There was a knock at the door early the next morning.

"Jesus, you look like death." Came the familiar voice of Mitsuki.

"Mitty…" Inko scorned.

Shouta moved back from the door allowing them in.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Well my son is asleep upstairs but honestly no rush on giving him back." She teased.

"And we thought we could help out a little so we brought you some meals to keep you going for a bit."

"Oh you didn't have to do that." He attempted.

"Nah, you two lovebirds have your hands full enough, what with work, hero stuff, and looking after Hitoshi with everything's that happened, it's the least we can do to lighten the load a little." Inko pecked him on the cheek before taking her shoes off and walking off towards the kitchen.

"Thank you."

"You're family dear, we told you years that that meant you didn't need to thank us, remember?"

Shouta smiled.

"Still, we really appreciate it."

"Hizashi told me about Toshi and Katsuki, either Masaru or I will just keep dropping him off at night. Anything at all that will help them, we'll do it."

"I don't know how they'll feel about the idea of moving into dorms, it might be too big of a leap for them after everything. Kacchan'll probably take to it better 'cause I can't imagine Toshi coping well with a change of scenery again, not without knowing he can come and talk to us if he needs to."

"Katsuki seems okay with it, I think he sees it as a way to keep his eye on Hitoshi better, the kid's gotten so protective, I've never seen him like this before."

"They've…" Shouta sighed. "They've been through some stuff. They both barely said anything at the police station but going off what Toshi's said previously about the League, if they did that stuff to him again while they were in there then Kacchan's protectiveness makes a lot of sense.

"What are we doing about the whole school thing, are we keeping them off for a while?" Mitsuki asked.

"I really don't want them starting again so soon, but I don't know if letting all this fester and keeping them together 24/7 is healthy either. The kids in my class have been pretty good with all that's happened; I don't think Kacchan and Toshi would have a problem with any of them if they did go back."

Inko returned from having put the food away.

"Izuku's been worried sick, he's barely been sleeping and his appetite's been non-existent; I heard him talking to a friend about how he watched the two of them get taken and didn't make it in time."

"You shouldn't be eavesdropping on the kid, Inky." Mitsuki stated.

"I didn't do it purposely; if I was then I would've known his stupid plan to go out with those friends of his from school and nearly get themselves killed out there in Kamino!"

"Well I'm proud of the little tykes, it takes balls to do something like that, it means you're teaching them properly, Shouta." She slapped him on the back before pulling him against her side into a squishy hug.

"I swear every kid in my class is a fucking problem child, I've never seen anything like it, you have no idea…" He smirked. "I'm going to get fired before they graduate if they keep it up, every time there is something going on at least one of my students never fails to be involved, I don't know how they do it."

"They're gonna' be world class heroes though by the end of it, just wait till they get ranked, they're gonna' have the first twenty places I guarantee."

"I have twenty-one students, Mitsuki."

"Yeah but one of them's that pervert boy Kacchan hates who just runs away and cries apparently, I doubt he's gonna' get far."

He could hear things being lifted and replaced.

"Inko are you cleaning my apartment, you really don't need to do that?"

"It needs a dust and I don't mind."

"Inko…" He once again attempted, knowing fine well what the response would be.

"Just leave her to it, it brings her joy." Mitsuki teased. "Anyway, enough about the kids, what about you and Hizashi, how are you two doing?"

"We're fine."

"Bullshit."

"Mitsuki, there's nothing more to say, Toshi and Kacchan are back and-."

"And your entire world just got turned upside down, that doesn't just disappear overnight. Your job is to look after Hitoshi, our job is to look after you and we've known you for long enough to see through your deflection crap, I wasn't joking when I said you looked like death, you look like you haven't slept in a week."

"I haven't." He scoffed.

"Then you need to sleep, and eat because that shirt is practically hanging off you. You can't take care of Hitoshi if you don't look after yourself first. The last thing that boy needs is to be stressed about you if this shit makes you pass out or leaves you in hospital, he deserves better than that."

"I already know I'm failing as a parent, Mitsuki, I don't need you reminding me of that."

Her sharp inhale told him exactly what her expression would look like.

"I couldn't stop my son from being kidnapped at a training camp I was in charge of and then got told I wasn't qualified to assist on the raid because of my sight. On top of that he won't talk to me or come out of his room but is perfectly fine talking to Zashi and is currently asleep with Kacchan."

"Shouta…"

"I'm not looking for pity so stop."

Footsteps began to descend the stairs.

"Oh, hello ladies."

Shouta exhaled.

"I need to reply to Vlad about the dorms, I'll see you later."

He walked off.


2155 (14 Years Ago)

After having been healed up by the doctor Shouta was with only dark bruises as a reminder of what had taken place. He was sat on the edge of the bed in the process of wincingly putting on his sweater and jacket when the door opened.

"Shouta."

It was Sakura.

"Before you say anything, you're not taking me away from them, they're good people."

"You just got beaten half to death and you would have me do nothing?" Her tone asked in disbelief.

"It wasn't that bad, and not nothing, feel free to press charges on that bastard for me on behalf of Inko."

"Shouta this isn't a joke."

"I'm not laughing."

She sighed.

"Your safety matters, you know that, right?"

"He was hurting Inko and Zuku, what else was I supposed to do, just stand there and let him beat a one-year-old?"

"You could have called me; it's my job to deal with this kind of thing."

"I was upstairs minding my own business and then it all kicked off, I didn't exactly have time to arrange a meeting."

"You had enough time to call Hizashi."

"I grabbed my phone when he threw me on the floor and used speed dial, it was seconds Sakura, you're making it sound like I planned to do this, I promise you it's the last thing I wanted to do today."

"Well Hisashi Midoriya is in police custody so they're gonna' want to speak to you about everything, Hizashi too."

Shouta groaned.

"I shouldn't have dragged him into this."

"He's a good friend to you, so is Oboro."

He nodded.

Sakura came to sit beside him on the bed, gently resting a hand on his shoulder.

"You terrify me sometimes."

Shouta turned to her.

"I'm okay with you doing all that hero stuff at school because you're being looked after there by pros but you're so self-sacrificing that you just jump in front of anyone who needs help with no regard for your own health. How could you think so little of yourself?"

"I don't matter. If I get hurt then at least I managed to save someone. I never want to feel the guilt of knowing I could've done more and the person dies, so if putting myself in the firing line prevents that then so be it."

"Oh Shouta…" Her tone reflected the pain his words had inflicted. "You matter so much." She pulled him against her, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head. "Don't ever think that you don't."

He took a breath, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You honestly want to stay living with them, even after all this?"

"Of course I do, they're like family."

"You've been family since the day we found you, tyke, nothing 'like' about it."

Mitsuki.

"Ahh, good, you're here."

Sakura stood up from the bed.

Mitsuki walked over and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"That was very stupid… but thank you."

"You know, you shouldn't be thanking him for doing something so reckless." Sakura stated.

"I know. Shouta, that monster could have killed you, you should have called the police and have them deal with it." She paused, exhaling. "But… because you did step in my little sis only has light bruising and my one-year-old nephew is uninjured and currently beaming about the fact that the nurse gave him an All Might sticker, that's why I'm saying thank you."

Mitsuki pulled him in for a kiss.

"But don't ever do anything like that again or I'll kill you myself." She lectured and teased.

Shouta nodded.

"So can I take him home?"

"I'm going to have to file an incident report about everything that happened, but, Shouta's testimony of wanting to stay with you should mean that all of this passes with little consequence outside of Hisashi Midoriya's arrest and trial. I'll have to do more regular visits and for the time being I want Shouta to be exclusively at your home rather than the Midoriya residence but I am happy to release him back into your care."

Mitsuki let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"Thank you, I promise I'll take better care of him."