Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hahaha, I might be fu-fri-in trouble.” Izuku laughed awkwardly, only minding his language when he saw Hizashi glance down at him from the corner of his eye. He stared down at his phone in fear where his group chat with his friends was absolutely blowing up.

“Good save.” Hizashi snorted.

“Is that supposed to move that fast?” Yoichi asked, leaning over to get a better look at Izuku’s phone screen where Mina and Denki were spamming him. His friends were slowly returning to their phones post-internship and Mina had stumbled upon a video of Izuku dropping from the winged nomu’s painful grasp. Once she posted it into the group chat with a concerningly long all caps paragraph that boiled down to ‘Izuku, what the hell’, all bets were off.

Izuku caught Kyoka asking Momo if she could make bubble wrap for real this time when they got back, but he was just waiting it out until they calmed down. He, Katsuki, and Fumikage had already been texting in the chat; they knew he was fine.

Although in their defense, the fact they’d been texting in the chat on Thursday was probably half the tip-off something was wrong to begin with.

“Mina and Denki can be excitable.” Izuku muttered.

“They sure can.” Hizashi agreed, not knowing Yoichi even said anything. It was the Saturday post-internships, Izuku’s entire group had come home early after the attack (which was a pity- a part of him wanted to spend more time working with Queenie, but Nakada said she’d drop down at some point to give them another lesson or two), and the three of them were curled up on the couch watching Hizashi’s favorite soap opera.

It was an… interesting experience when they couldn’t see or hear a third of their mini-party, but they were making it work. Mostly because Izuku didn’t mind playing telephone. (Shouta was already workshopping ways to try to make ghosts visible to non-sorcerers for longer than a second without Torino’s presence, but that was probably going to take a hot minute.)

“Yoichi asked if the chats always move that fast.”

“What I’m hearing is we need to get Yagi into more group chats.” Hizashi noted.

“Isn’t he in the teacher group chat?” Izuku was confused- he knew for a fact the teacher chat could explode just as much.

“He is, but he only checks it when someone tags him.”

“He is, but he’s almost as quiet as your father.” Yoichi and Hizashi said at the same time. Hizashi threw in a little more flavor on the last two words, the ‘your father’ coming out just a little snide.

“Uh.” Yoichi stared at him for a second, forgetting about the soap opera entirely for a few moments, then glanced at Shouta sitting alone at the kitchen table. (Well, alone if you didn’t count Henry, Stalker, and Kimchi.) “Something’s happening. Or happened. I can’t quite tell.”

Hizashi glanced at Izuku again when he snorted, this time quizzically.

“Yoichi’s wondering about you and dad.” Izuku explained first to his parent then to his brother. “Papa’s been medically cleared to start patrolling again post USJ and he’s annoyed because Dad’s pulling strings so he can’t.”

“Uh.” Kudo appeared on the other end of the arm Yoichi was sitting against. “That was a hell of a sentence to walk in on.”

“That seems… surprisingly toxic, not gonna lie.” His boyfriend agreed.

“Kudo’s here and they’re both roasting dad.” Izuku kindly informed the only one who couldn’t hear them.

“It’s too dangerous.” Shouta tried to defend himself. “Not just for us- Zashi, you’re the only one who’s managed to worm your way past my defenses in nine centuries. Everything I’m doing to stop Alaric right now is for you and Izuku. If he kills you at this point, I don’t know if I’d be able to maintain my hold on my powers. Really, I’m protecting everyone you would be protecting on patrol and if that makes me an ass, then I’m able to live with it.”

A moment of silence followed the almost too-frank words.

“It still makes you at least a little ass, but fine.” Hizashi finally sighed. “You have until the public starts noticing. I’m a pro hero, babe, I signed up for the possibility any patrol could be my last. Alaric doesn’t change that.”

He could’ve pushed the issue and he knew it- Shouta would’ve caved if Hizashi really asked him to. At some point Hizashi would have to, but he could delay that for at least a little while. For now, he was giving his husband a little grace. He couldn’t imagine what Shouta was going through and though he was hiding it from Izuku fairly well, Hizashi could see him cracking around the edges. If continuing their impromptu vacation helped hold him together just a little longer, Hizashi could make that work.

He was allowed to be selfish sometimes (and he’d raised so much more money through the stations charity works since he’d had the time to really focus on it). He also had a sneaking suspicion there was going to be a more… strategic time for him to resume patrols anyways.

All hail the rat and his terrifying lessons; they were the only reason Izuku was able to even somewhat pull off damage control in not only the immediate friend group but the class-wide group chat. More than just his friends were worried about him after seeing the clip of him falling from the Nomu’s claws.

Hell, more than just the class was worried- he’d managed to make international news. He’d had to get off social media for the weekend because he kept seeing that moment wherever he scrolled. It was surreal going from almost no one worried about his safety to having the entire planet’s concern overnight. Off-putting, even. He just tried his best to ignore it until he could bring it up with his therapist.

At least they didn’t get a good shot of his face (or, more likely with how powerful news cameras could be, Nedzu squashed any video with a good shot of his face). It was one thing winning the sports festival, most people couldn’t even name who won the festival even five years ago, that would’ve been a whole other story.

Izuku knew that if he and Katsuki became the top hero duo as planned that at minimum most of the country would know his face; that was different. That was something he was okay with, something that would be built up to over time. He didn’t want the world to know who he was because he had the worst luck in sperm donors.

He didn’t quite do enough to appease everyone in 1A, but he didn’t find that out until Monday morning.

“Give me your hand.” Katsuki muttered when he first saw Izuku Monday morning.

“What?” Izuku glanced up from his phone. He wasn’t questioning the direction, he’d just been too wrapped up in his own thoughts to hear what his boyfriend said.

“Just give me your hand, Nerd.” Katsuki held out his own hand expectantly. Eyebrow furrowing slightly, Izuku complied. Katsuki pulled a bracelet out of his pocket with his other hand- a simple braid made of three leather strands with a single onyx bead in the middle of it and tied it around Izuku’s wrist. The young sorcerer sensed the magic in it immediately.

“Kacchan!” He gasped. “You warded this for me?”

“Of course.” He told Izuku, voice gruff and cheeks suspiciously pink. “It’s not as powerful as the wizard’s but-” Izuku nearly tackled him in a hug before he could go any further.

“I love it.” He kissed Katsuki lightly on the cheek. The explosive blonde didn’t go tomato mode too often- he was too hard to phase- but that was enough to do the trick. Mina and Kyoka, walking in at the same time, cooed over them as Izuku pulled back.

“Shaddup.” Katsuki rolled his eyes.

“I have half a mind to learn how to do that myself- you need every safety net you can get.” Kyoka told (more like admonished) Izuku. Still, she wasn’t the one who brought actual bubble wrap into the mix. That was Kirishima, with Sero on his heels.

“Yamazawa Izuku!” Izuku legitimately jumped when he heard the snap in Kirishima’s voice- he hadn’t ever seen the cheerful, if cheerfully aggressive, boy truly angry. He wasn’t sure anyone in the class had, actually. “Leave it to you to almost get abducted by a demon. I don’t care how manly freeing yourself was- you’re not allowed to give us heart attacks like that. Sero, tape him.”

“Sero, no.” The young sorcerer immediately objected, deflecting the short string of tape that tried to secure him to a chair. He didn’t even need his powers to do it- he was used to fighting off a sentient scarf hell-bent on mother-henning him, Sero’s tape was nothing. It wasn’t sticky on the matte side anyways.

“Sero, yes.” He contradicted, readying another stream of tape. “If we wrap you in bubble wrap, you may even be safe for a single day.”

“I survived my childhood, I can survive this. And you.” Izuku huffed. “Knock it off.”

“Bro, what?” Kirishima and Sero both paled.

“You know I’m a sorcerer.” Izuku frowned, confused for a moment before it dawned on him again. “You know what, I’m gonna stop making this worse.”

“Good call.” Mina gently hip-checked a still shocked Kirishima out of the way, seizing the opportunity to hug her friend. “I’m glad you’re going to work with Katsuki. I don’t know that 1A would survive the worry if you worked alone. Or your dads.”

“You’d be surprised what Sho and I could survive.” Hizashi, who’d slid into the room while the students were all distracted watching the interaction with their son. “Let’s get settled down, please. As you can all see, Izuku is completely fine.”

“I helped!” Queenie stuck her head out of Izuku’s pocket, flicking her tongue in an approximation of a proud smile. Unlike the cats she couldn’t blink, but she could do that (and if she got an extra sniff or two of the air, that wasn’t too much of a sacrifice).

She had helped with the nomu, but she didn’t help too much with the settling down. There was little to be done- she deserved the praise and attention like the queen she was.

Chapter Text

Izuku used a minor spell to steal Kirishima’s bubble wrap during math class immediately following Shouta’s history period. Hizashi was too smart, knew Izuku too well, and Shouta had both advantages plus had the ability to sense his use of magic. Seizing the opportunity while Ectoplasm was in charge instead was his best course of action. He couldn’t steal Sero’s tape, but at least that was more easily avoidable if he decided it was worth risking detention to keep Izuku in one piece.  Or one place, honestly they were practically the same thing at that point.  

“You’re all acting like I chose to be almost abducted on purpose.” He complained once they were finally released for lunch. “I promise it was the last thing I wanted.”

“We’re not idiots, Izuku.” Shoji of all people quietly told him. “We know what Aizawa did at the USJ and we saw he was in Tokyo on the news. We’re not going to ask why, but he’s our teacher. There’s not a lot we can do for him, but we can at least try to keep you safe.”

Maybe it was because Shoji was one of the quieter students in class, only really speaking his mind when he was sure of his words and thought they’d add to the conversation, or the way everyone nodded in conversation. It could’ve even been because of the concern for his dad (Shouta needed more people to be concerned about him, he’d only had Henry to be concerned about him for far too long), but that made Izuku’s tear ducts loosen up.

The near abduction hadn’t gotten him close to crying, but Shoji being nice? Instant waterworks.

“Aw, Izu-babe!” Mina, Denki, and Dark Shadow immediately pulled him into a hug. It quickly turned into a group hug (that even Katsuki got drawn into despite not being anywhere near his boyfriend for once). It sealed the deal on the class’s protective feelings toward their resident chaos magnet greenette, which only meant Monoma got the joy of all 19 of them staring at him with extreme suspicion when he knocked on the door moments later.

He froze, but only for a moment before he visibly steeled himself.

“Hear him out.” Izuku quietly ordered before any of his friends and classmates could say anything. It was time they finally cleared the air with everyone; this was the fastest way.

“I owe all of you an apology. What I said about you and our senseis after the USJ was rude and uncalled for.” He echoed what he told the friend group specifically during the Sports Festival. “I was too consumed with my own arrogance and belief that I’d have been able to do more to realize how traumatic an attack like that must’ve been. I shouldn’t have accused you of being cowards, and I’m sorry.”

Izuku didn’t say anything to break the silence that followed the apology; Monoma wasn’t apologizing to him this time. They’d talked a little after Shouta explained to him that magic was real. (Yagi almost joined that conversation- technically he was Monoma’s sensei too- but he got sidelined by the concussion comment and was making sure the agent actually got seen by someone.)

As far as he was concerned, they were good. Monoma owed more than just him an apology though, and Izuku wouldn’t speak for any of his classmates. The silence hung heavy in the air as the class collectively weighed Monoma’s apology. Surprisingly, Koda was the first one to nod. It was a subtle movement, but it was there. The tension thawed quickly after that.

“Don’t be a dick again.” Mina pointed at him first. “You only get one redemption arc- don’t fuck it up.”

“Language.” Izuku, happily playing the role of little shit, quickly wiped out the last of the remaining tension. Mina tugged on one of his curls in retaliation, but he let her have that. He had bigger fish to fry. “Monoma, close the door please.”

The group hug broke up as 1b’s most arrogant blonde complied with the instructions. He tried to control the dread pooling in his subject- Izuku had a scrutinizing look in his eyes that he didn’t like, not one bit.

“I think most of you are aware of this already,” Izuku addressed his class, “but just in case anyone isn’t, Monoma and Katsuki both interned with Best Jeanist this weekend. Jeanist had to move to Tokyo last minute so they were both there for the nomu attack too, and though they weren’t directly involved, Monoma knows about magic and sorcery now. Monoma, all of 1A knows about sorcery already. We couldn’t really hide it after the USJ.”

“That makes sense.” Neito couldn’t tell why he was being told this.

“It’s too tiring trying to keep secrets. I’m not sure off the top of my head who in 1B knows and I won’t out the ones I know for sure, but I wanted at least all of us on the same page.”

“For what it’s worth, Fumi and I are sorcerers too.” Denki followed his friend’s lead. “I wont need a quirk to kick your ass if you spread any of this around.”

“I’m not going to.” Monoma quietly assured everyone. Izuku didn’t like it- he was too quiet, his body language too stiff. Time for an ice breaker (and something he’d been waiting all weekend to get his hands on).

“Now that all the important stuff is out of the way, we need to actually eat something before the lunch period ends.” Izuku clapped his hands once, drawing everyone’s attention back to him. “You’re joining us- no, you don’t have a choice in the matter. I’m well aware of what Best Jeanist does with all of his interns and a little birdie told me you managed to get photographic proof on your phone.”

“He fuckin what?” Katsuki growled as all the color drained out of his face. A ghost of Monoma’s signature smirk returned to his.

“Behave, Kacchan.” Izuku smiled angelically at his boyfriend, tone saccharine sweet before he turned back to the other blonde and leaned forward with a devilish glint in his eyes. “I want it. Give it to me.”

“I, uh.” Neito glanced at Katsuki’s clenched fists. His face was rapidly turning from white to mottled red; if the humidity in the classroom was any higher, Neito was pretty sure steam would’ve been rising from his ears. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. “I’m not sure I know-”

“Nonsense, Monoma.” Izuku’s tone sent a shiver down more than just the 1B kid’s spine- he didn’t realize he was copying Nedzu in both tone and style. “You took photos of the hair style Jeanist gave both of you. Now show it to me.”

Bakugo had scary guard dog rights, but he just wasn’t as scary as Yamazawa could be. Neito never did figure out if this was his real punishment for his arrogance or not, but he’d still be glad Yamazawa chose mercy for years to come. He did end up with Yamazawa’s number after sending him the selfies he’d managed to sneak his phone out long enough to take (Takamada was his cousin; it was slightly nepotism, but he could get away with that).

The best of the photos ended up as Izuku’s tablet background no matter how red Katsuki’s face got every time he saw it.

Chapter Text

It was gorgeous out Wednesday afternoon, probably one of the last sunny days they were going to have for a while and on the slightly warmer side. Izuku put his foot down and snuck Tenko and Himiko out of Nedzu’s office for lunch with their friends. (It was less sneaking and more an outright abduction that amused the principal and their parents.)

Instead of cooping themselves up in the cafeteria where they’d no doubt be stared at by the rest of the student body that shared that lunch period, he and Katsuki took them outside to the picnic tables. Kyoka, Momo, Mina, Denki, Fumikage, Dark Shadow, and Hitoshi were already waiting for them.

“Tenko, you have to tell them now!” Himiko lightly elbowed her brother in the side once they were settled in.

“Tell us what?” Izuku glanced up. The only new thing he could think of was Nedzu’s ‘rehabilitation’ class, but that wasn’t ready enough for applications to be sent in yet. Soon, but not yet.

“Torino found a place.” Tenko lightly batted Himiko’s arm away from his ribs. "Dad pulled some strings and he’s got a place down the block from us. We might start staying with him when dad’s busy as early as next week, depending on how his move goes.”

“That’s amazing!” The greenette gushed while half the table looked confused.

“I do believe you’ve forgotten to share new information again.” Fumikage noted.

“In his defense, I’m not quite sure it’s Izuku’s information to share.” Tenko immediately had Izuku’s back. “Turns out, I have a living grandfather. We were able to meet him last week and he started looking for a house closer to us.” It was as good an explanation as any, even if Tenko hadn’t known he was Torino’s grandson before they met. He doubted that would ever come up.

“Congratulations!” Momo reached over to squeeze Tenko’s hand once. “That’s amazing! I’m glad you’ll be able to have a relationship with him.”

“Dude, that’s so cool!” Denki agreed. Fumikage narrowed his eyes slightly, though only Izuku, Katsuki, and Himiko caught it. They knew Izuku interned with All Might and that Himiko and Tenko had gone with them for the internship, though the why of that had been kept quiet. Still, he wasn’t a fool, clearly it was something to do with AFO and Torino was somehow involved in that.

He didn’t say anything. He was just glad there was another layer of protection in place against the madness of the entire situation. If anyone deserved it, those two did.

“Are you going to tell them about your update?” Tenko raised an eyebrow at his little sister.

“Two updates? In one day?” Hitoshi asked rhetorically. “I think we’re getting spoiled.”

“Shut up flower boy and let her speak.” Katsuki pointed at him. Hitoshi rolled his eyes.

“Nedzu’s rehabilitation class is ready for preliminary applications!” Himiko gushed. “He’s going to tell you more about it this afternoon Izu, but they want a few preliminary applications to show there’s actually interest in it. I’ve already applied.” So had a few others, specific ‘villains’ Nedzu had already scoped out and approached. Tenko hadn’t yet, though there was a version of the course where you graduated and essentially got put on parole (he wouldn’t have that part) as a normal citizen instead of becoming a pro. He was still debating the merits between that and seeking a normal GED.

“That’s fantastic, Himiko!” Hitoshi reached around Katsuki to fist bump her.

“Thanks!” She met him halfway, ignoring her fellow blonde’s grumbles about trying to eat here. “It’s still really early yet, obviously, but if it goes well there’s a chance I could be joining your class for heroics classes next year!”

There was an outpouring of excitement and support at that. They were all convinced Himiko would make a fantastic pro hero if that’s what she wanted, and she very much wanted. Specifically she wanted to follow in Kan’s footsteps and advocate for people with blood quirks like theirs; there was still a ton of discrimination despite the fact it was one of the more uncommon genres of quirk.

“We’re still on for girl’s night, right?” Mina asked Momo toward the end of lunch. There was so much happening she couldn’t keep track anymore.

“We are, Kayama-sensei is hosting it.” Momo nodded once.

“I’m so excited.” Himiko leaned forward to join their conversation. “Nemuri’s got so much planned.”

“As long as you’re not sacrificing anyone.” Denki mock-shuddered. “I’ve heard what girls get up to during sleepovers. We should totally have a boys night this weekend too.”

“Blood for the blood god.” Himiko and Kyoka said at the same time; Kyoka’s almost terrifyingly blank tone contrasting Himiko’s bright one.

“If you behave and stay out of our way, you’ll be fine.” Mina waved off his concern.

“I vote we summon a demon at ours.” Fumikage told his boys. It would’ve played off as his usual emo tendencies if Izuku and Denki hadn’t both immediately nodded. All three sorcerers agreeing on something always raised alarm bells.

“If I have to play the voice of reason in Momo’s stead, I’m going to be very annoyed. No demons.” Hitoshi pointed at all of them in turn with a chopstick. “Katsuki, back me up here.”

“For once he’s right.” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “The wizard would never let you summon a demon, even if that were possible.”

“For what it’s worth, it is actually possible. Our dad’s dealt with them in the past.” Fumikage told the entire table. “But I have no real intentions of summoning a demon. It’s not worth the trade off.”

“Good. It was hard enough to convince Aizawa-sensei to let us hunt ghosts, I don’t want to imagine his reaction if he found out you summoned an actual demon.” Momo sighed.

“...now I kinda wanna see Henry’s reaction if we summon one.” Izuku’s eyes narrowed.

“No!” Nine voices immediately cried out. Trolling each other was fine, but no one actually wanted to mess with the scarf. Izuku snickered, texting the group chat with the adults about getting an actual sleepover set up that wouldn’t, unfortunately, include any demons. Even if he did tease the others about Queenie keeping them safe by petrifying any demon that tried to cause them problems.

Chapter Text

Boy’s night was almost hosted at Yagi’s house, but Yagi got roped into helping his own mentor while his kids were otherwise engaged. Oboro volunteered to host instead- his place was big enough for all of them plus Frankie and Queenie and he didn’t have a few sensitive magical experiments running in his workshop.

Aizawa thanked him for it, relieved to have the weekend to really focus on said experiments. They were narrowing down their next steps regarding Alaric and he needed to have a laundry list of things ready just in case- including a safe enough space with strong enough shields that they could deal with whatever hell Alaric decided to send their way next.

Shouta didn’t know if it’d be another curse or another zombie, but he wanted a space to contain either them or a nomu. He was actually working on building two spaces- one in his workshop and one in a small building that the HPSC owned under the table.

The space in his workshop was essentially a small bonus guest room with an extreme amount of security and its own attached bathroom. If they did have to contain one of their own until any curses could be broken, he wanted to make sure they could be kept comfortable. It’d also potentially be more comfortable for him than the couch if they eventually went with the plan he thought they were.

The small building was initially a small warehouse, but the HPSC renovated it almost beyond recognition on the inside when they acquired it through a shell company owned by another shell company owned by an alias persona of one of their spies that’d promptly been killed off on paper. It ultimately left ownership of the place ‘in limbo’, but the city was more than happy to ignore the building entirely as long as the outside was kept up well enough to avoid cranky, busybody Karens reporting it as an eyesore.

“This is one of the places our sorcerers test out new sigils.” Kinoshita explained to Shouta when he first showed him around the building. The ancient hadn’t asked, though it did explain the quite frankly excessive shields around the place and the sigils carved into the very walls. Or it at least explained most of them.

He also didn’t ask about the small, sterile five foot by ten foot room that had chains and manacles hanging from the wall with an observation room on the other side of a two-way mirror. The building had been used for a lot more than just testing new sigils, though Shouta didn’t doubt the largest space had been used for that exact purpose. He just didn’t have the space on his plate to deal with any more than he already was, no matter what bullshit the government had gotten up to in the past.

Besides, with a few (a metric ton of) extra measures put on the cell and observation room, it might even hold up enough for them to actually lock up Alaric if it ever came to that. It’d be good to have a spot for him, just in case.

Saturday night, while his kids were otherwise engaged in ‘boy’s night’ (as they insisted on calling it) and Hizashi helped Toshinori get Torino moved into his new place (and met the vestiges), Shouta worked with some of the HPSC’s best sigil testers to fully fortify the back-up cell as much as they could.

(The testers also had a thousand questions about the quirk-erasing bracelets Shouta was working on adapting for pure sorcery. That hadn’t actually been achieved yet despite the confirmation quirks were magic, but the ancient was pretty sure he was close to a break through.)

Oboro’s place was pretty large, almost too large for just him, but it was feeling cozier with Nemuri slowly but surely moving in. He was just waiting for the closet to be half his clothes and half hers before asking if she wanted to officially move in. In the meantime, she still had her own place where ‘girl’s night’ was taking place.

There was plenty of room for him, Izuku, Katsuki, Hitoshi, Denki, Fumikage, Tenko, and Freddy to spread out. (Dark Shadow didn’t often abandon Fumikage, partly because she was pretending to be part of his quirk, but she’d chosen ‘girl’s night’ over him for once. Fumikage didn’t mind; he was just glad she was making her own friends).

There was even plenty of room for him, his brother, and Izuku to teach Oboro, Hitoshi, and Tenko about witchcraft. Katsuki was already taking lessons from Snipe and he’d been there for some of Izuku’s sorcery lessons, so he already had a good grasp of the basics. The others were curious though.

Nemuri was slowly moving into Oboro’s house over the course of them dating because he lived closer to UA, but he also lived within walking distance of the Tokoyami’s metaphysical store. He didn’t want to go too far with the boys- that was tantamount to tempting fate and he wasn’t that stupid- but they did end up going over to pick up some supplies despite multiple assurances you didn’t need a lot of stuff to be a witch.

It was a sleepover, they were having fun, and he had two jobs. He didn’t mind shelling out the cash for a handful of crystals, a few pendulums, and some tarot decks. Plus he got to finally meet Tokoyami Maro, who he instantly made friends with.

He wasn’t sure if it was Shouta, Hizashi, or both, but someone would be getting a stern talking too for keeping him from that delight of a man.

“Warding is how you protect yourself and your space, from witches or other entities such as wandering spirits.” Fumikage intoned once they were all settled back down on Oboro’s living room floor. “A witch can’t create the physical shield sorcerers are capable of, but by no means does that make them any less powerful.”

Oboro was impressed as he went through the lesson; he wouldn’t make a half bad teacher himself one day if he decided on changing careers. Or even if he didn’t- hero schools were constantly looking for pros willing to teach the newest generation of hero hopefuls. He made a mental note to bring it up with the young man at some point in the next few weeks. For the moment, he was content to enjoy the ride.

Girl’s night was a different story entirely. They weren’t quite as locked-down as the boys were- Himiko might’ve been on AFO’s radar, but the odds weren’t all that likely. He’d given her up without a fuss and neither she nor Tenko had been targeted in the attack on Tokyo. Nemuri wasn’t about to take them anywhere without any of the girls’ parents’ knowledge and permission, and she wouldn’t go without backup, but they had a little bit of wiggle room.

Anan was more than happy to participate for the ‘outside’ part of the night- attending a comedy at a local black box theater then going out for ice-cream and karaoke at a little mom and pop pizzeria and desert bar (the deserts were in the bar; there wasn’t any alcohol) about halfway between the theater and her house.

Once a month they ran an event where everyone who sang got a free sundae; Nemuri, Tensei, and Hizashi had gone on and off for almost a decade. Now that they were older and more involved with their careers (or, in Tensei’s case, had moved to Tokyo), it was time to pass on the tradition to the younger generation.

All six of them had an amazing time and Anan made a mental note to come back with her sister, nieces, and nephew. It was great to find a family friendly place with an event like that that didn’t have alcohol involved.

They weren’t done there. Both groups moved from their previous activities (getting home from karaoke and wrapping up the lesson on warding) and moved to the next activity the same time. Incidentally, the same activity- self care.

Himiko usually kept her hair in space-balls because it was the only thing she really knew how to do with any sort of skill, now Nemuri took the time to show her and the other girls different things they could do with their hair. Mina’d already made peace with the thought that her hair type wouldn’t be accounted for, it rarely had been in the past, but Nemuri and Anan proved her wrong. They weren’t experts, but they’d done their research ahead of time.

They also came prepared with a manicure kit, a plethora of face masks, and even some nice, fluffy robes while they indulged. They and Oboro collaborated together- the only difference was Oboro made sure to include more cucumbers for Katsuki to snack on.

The genuine ‘thank you’ from the normally gruff or grumbly teenager made the effort more than worth it. Oboro still hoped things went well with his dad- it definitely looked like they were so far- but he was still ready to step in if needed.

Both groups stayed up far later than recommended- the girls listening to pre-quirk true crime podcasts while the boys had their own mini-karaoke session using Oboro’s old, beat up machine- but that was half the fun of a sleepover.

Anan fully lost track of time and didn’t want to deal with going home by the time she finally glanced at a clock, so Nemuri made the decision to share her bed for the night. At least they made it to one- Oboro fell asleep hunched over on the couch and woke up in an inordinate amount of pain that the teenagers all teased him over like they weren’t speeding full force at the exact same fate.

Chapter Text

“Did you have fun?” Shouta asked Izuku when he finally made it back to the house just after eleven Sunday morning.

“I did! We ended up going to the Tokoyami’s store and Fumikage gave a crash course on warding. Then-” Shouta already knew they’d changed the first half of their plans because Oboro texted both of them before leaving the house, but he still listened to every word as he prepared lunch for them and Hizashi.

Their weekend plans didn’t end there. There was another sorcerer community event Toshinori’d told them about happening that afternoon that Hizashi insisted they go to. They were going too despite not being a sorcerer- Shouta insisted he wasn’t going alone and besides, this was a hero-specific event. He already rarely attended regular events, he wasn’t going to a pro hero event without a pro hero in tow.

Maybe before the thing with AFO he would’ve been fine going without his emotional support hero, for Izuku’s sake if for no other reason, but not now that people in those circles were starting to figure out who he was. Toshinori just didn’t feel like enough of a buffer, though he’d be there too. Without the kids- Oboro was pulling double duty watching teenagers so Torino could make an appearance. Tenko just wasn’t ready to be around that many sorcerers at once.

He was thinking of making that a goal in his therapy. Every sorcerer he’d met after his rescue had been nothing but kind; he’d love to attend an event with his family. Just… not yet. Probably not for a while.

“How much do you wanna bet Torino’s going to scare the pants off half the heroes there?” Izuku asked.

“That’s about as much a sucker’s bet as him trolling half the people there.” Shouta clocked the extra wards Izuku came out of his room with, mostly attached to bracelets and necklaces he’d hidden under his button down shirt, but didn’t say anything.

This was as much a networking event as it was meant for people in the same niche to vent and hang out with each other, especially for hero-hopefuls, so the teen edged on the side of caution with a nice button down and slacks. Not too much, but definitely enough to make a good first impression.

Hizashi was also in a button down- his favorite pink one- but he’d paired it with black jeans and his black leather jacket instead. Shouta was the least ‘well’ dressed of the three of them- he was in a t-shirt (but it was plain black instead of one of the cat ones) and similar leather jacket in deference to the slight late spring cold snap.

They weren’t too far off the mark; once they got to the restaurant someone (Shouta believed it was on the HPSC’s dime, but he wasn’t sure) rented out for the afternoon, they saw that most people were dressed in something similar. There were only two exceptions- Hawks, in an open-backed, high necked tank to account for his wings, and Mirko, who was twinning with the young pro for the funsies of it.

“It’s the baby bird!” Keigo’s eyes lit up when he spotted familiar green curls following Yamada through the room toward Yagi. “Rumi, you gotta come meet the kid.”

“The one you caught?” The ‘rabbit’ hero immediately perked up. She’d been on the other side of Yagi’s agency at the time and had missed the whole thing.

“Yeah.” Keigo took off on a collision course with the trio, leaving his friend and boss to follow or not as she desired. Of course, she didn’t hesitate. She wanted to meet this kid.

“Baby bird!” Izuku almost jumped when he heard Hawks calling. Not sure whether he was calling for him or if Fumikage and Denki had ended up attending after all (they also had a family event that day), he half turned to find that the pro was, in fact, talking to him. Not only that, Mirko was approaching too.

“Hi!” He squeaked, then immediately turned bright red. He cleared his throat, hoping for a much more normal tone when he tried again. “I mean hello Hawks! I’m not a bird though?” He didn’t really mean for it to come out as a question, but it was what it was.

“Technically, no, but you did a stellar impression of one. And please, call me Keigo. I’d say Hakamada, but dad usually goes by that.”

“He also covered you in zombie guts.” Rumi pointed out, slinging an arm around Keigo’s shoulders. “No better way to bond with someone than that. Usagiyama, nice to finally meet you kid. I’ve heard great things.”

“Great things about zombie guts?” Izuku raised an eyebrow while Keigo mock-shuddered.

“Exactly!” She grinned widely.

“Okay, can we stop talking about zombie guts now?” Keigo pleaded. “It took forever to get it out of my feathers.”

“Seconded, minus the feathers.” Hizashi agreed. “It’s nice to see you two again.”

“Always a pleasure, Yamada.” Usagiyama pulled away from Keigo to shake his hand.

“I’m just glad you married a sorcerer and can finally come to these shindigs.” Snipe drive-by commented. “I can’t wait to see what your presence does to the shenanigans that tend to happen, at the adults-only ones at least. They bring out the good booze for those.” He glanced across the room. “Now if you don’t mind, looks like I have to rescue my husband from a few over-zealous students.”

Snipe was a practicing witch, but Higari unfortunately wasn’t and a few Shiketsu students (Snipe was pretty sure from the video coverage of their school’s sports festival) had cornered him with a list of questions he couldn’t answer.

“Remind me to avoid them.” Shouta leaned in to quietly mutter in Hizashi’s ear.

“Wait, this is the mysterious husband?” Rumi stared at Aizawa with wide eyes. She almost felt like she was experiencing a cryptid sighting. “Damn. You got taste, Yamada.”

“Behave, Rumi.” Keigo elbowed her in the side. “You’re going to scare him off.”

“He’s literally married to the most extroverted person any of us have ever met.” Rumi pointed out, dodging another well-aimed elbow. “What do you mean I’m going to scare him off?”

Shouta took advantage of their bickering to silently make his escape, abandoning his son and husband to their fate in favor of becoming a wall flower with Toshinori (and a few minutes later, Higari) on the edges of the mild party.

“What did Snipe mean by ‘shenanigans’?” He found himself asking the other two.

“Something something, alcohol lowers inhibitions and pro heroes tend to have a lot of stress to release.” Higari rolled his eyes. “Feel free to skip those, I get the feeling you wouldn’t like them.”

“I don’t know,” far too much amusement danced in Toshinori’s eyes as he glanced knowingly at the ancient, “I think Shouta’s got a few surprises up his sleeve.”

“That was a one-off incident and you know it.” Shouta slouched slightly into the back of the couch they’d claimed. Higari stared at the two of them from the corner of his eye- he knew Aizawa was a good man, but there were still times he didn’t quite know what to make of him. “...do they actually break out the absinthe?”

“They do.” Toshinori nodded.

“Jesus Christ.” Shouta was definitely never going to any of those; he didn’t even want to imagine it.

Ms. Joke deciding he was fresh meat and flirting with him no matter how blatantly he told her he was married until Hizashi came to play protective, peeved knight in golden armor almost solidified Shouta never coming to an all-ages event again.

At least Izuku was having a good time terrorizing socializing with the Shiketsu students. Shouta was pretty sure he heard them talking about quirk analysis when he crossed by them on the way to the restroom. How nice for them to meet someone with as many questions as they had.

Chapter Text

“Alright, lets settle down. We have a lot to cover in homeroom and I am not postponing your English test another day.” Hizashi pulled a handful of packets out of their laptop bag and passed a few to each student in the first row to pass back.

“It’s finally time for your first joint exercise with 1B- community service!” He continued. “As heroes, it’s important you be able to work hand in hand with your colleagues; this will be your first taste of that. It’s arguably more important that you never lose sight of one of your main priorities- not only protecting the general public but serving them too. There’s a lot of fame, glory, and money to be had in this career if you become a top pro, but I don’t want any of you forgetting why you’re here in the first place.

“As you grow into your careers, there are any number of ways for you to give back- including the ability to start charities to support the cause you care about most.” They made eye contact with Koda and Uraraka at that. Koda could be a driving force for protecting wildlife once he found his confidence and Uraraka had made more than one comment about wanting to be a pro to help support her family.

That was no lesser a reason to be a pro than any other, but she had so much more potential than just that. With her cutesy, family friendly hero persona, she could do a lot of good for other families facing the same struggles.

“For now, you’ll be doing both things at the same time. Starting this weekend, you’ll be paired up with someone from 1B and volunteering for a few hours at a local charity or non-profit. We tried to pair you up with places that suit the kinds of hero you want to be, but if there’s any issues don’t hesitate to let me know. Your packets should have the info on your partner, place of volunteering, and times. You’ll have a few minutes to review them at the end of homeroom, for now we need to cover the expectations.”

The expectations were pretty simple, all told. Be responsible, respectful, and remember they were representing not only UA as an institution but themselves before their career even started. Similar to how important it was to have a solid hero name before their first internships because there was always a chance they became known and stuck with it for the rest of their careers, making an ass of themselves while volunteering could ruin their career before they even had the chance to get it started.

The rest was just the standard closed-toed shoes, no ripped clothing, if you had long hair it needed to be pulled back if you were working with food kinds of rules. Hizashi also gave them the heads up that anyone working with food would be required to wear hair nets too and he expected no arguments about it. For some reason that was always a sticking point with at least a few kids and they wanted to head it off at the pass.

This year's 1A was solid; there were a few faces made but no one raised any complaints.

“Who did you get?” Hitoshi flipped open his own assignment and immediately made a face.

“I think we should be asking you that.” Izuku had a sneaking suspicion he knew who the purple boy had been paired up with.

“Let me guess, flower boy got the blonde buffoon.” Katsuki, as he so often was, was on the exact same page.

“I thought we were over this.” Izuku sighed. “He apologized, but he can’t grow from it if we don’t let him.”

“I understand and agree with that, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend four hours with him every Saturday afternoon for a month.” Hitoshi glanced at the schedule.

“It’s only for a month?” Izuku glanced at his own schedule than at his papa.

“It’s all we’re requiring for now.” Hizashi answered. “You’ll have other assignments like this each semester, but you’re always free to continue volunteering on your own.”

Izuku wouldn’t out anyone, but he did know who the sorcerers in 1B were; all the sorcerers in the school could tell each other apart from the other students. He’d been paired up with one of them- Kodai Yui- to do a few special projects at a local organization that supported young sorcerers who hadn’t known they were sorcerers.

They needed a few of their storage rooms sorted and taken inventory of, a few of the training rooms they used to teach kids how to manage their abilities deep cleaned, and for certain files to be pulled. They could’ve done a lot of that with magic, but Nedzu reached out to see if there was anything his students could do to help. The Center for Support and Education (the boring, nondescript name didn't matter much when they were mostly spread by word of mouth) wouldn’t ever say no to a few more helping hands.

Shouta didn’t want to interfere with the volunteering or make himself too conspicuous, but he would be lurking nearby at a coffee shop with a good book or five for the duration, just in case. Hizashi was happy about it because not only was Izuku still getting his hours in, it was an enforced break for their husband. Shouta was slowly but surely starting to overwork himself and Hizashi had concerns.

“I got a library?” Katsuki stared down at his in confusion, then up at Hizashi who only smiled at him. “What am I supposed to do at a library?”

“Maybe its to work on your people skills?” Izuku was being genuine- Katsuki could be… prickly, when it came to strangers.

“Hah?!” He whipped his gaze up to Izuku, almost offended. “What’s that supposed to mean, nerd? You’re the one that’s not good at people!”

Izuku held onto a ‘better than you’ and a fit of the giggles. It was by the skin of his teeth, but he managed it. Until Hitoshi spoke up.

“Maybe it’s to teach you how to use your inside voice.”

That’s when Izuku lost it, breaking down into unending snickers (they just kept restarting any time he looked at Katsuki) until Hizashi sighed and just sent him up to Nedzu. Of all the students, he’d survive missing the English test the most.

Chapter Text

“Good afternoon, Izuku!” Akira, the oldest Tokoyami daughter, greeted as he and Hizashi stepped through the front door of the shop the following Thursday afternoon after classes. “Yamada, Queenie!”

“Good afternoon.” They greeted back, with Queenie popping out of Izuku’s pocket to use the arm he helpfully moved for her to slither up to his neck. There were a few other patrons perusing the books and herb collection, but they paid Izuku no mind. Animals of any kind were more than welcome in that particular shop- Maro was a well-known force of nature.

“Dad had to step out back to help with a delivery, but he should be ready for you soon.” She told them. “Feel free to look around, or I can let you into the back. I’ve also got Aizawa’s order ready for you.”

“I think I’ll take another look at your teas.” Hizashi decided. “Have you gotten anything new in?”

“Dad ordered some new desert teas.” Akira went over to explain the new options after letting Izuku past the counter into the private rooms to the back of the building. There was a hall stretching from the door to the left behind the counter with doors on the left hand side and a staircase going upstairs on the very end. Those rooms were mostly where the rarer, more expensive, or sorcerer specific items were kept. The last door led down another, wider hallway that connected to the loading dock out back and a few more, slightly smaller storage rooms.

Izuku took the stairs up, heading directly to Maro’s office with Queenie in tow. It was time for her to have another check-up; after her explosive birth and subsequent bonding with Izuku, the former cryptozoologist had become her de-facto veterinarian. He wasn’t technically a vet himself, but where else were they supposed to take a basilisk?

Besides, Maro took the responsibility seriously. He may not have the official certifications a normal veterinarian had but he’d taken a few crash courses on snakes and made sure his friends and contacts who knew more were in the loop in case he needed to reach out with anything more specific than he knew how to handle.

Izuku went to the little branch shaped resting spot Maro had set up for Queenie on a little narrow desk under the window (with a bonus sunlamp in case the sun decided to hide), but she was having none of that.

“Queenie-”

“He’s not here yet, husssssh.” The wily little serpent snuggled in against Izuku’s collarbone, refusing to move until she had to. “You’re warmer anywaysssss.”

“You’re always so dramatic.” Izuku rolled his eyes. She wasn’t really dramatic (that was a lie), but she had been clingier than normal since the second nomu incident. The issue was she was starting to get bigger. That wasn’t an issue for keeping her around, not when Shouta taught him how to make a space larger on the inside, but he was worried about what happened when she got too big.

Queenie didn’t have a rebuttal for that.

“Good afternoon, you two!” Maro finally joined them in his office fifteen minutes later after saying hello to Hizashi in the main room below. They rarely went up for Queenie’s check ups- Queenie always got a special buggy treat; it was better for everyone that they sat that out. “How’re you doing today?”

“I’m fine, Maro.”

“Me too!” Queenie told the adult brightly. Maro stopped in his tracks, reminding Izuku he’d forgotten something. Whoops.

“She started being able to talk to more than just me a couple weeks ago.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, fingers brushing the scales of his living scarf. “Guess we forgot to update you, sorry. There’s been a lot going on.”

“I can only imagine.” Maro took everything in stride as Queenie stretched up to lay her head on top of Izuku’s. She was supposed to be moving to the desk. “I finally got around to seeing what happened on the news, I’m glad you both made it out of that unharmed.”

Izuku was only mostly unharmed, but he didn’t feel the need to clarify that as Maro reached over to gently pet the top of Queenie’s head before letting her slither over his arm instead.

“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about.” He told the cryptozoologist instead. “Her venom is getting stronger- it started affecting the Nomu. They managed to get a few to study, but if they’re anything like the one at the USJ, they’re hardier than normal zombies.”

“Normal zombies would be difficult enough to stop, even for a baby basilisk.” Maro hummed, carrying Queenie over to the window desk for her check up. He had everything he needed there, including a scale to weigh her and vials to collect her venom. There were some things he could test with the feeder mice he’d started keeping on hand, but the potency of her venom wasn’t one of those things.

Queenie complied as he went through a standard health check up (standard for them- with how hard it was to tell what kind of snake she was initially supposed to be and how they weren’t sure what changed with the transformation into a basilisk, they played it fairly fast and loose instead of fussing over particulars. Maro was noting the particulars as they went along). She let him take a sample of her venom, weigh her, and do anything else he needed to without too many complaints, although she did grumble when he made her stay still so he could get proper measurements.

“You’re almost three feet long now.” He noted in a congratulatory tone. “And about two and a half inches at your widest.” She was actually getting wider faster than she was longer, but he was fairly certain she wasn’t getting chubby.

That’s just how she was growing. “I think it’s safe to start feeding her hopper mice every few weeks, or even let her hunt in the sanctuaries when we have the weather for it. I wouldn’t recommend letting her hunt around the house or in the backyard though- there could be issues with pesticides and the like.”

Queenie hissed at the mere thought that something as mundane as a pesticide could hurt her, but neither paid her any mind. Izuku just made notes in his phone about the schedule of the feedings and the local places Maro approved of for getting feeder mice if they weren’t able to get to him for some reason.

He also got out a few of the still-living feeder mice one at a time to test the power of Queenie’s gaze. They already knew she could petrify, but he was suspicious she could do more than that now. She got into position as he set the first mouse down, then petrified it the moment Maro’s arm was clear as a sort of baseline. (Maro was also tracking the speed at which the mice petrified- they were turning to rock faster and faster as the months went by.)

The second mouse didn’t turn to stone. It took focus on Queenie’s part, but that time when Maro moved back to safety the mouse froze. At first it was probably in fear based on the minute quivering shaking it’s frame, then the poor thing just fell over.

For the first time, the young basilisk killed something with her gaze and gaze alone.

“Oh, well done!” Maro crooned, excited and proud of the new feat. “Beautiful girl!”

“Izzzu, I did it!” Queenie turned to her human, seeking his approval.

“You did!” Izuku didn’t disappoint, just as proud of his baby as Maro was. “Look at you go!”

“Think I could usssse that againssst Henry the next time he triesss to trap me?” Queenie wriggled around happily.

“I would prefer you didn’t.” The teen snorted while Maro jotted down more notes. “I’m sure dad feels the same.”

“Fiiiiine.” The sigh had just a bit too much teenage disappointment in it, making both Izuku and Maro wonder if she was entering her own metaphorical ‘teen’ years or if she was just spending too much time around 1A. The answer to that, unfortunately, was only something time would tell.

“I did have one other thing I wanted to talk to you about, with Queenie getting bigger.” Izuku brought up as they wrapped up the appointment. “The literal pocket dimension is working well so far, but I’m thinking we may need to move to more of a pouch situation soon so she can fit in and out of the opening.”

“Hey!” Queenie hissed in rebuke of the idea she was getting too chunky. “Don’t be rude, Izzzuku!”

“This is what I meant by dramatic.” He rolled his eyes. “Queenie, most full grown basilisks are fifty times your size. We’re gonna have to figure out new options as you grow. To that end-” he turned back to Maro- “What do you think the options are for potentially shrinking her down the line? Is that a magic she might be capable of on her own, or is there a spell we could use that wouldn’t hurt her? Maybe like a runed collar? Or sweater?”

Maro contemplated the issue.

“The sweater idea has potential, for keeping her safe in the winter if for no other reason. Let me get you some books on knitting magic just in case- that’s practically an entire realm of itself.” It would also just be adorable to have Queenie in little sweaters, but he didn’t say that out loud for fear of her drama being directed at him. He had enough teenagers of his own, thank you very much. “Otherwise, I’m not sure. I’ll look into a few possibilities and let you know if there’s anything I’m willing to try with her.”

The one thing he wouldn’t be doing is putting the young basilisk in actual danger in the pursuit of answers, but basilisks were thought to be a cousin of dragons. There was a ton more research on dragons out there- and even better, one of Maro’s previous zoologist partners was a renowned expert on them. She’d more than likely have a few leads she’d jump at the chance to share.

Such was the joy of working on cutting-edge research like Maro was; almost everyone he reached out to for advise nearly tripped over themselves to participate.

“You could likely also apply the same concepts to armor.” He muttered, setting the tablet down to let his fingers fly over it’s keyboard even faster. There were so many potential applications here, many of which would likely be useful not only for Queenie’s daily life but her future career working with Izuku out in the field.

“Dad might have some ideas too.” He noted. “I’ll have to bring it up with him later.”

“Please do. Did you have any other concerns?” Maro glanced at the time, knowing Izuku was going with Hizashi tothe radio station after this and had to be there at a certain time.

“Not right now.” The teen shook his head, mirrored by Queenie. “But I’ll let you know if anything pops up.”

“Thank you.” Maro accompanied the pair down after giving Queenie her promised bug. He wanted to make sure Izuku got those knitting books while he was thinking about it, simply adding them to Shouta’s tab as normal.

“Stay safe!” He waved them off as they left.

“Mom’s going to be mad about you rabbit-holing again, isn’t she?” Akira asked, amused. She knew what that light in her father’s eyes meant.

“Your mother knows who she married.” Was all he said before turning to go back to his office. He had a lot of research to get to.

Chapter Text

“Izuku!” Himiko squealed as she ran through the cafeteria, heedless of the multitude of eyes drawn to her. Nedzu said it was fine for her to be there; she didn’t care what anyone else thought about it. She had news to deliver.

Izuku glanced up at the familiar voice, standing up and waving so she’d know which corner they’d settled themselves into. He did notice Monoma hunkering down as Himiko raced down the aisle past him- poor kid hadn’t gotten over Kinoshita’s comment in the hospital room.

“What’s up, Himi?” He asked like most of 1A wasn’t hanging on their every word. It wasn’t their fault Izuku knew all the best and most interesting people. Mina, Kyoka, Hitoshi, and Katsuki were already glaring at anyone who looked like they were going to say something anyways, their class or otherwise.

“I got accepted.” She gushed, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet to cope with the excitement racing through her veins. “Izuku, I got accepted. I’m gonna be a hero!”

“Oh my god, that’s amazing!” Izuku stood up to give her a hug, immediately joined by Mina and Momo. “Congrats, Himi!”

“I’m so excited, you have no idea.” She continued to squeal, before taking a breath and lowering her volume. “Nedzu and Kan said that even if Class R falls through, Kan’s going to take me on as an apprentice. One way or another, I’m going to be a hero.”

She’d never had aspirations of herodom, but she hadn’t wanted to be a villain either. She was just trying to find a way to survive on the streets after running away from that final, abusive foster home. Then she was trying to survive getting drawn into an organization far, far more powerful than some random, homeless teenager could ever hope to fight on her own.

Now that she was free, she wanted to make sure that never happened to anyone else ever again. Not if she could help it.

“You’re gonna be an amazing hero.” Izuku whispered, with the agreement of all the girls (Kyoka had just joined the hug). The boys agreed too, of course, once they were able to give their own congratulations.

Himiko didn’t stay for lunch because she didn’t want to leave Tenko alone up in Nedzu’s office for too long, plus she had more details to iron out. She was just too excited to hold off sharing any longer.

“What’d she mean by apprentice?” Kyoka asked once everyone else in the cafeteria was minding their own business again.

“I was wondering that too.” Denki leaned forward to steal some of his brother’s edamame, much to Fumikage’s displeasure.

“It’s a way of becoming a pro if you can’t go through the hero school route, though it’s not used that often.” Hitoshi jumped on the explanation before Izuku could. “Usually you see it with people who want to go into the underground but face too much discrimination to actually get into a hero school. Not all of them are as accepting as UA is, and that’s assuming someone can even find a way to train.

“Essentially,” he continued to explain, having looked into the option extensively when he was younger (assuming it would be the only way he’d ever get into the career himself, if that’s the route he ended up wanting to go), “if you can convince a pro hero to take you on as an apprentice, they can train you personally until they sign off on you taking the provisional and final license exams.”

“Huh. I didn’t even know that was an option.” Denki shoved another bite- of his own lunch this time- into his mouth.

“Neither did I.” Fumikage agreed.

“It was our back up option.” Izuku admitted quietly, meeting Hitoshi’s eyes. With a quirk labeled ‘brainwashing’, no matter how inaccurate it was, he would’ve faced almost as much bullshit as he had himself. “If I hadn’t been adopted and couldn’t get into UA myself, Katsuki was going to scope out which hero would be best and figure out how to make an introduction.”

“That’s a good plan.” Hitoshi nodded approvingly. “For what it’s worth, my vote is Maijima-sensei.”

“He’d never let that happen.” Katsuki and Izuku spoke together. Katsuki continued while Izuku snickered. “He’s got his hands full with his own ‘problem child’, to steal the w- Aizawa-sensei’s language. He’d never deal with the two of them together all the time like that.”

“He already bans me from the workshops half the time anyways.” Izuku sighed.

“Wait. Izuku, when do you try to go to the workshops?” Momo frowned. “Who’s the problem child?”

“Hatsume Mei- the girl who turned Iida into an advertisement in the Sports Festival.” He explained. “She’s a genius, but she does love her explosions.”

“You finally got to meet her?” Fumikage asked. “I can’t wait for you two to show up together at one of the youth meet ups.”

“Yeah… I think I might actually pass on that.” Izuku shuddered, remembering the de-aging incident. Although… “Actually, remind me to run something by you and Denki after I talk to dad and Yagi-sensei about it. Maybe also Snipe.” He already wanted to get the two to the next hero-focused magic person meetup, but the addition of Mei could be fun too. At minimum, the Shiketsu students wouldn’t know what hit them- at maximum it might actually convince Higari to let him and Mei spend more time together in the shop.

Or convince him to never, ever let them be around each other again, full stop.

“That sounds terrifying.” Denki snorted, already pulling out his phone. “I’m putting it in my calendar."

“What a mad bouquet of darkness.” Fumikage muttered quietly to himself.

There was something Izuku hadn’t quite thought about when all the AFO stuff started, they realized their family was being targeted, and then they realized that Izuku himself might be targeted. How the hell he was supposed to go on a date with his boyfriend when the world’s oldest super-villain had put a target on his back.

It was a very limiting experience, but there were a few options left to them. The Bakugo’s divorce almost ironically added to the list- they could have actual date nights at Masaru’s house. As a bonus, they got to spend a little more time with Katsuki’s dad too. Izuku hadn’t realized how much he’d missed the man’s solid, reassuring presence.

Katsuki hadn’t either. He had a hard time admitting it, but he was beyond grateful to have the dad he remembered from before Izuku’s diagnosis back. His quiet, calm personality smoothed out a lot of Katsuki’s bluster, plus he was nearly as unflappable as Shouta was. Or he was at least as good as hiding it when something did manage to phase him.

Another thing Masaru knew how to do that his soon-to-be ex wife never seemed to figure out was how to give the teens their space. He greeted Izuku warmly Friday afternoon when he knocked on their front door, having been dropped off by Hizashi on the way to the station, stuck around just long enough to ask how his day had been and do a general check in, then made himself scarce. (He went to the covered patio in the backyard to get some work done on his laptop while the boys cooked themselves a meal together.)

“Have you seen your mom recently?” Izuku finally brought himself to ask once they were seated at the kitchen table with their plates and a few candles in front of them for ambiance. For a moment he thought Katsuki wasn’t going to answer (and he definitely wasn’t going to ask again if he didn’t), but then he took a deep breath.

“No. She’s got the option for weekends, but the hag never responds to dad when he tries to arrange something.” He paused for a moment. “Don’t feel bad, honestly I think I’m probably better off. She would’ve just made a fuss about the volunteering thing anyways.”

“Are you ready to spend four hours modulating your voice?” Izuku asked, changing the subject because he didn’t like the tenseness cinching Katsuki’s shoulders. “I’m honestly not sure you’ll survive it for one day, much less four.”

“Oh fuck off.” Katsuki mimed stabbing Izuku in the arm with his spoon. “At least I’m not doing busywork for some assholes who can’t be bothered to do it themselves. Just you watch, I’m gonna be way better at volunteering than you are.”

“I don’t think we can make volunteering a competition, Kacchan.” He snickered, ignoring the violent motions.

“Fucking watch me.” Katsuki muttered. In the end, he would win the competition they weren’t having- he was one of the few students between both classes that would continue volunteering, though he’d only make it to the library once or twice a week instead of every Saturday.

Chapter Text

Katsuki didn’t know what to expect when he showed up at the downtown library the next day, but Kendo from 1B was only half a block ahead of him. Could’ve been worse- the vice rep of their sister class was probably one of the least annoying options he could’ve been paired up with. As a bubbly (both in personality and in hair) twenty-something showed them the general ropes of the library and what they’d be doing, he wondered how Hitoshi was doing with the blonde buffoon.

He was also glad he didn’t have to pull out the special lotion that neutralized the explosive chemicals in his sweat that Katsuki’d brought on the assumption he’d be shelving books or something all day. That’s not what the library wanted them to do- they were split between a few different classes the library was hosting that day to help direct people and pass out supplies. Katsuki’s first class was aimed at teaching kids ages six to ten specific crafts that helped them practice various locomotion and hand/eye coordination movements.

The class was geared toward kids with disabilities, who’d been in accidents, or who had specific kinds of quirks- quirks like his. He was used to how mindful he had to be about his hands and where he may be spreading sweat, it was just another part of his life and routine. These kids were still figuring that out though.

One girl, Seki Naomi- a seven year old who’s quirk seemed to split the difference between his, Mina’s, and Tenko’s- was particularly struggling to manage her little crochet scarf without melting either the yarn or the hook. Initially Katsuki thought it was just her sweat and skin oil getting in her way, but as she grew more frustrated it became apparent that the ‘melting’ was just disintegration on a very, very small scale and that her emotions influenced the intensity of her quirk.

He sat down next to Seki and gently got her attention, told about his quirk, then showed her what he did to calm himself when his hands got too sweaty. He met the beaming smile she gave him when she completed her fifth row of uneven stitches with a genuine smile of his own. He was going to have to talk to Yagi and Tenko about getting Tenko into volunteering for this specific class. Katsuki had a feeling it’d do the guy a lot of good.

He didn’t know it, but Izuku had gotten roped into something similar. One of the ‘trusted adults’ his volunteering place had keeping an eye on one of their classes geared toward younger kids called in last minute to let them know they wouldn’t make it. Since Kodai came from a line of sorcerers and didn’t have the adoption experience Izuku and Denki did, she volunteered to get a head start on organizing the storage rooms while Izuku played spotter for any issues in that day’s sigil lesson.

“Monoma.”

“Shinso.”

They greeted each other calmly enough, but there was still a tension between them as one of the vet techs that worked with that particular branch of Musutafu Pet Rescue showed them around. It didn’t actually come from Hitoshi, his dramatics on Monday aside. He ultimately agreed with Izuku’s stance on second chances- he himself hadn’t ever done anything to the degree that Monoma had, but he’d made mistakes that people had held against him just because of his what his quirk was. It wasn’t quite the same thing, but if he continued to be a dick now, he’d just be a hypocrite.

No, Monoma was the one who was awkward and tense. It was like he was expecting Hitoshi to snap at him the moment they were alone and he felt he had no recourse but to brace for it ahead of time. Christ, Hitoshi’s entire volunteer experience was going to be teaching Monoma how to chill out, he could feel it.

At least the tasks they’d been assigned weren’t too bad. Some of them were even going to be enjoyable- helping socialize a few cats that’d come in from one of the local feral colonies by hanging out in the same room with them so they could get used to a wide array of people. The rescue took in strays, ferals, and beloved pets who’s owners either couldn’t care for them anymore or couldn’t afford the medical care it’d take to keep them healthy.

In addition to socializing the cats, they’d also be helping with feedings, walking some of the dogs, cleaning out kennels, and generally helping keep the place clean and orderly as the staff went around their business. It was the dog walking and the socializing that would give Hitoshi the chance to actually talk with Monoma.

“Unlike the cats, I don’t bite.” He took pity on the blonde and broke the silence between them as they sat on one side of the smallish room and the white and orange cat hiding from them in one of the three scratching post’s hidey holes.

“I’m sorry?” Monoma glanced up at him.

“You look like you’re waiting for me to bite you or something. I’m not going to.” Hitoshi reiterated. “I know you’re not good at people, or at least interacting people when you’re not tripping over your own arrogance, but you apologized and are trying to do better. As far as I’m concerned, it’s water under the bridge. Stop beating yourself up over it.”

“You say that like it’s that easy.” The boy from 1B muttered, rubbing the fabric of his jeans with one hands.

“You say that like it can’t be.” Hitoshi watched Monoma’s transparent figure for a moment in the reflection of one of the windows separating their room from the main lobby of the rescue. “Look dude, I don’t know how much of a bully you’ve been in the past, but I can only imagine that’s why you’re still expecting a reckoning. What I do know is UA has some really good therapists that can help you work through that and make amends to anyone you’ve wronged in the past.”

“I know it might be hard to believe and I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t, but I’ve never done anything like that before.” He sighed. “I’d have had to actually be around people my own age more often for that. I interned with Jeanist because he’s my cousin, but he’s not the only pro in my family. I was home schooled because of it, so I never really got to socialize with others much. I guess you could say I’m not too different from Stitch over there.” Stitch being the name of the skittish kitten peering at them from across the room with glowing eyes.

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. It’s not an excuse, but I took and failed the legacy exam abysmally. Then I didn’t even manage to make it into 1A when my family’s been saying I’m gonna be the next Jeanist for like a year. I didn’t… take it well.”

“I don’t really know how to help you with that, but you can still talk to the therapists at school about it. We all had to see them after the USJ so I can confirm they’re all super nice. They can help you work on the socialization skills you’ve missed out on too.”

“Really?” Monoma stared at him.

“Really.” Hitoshi nodded. “And for what it’s worth, you can always start sitting with us if you want practice, or even just don’t want to be alone. We all know what it’s like to be ostracized for one reason or another, we won’t stand for that sh- stuff.” He glanced up, but it didn’t seem like any of the staff noticed his near slip-up. “Kat-Bakugo’s not as scary as he looks, promise.”

Izuku was the truly scary one, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. If Monoma had more than three brain cells, he’d already figured that part out anyways.

“What about the rainbow haired girl? Toshinori?”

“Oh, Himiko?” Hitoshi snickered at Monoma’s hesitancy, even behind multiple doors that needed key cards to get through. “You don’t need to worry about her either- she knows she’s not allowed to bite.”

The sentence wasn’t quite as reassuring as it could’ve been, but Hitoshi was allowed to have his fun too.

Chapter Text

ghost hunters and tag alongs

oneofus: meet us at the school at seven

oneofus: papa already got parental permission, but feel free to text them yourselves to confirm

The text message came in about half an hour after most of their first volunteer shifts ended and wasn’t concerning in the slightest coming from the most gremlin of their group with absolutely no context. The gremlin’s boyfriend’s response didn’t help add context either.

mrgrumpypants: is it really on? Oh FUCK yeah

mrgrumpypants: im bringin the good shit. You fucks better be excited

Yeah, totally not concerning in the slightest.

god: do I need to bring the fire extinguisher?

oneofus: lmao no

oneofus: it’s not gonna be that kind of party, promise

pinkiepie: after hours party at ua? I’m in!

sparksparkfallinlove: me too!

life_is_a_nightmare: if nedzu decides to end our lives for trespassing, I pray that he does so painlessly

oneofus: he’s not gonna kill us 🙄 we have his permission to be there you drama llama

sparksparkfallinlove: lmao tokollama

sparksparkfallinlove: quick someone make that his new username

life_is_a_nightmare: DON’T YOU DARE

god: please leave tokoyami alone

god: the last thing we need his him summoning demons for us to deal with as well

naptime: jesus christ momo

pinkiepie: 💀💀💀

sparksparkfallinlove: lmaaaaooooooo burn

sparksparkfallinlove: but for real, pls don’t summon demons toko

mrgrumpypants: didn’t know ponytail was capable of that

oneofus: yes you did kacchan

mrgrumpypants: ...yes I did

naptime: lmao whipped

sparksparkfallinlove: wait are we going on a ghost hunt at ua???????????

pinkiepie: !!!!!!!!!!!

mrgrumpypants: SHUT THE FUCK UP FLOWER BOY

naptime: lmao make me bitch

god: boys, please

oneofus: no, we’re not going ghost hunting. We’re not even going inside

oneofus: feel free to bring your own blankets, but we will have back ups if you don’t want to deal with it

the_walls_have_ears: why is my phone blowing up?

the_walls_have_ears: you know what, I’m not even going to question it. Dad says he’s got a bag ready for me, see you there

oneofus: that’s the spirit!

oneofus: not literally though

oneofus: unless my brother decides to tag along

life_is_a_nightmare:

pinkiepie:

sparksparkfallinlove:

god:

the_walls_have_ears:

naptime:

pinkiepie: izu ily but wtf

naptime: care to elaborate there bud?

life_is_a_nightmare: I do believe there’s something you’ve forgotten to tell us again

oneofus: whoops

oneofus: this is more of an in-person conversation I think. Looks like we’ll be having a cuddle pile before our actual plans start

Hitoshi started second guessing the wisdom of his decision to low-key invite Monoma to the outer edges of their friend group. He clearly needed the friendship, Mina’s proclivity for adopting strays had spread across the rest of them, and he already knew both about magic and some about the Yamazawa’s specific circumstances, but these idiots could be stressful to deal with. It may not be the best ‘baby’s first friends’ set-up for Monoma.

Well, what’s done was done. Besides, Monoma’d lurked around their bullshit for like a week waiting for his chance to properly apologized. If he decided to take Hitoshi up on his offer at that point, it was probably already too late for him.

Going on dates wasn’t the only difficult thing to do with Alaric watching probably all of them, but Shouta was already in problem solving mode so he took care of that too.

If the kids couldn’t go to the movies, they could bring the movies to them. Nedzu was only too happy to oblige his odd little pack’s social and entertainment needs. Maybe it was nepotism, maybe he’d already engaged in nepotism when he hired Shouta in the first place. Either way, he didn’t much care. Not when he enjoyed making sure his people were safe and well taken care of.

Even the ones who were only tangentially connected to him and were technically already dead.

“Why am I here again?” Torino, driven there with his grand kids by Yagi, asked. He’d never actually met Nedzu face to face and was mildly wary of the rat despite knowing how much of a role he was playing on the anti-AFO team.

“To enjoy the not-drive in drive in.” Tenko paused getting his spot- nice, fold out chair with attached footrest over a water proof picnic blanket that had little cartoon bats all over it to protect them from the muddy ground- set up. Himiko had her own chair (pink to his purple) set up next to him while Freddy took the opportunity to engage in a nice, soothing zoomies around them.

“You’re just as much a part of the family now as anyone else is.” Himiko added.

Torino, for all of his tendencies to troll everyone around him at the drop of a hat, couldn’t bring himself to argue with his grandchildren. He could grumble at Toshinori and Nana about staying up past his bedtime and didn’t they know he was old, though.

“Give it up, old man.” Nana laughed, one of the most care free sounds she’d made in years. “You know full well there’s nowhere else you’d rather be.”

She had him there.

“The green kid also let slip that he had a dead brother hanging around.” Kudo threw an arm around Yoichi’s shoulders. “I think his plan is to introduce us now.”

“Dear god.” Bruce muttered. “Aren’t they traumatized enough?”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.” Kudo rolled his eyes. “We’re delightful. Besides, I’ve been told they used to try to hunt ghosts- they’ll probably be excited to meet some.”

“Something something mom, Kudo said a bad word.” En, sprawled out starfish on the ground in front of the projector, laughed.

“Boys, please.” Nana sighed as Freddy came up to her, tongue lolling out one side of his mouth as he panted from his run, for attention and scritches. At this point she wasn’t convinced they were ever actually going to get around to the movie.

Izuku and Shouta hung out at the front gate while they waited for his friends. That was the initial plan regardless, but now it was so Izuku could explain that particular update.

“Is there anything else you’d like to share while you’re thinking about it?” Momo asked weakly, still reeling over the fact they were about to actually meet real ghosts. It wasn’t necessarily logical given everything they knew and the fact Shouta and the Tokoyamis straight up told them all ghosts were real, a part of her still hadn’t quite believed it without proof.

“I mean, you already knew Queenie developed the ability to talk to everyone.” Izuku shrugged. “That’s the only other bombshell I think we’ve forgotten to share recently- sorry again to Maro. Also how did you two also forget to tell him?” He frowned at Denki and Fumikage. Denki shrugged.

“I don't know man, there’s a lot going on.”

“We do need to get things started sooner rather than later.” Shouta interjected, glancing at the clock on his phone. “We should get a move on.”

“It’s the kids!” Bruce was the first to spot the kids making their way over. “Everyone look alive.”

“I don’t know how to break this to you, but it’s a bit late for that.” Daigoro appeared, leaning over his shoulder only to laugh when Bruce pushed him off.

The ghosts absolutely played up their ghost-ness when the teens got a little too excited about meeting them. Yoichi- as he almost always was- was nervous about meeting them, but Kudo quietly reminded him that they liked Izuku’s friends. They were good kids.

He ended up sat between Izuku and Hitoshi when Nedzu finally got the movie- an old pre-quirk classic called Hercules- started. During the training montage, the purple kid absently tried to offer him popcorn absolutely drenched in Katsuki’s ‘famous secret’ popcorn seasoning (the good stuff) not just once but three times.

Izuku held hands with Katsuki (sitting on his other side) the entire movie. They weren’t the only ones, or even the ones going the furthest- Shouta was asleep with his head in Hizashi’s lap on their own blanket (they’d forgone the chairs in favor of sitting on the ground). Yoichi was straight up sitting in Kudo’s lap. The other ghosts finally had confirmation they were dating after the disaster in Tokyo (thanks to Bruce, the asshole), so there was no point in hiding it.

Surprisingly, Oboro and Nemuri followed in the teen’s footsteps and were only holding hands across their separate chairs. Would wonders never cease.

Chapter Text

There was change in the air as the second to last week of May started, Shouta could feel it when he woke up Monday morning.

Yagi texted them on Tuesday to let them know Tenko was applying for Class R. If Nedzu alone was in charge of who was allowed into the class, he would’ve been rubber stamped immediately. As it was, with the ‘rehabilitation’ class being such a new, untested idea, there were a few more hoops that needed to be jumped through, including a small council that weighed each application consisting of Nedzu, a few teachers, a few members of the school board, and finally two HPSC representatives.

There was a lot riding on the course’s first class- if this went badly, there wouldn’t be another attempt at anything of the sort for a long time, probably decades. Not only that, but the other hero schools were keeping a weather eye on the project in anticipation of potentially adopting a version of it into their own schools.

There was even the possibility of starting up a whole new school with that specific focus. So much potential all depending on the first handful of candidates lucky enough to get chosen for the part. For that reason, anyone allowed into the course needed at least an eighty five percent approval rate.

There was a certain amount of wiggle room to meet each individual student where they were, but even still Tenko was still at roughly a middle school level of his education as they filled in the gaps of everything he’d missed. Early middle school, at that, and only because of Nedzu’s expert tutoring skills. He just wasn’t sure he’d be able to swing it, so he didn’t want the fact he’d applied spread too far yet. He did give permission for the Yamazawa adults to know though.

He let himself be lulled into a false sense of security; a rookie mistake that resulted in him getting blindsided by 1A when he tried to get their history class started on Wednesday.

“Aizawa-sensei?” Sero raised a hand before the ancient even made it to the desk. “Can we ask you a question?”

“A lesser sensei would point out that you just did.” Shouta put down his backpack. “What can I help you with, Sero?”

“You’re Izuku’s mentor when it comes to sorcery, right?” Sero glanced at Shoji and Ojiro, who both turned to nod at him. Izuku glanced up, startled by the topic and clearly not aware of whatever they’d conspired to ask. Shouta was intrigued about what his students were about to throw at him. “Do you have to be a sorcerer to have a mentor? Bakugo’s not a sorcerer.”

“Hey!” Katsuki protested. He wasn’t quite sure what he was protesting, but he’d been brought into this so protesting was what Sero got.

“Bakugo isn’t a sorcerer, you’re correct about that.” Shouta frowned slightly, glancing at Katsuki’s confused scowl before turning his attention back to Sero. I think what you’re looking for is ‘apprentice’- that’s our term for a young sorcerer who’s learning magic from a sorcerer they’re technically not related to. Yes, you have to be a sorcerer to be an apprentice. It’s inherent in the title.”

“But Bakugo’s learning magic too?” Ojiro piped up when Sero slumped, disappointed. “How does that work?”

“I’m not learning sorcery, I’m learning witchcraft.” Katsuki answered before Shouta could. “It’s different. Anyone can learn witchcraft, but only people with the ability can learn sorcery.”

“Can you teach us that?” Sero perked back up. “I’m not sure what the difference is, but we want to learn.” Almost everyone in the class outside the kids he’d already been teaching for almost a year immediately agreed with far more fervor than they approached their homework with.

Shouta’s gaze trailed over all of them as he considered the question, ending on his son and Katsuki, who both shrugged.

“It’d be good for our careers down the line.” Shoji pointed out. “We already know about magic and some of the villains we face will no doubt be sorcerers or witches?” He glanced at Katsuki, who nodded at the term. “Witches.” Shoji repeated with more confidence. “We should be able to protect ourselves against them.”

“You don’t need to convince me, I’m fully in support of each of you learning magic.” Shouta raised a hand to calm him when it looked like Shoji was going to continue with more reasons. “That was never my concern. However, my plate is a bit full right now; unfortunately I don’t have the space to teach you witchcraft myself at this time.”

Two thirds of the class voiced their disappointment.

“I’ll reach out to Bakugo’s mentor and see if he’s willing to set something up.” Shouta wasn’t about to out Snipe, but he was pretty sure the gunslinger would love to teach the kids. “We may be able to swing something like an after school tutoring session a few times a week. I’ll keep you informed.”

“Yes!” The cheer went up across the classroom while the ancient sent out a quick text to Snipe and Nedzu. He was right about not being able to do it himself- he’d moved to being annoyed about it now that his brain was automatically throwing out ideas- but he had a feeling there were going to be more than students attending the class. Oboro seemed to enjoy his brief lesson from the teens about warding and it would be a good thing for the mundane side of the school’s staff to know too.

Text sent before it could fall out of his brain, Shouta turned his attention back to the class.

“Now, we do have a new subject today that we need to get started. I’ve got some new books for you too, so come up and get them.” He started pulling out copies of the specific text he’d chosen about the Tudors from the backpack.

At this point he’d just given up and was buying different books about each subject with his own money instead of dealing with textbook bullshit. It wasn’t like it was hurting him and Maro was more than happy to do business with him even if it was non-magical in nature. He was simply supporting a locally owned business. He was pretty sure that was something the modern era still cared about.

The students responded to it well at least, most already reading the summary or flipping through it before they even returned to their seats. Teaching was far more rewarding than Shouta’d ever expected it to be, more than worth the headache that came alongside it.

Chapter Text

Katsuki was successful in his one man crusade of getting Tenko to the library the following Saturday. It was a short turn around, but the library was more than happy to have another volunteer and Tenko was trying to work on getting out in public more. Therapy was doing wonders for him.

As did meeting a little girl with a quirk painfully similar to his who, while frustrated with it at times, wasn’t afraid. He was spending so much time desperate to get better at being around sorcery that it’d never once occurred to him that he still viewed his quirk as something he preferred not to exist, something other from him.

But a quirk was just a quirk, wasn’t it? Just something else some people could do, not yet another thing he needed to hate about himself.

The idea unlocked something inside him. Or maybe unlocked wasn’t quite the right word, maybe the idea was just the catalyst his subconscious needed to connect and really internalize a few different things his therapist and the adults now in his life had been telling him the entire time.

His quirk was just an ability he had, like his ability to comfort Himiko after a nightmare or always be able to find the right star or galaxy with their telescope. Magic was a different kind of ability that played by a different set of rules, but it was still just an ability. It also wasn’t inherently something to be feared.

Katsuki was starting to get worried he’d broken Tenko. Izuku was going to murder him if he had (if Himiko didn’t get to him first), but that’d never been his intention. He was just trying to be helpf-

“Oomph.” He grunted when Tenko nearly tackled him in a back-breaking hug. “Ten.” He thunked the young man’s back with maybe a little more force than he really needed to, but he couldn’t breathe. “Ten. Ease up.”

“Sorry.” Tenko whispered into Katsuki’s shoulder, readjusting his grip so he wasn’t accidentally suffocating him. “Thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Katsuki cleared his throat, awkwardly rubbing Tenko’s back. He was pretty sure he knew what the guy really meant, but that didn’t make him any better at dealing with raw emotions like that. “And don’t tell anyone I almost broke you.”

“Please.” Tenko huffed, wiping his eyes as he finally pulled back. “It’d take a lot more than you to break me.”

Katsuki found himself smiling genuinely for the second time in the library’s craft room, but he wasn’t going to force himself to stop. If people didn’t want him to smile, they shouldn’t give him things worth smiling about.

Meanwhile Hitoshi was working on a similar breakthrough, sort of. Monoma’s personal revelation wasn’t quite so life-changing, but he was starting to warm up to Hitoshi at least. Hitoshi was fine with the baby steps- as long as they were continuing in a forward direction, that’s all that mattered.

Snipe had his first official UA Witchcraft Lesson Tuesday afternoon after classes let out. It was one of the few times Nedzu gave permission for someone to bring students en mass down to the (generally) teacher only gym below the main school building. It gave them the privacy they needed for the lesson without any of the other students who had need to stay late passing by and wondering why so many first years and teachers were circled up around Snipe on the exercise mats.

Snipe’s schedule would allow for regular Tuesday and alternating Thursday lessons if the first one went well and there was enough interest. He had a couple lesson ideas sketched out already thanks to Katsuki’s interest in the subject, he just had to alter them from a one on one setting as they moved forward- if they moved forward.

He shouldn’t have been worried about the ‘if’s. The teachers Nedzu hired tended to love learning new things and picking up new skills and the students were all enthralled. By the time Higari drove them home Tuesday evening he was already making permanent appointments in his phone calendar and trying to figure out if he had enough basic lessons to at least get them to the end of the semester.

Then there were all the subcategories like kitchen witchcraft, green witchcraft, deity work, and the like. He’d probably need to set up sections a week or two long the following semester for each little niche, which meant that he’d need to start brushing up on the ones he didn’t use all that much in his personal practice. Maybe he should tag team with Shouta ahead of the deity work one so the kids had a better understanding of world religions and different pantheons…

That was assuming he still had enough interest in those parts of the craft. (Who was he kidding, of course he was.)

Higari chuckled at him when Snipe started making lists of the books in his personal library, trying to figure which would be appropriate to share with the teens and which might risk a random Karen mother going after his ass. He brought him a nice mug of tea though, so Snipe let it go with a thank you kiss to his husband’s cheek.

“Hey, come to the kitchen for a minute, we’ve got some things we need to talk about.” Toshinori swung by the living room to collect his children. “It’s nothing bad, I promise. Plus, I picked up pizza and more blood.”

“What kind of pizza?” Himiko stared at him suspiciously.

“The cheap ones from the place just a little too far away.” He answered, smug because he knew it was the right one. That place had the best pizzas- he was convinced there was either a quirk or magic involved. They were celebrating, it was worth the time. Tenko and Himiko shared a skeptical glance though.

“Consolation pizza.” Himiko intoned while Tenko soberly shook his head.

“No, no, none of that.” Toshinori did his best to ignore Nana laughing at him. “I promise it’s not consolation pizza- its not bad news. If anything, I’d pick up consolation ice cream. Ice cream is much better for that.”

“Okay…” Himiko didn’t sound convinced, but she let Tenko pull her to her feet. “If you insist.”

“Go ahead and make your plates, we’ve got a lot to get through.” He grinned. He couldn’t wait for this.

“What’s… all that?” Tenko stared in muted horror at the stack of envelopes Toshinori set down next to his plate once they were all settled at the table.

“Presents.” Toshinori didn’t elaborate, just passed the top two envelopes to each of them. The siblings shared another look before slowly unwinding the red string holding the manila envelopes shut.

“Wait.” Himiko kept glancing between Toshinori and the sheets of paper she’d carefully freed, then leaned over to check Tenko’s. “Is this real? It’s official?”

“It’s official, you’re both mine.” He confirmed. Tenko clutched his freshly printed (the ink was nearly still wet) adoption papers tighter while Himiko just broke into tears. “Oh sweetheart, it’s okay.” He immediately got up and rounded the table to pull her into a hug.

“It’s- it’s reaaalllllll.” She hiccuped into his chest over and over while he rubbed her back.

“She was worried someone would still somehow take us away from you.” Tenko quietly explained as he joined the hug. He’d been worried too but knew it was just his anxiety speaking. They’d managed to keep him out of jail when almost everyone thought he was AFO’s right hand man; he had faith.

“Over my dead body.” Toshinori promised. He meant for it to be reassuring, but the words lacked the same power they carried for Shouta.

“That’s the other thing we’re worried about.” Tenko muttered, unable to meet his dad’s eyes.

“Life throws curve balls and there’s not a lot we can do about it, that’s true.” The old pro sighed. “I’m already in my mid fifties and not getting any younger. But what I can promise is that I’m going to do everything I can to come home every night. That’s the second thing that became official today- I’m retiring from patrols.”

“What?” His kids pulled back to stare at him.

“Shouta may have broken the curse, but my career is still decades long. Hero work is rough even when you’re not everyone’s favorite tank; you both already knew I was in semi-retirement. This is just part of that- I’m stopping patrols to focus on you two and AFO, then with any luck I’ll be fully retiring once he’s dealt with.”

He still couldn’t believe he was able to say those words out loud. Retirement wasn’t something Toshinori had ever thought would be possible- he’d always assumed he’d be killed in the line of duty the same way all his predecessors were. The only reason he had any of this now, had hope, was because of Aizawa Shouta and the wealth of info they had on AFO now. His curse was broken, his kids were rescued and safe, and they were now an official family as far as they, the government, or anyone else was concerned.

It was still going to be a bitch of a fight to take down their personal boogeyman, but all of that gave the pro reason to hope.

“This feels like the end of an era.” Himiko wiped her eyes.

“Or the beginning of a new one.” Toshinori summoned the final envelope on the table with a swish of his fingers. “Tenko, this is for you.”

“What- no.” He took it, already suspecting what he’d find inside. Sure enough- “I got in?”

“You got in!” Himiko squealed, turning to wrap her arms around Tenko’s waist. “We’re gonna be classmates!”

“Did you do something?” Tenko glanced up to meet Toshinori’s eyes. “Advocate for me?”

“I would have in a heartbeat if you needed me to,” he said, "but I didn’t have to. You did this all on your own. Congratulations, Tenko. I’m so proud of both of you.”

Himiko wasn’t the only one crying after that. Their poor pizza was cold by the time they finally got around to actually eating it.

Chapter Text

“You’re in a good mood.” Neito kept glancing at Hitoshi as they worked their way through scooping food into every food bowl in the rescue. Normally the purple boy was at minimum sleepy, but that day he hadn’t dropped his quiet smile even once.

“Something really good is happening for a few of my friends.” Hitoshi didn’t mention that one of the friends was Himiko; Monoma was still pretty spooked by her. “We’re all really excited for them.”

“And that’s enough to make you not grumpy?”

Hitoshi almost commented that he was still grumpy on principle alone (or maybe out of spite? He wasn’t sure, it was just an instinctive reaction), but then the question really hit him. He knew the boy hadn’t ever really had friends before- Monoma straight up told him- but the confusion in his voice went deeper than that. Deep enough Hitoshi had the urge to talk to Katsuki more in depth about how Monoma and Best Jeanist interacted during their internship.

“I mean, yeah.” He finally said. “My friends have been through a lot and deserve every bit of happiness they can get. I care about them, so it makes me happy that they’re doing so well.”

“Fascinating.” Hitoshi couldn’t tell if Monoma knew he said the word out loud or not. He was definitely going to the group chats once their shift was over- adopting Monoma was proving to be above his pay grade so he was calling in the cavalry.

the boys

flowerboy: hey, can i ask you a few questions about your internship? Specifically about jeanist and monoma?

fireboy: can I stop you?

flowerboy: no, it’s important.

fireboy: shit, go for it

flowerboy: monoma let slip he interned with jeanist bc they’re cousins. How did they interact? Was jeanist okay?

fireboy: wait, really? Damn. Jeanist was fine? The fuck does ‘okay’ mean?

flowerboy: not a dick. Did he seem to care? I’m concerned about monoma. There are a couple of things that don’t track.

Flowerboy: katsuki?

Fireboy: now that I’m thinking about it, there were some weird moments. Jeanist was professional, but I saw him watching monoma every once in a while. It wasn’t creepy and monoma seemed aware but unconcerned.

Fireboy: do you think it’s something we need to talk to the loudmouth and rat about?

Flowerboy: idk maybe

flowerboy: I think I want to bring this to the council first

fireboy: jesus fucking christ

ghost hunters and tag alongs

naptime: I need to call the council into session

sparksparkfallinlove: oh shit

pinkiepie: what happened?

God: is everyone here?

Mrgrumpypants: unfortunately

oneofus: I am. Toshi, you good?

Mrgrumpypants: it’s not him

naptime: it’s not me directly

life_is_a_nightmare: I am present

the_walls_have_ears: I literally just got back to my phone, what’s going on?

God: the council is now in session, Hitoshi please state your motion.

Naptime: motion to adopt monoma- hold for context

sparksparkfallinlove: wait, like adopt adopt?

Pinkiepie: aww, baby hitoshi is growing up

naptime: ~~~ (typing signal)

the_walls_have_ears: adopt monoma?

the_walls_have_ears: I know we’re moving forward, but that feels like a lot

oneofus: lets give toshi a minute to get everything typed out. Do I need to get my parents involved?

naptime: ~~~

life_is_a_nightmare: surely it’s not something that dramatic? I’m fairly certain we’re hogging all the drama for both classes

pinkiepie: I hope it’s not

naptime: ~~~

mrgrumpypants: let him type ffs

naptime: I don’t know if we need to get the adults involved or not, that’s why I want to pull monoma into the friend group first. We’ve been talking while volunteering and he said he’s from a family of pro heroes- including his cousin best jeanist. He was homeschooled and hasn’t spent a lot of time with other people his age

naptime: it almost feels like it goes deeper than just ‘has never had friends before’ though. What I can’t tell is how far beyond that we are, that’s why I want a second opinion from the council. If something IS wrong here, no one can help him like we can.

naptime: its also gonna take us reaching out to him, probably either mina, denki, or Izuku. I’ve told him he’s welcome at our table since the start of volunteering but he’s either too anxious or too in his head about the usj thing to take me up on it

naptime: you’re all terrifying, I have faith you can abduct him

oneofus: not to live up to the username, but I’m concerned and invested now. Seconding the motion

mrgrumpypants: fwiw, I think jeanist was concerned about monoma during our internships but keeping it quiet in the name of professionalism. I don’t think he himself is an issue

oneofus: good to know

oneofus: I think I’m going to read papa into the situation so the staff can keep an eye on monoma too. We might have… special insight into situations like this, but they have that and formal training we haven’t had the chance to go through yet

god: I think that answer alone solidifies this, but for the official record- how does the council vote on the motion to adopt Monoma into the friend circle?”

naptime: aye, obv

pinkiepie: aye

oneofus: aye

mrgrumpypants: aye, ig

sparksparkfallinlove: aye, and I’m totally down to help kidnap him

the_walls_have_ears: aye

life_is_a_nightmare: aye as well, from both dark shadow and myself

god: It’s unanimous, the aye’s have it.

Pinkiepie: so, how are we handling the actual abduction

mrgrumpypants: the nerd’s already working on it

oneofus: toshi I’m gonna call you. You’re helping with the abduction too

naptipe: rip me ig

“So how creepy would it be if I asked you to spy on someone?” Izuku asked Yoichi the following Sunday afternoon. They and their boyfriends were circled up in the living room (the teens on the couch and the ghosts criss cross apple sauce on the coffee table) surrounded by yarn. Izuku had a few of the ‘craft magic’ books open around him; he was once again playing intermediary for Katsuki and the ghosts while Katsuki tried to teach him and Yoichi how to crochet.

Izuku was quietly aware it’d be easier to just ask Shouta to teach them how to knit- at least Shouta could see and hear Yoichi- but Katsuki’s insistence on teaching him crochet was adorable and half of Yoichi’s issues were related to how the yarn and hook kept falling through his hands every time he lost focus. As far as just hanging out went, it was far from the worst way they could’ve spent their time.

“You do not need the ghosts to spy on Monoma.” Hizashi answered for Izuku’s older half brother. “I know you’re concerned, but we can figure out what’s going on without invading his privacy like that or potentially breaking his trust down the line. Just slow down and take this one day at a time.”

“I would also prefer not to spy on a random teen.” Yoichi admitted. “It’s hard enough to keep an eye on everything else we’re keeping eyes on right now- oh god damn it.” He sighed as the little blue crochet hook clattered to the coffee table in the middle of his knee.

Hizashi was grateful Izuku gave in after that, but he was still keeping an eye on his son. Both he and Katsuki had come to him the night before with their phones and Hitoshi’s concern; Hizashi whipped up and sent an email to Nedzu and Kan less than ten minutes later to get the proper paper trail started. There was a process that needed to be stuck to or they’d just push Monoma away instead of helping him if he really did need help.

They knew Izuku knew that too. Hizashi was pretty sure the intensity their son was reacting to Monoma’s potential neglect with was only half because of his personality and history and half because he was reaching for any sort of distraction he could get. Izuku was brilliant and observant- there was no way he didn’t sense the growing tension between them and Shouta.

The tension would be dealt with shortly- Hizashi would be having a conversation with his husband the next day to iron things out once and for all. It was beyond time Present Mic started patrolling again no matter how Shouta felt about it.

Chapter Text

Hizashi didn’t go into Shouta’s workshop often, but he knocked on the door to get the sorcerer’s attention.

“I know I’ve been pretty cooped up in here lately.” Shouta dragged his tired eyes up to meet Hizashi’s gaze. “I’m gonna take a break soon, I promise.”

“You’ll be taking a nap soon.” Hizashi gently corrected as he went to sit next to Shouta at one of the standing blacktop tables. “You’re getting concerning again so I’m putting my foot down- after we talk you’re taking a nap. I’d love to take the nap with you, but I’m not sure if you’ll want that after this.”

“This is about you patrolling, isn’t it?” Shouta scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to physically press the exhaustion out of him so he could focus. He was mature enough to not make his husband have to spell out the elephant in the room, but as sleep deprived as he was he didn’t know if he had the self control to keep his emotional response in check.

He’d wanted the magic suppressing bracelets (preferably cuffs) up and running before they got to this point and he’d been working himself to the bone to try to pull it off. Now he had to face the fact that not only had that not happened, he’d only made things harder on Hizashi. That was the last thing he wanted, but there was only so much he could do.

“I know how hard you’re trying to juggle everything, and I’m so proud of you, but you can’t lose yourself in the process.” Hizashi reached forward to take one of Shouta’s hands. “That’s not going to do anyone any good.”

“I have to make sure you and Izuku are safe.” The ancient nearly whispered the common refrain. “You’re not going to like the current plan for that.”

“One of the hardest lessons to learn as a pro hero is that you can’t protect everyone, no matter how much you want to.” Hizashi chose his words carefully. “We’re all going to be on Alaric’s radar until he’s taken care of once and for all, but we can’t let that bring every aspect of our lives to a full stop. Izuku’s still a first year student so there’s more we can do with him, but I made my peace with the dangers of my career a long time ago.

“People are starting to whisper about my absence,” he continued,
“it’s time for me to do my job again. I know you’re worried, but you can’t stop this anymore. Protecting me doesn’t equal locking me away from the world.”

Hizashi knew the tables were about to be turned on him when he saw the light shift in the ancient’s eyes from stressed and overwhelmed to determined. This wasn’t about keeping him on an unnecessary medical leave anymore and probably hadn’t been for a while.

“I know. We’ve been… trying to prepare for your return to patrols for a while. The second you step foot outside in costume there’s going to be a massive target on your back, but that also means we have an opportunity here.”

“I thought we were better at communication than this.” Hizashi sighed. “I’m disappointed in myself kitten, not you. I know how heroes and the HPSC work. What trap are we laying for Alaric?”

“They’ve managed to worm a mole into his organization.” Shouta squeezed Hizashi’s hand. “He’s not in contact often to reduce the chances of getting caught, but he’s confirmed what we already knew- Alaric is obsessed with me. We think it’s part of why he wants Izuku so badly; he’d be both a powerful zombie and bait for me.

“Kinoshita thinks its time we stop playing defense and take the fight to him.” He continued, popping a navy notebook into Hizashi’s free hand that had more details sketched out. “We’re fairly certain that he’ll go for you your first patrol back, especially if we let the date and time leak. I would tail you myself, then intercept Alaric. Kinoshita’s not wrong about going on the offensive and I want to have a conversation with him on my own terms, I just haven’t been ready for that yet. Or… to tell you that the plan is trading you being in danger for me.”

Hizashi didn’t let go of Shouta’s hand, but he didn’t respond until he’d read through the details written out in his husband’s neat, matter of fact penmanship.

“You want to let yourself get abducted.” He finally glanced up to find Shouta’d been staring at him with dark, inscrutable eyes the entire time.

“It’s less me being abducted and more making myself Alaric’s problem. I don’t think he’s going to be very happy about how this conversation will go.”

“I’m not seeing a lot here about an extraction plan.” They set the notebook on the table next to the bracelets the sorcerer’d been tinkering with for weeks. “Is that where the cuffs come in?”

“Not yet, we’re not that close to a breakthrough.” The sigh that escaped Shouta’s lungs carried the weight of his displeasure. “I’m afraid most of those precautions will be on my end, but I have a few ideas. I promise I’m not going to make you a single parent.”

“You better fucking not.” Hizashi huffed. Time, like so many things, just wasn’t on their side. “Especially not a few weeks before your son’s finals. Okay, walk me through your ideas. How are you protecting yourself and making your escape.”

“Alaric still relies on brute strength.” Shouta pulled Hizashi to his feet and led him by the hand to a locked cabinet hiding some of his… particularly dangerous toys and notes. “It’s served him well so far because he hasn’t met anyone stronger than him. I can’t match him in raw power, but I don’t have to.” If their lives were a tv show, the drawer he opened would’ve had a warm, golden glow shining on Hizashi’s face to obfuscate it’s contents. “His brute strength is his Achilles’ heel.”

They got to their nap eventually. Shouta was usually the big spoon, but Hizashi insisted on the other way around. It was his turn to make sure his husband felt loved and cared for, especially in light of what would most likely go down in the next week or two. Hizashi, for better or worse, was in.

Now they just had to figure out how and when to explain the plan to their son.

Chapter Text

Earlier That Day, Lunch Period

“You look like you’re having second thoughts.” Izuku glanced up at Hitoshi’s face. They both stood near the end of the lunch line, carrying trays while the rest of their group checked out (except for Katsuki, who honestly preferred his own bento boxes- something about how Lunch Rush didn’t use enough spices). Unlike the rest of their group, they weren’t going to their table. At least not right away.

They had a very specific pit stop first.

“Don’t take this the wrong way Izuku, but you’re sort of… extra terrifying today.” Hitoshi frowned down at his friend. “Of all of us you’re probably the hardest to turn down friendship from, but I’m not sure if subjecting him to this… specific energy is the right call.”

Almost like a magic trick in and of itself, the weird aura that’d been surrounding Izuku all morning abruptly dissipated, leaving Hitoshi with the normal energizer bunny cinnamon roll he knew and loved.

“Is this better?” He asked. If his friends knew him any less well, it might’ve been. Hitoshi knew otherwise.

“I don’t know what’s happening with you right now, but you know we’re here if you need us, right?” Izuku’s expression never changed, but the light flickering behind his eyes did. “Whatever you need, we’ve got your back.”

“I’m not ready to talk about it yet.” The greenette quietly admitted, glancing away from Hitoshi’s eyes to find Monoma where he sat by himself again. “But I do want to figure out what’s going on with our newest adoptee and we’re running out of time. I promise I’ll let you know if I need anything.” He glanced back up at purple eyes.

“Good enough for me.” Hitoshi squared his shoulders. “Alright, let’s get this party started. After you.”

“This is going to end in tears.” Katsuki told Mina.

“Yeah, mine.” She sniffled, watching her own adoptee transition into adopter status. “They grow up so fast.”

“I'm surrounded by idiots.” The protective explosive blonde muttered to himself as he and Momo shepherded Mina back to their usual spot. Momo, tellingly, didn’t try to argue with him.

“Shinso! Yamazawa.” Neito glanced up when he sensed people in front of him. He’d been expecting maybe a teacher or someone from his own class- Kendo had ideas about class peace and odd men left out- not those two. He was starting to get the awful feeling that maybe he should’ve been.

“Hello, Monoma!” Izuku grinned at him. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but you know quirk science, right? A quirk like yours, there’s no way you don’t.”

“…yes, I know quirk science.” He admitted, suspicious.

“Have you read Egawa’s Treatise of Quirks and their Evolution?” Izuku asked next. If Monoma hadn’t, he’d find a hat to eat- the book was one of the top texts about quirk science.

“Of course I have.” The boy from 1B scowled, almost offended.

“Fantastic, you’re coming with me. I have a bet to win.” He wasn’t given a choice, Izuku shifted his tray to one hand and stole Monoma’s. He didn’t need to steal the teen, he just needed to steal the teen’s food and let him follow along behind. It was fine, Hitoshi was there to make him feel safe.

“...why are you looking at me like that for, nerd?” Denki almost, almost felt the need to hide behind Katsuki when Izuku set both his and Monoma’s trays down across from him.

“You’re being outnumbered once and for all, Denks.” Izuku informed him, ignoring the way their entire friend group watched them like a tennis match. “Monoma, help me out here. To use your quirk effectively, you need to be able to quickly break down any quirk you’re targeting. When you touch someone, your quirk also gives you information about what their quirks are, am I right?”

“You are.” Neito wasn’t quite sure why he was letting himself get pulled into this.

“Follow up question- how does your quirk work with mutation quirks? Specifically the information you get from them, I would imagine actually copying something that fully changes your DNA for only a few minutes would be at minimum uncomfortable in each direction.”

“It can be.” His eyes narrowed- where was this going? “Is that your question?”

“Really, nerd?” Katsuki smirked, knowing exactly where this was going. “I thought you made up your mind years ago?”

“Hush, Kacchan, this isn’t about me. This is about Denki admitting defeat.” He probably shouldn’t have doubled down against Izuku in the first place, but what was done was done. “No, that’s not my question. My question is this- how many times is it not possible to copy a mutation quirk?”

“That’s more common than most people would think.” Neito glanced around them to see if anyone who shouldn’t be listening in might’ve been. Kendo was watching the situation unfold, but she was on the other side of the cafeteria from them and didn’t have a quirk that would let her overhear their conversation. He lowered his voice. “I used to have a different theory, but knowing what I know now a lot of that is probably because it’s actually… you know what.”

“That is a common mask, but it’s not what I’m getting at.” Izuku shook his head. “Take Fumi for example- could you copy his quirk if you wanted?”

“I mean, probably?” Neito glanced at the bird headed boy. He didn’t see a reason why he couldn’t, but he held out a hand to double check. “May I?”

“I fear for my continued peace if I don’t.” The ominous words were said in amusement as Fumikage glanced at Izuku, reaching forward to shake Monoma’s hand.

“What… the fuck?” Monoma blinked at him. None of them noticed Oboro- the cafeteria attendant (read: babysitter) for the day, moving in behind them.

“You can’t, can you.” Izuku was smug, like he wasn’t about to cause a complete uproar and multiple break downs. “Your first theory was something along the lines of a number of mutation quirks not being true quirks but genetic holdovers from their parents, wasn’t it?”

“Yes- how-”

“Is everything okay over here?” Oboro asked, trying to catch up on whatever his nephew was planning now.

“Everything’s just fine, Shirakumo-sensei.” The teen smiled up at him angelically. Oboro’s stomach dropped. “I believe we just proved quirks aren’t nearly as common as most people believe them to be.”

“Oh, is that all?” Oboro raised an eyebrow as the teens launched into a furious debate, voices overlapping each other to the point he couldn’t even make out any of the individual arguments. He was pretty sure this particular debate was above his pay grade anyways as he texted Shouta to come deal with the pint-sized menaces the sorcerer’d claimed as his own.

“Of course my mutation quirk is a quirk.” Fumikage argued once they’d been transferred to the privacy of the teacher’s lounge. “I’m a sorcerer and not doing anything to actively transfigure myself, what else would it be?”

“Your mom has something similar right? And you said your grandfather on Maro’s side did too.” Izuku pointed out, food long forgotten. “One of them might legitimately have a quirk, but that doesn’t mean it got passed down to you. It just means byproducts of the quirk could’ve gotten locked into the dna that got passed down to you and you got the luck to have it expressed in your ‘mutation’. Like it’s a recessive gene.”

“A bird head is not a recessive gene, Izuku.” Fumikage told him flatly.

“Then why can’t Monoma copy it?” He fired back.

“Are they always like this?” Monoma, safely sequestered between Hitoshi and Denki, whispered.

“Izuku is. You get used to it.” Denki answered helpfully, holding out the peace offering of an extra energy drink he’d been saving for after school. There was a better way to use it now. “You look like you might need this.”

“Thanks?” Neito accepted the gift, but he didn’t open it. He was too busy trying to figure out whether or not he was expected to chime into the fast-paced argument himself.

“There’s going to be another teenager frequenting our house soon, isn’t there?” Shouta asked Hizashi.

“Seems like it.” Hizashi scooped the last bite of his bento box into his mouth.

“Remind me to account for that in our grocery budget later.” The ancient, otherwise unconcerned, returned to his notes. He’d already adopted the entire village, what was another mouth at that point? He was much more focused on figuring out how to explain the new plan regarding Alaric and his husband’s patrols to said husband, who’d accidentally been kept out of it for far too long.

Monoma found himself joining the noisy group of friends every day at lunch for the rest of the week. They were all insane, but it was a surprisingly nice kind of insane. Was this what having friends was like?

He was almost sad to see the end of their last volunteer shift. It was nice to get to spend some one on one time with Hitoshi without all the surrounding chaos.

“You know that doesn’t have to end, right?” The purple boy raised an eyebrow when Neito accidentally said that out loud. “Individual friends in a group can hang out with each other without the entire group.”

“Oh.” Neito blinked. “That’d be nice, actually.”

“You’re free for the rest of the afternoon, right?” Neito nodded. “Awesome. We’re going to the cat cafe.” Hitoshi wasn’t taking no as an answer, even if it meant paying for both of them.

“We just finished hanging out with cats for several hours.” He pointed out.

“And?” Hitoshi’s face scrunched up. “What does that matter? You can never have enough time with cats.”

Neito hated to admit it as he sat in the warm beam of sunlight filtering through the window, a ridiculously fluffy white cat purring up a storm on his lap and getting her fur all over his black pants, but he was right. You couldn’t really ever have enough time with cats.