Chapter 4
TEN WEEKS LATER…
Shouta and Hizashi had a huge problem. Ok, mostly Shouta had a huge problem. Shouta was supposed to be returning to work the next day and they had just angrily walked out of the 6th daycare.
When Hitoshi was a baby Shouta had been able to leave him with people he trusted, Hizashi’s parents, but now they were gone, and Shouta was really struggling with his high expectations. It didn’t help that Izuku cried whenever anyone but Shouta, Hizashi, or Hitoshi picked him up. It caused Shouta’s inner omega to just flare up and demand his baby back.
“Shouta wait I’m sure she didn’t mean it like that…” Hizashi raced after his husband after a particularly bad interview with a daycare. On top of Shouta’s anxieties, they had to deal with the discrimination of Shouta being a male omega and wanting to work.
Most omegas, especially male omegas that had to struggle to get even one baby, chose to stay at home and so when they DID drop babies off at a daycare it was only a few hours for grocery shopping or doctors’ appointments. An omega wanting to leave their baby for a whole workday was met with passive aggressive comments and judgmental stares.
“You know very well she meant what she said, and I will NOT risk our baby being mistreated because I choose to work.” Shouta snapped. Hizashi finally grabbed his arm and pulled him and Izuku into his arms. He let out a comforting rumble from his chest and let out a soft comforting scent so Izuku wouldn’t be overwhelmed. Shouta melted into his arms and just let out a sigh.
“I know… maybe Nezu will give you a few more days so we can find a place?” Hizashi said. Shouta let out a deep sigh and just shook his head.
“We have one more place on our list… and its really close to the school…” Shouta mumbled. They chose to walk so that Shouta could calm down. It was a tiny daycare that almost blended into the other shops with cute chibi animals painted on the wall. It smelled nice and the front area looked over the play area where Shouta was surprised to see an alpha in an apron doing a silly dance with a semicircle of 5 children, all with some sort of mutation quirk. The dancing stopped when a purple cloud looking man came out carrying a tray and the children ran to a colorful plastic table. Shouta couldn’t smell him which probably meant he was a beta.
“Shiggy, we got new people!” The alpha yelled when he caught sight of Shouta and Hizashi.
“I’m dealing with a blowout! Have Dabi or Magni deal with it until I’m done!” a voice called from a door with a painted baby on it.
“Magni is on vacation.” The man that came out of yet another side door almost had Shouta walking right out except Hizashi had a tight hold on his waist. He had dyed black hair and piercings all over his ears, lip, nose, and eyelid. He wore a baggy white t-shirt, baggy black jeans with a belt holding them up, and a colorful apron like the blonde alpha and the purple smoke man. He was also tattooed from his neck down from what Shouta could see. That included two full sleeves.
“I’m Dabi, welcome to the all-inclusive LOV day care where everyone is accepted at a low fee.” Dabi said with a bored tone. Hizashi grinned at him and held up a hand in greeting.
“I’m Hizashi! This is my mate Shouta, and this little guy is Izuku!” Hizashi said. Dabi came around the counter and looked down at Izuku who just stared back. Dabi suddenly stuck out his tongue at Izuku, showing off his tongue piercing, and to Shouta and Hizashi’s surprise, Izuku smiled.
“Well let me give you the grand tour. These are our employees” Dabi motioned to a wall with pictures and their names written under.
“Toga is still in high school, so she only works part time in the afternoon. Magni is on vacation and works with our after-school kids with Spinner, helping them with homework. Spinner works mostly with the after school kids and does little lessons on computers and stuff if homework is done. So, you won’t really see those two with that little guy. Mr. Compress works with Twice with our 3-5 age kids. Kurogiri is our chef and housekeeper. I work with Shiggy with the 0-2 kids. Yes, some of us are alphas, but we are all certified with the state.” Dabi said as he pointed to each picture.
“We haven’t had much luck with daycares… but being an alpha is last on our list of things we worry about” Shouta said.
“I think that’s why boss man opened this place. Most of our kids have mutant quirks and got kicked out or bullied out of their last day care. A lot of single omegas who must work also use us cause frankly we don’t care why or if you must work. It’s your business. Ours is to make sure when you pick up your pup at the end of the day, they are happy and healthy. We also have the lowest rates.” Dabi said. He pressed a special button and pulled a gate open into the open play area. The alpha Shouta now knew was Twice (why do they all have such strange names?) was sitting with the kids and helping a few of them eat while keeping them entertained. Another beta had arrived, and his fancy dress clothes clashed horribly with the colorful apron.
“This is our main area. Your kid comes out here when they are 3. The elder kids’ area is over there” Dabi pointed to two glass doors in the back that showed a row of computers. Your little guy will be in here with me and Shiggy.” Dabi opened the glass door with a baby painted on the front. Shiggy was not what Shouta was expecting.
Shiggy wore dirty baggy clothes with the same apron that Shouta assumed was their “uniform” with two fingered gloves on his hands. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail. The room was colorful with not a hero in sight with soft padding on the floor and a few sensory toys flung about. Two babies slept in separate cribs in the corner and Shiggy was holding the other, swaying and humming what Shouta recognized as a song from a video game that Hitoshi played.
“Shiggy these guys came for a tour.” Dabi said and took the baby out of his hands. The one called “Shiggy” just looked at them then grabbed a baby wipe, trying to wipe a puke stain off his top that had missed the apron.
“Welcome to LOV daycare. I’m the owner Shigaraki Tenko. Just call me Shiggy. I’m a male omega and Dabi is an alpha. Since you haven’t run screaming from our building, I’m going to guess that doesn’t bother you.”
“Not really… I haven’t heard a sarcastic comment or judgmental question about why an omega would want to work. So, this has been the best place so far.” Shouta said. Shiggy snorted in agreement.
“I suppose the only test is if Izuku will let you hold him!” Hizashi said cheerfully.
“I love difficult babies.” Shiggy said and held his hands out. Shouta took a deep breath then handed Izuku over to the teen. Izuku let out a few disgruntled noises and wiggled in Shiggy’s arms, but to his parents’ amazement he calmed against his chest and held onto the apron. Shiggy and Izuku stared into each other’s eyes, almost communicating until Izuku decided Shiggy was ok and closed his eyes, resting his head on Shiggy’s shoulder.
“Do you have an opening for tomorrow? Monday to Friday?” was all Shouta could ask.
“Yeah… Come to my office and we’ll work out the contract.” Shiggy said and offered Izuku back to Shouta. He led them to an office where Kurogiri was typing on a computer.
“Kurogiri please sign them up. Its almost feeding time.” Shiggy said then promptly left.
The contract and fees were straightforward, and Shouta was also impressed that they would feed Izuku his breastmilk if he pumped and supplied it. Hizashi was just glad they found a place they both liked. But they both warned about Izuku’s strange fear of All Might which made Kurogiri chuckle.
“We don’t have any hero stuff here. Shigaraki doesn’t care for it.” Kurogiri said.
As they were leaving a colorful van pulled up and a beta they remembered as Spinner hopped out and opened it, lifting a plastic sword.
“Let’s go defeat the homework so we can play video games!” he said dramatically, and six kids hopped out with their own plastic swords, yelling as they ran inside. Spinner helped the last small child down then joined the smallest one in yelling and running inside.
“Ok, I really like this place. Its different!” Hizashi said, laughing.
“I think its because they all seem young. They probably connect with the kids better.” Shouta said but he also agreed. Most of the day cares looked like hero propaganda just puked on the walls. This one had animals and shapes and other interesting topics. The staff was also mixed and didn’t judge if they weren’t judged. Shouta was happy that the daycare didn’t have just omegas and betas, he was a firm believer in equal second gender rights and alphas could be amazing care takers too. Hizashi was a perfect example of that.
The next day Shouta was embarrassed that he actually got a little teary eyed when he handed a sleeping Izuku and his bag over to Shiggy. Stupid illogical hormones.
“I’ll send you pictures, and you have my personal number.” Shiggy said with an understanding tone. Other parents were there handing over their sleeping children so they could get to their jobs and somehow that made Shouta feel better.
At lunch Shouta was very moody as he used a pump to get milk for his youngest. He felt like a dairy cow, and he missed Izuku’s cute noises as he ate and his weight in his arms. Shouta looked at his phone ready to yell at someone when he noticed it was a picture message from Shiggy. Shouta felt his mood lift as he stared at a picture of Izuku on some sort of soft looking blanket on his back, staring up at the camera with his huge beautiful green eyes, and sucking on his favorite kitten pacifier.
With the picture came a detailed message from Shiggy telling him how much he had eaten and when, how long he slept, and when he had gone to the bathroom. It made Shouta feel so much better and he made it through the day without ripping someone’s head off.
CHRISTMAS TIME… 5 MONTHS OLD
Hitoshi was doing sit ups in his room as he listened to one of his lessons over his computer speaker when he heard tapping on his door. Chuckling he jumped up and opened it, showing Izuku’s smiling face. He had figured out he could get places if he did the army crawl, and it was driving his parents nuts. Izuku had also figured out what door was Hitoshi’s and how to smack it to get his elder brother’s attention.
“Are you supposed to be down the hall?” Hitoshi scolded jokingly. Izuku let out a coo and cuddled to his chest when Hitoshi picked him up. He made his way down the hall where he saw his dad on his hands and knees, looking under the couch for Izuku.
“Lose something papa?” Hitoshi said. Hizashi snapped his head up and let out a loud sigh of relief.
“Thank you! He’s just so fast and quiet!” Hizashi complained, taking Izuku from Hitoshi.
“You really should just get a playpen or gates.” Hitoshi said, crossing his arms.
“Your mother won’t let me. Says he doesn’t want to ‘restrict his curiosity and natural urge to explore’ or something like that.” Hizashi whined. Before Hitoshi could answer his phone started ringing and he looked at it, seeing Denki’s smiling face. He brightened and answered.
“Hey Denki, what’s…” a sniffle cut him off.
“H-hey Hitoshi… c-c-can I come o-over? J-just f-for t-t-tonight?” Denki said, sounding like he was shivering hard.
“Denki are you ok? Where are you of course you can come over!” Hitoshi’s yelling got Hizashi’s attention, and he looked over.
“I’ll s-s-send you m-m-my l-l-location.” Denki said and the line went dead.
“Papa please we must go get him. He sounds like he’s hurt!” Hitoshi told his dad after he got Denki’s location.
“Ok, ok, calm down. Let me give Izuku to your mother and grab my car keys.” Hizashi said and headed to their nest. Shouta was taking a short nap and glared when Hizashi shook him awake.
“Denki is hurt. Hitoshi and I are going to go get him.” Hizashi explained. Shouta flew up right away, wide awake.
“No, I’ll go, you stay with Izuku.” Shouta said throwing on one of his shirts.
Shouta and Hitoshi rushed out, used to leaving at a second’s notice as heroes. Luckily Denki wasn’t far from their house, but when they finally found him, they were shocked.
Denki was sitting under a bus stop shivering hard in the snow with only a t-shirt and pajama pants on and no shoes. His nose was bloodied, and his eye was almost swollen shut. Hitoshi flew out of the car before it stopped and gathered Denki up in his arms.
“Denki! Denki! Shit you are freezing!” Hitoshi said, feeling himself panic. Shouta arrived with a blanket and wrapped the blonde tightly in it.
“The heater is on in the car, lets go.” Shouta told Hitoshi calmly. Shouta put Denki in the front so that the heater was closer and started driving to his house.
“Denki? Can you tell me who did this?” Shouta asked softly while focusing on the road. Denki slurred his answer, half conscious, but Shouta and Hitoshi still heard him.
“Dad… made him mad… don wan be hero…” Denki stopped talking and his head went forward.
“Call your father, tell him we’re going straight to the hospital.” Shouta said making a turn.
“That bastard… I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know he was…” Hitoshi was gripping his fists.
“Hitoshi… I really need you to focus and do as I ask so we can help your friend.” Shouta said, letting out a calming scent.
“Yes mama…” Hitoshi called his father to tell him.
Shouta got to the emergency entrance and took Denki inside before making his own call to the perfect person.