Midoriya Izuku watched the door close behind him. It made a soft sound as the lock clicked into place. Now he was truly alone. Aizawa and All Might, his heroes, were behind the large door. It was only six feet at most but it seemed like ten times that with the door in the middle.

The room wasn't big but it wasn't small either. A comfortable size you might say. The floor was that same weird plastic mat as the rest of the building. There were bookshelves and lockers lining the walls both full of everything from books to toys and games. The floor was mostly covered with different kinds of carpets. The largest one was a soft cream-colored one. A lone armchair sat in one of the corners, partly hidden by a divider. A large teddy sat on the chair with a blanket, its beady eyes staring at anyone else in the room. Whoever had designed the room had clearly had the comfort of the smaller patients in their mind.

In the middle of the room was a messy desk and two chairs. On one of them sat a woman. She was leaning onto her hand, an unreadable yet somehow very kind expression on her face.

She looked older than the two nurses Izuku knew. She also wasn't dressed in a uniform. She had a loose white dress shirt combined with a navy-blue yoke-waist skirt which went well over the knees. Her black stocking-covered, crossed legs ended to a pair of moccasins she had on her feet, clearly meant more for comfort than style.

The woman smiled kindly, gesturing Izuku to sit down on the chair in front of her. Her curly hair slipped from behind her ears as she nodded her head. She quickly brushed it back, deciding to put the hair up in a ponytail instead of the same happening again later.

Izuku did as he was told and climbed up onto the chair. It took some time as the chair was a bit too much for the short boy. He huffed proudly as he finally made it. He then sat still as the two occupants of the room stared each other in a comfortable silence. When one didn't say anything the other kept silent as well. It would've surely looked rather weird to an outsider had one entered the room at that moment.

But the psychologist was anything but silent. Her mind was going through the information the boy had already provided her with his body language. He was stiff, had been ever since entering the room. He had been very alert, his eyes skimming through the whole room before settling on her. Maybe it was the situation, maybe it was that the boy wasn't comfortable with females in general. He had seemed okay with the nurses though but the he also knew them from before and knew that they wanted only good for him. The room must've also caused him some discomfort. It was a closed space and a safe hiding place would be very hard to find. From the desk, you could have a clean sweep around the whole room.

The psychologist took a breath to calm her thoughts before opening her mouth, "Hello."

She didn't want to ask anything just yet. Izuku might see it as an attack and shy away from her, even close himself. She would have to form a connection first and earn the boy's trust.

Izuku had been stating at the many art supplies left on the desk. There were color pencils, finger paints and a huge roll of paper you could pull over the desk to turn the whole thing into a blank canvas. They were all mixed with the other papers. All in all, the desk needed a thorough cleaning. It didn't give out the expression of a professional psychologist who was supposed to reside in the room.

"Hi", the boy did a shy wave and even looked Hayden in the eyes as he greeted her back.

"Would you like to draw something?" Hayden asked, "I forgot to put those away. I had a really artistic kid in here before you. She always paints a picture for me when we meet."

"C-Can I draw too? Miss?"

"Hayden. You can call me Hayden. No Miss needed. What can I call you?" Hayden asked, pleased with the quick progress they were making. She took the bucket of pencils and pulled out a fresh piece of paper from her pile of printing paper. They'd use that today. Too big of a canvas gave a child a sense of freedom but for children who were shy and in need on prompting, it could work as yet another trigger to stress them. A much smaller paper that they could fill and control would be much better.

"I have a table there. Would you like to use that one instead? You'd reach much better", she added as she stood up and went to the armchair corner to take out a folded table. It was a kids' table, much shorter than the work desk she had. She took two pillows out as well, throwing them onto the floor before opening up the table and setting it down as well.

Izuku stared at her sitting on the floor. He took the bucket and piece of paper, hopping down from the chair. He sat down on a pillow as well. He was seated right on the other side of the round table, as far away as possible from the woman.

"Go on. Draw something. You can draw anything you want", Hayden told Izuku as she took a piece of paper as well. She would try and draw something as well despite having the skills of a left-handed monkey when it came to arts. It would make the boy see the action as something that was allowed and okay. Even the adult was drawing so he could do so too.

"Let's see. I'll pick blue. I really like blue", the psychologist explained as she took the said colored pen out, "What color do you like?"

Izuku took the whole bucket and dug through it. He was clearly searching for a specific color. A specific shade even.

Finally, a small pencil stub emerged. It was bright red in color. Many other kids liked that one as well. It was sadly also the color of blood. Some of the most traumatized kids drew what they had seen in their past. Some drew them in such detail that it sometimes made the professional like herself sick to the stomach.

"I think I'll draw a bird", Hayden hummed as she made the first line. She kept glancing at the other piece of paper and what it would become.

"Heroes!" Izuku was clearly focused on his paper.

His tongue peeked out of the corner of his mouth as he tried his best to make everything perfect. His hands weren't that steady and the lines weren't straight, often more like waves than a line. It was partly caused by the nervousness, partly because the hand wasn't used to doing such things as drawing. Such detailed things were beyond Izuku's nervous system. The nervous system created new highways as the body tired and learned new stuff. As Izuku hadn't drawn much, the brain wasn't ready for it. Training would be needed in the future if they wanted the boy to catch up to the others his age.

The two spent a long time drawing. The psychologist had put on some calming music with the permission of Izuku. There wasn't much of a conversation but none was needed.

"I think it looks like a bird", the woman tilted her head, turning the paper in her hands. She was terrible at drawing and the bird looked like something one of her young patients would do rather than an adult.

"It's good", Izuku nodded as he lifted his picture up for the psychologist to see. It was like show and tell.

"Who are these two?" Hayden got to hold the paper and she brought it closer to have a good look.

There were two red forms drawn on the paper alongside something that looked like flowers. The two characters both had huge smiles on their faces. They couldn't be the ones who had hurt the boy. There was genuine love in the picture and in the way the boy had drawn the characters.

"My heroes!" Izuku exclaimed, "That there is Mr. Yagi and that one is Mr. Aizawa."

The boy pointed out the characters to her, explaining that they were walking in a park.

"Why aren't you with them?" a careful question, "I think they would be even more happy if you would be walking in between them right there. I heard that you bought some ice cream in a park before."

Hayden made a point by putting her finger where she thought that they boy would go if he was drawn into the picture as well. She had heard that fact as she had spoken with Aizawa on the phone.

"No", Izuku mumbled, taking back the picture and placing it in front of him on the table. He carefully smoothed out the slightly crumbled edges. He was going to give this to his guardians and they would put it onto the fridge's door where they could see it every day. The two adults would surely like it. Izuku had made it all by himself, after all. It would also be the first thing he would give to them.

"Can you explain to me why not?" she kindly asked. She had had a notebook on her lap this whole time. She had a page of text on there already considering the patient sitting in front of her. Izuku himself hadn't noticed that at all. He had been too focused with his own work to notice the woman taking any notes.

"I don't want to", Izuku's lower lip came out. He was beginning to pout a bit, clearly unhappy with something. Maybe it was the situation itself or maybe it was the answer to the question asked before.

"Could I draw you there then?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't belong there", the boy finally mumbled and pointed to the picture, "Look. They're all happy. A happy family. I'm not a part of their family. Father is my family."

Hayden sighed. These kinds of lost souls always made her feel so bad about the world. Why did the prettiest children always have the most terrible lives? She just never could understand that.

"Izuku. Come here. Come sit on my lap, would you?" she carefully suggested, making space for the boy to crawl onto. She moved slowly not to make the boy nervous or anything. He had calmed down enough to be somewhat comfortable with her but it was unclear if he was ready for contact like that.

Izuku stared at her for a while. The he slowly crawled onto the other side of the table and onto the woman's lap.

He wasn't calm at all. It felt almost as if you were holding a stone statue. His body was rigid and his breath came in short huffs of air. Those could escalate to a full-blown panic attack if the boy didn't calm down soon.

"Of course you're their family. Why would you ever think any otherwise?" Hayden whispered as she begun to slowly move her hand through the curly green locks of hair. She hushed the boy as he sniffed a bit. There were no tears though. It was dry crying.

"Have you seen how they look at you? Have you heard how they speak with you? They really love you. They love you a lot. You're very important to them both."

"How can you know that?"

"I've spoken with them a couple times on the phone. I noticed that right away. You're the most precious thing that has happened to them in a long time."

"Really?"

"Really. Really. You should ask them if you don't believe me", she finally gently hugged the boy, bringing her hands around the small, frail body. She somewhat whished that she could wipe out everything bad the boy had ever gone through in his life with this simple gesture. To make the boy forget all that and believe that it was all over now. Izuku now had people in his life who cared about him. Who wanted him to be safe and to feel loved. She just wanted Izuku to understand all that.

Izuku and Hayden sat on the floor, rocking slowly back and forth. Hayden hummed some random tune from memory. It must've been from the car radio or something. The CD had stopped ages ago but neither cared.

"What do you see?" the psychologist asked, following the boy's eyes as they traveled around the room. They had already flipped through two picture books that had been lying close enough on the floor. The boy had seemed to really like them, stopping to inspect ever picture and detail. He had calmed down considerably during this time.

"The house", Izuku pointed to a corner of the room.

There was indeed a house. A big dollhouse. Its purpose was to function as a mirror to the patients' family life back home through the disguise of play.

"I have some great dolls for that. Would you like to play house with me?" Hayden suggested, lifting the boy on her lap up and placing him down on the floor on his feet.

"I don't know how to play that", Izuku mumbled. A finger had found its way into the boy's mouth. He had taken a couple steps towards the house though. If nothing else, he seemed curious.

"Look here. Here's the kitchen and the living room. Come look", she went to the house, bringing a chair for herself, "Here. You can move the furniture. Do you want to build your own house? Where would you like the sofa to be?"

She knew she sounded stupid but talking simple like that made understanding her much easier. Many adults didn't realize it but they could use some very difficult words when they spoke. Many kids couldn't possibly understand language like that. You might as well speak Latin to them.

Izuku was now by the house. He had stuck his nose into the rooms, checking every crook and cranny. He took out every piece of furniture and everything else in the house and placed them next to the house into a neat pile.

Then he began to rearrange the whole house.

Hayden waited and observed. She sat quiet as Izuku eyed every piece before placing it down and then fixing its placement. Many of the items didn't go back. The boy ignored them altogether. Many of the rooms in the house were ignored too. He only furnished around two or three of them, and those too very scarcely.

Hayden observed. Izuku showed no external signs of discomfort. He actually showed no emotion. He worked like a robot. Reconstructing a house only he knew. His house. His home.

Izuku finished the look by tearing up a napkin and scattering it all over the place.

"What is that?" the psychologist carefully asked, afraid that she'd break the boy from his trance. He was clearly going through something in his head right now.

"Trash", Izuku mumbled.

He next took out the dolls. There were a family of four. A mother, father, daughter and son. There were some additional humanoid characters in the box as well as a dinosaur for example. Some of the patients liked the animals better than the dolls. The dolls were too familiar of a shape.

The father and son went into the house. The others were put back into the box. Izuku placed the father onto the sofa and the son onto the floor in between the sofa and the TV.

"Can the mother come in too?" Hayden asked, putting the doll back into the house.

"No", Izuku said, taking the doll from her hands and putting it back to where it had come from. There was something similar to anger in the movement though it didn't show anywhere else. Only the strong squeeze of the hand showed the discomfort and trauma the boy had with the idea.

"Why not?"

"No mother."

"Alright. It's alright."

Hayden watched the scene play out in front of her. Izuku liked to speak it seemed and quickly began narrating whatever he was doing with the house. She had the notebook and pen ready.

"Now he is mad. The boy went out even though he told no", Izuku mumbled to himself, moving the doll in question towards the smaller doll, "He'll hit him. He'll hit him hard! A bad boy! Bad!"

Hayden had seen a theatrical show of a broken family and an abusive father. This was what usually happened with the dollhouse and just some simple prompting. The patients would play through their memories, their traumas. They usually didn't even notice. Izuku's word to word play was an extreme example. Usually the happenings back home showed through the play in subtle hints. This was what it meant to Izuku to play house.

"Now, now. That is quite enough. I think we should stop for today", Hayden had to go in between the dollhouse and the boy still sitting in front of it, "I think your guardians are already waiting for you outside. You must be getting hungry too."

Izuku snapped out of whatever trance he had been in with the mention of his two guardians. He glanced up to the woman and let her help him up. He took his backpack, putting it onto his back.

He seemed to already have forgotten the little play or then he hadn't been affected by it at all.

The two sat down by the office desk again. They had some paperwork to do before ending the meeting.

Hayden also wanted to see how the boy would behave after this session. There had been quite a few strong emotions present. Izuku had gone through a lot today.

"Would you like to come see me again? We could paint something together. I have some clay too", Hayden spoke as she typed something onto the laptop on the desk.

The boy nodded slowly, "Can I come again?"

"Of course! Is there anything you like to do?"

"Aren't you busy? The doctors are always busy. There are a lot of sick people", Izuku seemed more worried about her than himself. He didn't answer the question either. She would have to ask the guardians. She really wanted to do something the boy would like.

"I'll always have time for you."

"How is that possible?"

"Magic", the psychologist winked jokingly.

Izuku seemed to take that seriously. Well, this was a world of Quirks after all.

Hayden herself did actually have a Quirk. One that gave her supervision. She was a third or fourth generation though, so her superseeing limited to having very sharp eyes. It wasn't too bad when you worked as a children's psychologist though. She could spot the small changes in the patients' expressions and demeanor better than most of her coworkers.

"How does next week sound like?" she asked after checking her calendar.

Izuku shrugged. He honestly didn't know. He thought that it was okay though. He could come on his own if nothing else would work.

"I'll ask your guardians then.

A nod. Yeah. Maybe that was good.

Aizawa was drinking coffee again. This was his second cup already.

Some people smoked when they were stressed, Aizawa drank coffee. When he wasn't able to wrap up in his sleeping bag that is. Too much coffee and his stomach would ache so bad that he'd be bedridden for the rest of the day.

All Might was tapping his foot impatiently instead. He still didn't drink coffee. The vending machine hadn't had his favorite drink in it either.

Both of the adults sprung up as soon as the door made as much as a noise. They hadn't been able to hear anything from inside the room. They had even tried listening by pressing their ears onto the door. Nothing.

They had been worried the whole time. They had had no idea how Izuku would take it all. He had seemed very stressed out before. Meeting an unknown woman was unlikely to make him feel any better.

"Izuku boy!" All Might took Izuku right into his arms as soon as the boy was out of the door. The hero gave him a tight squeeze, rubbing their cheeks together.

Aizawa was right next to them, checking to see if their little man was alright and well.

Their worries seemed to be for nothing. Izuku smiled as soon as he saw them and hugged All Might back with full force.

Hayden came to the doorway as well, smiling as she saw the scene in front of her. There was no question about it, these three really loved each other. No matter what the boy might think, there was no way that was true. Izuku Midoriya was an important family member to these two.

She decided right there and then. She would help the two adults with the adoption as much as she possibly could. It was for the child's good as well. He needed a stable home environment as soon as possible so that he could begin the real healing process. After that they could begin learning the things the boy would have to learn.

"Are you getting hungry?" All Might smiled as he heard the boy's stomach make a loud grumble, "What would you like to eat? We can go out somewhere."

Aizawa gave the man a look. They would be eating out again? His wallet wouldn't like this. They better be eating something else than hamburgers and fries this time.

Izuku nodded.

As the trio walked away the boy turned and gave Hayden a small wave and a bright smile.

It was enough to melt her heart.