Chapter Text
It was a few days before Christmas, when Midoriya Inko got a text from a number she had saved as ‘Yagi-san’.
Mobile phones were still new to her, but they had proven to be very practical; when she needed someone to babysit her son but didn’t have the time to call around, for example. Instead she could send a text to many people at once.
Making doctor’s appointments or keeping contact with people was also much easier and so she tried learning how to use them, without seeming like an old lady.
She opened the blinking phone and clicked onto the new text.
“I’m outside, can you let me in or is the kid still awake?”
She smiled.
He did that every now and then. Hero work kept him busy over the day, so he came by in the evening, mostly without telling her about it until he stood outside their apartment.
It was sort of exciting to never know when he’d come by. A little like a surprise every time.
She glanced at the clock.
Nine PM.
Inko went and made sure Izuku was asleep before replying with: “All is well, he isn’t awake.”.
Izuku’s bedtime was seven but occasionally he stayed up late because he couldn’t sleep due to the nightmares that haunted him, so it was his luck that her son was already sleeping, otherwise he would’ve had to wait.
She went to the front door and when she opened it Yagi Toshinori was already standing in the doorway, too tall for the frame and smiling in his typical, slightly awkward looking way.
There was snow on his shoulders and his dark green hat.
Inko had to look up to meet his eyes. He was half her size taller than her.
“Hello.”
He was holding flowers and Inko gasped softly when he carefully tipped them towards her. She looked at him with surprise and then a smile stretched across her face, a dimple showing on her right cheek. She didn't notice him staring, expression amazed and a little flushed, when she took the flowers from his hands.
They were dark blue with lighter spots, bound with some grass that she suspected he had plucked himself.
Her eyes shone brightly as she inspected them.
“Thank you so much these are really….”
She held them underneath her nose to smell them and then stopped for a second, before she laughed, realizing they were made of plastic.
“These are fake!”
He seemed genuinely surprised.
“They are? Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t mean for them to… They were the only ones the gas station had...!”
He sighed to stop stammering. “Everything else is closed by now.”
Inko smirked.
“Well, maybe someone shouldn’t have slept through biology classes back in school.”
“I never slept in school!”, he replied, pretending to be offended by her accusation.
“Of course you didn’t. Come in!”
She made way for him and he ducked into the hallway, where he sighed in relief as he was able to stand straight again. Or, well, as straight as he usually stood.
Inko took his jacket and hung it onto some clothing hooks.
“It’s nice of you to stop by. I had a rather uneventful day, so having some company does me some good!”, she told him while already heading towards the living room.
“Good, I wasn’t sure if it would be a bother if I stopped by.”
“Please, Yagi-san. I think we’re past that by now. I would tell you if it were.”
He smiled, obviously happy to hear that and Inko’s heartbeat sped up a little.
“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll get us some food.”
He frowned.
“Only if you don’t have to put effort into it. I really don’t want you to prepare anything just because I stopped by.”
“I have some snacks, we could eat those along with some tea.”
Toshinori smiled.
“That sounds good.”
The night continued to be nice after Inko had brought some biscuits and baked goods along with hot water and four different brands of tea to choose from. It was casual joking and talking and even more casual touching, varying from their hands brushing against each when they took something from the plate to laughing and leaning into the other.
They talked about hopes and dreams, about Inko’s son, their favorite food, funny things that happened in their school years and awkward family stories.
The only topic they tried to talk as little as possible about, was both their jobs.
Inko still couldn’t connect Toshinori to his hero persona.
It was weird. They seemed so different but so similar at the same time, at least when Inko and him talked about specific topics that had to do with morals and their life goals.
She felt a bit guilty for making him reveal his identity in front of her but back then it had been inevitable and she did prefer the bit of discomfort over being dead and leaving Izuku to himself.
After all, drowning in a rushing river wasn’t something she had on her bucket list.
But in most cases they didn’t have to mention it anyways.
Inko sipped from her tea while letting her thoughts drift to that specific night, so she didn’t notice Toshinori becoming more and more quiet until he stopped talking altogether.
When Inko finally realized how quiet it had gotten she looked up, ready to apologize for zoning out, but stopped dead in her tracks when she found he had moved closer and was almost leaning over her now.
Her breath hitched.
As soon as she returned the stare he flinched back, laughing awkwardly.
“Excuse me. I was a little concerned for your wellbeing. You spaced out.”
She smiled, not sure how to react or hide her burning cheeks, and her eyes flicked towards his lap, where he was wringing his hands.
She focused back on his face.
“I’m fine, don’t worry, dear. You… Are you alright? You seem nervous.”
He opened his mouth and for a second he considered to wheel back on what he had planned on doing tonight, because maybe they weren’t this far yet, but he trusted her to accept it and deal with it even if they really weren’t.
“I would like to meet Izuku.”
Inko seemingly did not expect that answer, going by the way her expression froze, lips slightly parted.
“What?”
Toshinori panicked. Maybe that had been the wrong way to address this? They had spoken about how dangerous it was to meet regularly. What if someone discovered his hero identity? Then Inko would be in great danger and with her, naturally, her four-year-old son.
He should’ve started this differently.
But now it was out and he had to go through with it.
He swallowed to loosen his tongue that seemed to be stuck to the roof of his too dry mouth.
This was more taxing than fighting any of the villains he had been up against in the past weeks.
He took a sip of his tea, long cold by now, but it did the trick.
“What I mean is… I would like to make this official. Or at least a bit more serious. I think we should… actually go out.”
Inko’s eyes widened in surprise and when she didn’t answer immediately he just kept talking.
“You speak of young Izuku so happily, I would love to meet him and introduce myself. I’m starting to feel bad about sneaking around your house like a thief because of him. That sounded weird just now, didn’t it? What I’m trying to say is…”
He took a deep breath in.
“I wish to be a more permanent part of your life, Midoriya-san. I think… I know that I really like you and the last three months were fun and something I didn’t expect to be missing. Would you do me the pleasure of… trying to… Midoriya-san, are you alright?”
Toshinori’s panic deepened when Inko started crying. Not loudly, but the tears in her eyes were dripping and running down her face and she was holding her hands up to cover her mouth.
He fidgeted with hands helplessly, too insecure to take her hand or touch her now, terrified of scaring her away or misreading anything.
But all his fear turned into confusion when she started to quietly giggle in between silent sobs.
“You should see your face, Yagi-san. Don’t worry, I’m fine, you can stop looking as if you ran over a basket of kittens now.”
She wiped away some of the tears from her cheeks.
He frowned, a bit helpless.
“Why are you crying then?”
Inko thought about giving him the short version but decided against it.
“I’m happy”, she told him.
“I’m happy to see m-my feelings reciprocated. I…”
She looked behind him to find the right words before refocusing on his face to make sure she wasn’t boring him.
He had now gone over to tugging on the hair strands hanging into his face.
It was cute.
“I haven’t been actively with anybody since H-Hisashi left. A few dates, some advances, but no one is willing to deal with a toddler. And Izuku is part of the deal, if they want him to be or not.”
Inko snorted, an unusually bitter sound coming from the gentle woman.
“I’ve had people suggest giving him into foster care. Can you believe it? The sheer audacity…”
Inko pressed her lips together in a tight line.
“Some of my own family members even, right when Hisashi left us.”
She was quiet long enough for Toshinori to mumble: “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
She waved him off, staring at her hands on her lap afterwards.
“It’s fine. Barely anyone tried to actively make me go through with it.”
They sat there in silence and Inko was suddenly very aware of how much she brought the mood down.
She quickly turned back to Toshinori.
“S-So you asking to meet him and wanting to… be with me, even though you know about him, is… breath taking. Amazing. I don’t actually know how to react properly.”
He smiled and finally did take her hand.
It disappeared in his almost completely and she intertwined their fingers almost automatically.
He wanted to wipe away the last few tears that Inko had overlooked, but he wasn’t sure if touching her face was okay with her and he didn’t want to ask.
The entire situation was slightly awkward, especially since she hadn’t said yes or no yet, only that she returned his feelings.
It wasn’t exactly how he had imagined it to go, but typical if he thought about their first meeting and the following half-dates after. And suddenly he started laughing.
Inko looked at him with an expression that clearly said she thought him crazy for a second, before she let his laughter infect her until she was giggling along.
Neither let go of the other’s hand.
The moon was shining brightly through his window, when Izuku decided to sneak out of his room in the middle of the night.
Not that he was doing something forbidden.
The only reason he was leaving the bedroom was to get water from the kitchen, because he woke up feeling as if he hadn’t drunken anything in a week.
Izuku snuck along the walls, purposefully leaving the light off to not wake Mom, who always slept with an open door in case he needed something or had a nightmare.
The dark apartment was small and mostly open, but that didn’t hinder Izuku from getting scared of the shadows that the moonlight threw on the walls. He was too stubborn to go to Mom, though, and too thirsty to stay in his room without getting something to drink.
Izuku glared at the moon through the window of the small hallway.
“I’m going to be a hero”, he told it. “I’m not scared.”
He made himself as big as he could, trying to look as intimidating as possible in his All Might jumper and took on a pose that he saw the hero do whenever he watched videos of him on YouTube.
The moon seemed not to be impressed.
He was getting more and more confident that he was winning the stare-off and then…
Then he heard steps in the hallway and quiet whispering and managed to cover his mouth just before he would’ve screamed.
He fled into the kitchen, all bravery and silent battles against celestial enemies forgotten, where he took a few seconds to calm his racing heart while hiding underneath the small niche between the food counters.
When he had caught his breath and was sure he wouldn’t start crying any time soon, he tip toed to the empty, open frame that led to the hallway towards the front door. He almost sighed loudly in relief when he recognized Mom’s voice but didn’t when someone else spoke up.
Going by the depth of the voice Izuku guessed it was man, probably around his mother’s age.
(Meaning an adult. He didn’t even know Mom’s age. Just that she was much older than Izuku himself. So… Maybe nine?)
Confused he looked at the clock, which read one AM.
Proud of being able to tell the time, he almost forgot to wonder.
Almost.
They said something again, but Izuku couldn’t make out the words.
What was this man doing in their house so late and why was Mom still awake?
She laughed quietly and Izuku took a risk by peeking around the corner.
She didn’t bring many friends home and seeing her joke with someone else was a rare occasion outside from meeting relatives or neighbors.
The stranger had short, blond hair except his fringe, which was two times the length as his face.
His eyes were slightly sunken in and he was tall and not broad, but definitely muscular.
Nothing about him seemed familiar.
He wanted to ask who the man was, but something told him he shouldn’t even be there, watching them.
The sudden fear of Mom scolding him for being up so late overcame him and he quickly retreated, so that he couldn’t see them anymore.
He still heard them, though.
“I had a great time. Thank you, Yagi-san.”
Something rustled and the man cleared his throat.
“Me, too. About earlier…”
“Yes?”
“Would you want to? Make it official?”
Mom was quiet for a bit and Izuku wondered what they wanted to make official.
Probably secret adult things.
That’s what Kacchan would tell him at least.
Izuku remembered that he would be visiting Kacchan and his mother tomorrow and almost overheard Mom’s quiet response.
“Give me some time to think about it. It’s a big decision to make.”
“Of course.”
Izuku was sure secret man, this he had decided to dub him, sounded sad.
Mom seemed to think so, too, because she almost stumbled over her own words when she reassured him it wasn’t a no.
“Please, I really want to, trust me! But I have to Izuku-test you first. He’s going to be surprised”, she said and Izuku gasped softly.
A surprise! Now he was excited!
“I haven’t told him anything about this and I need to make sure he will be okay with you.”
Izuku frowned. Why wouldn’t he be okay with secret man? Mom seemed to know him well, so he had to be nice.
“Of course. Let me know when you are ready to try.”
There was a short silence.
“Oh, and Midoriya-san?”
“Hm?”
Izuku waited for the man to say whatever he had wanted to say, but nothing came.
Curious he peeked around the doorframe again to look what was happening.
At first it looked like secret man was holding Mom’s head and looking at her. It took Izuku a second to realize that they were kissing.
Mom sighed and leaned against his chest when they stopped and Izuku quickly pulled his head back into the kitchen.
Kissing meant Mom liked secret man. (He giggled quietly because secret man sounded like he was a really cool pro-hero. Izuku found the thought of a possible pro-hero being friends with Mom and them liking each other really cool.)
He heard them say good bye and quickly turned back through the kitchen towards his room.
Izuku snatched a small water bottle from the doorway and ran back as quietly as he could, giggling about secret man and Mom and the surprise and playing with Kacchan tomorrow.
Inko heard the quiet patting of bare feet on the kitchen tiles and smiled.
Her heart was still beating out of rhythm and she felt warm all over.
This evening was perfect and if Izuku just saw Toshinori, it wouldn’t even be so bad.
She was going to be happy. Izuku was going to be happy.
And hopefully, Toshinori was going to be happy with them.