Cuddly Midori

Villain! Izu Gets Nightmares

It wasn't very often that Izuku had nightmares that kept him up, very rarely does something keep him from going back to sleep, but every time (in recent memory) that it happens, Kurogiri is there to help.

It was about three in the morning, the whole league had gone to bed two hours ago for one of their daylight escapades the next day, and Izuku had wandered down to the bar despite it being empty. He'd sat at one of the bar stools and cycled through his quirks, something that always managed to calm him.

First were the ones he got from his father, even letting a few less destructive ones out to play for a few moments, soft flashes of multicolored lights floating around the bar area, near inaudible indistinguishable music drifting through, faint comforting smells ever changing. Then he moved on to the ones he'd gotten from volunteers, mostly older people or terminally ill patients, checking to make sure they were all in their proper places. Last came the ones he'd stolen, from criminals, heroes, and civilians alike, matching quirk with faces he can't f̶o̶r̶g̶e̶t̶  remember the names of.

Each quirk a bright little star inside him, well over five hundred at this point, seven years into his stay with his father and the league. He was halfway through his second pass when he felt the familiar, fuzzy, cold quirk make it's way down to him. He opened his eyes and Kurogiri stood there, his glowing yellow eyes tilted in a way that told Izuku that he was worried.

A soft smile made it's way onto the boy's face as the mist man puttered about behind the bar, preparing the usual post nightmare drink; hot chocolate. "Morning Kuro, I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Good morning, young master. Of course you didn't wake me," he finishes the drinks, giving a hefty topping of whipped cream on both before sitting on the stool next to Izu.

They sit, drinking and talking until the sun starts to rise and Izuku begins to forget what had kept him up. With an abundance of head pats and not quite visible smiles from Kurogiri, Izuku was ushered back up to bed for a few hours.

When he comes back down that afternoon to go over the plan with the group one last time before they act on it, he was well rested and lighter, all smiles and jokes. Kurogiri was relieved as Shigaraki and Dabi fought over who would get to act as Izu's seat. In another room, All for One was watching the monitors with a fond smile, reaffirming that he'd chosen the right successor, and a smaller part of his mind was happy he'd chanced upon the boy's mother all those years ago.