@EriCheri3: “Kacchan?” Izuku turned over a...

“Kacchan?” Izuku turned over and noticed he was gone before jolting up. “Kacchan?!” He felt panic surge through him as he looked around his apartment for the guy he had loved his whole life. There was a glass of water on the nightstand that Kacchan must have left for him.

Izuku grabbed his phone that was next to it and dropped the envelope he had yet to give him. The envelope that gave him courage to finally tell the alpha how he felt. He was hoping they could open it together in the morning when they woke up.

But Kacchan left. Izuku didn’t doubt his words for a second. Something must have happened!

He looked at his phone and his jaw dropped at the news notifications. There was a huge disaster in Shiketsu. A group of students destroyed the school from the inside.

They got corrupted and turned to villainy and they were all really powerful. They kept the pro heroes that tried to stop them on their toes.

“The scene contained and all students involved have been arrested thanks to the brave heroes that put a stop to them!”

A reporter announced live on the scene. “However, there were several casualties! Unfortunately, not all the students made it out alive. And not all the heroes did, either!”

Izuku felt a twisted feeling in his stomach. Kacchan had to be there… but he had to be okay, right?

He looked at his messages and missed calls.

His last message was from Kacchan.

‘Villain attack. Gotta go. Love you.’

‘I’ll be back!’

Izuku nodded his head and waited on his couch while watching the news in horror.

A bunch of kids were really capable of this much damage?

He held the envelope tight to his chest before his hand instinctively reached for his stomach.

“Don’t worry…” Izuku said fondly. “When Kacchan come back, we’ll make him feel better.”

A gentle knock on his door, interrupted him.

“Kacchan?” Izuku questioned before rushing to open it. It was unlike the alpha to knock that way. He flung it open and felt his heart stop when he saw the solemn, devastated looks on Todoroki, Kaminari and Kirishima’s faces.

“Midoriya…” Shoto broke down in tears. “I- I’m so sorry!”
-
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Katsuki eyes snapped open as he woke up in a giant field of grass. He whipped his head back and forth before seeing a bunch of the kids he saved from a falling building surrounding him.

They were all just as confused as he was.

“No way…”

“This Hikaru’s quirk, isn’t it?”

“It’s gotten so much stronger…”

Hikaru? Was that the brat with the gold hair’s name?

“DynaMight’s here… this is bad!”

Suddenly Katsuki remembered what this ‘Hikaru’ told him!

Katsuki and the other heroes were working hard on evacuation and arresting the dumb brats who turned to villainy. They were strong! But nothing Katsuki couldn’t handle. There was a girl with a powerful scream that was worse than Present Mic’s.

A guy who could fire meteors from his hands. Another girl who could make stars fall from the sky, and a guy who could summon any natural disaster.

And then there was golden haired kid. He was quiet and didn’t say anything. And from what Katsuki understood, didn’t do anything!

All of Katsuki’s friends and fellow heroes managed to arrest the more destructive teenagers while Katsuki used his speed to save everyone he could.

But the heroes made a terrible mistake ignoring the golden haired kid!

After Katsuki saved the group of students from a falling building, he heard a loud clap.

“Amazing job, number one! Guess you don’t need Deku at all, huh?” Hikaru said with admiration. “But the world does need you. So… what if they lost you?” He grinned.

Katsuki was about to knock him out, when suddenly he felt himself fall.

“Huh?!” Katsuki fell endlessly in a black void as the kid’s voice echoed in his head.

“My quirk isn’t that powerful but it is useful. I’m so happy I could use it on you!”

“All I can do is send you to my dimension. It only lasts one day for you. And I can’t use it again until the visitors I have sent there leave. But DynaMight, I’ve trained my quirk really strong! One day in my dimension is 16 years out here!” He laughed. “Don’t worry,”

“I’ll tell them all you died when they arrest me!”

Katsuki launched himself in the air with an explosion as he tried to rise out of there. There was no way! There was no way he wouldn’t fulfill his promised to Izuku!

“DAMNIT!!!!” He screamed as all the teenagers below looked up at him pitifully.

Fuck…. There had to be a way out! There had to be!
-
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Sixteen Years Later

Bakugo Yagi walked in to UA High School with a heavy heart. His classmates talked to him, smiled at him,

chatted with him like he was their peer. Like he was one of them. A hero in training. Two months earlier, he felt like he was one. He had dreams. He had goals. He had a good head on his shoulder. But now, all he felt was dread. All he felt was blood in his hands.

It was only matter of time before he got the call. He was just waiting for it.

“Bakugo-kun! Did you see on the news what Chargebolt did?! Wasn’t that hilarious?!”

They didn’t know. No one knew. He felt screaming and breaking down but he couldn’t! Because it was all his fault.

He made his own dam drop.

And according to the man he looked up to as his sire, who was never allowed to call himself that, he likely wasn’t going to make it…

“I’m a villain…”

“Huh?” One of his classmates questioned.

“Nothing! What the hell did that Dunce Face do now?!”

Yagi shook off that feeling, making his classmates laugh with him.

“That’s mean!”

“He kinda does have a funny face!”

Everyone laughed and laughed. But Yagi just wanted to disappear. Why did everything go so wrong so fast?

Shoto sat by Izuku’s bedside in the omega center he was checked into and watched him helplessly be kept alive by machines.

“Midoirya… please try and fight this! Please!” He begged while squeezing his hands desperately before noticing the date on his watch.

Shoto sobbed as the reality hit him. It was the sixteen year anniversary of Bakugo’s heroic sacrifice.

“Please…” He kissed his hand desperately. “I can’t lose both of you on the same day!”

He hung his head low as he heard the sound of the clock ticking away.

Then he felt it. Maybe it was a hallucination, but maybe it wasn’t. He felt Izuku lightly squeeze his hand back.

Before Shoto could react, a strong gust of wind blew the window open. He didn’t know what it was… but after two agonizing weeks, he felt… hope.

TBC 🍃

“Yaacchan! Walk me home?” Todoroki Risa asked Yagi when the last class of the day was over. They weren’t related by blood. But Yagi considered her his cousin. He didn’t know if she knew his mom was in the hospital or how the circumstances came to be.

She was his Aunt Fuyumi’s daughter and had a strong ice quirk. They were born a week part and therefore grew up together.

“You can walk yourself home! You’re strong enough!” Yagi snapped.

“What’s your deal?” She puffed her cheeks skeptically. “Before we started high school,”

“You were as sparkly as your quirk! Like this!” She made a doe-like expression. “Now you’re gloomy and angry all the time! Everyone always says ‘Bakugo-kun is serious! Bakugo-kun is mysterious! He’s intimidating!’ But I know you still cry at the sad parts of All Might movies!”

“Shut up! I’m not going out of my way to walk you home!” He shoved her away.

“Fine then! I’ll walk you home!” She persisted.

“What the hell do you want, Risa?!” He snapped.

“…Is everything okay with Uncle Deku-San?” She asked timidly. “Mom won’t tell me anything.”

“That’s because it’s none of your business!” He spat her before freezing at the vibration in his pocket from his phone.

Was this the call? Was his dam gone forever? Did he kill him? Was this it? Sweat dripped down his face as he checked the caller ID.

‘Chargebolt’

He quickly ignored it before sighing. That’s where the trouble all started.

Growing up, Yagi was a happy child. He never questioned what his mom told him and believed him whole heartedly. That he had the best sire in the world! He was just lost somewhere!

“The world thinks he’s gone, but he’s out there somewhere! I can feel it! And he’s going to be so happy to meet you when he comes back!” He used to always say so convincingly.

Yagi never thought of the possibility that he was a lunatic putting his life on hold for nothing.

It was never weird to Yagi that his Uncle Shoto lived with them and raised him as his own and yet he wasn’t allowed to call him ‘father’. Afterall, Great Explosion Murder God DynaMight was a legend. And Yagi was his legacy. But… he never knew him. He knew Shoto!

It didn’t help that he was the spitting image of the deceased hero. The only part of Yagi that resembled his dam, another legendary hero, was his bright green eyes and the freckles that decorated the bridge of his nose. He had a lot to live up to. But he never felt that way…

His mom didn’t have a quirk but he had lots of stories from when he did have one. He raised him with a lot of love. Made sure he knew he could do anything he put his mind to! Yagi used to think he was the most amazing person in the world! He used to want to be just like him!

Deku, the greatest hero and the best mom the world could ask for! He could do no wrong in Yagi’s eyes. He didn’t have a quirk but that’s what made him so cool! He never let it get him down! Never stopped being brave and happy and smart and insightful and so cool!

So why Yagi he let it get in his head? It started when he presented alpha at the end of middle school.

“You must be relieved, huh? We were all worried you would turn out like your mom!”

It started with little comments like that.

And it never bothered him before, because it came from idiots his age! Or strangers who didn’t know what they were talking about! But these comments came from his mom and Uncle Shoto’s closest friends! People Yagi respected and admired his whole life!

“What do you mean by that?” Yagi had grumbled to his uncle Sero at the garden party his mom insisted on throwing him after he presented.

Uncle Shoto and he were across the room with Uncle Iida talking about something else. Not close enough to hear what was being said.

“You know… he’s done a lot despite presentation, but he’s a little….”

“You’ve had too much to drink, man! Cut it out!” His uncle Kirishima had scolded.

“He’s old enough to realize it himself, Kirishima.” Kaminari sighed. “Your mom’s gone insane. He was crazy before, but…”

“We all saw your sire die. It’s been over 15 years and he still hasn’t accepted it! Even making you guys live in the same tiny apartment in hopes that he’ll show up! I don’t blame him, I mean, it must be his omega forcing him to hold on to the delusion Bakugo will come back!”

“I just wish he wouldn’t drag your father along so much.” Denki lamented.

“You mean Uncle Shoto?” Yagi blinked in confusion.

“See? Isn’t that so messed up! Guy raises you and you can’t even call him your Dad because your mom is hoping for the impossible!”

“Cut it out, man! Sorry, Yagi-kun. Alcohol makes the adults around you grumpy and say very uncalled for things!” Kirishima chided.

“Yagi… you know your sire’s not coming back, right?” Sero asked him seriously, ignoring Kirishima.

Yagi didn’t know why he never considered it until that moment. He fully believed his mom growing up and it wasn’t until that candid conversation, did he see the cracks in his logic.

“Dude!” Kirishima shoved him, noticing the crushed expression on Yagi’s face.

“It’s time he faces reality, Kirishima. He’s old enough.” Kaminari noted. “You know your parents weren’t mated, right? So Midoriya’s whole thing about ‘feeling him still out there’ is probably just the delusion he needs to stay-”

“SHUT UP!” Yagi screamed before storming off.

“Yagi? Are you okay?” His mom had approached him in concern.

“No! I don’t know why you decided to throw a stupid party! I wanna go home!” He lashed out at him as he felt intense grief.

His whole life, he believed his mom’s fairy tale.

He ate up all the tales of his great sire who grew up with him, fought alongside him, became one of the greatest heroes to ever live! Besides Deku, Great Explosion Murder God DynaMight was his favorite hero. They had the same quirk, after all!

He watched all his interviews and thought he was so cool! He couldn’t wait for the day he got to meet him and say he was his even cooler son!

But of course that made no sense. If he really was out there, what would keep him away for that long?!

“Yagi. Don’t speak to him that way. The party’s almost over!” Shoto scolded him and that was something else Yagi mourned.

Uncle Kamianri was right, in all ways but biological, Uncle Shoto was his father. He raised him alongside his mom and took care of both of them!

But Yagi never allowed himself to acknowledge him in the way he deserved! And Uncle Shoto patiently let there be an invisible wall that didn’t allow them to get too close. That didn’t allow Yagi to have any father but the one that was gone forever!

It was cruel!

After that party, Yagi couldn’t help but wonder just how much he had been deceived.

“Grandma… Grandpa…” He had visited them to understand. “Do you think my mom’s crazy?”

“What do you mean, dear?” His Grandma Mitsuki questioned.

“Is my father dead?”

They both looked at each other solemnly before looking back at him.

“Of course not.” Mitsuki cried a tear before caressing his face lovingly. “Katsuki’s alive in you!”

“But is he alive?!” Yagi was sick of sentiment! “Tell me the truth!”

“Your mom has a lot of hope…” Grandpa Masaru sighed fondly. “He’s not crazy. It must be his young age… but your father died a hero. Which was his dream… we’re just glad he gave us you as a parting gift!”

“Katsuki would be really proud of who you are…” Grandma Mitsuki smiled.

Yagi was quiet at their confirmation. “Thanks for finally telling me the truth.” He stood up. “I don’t know what took everyone so long!”

“Yagi! It wasn’t our place to-”

“Contradict mom?!” He said bitterly. He had all these bitter feelings about his dam. He felt lied to!

Did they even have a special bond like he claimed? There was nothing during their time as heroes that indicated they were even dating! Yagi went down a rabbit hole and he couldn’t stop himself from spiraling.

“Yagi! Dinner is ready!”

His dam had called him one night and Yagi didn’t know how to stomach their weird family dinners. Because his mom always had an empty chair between him and Yagi and always made an extra plate of food just in case. He was crazy! And he made Yagi think it was normal!

Yagi tried to eat his food in silence but he felt all kinds of horrible feelings and he didn’t know what to do about them!

“How was patrol today?” Izuku asked Shoto.

“Good. No villains out. Maybe it was the rain.”

“Kacchan used to hate rain patrols but I liked them a lot!”

Izuku supplied. “There’s a lot of people who need help, even if there’s no villains! Just getting someone caught in the rain to somewhere warm and safe always made me happy!”

“How does your quirk do in the rain, father?!” Yagi asked Shoto casually.

Shoto and Izuku froze before looking at him in shock.

“Um…”

“What?” Yagi questioned. “Am I not allowed to call you that?”

“Todoroki-kun is probably just shocked, Yagi!” Izuku smiled nervously. “I m-mean you have a father and-”

“while Todoroki does a great job of taking care of us, he’s not a replacement for-”

“I never saw him as a replacement, mom!” Yagi stood his ground. “What a cruel thing to say! Taking care of us? He loves us! We’re not his pets! We’re his family!”

“I didn’t mean it like-”

“I know what you meant, Midoriya.” Shoto put his hand over Izuku’s. “Yagi… where is this coming from?” He asked in concern.

“I guess you’re cruel too, huh father? Do you not see me as a son?” He asked directly.

Shoto looked down sadly before pleading into Yagi’s eyes. “We can have this conversation another time.”

“What, when he’s not here?” Yagi gestured to Izuku.

“Yagi- if y-you see Todoroki that way, that’s fine! I don’t want to get in the way of the people you care about!”

“Todoroki, Midoriya… Bakugo… do you not see how fucked up this is?! We’ve been a family my whole life, and not one of us share a last name? You two are practically married without all the gross kissy stuff and you can’t even call each other by your first name?! Why?!”

“Because of this?!” He kicked his ‘father’s empty chair, sending it to the floor. “When are we going to accept reality around here!”

“Yagi! Your father really is coming back!” Izuku insisted. “I know it’s not fair right now but when you see him, you’ll understand!”

“I know-”

“Shut up!” Yagi snapped.

“Don’t talk to him that way!” Shoto stood up.

“You both make me sick! I’m going to bed!”

Things were tense in the house after that night. But Yagi wasn’t going to back down. He still insisted on calling Shoto ‘father’.

He could see the look on his mom’s face every time. It was pained. But that was a good thing.

“You know… maybe you’re the only one who could save your mom from himself.” Kaminari had said to him one day. “Save your real father from living in the shadow of your dead one.”

“The only person Midoriya loves in this world more than he loved Bakugo is you!”

Yagi tried to reason with him a few times but he was such a stubborn person!

“Yagi, it’s okay if you’re tired of waiting. You can believe he’s gone if it makes it easier.”

Izuku had said to him. “But you’re not going to change my mind. I believe in Kacchan. And I know he’ll come back!”

It was hard to make him see the light. And now that Yagi embraced the truth, he felt his whole home covered in darkness.

Everything came to a head his first day of UA.

Yagi was happy he got in. But he knew everything he did would be compared to his late father. And now that he accepted his death, he took the responsibility of keeping his torch burning seriously.

He didn’t have time any more to worry about his mom’s delusions.

“One more! One more!” Izuku had excitedly taken picture after picture of him in his uniform. “Wait! I think Kacchan would like to see you with this!” He ran into his bedroom to get some sort of baseball card.

And Yagi quickly grabbed his things, hoping to be out the door before he came back out.

“Wait! Yagi! Please just a few more for Ka-”

“STOP IT!” Yagi’s patience ended. “HE’S DEAD, MOM! DON’T YOU GET IT?! HE’S ALWAYS BEEN DEAD!”

“Yagi!” Shoto rushed in the living room.

“SHUT UP, YOU! HE NEEDS TO HEAR THIS! YOU NEED TO ACCEPT IT, MOM! THAT MAN HAS NEVER BEEN A FATHER TO ME! BUT I FEEL HIS LOSS GREATLY! YOU PUT THAT GRIEF IN MY HEART! YOU DID! I’LL NEVER GET TO KNOW HIM! AND I HAVE WAITED YEARS OF MY LIFE BELIEVING IN YOU! AND YOUR WORDS!”

“Yagi….” Tears fell down Izuku’s face as he tried to keep a smile.

“He’s gone, mom… but I’m here! Uncle Shoto’s here! I’m not a kid anymore who can just believe in your delusions! You need to accept reality and stop torturing me and everyone around you! It’s exhausting!”

“That’s enough! You want to leave them leave!” Shoto stepped in between them.

“You’re just as pathetic, father! If you love him, you’re wasting your time too! Mom’s dragged you around enough! Go live your life! All he’s doing is using you and you’re letting him!”

“That’s not true! What has gotten into you?!” Shoto questioned. “Who has put these thoughts in your head?!”

“Do you believe he’s alive?” Yagi asked Shoto seriously.

“That doesn’t matter!”

“Of course it matters! Did you see my sire die or not?!”

“Yes… yes I saw him die. But to be fair, Bakugo has come back to life before, it’s not impossible!”

“You’re the reason Mom is as sick as he is!” Yagi growled.

“I’m not sick! I’m sorry I’ve hurt you, Yagi!” Izuku cried. “I’m so sorry! Maybe I should have kept my hope to myself”

“This feeling is hard to explain. It’s impossible to put into words, but I know he’s out there! And I’m not giving up on him!”

“Yeah?” Yagi said coldly. “Then use your head, mom. If he is out there, he’s moved on with someone a lot more useful than a quirkless omega.”

The look on his mother’s face when he said that will be seared into Yagi’s mind forever.

It was villainous of him. He didn’t even know where it came from. Uncle Shoto grabbed him by the collar and dragged him outside without looking at him.

Yagi knew he crossed a line there was no coming back from! The first two weeks of school were awkward in the house. His mom still made him dinner which Yagi took and ate in his room. He could feel his distress everywhere he went. He was barely holding it together.

Yagi tried to focus on his classes, maybe that’s why noticed the changes in the apartment too late. A lot of pictures of his sire had been taken down. The extra chair in the dining room was gone. All the spices no one used has been cleared from the kitchen cabinet.

His mom got a new phone, finally. The furniture had been rearranged. There was even pictures up of Yagi, Izuku and Shoto together that hadn’t been up before.

Then one rainy day, Yagi came home to a foul smell. Distress. Intense distress.

“Mom?! Mom!” Yagi opened his bedroom door to see the bedroom had been changed too. It used look like it was made for two people. But the once large nest was downsized into something that his dam could barely fit in himself.

There was a shrine dedicated to his sire beside it that his mom was standing in front of.

“Mom? Mom!” He rushed to his side.

“I bought a house…” Izuku said in a zombie like trance. “Is that okay, Kacchan? It’s big enough for Yagi to have company over and not be embarrassed.”

“Mom, what are you saying?” Yagi tried to shake him but he was trembling all over while holding that baseball card tight in his hands.

“I visited your grave yesterday… I hate what they did with it… you would have wanted a shiny gold tombstone signed by All Might himself!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner… I’m sorry I was so stubborn… I’m sorry I fucked up our son… I’m sorry Kacchan… I’m sorry I don’t know how to say goodbye!”

“Mom! Mom! Stay awake! Hey!” Yagi shook him as he looked sickly, like a ghost! “HELP! HELP!”

“Yagi?!” Uncle Shoto finally came home but it was too late.

Midoriya Izuku had dropped from the grief he finally allowed himself to feel. And he did it all for him… Yagi was a killer.

“Yacchan! You look sick!” Risa snapped him out of his thoughts.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew through the air.

“That’s how I always feel when I’m around you! Go home!”

“You’re terrible!” She scolded. But Yagi had enough and blasted himself home with his quirk.

“Ah… no luck I guess!” Risa stretched before walking the opposite direction toward her house. Suddenly she heard explosions above her head. “Come back to say sorry?” She stuck her tongue out before seeing Yagi in… a DynaMight costume? “Huh? Yacchan?”

“Hey! You!”

No… his voice was too rough to be Yagi.

“What year is it?!” Be asked desperately.

“Um… 2164?” Risa supplied.

“FUCK!” The guy screamed before taking off the same direction as Yagi.

“Um… you’re welcome weird cosplayer!” She shouted back.

Yagi sat in his empty apartment that he had been slowly packing for his parents. Before he dropped, his mom had bought a new house and gave their landlord a 30 day notice they were leaving. Yagi couldn’t just do nothing. He had to help fix something he ruined.

He stood up to fix himself dinner when he heard a frantic pounding on the door.

“Who is it?!” He questioned.

“IZUKU?!”

Yagi quickly opened the door and was stunned to see what looked like his twin only with red eyes… no… it couldn’t be…

“DAMNIT!” The guy cursed to himself

“UA uniform… you might know then… tell me, brat! Midoriya Izuku used to live here! Or Deku or whatever! The coolest hero other than me! Where is he now?! Where does he live?!” He shook him desperately.

“Is this… a sick joke?!” Yagi blinked.

“DAMNIT BRAT! THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO FANBOY! WHERE IS IZUKU?!”

Yagi wondered if he was deluding himself. If his mother’s hopes had risen to haunt him as revenge for killing him so cruelly. Maybe this was a quirk… or maybe he had fallen asleep and dreamed it.

Either way, he wasn’t able to stop himself from pointing out the door.

“Aldera Omega Rehabilitation Center….” he said shakily before the stranger’s eyes widened and he took off faster than anything Yagi had ever seen leaving a trail of sparkles in his path. “No fucking way….”

TBC ✨

Shoto tried to understand what changed in Yagi to cause him to be so cruel to Izuku. It was true, Shoto did see Yagi as his own son. It was impossible not to.

The day Shoto broke the news to Midoriya of Bakugo’s death, he expected the worst.

“Midoriya… I’m so sorry!” Shoto broke down and told him all about the attack on Shiketsu and about Katsuki’s heroic end. “He told me to tell you if he didn’t make it, he was sorry before leaping in to save those kids…. None of them made it out of the rubble.”

He expected Izuku to scream or cry or break down or even drop upon hearing the news. Everyone knew how strongly he felt for Bakugo.

He didn’t expect him to smile. He didn’t expect the omega to put his hand on his shoulder and comfort /him/. “It’ll be okay, Todoroki.”

“Kacchan’s still out there!”

“Midoriya…” Kirishima said sadly. “He’s not… we all saw-”

“You didn’t see enough! If you did, you would have brought his body back to me, right?”

“Kacchan will come back! He promised he would! See?” Izuku showed them the last message he sent on his phone. “It’ll be okay!” He balled his fists in determination.

“Midoriya-” Kaminari stressed. “He-”

“Has to come back and meet his child.” Izuku put his hand on his stomach.

They all stopped trying to make him understand after that. It became very clear to all of them why he wouldn’t believe them. It was because he couldn’t. Not without losing the pup that was growing inside him.

Shoto made a decision then that he wasn’t going to let him be alone.

He wasn’t going to let him go through a whole pregnancy hoping for Bakugo’s return alone! He moved in with him after Bakugo’s funeral into his humble apartment that he refused to move out of. They turned Midoriya’s office room into a nursery,

and Shoto moved into the rather spacious coat closet that Midoriya was using to store his collectibles. Sure, he had amorous feelings for the omega. But he was closest friend so it impossible not to. He didn’t let it get in the way of the right thing to do.

Izuku never stopped hoping for Bakugo’s return. And he raised Yagi hoping for it as well. Shoto knew he had to believe this way in order to stay alive. If it made his life easier, it wasn’t Shoto’s place to deny it. He loved Yagi and he loved Izuku but he was also human.

And he had human urges. His alpha instincts were begging for him to claim Midoriyaz And he knew fighting them was going to be a challenge. Luckily, he had friends willing to help with that.

“I’m… sorry?” He asked Kaminari one day.

“I said I can help you with your ruts!”

The beta had offered at a bar one day. “You’re a handsome guy, I don’t mind! Playing house with Midoriya’s gotta be driving you crazy, right? Let me help take some of the edge off!”

It sounded logical at the time and Shoto really didn’t want to ever break and impose on Izuku.

It did help. And when Sero asked him one day how he tolerated living with an omega and raising a child together without the benefits that came with it, Shoto gave Denki credit for helping keep his instincts at bay. And then he offered to help too!

He made it clear to both Hanta and Denki that he wasn’t in a place where he could have a romantic relationship. That Izuku and Yagi would always come first. And they both seemed okay with it for the first few years. But then Denki found out about Hanta and didn’t take it well.

“Todoroki-kun…” Izuku approached him seriously one day. “I really appreciate all you’ve done for me and Yagi but… if you want to move on with your life, you can! I have to stay here for Kacchan. But you deserve to be happy! You’re the most sought after hero bachelor, you know!”

“I’m happy here.” Shoto smiled sweetly. “Watching Yagi grow up with the childhood I never had is nice.”

“Really?” Izuku smiled sadly and Shoto could tell something was wrong.

“Did something happpen?”

“I just got off the phone with Kaminari-kun. He made some fair points!”

“What did he say to you?!” Shoto paled. He never told Izuku that he spent his ruts with other people. All the omega knew was he would get a hotel to deal with them.

“Just that maybe I’m being unfair to you! I never want to hold you back from a happy family!”

“I’ve been happier living with you and Yagi than I have in a long time!” Shoto insisted. “His concern isn’t warranted!”

“I guess I just worry for you when Kacchan comes back! I don’t know how he’ll feel about you living with us!”

“Kaminari-kun’s right that it’s selfish of me to hold onto you until then! I feel terrible! I’ve kept you from having a real family and forced you to become mine! Yagi loves you like a father, and I rely on you too much! I’m sorry!”

“Midoriya, I know what I signed up for!”

Shoto grabbed his hands. “But nothing is going to convince me to let you do this alone! If Bakugo throws my things out the door and never lets me return, I will still be glad I kept you and your family safe and happy until he came back! You said it yourself right?!”

“Being a hero is giving help even when it’s not asked for!”

Izuku nodded his head and cried into his chest gratefully that night. And Shoto stopped seeing Kaminari. He stopped seeing Hanta too for good measure. They both seemed to take it well. But maybe he was naive.

They managed to maintain their friendship which was good for Yagi Shoto thought he was able to provide him a happy childhood. Yagi never wanted for anything, never witnessed any hostility in their household, never so much as saw Shoto raise his voice at Izuku.

He was a happy child who was just as sweet and energetic as his dam. And also confident and driven as his sire. But Shoto never did ask him how he felt about constantly waiting for someone that was never coming. He never asked him if he was okay with Izuku’s denial.

But he never anticipated him lashing out in such an awful way! Izuku was a wonderful dam even if he was hanging onto a hopeless dream. He didn’t deserve this. The way Yagi spoke reminded Shoto of Touya. And he wondered if this was somehow all his own fault.

Did he just see what he wanted to see? Parenting was harder than Shoto ever anticipated, and he didn’t know what he would do if Izuku didn’t make it. How would he be able to look Yagi in the face?!

After Yagi said those awful words to Izuku, he was inconsolable.

No matter what Shoto said or did, Izuku wouldn’t stop crying. Not because he believed what Yagi said about Bakugo moving on, but because he was hurt and angry enough to say it.

Izuku felt like he failed him. That he caused so much pain in his child that he earned his hatred.

He tried to apologize but Yagi wouldn’t even sit for dinner and the rejection pained Izuku like nothing Shoto had ever seen before.

So Izuku did what he never allowed himself to do. He accepted Bakugo’s death. He took the time and allowed himself to finally grieve.

“You saw him die, right?” Izuku asked Shoto to accompany him to Bakugo’s grave.

“Yes…”

“What were his last words? Tell me…”

“He told me to tell you he was sorry…”

Izuku sunk deeper and deeper into his own grief. Like everything he did, he pushed himself too far too fast.

Because accepting that Bakugo was dead also made Izuku take a hard look at his own behavior after he died.

“I made you put your life on hold! I gave Yagi false hope! I didn’t come to Kacchan’s funeral! I’ve never even visited his grave! How awful! I’ve been so awful!”

“You did what you had to do to live, Midoriya!”

“Izuku…”

“Huh?”

“You can call me Izuku…” Then he kissed him. Shoto knew he was just doing what he thought Yagi wanted.

“Stop…” He gently pushed him away. “You don’t want this!”

“Yagi deserves a complete family, doesn’t he?!” Izuku cried in distress. “Doesn’t he deserve parents who love each other?! I need to move on, right?! Because Kacchan’s not coming back! I need to stop torturing everyone around me! So please love me like you want to!”

“I DON’T WANT TO LOVE YOU!” Shoto said desperately. “Not like-”

“Oh… right…” Izuku took it as a rejection. It was the wrong thing to say at the worst time.

All Shoto meant to say was he didn’t need to be with him in that way to be happy! He knew he could never fill that void

And that’s what Bakugo left behind. A huge void of pain that Shoto could never hope to make better.

If he just made Izuku somehow accept it before Yagi was born… if he just told Yagi the truth when he was young and could understand his mom’s need to believe it.

Shoto felt like he failed his family, too, and if he lost Izuku, he didn’t know how he was going to be there for Yagi. He suddenly related to his father. It must have been painful to fight for Touya despite the death and pain he caused even if it was ultimately Endeavors fault.

Yagi was only a kid and Shoto needed to hear him out and find out where this was all coming from! He needed to confront him head on and make him understand that he didn’t want to lose the person who loved him the most in this world this way!

Shoto grabbed his phone, hoping to text him and was surprised to see it blowing up with messages. He let the hero network know he was on family leave and wouldn’t be able to work anytime soon. Then he heard a huge commotion in the hallway.

“LET ME THROUGH DAMNIT!”

Shoto felt his heart stop at the sound of that voice. He would recognize it anywhere!

“Bakugo?!” He ran into the hallway to the see his ‘deceased’ friend being held back by the nurses.

“It’s not Yagi-kun! It’s a stranger!” One of the nurses shouted to security.

“A DynaMight impersonator?! How cruel! Stop moving!”

“Bakugo… is that really you?!” Shoto rushed to them.

“Huh? Todoroki-San! It can’t be the real him, right?!”

“Half and Half?! Tell them all to back off and take me to Izuku! What the hell is he doing in a place like this?!”

Shoto was in disbelief. He didn’t look like he had aged a day. The scratches and wounds Bakugo had received from that fateful day were still fresh on his skin. Shoto’s phone kept blowing up in his pocket and he glanced down to see the first notification from Hero News Network.

‘Deceased Shiketsu High Disaster Victims turn up at school ALIVE!’

‘Powerful Disgraced Former Student’s Quirk Explained!’

‘No Dynamight sightings yet!’

“LET HIM THROUGH! IT’S HIM!” Shoto demanded, shocking the nurses.

“Where is he?! What happened while I was gone?!”

“We don’t have 16 years to explain! Follow me!” Shoto grabbed his wrist and dragged him toward Izuku’s hospital room.

“Fuck! You’re starting to look old! It really has been that long?!” Katsuki questioned in a panic.

“I should be the one asking questions!”