Izuku does not know when he fell asleep, but he knows that things have changed when he had woken up. His body and his head felt fuzzy and there was a steady beeping noise next to him. He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing nothing but white initially. He closed his eyes again and groaned, his throat still hoarse and painful but his body less so.

He opened his eyes again, glancing at himself. He saw his hands bandaged up and a tube sticking out of his arm, connected to a bag on a pole next to his bed. He noticed his clothes were gone and replaced with what he thought was a thin, paper-like dress. It had small flowers on it. Somehow, he manage to giggle.

His head rolled to the side and he saw his shoulders bandaged up as well. There were some people behind a weird looking table counter on the other side of a glass wall. They all looked busy with something, but he couldn't tell what. He smiled at them.

He looked back at his arm and the tube sticking out of it, then back at the bag.

"M. or. Ph… ph is like f…" he started mumbling to himself. "More. Fine. More fine. More fine."

"It says morphine," said a quiet, familiar voice behind him.

Izuku turned his head and smiled widely at the man.

"It's a pain killer, it's why you don't hurt as much."

"I feel fuzzy, but I don't have a mutation or hybrid quirk," he said.

"That's a side effect of the morphine. It will go away. Would you like a drink?"

"You don't have to give me one," Izuku said closing his eyes. "I can go without."

"I asked if you wanted one, are you thirsty?"

"If I say yes will you beat me for being needy?" he asked with a small, delusional giggle.

Aizawa outwardly flinched at that, sitting down next to the kid and gently trying to touch his arm. It was pulled away, so he settled on resting his hands on the bed near Izuku.

"I know you don't know this, Izuku, but what your dad did to you and your mom isn't normal. He's a bad man. He's a villain. Most people do not mind if you ask them for a glass of water, or if you accidentally make a mistake. And no one should harm you like your father has."

Izuku seemed to sit in quiet, thinking.

"Does that mean I can have some apple juice?"

"Yes, you can have some apple juice," Aizawa said with a small, sad smile. It didn't reach his eyes. Izuku could tell and he tilted his head.

"You are smiling but you're sad. Why are you sad, Aizawa?"

"I'm smiling because I'm trying to cheer you up," he sighed, resting his head on his hands. "I'm sad because someone hurt you, and you should not have been hurt."

"Oh. Okay. I think that makes sense."

"I'm going to get you an apple juice and then we're going to talk about what your dad did to you again, to the police, and then we're going to get you into a safe home. Do you understand?"

"I don't wanna talk about what he did."

"I know, Izuku. You don't have to talk about anything you do not want to."

"Am I in trouble?" he asked, stopping Aizawa in his tracks He could hardly look at the tormented child behind him, so very manipulated and abused. "Dad said if I left or told anyone they wouldn't believe me and then they'd kill me for being a liar."

"You're not in trouble, Izuku. I swear on my life."

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

Aizawa got up to go to the cafeteria but found himself taking a detour to the nearest exit. He stepped outside and promptly felt the bile overwhelm his throat as he threw up, absolutely nauseated at how this child was treated. No matter how long he was a hero he would never get used to the children who were so harmed and abused that they didn't understand that the word wasn't supposed to be so painful.

He exhaled and rubbed his arms, trying to fight off the chill before walking back inside and toward the cafeteria. He did not want to leave the kid alone. God knows that kid has felt alone enough for long enough.

"Why am I wearing a dress?" he asked when Aizawa walked back into the room. "I thought boys were supposed to wear pants and shorts."

Aizawa smiled and laughed at the kid's question.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No, kiddo. That's called a hospital gown. They put everyone in them. It makes it easier to make sure they're okay."

"Oh, but why is my butt out? It has no back just these little strings."

"Because your back is injured, and we need to take care of it, but if you're wearing a shirt it's in the way," Aizawa set down the apple juice and Izuku immediately tried to pick it up. It was at that moment he realized both of his hands were wrapped up, and he stared at them for a second.

Izuku picked the juice box up with both hands, taking a sip out of it with a shaky grasp. He had maybe two sips before he put it down.

"Thank you. You're very nice. It makes me happy. You remind me of mom before daddy got mad at me being quirkless. Is mom okay? Do you know?"

It was at this moment a tall man knocked at the door, wearing an official looking suit and badge. Aizawa waved him in and he introduced himself.

"My name is Naomasa Tsukauchi, I'm a detective. Do you know what that is?"

"You are a cop who looks at clues more than most cops, and you're here to talk to me about what my daddy does to me and my mom. Oh!" Izuku said straightening his back with a wince before pointing at Aizawa.

"That's Aizawa. He also goes by Eraser-Head. He's a hero with a magic scarf that he controls. He saved my life and also brought me here. He got me a juice box. It makes me happy. He's a nice man."

Naomasa laughed quietly at the statement before nodding. "He is a nice man. He is a hero too, a very powerful one. He's a good friend of mine."

"Do you know why his hair floats? It looks cool."

"I'm right here, Izuku, and you can ask me questions," he said quietly.

"I'm on morphine," Izuku said with a weird pout, "It makes me feel dizzy in a good way and takes the pain away. Apparently, I also talk a lot more right now, because Aizawa keeps looking at me funny."

"That's okay, and it's a good thing. Your father hurt you a lot I bet you were in a lot of pain before the morphine."

Izuku nodded, his head rolling and looking up at the ceiling.

"Do you wanna tell me about your dad?"

"My dad is named Hisashi Midoriya. I call him daddy because when I don't he hits me. He breathes fire and sometimes he burns me. He chains me up when I'm bad and burns me more, sometimes he uses knives and whips. And he's really mean. He hurt my mom too. Is my mom okay?"

Naomasa's smile faltered.

"Listen, kiddo. Your mom isn't doing very well. She's really hurt, and when we found her at her home she wasn't breathing."

"She's dead, isn't she?" Izuku said blandly.

"I'm afraid so, we did everything can."

"That's okay," Izuku said, sighing quietly. Naomasa's lie detection quirk let him know the kid wasn't nearly as okay as he seemed. "Mommy is in a better happy place. She was a good person, so she goes to heaven, right? That's how it works isn't it? But now where do I go, do I go back with dad? I don't have any aunts or brothers or sisters. Just daddy and mom but mom is dead now so just daddy, but I don't wanna go back to daddy."

Aizawa cut into the conversation, "Do you remember me talking about a big loud blond bird-like friend of mine?"

Izuku nodded slowly, confused.

"He'll be your foster caretaker for now. Are you okay with that?"

"Will he hurt me?" Izuku asked, his eyes wide with questions.

"If he does I'll hurt him back for you, kiddo," Aizawa said. He hated the fact he was terrified of every adult playing a figure of authority.

"Do you trust him?"

"I trust him with my life, but don't tell him that."

"Why not?"

"Because he'll pick on me for it, and I'll never live it down."

"Oh, okay. I don't understand but I will accept that answer," Izuku said, pulling the light blanket further over himself.

A phone cut through the brief silence afterwards and Naomasa apologized, leaving the room to answer it. Izuku could hear the call and listened in, curious. He always wondered what cops were like. It sounded like a villain attack. He popped his head back into the room.

"I got to go, call me if you need me. Please be safe." Naomasa said before sprinting off.

"He could tell when I was lying. I said I was okay, he knew I wasn't. I don't want mom to be dead and he knew."

"It's okay to be like that kid. I don't want my parents hurt either," Aizawa said, settling into his seat next to the child.

A loud, energetic voice spoiled a moment. Aizawa sighed to himself and stood up, walking over to the door and waving to someone who was down the hallway.

"Hey hubby, sorry I'm late!"

"Don't call me that in public please," Aizawa said with an awkward rub of the back of his neck. A blond mohawk stuck his head into the room. He had a dazzling smile. It was warm, unlike most smiles he had seen in his life.

"I'm Hizashi Yamada," he started to say, walking into the room.

"You're Present Mic. Your quirk is called voice and you talk like a radio show host most of the time. You're also a pro hero. My mom used to listen to your podcast. She liked you. She thought you were cute and strong," Izuku said instantly, his wide eyes foggy and a smile lazily stretching over his face.

Hizashi started laughing, then covered his mouth when he realized how loud he was getting.

"Yes. I am. I've been asked to take care of you."

"You're my foster caretaker. Is it because my dad is a villain, and a hero needs to protect me from him or because you're afraid I'm also a villain."

Hizashi paused and his smile faltered. He got on his knees by the bed and looked at the poor, bandaged up child.

"I'm here to protect you and guide you," he said shakily. "I'm going to show you what an actual father figure is supposed to be like. You're not a villain. You won't be, ever, okay?"

Izuku nodded and looked at his apple juice. He struggled to grab it again since he didn't have access to his fingers or his thumbs. He drank from it and looked at Present Mic.

"Mom was right. You are cute. She would be happy you're taking care of me."

"The kids on morphine," Aizawa whispered to the shocked cockatiel. "He has no filter due to it apparently."

Hizashi nodded and smiled again, sitting at the end of the bed and talking to Izuku about music, super heroes, and how cool Aizawa was. They both really seemed to enjoy Aizawa.