Trust Falls

The past echoes

The silence after Inko's question was heavy and charged as she and Katsuki stared each other down. The blonde's hands flexed in front of him as he outright resisted the urge to pop off miniature explosions in his palms. He didn't dare do that in Inko's home, years of punishments and scolding lingering in the back of his mind.

From a better perspective Katsuki could now see exactly how things had gotten to the point where Izuku would rather be a criminal than come home to this woman. The skin on his arms crawled just thinking back to how much he admired this woman once upon a time. Thought she was so much nicer than his own mother.

Katsuki swallowed down the bile that rose up in his throat at the thought. How had he been so blind?

Izuku laid his hand on Katsuki's arm, giving it a small squeeze and shooting him a look that very clearly said he needed to stand down. Katsuki bit back a snarl and let the other teen step out from behind him and face his mother again.

"I told them not to." He said evenly, meeting his mother's gaze. From where he stood Katsuki could see his shoulders square as he prepared for whatever this confrontation would bring. "And that's not why I'm here right now."

"Oh? And do tell, Izuku, why you decided to grace your poor mother with the knowledge that you aren't dead." Inko's voice was cold as she stared down her son, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I wanted you to look me in the face and tell me my father isn't a criminal." He ground out and from Katsuki's place behind him he could see the way Izuku's hands flexed at his sides.

He glanced away from the mother and son in front of him to Aizawa, whose gaze was bouncing between the two of them quickly and very much looked like he wanted to jump in and try and control the situation. It was obvious that alarm bells were going off in the man's head at the tone both of the Midoriya's were using.

Inko throwing her hands in the air drew Katsuki's attention back to the woman.

"I don't know what you want from me, Izuku! He left and I did my best to take care of you. For all the good it did me." She lifted her hands to her face again, pretending to wipe away tears as she turned to Aizawa. Her attempt at sympathy was met with a raised brow.

The woman's mouth clicked shut around whatever she was about to say to the man. It was obvious from the look on his face he was not going to take her side in this conversation.

"You didn't have to lie to me and tell me some story about him being in America!" Izuku mirrored his mother by throwing his hands up in the air before turning away from the woman and dragging a hand through his curls. "You could have handled this like a god damn adult instead of letting me walk into that man's hands without even realizing!"

Inko rocked backwards like she'd been struck at his frustrated yell, brow furrowing as Izuku turned back to face her. The look on his face was pinched and upset and Katsuki wanted nothing more than to pull him away and leave. To avoid this entire conflict.

But that wouldn't help anything. It wouldn't bring Izuku the closure or the answers he so desperately seemed to want.

"What does that mean? I've been the adult in his situation. I've been here. I didn't abandon you because you didn't get a quirk." Inko spat the word quirk like it was disgusting on her tongue. "God forbid I try and protect you from the truth of that hurt."

The green haired teen didn't even bother trying to stop the sarcastic laugh from bubbling up in his chest. His hand came up to cover his face as he attempted to bring himself back under control, shoulders shaking with the force of his laughter.

"Protect me? Protect me?!" Izuku dropped his hand, a cold kind of mirth dancing in his eyes. "You didn't protect me from anything! Your favorite way of dealing with everything was to act like it didn't happen!"

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about." Inko scoffed and waved a dismissive hand in his direction. "I protected you from everything I possibly could."

Izuku turned to face Katsuki, his face screaming for him to confirm what he'd just heard. It made Katsuki's stomach clench and twist uncomfortably when he realized that Aizawa was watching him as well, lips turned down in a frown and brows furrowed.

Before he could answer, Izuku was turning back to his mother with a feral gleam in his eyes.

"I came home every day from school with torn clothes or bruises and you did nothing." He spat, taking a step closer to his mother. "I cried myself to sleep every night because kids and teachers alike made it very clear that I was never going to be accepted by any of them."

Inko opened her mouth but Izuku held up his hand and silenced her. Gone was the 'helpless Izuku' act that the teen thought his mother would eat up and he had donned at the beginning of the interaction. Katsuki couldn't even tell you if the woman had noticed that it was an act at first, either, so wrapped up in her own little world and pity party.

No, the energy he was giving off was the same vibe Katsuki had seen in the other teen when he'd stood in front of the burning League hideout joking with Toga and Dabi.

There was no way Inko could mistake this for the same boy that had walked out of her home on that day almost three years ago. One some core level, the teen had changed and grown in ways that she probably couldn't even fathom.

This Izuku was confident and sure of himself. Katsuki didn't know what conclusion Izuku had come to in the past few moments but he could already tell whatever it was, Inko was not going to like it.

"First year of middle school, we both sat in that teacher parent conference where my homeroom teacher told you that you might as well get used to the idea of taking care of me for the rest of my life because I had no future." Izuku's voice was cold and closed off as he laughed, posture loosening as he purposely did not look at Katsuki and Aizwawa. "And you apologized to him for my 'behavior'."

The woman's face and eyes hardened and she crossed her arms over her chest, obviously done with this conversation.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Izuku." She shook her head, heaving a sigh. "I did the best I could. It's not my fault that you couldn't wrap your mind around the realities of the world. All you had to do was be realistic and keep your head down."

Something shifted in Izuku's posture, all of the fight leaving him. Katsuki watched him warily as all of the tension drained out of the other teenager and his head cocked to the side. It set off alarm bells in his mind as the teen was silent for several long moments.

It seemed to unnerve his mother as she watched her son. She shifted a little while she waited for him to say something. Finally the teen lifted his head and smiled at his mom, head cocking even further to the side.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I wish things were different." He said, a weird cadence to his voice like he was quoting something. "I'll make sure you never have to deal with me again."

SMACK

Both Aizawa and Katsuki jumped at the sound of Inko's palm cracking against Izuku's cheek, his head snapping sideways with the force of it. Inko's entire posture was filled with furry as she raised her hand to repeat the action.

Immediately the two of them moved, Katsuki pulling Izuku back behind him and Aizawa stepping between Izuku and Inko.

Katsuki carefully turned Izuku's face towards him, rage building his gut as he took in the obvious handprint reddening across his face. The teen didn't say a word, just leaning into Katsuki with a far away look in his eyes. A part of Katsuki wanted to take the green haired teen's phone out of his pocket and call Dabi himself. It was a tiny part that would revel in the destruction the both of them could cause to this apartment and wanted to go feral on the very place that held so many awful memories for Izuku. He was sure Dabi would love a chance to have a crack at the woman since he was the one who put Izuku back together. Or at the very least watched what had to have been a heart wrenching process for the green haired teen. Instead, he was pulled out of contemplating giving in to his destructive tendencies by Aizawa turning to glare at him and motion towards the door with his head. The man was still blocking both of them from Inko's view. Katsuki could still see the fury in her eyes, though, and it was something he didn't think he'd ever be able to forget. It was now one of the many things he was going to have to make fit with the new knowledge that this woman was not who he thought she was. Not who his entire family thought she was. Gods. He was going to have to be the one to tell his mother about this. "Go. Get him out of here." The older man barked, fully pulling the teen out of whatever he was contemplating. "He is not going anywhere! He is my son and still a minor. He will be staying here with me where he belongs." Inko interjected, trying to step around Aizawa. The hero, however, was not having it and blocked her path once more and Katsuki took that as his opportunity to carefully herd Izuku down the hallway and to the front door. He paused as Aizawa's voice floated down the hallway, angry and low. "You just assaulted that child in front of a pro hero. What makes you think I'm ever letting him step foot back into this house?"