Author's Note: Hey guys We made it to 2022! Thanks for being patient with me for this update. Was literally just so exhausted from exams and then had to go to work for long shifts. Also just started new meds that make me drowsy. NGL it was hard and this was the first real day off I've had since Christmas. I have a plan I'm following so get ready for some emotional damage. I recommend tissues. Thank You for all the reviews and just the overall support. I replied to the Reviews at the End!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the My Hero Academia Universe, manga, characters, tv show, movies, etc. This is just for fun

Chapter 12:

As expected, shopping on Black Friday was absolutely hellish. No, it was worse than hell. Aylee didn't think she would make it at some points on the way there and when she got to the store. She woke up before 5 am to wait in long lines with old women who were practically seasoned in their shopping rush tactics. Elbows were flying in all the sales bins and the dressing room line was obscenely long, almost reaching the back of the store.

Every store she went to shared the same M.O., no matter the place she went too. Packed to the max, stressful, and loud. Honestly, she didn't think it would be this bad because of the skyrocket sales in online shopping on the anticipated holiday. But, after dodging wild Karen's left and right, her mood quickly soured.

She went into each store with a clear list of things she would have to hunt for. But, Aylee's real goal was to find Shoto some new clothes to fit him, at a reasonable price. Hawks had tried and failed already to convince her to just send someone out to buy from an expensive high-end clothing store she couldn't even pronounce the name for. But, she couldn't justify buying the newly grown 7-year-old designer clothes when he would most likely grow out of them by the next week.

Luckily, on another quick family visit, Natusuo had boldly slipped something into her hands while the others weren't looking. The famously coveted black card with Todoroki Enji engraved in gold lettering stamped onto the front. It was like she had struck gold.

Aylee had tried to refuse at first and give the card back to him until she spotted the cardholder's name. The guilt she felt suddenly evaporated and Aylee was almost eager to spend that flaming asshole's money. But, Aylee still tightly held onto this innate instinct that compelled her to shop wisely and save money.

So there she was, at 6 am, sifting through the children's clothing racks and frantically trying to find her charge's new size in the chaos. Aylee eyed the other moms before diligently going back to her current task. She decided to first focus on getting the basics: like socks, shirts, pants, and shoes before moving on to finding his outerwear.

Her basket slowly started to get full, but she couldn't help it. There were too many cute outfits to choose from. She managed to hassle a shirt with little penguins on them and some light-up sneakers on sale from a nearby woman eyeing them. The caretaker practically risked her own life for some of these discounted items. But, it would all be worth it to see him actually dress like a real child, instead of the stiff and overly formal outfits Fuyumi found in storage that he had originally worn. Aylee could practically see her little peppermint stomping down UA's halls to make his tennis shoes light up with every heavy step.

She really should start documenting his growth and fast-paced childhood for the future. Maybe he'll want to see some photos from this strange time in his life. Aylee already had some cute photos on her phone from when he was younger, but not nearly enough.

Aylee maneuvered her basket over to another clothing stand and accidentally bumped into a larger but very warm body. She quickly stepped back to create some space and immediately, apologies spilled from her lips.

"I'm so sorry are you alri-"

But, her words got stuck in her throat when her eyes met his unwavering gaze. Fiery turquoise blues stared down at the shorter woman. He wore a black medical mask over his lower face but it couldn't cover all of his burnt skin and staples from view. His hands were causally fisted in his black hoodie pockets and his hood partially covered his black spiky hair. All in all, it was just a shitty disguise for a wanted villain to wear in public.

Aylee recovered her thoughts and lightly blushed after realizing she was still staring at the villain who attacked her and Shoto. Maybe she could just pretend to not recognize him and play along before getting the hell out of dodge. This was the only card she had to play for now.

"Again, I'm very sorry. If you'll excuse me."

She made a quick escape to go around him and surprisingly, he let her pass by untouched. The woman took a total of three steps away from him before she heard heavy boots step closer to her. Aylee, thankfully, managed to keep her cool and decided to just analyze the situation before making any rash actions. She reasoned that if she stayed calm maybe he would as well.

Dabi again followed after her as she made her way to a surprisingly empty sale rack. The caretaker browsed the coats and hats with her peppermint still in mind. In her search, she came across the cutest hat with a pom-pom on the top and a simple navy jacket that would be good for going outside.

Another item was added to her overflowing pile.

The flame villain kept her in his line of sight and watched silently as she attentively chose things for the spoiled little brat. Her basket was filled almost to the brim with bright clothes and things kids dreamed of having. He saw as she picked out every little thing with her care and love for Shoto in mind.

After 10 minutes of just silence and his stalker presence just continuously hovering around, it finally got to her frazzled nerves.

"What exactly do you want, Dabi? Here to kidnap Shoto again? As I'm sure you figured out, he's not here with me." Aylee briefly glanced back at him as she searched the messy table of jeans for the correct size.

With no answer from him other than the anticipated silence, she huffed and decided it would be best to try to get in line to check out and leave this situation entirely. A furnace-like hand shot out and tightly wrapped around her wrist before she could walk away completely. The heat was overwhelming and slowly rising. Not quite burning yet though. She still remembered what that felt like and fought the urge to protect her fully healed neck.

But, the intense blue flames never emerged from his hands. Dabi's warm grip tightened.

He pulled Aylee back to lean against his front and the sudden action caused her to freeze up in a panic. The back of her head grazed his chest as she tilted her chin up to make eye contact with her assailant. She couldn't cause a scene where other people could get seriously hurt. After weighing her choices it was clear that it was too risky, so she had no other choice but to endure.

"You'd think you were actually a loving parent shopping for her child. Not just the help."

She remained silent as she felt the low vibrations from his chest travel across her back. Aylee fought against her body to not shiver, but she wasn't sure if she did so successfully based on his cocked brow. The villain moved her into his right side and hung his warm arm over her shoulders. Effectively trapping her against his body. Dabi used this hold on her to move them both to the infant section of the store. She was practically a hostage at this point.

Toys littered the tiled floor and onesies and baby blankets crowded her immediate vision. She followed after him, unwillingly, as he held up a newborn onesie with rockets on the front in view.

He squeezed her further into his side as he whispered into her ear, "I bet you would make the perfect mother."

His soft tone was frightening and raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

Aylee's eyes widened and she began to struggle to get out of his hold but he remained firm and unyielding to her frantic movements.

After a couple more agonizing seconds, Dabi finally let her go and just walked away from her without glancing back or another word. Her eyes locked on his form until he was out of her sight.

She had no clue what the hell just happened. Was he trying to intimidate her? He didn't ask her any questions, just watched her. So he wasn't after any information on Shoto and the whole encounter just made her feel very suspicious and even more on guard. It was absolutely creepy as fuck, but he didn't try to harm her. Maybe a subtle scare tactic? Aizawa would probably have more of an idea of his true motives than she did at the moment.

Speaking of UA's favorite dry-eyed teacher, Aizawa was going through his typical daily routine of teaching all of his first-year students. Including Shoto. After countless, painfilled hours of Aylee advising him on the appropriate teaching methods for 7-year-olds, they finally managed to come to a compromise. And Shoto was ready to get back to class, just with different activities and rules for him to follow. Some of those rules and privileges were: More bathroom breaks, QUIET snacks were allowed (Aizawa still could hear Shoto's loud chewing in his sleep), and playtime in lieu of an outside recess.

For his first official day of sort of age-appropriate school, Aylee equipped her charge with an Allmight covered backpack filled with multiple snacks, his lunch, and the work he needed to complete for the day. Aylee and Aizawa put together his own separate folder of worksheets to complete that were age-appropriate in all the basic subjects like the History of Heroes, basic math, spelling, etc. They both thought it would be a good first step to see his current level in education and if they need to, they could adjust it later. The two adults prepared and thought of everything that the boy might need to stay focused and happy. Even Principal Nezu approved their proposed plan but also insisted that the red and white-haired boy would be able to leave 2 hours earlier than the other teens.

Surprisingly, the young boy was very focused on his new school work, sometimes colored, matched pictures, and followed along dotted lines to practice writing letters. Sometimes, curiosity got the better of them, and the other classmates would look over to see his cute face scrunched up in concentration as he filled in the answers. But, Aylee made sure it wasn't all just school work for her peppermint. She snuck in a box of crayons into his backpack and some plain white paper for him to doodle or do whatever he wanted on it.

And Shoto took full advantage of this kindness.

Shoto sneakily looked up and saw Aizawa busy helping Aoyama with something across the classroom. He slowly grabbed onto the box of crayons and a sheet of blank paper and quickly got to work coloring. Yaoyorozu, who was seated next to him, briefly watched from the corner of her eye as the 7-year old diligently picked up a red crayon and quietly colored. His determined face was just too cute for anyone to ignore!

After a couple of minutes of silent coloring, the picture began to take shape. Shoto picked up a light blue crayon and continued his efforts. And after scraping his crayon on the paper a few more times, his masterpiece was finally finished. His colorful drawing depicted his father, Endeavor, trapped in sharp shards of ice, imprisoning him entirely. And Shoto wrote at the bottom of the page in big capital green letters 'What I want for Christmas this year - Shoto Todoroki.'

Yaoyorozu swallowed a laugh at the proud face Todoroki displayed after finishing the picture. The pure satisfaction on the 7-year-old's face was hilarious in this context.

A large shadow fell over the colored page and Shoto looked up to find his teacher intensely staring at his drawing. It was obvious to the underground hero who the picture was supposed to be. Anyone walking on the street would recognize the number 2 pro hero. And, he actually thought the drawing was drawn pretty well for a 7-year-old in under 7 minutes. Of course, the teacher saw his mischievous student deviate from his math worksheet to color. But, he would allow it only this once.

And he knew just the person that would get a kick out of seeing this.

Aizawa whipped out his cell phone and snapped a quick pic before moving on. As he walked away, the teacher sent the picture with no caption to Hizashi.

Hizashi opened the text notification while sitting leisurely in the break room and practically choked on his doughnut. The blonde hero's laugh boomed through the room and leaked out into the immediate hallways. And then he did something any sane person would do when presented with something this hilarious. Present Mic tweeted the picture with Shoto's caption cropped out of the photo to remain anonymous.

Within minutes, the tweet gains immediate traction. It frankly went viral. People were commenting and retweeting with laughing emojis or even questioning who drew it. And then people started to tag Endeavor's official account directly. A dangerous game had begun.

One of Endeavor's assistants ran into his office unannounced while he was filling out some paperwork. He opened his mouth to reprimand her for not announcing herself when she abruptly shoved her phone in his face.

"Apologies sir, but you really need to read this. Right now." She huffed the words out while trying to regain her breath.

He grabbed the phone out of her hand and held back the screen to be able to read the tiny letters. Glasses were for the weak. He scrolled through the vicious comments roasting him and saw red.

"Get UA on the phone. NOW!" Endeavor's flames on his face flared up in response to his anger while his assistant quickly speed-dialled Shoto's school.

After a couple of minutes of quiet self-study, The phone hanging from the wall in the 1-A classroom began to ring. Aizawa calmly strode over and lazily picked up the receiver after telling his few curious students to get back to their work.

"Hello?"

"How could you allow this to happen? Is this one of the so-called ideals UA is teaching my son! I should pull him out right now after witnessing such a blunder from a member of the #1 hero school in Japan's staff member" Endeavor is practically shouting down into the phone's microphone and the students paused to listen to the loud voice intruding the silence in confusion. Aizawa, however, was silently fuming while listening to this pompous man's drivel.

"May I ask who is speaking?" His tone relayed the disdain for certain people he normally tried to hide. Frankly, Aizawa no longer cared to be that polite to flaming garbage.

"NUMBER 2 PRO HERO ENDEAVOR!"

Shoto looked up at the sound of his father's rage-filled voice and Aizawa glanced at the wide-eyed boy. He briefly wondered if Shoto would cry from the loud and no doubt familiar voice. The child saw that he had his teacher's full attention and held up his picture with a proud smile stretched across his face. Aizawa responded immediately and took another photo of Shoto's picture but this time it had Shoto posing in it. The teacher casually listened to Endeavor's numerous complaints while simultaneously posting the new picture himself to his own Twitter feed and directly tagged Endeavor.

And after a couple of seconds had passed.

It went even more viral than the first.

Aizawa's phone began to blow up and he turned off his notifications from Twitter. He never even really used social media sites much but his followers were loyal and appreciated anything he posted. It was rare to see a post from the erasure hero, he may have tweeted 3 posts a year at the most.

Endeavor's obnoxious voice brought the teacher back to the present.

"I will not stand for this blatant disrespect!"

"Your son is very talented with art Mr. Todoroki, I was merely sharing that with the world. The subject matter in the picture is irrelevant."

Endeavor was sputtering on the other side of the phone

"What can I say? Endeavor, kids are absolutely uncontrollable these days. Just wait until he gets into his teens in a couple of weeks. Speaking of that, I think Aylee and I would like to have a meeting with you regarding Shoto's upbringing. We have some concerns about your son's development. Just have your assistant reach out to us with a date and time."

The teacher finished and slammed the phone's receiver back with a loud sigh. His students remained silent in fear of his mood before they watched him walk back over to Shoto. Kaminari was mumbling his prayers for the young clueless boy who remained coloring in the back of the room. Everyone sat on the edge of their seats as Aizawa towered over the young boy.

The pro hero didn't say a word as he took the paper and taped it to his desk on display for everyone to see. Shoto's mouth curled into a bright smile and the boy practically vibrated with excitement. Only Aylee ever appreciated what he made. And with that thought in mind, Shoto began drawing a new family portrait before she came back to pick him up.

Review Replies:

Night lock117 - honestly thank you for reading and liking! I am conflicted on what to do about rei at the moment and still deciding. i would love to hear your input.

poopie - Thank you! and the reason is to heal my trauma and Shoto's I guess.

Applejax XD - lol yeah Aizawa never gets a win. hopefully, he redeemed a bit himself this chapter.