Chapter Text
It’s 5 pm for the citizens of Musutafu, dinnertime for many as they return home from their exhausting day. Kisses, open arms, empty rooms, and needy dogs are waiting for them when they walk through the door, but for one household there’s only yelling and tears.
And tiny explosions.
“Do you know how worried we were?!” Mitsuki Bakugou was an erupting volcano, and all the fire and heat was being directed at her five-year-old son. “How many times have we told you, Katsuki? To come. Home. Be. Fore. Four!!” She pulls on his ear, but all that does is make him glare back with the same intense heat.
“Let go, you hag!” He pulls against her hold, but no dice. It’s at this time the mediator, one tired Masaru Bakugou, comes in, hopefully to calm both hotheads before any more of their furniture gets scorched.
A couple of feet away from them are the Midoriyas, the source of tears in this whole mess. The instigator was Inko Midoriya, who was (surprisingly) silently bawling her eyes out as she held onto her son like a lifeline. He was no better, wailing into his mother’s arms and blubbering out incoherent apologies and promises.
“Just…just don’t ever scare mommy like that ever again, okay Izuku?” She pulls away to look into his eyes, and he eagerly agrees before breaking out into another sobbing cycle. She smiles sadly, idly tucking his hair away from his reddened face.
“I, I– hic –I’m p, pro-om-m-ise,” Izuku manages to say, and whatever he says next is muffled when he burrows himself into his mother’s shoulder. There’s stomping and cursing, and Inko looks up to see Mitsuki drag a struggling Katsuki by the arm over to them. Masaru trails after, defeated.
“Go on,” she pulls him to stand in front of Inko, planting her hands on his shoulders before he could bolt. “What do you have to say to your auntie, Katsuki?”
“O-oh, no it’s fine, he doesn’t have to.” Inko wipes away the tear streaks on her cheeks and waves her hand to stop him. “Katsuki you don’t have to apologize, it’s alright.”
“It’s not alright, it’s not alright at all!”
“Auntie said she doesn’t want me to say it, so I don’t hafta!” Katsuki tries to wiggle his way out of Mitsuki’s talon-like grip, but the exhaustion from either his day or the arguing was weighing against him, and he stays put. “Lemme go!”
“They’ve had a long day, Micchan, we should let them rest.” As if to prove her point, Izuku’s crying stops and he rests his head on Inko’s shoulder, his puffy eyes slowly closing with sleep.
“They’ve had a long day? We’ve had a long day.” She pinches Katsuki’s cheek, and he slaps her hand away. “We looked everywhere you two, practically turned the whole neighborhood upside down. I’m pretty sure the soba shop down the street's banned me now.”
“We were looking for All Might!” Katsuki protests, crossing his arms. “And we almost found him, but you guys stopped us.”
“For the last time, Katsuki, I told you that we’d go look for your toy tomorrow,” his mother snaps back. She pinches the bridge of her nose. “You couldn’t have waited till the morning?”
“He would’ve gotten cold, mom,” he says it like it’s an obvious fact, but Mitsuki just rolls her eyes.
“Honey, I think Inko’s right,” Masaru walks over to his wife and gently massages her tense shoulders. “We’re all stressed and high-strung right now, we’re not in the right minds to talk about this just yet. Let’s leave this for tomorrow, or at least after dinner.” She leans into his touch, mulling the words over in her head. Finally, she sighs.
“Fine, fine.” She lets go of Katsuki’s shoulders. “After dinner.” The boy dashes for the living room, and Masaru guides his wife to the kitchen, and she mutters, “What a way to end a birthday.”
Inko winks at Masaru as they go, thanking him for the assist, and she stands up with an almost-sleeping Izuku in her arms, walking to the living room to drop him off on the couch so she can go help them. Katsuki’s already cocooned himself in a throw blanket when she walks in, but he quickly scrambles out of it when she lays Izuku down.
“Auntie,” he says quietly, grabbing her sleeve to stop her from going just yet, “I know you said I didn’t hafta, but…sorry. For taking Deku and getting lost.” The last part’s barely above a whisper, but Inko hears it and gives him a warm smile.
“Thank you, Katsuki.” He looks away and nods, and goes to Izuku’s side. He curls up next to the now-passed out kid, and quickly joins him as soon as his head touches the cushion. The sight’s adorable and heart-warming, especially after the fiasco that was a few seconds ago.
She goes to pick up the discarded throw blanket, and spots a plush-rabbit on the ground next to it. She picks both of them up and returns to the boys, tucking the rabbit between the two of them and laying the blanket. She kisses both of their foreheads, gives herself a few moments to just be at their side, and then gets up.
With one last look, she hopes– prays– that whatever luck they had today will stay with them forever. That even if it wont, they’ll still find their way back home.
“I’m sorry, Izuku, I think I just used your birthday wish,” she laughs, and she leaves the sleeping boys for their dreams.
If home is gone, then I wish. I hope. I pray.
That you’ll find each other.
Izuku wakes up crying. Not unusual, he is a Midoriya after all, but the dream part was new. He hasn’t dreamed in a long time, not since he started living with daddy. At least, he thinks he hasn’t, memories were a tricky thing for him like that. But he remembered dreaming this time, and parts of the dream too! Maybe his brain was healing itself, and soon he’ll be able to remember all the things he remembers. Was that his quirk?
“Hey,” a soft voice calls out, and he feels a hand run through his hair. “What’s wrong, honey?”
Mommy?
No, mommy’s gone. Who is it?
Izuku opens his mouth, but his throat closes up when he tries to speak. He starts coughing and the hand immediately pulls away from him.
No! Wait, come back!
He opens his eyes, and sees two hands holding a cup of water in front of him. He quickly grabs the glass and chugs it, and someone tells him to slow down or he’ll choke.
“Slow down, nerd,” a different voice demands.
Nerd?
“K, kacchan?” Katsuki leans over the bed with a napkin in his hand, and takes the empty cup away to wipe at his chin.
“That’s me,” the blonde huffs. Slender hands take the cup from Katsuki, and Izuku looks over to see who else was in the room.
“Auntie!” The woman smiles as the boy kicks the blankets off of him and launches himself into her arms. She catches him easily, and everything seems to crumble within her when she feels his tiny arms wrap around her. “Auntie, I missed you!”
Tears prick the corner of her eyes and she hugs the boy tight, rubbing his back to just feel that he was there, to assure that this was really happening. “Yeah, I missed you too, honey. We all missed you.” He giggles, and that’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Mitsuki didn’t cry like Inko (though no one that wasn’t a Midoriya could cry like her), and she didn’t cry like Masaru. She wasn’t loud or overly-emotional or apparent when she let the old waterworks out. She was rather quiet, a stark contrast from her anger, or excitement. But in the Bakugou household, Mitsuki’s tears were so much louder than yelling.
She kisses the top of Izuku’s head and let the tears fall freely. Masaru, who was quietly sitting beside her, wraps his arm around her shoulders, the other one landing in the boy’s curls as he pulls them into an even stronger hug. His eyes had already run dry, but he wasn’t any less emotional as Mitsuki. Katsuki only watches from the other side of the hospital bed, and lets his parents go through the same rollercoaster he’d gone on when he met Izuku again.
Izuku was so confused, but auntie and uncle were here, and so was Kacchan, and that’s all that matters right now.
Aizawa comes into the room just as the family finishes their lunch. He’s brought two other people with him, and Izuku recognizes one of them immediately.
“Present Mic!” Izuku gasps, and pushes away the hand that’s wiping the food off his face. He stands up and begins jumping up and down on his bed excitedly. “You’re here, you’re here!” The voice hero beams at the enthusiastic greeting, and strikes a pose.
“The one and only!” He gets a slap upside the head from his friend. He pays no mind to it though, and struts over to the hospital bed, just barely catching the kid when he suddenly jumps off. “Woah, You’re charged up! What did you have for lunch?” As he pulls the kid into a very active conversation about grapes, Aizawa and his other guest approach the Bakugous. He looks familiar to Katsuki, but he can’t place where…
“Mrs. Bakugou, Mr. Bakugou,” they bow their greetings, “this is Detective Tsukauchi, a detective for the MPD.”
Aha! Katsuki mentally exclaims. He was there at the USJ attack. He was talking to All Might privately then—he must be their personal contact. But what’s he doing here?
Masaru’s about to greet them back, but Mitsuki cuts him off and asks Katsuki’s question for him. “What’s this all about? Didn’t you take the boys’ statements already?” The unexpected hostility caught the group off-guard. There was a reason for this though, and her husband was just about to enlighten them all.
“I’m sorry, it’s been a rough couple of days for us. We kind of bumped heads with the other officers we met just a few hours ago, so my wife’s a little wary.” She pinches his arm, but he simply smiles as he takes her hand.
“I see,” Tsukauchi bows deeply, “I apologize on behalf of the MPD, discipline will be dealt with accordingly as soon as I leave.”
“Doesn’t matter, I guess,” the woman sighs, running her free hand through her hair. “I gave them hell, so my grievances are settled.” Her husband squeezes her hand reassuringly, and turns back to the guests.
“But what do we owe the pleasure for this visit?” Aizawa motions for the group to step a little farther away from Izuku and Yamada, and they walk to the corner of the room across. Katsuki follows, despite his father’s protests.
“I wanna know what you’re going to do with the nerd,” he states, and from his tone the adults know he wasn’t going to budge. Tsukauchi calmly nods, and the conversation continues.
“I'll be brief. Because Izuku has no legal guardians he’s being placed in emergency care under Shota Aizawa,” Tsukauchi begins. All three Bakugous become confused, and Katsuki cuts the man off before he starts speaking again.
“The hell? Why can’t he just go home with my mom and dad, we’re his family.” Masaru and Mitsuki nod along, the latter having to bite her cheek in order to keep her from setting off.
“Legally, you are not–”
“Then we’ll make it legal,” Mitsuki snaps back. “Giving him to some random person’s only going to hurt him. He needs to be with people he knows and trusts.”
“And believe me, Mrs. Bakugou,” Aizawa interjects, “I can be that kind of person for Izuku. With enough time and effort he’ll open up, and you won’t have to worry about him developing any more trauma when he’s with me.”
“I don’t see why all of that is necessary when we’re already here.” She gestures to herself and Masaru.
“That’s where I come in.” They look at Tsukauchi, and he continues. “Even though we have his father in our custody, some of All for One’s followers are still at large, and many of them are dangerous, ruthless individuals. There’s a possibility that they’ll start to target Izuku, and we want to give him the best security that the police and UA can offer.”
“He’ll stay with me in UA’s new dorm system, along with another child under my care.” Aizawa assures them. “Katsuki will also be there, if you sign the papers for his stay.”
Mitsuki and Masaru are at a loss for words. Even Katsuki was speechless, because in his mind, even though he hates to admit it, they’re right. All for One’s protege and his goons were still free, and they could strike at any time. He really wanted Izuku to go home with his parents, wanted the kid to have some semblance of normalcy after the things he’s been through for the past ten years. The guys made sense though, and the looks on Mitsuki and Masaru’s faces showed that they were understanding that as well.
Mitsuki brings a nail to her mouth and chews. She looks back at Izuku, her son now that Inko’s passed, and her heart wells up with so many emotions as she watches him smile and play with Present Mic. “Can’t…isn’t there a witness protection program we could go into?" She asks softly, but she already knows the answer. Masaru takes her hand once more.
“There is, but are you willing to give up everything you have to go into hiding?” All three Bakugous nod without hesitation, and Tsukauchi smiles sadly.
They say nothing more, because the Bakugous have all come to the same conclusion. The same choice that breaks their hearts to make but needs to be done. For Izuku.
“Please,” Mitsuki wipes away the tears that are starting to pool in her eyes, “please take good care of him, Mr. Aizawa.” Masaru hugs his wife, and Katsuki sidles up to her to put his hand on his shoulder.
And Aizawa hears her loud and clear.
“Of course.”