Izuku, now five, sat next to Inko on the couch and eyed her. They each had sewing tools and clothing, in their laps, with Izuku having his hat while Inko had her hero costume.

Inko had already threaded both their needles and now she put on a thimble on her middle finger. Izuku copied her by putting a smaller, more discolored thimble on his. He cautiously followed her lead as she took the needle and hooked it against the thimble before bringing it to her costume.

Her costume had a large tear running along the right sleeve while Izuku's hat only had a small tear at the back. Inko ran the needle through the cloth slowly but without difficulty. Izuku got the needle halfway through before realizing he'd started on the wrong spot.

He looked up at his mother, worry in his eyes because he'd messed up.

She smiled. "It's okay. Just pull it back out the same way and try again. You didn't get the thread in so there's no harm."

He did as she asked but still missed the second time.

"Almost there, you were much closer this time," she encouraged.

Izuku retracted the needle without needing to be told and tried a third time.

He got it and after receiving a reassuring nod from Inko he ran it through and watched the green thread become part of the hat.

"See, you did it. Can you do it again?"

Izuku became emboldened and nodded enthusiastically.

Inko watched carefully as she stitched up her costume, giving affirmation every time he got it right and reassurance when he didn't.

Within minutes the small tear at the back of Izuku's hat was stitched up and now only the leftover thread was left to deal with.

"Do you remember what to do?"

"Yes!" Izuku's voice was filled with confidence as he grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the thread, his tongue sticking slightly out the side of his mouth as he concentrated.

When he was done Izuku held it up proudly to show his mother.

"You did it." Inko's voice was cheerful as she praised him and took the hat in her hands running her fingers through the back making sure it was done.

She put the hat on his head and watched the bunny ears droop over his adorably puffy cheeks. She gave said cheeks a poke, then another and soon Izuku was in the midst of a giggling fit as Inko tickled him.

His voice a happy, loud, and unrestrained squeal bounced off the walls of the apartment, even a few seconds after she'd stopped tickling him.

Inko smiled warmly at him. "Now go make sure you have everything in your backpack. I'll take you to school just as soon as I'm done with this."

Izuku scrambled off the couch, put away his sewing tools and ran for the bedroom to get his backpack.

"Come on kids, stick together." The teacher spoke with little enthusiasm.

The kids on the other hand buzzed with excitement, Izuku especially. When he'd heard that they were going on a small field trip to see hero agencies he'd fallen out of his chair from how happily he'd been swaying. Some of the other kids had laughed but he didn't care. He was going to see heroes in person.

The teacher was at the front of the class, leading them through streets as they made their way to a local hero agency. Behind the teacher was Bakugo and his goons, who were as excited as anyone else but Izuku made sure to keep away from them towards the back of the group.

Most of the kids were holding hands as part of their buddy system so they wouldn't get lost. None of the kids around Izuku seemed to want to hold his hand so he simply held onto the ears of his bunny hat. He held them like the straps of a helmet down the sides of his face and under his chin.

The sound of a commotion rang out but the teacher paid it little attention, keeping the children moving at the same slow pace.

Suddenly, something crashed into a building wall, breaking and dropping concrete onto the sidewalk across the street from the class.

The kids all jumped eagerly, trying to see what was going on and even the teacher's lazy gaze widened a bit.

Out of wall came an armored yellow ball that unfurled to reveal a costumed hero with no more than a few scratches on his face.

The children squealed in excitement and some of the people driving stopped their cars to stare.

The hero looked around at the people just standing around but before he could say anything he was ambushed by a large man with massive apelike arms. The hero forced himself back into a ball, absorbing the pummeling from the ape armed villain.

Out from a nearby alleyway rushed a hero Izuku knew very well. He recognized the green jumpsuit stitched up in various places, the headpiece that served as both a hood and mask covering the heroes face down to the bridge of her nose, the red toolbelt around her waist and the kind but strong face beneath the mask. It was his mother.

Izuku watched in awe as she gave orders to two other heroes that sprung from the alleyway behind her, sending them to clear that side of the street of civilians. Izuku couldn't peel his eyes away as he saw her move towards the ape villain using her quirk to pull a piece of concrete from the broken wall towards herself and positioning so that the villain was between her and the debris.

The villain stumbled from the rock slamming into his shoulder and looked around spotting Inko.

Izuku held his breath. Rather than run, Inko pulled more and more debris from the shattered wall, knocking and distracting the villain while the two new heroes cleared out the street.

Most of the civilians ran over to the side the children were at but instead of stopping and staring like the class the people just kept running past them trying to get to a safe distance.

The children and teacher were too busy watching the fight unfold. Izuku clutched his bunny ears tightly, praying for Inko's safety.

Inko's attacks kept the villain on the defensive but her assault also meant that the yellow costumed hero had to stay curled up like an armadillo or risk getting hit by debris or clobbered by the villain's pummeling.

The villain used his massive arms to deflect a piece of concrete and it spiraled towards Inko forcing her to stop and evade for a moment.

In that brief moment the villain picked up the armored hero up and raised him, ready to throw him. The villain's eyes darted around and spotted the large group of immobile kids just gawking on the other side of the street.

He used his massive arms to chuck the hero like a projectile at the children then turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Inko saw the throw and the children, Izuku's big green hat specifically, and she rushed to intercept it.

Izuku's eyes widened at the incoming ball of armor turned missile as it sped towards them. His body froze in place, his mind unable to keep up with the fear pounding in his heart yelling at him to get out of the way.

Izuku's eyes widened further when he saw Inko act.

She reached out with both hands pulling at the flying hero with her quirk. Her face became red with strain as she broke and restarted the hero's momentum, this time towards herself.

The armored ball flew towards her hands which she moved to her right side as if baiting a bull. She tilted her body and spun just before it reached her hands, doing a full 540 degree spin. The armored hero turned into a blur as he spun around her approaching but never fully reaching her hands.

She let go of her quirk's hold on the hero and he launched towards the villain like a cannonball, slamming straight into his villainous back.

The villain gave a yelp of pain after the resounding crack from the impact and fell down face first on the ground.

Inko's chest rose and fell quickly as she breathed heavily and tried to stop her heart from jackhammering its way completely out of her body.

She watched the other heroes rush to and apprehend the villain, although at that point the villain was out cold. She glanced at the back of her hand seeing a rough scrape from her spin where the armored hero had grazed her.

She shook her hand and stomped on over to the children. There were more important matters than her wound.

She reached the kids, dropped down and pulled Izuku into a tight hug. "Izuku baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

She quickly checked him despite not having seen anything actually reach the kids during the fight. She couldn't be too sure. She had to be safe. But there was nothing wrong with Izuku. No cuts, scrapes, wounds of any kind; just an awed expression as his large green eyes stared at her silently.

She got up and turned on the teacher. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Izuku stood there, completely flabbergasted as she chewed out the teacher for letting the kids stay that close to an actual hero fight instead of taking the children away to somewhere safe.

Izuku's grip remained on the bunny ears as he tried to process what had just happened.

He'd always known that Inko was the one that would take care of him, keep him safe and know everything: she was his mother after all.

But this was different, something new. He had never actually seen her do hero work before. He just knew that it was her job: the thing that kept her from staying with him all day.

The scene that had played out was not foreign to him. He'd seen plenty of encounters like that on the news. He often gushed whenever he saw All Might handling them.

That was on the news though: on Tv where the distance between Izuku and the encounter made it seem like a movie, unreal.

This had been right in front of him, inescapable especially as he'd frozen up at the first sign of danger.

And there she'd been, his mother, on the scene, handling danger just like the heroes on TV.

Except it wasn't the same. She hadn't just fought a villain and saved people; she'd fought a villain and saved him.

As he rummaged through these thoughts it finally clicked in his brain.

More than any of the others, even All Might, she was a hero: his hero.

Izuku's class played around in the small wooded area just behind their school. The teacher, after a humiliating scolding from Inko a few days ago had decided to not risk taking the kids far from school anymore.

Some of the kids chased each other around, many formed small groups, while Izuku sat under a tree with Bastet in his lap.

She'd usually stop by after school to play with him every so often. Aside from that, Izuku was never sure where Bastet went. She always seemed to be well fed despite, as far as he knew, being a stray. Bastet did however still have the name tag that Izuku and Himiko had made for her.

Izuku sat there, stroking Bastet's fur as he watched the other kids play. Bakugo's group followed the blond as he marched atop a tree trunk using it as a bridge to cross the low stream nearby.

A few other kids were playing in the stream muddying and getting their clothes wet.

Bakugo let off a few pops from his hand using his quirk, chanting some makeshift song until he slipped and fell into the water with a small yelp.

Bakugo blinked. Aside from the surprise and his clothes getting wet he was okay.

He was until he heard laughing.

Looking around Bakugo saw most of the kids in the class laugh and a few point at him.

Someone called him clumsy, someone else a klutz, another called him a chump for not knowing how to walk in a straight line.

Bakugo's cheeks burned with humiliation and then rage. Who did these chumps think they were laughing at him? Most of them were too scared to even try crossing the trunk so they shouldn't even be saying anything.

One of the kids even made a mocking gesture towards his eyes as if fake crying in response to Bakugo's face getting wet from the stream. The blond grit his teeth. This kid was first on his list.

Bakugo knew he hadn't cried, in fact not only had he not cried but he was perfectly fine. He caught sight of two kids from the top of the trunk looking worriedly at him. He was this close to losing it. Why were they worried? He was fine.

"It's okay, Kacchan's strong he's alright." Tsubasa's voice rang out as he too looked over from the trunk.

Bakugo almost smiled. That was right. Tsubasa knew, he knew Bakugo was okay and that this was nothing. Not a big deal for people to worry about and definitely not a big deal for people to laugh at him for.

Izuku dropped down into the stream. "Stop laughing at him." Even if he'd had problems with Bakugo before, the greenette still didn't like the idea of everyone ganging up and laughing at someone. He held his hand out to help Bakugo up. "Are you okay?"

"aRe YoU OkAy?" The kid who'd mocked tears taunted again.

Something in Bakugo snapped. He couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand these idiots sitting around laughing at him because they thought he was crying, he couldn't stand his own goons panicking like he'd been hurt, and he absolutely couldn't stand this quirkless Deku running up to him trying to help him.

He didn't need help. Not from Deku, not from anyone. He was the best here. He had the best quirk, he was smart, he had the guts to try anything. He was amazing and the rest of them weren't, especially not Deku. So Deku running to help him meant that he was looking down on him, even more than any of these other losers.

Bakugo got up, letting out a growl as he lunged and struck Izuku in the face with his quirk, knocking the boy down.

He tried to follow up but the teacher's voice rang out, more worried than angry.

"Bakugo!"

The teacher rushed over pulling the blond away from Izuku who had a scared and confused look in his eyes as he held his freckled cheek where he'd been struck.

The teacher scolded Bakugo, giving a long winded lecture about using his quirk on other people. The blond didn't pay much attention and instead watched Izuku who was still on the ground holding his cheek.

Bakugo glared at Izuku. Bastet suddenly jumped onto Izuku's lap, ignoring the water from the stream and hissed angrily at the blond.

Bakugo scowled, realizing that he'd need to be sneakier so he wouldn't get in trouble and that he'd have to do it inside school to avoid the cat.

A few days passed without much incident aside from a few nasty glares aimed at Izuku. That was until an assignment got returned and the teacher made a point of declaring winners for best work. It had been drawings and the teacher announced Bakugo's as the first place.

Bakugo huffed proudly, feeling assured in his position.

At least he did until Izuku got declared as second place for his drawing.

The blond seethed as he watched Izuku happily accept an All Might sticker just like he had.

Bakugo couldn't do anything about it in the classroom under the teacher's eye but he was definitely going to figure something out. He couldn't stand the idea of Deku gaining on him like that, especially at something Bakugo had already proven to be the best at.

The rest of that day was relatively uneventful until it came time for the kids to go home. Izuku met up with Bastet who was waiting for him near the shoe lockers. She meowed and her fur bristled, she was on edge.

As Izuku opened his locker Bastet kept pawing at his pants. He pulled out his shoes and Bastet dug her claws into his pants and pulled at them, causing Izuku to drop the shoes.

A bunch of pins fell out of the shoes and onto the ground.

Izuku took a step back startled. Bastet let go of his pants and growled at the pins, raising a paw as if to strike them.

"Bacchan?" Izuku looked down at her. "Were you warning me?"

Bastet only offered a meow in response.

Izuku looked to the other kids taking their shoes out. They paid attention only when he'd dropped the shoes and pins but aside from that ignored him. He carefully picked up the pins on the floor to avoid anyone stepping on them and rushed off to tell a teacher.

Before Bastet followed Izuku she heard someone click their tongue. When she turned to see where it came from she spotted Bakugo scowling from around the corner of the lockers.

Bastet hissed, baring her teeth at the blond and then chased after Izuku.

The next day the teacher called attention from the entire class asking about who had put pins in Izuku's shoes.

When no one spoke up the teacher sighed. "If the person responsible doesn't accept their punishment then I'll just have to punish the whole class."

Groans and protests rang out from the kids. Even with the threat of a class punishment, no single child spoke up to accept responsibility.

The teacher rubbed his temples. "Fine, but just don't do it again whoever it was."

Class continued with no further interruptions. Izuku didn't spend much time pondering who had put pins in his shoes as he soon saw Bakugo giving him nasty looks.

He tried to summon up some of the fight he remembered Himiko had shown when confronting Bakugo and scrunched his nose in an attempt to look mean. Unfortunately he looked more like a bunny wrinkling its nose.

After that display of his ferocity Izuku went back to his classwork, sneaking in a few attempts at drawing.

When the day ended the kids were escorted to their shoe lockers to make sure no one else had tampered with the shoes.

Izuku had his shoes checked, relieved to learn that they'd been left alone. He put them on and looked around for Bastet.

The teacher checked Bakugo's shoes and found that they were filled with excrement, animal excrement at that.

Bakugo fumed, slapping the shoe out of the teacher's hand and spilling the contents onto the floor. "Who shit in my shoes?"

From around the corner of the lockers Bastet poked her head and Bakugo swore he could see the cat equivalent of a smile on her face. A smug smile, with teeth showing.

A six year old Izuku poked his head into the locker area. He smiled when he saw Bastet pacing nearby.

"Bachan." He whispered and motioned her over.

Bastet looked up him, tilted her head and meowed. Izuku crouched down and motioned again. This time, she went up to him and he scratched behind her ear, earning soft purrs from Bastet.

He led her further into the school until he found what he was looking for: the library.

He'd recently learned about it and it seemed like a good place to stay while he waited for his mother to come pick him up.

The only issue was going to be sneaking Bastet in.

Luckily for both of them, the librarian was busy and wasn't at the front desk.

They snuck in and found a secluded spot near a corner with a little beanbag chair. This was perfect: a comfy chair, Bastet's company and a book would make waiting for Izuku's mother much easier.

Izuku set about looking for which book to pick out. There were a lot of books on animals but one in particular caught his attention. The only issue was it was higher up on the shelf.

He stepped on his tippy toes and stretched his hand but he could only just barely touch the bottom of the book's spine.

He reached and strained and was about to give up when he saw Bastet jump up onto the book's level. She nudged it with her paw and it loosened bit by bit.

The book fell and Izuku managed to catch it before it hit him in the face.

He brought the book over to the beanbag and sat down, waiting for a moment. Bastet hopped onto his lap sniffing him and patting him down before she curled up on him.

Izuku held the book in front of him staring at the cover. It was a book on the different types of cats.

Izuku went through the pages slowly, sounding out some of the harder words. Bastet's frame rose and fell with her breathing as she sat there patiently with him.

Izuku saw a type of cat that looked familiar. On the pages were cats of varying colors; black, white, orange, and many combinations. They had small stubby feet like Bastet did that made them look closer to kittens than full grown cats.

Izuku read the name on the page. "Munch-kin…"

He peered down at Bastet. "Is that what kind of cat you are, Bachan? A munchkin cat?"

Bastet tilted her head up to him at the call of her nickname. She gave him a single meow in response and then began licking her paws, purring as she did so.

Izuku went back to looking at the pictures and after turning the page found a munchkin cat that looked exactly like Bastet. "Bachan, it's you."

Bastet paid little mind to the book and continued cleaning herself.

There was a small annotation under the picture and after reading it Izuku's nose scrunched in confusion.

"Who's over there?"

The sudden strange voice gave Izuku a start and even Bastet moved her neck to see what the commotion was.

Through some bookshelves they saw someone approaching.

"Bachan, hide."

Bastet quickly scurried off and a woman appeared before Izuku. The tag on her shirt had the word 'librarian' on it.

"Oh, are you waiting for your parents?" The woman looked down at him through thick rimmed glasses.

Izuku nodded. "I'm waiting for my momma."

"Does she know you're waiting in here?"

"Yes, I told the lady at the front office."

The librarian hummed in agreement. "What have you got there?" When Izuku showed her the cover of the book she asked, "Do you like cats?"

Izuku nodded again, this time more vigorously. "I like animals."

"What do you like about them."

Izuku caught sight of Bastet hiding in one of the shelves. "They're so friendly. If you're nice to them they're nice to you."

As if on cue Bastet pounced out from the shelves and introduced herself with a meow and large dilated pupils.

"Bachan, you were supposed to hide."

Bastet rolled over on her back, paws outstretched.

"Please don't make her leave." Izuku got off the beanbag and knelt down by Bastet. "She's not bad I promise."

The librarian knelt down as well and scratched Bastet's stomach. "Oh, I can see that. She seems like a good cat."

Bastet's feet twitched and she tried to grab onto the librarian's fingers with her paws.

The librarian eyed the book and Bastet. "Were you trying to learn about her?"

"Yeah! I found her in the book, look!" Izuku held the book open showing the librarian the picture he'd been looking at.

The librarian squinted and adjusted her glasses. "You're right. That looks just like her." She scrunched up her nose as she read the caption under the picture. "Well that can't be right."

"What is it?" Izuku's eyes blinked with curiosity.

"That picture was originally from a long time ago. At least a hundred years."

"A hundred years…" Izuku repeated quietly. He counted quietly on his fingers. "two..four..six..eight..ten." He stopped, gasped and looked up the librarian with a serious expression. "I need more fingers."

The librarian burst out laughing.

Izuku tilted his head in confusion. Bastet sat up and did the same, mimicking Izuku.

The librarian took a moment to finish laughing, wiped tears from her eyes and patted both Izuku and Bastet on their heads.

The librarian calmed herself down and pointed to Bastet who playfully swiped at her finger. "Is she yours?"

Izuku shook his head, the bunny ears of his hat flapping side to side. "She's a stray but she follows me sometimes."

The librarian tapped her chin with one hand, the other still being swiped at by Bastet. "I guess you wouldn't know if she has a quirk then."

Another kid in the library squealed as their mother came to pick them up.

The librarian saw the exchange and found herself smiling at the sight. Another woman entered the library looking and the librarian spoke to Izuku. "That's not your momma is it?"

"Uh-uh." Izuku sat back down on the beanbag, deciding to just wait.

They got into a bit of a rhythm: the librarian would talk to Izuku about some of the books that were available that he hadn't seen when he walked in, someone would walk in to pick up their child, and she'd ask Izuku if each was his mother.

The librarian looked back to Bastet who had sat herself back on Izuku's lap. "That picture of her, or well the cat that looks like her." She waited for Izuku to nod before she continued. "Would you want to know more about that if I can find anything?"

"Yes!" Izuku hugged Bastet. "She's one of my best friends, so I want to know everything about her."

The librarian smiled. "Well if you decide to wait here on other days I can let you know what I find." She gestured towards a woman with chubby cheeks. "Is that your momma?"

Izuku shook his head for what was probably the upteenth time, getting a slight headrush as the bunny ears flapped him in the face. Then he saw her.

Inko walked in, her long hair in a ponytail, some dirt on her cheeks, still wearing her hero costume with the hoodpiece off. Her eyes landed on Izuku and she smiled brightly.

Izuku jumped up, his voice getting ear-piercingly loud in the way that only children can do. "That's my momma!"

The next day Izuku found himself once again in the library after school. Bakugo and the other kids chased him away from the front of the school so Izuku decided to stay in the library where he knew Bastet could follow him.

Once again, he was on the beanbag but he had his favorite toy with him this time; the All Might figure Himiko had gotten for him. He played with Bastet who swiped without baring her claws at the figure everytime it got close.

Bastet's tail swayed against Izuku's side while they played.

Izuku dropped the toy and it bounced with a muted thud on the carpet.

Reaching down to pick it up, Izuku saw the writing on toy's feet. On the flat part of the feet were two names, one on each foot. On the right foot was Izuku's name, on the left was Himiko's.

Izuku picked the toy up and hugged it. He still missed her. She was the only other kid that ever wanted to play with or even be near him. It was lonely without human friends.

Bastet got into his lap and wiggled her way under his arms to get in on the hug. She rested her paws on his shoulder and rubbed her face against him. Her whiskers tickled him and he giggled.

He was glad he still had Bastet with him. It could be lonely without human friends but animals, especially Bastet, made it bearable.

He stroked her fur with one hand, keeping the other around the All Might toy. He wondered if Bastet could help him bear it until he met Himiko again.

Would it be soon or would it be a long time before they met again? Would she remember him? Was she feeling the same thing he was? Had she made friends? Did his gift help her when she was lonely?

These questions ran through his young mind without an answer in sight. He touched the All Might toy's hair. The two protrusions looked like bunny ears to him.

He took great care of this toy ever since Himiko gave it to him, moreso because she gave it to him than because it was All Might. Izuku still liked All Might but he was no longer Izuku's favorite hero. Another hero, one closer to Izuku had taken that spot.

His mind wandered back to the image of Inko saving him from being crushed, her hands outstretched, face taut with concentration, the boulder of a hero turned debris bending to her will, her quirk, her desire to save Izuku.

Izuku felt a giddiness well up inside. He thought that was the coolest anyone had ever looked. He set the All Might toy down and Bastet back on his lap. Izuku pulled his hat down so that it stopped right at the bridge of his nose, attempting to imitate Inko's hero mask.

Unfortunately, Izuku's hat was too big and did not have eye holes so he looked like a rather goofy blind bunny instead of the great courageous hero he was aiming for.

He then felt goofier as Bastet raised her paws and tugged on his hat, pulling it down and off his head.

Izuku was going to reach for his hat but the librarian approaching him caught his attention.

The librarian had a book in her hand but motioned to Bastet first. "That picture you found that looks like her. I tried finding where it was from and if I'm right it's from around the time quirks first started showing up."

Izuku blinked at her and the librarian realized a boy his age would have no understanding of the history or what that meant.

"It's at least two hundred years old," she clarified.

Izuku's mouth gaped open and he brought up his fingers, attempting to count.

The librarian waved for him to stop. "You don't need to count it out. Just know that it's a long long time ago."

"So Bachan is that old?" Izuku lightly poked the tip of Bastet's ear who seemed more interested in using Izuku's hat like a blanket. "But she doesn't look old."

"Well that's if she's the same cat. It could always be another cat that was in the picture."

"But it looked just like Bachan," Izuku argued. "The ears and the nose and the eyes and the fur, everything looked like Bachan."

"Maybe it's a quirk. It was uncommon but not unheard of for animals to have quirks back then."

Izuku wrinkled his nose. "Well I never heard that." He looked back down at Bastet. "Is that why you're so smart Bachan? Are you really old?" He let out a slight gasp. "Can you talk?"

Bastet meowed at him and put a paw on his face.

"Bleh, it's in my mouth." He removed the paw from his face but Bastet just grabbed onto his hand instead, hugging it.

The librarian smiled at the sight then blinked. "Oh, right. This just came in today and I thought you might want to have a look. It's not cats but I figured you'd still like it."

Izuku peered at the book she held out for him. A book about geese. "Jeese," he read.

"Geese," she corrected politely. "A 'Gee' sound not 'Jee'."

"Gee," he repeated, taking the book and staring at the geese on the cover. There were a couple but the one that caught his attention was dead center on the cover. A white goose with an orange bill and its wings outstretched.

"Hope you enjoy it," she said as she waved and left.

"Thank you." He called out before turning back to the book, mesmerized by the white goose. "It's so pretty. Look Bachan."

Bastet still clung to his hand but paid no attention to the book. Izuku decided to just go ahead and read then. Since Bastet was on his lap and holding onto his hand, Izuku placed the book on Bastet, using her like a table.

She didn't seem to mind as he turned the pages, soaking up everything he could about geese. He'd played with ducks but never geese. He'd never even seen a goose up close before.

Time passed by quickly as he engrossed himself further and further into the book. Eventually, drowsiness began to wash over him and he drifted off to sleep, the book sliding off his lap and onto the carpet next to the beanbag.

Bastet was apparently satisfied of playing with his hand and instead kept herself busy by licking herself.

She cleaned her fur, then her paws, spreading them out like fingers. When she was done she looked up at Izuku. She gave his shirt a few sniffs and then licked it once.

She decided against the shirt and climbed up onto his shoulder, sniffing his green curls. She dug her head in, as if trying to identify the boy then gave his hair a few licks. She licked his hair like a mother cat would clean one of her kittens.

A few days later, Izuku poked his head out of one of the school's side doors. He scanned around the outside but spotted no one close enough to stop him. He edged out of the building with Bastet in tow, both tip-toeing as quietly as they could like a couple of burglars.

The pair made their way towards the wooded area right by the school grounds, the same one they'd been in before when Izuku had tried to help Bakugo up. Izuku held his cheek, the strike having long healed by now, as he and Bastet entered the wooded zone.

Izuku tried to piece together what he'd done to make Bakugo so angry but he couldn't figure it out. He'd just tried to help him so why was Bakugo so mad at him? Why did he go out of his way to target him sometimes? Maybe if he asked him what was wrong that would work.

Izuku nodded to himself. Yes, he was sure that would help. Whenever he felt like he had no idea, trying to learn more always helped him. It worked with the sewing he was learning from his mom, and it worked (somewhat) when he tried to figure out what Bastet liked to do, so it should work for dealing with Bakugo.

Bastet's ears twitched and lowered. Izuku saw that and concentrated on his surroundings. Bakugo could wait for later. Right now he was interested in learning more about something else. He'd overheard from some of the other kids that it had supposedly been hanging around in these wooded parts so he wanted to see for himself.

Bastet's body lowered as she took a more cautious stance. Izuku poked his head past a tree, seeing first the stream with the log bridge then he saw it.

Bathing itself in the stream was a goose, its feathers a bright white from the sunlight shining through the trees and onto the river: the one part of the woods out in the open.

Izuku stood there, arms clinging to the tree just watching the goose waddle in the river, mesmerized by its mannerisms and appearance.

He said nothing and did not move. Bastet remained still at his side.

Izuku regretted not bringing any paper or pencils with him. He really wanted to draw the goose. Instead he settled for eyeing its feathers. He'd pet ducks and they were very soft. He wondered if that was the same for a goose. Maybe he could get close to it. Ducks were very friendly, especially after sharing food.

Leaves crumbled somewhere behind Izuku but before he had a chance to look back, the goose's neck twisted in their direction and Izuku locked eyes with it.

It honked at them revealing little teeth lining the inside of its beak.

Izuku found it a bit scary. It wasn't showing its teeth like Bastet when she yawned or was being playful. It looked more like it was upset.

The goose spread its wings making itself seem larger. It had already been bigger than either Izuku or Bastet but the way it spread its wings and hiked its neck up made it seem more threatening.

The goose honked loudly once again, its frame in a menacing outstretched stance.

Izuku racked his mind trying to remember what one was supposed to when a goose got angry. Run away? No. Talk to it? It probably wouldn't understand him. Fight it? Definitely not.

It clicked for him.

That's right, we just calmly and slowly back away without turning our backs. We let it know we don't mean it harm…

Bastet snarled and stood on two feet, placing herself in front of Izuku.

"Bachan, no." Izuku grabbed Bastet's sides and slowly tried to pull Bastet back.

Each time he did the goose honked and took a step towards them. Izuku's young mind raced.

Why was it coming after them? They were leaving. They were backing away slowly. Why was it still angry? Instead of leaving them alone or running away why was it approaching them?

Amidst Bastet's snarls and the goose's honks Izuku heard something, a softer much smaller honk from behind him.

He turned his head and spotted a group of young geese huddled around and under the wings of another full grown goose.

Izuku put the pieces together. That's why it was angry. Those were its babies and the other goose was its mate. Of course it was coming for them, they were between it and its family. There was no other way to protect its family than for the goose to get closer.

Izuku tugged at Bastet, pulling her backwards and to the side to give the father goose easy passage back to its family.

It was a good thing he did too Izuku thought as he saw by Bastet's bared teeth, constricted pupils and sharp claws that she was more than ready for the goose to get as close as it liked.

As Izuku and Bastet backed to the side the goose made its way to its family, eyeing them the whole way.

Once the geese were reunited the father goose draped its large wings over its huddled up family, its eyes darting between Izuku and Bastet's.

Izuku took another step backwards and hit the back of his heel on a rock, causing him to slip and fall on his behind.

Bastet dropped to four feet instead of two and positioned herself so that she could cover Izuku with her body.

The goose father watched curiously and both his and Bastet's eyes locked. A strange understanding passed between them, one not exclusively to the animal kingdom.

An understanding of parents: just as the goose stood tall and kept its family beneath himself so too did Bastet make sure that Izuku was either behind or below her to more easily protect.

The goose's head lowered as did Bastet's. They rested their heads on Izuku and the goose family, Bastet's frame easing as tension left her body when she saw the geese calm down.

Izuku poked his head out from under Bastet and one of the goslings poked its head out from its father's wings.

Izuku smiled. Some form of truce had been made here. He waved and the gosling gave a short excited honk in response.

Izuku, age 7, was bawling his eyes out as he tried to take back his bunny hat from Bakugo who was keeping it out of his reach.

Izuku had been busy and had only just today tried to ask Bakugo about what the issue was between the two of them.

As Bakugo gripped the bunny hat tightly and up high, Izuku realized that this had been a grave mistake. Trying to interact with Bakugo simply made him angrier and come after Izuku that much more intensely.

Izuku decided that he would proceed without giving Bakugo any attention. After he got back his hat of course.

"Give it back! It's not yours!" Izuku reached and reached but he was shorter than Bakugo.

"Look at him cry, he's like a waterfall." A kid taunted from the side.

The teacher had yet to arrive and start class.

"Careful Kacchan, I bet it's contagious. He'll make you quirkless and a crybaby." Tsubasa sat at his desk just in front of an open window.

Some of the boys showed disgust like he had some kind of illness while others joined in on the leering to match Bakugo's face.

Bakugo made sure to only keep Izuku at bay. He'd learned from that time at the river that if he didn't directly harm Deku while teachers were around then he wouldn't get in trouble. If Deku's hat happened to go missing and there was no evidence to point it to Bakugo then he couldn't get in trouble either.

Izuku reached again. He didn't care that he was crying. He didn't care that some of the kids were laughing at him and some stayed away like the plague. He didn't care about whatever problem Bakugo had with him. He just wanted his hat back. It was his most precious gift from his most precious person: his mom, his hero.

Izuku lunged forward and mistepped, tripping onto the floor.

The bell rang and Bakugo decided to get rid of the hat quickly. He brought his hand as far back as he could and then threw the hat, adding an explosion from his quirk to give it extra boost, out the window.

Izuku let out a choked cry as he saw the hat fly out.

The bell finished ringing and Bakugo stepped over Izuku, his foot hitting Izuku's shoulder as Bakugo went to his seat.

Izuku got up and looked out the window, no sign of his hat as tears streamed down his cheeks.

The teacher walked in, an old disinterested man, and began writing on the board.

Izuku stood there by the window for a moment.

"When the bell rings you are to be in your seats." The teacher's voice droned on with little emotion and little care for whatever may have happened before he walked in. He didn't even look back at the class as he kept writing.

Izuku trudged back to his seat, rubbing his shoulder. He sat down, crossed his arms over his desk and put his head down. He kept his head down and cried softly as the class went on.

Everyone else continued as normal, no one noticing the shifting and shuffling in the tree by the open window.

They were on the second floor so only the tree's branches were in range of the window. One of these branches bent slightly as Izuku's green bunny hat moved along, short black paws scurrying beneath the cloth.

The hat slid down to rest on the branch and Bastet wiggled out from under it. She grabbed it with her mouth and jumped in through the open window. She padded in quietly, unnoticed by neither children nor teacher who were too busy writing.

Bastet dropped the hat in Izuku's open backpack that sat by his chair. She looked around and wandered around sneaking into the backpacks of other children for the majority of the class period before returning back to Izuku's side.

Bastet got into Izuku's backpack and waited.

Class ended eventually and the teacher gave an unenthusiastic call for the kids to leave.

Izuku grabbed his backpack but noticed that it was heavier than normal. He looked inside the open backpack to see his hat returned with a burn mark on it.

Izuku wiped the tears from his eyes leaving his cheeks merely damp. He touched the hat and something shifted beneath it. He gave a soft poke and Bastet's head appeared from beneath the hat, her ears twitching.

Izuku gave a slight surprised gasp then covered his mouth, bringing his face closer to the backpack to see Bastet.

"Did you bring this back to me, Bachan?" Izuku whispered to Bastet.

Bastet poked her head out, licking Izuku on the cheek before retreating back inside the backpack.

"EW! It's nasty!"

A voice from another kid caught Izuku's attention and he turned towards them.

The kid was holding his backpack with his arm outstretched as far away from himself as possible, his face scrunched up.

The other children try to pack up their own backpacks but they also cried out.

"It's gross!" One kid cried out.

Another threw his backpack on the ground and covered his nose. A small notebook fell out of the kid's backpack, a fresh yellow stain coating it.

Tsubasa dropped his with a squish as it hit the ground. "It smells like cat piss!"

Bakugo picked his own backpack up, a smug smile on his face. He was sure these idiots had made some kind of mistake. By the sounds of it animals had gotten into their backpacks. They must have let them sneak in through the window or something.

Bakugo huffed proudly. No animal would ever piss in his backpack.

He opened his and immediately gagged, his tongue partway out his mouth as he dropped his backpack. It fell to the ground sideways spilling books and a mass of cat shit that went...

SPLAT!

(Later that day)

"You want to tell me why I had to find this out from my son and not the school who should be keeping a close eye on these children?" Inko's hands were on the principal's desk palms facing down. Her brow furrowed in contempt.

"It's hardly that big of an issue, Mrs. Midoriya. It's not like anyone got hurt." The principal held up his hands placantly, his beady eyes looking up at her.

Inko's nose scrunched at the 'Mrs.' part, her fingers completely devoid of any rings. "Not an issue? That was an instance of bullying," she held up a finger, "quirk usage on school grounds," two fingers, "and worst of all negligence on your end," she held up a third and final finger. "You didn't even know about it until I came here."

"How would you even tell that there was a quirk being used?" The principal shook his head.

"Izuku, sweetie let me see your hat." Inko gently took the hat from Izuku's outstretched hands while he sat patiently in a chair. She held the hat up to the principal's face, showing the burn mark. "Unless these burn marks are from something other than a quirk, in which case you're even worse at your jobs if you let him near something that could have burned him."

Next to the principal stood Izuku's teacher, the old disinterested man who now had his face creased in irritation. "You're going to tell us how to do our job? I have no guarantee that the burn mark isn't from before he came to class to day."

"You don't have a guarantee of anything because you didn't even look at the class the entire time." Inko's shoulders bristled with anger. "I'm telling you how to do your job because it's clear you either don't know how to do it or don't care." She cast a sideways glance to Izuku who looked on with worry. "You are supposed to be looking after and teaching children. You can't just ignore them like some pet. They need consistent supervision."

"Since you're bringing up pets, Mrs. Midoriya…"

Inko's eyes twitched. That was the second time they'd called her Mrs.

"...why don't we address the real issue. Your pet disrupting our classes." The teacher puffed himself up. He was a head taller than Inko.

Inko felt her jaw tighten. Were they really trying to weasel their way out any responsibility and shift blame on them instead. She handed Izuku back his hat. That was fine. If they wanted to play that kind of game then she knew how to deal with them.

"You're classes weren't disrupted. They'd already ended." She let her shoulders and jaw relax and took more disinterested stance as she stepped back from the desk.

"Yes, but your cat-"

"What makes you think that's our cat?" Inko wasn't going to give either of them any opportunity.

"Well it hangs around the school and some of the students have mentioned that they see it hang around your so-"

"Oh, so you do pay attention to the children. Just not mine specifically. You know that sounds an awful lot like my son is being singled out for some reason." Inko knew she couldn't realistically bring up a legal issue with the school's negligence at this point but that didn't mean she couldn't scare them a bit.

She still felt bad though as she was essentially framing the school's issue to be with Izuku's quirklessness. She didn't want to make a habit of relying on the laws surrounding protection of the quirkless. She knew it wouldn't be the best way of keeping Izuku safe long term.

It worked though as the principal sputtered to try and divert the conversation to something else. Before he could however, Bastet jumped in through the office's open window.

Speak of the devil, Inko thought.

Bastet walked up to the desk and jumped up onto the desk.

"Oh good, you're cat is here." The teacher pointed to Bastet with a tinge of smugness in his voice.

Bastet looked at him, blinking her yellow eyes. She pushed the principal's mug with her paw off the table and onto the teacher's foot.

The teacher gave a yelp while the principal complained about it being a new mug. Inko had to hold in the urge to pet Bastet for that one.

"See, your stupid ca-"

"Language," Inko said with a deadly finality to it.

"Your cat-"

"Not mine." Inko kept interrupting the teacher.

"She has a collar." The teacher gestured to it while he half hobbled on one foot.

Inko blinked and reached for Bastet's collar. Bastet however walked away from her and into the principal's lap.

The principal grabbed Bastet's collar and held it so everyone could see. Scribbled in handwriting that was definitely not the same as seven year old Izuku's handwriting was the word 'Bacchan' in crayon. It was clear as day that the collar was makeshift, not the real thing that would be used for a pet.

Inko fought back a smirk. "Mr. whatever your name was." Inko felt a sense of satisfaction at the teacher's offended face. "We don't own any pets. That," she motioned to Bastet, "is a stray."

Bastet meowed as if agreeing with Inko and jumped back onto the desk, scattering papers.

The teacher quieted down, not saying anything after that.

Seeing that the conversation had seemingly ended Inko motioned for Izuku to get up. She took him by the hand, her eyes switching between the teacher and principal. "If your not going to continue then we're leaving but I do expect the school to deal with this." She motioned towards the burn mark on Izuku's hat.

The principal nodded glumly. "We'll...we'll look into it."

Inko shot a glance to the open window, the tint of the afternoon sky bleeding through. She left with Izuku, closing the office door behind her and leaving the two men with Bastet.

Bastet walked around on the desk, dirtying papers wherever she stepped. The principal gave her a half hearted shoo with his hands. "Goddamn heroes, they get their license, a little bit of authority and think they can tell everyone else what to do."

He looked down at the mess the mug had made on the floor then decided to deal with Bastet first. He looked up and his shoulders slumped. "Oh, come on."

Squatting on the desk was Bastet using the papers like a litter box.

Outside in the hallway Inko kept stealing glances at Izuku, whose face was full of worry.

She ran through some options in her mind. Obviously she was going to look and see what other schools she could get him into just in case but it would be difficult. Private schools were out of the question for financial reasons and even public schools could get picky with students depending on what part of town they lived.

Izuku kept his eyes down as they walked and Inko decided to deal with that first.

She stopped and knelt down to his level and cupped his face. "What's wrong sweetie?"

There was a regretful pout on Izuku's face. "I'm sorry I made you worried and angry."

Inko's expression softened and she brushed the bunny ears away from Izuku's face. "Sweetie I'm not mad at you. That isn't your fault." She pulled him into a tight hug. "And you did the right thing telling me about this. You don't deserve to be ignored or bullied, no matter what kind of excuses people make up, okay?"

Izuku hugged her back, nodding softly but still feeling a mix of emotions inside. A mix of relief at Inko's words but guilt at causing problems for her.

A few days later Bakugo walked with a number of his classmates in tow after school through the wooded area near the building. Bakugo's fingers wriggled. He'd gotten in trouble for the stunt with Deku's hat, more so for the quirk part than anything else and there'd been extra effort put into stopping him from using his quirk at all.

He scowled. He found himself angry at Deku more than anything. If that nerd had just kept his mouth shut then he wouldn't have gotten in trouble and still able to use his quirk, if sparingly, at school and home.

He stomped on through the wooded area, hoping to find some place to let loose with his quirk. If they got far enough in then the teacher wouldn't notice the sound from his explosions and it'd be harder to spot him with all the trees.

The classmates with him all followed behind him, as he felt they should. He was the best out of any of them so obviously he got to be the leader. They understood that and didn't try to ruin the order that was in place.

Bakugo kicked a pebble on the ground.

Deku didn't do that though. The little nerd kept trying to do stuff he wasn't good at or make a move for Bakugo's top spot. Deku never beat him at anything of course but the idea of him even getting close like second place just made Bakugo angry.

That wasn't how it was supposed to go. The loser isn't supposed to try and beat the winner. He's supposed to stay at the bottom.

Bakugo balled his fists then stopped. He heard the sound of running water. They were likely close to the stream one of the teachers had shown them before. He led the way to the clearing by the stream. There was the log serving as a makeway bridge.

A part of Bakugo ached to rush across it, to prove that he could do it without slipping and falling into the water.

He made his way towards the log when he spotted someone on the other side of the stream sitting underneath a tree. Bakugo recognized the green mess of hair even if the boy's head was down and he was turned away from the stream.

Deku, he thought angrily.

He quietly made his way to the log motioning for his classmates to do the same.

This was the perfect opportunity. First he'd cross the log proving himself and then he'd teach Deku not to get him in trouble. They were far enough from the school that he could get away with it. He could even avoid using his quirk just to be on the safe side. That was what people got the most angry about anyway, him using his quirk, not him showing someone he was better.

He made it halfway across the log and then slipped. On his way down he noticed a patch of moss where he'd slipped. Moss must have been growing here in the time that no one else had crossed the log.

He hit the water with a splash.

From the trees on the other side he heard Deku's voice call out. "Hello? Are you okay?"

Bakugo got up and rushed out of the stream enraged. Deku was doing it again. Looking down on him again.

Izuku stood at the base of a tree watching some of his classmates continue to cross the log after there'd been a splash. He hadn't seen who'd fallen or even known that they were there until the splash. He'd decided to call out since he'd noticed that plants had been growing all over the place. He knew the log had a bunch of moss all over it. It was part of why he avoided crossing it.

Instead of getting an answer to his earlier question the boys on the log just ran across and out from the slant that led to the stream rushed Bakugo, his face red with anger.

Izuku knew almost immediately that he needed to get out of there so he grabbed the notebook he'd been drawing in and ran in the opposite direction. He didn't know why Bakugo and his gang were out there but he knew enough to stay away.

He didn't want another confrontation, especially not when Bastet was away chasing birds or whatever had caught her interest.

Izuku ran and ran, shooting glances behind him every now and again. The other kids kept gaining on him. They were bigger and more athletic so it they'd eventually catch up, especially Bakugo.

Izuku saw a shadow glide across the ground over his and stared at what appeared to be wings. He looked up to see Tsubasa swoop down and tackle him, sending them both tumbling.

Izuku gave Tsubasa a kick in the stomach as hard as a could and stumbled up to try and run away. His hand was caught and the next thing he knew, Bakugo struck him and he was quickly on the ground surrounded by the rest of the kids.

Bakugo seethed out some rants but Izuku ignored him and tried to curl up into a ball, hoping to protect himself as much as possible.

One of the kids was about to hit Izuku in the face but Bakugo stopped him mid punch. The blond scolded them and instead hit Izuku in the side. Izuku gasped. Unlike Izuku's face, his side was covered by his shirt so it wouldn't be visible.

Izuku tucked in his arms further trying to cover more of his body when he heard a loud honking.

It got louder and louder and was interspersed with wing flaps but not like Tsubasa's. These were feathered wings.

Izuku peeked from beneath his arms to see the kids quickly run away and a large male goose chase them, it's beak opening every time it honked to reveal small but intimidating teeth.

The kids ran and the goose pecked and struck a few of them with its wings, including Bakugo who ran away crying.

Izuku slowly sat up holding his side. He watched the goose chase them across the log, over the river and past the treeline to where he couldn't see anymore.

He breathed heavily for a while waiting on the goose to return. Izuku was lucky he'd been near its territory otherwise it probably wouldn't have bothered chasing the kids off.

A smaller honking next to him startled Izuku. He looked to his unharmed side to see a gosling honking excitedly at him. It stuck its head between his arm and side snuggling against him.

A moment later a pair of wings wrapped around him and he sat looking up at the mother goose. She dug her beak into his hair and he flinched.

Within seconds however he realized she wasn't attacking him. In fact it didn't even hurt whenever she dug into his curls. He saw twigs and weeds fall to the sides and some grass in the mother goose's beak everytime she dug in.

He realized she was cleaning him up just like he'd seen her do for her goslings on the many occasions he'd watched them from a distance.

Izuku hopped along happily behind the rest of his class. They were on another field trip of sorts but this time there were some parents to help chaperone the kids.

Among these chaperones was Inko. She'd known that it would be one of her days off from work and had made sure that she would be one of the parents tagging along. It'd be a full day that she would get to spend with Izuku and she didn't want to waste that.

The kids all filled into a building, a museum for the different heroes of the past and the types of heroes ranging from combat oriented heroes to more rescue focused ones.

They went through various sections looking at heroes who's quirks or personas were based around fire, those based in aquatic operations, reconnaissance, stealth. Most of the kids were drawn to either the flashy heroes with elemental based quirks or outright combat heroes.

But not Izuku. Izuku was excited to see any and all heroes. On more than one occasion Inko found herself staying with him as the only other person observing some of the exhibits for the more specialized heroes.

Inko didn't mind however, as the bright smile on Izuku's face and the jump in his step made it fully worth it. She also noticed something that she wasn't sure Izuku himself was aware of: every time he'd check out an exhibit he'd be excited and smile but everytime he turned and saw Inko he smiled even harder. He would look at her like she was the coolest hero in the museum and the joy she felt in heart at seeing the sight would temporarily wash away any fatigue from the previous week's work schedule.

Another two exhibits and the two found themselves in front of one about rescue heroes. The hero that was the main focus was Recovery Girl, a picture of her from when she was much younger was on display showing her care for injured civilians alongside paramedics.

Izuku peered intently at the images, enraptured with that side of heroics just as much if not more so than the other categories he'd seen. Inko made a mental note to take the time and start teaching him about first aid one of these days. She had her own first aid kit at home and he seemed so interested so it made sense to try and teach him early.

The teacher called for their lunch break and the whole class setup in an outdoor section dedicated to heroes with quirks and personas based around animals. Since the spot was outdoors there were animals hanging around though most were cautious of the class.

Izuku sat himself down next to Inko by a piece about a female hero dressed up like a squirrel.

The rest of the class split up into small clusters either in groups of kids or a few kids and an adult. No one else sat near Izuku and Inko.

The teacher sat with the largest group that included Bakugo who seemed uninterested in what the rest of the group was doing, trying to feed nearby squirrels, until he saw that they kept failing at it. The squirrels would get close but the kids got too excited and scared them off before the process would start all over again.

Bakugo huffed eager to show the rest of them that if they couldn't do it then he certainly could. He took some of the nuts that the museum staff had given them for the outdoor section and held out his hand to get the squirrels' attention.

The squirrel saw the nuts and slowly wandered over but stopped at a certain distance and eyed him, waiting and debating whether to go forward or retreat.

Bakugo, shook the nuts in his hand to try and focus their attention but instead the motion scared off two of the squirrels. Realizing that they wouldn't come to him Bakugo tossed a nut near one of the squirrels. It scurried away without so much as a glance at the nut.

Bakugo glared at the squirrels and threw the rest of the nuts at them, scattering their numbers away from the group entirely.

One of the squirrels ran towards the squirrel hero's exhibit. It stopped to look at the squirrel costume then around the room for more food.

Izuku decided to try his hand at this and took a single nut in his small hand. He walked a few steps away from his spot, set down the nut and walked back to his spot. Izuku watched as the squirrel sniffed and slowly approached the nut, stealing glances at Izuku every now and again.

The squirrel picked the nut up, sniffed it, inspected it and looked at Izuku curiously with a head tilt. Izuku took a bite of his sandwich as a peace offering and the squirrel seemed to accept it as it too began eating.

When it finished the squirrel looked to Izuku as if asking for more. Izuku obliged placing a nut between himself and the squirrel, this one right by where he was sitting.

Again the squirrel approached cautiously and again Izuku made no move against it, letting the squirrel decide on its own. The squirrel decided that being next to Izuku was okay and ate its nut. Izuku chewed his sandwich with a puffy-cheeked smile on his face which was soon followed by Inko's who was watching the interaction.

Izuku finished his sandwich shortly after and the squirrel went about its way. Izuku drank from his juicebox, tilting his head every time the bunny ears from his hat got in the way.

Inko reached over and brushed them aside so that Izuku could drink and they heard wings flap and birds cawing.

Looking up Inko saw a small murder of crows drop by and start picking up scraps of the kids' lunches.

A rather puffy and fat looking crow stopped by Bakugo's group and ate the crumbs they'd left behind. Unlike the squirrels this crow wasn't shy and went right up to Bakugo attempting to eat from the sandwich in the blond's hand.

Bakugo angrily swatted at it and chased it away into the air. In his anger Bakugo threw a piece of bread at it which missed and landed over in the general area that Izuku was sitting.

The majority of the crows descended on that one piece of bread, including the fat crow. They devoured the food and skipped around looking for more.

Izuku, spotting another opportunity, gathered up the crumbs of bread from his lap and set some of them next to himself.

He didn't need to wait long as the fat crow wandered over and pecked away at the crumbs. When it finished Izuku held the rest of the crumbs out in his palm. The crow sat down right in front of his hand, its body looking fatter as it pressed against the bench. It ate right out of Izuku's hand.

Izuku reached out very slowly and gave the bird a light touch on it's feathers with the tip of his index finger. The bird ruffled its feathers and continued eating.

"Look mommy," Izuku whispered excitedly, "it's so chunky."

"Yes sweetie, it's a very chunky bird." Inko brushed a bunny ear from Izuku's face once again, marveling at the childlike wonder in his eyes.

Izuku seemed to always be so interested in learning, each new thing taught to him he responded to as if it were a gift.

It was always over small things and yet Inko always found those moments, just sitting there watching her son so happy to be when she felt most fulfilled.

She found her thoughts drifting to how she'd cared for him over the years. How she worried and fussed over him sometimes, how she couldn't always buy him things that she knew he wanted, and how things with Hisashi had ended.

And yet, for all the problems and concerns that seemed to continuously arise since Izuku's birth she could not find a single shred of regret in having Izuku.

She reached out, pulling Izuku into a tight hug. He turned his head, smile widening, cheeks creasing, eyes shining with the chunky bird now sitting in his hands.

The bird looked as if it was melting into his open palms as it got comfortable and closed its eyes.

The trio stayed that way for a bit until the class was called to continue their tour around the museum.

Inko let Izuku go so he could move and he gently set the bird down on the bench. The chunky crow opened its eyes and tilted its head studying Izuku's face before flying off followed by the rest of the crows.

Izuku and Inko rejoined the class and went through the rest of the museum with the same energy as before the break until they got to the end.

At the end there was a special surprise the museum staff had for the kids. They had a bunch of hero themed clothes of different sizes and color schemes for the kids to have.

The clothes had been to help celebrate the museum's opening a few months ago but as few people visited there wasn't much opportunity to give stuff out so the staff decided a class of hero loving children would be a perfect fit for this.

The kids didn't need to be told twice as they rushed for the clothes picking out and assembling outfits that made them look the coolest or had their favorite heroes. Of course, All Might was the most common centerpiece for most of the children's choices. Many picked out a shirt or a hat with All Might plastered on the middle.

Inko watched as Izuku picked out a peculiar variety of combos.

The kids were allowed to use the bathrooms to change if they wanted to, which they all did.

Izuku tugged on Inko's sleeve, asking if he could change separately and she agreed, finding him a one person bathroom for him to use. He left his bunny hat with her when he went in to change.

When he stepped out he still wore his bright red shoes but the rest of his outfit was changed. His pants were a dark blue with a small squirrel insignia on one of the pant legs. He had on a grey short sleeve t-shirt with a black square as the centerpiece. Inside the square were a collection of rescue and medic based heroes. A young Recovery Girl was printed on the very middle of the square with a bunch of little cartoon bandages and plus signs decorating the empty space in the square. Underneath the short sleeve shirt Izuku wore a long sleeve black t-shirt. The black sleeves had a zigzagging line running down with the words "Pulse Ultra" printed underneath. On Izuku's head sat a black and white cap with a miniature Gang Orca on the front. Along the sides of the hat were seals and dolphins.

Izuku handed Inko his old clothes and half leaned half bent against the bathroom door, adjusting his hat while she put away the clothes.

Something about that moment spurred Inko and before she knew it, she had taken pictures of him. Something about the pose, the hand on his cap, the light red tint of his chubby cheeks, the glimmer in his bright eyes, the slight curiosity in his face as his mouth was slightly ajar making a small "O" had all compelled her to take those pictures.

Looking at the pictures and back to Izuku it was clear to Inko why she had done so; Izuku had just looked too absolutely adorable to not take a picture, to not make a memory of the sight.

She put the phone and the clothes away and held out her hand. He took it and they left to rejoin the class and continue their, so far, spectacular day.

Izuku, now eight years old, sat in class working on his art assignment, a drawing of their personal hero. He colored the green suit, the green hood, the green hair and the red toolbelt, finishing his drawing of Inko in her hero costume.

He wasn't wearing his bunny hat: he'd stopped wearing it during school after Bakugo had tossed it out the window. The only exceptions were times like the museum trip when he was under the watchful eye of Inko.

Instead, Izuku carried it around in his backpack, tucked in nice and safe.

The windows were closed and Bastet was nowhere to be seen.

The teacher's phone rang and she stepped out for a bit. It was close to the end of the day anyway so she figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal if she was away for a bit.

She shut the classroom door behind her and kids immediately began getting up. They peeked over and shared their drawings with each other, marveling at the cool heroes everyone was drawing.

Izuku didn't join them. Instead he kept focusing on his drawing of Inko. The longer he worked on it the prouder he felt about it.

He added a large boulder like object next to Inko, making it seem like she was controlling it.

"Woa, that's so cool." A voice spoke from over Izuku's shoulder.

Izuku looked up to see that a few kids were gathering around him.

"Yeah, who is that?" The kids were eyeing his drawing.

Izuku felt a smile tug at his lips. "My mom."

"That's looks so good." A girl leaned over pointing to Inko's costume.

Izuku felt a warmth spread across his cheeks. He wasn't used to everyone coming over to talk to him, even less to people praising him. A part of him wished he had the bunny hat on so he could hide under it.

He'd felt happy with the drawing but having other people chip in and agree with what he felt inside just added a fulfillment, a joy he hadn't come across before.

Izuku was so busy curling up into himself from squeeful embarrassment that he didn't see the anger and jealousy boiling over in Bakugo's face.

Bakugo quickly finished scribbling and coloring on his drawing before raising it high above his head for everyone to see. "But is it as good as this?"

The kids turned around and marveled at his drawing. None of them could argue; his drawing of All Might was better overall.

The kids flocked to Bakugo, leaving Izuku immediately.

Izuku didn't seem to mind it, in fact he seemed a bit relieved that he wasn't being surrounded with attention. He looked back down at his drawing, pride welling in his chest now that he had a moment to calm down.

One kid peered back at Izuku's drawing. "It's still pretty cool though. How she's controlling the big boulder." The kid made a motion with his hands mimicking the drawing of Inko.

"Yeah," a girl chipped in, "they're both really good drawings. You're both our best drawers I think."

Bakugo's eyebrows twitched. The praise he'd just received had been sullied by having anyone else put alongside him, most of all Deku.

"It's not that good. It's actually really bad." Bakugo stomped over to Izuku's desk. He pointed at the drawing. "See, the face looks kinda funny and the arms look a bit too long."

Some kids tilted their heads and then nodded, murmuring in agreement.

"It does look a little weird." One said.

Bakugo nodded before pointing to another part of the drawing. "And look the coloring looks all weird. It's not one big green suit, there's a mix of green everywhere."

Izuku began to curl on himself again but not out of gleeful embarrassment.

"The hands look a little too big too." Tsubasa chipped in.

Bit by bit the kids added and added places where Izuku's drawing was less than perfect and bit by bit he felt himself shrink with shame.

"And worst of all," Bakugo raised his own drawing, "it's not even someone cool like All Might. It's super lame just picking your stupid mom like that."

"Take that back." Izuku stood up, his hands on the table. His face was a contortion of humiliation, anger and holding back tears.

Bakugo's brow creased. "What?"

"I said take it back, right now." Izuku kept his gaze right on Bakugo, never breaking eye contact.

Bakugo's face twitched. "You want me to take back that your drawing is bad?"

"Take back what you said about my mom." Izuku's hands were now balled into fists.

The other kids all looked on in anticipation. None of them ever really went eye to eye with Bakugo in front of everyone like Izuku was doing.

Bakugo's fingers wriggled with the urge to use his quirk but the classroom door opened and the teacher scolded everyone for being out of their seats.

Everyone sat back down and continued under the stern gaze of the teacher.

Izuku kept staring at his drawing looking at the different parts and replaying everyone's comments over and over in his head.

The longer he stared the worse the drawing looked to him, it's imperfections becoming clearer.

His drawing didn't catch the gentle warmth of Inko's smile, the confident but quiet strength in her eyes, the skill with which she used her quirk. Izuku knew he didn't make any of these pop out perfectly in his drawing and wondered whether he should have even bothered with it, if it would have been better to just draw All Might or someone else. If he didn't make his mom look as awesome as she actually was then what was the point of drawing her in the first place?

He didn't do anything else to the drawing and the bell signalling the end of school rang shortly after.

Izuku gathered his things and went to his shoe locker. Bastet was waiting patiently for him and a hiss from her deterred any fight Bakugo was planning.

Izuku and Bastet waited for Inko in the library, Izuku choosing to stare at his drawing the whole time instead of reading anything.

Even when Inko picked him up from school Izuku kept looking at his drawing.

Bastet left them after they got to their house and once inside Inko began making dinner.

Izuku stood over the trash can with his drawing. He couldn't stand to look at it anymore and let it drop in. He sat down on the couch.

Inko poked her head out over the kitchen counter. "Izuku, where's your drawing sweetie?"

When he didn't respond she stepped into the living room and looked around. "Izuku, where is it? I wanted to put it on the fridge."

Izuku just stared at his swaying feet.

Inko checked his backpack, the sofa and the rest of the room while speaking to him. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"

She finally found the drawing sitting in the trash can.

She picked it up and looked to Izuku with confusion on her features. "Why did you throw it away?"

Izuku gripped his pants tightly. "It's not good."

"What do you mean, it looks great."

"The arms are funny," he said. "And I drew your smile weird. And your hands are too big. And I didn't even do good when I colored it." He kept his head down.

Inko took a seat next to him, one hand on his back and the other holding the drawing in front of him.

"I don't like it anymore," Izuku said.

"I like it, sweetie." Inko put the drawing in his hands and got back up. She went to the kitchen then the bedroom and came back with a small stack of drawings and a full book full of drawings.

All of them were Izuku's.

Inko showed him the drawings from the beginning of the book. Izuku winced as he saw how much worse they were than the one he did that day.

"I like your drawings. In fact, I love them." Inko showed drawing after drawing that he'd made over the years. "I love that you make drawings of me as a hero." She showed him the stack of drawings that came from the fridge. "I love how happy you get when drawing." She made it towards the back of the book. "I love how you always keep at it no matter what."

Inko took the very first drawing in the book, an incomprehensible mess of colors and held it side by side with the drawing he'd made that day. "And most of all I love how each time you draw you get just a little better at it."

Izuku stared in disbelief at the two drawings side by side. Inko was right and Izuku could see it. The difference between the two drawings was night and day. His most recent wasn't perfect but it was so astronomically better that it didn't even feel like it was from the same person.

He grabbed the book and started looking through the drawings himself with the first drawing in his hand. With each new one he noticed something, the face improved, a color used better, the suit closer to Inko's real costume.

Inko's hand brushed his hair and she smiled at him. That encouraging hopeful smile that he tried to draw each time. Like always Izuku understood his mother was right. She always was.

His gaze dropped to his drawing from that day and he felt a sense of hope. Even if he didn't get it perfect this time, even if it didn't look quite like Inko it could eventually, bit by bit. He nodded softly, a thankful smile spreading across his face.

Inko pulled him into a hug, kissing his forehead. "Now what do you say I go pin up your great piece that's still only your best work so far ?"

"Mhm." Izuku nodded against her side, feeling happy tears well up in his eyes.

It wasn't just that she'd shown him how much better he kept getting but she wanted to show off his drawing in the most visible spot in the apartment with great pride.

He couldn't help but feel uplifted as he was being praised by the one person he looked up to the most in the world.

Inko walked into her apartment with Izuku one day, carrying bags of things which she had been waiting until getting home to reveal to her son. She'd been so excited the whole way home that Izuku had gotten excited by proxy. Izuku rushed off inside the bedroom, coming back out with his All Might figure. He sat down on the sofa bouncing in anticipation, the bunny ears of his hat flapping like wings ready to take him off.

Inko set her bags down to the side. The excitement in her gaze clashed with the dark bags underneath her eyes. She smiled brightly, seemingly unaffected by the exhaustion from a hard day's work.

"Izuku sweetie, I know you have to wait a while for me after school but I have something for you that can help pass the time now."

Inko reached into the plastic bags and pulled out a pair of bunny themed headphones with ear-like protrusions from the ear part. They were green just like Izuku's hat. But unlike Izuku's hat, the ear protrusions were smaller and didn't get in the way.

Izuku looked on in awe as Inko slowly took his hat off and placed the headphones on him, adjusting it to his size. She pulled out a small device from the bag and pressed a button on it.

Izuku heard the headphones turn on as they began blocking out most outside sounds. Izuku heard Inko's muffled voice come through clear enough as she messed around with the small device.

"During one of my patrols I saved a family, a couple and their daughter. They're musicians and wanted to thank me with something but I thought you might enjoy it more. Here, I'll have it play something for you."

Inko pressed another button and Izuku heard a voice start singing in his ears. It was a young voice, a girls voice about his age. He liked her voice as it was soothing to him. It gave him a sense of calm.

Inko managed to talk over the song. "They said we had free access to any music they ever make, ever. Isn't that great?"

Izuku nodded happily. "I really like the girl's voice." Izuku pointed to the headphones.

"Girl's?" Inko gently pulled the headphones up Izuku's ear to listen. "Oh dear, that must be their daughter. They said she was still practicing and they'd been recording it. They must have accidentally given me the files for her recording."

Inko began pulling the headphones completely off Izuku's head. "Don't worry I can just let them know they gave me the wrong files. I'll get you their actual songs next time."

Izuku held onto the headphones with one hand. "But I like her singing. She has a really pretty voice and even when she messes up she keeps going." Izuku held a soft smile as he met eyes with Inko. "She just keeps at it getting better, little by little."

Inko couldn't stop herself from hugging Izuku. It filled her with a sense of joy and pride that he'd taken her words to heart. She ran her fingers through Izuku's hair.

"I still have to let them know they gave me the wrong one though."

Izuku peered with hopeful green orbs at her. "Then can you ask them to send her music from now on after you tell them? Even if it's just practice, I like her singing."

"Okay sweetie, I'll ask." She gave him a kiss on his head and left him with the headphones.

Izuku put them on and listened contently while Inko went to make dinner for them. Izuku held his bunny hat in one hand and the All Might figure in the other, feeling himself drift off to sleep under the influence of the soothing singing voice.

"Take it back, right now!" Izuku's small fists shook.

"Or what? What's a quirkless loser like you gonna do?" Bakugo stood higher than Izuku with an expression drifting between angry and taunting.

Izuku glared at him with teary eyes, his fists ready to move. He didn't care that Bakugo was a bit older, that he was already ten while Izuku was still nine. He didn't care that it was just the two of them and Tsubasa, that he was outnumbered, that Bakugo had a quirk and he didn't.

What Izuku did care about was the increasingly frequent jabs at his mother, his hero. It was one thing to say something mean about him, but Inko was off limits. Izuku had had enough.

"Yeah it's just you by yourself, your stupid cat isn't here to save you either." Bakugo pointed to the classroom windows. One was still open but Bastet was nowhere to be seen. She hadn't followed Izuku to school that day.

"Just like you always need people to help you? You don't ever go after someone by yourself. You're too scared to try." Izuku took a step towards Bakugo.

Bakugo's face contorted to full anger now. "Watch it Deku. I'm gonna be the best hero unlike your dumb mom."

"My mom is the best hero! She's not scared of everything like you are!" Izuku was livid, his voice loudly bouncing off the classroom walls.

Tsubasa shifted uneasily seeing both of them so angry. Bakugo just pointed sideways at Tsubasa and told him to get out.

Izuku and Bakugo stomped towards each other.

"See, I'm not scared to fight alone, especially not against some quirkless wannabe hero."

Izuku grit his teeth.

"Even outside of quirks I'm always first. You should just get it already. I'm better."

Izuku stared up at Bakugo defiantly.

Bakugo's eyebrows twitched. "I'm better at drawing. I'm better at running. I'm better cause I have a quirk, the best quirk. I'm better than you period."

Still Izuku did not back down.

Bakugo clicked his tongue. "It's not your fault you don't get I guess. You can't learn who's better when you have someone that trash as a hero. She's not even famous and she's hanging around telling people what to do. God your mom is such a bi-"

Bakugo didn't get to finish as Izuku's right fist met the blond's cheek.

Bakugo stumbled back into the edge of a desk and just like that the two boys stopped talking and started swinging.

Izuku rushed forward but was caught in the chest by Bakugo's foot.

Izuku fell backwards onto his rear, knocking into a desk behind him and dropping Bakugo's backpack onto himself.

Bakugo lunged for him, hands outstretched small explosions popping. Izuku grabbed and threw the backpack, blocking Bakugo's hands. Izuku followed by kicking where he could, Bakugo's legs. This caused the blonde to trip and crash into Izuku.

The boys rolled around on the floor as Izuku continued using the backpack to stop the small explosions. Izuku landed hits around the backpack while Bakugo gave up on using his quirk for the most part and punched through the backpack.

Izuku struck and was struck by Bakugo but did not stop his attacks.

Bakugo had been hit harder before but usually the other kid would start crying and give up after he retaliated. But not Izuku. Izuku kept coming.

They rolled around on the ground and Izuku being shorter managed to prop his legs between them, planting the soles of his feet against Bakugo's chest and kicking him off.

Bakugo landed on the top of a desk and Izuku got up, picking the backpack with him, eyeing the blonde's hands, ever wary of the quirk.

Bakugo scrambled himself atop the desk and jumped from one desk to another heading for Izuku, using the high ground to his advantage.

Izuku used a chair to hop on a desk quickly and try and match Bakugo. He saw Bakugo's hands crackle and twitch.

Izuku knew what was coming, he'd seen Bakugo's habit of rushing first with his hands too many times.

Just like clockwork the blonde's hands lunged forward and he stepped onto another desktop.

Izuku threw the backpack, catching Bakugo's hands within the straps.

There was a momentary flash of something other than anger on Bakugo's face; shock, confusion, fear.

Izuku jumped onto the same desk intending to sidestep and catch Bakugo on the side but his foot was too close to the corner.

Their combined weight and momentum shifted the desk and Izuku's foot slipped off the corner knocking him off balance and losing the grip on the backpack.

Bakugo's face contorted into a spiteful grin as the advantage was quickly out of Izuku's hands. Bakugo snatched his hands free of the straps and grabbed Izuku's arm. He pivoted as the desk fell from the uneven weight they placed on it and pulled on Izuku's arm.

Bakugo used the momentum from the desk falling to shoulder toss Izuku as hard as he could.

Neither boy had fully realized in which direction the toss was aimed.

That was until Izuku saw the window frames pass him by and the tree's branches cast a shadow over his face.

(Later that day)

Izuku could feel a heavy numbness across his body. There was darkness all round him and after trying unsuccessfully to open his eyes and feeling the pressure around the top of his head he realized something was blocking his eyes.

He couldn't remember what had happened, where he'd been. He didn't even know where he was.

Beneath the numbness there was a dull pain, centered mostly around his head, back and stomach.

The pain, the confusion, the darkness, it scared him. He felt a sense of loneliness creep over him.

Izuku whimpered, trying to move his hand.

He couldn't. Something was holding onto it. He heard soft crying from that direction.

"M-Mom-my…?" His voice came out rough and it hurt his throat to talk.

He felt his hand get squeezed gently.

"Izuku...sweetie, it's ok...it's ok, mommy's here."

Inko's voice sounded hoarse and Izuku heard a sniffle. Wet droplets splashed onto Izuku's hand.

He squeezed back.

Inko cleared her throat and Izuku heard something brushing around. Droplets stopped falling on his hand. "Do you remember what happened?"

Izuku tried to shake his head.

A sudden rush of pain through his head left him wincing and a wave of dizziness followed immediately after.

"Don't move yet sweetie." Inko rested her other hand on his wrist.

"I...don't remember…" It still hurt to talk and Izuku felt something tight around his neck. He reached up with his right hand and felt bandages tightly wrapped around his neck.

Izuku felt Inko's hands tremble against his. "Bachan found you outside and didn't stop making noise until someone came over."

Izuku heard his mother's voice crack.

"They said you were at the base of a tree...and...and that the window from your classroom was open…" Tears fell on Izuku's hand again. "That you must have fallen and hit the tree on your way down."

Izuku couldn't remember any of it. He couldn't remember the fall, he couldn't remember the moments before in the classroom, he couldn't even remember anything earlier from that day.

He didn't know what was going on.

He felt so in the dark, literally and figuratively.

All he knew was that his mother was crying.

The door creaked open and Izuku heard footsteps. Someone cleared their throat.

"D-Doctor, please come in." Inko moved one hand, the one on Izuku's wrist, away and Izuku heard more sniffling.

Izuku moved his right hand back to his side.

"Well, looks like young Izuku is awake. Don't move if you can help it, it'll make you dizzy. Now I think you're okay to have some of the bandages removed, more specifically the ones around your eyes. I recommend keeping them closed for a few moments after I take them off though. The lights are dimmed but you'll want to give your eyes a moment to adjust."

The doctor closed the door and walked over to Izuku's right side.

Izuku felt the doctor slowly removed the bandages around his eyes. He kept his eyes closed, seeing some light through his eyelids. It made the dull ache in his head a little stronger but not enough that it wasn't manageable.

"That's it. No need to rush it. You can wait to open them whenever you feel comfortable." The doctor gave Izuku a soft pat on his right arm and began to talk to Inko.

Izuku couldn't focus much on the conversation as he tried to keep his eyes closed and willed them to adjust to the low lights. He only caught a few things the doctor told his mom. Something about head trauma, lacerations, broken bones.

He shut his eyes tighter but that just made the headache worse.

It didn't seem like it'd go away anytime soon so he decided it was time to open his eyes.

He did so slowly, inching the lids open at a crawl. Thankfully the influx of color and low light from the room didn't increase the ache much.

His eyes slowly turned everything from blurry outlines to their proper shapes.

Something caught his attention.

He blinked to make sure he was seeing properly. Sure enough there was Bastet curled up by his right side asleep.

Izuku reached over with his right hand, softly scratching behind her ear.

From what Inko had told him, Bastet had essentially been the one to save him. She must have stayed with him the entire time, even after they'd gotten to the hospital. She was always looking out for him.

The doctor bid a quick farewell to Inko and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Izuku kept his eyes on Bastet. He felt Inko gently brush his hair with one hand, the other still holding his left.

He hesitated to look at her. Hearing her cry had hurt, a lot more than he thought it would.

Still, when she softly called his name and brought her hand down brushing his cheek, he looked up.

He wished he hadn't.

The cheerful, uplifting smile he'd come to always know and love was replaced with a distraught, sorrowful expression. Her eyes were wet, tears spilling down her cheeks. Worry furrowed her brow keeping her face tense.

Izuku couldn't see a shred of happiness on her face, only distress, sadness, pain.

Izuku felt something too, something very clearly. He felt it through the numbness of whatever medicine was coursing through his body. He felt it through the dull ache from his injuries.

Deep down in his small little heart he felt a weight pull down on him, telling him that it was his fault. That he'd done this to her. That him getting injured had worried his mother, made her cry, put that expression on her face.

He didn't know why his mind came to that conclusion.

But he did know that seeing her at his bedside…

Seeing her face loose that light…

Seeing her cry…

It hurt.