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Shoto was worried. Midoriya, Aizawa, and All Might hadn’t been at school the day before, in fact they had all left before anyone else in 1A was awake. They’d had class with 1-B, Vlad King told them that Aizawa had an important mission that required Midoriya and All Might’s expertise. Monoma had started to kick up a fuss before a harsh look from Kendo managed to get him to stop. Midoriya had seemed nervous the night before but he’d brushed off anyone who tried to ask.
Midoriya’s texts had since been vague. He’d said that the mission was classified and that he wasn’t allowed to talk about it. But something was off. Shoto had spent most of the night trying to figure out how to bring up his concern without scaring Midoriya off only for his phone to die on his way back to campus.
Then Midoriya wasn’t up for breakfast. Aizawa was back on campus, he’d also very pointedly told them all to give Midoriya space. Maybe he was just sleeping in after being on a mission for an entire day and not getting back until early in the morning. It would make sense. Shoto hoped Midoriya would be able to talk about the mission if he needed to, he wanted to help him if he could. He wanted to be able to be there for his friend like he’d been there for Shoto.
Izuku woke up to a phone full of notifications. He stared at it for a moment trying to decide who he had the energy to answer. Eventually he settled on sending Todoroki and Shinso texts, neither of them would push him. The confusion had given way to a strange nothingness like he didn’t have the emotional energy left to feel. He really just wanted to go for a run, go for a run and not half to think about everything. He needed to drop his hero costume off anyways. He threw on a black tank top and shorts before carefully folding his hero costume taking extra care to make sure he knew where his gloves were. He slipped out of his room, hoping he wouldn’t be noticed.
For once he was lucky. It seemed like everyone was either very focused on the match of Super Smash Bros between Sero, Kaminari, Jiro, and Dark Shadow or weren’t currently in the living areas. Izuku slipped out of the dorms.
The sky was overcast and it even smelled like rain was coming, it was fitting. Izuku quickly slipped through the gym, careful to not be seen by Kirishima who was working out with Tetsutetsu from 1-B. He managed to stow away his costume without issue. Just as he went to leave the locker room Kacchan was walking in. Their eyes met. An understanding passed between them, we’ll talk later.
Once Izuku left the gym he started running. His feet hit the solid ground for the concrete one after another after again and again like the beat of a drum or his own heart. He barely registered when cement changed to dirt. He didn’t know where he was going and he didn’t care in the moment. He didn’t want to care where he was going. He wanted to pretend he was free from everything if only for a moment. He’d lived on campus long enough to know how to get back to the dorms. Eventually he stopped and fell onto the grassy floor of the forest. He quickly realized where he was, the clearing where he and All Might would meet in the mornings to train.
Exasution seeped into his bones. He’d finally rid himself of the tension that he’d held since yesterday. He looked up at the grey sky. All for One had to have lied. Why was he taking the words of a master manipulator so seriously? It was a lie, it had to be. He could not believe his mother would marry someone so evil. Someone so controlling as to lock his own brother away wouldn’t pretend to be a businessman in America for years. Those things just didn’t line up. Midoriya took comfort in that.
He didn’t move even as the rain began to fall. Eventually he pulled out his ear buds and started some music. Somewhat guiltily ignoring the growing amount of unanswered texts. Immediately he recognized what playlist he’d turned on, it was full of music other people had recommended to him, he remembered because the first song was Tsu’s favorite.
Eventually after spending god knows how long letting his friends' music wash over him he felt calmer. Not completely calm but he hoped that would come with time. Villains don't usually lie about being your father and have a weird amount of personal information on your childhood after all. He stood and started back the walk to the 1-A dorms. The sky had significantly darkened since he’d left. He’d be ok and after all there was no way All for One was his dad, it was just a mind game or some manipulation to hurt and confuse him.
Aizawa stared down at his phone as what was said in the call he’d just ended with Detective Tsukauchi.
He said he was telling the truth about the parentage, and he wasn’t lying.
He’d asked the Detective, who’d be interrogating All for One, to get a follow up on the man’s claims. He hadn’t been lying. He hadn’t been lying because of course he hadn’t. Now Aizawa had to go break the news to Midoriya.
Only when he got to the 1-A dorms just as the rain started to turn into a downpour Midoriya wasn’t there and the only person who’d seen him was Bakugo who made it very clear he didn’t know where he was. So he had to wait for Midoriya to come back to the dorms. Uraraka said she’d texted him but that he hadn’t seen it. It wasn’t hard to tell that she was worried about him.
Iida had also admitted to texting him and not getting an answer. Shinso then told him he’d gotten a text from Midoriya earlier that basically amounted to I’m ok which Todoroki also said he’d gotten. So Aizawa was left to wait for his problem child.
After an hour of waiting for Midoriya he finally arrived. He was completely soaked and had a distant look in his eyes but there was a flickering belief though his exhaustion there that almost convinced Aizawa not to tell him. But it wasn’t right to hide information like that from him; it was unnecessarily cruel.
“Midoriya we need to talk.” He said before walking over to an isolated area where they wouldn’t be able to be overheard, not even by Jiro. A glare kept the other students from following anyways, they’d been uncharacteristically obedient lately.
Midoriya followed him without a word. Until they reached their destination. The rain was hammering the windows. It was harsh and forceful and Aizawa wasn’t looking forward to wading into the storm to get back to the teacher’s dorms. Midoriya looked up at him.
“He wasn’t lying.” Aizawa said.
It took Midoriya a second. Aizawa could admit he’d been a bit vague. Once it hit though a horrible mix of horror and shock filled his problem child’s eyes. Aizawa felt a pang of guilt but it was a necessary evil, Midoriya had to know he couldn’t just hide something like this from him.
“No,” Midoriya’s voice was impossibly soft, “How? How do you know?”
Aizawa put his hand on Midoriya’s shoulder, “His interrogator has a quirk that tells him if someone is lying to him, he asked to find out the truth.”
“He’s really m-my dad.” Midoriya looked rattled.
Aizawa kept his voice calm as he spoke, doing his best to assure Midoriya, “He was never in your life, he never showed any interest in you before now, you get to decide if that's his title to you. You decide if he matters enough to deserve it.”
That seemed to help ease Midoriya somewhat. He nodded, “Your right sensei.”
Aizawa started to lead Midoriya to the kitchen, “Have you eaten yet?”
Midoriya ducked his head a bit, “No- not yet.”
Aizawa sighed internally, “You should probably eat something.”
Midoriya followed him into the kitchen. Thankfully none of the other students were in the kitchen considering how late it was, the rest of them had eaten. Aizawa made his problem child some food, making sure the kid ate it after. Finding out your biological father was a villain was hard but Aizawa wasn’t about to let one of his kids self-destruct.