Chapter Warnings: Implied/Mentioned alcoholism. This chapter also talks in-depth and gives descriptions of postnatal depression, miscarriage and psychosis. The start and end are marked with ***

"As I'm sure you are aware, your mother is an alcoholic, which means that she drinks excessive alcohol-" Shinomiya started, but Izuku cut her off.

"I know what an alcoholic is, I lived with one for nine years," he snapped. He didn't want to be rude, but something about the woman across from him just annoyed him.

"Right. Well, unfortunately, social services cannot allow you to stay with your mother at the moment, not until she is sober again and has undergone treatment for her addiction. Seeing as you cannot stay with your mother, we will be reaching out to any family that you may have who can look after you whilst your mother is getting better." Shinomiya explained in that awfully high-pitched voice of hers.

"Wait, why can't he just stay here? I've known Inko since I was fifteen, I've looked after Izuku before." Mitsuki said.

"Whilst it would be nice to place Izuku with you, we first have a duty to place Izuku with a family member. After that, provided we cannot find a suitable family member, Izuku will be placed into the care of the local authority." Shinomiya explained.

"You mean foster care..." Izuku whispered brokenly.

Izuku didn't have a problem with foster care itself, it was very admirable that people gave up their homes so that children had temporary safe environments. Places where they would be nurtured and where they could grow. But Izuku didn't want to go into foster care, he was fine living with the Bakugos for however long it took for his mum to get better. Izuku wasn't good at meeting new people, it always caused him to panic. Anxiety would well up in his chest and he'd always be on the verge of a panic attack, even the smallest thing could tip him over.

"Don't worry, we have a duty to place you with a family member first. There's no certainty that you'll end up in foster care." Shinomiya tried to reassure, but again, her reassurances fell flat.

"I... I don't have any more family. It's just me and my mum," Izuku's throat was closing up and tears had started to leak from his eyes and onto the clenched fists in his lap.

"Well, as far as we're aware, your father is still alive so we will try and contact him. And your father did have a brother who may be able to look after you," Shinomiya explained patiently.

"My dad moved to the United States with his new wife and my uncle was murdered a year ago." Izuku sobbed.

"Grandparents?" Shinomiya sounded slightly desperate now. Izuku couldn't help but think that she should already know all of this information.

"Inko's parents died when she was seventeen, she lived with me and my parents during that time. Hisashi's parents are both in a nursing home, they wouldn't be able to look after Izuku." Mitsuki explained on Izuku's behalf. The boy's entire body was shaking as he tried to hold back his tears.

"Is there really no way that Izuku could be placed with us? He's very anxious around new people, he hasn't been formally diagnosed but we think he might have anxiety. Staying with us is what's best for his mental health." Masaru said.

"I'm sorry, but Izuku will be placed into the care of the local authority. We'll most likely find a foster carer within a few days," Shinomiya said. She didn't seem very sorry to Izuku.

"Don't I get a say in this? I'm nearly fourteen years old, I'm perfectly capable of thinking for myself," Izuku hiccuped, "I don't want to go and live with some stranger, I want to stay here."

"As you said, Midoriya, you are nearly fourteen, you are not yet at the age when you can make these sorts of decisions for yourself," Shinomiya explained.

"What about my mum? Have you asked her where she wants me to be, because I bet she'd say she wants me here, with Auntie Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru!" Izuku's grief and sadness were quickly transformed into anger. Izuku didn't often get angry, but it felt like he wasn't being listened to. Even if he was still a child in the eyes of the law, that didn't mean he didn't have a brain to think with. That didn't mean he didn't know what he wanted.

"Your mother is not the in position where she can make these sorts of decisions,"

"Yes, she is! If she's still in hospital then she'll be sober. Just because she's an alcoholic, it doesn't mean she can't make decisions when she's sober!"

"I understand that you're upset, Midoriya, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't shout at me. I'm sorry that you feel that going into foster care is not the right decision for you, but it's what the procedure calls for in this circumstance. I don't want to separate you from the people that you view as your family, but they are not suitable guardians in the eyes of social services. What if you caused Mrs Bakugo to become depressed again and have another psychotic episode, then both Mr Bakugo and Young Bakugo would be affected by the choices that you made." Shinomiya said all of this far too calmly. As if she wasn't guilt-tripping Izuku into going into foster care and using Mistuki's postnatal depression against her.

Izuku sprung up from his seat and stormed out of the room. As he left he heard Masaru's voice.

"That was hardly appropriate, my wife hasn't had any symptoms of psychosis since our miscarriage three years ago. Using her mental health against her-" Masaru's angry voice was cut off by Izuku storming into Katsuki's bedroom and slamming the door behind him.

"Ever heard of knocking, Nerd?" Katsuki grumbled from his desk.

A choked sob fell from Izuku's lips in answer. Katsuki's head whipped around at the sound and he frowned at seeing his friend so distraught.

"What's the matter? What happened down there?" Katsuki asked somewhat hesitantly.

Izuku couldn't find the words to respond, he simply cried harder and fell face-first onto Katsuki's bed. His tears soaked into his friend's pillows saturating them with sadness and snot. Katsuki sat frozen at his desk, he hadn't seen Izuku so distraught since his mum had been taken into the hospital three years prior after being in a car accident.

Slowly, almost as if he wasn't sure what he was doing, Katsuki stood from his desk and shuffled over to Izuku. He perched at the edge of his bed and rubbed small circles into Izuku's back. He'd seen his father do something similar for his mother once when she was distraught, although he didn't know how well it would work for Izuku.

After ten minutes, Izuku's wailing finally petered out and he was left in an exhausted heap, curled up in Kastuki's bed.

"Are you ready to tell me what happened now?" Katsuki asked gruffly.

"They... They want to send me into foster care. They won't let me stay here," Izuku hiccuped and stuttered. He could feel tears beading in his eyes again, but he was too exhausted to let them out.

"What? That's bullshit! Why won't they let you stay?" Katsuki gripped.

"'Cause it's 'not procedure' and apparently your mum isn't a suitable guardian for some crappy reason." Izuku's anger was returning, "They're using her past mental health issues against her."

Katsuki was silent for a moment, a turbulent battle raging behind his ruby eyes. Finally, his mouth tugged into an even deeper frown than usual and he stood from his bed. "I'm going to talk to my parents."

He didn't give any other explanation for his sudden disappearance, but Izuku didn't mind. He was too emotionally tired to care for Katsuki's actions. All he wanted to do was sleep. So he did. He let his eyelids slip closed and he fell into a light slumber in Katsuki's bed.

Katsuki stormed downstairs with a thunderous expression on his face. He hoped that the social worker wasn't present otherwise she would be receiving a piece of his mind. Luckily, Shinomiya had already left, but that did nothing to soothe Katsuki's anger, especially when he saw his mum's puffy eyes and flushed cheeks. She had been crying.

Katsuki could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen his mother cry. Once when he'd gotten lost for three hours at a festival as a child, his mother had been crying when she'd found him. She'd also hugged him tight enough to push all the air out of his lungs before pulling away to shout at him for leaving her side.

The second time was when he was nine, but these had been tears of joy. She was so happy that she was going to be having another child, the doctors had all said that even Katsuki being born was a miracle and that his parents shouldn't expect another child. And yet Mitsuki was pregnant again. She'd cried and hugged Katsuki, she'd been so happy.

***

The third time was only five months after that. Mitsuki had miscarried. It seemed to come out of nowhere. One moment she was fine, the next she was in excruciating pain and had to be rushed to the hospital. Katsuki was terrified, at the time, he'd watched as an ambulance crew rushed Mitsuki to the hospital. He'd been forced to stay with the Midoriyas that evening whilst his parents were at the hospital. He hadn't known if his mother's life was in serious danger due to complications or not. All he'd known was that something had gone wrong with the pregnancy.

After the miscarriage, Mitsuki fell into a deep depression. She didn't cry, she just sat in her bed all day and stared out of the window. Katsuki's father tried to maintain the household, go to work, and look after Katsuki and everything else, but Katsuki knew it was hard for him. He started doing chores to help out his parents, he learned to cook so that his dad could rest after long, hard days. It was hard on the entire family, but it only got worse when the psychosis set in.

The fourth time that Katsuki saw his mother cry was due to psychosis. Katsuki had been alone with his mum in the house when it happened. He was in his room doing his homework as quickly as possible so that he could play with Izuku online when his mother called him from her bedroom. It was the first time she had spoken in three days and Katsuki had gotten excited. Whenever she spoke it usually meant that she was feeling a bit better, they could actually talk. He missed talking to his mum, he was hesitant to admit it, but it was true. Katsuki had rushed into his mother's room, ready to actually talk again, when he'd been stopped short. Mitsuki was cradling a blanket (his would-be baby sister's blanket) in her arms and smiling down at it.

"Look, Katsuki, come and meet your baby sister," Mitsuki cooed.

Katsuki's heart started racing. He wanted to back out of the room and run away, but he wasn't sure that was the best idea, he thought it might just make whatever was going on with his mum worse.

Slowly, Katsuki walked over to his mother's bed and looked down at the bundle of blankets. There was nothing there.

"Isn't she so cute? I bet she'll look just like your dad when she grows up, she already has his eyes, don't you think?" Mitsuki said. Her eyes were glued to the blanket, they were hazy as if she wasn't seeing properly.

"There's nothing there, mum," Katsuki whispered, "She's... You know what happened."

Immediately, Mitsuki grew angry, "Look what you've done, Katsuki! Your sister is crying now! Shh. It's ok little one, mummy's here. Ignore your brother, he's just a meany."

Katsuki was scared by this point. It was clear that his mum genuinely believed that she was holding his dead little sister. She was hallucinating and experiencing delusions. Izuku had blabbered on about psychological illnesses enough for Katsuki to suspect that his mother was experiencing psychosis.

He'd rushed to the phone and called both his father and Inko before going back to his mum's side and sitting with her. As scary as it had been for her to rock a bundle of blankets and coo at it as though there was actually a baby there, Katsuki wanted to ensure that his mother didn't hurt herself.

As Katsuki watched the paramedics take her away so that she could be treated in a hospital psych ward, Mitsuki started screaming and crying, insisting that her baby was alive and that they were stopping her from looking after her. It had been painful to watch and that night Katsuki had hugged Masaru for longer than was usual for the father-son duo. They had sat on the sofa with their arms wrapped around each other and silently cried for the missing member of their household.

***

The fifth time that Katsuki saw his mother cry was after Shinomiya had left the house.

"Mum..." Katsuki said.

Both of his parents looked up at Katsuki and tried to put on smiles for their son. "Oh, Katsuki, what are you doing down here? Your father told you to stay in your room." Mitsuki said in a watery voice.

"The nerd came in crying saying that he's not allowed to stay with us. It's true, isn't it? He also said that his bitch of a social worker was using your past against you." Katsuki said angrily.

"Don't call Shinomiya a bitch, Katsuki," Masaru sighed, "You know that that language isn't nice. As hard as it is to hear that we can't look after Izuku due to... past issues, we shouldn't use such harsh language towards people we don't know."

"But it's bullshit!" Katsuki burst out, "Mum is better now and if the nerd goes into foster care he'll probably have a panic attack at least once a day!"

"Shinomiya said that they'd take that into account and place Izuku with a foster carer who usually takes care of children with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression." Masaru explained somewhat bitterly, "We tried to argue against Shinomiya's decision, trust me Katsuki, but she was insistent that our home was not suitable for Izuku."

Katsuki could feel a familiar all-consuming rage working its way through his body. It grew in his heart and made him ache for some sort of outlet for his anger. His mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood despite having not bitten the inside of his cheek. He needed to let his anger out soon, otherwise, it would overflow and be directed toward one of the occupants of the house.

Scowling and cursing loudly despite his parents' admonishments, Katsuki stormed away, marching towards the back garden. It had been clear since a young age that Katsuki had inherited his mother's anger, but where she tended to calm herself with gentle tasks such as sewing and reading, Katsuki soothed his rage with martial arts and boxing. Katsuki's anger liked to burst out of him in violent outbursts, his therapist (who he didn't want to see but his parents were insistent that he attended most of his sessions) suggested that going to martial arts classes and having something to punch whilst at home was a good solution to his overflowing anger. And so Mitsuki and Masaru bought Katsuki a punching bag and put it in the back garden so that Katsuki could release his anger through his own means without hurting anyone.

The sound of leather hitting leather permeated the air as Katsuki beat his fists into his punching bag. It was his sole focus so he didn't notice when Izuku emerged from the house with red eyes filled with anxiety and grudging acceptance.

"Kacchan..." Izuku called gently over his friend, the sound of Izuku's voice seemed to snap Katsuki out of his slowly diminishing rage-filled haze. He turned around and took in the sight of Izuku standing by the backdoor.

"I thought you were asleep," Katsuki grunted. He pulled his boxing gloves from his hands and flopped into the grass. His exhaustion (both emotional and physical) finally caught up to him. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. But he couldn't do any of that. Not yet.

"I was," Izuku said quietly, "But Uncle Masaru came up and told me what Shinomiya has decided to do,"

"Don't say that asshole's name. She made you and the old hag cry. Obviously, it's not hard to make you cry, but still. Fucking bastard," Katsuki cursed and snarled beneath his breath.

"I know, I'm not exactly her biggest fan either, but she won't listen to me," Izuku fell down into the grass beside Katsuki and tried to offer him a reassuring smile, "Your dad said that they might be sending me to somebody who can help me with my anxiety. Plus, it won't be for long. I trust my mum to get better as quickly as she can. I know she loves me and she's said time and time again that she'll do anything for me, I just have to trust that she was telling the truth."

"Of course you would have an optimistic outlook on all of this. Why are you trying to reassure me? I'm not the one who's being ripped away from the people who actually love him and being placed with some random weirdo." Katsuki grumbled.

"They won't be a weirdo, Kacchan, as annoying as Social Services is, they have a responsibility to make sure that the foster carers are safe to live with," Izuku said, "Plus, apparently I'll be getting a profile or something for the carer tomorrow. It'll tell me who they are and what their house is like. All of that stuff."

"That doesn't reassure me, Deku," Katsuki sighed and finally let the scowl fall from his features, "I don't... Fuck! I can't... I just want..."

"It's ok, Kacchan, I know what you're trying to say," Izuku reassured his best friend, "You don't want me to be in danger, do you? As much as you like to complain about how clingy I am, you don't want to lose me as a friend and you want us to have the old life we used to have before everything got bad, right?"

Katsuki wasn't surprised that Izuku seemed to know exactly what he wanted to say, he'd always had the uncanny ability to read Katsuki's mind and emotions. It was one of the reasons that they got on so well, Izuku knew what Katsuki was trying to say when he struggled to convey his emotions. That's not to say that Izuku's perceptiveness of Katsuki's emotions didn't cause arguments, sometimes Katsuki didn't want to acknowledge his own complex feelings, and yet Izuku brought them up constantly. It was annoying, and yet also so endearing.

"Yeah," Katsuki mumbled.

"I'm not going anywhere, Kacchan. We're going to be best friends forever and we'll go to UA together and succeed at whatever we do. I don't know where I'm going to live, but I do know that Social Services can't force me to move to a different school, they have to provide transportation to school if I live far away. I'll still be able to see you. We'll still be together." Izuku promised. He smiled, a genuine smile, down at Katsuki. He admired his best friend's vermillion eyes and blond hair. Hair which was slicked back by Katsuki's sweat.

"Stop being sappy, Nerd," Katsuki grumbled.

Hesitantly, Katsuki offered his hand to Izuku. It was rare that they ever had physical contact beyond a joking shove or pat on the shoulder. They never hugged or held hands. Izuku loved hugging people and initiating contact with them, but Katsuki was the complete opposite, he hated touching people, it made him anxious and stressed, and even his own parents knew not to hug him without warning. But sometimes, when times were tough and physical comfort would make things even minutely better, Katsuki would put aside his discomfort and offer a hand or hug Izuku and Izuku would always take the offer.

Izuku took Katuki's larger, slightly sweaty, hand into his own and gave it a gentle squeeze. It wouldn't fix all of his problems, but knowing that Katsuki was there for him made all the difference. He trusted Katsuki to be there, right by his side, whilst his mum recovered. He couldn't ask for a better friend. 

I think I've got it figured out now. I'll try to update every week, but only if I finish writing a chapter, or if I'm really close to finishing a chapter. I prefer to be a few chapters ahead, otherwise, I get anxious and the quality of my writing goes to absolute shit. So, yeah, updates every week as long as I'm not lazy and overwhelmed with college work.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.