Archive of Our Own ^beta

shouta felt numb.

everything seemed dull. fuzzy. far away. it took him far too long to recognize hizashi. when he eventually did, they tried telling him what had happened. tried. he couldn't quite understand- the words that went through his mind felt like trudging through mush, slowly and thick and not quite coherent.

he wasn't the same. he knew that much.

he had been missing for months, turned into a nomu, hizashi had mentioned. he felt like he should know what that meant. it felt like he did, like he was able to understand to a certain extent, but he can't seem to process it, to react.

he had eyes all over his body. not quite actual eyes. they look almost drawn on with red markers, but fully functional. blinking, shifting, seeing red eyes. hizashi told him they weren't supposed to be on his person, but he couldn't quite remember a time he didn't have them.

he was getting better though. he felt more in control of his words and thoughts. he couldn't quite remember much before... everything.

but hizashi was a huge help. patiently easing him into tales of what his life was like.

"da! daddy!"

all his eyes snapped over to the source of the voice. it was familiar. too familiar.

izuku.

the voice echoed within the walls, making the entire room freeze. shouta's mouth hadn't moved, hadn't opened to utter a single word. yet, everyone heard him loud and clear. it wasn't the first time shouta had 'spoke' but it was eery all the same- hearing him communicating almost telepathically.

that wasn't normal either, a little voice in his head that sounded a lot like hizashi reminded him. he needed training to control the output- the range of who can and cannot listen in on his thoughts or, er, speech. he got better at that too. the first time he tried to reply to hizashi, he had startled the occupants of the entire building with his voice in their heads.

he had gotten better, but the too familiar voice rattled him enough to have everyone in the room flinching.

izuku. he tried again, and the small child all but burst into tears in hizashi's arms. he knew this name. he knew this boy.

but he can't remember.

and for the first time since they started his rehabilitation, shouta felt genuinely frustrated at the fact.

he could not remember, his head foggy, refusing to recall his memories, the life he knew he has lived.

and yet, shouta's mind swirled in a frenzy of thoughts, desperate to recall something, anything about this name.

izuku.

this name brought forth... feelings? emotions.

izuku.

it was attached to feelings of... joy? fondness. unbearable fondness. it made him feel... warm. light. there was so much happiness attached to this child. he... cared. he loved this kid.

even without his memories, shouta knew he loved this boy with everything in his being.

"daddy!"

to anyone else, all of shouta's red eyes littering his body snapping ahead to stare them down would most definitely be unnerving at the least. but not to the teary green-haired child furiously wriggling in hizashi's hold, trying to reach his dad, regardless of how he didn't exactly look the same since he last so him.

"youch! izu!" hizashi's yelp tore shouta out of his thoughts. he drifts a lot, it was difficult to focus sometimes. difficult to focus on too many things at once. now, all his attention was on the little green haired child bounding over to him, barely registering that izuku had escaped hizashi who was clutching his hand.

izuku. his baby. he-

he had a baby.

baby.

"daddy!" the tot cries as he frantically scrambles into his dad's lap, into his dad's arms. "daddy left izu! daddy left izu for so long-"

sorry. sorry, baby.

everything fades into the background as shouta's attention narrowed down to fretfully comforting the wailing child in his arms. the tot held on to his dad almost desperately, as though he would be taken away from shouta if he didn't and shouta clutched the small child in his arms just as intensely.

he cooed worriedly when izuku wouldn't stop sobbing, resolutely bundling him up in a hug before he started purring. the rumbling vibrations startling a laugh out of izuku, the sound putting a fond smile to the father's lips.

baby. my baby.

"notta baby," izuku managed to mumble wetly between hiccups. his little hands grasped around his dad's neck, chubby fingers tangling into black hair, unwilling to let go of his father ever again.

shouta started humming. something familiar but he couldn't put a name on, couldn't quite remember. it didn't matter though. he held his child close, cradling him to his chest as he rocked and hummed to soothe the shuddering breaths that wracked through izuku's little body into something smoother.

mine. baby mine.

"yes, sho. he's yours. no one's taking him from you," hizashi's voice broke the silence.

izuku whines in distress at the mere suggestion of being separated from his dad again and a growl erupted from the nomu warningly. shouta's eyes- all of them- flicked up to meet his old friend's, narrowed in clear assertion that he was willing to level cities to ensure nothing would get in between him and his child.

"i know, mama bear," hizashi huffed, rolling his eyes fondly, the wariness of facing his bestfriend turned nomu long gone since when they first met again. "put those threatening eyes away though, shou. you're scaring people."

a rumble.

"no, that is not the point, shouta," he scolded. "and izu-chan! we don't bite people to get what we want!" he continued, because he was in a lecturing mood it seemed. his words made shouta tilt his head curiously at the child in his lap though.

baby bit zashi?

izuku looked up at his dad, only looking the slightest bit remorseful as he nodded. the man purred, proudly, making the boy giggle again, the sound igniting something he thought was long gone in his chest.

good job, baby.

"shouta, no!"