Shinsou sighed as he stared at the building in front of him, glancing down at the card one last time to make sure the address was correct. Midoriya's house for troubled children and teens... It was now or never, seeing as his foster parents were out of town for the day and would be home very late. That way they couldn't punish him for being home late after school. So if he was going to check this place out, it had to be today. Hopefully none of the other kids snitched on him...
Alright, here goes nothing. He walked up to the impressive looking front door and rang the bell. Shinsou heard some movement before the door opened, revealing a small woman who resembled Midoriya perfectly. She must be his mother. He vaguely remembered seeing her at the sportsfestival...
"Hello, can I help you?" she asked.
"Oh, uh... I uhm... I got this card and-" Shinsou explained, showing it to her. Inko's eyes widened, interrupting the purple haired male as he stumbled over his words.
"Oh, of course! Please, come in" Inko smiled, opening the door a bit further.
"My name is Midoriya Inko, my husband and I are the main caretakers of this house. What can I help you with?"
"Uhm, I just wanted to have a look around and learn more about, uh, what you do here exactly?" Shinsou said in a questioning tone, not sure if he was intruding or not. He didn't want to interrupt her if she was busy. He was sure there was always something to do in a place like this.
"Of course! Follow me" she smiled, gesturing down the hall as she started walking.
"Our main objective is to shelter vulnerable minors. We specialize in people who have difficult quirks, things that aren't easy to handle or that society doesn't accept, but also minors who have a difficult home situation. We give quirk counseling and help them fit in in a way they can still be themselves, fully independent and without fear"
Shinsou hummed, looking at the countless pictures on the wall as they walked by. There were group pictures, some larger than others. They all had years written underneath it, but that didn't mean they were in chronological order.
"Here we have the cafeteria! Well, it's not really a cafeteria but we call it that anyway" Inko chuckled as they arrived in a large room with a giant table.
"We all eat together here. At least, if everyone's schedules allow it. Some of the people living here are in college or go to uni or even have a job, you see. They aren't exactly minors anymore but we don't have the heart to kick them out... People who moved out of the house also often come over to eat with us, certainly when they've just left"
Shinsou's eyes widened at that. This wasn't the first time he was getting this kind of tour. He's been through several foster families claiming to be family friendly and open and showing him all the rooms and all the things they did. But when push came to shove, they were all the same. All afraid of his quirk, all reacting with violence and punishment and wanting to be in control at all cost. It wasn't only Shinsou though. No, he always shared foster homes with others. Kids from various ages, personalities, quirks...
But it was always all the same. Suffer until you're 18 and you can escape. That or get married before that so another family can take over the responsibility. Yet here...people actually stayed after they were officially an adult..? Not only were they allowed, but they did so willingly too. It was crazy to think about, weird and impossible for Shinsou to even consider. So what was the catch here..?
"Upstairs are the bedrooms, girls on the left and boys on the right. We try to give everyone their own little space, even if it's not all that big..." Inko continued with a small smile.
"Downstairs is the training area, which is accessible to anyone who wants to train their quirk in order to gain more control or to test out new things. Oh, and my husband's office is right there around the corner. People go there if there are problems or if something broke so we can replace it. Counselling sessions mostly happen in the rooms over there and, uh, am I forgetting something..."
She was seemingly thinking very hard about it as Hitoshi still marveled at the idea that a place like this could be real. A place where he could actually be supported and understood... Where people weren't afraid of him because everyone's quirk was at least a little fucked up...
"I'm home!"
Shinsou glanced over his shoulder, seeing Midoriya walk in and close the door. It surprised him he was here quicker than the one that lived here, but he didn't question it.
"Oh, I know! Let me get the brochure. All our activities and events are written down in there" Inko said, quickly walking back into the hallway, greeting her son as they crossed paths. Izuku's eyes widened as he saw Shinsou, a smile instantly coming to his face.
"Shinsou-kun! You came!" he exclaimed happily, immediately walking up to the insomniac.
"What can I say? I got curious" Shinsou shrugged.
"So? What do you think?" Izuku asked, making Shinsou shrug again. He hadn't really made up his mind. Something as good as this must have a catch hidden somewhere. He just needed to find it...
"I found it!" Inko smiled, coming back while waving a small booklet around.
"Here you go! Everything we do is in here"
"Thank you, Mrs Midoriya" Shinsou answered as he took it from her.
"Uhm, is there a chance I can talk to someone who lives here?"
"Sure! Izuku, why don't you take over from here? I still need to go get groceries"
"Of course, be safe mom" Izuku answered, waving her off.
"Your mother seems like a kind person" Shinsou commented as Izuku signed him to follow upstairs.
"She really is! I admire that about her" Izuku smiled.
"I hope that when I'm a pro hero, I can always be as kind as her"
Hitoshi smiled a little at that as well. That's a nice goal to have.
"So here are the bedrooms. Uhm, I don't know if everyone is back home from school yet but you can talk to anyone you want" Izuku stated.
"I'm actually kinda surprised we haven't run into anyone yet... It's weird for it to be this quiet during the day"
With that Izuku walked over to one of the doors at the end of the right hallway. Shinsou didn't know what was going on so he just followed, kind of curious to see where Midoriya was going all of the sudden.
"Dabi?" Izuku asked, knocking on the door. It was now that Shinsou noticed there were names hanging on most of the doors. The doors with no names probably aren't taken then...
"Come in!" was called out from inside, which was enough for Izuku to swing the door open. The room wasn't massive, but it wasn't super cramped either. Dabi sat on his bed against the wall, Tenko next to him. Both of them were holding a schoolbook and Dabi had a pen and papers laying next to him with notes scribbled on them.
"What is it? We're studying" Dabi said, acting annoyed. Izuku rolled his eyes, taking a step into the room.
"Do you guys know where everyone is? It's super quiet and I don't trust it"
"Oh, you don't know yet?" Tenko asked, rather surprised.
"Magne got approved for that quirk trail! She's going to be one of the first people to transition with the help of a quirk instead of surgery"
"Yeah, Hisashi took everyone out to celebrate" Dabi added.
"What? That's great news!" Izuku exclaimed happily.
"Wait, so why are you two still here?"
"Ugh, we have this asshole of a professor that gave us this giant fucking task and the score counts for a big part our total score for the course so it's a pain in the ass" Dabi groaned.
"Come now, it's not that hard if we just focus. We'll just have to suffer for, like, a few days and it'll be finished" Tenko tried to reassure him, only to make him bang his head against the wall behind him. It was easy to see Tenko wasn't looking forward to this either, but Dabi, like always, was being a little drama queen.
"Oh God, just please kill me now..."
"I'll leave you to it then! Don't burn anything down in frustration Dabi, you know dad doesn't like that" Izuku quickly said as he closed the door again. A muted 'Fuck off!' was heard from the other side, making Izuku chuckle a little bit.
"Sorry Shinsou, seems like there aren't a lot of people around you can talk to right now"
"Oh, uh, no, it's alright" Hitoshi said, being a bit overwhelmed by that conversation just now. He had no idea who Magne was but she must live here. And Hisashi was Midoriya's father, right? He took everyone out for a treat to celebrate she achieved something? That's... That's like something a real family would do... Shinsou didn't need any more confirmation to know this was genuine... He glanced down at the brochure in his hand, and sighed.
"I should get going anyway. I don't want to be home late"
"Oh, sure! I'll see you out" Izuku smiled, walking with him to the front door.
"Feel free to stop by anytime! You don't have to live here to be accepted, you know?"
"Yeah... I'll think about it" Shinsou smiled, giving him a small wave before walking off. Izuku closed the front door again, letting out a small sigh.
Shinsou seemed content with the tour, didn't he? Maybe he'll come by again sometime? Who knows? Izuku just hoped he'd get the guidance he needed. He seemed so lost, you know? Speaking of guidance, getting any from his dad today was probably not happening... Don't get him wrong, he was really happy for Magne, she should have her day of celebration.
"Oh, is that boy gone already?" Inko asked as she walked into the hallway.
"Yeah, he had to go home" Izuku explained.
"But I have the feeling we left a good impression on him"
"Well, I'm leaving now, do you need anything from the store?" Inko asked, adjusting her scarf, ready to go outside.
"No, I don't think so... I think I'm gonna go train downstairs for a bit. See you later mom, be safe" Izuku said as she kissed him on the cheek.
"You too" she replied before walking out the door. Izuku sighed, stretching before walking over to the elevator and going downstairs to the training area. His dad had taught him to always tell him when he wanted to try something new so he could supervise in case anything went wrong.
Izuku never really understood it since his dad is pretty much powerless against him, but it was the thought that counted, right? Anyway, Izuku was about to break that promise... If he couldn't talk to his dad in person, he'll just have to summon his voice again! If he could just see it again, that shadow of a man, maybe he could figure out what was going on! He could only hope though...
In all the years he's been training and learning about All For One, something like that never happened. Not even once! And Hisashi never said anything about weird visions either... Izuku took a deep breath, sitting down in the quiet room they used for people with quirks related to hearing and sound. Sometimes it could cause sensory overload and they could use this chamber to calm down.
But it was also a great way to train your sense of hearing, seeing as it cut off all sounds of the outside. Izuku remembered the times he trained his more stealthy quirks here, trying to make as little noise as possible. But for right now it'll help him focus and allow him to hear that voice more clearly. If it showed itself, that is... Izuku closed his eyes and tried to focus.
Please... Talk to me...