pushing, trying to keep his breathing even and the next it a blur of shifting, movement and shrinking before it all eventually stops. Breathing heavily, Izuku peeks one eye open only to be blinded by cloth and lets out a faint squawk of alarm.
A faint chuckle is heard and then the cloth is tugged back and Izuku realizes it’s his shirt that is piled on top of him. “See, I knew you could do it,” Aizawa murmurs with a proud look on his face. Stretching his head up tentatively, Izuku looks around and sees nothing has changed except for him.
He slowly stands on slightly wobbly legs, but finds that while he’s a little shaky, nothing hurts. He chirps in surprise up at Aizawa. “No pain then?” he asks and Izuku shakes his head. “Good. When done right, it shouldn’t hurt. Now,” he murmurs and steps back, black scales already spreading across his face. “Let’s get some exercise in in this new shape to get you really used to it,” he says and Izuku watches in fascination as Aizawa shifts in front of him.
It’s a little horrifying, yet fascinating to watch and see how the body shifts and changes. Is that how he looked? He’s really interested in the fact that Aizawa doesn’t end up tearing his clothes. In fact, they seem to have disappeared altogether. He’ll definitely be asking about that next.
Aizawa stands and stretches, towering over Izuku’s small form. Izuku copies his stretch and boy does it feel good, all the last little kinks working themselves out after changing. A soft rumble has him looking up to see Aizawa watching him. Walking over to him, he waits for the lesson to begin. Nodding, Aizawa starts the lesson by showing what he wants Izuku to do.
~*~
Shouta is radiating pride as he lies curled on the mats in the gym. The small ball of heat and scales currently napping on him barely stirs at his soft rumbling, exhausted after Shouta put him through his paces in this form.
He hears the click of the locks on the door to the gym unlock, but doesn’t move. Nedzu wouldn’t allow just anyone in, so he can only assume it’s someone in the know. The familiar humming he hears along with the soft tread of feet announces who has arrived from the station. He glances at the clock on the wall and realizes they’ve been at this a lot longer than he realized.
Hizashi walks in and pauses just in the doorway, taking in the pile of scales on the floor before he spies Izuku sleeping on top of him. He sees the moment his heart just melts, a big grin spreading on his face. Shouta just rolls his eyes and lets Hizashi snap the photo, securing it in a file only him and Shouta can access with these kinds of photos.
Finished memorializing the moment, he tucks his phone away and comes over, kneeling beside Shouta’s head, running warm fingers across his head. “Good day then, huh?” he murmurs and Shouta pushes into his petting, shameless in demanding more. “He’s probably too tired to change back right now too, I bet?” he adds and Shouta nods, agreeing.
He figured this might happen and brought a blanket to smuggle Izuku out in in case he was too tired to shift. Standing back up and ignoring Shouta’s demands for more petting, Hizashi walks over and grabs Izuku’s clothes from the pile they left them in. He folds them up and tucks them in a bag before grabbing the blanket Shouta set aside and walks back over.
“Come on, sleepy head. Time to go home,” Hizashi murmurs while reaching over Shouta to scoop up the small dragon into the blanket. Izuku jerks awake slightly, blinking owlishly before he realizes who has him and snuggles into Hizashi’s hold, falling back asleep again.
Hizashi coos and Shouta rumbles again before surging up and shifting back into his human form, stretching and flexing his shoulders to work out the kinks. “He did good,” Shouta murmurs.
“That’s because he’s got such a good teacher,” Hizashi murmurs, pressing a kiss to Shouta’s cheek. Shouta shifts the kiss to his lips, hand coming up to hold his face gently and deepens the kiss momentarily. As he pulls back, he can feel Hizashi’s smile on his lips. “You big softy,” he huffs against his lips before pulling back. “Come on, let’s get him home. He can sleep and eat, and then change back in the morning,” Hizashi says and Shouta nods.
It’s quick work to put the gym back to rights as Hizashi wraps Izuku up in the blanket to hide him from view. Once they have all their things, it’s a quick walk across campus to the car where Shouta settles in the back, Izuku curled up in the seat next to him while Hizashi tells him about his day as he drives. It’s a good day all around.
~*~
When Aizawa said they wouldn’t be going to Yuuei that day to train, he’d expected a day off, maybe some chores or shopping. Instead, he tells Izuku to pack some light exercise clothes and bundles them into the car to drive for a while.
He’s not expecting them to end up outside the same building they took him to when he met with the Commission official. He glances confusedly at Aizawa, but he just smiles reassuringly and leads the way into the building. He does remind Izuku that he needs to use his new ID they gave him a few weeks ago to get in now that he’s fully registered.
They don’t go the same way from before, instead taking an elevator down a few levels into the ground. The doors slide open to reveal a large space filled with mats like a gym, but much bigger. “This is a specially designed training room for supernatural folk to reserve,” he explains. As they walk in, Izuku spies two familiar faces: one he’s met, the other he knows from his hero binging.
Togata grins and waves excitedly from his spot next to Sir Nighteye. “Now that you can turn fully, it’s time you started to interact with other dragons. Normally, I would have preferred to use the gyms at Yuuei, but four of us is just too much of a risk,” he explains quietly as they approach.
“Midoriya-kun, hey,” Togata greets, jogging over with his grin not diminishing.
“Hi,” Izuku says with a small smile of his own.
“Mirio, manners,” Sir Nighteye says evenly as he walks up and Togata straightens up at the mild reprimand.
“Right, sorry,” he says with an apologetic smile as he scratches the back of his head. “Midoriya-kun, this is my Sire, Sir Nighteye. Sir, Midoriya Izuku,” he introduces them.
“H-hi,” Izuku gets out nervously, trying not to let on that he’s a huge Nighteye fan.
Nighteye eyes him for a moment before his whole demeanor shifts and smiles. “I’m glad to see you doing better, Midoriya-san. You had us all worried when Eraserhead found you,” he says simply.
“Oh…yeah,” Izuku murmurs, reminded that there’s a whole community now that he’s joined who actually care about his wellbeing.
“Let’s get started, shall we,” Aizawa says, breaking the awkward up. Izuku nods and goes to change into his exercise clothes. When he comes out, he sees Togata in body suit while Aizawa and Nighteye have remained in their usual garb, though Nighteye did remove his jacket and tie, cuffs rolled up on his shirt.
“We’re going to do some stretches and exercises to warm up before we shift,” Aizawa explains for Izuku and he nods, following as both adults lead them through the exercise. Togata seems to know what he’s doing and not needing directions.
They stop for a water break while Aizawa and Nighteye talk off to the side and Izuku fiddles with his water bottle before asking, “Why are we doing all the stretching?” They usually do it for their own training, but that seemed normal. This group stuff is not what he expected.
Togata nods with a smile, seeming to get what he’s asking. “Well, it helps with shifting. Loosening everything up beforehand makes the shift smoother and easier, though it’s not needed to actually shift,” Togata explains. “Also, shifting is hard on the body, either way. Shifting too many times in a day can be hard on us and even start to hurt,” he explains. “So stretching regularly keeps you from pulling muscles or knotting up. If you stretch after you change, it helps stop muscle cramps too,” he adds with a grimace.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Izuku murmurs as both adults come back.
“Alright you two, let’s get to it. Izuku, I want you to try and focus on your shift and see if you can find your cusp,” Aizawa says and Izuku nods. So far, he’s only shifted fully a handful of times, but he’s not been able to feel where that point is at.
“We’ll shift after you two,” Nighteye adds and they both nod.
Izuku looks to Togata and he grins, settling on the ground fairly quickly. He closes his eyes and Izuku watches as he shifts quickly, no struggling. When he’s done, a bronze dragon that comes up to about his hip at the shoulder is left staring up at him with Togata’s blue eyes. He fairly muscled with a slightly textured hide.
Togata chuffs and then nudges Izuku who nods and settles to do his shift. It takes longer, Izuku still having to really focus to change, but he tries not to let it get to him. Togata has had longer to practice, so of course he can do it easier.
He tries to focus on finding that point and he feels…something, but before he can focus on it, the shift grabs him and he tumbles down into his smaller form. Izuku quickly wiggles out of his t-shirt until he’s standing on the pile of his workout clothes.
“You’ll need to get him a body suit soon,” Nighteye comments and Aizawa nods.
“It’s next on the list,” he admits. Then he shifts forward, dark scales spreading across his face before he’s fully shifted even faster than Togata did it. Nighteye soon follows.
Aizawa is the largest of them, easily seven feet at the shoulder, though with a slim build and smooth edges. With the long tail and neck, he looks more snake-like than anything, built for moving quickly through an environment, able to hide in shadow and spring attacks on unsuspecting creatures.
Nighteye, on the other hand, is smaller, stockier. All down his back, legs and tail is a strip of long thin spines that shift and move with him. They give a faint rasp as he moves, rubbing against each other where they’re lying flat.
Once they’re all shifted, Aizawa takes the lead and starts the exercises they had planned today.
~*~
Shouta leaves Izuku working on some more assessment tests with Hizashi keeping watch and makes his way to the Commission building, an email from Mera asking to see him when he’s free in regards to Izuku.
Annoyed that his day off is being interrupted, but guessing it’s important, Shouta arrives with a cup of coffee in hand and a pointed look at Mera who doesn’t even twitch, more than used to Shouta’s moods by now.
“So, what did you need me for?” Shouta demands after silence hangs over them for a few seconds.
“Our search of his dragon ancestry came back,” Mera states simply and Shouta sits up. He’d been hoping for them to maybe have found some distant relation to Izuku, family important, but this is helpful too.
“Oh,” Shouta murmurs. “Where’s the dragon in his family tree?” he asks.
“Two, actually,” Mera admits and Shouta arches a brow. That’s not very common, though it happens on occasion. There are enough dragons out there that eventually their family lines cross over. “He’s got one on each side of his tree. One is fine, the other is worrying,” he admits with a frown and produces a file.
“Worrying?” Shouta asks as Mera hands over the file. He opens it, skimming the words before he spots why exactly Mera said it’s worrying. “Do we have any leads on his father or any family from that side of his family tree?” Shouta asks, mind tumbling over the information.
“Nothing yet, though it’s still searching. It’s a large database and takes time,” Mera says with a huff.
“Of course. What about the other dragon in his family tree?” he asks.
Mera smiles at that one a little. “No issues there and she’s actually still alive,” he admits and Shouta feels a bit of relief at that. “Currently retired up in Hokkaido on some land she bought a few generations back. Doesn’t get out much from what we can tell, likes her solitude. We’re tracing her line to see if he’s got any closer family. I’ll let you know if we find any,” he adds, handing over the second file.
“Have you contacted her?” he asks, glancing in the file to take in any important details.
“I left that up to you and Izuku. If he decides he doesn’t want to contact her, we will still need to send her notice that one of her descendants has been changed, as is procedure, though we’ll let her know contact is not wanted at this time,” he adds.
“Of course. Thanks, Mera,” he says with a nod.
“Let me know what you want to do with the first file. For now, only a handful are aware of it. No action is being taken, but some might be interested if word got out. I’d hate for Izuku to get drawn into that whole quagmire of a situation,” he adds with a grimace.
“Agreed,” Shouta says harshly, not wanting his Hatchling anywhere near that shitstorm. “I’ll keep you updated, but for now, keep it on the down low,” he says and Mera nods, getting it. “Let me know if you find any non-dragon family,” he adds to Mera who nods again with a huff at him stating the obvious.
Standing and tucking the files under his arm, he grabs his coffee and with one last nod, walks out. His mind mulls over everything as he heads home. He needs to discuss this with Hizashi before they talk with Izuku.
~*~
Hizashi reads over the files carefully that night in their room, Izuku asleep and as yet unaware of the news Shouta has brought back. “How accurate is this?” he asks with a frown.
“As accurate as can be considering how many generations it’s been since he was alive and not having direct access to his DNA,” Shouta says with frown, arms crossed as he drums his fingers on his arm. “You know as much as I do.”
“Being related to one of the most infamous villains and dragons of the last few centuries, even tangentially, isn’t something I want out there. If this gets out, it’ll put a target on his back,” Hizashi points out the obvious.
“Which is why it’s being kept under lock and key by Mera and the few others in the know,” Shouta murmurs. He pulls the file closer and reads over it again. “It is a bit ironic though,” he murmurs dryly.
“How?” Hizashi asks, still processing the info.
“He’s descended from the first holder of One For All and was turned by the most recent holder,” Shouta points out, staring at the DNA section that shows the relation to All For One via a close relation. The only known relative of that man is his brother.
Hizashi frowns, taking it in and then says, “We’re not telling Yagi this.” Shouta looks at him and sees worry etched on his face. “Yagi’s a good man, a good hero, despite his more recent lapse in judgement, but he’s wholly consumed by that quirk of his and All For One. If he learns of this, he’ll try and pressure Izuku into taking the quirk, thinking it’s some preordained meeting, or something like it. I won’t have Izuku pressured into that nightmare,” he says evenly, voice like steel, protective streak rearing its head.
“He would have to get through me first,” Shouta murmurs, a low growl rumbling out, barely heard, but felt.
Hizashi reaches out and runs a hand through Shouta’s hair, the dragon calming under his touch. “I’m down for telling him about his other dragon ancestor, but do we tell him about this one?” Hizashi asks, conflicted. They don’t want to lie or withhold information, but they don’t want to stress him out for nothing.
“We’ll hold onto it for now,” Shouta decides finally. “This is from his father’s side of his family tree. If we find more out, even who his father might be, then we’ll explain the connection. Right now is not the best time when everything is still so new. We will tell him, just not yet.”
“Okay, I respect your decision,” Hizashi says with a smile before closing the file and tugging the other one over. “Have you contacted this one?” he asks, looking at it. Akatani Tsubomi, a dragon dating back to the end of the first generation of quirk. As of right now, the only known relative of her is Izuku, but maybe there will be a distant cousin or something.
“I’m letting Izuku decide that one. Family is family, but he’s been through so much and I’m not sure how he’ll react,” he admits with a shrug.
“Then it’s settled,” Hizashi says with a grin, leaning into Shouta’s side. “I hope he wants to meet her. He needs more family and another dragon on his side can only be good.” Shouta snorts, but doesn’t refute him. They tuck the files away in a secure place before going to bed.
Chapter Text
Izuku is having a hard time understanding what they’re saying. “So…,” he frowns down at the paper with a woman’s face staring back at hm. “She’s…,” he pauses.
“Your great grandmother, plus a couple more greats,” Yamada explains with a smile.
“I would ask how that’s possible, but dragon,” Izuku mutters, mentally trying to do the math. He gives up trying to figure out how old she must be. “What am I supposed to do?” he asks, a little out of his depth. He’d never known his dad or any of his family, and his mom had never introduced him to anyone from her side except his grandparents and they died when he was six. As far as he knows, there aren’t any others since none were located after his mom died to try and take him in.
“Well, that’s up to you,” Yamada explains gently. “If you’d like to meet her, we can contact and arrange a meeting. If you don’t, then we do nothing.”
“That’s it?” Izuku asks in surprise.
“She’s technically family, but she’s still a stranger to you,” Aizawa points out. “We want to do what you’re comfortable with,” he adds.
“Oh,” Izuku murmurs, turning to stare back down at the photo. “How…how come she doesn’t know about me?” he asks softly, afraid of the answer.
Aizawa sighs softly, reaching out to pat his head. “Some dragons keep track of their lines, even generations later. Others stop after a while. Akatani is retired,” he says and points to the mark next to her name. “Enough time passed that people started to notice she wasn’t aging right. This would have been in the second generation of quirks, so still too new to pass it off as a quirk without blowback. As well, she’d been working for a while and probably wanted to retire from the work. My guess, she bought some land and disappeared after faking her death. I’m sure her family was still aware, but to the world, she’s dead. Normal police and child services wouldn’t know she still existed and thus couldn’t contact her,” he explains.
“So she just didn’t know,” Izuku says.
“Best guess,” Aizawa agrees. “But, if you want actual answers, you’d need to ask her,” he adds pointedly.
“What if she doesn’t want to know me?” he asks softly, looking up while picking at his hands anxiously.
Yamada reaches out and lays a hand over his and he stops. He takes a slow breath and lets it out. “If she doesn’t, then that’s on her, not you. Nothing will change here, okay,” he reminds Izuku.
He takes another calming breath. “Okay,” he says with a smile. His jaw firms and he nods. “I…I’d like to try and meet her,” he decides.
“Then I’ll contact her and see if she’d like to set a date to meet,” Aizawa says with a smile and Izuku nods.
~*~
“Thanks for this,” Shouta murmurs as Izuku talks excitedly with Togata. He’d contacted Akatani, and after explaining what was going on and why he was calling, the woman had been more than okay meeting her distant grandchild. But Izuku had still been anxious, and it had been Hizashi’s idea to see if Togata would like to come, a friend to help support him. Nighteye had agreed upon request.
“It will do Togata good to expand his contacts. As well, I’ve got a very sensitive case right now and I’d rather he not be involved in it,” Nighteye admits and Shouta can guess it’s one of the more gruesome cases. Togata might be in a work study with Nighteye, but he’s still only a second year.
“Let me know if you need any help,” Shouta says and Nighteye nods. He turns back to the two Hatchlings. “Alright you two, get your things. We’re going,” he calls out. They both nod, Izuku helping to grab Togata’s things. They weren’t actually leaving until tomorrow morning for the three day trip to Hokkaido, but the blonde would be spending the night so they can catch their flight in the early morning.
They wave to Nighteye and then head back to the apartment to pass the rest of the afternoon and evening. Shouta and Hizashi spend the time catching up on paperwork and going over casework to make sure they don’t have too much work when they get back. Izuku and Togata disappear into the teen’s room to hang and do…whatever it is they feel like doing.
The morning comes sooner than it should, with three dragons and one mated human groggily stumbling through the apartment getting ready to go before the sun is even up. A quick breakfast, double checking all their stuff is packed and then one last look around, they head down to the car to drive to the airport.
Shouta hates airports. They’re too loud, too crowded and everything smells of too many body packed together overlaid with too many perfumes, colognes and greasy food. He usually ends up dialing his senses way back if he does have to travel to avoid the sensory headache.
The teens seem to be faring better, but they’re still too new to their senses to have them out all the time. It takes more effort to pull them out than to keep them in in the beginning. Shouta’s gotten used to keeping his senses dialed up unless he needs to dial them back.
Hizashi thankfully takes charge, getting them where they need to go, making sure their luggage is checked in and getting them settled at their gate while they wait for it to arrive. Shouta closes his eyes and leans against Hizashi, trying to ignore the world for now while still being alert enough and aware enough to keep an eye on the two teens.
Half an hour later, their flight is called and they slowly shuffle through the arduous process of boarding and finding their seats. Thankfully, he shelled out a little extra to sit closer to the front to have more leg room and fewer people around them.
It’s not a long flight, but it’s still long enough for Shouta to get in a quick nap while they travel, Hizashi humming softly beside him and running fingers through his hair. When they’re about to land, Hizashi tugs his hair gently and Shouta sits up, blinking owlishly. A glance outside shows the quickly approaching runway.
Upon landing, it’s another arduous journey off the plane, through the crowds leaving the terminal and finding their baggage claim to grab their bags before heading to the rental car place to grab the car they booked.
It’s only once they’ve left the airport and city that Shouta finally unwinds and relaxes. Did he mention he hates flying and traveling in general? He can feel the distance from his territory, his home, and while he can ignore it for the most part, a small part is always aware that they’re not safely back home.
“Hungry?” Hizashi asks a few hours later. They’ve still got an hour left to go, Akatani’s home deep in the mountains.
“I could eat,” Shouta says with a nod.
“Yes please,” Izuku says with a smile, still looking a little nervous, though Togata being here seems to be helping to distract him.
“Same,” Togata agrees and they find a place to pull over and grab a quick lunch before hitting the road.
The drive is long and winding, with a lot of switchback roads the further in and up they go. Akatani’s place is pretty far from any major cities and about a ten minute drive to the nearest small town a little further down the mountain.
They pause briefly in the small town to fuel up and the push on the last little bit. Shouta feels the moment he enters Akatani’s territory, a faint itch in his mind that says he’s in an older and stronger dragon’s territory.
The driveway to her home is long and covered in well maintained gravel. Trees close in around them and part of Shouta eases. Dragons were never meant to be city creatures. They belong to the skies, the mountains, meant to have large territories over many miles. They’ve forced themselves to evolve to have smaller territories and endure the chaos of the cities, but part of them will always feel more comfortable out here.
“Whoa,” Izuku whispers as the trees open up and a fairly large traditional style home appears. There’s also someone waiting for them and it doesn’t take a genius to realize this is Akatani Tsubomi. She hasn’t changed much since the photo in her file was taken: a few extra lines on the face, but still looking like a woman in her late 40s.
She stands about 5’4, maybe 5’5, her dark hair pulled back in a loose tail, but even Shouta can feel her presence from here in the car. He hasn’t felt an aura that strong in a while. He looks back at Izuku who is staring out the windshield at her.
“Ready?” he murmurs softly and Izuku nods with a tight smile. He can hear how quickly Izuku’s heart is beating with nervousness.
They all get out and walk up the last little bit to where Akatani is waiting for them. “Good afternoon,” Hizashi says with a smile and a wave, breaking the awkward tension.
Akatani smiles thinly looking them over before landing on Shouta. “Aizawa Shouta?” she asks.
“Yes,” he says with a nod. “My mate Yamada Hizashi,” he gestures to Hizashi. “Togata Mirio, the Hatchling of another dragon here as moral support and this,” he steps back to show Izuku, “is Midoriya Izuku, your distant grandson.”
Izuku stares at her, fingers clinched in his shirt as he waits, not sure what to do. Akatani steps forward, pale grey green eyes looking over Izuku critically. Finally, she stops right in front of him, a small hand reaching out to lift his chin. She stares at him for a long drawn out silence before speaking. “I see a lot of Inko-chan in you,” she says with a wistful smile before dragging Izuku into a hug. “I’m so sorry for your loss, child.”
Izuku freezes for a long second before his arms hesitantly curl around her and they just stand there. Hizashi leans into him, smiling gently. Togata joins them, leaving the two to have their moment. Finally, Akatani steps back with a small sniff. “Forgive me, it must have been a long drive. Come in and I’ll make some tea,” she says with a smile that makes her face look less severe and with hints of Izuku’s own smile in it.
Izuku follows behind in a bit of a daze and they help usher him inside. Slipping shoes off, they follow Akatani further into the home to a nice western style room and settle around a table while she busies herself making tea.
“You have a lovely home,” Hizashi says as she comes back in with a tray.
“Thank you. I’ve worked hard to maintain it,” she says with a smile. Setting the tray down, she starts to serve the tea. “How was your trip? I hope it wasn’t too much. I know I don’t live very close to anywhere in particular.”
“Not too long,” Hizashi says with a smile.
“I’ve not been here, so it was neat seeing the sights on the way,” Togata speaks up with a grin.
Finally, she settles on the free seat at the table. “Well, I guess proper introductions are in order,” she says with a smile at Izuku. “My name is Akatani Tsubomi. It’s nice to meet you Izuku-san,” she says to Izuku.
“I…hi,” Izuku says softly, then speaks up, “You knew my mom?” he asks the most pressing question.
“I met her a couple times as a child. She was…seven the last time I saw her. She wasn’t in the know about…this,” she waves at the gathered group of dragons, “so we just told her I was a distant aunt to keep from confusing her.”
“Oh,” Izuku whispers.
“I’m sure you’re wondering how come I didn’t know about you,” she says after taking a sip of tea. “The short answer is time gets away from you after a certain age as a dragon. I spend most of my time on my land and have most of what I need delivered. I rarely leave,” she admits.
“And the long answer?” he asks.
“I got tired of watching my family pass on,” Akatani says with a sad twist to her mouth. “Inko’s parents, your grandparents, were the last ones in the know about me in the family. I had assumed they would have informed her, or left something telling her so she would know I was alive, even as just a distant relation. I guess they didn’t. After Aizawa-san called me, I called in to the Commission, asking for the records of when they died and where they were buried. Maybe it’s about time I returned to the world,” she says with a heavy sigh.
“You don’t have to do that because of me,” Izuku insists quietly.
Her grey green eyes flash brighter for a moment and she reaches out, a few grey scales peeking out from under her sweater sleeve as she rests a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not doing this because I have to,” she says slowly, a faint rumble in her voce as she lets a little of the dragon out. “I’m doing this because I want to. Just because I grew tired of seeing my family pass does not mean I abandon it. You deserve to have family, in whatever way you want,” she says and Izuku stares up at her, eyes wide before he smiles hesitantly.
Satisfied that he seems to have accepted her words, she settles back and returns to normal. “I won’t challenge you for him,” Akatani reassures Shouta with a sharp smile. “The Commission informed me that you have taken Sire Rights from the one who sired him and have taken him in after his accidental turning,” she murmurs sadly.
“Thanks,” Shouta murmurs, a little relieved. If she had pressed, he would have still challenged her, even if his odds weren’t good, but it’s relieving to know she won’t force the issue.
“I’m a stranger, despite our shared blood, and you have done more for him than anyone else out there since Inko’s passing. It is I who should be thanking you. Though I hope you will permit me to be included in his life,” she adds.
“Of course. We would never try to deny Izuku any family,” Hizashi speaks up. “You will always be welcome in our home.”
“Thank you, I’m relieved to hear that. Now, tell me everything. I wish to know my great grandson,” she insists, pouring out more tea and starts to ask questions of Izuku.
~*~
Hizashi and Shouta lounge on the engawa outside as Izuku and Togata explore the property. Akatani is inside making a few phone calls to arrange her return to the world. A few require the Commission’s help.
“This is nice,” Hizashi murmurs, leaning into Shouta’s shoulder.
“Hmm,” Shouta agrees, keeping an eye on the two, but relaxing into the sun like the dragon he is.
“You know, I wouldn’t mind a piece of land one day where we could retire to,” Hizashi says softly.
“I’d prefer something a little closer to the city,” Shouta mutters.
“For sure. I love the outdoors, but even I don’t want to have to travel too far to visit friends and family,” he huffs out with a laugh.
“I prefer the solitude,” Akatani says behind them, just coming out after tucking her cellphone away. “But then, I’ve always preferred the mountains and the open sky to the city.”
“I can see the charm,” Hizashi says with a nod as she settles on the engawa near them. “Will you be comfortable in the city?” he asks curiously.
“Oh, I’ll be fine. I spent a good chunk of my life living there, but I promised myself that once I retired, I’d move out here,” she explains with a deep breath. Then her gaze flicks over to them. “Tell me, Aizawa-san, who Sired my great grandson and why did you take him away from them?” she asks bluntly.
Shouta sighs, but sits up. A quick glance shows the teens are far enough away that there’s no worry about them overhearing. “Yagi Toshinori, known as All Might,” he says simply and her expression doesn’t change, waiting for more. “He saved Izuku from a villain attack, said some quirkest comments to him because Izuku is quirkless, and then left him there without medical attention to turn in the villain he caught. Izuku found one of his scales on the ground, cut his finger on it, and by the time he got near his group home, he turned in some alleys completely unaware of what was happening.”
“Oh, I take it there’s more,” she says and he nods.
“I didn’t find Izuku until three weeks later hiding out in those same alleys, starved and barely surviving. I took him home, nursed him back to health, managed to figure out a name at least and an age. We nearly lost him when Yagi stopped by and Izuku panicked, thinking we would be like everyone else if we found out he’s quirkless and ran. After we got him back, he told us who he is and what happened, though it took some time to gain his trust,” Shouta finishes.
“And this Yagi Toshinori, All Might, what about him?” she asks lowly, anger barely heard in her voice.
“I confronted him, challenged him and won. Told him he’s wrong, and that I was taking Sire Rights from him,” Shouta says evenly, not letting that box of emotions open up, or he might do something he doesn’t want to do right now, like hunt Yagi back down and smack him around again.
“Good, though I’m sure you’ll be fine if I have a little chat with him,” she says with a sharp smile.
“Be my guest. It might do him some good to deal with someone older than him. He’s gotten a little too comfortable being the oldest in the area,” Shouta murmurs with a snort of laughter and she nods.
They settle into silence once more watching the two with their exploration of the grounds and bask in the sun.
~*~
It’s a bit melancholy when they have to leave, but Akatani promises that it won’t be for too long. A few weeks at most to arrange for her home to be closed up for her stay away, an apartment rented for her with furnishings and some work to keep her busy. So, they bid farewell, make the long drive back to the airport and fly back to Musutafu.
They drop off Togata at his own home on their way back, bidding him farewell, and then they finally return home. That itch finally fades away and Shouta relaxes now that he’s back in his own territory.
With that whole deal taken care of, and future plans for Akatani to be integrated into their lives, they focus on the upcoming school semester. Izuku’s placement tests, when Nedzu returns them after grading them, show a far smarter mind than any of them actually realized, and completely shows the blatant lies Aldera put into his records. The kid flushes at their praise, not used to anyone appreciating his mind.
That’s not to say he can’t learn more, but he’ll have no problems keeping up with the rest of the kids at Odoba Academy. With the placement tests submitted to the school, a packet of summer homework arrives for Izuku to complete before school starts back up. So the last few weeks find Izuku holed up in either the living room or at Yuuei’s library as he works to finish up the work before school starts up.
They get him uniforms, more supplies and in between everything is more training to master his dragon side. He’s doing better, has started to even manage to find the cusp of his change, though he’s only able to stop one out of five times when he reaches that point. Still, progress is good. As well, his dragon form has grown greatly from the skin and bones, tiny thing Shouta found so many weeks ago under a dumpster.
Things are going great, which means something of course has to happen.
The news is a wave throughout the supernatural community: a family of fae, living peacefully in their small town, is found slaughtered down to their youngest children. It’s investigated by the Commission and supernatural alike. Shouta is called in, one of the best at picking apart scents and tracking things that few can.
The scents though are confusing, hints of so many creatures so closely intertwined you would think they were one person, but that’s impossible…isn’t it? He tries tracking it, but there’s no trail. Whatever killed them appeared inside the house and disappeared the same way. There are hints of magic, dark undertones that make him react instinctively with first fear, than wariness and finally anger before he manages to get ahold of himself. If something like this is making him react, it can’t be good.
With nothing else to go on, and little evidence left by the one who did this, there’s not much to do, but wait. A slaughter like this won’t be the last one. The fact that parts of the deceased are missing points to something horrible.
They send the word out across the country. Be wary, report anything strange and keep your children close.
The paranoid, instinctive part of Shouta wants to keep Hizashi and Izuku bundled up at home where he can watch and protect them. The practical and logical part realizes he can’t do that. They have lives and jobs that they can’t just abandon. Hizashi tells him he won’t hide and Shouta can’t force his mate to do something against his own nature.
So they compromise. They inform Izuku, because sugarcoating this won’t help and could be detrimental to his own safety, being so new to this world. They each promise to keep a tracker on them, a thin bracelet, so that should something happen, they can be found. As well, they promise to always check-in, even if it’s just to say they got home or to work.
Shouta also starts training Izuku in self-defense, ways to get out of someone’s hold, how to get away quickly, and how to use your environment to escape. It’s not much, but it’s a start. He also, despite his desire not to, calls in a favor with Endeavor.
With the increase of paranoia and threat, he doesn’t want Izuku going home alone. Since they both have work at Yuuei, they can’t be there to pick him up every day. Endeavor agrees to have the car taking Shouto to and from school do the same for Izuku. This means they need to arrange a meet up between the two young dragons so they at least know each other before school starts.
Which is why he and Izuku are taking a train to a much nicer neighborhood a few days before school starts rather than doing their usual training at home. Hizashi, unfortunately, had a patrol today and couldn’t get out of it or else he’d be here to.
“Whoa, big place,” Izuku whispers, staring at the traditional manor Endeavor has been staying in since he broke into the top ten a few decades ago.
Shouta thinks it’s gaudy and unnecessary, but he doesn’t have to live here, so he tolerates it when he has to come here. Thankfully, that’s not often. “Let’s go,” Shouta murmurs and Izuku nods, following behind.
They’re let into the gate and the door opens before they reach it, a servant nodding to them and lets them in. “Good afternoon. Endeavor-sama will be home shortly. He got held up at his agency, but is on his way. Todoroki-san is waiting in the living room,” he explains.
They nod and take off their shoes before following him into the hall. Shouta sniffs and catches a whiff of brimstone off of the servant. Demon, his mind supplies and guesses even Endeavor is taking this threat seriously, protecting his home when he’s not there, which is often.
They’re shown into the living room where Todoroki Shouto is waiting for them. It’s been about six months since he last saw the boy, but he’s grown some since them. His hair, as usual, hides part of his face, bangs hiding his eyes and his burn scar.
Todoroki looks up and stares dispassionately at them. “Todoroki-san, your father’s guests have arrived. I’ll go inform your sister,” he says and disappears from the room.
“Todoroki-kun,” Shouta greets with a nod.
“Hello, Aizawa-san,” Todoroki greets stiffly before his eyes flick to Izuku who is standing there nervously.
“Ah, this is Midoriya Izuku, my Hatchling. He’ll be starting at your school next week. Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, Endeavor’s youngest son,” Shouta introduces them.
“Hi, it’s nice to meet you, Todoroki-san,” Izuku manages to get out nervously.
“Likewise,” Todoroki greets.
They hear the front door open loudly. The servant walks passed the living room and they hear him inform Endeavor that they’ve arrived. There’s a low rumble of a response and then the heavy steps of the man himself leads him to the living room.
Shouta has always been unimpressed with the way Endeavor carries himself. Between always having his quirk going and the faint aura of intimidation he always carries, the man demands respect and fear. Shouta has always refused and scoffs at him demanding anything of him. The fact that he’s only been a dragon for a few decades shows just how desperate he is to stand up to those dragons older than him.
They earned their rank through years lived and challenges won. They didn’t demand because they knew it wouldn’t be handed to them. Endeavor has always been in a state of denial that he can’t bully his way into a higher rank and it shows in his hero work and his relationships with his family.
“Endeavor,” Shouta greets evenly, ignoring the urge to erase the man’s quirk just to annoy him. It wouldn’t be the first time.
“Aizawa,” Endeavor greets stiltedly. His eyes flick over to Izuku who is staring up at the larger man nervously.
“My Hatchling Midoriya Izuku,” Shouta introduces again. “Izuku, this is Todoroki Enji, known as Endeavor, as I’m sure you know.”
“H-hi,” Izuku squeaks out nervously with a slight bow.
“Hm,” Endeavor grunts in greeting. “Shouto, show him around. I need to speak with Aizawa before our meal,” Endeavor orders.
Shouto tenses for a second, looking like he’s about to refuse before he finally nods stiltedly and motions for Izuku to follow him. Once the two teens are out of the room, Endeavor motions Aizawa to follow him to his office and shuts the door behind him.
In deference to his higher rank and because he knows Shouta will erase his quirk if he doesn’t, he lets the flames go and the heat eases in the room. “What did you need to talk about?” Shouta asks.
“I just got word and you’ll be getting it shortly. There’s been another attack,” Endeavor informs him solemnly.
“Where? When?” Shouta demands.
“Niigata, a Kitsune,” he admits with a frown. “As for when, before the last one. It’s an older on-going case. They only just connected it because no one realized anything was missing from the body.”
“What was missing?” Shouta asks.
“Two of its tails and they store their power there. They think whoever took it is looking to augment a spell maybe or their own abilities,” he explains, running a hand through his close cut red hair.
“Damn,” Shouta mutters. “It’s been too long to see if there are any matching scents too,” he huffs out. His phone chirps just then and when he glances at it, he sees a priority message from Mera. No doubt informing him what Endeavor just told him.
Kitsune are another long lived race. The longer they live, the more power they accumulate which they store in their tails. The more tails, the more powerful, it’s a pretty easy system to understand. He’s only met one nine tailed Kitsune in his life time, an older priestess at one of the temples in Tokyo. The power coming off her had been humbling to say the least.
They’re not easy to trick, or kill. Even a single tailed Kitsune is a hard creature to take out and they guard their young fiercely, keeping them close until they manifest their first tail. From what he’s come to understand, it takes nearly a century to even manifest the one.
“Whatever is doing this is powerful and strange. It had so many scents all twisted together, I had no idea what it was. If someone is consuming parts of the supernatural to boost their power, that could explain the strange scents I picked up. That also means they’re very powerful, for now. You’d have to keep consuming parts to keep the power level up,” Shouta murmurs.
“Which means we’ll be finding more bodies eventually,” Endeavor finishes for him and Shouta grimaces because he’s not wrong.
“Thanks, for agreeing to this,” Shouta speaks up, needing to say it.
“Of course,” Endeavor agrees. “Higuchi will be driving the car and is tasked with protecting them while they are under his care. If you need him to stay somewhere while you are both out, he may stay here as well,” Endeavor offers.
Shouta will give Endeavor this, he maybe a bully and an ass, but he takes his role seriously and protecting their young is something they all take seriously.
“Of course and the same goes for Shouto as well,” he says and Endeavor nods.
Endeavor stands with a grunt and Shouta follows. “Dinner should be ready shortly,” he says and Shouta follows him out of the office to find the boys.
~*~
Izuku follows silently behind Todoroki as they leave the living room. The taller teen is quiet and stiff, seeming awkward at playing tour guide through his home. He names each room they pass, opening doors for him to look in until they finally step out onto the engawa to find an older teen seated out there with short white hair.
“Natsuo, this is Midoriya Izuku. Midoriya, my brother Natsuo,” Todoroki introduces in a monotone voice, the older teen glancing up at them from the book he was reading. It looks like a textbook.
He frowns before letting out a huff and nodding in greeting. “Nice to meet you,” he mutters. “I take it he’s home,” he adds to Todoroki.
“He is. He needed to speak with Aizawa-san first,” Todoroki says evenly.
“Dinner will be ready shortly,” a female voice calls from the doorway and Izuku looks behind them to see a woman with white hair streaked with bits of red. “Oh, hello, you must be the one father said was coming to visit with Aizawa-san. Well, hello, my name is Todoroki Fuyumi. It’s nice to meet you,” she says with a smile and a bow.
“Thank you for having me,” Izuku says softly, a little relieved by her cheerful tone. “I’m Midoriya Izuku.”
“Of course. Natsuo, put the textbook away and come help set the table. I’m going to inform father dinner is ready,” she says and turns to do just that. Natsuo lets out a heavy sigh, but closes his textbook and stands. Without a glance at them, he heads inside to do as ordered.
“So I…uh, I guess we’ll be going to the same school,” Izuku says as they stand there awkwardly outside.
“Yes,” Todoroki mutters.
Izuku frowns. “Is it a nice school?” he asks, anxiousness starting to rise and he starts twisting his fingers.
Todoroki frowns, as if he’s never considered whether the school is nice or not. “It is adequate. We should go in,” he adds and Izuku sighs dejectedly, but nods, following him into the home once more.
Aizawa is already seated at the table with Endeavor as the two older siblings finish putting out the dishes and food. “Hey, Hatchling,” Aizawa murmurs, a small smile sent his way and it buoys him through the meal of stilted conversation and jarring silence. At least the food is good and Izuku makes sure to tell Fuyumi that who smiles and thanks him.
They don’t stay long after the meal, Aizawa speaking softly with Endeavor for a moment, before they’re out the door and heading for the train station to head home. Izuku is silent, pondering how to ask why it felt so weird in that household.
“What’s on your mind, Hatchling?” Aizawa asks as they walk down the street. He looks up to see Aizawa is glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
“Was something going on…in there?” he asks with a frown.
A soft sigh leaves Aizawa’s mouth and Izuku is about to tell him to forget it when he speaks up. “Yes and no,” he says softly. “There’s a lot of history in the Todoroki family. I won’t say what because it’s not my story to tell unless it becomes necessary, but there are things that family is working through, or trying to at least,” he admits.
“Oh,” Izuku whispers.
“Some families aren’t as close knit as you were with your mother, or as Hizashi, you, and I are. Sometimes, the only thing you really share is blood,” he explains softly.
“Okay,” Izuku whispers.
“However, some of it might have been the fact that you were in another dragon’s territory,” he continues and Izuku perks up. “It takes a while to figure out a dragon’s instincts and we always know when we’re in someone else’s territory. It’s like an itch, a sliver of unease when you’re away from home and in someone’s territory. So don’t be surprised if you keep feeling it if you ever go back to their home. It takes a while before it fades if you visit a territory enough.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” he says and Aizawa nods, patting his head, before grabbing his shoulder to steer him into the train station.
The ride back is easier, though still heavy, as Aizawa explains what Endeavor told him and the arrangements he’s taking to make sure Izuku is safe. If neither of them is home, the car will either drop him off at either Hizashi’s agency, radio station, or Shouta’s agency. Once Akatani gets settled in the area, they’ll add her to the list of places. If none of them is available, he’ll stay at the Todoroki home until they come to pick him up.
Even after so many weeks, a few months now, of living with them, it’s still strange to be so looked after. They get home to find Yamada is still at work, so Izuku goes and grabs the last little bit of his summer homework and settles in the living room with Aizawa who has something pulled up on his laptop. It’s quiet and calm and he’s glad for it, mind still tumbling over everything that happened that afternoon.
~*~
The first day of classes dawns with Izuku awake far earlier than he needs to be. He’d tossed and turned all night, anxious and mind not letting him get much sleep before stray thoughts and strange dreams woke him up.
Still, he puts on a brave face, not wanting to worry Aizawa or Yamada. Just because every other school he’s been to has been horrible doesn’t mean necessarily that this one will be. So he gets his uniform on, makes sure he has everything packed in his bag and comes out of his room to see Yamada has made a nice breakfast for them all before they head out.
They both have to get to Yuuei for the first day of classes, but are dropping him off before they head to the hero school. He sits down to eat and forces himself to eat something because he knows he needs it, despite how it wants to curdle and sit heavily in his stomach.
Eventually though, they need to leave early so they have time to speak with the principal of the school and get him escorted to his homeroom. The car ride is mostly silent, Aizawa not a morning person and Izuku lost in his thoughts. Yamada mainly hums to the radio.
The school is large and very clearly not a normal public school. The gates they drive through are very nice and very high. Yamada whistles as they park. “Looks better than the brochures,” he murmurs with a grin.
They get out, though thankfully Yamada isn’t in his recognizable hero gear, so no one really comments on them as they pass, though a few do stare and it has Izuku trying to hide between them. “You’ve got this,” Yamada murmurs, seeing his anxiousness and Izuku nods, relaxing a little as Yamada squeezes his shoulders a bit in a side hug.
They find their way to the main office and are let in by the secretary who says the principal will be there shortly. A few minutes later, a very tall woman walks in dressed in a dark grey pants suit, her black hair up in a simple, but tight bun. Her skin has a slight greyish tinge to it that has Izuku wondering if it’s a quirk or supernatural. “Aizawa-san, Yamada-san,” she says with a smile and Izuku can’t help, but notice the sharp teeth in her smile. Aizawa and Yamada nod as they all stand up. “And this must be Midoriya-san,” she greets, looking down at him.
“G-Good morning,” Izuku stutters out, bowing slightly.
“Good morning, come this way,” she gestures towards her office and they follow. She settles behind her desk as they fill the seats before it. “For proper introductions, my name is Gyanju Akane, the principal here at Odoba Junior Academy. Now, I know we spoke over the phone a few times and messaged a lot as well, but are there any questions or concerns?” she asks.
Aizawa and Yamada share a glance while Izuku just waits patiently. “No, I think we’ve asked all we needed to. You are aware of the arrangements we’ve made for Izuku’s ride home?” Aizawa asks.
“We are, and I don’t begrudge you taking the extra precaution. I promise we keep a close eye on all of our students and do not let anyone not approved on campus grounds. If anything changes, all you need to do is call and we will accommodate you,” Gyanju says with another toothy smile.
“Thank you,” Aizawa says with a nod.
“Alright then, Midoriya-san, you’re with me. I’ll show you the way to your homeroom. This is a packet of info about the school and where you have access to,” she says, handing over a thick packet of paper. “Now, so you are aware, though I’m sure you’ve already done your research on us, Odoba is a merit leveling school. Your class placement will depend on your exam scores. Normally, you would have taken the entrance exam and been placed that way. Since you are transferring in, you will be placed in the bottom class of your year. Class adjustments happen after the midterm and the end of term exams. The better you do, the higher you’ll be placed in the classes,” she explains.
“His placement tests don’t affect this?” Yamada asks.
“Unfortunately, no. They were to determine if he would need any remedial help,” she explains. “Only the entrance exam or the two term exams will affect his placement. However, judging by his scores on the placement exams, I doubt he will stay in 3-F for very long,” Gyanju says with another grin.
“Well, Hatchling, are you good?” Aizawa asks Izuku as they all stand up.
Izuku frowns and then slowly nods. “I’m okay,” he murmurs, still anxious, but trying to keep it under wraps with some steady breathing.
“You have your phone. If you need to get ahold of us, call or text,” Hizashi says with a grin, pulling Izuku into a hug. “We’ll see you this afternoon.”
“Okay,” Izuku says with a smile and then steps back to let the two of them leave with one final nod to the principal.
“Ready?” Gyanju asks with a sympathetic smile, guessing his anxiousness.
“I’m ready, Gyanju-sensei,” he says and follows her out of office.
~*~
It’s strange to be introduced to a class full of kids who don’t know him. Throughout elementary and into middle school, at least some of the class knew who he was, having lived in the same neighborhood as he did. They grew up together, even played some before his status was announced.
Looking out over the faces before him, he doesn’t recognize a single person. This means none of them know about his status and strangely, the teacher doesn’t force him to announce it like his other teachers used to.
He’s sat near the back of the class, close to the windows and that’s that. No one teases him, or makes fun of him. There aren’t any looks or whispered words to keep the teacher from overhearing while they teach. Is this what school is like when you’re not being tormented?
A few greet him and talk a bit with him on breaks between classes. Some even offer to eat lunch with him, but Izuku is still too unsure of anything and politely declines. They don’t seem offended and just nod, going back to what they’re doing. It won’t be until months, years later that he’ll understand that the trauma he endured at Aldera made him distrustful of everyone in a school situation. That he was silently waiting for them to be like everyone before and thus protected himself by keeping them at arm’s length to lessen the blow when it finally came.
Lunch, when it finally arrives, is quiet. He grabs the lunch Yamada made for him and finds an empty classroom to eat in, not wanting to have to interact with anyone. When he checks his phone, he finds a few texts from Yamada, one a photo of him grinning at the camera wishing him a good day. He can’t help the smile and tucks the phone away after sending a quick text saying he’s doing good so far.
Ten minutes before lunch ends, Izuku packs his stuff up and starts to head back to his own class. As he’s passing an intersecting hall, he hears someone singing and stops. It sounds really pretty and he’s about to take a step towards where the sound is coming from when it abruptly stops.
Izuku shakes his head and then turns back towards his class. He can’t help wondering who was singing though.
~*~
They’re both a little distracted at work. Both because they know what kind of life Izuku came from and how hard this will be for him, and because of the current tense atmosphere over the supernatural community. Shouta’s dragon hates not having his Hatchling in sight, but he can’t smother the kid.
Normally, Shouta would have had a homeroom. He had one actually. And on the first day, he expelled them. None of them taking heroics seriously. It hadn’t been a good day.
Shouta is thankful that rather than spending all day at orientation like the rest of the school, he’s out doing his quirk assessment test with his new class. It means he can get a head start on training his class and see just what he has to work with.
Except, Shouta has to deal with…this crap instead. He’s been teaching for a while now. He knows how most first days go. He’s not expecting anything outstanding, but he at least expects his students to try their best and put their all in their work. If you’re half-assing around or think it’s all just a game, you shouldn’t be in the class.
And right now, there are at least ten students in front of him who seem to think they’re something special just because they passed the entrance exam. Who seem to think they’re invincible, untouchable and the second coming of All Might himself. The boasting alone is making his eye twitch.
He doesn’t say anything though. He gave them their only warning at the start. He doesn’t give second chances that aren’t earned. So he lets them keep digging their own graves as they joke and play around, like this is a normal school assessment test and not the deciding factor of how their whole heroics career will start, if it does start at all.
When the last score is entered, Shouta stares at the gathered teens, some grinning like the scores they just handed him are amazing. He’s seen better. He flashes his eyes and the jokes suddenly stop as they all straighten up. “At the beginning of this assessment test, I warned you, that the lowest scorer would be expelled,” he says and the class gulps. “And yet, despite the warning, you all continued on as if this was some sort of game. Heroics isn’t a game. It is serious. It is life and death. From the moment you passed the entrance exam and were accepted into my class, you were a hero in training and thus, should have acted like one,” he rants quietly at them.
“These scores are pathetic,” he snaps out, motioning to the screen being displayed. “And yet, I would have accepted them, had you treated this with the seriousness it was due. As it stands, I don’t see a single person here that I feel should continue on in heroics. You all seem to think this is some sort of game, and if I were to let you continue through the program as is, you would end up getting someone killed, most likely yourself because you wouldn’t be taking it seriously,” he continues.
The class is silent with dawning horror. “So, think about what program you would like to be transferred into, or else you will be defaulted into general education. Expect a phone call to your parents today explaining why you are being expelled from my class,” Shouta says summarily, before he turns and starts to walk away.
He ignores the yells and panic, and just heads towards the main building to go to his office. He does at least send a text to Nedzu explaining the situation. He knows the rat will be pulling up the camera footage to see what Shouta saw. He’s also sure Nedzu will agree with his assessment. Shouta isn’t in this job to send kids to their death and if he let these kids keep training, that is exactly what would happen.
That doesn’t mean they don’t have a chance. Maybe this is the wakeup call they need. If they want back in his class, they can claw their way back in. There’s more than one way into heroics. But Shouta won’t accept them back in unless they wow him and show they understand why they were kicked out in the first place. He highly doubts they’ll attempt to get back in. Kids who have been told all their lives that they are special and are for sure going to be heroes, have never had to work for it, never had to fight for anything and won’t know how to after years of being mollycoddled by every adult in their life.
He stops in his office to grab one expulsion paper and heads to the teacher’s lounge. He doesn’t have twenty of them, so he’ll need to make some copies. He finishes the last one and heads to Nedzu’s office to file them with the rodent. Thankfully, he’s not the one who will be calling parents and dealing with them yelling about how their precious angels were unfairly treated.
The door opens without him knocking and Shouta walks in. “My, my, this is a first, Aizawa-kun,” Nedzu says with a twinkle in his eyes, seeming pleased by Shouta’s decision. He catches a glimpse of the video footage drawn up on his screen, no doubt having already watched through it all.
“Sorry for making more work for you,” he mutters, handing over the stack of expulsion forms.
“A necessary evil, when running a school I’m afraid,” Nedzu waves off. “You were right to take this action though. The amount of work and money Yuuei would have to shell out when one of them died or ended up causing a death by their actions far outweighs a few phone calls and some angry parents.”
“Yeah,” Shouta agrees, rubbing at his eyes. He hates expelling kids, but better tears and hate than hearing they had died because they weren’t prepared for the work.
“Well, I will start seeing to this. I’m sure by now some parents have been told and I will be getting some phone calls shortly,” he adds with a smile that has Shouta feeling sorry for the parents.
“Yeah,” Shouta agrees, relaxing some. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says with a wave and then heads out.
Shouta naps the morning away since he doesn’t have a homeroom. When it’s time, he heads to his first law and ethics class. The morning goes by quietly, most of his students knowing by now what he expects of them in this particular class.
All in all, it’s a good day, but he can’t help being distracted, constantly checking his phone to make sure Izuku hasn’t texted. He’s sure Hizashi is doing the same. Once he’s finished his last class of the day, he gathers his things up and heads towards the train station. Hizashi has a patrol that afternoon so he’ll be taking the car.
He gets back to the apartment well ahead of Izuku who is probably still finishing up his last class of the day. Ah, the perks of not have a homeroom to deal with. He settles down to start going over his classes’ papers he assigned them over the summer and waits for Izuku to get home.
~*~
The ride home is awkward. He meets up with Todoroki as they wait off to the side for the driver to get through the line of cars ahead of him. When it finally pulls up, they get in silently and buckle up as the car pulls away from the school.
“Ah, h-how was your day?” Izuku asks the other boy awkwardly, not sure how to interact in a situation like this.
“It was normal,” Todoroki says monotonously.
“Oh,” Izuku murmurs and they fall back into silence. The car drives on and eventually pulls up in front of his apartment building. “I’ll…see you tomorrow,” Izuku mutters and Todoroki nods before Izuku slides back out of the car. He shuts the door and waves stiltedly before heading inside, the car pulling away once he’s through the security door.
When he comes through the apartment door, he finds Aizawa settled at the coffee table with a stack of papers by his elbow, one in front of him, a red pen in one hand marking on it and a cup of coffee in his other hand. “Hey, Hatchling. How was your first day?” he asks, setting the pen and coffee down to turn and look at him.
Izuku sets his bag down to start taking his shoes off. He shrugs. “It was okay. Nothing happened,” he says, still unsure if today is the norm or if the school and his classmates will show their true colors eventually.
“Glad to hear,” Aizawa says with a small smile. “There’s a snack in the fridge if you’re hungry. Hizashi won’t be back until 8 and I’m feeling lazy, so I thought we could have a first day treat and order some food,” he offers and Izuku nods with a smile.
He heads to the fridge to see a small container set aside with a sticky note with his name on it. Smiling a little at Yamada’s handwriting and the small smiley face, he takes it and settles on the couch by Aizawa, eating as he pulls out his own homework and gets started on it.
They work in silence for a few hours before Aizawa finally sets his work aside, stands with a groan as joints pop and then heads to the kitchen to browse their collection of takeout menus to decide on what to get. They order and eat once it arrives. Yamada arrives home eventually and the day ends with some funny stories that happened while he was on patrol.
~*~
The rest of the week goes by and Izuku’s not sure how to make sense of it. He’s not being singled out; no one is taunting him or bullying him. Hell, when one of the guys in another class started messing around with him because of his class placement, a passing teacher called him out rather than accusing Izuku of causing a disturbance.
It’s surreal and saddening. Could his school life have always been like this? Was his quirklessness really such a reason to act like that to him? Not to say that Odoba Academy is perfect. It has its flaws and cliques, but at least here it seems the teachers hold the other students accountable and don’t blame the victims.
Despite this strange realization, Izuku still eats his lunch alone. He doesn’t feel comfortable trying to make friends, because the possibility is still there for things to change. He keeps using the same classroom as the first day.
He hears the singing again two days later. He makes it halfway down the hallway before it stops and Izuku blinks back to awareness and unsure why he came down the hallway except that he heard someone singing.
On Friday, he hears the singing again and when it cuts off he decides to keep walking down the hallway, curiosity getting the better of him. Maybe it’s a quirk? He’s always interested in new quirks to study.
Most of the classrooms he passes are empty, doors open from the classes leaving for lunch. He comes to the last one in the hall and finally sees someone sitting on a desk, their lunchbox set off to the side while their head bobs to whatever music is currently playing through their headphones, purple locks swaying to the movement.
He stands there listening to them sing before the bell for lunch ending rings and makes them both jump. The other teen sitting on the desk tugs his headphones off and turns only to blink in shock at realizing he had an audience.
“Oh, um…sorry,” Izuku instinctively stammers out, flushing and looking down. “I…um…heard you singing and I just came to see who it was,” he admits, fidgeting with the button on his uniform sleeve as he waits for the guy to say how weird he is for watching him.
“Oh,” he mutters and Izuku looks up to see him wince slightly which is not a normal expression someone usually made towards Izuku. “Sorry, that’s my bad,” he mutters. “I’ll have to be more careful next time,” he adds softly under his breath, though Izuku still picks it up.
“You have a nice singing voice,” Izuku says, hoping that he didn’t embarrass the guy. He knows some people get embarrassed when they know others are watching and listening to them.
“It’s nothing,” he says with a shrug, quickly grabbing his things to take with him. “I need to get to class,” he adds and Izuku is forced to step back to let him out of the classroom. Sighing, he follows silently behind the other student out of the hall and towards his own classroom. It unfortunately comes quickly and the other guy keeps going down the hall, so Izuku doesn’t see what class he’s in.
~*~
Izuku comes home that afternoon after speaking with the singer to find Aizawa home along with Akatani-san. With school and everything leading up to it, he’d kind of forgotten she was moving close by. “Oh, hi,” he greets awkwardly.
“Afternoon, Izuku-kun,” Akatani greets with a kind smile. “I thought I’d drop by to let you all know that I am officially moved in now,” she explains as Izuku finishes taking off his shoes and steps further into the apartment.
“Oh, that’s nice,” Izuku says, taking a spot on the couch close to Aizawa and across from Akatani.
“I’ve given Aizawa-san the address, along with Yamada-san. I did however want to give this to you,” she says and holds out a key.
“What?” he asks, not sure what this means.
“I know we are strangers, but you are still of my blood, child. Which means you will always be welcome in my territory. And hopefully, with enough time, we can get to know each other better. This key is if you want to come visit, or even if you need a place to stay for a while. You are always welcome,” she explains patiently.
Slowly, Izuku reaches out and carefully takes the key. “I…I’d like that,” he finally settles on. He’s never had anyone before this all happened, other than his mother, who was willing to get to know him and go this far for him.
“I’ve invited Akatani-san for dinner tonight,” Aizawa finally speaks up. “Figured, we could all get to know each other,” he explains with a small smile at Izuku and Izuku nods with a smile back.
“Well then, how was school?” Akatani asks with another gentle smile and seems actually interested in Izuku’s day.
~*~
Despite having been riding in the same car as Todoroki for over two weeks now, it’s still just as awkward as the first time. The few times Izuku has tried to engage him in conversation, the other teen has given brief replies stiltedly. He’s honestly not sure if Todoroki is just not interested in interacting with Izuku, or if he’s just awkward like Izuku. It’s honestly 50-50 as far as he can tell.
Still, he keeps trying because he has no idea what else to do other than sitting in silence for the thirty minute drive from the school to his own home. So far, he hasn’t had to be dropped off anywhere else, so he’s not sure how long it would take to go to the other places.
“So…um…how long have you been a dragon?” Izuku asks awkwardly that day, still trying to find a topic that they can possibly talk about.
“Five years,” Todoroki mutters, still looking out the window.
“Oh, that’s…,” he pauses, the math starting to come through. If he’s been a dragon for five years, then he was ten when he turned. “Wait, but Aizawa-san says dragons don’t turn people that young. It’s too hard on their bodies,” he points out with concern. Was Todoroki forced to turn too young?
“Both my parents are dragons. It’s rare, but sometimes we can turn just from being in a dragon’s presence,” he explains.
“Oh,” Izuku murmurs. “That’s…I’m sorry you didn’t have a choice in the matter,” Izuku says softly. He didn’t either, but honestly, it’s the best thing that could have ever happened to him.
Todoroki actually looks at him at that, brow furrowing. “No one’s ever said that to me before,” he murmurs.
“Well, they should have. I mean, I know it’s biological and all that, but the choice was still taken away from you. I mean, did you even want to be a dragon?” he asks.
Todoroki frowns before shaking his head. “I…I don’t know. I just know I don’t want to be like him,” he mutters and it takes Izuku a second to realize he’s talking about Endeavor.
“Well, no one says you have to be like him,” Izuku points out logically. “Just do what you want,” he says softly.
“It’s not that easy when he’s the number two hero,” Todoroki points out.
“Oh, yeah, I guess there’s a lot of pressure from that. Well, he can’t make you do everything. You still have a say in your life. And when you turn 18, he has no say in it at all. You’re an adult and can do whatever you want,” Izuku says with a small grin.
“I guess,” Todoroki mutters, glancing down at his lap.
The conversation unfortunately dries up after that, Todoroki seeming to be deep in thought so Izuku lets it be. That was the longest conversation they’ve had so far. It’s a start at least.
~*~
It’s nearly a week after he briefly talked with the singer that Izuku spots him again. This time, he’s heading away from the hallway he had been going to before. He hasn’t been back there since. Izuku knows because he’s checked each day and found the classroom empty.
He just knows that it’s his fault that the other teen stopped using that room, so Izuku quickly changes course and rushes after him, hoping to catch him before he gets to his destination so he doesn’t ruin another spot for the teen.
“Ex-excuse me,” Izuku calls out after him as the crowd thins as they near the doors to outside the school. “Excuse me,” he tries again and the teen finally glances back at him, blinking as Izuku comes rushing up as he stops, panting for breath. “Hi, sorry, I just needed a moment,” he gets out before taking a deep breath.
“Oh, what did you need?” he asks awkwardly, glancing around to see the hall is empty except for them.
“I…I wanted to apologize,” Izuku says with a quick bow. “I shouldn’t have listened to you like that. It must have seemed creepy and I forced you to change to a new location to get some peace. If you’d like you can go back there and I’ll find a new spot to eat so you don’t have to change,” Izuku says quickly, heart rabbiting and palms sweating.
“What?” he asks and Izuku glances up through his bangs to see shock on his face. “Why are you sorry?” he asks in confusion.
“B-because I was listening to you without you knowing I was there. I should have said something, or done something to announce myself,” Izuku says quickly.
“What?” he asks again incredulously. “You…I…you think I changed spots because I’m mad you listened to my singing?” he asks.
“Aren’t you?” Izuku asks, worry starting to bubble in his chest. Did he make a wrong assumption?
The teen sighs, rubbing at his eyes. “No, I’m not even mad,” he mutters, but it doesn’t look like that with how annoyed he sighed. “It’s…my singing…kind of draws people in,” he explains softly.
“Oh…is it an effect of your quirk?” Izuku asks excitedly. A vocal quick with the ability to draw people in, that sound really interesting.
“I…guess so,” he finally gets out with a pinched expression. “I…I have to be careful when I sing because I can’t always control it and…well,” he gestures to Izuku.
“Oh,” Izuku says with understanding. He was worried Izuku was mad that he’d used his quirk on him. “I don’t mind,” Izuku says with a smile. “It was good singing and I’d never be offended by someone using their quirk, so long as it wasn’t intentional or harmful. You didn’t mean it,” Izuku says with ease.
“Really?” he asks and Izuku nods.
“Oh, um…I’m Midoriya Izuku. I just transferred in at the start of the semester,” he explains quickly.
“Shinso Hitoshi,” Shinso mutters, scratching the back of his head. “Do you…uh, want to eat lunch together?” he asks softly, not looking at Izuku.
“Oh…um…I don’t mind,” Izuku says a little cautiously. He follows the taller teen out of the school to find a shady spot to eat. The talk is stilted, but Izuku actually enjoys himself. Maybe he might actually make a friend at school.
~*~
Shouta gets the message a few weeks into the semester. Another attack, this time at a small shrine of all places outside of any major city. The guardian spirit that had been bound there was completely destroyed, and like before, pieces of it were harvested.
Hizashi unfortunately has an important meeting at the radio station, as well a series of meetings at his agency and can’t get out of them. Shouta, like last time, is being called in to help investigate the scene so they call Akatani, explaining what’s going on and she readily agrees to rearrange her schedule to be home so the car can drop Izuku off at her apartment to be kept an eye on while they’re away.
He does stop by their apartment to pack a small bag of clothes for Izuku. Hizashi was already planning to be super late coming home and Shouta doubts he’ll be home any time before sunset with this investigation. In case Izuku has to sleep over, he’ll have something to wear.
Akatani opens the door shortly after the first knock when he arrives. “Aizawa-san,” she greets, expression grim like everyone else is with the news. The guardian spirit had been old, ancient even and not a pushover. That something took it out like this shows planning and power.
“Akatani-san, thanks for doing this,” he murmurs tiredly, handing over the bag of clothes and toiletries.
“Of course. I’m always willing to help,” she says with a small smile.
“I texted Izuku the change of plans and the driver your address. He’ll be here in a few hours. We’ll text you when one of us is done and heading back. If it’s too late, we’ll just come get him in the morning,” Shouta murmurs.
“Of course. Please, be safe and if you need anything, I’m a phone call away,” Akatani says solemnly.
“Thanks,” Shouta says with a nod and then leaves to where he left a taxi waiting for him to come back down.
The drive out is long, a few hours away from Musutafu by car. The shrine itself was in an old wood area, the shrine dating back centuries and maintained over all these years. As Shouta looks over it now, he just sees destruction. The old shrine building is just ruined: chunks of wood everywhere. There are signs of a small fire that thankfully didn’t spread.
He’s not the only one brought in on this case. He spies the familiar form of Wisp off across the way, no doubt looking for something she can use to track whatever did this. He spies the Tsukauchi matriarch making her slow way around the ruin, eyes closed as she senses out, trying to sense anything.
There’s a man off to the side, small, unassuming, but Shouta can feel the power rolling off him. It takes a second for the wind to shift and his scent to hit Shouta to realize what it is. The scent of magic is sharp and acrid in his nose. Magic users aren’t rare. Humans all naturally have a talent for it, though the amount they can do is usually only small things, with the right training. It takes decades to build up their strength to any sort of level that could be threatening. This man reeks of magic and time. He’s so saturated that Shouta can’t tell what he is, but if he’d have to guess, he’s probably fae.
They don’t get too many of them out here, preferring their more European homelands to here. That one of this strength is here means they are taking the death of that fae family serious. He’s pretty sure, if he tried, he could see through the glamour the man is wearing to see what is underneath. He’d rather not deal with the headache it would entail though.
He spends hours combing through the scene, cataloguing scents, noting damage, trying to piece together what did this. The body of the guardian lies in the center of the scene. Spread out, limbs pinned by chunks of wood from the very shrine it protected and that was destroyed, like a butterfly, or more like an animal readied for dissection.
The chest cavity is cut open expertly, a blade was used. Something made specifically to open up the guardian. The ribs were forced open, broken outward and the heart was cleanly cut out. Whoever did this knew what they were doing. The struggle marks, the claw marks gouged into the ground show that the guardian was alive until the end, felt their own heart cut out before they finally died. Someone sadistic did this.
“Eraser,” Wisp greets grimly, coming to crouch next to him where he’s still looking over the body.
“Wisp,” he murmurs back. “You finish your last case?” he asks, needing some good news here.
“Yeah, all found. Humans who stumbled upon the supernatural and decided they wanted a piece of it,” she mutters with a scowl. “The Commission took care of them,” she adds. ‘They’re lucky the parents of the kids that were taken didn’t get to them first’ is left unsaid. “Find anything?” she asks, gesturing towards the body.
Shouta hums, eyeing the laid out body once more. “I don’t think this is just one person,” he finally say the thought that’s been nagging at him.
“A team?” she asks.
“Yeah. One is the heavy hitter. They take the target down and the other harvests the body parts once they’re down,” he mutters.
“Any proof?” Wisp asks, though not accusingly.
“None whatsoever, just a hunch. The scent is the same though there is only the one,” he admits. “It appeared first over there,” he points towards the entrance to the shrine, the Torii gate leaning precariously. There had been a heavy barrier on it before whatever did this destroyed it. The backlash from the barrier being destroyed would have disoriented the guardian long enough to make the first attack a surprise. “This was planned out,” he adds.
“Obviously, how else would they know how to get in here,” she says with a glare. Her hand reaches out and a small bit of thin wispy smoke emerges from her hand to scoop up a little of the guardian’s blood. “If they took its heart, they have a purpose for it. Maybe I can track it down before it’s used up,” she says before pulling out a vial and letting the blood drip into it before sealing it shut.
“I think we might need to look at previous cases, see if we can find a pattern. They’re too good at this to only be their what, third attack,” Shouta points out. “There’s got to be a pattern somewhere.”
“Yeah, I thought of that too. We’ll need to send word to other cities, have them start looking through their cases as well. They might not be local. Or they move too often for anyone to start noticing a pattern,” she adds.
“This isn’t going to stop any time soon, is it?” Shouta asks, though he’s not really expecting an answer. They both already know. If they’ve been going as long as they think without being caught, it’s going to be damned hard to pin them down.
“No,” Wisp answers anyway and then stands with a groan, stretching her arms over her head. “Come on, the faster we get done here, the faster you can get back to your Hatchling,” she says with a small smile.
Shouta nods and follows her over to where the Commission has set up a small tent to give their findings and theories.
Chapter Text
Mirio is with Nighteye when Eraserhead shows up. He had a work study day with him, so he’d already been there early that morning. He honestly expects them to ask him to leave as they discuss what happened recently. Instead, they allow him to sit in and listen as the older dragon lays out everything, including their own theories about what happened at the shrine attack.
“Why would they take its heart?” he asks, still a little confused by someone wanting body parts.
Nighteye sighs, but sits back, looking at him. “There are a few possibilities,” he admits. “Some spells use pieces of supernatural creatures, usually dark magic, corrupt magic, things meant to do more harm than good. Not to say that there aren’t spells that do good that use parts of the supernatural. It’s just for those, the pieces need to be freely given,” he explains. “The intent behind the spell is important.”
“There are also creatures with and other magical means of…absorbing another creature’s abilities by consuming pieces of other creatures. Consume part of a dragon and, depending on the dragon, gain some of their power. A Kitsune’s tail and gain a century of contained power. Pieces of fae, access to their magic. A guardian spirit only ever takes on a physical form to protect the place they guard. So the only way to get their heart,” Eraser says and pauses.
“Is to attack the shrine and make it take physical form,” Mirio says with a frown.
“Exactly,” Nighteye says wearily, rubbing his eyes. He looks like he’s been up all night. “This was definitely planned out. Someone did their research and made sure no one was close enough to aid the guardian too. There weren’t any priests at the shrine at the time who would have helped it fight,” he adds. “This came in an hour ago,” he hands a paper over to Eraserhead.
He reads it and sighs. “All dead,” he murmurs.
“All by small fry criminals who all say the same thing: they were hired by someone through a forum online. They were paid by wire transfer and given locations, descriptions and how best to take them down. One gave up the forum for a reduced sentence. I tried tracing the forum, but all their interactions had been wiped clean and what bits I could find bounced around from so many different locations I couldn’t track the original sender. Whoever did this is smart,” Nighteye explains. “Even the money transfer came from eight different accounts and each of those came from multiple more. There’s no way to figure out which was the true account and all are under different names.”
“Someone smart, with access to money and knowledgeable of the supernatural…that narrows it down, but if this is someone who’s been operating for a while like we think, then it’s someone who has been hiding and well enough to not be caught all this time. I doubt we’ll find them any time soon, not unless they slip up,” Eraser mutters, scrubbing a hand through his hair.
“We’ll, we’re not finding them today,” Nighteye says with a sigh. “You should go rest. I’ll let you know if I find anything out,” he adds.
“Thanks,” he mutters standing up. “Be safe, both of you. No unnecessary risks, got it,” he warns the two, looking longest at Mirio.
“Of course,” Miro says with a serious nod.
“I or one of my sidekicks in the know has been walking him to and from the train station, and one of the older civilian dragons in the area walks him the rest of the way home as a favor to me,” Nighteye reassures Eraser.
“Good to hear,” he says and glances at his phone as it beeps. “I’ll keep you updated too.” He nods one last time and then walks out, leaving just the two of them.
“Do you have any idea what this is?” Mirio asks Nighteye, worry churning in his stomach that something could make even Nighteye worry.
“No clue, but whatever it is means trouble for all of us until it’s taken down. No one is safe until then,” he admits grimly and Mirio nods.
~*~
Izuku waves to Aizawa and Yamada as their car pulls away on its way to Yuuei and then heads into the school. Things have been tense at home with the most recent attack. He’s not allowed to just wander their neighborhood alone anymore; at least not until whatever is attacking the supernatural is taken out. He’s okay with that, but it leaves him antsy and unsure what he can do to help.
He can see how worried Aizawa and Yamada are, both working to try and help figure out what this is and stop it. Over the last few weeks, he’s been driven to Akatani’s apartment rather than his own multiple times, Aizawa and Yamada busy working this case or helping cover for those who are.
It’s not that he doesn’t like spending time with Akatani. She’s nice and well informed. Her book collection alone has him spending time reading whatever catches his eye on the shelves. She even has some pre-quirk books which is amazing.
She doesn’t treat him differently because he’s quirkless either. In fact, she admitted to him that she herself is quirkless which had blown his mind. The number of quirkless people he’s met in Musutafu can fit on one hand with a finger to spare. Then again, she came from a time where quirklessness was a lot more common.
She even tells him stories about that time, of the things she saw and places she went. The events she took part in. She has so much history in her head having lived so long. It’s amazing to get first hand stories about things he’s only read about in history books and even then, they were only a few paragraphs long.
But still, he’s a little worried. It’s a stupid thought. Aizawa and Yamada assured him he was staying with them. That the only way he was leaving them was if he asked to, which he hasn’t. And Akatani said she wouldn’t try to take him from them. But it still feels a little like they’re easing him into being with her before they give over custody, which is ridiculous and yet his mind still keeps going back to it, worrying it like a sore tooth.
Like now for instance as he walks in the front doors and doesn’t hear someone calling his name. “Hey, earth to Midoriya,” Shinso mutters, tapping his head with his knuckles. Izuku blinks and realizes the taller teen is standing right next to him.
“Oh, Shinso-kun, good morning. Did you just get here?” he asks.
“I got here before you did and then you proceeded to walk right by me,” Shinso explains. “What’s got you all in that head of yours?” he asks with a frown.
“Oh, um…just…it’s nothing. My mind’s just being stupid,” Izuku says with a grimace and pushes the thoughts away.
He hadn’t expected to form such a quick friendship with Shinso. To be fair, he doesn’t have a healthy basis of what a proper friendship is, so maybe this is normal. His last friend was Kacchan and look how that turned out. Then again, it seemed more like Shinso pulled him into the friendship, offering his hand when Izuku hesitated to offer his. It helped that Izuku loves quirks and Shinso has such an interesting one.
Brainwashing, so cool! He knows Shinso has a voice component to his quirk from his singing, but he never guessed it would be brainwashing and the fact that Izuku went on a ten minute tirade about how cool the quirk was and asking so many questions about it, had apparently been enough to cement the idea of friendship to Shinso.
He still hasn’t asked about Izuku’s quirk, which is strange. Everyone always asks that first. All throughout his life, it was name, where they’re from, if they shared a friendship connection or family connection, and then quirk. It’s like society made a list of introductory questions to ask strangers and everyone follows it to a T.
“Must be serious then,” he mutters and Izuku looks up at him in confusion. “Sorry, ignore me. Come on, we’ll be late if we don’t hurry to class,” he says pointedly and Izuku nods, following to their shoe locker to change shoes before heading to their classes: Izuku, still in 3-F until he takes the upcoming midterm and Shinso in 3-A.
His new friend is smart, though he likes to downplay it. From the few things he’s told Izuku, most people are uncomfortable with his quirk and don’t want to interact with him. It’s the ones who want to be his friend he is wary of. Usually, they just want to use him for his quirk. It had apparently been a shock that Izuku both didn’t care about his quirk and wasn’t actively trying to become his friend to use said quirk.
“See you at lunch?” Shinso offers quietly, like he’s done for the last few days now. Letting Izuku decide which is a strange way of doing things, but is still nice all the same.
“Okay,” he agrees easily and then slips into his classroom as Shinso heads for 3-A.
Class is…boring. Well, not boring, but not enough to keep him distracted from his worried thoughts. He absently takes down notes as he ponders everything. He really wants to help, but he’s afraid if he asks to help, they’ll say he can’t. That they’ll say those words All Might told him months before.
Maybe they won’t. Aizawa and Yamada had been very clear that they don’t think his quirklessness equals weakness. That Izuku is worthy of love and attention and shouldn’t be subjected to bullies and quirkest people.
But what if they do? That’s the hitching point. No matter what, he’s only known Aizawa and Yamada for a few months now. That’s not enough time to truly know them. And what if they change their mind after having known him this long? Maybe All Might did tell them his thoughts on Izuku and they were just waiting to confirm it for themselves. Maybe they’re regretting taking him in and signing those documents that say he belongs with them now. Maybe they do want to give him to Akatani…
“Alright, now I’m getting worried,” a voice says lowly beside him and Izuku finally comes back to himself to see Shinso standing beside his desk, the classroom empty and the clock saying lunch has been going on for five minutes already.
“What?” Izuku says in shock, looking around. He glances at his notes to see them half done, incomplete after he got lost in his thoughts. “Oh, I’m sorry. I…I was distracted,” Izuku says, hurriedly putting his things away. He can’t make Shinso mad. He just became his friend. He can’t already be straining that tenuous tie.
“Hey, it’s fine,” Shinso says with a wave. “But really, is everything okay? You’ve been a little distracted the last couple days,” he murmurs.
“Oh, um…yeah, it’s fine. I…I just get caught up in my head and sometimes I lose track of time, you know,” Izuku waves off. No need to unpack all the things going on in his head, some of which he can’t even discuss with Shinso because it’s supernatural related and Shinso is human.
“Sure, I guess I get that,” Shinso says, not sounding fully convinced, but willing to let it slide. “Well, since we’re the only ones in here, we can just eat here,” he says and pops into the seat of the desk in front of Izuku.
“Oh, sure,” Izuku agrees and pulls out his lunch from his own bag.
“So, any new heroes you want to talk about?” Shinso asks leadingly with a knowing look and Izuku nods excitedly, grabbing his notebook to start unpacking the latest hero to debut.
By the time lunch ends, Izuku has thoroughly gone over the new hero’s whole deal, breaking down his quirk and his fighting style, all while Shinso has barely said a few words. The bell ringing to announce the end of lunch has him jumping and stopping mid-word. “What? Lunch is already over,” Izuku says with a frown, looking down to see he’d eaten his lunch without realizing.
“Yep, you seemed to have a lot to say about them,” Shinso says with a grin and taps his notebook.
“Oh, I just took over the conversation,” Izuku whispers, realizing he never let Shinso speak. “I’m so sorry. You should have stopped me,” Izuku says guiltily.
“I liked it,” Shinso admits and Izuku freezes, not sure how to take that statement. No one has ever said they liked when he rambles about heroes and quirks before. “You know a lot and since I want to be hero myself, it’s an information gold mine,” he adds with a sly grin.
“Y-you want to be a hero?” Izuku asks as Shinso packs his stuff up.
“Yeah, though I know a lot of people laugh at me or say they’d never let a villain be a hero,” he says with an eye roll on ‘villain’. “I still think I could be a good hero.”
“I think you’d be a great hero,” Izuku says excitedly. The sound of approaching steps has them hurrying up to finish packing their stuff.
“What about you?” Shinso asks and Izuku looks up at him. “Do you want to be a hero?” he asks.
“I…” Izuku’s throat gets tight, heartrate rising at his innocent question. Before he can even try to answer or Shinso can push, the door opens as the first few of his classmates arrive back to class. “Oh, y-you should probably head to class,” Izuku whispers, hands fisting on the hem of his shirt.
“Yeah,” Shinso says, eyeing Izuku. “I’ll see you later?” he offers and Izuku nods before Shinso grabs his things and heads out to his own class.
Izuku tucks himself back into his desk and ignores the others as they chat amongst themselves. No one notices him wiping at his eyes, a few frustrated tears welling up. Why couldn’t he answer Shinso? It used to be so easy, once upon a time, to answer that question. He hadn’t cared what his classmates, teachers, or even Kacchan said, because he was determined to be a hero.
How did one person’s words make him so hesitant? Why couldn’t he have lied to Izuku? Would it been right? Maybe not, but at least he wouldn’t constantly be doubting himself. It’s like All Might chose to say the one thing that would shatter what little faith Izuku had in himself and now he can’t even put the pieces back together.
Does he even want to be a hero anymore? Aizawa said that with him being a dragon now, he could have a way into heroics, but isn’t that cheating? He’d be using his new abilities to be a hero, but it doesn’t answer the question of whether he could have been a hero without becoming a dragon. Unfortunately, the only way to know this would be to ask and the last time he asked anyone led to his beliefs and trust being crushed.
Their teacher arrives and Izuku is forced to push those thoughts aside as they stand at attention to greet them before sitting to get to work. Even trying, it’s still a struggle to pay attention, his mind torn between so many discordant thoughts. By the time it’s time to go, he glad for the quiet of the car, Todoroki doing his own thing as he’s driven to Akatani’s apartment since Aizawa and Yamada are busy again today.
~*~
Tsubomi greets Izuku as he comes in as usual. When he just gives a mumbled greeting before heading to his room, expression pinched and smelling of lot of strong emotions, she lets him, frowning thoughtfully. She’ll admit, it’s been decades since she last entertained a teenager. There are a lot of gaps in her memory of what’s cool now and what’s not, but there is one thing she does remember about them: they’re so high strung, emotionally.
Everything is so important, so life or death, so…much in their minds. Then again, she’s aware that their minds haven’t even finished developing and that a lot of what they feel is magnified because of this. Which is why it’s hard to tell what is just teenage overthinking and what is an actual issue.
Aizawa read her in on Izuku’s life before he joined the ranks of dragon kin. Trauma and trust issues are in big, bold letters all across his relatively short story. It saddens her that Inko’s child has been treated so. She remembers the bright little girl she met so many decades ago. Izuku looks and acts a lot like Inko did, so full of curiosity and yet a strong sense of right and wrong.
She can’t help, but feel guilt for not being there for Izuku. Maybe if she hadn’t retired into obscurity, she might have been able to step in after Inko passed. It would have saved Izuku so much grief and trauma. She wasn’t there though and she has to live with that.
But she still needs to puzzle out if his mood is teenage angst or something she needs to step in on. She might have pegged it down to the recent attacks. Hell, it’s got everyone worried, not just children, but it’s been long enough since the last attack that she doubts it’s that and she hasn’t heard about another attack so it’s not that either. Besides, the kid has a good head on his shoulders and hadn’t fought them when they enforced extra measures to keep him safe.
She doesn’t think it’s school related. He’s come home with a little of the same scent on him quite a few days now, so she assumes he’s made a friend, which is good. They haven’t heard anything from teachers either, so nothing academically.
She lingers near the entryway where he stood the longest as he took his shoes and jacket off. His backpack is also set there. She draws in a deep breath, trying to parse through the scents caught in the fabric of the bag and jacket.
There’s anxiety and nervousness, but she’s known him for a bit now and has come to realize he is often such. She picks up uncertainty, a more subtle scent to distinguish, and sadness layered over each other. And a touch of…resignation? What could have possibly happened within the last few days to have caused this mix of emotions? They’re not fresh either, engrained over the last few days.
This isn’t just normal teenage angst. This is something she needs to figure out now or at least see if he would like to talk. Their relationship is still a little new, so she’s not sure how much he will be willing to tell her, but she has to try, if only because he deserves to have someone listen so he feels heard.
Tsubomi walks towards the guest room that Izuku has taken over here recently. With how often he’s stayed the night, Yamada and Aizawa often out late dealing with this crisis, the room has started to smell like him, a small stash of clothes and toiletries here for when he does stay over.
She stands there listening, but all she can make out is his steady breathing. Judging by the sound, he’s curled up in bed. She knocks gently on the door. “Izuku?” she calls softly, the boy having asked her to use his given name since they’re family.
“Y-yes?” he calls out quietly.
“Can I come in?” Tsubomi asks and waits.
“Yeah,” Izuku murmurs a few seconds later and she opens the door. She steps in and is greeted by the sight of Izuku curled up under his blanket, changed out of his uniform and into some more comfortable clothing. “Did you need something?” he asks quietly, sitting up a little.
“I just wanted to see how you’re doing,” Tsubomi says with a smile. She walks in and stops by his bed. “Mind if I sit?” she asks.
Izuku eyes her for a second before scooching back a little and she sits on the edge of the bed. “You seem a little…preoccupied,” she finally settles on, looking down at him.
“I’m fine,” he whispers, not meeting her gaze and lays back down.
“If you say so,” she says kindly. “You know, if you need to talk about anything, I’ll always listen. No matter how crazy or farfetched or irrational it seems. I won’t judge you,” she says gently.
Silence reigns for a long drawn out minute as Izuku thinks on her offer. Finally, he speaks, so softly she might not have heard if not for her enhanced hearing. “Am I going to be staying here from now on?” he asks, not able to look at her as he speaks, curling more into the blanket.
It takes a second to process his words and what he’s actually asking. For a child who has been pushed from one home to another, never able to truly settle in, this must look an awful lot like his previous homes. Sadness twists her heart, but she doesn’t let it show on her face.
“And what,” she asks playfully, bending closer, “makes you think that Aizawa-san and Yamada-san would ever let you go?”
“I don’t see them as much and I’m hardly ever back at the apartment and I said could I stay there by myself, but they said no. Do they not want me there?” he asks, sounding confused and lost.
“Oh, Hatchling,” she murmurs, seeing from his perspective how this all looks. “They’re not trying to move you out,” she murmurs, curving over him to lie on his other side, forcing Izuku to turn over to look at her as she lies there. “They’re just trying to protect you.”
Izuku still doesn’t look convinced. “Has Aizawa-san explained to you how emotions can be stronger for dragon kin?” she asks and he nods. “You’re aware of the recent attacks. The whole supernatural community is scared and worried. Right now, Aizawa-san’s fear is up and so is his protectiveness. I know for sure he would rather have you and his mate home in his territory where he can watch over you and protect you. That’s the dragon’s instincts: hole up and protect what is yours. But we can’t always do what the instincts want us to do,” she explains gently.
“They both have jobs and you have school. They’re both also heroes and are called in to do their jobs despite the current situation. It’s killing him to be away from you, not knowing what is going on. So, Aizawa-san did what he could to ease those instincts. He asked for help from me and a few others to watch over you so you’re safe. He did this because otherwise he would be distracted in the field and distractions can lead to mistakes, Hatchling,” she continues.
“I can take care of myself,” Izuku mutters, acting more like a teenager now.
“Oh, I’m sure you can,” Tsubomi agrees. “This isn’t saying you can’t take care of yourself,” she says pointedly. “You’re a child, Izuku. Barely fifteen years old. That’s not a lot of years, for dragon kin or human. You’ve got a little training under your belt, but not enough. Izuku, this thing that is hunting supernatural kind, it won’t care that you’re a child. It won’t care that you’re quirkless or can take care of yourself. It has taken down beings that it shouldn’t have been able to take down,” she says pointedly and Izuku stares at her. “It’s smart, fast, strong and ruthless.”
“Having you with someone at all times is our way of ensuring you never have to face this thing. It’s our way of protecting you and it sucks, but it won’t be forever,” she explains gently, holding a hand out to him and he takes it. “And you’re not the only one going through this either. Your friend, Togata-san, is also facing the same thing and he’s a second year heroics student at Yuuei. This isn’t a judgment on your abilities. It’s a judgment on the threat level,” she finishes.
“So they don’t regret taking me in?” he asks quietly, uncertainty heavy in his voice.
“Oh, child, no,” Tsubomi says fiercely, wrapping an arm around his shoulders to pull him into a hug. “Taking you in as their Hatchling is their greatest joy. Everything they have done is for you. I know it’s hard to trust after what you have gone through, but I can say with the utmost certainty that it would take death itself to pry you three apart and even then. Aizawa-san and Yamada-san would find a way to come back to life to get back to you,” she says with a small smile at him.
He doesn’t say anything, but he presses his face into her shoulder. She doesn’t hear any crying, but she feels him shudder a little. She just holds him tighter and lets him work through this in his own time. It’s obvious that this has been on his mind for a few days now.
Finally, he relaxes and when he pulls back, his eyes are a little red, but dry and he sniffs a little. “How about we do something fun to take our minds off of everything?” she offers and he nods, a small, tremulous smile on his face.
They end up baking cookies from a recipe her mother gave her almost two centuries ago. She drags out blankets and pillows and while the cookies bake, they make a small pillow fort/nest area and put on some old, pre-quirk movies to while away the time.
He gorges himself on cookies and some dinner before passing out at nearly 11, exhausted after the emotional afternoon. She gets a text from Aizawa that he and his mate are on their way to check on Izuku before heading back to the apartment rather than wake him up to drag him all the way back there.
She’s waiting for them and lets them in at the light knock on her door. They both look exhausted. They’ve been running themselves ragged trying to track down this monster that is preying on them.
“Akatani-san,” Aizawa mutters, waiting to be let further into her territory.
“Aizawa-san, Yamada-san,” she greets them and steps back to let them in. “Before you go home, we need to talk,” she murmurs as they walk into the living room where Izuku is still passed out in the fort.
They both nod and follow her into the kitchen, shutting the door to keep their voices from carrying and possibly waking Izuku up. “What’s up?” Aizawa asks as they both sit across from her.
“I think you need to take a step back from this case,” she says simply.
They don’t outright say no, which is a good thing. “Why?” Yamada asks.
“Izuku asked me today if he was going to be staying here from now on, rather than with you,” she lays out bluntly, no need to sugarcoat it.
It doesn’t take Aizawa long to connect the dots. “He thinks we don’t want him,” he murmurs, a pained look crossing his face.
“I think he’s been pushed onto someone else so much that he doesn’t know that this isn’t like before,” Tsubomi says easily. “Some trauma patterns are hard to see passed, especially for children.”
“Jeez, we were so focused on keeping him safe, we didn’t realize how this would look,” Yamada mutters, rubbing at his face.
“Mistakes happen,” Tsubomi murmurs and rests a hand on his fist on the table. “Fix it. Take some time away from the case. You both look exhausted. I know it’s important to stop this monster, but not at the expense of your family or your health. You’re not the only two working this case. Others can step in while you take a break,” she advises. “Be there for your Hatchling.”
“I…yeah,” Aizawa murmurs, straightening from his slight slump. “Do you mind if we stay the night?” he asks.
“Of course. I’m sure we can widen the fort to make room without waking him,” she says with a smile and stands. It doesn’t take long to drag out more blankets and pillows and adjust the fort to make room for two grown adults. She leaves them to get comfortable and goes to her own bed, pleased she was able to help.
~*~
Izuku wakes to his alarm going off on his phone. Groaning, he feels around for it to shut it off without opening his eyes and his hand lands on something soft and warm. Frowning, he opens his eyes to see an arm under his hand. He follows it to a shoulder and the rest of the body before he realizes he staring at Yamada, the blond starting to wake up from the alarm still going off.
A different arm reaches over Izuku and easily turns off the alarm on the phone and Izuku looks back to see Aizawa behind him. “What?” he asks sleepily, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. “How come you’re here?” he asks.
“Are we not allowed to be here, Hatchling?” Aizawa asks quietly, sitting up as well with a stretch.
“I…you don’t usually stay,” he mumbles, looking down at his lap and then jumps as an arm wraps around his shoulders, pulling him back into a loose hug as Yamada sits up.
“Well, we missed you. We’ve been so busy here lately we could barely see or think straight half the time. I know we see each other every day, but that doesn’t mean we don’t miss you,” Yamada murmurs. “We know this has been hard on you, Izuku,” he continues. “We never meant for you to think we didn’t care anymore.”
“It’s stupid,” Izuku whispers, eyes growing hot and damp with tears and he wipes at them angrily.
“It’s not stupid,” Aizawa says, reaching out to grab his hand and squeeze it gently. “Stopping this monster is important, but being there for you is just as important if not more important. We made a mistake, but we’d like to fix it, if you’ll let us. Will you forgive us?” he asks gently, expression soft, but gaze serious.
He can’t stop the tears this time, but he doesn’t try as he nods and the two lean into him, hugging tight. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed their hugs until they started to taper off with how busy they’ve been.
Eventually, they pull away, but that spot in his chest all knotted up and hurting eases. Not completely, but it’s not so sharp and aching like it was. “We’re taking a few days away from the case,” Yamada explains to him. “We’ll still be a part of it, but we need a break. We still have work and you still have school, but if you want to have a rest day, we can all call out,” he offers with a small grin.
Izuku shakes his head, despite how tempting it is. “I have a test today,” he mumbles, but smiles at Yamada being willing to call him out of school simply so they can all have a rest day.
“All right,” he says with an overly dramatic sigh. “It’s Friday so we’ll have the weekend to just do whatever we want. How about you start thinking about anything you might like to do, okay? I think we could all use some fun,” he adds with a wink.
“Okay,” Izuku agrees.
A tap on a doorframe has them all looking up to see Akatani in the doorway. “Breakfast?” she offers with a smile.
“I’ll help,” Yamada says, standing quickly after squeezing Izuku’s shoulder and follows her into the kitchen.
Izuku tentatively leans into Aizawa and the man lets him, curling an arm around his shoulder as they lean back against the mountain of pillows behind them. “So, what’s the test on?” he asks quietly and Izuku starts telling him about what’s been going on in school.
~*~
Things change for the better. The threat of attack is still there, but it’s been a few weeks without another one, so there’s not much to do, but wait and hope they’ve stopped. Yamada and Aizawa come to a bit of a compromise, one of them usually home while the other works the case or is out on patrol. Unless something happens that needs them both, they keep it that way.
He still goes to Akatani’s apartment at least a couple times a week because they have work at their own agencies, but Izuku isn’t sleeping over like he was. It’s not perfect, but the fact that they’re keeping their word is worth a lot more than perfect.
Days go by though, and before Izuku realizes it, their midterms are there. He studies for it because he doesn’t want to disappoint Aizawa and Yamada. The day of is a bit nerve-wracking, but he plows through the tests.
That afternoon, as the car drives him where Aizawa is waiting for him today, he looks over at Todoroki. Things haven’t really improved with him, the other boy simply not seeming interested in talking much with him, or friendship of any kind. Izuku’s not sure if it’s because of him, and him being quirkless like it usually is with other kids his age, or if it’s something else. Maybe he just has higher standards for friends being the number two hero’s son and Izuku just doesn’t meet those standards.
He only ever really interacts with Todoroki on the car ride, the other boy not seen much in school. Shinso is in class with him and he says he’s just as cold and distant to everyone in class, so maybe that’s just who he is.
The car pulls up outside of his apartment and Izuku gathers his things. “Have a good day, Todoroki-san, Higuchi-san,” he murmurs, the driver nodding as Todoroki just hums softly before he slides out and heads inside, the car not pulling away until the door to the building shuts behind him with a click.
“Hey, Hatchling,” Aizawa greets as Izuku comes in the door. “How’d your midterms go?” he asks as he works on some papers from his classes.
“Good. I think I did okay on them,” Izuku admits, setting his bag down by the couch and sitting down near Aizawa.
“Good to hear,” he murmurs and leans back with a stretch. “How about we do some stretches and exercises. I’m feeling a little tight,” he offers and Izuku nods eagerly. They both get up and move the coffee table and couch to make more room, Aizawa grabbing the mats they keep at home.
Izuku runs to his room to get changed into something comfortable and then comes back out. Aizawa leads them through some light yoga and meditation before moving onto working on his shifting. He’s been doing better at halting his change at the cusp, but it still needs work, so they focus on that.
He’s so focused on the exercise that he doesn’t hear the door open as Yamada comes in. So he’s not expecting the man to come up behind him dig his fingers in teasingly, tickling Izuku. Izuku yelps, pulls away and loses his hold of the shift and ends up shifting into his dragon form abruptly.
He wiggles out of his t-shirt to look up at Yamada who at least looks apologetic. “Sorry about that, little listener. I thought you heard me come in,” he murmurs.
Aizawa just snorts. “I think we’re done for the day. Change back and we’ll get started on dinner,” he tells Izuku and he nods.
Izuku shifts back and sits up, already pulling on his clothes. Thankfully they got him a body suit to wear under his clothes that shift with him, so he’s not naked. Once he’s dressed, he follows into the kitchen to help with making dinner, listening to their days as they work together.
~*~
“What?” Izuku asks in surprise as Gyanju finishes explaining why she called him into her office with Aizawa and Yamada.
“I thought you would like to know. Midoriya-kun, with your midterm scores, you jumped from 3-F all the way to3-A,” she says again, like Izuku didn’t hear the first time. “That’s quite the feat. Not many would have been able to do that. I felt congratulations are in order. Your homeroom teacher will inform you of this and you’ll be heading to 3-A’s homeroom shortly afterwards,” she adds.
“Look at that, not bad,” Aizawa says with a faint grin.
“See, nothing to worry about. We knew you would do well,” Yamada says with his own smile.
“I know you both have busy schedules, so I won’t hold you much longer. Not much will change in the day to day, though with Izuku’s scores, I’m sure quite a few clubs might come asking him to join,” she jokes and Izuku ducks his head.
“You good here, Hatchling?” Aizawa asks lowly.
“I’m okay,” Izuku murmurs, a little anxious with the sudden change. “I just wasn’t expecting such a big jump,” he admits. His grades had always been lackluster at best in Aldera. Not enough to be suspicious, but low enough that he was never in the top ten of the class. He knows now it was his teachers’ doing, wanting to keep the quirkless student from outshining the kids with the more heroic quirks. It feels strange to have his smarts be acknowledged and celebrated, let alone be shown for all to see.
“Alright, well we need to get to work, but we’ll celebrate tonight. How about some katsudon,” Hizashi offers and Izuku grins and nods. “Thank you for letting us know, Gyanju-sensei. It means a lot to hear,” he adds to the principal.
“Of course, this is a big achievement and needs to be known,” she agrees easily.
Izuku stands with the two and follows them out, Gyanju bringing up the rear. He gets one last hug from both and then they head out, Izuku turning to head to his class, a pass in his hand in case he doesn’t get there before the bell rings.
He barely makes it before the late bell rings and stuffs the pass in his pocket. Announcements are a little different that morning. His teacher calls him and a few other students to the front of the class to inform the rest that they will be moving up a class and where they’re going. There are a lot of murmurs when she tells Izuku’s jump, a few even cheering, which is strange.
Afterwards, he’s told to pack his stuff up and head to 3-A, that the teacher is expecting him. He’s not the only student in the hall. Quite a few are heading up and down as they change classes, most happy, but a few looking despondent as they go down a class.
Shinso, when he walks into 3-A, grins and waves as the teacher announces him and then points him to a seat thankfully right next to Shinso. “Dude, congrats,” Shinso whispers as the class gets settled down.
“Thanks,” Izuku whispers back, flushing a little and class continues once everyone gets settled down.
~*~
“Alright class,” Watanabe-sensei, their history teacher, calls out two days later after Izuku has switched classes. The class quiets down and focuses on her. “Now that the midterms are behind us, we can shift gears, so to speak. For the rest of the semester, you will be working on a group project. It will be 25% of your final grade and you will be expected to present it to the rest of the class in the last week of the semester.”
“Will we get to choose our topic?” one student asks.
“I have a list of approved topics to choose from,” she says, holding up a stack of paper.
“Do we get to pick our group?” one girl asks, glancing towards her friends in the next row who grin.
“No,” Watanabe-sensei says simply and the class groans. “I have already chosen the groups. I’ll call them out shortly, but just know I will not be changing the groups. You must work together. A failure to work together will not excuse you from poor work. If someone is refusing to do their share, then come speak with me and their grade will reflect their effort. Understood?” she calls and the class agrees.
“Alright, listen up for your group,” she says and starts to run down the list. Izuku’s only half listening and jumps when he hears his names called out. “Midoriya Izuku, along with Shinso Hitoshi and Todoroki Shouto,” she says and continues to the next group.
Izuku stares at Shinso in shock, the taller teen grinning. He looks at Todoroki, but the teen’s face is as blank as ever. “Alright, please get together with your group. You may move the desks. Once you are all grouped, I will pass out the packets of approved topics and then you’ll have the rest of class to decide what you want to do and start dividing out the work. I expect you to have decided on a topic by the end of class,” she warns.
Izuku stands and walks over to Shinso. “Looks like we’re grouped up,” he says with a grin and Izuku nods. There are soft steps approaching and Izuku looks over to see Todoroki has walked over.
“H-Hi, Todoroki-kun,” Izuku greets softly.
“We have been grouped up,” he states bluntly.
“Yeah,” Shinso says with a bored look at the teen. “Take a seat I guess,” he says and Todoroki does, turning the desk in front of Shinso around as Izuku grabs his and drags it closer. Watanabe-sensei walks by and sets down the packet of topics.
“Um, I guess let’s get started,” Izuku says softly and reaches for the paper.
~*~
“Ugh, it’s like talking to a brick wall,” Shinso grumbles as he and Izuku eat lunch after their history class had ended.
Izuku picks at his lunch. “Maybe h-he’s just shy,” Izuku mutters. It had been a little difficult to get Todoroki to talk and when he did talk, he spoke as few words as possible. He hadn’t had any opinions on the topics and had just gone with whatever Shinso and Izuku had decided on.
“That is not shy,” Shinso mutters, grabbing his drink and opening it to take a gulp from it. “I’d say that was robotic, but I feel like even robots would have an opinion.”
“Maybe he’s not used to…to having an opinion,” Izuku whispers, recalling the tense atmosphere at the Todoroki home and the way he had acted around Endeavor. Shinso looks at him with a frown. “I-it must be hard to be the son of the number two hero. I’m sure he has to deal with the media a lot and is expected to act and look a certain way, you know,” Izuku explains.
“I guess,” Shinso mutters with a sigh. “He needs to grow a backbone and a sense of self because he’s going to be the son of Endeavor forever otherwise,” he points out.
“It’s hard to get rid of labels others put on you,” Izuku murmurs, recalling his own labels. “Maybe we can help him,” he says louder. “Maybe he doesn’t have many friends,” he adds.
“Why can’t we just ignore the problem and go on with our lives?” Shinso asks without any real heat to it.
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Izuku says simply and Shinso groans, but doesn’t deny it.
~*~
“Um, I think this will go better if we all meet up to work on this,” Izuku admits after looking over the syllabus the next day in class. It seems like it’s going to require a lot of work both in class and out of class.
“We could always just hit up the library after school and put in some extra time,” Shinso offers, sounding bored.
“I usually have training after school,” Todoroki says simply.
“And, um…he’s my ride home,” Izuku admits with a wince when Shinso looks at him. “It’s complicated and temporary,” he adds quickly to him. “I’d explain, but I’m not allowed to,” he adds.
“Fine, so no to staying after school unless we can get our schedules to match up. We could meet up at one of our houses,” Shinso offers. “My house is a no for the most part. My grandmother is very strict on who she lets over, so…,” Shinso mutters, rubbing the back of his neck.
“We will not use mine,” Todoroki says sharply, expression going hard for a moment before it smooths out.
“Um…we could probably use my apartment, though I’d have to ask my foster parents,” Izuku says, not sure how to bring that up. “Maybe if they give to okay, we could just give you a ride with us Shinso-kun, rather than you taking the train…um, if your dad is okay with it, Todoroki-kun,” he adds.
Todoroki frowns. “I could convince him,” he says simply.
“Okay, I’ll talk with my foster parents and let you know tomorrow,” Izuku says with a shaky smile.
~*~
“A group project?” Yamada asks as he stands in front of the stove. It’s just the two of them, Aizawa called in early for a case.
Izuku nods from his spot at the kitchen table working on homework. “Yeah, in history. We need to meet up, but our schedules aren’t meshing well,” Izuku admits with a frown, erases something on his math work and writes in a new symbol.
“Yeah, group projects are always fun,” he agrees with a grin.
“I said we could meet up at someone’s house after school, but apparently Shinso-san’s grandmother is strict on who can come over and Todoroki-san said no, so…um…would it be okay if they come over here?” he asks quietly, fidgeting with his pencil.
“Of course, little listener,” Yamada says with a big grin. “This isn’t a prison you know. You can have friends and classmates over,” he assures him. “Just let us know ahead of time, okay?” he bargains and Izuku nods. “Now, what topic did you three decide on?” he asks.
~*~
It’s not until a week later that they manage to get their schedules to match up. Or more like, Todoroki doesn’t have training for once and is able to join him and Shinso. “Your dad is okay with this?” Midoriya asks quietly as they start to head for the front of the school, Shinso following as they go to their usual spot to wait for Higuchi.
“He didn’t care, so long as it doesn’t infringe on training and it’s for school,” Todoroki murmurs.
“Dude, how much are you freaking training?” Shinso asks with a frown.
“Every day, usually,” Todoroki says, not seeming to notice the worried frown on Shinso’s face. “High school exams are coming up soon. I need to be prepared,” he adds.
“Right,” Shinso mutters and glances at Izuku who shrugs. “Well, I can stay late if we need to. My grandmother said she’s cool to pick me up whenever,” he tells Izuku.
“Yamada-san said if you’d like, you guys can stay for dinner,” Izuku murmurs.
“We’ll see. My grandmother might have dinner already planned for us,” Shinso says with a shrug.
“Oh, well, that’s okay,” Izuku says with a smile.
“Sorry, she’s really strict about family dinners, you know,” Shinso apologizes.
“I can possibly stay, though I will need to inform Higuchi,” Todoroki says evenly.
“Okay, oh, there he is,” he adds, pointing to the approaching car. It pulls up beside them and they climb in, Higuchi introducing himself to Shinso before the car pulls away. The ride starts out quiet, Todoroki doing his usual silent stare out the window. Izuku and Shinso eventually start talking when it appears he won’t, mainly about the new hero Izuku saw the debut of on the news.
“Excuse me everyone,” Higuchi speaks up from the front and they look ahead. “It appears there is some road construction, so I will need to detour. It should only delay us a few minutes,” he explains.
“Okay,” Izuku agrees easily. He looks ahead through the windshield to see he’s right, the road blocked off as a construction crew starts setting up their gear, a detour sign posted up.
It’s only because he’s still looking ahead that he spots another detour sign ahead as Higuchi drives further along the road. “Man, there’s a lot of construction going on here. I don’t remember them announcing any road work,” Izuku mutters, thinking back on the news and can’t recall any scheduled work. Maybe it’s emergency work? Or maybe a villain fight happened and damaged some stuff. He pulls out his phone to start looking to see if any villain fights happened in the area.
A few minutes of searching finds nothing having happened in the area within the last few weeks. In fact, nothing is scheduled maintenance wise for this area and there are no alerts of emergency work either. “I need you three to focus on me for a moment,” Higuchi says suddenly, voice low, and all three glance his way. “It would seem someone is trying to direct our vehicle somewhere more secluded,” he says, dark eyes glancing back at them through the rearview mirror.
“What?” Todoroki asks sharply.
“H-how do you know that?” Izuku asks.
“The last detour we just passed through moved after we passed to block traffic from coming in behind us,” he speaks up and Izuku turns around to look, but they’ve already turned a corner and the blockage is out of sight.
“What do we do?” Shinso speaks up, eyes wide with panic.
“My job is to protect anyone in this car and I will, but we must not panic,” Higuchi instructs. “I’m fairly certain that soon, we are going to be forced to stop the car and they will try to get us out of the car. This car is rated to handle large scale attacks, but I’d rather not test it. Midoriya-san,” he speaks up and Izuku jumps a little.
“Yes,” he gets out, panic starting to make his heart beat heavily in his ears.
“We are not far from Akatani’s home,” he says and Izuku frowns, looking around. He doesn’t recognize these roads they’ve been detoured on, but they usually pass near her apartment building on the way to his home, so they shouldn’t be too far from it. “Do you think you can navigate the three of you to her place while I hold off whoever is doing this?” he asks.
“I…I think so,” he says and quickly pulls up the maps on his phone to see where they are and where her apartment building is. It’s not too far, maybe a ten minute walk, or a short run. “Yeah, we could get there if we run.”
“Good, the three of you, when we do stop, will stay together and head towards there. I have already sent an alert out, but I do not know how quickly they will get here,” he orders, the car already starting to slow and as they look ahead, they find the road blocked by multiple cars and see two…things…people?...standing in their way.
“Stay together,” he orders as the car stops.
“What about you?” Izuku asks, heart rabbiting in his chest.
Higuchi looks back, darkness starting to film across his eyes. “I will do my job. Now move,” he orders and opens his door, stepping out.
They scramble out of the car, leaving their stuff, though Izuku keeps a hand on his phone. “This way,” he hisses and the two follow as he darts down an alleyway as Higuchi walks towards the two figures.
They get half way down the alley when there’s an inhumane screech before the ground quakes slightly. They look back in time to see something wreathed in black flames goes flying back, one of the creatures clashing with it.
The earth shivers again as something heavy lands at the mouth of the alley and they stare as the second thing lands in a small crater behind them. “Go,” Shinso yells and they scramble away, legs pumping as the thing gives a low groaning moan.
It bounds after them in short bursts, each landing making the ground judder. “Here,” Izuku directs, glancing at his phone to see they’re almost to a major roadway. Maybe they can get help. There’s another low moan behind them and then they’re forced to skid to a halt as the thing lands twenty feet in front of them, blocking their way.
“What is that thing?” Shinso demands as they turn and run down a different alley.
“I don’t know,” Izuku huffs out. He glances down at his phone and trips. He loses his grip and it clatters to the ground. Before he can try and grab it, the ground shudders behind them again and he’s forced to leave it as they take another turn, hoping they’re not lost in these stupid alleys.
He wants to cry as they take another turn and find themselves at a dead-end. “No, no, no no, we need to get out of here,” Shinso mutters, looking around frantically.
The ground shudders and they look back to see it’s still behind them. They back up to the wall behind them as it paces forward. “Where’s Higuchi-san?” Izuku asks, hoping the driver will appear.
It jumps at them and Izuku presses back as Todoroki steps forward and the air suddenly gets a lot colder around them, a huge glacier suddenly springing forward like a spear to catch the thing mid-jump. “You caught it,” Izuku says in amazement.
“Dude, why not lead with that?” Shinso asks, still looking scared.
“It’s against the law to use a quirk outside of sanctioned areas,” Todoroki reminds them.
“I think stopping some monster from killing us is a sanctioned time to use a damn quirk,” Shinso huffs out shakily.
“Do you think there’s room to get passed it so we can get away from it?” Izuku asks, eyeing the huge glacier currently taking up space in the small alley they’re in.
“No,” Todoroki admits. “I should have controlled it better and left room,” he mutters.
“Dude, you stopped it, that’s a lot more important,” Shinso assures him.
“Maybe we could climb-,” Izuku starts to say before a loud crack breaks the quiet around them.
They all look towards the ice and watch as another crack snakes through the ice. “Is it breaking the ice?” Shinso asks, sounding so done with everything.
Before anyone can comment the ice spider-webs with cracks and then shatters. It rains down shards and chunks of ice, the three of them shielding their faces to not be hit. The ground shudders as the thing lands and they stare at it, waiting to see what it does.
It seems almost slowed from before, barely moving with the cold, but how long will that last? “Think you could catch it again?” Shinso asks Todoroki who frowns.
“Maybe, but if it broke through the first one, it will break through more ice and it will be anticipating it now,” he warns.
“Damn,” Shinso mutters.
It finally seems to be coming around, large bulbous head rising to stare at them with flat eyes. Thick legs flex like it’s about to jump straight at them, Todoroki shifting to throw another glacier at it when something lands between them and the monster.
It takes Izuku a second to realize what he’s looking at as the figure stands up. “Akatani-san?” Izuku asks, relief sharp in his chest.
“Sorry I took so long, Izuku-kun. I was unsure where you three had run to until I saw the glacier,” she says, glancing back slightly to look at them. “Stay back, I will handle this. More help is on the way, okay,” she murmurs and they nod.
She turns back to face the monster and suddenly the air feels heavier. The part of his mind that Izuku is starting to recognize as his dragon side shivers, wanting him to make himself smaller and he realizes it’s him reacting to her draconic presence.
“How about you face off against someone your size,” Akatani murmurs, voice a low growl.
It gives another low moan and rushes her, a large club like arm with claws striking down at her and she just bats it away, though even then, it seems to take effort to do so. “Who made you?” she asks lowly as it straightens, unhurt by her hit or its collision with the wall of the alley.
It just moans again and lunges. Akatani curses and Izuku watches as she lunges forward herself, knocking it back even as she shifts. He’s never seen her shift before, though he’s seen her scales a couple of times.
She’s not as big as he was expecting, but she’s still bigger than the monster, claws digging into thick hide to grab on as she clings to it. It moans again in anger and starts to buck, slamming her into the walls of the alley, trying to dislodge her.
She keeps shifting away from its large, clawed hand, using her own claws to open small gashes on its hide. Not deep, or serious, but enough to anger it and make it focus on her. It goes on for minutes and Izuku thinks she’s winning, until it manages to get its smaller arm around one of her legs.
It yanks with force and jerks her forward at the same time as its large hand comes forward. With a shrieked roar, red blooms across her grey scales as the claws sink deep into her side. With a hiss of anger, she bites down at it, over and over, fangs finding purchase in the thinner skin of its neck.
With an angry moan, it uses the hold to claw at her again and then tosses the dragon aside, the wall she lands against shuddering, a few chunks raining down as cracks snake up it. It turns away from her, lumbering towards them and Izuku stares on in horror, eyes drawn to the red coating its hide.
It’s only as it gets close enough that he hears the creaking, like stone grinding against stone. Its steps slow until it just stops, large arm mid raise to strike at them. “What?” Shinso whispers out where they’re huddled against the back wall.
Izuku stares at the monster and it takes a second to realize its dark grey hide has changed color and texture. He creeps forward, heart in his throat and gets close enough to see it’s not breathing, or moving. Not even a twitch. Hand shaking, he reaches forward and presses against its skin to find cold stone.
“It’s stone,” he whispers, looking back at the other two. “It turned to stone.”
Heart in his throat he runs around the monster and skids to a halt beside Akatani’s head. The older dragon is still sprawled out on the alley floor with blood welling up sluggishly from the deep puncture wounds in her side. “Akatani-san, are you okay?” he asks shakily, running trembling hands across her scaled muzzle.
There’s a low groan from her and pale grey green eyes open to look up at him. “It turned to stone. Was that you?” he asks quietly and she nods, lifting her head to look towards the creature before laying it back down.
“She’s losing a lot of blood,” Todoroki speaks up.
“I don’t know what to do,” Izuku whispers, hands shaking.
All three look up as footsteps approach before a shadowy figure approaches, black flames still flickering around his form. “Good, you’re safe,” Higuchi murmurs, a strange reverberation in his voice. They can see slash marks in his clothes, but there’s no sign of blood.
He kneels down beside Akatani. “I can cauterize the wound, but it’ll hurt,” he tells her and she nods. He moves towards her side and more dark flames wrap around his hand before he presses it against the first puncture wound. A low growl rumbles in the alley, her claws digging into the ground. It goes on a few more times before he finishes and sits back, the rest of the black flames flickering out and he’s left looking pale and exhausted.
In the distance, they can just start to hear sirens approaching. “You’ll need to shift. I don’t know who is coming,” he tells her softly.
There’s a low groan of protest and then she starts to shrink, scales receding as she turns back human. While most of her clothes were shredded when she shifted, she does have on a body suit similar to what Izuku usually wears, so she’s thankfully not naked. There is a gash in the side though that was ripped open by the creature.
“Fuck this hurts,” Akatani mutters, clutching her side where it has started to bleed again, reopened a little from her shift.
Higuchi offers his jacket to her and she thanks him. “Are you three okay?” she asks breathlessly, leaning heavily against the alley wall.
“Yeah,” Shinso says, seeming in shock by what happened.
The sirens close in and soon the alley swarms with police and paramedics. The three of them are put into an ambulance together when it’s obvious they’re not seriously hurt while Higuchi goes with Akatani. They stick together as it takes them to the hospital.
Chapter Text
Shouta is at Tsukauchi’s police precinct helping look over a case when the alert goes off on his phone. He takes one look at the SOS message and the coordinates underneath it, and jumps up, Tsukauchi a step behind.
They get to the scene too late, the ambulances having already left. He’d received a text from Hizashi that he was on the way to the hospital Izuku and the others had been taken to, texted by the driver. Rage burns in his chest and he has to keep a tight hold on it to not lash out as he stalks through the alleys, following the trail of fear left by three teens and a similar scent he’d smelled at the other attack scenes.
He finds where the fight went down, the scent of blood heavy in the air and puddled on the ground, already dried and turning brown. The stone figure draws his gaze and he walks closer. The area has been cordoned off by Commission officials and those not in the know have been replaced by those apart of the supernatural community.
“We think this is what has been attacking the supernatural,” Mera speaks up as he walks over with a faint frown on his tired face.
“You think?” Shouta asks, looking around.
“We won’t know without tests and unfortunately,” he gestures to the stone figure. “I will take some time to get any results. The driver killed the other one and reduced it to ash. We’ve collected the ash and are hoping to find something there.”
“This thing doesn’t look intelligent enough to be anything more than an attack dog,” Shouta growls.
“It’s not,” Mera agrees. “Higuchi gave a brief statement before he left. Someone put up fake detours along the route to force the car to a more secluded spot,” he murmurs.
“Someone is controlling these creatures,” Shouta mutters, putting the pieces together. “They’ve been watching us, knew the route the driver normally took to take Izuku home,” he murmurs.
“Two young dragons are easy prey, if you get them away from their guard,” Mera points out. “Even with Todoroki’s training.”
“Do we have any idea who this mastermind is?” Shouta asks, a cold dread worming in his chest.
“No, but I’m looking into it. We’re combing cameras to see who was putting up the false detours and we’ll track them down, see who paid them to do it. The money has to lead somewhere. We’ve got people already starting to ask around the underbelly, seeing if anyone has a hit out on the two specifically or if they were just an easy target,” Mera assures him.
“How is Akatani?” he asks, glancing at the blood on the ground.
“She’ll live from what I’ve heard so far. She might need to rest for a while, but she’ll pull through,” Mera reassures Shouta. “Here,” he adds and pulls out a phone from his pocket, the screen cracked. “Midoriya’s phone. We found it when we were combing the area,” he explains.
“Thanks,” Shouta murmurs, tucking it into his pocket. “Keep me updated,” he demands.
“Of course,” Mera agrees and then Shouta turns away. Tsukauchi is waiting for him and gives Shouta a lift to the hospital, needing to see for himself that Izuku is okay and safe.
~*~
Izuku sits quietly in the room with Shinso and Todoroki as the doctor stitches up Akatani and dresses the wounds. Higuchi is staying outside the door and said he’s already texted everyone’s parents or guardians to inform them where they are. Now that the fear and adrenaline has faded, he feels tired and shaky. The other two are just as quiet, seemingly lost in thought.
The doctor leaves when they’re done and they’re left with Akatani. “How are you three holding up?” she asks in the quiet.
“A-alright,” Izuku whispers.
“Fine,” Todoroki mutters.
“Fine, I guess,” Shinso mutters, glancing down at his phone as it dings a text.
“Are you okay?” Izuku asks, walking over to her.
“Eh, I’ll be fine. I’ve gotten worse,” she jokes with a laugh and then winces when it pulls on the stitches. She holds out her hand and Izuku takes it. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she murmurs.
“I was scared,” Izuku whispers, squeezing her hand a little.
“Hey, it’s alright to be scared. I was scared too,” she admits softly just to him. “Being scared means you recognized the seriousness of the situation. I would have been worried if you weren’t scared,” she tells him and he sniffs a little.
“Izuku!” Yamada’s voice calls out as the door opens and Izuku jerks around to see the blond standing in the room breathing hard like he ran here. “Oh thank goodness,” Yamada says, rushing over and Izuku lets him pull him into a hug. He can feel how hard his heart is beating and how his hands are shaking where they’re pressed against his back.
“I’m okay,” Izuku assures him, relief sweet as he finally relaxes now that another of his people is here.
Yamada steps back a bit to look him over, taking in the lack of injuries besides a few small cuts from flying debris. He turns to Akatani who has lifted the head of the bed up to see better. “Thank you, Akatani-san, for protecting him and the others,” he murmurs, reaching out to take her hand.
“That’s what family does,” she says easily with a smile at Izuku.
“Where’s Aizawa-san?” Izuku asks softly.
“He’s on his way,” Yamada reassures him. “He was out of the apartment and had to travel further. He texted me he stopped by the scene to look it over before coming here since I was already on my way,” he explains and Izuku nods.
“Shouto, I got here as fast as I could,” Fuyumi calls out as she comes in the room. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” she asks quickly, pulling the awkward teen into a hug.
“I’m fine, Fuyumi. Barely any scratches. There’s no need to fuss,” he murmurs.
“You were attacked,” Fuyumi reminds him pointedly. “I think I’m allowed to fuss. Father is being called in to help investigate the attack so he asked me to handle all the medical stuff. Any idea when they’re going to release you?” she asks him.
“I don’t know,” he says softly.
“Alright, I’ll go ask around and see what they say,” she says with a forced smile, worry still evident in her eyes.
“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Yamada speaks up and she nods gratefully before stepping out of the room.
Silence settles over the room as Yamada takes one of the chairs by the bed Izuku had been sitting on and Izuku sits back on it as well, telling the man quietly what had happened. Fuyumi comes back and says the doctor will be back in about an hour to look them over one more time before discharging them.
Fifteen minutes later, the doors open again, this time Aizawa coming in and Izuku jumps down to rush him, hugging hm as the man holds him tight. “Hatchling, I’m so glad you’re okay,” he murmurs and Izuku nods against his chest. They separate and he sends Izuku back towards Yamada as he stops briefly to speak with Akatani before heading over to Yamada to sit with him.
Izuku looks over to see Shinso staring quietly down at his phone. Jumping back off the bed again, he walks over to his friend’s bed. “Are you okay, Shinso-san?” he asks softly.
“Y-yeah,” he admits quietly, hands clinching a little before relaxing.
“Is…is your grandmother coming?” he asks, having only heard about his grandmother since he befriended him.
“She…um…was out of town,” he admits. “I texted her, but I don’t know when she’ll get here. The housekeeper is coming,” he murmurs.
“We can stay with you, until they come,” he offers, bumping shoulders lightly.
“Thanks,” Shinso says with a wane smile.
“So…um…that thing was terrifying,” he murmurs.
“Jeez, I’m going to have nightmares,” Shinso agrees.
Todoroki walks over at that moment. “How are you doing, Todoroki-san?” Izuku asks.
“I’m fine,” he says again, though Izuku can see the faint frown on his face and the way his hands are still shaking a little. “I did overhear that they think it’s not natural, that someone made it,” he adds lowly, conspiratorially.
“Like mad scientist shit?” Shinso asks with a frown and Todoroki nods. “That thing certainly looked like a freaking monster,” he mutters with a shudder.
Izuku frowns, glancing around the room. “Shinso-kun,” Izuku murmurs and the taller teen looks at him. “You…uh, seem really okay with everything that happened,” Izuku says. He literally saw a monster attack, a dragon defending them and Higuchi covered in dark flames. Shouldn’t he be asking…questions or something.
“I mean it was terrifying-,” Shinso starts to say before the doors suddenly slam open making all of them jump.
“Hitoshi,” a melodious voice calls out as a woman comes marching in.
“Grandmother,” Shinso says in surprise, the woman marching over to him.
She’s tall and thin, with long, thick black hair pulled back in an intricate hairstyle. She’s dressed in an expensive looking outfit, fine makeup on her olive toned skin, heels clicking on the tiled floor. She completely ignores Izuku and Todoroki as she reaches Shinso and pulls him into a tight hug.
“H-how did you get here?” Shinso asks from where he’s pressed into her embrace. “Tsumiya-san said you were still on your way back.”
She pulls back with a thin smile. “Oh please, as if it was hard to redirect my flight to a closer airport and then secure a helicopter to bring me directly to the hospital,” she waves off like it was nothing. “Are you hurt? Did the doctors say anything? Do I need to incentivize them to give the best treatment they have?” she demands.
“I’m fine, grandmother, just a couple of scratches. Akatani-san over there protected and saved us,” he mutters with a faint flush, gesturing over to Akatani who is eyeing the exchange with a knowing smile.
The older woman looks back at Shinso. “Tell me what happened,” she orders as Izuku and Todoroki awkwardly edge away so they can have some privacy.
“That’s your friend’s guardian?” Aizawa asks softly once Izuku is back over to them.
Izuku shrugs. “I guess. I’ve never met her before, though he’s mentioned his grandmother,” he explains softly. She seemed really intense, but at least she cares and is worried.
“Well, this will make things easier,” Aizawa murmurs. Izuku looks at him, hoping he’ll explain, but he doesn’t say more.
A few more minutes pass before she finishes talking with Shinso and pulls away to turn to the rest of the room. “I’m so sorry for my rude entrance,” she says with a slight bow. “I am Shinso Calliope, Hitoshi’s grandmother,” she says with a thin smile.
“Aizawa Shouta,” Aizawa says with a nod back. “I didn’t know we had any Siren in Japan. They usually prefer to stay in their homeland,” he says pointedly and it takes Izuku a second to recognize the word.
“Wait…she’s…,” he glances at her and then at Shinso who is looking unfazed.
“Supernatural, like us. I’m guessing your grandson is as well,” Aizawa adds.
Calliope laughs softly and it sound like bells. “Hitoshi is indeed. It’s rare for males to manifest the gifts, but it does happen,” she admits. Her gaze lands on Izuku who is still coming to terms with this new knowledge. “Are you Hitoshi’s friend?” she asks.
Izuku nods nervously. “I-I’m Midoriya Izuku,” he greets.
“It is lovely to meet you. I’d hoped we would get to meet eventually. Hitoshi needs more friends,” she says and Shinso groans. “Oh don’t act like that, Hitoshi. I’m allowed to embarrass you as your grandmother,” she says with a grin at the teen that has collapsed back onto his bed.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Izuku says.
“Izuku is my Hatchling,” Aizawa speaks up after a glance at the doors to make sure no one is there. “This is my mate Yamada Hizashi. Akatani Tsubomi is Izuku’s great grandmother as well.”
“Hi, I’m Todoroki Fuyumi and this is my brother Shouto. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Fuyumi speaks up.
“Oh, I’m well aware of your family line, though I don’t really care for your father, no offense to the two of you,” she says with a smile and a wave of her hand.
“I don’t care for him either, so it’s fine,” Todoroki speaks up.
“Shouto, don’t say that so easily,” Fuyumi scolds him, but the teen doesn’t seem to care.
There’s a knock at the door and the doctor comes back in. “Sorry for the delay. Let’s check you three over one last time and then we’ll get you discharged,” he says and does just that.
Izuku looks over at Akatani when it’s announced they can go home now. “Oh, go home,” Akatani says with a smile. “I’ll be fine. They’ll probably keep me for a little longer before releasing me, okay?” she says to him.
Izuku walks over and gingerly hugs her to avoid the stitches and she hugs him back. “I’ll call when I’m released,” she says to him softly and he nods before letting go.
He looks awkwardly at Todoroki and Shinso. “I guess we’ll have to work on our project later,” he admits with a sigh.
“I think we can rearrange schedules to make it easier for you three to work on it,” Aizawa speaks up. Calliope nods as well and Fuyumi agrees quietly.
Izuku waves at them and then follows Aizawa and Yamada out of the hospital to the car to head home.
~*~
That night is a rough one on all of them. Shouta’s instincts are all over the place, making him want to pace and hide Izuku away for a long time. Instead, with Hizashi’s help calming him down, he forces himself to sit in the living room working on grading.
He does notice Izuku sitting closer to them than he usually does, slowly inching closer until eventually he’s leaned into Hizashi’s side as he wraps an arm around the traumatized Hatchling. Neither is in the mood to cook so they order in.
It’s obvious though, as the night gets later, that Izuku is fighting sleep. Every time his eyes start to close, he jerks up, looking around for them before he leans back into Hizashi. Shouta sets his work aside and stands with a groan.
“I think it’s time for bed,” he mutters.
“Oh…okay,” Izuku says quietly, standing with Hizashi.
“You can sleep with us if you’d like,” Hizashi offers, seeing the anxiety in him.
“N-no, I’m okay,” Izuku reassures him too quickly, obviously wanting to, but not wanting to ask or accept the offer.
“Alright, good night Hatchling,” Hizashi murmurs, Shouta doing so as well and they watch Izuku slip into his room, the door closing soon after.
They clean up the room, turning off lights, before heading to bed themselves. Shouta keeps the door cracked…just in case, and they settle into bed after getting ready for sleep. A few hours later, he wakes to the sound of the door creaking slightly.
He isn’t even surprised and when he notices a small shape creeping towards the bed, he merely lifts the blanket to let Izuku under. “It’s alright, Hatchling. You’re safe,” he murmurs to the shivering little dragon that no doubt woke from a nightmare.
He looks over to see Hizashi is awake as well, expression sad as they curl around the small dragon, Shouta letting out a deep purr to sooth him back to sleep as Hizashi strokes down his back. Eventually, Izuku falls back asleep again, feeling safe with them there.
Shouta sleeps lightly the rest of the night, tracking every shift and noise Izuku makes in case he has another nightmare. Thankfully, he sleeps soundly the rest of the night.
~*~
He’s excused from school the next day, as is Shinso, though he doesn’t know if Todoroki is. He still feels a little shaky and a little embarrassed that he ended up in bed with Aizawa and Yamada last night, but they don’t say anything to make him feel worse. He’d woken up from a nightmare where Akatani had been torn apart by that creature before it turned on them. He’d thankfully woken up before it got to them.
The relief at being safe is nice and that no one was seriously hurt as well. Part of him though is left wondering. He’s a dragon now, can shift and everything. Yet he still felt weak and helpless in the face of whatever that thing had been. The only one who had actually done anything to stop it had been Todoroki, the teen stepping forward like it was easy and he wasn’t terrified.
He doesn’t like that feeling of helplessness. When he was quirkless, he’d felt it a little, especially when those with strong quirks like Kacchan had rubbed it in his face or used their quirk on him. He’d never let it really get to him, always determined to prove them wrong and become a hero, even without a quirk.
That thing made him realize that he’d been stupid to think he could be a hero without a quirk. What would he have done if it had attacked him before he changed? Then again, it wouldn’t have gone after him because he wasn’t a dragon. Maybe All Might was right, no matter how it burned to hear it. Maybe he should be realistic.
He doesn’t hear Aizawa come into the living room where he’s curled up on a couch. Yamada had to go in to the radio station for a few hours so it’s just the two of them right now. He jumps when a warn hand lands on his head. “You seem like you’ve got a lot of serious thoughts going on in that head of yours, Hatchling,” he comments.
Izuku shrugs, looking down at his lap. “I find sharing them can help, especially when they seem too much for you,” he adds, settling back on the couch, but not looking at him, letting Izuku make the decision.
“I…I’m a dragon now and I still couldn’t do anything,” Izuku whispers, hands curling into fists on his lap.
“You’re a Hatchling,” Aizawa points out. “You’re still a kid, still growing, still figuring out your strengths and weaknesses. No one expects you to be able to stand up to anything like that.”
“Todoroki did,” Izuku whispers. “He did something when Shinso and I just stayed back.”
Aizawa sighs. “He did,” he agrees. “He’s been training for a long time, since he was just a child. However I feel that is more a comment on the type of life he was forced to have than how brave he was,” he murmurs and Izuku looks at him. “You’ve noticed the way he acts around people, correct?” he asks and Izuku nods. “He’s never had a childhood, never really had friends. He’s been forced to train daily to meet the exacting standards of his father who himself is the current number two hero,” he points out and Izuku can already see the picture Aizawa is painting. “Not a very happy life, huh?” he comments mildly. “And that’s not including the family issues they are still suffering through.”
“I was still scared,” Izuku whispers. “I couldn’t do anything. I…I was a liability,” he forces out the hated word as it burns his tongue.
“Who says you’re a liability?” Aizawa asks, turning now to look at Izuku who can’t meet his gaze. Izuku clams up. “Hatchling, talk to me,” he murmurs, offering his hand and Izuku takes it, holding it tight.
“All Might,” he whispers, tears already falling. “He said I couldn’t be a hero as a quirkless person. I’d only be a liability and I should be realistic,” he gets out.
“He’s wrong,” Aizawa says bluntly and Izuku looks up to see his expression is serious, though kindness is in his eyes. “I think you could have done anything, with the right training.”
“What?” Izuku asks softly. “But I don’t have a quirk and his is so powerful. He would know.”
“All Might is an ignorant old man who hasn’t kept up with the times,” Aizawa states bluntly again though with an edge of anger in his voice and Izuku just blinks up at him. “Hatchling, you’re confusing power with strength,” he murmurs. “Anyone can have a powerful quirk and still not be a hero. It takes strength of character, a strong will, a sharp mind and a desire to help people that make someone a hero. I’m a hero and yet my quirk is nowhere near as powerful as All Might’s,” he points out.
“You still have a quirk,” Izuku points out bitterly.
“True, I do,” he admits with a nod. “But in my eyes, a quirk is just a tool. Does it make my job easier, for sure, but so does my capture scarf. I chose my tools specifically to work together and make my job easier. And if you want to be a hero, then we would do the same with you. Maybe you’ll have one less tool to work with, but it won’t make you any less effective as a hero. A hero, a good hero, is not a one trick pony. Too many heroes nowadays rely too much on their quirk, the same with villains. It’s why my quirk is so effective despite its weakness. No one knows what to do without their crutch to do anything,” he says pointedly.
“I…I don’t have a crutch?” Izuku asks slowly.
“You don’t,” he agrees. “You know what it means to work for everything without anything to fall back on,” he points out. “You weren’t praised all your life; nothing was handed to you on a silver platter. You know what it means to be abused and hurt by people with power over you and you haven’t let it make you bitter or hateful. It’s made you more empathetic, more determined to help others so they don’t have to go through the same thing you did. The makings of a good hero if I ever saw one,” he murmurs with a smile.
“But I’m a dragon now,” Izuku points out, heart beating so heavily in his chest.
“Just another tool to use,” Aizawa reminds him. “A smart hero uses every tool at their disposal. Just because it helps you become a hero doesn’t make you any less of a hero just because you don’t have a quirk, Hatchling.” Izuku sniffs, trembling slightly. “Do you want to be a hero, Izuku?” he asks softly.
“I…I’m afraid,” he admits. Afraid to answer, to ask, to hope and have it all dashed again. Afraid that Aizawa won’t be like All Might and say he can do it. Afraid that he’ll be just like him and say he can’t. He’s just so afraid of being hurt again.
“You said you weren’t brave yesterday,” Aizawa says lowly, shifting slightly to catch Izuku’s gaze. “But all bravery is, is being afraid, but still doing what is necessary. It’s taking that step not knowing if you’ll find solid ground. It’s hoping when you’ve been hurt before,” he murmurs, squeezing Izuku’s hand still in his. “You’re allowed to be afraid, Hatchling. Anyone who says they’re not even a little bit afraid at scary situations is lying or a fool. We’ll help you, Izuku,” he says.
He shifts until he’s sitting on the coffee table facing Izuku. “Bravery doesn’t come easy or overnight. It takes time and the right catalyst to overcome fear. But we’ll help you however you need us to help you. We’ll be your support when you falter and give you the tools needed to achieve your dreams, Hatchling. All you have to do is ask and we’ll be there right beside you showing you how to do anything,” he murmurs and Izuku’s crying harder now. “Do you have something you want to ask me, Izuku?” he asks lowly.
Izuku chests hitches and he nods slightly. “Do…do you think…a quirkless person could be a hero?” he asks haltingly, having to work through his fear and tears to get the words out.
“Yes,” Aizawa answers so frankly, so simply, like it’s just a fact of life, and it burns how quickly that word is seared into his mind. “I think you would be the best hero of all,” he adds with a squeeze of Izuku’s hand. “Do you want me to help you become a hero?” he asks and Izuku nods. “Then we’ll get started on that,” he says simply and tugs Izuku into his chest as he cries harder, sobbing now that the dam has broken.
They end up on the couch, Aizawa holding him as he cries himself out. Eventually, he falls asleep, exhausted from such a huge emotional moment. When he wakes up, Yamada has returned from work and is making lunch for them. When Izuku tentatively asks him the same question, the man answer just like Aizawa, like it’s so easy to answer because the answer has always been there.
It’s a balm over those hurtful words told to him not so long ago, healing them, though leaving a scar. He’ll never be able to forget All Might’s words to him, but now they’re not so painful. Occasionally, he gets a twinge from them, his mind prodding the scar like a loose tooth. Sometimes, he doubts himself, but Aizawa and Yamada are patient, helping him get passed it, get through it and able to function again.
He even manages to answer Shinso’s question to him weeks ago, so casually thrown out, but unanswerable at the time. His friend grins when he tells him and for once, it feels good to say his dream out loud. It’s not going to be easy, but he’s got his feet planted back on solid ground again and he’s running fast enough that maybe he’ll actually fly instead of being stuck on the ground.
End.
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