Hizashi rolls out of bed relatively early and carefully extracts himself from Shouta's arms. He knows that he probably didn't get to sleep until late, his patrol schedule giving him trouble. Even on days off he tends to lie awake until late at night and delay waking as long as possible. His mind refusing to let him rest. He gets dressed and ready for the day and leaves to check on Izu.
As he exits his room and walks towards the other he's greeted with a truly adorable sight. Izu peaking through the ajar door and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, his hair messy and unruly, the blanket Hizashi bought draped around his shoulders. He startles once he notices Hizashi and stutters out a soft good morning.
"Good morning, Little Listener!" He returns just as quietly. "I bought some stuff for that wildly cool hair of yours, it's in the bathroom if you want to take a shower before breakfast."
"ok."
Hizashi watches as he heads back into his room, no doubt to retrieve some clothes and makes his way to the kitchen. There's enough left over from yesterday's breakfast to warm up so Hizashi decides to go with that. Sighing, he gets the rice out and putters around, humming and thinking of all the things they could do today. It's probably best not to go out much yet, but there's plenty of things they can do in the apartment. There's so much to catch up on!
Izu comes back just in time for breakfast and sits with him at the table. Hizashi is delighted to see that he decided to wear his merch hoodie, it's adorable and he has to restrain himself from squealing with happiness. He looks better too, the shower really helped. His hair especially is less tangled and matted. Hizashi can see hints of what a healthy and safe Izu would look like, his cheeks filled out and smiling. He can't wait to get him to that point. Izu seems hesitant to eat but after Hizashi explains that Shouta won't be up for awhile complies.
"So, Izu, is there anything you'd like to do today?"
"um, I-I don't, a-anything's f-fine."
"hmmm, you know what I like to do on days off?"
"n-no"
"Baking! I love having homemade snacks around to eat whenever I get a bit hungry after work or something. The fact I made it makes it even better! You don't have to, but if you like we could try making something together."
Izu seems a little surprised at that. Whether because he gave him a choice or because he wants to do it together or because of something else Hizashi doesn't know. He rallies quickly though and chews on his lip a little before giving a shy nod of agreement.
"Great! What do you think about muffins?"
After breakfast they look through some recipe books and Hizashi is delighted when Izu shyly points out a blueberry muffin recipe. Izu watches from the counter and reads off the recipe as Hizashi runs around the kitchen and makes sure they have everything they need. For Izu's sake he throws in some dramatics, spinning around the kitchen and dramatically searching for ingredients. It earns him a tiny little stifled giggle and no matter how their muffins turn out Hizashi will remember this as a success. He wants Izu to smile and giggle and laugh like a child should and if it takes getting dizzy pretending to look for the sugar to get even a hint of it, Hizashi will do it all again in a heartbeat.
He helps Izu get the dry ingredients together and watches him sift them together, he's flagging a little by the end so Hizashi handles the wet ingredients and mixing the batter all together. Izu puts the batter in the liners with a precision of an artist. He matches Hizashi's example almost perfectly each time, focusing intently. It's endearing how much effort he's putting into making them great. Judging by Shouta's expression when he comes in for his coffee and breakfast, he agrees. They both pause for a moment softly watching the child stick out his tongue in concentration, for once seemingly enough at ease to ignore them.
Shouta breaks his gaze first and heads to the coffee maker, they wouldn't want to give Izu cause to put his guard back up. While he's there Izu looks up at Hizashi shyly.
"I'm d-done, I th-think, it m-might not be v-very good..."
"It looks rockin' Little Listener, great job! I'll throw it in the oven and we'll have to give it try later while it's still warm!"
"o-ok." Hizashi gets a tiny excited smile and returns it with a beaming one of his own.
-
After putting their hard work in the oven and setting the timer Hizashi heads over to join Shouta on the couch. Izu joins them with only some hesitance, taking up residence on an armchair nearby. They sit in silence for a few moments before Shouta speaks up.
"So kid, did you like baking with 'Zashi?"
He gets a hesitant nod in response and they fall into a slightly more awkward silence.
"How about we take turns asking each other questions?" Seeing Izu visibly stiffen, Hizashi quickly amends. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to and we won't ask about about your past or anything, just to get to know each other better, ya dig?"
Izu nods stiffly and starts fiddling with his fingers. Hizashi cringes at how white they get as he twists them but is saved from having to say anything by Sake making an appearance and jumping into the kid's lap. He shifts to giving Sake attention, as quietly ecstatic at getting the cat's attention as ever.
"I'll go first!" Hizashi starts them off, "What do you like to eat?"
Izu looks solidly thrown for a moment before scrunching his face a little and really thinking about it.
"I-I used to like K-Katsudon, I think. N-not that your f-food isn't good, I'm really g-grateful-"
Hizashi watches, pained, as Izu spirals, shrinking into himself as he goes. It's obvious he's afraid of being denied food if he doesn't seem grateful enough. It's upsetting to see a child who's so clearly been taught to view food as a privilege to be taken away. Thankfully, Shouta interrupts for him.
"That's great kid, we'll have to try some Katsudon sometime and see if you still like it. Do you have a question for either of us?"
"um, c-could, could I ask about your quirks?"
The question is rushed out so quickly it takes Hizashi a second to process. It's a bit odd but he'll take any opening he can.
"Sure thing Little Listener, what do you want to know?"
"W-when I was upset yesterday, it felt like I was r-relaxing when you w-were humming even though I was still s-scared. W-was that part of your quirk?"
"You got it! I try to stick with screaming most of the time and there isn't much combat potential in it but my quirk isn't just being loud. I figured out that I could use it to calm people down in high school."
"T-that has so much p-potential! You could calm down whole groups of people if you were loud enough! I wonder what else you could-"
Hizashi glances at Shouta from his spot as Izu devolves into unintelligible mumbling. Izu seems genuinely fascinated by the potential applications of his quirk, his eyes shining and hands clenching like he wants to write something. Didn't Shouta say something about notebooks?
Eventually Izu realizes himself and squeaks out an apology. Shouta goes next.
"Are you interested in quirks kid?"
"Y-yeah, I'm s-sorry, everyone says it's cr-creepy, but I don't mean to be! I promise! there's just so much to learn about them, how they work, what they could do."
By the end Izu has shrunk in on himself again, not quite preparing for a blow but close.
"That's fine, I was just curious. I don't think it's creepy, not many people are interested in quirks in general especially at your age. They're usually distracted by their own."
Izu nods a little and then, realizing it's his turn again turns to Shouta.
"W-what's your quirk Aizawa-san?"
"Mine's called Erasure, I can erase the quirk of anyone in my line of sight while it's activated."
"Does it work with all quirks? Probably not mutant types, right?" After getting a nod from Shouta he goes on, "Does it work with part of a mutant type quirk? Like a chameleon quirk were the user can stick to walls and camouflage. Would it erase the camouflage, since that has to be activated? Or nothing?"
"It depends on the quirk," he shrugs, "honestly it's hard to tell if it'll erase any part of a mutatation quirk, it usually doesn't though."
"that's so interesting! I wonder..."
Hizashi and Shouta look at each other in shock as Izu accurately deduces the possible effects of a transformation quirk being stopped mid-transition. This kid is smart. It's raw and unfocused but Hizashi can see how much analysis potential is just waiting to be nurtured and encouraged.
They answer his seemingly never-ending questions until lunch, reveling in how he slowly opens up. They only pause to have muffins once they're done. They turn out great and Izu's eyes shine with delight.
Hizashi is generous with his complements and delights in the way Izu blushes at his praise.
-
After lunch Hizashi declares that it's time for a movie! They put on Kiki's Delivery Service, a rather old film but perfect for a clearly flagging kid. Izu falls asleep halfway through after a valiant battle to keep his eyes open. He curls up in the chair and Hizashi drapes his new blanket over him to keep him warm.
The rest of the day passes peacefully, Shouta does some grading and Hizashi tries to relax. Once Izu wakes up Hizashi shows him the cat toys so he can play with them. He seems delighted and spends time entertaining each cat with varying success. Aiko isn't too interested but Sake more than makes up for her lack of enthusiasm.
Eventually he heads to his room and come dinner, Hizashi finds him writing furiously in one of his new notebooks. Dinner goes well, Izu opening up just a little more and engaging in the conversation. He doesn't fall asleep halfway through again but does head off to bed rather early. Hizashi and Shouta following much later.
-
Getting ready for bed themselves, Hizashi and Shouta quietly discuss how to proceed from here.
"You have his file in your office, right?"
"Yeah, haven't read it though."
"That's probably for the best."
"I think I'll try to get him to talk to Tsukauchi tomorrow, he's not going to like it but I can't hold them off forever."
"That sounds reasonable."
"I just hope it isn't as bad as it seems... He's such a sweet kid. Maybe we can take him out for something afterwards."
Shouta just hugs him in response. They stay like that for awhile and just hold each other. Finally, Hizashi takes out his hearing aids and joins Shouta in bed.
-
Neither of them hear the child get up for a drink of water and eavesdrop on their conversation. Neither of them know the inaccurate parts he manages to hear. Neither of them see his mind working to put the pieces together. Neither of them watch him come to the wrong conclusion and neither do they notice him pack his beat up little backpack and sneak out the fire escape and into the night. Instead they sleep, content in their plans to give him the healing and love he so needs.