Chapter Text
Nedzu’s tail was flicking with irritation. One of the few humans he counted as a friend was in the hospital, having her baby, and Nedzu was stuck here, listening to the board complain about his decision to let the Gen Ed student who won the Sports Festival enter the Heroics Course.
Nedzu was just barely paying any attention to the complaints, he was going to stand firm in his decision. Aizawa Shouta had more than proven himself worthy of the position. The boy was determined, logical, quick on his feet, and he didn’t depend on his quirk to win his fights. Nedzu was thinking of offering the boy a spot as his personal student, in addition to joining class 1-A.
His phone pinged, and Nedzu had to use all of his self-control not to check it. He knew that Inko was going to be sending him a picture of her son as soon as she could, and he was certain that he had just received the picture of the little pup.
Great, now his ears were twitching, and every member of the board could tell that he was getting irritated with them. But they still wouldn’t. Stop. Complaining.
“If I may interrupt,” Nedzu finally spoke. He wanted to get this over with, he wanted to see Inko, he wanted to see the newborn pup, he wanted to defenestrate the entire board. “Aizawa Shouta has more than proven himself capable of joining the Heroics Course. His grades are at the top of his class, and he managed to defeat every opponent he went up against in the Sports Fest, proving that—”
“He’s a villain in the making!” one of the board members exclaimed. “He only won because he removed the quirks of each of his opponents! Someone like that doesn’t deserve to be a hero!”
“Oh dear,” Nedzu tutted. “It sounds to me as though you are discriminating against a student based solely on their quirk.” Nedzu’s beady eyes took on a sharp glint as he exposed more of his teeth in a vicious grin. “I do hope you are not discriminating towards my students?”
The board member paled at the look Nedzu was sending him and shook his head.
“Good. Now that that is settled. Aizawa Shouta will be joining Class 1-A for the next semester. My decision is final.” Nedzu picked up his phone and checked the message – it was a picture of a small, red, wrinkly baby, in the arms of his mother Inko. Nedzu’s grin turned softer, and he hopped off his chair. “I have places to be. Have a nice day!”
~*~*~*~
“Are you sure he’s human and not a little rat?” Nedzu joked as he was holding the small infant.
Inko laughed sweetly, “Yes, Nedzu, my son is a human.”
“I don’t know, he’s so small, and wrinkly! He’s an adorable little pup!” Nedzu nuzzled the baby with his snout. “You’re going to be an amazing little pup, aren’t you?”
Inko just smiled at them. “I have a question for you, Nedzu,” she started. “Would you be willing to be Izuku’s godfather?”
Nedzu looked up in surprise. “Me? Are you certain?”
“Yes. I don’t imagine anything will happen to me, but on the off chance that something does, I want to make sure my son is cared for by someone I trust. And there is no one I trust more than you.”
“What about Hisashi? What if he wants to take his son should the unthinkable happen?”
Tanaka Hisashi was the name of Izuku’s father. Inko had been dating him for a few months, but when they found out she was pregnant, he had left, telling her to get an abortion as he didn’t want anything to do with a child. In the past few weeks, however, Hisashi had started reaching out to Inko again, wanting to have some kind of relationship with his son.
“Absolutely not,” she stated. “He had his chance. When he insisted I abort my child, he lost all rights to my son. That is why I am not giving Izuku that man’s name. My son’s name is Midoriya Izuku, and Hisashi is nowhere on his birth certificate. That man will not have any rights to my son.”
Nedzu looked back to the small child in his arms. “What do you think, Pup? Do you want me to be your godfather?” Nedzu grinned at the baby. “Well, since he hasn’t refused, I suppose I can accept.”
~*~*~*~
Aizawa Shouta wasn’t sure what to expect from this meeting with the principal. He knew that the principal had had a meeting with the school board the other day regarding his upcoming transfer to the Hero Course, and he wasn’t sure if the offer was going to be rescinded or not.
He didn’t know what he’d do if he wasn’t allowed to join the Hero Course. He had worked so hard for this, had put up with so many people calling him a villain in the making, all the taunts and jeers, what if his dream was taken away at this point? What if everyone was right, and that he’d never be a hero? What would he do then?
He had been so engrossed in his own thoughts he hadn’t noticed he had reached the principal’s office until he was right there. He raised a hesitant hand up to knock, but the door swung open on its own.
“Come in, come in!” came the cheerful voice of the principal. Shouta hesitantly walked in and took the seat that was offered to him. “Would you like some tea?”
Shouta nodded, and the principal poured him a cup.
“Now, I’m sure you are worried about your position in the Hero Course for the upcoming semester, yes?” Principal Nedzu asked.
With that question, Shouta felt his mouth go dry and he could barely manage to nod. Here it was, the offer was going to be rescinded. He was going to be stuck in Gen Ed, he’d never be able to be a hero. His fosters had probably written in to the principal letting him know that Shouta was never going to be anything more than—
“Well, let me ease your worries! Your new uniform is right here, and your transfer is completed. You will be reporting to class 1-A,” he said with a smile, cutting off Shouta’s worried, self-depreciating inner monologue. “The purpose for this meeting is two-fold, Aizawa-kun. I did want to supply you with your new uniform, but I also have another offer for you.”
Shouta took a careful sip of the tea to help with the dry mouth. “An offer?” Shouta asked once he was sure his voice wouldn’t crack.
“Yes!” Nedzu jumped up onto his desk and walked across to be eye to eye with Shouta. “You are an incredibly talented young man, Aizawa-kun, and I believe you will be an amazing hero. That said, since your quirk is not combat orientated, you would do very well to increase your skills in analysis and strategy. In that course, I would like to offer to teach you these skills personally.”
Shouta’s eyes widened. Was he really offering to let Shouta be his personal student?
“It is not very often that a student catches my eye, Aizawa-kun, but your mental strength and determination, not to mention the analytical thinking you showed in the tournament round while defeating your year mates with mutation quirks, caught my attention. I would like for you to become my personal student. Will you accept?”
Even with as stunned as Shouta was, he still had the sense to nod his agreement. This was the absolute best-case scenario he could ever imagine. With his quirk and personality, Shouta would be best suited as an Underground Hero, and they worked a lot more closely with the police, and took more cases that used their intelligence to solve crimes, not just jump in to a flashy fight while wearing bright spandex. A spot as Nedzu’s personal student would give him a major jump-start in his career as an Underground Hero. He’d have to be an idiot to turn down this offer!
~*~*~*~
Nedzu was very pleased with his student’s progress. Over the past year, Shouta-kun had become one of the top students in his class. If things kept going the way they were, Shouta-kun would be among the Big Three of his year, along with the young man that has caught his student’s reluctant affections.
Right now, however, Nedzu had to provide comfort to his student. One of his good friends, Shirakumo Oboro, had died while on his internship, and Shouta-kun had been there to witness it. He had admitted to Nedzu that he was considering dropping out of the Hero Course, feelings of inadequacy cropping up, making him doubt himself.
A knock at the front door sounded, and Nedzu adjusted his hold on his godson and went to open it. Nedzu had invited his student over for a chat and had managed to convince Inko to let him watch Izuku for the night. He was going to introduce his student to Izuku, and hope that the adorable pup could help Nedzu talk Shouta-kun into believing that he could still be an amazing hero.
Shouta-kun was standing in the doorway, eyes wide as he saw the small child Nedzu was holding. “H-hello, Sensei. Um.” Nedzu had to suppress a giggle as his student struggled to form his thoughts into a coherent way to ask about the child. “You have a kid?” is what Shouta-kun finally settled on.
Nedzu lost the battle over his giggles. “Izuku is my godson, Shouta-kun. Please, come in!”
Shouta-kun took his shoes off at the door and took a look around the sitting area, and then took a seat on one of the couches. Nedzu handed Izuku to Shouta-kun. “Izuku, this is my student Shouta-kun! Keep him company as I make some tea.”
“Ok Nezzie!” the Pup said brightly, turning a grin to his student.
Nedzu then left the 16-year-old boy in the sitting room with his godson and stepped into the kitchen. He was going to make some tea, but he was going to take his time, unless he heard Izuku fussing or if Shouta-kun was too uncomfortable with the toddler.
He was about to hurry the process for making the tea when he heard his student talking to Izuku. Poking his head into the doorway to watch the two interact, Nedzu allowed a soft look to grace his eyes. Shouta-kun would be just fine.
~*~*~*~
Over the past two years Shouta had been the personal student of Nedzu, and he had started seeing the little rat as more of a father figure than any foster parent he’d ever lived with in the past. Nedzu had seemed to honestly care about him and wanted to spend time with him after school for special lessons that occasionally included his godson Izuku.
Shouta was half-sure the kid had an intelligence quirk, after all, most kids started stringing words into simple sentences around 18 months, but Izuku had been talking in simple sentences from about a year old. Currently, at 2 years old, he was clearly speaking, even if he was still only using short sentences. He was, however, already recognizing words in books. He was sure the boy would be reading by the time he was 3.
Shouta was hoping to take the boy for a few hours during the weekend. He and Hizashi were going to go to the park and have a picnic, and Shouta wanted to take Izuku to feed the ducks at the pond. He just needed to get Nedzu to ask the kid’s mom, and then he’d be able to tell Hizashi. Shit, he really did like that kid. And it didn’t help that little Izuku kept calling him Nii-chan.
Ducking his head to hide his grin, Shouta approached the door to Nedzu’s office. Odd, it usually opens before I knock, Shouta thought to himself before he knocked on the door. After a few moments of no reply, he knocked again. “Sensei?”
When he still got no reply, Shouta tried the doorknob and was surprised when the door opened. “Sensei? Are you here?” he called out hesitantly. The room looked empty, and Shouta was about to turn around and leave, assuming Nedzu had stepped out for something, when he heard a slight whimper. Instantly, Shouta was alert and stepped into the office, looking around for where the sound had come from.
He heard the sound again, by the desk. Carefully, Shouta moved to the desk to see what the noise was, and gasped when he saw Nedzu curled into a ball under his desk, gripping onto a framed picture. “Sensei, are you okay?” Shouta whispered.
Nedzu shook his head. “She’s gone,” he whimpered again.
Shouta was finally able to see the picture that Nedzu was holding – it was a picture of Inko, Izuku’s mother. Something must have happened to her, and if Nedzu’s behavior was anything to go on, she must not have survived whatever happened. Shouta sat down next to Nedzu and was a little surprised when Nedzu shuffled into his lap, still holding the picture and whimpering.
Shouta gently started petting Nedzu’s head, providing as much comfort as he could.
The two sat like that for almost an hour before Nedzu was finally able to pull himself together. “Thank you, Shouta-kun,” he said quietly. “I need to go pick up Izuku from his daycare.” Nedzu placed the picture back on the shelf where it had been originally. “Would you be willing to accompany me?”
“Sure. Just let me text Zashi, he’s probably waiting for me.”
~*~*~*~
Nedzu usually didn’t have any issues with the fact that he was an animal, but times like this were hard for him. He wanted to cry, but animals didn’t cry.
Inko’s funeral was nice, and fortunately Izuku was still too young to understand what was going on. He didn’t question why his mom wasn’t coming home, why she didn’t say goodbye, why she hadn’t been calling to say goodnight before bedtime.
Shouta-kun had come to the funeral with them, just in case Izuku acted up. That boy had really stepped up as a brother for Izuku, and Nedzu hoped he would continue to be close to his Pup in the years to come. Nedzu was certain he’d need the extra help, and Shouta-kun had already said he’d be willing to babysit when he had free time.
As much as Nedzu wanted to simply mourn the death of his good friend, he couldn’t help the fact that his mind would not stop working, so he might as well plan his son’s educational future. Izuku was already quite advanced for his age, thanks in part to how often Nedzu had watched over him and applied various teaching techniques, so if he keeps up this style of learning…
Nedzu was no longer Izuku’s godfather. Now he was his father. Midoriya Izuku would always be Inko’s son, but now, he was also Nedzu’s son. His legacy.
Nedzu let a grin spread on his face. “Don’t worry, Inko,” he whispered quietly. “I’ll take good care of Izuku.”