My Father's Son - Chapter 56

Izuku gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, willing his fingers to stop trembling against it. He glanced in the rear view mirror...

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Izuku gripped the steering wheel a little tighter, willing his fingers to stop trembling against it. He glanced in the rear view mirror again, watching the dark car with its tinted windows, and took a deep breath as he reached for his phone.

“What’s up, nerd?” Katsuki answered – quickly, for him. Thank god.

“Hey, um, I think... I think someone is following me.”

“Following you?” Katsuki asked, his voice deeper than Izuku was used to. “Where are you?”

Izuku looked around, but he’d always been pretty terrible with directions and maps – he didn’t even see any street names or big stores to reference.

“I’m driving home from work,” he said finally. “But there’s this car that’s been behind me the whole way and it feels really weird that they’re making every single turn I make, and it has really dark windows that I’m pretty sure aren’t legal, and–”

“Breathe,” Katsuki cut him off. “Keep driving, don’t drive home.”

“I wasn’t going to,” Izuku agreed, glancing at the car again when they rounded a corner. “I wouldn’t want to show them where I live, if they are.”

“The car is registered in my name,” Katsuki said. “They probably don’t know it’s you driving.”

“O-Oh. Um, shit. Does that mean...?”

“It means in theory when they see you’re not me, they’ll fuck off.”

“But?”

Katsuki didn’t answer, though Izuku heard noises on the other end of the line.

“Katsuki. But?”

“But,” Katsuki said hesitantly. “If they’re really sure it’s my car, they know you’re someone close to me.”

“Oh.”

“Are you on the hands-free speaker?”

Izuku glanced down at all the buttons on the centre console, hesitating.

“The blue one,” Katsuki said knowingly.

Izuku hit the button obediently, setting his phone down on the seat beside him when the speakers came to life with Katsuki’s voice.

“Alright,” Katsuki continued. “Avoid red lights if you can, try to keep moving. If you think a light is gonna stop you, take a turn. If you’re lucky, they’ll keep going and you’ll realise they weren’t following you after all.”

“Okay,” Izuku agreed. “And just drive randomly?”

“Start heading back to work.”

“Oh.”

Heavy footsteps echoed through the speaker, and Izuku kind of liked the idea of Katsuki pacing as he talked Izuku through it, unable to just sit still and be unfeeling.

“If they were gonna attack the car, they’d have done it by now,” Katsuki offered, as some form of comfort. “Try to stay in busier areas if you can, so they can’t corner you alone and change that plan.”

“The whole way to work is pretty built up, I think.”

“Good. Then just stay calm, don’t speed or anything and give away that you’re onto them. Hopefully they’ll just think you forgot something and had to go back.”

“And when I get there?”

“I’ll make sure someone is waiting for you.”

“Okay,” Izuku said, with a short sigh. “Thanks, Katsuki.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Katsuki said, before Izuku could say goodbye or anything of the sort. “I’ll be right here, you can let me know if anything changes.”

“You don’t need to call someone?”

“I already did, we don’t use phones for important shit.”

“Thank you.”

While their conversation slowed, Katsuki continued pacing on the other end, occasionally getting quicker for a while, then slowing right down again, as Izuku gave him updates. It felt like the longest ten minutes of his life, but with the car still trailing him to his new destination, it still didn’t feel long enough – he needed more time for a hero to arrive to help. He just had to hope that Katsuki had gotten in touch with someone local, who could get there in a heartbeat, or that someone was conveniently at the station already, making reports or something to the detectives.

“You getting close?” Katsuki asked, just as Izuku rounded the last corner onto the right street.

“Yeah, I’m like a minute away.”

The pacing sped up again, but this time Izuku found no comfort in it, his heart pounding just as quickly as Katsuki’s feet were. As he signalled and pulled into the carpark, he caught a glimpse of brightly coloured costumes waiting for him, conveniently positioned beside a bank of empty spots. When he looked properly, he found all the now-familiar faces of his life standing at the ready: Ochako in her pink costume, a scowl on her face that didn’t suit her bubbly personality; Mina standing with her hands on her hips, glaring at the car that was heading down the street toward them; Eijirou with his arms folded, his body a little scraped and bruised from some earlier fight, making him look all the more intimidating; Denki, sparks already playing at his fingertips, ready and eager to shut some shit down; Hanta, perched on the rooftop to get a good line of sight, eyes locked on that same car as it drew closer; and finally, to Izuku’s greatest surprise, Shouto, with ice crystals already gathering around his hand. Izuku felt his eyes fill with tears at the sight of them all, spilling over immediately when they surrounded his car as he slowed to a stop, guarding him on every side. He turned the car off, and the phone call went with it, Izuku feeling a weird sense of loss that he hadn’t anticipated – if he’d realised it would stop with the engine, he’d have said something first.

The car had been slowing as it followed Izuku in, but it quickly sped up again when it came into view of the hero contingent, and Izuku felt his breath catch.

“Oh no you don’t,” Hanta yelled, firing tape to adhere himself to the car’s roof. “You’re not getting away that easily.”

He launched himself in to meet the metal, and Shouto’s hand raised in an oddly calm motion, freezing the wheels in their tracks and making the whole car lurch sideways precariously.

Hanta landed on the roof with a thunk, and when the doors began to open, Izuku hunched down low in his seat. He wasn’t sure what to do with himself: whether to watch or hide, whether to stay put or get out and run into the building. People poured out the car doors, and with a roar that felt weirdly comforting for how angry it clearly was, a figure came flying over the roof of the police station. Bursts of light and smoke left trails in his wake, spiralling through the air, his body enveloped in a fiery cloak. The entire carpark trembled with the impact of Katsuki tackling the driver, concrete cracking around him. The moment another passenger raised a hand, Shouto was there, ice bursting from the ground and trapping him in place. A massive, mutated-looking man got wrapped up in tape, a fourth person got electrocuted, a fifth clutched at his burning face in agony. Ochako levitated the car safely out of their reach, keeping them from trying to make an escape, but when the man wrapped in tape burst out of his sticky confines, she dropped it straight back down on his head without a moment of hesitation.

“Downfall!” she yelled, when the car began to shift, the person beneath it shrieking angrily. “Take it down!”

“Fuck your artificial bullshit!” Katsuki roared, whirling around with explosions already firing from both hands, lighting up the car from both sides. “Tell that asshole to face me himself!”

Hanta wrapped up the more regular-sized people in tape, and with help from Eijirou and a few police officers from inside, they dragged the group away. Only the giant guy was left, the four of them surrounding it as it reared up once more, and Izuku felt his lungs ache, struggling to inflate enough to get a decent breath in. He wanted to turn the car back on, to drive away and not have to watch it happen, but he couldn’t make himself move, couldn’t make his fingers work enough to even turn the key. As a kid, he’d lived for watching the fights, had been the one leaning over police barricades to get a closer look. He’d have killed to watch so many amazing heroes fighting so close to him, back then, but now it just terrified him.

A massive burst of heat filled the car, and Izuku felt like he was going to roast alive if he didn’t get out, didn’t make his hand move and open the door for some air. But his arms wouldn’t lift, his fingers wouldn’t grip, and with a little sob choking its way out of him, Izuku just tucked his head into his knees, accepting his fate.

One last scream echoed through the street, and then, everything was silent. Izuku wanted to lift his head, figure out where he was, but he wasn’t ready to face the truth yet, wasn’t ready to accept that he was never going to see his kids again; wasn’t going to watch them grow up, go to U.A. like he’d always dreamed of at their age; wasn’t going to see them climb the charts and compete with their amazing Dad; wasn’t going to see Hiroki and Ryouji hold hands at a pretty altar and tell the world “we told you so”.

A click broke his world of silence, a rush of fresh air making him shiver, and then a gentle hand was pressing against his cheek, turning his head. He cracked his eyes open, his vision blurry through the tears that still flooded from him, but then a strong arm was wrapping around his waist, pulling him to his feet, and his vision pressed into soft, dark, warm fabric.

“Hey,” a voice said, right beside his ear. “It’s okay.”

Another arm wrapped around him, the pair of them holding him tight, pressing him into a strong, broad chest and just letting him sob.

A weight landed gently on his head, cocooning him in that comforting warmth, and Izuku’s shaky fingers tangled in thick fabric, scrambling for something solid to hold on to.

“I’m here,” that voice said again, smoothing out the rough edges of Izuku’s lungs and finally letting him take a breath. “I’ve got you.”

–––

When Katsuki opened the front door, he heard his own voice echoing down the stairs, and felt himself tense up before he’d even realised what he was hearing. Izuku took a deep breath behind him, and Katsuki glanced over his shoulder, trying and failing to make some kind of facial expression that would be deemed comforting. Thankfully, the sound of the fight quickly gave way, and by the time they reached the living room, it was Shouto’s face that lit up the screen.

“What made you decide to use your fire today?” the interviewer asked, camera pointed down at Shouto as he sat on the curb outside the station, sucking on a carton of milk from the vending machine. “Have you been working with your father’s new business?”

“Ew,” Shouto said, crushing his empty carton in his hand. “No, I guess I just didn’t really think about it.”

“Think about it?”

Shouto paused, blinking up at them, then slowly turning his head to look at something in the distance.

“My nephew has a fire quirk too,” he said, when he turned his gaze back to the camera. “I guess I kind of forgot I hated it.”

“Your nephew? I wasn’t aware Endeavour had a grandchild already!”

“He doesn’t.”

The interviewer didn’t say anything, lost for words, and Katsuki couldn’t help but snort.

“Daddy! Papa!” Hiroki leapt up, finally noticing their presence in the doorway. “You’re okay!”

“Course we are,” Katsuki assured him, lifting him up for a quick hug, then passing him straight on to Izuku. “You know I’d never let anyone get hurt.”

“I was so worried,” Hiroki said, wrapping himself around Izuku and clinging as tightly as possible. “I saw it was your work building and I was scared!”

“Me too,” Izuku admitted. “I’m okay now, your dad was amazing as always.”

Yuuto wrapped himself around Izuku’s leg without a word, and Izuku squatted down, absorbing him into the hug. There were few things in the world that cheered a guy up more than hugs and attention from his kids, and Katsuki knew Izuku needed that, after all the shit he’d been through.

“That villain looked funny,” Yuuto mumbled into Izuku’s leg. “And big.”

“Very big,” Izuku agreed, nuzzling into Yuuto’s fluffy hair. “I’m glad to be back home with you guys.”

When he’d had his fill, Yuuto stepped away, and Katsuki watched in surprise as he turned around, looking up at Katsuki with his big, bright eyes.

“Dad?” he said, taking a step forward.

“What’s up, bud?”

“You were really cool.” Yuuto reached for his hand, tugging lightly to make Katsuki bend down, before he continued in a whisper: “Thanks for protecting Papa.”

“Of course, buddy. Always.”

Izuku was unusually quiet for the rest of the night, and Katsuki couldn’t stop glancing over at him, despite trying his best to not make it awkward. He was clearly doing his best to act like things were normal, to keep it together for the boys, but Katsuki wasn’t sure any of them were actually believing it.

When the boys were bathed, read to, and tucked up in bed, Izuku excused himself for an early night, and Katsuki hovered awkwardly at the top of the stairs, watching him go. He wanted to say something, wanted to help somehow, but he didn’t really know that there was anything he could say or do. Instead, he gave Izuku his space, quietly cleaning up the kitchen and living room on his own, where usually they would share the job. A small part of him wondered if he should call All Might, send in the nerd’s hero to give him a pep talk or something, but Katsuki knew if it were him in that position, he’d probably just want to be left alone. Surely he’d be fine by morning.

Katsuki took his shower, put on his pyjamas, and paused in the bathroom, running his hand over the laundry hamper. It was looking pretty full, did the kids have clean clothes left or was everything in that hamper? What if they didn’t have clean uniforms for the morning? He dithered over it for a minute, then finally picked it up, trying to be as quiet as possible as he made his way down to the laundry room to put a load on.

There was no light sneaking out under Izuku’s door, like Katsuki often saw at night – Izuku was a self-professed night owl, after all, so it was pretty common to find him chilling in bed on his laptop, or something of the sort. That night, though, the room was dark, and Katsuki couldn’t hear anything coming from within.

He threw the laundry in to wash, then headed back toward the stairs, pausing again at Izuku’s door. He listened carefully, waiting for any sign of movement, but when he finally caught a noise, he felt his stomach sink. Without even knocking, he turned the handle before he could think better of it, but he immediately regretted it when Izuku jumped – he hadn’t meant to scare the nerd.

“Hey,” he said softly, sitting down on the edge of the mattress. “It’s okay.”

“I’m so stupid,” Izuku said between sobs, his bright green eyes all puffy and wet.

“You’re not,” Katsuki assured him, shifting a little closer so their shoulders touched. “I mean, sometimes, but not for this.”

Izuku hiccuped, and Katsuki forced an awkward smile onto his face.

“Sorry, not the time, I know.”

Izuku had his knees tucked up by his chest, and Katsuki pretended not to notice the little fluffy bunny that sat against them, squeezed between Izuku’s hands.

“You face people like that every day,” Izuku managed to say, despite his sniffles. “I didn’t have to fight them, I wasn’t even that close to them, and you... you were so cool, you’ve never freaked out about a villain.”

“I was freaked out today,” Katsuki admitted, tentatively sliding an arm around Izuku’s waist. “When you called me, it took everything I had in me to not panic and make you feel worse.”

“Yeah right.”

“I mean it,” Katsuki said. “I was sprinting out the agency door before you even told me where you were. I muted the call to yell at the idiot squad through our comms to find out who was closest, then just tried to keep my cool so you wouldn’t panic.”

“I wanted so badly to be a hero, but the moment a villain got near me, I just lost it.”

Izuku’s tears began to flow again, and Katsuki pulled him in closer, gently nudging Izuku’s head down to rest on his shoulder.

“You aren’t trained,” Katsuki said quietly. “If you were gonna be a hero, you’d have been more prepared, not just thrown in there with no warning. The first time I was attacked by a villain, I freaked out too.”

“You were a kid.”

“So? Kids are meant to be fearless.”

Izuku huffed, and Katsuki cracked a little smile.

“I know it was terrifying,” Katsuki said. “And I’m not at all surprised by that. I’d probably be concerned if you weren’t terrified. You did the right thing, okay? You called me, you kept calm, you stayed safe, and you let us do our jobs. Don’t beat yourself up, okay? You’re allowed to be upset, and scared, and overwhelmed, but don’t try to blame yourself for anything, don’t go thinking you did something wrong.”

“You and your friends were really cool,” Izuku mumbled, finally relaxing a little against Katsuki’s side. “The way you came rocketing over the building? Awesome.”

“Thanks,” Katsuki chuckled. “I wanted to get there before you, so you wouldn’t have to stress. I didn’t expect all the others to beat me to it.”

“Tell them thanks for me?”

“I already did, but I will again.”

Katsuki awkwardly stroked his back, trying his best to provide some kind of comfort, and Izuku sighed quietly, but didn’t move away. His sobs finally seemed to have calmed, with Katsuki there, and Katsuki was a little relieved by it. One of Izuku’s hands still held tight to a little bunny, and Katsuki noticed a familiar black-and-orange clothed plushie sitting on the other side of the bed, but he just smiled to himself rather than tease; he was glad Izuku liked his presents.

“Get some rest,” Katsuki whispered, when Izuku’s puffy eyelids sank closed. “You’re safe here.”

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