Work Text:
Icecream is the best thing for a day like today, Hizashi thinks.
'Cause the little Broccoli Baby hasn't been doing so hot with Shouta gone, which is understandable but unfortunate, and Hizashi hates to see it. (He can relate, because Shouta has been one of his best friends for well over a decade now, and that man sure knows how to make someone worry about him, even though it's never his intention. And, well, he's come back pretty banged up from these more prolonged raids before. Hizashi can only hope that won't be the case this time.
Particularly now that the kiddo is so utterly involved, all day, every day. Shouta has mentioned before how antsy his Kidilante seemed to get whenever Eraserhead was gone for too long, but now that they're father and son, rather than paternal-hero-and-too-young-vigilante, there's a whole new level to it, Hizashi reckons.
Judging by Izuku's general distraction, morose vibe, and the way that Hizashi's heart aches to see the kid so clearly worried about his Dad, the man was right about that fact. He's not super happy about it.)
But, well, Hizashi is determined to bring some joy to the little listener's life, to give him a distraction even if it can't last forever, at least whilst Izuku is staying with him for a few days. Hence the icecream plan. Hizashi knows the way to an Aizawa's heart, after all, and there are three options: cats, most things sugar- or coffee-related, and sleep.
The last one is thoroughly outside of the realm of possibility, as Hizashi has already discovered. Last night, the kid snuck out to the precinct nearly an hour away by foot because he couldn't selep and wanted to spend time with his police friends apparently. His note, left on the guest bedside table, had been the only thing that kept Hizashi from screaming his own flat down in the instant panic of waking up at five in the morning and realising his nephew wasn't anywhere.
Suffice to say that, today, Hizashi would like to try and give Izuku something fun and posoitive and light-hearted to focus on.
Well, once he's managed to convince the kid to take a nap for a few hours anyway. Hizashi deffo doesn't mind getting the lil' listener to curl up next to him on the sofa, even if it's currently nine o'clock in the morning. Izuku is sleeping little enough that a nap or two will only help at this point.
And now it's lunch time and they're headed out and about. Hizashi offered the kid his hand without really thinking, even though Izuku is arguably too old for that at fifteen, and Izuku accepted without any hesitation at all. Hizashi's nephew is just the sweetest, most affectionate kiddo, really. (Hizashi is also very aware that it took Izuku a while to get to this point, that he was touch-starved for years and hurt by people for even longer. So for the kid to be so easily affectionate with Hizashi is nothing short of a compliment.)
"What do you feel like, kiddo?" Hizashi asks, smiling down at the teen,
"Fried chicken or noodles or something else?" Swinging their hands between them, Izuku hums a little, clearly thinking.
He makes a decision by the time they reach the end of Hizashi's long street, headed towards the less residential area,
"Noodles or donburi maybe?" Well, Hizashi sure isn't gonna complain about that!
"Ooh, something traditional then. Can do, Baby Broccoli!" Izuku flashes him the sweet edges of a smile, and Hizashi's heart trips over itself.
He loves his nephew so much.
But rather than screaming that fact loud enough so that Shouta, wherever he is, would be able to hear it, Hizashi has a little think about the restaurants nearby,
"Hey, hey, I know a place two streets down. We can look at the menu outside! Check there's something we both fancy nommin' on."
"Sounds good to me." The kid is a little less enthusiastic now, admittedly, but Hizashi doesn't think that's necessarily a terrible thing; Izuku is still holding his hand just as easily as before, his shoulders haven't gone tense, and Hizashi is more than good enough at reading body language that he should be able to tell if the kiddo gets particularly uncomfortable or unsure of anything.
Fortunately for his own worries, Izuku seems happy upon seeing that there is a teriyaki chicken rice bowl on the menu, and Hizashi is more than content with karaage and ramen. And the lil' listener digs in with more enthusiasm than he did with dinner last night, so maybe Hizashi should take offence to that, but honestly he thinks that it might just be because Izuku has spent time with some of the police officers he's known for ages. Hopefully it helped to soothe him a little, even if it nearly gave Hizashi a heart attack.
Hizashi mentally flicks through potential conversation topics as they both start eating, trying to decide what is most likely to keep Izuku at ease.
"So, lil' one, what're you reading at the moment? I noticed you had a book or two on your nightstand." See, this could have been a very risky question, except Hizashi may or may not have seen the titles of said books when he was panicking this morning, and he remembered them: they're just an analysis book and a rom-com. Nothing that is likely to upset the kiddo. Plus there's two options, so Izuku shouldn't feel pressured to talk about either one of them if he doesn't want to.
...Okay, Hizashi probably thought this through way too much, but that's by the by. He just wants to make sure Shou's lil 'one will be comfortable! And overthinking all of the little details is absolutely worth it for that.
And, hey, it definitely is worth it when Izuku grins at him, already starting to ramble about the analysis book he had been reading, one that Detective Tsukauchi apparently nabbed for him, and how it incorporated body language with Quirk attributes, both temporary from more transformation-based Quirks, or from mutations, whether they be primary or secondary.
It's a topic that Hizashi is interested in himself, although he thinks that Izuku might, rather impressively, actually be more well-read in it than he is, although he likes to think that his extra decade-and-a-half of experience lend him some good insight too, which means that they end up with a genuinely completely fascinating back and forth, talking about the literature on the topic, and on particularly interesting people they've seen before, and people they can see now, trying to figure out if peoples' dates are going well or if they're having a good day or not just from their posture.
At some point, the conversation shifts onto how Shouta and Izuku spend half of their trips out together people-watching, very similarly to how he and Hizashi are now, and Izuku is beaming, full of absolute affection for his Dad (it's the sweetest thing ever, how much the Aizawas love each other, and it brings Hizashi an wonderful, ridiculous, impossible amount of joy for them both-), talking about how Shouta encouraged him to analyse Quirks on the fly, to believe in his analyses, how they bounce ideas back and forth until they've gotten somewhere completely wild but still technically plausible.
It's both weird and lovely to hear about Shouta from his kid's perspective, particularly when it's an honest, non-teasing conversation, just Izuku's unfiltered adoration and admiration for his Dad. If Hizashi didn't already think that they were absolutely brilliant for each other, this single hour-and-a-half convo whilst they eat their dinner would convince him.
Hizashi is enjoying himself. He likes to think that Izuku is too.
And maybe it's that happiness, but the kid seems to have enough appetite and energy that when Hizashi suggests ice cream, which was admittedly his goal all along, Izuku just thinks for half a second, before nodding,
"Sure, if you want to. I like ice cream."
"Ice cream's super-duper awesome, what can I say?" Hizashi grins, winking at the teen. It earns him a giggle in return.
He may or may not already have the route planned out in his head, so Hizashi doesn't hesitate to guide Izuku in the right direction. When Izuku reaches out to press their palms together, to hold hands, Hizashi has to keep in a squeal of pure delight. (This damn sweetheart!) No, he just squeezes the kid's hand lightly instead, and pulls him towards the ice cream shop.
Chaos doesn't take long to descend, and Hizashi faintly realises why Shouta didn't want to let Hizashi and Izuku spend too much time together, chaos-harbingers as they both supposedly are,
"-you can't not like peanut butter! Kiddo, it's a basic human need." Izuku's expression then, a disbelieving thing with set jaw and scrunched eyebrows, is a too-perfect match for his Dad's: if Hizashi didn't know better, then he would think that the kiddo really is biologically Shouta's.
"Auntie Zashi, I'm like ninety-percent sure it isn't a necessity."
"Well, for me it is!" Hizashi declares, wiggling his eyebrows to make it absolutely clear that he's joking. His reward is a snicker, that unconvinced scowl smoothing away into something light and bright and precious.
"Fine, fine," he laughs off, trying to get Izuku back on track,
"So what flavour are you gonna get kiddo?"
That seems to catch Izuku off-guard, because he switches his attention to the two long rows of ice cream flavours they're stoof to the side of. It's honestly adorable, how seriously he considers them all, seemingly narrowing it down between a few quite quickly. But, well, he's hesitating, enough so that Hizashi doesn't even have to make a decision,
"If you can't decide between two, lil' listener, I'm happy to get you two scoops!" Izuku's gaze cuts up to him then, a little sharp yet oh-so far from unkind.
(If Hizashi knows anything, there's something about the subtly drawn-tighter shoulders, and the knife-harsh gleam in those eyes, that shows wariness, something not quite defensive... The kiddo doesn't want to be a burden. Doesn't want to impose, or assume too much. Hizashi doesn't think he can try and get into that, not at this early point of their relationship, and not when they're in the middle of Hizashi's second-favourite ice cream shop. And, well, Shouta has mentioned that it's a problem before.
It still hurts a little to see.
But the kiddo is with them all now! Things will get better over time, Hizashi is fully confident, and in the mean time, they're all here to support Izuku and help him learn how little he is a true problem, how much he is loved. How deeply.)
As the kid isn't speaking, doesn't seem to know what to say, Hizashi takes the chance of taking over slightly, smiling at Izuku.
"I'm having two- ooh, or maybe three, actually, because that chocolate brownie flavour is very tempting, and if I'm not the only one having more then Shouta wouldn't be able to call me greedy when he hears about it," he offers, keeping his tone very much light-hearted for all that the purpose is to stop the kid worrying about having more than the bare minimum.
It takes a few seconds, still, but finally Izuku nods, smiling faintly now.
"Can I have one of chocolate fudge and one of raspberry, please?"
"You most certainly can!" Hizashi trills, and steps up to the counter to order for them both. He's quietly glad, not to mention a little flattered, when Izuku steps up beside-behind him, pressing the front of his shoulder to Hizashi's back, not quite tucked into the man's side but still pressed against him. It's precious.
A minute later, he's passing the teen the dual-scoop little pot of ice cream, watching as he picks out the plastic spoon that's just the right shade of red to match Shouta's eyes. It's a joy and a wonder to watch the kiddo's eyes flutter shut, humming in delight at the sweet treat. Just seeing Izuku happy is wonderful.
Hizashi tucks right into his own ice cream, in order to not yell out to the world about the truly amazing nephew that Shouta has successfully managed to adopt, and nudges Izuku towards the tables, letting the kid pick.
(Maybe it should hurt his heart when Izuku immediately gravitates towards the objectively-safest seat in the entire place, but Hizashi can't blame him for that, not when it's ingrained from both Izuku's past and with an Underground hero's logic, and it isn't the most awful thing ever.
No, Hizashi would rather be happy-grateful-delighted that Izuku wants to be out and about with him in the first place. Gotta look at the bright side, right?)
When they get back home again, Izuku hesitates just past the genkan, his falter enough to have Hizashi hesitating too, a little worried, mostly just curious, turning back around to look at the kid, eyebrows raised a little.
"Thank you for today, Auntie Zashi, all of it," Izuku murmurs, his expression molten-sweet as he blinks up at the man.
Well, cue Hizashi's heart being an absolute puddle of candyfloss-flavoured goo in his chest.
"Hee, darling. I've enjoyed it too!" Hizashi's grinning, he can tell, his cheeks already hurt with it, and he can't help but open his arms in offering. To his even-greater joy, Izuku doesn't hesitate to throw himself forwards, and up, limpeting around Hizashi's chest, giggles buried in the man's throat, who just about manages to catch him before he starts to slip back down again.
He has the best nephew ever.