This chapter is like, all plot progression

Third person pov

Hitoshi never wants to leave. 

Shoto and Tenya are nice. They tell him his quirk is cool when he comes clean about it and help him bandage up his wounds. They invite him to play and talk and eat with them. When he admits his desire to be a hero one day, they gasp in an excited way rather than an affronted one. 

They say that he should totally come to UA with them, and they can start a hero agency together and be the best heroes the world has ever seen. They don't hesitate to accept him, and Hitoshi's heart has never felt this full before.

He thinks this is what a real family is supposed to look like. Real friends act like this. He knows this because he can see it at the playground and at preschool, and on TV when no one is home to tell him he can't watch it. Hitoshi is warm and safe for the first time in what feels like forever. 

Shoto gives him free reign of his clothes, letting Hitoshi pick whatever he's most comfortable wearing. He gets to take a bath and he doesn't have to rush through it or use cold water. The meals he gets to eat are delicious, filling, and fresh. 

He can't eat as much as Shoto and Tenya can, his appetite too small from the regular starvation he experienced. He still does his best, and nobody ever comments on it. Shoto just checks to make sure he's full and Tenya ensures he has a snack later, and makes sure he drinks plenty of water. 

Hitoshi looks in the mirror and feels more like himself than ever. The color is returning to his cheeks, which already look a little less gaunt. His eyes, most notably, are bright. Hitoshi doesn't know the last time he saw them looking that way.

He doesn't want to leave.

Hitoshi doesn't see much of Etsu-san aside from when she cooks for them. He'll hide in the fort they've built in the living room and watch with big eyes as she hugs Shoto and ruffles Tenya's hair. He almost wants to climb out to see if she'd smile at him too, but his fear keeps him rooted in place until she retreats back to her bedroom to focus on her schoolwork and studying. 

She has lots of essays to write, and something called 'finals' is coming up soon. She's very busy, but she still checks on them every hour to make sure they're okay, and she doesn't seem to mind when Shoto rushes back to ask her questions or for help with something. 

It's astonishing, in Hitoshi's opinion, that she doesn't get mad. Hitoshi supposes it's probably because she's not an adult yet.

He falls asleep at night to the sound of her voice reading them to sleep from outside their carefully-constructed fort, which had been fortified with every pillow and couch cushion they could find. His fosters would call it a mess, but Etsu calls it their base and offhandedly tells them what a good job they did whilst she rummages for a snack in the fridge during her breaks from studying.

Hitoshi has been here for two nights now, and he's sure they've been the best two nights of his entire life. Tenya had begged and begged to stay again and Etsu had shrugged and easily agreed to what Shoto called a 'double-decker sleepover.' She'd texted Tenya's brother to let him know, easy as that. 

Hitoshi wondered if he had to ask too. Shoto said that if Tenya could stay another night then it was implied Hitoshi could too, and Hitoshi's foster parents were mean so they didn't even need to tell them anyway. Tenya had agreed firmly, and he was definitely the smartest out of the three of them, so if anyone would know it would be him.

Now it's Sunday morning and he's sitting hesitantly at the bar between Shoto and Tenya as they both happily shovel their food down. Tenya had helped him get a plateful of eggs and bacon, but he feels a little too scared to eat even if Shoto had reassured him that all would be okay. 

You see, a tall teenager that looks just like Tenya is staring right at him whilst Etsu idly dishes herself up some food, a book balanced in her other hand. She doesn't seem to be paying attention to the new arrival who Hitoshi thinks must be Tenya's aforementioned older brother, Tensei.

Hitoshi's heart clenches, and he looks down when Tensei tries to meet his eyes. He doesn't want to leave.

"Hey, Etsu." Tensei nudged her. She grunted a bit, not looking up. Hitoshi felt his entire body seize up, and Shoto looked up to give Tensei a critical look. Tensei didn't seem to mind the half-and-half boy's clear distaste. "You've got an extra one." 

"An extra what?" Etsu asked blandly, flipping a page in her book. 

She shoved the plate she'd just made into Tensei's empty hands in the same movement before turning to make herself a new one. Tensei received it absentmindedly, still gazing at Hitoshi with poorly-hidden confusion. Hitoshi knows he doesn't look all that great. He's sickly at best, abused and broken at worst.

Tenya glances up at his brother, glasses glinting more ominously than Hitoshi ever thought they could. The way Tensei freezes is almost comforting. Hitoshi reminds himself not for the first time that these are not adults. 

He would know if they were, he's sure. Adults are always mean and they never help him. They hate him and his quirk and they call him a villain. But Etsu and... Tensei aren't grown up, even if they are bigger.

"Uh." Tensei gulps, sweat beading his brow as his younger brother glowers uncharacteristically. Just as he is the smartest, Tenya is also the scariest. Which is saying something, because Shoto can look downright cold when he wants to. "Don't worry about it."

Etsu hums and trails off to go plop down on the newly-reconstructed couch, Tensei following in a subdued manner. He sends Hitoshi one last look, but he looks too much like a kicked puppy for it to be scary.

Hitoshi feels like he can breathe a little better after that. Shoto gives him an encouraging, reassuring pat on the shoulder. It only makes Hitoshi want to stay here all the more. He just... he really, really doesn't want to leave. 

He knows none of this is his, but he wants it to be. He feels like a pretender. He doesn't belong. He's leeching off a life owned by Shoto. Shoto is the one Etsu chose, and Shoto is the friend Tenya picked at the park out of everyone else around. Hitoshi is the odd one out.

He's the weird, crying boy they found on the swings. He knows this and isn't mad about it, but he just... again, he doesn't want to leave. Shoto had told him he could stay as long as he wanted. Hitoshi quietly wonders if it's really that simple.

When Shoto lets him crawl into bed with him later that night long after Tenya has left, talking about how they can go to the same preschool and everything will be fine, Hitoshi thinks it might be.

~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so Etsu... isn't the most focused person in the whole wide world. But how she missed a third child tacked onto her original two is sort of beyond her.

At first she thought the kid was just a new friend that Shoto had forgone mentioning for some reason. The purple people eater is at the park when they go and the kid seemingly goes to the same preschool as Shoto and Tenya both. 

He's new, Tenya had said briefly, not on the role yet. Just moved into the area. And alright, yeah, fine. Plausible. An absolute possibility. 

Etsu just shrugs. Kid looks like shit. Pasty, a little malnourished, clearly tired. Etsu is worried, but apparently not goddamn worried enough to notice that the park and preschool weren't the only places she was seeing this kid. 

It takes her a whole entire week to realize that hey, the purple troll doll is sitting in her living room. And the only reason she notices to begin with is because she absentmindedly took a picture of Shoto to send to Eraserhead-- proof of life-- and he asked who the new addition was.

At first she thought maybe he was referring to Tenya, but Eraserhead has seen him before and a closer look at the photo she took smacks her in the face. Hard.

"Huh." Etsu blinked a few times, but she's definitely not hallucinating. Shoto is in fact jammed between Tenya and the tired purple kid she'd seen sleuthing around. She glances at Tensei who seems rather preoccupied with his phone. Totally unconcerned, but there's no way he hadn't noticed. He's anal about things like this. "How long's he been here?"

"A week. I tried to tell you but Tenya threatened me with his eyes. I sort of assumed you knew to be honest." Tensei answered nonchalantly, apparently too used to her shit to give her any sort of reaction anymore. 

Etsu inhaled sharply and wondered if she was really competent enough to care for Shoto. How could she possibly be a good caretaker when she didn't even notice an increase in capacity in their own apartment? Damn.

"Tenya is harmless. You're being a weenie." Etsu said instead of freaking out. Props to her for not immediately panicking. Kidnapping a child is different than one spawning out of thin air. "Do you know his name?"

"Hitoshi Shinso. Foster care runaway. He hasn't been reported missing yet." Tensei still didn't look up from his phone. "Apparently his foster parents weren't the best. Quirk discrimination and physical abuse from what little I could get Tenya to tell me. I'm going to assume they told him he could stay since Shoto can."

Etsu was glad someone had looked into this. A heads up would've been nice, though. If he hadn't wanted his brother to get mad at him he could've texted her or something. She wonders if Tenya knows the power he holds over his older sibling. Tensei looks up, glancing at her.

Etsu pursed lips, rolling his words over in her head. It made sense. She takes Shoto away from a bad situation and tells them it was the right thing to do and that it's fine, so naturally when they find another kid in a bad situation they assume it's okay to bring him in too. 

Which... yeah, sure. If she hadn't noticed him for an entire week, how much of a difference is it going to make? If the kid is being abused then there's no way she can let him go back in good conscience, but reporting this to the police or trying to drop him off somewhere would put Shoto and her at risk. And him, too. 

He'd either get put back in his old home or get moved to another one that was just as bad. Everyone knows how unkind the foster system in Japan is to those with "unsuitable" quirks.

"I mean..." Etsu hummed. Tensei's façade of calm turned into something horrified.

"Wait." He clamped a hand down on her shoulder, gazing at her with all seriousness. There is actual fear in his eyes. "You can't seriously be thinking of letting him stay, right?"

Etsu takes out her phone and snaps a picture of Tensei with Hitoshi, Shoto, and Tenya all in the background. 

"Now you're an accessory. Again." Etsu shrugged. Tensei throws his head back and groans. Etsu is too busy formulating a mental plan to get Hitoshi fully acclimated to the apartment to care.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Hitoshi's heart explodes the first time Etsu ruffles his hair.

He's sitting on the floor in front of the couch with Shoto, both of them eating dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets with barbecue sauce. Etsu moves behind them to go sit down on one of the reclining chairs in the living room, and her hand brushes down and musses Shoto's hair first. 

Hitoshi feels himself freeze when her hand brushes against his fluffy locks as well, fingers gently glimpsing against his scalp for the briefest of moments before she's plopping down and cracking open a textbook. Hitoshi gazes at her with wide eyes, breath stolen.

He self-consciously wonders if it's an accident at first, but then she does it again at breakfast the next day and he knows she meant it. He feels impossibly warm, and he can't stop his eyes from welling with tears. 

She's letting him stay. He gets to stay here, with Shoto, and Tenya, and Etsu, and Tensei on occasion. Though Hitoshi is still on the fence about him.

"Hitoshi," Etsu says sometime that evening, and fear courses through him as thickly as the blood through his veins. She gazes at him without any hints of malice, but he still can't stop the way his throat tightens. "What's your favorite color?"

Oh. 

He tells her, and she also asks his favorite food. She shows him her phone and asks him about bedsheets and says they're looking to get him another dresser, and that they can go shop for clothing for him this upcoming weekend if he wants. 

It's dizzying, and he can't find any words as Etsu calmly gazes at him. There is no harsh inflection in her words like he thinks there should be. They're... warm and considering. Thoughtful, muttering about what he may like and dislike. 

(In the end Shoto has to help him pick out sheets to order because he can't bring himself to speak. Etsu doesn't seem upset over the fact.)

Etsu is buying him things. She wants to buy him things. Villainous little Hitoshi Shinso. It's a strange concept. 

She ruffles his hair and talks to him without fear. She says that he, Shoto, and Tenya are going to be the best heroes and that she'll definitely be their number one fan. She says it so offhandedly, not seeming to realize the weight her words carry in the slightest.  

Hitoshi is in disbelief. She isn't... she isn't getting tired and kicking him out. She doesn't call him annoying, and she gives him all the food he wants and buys him snacks that he's allowed to keep in Shoto's room. His and Shoto's room, Shoto had insisted. 

He refuses to think of it as that at first. He isn't allowed to have things. Hitoshi Shinso is not supposed to be happy, and he knows this is something he is going to lose eventually. You see, he loses everything at some point. 

That means not getting attached is pertinent. It just... it gets harder as he amasses belongings. Things that are his. That are given to him, that fall beneath his name no matter how much he tries to refuse. 

It's overwhelming, and he almost dares to hope. Because Etsu is giving him so much, and Shoto and Tenya accept him so fully, and he has not had to leave.

He has a favorite shirt. He tries to wear it as often as possible so that he'll get the chance to bring it with him when he has to leave. But then Tensei is coming in with a really heavy box and Etsu with a pair of drills. 

He, Shoto, and Tenya watch with big eyes as they argue and put together a new bed that attaches to Shoto's preexisting one, stretching up and turning it into a bunk. A soft mattress is unrolled and when they cut the plastic, it puffs up like an expanding cloud. It's nothing like the springy, stained thing he had back at his foster home. 

They put cat patterned sheets on it, and he has his own pair of pillows. Two blankets come in the mail, one black and another purple, and he gets a calico cat stuffed toy that he hugs at night. It smells like lavender so that's what he privately names it. 

And then they go to the store and he gets new shoes, and Shoto and Tenya help him hang up posters of heroes and shows he mentioned liking. They must've told Etsu. Etsu, who ruffles his hair at breakfast, and who asks him what he likes, and who smiles at him. 

She doesn't hit him. She thinks he can be a hero. She's... she's so nice, and Hitoshi cries and cries about it.

He watches her cuddle with Shoto and refuses to join when Shoto waves him over, though he watches and yearns. He is suffocating, but he's so happy. He's happy and he's afraid. This joy is so warm and real that it's startling to hold. 

He's so scared of what will happen to him if it's ripped away. Etsu is so kind, and she isn't an adult. He tries to tell himself that she wouldn't buy him all this if she was going to get rid of him. Still, he distances himself. For her sake and his.

He can't get too close to her. He'll latch on and never let go, and she'll get annoyed and peel him off and get rid of him. And Hitoshi won't be able to recover from that.

He plays at the park with Shoto and Tenya, and he lets her ruffle his hair. She never tries to hug him, and he never tries to hug her. Still, sometimes he can see her eyes on him and he thinks she may be worried. 

But... But he doesn't want to trick himself like that. What if she's just doing this for Shoto? Because Shoto puts up with him and tolerates him being there. But... that's rude to think, because Shoto is the nicest person he's ever met, and Shoto was hurt too. 

Tenya is nice also, Hitoshi knows. He doesn't think they're fake friends, he's just... he's just surprised they haven't left.

That he hasn't had to leave, really. 

The moment it really sinks in to him that this is permanent is when Etsu and Tensei both come to the preschool. Normally Tenya will get dropped off at the apartment in the mornings and Etsu will take them on her way to work, but today Tensei is with them and he's got a thick folder full of papers. 

Shoto and Tenya hold Hitoshi's hands as Etsu strides into the building instead of watching them go in. Tensei follows. The way his two friends grip him, he thinks this must be a big deal. 

"Ma'am." The secretary massages her temples. "I apologize. But are you implying to me that this boy is your son? He's the same age as Shoto. I don't believe that's biologically possible. In fact, Shoto isn't even biologically possible."

Son, son, son. They're enrolling him in preschool officially, and Etsu is calling Hitoshi hers. Just like she calls Shoto. 

He can't stop his jaw from dropping. Shoto had told him that she made fake papers that said he belonged to her officially, and now she's... she's done the same thing for him. And that means he definitely isn't going to have to leave.

"Our son." Etsu slaps Tensei hard on the back. The taller teen looks distinctly uncomfortable and very pale. "Blue and yellow make purple."

"No they don't." The secretary says flatly. Etsu ignores her.

"Anyway, this is Hitoshi Shinso. He's been taking the whole preschool thing on a test run these past few weeks and we've decided to enroll him officially." Etsu trudged on without hesitation, so confident Hitoshi almost believes her.

"He's been coming here without being enrolled?" The secretary looks pale and like she may be a little dizzy. 

"Yes, which isn't legal. So unless you want us to sue you..." Etsu trails off. Hitoshi is stunned. 

The secretary sighs and concedes, muttering about 'endeavor's son' this and 'kidnapping? she's too young for kids this old!' that. Tensei is a little shaky when he hands over the papers. Etsu nods, turns and salutes the three kids, and then drags the oldest Iida out. 

And with that, Hitoshi is her son, and officially a member of Shoto and Tenya's preschool. Simple. Fast. Easy, almost. And yet the biggest thing that's ever, ever happened to him. 

He goes through the day in a daze. Shoto and Tenya high five and don't seem surprised. He asks sometime around lunch, in a very small voice, if he's really allowed to stay. They look at him like the answer is the most obvious thing in the world.

"Hitoshi." Tenya looks like he pities him. He slowly sets down his chopsticks, folding his hands atop the table. "You've been staying."

"We literally share a room. We have matching brother shirts." Shoto shakes his head at him. "Plus, you have a bed now. Did you really think Etsu would make you leave? I told you she's the best ever."

Hitoshi hugs Etsu for the first time as soon as they're out of preschool for the day. He bursts into tears and latches around her middle. She hugs him too, patting him and rubbing soothing circles on his back, which only furthers his hysterics. She ends up picking him up and carrying him to the park. 

He sobs into her shoulder the entire way, gripping her shirt tightly as though she'll vanish if he doesn't hold on. Shoto and Tenya hover around worriedly for a while as Etsu sits on her bench with Hitoshi still wrapped around her like a demented koala. Eventually she shoos the pair off to go play.

She doesn't get any homework done, but that's fine. Double the traumatized kids, double the work. Etsu thinks she's more than willing to take the blow.

~

You know it's there idk read up to chapter 29 on Patreon, we got even more kids it's wild