Shouta Aizawa is Izuku's and Hitoshi's father. There's no other way about it. Izuku and Hitoshi were his sons, his life, pride, and joy. Which is why, at this moment in time, Shouta Aizawa was currently at war with himself. Because even though, Yes, Izuku is his son, inside of UA Shouta was not his father. In the halls of UA Shouta Aizawa was Izuku's teacher. There's a difference.
There were eighteen students currently watching. Unsure of what to do or say as this woman clung to Izuku. Sobbing and crying. Claiming to be his mother. The only student not currently watching was Hitoshi.
Hitoshi had his eyes on Shouta. His face was pale, stricken with grief like he had witnessed his life end right then and there. Subconsciously wanting Shouta to help fix it before it got too out of hand.
Then there was Izuku.
Izuku's green eyes were, for the first time in eight years, lifeless. The light was gone and Izuku, clearly overwhelmed by his current emotions, went away. That only lasted for a few minutes as soon tears started to fall out of those lifeless eyes. Now, Aizawa knows his boys. He knows the sounds they make when they cry happy tears VS sad tears. These were sad tears; there was nothing happy about this moment.
Nothing.
Then Toshinori smiled. The bastard smiled like this was a good thing. Like he didn't just disrupt his class with this, thus bringing unwanted attention to Izuku. Because of Toshinori, these students were waiting for Izuku to most likely hug and embrace his 'mother'. But Izuku wasn't going to.
He didn't know this woman. Didn't Toshinori realize that? Also, why didn't Toshinori just call? One phone call. One simple phone call was all it would have taken. "Aizawa, I need you and Izuku to come down to my office. It's an emergency." Would Aizawa have asked questions? Demanded to know why? Yeah, any good teacher would. But at least he wouldn't have had a bomb dropped on him and his class. It would have been better than this.
Watching that smile spread on Toshinori's face made Shouta's teacher mask slip off.
"You-" Shouta stepped up to Toshinori.
"Shouta-" Midnight saw the warning signs and took a step forward to try and stop him, but it was too late.
All of his anger that he's been holding on to. The accusation of Hitoshi abusing his brother, the fact that Toshinori felt the need to call CPS on Shouta, now this. It was all too much. "-Motherfucker!" Shouta swung. A feral growl left his mouth the moment his fist made contact with Yagi Toshinori's face.
"Dad!" Izuku snapped out of his daze, as did Hitoshi. Whichever one yelled Shouta just didn't know.
"Aizawa!" There were arms, too many arms. Six maybe eight sets of arms and hands held him back from going for a second attack. Students cried out in alarm as Toshinori hit the ground.
"Shouta, I could arrest you for that!" Osada had one of his arms. "Stand down!"
Shouta fought against those holding him back. His eyes were stinging and his hair was rising high above his head. His boys were standing in front of him. Both boys trying to push him away from Toshinori.
"Shouta! Shouta! Stop!" Midnight cried as she was with the others pulling him away. "Don't make me use my quirk on you!"
"Dad-" Suddenly hands had his face and Shouta was forced to look into Izuku's pleading eyes. "Dad! please- Stop. It's not worth jail time over-" Izuku whispered before wrapping his arms around Shouta's middle like a child. For the first time in his years of being a teacher; Shouta let his teacher mask slip off and it was showing. From the scared looks on his student's faces, to his trembling children trying to stop him from murdering Toshinori Yagi.
Shouta let out several deep breaths as he was forced to calm himself down. "Nem…watch the class. Toshinori, Higashi, Osada, boys, and…Ma'am. Outside." He grabbed onto Izuku's shoulders and gently pulled him back.
"In all fairness-" Toshinori got his feet. Holding his bruising cheek where Shouta had struck him. "Young Hitoshi-"
"If you want to keep your tongue you'd better shut your trap." Shouta snarled at Toshinori. "Boys, out." He pointed out towards the door. "Toshinori…watch yourself from here on out." Shouta huffed as he sent the blonde a scathing look then, without looking at his students, Shouta walked out with Higashi, Osada, and his boys. While they walked out Shouta spotted the two of them holding hands.
He couldn't fault them.
Inko Midoriya was her name.
And Izuku Midoriya was once his. Shouta felt skeptical at first until she pulled out a picture of a four-year-old Izuku. It was a tiny version of the teenager Shouta has had in his custody for the last eight years. Raising Izuku from five years old told Shouta that the little boy in that picture was the same boy. The freckles, the green hair, the baby face that would stay all the way into his teenage years. The little red boots matching the big red boots he wore today.
It was him.
The whole group of them sat in Toshinori's office. Izuku and Hitoshi sat huddled together in a corner, away from the adults. Izuku with his head in his hands while Hitoshi comforted him.
Shouta was sitting on the couch, with the other adults standing around him. Shouta had one hand covering his eyes, his elbow resting on his knee while he sat hunched over. "How'd this happen?…" He asked after a prolonged silence between all parties. "Osada…I thought you looked through missing children reports?" His voice was unnaturally quiet even to himself. His rage was subdued now only replaced with…well…sadness.
"I did…I looked through missing children…not dead children. Aizawa, it turns out the hero working Izuku's case…declared him dead without even searching for him because of his…status. I'm sorry." Osada bowed his head.
Izuku let out a wheezing sob while keeping his head in his hands. Hitoshi shook his head but kept his mouth shut. Probably for the best.
"We put him in the paper to find his family. Where were you during that?" Shouta finally removed his hand from his face as he looked at Inko. The woman looked so sickly and Shouta wasn't dumb. He knew where she's been. Grieving. She was grieving.
'But did she know her husband was the one to kidnap Izuku? Was he even a husband? A one-nighter? Does she even remember this man?...Is he with her?' Those questions circled around Shouta's skull; bouncing off every surface as he continued to stare at Inko.
Still, she hardened herself as she stared at him. "I was told my child had died, sir." She growled a little at Shouta. It didn't put him on edge. Truthfully, this woman had every right to be upset for the same reason Shouta had every right to be upset. This was, by and large, the fault of the hero that just simply claimed Izuku dead.
Higashi spoke next; sitting right next to Aizawa. "Regardless, we're still doing a DNA test. Just to be a hundred percent sure. Then we can talk about custody-"
"Custody?" Shouta blinked in surprise. There shouldn't be a custody arrangement. Izuku was legally Shouta Aizawa's child.
"Well-"
"-He's my son." Inko almost sternly said as she looked at Shouta.
"Cute," Shouta growled right back as he stood up. "Look, Ms. Midoryia, it's sad, yes, but Izuku is by, all rights, my son. I adopted him."
"Because he was announced dead by a lazy good nothing hero! As it stands, I never handed my rights over. If you think-"
"-I'm not living with you." Izuku's voice seemed to shift as he put his hands down and away from his face. Inko looked from Shouta to Izuku. She looked shocked and honestly, even Shouta felt a little shocked by Izuku's tone alone. This was a tone he's never heard. "I'm sorry. But I feel I'm old enough to make this choice. Right, Higashi? My opinion matters."
Higashi swallowed a little hard before he nodded. "Yes. You're of the age that your opinion does matter to the court."
"I choose Aizawa, that's my last name. That's my dad."
"Young Izuku. She's your mother. She gave birth to you." Toshinori spoke next as he gestured towards Inko.
Izuku's brow furrowed down in anger. It was honestly quite surprising to witness. "...Tch." Izuku sucked on his teeth in frustration before he suddenly got up. Without another word he left.
There was silence.
"Shit, we can do that?" Hitoshi got up all the same. From there he followed his brother out of the room.
"..." Inko looked down at the ground once the door shut behind Hitoshi. Tears flooded her eyes for a moment. Then she looked at Shouta. "...I-... I'll give him some time to calm down," Inko whispered weakly. Then, she reached to Higashi and plucked a hair from her head. "Here." She whispered to the social worker.
"Thank you."
"And Mr. Aizawa?"
Shouta looked at her.
"I understand your anger and frustration. I can't imagine being in your shoes right now. But… that's my son. I can't… lose him again."
"Ma'am… that's the thing. He's my son too and I'm not prepared to lose him."
"-Aizawa-"
"-Don't." Once everyone was officially gone leaving just the two teachers. Toshinori decided to approach. A bad move on his part. Shouta wrapped his hand around Toshinori's tie and pulled the taller man down so they were face to face. "Time and time again you've overstepped your boundaries with me and my family, but this? This is egregious."
"So you'd just rather that woman think her child is dead then?"
"No! I'd rather you fucking call! You dropped a bomb on my class which put the spotlight on my son. Which in turn caused my class to not only feel uncomfortable, and disrupt what they were doing, but now they all know I'm Izuku's and Hitoshi's father."
"If you haven't had punched me, the boys wouldn't have felt the need to jump in. That one is on you-"
"-How else am I suppose to react to that?! You're trying to tear my family apart and frankly I don't exactly care for it!"
"I'm not the one who called Inko Midoriya in," Toshinori spoke slowly to Shouta. Meeting the younger man's stare fully. "Young Bakugo did. Turns out the Bakugos and the Midoriyas are quite close. When Young Bakugo recognized Izuku as his old friend he asked Ms. Midoriya to watch the sports festival. Once she confirmed it was indeed her son. Bakugo brought her in during lunch. I was the one who called in Higashi and Osada because I've been working with them on Izuku's past kidnapping. Something you never did. I was surprised to learn. I looked into the hero who took up the case and the situation surrounding it."
"Fuck. You. I looked into the case, Asshole. It all came up dead ends because we didn't know who Izuku's family was! You have no right to look down on me for something that was out of our control at the time."
"Why didn't you go to Young Bakugo? Bakugo has stated a couple of times how he knew Izuku. More specifically in the battle trial. He states it, I know you watched it. But you didn't approach him on the subject. You think the father of a kid with amnesia would care about something like-"
Toshinori never got to finish as Shouta punched him across the face. It was a quick and swift punch that sent the skeleton of a man down to the ground.
"We're done here. And Izuku isn't interning with whoever Gran Torino is."
Toshinori gently touched his nose which had started to bleed from the surprise attack. "You don't have that say-"
"-I don't know when you forgot this, Toshinori. But I'm Izuku's father. Not you. Besides, you saw it earlier. You aren't exactly his favorite person right now. He won't open his mouth because you're his favorite hero, he'll do anything to make you happy. Take up an internship with some stranger? Do something dangerously stupid like take the entrance exam despite me telling him not to? Clean a trash-riddled beach full of tetanus and HIV? He'll do it all to appease you. But guess what. I'm not Izuku. And I don't give a fuck about what you want him to do. What I say in my household goes. Because he's my child."
"Truthfully, I'm glad I'm going with Uncle Cockatoo." That was what Izuku had said once Shouta broke the news to him. He expected some pushback but no. He got none. Izuku simply shrugged as he peeled the orange he was planning on eating for a snack.
They had returned home no more than a few minutes ago. All three of them decided to just call it a day, after all, that happened. Nedzu understood and Hitoshi was the one to grab the stuff they had forgotten in the classroom. According to Hitoshi, the class swarmed him with questions.
He ignored them. All of them and just left.
Izuku had issues with the orange due to his gloves. Eventually, he took the forsaken things off to try and help him peel the fruit better. "I don't know Gran Torino. I tried researching him and came up empty. The only thing I do know is that he worked for UA for a year."
"Yeah, even as the underground goes…I never even heard of this guy."
"Can I be honest with you?" Izuku inquired as he pulled a slice off of his orange and started to eat.
"You know I love honesty."
"I'm mad." Izuku's brow furrowed aggressively as he munched on his fruit. "I'm mad at Toshinori and I'm mad at the lazy hero that… who just announces a child dead without even checking? It's- it's as Hichan said. It's bullshit… am I really that unimportant?" His face of anger softened into one of sadness as he now played with the peel of his fruit.
Shouta reached over and placed a hand on Izuku's own. "Never. You aren't unimportant. The Hero who did that is a quirkest asshole who should have his license revoked for this."
'In fact…' An idea was starting to spiral around Shouta's brain. Still, he pushed it to the back for now.
"I never even got to make my hero name…" Izuku suddenly whispered.
"You'll have plenty of time to think of a name. Don't worry about it."
Hitoshi walked up to the table, three mugs in his hand. "Hot chocolate. I figured we all could use a pick-me-up after what we've been through." He explained as he passed out a mug for each of them. He didn't go light either. No, all of their mugs were topped with both whipped cream and marshmallows.
It was a nice gesture that wasn't wasted.
"Maybe my name should be Marshmallow." Izuku joked while he popped a little marshmallow in his mouth.
"If you choose the name Marshmallow, I'm grounding you." Shouta joked right back while he patted Izuku's green curls. Izuku gave a small laugh at his father.
"I like Greenbean, personally," Hitoshi commented next with his own smirk.
Izuku scrunched his nose up. "Nah."
Shouta watched his boys talk about hero names and he relaxed. Still…
There was guilt pooling inside of his gut. He thought about Inko.
Hitoshi vanished, instead a happy and healthy Inko Midoryia was now sitting beside her son discussing potential hero names. She would smile and gush over Izuku. Izuku would get a whipped cream mustache and she would wipe it away with a nearby napkin-
Shouta looked at his reflection in the murky hot chocolate. A frown now gracing his lips.
Yes, Izuku was his son. But he couldn't deny that he was also Inko's.
Still, despite what he wanted all those years ago when he took in two trembling and scared children just to foster. Izuku was his. As was Hitoshi. They were his boys. His problem children and as much as he should just… do the 'heroic' thing and give his rights to Inko. He wasn't going to. Because as much as Izuku was his, today proved it. Izuku wasn't willing to let go of him either.
Okay, A bit of a shorter chapter. But regardless the next chapter is the internships. We get the question how's it going to go with Present Mic as Izuku's hero? And who is Todoroki going to go with? The answer may (or may not) surprise you. ;p
