Chapter Text
Uraraka smiled as she took the train to visit her parents. As she watched the world go by outside her window there was a little girl who kept tugging on her mother’s dress and pointing at her.
She may not have been in the top ten or anything mind blowing like that, but she definitely had a decent following of fans as a pro hero.
She’d been a sidekick for a couple years before she became a fully fledged hero, but she’s been steadily rising in the ranks ever since.
She finally reached her destination and made her way to a familiar building that bore the words ‘URARAKA CONSTRUCTION’ across the front.
Within moments of walking inside she was met with her parents rushing over and hugging her.
“There’s our baby girl! How are you?”
She laughed a little “I’m good dad, how’s everything going?”
“Things are goin’ great.” he briefly looked to the side to see that there were people with their phones out nearby, excited to see the hero Uravity. “Um, we actually got started on a new build recently if you want to check it out?”
She knew what he really meant and happily agreed.
She sat in the truck with her parents as they made their way to the construction site. She was so happy she’d finally been able to get away, it had been months since her last visit and she definitely missed them.
Once they arrived at the construction site, all three of them double checked for any fans or paparazzi and were glad to find none. While her friends weren’t exactly a secret, they didn’t want people to take photos and eventually put things together.
They walked further in and Uraraka heard the telltale sound of her friend from around the corner.
“I’m fully aware that going to get a taller ladder would take longer, but are you aware that of all equipment, ladders are one of the most common causes of injury? If that ladder is not tall enough to reach at the proper angle, then you shall simply have to find a more suitable one!”
She had to hold back her laughter as a very frustrated looking construction worker walked past her carrying a ladder.
Ochako walked up to her old friend with a smile. It had been nearly eight years since that fateful night where Iida called her to say that they had faked their deaths and were mostly fine. They didn’t know what to do or where to go, so she directed them to her parents, who were both understanding and always in need of workers.
Iida stood proud with the name tag that read “ Matsui Hayato, Head of Safety ”.
He turned and saw her, immediately smiling and walking over to her. “It’s good to see you again Ms. Uravity, I trust all is well?”
Giggling slightly she nodded, “Yeah, everything great, but I’ve told you that you don’t need to be so formal with me just because I’m a pro hero.”
“Well, I simply believe that respecting authority figures should always be of the utmost importance.”
She smiled and gave him a big hug. “But you know I’m not Uravity right now, I’m just Ochako, here to see” she ficked his name tag, “Mr. Matsui.”
Before either could continue there was a loud thumping sound as an eight armed giant named Yuuto Endo walked by, carrying a large I-beam on each shoulder.
The moment he saw her, Biruda dropped the massive metal beam and ran right at her to pick her up in a many armed hug.
“HELLO FRIEND!”
“Well hello there Yuuto.”
He immediately turned to Iida and grabbed his arm. “Look! Our friend is here!”
She smiled at his words, he’d really come a long way since she first met him. He’d been in speech therapy for a few years and had made immense progress, even if he wasn’t at the same place as everyone else.
Years ago, Eri had offered to restore him back to before being experimented on, to which he simply told her “There nothing to fix, already perfect as me.” He was happy with who he was and had a level of body confidence that she was jealous of.
Her mom chuckled from behind her, “I don’t know what we would have done without those two. Endo over there is like having an entire crew for the price of one, and I don’t think he’s ever turned down overtime. And for the last few years we’ve had one of the lowest rates for on the job injuries for construction companies, and I think we all know who to thank for that.”
Although he tried to remain stoic, pride radiated off of him at the praise. “I believe it has been a team effort in responsibility, but I am always happy to go the extra mile for safety.”
Mr. Uraraka laughed in response. “Always so humble, this one. Anyways, you two should finish up here so we can head back and get ready for your little sister’s surprise party.”
Ochako frowned a little, “I’m so frustrated I couldn’t get the time off to celebrate her getting into UA sooner, but I’m glad I was able to visit even if it’s on the last possible day.”
Iida turned to her “I believe that we both know that she will be just as happy to see you now compared to if you were here the day she got her letter.”
“Well, you guys go ahead, I’m going to go by your brother’s office to pick him up so we can chat before the party.”
Biruda threw his hands into the air “YAY, brother is a great brother!”
Izuku sat at his desk waiting for his last appointment of the day to arrive.
He’d gotten out of college a couple years ago and had started his own practice about a year ago. He still felt a surge of joy and pride every time he looked at his nameplate. “ Endo Kenji: Quirk Counselor”. It had taken a lot to get to where he was, but he was happy.
He specialized in helping children who had particularly difficult or dangerous quirks, and he had never turned someone away no matter their situation.
He heard the ding from the bell on his door, signaling that the Tanakas had arrived.
He went up to greet them, politely saying hello to the two parents.
Like most people he saw, they came to his office after being turned away by quirk counselors that either wouldn’t or couldn’t help them properly.
Izuku crouched down to say hello to their four year old daughter with bright green hair. She wore a lovely flower-print sundress and a gasmask that covered her entire face.
“Well hello there Nika, my name is Endo Kenji. I’m gonna help you learn more about your quirk.”
The little girl was clearly nervous and looked up at her mom, “Mommy, why does the doctor man only have one arm?”
“Nika! That is a very rude thing to ask someone.” She turned back to him “I’m so sorry.”
He just laughed a little, “Don’t worry, if I was bothered by invasive questions I wouldn’t be working with little kids.” He looked back down at Nika, “I lost my arm in a villain attack a long time ago. Now, how about you come with me to the testing room so we can learn about your quirk?”
She shook her head “Uh uh, daddy said I’m not supposed to use it since it hurt people.”
“Well, your daddy seems very smart. But you don’t have to worry, I have a fancy room for testing quirks and a special suit so you can’t hurt me.”
She looked up at her dad to confirm, when he nodded she followed him.
He stepped away to put on a suit that was rated for the most intense of temperatures, a good deal of force, electricity, and just about any toxin.
Since a stranger in a heavy duty hazmat suit is scary for children, it was covered in a colorful flower design to make it more friendly. A lot of quirk counselors would just leave the children in a quirk-proofed room and analyze from a distance, but he thought it was stupid to leave a four year old alone and assume that you’re going to get accurate results.
When he walked into the room she giggled at his flower hazmat suit, “You look silly.”
He made sure to gasp in mock surprise, “What?! You don’t like my flower-power suit?”
She giggled and shook her head.
“Well then you must be silly too, because your dress has flowers on it.”
Nothing made his job better than making little kids laugh. A lot of the kids he saw were the ones who were discriminated against and called villains at a very young age, so he made sure that they felt safe and happy when they were at his office.
“Alrighy, if you’re done being silly, then it’s time to take off your mask. I know it’s scary to take off, but don’t worry, my flower suit keeps me super safe.”
She nodded and slowly took off the gas mask looking very scared about not having it on.
He made sure to gasp dramatically, “I had no idea you were hiding such an adorable face under there.”
She immediately started giggling again, but this time as she laughed a deadly black smog began to roll out of her mouth.
He had her do a few tests to figure exactly what she was breathing out, if it harmed her at all, things like that. The trick he found to get the most accurate results was to treat it like a game, because most four year olds took games much more seriously than doctor appointments
“Ok, one last thing we need to test. I need to see whether or not you’re secretly a lion, and there’s only one way to find out.”
She looked up at him with wonder in her eyes “How?!”
“Well, in order to see if you’re a lion, you’ll need to roar as loud as you possibly can. Can you do that for me?”
She gave an enthusiastic nod, took in a very deep breath, then released an absolute torrent of smog as she roared.
“Wow, that was a pretty good roar.”
From another room in the building, a woman with short black hair watched them on a monitor and was nearly done with her most recent project. They had already gotten started on it since they were pretty confident on what a poison breathing girl would need, so Mei just needed to make sure it was perfect for their newest client.
After the room was cleared of poison gas, with the ventilation/filtration systems working overtime to filter all of the smog out, they stepped back out of the room with the girl’s mask back on.
She kept working until she was satisfied with the results, then she went off to join them as he finished explaining the child’s quirk to the parents.
As she walked in Izuku introduced her to the family. “Oh, there you are Fumi. This is the Tanaka family. Tanakas, this is my wife Endo Fumi.”
“Hey there, I handle the support gear aspect, that way no one’s quirk keeps them from living their best life.” She smiled at the little girl, “And I have something very special for you Nika.”
She handed her a small mask that looked nearly exactly like a common facemask from the outside, but was actually a specialized filter and was more secure than the average facemask. This way she wouldn’t accidentally leak poisonous gas while she was still learning to control her quirk.
As they explained what it did, the parents started to cry. “Thank you so much. We were so scared she’d never be able to live a normal life. H-how much do we owe you for all of this?”
Mei gave them a big smile. “Not a cent. The government covers all charges related to maintaining detrimental quirks.”
It made a lot of sense, if the government didn’t step in and the parents couldn’t afford a better mask, there was a good chance of this little girl killing hundreds on accident. But she didn’t say that outloud since it would probably freak out the parents.
Little Nika looked at her face mask and giggled. “I love it!”
Mei was proud of herself, “I’m glad you like it.” She turned to the parents and handed them a box of replacement filters. “Alright, so you’ll need to replace the filters in it every once in a while, and I already added your phone numbers to it so you’ll be notified whenever you need to change it. Plus it collects data on her quirk and sends it to us so we can monitor it. Oh, one tiny thing, if it suddenly breaks then a notification is sent to you and the police so they know what’s going on. It should be fine, but it’s better to be safe than a mass murderer.”
The parents looked horrified by the end of her explanation and luckily the little girl was still distracted looking at her new mask.
“Fumi! What did I say about scaring parents?”
“Ughhh, not to. See, this is why I’m in charge of the devices and he’s in charge of the talking to people.”
Not long after they got everything sorted and Nika now had something far more effective and pleasant than a gasmask. Plus they had a far better understanding of her quirk.
As he finished up the paperwork Uraraka walked into his office. “Ochako! It’s great to see you.”
He smiled and gave her a one armed hug.
“Hey Kenji, It seems like business is going well?”
They had long since started using their fake names even in private, it made it easier not to slip up in public.
“It’s been going really well actually. We’ve got a few more minutes before Fumi will be ready to go, so tell me how you’ve been. Spill all that hero drama.”
She laughed and sat on his desk, “Ok, so get this…”
As she walked through the mall with her best friend Aiko, she wasn’t Eri anymore, and she hadn’t been for a long time. For her, being ‘Eri’ meant feeling small, scared, alone, and usually in pain.
But that wasn’t her.
She was Matsui Himari. She had good friends. She was powerful. She was strong. She was going to be an amazing hero that made it so no one got hurt like she was. She would be unstoppable!
Her friend Aiko looked over at her. “You good? You look like you’re doing that thing when hype yourself up ‘cause you’re anxious. Is it the crowds?”
She nodded sheepishly. “Yeah…”
“Let’s stop at the food court then so we can sit down for a bit.”
“Thanks.”
Aiko was an incredibly kind hearted individual, but didn’t have many friends because her quirk scared a lot of people off. But it did have the advantage that people moved out of their way as they walked through the busy mall.
Aiko was one of the many people whose biology didn’t really make sense, like Thirteen who’s a living blackhole. She might have a metaphorical heart of gold, but also had a very literal body of a flaming skeleton.
But if anyone could understand their quirk feeling like a curse, it was her. People had called heroes on them many times just walking down the street, claiming that Aiko was a villain and Himari might be a hostage.
Not to mention that even in her fireproof dresses, everyone assumes a flaming skeleton is a man.
They had been friends for at least six years, and with her family’s permission, Aiko was her only friend to know what her life was like before getting rescued.
So when a villain group tried to bribe Aiko into joining them, she knew what it was like to be treated like a purchasable commodity.
When Aiko got scared to be close, she knew what it felt like to hurt, or even kill, loved ones because of a power she never asked for.
And when she wanted to be a hero despite how society treated her, she understood completely.
But they were more than their accursed powers.
They laughed together as they ate unhealthy food and ignored the pointed stares.
“Gosh, I can’t believe we’re going to be heroes. Like, I always believed in us, but it’s actually happening!”
Himari smiled “Yeah, going to UA has always been a dream, but now it’s actually happened.”
“Oh, like there was ever a question you were going to get in. UA practically begged to have you and your fancy healing quirk. Plus you had the recommendation from Uravity.”
“Yeah, well it’s not my fault they only seemed to listen to the ‘can heal people’ part and not the ‘can erase you from existence’ part. And it’s a good thing I had the recommendation option, could you imagine me against robots??”
She started laughing in response, “Ok, I know it’s not how your quirk works at all, but imagine if you had just turned them all into baby robots.”
She giggled in response “You wanna know what’s ridiculous? We’re going to have to find out if turning criminals into toddlers to subdue them is considered excessive force.”
This was enough to get Aiko to laugh hard enough that she snorted fire, which she considered a win even if it meant security got called and gave them a stern warning.
She absolutely loved it when her friend smiled, most people couldn’t tell the difference, but she could tell.
They were going to be amazing heroes together, and no one would stop them.
After shopping for a bit more, they went back to her place, with Aiko wearing a new fireproof sunhat that she found. Luckily fire quirks were common enough that there was generally a decent selection of fireproof outfits available.
Her family had gotten a house together for the five of them, and she always enjoyed that her odd family was under one roof.
She opened the door and called out as she walked in. “Heyyyy, we’re back from the mall.”
She paused as she looked around the living room that usually had someone in it this time of day. Then she looked over at Aiko and noticed she seemed unusually giddy, something was definitely up.
She cautiously moved further into the house, and was suddenly met with a large banner saying ‘congratulations’ and people shouting ‘surprise’.
After getting over her initial shock she smiled wide, “Oh my goodness! Ochako?! What are you doing here? And is that Katsuki hiding in the back??”
She heard a muffled ‘fuck you, I do what I want’ from behind everyone else, before being quickly wrapped in a big hug by the gravity hero.
Both heroes had been a pretty big support in her life over the years, though Ochako was more open about it. They were close enough and trustworthy enough that it would have been unnecessary and cruel to let them think that they had all died in that warehouse. Uraraka visited more often, since it was easier to play them off as family friends since two of them worked with her parents. ‘Hero visits her parents on the weekend and becomes friends with their employees’ was a plausible and boring story that no one felt the need to investigate.
It was trickier for Bakugou, since he had no real reason to be in the area. But he also had no problem with telling reporters to fuck off and die.
But having both of them over, and all of her family free, was nearly unheard of.
“What are you all doing here?!”
Izuku gave a big smile and ruffled her hair. “Well, we wanted to throw you a little party for getting into UA, and it took a little bit for all the schedules to line up.”
She turned to her flaming friend, “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Duh, it was my job to keep you busy while they got everything ready.”
Iida stepped forward, “We are very proud of you, of both of you, and wanted to celebrate your accomplishments.”
A large eight armed hug encircled both her and Iida. “You did very good job!”
She was humble enough to admit that she cried a little bit at all the love and praise she was being showered in.
Izuku turned to face Bakugou, “Don’t think we’ve forgotten you, Mr. top twenty hero. They’re calling you ‘the common man’s hero’, since you do so much of your patrolling in the worst parts of town that the others avoid.”
“Yeah, it’s fucking bullshit. It shouldn’t be fucking news that I go where I’m needed. No one seems to know how to do their fucking jobs, the fuck’n piece of shit heroes.”
Uraraka laughed and playfully punched him in the arm “Hey, I’m not a piece of shit hero. I’m fantastic.”
Mei leapt over the couch to give her a high five. “You are fantastic! Own that confidence!”
Iida simply shook his head. “I think the oddest thing about her getting good friends is she went from being intense about her inventions to intense about everything.”
It was a little bit later when Izuku noticed that Himari was pretending that she wasn’t crying, but definitely was. And they didn’t look like happy tears either.
“Hey, what’s up kiddo?”
She just shook her head, “It’s nothing important.”
She was immediately met with the look that meant he didn’t believe her at all and wouldn’t budge.
“Ugh, don’t give me that look. It’s stupid. I just feel like I didn’t earn my place in UA since I got in on recommendation.”
“That’s not stupid at all. You didn’t get a chance to prove yourself, so now you wonder if you really earned it. But here’s the thing, you’re not just resting on someone else’s accomplishments. They aren’t letting you in because of Ochako and you know it. She’s just barely a top 100 hero who is the child of your brother’s employer, that’s about as indirect of a connection as it gets. And according to the paperwork they got she barely even knows you, just helped train you a little. You getting in was all you and how hard you’ve worked to master your quirk.”
She leaned into him and hugged him for a bit longer. “Thanks, sometimes it’s just hard to believe in myself.”
“You and everyone else buddy.”
They spent the entire night laughing, eating, and celebrating how far they’d come. But now it was the next day and it was time to move into the UA dorms.
She stood at the intimidating gate and smiled. Her family had saved her, no matter what the law said, they were her heroes. Now it was her turn to pay it forward and be someone else’s hero.
Inko had grown content with her life. It had taken many years and lots of therapy, but she was starting to feel ok again. Her son had died nearly ten years ago, and it had taken a lot to work through that pain. At this point she knew the stages of grief like the back of her hand.
She had held out hope that he would come home for nearly a year after they found a pile of dust with his arm next to it. After all, that wasn’t his body. That dust could have been something else, and the arm might have been a fake no matter what the DNA test said. There was nothing anyone could say that would convince her that her little boy wasn’t out there. She’d thought he was dead before only for him to show up ten months later with four quirks and memory loss. So it took her over four years to move into a smaller apartment since she barely used half the space she was paying for. After all, they had chosen the house with three people in mind, not one.
Then came the anger and the need to know who was at fault. Who could she blame for her child’s death? She blamed the League of Villains and had always felt rage for what they had done. But it was hard to stay mad at corpses. She hated the heroes for turning on her son and forcing him to flee. She hated all of his (now dead) friends that enabled his vigilantism. But she hated herself the most.
She had helped him with his escape from the hospital by giving him that earpiece. If she hadn’t done that maybe she would be seeing her son on the weekends visiting him at prison. That was the reason she had called the police when Izuku reached out to her with the walkie-talkie. She was scared that he would die out there and would rather he be in prison than dead. But in the end it didn’t matter, when she helped him run from the law he became a murderous vigilante and when she tried to turn him in for his crimes he got killed anyways. No matter what she did he only got hurt, and she absolutely hated that she never seemed to do right by her son.
But if she couldn’t do right by her child in life, maybe she could make up for it after his death. She needed a way to make it right. So whenever a reporter asked for an interview she always said yes and did everything she could to shift how people saw her little boy. She needed them to understand that he was a good son and was never a monster, he was just hurt and scared. She needed everyone to know that she loved Izuku even though he made mistakes.
Who was she though without her child? She had defined herself as a mother before everything else for fifteen years, and before that it was all she wanted to be. She felt like she didn’t have a purpose without a child to raise. She couldn’t do anything without thinking of her failures and the little boy who wasn’t around anymore. All she could see were the things she could have done better. She had gotten a job as a nurse not long after Hisashi had died because she needed to provide for her son. So why go to work if she had no bright eyed boy to support? Why get out of bed if there was no one to make breakfast for? Why do anything?
But over time things got better. There were still days where it was difficult, but she had made progress. She accepted that she did the best that she could with the information she had. Maybe things would have been different if she didn’t call the police, but that didn’t mean it was the wrong choice. Her son was killing people, calling the police was the morally right choice even if it was hard to admit. She loved her son and always would, and she knew he would want her to be happy, so that’s what she tried to do.
She spent her days helping people and got the needed qualifications to transfer to the psychiatric ward of the hospital working with teenagers and doing everything she could to save them when she couldn’t save her son. She had lost her Izuku, but she could learn from that pain and help make sure no one else felt that way. She focused on the kids who everyone else said were going to be villains. Most of the time they just needed someone to believe in them, one voice to tell them that they aren’t evil or wrong and that they can do amazing things.
One day in particular she was working through paperwork for one of the patients that she had worked with for about a month now. A boy who had thought he was quirkless, but apparently he just had a quirk with very specific activation requirements. The boy already had a lot going on in his life and he really didn’t need the extra stress of suddenly discovering a quirk.
Not only that, but it was a dangerous quirk, which added another layer of problems for the boy. He had gone his entire life without breaking a single bone, but yesterday he dropped something on his foot and they found out what his quirk was. Apparently, he had sentient bone marrow that destroys everything around him when it is able to escape through a crack in his bones.
It made her think of that hero with the living shadow, Tsukuyomi, except living bone marrow is admittedly grosser than a living shadow.
They technically have a quirk counsellor on staff, but he is certainly not qualified for something like this. So they set up a meeting with a specialist to see if he would be a good alternative. She cared about her patients and could easily admit that she gets attached to everyone she works with, so she volunteered to meet with this Dr. Endo herself. So far she’d only heard great things about the man, but she wanted to make sure before trusting his ability.
As she made her way to the quaint looking office, she realized that he probably didn’t know who he was going to be talking to, just that they worked with the hospital. Well, she’s here now and hopefully he’s as skilled and kind as she’s heard, she doesn’t plan on entrusting her patients to just anyone.
The moment she steps into the office and hears the little bell on the door chime, everything seems to freeze.
Sitting at the desk behind the nameplate reading Endo Kenji: Quirk Counselor is her son.
Izuku really hadn’t done much to change his appearance. There were very few people who would possibly recognize him as his green haired and human shaped self. Everyone was looking for him as a nomu, so it really wasn’t important.
But then he looked up from his desk and saw the person he thought he’d never talk to again.
For a moment he holds out hope that she won’t recognize him, it’s been a decade and she has no reason to think he’s no longer a nomu. Maybe the missing arm will help throw her off from thinking he’s her (supposably) dead son.
That possibility is thrown out the window the moment he sees how she looks at him.
With tears in her eyes and every emotion you can imagine in her voice she speaks at just above a whisper, “Izuku. You’re alive. How… No, that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re here and you’re alive.”
He starts to cry too as she hugs him tight. “How… How did you find me?”
She shakes her head and laughs through the tears, “I didn’t. I was just here to talk about a patient. We can talk about that some other time. Please, tell me everything. What happened?”
He paused for a moment and looked at her hesitantly “You’re not going to turn us in?”
He can tell that the question hurts her, but he needs to know.
“No, I wouldn’t dare do that to you. I… I know I broke your trust when I called that detective, but I didn’t know what the right thing to do was. There’s not exactly a guidebook on what to do if your son starts killing criminals.” She held his face gently in her hands “I need you to know that I never stopped loving you for even a second.”
He started to cry even more. “Thank you… I was so scared you hated me.”
“Of course not” Then she paused, as if realizing something. “Wait, when I asked about you I heard that you worked with your wife.”
He gave her a massive smile and nodded before pressing the button on his desk for the intercom to the workshop. “Fumi, come out front, there’s someone you need to talk to.”
The heavy door to the workshop opens up and in walks a girl in her mid twenties with short black hair, grease covered overalls, and a welder’s mask.
“What’s so important, you know I’m working on that exoskeleton for the sea-slug kid… Ohhh, I can see how this is very important.”
His mother spoke tentatively, “Mei? Is that you? It’s hard to tell under the mask and everything.”
The mask came off and she was greeted with a bright smile. “What? You thought I’d let anyone else marry your son, I staked my claim a long time ago.”
Inko laughed a little “I suppose you did.” She hesitated and her expression grew darker, “did… did the others make it?”
“Yeah, we all made it out. The other two work together at a construction company and are doing well. The only real casualty was my left arm, which is definitely problematic at times, but it all worked out I guess.”
She nodded slowly, “Right, speaking of your limbs. I could help but notice you’re walking on two legs again?”
Mei brought some much needed tissues over, “Remember how the last big thing we did was rescue a little girl from some villains? Well, turns out that the little cutie had a time reversing quirk. She still lives with Hayato, oh, I mean Iida, we only really use our new names.”
Inko started to look sad and the tears flowed again, “How come you never gave me a sign you were still alive. I lost you once, and you let me think you were dead a second time. Do you even want me here?”
“Mom, of course I wanted to reach out. But we couldn’t risk it. We were finally safe and there’s no one chasing us anymore. But if anyone outside of our very small group knew we were all alive it would all be over. I was so tempted to after I saw those interviews you did, but it wasn’t just my own safety on the line.”
“I’m sorry, I get it. It’s just hard to know you were actually out there all this time. But enough of that, I want to hear everything that I missed.”
The night was filled with many more tears as they shared stories and Biruda made sure she got plenty of hugs.
“Hey mom, there’s something kind of difficult I think I need to bring up.”
She looked at him with a bit of worry in her eye, “Oh?”
“Well… I’m not sure we can really see each other in person much… We can still talk to each other on the phone and stuff, but if anyone saw us together it wouldn’t really take a genius to figure out.”
She sighed and hugged him, “I sort of figured it would be like that. But you better not disappear on me again, because I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”