Now Listen Here

by Shadowed Voices

Enji has done his best to protect his sister-in-law and nephew from the world, but life keeps getting in the way. Sometimes, the best protection is anonymity. Internationally televised sports festivals get in the way of that.

"Calm down, celery stick. Just tell me what happened."

"He turned four and nothing manifested. Hisashi insisted we take him to the doctor. Just in case."

"Alright. And nothing is wrong with Izuku, right? He's not sick or hurt?"

"No. No, he's fine. Physically. A mess right now. All he wants is to be a hero, and, well - the doctors. They took an x-ray of his feet. He's quirkless. How can he be a hero if he's quirkless? Not to mention the stigmas and discrimination and — twenty percent of people is an incorrect statistic, Enji! Twenty percent world wide, including all generations. Not even five percent of children born today are quirkless. That's —"

"Inko."

"Hisashi was gone when I came back from work the next day. He left Izu-chan alone! In the apartment! He left him alone!"

—

Ten Years Ago

Flame Hero Endeavor drops two spots in this week's popularity poll. He has been bumped from number 2 to number 4 in the face of infidelity accusations by press. Is there any proof? Several days before last week's poll, Endeavor was spotted in civilian attire with an unknown woman and child in downtown Tokyo. No pictures are available, but witness reports claim the hero was being intimate with the woman. Some say that the child called him 'Papa' which is what started the allegations. It is publicly known that Endeavor is married and has four children - Read More.

—

"Sho-chan!"

"Zuzu!"

"Are you sure you're okay watching him today, Rei?"

"You need to go file the restraining order, Inko. Enji can make sure it goes through quickly. Permanently."

—

Nine Years Ago

Flame Hero Endeavor rushed to the hospital this morning after fire crews and rescue heroes descended on the Todoroki household. On scene reporters described the smoking remains of the house, debris scattered around the neighborhood. Witnesses say there was the sound of an explosion at 8:54am before a wave of blue fire engulfed the house. No one knows what state Endeavor is in or if there are any other survivors - Read More.

Nine Years Ago

Not all is well in the Todoroki family this week. Our informant in the hospital says that he has suffered from horrible burns to his chest and stomach, as well as internal organ damage. It is unknown if he will be able to return to hero work after this. In addition to Endeavor's injuries, the Todoroki's eldest son had been reported missing. There is no sign of his remains at the house or surrounding area, so it is suspected that he fled in the face of the fire. Cause of the fire is yet unknown - Read More.

—

"Rei! What happened? Is everyone okay?"

"I don't know. Enji was training with the kids - I was making breakfast -there was just so much fire —"

"Shh. Hush now. Where are the children?"

"Fuyumi and Natsuo are okay. They - they're at the hospital. Fu-chan has my quirk, she froze everything when the fire - Sho-chan was with me. But —"

"No."

"They can't find him! Where is he? Where's my baby!"

—

Nine Years Ago

Flame Hero Endeavor returns to hero work after three month stay in the hospital. He rises in popularity from number six back up to number three, kicking off his return to the field with the capture of villain - Read More.

—

"Papa! You're home! Is Sho-chan coming over?"

"Not today, Izu. And you know better than to open the door."

"Enji? What's wrong?"

"Inko. We - we should talk. Izuku, could you go play in your room for a little while?"

"Are you going to leave like Dad did?"

—

Nine Years Ago

Todoroki Shoto, age 6, admitted to the hospital last night with serious burns. This is the third major tragedy to befall the Flame Hero's family this year. Todoroki is Endeavor's youngest son. Public record documents a recently manifested dual quirk: Half-Hot, Half-Cold, meaning it is likely he has inherited his father's Hellflame and his mother's Glacier. Is this hospital trip a quirk accident or a sign that something has gone terribly wrong in the wake of losing eldest son - Read More.

—

"Inko, I —"

"Don't try that on me, Enji. How's Shoto? And Rei? Do you need me to watch Fuyumi and Natsuo?"

"No. No. I'll be fine with the kids. Shoto will be okay - there'll be scarring. Physical, mental. But he won't lose vision in that eye. Rei. I had her admitted to a psychiatric care facility. She hasn't been okay since - since —"

"Your son."

"Shoto just startled her. She didn't mean to hurt him!"

"She needs help. It'll be okay. Izu-chan liked the birthday present you sent. He misses you. And Shoto. But he understands. Come to us if you need any help."

"Stay safe, celery stick."

—

Now

Shoto is the first to arrive in class 1A, probably one of the first students at the school actually. Father let him out of training early when it was clear that he wasn't able to focus. Just rolled his eyes and sent him to get ready for school.

Of course, that means he still has more than half an hour until class starts. Which is half an hour he could have spent more productively, if only he could quell the nervous buzz beneath his skin. This is his first time in real school. If UA counts as a real school. It has other kids in it, but it's also a hero school for children who willingly throw themselves headfirst into dangerous and deadly situations for a variety of reasons.

The class fills relatively quickly. A tall boy with glasses and choppy arm movements strides in ten minutes after Shoto. Another boy, this one with a bird head, slinks in not much later. Two girl storm in at the same time, one bright pink with horns and the other with headphone jacks dangling from her ears. They are followed by a very short boy with purple hair. Then a blonde boy stomps through the door, all bad attitude and sparks, throwing his bag under the nearest seat and sitting with his feet on the desk.

After that it gets very loud.

Glasses - Iida Tenya from Soumei Junior High - is apparently a bit of a stickler for the rules. Something about respect for the school, previous students, and the hard work that went into making the desk. Blondie doesn't actually give a shit because he is going to be number one and doesn't like people telling him what to do.

Other students trickle in around their argument until nearly all of the desks are occupied. Then Shoto's eyes catch on fluffy green hair and bright emerald eyes peeking cautiously around the door. Those eyes, startlingly familiar, catch on the arguing pair and flinch. Shoto's palm flickers with fire, more heat than actual flame. He snuffs it out, confused by the flicker of anger fluttering low and hot in his chest, distinctly different from the nerves still dancing along his skin.

He knows those eyes. Knows them. He just doesn't know from where.

—

Izuku tries to shuffle around the fight, only to be caught between Iida and Uraraka, earning back the nickname Deku but different - dekiru; so much nicer, kinder than useless, worthless - and being told that he inspired someone, sussed out the true purpose of the entrance exam. He hadn't. Not really. He just couldn't let Uraraka be hurt if he could prevent it. And he did. Broke his arm and both his legs in the process, but All Might had texted him suggestions on how to control the hurricane of power he now possesses. It's been working. Slowly. He hasn't broken any more bones at least.

It's during the quirk apprehension test - Aizawa-sensei is terrifying, but still one of Izuku's favorite heroes - that Ururaka tugs gently on his sleeve.

"Deku? Um, he's been staring at you all class." She jerks to chin a little and Izuku follows the motion, eyes landing on Todoroki Shoto. The other boy is indeed staring at him, hetero-chromatic eyes squinted in what could either be confusion or aggression. Izuku doesn't know.

Their eyes meet. Izuku squints back because, yeah, Todoroki looks familiar. But does he look familiar because he's seen him on TV with Endeavor or is it something else?

"Midoriya!" Aizawa-sensei calls. "You're up."

Izuku looks away and walks into the ring. He can get through this test. Hopefully without falling into last place or breaking something. Or laughing because All Might hiding behind things is turning into a hilarious, conspicuous habit.

—

"What the fuck are you looking at, you half'n'half bastard?" Bakugo snarls. His hands spark up with the beginnings of explosions, the scent of smoke filling the air.

"Language!" Iida scolds at volume. "Please quietly return to your work. You are disturbing the class."

"Fuck your language!"

Shoto switches his attention from the puzzle of Midoriya's bowed head - he lifted it when Bakugo started shouting and resigned exasperation flickered across his features before he returned to his work - to stare instead at Bakugo's fuming face. The blonde is always angry.

"As I was not looking at you, I fail to see how what I am doing is any of your business." While there is never a correct response to dealing with Bakugo, this is apparently the wrong thing to say. The hair trigger temper he has with Midoriya is only fractionally longer with the rest of the world. Bakugo flies out of his seat, explosions scorching the desk and sending a cloud of flame and smoke behind him.

Behind him, where Midoriya sits, flinching back from the heat like it's aimed at him. Shoto twists his right foot, sending frost shrieking across the floor to intercept the fire before it can hurt his most puzzling classmate.

Bakugo is stopped inches from Shoto, forgotten until his snarling breath hits Shoto's face. Eraserhead's capture weapon is wrapped around him from hips to shoulders, pinning his arms to his sides. Their teacher glares at them with quirk-red, bloodshot eyes.

Shoto and Bakugo receive detention, but no one is expelled, so that's something.

—

"Did you see what he did?"

"Uraraka, no." Izuku covers his face with his hands, relying on Iida to lead him through the halls without crashing into anyone while he dies of embarrassment.

"He didn't even try to save himself!" Uraraka continues blithely. Izuku knows she's grinning. She grins every time she brings this up after having definitely-not-gossip sessions with Kaminari, Mina, Hagakure, and Tsuyu. "And he was starting at you all class again."

"Logically, Aizawa-sensei would not have allowed a fight to occur," Iida interjects. "Keeping Midoriya from harm was more important than escalating the fight."

"But did you see his face? He didn't even notice Bakugo was there!"

—

Aizawa glares his class into silence. The anger child is, once again, wrapped up in his scarf on the floor, unceremoniously dropped there after the latest altercation.

At the beginning of the year, he thought Bakugo and Midoriya were going to be the ones to watch out for. There is always at least one major personality clash in each class. This one just happens to have history behind it. But no. Midoriya and Bakugo only spark off each other when assigned as partners or as opponents, and spend the rest of the time studiously pretending to ignore each other.

However, there is something brewing between Todoroki and Midoriya. The boys are the opposite of subtle. The staring. The frowning. The long, awkward, drawn out silences where they refuse to actually talk to each other for some unknown reason. Adult opinion: talking solves a lot of problems. Child opinion: if I ignore the problem long enough, it will go away.

Learning, Aizawa reminds himself, takes time. And fifteen year olds are not prone to listening to adult opinions.

Which means Aizawa is stuck breaking up fights between Todoroki and Bakugo whenever Todoroki gets caught staring at Midoriya and Bakugo takes it as a challenge. Or affront. Or something.

Teenagers.

"This is the third time this month. Bakugo. Todoroki. If this continues, I will do something drastic and neither of you will like the consequences."

—

"Deku~!"

"Shut up!"

"Urakaka has made some excellent points."

"Iida!"

—

Somehow, the sports festival is more terrifying than the whole USJ fiasco. Possibly because there is buildup. And it's televised. Which helps absolutely nothing. For all that the USJ debacle was life threatening and beyond painful - Aizawa in the hospital, All Might losing time, Izuku breaking nearly every bone in his body when he lost control of One for All - it was a private affair. No one saw it aside from the villains and classmates who were too busy doing their own thing to notice any screw ups.

Public humiliation has always been one of Izuku's worst fears. He's not good at public speaking. He's honestly terrible at dealing with crowds. He gets intimidated by minor things and acts without thinking most of the time.

Case in point, letting the competition get to his head and winning first in the obstacle course and getting stuck with ten million points, putting him at the center of attention.

Really, he's starting to think that becoming an underground hero might be best. It would probably disappoint All Might - which is a horrifying thought. Disappointing All Might hits like, well, All Might - but then Izuku wouldn't have to worry about the stress of becoming number one. The next symbol of peace. And, honestly, who puts those expectations on a desperate fourteen-year-old willing to do anything for a quirk because he just wants to help people?

All Might, apparently. But if this school years has taught Izuku anything - and it as taught him a lot of things - it's that All Might really isn't the best teacher. A great guy and wonderful hero, yes, but he doesn't really know how to interact with children outside of a heroics setting. Yet. He's learning.

Of course, his spectacular win in the first task was met with all of his shortcomings in the second. Iida and Urakaka refused to team up with him. He's not comfortable asking others for help - years of systematic bullying leading him to unfair expectations of his classmates - and everyone not class 1A is exceedingly hostile thanks to Bakugo's speech and Present Mic's commentary. Teaming up with Tokoyami, Hatsume, and the tired looking purple haired kid from 1C. Shinsou. Although, he got roped into it by virtue of being too close to Hatsume when she decided that she was going to be part of Izuku's team. Was an experience, but they pulled through, edging their way into the one-on-one fights by pure luck and Tokoyami's forethought and Shinsou's amazing quirk.

So, naturally, Shinsou was Izuku's first opponent and, well.

Izuku believes in the other boy's dream, in his desire to be a hero more than anything else, in his need to prove wrong everyone who ever thought he couldn't do it. He has the same dream, after all. So he wasn't willing to throw the match - Shinsou likely wouldn't have forgiven him that and Izuku would like to be friends - but didn't go for a straight knock out either. Not only would a smash me too similar to All Might, but it wouldn't allow Shinsou to show off either.

Izuku won. Shinsou was angry, but not irreversibly. And now that Uraraka kicked him out of her recovery room, Izuku has the time to worry about fighting Todoroki.

Lost in his thoughts, Izuku doesn't notice that the narrow hall is occupied and slams face first into what might as well be a brick wall but, worse, turns out to be Endeavor.

May the ground open up and swallow him whole. It will be a kinder death than Izuku deserves. First crying on All Might. Now actually running into Endeavor.

—

Enji turns at the impact - not hard enough to be an attack and, besides, he feels safe enough at UA to avoid any instinctive fight responses. Which is a good thing, as he manages to catch the student who bumped into him by one flailing arm, steadying the boy.

The boy. Dark green curls and wide green eyes, Hisashi's freckles scattered over Inko's nose and cheeks. A child of endless, boundless potential, faulted only by a quirk that never manifested.

Even as a small child, Izuku grabbed attention and held it, Inko's quirk in the form of natural charisma. Hisashi's fire burned in his willpower. Father making him boundless. Mother sharpening his mind. Inko's parents in the steady center of his being. Generations of quirks all boiled down to their base traits, and Izuku inherited all of them.

The only thing he lacked was the power to back it up.

Power that he's certainly not lacking now.

Enji recognizes All Might's hand in things. He's spent enough time working with the puffed up hero to know his quirk is different. Strength Augmentation, ha. Enji has heard of Shimura Nana, knows she was All Might's mentor. Knows enough to know that she had two quirks - not a dual quirk, like Shoto, but two distinct quirks. Knows that Yagi Toshinori - and who is that man kidding? It's a wonder he hasn't been found out by the general public yet - is registered as quirkless on all his official paperwork.

It's irritating, mildly irksome, that Enji had to leave, had to abandon Inko and Izuku, to protect them. There was too much media attention on Endeavor, too much attention on his kids, his family, and it was leaking towards Inko and her son as well. Then All Might swoops in and - fulfilling Izuku's lifelong dream - destroys all that work keeping attention away from the Midoriya family by saying the boy could be a hero.

It's gratifying, also. A warm swell of paternal pride bursting up through his chest that someone else saw Izuku's potential and was able to say yes.

The rush of embarrassed apologizes taper off into hesitant, intimidated mumblings and Enji realizes that he has been holding Izuku's arm and staring at him like an idiot for past several minutes. It's obvious the boy doesn't recognize him as anyone more than Endeavor. Which is disappointing. Shoto doesn't remember the afternoons spent playing with his cousin either. They were barely six when they were separated.

Still, he drags the confused boy into his arms, hugging him as tight as he dares. "Good luck, child," he whispers into that nest of green curls. Then he walks away, forgetting that he was actually looking for his son and not his nephew to wish the boy luck.

—

Shoto stares after his father's retreating back, stumbling up to stand at a shell shocked Midoriya's side.

"Did that just happen?" his classmate, opponent, asks, sounding like he's on the verge of falling apart. "What just happened?"

Shoto puts a hand on his shoulder. "I have no idea."

—

Their match is a tie, but Izuku breaks his arm. And hand. And Todoroki has a concussion from getting punched into a wall of ice. Izuku loses the tie-breaker but faces off against Kirishima for third place after Todoroki and Kacchan face off for first.

Izuku places third, Todoroki second, and Kacchan first, though he's pissed about it. Todoroki was still dizzy from his concussion and stumbled out of the ring when he dodged. The judges wouldn't accept Kacchan's demands for a rematch.

—

Hisashi bites back a yawn, sparks dancing over his tongue, as he fumbles the key into the lock of his dingy apartment, pre-dawn sun casting a weak, gray light over the equally dingy neighborhood. Not the best part of town, but it's quiet. A reasonable place to settle down for a few months and catch his breath after a long night's work. Musty as all hell though since the windows don't open.

He shuts the door and locks it again, walks the few feet from the entry into the living room, and is met with the usual sight of his roommate and occasional colleague sprawled lengthwise on the couch. Six foot seven and skinnier than a rake, Dust is the gray-skinned monster hiding under the bed of ever toddler's nightmare. He has a beer in one hand, the TV remote in the other, and there are half a dozen empty cans scattered on the floor between the couch and the coffee table.

Hisashi kicks the back of the couch. "Anything good on?" he asks, shrugging out of his worn leather jacket. Pale yellow eyes glance up at him, tracking the movement of his hands when he tosses the jacket onto a kitchen chair.

Dust shrugs, a ripple of motion traveling from his shoulders to his feet. "Nah. S'May. All them hero schools are advertising the merchandise." He gestures with his beer at the screen where a sports channel is listing the top hero schools in the world and the results from the sports festivals. Profiting on exploited children.

"Blood sport," Hisashi mutters. He stalks into the tiny kitchen, a grand total of seven steps because he has to walk around the couch, to rummage through the fridge. Beer. Ketchup. A limp carrot. Soda. The remains of takeout containers no doubt planning a rebellion. He debates lighting the fridge on fire. Is buying a new one less hassle than cleaning it?

"Hey, your last name's Mido-something, yeah?"

"Midoriya. Ex-wife's name, actually." He decides not to burn the fridge. The smoke alarms probably still work and he doesn't want to deal with the noise.

"Donchu have a kid 'bout high school age?"

Hisashi snorts, grabbing a beer - off brand of something that already tastes like piss - and popping it open. Dust has horrible tastes. Then again. He does most of the shopping, so Hisashi isn't going to complain. Out loud, at least. "Sure, I guess. Quirkless little shit is probably - what, I moved here ten, eleven years ago? - probably about fifteen now."

"You sure he's quirkless?"

Dust turns up the volume of the TV and the announcer's voice cuts over the Japanese narration in the background. "— and in third place for the first year UA students is Izuku Midoriya of Musutafu, Japan. He lost his tie-breaking match with Shoto Todoroki, son of the Flame Hero Endeavor and second place winner of the UA sports festival, but came out on top in his battle against classmate Eijiro Kirishima." They play a few highlights from the fights: a small, fluffy green haired boy with lighting arcing over his skin bursts through a wall of fire and punches a red-and-white haired boy in the chest, sending him flying back into a miniature glacier; the tie-breaker, both boys patched up and participating in a meaningless challenge to immobilize something breakable; the green haired fluff ducking under a wild punch from a red-headed rock, stumbling, falling, and kicking out, the air pressure from his kick catching the rock in the middle and throwing him clear out of the ring.

That's Izuku, all right. His son. The useless, quirkless, worthless thing he left back in Japan with his brother's slut. Only, as it turns out, Izuku isn't all that worthless after all. A strength augmentation quirk by all appearances.

It's been more than a decade, but he remembers clearly enough that Inko came home from that doctor appointment on the verge of crying. She told him later that night, after Izuku went to bed, what the doctor said. The boy had an extra joint in his smallest toe. A clear indicator that a quirk would never appear. She went on and on for hours that poor Izuku would never get to be a hero and all his dreams were ruined now and maybe, just for a little while, they could avoid using their quirks around him?

Either the bitch is better at lying than he anticipated, or the doctor fucked up. Hisashi isn't prone to giving credit where it isn't due.

"Dust? Please inform the boss that I am returning home. It looks like it's time I took up my fatherly responsibilities.

—

"Oh! Sir? Endeavor!"

Enji's shift hasn't even started yet. He's only half in the door of his agency, still dressed in civilian clothes with a coffee in hand when one of his non-hero employees trots up to him, tablet in hand. She has an intelligence quirk, if he remembers right. A relatively new hire and recently granted clearance for higher level files. It's the beginning of his shift and there haven't been any news reports of villain activity, so this must be an internal matter. "Yes?"

"Um, well, Akiyama said it wasn't anything to bother you about, but I thought maybe I should check? I mean, you've been really busy dealing with the fallout from Hosu and Stain, and with your son so recently in the hospital…" She trails off and bites her lip, obviously worried that she's overstepping her bounds and bothering him about nothing. Enji steps fully into the building and gives the young woman his full attention. He would rather she check for clarification than let something important slide due to nerves. "A personal alert came through a few days ago. Midoriya Hisashi? He was flagged as leaving the United States. That's when I asked Akiyama, and I listened when he said it probably wasn't all that important. You have a lot of people flagged, I guess. But Midoriya was flagged again a few hours ago? In Musutafu. And I thought you might want to know?"

Hisashi. Hisashi is in Japan. In Musutafu.

Inko. Izuku.

Enji grabs the nearest sidekick - a boy he just took on and was intending on training today on patrol, oops - and snarls, "You're in charge until I get back," before bolting out the door again.

—

Before UA, when heroism was just a lofty goal instead of an expected outcome, Ochaco was a normal little girl. She was poor, sure, still is, but so were the kids in her neighborhood, in her school. She grew up with friends, some sticking with her through the years and others meandering in and out of her life as circumstances changed. She grew up loved by her parents. Supported. Trusted enough that they sent to her live by herself when she was accepted into UA. Believed in, because the apartment she's in is a strain on her parents' finances even if she has a scholarship for school.

She knows that not all kids are as fortunate as she is.

Deku, she knows - if only through listening to what her best friend doesn't say, the way he only just stopped flinching at loud noises and still acts like he expects his friends to walk away from him - suffered through some pretty terrible bullying before high school. He looks at All Might like she looks at her father, but even with their limited interactions at school, she can see the careful distance he keeps between them and the conspicuous absence of a father in his home. And somehow, despite his hardships, despite the things Bakugo implies when he says that everyone knows Deku is worthless, that fighting spirit remains. The Deku Ochaco knows is a bright star of hope just starting to rise above the horizon.

Iida, too, comes to mind. He may have come back from Hosu largely recovered from the blinding rage, fear, and hatred that plagued him after the sports festival, after news of his brother's near death and career-ending injuries, but he's not better yet. He's not the boy who calmed the panic during that first week of class. He's not the boy who hurried 1A neat and orderly onto the bus for the USJ trip, nor is he the boy who ran faster than he thought possible to get back to UA when villains attacked. He's not that boy. Not anymore. And while he's not the boy veering dangerously close to vigilantism, the path still scarred him, scuffed the chrome finish off his heroic nature and, in the future, will probably make him a better hero.

Ochaco knows that she is just a normal girl. Or, she was before UA. She can still have fun with her outside friends, but it's different. They no longer have a lot in common. Sure, Ochaco still has modern lit - taught by Cementoss who, when he isn't lecturing the class into unconsciousness, creates the most interesting displays of what they're reading - and English - Present Mic tends to focus more on the speaking fluently and understanding what is being said - and science - complete with how to make and diffuse bombs, noxious gasses, and dealing with chemical burns. Math is the one class largely unaffected by heroics for even Ectoplasm can only mess with numbers so much. And all the regular classes are condensed. Three years of normal high school shoved into two years of morning only classes, because afternoons are taken up by Heroics specific classes and third year is Heroics and afternoon internships.

She is still more of a normal girl than Deku or Iida are normal boys, though, so she takes it upon herself to get them doing normal teenage things every once and a while. Which is why, when tactics lets out and the final bell rings, she bounces over to Deku dragging a floating Iida behind her, and chirps, "Does anyone else want ice cream? Because I could go for some ice cream."

Kaminari, naturally, overhears, which leads to the rest of the class agreeing that ice cream sounds amazing what with how hot it's been getting. And, although she was only planning on it being her, Deku, and Iida, Ochaco isn't going to protest a class outing. No one in 1A is particularly good at being a normal teenager.

Only, ice cream is interrupted at the school gates where a man - tall, narrow, with dark curls pulled away from his face, each exhale super heating the air - greets them with a cheery smile and a, "Hello, Izuku. It's been a long time. Son."

—

Izuku narrows his eyes at the stranger. He knows him. Knows him in the way his chest tightens somewhere between rage and fear and no-please-don't-go. He remembers that voice - a quiet morning while Mama's at work, toast for breakfast tasting of bitter, stolen dreams, packed bags by the door, that quicksilver grin spitting, "I've already wasted four years on your useless, worthless hide. Be glad I'm letting you live at all." The sharp exhale of flame in his face that he never told anyone about.

This is him. His father. Hisashi.

He never told anyone he was awake when his father left. Never repeated what he said even when Kacchan, thoughtlessly cruel, threw those words at him every day since. He never mentioned the charred pajamas he bundled up and crept down the fire escape to throw in the dumpster behind the building. He never mention the frigid bath he took to get rid of the bruise-painful heat all over his face and neck and chest. He never acknowledged the reason why he first started flinching at Kacchan's explosions - flames in his face and I'm letting you live the only things in his head for years until the blonde ramped up the bullying.

There are many things Izuku wants to say, but he already knows the answer to many of his questions. In fact, most of those questions have the same answer. What are you doing here, how did you find me, why now? And it all boils down to the televised UA sports festival.

The words that pry their way out of his mouth are steady and calm because for all that Hisashi is his oldest monster, he has faced Shigaraki and Stain and Sensei's shadowy presence all in the last three months. His father seems small in comparison. The monster under the bed that was so frightening in the dark, only to discover in the light of day that it's just a large hairy spider. Startling at first, sure, but nothing so bad as being told that he's next in line to try and take out a 200 year old immortal and his organization of insane villains.

Yeah. Hisashi is small. But not insignificant.

"Change you mind?" Izuku asks. He doesn't take his eyes off the man even as some of his classmates - not Uraraka, pressed to his side, or Iida imitating a pillar next to her, or Todoroki, hot and cold at his back - shuffle back onto school grounds at his tone. Izuku can't follow. Not without making it look like a retreat. Not able to run fast enough without turning his back. Hisashi is too close.

The man feigns a sad sigh, grin slipping away into something of a pout. "Remember that, do you? Child, I was just upset. I stayed away so that would never happen again. I've come to apologize." He presses a hand over his heart as if that will somehow increase his sincerity.

Izuku wants to snarl, wants to release the power curling along his spine. He doesn't have enough control - emotional or over his quirk - to follow through with any of his half-thought plans, but he's willing to take the hospital stay if it means he can punch this man in the face. Green lightning crackled up from his clenched fists. That grin stretched back across Hisashi's face, his throat glowing.

And fire does come, but not from Hisashi. It roars up from the sidewalk between them, an impenetrable wall of heat. The students stumble back, away, the others taking the moment of startled, released tension to pull them behind the safety of the gates.

Kaminari slaps a hand over the emergency don't-push-unless-someone-is-dying-or-Aizawa-will-kill-you button, slamming the gates shut before the fire can reach them. Alarms ring through the school.

—

Outside the gates, across the street, Enji stands from where he was kneeling. He brushes the ash of his ruined sleeves off his arms and stalks towards Hisashi. The kids are safe now. Shoto and Izuku are pressed up against the barrier, the other students crowded around them.

He wishes he got here sooner. Wishes this fight isn't going to happen here, in front of his son and nephew. Wishes that he was able to do more for the international hero organizations than just provide information on his brother's quirk and nature. But Hisashi is an international criminal, and Enji has always stuck to Japan. A good many things are going to come to light in this fight. He hope the kids will be able to forgive him.

"Oh." Hisashi grumbles around a sneer. Izuku way have inherited the bright smile of their childhood, but that sneer is all their mother. "Enji. I see you still don't know the meaning of minding your own business."

"You listen to me you sonuva—" he catches sight of the children again, Hisashi and the UA barrier between him and them, and takes a deep breath. "You're under arrest."

Hisashi throws his head back with a confident bark of laughter. It's one of the few traits they share, him and his brother. "You have nothing on me."

"No, " Enji admits, "but Izuku has a restraining order, and those don't exactly expire."

—

The teachers arrive three minutes after the alarms sound. Even behind the gates, behind the near impenetrable UA barrier, it is the longest three minutes the students have spent out of action. Everything is on fire - Hisashi launching the first offensive shot with a lungful of blue-white flames, a distraction hot enough to sear the skin on Endeavor's defensively raised arms. It gives the man time to turn to snarl at the barrier, breathing more fire and heating the metal gates a malleable, cherry red before Endeavor is there with a punch to the diaphragm. The attack knocks the wind out of Hisashi. If Endeavor was in costume, had his capture gear, that would have been it.

But Endeavor is in the charred remains of his civilian clothes.

What should be a quick fight drags out. Endeavor - power and endurance - versus Hisashi - quick and hot, but burning fast. Should Endeavor not win in the first few hits, Hisashi is bound to lose once short of breath. And yet, to the children huddled behind the barrier, Hisashi is hitting all of Endeavor's sore point, his shouted words and hissed barbs cutting deep where his fire only keeps his opponent back.

Aizawa stays behind the barrier. His eyes light red, glowing more than usual in the orange glare of the fires, and Hisashi stumbles, choking on what's left of his mouthful of flame. The ground around the villain rises up, wrapping around him. Present Mic disengages the barrier as soon as Cementoss has finished blocking Hisashi in. Aizawa blinks.

And just like that, the fight is over.

Enji stumbles, breath shaky despite the confrontation being nowhere near his worst. He takes a deep, shuddering breath and quenches the fires littering the street. Then he goes to the children.

Shoto and Izuku are squished in the middle of the group, but the students part for him easily and Enji pulls the two boys into his arms. They're safe. Of course they're safe. But it's still reassuring to have them within reach. Sure, his brother wouldn't have gone after Shoto, not unless his son got between him and his nephew, but, it's nice.