Izuku sat quietly at the window, a set of headphones jammed in each ear to block out the sound of Shouting. He hated the sound of it after all, especially when it came from his mother and father. He watched the people on the street below pass by, some being parents with their children, and he wondered if those kids went home to hear their parents fight as well, maybe their fathers smacked their mothers around too.
He let out a sigh when something in the corner of his eye on top of a nearby building caught his attention. He twisted his head to the side and tilted it up quite a bit so he could see. There was a man sitting on a fence atop the smallest in the area, but still pretty high building. He'd seen the man before, usually late at night when his parents fought or he just couldn't sleep, and recognized the mix of fear and exaggeration written all over his face as he stared at the ground, most definitely caught between going back to his apartment and splitting his body open on the ground.
Izuku let out a small gasp as he got off the fence and stood on the other side of the ledge. So that was new. Izuku ripped out his headphones, got up out of his chair and ran to the door leading to the balcony connected to his room to yell out to the man, nothing in mind but probably just something like; 'Don't do it!', but by the time he got to the door the man was no longer standing atop the building. When Izuku opened the balcony door his ears were met by the sound of screams. He dared himself to look down at the ground below the building, and when he did, he instantly regretted it.
Even from afar he could make out the blood pooling around the man's head and split across his face under his left eye. He could only imagine what that looked like up close. ...A crowd had gathered at the bottom of the building and people were rushing down to the scene and pushing their way through the crowd to take a look at what everyone was gawking and screaming at.
Izuku suddenly felt sick from knowing he could have helped earlier. ...
Suddenly he heard footsteps from down the hall coming quickly towards his room as he clutched the railing tightly in his little hands.
In an instant the door to his room swung open and he turned to see his mother standing in the frame of the door, her once earlier straight dark green hair was now a mess, her mascara was streaming down her face from crying, and let's not mention the fresh bruises blossoming across all visible places on her skin. "What were you doing on the-" She was interrupted by the sound of glass smashing and clattering to the floor as someone had thrown it across the kitchen. There was a pregnant pause until footsteps made their way closer to the hallway, which caused her to freeze in fear. But she instantly went from frozen to tense as they stopped and made their way back down the hall and into the living room. "It doesn't matter what you were doing, just, pack up your stuff. We're leaving."
"Mom, you always say that, but we never make it very far, you know it's not worth leaving and making dad angrier than he already is." He said, causing his mother to frown.
"Well, this time we are leaving, and your father won't find us." She replied as calmly as she could.
"O- Okay Mom, whatever you say." He said, stepping off the balcony and closing the door behind him, then making his way across the room towards his closet.
He grabbed the largest of the two suitcases he had and stuffed it full of clothes and the 9 year old, ragged teddy bear that he got when he was born. "Go get your toothbrush and toothpaste hunny, and grab mommies as well." She said, stepping out of the doorway and into his room, taking a seat on his bed as she rubbed her bruised, sprained ribs. Izuku let out a small 'okay' and made his way towards the bathroom. He grabbed his and his mother's toothbrush and opened the mirror cabinet to grab a tube of toothpaste, then made his way back to his room. "Got them." He said, shoving the toothbrushes and toothpaste in the front pocket of his suitcase. "Great. I have to go get my own suitcase, then we'll leave. So you come with me." She said, wincing as she stood up and made her way out of his room and down the hallway to her own. Izuku let the suitcase drag across the floor but his mother promptly snapped at him and told him to pick it up.
He watched as his mother packed away her things, then as she crouched down in front of a safe sitting on the wooden floor beside her and her husband's wardrobe. He couldn't see what she was doing, but he knew what was in the safe, as his mother and father had had a huge shouting match about it one night when he was trying to sleep. His mother had refused to let his father keep it in the house unless it was under lock and key. And sure enough, when she turned around it was with a fully loaded glock 42 in one hand and a box of ammo in another. Which made Izuku's eyes grow wide, even though he knew what was coming, as he hoped it was something else. "M- Mom…" He whispered, watching her put both the box of ammo and gun in her purse, which she had grabbed from the nightstand by her and Izuku's father's bed.
"It's just for protection sweetheart." She whispered back, as not to gain the attention of her husband, even though the TV was blaring from the living room now and he probably wouldn't have been able to hear.
"But mom…" He muttered, causing another frown to adorn his mother's face.
"It doesn't really matter Izu, come on." She said, gesturing to the fire escape outside her window.
Izuku huffed but made his way towards the fire escape anyway.
His mother opened the window and he crawled out, then she passed him his suitcase and made her way out as well.
They made their way down the stairs easily enough, and when they reached the bottom his mother let out a sigh of relief.
They had always gotten this far before, and his mother always had the same reaction, though she had never brought the gun.
"Where are we going mom?" Izuku asked as they walked to the bus stop, noticing now the way his mother limped as she walked.
"We're going to a motel tonight, but maybe your aunt's house tomorrow, when I can actually talk to her." She said, taking a seat at the bus stop, eyes never leaving the apartment building's only entrance and exit, as if Izuku's father would come barging out of the structure at any moment, then publicly humiliate her. "But won't dad know to go to Aunt Mitsuki's house?" Izuku asked, dreading the thought of seeing Kacchan.
"He won't," She said, digging through her purse for her bus pass.
"He did last time."
Izuku's mother snapped her head in his direction, and she growled a small "Shut up and sit down."
He lowered his head and stared at the ground for a moment before sitting down on the small bench inside the shelter.
Izuku heard sirens off in the distance, approaching at a quick pace. They were probably there to collect the body of the unknown man who jumped off of the building. He thought he heard an ambulance too, but if they wanted to save him, they should have come before he jumped. Maybe if Izuku wasn't so selfish and was only thinking about children and what their home lives were like- drowning himself in self-pity, he might have caught the man earlier and been able to call for help. Maybe if he wasn't so stupid and thought there was no way the man would jump only because he'd been up there before, he could have ran to the balcony sooner, and called out to him. But no. He was dumb and self-centered, and now a man was dead.
Izuku stared down at his hands for a few moments before bus number 6 came rolling to a stop in front of them and the other people placed around the bus stop. He didn't know if it was their bus, as he had never paid much attention to the numbers prior to now, so he hesitated to stand up, but when his mother stood up from the bench, he knew it was the right one.
His mother got on with Izuku then showed the bus driver her pass. Once on, his mother apologized for snapping at him and they rode past 16 stops, a total of 55 minutes, until they reached the edge of the city. "We're here." His mother said, getting up and grabbing her suitcase. Izuku did the same and they both walked out of the bus and onto the sidewalk. This was a shoddy part of the city, so when strange looking men started cat-calling Izuku's mother, he wasn't all too surprised. Afterall, it happened last time they had come here as well. They walked for what felt like forever, but was really only 20 or so minutes. Soon enough, they reached the motel they had stayed in a few times prior to now, and Izuku couldn't help but think about his father coming in the middle of the night, wielding a baseball bat, threatening the workers and forcing them to tell him which room the woman and male child were staying in, then coming into their room whilst they were sleeping and beating his mother with the bat until she complied to coming home. Last time, he broke Nathan's mother's arm while she held it up to protect her face.
"Inko!" A very ugly looking man, Hotaru Hirai was his name, said loudly, drawing the attention of the other worker in the room, who was busy cleaning at the moment. "Hello Hirai." She replied as happily as she could with a smile across her face, something Izuku rarely ever got to see. He thought she looked stunning like that, even if it was fake, and wished she would stay that way forever. But it never lasted. As soon as Izuku's father was back in the picture, a permanent frown was worn across Inko's beautiful face.
"Lookin' to stay the night?" Hotaru asked, and Inko nodded.
"Okay." He said as Izuku clung to his mother's petite figure, watching Hotaru pull a key off the wall.
"Room 12." He said.
"I- Is there any way I could have a different room? I was in that room the last time, and I'd like to change it up a bit." She said with a smile.
"O' course. Anything for you Inko." He said and Izuku smiled, something he rarely did as well. He knew Hotaru wouldn't tell his father which room they were in, that was one thing he liked about the man. Maybe the only thing, as he was always flirting with his mother and trying to convince her to divorce Izuku's father. It's not that he didn't want that, it's just, Hotaru was doing it for his own personal gain, trying to get her to marry him instead… as if!
Jacob handed her a different key and told her the room number, 4, and they were on their way. "Meet me at the restaurant across the street tonight at 10:00?" Hotaru told more than asked Inko as she put the key in her purse.
"A little later than when we usually meet, but sure, as always." She replied back with a wink, grabbing her luggage with one hand and Izuku's left hand with her other.
"Come on sweetie." She said, dragging him along.
Once they got to the motel room, Inko fished around in her purse for the key she had just put in there and unlocked the door with it. There was a TV stand, but no TV, a phone line with no phone to be seen, and 2 beds with no sheets.
"Not again…" Izuku's mother moaned, putting her suitcase in the doorway and her purse on the left nightstand "I'll be right back, hun." She said, leaving the small room and shutting the door behind her. Izuku sighed and laid down on the right bed (the one closest to the door), feet dangling off the side and arms stretched out wide. He waited approximately 10 minutes before a worker and his mother came into the motel room carrying 2 sets of sheets and covers. "Move Izu." She said, pulling him up and away from the bed.
The worker handed the 1 set of sheets and 1 cover belonging to the bed on the right (as his mother was currently putting the covers on the right bed) then said goodbye and left, but not before his mother could thank her for helping carrying the sheets. Once the door was shut though, his mother complained that she didn't even put the sheets and cover on the bed.
Izuku bet that the woman would complain about not getting tipped, too.
"What are we going to do, mom?" Izuku asked, looking around the room for something to do, and spotting the alarm clock on the left side nightstand, which read 7:47.
"You could watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles~." She responded happily. She was always bubbly after leaving his father. It made him wonder if she would have been truly happy if she had just never met Hisashi (Izuku's father) and had a son she probably never wanted. "Yeah, okay." He said, waiting for her to hand him her phone so he could watch Netflix. "Here you go." She said, phone in hand and arm outstretched in his direction. "Thanks." He replied with a grunt as he laid down on the bed and the wind was knocked out of him. He laid there for a good episode and a half when there was a knock on the door, causing his mother to visibly tense. "W- Who is it?" She called out standing up and walking to the door.
"You know who it is, Inko." A ragged voice from behind the door called out.
She shot Nathan a questioning look and he gave her a shrug. It definitely wasn't his father. "Hirai?" He whispered, as it did sound like him, which made her relax a bit. She got up and walked to the door delicately, as she always did, and opened it.
"Ah, Hirai, it is you."
"Who else would it be? The boogeyman?"
"You're not far off, but it doesn't matter, because you never know," She laughed a little and Izuku could tell that it too, was fake. "And I haven't heard your voice enough to know for sure who it was." She said, punching him lightly, causing him to smile. "Well, anyway, I forgot to get your signature, could you just come with me for a moment?" He asked, and she nodded her head slowly. "I just need to grab my purse."
"You won't need it." He said and she gave him a sad smile.
"Like I said, you never know." She said then added, "I need my jacket too, it's cold out there." and grabbed that along with her purse, then walked out. Little did Izuku know, that would be the last time he'd ever see her alive.
"Be right back hun." She called out from behind the closed door, then walked off with Hotoru.
It was around 20 minutes when Inko came back, Izuku was in the bathroom taking a shower when he heard yelling coming from the room just beyond the door. "Mom?" He yelled, turning the water off and listening intently.
"No! We will NOT!" His mother screamed, and Izuku could hear something scraping against the wooden floors.
Then there was muffled yelling, which he recognized as his father's, and more shouting from his mother, but he could no longer tell what she was saying because she was so hysterical. Izuku got out of the shower when the yelling from his mother stopped, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
"What's going on mom?" Izuku asked and put his hand on the doorknob, turned it, then pushed the door open with a loud creak.
"No! Stay in there hunny!" She yelled and immediately he pulled the door closed again. He listened to the sounds of his mother's sobbing as he put on his shirt then underwear, she uttered a simple sorry to him as he was about to pull up his pants and the sound of a gun cocking rang through the room. Terror flooded through Izuku as the image of his mother in an orange jumpsuit sitting in a courtroom flashed across his mind's eye." Mom! Don't!" he yelled, but It was too late as the ear-piercing sound of gunfire rang through the room. Funny. He hadn't heard her open the door. He quickly pulled up his pants and swung open the door, only to see his mother laying in a pool of her own blood, blankets strewn across the room and a bed pushed up against the door, which was locked. "...Mom?..." Izuku asked, tears filling up the space in his eyes.
"What the fuck was that Inko?! Huh?!" Hisashi yelled from the other side of the door.
Izuku began to sob and his father's screaming became more and more intense. "Izuku? Open this fucking door right now!"
And so he pushed (with much effort, due to his little body) the bed aside and unlocked the door. His father gasped once the door opened and he shoved Izuku aside roughly.
"Alana?" He mumbled, leaning down and pressing a hand to the side of her face. "Inko, wake up!" He screamed and Izuku tried his hardest to stop sobbing. "You did this to her." He whispered between hiccups, causing his father to look up and turn around.
"What did you say? You little goddamn brat."
"I said, 'You did this to her'." He repeated, glaring at his father, who raised a hand and slapped Izuku so hard, it made his head spin and he was flung to the ground. And that was the first time his father hit him, but it certainly wasn't the last.