Work Text:
“Inko, why didn’t you tell me little Izuku made into UA?!” Mitsuki asked over the phone. “And in first place at that! Kats was so surprised that Little Izu-chan made it into first place!”
Inko paused for a minute. “Oh! He wanted to surprise me! You know how he is.”
Mitsuki laughed. “He’s such a sweet kid!”
“Yup.” Inko agreed as she cut up vegetables for stir fry.
The truth, however, was that Izuku did not tell Inko, nor would he ever tell Inko anything about his life again. It was such a relief when those two men came to her home and asked if she would sign over custody of her son two years ago. She didn’t even bother to listen to their introductions. Just signed the papers and handed them back to them, watching with indifference as Izuku went to pack up his stuff.
Her life had become so much better since that day. She didn’t have to worry about keeping food in her room anymore or about paying for school uniforms that just got burned to bits within weeks. She no longer had to avoid her house at specific times to make sure she didn’t have to see the child that lived there.
No, all Inko had to do was live her life and pretend to know what Izuku was up to when Mitsuki called. Her life was so much calmer now. She even had a little office! No more tacky hero drawings or notebooks filling her space, just aesthetically pleasing bookshelves, her desk, and plants. She smiled as she slid the vegetables off the cutting board and into the frying pan.
The city view at night was beautiful. It was cool, not too cool, but not exactly warm either, with little gusts of wind that tousled Izuku’s hair around wildly. There were stars in the sky and city lights as far as he could see. It was really no surprise that Izuku loved the night so much, his safest place.
Interestingly enough, his room at home was the exact opposite of the night. It was painted a pastel purple with a pastel green accent wall with little flowering vines painted around the upper edge of his room and glow in the dark stars on his ceiling. Plants sat along his windowsill and hung around the room. There were bookshelves and bean bags and a loft bed that had become his second safest place.
He would have had a desk in there, but his dads had given him the choice of having it in his room, or putting it in the office with theirs. After a few minutes during which his dads guaranteed that no, his mumbling would not bother them, and yes, they would love to have him in the office with them if he wanted to, he ended up having his desk in the office.
His dads were super nice too! They always knocked and asked to come into his room and respected it if he said no. They didn’t mind that sometimes too many or too loud of sounds overwhelmed him. That sometimes he needed to wear his noise canceling headphones to calm down. They made him food (and didn’t hoard it!) and snuggled on the couch with him. They loved him as much as he loved them.
They didn’t even mind it when he came out to his roof in the middle of the night, so long as he texted them when he left and came home. They knew he could handle himself just fine. Especially since his dad had been teaching him for over two years now. (And that wasn’t even considering all the psychological warfare he’d been working on with Nezu-sensei!)
“Hey kid.” Izuku leaned into the hand his dad set atop his head.
“Hey Dad.” He smiled.
He laughed a bit as his dad scooped him up and brought him back farther from the ledge. “A little close there, weren’t we?”
Izuku pouted up at him. “But I like being that close to the edge.”
His dad sighed. “I know, but it gives me a heart attack.”
His dad set him down against the edge and sat next to him, leaning back against the cold concrete. Izuku leaned into him, relaxing as his dad’s arm came to rest over his shoulders.
“You forgot to check the mail today.”
“Huh?”
His dad took a letter out from one of his hidden pockets and handed it to him. Izuku sat up straighter when he saw the UA symbol on the envelope. He looked up at his dad, who smiled gently at him. “Go on.”
Izuku ripped open the envelope and watched as a metal disk fell out.
“I AM HERE! AS A PROJECTION!” All Might’s voice blasted from the disk, causing Izuku to drop it.
“I—”
“I can take it from here, All Might.” Nezu said.
“But—”
“All Might.” All Might paled a bit before walking off screen.
Nezu smiled at the camera. “Hello Izuku! I must say, I was quite excited to see your performance in the exams and you most definitely did not disappoint. Your written exam score was 100%. Congratulations! You are the first student to ever receive a perfect score on the written exam!”
“Now for the practical.” Nezu chuckled. “While I knew you were a faster learner and that Shouta was teaching you, even I underestimated just how determined and ferocious you would be. You scored 46 villain points, which, by itself, is enough to qualify for the heroics course. However! You also scored 68 rescue points, bringing your total up to 114 points! Another record! Congratulations on your acceptance to UA’s heroics program! You’ll be happy to know that Shouta is your homeroom teacher and that we will continue to have our private lessons. I will see you on Tuesday for our scheduled lesson.”
The hologram switched off, leaving Izuku to cry happy tears into his dad’s jumpsuit.
“Congratulations, Little Hero.” His dad whispered into his hair. “Want to go home? I’m sure Zashi would love to hear about your results.”
Izuku smiled, getting off his dad, and raced him home across the rooftops.
As Izuku pulled the covers over himself, with Cup and Tabitha, their cats, automatically jumping up to cuddle with him, he couldn’t help but think that trusting his dad to help him was the best thing he’d ever done.
“Aww, does Deku not like his flowers?”
“Take a swan dive off the roof!”
“I’m sorry, my boy, but it’s just not realistic.”
“Be realistic.”
Izuku sat on the roof All Might had left him on. It was night now, the prettiest time of day. He couldn’t get his classmates’ words out of his head, Katsuki’s words, All Might’s words. Were his classmates right? It wasn’t like they were completely wrong. He couldn’t be anything. Most places wouldn’t hire someone quirkless, but… Was All Might right? Should he be more realistic? Should he just jump? If even the number one hero thought he should just be realistic, then maybe… maybe it was time to let go.
Izuku started untying his laces when his phone dinged.
CatHoarder: Hey Thoth, do you mind doing an analysis on Puck, the new villain out. I have a couple videos and witness accounts I can send.
Izuku stared at the message. Eraser. Would Eraser miss him? Would he tell him to give up?
No.
Izuku’s fingers hovered above the keyboard. Eraser said if he ever needed help to just ask, didn’t he?
Would he still have said that if he knew you were quirkless?
Would Eraser care that he was quirkless?
Everyone does.
Izuku pressed send.
FredandVelma’ssecretlovechild: Location.pin
FredandVelma’ssecretlovechild: I think I need help.
CatHoarder: Stay there, I’m coming. Are you injured?”
FredandVelma’ssecretlovechild: I have a couple burns. And I was almost drowned by sludge.
CatHoarder: Fuck kid. I’m calling RG.
Izuku slipped away from the edge and leaned against the concrete wall that separated him from open air. He closed his eyes and waited. A couple minutes later he heard Eraser land on the roof.
“Fuck kid!” Izuku opened his eyes to see Eraser kneeling next to him. “Fuck, when I called you a kid I didn’t actaully think you were younger than 18. Shit, okay, can I pick you up? We need to get you to Recovery Girl.”
“Hey Eraser,” Izuku said softly, “yeah you can pick me up.”
Izuku closed his eyes again and leaned his head against Eraser’s shoulder as he ever so gently picked him up and cradled him to his chest.
“Hey, Thoth, I need you to hang on koala style okay? It’ll be easier.”
“Mm ‘kay.”
Izuku let himself be shifted and clung to Eraser. He was really tired. How long had he been on the roof again?
“Hey, Thoth, think you can tell me your name?”
“Izuku.”
“Nice to meet you Izuku, I’m Shouta. Do you have a family name?”
Izuku frowned. He didn’t like his last name. “Midoriya.”
“That’s… surprisingly fitting. Do you have someone I should call once we get you to RG?”
Izuku shook his head as Eraser landed on the ground. When did they get all the way to UA? “‘nko doesn’t like me much. Says she’s working, but labor laws wouldn’t allow it. She’s just avoiding me.”
Eraser inhales sharply. “Okay, no calling your parents then.”
Izuku whines when Eraser tries to put him on the infirmary bed. “Hey, kiddo, it’s okay. I’m right here, but you have to let Recovery Girl do her job. I promise you’ll be fine.”
Izuku slipped into unconsciousness to Eraser’s words and head pats.
When Izuku woke up, Eraser and someone who looked to be Present Mic were sitting by his bed.
“Eraser?” He mumbled, sitting up.
Eraser smiled softly at him. “Hey there kiddo, how’re you feeling?”
“Tired. My head hurts.”
It only took a couple of hours for it to be decided that Izuku would go home with Eraser and Present Mic, or Shouta and Hizashi as they insisted on being called. They would try to get Inko to just sign over custody and if that didn’t work, build a neglect case against her. Izuku was well aware they wouldn’t need to try that hard. Proven by how Inko signed the papers without really listening to who Shouta and Hizashi were, not after she saw what they’d just laid down on her table.
It was also agreed that Izuku could continue his analyst/informant work as Thoth, though Shouta and Hizashi would be making sure that he didn’t overwork himself. They even introduced him to Nezu, even if it killed them to do so. Shouta also agreed to start helping Izuku physically train for UA’s entrance exam. (And if Shouta punched All Might when he was introduced as UA’s newest teacher, well, then Izuku wasn’t hiding in the vents watching it happen, nor did he have it on video.)
Yeah, Izuku was pretty content with how everything turned out. He pulled Tabitha closer and smiled up at the glow in the dark stars on his ceiling.
Bonus:
Katsuki stared at the letter from UA. Two weeks after his acceptance letter, Katsuki had been surprised to find a second letter in his mailbox. At first, he’d smirked, sure that he’d won some sort of award or they were mailing to rectify their mistake with Deku and his scores, there was no way that shitty nerd scored higher than him. But this, this was not what he expected.
Dear Bakugou Katsuki,
It is with great sorrow that we are withdrawing your acceptance to UA’s heroics program, and the school as a whole. A recent investigation into Aldera Middle School has shown you to be an instigator in routine bullying, illegal quirk usage, and one count of suicide baiting. Unfortunately, we cannot accept students whose actions fall short of our heroic standard and your actions have done so.
Therefore, your acceptance to UA has been withdrawn, a black mark has been put on your record, and you have been banned from all Japanese hero schools. As we are mandatory reporters, all of our information on Aldera Middle School, and thus you as well, have been turned over to the Musutafu Police Department. We suspect you will be receiving a visit from them shortly.
Best of luck in future endeavors,
Nezu, Principal of UA
UA High School Board