Tomura was nervously sitting at the table beside Father. He knew there was no real reason to be. Whoever the woman was that Father was so deeply in love with and who had helped raise his honestly amazing younger brother was bound to be a great person. But the fact was, she was one of the most important people in the lives of two of the three most important people of his life. What if she didn't like him?
Surely both Father and Izuku wouldn't leave him if she asked them to? Izuku had just said that he was important to him too and he hadn't seemed too concerned about what his mother might think so he was fine right?
There was a hand on his. "Tomura, you're going to hurt yourself if you don't stop."
Oh. He had been scratching again without realizing it. "Sorry."
Father sighed and moved his hand to pat his shoulder. "It is okay to be nervous but I am fairly confident that you and Inko will get along. I told you that her first reaction upon hearing about you was to refer to you as her own son."
Tomura grimaced at that. "How could she really think that when she has no idea who I am?"
"It's because it doesn't matter." Tomura nearly jumped out of his seat at the sudden female voice from the other side of the table. Standing in front of him was a small woman holding a serving dish with hair the same forest green as Izuku grinning at him from beside her. She gave him a soft smile before turning on Kurogiri, stepping out of the now closing Warp Gate behind the trio. "I don't care what you say, you are joining all of us for dinner Oboro."
Kurogiri's form flickered in his pattern that Tomura easily recognized as resignation. "If you insist. I'm afraid I won't be able to really eat anything though."
Izuku gave the man an inquisitive look. "Is that because you physically can't or because you aren't hungry?"
"The former unfortunately. He can't digest solid foods in his new base form. Theoretically you might be able to eat something more solid if you could hold your fully corporeal form for long enough but I imagine that would be more trouble than it's worth." The last part had been directed to Kurogiri as he sat down in an extra chair he had grabbed with his Quirk.
"It doesn't help that I lost most of my sense of taste either."
Izuku grimaced. "That sucks. I don't know what I would do if Katsudon stopped tasting good."
Inko pushed one of the containers that she and Izuku had arrived with in his direction. "So you can still enjoy soup then?"
There was a small flicker of surprise over Kurogiri's form as he accepted the dish. "I wouldn't want to take someone else's serving."
"Nonsense. I made more than enough for all of us." Goal accomplished, she turned her attention to Tomura. "So you must be the Tomura that I have been hearing about."
"That's me." Tomura caught himself mid motion to scratch at his neck again but evidently all that did was draw attention to his neck.
"Oh dear, don't tell me that you did that to yourself worrying about how dinner was going to go…"
Tomura quickly raised his gloved hands to wave off that line of thinking. "It is not your fault! It is a bad habit that developed because of my Quirk. My skin dries out easily so my skin sometimes randomly starts itching. Since I think better after I scratch an itch I built up a bad habit of scratching at my neck and head when I am thinking."
Inko still seemed concerned. "Have you tried using fidget toys? Maybe if you have something in your hands already you won't be tempted to scratch as much."
"Yeah but that only works so long as I have my gloves on. I have Decayed a lot of them accidentally over the years so it just feels like a bit of a waste of money at this point."
Father shook his head. "Tomura, you know money is hardly an issue. You could order a bunch of fidgets in bulk so you have extras."
Tomura winced at that. "I know, I know. It's just…" He shook his head. "I guess I could try some again."
Inko gave him a soft smile. "I'm glad to hear that Tomura. So what all do you like to do? Izuku has mentioned that you like video games and Hisashi said that you help out Oboro with his bar…"
Tomura gave a hesitant nod. "Yeah, I help Kurogiri with inventory and the books. Crunching numbers is not very exciting but I don't mind doing it. It is like level grinding in a game, a bit of a necessary evil. But yeah, between helping with the bar and video games, I don't really do much else unless you count people watching."
Izuku perked up at that. "People watching?"
Tomura, finally relaxing into the conversation, gave his brother a smile and a shrug. "It's something to do when I go on my daily walk. Keeps things from getting too boring. Sometimes I do it in the bar when it gets busy. It makes it easier to catch people before they do something stupid."
From there the conversation started to flow between the people at the table more freely. By the time dinner was over, Tomura had come to the decision that while he might not think of Inko as more than just his younger brother's mother, he was not opposed to the thought of calling her his family.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Shouta stared at his Problem Child from across the roof that he had stopped to rest on. In the chaos of the past few days, it hadn't really clicked that the fact the kid had said he and his brother were the kids of All for One and the fact that Hisashi was All for One meant that his vigilante was connected to his nightmarish family drama. Narrowing his eyes he gestured for the kid to come closer. "Problem Child, a word."
"Sure! I heard that you and Dad talked briefly since we last ran into each other." As the kid plopped down onto the roof with his legs crossed, he yanked down his mask that he had always been so careful as to avoid fully lowering in Shouta's line of sight. "So how are you holding up?"
The kid was clearly wearing makeup to hide his freckles but his face was too identifiable for Shouta after growing up with a brother with one so similar. He found himself pinching his nose as he processed this information. "Izuku, what the hell?"
"What?" The kid had the nerve to actually try to put on an innocent face.
"Let's start with the fact you are breaking the law right now."
Izuku tilted his head as if puzzled but his wild grin told a different story. "Am I though? I am both legally and medically Quirkless. Sure Dad gave me a Quirk, but you know how hard it is to prove the existence of a passive mental Quirk let alone a passive precognitive Quirk."
"I thought you said it was a luck Quirk?"
Izuku shrugged. "That is what it mostly acts as. Danger Sense just tells me what I need to do to get the best outcome for myself."
Shouta sighed. That was a fair point on both those things as frustrating as it was. As long as it could not be proven that Izuku had a Quirk, he would be considered Quirkless regardless of the fact that Hisashi had evidently given him one. "Okay, next question, what is this about you having a brother? One with a bar of all things?"
The boy lit up at that. "Tomura is pretty great, you'll like him. Dad found him living on the streets after the Quirk accident that killed his first family." Izuku's face started to fall as he continued. "Dad was actually planning on introducing him to everyone when he accidentally ran into All Might. I am not sure how much Dad said about that to you but he is in really bad shape. He is pretty much trapped in one room by his medical equipment. Tomura says that when he and 'Giri pulled him from the wreckage, the top half of his skull was just gone. He nearly died and Mom and I might not have ever known."
Shit. His nephew was crying now, not that he blamed him. Shouta was starting to get the picture of why Hisashi had basically vanished from both Inko's and Izuku's lives despite how much the man loved family. As much as he had conflicting feelings about everything to do with the man, the idea that he could have just vanished without a trace after being such a presence in even his own life unnerved Shouta. He found himself shifting from his spot sitting up against the ledge edging the rooftop to next to the kid to pull him in for a hug. "He is okay Izuku. You could call him right now and he would pick up."
Izuku rubbed his eyes as he tried to stop sobbing. Much like Inko, Izuku seemed to have trouble stopping crying once he started. When he finally got his tears under control enough to speak, his voice cracked. "I know that. I saw him less than an hour ago. Mom is staying in the apartment he had modified for himself right now while I mostly have been staying with Tomura."
That caught Shouta off guard. "Does Inko know一"
"Dad has told her everything."
"Everything everything?"
Izuku nodded, wiping away tears. "Yeah. I don't think mom is taking the whole being a Supervillain thing seriously but given her reaction to me telling her about me being Loki I think she might have already known even if she had not known all the details."
"So she does know you're out here tonight?"
Izuku nodded. "Yeah. She just commented that I was my father's son and told me to call you if I got into any real trouble since I patrol when you do."
Shouta was definitely calling Inko tomorrow. "If I agree to let you tag along on my patrols will you stop coming out on your own?"
"Bold of you to assume that I wasn't already working my own patrols based on your schedule once I figured it out."
Sighing, Shouta reached over and tugged Izuku's mask back up. "Come on, Problem Child. We have quite a bit of ground to cover."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hitoshi turned the slightly lumpy package over in his hands. "Thanks I think?"
Izuku rolled his eyes and pushed it closer to him. "Just open it."
Hitoshi had been surprised when he had woken up this morning to find his new home littered with streamers and Hizashi shoving pancakes at him for breakfast before he had been rushed out to meet with his friends. (Cousins?) Hitoshi couldn't remember ever celebrating his birthday outside of one family he had stayed with briefly who had used his birthday purely as an excuse to buy the other foster kids cake. It had not really bothered him much since he frankly was happier by himself most of the time so his new family making this big of a deal was a bit overwhelming. Shouta had apparently asked that Izuku keep him busy so he now found himself seated in a quiet corner of a small cat café with Tenya who, upon hearing it was his birthday that Hitoshi had not told him about, had decided to pay for him as his birthday gift this year and Katsuki who was also shoving a package in his direction.
Carefully unwrapping the gift that Izuku had pulled from his bag as soon as they had sat down, Hitoshi soon found himself holding a soft cat ear hoodie the same shade of lavender as his hair. "Where did you even find this?"
"Internet. I have a lot more free time then I am used to and I find myself getting bored when I first get up most days since all of you guys are normally still in classes for the day and Tomura isn't always awake yet. I could only play chess with Dad for so long before it stopped being fun."
"Thanks, if it wasn't so hot outside I would put it on."
Katsuki huffed and pushed his gift closer. "Yeah, the Nerd's gift is nice and all but mine will blow his out of the water."
Hitoshi rolled his eyes and took the more neatly wrapped package from the table. Tearing away the paper, he found a plain wooden box. "A jewelry box?"
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Inside the box dumbass."
Hitoshi lifted the lid only to immediately slam it back shut before anyone else could see the contents. Dropping his voice as to not be overheard, "How the fuck did you even get your hands on something like that? Support items like that are illegal for civilians to obtain."
Tenya was looking back and forth between Katsuki's grinning face and the nondescript box. "What is it?"
"That is how Eyebags is passing the Heroics entrance exam if he doesn't get in on recommendations. Uncle Hisashi helped me find a guy to make it for you so I guess you could say it is also from him."
Izuku groaned and lowered his head to meet the table. "Kacchan no. Please don't take advantage of my Dad's less than legal connections. We are trying to get him to stop so no one has to get arrested."
"You say that like he isn't helping fund your criminal activities."
"I won't actually be charged if I get caught. My Quirk is impossible to prove exists in a court of law since I am still biologically Quirkless."
"What is this about criminal activities?"
Both Katsuki and Izuku froze as they both seemed to realize something together. "Oh, right, we never actually told you guys about that."
"The Nerd is the new vigilante Loki."
Hitoshi found himself laughing at that. "Wait, you're the kid that has been driving Shouta crazy?"
Izuku lifted his face up off the table grinning. "I still can't believe I managed to hide it from him for so long. You should have seen his face when I asked him how you were doing in costume. While I am glad that Dad came clean to everyone so soon, a part of me wishes he hadn't so I could have seen how long it took for him to figure things out."
Hitoshi grinned at Izuku. "Yeah, I can't imagine how he would have taken what seemed to be a random kid knowing anything personal about him."
"The fact I had dropped the fact that I was the son of All for One just minutes before probably did not help matters."
Before they could continue talking, a voice from the entrance way of the café piped up loud enough for them to hear. "Hey isn't that Katsuki with Deku over there?"
Hitoshi watched as both Izuku and Katsuki went rigid. Tenya gave the pair approaching them an odd look before Izuku made a quick slashing motion with his hand over his throat. Katsuki jolted into action by turning in his chair to the pair when they reached the table. "What the fuck do you want?"
One of the boys grinned at his companion and Katsuki. "See I told you it was them. Hey, Katsuki, you want to come join us at the arcade?"
"You realize the last time I went to hang out with you two, I ended up in the hospital right?"
"Ah, come on, it's hardly our fault that we ran into a Villain. Besides, I know we are more fun to hang out with than the Quirkless loser," the other boy chimed in.
Hitoshi had to briefly cover Tenya's mouth before he could cut in. "Katsuki is busy today with us."
Katsuki glared at the pair and gestured vaguely in Hitoshi's direction. "What he said."
The boy who had led the pair over gave Hitoshi and Tenya a questioning look. "And who the hell do you think you are? We have been friends for years, why would he choose to hang out with you and Deku over us?"
With a perfectly deadpan voice, Hitoshi replied. "His cousins."
"That's right and I am not sure how you could talk about Izuku like that at all!"
The pair gave the two of them odd looks before turning to Katsuki. "I didn't know you had any cousins? None of you look related."
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Seriously?" He gestured to Izuku beside him. "I know we have called each other's mother's Auntie in front of you guys before."
Izuku gave the pair odd looks. "Yeah, I am not sure how you could have missed that."
The leader of the unwelcomed pair gave Izuku a glare at that. "We weren't talking to you Deku."
Izuku's glaze flickered from the pair to over their shoulders as the door of the café opened once more. Suddenly a grin appeared on his face as he waved at a pale young man with messy long cyan hair in a black hoodie, awkwardly standing at the door looking very lost. "Over here Tomura-nii!"
An understanding of what was going on passed over Hitoshi and his two other friends as they saw the older teen start to wander over while the other two boys just stared at the teen in complete confusion. "Hey Izuku." He pulled what looked to be a small hastily wrapped object from his hoodie pocket and offered it to Hitoshi with no hesitation. "Your birthday present."
"Who are you supposed to be? Deku doesn't have a brother!"
Tomura looked at Izuku almost apologetically before throwing himself to drape over Izuku dramatically. "Oh dear, I guess I am just a figment of your imagination after all!"
That earned a laugh from the group at the table. Izuku shoved him lightly off before turning to look at the pair. "We're half-brothers. He grew up over in America for the most part, not that it is any of your business."
The pair looked at the older teen as if trying to decide what to make of him. "What is your Quirk then or are you a Quirkless loser too?"
A dark look flashed over Tomura as he smiled and pulled out what looked like a fidget cube from his other pocket before pulling off a glove and touching it with all five fingers. The look of horror on the pair's faces as it disintegrated was probably a better birthday present than whatever he had quickly wrapped up to bring with him when Izuku had presumably messaged him. When he spoke, his voice was as cold as ice. "Now, what was it you were calling my baby brother?"
They ran. Tenya looked torn about whether or not he should be happy that they were now good or admonishing Tomura for threatening them with death. Katsuki and Izuku had broken down laughing while Tomura just shrugged and tugged his glove back on. "Thanks for the birthday present."
Tomura gave Hitoshi an odd look. "You haven't opened it yet. It isn't that great since Izuku asked me to get here quickly after he woke me up with his texts."
Hitoshi smiled at the older teen. "Nah, your present was scaring off those two bullies that were ruining the fun." He held up the package. "This is just a bonus."
He looked at Hitoshi with a surprised smile before turning to Izuku. "I like your cousins, Greenie."
Izuku rolled his eyes. "They're your family too if you want them to be."
Hitoshi pulled off the wrapping paper only for the sight that greeted him to earn a laugh. He tossed the fidget cube back at Tomura. "I don't need to steal all your fidgets."
Tomura caught the cube and passed it back. "I have more where that came from. Inko and Father basically ordered me to get them in bulk at dinner the other night."
Izuku then proceeded to properly introduce Tomura to everyone. All in all a pretty good start to a birthday.