Eldritch, Green, and Freckled

Chapter 2 - Stay Safe

WARNINGS: Panic attacks, mention of the USJ attack
>:)

The first week of school passed pretty smoothly. Izuku sat with Kacchan and Hitochan at lunch, along with a girl in his class named Hatsume Mei that he quickly became friends with when learning of each other's shared love of robotics, and scaring Power Loader with their intellect that, separately, was terrifying enough. There was an alarm set off by the press, the loud noise causing Mei and Izuku to clamp their hands over their ears and leaving the other two to help lead them out amidst the chaos. All in all, however, everything was going smoothly.

Honestly, Izuku should've expected this.

Shouta had mentioned the USJ field trip in the teachers lounge earlier that day, so he was aware it was happening. However, when the school went into lockdown and Snipe, their teacher for the period, left early with whispers of a villain attack, panic set in quickly. He pulled out his phone, shooting texts to Kacchan, Hitochan, Shouta, Thirteen, hell even Nezu and gained no response from any of them. He didn't realize how his breathing had picked up until Mei pulled him over to the back corner, placing one of her "babies" that she had in her bag in his lap, and sat next to him. The rest of the room was full of panic so not many noticed, and everyone held their breath, awaiting news.

It took half an hour before Nezu responded to Izuku's text, telling him to come to his office and that everything would be explained there. He showed it to Mei, who nodded and left to inform their class rep as he crawled into the vent set next to him, moving toward the principle on autopilot.

Izuku had memorized the vent system long before he was a student at UA, preferring to go through it instead of through the halls where many students swarmed (and at the time, stared at the small boy clearly too young for high school), so the bear-mouse-dog hybrid wasn't surprised to see his student fall to his desk smoothly from the opening above. The boy himself, however, was surprised at the grim look on his teacher's face.

By the time Nezu finished explaining that there was an attack, that 1-A, that Hitochan and Kacchan had to fight, that Thirteen and Shouta were hurt, he was in full blown panic, to the point where he had completely shut down all external functions, not even tapping his fingers or bouncing his leg. Nemuri had come in at some point, and laid a hand on Izuku's shoulder until he looked up at her. She explained that she'd take him to the USJ now that the battle was over, keeping him, Kacchan, and Hitochan in her sight until Mitsuki and Masaru could get there (since Hizashi was with Shouta). She lead the greenette to her car, driving the short way to the building and nearly swerving into a tree when Izuku snapped back into focus upon seeing the students outside, yelling out.

"KACCHAN! HITOCHAN!" The latter looked up to see his boyfriend jumping out of a still moving car, nudging the blond (who'd taken out his hearing aids) and getting up to embrace the smaller. As soon as he'd given the purple-haired boy an adequate enough hug, he looked over his whole face to check for injuries, satisfied at the lack of and moving to do the same with the blond. 

The class stared as the stranger looked over the two intimidating boys without so much as flinching, some jaws dropping as they let him, but no one got a word in before cars started pulling up, the Bakugo's among them. They both ran out as soon as they cam to a stop, rushing toward their son and nephews and looking them over much as Izuku had done. Upon seeing the blond's nervous glance around (and noticing his bare ears), they ushered the group to their car,  thanking Nemuri and promising her some tea next time she came over.

"What's up with your hearing aids, Katsuki?" Mitsuki asked and signed simultaneously, voice softer than normal as she took in the redness of his palms, Hitoshi rubbing his temples in attempt to alleviate the headache his quirk had no doubt cost, the darting of Izuku's eyes as if looking out for danger.

'They're fine, took them out because they hurt,' he signed back, always self conscious of speaking when he couldn't hear. Masaru gave another glance back before starting the car, his wife turning around when the trio started hugging each other, the two hero course students sharing a horrifying look in their eyes.

They rode back in silence, not necessarily comfortable but not tense either, Mitsuki calling Hizashi the whole way back in assurance that she'd be delighted to watch Hitoshi while Shouta healed. Once they got in the house, however, dams broke and Katsuki let out a shaky breath, sitting against the wall with his head in his hands, while Hitoshi whimpered and nuzzled his head into his boyfriend's neck, who also lowered them both to the ground. The adults joined, pulling their kids into a tight hug and giving reassurances that "you did so good, we're so proud of you, I just know you kicked some serious ass," letting the sobbing teens get out their emotions.

It took another half hour before the tears slowed, and once they did the next order of business was necessary. "Katsuki you can take our shower, Hitoshi you can take his, Izuku change your clothes too, I know you don't find the uniform comfortable. I'll make some curry for dinner and we can watch movies tonight since even if Nezu let the school open tomorrow you three are not going, kay?" Masaru asked, Mitsuki already moving toward the kitchen.

'Extra spicy?' Katsuki asked, the other two watching his hands once they saw them move and giving pleading eyes once they stopped.

"Spicier than hell!" Mitsuki yelled, knowing full well what was asked when she heard her husband snort.

As promised, the two heroes-in-training took long, warm showers and all three changed into the blond's clothes (too big for Hitoshi even, since Katsuki was a lot broader than he was, which left Izuku swimming in the fabric), eating the flaming meal under the kotatsu and watching old hero movies, moving to a cuddle pile once their food was gone.

Their night was plagued with nightmares and flashbacks, to nobody's surprise, but they made it through. They were strong, they'd be fine.

And they'd never do that again, Izuku promised himself. Not without him, at least.

[A/N: I've gotten really tired of rereading the USJ happen over and over again, even with changes depending on the AU it's from, so I focused more on the aftermath fluffiness because these boys deserve some love goddamnit.]