#present might

“ah, so nice of you to join us, shinso!” principal nezu exclaimed. he pointed at the vacant seat next to mei. “we were asking young suzuki here if there was anyone we could call to pick her up after today, and she said to contact her brother.”

hitoshi quickly rushed to mei’s side. his eyes widened as he saw her palms bandaged, with blood streaks in her usually blank face. her tired, pale gray eyes watered with tears, and she immediately embraced him.

“what happened?” hitoshi asked angrily, his eyes darting from nezu to aizawa. he looked back at mei, cupping her face and wiping her tears away. “hey, you okay?” his voice was softer as he spoke to her. “i’m here. everything’s going to be okay.” as long as they were together, they could figure things out. everything was fine as long as hitoshi was with his sister.

“another student was found peeping at the girl’s locker room. mei attacked him,” aizawa patiently explained. he looked at hitoshi, studying the way he checked on his little sister. “my class reported to me that the same student reportedly touched mei before classes started.” mei closed her eyes as aizawa relayed the information she earlier consented to. hitoshi’s scowl deepened, and he instinctively moved forward, as if shielding mei from them.

hitoshi glared angrily at the man. “your student did what to mei?” he instinctively held mei’s hand, giving her his usual comforting squeeze.

aizawa bowed his head as a formal apology. he truly didn’t expect a student like that in his class. being hormonal as a teen was normal, but it doesn’t validate a kid groping and watching his classmates strip and change. “we have expelled the student. he wouldn’t be around mei anymore. we have also notified his family, and they are not permitted to come near mei during and after the expulsion process.”

“cases such as these are sensitive and must be handled carefully,” nezu interrupted. “usually with parents, which we noticed, you neither have.” at this, hitoshi froze. this is it.

mei held hitoshi’s forearms tightly. “i’m sorry. i’m sorry. they pulled out our records — they know.”

“using falsified records to get into ua is something not a lot of people dare to try, and in our history, no one has been successful in doing that,” nezu continued. “not until the both of you. this offense is usually punishable with expulsion and arranging necessary legal—”

“no!” hitoshi yelled. “you’re not sending us back!”

“let him finish,” aizawa said, his quirk activating on the boy. “and we know the nature of your quirk. perhaps it’s how you succeeded with this, but don’t try anything.” hitoshi huffed and bit his tongue, still holding mei protectively. if things go south, he can at least carry her in his arms until they’re safe. that’s never failed them before.

“thank you, mr. aizawa,” nezu said kindly before looking back at the students. “shino, you and suzuki are not in trouble at all. we would like to help, but we want to know more about the situation.”

mei looked at nezu and aizawa warily. help. this was never offered to them before. she held her brother’s hand and began to speak up. “hitoshi and i aren’t blood related. we’re neighbors.” she looked at hitoshi, who gave a hesitant nod before letting her continue. “my parents are drug addicted alcoholics who spiraled after our family business went bankrupt. they were — they hurt me,” she admitted, looking away. aizawa narrowed his eyes. there was more to this story, but he decided not to probe for now.

“i lived with my mother. my dad’s not around. she’s working two jobs to support me. she became a mom when she was young, and so she can’t find a good job to save enough money. my mom doesn’t physically hurt me, but she’s neglectful. she doesn’t want me. she hated being a mother to a kid she never really wanted anyway,” hitoshi continued. “things got worse with mei and her parents, so we decided to run away. my mother woke up when i tried sneaking out, but she didn’t stop me. mei’s parents were blacked out drunk when we escaped. we stole some money and ran.”

aizawa and nezu shared a look. “how long have you been on the run?” nezu asked. “where are you staying?”

“a little over a year,” mei answered. she tried her best to present a strong front, but hitoshi knew better. her fingers fiddled with the hem of his sleeves, and her voice sounded shaky. “we live in an apartment five minutes away from here.”

aizawa looked at them. their uniforms were new, courtesy of ua. they had clean yet obviously worn-out bags. hitoshi’s shoes were obviously too big for him. mei’s shoes were big too, as she wore two pairs of socks to make her feet fit in them. both kids had heavy bags underneath their eyes. they were pale and thin. when aizawa accompanied mei to recovery girl earlier to close her wounds after using her quirk, the old nurse told him that she seemed to be anemic and malnourished. they were obviously not in good shape.

“we would like to introduce you to the foster system. you can meet a loving family who—” nezu began, but hitoshi quickly shook his head.

“no. we don’t want to live with strangers. we don’t want to be separated. we’re doing fine as we are. we can support ourselves,” he said. “if you’re not expelling us, we’d be very grateful. but i need to get my sister home, and i still have to go somewhere after this.”

“work, i assume,” aizawa interrupted. hitoshi didn’t answer. he took another careful glance at the children, an idea forming in his head. technically, he can just offer to at least support them financially — being a pro-hero and a prestige school teacher paid very handsomely, even if it doesn’t look like it with him. still, he didn’t want to make a half-hearted attempt in saving someone. he knew better. shirakumo taught him better.

“i can take you both in,” he offered. “if that’s alright with you, and with the principal.”

mei and hitoshi immediately looked at him, weirdly coordinated. these kids reminded him of bonded stray cats. “why?” they asked in unison.

“because i’m in a position to help. mei is a promising student. she has a lot of potential to be a hero,” aizawa explained. “and you’re both still kids. you need guidance and proper care.”

mei looked at her homeroom teacher before slightly frowning. “you look as shabby as we do,” she pointed out.

aizawa pursed his lips. he really needed to get himself together. “i assure you, i’m financially capable of taking care of kids. i live with other adults. our space is pretty big, and our shared income is more than enough to cater to your needs.”

nezu looked surprised at aizawa’s proposal. a small smile played on his lips. accepting nemuri’s referral and hiring aizawa was a choice nezu will never regret. “i support this. it would be better than being sent to the foster system, wouldn’t it?”

hitoshi and mei looked at each other. it couldn’t be that bad. they didn’t really get why aizawa wanted to help, and why nezu wasn’t expelling them, but they weren’t in a position to complain. aizawa didn’t seem like someone like their parents. if things get worse, they’ll still have each other.

꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜‧.°.𖦹 .°.‧꩜ ‧.°. 𖦹.°.‧ ꩜

before aizawa accompanied them to their apartment, he took them to his place. it was a short drive from ua to his house. aizawa called ahead to say that he had company, explaining the situation to his husbands.

aizawa wasn’t lying — the house was spacious. he parked his car in front of the house before leading them inside. the entire lot was walled in. the lawn was spacious, and there was even an outdoor kitchen. the patio had a loveseat spacious enough for at least three people. he led them inside the modern home, where the scent of warm broth welcomed them. to their surprise, present mic was there. his hair was down, and he wore a plain yellow shirt and comfortable sweatpants.

“there you are! we’ve been waiting for you!” he exclaimed. hitoshi and mei bowed respectfully.

“aizawa-sensei didn’t tell us he lived with another teacher,” hitoshi said.

“shota,” aizawa said as he removed his shoes. “i’m not your teacher outside the school. nor is hizashi.” he casually made his way to the blonde, and to the kids’ surprise, he kissed hizashi’s cheek. shota glanced back at them. “we keep our lives private. we hope everything that happens inside our home will be kept that way.” mei and hitoshi give a quick nod.

“i am here... with dinner!” all might came from the kitchen, holding a large tray of food. their surprise about finding out that three of their teachers are in a relationship were secondary to their confusion about aizawa having two noisy, extroverted blondes as his boyfriends.

before talking about their living arrangements, the three of them made sure that the kids ate something. they could see that mei and hitoshi were trying to eat slow and graciously, but they wolfed down their meals quickly. toshinori was more than happy to keep feeding them. despite their ravenous eating, the kids were unnaturally careful. mei winced everytime her utensils made a noise, muttering a quick apology. hitoshi’s hands shook slightly when lifting bowls. he shared everything with his little sister, making sure that she eats first before he takes a piece.

after dinner, hitoshi and mei insisted on helping them clean up. “we can wash the dishes, really,” mei said. “please, it’s the least we can do.”

toshinori looked at his partners worriedly, before looking down at the small girl. “young mei, it’s no trouble. you of all people should be resting,” he said. still, mei and hitoshi began picking up the empty bowls. “it’s no trouble. we work in a restaurant, we’re used to—”

hitoshi was cut off as mei dropped a glass on the floor. he looked at shota and hizashi, who quickly stood up and walked to them. he was frozen in fear. mei kept staring at the shattered glass, her face draining of color. their hands and feet suddenly felt cold. hitoshi quickly stepped in, shielding mei from the adults.

“it was an accident, she didn’t mean it,” he said protectively. “we’ll clean it up!”

shota, hizashi, and toshinori looked at each other. they all stepped back, giving the kids some space. toshinori raised his hands before speaking. “we know it’s an accident. it’s okay. we were worried that mei got hurt,” he told hitoshi. the kid looked at them warily, still guarded.

“we need to check if mei got cut from the glass,” shota said slowly. “her hand was already injured earlier. if she’s hurt, then we need to take care of it immediately.”

mei stood still. frozen. hitoshi gently guided her away from the shattered glass, and toshinori led them to the couch. hitoshi watched him carefully. “we’re here, little mei. we won’t hurt you. we just want to make sure you’re okay.” toshinori observed the girl. she still wasn’t speaking, and her face still had that blank look. hitoshi rubbed her shoulders, and she looked at him, her eyes still wide. slowly, she curled up beside him, sniffling as quietly as she can. mei was a lot smaller than hitoshi. she was at least a foot shorter than him. toshinori reached to touch her, but hitoshi shot him a look.

“don’t. you’ll scare her,” he hissed. upon seeing nothing but concern in toshinori’s eyes, hitoshi forced himself to speak more calmly. “we’re sorry. my sister doesn’t like being touched.”

toshinori gave an understanding nod and stepped back, returning to hizashi and shota. they had just finished cleaning up the table and the shattered glass. shota still looked worriedly at the kids from afar, while hizashi was oozing with anger.

“do we have their parents’ names?” he asked quietly, his green eyes on the kids. “i can give them a literal earful.”

shota and toshinori held hizashi’s hands. “we don’t. we’re not going to look for them,” shota said. “we’ll keep them in here.”

“what about that student who harassed mei?” toshinori asked, his usual smile now clenched in anger. “to think that he put his hand on her... she’s just a kid...”

“i expelled him. all necessary meetings and paperwork would be handled by nezu,” shota replied.

just then, the kids walked up to them. mei still looked fearful. she gripped hitoshi’s hands tightly as she looked up at them. “i can clean the dishes,” she said. “i promise i won’t break them.”

“it’s okay, little mei. you don’t have to,” toshinori said. mei’s lip curled in a frown, her eyes filling with tears again.

“a-are you not taking us in anymore?” mei asked. hitoshi looked at her worriedly. “don’t cry in front of them,” he told his sister. “we should leave—”

“no,” shota immediately said. “i told you we’re taking you in. a stupid glass won’t change that.” he knelt in front of them. a part of him was tempted to give them a gentle squeeze, but he held himself back. “you’re not leaving. we’re going to your apartment and we’ll help you pack your stuff, and you’re both moving in with us.” he made sure to look at mei and hitoshi’s eyes. “you understand?”