Jpx0999 - No. MORE FLUFF IS THE WAY.
Miqila - Here it's more of a Defiant vs Destro being the Professor X vs Magneto thing tbh.
Shahryar - Maybe, but that's for after the fic :P
(***)
The day after the announcement that Aizawa Shouta was promoted against his will (again), Izuku finally decided that it's the time to address the elephant in the room. Or, to be more exact about it, the frog in the room.
"Tsu." He says, sounding almost official about that.
"Ribbit?" His girlfriend replies.
The decorum of the scene is highly diminished by the fact that they were in his bed. It was Tsuyu's time to sleep with him, and so she did. In a completely non-sexual way, they just snuggled together in the evening and fell to sleep that way.
It was morning right now, but… Izuku deeply enjoyed how warm the bed was with her there. She was very clingy, but in a good way. It was… emotionally stabilizing to him, really. He was vaguely worried about his own inability to have a good night's rest without someone to hold to, but…
Tsuyu was generally spending her nights either with him, or with Uraraka, or with her mom. It was generally speaking Izuku unless Mei was there, because then his bedroom was very, very occupied.
Mei was at this point practically living in Musutafu, having relocated her unofficial lab to the UA Department of Engineering.
She has also decided (post-Gunga Mountain Raid) that when it was Tsuyu's time to hold onto Izuku, she was going to grab Uraraka for a sleepover. Sleeping alone was clearly forbidden in this…
Izuku honestly had no idea how to refer to that. Harem? Yeah, the term sounded like something from a bad isekai story, when all the girls were for some reason falling for the protagonist. Polycule? Yeah, no, all the girls were explicitly declaring themselves to be purely heterosexual, so it was sex just with him (and Uraraka was yet to get there).
Was there such a thing as a cuddle/emotional support polycule?
Izuku at this point decided to stop thinking about it, as it was quite enough daydreaming to avoid addressing the subject. Especially as Tsuyu was staring at him from under the quilt, her adorably large eyes studying her face, waiting for what he was going to say to her.
She tended to sleep buried under the quilt entirely or almost entirely. She really liked warmth.
Probably unsurprising if you remembered the time when she lived in the basement of an abandoned building, using a bunch of random stuff (including leaves and vines) as her bedding.
"There is something I have to tell you." Izuku says officially. "Something very, very important."
"Are you pregnant, ribbit?" Tsuyu replies with a question.
…
"Wait, what?" Izuku didn't expect that.
"I saw it in a movie, ribbit." Tsuyu replies. "'Something important to tell you' in a relationship often means that there is a baby involved. But you're a boy, ribbit. It feels weird."
Uhm, yeah, way to break the tension. She's absolutely adorable, cute and can easily disarm and brutalize everyone out there for as long as they are in water. Honestly, she would probably end Overhaul in ten seconds flat if he fell into the water.
"No, I'm not pregnant, and I don't think it's in any way or shape possible to happen." Izuku replies. This is a very weird statement to make, to be honest. "But I do admit that children are involved."
"Am I pregnant, ribbit?" Tsuyu asks a second later. This is just getting weirder and weirder by the second.
"Don't you think that you'd know about that first?" Izuku asks. Tsuyu stares at him quietly. "You know what, fine. It would come in periodic medical tests or Jirou would pick up additional heartbeat, and probably before you would notice. But whoever would discover it, would tell you first."
"Your quirk is bullshit, ribbit." Tsuyu announces. Part of Izuku feels vaguely hurt by her swearing. "You could probably detect it with your ignition sense."
… she is right, isn't she? Though he would have to be close to her, for it to be detailed enough to notice her insides. And even then, he would probably mistake it for something else.
It's not like he is that knowledgeable about human anatomy, aside from Kan-sensei's instructions on where to hit a human for it to hurt, and where to hit a human when you want him to die.
"I'm getting the feeling…" Izuku announces. "... that you're surprisingly excited when the concept of having children is involved, Tsu."
"Ribbit." She agrees with him. "Mom's very happy since I'm around. You and Mei have been happy ever since the news. It's nice and warm."
Izuku realizes that he's probably going to have another child right after Tsuyu's next mating season. Good to know. He is all for it, to be honest. Especially if Tsuyu wants it so much. She deserves all the good things in the world.
"Well, you should be happy too." Izuku says. Tsuyu ribbits questioningly. "Look, I have three girlfriends, each of them I'm treating as a lifelong commitment. So, Mei might be the biological mother of her Bestest Baby Ever, but we all know that it will have three moms."
At least that's how Izuku is portraying the eventual arrangement. Those three are practically best friends (even Mei & Tsuyu to a growing degree, mostly because Mei decided to embrace Tsuyu's emotional support frogginess fully nowadays) at this point.
"Ribbit!" Tsuyu sounds downright enthusiastic about it now. The sound alone warms Izuku's heart.
Screw that.
Izuku turns to his side, and hugs Tsuyu. Who enthusiastically reciprocated, even if she gets a tiny bit exposed to the air. It seems that getting to burrow your face in his chest outweighs the issues of leaving the warm space under the quilt.
Much better.
Thankfully, she is wearing her onesie.
"So, back to the subject." Izuku decides that enough off-top is enough. "You know that Rabbit is now officially my brother, yes?"
"Yes, ribbit." She says. Pretty much into his chest, but it's audible enough. "He is very happy now."
Izuku is ready to make a bet that it's mostly due to Rabbit developing a full blown, err, emotional support cuddle harem? He had honestly no idea how to describe it. Was it something in their family blood? Hisashi was clearly getting around enough to have two children with two completely different women.
That's like ¾ known male family members getting around, except one of them was clearly a dick not ready to take responsibility. Hisashi Shigaraki was the worst pick for a Shadow Overlord of Earth ever. If you can't take responsibility for your children - or at least pay them goddamn child support - how can you be expected to take responsibility for Mankind as a species?
Was Yoichi an outlier? Too much of a nerd? Did he have a harem too, but aside from Inko it was a 2D waifu harem, probably composed of fictional superheroines in tight spandex? Does Izuku even want to know?
"Well, I think that you're going to be very happy too." Izuku says. "Because you'll have siblings as well."
"Is mom pregnant, ribbit?" Tsuyu looks up at him and, naturally, misinterprets his words. The fact that she was now clearly comfortable with referring to Kayama-sensei as her mom was… nice, really.
"Well, I most certainly wouldn't know that before you, now would I?" Izuku replies. "No, it's not that. It's…"
"Are we getting married, which will make Rabbit into my sibling-in-law?" Tsuyu asks, surprising him with how far she went with understanding social cues.
Izuku sighs and boops her on the noose with his finger. She loudly ribbits her protest about that treatment.
He also makes a mental note to at least consider the options when marriage is involved. Sure, polygamy is illegal in Japan, but… he could theoretically marry one of them legally (most likely Mei due to inheritance issues alone), but also make it clear that the other two are there too.
As in, make the ceremony with all three of them, but only have one 'legal' wife, right? He has so much backing that it shouldn't be a problem. Especially if he'll maintain a charade that Izuku Midoriya isn't the same person as Defiant, to avoid any bad press directed at the Number One Hero.
Yes, something to consider for the future.
"Let me finish, Tsu." Izuku announces. When she moves over to silently staring at him, Midoriya takes a deep breath. "During our trip to Nabu Mountains, Paladin mentioned that there are two frog mutants in the care of the Knights. It took us a few days to make the DNA tests, but we know for sure. Congratulations, Tsu. You have two younger siblings."
She just stares at him for a few long seconds. He is about to start freaking out that he broke her, when she lets out a ribbit.
One of confusion.
The next one is much louder, happier and is accompanied by Tsuyu practically wrapping herself around him. And yes, there are more ribbits to come.
Izuku lets her do that, limiting himself to hugging her back. She'll come back in time, she's just processing the revelation in her own way.
"C-can I meet them, ribbit?" She eventually does so. "When can I meet them?" Looks like no isn't an answer here.
"I believe that me and Paladin can schedule a meeting… how does tomorrow sound?" Izuku says. What he gets in response is a very happy ribbit and even closer hug. His life is just as it should be, it seems.
It'll be a very nice change of pace from what they have planned for the rest of today. Namely, the funerals.
(***)
It was… painful. On so many levels.
Izuku, honestly, expected nothing less.
The Reveal Day wasn't quite there yet, so certain things had to be kept under wraps. Inasa Yoarashi alone deserved a 'proper' state funeral, especially as he was the last person from his family.
There was no one left from the Yoarashi family after the war, aside from Inasa.
Aizawa ended up solving that conundrum by speedrunning the necessary paperwork and bullshitting at least some people. As a result, Inasa Yoarashi was officially listed as a police officer, and was given the same treatment as the others.
The whole ceremony was made private enough that it wasn't a problem for even the less human looking Network members from Musutafu to drop by.
His mother's funeral was… harder.
The Bakugous were there, somehow looking more broken than Izuku. Mitsuki tried to make an apology - and a tearful one at that. The fact that she was apologizing to the man that killed her own son (it was made to sound like self-defense, officially there was still an investigation but in fact there was none) was telling.
Izuku didn't let her finish it. He just told her that the only person he blamed for his mother's death was Bakugou Katsuki (he blamed Overhaul and Hari Kurono too, but the latter was dead and Overhaul was still a secret). And that he knew well enough that if Bakugou killed him too, he would visit his parents next.
There was… a lot of crying there. And not just from the Bakugou side.
The whole thing was less 'private' and more 'confidential'. The last thing they wanted was Overhaul's assault on the one place and time when he was certain that he'd get to locate Defiant.
Bakugous were allowed to participate because their entire family was being moved into what was pretty much an improvised witness protection program (why exactly Japan had none of that 'officially' was anyone's guess). It's not like Overhaul could track them to the funeral location and time.
Uraraka was there with Izuku. Hatsume was there with Izuku. Tsuyu was there with Izuku, but she was conspicuously absent when the Bakugous arrived (due to her looks, of course).
Rabbit was there as well. Izuku introduced him as his cousin for the time being.
When the whole thing was over, they left. With a car, although with the intent of reaching the police precinct nearby and getting Eclipse to warp them back to the headquarters.
Turned out that Uraraka can drive a car, and she's a much better driver than Izuku was. It was extraordinarily nice to know.
The drive was quiet, if you exclude Tsuyu demanding (in her own, adorable way) to be allowed to cling to Izuku the whole time on the backseat, because according to her, he needed that.
Her unexplainable proficiency at reading him like an open book remained unexplainable.
The last part of the day was a quick trip to the Nabu Mountains. Midoriya never got to exchange even a single word with the lizard mutant sidekick that they lost during the Gunga Mountain Raid, but…
Yeah, he was the head of the organization that he worked for (even if theoretically, and due to the whole Knights/Network alliance). He should be there, just as Hawks (despite his current age) had to be there for the funerals of his two underlings.
He finally returned to the headquarters late in the evening, feeling like he aged a decade. Then, Aizawa decided to call him.
"Well, that's just brilliant." Izuku sighs, while putting the phone to the side. He is sitting on a couch in his room.
He, naturally, isn't alone. Tsuyu is hugging him from one side. Mei is sitting on his other side, slurping some drink through a straw (for some reason), Uraraka sitting behind her, clearly tired as well.
"What happened, ribbit?" Tsuyu asks. She can see (and probably feel, seriously, is she a secret empath or what?) that it wasn't anything bad, but she wants to know more.
"Turns out that my mother was steadily putting small sums of money she earned from her work onto a secret bank account." Izuku replies. "I'm not exactly super rich, and it's probably a good idea to spend it as quickly as possible, while yens still have any value."
He is… emotionally numb about it, to be honest. This sounds like something that his mother would do. And seeing how much of it was there, he is vaguely suspicious that some of it was contributed to by Yoichi. Some budget leftover after she set up for her life in secret.
"How much is it?" Uraraka asks.
Izuku says the numbers.
"We should buy ourselves a house." Uraraka promptly announces. All eyes on the couch drift to her in an instant. "What?"
"That's our question to ask, Mocchan." Izuku replies. "What?" Hatsume nods furiously. Tsuyu simply glances at Uraraka in silence.
"Look, living here is super nice and I have tons of positive memories of it." Uraraka replies. "But we can't exactly keep living here forever, Deku-kun. Especially as you mentioned that the Meta-Liberation Army has already located it."
Right, Nedzu apparently knew of it. They had - for now - no reason to attack it, at least for as long as the Council of Twelve was there. But the fact that they had to move sooner rather than later was obvious to everyone involved.
"It'd have to be a big home if it was to fit all four of us." Izuku decides to be obstructive. "I don't have enough money for that." Hatsume sighs before giving him an 'are you kidding me' look. "Look, don't get me wrong, your parents are wonderful people, but I think that starting the history of the hero system in Japan by selling myself to a zaibatsu conglomerate is a bit… rash."
"You just keep making things harder for yourself, don't you?" Mei shakes her head. "Also you forgot about something."
"That something being?" Izuku asks.
"You might not earn that much money yourself…" Uraraka decides to enlighten him. "... being a superhero and all. At least under the Hero Association gets official and you'll start being paid a salary. But you have two very accomplished sidekicks sitting with you on your couch. And we're getting paid by commission."
… right, especially Uraraka was pretty much somewhere among the Top 5 rescue heroes nationwide. One of the 'immediately gets all local rescue services addicted to their existence' sort.
She wasn't earning a fortune, but it was a solid upper middle strata salary. Even at a time like this. Tsuyu was less successful, but still pulled her own financial weight. Especially as her financial needs were practically abysmal.
To be honest, Uraraka wasn't spending a lot of money either.
"Wait, I thought that we're giving all money into a pool, and buying whatever the group needed for as long as it wasn't too outrageous?" Izuku asks. He now realizes that Uraraka tanking whiskey when noone was looking was vaguely sus.
"Of course we did and we still do." Uraraka looks vaguely exasperated. Izuku begins to realize that she might be the voice of reason in the family. "But we're going to stop doing that sooner rather than later, yes? Other branches of the Network are already being much more diverse in the budget field, and things are going to change further once the Hero Association is established, right?"
Well, she isn't wrong about that.
"The point is, we're going to have three people that are going to have a decent income." Uraraka continues. "Or, to be exact, two successful rescue heroes, the Hero Association's equivalent of a Commissioner General with a salary to boot… and a zaibatsu heiress, who is probably capable of paying her share without involving her family's fortune ever since she prove that giving her money is a decent investment."
"Yeah, but that's in the fut…" Izuku tries to say.
"So we can as well ignore the modern financial and economic chaos…" Uraraka continues, ignoring him completely. "... and ask Principal Sasaki to buy us appropriate housing located comfortably close to the UA, he shouldn't be that much of a dick about it. Because he knows that we're capable of paying it back and we still need to vacate the headquarters either way. Am I wrong, Deku-kun?"
Izuku opens his mouth. Then he closes his mouth.
Note to self. Uraraka is going to be in charge of the family's finances. Tsuyu has no interest in money, Hatsume is Hatsume, and Izuku… Izuku never paid his own taxes even, and he would probably waste too much money buying hero comics and so on.
He imagines Uraraka's look of disapproval after discovering that he wasted how much money?! on hero comics, and he immediately vows to himself to run all serious money stuff through her first.
"What about the rest?" Izuku asks. "Do they…"
"I'm one hundred percent certain that Jirou and Eto are thinking about moving out as well." Uraraka replies. "What's stopping them is mostly the fact that all her friends are living here and that she would have to get money from her parents, and she doesn't want to quote unquote parasitize them. And the only alternative is moving back in with her girlfriend, and that's… not what she wants."
Right, moving back to your parents' house would be a little… awkward. Especially since those two are very, very active sexually, and they would probably prefer a place when they can do that wherever and whenever they want.
Izuku manages to not blush at that line of thought. He is amazed at that himself.
"Kirishima and Ashido would probably be interested too." Uraraka replies. "That's pretty much all the heroes from Takoba, if you exclude the underground ones. But Tokoyami would probably actively support the idea of living back with his family if we all separate. As for Toga and Shinsou…"
She pauses.
"... that depends on what the Diet decides." Izuku finishes for her. "But I somehow don't imagine them being against living on their own, if possible."
Izuku decides to NOT imagine what would be going on in their house if that was an option. He has a strange feeling like Toga would promptly (and happily) convert into some sort of '24/7 aside from work time' roleplay.
He doesn't want to know details.
Silence on the couch for a few seconds.
"Rabbit will probably have to join too." Izuku eventually says. "He is technically the branch head in Sekoto, but the thing is, we don't exactly need a branch in Sekoto now. But if several heavy-hitters, myself included, leave the prefecture, he would probably do best to move to Takoba."
"Shouldn't we be looking for a house in Tokyo then?" Hatsume decides to ask the right question.
"Uhm, I'd honestly prefer to avoid that." Izuku admits. "Too much, err, I think I prefer calmer surroundings. As long as the trains arrive on time and I have Eclipse to help me from time to time, working in Tokyo and living in Takoba shouldn't be a problem."
"Mmmm, that makes sense." Uraraka admits. "Besides, Tsu-chan probably won't like living in the big city, yes?"
"Ribbit." Tsuyu agrees with her. "I like humans, but too much is too much."
Izuku can definitely relate to that statement. Having a place to retreat to from Tokyo in order to just… rest in peace sounds nice.
"I guess I'll grab everyone tomorrow evening, once me and Tsu are back from the Nabu Mountains, and ask them for their opinions." Izuku decides. "But I think that we'll be doing that. If, well, Principal Sasaki will be ready to invest in our accommodation."
"He most likely will." Uraraka replies.
"And if not, I'm sure that you can still sell your soul to Hatsume Industries or Yaoyorozu Conglomerate." Hatsume informs him. "It won't be that costly, trust me on that. You don't maintain your market position as a zaibatsu without an ability to know from which side the wind blows."
"They are still zaibatsu." Midoriya replies.
"And you're becoming someone important enough that you'll be nigh equalling them in influence." Hatsume surprises him. "Their fortune depends on the country's existence. The country surviving the chaos of the Dawn of Quirks requires you to be there, and trust me, both Momo and I were rather clear about this to our families."
"I still don't want to do that, if I don't have to." Izuku replies. He was once again reminded of his own importance, and he… honestly feels kinda bad about this.
"Well, you do you." Hatsume shrugs. "I'm going to pay myself a healthy salary from my new research budget either way. And if Sasaki decides to be obstructive, you can always threaten him with Hatsume Industries financing accomodation for you… somewhere further away from his school!"
She looks happy and proud of her new brilliant idea. Despite casually suggesting Izuku to blackmail the UA principal in order to extort money out of him.
Izuku sighs.
It's a work in progress.