Dadzawa

Chapter 4

"Did you think that little trick would work?" Hisashi's face holds a murderous look as he makes eye contact with Izuku. "Calling the emergency line and trying to be all sneaky about it. Hah! No one can save you."

Izuku is frozen in place as the older Midoriya starts stalking towards him. He wants to run so that he can find someone to save him, but the beaten and bloody image of his mother behind his deranged father has him glued to the spot.

"A-a hero w-will be here s-soon," Izuku finally gets something put of his mouth. He may not be able to move, but he can talk.

"Any hero patrolling at night won't be able to help you." Hisashi grins wickedly. "They're all too weak. The strong ones want to be in daylight where everyone can see them."

Hisashi starts in on the boy, jumping directly to using his quirk, blasting the innocent child with fire. Just as Izuku feels himself slipping, the fire quits, and he hears a deep, soothing voice calling out to him.

"Izuku. Izuku." Shouta punctuates each use of the green haired boy's name with a shake of his shaking body. When the night terror started, the dark haired man had been asleep with his head leaned on the boy's bed, but he was quickly woken by a sceeam of pain and terror.

"What's wrong?" Hizashi runs through the door of the room searching for danger until he sees Shouta trying to shake the boy awake.

Izuku wakes with a gasp. He looks around the room in terror until his eyes land on Shouta. As soon as he sees the hero, he breathes out a huge sigh of relief. It was just a dream. After that nightmare, Izuku doesn't care of childish it seems, he grabs hold of Shouta and starts weeping.

"It's okay. You're safe," Shouta coos to the boy. "He can't hurt you."

If anything, his words only seem to make Izuku grasp him tighter. "D-d-don't l-leave m-me."

"We're not going anywhere, little listener," Hizashi murmurs having come closer to the pair. It breaks his heart to see the boy so broken, and a part of him understands what's different about this boy over the other children that Shouta has asked to adopt over the years. Only one child has tugged at Hizashi's heart strings the way Izuku is now. He'll think about it, but that's the most Shouta will get for now. "Is there anything we can get for you?"

Even though Izuku wants to voice out that he just wants his mother, he knows she's gone. There's no point in saying it. Instead, he takes hold of the necklace around his neck as he quietly voices out his request. "Auntie Mitsuki."

Shouta is confused by the boy's response to his husband's question. He honestly expected to hear what most children ask which is for one of their parents, but Izuku said earlier that he didn't have anyone to go to. Why didn't he mention his aunt then?

Izuku is still clutching Shouta for dear life, so the man stands with the boy in his arms. In all honesty, Izuku is too big to be carried around, but the underground hero is used to carrying villains who weigh far more than the skinny boy in his arms.

"You'll have to tell us her number," Shouta whispers, trying not to startle the boy in his still terrified state, once they get downstairs to the house phone. As heroes, Shouta and Hizashi try not to give out their cell numbers to prevent receiving a multitude of calls when they need to watch for calls from the hero commission. They've kicked around the idea of having two phones each, but haven't really made a decision on that idea yet.

Izuku stumbles his way through his honorary aunt's cell phone number before being handed the phone. As it rings, he tries to prepare himself for her usual loud tone, but that preparation isn't enough when he hears her tired and angry voice.

"Who the hell is calling me this late!?"

Izuku doesn't even speak. He just drops the phone which is immediately grabbed by the dark haired hero.

"Is this Mitsuki?" he asks.

"Yes, who the hell are you to be calling me from an unfamiliar number at one in the fucking morning!?"

Shouta is now fairly certain that he understands why Izuku didn't mention the woman earlier. "Izuku asked to call you." He would have referred to the boy as the woman's nephew, but with how common it is to call people Auntie or Uncle in Japan, there's every possibility that Mitsuki is a friend of Izuku's family.

"Who are you, and why do you have Izuku!?" Now Mitsuki's voice sounds worried along with the evident anger.

"My name is Aizawa Shouta. My husband and I are fostering Izuku after an incident last night."

Izuku has finally calmed down after his initial shock at hearing the blonde woman's loud voice and reaches to take the phone from the hero.

"Auntie Mitsuki."

"Izuku, sweetheart," Mitsuki's voice softens considerably once she hears the terror in Izuku's voice. Whoever this Aizawa Shouta person is better not hurt her best friend's son. "What happened?"

"Sh-she's g-gone," Izuku chokes out before dropping to the ground, the phone falling from his limp hand.

Instead of holding the phone to his ear this time, Shota puts it on speaker so that Izuku can hear whatever is said. From what he can tell, the woman on the other end is crying, and a man's voice appears now.

"What's wrong, Mitsuki?" The man asks. Probably the woman's husband.

"She's gone, Masaru."

The phone on the other end must be on speaker because both voices sound just as clear as one another.

"Who's gone?" Masaru asks. He sees that his wife's phone is on, so he picks it up and notices that the number is unknown.

"Inko." Mitsuki forces the name past the lump in her throat.

"Who's on the phone?"

"Izuku, and someone named Aizawa."

Now that he has some answers from his wife, Masaru returns his attention to the phone in his hand. "What happened?"

Izuku is still shaking from having told Mitsuki that his mother is gone. He's in no shape to answer the question.

"Her husband killed her." Shouta hates having to voice it knowing that it's hard for Izuku to hear, but on the off chance that Mitsuki or Masaru is related to Inko, they should know. "My husband and I are fostering Izuku for now, but if he had family."

Izuku's eyes widen in shock or fear, Shouta can't tell. He shakes his head vehemently.

"Inko was my best friend," Mitsuki tells the hero. "As much as I would love to take Izuku, I know it would be best if he didn't come here."

Shouta doesn't comment on what the woman said. "He woke from a nightmare and asked for you."

Shouta hands the phone over to Izuku again and sits with him while Hizashi busies himself with getting ready for his patrol. It doesn't start for another three hours, but it's going to take at least an hour and a half to get his hair into the signature swoop that he keeps it in for his hero costume.

Izuku quietly talks with his mother's best friend for about twenty minutes before deciding that he can't bother her anymore. They haven't even truly been talking. Izuku has just been audibly crying while Mitsuki tries to comfort him over the phone, and Shouta hold onto him, running his hand through the boy's hair.

Once the phone is back on its holder, Izuku yawns, and Shouta walks him back to the bedroom. When he goes to resume his place in the chair next to the bed, Izuku tugs at his sleeve.

"Mom used to lay with me after a nightmare."

Those simple words add more cracks to where Izuku's situation has already broken Shouta's heart. "Let me get changed, and I will."

Due to taking care of the boy, Shouta still has his hero costume on. If he's going to lay down, he definitely needs to change into pajamas first. Izuku gives him a small nod before curling up into a ball to wait for the man.