Marshmallow |BnHA|

Chapter Thirty

Warning! This Chapter will not be accurate since I do not know how these cases work! I apologise!

"Did you pick out a teddy Izuku?" Nodding, the kid barely pulled the small bunny from his chest - it's ears almost as long as it's body and fur a hazel with eyes a onyx - to show the judge before once again pulling it in tight. 

The women smiled kindly, crouching down and held out a gentle hand. They were stood outside the court room, in their best suits, tension in their shoulders. Hitoshi was at his Mama's, and even Izuku's Auntie Nem-Nem was stood to the side.

Izuku looked up at his Unkie, who nodded, before moving slowly to the women. Her hand rested on his shoulder, giving a small squeeze as she smiled. Kind, conserved, brown eyes. 

"That's a good choice kiddo. I know this is all scary, but one of my friends are going to take you to a room just behind where I sit, okay? They'll be games and toys. Then in a bit you'll come on out and I'll ask a few questions. See, easy?"

Nodding, Izuku looked at his plasters - they had cute little seals on - on his fingers as they gripped the bunny. "C-Can I - Unkie?" His words collapsed in his throat, and the women smiled with a nod. 

"Absolutely. We've still got a few minutes until we go in." Izuku looked up to his Unkie with teary eyes, and the man sat him on his hip. "Frightened?" Izuku nodded, and Shouta ruffled his hair, slipping the bracelet off his wrist and onto Izuku's.

Once, a few months, Izuku would have felt comfort from that. But now the flimsy material on his wrist meant nearly nothing - it was now old and too tatty for Shouta to love it. 

He smiled anyway, hugging his Unkie one final time before squirming to be put down, seeing a kind-looking man, even if he was in a scary Court guard suit, hold his hand out. "Come on kiddo, do you like Heroes?"

Well wasn't that a stupid question. Izuku nodded, falling into a small tangent about the recent Hero and Villain fights he'd seen. As they were about to walk through a door, he stopped his rant and turned to wave to his Unkie, trying to dispel the clenching in his heart. He froze as he set his eyes on his Papa, anxiety brimming.

He loved his Papa, but his Papa hadn't wanted him before. Because of his Papa his Mama turned off. But it wasn't his fault. It was Izuku's. 

Shaking his head, he grinned slightly as he told - in full detail - the nice man the Villain's Quirk. 

The room was nice, he supposed, but was too artificial. Like the room he'd stayed in before going to his Unkie's at the hospital. 

If his Unkie didn't want him, and his Papa didn't get him, where would Izuku go?

He turned off his brain - it was beginning to bug the seven-year-old - he bounced onto the sofa, tucking the bunny between his crossed legs and turning his full attention to the nice-man.

"What's your Quirk?!" 

_______________

"We're here to discuss the placement of former Izuku Midoriya. Please be seated." 

Shouta dragged his eyes from the door behind the podium, where he knew his nephew was. There had been something off with him the last few months, while Hitoshi had been living with them, but it wasn't enough to raise questions on.

His concern was at how grown up Izuku had been acting.

He'd gone from constant attention, bed time stories, tucking in, cuddling, mischief, help for school to secluded. The previous night was the first in a while that Shouta had read to him, and the Hero had missed it.

It made him nervous, concerned. He missed his just-gone-toddler.

What was even more frightening to him was that Izuku had stopped flipping off things. The boy had been learning more and more flips in gymnastics, and whereas before he'd shown Shouta, he barely mentioned them when Nemuri dropped him off.

Shouta felt guilty for that. With the hunt for a good lawyer and general Hero life, he hadn't seen Izuku in gymnastics since rushing out that one time.

The Marshmallows hadn't been touched in a while. Shouta knew the boy still had nightmares, he'd see the kids bedroom light switch off when he got home from patrol, but it had been a minute since he'd had to make Hot Chocolate. 

Shifting his eyes to a slightly too smug Hizashi, Shouta bit his tongue to push down the itching beneath his skin. 

The same sensation he got when trailing a villain a second before they attacked. 

Hizashi's hand squeezed his own as his Lawyer stood. "Rin Hayato. Offering beginning statement to opposing party." Rin, Shouta's lawyer, gave them a reassuring nod and sat back down. His Quirk allowed him to think of solution quickly, assuring he was rarely ever caught off guard.

"Kei Tadashi. I believe Izuku would be in better and safer hands with his biological Father. Reasoning; Izuku has been abused physically since moving in the Aizawa household."

These was one of those rare occasions Rin was caught off guard, and Shouta felt outrage, standing quickly with wide eyes. "That's ridi-" Rin placed a hand on Shouta's arm, silencing. "Shouta would never touch his nephew."

The Judge had a deep frown, eyes glued onto Kei. "Where is the truth within your claim?" That's when Shouta saw it - a glint in Hizashi's eyes and the single twitch in his cheek as he suppressed a grin.

"The multiple bruises and inflicted injures upon the child's body."

The Judge moved off the podium, moving to the door and gesturing Izuku in. The boy was slow as he did so, clutching the bunny and looking around wide eyed. He was settled on the podium, and the Judge softened her voice and features. 

"Izuku, dear, can you take off your shirt?" Nerves covered Izuku's features, but he nodded, the court guard helping the shirt off the boy. Shouta felt his stomach drop at the sight.

Covering the boys torso, back, and arms were deep purple bruises, the occasional scrape. The Judge frowned further and Hizashi sucked in a breathe, hand tightening on Shouta. Because he knew that if he let go, Shouta would murder someone.

Because someone had hurt his nephew, and Hizashi knew something he didn't.