Home.

That's all Hizashi ever wanted; a warm, loving home. For the first thirteen years of his life, it was one of the many things he didn't have. Until he was adopted by his moms, he had no sense of family or belonging for that matter. This was why he was determined to give other kids a chance; kids that were deemed "unlovable" by the system and passed around from home to home. Kids like him, discriminated against because of their quirks, with some unlucky few having no quirk at all.

It was because of this that Hizashi fought so hard to adopt kids. He was single, yes, but he had a steady job, a close family with his moms and siblings, plus some good friends! He could relate to a lot of the kids, what more could the government want? Finally, months after deliberation, he was given a license to adopt. In return, the only kids they allowed him to adopt were two preteens; not biologically related but absolutely refused to be separated. He could work with that, it just meant that one more kid would get the love they were deprived of.

Soon enough, the two boys arrived at his door, each carrying only a grocery bag full of their clothes. While not unusual for kids from the system to have trash bags as a means of carrying their belongings, these boys were carrying enough stuff that would fill a dresser drawer only halfway. Combined. Even Hizashi had more things than these two did when he was newly adopted.

In the beginning, their relationship was…..rocky at best. Most of the clashing came from the older boy, Hitoshi, rather than the younger Izuku. The two were close, as kids do when growing up together in less-than-ideal circumstances. Neither boys had pleasant backgrounds: Hitoshi was signed off at birth, his parents not wanting to deal with the idea of their quirks merging; on the other hand, Izuku's father left after his quirkless diagnosis, and his mother was killed in a villain attack shortly after. The duo faced a lot of quirk discrimination, Izuku's being more obvious due to his quirklessness, while Hitoshi suffered abuse for having a mental quirk. Brainwash, as named in the quirk registry, allowed Hitoshi to control someone after they responded to a question. While others found it terrifying, Hizashi found it beautiful. He worked with all sorts of heroes and those who didn't have physical quirks were almost always better heroes, in his eyes.

Oftentimes when they spoke, Hitoshi would respond to Hizashi with venom-filled words; though the two actually talking was somewhat rare. Usually, Hitoshi would only serve his new guardian hate-filled glares or even ignore him altogether. Izuku was much timider, though a lot nicer to Hizashi, even if he didn't speak that much. Hizashi understood their behavior; he was a lot like Hitoshi when he was first living with his moms. After all, he had a "dangerous" quirk, and was suddenly thrust into a loving family- after being passed around from home to home, it was hard to build trust with new people.

So Hizashi did what he knew what his teenage self wanted: space. He didn't push for conversations, didn't even force them to have meals together. He did ask for things they liked, and not to his surprise, they both loved heroes. In fact, they both wanted to be heroes. Luckily for them, Their new guardian knew quite a few of them; he was a radio host and e hero journalist. He could easily call in a favor or two, having some pros come in to meet the boys. If heroes trusted him, then certainly his new kids would too! And if not? Well, Hizashi was more than willing to wait until that day came!

—-

The day Hitoshi and Izuku were going to meet the pro heroes finally arrived, and unsurprisingly, it was Hizashi that was the most excited. Izuku managed to break out of his shell somewhat and expressed at least some level of excitement while Hitoshi still remained indifferent. The venomous quips lessened, however, the purple-haired boy still didn't talk much, only to his brother, far away from Hizashi's less-than-stellar ears. And so, the new 'family' headed out to their destination; a small cat cafe about 30 minutes away. It was cozy, had good food, plus there were cats. Cats.

As they arrived, the heroes immediately greeted them, both wearing their full hero costumes. The infamous R-Rated Hero: Midnight and the lesser-known Smile Hero: Ms. Joke were already enjoying their snacks, waving the newcomers over to their table. Hizashi stood in front of his kids as he walked over, Izuku hiding behind both him and Hitoshi as they approached the two ladies.

"Oh look, if it isn't Present Mic a-" Midnight begins before being cut off by Ms. Joke

"HIZASHI ARE THOSE YOUR KIDS?! THEY'RE ADORABLE!"

"Emi!" Hizashi whined, "Don't scare them!"

Ms. Joke, or Emi, squeaked out an apology before smiling at the boys behind the tall blond. "Sorry, you two. I just get excited. 'Zashi here doesn't get out much."

"I've noticed." Mumbled Hitoshi, only giving the two ladies a quick glance before staring at the floor and petting the cat in his lap. Both women burst into laughter and started conversing with them fully. Most of the attention was focused on Hizashi, as he knew them the best. They all tried to coax conversations out of the boys, resulting in varying levels of success. As usual, Hitoshi only gave small responses; the longest he spoke was two sentences. On the other hand, Izuku was more open to talking, albeit it took a while for him to be comfortable around the new adults. All hell broke loose once he began to ask about quirks. Hizashi even bought him a brand new notebook; the first time in his life an adult had encouraged his quirk analyzing. Overall, it was 2; Hitoshi being the first! Such an improvement for him!

"What types are they? Are you able to control the radius in which your quirks affect people, or pick and choose who is affected by it? Are they both kinda like gases? Can you control how much a person can be affected by it? Is your quirk always active, or is it something you can turn on-or-off? How is it stored in-"

"Izu, breath." Hitoshi cut in, patting his brother on the head. He wouldn't deny that he was a little bit amazed that so many words could come out of him. Especially since Izuku rarely talked to someone other than the purple-haired boy himself.

Izuku squeaked and finally took a breath, noticing just how little air he had left. He was back to normal just as quickly and continued to ask his questions, though at a much slower pace so the two heroes could answer.

The rest of the time at the cafe was spent with Izuku asking questions and filling out his Hero Notes for the Future, gaining much-needed information. Though his notes were already impressive, especially through observation without any sort of training. When this was brought up, Izuku only flushed, not knowing how to process all the compliments and attention he was getting.

"Th-Thank you…" He stuttered out, his face turning a bright shade of red.

"Aw, anytime kiddo." Midnight reached out and patted him on the head. "I can tell you're going to be a great analyst. It's not common to see that skill from heroes." She winked, only causing Izuku's blush to deepen.

Shortly after their exchange, it was time for the little family to head home. They exchanged farewells and began their short train ride back. There weren't many people on just yet, so the trio could sit down together, plus it was quiet; it was a good way to relax after socializing for so long.

"Did you both enjoy yourselves?" Hizashi asked with a smile. "I could tell Hitosh liked the cats~"

"The cats were nice." Hitoshi mumbled, "And so were the heroes." He didn't meet Hizashi's gaze, keeping his focus on the ground, much like before.

"I really liked Ms. Midnight and Ms. Joke. They were really pretty." Izuku flushed as he remembered the compliments.

Hizashi smiled and hummed to himself as they waited to get to their station. In the blink of an eye, the little family ate dinner and went to bed. As the blond laid down, he held his plush elephant closer. He knew it would take more before Hitoshi would warm up to him, and that was okay! Hizashi would wait as long as it took for the older boy to warm up to him. It certainly seemed like Izuku did, which gave him hope. Maybe soon, they would all consider themselves a family.

The three soon fell into a routine: every few weeks, they would go out, meet a few heroes for Izuku's notebook, then come home. Izuku opened up pretty quickly, willingly starting conversations with Hizashi and discussing heroes with him. It was nice- Hizashi was a journalist after all and got to meet many heroes. He also got to have them as guests on his radio show, which shocked Izuku and Hitoshi, as they had no idea that their guardian was the Present Mic. It wasn't like Present Mic had the most popular radio in Japan; no, nothing of that sort.

While Izuku had been opening up, Hitoshi still seemed quite reserved. He wasn't as cruel or rude but still remained standoff-ish. That was fine by Hizashi; he could see the improvement and that was important to him. He couldn't figure out what else he needed to push Hitoshi into opening up, so he just continued with what he knew was working: giving him space.

Once they seemed settled in, Hizashi figured it was time for him to go on a few dates. It had been quite a while since he went on one, and he wouldn't deny that he was lonely. So he reactivated his dating profiles and waited to get matched. Shortly after, he matched with another and they started talking. His name was Kazue, he worked as a prop maker for various film studios, and he loved writing. He was interested in a lot of the same media that Hizashi was, and the real kicker? He was funny! Yes, Kazue was physically attractive, but having a sense of humor was important too!

Not long after they began talking the two were at a small coffee shop not too far away from Hizashi's apartment. It was their first 'date' and Kazue wanted to keep it casual. Hizashi agreed as he knew how important casual down-time was when you worked in entertainment. The two ordered their drinks and snacks before sitting in the middle of the shop. It wasn't too crowded, which was good for Hizashi's less-than-stellar hearing. The two began chatting right away, discussing a new film that came out-one that Kazue had worked on himself. So far, the conversation had been going well; he listened to Hizashi, and actually listened to his words.

"-and so when Chiyoko dropped the paint, it was hilarious! I mean, leave it to the quirkless chick to screw things up." Kazue cackled, taking a sip of his coffee.

Hizashi's laughter abruptly died when he heard those words. "What do you mean?" He asked, his heart sinking in fear of what was about to come out of his date's mouth.

"Aw don't worry 'Zashi love, she was just quirkless. If she didn't want to mess up, then she should have looked where she was going. I don't even know why we hired her, she always makes mistakes like that. This, love, is why you should never hire a quirkless bum. Their actions, much like their existence, are unnecessary." He snickered, taking another sip. "If I had a quirkless kid I sure as hell would get rid of it. I couldn't face anyone knowing I'd create something so fucked up."

Hizashi saw red. Pure, bright red. "First of all, you haven't earned the right to call me 'Zashi. That's reserved for friends and family." He took the top off his drink, "I'll have you know one of my sons is quirkless." The blond poured the ice-cold caffeinated beverage onto Kazue with a huff. "He and his brother are my pride and joy. I'll be damned if I let some quirkist asshole like you step into my life. Quirkless people aren't useless; it's just dicks like you that create barriers that prevent the quirkless from succeeding. Go ahead, fire Chiyoko. I'll sure as hell hire her. I certainly wouldn't want to work for some bastard that treated me like I was less than human." He stood up, grabbing his things, before giving Kazue a final, quick glance. "And Kazue? Nobody likes a 3-inch 'sub',."

A silence spread through the coffee shop before being sliced by the laughter of a preteen boy. His purple hair clashing next to his green-haired companion. "Holy shit dude, you fucked up." He said between fits of laughter. "First date and you showed your real self?" The other next to him was also laughing, though much quieter.

"Who asked you, yo-" Kazue yelled before being cut off. His eyes glazed over as if waiting for a command.

"Pour your leftover coffee on yourself." The preteen stated calmly, a wicked smile on his face. The older man followed suit, groaning as yet another ice-cold liquid hit his skin. Almost as quickly as he was put under a trance, he was soon aware of his surroundings. The only difference being the two boys; it was like they vanished the moment he blinked. A worker holding two 1,000 yen bills in front of their table was the only sign the kids existed.

"Did you really have to use your quirk on him, Toshi?" whined Izuku as they ran from the shop. Hitoshi was still laughing as they headed back home, holding his brother's hand as they headed into the train station.

"Of course, Izu; he was quirkist. While Dad may have done the job of embarrassing him, I had to dish punishment too. I am going to be a hero."

Izuku sighed as he leaned against Hitoshi, "Y'know it's the first time you've called him Dad~" He teased.

"Well, he finally earned it. Now let's get home, Dad will panic if we're not back soon."

Hizashi could say the past year was interesting; he finally got to be the parent he always dreamed of! He loved his kids with all his heart, and they loved him too! It took a bit, but Hitoshi finally came around and started treating him nicely. It was interesting that it happened around the same time as his horrible date-it wasn't like the kids were there to see it, right?

Regardless, Hizashi wanted this holiday season to be special, and carry on a tradition that his moms did when he was first adopted. Yeah, he made hot cocoa, watched cheesy Christmas movies, and ate way too many sweets, but he wanted to include something truly special this year. Gifts weren't what made Christmas, he certainly knew that from growing up in various struggling families, but this year was different. This year he had a family. So he took the time off work, while his boys were at school, and went shopping for the perfect gift. And when he told his moms? They loved it too.

Finally, Christmas day arrived, and both Hitoshi and Izuku were excited. It was the first time they were getting gifts that weren't leftovers and scraps from the cheapest box at a thrift store. They had friends, clothes that fit, warm food, allowances, and a dad. Both kids weren't expecting to be given a small pile of presents, each topped with a small box; the exact same shape and size, just in different colors. Lilac for Hitoshi and mint for Izuku. Hizashi had a yellow box in his lap, waiting for the three to open their boxes together.

Slowly, the boys unwrapped their boxes; inside sat identical, silver charm bracelets. There were four charms: an eighth note, a cat head, a bunny head, and a small oval with the name 'Yamada' engraved on it. Neither could withhold their tears as the realization hit them. They were a family. An actual, real family. Not the previous foster homes where they were mistreated. Not the city streets where they struggled to survive. A family. One full of love and happiness.

Hizashi handed them tissues, before being tackled off the couch in a bear hug. "My moms did the same thing when they adopted me, and I wanted to pass this on to you. You don't have to wear them, but I-"

"Dad shut up. You're going to have to pry these off our cold dead hands." Hitoshi huffed, looking away to hide his reddening face.

Hizashi laughed and ruffled Hitoshi's hair. "Alright, alright. Now come on, we have that video game to check out." He hummed, cleaning up the mess they all made. "And we can try those chocolates that Nemuri and Emi sent us."

"Hell yeah!" cheered Izuku, hopping up from the floor to help his dad, leaving Hitoshi to grab the snacks. Their afternoon of relaxation of playing was about to begin, and they were determined to start off on a good foot.

Their family wasn't perfect; the boys were struggling with their past through therapy, but it was theirs. No family is flawless, and that was okay by them. They had genuine love, an actual strive to improve and live their best lives together. It was beautiful. A life they thought they would be doomed to suffer through was taken from them. In its place, Hitoshi and Izuku found happiness.

And surprisingly?

It wouldn't be the last time those bracelets played an integral part in their lives, though it wasn't Hizashi that gifted them.