Chapter Text
When Izuku’s born, everything goes smoothly. It goes perfectly, in fact. Inko’s in labor for a mere five hours, and the pain is minimal. She struggles through a natural birth, Hisashi holding her hand the entire time, smiling and muttering encouragingly. It takes five hours, and then little infant Izuku slides his way into the world, bright eyed and already fluffy haired.
Inko holds her child once he’s been washed off and tended to, Hisashi hovering beside her. She looks down at her little child, at his tiny face and bright, baby blue eyes. Hisashi runs a finger down his darkened tuft of green hair.
When the doctors finish up with Inko and leave her to rest, the midwife pauses to offer her a warm smile. “Everything went beautifully. You’re a lucky woman, Midoriya-san,” she’d said before taking her leave.
And Inko had looked down at their child, their precious baby, the thing they created together and will raise together, and felt herself smile.
Lucky.
She knows, looking down at baby Izuku, that it’s true. That she’s the luckiest woman alive.
She didn’t really consider how literal that might be, though.
When Izuku’s two years old, his father forgets to lock the baby gate at the top of the stairs. He’s alerted to this fact when he hears a series of loud thunks.
Hisashi - two hundred years old, married to one of the most frightening women when she’s disappointed, prime time villain of great (underground) renown - understandably, panics. He drops his coffee - burning his toes on the way - and rushes out of the kitchen, making it halfway to the living room before he hears the thuds stop. He races in, heart in his throat, and makes it to the bottom of the stairs just in time-
For Izuku to start giggling. He sits at the bottom of the steps, neatly on his diapered butt, and giggles brightly, smiling up at his father when he sees him. Hisashi blinks a few times, his heart in his throat.
He’d… fell down the stairs. And was completely fine?
Izuku was fine. Hisashi leans down and picks up the laughing two year old, hoisting him onto a hip. He looks the boy over, feeling his scalp, but when that doesn’t make Izuku’s smile so much as falter, he’s forced to accept the strange conclusion he draws.
Izuku tumbled down the stairs, and was completely, absolutely fine. Not even a bruise to show for it.
Hisashi stares at his son - who’s looking consideringly up at the top of the steps again. “Papa, again,” Izuku pleads eagerly, smiling brightly and somewhat toothlessly.
Hisashi looks up at the stairs. There’s thirteen steps on them. Thirteen thuds he’d heard.
Zero bruises.
He’s struggling to understand this as he looks back at Izuku and confirms, yes, he’s still smiling. Still unhurt.
…How very odd.
Hisashi clears his throat, lifting the boy from his hip to hold him out in front of him. He levels Izuku with his sternest look, the one he usually keeps just for his most distractible of underlings. The one that tells them to listen right now, and listen clear.
“Izuku,” he begins sternly, frowning at the boy. The boy gives a soft, questioning giggle-smile. Hisashi’s lips twitch downwards. “We’re not telling your mother this happened,” he instructs, flat and firm.
Izuku lifts up a fist to start chewing on it.
Hisashi, for his part, makes sure to lock the baby gate after that.
When Izuku’s four, he plays with Kacchan at the playground. Well, he plays. Kacchan, on the other hand, is mean. He chases Izuku, his new Quirk letting explosions pop off his palms. Izuku had been so excited when he saw that, leaning in and blubbering to Kacchan how cool it was.
Kacchan had agreed, and everything went well until he slyly suggested they see how much the explosions hurt. Izuku had started running one he realized, and is currently racing towards where their respective mothers wait, distracted by their own conversation. Izuku runs and Kacchan chases.
It works until Izuku starts to get tired, and then it stops being mostly fun and becomes mostly upsetting. He slows down and Kacchan leaps at him with a bellow, palms sparking inches away-
And then he trips on the sand of the playground and absolutely eats it, explosions sending sand flying. Izuku pauses, blinking a few times at the sight of Kacchan’s hand scraping right past him and exploding the ground instead. It was a decent explosion, too, so that might’ve actually hurt if it went off!
Kacchan slowly sits up, brushing sand from his face, and he’s blushing bright red. Izuku hesitates, about to try and make a joke to try and make him feel better - before Kacchan starts tearing up.
Izuku immediately panics. “AUNTIE!” He screams urgently, and Mitsuki’s head snaps up from her conversation with Inko. She’s on her feet in an instant, even as Kacchan shakes his head and wipes at his face, looking irritated.
“What happened?” Mitsuki asks as she reaches them, Inko a step behind, running a hand through Katsuki’s hair.
“Kacchan was being mean and he tripped,” Izuku explains and Mitsuki arches a brow.
“That’s what we adults call ‘instant karma’,” she drawls blandly. “Were you being mean, Katsuki?”
“No, ” he lies sullenly. “I just wanted to show off my Quirk.” he mumbles, which is true enough, so Izuku nods.
Then he ruins it by saying, “on me,” grouchily, and Inko’s eyes narrow.
Mitsuki glances at her, takes one look at her expression, and pales. “Uh-” she starts quickly, looking urgently back at Katsuki. “Very bad Katsuki, we don’t hurt our friends,” she says. “Would you like it if Izuku hurt you?” she points out, reasonably, and Kacchan pauses in his tears to snort.
“Deku can’t hurt anyone.”
“Deku?” Inko echoes, eyes narrowing further.
Mitsuki hisses a soft breath. “Katsuki, we use nice names when we’re talking to friends,” she growls at him and then shoots Inko an apologetic look. “I’ll, uh, talk to him.”
Inko nods curtly, lips pressed together. “Please do. I want my son to have nice friends,” she says in a perfectly mild tone that makes Mitsuki nod quickly.
“Yep, who wouldn’t, haha!” she says, not at all strained. “Well, we should go home, and not stay here. Katsuki, we’re going to talk seriously about deciding what battles to fight when we get home…”
Katsuki scowls but doesn’t argue as he’s promptly shooed away by the woman, hustled back towards their home. Inko brushes some dirt off Izuku’s clothes once it’s just them, offering him a warm smile.
“If he’s ever mean to you like that again, come get me, alright, Izukkun?” She asks gently and Izuku smiles brightly, nodding up at her.
“Alright, mama. I know you’ll make it better!” He says cheerfully, lifting his arms in the universal sign for ‘up’. Inko smiles as she lifts him, hauling him onto a hip.
“That’s right, Izukkun. Mama always makes it better,” she promises firmly.
Izuku doesn’t notice the blazing determination in her eyes at her words. Being four years old, he wouldn’t have understood it even if he did see it.
Izuku’s still four years old when his father agrees to watch him and Kacchan play in the street. No cars are around, and it’s been barren for nearly twenty minutes. Every time they see a car, they’re quick to move out of the way, but in the meantime, they play catch and bounce basketballs in front of Izuku’s apartment complex. It’s a warm sunny day, and most people are at school or work, so it’s nice and quiet.
Hisashi yawns as he sips coffee from his thermos, watching the kids with half his mind. The other half is on his plans for world domination - or at least Japan domination. Again. He’d really liked being basically emperor the last time it happened, and he thinks he’d like it to happen again. He’s in the middle of thinking about successors (should he find one? Does he need one? He’s basically immortal, and he has an actual son already… but if Inko ever found out he was trying to raise him as a villain… oh god, he needs to find a successor) when it happens.
Kacchan explodes the basketball into the air, cackling like a maniac. It soars like it’s trying to reach the clouds, both boys watching in amazement, before it starts plummeting back to earth. It hits the middle of the street with the loudest echoey ‘plunk’ and then rolls casually down the street.
“I’ll get it!” Izuku squeaks, lunging into the road.
Hisashi is pulled from his thoughts (does he pick one with a good Quirk, or find a good kid and pick the Quirk to give him?) by the sound of Kacchan’s urgent yell, and looks up to see a car speeding down the street. They’re near the corner, a dangerous place to be when there are idiots who ignore stop signs, and Hisashi’s eyes widen. Izuku leans down to pick up the ball, not even noticing the car speeding right for him.
Hisashi throws out a hand, ready to blast the car away with a telekinesis Quirk, regardless of whether or not he’s supposed to have one-
And then a second car, just as reckless as the first, comes flying from the side and slams right into the first car. The two cars collide feet away from Izuku’s back, who jumps at the crash with a startled shriek, and the debris go flying-
Hisashi runs forward, unable to see through the cloud of dust and flying car parts. He can’t use a Quirk on Izuku without seeing him, so his best bet is to get to him as fast as possible and hopefully heal whatever injuries the boy has before Katsuki can see.
Hisashi runs right past the still shouting Katsuki, diving into the cloud of dust even as it starts to settle-
And Izuku’s still in the middle of it all. He’s still standing, the basketball in his hands, a completely, bafflingly confused expression on his face. The debris litters the ground around him.
There’s a perfectly circular foot-wide radius around him where absolutely none of the debris landed. Hisashi stops just short of arms reach, staring at the blank space around Izuku’s feet. The inexplicable lack of anything coming close to hitting him.
From one of the cars, a driver groans. Hisashi thoroughly ignores them.
He reaches out to touch Izuku - solid, real, what the fuck - and then absently starts brushing the dust off him.
“Papa did you see the cars?” Izuku asks slowly, confused.
“Mhm,” Hisashi confirms distractedly, slowly accepting that this did, in fact, happen. His son ran into the street in front of a moving car while Hisashi was supposed to be watching him.
Katsuki saw it all, and Hisashi can’t kill him like he might the drivers, so he can’t hide that it happened. The cars could’ve been disposed of easily enough, but now neighbors are starting to walk out to see the commotion…
Hisashi slowly picks Izuku up, letting the boy wave enthusiastically at Kacchan over his shoulder.
He can’t pretend this didn’t happen. Which leaves him with ultimately one choice.
Hisashi trudges home with fear in his heart.
When Hisashi first met Inko, she was using her Quirk to rip a man’s teeth out in an alley behind a bar. Mitsuki, heavily drunk, was leaning against the wall behind her, blinking sluggishly as the man screamed and wailed, clutching at his bleeding face.
Inko had used her telekinesis on his fingernails, next. He’d done the smart thing and run the fuck away, now short of all his teeth and one fingernail.
Hisashi had taken one look at the scene and knew it was fate. He took one look at Inko, teeth clenched in a fist, blood dripping from her fingers, and knew it was love.
Hisashi, once he gets home and gets Izuku settled on the sofa with hot chocolate to soothe his nerves after his almost-death, packs up all his things and runs.
He knows it’s his only chance at survival.
When Inko comes home to a half emptied bedroom and a son-who-almost-died munching happily and unknowingly away on some animal crackers left on a plate…
She doesn’t cry.
She smiles, and vows revenge.
Hisashi does at least send money every week, though.
Izuku’s diagnosed Quirkless. Inko pats him on the head, whispering soothing words as he cries, and then tells him to wait for her in the hallway. Izuku obeys.
He doesn’t know what his mother says to the doctor, but when she leaves, the door opens just long enough for Izuku to hear muffled sobbing before it closes again. Inko just smiles, takes Izuku by the hand, and walks him home.
“You don't have the extra toe joint. You might just be late,” Inko argues when they’re eating katsudon to cheer Izuku up. “And even if you aren’t, it doesn’t matter! You’re my son. You can do anything.”
“Even be a hero?” Izuku had asked through wet eyes.
Inko had a brief moment where she maliciously wished Hisashi was there to hear the question. It’d break his heart to know his own son wants to become what he used to go on hour long rants about while they were dating.
“Anything.” Inko repeated fiercely, and then hugged him tight and vowed to make sure that was true.
So Izuku’s four when he’s diagnosed Quirkless. He cries most of the night, but Inko’s faith in him pushes him on.
Later, he talks to Hisashi over the phone - Inko staring daggers at the device in suspicion the whole time, like he’d manage to get Izuku killed over the line somehow - and the man tells him much the same.
“Quirk, Quirkless, it doesn’t matter. You have your limbs, don’t you? Your senses? You can do anything the same as anyone, then.” Hisashi had said, confident and simple, and Izuku had sniffled and been soothed.
“Even be a hero?” he’d asked quietly after a moment, the one question he needs an answer to.
He doesn’t see Inko hide a smirk. He doesn’t hear Hisashi’s breath catch on a choke.
“...Sure thing, kid,” Hisashi eventually managed to strangle out. “You… you’ll be… a great hero,” he’d gritted out, sounding so very pained as he did.
Izuku had just grinned and babbled his thanks, finally reassured enough to feel cheerful again.
Kacchan, on the other hand, had not responded with optimism.
“You, a hero? What can you even do?” Kacchan had snorted. “You can’t even stop me from-”
“Katsuki!” Mitsuki’s bark makes Kacchan freeze, halfway to letting off an explosion against Izuku’s arm. Mitsuki, sweeping in from across the playground where she’d been watching, grabs Katsuki’s wrist and smacks his hand. “We don’t use our Quirks on children! Especially not the ones whose mothers can murder us in our sleep.” Mitsuki hisses, eyes narrowed. “I’ve told you to be smarter about this.”
“But mom, he wants to be a hero.” Katsuki had complained as he was dragged away, a patiently smiling Inko waiting for Izuku from where she’d been with Mitsuki.
Kacchan seems to get the message though, because while he’s happy to let off explosions near Izuku, he never touches him to do it again.
When Izuku starts school, it gets harder. The other kids are… mean, frankly. Really mean.
They make fun of him for his Quirklessness, calling him Deku when Kacchan does. It doesn't feel as friendly from their mouths, though, and Izuku hates it.
He hates it, but nothing’s bad at first.
When he’s seven years old, though, one of his bullies pushes him down the stairs.
Izuku had responded with reaching out blindly as he was suddenly airborne, and his hand clamped around the very hand that had just pushed him. He grabbed hold, tightening his grip as he tumbles, and then he falls. Izuku goes head over heels as he rolls right down the steps, surprisingly painlessly. He lands at the bottom on his rear, blinking from the headrush - and it takes him a second to realize he’s still holding onto that wrist.
It’s Tsubasa who pushed him, he realizes. It’s Tsubasa who now lays out on his back next to Izuku, groaning in pain, his arm bent at a bad angle and one wing folded painfully under him.
Izuku walks away completely unharmed. Kacchan, at the top of the stairs, just cackles at Tsubasa’s misfortune.
Inko, when she finds out about the incident, sues the school.