Chapter Text
Izuku doesn't move, he stands, looking at All for one's dead body, blood drips from his claws, and for a moment, everything is quiet.
Soon he hears distant voices and he barely registers them calling his name. The quiet didn't last very long.
The forest thing ignored the voices, he could barely hear them anyway. Instead, he shrunk down to his humanoid form, and took a breath to calm his nerves, before looking around with a new determination in his eyes. Izuku needed to find Hitoshi.
He started moving without a second thought, walking past the Pro heroes who had been calling his name, not even sparing them a glance as he passed.
They called to him again. Izuku recognized one of the voices as Present Mic but paid the man no mind.
Izuku walked off the battlefield, onto streets that, while still covered with rubble, were considerably more clear than where the actual battle had taken place.
He passed an ambulance where All Might was being cared for, only looking for a moment to make sure the hero wasn't too hurt.
Izuku kept walking, slowly picking up speed until he was running through the city streets as fast as he could without the boost of being in a forest.
Soon he arrived outside the bar where the league had been hiding and a familiar head of purple hair came into view.
The forest thing ran over to the teen like a dog excited to see its owner after they returned home, which, ironically, was a situation Izuku was quite familiar with.
His arms wrapped around Hitoshi as soon as he was close enough, the teen would have fallen over from the force of Izuku running into him had the forest thing not been holding him.
Hitoshi stumbled slightly and tensed up at the contact.
"Hitoshi, I was so worried about you!" Izuku Looked up at the taller, green eyes meeting purple.
Faint recognition flashed through Hitoshi's eyes as he looked at the forest thing.
"Izuku...?" he mumbled.
The forest thing perked up at his name, nodding quickly. "Are you hurt? Did they hurt you? If they did, I'll track them down. I promise. Nobody hurts my kids!" Izuku rambled.
The tension in Hitoshi's shoulders fell. His arms wrapped around Izuku and his head lowered to rest on his shoulder, purple hair tickling Izuku's nose.
The forest thing cut off his rambling and hugged Hitoshi closer.
"You're okay now. I'll keep you safe, I promise."
It had been a day since the fight. Hitoshi didn't need much medical attention so he left the hospital this morning.
Thankfully, before everything went to shit, Nedzu was able to get Hitoshi out of his bad foster home, along with any other foster kids that were being mistreated, and put into emergency foster care with a good home.
Izuku was quite happy when he found out Hitoshi would be going with Aizawa, he deserved someone who would take care of him and Izuku knew Aizawa would do his best, even if it was temporary.
With All for one taken care of, though some weren't happy with Izuku's methods of taking care of him, everything was slowly going back to normal, or as normal as their lives could be. Most of the students and the heroes were out of the hospital, repairs were being made to damaged areas of the city, and classes at UA would be starting again soon. Nedzu was even having dorms made for the students.
Those who were at the Kamino ward fight were enjoying their victory, especially All Might, who had watched All for one kill his mentor when he was young and had been trying to bring him down since. But Izuku couldn't celebrate.
Katsuki still hadn't woken up. The doctors assured Izuku that he was fine, that everyone heals differently and some take longer than others, but he couldn't help but worry.
Once Aizawa came to get Hitoshi, Izuku had gone back to Katsuki's room and sat in the same chair he had been sitting in before Nedzu had asked for his help.
Izuku sighed. He wished he was able to help his kid somehow. Wished he could have stopped him from getting hurt, or maybe he could have prevented the attack on the camp altogether, then none of his kids would have been hurt.
But even a forest thing has its limits. Even with all his power, he isn't able to protect everyone all the time, even if he wished he could. He couldn't, it wasn't possible.
A shuffle and a groan stopped Izuku from spiraling further and pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked at the blond laying on the hospital bed and found red eyes staring at him.
"What the fuck happened?" Katsuki asked, his voice strained from not being used for days.
Without noticing, Izuku grabbed Katsuki's hand, holding it tightly. "The camp was attacked by the league. One of the villains knocked you out with some sort of gas" he spoke quietly.
The teen grunted as he looked around the hospital room. His eyes landed on a clock on the table next to him that read, 1:34 pm.
Katsuki's eyes snapped back to Izuku, "How long have I been asleep?"
Izuku thought for a moment. He had lost track of time from the attack on the camp until now and waiting for Katsuki to wake up definitely felt longer than it probably was.
"I think about three days," He sounded somewhat unsure, but the answer sounded right.
For a moment both of them were silent. Izuku looked down at his lap and Katsuki stared at the forest thing with sharp eyes.
"You don't need to be worried, you know. I can take care of myself." Katsuki crossed his arms, almost pouting.
Izuku lifted his head to look at him. He knew Katsuki was only saying this to make himself feel less vulnerable or weak, he had been this way since Izuku had met him. The teen's grumpiness strangely comforted the forest thing. It meant he was awake. He was still here.
Izuku leaned forward, wrapping Katsuki in an almost suffocating hug and he couldn't help the tears that came to his eyes.
"I thought you wouldn't wake up," Izuku cried.
At that moment, Katsuki's tough-guy act broke. He hugged Izuku tightly while trying to hold back his own tears.
He had known Izuku for ten years yet he had only ever seen the forest thing cry one other time. It was while they were watching a sad movie, Katsuki didn't comment on it at the time, mostly to hide the fact that the movie had him close to tears as well.
But this was way different. These weren't tears caused by some stupid film, Izuku was so worried that he had broken down with emotion when he found out Katsuki was okay. It was nice to know the forest thing cared about him so much, but it also made him feel guilty for the pain he cause.
"Quit crying on me, you'll fill this tiny ass room with your tears and we'll both drown," Katsuki complained but didn't pull away from the hug.
Izuku gave a wet laugh as he slowly let go of his kid and sat in his chair again, wiping tears off his freckled cheeks with his hand. "I'm just glad you're okay."
"Yeah, yeah." Katsuki looked down at the blanket that covered his legs. "I'm glad you're okay, too."
The forest thing smiled softly. He considered himself lucky for finding Katsuki that day in the forest. He always said it was the best thing to happen to him and even though Katsuki would complain about Izuku being annoying, he couldn't imagine what life would be like if he hadn't found Izuku.
Izuku opened his mouth to say something when the door to the room flew open and in walked Katsuki's parents.
They froze and stared when they noticed Izuku sitting by their son's bedside. Normal this wouldn't be a problem, but considering Izuku was in human form right now, it was a bit of a problem.
"Brat, who the hell is this?" Mitsuki asked, voice loud as usual.
Green eyes once again met red eyes and the two looked silently panicked for a moment.
"Well?" Mitsuki pushed, her voice getting louder.
The two turned to look at the blonde woman and spoke at the same time. "We can explain!"