As a reminder, guys! This particular chapter contains an excerpt from a chapter in the Quirk Interrupted series. However, this is from a different perspective. Expect the family wholesomeness of love, drama, and hope. In this chapter, Izuku is balancing life as a single teenage parent. Luckily, he has friends like Tsuyu who has his back...and maybe more.
Deku, baby, come as close as you can to the prison walls and whisper love songs into the tiny cracks. I can forgo the golden beams of light, I can suffer nothing but bleak walls for company, but the love I cannot live without. Tell me of the days to come, the ones where we walk in meadows, a feast of color for eyes that have seen nothing but grey for so long. Tell me of how we walk hand in hand to the river and wash our weary feet. Tell me how we will feel the warm light of the sun on our skin and hug like our love is eternal. Tell me of how we'll watch the fish make their way through cool waters before heading home to rest in each other's arms, always knowing a fresh dawn will come.
It is because when you are there, I want to break you down from limb to limb. I want to tear your limbs as you scream out my name as I moan into the pleasure.
Oh, Deku. How much I love you. How much I want to kill you. Such a beautiful noise you make after seeing you bleed, after tearing out one of your ribs.
Oh, Deku. How you pull my heartstrings. How much I want to see what your insides look like.
You make me excited, Deku. And that makes you second to my favorite thing...blood!
Izuku tore the covers from his bed as his screams coincided with the sound of thunder. He sat up, panting loudly into the night. He grabbed his chest, holding it tightly like it was his true love. He exposed it to the floodlights. There wasn't any blood. There wasn't anything to show that anyone attacked him into the night.
The boom rolled across the sky, announcing the start of what the brooding cloud layer had promised since dawn. The boughs of the trees swayed in the strengthening gust, surrendering their fall leaves without a fight. Then came the first drops of rain like bullets to our tin roof and we peeked through the closed shutters to the vegetable patch beyond. Outside was dark, the dense grey cloud block out the morning light, casting him in a premature twilight, but inside his home, it was darker, almost black, and so he can see out just fine. On the far hill a jagged bolt of white-hot lightning split the chilly sky, and then it was gone. The thunder was only a second behind it was banging like someone was taking a sledgehammer to the roof and in time with the noise, a few shafts of weary light are making shadows on the walls.
Before furthering accessing himself, the sound of a wailing babe got his attention. He climbed out of bed and walked to the crib at the foot of the bed. The babe sounded like a wailing lamb, aching for the warmth and nurturing from its parent.
The little dainty redhead daughter with freckles, yellow eyes, and cat-like canine teeth cried for her father from the cradle. Izuku was there to retrieve his daughter.
"Hey, girl. Hey, girl. Daddy's here. Daddy's here." Izuku picked up the bundle of joy he delightfully called Kazuko or Little Kazu for short. He held his daughter gently onto his chest, stroking her hair and cooing into her ear. "It's okay, girl. Sorry for scaring you. Sorry for letting mean ole' Mr. Thunderstorm making you mad." He swung the babe tenderly and meekly, cooing as much as he could for her to return to sleep.
The digital clock on the wall said it was a quarter after three in the morning. He needed to return to sleep for he had to be at school in the morning. This was the third night this week of interrupted sleep. He was having his nightmares, the waking baby, and school life.
Things were rough for the seventeen-year-old.
Less than a year ago, there was an incident involving him and a member of the League of Villians, Himiko Toga. He never liked describing the incident. He wasn't even in uniform when the ambush happened. He was leaving the movie theatre with a few of his friends. Tsuyu, Tenya, Shouto, Toru, and Ochako took a cab home. Although they had extended the invitation, he decided to walk home. The walk from the theatre was ten blocks and he could manage the exercise. Ochako insisted on walking with him, but it was a Sunday. He wanted them to get full rest for school in the morning. He declined her offer and they went their separate ways.
If he would have known that Himiko Toga was pursuing him that evening, he would have taken the ride home.
She didn't even play fair.
Izuku could never recall how long the beating had gone on for, only the final kick and the sound of the iron bar falling to the concrete. His face wasn't too bad, just a cut above his eyebrow, the scarlet blood flowing into his eyes. It was his body that was damaged almost beyond the point at which recovery was possible. When the paramedics cut away his clothes the blooming purple patches told of internal ruptures, likely organ damage. They had looked at Izuku with encouraging faces but were utterly ashen when he couldn't see them, giving involuntary shakes of their heads.
And all the while there was Himiko crying in the background like her heart had snapped in two. She remained when the police approached. Covered in blood, she looked to the policemen as she held Izuku in her arms.
"I love him. Stand back! I was showing him my love and affection!"
"I must give him more of my loving. Don't quit on me, Deku, baby."
"You are supposed to be with me. I love you, Deku."
"You are not going to leave me alone with our child."
Himiko was charged and was found to be criminally insane. Instead of giving her twenty years to life and because she was still a teenager, the gave the teen ten years in a maximum security mental institution.
It was only a couple of months ago when Izuku was notified that he had a daughter after Himiko have given birth to her. On her request, she wanted Izuku to name their daughter.
Kazuko Midoriya became her name. 和子 means "harmony, peace" and "child." The word "Kazu" can also mean number. Kazuko was Izuku's first born so the name brings strong meaning to the emerald cinnamon roll.
She was soundly asleep. Izuku carefully returned her to her cradle. He turned on spinning mobile. He let the sound of Greensleeves, stars, and rocket ships put his daughter to rest. He sat beside the crib, making sure that she remained asleep until he fell onto slumber himself.
Izuku's alarm clock woke him up from his brief slumber. It was nearly six in the morning. Izuku jumped up and went into the shower. He was already a few minutes behind schedule. He was fortunate to have Kazu's baby formula ready for her breakfast. His mother was kind enough to prepare her lunch as well for when he had to drop her off at the babysitter.
Since Kazu's return home, Inko decided to get a part-time job so she could help support the baby. He was very appreciative of his parents. They weren't going to have their first granddaughter sitting in an orphanage. It didn't matter about how the little bundle of joy was conceived. Inko and Hisashi made it clear that they will support Izuku no matter what.
Izuku grabbed his clothes and rushed to put them on. Inko was in the kitchen preparing breakfast as she too was getting late for work. Izuku gathered all of his materials before returning to the bedroom to get his daughter.
With everything ready, he holstered his daughter into her carrier. He grabbed his backpack and Kazuko's gear. With toast in his mouth, he waved his mother goodbye and headed to the babysitter.
Izuku made it to the bus in the nick of time. The few people sitting on the bus swamp the cab with muddied silence. The seats and windows shake with every small bump in the ragged pavement, jostling the passengers back and forth. The air conditioning pumped through only a few filters, whistling with the extreme pressure. It smelled slightly of diluted gas. As the world slid by the window, there were small movements from amongst the passengers. Someone shifts in their seat, there was a little cough and a mild 'bless you'. The brakes squeaked and everyone lurched forward as the bus came to a stop. Outside, a woman dropped her cigarette, smothered it with her foot, and stepped inside, dropping a quarter into the plastic box and blowing the last breath full of smoke in the driver's face, who swatted it away in her direction as she walked down the aisle. The doors closed with a gasp of air and the bus lurched on, repeating its eternal pattern of stops and goes, turning down its routine corners, and failing to avoid the ditches carved in the blacktop.
Kazuko remained asleep on his chest. He decided to feed her when he went to the babysitter. He learned to overlook the discouraging, surprised people that frowned upon him with his daughter. Who were they to judge? They weren't there when the incident happened? He didn't expect those set of responsibilities being there. That was his daughter. And he was sticking to it.
He thought he had time to study for Kayama-sensei's class before he saw his stop. He pulled the cord to get off. He grabbed his precious cargo and headed to see the babysitter.
He knocked on the door and was welcomed with the wind of children exiting out of the home.
"Satsuki, Samidare, watch out for cars," shouted the mother and Izuku's babysitter. The frog woman looked to Izuku. "Morning, Izuku! Ribbit!"
Izuku nervously laughed, bowing to Mrs. Asui. "Morning, Mrs. Asui." He bowed once more. "Thank you for babysitting my daughter."
Mrs. Asui swayed her hand. "Thank me as you can come in. Come in, come in." She took his hand and took him inside to the kitchen. The sleeping damsel was still clinging to her father's stomach. "Tsuyu is getting ready. The mister already went to work."
"Yes, ma'am," said Izuku as he unhooked the carrier and gently gave Mrs. Asui his daughter. "Everything you need is inside of the bag."
Mrs. Asui slightly frown. "Relax. Izuku. I am a mother of three. I can I can handle…" It was interrupted when she saw Kazuko rolling in circles in the air.
Kazuko's quirk: Kazuko has the ability to float in the air. When she is sleeping peacefully and having sweet dreams, she floats by rolling in circles. This is much Izuku knows at this point about his daughter.
Mrs. Asui blushed. "She is quirk dreaming." She used her tongue to bring Kazuko back to her arms.
Izuku nervously scratched the back of his head. "Amazing and at ten months old. I didn't think babies could have a quirk that early."
"Oh, darling, they grow up so fast, do they? Ribbit!" She slapped her palm on the table. "Tsuyu, hurry up! You don't need to keep your friend waiting."
"Coming, Mom." Izuku heard Tsuyu approaching to the kitchen. The green-haired frog girl patted her friend on the back. "'Sup, Ribbit! How's it hanging?"
Izuku felt the slob drooping over him as Kazuko was spinning and rolling. Tsuyu and Mrs. Asui laughed at the little bundle joy. "That right there, Tsuyu, is what hanging."
Izuku kissed his daughter goodbye as the pair stepped out of the Asui home and took the train to head to school.
"Want a half-eaten bagel?" Tsuyu reached into her pocket and handed the napkin-enclosed bagel to him.
"Thanks," said Izuku. "You wouldn't have any coffee to go with that?"
"Sorry, Deku! Ribbit! We can stop by the stand before class starts."
"Heck, no. I rather drink used toilet water from Kacchan's house." He stuck out his tongue. "Believe me, it isn't as fun as it looks or tastes."
"Fortunate for you, I have some coins to get you the good stuff." She pulled his arm. "My treat, ribbit!"
She said they had a few minutes to head to the coffeehouse before catching the train to school. He was appreciative of Tsuyu, along with the few others who supported him for being a teenage parent. Even as he stepped inside, he was still thinking about his Kazuko.
And from time to time, Himiko. He was grateful that she still had another eight more years.
"Coming in, Izuku?"
"Yeah, here I come."
To be continued...