Green tipped ears and weight to bear.

Izuku sits in his bed at home for the first time in months. It's strange, but the comfort of knowing that his dad and papa are right down the hall settle his worry. He feels like he's been sent back to square one, he's shifty, refuses to walk around the house unless he's in his wolf form, because it helps him believe he's done nothing wrong yet, like he's just the stray that his dad picked up off the street. Of course, he still lays by their feet while they watch TV at night, because even though he feels guilty, he can't turn away from his longing for their love and acceptance.

He's sitting on his bed when he hears his dad approach his room. He perks up, watching his dad lean against his door frame. He smiles, feeling his still agitated scars pull across his face, and his dad smiles back. Izuku finds that he isn't insecure about the grotesque pull of the scars when his dad is all too happy to smile in return.

"Hey kid. Wanna go get some stuff for your room? It needs a little… hero's touch."

The scars pull even tighter as he beams, hopping off his bed to join his dad.

He hates the people, the amount of them stings his nose and hurts his ears, and he's forgotten his scarf. He's staring at the floor, eyes barely lifting to see what his parents are offering to buy him. He feels his papa leave his side, but he can't hear why, and he's aware of his dad gently moving him into a corner that has no people. He sits, holding onto his dad's hand with a vice grip. It's a few minutes before his papa returns and gently puts something over his ears. The world immediately quiets around him, and Izuku can finally look up with watery eyes. He lifts his free hand to feel, smiling softly when his fingers close over the ear muffs of headphones. Noise cancelling ones, knowing his papa, probably the best ones currently available. They wait for him to gather himself together, then they're walking through the stores again, this time Izuku is happy to add his input, and even ask for a few items of clothing. He keeps reaching up to touch his new headphones, small smile in place.

His world hasn't been this quiet since the sludge villain invaded his lungs and choked him.

They're walking between shops when Izuku freezes mid step, eyes slowly lifting to a hero merch store. His eyes are wide, and that's all it takes for his papa to take his hand and lead him inside. His eyes scan across the shelves, and he stops when he sees an All Might figure. It's cheap, a knock-off; and Izuku knows that the same one stood on his dresser for years, bought with money he had planned to buy food with. He snorts and rolls his eyes as he walks past it, teeth bared as he remembers how hungry he was just so he could have one figure of a man who ended up being a bastard.

He doesn't pick up a single thing, but any time his eyes linger, his dad lifts whatever he paused for when he moves on. When Izuku finally does pick something up, it's a poster. It's one of his dad, his scarf weaved around him and shot off the side. It's from his early days as a hero when he was first known, as time went on he was able to hide in the shadows to make his work easier. But he can have this one thing of his dad, and he wants it. He turns to ask for it, staring at the basket full of everything he'd paused to look at.

"You don't have to- I just want this poster and one of papa too."

His papa smiles, ruffling the hair at the back of his head so he doesn't hit the headphones, but Izuku pushes them off one ear so he can hear his parents.

"Izu baby. We want to get you this. We want you to have things that you want. Pick things up Izuku, be happy, you're allowed to be spoiled."

Izuku walks around the store holding his papa's hand. How he doesn't get recognised with only his hair down and a change of clothes is beyond him, but he accepts it, because it means he can slip his headphones back on and lead his pack through the store.

He leaves with multiple posters, (one of his papa of course) a few figures of heroes, new and old; and two keychains.

One Eraserhead, one Present Mic.

He's going to attach them to his keys when he gets home.

They're walking out when his dad stops behind them, making his papa stop too. Izuku slips his headphones aside again, looking back at his dad. He's not paying attention, so Izuku tracks his eyeline to see what he's staring at.

"Holy fuck. "

The display is huge, a massive poster with figures on shelves under it. He'd be surprised that he hadn't seen it, but people are crowded around it, practically covering the whole thing.

Izuku would have to be stupid not to see who it is, clear as day.

The wolf is huge, all black with green tipped ears.

Izuku is staring at a fucking poster of himself, and underneath there are shelves of figures of him.

Right in the middle, there's a figure of him, teeth showing as his lips are pulled back, ears so far back they almost touch his head as he crouches. He's growling at All Might. Izuku laughs, loud and surprised, and he picks it up.

Izuku leaves with three of that figure. One for him, one for Toshi and one for Shoto.

He also sees his dad lifting two of the posters. One for them and the other for Toshi he assumes.

They shop for furniture next, and Izuku picks a desk, but refuses to look at chairs, saying he can find a cheaper one somewhere else. His papa decides to pick up a very expensive gaming chair that's apparently very comfortable. Izuku knows better than to argue, so he lets his papa pick one, and he picks a black and yellow one. He likes it, and he leaves with drawers for his clothes, his desk and chair. He's practically bouncing as they leave, so many thank you's rushing from his mouth that he's not even sure if he's making sense as he skips towards the car with a grin.

Izuku sits in school the next day, the earliest he's ever been in homeroom, massive grin in place. Shoto arrives first, eyebrow raised when he sits beside him. "You weren't outside by the tree."

"I come bearing gifts." he snorted, pushing a box towards him. "Don't open it until Hitoshi gets here. You both have one."

"One what?"

Izuku smiles widely as Hitoshi pulls his chair up beside him and rests his arm on the back of Izuku's chair, holding him in a half hug. Izuku pushes the second box towards him. "Open." Shoto and Hitoshi open their boxes at the same time, their eyes widening when they realise what it is. Hitoshi laughs loudly, holding his stomach as Shoto's jaw goes slack, not quite understanding why this is a thing. Izuku just keeps grinning from ear to ear, laughing quietly. When they've finally calmed down, the rest of the class start filtering in. Izuku is too busy giggling quietly at Hitoshi, who's still quietly whispering about the figures, that he doesn't even realise his dad is talking to him.

" Izuku. "

Izuku's head snaps up, looking at his dad. "...yes?" Hitoshi laughs beside him, and Izuku elbows him as he pays attention. His dad sighs, but ignores them, focusing on his question.

"While you were away, we chose hero names. Have you thought of one or would you like time to decide?"

Izuku has chosen his hero name. He thought on it a lot, even researching different things it was tied to, and in the end he decided he loved it, especially how it linked to how his quirk is viewed. "I have one."

His dad gestured him to the front, handing him a whiteboard where he scrawled his name messily in his usual chicken scratch before turning it around to show the class.

The canine hero: Orthrus

Izuku stands proudly at the front of his class as his dad smiles softly. "Orthrus is the two headed hound, brother of Cerberus." he headed back to his seat, letting his dad announce the final exams coming up. They had a little time to train, but he wasn't sure exactly what the exam would entail. He'd just have to train and hope he was good enough to pass.

Izuku does train. He's almost religious in his training, returning home long after dark absolutely soaked with sweat and having to haul himself into the lukewarm shower he always takes, then dragging himself into bed without a word or his dinner. He's pushing himself as hard as he can, even sneaking off to play around with the new features of his quirk. He often wakes up a few hours after activating it, staring at the trees that he's clearly torn down, but he can't remember anything after activating it. He decides not to activate it again, the wounds he's sporting after waking up are already bad enough, so he decides to stick with the wolf he knows, the one that's under control and that has kept him safe since the first day it was activated. He does decide that he's going to do the final exam without shifting though, he thinks it's important that he earns everyone's trust again, and he figures this is a pretty good first step, so he trains his body harder, until he can't even make it to the shower at the end of the day, just slumping over the couch and calling it a night.

Izuku is so tired when he stands in front of his teachers, listening to them discuss what will happen for their exam. All that Izuku's tired mind really comprehends is that he's fighting a teacher.

His teacher.

His dad.

He's paired with Hitoshi, and they're paired against his dad.

"Fuck."

Izuku isn't even sure if it's him or Hitoshi that said it. Maybe both. Either way, he wholeheartedly agrees. Especially now that he knows that his dad won't be wearing weights, but he will. He wants to cry or laugh. He's not exactly sure which.

"Fuck."

That one was definitely him. He groans as the teachers strap their weights on, and his dad comes over to strap on his own, grinning at him. "You've got this kid, you've got the easy. We both know you can do this Izuku."

Izuku is not as confident in his abilities as his father is, but Hitoshi doesn't seem to care very much about passing, or whatever camp that has been promised if they pass. He just seems to be happy enough to work with Izuku against Eraserhead. Izuku figures this simplicity might help him relax.

It doesn't.

Izuku stands awkwardly beside Hitoshi while they wait for the countdown to end and for his dad to start hunting them through the fake city. He sighs before grabbing Hitoshi's wrist, dragging him through the streets. He drops down awkward alleyways, taking cover in the lower floor of one of the buildings. He peeks out the window, catching sight of his dad sprinting down power lines on their street, heading away from their building. Izuku hums. If they can get past him undetected, it's still a win, they can avoid him completely.

Or Hitoshi can.

"Give me the cuffs. I have an idea."

Izuku stands in the street regretting his life choices, rubbing his face before he takes off at a sprint. The goal is to track his dad's scent, get close enough for him to be able to track Izuku, and close enough to Hitoshi that he can move without being seen. Easy .

He can hear his dad on his left above him, and he can smell Hitoshi on his right, a few streets over. He dodges one street to his right, hoping to any god above that his dad will think he's trying to lead him away from Hitoshi. He throws himself to the side hard enough to hit the ground when his dad shoots the capture weapon out to catch him. He hisses as he slides across the ground, agitating his injuries from testing his new form. He gets back on his feet to run again, yelping when his dad's scarf catches his foot and he hits the concrete face first. He growls as he's strung up on the powerlines, hung upside down.

"You're hardwired to protect your pack, which means you'll be leading me away from Hitoshi."

Yes.

"Which is exactly what you're counting on me trusting, so he's probably within a few streets radius from us."

Fuck.

He's right of course, Izuku can smell Hitoshi one street over to his left. He must have hopped across when Aizawa was focused on him instead of catching Hitoshi. His dad hums as he hops onto the roof, leaving Izuku behind to track Hitoshi, who's moving again, but not fast enough. Izuku growls as he flips himself, letting his claws drop and shred through the scarf, feeling a touch guilty when his feet hit the ground and the tattered scarf falls around him. He can hear Hitoshi shouting all sorts of curses, so he throws away his promise of not using his quirk, bounding down the street on four paws, crashing into his dad as a wolf, but hitting the floor as a human, barrelling them both across the street as he growls, standing protectively in front of Hitoshi. He watches as his dad stares at them, seemingly thinking, before he lunges forward, pushing Izuku back if he wants to maintain his protective stance. He feels stupid, not shifting when he knows it could get them the pass easily, but neither his dad or Hitoshi say anything, and his dad lunges again, his leg connecting with the arm Izuku throws up to protect his head. Hitoshi thankfully gets the hint and starts to run, letting Izuku keep his attention, trading hits back and forth. His training has helped, but he's not on the same level as Eraserhead, and Hitoshi still isn't close enough to the exit. He needs a plan. He ducks and dodges, dealing out his fair share of hits when finally, his dad shifts his weight to one foot, and Izuku raises his arm, with the open cuff in his hand. His dad realises his mistake too slowly, because his leg connects with Izuku's hand, and Izuku snaps the cuff in place. He slumps as they're given their pass, and Izuku has a feeling his dad went easy on him as he unclasps the weights, rubbing his raw wrists.

Of course, he doesn't question it, smiling at his dad who takes his hands, checking to see his wrists himself.