Chapter 13: Icarus' Mother
Dusk fell over the quiet campus as Shouta walked towards Nedzu's office after stopping by the 1-A dorms and thoroughly reprimanding the students that had been fighting. He had messaged Shouta as soon as he'd left the HPSC headquarters about an impromptu meeting and he knew it'd be about his meeting with Midoriya. Maybe about Hawks becoming a teacher as well.
Shouta sighed as he reached the door to Nedzu's office and walked inside, not bothering to knock given that the principal was expecting him.
"How did your meeting go, Aizawa?" The principal greeted.
Shouta waved him off and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk, reaching for the coffee Nedzu had prepared for him. "The kid is suffering."
"Oh?" Nedzu asked, clasping his paws together as he leaned forward. "How do you mean?"
"It seems that the vestiges are the only people making sure that he doesn't lose his mind," Shouta confessed. "I'd honestly forgotten about them, so I was worried when he started arguing with himself until he reminded me of their existence."
Nedzu chuckled. "I can imagine that that would definitely be strange to watch."
"He also correctly assumed that we, along with Hizashi and Kayama, are on his side. He even knew that Hizashi and I are married," Shouta added.
Nedzu hummed, clicking his fingers on the desk. "He's very smart."
Shouta nodded. "He also requested that I don't expel any of the students that are starting fights. He's claiming that they were placed in a trap and have more to learn about such things to prevent this from happening again."
"So, he doesn't blame them?" Nedzu inquired.
"I didn't say that," Shouta countered. "Before he was taken away, there was a new spark in him. I'm sure that if the Commission hadn't taken him, he would have found a way to prove to the students that he wasn't the traitor after all, even if it meant revealing the true nature of his quirk."
"If anything, I can't wait to get him back and see how he puts the other students in their places," Nedzu said, with a gleam in his eye.
"Nedzu," Shouta warned. "Midoriya will need time to recover from whatever treatment he's enduring by the Commission's hands."
"Of course," Nedzu agreed. "But, he will eventually need to return to classes, and I already have an exercise planned out with Hawks for when he does so."
"Does Hawks even have a teaching license, or are we about to put another Hero on the roster just because they're highly ranked?" Shouta asked, glad for the subject change.
Nedzu clicked his tongue. "No, Hawks has been taking teaching courses throughout the time that Midoriya has been gone and he will continue taking them while he's teaching. I'll be his teaching aid and mentor until he has a full license."
Shouta nodded. "I guess I shouldn't fear his lessons then."
"Indeed," Nedzu agreed. "We will not have any more of Yagi's mistakes tainting your class or Vlad's."
Shouta nodded just as a knock sounded on the door.
"Come in," Nedzu called out, not seeming surprised at the interruption, though he probably saw whoever it was coming from a mile away.
Hitoshi pushed open the door as Katsuki tapped his foot on the ground. After Aizawa had reprimanded them all, they'd gone back up to his room and something had crossed his mind and now it wouldn't leave.
"What do you need, problem children?" Aizawa asked, waving them inside. "You're not getting out of your suspensions even if you didn't initiate the fight."
"That's fine," Hitoshi shrugged, even though he was pissed about the suspension that barred them from participating in the heroics course. "Katsuki realized that he hasn't heard from Mrs. Midoriya and we wanted to know if any of you have contacted her about everything?"
Aizawa looked at Nedzu who simply blinked. "I must confess that I haven't," the principal replied.
The group finally went inside the office and Mei shut the door. "What about you, Sensei?" Shouto asked.
Aizawa shrugged. "I thought someone else would."
"So, no one has talked to Auntie?" Katsuki snapped. "Does she even know that he was arrested?"
"It simply didn't cross my mind," Nedzu admitted. "I assumed that the Commission would, as this was their doing, and we've been busy trying to get Midoriya out of their clutches."
"Does anyone know if they contacted her?" Hitoshi asked, tilting his head at Nedzu..
"I currently am not sure," Nedzu said, tone turning sympathetic though they weren't sure who the sympathy was for. "I will look into it."
"No need," Katsuki snapped. He was tired of all this information gathering and waiting, it was time that he get out there and got information himself. That's what being a hero was. "I'll go talk to her myself, it's Friday anyways and the hag wants me to bring these extras over for dinner."
"I thought we got past you calling us 'extras'," Mei sighed.
"Besides the point," Katsuki snapped, irritated at the situation and himself for slipping. "We can all spend the weekend at my house and we'll go visit Auntie when we're there. I only live like a block away from their house."
"I guess that is a fair enough plan of action," Nedzu nodded. "Please do tell me if this is the first she is hearing of the situation."
"Yeah, yeah," Katsuki said.
"We'll tell you as soon as we have any information," Shouto responded in a more reassuring tone.
"Thank you, children," Nedzu nodded. "Now, why don't you go pack for your weekend trip. I wouldn't want you out traveling too late by yourselves."
"Make sure to send me a text when you get there," Aizawa huffed. "I don't want to have to go searching for you hellions on my day off from patrolling.
None of them mentioned that they wouldn't be by themselves, that they'd be together, as they bowed to the principal and reassured Aizawa before they headed back to the dorms in silence. Mei split off to go pack her own items and the boys ignored their classmates as they took the elevator up to their floor.
"Are you sure that it's okay that we spend the whole weekend with you?" Hitoshi asked, seeming nervous about the venture.
"The hag has been pestering me about it since she found out that I reconciled with Izuku," Katsuki waved off. "Don't worry about being a bother, she'll dote on each and every one of you like she always did with the nerd."
The boys finally split off into their own rooms after that and packed a weekend's worth of items as fast as they could before meeting back up in the hallway.
"Let's go find Mei," Shouto suggested as they hiked their bags onto their shoulders and made their way back out of the dorms.
"I'm sure she's already waiting for us," Hitoshi said as they entered the elevator.
"Or she got stuck trying to figure out which projects and trinkets she could bring to my house," Katsuki countered.
"I'm sure that she has some sort of travel project in mind just for something like this," Hitoshi laughed.
"What took you guys so long?" Mei cried out as the elevator opened. "I was about to march up there and drag you down!"
"Definitely had a project prepared for this," Shouto whispered to Hitoshi, making Katsuki snort.
"Sorry, Goggles," Katsuki said, leading his friends out of the elevator and over to the excited girl. "Honestly didn't think you'd be done that fast."
"Let's get going," Mei said. "I'm excited to see what Mrs. Bakugou is like."
"Yeah, yeah," Katsuki said, leading the way out of the dorms.
"So, what's Mrs. Midoriya like?" Hitoshi asked as they exited the school premises and walked towards the train station.
"I haven't seen her since we were like four, but she was always really sweet and spoiled Izuku and I," Katsuki answered with a shrug.
"What if she's changed since then?" Shouto asked, earning harsh whispers from Hitoshi and Mei.
Katsuki sighed. "I honestly don't know if she has or not. Izuku is always doting on his mother, you guys hear him too. It's just…" Katsuki shook his head. "I don't know. It seems as if there has been some dynamic change, so I wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't the same as I remember when we go over."
"It's also been like 12 years since you last saw her," Mei supplied. They'd finally reached the train station and they all tapped their IC cards at the ticket gate as they entered the station, following Katsuki as they went. "There's bound to be some difference in her personality and demeanor, right?"
"Yeah, people are always changing," Hitoshi agreed. "Even if it's simple, unnoticeable changes."
They let the topic drop at that as they waited for their train to arrive. It was only a couple minutes out and they went on their phones to pass the time. As soon as their train arrived, they all boarded onto the proper train and found a secluded area to themselves.
"What are your parents like?" Shouto asked, turning to Katsuki.
"They're loud as shit," Katsuki said, still scrolling on his phone. He was looking to see what articles were being posted about Izuku and the whole traitor situation, which thankfully weren't many. Looks like Nedzu was keeping mostly everything regarding the arrest under lock like he'd said.
"I mean, that's to be expected," Hitoshi said, chuckling. "You had to get it from somewhere."
"What about where we'll be sleeping?" Mei asked, tinkering with one of her projects. "Are we all gonna be crammed in one room?"
"My house is huge, I have plenty of spare bedrooms for you all," Katsuki huffed, finally putting his phone away. "Granted, we'll probably all fall asleep in the living room watching TV or some shit." It's not like they hadn't done that exact thing in each other's dorms throughout the past couple weeks.
"Yeah, that checks out," Hitoshi shrugged.
The train chimed to notify the passengers that it was about to stop and Katsuki stood, the others following as he made his way to the train door. As soon as the doors slid open, they all stepped out and Katsuki led them out of the station and through the streets towards his house. When they finally arrived, Katsuki's friends stopped to stare at the house.
"It's huge," Hitoshi whispered.
"I just wasn't aware that you also came from money, Katsuki," Shouto agreed.
"Imagine the warehouse you could make out of this place," Mei added with a gleam in her eyes that spoke of danger.
"Alright alright," Katsuki huffed. "Enough ogling, let's just get inside before the hag comes out to greet us."
"Oh!" Mei shouted. "I can't wait to meet your mom!" She ran up to the door ahead of everyone and skidded to a stop and just barely contained herself to knock politely.
Katsuki sighed, but didn't try to keep up with her. "It's my house, Mei. You don't need to knock."
The door swung open as Mei turned to retort and the hag stood in all her glory, a wicked grin on her face and dressed to the nines. "Brat! Friends! Welcome! Come on in, I have tea all set up for you!"
Katuski shook his head at his mother's antics and led his two other friends inside, Mei dutifully following Mitsuki. "Should've known she'd pull this shit," he muttered as they walked into the living room, having taken their shoes off and changing into prepared house slippers.
"Does she like to throw parties?" Shouto asked, looking at the tea and food arrangement set up in the living room.
Katsuki shrugged. "She throws big parties when they're promoting new lines for their company, so she's pretty used to it. She's probably just excited that I'm finally bringing friends from UA over."
"You never brought anyone from your other group?" Hitoshi asked, sitting on the couch next to Mei.
"Nah," Katsuki said, taking his usual seat in the armchair as Shouto sat on Hitoshi's other side.
"What should we do before going over to Midoriya's?" Mei asked, playing with a new fidget toy that Kaminari had given to her after she'd promised not to make it into a bomb.
"We can just watch a movie or some shit," Katsuki shrugged, grabbing the remote and turning on the tv. "The old hag will be back in a minute or so."
They sat quietly, munching on the snacks that Mitsuki had provided as Katsuki scrolled through Netflix to try and find something to watch.
"So, how is school going for you all?" Mitsuki asked, coming back in and sitting on the arm of Katsuki's chair.
Katsuki rolled his eyes as his friends perked up. "I've been making a ton of support equipment for everyone," Mei chirped happily.
"Yeah, she made me some new additions to my costume," Hitoshi agreed. "Stuff I wouldn't have even thought about."
"Oh!" Mitsuki exclaimed. "So, you're in the support course then?"
"Yup!" Mei agreed. "Soon you'll be seeing my name everywhere! Hatsume Industries coming to Japan soon!"
Mitsuki giggled at the girl's excitement. "I'm sure you'll be everywhere. Maybe you can help produce our fabrics for us and you'll be able to support the fashion industry as well!"
"Ma, stop trying to recruit everyone you meet into working for you," Katsuki hissed.
"Oh hush!" Mitsuki sniped, playfully smacking the side of his head. "I'm only trying to help your friend out here!"
"Yeah, sure you are," Katsuki said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"So, what about you boys?" Mitsuki asked. "I recognize both of you from the Sports Festival."
"We're both in Katsuki's class," Hitoshi said. "I only joined about a month ago."
"You were in general before, right?" Mitsuki asked.
"Yeah, I have a mental based quirk, so the exams were biased against me," Hitoshi muttered.
"But you're in the right class now!" Mitsuki offered. "I'm sure Izuku can analyze plenty of ways to use your quirk if he hasn't already." Mitsuki looked around at the group before glaring at Katsuki. "Where's the other brat?"
"That's why we came home," Katsuki explained. "We need to go talk to Auntie. Can we explain after?"
"Sure," Mitsuki huffed. "Just leave your dear old mother in the dark, I guess."
"Stop being so dramatic," Katsuki said, rolling his eyes. "We'll explain everything when we get back, but we don't want to get there before she's going to bed."
"We do want to be respectful given that none of us have been to her house," Shouto interjected.
"I haven't been over there since I was four, so I think being respectful is only right," Katsuki added.
"Alright, alright," Mitsuki said, waving her hand. "You all get on then. I expect you back at a reasonable time since I assume you all haven't even eaten dinner yet, though. Plus, we have to work out sleeping arrangements."
"Sounds good, Ma," Katsuki said, standing from the chair and ignoring the weird look Mitsuki was sending him.
The others stood as well and they quickly headed over to the entryway to slip back on their shoes before heading out, everyone once again following Katsuki. They walked in silence, each of them lost in their thoughts about Izuku, meeting his mother, and informing her of her son's situation. In no time at all, they stood on the Midoriyas' doorstep and Katsuki was knocking on the door.
Midoriya Inko opened the door and it was like stepping through a warped time portal for Katsuki. She looked exactly the same and she had on a welcoming smile, yet something was off.
"Oh! Kats baby! What are you doing here?" Auntie Inko asked. She caught sight of the others behind him and her smile seemed to strain. "Oh? I recognize Todoroki, but not the others. Are you all Izuku's friends? Where is he?"
"Where-" Katsuki sighed. That answered the question of whether anyone had contacted Auntie about Izu getting arrested. "We're all friends with Izuku, Auntie. That's Todoroki Shouto as you recognized; Shinsou Hitoshi, who recently joined our class but has been friends with the nerd for a good while; and Hatsume Mei, who is in the Support Course but has been close to pretty much all of us since the start of the year since she's volunteered to do the main projects for our hero costumes." Katsuki introduced each of his friends to his honorary aunt and pointed to them each in turn. "Can we come in?" He asked, tilting his head towards the house. "We're here precisely to talk about why Izu didn't join us."
Inko bobbed her head quickly and stepped aside. "Of course, of course. I'll get some tea made up for you all."
"There's no need for tea, Mrs. Midoriya," Shouto interjected politely. "Mrs. Bakugou gave us some when we dropped our stuff off there earlier."
"Oh?" Inko asked as she led them all into the apartment and to the living room. "Are you all staying with the Bakugou's for the weekend then?"
"Yup!" Mei cheered. "Kats was kind enough to offer and his parents were even kinder to allow the offer."
"Well, it sure sounds like you have an enjoyable weekend ahead of you," Inko said with a smile before turning to Katsuki. "Now, why isn't Izuku with you. I realized today that I haven't heard from him in a while and tried to call him, but it went straight to voicemail."
She only realized today that Izuku hadn't been contacting her? Why would it take so long? Were they not on good terms?
"Well, to be honest, Mrs. Midoriya," Shouto started, sideyeing Katsuki since he hadn't spoken yet, "Izuku was arrested a while back."
"He was accused to be the UA traitor as it's believed that he was conspiring with All for One," Mei added in a soft tone.
"They took him from our homeroom class not long after I joined the class," Hitoshi finished.
"Is he alive?" Inko asked, taking a sip from her tea.
"Is he alive?" Katsuki asked. "What the hell do you mean by that, Auntie?"
"Katsuki, language," Inko snapped. "Don't you dare curse in my house."
Katsuki raised his eyebrows at the woman before him. "We just told you that your only son was arrested on a charge that could make him serve time in prison and your only question is whether he's alive? Not only that," he continued, holding up a hand when she opened her mouth, "but you stated that you only realized today that you haven't heard from Izuku. Monday marks a month of Izuku being arrested and held prisoner. Why would you not realize for a month that Izu wasn't talking to you and then not do anything about it when he doesn't answer or attempt contact later?"
"Come now Katsuki, I know you're still a kid, but even you know how much of a Deku our dear Izuku can be," Inko said with a sharp look in her eyes. The others winced at her words, but Katsuki only glared at her. "He can't do anything right, not even contact his own mother. I'm surprised he hasn't been expelled yet, to be honest."
"Mrs. Midoriya," Shouto cut in, anger bright in his eyes despite his still stoic, polite disposition. "Izuku is one of the top students in the class. He helps all of the other students as well. If it weren't for this false accusation, then the school would have no reason to expel him."
Inko waved him off. "I'm sure his kind disposition can make you all think anything he wants. If the Commision has arrested him for conspiring with All for One to get a quirk, then it probably has merit. He did come upon his quirk rather suddenly you know. Especially since, you might not know this, he was diagnosed quirkless."
"Auntie, we all know much more about Izu's quirk than you do," Katsuki snapped. "I don't know when all of this started happening," he continued, gesturing vaguely at Inko, "but I've heard enough of you degrading Izuku when that's what he got from everyone else throughout his life until he got his quirk. We're going back to my house now. Don't expect us back anytime soon unless Izuku gets out and we're grabbing his stuff." Katsuki stood up from the chair he was sitting on and the others followed suit.
"You'll be lucky if little Deku gets out of the Commission's clutches. I don't want to ever see you in my house again, Bakugou Katsuki," Inko hissed, standing up.
"Yeah, whatever, Auntie," Katsuki snapped, rolling his eyes as they all left the apartment, Inko slamming the door behind them.
"Well, she's a fucking bitch," Hitoshi commented as they made their way back to Katsuki's house.
"Was she always like that?" Mei asked, playing with her fidget toy again. "How is Izuku always so happy if he has to go home to that?"
"No, she wasn't," Katsuki muttered. "But, I also haven't seen her since I was four which gives her plenty of time to change into whatever the fuck that was."
"Izuku won't have to go back home to that when this is all over, right?" Shouto asked. "He doesn't deserve that; nobody does."
Hitoshi threw an arm over Shouto's shoulders and gave him a light squeeze. "We'll make sure he doesn't."
"Oh fuck," Katsuki said as he looked up when they'd reached his house.
"Wh-oh," Shouto said.
"Hiya Eraser," Shinsou said, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, uh, we may have forgotten to text you…"
Aizawa tapped his foot as he stood outside Katsuki's front door with his arms crossed, a red glare aimed at them. "Forgot?"
"To be fair, my old hag distracted us," Katsuki shrugged, leading the others forward.
"Katsuki!" Mitsuki shouted, opening the door, which he now realized was never fully closed. "I've been texting you the entire time you were gone!"
"Yeah," Katsuki said. "My phone's on silent."
Mitsuki sighed and shook her head before turning to Aizawa. "Now that the brats are back, would you like to come in for some tea?"
"I just came to make sure they got here safely, ma'am," Aizawa said, sinking into his capture scarf. "Now that I see them, and they're home, my job is done."
"Well, I great-"
"Sensei," Shinsou said, cutting off Mitsuki with a wince. "We have something we need to show you."
Aizawa sighed as he waved his hand for the kids to go in first then followed them inside.
"Ma, make the hobo some coffee, will ya?" Katsuki asked as they all walked to the living room. "He doesn't like tea."
Mitsuki rolled her eyes, but left to the kitchen. "Hope you like instant coffee! That's all we got!" She called out.
"That's fine," Aizawa said as he sat on an arm chair. "What'd you have to show me?"
Hitoshi dug through his pockets and held out his phone, showing the recorder app.
"Just wait for my Ma to get back," Katsuki said as Aizawa took the phone. "She needs to hear it too."
Mitsuki came in a second later, handing Aizawa the coffee before taking a seat at the other arm chair. Katsuki sat on the arm of the couch as his friends took seats on it. "How is Inko doing?"
"She's a fucking bitch," Katsuki hissed as he walked into the kitchen, his friends following.
"Don't talk about your aunt like that, Katsuki," Mitsuki reprimanded.
"Yeah, well if you'd gone with us, you'd be just as mad," Katsuki snapped. "Since when does she despise her own child?"
"Are we talking about Midoriya Inko?" Aizawa asked.
"Of course we are!" Katsuki shouted. "We told you we were going to visit her."
Aizawa arched an eyebrow at him which made him roll his eyes. "Didn't expect you to do it tonight is all."
"It would be illogical to wait any longer," Shouto stated.
"Sorry, hold on," Mitsuki said, waving her hand in front of her. "Can we backtrack? Why were you guys visiting Inko? What do you mean that she despises Izu-kun? Where even is he?"
"Izuku got arrested about a month ago," Katsuki sighed.
"What!" Mitsuki shrieked.
"The Commission arrested him because everyone is under the impression that he's the UA traitor," Shouto explained calmly.
"Well, not everyone," Hitoshi interjected.
"His boyfriend here," Aizawa said, waving towards Katsuki and making his heart stutter as he refused to look at his mother, "as well as these kids and some others are still on his side. Additionally, myself, as well as the principal and a handful of other teachers know that he isn't the traitor," Aizawa cut in.
"Katsuki," Mitsuki snapped. "Is your teacher right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Katsuki muttered, wishing Izuku were here to help tame her like he'd promised.
"Bakugou Katsuki, you look at me right now!" Mitsuki shouted.
"You're in trouble," Mei whisper sang.
Katsuki smacked her upside the head before finally looking at Mitsuki. "Fine, yes. Izuku and I are dating, okay?"
Mitsuki's eyes shone. "Fucking finally!"
"... what?" Katsuki asked, completely confused.
"You all have been in love since you were in diapers," Mitsuki huffed. "You just got way too big of an ego when you got your quirk."
"As amusing as this is," Aizawa deadpanned. "Can we get back to Mrs. Midoriya?"
"Right," Hitoshi said and Katsuki couldn't be more grateful that the attention was off of him. "So, Izuku got arrested for supposedly being the UA traitor and we decided to check with his mom to see if she knew about him getting arrested."
"And the bi-Inko thinks that Izu is just a Deku that forgot to contact her for a month and she only just realized today," Katsuki hissed.
"And she believes that he's the traitor as long as that's what the Commission says," Mei added bitterly.
"Oh, I'm about to go to war with that bitch. She really said all of that just now?" Mitsuki asked.
"What in the absolute fuck," Aizawa said at the same time.
"I was recording it," Hitoshi said, gesturing to his phone that Aizawa was still holding. "I thought it might be helpful to show whether the Commission had told her or not, I wasn't expecting her to go off about Izuku like that."
"That was smart to record it," Aizawa noted. "That'll be helpful when we go against her for custody."
"You can take my phone or send the recording to yourself, I don't care," Hitoshi said with a shrug.
"Just email it to me," Aizawa said, handing the phone back as he stood up. "I need to go talk to Nedzu about all of this."
"I need to get some food in the brats anyways and figure out sleeping arrangements," Mitsuki said, standing as well.
"See you Monday, Aizawa," Katsuki huffed, taking the chair his mom had been sitting on. Sitting on the arm of the couch for so long had made him sore.
Aizawa waved as his friends bid their own farewells before he left the house completely. Katsuki couldn't decide whether he wanted to watch the meeting Aizawa was about to have or if it was a good thing that he was staying very far away from it.