Archive of Our Own ^beta

Izuku had come to hold certain expectations for his life over the years. The first of which would be his continued persecution and discrimination for being born quirkless. But he’d also learned to expect certain things from his own life because of his new reality after inheriting One For All. He expected to get good grades at UA. He expected to struggle through civil law and ethics class while they read out crime statistics and reviewed ethics that no longer held a space in society, most of which still oppressed him. Izuku expected his best friend to surprise him every other day with his ability to change and learn from his mistakes. 

Walking into his mother’s apartment on a random Friday afternoon when he had the weekend home from UA to find his long lost father sitting at the dining room table with a newspaper, a briefcase, and the warp gate Nomu who had been involved in the USJ attack - none of that was even at the very frayed edges of his expected reality. 

Izuku didn’t immediately recognize the man sitting at the table, and he’d almost gone into fight mode, but some wall inside his mind he hadn’t been aware of just…fell, and his jumbled childhood suddenly became crystal clear. Izuku knew that was a quirk. He knew what memory quirks felt like. He’d read the reports, the complaints on hero forums. Memory quirks were one of the most abused quirks in the world - mostly for crime. So when his memories finally broadened like dropping the wide screen bars from a movie screen, Izuku knew things were about to get very interesting. 

“Izu-chan!” 

His mother scurried out of the kitchen, looking very much not herself, or not her current self. She looked…ten years younger, three inches taller, and somehow lost like forty pounds since the last time Izuku saw her a few weeks ago. She hugged him and pressed a kiss to his forehead. Izuku stood there, stunned. 

“Welcome home, sweetie. Your father’s here for a visit. Would you keep him company? I need to run out and shop since we’ve got an extra mouth, I haven’t enough food for dinner. I’ll be back in a couple hours.”

Before he could even formulate a response, his mother had grabbed her purse and shut the door quietly behind herself as she left for the grocery store. He looked between the door and his father (who hadn’t moved or looked up from his newspaper yet), wondering what the hell he was supposed to do. Inko had acted like this was just a normal father-son visitation day and there wasn’t an actual villain standing in the room behind the so-called father who’d been missing for the last decade or more.

“Giri, I think tea would be nice.”

“Of course, Sir.”

“Izuku.”

The teen finally ended his back and forth with the door and stared at his father. The older man set down the newspaper, neatly folded on the table in front of him. Izuku got a good look at the man, now. He was, well, gigantic. He dwarfed Izuku even sitting down. How did he get in the door? His face was handsome, but placid, almost stern. Izuku could see where his own features came from. He had curly white hair tied up in a loose bun at the back of his head. Izuku knew his curls came from his father, but seeing it was quite surreal. 

“Sit down, son, if you would.”

For whatever reason, Izuku didn’t feel like he had a choice. The man’s tone didn’t suggest any threat, but he radiated authority that Izuku didn’t particularly want to cross. So, he sat down across from his father and waited to see what this whole maddening event was about. Just as he did, the warp gate villain his father had called Giri arrived with a tray of tea which he then poured for them. Was he supposed to be a butler of some kind? Izuku had only seen him briefly during the USJ attack, and he’d already been thrown to the flood zone before finding out who the League of Villains was, Izuku learned that later. 

So why was their transporter here? Izuku’s father must have noticed Izuku staring.

“Kurogiri is mine, Tomura borrows him as needed for League activities.”

“Does mom know you have a villain for a butler?”

Izuku surprised himself with his boldness. He swore there was a smirk behind that misty face as the warp gate handed him a teacup. Izuku’s father didn’t look that amused, but he didn’t seem angry at the comment, either. 

“She knows I’m not a businessman.”

“Sorry?”

“She knows I’m a villain, so I expect she assumes Kurogiri is also a villain.”

“Wait. Mom knows you’re a villain? Mom - Inko Midoriya, the woman who most certainly did not look the way she just looked weeks ago, who I assume you used a quirk on - she knows you’re a villain?”

“Why would I lie to my wife?”

Izuku threw his hands up. “I don’t know, dad, maybe because you’re a villain and she’s just a single mother putting her kid through hero school?! That’s not exactly the best scenario to be introducing villain mechanics to. I’m a hero student, for fuck’s sake. I can’t have a villain for a father. I can’t have the taxi driver to the League - sorry Kurogiri-” The misty villain waved the comment off. “Making tea in my kitchen.”

Hisashi, to his credit, sighed the way only a father can when faced with his son’s wild antics. It wasn’t quite disappointment, more a tired adult not thrilled about enduring his child’s energy.

“If our meeting turns sour, I’ll be sure to erase it from your memory so you don’t face any consequences. Is that fair? Might I speak openly now?”

Izuku huffed a sigh and thudded back into his chair, arms crossed. “Fine.” Where exactly would this be going? Izuku had never read about any villain that matched his father’s description. Actually, there wasn’t much even available about the League outside of what they’d learned in the first few months of their public debut at the USJ. Izuku focused back on his father as the man stood up with his teacup to open the living room balcony door. 

“What has Toshinori told you about your inherited quirk?”

Izuku’s body shifted awkwardly in his seat. No one should know about that. No one. All Might made it very clear that this secret was generational. They hadn’t even told Nedzu, the UA principal, or even Izuku’s teachers. His mother didn’t even know. Everyone who knew him thought Izuku was a late bloomer. But it was probably more important to focus on the question Hisashi asked, rather than how he knew to ask it.

“Not much.” Izuku shrugged. “He said it’s meant to protect the people of this country, that it’s inherited to guard against the greatest of evils, whatever that means. He told me the last time he had to use the full force of it, he nearly lost his life against the greatest villain he’d ever faced. He showed me the scars. He said it’s a cultivated power passed down to safeguard the people.”

“Mmmm, that was a tough battle. He nearly killed me. Your mother was a wreck for days while Dr. Garaki healed me.”

Record scratch. A pin could drop and deafen him. Izuku’s brain had to do loops to catch up with the implication of what his father just said. The silence of the room buzzed in Izuku’s ears, threatening to strangle him until the sip of a teacup shattered his racing thoughts. 

“I was, perhaps, a bit lost for quite a few years. When you were born, I had to take away your quirk. I think that’s the first time I angered your mother, the first time I truly betrayed her. Unfortunately, it was necessary. It would have manifested violently, horribly. But I did not realize what that would do to you, being a quirkless child in this day and age.”

The man sighed into his teacup. Izuku took his pause in speaking as permission to drink his own cup, half gulping it down because this whole situation was making him nauseous. Oh, good, mint tea. That should help. Maybe Kurogiri was a better butler than Izuku first thought. 

“You were still too young when I faced All Might the last time, too young for me to give your quirk back. Then I just…fell down a rabbit hole of grief and revenge. I sustained severe brain damage from the fight. It took Dr. Garaki the last six years to find the quirks necessary to repair the damage without wiping my memories. That’s why I’m here now.”

“He just now fixed you.”

Hisashi nodded. “When I woke up this morning and realized who I’d become…I nearly lost my mind all over again. Your mother’s in a rage.”

“Rage? Mom won’t even curse when she burns a finger. How angry can she be?”

“Ohhhh, you have never met your mother on a bad day. Her quirk is deadly on a good day, and she hides it well behind kind smiles. But she’s not as innocent as she looks. Trust me on that, son. Giving us time to speak gives her time to cool down. I’ll take what I can get.”

“So…” Izuku sighed. “What was my quirk?”

Hisashi turned back from the balcony doors with a satisfied smile. He lifted his cup and Kurogiri refilled it with more tea, mid-air. 

“I’m so glad you asked. It’s a marvel .” Was he…giddy? Izuku almost wanted to run away. “Your quirk is a combination of your mother’s and mine. Your quirk allows for manipulation of other quirks around you, psychically. You can stop them, or start them, or make them stronger, or weaker. You can even change who or what they affect, and the mechanics of their functions - temporarily, or permanently. It’s…” He sighed. “It’s marvelous. Thankfully, since I sustained my injuries, I forgot its magnitude, which probably saved the whole country - but that’s not important.”

“N-not important?! Dad! What are you even saying?”

“Your actual quirk could most likely bring even the strongest heroes to their knees. It could even take me down, even at the height of my power.”

“Why are you telling me this? It’s not even mine anymore…wait-” Izuku stood up, both palms on the table. “How the hell did you take a quirk from me? Do you have something like One For All? What is your quirk, dad?”

“All For One.”

Izuku’s body collapsed back into the chair like a crumpled piece of paper. All For One. Izuku had read horror stories and myths spread online about the boogeyman of the underground villain world. There was no way, no fucking way, that his father just so happened to be the most notorious, most wanted villain in the world. For several minutes, Izuku ran through everything he’d learned over the years. Surprisingly, it wasn’t much. The online ghost stories didn’t even go into detail about the quirk itself. Izuku learned about that from somewhere in the deep web, somewhere he shouldn’t have been but found way too young anyway. 

“Well, anyway. I’ve come to set things right, and maybe earn back what I lost when I was injured.”

“Sorry, what?”

“I’m giving you your quirk back. Firstly because you’re finally strong enough for it, but mainly because it was always my intention to give it back once you were old enough. I had never meant to become a violent monster. Am I a villain? Yes. But a large portion of the worst things I did were done while I was suffering severe brain damage, so I won’t count that against myself.”

“Uh huh.” Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose. “Have you given any thought to what mom or I might say to this? You left us. Even if you suffered brain damage from the battle six years ago…you still left four years before that battle even happened. So what’s your excuse for that?”

“Your safety. Do you think I’d want to pull either of you into the world of villains ruthlessly? Izuku, you are my son, my first and only heir. You should be by my side - but only when it’s safe for you to do so. That’s why I left. I had every intention of coming back to train you so you could inherit your true quirk. But now you’ve got that…nasty eldritch monster my brother started.”

Izuku would have fallen backwards had he not been sitting down. Still, both hands went up. “Sorry, your brother was the first holder-... that’s…that’s not possible. All Might said-”

“Izuku, come now. You’re far from stupid. You know I have a quirk that affords me the ability to steal other quirks. Don’t you think I could have stolen some that made me ageless?”

“Okay, fine. Sure. I’ll run with that. But let’s circle back to the uhh- ‘earning back what I lost’ thing. What makes you think I want anything from a man who left me ten years ago? What makes you think I even want you in my life? I’m a hero student. In hero school. Training to be a hero. I don’t exactly want to be trained by a villain. Again-” Izuku gestured to Kurogiri. “Villains in my kitchen complicate my life.”

“That’s entirely fair. I did desert you both, and you are both justified in your anger for me. But I do want to at least be allowed the opportunity to be your father, and give you your quirk back.”

“Dad, I have a quirk.”

“No. You have a nightmare. That power is not a real quirk. It’s an amalgamation of a power I gave your uncle when I believed he was quirkless, and it merged with his real quirk, and created something hellish that shouldn’t exist. It killed every previous holder.”

“No. You killed the previous users. All but the Fourth.”

“Fourth died of old age - at forty, Izuku. Think about that. That quirk is too much. It destroys the body. It overflows the cup. While Toshinori skimped by because he was genuinely quirkless - you are not. You have a quirk factor. If you keep that quirk at its current strength, it will kill you before twenty.”

“W-what?”

“If you were quirkless, I’d never suggest this. Sure you’ll likely keep breaking bones as I’ve seen you do for months in hero school, but it wouldn’t kill you. But you’re not quirkless. So, my offer is this; I will give you your true quirk back, and we will destroy One For All. Alternatively, you can give it back to Toshinori under the guise that your own quirk actually manifested.”

“Won’t he just find another successor?”

Hisashi shrugged. “Probably.”

“So my options are pretty limited, then. I can let this quirk kill me, or destroy it and somehow never let All Might find out, or return it and let him kill someone else. Am I missing anything?”

“Nope, that about sums it up. Though, I should add I’ll be by your side every step of the way and help you handle the situation - whatever you choose. I am your father, after all.”

“Truly devoted. I feel the love.”

Izuku’s chair screeched back as he threw sarcastic words at his father before marching into the kitchen. He needed something to snack on before he passed out. Instead of grabbing a protein bar from the cabinet, Izuku grabbed the gallon tub of cookies and cream from the freezer, snatched a spoon from a nearby drawer, and stuffed a giant spoonful of ice cream into his mouth with a glutinous groan. 

“Izuku, I’m not asking you to become a villain.”

“Good, cuz that ain’t happening.” Izuku muttered around his full mouth.

“You are my son-”

“If I meant anything more to you than where you’re putting all your chips - you never would have left to begin with. You said it yourself. I’m not stupid. I can tell this isn’t some grand father-son reunion. You’re a villain, you have an ego the size of this apartment, probably bigger, and you’re here because you found the opportunity to either A keep your brother’s quirk in the family, or B ruin your arch nemesis’s chances at defeating you.” Izuku held up a finger while taking another bite of ice cream. “Option three, you’re retiring, or sick, or whatever, and you need safe hands to lay your power into, hands that won’t destroy your hard work because you know I respect the delicate balance of this world. So - which is it?”

Hisashi sighed. He wore a glassy-eyed nostalgia Izuku couldn’t place, or even understand. “I’ve no doubt I chose correctly. Tomura always believed he’d succeed me, but I never once doubted you would be my successor. Even at the height of my injuries, I trusted you would be the right choice someday. I can only say I wished that day was further away.”

Izuku stabbed the bucket of ice cream repeatedly as his father spoke, trying not to make assumptions. Sadly, he’d already realized the true meaning here, the heavy cloud that hung over them both wasn’t Hisashi’s ego…it was his grief. Hisashi was here to pass on his power, he was here to enact Izuku’s offered option three. 

“How long?” Izuku finally asked.

“Mmmm, Dr. Garaki gave me a few months at best. The brain damage may have been reversed but with it went my most important quirks, the ones that kept me alive after the damage I sustained in my fight against Toshinori - the damage to the rest of my body. I’ll probably be in total organ failure within weeks.”

“And you thought - what? - handing off whatever remained to your son would be a good idea?”

“Izuku…” 

Hisashi ducked under the kitchen door frame to join him at the counter. Kurogiri was still in the corner, but Izuku could tell he was listening, observing the situation, waiting for Izuku to make a move. Izuku looked up to his father, confused and hurt, at a loss for words. The older man wrapped his arms around Izuku and brought the teen to his chest. Izuku clutched his hands around his father’s waist to pull him in as hard as he could. 

“I wanted to see you both again. I wanted to enjoy the last few months I have living a life I never allowed myself. I’d like to cheer you on at the sports festival, and watch you perform in your school’s culture fest. I want to watch you become a hero, even if it’s not the path I thought you’d lead in life. I might not get to see you graduate, but I can leave behind the resources to see your dreams become reality. I want to be the father I never was to you, just for a while, if that’s okay.”

Izuku’s hands squeezed Hisashi harder. “How can you do this to us, dad?”

“I’m sorry, son. I’m so sorry.”

“Please stay…even if it’s not long…just stay this time.”

“Of course, Izuku. I’ll give you both all the time I have left.”

~

Getting his father back was not something Izuku ever expected out of life. He’d accepted a long time ago that his father had abandoned them for his job overseas, and that was just a part of life. But the unexpected can sometimes be…wonderful, even if they’re also terribly nerve wrecking. 

Izuku now stood at the UA gate, searching the slowly drifting crowds as parents and students wandered around for the Year 1 open house - where parents could come meet their kids’ teachers and school staff, as well as see the facilities and get a peek at what was being taught throughout the year. Needless to say, Izuku was nervous. Mostly because Hisashi was coming today. For the first time in Izuku’s young life, his father would be present for a parental event, showing up for his son. 

Now that Izuku knew his father was the most wanted villain in the whole damn world, well, that just frayed the edges of his mind. Still, that heart-pounding nervousness was dimmed by the fact that Izuku’s father was a part of his life again, and actively participating in it. 

He hadn’t told anyone yet, not even Katsuki. He was too scared to see the blonde’s reaction. Mostly because he’d probably tell Izuku not to trust the man who dumped him and his mother…but Izuku mostly understood why he left now, and then why he stayed away. He’d apologized, and while he didn’t make many excuses, he had some valid reasons. Even if he didn’t - Izuku wasn’t sure he could find it in himself to turn away the father-figure he’d always wanted. Even knowing he was only going to get a few months with Hisashi, actually, especially knowing he would only get a few months with his father. 

The day after he showed up unannounced, Hisashi took Izuku down to Dagobah beach and pulled One For All from his shattered bones and they both watched it fall apart, sparking piece by piece as Hisashi destroyed it and threw the embers into the ocean. Then, he gave Izuku his own quirk back, with a small power boost so he could replicate the power he had before(with more control), so no one would be suspicious. They’d talked for hours on end, halfway into the night, about the war between All Might and All For One. Hisashi told him the full, sordid history of his grief-driven grudge match. The war had started long before the injuries he sustained, but those only intensified it. It’s what caused him to start the League of Villains, something he said he now regretted but could not undo. 

Izuku knew if he really wanted to, Hisashi could stop the League. It wasn’t about his inability to do so, it was more that he seemed….tired of the violence. He had this exhaustion behind his eyes Izuku couldn’t ignore, he was far too familiar with seeing it in the mirror. They say the threat of death pulls back the masks we hide ourselves in. Hisashi was dying. He knew he was dying, and he knew there were no quirks left in the world he could steal that would prevent him from dying now that he’d lost the ones he had. 

At the end, most people just want to go home. Hisashi came home, and while Izuku didn’t completely trust his father not to be a villain, he understood the desire to just…let go and live the life you want before it’s gone. 

Izuku had spent most of Sunday morning speaking to his mother about the whole situation. She wasn’t happy with Hisashi, by any means, and Izuku heard the earful he got out of her that night, but she was happy to have her husband back with enough time to make a few good memories, and say goodbye. 

Hisashi was leaving them everything in his will. He’d legitimized all his assets and had Inko and Izuku made his beneficiaries. They wouldn’t struggle to afford food or uniforms anymore, and Izuku could actually get professionally made hero gear to help protect his body from the power of his quirk (well, the one he was still pretending he still had, anyway). They were moving to a slightly bigger apartment in a couple weeks. 

The hardest thing to accept was, surprisingly, Kurogiri. He’d be left with Izuku, inherited by blood as the Nomu were programmed that way. Izuku had no idea how he would even go about ‘owning’ a villain, or well, a semi-sentient lab-made quirk creature. That was the ‘official’ term, anyway. He wasn’t technically human, he was made from corpses and quirk science. Izuku threw up a couple times when Hisashi explained it. Still, it was leave him with Izuku or leave him with Tomura - which would only provide the League more power, even if they didn’t have complete control over the misty Nomu. 

So Kurogiri would, for the time being, stay with Hisashi, and then probably stay in their home, away from prying eyes and heroes. 

“Hey.”

Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin when Katsuki’s voice startled him out of his search for his parents in the crowd.

“Hey, Kacchan. What’s up?”

“Where’s Auntie? Thought you said she was coming. Dad and the old hag want to catch up.” 

Izuku could see them pointing at something and chatting as they made their way to the gate after their son. Izuku rubbed the back of his neck and tried to force out a smile. 

“Mhm, yep. Mom and dad are just parking.”

Katsuki squinted at him, suspicious, confused. “Did you just-”

“Izu-sweetie! Come take my bag, would you?”

“Of course mom!” 

Izuku jogged over to where his parents were walking up from the parking lot just past the gate, cutting Katsuki off mid-sentence. Hisashi had a cane in hand, but he wasn’t yet leaning on it too heavily. He looked well, if a little pale, but otherwise, no one would really know anything was wrong. He’d used a few quirks to make himself appear smaller just as he’d altered Inko’s appearance to look like herself pre-quirkless discrimination stress. This was their first real outing as a whole family, and it was happening so soon after Hisashi returned. Izuku took the bag of snacks his mother brought with them and scurried back to Katsuki before his parents made it to the gate. 

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later. He came home…to spend the time he has left with us.”

It was the truth, just not the whole truth. Katsuki could immediately sense that. He knew Izuku better than anyone. But he understood Izuku was saying now was not the time to discuss it, so he nodded instead and brushed it off. 

“Whatever. Just don’t cry on my shoulder.” In other words ‘I’m here for you’ . Izuku really should write a Katsuki dictionary. 

Izuku’s parents caught up to him as Katsuki wandered off to draw his own away from the various stalls set up with snacks and drinks for all the visiting families. 

“Everything alright, son?”

Izuku sighed. “Yeah. Katsuki knows something’s up.”

“Do you want to tell him?” Inko asked. 

“I think so. At least, most of it. I’m not sure how he’ll react to knowing about your hand in the mess that’s been happening to our class, dad.”

“Mmm, that’s fair. But he’s your best friend, right?” Izuku nodded. “Then he should stand by your side. Who your father is doesn’t change who you are. You’re a hero, son, and nothing I’ve ever done will change that - and we both know you’re far too stubborn to allow me to change that.”

Izuku chuckled. “Thanks, dad.”

“Of course. Now then, I simply must meet your teacher. I am fascinated by Erasure. I was obsessed with it for a long time. Giri was supposed to be made with it.”

“Dear.” Inko patted her husband’s arm. “Wrong place, wrong time. Keep your mouth shut before I twist your tongue with my quirk.”

“Yes, love.”

Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose and slogged after his parents. “What has my life become?”

“Now you see how difficult my life was before you arrived, sweetie. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to your father’s lack of tact. I’ve learned how to manage it.”

“By literally muzzling him with your quirk?”

“Exactly. Come along, dear.”

There was no way he was getting out of this unscathed. Absolutely no way. Aizawa was far too smart not to see through the sudden reappearance of an absent father who just so happens to have a very deep interest in Erasure. Even if they did manage to have a decent interaction with Aizawa, if Nedzu caught wind of Izuku’s missing father miraculously showing up just in time for the open house? Yeah, they were all walking out of here in handcuffs. 

The next two hours were an exhaustive exercise in resisting the urge to strangle his own father because he couldn’t keep his damn mouth shut. Izuku’s mother was doing a bang up job of handling him on her own, but Izuki wished she didn’t have to. The man seriously didn’t remember how normal civilians acted. Most of their class had civilian parents. Izuku was supposed to have civilian parents. 

But it was very difficult to play the part when his father did a fifteen minute deep dive debate on civil law and ethics when the course was brought up by Aizawa. Izuku could literally, LITERALLY , see the gears in his teacher’s head turning, and Endeavor’s flames at the back of the room were not helping the sweat already pouring down his back. Katsuki turned back to glare at Izuku several times as if to say ‘get a leash on that man’s mouth’, and oh Izuku wished he could do that, seriously. 

Eventually, he grabbed the back of his father’s sleeve and whisper-hissed into his ear. “If you don’t stop asking suspicious questions, I’m asking mom to crush your larynx.”

“I’m just being thorough, Izuku.” He countered. Aizawa had moved into their dorms, school-formulated mealplans, and training regimes while the pair muttered at each other over Hisashi’s shoulder. “I want to make sure you’re getting a broad, and unbiased education.”

“I’m smart enough to catch and ignore bias, but if Aizawa catches your damn hands, we’ll have real problems.”

“Yes, yes.” He reached up to pat Izuku’s hand. “I’ll sit quietly like a good ex-vi-” He choked on his own words. Izuku’s mother smiled politely beside them and forcibly grabbed Hisashi’s hand to pat it roughly - she said nothing on the subject, just ended it. 

Izuku collapsed back into his chair, head in one hand. He spent the rest of the ‘meet the teacher’ talk planning out ways to defeat his own teacher and the few heroes in the room in the event his father was found out and all hell broke loose. He was fairly sure he could handle Endeavor by setting off the fire sprinklers. Well, the flames, anyway. He was also an excellent fighter and incredibly strong on his own, which would be a problem. Ingenium was a hazard in small spaces, so he wouldn’t be an issue, he couldn’t run around in here without hurting people. Aizawa would be the real threat. He was accustomed to tight spaces, close-up combat, fighting quirkless, and could likely take down half the top ranking heroes through intelligence and strategy alone. 

It all fell apart when Endeavor opened his big fat mouth. 

“What training schedule do the students have for the weekends?”

Aizawa’s head perked up with furrowed brows. Izuku could see him contemplating how to answer that in a way Endeavor couldn’t argue, but obviously he didn’t find one, so he answered honestly. 

“They don’t have scheduled training on the weekends. They’re high school students, and hero students, they need to take breaks.” He lifted his hand before anyone could speak up. “That being said, all of our hero students go above and beyond, even on weekends, and do their own training with their classmates and friends.”

“They need to have a regimented schedule of training, wasting two days of training each week is a serious set back.”

“Endeavor-”

Hisashi interrupted their teacher by standing up. 

“Oh dear.” Inko muttered, shooting a look at Izuku. “I can’t stop him.”

“Dad-” And suddenly, Izuku couldn’t move. He couldn’t stand up. Hisashi’s little finger was lifted from his cane while both hands rested casually over the top of it. He was preventing his own wife and son from interrupting him, which meant he had something serious to say - and Izuku was probably going to regret asking him to come. 

“Endeavor, I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Hisashi Midoriya, Izuku’s father. I’ve heard our boys are great friends.”

“Mmmm.” The flame hero grumbled.

“I know that, as number one, you have very strong emotions on the training of your children, but I think I speak for all of us when I say that our children are just that; children. Now, I don’t want to make assumptions, but I haven’t been in the country for quite a while, so when I came back to find my boy having broken countless bones and covered in scars he most certainly didn’t have when I left, I was…outraged, infuriated, incensed, one might say. I even gave some thought to asking him to pull out of hero training.”

Several people around the room gasped. Izuku knew only about 15% of what his father just said was true, but he had considered making Izuku a villain for a split second, so, maybe it wasn’t all a lie. 

“Yet here you are, requesting our teenagers be forced into training on the weekends, when every child in the country has two days off from school. It’s scientifically proven that children need time for socialization, relaxation, and I know this is shocking, fun . But I wouldn’t expect someone who trains his children into the grave to know that.”

“Oh fuck.” Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose. Izuku’s mother appeared on the verge of passing out. “Dad. Sit. Down.” Izuku whisper-shouted at him. 

“What did you just say to me?” Endeavor finally stood up, the placid mask dropped and his hero mask back in place. “Who do you think you are?”

Ingenium jumped up and put himself between the two tallest men in the room (not a great place to be). “Hey! So, none of us are licensed teachers, right? We’re all just here to make sure our kids all become great heroes. That’s what matters, right?”

“Of course.”  Hisashi sat himself down without so much as glancing at Endeavor once more. 

The flaming hero just about left his son’s side but Shouto grabbed his wrist without even looking away from the front of the room. Izuku had to give his friend credit, he’d gotten so much stronger after their fight in the sports festival. Aizawa took back command of the room as Endeavor slowly lowered himself back to his seat and Ingenium sighed out his very obvious panic. 

“We’re almost done, let’s get back on track.”

~

“Midoriya?”

Izuku tried to resist the instinct to flinch. “Yes, Sensei?” His parents had already gone ahead of him and the room had emptied out, leaving Izuku alone with his teacher. His father was too tired and since their weekend was over, Izuku wouldn’t be going home with them. He wasn’t able to escape whatever was about to happen. 

“Your father’s a villain, isn’t he?”

“Uhm…I can’t answer that without incriminating myself in the process.”

The underground hero stared him down for several long seconds. “He’s dying.” It wasn’t a question, but he arched one eyebrow like he was asking for verification. “Unsteady legs, paleness, something is failing him.”

“Y-yeah. Uhh- there was a quirk…preventing him from suffering the injuries he sustained in a fight. The quirk stopped working so…”

“ ‘Everyone dies but not everyone lives.’ Death is the great equalizer, don’t ever forget that, kid.” He tucked his hands into his pockets and finally broke his stern glare into a half-hidden smirk behind his capture scarf. “No matter how much good or bad you do in this world, we all die, and we are all humbled by death. Perhaps it is better to live your last days as you want, then to never live at all.”

A brief moment of silence passed between them while Izuku thought over his teacher’s words. Aizawa had never shown himself to be a traditional hero with firm lawful morals. He often fell somewhere in the gray middle that always startled Izuku. When they’d been in Hosu and Izuku, Tenya, and Hitoshi were in serious trouble after fighting Stain, it was Aizawa who weaseled them out of losing their provisional licenses. He knew they’d broken the law, but he also knew they captured a wanted villain who was killing heroes left and right. 

Aizawa always managed to find the damn line and dance on it, waiting for a strong wind to sway him one way or the other, and somehow, it always blew him in the right direction.

“Will you report this, Sensei?”

“Is he going to be a problem?”

“No. He’s…retired. Actually, it might help us. His retirement robbed the villains troubling our class of their resources.”

Aizawa shrugged. “I don’t arrest people who aren’t actively committing crimes. Head back to the dorms. I’m glad you got time with him. I’ll be sure to send flowers when it’s over.”

“Uhm…thanks.”

Izuku wandered out of the classroom slowly, honestly confused by the interaction. He was given a glimpse into one more facet of Aizawa’s personality and hero code. Somehow, that small gesture of understanding meant a whole hell of a lot to Izuku. Still, he wasn’t exactly sure if he came out on top. This seemed like a no-win situation, but somehow, here he was…winning?

“Hey, is now a better time?”

“Huh?” Izuku looked up to find Katsuki leaning on the wall just outside the classroom. “Oh, yeah, let’s talk.”

~

“So that’s…that’s pretty much it.”

Izuku and Katsuki had found a bench on the path back to the dorms to sit down on and talk openly. Izuku told him everything, absolutely everything. The blonde had hunched over with his elbows on his knees, his face in his hands, halfway through, and had yet to sit up. Izuku wasn’t sure if he was about to run off and tell a hero, or maybe break down into hysterics. Izuku almost preferred the latter. 

“So…you’re just…you destroyed one of the most powerful quirks in the world, and now you’re inheriting one of the other most powerful quirks in the world, and also inheriting the coffers of a villain king who happens to be your father, and is also dying. Did I get that right?”

“I’m also inheriting a Nomu.”

Katsuki threw his hands up. “How could I forget that?”

“I am having a really tough time reading whatever this reaction is…uhm, are we good?”

“Oh, we’re far from good. But if you mean am I going to run back into the school crying wolf? Fuck no. You’re my best friend, rival or not. Your dad’s a fucking bastard for leaving you guys…but- he came back when it mattered. You deserved to have a father before he’s gone for good.”

“Even if he’s a villain?”

“Even if he’s the most wanted villain in the world. You deserve to know him, Izuku. It’s your choice whether or not you accept him, but you still have the right to know him.”

Izuku smiled softly. “Thanks, Kacchan.”

“I will say this. I know where you get your mumbling problem from now.”

That broke the tension in a split second. They were both doubled over laughing. Katsuki was absolutely right. Izuku totally got his mumbling habit from his father. Hisashi didn’t know when to shut the hell up, likely because he was used to being the most powerful man in every room all his life. Izuku had a similar mentality, it was just more to do with intelligence rather than power. 

“Can your inherited warp gate pop us around the world for vacations?”

“He has a name, Kacchan.”

“Right - come on, can he?”

“I mean, I guess?” Izuku shrugged. “He’s bound to me by blood, or well, DNA. It’s why he’ll be mine instead of mom’s, or even Shigaraki’s. I’d love to be able to use him for heroics, but I think it would be hard to do that without getting caught.”

“If anyone can figure it out, you can.” Katsuki’s eyes widened suddenly. “You can alter quirks now, right?”

“Yeeeeah, why?”

“I have so many ideas for tag team fighting. We need to test this out, like right now.”

“Right now?”

“Yes.” 

“Okay, Kacchan.”

“Oh, this is gonna be fun .”

What more could Izuku want? What more could he expect from his new reality? Katsuki was still his best friend, and they were going to make the best hero duo out there. He’d never have expected his life to go this way, but sometimes, the best laid plans can’t stop reality from crashing through your expectations and leaving you with the best surprises in life.