Chapter 23: Epilogue

Izuku was curled up in Shouto's lap with his boyfriend's fingers running through his curls. Everyone was gathered in the common room for family day and they were currently watching Dabi and Inko playing a very intense game of poker. The bet on the line was who was going to walk Izuku down the aisle at his wedding and by this point the boy had given up on convincing anyone to drop the long running joke. (That was feeling less and less like a joke the more his marriage to his boyfriend was brought up).

Three months after the network had revealed itself to save him his biggest issue now was the joke that he was an ex-convict. Anytime he was involved in even a friendly argument everyone would jump in to tell the other party to watch out before the ex-con shanked them. It was funny for the first week, now he was actually considering shanking someone. But he had to be thankful that was his biggest problem now.

The HPSC had kept their word so far, making lighting speed changes to quirksist laws and cracking down on discrimination. Several members of the commission had resigned or were fired for their discriminatory beliefs. They had even started an organization within their own to review reports of all types of discrimination all over the country. He knew it would do well since it was run by Inko Midoriya. If anyone could get rid of discrimination while wearing a soft smile and a sharp suit, it was his mom.

Endeavor had been outed as an abuser after Shouto's comment in the broadcast. After things had died down surrounding Izuku's pardon someone had pointed it out and the masses turned from protecting the quirkless hero student to tearing down the number two hero. It was a fun twist of fate that Izuku was free to relax at the UA dorm with friends and family while the former hero was behind bars for life for his multitude of crimes.

Most of the Zeroes that hadn't already outed themselves were still living under their fake identities. They had the promise of the HPSC that they could come forward at any time to take back their previous name and keep their new life, but they were waiting to see if things would stay on the path they were on. There was even a government sanctioned program that would give Zeroes new identities completely legally if they chose to do so.

Izuku looked over at Yagi holding Tsukauchi's hand while they played monopoly with Katsuki, his parents, and Hitoshi. Yagi had never held a grudge against his boyfriend for his part in outing the network and the two were discussing possibly moving in together at some point. Mina was stealing money from Katsuki's pile when he wasn't looking and Iida was attempting to get her to stop while his brother Tensei laughed with Mei about her ridiculous partners. Mei had snuck out of her dorms since her parents couldn't attend family day and she was already an honorary member of their class anyway so no one had an issue.

Izuku's eyes trailed over the crowded room, taking in his classmates and their families with a serene smile on his face. They were packed in together, the room was loud and chaotic and it was beautiful.

Sero's sister had shown up in her Void shirt (even convinced her entire family to wear them) and that had earned Izuku some ribbing, but it made him happy he already had such a loyal fan. Momo and Jirou were discussing something with their parents with their hands connected. Those two were cute together, he was happy they had confessed recently. Eri had bullied her dads into having a tea party with her, Kaminari, and Kirishima. She'd even used her puppy eyes to get them all in tiaras and that was quite a sight to see. Izuku was going to use the picture of Aizawa in a pink tiara as his phone background for a long time.

Hawks had somehow convinced Aizawa to allow him in on the grounds that he was "spiritually Izuku's father" (which was ridiculous as he wasn't that much older than the teen) and was currently pestering a very done looking Tokoyami about whether he'd hatched from an egg or not. Izuku had met the winged hero shortly after his time in a holding cell and thought of the man as the goofy older brother he'd never wanted. Dabi and him were publicly dating now and Izuku took every chance to get Dabi back for all the inappropriate jokes about Shouto and him.

Shouji, Kouda, and Asui were gathered with their families in the corner. All the more quiet students preferring to be at the edge of the chaos, but wanting to be part of the fun. Aoyama had convinced Monoma and Tetsutetsu to join their class for part of the day and their families were currently laughing about something Aoyama had said that turned his cousin and Tetsutetsu red.

Looking around the room at all the people chatting and laughing together, Izuku knew the future was bright. There was still a lot of work to be done, but he had people to help him continue to change the world.