The walls of auntie Inko's apartment are paper thin, nothing like the almost soundproof confines of his own home. When the phone rings and she excuses herself to her bedroom, Katsuki scowls down at his homework and thinks that she shouldn't have bothered; he can hear every word just the same as if she was in the room with him. Still, it's sort of a relief to not have to worry about her hovering over his shoulder and trying to give him hints on his English assignment every five seconds. If he wants to be the number one hero he can't accept help from her; heroes don't take handouts!
All Might spent some time in America, which is proof that the best heroes go international. He'll have to be fluent in as many languages as he can and he's determined to learn them all on his own. He doesn't need anyone's help! He hunches closer to his homework, doing his best to focus on making the words stick in his mind. Auntie's voice filters from the next room and despite how he tries to ignore it, he can't help but overhear her chipper voice as she answers the call.
"Hello, Rikuto! It's been too long. How are you?"
There is a pause as she listens to whatever is being said. It seems too long, and Katsuki rolls his eyes and thinks that the person she's talking to must be a real chatterbox. His ire fades immediately as soon as auntie makes a soft sound, one of confusion and hurt, and Katsuki goes rigid and rises to his feet just as she bursts from the room and practically vaults over his head in her rush to reach the tv. His homework pages rustle and a pen rolls from the table, hitting the carpet without a sound.
A soap opera he immediately recognizes as one his mom also likes fills the screen when she turns it on. The remote had been damaged years ago while he and two-face had been roughhousing, and she had never bothered to get it replaced since it's still in danger any time Katsuki comes over.
"Which station?" she demands as she raises the phone to her ear again, and she is shaking so hard that her fingers tremble where they hover over the channel buttons.
"Any of them," the voice on the phone answers, and auntie Inko flips through channels rapidly until she hits a random news channel. The anchors sit at their desk, looking grim, and Katsuki moves closer until he is hovering right behind her, eyes trained on their serious expressions as apprehension rises in his chest.
'Pro-hero Ingenium injured in brutal attack - Suspect still at large' the words that march across the bottom of the screen declare. A picture of the hero is displayed in the corner of the screen, fierce eyes staring out from behind a shiny silver helmet before fading into a headshot of a man's friendly, smiling face. Even without the fancy helmet, Katsuki can't help but think that Ingenium looks like a hero.
"—suffered a fractured skull and, more concerningly, severe injury to his leg during the attempted rescue of this yet-unidentified child. Please be aware that some viewers may find the following images disturbing."
Their faces disappear, fading to be replaced by a video. It is frozen in its frame for a second, just long enough for Katsuki to feel like it must be building suspense on purpose, before it begins to play. The footage is shaky and a little grainy, and he's seen enough viral videos of hero fights to know this is the work of some normal person and not an actual news crew.
"So this guy's been talking to this kid for, like, a suspiciously long time," a woman's voice says. It had the electric sound of a voice changer. He's always thought it was strange that the tv bothered trying to protect people's identities when the original video is probably posted on HeroTube unedited. "The kid is acting real nervous, too, so I'm recording just in case."
"Should I call the police?" a second voice chimes in, and even through the voice changer she sounds nervous. Katsuki grits his teeth, wanting to scream at her stupidass question, but keeps his mouth tightly shut.
"I don't know…. I don't want to cause this guy any trouble if it turns out to be nothing."
The camera shifts as the person holding it zooms in a little more, and a man's face blurs into focus as he turns to look at them for just a split second before turning back to the small form in front of him. After seeing his picture just seconds earlier, it is easy to recognize the man as Ingenium. The face of the person he's talking to has been blurred out, but Katsuki can make out a mop of dark green hair and the distinctive yellow ears of an All Might hood poking out from beneath the massive coat that the kid is draped in. His stomach clenches painfully as he realizes what this means; it has to be Izuku. He hears auntie suck in a painful sounding breath as the same thought hits her, and he bites back the words that want to rise in his throat as she grasps his shoulder with her free hand and squeezes. He forces himself not to jerk away from her touch, keeps his focus on the tv and the way that Izuku just stands there doing nothing while Ingenium is right there. His hands curl into fists, fingers catching the sparks in his palms before they can fall and burn through auntie's newest carpet. She'll probably be upset if he ruins another one.
The woman holding the camera is still talking but Katsuki can't focus on her words, can only watch as Ingenium reaches out a hand to rest on the blurry figure's shoulder, watches as he smiles, the expression obvious even from the side. He waits for the blurry faced boy to react, to do something embarrassing like rush into the hero's arms like he's sure the Izuku of six years ago would do if given half the chance. He never does, and the attack happens so fast that Katsuki is left reeling.
There's a blur of movement and a flash of red and suddenly someone is screaming and Ingenium is on the ground bleeding out. Auntie Inko gasps and her grip on his shoulder tightens more, fingers digging in hard enough to leave bruises. He's sure that if this was any other day, any other news story, she would have pulled him tight and tried to cover his eyes while he fought to keep watching. A distant part of him wishes she would do that now, but he is quick to stomp that tiny voice out and bury any hint of weakness. He raises a hand to rest on auntie's arm, squeezing back just as tightly and hoping he doesn't burn through the heavy knit of her sweater.
"No," she whimpers as Izuku gets scooped up by a large man, just barely in view as the camera swings and jostles around as the person recording yells for her companion to call for help. The man doesn't make it easy for the people recording to keep them in view, never slowing down and Katsuki's stomach feels tight as he realizes how fast this person is. His throat burns as he watches Izuku get carried away, watches as he does nothing to stop the guy from taking him when there's a hero just a few meters away. He doesn't fight back, doesn't yell, just lays there like a sack of shit and lets the man carry him off like a stupid damsel in distress.
Useless.
He hasn't changed at all.
Deku.
His teeth are grinding together, filling his head with a grating sound that's not quite loud enough to drown out the pathetic little whimpers auntie Inko is making as she watches her son be taken away again. Katsuki withdraws his hand from her arm and stuffs it deep in his pants pocket, well aware that his temper is dangerously close to snapping.
Did Deku even fucking think about what seeing something like this would do to his mom?
The video ends just as Ingenium rises to his feet and surges forward in a blaze of fire. It is quiet for several seconds before the clip rewinds to freeze on an image of the man who had arrived to cut Ingenium down and steal Izuku away. His face is blurred with movement, but despite that Katsuki can make out bared teeth in a too-wide mouth and the smudge of blood on the white bandages slapped sloppily across the center of his face. He snarls at the image, thinking that the asshole must not be so tough if he had to attack Ingenium from behind like that. It looks like he's already had his ass handed to him, anyways. His hands and his chest both ache with the desire to blow that stupid look off his stupid face.
The news anchors start talking again, something about how police are working to identify the man and the child in question. As they speak, auntie turns the volume down a little and lifts the phone to her ear. He had forgotten that the call was still going.
"Are you sure it's him?" she whispers. Katsuki hears a muffled grunt from the other end before a deep voice speaks.
"I can't say for sure since he's older now, but…I'd put my money on it being your boy. He looks just like you."
"How does he know that?" Katsuki demands, lifting a smoking hand to tug at the hem of her sweater. She waves him away and ignores the way he curses under his breath at the dismissal.
"Thank you, Rikuto." she says, and ends the call before the man can say another word. They sit there in silence for a long moment, before she takes a deep breath and says, "It's his quirk."
"Heh?"
"Rikuto. His quirk is basically that censorship doesn't work when he watches a video or hears audio that's been edited to hide someone's identity."
"Oh. Right." He waits for her to say more, but again, the two of them lapse into silence as the news anchors continue to drone on and on about the man who had the gall to attack a pro hero. Izuku barely seems to come up. Why don't they care more?
He can hear auntie sniffling, her breathing shaky and fast. He grimaces, feeling at a loss for what to do now. Maybe he should call his mom? She would probably know what to do; even if she's loud and mean, she always gets all soft with auntie Inko. Before he can excuse himself, though, auntie claps her hands together so abruptly that he jumps a foot in the air. She rises to stand in one fluid motion, and when he cranes his head back to look at her face, she smiles at him. It seems strangely hollow.
"I need some tea," she announces with a decisive nod. "Do you want any?"
"I'm fine," he tries to say, but she shakes her head and speaks right over him, voice too loud for the somber mood.
"We will both be having some tea. Stay here."
She fusses over him until he plants himself stiffly on the edge of the sofa, then disappears in the direction of the kitchen, the wall between them doing nothing to muffle the sound of running water or clattering dishware. He doesn't dare move until she appears again to hand him the steaming mug. He takes a sip and cringes when he realizes she's poured enough honey into it to drown several bees, but when he opens his mouth to complain her eyes flash and he instead finds himself muttering a sullen thanks. She pulls out her phone again, eyes never straying from the tv, and dials. She speaks as soon as the line clicks, words rushing out before the other person has a chance to say hello.
"Mitsuki, dear, I'm sorry to be a bother but would you be able to pick Katsuki up a little early today?"
"Ah, geez. What'd that little cretin do this time?"
He perks up when he hears his mom's voice loud and clear as it crackles through the phone's speaker. Inko winces and holds the phone a little further from her ear, though a fond smile curls at the edges of her mouth.
"Nothing at all! He's been an angel. I've just had something come up rather suddenly."
His mom hums, not sounding fully convinced, but says, "I can be there in an hour. Tell him if he breaks anything else I'll flay him alive."
"He didn't break anything, but I'll pass the message along," auntie says pleasantly over Katsuki's offended yelling. The call ends with neither of them saying a real goodbye, and quiet settles over the room once more. The clip is playing again, slowed down to capture every brutal frame as the strange man rushes Ingenium from behind and attacks him. Slowed to show the moment Deku is scooped up and thrown around like a sack of rice, not doing anything to fight back. Katsuki scowls at the sight, and decides that the rice sack comparison is unfair; at least rice has a use.
Auntie Inko watches the tv until the screen has switched back over to the hosts' somber faces. Her breathing is heavy and when he tears his attention away from the news, he notices that there's a flush rising high on her cheeks as her eyes well with tears. He chews the inside of his cheek, wishing his mom were there to deal with this because he sure as hell doesn't know what to say. Before he can make any clumsy attempts at either comforting her or telling her to man up, a strange expression crosses her face and she says, "Excuse me, dear. I think I need to make another call."
The bedroom door shuts behind her, not quite a slam, but close enough to make Katsuki grimace. Auntie is so rarely upset, it's kind of scary to face it all alone. He's used to her being all sad and mopey but still sickeningly sweet, and sometimes she would yell at him when he broke something or burned the sofa. He's known her long enough, though, to know that things are really bad when she gets all calm and shit.
"Hello, Yagi-san?"
He doesn't want to listen in on her conversation, but it's kind of hard not to. He recognizes the name of one of the people that was helping on Deku's case, having been in the apartment when the big blond guy dropped in a couple times. The news has moved on to something else, so he turns the tv off and takes deep breaths to try to push back the urge to scream and blow the sofa up. He tells himself he can do that when he gets home; at least there, all his mom will do is yell.
"Yes, thank you," auntie is saying in the other room. "I'm doing as well as I can be, all things considered."
Katsuki picks up the tea again, frowning down at the golden liquid. He wonders if auntie would notice if he just poured it all down the sink.
"I just have one question, if you don't mind?" Auntie hums at whatever Yagi is saying, pleasant and calm, then asks, "Yagi, why the fuck did the news know about this before I did?"
The mug explodes in his hands.
Special shoutout to my awesome betas, Shaegal and the FoxyPirateFox, who assuage all my writing anxieties and keep me sane while I work on this story.
Soooo I'm getting married in April so I may or may not post another chapter next month, but I'll do my best. Sorry this one was shorter than the last few chapters!
Thanks so much for reading! Leave me a review if you liked the story. :)