Bonds
"Ah, I've been looking after Ari for a month now. There were some complications with our family that I wasn't comfortable with her being around." Izuku lied easily, it was the same thing he told everyone. Todoroki was no different.
"I can understand that." Izuku internally cringed at Todoroki's words. Oh yeah, Endeawhore.
"Look at me Sashi!" Eri called out from the playground as she successfully started to swing across the monkey bars. Izuku smiled and called out his congratulations. She had been trying to do it that well since she moved in with Izuku.
"Anyways... I work for the local journalist as her assistant." He redirected the conversation between him and Todoroki so maybe he could learn something about the boy.
"Oh." Was all Todoroki said in response. Izuku gave a startled laugh.
"Don't sound so sad! I'm not going to ask you for an interview!"
"You're not?" His head was cocked to the side in confusion, like a cat Izuku faintly thought, "Normally that's the only thing people want. A peek at my home life."
"Well that's pretty shitty of people. You're your own person, not just the son of the Number 2 hero." Izuku huffed, missing the surprised glance Todoroki shot him.
"Ari! Come back where I can see you!" He shouted when he realized Eri had strayed too far out of his line of sight. Izuku was completely oblivious to the stirrings of inner turmoil that he had created within the other boy.
"This whole neighborhood is full of the absolute nicest people. They really help me with taking care of Ari if I need it." Izuku beamed underneath his mask just thinking about how helpful everyone here has been.
"They aren't even bothered by me being quirkless! They just see a kid in need of help and don't hesitate!"
"You're quirkless?"
All Izuku gave was a hum of confirmation. "Problem with it?"
"No! No it's just that I've never met anyone who's quirkless."
The greenette's mood suddenly soured. "Of course you haven't. Most of them commit suicide or are killed just for being 'weaklings"' It was true, the the hate crime and suicide rate against and amongst the quirkless population was disgusting.
Todoroki was surprised by the amount of venom that came from the boy. There was a lot of pent up anger in those words alone.
Izuku however was caught up in flashes of old memories. Vermillion eyes and hot flashes of pain. Kacchan. He quickly cleared his mind of the memories. Katsuki couldn't reach him here
Momiko Hisashi was Quirkless.
Midoriya Izuku however now had a quirk. A quirk he prayed to the heavens he had never gotten. A quirk that reminded him of the most painful 5 months of his life. A quirk he wasn't born with. One that he had gotten via painfully syringes and cold metal tables.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Midoriya Inko was consumed with grief. Sure it had been 10 months. But it had been 10 months without her child. She was a mother who had lost everything.
First her good for nothing husband left her and her darling baby when Izuku had only been six months old. He claimed to be going on a business trip to America and he would be back in a week's time.
Then his face was plastered on the news as a wanted criminal.
He didn't come back.
Inko raised Izuku all on her own. His bright beautiful smile, the hope in his eyes that shone like a stars.
When he turned four he was announced quirkless. It had been a big blow to him. Dreams being crushed just because he wasn't as strong or fast or as powerful as everyone else. He still dreamed the impossible dream and Inko supported him with her whole being.
Then the bullying began and Inko could do nothing to help her baby. Nobody cared that the quirkless kid got beat up or put down. All Inko could do was comfort her hurt crying child.
She watched the light of her life grow up into a timid lanky boy who was incredibly smart. Inko made sure that he knew he was worth the world's weight in gold to her. She made sure that he knew he wasn't alone and that she loved him with everything in her.
But tragedy struck once again.
Her baby, her Izuku, had been kidnapped.
The heroes and police force searched for him for two whole months. Then at the end of the second month he was announced dead when his body had been found in a dumpster. Her baby was dead.
Her darling boy who never gave up. Who always smiled. Who never gave in to the taunts of classmates.
He.
was.
D E A D.
What did Inko do to upset the deities above so that they took her child? Her sunshine?
It had been 10 months and Midoriya Inko hadn't smiled. She was a ghost. The only thing that kept her tethered to the world was her best friend Bakugou Mitsuki and her family. Her weekly dinners and random brunches with the Bakugou's were the only thing that kept her sane.
Katsuki admitted to bullying her Izuku. Inko had been devastated. The only kid that had ever been Izuku's friend had been bullying him for the past decade. Then she realized how hard Katsuki started working to change for the better and so she forgave him.
Some Pro heroes, as odd as it sounds, still dropped by the apartment for a cup of tea. Inko didn't question them even though she thought it odd. Izuku, as depressing as it was, wasn't the first civilian they had failed to save in time. But instead of moving on with their lives they came to the place he grew up to learn about the boy they had failed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Izuku and Todoroki ended up talking for hours. They talked until they felt closer with each other then they had ever felt with anyone else beforehand.
They exchanged phone numbers and parted ways when Eri had tired herself out to the point that she passed out in her brothers arms. He carried her back to their apartment, humming a random song under his breath to keep her relaxed.
He dropped her off at the apartment then went to the floor above to collect their dinner from a nice old couple. He's gotten in the habit of paying whoever gives them their meals 1000 yen (Just under 10 USD.) as a thank you.
Mizuki was more than generous with his monthly paycheck and he could really but his own food to cook but most of the apartment owners insisted they do it. It was really too sweet of them.
Now, Izuku didn't know much of Eri's past. All he knew was that the Yakuza known as the Eight Precepts of Death took her from her grandfather after her quirk manifested and she accidentally killed her father. But after that she refused to talk about it.
He knew that he would have to get it out of her somehow because she rarely slept in her own bed. Nightmares plagued the poor girl, Izuku wasn't much better off.
He would hear the whispered words of Shigaraki. Feel the phantom pains that his scars produced. Relive the pain of getting his quirk.
Eri's problems were similar with reliving her trauma in her dreams but she would refuse to talk about it. Instead she would crawl into his lap if she woke him up, curl into a tight ball against his chest, and sob.
"Eri~ I've got Katsudon~" he sang as he unpacked the food on their tiny excuse of a dining table. The girl immediately stirred, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she padded over to him.
"Is it from the nice people upstairs?" She asked with a yawn. Izuku smiled and hummed his confirmation.
"Of course. They're the only ones who make it for us silly." Izuku teased, lightly tapping Eri's nose as she sat in her chair and waited for him to sit.
They said their thanks and dug in. They ate mostly in silence, long enough for Izuku to make up his mind about something. He set his chopsticks down and took a deep breath.
"Eri, I'm going to go out tonight. I'll leave around 11 and I won't be back until at least 2. You'll need to call me if you have any nightmares or if someone tries to come in okay?"
"Where are you going Izu-nii? Do you have a date?"
Izuku couldn't help but fluster at her question. "No, sadly your brothers love life is pretty bland. I'll tell you all about it in the morning if everything goes well okay?"
"Okay!" Izuku couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. Eri just had that effect on him, she was just so sweet that he couldn't contain the smile that she brought on.
He doesn't deserve her. At least he doesn't in his mind.