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Katsuki didn’t go home on weekends anymore. Not that he hadn’t tried to avoid it before, but with the ongoing court case and the school taking emergency custody of him, he probably wouldn’t have been able to if he wanted, and there was no way he wanted to.
But that left him mainly alone in the dorms, especially on Sundays when Deku and Shouto went to visit Shouto’s mother in the hospital. He could handle it- sometimes he even welcomed having the time to himself. And it wasn’t like he had never been lonely before.
(It was the first day of summer vacation, and the weather was beautiful. Most kids were hanging out with friends or family. Kari was at the arcade with the girl he’d been crushing on for forever. Apparently Deku was spending time with Inko, or at least that was what the hag had said, pointed and cruel, a guilt-laced bear trap. Katsuki didn’t take the bait, and instead spent the day in his room, door closed and blinds drawn, studying and doing pushups to remind himself he wouldn’t need friends when he got to the top.)
(It was game night with the self-declared ‘Bakusquad’ except Katsuki wasn’t there. He was at his parent’s house, lying in his bed and staring at the ceiling as his phone buzzed with group texts on his nightstand. His hag had lost a client today and had made him skip dinner, but the ache he felt wasn’t from hunger. His phone vibrated so hard it fell to the floor.)
(Deku was hugging Shouto, laughing and babbling about something or other. Katsuki in no way wanted to be part of the hug, ew, but. When he walked into the room they separated too quickly, and it got too quiet.)
But this Sunday, Katsuki’s thoughts were screaming at him. He had gone down to the common room, thinking it would help to not be cooped up, but it felt even worse. The common room was never this empty or quiet. He felt too small in the large space. Even Aizawa was taking a nap somewhere else. Katsuki read his textbook with unfocused eyes and thoughts.
He jolted at the sound of the dorm’s doorbell. It was connected to the visitor’s gate, which meant that whoever was ringing it had already gotten a certain level of clearance, but they still needed someone to let them in. He left his textbook on the counter- fuck off, he would put it away later- and went to investigate.
When he got to the gate, his eyes narrowed at the sight of Endeavor’s car parked in front of the school. He sent Shouto a quick text (why tf is ur old man here icyhot) and stormed outside of the gate, slipping his phone back into his pocket.
“Look you flaming shitbag, Shouto’s not fucking here so you can get-” In the middle of his yelling, the tinted passenger’s side window rolled down and he was met with a smile from the Number Two Hero, Hawks that looked sheepish. Familiar cackles echoed from the driver’s side and Katsuki stomped closer to the car so he could confirm that it was, in fact, Miruko driving.
“I taught you well, kid!” Miruko was absolutely beside herself with laughter, and Hawks looked at her with an almost frightened expression. A grin spread across Katsuki’s face.
“Fuck you, I came like this,” he replied on instinct. “What are you doing here? And why do you have Endeavor’s car?”
“It’s interns day out! Get in.” Katsuki complied, opening the door and locking eyes with Tokoyami, who had a plastic bag of apple slices sitting on his lap. Katsuki raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.
“You didn’t answer my second question,” he said, sliding into the car and buckling his seatbelt. Closing the door, he met Miruko’s eyes in the rearview mirror, and she winked obnoxiously.
“They stole it.” Tokoyami’s dead pan was met with an indignant squawk from his mentor and another chuckle from Miruko.
“Borrowed!” Hawks countered.
“Do you intend to give it back?”
“...Maybe?”
“They stole it.”
Katsuki’s phone buzzed against his thigh and he remembered that he’d texted Shouto.
I don’t know. He should be patrolling right now.
false alarm lol. Miruko stole his car
Miruko pulled out onto the road, and almost instantly she was taking turns that slammed Tokoyami and Hawks into the windows. Katsuki planted his feet, already used to her driving. It wasn’t bad, just… fast. Very fast.
Really, Katsuki should have expected that they’d go out to do something in public. A normal person’s ‘day out’ wasn’t sparring or training. Still, it felt surreal to see Miruko talking while picking at her salad and gesturing with various utensils as she talked. He didn’t tune her out, even though she was talking about the time she’d run into Shouto’s older sister and had fallen head over heels for her and how stealing the car was an excuse to get to see her again.
“-And you can’t steal a car and just not drive it, so I thought about what I wanted to do and, in a stroke of genius, I realized that I hadn’t seen my kid in forever! And then Hawks begged to come, so I thought-” Tokoyami choked, and she paused. The other bird quirked man thumped between his shoulder blades and he was able to catch his breath. “You okay, chickadee?”
“Sorry, I was just. Surprised. You called him your kid.” Katsuki blinked, processing.
And then his face flamed and he wondered how close he was to spontaneously combusting.
“Oh.” Katsuki looked up from the table to see the most uncertain expression he’d ever seen on Miruko’s face. She almost looked anxious as she met his eyes, and his breath caught as he realized why.
“Stop staring,” he muttered, before adding, “Mom.”
(“Mom, I don’t want to pose for your dumb photoshoot-”
Slap.)
(“Now listen here brat, I am your mother.”
That phone call still looped in his head sometimes.)
(“Katsuki, how come you don’t respect your mom anymore? I know Mitsuki can be a little, well, rough, but you’re always so polite when you come over here, and she’s done so much for you!”
Auntie Inko didn’t know what she was talking about. She didn’t.)
“I’m not that old, kid!” She cried, causing Bird One and Bird Two to erupt into laughter. Still, her relieved grin split her face and he smiled back, softer and more genuine than he had in a while.
They ended up shopping and running from using evasive maneuvers against the paparazzi, and then Tokoyami’s parents texted him reminding him that he had a curfew. His feathers fluffed up all embarrassed when Hawks offered to fly him there- they’d both had enough of Miruko’s driving- but he’d accepted, so Katsuki got the passenger’s seat on the way back to school.
“I’m not- I wouldn’t really be a good mother.” Katsuki wanted to argue, because even if she wasn’t already amazing, anyone would be better that the hag, but something in her tone made him look over at her. Her eyes were glistening as she stared at the road, and he blinked rapidly but not rapidly enough to stop his eyes from welling up with tears too. “I’m busy, kid. I apartment hop all the time and- no, don’t you dare laugh, that was not a pun-” Katsuki stifled his snort- “and I work a lot of double patrols. Shutterbugs would mob you. You deserve better than coming home on weekends to empty apartments that change every couple months and having to dodge more cameras than you can count. Besides, even my emergency foster license is limited; I’m not usually that type of hero.”
“But…” He was her kid. She had said it so easily. It had almost felt real. She took a shaky breath as she parked in the school’s visitor parking, the gates having opened for them already. Then she turned the car off, but instead of escorting him back to the dorms, turned to look at him.
“Have you… Have they figured out where you’re going to go after the case?” Katsuki didn’t want to answer her, because he did know. Aizawa had told him about it; he could become a ward of the school if he wanted, and he’d chosen that over the foster system.
“Yeah. I’m going to be a ward of the school.” Miruko brightened a little, her ears twitching up and grazing the roof of the car.
“I’ll still get to see you then. And then I know you’re being taken care of. It wouldn’t be much different from the kids in the dorms who can only see their parents on weekends.” Katsuki nodded hesitantly, the lump in his throat growing. “Are you gonna be alright with that?”
“Yeah,” he gritted out. Miruko could probably tell he was choked up, but she nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt. He mirrored her.
“C’mon, I’ll walk you up.”
They stopped at the door to the dorms, unnecessarily. The doorknob was right there, but Katsuki’s hands were shaking. He clenched and unclenched them at his sides, trying to keep away the pops of his quirk.
“Hey, look at me, kid.” Katsuki didn’t quite meet her gaze until she put both of her hands onto his shoulders. Her hands were warm, and he felt his bottom lip tremble as she stroked the neck of his t-shirt with her thumbs, a soft motion which frustratingly helped soothe him. Her eyes were concerned, but sincere. “Even without the papers that say so, you’re my family.”
It was a good thing she was one of the strongest pros he’d ever met. Otherwise, they would have both tumbled to the the ground when he slammed into her arms for a hug.