Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Midoriya Inko gave birth to her baby all alone in her hospital room. Hisashi had left for a business trip, had been going on them more frequently, and she had no family to speak of. No one who wanted to check on her, to sit with her.

Inko was used to being alone, though. She was used to the silence. She enjoyed it, actually. The nurses and doctors looked at her with pity, attempting comfort as they helped. She didn’t mind them. She didn’t mind the soft touches and careful words. Not when she looked down at the bundle in her arms.

“Hello.” She keeps her voice soft, barely a whisper. The baby wriggled, small mouth opening in a tremendous yawn. Inko smiled, and ran a finger through the tuft of green hair on her baby’s head. At least she would look like Inko.

“Welcome to the world, Izumi.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izumi met Bakugo Katsuki when she was two and she was in the sand pit on the playground. She had seen him before, they lived in the same building, but they had never played together. He was loud and brash, but he made Izumi laugh, so she shared her shovels and they dug holes in the pit while their mothers watched.

When Inko came to get her, Izumi said goodbye, her small mouth fumbling Katsuki’s name. The other boy frowned, and so did Izumi. Finally, after a moment of struggle, Izumi settled on “Kacchan.” The boy brightened, and Izumi smiled.

“Looks like we should set up a playdate.” Inko says to Bakugo Mitsuki. Their talk on the bench had been pleasant, even if Mitsuki was a little brash for Inko’s tastes.

Mitsuki is relieved. Her son hadn’t gotten along with any of her friend’s children, and she had been worried he was taking after her. That her son was going to be too angry to make friends, to develop like he should.

“Let me give you my number.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izumi is a clumsy child, tripping over nothing, bumping into shelves and chairs and tables. Inko sees this, she worries, and then a coworker suggests enrolling Izumi in the local dance studio in their neighborhood.

Inko remembers dancing. As a teen, she despised sports and gym, but her parents had insisted on something. Inko remembers how she loved ballet, how she had briefly considered following it to a career, before following her father’s advice and going to school to be a paralegal. It made better money, and right now, as a single mother, it had been the better financial decision.

So she takes Izumi by the hand and leads her down the sidewalks, into the small studio. She meets with the ballet teacher, explains her worries and hopes for Izumi to gain some grace, and the teacher, Ito Himari, smiled down at Izumi and spoke softly and kindly and Inko knew she was making the right decision.

After a few days, a few hours in the studio, Inko was able to watch as her little girl fell in love with dance. Like everything she did, Izumi put her heart and soul into her practices. It came to the point that Inko thought Izumi’s love for dance might rival her love for heroes. Might rival her love for All Might, and the video Izumi watched on repeat.

Inko is relieved that Izumi is finding interests, making some friends. Izumi hangs out with Katsuki several times a week, with a few other boys in the neighborhood. Izumi brightens in dance, chattering quickly and endlessly with the other young girls and boys.

Izumi is three, turning four, and she is growing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izumi’s fourth birthday comes and goes, and Inko watches as her daughter’s heart breaks with every passing day. She’s waiting so patiently for her quirk to come in, even if its something as small as Inko’s quirk, but there’s nothing.

Inko watches as Bakugo Katsuki’s quirk explodes into existence, as Izumi fawns and compliments the boy. The two children talked for months about being a superhero duo, about being number one and two in the ranks, about growing together and sticking together. Inko’s relieved that her daughter has a friend so stuck to her side.

When Inko pulls up outside the elementary school, she opens her car door to hear shouting, crying.

“Izumi is just a late bloomer! Leave her alone, you extras!” Inko’s feet move as if of their own accord when she hears the sound of flesh hitting flesh, fear racing through her heart. Then, just as Inko rounds the corner, a small explosion.

She sees Katsuki standing between Izumi, who was on the ground, and several of their classmates. There isn’t a teacher in sight, and Inko’s rage burns deep in her chest. A fire lights when she sees the mark on Izumi’s cheek.

“Katsuki!” Her voice is shrill, commanding, and Katsuki turns immediately, though his hands stay up and defensive. “Go get a teacher.” Katsuki looks at the other students, then at Inko, before nodding.

“I’ll be right back Auntie!”

Inko sends the other children a look, one that causes them all to pale and go still. None of them dare to run. Inko kneels in front of her little girl, just as Izumi pulls herself to her feet. Her skirt is dirtied, as is the blazer. Her hair is half out of her ponytail.

“Izumi, are you alright?” Izumi nods, sniffling back tears that Inko knew would fall as soon as Izumi was safe in the car. Katsuki comes running back, teacher in tow.

The classmates harassing Izumi all get a week’s suspension, and while Inko wants more, she agrees with the principal’s decision. Katsuki gets a day’s suspension, for using his quirk on the other students, which both Inko and Mitsuki argue. He had been standing up for Izumi, taking care of bullies when there were no teachers or staff around. Still, unauthorized quirk use was still unauthorized quirk use.

Mitsuki took Katsuki home, Inko watching as her daughter sent the boy off with a hug and a loud “Bye Kacchan!” Her daughter, bright, bubbly, inquisitive, already having forgotten her scrapes and bruises. Mitsuki smiles, laughing at the sight.

“Honestly, with how these two act we may as well start treating each other as the in-laws we’re going to be.” The blonde woman snorts, ruffling Katsuki’s hair. “I’ll see you later Inko. Playdate this weekend?”

“The park?”

“Sounds good.” Mitsuki takes her son by the hand and head down the street. Inko waits until they’ve disappeared around a corner to kneel down next to her daughter. As expected, once they were alone, the tears resurface. Izumi took after Inko in this way. She cried at the drop of a hat, they both did, but it didn’t mean that they weren’t strong. They were Midoriyas, and they could hold their own.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Inko keeps her voice soft and gentle, pulling out a small handkerchief to wipe at her daughter’s cheeks.

“One of the boys said I was going to be quirkless. What if he was right?” Izumi’s response isn’t an unfamiliar one. Inko had heard her daughter mention quirklessness, she knew it plagued her daughter with fear.

“How about this, I’ll schedule a doctor’s appointment, and we’ll make sure you’re just a late bloomer.” Inko offers. While her quirk wasn’t strong, both she and Izumi’s father had them, so Izumi had to have one too. If a doctor’s appointment would help reassure her daughter, she would make the appointment.

Izumi nods, and the tears slow. Inko waits until they’re gone to stand back up, to lead Izumi back to the car.

“I’ll make the appointment tomorrow then.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izumi has a double joint in her pinkie toe.

Izumi was quirkless.

Izumi sits in front of the computer and watches All Might save the day, tears slipping endlessly down her cheeks.

Inko saves her tears for the darkness of her bedroom, for the cover of the late night hours and Izumi’s sleeping form.

Inko cries, not because her daughter was quirkless, but because her daughter’s dreams had been shattered before her eyes.

Inko cries for all that is lost, then rises the next morning with dry eyes, determined to make the best of their new reality.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izumi is five, and she has grown quiet.

Inko watches as her daughter’s loud and excited ramblings turn to quiet mutterings, as her daughter begins to hunch in on herself and keep her head down.

Izumi tries to hide the scrapes and bruises, but Inko is observant. She notices, but she waits. Izumi would resent her if she demanded answers, forced Izumi to tell her everything. Izumi needed to ask for help, to let Inko know that she was hurting. Inko needed her daughter to realize that asking for help wasn’t a weakness.

Inko is relieved to know that Izumi acts like herself at dance, still pours her heart and soul into every movement, into each note of the music.

Inko’s heart breaks when she finds the hero journals, realizes that her daughter is hanging on, hoping against hope for what cannot be.

She watches, she stays quiet, and hopes that her daughter will come to her soon. That Izumi will let her step in and fix what needs to be fixed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izumi is six, almost seven, when Inko drives to the school to pick her up. Izumi had an appointment at the dentist’s office, and while she usually walked home with Katsuki, if Inko wanted to make the appointment on time, she had to leave the office early and pick her daughter up.

There’s a sense of deja vu when she parks and opens her car door to the sound of fighting. It’s Katsuki’s voice again, he’d always been a loud child, and she knew he had picked up a swearing habit from his mother, but the words made Inko’s heart stop in her chest.

“Dammit Deku! Just leave me alone! I don’t need your useless, quirkless ass following me around everywhere!”

“But Kacchan-”

Inko moves closer to the corner of the school. She can see the two children in the schoolyard, Izumi on the ground, Katsuki standing over her with the classmates, those same classmates that had hurt Izumi before, standing behind him.

“No one wants to hang out with a loser like you. You’re nothing! You’re just a useless, shitty Deku.” Katsuki kicks at the ground, sending a cloud of dirt towards Inko’s daughter. Inko can see the tears in her daughter’s eyes. Katsuki can too. “You’re a crybaby too! No wonder no one wants to hang out with you.”

“Kacchan we’re friends. You said we were gonna be pros! I can still be a hero!” Inko watches her daughter struggle to her feet.

“You can’t be a hero without a quirk, Deku. Everyone knows that.”

“I can be a hero!” Inko watches Katsuki scowl, his hands turning to fists at his sides. She can’t move, can’t breathe, though she knows she should intervene.

“If you wanna be a hero that badly, maybe you should just follow the older kids advice, shitty Deku. How did they put it? Oh yeah, if you want a quirk, you should just take a big jump off the roof and hope you get a quirk in your next life.”

Something inside of Inko snaps.

“Bakugo Katsuki!” She’s startled by the rage in her voice, something she hasn’t heard before. All of the children turn to her, startled, and the boys behind Bakugo turn and run. Bakugo just stands there, pale and startled.

“Auntie-”

“Not another word out of you.” Inko’s voice is hard, giving Bakugo no room for argument. “Don’t you say another damn word.” Maybe it was the fact that she cursed, maybe it was because she had never spoken to Bakugo like this before, but the boy suddenly looked terrified.

Inko moves forward and picks up her daughter, cradling Izumi in her arms.

“We’re going to the principal’s office right now. I’m calling your mother.” Inko turns and walks, and after a moment she hears the shuffle of footsteps behind her. They follow her all the way to the principal’s office, and she orders Bakugo into the seat in the hallway. He hasn’t said a word, made a sound. Inko marches into the principal’s office, Izumi in her arms. She wasn’t about to let her daughter go.

“I’m pulling Izumi from your school.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Inko severs all ties with the Bakugo family with a single phone call. She never wants Katsuki around her daughter again, and she has no interest in being friends or even acquaintances with people who would raise a young boy like that.

Izumi finishes the school year at home. Inko is thankful that her boss is understanding, that she’s able to complete her work at home, and bring Izumi into the office when she has to go in. She begins to look at new apartments, out of this neighborhood.

Izumi is seven when Inko tells her daughter that she’s making her a hair appointment. Izumi is seven when she stands in front of her mother, nervous, before quietly asking if she could cut her hair short.

“I want it short like a boys. I don’t like having a girl’s hair. It doesn’t feel right.”

Inko had a friend in high school. Her name had been Akio. She remembered how she grew her hair out, how she had tried on her school skirts a few times and said they felt nicer than the boy’s trousers. How she had talked about wanting to be a girl. Inko remembered her. Inko remembered how her parents had blown up when they found out, how they began to force Akio into sports and male dominated fields.

Inko remembered how her friend had been found in her bathtub. Inko remembered the funeral.

“It doesn't feel right?” Inko chooses her words carefully. Izumi shakes her head.

“I don’t like looking like a girl. I should look like a boy.” Izumi frowns down at her hands, at her skirt. “I don’t feel like a girl.”

Inko’s heart stutters in her chest. She had to handle this right. She had to do this right, but she had no idea what to do.

“Thats okay.” Inko kneels in front of Izumi. “That’s perfectly okay. We can do that.” Izumi brightens, her smile lighting her face like a christmas tree.

“Really?” Inko nods. A haircut would give her time. A haircut would give her time to google and research everything she could.

“And maybe we could go stop by the store afterwards? We could buy you some pants?” Inko didn’t think it was possible for Izumi’s smile to grow wider, but it did. Izumi nods, quick and sure. “Alright. Then let’s make sure we have everything and let’s go.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Inko watches as in a matter of days, she gains a son. A young boy with a bright smile and a head full of short, soft curls. He decides on the name Izuku, picking from a list Inko had printed off and gone over with him.

Inko quickly and quietly begins to change out Izuku’s wardrobe. The process is mad easier by the packing that she has to do. She had found an apartment only a few blocks from her job, one that would allow her to sell her car and keep Izuku close. They could start over, just as they wanted.

Inko asks Izuku about school, and gives him a choice. He could continue online school, or pick a new school in their new neighborhood to attend.

She isn’t that surprised when Izuku chooses online school. He still hadn’t told her just how bad the bullying had gotten, but after everything she had overhear, she knew there was a chance he was scared to try a new school.

Inko goes through their new neighborhood, online and in person, to find a new dance studio and a dojo at Izuku’s request. She also finds them both therapists.

What she found in her research scared her. The rates of bullying, of suicide among transgender youth terrified her to her core. The same rates for quirkless children were only marginally better. Izuku had both.

Inko pledged to do better for her son.

They were starting over.

They would be okay.

Chapter Text

“How was dance today? It looked like fun.” Izuku looked up at his mother, who had a tight grip on his hand. Izuku was eight, and Inko was fiercely protective of her son.

“It was fun! Ikeda-sensi said that we’re going to start preparing for the recital soon.” Izuku’s eyes turn back to the sidewalk, and Inko smiles when her son hops carefully over the cracks in the cement, still energized from his class. She was deeply relieved everything was going so well.

The first dance studio in their new neighborhood had been a bit of a mess. It was highly rated, sure, but Izuku and his mother had quickly figured out it was the wrong place for Izuku when the teacher had received the paperwork for the classes and refused to call Izuku by his name.

The new dance studio, the one farther away from their apartment, was much better. Izuku liked the other students there, and his teacher was nice. She let Izuku change into his dance stuff in her office because he didn’t feel comfortable in the changing rooms. The other kids were nice too, but Izuku hadn’t made any friends. Not yet. Dr. Shima had told him it was okay if he wanted to wait, as long as he did his best to be friendly with the other kids in his class. Dr. Shima also told Inko, privately, that it wasn’t abnormal for kids like Izuku to be hesitant to make friends, especially after everything that had happened with Bakugo. Even more so when Izuku was still figuring out who he was. 

Izuku and his mother turn the last corner to reach their apartment, and Izuku glances up. He quickly tugs on his mother’s hand. “Mom! Someone new is moving in!” Izuku points at the bright moving van that had caught his attention 

“I wonder who it is? They found someone to rent that open apartment really quickly.” His mother asked, mostly to herself. The apartment across from theirs, on the top floor, had only been empty for a couple of weeks. 

When they pass by the moving truck and into the building, they don’t see anyone, but hear someone moving around in the back. Izuku and his mother keep walking, heading up the stairs to the fourth floor. Izuku and his mother always took the stairs, because his mother said it kept them nice and young, even if she complained about her knees sometimes. 

They’re almost to their floor when they hear the loud voice, and Izuku watches as his mother cringes. They both liked the quiet, so hopefully the yelling was only a one time issue. Moving could be hectic, Izuku knew from their own experience less than a year ago.

“Babe? That you?” The loud voice calls when Izuku and his mother start walking towards their apartment. A head suddenly pops out of the doorway, and Izuku freezes mid-step. The blond hair was down, out of the usual style, and the man was in relaxed clothing, but it was him. It was him. “Oh. Hello! I’m Yamada Hizashi.” Izuku feels his mother nudge him forward, so they can get closer to their door. 

“Hello. I’m Midoriya Inko, and this is my son, Izuku. It looks like we’ll be neighbors?” Izuku’ feels his mother’s thumb tap on the back of his hand, a silent push to say something. Their new neighbor, and it had to be him, Izuku knew that face, he knew that voice, smiles down at him.

“Hello little listener!” Inko waits a moment, before nudging Izuku once more. 

“Izuku, be polite. Say hello.” 

Izuku is planning on saying hello, he really is, but instead what falls out of his mouth is an abrupt, “You’re Present Mic.” He’s worried, in the seconds after, about being rude to a pro hero, and instantly wants to take it back. Instead, Present Mic’s smile just gets wider, and he crouches down slightly to match Izuku’s height.

“I am! Are you a fan?” Izuku is nodding before he can finish the question, and Mic laughs. “I think we’re going to get along, little listener. If we’re going to be neighbors, though, know you don’t have to call me Present Mic all the time.” The elevator dings. The pro-hero in front of Izuku seems to smile even more before he straightens. Izuku is suddenly sure that this man could blind people with his brightness. 

“Shota! Shota, I met the neighbors! Little Izuku here is a fan! Shota isn’t that great!” The figure that emerged from the elevator, and it truly was just a figure because all Izuku could see were two legs and a stack of three boxes, seemed to sigh. 

“It’s great, Hizashi.” The voice is tired, resigned. “Take a box, please.” Hizashi rushes forward, taking the two boxes off the top, so the other man’s top half is visible. “Your CD’s are so heavy.”

“I think these are my records, and they’re amazing. They’re the best part of the apartment.” Hizashi replies, smile never wavering. “Shota, put the box down and meet our neighbors.” The man sighs, but does as he’s told, setting the box down. “This is my husband, Aizawa Shota. He’s a bit of a grumpy cat but he grows on you.”

“Hizashi…” The name comes out as a sigh. Izuku frowns at Aizawa. The man looks familiar, but he can’t quite place him. It’s on the tip of Izuku’s tongue. 

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Midoriya Inko, and this is my son Izuku.” Aizawa’s eyes dart towards Izuku, meeting his, and it clicks. 

“You’re Eraserhead!” Izuku realizes out loud. Instead of a confirmation, however, both heroes suddenly look startled, and a bit unsure. “Right? I’ve been on some underground hero forums, and people sometimes post, like, security cam footage of heroes in action. I’ve seen your videos! You’re amazing!” Izuku turns to his mother, tugging on her hand. “Mom, he’s the hero I told you about! He’s one of my favorites! He fights like I’ll need to fight to be a hero!”

“The one with the goggles?” His mother confirms. Izuku nods, and his smiles a little before looking back up at the men in front of them. 

“You’re probably his favorite pro hero next to All Might.” She informs Eraserhead. “The amount of times he’s rambled about your quirk and fighting style… I mean, I could probably list off some things, and I’m not interested in heroes at all.”

Eraserhead is still looking down at Izuku, a small frown on his face. “I wasn’t aware many people knew about me. Especially children.” He hesitates, glancing at Present Mic. “Why are you interested in me, anyway? Hizashi’s much flashier.” 

“I like Present Mic a lot, he’s really cool, and Mom and I listen to his radio show sometimes, but you’re better.” Izuku shrugs. It’s simple to him. “You fight quirklessly. I mean, you use your quirk, obviously, but otherwise you have to handle any physical altercation quirklessly. It’s so cool!”

Inko notices how uncomfortable Eraserhead looks, how unused he clearly is to attention like this. She smiles at them both. “Izuku, honey, let’s get out of their hair and let them finish moving in, alright?” Izuku refocuses on his mother and nods. “As for you two, moving is a pain, I know, so why don’t I make us all dinner tonight? That way you don’t have to worry about anything like that.” 

Aizawa opens his mouth, likely to protest, but Hizashi steps in before he can. “That would be lovely. We don’t even have groceries yet, and we have hours of unpacking left. Here, why don’t you take my number, and you can let me know when we need to be ready?” Inko smiles, and the two exchange numbers before Inko leads her son into their apartment. The young boy doesn’t protest, even though Aizawa can clearly see the excitement still burning in him. 

“Mom, they’re both pro heroes!” Izuku’s excitement explodes the second the door is shut behind them. “We have pro heroes as neighbors! They could give me tips to get into UA!” Izuku felt the urge to move, to go grab his analysis notebooks and write down everything he had noticed, everything he had learned. He had no idea Present Mic was married, it hadn’t been anywhere online. 

“Izuku, sweetheart, look at me.” Izuku turned to his mother, his wide green eyes watching her expectantly. “Just because we live next to pro heroes now does not mean you should bother them. When they come home, they want to relax. I’m sure they’ll answer some questions, but don’t overwhelm them, okay?”

“Okay.” Izuku agrees with surprising ease. “But do you think I could ask them some questions at dinner?”

“As long as they say it’s okay, alright? If they don’t want to talk, they don’t have to.” Inko replies, watching her son. “Remember the rule?”

“Don’t push people to do things they don’t want to do.” Izuku answers without hesitation. Inko feels a small swirl of pride blossoming in her chest. 

“Alright. Now, why don’t you help me pick up a little bit around here?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Aizawa Shota is not looking forward to this dinner. Hizashi knows how much he hates meeting new people, had promised he’d do most of the talking with the new neighbors, yet somehow he was now getting ready for dinner with the small family next door, Hizashi babbling excitedly in his ear as they both tried to find more appropriate and, well, clean clothes in the pile of boxes they had in this apartment. 

“Shota! I think I found pants!” Aizawa looks up in time to watch Hizashi’s excited face turn to disappointment. “These are shoes.” Aizawa’s eyebrow ticks up.

“The weight of the box didn’t give it away?”

“Pants are heavy! Don’t judge me!” Hizashi pulls down another box. “I swear, I thought we were more organized than this when we packed everything.” Hizashi glances towards him, and their eyes meet for a moment. “You know, we don’t have to go if you don’t want to, right?”

“We moved neighborhoods so we could be closer to your agency, UA, and so we could be more open about our relationship.” Aizawa says after a moment. “I don’t patrol here, and as long as we’re careful, there is no reason for anyone to start suspecting us. You wanted to be friendly with the neighbors, to make more friends, and I agreed.” Aizawa turns back towards the boxes. “I’m not backing out of this, we discussed it for months.”

“I don’t think you’re backing out of this, Sho, but you aren’t the most comfortable with social interactions. We can always postpone and say we’re too tired from the move.” Hizashi replies, moving over so he’s sitting next to his husband. Aizawa shrugs.

“I also want to know how that kid knew who I was.” Hizashi huffs out a laugh at that. 

“I keep telling you to explore more of the internet. You’re popular, even if it isn’t mainstream media.” Hizashi nudges another box with his foot, only to frown when he sees ‘ Decorations ’ written on the side. “I’ve only briefly looked, but I know the forums the kid mentioned. I didn’t realize anyone that young was interested in them, though.”

Aizawa’s phone buzzes from where it’s sitting on the floor, and it only takes a single glance for Aizawa to know exactly who it was. He flips the phone over, so the screen is facing down, and lets the call go to voicemail. 

“Nedzu again?” Hizashi asks, scooting closer so he can rest his chin on Aizawa’s shoulder. 

“He keeps calling.” Aizawa grumbles, glaring at the phone when it buzzes once more, signaling a voicemail is now indeed waiting for him. 

“He just wants you to think about it, you know. The position won’t open up until the next school year, and Vlad already said he wanted to stay with his 1-B kids.” Hizashi sends him a small smile. “You’d get to work with me…” 

“Yes, but teaching? Children?”

“They’re teens.”

“They’re infants.” 

“They,” Hizashi reaches up and gently bops Aizawa on the nose, “are potential heroes who want to learn from the best. And you’re the best. I know this because I married you, and I wouldn’t settle for anything less.” Aizawa looks at his husband, sees the utter sincerity in his eyes, and sighs. 

“If I tell Nedzu I’ll think about it, will you genuinely let me think about it and not pester me about it every few days?” He asks, and Hizashi’s smile grows as he leans back and nods fiercely. Aizawa hums under his breath and grabs his phone, moving to delete the voicemail which held a message he knew he had already heard a dozen times, and instead text his old sensei that he would consider the position. Hizashi watches over Aizawa’s shoulder, making a small, happy noise when the text is sent. Suddenly, Hizashi jerks back and jumps to his feet. 

“Is that the time? Shota, help me find the pants! We’re going to be late!”

They are not, in fact, late. Hizashi is overdramatic, and rushes around the apartment as if they were going across the city instead of across the hall, but they’re ready in time and are knocking on the Midoriya’s front door right when she told them too. 

Aizawa doesn’t know why, but he isn’t expecting the boy, Izuku, to be the one opening the front door. Sure enough, though, large green eyes are staring up at the two of them. There’s something about the way he looks at Aizawa that makes him feel like he’s out in the open, under scrutiny, a feeling he hadn’t felt since he graduated from UA and went underground. He can tell Izuku is watching him and Hizashi, looking over each of them as if he’s looking for something specific. 

Hizashi, fuck, Aizawa’s so grateful for Hizashi, takes over without missing a beat. “Hey little listener! How’s it hanging?” Izuku focuses on Hizashi, and takes a step to the side to let them in. 

“I’m good! Mom’s finishing dinner right now, so it shouldn’t be long.” Hizashi and Aizawa step inside, taking in the rather cozy decorating and furniture as Izuku shuts the door behind them. Aizawa realizes quickly, just from the photos around the room, that Izuku and his mother are alone here. He’s not sure if Izuku’s father died or left, but it’s clearly just the two of them. There are also textbooks on the bookshelf, and a few sitting next to the family computer. Was Izuku an online student, or just working ahead? It wasn’t the most insane thought. 

“Aw, little listener, is this you?” Hizashi has made his way deeper into the living room, and he’s pointing at a picture on the wall. “You dance?” Izuku nods, a small smile on his face.

“Mom put me in ballet when I was younger because I was so clumsy. I do that and freestyle some afternoons.” Izuku tilts his head, looking at the picture. “She says I have too much energy and need to get it out somehow.” Hizashi lets out a small laugh. 

“That’s most kids. You aren’t alone.”

“Izuku, honey, can you go set the table?” Inko pops her head out of the kitchen, smiling at him and Hizashi. Aizawa watches as Izuku quickly nods and slips into the kitchen. His mother watches, waiting until her son is out of earshot, before turning to her guests once more. “We had a discussion about him watching the questions he asks, but he’s a curious boy. If he asks anything you’re uncomfortable with, just tell him you don’t want to answer, he’ll understand.” Izuku slips past his mother, bowls and chopsticks in his hands. It’s only then that Aizawa realizes how tiny the boy is. Inko is short, much shorter than himself and Hizashi, and Izuku is only just taller than her elbow. “If you want to go sit, I’ll bring out the food in just a second.”

Hizashi nods and begins to move to follow Izuku to the small dining area, ever the polite guest, and after another glance around the room, Aizawa follows his husband. 

“So how old are you, little listener?” Hizashi asks once they reach the small table. Izuku adjusts the last bowl before jumping up onto his chair. 

“I’m eight, but a lot of people say I look younger.” Hizashi sits so Izuku’s on his left, and Azawa sits on the other side, facing the small child. “Present Mic, I looked again after I got home, but it doesn’t say anywhere that you and Eraserhead are married. You called him your husband earlier, though.” 

“Izuku, what did we say about personal questions?” Inko asks as she walks into the room, two large bowls in her hands. 

“It’s alright Midoriya-san.” Hizashi placates quickly. “It’s an honest question.” Aizawa, however, keeps his eyes on the boy in front of him, who is watching everything, his eyes taking in every detail. He looked a bit like Nedzu-sensei did, sometimes, when he was trying to figure something out.

“Why do you think there isn’t anything online?” Aizawa asks him after a second, before Hizashi can answer. Izuku looks at him with wide eyes, hesitating for a moment. 

“Oh, um, well…” He trails off, eyes dropping to the table. “Well, you’re an underground hero, right? So the less known you are, the better. The less people know about you and your quirk, the less villains can figure out. If it came out that you were married to Present Mic, you’d be plastered everywhere, and the media would be releasing as much about you as possible.” Izuku’s nose scrunches up just slightly as he thinks. “And, if it came out that you were married, you could be used against each other. A villain could kidnap or hurt Mic to get you to do what they wanted, or the other way around. It’d be a risk on the field, and you would have people in your faces all the time as openly gay heroes.” Izuku frowns, looking back up at Aizawa as Inko puts some curry and rice into her son’s bowl. “But why would you tell us?”

Aizawa doesn’t say anything, just raises an eyebrow and gestures for Izuku to try and answer his own question. Izuku, once more, hesitates, as if scared of overstepping a line that wasn’t there.

“We’re you’re neighbors, so even if it took some time, we’d realize that you are both living in the same apartment, so it might have been easier to just tell us instead of waiting for us to figure it out.” Izuku tilts his head slightly. “But you could’ve just said you were roommates?” Hizashi laughs. 

“I have a feeling that a kid as smart as you wouldn’t accept an excuse as flimsy as that, would you?” Hizashi asks, before taking a bite of the curry. “Midoriya-san, this is delicious!”

“Call me Inko, please.” Inko replies with a smile. “And thank you, it’s a family recipe.” She glances at her son, who hasn’t touched his food, his nose still scrunched in thought. “Izuku, eat first, then you can ask a little more if Yamada-san and Aizawa-san are okay with it.” Her son nods and picks up his chopsticks, beginning to eat. 

Hizashi easily picks up a pleasant conversation with Inko, asking questions about her job and the music she listens to, while Aizawa and Izuku both eat in relative quiet. Izuku seems to be paying careful attention to Hizashi, hanging on his every word, no matter how insignificant the thought is. Hizashi tries to include Izuku a few times, but despite his earlier excitement in the hall, Izuku seems almost shy in the face of Hizashi’s excitement. Hizashi lets it go in the moment, but Aizawa knows him, knows how his husband wants to make friends and know people. 

It’s only once the food is gone, and they’re sitting around empty bowls, that Hizashi tries with Izuku again. 

“So, little listener, you said you like to dance, is that what you want to do? Do you wanna be a dancer?” If Aizawa hadn’t been watching Izuku, he would’ve missed the smallest signs of discomfort, the tightening of the boy’s shoulders, the momentary slip of his smile. 

“Um, not exactly.” Izuku glances at his mother, but Inko’s quiet, keeping a careful eye on her son. 

“Then what do you want to do?” Hizashi asks. Aizawa knows his husband didn’t miss the signs either. They had been in the field too long to miss body language like that. 

“Um…” Izuku’s eyes drop, and his voice was barely a whisper. “I want to be a hero.” Aizawa wonders if Izuku was loud enough for Hizashi’s hearing aids to pick up. 

“Why a hero?” Aizawa asks, startling the boy. He keeps his tone carefully neutral. The boy was small, and Aizawa hadn’t seen any hints for his quirk. Perhaps he had an invisible quirk, one that would be made clear later. 

“I want to help people, save people.” Izuku replies after a second. “I want to make sure to help as many people as possible, to make sure everyone is okay.” 

“Well with that mindset, you could absolutely be a hero! That’s what it’s all about!” Hizashi jumps in. “Sprinkle in some determination and that big brain of yours, and you’d be a great hero!” Hizashi’s smile is wide. “What’s your quirk? How would you use it?” 

The Midoriyas both go still and silent, and the air in the room turns uncomfortable immediately. Aizawa narrows his eyes, studying the boy. What did they say wrong? There are a few heartbeats of silence before Izuku speaks again. 

“You think I could be a hero?” He asks, voice casual, though his body language screamed that there was weight to Hizashi’s answer. Hizashi doesn’t hesitate to nod. “Even… even if I don’t have a quirk?” 

Oh.

Oh . 

That’s why Izuku knew him. That’s why he had mentioned Aizawa’s fighting skills in the hobby instead of his quirk. He didn’t have a quirk. 

Aizawa knew all too well how badly people without quirks were treated. He had read countless reports of suicides linked to quirklesness, had stopped abusers and criminals who wanted to take their anger and resentment out on the quirkless, who had a vendetta against those who were different. 

Inko was watching him and Hizashi like a hawk, waiting. How badly had people reacted in the past, to warrant that kind of reaction from this woman? How bad was it for Izuku for Inko to become this protective? Aizawa wasn’t sure he wanted to know what Inko knew, not to think about what Izuku might not have told her about. 

“Quirks are overrated.” Aizawa says, catching Izuku’s attention. “You don’t need a quirk to be a villain, and you certainly don’t need one to be a hero, either. Hizashi was right, you’re smart, you’ve got your ideals in the right place, and as long as you’re determined, you can do whatever you want.” Izuku’s eyes begin to shine, and fuck, Aizawa was suddenly praying he didn’t cry. He couldn’t handle tears. 

“You think so?” There’s a catch in Izuku’s voice. 

“I don’t say things I don’t mean.” Aizawa replies cooly, daring the kid to disagree. Izuku takes in a shaky breath, and sure enough, a few tears slip out. Fuck. What was he supposed to do in this situation? He turned to look at Hizashi, but Hizashi was just smiling at him. He was supposed to be helping him with this kid, not smiling at Aizawa. “You’ll have to work hard.” It’s all he can think to say. 

“I will, I promise Eraserhead! I will be the best hero!” Izuku says loudly, tears still slipping down his face. Aizawa looks at his husband, panicking internally. Thankfully, Hizashi takes over once more. 

“Well, we should get out of your hair, Inko. The food was delicious, thank you.” Hizashi smiles the smile he uses to win over interviewees and reporters, and it seems to work on Inko as well. “We should do this again, but maybe at our place next time?”

“Of course. That would be lovely.” They all stand, Izuku still sniffling a little, rubbing at his yes to get rid of the tears. Aizawa’s taken aback when Inko moves forward and hugs him, ever so briefly. 

“Thank you.” Her voice is a whisper in his ear. “Izuku doesn't have many people in his corner, so thank you.” She looks as if she might start crying too, and Aizawa’s panic grows. They had befriended a family of criers, and from the way Hizashi was acting, his husband was going to make sure that next dinner was soon. 

Aizawa doesn’t really relax until their apartment door shuts behind them, and quiet envelops the apartment. Hizashi smiles at him when he collapses on their couch. 

“Who knew you were such a softy, Sho?”

Aizawa chucks an empty box at his husband’s head, and Hizashi just laughs.

Chapter Text

Aizawa waited until he and Hizashi had settled into their new apartment to begin patrolling again. Both he and his husband had agreed to use this move as a chance to take a break from their already busy schedules, with Aizawa putting a brief hold on patrols and cases, and Hizashi finding a suitable substitute to take over his radio show and a sidekick to handle his patrols. 

But now they had settled in, and while Hizashi was insistent that they have some form of a housewarming party, he also admitted that they had moved in enough for Aizawa to begin patrolling again. Aizawa was also fairly certain that his husband could tell how antsy he was getting from being in their apartment all day, but Hizashi hadn’t said anything so Aizawa didn’t either. They had been married long enough to have unspoken agreements like these. 

Aizawa scanned the streets below him, watching as the occasional car or bike passed underneath. Tonight had been a fairly slow night, and while Tsukauchi had given him some faces to look out for, it appeared everyone was staying inside tonight. Not that he blamed them. The weather was starting to turn, and it was cold.

Aizawa sighed and glanced at his watch. He could probably head home a few minutes early tonight. The last hour had been silent, and he had already stopped a few muggings. Besides, he had already spotted a few other members of the underground taking up their shifts. 

Aizawa stands and does another glance around before he begins to sprint across the rooftops of Musutafu. It’s easy to leap from rooftop to rooftop, using his capture weapon to launch himself up and onto taller buildings, or catch himself if a jump is too far. 

It takes no time at all to reach the new apartment building, and even from afar he can see the light Mic left on for him in their window. Even stranger, he can see a figure sitting on the roof, legs dangling over the side. Aizawa pushes himself a little faster, terrified, for a second, that it’s a jumper. He’s had to stop too many, had failed to stop too many. 

The figure looks up as Eraserhead jumps onto the roof, and familiar, wide green eyes meet his. 

“Izuku, back away from the edge, please.” Izuku blinks at him, as if barely registering his words, before looking below him. Aizawa feels his heartbeat pick up in his chest before Izuku suddenly shakes his head, coming back to himself. 

“What? Oh, okay.” Izuku swings his legs back over the ledge and stands, the boy brushing himself off. 

“What are you doing out here? Why were you sitting on the edge?” Izuku tilts his head slightly at Aizawa’s questions. 

“Oh! Um, my Mom and Present Mic were talking earlier, and he mentioned that you usually came back from your patrols around now, so I thought I would bring you some of Mom’s hot chocolate.” Aizawa notices the thermos next to the kid. “It’s really cold, and that always warms me up. Plus, it’s really delicious. And I was sitting on the edge because I have really good balance, and it gives the best view of the city.”

Aizawa watches him for a moment before letting out a soft sigh. “As much faith as you have in your balance, please avoid sitting on the edge if only for my own sanity. I don’t want there to be an accident.” 

“Okay!” Izuku’s only too eager to agree, soothing Aizawa’s worries that any thoughts of jumping were in his mind. “So, uh, hot chocolate?” He leans over and grabs the themos and cups, offering one to the underground hero. Aizawa sighs, but nods. 

“Thanks, kid.” Izuku smiles at him, wide and free, and pops the top of the thermos off to pour Aizawa some. “Isn’t it a schoolnight, kid? Is there a reason you’re awake at nearly two in the morning?” 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku wasn’t sure why he wasn’t expecting Eraserhead to accept his offer of hot chocolate, but a feeling of warm, pleasant surprise filled him when the underground hero took the cup. Though, whether that feeling was from accepting the offer or from his concern for Izuku, Izuku wasn’t sure.

“I do online school.” Izuku explains. “There isn’t a very strict schedule as long as I get my work done and get it done right, which I do.” Izuku pops the top off the thermos, and leans over to fill up Eraserhead’s cup, then his own. 

“Why online school?” Eraser lowers himself slowly, until he’s sitting on the rooftop. Izuku joins him with a small frown. 

“When…,” Izuku hesitates, a small knot forming in his chest. Eraserhead and Present Mic had accepted him last night, had said he could be a hero, but his mom was around. Present Mic was around. Even Kacchan had known to keep his bullying in check when adults were around, so who’s to say Eraser was different. Whos to say he wasn’t just keeping up appearances for others? Izuku glances at the pro in front of him, the one sipping hot chocolate he had accepted from Izuku. He didn’t seem like that sort of guy. “When the doctor diagnosed me as quirkless, it didn’t go over well.” Eraser is silent, waiting for Izuku to continue, so he does. “Did you know, while 20% of the world is quirkless, that number is predicted to drastically decrease in the next few decades?”

“You read that American study, didn’t you?” Eraser asks, looking surprised. “Didn’t you say you were eight?”

“I’m really interested in quirks.” Izuku replies with a small shrug. “And I didn’t read the actual paper. A lot of the terms didn’t make sense, but I did read a couple of summaries and read over some discussion boards surrounding the study.” He takes a deep breath, fiddling with the handle of his cup. 

“Fair enough.” Eraser admits with a small nod. “Correct me if I’ve got this wrong, I’ve only read parts of the study. Of the 20% on the planet, all but a fourth of those are above 40 years of age.” 

“It’s closer to a fifth now.” Izuku murmurs. “But yeah. Quirklessness is becoming rarer and rarer. I’m one of three quirkless people in Musutafu.” Eraser is quiet, waiting for Izuku to continue, but the kid takes a small sip of his own drink instead. 

“What does that have to do with online school?” Eraser asks. Izuku hums, thinking for a moment. Eraser was listening, he seemed to be really interested in what Izuku was telling him, and Izuku was…. He wasn’t used to that. It was an odd feeling, but a nice one. 

“Mom says that people hate what they don’t understand,” Izuku says after a moment, “and that’s why the other kids and the teachers hated me so much. Mom overheard some of what the other were saying, and she pulled me out of school.” Izuku’s heart still ached when he thought of Kacchans. It took a while, and his mother’s explanation, to understand why she had gotten so upset about what Kacchan had said that day. Izuku was smart enough to realize that someone his age shouldn’t already know what suicide is, but the world hadn’t really given him a choice. 

“I think I’m going to head inside.” Izuku says suddenly, gut twisting. The hot chocolate didn’t look nearly as appetizing anymore. “Even if I can stay up late, I should head to bed soon. Gotta get some sleep, and I don’t want to keep you any later than necessary.” He stands and grabs the thermos. “Night Eraserhead.” 

“Night kid. Thanks for the drink.” Izuku sends him a weak smile, not missing the underground hero’s small frown. Eraser gives him his cup, and Izuku doesn’t hesitate to head for the rooftop door and slip inside. 

When Izuku gets to his apartment, one small check around helps him confirm that his mother’s still asleep in her room. He makes sure the door is shut tightly before moving to the family computer. He pulls up the All Might debut video he’s watched so many times, plugging his headphones in so as not to make a sound. 

He didn’t watch it as much as he used too. He remembered back when he would watch this video several times a day. As time had passed, he had slowed his habit, and now really only watched it when his thoughts got bad, and he couldn’t sleep. It was comforting to watch, to see how the symbol of peace began. 

Izuku settled into the office chair, held tight onto his All Might figurine, and pressed play. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Oh, Sho, I invited the Midoriya’s to our housewarming party. Inko said she would help me make food for the party since she has the day off that day!” Aizawa blinks, then looks at his husband as his mind registers what Hizashi said. 

“I’m sorry, you’re cooking? Who gave permission for that to happen? Did we invite people we hate?” Aizawa asks, raising an eyebrow. Hizashi’s hand flies to his hand in mock offence, and Aizawa can’t stop the small chuckle from escaping his lips. 

“Inko is helping! You’re mean.” Hizashi shoves him lightly. “I figured they could hang out with us the day of, and that way the little listener can meet everyone one at a time instead of all at once. I think throwing a bunch of pro heroes at him would make him explode.” Hizashi looks back down at the cookbook in front of him. 

“Izuku... did you mention to him what time I get back from patrols?” Aizawa asks after a moment, fiddling with the end of his shirt sleeve. 

“Ah…. maybe? Inko and I were talking, and she asked about how spotlight heroes and underground heroes were different, and I mentioned shift times, so it might have slipped out? If it did, it wouldn’t surprise me if Izuku caught it. The little guy is observant.” Hizashi admits. “Why?” 

“He brought me hot chocolate after patrol once, met me on the roof. Scared the shit out of me when I got back, actually.” Hizashi raises an eyebrow, and Aizawa continues. “He was sitting on the edge of the building. When I first saw him, before I realized who it was, I thought it was a jumper.” 

“Ah. Yeah, those are never fun.” While Aizawa had seen more of them with his nighttime patrols, Hizashi had seen a few too. “Did you at least like the hot chocolate? You did accept, right, Sho?”

“He’s a child, of course I accepted. I wasn’t going to be rude.” Aizawa scowls. 

“I know, but sometimes you come off as a little scary. Plus, when you’re tired, you don’t really let anything stop you from going to bed.” Hizashi reminds him. He wasn’t wrong. Aizawa had said more than one nasty thing when he was exhausted and just trying to get some sleep. “So what did you talk about?” Aizawa hesitates for only a moment. Nothing said the night before seemed especially private, and it wasn’t like Hizashi was the type to go around and spread a child’s thoughts and life to his friends. 

“Did you know he does online school?” Shota asks, and is a little surprised when Hizashi immediately frowns. 

“Inko told me.” He says after a moment. “After Izuku left us to go do some schoolwork. I asked how it was going and... “ Hizashi hesitates, shaking his head. “Those two have been through a lot. It’s like I asked and the dam broke.” Aizawa watches his husband take a deep breath. “I think they’re alone too. I haven’t heard Inko mention friends or family once.”

“You’re a bleeding heart, Hizashi.” Aizawa murmurs, moving closer so he’s pressed against his husband. 

“I know. You love it.” Hizashi replies, setting his head on Aizawa’s shoulder. “Anyway, apparently when Izuku was diagnosed quirkless, it didn’t go over well. Inko said she knew something was going on, but was hoping Izuku would come to her. Apparently that didn’t work out. She said she came to pick Izuku up after school one day and heard the kid who was supposed to be Izuku’s best friend telling Izuku to commit suicide because he was so useless and quirkless.” Hizashi sniffles. “Inko said Izuku didn’t even realize what they meant at first, that she had to explain suicide to her baby so he knew why he was being pulled out. He’s just a kid.” 

Izuku’s sudden reluctance to talk on the rooftop made more sense now. 

If Aizawa’s heart broke a little in his chest, he didn’t show it. 

“We’ll keep an eye on them, okay?” He says after a moment. “If you’re that worried, we’ll make sure they’re alright. It won’t be hard to check in if you keep making coffee and gossip dates with Inko.” Hizashi giggles. 

“She’s nice to talk to.” 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku looks up from his notebook when he hears someone walk into the living room. He can still hear his mom and Present Mic talking and laughing in the kitchen as they prepare food for the party that night, so he isn’t that surprised to see it’s Eraserhead. The underground hero’s eyes meet his, and he shrugs. 

“They seem to have it under control in there. I didn’t want to be in the way.” He explains, and Izuku nods. That was why he was sitting on Eraserhead and Present Mic’s couch. He didn’t want to get in the way, and he preferred writing out his analyses to cooking anyway. Izuku turns his attention back to the news on the TV, where they were showing Best Jeanist’s most recent fight. “You don’t have to watch the news if you’d prefer something else.” Aizawa says after a moment, settling down in the armchair next to the couch. “There are kids shows on there… somewhere.” 

“I’m okay, I like the news. I’ve been trying to figure out the extent of Best Jeanist’s range for a while.” Izuku says, eyes darting between the TV and his notebook, his pen flying across the page. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku watches as Eraserhead tilts his head slightly and reads the cover of his notebook. His hair is up in a ponytail, Izuku notes, something he hasn’t seen the hero do before. 

“Hero Analysis?” Eraserhead asks. “Volume five? You enjoy doing hero analysis?” Izuku straightens in his seat as the news switches to commercials. 

“I’ve always really enjoyed learning about quirks. Some people think it’s weird, but they’re fascinating! Think about what the human body was like in the pre-quirk eras. Now it can do things like control fire, destroy buildings, send out lethal gasses… trying to figure out the extent of quirks is like figuring out a new problem with ten different right answers.” Izuku turns his notebook to show Eraser his analysis, trying not to be embarrassed at his mediocre drawing of Best Jeanist. Eraser’s eyes scan the page, reading quickly. 

“Could I look through this?” Eraserhead asks, Izuku. Izuku is… hesitant. Kacchan had always made fun of his analysis notes, and so had the other kids at school. His mother had said they were smart, but teachers had said they were a waste of time. Eraserhead though… he had told Izuku he could still be a hero. He sat with Izuku. Maybe he wouldn’t think this was dumb or a waste of time. Izuku hands him the notebook. 

Izuku really tries not to stare as Eraserhead flips through the pages, slow and methodical, eyes scanning the words Izuku had written, but it’s difficult. Even as the news reappears, Izuku finds his eyes wandering back to the pro-hero next to him. 

Eraser stops on one page, and Izuku feels heat begin to crawl up his neck and cheeks when he realizes what page he must be on. Eraser reads the page carefully and thoroughly, though, with Izuku watching. 

“You’re extremely smart.” Eraser says after a moment. “Especially for a kid your age. Where did you observe some of this?” 

“Um, like I said before, I get most of my information from online forums. I’ve seen a couple of clips of your fights and made some guesses.” Izuku replies quietly. Eraser leans over, pointing at something on the page. 

“I don’t have a secondary levitation quirk, I know that’s just a guess, but here, you noted a parental relationship possibility. My biological father had a minor levitation quirk. When he used it, it caused his clothes and hair and things like that to lift as well.” Eraser’s finger moves down the page. “And here, you can cross out the levitation theory about my capture weapon. You’re closest with your third guess here, about the implant and brain waves used to make it work, though it isn’t an implant.” Izuku tilts his head, thinking. 

“It’s in your goggles, isn’t it? And they have to be within a certain distance of your head for it to work?” He asks the hero.

“We tried that for a while, but no. too much risk of the goggles breaking or being ripped from my head. It’s actually a small adhesive patch right here,” Eraser turns, tapping the skin behind his ear. “It’s covered by a patch that matches skin tone. It’s effectively invisible.” 

“That way no one will find it or be able to use it against you.” Izuku nods. It made sense, more so than any of his previous theories. Eraser closes the notebook, and hands it back to Izuku. 

“Keep this up. You’re smart, and it will help you in the field if you can analyze quirks like that. It will help you to identify weaknesses and take villains down. However, keep these stashed away. If the wrong person got ahold of them, it could expose the weaknesses of a lot of heroes too.” Eraser explains, and Izuku nods eagerly. “Alright. Good.” Eraser glances at his watch. “People will start showing up before long. Ten-” There’s a knock at the door, and Eraser sighs. “Tensei’s always early. Kid.” Eraser grabs Izuku’s attention. “You can ask questions, but try to keep your cool.” Izuku nods, frowning a little. His mother and Mic both mentioned that there would be several pros at this party. 

Eraser gets to his feet and moves to the door, glancing through the peephole before he opens it. 

“Tensei, Kayama, we’re starting at six, not five thirty.” He says immediately. Izuku sits up straighter on the couch, leaning back to try and see who is at the door. 

“Ah, c’mon. We’ve got to get the party started early! I brought vodka!” A woman says, and she quickly pushes her way past Eraser. She’s wearing skintight jeans and a shimmery top, and is holding a large bottle in one hand. Her eyes land on Izuku, and her smile morphs to a look of confusion. “Shota, there’s a child on your couch.”

“What?” An unfamiliar male voice asks, quickly moving behind her. “Oh. Is this a child friendly party? I could’ve brought Tenya, you should’ve said something.” Eraser huffs as he shuts the door. 

“I’m not a fan of young children. Izuku is the exception. His mother is in the kitchen helping Hizashi with out with dinner. They’re our neighbors, and Hizashi made friends.”

The woman smiles widely, squealing that “he’s adorable!” while the man asks, “who let Hizashi in the kitchen? Are we dying tonight?” Izuku recognizes them both. It takes a minute, with Ingenium, mostly because there are limited photos of him without his helmet, but Izuku’s seen them all. 

“You’re Midnight and Ingenium!” Izuku says excitedly. “Your quirks are amazing!” Izuku pushes himself off the couch and to his feet, notebook in hand. “I’ve watched you both fight on the news. You take down your enemies so quickly!” There’s a heartbeat of silence before Midnight’s smile widens on her face. 

“I’m keeping him.” She tells Shota before kneeling down next to Izuku. “You like heroes? I’m impressed you’ve seen my fights, most kids haven’t.” Izuku nods. 

“Mom says I’m not allowed to watch your fights from your first year, before the costume law was implemented, but I can once I’m ten!” Midnight giggled at Izuku’s enthusiasm. “Your quirk doesn’t work on you, right? Does it affect everyone but you, or are other people with gas quirks also immune? I thought it might be coded to your DNA to affect everyone but you, but I wasn’t sure. And is it all through inhalation? Or is exposure the key, because even if you hold your breath there are other orifices for the gas to seep-”

“Izuku, kid, breathe.” Eraser interrupts, walking by and ruffling his hair. “They’re going to be here all night. Anyway, these two you can bother all you want. They’re menaces and they deserve it.” Midnight and Ingenium both make sounds of protest at that comment, but don’t actually deny the accusation. 

“He’s just a sour old man who is jealous that people know us on sight. Ignore him Izuku, he’s a terrible influence.” Izuku giggles, because he had known Eraserhead on sight too, even if these heroes didn’t know it. They seemed nice. 

“Hey guys!” Mic sticks his head out of the kitchen. “It’s good to see you! Make yourselves at home-”

“Yamada, don’t leave the stove unattended!” Izuku hears his mother shout from inside the kitchen, and he watches Mic’s eyes widen with sudden alarm before he vanishes back inside. Midnight straightens back up to her full height.

“I’ll just go put this away then.” She says, gesturing to the bottle. “You and I can talk quirks later, sweetheart. I’ll answer any questions you like.” She smiles at Izuku before heading into the kitchen. Ingenium shrugs. 

“I can talk quirks now if you’d like?”

Izuku feels like he’ll vibrate out of his skin he’s so excited. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It hits Aizawa as Inko notes the time and starts getting Izuku around to leave their apartment that he genuinely enjoys spending time with the kid. He wasn’t expecting it, mostly because super young children tended to get on his nerves. At least, he thought they did. He remembered how frustrated he’d get when dealing with the young children in the foster home, how he promised himself he’d never have children for that reason. 

But he likes Izuku. He likes the kid a lot, and he wants to see him succeed. 

Fuck. 

“Thank you for inviting us over, we had a lovely time.” Inko is saying to Hizashi at the door when Aizawa walks up. “We’d stay longer, but Izuku has an appointment in the morning, so he has to go to bed at a reasonable time.” 

“We completely understand, Inko. Thank you for your help, I really owe you.” Hizashi replies. Inko gestures for Izuku to go ahead of her, and Aizawa watches the kid slip inside the apartment. 

“You don’t. The fact that Izuku got to have such a great time, that all of you were so nice to him, it was more than enough.” Inko murmurs, a small, soft smile on her face. “Ill have to buy him a new journal soon, with how much he wrote tonight. You all were so accommodating, and I thank you. Both of you.” Inko glances at Aizawa.

“Actually, Inko, could I talk to you privately? If not tonight, then soon?” Aizawa interrupts. Hizashi sends him a confused look, and Inko tilts her head. 

“I… of course that’s possible…” She glances towards her apartment door. “Izuku can do his bedtime routine on his own if you’d like to talk now.” Aizawa nods in agreement, slipping past his husband to join Inko in the hallway. 

“It will only take a moment,” Aizawa says to his husband, “I’ll rejoin you once I’m done.” Hizashi frowns, but nods, letting the door shut so he and Inko are alone. Inko looks up at him curiously, waiting, and he holds up a single finger, signaling her to wait. After a moment, he speaks, much louder than he normally would. “I’ll tell you later, Hizashi.” 

Inko giggles when a muffled sigh comes through the door, and Aizawa hears his husband rejoin the others. 

“So what did you want to discuss? Did Izuku pry into something he shouldn’t have? Sometimes he doesn’t realize-” Inko’s babbling mimics her son’s murmurs. 

“Nothing like that.” Aizawa cuts her off before she can spiral. “I wanted to talk about Izuku’s dream to be a hero.” Inko’s face goes carefully blank. 

“What about it?” She asks, voice flat. Aizawa suddenly finds himself praying he never gets on this woman’s bad side. 

“Izuku is smart. Much smarter than I think anyone expects someone his age to be, and he’s determined. He’s got the heart and the mind for it, I can tell,” Aizawa begins, “but he’s going to need help if he wants to get into a place like UA.” Inko relaxes a little. “How would you feel about Izuku starting training?” 

“Training? What type of training? He takes some lessons at a dojo already.” Inko asks. 

“And that’s a great place to start, but I was thinking some one on one training would be most beneficial.” Aizawa replies. “I was wondering if you would allow me to start working with Izuku.” 

Inko stares at him. 

She stares at him for a while, and Aizawa has to resist the urge to squirm under her gaze. 

“You… you want to help train my son to become a hero?” She asks quietly. Aizawa nods. “What would that entail? You’re a pro. Why do you want to help Izuku?”

“He’s a good kid.” Aizawa says after a moment. “I want to help him because he needs it and because I want to. If you’re concerned about me expecting payment or something like that, don’t be. I’ll consider helping Izuku practice for teaching at UA next year.” Aizawa rubs the back of his neck. “As for what training would entail, it would mostly be over hand to hand combat. To start, I would just focus on getting him where he needs to be physically. This will include a workout regime, a meal plan, things like that. Once he’s there we can work on fighting, and eventually weapons training. With him being quirkless, support items will become his greatest asset.” Aizawa glances up and down the hallway, almost on instinct, to make sure they weren’t being overheard. “I myself use support items for most of my fighting. I know Izuku has told you before, but my quirk isn’t exactly a physical or flashy one. It’s just another tool in my arsenal.” 

Inko is quiet, almost uncomfortably quiet as she thinks the proposition over. Aizawa understood her hesitation. Izuku was still a child, but he would be a child in high school too. This would give him an edge most people don’t have. 

“You’re really offering this because Izuku’s a good kid? Because of a future teaching position?” She asks after a moment. 

“I see a lot of myself in Izuku.” Aizawa says after a moment. “I was told all the time in school that I couldn’t be a hero, though that was because most people called my quirk villainous. I had to fight my way into the heroics program through the sports festival. If I had received help, maybe things would have been easier, but it doesn’t matter anymore. My time’s passed, but I can help Izuku show everyone who has ever doubted him that he’s more of a hero than they ever will be.” Inko’s eyes are watering again, shimmering in the low light of the hallway. “Please don’t cry.” Inko lets out a watery laugh instead. 

“Sorry, sorry. I just… wasn’t expecting that. Izuku and I have been on our own for so long that it’s hard to believe you truly want to help.” She says, wiping at her eyes with the sleeve of her cardigan. “I know you said it would be the last thing you worked with him on, but I don’t want him touching any weapons until he’s at least ten. Eleven would be better.” She looks at her apartment door. “And school comes first. School always comes first. If his grades slip, he focuses on that.” 

“Of course.”

“And…” She hesitates. 

“And?” Aizawa prompts after a moment, not missing the clear hesitation she has. Still, Inko pauses.

“I’ll need to talk with Izuku about it before I tell you, but there’s something you should probably know before you start this training.” She says after a moment. “I need to check with him before I tell you though.” Aizawa is confused, absolutely, but whatever is on her mind is something she needs to talk through. 

“You can get my number from Hizashi, since I know you have his. Message me when you’d like to talk again. We can figure out the details.” Aizawa informs her, and she seems to relax a little. 

“Of course. Thank you. I’ll try to let you know soon.” Aizawa nods. 

“Have a nice night, Midoriya-san.” 

“You as well.”

Chapter Text

Aizawa is a little surprised at how long it takes Inko to get back to him about his offer. With how excitable Izuku was, Aizawa had expected her to message him the next day, but nothing comes. Another day goes by, then another, and Aizawa wonders, for a moment, if he should check in. 

When he had told Hizashi, his husband was understandably surprised and excited. There was nothing but encouraging words and reassurances that the Midoriyas would talk to them soon. Hizashi had scheduled a dinner with Inko and Izuku for next thursday, anyway, so if they didn’t hear anything he could ask then.

Still, he’s worried about the radio silence. As it goes on, he wonders what sort of information he needs to know that would take that long to discuss. An estranged father, maybe? Did the Midoriya family have some form of villain connection?

“You’re overthinking this, Sho.” Hizashi would say, over and over again. “Don’t work yourself up expecting the worst. Give them time.” 

Wednesday night, he receives a text from Inko, stating that they would discuss everything at dinner the next day. Izuku had needed some time to think things over, but he was ready. 

Knocking on the Midoriya’s door the next day has his nerves on edge, something that rarely happened outside patrols. Izuku let them inside, his wide green eyes taking them in, searching for something in Aizawa. Hizashi slips past the two of them to bring Inko the desert he had picked up after his patrol that day, leaving Aizawa with the kid. They stand there, looking at each other for a moment. 

“You really want to help me?” Izuku asks, breaking the silence. He’s scared, Aizawa realizes. He’s worried about Aizawa’s intentions, about his reaction. 

“Yes.” Aizawa replies, because what else can he possibly say? “It won’t be easy, though. Becoming a hero is no walk in the park.” Izuku watches him for another moment before nodding and moving towards the table. Inko had told him she and Izuku had been alone most of their lives, but Aizawa questioned what could possibly lead to that much mistrust. Had Izuku dealt with so many betrayals and broken promises that he had to make sure for himself? That an eight year old had to check and make sure an adult’s word was what they truly meant?

Aizawa follows him to the table, noting that the food was already laid out. Inko came in, a pitcher in hand to fill glasses, and Izuku sat in his seat. Hizashi followed suit, and Aizawa sat between his husband and the young boy, so he was right across from Inko. 

“I hope you both like it, it’s an old family recipe.” Inko informs them as she begins to dish everything out. 

“I’m sure it will be delicious, Inko.” Hizashi says, a genuine smile playing along his lips. Inko smiles back, but it fades when she glances at Aizawa. She turns to her son, and gestures for him to say something. Izuku straightens in his seat, staring down at his plate. Eventually, he looks up, meeting Aizawa’s eyes. 

“Mom and Dr. Shima say that before you train me I have to tell you something.” He says. Aizawa waits. “I… I wasn’t born a boy. I am a boy, but my body is wrong, so we’re fixing it, but it’s going to take time and I have to be older before much can be done, but I am a boy.” Izuku frowns down at his plate. 

That… that wasn’t what Aizawa was expecting. It was understandable, though, why it took so long for Inko to get back to him. People were becoming more accepting, nowadays, but transphobia still raised its ugly head and you still had to be careful. 

And.. shit, Izuku was trans and quirkless. Life had knocked him down twice in the hardest way possible, and this kid was somehow still a ball of sunshine through it. Aizawa knew that he himself had grown a bit bitter at the world, and he wasn’t dealing with things anywhere close to what Izuku would have to face. 

Aizawa was impressed by Izuku. He was scared for the boy too, but he was impressed. 

“They’re right, I did need to know.” Aizawa replies. “I’ll have to adjust the diet and training regimine slightly, and your body will react slightly differently, but the majority of your training will be the same.” Izuku is staring at him, quiet. “You do still want to train, right?” 

“Yes!” The exclamation is so loud that Aizawa is briefly reminded of Hizashi’s quirk. “Yes! Of course! I’ll train harder than anyone else, I’ll be the best student you could ask for!” Izuku is bouncing in his seat, the energy Aizawa was used to seeing from the boy suddenly back full force. “I won’t disappoint you.” 

“I know you won’t. I wouldn’t train someone with no potential and no determination.” Aizawa replies, earning a smile from the boy. “It’ll be hard work.”

“I can do it.” Izuku says without hesitation. 

“I’m sure you can.” 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku was, for the lack of a better word, dead on his feet. 

Eraser, no, he had told him to call him Aizawa, hadn’t been lying. The training Aizawa had developed for Izuku was absolutely brutal. After testing where Izuku was physically their first session together, Aizawa had given him a packed training schedule that had Izuku collapsing into his bed at night and sleeping like the dead. His muscles ached all the time, he was sore from work, but he was also absolutely thrilled. 

Training at first consisted on bulking up and getting his body ready for more action. Aizawa had told him they would start hand to hand soon, and about his mother’s rules regarding weapons. If Izuku was honest, he couldn’t see himself with weapons quite yet. Support items, however… he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t itching to get his hands on Aizawa’s scarf. He hoped the hero would let him practice with it, or maybe even use something similar. Still, they were a long way from training with anything besides their bodies right now. There was a lot Izuku needed to do before he thought about support items. 

“Kid, come with me. We’re training somewhere else today.” Aizawa said as soon as Izuku had walked out of the apartment building. They usually did his strength training in the large yard behind the building, one advertised as a space for pets and children. It was a vacant lot, though, and Aizawa and Izuku were alone most of the time. 

“Where are we going?” Izuku asks, quickly finding his place at Aizawa’s side as they walk down the sidewalk. 

“Hizashi’s agency has a gym we’re going to use a couple of times a week. You’ve been doing well with your training, so we’re taking the next step.” Izuku feels his heart pick up in his chest. They were going to Present Mic’s agency! He was already running through the heroes and sidekicks that worked there, wondering if he would get the chance to see any of them. “Don’t get too excited, we’re going in the back door and to a private gym.”

“Right. Underground hero.” Izuku says to himself. 

“Yep. Keep your head down, don’t get noticed, and save the people who aren’t in the light.” Aizawa replies, and… Izuku thinks about that for a second. About how Aizawa worded that. 

“What do you mean by ‘the people who aren’t in the light?’” Izuku asks as they turn down the next street. 

“The heroes that are typically in the spotlight, why are they there?” Aizawa asks after a second. Izuku had realized after a few training sessions that Aizawa liked pushing Izuku’s mind to make him figure things out on his own. 

“Well, they’re the heroes that the cameras catch. That the people see fight and that people want to see win.” Izuku says after a moment. “They rescue people from the big name villains, the ones that attack cities and populated areas. They’re the ones people pay attention too. That big villains want to fight to make a point.” Aizawa nods. 

“Take a guess, are there more casualties in those battles, or outside those battles?” He asks him.

“Um… I’m not sure.” Izuku replies after a moment. “I.. I’ve taken a look at some of the stats of hero fights but I’ve never taken into account what happens outside of those… does the government track that? I know there are stats regarding villains, but what about regular crimes? It takes time to be classified as an actual villain in the eyes of the government, even though most people just call anyone who does a crime a villain nowadays.” 

“A little off track,” Aizawa notes, “but what do you think? Even though you haven’t researched it.” Izuku is quiet as he thinks, and they turn down the last street. The familiar view of Hizashi’s agency is up ahead. 

“Outside the spotlight fights.” Izuku finally settles on an answer, and sounds surprisingly sure of himself. “It has to be, right? Unless you count rescue heroes and natural disasters as spotlight fights, then it might sway back the other direction.” Aizawa nods, and Izuku smiles.

“C’mon, kid. We’re going around back, remember?” Aizawa reminds him. Izuku can see a sidekick walking out of the front of the agency from here, even as they turn down the alleyway for a different entrance. He so badly wants to go in through there, to meet other heroes, but his mother had told him that he had to listen to Aizawa as if he was a teacher at school that Aizawa wold keep him safe. Plus, he wasn’t about to ignore Aizawa or bother him to the point where he rescinded his offer. Training with Aizawa was the best chance he had at becoming a hero.

Aizawa uses a key card to enter a door at the back corner of the building. The hallway they walk down is definitely one used more for service than work, Izuku can tell, and Aizawa leads him to a service elevator.

“We’ll have the gym to ourselves. Hizashi allows for heroes and sidekicks to reserve various gyms for personal training.” Aizawa informs him as the elevator opens to their floor. “Knowing him, he’ll probably come and bug us at some point, but he is busy.” They walk down a long hallway, and through the windows on doors, Izuku can see heroes and sidekicks training in other gyms. 

“Does each gym have a specific purpose?” Izuku asks after they pass the third gym, this one appearing to have some sort of environmental aspect to it. 

“Some do, some are just for basic training. We’re using the cityscape gym.” Izuku’s a little baffled by that. A cityscape gym? How large was it? Was it simulating a single city street? Did it factor in rooftops and weather, or was it simply there for navigating a city? If it was, it might not be a good idea to use it often because you could get used to the environment, and it could be detrimental in the long run.

“We aren’t using it for navigation.” Aizawa says, and it’s only then that Izuku realizes he was mumbling. 

“What are we doing?” Izuku asks as Aizawa turns and pushes open the next door on their left, leading Izuku into their gym. Izuku had been partially right. It was a city street, but it was also alleyways and back paths through the city. The ceiling was tall, probably forty feet, and while some buildings went right up to the top, others were shorter, leaving space between rooftops and the ceiling for there to be activity on them. 

“Parkour.” Aizawa replies. The doors shut behind them with a loud click. 

“Parkour?” Izuku asks after a second. “The thing where you jump between tall buildings?” Aizawa looks at him, as if he wasn’t expecting that answer from Izuku. 

“It… yes and no.” He says after a moment. “It’s a discipline where the aim is to traverse a complex environment efficiently and quickly. Sometimes that involves jumping between buildings.” Izuku looks at him for a minute. 

“So running really quickly?” He asks. Aizawa looks at him for a moment, studies him for a moment. 

“Sometimes I forget you’re only eight.” Aizawa murmurs, mostly to himself, but Izuku catches it. How could Aizawa forget he was eight? Mom and her coworkers talked all the time about how small he was, how young he was. He wasn’t that young, he didn’t think. He was nearly in the double digits with age.

“Only eight?” He asks because it doesn’t make that much sense. 

“You’re smart. You’re really smart, kid, and you talk like it, so sometimes I’ll suddenly get reminded that you don’t know everything and you haven’t experienced everything yet. It’s a good thing, you’re still a kid and you need to spend time as a kid to… develop. That sounds right. Anyway, sometimes I’m reminded of that and it’s startling.” 

“Mom says I don’t talk like other kids because I don’t hang out with people my age.” Izuku informs the pro hero. Aizawa’s nose scrunches a bit, but he nods and pulls out his phone, quickly texting someone. “It’s okay though. A lot of kids are mean.” Aizawa’s nose scrunches again, and he frowns. “Can you show me what Parkour is if it isn’t just running and jumping?”

“Of course, kid, that’s the point of training.” Aizawa reaches down and ruffles Izuku’s curls, just like his mom did sometimes. “Watch carefully, okay? You won’t be able to do things like this quite yet, but that’s what we’re working towards.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Iida Tensei knows his friends. He knows them well, so when he receives a text from Shouta in the middle of the afternoon, when he’d usually be sleeping, he’s more than a little confused. 

When that text is an invitation to dinner on Thursday night, the confusion grows. 

When he reads the bit about bringing Tenya along, Tensei is fairly certain Shouta has been kidnapped and brainwashed by some sort of alien species. So, he does the only rational thing and calls Shota’s husband. 

“Yo! Tensei! What’s up?” Hizashi answers the phone with the enthusiasm he always seems to have. 

“Has Shota been injured recently?” He asks, leaning back in his desk chair, ignoring the paperwork in front of him. He loved being a hero. He adored it, but the paperwork that came with it could burn in hell.

“Injured? What? Did something happen?” Hizashi immediately, predictably, spirals into a panic... Yeah, Tensei could have worded that a bit better. 

“No, no. Nothing’s happened I think.” Hizashi whines at the ‘I think’ part of the statement. “But a concussion or head trauma would explain the text I just got.” 

“Text?” Hizashi asks. 

“Yeah. He was inviting me to dinner on Thursday, and asked if I would bring Tenya along, because, and I’m quoting him here, ‘your brother is like eight or nine, right? He’s a kid I thought.’” 

“...what?” Hizashi whispers. “Thursday nights are dinners with the Midoriyas. I don’t know why Sho would have invited you over when we already have plans.” Tensei is a little relieved that Hizashi is as confused as he is. “Hold on, he and Izuku are down in one of the gym-” Hizashi stops. It’s so sudden that Tensei is worried, for a second, that the call dropped. 

“Hizashi?” Tensei asks after a moment. 

“Oh my god.” Hizashi whispers. “Sho is trying to help Izuku make friends. My grumpy husband, who is notoriously annoyed by children, is trying to help Izuku make friends.” Tensei lets out a disbelieving laugh. 

“Are you serious?” 

“Absolutely. You know what, bring Tenya to dinner if you can. I want to see this unfold in person.” Hizashi confirms. “Should we invite Kayama too? I’m tempted. Does she know any children that we could bring into this circle? Actually, you know what, scratch that, I don’t want any child Kayama hangs out with to corrupt Izuku.”

“Or Tenya.”

“Or Tenya.” Hizashi amends. “But she can behave. This will be beautiful.” Tensei is tempted to laugh at his friend’s obvious bewildered excitement. “Okay. Okay. I need to call Inko and switch it to our apartment because I’m not letting Sho invite other people to her apartment. Okay.” Tensei can hear papers shuffling on Hizashi’s end of the line. “Okay. I’ll text you the details, just confirm with Sho now. Bye.”

“Bye Hizashi.” Tensei laughs. His phone beeps as the call ends, and after a moment he sighs and texts his mother about taking Tenya for the night that week.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Dinner delivery!” Izuku jumps when there’s a loud knock at Aizawa and Mic’s door and a shout through the wood. His mother startles too, turning from her conversation with Present Mic. Mic smiles though, quickly standing. 

“There’s Tensei and Tenya!” He says excitedly. The two had offered to pick up dinner on their way in, or so Aizawa had told him. Izuku wasn’t exactly sure why Ingenium and his younger brother were joining their weekly dinner, but he liked the hero well enough. Mic ruffles Izuku’s hair as he walks past, and Izuku can’t help but lean into the touch. 

The pro heroes, Mic especially, were into casual touches. Both of them ruffled Izuku’s hair a lot, Aizawa clasped his shoulder or patted him on the head, and Mic was a hugger. It was… odd. It had just been Izuku and his mom for so long that Mic and Aizawa’s sudden entrance into their lives had taken them both by surprise. In the past, any touches that hadn’t come from his mother were usually painful. The kids at school only ever touched him to hurt him; punches, slaps, or quirk generated hits. The soft, kind touches were unfamiliar, but not unwelcome. Dr. Shima had said that Izuku was probably touch starved a few sessions ago, and while Izuku hadn’t been sure what that meant at the time, he understood it a little better now. He craved these small touches. He hoped the heroes didn’t stop. 

“Hey Hizashi!” Ingenium says once Mic opens the door. “Sorry we’re a little late.
The food wasn’t quite done when we got there.” 

“You’re alright! Kayama isn‘t here yet either. Here, let me take that from you little listener.” Izuku cranes his neck to try and spot who Mic was talking to. He was, admittedly, a little nervous. He had been since his mother had told him there was going to be another kid his age at dinner this week. The only kids Izuku’s age that he hung around were the ones at the dance studio and dojo. They were nice, but they weren’t friends. He didn’t really have friends, not since Kacchan… Bakugo, not since Bakugo. Dr. Shima said it was normal, after what had happened, but Izuku knew his mom worried. He heard her murmur her worries about his loneliness when she thought he wasn’t listening. 

“Thank you!” A strong, loud voice replied to Mic. 

“Of course, Little listener. Why don’t you two go say hi to Izuku and Inko while Sho and I get this on real plates and bowls?

“Of course!” 

“Thank you for inviting us!” The brothers answer at the same time, and Izuku sees Hizashi smile as he moves out of the way, arms now laden with bags, to let them inside. Ingenium is first, closely followed by the younger boy who was sticking close to his brother. It was like he was trying to hide behind Ingenium without acting like he was hiding behind Ingenium. He had dark hair like his brother, but he also had rectangular glasses that perched on the bridge of his nose. Ingenium smiles at Izuku and waves. 

“Hey kiddo! How are you doing? Still doing those analyses?” Izuku feels heat race up his neck. A pro hero remembered him, liked him. Izuku can only wordlessly nod and hold up the notebook he had been jotting things down in. “Glad to see it.” Ingenium says with a laugh. 

Ingenium looks down and slightly behind him at his brother. “Izuku, this is my little brother Tenya. Tenya, this is Izuku. He lives next door to Hizashi and Shota.” Izuku waves at the other boy, who hesitantly waves back. Tensei looks down at his brother with a small frown before kneeling next to him. “Remember what we talked about Tenya. You’ve gotta overcome this shyness. Loud and proud, remember?” 

“I remember.” Tenya whispers back, so quiet that Izuku almost misses it. 

Tenya sets his shoulders, walks up to Izuku, and sticks his hand way too close to Izuku’s face. “I’m Iida Tenya!” Izuku jumps at the booming voice. If he couldn’t see the engines on Tenya’s legs, Izuku would think that Tenya had a voice quirk like Mic. Tensei sighs. 

“Just a hair too loud buddy.” Tenya looks a little crestfallen at that. 

“It’s okay!” Izuku says quickly, reaching up to take Tenya’s hand. “I’m Izuku. It’s nice to meet you.” There’s a bang in the kitchen, and Tensei straightens. 

“Why don’t you two hang out while I go see if they need help.” He asks, getting nods from both the boys. Izuku shuffles over on the couch, making sure Tenya has enough room to clamber on and sit down. Izuku watches as his mother follows the pro, leaving the boys alone. 

Izuku isn’t sure what to say. He feels a bit uncomfortable just sitting there with the other boy, and it’s clear that Tenya is nervous too from the way he’s squirming. What is Izuku supposed to say in a situation like this? At dance he usually just talks about, well, dance with the other kids. Sometimes they talked about school and stuff, but Izuku didn’t go to school. 

“Um,” Tenya looks up when Izuku makes a small noise, “Do you like heroes?” Tenya brightens. 

“Yes! My brother is my favorite hero, and he says I can be just like him one day.” Izuku smiles at that. 

“You have a really similar quirk, right?” Izuku prods. Tenya lifts up his leg, showing Izuku the exhaust pipes coming out of his calves. 

“I have engine too, but Tensei says I’m really lucky because I have them in my legs instead of my arms like him. He says it’ll make me faster than him someday!” Tenya drops his leg down again. “I think he’s just saying that. No one is faster than Ingenium!” 

“You could be a hero duo!” Izuku says excitedly. “Family members and couples work together in the field all the time.” Tenya’s eyes widen, as if the thought had never occurred to him. 

“Yeah!” Tenya agrees. “That would be the coolest! We’d be the best heroes ever.” Izuku smiles and nods in agreement, because while Ingenium wasn’t his favorite hero, he had quickly climbed up Izuku’s list once the boy had met the hero in person. “Who is your favorite hero, Izuku?” 

“All Might!” Izuku replies without hesitation. “He’s so cool! He saves everyone with a smile, and never lets anyone down. I wanna be like him when I get older. Saving people with smiles.” Tenya nods, like this makes all the sense in the world. 

“He is number one for a reason. What sort of quirk do you have? How are you going to use it?” Tenya asks. It’s a completely reasonable question, but it makes Izuku’s heart stutter in his chest. Izuku doesn’t realize that his mother and three pro heroes are listening on the other side of the door, that his mother is suddenly on edge, because she wasn’t sure that Ingenium was aware of Izuku’s quirklessness either. Not unless Hizashi or Aizawa had said something. 

“Oh, um…” Izuku hesitates, knuckles going white as he grips his notebook. Tenya picks up on his obvious discomfort, frowning a little. “I, uh, I don’t have a quirk. I’m quirkless.” 

In the kitchen, Tensei looks a little surprised. He just shrugs, after a moment, however, because if Aizawa, his friend, was training this kid, it didn’t matter if he had a quirk or not. He’d be an amazing hero. Inko relaxes and hopes the younger Iida does the same. 

In the living room, Tenya looks at Izuku with confusion. He had heard his parents talk about quirklessness before, he was pretty sure they donated to charities and stuff that helped quirkless people, but he hadn’t ever met anyone without a quirk before. 

“You don’t have a quirk yet?” Tenya asks. Izuku shakes his head, curling in on himself slightly. 

“I won’t ever have a quirk. The doctors said so. I have an extra joint in my pinkie toe and everything.” Izuku flexes his toes in his house slippers. Tenya’s frown deepens. He wasn’t sure what an extra joint had to do with anything, but Izuku sounded sure. 

“Well, I’ve never heard of a quirkless hero,” Tenya says after a moment, “but I guess that means you’ll just have to be the first, right? Tensei says theres a first for everything, so you’ll just be the first!” 

Izuku smiles. It’s wide and toothy but it’s also genuine, and he can feel tears building up in his eyes. He blinks them away as fast as he can. 

“Yeah. I’m gonna be the first!” Tenya smiles back at him. 

A knock at the door startles both boys, tearing their gazes away from each other. It had to be Midnight, Izuku realized. She was the only one missing. And weren’t the adults supposed to be getting dinner ready? Izuku didn’t remember it taking that long to put food out when his mom did it, but Aizawa said all the time that Mic was terrible in the kitchen, so maybe something happened. He hoped not. He really liked Udon. 

Mic comes bursting through the kitchen door. “I’ve got it!” He shouts, a little too loud. He probably used his quirk. Tensei follows, looking after the voice hero with a fond smile. 

“Tensei!” Tenya slides off the couch, running up to his brother as Mic lets Midnight in. Midnight waves at Izuku with a smile, and Izuku waves back. “Tensei, Izuku is going to be the first quirkless hero!” 

Midnight stops in the doorway, startled. She hadn’t known either, hadn’t even suspected when Shota had told her he was training the boy. She had just figured that he, like her friend, had a non-physical, not flashy quirk. 

“Really? That’s amazing!” Tensei replies, smiling at his brother and Izuku. “Why don’t you two go help Aizawa bring the bowls to the table, hm?” 

“Okay!” The boys run into the kitchen, Inko holding the door open for them as she slips into the living room. 

“Izuku’s quirkless?” Kayama asks when the boys are out of earshot.

“Is that an issue for you?” Inko asks, and Kayama is startled by the woman’s sudden hostility. The first time she had met Inko, the woman was so soft and kind that it was hard to imagine the same woman was leveling her with a glare that made Kayama want to back away. 

“No! No, of course not. I was just surprised. With those analyses and questions of his, I had guessed an intelligence quirk of some kind. This just makes Izuku more impressive, honestly.” Kayama amends quickly. Inko relaxes a little. “A lot of people won’t like a quirkless hero, though. I’m a little worried about the backlash. People can be stupid and bigoted.” A small, sad smile crosses Inko’s face. 

“Izuku’s faced that already. He’s strong, and he can prove them all wrong.” Inko says softly. The two children come out of the kitchen, each carrying bowls with comically serious expressions on their face. The heroes and Inko all stifle laughs, and Inko wants to ask Aizawa what he said to them to be so careful. Aizawa follows, two larger bowls in his hands. 

“Dinner. Let’s eat.” 

Chapter Text

Aizawa felt oddly nervous standing outside the principal’s office for UA. While in school, he had done his best to keep his head down and stick below the radar. He could count on one hand the amount of times he had gotten in trouble or been to this office. It was odd to be standing here. 

It was odd to think that his old homeroom teacher was now inhabiting this office. Well, maybe not that odd. It was Nedzu, after all. If anyone was going to be principal of UA, it was Nedzu. 

Aizawa finally brings his hand up and raps his knuckles against the door. Nedzu’s voice immediately comes from inside, encouraging him to open the door. Aizawa sighs and walks inside. The mouse/bear/principal of UA smiles at him immediately. 

“Aizawa! I’m so glad you’re here. Tea?”

“No, thank you.” Aizawa knew if he accepted tea, he would be here for an hour. If he had it his way, this would have been an email, or at most a phone call. Unfortunately, Nedzu was the type of person who liked in person meetings, especially when there was something he wanted to know. 

“So. The teaching position.” Nedzu clasps his hands together as he smiles at Aizawa. “Have you decided?” 

“I’ll be taking the position.” Aizawa says after a moment. Nedzu trills delightedly. 

“Wonderful!” Aizawa narrows his eyes, because his old teacher is much less surprised than he should be. “Yamada-san hinted that you were leaning towards accepting the position. Apparently, you’ve taken on a personal student. I take it teaching him is much to your liking?” Aizawa sighs. 

“My husband talks too much.” 

“He’s thrilled. How long have you been teaching him?” Nedzu asks, taking a sip of the tea he already had. How much had Hizashi been talking about Izuku if Nedzu already knew Izuku was a he? Nedzu was way too nosey. 

“It’s been ten months.” Aizawa replies calmly. “He’s our neighbor. He has potential. What sort of paperwork do I need to fill out for this job?” Aizawa tries to change the subject, but Nedzu brushes him off. 

“I’ll send it home with you today. Yamada-san and Nemuri-san can help you fill it out if you have any questions. What sort of potential have you seen in him?” 

“Hero potential. He’s young, though. So we’re moving slowly.” Aizawa is purposefully keeping his answers vague, but he knows Nedzu. He feels the pit starting to form in his stomach

“Yamada-san says he’s smart, too.” 

“I’m not letting you anywhere near him. He’s nine. He’s influenceable. He’s not becoming your minion.” Aizawa shuts him down without hesitation. Nedzu wasn’t his teacher anymore, and he certainly wasn’t his employer until Aizawa signed something. Nedzu just laughs. 

“Fair enough, fair enough. Though, if you plan on recommending him for the hero course, I will meet him at some point.” Nedzu oh so helpfully reminds him. 

“Nedzu, I mean this in the nicest way possible. You were my favorite teacher at UA when I was here, but you scare me, and I’d like to keep Izuku away from that for as long as possible.” Aizawa stands, remembering just how much Nedzu would dig if he stayed any longer. “The paperwork?” Nedzu smiles, and after a moment he nods to the manilla folder on the left corner of his desk. 

“I’ll just have to ask Yamada-san about it on Monday.”

Aizawa barely suppresses an eye roll, because of course he would. 

“He’ll have this paperwork for you then too.” 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Tenchan! You’re so much faster!” Izuku watches as his friend races around the park. Tenya and Izuku hung out a lot these days, especially after Tenya got out of school most days, and Tensei or their parents could come check in on Izuku and his homeschooling. Usually, Inko and Izuku’s elderly downstairs neighbor would check in on Izuku throughout the day, or Izuku would just go to work with Inko. Izuku was almost ten, however, and he felt like he was old enough to stay home alone. His mother was insistent though. 

“Tensei has been showing me some of his tricks! And I tried what you suggested, but it makes my engines overheat.” Tenya turns his leg to show Izuku the smoke coming from the exhaust pipes. Izuku frowns. 

“Maybe your hero costume could include a thermoregulator around your engines and exhaust? That way you could push yourself without worry of injury or overdoing it to the point where you can’t use them anymore.” Izuku reaches out and taps one of the pipes, but immediately hisses and pulls his finger back. It felt like when he would accidentally brush against a hot pan or pot on the stove. “Does your brother have something like that for his?”

“I would have to ask.” Tenya replies with a frown. “I’ll do that when we get home. If Tensei doesn’t my parents might.” Tenya lowers himself down so he’s sitting on the edge of the playground. “I’ve been running with Tensei a lot to improve my speed. Maybe that would help.” Tenya looks up at Izuku. “Has Aizawa shown you any cool tricks recently?” Izuku smiles wide, bouncing where he stands as he nods. 

“Aizawa says I’m really light on my feet now! Watch.” Izuku looks over the playground. “I’ll meet you over under that tree!” Tenya follows Izuku’s finger and nods before running to the tree. He gives Izuku a thumbs up from across the park. Izuku grins, and takes off. 

When Aizawa had shown Izuku Parkour for the first time, Izuku had been thrilled. Aizawa moved like he had a mobility or agility quirk, dropping from one rooftop to another, moving through alleyways and scaling buildings like it was a walk in the park. Izuku was so excited to do exactly what Aizawa had done. 

Then Aizawa spent the first three weeks teaching Izuku how to fall and roll. Less exciting, certainly, and Izuku was covered in bruises for a while, but it was essential. Then they turned to focus on balance and agility, all while doing their regular exercises. All of his work was tiring, sure, but Izuku felt like he was truly accomplishing something. He could tell he was bulking up, at least a little bit, and that his body was adapting to his routine. Every day he felt like he could do more and more, like he was that much closer to touching, to making his dream reality. 

Izuku sprints across the playground, keeping his attention directly ahead of him like Aizawa taught him. Aizawa said that it was important to keep his attention on his end goal, but for Izuku to use his periphery vision and quick glances around to make  sure he was stepping and jumping to the best places. 

Izuku hurls himself up to the top of the tallest monkey bars and sprints across them, keeping his steps on the balls of his feet to keep his balance. He was glad now that he was wearing his tennis shoes, because they had relatively good grip. As he reached the end of the monkey bars, he leaps to the top of the slide, sprinting down to increase his speed. A few months ago, he would’ve fallen flat on his face doing something like this. Now he feels sure in his feet, he keeps himself centered, and feels a balance he only feels when he dances at the studio. He uses the speed to propel himself forward, jumping or throwing himself over the small plastic tubes that the toddlers who visits the park crawl around in. Izuku runs along the metal pole at the center of the teeter-totters, practicing a roll when he jumps off. He was being flashy for Tenya, he’d admit it. He pops up out of the roll next to Tenya under the tree, smiling wide. 

“What did you think?” He asks, panting a little. Aizawa would’ve said they needed to work on his stamina more, but Izuku didn’t care. He felt a rush running through his veins. 

“That was so cool, ‘Zuku!” Tenya replies. “You moved so fast, and I don’t know how you balanced like that. I would’ve fallen over. Tensei says I have the balance of a baby deer.” Izuku lets out a small snort of laughter because, yeah, Tensei wasn’t wrong. He had seen his friend trip over air. Tenya was still working with his quirk though, and Izuku knew he’d be great with some time and practice. “Zuku! You’re bleeding!” 

Izuku frowns and glances down at the knee Tenya is pointing at. He must’ve scraped it when he rolled on the ground. It was bleeding a decent amount, and he grimaced at the dirt on his knees and hands. 

“It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt-” Izuku begins, but Tenya cuts him off. 

“Tensei told me it’s important to take care of injuries as they arise to prevent the injury from hurting further or getting worse.” Tenya scans the street. “C’mon, I’m sure they have some first aid supplies over there!” Izuku opens his mouth to protest, his mom had a very full first-aid kit at home (she kept it stocked ever since he and Aizawa began training), but Tenya was fast, even without his quirk. 

When Izuku saw the store Tenya was slipping inside of, his gut twisted, and he stopped on the sidewalk. There was no use yelling, not with Tenya inside already. Maybe the owner wasn’t working the register today. Izuku had seen other employees in there before, even if he avoided going in. 

Izuku checks through the glass door before he goes inside, noticing the empty counter. The bell above the door jingles, so Izuku moves quickly, looking down each aisle to find Tenya standing in front of the bandages and antiseptics. 

“Tenya! Let’s just go home, my mom has stuff-”

“We should really take care of this now. Tensei would agree. Plus, I can just keep this stuff on me, and if this happens again we’ll be prepared!” Tenya makes his choices, holding the box of bandages in one hand and bottle in another. He grab’s Izuku’s hand and pulls him along the counter to check out. Izuku grimaces when he sees the owner now at the register, and keeps his gaze down. 

“This is all you want kid?” The gruff voice asks, punching the prices into the machine. 

“Yes sir.” Izuku keeps his head down. Maybe his hidden quirk could be turning invisible, right now, at this exact moment. There’s a beat of silence. 

“Hold on a sec, are you that Midoriya kid?” 

Shit. 

Izuku looks up. The owner of the corner store sneers and looks at Tenya.  

“You’re with him?” Tenya frowns at the accusatory tone in the owner’s voice. 

“Yes.” His friend replies without hesitation. The owner’s nose wrinkles in disgust. 

“Get out of my store. I’m not selling to either of you.” The owner’s eyes land back on Izuku. “Did you touch anything? Fuck, I’m going to have to clean everything in here. Get out of here before you infect someone you freak.”

“That’s not how it works-”

“Did I ask? Get out before I call the police on you both.”

“Wait, what? What are you-” Tenya begins, but the owner cuts him off. 

“Out!” Izuku grabs Tenya’s hand at the owner’s final shout and pulls on his friend’s arm, dragging him out of the store. 

Izuku doesn’t stop pulling his friend until they’re down the street and Izuku’s apartment is in sight. When he glances back, he can see the confused and upset look on Tenya’s face. Izuku can also feel the blood from the cut on his knee soaking his sock, and he can feel his heart in his throat. Izuku doesn’t let Tenya go until they’re both climbing the stairs of Izuku’s apartment building, and he doesn’t stop moving until he’s through his front door. 

Inko and Tensei both look startled at the front door banging open, and Inko is on her feet the second she sees Izuku’s panicked face. 

“What happened- Are you bleeding!?” Inko turns and bolts for the bathroom, where the first aid kit was waiting under the sink. Tenya stops beside Izuku, both boys panting a little from the sudden run. Tensei kneels in front of them, looking both boys over. 

“Are you two okay?” He asks as Inko comes back out of the bathroom, hurrying across the room. Izuku nods wordlessly as his mother gently pulls him to the living room chair and nudges him to sit. “Tenya, what happened?” Tensei asks his little brother, concern written across his face. 

“I- I’m not sure.” Tenya says after a second, distressed. Inko looks at her son for an explanation as she pushes his pant leg up so she can get to the fairly deep scrape. 

“I fell at the park and scraped my knee.” Izuku says, hissing a little when his mother dabs antiseptic on the wound. “Tenchan, he was just trying to be a good friend, he wanted to go get first aid stuff from the corner store.” Inko frowns for a second, and starts to ask, but remembers what park she had told the boys to go too. 

“Oh. Oh, Tenya dear, it wasn’t your fault, don’t worry.” She tries to comfort, but now Tensei looks just as confused. 

“He… He was screaming at us to get out! We hadn’t done anything, and he said he was going to call the police, and that we had infected something?” Tenya explains to his brother. Izuku can see the moment it clicks for Tensei, who was older than Tenya, who had seen more of the cruelty of people than Tenya had. 

“Ten, buddy, calm down, okay?” Tensei says, putting both hands on Tenya’s shoulders. Tenya takes in a deep, shaky breath, and nods. “Okay.” Inko begins to put disinfectant on Izuku’s cuts. “Tenya, you know Izuku is quirkless, right?” Tenya nods, not missing the way his friend’s head dips. “There are a lot of people out there that believe that people who are quirkless, people like Izuku, are less than because they don’t have a quirk. They think that it gives them the right to be cruel, rude, and do things like that store owner did to you. It isn’t right, and it shouldn’t be tolerated.” 

“But… that isn’t fair.” Tenya says after a moment. Inko finishes putting the bandage over Izuku’s cut. “Izuku is my friend, and he’s going to be a hero like you! Like me! He can’t help it that he’s quirkless! He’s still a person!”

“Tenya, breathe.” Tensei says when Tenya begins to work himself up again. “There’s a reason that mom and dad donate to quirkless charities and shelters. We can do our part to help, but it’s going to take time to fix the issue, okay?” 

Izuku is keeping his eyes trained on his mother’s hands as she wraps his knee in a bandage. He had heard this a dozen times before. This had been his reality for the majority of his life. There was a part of him that was warmed by Tenya’s protests, by his friend’s insistence that none of this was fair. But there was a larger part of him that sat heavy in his chest, wondering how long it would be until Tenya became tired of the frustrations that came with being Izuku’s friend and left him. 

“Tensei dear?” Inko speaks up in a moment of quiet. “I think the boys have had an intense day. Maybe it would be best if they both relaxed at home?” It’s a clear dismissal, though Tensei doesn’t seem offended. He nods, standing. 

“C’mon, Ten-Ten. Mom and dad can explain more at home.” 

Tenya and Tensei leave with a soft goodbye. Izuku doesn’t let the tears in his eyes fall until the door shuts softly behind his friend and Ingenium. Inko just takes her son into her arms and rocks him lightly like she did when he was younger.

Chapter Text

“Where are we going?” Aizawa glances down at his student as they walk down the sidewalk. 

It had been inevitable, with all of their training and Izuku’s over eager attitude, that an injury would occur. They had been in Hizashi’s agency’s gym again, working on parkour, when Izuku’s foot slipped on a rooftop edge. Aizawa had caught him with the capture weapon, but not without yanking Izuku’s arm out of it’s socket with the speed of his fall. A trip to the agency’s medbay had seen everything righted, but Izuku needed to take a few days off from physical training to heal completely, especially with his arm in a sling for a couple more days. 

That didn’t mean Izuku couldn’t still learn something about being a hero. All heroes had to take time off from the physical aspect of the job when they were injured, but that didn’t mean there was nothing for them to do. Izuku was going to be learning the less fun parts of the job tonight. 

“I was called into the station earlier, so I thought I’d bring you along to show you some of the not so fun sides of hero work.” Aizawa replies. “Any hero is going to work closely with first responders, underground heroes especially. I work directly with the Musutafu police on cases.” Izuku’s eyes are wide as he takes in all the information. “On my patrol last night, I booked what was believed to be a low level villain. It turns out he has some underground connections to the yakuza, which means I have more paperwork that needs filled out asap.”

“Am I allowed to see that?” Izuku asks, because of course, with all of his obsessive hero research, would understand that some parts of the job had to be a secret. 

“I won’t be able to tell you any details about the case, but I wanted you to see the forms you’ll have to make yourself familiar with and explain them a little bit.” Aizawa explains. “Besides, it’s a good idea to make connections with first responders. They’ll be some of your biggest help in the field.” Izuku nods quickly. “All this being said,” Aizawa pushes open the front door of the station, ushering Izuku inside in front of him, “this will probably be very boring for you.” 

For early evening, the station was fairly quiet. A few people sitting in the lobby, a few officers moving around. It must have been a fairly slow day. Sansa is at the front desk, and looks up when Aizawa and Izuku walk inside. Aizawa sighs when he sees Sansa’s double take at the kid in front of him.

“Eraser… who is this little guy?” Sansa smiles at Izuku, and Izuku, being the child that Aizawa knows, grins back. Aizawa grunts.

“Izuku, this is Officer Sansa. Sansa, this is Izuku.” Aizawa taps Izuku’s shoulder, their signal for the young boy to grab his hand. They mostly did this when walking down the street, but there were enough undesirables in this station that Aizawa was going to be cautious. “C’mon. This way.” 

“Okay!” Izuku waves a quick goodbye to Sansa, who is still giving them both a confused look. Despite his confusion, Sansa gives a half-wave back. Aizawa leads them through the door and weaves through the desks of beat cops and detectives until he gets to Tsukauchi’s desk. It’s empty, but that isn’t exactly abnormal. As the resident lie detector, he was often called away for interviews and interrogations. 

“Here, sit here.” Aizawa has Izuku plop down in Tsukauchi’s office chair, stealing another from an empty desk. He’s in this precinct enough for the officers to know him on sight, and he’s actively ignoring the stares and murmurs in the background. Izuku scootches to the edge of the chair as Aizawa grabs the manilla folder with a sticky note on it with his hero name. “Alright, ready to get started?”

“Ready.” Izuku nods determinedly. 

“Okay, first things first, always have your hero license on you, because you’re going to be writing your license number a thousand times.” Aizawa pulls his out, though he had long since memorized his number. He then begins to describe the paperwork as he fills it out, explaining what he can about the case as he goes. 

As time passes, officers stop starring, and the murmurs turn back to the normal hustle and bustle of precinct work. Aizawa is constantly impressed by Izuku’s ability to look enthralled by even the most mundane parts of hero work, and he hangs on Aizawa’s every word, fiddling with his sling once in a while. 

Its after an hour of paperwork that Tsukauchi finally makes an appearance, looking exhausted and ready to call it a day. He’s so exhausted, Aizawa notes, that he doesn’t register the two of them at his desk until he is a few feet away. Tsukauchi’s eyebrows furrow with confusion as he takes in Izuku, who is scanning the new form Aizawa had just pulled out. They only had a few left, though one would take a bit longer than the others. 

“Um,” Tsukauchi points at Izuku, “ Did you…. Do I need to go get missing child forms?” He asks after a second, turning to Aizawa. Aizawa lets out a small snort of laughter and shakes his head before nudging his student lightly. 

“Izuku, this is Tsukauchi. Tsukauchi, this is my personal student, Midoriya Izuku.” Izuku waves at the detective. “We can’t do any physical training today, so I’m showing him the paperwork side of hero work.” 

Tsukauchi just stares at him for a few seconds, letting the information sink into his seemingly exhausted mind. 

“Right. Okay.” 

“Izuku, Tsukauchi is a detective here. His quirk is used often in interrogations. Any guesses as to what it could be?” 

“I already know! He’s been on the news a couple of times for some of those really big cases, so I looked him up on the public quirk registry. He’s got a lie detector quirk.” Izuku bounces with excitement. “The registry doesn’t go into detail though. Do you have to have direct answers to questions you ask, or is it just general truths and lies? What happens if someone says something that they believe is true, but isn’t? Does your quirk work on everyone? Does your quirk work on superintelligent animals with quirks that can talk, like Principal Nedzu of UA? What about people with mutant quirks?I’ve read in some studies that brains can be built differently when someone has a mutant quirk, and they’ve started doing studies on how it causes quirks to not work as they should!” 

“Izuku.” 

“Yeah?”

“Breathe.” Aizawa orders in a soft voice. Izuku nods, taking in a deep breath. Tsukauchi hasn’t moved, and is staring at Izuku. Aizawa raises an eyebrow, waiting. He isn’t alone, as the officers at a few of the desks nearby are snickering. 

“I… Okay. I will happily answer your questions one at a time.” Izuku nods, looking thrilled, and Tsukauchi nods to himself before grabbing a chair from another empty desk. 

Tsukauchi is patient with Izuku, answering every question the kid has, including any that spring up from his own answers. It gives Aizawa enough time to finish the part of the report Izuku wouldn’t be able to look at anyway, and gather up the documents. He knew that there were a couple of cases that the police wanted him to get a start on, but those could be opened during his shift tomorrow night. One glance at the clock told Aizawa that it was getting late enough that he should take Izuku home. 

“Alright kid, time to pack up so we don’t worry your mother.” Aizawa interrupts between questions. “C’mon. Leave the nice detective alone.” 

“Okay. Bye Detective!” Izuku waves, taking Aizawas hand once more when he taps the boy’s shoulder. Sansa waves at them as they leave, and Izuku waves back. 

The sun has set, and the lamps are bright against the sidewalk. Izuku babbles as they walk, about Tsukauchi’s quirk and the various uses it has for police and detective work. Aizawa listens while he scans the street, giving Izuku a hum of acknowledgement when he pauses so he knows he’s listening. Even if Izuku hadn’t wanted to be a hero, Aizawa would’ve made sure he had gotten into the UA support course for hero analysis. He’s smart, wickedly so, and passionate about quirks too despite fate’s cruel hand against him. 

Aizawa is so used to Izuku’s babbling that when it stops, Aizawa is instantly focusing on his student.  Izuku’s steps slow to a stop on the sidewalk. 

“Izuku?” Aizawa’s keeps his voice soft, but stern. “C’mon. We’re heading home.”

“I heard something.” Izuku says, frowning as his eyes search the alleyway they stopped in front of. “It sounded like crying.” 

Aizawa peered down the alleyway, listening intently. Then, he heard it. Muffled cries coming from near the dumpster in the alleyway. After a moment, they came again. Mewls, to be exact. Aizawa knew that sound well.

He and Izuku move into the alley until they can hear the cries clearly, coming from a squirming trashbag just outside the dumpster. Aizawa lets go of Izuku’s hand and kneels, quickly undoing the knot at the top of the trash bag. Inside were two kittens, so small that Aizawa wasn’t sure if they could even be away from their mother yet. 

“Izuku, find a box, please.” There was a pile of them on the other side of the dumpster, and Izuku quickly followed orders, shifting through them to find something clean, sturdy, and dry. He brings back a large shoebox with only the corner torn up, and Aizawa quickly transfers the two small kittens inside. 

“Hold onto my shirt while I carry the kittens. We can take them home, get them cleaned up and fed, alright?” 

“They’re so small.” Izuku whispers as his hand fists the hem of Aizawa’s shirt. “Are they going to be okay?”

It was moments like these that Izuku sounded his age. His innocence came out at times like these, showing in his worry and fear. “We’ll take them to the vet in the morning, okay? I want to see if they can drink from a dish, but if not I’ll go grab some bottles to feed them that way.” Aizawa explains. Izuku nods, eyes not leaving the kittens. Aizawa was tempted to let the boy carry the box, but he didn’t know what state they were in, and he didn’t want them jostled around too much. He settled on keeping the box low enough that Izuku could keep his eyes on them. 

The walk back to the apartments is much slower than he expected it to be, but Inko and Hizashi were waiting in their apartment as promised, a late dinner on the table. Hizashi smiles when they come through the door. 

“Hey guys, we were getting ready- Sho, what’s in the box?” ‘Zashi cuts himself off quickly, his curiosity getting the better of him. Inko takes notice too, especially when her son’s attention never wavers from the box. 

“Izuku was a hero and helped me rescue some little kittens who needed help.” Izuku’s eyes tear away from the kittens for a moment, looking at Aizawa with wide-eyed disbelief. One of the kittens mewls again, however, and Izuku is looking at them instantly. 

Hizashi moves over, and while they had talked about waiting on another pet when they had moved, Aizawa knew the instant that Hizashi looked at the tiny creatures that the kittens would be staying with them. His husband’s eyes got wide, and his bleeding heart was clear on his face. “We found them near the dumpster.” Aizawa explains. “Izuku heard them crying. They really need a bath and some food. I want to see if they’re old enough to eat without a bottle.” 

“I’ll go get some warm water in the sink.” Hizashi says, moving to the kitchen without hesitation. 

Inko, on the other hand, lightly nudges her son, pulling him a few steps away so his focus on the kittens finally breaks. Inko’s smile is soft; it always is, for her son.  “Izuku, sweetheart, you did a good thing and I’m very proud of you. My little hero.” She wraps Izuku in a tight hug. 

“I want to make sure that they’re okay, Mom. Aizawa said we would have to wait until the morning to take them to the vet. What if something happens?” Izuku’s eyes dart back to the box. The kittens are quieter now, a small cry going up only once in a while. Inko’s eyes meet Aizawa’s. 

“Why don’t you help me give them a bath and some food, Izuku, and you can spend the night here. We’ll put them in a bigger space, with some pillows and blankets, and you can keep an eye on them overnight. How’s that sound?”  Aizawa was certain the kittens would be okay overnight. If he wasn’t, he would’ve taken them to an emergency vet. Izuku would be fine keeping an eye on them. 

Izuku looks to his mother, who nods. “I’ll go grab your overnight things, sweetheart.” 

Izuku helps to carefully wash the tiny kittens, gently drying them both in a towel as Aizawa watches. Hizashi is able to find a large tote that had been empty since their move, and fills it with a few old blankets neither of them care about, and they set Izuku up on the living room with the tote right next to him. Aizawa tells Izuku to wake himself and Hizashi up if anything happens, and Izuku nods so seriously that Aizawa has no worries. 

Sure enough, when he checks on Izuku in the morning, the kid is slumped over the arm of the couch, as if he fell asleep with his entire attention on the cats. 

After the vet visit, Aizawa and Izuku agree on the names Dumpster and Shoebox for the kittens that Aizawa knows are going to stay with them. 

Hizashi promises that he’ll never let the two of them name anything ever again.

Chapter Text

When Izuku turns eleven, Aizawa and his mother agree that he’s ready to start using support equipment and weapons. He’s been dedicated to school and his training, and Izuku knows it shows. Even Tenya has noticed enough to start bugging Tensei for more training. 

Izuku is thrilled when Aizawa announces that they’re going to take a trip to the support industry where he gets and services his support items. If he’s honest, Izuku has been itching to try the capture scarf, to see if he can use it as effortlessly as Aizawa one day. He knew, however, that he needed to try out a lot of support items. To find the ones that would suit him best (That’s what Hizashi and Aizawa both said, at least). 

So that Friday, Izuku finds himself walking down the sidewalk with Aizawa on his left and his mother on his right. As much as his mother had agreed with Aizawa that Izuku was ready for support items, the idea of him handling weapons scared her. She said as much, and took the day off from work to come and watch the process. 

“I go through the Hatsume support company for any items I need or if I need things repaired. They’re reliable and work with a lot of underground heroes, so they’re aware that we need reliable items, especially as we’re often in the field alone.” Aizawa holds open the door for Izuku and Inko. “They’re also creative, and are always willing to work with heroes to figure out what they need. They were more than enthusiastic when I brought up bringing Izuku in to test things out and find what fits him.”

They all walk up to the front desk and Aizawa checks them in. Izuku eagerly takes the visitor’s badge he’s given and hangs it around his neck. Even in the lobby there are older support items on display, items that were outdated now, but had been revolutionary in their time. Boots that would help absorb the impact as heroes touched down, the first heat vision goggles and quirk suppression handcuffs (Izuku had no idea how big and bulky those really were when quirks first appeared. They were all sleek and thin now, almost the size of regular handcuffs).

The receptionist tells Aizawa and Inko where to go, and the three of them are soon in an elevator headed up to the upper floors. “Before we get up there, I should warn you. The Hatsume family is a bit…” Aizawa struggles for the word. “Eccentric.” 

“You say that as if you don’t hang out with your group of friends.” Inko replies. Aizawa’s nose wrinkles. 

“More so than ‘Zashi.” 

The doors ding as they open, showing the three a large laboratory space. There were two people bustling around, moving from table to table as they worked. Neither looked up as the small group entered, and Izuku watched as Aizawa sighed before rapping his knuckles loudly against the wall. One of the two finally looks up and grins. 

“Aizawa-san! We’ve been expecting you.” They tap the other inventor, who finally looks up. “Aizawa, where is your better half?”

“Teaching, at the moment. He has a patrol right after, otherwise we would have waited.” Aizawa replies. 

“He’s a busy, busy man.” The inventor agrees.“This must be Midoriya Izuku! And the lovely Midoriya Inko.” Izuku watches as his mother smiles politely and nods. “I’m Hatsume Akari, and this is my husband, Ichiro.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Akari smiles and nods at Inko’s response.

“Alright! We’ve got a couple of items for Midoriya-chan to test out if you’re ready! Some standard support items, and some we’ve been waiting to test with a hero who will really deserve them.” Izuku blinks in surprise when the inventors smile at him. 

“Me?” Izuku asks quietly. 

“Of course.” Ichiro speaks for the first time. “Who would be worth support items more than the first quirkless hero? That’s a cause I can get behind, even if others are too thick skulled to do the same.” Izuku couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his face. “They’re over here.”

By “a couple,” the Hatsume duo clearly meant closer to a couple dozen support items. Everything Izuku could ever dream of was laid out on the tables, not to mention the items he had no idea how to use. And the weapons. A table and a half full of nothing but weapons.

Inko steered Izuku away from those to start.

Izuku got a chance to try everything. Boots that not only helped him jump higher, but gripped rough and smooth surfaces to help him climb. Goggles that had everything you could think of; heat sensors, night vision, facial recognition and zoom. The Hatsumes helped fit Izuku with an ultra thin layer of body armor that would lay easily underneath Izuku’s clothes, and, eventually, his future hero costume. 

“We’re working on a binder to add to this armor for when you get older.” Akari says off-handedly when checking the fit of the body armor. “Something subtle, obviously. With a release for if you’re wearing it too long or pass out.” Izuku looks to Aizawa at this, surprised, but Aizawa just nods along, as encouraging as he could ever be. 

After well over an hour, Izuku is finally able to explore the weapon tables. He’s more than a little surprised that there’s a near replica of Aizawa’s capture scarf. As far as Izuku was aware, most heroes weren’t interested in support like this because of how difficult it was to use and how long it took to learn. That knowledge didn’t stop Izuku’s hand from inching towards it, however. 

“Later, problem child. That one we’re taking with us.” Aizawa says, motioning for Izuku to look at the rest of the table. 

“Really?” Izuku asks, excitement racing through him. Aizawa’s lips quirk up just slightly, and he nods. “Okay! What do you think I should try first?” 

“You aren’t touching a gun until we learn some safety on a real range, so don’t touch those.” Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku watches his mother slump a bit as the tension drains from her body. “I want you to try these and the daggers. The edges are blunted, right?”

“Absolutely. Let me explain before we go to the testing room, though.” Akari says. “I’ve got compactable bo staffs here, though that’s not the only thing special about them. This one,” Akari extends a jet black staff with neon yellow highlights, “generates its own electricity. Once it’s got its full storage, it can let off anywhere from the voltage of a taser to that of a fatal shock ten times over. However, to do that, there’s a couple of safety switches to bypass.” She puts that staff down. “This one,” a dark brown staff with orange highlights extends in her hand, “holds jet fuel in one end, while the other can light a spark. The final one,” She extends the final bo staff, a dark green staff with silver highlights, “This one is the simplest. A small touch of this button, which we’ll eventually program to a fingerprint like all of these, will extend blades down either side. We used some of the strongest metal available, adamantium, so it will cut through anything.” She hands the staff to Izuku. “And of course, all of them can be used as regular bo staff.”

She hands Izuku the dark green staff, and he takes it, careful to avoid the button for now. He couldn’t help but admire how light the cool metal staff was in his hands. He twirled it, and Akari clapped. “You’re a natural!” 

About two seconds later, Izuku fumbled with the staff and it clattered to the floor. Izuku felt a hot, embarrassed blush race up his neck. 

“It’ll take practice.” Ichiro amends with a small, soft smile. 

The elevator dings, causing everyone to turn. “Mom! Dad! I’m back! Can I use the testing room to try out- Ooooh! Who is this?” 

“Mei, dear, calm down-” Ichiro is cut off, and Izuku turns in time to see a blur of pink hair and a school uniform come crashing towards him. “Mei! Stop it!” The girl grabs Izuku’s arm and pokes his cheek. 

“You’re my age! Why are you here? Are you interested in making babies with me?” 

“What?! No!” Izuku says quickly, leaning back as the girl leans forward. “I’m eleven! I’m not ready for that responsibility!” The girl, Mei, tilts her head with confusion. 

“But my parents let me make babies all the time?”Mei replies with confusion. Izuku, slightly horrified, glances over at the two inventors. Ichiro has his face buried in his hands, and Akari is laughing loudly. Even Izuku’s mother is laughing quietly, and Aizawa has cracked a smile. 

“She means inventions, Midoriya-chan. She calls her inventions her babies.” Akari informs him when she’s able to stop laughing. “Mei, dear, Izuku is training with Aizawa-san to become the first quirkless hero.” It marveled Izuku how easily she threw out the information about him being quirkless, as if there was no concern at all. 

“Quirkless?” Mei asks, tilting her head and looking Izuku over. “There is so much untapped potential in that! You aren’t restricted by your quirk, or need things invented around it! That’s so exciting! Please let me make stuff for you!” Izuku hesitates for a moment, but nods, because what’s the harm? Mei cheers.

“Great! C’mon, I need to get your measurements!” She grabs Izuku’s hand and pulls him through the lab. Behind him, Izuku can still hear all the adults laughing. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It took a while (much too long in Izuku’s opinion) to convince his mother that training with guns at the range would be a good idea. In fact, she only agreed to it in the end because Aizawa promised to bring the detective Izuku had met several times now, Tsukauchi, and pro hero Snipe! Apparently, Aizawa knew Snipe from UA, and the pro hero had offered his help when he heard Aizawa wanted to train Izuku with guns. 

So, on a drizzly Wednesday afternoon, Izuku and Aizawa met Tsukauchi and Snipe at the gun range near the police station. Tsukauchi had cleared it out, just for them. Aizawa listened to Izuku ramble about Snipe the entire way there, and Izuku was pleased to find that Snipe was nice. Incredibly nice. He answered all of Izuku’s questions, and signed his notebook without hesitation. He didn’t seem bothered by Izuku’s quirklessness at all. Ever since Izuku and Inko met Aizawa and Hizashi, Izuku found himself meeting more and more people who accepted him for who he was. It was… It left a warm feeling in his chest. 

“Alright, Midoriya-chan. I brought a few different options for you to try, and see which one you like best.” Snipe was in fairly normal clothes. In fact, Izuku thought this was the first time he had seen the hero without a mask. He had a nice smile. He had brought six different guns. Izuku recognized that a few were handguns, and a few were… larger. He wasn’t sure what the difference was with those. “We need to learn safety for these before we touch them though, got it?”

 Izuku nodded eagerly. He had watched a few videos last night, but he wanted to hear it straight from the expert. 

Along the back wall, Aizawa watched and talked quietly with the detective. He had said something about a difficult case they needed to talk over. 

Snipe goes over the safety Izuku needs to know with every single gun he brought. He pointed out the safety switches that some had, while others didn’t. He showed Izuku how to load them each and check the chamber, and how he needed to keep the guns pointed at the ground when they weren’t in use. 

“Alright, you have your earmuffs on?” Snipe asks, and Izuku nods. These earmuffs were built so that when they were turned on, you could hear perfectly until a shot went off. Only then was the sound muffled. “Let’s give this a shot then. You ready?” Izuku nods again, excited. Snipe hands him the standard handgun that he said most cops would use. 

“Remember to keep your elbows slightly bent, ready for the recoil.” Izuku nods, lifting the weapon up to aim at the target. “Squeeze the trigger slowly, keep your eyes open.” Izuku did as he asked, and after a moment the shot rang out, the gun bucking in his hand. Izuku jerked backward in surprise, nearly dropping the weapon. Snipe chuckled. “Did it startle you?” Izuku nodded wordlessly. 

“Can I do it again?” Izuku asked after a second. Snipe grinned and gestured for Izuku to continue. 

“Lets empty the cartridge.” Izuku shot again and again, ten rounds in all. Snipe would give him a minor adjustment here or there. After the first few shots,Izuku could see tiny holes in the target. He was actually hitting it! Not well, of course, but he was hitting the target. Snipe flicked a switch that brought the target up to them.

“Hey, look at that!” He handed Izuku the paper target. “You’re going to be hitting the bullseye in no time. We just need to work a little bit.”

“Can I try a different one?” Izuku asked. 

“The revolver is my favorite. Less recoil. C’mon.” 

Snipe let Izuku shoot every gun he had brought, though Izuku found himself favvoring the stanford handgun and the rifle the more that time went on. Before he knew it, their time on the range was up. Tsukauchi motioned for them to wrap everything up, and Snipe brought the final target forward. 

“Can I keep it?” Izuku asks. He wanted to hang it up on his wall, right next to his newest All Might poster. Snipe nods, and Izuku carefully folds it and places it in the folder in his backpack. 

“Now, Midoriya-chan, we’ve got to clean up the bullet casings. It’s polite to do before the next person comes in.” Snipe informs him as he grabs a small bucket and drops to his knees. Izuku joins him, scrambling to pick up all the casings from the bullets he had shot. It was as he was tossing a handful in a bucket that he caught the first glimpse. In fact, he nearly missed it to the point where he found himself doing a double take. Once he saw it, he couldn’t stop staring. He very nearly couldn’t move. 

“Problem child, is there something wrong?” Aizawa’s voice broke him out of his own head, and Snipe turned to look at him. 

“I… Uh….” Now all three adults were watching him expectantly. Were there cameras ina  gun range? Were there listening devices? Izuku had no clue.

“Izuku? Aizawa speaks again, moving closer, a small frown on his face. 

“I’m fine!” Izuku’s voice cracked. He wasn’t fine. He wasn’t fine at all. Oh god, Tsukauchi was here. Izuku couldn’t say anything. “I’m good!” All the adults are watching him, so he scrambles, grabbing more casings. After a minute, Snipe continues picking up the casigns with Izuku. 

When the casings are all cleaned up, and Snipe has packed away all of his guns, the group heads out of the shooting range. Tsukauchi splits off, heading back to the precinct to get work done. Aizawa, Snipe, and Izuku all walked the other direction, moving to Snipe’s car. 

“Do you want to talk about what happened in there?” Aizawa asks as they move down the sidewalk. He doesn’t look at Izuku, but he doesn’t have to.

 Izuku does scan of the area, looking around just like Aizawa taught him to. There wasn’t anyone else really out on the streets. Maybe in the shops, but nowhere near close enough to hear. Unless they had a hearing quirk? That could ruin everything if there was someone just accidentally listening in. Not to mention the cameras that might be around that Izuku hadn’t spotted-

“Does he always mumble like this?” Snipe asks with a chuckle. “What are you so worried about people overhearing, little one?” 

Izuku looks up at Snipe, into his kind brown eyes, and knows he has to be careful. 

“Can I ask you a question in your car?” Snipe raises an eyebrow, but nods and points to a small vehicle in a grocery parking lot. Aizawa and Izuku get into the backseat while Snipe loads his guns into the trunk of the car.

“You okay, problem child?” Aizawa asks softly, before Snipe gets into the car.

“I’m… confused.” Izuku says. The front door opens, and Snipe slides into the drivers seat. The door shuts, and Snipe turns to look at the two of them. 

“So?” Both adults turn to Izuku. Izuku takes a deep breath. 

“Um.” Izuku feels the words clog up his throat. The nerves come racing back. Oh god, Snipe was going to hate him if he was wrong. Maybe he’d hate Izuku if he was right? “Snipe, I really don’t mean anything by this, I’m just curious, and maybe it’s a coincidence or I’m remembering wrong, and I really don’t want to insult you or make you hate me because I had a lot of fun today and I want to use guns as a part of my hero persona because I think it would help but if you hate that’ll never happen and then everyone’s gonna be mad at me, and-”

“Problem child, spit it out.” 

“Are you quirkless?” 

The car goes dead silent at Izuku’s question. Aizawa looks confused, but Snipe? Snipe’s face had gone carefully blank. When Aizawa looks at his friend, he frowns. Izuku feels the panic climb in his chest. 

“Why do you think that?” The words are slow and careful. There’s nothing accusing in them though. 

“Um, your shoes. They’re that one quirkless brand that’s popular in America. There’s only the one brand here in Japan, and I really like my shoes but my mom and I were looking at other types because the brand here only really makes tennis shoes. She said I’ll probably need dress shoes soon for events and stuff and we looked at ordering from that brand from America so I recognized the name on the heel.” Izuku takes a deep breath, trying not to cry because Snipe definitely hated him now. 

Snipe was quiet for a long time, before fiddling with his watch with a soft sigh. He smiles a little. 

“Fuck, Eraser, when you said the kid was a genius I didn’t think he’d catch that.” Snipe says, winking at Izuku. Aizawa is stunned, staring at his friend. 

“You’re… you’re really quirkless?” Izuku asks, and when Snipe nods he feels himself relax. “How? How is that possible?” 

“I grew up in the states, kid. My dad put a gun in my hand when I was a little tyke. He also didn’t trust doctors worth a shit, and he didn’t much care for quirks.” Snipe takes his hat off, running his thumb along the brim. “He was quirkless, and I was quirkless. When I got older, I wanted to be a hero. My dad, he homeschooled me, you know? And he always told me that I could do what I wanted. He helped me by registering my quirk as homing, and he and his friends helped me to learn several projectile weapons. Mainly guns. When I was old enough, I registered for hero school in Japan so I could have a fresh start. The only person in Japan who knows about me is Nedzu, but that rat is insanely smart.”

“So your quirk…?” 

“I’m just good with guns, kid. The second best sharpshooter around.” Snipe confirms. “Homing was made up.” 

“Why?” Aizawa asks in a whisper, still looking surprised. “Why wouldn’t you just-”

“C’mon, Eraser. You think the discrimination is bad here? America is worse. I had no choice there, and when I got here I assumed it was the same way. And it is, in a lot of ways. In others, there is hope. I completely believe Izuku will be able to do this.” Snipe smiles again at Izuku. “But there was no way I could do it. I really couldn’t now. Do you know how illegal it is to have falsified paperwork as a pro? I’d be arrested on the spot.”

Aizawa leans back in his seat, silently thinking. Izuku… Izuku isn’t sure what he’s feeling. Relief, maybe? There was someone like him, proving that it was possible. Mostly though, Izuku thought he felt sad. Snipe never took the chance Izuku was taking, and he could never be fully himself. 

“Can I drive you both home?” Snipe asks after another few moments of silence. Izuku looks to Aizawa, who nods silently. 

Snipe starts the car.

Chapter Text

“Izuku, sweetheart?” Izuku slipped out of his seat at the computer, pausing his homework at his mother’s call. He moved into the kitchen, where his mother, Hizashi, and Aizawa were all working. His mother seemed to be coaching Hizashi with a recipe, and Aizawa had his sleeves pulled up, his inked up arms on display as he kneaded some dough. Aizawa didn’t show his tattoos often, but Izuku thought they were pretty cool.

“Yeah mom?” 

“I didn’t realize we were running low on sugar, could you run to the store and get some before everyone gets here?” His mother asks,sending him a small smile when he nods. 

“Yeah!”

“Great. Don’t forget to take your phone with you.” 

“I won’t!” Izuku grabs his phone off the desk and heads out the door. The closest store was only three blocks away, and his mom was making food for his birthday party tomorrow. Going to get what his mother needed was the least Izuku could do.

Izuku’s walk to the store is fairly uneventful. Most schools are on break, so there are a lot of kids out and about, playing on the playground near their apartments and groups of friends. It was lonely, sometimes, not being in school and having friends like it seemed everyone else his age had. Even Tenya talked about his study group friends at school and the kids he sat with at lunch.

Izuku knew he had Tenya and Mei, they were his closest friends, but that didn’t stop him from feeling lonely sometimes. He didn’t regret his choice to keep going through online school, at least until high school, especially when remembering how he had been treated as a child. He could only imagine how much worse it would be in middle school. 

Still, it didn’t change the fact that he was lonely. 

There weren’t many people in the store when Izuku arrived, which he was grateful for. He found the bags of sugar easily, and was out of the store in a few minutes, bag slung over his arm. 

It was as he was walking down the sidewalk that he heard the shouting begin, angry and sharp, making Izuku look around. A front door bangs open, and Izuku watches as someone is tossed out, hitting the sidewalk hard. A woman sticks her head out of the doorway, her face red with anger as she screams. 

“Stay out of this house, stay away from my family you villainous freak of nature!” Izuku moves closer, but sticks to the sidewalk to avoid alerting the woman to himself. “If I see you again I’ll call the police!” She slams the door, so loudly it reminds Izuku of a gunshot ringing out. 

The person on the ground isn’t moving.

Carefully and quietly, Izuku opens the gate and walks closer to the figure. It’s a boy, and he looks like he’s Izuku’s age from what Izuku can see. It doesn’t help that half of his face is covered by a metal mask looking- no. That was an illegal muzzle for people with voice quirks. Izuku had seen them online and on the news before. 

“Hello?” Izuku tries to keep his voice low. The boy’s shoulders are shaking, almost as if he was crying, though Izuku couldn’t hear anything. “Are you okay?” 

The boy looks up, and that’s when Izuku sees the blood. He can’t stop the small gasp that leaves his mouth. 

“You aren’t okay, that looks so painful. Hold on, let me get that off of you-” Izuku moves forward, and the boy jerks back. Izuku stops. “Sorry. Right. I didn’t mean to scare you.” The boy watches Izuku with wary violet eyes. “Um, so, my mom and our neighbors are waiting for me at home, and my neighbors are heroes. Would you be willing to come with me so they can get that off of you?” The distrust in the boy’s eyes grows. “I just really don’t think we should stay here, or that lady might-” The door opens again, and the same woman stares down at them. 

“Get out of here now!” The boy scrambles to his feet, and Izuku instantly grabs his hand and pulls. “I’ll call the police-” Izuku runs, pulling the boy after him. The boy doesn’t resist, following Izuku out of the yard and down the sidewalk. He’s taller than Izuku, so he’s able to keep up easily, which Izuku is thankful for. 

“My apartment is just up here, c’mon.” Izuku points at his building. “My Mom will help, I promise!” The boy doesn’t resist, but follows Izuku into the building and up the stairs to the top floor, where his apartment was. 

“Mom!” Izuku shouts as soon as he’s through the door. “Hizashi! Aizawa!” Izuku drops the sugar and shoves the boy towards a chair. All the adults were still in the kitchen, though Hizashi comes rushing out. 

“You got the sugar-” Hizashi stops, staring at the boy who stumbled to a stop next to Izuku. Then, a second later, “SHO! INKO!” Izuku winced at the definitely quirk-enhanced shout, and the boy next to him flinched. Hizashi moved a few steps closer, and the boy stepped back, squeezing Izuku’s hand. Hizashi stopped immediately. 

“Hey, little listener. Sorry, that was a little loud, wasn’t it?” Hizashi’s voice is soft, and his hands are out in front of him and open. Behind him, the kitchen door swings open again, Inko and Aizawa rushing out, covered in flour from their work. “I’m Yamada Hizashi, but you might know me as Pro Hero Present Mic?” The boy’s violet eyes flick to Izuku, who nods encouragingly. The boy nods slowly. “Do you sign?” Hizashi says this next part as he signs in JSL. The boy shakes his head. 

“There’s some paper and a pen on the desk.” Inko says, moving to grab it. “Here, write what you’d like to say.” Inko holds the items out, and after a moment, Shinsou hesitantly takes them. He doesn’t write anything though, just holds the items loosely in shaking hands. 

“Hey, would it be alright if I touched you? I would like to get that muzzle off your face.” Hizashi says after a second. The boy looks at him, then at Izuku, then back at Hizashi. “If you’re more comfortable with Izuku, I can tell him what to do.” The boy nods. Alright, let’s get you in this chair, then, so Izuku can reach. You’re fairly tall, and he’ll have trouble-”

“Okay, so I guess it’s suddenly bully Izuku time?” Izuku buts in. “I’m not that short, thank you very much.” Even the boy gives him a critical look at that as he sits in the chair Hizashi had gestured to. 

“Alright, so Izuku, come here.” Hizashi guides Izuku around. “There’s a little latch there, and when you pop it open, there should be a mechanism. I haven’t seen this style before, so I need to see what we’re working with.” Izuku gently moves grimy and oily purple hair out of the way, and undoes the latch, opening a small compartment on the back of the muzzle. Hizashi grimaces. 

“Sho, sweetheart?” Aizawa looks up at Hizashi’s soft voice. “Can you go and grab your lockpicking tools? We’re going to need your help.” Aizawa nods, and grabs the kit from his coat. “Why are you carrying them around- you know what? Never mind, conversation for a later date.” Inko stays in the boy’s line of sight, taking a seat on the floor in front of him. 

“Alright, listener?” Hizashi moves in front of the boy again. “Izuku doesn’t know how to pick locks, but Sho, my husband, does. Are you comfortable with him doing so?” Izuku moves to stand next to his mother, and gives the boy a reassuring smile and nod. After a long second the boy nods. “Awesome. We’ll be as careful as possible, I promise.”

Izuku watches as Aizawa carefully uses the thin metal tools to fiddle with the lock, until after several long minutes they all hear a click, and the muzzle drops into the boy’s lap. 

Blood is smeared all over the boy’s face, coming from deep cuts from the edges of the muzzle. The boy reaches up to touch his cheeks gently, and Izuku wonders how long the muzzle has been on. 

Inko gets to her feet and rushes to the bathroom for the first aid kit, coming back with it and a clean, wet washcloth. After another nod from the boy, Inko starts to clean his face gently. 

“Can you tell us your name, sweetheart?” Inko asks. The boy hesitates. 

“Shinsou Hitoshi.” The name is a rasp that slips from his mouth. Inko smiles. 

“I’m Inko, this is my son Izuku, and our good friends, Yamada Hizashi and Aizawa Shota.” She replies, moving from one cheek to the other. “Do you feel up to telling us what happened?” Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku can see Aizawa texting someone. Shinsou shakes his head no. “That’s okay. Are you hungry, thirsty?” After a second, a nod. 

“I’ll get you something!” Izuku says, eager to help. He rushes to the kitchen grabbing a glass of water and some of his snacks from the cabinet. When he returns, his mom is putting bandages on Shinsou’s face. 

“Now, we’ll have to have a doctor look at these. I don’t want them to scar.” Inko murmurs. Shinsou looks down. 

“Mine scarred, but as long as you treat them right, they’ll barely be noticeable. See?” Hizashi adds, gaining the room’s attention. Izuku and Shinsou both notice the barely there scars on Hizashi’s face for the first time. “It takes time, but it’ll be okay.” Shinsou frowned at Hizashi. 

“When?” Even after a drink of water, the boy’s voice is hoarse. Izuku wondered how long it had been since the boy had been allowed to talk. 

“Before I got adopted, I had a string of bad foster homes. I struggled to control my quirk for a long time.” Hizashi explains. “It was an easy way to keep me quiet. My moms helped me to control my quirk, though.” 

Shinsou doesn’t speak, instead looking down at the snacks in his lap. After a second, he opens one and begins to nibble on a chip. The room goes quiet. 

“Izuku.” Izuku looks up at Aizawa who gestures for the boy to join him in the hallway. Izuku looks at Shinsou, but when he doesn’t look up, Izuku clambers to his feet and joins Aizawa. “What happened?” Aizawa asks as soon as the door shuts behind Izuku. 

Izuku explains everything he knows as quickly as he can. He tells Aizawa about seeing Shinsou get thrown out, the dazed and confused expression Shinsou had, the screaming woman. Aizawa lets out a long breath when Izuku finishes, and nods. 

“Okay. Izuku, you did the right thing bringing him here, I want you to know that.” Aizawa says after some silence. “I’ve contacted Tsukauchi. He’s going to grab a healer friend of ours and they’ll be here soon.”

“What’s going to happen to Shinsou?” Izuku asks. He barely knew Shinsou, had only just learned his name, but Izuku could see the pain and fear in Shinsou’s eyes. He didn’t want him to go through that anymore. 

“Hizashi and I both have emergency foster licenses as heroes. I’ll request that he be allowed to stay with us for the time being, alright? There’s no guarantee, but there’s a good chance we’ll be able to swing it.” Izuku frowns, but nods. “C’mon. Let’s go back inside. We’ve got some time before they get here, and I want to keep an eye on Shinsou. With what you said, I’m worried about a concussion.” 

When they walk back inside, Hizashi is sitting on the floor in front of Shinsou, seemingly chattering on about nothing and everything all at once. Shinsou seems a bit more relaxed than he was when Izuku had stepped out. Dumpster was sitting on the couch right next to Shinsou, and the boy’s hand was softly petting the animal. 

“You met my cat!” Izuku says happily, startling the boy a little. “His name is Dumpster. His sister, Shoebox, is at Aizawa’s apartment. We rescued them!” 

“Dumpster? Shoebox?” Shinsou looks startled. 

“Yeah, cause we found them next to a dumpster and carried them home in a shoebox.” Izuku explains simply. “Dumpster really likes people if you want to hold him. Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku saw Aizawa pull Hizashi over to the side to talk. 

Shinsou hesitates, but then gently picks Dumpster up and holds him. Dumpster purrs, lightly licking Shinsou’s hand, an urging for the boy to pet more. Shinsou obliges with a small smile on his face. 

“You have the stupidest name I’ve ever heard.” Izuku can barely hear Shinsou whisper to the cat. Izuku’s mom barks out a laugh. 

“I completely agree, Shinsou.” She says with a small smile. Izuku can’t help but feel a little offended. 

Tsukauchi arrives a little while later, along with an EMT with a minor healing quirk. Shinsou gives his statement as the healer works on the deep cuts on his cheeks and jawline, slowly closing them by blowing on his cheek. Izuku found it fascinating how her breath helped increase healing speed tenfold. That fascination was quickly put to the back of his mind as he listened to Shinsou’s statement and the horrors he had gone through in the system. 

The muzzle, it seemed, was a regular occurrence at every foster home he had been at. What was worse was how Shinsou revealed that some families would leave it on him purposefully during meals, so he couldn’t join them, or force him to stay in his room so he wouldn’t interact with the family. It wasn’t constant, because something like that would’ve been noticed by a social worker, but it happened enough that Izuku could feel anger bubbling under his skin. 

It was late, really late, when Tsukauchi and the EMT finally left. The detective had been able to sign the paperwork that put Shinsou in Aizawa and Hizashi’s temporary care as pro heroes, but there would be much more to come. Even though they were pros, there were systems in place for a reason. A social worker would be by in the next day or two to finalize whether or not Shinsou would be there longer, or go to a different house. 

Personally, Izuku hoped Shinsou would be able to stay. The boy deserved to live with people he knew wouldn’t hurt him. 

That night, Shinsou stayed in the Midoriya apartment. The mere mention of leaving Izuku had the purple-haired teen getting anxious, though he tried to hide it. Instead, Izuku got out the futon from the closet, and set it up on his bedroom floor, alongside some pillows and several blankets. 

By the time the boys settled down to sleep, it was well past midnight. Izuku fell asleep quickly, the events of the day catching up to him. Shinsou, however, laid in the room, unable to shake the idea that this was a dream, and that he was going to wake up back in that foster home. 

Shinsou only settled down an hour later, when Dumpster moved from Izuku’s bed to Shinsou’s chest. Shinsou wouldn’t dare move to disturb the cat, and after a while, the weight and stillness allowed Shinsou to fall into a fitful sleep.

Chapter Text

When Izuku first transitioned, his mother had insisted on therapy for the young boy to make sure his mental state was in a good place. As Izuku got older and learned more about the statistics, he understood very clearly why his mother was so worried. So, he stuck to his therapy appointments, once every two weeks, and stayed open. It helped that he really liked his therapist too. 

At ten, Izuku had a long discussion with Aizawa, his mother, and his therapist about whether or not he would be using puberty blockers. In the end, the cons had outweighed the pros with them for Izuku’s hero dreams, and he had decided not to use them. He wanted to stay on top of his hero training, and the physical drawbacks of taking puberty blockers, combined with the effects it would have on future surgeries he would get… The answer had been clear to Izuku. 

This, however… he hadn’t been expecting this. Don’t get him wrong, his mother had warned him about this, had explained what was going to happen, but still…. He was bleeding and in so much fucking pain. To top it all off, the lumps suddenly growing on his chest made him feel incredibly self conscious about his body and almost… disgusted with himself. His therapist had warned him about body dysmorphia being a possible issue, and while Izuku didn’t think he was quite there yet, he felt like he understood what his therapist had been talking about. 

“Sweetheart?” Izuku doesn’t bother to look up as his mom softly knocks on his door and speaks from the doorway. “How are you feeling?” 

“I’m dying.” Izuku’s words are muffled by his pillow. He hears his mom get closer and he turns his head a little to see her kneel by his bed. “Is it always like this?” His mom sends him a sympathetic smile. 

“It’s different for everyone, but my cramps were always pretty bad.” She replies, brushing a lock of hair from his face. “Unfortunately for you, I think you got that from me.” Izuku groans at that, curling into a tighter ball on his bed. “I got my heating pad set up on the couch, why don’t you come out to the living room for a while? I’ll change your sheets and throw your blankets in the wash, and I promise that will help you feel better.” Izuku hesitates, not really wanting to move. “I put your favorite All Might movie on the TV…” It’s a clear bribe, but Izuku can’t help but perk up a bit. 

“I guess I can for a little bit.” He allows, and his mother smiles. Izuku’s entire body aches as he walks the short distance to the couch and curls right back up into a ball. 

Honestly, Izuku was so grateful that he was so far ahead with his online school. He didn’t have to worry for a few days and could instead suffer without that pressure hanging over him. The only thing he really hated that he would probably miss was training for a few days. He needed to text Aizawa and tell him, he knew he should, but his phone was in his room and he just didn’t want to get up again. His mom would tell Aizawa. 

Izuku half paid attention to the movie as it played on the screen, listening to his mother bustle around the apartment as well. He knew she was checking on him every ten or so minutes by the way her footsteps would get closer, stop, and then go back to what she was doing. He didn’t want to worry his mom but he honestly didn’t think he could do much else than lay here. 

Near the end of the movie, Izuku heard the front door of their apartment open. He and his mom always kept it locked, which meant it had to be someone with the spare key. 

“Problem child!” Aizawa then, not Hizashi. “Are you ready to go?” Izuku can hear two sets of feet coming down the hallway. 

“Oh, Shota, I thought Izuku had said something to you.” His mother comes rushing out from his room. Another cramp hits, and Izuku groans a bit. 

“Is he sick?” Izuku hears Hitoshi ask, voice full of concern. 

“Oh, ah, not quite.” His mother is hesitant. “He won’t be training today, though. Possibly not tomorrow, either. It’s really going to depend on how he’s feeling.” 

“What’s going on then?” Aizawa asks, concerned. “Does he need to see-” 

“No, no, it’s just…” Izuku hears his mom hesitate, and he knows she’s just being careful about Izuku’s privacy. Izuku sticks an arm out and gives her a thumbs up before quickly cradling his abdomen once more. Izuku hears his mother sigh. “He’s on his period, and he seems to have inherited my painful cramps.I’m a bit worried about Endometriosis, since that’s what I have. I’ll take him to the doctor soon, but there isn’t much we can do about it right now.” 

“Period? But only girls get-” Hitoshi starts before suddenly cutting himself off. Izuku is suddenly conscious of the awkward weight on his chest again, of the feeling deep in his abdomen. He curls in on himself tighter. There’s a long silence, before a soft, “ oh. ” 

Had no one told Hitoshi? Izuku hadn’t but he had just assumed that somewhere in the adoption process Aizawa or Hizashi had said something. Fuck, what if Hitoshi wasn’t okay with him anymore? What if he didn’t want to hang out, or train together, or… or anything. Izuku wouldn’t try to force anything, and that meant that Aizawa would probably want to focus on his actual son, and not Izuku anymore. 

Fuck, Izuku felt tears burning in his eyes, and no amount of pure determination was stopping them from spilling. He could feel his shoulders shaking as the tears began falling, quicker and quicker. He was in so much fucking pain, and now Hitoshi hated him, and-

“Breathe, problem child.” Calloused fingers brushed over his cheek. “Breathe, c’mon. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Izuku forced himself to take a shaky breath. Behind Aizawa, the movie was over, credits rolling across the screen. 

“Is he okay?” Izuku hears Hitoshi softly ask. “I didn’t mean to upset him. I just didn’t realize…” 

Aizawa settles on the floor next to the couch, keeping his thumb moving across Izuku’s cheek as he cries. Izuku can’t stop the muttered “sorry, ‘m sorry” that comes out of his mouth in a continuous loop. 

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, problem child.” Aizawa murmurs. “We don’t train when we’re sick, and we keep track of when our body is telling us it’s time to stop, remember? There’s a difference between pushing ourselves to get better and pushing to the breaking point. Right now is just a rest period, alright?” 

“Made ‘Toshi uncomfortable.” Izuku sniffles. Aizawa pulls some kleenex from the box on the coffee table and hands it to Izuku. 

“What? No you didn’t, I just didn’t know.” Hitoshi says. “We’re okay, ‘Zuku, I promise.” The room falls into a silence as Izuku tries to calm down a bit. 

“Hitoshi, you’ll take a break from training today too, alright?” Aizawa says. “Why don’t you switch out movies. Inko, is there anything you need? I can make a store run.” 

“That would actually be great, Shota. I’ll make a list.” Izuku’s mother replies, hurrying to the kitchen. Aizawa gets to his feet as Hitoshi does what he had asked, switching out one All Might movie for another. Then, to Izuku’s surprise, Hitoshi settles right where Aizawa had been. 

“Nice move, getting us out of training today.” Hitoshi whispers, and Izuku lets out a choked laugh. “We should see if we can get take-out out of this too.” 

“Oh, I see. Using my pain for your gain, are you?” Izuku teases, and Hitoshi snorts out a laugh before his smile falls a little. 

“Seriously though, are you okay?” He asks, glancing over Izuku. 

“It hurts a lot. I know mom said it would when she told me about this, but I didn’t imagine it would hurt like this.” Izuku replies quietly. Hitoshi nods. 

“I don’t see you any differently, you know. I just didn’t realize.” Hitoshi says after a long moment. “You’re still my best friend, even if Tenya comes as a packaged deal.”

“You like Tenya!” 

“When he isn’t annoying, sure.” They can hear the adults talking quietly in the kitchen. Hitoshi leans forward and plucks the remote off the coffee table. “Ready for another terrible All Might movie?”

“Hey! They’re good!” Izuku protests. Hitoshi just rolls his eyes and presses play. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku’s first binder was… uncomfortable, to say the least. It was tight around his chest, and there was a pressure constantly on him that Izuku simply was not used to. 

However, it made his chest flat once more, and seeing that in the mirror helped his mindset immediately. He couldn’t wear it all the time he knew, because his mom, Hizashi, and Aizawa had all had the talk with him about binder safety. Still, he wore a sports bra at any other point, and that helped too. 

The uncomfort was why Izuku was so fidgety in his seat in the back of Hizashi’s car on their way to UA campus. Well, the binder and his excitement. They had been talking about this outing to use the UA facilities for weeks now, and now they were on their way and Izuku was so excited. Next to him, Hitoshi was staring out the window at the buildings passing by. Tenya and Tensei would be meeting them there at the gates. 

“Hitoshi! Look!” Izuku points out his window at where the towering buildings of UA campus are appearing. “They’re huge!” Hitoshi leans over next to him to get a better look out of Izuku’s window. 

“They’re terrifying.” Hitoshi mutters, and Izuku has to agree a little. They were cool, but the top hero school was scary too. 

They pull into the parking lot, and sure enough, Tenya and Tensei are waiting for them. Hizashi leads everyone through the large hallways, and Izuku can’t stop himself from staring at everything. It was just so cool! Hitoshi elbows him when he starts to mutter, but they just grin at each other. 

They’re almost to the gym Aizawa had reserved when they turn a corner, and Snipe is there with the principal of UA.

Izuku has so many notes on Nedzu, and he’s endlessly fascinated by the rodent’s quirk. It may be rare to be quirkless nowadays, but it was even rarer for an animal to have such a prominent and powerful quirk like Nedzu had. 

“Aizawa-san, just the man I was looking for!” Nedzu chirps. Nedzu even spoke perfectly, which was baffling considering the differences in mouth shape, tongue, and teeth between animals and humans. Maybe he had a secondary vocal quirk? Or maybe his quirk wasn’t just intelligence, but an adaptation of the mind and body? “Oh, he’s much smarter than you let on, Aizawa-san. That was an excellent observation, Midoriya-kun.” 

Izuku flushes red, not realizing he was speaking loud enough for the mammal to hear. 

“I believe I told you that I didn’t want you corrupting him, Nedzu.” Aizawa drawls. Izuku knew his mentor well enough, though, to pick up on the irritation. 

“Ah, yes, but that was years ago.” Nedzu brushes Aizawa off, walking forward before sticking a hand out to shake Izuku’s. “I am Principal Nedzu of UA, though you seem to already know this. Would you like to have tea, Midoriya Izuku?” 

Izuku shakes his hand, but glances at his mentor before agreeing to anything. Aizawa sighs. “It’s up to you, problem child.” 

“I would love to have tea.” Izuku admits. Nedzu smiles widely, clearly thrilled. 

“Amazing. Well, if you’ll follow me, you and I can have a chat, and I will bring you to the gym afterwards so you can complete your intended training.” The principal turns and starts down the hallway, and Izuku, after a second of hesitation, follows. Snipe stays behind with Aizawa and Hitoshi, so it’s just Izuku, alone with the principal. 

“Would you like a cup of tea?”  Nedzu asks as they reach his office.

“Oh, uh. Sure?” Izuku is a bit startled by the question, but Nedzu doesn’t seem to mind, working immediately to pull out a kettle and tea. “Is there a reason you wanted to meet with me, Nedzu-san?”

“Oh, I’ve wanted to meet you for some time. Aizawa was a personal student of mine, so I know him quite well. I was surprised that he took on a personal student, and he’s talked quite a bit about you. I wanted to meet you for myself.”

“Oh! Well, I’m nothing special, really.”Izuku feels heat crawling up his cheeks. Aizawa talked about him? “I just want to be a good hero.”

“Yes, he’s told me quite a bit about that. He says you’re a natural talent, and work quite hard to stay on top of everything.” Nedzu sips at his tea. “Online schooling, hero training, and you analyze quirks on top of it all?”

“He told you about that?” Izuku asks, embarrassed. Nedzu was the smartest person in Japan, but he was talking about Izuku like he was something special. 

“He did. If you happened to bring your analysis, I would love to see it.” Oh god, Nedzu wanted to see his analysis? It was barely scrapped together, Izuku wasn’t a professional, and Nedzu would see everything he had gotten wrong, or was barely thought out.

“It’s not very good.” Izuku admits.

“We often judge ourselves most harshly, yes? I would like to see for myself.” Nedzu says quietly, and Izuku hesitantly moves to his bag and pulls out his most recent notebook. It’s a nice one, leatherbound with nice, thick paper. He had gotten it for his birthday, and it was excellent for notes, drawings, and diagrams. He hands it to Nedzu, who promptly opens it and begins pouring over each page, flicking through quickly. Izuku wondered if that was a part of his quirk, reading that quickly. It would explain how he could gather so much information.

It doesn’t take the principal very long to go through what Izuku had in that notebook, and before Izuku can really start overthinking, Nedzu speaks. 

“I think you highly underestimate your own intellect, Midoriya Izuku.” He says with a small smile. “Not many people your age have your brainpower or determination. I admire that.” Izuku feels himself flush at that. “Now, correct me if I’m wrong; you’re educated online, yes?” Izuku nods. “Would you want to have a few lessons with me each week? We could work on analysis and logic, ethic and moral quandaries, look over some scientific studies of quirks.”

“Really?” Izuku asks, suddenly excited.

“Of course! I would not offer if I was not serious.” Nedzu replies, taking another sip of tea. “I would need to talk to your mother, of course, and Aizawa to figure out a scheduled time that does not interfere with your already busy schedule.”

“I’ll make time!” Izuku promises excitedly. “Would this be in person each week?” Nedzu nods in reply.

“And if something arises, email correspondence will work as well.” he confirms. “I have to admit, I have not had a personal student in some time. I am quite pleased that you’re so excited to work with me.”

“I’m honored that you think I’m smart enough to be your personal student. I promise, I won’t disappoint you, Nedzu-sensei.” Izuku gets to his feet and bows deeply, and the mammal in front of him laughs. 

“Stand up, stand up. Now, let’s call your mother, shall we?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

By the time Izuku and his friends were well into middle school, they had a fairly set routine for when they hung out. Izuku did his schoolwork in the morning with Hitoshi, who, once he had gotten settled with Hizashi and Aizawa, joined Izuku with his homeschooling over traditional school. Izuku then had his dance class or martial arts class in the afternoon. Then, he’d hang out with Mei, Tenya, and Shinsou until his training with Aizawa. Saturday mornings were reserved for Nedzu and Izuku’s lessons, which were always so exciting. 

This schedule often left Izuku exhausted, but he loved it. As more time passed, Izuku just felt more and more determined to become a hero. He also grew, both mentally and physically. Soon enough Izuku found himself using the bo staffs in training as he got older, and slowly he added more and more tools to his arsenal. Soon enough, Hitoshi was joining their training sessions, and Mei would sometimes sit in to sketch out her ideas for support items. 

“Again.” Izuku was panting, sweat dripping down his face. He was tired, and his muscles ached, but he still dutifully moved back into a defensive position. Hitoshi lay on the floor about ten feet away, eyes closed as his chest heaved. “Hitoshi. Again.” Aizawa repeats. 

“I don’t know if I can.” Hitoshi pants out.

“Villains won’t give you a break, Hitoshi.” Aizawa informs him. Hitoshi still doesn’t move, and Aizawa sighs. “Fine. Ten minute break, then you’re going to do laps while Izuku and I go again.” Izuku can’t help but perk up a little. 

“I get a break too?” Izuku asks hopefully. Aizawa sighs and nods. “Oh thank kami.” Izuku slowly drops to the floor and lays down. Izuku can practically hear Aizawa rolling his eyes. 

“You both are much too dramatic.” He mutters, to which Hitoshi only responds with a low groan. “Make sure you hydrate before we start again.” Izuku lifts his hand and gives his mentor a thumbs up. Aizawa lets out a fond sigh before walking towards the wall to rest against it. 

After a long moment, Izuku turns to look at Hitoshi, who still has his eyes closed and is breathing deeply. Instead of getting up, Izuku simply rolls over on the floor until he’s laying next to his friend. Hitoshi hums quietly when he feels Izuku nudge him. 

“You good?”

“Aizawa is trying to kill me.” Hitoshi replies, still not opening his eyes. 

“Your dad isn’t trying to kill you.” Izuku teases, earning a soft glare from Hitoshi. Izuku loved teasing Hitoshi like that. His adoption was still processing through the system, and even though Izuku’s friend had confided in him that he saw Aizawa and Hizashi as father figures, he hadn’t actually told them that yet. 

“You’re just used to the torture.” He deflects instead of responding to the taunt. “You complain just as much when Aizawa has you working with your Kusarigama.” Izuku does groan at that reminder. His kusarigama was the weapon he was most excited for, but the one that was taking the longest to learn how to handle. Every time he and Aizawa worked on it, he could guarantee bruises, screaming muscles, and frustration. 

“I’m going to get the hang of it, then you’ll fear me like you should.” Izuku mutters, and Hitoshi chuckles. 

 “Are you still going over to Iida’s after this?” The subject change is nice, a distraction from their dwindling rest time.

“Yeah, Tenya asked for help with his literature homework, and I still need to make sure he can come to my birthday sleepover.” Izuku replies as he sits up on the mat. “C’mon. Water break.” Izuku climbs to his feet and offers his hand to his friend. Hitoshi groans again, but reluctantly takes Izuku’s hand and allows himself to get pulled to his feet. 

The rest of their training continues. Hitoshi was still playing catch-up on training, nowhere near Izuku’s level. Still, Hitoshi was firm in the idea that he would take the regular UA exam and get into the hero course on his own. Izuku didn’t really understand Hitoshi’s determination, as the entrance exam still terrified him. 

The training session comes to an end at their usual time, Aizawa leading them through their cool-down stretches. As they gather their things at the end, Izuku confirms that he’ll shower at Tenya’s place as planned, while Aizawa and Hitoshi go home to freshen up. 

The sidewalks are pretty quiet, as it’s that time between school being released and work getting out for the day. Aizawa had taken his duffle bag, with his exercise clothes and weapons, but he had his backpack full of his literature work. He might be able to help Tenya more using different examples.

Izuku turns down a tunnel, only a few blocks away from the train station. It’s dark, the overhead light clearly burnt out, but the daylight is illuminating the tunnel on either end enough for Izuku to see where he is going. 

He’s about halfway down the tunnel when he hears it, a gushing, wet noise. It was like goo moving against itself, and it was coming from behind him. Izuku turned in time to see a villain rising up out of the grate. 

Chapter Text

Aizawa Shota hated being woken because of phone calls. He had an entire mental list of the best and worst ways to wake up, and a ringing phone, especially when he wasn’t expecting a call, was at the bottom of the list. 

He’s so tempted to ignore it, to pretend he’s sleeping through it, until Hitoshi shouts that he has a call from the kitchen. Sho sighs and opens his eyes, locating the device where it’s vibrating on the coffee table. Tensei’s name is on the screen, and Sho frowns as he hits “accept call.”

“What?” He doesn’t bother trying to hide the sleep from his voice. If this wasn’t an emergency, he hoped Tensei felt bad for waking him. 

“Hey, Sho, did your training session with the boys run long?” Tensei asks. Shota frowns, sitting up fully. 

“No, we finished at our normal time. Why?” A pit was forming in his stomach as he glanced at the clock on the wall. 

“Izuku isn’t here yet, and he’s not answering Tenya’s texts. We’ve even tried calling, and it’s gone straight to voicemail.” Tensei sounds worried, but it isn’t a full blown panic on his end yet. “We thought he might have missed his train, but the lack of response from that kid is concerning.” Shouta immediately turns to where Hitoshi is not-so-subtly listening from the kitchen. 

“Have you heard from Izuku?” He asks, but Hitoshi is already shaking his head. 

“Okay, okay. Hold on a second.” Aizawa puts Tensei on speaker and pulls up the phone tracking app they all have. It isn’t the tracker bracelets that he had wanted, but a nice compromise that Inko agreed to. 

Full concern and panic blooms when Izuku’s phone is a dot on the map, followed by “offline, last known location.” The dot is a few blocks from the train station that Izuku was heading to. Shouta swore. 

“His phone is offline, and it looks like he never made it to the train station.” He’s on his feet and at the door in a second, slipping his shoes on. “Hitoshi, go to the Midoriya’s apartment and wait there. I’ll call Inko, but if Izuku returns I need you to contact me immediately, alright?” Hitoshi nods, concerned and a little scared, but determined. 

“Are we working with the idea that he might be missing?” Tensei asks, and there’s a lot of movement over the phone now. 

“I am, can you head to the station on your end? By then I should have an idea as to what happened.” Shouta asks, and Tensei confirms. He can hear Tensei telling Tenya to stay at their apartment, in case Izuku showed up there. 

“I’ll text Nemuri and Hizashi. Let me know what you find.” Tensei says before hanging up. Shouta is out of the building at this point, moving swiftly down the street. 

The phone call to Inko is unpleasant, but Shouta wasn’t expecting differently. Telling any parent that their child is potentially missing always means panic and fear. For Inko, that was in the form of tears and unintelligible speaking through sobs. Shouta instructs her to talk to her boss and head to the apartments.

He reaches the space where Izuku’s phone was last active, and Shouta’s stomach churns. At first, there’s nothing. Nothing out of the ordinary on this block, so Shouta begins to follow what would’ve been Izuku’s path. It’s only once Shouta turns down a tunnel that he sees something that makes his heart drop. 

Izuku’s yellow bag is resting against the entrance of the opposite side of the tunnel. He rushes through, and as he gets closer he realizes a few things. The bag is covered in… something, and is now ripped and worn in ways that it wasn’t when Izuku left an hour ago. A few feet away, a completely shattered phone is scattered on the sidewalk, and a case he recognizes as Izuku’s broken on it. 

But Izuku isn’t here. No one is here. 

Shouta scoops up the bag and the large pieces of the phone, and moves across the street. There, he sees a small cafe, fully equipped with security cameras. The place isn’t busy, thank god, and the employees are startled when he rushes in and demands to speak to the manager or owner. The manager is grumpy and resistant until Shouta flashes his hero license. 

Soon enough, he’s sitting in front of a computer in a small office, rewinding back to- was that All Might?

The camera is at an angle, meant to be focused on the front of their store. The tunnel is cut off, but All Might’s legs are there, and Shouta saw his face when he put a battered and dirty Izuku on the ground.Izuku wasn’t moving, was he even breathing? Fuck, Shouta couldn’t tell from the video.

After a few, long seconds, Izuku bolts up. While he’s sitting, Aizawa can see the panic and then awe as Izuku takes in the number one hero. His favorite hero (it always hurt Shouta when Izuku’s birthday came around, and he inevitably ended up buying some horrifically colored All Might merch, but it made Izuku happy). 

A few seconds later, after Izuku puts a notebook in his damaged bag, both of them suddenly vanish from screen, moving straight up. Izuku’s phone smashes down on the sidewalk half a second later, shattering the way Shouta had found it. 

Shouta wastes no time sending himself what he needs from the security camera, including all the footage from that day, before leaving the cafe. Where the hell had they gone? Why did All Might take Izuku with him? He hadn’t been able to see much more than Izuku’s waist and below once he had stood, but he knows Izuku can’t move that fast on his own. 

He’s on the phone again as soon as he’s outside, going straight towards the station. The only conceivable thought as to where All Might had taken his kid was the station for a statement, or to the hospital to be looked at.

With a single call, Tensei was getting on a train and heading to the nearest hospital. Inko was almost home, and Hizashi was leaving his agency now. According to his husband, there was no villain attack reported in this area over the hero communication lines, meaning no police or paramedics had been contacted yet either. What the fuck was happening here? This wasn’t standard hero work in any way, shape, or form. 

When he walks into the station, Sansa must see something in his face, because he immediately points Shouta in the direction of Tsukauchi when he asks. He also confirms that no, Izuku had not been brought in by anyone. All the officers at this point, after this many years, knew Izuku and were getting to know Hitoshi. 

There’s a man at Tsukauchi’s desk, tall and gaunt, skinny as a stick. He looks sickly, and Shouta might wonder about the grave looks on both their faces if he was not in such a panic himself. 

“Detective, I need to talk to you now.” Shouta doesn’t leave any room for question, but still he frowns.

“What’s wrong?”

“Izuku’s missing.” The words are barely out of his mouth before Tsukauchi’s on his feet. 

“What? What happened?”

“He was supposed to be at Ingenium’s house after training, and he never made it.” Shouta tosses the bag and phone onto the desk. “I found this at his last known location. I checked nearby security cameras, and do you know who I saw? All Might. Fucking All Might was there, and that leads me to believe that he was in a villain attack that not only wasn’t reported, but then civilians weren’t handled properly. I’ve got no idea where Izuku is now, because he went with All Might, and I have no way of reaching him.”

The tall, skeletal man full-body flinches and begins to cough up a spray of blood from his mouth, causing Shouta to jerk backwards. Tsukauchi doesn’t really react, which means this isn’t abnormal for him. In fact, Tsukauchi is just staring at the man. 

“I’m sure,” the man wipes at the blood dripping from his lips as he speaks, “I’m sure the boy is fine, if he was with All Might. He’s the number one hero, after all.” Shouta frowns. 

“Excuse me if I disagree. There is no reason to blindly trust a hero, simply because they’re in the top ten. There are plenty of heroes that are terrible people who shouldn’t have their licenses, Endeavor included. I don’t know All Might, I don’t trust him, and from what I saw he’s not exactly following basic fucking procedure. To top it all of, Izuku is fucking missing, with possible injury, and no goddamn phone!” Shouta is shouting by the end, taking out his frustration and fear on this man he’d never met. At this point, he doesn’t particularly care, either.

The entire precinct is dead silent, cops, criminals, and heroes alike staring at the scene Shouta was making. The detective turns and glares, waiting to speak until people were actively doing their jobs again.

“Aizawa, give me what information you have and go home.” Tsukauchi says in a low voice. 

“What?”

“You and I both know that if Izuku is truly missing or in danger, you’re much too close to the victim to work on this case. Give me what you have, and I will take the lead. Hell, I’ll keep you in the loop, but I think you and I both know that you need to go home.” The detective is calm and reasonable, and while Shouta wants to argue, he knows he would lose. “Go home, make sure his mother is alright, and I will call you the second I know anything.” 

After a long, tense moment, Shouta nods. His hands are shaking as he pulls out his phone and forwards the security footage to the detective’s email.

“As soon as you hear anything, I need to know.” He says, and Tsukauchi nods. “Okay. Find him.” 

“I will, Eraserhead.” Shouta has taken the classes, he knows the detective is using his hero name to keep him thinking straight. Still, Shouta grimaces when he looks down at the bag and shattered phone before he takes a step back. 

“Okay.” He nods once, mostly to himself. “Okay. If you don’t call soon, I'll be back here and be a physical thorn in your side, Tsukauchi.”

“I have no doubt.”

Shouta goes home. The walk back to the apartments is harder with every step, because he knows that everyone there is expecting a solution and answers when he has none. Fuck, he knew Inko was going to cry too. Hitoshi… Izuku was his first and best friend. Izuku had to be okay, or everyone Shouta loved, including himself, would be destroyed with grief. Izuku had to be okay. He had to be. 

By the time Shouta gets home, it’s long since been dark. The sun had been setting when he had walked into the precinct, and now the sidewalks were lit up by lampposts. A single glance at his watch tells him it’s just past eleven at night.

Everyone’s in Inko’s apartment, so Shouta takes a second to brace himself before he walks inside. It’s unlocked, waiting for Izuku to come in. Instead it’s just him. 

“Oh, Sho, is there any news?” Inko’s scrubbing at her eyes with a kleenex, which makes Shouta wonder if she’s stopped crying at all since his call. 

“I found his bag and his phone, and was able to find some security footage.” If he was honest with himself, he knew he shouldn’t be sharing an ongoing investigation with anyone outside of the case. He didn’t particularly care. “I believe there was a villain attack, however all I caught with the camera angle was All Might seemingly rescuing him, and then taking Izuku with him 30 seconds later. There was nothing on any channels about an attack, and I have no idea where Izuku might be.” Shouta turns to his husband and Tensei.” Tsukauchi kicked me off the case, says I’m too close. I doubt he would let any of us on to help.”

“He’s a stickler for the rules. I’ve only worked with him a few times, and I could’ve told you that.” Tensei murmurs. “Still, I could run around the blocks a few times. If no one thinks it’s out of the ordinary.” He offers, but Shouta is already shaking his head. 

“Tsukauchi works fast, but if we’re involved without his knowledge time might be wasted finding you and telling you to stop.”

“So we’re just supposed to wait?” Inko asks, sounding a hair hysterical. “That is my son out there. Who knows what’s happened to him? It’s been hours. He could be hurt, or dead, and I’m supposed to sit here?” 

“Inko, you’re right. It’s only been a few hours. As far as we know, he could be about to walk through that door, and we won’t have to worry anymore.” Hizashi tries to sooth. One glance at his son, and Shouta can see he’s not fairing much better than Inko. No tears yet, but clear distress. Shouta steps closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. 

“Don’t lie to me like a child, Hizashi. Missing child cases never work out like that. Izuku is not just going to walk in!” Inko angrily replies. “He’s out there somewhere, and he needs me-”

The front door opens, and when they turn, Izuku is there. 

He’s shaking like a leaf, covered in some weird goo, and has clearly been through a fight. Clothes are torn, his hair looks like a giant knot, and he looks dazed. Inko lets out a soft cry, rising off the couch, but Izuku flinches at the noise. Inko stops. 

“Izuku?”Aizawa asks in a soft voice. Izuku looks in the direction of the noise, but doesn’t focus on Aizawa.

“I…” Izuku stops, and Aizawa can see his hands shake. And then Izuku is running past the living room, and into his bedroom, and the door is slamming shut. Everyone in the living room is silent, unsure of what exactly just happened. 

A loud crash yanks them all out of their stupor, and sends Shouta running towards Izuku’s room. Inko and Hizashi are close behind him, while Tensei stays with Hitoshi. Izuku hasn’t locked his door, so Shouta is able to yank the door open and get inside within seconds. 

The source of the crashing sound is identified immediately, as Shouta sees that all the All Might memorabilia from Izuku’s shelf is on the floor, and Izuku himself is actively sobbing as he rips posters from the wall. No care is being taken, it’s clear that Izuku is running on pure anger. 

Shouta darts forward, grabbing Izuku around the middle and hauling him away from the wall. The boy fights for a few seconds before slumping down, sobs causing his body to shake as Shouta slowly lowers them both to the ground. Inko is right there, and once it’s clear that Izuku is no longer going to try to lash out, she’s taking her son into her arms, letting him sob on her. Hizashi stays in the doorway, and Shouta slowly inches back and away from the crying to join his husband. After a few tense minutes, Shouta turns to his husband. 

“We should give them space. I should call Tsukauchi.” He whispers, and Hizashi nods. They don’t shut the door, in case they’re needed, but they do return to the living room. Hitoshi and Tensei are waiting there, concerned. 

“Is he okay?” Hitoshi asks, and Hizashi grimaces. 

“He didn’t look injured, but he isn’t okay. We aren’t sure what happened yet, but something is wrong.” He says as calmly as he can. 

“We should take him to the hospital, get him checked out and make sure that he really isn’t injured. Something happened to him, I want him to be cleared by actual fucking medical professionals.” Shouta adds, and Hizashi reaches up and lightly grips his shoulder. 

“I know, and I know you’re a bit shaken right now, that Izuku was hurt, but we need to give him a second to cry, okay? He’s clearly in shock. Give them five minutes, and then we’ll go.” Hizashi says, and Shouta lets out a long breath and nods. 

“I just need you to know that if I see All Might anytime in the near future, I’m going to beat the shit out of the number one hero.”

“We don’t even know-” Tensei starts, but Shouta cuts him off. 

“He didn’t do my job, and Izuku is clearly suffering as a result. I don’t care what else happened, I’m going to punch him, and I’ll snap his license in half in front of his face, and then I’ll feel better.”

The five minutes pass, and Izuku is silent as Hizashi drives them to the nearest emergency room, not really responding to any questions or attempts to get him to speak. Nurses and doctors are quick to get Izuku cleaned off, and they find out Izuku will have to stay overnight due to some sort of goo found in his lungs. 

Shouta’s never heard of dry drowning before this point, but he and Inko spend the night watching Izuku for symptoms in the quiet hospital room instead of sleeping, long after Hitoshi, Hizashi, and Tensei have gone home to rest. 

Shouta is angry, he knows this. He also has a feeling that once Izuku breaks his silence, and tells them what happened, that his anger will turn to rage.

Chapter Text

“Mom?” Izuku fidgets a bit as he stands in the kitchen doorway, waiting for his mother’s attention. When she looks at him, he only hesitates for a second. “I want a haircut.” Inko blinks, eyes looking over Izuku’s bushy hairstyle.

“I suppose it is getting long again, isn’t it?” She asks with a soft smile. “We can do that Friday, I think. I have the day off.”

“Um, can I-” Izuku hesitates again, frowning. He wasn’t scared to ask, persay, and his mom was always open-minded. He was just also aware that she had been really overprotective and nervous since the villain attack. The villain attack that never made the news, was never reported, but the slime villain was in a jail cell when Aizawa checked. If anything, knowing that made Izuku and his mentor even angrier.

“Can you what?” His mother looked like she was about to abandon dinner and walk over to him. Would he enjoy a hug right now, sure, but he really was okay.

“Can I get my ears pierced?” Izuku pulls out his phone as he asks, avoiding his mother’s eyes. “I was thinking something like this?” He already had his lobes pierced from when he was much, much younger. The photo he showed his mother showed a boy with three lobe piercings, all in a row, as well as a hoop in the shell of his ear. He moved forward, holding his phone out so his mother could see clearly.

His mother was quiet.

Really, really quiet.

“Just the ears?” His mother asks hesitantly. The boy in the photo also had a nose piercing, and while that appealed to Izuku, he didn’t want to push his luck. He nods, and his mother sighs with a small frown. “It would be a lot at once, kiddo. Especially when I’m assuming you want both ears done.”

“Yeah, but then I could take care of them all at once and get the healing process over with instead of drawing it out.” Izuku reasons. “Plus, this could be my birthday present this year. Please?”

Izuku’s mother looks at the photo for a little longer, and Izuku starts to feel his heart fall before his mother softly says “Alright, but only if the professional says it’s okay to do that many at once.”

“Really?” Izuku straightens, feeling his excitement in his limbs.

“It’s your body Izuku. You can choose what you want to do with it. Though,” She pauses, sending him a teasing smile, “maybe we don’t get tattoos until you’ve moved out. For the sake of your mother’s old heart?”

“But Mom, Aizawa’s tattoos are so cool!” Izuku grins back, and his mother lightly whacks him with the spoon, getting sauce on his arm. “Mom!”

“I’ll make the appointments tonight.” She says with a smile. “I’m almost done here, go set the table.” Izuku eagerly begins grabbing napkins, utensils, and glasses, not really noticing how his mother is watching him, making sure he’s alright.

Izuku also doesn’t know that his therapist had talked to his mother after his most recent appointment, telling her that Izuku might do some things, or ask for things that seem out of character so he can prove he still has control over his life, especially after the attack and trauma he had been through. If she was honest, the therapist had told her Izuku may lash out or push boundaries for control. The fact that Izuku was asking for talking to her instead of just acting? Inko wasn’t going to take advantage of that. Really, it was moments like these that made Inko feel like she was doing something right as a mother.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Dude, what the fuck?”

Tenya was staring at Izuku with such surprise that he didn’t even bother chastizing Hitoshi for cursing. Izuku smiles nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck. His unusually cold neck, now that the hair had been chopped off.

“Does it look okay? The guy at the barbershop said that it made my babyface not as bad.” Izuku replies. The undercut style was one Izuku enjoyed, though he had never had the courage to get a cut like this before now. His curls were a controlled chaos on top of his head, with the sides and back shaved short. It was also a great haircut to show off his newly pierced ears. He was able to get all three piercings in each ear, since his mother had found a piercer who also had a minor healing quirk.

“Are those real?” Hitoshi asks, reaching out to touch Izuku’s ears. Izuku flinches back, but grimaces at the movement. He wasn’t usually jumpy, but he felt nervous. His anxiety had been acting up pretty badly since the villain attack.

“Why..?” Tenya finally speaks, looking confused and concerned.

“I think you look rad, kiddo.” Tensei says as he scoots around Tenya, bringing in the takeout. He ruffles Izuku’s hair, and the kid grins back. “Very snazzy. Don’t let Tenya harsh your vibe.”

“Please stop talking like that! You sound so old!” Tenya exclaims, going beet red. Tensei laughs instead of responding, moving to the dining room.

“You know he does that because it embarasses you, right?” Hitoshi asks, looking amused. Tenya sputters before gesturing to Izuku again.

“We’re talking about this, not that!” He deflects. “Izuku, why have you done… this?” He motions to Izuku’s head. Hitoshi rolls his eyes, but also looks to Izuku questioningly. Izuku frowns for a moment before shrugging.

“I needed something different,” Izuku says quietly, “After everything that happened. I needed to not be the Izuku that All Might looked at and told he couldn’t be a hero.”

“He was wrong-” Pity crosses Iida’s face, and it creates a sour taste in Izuku’s mouth.

“I know. I know that, but when the person you’ve idolized for years tells you no, it really fucking hurts. I needed to change something so when I walk into the recommendation exam, I’m the person I created.” He feels like he’s making no sense, but he isn’t sure how else to explain his thought process. He focuses on his feet, his chest tight with anxiety. “I just needed to do this.”

After a few quiet moments, Izuku feels two sets of arms wrap around him, and he relaxes against Hitoshi and Tenya. Fuck, Izuku loved hugs, even if the feeling of being trapped made his anxiety skyrocket. They stay like that for a while, just taking in each other’s company. Soon enough Shoebox comes to investigate, rubbing up against their legs with a shrill meow for attention.

“Noisy little attention whore.” Hitoshi mutters, earning a giggle from Izuku and a gasp from Tenya.

“Boys! Dinner!” Inko calls, and they all grin at each other before heading into the apartment. Aizawa and Hizashi were helping Izuku’s mother finish setting the table, and Aizawa ruffles Izuku’s hair as he passes.

“I know I didn’t say it earlier, but nice haircut problem child.” Izuku grins at him before taking his seat between his mother and Tenya. “I’m surprised your mom agreed to the piercings.”

“Mom said it was my body, so it was my choice.” Izuku replies with a smile. “Plus, Dr. Shima said he talked to her about coping mechanisms and trauma response after the villain attack, so I think that was part of it.”

“I didn’t realize Dr. Shima told you he talked to me.” Inko says, looking a little surprised. It was understandable, as Izuku was still a child, that his therapist would talk with her about certain things.

“He tells me when he’s going to talk to you, and asks my permission to tell you about some stuff.” Izuku says as he brings some noodles into his bowl. “He says its to make sure he and I have trust. He’s really cool about that.” When Izuku glances at his mother, she’s staring at him. “What?”

“I just didn’t realize. It’s really, really good that you trust your therapist.” She says, and Izuku doesn’t quite understand why she looks so relieved, but that’s better than upset.

“And hey, this is a much better coping mechanism than Shouta’s when he was Izuku’s age.” Hizashi says with a grin, earning a laugh from Tensei. “Or me and Tensei for that matter.”

“Really?” Hitoshi asks, eyeing Izuku’s piercings. “What did you guys do?” Aizawa gives him a look. “Just so I know what not to do, that’s all.”

“Mine was overwork in highschool, but once I was my own pro hero, I actually had a bit of a drinking problem.” Hizashi admits, and that made the whole group go silent. The kids are staring at Hizashi with surprise, while the adults just listen quietly. Tensei and Shouta, they were there, they helped Hizashi back out of that whole alongside Nemuri. Inko, she had seen the news about the new partying pro-hero, and Hizashi had shared a little on their coffee dates.

“Drinking?” Hitoshi asks after a second, and Hizashi nods.

“I didn’t know how to handle all I was seeing, and I was still processing the death of a friend. One thing school didn’t prepare me for was the mental and emotional trauma you deal with as a hero.” He explains. “I realized that when I was drunk, my problems disappeared. I was going out every night, but my problems were always still there in the morning. Sho was the one who pushed me into rehab, and between my support system now, and therapy, I’m doing a lot better.”

“Mine is overwork, and I still struggle with it. I work myself to the point of exhaustion, because if I’m working, I don’t have to think about or process the things I’ve seen and been through.” Tensei adds, and Aizawa nods along, but doesn’t add anything else. Hizashi grins and nudges him.

“C’mon, Sho, tell the kiddos how you coped when we were in high school.” he says, and Aizawa wrinkles his nose, shoving his sleeves up a bit.

“The tattoos started with at home stick-and-pokes.” He admits.

“And…?” Hizashi prompts. Aizawa mumbles something under his breath.

“Vigilantism.” He finally admits, and Izuku’s jaw drops. The whole table is quiet.

“I’ll admit, the haircut and earrings do not seem as concerning now.” Inko says after a long, tense moment.

“So I can get my nose pierced?” Izuku asks eagerly.

“Not now.”

“Aw, mommmmm.” Izuku whines, but he’s grinning.

“Why don’t we talk about something else? Aren’t the UA exams coming up soon?” Inko asks, knowing full well that bringing up UA was a sure way to get the boys off track. Sure enough, Izuku wiggles with excitement in his seat, and both Tenya and Hitoshi straighten up with excitement.

“The recommendation exam is soon, and I’m so nervous.” Izuku admits. The recommendation exam was a few months before the traditional entrance exam. That way, recommendation students could receive their results and get their applications in for the regular exam on time if they needed a second chance to get in. “I can’t believe neither of you want to take the recommendation exam with me.”

“I want to get into UA the same way my parents and brother did!” Tenya exclaims. “While I’m sure I could pass the recommendation exam, I want to follow in my family’s footsteps.”

“I just don’t want to put up with all the pretentious legacy kids that I’m sure will be there.” Hitoshi adds with a smirk. “A bunch of kids that think they’re entitled to a spot just because they’re related to a hero? No thanks.”

“C’mon, Toshi, it won’t be that bad!” Izuku insists, but Hitoshi wrinkles his nose and shakes his head.

“I’d rather take my chances with the normal exam.” He mutters. Izuku sighs and focuses on his food with a small frown. If he was honest with himself, he wanted one of his friends to be there because of how nervous he felt. He really would be going in blind compared to the other recommendation students, and he was sure that it would be clear how much of a nobody he was once the physical test begins. He knew he could be a hero without a quirk, he was certain of it, but fuck, quirks did help. He may be able to run for a while with his exercise routine, but Tenya would always outrun him with his engines.

What if he made a fool of himself? He would tarnish his own reputation and Aizawa’s, since he was recommending Izuku. He didn’t want to do that, but he was also selfish. He knew he was at a disadvantage, and he wasn’t going to pass up the chance to have two shots at getting into UA. He craved having a backup plan.

His mother nudges him with her elbow, snapping him back to reality. Hitoshi and Tenya were talking about exam possibilities, while Aizawa and Hizashi stayed carefully silent. They knew what the exam was as teachers at UA, but they were not allowed to say. The entrance exam was known for being under wraps, especially as everyone who took it had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to be barred from talking about it.

“What do you think the recommendation exam will be like?” Hitoshi asks, turning back to Izuku.

“I know it has a written exam, just like the regular entrance exam,” Izuku begins, using his chopsticks to move the noodles around in his bowl, “but from how Nedzu-sensei has been talking, it’s the physical exam that’s different. I know there’s a limited number of kids who can even take the recommendation exam, and they have to meet a bunch of requirements, so it’s a much smaller number of examinees. They can really focus on things besides brute strength and quirk capability.”

“There are only four recommendation spots available in the hero course in total.” Hizashi adds. “Two for 1-A, and two for 1-B. That alone makes it immensely more competitive.”

“That definitely doesn’t make me ten times more nervous than I already was.” Izuku mutters. The adults all laugh, and Izuku scowls.

“You’ll all do great, I’m sure.”

Chapter Text

Izuku’s leg bounced with nerves as they approached UA. It was him and Aizawa in the Erasure Hero’s car, alone since Present Mic had to be there early for the exam. Aizawa had told him that they usually would’ve gone together, but since he was recommending Izuku, Aizawa would have no say in the recommendation exams. The regular entrance exam, he had explained, would be different. The amount of students that took the exam was so large that Aizawa and Hizashi would simply not get a say in Hitoshi or Tenya’s exam (or Izuku’s if he failed the recommendation exam). 

“I’ll be with you at the beginning, but once the written exam is set to start you won’t see me until afterward.” Aizawa informs him as he pulls into the parking lot. “Nedzu likes to see the students and the heroes who recommended them mingle. To get a gauge for who is a recommendation based on family ties, and who is a recommendation based on actual belief for them being a hero.”

“Will we see Nedzu-Sensei then? Or is he just observing with the cameras?” Izuku asks. Nedzu pointedly avoided all of his questions about the exams during their lessons. 

“A mix. He always comes down and greets everyone like is expected of him before the written exam, but he observes for a while before. That’s why he asks everyone to arrive early.” Aizawa parks the car, and around them Izuku can see heroes he has seen all over the news leading kids his age inside.

“You said I’d have a separate bathroom to change in before the physical test, right?” Izuku asks. He can feel his nerves making his chest tight. 

“One of the teachers will show you where to go after you finish your written exam.” He confirms. Izuku nods, staring at the UA entrance. “Problem Child, look at me.” After a second, Izuku turns to look at his mentor. “Why do I have you call me Aizawa instead of Shouta?”

“You said it was because you didn’t want me to slip up and call you Shouta at UA.” Izuku says quietly. 

“Mhm. The same reason Tenya calls me Aizawa instead of Shouta, and I’ve known him his whole life. If I didn’t think you could do this, I wouldn’t give a shit about what you called me. You can call me Shouta once you graduate and have your hero license, because you’re going to be a hero.” Aizawa puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes lightly. “You can do this, you’ve put so much work and time into this, and you will be able to be a hero.” Izuku smiles a little, and while the nerves don’t disappear, he does feel more reassured. “Now let’s go. We’ve got some stuck-up kids to beat.” 

Izuku can’t help but laugh at that. 

The some of the last inside, but it doesn’t really matter since they’re still early as per Nedzu’s orders. Teens are stuck to the sides of the heroes that brought them, looking nervous but trying desperately to look calm and collected. It helps Izuku relax a bit, when he sees that most of the kids are as nervous as him. There are a few here, with an air of superiority, but it’s less than expected. 

Heroes are chatting a bit, though many stand alone, and while it seems as if all of them are watching the entrance for newcomers, hardly any seem to take a second look at Izuku and Aizawa, turning away with small frowns. 

Most, but not all. 

“Eraserhead!” Izuku turns and feels his heartbeat pick up in his chest when he sees Fatgum waving at the two of them with a large smile. He’s got a beautiful young girl next to him, who looks about as nervous as Izuku feels. Aizawa, with one hand still on Izuku’s shoulder, steers him over. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Fatgum speaks as they approach. “It’s fairly difficult to impress a guy like you.” 

“Fatgum.” Aizawa greets with a small nod. “You’re right, but Midoriya is a hard worker, and I’ve overseen much of his training.” Fatgum raises an eyebrows at that, turning to look at Izuku. 

“Midoriya, huh? The name is a fairly accurate descriptor with that hair.” He says with a laugh, and Izuku smiles a bit. The reports about Fatgum were right, he did put people at ease just by talking. “I’m excited to see what you have in store then, kid. An endorsement by Eraserhead is worth its weight in the hero community.”

“Thank you, sir.” Izuku replies with a short bow. 

“Ah, call me Fat, kiddo. I’m sure I’ll see you more in the coming years.” He waves Izuku off. “Anyway, this is my cousin, Yaoyorozu Momo.” He pats the girl on the back, and she nervously bows. 

“Yaoyorozu?” Aizawa asks with a small frown, and it takes a moment for Izuku to realize why. The Yaoyorozu family was incredibly famous for being rich, powerful, and reclusive. Their money was old, and funded many top companies. They were also, famously, anti-hero. Or, well, as anti-hero as anyone could be. They refused to fund anything that supported heroes, and refused to let their products be endorsed by heroes. The reclusivity meant that they never actively spoke out against the HSPC or heroes, but the way they used their money spoke volumes. 

“Yes sir.” She replies quietly. 

“You want to be a hero?” Aizawa asks, and while Izuku knows him well enough to know it’s just curiosity, he’s well aware that most people who don’t know Aizawa see him as very grumpy and judgey. Still, Yaoyorozu nods. “Why UA?” 

“With my quirk, I need to be at a school that not only has an excellent heroics program, but an academic program as well.” She sniffs a little, squaring her shoulders. “With my family, the PR course here doesn’t hurt either.” 

Aizawa hums, then, after a moment, nods. 

“I’ve been training her as much as I can, but with her parents it’s never as much as I would like.” Fat admits sheepishly. “But she is incredibly smart, and her quirk is one of the most versatile I’ve ever seen. The perfect combination of her parents. I’m positive that if she doesn’t get in here, she absolutely will at the regular entrance exam.”

“I think you give me to much credit, cousin.” Yaoyorozu says, her voice still incredibly quiet. “I’m very hopeful, but there are always people better than me out there.”

Aizawa eyes her with a hum, and Izuku knows she’s impressed him. Before anyone can say another word, however, the main doors slam open as someone who wanted to be late with an entrance walked in. Izuku would recognize the fiery face anywhere. 

Endeavor.

Izuku knew that specific hero’s reputation, and there was a reason he never latched onto him like he did with other heroes. 

There’s a boy next to the number two hero. He’s taller and slim, but Izuku can tell there’s muscle there that may not seem as obvious to the eye. His hair is split directly down the middle, half red, half white. The thing that immediately drew Izuku’s eye, however, was the burn scar on his eye. That…. God, that wasn’t a good sign. 

The room hasn’t gone silent, but one glance around tells Izuku that almost everyone is keeping themselves aware of where the number two is. Unfortunately for Izuku, Endeavor starts walking their way. Izuku feels his stomach drop. 

“Yaoyorozu.” Even his voice seems big and intimidating. How the hell were people supposed to feel at ease around him? 

“Endeavor-san.” Yaoyorozu bows her head slightly. “It’s nice to see you and Todoroki-kun again.” Endeavor’s eyes narrow. 

“Are your parents aware you’re here?” He asks. Izuku sees Yaoyorozu go tense. 

“Yes, sir. They’re aware.” She replies, keeping her head slightly bowed. 

“I’m sure they’re unhappy.” He replies before glancing towards Aizawa. “Eraserhead.” His eyes flick down to Izuku, and he refuses to squirm under the hero’s critical gaze. “You’ve recommended someone?”

“I have.” Aizawa replies, and then, without hesitation, Izuku’s mentor’s eyes flash red, and the flames on Endeavor’s face and suit vanish. Endeavor’s face twists into a snarl, but before he can start shouting, Aizawa simply says, “we wouldn’t want to have such a fire hazard in a school, now would we? We can’t put the heroes of tomorrow at risk like that.” 

Izuku can’t help it, and he know he shouldn’t, but a snort of laughter escapes him. Endeavor’s eyes immediately snap to Izuku, eyeing him critically. 

“You better watch yourself, boy-” 

“Heroes and examinees! I am thrilled that you have all arrived and are ready to start your path to becoming a hero.” Nedzu’s voice comes on through the school loudspeaker, and Endeavor grunts with frustration before turning away. “Heroes, please follow Midnight through the east doorway to the observation room. Children, you will follow Cementoss through the east doorway and find your seats in the testing hall for your written examination.” The east and west doors open, with the respective heroes holding them and waving for the attention of their respective parties. 

Endeavor scowls and looks down at his son. “Don’t disappoint me, Shoto.” He says before turning and stomping towards Midnight. 

“He’s just a bit intense, isn’t he?” Fat mutters with a frown. He shakes his head after a second. “Anyway, you kids are going to do great, I’m sure.” he smiles widely at them. “Remember, Plus Ultra!”

Aizawa doesn’t say anything, but he does ruffle Izuku’s hair fondly before walking with Fat towards the doors. Izuku lets out a long breath, glancing at Yaoyorozu and Todoroki. 

“Guess that’s our cue to head this way?” He says with a nervous laugh, motioning towards Cementoss. Yaoyorozu nods in agreement, though Todoroki is simply quiet, watching him with narrowed eyes. Izuku shifts before deciding, Fuck it, and heads towards the testing hall. He hears them follow, and they find the large room pretty quickly. 

Each desk has a name on it, and Izuku searches until he finds his name on a desk near the front. When he glances around, he sees Yaoyorozu taking a seat in the middle, a few seats away from Todoroki. Izuku is around nobody he knows, which is actually a tad comforting. No judgment, just everyone trying to do their best on this exam. 

The room is silent as Cementoss recites the instructions. The test would be two and a half hours. Once they finished, they were to bring their testing booklet to the front and would be taken to the waiting area by one of the teachers. Speaking of, the pro-hero teachers would be monitoring them as they worked, and any cheating would find them blacklisted from UA. 

The test itself was difficult, but Izuku had not only his own intelligence, but his history of education through Nedzu to help him. Izuku knew that this written exam was more difficult than the regular exam, and that recommendation students had to pass both to even be considered for the spots. Still, as the two hour mark approached, and Izuku found himself finishing, he felt confident that he had passed. 

He was the first person to stand and turn his test in, and he could feel eyes on him as Snipe escorted him from the testing room. 

“How do you think you did, kid?” He asks once they’ve left. 

“I don’t think I failed, but I doubt I’m at the top. There were some places I was completely stumped.” Izuku mutters. 

“Eh, you doubt yourself too much sometimes.” Snipe mutters. He nods towards a door. “That’s the waiting room, we’re gonna go straight to the teacher’s bathroom so you can change. ‘Zawa already dropped your change of clothes there.”

“Thanks.” 

By the time Izuku has changed and made it back to the room, he sees two more students being led to the regular locker rooms. In fact, only a handful of students finish before the time is up, and the rest change and come to the waiting room in a large group. 

Everyone is fairly nervous, though as Izuku looks around he sees many people talking quietly with each other. It’s clear that some of the examinees know each other, while others are outliers. Izuku is clearly among those outliers, but he doesn’t mind that much. He knew he would be. 

“Congratulations on finishing the written exam!” Everyone in the room turns towards the main doors as Nedzu speaks loudly, perched on Vlad’s shoulder as he walks into the room. “Next will be the practical portion, and we will finish with individual interviews. Remember, to even be considered for one of the limited recommendation spots in the hero course, you must pass both the written and physical exam, as well as respond well in your individual interview.” 

“Wait, interview? I haven’t heard anything about an interview.” A boy with blonde hair says loudly. 

“You wouldn’t have. It’s the one portion of the recommendation exams that is prohibited from being spoken of, as it is often the deciding factor of the spots.” Nedzu replies with a smile. “But if you believe you truly have a heroic mindset, you should have nothing to worry about.” 

“The physical test will comprise of an obstacle course race. There are 24 of you, so you will be split into five groups of four.” Vlad informs them. “You will be expected to go all out. We will be judging on the time it takes you to get through the course and how you get through the course. Creativity is vital as a hero.” Vlad pulls out a list. “Listen carefully for your name. Group one will contain..” 

Izuku is in the second group with other examinees names Suzuki, Hirano, and Monoma. Yaoyorozu is in the first group, and Todoroki is in the last. “First group, follow me. The rest of you will stay here with Snipe. You will walk into the course blind, and once your group has gone, you will be escorted to another waiting room. We will then proceed with the interviews. 

As the first group walks out, the other examinees begin to eye the other people in their group. Izuku glances towards Suzuki first. She has a clear mutant quirk, with patches if scales all over her skin, snake eyes, and fangs that were long enough that the ends fell past her chin. Izuku wondered if she was venomous as well. Hiro didn’t seem to have an obvious quirk, so it was harder for Izuku to suspect what he was capable of. With a frown, Izuku turned his eyes to Monoma-

Monoma was walking up to him. 

“You’re Midoriya, right?” He asks with a large, off putting smile. Something about him was a bit unsettling, but Izuku shook it off. “Monoma Neito, of the Monoma family. I’m planning on being the next hero in my family’s line, and the best of them all.” 

Izuku had heard of the Monoma family. The Monoma’s had been in the hero business since the beginning of hero-ing. They quickly made a prominent name for themselves, and it was expected that with each new generation, a new hero from the Monoma family would appear. 

That being said, the Monoma family had a reputation of sticking to the middle of the pack. They never stood out or made the top fifty, but never dropped low enough to be completely out of the race, either. 

“Nice to meet you.” Izuku replies. 

“Of course it is. I just wanted to warn you now not to be too disappointed when you lose the obstacle race.” Monoma continues, and Izuku raises an eyebrow at that. “You may have finished your written exam first, but that will be the last time you take the first slot today.” 

“Really?” Izuku asks. Honestly, this guy really liked to hear himself talk, didn’t he? Izuku could talk a lot, he knew that, but at least he didn’t talk at people like this guy. 

“Yes.” The main doors open again, and Vlad is alone this time.

“Group two, you’re up.” His voice booms through the space. Monoma turns and smiles at Izuku, reaching out his hand. 

“May the best win.” He says, and Izuku takes his hand, shaking it once. Monoma walks ahead of him, and Izuku follows behind with a small frown. He wondered if the sponsors would be watching the physical test. The idea was daunting, but Aizawa had faith in him, so Izuku had to have faith in himself. 

Vlad King leads them into a large gymnasium-like room, and Izuku is looking over the course as quickly as he could. The course took the entire length of the room, starting with what looked to be a balancing act. Beams and poles being the only path across a large, water filled pit. The pit led directly to what looked to be a short maze of concrete walls, and then a tall rock wall. It ended with what seemed to be an empty expanse, an opportunity for a final sprint across the finish line. 

“Line up. When the whistle blows, move as quick as possible. Good luck!” Vlad moves off to the side. Even though he’s the only teacher present, Izuku knows better than to assume he’s the only one judging. Nedzu’s cameras are everywhere. 

Izuku lines up, dropping low into a sprinter’s start. The others follow after a second, seeming to take his lead. 

The whistle blows, and Izuku is off like a rocket. 

He’s grateful as he dashes across the beams and poles, that Aizawa was so insistent about balance and parkour training. One glance behind him sees the other three trailing, clearly not as sure of their footing. Suzuki glares forward and spits, and Izuku has to dodge to the side to avoid what looked to be a glob of venom. 

“What the-” Izuku hears Monoma’s voice behind him, but he focuses forward. He’s the first across the pit, and sprints forward into the left opening of the maze. It wasn’t long, though, before Izuku found himself running into a dead end. Then another, then another. Izuku frowns as time ticks by, and looks up. With a jump, he’s able to grab onto the top of the maze wall. He pulls himself up and starts sprinting across the top. He barely looks down, sure of his footing. He hops easily over where Hiro is trying to find his way through, and only jumps down when he’s at the end. A glance behind him tells him that Suzuki and Monama both copied his strategy, so he runs for the rock wall. 

He knows hes not as fast with his climbing as he would like, so he knows he needs every second of advantage he has. The challenge becomes more apparent to Izuku as he climbs, some of the handholds and footholds showing their true colors as they crumbled beneath his weight, slowing him down further. He gets to the top with Suzuki on his tail, and Monoma looks stuck at the bottom, unmoving. Izuku hauls himself over the top, dropping down and moving into a dead sprint. Suzuki is right behind him, and they’re a few yards away when Izuku feels something hit his right calf. His right leg immediately goes numb, and he can feel it spreading as he stumbles. Izuku uses his left leg to leap, reaching out his hand. He would crawl if he had too. Izuku is able to get his right hand across the line, and Suzuki pulls past him as he hauls himself over. 

Was that it? Had he won or lost? It all focused on whether the judges counted his hand as the first person across, or if they meant the first person fully across. It was a coin toss, Izuku couldn’t be sure. 

“Sorry about that.” Izuku looked up to see Suzuki standing over him. “I hit you with a paralytic. It should clear up in about a minute. She looks across the obstacle course, and Izuku can hear someone running. “There’s Hiro. Monoma should be up again in about thirty seconds.” 

Izuku can’t speak, his entire face is numb, so he just grunts. Suzuki grimaces. “Sorry.” She mutters again. 

“Good job, examinees. We will call the race here. Three finishes, one unfinished.” Vlad King announces. “Midoriya, we’ll wait until you and Monoma are up and able to move to the waiting room for the interviews.”

God, Izuku wished he could stand up. It was a bit humiliating to just be laying here. Thankfully, Suzuki was right, and after about a minute, Izuku felt his limbs slowly become his own again. He twitched his fingers, and heard someone walking slowly over to join the group. Monoma, no doubt. 

Suzkui offered her hand when she saw him slowly moving, and Izuku took it, grateful for the help to his still-unsteady feet. 

“Cool quirk.” He slurs a bit with his speech, his lips still not quite feeling all there. Suzuki grins. 

“Thanks!” She says with a smile. “You’re quick too, speed-wise and brain-wise. I wasn’t sure if I was going to get close enough to you to hit you. I think I got lucky.” Izuku shakes his head. 

“Not luck, determination.” He slurs, working his jaw a bit. “I’m not sure who won.” 

“Me either.” She admits. Vlad gestures for the group to follow him, and they do. Hiro leads this time, his head down. Izuku and Suzuki stay side by side, and Monoma sulks behind them. 

“Monoma, since you didn’t finish the obstacle course, you’re free to follow this hallway to the entrance hall. You can try your chance again at the regular entrance exam.” Vlad gestures down a large hallway. “Good luck at your next shot. The rest of you, follow me.” 

They’re led into a waiting room, where UA teachers are already waiting for them. 

“Ah, Suzuki, with me please!” Midnight says with a large wave and a smile. 

“Hiro, you’ll be with me.” Hound Dog growls. 

“Midoriya, this way!” Thirteen says with a wave. Izuku walks over. He knows it’s purposeful, placing him with one of the few UA staff members that Izuku had no interactions with. Izuku follows Thirteen to a small office, where they take one chair and Izuku sits across from him. Izuku tenses, ready for difficult questions, but…

It feels like a basic interview, and that throws Izuku off a bit. Thirteen asks basic questions to get to know Izuku before diving into theoreticals. They present Izuku with situations and moral dilemmas, but it’s nothing that Izuku hasn’t already talked about with Nedzu in their private lessons. This didn’t feel like a test, not really, and before he knows it, Izuku is being shown to the entrance hall, where sponsors are waiting. 

“Problem child.” Aizawa says as Izuku approaches. “How are you feeling?” 

“Tired.” He admits. “Nervous. I’m not sure about my placing on the physical test.” Izuku admits as Aizawa places a hand on his back. They start walking towards the doors. 

“I’m sure you did better than you think.” Aizawa replies. “We’ll find out in a little over a week, anyway.” 

Izuku smiles, and glances over his shoulder. There are heroes watching them leave as they wait for their own recommendation students to finish, and Izuku feels curiosity and judgment weighing on his shoulders.

As he meets the narrowed, angry eyes of the number two hero, he’s glad to be leaving before Endeavor can approach.

Sure enough, the results of the recommendation exam do come. 

Izuku’s, however, come with a home visit from Nedzu. 

Chapter Text

Izuku had been anxiously waiting for nearly two weeks when there was a knock on the apartment door. His mother was at the computer, working on things for her job, and Izuku was watching the news while fiddling with his Kusarigama. They were going to be his main weapon, so he wanted to make sure he kept them in tip-top shape. 

Izuku’s mother turns at the knocking noise, glancing at Izuku to see if he knew who was there. Izuku shrugged, and she stood and moved to answer. 

“Hello Midoriya-san.” A familiar voice says as the door opens. Izuku mutes the news, craning his neck to see if he was actually hearing correctly. “It is lovely to finally meet you in person. I’m here to bring Izuku-kun’s exam results!” 

“Nedzu-sensei?” Izuku asks curiously. The principal of UA rarely left the hero school’s campus. Nedzu grins at Izuku when he sees him. 

“May I come in, Midoriya-san?” He asks politely, and Inko nods, opening the door a little wider to let the Stoat through.

“Can I get us some tea?” Izuku’s mother asks, and Nedzu shakes his head. 

“No, thank you. If I’m perfectly honest, I hope not to be here very long.” He informs them before pulling himself up onto their armchair. Inko takes a seat beside her son, and neither of them can stop their eyes from drifting to the letter sticking out of the principal's pocket. Nedzu grins, pulls it out, and offers it to Izuku. 

“I apologize for the delay, my student, I know you’ve been waiting for this.” He says, and Izuku can barely stop himself from ripping the envelope open. His hands are shaking as he pulls out the paper and opens it, eyes instantly scanning the paged. 

“Midoriya Izuku, we are pleased to inform you that you will be taking the..” Izuku trails off, his wide smile slowly dimming. He looks up at Nedzu after a moment, clearly confused. “What does it mean by probationary fifth recommendation spot?” Izuku asks. “There are only four recommendation slots in the hero course.”

“That would be the reason for the delay, and the reason I am here to explain.” Nedzu replies. “When I submitted the names of the students chosen for the recommendations slots, the board had… hesitations.” 

“With his quirklessness, right?” Inko asks quietly. Nedzu nods, smile turning sad. 

“There was worry that there would be a… resistance to Midoriya-kun taking a recommendation spot away from other candidates that were recommended by heroes. That being said, you scored at the top of the written exam, the best score we’ve had in years. You also came in first on your physical exam, and excelled in your interview. That, combined with the fact that you were nominated by one of UA’s own heroes, and have been in training for years… well that cannot be ignored.” Nedzu clasps his hands together. “So a solution was brought forth. We have given you a probationary spot as a fifth recommendation student, meaning three of the twenty in 1-A will be recommendations.”

“But why does it say probationary?” Izuku asks, still frowning. “That means I could lose my spot, right?” 

“The board wants to see you make it to the second round of the sports festival. If you can make it there, it will mean you have beat out Gen-ed, Business, and Support.” Nedzu explains. “If you are unable to make it past the first round of the sports festival, and a Gen-ed student makes it to the third round…” Nedzu trails off. 

“They could take my space.” Izuku murmurs. Nedzu nods. 

“Midoriya-kun, I would not have agreed to these terms if I did not think you could meet them.” Nedzu says softly. “This was the most agreeable solution to the problem that the school board was creating.” Izuku nods, and while he understands, he truly does, it doesn’t stop him from feeling like there’s a pit in his chest. These people hadn’t even met him, and he was already being seen as a problem.

“Midoriya-kun.” Izuku refocuses on the principal. “I rarely take on personal students, and rarely concern myself with the personal matters of humans. After all that I’ve been through, I find it my right to pick and choose what that will look like for me. You will do extraordinary things, this much I know. Do not let the bigotry of others dampen your spirit.”

“Of course, Nedzu-sensei.” Izuku replies softly. Nedzu nods once, mostly to himself. 

“There was one last thing I wanted to touch on regarding your beginning time at UA.” Nedzu sits back in the chair a bit. “I think it would be in your best interest to… not necessarily hide your quirklessness status, but not to broadcast it either.” Nedzu tilts his head. “I worry that word will get out, and that you will be targeted in the festival if it is widely known. Bullying, of course, is not tolerated in any form, however this will not stop other students from trying to take you out in a school-sanctioned competition.” 

Before Izuku can say a word, his mother is nodding in agreement. 

“If we can keep his status unknown, at least before he starts making public appearances as a hero student, it will help him stay safe.” She agrees. “No one deserves this more than my son, Nedzu-san. I doubt any of these other students have worked as hard as he has. I don’t want him to be brushed off just because he doesn’t have a quirk.” 

Izuku looks up at his mom, immediately taking in the fiercely protective look on her face. She was proud of him, and wanted to watch him succeed. Fuck, Izuku could feel the tears building already. 

“That’s decided then. I will instruct staff to keep this information private. Midoriya-kun, I would recommend telling Iida and Shinsou not to broadcast this either.” Nedzu grins. “You can, of course, tell who you would like, just be careful. After the sports festival, you should have no need to hide this any longer.” 

“I want-” Izuku hesitates. “I know I want to be a twilight hero, and I know that involves a lot of undercover work. I still want to be the quirkless hero, though. I don’t want to hide that, so that people, kids, like me have someone to look up to. I might not be well known, but I want others to know that it’s possible.” 

“Of course, Midoriya-kun. I completely understand.” Nedzu slides off the chair, stepping forward to pat Izuku’s hand. “Once this sports festival is over, you will call the shots. Bureaucracy and is a necessary evil, and sometimes an unnecessary one as well, but have no doubt. You will become a hero.” 

Inko showed Nedzu out as Izuku stayed on the couch, staring at the acceptance letter in front of him. He was crying, it felt like he always was, but despite all the roadblocks being built in front of him, he had overcome one of the largest hurdles so far. 

He was in UA’s hero course.

He was going to make it. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Hitoshi’s nose wrinkled as he looked around the large speaking hall, eyes scanning the bustling kids around him. He and Tenya had been in separate testing halls for the written exam, so he was unsure as to where the loud boy was now, especially in the chaos of the upcoming practical exam.

After another minute, Hitoshi sighs and moves to find an empty seat. He doubted he would find Tenya in this mess right now, and it’s not like he didn’t already know they would also be in separate testing blocks for the practical. His dads had warned him already that UA did their best to separate kids who knew each other so they couldn’t work together.

“This seat open?” Hitoshi asks a boy with spiky blonde hair. The boy glances up at him with a scowl, nodding once. 

“It’s open as long as you shut up and let me fucking concentrate on what they’re telling us. If you want to talk, go somewhere else.” He says, and Hitoshi just hums and sits. He was absolutely fine sitting quietly. 

He pulls out his paperwork and set it in front of him, looking it all over again. It laid out a lot of what they were to expect on exam day. Except, of course, what the practical exam actually was. Hitoshi let his eyes slide over to the other boy’s paper, and immediately took note that they’d be in the same arena. Interesting. 

After another long ten minutes, Hitoshi’s pops opened the door to the stage at the bottom of the hall, and there was a mad scramble for remaining seats. 

“Hello Listeners!” Pops uses his quirk to project his voice, getting everyone’s attention. ‘Welcome to the UA practical exam! Now, stay quiet and listen up. You don’t wanna miss any important factoids that could help your success! Yeah!” No one responds to the “yeah.” from what hitoshi has heard, no one ever really does. “Alrighty, let’s break down what this is going to look like.” 

Pops begins to explain the practical exam, and Hitoshi’s heart sinks as the slideshow progresses. Robots. They were supposed to fight robots? His quirk would be useless against things without brains to control. Shit, what had Izuku said? There were other ways to get points, Hitoshi knows that Izuku had hinted at that. Plus, he had his capture scarf and his staff. He could do some form of damage with his support gear, right? He had to be able to do something.

Hitoshi is jolted out of his thoughts when Tenya’s voice rings out with a question, and he spots his friend several rows of seats below and ahead of him. He frowned as he took in the question and pops’ answer, because why would they have a robot worth nothing? Regardless, Hitoshi quickly committed the robots worth points to memory. The ones worth nothing would be no use. 

Pops dismisses them, and Hitoshi turns to see pros, their future teachers, as well as some volunteers, waiting to start leading groups to their arenas. He squints at the signs being held up, trying to find his arena. Spiky blonde boy, brushes past him with a grunt, and Hitoshi follows his trail to see their arena sign held up. He follows, not missing that Tenya walked with a group in the opposite direction. He really wouldn’t see anyone else he knew until after the practical, and by that point he would have a good idea as to how he did. 

Hitoshi takes a seat at the back of the bus that drives them to their testing site. Spikey blonde boy is near the front, glaring angrily out the window. There are at least thirty kids heading to this site, an upsetting amount of competition. Maybe he would get lucky, and everyone on this bus has non-physical quirks. 

They park outside a large set of gates that lead into a city-scape. Hitoshi sees one kid spit what seems to be a corrosive acid, another harden up their arms, and even spiky blonde boy starts having his hands spark and pop. He sighs. So much for the non-physical quirk hope. 

He tugs on his capture weapon and grasps the compressed staff in his pocket. Slowly, as everyone is stretching and warming themselves up, Hitoshi moves as close as he can to the gate. Over the loudspeakers, he can hear his pops getting everyone ready to go. 

The second the gates open, and he hears his Pops say go, Hitoshi is sprinting. He may hate the endurance runs his dad makes him do, but he was thanking god for them right now as he charged forward, leaving everyone behind in the dust. 

Spikey blonde boy flies over him with explosions thundering from his hands, and Hitoshi watches him immediately take out a two pointer and three pointer. Hitoshi uses his capture weapon to swing from a light pole and get on top of a three pointer, expanding and slamming the electrified end into the top of the robot. It crumples, thankfully, and Hitoshi can breathe a little easier knowing that these things are flimsy. 

That becomes Hitoshi’s plan, dropping from above to take the robots out one at a time. It’s too slow, that’s all Hitoshi can think as he works, trying to take out robots while avoiding other examinees. Ten, twelve, fourteen, this wasn’t enough. 

He hits the ground after taking out a one pointer, and sees a three-pointer aiming a lazer at another student. He flings out the capture weapon, wrapping around a red-head’s waist to yank him out of the line of fire. After realizing what had happened, the red-head grins at Hitoshi, waving his thanks. 

Hitoshi moves on, trying desperately to take out robots, but now upsettingly distracted by examinees that are nearly getting taken out in this god-forsaken test. 

With two minutes left on the clock, Spikey blonde boy bursts back onto the scene, destroying the robot Hitoshi had been aiming for. Hitoshi scowls. 

“That was mine, asshole! What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Winning, fucker-” Explosion boy freezes under Hitoshi’s power, and Hitoshi quickly orders him to destroy the other robots in the alley. He only lets him go once they’re down, and the Blonde buy physically growls at him. “Sneaky fucking dick-”

But that’s it. He doesn’t say anything else, just gets the hell away from Hitoshi. Honestly, Hitoshi thinks, that’s the best outcome he could’ve hoped for. He just hopes those robots counted for him, and not explosion boy.

The entire cityscape trembles, and Hitoshi dashes out of the alley he’s in to see a truly hulking zero-pointer robot coming down the main street. Other examinees are staring or sprinting the opposite direction, and for a second, Hitoshi is fucking frozen. 

A scream splits the air, and Hitoshi whirls around. Explosion boy is a few feet behind him. 

“Yo, Explosion boy!” The boy turns. “You take the left, I’ll take the right.!” The boy scans the side, seeing some examinees stuck in rubble or struggling to get away. Without arguing, without really answering, the boy rockets to the left. Hitoshi dashes to the right. He’s desperate, pulling people out of the way of massive robot feet, shifting rubble, hearing explosions from behind him. 

Then, everything stops. There’s shouting over the loudspeakers that the test is over, and the robots all shut down, but all Hitoshi can really hear is the ringing in his ears. He slowly takes a few steps back, looking around at the chaos around him. This was it? This was the fucking practical exam? What the hell was class going to be like with this sort of exam? Shit, what was his score? He had fucking lost count in the chaos, and now he had no idea if he was close to getting in. 

“Oi! Fucker!” Hitoshi turns, and is immediately poked in the shoulder. “Don’t fucking order me around, you got that?” Explosion boy is loud and angry, and Hitoshi scowls. 

“Then next time, move without me having to tell you, you dick-wad!” He replies. The other boy’s scowl deepens, but he turns away with a growl. 

“Fuck off.” He mutters, stalking towards the entrance. Honestly, Hitoshi has no choice but to follow. It was the only way out of here. 

He was terrified that he had failed, but he wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to have done. He was going to just have to wait and see, and that was honestly the scariest part. At least his dads would be able to give him some form of an idea if he had done well, even if they couldn't grade his exam.

Well, they would have, if they were less distracted by the number one hero being forced into UA as a teacher. 

Honestly, Hitoshi couldn’t blame them for that one.

Chapter Text

Shouta was fucking livid, and everyone could tell. Usually, the only hint at anger people saw was a flash of red eyes, a glare, or a disapproving scowl. This, though, what his coworkers and boss were seeing, this was rage.

“What the hell do you mean you had no choice?”

Nedzu was not a fan of being yelled at, but his own anger was bubbling under the surface, and he understood why one of his favorite humans was so upset. He knew the anger was not at him, not directly at least.

“I may run this school as principal, but the board and the Hero commission do have power.” Nedzu replies carefully. “That, combined with All Might’s status as the number one hero, means I have little room here.”

“He left a child on a fucking roof after a villain attack!” Shouta shouts, and his coworkers flinch. “After telling him to give up on his dreams! That man should never be near a kid again, he should’ve had his license revoked, and they want to make him the heroics teacher?”

“I do not disagree with you, Shouta-kun.” Nedzu says in a rare moment of softness. “I agree with every aspect. If my hands were not tied here, he would not be allowed near any students, especially Izuku.”

“So why now? Why this year, especially when there’s been no mention of All Might leaving the profession before now?” Snipe asks, the first to dare to speak up besides Aizawa since the news had dropped.

“He’s on a time limit. An injury has limited his ability to do his job, and the Commission does not want civilians or villains to realize that their symbol of peace is restricted.” Nedzu explains. “In the weeks before the school year, All Might will explain this more himself. He has a secondary form he will be in at the school as well.” Nedzu’s nose wrinkles. “What better way to insist there is peace than to have the symbol of peace teaching the new generation? That is their reasoning.”

“He shouldn’t be allowed near the new generation.” Hizashi mutters.

“Which is why we watch him.” Nedzu replies. “I cannot stop him from being brought into the school, that much is clear. However, we can watch him closely and see when he makes mistakes. We can use those mistakes to limit what he can really do here.” Nedzu pulls out another paper from the file in front of him. “I made it clear he would not be allowed to teach without a educator’s license, so he will be getting a temporary one before the beginning of the school year, and working towards an official one. As he makes mistakes, we will keep track and slowly limit hsi access with the students, especially the first years. They’re the most impressionable.” Nedzu looks out over his staff. “If he makes enough mistakes, we can push him out entirely, though that will take a lot. We have to be vigilant here. Political and cunning, not emotional.”

“We can do that.” Nemuri says, and there’s nods of agreement all around.

“Aizawa, Yamada, you can tell the boys under your care about this as long as it is made clear that the information is not to be spread yet.” Nedzu informs them. “I don’t want your son and the Iida boy to be startled when All Might delivers the exam results.”

“Why the fuck-”

“Politics, Shouta-kun. Human Politics.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku and Tenya watched Hitoshi’s hands shake as he opened the envelope from UA. Instead of a letter, out slides a small projector disc, and excitement thrums through Izuku’s body. Izuku and Hitoshi turn to Tenya, who is still holding his closed envelope. After a second of hesitation, Tenya is sloppily ripping it open, and a similar projector disc is nearly tossed across the room with the jerky movement. Izuku catches it though, setting it on the table in front of them.

“You go first.” Hitoshi says quickly to Tenya, and the other boy grimaces. The adults were all watching with amusement, sitting on the couches and chairs while the boys were on the floor.

“But-” Tenya hesitates, then frowns and nods. He reaches out and presses the button, and instantly a hologram of All Might springs to life in front of them.

They had warned Izuku.

He still flinched.

“Iida Tenya!” All Might’s voice booms. “You passed your written exam with flying colors, an amazing 83%. That’s in the top 20 students of the entire UA Entrance Exam.” Tenya visibly relaxes at that. Izuku had known his friend would pass the written exam, but that didn’t stop the nerves. With Nedzu’s tests, Izuku knew that everyone probably felt out of their depth. “In the practical exam, you scored 52 villain points! That’s more than enough to get into the hero course, but you went above and beyond! By helping other students in trouble, you scored an additional 9 rescue points. With a total of 61 points in the practical, you scored in the top ten at 7th place! Welcome, Iida Tenya, to your hero academia!”

“Top ten! Hell yeah, that’s my little brother!” Tensei shouted at the top of his lungs, wacking Tenya on the back with a laugh.

“You got in!” Izuku shouts excitedly. “You got in!”

“Is that my name?”

Hitoshi’s voice is quiet as he stares at the frozen hologram. It stopped, zoomed in on Tenya’s name on the scoreboard. It also showed the names of the three people above and below him, and one of those names was Hitoshi’s.

There’s a sudden mad scramble for Hitoshi’s disc, and soon enough, All Might’s voice is booming through the room again.

“Shinsou Hitoshi! You passed the written exam with flying colors, an amazing 78%. That’s in the top 40 students of the entire UA entrance exam.” Izuku feels a hand wrap around his and squeeze tightly. There was no relaxing for Hitoshi, not with this. “In the practical exam, you scored 36 villain points, but that’s not all! You scored an additional 25 rescue points and 8 teamwork and leadership points. That’s a total of 69 points! You scored in the top ten at 4th place! Welcome, Shinsou, to your hero academia!”

“I made it?” Hitoshi croaks, and Izuku screeches in reply.

“You made it!” They aren’t even Izuku’s results, and he’s bouncing with excitement. “We all made it! We’re gonna be heroes!”

“You’re all in my class, don’t think you’re going to get to slack off.” Aizawa says in a flat voice. It’d be more menacing if he didn’t have a fond smile on his face as well.

Hitoshi jolts to his feet, and in a flash he’s got both of his adoptive parents in a tight hug. He’s crying, something Hitoshi rarely allows himself to do. Izuku’s pretty positive that this is the first time he’s seen happy tears from his friend.

“I’m so proud of all you boys!” Izuku’s mother is tearing up, which is no surprise to anyone. “I knew you could do it! You’ve all been working so hard.”

“This is a call for celebration!” Nemuri exclaims with a broad grin. Everyone was here tonight, which was rare. With all the pro heroes, usually somebody was missing family dinner for patrol. Tonight though, everyone made sure they’d be able to be here. “Takeout on me. What does everyone want?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku was, understandably, nervous as fuck as he navigated the halls of UA for the first day of classes. Hitoshi was right next to him, since they had walked here together this morning, but Tenya had arrived separately since he came from the station.

They were surrounded by other students, and Izuku knows he isn’t alone with his fear, but unlike other students this is the first time he’s been in a traditional school environment since he was little. Even Hitoshi had been in school that first year of middle school, before Izuku had found him. He knew the school structure better than Izuku. All of this was unfamiliar and new.

His anxiety felt like it was at an 11. He was worried about his quirkless status, and how his classmates would react. Would he be cast aside by his classmates immediately? Bullied? He knew Aizawa would never allow that to stand, but he couldn’t be everywhere.

“‘Zuku?” Izuku snaps out of his thoughts, turning to look at his friend. “You alright?” Izuku plasters on a smile.

“I’m good!” He says a bit too quickly. Hitoshi sends him a dubious look, and Izuku sighs. “Really, I’m fine. It’s just the anxiety, you know?” Hitoshi nudges Izuku with his elbow.

“Luckily,” Hitoshi says, “it’s the first day, and I’m almost positive everyone is nervous. You're not alone, why do you think Tenya skipped out on walking with us to arrive 45 minutes early? It’s because he’s nervous as fuck, and so is everyone else.” They turn down the next hallway, and on the walls outside the doors is “1A” and “1B”.

There are a couple of kids loitering outside the doors, cleary hesitant. Izuku walks up, determined, and moves around people so he can open the door. He can hear shouting, and he wonders, briefly, if that is why everyone is waiting outside the door instead of nerves. He doesn’t consider it long enough to hesitate opening the doors.

“Your feet shouldn’t be on the sacred desks of UA!”

“Fuck off, four-eyes!”

Great. One of those screaming people was Tenya. Izuku was thrilled by that.

Yaoyorozu and a few other kids that Izuku didn’t know were in the room, watching the argument go down. Izuku kinda wanted to turn around and walk away, but he would be late for sure if he did that.

“Calm down, both of you.” Hitoshi orders, looking annoyed. “Tenya, leave him alone.”

“But he’s got his feet-”

“I promise you, it doesn’t matter. If it does, the teacher will deal with it.” Hitoshi brushes past Tenya, walking to his seat. Izuku was almost positive that his seat was behind the angry blonde boy. Odd, he actually looked familiar, though Izuku couldn’t quite put a finger on why. Still, Tenya huffs and frowns before turning to look at Izuku. His eyes widen.

“Your nose!” He screeches, and Izuku groans. “It’s against dress code! UA has a strict policy-” Izuku’s mother had finally caved and let him get a single nose piercing as a present for making it into UA. Tenya hadn’t been over since he had gotten it put in.

“Zashi told me it looked cool literally this morning. I’m pretty sure I’m fine, Ten.” Izuku interrupts, patting Tenya on the back as he passed him.

“Why would you get it pierced right before the start of school if you knew it was against policy-” Tenya continues, ignoring Izuku. Izuku feels a tap on his shoulder.

“Bets on when he has an aneurysm?” Hitoshi asks, and Izuku snorts out a laugh. Tenya stares at them both, and Izuku can see the taller boy’s fingers twitching.

“You are both horrible.” He huffs, turning to sit in his chair. Behind Izuku, Hitoshi cackles, and he can’t help but grin.

“Are you guys all friends?” A tall redhead asks with a large, unusually sharp smile. “That’s totally manly! I only know one other person from my school who made it into UA.”

“You’re all private academy assholes?” The blonde in front of Izuku huffs, looking annoyed.

“No, only Tenya. We’re both homeschooled, not that it’s any of your business.” Hitoshi says. Izuku opens his mouth to add to the conversation, but he sees a flash of yellow out of the corner of his eye. He sits up straight, recognizing the sleeping bag immediately.

The entire class goes quiet when they notice their teacher, confusion and concern on many faces. Then they turn around, take in the site of the fully grown adult in a sleeping bag, and rear back in confusion.

“What is that thing?” Someone asks, and Izuku is quick to muffle his snort of laughter behind his hand. Aizawa fully stands, looking out over the class, who seems to realize that they should probably get to their seats.

“It took eight seconds before you all shut up. That’s not going to work. Time is precious, rational students understand that.”

“Who is this guy? He looks exhausted.” Izuku hears whispers around the room.

“I’m Shota Aizawa, your teacher.” Aizawa pulls out a stack of uniforms and sets them on the front desk. “Put on these on and head outside.”

It’s probably the muscle memory of the years of training, but Hitoshi and Izuku are both on their feet, moving to do as he said. The questions their classmates were starting to ask seemed to die as they simply did as their teacher asked.

Hitoshi and Izuku were followed to the boys locker room by the rest of their classmates. Izuku, thankfully, isn’t the only one to change in the bathroom stalls. There was a gender neutral changing room, but Izuku was a guy, and he didn’t mind the stall. Not that much. Plus, these were the people he was going to spend all of high school with. They would probably find out eventually, and hero agencies had big locker rooms…. He wouldn’t always be able to avoid it.

“So, uh,” Izuku left the stall, adjusting his gym top. He had also changed to a sports bra, and the niggling thought at the back of his mind that everyone could tell he had boobs was there. “Do you know where we’re supposed to go?” Izuku’s eyes meet golden ones in the mirror he’s facing. When he turns around, several of his new classmates are staring at him.

“I… uh, yes?” Izuku was fairly sure Aizawa had pointed it out to him last year on a visit before the school year started. “I think so.” The boy had blonde hair with a black bolt running through it. He looks suddenly relieved.

“Thank god, He just said meet outside and our sensei is terrifying.” The boy says, and Izuku laughs. Behind the blonde boy, Hitoshi looks amused. Tenya just rolls his eyes with a huff.

“I mean, if everyone is ready, we can go? I don’t want to leave anyone behind.” Izuku looks around, and it looked like everyone was pretty much dressed. Hesitantly, Izuku leads the way out of the locker room and out of the halls of UA.

“I’m Kaminari Denki. Have you been here before? How do you know how to get around? You were a recommendation student, right?” Izuku laughs a bit as he walks.

“Um, yes. My, uh, mentor, the one who recommended me, he showed me around UA a couple of times.” It was probably smart not to let slip that Aizawa was the hero that recommended him just yet.

“Did you have to deal with robots in the recommendation exam?” Kaminari asks him. Hitoshi and Tenya had both told him about the regular entrance exam.

‘Ah, no.” Izuku replies. “No robots, thankfully.”

“Though we aren’t supposed to discuss it.” Izuku turns to see a group of girls joining them. “It was good to see that you and Todoroki made it through the recommendation exams as well.” Yaoyorozu sends Todoroki a nod and smiles at Izuku.

“How did your mentor react when you got in, Yaoyorozu?” Izuku asks, and her smile fades slightly.

“Fatgum was thrilled.” She replies. From their conversation at the exam, Izuku could figure out pretty quickly that while Fatgum was thrilled, her parents probably weren’t. “I take it you know where we are going?”

“I believe it’s this way.” Izuku says, and sure enough, when they round the corner, their sensei is waiting by what appears to be a small track and field area. Aizawa looks over them all, making sure everyone is present before he begins his day one speech, introducing the quirk assessment test and informing them all that their education was up to Aizawa’s discretion.

If Izuku was honest with himself, he kind of tuned Aizawa out. He had heard tales of how this speech had made or broken classes in the past, and he was more keeping an eye on how his classmates were reacting.

He snapped back to the present at a name.

“Bakugou.”

Izuku’s head snaps to Aizawa, then to the loud, spiky-haired blonde that had been arguing with Tenya earlier.

It was only once the explosion was rattling their classmates, the ball rocketing away from them, that Izuku was positive that Bakugou Katsuki was his classmate once again.

Chapter Text

Izuku liked to believe that he wasn’t staring at Bakugou Katsuki. That would be a lie, but honestly, Izuku was okay lying to himself. He was staring so much that Hitoshi nudging him made him start and turn. 

“Is it his quirk? Have you dissected it yet?” Hitoshi asks teasingly, keeping his voice low so that Aizawa didn’t call them out for not paying attention. 

“Not quite.” Izuku whispers back, strained. Hitoshi sends him a confused look, but before he can ask, Hitoshi is called to participate in the sprint test. 

“Midoriya.” Izuku’s name is called next. Bakugou Katsuki turns to look at him, and their eyes meet. There’s a spark of recognition there, as their eyes meet, but as Izuku walks up to the starting line, he’s not sure how deep that recognition ran. 

The rest of the tests pass in a blur of motion. Izuku tries, he puts effort in, but he knows he’s distracted. His friends, Aizawa, know he’s distracted. He knows they know. They don’t say anything, however, especially as Izuku is in the top ten of the quirk assessment. 

The rest of the day speeds by, as they’re given schedules and introduced to some of their general studies teachers. They go over syllabi, eat lunch, and eventually, the day comes to an end. 

Izuku catches Bakugou Katsuki staring at him twice in that time, and the fear and anxiety begin to mount in Izuku’s chest. What did he remember? What would he say to people? Izuku was so sure that he would have control of what people knew about him and when they would find it out. The thought that certain information might be thrust into the light out of his control terrified him thoroughly. 

The final bell rang, and Izuku stood, gathering his things. Hitoshi and Tenya joined him, and they made their way to the hall, fully intending to walk back to Izuku’s apartment together. 

“Midoriya.” His name was called down the hallway, and Izuku froze for a second before turning. Bakugou Katsuki was being tailed by the redhead and Kaminari from earlier. Maybe they knew each other, or were trying to make friends. “I want to talk to you.” 

Izuku’s mind goes blank, and he’s not sure what to say. 

“Talk?” Is what he manages. Red eyes narrow at him, staring him down. 

“Privately.” Bakugou says, and Izuku hesitates. 

“Maybe another time-”

“I’m not a fan of dancing around a fucking topic. I know you recognized my name, same as I recognized yours, and I want to fucking talk.” The redhead, Izuku thought his name was Kirishima, and Kaminari are watching the situation with wide eyes. 

“Um. Are you guys good? Is this a rivalry or something?” Kaminari asks. Bakugou scowls and glares at the blonde. 

“Speak then, if you want to talk so badly.” Izuku says with a burst of bravado. Bakugou rolls his eyes, looking annoyed, but something was making him hold his tongue. “I thought you didn’t want to dance around the topic.”

“Fine. Fucking…. Fine.” Bakugou huffs. “Clearly you know me. She told you about me, didn’t she?” 

The anxiety in his chest unfurls in that moment, because Katsuki didn’t realize that Izuku was his old friend Izumi. 

“You’re her cousin or some shit, right?” He asks, staring at Izuku. 

“Or some shit.” Izuku replies. 

“You don’t have to be fucking difficult.”

“You could get to your point, Bakugou Katsuki.” Izuku snaps back, desperately wanting to leave and to know why Bakugou was so desperate to talk to him. 

“I want to talk to her. I want to-” Bakugou stops, glancing around at their small audience. Izuku held his head high, not daring to back down without an answer. “I want to apologize. To her. Can you give me her number or something? She disappeared without a fucking trace and I haven’t been able to find her.”

Izuku wasn’t sure what he had been expecting him to say, but that wasn’t it. Even as a kid, Katsuki never apologized for anything unless his mother or the teachers made him. 

“I won’t give out any numbers without the person’s permission.” Izuku finally says. Katsuki huffs. 

“Ask her, then.” He mutters. Izuku nods. “Fine. Good. I’ll see all you shitty extras tomorrow.” Katsuki shoves past Tenya, disappearing down the hallway. Kirishima and Kaminari don’t follow, just watching him go. 

“Huh. I didn’t take him as the type to apologize. What happened between him and your cousin, Midoriya?” Denki asks curiously. Izuku sends him a strained smile. 

“Not really my place to say.” He murmurs. “I think I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you guys tomorrow, yeah?”

“Yeah, see you guys later!” Kirishima has a genuine, wide smile as he wishes them goodbye. 

To his friend’s credit, Hitoshi and Tenya don’t ask until they’re out of the school. They wait until people wouldn’t overhear, when they’re around no one of consequence. They also, thankfully wait until they’re way out of any hidden cameras Nedzu might have been allowed to have on campus. Izuku was sure that if Nedzu was curious, he already knew that Katsuki and his past was meshed together.

“So… You don’t have any cousins.” Tenya says hesitantly. 

“I never said I had a cousin, I distinctly said ‘or some shit’ when he asked.” 

“Yeah, we noticed that.” Hitoshi says, glancing around. “So what the hell did Bakugou do to you before you transitioned that he doesn’t know? Especially if he feels so bad that he desperately wants to apologize years later.” 

Izuku didn’t really keep things from Tenya and Hitoshi, and he knew that they didn’t really keep things from him. If there were secrets between them, like this one, it was only because it hadn’t come up before. 

Still, Izuku hesitated. He knew that as soon as he told them, they’d hold a grudge against Katsuki, and the last thing they needed was an uncomfortable rift in the class two days into their first year, especially when it was likely that they’d be working together for at least three. Even if they said they weren’t going to hold it against Katsuki, Izuku knew better, because Hitoshi was one of the pettiest people Izuku knew, and Tenya held a grudge like nobody else. 

“Will you guys trust me when I say that I’ve been over it for years, and that it wasn’t as big of a deal as it was made out to be? Especially looking back on it now?” Izuku asks, and that, more than anything, makes his best friends look at him with the most concern. 

“Izuku-”

“Seriously, I promise it’s fine.” He cuts Tenya off. Hitoshi and Tenya exchange a look, and after a second Tenya sighs and nods. 

“Fine, fine.” Hitoshi huffs. 

“Also, under absolutely no circumstances can you tell my mother about Bakugou.” Both boys stare at him. “I’m not kidding, don’t even say his name in my mother’s presence.”

“Dude, what did he do? You never keep stuff from your mom.” Hitoshi asks. 

“Hey, I don’t tell her everything!” Izuku protests, flushing when Hitoshi and Tenya both send him dubious looks. 

“Name one thing you’ve genuinely kept from your mother.” Tenya says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Seriously. One.” 

Izuku stares at them both for about thirty seconds, his mind whirling, before silently turning on his heel and walking away. Hitoshi lets out a bark of laughter, and Izuku hears both of them rush to catch up to him. An arm is slung around his shoulder. 

“We’re kidding, you know we love you and all of your openness.” Tenya says. “And as much as I’m not a fan of lying to your mother, I won’t say anything.”

“Neither will I, ‘Zuku.” Hitoshi adds, ruffling his hair. “Your secret is safe with us.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Day two of UA starts with classes in the morning. Izuku realizes then that adapting from homeschooling to such a rigid schedule was going to be more difficult than he had anticipated. It wasn’t the content that was difficult, but the fact that he was no longer working on his own schedule and was distracted by classmates and the rigid style of notetaking was going to be a hurdle. Tenya was helping, showing Izuku his notetaking style from Somei. 

At lunch, He, Hitoshi, and Tenya were joined by Yaoyorozu, a girl named Jirou, and another named Uraraka. 

“Are you guys excited for hero training this afternoon?” Uraraka asks, clearly excited herself. “We’re actually going to start working to become heroes!”

“I expect for UA to give us a rigorous training regimine.” Tenya replies. “But being able to use our quirks will be truly invigorating.”

“What do you think Midoriya?” Yaoyorozu asks. “I’m hoping we will be able to explore different combat styles and the advantages and disadvantages of fighting different- are you listening?” Izuku feels a tap on his bicep, and he turns to look at Hitoshi. 

“Hm? Sorry.” He apologizes when he realizes what had happened. “I was distracted. Todoroki is sitting all alone over there.” He nods towards the corner where Todoroki is sitting alone at a small table, eating noodles. The entire table turns to look, because apparently nobody at this table is discreet. “Do you know him very well Yaoyorozu?”

“Not well,” Yaoyorozu says with a shake of her head, “I’ve met him at a handful of events. His family is not just hero focused, Endeavor attends a lot of benefactor, charity, and corporate meetings and galas. He often drags at least one of his children along. My parents kept their distance, but we’ve exchanged pleasantries. He’s… quiet.”

“He looks lonely.” Izuku hums with a frown, and Uraraka nods with agreement. “Should we ask him to sit with us?”

“We can, but I don’t know if he’ll agree.” Yaoyorozu says with a hum. The warning bell goes off in the cafeteria, and Izuku looks down at his fairly full plate. 

“Oops.” Is all he manages before he begins wolfing the food down. Hitoshi laughs and the rest of the table begins chuckling. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku had been told well in advance that All Might would be teaching heroics. Aizawa had told him, Hizashi had reminded him, and so had his mom this morning. Still, all the reminders and warnings and his therapist’s talks couldn’t keep him from being surprised by the visceral reaction he had when All Might literally burst through the door. 

First it was a flash of fear. 

Then it was the anger. It was the rage he had felt when he had first gotten home and destroyed his All Might memorabilia. 

He must of had some sort of subtle physical reaction, because Izuku felt Hitoshi’s fingertips on his back, running down his spine. He schooled his expression, and simply tuned the fuck out of whatever All Might was saying. He stared straight ahead and kept the blank expression on his face until divots in the wall opened up, shelving came out, and suitcases were displayed. 

“Costumes.” Hitoshi whispered behind him. Izuku nodded. 

“Meet me at Ground Beta!” Izuku hears All Might exclaim before he rushes out the door. Izuku can’t help but roll his eyes at the hasty exit. Once again, the rest of the class was not informed of where exactly Ground Beta was. They didn’t seem to care, seeing as all of them rushed to the briefcases for their costumes. 

Izuku waited until the crowd ebbed away to get up and grab his, with Hitoshi and Tenya. 

“You alright, Zuku?” Tenya asked. Izuku nodded. 

“Just pissed as fuck.” Izuku muttered. “Not much I can do, though.” The three of them grab their costumes and head towards the locker rooms. 

“Well, there will be three of us that won’t be fawning over him. Do you think he recognized you?” Hitoshi asks. 

“I don’t even know if he saw me.” Izuku muttered. “He was too busy posturing and monologuing.” Hitoshi snorts at that, pushing open the locker room door. 

The entire locker room is full of people thrilled about the fact that All Might is their teacher. Izuku is quick to slip into one of the stalls and change.

Izuku’s costume is one that he designed with his mother (and yes, some input from Hizashi as well). It’s perfect for Izuku, and perfect for a twilight hero. His costume consisted of sleek, skintight black pants that conformed to his legs but wasn’t constricting. His dark green top was long sleeve, tapered at the wrist, but flowy in the torso with a high collar and hood. He wore dark green boots and a thick black belt at his waist that held his Kusarigama. The final touch was his dark green fingerless gloves. Underneath it all was a specially designed binder that had releases on the sides that adapted it to a sports bra while he was in action. It was a temporary addition, until he got his top surgery, but one that he heard might be adapted for mass market release after he and Aizawa had requested it from the Hatsumes. 

“Midoriya! Do you know where we’re going?” Izuku hears a shout, and he steps out of the bathroom stall.

“Have you fuckers not memorized the map they gave us yet? Dumbasses.” Katsuki mutters, slamming his locker before leaving the locker room. Kirishima is quick to follow Katsuki, yelling “wait up bro”. Sero glances between them, and Izuku huffs out a laugh. 

“Yeah, I know the way. So does Tenya and Hitoshi. Follow me, I’m sure Tenya will pick up stragglers.” Izuku says, and he’s followed out the door like he is the mama duck to these baby ducklings. 

“Did you design your own costume, Midoriya?” Shoji asked as they walked to Ground Beta. As they passed the girls locker room, most of them joined and began following. 

“I had some help, but mostly. I think it came together pretty well! The fabric is the secret, it’s deceptive, cause it looks normal but it has all sorts of cool protection features.” Izuku looks to the side. “Are you girls happy with your costumes?” Yaoyorozu frowns a bit, tugging on what little fabric there is. 

“They, um, made some changes that I’m not a big fan of, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.” She says, looking down at the ground.

“Well, you look smokin’!” Kaminari replies, clearly not reading the tone as he pointed finger guns at a clearly embarrassed Yaoyorozu. Izuku slowly turned to stare at the blonde, and he could almost feel his eye twitching. Kaminari’s finger guns slowly lowered as he met Izuku’s stare and his face dropped. 

“That was inappropriate. You need to apologize.” Izuku says, slowly and without question. Kaminari pales, turns to Yaoyorozu, and bows. 

“I apologize, that was inappropriate.” He rushes out the apology. 

“Now go over there and don’t comment on women’s bodies. That’s rude and unheroic.” Kaminari rushes to the far side of the group of boys. Izuku rolls his eyes with a sigh. 

“Okay, now costumes. After school, I can help you talk to Aizawa-sensei about filling out the forms to get your costume changed? Only if you want, of course.” Izuku offers, and Yaoyorozu’s shoulders sag with relief as she nods. 

“Could I join?” Uraraka asks hesitantly. 

“Of course!” Izuku beams. “I’d be willing to help anyone who wants to do a costume change. Aizawa-sensei seems really scary, but he’ll probably just get mad at the costume company. It’s illogical to make changes you didn’t want to your costume, especially when they’re unneeded. I mean, Yaoyorozu, did they even talk to you about using your hair to make your costume? There’s a revolutionary cloth invention that takes hair and DNA from you, and uses it to make fabric that interacts with your skin and works with your quirk instead of hindering it.” 

“What?!” All of them turn at the shout. A pair of floating gloves and shows are there. “No one told me that!” Izuku blanches when he realizes what he’s looking at. 

“H-Hagakure? Are you naked?” He chokes out.

“I didn’t know!” She cries, clearly upset. “I thought this was the only way to take advantage of my quirk!” 

“No, absolutely not.” Izuku shakes his head quickly. “There are ways around that, the company should’ve told you when they saw your quirk and costume. That’s negligence.” Hagakure makes a distressed noise. “If you wanted to go put on your gym uniform, nobody would blame you.”

“I’ll be back!” She shouts, sprinting back to the locker rooms. Izuku shakes his head as she goes, baffled. 

“I guess I hate costume companies now. We’re children for fuck’s sake.” He mutters, earning a laugh from his classmates. He sighs, turning. “Ground Beta is right there. We should get going.”  

“Oh, yes. Absolutely. Lead the way.” Yaoyorozu smiles and walks alongside him. “And Midoriya?” Izuku hums, looking towards her. “Call me Momo.” Izuku smile is wide and a little toothy. 

“Call me Izuku.”

Chapter Text

Hagakure made it back to class in her gym uniform just in time for All Might’s grand, and very scripted, explanation of their heroics exercise. All Might gives her a confused look, but doesn’t deviate from his piece of paper. 

The exercise sounds fairly simple, a heroes against villains in an urban setting. Aizawa had made Izuku, Hitoshi, and Tenya all participate in a version of this in training a few times. It wasn’t so formal, and there may have been a capture the flag element, but still, similar. 

It did feel a little advanced for their first day of heroics training, but Izuku wasn’t going to argue with the teacher on the second day of school. According to Tenya and his mother, that would lead to trouble, and since Izuku held a probationary spot, he didn’t want to make waves. 

Names are pulled out of boxes to create teams, and Izuku finds himself paired up with a green-haired girl named Tsuyu Asui. Unfortunately, he also finds himself as a part of the first match, against Katsuki and Tenya. 

“Villains, go to the building and make your plan for your bomb! Heroes, you have five minutes to create a plan before you will infiltrate the building. I will alert you through earpieces when it is your time to shine! Plus Ultra!”

Izuku and Asui make their way to the meeting point, keeping their distance from the building that Katsuki and Tenya are using. 

“We need to make a plan, kero.” Asui says, and Izuku nods. 

“Tenya is one of my best friends, so we have a bit of an advantage that I have an idea of how he will act.” Izuku says. “Unfortunately, he also knows me. We should build a plan around you confronting him alone if we can.” 

“Bakugou doesn’t seem like the type to work with others.” Asui adds on. “At the test yesterday, he was very loud and crude. I don’t know how well he will work with a partner. He might separate from Iida immediately.”

“So we’ll aim to have you go after Iida, and I’ll go after Bakugou.” Izuku replies, and Asui nods. “Now, if they’re smart, they’ll keep the bomb to the middle of the building and make us search for it. The top floor and bottom floor are fairly obvious, and we’d be able to get to them quickly. What all can you do with your quirk, Asui?”

“Call me Tsu, kero. My tongue is sticky and long, like a frogs. I can use it to manuver, and can stick to walls. I can also blend in to walls, and sometimes I can produce paralytic mucus, though I am not a fan of doing so.” She pauses, then adds, “I can swim really well too, but that isn’t helpful here.”

“Could you get to the top floor from the outside?” Izuku asks, and Tsu nods. “I think I have a plan.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Izuku moved quickly through the bottom floors of the building, his footsteps near silent as he goes. His kusarigama is in his hands, ready to go. The blades on it is blunted for school, but would still hurt like a bitch if when used. The weight at the end of the chain was a dark green, linked to an onyx chain. 

The first three floors were clear, but as he moved to the fourth, his earpiece crackled to life. 

“I’ve found Iida, kero. He’s alone, standing in front of the bomb. I think he’s monologuing.”

“Can you get past him without him seeing you?” Izuku asks. 

“Nobody ever looks up, kero. I’ve got this end.” Tsu says, sounding very sure of herself. There’s a scuffle a few yards away from where Izuku is, and footsteps. 

“I’ve found Bakugou. I’ll create your distraction.” He murmurs, before slipping into the hallway. Katsuki is faced away from him, walking towards the opposite stairwell. There’s a maze of office cubicles in here, and Izuku begins to follow. As he walks, he slowly begins to spin the chain with the weight to build momentum. 

Izuku sends the chain flying, and Katsuki starts as it wraps loosely around his right arm. Izuku doesn’t hesitate, pulling on the chain so the loose loops around Katsuki’s wrist are yanked taught, and he’s pulled off his balance. He doesn’t fall, Izuku notes as he charges forward, he regains his balance fairly quickly. He doesn’t, however, have time to go on the offensive. Izuku rains down blows, and Katsuki is dodging, eyes tracking Izuku’s movements. It takes several exchanges of blows for Katsuki to get the chain off his arm, dodging the blunted scythe blade. 

Izuku jumps, using a foot against the wall to lunge at Katsuki from above. 

A bright, loud explosion goes off, and the force sends Izuku flying backwards. He wasn’t hit head on, but enough to send him away from Katsuki. Percussive blasts sound as Katsuki rockets himself forward, hand suddenly roles are reversed. Izuku is dodging small explosions, unable to get close enough to get a hit in. 

Izuku sees an opening, and rockets the weight of his Kusarigama at Katsuki’s chin. The distraction is enough to let Izuku turn and sprint. 

“He’s in pursuit! Tsu?” There’s silence as Izuku checks in, and he hopes its for a good reason. The capture tape sits heavy in his pocket, and he knows he needs to get it around Katsuki to fully take him out of play. 

Katsuki was catching up quickly, however, propelled by his explosions. Izuku rounds a sharp corner, stops and reaches for the object at his hip. Katsuki has to double back, the explosions not conducive to sudden, sharp corner turns (not yet at least, Izuku’s sure that could change with training).

Katsuki gets to the doorway and freezes. Izuku is standing there, pointing his gun at Katsuki. It’s filled with paintballs, but Katsuki doesn’t know that. From the outside, it looks completely real. That being said, Katsuki was smart enough to know that Izuku wouldn’t be allowed a real gun on campus, either,

“You really need a gun against me?”

“It’s certainly effective. You’re not moving anymore, are you?” Izuku replies with a grin. Katsuki smirks. 

“Heroes aren’t supposed to kill.” He replies, and Izuku shrugs. That was a lesson that Snipe had hammered into him. 

“Okay.” Izuku aims and shoots both of Katsuki’s knees. Well, his kneepads. They’re spattered with neon yellow paint. 

“Bakugou is out!” A loud voice proclaims. Less than two seconds later, the voice returns. “The bomb has been acquired by the heroes. Heroes win!” Katski scowls at the ceiling. 

“The fuck?!” Katsuki looks outraged. “My knees? Seriously?”

“It’d take you out without killing you.” Izuku says with a shrug, holstering the fake firearm.

“I can’t believe glasses couldn’t keep the bomb safe from fucking Frogger.” He huffs. Izuku doesn’t miss the way that Katsuki’s gloved hands are clenching and unclenching in his gloves. “How the hell did you get a gun?”

“I’ve had training. I’ll be allowed to take the licensing exam to carry at sixteen since I’m in hero training.” They head down the stairwell with Katsuki leading. “And don’t be mad at Tenya, I gave Tsu some tips on how to avoid and beat him. She’s also got some serious advantages with her quirk.” Katsuki is scowling at the ground as they walk out of the building. Tsu and Tenya are already there. 

“She threw me out the window!”  Tenya shouts loudly, pointing at Izuku’s teammate. 

“I didn’t let you go, kero. And I pulled you back in. You’re fine.”

“I didn’t even see you!” Tenya sounds more frazzled than upset, and Izuku knows why. His best friend has never been great with heights. Dangling out of a high window wouldn’t be great for him. “You didn’t come through the door? Or the windows?”

“It’s okay buddy.” Izuku pats Tenya’s shoulder as they walk back into the observation room. 

“Excellent job, students! Now, class, who was the MVP of the match?” All Might asks. Their classmates hesitate, but after a moment Momo and Kirishima both raise hands. “Kirishima?”

“Asui was totally manly! Without her, they never would’ve gotten the bomb. She used Iida’s weaknesses against him and got the bomb super quick! They had like ten minutes left!” Kirishima was full of energy. Izuku wished he had some of that. 

“I agree, however I believe Izuku was the real MVP.” Momo says when Kirishima finishes. “He came up with the majority of the plan, and without his knowledge or distraction, Asui wouldn’t have been nearly as successful. He also made sure to incapacitate Bakugou, and I’m sure would’ve made his way up to Iida and assisted.”

“I agree. Midoriya was the MVP of match one!” All Might sends Izuku a thumbs up, and Izuku forces a smile. “Next group, you’re up!”

Watching the rest of the groups go is fascinating for Izuku. He’s able to just stand there and analyze other’s quirks, and it’s so cool. He does feel a bit bad for Shinsou, as he plays the villain and doesn’t get a chance to use his quirk at all. Todoroki just freezes their entire building and Ignores Shinsou’s attempts to get him to respond.

It seems, though, that the class is fairly evenly matched. The students with less flashy quirks know how to use them to their advantage, sometimes using those with flashy quirks’ ego against themselves. By the time the class ends, his classmates seem to be eager for more. They’re all feeling the adrenaline of being heroes for the first time, even if it’s only in a school setting. 

All Might congratulates them and they’re released to change and go home. Izuku hangs back, reminding his classmates that if they had costume concerns, he would be waiting in the classroom. After he changed. The text sent to Aizawa to be there too was sent only when nobody else was looking. They didn’t need to know he had their teacher on speed dial. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once a week, or at least they try to do it every week, the entire group has dinner together. The Midoriyas, the Aizawa-Yamada’s, the Iidas, and Nemuri all sit down for a meal so they can talk and relax and just be their patched-together family. It was nice, especially since they could talk fairly freely, what with Izuku’s mother having signed Nedzu’s NDA agreement. They hadn’t been able to get together the first week of school with how busy they all were getting back into school schedules, but week two meant things had calmed down a bit. 

“Problem child, are you aware that I now have seven costume complaints to deal with? And multiple that I’m going to have to sic Nedzu on the costume companies because of it?” Aizawa asks at dinner that night. 

“Did you see the costumes? Or lack thereof?” Izuku asks, passing Mic the rice. 

“Don’t even get me started on Hagukere’s costume, I’m going to be requesting that Nemuri or I go in person for that one.” He mutters.

“I’d whip them right into shape!” Nemuri says with a sharp smile, making Izuku’s mother giggle. “I might have risque costumes, but I would never even think about giving a young lady gloves and shoes as the only costume she has.”

“It feels illegal.” Inko admits with a small frown. She’s sitting next to the R rated heroine, with Izuku across from her.  Nemuri nudges his mother with her elbow, sending her a reassuring smile.

“Different laws around heroics costumes, unfortunately. Otherwise Nedzu would sue them out of business.” Hizashi mutters. “Speaking of costumes, Toshi, I got an update from support, your mask should be ready by the end of the week, which will be excellent timing.”

“Excellent timing?” Tenya asks, confused. Aizawa glares at his husband, and Mic flushes with embarrassment. 

“It’s a totally normal training exercise?” Hizashi says unconvincingly. 

“Let it go, you hooligans will find out then.” Aizawa says. “You don’t get a heads up just because you know us better.” Hitoshi sends his father a skeptical look at that, because yeah, they usually did. It wasn’t like Aizawa and Hizashi didn’t leave lesson plans strewn around the apartment. 

“So,” Inko, ever the peacekeeper, changes the subject, “do you think you’ll have any expulsions this year? I’m so used to hearing complaints early on that I’m missing their presence this year.” 

“I think we’ve got a pretty solid group this year, as much as this one doesn’t want to admit it.” Hizashi replies, nudging his grumpy husband. “I don’t believe Vlad has had any expulsions either, though I know he’s got one that gets on his nerves.”

“I have a few I’m keeping an eye on.” Aizawa admits. “Todoroki’s mental state concerns me, especially after watching interactions between him and his father. There are a couple of students who I’m worried about with quirk control, especially with how dangerous they are to themselves and others.”

“You know whose attitude I’m gonna keep an eye on?” Nemuri asks. “That Bakugou kid. The anger in him is concerning, even if it’s partially a quirk side effect.”

Izuku was in the middle of chewing his food when Nemuri casually dropped Bakugous name, and within the next half second, he was coughing, frantically trying to dislodge the food he had accidentally inhaled. Hitoshi frantically hit Izuku’s back, trying to help. 

Inko was still, staring at Nemuri. Usually, she’d be the one frantically trying to help her son if he so much as breathed wrong, let  alone have a major coughing fit. Now, however, she was still. She waited, turning to watch Izuku and make sure he was okay before she spoke. 

“Bakugou?” She asks. Izuku avoids her eyes. “Izuku, is Bakugou Katsuki in your class?” 

Izuku silently meets her eyes, but doesn’t say anything. He isn’t sure what to say. The silence is enough, and he watches his mother’s face shift from disbelief to anger. 

“He’s not-”

“Are you kidding me Izuku?” She asks, and Izuku is fairly certain he’s never seen her this angry. They didn’t really fight, they talked their problems out, but Izuku had been hiding this from her for almost two full weeks. “Bakugou Katsuki is in your class, and you didn’t say anything?” 

“It’s not a big deal, Mom, I swear.” 

“If it’s not a big deal, then why didn’t you say something?” She half-shouts. “I can’t believe-” She cuts herself off, shaking her head. She stands up from the table. “I’m calling Principal Nedzu, this is not going to continue.” 

“Mom, no!” Izuku shouts, standing as well. “Don’t you dare!” He’s furious, mostly because he knew, in his gut, that this was going to be the outcome. 

“Don’t you dare? You’re telling me that?” His mother asks, staring at him incredulously. “You are not going to order me around, young man. I am your mother!”

Everyone else at the table is staring at them in complete shock. Izuku and his mother never fought. Sure, they had disagreements and tiny squabbles, but they never yelled. They never had an all-out verbal fight with each other. They talked everything out because their therapists had pushed for it when Izuku was young. 

This was not calm, rational conversation.

“You’re wrong about this! Can’t you just trust me and leave it alone?”

“Trust you?! After you purposefully didn’t tell me about Katsuki? You talked about every other member of your class, and left him out! Izuku I am so disappointed in you.” She turned, picking her cell phone up off of a side table.

Izuku was fast. Faster than his mother, that was for sure. He darted around the table and snatched the phone out of Inko’s hand before the others could put the pieces together. 

“Woah! Both of you, calm down.” Hizashi is the first to try, getting to his feet. Both of the Midoriya’s had red facs of anger. Neither of them listened. 

“Midoriya Izuku, give me back my phone or so help me you will be grounded for the rest of your life.” Inko’s voice is low and cold, not leaving room for negotiation. 

“You’re not calling Nedzu-sensei.” He replies, tone just as unforgiving. “If you call him I’ll never forgive you!”

“Give me the phone, Izuku!” Inko snaps. She’s shorter than her son, but that doesn’t make her anger any less terrifying. Izuku stares at her, the phone in a vice-like grip in his hand. He does not give it back to his mother.

Aizawa and Nemuri have gotten to their feet as well, watching the situation with wide, surprised eyes. 

Izuku turns and sprints to his room, the door slamming with a resounding bang behind him that shakes the wall. He’s quick to lock the door as well, and hears his mother’s enraged shout. 

Nobody follows him, however, and there is no pounding on his door. The loud shouts go quiet, and Izuku realizes with startling clarity that at least three pro heroes out there had a phone with Nedzu’s number. His mother was probably out there, right now, calling Nedzu and taking him out of UA. 

Izuku can’t stop the tears that spring into his eyes. 

He knew his mother wanted what was best for him, but he had been working towards this for so long. He needed to be a Hero, and he needed to do this with Aizawa. He had been in virtual school long enough, he wanted to be with his friends. He wanted to experience something normal for once, as normal as hero school could be. 

What was he going to do? He could transfer, but he doubted many, if any, hero schools would take a quirkless kid. Nedzu was taking a major chance on Izuku, and it was mainly because he knew Izuku already. If he was pulled, Izuku wasn’t sure if he’d be able to become a hero at all. 

Izuku jerks in surprise when there’s a knock on his locked door. 

“Kid? It’s me. Your mother is in the kitchen with Hizashi and Nemuri.” Aizawa says through the door. Izuku hesitates, but Aizawa has never lied to him or purposefully deceived him before. 

Slowly, so slowly, Izuku stands up from the bed and walks to his door, unlocking it. Izuku walks back to his bed and sits down, pulling his knees tight to his chest. After a long moment, Aizawa quietly turns the handle and opens Izuku’s bedroom door. He takes one look at Izuku’s tear-stained face before sighing and shutting the door behind him. 

“Problem child, what on earth was that?” He asks quietly, moving over to the bed to sit next to Izuku. “You mother is livid in the kitchen, and you’re in here having a breakdown, and none of us have any idea what just happened.” 

Izuku wipes at the tears on his cheeks before he speaks. 

“Do you remember why I only did virtual school before UA?” Izuku asks his mentor. Aizawa nods. 

“From what you and your mother mentioned, there was a lot of bullying at your previous school. Severe enough that your mother took you out and started therapy for you.” Aizawa is keeping his voice remarkably calm. 

“Do you know what suicide baiting is?” Izuku asks, voice so quiet that Aizawa would’ve missed it if he wasn’t so close. Aizawa nods silently. “I was only six, and the older kids would suicide bait me. I didn’t realize that’s what it was, I was too young. I didn’t even really understand death at that point. I don’t think Katsuki knew either, to be fair. He was six too, and he was copying the older kids a lot.” Izuku sighs, fiddling with the sleeves of his shirt. “He was really mad at me that day. He had told me to stop following him around, and I wouldn’t. I still saw him as my best friend, even if it had become taboo to hang around me. It was after school. An older kid had said it earlier in the hallway, and a lot of his friends agrees, so when Katsuki was trying to get me to leave him alone, he repeated it. ‘Jump off a roof and hope you get a quirk in the next life.’ And my mother heard him.” Izuku squeezes his hands into tight fists, nails digging into his palms. “She came to pick me up, and she heard it, and I haven’t been back in a school until UA.”

Aizawa is silent for a long time. Izuku can hear people moving around in the kitchen, low voices that he can’t make out. He wondered if his mother had called Nedzu yet. 

“So your mother was protecting you, and when Bakugou popped back up…?” 

“The first day of school, he recognized my last name, but didn’t realize I was Izumi, just… no longer Izumi.” Izuku smiles a little. “He didn't realize I was the same at all, which was awesome, you know? But then he asked me for my own number, assuming I was some sort of cousin. He said he wanted to apologize. I haven’t given him anything yet, and he hasn’t hounded me for it either.”

“That’s a good sign, but doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell your mother.” Aizawa replies. Izuku scoffs, getting up off the bed. 

“You saw how she reacted just now. I knew if I told her that she’d pull me out like she did back then.” Izuku begins to pace, frustrated. “This is all I’ve ever wanted. I can become a hero through UA, and now my mom is going to pull me out because she’s worried about bullying that hasn’t happened, from a guy who told me he wanted to apologize first thing.  I just… I didn’t want to lose this.” Izuku’s crying before he can stop himself. 

Aizawa sighs and gets to his feet, pulling Izuku into a hug. 

“The truth would’ve come out eventually, kiddo.” He murmurs. “You’ve gotta have more faith in your mom than that. She blew up because you were actively hiding it, and I think you know that.” 

“She’s still gonna pull me.” He whispers.

“She’s not, because Kayama and Hizashi are talking her down from doing so right now.” Aizawa informs him. Izuku leans back so he can look his mentor in the eye, but doesn’t fully let him go. 

“You can’t be mean to him or expel him until he does something.” Izuku says, and Aizawa snorts out a laugh. 

“Kid, I can do whatever I want.” He says, making Izuku smile a bit. “But no, I won’t do anything unless something happens.” 

Izuku finally lets his mentor go, sitting back on his bed. He was calmer now, but the feeling of anxiety was still a knot in his chest. Something in his face must’ve conveyed this, because Aizawa sighed again. “Give your mother time to cool down, alright? You both need to talk to each other, but you both need time to collect your thoughts as well. Take the weekend, okay kid?” Izuku nods, and Aizawa stands. “I’ll go see where they’re at, add my two cents if needed, but we should probably call it a night.” 

“K. Thank’s Zawa.” 

“Goodnight problem child.” Aizawa slips out, shutting the door behind him. Izuku waits a moment, but stands, moving close to the door again. He sits next to the door, listening to quiet voices that he can’t quite make out until he hears them stop, the front door shut, until the light in the hall goes out. 

He doesn’t sleep well that night.