Chapter 23 - Natural intelligence and a birthday surprise
The weekend arrived, and Shouta was at the table with Hizashi, both of them working on an essay, Inko was baking some Mushi-pan, whilst Toshinori was left to watch over Izuku. The boy was jumping around as he usually did.
"Yagi-san!" Izuku poked the man's leg, he chuckled.
"Yes, my boy?" He smiled
"Why is E...the fire hero mean to you?" Izuku looked up at him confused. Toshinori smiled and lifted Izuku on to his lap.
"Because, he is believes that being a hero means competition, he wants to be the best and hates the fact that I am number one." Toshinori told him.
"It's not a competition… people act like it is…" Izuku muttered.
"Yeah, it's like they have forgotten what it means to be a hero." Toshinori nodded.
"I'll remember! I'll be good hero Papa!" Izuku beamed, from the table Shouta and Hizashi glanced up with a surprised, but small smile. Inko chuckled lightly as Toshinori went red.
"You'll be a great hero." Toshinori rubbed his back, Izuku giggled happily and ended up cuddling into him. Toshinori gave Inko a help me look, she just shook her head.
"Welcome to parenthood." She smiled in a teasing tone.
"Just don't expect me to start calling you papa." Shouta added, causing Hizashi next to him to start laughing. Toshinori wanted to melt into the floor, but instead hugged Izuku back.
The family settled to try Inko's Mushi-pan when there was a knock on the door, Inko answered it and returned with Principal Nezu.
"Nezu-sensei!" Izuku smiled cheerfully, waving at the pro hero.
"Hello Young Midoriya." Nezu greeted.
"So, what brings you here, Nezu-san?" Inko asked, Nezu brought out an envelope.
"His IQ results have come in." He answered, Izuku suddenly looked nervous. Toshinori pulled the boy on top his lap again, it seemed to bring comfort to the boy, who gripped his shirt. Inko accepted the envelope and opened it. Her eyes widened.
"An IQ level of 158…" Inko read
"WHAT?" Everyone coursed, Nezu just looked impressed, but not overly surprised.
"What does that mean?" Izuku asked
"It means you have a Very Superior Intelligence." Nezu explained.
"That good?" He looked confused.
"Very good, my baby is so smart." Inko kissed his cheek. "Gifted indeed."
"This mean I can keep doing big kid work?" Izuku's eyes widened.
"You can do all the big kid work you want sweetheart." Inko smiled
"You can be a hero like Nezu-san, he used his intelligence to take down villains." Toshinori smiled down at Izuku, who gasped, pressing his hands to his cheeks, squishing them.
"A hero like Nezu-sensei!" Izuku muttered. "Can I be a hero like Nezu-sensei and All Might?"
"You can be better." Shouta said, Inko smiled at her son.
"You can be a hero like you sweetie, and I think you will be the next best hero." She leant over a placed a kiss to his forehead, Izuku giggled happily.
"Nii-chan, Papa, can you train me to be a hero, when I'm Big?" He asked, looking between the Pro hero and the hero in training.
"Sure." They both said immediately, causing Izuku to beam happily. Hizashi just smirked, Inko also had a knowing smile, they both knew they didn't have the heart to say no.
"This brings me to my main question, Midoriya-san, I would like to take Izuku on as my personal student." Nezu said, Inko smiled, and looked at Izuku who was looking at Nezu with as much surprise as Toshinori, Shouta and Hizashi.
"I think it would be best for him. I feel that his daycare wouldn't be able to fulfill his intellectual needs." Inko nodded. Izuku's eyes widened.
"I can learn from Nezu-sensei?" He asked.
"Yep, and he will be able to give you the type of work Shouta-kun does." Inko smiled, Izuku smiled and cheered happily. Plans were then set in place, Izuku would go to U.A three times a week to study with Nezu, Shouta would be the one to walk him to and from U.A on those days. The other days he would be at Daycare. Inko waved Nezu off at the door, as she closed the door, Hizashi approached her.
"Inko-san, could I ask you something in private please?" He asked
"Of course sweetie." Inko smiled
"Well, has Shouta told you his birthday is on the 8th of this month?" Hizashi whispered.
"No...He may have forgotten…" Inko said, before smiling softly. "But it is something worth celebrating." Hizashi beamed at that. "I'll leave you in charge of inviting his friends, I work everything else out."
"Great!" Hizashi grinned, the two of them returned to the kitchen. Izuku had gotten his notebook and was drawing in it.
"I want a scarf like Nii-chan!" Izuku said and tried to draw a similar scarf that Shouta had in his costume.
"It would be best to wait for your quirk." Shouta said. "And then design your costume to work around it."
"Oh…" Izuku looked at the drawing.
"But, better come up with lots of designs." Shouta added with a smile. "If you had a quirk like mom's a scarf could be useful." Izuku beamed and continue drawing.
"And for a name, you can be cutie." Hizashi slid back into his seat.
"No!" Izuku pouted lightly, cheeks tinged pink.
"How about bunny? You act like a little bunny rabbit sometimes." Inko teased. Izuku looked thoughtful.
"I can be a bunny hero!" He announced happily.
"You can add ears to a hood." Shouta suggested, Izuku did giggling. Inko watched her boys with a smile, she began planning the birthday party in the back her mind.
Toshinori sat in the living room, helping Izuku wrap his birthday present for Shouta, Toshinori, Inko, Hizashi, Iida and Nemuri's gifts lay already wrapped on the table. Shouta had even got one from the Bakugo's, Your my sister from another family Inko, that makes him my nephew! Mitsuki had happily told her. And one from Gran Torino, who grumbled a similar reply. Inko was just putting finishing touches to a cat cake, Hizashi had assured her cat's were Shouta's most favourite things, there was another reason, she kept glancing over to her gift, that had holes poked into it.
"I'm back!" Shouta called as he stepped into the house, Hizashi, Tensei and Nemuri following.
"Afternoon!" Nemuri cheered. Shouta stepped into the kitchen and Inko beamed at him.
"Happy birthday Nii-chan!" Izuku came rushing in before she even had a chance. Shouta grunted and fell back as Izuku collided with his legs and hugged it. Luckily, Hizashi caught him, laughing.
"You got some strength there Zu-chan!" Hizashi laughed.
"Strong like Papa and Nii-chan! Nii-chan's birthday, you even bigger!" Izuku threw up his hands excitedly. Shouta glanced at Hizashi.
"I totally told them." He beamed. "Happy birthday." He kissed his cheek.
"Ew, get a room." Tensei teased.
"Nii-chan loves his happy person. Zashi-chan a good happy person!" Izuku giggled.
"Well, go and settle in the living room! We're going to be ordering food tonight, and you have some presents to open Shouta." Inko smiled, Shouta looked surprised, but Izuku grabbed the bottom on his shirt and pulled him into the living room. Everyone settled in the living room, Izuku had taken up his usual seat on Toshinori's lap. Inko joined them as soon as she finished the cake. Then came the gift opening. Gran Torino had gotten him a year's training at a nearby by dojo, which both surprised and pleasantly pleased Shouta, The Bakugo's had managed to get him a handmade photo frame with cat's carved around the outside, able to hold at least 20 pictures and was easy to hang up on the wall. Shouta immediately hid what Nemuri brought him, he glared at her as she laughed. Hizashi was blushing, Tensei was shaking his head. Toshinori and Inko were trying not to laugh, but Izuku sat there feeling incredibly confused. Hizashi had gotten him a voucher for the near by cat cafe that had unlimited visits for a year. Izuku had made him a collect of clay models, and by the paints colours on them, it was meant to be him, Izuku, Inko and Toshinori. After promising to put them on his desk so he could see them everyday, Izuku teared up happily. Then was Inko's gift, he froze as he removed the lid. Inko smiled softly.
"What's it Nii-chan?" Izuku asked, very careful, Shouta pulled out a pure black Maine coon kitten. "Kitty!" Inko shushed him as the kitten napped.
"You didn't have too." Shouta looked at Inko. She smiled
"No, but I wanted too. You can call him whatever you want." Inko said.
"Name Nii-chan!" Izuku giggled
"He is terrible with names…" Hizashi began
"Fuzzinator." Shouta answered. Hizashi groaned.
"That's not a cat name." Hizashi tried to reason with him.
"Fuzz-in ata!" Izuku giggled.
"Let's call him Fuzz for short. Still stands for Fuzzinator." Shouta said, smirking at Hizashi.
The rest of the night was pleasant, Fuzz woke up and happily padded around, and seemed interested in Izuku, the two of them would just stare at each other, before Fuzz let out a soft mewl and clamber all over the boy, who giggled.
That night, Shouta fell asleep with the kitten asleep on his stomach - He was not expecting to be woken up by almost being suffocated by the fluff ball that following morning.
