The sound of small explosions echoed across the house, reaching to each and every corner and causing Masaru Bakugo to frown slightly. It wasn't the first time this happened today, on the contrary - ever since he came back from work and took his son, Katsuki, from the preschool, the sound of the Explosion quirk seemed to only grow as time went on, both in intensity and frequency, and he could do nothing about it.
It was evening already, the sun was about to set, and yet there was no sight of his wife. Even if it hurt his ever-so-small male pride, only she was capable of calming down their explosion-happy boy. Yes, he tried asking Katsuki to stop, he tried to beg him to stop, he even threatened to take away some of his All-Might toys, but Katsuki always found reasons to justify usage of his quirk, most of the times something related to his desire of becoming a hero. And Masaru just… couldn't disagree. Katsuki's words were logical most of the time, he was very smart for a boy his age after all, and so Masaru's resolve always broke first. He was simply too soft to ever try to stop his son from reaching his dream, while his wife and her sheer ferocity always allowed her to keep their son disciplined, even if she sometimes stepped too far when it came to words she used.
And so here he was, sitting in his room, with multiple papers laying on the desk, demanding his attention yet being ignored, for he kept staring at his phone as worries slowly ate at him from the inside. No matter how many times he tried to call or send text messages, Mitsuki didn't answer, and that just wasn't her style. She was brash enough to respond to her phone no matter where she was or with who, so she must have been, for some reason, unable to get hold of her phone at all. That didn't happen often, but he wasn't worried… or at least not only for her. Whoever managed to make her busy, however? that hypothetical person for sure would need all the condolences he could muster. And an ambulance possibly… Or a coffin if Mitsuki wasn't in a mood for having her time wasted.
"RIIIIIIING!"
If someone were to ask him about this moment, he would deny the fact that the sound of the doorbell startled him. For a moment he wondered who it could be… Maybe it was Mitsuki? She usually makes him open the door even if she has keys with her, something about making him move that sweet ass for her from time to time. But that still could be anyone... One of the neighbors? Maybe Inko found time to make a visit?
"RIIIIIIING!"
"RIIIIIIING!"
"RIIIIIIING!"
"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"
Okay, there was no doubt in his mind that it was Mitsuki. Masaru decided not to tempt fate by waiting any longer and instead stood up, moving quickly to the front door. To no one's surprise, Katsuki completely ignored the doorbell, as the sound of his quirk being used still kept on coming from the direction of the boy's room. A few moments later locks were opened and the door moved, revealing his wife and… giant stacks of cardboard boxes and papers right behind her? Whatever it was, he was already scared of it, since he had no doubt he would help with it if she brought all of it here
"Mitsuki? What took you so long?"
His mouth moved faster than his brain, so only after that sentence did he eyed Mitsuki from top to bottom to make sure that she's fine. At first glance everything was indeed fine - no sign of blood, wounds, or weapons she could have used to smack the living hell out of someone. However, as soon as he looked at his face, it was apparent that she was in a foul mood. Nasty snarl was pretty much chiseled onto her face, and her eyes spoke of a brutal murder to everyone in the vicinity. Beyond those oblivious facts, she also seemed… tired. It wasn't oblivious, only the fact that he lived with her for so long made him look for the subtle signs proving that she was done with this day in more than one way.
"...Hard day at work?" Masaru asked since his wife kept glaring daggers at him. She either didn't know what to say or was about to murder him, either way, he didn't want to wait any longer for her reaction. The effect was almost instant, as her stare become a little more vengeful, but instead of ending him, she decided to close her eyes and sighed.
"They could work me to the bone for a week straight and it would still be a vacation compared to what I just survived." With that, she went inside, leaving everything behind. Masaru was about to go and start moving the boxes one by one when his wife spoke again. "Oi, you all gonna stand there till tomorrow? Come on in, the worst-case scenario is that they piss themselves!"
"No bad words." a powerful and very uncanny voice came from behind the papers… or rather, voices, as it sounded like few people spoke in unison, and Masaru at this moment was completely stumped. Was that Hisashi? And Inko? He was pretty sure he heard Izuku as well, but… Something wasn't right. It couldn't have been them… could it?
" Oh COME ON!" Mitsuki turned around, what remains of her energy for today utilized for nothing else than shouting back at ear-splitting volume. "Piss isn't even a bad word!"
Instead of a response from a creepy choir of voices, two rather massive arms, at least massive for non-mutant quirk standards, appeared from behind the boxes, grabbing stacks of them at the base and slowly getting this Cardboard and its contents up. Boxes wobbled as the owner of these strange hands fought against gravity until they were high enough to reveal equally big legs in some rather plain pants. Then a few slow and steady steps later ended up bringing the mysterious fellow inside. Few more steps and this person was next to Mitsuki, a disproportionally big head looking towards her, while Masaru took in all the visual aspects of his apparent guest, except for the face that was currently facing away from him.
"But you meant it as a bad word."
Mitsuki moved her hand upwards, pointing the finger straight and mouth about to open as she clearly prepared to provide a counter-argument, but then her facial expression changed from 'bullshit!' to 'i'm too tired for this shit'. After that, she dropped her hand and just screamed "Whatever!" in the act of verbal surrender. And she did it just in time, as the sound of yet another explosion echoed across the house. Katsuki's mother moved like a guided missile towards her son's bedroom, no doubt with the intention to put some harsh discipline into him, by force if necessary.
That of course left Masaru alone with so far unidentified by him guest who kept on speaking using all three voices of the Midoriya family. His brain simply couldn't comprehend what that meant, and the more he tried thinking about it, the more he felt like it was just some bizarre dream with no sense nor meaning. And so he did the only thing he could for now - he kept staring as this giant of a person very slowly put down boxes and papers somewhere on the side, each move as slow and steady as possible. It felt like an eternity before the guest started turning towards him, and as soon as he saw those eyes, he just couldn't help but walk close, looking into three different pairs of eyes with disbelief.
"Inko? Hisashi? Izuku?"
"Yes. Sorry for the lack of warning, we were… busy."
"So… Quirk?"
"Yes."
"What quirk could do this to all of you? Is… is it permanent?"
"It was Izuku's… we mean, our quirk." The Midoriya family sighed in unison… not that they could do so separately anymore. "we are still not used to speaking like this. And so far, yes, this appears to be permanent, but that's a good thing." They didn't elaborate on this further, but it was still enough for Masaru who easily noticed worry growing in Izuku's eyes as silence kept ongoing due to lack of his immediate response. In the meantime, very stern glares from eyes that belonged to the boy's parents only solidified the idea that he had to say something, if only for sake of making Izuku less worried.
"if you are feeling fine being like this then i'm not gonna argue with you… all of you." His words and reassuring smile got rewarded, as the merged trio smiled back, and their relief - mostly visible in the eyes of the Izuku - was as clear as the sun in the middle of the day. Still, even then he could see that beneath this they seemed still worried, and possibly as tired as Mitsuki seemed to be.
"Thank you… should we call you Masaru or uncle Masaru? Hisashi is fine with either, but the rest of us can't decide."
"Go with Masaru, Izuku is a big boy now after all… quite literally apparently. That means he doesn't have to call me uncle anymore. Isn't that right?" Masaru could clearly see how Izuku's eyes glowed with spark excitement at such praise, while Inko and Hisashi stared at him with content. He then moved his attention towards boxes and papers, curiosity gnawing at him at possible contents of these. "So, what's the deal with all of this?"
"We will explain everything once Mitsuki comes back with Katsuki, but that's mostly stuff from our house and... and a lot of paperwork related to the quirk that made our new existence possible." Previously displayed emotions melted into worry once the paperwork was mentioned. Was usage of their quirk that limited? Or was it something else?
Regardless, Masaru could understand the paperwork, but he couldn't grasp why they would bring their stuff here. Was their house damaged somehow when they became like this? Still hungry for answers, he kept staring in confusion at the Midoriya trio, and they quickly caught on to that. They weren't sure when Mitsuki might return from dealing with Katsuki, and so they decided to answer him without her assistance.
"We're… moving in?" It was intriguing to Masaru how each pair of eyes managed to display different kinds of awkwardness, but he could ponder upon that later, for now, he had even more questions than a few seconds ago
"Moving in? As in, you have to stay here for some time? I assume Mitsuki already gave you approval, so i'm okay with that, but… Why?"
"Not some time, a long, long time, and as to why… Mitsuki started the process of adopting us?"
The silence that fell onto them after that was so perfect that a few moments later they could hear muffled, yet still very colorful threats Mitsuki came up with when berating Katsuki's use of quirk in the house.
"NO MORE QUIRK TODAY BRAT!"
"MAMA! HOW I AM GOING TO BECOME A HERO IF I DON'T TRAIN MY QUIRK EVERY DAY?!"
"OH, DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP! NO EXPLOSIONS TODAY, AND MOVE YOUR ASS, WE HAVE GUESTS!"
Masaru knew that Mitsuki would sooner conquer the world with her bare hands while screaming obscenities than intentionally cause harm to their son, be it physical and otherwise, so he wasn't worried about what he could hear. Instead, his focus was on the Midoriya trio. He stared at them as if they just grew even more eyes than they already had, still trying to process what he just heard. After a moment all he could muster were two words, full of disbelief and pure confusion.
"She… what?"
Masaru still expected this to be a dream. The very convoluted, absurdly detailed, and ongoing dream he could not escape from. Such definition no doubt sounded more like a nightmare, and in some cases that would be correct, especially when considering what he learned. And yet, it could be neither dream nor nightmare, for it was the morning of the next day.
Everyone was gathered in the living room. He and his wife sat near the table, seemingly endless stacks of paper neatly sorted into two piles in front of them - one for those they already went by, and one for those that still needed to be reviewed. So far they seemed to be in the middle of it, so only two more hours or so of this torture and he would be free. He was thankful that Mitsuki handled writing down notes on the most important parts, in order to make sure they don't forget anything essential in the future. Normally she would be against something like this, for she seethed with pure hatred towards such boring and lengthy tasks, but this time she offered to do it herself. Masaru guessed that this was mostly due to the fact that Mitsuki already knew the contents of these papers - according to the summary of the hospital visit he was presented with, both Mitsuki and the entirety of the Midoriya family were forced to read everything while they were still there.
'No wonder it took them so long to get back, or why Mitsuki was in such a foul mood when they came back…'
Masaru allowed his thoughts to float away from the papers in front of him. He needed to rest, as otherwise, he would join his wife in committing the murder of everyone involved in writing and printing these hellish documents. Was he angry? Not really, it was just his mental and emotional exhaustion speaking. For the most part they were reading summaries of rules, laws, and regulations that apparently would be affecting Izuku's recently named quirk, Chimera. The longer he read all of this, however, the more he felt like it would just be easier for everyone involved if they were given a list of laws that they wouldn't have to know.
If he wasn't informed in detail how Chimera worked, he might have assumed all these limits enforced on it were… paranoid at best. But it was already explained to him yesterday, and he already had occasion to see its official description in the quirk registry among the documents, and thanks to that he fully understood the reasoning behind all of these rules. Most important of them all was that any future usage of the main part of quirk without full government approval and supervision, be it intentional, accidental, or even in self-defense, would be treated as an act of Villainy with no real right to deflect the accusations.
Why? Merging with another person using Chimera was apparently classified as killing the person being merged.
Despite how strange it seemed, that was sadly unavoidable, at least as far as Masaru understood it. According to the detailed explanation he already skimmed by, as well as some additional information he managed to find on the internet, the government always had issues with 'Assimilation' type quirks, especially those that lead to the permanent merging of people involved. To summarize a few pages of the philosophical mess that he had to read, there was no way for the government to confirm, with 100% certainty, that people affected by permanent assimilation quirks were still the same people as before, and not just recreations based on what quirk user assimilated. It sounded confusing and apparently was in fact confusing, to the point where the best answer to this would be to guess.
Of course, there is no place for guessing in official laws, especially when it came to potentially dangerous quirks. and so someone, someday, made a decision that anyone permanently merged to an assimilation quirk user would be considered to be killed by this quirk, and thus dead according to the law from that point on. This also solved another issue with a quirk that permanently merges people - most of the rules of society apparently start to have issues when faced with a person made out of multiple people. He saw examples of such problematic situations, like "should two people in one body have to buy one, or two tickets?" or "Should killing merged group count as singular kill or multiple kills for sake of prison sentence?".
This however meant issues, especially for Izuku. Inko and Hisashi were now considered dead according to the law, and that's why Izuku had to be adopted. Masaru was thankful that Mitsuki did so on the spot, for he feared who they would have ended with otherwise. The merged body of the Midoriya family was currently sitting on the floor not far from them - apparently, fancy chairs were a little too fancy, and thus too weak to hold their combined weight. Regardless, Midoriyas' eyes kept on staring into nothingness, as if in deep thought. Masaru understood that they could communicate with themselves by just thinking, so he assumed that's what they were doing. Most likely Inko and Hisashi were still trying to explain everything to Izuku, who no doubt was confused about a lot of things. He was a five-year-old after all, even if his current form and way he had to speak together with his parents made this fact almost impossible to notice. If anything, it's most likely the fact that he didn't fully understand his current situation that made him somewhat calm, at least as far as Masaru could see based on his green eyes.
Masaru looked to the side, to where Katsuki was sitting on the couch on the other side of the table. The explosion-prone boy stopped using his quirk after he came out of his room, and yet his glare and scowl suggested that he was about to unleash the biggest explosion to date at the slightest provocation. It wouldn't be anything worrying normally if Masaru had to be honest. Katsuki's temper seems to grow shorter with each passing day ever since his quirk manifested, so seeing him like that right after Mitsuki scolded him wouldn't be surprising. This time however something was different, as Katsuki seemed to glare daggers not at him or his wife, but instead at the merged form of Izuku and Izuku's parents. Not only that, but his son hadn't spoken a single word ever since they explained Izuku's situation, as well as the whole adoption thing. It was something that needed to be addressed sooner or later, but that could wait. Or so he thought.
{Wouldn't it be unfair if we go to school and still count as only me? What about tests? Won't it count as cheating if you are there to help me?}
(We can always stay silent and only help you select answers you came up with)
[Inko, first of all, quirkless pigs would fly on a day where you would see occasion to help Izuku and not use it]
(That's not true...)
[It doesn't matter if it is anyway. According to what Emi explained, it would be totally not cheating, at least according to the law.]
{But she never mentioned it?}
[What she said implies it. We are now considered part of your Quirk. And Quirk is, by definition, part of you. Asking yourself for answers is not cheating, if anything, that's how you are supposed to solve tests]
{That's… confusing.}
(I agree with Izuku, but... it somehow makes sense. Still, won't that stunt Izuku's intellectual growth if we solve things instead of him?)
[Not if we avoid giving him answers without in-detail explanation as much as possible. If anything, this would help him more than if he didn't merge with us.]
{So you will help me by teaching me whenever I need to be taught?}
[Yep! But technically you will be teaching yourself.]
{Very confusing… My head starts to hurt.}
(Mine too, or rather 'our' head. Don't worry Izuku, we can discuss it later.)
[Agreed. Is there something we should do?]
(Masaru and Mitsuki are dealing with documents, we managed to unpack yesterday before going to sleep, and it's not like we have any responsibilities yet so... )
[Okay, another question then. What do we want to do then?]
(Good question. Izuku?)
{I want to play with Kacchan, but… won't you be bored? Adults don't like child stuff, others say that a lot.}
(Sweetie, don't think like that. We are here with you and for you. We always were, even before your quirk made us whole.)
[Inko is right Izuku. Your happiness is our happiness. And now that we share one body that's more true than ever.]
{I love you both so much!}
[Besides, adult stuff is boring as heck. With few exceptions.]
(Hisashi!)
After a few moments of Inko berating Hisashi for his 'bad sense of humor', the merged family decided to focus back on the real world. They stretched a little as their eyes slowly looked around, staring at people present. Masaru and Mitsuki were, at this moment, fully focused on the papers in front of them, so neither the young boy nor his parents paid them much attention. Finally, they moved their head to the point where they could see Katsuki, and they couldn't help but feel startled at the intensity of the stare directed at them.
[Izuku, not that i'm against it, but… are you sure that you want to play with Katsuki? Especially now?]
{Y-yeah! Kacchan is like that sometimes. It's… normal}
(... Okay, but let's be careful when playing with him, okay? It's possible that he might not be a fan of your quirk, we talked about this remember?)
{Mhm!}
They stood up, slowly but steadily, but without much of an issue. Few steps later they were next to Katsuki, their merged form towering over the explosive five-year-old. For a moment they just stared at him, thinking together over what to say, until finally, their mouth opened, voices intertwined in perfect harmony.
"Hey Kacchan, let's p-"
"BANG!"
Everyone was startled by the sudden detonations localized within Katsuki's hands. Masaru managed to hit his knee right into the table in an attempt to jump, while Mitsuki almost instantly slammed her fists onto the table, her stare promising murder of her misbehaving brat. Meanwhile, a body belonging to Izuku and his parents froze in an attempt to process conflicting orders from within. Izuku tried to flinch, Inko simply froze in shock, while Hisashi, as was fitting for a former UA student, tried to jump away from danger. Of course in the end they just remained motionless, only panicked movement of their eyes indicating that something went wrong.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Scream of the young explosive boy almost managed to hide the sound of smaller yet continuous explosions expelled by his palms.
"BRAT, WHAT THE FU-" Shriek coming from a very angry Mitsuki however? It not only made even Katsuki's quirk silent in comparison but quite possibly made her husband deaf, judging by his expression. And yet, before she could finish her harsh words, something made her speechless, and Katsuki used that moment of silence to completely ignore his mother, and instead decided to talk to the Midoriya trio.
"YOU ARE NOT DEKU! OR AUNTIE! OR UNCLE HISASHI! YOU ARE NOT THEM, YOU ARE NEITHER OF THEM! GIVE THEM BACK!"
{K-kaccha...n?}
(Izuku, baby, don't worry! He's just… He needs time.)
[Inko. He used his quirk! If he had his hands closer to us, he would have hurt us, all of us!]
(I know Hisashi! But we already knew that this was ought to happen at some point, we just were unfortunate enough that it was Katsuki who was first to react this badly to us.)
[That doesn't justify anything and you know that!]
(Calm down Hisashi, Please. Calm down and look at him.)
[How can you expect me to c-... Is he… is he about to cry?]
{But Kacchan is always so brave… Why is he scared of us?}
(I don't think he's scared, Izuku. It seems that he's… sad.)
"I SAID GIVE THEM BACK!" Explosions popped into existence once in Katsuki's hands, this time they were slightly larger. The explosive boy decided that his threat wasn't strong enough, and so he pointed his arms directly at the six-eyed head, but still, he got no reaction other than stares directed at him. In the meantime, his red eyes shined in the light more than they should have, as tears were threatening to spill down his cheeks.
Masaru was looking at his wife, expecting her to act before this situation escalates any further. Mitsuki however, against what was expected of her, even against what she expected of herself, kept on hesitating between smacking some discipline into her brat and hugging the life out of him as her motherly instincts were screaming at her to do so. In the end, before she could make this decision, a certain trio managed to calm down and made their own.
"... We… can't undo it. This is who we are now."
Katsuki's hands trembled once he heard these words, and the snarl on his face deepened. In the end, however, instead of trying to blast them, he turned around furiously and ran away from the living run. Just a moment later the sound of doors slamming into the door frame informed them that the boy went into his room, no doubt to deal with the number of emotions that someone as young as him wasn't ready for.
"I… will talk with him," Mitsuki spoke, and no one dared to argue or comment on her decision. Her voice was clearly seething with emotions, but this time it was neither anger nor rage. If anything, she seemed worried. And so moments later she disappeared from the living room, and this time there was no shouting once she walked away. If anything, it was eerily silent compared to what happened just a few moments ago. Masaru broke the silence as he sighed tiredly, his somber face slowly turning towards the Midoriya trio, who were still standing and looking towards the way to Katsuki's room.
"Are you fine?" They didn't answer him verbally, instead, they just nodded slowly, but even that seemed unnecessary, as emotions across their eyes were as clear as they could be. "I think he needs more time. maybe days, maybe weeks… He will go over it someday."
"We hope so."
"... Are you feeling up to helping me with some forms? I don't want to burden Mitsuki with it any more than it's needed, and some of the information that we need to provide I would like to consult with you three first." Masaru assumed such a change of topic, and something to do to take their minds away from this incident would help them all deal with it.
"...Okay."
Just moments later Izuku with his parents sat next to the couch, staring at one of the paper sheets with multitudes of blank spaces that needed to be filled in. Masaru was taking care of writing, occasionally asking for some more or less relevant information. It was extremely boring for the most part, but at the same time, it provided some escape from emotions that threatened to overwhelm them, especially Izuku.
"Oh, this ought to be interesting," Masaru spoke as he grabbed yet another sheet while moving away one he already finished dealing with.
"Why?" Masaru's words managed to grab their attention without issue, as they now watched him with curiosity.
"This is a document regarding the adoption procedure." He eyed the said document slowly, seeking for what he could fill without his wife's presence being needed. There wasn't much, but one specific thing caught his attention, so much so that moments later he spoke once again. "Didn't Mitsuki mention something about how that doctor a-"
"Doctor Tagaki."
"Ah, right… Anyway, she asked you about how you would prefer to be called as a group or something like that, correct?"
"That she did. Why you ask?"
"If we do nothing, you all will be Izuku Midoriya, but apparently adoption allows us to change your first name and even your family name, and that of course means that you can take the family name after me and Mitsuki. What do you think?"
There was a long moment of silence after that. Masaru understood that they sometimes took longer than usual to answer, either to discuss something within their mind or just to agree on what words they want to use, and so he waited patiently for the response.
"... We didn't think much about it so far. And…"
"And?"
"You mentioned family names as well. Not that we mind, but…" It was clear they seemed somewhat uncomfortable about this. No doubt thinking about losing their family name was… hard to swallow, but thankfully, unlike the rules enforced on their quirk, it wasn't something that was mandatory.
"I just mentioned it, I would never force you, even if law apparently allows me to do so in your current situation. What I meant was… Look, you were part of our family one way or another even before this. And you still will be, name or not." Masaru tried not to sound awkward about it, but it was hard, so in the end, he offered them a gentle smile. This not only calmed them down but also got them thinking about his proposition.
[Izuku? what do you two think about it?]
{Uh? Me?}
(We are part of you, not the other way around. And i and your dad will be fine with whatever you decide on.)
{I… I don't know. I don't want to not be Midoriya anymore. Wouldn't it be unfair to you?}
[Nah! And besides… I think i got an idea on how to make perfect use of this situation.]
({Uh?})
[Izuku, Inko, what do you think of this…]
In just a few moments, a wide grin adorned their face, a mix of excitement and happiness spread out in different proportions across each pair of eyes. Masaru didn't notice at first, since he went back to reading the paper in front of him, but that changed as soon as heard a choir of voices speaking once again.
"Masaru."
"Hmm?" Katsuki's father gave his best impression of not having a heart attack and slowly turned towards them, praying to whatever he could so that he gets used to their voice quickly, otherwise they might actually scare him to death.
"We have decided on what we want to do about our name."
When they told him what they choose, Masaru started laughing, not at the name itself, but at how ingenious and yet simplistic it was. Once he calmed down, it only took a few moments to write down a new identity that the boy and his parents would share in the future.
Midoriya Bakugo