above water

villain controlled unbreakable red riot is given four targets, and a cognitive kirishima eijirou and his family have to live in the aftermath

One morning, Katsuki woke up feeling… off.

He rolled over in bed to see his husband, who had only come home hours beforehand from an extra long shift. Deciding to let him sleep he easily snuck out of bed to get the kids ready for school.

Which he did.

He remembered to put extra cheese in Mieko’s box since he found out she had been giving hers to one of the girls in her class who sat with her every day now. Anything he could do to help their youngest make friends.

Kindergarteners could be cruel after all.

He remembered to pack practice uniforms for the twins because they were going to ride with the Todorokis to practice after school.

He remembered to let the dogs out and feed the cat.

He remembered to go back into his bedroom and kiss a still sleeping Eijirou on the head before heading to work.

The day progressed completely normal.

Nothing to explain the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that something was just… off.

Until there was.

“What do you need Icyhot?” Katsuki asked into his phone as he made his way down the sidewalk on patrol.

“Why didn’t you tell me the twins didn’t go to school today? We’re running late now.” Todoroki replied evenly, but clearly bothered.

Katsuki stopped. “They did go to school, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“What? They weren’t waiting with the kids so I checked with the woman at the front office. She said all three kids were absent today.”

Katsuki’s blood ran cold.

content warnings

violence against children, gore, descriptions of panic and anxiety attacks, suicidal ideation, suicide (side character), ptsd

if there’s any I forgot I’ll add when applicable

Katsuki barely had time to process what Todoroki had just told him before his phone began vibrating against his cheek.

He took the phone from his face to see that it was Eijirou on the other line. Without another word he switched the line over, already using his explosions to propel himself back towards their agency.

“Eiji-”

“Katuki!” His tone of voice was frantic, “Get to the agency /now, it’s the kids.”

He was less than a minute away, by the method he was currently using.

“I’m on my way, they never made it to schoo-”

“Katsuki someone fucking /took them.”

“What the fuck do you mean?”

He heard rustling and Eijirou was breathing pretty heavy, it sounded like he was running.

“We were sent exact coordinates of their location, and a video,” Katsuki heard a door open over the phone.

“They sent it to the agency, It can’t be forwarded I fucking guess. I was just told to get there STAT. How far away are you?”

“Ten seconds, you?”

“Just walked in.”

“This is a trap.” Todoroki said matter of factly from where he stood, staring at the video projected into the screen, playing on a loop.

Katsuki registered his words on the surface. Of course it was a trap. Obviously it was. But….

“It’s one we have to fall for.” Eijirou voiced what Katsuki was thinking. Katsuki looked over to him.

He worried vaguely what would happen when Eijirou got his hands on whoever was behind the camera.

The look in his eyes told Katsuki that there wasn’t much he’d be able to do to keep Eijirou from killing whoever was responsible for endangering their children.

Then again maybe he didn’t completely want to stop him.

Maybe he could get the kids out and once he was sure they couldn’t see them he’d help Eijirou tear this guys ass to-

“We can have a back-up plan.” Deku’s voice interrupted Katsuki’s half baked revenge fantasy. “We can lead him to believe we’re playing by his rules, but we can gain control of this situation.”

“Whatever plan we come up with you assholes have twenty fucking minutes before I leave your asses behind and get my fucking kids.”

After the secretary got the original email, she made the first call to Red Riot he gave her a specific list of heroes to contact, then assured her he himself would get in touch with Ground Zero.

Now they stood in a meeting room, devising a plan with six of the top heroes in the field.

Most of them viewed the kids as family themselves.

The room was tense to say the least.

Katuski was annoyed, but more than that he was thankful. No matter how much he wanted to just bust the door in on this stupid asshole and get his god damn kids, he knew they’d need a strategy.

He and Eijirou were too emotionally compromised, they needed the help.

Katsuki looked back to the screen as the video started again at the beginning.

“Dad… Papa..” Tiejou spoke in a wavering voice. Hands tied behind his back to the chair just as his two siblings were next to him.

His twin, Uta seemed the most shaken, but he was still able to keep it somewhat together with his watery eyes anxiously following something behind the camera.

Mieko didn’t look scared like her big brothers, she looked mad. Katsuki knew she was too young to understand the danger she was in. She expected her dads to bust through the door at any second, kick that guy’s ass and take them home.

The poor baby was too naive to be scared.

He knew his personality had plenty to do with it. Her feeling of being invincible, it was all him. He’d get to her immediately. He’d keep that alive in her as long as he could.

Katsuki had expected a warehouse. Or a shed at the very least.

He didn’t expect some inconspicuous house tucked into a neighborhood.

Which is what they saw when Creati pulled the address up on their computer, but even upon arrival it seemed strange.

A small group of kids on bikes passed the car they were parked in and Katsuki watched them.

“Is this the right place?” Eijirou asked from the passenger’s seat.

Katsuki unclicked his seatbelt and grunted in affirmation.

“Did we get any more information on the guy?” Eijirou asked, taking off his own seat belt without breaking eye contact with the house.

“You know as much as I do, Eijirou.”

Eijirou cut him a look as he opened the car door. Katsuki sighed and did the same, hitting the button to lock it and putting his keys in the pocket of his civilian clothes that were requested they wear.

Casual was the main request, arrive and enter casually. Draw as little attention as possible, no hero suits no entourages.

Arrive casually and alone.

Though the others would be five minutes behind them, as promised by Deku.

The front door was unlocked, as promised, and the two walked straight into a very standard, averagely decorated home. Everything about the situation was so weirdly normal it was eerie.

Muffled sounds came from the back of the house causing the two to run towards them.

All three kids were sat at the dining room table, food set out extravagantly in front of them with three additional plate settings in front of unoccupied seats. Their struggling against the restraints that bound them to their chairs intensified upon seeing their dads.

Katsuki and Eijirou rushed over to them, Katsuki pulling the table from in front of them to get to them quicker and inadvertently knocking most of the food and place settings over and onto the ground.

It’s ok, it’s ok” Katsuki repeated as he exploded the back of the chair just enough for the ropes to break through them, and he slid them off the back of Uta’s wrists. He was trying to say something from behind the tape over his mouth.

“One second,’ Katsuki looked over to the other two from where he was kneeling in front of Uta, Eijirou had Mieko free already and was using one hardened hand to cut through the ropes that tied Teijou’s hands.

Mieko’s tears were falling over her cheeks and glistening over the tape on her mouth.

She was clinging to Eijirou, her cries muffled by the tape and how tightly Eijirou was holding her to him. “Mieko, it’s ok, baby, I’ve got you.”

Katsuki looked Back to Uta, he put a hand on the back of his head and looked to his eyes.

They were shimmering, and Katsuki could see the fear in them.

A scared little mix of him and Eijirou looked back at him, trying not to shake or cry.

Katsuki pulled him into his chest. “We’re here, it’s ok.”

He pulled back and huffed, knowing they had to be quick about this.

Distantly he wondered where the villain even was. The eerie feeling creeping back in, undermining his relief.

This isn’t going to feel great Uta, ok?” Uta nodded, “Just like ripping a band aid, ok Kid?”

Uta nodded again and closed his eyes tightly in anticipation.

“Breathe in.” His eyes closed tighter, “Out.” Katsuki ripped the tape from his mouth and his scream was mirrored by Mieko’s wail as Eijirou did away with hers.

Eijirou pulled her back into him and smoothed her tangled hair down as she continued to scream. “I know, Mie, I know, I’m sorry.”

A small grunt pulled Katsuki’s attention to Teijou, who was holding the piece of tape in his own hands. Fragile skin around his mouth raised and red.

“Look at you.” Katsuki breathed and reached for him, hitting Eijirou’s hand as they’d both reached out for him at the same time. They both moved closer, the five of them huddled tightly together.

“Are you guys ok? Are any of you hurt?” Eijirou asked, pulling each kid in, leaving kisses on their heads.

“N-no, we’re fine.” Teijou responded, hands trembling as he held onto his dads.

“Fight him Daddy!” Mieko yelled over her own crying, “I hate him!”

Katsuki let out a breath at her anger, but his reply was cut off by a voice from behind them.

“Well, looks like you’ve ruined our nice family dinner. God, you Just make a habit of that dont you Ground Zero?”

Katsuki turned around quickly, keeping the kids behind him. “Who the fuck are you?”

The guy smiled far too casually and wrung his hands together.

There was no villain get-up, no marred skin or unkept hair, nothing that would lead a normal onlooker to believe that he was behind plotting and executing the kidnapping children of two of Japan’s top heroes.

“My feelings are hurt that you don’t remember me!”

The light tone with which he spoke pissed Katsuki off even more.

He felt Mieko and Teijou’s hands cling to him, and knew Eijirou was subtly shifting them to be behind Katsuki. He was wordlessly sharing his plan with Katsuki, and he understood.

“So, we don’t have time for your villain speech- eat shit, bastard.”

No one else would have known what was coming, but no one else worked together as well as Red Riot and Ground Zero.

In a fraction of a second Katsuki had all three kids and jumped back to allow Eijirou to land an attack.

One hit right in the center of his chest sent the guy flying back into the cabinets behind him, and Eijirou barely hardened. Katsuki smirked, recognizing that Eijirou wanted to see him suffer a bit before he was detained.

Years of hero training were yelling in Katuski’s head about the ethics behind that, but the man who was watching his husband defend his children could let it slide.

Eijirou’s eyes were trained on the villain as he went to stand back up, but he made no move to follow up his attack. Katsuki’s plan had been to take the kids completely out of the situation, but something in the way Eijirou was acting begged him to stay.

If he was out of his mind with rage then Katsuki needed to stay to interfere. Eijirou’s hero license would be on the line if he killed the guy, but he also needed to get the kids away as soon as he could.

“Riot, what are you doing?” He called, but Eijirou didn’t turn, didn’t acknowledge him at all.

Coughing pulled Katsuki’s attention to the villain again and he looked to see him wiping the front of his shirt. The coughing tuned to a wheezing laugh. Katsuki tightened his grip on the kids.

Something was wrong about the way this was playing out. Eijirou should have had this guy absolutely tabled by now.

The feeling in Katsuki’s gut intensified ten fold.

“Go on,” the villain spoke around coughs, “you can look at him.”

Katsuki looked back to Eijirou, who right on command turned to look at him and the kids.

As he did though, his eyes were completely blank.