Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world was not fair. It did not make all humans equal.

That was one of the first lessons ingrained into the mind of a five year old, shivering in the darkness, feeling the walls closing down around him. Only the noise of moaning, grunting, flesh slapping against flesh and his own loud breathing keeping him company.

Apparently the sight of a child turned off the numerous beaus his mother had. Most of the times she was home, he was stuck in the closet. He didn’t remember a time he looked forward to seeing her.

Later he became too big for the closet and met one of the johns for the first time. The aftermath left him dazedly wondering whether his mother had hidden him in those tiny dark spaces for his own good. He spent more time outside after that.

Then his Quirk came in.

It made things worse.

He could stop people’s Quirks by looking at them. This did not make them happy.

Once he witnessed a man hurting his mother. One of the many incidents.  He stepped in between them, red eyes glowing. The man backed off...and then his mother turned on him.

She locked him in the closet again, uncaring that it was too small, he was too big, there was no breathing space, that her child kept on pleading, begging.

Years later, he would realise with a grim amusement that all the locking up and ill treatment was because the bitch actually saw her own son as a rival for the attention she craved from the many boyfriends.

One day, a little older, thin ragged with sharp hungry eyes, the boy returned home.

His mother was on the floor, bruised and bloody, several men laughing around her. She saw her son in the doorway and reached out for him for the first time in her life.

Here was another lesson the boy had learnt. You had to be your own hero. You had to fight for yourself for everyone else in the world were just vigorously trying to stamp out all those deemed unneeded. A bleeding heart had no place in someone clawing out his own little nook...for someone desperately trying to survive against all odds.

He turned his back, walked and walked. The other street boys stayed away from him. He walked till his feet hurt. Then he stopped and threw up, spitting out bile and chunks of food.

Few more years later, he would discover the pleasures of the flesh. With his partner arching up beneath him, his hands stroking the wide expanse of smooth skin, down down to the lingering wetness of their previous bout, he would chuckle.

This was what enslaved billions of human beings.

This was the reason his mother had abused her son repeatedly, made a fool out of herself and ultimately drowned in a hideous mockery of that pleasure.

People were not at all logical.

That would be the last time he’d think of that woman.

A week later he was found by an old man. The old man took him home, bathed him, clothed him and fed him. He was the head of some organisation. The kind that hid in the shadows, treating its own kind well but hurting others.

The old man was kind to him. For that, the boy decided he would stay by his side. He had another son, a frail thing with his heads up in the clouds.

I should have been his son instead, the boy thought as his step brother repeatedly tried to leave, breaking the old man’s heart each time.

With their leader slowly becoming senile and the heir making his disinterest clear, cracks formed in the foundation. Outsiders attacked the organisation mercilessly while those inside desperately tried to hold it together. It was up to the heir now.

The heir, who had fallen in love and run away, cutting off ties once and for all.

Me or your father...your little gang. You decide.

And the fool chose the girl.

Billions of humans...idiots the whole lot of them.

“I’ll do it.” Said the boy, now a man, kneeling down beside the leader’s frail old body. “I’ll uphold your legacy and I will make that idiot regret leaving us.”

The old man smiled at him fondly in a rare moment of lucidity.

“Let him be child. He wasn’t born for this life. I was too harsh on him. You can leave if you want to Shota. Do what you want. Don’t let this old man hold you back.”

Shota shook his head and clasped the wrinkled hand tighter.

“This is it for me. I do not wish to leave. You rest, old man. I’ll take care of everything.”

The leader gave a tremulous smile. That night he passed peacefully in his sleep.

The next day, word was spread.

The leader’s adopted son, Aizawa Shota had taken up his mantle.

Those who’d met the boy before trembled.  Those who had not, had their last laugh.

It took five long years to stabilise the Astera organisation completely.

After that, Aizawa had his brother and sister in law brought in.

“He wanted me to leave you alone.” He said dispassionately, hiding a fond smile as his brother glared at him with a bloody nose, head held high. The brat was the old man’s after all. He turned to the woman who was sobbing quietly beside him.

“You told him to choose and he chose you. Why are you married to another then?”

No answer. Only more sobs. This was boring.

“It’s not that simple. It’s not your business either.” His brother spoke up.       

Shota sighed and nodded to one of the members. She left and brought back a man in chains, wide eyed and scared, flinging him down in front of her boss.

The woman screamed and tried to go to the man, only to be held back.

Shota got up. There was immediately silence and his brother tensed further.

“Here’s what’s going to happen.” He said in a bored tone. “You’re going to watch what is going to happen to your husband. Then you will live with the knowledge that if you go to any man other than my brother, all of them will end up like him. They will of course be wrapped up prettily and sent to your doorstep.”

“S-Shota, stop this, please.” His brother said pale faced. He walked past, patting his brother on the shoulder as he went by.

“I decided to spare her family. Am I not merciful? Take this as a token of my affection, brother. You don’t need to watch if you don’t want to.”

He shut the door, muffling the married couple’s screams.

“Aizawa-dono!”

He turned as a follower came running and stopped before him, panting and coughing, waving an enlarged photo in the air.

Shota took the photo and offered him a tissue without glancing at him.

“Blood.” He said in a deadpan voice, eyes roaming over the photo.

Then he smiled sending chills down everyone’s backs.

“Some one’s getting cocky.” He said chuckling.

----------------

Izuku was taking the trash out. It had been piling up for days and he could not ignore it any longer.

That was his first mistake. Who takes the trash out at 1 am anyway?

But honestly, the dump was a few metres away from his building. What could happen?

He wrinkled his nose up, holding the plastic bag up with just the tips of his fingers.

He would have dragged it but there was something sticky and smelly dripping out (probably the rice from last week?) and he didn’t want his neighbours yelling at him. Hoping the tiny drops here and there would dry up quickly, he finally reached the dump. He threw the trash and headed back.

Past the entrance of his building, a few feet away, there was a pair of shoes sticking out from behind bushes.

He went over to inspect.

That was his second mistake.

It was a man, pale and passed out. He was dressed in a black suit and there were many layers of a scarf loosely surrounding his neck. His hair was muddy and caked, coming loose from a ponytail. The white shirt underneath the black suit was blood stained.

Mugged?

He should call the police? Wait, he had to help the person first.

And that was his third mistake.

He poked the person’s cheek and retreated hurriedly. There was no response. The boy sighed.

He ended up dragging the man by the feet over to the lift with all the strength his 10 year old body could muster. Thankfully there was no horrifying trail of blood following him.

It took ages to get the man to the lift. By the time he managed to get him inside his flat, he thought his shoulders would fall off. Trembling, he clutched his knees panting and sweating.

After recovering a little, he went to inspect his new charge.

The wound on his stomach was jagged but had stopped bleeding.

Last time his mom had been home, she had bought lots of Hello Kitty band aids.

Izuku used them liberally and stood back to admire the row of smiling cats.

The man moved a bit, a small groan making its way past cracked lips. He was waking up! Ah! Water!

Izuku ran into the kitchen and ran back with a glass of water. He tripped over the carpet, sending the contents of the glass splashing over the man’s face.

...

He froze.

No response.

Izuku bowed to the man in apology and went back to refill the glass.

The water from before had pooled on the floor, a murky red.

Frowning, Izuku put the glass down and dug his fingers in the man’s dirty hair.

Ah, it wasn’t mud. It was blood.

Yup, he needed to call an ambulance now.

As he turned, a hand shot out to grab his thin wrist.

He yelped as he was slammed to the ground, arm pinned behind him, pain jolting through his shoulder and chest.

“Give me a reason why I shouldn’t break your back.” The man said in a low dark tone.

Ow!

“I was helping you!” Izuku hissed out against the pain.

As he struggled futilely regretting his life choices, the man surveyed the room and then his shirt which was unbuttoned to reveal a row of pink glittery band aids.

“Hm.”

Izuku shot up as soon as he was freed and scooted away as far as he could, clutching his shoulder.

Heart beating rapidly in his ears, he watched wide eyed as the man got up leisurely looking around.

“Home alone, kid?”

Izuku edged towards to table which still had the butter and jam from breakfast on it.

“My parents will be home soon.” He said tightly. “And the police! I’ve called them!”

The man had walked up to the cabinet. Sweeping his finger along the surface, he rubbed it with his thumb.
“Parents, huh?”

Izuku froze and quickly put his hand behind him as the man turned around holding a photo frame.

He took the photo out.

“Pretty woman. Your mother?”

Izuku stood stiffly, his grip becoming tighter as the man approached.

He flinched as the man held out his hand still inspecting the photo.

“Hand it over.” He said blandly. When Izuku did not move, “Come on, you’ll only hurt yourself.”

The boy forced himself to unfreeze and with visible reluctance, placed the butter knife he’d been hiding on the larger palm.

He jerked as the man tossed it aside. Izuku heard it clatter in the hallway.

He held his breath as the man crouched down in front of him, expression blank.

“I don’t make a habit of hurting kids,” he said in a soft tone that sent chills down the boy’s back, “But I have no such rules for adults. In other words, kiddo,” he ruffled the kid’s hair roughly feeling the suppressed jitter, “keep your mouth shut and your mommy’s body parts will remain attached to her. “

The man got up and went out not looking back. He took the photo of Izuku and his mother beaming at the camera with him.

Izuku exhaled a burst of air and collapsed to the ground trembling.

Well, that’s the last time he treated random unconscious strangers littering the roads.

Chapter Text

Izuku didn’t like going to school. If it were up to him, he would have erased the very concept of the institution.

He would have stopped going a long time ago, but he didn’t want his mother being called regarding his absence.

So he stared sullenly at the building, suppressing a yawn and rubbing his bruised chest. A scowl came on his face as he remembered last night. Stupid ungrateful- As the bell rang, he shook his head and walked in.

There was an immediate shift in the atmosphere.

He winced a s several classmates jostled his shoulder in succession as they passed, snickering at him.

And so it begins, he thought gloomily settling down in his seat.

“Oi Deku! You ignoring me?”

He sighed, looking up at his ex-best friend, Kacchan.

“Of course not. How could I?” he relied monotonously, preparing himself.

That did not make the other boy happy. Very few things did. They all included stuff like blasting Deku, making Deku trip, punching Deku, scaring Deku and the list went on.

So you could see why Deku, Kacchan’s lovely nickname for Izuku, would have a problem with that.

“Hah? Are you talking back to me?”

Bang!

Izuku collided with the back desks feeling more bruises blooming.

Great. And the day hadn’t even begun yet. What was with people treating him like a ragdoll. The teacher came in.

Cue scolding

“Settle down, class. Midoriyaa, this is not a playground. Pick up the desks.”

Izuku did as he was told, imagining hurling one of the desks at the man’s face.

There was a reason for this treatment. It wasn’t that Izuku was a particularly difficult child to deal with. It was all because he lacked a Quirk. Apparently that automatically made the girl beside him, whose hair grew at an astonishing rate, better than him. People were really stupid sometimes.

With his body hurting everywhere, he was naturally in a bad mood. Thankfully Kacchan had found something else to do during the break, so he could at least eat his snicker in peace.

One of the wannabe-Kachhan’s came up to him. His Quirk was his eyeballs floating out from his orbit, connected by the arteries and nerves like a long red thread, embroidered with gold.

Izuku yanked on the string and refused to let go till he finished his lunch, slightly grossed out by the pulse of the vessels he could feel in his fist.

The boy burst into tears and ran away as soon as he let go.

Wuss.

He was left alone till the class ended. He bore a few more taunts and pushes patiently and went out as soon as the bell rang, keeping his head low.

His eyes immediately brightened as he took out his old cracked mobile.

There was a hero vs villain fight nearby. If he hurried, he could watch it with his own eyes!

The battle was nearing to its end however and Kamui Woods ensnared the puff fish-faced villain in a wooden cage just as Izuku reached the site.

People had crowded around the sealed off area and it was pretty packed. That along with his shorter than average height...

Izuku gloomily looked up the numerous heads imagining a giant blade slicing everyone in front of him at the level of his chin.

Well, might as well go home.

And do what?

Homework?

So it gets torn apart in the morning?

Study?

Uh...the point? The teachers will just see the name and give the lowest marks possible.

Take out the trash?

Let’s not get snippy...

People broke into cheers signalling the end of the fight. He turned dejectedly and paused as a man dressed shabbily glanced both ways and quickly entered a narrow lane containing only dumps.

Izuku glanced back at the sea of people and mentally shrugged.

Then he followed, notebook in hand, pen in his pocket.

The lane went on for longer than expected. What the hell?

If there were convenient obvious places like this, something was bound to go wrong sometime!

The man stopped at a dumpster that seemed empty and started digging around in it.

Izuku frowned and glanced around. Wait...he didn’t recognise the – was he lost?

Dammit.

He turned trying not to panic, not paying attention. Just then, a blow landed on his head knocking him to ground, stars erupting in front of his eyes.

“Who sent you, you filth?!”

Filth? Who was the one getting all chummy with the dumpster again?

In fact, why did his life revolve around garbage now?

As the man kicked him in the stomach, he tasted blood in his throat and saw a rat scuttle away from what seemed like a pool of dried vomit.

Nope, I am not dying here, he decided through a haze of pain. His mind was still clear. He supposed he would have to thank Kacchan and his groupie and the various wannabe-Kacchan groupies for increasing his pain tolerance.

The man held him up by the scuff of his collar, feet dangling from the ground.

“What’s the matter?” he sneered thrusting his face close. “Lost your voice?”

Hoping it wouldn’t break and that he wouldn’t miss, Izuku jammed his pen into the man’s eye.

There was a gross squelchy sound and the man screamed dropping him, the green bottom of the pen sticking out of his face.

Oh yuck.

Izuku did not wait around. He forced himself to his feet and ran as fast as he could with the world spinning around him and pain bursting from every movement.

He didn’t get very far and collapsed against a wall, vision blurring, not able to see how far he’d gone.

He could still hear the man whimpering. He wondered how many days it would take for his mother to notice that he was missing. Ugh, he was going to die in a stinking alley.

Wow, it hurt to even breathe now.

The man was in front of him now. He said something and his voice sounded different.

Izuku drew up one last bout of energy and swiped out snarling weakly.

Something held on to his fist, stopping his feeble punch. Again that familiar voice. Was that- laughter?

Oh this son of a –

Darkness swallowed him.

--------

Toshinori couldn’t help glancing at his boss in the mirror. Aizawa was in a rather good mood.

Getting attacked by injured children made him happy apparently.

After he’d gathered the child up in his arms, he’d casually slit the other man’s throat, told Toshinori to take pictures of the body in the trash and then start the car.

He could have at least kept the person alive, for interrogation, thought Toshinori unable to understand his boss’s thought process.

The child was breathing weakly and rather raggedly, head cushioned on the man’s lap who kept on observing him. Which was strange. Aizawa wasn’t the type to like kids, and he definitely was not the type to allow others in his personal space so casually.

He decided to just ask.

“Boss, what’s with the kid? Do you want to go to the hospital?”

“No. Drive home. The kid’s with me.”

Hoping he wasn’t pushing it, Toshinori gave a tentative

“Boss?” I don’t understand.

There was no answer.

“You know,” said Aizawa thoughtfully after a while, startling him, “Years ago, on the streets, I had found this kitten in a corner. It was alone, drenched, starved, shivering...and yet, when I approached it, it actually hissed at me, all toothless and flashing gum. It was the most adorable thing I’d seen...” He ran a hand through the boy’s hair gently and laughed quietly, “Well, up till now, that is.”

Toshinori felt a sudden pang of sympathy for the boy.

Silently, he drove faster.

Chapter Text

Izuku opened his eyes and blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling. He sat up slowly, the blanket sliding down.

“Ah! You’re awake!”

A yellow haired thin man hurried to his side.

“Does it hurt? We had to bring Chiyo-san in. You’ve been sleeping for 2 days now. Quite a lot of nasty bruises, I must say! Well, you should be feeling alright now. Do you?”

Izuku stared at the stranger fussing over him.

“Who are you?” he asked as politely as he could. The man paused and bowed to him.

“Yagi Toshinori, at your service.”

Izuku’s eyes flitted to the door behind him. He didn’t recognise his surroundings. A big room, marble floor, the bed on which he was lying occupied the centre,

The man in the alley! The one trying to kill him! Did he end up kidnapping him?

“You were found on the streets. Boss decided to take you home. He’ll be happy to hear you’re finally awake. Allow me to go call him.”

The man looked at him so expectantly that Izuku nodded without realising it.

What the hell was going on? Where was he?

Boss? Yeah sure, go call your Boss while I patiently sit here...ha ha ha...as if!

As soon as the man exited the room, Izuku flung off the blanket and ran to the window, dimly registering the lack of aches and pains.

Swinging one leg over, he climbed onto the window sill and stared at the tiny cars below, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy.

Um...he could grab the pipes! Oh wait...there were no pipes in sight, but if he jumped he might just make to to the balcony be-

Something wrapped around his torso jerking him back.

“Ack!”

He hit something warm and firm.

Startled he looked up meeting a set of red eyes.

“You seem to have a death wish.” Said the man casually. The man who’d hurt him and threatened to dismember his mother.

...

No. He was not going to cry!

Snapping out of it, Izuku struggled wildly against the binds.

Larger arms surrounded him, restricting his movements further. He could feel the man’s breath move his curls as he spoke,

“These are carbon enhanced fibres. You’re only going to hurt yourself.”

Izuku stomped on the man’s foot. He actually chuckled in response.

“Down kitten.” He said sounding amused.

Izuku hated him.

Ultimately exhausted, he slumped against his kidnapper and asked hoarsely,

“What are you going to do to me?”

The man hummed, loosened his grip and made him sit in a nearby chair. He himself occupied the one opposite to it.

“Izuku Midoriya.” He stated looking at the boy intently. The boy flinched.

“That is your name, is it not?”

Izuku swallowed and nodded.

“My name is Aizawa Shota. We’ve run into each other twice now, on two consecutive days. One might even say we were destined to meet.”

Izuku wanted to look around for something, anything, he could use as a weapon, but the man’s gaze never left his face...like a mouse pinned by a snake’s glare.

...

The man, Aizawa leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

“So? What time did your parents come home then?”

Huh? Oh...

“After you left.” He finally replied, purposefully vague. “Why am I here? I didn’t tell anyone about you.”

“Of course not. Otherwise your mother’s arms and legs would’ve been at your doorstep by now. Speaking of which, you live alone, don’t you?”

Taken aback by the sudden gruesome image the words spoken so casually produced, Izuku’s mind blanked out for a moment.

“No. My parents live with me.” Izuku said a beat later.

“There were no photos of your father so clearly he’s out of the picture. Judging by the mess and amount of dust in your flat, either your mother’s not there or simply a bad housekeeper. However, if your mother had been living with you, you wouldn’t be this careless regarding your life and time.”

Izuku stared into those red eyes, speechless. His mother did live with him...she was –just not there most of the time.

“I-I- careless?” he finally settled.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

“Bringing a stranger into your house, not calling the adults immediately, following strangers into dark places, trying to jump from a height of 20 stories...do you see a pattern?” he said monotonously.

“Why am I here?” asked Izuku again, bringing the conversation back to topics that made sense.

“Say, what’s your Quirk?”

There it was.

Izuku gritted his teeth. Forcing himself to unclench, he spat out defiantly,

“I don’t have one.”

The man’s eyes widened. Izuku waited for him to say something  derisively and kick him out. Or maybe kill him cause he was just so usel-

Aizawa was laughing.

“Quirkless?” he said with something that resembled delight before bursting out in another uproar of laughter.

Izuku scowled confused and glanced around quickly. There was a lamp shape but it was too far away.

He shrank back into the chair as the man suddenly rose and stepped towards him.

His heart pounded. This was it. Bye bye world. It’d been so-so knowing you.

He squeezed his eyes shut as a hand reached out...only to snap them open as it patted his head.

The man’s laughter had died down, but there was still a hint of a smile. He had crouched down so that his eyes were on Izuku’s eye level.

“I am keeping you.” He announced, eyes dark and intent.

He stood up and called,

“Toshinori!”

Izuku snapped his mouth shut, struggling to think.

What?!

The yellow-haired-thin-man from before came in.

“Get the child something to eat, then show him around. Only the required areas.”

“Yess Boss.”

“W-wait.” Izuku choked out feebly.

Aizawa turned to go still giving instructions.

“wait”

...

“WAIT!” Izuku yelled charging at the man, even as he internally cursed himself for being stupid.

Somehow he found himself in a weirdly gentle but firm chokehold.

“Behave.” Murmured Aizawa into his ear. “I’ll play with you later.”

Then ruffling the boy’s hair, he swept out.

Izuku numbly touched his hair.

Chapter Text

There was a little girl bawling loudly.

Hizashi leaned against the wall and watched as the mother tried to shush her, dusting the girl’s frock. It had been almost 15 minutes since Shota had entered the house. A petite green haired woman had opened the door. Judging by the way her face had contorted when Shota’d said something to her, she wasn’t one of his recent conquests.

He suspected it had something to do with the kid Toshinori had told him about.

And wasn’t that something? Other than his father and brother, Shota’d never shown interest in other people...well, interest that lasted longer than their usefulness that is.

The door opened.

He straightened as Shota came out, no one else behind him.

“How’d it go?” he asked taking the file the other man thrusted at him.

“What do you think?” Shota said  drily. Really well then.

“So what is it with the kid? He yours?” asked Hizashi following him.

“He is now.” Said Shota rather distractedly. He was staring at the girl who’d been crying. Her father had come over now, lifting her up in his arms. She had a melting ice cone in her hand now. As they passed by, her high pitched voice rang out,

“Thank you Papa!”
Shota looked rather pensive now.

“So why this kid in particular?” persisted Hizashi. Middle age crisis?

He almost ran into the other man as he stopped abruptly.

Turning to face Hizashi, Shota said very seriously,

“He is small.”

Hizashi stared at the man he claimed was his best friend. They had grow up together in the Aizawa household after all.

“Small.” He echoed.

“And feisty. And extremely weak. It’s adorable.” Satisfied with his explanation, Shota walked away.

Hizashi stared at his back blankly.

“Eh?” he asked. A crow cawed in the distance.

-------

“Um...young master? Please slow down.” Said Toshinori anxiously.

Izuku stopped stuffing his face long enough to say , “If ee effe ant.”, with bulging cheeks.

“Er-sorry?”

He tried swallowing and started choking.

A glass appeared in his view and he gulped it down eagerly.

“This is excellent!” he said enthusiastically. He hadn’t realised he was this hungry till he’d very reluctantly taken a bite.

He liked Toshinori. The man seemed nice, he decided.

“So.” He swallowed and said casually, “When am I going home?”

Toshinori gave a rather strained smile and said,

“Well, this is your home, young master!”

Silence. Toshinori’s cheek started twitching as he valiantly held on to the smile.

“That was a joke right?” said Izuku. “What that person said? About keeping me. That was a joke right?”

Toshinori kept on smiling and offered him another drumstick.

Izuku stared at him stonily and said slowly,

“My mother will be looking for me.”

Seeing the boy was not taking the bait, Toshinori looked bemusedly at the drumstick for a moment before dropping it on the boy’s plate.

“Well,” he said, “That’s where Boss has gone. To talk to your mother. Not-to harm her. Just talk.” He added hurriedly as the child’s features morphed into horror.

Talk? About what?

Izuku looked round the room again.

From Toshinori’s description, the whole building belonged the Aizawa.

“What does Aizawa do?” he asked.

“Boss is the leader of Astera. It’s an organisation that deals with various businesses.”

Astera? The name seemed familiar somehow. And what business exactly?

Izuku frowned and was about to ask when the door opened and Aizawa strolled in followed by a man with yellow moustache and hair.

Izuku felt a scowl automatically come on his face.

“Are you happy with this room?” the man said dropping on the seat that Toshinori had vacated immediately upon his entry.

Izuku leaned away and kept scowling, looking to the side.

Aizawa resisted smiling. Well, the sooner the kid knew who he belonged to , the better.

He took the file from Hizashi’s hand and slid it to the boy across the table.

“These are just a copy and most of them is adult stuff which you won’t understand.” He said reaching out and snagging a French fry from the kid’s plate. “The basic gist is this. Your mother had relinquished all her duties regarding you to me. I am your guardian now.”

Izuku finally looked at the man who had the fry hanging from his fingers like a limp noodle.

“Y-You’re lying.” He said hoarsely.

His mother left him alone, sure. But she wouldn’t leave him alone...not like that.

“You’re lying.” He said more strongly refusing to look at the thick file in case he saw something that refuted his words.

“And what would I gain from that?” Aizawa said almost gently.

And for some reason, Izuku believed him.

He kept his gaze away from the file. He felt- what did he feel? His mother had just-given him away. That-should make him sad right?

Deciding to think about it later, he asked in a rather small voice,

“But I’m Quirkless. Why would you-keep me?”

And that was just weird. The idea of someone wanting him? The lowest of the-

“You’re like a kitten.” Said Aizawa. Izuku’s thoughts screeched to a thought. “I like kittens” he added like that was a conclusion he’s come to after an extensive in depth research.

The moustache man made a choking noise. Izuku remained blank.

“Now,” said Aizawa in a low serious tone that made the atmosphere immediately tense. He looked at the frozen Izuku intently and said,

“Call me Papa.”

Toshinori coughed. The moustache man hid audible snickers behind his hand as Izuku’s ears and face turned red.

This man, he decided with a doomed kind of horror, was an Idiot.

Chapter Text

Izuku never thought he’d be glad to go to school. He supposed he should be thankful he was allowed to. Aizawa had gone for some night activities and hadn’t returned by the time he’d left. Well, if he could come in contact with one of his teachers, they might be able to help.

Yeah right.

Izuku scoffed at his own naive thoughts. They’d probably blame him for getting kidnapped and the reason would ultimately come back to the same thing- him not having a Quirk.

Wait...was it kidnapping when his own mother had willingly given him away?

He snapped out of his thoughts when the school building revealed itself.

“Here’s fine.” He said hurriedly. Toshinori looked at him puzzled.

“But young master, it’s still so far away.” The man said.

“I’ll walk.” Izuku insisted.

He absolutely could not show up at school in a limo.

The driver impassively parked the car at Toshinori’s nod. Izuku got up, hunching at the  stares and silence he got around him.

Toshinori placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Come now.”

He was wearing a black suit and black glasses...overall he looked very conspicuous. Izuku gave him a strained smile.

Once they reached the school, Izuku hurriedly slipped inside.

Phew.

As he entered the school, he frowned at the looks he was getting.

Fine, he was neater than usual, his clothes didn’t have any burns or prominent crooked stitches and they were pressed for once, but did it really call for-

Wait.

He turned slowly around.

“What are you doing?!” he hissed at Toshinori who’d followed him inside the building, How did he even get past the guards?

“Following you, young master.” Said Toshinori confused, not as quietly as Izuku would’ve liked.

“Call me Izuku!” he said frantically flapping his hand. “And why?”

Toshinori looked scandalised.

“I would never show such disrespect!” he said sternly. “You’re the Boss’ child now. You can’t just go out alone!  He has many enemies! And he told me you’re suicidal so I’m to keep an extra eye on you.”

Izuku stared at him feeling an urge to yell.

“I’m-not-suicidal!” he gritted out even as his insides felt weird at being called the ‘Boss’ child’.

“Of course you’re not.” Said Toshinori soothingly. Izuku gnashed his teeth together.

“What enemies?” he said with forced calm.

“Don’t worry, young master. Very few are aware of your existence till now. It’s just a precaution. You go to your class. I’ll keep an eye around.”

Izuku stood still for a while.

Dammit. And he thought Toshinori was-

“Ah that reminds me. I noticed you didn’t have much breakfast so here...to keep your sugar level up.”

Oh, the man was nice after all.

Izuku took the chocolate gingerly from his hand.

“Do whatever you want.” He mumbled defeated.

He turned to go and collided with someone. The force made him stumble back and he would have landed on his bum if not for Toshinori who held him under his arms.

“You’re in the way, Deku!” sneered Tsubasa, one of Kacchan’s lackeys.

Oh how original.

Seeing a teacher approach, Izuku held back the urge to show his middle finger.

“That wasn’t very nice, young man.” Toshinori’s voice startled him.

Izuku looked back. He could see a cold glimmer behind the glasses. With his getup and the hard smile, he looked pretty intimidating.

It shut Tsubasa up and the boy retreated strategically throwing an ‘I’ll-get-you-later’ scowl at Izuku which he ignored.

Hm...having Toshinori around might be useful after all.

Uh-oh. The teacher was walking up to them and he did not look happy.

“What is the meaning of this?” he said sternly looking at Toshinori. “Who are you? Midoriya, why aren’t you in class?”

Izuku frowned and opened his mouth, only to shut it as Toshinori gave him a gentle push.

“Go on.” He murmured.

Izuku  hesitated, caught the teacher’s eye and nodded.

He made it to the classroom and a few minutes later, the class started.

He wondered whether Toshinori had gone back after all.

The teacher’s voice drifted over and he tried to pay attention.

As soon as break started, he made to go outside to search for the man.

“Oi Deku!”

Oh come ON!

Exhaling he turned and said in an insipid tone, “what.”

Tsubasa strided over, much confident now that Kacchan was in the same room.

“You think you’re some big shot now?” he sneered. Around them, children automatically moved away, not even blinking at the familiar sight.

Kacchan was sitting at his desk though, bored, not even looking this way. So he probably didn’t need a punching bag that day. He was the one Izuku was really wary of. The rest were small fry in comparison.

So he decided to go with the ‘ignoring the bully’ route and went out of the classroom.

Tsubasa stared at him before indignation and humiliation hit him. Then he rushed after Izuku.

“I’m not done with you!” he yelled.

Uuuuuuugh...

Izuku turned just in time to see Tsubasa tripping over his shoe lace and banging into him.

Unfortunately he was right in front of the stairs.

Oh no, he thought as he caught sight of Tsubasa’s horrified face.

“Young master!”

He cautiously opened his eyes.

Oh, I’m saved, he thought dazedly, nose smushed against Toshinori’s stomach.

He peeked up.

Toshinori did not look intimidating anymore.

He looked downright scary.

Before Izuku could shrink back, Toshinori was carrying him with surprising ease.

“We’re going home.” He said in a cold tone to the teacher behind him. The one from the morning. The earlier disapproval had disappeared and the man looked pale and sweaty.

Izuku did not say anything, not wanting his ire upon him.

Still, it was nice to have someone angry on his behalf.

He allowed Toshinori to check him over for injuries in the car.

Finally Toshinori sat back and sighed.

“Boss is going to kill me. Does that happen all the time?”

Izuku shrugged.

“Why would he kill you?”

Toshinori gave him an incredulous look.

“You could’ve gotten hurt pretty badly.”

And?

Izuku kept that to himself though. Something told him the man wouldn’t take it well.

“You know I’m Quirkless right?” he asked instead.

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“Say, why did Aizawa take me in?”

Toshinori was silent for a moment.

“You know, young master,” he said gently. “I am Quirkless as well.”

Izuku whipped his head towards him, caution forgotten.

“You are?” he asked wide eyed.

“Mm-hm. Your generation places too much importance on Quirks when there are laws forbidding their use. Having a Quirk isn’t everything and lack of one is not a reason to ill treat a person. My father served the Boss’ father and I was trained to be in the inner circle and stand behind the heir. When the time came, out of numerous candidates with Quirks, I was the one Boss selected to wait on him directly. And now, he clearly trusts my abilities enough to entrust you in my care. You know what the Boss’ Quirk is? He can erase others’ Quirks. So that means, in the end, whatever battle he has to fight, he has to do it in a Quirkless manner. And let me tell you, no one is brave enough to approach him.”

Just what was Aizawa involved in? Astera...the name seemed more and more familiar as he thought about it.

He listened intently, hanging on to every word.

“You lack a Quirk, your mother has abandoned you, nobody looked out for you. You could have given up by now but instead you fight your circumstances. Boss had been in a similar situation once and he has a soft corner people who beat the odds despite the world being against them. You impressed him and that is why he took you in as his own. Your lack of a Quirk makes no difference.”

There was silence. Well...better explanation than what the man in question had given him.

“Er- don’t tell the Boss I told you this. Please?” said Toshinori, suddenly nervous.

Izuku nodded.

“My mother didn’t abandon me.” He said finally.

“If you say so, young master.”

Izuku looked out the window.

He felt weirdly- settled? And ...warm?

What the hell?

Your lack of a Quirk makes no difference.

It was the first time in his life that he was hearing this. Oddly, he had an urge to cry.

Swallowing around the lump in his throat, he mumbled,

“What is Astera anyway?”

Toshinori hummed.

“You’ll understand when you’re older.” He said cheerfully.

Izuku frowned, information at the tip of his-

He abruptly remembered late nights spent on forums in the net no children should have access to.

Whispers of terror, bodies, gang wars...

An underworld organisation.

“You’re villains.” Said Izuku, mouth abruptly dry.

Toshinori laughed.

“That’s what the government likes to call us,” he said eyes twinkling, “when they aren’t desperately begging for our resources.” He winked.

Izuku closed his mouth.

He was adopted by a gangster.

And not just any gangster.

The leader of one of the most infamous underground organisation in Japan.

...

Oh no.

Aizawa was not happy.

“Boss?”

“Shut it down.” The man said, eyes boring into Izuku while the boy shifted uncomfortably, feeling strangely guilty.

Shut-it-down?

What? The school?

“And give me the details of the boy.”

“Yes Boss.”

Wait. Izuku watched wide eyed as Toshinori produced a file out of nowhere and gave it to Aizawa.

Yup, that was Tsubasa’s photo.

“Wait. What are you going to do to him?” he asked breaking his silence.

“Send a message.” Said Aizawa casually. “Why? Did you have something in mind?”

Izuku hesitated.

“What kind of message?”

“The warning kind.”

Izuku’s head immediately produced images of gruesome body parts.

Aizawa came forward and rested his large hand on his head.

“Don’t worry.” He said reassuringly. “I’ll make sure he never thinks of going near you again.”

“You don’t need to do that,” said Izuku hastily, moving away.

“Hm? You could have broken your neck. Toshinori.”

“Yes Boss.”

Panicking, cause he really did not want Tsubasa to be tortured, he ran to Toshinori who was leaving the room and hugged him tightly, burying his face in his stomach.

“No! Don’t!” he said, voice muffled.

Toshinori stiffened at Aizawa’s sudden sharp gaze.

Forcing out a nervous chuckle, he rested his hands on Izuku’s shoulders, gently trying to pry him off.

“Y-young master, I need to go.”

Izuku clutched him tighter, shaking his head.

Aizawa’s glare became more prominent. A bead of sweat rolled down Toshinori’s face.

“Izuku, come here.” Aizawa said finally in a low tone.

Izuku turned his face, teary eyes glaring at the man.

“You’re not hurting Tsubasa!” he said still not letting go.

“I said come here.” Aizawa repeated rather dangerously reaching for his scarf.

“Say you won’t hurt Tsubasa!”

There was a tense silence in which the man and child glared at each other. Toshinori used his years of experience to try and not panic.

Finally Aizawa kept his hand down and said,

“Alright.”

Izuku opened his mouth to argue, then closed it confused.

“You won’t hurt Tsubasa?” he asked narrowing his eyes, finally loosening his grip. Toshinori scurried out of the room breathing a sigh of relief as soon as he was outside.

“No.”

“Or his family members?”

“No. Now come here.”

Izuku stared at the man suspiciously before finally obeying him.

As soon as he reached the man, Aizawa pulled him down beside him, half hugging him. He could feel the man’s breath moving his hair. Not wanting him to change his mind, Izuku reluctantly relaxed.

“Are you really shutting the school down?” he asked meekly. Did he actually have that much power?

“Yes.” Aizawa replied rather tersely.

Silence.

“But why?” Izuku burst out. “Why does it matter so much? It’s always been this way, so why now?”

Aizawa gave him a look that implied that he was stupid.

“Listen well, kitten.” The man said seriously. Izuku frowned immediately. “I can’t rewrite your past. But you’re my child now. And I’m going to take care of you. And that means nobody is allowed to harm a single hair on your body. Is that clear?”

Shaken, Izuku could only nod dumbly. He could not think of anything to say.

He automatically opened his mouth as Aizawa held a grape in front of him. The  obedience seemed to please the man and Izuku felt him relax, pulling him closer, placing his cheek on the boy’s hair. And Izuku...allowed it.

“So you seem to like Toshinori.” The man said after a few moments of silence. Izuku nodded, brightening a little.

“He’s really cool.”

“I see.” Aizawa sounded a bit strange.

A few more moments of grape munching.

“Go get your school books.” Said Aizawa finally. “I want to see where you’re at. You’ll be home schooled from now on.”

No school? Izuku’s day suddenly became brighter. He hopped off the sofa and stopped.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow as the child turned to him, clearly struggling. He waited patiently, amused.

“Thank you.” Izuku finally bit out. “For-er-you know...

The sentence trailed off and he stood there awkwardly scowling at the floor, ears red.

“Hm?” Aizawa straightened with interest. “Is that so? Then smile for me.”

Just-why was this man so –embarrassing?

Izuku took a deep breath and fixing a smile on his face, looked up him.

Aizawa studied his face for a while and let out a dissatisfied hum.

“You were cuter with tears. Cry for me, kitten.”

Izuku’s smile vanished instantly.

“I’m going to my room.” He snapped turning on his heels, face red.

Aizawa chuckled watching the small figure marching off.

‘He called it his room,’ he thought.

His good mood soured as Toshinori stuck his head inside.

“I’ve given out the instructions Boss.”

“The school?”

“Yes Boss.”

“And the boy?”

“Yes Boss.”

“Good. And Toshinori?”

“Yes Boss?”

“I don’t want to see your face for the rest of the day.”

...

Toshinori hung his head and walked away dejected.

Chapter Text

Living with Aizawa was...well, it wasn’t bad. But that was what Izuku had a problem with. It would have made disliking the man so much easier.

It could be quite stifling at times. Izuku was used to doing things his way without following any particular timetable and it was annoying to have someone hovering over him 24x7.

He’d taken his frustration out on Toshinori, but the man’s expression of a kicked puppy had made him feel extremely guilty so he’d stopped.

On the other hand, he didn’t have to worry about the meals and the fixed bed time made him less cranky, reduced his dark circles and gave his face a healthy glow. His tutor was distant and reserved but was uninterested in targeting him so he was alright.

And Aizawa, well...

Izuku didn’t think he’d ever been hugged so much in his life or have his head patted so frequently. It had made feel a little nauseous at first, Toshinori had muttered something about touch starvation. Now a part of him relished the warmth of another person that cam without any unkind gestures. The man had his issues and was clearly involved in some fishy business that Izuku would have minded more if he wasn’t getting pampered and have his belly full to the point of bursting after each meal. And Aizawa always- always­- made time for Izuku. Even if his presence mostly annoyed the boy, still it wasn’t...bad.

Izuku exhaled and pushed his homework away, flopping down on his bed.

Maths & feelings did not go together.

“Taking a break?”

Izuku turned his head.

“Yeah. Don’t you have anywhere else to be?”

Aizawa pinched his cheek mildly as a rebuke, not taking his eyes off the papers on his knees.

He looked weird with glasses, Izuku decided.

“What’re you doing?” he asked sitting up, leaning against the pillows beside the man.

Aizawa tilted the papers away.

“Adult stuff.” He replied monotonously.

Izuku pouted and immediately sucked his lower lip back, embarrassed.

Aizawa stared at him and turned his attention back to his work.

“Here.” He said suddenly, pulling out several photos. “Can you find any irregularities amongst them?”

They were photos of dead people.

Izuku stared at them and said,

“Please don’t do around giving other kids pictures of dead people.”

“I don’t know any other kids.”

“Not the point I was trying to make.” Muttered Izuku taking the photos and spreading them out.

See? Issues.

All the corpses had a symbol of a lemniscus in a circle drawn in ink or blood on a part of their body. The body parts involved all varied.

Izuku looked them over, doing his best to pretend they were dummies. Then he picked one out frowning.

“This one is different.” He said flapping it in front of Aizawa’s nose to get his attention.

Aizawa grabbed his wrist putting it at a position that didn’t require him to cross his eyes.

“How so?”

“The way the signs positioned is different than the rest. It’s-vertical?”

“Correct. In the others, the lemniscus is along the long axis of the body part. This one’s perpendicular.” Aizawa said sounding approving.

Izuku preened despite himself. The man chuckled and patted his head.

“This is the symbol of Astera. This is what we put on our targets to show who’s responsible for their demise. Or, being marked while you’re alive shows that you are now a target. In the recent months however, Astera is getting blames for deaths it did not cause. There are more several aspects to the symbol and those deaths have them all wrong, suggesting that someone is trying to frame us.”

Izuku closed his mouth and stared at the ceiling.

“Are you supposed to tell me all this?” he asked at last.

Aizawa frowned.

“You’re my son aren’t you?”

Izuku gave him a fake smile.

He wondered if his mom knew she’d given him away to a serial killer.

“Go brush your teeth.”

Izuku rolled his eyes and padded off.

When he came back, his books had all been cleared off the bed and his side was empty. Only the lamp on Aizawa’s side was on in the darkness.

“You know, reading in the dark is bad for the eyes. You should go somewhere else.” Said Izuku climbing on, settling on his stomach.

“I’ll manage. Go to sleep.”

Izuku closed his eyes to the sound of paper rustling.

And if the heat of the man lulled him to sleep faster, creating an atmosphere of safety, well, it wasn’t like anyone was going to know about it.

Izuku had managed to cajole Toshinori into showing him a few moves.

The man’s effortless demonstration made him realise just how much he’d under evaluated his awesomeness.

He was incredibly patient too, guiding Izuku’s hands and legs through each punch and kick, gently correcting his mistakes.

It was lunch time and they were waiting for Aizawa in the lobby. Toshinori was accompanied by another man who was sitting nearby, observing them with a blank face. Izuku paid him no attention. Toshinori and Yamada were the only ones who approached him.

You’ve got a call...you’ve got a call...

Izuku waved Toshinori away, resolving to make him change his ringtone later.

“You’ll break your finger that way.” The man in the corner spoke up suddenly.

Izuku frowned at his fist.

The man came over and adjusted his thumb while stroking his wrist in a slow deliberate manner.

“Thanks.” Izuku said shortly, stepping back out of his reach. The man’s stare was making him uncomfortable and he glanced at Toshinori’s back.

“His son?” the man asked.

Izuku shook his head.

“His nephew?”

“I’m not related to him.” Said Izuku wishing he would go away.

“Really?” the man’s eyes lit up. “What’s he doing with a cutie like you?”

Ew. Gross. Yuck.

Izuku grimaced showing his disgust.

The man laughed.

“It’s ok. I get it.” He said. “You ever want a sugar daddy, I’ll be willing to take care of a sweet thing like you.”

What was it with people trying to adopt him?

“I already have a dad.” Said Izuku stepping further away. “Toshinori!” 

The man’s face twisted for a moment and then cleared away as Toshinori approached.

Toshinori gave Izuku’s sullen face a lookover.

“Anything wrong?” he asked a bit coldly as Izuku stepped closer to him.

“No sir!” The man laughed. “We were just having a chat, weren’t we, young man?”

Izuku, completely and utterly unimpressed by the hint of an underlying threat, tugged at Toshinori’s trousers and said,

“I don’t like him. Can we go now?”

Toshinori gave the man a look that made him stiffen. Izuku felt his fondness for the man grow.

“Come on. The Boss is here.” He led Izuku inside. He didn’t catch the man’s face whitening as he turned away.

There was katsudon. Again.

Ever since Aizawa had found out that he loved katsudon, Izuku had been having nothing but katsudon for almost a month now.

It was a sweet gesture, but there was something called too much of something. Right now, katsudon was nowhere on the list of food he loved.

Resolving to bring it up casually when they weren’t eating, Izuku took a mouthful.

“Did you wait long?” Aizawa asked ruffling his hair before taking his seat. Izuku nodded.

“It’s ok though. Toshi taught me how to punch.” He said.

Aizawa’s brow twitched at the nickname and he looked at his plate a little gloomily.

Toshinori smoothly inserted himself out of his line of vision.

Which reminded him...

Izuku looked up.

“What’s the difference between a dad and a sugar daddy?” he asked.

There was a silence.

“A sugar daddy is something you are never going to have. Ever.” Said Aizawa grimly. Behind him, Toshinori nodded firmly.

“But what is it?”

“You’ll know when you’re older.”

Izuku pouted and continued eating.

After a while, Aizawa set down his chopsticks and said,

“Where did you hear that term?”

“Mm? Some one offered to be mine.” Said Izuku casually not looking up.

There was another chilly silence which the boy did not notice.

“Oh? Who was it?”

“That guy outside.” Said Izuku dismissively.

Thirsty, he reached for the glass.

“Boss, may I be excused for a while?”

Toshinori’s voice made Izuku look up.

Woah. For some reason, he was really pissed off.

Even stranger was Aizawa’s reaction.

“Take as much time as you need.” He said smiling in a rather horrifying manner. “And make sure to leave some for me as well.”

Izuku stared after Toshinori as he left the room.

Bewildered, he looked at Aizawa for an explanation.

The man patted his head, a bit more roughly than usual and said in a blasé manner,

“Adult stuff.”

Oh-kay?

Chapter Text

Toshinori resisted the urge to wring his hands in dismay as the voices inside grew louder.

“She’s my mother!”

“I said no!”

“But why not? I just want to talk to her!”

“Don’t push it, kid.”

The argument had been going along the same lines in a circle for quite a while now.

He snapped to attention as the door banged open.

“I hate you!” Izuku’s voice yelled with an anger Toshinori hadn’t heard from the boy before.

Boss’s face twisted into something ugly for a moment. He shut the door just as violently and snarled,

“He is not to leave his room till I say so.”

“Yes Boss!”

Aizawa strode off, eyes red with anger.

Toshinori gulped and looked at the door.

“Young master?” he tried tentatively. “May I-

“GO AWAY!”

Something thudded against the door.

Toshinori dithered outside.

Oh dear.

Izuku paced round agitatedly before throwing himself on his bed. He buried his face in the pillow and screamed.

He doubted he’d ever been this infuriated before.

He sat up.

If Aizawa seriously thought he would just meekly sit in his room, he had a huge shock coming.

He took a few deep breaths and then called out,

“Toshinori? Can I have some ice cream?”

There was a small noise outside and Toshinori’s voice rang out eagerly.

“Yes young master! Of course, young master! Coming right up, young master!”

Then running footsteps that slowly faded away. Izuku ruthlessly squashed down his guilt. He’d make it up to Toshinori later.

Izuku took a deep breath, a small smile tugging at his lips.

It was nice to go around and not have people stare at the limo behind him or Toshinori’s men-in-black getup.

He went through the park trying to remember the address.

He’d been here once or twice before but each time he’d hesitated disturbing his mother. Those days he’d miss her a lot, so much that he’d thought he was going crazy. But the fear of her displeasure always won.

The top of the building he’d headed towards came into view. He hesitated. Then he plopped down on a nearby bench. There was someone there already, but on the other edge.

Izuku stared at the building, conflicted.

Would she even be happy to see him? She would right? She was his mother after all. Sure she’d been mostly irritated with him. But ugh...he’d been so clingy then. Almost as bad as-

Izuku frowned.

It wasn’t like he minded Aizawa’s clinginess. Once the stranger-danger phase was over, it’d felt pretty nice at times.

Wait...did he like Aizawa now? The guy who kidnapped him? (Saved his life, yes, but kidnapped him, also yes)

He’d read about it before.

“Stockholm syndrome.” He muttered.

“Hmm?”

“Not you.” He said to the boy beside him. Then he paused. “What happened to your face?” he asked curiously.

The boy he was speaking to had a weird combination of red and white hair and a huge scar over one side of his face. There were 2 cats napping on his lap.

“My mother poured boiling water on it.” He said blandly.

Izuku grimaced. “Ow. Why?” There was a pause in which Izuku suddenly realised how intrusive and rude he was being. He opened his mouth to apologise when the boy replied,

“Mm...she hated my father.”

Ok?

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

The boy shrugged. There was another silence.

“What were you staring at?” The boy asked.

Izuku pointed at the building.

“My mother lives there.” He said. “I can’t decide if I should go and see her.”

“Why not?”

“Well, there’s his guy who’s my father. Only he isn’t, not really. But he kidnapped my cause he-wanted to be? And my mother-agreed?”

They stared at one another.

“Here.”

Izuku suddenly found a cat in his lap. She looked at him curiously and meowed questioningly.

“Um.”

“This one scratched my father once. He’s scared of him now.” The boy said seriously pointing to the black one still on his lap. It opened one eye lazily, flicking a ear, the tip of which was burnt.

“Thanks.” He said staring down at the ginger who decided she liked him and swatted playfully at his face. The boy nodded. Then without another word or gesture, he got up, holding the cat expertly and walked away.

Izuku returned to his thoughts.

Right, where was he again?

Ah yes, Stockholm syndrome.

But what if he did go back to his mother.

He imagined going back to his previous life. Staying in his apartment all day with no one to talk to, his neighbours murmuring constantly behind his back, the kids avoiding him like the plague. He thought about Toshinori’s constant steady presence, his willingness to indulge Izuku’s every silli whim without ever laughing at him or mocking him, Aizawa’s obsession with him, the man’s highlight of the day being him apparently, tolerating Izuku’s brattiest moments without ever hurting him physically.

Fine, it’d been just 3 months, but those 3 months had been more memorable than his entire life till then.

And he was willing to give all that up? For a woman who barely looked at him?

Other than a perfunctory pang, he hadn’t even been sad when she’d given him up. Maybe subconsciously, he’s long stopped considering her as someone important in his life.

Who cared what her reasons were. Who cared that maybe Aizawa had coerced her.

Izuku stood up and nodded firmly.

He looked down at Ginger and said,

“Come on. We’re going home.”

The atmosphere was very grim when Izuku entered the room.

Toshinori had his head down and Aizawa on the sofa in front of him looked expressionless.

They both snapped their heads in his direction as he entered.

Izuku stopped startled.

“Um...hi?” he said.

Oops, looked like Toshinori was getting scolded. He’d really have to make it up to the man later on.

Aizawa’s face contorted into a restrained sort of glare, like he was avoiding getting wrinkled.

Izuku gave him a sheepish look.

“You disobeyed me.” Said Aizawa, standing up and walking towards him.

Toshinori’s face showed a flash of alarm that neither noticed.

“You went and met that woman after I told you not to.” Aizawa continued, voice becoming more dangerous as he came to a stop in front of Izuku, looking down at him.

Toshinori stepped forward.

“Bo-

“Yeah well, I came back didn’t I?” Izuku shrugged. “I chose you in the end.” There was a pause. “Papa.”  He added as an afterthought.

Toshinori froze mid-step.

Aizawa looked like he’d been hit on the head by a club.

The grim atmosphere dissipated instantly.

Unaware of this, Izuku frowned thoughtfully.

“That will take some time getting used to. Maybe just ‘father’?” he muttered to himself.

He bit back a yelp when he was suddenly pulled forward. A loud yowl made everyone wince.

Aizawa withdrew frowning at the cat which gave him a reproachful look and leapt gracefully out of Izuku’s arms.

“Can I keep her?” Izuku asked hopefully.

The man just pulled him back in the rather too tight hug and said shortly,

“Toshinori.”

“Yes Boss!” said Toshinori hiding his glee. He picked up the cat and exited quickly giving the young master a thumbs up behind the Boss’s back.

Izuku was about to protest the lack of air when Aizawa said in a quiet tone,

“You ever try leaving, kitten, and I might just break your legs to stop you.”

Izuku rolled his eyes, the side of his face smushed against the man’s torso.

Talk about an overreaction.

“Yeah ok.” He said, finally hugging the man back.

Chapter Text

Izuku supposed it was only a matter of time before someone came after him and got him. Well, maybe Toshinori had something else and maybe he’d been told to stay in him room and maybe he’d been really really bored and had decided to go out for a nice long healthy stroll.

Fine, technically it was his fault for getting kidnapped, but really, he was a boy in his prime youth with a healthy sense of curiosity about the outside world and...shit...Aizawa was going to kill him, wasn’t he?

“At least I’ve got company. We should totally be friends.” He said.

Beside him, Shoto blinked slowly.

“Alright.” He replied after a while.

“Oh, I’m Quirkless, by the way.”

“Alright.”

He beamed at his new friend. Him. Having a friend! And his age too!

The door opened. A man wearing a stiff collar shirt walked in with a camera.

“Smile children.” He said with a nasty smile. “It’s time for Daddy dear to cough up some money.” He was looking at Shoto while saying this. Huh?

“Endeavour will rue the day he crossed me!” the man cackled, clearly in his own world.

“Endeavour’s your dad?” said Izuku astonished. Shoto nodded not looking as happy about it as one might expect from a child having a hero as a parent.

“Wait, why am I here?” he asked. All he did was run over to Shoto and start up a conversation about cats.

“Collateral damage. Say cheese.” Without waiting, he clicked a photo with a flash that blinded the kids momentarily.

“I guess I should apologise.” Said Shoto sounding gloomy once the man exited still cackling to himself.

“Nah, it’s fine. I’m sort of used to this.” Said Izuku shrugging. The other boy blinked but decided not to ask. Instead he showed Izuku a bracelet on his arm.

“I think this is stopping me from using my Quirk.” He said quietly. “I tried removing it but it ended up shocking me.” Ouch.

“Don’t worry. My dad’ll get us out.” Said Izuku stretching himself. “Once he notices I’m gone. “ he added grimacing.

Shoto turned out to be quite good company. His dad was pretty mean, and his mom weird. More so than his own mother. So they had a nice time bonding over the existence of sucky parents that sucked.

The door banged open midst conversation and the kidnapper strolled in again.

“Hi children! It’s time to say bye bye to each other.” He beamed yanking Shoto up to his feet.

“Where are you taking him?” Izuku asked scrambling to his feet. “What about me?”

The man paid him no attention, pushing him to the floor easily and slamming the door shut again.

“Hey!” Izuku yelled banging on the door. He could hear Shoto’s muffled struggling gradually fading. He banged the door and yelled till his throat hurt.

“What about me?” he asked quietly. Sighing he slid down to the ground.

So now what? He was going to be locked here forever? They couldn’t even be bothered to let him out? Out of sight, out of mind?

“Dammit.” He whispered burying his face in his knees. “Where are you?”

The door banged open startling a humiliating squeak out of him.

Heart in his mouth, he stared up at a furious Aizawa.

“You. Brat.” He spat venomously.

Izuku threw himself at him, flinging his arms round the man.

“You’re pretty late.” He said chirpily, snuggling into the body before him, as if he hadn’t been thinking about his rotting skeleton being found in the future.

“You-are-grounded-for-a-lifetime!” hissed Aizawa carding a rough hand through his curls, gripping the boy tightly with his other arm.

“Ok.” Beamed Izuku tilting his head back to look up at him. “Oh.” He frowned. “Blood.”

Aizawa’s face was speckled with red spots.

“Don’t worry. The person responsible won’t be bothering you anymore. Toshinori’s taking care of the rest of the bastards.”

“Is he angry with me?” he asked meekly.

“...I’m angry with you. Very angry.”

“Yeah I got that.” Said Izuku dismissively. “What about Toshi?” Struck with sudden worry, he said, “He’s not going to stop talking with me or-or- or something like that right?”

Aizawa stared at him, face twitching.

“Are you aware,” he said slowly, “that you are the most irritating 10 year old I’ve ever known?”

“I thought I was the only 10 year old you knew.”

Silence.

“Oh!” he exclaimed suddenly remembering. “Did you see Shoto? He was here with me. Red and white hair? Scar on his face?”

Aizawa let go of him, grabbing his wrist instead.

“Yes.” He said shortly dragging him out of the room.

“Where?”

“Don’t bother yourself with trivial things.”

Izuku frowned.

“He’s my friend! You’re not going to just leave him here, are you?”

Aizawa’s grip tightened a bit at that. When the man failed to reply, Izuku dug his heels into the ground, resisting his pull.

“Izuku.” Said Aizawa in a warning tone.

Izuku bristled and tried to pry the man’s fingers off. There was a brief struggle on the boy’s part before Aizawa yanked his arm up, balancing him on his toes.

Izuku met his glare with a mutinous scowl. Silence.

“We will send him back to his family.” Said Aizawa finally, tugging at him again. This time, Izuku followed him.

“You think he can come home withus?”

“Kid-

“His parents are awful. Please?”

“No.”

Izuku sighed.

“It would have made me like you more.” He mumbled.

Toshinori’s hands were stained with blood but the smile he gave Izuku was warm and delighted. He caught Izuku returning his hug with equal affection.

“Young master!”

“Toshi!”

“Forgive me young master!”

“No, it was my fault!”

He would allow it just this once, thought Aizawa resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

His eyes met those of the other kid, Shoto, was it? The boy blinked at him unfazed and returned to doodling in the dirt.

“Come on.” He snapped irritably as the wails went on. “Let’s leave. The men will take care of the rest. Toshinori.”

“Yes Boss.”

“...Bring that kid along too.”

“Boss?”

Izuku stopped. As Aizawa stepped past him, he grabbed the man’s sleeve.

“You-are-the-best.” He said seriously. He turned beaming towards Shoto who looked a little startled to be receiving such an expression.

Both of them missed Aizawa’s eyes widening a bit and the smug look he threw at Toshinori which the bodyguard tactfully pretended not to notice.

Izuku grinned at everyone in the car. Aizawa and Shoto on either side and Toshinori in the front.

None of them noticed. But it didn’t matter.

It had been a good day, Izuku decided swinging his legs, feeling all warm and squishy inside. A very good day indeed.

Chapter Text

Just to say that I've been blown away by the response I got to this fic and even though I couldn't respond to all the comments, each and every one of them just brightened up my day.

The sequel of the immediate aftermath to his fic is up just because I suddenly missed the characters a lot yesterday for some reason.

I'm not sure if I'll be continuing but I am open to considering any suggestions/scenarios you guys may want to read.

Bye and thank you again!

2025- A/N- third part is out now