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Shouta wasn't sure when he realized that there was something a little bit 'off' about Midoriya. He supposed it was sometime after his mother had to move for work, and he had agreed to become the kid's guardian. If he hadn't, he would have had to withdraw from U.A. They had considered Toshinori being his guardian, but there were already plenty of questions about his relationship with that hero, so it was best to avoid it.
Hizashi hadn't protested at all. Since the kid was already at school in the dorms, they didn't suspect their lives would change much. After all, they saw him every day, multiple times a day. They knew he had plenty of friends, and he was training hard. They figured he could even feed and water himself, so what was there to worry about?
But the time stretched, and Midoriya seemed—a little off? He seemed kind of spacey. He wasn't doing as well on his papers as he could. He was lacking in his training, having been thrown during spars that he easily should have won. More often than not, Shouta caught him staring off into space, day dreaming in class. At first, he had thought maybe it was an improvement over the boy working himself half to death, mumbling over this and that and scribbling in his notebooks.
But he just looked generally unwell. It wasn't anything that he could put his finger on, but it did bother him. Even though Shouta came off as short and snappy, it wasn't a secret amongst the staff that he adored all of his students. He would have cut his own heart out to protect any one of them. He may or may not have had a special place in his heart for Midoriya, but it wouldn't have been appropriate to say such a thing out loud. He had to be unbiased.
He continued to give the kid his space. After all, he was smart enough to come to an adult if he had a problem, right? That had to be it.
The adults had apartments in the building next to the dorms. It was easily accessible through an underground tunnel, although this was only meant to be used in case of emergency. It could also function as a shelter for various kinds of attacks or natural disasters. But almost never would a kid just randomly use them.
It was why he and Hizashi were so surprised to hear a knock on their door that night. It was why he had wrenched the door open as quick has he could when he looked through the peep hole and realized that it was Midoriya standing there.
“What? What is it? What's happened?” he demanded, putting his hands on the kid's shoulders. Midoriya was looking down, messy green hair falling into his face. He forced his chin upwards, searching his face for injuries while Hizashi hovered in the background.
They both stared for a moment when they saw the tears in his eyes and noticed the way that he was clenching his hands. They glanced at each other, confused. It was no secret that the kid was kind of a crybaby, but this seemed different somehow.
“Get him inside.” Hizashi hissed, breaking Shouta out of his confusion. He nodded and reached out, grabbing Midoriya by his shoulders and getting him inside. As soon as he did that, the dam seemed to break. Tears were pouring down his face.
“What's wrong, little listener?”
“I don't know!” he managed to say, scrubbing at his face with his hands. Shouta looked closer and realized that his skin looked raw, and that his eyes were already red rimmed. He must have been crying for awhile. His hair was rumpled, and a glance at the clock told him that it was past the time that Midoriya usually went to bed, as All Might had him on a training plan that required lots of sleep.
“Did you have a nightmare?” Shouta asked, taking in the way he was shaking. The kid managed a nod. Ah, so that was it. Both heroes felt the lightbulb click on.
“It's okay, you're okay.” Shouta walked him to the couch, an arm around his shoulders. Hizashi was getting a bottle of water and knelt in front of the kid to help him take small sips. His shoulders relaxed a little bit, and Shouta found himself rubbing his back.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Hizashi coaxed. Izuku just shook his head. Shouta didn't realize how hard the kid was holding his nightshirt until then. He carefully untangled the crooked fingers and rubbed them just a little bit.
“You're okay,” he repeated. “Everything is fine.”
“I want my Mom!” he blurted. “I really, really want my Mom!”
“She's not around, baby.” the term of endearment popped out before Shouta could stop himself. “I'm sorry. Isn't there anything Hizashi and I can do?”
“No! I want a hug from my Mom, I want—I want to be held, I just want to pretend that none of this is really happening right now.” he looked so lost. He looked so hurt. It was easy for Shouta and Hizashi, hell all the other adults, to forget that these were still children. They were half grown, but they still had growing up and growing out to do. It was easy to continue to put the weight of the world on their shoulders, since they all carried it so well, with more grace than he could have mustered even at his own age.
But that didn't mean it wasn't heavy.
“I know, buddy.” Hizashi was moving quickly. He scooped up the kid and plopped down next to Shouta on the couch. “I know, you're working so hard, and you're doing so well. Everyone is amazed by you and proud of you. But it must make you so tired.”
Izuku hummed, burying his face in Hizashi's shoulder. Shouta opened his own arms and the kid was easily transferred. Those fingers tangled into his hair, and he continued rubbing his back. Of course he'd want his mother, he thought.
“I wish I could get your Mom for you.” he whispered, smoothing one of his hands down those wild curls. Hell, sometimes he wished that he could get any of those kids anything they wanted. But it seemed like such a primal thing, to want ones mother when things felt like they were falling apart.
Izuku just tightened his hold. Shouta stood up, carrying him to his own bed. If he didn't get him settled down, he was going to have a panic attack, and then it would be a whole mess. He laid down in his bed, pulling the boy close. He curled up on his chest, face hidden, fingers in his hair.
“Take deep breaths... In, and out... In, and out...” he whispered. “That's it, that's what you needed. Relax, everything is fine here. There's no one here that would hurt you. And if they tried, they wouldn't like what I would do to them.” Hizashi chuckled at that and pulled out his phone. He pulled up the playlist that they used on rough nights, with the wave sounds, the rain sounds. The white noise seemed to make Izuku calm a little more.
They were silent until it was obvious he had fallen asleep. Whether or not that was because of his own exhaustion from crying, or because he was actually tired, they weren't sure. Either way, the couple looked at each other, their lips pinched together in concern.
***
Izuku was gone before they woke up in the morning. They wondered if they should discuss it with him, or just pretend it never happened. They let him take the lead, and he seemed determined to pretend it had never happened. Well, everyone had a slip now and then, they reasoned. Everyone needed something sometimes.
But they still watched him like a hawk. Hizashi reasoned that they were meant to. After all, they were his guardians. They should be making sure that he was well taken care of! And if that meant that they started having him around for dinner a few nights a
week when neither were on patrol, that was even better.
It was Shouta who first noticed that his fingers would drift towards his mouth when he was beginning to be stressed. He typically caught himself, yanking the tips of his fingers away just as they breached his lips. But there were times when he seemed to be nibbling on them, or just sucking on them.
“Don't,” Aizawa would whisper if they were in class, tugging his hand away. “That'll hurt your teeth and make you sick.”
Izuku always went red and nodded, clenching his hands, determined to keep it out of his mouth. As embarrassing as it was to be told to get your fingers out of your mouth as a highschooler, it would have been worse for one of his classmates to catch him at it. If Yamada caught him, he'd just tap his own lips thoughtfully, and the hand would come away, still with the blush though. So far, no one had caught on.
“You don't have to keep it.” Hizashi had said on their dinner night, when they had eaten early, and were settling in to watch a movie together.
“But this is better than your fingers. You can't have it in class, obviously, but maybe we can work out something with a fidget.”
“That's for babies!” Izuku shook his head. “I'm not a baby. I might not be an adult, but I'm not a baby!” he insisted. Shouta sighed and took the pacifier from Hizashi.
“We're not saying you are a baby. Everyone has something that helps them. This is actually made for adults so it won't hurt your teeth.” it was true that he had done extensive research before buying one. Shouta knew more about age regression than he ever cared to.
It had all been... educational, he supposed.
“Fine,” Izuku huffed, not looking them in the eyes. He parted his lips and took the pacifier into his mouth, slumping against the couch. The adults let their eyes meet over his head and shared a little smile. The boy was slouched over Shouta, his fingers messing with his hair, like he wasn't even thinking about it.
The movie started, and to Hizashi's delight, the pacifier was bobbing in his mouth. He didn't even seem aware of the fact that he had it at this point. But he was still, calm, and his big green eyes had taken on a dreamy sort of cast to them.
It felt heavenly, he thought, to be snuggled up on the couch with his husband and their—ward? Child? None of that felt right. The only thing he could think of when he looked at Izuku this way was 'baby'. He was a baby, and he was their baby.
By the time the movie was over, he was sleep in Shouta's lap. The dark haired man picked him up and carried him towards the guest room. What was the point in hauling him all the way to the dorms when they had a perfectly good, empty bed here? Hizashi trailed after, pulling down the sheets so that the boy could be laid down and tucked in. The pacifer dangled, almost falling out. Hizashi tipped it back in, smiling when he latched on in his sleep.
“We've started something here.” Shouta told him once they were in his own room.
“I know that.”
“We can't stop just because we've changed our minds or get uncomfortable.” he warned. “That would be tantamount to abandoning a child.” he dropped to the edge of the bed. “I just want him to know that he's safe and loved in the moments that we can give him that. I can't defeat every villain that might have their eyes on him. All I can give him is this.”
“And that's plenty! I'm sure it's a chart topper in his eyes!” Hizashi wrapped his arms around his husband, kissing his cheek and nuzzling him. They sat quietly for a few minutes.
“I can't pretend that I don't like it, too.”
“Yeah,” Shouta breathed out. “Me too.”
They laid in their bed together, cuddled with one another, each thinking his own thoughts. The one thing they did know for sure was that the baby in the next room was sleeping soundly and safely, and that was all that mattered in the moment.