Glass Heart

Glass Heart - Chapter Twelve

"Ice cream! Ice cream! We all sing for ice cream!" Izuku sang with Hizashi, clutching at each of their hands like a lifeline.

"Shoutaaaa!" Izuku cried. "You gotta sing too! Otherwise the ice cream won't be as good!"

Sometimes Shouta forgets that Izuku is nine.

"Yeah Sho!" Hizashi joins in on tormenting him, "Sing with us!"

Shouta sighed, for an extremely long time, while he worked up the courage to join them in song. "Ice cream... ice cream... yay..." Shouta mumbled, following Izuku and Hizashi into the ice cream store.

"What would you like?" The cashier asked them, as they strolled up to the counter.

"Coffee flavour please." Shouta mumbled to the cashier, turning to Hizashi and Izuku. "What would you guys like?"

"Chocolate please!!" Izuku asked, stars practically bursting from his eyes.

"I'll just have vanilla please." When Shouta gave Hizashi a confused expression, Hizashi grinned and added. "Make sure to include every topping."

Shouta sighed. "Of course. Anyway, one coffee, one chocolate and one everything vanilla please."

As he paid, Hizashi guided Izuku to one of the free tables. It was a simple four seater table, in the corner of the shop - to limit people recognising Hizashi in civilian clothes.

"Is this table alright Izuku?" Izuku nodded and sat in the chair that was closest to the window.

"Yamada?" Izuku asked.

"Yes, Midoriya?" Yamada replied, taking his coat off, and laying it on top of the chair he was about to sit on.

"Are you and Shouta... dating?"

"I...! I... umm... Shouta?" Hizashi called, not sure whether Shouta would mind him telling Izuku about their relationship.

"Yes, we're dating, kid." Shouta said, appearing out of nowhere while carrying three small ice creams. He placed the food on the table, and ruffled Izuku's hair fondly. "Now please sit down, we wanted to chat with you about something..."

"O - oh, okay..." Izuku said, sitting down as countless anxiety-inducing thoughts raced through his mind. Were they going to leave him? Were they going to take him back to his dad's house? Do they hate him?

"Kid!" Shouta placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We don't hate you, we're not taking you back to your dad, and we're not going anywhere."

Izuku awkwardly glanced upwards at him. "O - Oh, was I talking out loud...?"

"Izuku, don't worry about it, okay? Here's your ice cream." Shouta interrupted his thoughts, sitting next to Izuku, and pushing the chocolate ice cream towards him.

As Izuku gently tapped at the ice cream with his spoon - too nervous to eat it - he focused on Shouta and Hizashi's facial expressions, trying to discern their emotions, something he used to constantly do with his own dad.

"What... what did you want to talk to me about?" Izuku asked, putting down his spoon.

"Ah, well..." Hizashi turned to Shouta, silently asking Shouta to talk to Izuku on his behalf. "I don't think I should be the one to tell you." At Izuku's frantic expression, Hizashi quickly tried to comfort Izuku. "No, no, I mean I'm just bad at talking seriously-" Izuku's expression got worse, "-no! I... I mean-!"

Shouta took over. "What he means kid, is that I think you'd prefer to hear this from me, I... I hope you think this is good news."

Izuku quietened down, and Shouta took the opportunity to remove a piece of paper from his bag.

"Izuku, we can't take you back with your father, so for now, we want you to live with us."

"Live... with you?" Izuku muttered, shakingly grabbing the paper Shouta passed to him.

"Yes. First we'd need to prove your dad isn't fit to take care of you - so you may have to attend court... but you can live with us from now on anyway, as we can use our status as heroes to forcibly remove you from the household. We cant adopt you or anything until your dad is labelled as unable to take care of you though."

"Oh... y - you really want... me? Not some - someone else, w - with a quirk?"

"We want you." Hizashi interrupted, leaning forwards, and trying to speak as calmly as possible. "We want you to live with us. Yes, we could take care of some other kid - but they wouldn't be you, little listener. Please say you'll live with us..." Hizashi clapped his hands together in a praying form, and bent low, almost coating his hair in his ice cream.

Tears trickled down Izuku's cheeks. When was the last time someone cared about him this much? When was the last time he felt so... so happy?

He could practically feel his mother's presence in the room, giving her blessing for these two men becoming his parents.

"All you have to do is say 'yes', kiddo." Shouta said, getting out of the chair and crouching, to put himself at eye level with Izuku.

Izuku broke contact and turned back to his dessert for a split second, wanting to stop the dryness in his throat, and popped a small bit of ice cream in his mouth.

It was sweet.

"Y - Yes."

Hey guys! Peachy here. I hope you all had a great Christmas!

So as some of you may know, I'm actually spending most of the holiday - the times when I'm not studying or at work - writing a different fanfiction, one based on Danganronpa 2, with Komahina, called New Hope.

Well that is almost finished! Once I finish it, the remainder of my spare time will be back to this fanfiction, and hopefully I'll be able to upload a bit more, but I can't promise anything...

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!

But for now...

Peachy out! 😊