Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello, everyone! I just wanted to say a couple of things

1. I’m sorry I update so inconsistently. I started going to school for writing this year and it’s been a bit hard to keep up with my fics while juggling the extra work, but I’m going to try to do better about updating at reasonable times

2. I’m going to be rewriting this in a different fic that I’m going to leave a link to in the notes once I put out the next chapter. I just felt like this one has too many characters and I want to try some new ideas with the plot. (Also, I watched Season 7 of the anime and decided on a better way to introduce Dabi.)

Chapter Text

*I moved the boys' ages around a bit so it would fit what I wanted in this AU*

Kashikoi Yōgo-sha had always been overflowing with Maternal instinct.

Ever since her quirk manifested, she had treated others like a mother wolf treated her cubs, and her friends were like her pack: she trusted them fully and was prepared to do anything for them. (This earned her the nickname Mazāurufu from the people who knew her.) But they were adults now. She couldn't keep doting on them.

Her roommates were her best friends on the face of the earth: Tenki Yama (quirk: stretch) was an idiot, but he was her best friend, and he wanted her to be as happy as possible. Heiwa "Mujihina" Tsuki (quirk: blood manipulation) was certainly capable of defending herself, but she was small and looked fragile, so Kashikoi was constantly doting in her and making sure she was safe and fed. The same went for Chiniwan Hangyaku-sha (quirk: shrink), who had been Kashikoi's best friend since she was seven and they were six. Heitai Masayoshi (quirk: tank) was strong and sturdy, and she was tired of the much taller woman trying to protect her. Kaika Aijin (quirk: flowers) was a kind person who wanted nothing but for her friend to have a child she could protect and love unconditionally.

The issue was that Kashikoi wanted to adopt a kid, there were no places to acquire a child within a hundred miles, and it was nearly impossible to get Kashikoi further than thirty miles from their apartment.

On her 20th birthday, a Saturday, Kashikoi woke up around 9:00 a.m. when Tenki stumbled out of his room and fell down the only staircase in the entire house, which was ten steps. Kashikoi walked down the stairs to find him being cursed out by Heitai, who was red-faced as always. Chiniwan walked down the stairs and collapsed against Kashikoi's back, barely moving the large woman, who just smiled down at her friend. They were followed closely by Mujihina, who sat down in a kitchen chair and blinked expectantly at her friends, waiting for them to cook breakfast.

Kaika stood up from the couch in the living room and started to make omelets for each of them. After delivering a solid smack to the back of Tenki's head, Heitai went to help the gentle woman in the kitchen. Lifting Chiniwan onto her back and grabbing the back of the man's shirt, the birthday girl dragged Tenki over to a chair and tossed him down into it. Kashikoi deposited her tired friend into their own chair before going to help Kaika and Heitai make breakfast.

Heitai yelled at her and shoved the tall woman away from the stove, "Oh no you don't! You try this every year, but today is and always will be your birthday! You don't let us cook on our birthdays, so you don't get to, either! Kaika and I can handle a few omelets, so you go sit down and get ready for the best omelet sandwich you've ever had!"

"I think that might be the most entertaining way you've ever tried to get Kashikoi to let someone else take care of us all," Tenki laughed.

"Shut up, Tumbleweed!" Heitai slapped him on the head again before returning to the kitchen to help Kaika with breakfast.

Kashikoi slumped forward in her chair, resting her head on her folded arms.

•••

After breakfast, Kashikoi announced that she was going on a walk. She walked to the door, followed by Tenki and Chiniwan, who were used to being allowed to walk with her even if the others weren't.

"Sorry, guys, but for my birthday this year, I just want some peace and quiet."

Her two best friends nodded and returned to the living room to play Mario Kart on the TV.

Kashikoi wrapped her scarf around her neck and donned her favorite heavy coat before stepping through the door and walking out onto the street.

The sidewalk was busy and loud, but thankfully, the woman had her favorite pair of headphones with her. As she walked, and her phone cycled through her favorite playlist, Kashikoi scanned her surroundings like she always did, briefly glimpsing the faces of every person she walked past.

She noticed a little boy running across the street. His hair was an odd light blue color and his wide eyes were scarlet. Kashikoi paused in her walk and watched him stop in the middle of the sidewalk and look around like he was lost. She watched with growing worry and frustration as people walked past the kid, oblivious to his obvious distress. People care for no one but themselves! I mean, is it really that much of an inconvenience to stop for a bit and help someone in trouble? The least they could do is stop and ask if he's lost!

Once she was certain that the boy's family was nowhere around, Kashikoi walked over to him, stamping down her mounting anger at the people around her. She tapped the boy on the shoulder, startling him a little.

"Hey, bud. Your family around?" she asked in her gentlest voice.

The boy shook his head.

"Hm," Kashikoi hummed shortly, not exactly happy with the response. "Kay. Do you know where they are?"

The boy nodded slowly.

"Well that's good. Can you tell me where they are, so I can walk you to them?"

The kid opened and closed his mouth a few times before he responded. "Dead," he whispered. "They're dead."

Kashikoi's narrow eyes widened. "Oh no! Can you tell me what happened, so I can help?"

"I... I killed them. With my quirk."

Kashikoi's horror must have shown on her face, because the boy was quick to try to explain. "I-I didn't mean to! I didn't even know that I had a quirk until it happened! I was- I was petting my dog and he just... he just crumbled! And then, and then Hana came to get me, and... and I accidentally killed her too. Then... then mom..mommy and grandma and grandpa. Then daddy tried to hurt me, and I killed him on purpose..."

The poor kid was in tears and Kashikoi only hesitated a second before wrapping her arms around him. The boy quickly slipped away.

"No! I don't- I don't wanna hurt you too!"

She smiled sadly at him, "It's okay, bud. Come with me. I'll help you out."

"O-okay."

He followed her cautiously, careful to touch people as little as possible.

Kashikoi stopped in a narrow alleyway between two tall buildings.

"Okay, bud, we're gonna figure out what exactly activates your quirk. I'll give you my scarf, and I want you to touch it with one finger at a time, then with a finger and add the others one at a time. We should probably start with the hand that you didn't use to disintegrate the dog, so we can make sure if it works with both hands, then if that works on the scarf. I've got a bunch of trinkets in my pockets we can practice on. 'Kay?"

"But what if it works? I don't wanna destroy your scarf!"

"Ah, it's fine. I hardly ever wear a scarf anyways."

The boy did as instructed. His pinkie finger did nothing.

Ring finger: nothing.

Middle finger: nothing.

Index finger: nothing.

Thumb: nothing.

Then we repeated the pattern with his other hand. Still nothing

Then back to the first hand. One, two, three, four fingers. Nothing, nothing, more nothing, and even more nothing.

Five fingers. The scarf crumbled nearly instantly into dust.

"Wow."

To continue their test, Kashikoi handed him an old piece of paper from one of her pockets. He tried different combinations of his fingers and the last one he added, but nothing happened. Then they did the same process of one, two, three, four, then five fingers touching the object with the same results.

Kashikoi stood up from where she'd been sitting on her knees and brushed some gravel off of her pants. "Well then. That answers that question." The woman stood quietly for a moment before asking, "What's your name, buddy?"

"Tenko Shimura."

"Alright, Tenko, I'm Kashikoi Yōgo-sha."

"Thank you for helping me, miss Yōgo-sha."

"You are very much welcome." Kashikoi smiled down at him until a thought occurred to her: "I guess you need somewhere to stay, huh?"

"Yeah." Any hint of hope, no matter how small, vanished from Tenko's face.

"Well, I could take you home with me. I'd have to ask my roommates about you staying, but we've got a pretty big house, so they probably won't mind."

The boy's face lit up like Christmas. "Really? You-you really think they'd let me stay with you?"

"Yeah, we're all pretty chill with pretty much everything."

With that, the boy followed Kashikoi back to her home.

•••

When they got back to the house, Mujihina, Chiniwan, and Tenki all tackled Kashikoi in a hug.

"Oh thank cats you still exist!" Mujihina cried dramatically.

"Twinsie! You were gone for like an eternity!" Chiniwan whined at the same time that Tenki said, "We thought you'd vanished!"

"Yeah," Kashikoi laughed, a rough sound, "Like anybody's got the guts to try an' hurt me!"

"Heiwa! Chiniwan! Tenki! Let Kashikoi get inside, please!" Kashikoi silently thanked Kaika for calling their friends back inside.

Heitai grabbed the collar of Tenki's shirt and pulled him back inside. The girls followed.

Kashikoi placed her hand gently on Tenko's back and lead him into the house.

Chiniwan was the first to notice the new person. "Hey, who's the little guy?" That pulled inquisitive glances from the rest of the household.

"This is Tenko Shimura. He killed his abusive father after accidentally killing the rest of his family when his quirk manifested. He is sad. He is lonely. And he is mine now."

The group shared murmured "yeah"s and "okay"s and "sounds cool to me"s. Tenki stepped forward and held out his hand to the kid. Welcome to the family, Tenko. My name's Tenki Yama."

Kashikoi batted her friend's hand away gently, "No handshakes right now. His quirk activates by touching you with all five fingers."

"Aww.... Okay, fine."

"I think I might have an idea. Everybody stay here. I'll be right back." With that, Kashikoi ran up the staircase to her room.

After a little looking around, she found what she was looking for: her box of digital artist gloves.

Kashikoi dashed back downstairs, two of the two-fingered gloves in her hand.

"Tenko, come here real quick." The little boy walked over to her and the woman gently grabbed his wrist, slipping the glove onto his tiny hand. It was too big for him, but his fingers stayed in it if it was held down.

Kashikoi ordered Kaika to get a napkin from the kitchen. The woman obeyed and handed the piece of paper to her friend, who gave it to the scared boy in front of her. He held it with his gloved hand and it didn't disintegrate. Kashikoi pumped her fists in victory before helping him put on the other glove.

They found that the gloves slipped off easily when Tenko put his hands down by his sides, though, so Kashikoi went to get her sewing kit, which she had for emergencies. She gently ran the needle in and out of the fabric around his wrist before pulling it tight, causing the fabric to bunch up. She tied it off before doing the same to the other one. She did the same with the cloth near his fingers to make the glove fit better.

Kashikoi sat back on her heels, saying, "Well, that should do for now. Tomorrow, we'll pay a visit to my sister and have her make you something more permanent."

Tenko smiled up at her. "Thank you, miss Yōgo-sha!"

"No problem, Tenko. And don't call me 'miss Yōgo-sha'. It feels kinda weird."

"Oh, okay, Momma."

Kashikoi smiled at him before lifting him up into her arms. "C'mon, Tenko, let's go watch something."

"Okay, Momma," he murmured as he snuggled up against her chest.

Kashikoi turned on ATLA on Netflix after settling onto the couch with her little boy pressed up against her side.

•••

It was a little past midday and Tenko had fallen asleep about twenty minutes earlier when Kaika tapped Kashikoi on the shoulder. "Uh, Kashi, I think you should see this..."

"Hm? Wassup?" the tall woman turned her head slightly to see Kaika's phone screen, which was turned to the local news app.

Her eyes widened in horror at the headline and first few sentences:

"Five-Year-Old Boy Suspected For Murder Of His Family
Police are currently investigating the destroyed home of five-year-old Tenko Shimura, where forensic experts have identified the crumbled remains of his family and family pet. Tenko is a prime suspect in this mysterious murder, because he is apparently the only survivor of this tragedy."

Below the headline was a picture that must have been what Tenko looked like before he got his quirk:

He looks so different now, thought Kashikoi, looking down at the little boy curled up beside her and ruffling his fluffy near-white hair. Then, gaining determination to keep him safe, That solves one problem, then.

She nudged his shoulder, "Tenko, wake up, buddy."

"What's wrong, Momma?" he asked tiredly, looking up at her with sleep-blurred eyes.

"We need to change your name."

"Why?"

"People found your family and they're starting to figure out you killed them."

That got him awake. He shot upright and started to panic.

Kashikoi wrapped him up in her arms and a quilt she'd had across her lap, pulling him close and doing her best to comfort him. "It's okay. Nobody knows what you look like now. So if we change your name, no one will know it's you. Okay, sweetheart?"

"Oka-okay..."

"Okay. How about Tomura Yōgo-sha?"

"I reco-recognize your name, but what about Tomura?"

"It comes from a word that means 'mourning', because you have been through too much, and i know that you will forever mourn your sister and your dog and your mother and grandparents."

"Oh. Yeah. That's true."

"Okay then, I think I should know a little more about you if I'm gonna me your momma."

"Okay, like what?"

"Like your dreams. What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I used to wanna be a hero, but daddy didn't like that. It's because gramma died being a hero, instead of staying with him."

"That's not true."

Tenko Tomura looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, she died being a mother, too. Think about it: she died to make sure your dad got to survive. If she hadn't done that, then her son, the person she cared about the most, might have been killed by the villain."

"Oh. I guess that's true."

"Yeah, it is. I know that I would let someone kill me if I knew it was the only way to protect you."

The small boy wrapped his arms around her neck and whispered, "Please don't."

Chapter Text

Kashikoi woke up Tomura at ten a.m. and handed the small child a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans, which he happily changed into. The shirt was a little big, but that was fine.

Tomura's room was right next to Kashi's, so that he could go wake her up if he needed her. The woman picked him up and carried the tired boy down to a warm breakfast of pancakes and bacon, which Kashikoi and Kaika had prepared just before Kashi had gone to wake up Tomura. The shy boy ate his plate of food with a wide grin on his face.

Once everyone in the house had eaten, Kashikoi and Tomura climbed into Kaika's van, which she had allowed them to borrow for the trip.

Kashikoi drove them out to the airport, where an "I" Island private jet waited for them since, the night before, Kashikoi had texted her sister to let her know they were coming for a visit. Kashi's little sister, Kōkatsuna Yōgo-sha (quirk: crafty) was a top support developer at "I" Island—even though she was only sixteen right now—and was always happy to have her family and friends visit.

Tomura gaped up at the sleek form of transportation. "Woah! Your sister owns that?"

"Uh, kinda?" Kashikoi laughed nervously. "It technically belongs to the place she lives and works, but she has the authority to send it places."

"Oh wow." There were practically stars in the kid's eyes.

"Alright, enough staring, kiddo. Get out of Kaika's car. We have to get there pretty quick if we want to be home before tomorrow."

"Okay, Momma." Tomura hopped out of the vehicle and grabbed Kashikoi's hand. The woman led her son up the ramp of the jet and they each took a seat inside.

The engines roared as the jet began to accelerate down the runway.

•••

The jet landed on "I" Island and the pair stepped off of it.

"Kashi!!" a tall, thin girl with short, curly, blond hair and a button headband was running towards them.

"Hey, Suna. How've you been?" Kashikoi accepted the ensuing hug with a tired expression.

"I've been great! I just added some new upgrades to the Glue Gun! Now you can adjust the amount of glue used, and—and this is the best part—IT HAS A SIGHT NOW!"

"That's great, sis." You could see how tense the woman was around her overly energetic sister.

She looked down at Tomura to see that he was equally uncomfortable, picking at a loose thread on his shirt.

Kashikoi placed a hand on her sister's head, which got he rambling teen's attention. "Suna, do you remember why I told you I was coming over in the first place?"

"Uh, yeah, I think so. Something about a piece of gear? I don't know why you'd need it, cuz you're not a hero, but I'll still help you out, I guess."

"That's what I thought," Kashikoi sighed. "I need it because this kid I found and have unofficially adopted has a really destructive and dangerous quirk, and I need you to make some custom gloves for him, so he doesn't accidentally hurt anyone."

As she spoke, Kashi dug her fingers harder and harder into Kōkatsuna's shoulders, causing the lanky girl to yelp, but helped to keep the hyperactive teen focused on what her sister was saying.

"Oh yeah! I was wondering why that kid was here!"

"Okay, good. Now that we're done with that, let's go to your lab, 'Kay?" With that, Kashikoi started walking towards the lab, calling "C'mon, Tomi!" over her shoulder. The little red-eyed boy trotted after her, slipping a small, gloved hand into hers.

•••

Kokatsuna's lab looked like a mess. The tables were covered in materials, tools, and products of all kinds; the floor had papers and scraps scattered over it; and the walls were covered in pictures of their family: graduations and birthdays and holidays.

Tomura picked up a picture that was sitting on the main desk. In it, Kashi and Suna were both in their teens—Kashi was around sixteen and Suna was about 13. Kashikoi was crouched on a large rock in the middle of a small river, and Kokatsuna was sneaking up behind her like she was about to push her in.

In another photo, it looked like a party of some kind. They were even younger in this one and Suna was wrestling with a group of kids around her age. Kashi was in the background sitting in a tree with a book and headphones, doing her best to ignore what must have been a loud group.

"Tomura, can you come over here, please?"

"Okay, Momma," Tomura walked obediently over to Kashikoi.

"Thank you, sweetie," Kashi said, then turned to her sister. "So basically, I need a glove that won't come off unless we want it to. It needs to be durable, but not obstruct his hand movements in any way. And it needs to be comfortable. I want him to be able to sleep in them comfortably. Oh, and I need it to be shaped like the temporary ones he has on now. And they need to be easily washable. He won't be taking them off often, so he should be able to wash stuff like juice out of them easily, because he's a kid, so he's gonna have stuff like popsicles and ice cream cones melting and dripping all over his hands."

Tomura held up his hand to show the teen his current pair of gloves.

Suna nodded and said, "That's easy! Give me a few minutes, and you'll have your new gloves before you can say 'derpy cat will come for your soul'."

Tomura gave the two women a weird look, but Kashikoi just barked a laugh and lead him out of the messy room.

•••

While Kokatsuna worked on his gloves, Kashikoi and Tomura sat on a bench outside.

They weren't waiting long before a speaker nearby clicked to life: "Guys! I'm done!"

"Well, that was quick, wasn't it, Tomi?"

The little boy nodded and walked with Kashi into the building, clinging to her shirt with one hand.

They walked into Kokatsuna's lab and the teen instructed Tomura to sit on a stool at one of the tables. He obeyed, and Suna walked told Kashi to take his current gloves off while she got his new ones. Kashi grabbed a small pair of scissors and snipped the threads on each glove, throwing them into a nearby garbage can.

Tomura carefully curled his hands into fists and placed them in his lap so he didn't accidentally destroy anything.

Suna returned with two pairs of perfectly sized, perfectly shaped gloves. Each one has a special clasp and they were made of a material that neither Kashikoi nor Tomura had ever seen.

Suna showed them how to put the gloves on by fastening a model with the same type of clasp onto her own hand before she handed the gloves to Kashi, who put them onto the little boy's hands.

"How do they feel, Tomi?"

"They feel good," Tomura whispered, grinning shyly.

"Good." Kashikoi turned to her sister. "Well then. Thank you for helping us. I'll video call you on your birthday. Goodbye."

"Bye, guys."

"Bye, Auntie Suna," Tomura whispered before following Kashi out the door.

•••

When they got home, it was dark outside.

Kashikoi and Tomura walked up to his room, where she tucked him in. After making sure Tomi was comfortable, Kashi kissed him on the forehead and sang him a lullaby.

Chapter Text

Before any of you come after me with "According to the Wikki"  I know. I did my research. But, as I said EARLIER, I moved some dates and ages around to fit what I wanted.

Tomura was six when the mountain burned.

•••

Kashikoi was vacationing at Sekoto Peak for a week with the other members of her household. They were staying in a hotel at the base of the mountain.

Tenki had his own room. Heitai, Chiniwan, Kaika, and Mujihina were sharing a large room. And Kashikoi and Tomura had a room.

•••

The night of the fire, Tomura woke up first. He heard people screaming and clamoring outside, since his bed was closed to that side of the room. He also felt the heat wafting off of the fire. It was far enough away that it didn't burn him, but it was intensely hot nonetheless. 

Tomura opened his eyes and screamed. The whole mountain was burning. It was enveloped in a bright blue flame, and was so hot that the small boy was sweating.

His scream woke Kashi, who sat bolt upright in bed and quickly scrambled over to him, wrapping her arms around her kid and pulling him away from the window. 

"Are you okay, Tomi?"

"Yea-yeah, I'm okay."

Some of the tenseness in Kashikoi's shoulders dissipated, but she was still concerned. The two ran out of the building to find their housemates waiting by the door. They exchanged words of gratefulness that they were all unharmed—though Tenki insisted that the blaze had given him a sunburn. 

"Tenki, Kaika, keep Tomura here and keep him safe. I'm gonna go se if anyone needs my help," Kashikoi turned to Mujihina and Heitai. "You two come with me. We're gonna be the most useful right now." The woman crouched down to her son's level, ruffling his fluffy hair, "Tomi, I need you stay here with Auntie Kaika and Uncle Tenki right now, okay? Momma's going to go make sure nobody's hurt."

Tomura looked helplessly up at her with fear in his scarlet eyes, "But you said you wouldn't leave!"

Kashikoi hugged her son. "I won't. I'm gonna be right back, and then we'll all go home again. 'Kay?"

"Pinkie promise?"

Kashi hooked her pinkie with Tomura's tiny gloved finger. "Pinkie promise." 

With that, the tall woman kissed the top of the boy's head and started to shove her way through the gathered crowd with Heitai and Mujihina following—Heitai just barreling through, and Mujihina following the paths her fiends carved.

Kashikoi was doing her best to not panic. Not from the fire, but from the people crowding around her, screaming and talking and not doing anything helpful. She shouldered her way between a pair of girls with their phones out videoing the whole thing, muttering curses under her breath. The girls squawked at her like she'd just dumped an entire pot of coffee on their heads. Kashikoi ignored them, pushing through more and more people. She barely noticed Mujihina flitting in and out of the crowd, passing between people and following the broad path that people always left in Heitai's wake.

The three women reached the front of the crowd at around the same time. Mujihina tied her long, blonde hair back to minimize heat, as the fire was nearly boiling them alive at this point. Heitai rolled up her shirtsleeves. Kashikoi found a bucket of water that was meant to be used to put out the fire and used it to soak a blanket she'd grabbed from the hotel room. 

Her quirk was activated. Her senses and physical abilities were in overdrive, her heartbeat pounding in her ears and the smell of smoke and sweating people overwhelming her powerful nose.

Kashikoi's head snapped towards a seemingly random point in the fire. Someone was screaming. Someone young. The woman instructed her friends to stay there and help who they could before running full speed into the blaze with her soaked blanked pulled around her shoulders.

Kashi ran towards the sound, dodging burning and falling trees with almost inhuman reflexes. She ran uphill as fast as she could. 

She'd been running for only a few minutes when she saw someone in the flames. Kashikoi veered towards them and found a little boy. His hair was burning and his skin was practically melting, revealing the bone of his jaw—which was missing pieces—and neck and arms. 

Kashi quickly pulled the blanket off of her shoulders and threw it over the little boy, extinguishing the fire. Kashikoi bundled him up in the blanket and held him in her arms bridal-style before taking off running back down the mountain, still keeping an ear out for anyone else up there.

She reached the bottom of Sekoto Peak in half the time it took to get up there. Her arms and legs were aching from the exertion of running for so long and carrying a boy wrapped in a soaking blanket. Kashikoi was certain that she had a few burns of her own—it was impossible to run into a fire that hot and not be burned at least a little bit—but the adrenaline was still rushing through her body, so she couldn't feel anything.

"Mujihina! I need some help over here!" Kashikoi yelled, searching the crowd with sharp eyes and sharper ears, her nose useless with all the smoke and fear in the air.

When the small blonde pushed her way through the crowd, the adrenaline rush vanished, and Kashikoi was suddenly very aware of an intense pain in her calf and the fact that she was very lightheaded. The woman looked down to see the leg of her pajama bottoms smoldering and a horrible gash in the skin where she must have gotten scraped by a burning stick without noticing.

Mujihina saw the burn as well. She called out to Heitai and rushed over. Kashikoi, though everything was blurry and she was barely standing, held her arm out to her friends when they tried to help her, earning a confused look from Mujihina, whose blood manipulation quirk allowed her to heal nearly any wound if she got to it quick enough.

Kashikoi held out her bundle of child, stating plainly: "Fix him first."

Heitai grabbed the kid from her, peeling back the blanket caked to his face by blood and water. She looked like she was going to be sick when she saw the poor boy's destroyed face. The large woman gave a short nod before showing him to Mujihina. 

The two women lowered him to the ground and began removing the blanket from around him.

Everything turned blurry.

Kashikoi could barely hear what her friends were saying.

She barely managed to whisper Tomura's name before she lost consciousness.

•••

Kashikoi woke again in her bed at the hotel. She was vaguely aware of a small body asleep in her arms and fluffy hair tickling her chin. 

The injured woman opened her eyes and, careful not to move her head, looked down at the person who was cuddled up beside her. She smiled when she saw a small head covered in pale blue hair. Kashi tilted her head down, burying her nose in Tomura's hair and pressing a kiss to the top of his head.

The little boy looked up at her. His red eyes were puffy from crying.

"What's wrong, sweetness?" Kashikoi murmured, her sleep-blurred mind still having not caught up to what had happened. She vaguely wondered why her throat felt raw, and what smelled like burning flesh, and why she could practically taste smoke.

"Momma! You're okay!" Tomura threw his arms around her neck.

Okay? She questioned in her mind 'Course I'm okay. Why would I not be? She had barely finished thinking the last word when the previous night's events rushed back. In a blink, Kashi was out of bed and fully taking in her surroundings.

On what had been Tomura's bed, Heitai was napping, so Kashi assumed that she had been forced out of her own bed to accommodate the injured boy. 

Kashikoi left the room as fast as she could—which wasn't as fast as she normally could have been, since her leg was still throbbing, even though Mujihina had closed the wound and someone had put a pain-relief cream on it—and went to the room next door. 

Just as she'd suspected, there was Mujihina, bent over a boy occupying what was originally Heitai's bed, with Kashi's sewing kit—which she had brought in case anyone tore their clothes—beside her, staring down at him with a hopeless expression. 

She looked up at Kashikoi when she walked in. Her face fell even more. "I'm so sorry, Kashi. I know you said to fix him before I fixed you, but I had gotten him as stable as I could, and you were bleeding really bad, and I needed your help. I can't make skin, Kashi. I can only close wounds. He needs new skin, Kashikoi!"

"It's okay, Muji. It was a smart choice. Now I know what he needs, and thankfully, I know people in useful places," Kashikoi smiled kindly and waved her phone in the air.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GET HUMAN SKIN?!?!"

She shrugged, "Eh, Suna can probably manufacture some." Her finger hovered over the "dial" button. "Is there anything else we need?"

Mujihina looked back at the boy, "Uhh, Koka can make artificial bones, right?

"Puh-lease, to my sister, making bones is like making toast. What's on the shopping list?"

"He needs a new left clavicle, three ribs, a left humorous, a left ulna, a right radius, a right femur, and a new jaw." The blonde counted off the needed bones on her fingers as she spoke. (The friend Mujihina is based on does not know enough about bones to do that. I doubt she even remembers what a femur is. But, I needed her to know this for the purpose of the story.)

"Alright. What if I just text Suna a picture of him for reference, his height, and a list of the stuff we need?"

"You two aren't seriously planning on putting him back together on your own in a hotel room, are you?" Tenki piped up from nearby.

"Of course not. I'll ask Suna to send some doctors over, too." Kashi typed out a text to her sister, took a picture of the little boy, and pressed send. She received a reply almost instantly: 'Are you gonna ask me to do something *challenging* one of these days?'

Kashikoi laughed at the same time another text came through: 'I'll have it all to your location before sundown. (the surgeons will be well-rested and the skin will be as authentic as possible.)'

Kashikoi placed her phone on the nearby bedside table and found a chair to sit in while she waited for the body parts and doctors to arrive.

•••

The jet arrived at 5:32 p.m.

As soon as Kashi heard it approaching, she stood up and started to make her way to the nearby field, which was the only place for it to land. 

A doctor met her outside and told her to bring the patient out to them. Kashi nodded and ran back up to the room—her leg had stopped hurting by now. She carefully picked the boy up off of the bed before running down to the jet. She placed the kid on a stretcher one of the doctors had taken out there for him.

The boy was taken into the jet and the surgeries began.

Chapter Text

The surgery drew on for hours. 

Kashikoi soon found she couldn't sit still, so she took to pacing her hotel room, stopping every now and then to ruffle Tomura's hair or tell him she was going to be okay, and that the boy from the fire would, too.

The boy wasn't stupid, though. Tomura knew that the boy might not survive, and he knew that his adoptive mother would break down if that happened. So he kept asking her questions. "What are we gonna do with him when he's better?" and "Are you gonna keep him?" and "If you do keep him, can I pick his new name?" He knew she needed a distraction, that she needed to think of what to do if he survived, instead of thinking of all the ways he couldn't.

•••

Sometime after dark, when Tomura had gone to bed, a doctor knocked on the door. 

Kashikoi, who had still been pacing, thinking, worrying, opened the door.

The man stepped inside and said, "The boy is in a stable condition. The necessary transplants have been completed. The new skin is sewn on, but your friend with the blood manipulation quirk will have to make sure it melds well with his body. The staples will have to be permanent, regardless." He almost left the room before he turned around. "Oh, and please collect him. We need to get home, and he should be stable enough to bring up here."

The woman nodded and went to collect the boy from the plane, wheeling him into the building on a stretcher with cords and an IV still attached to him. Heitai had agreed to carry the machines for her.

•••

The two strong women, one with a blonde ponytail carrying multiple machines, and one with short, curly brown hair and a newly stitched up boy on a stretcher walked into an elevator and pressed the button for the third floor. They reached their floor and stepped off of the elevator, bringing the boy and his machines to a room near the end of the hall and the blonde returned to her own room. The brunette's legs ached from running and pacing the whole day.

She brought the boy's rolling bed up beside her own bed and removed the blanket from over him. She hesitated a moment, her eyes tracing the lines of stitches and staples and the seams between panels of new skin, before carefully slipping her steady arms beneath his back and lifting him off of the stretcher. Kashikoi laid him gently on her bed and pulled the comforter up over him. 

She placed a hand briefly in his singed hair before sitting on the floor and leaning back against the bed, crossing her arms over her chest. She tried to no avail to release the tension from her shoulders, but that was normal for her. With a tired sigh, the woman—who supposed she was a mother of two now—drifted into a much needed sleep.

•••

When Kashikoi awoke, the first thing she noticed was that the room was much clearer than it usually was when she woke up. She reached up to touch her face and eyes and realized that she had forgotten to take her glasses off the night before. She also noticed that someone had wedged a pillow between her head and the bed frame and draped a blanket over her lap.

The woman stood and stretched, her spine popping uncomfortably when she swung her arms up over her head. A sound that she hadn't previously been aware of stopped and Kashi turned her head to be met by red eyes... and bright blue ones. The boy from the fire was awake and propped up against the headboard with his hands resting in his lap on top of the blankets.

Kashikoi almost subconsciously slipped a lazy smile onto her face as she pulled over a nearby chair and sat backwards on it with its back facing the boys, addressing the burned child. "Good to see you up, kid. I hope Tomi didn't wake you."

"No. I was already awake when he woke up." The boy's voice was more of a whisper when he spoke, but Kashi still caught the scratch of smoke inhalation in his throat.

"Hm," when she was young, people would have trouble figuring out what Kashikoi's variety of hums meant, but she had mastered the art of forcing exaggerated expressions onto her face, just like she did now: raising her eyebrows, pursing her lips, and tilting her head just the right amounts to express her satisfaction. "So how are your stitches feeling? Has Muji been in yet?"

The boy's expression dropped and the fingers of his right hand rubbed over the staples and stitches on the back of the opposite hand. The artificial skin was identical to what was left of his original flesh, but there were still visible creases where they'd been sewn on. "When I tried to sit up, I think some of the ones on my stomach came open. Tomura gave me some band-aids to stop them from bleeding. Otherwise, I've barely noticed them... oh! And no one else has been in yet."

"Okay. I'm gonna go get Mujihina to help those stitches stay. You boys stay here, 'kay?"

"Okay, Momma," Tomura grinned at Kashikoi as she ruffled his hair and left the room."

•••

When the woman who Tomura called his mother left the room, Toya turned to look at the red-eyed boy. "Is she really your mom? You look nothing like her."

The younger boy, who had seemed shy and quiet before, turned defensive, "Yes. She's my momma. Maybe not by blood, but she is. And she's better than the one I had first."

"Oh. Maybe she should be my mom, too." Toya was only half joking.

Tomura's eyes shone like stars, "You really wanna stay? I always wanted a big brother!"

"I'm flattered, but your mom probably wont let me stay."

"You clearly know nothing about Momma."

Then, the tall woman walked into the room with a small blonde woman in tow. The blonde walked over to Toya and placed a hand over his heart. Toya recoiled slightly from the contact, but Tomura gave him a reassuring smile, and he didn't try to get away. 

The woman's quirk must have activated, because Toya felt blood rushing under his skin, not always in the right direction. He watched the blood vessels in his wrists pool up blood around the staples holding him together. The skin around the edges of the panels of skin puckered and folded slightly, and then it was done. The rushing sensation dissipated, and the stitches sank into the skin, leaving only the staples visible and some skin puckered underneath. After reaching up to his face and neck and chest, Toya determined that it was the same with all of the places he'd been sewn back together.

After he had finished marveling at the effects of this woman's—who he assumed was Mujihina—quirk, Tomura's mom spoke to Toya: "Why were you in that fire?"

"I started it on accident. I wanted to show my dad that I was strong, so I was training with my quirk. But my body isn't built for a fire quirk, and I get hurt when I use it."

"Oh, poor baby." The woman wrapped her arms around the injured boy, "You really don't need to prove yourself to your parents. If they're good parents, then they already care about you. And if not, then they don't deserve you."

"Oh." Toya lowered his eyes in embarrassment. "Well I do need to prove myself to them. Or, at least to Dad. And Mom's in the hospital because she hurt Shoto. It was Dad's fault she did it anyways. He hurt all of us."

As he spoke, he could practically feel the barely contained rage bubbling up inside the kind woman. Her arms wrapped tighter around him and her shoulders became even more tense. "You are not going back to them."

Toya nodded, not daring to say anything else. 

"What's your name, kid?"

"Toya Todoroki."

"I'm Kashikoi Yōgo-sha." Kashikoi offered the boy a kind smile.

"Dad's gonna look for me."

After a moment of thought, the woman answered: "Then you're not Toya anymore."

Toya raised a burned eyebrow.

"We're going to change your name. And maybe dye your hair."

"Oh."

Tomura piped up from where he was sitting at the foot of Not-Toya-Anymore's bed: "Ooh! Ooh! Can I pick his new name?"

Kashikoi chuckled and ruffled his fluffy hair, "Sure. Go ahead."

The boy put on an exaggerated thinking expression while he contemplated the possibilities. "Dabi! Let's call him Dabi!"

"Alright then," Kashikoi smiled at the boys, "Welcome to the Yōgo-sha family, Dabi."

Dabi smiled up at his mother.

Chapter Text

In the first week Dabi had lived with them, Kashikoi heard him whimpering from a nightmare every night. Every night, she walked into his room and tucked the blankets around him a little tighter and rubbed his back until he calmed down. And every night, his pillow was soaked by bloody tears.

Tomura had been having nightmares since she found him. Not nearly as often, but much, much worse. He woke up screaming and crying her name, and wouldn't go back to sleep for hours—and even then, only once he was safely wrapped up in her arms with his favorite stuffed corgi and lots of kisses. 

Sometimes, when he couldn't sleep even after she'd been cuddling him for hours, Kashikoi would make hot chocolate or bowls of ice cream, and they would sit on her bed in a nest of blankets watching funny cat videos or listening to music until dawn.

In that first week with the burned boy, Tomura hadn't woken up screaming even once. He had slept peacefully and quietly.

•••

On the ninth night, Dabi dreamt of the fire. He dreamt of his siblings laughing at him for being too small and too weak and too emotional. And his father hurting him, slapping the boy across the face and telling him he would never amount to anything. That he was a disappointment. His mother telling him he was ugly and horrifying and would grow up to act just like his father. 

And then, the woman who saved him and the little boy who adored everything she did. Kashikoi glared down at him, "Why didn't I just leave you to burn? You are useless, crying every night. Your brother doesn't cry. He's always nice and quiet and does what he's told. And what's worse, your tears aren't tears. They're blood, and it makes me sick to see them. Not only that, they stain the sheets! Maybe I should just bring you home to your father."

Tomura looked up at him—though Dabi wasn't taller by much—with an uncharacteristically dead look in his eyes. What had happened to the little ball of sunshine that never failed to make everyone happy? What happened to the bright red eyes that would glitter at the silly stories Kashikoi would make up? His voice was monotone when he spoke, "I changed my mind. You're a horrible brother. I don't want one anymore."

Then Kashikoi hit him just like Endeavor used to and the two walked away.

{*•*}

The boy who used to be Touya sat bolt upright. He stared at the blank wall of his borrowed bedroom—which was on the other side of Kashikoi's room from Tomura—as he tried to catch his breath. He noticed something warm running down his face and brought a hand up to his cheek. He pulled it away and saw that a few of his fingers had blood on them. He was crying blood again. He looked at his pillow. It had a dark stain on it. His heart pounded and Kashikoi's dreamt up words about how gross his tears were filled his head.

Then he noticed something else. Kashikoi wasnt there. She always came when he started screaming in the night, rubbing gentle circles on his back and placing soft kisses on his forehead and hair and wrapping him up tight in the blankets. She really is tired of having to wake up every night to take care of me, he thought, hugging his knees to his chest and starting to sob.

He sat there like that for a while before he started to consider going to her. Don't wake her. She's been nothing but kind to you, let her sleep for once. You're ten years old, and her six-year-old doesn't ever wake up from nightmares. Prove to her that you're not useless, the voice in his head argued. But another part of his brain insisted otherwise—She'll want to know you're okay after going to all that trouble to help you. And she'll be angry you didn't tell her when she finds out. And she will find out when she sees that disgusting blood on your pillow. It wasn't exactly kind, either.

Eventually, he pulled the blankets back and climbed out of his bed. He pulled a quilt off of a chair in his room and wrapped himself up in it to comfort himself. He mentally prepared himself before opening his bedroom door as quietly as possible and slipping out into the hallway. 

He saw Masayoshi-San and Tatakai-San's room to the right of his (Kaika had moved out of the house into a place of her own and Heitai's boyfriend, Yūkan'no (quirk: shrapnel) had taken her place), Yama-San's room past theirs, and Hangyaku-sha-San's room past that. When he turned his head, he saw  Kashikoi's room, Tomura's room, and Tsuki-Chan's room on the other side of his  (She refused to answer to anything other than that or her nickname, unless it was Heitai, who called her Heiwa. Said it made her feel old). 

Dabi quietly closed his bedroom door and tiptoed to Kashikoi's room. He took a deep breath before opening the door. What he saw wasn't expected: Kashikoi was sitting on her bed with Tomura in her lap. They were both eating ice cream and the tv in Kashikoi's room was on, playing some show Dabi had never seen. They each had an earbud in to listen to the television without bothering anyone.

Kashikoi stared at him for a little bit before cracking a smile at him, "Hey, bud. Did you have another nightmare? Sorry I wasn't there this time, Tomura had a night-terror and couldn't go back to sleep. You want some ice cream?"

"Uh, sure?"

"Cool. I'll turn off our earbuds so you can watch with us. We had them so we wouldn't wake you up, but I think we'll be fine if we don't turn the volume up too loud. Tomi, can you move over so I can go get Dabs a bowl of ice cream?"

"Okay, Momma," Tomura grinned as he crawled off of her lap. 

"Thanks, baby." Kashikoi slipped off of the bed and ruffled Dabi's hair as she passed him on her way to the kitchen.

Dabi flushed slightly and looked at the floor, not used to her gentle, teasing—or really any—kind of affection. Once she was down the stairs, he glanced shyly up at the boy on the bed. Tomura smiled and patted the spot beside him.

Dabi flushed a deeper red in embarrassment and climbed up beside his new brother. Tomura offered him a hug, which the burned boy accepted reluctantly, burying his face in the younger boy's hair and trying not to stain the fluffy locks red.

"You still wanna be my brother, right?" Dabi asked, just in case.

"Of course I do! I haven't had you as one for long, but I bet you're an awesome big brother!"

"Thanks, Tomi," Dabi laughed and released his little brother from the embrace.

"Alright, Dabi, I got you some mint-chip and regular chocolate-chip ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate syrup." Kashikoi walked back into the room and handed the boy a loaded bowl and a spoon before closing the door and sitting cross-legged on the bed between them. "Alright, let's see if you can both fit in my lap. I think we can manage, how about you?"

"I think we can!" Tomura chirped, settling on one of her legs and continuing to eat his strawberry ice cream.

Kashikoi offered to hold Dabi's ice cream for him while he cautiously climbed onto the other leg and tried to get comfortable without falling over. He looked over at Tomura, who had much more experience with sitting in people's laps than he did, to see how he managed to balance comfortably. Eventually, he decided that Kashikoi wouldn't be angry if he leaned back against her chest, so that's just what he did.

He looked up at her for approval, and she smiled back and handed him his ice cream.

Dabi sat on the bed with his mother and his little brother watching tv until he fell asleep with an empty bowl of ice cream in his lap and his brother passed out on his shoulder.

•••

Kashikoi's woke up with a boy drooling on each of her arms. She kissed both of them on the head before attempting to slip her arms away from them. Tomura held on tight to her forearm and wrapped her arm around him. Dabi whimpered and snuggled closer to her side. 

Kashikoi hesitated a moment before wrapping her arms around the shoulders of each boy and sitting up. Dabi's eyes cracked open and he gave her a sleepy glare, but didn't move.

"Sorry, sweetie, but I've gotta go make breakfast," Kashikoi whispered to him. She activated her quirk to make sure she wouldn't fall or drop one of them before she stood up with a little boy cradled in each arm. 

Kashi made her way down the stairs with her black cat, Kage following at her heels. Kento, Tomura's puppy, was dancing around his bowl and yapping excitedly. In a few days, Kashikoi would take Dabi to pick his own pet.

She placed her boys on the couch and went to the kitchen to make waffles. 

Once she'd made breakfast, both Tomura and Dabi had awoken. The ten-year-old helped her set the table while Tomura ran to get all of their housemates.

Tenki was down the stairs first, with Heitai right behind him. Yūkan'no, with shards of something dangerous-looking sticking out of his skin, made his way down the stairs. Chiniwan stumbled out of their room and into the dining room, collapsing into a chair. Mujihina was the last one down, and she had Tomura's little footsteps pat-pat-patting after her. Her hair was already brushed and she was in the process of applying makeup from the purse she always had with her, employing the use of a small hand-mirror/ hairbrush (this is a real thing that the friend Muji is based off of owns).

Everyone ate their breakfast, some more energetically than others—Chiniwan would have passed out on their plate if not for Yūkan'no poking them with a piece of shrapnel every now and then—and Kashikoi announced her plans for the day: "We're having a picnic."

"A picnic?" Dabi said in a monotone.

"A picnic!" Kashikoi grinned.

"Yayy! I always wanted to do a picnic!" Tomura cheered and threw his arms up in celebration.

"Good, because everyone is going. Whether you guys like it or not." The woman pointed her syrup-covered fork “threateningly” at each member of the household.

Something that Dabi had learned quickly in his time in the chaotic house was that, when Kashikoi set her mind to something (which was rarely about something that affected all of them greatly, such as her current idea), there was no deterring her.

•••

Kashikoi bumped the car door with her hip, closing it with a thud. Heitai was already making her way towards a spot for them to set up. Tenki trotted after her, trying to stretch one of his arms and steal from the bowl of fruit the blond was carrying. Muji smiled innocently as she not-so-slyly placed another bag in Kashi's arms (which Yūkan'no took from her and added to his pile). Dabi climbed out of the vehicle, adjusting his beanie to hide the patchy, burned hair that remained on his head, and Tomura sprinted towards a patch of soft grass, collapsing face-first onto the ground and making grass angels. Mujihina wasn't far behind. Chiniwan followed obediently after Kashikoi.

Heitai placed her bowl of fruit and the cooler she was carrying on the grass and helped Tenki spread out the blanket he had been tasked with carrying.

They laid out their food and once Kashikoi sat, everyone else plopped down with her. Dabi sat down against her side with his knees pulled up to his chest and Tomura sat criss-cross on their mother's other side. Heitai sat opposite Kashi and Tenki decided that beside her was the best spot to sit—and it was, if your goal was to pluck food off of her plate. Mujihina and Chiniwan took their usual places beside the brunette. Yūkan'no plopped down on the opposite side of Heitai from Tenki and offered Kashi—who he had claimed as his sister when they were kids—an exasperated smile.

While the adults ate and chatted (with Dabi still pressed up against Kashikoi's side), Tomura ran off to play on a playground where there were five or six other kids playing. 

"So," Yūkan'no grinned conspiratorially, "I don't think anyone ever caught me up on when exactly Kashichan stole these kids."

"I didn't steal them!" Kashikoi growled indignantly.

"Please, I've known you for years, Kash. I've seen how you are with kids—with anyone smaller than you, for that matter."

"She didn't steal us," Dabi insisted.

Yūkan'no raised his hands defensively, "Okay, fine, she didn't steal them."

Kashikoi decided she wanted to get up and watch Tomura play for a minute. Dabi stuck by his mother's side. Yūkan'no followed. That's his nephew, after all.

"So, how did you get these kids?"

Kashikoi glances at her brother over her shoulder. "They needed me. Easy as that."

"Yeah, that does sound like you." The words are teasing, but that's just how Yūkan'no talks to her. If they get too sweet, people think they're a couple.

Not that being teasing makes people not come to that conclusion. A woman wanders over. Kashikoi doesn't care enough to note her appearance. "Is one of your kids on the playground?" the stranger asks.

Kashikoi answers, because why wouldn't she? "Yeah. The kid with the white-blue hair." She points to where Tomura is roughhousing with another boy.

"Ah." The woman, who had obviously hoped to exchange pleasantries for longer than Kashi's terse answer had allowed, stands close to the trio—Kashikoi and her brother and her son. Far enough away that she's not in their personal space, but still closer than Kashikoi wants her.

After a moment of what the stranger apparently had felt was awkward silence, said woman glanced at where Kashikoi and Yūkan'no were standing near each other—but not too close and definitely not touching— "You two are a cute couple," she said. It was an innocent enough assumption, unless you were Kashikoi Yōgo-sha and Yūkan'no Tatakai, who you'd think would have gotten used to this by now.

"She's lesbian," Yūka corrected immediately. Just like he always did when someone assumed they were together.

Bisexual, but saying lesbian deters people far better than the factually accurate term, so Kashi didn’t correct him. Instead, she added, "He's dating one of my friends anyways, so..."

The woman gave them an odd look. "So... where is your... partner, ma'am?"

"Don't have one."

"So, you're a single mother of two?"

"Yep."

"I'm guessing your boys have different fathers then."

Kashikoi knew what the woman meant, but when your first language is sarcasm, you just can't pass up the opportunity: "Yeah. That tends to happen when you adopt."

The woman's eyes widened and she scurried—without looking like she's scurrying—back to a man who must have been her husband by the way she sidled up to him. 

A kid started crying and Kashikoi stopped studying the stranger to look at the commotion. Two little boys were sitting on the ground. One was a little brunet with dark skin and the other was Tomura. Kashikoi hurried over—as did a man who was probably the other kid's father. He's also the woman's husband.

Kashi scooped up her little boy and rested him on her hip while the man did the same with his kid. Once he’d gathered his son, the man turned to her. "So, who do you think started it?"

Kashikoi looked between the boys and came to the conclusion, "I think they probably just ran into each other."

"If you think it's your brat just say it."

Kashikoi sighed, "How about we ask the kids what happened?"

"Fine."

"Tomi, what happened?"

Tomura looked up at her with big wet eyes and told her, "I was running around the playground one way, and he went the other way and we ran into each other." 

The man turned to his kid, "What happened?"

"I was running and that creepy kid pushed me over and then sat down to make a fuss."

The father glared at Kashikoi, "I assume your child will be strictly disciplined." It wasn't a question, so Kashikoi glared back.

"Tomura doesn't lie, sir."

"Neither does Ao. And besides, what more can you expect from someone who's adopted?"

Kashikoi growled and wrapped her arm tighter around Tomura. Her other arm came down to rest on Dabi's shoulder. The infuriated mother turned and lead her boys back to the picnic blanket. Yūkan'no did not follow them, and Kashikoi did not call after him.

•••

When the odd family leaves the park, the sky is orange with sunset. Tomura is asleep in Kashikoi's arms. Yūkan’no is sporting a new bruise.

Chapter Text

Kashikoi leaned against a stack of cat food bags with a wry smile on her lips while she watched her older son scurry out of the reptile aisle of the pet store to the next one over to look at an absolutely hideous rat. Dabi’d been at this for twenty minutes, running back and forth and back and forth, absolutely torn between a lizard and that rodent. Kashikoi had been following him, but eventually got tired of the pacing and found somewhere to take the weight at least partially off of her feet.

Kashi had left Tomura at home under Heitai’s care—because she was the only one she really trusted to not be a bad influence on him—while she took Dabi to the pet store a subway ride and a bit of a walk from their house.

As tired as she was, the woman would put no time limit on Dabi’s hunt for his perfect pet. This was the happiest she’d ever seen him. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t speed it up a bit.

She walked over to her son as he ran back to the lizards and stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, curious. “Do you want to hold them?”

That was the happiest she’d ever seen him. When is eyes lit up and his jaw fell open. “We can hold them?”

“Yeah! I’ll call somebody over. Go narrow down your lizards to as few as possible.” Her son walked into the reptiles aisle once again as Kashikoi want off to find an employee. She found one in the dog toy aisle.

The tall woman tapped him on the shoulder, and when he turned to her, said, “Excuse me, sir, uh, my son wants to hold some animals he might be getting.”

The man nodded. “Of course,” he said.

When they got to the divider between the reptiles and rats, Dabi came out to meet them. “Mom! I found a really cool looking bearded dragon! I wanna hold that one!”

Kashikoi smiled—ignoring the heartstring-tugging fact that he’d just called her Mom for the first time—and ruffled is beanie-covered hair, displacing the headwear. “Go ahead then. Show this nice man which one you want to hold.”

Dabi grinned and lead the employee into the lizard aisle. Kashikoi smiled to herself and looked around the pet store. She caught sight of the big birdcage in the middle of the store. She’s always loved those birds as a kid. Blue and yellow and green. And red. There was one red one fluttering around, calling out, slamming its body against the walls of its cage.

“Mom!” Dabi called from the aisle. Kashikoi followed the sound to see her son standing stock-still in the middle of the aisle, a big lizard balanced on his hands. His eyes were wide and he was smiling so broadly that Kashikoi was sure his cheeks hurt. The employee wore an amused grin. Kashikoi found herself smiling as well.

“Mom,” he sounded out of breath, “I want this one.”

“You sure? You haven’t held the rat yet.”

“I. Want. This one.” Kashikoi suppressed a giggle.

“Alright, buddy. You’ve gotta let an employee put him in a box for us to take home. And we’ve still got to pick out a terrarium for him.”

At that, her son practically shoved the reptile into the man’s arms. He hurried to put it in a box and label it: “Bearded Dragon, Male”.

Dabi grabbed his mother’s arm and tugged on it until she followed him to the back of the aisle, where she selected the appropriately sized tank, a few weeks worth of the proper food, bedding, and a heat lamp, then allowed Dabi to pick out decorations and enrichment for his new pet.

When Kashikoi’s and Dabi’s arms were full of assorted pet supplies, they walked to the front of the store, where the employee was waiting at a resister with their new lizard. They checked out and the man helped Kashikoi carry their things—so that Dabi could carry his lizard—out to the car Yūkan’no had waiting. He would drive the lizard and such home and set it up while Kashikoi and Dabi walked home. They both liked to walk.

Yūkan’no met them outside the car and helped load the terrarium and supplies into his bulky, American-made car. Dabi placed the box containing his bearded dragon in the passenger seat and buckled him in.

Then the doors were closed, and the car was going down the street, and Dabi and his mother were alone in the parking lot.

The white-haired boy looked up at his mother. “I called you mom.” His mind raced. What if she didn’t want him to call her mom yet? What if she didn’t want him to call her mom ever?!

But she keeps her eyes on the place where they last saw the car. She smiled to herself and replied simply, “Thrice.” And then they were walking to the subway.

Dabi grabbed the edge of her jacket like he did with his mother—biological mother, that is—when he was little. His father hadn’t liked that. But Kashikoi just…kept walking. She patted his head once before she stuffed her hands in her pockets.

They didn’t talk. Neither made any attempt to. Walks are their time to just exist together. A mother and her eldest son.

The distance closed fast. Six blocks away. Five blocks. Four. Three. Two.

And then, Kashikoi stopped, so Dabi stopped. He looked around to see what could have caught her eye. There, sitting under an awning was a woman with blond hair and a second pair of eyes floating around her body. Dabi recoiled at the sight. They looked too real to be anything other than some grotesque quirk. Kashikoi just stared.

Why’s she looking so hard at this lady? We saw another homeless person three blocks ago, Dabi wondered. But then he saw it. The woman had a blanket over her lap and peeking out from under its edge were a pair of small, small feet. Tomura size, small. She had a kid.

One of the eyes stoped its orbit and locked onto Kashikoi. Then the lady was moving. She grabbed onto the collar of the tall woman’s shirt and pulled herself up as close as she could get to her face. “Take him. Please.” That’s all she said.

And Kashikoi seemed to understand what she meant. She bent down to where the blanket had settled over a shivering lump. She picked it up and stared for a second at the boy it revealed. His hair was feathery and golden-blond and he had wings on his back. Red wings.

Kashikoi bundled him up in her arms, leaving the ratty blanket for his mother.

And the woman with the eyes was standing behind them. She held out her hand as if expecting something. Kashikoi stood there for a moment before carefully, cautiously, holding out the winged boy.

His mother didn’t like that. “No! Money! I want money! Not that useless boy!”

Kashikoi glared and Dabi waited for her to yell. Or maybe just take the kid and go home. But she shifted his weight onto her good hip—the other one’s been slightly off since she was little—and dug into her pocket for her purse, which she then ordered Dabi to dig through for 1,000,000 yen. He obeyed, of course, but he wasn’t very happy about it.

Once the woman had greedily snatched the money from the boy and the blond kid—whose mother had hurriedly told them was named Keigo—was all cuddled up in Kashikoi’s arms, they continued their walk.

The last two blocks passed quickly and before they knew it, the trio was boarding a train to a block from their house. Keigo, who had fallen asleep on the walk, blinked sleepily up at the woman holding him.

“How old are you, buddy?” Kashikoi wanted to know.

“Five.”

Kashikoi nodded and left him to his own devices—still keeping a firm hold on him to make sure he didn’t wander off.

Dabi sat quietly beside his mother, fidgeting with the edge of her jacket.

Keigo looked up at him and said, “Are you my brother now?”

The boy who was no longer a Todoroki glanced at him before focusing on the jacket again, “Yeah, probably. I’m Tou—Dabi. I’m Dabi.

“Cool.”

They did not speak for the rest of the ride, but Keigo looked at his saviors quietly.

How odd they were, a young woman and a boy with patchy hair and stapled skin. The boy—Dabi—was nervous and practically glued to his mother’s side. And the woman stared stoically ahead. She struck Keigo as the type of person who was never afraid. Like Endeavor.

Speaking of his favorite hero, neither of them seemed to have noticed the doll he was clutching. He would show them later, he decided.

When the train came to a stop, the woman stood with Keigo in her arms as if he were no more than a stuffed toy and stepped off. Dabi hurried after. Keigo looked up at her.

She paid him no mind but began gently stroking his back, careful of his wings. Keigo decided he would like life with the two of them very much.

If only it were just the quiet pair he would be staying with. They walked up to a house much too large for just a woman and her son. There were two cars in the driveway. The woman removed the hand from his back and dug through her pockets until she found a key ring that only contained two keys and a cat face keychain. The more silvery key was placed in the keyhole and turned until she could push the door open. It was chaos inside.

There were two men being yelled at by a stocky woman. A short blonde lady sat on the couch with a boy around Keigo’s age. And a person with bleached hair was lounging on a nearby recliner, eating pickles straight from the jar, occasionally yelling something at the people around them.

Keigo buried his face in the woman’s chest.

“It’s okay, Keigo. They won’t hurt you,” she promised before placing a hand on his head and calling out, “Everybody calm down!” Once everyone was looking at her, she said, “We have someone new living with us,” and patted Keigo’s back.

He perked at the household and shrunk back under their gaze. It wasn’t unfriendly. He simply wasn’t accustomed to the attention of so many people.

The boy moved first. His hair was blue-white and his eyes were red. He reached up and placed an oddly gloved hand on Keigo’s ankle. Keigo yanked his leg up as high as he could get it. Touch was never good in his family.

The boy looked nervous. “Sorry,” he whispered, “I’m Tomura.”

The woman crouched down. And removed her hand from Keigo’s back to ruffle the other boy’s hair. “It’s okay, Tomie. This is Keigo. He’s your little brother now.”

Tomura offered a smile.

Keigo slowly gained confidence as he was introduced to the rest of the people in the house and learned that his new mother was named Kashikoi.