"Thank you so much for coming," Mei, the twins' mother, looked relieved as Izuku stepped through the door. "I was called into work last minute. I didn't want to bother you but I really need the money and-"

Izuku waved his hands in front of his face. "Don't worry, I honestly don't mind. I'm glad you texted me."

Mei's face softened into a slight smile. She sighed with relief. "I'll be gone the whole day. Are you sure you're okay with watching them that long? I don't think I'll be back until midnight."

"It's fine, honest."

"You know, Suzuki, I'm so lucky to have met a kid like you. You're a hero, you know that?" Mei ruffled Izuku's black curls for a few seconds then grabbed her bag. "You know the drill by now. Make sure the twins are in bed by 7:30. They don't need a bath, they had one yesterday. Lunch and dinner are ready for you to reheat in the fridge. Don't let them bully you into giving them sugar."

Izuku saluted, "Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I'm off. See you tonight. KIDS! SUZUKI IS HERE! BE GOOD TO HIM!" Mei opened the door and winked at Izuku. "Good luck." And then she was gone.

From deep in the apartment, Izuku could hear the ominous sound of stampeding of tiny four-year-old footsteps.

Izuku gulped in fear and crouched into a battle-ready position.

He could hear the screams of laughter become louder.

There was a blur of motion.

"Oof!"

Hina and Yuna leaped into Izukuz's arms, confident that he would catch them. "Suzuki!" Hina giggled excitedly. Yuna just buried her face into the black-haired teen's neck.

"Hey! Have you been good for your mom?" Izuku spun the girls around before setting them down gently onto the floor. He felt very thankful for his intense strength training. Mei would not appreciate hearing that her kids died because Izuku had dropped them.

Hina nodded violently. Her head was moving so fast Izuku was worried it would fly off. Luckily it did not. "Yes! We have been good. Just like we promised!"

Yuna shook her head from behind her sister. No, she was saying, they had not been good at all.

Izuku laughed and shook his head. He expected as much. "Hmm, I don't know, Hina," he said mischievously, "are you suuure?"

Hina gasped dramatically in astonishment. "I'm always good!" She batted away Izuku's hand as he attempted to ruffle her hair.

Yuna shook her head again. "Nuh-uh," she said.

Hina spun around to confront her sister. "Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh."

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh."

Before the argument got out of hand, Izuku lifted the two girls up and onto his shoulders. They squealed with alarm as he dropped them onto the couch. "Alright, alright, you both have been good. I believe you! Now, what do you two want to do?"

Yuna and Hina untangled themselves and looked at each other eagerly. A smile formed on their faces as they yelled in unison. "Pokémon!"

••••••••••••••••••••

A few hours later, Izuku was sitting in the middle of the floor covered in glue and colorful pieces of paper. After the twins had watched t.v., Hina was becoming bored so she decided she wanted to make something. This turned into Yuna and Hina having a contest to see who could make the best tiger. Somewhere along the line, the girls decided glueing paper onto Izuku was more fun.

"He needs some more purple!" Hina decided factually.

"Are you sure? I think I'm covered in enough pape-" Izuku startled as his phone started going off.

"What's that?" Hina asked.

"Oh, it's my phone, I'm getting a call-" Izuku had picked up his phone and was staring at the caller I.D., heavy feelings of guilt and dread spiraling around in his stomach.

It was Shouto.

"I know that, silly! Who's it from?" Yuna elbowed Hina in the side. "Ow! Why did-" Yuna pointed at Izuku's face and let Hina realize that something was wrong. "Oh."

With shaky fingers, Izuku put his phone on silent and shoved it into his back pocket. "It's fine- it's n- it's fine. Nothing to worry about. You know what? It's time for lunch, you girls should eat something. Let's go see what's in the fridge, yeah?" Hina and Yuna exchanged a wary glance. Izuku was worried that they wouldn't let him drop the subject, but the next thing he knew the two were dragging him to the fridge while Hina chatted about how she was excited that winter was coming and Yuna nodded along. Maybe Izuku was just being paranoid. Most four-year-olds are pretty oblivious.

Yeah, they would leave him alone. It was fine.

Izuku reheated the chicken and rice in the microwave and sat down at the table with them to eat. Yuna and Hina then got into an animated discussion about Pokémon.

"I wanna be just like Ash when I grow up!" Hina stood up onto her chair excitedly and Izuku begged her to get down before she broke something.

"But you're a girl. You would be Misty." Yuna said, confused.

Hina frowned as she sat down, much to the relief of Izuku. "But I don't feel like a girl. I feel like Ash."

Yuna thought for a moment and shrugged. "Okay. If you are Ash, then you're a boy.

Hina pondered this for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "Yeah, I'm a boy. That feels better. You can be Misty and I will be Ash. Suzuki can be Brock!"

Izuku was still extremely surprised and confused by what just happened, but he took it well. "I, uh, okay."

Hina pumped his fist in the air and jumped out of his chair. "Yes! Let's go catch some pokémon! C'mon, Misty and Brock!"

Yuna got up from her chair and ran to follow after Hina. "But, wait! You aren't done eating!" Izuku cried out as he followed after them.

••••••••••••••••••••

It was a little awkward for Izuku at first, he was still used to calling Hina a girl, but after a while of practice and some correction from the kids, he had managed to refer to Hina as a guy on a regular basis. The rest of the day was exhausting for Izuku, to say the least, but he loved every second of it. Yuna and Hina were always fun to be around. They were really funny when they weren't making Izuku worry about their safety, and they were really smart. They made a good team. By the time 7:30 rolled around, everyone was thoroughly worn out and ready for bed.

"Good night, Hina. Good night, Yuna." Izuku hugged them and went to turn off the light in their room.

"Good night, Suzuki," the twins replied in unison. Hina yawned dramatically and Yuna cuddled into the covers, already dozing off.

Izuku was about to close the door when Hina spoke. "I," the young boy yawned again, "I hope you feel better."

Izuku grinned. "Thank you, Hina. I do feel better."

The door closed and darkness fell upon the twins as they slept.

The couch practically absorbed the former villain as he fell onto it. He was almost tired enough to forget about the fact that he had just abandoned Shouto.

Almost.

Izuku needed to figure out what he would do now. He needed to figure out where he would go and where he could get a job. But for now. . .

The couch was really comfortable and Izuku was really tired.

••••••••••••••••••••

The screaming was what woke him up.

They weren't screams of glee. No, that wouldn't have terrified Izuku as much as it did. The screams were screams of anguish. They were screams of absolute unadulterated torture.

And they were coming from Hina and Yuna's bedroom.

Izuku raced into their bedroom and threw open the door.

The twins were screeching and writhing in pain. At first, it looked like they were screaming for absolutely no reason.

Until you looked at the bed.

The blanket on Hina's side of the bed was blackened and crumbling, almost as though it had been caught on fire. Yuna's side of the bed was frigid with cracks running through it.

The whole situation was confusing and petrifying. Izuku had no idea what was going on, no idea what he was supposed to do.

All he knew was that the twins were in pain and he had to do something.

Izuku sprinted towards the children and tossed the blanket off of them.

The sheets were in the same disrepair as the blanket had been. Blackened on one side and cracked on the other. The twins' pajamas were also ruined beyond belief.

Izuku reached towards Hina before pulling his hand back immediately. "Ouch!" Hina was hot to the touch. It was like the little boy was on fire, but there was nothing on him. No, he was hotter than fire. Izuku reached for Yuna and was forced to pull his hand back again. She was glacial. Touching her for too long was bound to give someone hypothermia.

The twins cried as they screamed, only, Hina's tears evaporated as soon as they touched his face and Yuna's tears froze to her skin like icicles.

There was no time for this, Izuku had no room for delay. Mei wouldn't be back for another hour, and calling the hospital would take too long. Sometime in the night, a lightning storm began, and an ambulance could not have possibly arrived in time. He had to get these kids medical care immediately.

With his mind determined, Izuku picked the twins up. The effect was immediate. He could feel his skin practically boiling and freezing all at once.

It hurt. It stung. It was unbearable.

But Izuku ignored it. He ignored the boils forming on his skin and the way he felt as though at any moment Yuna was going to make his left arm fall off. He needed to get Hina and Yuna to the hospital and he was not going to fail them.

Izuku activated One For All then flew into the storm outside. A trail of green lightning followed close behind.

When Izuku finally ran into the hospital he felt as though he was bound to die at any moment, but that wasn't what mattered. There were questions that needed to be answered as he placed Hina and Yuna on the gurneys the doctors and nurses rushed over. The kids' names, their mom's contact info.

"What's your name?" The woman at the front desk asked as she wrote up a report.

"Suzuki. Yuuto... Suzuki," Izuku slurred.

He didn't remember what happened after he collapsed in the hospital's waiting room.

••••••••••••••••••••

Otani Maiko was not having a good day. She had just started her job at the front desk of Hosu General Hospital and was already late on her first day. Traffic had been awful that morning and her boss was certainly not happy. It was an awful first impression and Otani was absolutely mortified. 

On top of all of that, customer service was a thankless service. Otani was constantly being yelled at by people, whether or not they had a serious problem. One man was so angry and worked up that he had shoved his arm in her face and knocked over her coffee, just because he wanted a doctor to look at his "suspicious" rash at that exact moment. Another time, a woman with a screaming toddler decided to give Otani a 45-minute lecture about how customer service means that they should always do their best to make the customer happy. This was after Otani told her they didn't have the space to provide the woman and her baby with two rooms so that he could "roam about because he needed a lot of room."

To add insult to injury, Otani had just broken up with her boyfriend of three years after he had to move out of the city to pursue a job promotion. It had been a mutual breakup, but it still hurt.

Overall, Otani Maiko has been having an awful time, so when some teenager ran in with two screaming toddlers yelling for medical attention, at first she was just annoyed and tired of everything. Some people were just so dramatic. So what if some kids had a fever? There was no need to be so overdramatic.

She realized how grave the situation actually was once she got a closer look. The children's pajamas were absolutely wrecked and the boy who carried them in looked no better. The boy looked debilitated in every sense of the word. He had bags under his eyes that could carry the weight of Otani's college debts and his clothing was equal parts burned and frozen. His skin was bleeding, burned, cracked, and frozen mess. He wasn't even wearing shoes. Not to mention the fact that he was soaked. Had he run here?

Otani was really worried about him as she took down his information. He needed medical attention. That kid was not okay. The moment she had gotten his name, the black-haired boy had collapsed.

The nurses and doctors were quick to haul Suzuki into a room. Otani could safely say that by that point she had been utterly traumatized.

There was a phone in the boy's back pocket which the hospital staff deposited to Otani. It was her job to find his emergency contact information and let them know he was in the hospital.

The phone was pretty old. It had been well-taken care of, but it was easy to see that the owner did not have a lot of money. Otani felt bad for this person. Whoever this kid was, he was not going to have an easy time with the medical bills.

Otani couldn't find any emergency contact information. Apparently, this kid didn't establish one. Oh well, that was not a big deal. According to the phone, this Suzuki kid had thirty-two missed calls. This person was obviously desperate to reach him. Otani should probably let them know the situation.

Otani dialed the number and waited for an answer.

Whoever it was picked up almost immediately.

"Izuku? Where are you? Are you okay? I-"

"Hello, this is Hosu General Hospital. I am calling to let you know that a patient named Suzuki Yuuto has been admitted after. . ." Otani gently filled in the person on the other line. She told him about how Suzuki had barged in, how he has been admitted to the hospital, and how the teen is not quite in critical condition and should be fine unless something unexpected happens.

When she was finally done speaking, the person on the other line was silent.

"Are you. . . still there?" Otani asked awkwardly.

The other person only said six words before he hung up. It was almost scary how stoic he was.

 "Thank you. I'm on my way."

•••••••••••••••••••

Hey peoples! Wow, it's been a while since I last updated! I wrote this monster all in one sitting, but I'm proud of it! And I'm definitely excited for what's to come.

The amazing picture above was a commission by the lovely DADZUWU! They have a book of sketches here on Wattpad, and you guys should definitely go check it out! It's a joy to look at!

Alright, I have a question for you all:

Q: Which do you prefer, food or anime? You can only choose one!

A: Me personally, I would have to choose anime. It's a very narrow win, but I would rather be hungry than bored, haha!

Catch you all later! Plus Ultra!

M_B