I was lying across the living room couch the next day after school. Eijirou and Katsuki were over at their place for practice, Hitoshi was taking a shower upstairs, and our moms were out of the house. I was using the alone time to encroach on the communal spaces of the house. I rarely used them now that I was avoiding my mom again. 

The living room was about as boring as I remembered it to be. I was scrolling absently through my phone, trying to fill the time before Hitoshi came back. Until I heard a knock at the door. 

My phone slipped from my hand as I turned to look at the door, a little stunned. Maybe it's just Ash or Ura, I thought, trying to rationalize. Shigaraki's dead, so it's not like he's at my front door right now. Or it's just a package, probably just a package. 

I hauled myself off the couch, taking slow steps toward the door as another knock sounded. Hitoshi was just upstairs, so I had nothing to worry about. It was fine. My hand rested against the handle as a third knock sounded. I gritted my teeth, now just annoyed with whoever was on the other side. I swung the door open. 

"What the hell do-" The words died in my throat as I came face to face with my father. 

His nose was taped up, the bruised and broken feature on full display. They had really done a number on him, goddamn. His eyes were narrowed, deep bruises residing underneath them as well. The sneer he wore is what my eyes got hooked on. He was pissed. 

"Is your mother home?" he asked, shouldering through the front door. 

I stumbled back, all of my confidence and anger evaporated from me. Why is he here? What does he want? Please, leave me alone. "N-no, she's at-" 

"Good," he cut me off, straightening his back and standing to his full height. Neither of my parents were very tall, hence why I was so goddamn short, but my father still had two inches of height on me. It wouldn't be a problem normally, I had swung at people taller than me all the time, exhibit A being Sero. It didn't matter, not with my father. My rational thinking shut off and I was suddenly a terrified seven-year-old all over again. "You're the one I needed to talk to anyway." 

"What do you... What do you need to talk to me about?" 

His scowl twisted, taking on a deranged edge. I'd seen the look before, but never from him. Shigaraki's sick smile flashed through my mind, my brain supplying the missing puzzle piece automatically. "You ruined my fucking life, turned my wife against me, forced me to abandon my home. I had to find another job just to scrape by and it's all your fault," he hissed, stepping into my space and forcing me to take slow steps back to try and regain some distance. 

"How anyone could choose you, a cracked-out slut, over me is beyond my comprehension. But your mother has always had a kind heart, probably just sees you as a responsibility she's been saddled with until you turn eighteen. She tried to ship you off, didn't she?" He let out a harsh and grating laugh as my back hit a wall. There was nowhere else to run. 

"Sh-she didn't, she said she couldn't-" My weak attempts to defend myself (or my mother, I wasn't sure which), were brushed aside. He didn't let me finish a thought before he continued his assault. 

"Is that what she said?" he asked, his eyes wide and dancing with delight. He was enjoying pushing me around and watching me crumble, he always had. "The real reason you're still here and not miles away at a boarding school is because she couldn't afford it." 

Oh. Is that the real reason? It would make sense, we can't afford much with just her income and she had seemed so dead-set on following through on the threat. Does she really want me... gone?

His fist slamming into the wall next to my head shook me from my thoughts, my flinch automatic. "Why don't you do everyone a favor and just kill yourself already? Stop dragging out your mother's misery and set her free." 

My eyes were wide and misty from unshed tears. Maybe he... Maybe he has a point. I'd only ever caused my mother worry and disappointment. Every time I tried to do right by her, I fucked up all over again. She had to be at her wit's end, clinging to my graduation date like a lifeline. Just waiting to be rid of me. 

There was a burning sensation at the top of my scalp and then I was thrown on the floor. I blinked, looking up at my father in panic as he crouched down to my level. He had never gotten violent with me before. He had shouted, and sneered, and said awful things, but he had never laid a hand on me before. 

I was a wounded animal backed into a corner, no fight or fury left in me. My self-preservation kicked in, taking control from me. "Hitoshi!" I screamed as loud as my wavering voice would allow. 

My father froze, his eyes widening a fraction as hurried footsteps could be heard from upstairs. 

"Iz? What's-" 

I looked over Hisashi's shoulder, seeing Hitoshi frozen on the stairs watching the two of us. My father's eyes followed mine and my boyfriend started to move again. 

My father took off without another word, slamming the front door behind him. Hitoshi was gunning for him, ready to chase him down in the streets, but then he saw me. 

I was sniffling on the floor, my knees hugged to my chest. I couldn't look at him, too absorbed in my own shame and self-loathing. My mother was miserable and it was all my fault. I had pushed and pushed and pushed, and now I wouldn't even talk to her. She probably hated me, she had every right to. 

"Iz, love, come here," Hitoshi said in the soft tone the boys always used when they knew I was close to breaking. It made me sick to hear it again. 

His arms were wrapped around me and all of my restraint vanished. I sobbed into his chest, apologies tumbling from my mouth in one long string of nonsense. I wasn't even sure if he could understand the words. 

"You're okay, love. He's gone. I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner," he whispered into my hair, pulling me into his lap. His coddling did nothing to calm me or my sobs. "Do you want Kirishima and Bakugou?" 

I frantically shook my head, clinging to the front of his shirt even tighter. "No, no, please don't. They're- they're gonna be so mad. Please don't, Toshi, please, please, please-" 

"Hey, sh, baby," Hitoshi said, cutting my panicked rambling off with soft shushing. "They're not gonna be mad, just breathe, Iz. They would never be mad at you about this. I won't let them. I'll be right here, okay? No one's gonna be mad, I promise, love." 

I didn't say anything, but I didn't protest as he pulled his phone out and started typing with one hand. The other stayed wrapped tightly around me. 

"Check my text and then get over here. Quickly, please," Hitoshi said, short and sweet. I couldn't hear what the other person said, couldn't tell if it was Eijirou or Katsuki. 

They're gonna be mad. 

The call was ended and Hitoshi shifted under me, causing me to cling to him tighter at the thought he was leaving. But he didn't, he just scooted back enough to rest against the wall behind him, both arms securely wrapped around me as he let me sob into the crook of his neck once again. 

We stayed like that for the next few minutes, until the front door creaked open again. I pushed myself harder into Hitoshi at the sound. 

Footsteps entered the kitchen, followed by a quiet "Darlin'?" 

"I'm sorry," I cried, even though there wasn't an ounce of fury in his voice. All I managed to do was anger people, why should I think Eijirou was any different? 

"You didn't do anything wrong, don't apologize," he pleaded, his voice getting closer. 

"C'mon, angel," Katsuki said, and then I was suddenly pulled off Hitoshi's lap and into the blond's arms like I weighed nothing. 

My arms wrapped around his neck, my legs locked behind his back. My grip had to be near suffocating, but he didn't mention it. "Your room or mine?" he whispered next to my ear, holding me aloft with one hand while the other rubbed soothing circles into my back. 

"Yours," I mumbled weakly. My anxiety had faded, leaving only exhaustion and sadness in its wake. I didn't have the energy to feel anything else. 

"Okay, angel." 

My freshly painted nails are already chipped to shit from working one shift today :').