There's not a lot of things that Izuku regrets in life. He doesn't regret getting knocked up by a one-night stand. He doesn't regret giving up his kids even if it put him out on the streets temporarily. He doesn't regret becoming a doctor, even when he has three surgeries in a row. He doesn't regret supporting his sister's dream of being a hero, even when it puts more financial strain on him. Despite all the trials and difficulties he's gone through, Izuku can say he has a good life.
One regret that he does have is letting his kids go on that stupid camp. It's just a wilderness survival camp by the Wild, Wild Pussy Cats company. They have a good track record with safety and proper training for their camps. He did all of this research beforehand. It seemed perfectly safe for Atsuhiko, Sabuki, and Chiharu.
When he comes fresh (opposite really, he's just performed surgery for 16 hours) from the operating room, there's 3 calls from an unknown number, 16 calls and 4 text messages from his little sister.
Hiori:
>The Wild, Wild Pussy Cats Kids' Wilderness Survivial Camp has reported a mass kidnapping. Atsu, Sabu and Chi-chi have been reported among the missing kids.
> The authorities have been notified and there's currently an ongoing investigation. Two members of the staff have gone missing. It's believed that they were involved in the kidnapping somehow.
> The police couldn't reach you so I got called instead. I told them you were probably in surgery and that I would pass on the information.
> I am so sorry Izuku.
A few tears slip out. He wipes them away. There's nothing he can do for his kids right now but he still has a job to do.
He continues on his way to tell the patient's family the good news.
If you ever put Izuku Midoriya and Hiori Hara in the same room, no one would ever connect that dots that they were related to each other.
Izuku is short while Hiori is tall. Izuku has curly, green hair while Hiori has pin-straight, blonde hair. Izuku has a cheerful disposition, always smiling while Hiori has the look of hunting tiger on her face, an intense focus to her eyes and a permanently frowning mouth. The differences go on and on, but you get the idea. Hiori and Izuku look as different as night and day.
Hiori Hara works as a sidekick in the Endeavor Heroics Agency. With her versatility and level-headed demeanor, she's been promoted from rank sidekick to division sidekick. This means that when Izuku visits her at work, he doesn't cry in front of 20+ heroes but only 2 other heroes. Ah, the luxury of an office.
"Izuku," Hiori strokes his hair, "It'll be okay. There's a lot of good heroes working on this case right now. Your little devils will be back before you know it. Just think of this as a mini-vacation without the kids."
Tectonne, working on reports behind his desk, winces at Hiori's blunt statement.
"Hiori!" Izuku wails, smacking her thigh hard. "H-how can yo-you say that? Is th-that how you break ne-news to victims? Did they ne-never teach you this in UA?"
Hiori rolls her eyes. Even in the midst of distress, Izuku is still doctor-ing. Sure, she's not great with emotions but she didn't say anything wrong, right?
Miss Guidance–the other office-mate–opens the door, sees a crying Izuku hitting Hiori and promptly turns around. She's had to deal with him once and once was enough, thank you very much.
"Why don't you go home? You said the hospital gave you time off?" Hiori tries her hand at comforting again, this time putting in the effort to soften her tone from it's usual harsh cadence.
"Only three days, the cheap bastards. That's only because I don't have any surgeries for the next three days and both Toyama and Dokite agreed to cover all my outpatients for those days. I wouldn't be suprised if they still call me in for an emergency op." Izuku gripes, obviously an old complaint.
"Still, why don't you go home? You can drown your sorrows in mochi and katsudon." Hiori at this point is trying to wriggle her way out from under Izuku. Izuku, despite his height, is pretty damn heavy.
"How can you push me away in my time of need?" He whines, clinging tighter.
"I have work, Izuku." Hiori waves her hands and her hands glow in covered light. She lifts him off more easy with assistance from her quirk.
"So you're just going to leave me here?" Izuku flops over dramatically, banging his head on the hard armrest. "Ow." He rubs the spot.
"Yes." She sits back down at her desk and starts writing up her analysis from where she had been rudely interrupted by her brother.
"You seem pretty stable despite your kids being kidnapped." Tectonne notes, watching the pair. He folds his cracked earth arms, giving a twirl in his swivel chair.
"It's probably because I haven't fully processed my emotions yet." Izuku dabs his eyes, still crying.
"It's probably because being a doctor has drained you of all your emotions. Plus, the kids have pretty strong quirks and they're all little demons who love giving hell to anyone and everything. Why do you think I'm so good at no collateral damage takedowns?" She clicks her tongue and makes a motion to point at Izuku. "I pretty much had to control them by myself for five hours a day without breaking anything."
"They're not that bad!" Izuku shoots up from his prone position to defend his kids. "Just because they sent you on that wild goose chase when they were four doesn't mean they like to give you hell."
'Four?' Tectonne mouths at Hiori.
She nods back, confirming that yes, they were smart, devilish four-year olds.
"Didn't they try sneaking out of the apartment not even two weeks ago? In the middle of the night? The only reason I caught them was because the motion sensor light went off." She retorts back. "Admit it, they like causing trouble."
"Okay, so they like having adventures. But they're not bad kids!" He settles back against the couch.
"I never said they were bad kids. They just… attract trouble." Hiori concedes, "So get out of my office and go sleep until the hospital calls you again."
Izuku whines, grumbles and huffs before he slinks out of the office. Of course as soon as he's out of Hiori's presence, he's the paragon of serenity and logic. Hiori's eye twitched as she heard Izuku smoothly greet a colleague and make chit-chat. Sibling relationships are some of the weirdest thing on this planet, you have two people who are like ice but put them together, they're wrestling over the remote.
"Are you sure everything is okay with your brother?" Tectonne asks, staring at her with his magma eyes.
"Yeah… he'll probably cry for real once he gets home. This was more of him checking in on me to be honest." She types away, trying to ignore her own anxiety gnawing at her bones.
"But still… losing your kids? That's terrifying. We don't even know why they were taken." He presses, moving his feet in that little shuffle maneuver to roll himself closer.
"He acts differently around me but Izuku's tougher than nails. His kids take after him, y'know? Except Izuku was much worse when he was younger. The thing about our family is that we hate not having anything to do. We're busybodies. It's in our blood. Just wait, if the kids aren't back in a week, Izuku will probably bring them back himself." She gestures, miming a nail and hammer with her light quirk.
"Well, I hope they get found soon and everything's okay." Tectonne sighs, finally returning to his own work.
"Me too."
Izuku has always had to be strong.
Be strong enough to take care of himself after his mom remarried. Be strong enough to help raise his little sister throughout middle school and high school. Be strong enough to handle all the insults and jeers his peers could throw at a quirkless omega. Be strong enough to get into medical school by himself. Be strong enough to raise and support his kids after getting knocked up. The list goes on and on. Izuku has always been strong enough to carry the weight of his problems and not break down.
That doesn't mean that sometimes… he wants to be able to cry, to breakdown, to be able to depend that someone else can take the burden off his shoulders.
There are nights when he curls up into a ball, sobbing silently and imagines that there's large hand rubbing his back.
Hiori's asked him if he knows the father of his kids. He said he remembered his face but never got his name. The reality is a bit more complicated than that.
Izuku never did get his name but the man had some really distinctive looks. Red and white hair is pretty uncommon after all.
For the first few years, Izuku held onto the hope that the father was possibly a Shouto fan who died his hair to imitate him. When the kids' quirks showed up, Izuku had to face the truth: he had slept with Shouto Todoroki.
Man was hot, Izuku admits. He was hot then and he is still hot now. He had a nice body, clean lines and broad shoulders. He only got more handsome with time. The face Izuku remembers was still on that cusp between teenager and adulthood, still some baby fat and acne left. Now when Izuku sees the Pro Hero on TV, he's got maturity of an alpha in his prime with the looks to match.
His looks are good, but there are many people who are good-looking. That was not what attracted Izuku to him that night. It was his scent.
It was sharp scent. It felt like breathing in the crisp winter air after a snowfall with woodsmoke drifting through. Okay, he might be exagerating a bit (a lot) because scents aren't that distinctive. It all depends on how your brain registers that scent and if sets off those little receptors in your hindbrain. Shouto's scent set off alarm bells when it hit him.
Some nights he dreams of it, being covered in his scent. He doesn't have to worry about bills, about how much work he has tomorrow, if his kids are staying out of trouble; Shouto is here (at least in his dreams) and everything will be okay.
So tonight, he cries. He muffles his sobs with his pillow and prays to every deity imaginable for his kids' safe return.
He pretends that there's someone else on the other side of the bed, just as distressed. He dreams of someone holding him and saying "This isn't your fault, Izuku. You did the best you could."
Shouto Todoroki lists through the file, absently scanning the victims' information. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why the kids were taken. They were all different ages, different dynamics, different quirks. There didn't seem to be a pattern as to why they were taken.
"So far, we have only identified the accomplices who took the children. We have teams currently investigating what avenues of escape they may have taken. We do not have any leads as motive or organization." Detective Nishida clicks through his powerpoint, a map highlighted with roads and trails leading out of the camp and general vicinty.
Dad is sitting his right, observing everything and saying nothing. He's been thinking of retiring, Shouto knows, but he still needs to support himself and their mother.
He, as well as all of his siblings, have been telling Dad to divorce Mom ever since Natsuo found out how much Mom spends. Their family is all sorts of fucked up but ever since Grandma and Grandpa Todoroki died, there's been more breathing room for his Dad.
Still Dad won't divorce. Shouto hasn't even considered Kotori to be his mother now for ten years now and the last time he saw her was three years ago.
The room is filled with heroes from different agencies. Some of them are from his own year. Creati and Sero-Tape represent Rubious Heroics. Tentacole, Vantablack and Long Weizi were sent from the Underground Heroics Coalition.
Momo looks troubled as she looks through the files. "Is it possible that the kids were kidnapped for organ trafficking?"
"What makes you say that?" The detective pauses in his report.
" People who are Type O are universal donors. All of the victims are Type O."
"Fuck." Someone curses out loud. Shouto couldn't agree more.