4

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Katsuki felt like his head was spinning. First, that slut hero drags him to the police, and they have the audacity to threaten him all cause he was putting a villain in his place. He had to go to therapy like some weakling, and then that bastard Deku did something, so now UA and All Might were on his side. Even though he's a villain waiting to happen, even if his quirk is shittty. He ground his teeth as his parents and Nezu left him with All Might.

He wasn't even sure if All Might was talking; all he could hear was the blood rushing through his veins. Deku had hurt his chances and his reputation before he even got the chance to start hero school. He was going to kill that damn nerd when- Katuski's head snapped up as All Might gripped his shoulder. "Young Bakugo. Take a deep breath and listen. I have several things you need to hear."

The tone in his voice brought Katsuki back around, and the young boy begrudgingly paid attention. All Might smiled "good. Now I've heard about everything from Tsukauchi and Nezu. I heard you're a fan of mine as well."

Katsuki scoffed "of course I am. Anyone who isn't a villain or an idiot."

"Then why do you practice quirk discrimination?"

The question caught him off guard. Quirk discrimination? The fuck does he mean by that?" "what?"

"You consider Young Midoriya and others lesser because of their quirks, do you not?"

That was a stupid question, and he didn't even get why All Might was bringing it up "so what. They are lesser. They're just extras who will get in the way of me winning when I'm a pro."

"You think winning is what's important to a pro hero?" All Might asked, the disappointment evident on his face.

"Of course it is. You're number one cause you don't lose. Victory over the villains is all that matters."

All Might scoffed. The number one hero scoffed at him before saying, "if that was the case, Endeavour would be number one, and I would be number eight at best. Most of the top ten solve more cases and arrest more villains than I do."

"What? You're stronger than all of them combined-"

"And yet they would still rank higher than me if it wasn't for the other factors that go into the billboard charts. The only reason I'm ranked number one is that I do interviews, charity work, and visit with people who are fans. I interact with the people I'm sworn to protect. If you ask me, victory over villains is not the most important part of being the symbol of peace. Making people feel safe and letting them know I will do my best to keep their fears at bay is what makes me the symbol of peace."

All Might shifted and sat across from Katsuki, who was looking at him in confusion. All Might continued speaking. "From what I can tell Young Bakugo, you value victory over your opponents, you view others as beneath you and believe physically assaulting them will teach them a 'lesson' and make them 'stay in line.'" All Might's eyes sparked with an intensity that made Katsuki stiffen "that sounds more like a villain than a hero to me."

Katuski's hands popped "what?! I'm not some fucking loser villain like Deku's going to be!"

All Might sighed "you remind me so much of a boy I knew in high school, so much passion and that same desire for victory over others. I looked up to him and thought he would be a great hero. Do you know where he is now?"

Katsuki crossed his arms and scoffed, "like it matters. He was obviously some extra who didn't matter if he's not a hero now."

All Might shook his head "you, and he are so much alike it's scary. The boy who I looked up to is gone. He strayed down off the path of the hero, and now he's in Tartarus paying for his crimes. I would hate to see you end up there too." All Might stood and looked down at Katsuki "as you are now Katsuki Bakugo, you can never be a hero, but people have been kind to you, so you have the chance to change and hopefully become a true hero."

With that statement, Katsuki sat feeling shattered and numb as All Might left. Katsuki stared out the window with his thoughts going a mile a minute but also felt sluggish and slow.

_________________________________________________________________

Yasuda smiled and stacked up the papers "alright, I'll get these to the old lady upstairs. Once it's processed, you'll have to do an interview with her and a rep from child services. I'm sure you'll be fine, but it'll take a couple days to find someone, so in the meantime, you got some time to find an apartment. How's that going, by the way?"

Izuku smiled as Nemuri groaned, "I hate it so much, but we've got a few that look good. We're gonna check them out later."

"Hopefully, this time, the landlord doesn't recognize Kayama," Izuku said, making his future guardian groan again.

Kayama rubbed her face "it was so embarrassing. I could barely keep a straight face."

Yasuda and Izuku laughed as Kayama stood up. "I'm going to work. I'll be back after school, so Midoriya and I can go check out the apartments."

"Have a good day at work, Kayama," Izuku said, making the woman smile as she left for UA.

________________________________________________________________

Thirteen took their helmet off in the teacher's lounge and sighed, "those third years, I swear."

Midnight blinked and forced herself to stop staring and actually talk to them "what did they do this time?"

Thirteen started making tea as they spoke "they decided rescue training wasn't hard enough, so they started challenging each other to complete the rescue ops with various handicaps."

Midnight chuckled "how did that go for them?"

Thirteen smiled, and Midnight committed it to memory "oh, they were having a blast till I turned up the difficulty to second-semester fourth years. Then suddenly they were scrambling all over the place."

"That's so mean. I love it." Midnight said between laughter.

Thirteen chuckled as they sat down. "So, how's it going with Midoriya? That's his name, right?"

Midnight nodded "yeah. I filled out some forms this morning, and I'll have an interview in a few days so they can decide if I'm fit to be his guardian. We'll also be looking for a new apartment later today."

Thirteen smiled "honestly, I'm kinda surprised you went through with it. I never would have thought Nemuri Kayama would adopt a kid."

Midnight blushed but did her best to appear confident "well, I'm just full of surprises. Maybe you'll get to learn some of them."

She bit her tongue as Thirteen giggled and sipped their tea "guess I'll just have to keep a better eye on you so I can see some of these surprises."

Midnight took a breath and felt a surge of real confidence; maybe now would be a good chance- the door slid open as Midnight's loudest friend entered. "YO Kayama, how's it going with the kid?!"

Midnight sighed and rubbed her face as Present Mic entered. "Mic, please don't shout that where students could hear."

Present Mic laughed as he closed the door and started chatting like he didn't just kill Midnight's best chance.

__________________________________________________________________

Nemuri's heart warmed as she saw Izuku smile when she approached. "How was work today, Kayama?"

Nemuri sighed. "I had some... interesting essays turned in today. I think a few of the hero course students could use a refresher on their art history."

Izuku laughed as he followed her towards the first apartment they were going to check out today. Apartment hunting had been a bust over the past couple of days. Most didn't feel right, some had issues, and a few were just not as advertised. They both felt good about today, though. It only took three apartments before they found one they both thought was good. It was twice the size of Nemuri's current apartment and in a good neighborhood; that also meant it was twice as expensive, but Nemuri didn't really care her hero check could cover it, and UA paid their teachers well, so expenses wouldn't be an issue. There were apparently other heroes who lived here, so the apartment complex had security to keep reporters and other nonsense away.

The apartment was on the fifth floor. A short hallway from the door led to a living room and kitchenette. To the living room's right was a short hallway; on the left was a bedroom, and across from it a bathroom. At the end of the hall was the master bedroom that had its own bathroom. The walls were painted a soft gray, and a window in the living room looked out over the street and would be a pretty nice view of the sunset.

Nemuri whistled, "what do you think, Midoriya? Cause I kinda like this one."

Izuku looked around a bit before nodding "yeah, it looks good. Um, the price isn't bad, right? I don't want you spending more than we can."

Nemuri rolled her eyes. "I know I give off this wonderful, fun vibe, but I am an adult. I can manage my money, and besides, I'm a hero and a teacher. I make more than you think."

"O-ok then um yeah, I like this one." Izuku stammered out as he walked over to the window.

Nemuri smiled "all right then, let's get it."

__________________________________________________________________

The day of the interview was coincidentally the day Nemuri finalized her move to her new apartment. ' Now I just need to secure my child and move him in, and we'll be set.'  Nemuri choked on her tea and nearly spilled it. The thought had hit her out of nowhere. She knew technically, as his guardian, he would be in a legal sense her child. She had also been avoiding saying or thinking that because it felt strange. She had never thought about a family before, and now she was getting one. It was small, just the two of them, but still, it would technically be a family. Nemuri just hoped she could be a good guardian and make Izuku happy. The boy deserves some happiness after everything he suffered through.

Yasuda came in and nodded "old lady is ready for you. Are you ready to go?"

Nemuri stood and nodded "yeah. Let's do this."

Yasuda led her up to the office and let her in. waiting for Nemuri was an elderly woman in a simple pale gray blouse, with thin black-framed glasses resting on the top of her gray hair. She sat behind the sturdy dark desk. "Ah, Kayama, it's good to see you again." 

The older woman motioned next to her, "This is Miss Sayaki from child protective services. She'll be speaking to you today."

Miss Sayaki wore a pristine black suit with a skirt. Her black hair was tied up in a bun, and Nemuri shivered under the fiercely stern gaze of the child services worker. Sayaki gave a polite nod as Nemuri sat down "it's a pleasure to meet you, Ms.Kayama. Shall we get started?"

Nemuri nodded "of course, ma'am."

The interview was fairly standard. Sayaki had done a comprehensive background check on Nemuri before coming and brought up various things from her past, some Nemuri had kind of forgotten about. Nothing was incriminating, but there were plenty of reports from her time in school. Incidents where students said she had used her quirk on them, but since they were lies and no proof was provided, she never got punished for it, but she didn't need to be the bullies were enough punishment as is.

"There were quite a few accusations during your time in middle and high school. Though no actions were taken, and no proof was found. Why was this?"

Nemuri huffed "discrimination. My quirk wasn't and still isn't seen as very heroic, and as such, bullies were prevalent in my life."

"I looked at Midoriya's records and noticed his were similar. I also received a call from your boss, president Nezu in which he provided me... disturbing evidence of just how poorly Midoriya was treated." Sayaki adjusted her seating. "Nezu has informed me of his plans for Aldera, but I'm also worried about what will happen with Midoriya when his old school goes down. As it stands now, he is simply not attending at all."

Nemuri nodded. "I have an apartment." she handed over a thin folder with the details of her new home. "It's in a much better place, and it's far from Aldera, so when he rejoins school, none of his old tormentors should be there."

Sayaki nodded and looked over the details. "This is a good neighborhood."

Nemuri felt good. The interview was going fine, and Sayaki seemed to approve until "but I have a concern. It's to do with your hero identity, Midnight."

Nemuri blushed a bit "ah. I can assure you that Midnight is just a persona I use for hero work. I drop it when I don't need it-"

Sayaki raised her hand. "I understand that. This isn't my first time dealing with a hero who wanted to adopt a child. It's not so much the persona that has me concerned. Your character may be... inappropriate at times, but there is plenty of evidence to show you dropping it when it is unneeded. My concern has to do with you being a hero in general."

Nemuri felt a little relieved but also incredibly worried as Sayaki continued. "As you know better than anyone here. A hero's life is not an easy or safe one. The risk to you and those close to you is great. While you aren't as high on the list as others, you are a well-known hero. Not only would there be media attention on you for adopting a child, but there will also be villains who may have a grudge against you."

Sayaki leveled her stern red eyes at Nemuri "my top concern is Midoriya's physical and mental well-being in that situation."

Nemuri nodded. "I understand. In regards to the media, Midoriay knows already and has told me he doesn't mind. As for villains who may target me, you saw that my new apartment houses several heroes and has increased security as such. I am also a UA teacher, which allows me access to several resources that I can employ to help secure my home even better."

Sayaki nodded and scribbled something down before moving onto other topics. Nemuri wasn't sure how much time went by, but eventually, Sayaki seemed satisfied and stood up "well, Ms.Kayama, I had my doubts. Heroes often wish to do well by the kids but often fall flat. As of right now, I can't see any reason to not allow you to adopt Midoriya. Once all the paperwork is finalized, I will stop by several times over the next year to assure everything is being taken care of properly."

Nemuri stood. "I hope I don't disappoint Miss Sayaki. I will do my best to make sure Midoriya has a good life."

Sayaki smiled. "I hope you do. Now here are the last of the documents to sign. Once that's done, you will be the guardian of Izuku Midoriya."

Nemuri took the paperwork and smiled "thank you, Miss Sayaki, for allowing this to happen."

Sayaki shook her head "this is because of you. I hope you both have a wonderful future as a family." Sayaki bowed before leaving.

The elderly head of the orphanage smiled "well done, Kayama. Now, why don't you run off to Izuku and Yasuda. She can take care of that paperwork once it's signed."

Nemuri bowed "of course, ma'am. Thank you for everything."

She all but ran out and back downstairs. Nemuri was surprised to find Yasuda and the others set up for what looked like a party while Izuku was swamped by the younger kids who were all crying to varying degrees about big bro Izuku leaving them. One girl in particular with a long tangled mess of teal hair had attached herself quite firmly to Izuku's chest. Izuku smiled up at Nemuri "how did it go?"

Nemuri chuckled "it went well. Just gotta sign this, then you're stuck with me."

The young girl wailed, "Izu's leaving!"

Izuku patted the girl's head "it's ok, Mawabi. Just cause I'm getting adopted doesn't mean you'll never see me again. I promise I'll come by and see you all."

Mawabi sniffled her sea-green eyes, staring up at him "ya promise?"

Izuku nodded. "I promise."

Nemuri was a little startled when Mawabi smiled, showing off a terrifying number of shark teeth. The children seemed in better spirits knowing their big brother wouldn't leave them forever when he moved out. Yasuda chuckled and pulled Nemuri over to a table so she could finish the paperwork. "It's gonna be different not having the little nerd around all the time. Be sure to come with him when you can, ok."

Nemuri nodded. "I'll try to."

Once the paperwork was signed, Yasuda whisked it away, and once she returned, the young woman clapped her hands "alright, everybody. You know why we're here. Our wonderful little hero nerd has found a home and a family for himself, so let's give him a proper send-off to his new life and hope he doesn't forget about us when he makes it big!"

Everyone cheered as Izuku blushed, but the smile on his face never faded as they got into things. Nemuri couldn't stop smiling as the party went on. All of the kids had pulled their allowances and got Izuku a gift. A dark green hoodie that said Family Found in white letters. Izuku chuckled, and Nemuri shook her head at his odd taste in clothes. Yasuda patted her shoulder "no matter how much you try, he will never stop wearing that."

Nemuri sighed. "I just want him to know when to wear something else and to have something else to wear."

Yasuda shook her head "the boy is hopeless in some aspects. I'm just glad it's someone else's problem now."

Nemuri smiled "how hard are you gonna cry tomorrow when he leaves?"

Yasuda shoved her lightly. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm an uncaring orphanage worker forced to look after all these 'dastardly' children."

The two women quickly broke down into quiet laughter. Yasuda sighed "it will suck not having him here. He helped out so much around here and loved talking heroes with me."

"He did promise to come back, and the boy loves you and everyone else here, so there's no way he'll back out of that promise," Nemuri said as she watched Izuku pick up a couple of the kids. They giggled, and several climbed him, causing him to fall out as they swarmed him with hugs.

____________________________________________________________________

The next morning was spent packing the few things he owned and loading them into a moving van. Yasuda cried as she pulled Izuku into a tight hug "be safe, ya little nerd, and make sure to keep in touch, ok?"

Izuku cried just as much as he hugged her back "sure thing, Yasuda. I'll be sure to. Don't let the other kids cause too much trouble."

Yasuda laughed. "I'll keep them in line, don't you worry. Now get going. You gotta get moved in today."

Another round of hugs and tears later, Izuku was in the van next to Nemuri, who smiled as she started the van "you ready?"

Izuku nodded "yeah. I'm ready."

The ride was quiet as Izuku thought about how different things were because one day, he ran down an alleyway and ran into the woman who is now his legal guardian. It was interesting, and the weeks felt like they flew by. His life changed so quickly that he kind of hoped things mellowed out for a bit to let him process it all.

Nemuri sighed internally. How had she ended up here? A few weeks ago, she had to take a different route from her normal patrols to avoid some annoying paparazzi that were around because of some singer that was in town. Now... Now she had a kid, and they were moving into a new apartment. She'd have to make sure there was actual food in the house, and she needed to get him into school so he could finish and move onto high school. Oh god, why did she agree to this? Her eyes flicked over, and she saw Izuku smiling as he scrolled through some hero news. 'Oh yeah. That's why... yeah, I can handle this. Probably. Most likely.'

Notes:

so... ships. I have an idea of what I want. I enjoy poly relationships so I'm thinking Hagakure/MIna/Izuku, but I'm not sure yet.

also, I have other stories I work on a bit but haven't posted anything of yet and Idk if I should yet because I don't want a bunch of stories that take forever to update because of how many there are.