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School was being butthead stupid, well, as Kacchan would say cause he said naughty words all the time, words that would get Izuku put in the corner in a flash.
If Kacchan was at school with Izuku anymore, that is.
Now though Izuku and Mama had to go live where poor people lived, where school wasn't fun anymore, or happy, and Mama cried at night when she thought he was asleep and the new apartment smelled funny and the halls were dirty and things were super not good anymore.
It seems like when your daddy died, and mama only cleaned for a living, you were something called poor which was bad.
And being five without a quirk showing up was even worse.
And the final cherry on top of a terrible day that started with not enough rice for mama to have any, and then not enough money for the bus so they had to run the whole way - Naoki chan had a box of super awesome crayons.
The kind that left not just color but glitter behind, and Izuku wanted them.
Wanted all the pretty colors, wanted them with his entire heart, the way he hardly ever wanted things.
He watched other kids wanting things but he was happy with what he had, mama and food full of love and sunshine and his toys.
But he wanted those crayons with every piece and part of him and wished, wished so hard and he was -
Holding a box of glitter crayons.
Looking down at it he felt surprised, and tired, and was just about to ask where they came from when Naoki saw them and tipped his head back and screamed!
Stood up and stamped his feet and screamed even louder because he loved it when other kids wanted what he had and he wouldn't share and Izuku was horrible and wrecked that for him and bad and “WWWWAAA AAAGHHHAAAA!!!”
That was bad enough but their usual pretty and super nice teacher was gone for the day and they had a grumpy man and he was yelling and grabbed the crayons and said, “Midoriya IZUKU how DARE you steal crayons!!!!”
Because he thought Izuku had taken them and Izuku was crying too hard to say he didn't take them from anyone but his hated nasty classmate yelled and yelled and yelled and the teacher yelled even more and then there were more teachers in and everyone was yelling….
Izuku was so scared, and sick to his tummy, and he needed someone to love him and protect him and mama wasn't there and they were calling her and wouldn't stop telling him how bad he was for using his quirk to steal crayons and think about the shop he took them from not having that money and how bad he was!
Suddenly holding something soft, something he’d once drawn, “Sheepie” he whispered through his tears and he wrapped his arms around a soft cloud with long dangly legs and floppy ears and sleep closed eyes and then -
Someone screeched “YOU DID IT AGAIN???”
“Give Me THAT!”
And tried to take Sheepy away!
In a day that had been as bad as it could possibly be, suddenly holding Sheepy who was just as soft and fluffy and perfect as Izuku always knew she’d be was like magic, had made him feel so much better, and then for someone to grab and shake and try and take her away?
Twisting just enough to reach, tightening his arms so much his entire body jerked back and forth as the teacher tried to shake him off his friend, Izuku bit as hard as he could.
Bit hard enough to not just break skin but to dig teeth deep enough to sever tendons and smash the fragile bones in a hand, even an adult's hand.
*
Curled in the room where someone had thrown him, hiding behind Sheepy who he still clutched tight tight tight even with sensei’s blood on her, suddenly mama was there, and there were police and even the hero didn't make anything better because they were loud and it was all yelling and noise and terror and pain and Izuku hid his face in Sheepy’s fur and then in mama’s arms and finally!
They got to go home.
*
The quirk counselors office was as bad as school had been, but bad different, cause they were all sticky nice that wasn't nice at all.
Mama tried to stop them, and argued, and complained, but they did it anyway.
Called his quirk a short range greed triggered transportation quirk, and named it Take.
Despite Mama yelling and pointing at Sheepy and saying "Where would he take that from?”
But they did it anyway, and Izuku cried all the way home, cause he wanted to call it Make!
One tiny letter, but it made so much difference at school he didn't have any friends at all anymore.
*
It took him a full year to wonder about it all properly instead of just crying every time he thought about it.
He took Sheepy to school every day though, refused to be separated from her, and yelled as loud as possible if anyone went to touch her and slowly it all went back to normal.
His usual teacher came back, the bad one had been taken away, and everyone followed the rules even if they weren't nice about it.
But when he turned six, he woke up from a dream about biting that man, and wondered how he’d done it so much.
Being told daddy had a dragon quirk and looking at his teeth in the mirror after a quick trip to the dentist who'd even gotten pictures of Izuku's bones, soooo coooooool, took care of that question, but then….
Holding her close, looking at her really really hard, he finally asked, “Mama, where did Sheepy come from?”
Because he’d been so afraid to do anything with his quirk cause of all the yelling and badness but when mama said, "I think she came from your quirk.” Izuku decided to try again.
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Mama lost her job.
It was cause she hurt herself and it was the jobs fault but they didn't care and now mama was crying in her room cause the person who took money so they could live in the apartment mama made as nice as she could was all yelling about money and…..
If his quirk could make things, things like Sheepy, what else could a big six years old Izuku make with it, what would help mamma mostest?
*
Fretfully rubbing his eyes as he leaned on mama’s door he almost fell when she opened it up, and he smiled and handed her a bag, said, "Treasure.” and the lights went out.
*
Catching her little Zubug he was sleeping, just sleeping, mumbling a bit the way he usually did, and was a bit hot to the touch so she put him in her bed, if he didn't wake in an hour she’d take him to their doctor, at least children were free, even if she wasn't.
Pain from her wrist throbbed in waves, made worse by lifting her beautiful baby, and she sat on the bed with him, running her uninjured hand through his still so soft hair.
Eviction notice crumpled and tear stained on the bed beside them, she didn't know what to do.
A huff of a smile as she bent to pick up the treasure in a worn leather bag and she wondered where he’d gotten it from yet that fled the instant she tipped out the ten gold doubloons that’d been in the odd container.
Feeling her heart literally stop in her chest she grabbed it, pressed hard and talked the panic back into the box it lived in all the time.
On the one hand her baby being afraid of using his quirk had been sad, bad, heartbreaking but….
A quirk named TAKE and a bag of gold coins was even worse, so much, much, worse!
Checking his temperature again he was a bit hotter, fever gaining but if he’d not used his quirk in over a year it was no wonder he had a fever, quirk backlash caused by inactivity, a simple energy build up.
Checking in his tiny little room, the walk in closet the apartment came with, he loved it, called it his big boy room and on the floor was a book, Pirates Through Time and right there, she compared coin to picture and the match was perfect.
Both sides of the coins were perfect, because the picture had a pile of them, so her little boy was so clever to have used all of them to make a composite coin, perfect, heavy, solid.
Had he gotten them from somewhere?
But no, the leather bag matched too, right down to the tear on one side and frayed drawstring.
Bursting into tears she crouched on the floor, her baby was in so much danger now and how could she keep him safe?
Bad enough to have a listed larceny quirk but now he could make GOLD!!! If she'd sat down to try and come up with a more dangerous-to-them quirk she'd never in a million years thought this one up.
*
Almost tiptoeing into the pawn shop all the way across town, hat and veil hiding her face, she’d invented a story of her mother's uncles sisters father finding it but they didn't care, just gave her a tiny fraction of what it was worth and she took that and paid the rent with enough left over for three more months.
But she hated how they’d looked at her, and how little her Izuku’s amazing gift had actually gotten, ten percent of the actual value was a terrible and insulting pittance indeed!
The next one she’d sold online, and gotten a bit more for it, about half its value, and they lived on that money for long enough to make a plan.
Six, almost seven, her baby so young.
But they now had enough money to move.
Move away from the city, take up snorkeling and hunting for treasure on the sea bed down south, even if they only “found” a single good coin a year then it was enough, and her baby could learn his quirk in a place no one knew him, and, she looked at her arm now healed because she could afford to get it tended to properly, their quality of life really would get so much better!
Calling softly, “Izuku, would you like to help mama find us a house all the way down south where it’s warm all the time?”
A cheer and an armful of happy sweet wonderful Izuku, more precious than gold and they got started, excitement unfurling hesitant petals in her own heart, because this was very new indeed!
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Hirado, Nagasaki, they'd loved how it looked online and, in the end she’d rented an apartment overlooking fishing docks and beautiful blue water dotted with islands and as Izuku said, awesomeness!
Two actual bedrooms rather than one with a closet like their last place, a lovely open plan living sitting kitchen and balcony, in a down market area of working people.... She packed two suitcases, one each.
Because she’d paid the rent but her lease was still in place, so instead of being honest as she’d once have been she blithely spoke of a holiday to go see friends, just a week off, and walked out of the place she'd always hated.
Filthy dirty worn cold damp no words were bad enough for it.
Online she’d already moved Izuku to his new school, so together they got on a bus, then onto a train, and with him on her lap to see better they watched the world go by, beautiful indeed.
And when they finally got to where they were going, night air soft and warm as insects and frogs peeped and called in the dark, she was afraid as they got out of the taxi she’d hired, because it was a few miles from the train to the apartment, but the lovely woman driving helped her get the cases in as she carried the dead weight of her sleeping baby, and then, they were there.
Moved and safe in their brand new home.
Fortunately it was a furnished apartment, so she set Izuku into the bed that would be hers because she didn't want him sleeping alone that first night and covered him with their travel blanket.
Tomorrow was fine for hunting up bedding and such like, for now she eased the balcony doors open, letting the soft soft air in, and began to cry.
Relief mostly, and a deep heartache for the city of her birth, but if her plan was going to work then they needed no one to know them.
A new life, a new start, and her baby’s quirk.
Watching lights move on the water and stars move across the sky, Inko wiped her face and smiled, because this really was the right thing to do.
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His new school was the bestest ever!
And because mamma had worked with him, playing at being kids and teachers with him like it was a play or tv show, he said his quirk was named Take and he didn't use it cause it wasn't nice to take things, and he didn't know where his quirk got things from and he didn't want anyone to not have their things cause if his quirk took them he couldn't give them back.
It worked, and now he and mama had the bestest view, ate fresh fish right off the boats, and practiced his quirk only where no one could see!
And mama got a tiny thing to melt the gold pirate coins down in, and did a magic thing with wax that got lost and then they had gold rings, plain ordinary pretty gold rings and mama could send them to a place called a foundry and they gave her money for how much they weighed, and money wasn't a problem any more!
But he had to be super goodest bestest boy and not do it again until they could make sure they had the right kind of coin to find and they couldn't do that until they both learned to swim!
A metal dexter - mama called it a DEtecter but dexter felt better in his mouth - that could swim with them and one for on land too, and a license to use them, they had to get those too, but then they could be weekend treasure hunters, and find real treasure and sometimes find treasure Izuku’s quirk made.
Sitting on the balcony eating dinner a few weeks after moving in, Izuku said, "I'm glad we moved mama.” cause mama lookeded good now, happy and round and sweet like an apple and mama said "Me too baby, oh me too!”
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Looking at their boat - not large but she was perfect for what they did on weekends - hitched up to the little van they camped in and together they packed up food and bedding and supplies because it was a long weekend, a storm had just blown through, and it was time to hunt treasure.
Up and down the coasts, salt and freshwater, Yoishiki could fit just about anywhere, and now at ten Izuku could both snorkel and scuba, as could his surprisingly fit mama. And they didn't just look for gold or silver, because Izuku could sneak "finds" like those in anywhere their research said they might find a bit of precious metal treasure.
Now though they actually hunted glass, stone, bronze and copper and even lead, real genuine actual from the past treasure, the history of their island was long, amazing, and even a single piece of glass, a tiny glittering crystal flask was more amazing than any quirked gold they used to live on.
They were still in the same apartment because they both loved it so much, and school was good, even if he really didn't have any close friends but that was okay too, one day he’d have friends and until then he’d have mama and camping and their boat named after joy.
This weekend they weren't going far, just about a hundred kilometers up coast, a shallow cove with an ancient temple complex ringing it, sure to be great for hunting, and Yoishiki was shallow enough to get in amongst the rocks and reefs, and this year Izuku got to start spearfishing too, although it was a stab it spear rather than a shoot it spear he was still dead excited!
And with the weather looking better all the time, it was gonna be a fantastic weekend indeed!
*
All his quirk experiments and he’d never thought of this, but as he held a bubble of air around the unresponsive kid deep under the water, Izuku kept the shadow kid calm too and gently imagined the bubble rising through the water, and when they got to the surface he imagined a raft for them to be on, and as his mama kept trying to save the kids life Izuku tried to imagine Yoishiki back onto the surface of the water instead of deep under it but failed as blackness took him.
*
Waking in a tiny local hospital the entire day was splashed onto the news, a quirked shark crushing their boat, just biting it all up, and another boat that got eaten up too and the people on it, and how amazing it was that kids on a rented paddle boat were saved by a treasure hunting mother and son team and it was all a bit much really.
But Izuku got two super great friends out of it, because he and mama had seen them being blown out to the choppy waters of the outer bay as the poor crazy quirk shark had whacked the paddle boat from below, and had gone to help them, and then they’d grabbed them both when the snapping flashing shark thing had gobbled up the little rented paddle floater, but then they were trying to get back themselves as it bit the bottom out of their boat too and well, Izuku was just glad they were all alright but….
He knew his quirk was imagination based but he’d always used pictures but the air bubble wasn't from pictures.
Could he just…. Image things?
Imagine anything?
Could he actually make anything at all and how long would he last if a villain guessed it?
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Fumi and Shadow wanted to be heroes.
Izuku hadn't thought of being one, not since that one when his quirk came in was so loud and scary, instead he loved finding history, and playing with his quirk, but if he got caught then….
Watching his friends going home from their holiday, having promised already to write and call every day, waving bye to them at the station, Izuku had an idea.
A good one.
*
Reading the letter Izuku had just handed her, Inko asked, “Are you sure?”
“Uhuh, cause if I imagine a bubble of air really big under water then archaeologists can get a really good look down there, or we can walk around and take all the time we want, or I can do all kinds of things I haven't even thought of, like maybe rocket ships or floating castles even but if I can’t practice then I’ll never know.”
“And heroes protect people, and this one is the best!”
Nodding, because his logic was good, she’d been worrying for years about the time he decided what he wanted to be when he grew up, knew he loved what they did but that children change, and grow.
She’d read all about this hero, and agreed, if Izuku wanted protection so he could use his quirk, learn it properly, then Hero Nezu was the perfect one.
*
“So, like the Yaoyorozu heiress then?” easily seeing all the danger this kid was in, how even the famous family had a difficult time keeping their daughter safe, Shouta blinked in concern, especially when Nezu agreed fully, chirping “Indeed.” with an eager and excited expression, because he loved quirks, even ones designed to keep Shouta up at night with nightmares.
Just to be sure he asked, “But without any fortune keeping him safe?”
“Indeed not.”
Breaking in on Shouta’s downward spiral of panic on how the bloody hell this kid was still alive and free and not chained up in a fucking basement somewhere, Hizashi said, “Can I just say, this kids mother is an actual real life hero for keeping her baby safe?”
“You can indeed say that Hizashi, and we all agree, she has indeed done an amazing job.”
“Now, how do you all feel about establishing a secondary location for UA, based in the south and focused upon marine heroics?”
“Great,” Shouta dead panned, “super, just, let me wear black shorts, not like the rest are gonna wear, my eyes are bleeding already just thinking about what they are going to inflict upon me the instant they set foot on sand.”
Laughing, they started the planning, because it was a branch of heroics that was badly underfunded for an island nation, and something they could rectify at the same time they helped one little heroic boy, and his amazing mother.
___________________________________
Watching her son graduate as a tanned and toned eighteen year old, not just a marine archaeologist but a marine rescue HERO through running two degrees simultaneously, along with his six best friends who'd done the same danged thing because they were all just as overachieving as her baby was.
Inko blessed that day with the shark, terrifying as it had been, and blessed Hero Nezu and his family, because they’d become their family too, not long after meeting them all for the first time.
Leaning into Shouta’s side hug, taking the tissue from Hizashi, she sniffled in mingled pain and joy of her son growing up so fast, and then laughed as tears poured even faster because poor Hizashi burst into noisy tears as well because graduations always made him cry.
He’d just been trying to be brave to not embarrass Izuku.
Epic fail, but their boy joined them in the tears, which by then was pretty par for the course, and they all headed out to the docks to see their new rescue boat, newly commissioned just for this graduating class!
The Yoishiki 2, because why not name it after that first little boat that started the adventure off properly, way back when.