Chapter Text
Izuku really felt that maybe, for once, he ought to have listened to his mom. She had always warned him to be careful to not walk in the bright city lights, or without his scent suppressants, and to beware the city shadows - maintain a walk in the city twilight, where it's safe - but of course Izuku didn’t listen out of spite for her over-protectiveness. He hadn’t listened and now he found himself in this...mess.
“Back off, I saw the wolfling first! He’s coming with me!”
“The wolfling wandered into our territory! He’s coming with us !”
You see, in this world full of witches, wizards, fae, humans and other creatures, Izuku was among one of the rarities. Or, as rare as you can get in such a world: he was a half-breed, the special part of the 20% of the world that were successful in having a baby born of two different species. The few halfbreeds that existed were known for being more powerful than the halves that made them.
Izuku, again, was a rarity. A highly coveted rarity, he, unfortunately, had no inherited powers. Zero. None. Zilch. The most he could was turn himself into a modest wolf, but really, any werewolf could do that, even the half breeds. It was an embarrassment, really, that he was considered so special but all he really was was a birth against most odds. And Izuku really didn’t want to find out how these street thugs would react when they found out he had no powers for them to take advantage of, that he was basically as useful as a human.
“And that’s why the halfling will - oi, where’d he go??”
“The little shit’s running away! After him! Go, go, go!”
It felt like the first time in forever since Izuku wished he had listened to his overprotective mother.
“Fuckin’ hell, that halfy can run! I think we lost ‘im.”
“A half-breed would’ve been useful to my gang, but now we ain’t got one, thanks to you!”
“You wanna go? You ain’t worth my time, man! Besides, that wolfling...he had a right weird scent to him, didn’t he?”
Izuku exhaled slowly in relief as he snuck from the alley into the stairwell that would lead up his family’s apartment. Hopefully his mom hadn’t come back from work yet and he could sneak in without her notice…
“Izuku, you’re home! I was worried sick! Where were you?!” Inko cried as soon as Izuku stepped in and he couldn’t help but cringe when she rushed over and fretted over him, “Were you watching those illegal hero fights again?? I know you sneak them on your laptop, you can’t fool me… Good, good, you’re not hurt anywhere…”
Izuku took a calming breath, shaking his head, “I brought home groceries for the week?”
Inko shook her head, eyes still all misty,
“Oh, Izuku, what am I going to do with you…?”
Ears flattening in deference, Izuku slowly put the groceries on the table, acting the timid, teary-eyed shamed son that Inko intimately knew.
“I’m sorry, mom, but I wanted to help you out a little. I see that you’ve been working extra hours lately and I’m just home everyday, you know… The groceries just one would be fine…”
“My sweet boy…! You’re too sweet, my little pup, you are! Thank you, but I could’ve handled it myself! There’s no need for you to go outside again, okay? It’s safe for you in here, in the house, in our den. So don’t ever go outside again, alright?”
Izuku cringed, helping his mom with putting the heavier things away, “Yes, I understand…”
Inko frowned at him, petting at his mess of curls, pensive. She was upset he left without permission and endangered himself, but he really was just being a considerate boy like how she raised him to be…
“I can’t really punish you for trying to be helpful...we’ll have katsudon for dinner! I know it’s your favorite,” she beamed, hoping that’ll cheer him up. All she got was a grimace of a smile, but it was really Izuku’s best nowadays.
“Thanks, mom…,” he murmured as he stared down at the table. Such an old table, in their family from when his dad used to be around too. Staring at it felt so grounding. He was waiting until tomorrow to talk to her about this, since he had only just finalized the details and gotten approved confirmation today, but...honestly, he didn’t want to wait any longer. He’d be leaving in the morning anyways. Just coming out with it would be best, probably.
“Actually, um...I’m moving out, mom.”
Inko gaped at him, blinking slowly, pots and ingredients falling to the ground from where they had previously been levitating. Izuku turned to face her, ears flattened, the only body language betraying the faked steel in his voice.
“Yes, you heard me right. I said I’m moving out. And...And I’m going to college, too.”
Inko continued to gape, fingers grasping hopelessly at nothing, “W-who, wha - Izuku you, you can’t do that! I, its, it's not safe! I, well, I - I forbid you!”
Izuku had to close his eyes to the fear on her face. He could do this, he already went through with it. His last obstacle was simply his mother. He had to steel himself from coming to a breakdown of sheer nerves to get his point across to her clearly.
“I’m of age already, mom. Some...sometime ago, I applied for Yuuei University in Masustafu. I, I’ve gotten in, and I got a full ride in scholarships. I...I’m moving out and into an apartment by campus. With...with some friends.”
Inko stumbled back at the force of the words, grasping at the table to steady herself. University? Friends? Apartment? He had applied, done this by himself? That meant he - he had been sneaking out for years, without her knowing - going behind her back - after all she and Hisashi had done for him?? To keep him safe, protected, away from the cruel world that would give anything to chew up and spit out a half breed like Izuku? How could he?
Inko could hardly focus on Izuku’s mumbling as the world seemed to narrow to her grip on the table, her breathing, the nervous rambling of Izuku’s words.
“Look, I...maybe, maybe you and dad did this because you wanted to protect me, but...it was...It was hell, mom. It, it was like being a prisoner in my home, everyday! You, you never let me out, even now, and I’m an adult now! I only go out with permission, for, for twice a year, to, to see dad, or Kacchan on my birthday. I, I’m a grown man now, my - my own wolf! So I’m moving out. I, I want - I am going and seeing the world for my own. I...I, the boy you said would have no one but enemies, have friends, you know? Good friends, who will help me, and, and protect me.”
Inko whimpered and burst into tears.
The Midoriyas considered themselves a fairly normal family, with average day to day lives. Inko descended from the guardian wolf packs of Kyoto on her mother’s side, and humble forest wolf packs from the south of Japan on her father’s side. Inko’s parents were blissfully retired in the countryside, just a train ride away from their daughter, and Inko visited them when she could while she worked a simple clerical job in the city. Inko kept her private life from her work life, a good practice, if that didn’t mean she also kept it from her loved ones, too.
Inko got herself a second degree and made her way up to being a lawyer. Her parents received an up in pension thanks to their daughter, but her visits to them became fewer and fewer.
No one, none of her friends and family, had heard of Akatani Hisashi until Inko had sent invites to their humble, private wedding, in which Hisashi took the Midoriya family name. No one knew the oddness of their union, either, until they gave birth to their son, a half-breed. Their little Izuku, Hisashi had declared. This put an end to the legacy of Midoriya normalcy and averageness.
No one was allowed close to their little family. It was to the point were Inko’s family were cut off and Inko’s closest friends,the Bakugous, were pushed away. At first to a few visits a year, then to holidays, then to moving away to another city altogether and Katsuki and Izuku only being allowed to see each other on Izuku’s birthdays. As Izuku grew older, Hisashi and Inko agreed to start living apart for the safety of their son. Izuku began to only see his dad on special occasions from then on and the memory of his dad faded to being a man he only really knew through letters and postcards. He wasn’t allowed to have friends other than Katsuki, not allowed to go out, and was homeschooled. All for his own safety, his parents insisted. The Midoriyas lived this quiet life for many years. They continued this lifestyle until their little Izuku, who had felt imprisoned in hell with this treatment, had waited and plotted until he was finally an adult to decide what he wanted to do for himself. And what he wanted was to leave and live for his own.