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confused-stars · 2 years

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Kurogiri’s Nanny Service - Part Six: Uraraka

(part one) (part two) (part three) (part four) (part five)

- Sometimes, Kurogiri almost finds himself mourning the days of race cars and picture books. It's hard not to, with five teenagers who have shed all the cuteness of childhood to become hormonal drama factories that all gentle parenting in the world can't handle.

And their quirks certainly don't make it any easier. It's a good thing he has his own to fight back, because he's hopelessly outnumbered.

Now, of course there's two other adults, in theory, and Keigo is also legal at nineteen, but all of them need just as much wrangling as everyone else. Takami, when he's not being a menace, just enjoys to sit back and watch the chaos unfold. It's only mildly infuriating. Kurogiri almost regrets working hard to wrestle his emotions from that constant state of numbness they've always been in. It's nice when it's good feelings, but frustration is something he could easily live without.

"I'll fucking kill you!" Tomura shrieks, lunging at Dabi with his hand outstretched like he's actually going for it.

Dabi dances backwards, the pages of the magazine he's holding fluttering in the air. "You know, porn I'd understand," he says, stepping aside to get a table between himself and Tomura. "But this..." He lowers the magazine and reads aloud. "How To Be A More Confident Flirt: Midnight's Top Ten Tips." Tomura looks about ready to vault across the table when a couple feathers curl into his shirt and hold him back. Dabi grins at Keigo. "Ooh, or this one. Jeanier Than Ever: An Exclusive Look At Best Jeanist's New Winter Collection. You tryin' to be fashionable now?"

Tomura curses and disintegrates the feathers so he can round on Keigo, who squawks and flaps his wings to hover just underneath the ceiling, his legs dangling down and easily within reach.

"No flying inside," Kurogiri says, and is promptly ignored.

"So rewarding, watching 'em grow up," Takami comments over the rim of his coffee cup. "Seems like yesterday they were cute little babies."

Kurogiri huffs. "I would rather skip this step and have them move straight into adulthood. Dabi really should be more mature than this."

"Nah." Takami takes a sip of coffee. "Twenty-one's basically still a kid. 'specially when it comes to him."

He often subtly takes Dabi's side, even when Kurogiri is just making little remarks like this, or gently scolding him for something. Takami's protective instincts are a sight to behold, and they extend to all of them, but Dabi is more his than he is Kurogiri's, and it's noticeable. Kurogiri doesn't mind. They all need someone in their corner.

Keigo is still in the air, though Himiko has come out of nowhere and is clinging to his leg, her own feet dangling slightly off the ground.

In the far corner booth, Neito and Hitoshi are sharing a bag of chips and drinking the milkshakes Kurogiri made for them earlier because they were well-behaved today.

When Tomura disintegrates the table, and Dabi lights up a hand to wave at him, Kurogiri gets Hitoshi's attention with a gesture.

The boy sighs, resting his cheek on his hand. "Tomura!"

Tomura glances at him once, then clamps his mouth shut and tries to go back to ignoring him.

"Hey!" Hitoshi rolls his eyes. "Twilight Princess fucking sucks."

Dabi ducks away at the distraction, making his way over to Keigo.

Tomura glares at Hitoshi, but he's holding strong. Stronger than usual.

Hitoshi frowns. He changes course. "You know, you should really be glad that Dabi didn't find the actual dirty magazines you hide behind your-"

"Shut up!" Tomura lunges for their table, but he doesn't get very far as his eyes gloss over and he stands calmly all of a sudden.

"Thank you, Hitoshi," Kurogiri says. He knows it's still so important to reassure the child every time he uses his quirk. He seems to have at least come to enjoy it a little bit, when he can use it here, on people who won't hate him for it. Sure, Tomura is going to pout, but he'll forgive because he always forgives the younger kids. He might be a little more upset with Kurogiri, but this remains a good way to de-escalate. Hitoshi needs to train his quirk and Kurogiri doesn't want to constantly warp them to separate places anymore. It's starting to tire him out.

"Dabi. Give me the magazine." Kurogiri holds out his hand and Dabi reluctantly crosses the bar to comply. "You shouldn't take Tomura's things. You know he's sensitive."

Dabi snorts. "C'mon, he needs this. Can't let his ego grow too big."

Kurogiri very well understands the benefits of gentle teasing. It's what's keeping Tomura from developing a dangerous sort of overconfidence from All for One's constant praise and reassurance. A child growing up with the knowledge that he'll rule the world one day should have been a lot less well-adjusted than Tomura is now. Still, there's rules and Kurogiri needs to enforce them.

"We don't take each other's things," he says, "Yes, even if he left them lying around. And if you needed to embarrass him, you didn't have to do it in front of an audience."

Dabi likes an audience, sometimes. It's a character trait that was entirely surprising to Kurogiri when it first started showing itself. When they met, Dabi was quiet, elusive, liked to stay in the background. He's still often like that, but he's starting more and more to display a liking for... showmanship. He enjoys having eyes on him, when it's a situation he can control. It's... troublesome for a criminal. The limelight is not where they want to be. One day, it's going to get Dabi in serious trouble.

"I didn't steal it," Dabi protests, crossing his arms, "I was gonna give it back! Even if it's a stupid hero gossip magazine and he shouldn't be reading that trash."

"The beauty tips are good!" Himiko argues. She and Keigo have come down from the ceiling, with her hovering around the still frozen Tomura. She takes his hand and looks to Hitoshi, who nods. "Go to your room with Himiko." Tomura starts walking, and Dabi steps aside to make room for him - only to try and slip away in the same movement. He is blocked by Takami's wing. "Kurogiri's right. You still took it, and we don't take things from each other. Just from everyone else. You don't want your shit taken, either, right?"

Dabi scoffs. "Like I didn't catch him rifling through my backpack the other day."

Kurogiri sighs. He'll have to talk to Tomura about that, too. Him and Dabi have been butting heads constantly lately, but rules are rules. And Dabi keeps most of his worldly possessions in that backpack. Of course he'd be upset. Not to mention the breach of privacy.

"Revenge is also not how we handle things here," Kurogiri says calmly, "It's never going to solve any problems, it only creates new ones."

Dabi rolls his eyes so hard that Kurogiri fears he'll pop his staples. "Not doin' the moral lecture right now. I get it, no more making fun of his majesty, the prince of the underworld." He pushes Takami's wing out of the way. "C'mon, Kei."

Keigo is at his side in an instant.

Kurogiri hesitates, then concedes. Time to cool off would be best for all of them. "Be back before midnight. Or text me if you won't be." They're technically adults, after all.

"Wait," Hitoshi says, getting to his feet, "I wanna come."

He doesn't want to be here to face Tomura's wrath, clearly. There's already muffled cursing coming from his room.

Dabi and Keigo exchange a look. "Uh, sorry, squirt, I can't carry both of you at the same time," Keigo says after a moment with an awkward laugh.

He absolutely can. It wouldn't be particularly comfortable, but he could carry all of them and not break a sweat. Keigo's feathers are absurdly strong.

Kurogiri narrows his eyes at him. At his side, Dabi is failing to look innocent.

Hitoshi huffs and grabs the jacket he left draped over the back of the booth. "Fine. I'll go out alone."

It's still early enough that Kurogiri can't bring himself to protest. Hitoshi's current foster parents have a curfew and generally keep a good eye on the children, so Neito tells them they're having sleepovers every other weekend, when actually both boys come to stay here overnight. It's one of their more harmless lies, considering, and Kurogiri is taking care of Hitoshi just as well as Neito's parents would. At least he likes to think so, even if he's a little unconventional. He wouldn't let him run off in Kamino without knowing he'll be safe, at least. They've taught him basic self-defense and he always has his quirk and the knife Himiko gave him for his last birthday.

"Be back before sunset," Takami drawls before Kurogiri can say the exact same thing.

"Sure," Hitoshi replies without looking at him, and slips out after Dabi and Keigo.

"Aw, no," Neito complains from his booth, "I've been abandoned."

Kurogiri nods at him. "So you have been. Be a dear and come help me with the dishes."

It's shortly after they've finished cleaning up the bar for the night, and Tomura has locked himself in his room for a video call with All for One, that Hitoshi returns.

He usually stays out as long as he can, wandering with his trusty headphones. Even when it's raining. Maybe especially when it's raining.

But this time, it's still a good hour until sunset, and he seems a little awkward as he hovers by the door. "Kurogiri?"

Kurogiri has been standing idle behind the bar, as he often does, thinking of nothing at all. He doesn't need to always be moving, even if the children say it's creepy when he drifts off like this for hours at a time. It's peaceful. It gives him the energy he needs to survive the day to day chaos.

"What is it?" he asks, "Is something wrong? Did anyone give you trouble?"

Hitoshi waves off his concerns. "No, no, I'm okay. I just- don't be mad." He opens the door before Kurogiri can assure him he won't be, and a girl in a washed out school uniform steps through. Her eyes look reddened from crying and she's biting on her lip, clearly uncomfortable as she looks around the bar. It's a good thing that it's only open for patrons when none of the children are around - save for the usual suspects, who know to stay in their rooms.

Takami might have intimidated her, too - gentle as he can be, he does look rather rough - but he went upstairs for a nap in Kurogiri's room since he wants to be rested for the night to come and whatever job he's working.

So it's only Kurogiri and his youngest charges, with Neito and Himiko having interrupted their card game on the floor to look at the girl curiously.

"Hello," Kurogiri says gently. He wishes, not for the first time, that his appearance wasn't quite so off-putting, especially to children. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

The girl hesitates, then nods, still seeming very shaky.

Hitoshi has noticed, too, and fortunately has the presence of mind to escort her over to the nearest booth where she sits down and says a quiet hello to Himiko and Neito who have gotten up to join them.

Kurogiri sighs and turns to head into the kitchen to make some tea. It's best to give the kids a few minutes to work their charm. No one is quite able to stay in a gloomy mood around Himiko. She's too surprising for that.

Surprising in the way that, when Kurogiri returns into the main room of the bar, she's not talking at all. Instead, she's just fixated on the other girl with silent intensity. It isn't her predatory gaze that she gets when she hasn't had enough blood for a while. This is... something new. Could it be... puberty?

Kurogiri suppresses a shudder and uses his portals to place tea cups in front of all the children before he sits down himself.

"... this is Ochako," Hitoshi says after a long moment, "We go to the same school."

Hitoshi doesn't have any friends in school. This must be a new acquaintance.

"Hello, Ochako," Kurogiri says gently, "I'm glad Hitoshi brought you here, you seemed in dire need of that cup of tea."

The girl clutches her cup in her hands and blows on it. "I... yeah. Thank you." She sounds a little hoarse. Kurogiri opens a portal to the kitchen he knows his way blindly around, and reaches inside to procure a glass of honey that he puts on the table in front of Ochako. She smiles at that, even if it's only a small, weak smile.

Kurogiri braces himself. He keeps his voice calm and soft. "I'm aware that it might be difficult to talk about, but I would like to know what happened so I can find a way to help you." As he's listening to himself, it almost sounds like a hero talking. He knows he should mind, but he doesn't.

Especially when Ochako looks up at him, her eyes swimming with tears, and her story rushes out of her all at once, tinged with a helpless desperation only a child could feel.

"There's another one," is the first thing Takami says when he comes downstairs, stretching his arms above his head and shaking out his wings. His shirt rides up and exposes just a sliver of a toned stomach that Kurogiri attempts to ignore. This is also a new development. He isn't sure how to deal with it.

"Your skills of perception are remarkable," he says dryly, "It must be the raptor in you."

Takami laughs and comes up behind the bar, crouching beside Kurogiri to get to the mini fridge and the juice boxes. "What's her story?" he asks when he comes up again and leans against the counter. Kurogiri begins to smooth out the sleep-ruffled feathers of a wing.

In the booth, Ochako has nodded off and been covered with a soft blanket. Kurogiri considered moving her, but waking her up didn't seem worth it at the time.

Himiko is still sitting in the same spot, watching her with that same fascinated, far-off look as before.

"She ran away from home," Kurogiri says quietly. "Because she found out her parents have been skipping meals to afford feeding her."

It's one more example of that childish logic, mixed with a false feeling of responsibility and guilt, and Kurogiri's heart breaks for the girl's family. He's unable to just look at the situation neutrally like he used to, like he's supposed to. Instead, he feels sorrow.

Takami is silent for almost a full minute.

"What do we do?" he finally asks, and Kurogiri turns to look at him in surprise.

Takami avoids his gaze, still watching the two girls.

He's not the type to offer charity just like that. But Kurogiri remembers how skinny both he and Keigo used to be. They've both filled out a lot, but the first time Kurogiri met Takami, he looked like he was starving. Maybe he's done the same thing as Ochako's parents before. Maybe he understands.

"We need to take her back home," Kurogiri says, because there's no question here. She has parents who love her, who are making sacrifices for her, and they must be devastated right now. There's not much else Kurogiri can do, he doesn't have access to a lot of money, and neither does Takami, but they might be able to scrounge something up.

Takami sighs and nods. "Yeah... yeah, we gotta. This fucking sucks. It's easier to just take 'em in. We could feed her."

They could. But it's not right and Takami sounds like he knows that very well. He's told Kurogiri before that he used to be deathly scared of someone taking Keigo away from him.

Kurogiri doesn't know what he'd do if someone tried to do that with Tomura, or Himiko. Those are the two he considers entirely his own. He'd fight for them until the bitter end.

"Stealing children is a line I would never cross," Kurogiri says calmly.

Takami's jaw sets and he turns to look at him with a hard glint in his eye. "Yeah, you wouldn't."

Kurogiri pauses, recognizing the hostility for what it is and who it's really pointed at. It's dangerous to talk like that. But All for One has tuned in to talk to Takami specifically lately, though they've never met in person. No one, not even Tomura, gets to actually meet All for One now, ever since his injury.

But it doesn't make him any less of a threat. And he's taken an interest in Keigo, so of course Takami's feathers are ruffled. All for One is just testing the waters now, making suggestions, being civil. He doesn't want to make them his enemies, after all. But he'll switch to more sinister methods soon, and they all know it.

Takami's quirk doesn't need intelligence like Keigo's does. He'd make a perfect base for a flying nomu.

Kurogiri doesn't like that he has these thoughts, but he knows that's what All for One must be thinking about as well. All Kurogiri can hope for is that Takami doesn't establish himself as a threat. There's no harm being done to Keigo at present. There might not ever be.

But then there's also the matter of Dabi. All for One has had a particular interest in him since he showed up, and Dabi confides in Takami, and in Keigo. He even lives at their apartment most of the time.

All for One doesn't like anyone else having an influence over his assets that he can't control.

He's playing games, waiting to make his move, and it has Kurogiri and Takami on edge. The children know nothing, for now. They don't need to worry.

"All the more reason to convince her to go back home, where she'll be safe," Kurogiri says. Ochako can reverse gravity. It's a fairly useful quirk. Fatal in the wrong hands, but she wants to be a hero.

She wants to be a hero solely so she can support her parents, because she's not allowed to use her quirk to make their work quicker and easier without a license. It makes Kurogiri... angry. So many people have the ability to solve problems, and their system is keeping them from doing so. Because the system doesn't want problems solved. It wants to sell solutions. Sell heroes.

And you can't sell heroes without villains to fight, and villains only happen if you have victims, first. At least most of the time.

Takami is studying him again. "... and we'll help her out?" he asks, as if he already knows the answer.

Kurogiri almost wants to snort. "With whose money?"

That's met with a helpless shrug. Since Takami has started sharing responsibility for their children, he hasn't been taking up the same type of lucrative, risky jobs he earned his reputation for years ago. It's for the best, especially with Endeavor still holding a grudge against him, but money is now tighter for all of them. Keigo and Dabi working their own jobs helps, but they're not allowed to take any unnecessary risks, either.

And All for One still only barely finances Kurogiri and Tomura's lives.

That said...

"... one more mouth to feed occasionally won't make much of a difference, I suppose," Kurogiri hears himself say.

Takami grins at him. "There's my hero."

Kurogiri shoves him, hard, and entirely immature.

#nanny service au #j writes #hawks tag #kurogiri: experiences one (1) emotion #kurogiri: why did i give up my existence as a zombie without feelings it was so much easier #only one more part!#the dynamics are gonna have shifted a lot after that time jump because of [redacted]

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