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Shouta had never seen Bakugou so quiet.

It was almost surprising but considering what the kid had just gone through, the personality shift was justified. Shouta had been a victim of a few kidnappings himself so he could sympathize with Bakugou.

It was just… unsettling.

The boy softly walked out of his hospital room where the doctors cleared him. As soon as he saw Shouta, he seemed to relax. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, almost in a defensive way. He looked so small – so much like he wanted to fade into thin air.

“Let’s get you home, Bakugou,” Shouta said, nudging him along.

Bakugou followed without a fight, mumbling something that sounded dismissive. 

During the mindless drive, Shouta tried to get Bakugou to open up about what happened while he was kidnapped. The villains must have done something to make his kid so silent. Unfortunately, Bakugou – despite the personality change – was no easier to crack than before he was taken. 

Shouta left it alone. Everyone was exhausted. He noticed Bakugou’s eyes drooping before fluttering back open when the car went around a particularly sharp corner.

And finally, so Shouta was one step closer to going home, they made it to the Bakugou household. 

Shouta parked the car and got out. He waited a few moments, fully expecting to see his student pop out of the passenger seat. When nothing of the sort happened, he rounded the car and opened the kid’s door himself. He crouched down to tell him to–

Oh.

Bakugou was trembling. It was a subtle thing – hardly visible – but noticeable nonetheless. His face was crumpled in such a way that he almost appeared frightened. Shouta had never seen him look like that before.

“Kid? We’re at your house. Don’t you want to see your parents?” Shouta asked.

Bakugou took one unstable breath. “She’s going to be so mad,” he whispered.

Shouta’s heart cracked.

“Who? Your mom?” Shouta asked. “I think she’ll just be happy you’re safe.” 

Bakugou’s head tilted upward to look his teacher in the eye. The crumpled face – the one that held fear – morphed into a porcelain mask, absent of any cracks. And suddenly, his student looked like he always did.

Bakugou then got out of the car, closing the door behind him. He faltered for only a moment until it was obvious Shouta was following. The whole interaction was strange. 

Instead of knocking like Shouta would have done, the boy twisted the knob and entered the house, his teacher following suit.

When they stepped into the chilled house, Shouta expected to see weeping parents barrel toward their son and wrap him in a warm hug. He did not expect to hear the sharp sound of hand meeting skin as his student’s head reeled to the side.

Shouta’s heart broke.

Bakugou sagged his head down after the slap caused him to falter. Behind Bakugou’s mother stood his father who had witnessed the action with a straight face. It was obvious such things had happened before judging by the body language around him. 

Before things could escalate into a fight, Shouta stepped forward and thrust his hand out, shaking his mother’s hand. The action was stiff and calculated but important nonetheless. He wanted to get in front of Bakugou to act as a wall. 

“Mrs. Bakugou, I’m sure you’re relieved to have your son back safe and sound, however, we think it would be beneficial to keep Bakugou under my supervision as the villains are still active. Of course, I wanted to run it past you and give you time to see your son,” Shouta said, lying through his teeth. He could feel his student shift behind him.

“The brat really is more trouble than he’s worth. You can have him. I’m pretty sure he knows how I feel about the whole event already,” Mrs. Bakugou sneered, glaring daggers into her son.

Bakugou sank back and diverted his attention to the floor. 

“Thank you,” Shouta said, bowing. “I’ll let Bakugou go ahead and grab anything he wants from here before we head out.”

The sentence was enough to get Bakugou moving quickly, instantly walking toward what looked to be his room. Shouta was immensely grateful that his student didn’t call him out. The lie was only held up by pure hope and trust in his student. 

Bakugou returned with a small bag holding nothing more than a few clothes. Shouta made a mental note to run out to the store and get essentials for him after they got settled.

Shouta urged his student along, leading him back to the car. The journey was silent and Bakugou was the most docile he had ever seen him. 

Once sat in the car, Bakugou turned to him. “Why did you lie?”

“Because I don’t think staying in that household is a good option for you right now,” Shouta explained while he took out his phone to send a text to Hizashi and let him know the situation. 

Bakugou took the explanation with a flat expression. If Shouta knew him any better, he would guess he looked confused.

The rest of the drive to Shouta’s place was silent.

Katsuki had never been more confused in his life.

Aizawa was taking him somewhere other than home after he saw what Mitsuki did. In more ways than one, he was thankful for the excuse. If he had stayed home, the slap wasn’t the only thing he would have had to deal with as well as the sharp insults he would have had to hear all night. 

The thought of staying with Aizawa felt safe. His teacher had never even come close to making him feel as terrible as his parents made him feel. 

Aizawa’s apartment was more decorated than he thought it would be. Katsuki assumed he would be met with the bare essentials and one set of silverware. That, however, was not the case. The furniture matched and most things had quite a fair amount of colour. 

Katsuki was only confused for a moment before another man walked out of the kitchen. He looked vaguely familiar but Katsuki couldn’t quite put his finger on it–

“Hey, listener,” he greeted.

And of course, Aizawa would be living with the most obnoxious hero to exist.

Katsuki turned to Aizawa with a troubled expression. He most definitely didn’t step closer to his teacher because that made him feel safer.

“That’s just Present Mic,” Aizawa assured.

“You can just call me Hizashi,” Mic corrected, sending him a smile.

Katsuki warily looked at the man while trying to puzzle him out. He had never heard Present Mic so quiet. The new characteristics caused a wave of nerves to wash past him. If he was different in his civilian form, what was the limit? For all Katsuki knew, Hizashi was another form of his mother.

Somehow, Aizawa clued in on his expression with nothing more than a glance. He had never seen his teacher frown before but apparently, whatever Katsuki did was enough to cause it. 

“Do you want to lie down?” Aizawa asked, peering down at him. 

All Katsuki could manage was a nod. His hands were clenched so tightly at his sides that crescents formed in the meat of his palms. The action did not go unnoticed by Hizashi which caused the man to mirror Aizawa’s frown. 

With a feather-light hand on his back, Aizawa led him to what he assumed was the guest bedroom. As soon as a bed was in his sight, Katsuki was sagging into it. He didn’t think he had ever wanted to sleep so badly. 

“Go to sleep, kid,” Aizawa urged, draping a blanket over his shoulders. 

Katsuki took the offering with little fight. After all, he was far more focused on keeping his eyelids open. 

It was a losing battle.

The last thing Shouta expected was to find out that Bakugou was scared of Hizashi. His body language had been off the whole night so it wasn’t the most unusual but he still knew Hizashi. Bakugou should have been aware he wasn’t going to harm him.

After he got the kid to sleep, Shouta shut the door behind him and nearly collided with Hizashi. The look on his husband’s face was saddening. 

“I didn’t think he would react like that,” Shouta whispered. 

“He had a hard night. Plus, I don’t exactly look like Present Mic right now. That could be the issue,” Hizashi amended. 

Shouta sagged into him, breathing in the warmth Hizashi radiated. “I’m exhausted.”

Hizashi pecked the side of his head. “When are you not, baby?” 

The embrace had Shouta’s eyes drooping.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Hizashi asked, leading him to their room.

Shouta sighed and replayed the events in his head. He repeated the thoughts with little emotion – Hizashi had enough for both of them. The air was stiff and callous, and by all means meant to keep them from falling asleep, but Shouta wasn’t easy to convince. He changed into comfortable clothes and sunk into bed followed by his husband who curled up against him. 

They both lay in bed, mulling over the past few moments. Hizashi thumbed a textured finger over Shouta’s arm. He could tell that Bakugou's fear of Hizashi was taking a toll on his emotions.

“Kiddo just can’t catch a break,” Hizashi muttered. Shouta could feel the heat of his breath tickle his neck. 

Shouta pressed a kiss to the other’s forehead. “Speaking of,” he began, “I have to leave for work early tomorrow and I’d like to see how the class is doing with everything so I won’t be coming home early. I don’t imagine Bakugou is the only one going through shit.” 

“But Bakugou isn’t going to school tomorrow, right? I thought that would be wordlessly agreed on,” Hizashi miffed. Shouta saw the moment his face changed. “Oh, Sho’, he can’t stay with me for the day. He’s already stressed enough and I’ll just scare him without you here.”

“Just for tomorrow,” Shouta pleaded.

Hizashi sighed, snuggling deeper into his side. “Just for tomorrow.” 

Katsuki woke up with a breath stuck in his throat. He couldn’t remember what images had just flitted through his mind but whatever they were, judging by his huffing chest, he did not like them. A fluttering bound of nausea ripped through his stomach and for once, he dreaded going to school.

Katsuki sat up and listened for any sign of activity. Faintly, he could hear the clinking of dishes in the near distance. He hoped it was Aizawa. 

Katsuki exited the guest room and was immediately greeted by a cat twisting through his legs. He reached down with his hand and felt a portion of nausea fade when the cat bumped against his fingers. 

“Blanket likes you,” Hizashi said. Katsuki hadn’t even heard him coming.

Embarrassingly, Katsuki flinched and drew backward almost back into the guest room. He couldn’t stand himself. No wonder his mother was mad at him for getting kidnapped. If Katsuki’s kid was as weak as he was acting, he would be upset too. 

“Sorry, listener. I didn’t mean to startle you,” Hizashi apologized. He stayed right where he was luckily for Katsuki. “Breakfast is in the kitchen.”

Katsuki took in the information with a grumbling stomach yet ignored it. “Where’s Mr. Aizawa?” 

For a second, Hizashi’s mouth flipped into a sullen frown yet disappeared just as fast. Katsuki didn’t have the energy to feel bad. 

 “He had to go to work early,” Hizashi explained.

Katsuki peeked at the time. “I should go too.”

This time, Hizashi’s frown lingered. “Oh, kiddo, you’re not going to school today.” 

“What…?” Katsuki growled. “I’m not injured, I can go to school.”

“You went through a lot of stress and it’s not bad to take a break when you need it,” Hizashi said gingerly.

“I don’t need a break!” Katsuki yelled. He caused Blanket to skitter away. 

“Why don’t we talk about this over breakfast?” Hizashi suggested.

“Fuck you! Shove breakfast up your ass!” Katsuki snapped and stepped back.

Apparently, Hizashi decided that he had enough of his attitude and reached out to hit him. Katsuki flinched back violently, bringing up an arm to cover his face, yet no contact came. Slowly – hesitantly – he lowered his arm and peeked above the fabric to look at the adult in front of him. Hizashi had a horrified look on his face. If anything, Katsuki would describe it as sickly.

And then Katsuki felt like an idiot.

Hizashi was never going to hit him and Katsuki was just overreacting like he always did. Choppy breaths stuttered out of his chest as his anxiety spiked. Katsuki wanted to go – well no, he didn’t want to go home. He wanted – Aizawa – he wanted Mr. Aizawa. 

Yet that was not an option so he ran back into the guest room and loudly slammed the door shut, shoving a chair under the handle to prevent Hizashi from coming in. 

The breaths coming out of his mouth hardly counted as breathing. It felt as if someone had a hand on his lungs and was squeezing as hard as they could. It was almost enough to counter the feeling of the sludge villain worming its way down his throat or at the sports festival when he had a muzzle strapped over his mouth–

The door knob rattled and Katsuki froze. He backed himself into a corner and clenched his fists to try and keep his quirk contained. The walls covering his back did little to soothe his worries. When the doorknob rattled again, he stopped breathing entirely.

A chunk of time passed – it must have – because Hizashi was now in the room with him. The adult sat out of arms reach and Katsuki could faintly see his mouth moving yet heard nothing but buzzing. He was confused. How did he lose time? What happened during the time he lost? 

“Katsuki, are you back? Can you nod if you hear me?” Hizashi whispered.

Katsuki managed a nod. He pushed himself further away and tried to dissolve into the wall when Hizashi scooted closer.

“I’m not going to hurt you, sweetheart,” Hizashi assured, still moving. “Let me see your hands. Do they hurt?”

Katsuki took a moment to peer down at his clenched fists and slowly unravelled them. The undersides of his nails were caked in blood from his palms which had crescent indents rimmed with crimson. Some of the skin was singed from his quirk. 

Hizashi reached out and cupped the smaller hands in his, tending to the wound with some sort of cream and bandages. Instantly, the stinging faded before Katsuki realized how much it had hurt.  

One of Hizashi’s hands reached up to his face. Katsuki didn’t flinch but it was a near thing. His breath halted in his chest as he waited for a slap of pain.

Yet, the pain never came. Instead, Hizashi gently touched his cheek, wiping a tear away. Katsuki hadn’t even noticed he was crying. 

“What happened?” Katsuki asked with a voice that certainly did not belong to him; it was scratchy and broken. 

Hizashi sent him a ginger smile. “I really scared you, I’m sorry. You ran and locked yourself in here. Do you remember that?” 

Katsuki nodded, refusing to use his porcelain voice.

“I had to jostle the door quite a bit. I’m sorry I came in without your permission but I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself. When I came in, you were having a bad panic and dissociated in the process,” Hizashi continued.

“I don’t remember that,” Katsuki whispered. 

“That’s alright,” Hizashi affirmed. “I don’t imagine you would.”  

Katsuki frowned at the foggy memories. He didn’t like it when he didn’t remember. Sometimes, it happened when his mother yelled at him and it always pissed her off when he couldn’t repeat what she said. In a way, Katsuki was just like his mother. He had yelled at Hizashi and–

“I scared the cat,” Katsuki confessed. 

Hizashi frowned. “Oh, kiddo, don’t worry about that. Why don’t you go and find her while I reheat breakfast?” 

“Okay,” Katsuki obliged. He waited until Hizashi stood before he followed suit. 

As Hizashi broke off to the kitchen, Katsuki checked the living room and found Blanket up her cat tree. Hesitantly, he reached his bandaged hand up and sighed in relief when the cat nuzzled against him. 

This time, he could hear Hizashi’s footsteps when he walked into the living room with two plates in his hands. He motioned to the couch and set down Katsuki’s plate on the coffee table. Hizashi sat in one of the armchairs. Katsuki was grateful for the distance as it quelled his anxiety enough to swallow the food. 

The time after finishing breakfast was spent staring at the TV with a trailing gaze and waiting for Aizawa to return. Hizashi was proving to be trustworthy but that wasn’t the same as unequivocally safe like Aizawa was. 

When lunchtime came around, Hizashi announced he would make lunch as soon as he did something first. Katsuki could hear him even after he went to his and Aizawa’s bedroom and shut the door. He couldn’t hear what was said but enough to know that the call was obviously to Aizawa seeing as it was when the teacher had his lunch break. 

Despite the call, Hizashi exited looking as happy as ever and began to start on the food. Watching someone cook wasn’t the same as doing it yourself. And oh how Katsuki wanted to cook himself. He spent a lot of time cooking at home. It was the one time his mother wouldn’t touch him. 

But this place was not home. Katsuki was stuck in an apartment with a teacher he hardly spent time around and still yearned to get his hands on a skillet. 

The hope was gone when a plate of food dropped in front of him, already prepared. He poked at it with his fork and pretended it felt stale as ever.

It was not. The food was perfect.

Shouta was convinced to take a half day and leave as soon as possible once Hizashi called him. Truthfully, he hoped it was nothing. He hoped Hizashi was simply calling to ask him to pick up more coffee on his way home. 

Instead, he was met with a gentle voice – one that Hizashi used when he was trying to lay news down gently. 

Apparently, Bakugou had a terrible panic attack right after he woke up which caused him to dissociate for a good twenty minutes. Hizashi claimed he was the one to scare him which after last night, was believable.

But a panic attack ? 

Shouta had never seen Bakugou have a panic attack before and of course, as soon as he was left alone with his husband, that was when the kid had one.

Shouta asked if he should come home to which Hizashi assured him that things were getting better. He took the assurance like a grain of salt yet still listened despite himself. Shouta trusted his husband. 

Class 1-A was adamant when asking where Bakugou was, Midoriya especially. Shouta didn’t tell them any details except that Bakugou was safe. It was enough to calm them down.

Most of his kids were acting normal, some quieter than usual. He made sure to periodically check up on each one to see if there were any more pressing issues that needed to be dealt with.

Overall, his class sure didn’t have the best mental state but they were healthy enough to continue the training. 

So Shouta went home and prepared to deal with his kid who currently needed the most support. When he arrived, Hizashi smiled at him from the couch. Shouta was about to talk to him before Bakugou stepped in and locked eyes with his teacher. The only word Shouta could use to describe his expression was relief. 

“Hey, how was your day?” Shouta asked Bakugou.

Bakugou wrung out the sleeve of his shirt and glanced at Hizashi. “Fine.”

“Alright, well I’m staying with you tomorrow,” Shouta informed, trying not to smile at the way a small flicker of hope danced in the kid’s eyes.

“Whatever,” Bakugou muttered. 

As Shouta walked further into the home, Bakugou trailed after him like a duckling. He didn’t seem scared of Hizashi but avoided him nonetheless. 

Hizashi seemed fine with the actions. He stood up to peck Shouta on the lips. “How was work?” his husband asked.

“Better than I expected. The kids are doing good,” Shouta answered. Bakugou tilted his head to listen more closely.  

“That’s great!” Hizashi responded. 

Shouta hummed and ruffled Bakugou’s hair as he walked past. He made his way to the kitchen and the rest of his time was spent cooking alongside Hizashi before Bakugou asked to help. 

Shouta had to pry deep into the kid’s body language to confirm he wasn’t just offering because he felt like he had to. However, he was pleasantly surprised to find Bakugou appeared the most content he had ever been while here. Therefore, he let all three of them make dinner.

Watching Bakugou scrape at his plate of food while tiredly shoving it into his mouth made him drowsy. Shouta planned to usher Bakugou to bed quickly as he had had a difficult day no matter how much he tried not to show it. Judging by Hizashi soft glances, he agreed.

Shouta himself was happy to finally get into bed. Bakugou willingly went to his room without suggestion so Shouta and Hizashi were allowed to do the same. They slipped under the covers and fell against each other. Shouta pressed down on Hizashi and manhandled him until he became the perfect pillow. Hizashi, like a good husband, allowed the treatment. 

The two were content enough to doze off among the sound of their breaths and the blanket of heat.

And then Shouta woke up to a scream.

Hizashi stirred but didn’t wake. His hearing wasn’t the best due to quirk usage. Among the panic, Shouta didn’t consider waking him up before he was darting out of their room and toward the noise.

The scream had come from Bakugou’s room and Shouta hoped to God he hadn’t been taken again. He didn’t think he would be able to handle that; he didn’t think Bakugou would be able to handle that.

Thankfully, upon opening the door with a creak, Shouta was introduced to the sight of Bakugou sitting on the bed, paralyzed. He crept into the room and flicked on the lights, worried when Bakugou didn’t so much as react to the intrusion of light.

He approached the bed and reached out to grasp his student’s shoulder. As soon as he made contact, Bakugou began to thrash.

He couldn’t move much as the blankets were tangled around his legs. Shouta could hear the panicked pants coming from the boy. 

“You’re alright, Bakugou,” Shouta assured. 

Bakugou shook his head. “Off!” he cried, tugging at the fabric looped around his ankle. “I don’t want it,” he whimpered. 

Shouta obliged his request and untangled his limbs from the blanket. Once he was free, he calmed down exponentially. The kid’s breathing was still elevated as he clawed at his mouth. This time, Shouta had no idea how to help. There was nothing on his mouth to take off. It got to the point where Bakugou had nail indents scratched on his cheeks. 

“Kid, there’s nothing on your face,” Shouta said, trying to grab at his wrists.

“I don’t want it. I don’t want first place,” he mumbled, pleading. 

That was when Shouta froze. First place. The only time he remembered Bakugou not accepting first place was during the Sports festival. 

And oh . 

Midnight had knocked him out while Cementoss shackled him in place. Shouta wasn’t sure why he had only thought of the issue now. Sure, he was pissed when it happened and scolded the heroes involved after but he hadn’t even thought to check on Bakugou because he was so… fine. 

Obviously, that was not the case. 

And then the kidnapping came to mind. Bakugou had once again been chained which clearly sparked a trauma response and probably brought on the nightmare he was in.

“Katsuki,” Shouta soothed, desperate to get his attention, “look at me. You’re not restrained.” 

“I–,” Bakugou stuttered. “Aizawa, I don’t want it.”

“I know, sweetheart. Take a deep breath, focus on your breathing.” 

The kid listened and huffed out trembling puffs of air. As his eyes lost their clouded film, Bakugou began to rub at his wrists, assuring himself of the lack of restraints. Shouta took care to avoid any touch that might feel restraining but placed a hand on his head nonetheless. He began to gingerly pull the kid into a half-hug. Bakugou failed to lash out at the contact so he stayed still. 

The rest of the moment was spent breathing in the silence. Right before Bakugou’s breathing seemed to regulate, he tugged out of Shouta’s grip. 

“I didn’t mean to wake you,” Bakugou muttered, pulling back much farther. 

“I wake easily,” Shouta replied whilst trying to suppress the frown that cemented on his face.

Hizashi must have sensed the ruckus or noticed a cold spot in bed because he was now standing at the doorway, making his presence known with a timid knock. 

Bakugou reacted to the sound with a flinch, effectively breaking Shouta’s heart, and subtly shifted closer to his teacher. It was clear he was still afraid of Hizashi despite his reluctance to show it. 

“I’m fine,” Bakugou dismissed. “You can leave.” 

It wasn’t clear who he was particularly directing the command to but Shouta grasped at his own assumption and figured it was Hizashi. His husband looked to him with a questioning face that had Shouta nodding in reassurance. Hizashi curtly nodded back in response, confident that Shouta could handle it, and walked off. 

To Shouta’s utter relief and quite the opposite, Bakugou settled without the extra company. There was a moment filled with silence that had Shouta debating if he should leave or not. 

“I want to go to school tomorrow,” Bakugou said. He was rubbing at his bare wrists. 

“Kid, I don’t think—” he started before being interrupted. 

“I’m not weak, I can go back to school,” the kid fought.

Shouta sighed. “I never said that. It’s not weak to take a break after—”

“I want to see them,” Bakugou whispered. 

And for a moment, Shouta thought he was talking about his parents. It made his gut churn. However, Bakugou’s parents certainly weren’t going to be at school but his friends were. That was when it dawned on him; the poor kid just wanted to see his friends. 

“Alright, but no combat training,” Shouta relented. 

He was relieved to see a content look on the boy’s face and assured himself he made the right decision. 

Shouta wished Bakugou a good night and returned to his bedroom where Hizashi was waiting, wide awake. 

“He okay?” Hizashi asked, eyes following his husband as he climbed back into bed.

“He had a pretty bad nightmare either about the sports festival or the kidnapping.”

“Poor little listener,” Hizashi sympathized. “I hate that I scare him so much.” 

Shouta could feel his pain like a hand on the stove. “I know, baby.” 

Hizashi reacted to the nickname with a furrowed brow. Shouta wasn’t one for using pet names. 

“What’s wrong?” Hizashi asked. 

Shouta ran his palms down his face, cringing at every stress line. “I don’t know what I’m going to do about his parents. Then there’s the fact that he convinced me to let him go to school tomorrow.” 

“What?” Hizashi whispered, careful to keep his voice quiet. “He’s not ready for school.” 

Shouta rolled closer. “He wants to see his friends, Zashi.” 

“He said that?” he replied, surprise lacing his tone.

“He did,” the other confirmed, soaking in the warmth radiated off of his body. 

Hizashi took the reasoning just the same as his husband had. To have Bakugou admit such a vulnerable thing meant that it was to be taken seriously. They switched topics.

“And his parents? Do you have a plan?” Hizashi asked while rubbing feather-light fingertips over his back. 

“First we need to sit down and talk to the kid about how his parents treat him. We need solid evidence before even trying to fight them in court,” Shouta muttered.

“Fight them in court?” Hizashi questioned. “You want to fight for custody?” 

“Well, we have to talk to Bakugou first but I– I thought you would want that? Are we not on the same page?” 

“Honey, taking in a child is a lot different than taking in a cat – a traumatized one at that.”

Shouta shifted away from his touch after his heart clenched. “I know that,” he fought, careful not to raise his voice. “Are you saying you don’t want him?” 

“No, I’m saying we should talk about it. I know you have the tendency to take in strays but–”

Shouta must have had the most devastated look on his face because he saw his husband soften.

“Oh, baby,” Hizashi began, realization dawning over him. “You had already decided we were taking him in as soon as his parents laid a hand on him, hadn’t you?” 

Shouta oddly felt like crying. “Of course I did, Zashi. He’s my kid.”  

“Alright,” Hizashi relented. “I’m sorry. We’ll fight for him” 

Shouta swallowed his yearning for tears. “Damn right.” 

Katsuki was fairly annoyed at Aizawa’s hovering once they got to UA. He was trying to convince Katsuki to stay in the classroom until the bell rang but the request was futile. The only terms they agreed on were no combat training. Katsuki was not going to be babysat. 

Therefore, he ignored his teacher’s request and ventured off to find his idiot friends. Katsuki was aiming to look for Kirishima, simply praying he didn’t run into Kaminari first.

“Kacchan!” a voice cried. 

Or him. Katsuki really didn’t want to run into him. 

“Deku,” Katsuki growled, glaring. 

“Are you okay? Sensei said you weren’t going to be at school,” Izuku asked.

“I’m fine,” he replied, brushing the other off. 

“Why are you here?”

Katsuki huffed. “Because I’m fine.”

He tried to ignore the unimpressed face Izuku sported and opted to get back to class instead. Being free from Aizawa wasn’t worth torment from his classmates. Izuku followed behind him and Katsuki dismissed it, thankful that he wasn’t walking beside him. 

Each subject dragged on like watching paint dry though it was better than being cooped up in an apartment. The only thing that would have been able to salvage his boredom was combat training yet he was deprived of that too. 

While he was spectating from the sidelines, All Might mosied over. 

“Young Bakugou! How are you doing?” he exclaimed, far too energetic for the day Katsuki was having.

The sight of All Might's decrepit frame made something akin to guilt gather in his chest. It was sucking him in like one big black hole and all he could do was grasp onto anything he could reach.

That just so happened to be his words.

“Fine,” he muttered, refusing to make eye contact. 

The hero must have noticed his off behaviour because the next thing Katsuki knew, it was Aizawa standing in All Might’s place.

“Bakugou? Are you alright?” he asked. After no response, he continued, “Would you like to go back to the apartment?” 

The question was enough to set him off. Katsuki didn’t understand how everyone thought he was so weak he was incapable of leaving the four grey walls of his room. Was he not allowed to return back to normal? 

But that was just it. Normal was unachievable.

Ever since Katsuki destroyed All Might, nothing would go back to the way it used it be. 

Without saying a word, he got up and walked toward his classmates, away from Aizawa. His name was called and easily ignored. 

Katsuki needed to punch something. 

And it just so happened he had a personal vendetta against a certain All Might protege. 

Izuku was training off to the side on his own. Katsuki pounced on him the first moment he got and socked the other right in the nose. Izuku reacted instantly, sending a kick directly to Katsuki’s side. Only, Katsuki grabbed the other’s foot and slammed him to the ground. Before his arms could be pinned, Izuku punched him in the jaw.

Aizawa was quick to rush over, having to physically pry Katsuki off of his other student. He felt himself be dragged off from his wrist and for a moment, it was Mitsuki’s hand digging into his arm. The thought had him sucking in strangled breaths. He must have panicked more than he thought because he blinked and was in the teacher’s lounge. 

Aizawa was sitting directly in front of him, staring into his soul. 

“Are you back, kid?” he asked. The words felt like mud.

He nodded nonetheless. It was important to answer. Adults don’t like it when you don’t answer. 

“Bakugou, this conversation is important. I need to know if you’re fully present or not,” Aizawa said. 

Ah. He wanted a verbal response, of course. Mitsuki was like that too.

“Yes,” he managed through the fog. 

Aizawa still didn’t look pleased but he continued anyway. “What made you attack Midorya?” 

Katsuki sighed. That was a loaded question. Did he attack Izuku to let off some steam, or was it more important than that? Was it because he was All Might’s successor? He definitely couldn’t disclose that to Aizawa. 

“I got angry,” Katsuki muttered. It was a poor excuse. 

“You can’t do that, Bakugou. A hero doesn’t act that way.” 

“I shouldn’t be a hero anyway,” he whispered. 

Katsuki saw the moment Aizawa froze in his tracks. His hands stilled and his leg stopped bouncing. Each word was meticulously curated before leaving his mouth.

“What makes you say that?” Aizawa asked carefully. 

“It’s my fault All Might isn’t a hero anymore.” 

Aizawa’s face crumpled. “Did he say that?” He sounded angry.

“Who?” Katsuki asked.

“Did All Might say that?” Aizawa repeated. “That’s not true, Bakugou. If he said that I’ll–” 

Katsuki pursed his lips. “He didn’t say anything but it’s true. If I wasn’t so weak and didn’t get kidnapped, he wouldn’t have had to fight against All For One.” 

Aizawa began to wring his hands together. “The fight was going to happen eventually. It was anything but your fault.”

“But my mom said–” 

“Who gives a damn what your mom said,” Aizawa blurted. Katsuki was taken aback by the blunt statement. “I–” he huffed. “I didn’t want to have this conversation here. Look, we need to talk but it can wait. Right now, I need you to understand it wasn’t your fault. Being kidnapped doesn’t make you weak. I’ve been kidnapped multiple times.”

Katsuki couldn’t mask the way his brows furrowed. Nothing was making sense. Ever since he got kidnapped everything went to shit and anything he used to know never seemed to apply. Aizawa was the most confusing. 

“Bakugou, do you understand?” 

Katsuki mutely nodded. He wasn’t quite sure whether a verbal response was needed or not. By the looks of Aizawa’s face, he would have preferred an answer he could hear but didn’t mention anything. 

“Alright,” his teacher sighed. “Let’s go back to the apartment.” 

Katsuki lept out of his seat and backed away in case he was to be dragged again. “No!” he protested. “I’m staying.” 

“No, kid. I shouldn’t even have let you come back today,” Aizawa insisted. When Katsuki didn’t move, his voice grew tight. “Bakugou, now.” 

Katsuki still stayed cemented in place. Aizawa took it as a sign to reach out. All Katsuki saw was movement from an adult who was angry and–

He stupidly flinched yet again. 

Aizawa stopped in his tracks and lowered his hand. “Okay, no touching,” he consoled. “Follow me, please.” 

Katsuki listened.

Shouta was thoroughly and utterly frustrated with not just the world but himself. He made far too many mistakes with Bakugou. First was the grip on his wrist which caused him to dissociate and then he idiotically tried to grab the boy again. Shouta couldn’t figure out why he was so stupid. 

They made it back to the apartment in complete silence. Shouta wasn’t sure whether Bakugou just didn’t feel like talking or he thought he was in trouble. Technically, he was but given the circumstances, he figured he could excuse it.

Out of all the things that happened, Shouta had not expected Bakugou to attack Midoriya unprovoked. But then again, he should have known something would happen. Hizashi was right. Bakugou was not ready to go to school. Shouta should have invited Bakugou’s little problem friends to his apartment or something. 

He desperately wanted to talk things over with Hizashi before he started the conversation about Bakugou’s parents but there was no time to wait until the end of the day. The poor kid was already anxious and probably exhausted. 

Bakugou tried to head to his room but Shouta called him back and requested he sit in the living room. He almost regretted it when the kid turned around with a sickly look on his face. Shouta sat in an armchair facing toward the couch Bakugou was on. The positioning was something he had discussed with Hizashi. It was crucial that Bakugou didn’t feel overcrowded or trapped during triggering conversations. 

“Bakugou–” Shouta began before the kid swiftly interrupted.

“Katsuki,” he said. “When we’re not at school.” 

“Alright,” Shouta accepted. “Katsuki, I need to talk to you about your parents.” 

The reaction was instant. Bakugou – or Katsuki as he had requested – hunched further in on himself. 

“Why?” Katsuki bit, defensive. It was obviously a defence mechanism. 

“Because I’m concerned with what I saw over the course of a few seconds. I’d like to know what years of time entails.” 

Katsuki’s eyes narrowed. “Do you mean when the hag hit me? She does that to teach me.” 

Shouta focused on the air filtering through his chest to ground him. He tried his hardest not to change his facial expression lest Katsuki take it the wrong way. 

“How often does she hit you?” he asked.

“When I deserve it,” Katsuki answered.

And God, Shouta wanted to kill someone. “Does your dad hit you?”

Katsuki snorted as if it were funny. “No. He just watches and scolds me later.” 

So Katsuki had little to no support system in his household. Awesome.

“Katsuki, I need you to understand that you are not supposed to be hit,” Shouta explained. “That is not an appropriate way to punish children or anyone for that matter.”

“But it’s different for me. I’m strong enough to take it.”

“No,” Shouta ground out, “that’s not how it works. I don’t care if you have the strongest quirk in existence, you are not to be physically abused as a punishment.” 

Katsuki stayed quiet.

“Can you think of any punishments that made you feel unsafe? Anything that made you want to leave home?” Shouta continued.

“I always want to leave home,” Katsuki answered. 

Shouta’s heart snapped clean in two. It was visceral and sharp, just as Katsuki’s words were. 

“But to answer the question,” he grumbled. “I guess when they locked me in my room for the weekend and didn’t let me eat for two days. That was shitty.” 

“Oh, kid…” Shouta whispered. 

“I don’t want your pity,” Katsuki snapped. 

“It’s not pity I just – is there anything else you want to tell me?” 

The boy looked down and picked at his already red-rimmed nails. The sight was crushing. “I hate when my dad is angry at me. I wish he’d just hit me.”

Shouta wished he hadn’t heard that. “What do you mean?”

“Hitting is over with sooner and it doesn’t make me…” 

Shouta waited for him to continue.

“Upset,” he whispered. “He talks to me for so long. He doesn’t even yell. I’m just trapped in my room while he tells me how much trouble I give my mom and how disrespectful of a human being I am. He tells me to stop making my mom have to hit me. If I wasn’t so weak, I could. My dad gets really mad when I don’t remember the lecture by the end.” 

It was a lot to unpack. At the very least, Shouta figured out where Katsuki’s dissociation possibly stemmed from. His dad’s lectures must have really triggered him if it caused dissociation. 

“Thank you for telling me,” Shouta offered. 

“You asked,” the boy responded. “Can I go to the guest room now?”

“Go ahead, kid,” Shouta allowed. He was sure there was more to find out but for now, his kid deserved a break after the day he’d had.  

He dutifully waited for his husband to return home. All Shouta wanted to do was sink into bed with him. When Hizashi finally did arrive, Shouta met him at the door with a limp embrace. Hizashi stroked through his hair as an act of comfort. 

“Is Bakugou okay? I saw you went home early,” Hizashi asked.

Shouta grumbled into his neck and led them both to bed. Hizashi followed without a sound of protest. Once they got into the bedroom and collapsed into bed, Shouta began to explain the situation.

“You didn’t talk to him about custody, right? Only the treatment from his parents?” Hizashi added.

“Yeah,” Shouta muttered. “He mentioned something at the school that made me want to touch on his home life. But I wanted to wait for you for the custody talk. We’re doing this together and I want Katsuki to understand that.”

“Katsuki?” Hizashi questioned the name change.

“He asked me to call him that out of school,” Shouta answered. 

“That’s a big step,” Hizashi commented.

Shouta hummed. “Tomorrow’s the weekend. I think we should use the free time to have the conversation and let Katsuki become… acclimated to you.” 

“I agree,” Hizashi began. “I think he’ll react a lot better with you there. He sees you as a safe adult.” 

Shouta took a moment to resonate with the silence. He dropped his face into the palms of his hands, sighing. “How did I not notice sooner? He showed plenty of signs.” 

Hizashi rubbed his husband’s back. “No one noticed.”

“Exactly. His whole life, Zashi. God, some of the stuff he said… it’s so normalized to him.” 

“We’ll work on it,” Hizashi assured. 

Shouta allowed himself to dream. 

For the first time in a while, Katsuki managed to get a full night's sleep. He was so exhausted from the day before and all of the conversations that as soon as he hit the pillow, he was out and didn’t wake up until the morning. 

He could hear clanging in the kitchen, hopefully resulting in a good breakfast. He was starving and that probably had to do with the fact he skipped dinner. Luckily, Katsuki didn’t have to worry about going to school or not. 

Upon entering the kitchen, the only person present was Hizashi. Katsuki peered around for Aizawa and found nothing. Either he was still in bed or had left the house. Katsuki hoped he was still in the apartment. 

“Morning, kiddo,” Hizashi greeted. “Sit down, I’ll get you breakfast.” 

Katsuki obeyed, less weary around the man. He deduced the chance of Hizashi harming him was low despite the change in behaviour from hero to civilian. Aizawa wouldn’t marry a man like that. Still, Katsuki knew not to let his walls down. 

“There you go, Bakugou,” Hizashi announced as he placed the plate. 

“Thanks,” Katsuki muttered. “You can just call me Katsuki,” he offered. 

Hizashi paused his movements in such an obvious way that Katsuki thought he had messed up. Was that not acceptable? Aizawa didn’t seem to have a problem with it? 

“That’s – sure. You’re welcome, Katsuki,” Hizashi stuttered. 

“Whatever,” he grumbled. 

“When Shouta wakes up, we need to have a conversation. I know you already had a few yesterday but this one is pretty important,” Hizashi announced. 

Katsuki was less than impressed at the revelation. He was sick of talking; he was sick of being around people in general. For a moment, there was a thought of returning back home. The idea should have made him giddy to return to someplace familiar, however, all it did was cause a thrill of panic to course through him. 

And for an earth-shattering moment, he realized he didn’t want to see his parents. 

Katsuki was brought out of his stupor with a flinch when a hand touched his shoulder. He looked back to see a familiar head of black hair and instantly hated himself at the hurt look on his teacher’s face.

“You okay? I didn’t mean to scare you,” Aizawa consoled. 

Katsuki grumbled and turned toward his plate of food. “I’m fine.”

“Sho, here’s breakfast,” Hizashi called, handing his husband a plate. 

“Thanks.” 

He sat a seat away from Katsuki. He was embarrassed to admit the panic thrumming in his heart dissipated. The silence in the kitchen was palpable and tense, enough to be broken by a feather. Katsuki was content to simply eat. 

“Katsuki,” Aizawa said, breaking the silence, “we need to talk–”

“Hizashi told me,” Katsuki cut in. 

“Oh,” he trailed off. “Let’s go to the living room then.” 

The walk to the living room was short yet not one moment was spent pleasantly. Katsuki had far too many thoughts rushing through his head to ever have a stressless time. Were they kicking him out? Were they sending him to foster care? Were his parents coming back to get him? It was all so confusing. 

It wasn’t until a voice broke him out of his trance that he began to realize he had arrived in the living room long ago. God damn it. If Katsuki wasn’t so weak he wouldn’t keep losing time like that. It wasn’t even a big deal. He had been kicked out before, he could do it again. If worse came to worse, he could crash with Deku for a few days.

“Sweetheart,” Hizashi soothed. 

Katsuki plopped down onto the couch farthest away from any adult. “Don’t call me that,” he snapped. He didn’t want to admit that he liked the nickname better than “brat”. 

“Sorry,” Hizashi apologized, not looking sorry at all. “Are you ready to talk, Katsuki, or do you need a second?” 

Aizawa glanced at his husband sneakily due to the name used but not discreet enough for Katsuki not to notice it. Hizashi smiled at him and Aizawa backed off.     

“I’m fine. What do you want?” Katsuki growled, refusing to make clear eye contact. 

Aizawa spoke up this time. “We wanted to talk to you about your living situation.”

Katsuki opened his mouth to interrupt.

Aizawa cut in, “Ah. Let me talk, Katsuki.” He closed his mouth and his teacher continued. “Yesterday, I talked to you about your parents because I wanted to make sure I was reading the situation correctly. I was. I want to make it clear you will not be living with your parents from now on if we have anything to say about it.”

“And we do,” Hizashi added.

Katsuki wasn’t too angry at the revelation. The only issue was school. If he was sent to foster care, the family would not only have to live close to UA for him to still be able to attend but they would also have to consent to him training to become a hero. Lots of parents were against the idea because of the dangers as well as the cost. 

“So what? I’m going into foster care?” he asked. 

“Well,” Aizawa hummed. “That can be an option but not an ideal one. We’d like you to – and Hizashi and I have talked about this –  stay with us.”

“Permanently,” Hizashi tacked on. That seemed to be all he was useful for.

“You want me to live with you?” Katsuki gasped, trying to grapple with the situation. 

Aizawa sent him a ginger smile “It might not be immediate, but yes. We’ll most likely have to fight in court–”

Katsuki almost lost his breath. “You’d fight in court for me?” 

“Of course, we would, kiddo,” Hizashi stated. 

Aizawa cleared his throat and Katsuki’s glassy eyes were instantly on him. “To prevent you from going to child services while we gain custody, I would have UA take partial custody of you. There are dorms being built and you would stay there until you’re ours.”   

“She’ll be mad,” Katsuki muttered. “They’ll both be mad.” 

“Your parents could take down a building with their anger and I still wouldn’t give you up,” Aizawa claimed. Katsuki believed him wholeheartedly. 

“Are you sure?” He found himself asking. 

Aizawa’s face softened exponentially. “Oh, kid. You don’t even have to ask that. “

To his utter shame, tears sprang from his eyes. They dribbled down his face like an unstoppable force, taking his quivering lips with them. It was embarrassing. It was something he should be ashamed of.

It was all he wanted to do.

“Come here, sweetheart,” Aizawa offered, opening up his arms. 

Katsuki stepped closer, unsure. Aizawa stayed impossibly still and ushered him forward all at the same time. Hizash stood comfortably to the side. 

Slowly, carefully, Katsuki draped himself in the adult’s arms. It had been so long since he had had a hug. At first, it was strange.

But after a moment, Katsuki realized how much he was missing. 

For once – the first time in sixteen years – Katsuki felt safe. 

His sobs became audible, muffled by the fabric of Aizawa’s clothes. Someone was rubbing his back which at first, he believed was Aizawa until he realized his hands were tightly wrapped around him, unmoving. Therefore, the hands rubbing his back belonged to Hizashi.

Oddly enough, Katsuki didn’t feel unsafe.

He quieted down as quickly as possible, ashamed at the outburst. Both adults paid little mind to his raggedy breaths as he tried to regain his breathing to a normal level. The hug didn’t stop until Katsuki pulled away. 

Something in his heart implored him to reach for another hug, desperate to fulfill the little time he had.

But then he remembered that now, he had all of the time in the world.

It struck Katsuki at one in the morning that he wanted to tell someone about the situation. 

His first thought was Kirishima but he wasn’t there from the beginning. The last thing Katsuki wanted to do was explain what his parents were like again.

Izuku knew. Izuku had been there since the beginning. Izuku had been to his house before. 

The nerd was surely asleep so Katsuki didn’t even think about calling him. He needed to talk in person – face to face. Only, it was the middle of the night and no one in their right mind would let him outside alone after just being kidnapped. 

However, Katsuki mastered the skill of sneaking out and figured living here permanently meant that his new guardians were going to have to get acclimated to their new issue. 

The apartment was too high up to jump down from without getting major injuries but he obviously wasn’t going to risk walking through the front door and alert Aizawa he was leaving. Katsuki opted for his bedroom window. Below it was someone’s balcony. He sure as hell didn’t care about imposing on other people’s spaces. 

Katsuki prayed Aizawa didn’t have alarms on his windows and opened the latch. The space remained silent to his relief. He squeezed through the small opening in the window and lept down to the balcony. Katsuki felt the thrill of energy ripple up his ankles from the pressure of landing. 

From the balcony, he could get to the ground with little trouble.

From there, he took a bus.

As guessed, the lights in Izuku’s apartment were all off but Katsuki was well aware of where his room was. He made his way to the right window and again used the balconies to climb his way up. Just to scare the shit out of Izuku, he tapped on the window and watched as the nerd shot up from sleep, looking around with his annoyingly large eyes. 

Once Izuku spotted him in the window, a furrow covered his face before turning into tight-lipped concern. He quickly skipped over to his window and pried it open, ushering Katsuki inside.

“Kacchan, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?” Izuku asked, rubbing at his sleep-addled eyes.

“I need to tell you something, nerd,” Katsuki responded, crossing his arms.

“Now?!” Izuku cried in a whisper. “This couldn’t wait until morning?”

“If I want to tell you now, I’ll do it now, bastard. Don’t tell me what to do.” 

Izuku studied him. “Wait–” he gasped. “Is it – did something happen with your parents? Are you hurt? You look alright but it could be like that time you hid a cracked rib from me in–” 

“I’m not going to live with the hag and her alibi anymore,” Katsuki blurted. 

If anything, one would assume that would calm Izuku down but all it did was spur him further. “Did CPS get you? Did you run away from them?!” 

“No!” Katsuki growled. “Aizawa took me in and I’m going to… stay with him permanently.” 

“Really? Wow. That’s… unexpected, but great,” Izuku muttered. 

“Well, that’s all I had to say so I’m going to leave now.” 

As Katsuki pivoted to exit out of the window, he paused at the sound of Izuku’s voice.

“Kacchan?” Izuku began. It was his voice against the cicadas outside. “I’m happy you’re safe now.”

Katsuki couldn’t mask the quirk of his lips. “Me too, Deku.” 

He took the same route down and to the bus. Once back at the apartment, he couldn’t get back up the way he came without using his quirk so he decided entering through the front door would be safer. 

He tugged the key out of his pocket and unlocked the door only to be met with a sudden stream of light penetrating his pupils. Why was the apartment lit up?

And then Katsuki saw Aizawa pacing the living room on the phone and Hizashi standing beside him. 

“There’s no sign of a break in but–” Aizawa paused, turning to stare Katsuki directly in the eyes. “Tsukauchi… he’s back. Sorry for the trouble.” His eyes didn’t leave Katsuki.

He could hear the click of the phone hanging up and stood frozen under both of the gazes. Aizawa looked mad. Hizashi looked relieved. 

“What the hell were you thinking?!” Aizawa yelled, stomping toward him. 

“You weren’t meant to notice,” Katsuki excused. 

“Oh! I wasn’t supposed to notice my kid left the apartment out of nowhere?! That makes it so much better,” he snapped. Katsuki felt his heart shrivel from grape to raisin. 

“Shouta–” Hizashi attempted to console. 

Aizawa ignored him. “You were just kidnapped days ago, Bakugou. It is anything but safe out there. You not only caused a whole hell of a lot of worry but wasted Tsukauchi’s time as well.” 

“How the fuck was I supposed to know you would take it that seriously? I was going to come back,” Katsuki fought, hurt by the name change. 

“That doesn’t make it better!” Aizawa flung his arms. Katsuki tried not to flinch and got by with a slight step backwards. “And what kind of guardians would we be if we didn’t take it seriously?” 

It seemed everything he said made Aizawa angrier so Katsuki opted not to speak at all.

“What were you doing that was so important–” Aizawa began before his husband cut him off.

“Shouta, stop,” he whispered yet Katsuki could still hear it. “You’re scaring him.”

Aizawa halted entirely, taking the time to look Katsuki up and down. He seemed to soften yet didn’t lose the angry look. 

“Are you hurt?” Aizawa asked much quieter than before. 

“No,” he said. Katsuki couldn’t meet his eyes. 

Hizashi stepped closer but paused when Katsuki tilted his head further away. 

“We were very worried when we noticed you weren’t in bed,” Hizashi explained. His voice was soft; at least Hizashi wasn’t mad. “Where did you go, sweetheart?” 

The calm voice spurred his answer. “To Deku’s.”

“Midoriya’s?” Aizawa questioned, much more subdued. 

Katsuki nodded. “I told him about you taking me in. He knew about my parents already.”

“Why couldn’t this wait until morning?” Hizashi prodded. 

Katsuki shrugged. He just needed to. Was that not reason enough?

Aizawa sighed so heavily that goosebumps rose on his skin. “Alright. Let’s sleep this off and we can talk more in the morning. We still have work tomorrow.” 

That made Katsuki look up. “That’s it?” he blurted. There was… nothing? He knew they weren’t going to hit him but he expected something else like being locked in his room or forced to sleep on the couch where they could see him. 

He expected normal-kid punishments – whatever those were.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m sorry, did you want a punishment?” 

Hizashi stopped to whisper in his husband's ear. Katsuki couldn’t hear what he said but whatever it was, Aizawa paled.

“Katsuki, you’re aware we’re not going to hurt you, correct?” Aizawa stated carefully.

“Yeah, I know,” he confirmed, a bit annoyed. “I just thought you were going to discipline me like a normal kid. Like taking away my bed or locking me in a room or something.” 

If possible, Aizawa looked even more devastated. “Okay, those are not normal punishments. Those shouldn’t happen. Ever.”

“Oh,” he stupidly said.

Aizawa rubbed his palms down his face. “Let’s talk proper discipline tomorrow, kid. It’ll be some kind of set of chores.”

“Don’t worry about it, little listener,” Hizashi assured.  

Katsuki fumbled through the “good cop, bad cop” situation with little success. “I won’t,” he replied. Walking off to his room not only felt wrong but settled poorly in his stomach.

There was still a fleeting thought – one that lingered – that told him his punishment would not wait until morning. He expected his door to be flung open with angry fists and sharp words. 

His dad used to be the “good cop” until his words were sharper than fists. 

Katsuki took a moment to settle under the covers. He wasn’t sure how sleep would come to him when all he could think about was what would happen next. 

Even if sleep did bless him, it would be riddled with nightmarish thoughts.

Shouta didn’t mean to yell.

He had heard something outside of the apartment and instinctively went to check on Katsuki. When he saw the empty room, his heart skipped a beat.

His kid was gone. Again. 

The devastation was like no other. Shouta had failed again. Hizashi was little help with consoling him and offered to call the police. Shouta declined and explained he would do it. He needed to confess to Tsukauchi that it was his fault yet again. 

And then Katsuki waltzed right through the front door, unharmed.

Relief didn’t even come close to the emotion Shouta felt when he saw the kid’s face. However, when that feeling dissipated, anger took over. Katsuki had just snuck out. He was well aware of the fact that he had been recently kidnapped, not to mention they had just had a serious conversation that led Shouta to think he had spooked the kid. 

The boy knew better and Shouta was pissed because of it.

He was forever grateful Hizashi was there to calm him down. It was pathetic he needed it in the first place because Shouta was the adult. He was supposed to be calming Katsuki down. 

Shouta just hoped his relationship with Katsuki wasn’t strained.

Hizashi dragged him to bed and forced him to lie down. 

“Why would he do that?” Shouta asked his husband. “I just – he knows it would have scared the shit out of us.” 

“I don’t know, Sho,” Hizashi whispered. “Attention?” 

Shouta scowled at him. “I’m sure he’s sick of attention by now. All we’ve been doing is smothering him.”

“Maybe talking to Midoriya was really that important,” Hizashi suggested. 

“Why not wait until morning?” Shouta fought.

“Honey, think of his perspective. I bet he snuck out of his house loads of times. He probably just wasn’t thinking of the consequences. Different families, different rules. He doesn’t know what a usual family is like.”

“Because his parents were too self-absorbed to notice their son was gone? Then they get pissed instead of horrified when their kid gets kidnapped,” Shouta snarled with nothing but venom in his tone. 

Hizashi hummed and ran a textured hand through his husband’s locks of hair. The soothing nature was paused when each tangle tugged on his scalp.

“Fuck,” Shouta muttered. “Why did I yell?” The idea of Katsuki’s parents yelling at him and then the kid finally thought he escaped that but then came home to a yelling Shouta.

“You were scared,” Hizashi consoled. 

Shouta sighed, too exhausted to fight about it. He curled onto his side and pressed as hard as he could into the pillow below him. Hizashi took the hint and snuggled up beside him. 

The bed was warm but the rest of the apartment was cold.

And Shouta knew Katsuki was feeling the chill. 

Katsuki got off with just a few chores he would have done anyway. The punishment was so relaxed that he wondered what would happen if he took things farther. How bad would it get?

However, Katsuki wasn’t particularly fond of making things harder for himself at the moment. As the days passed, the weight of court hung over their heads. Most of all, Katsuki was sick at the thought of returning to his parents. He never thought something as simple as home would awaken such a draining feeling.

It was terrible. It made him feel guilty. 

He loved his parents despite them never having mutual feelings. 

Aizawa noticed his moods when they came and tried to talk to him. In the beginning, right after Katsuki had snuck out, he thought his teacher would yell at him again, however, there was nothing of the sort. If anything, he was gentler than usual. It confused Katsuki to no end.

One night after another nightmare about the sports festival, he woke up hyperventilating. Aizawa came in and helped him breathe. He talked to Katsuki about it, trying to find out what particularly triggered him. The conversation was embarrassing and suffocating.

But Katsuki had never felt so seen.

For a few weeks, Katsuki had to get comfortable in the new dorms while they worked on gaining custody. It wasn’t very difficult as the rest of the class was in the same situation too. However, Katsuki would admit he would rather stay in Aizawa’s apartment.  

No one got any sleep the night before the court date. All three of them woke up with bags under their eyes and scratchy voices. 

But it was all worth it – the no sleep, the nightmares, the frowns. It was worth it because, by the end of the hearing, Katsuki could look at his parents and know he was never going to be hit by them ever again. Because Aizawa and Hizashi had won. 

Katsuki settled into the apartment more than he already had. He was able to return to school without wanting to punch Izuku’s teeth out. He could cook whatever he pleased but didn’t have to rely on it. 

It was more than he thought he could have.

Katsuki worked on his third dish of the day.

“I think we have enough food, kid,” Aizawa drawled, stepping into the kitchen.

“Mind your own damn business,” Katsuki retorted, never quite looking up from the food. 

“Aw, Sho. I think it’s fine. We can share it around the teacher’s lounge,” Hizashi suggested, coming up behind his husband.

“Hands off. This is for the extras,” Katsuki bit, throwing it a dash of salt. 

“Why aren’t you cooking it in the dorms then?” Aizawa teased though it didn’t sound like it. 

Katsuki’s real answer couldn’t be said without embarrassment. “Because I don’t want to.” Really, Katsuki felt comfortable in the apartment. It was his safe space – the place he felt like he could let his guard down. By the looks of Aizawa’s face, Katsuki was sure he knew the real reason as well. 

And there, at that moment, Katsuki had never seen Aizawa so happy before.