Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku hasn’t seen his father in a very long time. But that didn’t mean his father didn’t call.
Midoriya Hisashi made sure to call his son as regularly as he could. His out of country business made it hard to visit, but only getting hospitalized would stop the man from calling.
At least once a week Inko would hand the phone to Izuku, and would only get it back once Hisashi either stopped the conversation himself or Izuku fell asleep during the call. It was about a fifty fifty shot of either.
Hisashi had made the comment multiple times that Izuku never seemed to run out of air. Didn’t particularly matter what subject it was on as long as he was talking to his father about it, he’d go forever.
Izuku loved the calls. It was indisputable proof that Hisashi had not abandoned them, and was trying. Though, he always felt the need to be careful with what he said.
Hisashi had proved that if anything concerning came up, it would be reported to Inko. There was no way to stop him, outside of never bringing the topics up.
A lot of topics stopped coming up. Bakugo stopped being mentioned, Izuku never talked about his (live) hero recording activities, and so on.
Hisashi noticed that sometimes topics were just shut down- but he was continents away. He could only give vague warnings to Inko and nothing more, particularly when Izuku refused to crack and spill details.
Hisashi loved the phone calls just as much as Izuku. He hadn’t really chosen to leave, with the options given…. Well, it just wasn’t a choice. And the phone calls were a way to stay with what he’d desperately tried to establish.
He liked prodding Izuku into complex topics. Topics that most children wouldn’t even know about yet. But Izuku knew, and he was always ready to talk.
But when Izuku was around ten- the calls stopped. He asked and pestered for a long while after, until finally the radio silence was broken.
There was a major accident that Hisashi had been caught in. It had taken a long time for everything to heal enough to so much as text him the message explaining it- Speech therapy was working on his voice and present ability to speak clearly.
There was always text messages though, so they still talked with each other.
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It was sunday, and Izuku was walking home with groceries. His mother had gasped and realized she’d forgotten to get them, and asked him if he was willing.
He could never say no. It was simple enough to run there and back anyways, and it would be no good for his day away from school to be foodless.
He wondered what his classmates were doing at the moment as he walked through the doors. Most of them were likely either out having fun or visiting their parents- like him.
He quietly slipped his shoes off, and paused only when he noticed an extra pair. Three pairs sat where there should only be two.
No signs of forced entry, no mess- They were likely safe. Besides, what robber/murderer took their shoes off?
But Izuku definitely didn’t recognize the shoes either. They weren’t from any of his friends, and no adult he knew wore shoes like that.
He stared for a bit longer, trying to think.
“Izuku sweetie! Are you home? We have a visitor!” Inko called. Izuku’s head snapped towards her voice.
“I’m coming, just let me put the groceries down!” He called back. He quickly put the food away, rushing towards the living room.
A man appeared almost instantaneously in the threshold between the rooms, arms outstretched- as if expecting a hug.
Izuku could only blink in confusion. Who was this man and why was he here?
“Uh….” Izuku, rather elegantly, said. He was thoroughly stumped.
“I told you he wouldn’t recognize me.” The man sighed, letting his arms drop. Inko appeared from behind.
“I had hoped, but I suppose it has been years since he’s seen you.” She sighed, clearly disappointed.
Before Izuku could express further confusion the man cleared his throat and stood up straighter. “Sorry I haven’t been around son, but hopefully that’s going to change.” He declared.
It took a few moments before Izuku understood what had been said. But once it was said, the tear ducts were on full force and Izuku was giving the best hug he could.
Hisashi wheezed, trying to squirm out of Izuku’s grasp. “You weren’t joking when you said he was strong.” He gasped, thrashing a bit.
Izuku sputtered an incomprehensible gibberish, translating to something akin to “I’ve missed you so much! Where have you been, what have you been doing, why did you stop texting this last time, weren’t you supposed to be really super injured- where are the scars?”
Hisashi blinked slowly in response, picking out only the barest of the questions. “I haven’t been back for very long, a day at most. I had to sort out some business first, but recently I found some very good doctors who were able to reverse most of the damage done to me.” Hisashi explained, running his fingers through Izuku’s hair.
Izuku, still chattering incomprehensibly, buried himself into his father’s torso. Hisashi sent a pleading look to Inko, who only giggled at her husbands distress at being hugged viciously.
“How about we take a moment to breathe, and then you can catch me up on what’s been happening at school?” Hisashi suggested. Izuku flew into action, ready to complete every request made to make his father comfortable in their home.
Hisashi only chuckled and sat down at a table. “Alright, take a seat. I want to hear what’s been going on lately.” He declared, looking at Izuku intently.
Izuku launched into an explanation about his recent internship, Eri, and pretty much everything since his father had stopped texting.
“A reversing quirk… how fascinating. You mentioned that its power was linked to her horn length?” Hisashi asked. Izuku nodded viciously.
“Aizawa-sensei thinks that she may be able to reverse the quirklessness in those affected by Overhaul’s drug if we train her enough.” Izuku said.
Hisashi nodded along to the thought. “It would make sense, as there is a specific point in time it was caused.” Hisashi confirmed.
“I think so too. It almost makes too much sense for it not to be the case.” Izuku agreed, nodding to his own words.
Izuku’s thoughts were interrupted by his phone buzzing. “Oh uh… let me just…” Izuku shyly said, pulling out his phone. He sighed as he saw his group chat exploding.
Uravity: @ Small Might have you looked at the news
Small Might : No, dad’s home.
Icy Hot: I fail to see how this would stop you.
Small Might: It’s the first time in like ten years
Iida: Ah, understandable! However, this is incredibly concerning and you should probably turn on the news.
Small Might: ??? OK???
He frowned as he put the phone away. What could possibly be going on?
“I’ve been told to check the news.” He said distantly. There were notes of an apology in the words as he headed towards the tv.
With minimal fumbling he made it to the news channels. Within seconds, his blood ran cold.
Tartarus, a smoking pile of rubble. Every dangerous criminal, including….
Including….
Midoriya Izuku: ALL MIGHT
Torinoshi Yagi: You must’ve seen the news my boy.
Midoriya Izuku: WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THIS?
Torinoshi Yagi: One step at a time. He will not strike immediately at least, as he seems to have a plan.
Midoriya Izuku: WHAT
Torinoshi Yagi: First, calm down. Nothing good will come from panicking.
Midoriya Izuku: Alright, I’m calm. Calm as I can get. What makes you think he’s got a plan?
Torinoshi Yagi: Eri was visited by “A strange potato man” this morning and was requested to reverse time on him until he was no longer a “potato man”.
Torinoshi Yagi: My boy… I don’t know what the full plan is, but while you must be on your guard, there is also no actions we can take at present moment. We’ll be following the threads we can to see where they go, but this will take time.
Midoriya Izuku: Alright....
Izuku took a deep breath in to steel himself. All for one didn’t work fast, the man had infinite time to do unspeakable things.
He nearly jumped out of his skin as Hisashi ran his fingers through Izuku’s hair.
“This is…. A concerning development, but we must stay strong. Society always picks itself back up.” Hisashi said confidently.
Izuku nodded numbly. He was already told there was nothing to do. He felt as if he should do something, but he was at a loss for what.
Inko wasn’t entirely certain what was going on, but a look at the tv screen gave her a clue. She flittered too and fro, trying to salvage as much of the mood as she could.
It didn’t pick back up until it was dinner time. Izuku idly commented on a villains quirk in a live broadcast of the crime.
“It’s a big disadvantage to only control the earth that you can see when you’re trying to run from enemies.” He’d noted in his muttering.
“What?” Hisashi had asked.
“Oh I- ah- My muttering! Excuse me, it’s just that-” Izuku started.
“No no, I don’t care that you were muttering. Everyone’s got their own ticks. What did you say about his quirk?” Hisashi asked, leaning forward. Intensity radiated off of him.
“I-I… I said that it’s a disadvantage to have your range be limited to eyesight when you’re trying to run from people.” Izuku stammered.
Hisashi’s focus went back to the TV. “How can you tell that he’s limited to what he can see?”
“Well ah…” Izuku squirmed. “See?!” he said, pointing to the TV as the criminal launched concrete at the heroes.
“Not only was the concrete in his vision when he picked it up, but the moment he looked away it started losing speed and height. When he looked back it picked back up to its initial velocity, and even changed direction a bit so that it’d hit the hero!” Izuku exclaimed, still pointing with all his might.
Hisashi blinked slowly. “It’s a damn shame that a mind like yours is going to be wasted in the hero industry.” He commented.
“W-What’s that supposed to mean!?” Izuku screeched, nearly beginning to cry.
Hisashi seemed to realize his mistake. “I- ah- I mean- It is excellent that you are following your dreams to the fullest, but I just wonder how other fields would benefit if you applied yourself!” Hisashi explained, trying to recover his dignity.
“ Well I… uhhhh…. I just like analyzing quirks as well. It’s good for a hero to be able to identify likely weak points on a villain without having to experience them first hand.” Izuku muttered.
Hisashi startled Izuku with a booming laugh. “Well, that’s something we have in common at least! It’s simply fascinating how much diversity can exist, and how even similar quirks can be applied so that they’re like night and day!” He laughed.
After much stuttering, Izuku remembered his analysis books and ran to retrieve them, leaving Hisashi very confused.
Hisashi nearly choked as the thirteen books were placed before him. Inko peered in as both Izuku and Hisashi started screaming incomprehensibly about quirks.
“Try not to get too excited. Dinner will be ready shortly.” She sighed. She was not heard.
After yelling twice about dinner being finished she stormed in to see them sobbing over books five through eight. Their faces both shone with tears from their excitement, and they were still talking at breakneck pace about every quirk they possibly could.
It took all her strength, both physical and mental, to pry them away from the books and sit them down in front of food.
Inko reflected as she watched them still shoot back and forth about quirks. At least they had more common ground now, she decided.
She’d been so worried about their re-meeting for nothing. They were getting along perfectly, and it hadn’t taken any pushing from her. She could do without the loud screaming and the tears from Hisashi (and people claimed she was where Izuku got the tears from…), but this was better than she could’ve asked.
“Izuku, shouldn’t you try making your way back to the dorms?” Inko suggested. “Your father will be here tomorrow too.”
Izuku shrieked, he’d had plans with his friends to attend to.
Hisashi watched as Izuku flew around the room. “Need help?”
“No no, I’ve got everything! I will be OK! Hopefully I’ll be on time too!” Izuku shouted.
“Alright. Just give your old man a hug before you go.” Hisashi conceded.
Hisashi was still not ready for the wall of muscle that slammed into him. But he was ready to hug his son with everything he had.
Izuku isn’t sure what made the moment the way it was. But everything hummed and felt right as his father encircled him. As if his very soul was trying to sing its joy.
“AlrightIhavetogoseeyousoonbye!” Izuku shouted, running out the door. Hisashi remained still moments after. That had been…. Interesting. And rather unexpected.
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His friends had readily forgiven him for being late. After a bit, everyone was forced to admit they didn’t want to be out and about anyways. Not with Tartarus having been destroyed.
They’d taken the trains back to the dorms, a comfortable silence wrapping around them. If they tried hard enough, they could forget the bad events of the day. A terrible day for the world, but a good day for them. And that’s what they had to focus on.
Izuku talked about his own day as they went through the UA gates, his friends listening raptly as he described his father.
Once they got into the dorms, one by one they left, until it was just Izuku.
He didn’t really like being alone now. He couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was going to be behind him every time he turned. There was never anyone there of course, but it was unnerving.
Eventually he made his way back into his bedroom. The paranoia didn’t leave, but it got better. He was safe in his room at UA. No fortress was impenetrable, but every teacher would fight to their last breath if someone broke in.
Izuku couldn’t tell when sleep took him. As far as he was concerned, he just dropped at one point and woke up the next day.
But Hisashi could tell you the point. He was watching after all. UA really needed to get better security, as it wasn’t even a challenge to slip in invisibly as Izuku and his friends went through.
Hisashi thought as he called power into his fingertips. A truly unexpected twist. It certainly took the sense of danger out of what he was going to do next, and he was grateful for that.
It was far too late to stop his sons path, but perhaps he could try to mitigate any further damage. He at least hoped so as he isolated the energy he wanted.
It was high time he gave his son a gift anyways. All Might may have given Izuku a functional quirk to fight with, but it destroyed his son any time Izuku wanted to cause any real damage.
Izuku slept peacefully as his father reached towards him. Yes… truly unexpected. It was also rather unexpected that Izuku himself had not found out by this point.
But that was irrelevant. Hisashi smiled as he lightly touched Izuku’s cheek, the energy leaving him.
Briefly, Hisashi wondered about side effects. Though he was certain they would not be major, he wasn’t sure there’d be none at all. He could deal with them as they came though. And besides, Izuku was tougher than what he wanted to give credit for.
Hisashi stood, watching. He needed to go back home to Inko. But as he looked, he wondered about getting another gift. Something to enhance Izuku’s intelligence.
Later, he decided. Later. Right now, home. Wife. Etcetera.
He was there, and then he was gone. Inko welcomed Hisashi back, and the night was over.
Hisashi couldn’t help but feel proud of himself. Finally, after years of separation… He was home, and could finally be the father he wanted to be.