In an idyllic suburb close to the city center, a nondescript house sat nestled in a quiet side street. The small front yard was covered in lush green grass, and the large backyard was home to a jungle gym, swingset, and vegetable garden. Inside the house, two familiar figures sat in the large kitchen. Rumi sat in a chair at the dining table, a hot cup of coffee in her metal hand and a tablet in the other. She was dressed in a more family-friendly version of her original hero costume, the current version featuring purple spandex leggings that completely covered her originally exposed legs. In the kitchen, standing in front of a large stove full of cooking food, Izuku prepared a large breakfast. The former agent was dressed casually, clad in a pair of jeans, brown loafers, and a gray polo shirt that showed off his toned and muscular arms. The husband and wife looked like they had barely aged a day since they first met. Rumi still looked as vibrant and beautiful as her younger self, a natural benefit from her quirk, as well as a vigorous workout routine. Izuku still turned heads wherever he went, not only because of his fame, but also because a beneficial side effect of the experimental super-soldier drug he was injected with slowed his aging.
With the savory smell of a healthy breakfast wafting through the air, Rumi grumbled in slight annoyance as she set down her tablet.
"I swear these kids…" Taking in a deep breath, Rumi yelled loudly towards the stairs that led to the upper floor. "KIDS IF YOU DON'T GET YOUR BUTTS DOWN HERE YOU ARE GONNA BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!"
The sound of running footsteps rumbled upstairs, and a few seconds later three nearly identical girls bounded down the stairwell and into the kitchen.
"I was first!" One shouted victoriously.
"Nuh uh! You cheated!" The second said angrily.
While the first two bickered, the third had already grabbed some toast and eggs from the counter and began chowing down ravenously.
"Girls, what did your mom and I say about running around the house?" Izuku said sternly as he served up several more plates of food.
"Sorry dad." The first two girls said in unison as they grabbed their plates of food.
Meet the Midoriya triplets, the daughters of Izuku and Miruko. Nearly identical, it was common for people to get their names mixed up. Starting from oldest to youngest (by a few seconds) was Chiyo, Haru, and Kaede. The three girls all had the same perky white rabbit ears as their mother, long and smooth green hair from their father, red eyes, caramel skin a shade lighter than their mother's, and the combined attitude and energy of both.
As the family sat down to eat, Izuku looked over at the lone plate of food still waiting on the counter.
"I swear, that kid never gets up on time." Izuku said quietly as he drank from a cup of coffee.
Less than a minute later, a lone figure slowly descended the steps with quiet footsteps.
"There you are Akatani." Rumi said approvingly. "C'mon and eat your breakfast."
Akatani Midoriya, the son of Izuku and Rumi, silently nodded and slowly walked over to his plate of food.
A year younger than the triplets, Akatani was somewhat of an outlier compared to his high-energy family. With floppy brown rabbit ears, curly silver hair, emerald eyes, and the same skin tone as the triplets, it was not hard to see the family resemblance. But unlike the rest of his family, Akatani's personality was quite different. Soft-spoken, lazy, and subdued, it was hard to imagine that such a quiet boy was part of the Midoriya family.
Slowly taking his plate of food, Akatani sat down at the large table and poked at his eggs as the rest of his family devoured their food.
Washing down her eggs and carrots with a gulp of coffee, Rumi gave her daughters a stern look. "Girls, I know you are excited to finally be in UA. But that does not give you an excuse to behave recklessly. I heard from Eraserhead that you three are not turning in your homework on time, and that the other day you gave a student from the business course a black eye and an atomic wedgie."
"But mom!" Chiyo protested with a mouthful of food. "That slimeball from the business class was talking shit about you and dad right to our faces!"
Haru nodded in agreement. "You really expect us to stay quiet about something like that?!"
Kaede culped down a glass of carrot juice before adding her own opinion. "That creep had it coming."
Izuku could not hide his proud grin, earning a disapproving glare from Rumi. Clearing his throat, Izuku put on his stern parent face. "Girls, I know it is hard to focus sometimes, but homework is an important part of the learning process. If you neglect your studies, you might get kicked out of the hero course. Just because your mom teaches at UA does not give you special privileges."
Rumi rolled her eyes as the girls giggled, clearly noticing Izuku's lack of reprimanding for the other incident. "Girls, you need to learn to control your temper. Going around dispensing justice as you see fit makes you no more than a vigilante. Or were you all trying to not become pro-heroes on purpose?"
Their ears drooping sadly, the three girls settled down and lowered their heads meekly.
"Sorry mom." Chiyo mumbled.
"Sorry." Haru said quietly.
"Our bad." Kaede said as she stared at her empty plate.
Letting out a sigh, Rumi rubbed the bridge of her nose with obvious frustration. "I get it girls, I really do. But there is a right way to do things, and a wrong way to do things. Keep that in mind."
A fierce grin forming on her face, Rumi changed the topic to something lighter. "Besides, you guys better be training for the inter-class competition. Just because you guys are my kids does not mean I am taking it easy on you. If anything, my class is training extra hard just to prove that you three can be beaten."
Izuku snorted in amusement as the three girls perked up once more.
"Oh yeah?" Chiyo said challengingly.
"In their dreams." Haru said haughtily.
"Our class 1-A always wins." Kaede said proudly. "We beat your class 1-B before, we will do it again."
As the three girls continued to banter with their mother, Izuku turned to face Akatani who had been observing the conversation silently.
"Hey sport." Izuku said gently. "How is school?"
Akatani shrugged, making Izuku frown slightly.
"Are you keeping your grades up?" Izuku asked honestly.
Akatani nodded silently.
"Have you decided what high school you want to go to?" Izuku asked. "I know you think we are expecting you to go to UA, but your mom and I will support you no matter what school you choose. Pick the one you want to go to, not the one you think we expect you to go to."
Being a year younger than his sisters, Akatani was currently in his last year of middle school, while the girls were in their first year of high school. Being from such a well-known family, many people were expecting Akatani to follow in his sisters' footsteps and be in the UA hero course as well.
But Izuku and Rumi knew differently.
Akatani avoided conflict and attention like the plague, preferring to hide in the background and let others be the center of attention instead. However, being from such a famous family often thrust the shy boy unwillingly into the spotlight. Ever since he was little, Akatani had been fiercely protected by his older sisters. Akatani was a handsome boy, and this often drew unwanted attention from schoolmates both good and bad. The first two years Akatani had attended middle school, the Midoriya triplets had taken it upon themselves to be his vigilant bodyguards. Akatani had only been openly bullied once, and that had been met with ferocious retaliation from his sisters. After that incident (or massacre as others called it) Akatani was left alone by everyone.
But now that his sisters were in a different school, things were different.
With his protectors gone, the bullies that had been lying in wait were more than happy to relentlessly torture the quiet boy. Nobody was dumb enough to physically hurt Akatani, the sisters had made it very clear that if they found as much as a single scratch on their little brother there would be hell to pay.
So instead, the bullies had resorted to psychological warfare.
Being the wallflower he was, Akatani took all the bullying in silence. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, the poor boy never stood up to his abusers or defended himself. At home, Akatani simply lied and pretended everything was going well at school when questioned by his parents and sisters.
Izuku and Rumi unfortunately had no idea what their son was going through. The two knew how much their son hated attention, so they respectfully kept their distance and let Akatani operate on his own. Of course, Akatani knew that if his parents found out about what was going on there would be hell to pay. Not for him, but for everyone connected to his bullying.
All the more reason to stay quiet.
Shrugging once more, Akatani finally spoke. "I haven't decided on a school yet."
Their bantering finally over, the triplets focused their attention on their beloved little brother.
"Come to UA with us!" Chiyo said enthusiastically.
"Yeah!" Haru agreed.
"You don't even have to go into the hero course." Kaede offered. "You are super smart, you could be in the business class if you wanted to."
"Leave him alone girls." Izuku said firmly. "He is his own person, he can choose where he wants to go on his own without us pressuring him. I know you three want the best for him, but you can't choose everything for him."
The three girls shrugged and quickly stacked their plates on the counter.
"Gotta go!" Chiyo blurted out as she raced to grab her schoolbag.
"Race ya to the front gate!" Haru challenged as she left.
"No cheating this time!" Kaede yelled as she grabbed a carrot slice from her mom's plate.
As the three girls ran out the front door, Rumi stood up and stretched. "I guess that means I should get going as well."
Standing up, Izuku walked over and gave Rumi a quick hug and a kiss. "See you tonight. I am making katsudon for dinner."
Sighing happily, Rumi reciprocated the loving gesture then turned to leave. "Sounds good to me! Love you guys!"
As Rumi left, Izuku turned to Akatani who was quietly taking a few final bites from his breakfast.
"You want me to drive you to school?" Izuku asked gently.
Shaking his head, Akatani silently grabbed his schoolbag.
A concerned look on his face, Izuku walked over and gave his son a reassuring pat on his slender back.
"Alright then, have a good day at school." Izuku said in a fatherly fashion. "Love you."
Pausing at the front door, Akatani looked back towards his dad. "Love you too dad, bye."
Walking out the front door and into the morning sunlight, Akatani sighed tiredly and began walking towards his school. The route to the middle school was not the longest, but it still took a decent amount of time to traverse by foot. A shortcut Akatani often took was to go through a series of alleys so as to cut the travel time in half and avoid the groups of students.
However, it seemed today was not his lucky day.
Walking through one of the dark and shadowy alleys, Akatani nearly ran headfirst into a pair of tall and stocky boys.
"Well look who it is." The tallest one sneered. "It's the little fucktard Midoriya. I thought I smelled a dirty rat around here."
"Stupid shrimp." The other bully jeered. "Are you ever gonna say something?"
Staying silent, Akatani simply waited for the bullies to lose interest and leave him alone.
"Not so tough when your sisters aren't around huh?" The first bully cackled. "God you are such a little bitch."
"Y'know I was online the other day and I came across some pics of your mom back when she was younger." The second bully said with a creepy grin on his face. "Damn she is a hot piece of ass. What I wouldn't give to have her wrap those juicy legs around my head."
Akatani silently sighed, honestly the insults had been overused at this point. The bullies tried every trick in the book to get a reaction out of him, but nothing ever worked.
Waiting for the bullies to continue, Akatani stared at the ground silently.
However, he was confused to hear not more insults, but a terrified whimper.
Looking up, Akatani felt his legs freeze up in fear.
Like a ghost appearing from nowhere, a hulking man had somehow silently snuck on the two bullies and now had his large brutish hands wrapped around their faces.
"Mmmmm." The shadowy figure wheezed. "What do we have here?"
As the bullies' muffled screams filled the alley, Akatani watched in horror as the hulking figure began to slowly squeeze.
"Y'know bullying is not nice." The monster said in a raspy voice.
The sound of bones audibly cracking could be heard as the two bullies' screams were now filled with agony instead of terror.
Just when Akatani thought he was about to witness a double homicide, the monster stopped squeezing as the two boys in his hands went limp.
"Aww…" The dark figure said in disappointment. "They passed out."
Callously dropping the two unconscious bullies to the ground, the hulking figure examined the terrified Akatani.
After a few moments of silence, the figure spoke.
"You okay kid?" The monster suddenly asked.
Unsure of what to do, Akatani simply nodded silently.
"Good…" The man muttered in a deranged fashion. "Good...good…"
As if remembering something important, the shadowy figure suddenly took a step closer, making Akatani flinch.
"S'okay kid." The shrouded man said softly. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I just...wanted to talk."
Frozen in place, Akatani silently prayed for the terrifying person to leave him alone.
"You have his eyes y'know." The man said creepily. "And her hair…"
There was a pause before the man spoke again.
"I will be watching out for you kid." The shadow monster said protectively. "You ever wanna get stronger, let me know."
Like a Cheshire cat, Akatani watched in terror as a deranged smile full of jagged yellow teeth appeared in the darkness.
"Just call me…" The man said sinisterly.
"Uncle."