Work Text:
There’s a knock at Shouta’s door at about noon, and on his summer break no less.
For normal people, that would be no big deal— but for Shouta, who has made a lot of enemies, it sure isn't. There are a select few of Shouta’s friends that know where he lives, and an even smaller list of his children’s friends that do as well, and all of them know better to not show up at his apartment unannounced. All those people he can fully trust.
The knocking gets more frantic and Shouta can’t ignore it any longer.
Hitoshi looks up, seemingly a little confused from the homework he’s doing, and says to Shouta, “Are you gonna get that or should I?”
Shouta stands up. “Go to Eri’s room and be prepared.”
“Be prepared for what?” Hitoshi tilts his head, only looking a little fearful. Sometimes Shouta wishes his son had a larger dose of paranoia, like himself: a totally logical, rational, and well-adjusted person. There is a reason his door has four locks and reinforced hinges, as well as that they have moved twice since they have come under his care.
“Just do it, Hitoshi.”
Hitoshi blinks slowly. Giving Shouta one last wary glance, he does what he’s told.
So.
With his capture weapon now floating around him, Shouta looks through the peephole. Ready for anything.
In the doorway stands Midoriya, seemingly more nervous than normal. He honestly looks like a mess.
Well, that makes sense.
Midoriya, his problem child, is Hitoshi’s best friend and Eri’s personal hero, so of course he had to begrudgingly tell him where he lived. The kid has a good head on his shoulders but he rarely uses it, so he should know he should not show up unannounced; Shouta had been very explicit in his words, not that Midoriya is very good at listening to anyone.
Sighing, Shouta unlocks everything except the chain lock.
“Midoriya, you know better than to come without telling me.”
“I-I’m sorry, Mr. Aizawa. I know you told me never to show up unannounced but I need to—” the kid’s so jittery, he must’ve drunk at least five expressos. Shouta activates his quirk, just to make sure it is really him. One can never be too sure.
Thankfully, Midoriya stays the same, still waving his hands frantically as he continues to talk. “—to tell you something. And— and I can’t trust to tell you on the phone or at school.” he whispers out that last part.
Finally a kid with some good ole paranoia. “Fine.”
The kid gives him a shaky smile as Shouta unlocks the latch and lets him into the apartment. He goes and sits on the couch and his hands fidget in his lap.
“Izuku?” Hitoshi sticks out his head from Eri’s room, the little girl clung to Hitoshi’s legs.
When Eri realizes it's Midoriya in the living room, she detaches herself from Hitoshi and launches herself at Midoriya.
“Deku!”
Midoriya hugs her back, noticeably harder than usual. “Hey, Eri.” his voice is taut and seems like it's about to snap.
The boy looks up to Shouta. “She shouldn't be here for this.”
Nodding at his words, Shouta picks her up. She immediately protests, trying to squirm out of his arms.
“Hitoshi should be here, though, since you guys are blood-related,” he adds
“We’re not blood-related.” Hitoshi gives Izuku a look. “How did you not know this? I'm adopted, dude.”
Midoriya covers his face, red with embarrassment. “You guys look a lot alike.”
“We have different last names.” Hitoshi counters.
“Well, I— I thought that since Mr. Aizawa really likes his, um, privacy, that he’d give his kid a different name so that they wouldn't be connected. For villains and stuff.” the kid says as he curls up in shame to never be seen again.
To be fair, it’s something that Shouta would do if he did have a child by blood. It’s a little off-putting that Midoriya has figured that out.
Hitoshi has a disbelieving look on his face. “I’ve literally told you that I was adopted.”
“I thought you were being sarcastic! You’re always sarcastic!” the kid flails his arms in his own defense.
Hitoshi just huffs and Shouta can tell he’s a little hurt— not that he shows it. Shouta chooses this moment to bring Eri back to her room. He hears them argue some more, but tunes them out.
“Daddy, I wanna hear. I wanna hang out with Deku.” she looks up with her big puppy dog eyes, trying to convince him to let her stay. "Please?"
Good thing he’s immune.
“This is a big kid conversation, so you’ll have to wait till you're older.” He tells her matter-of-factly. Whatever this is better be worth Midoriya going five times harder in training when break ends. He’s gonna run his so hard never even think of coming over unannounced again.
She pouts (the exact same expression that Shouta always makes), “Stay here.” he puts her down and returns back to the living room.
Midoriya is still beet-red and Hitoshi is sitting next to him, stewing in his reservoir of teenage angst.
“So what did you think was so important that you needed to come to our home without telling any of us?” Shouta says as he puts his hands on his hips to complete the disappointed look.
The kid looks down at his hand that lays in his lap. He flexes and releases them in a steady motion, seemingly trying to psych himself up to finally get to the point of his sudden visit.
“My father is All for One.” Midoriya says in a soft voice, still not looking up.“I found out a week ago, just after break started.”
Oh.
So that’s why.
Stunned silence fills the apartment. The man is in prison now, but with what he’s done— with the thousands, maybe millions, of lives he’s ruined over the two centuries he’s been alive… that is not someone that you want to associate with, let alone be related to.
Now Shouta understands why Midoriya didn't want to have this conversation where someone could hear. People who didn't know this kid, who didn't have a bad bone in his body he just hated listening to reason, could fault him for things outside his control.
“How’d you find out?” Hitoshi asks, staring at his friend like he’s grown a second head.
Midoriya takes in a deep breath. “Genetic testing after I found some photos of him and my mom.”
“That's rough, bro.” Hitoshi, ever the awkward kid, puts a hand on Midoriya in hopes of counseling him.
Shouta thinks about genetics with the new information. It made sense with Midoriya’s quirk; both of them produced lightning when in use. And—
“Do you steal quirks too?” there is no malice in Shouta’s voice, only curiosity. Maybe a little fear.
The kid shakes his head. “I— I guess my power manifests in different ways. His genetics must have done something strange to my quirk.” With how weird quirk genetics are, he believes him.
“That's not— that’s not all, though.” the kid continues.
Both of them perk up at this. Finally, Midoriya meets Shouta’s eyes.
“You too, are related to All for One, Mr. Aizawa.”
What.
It takes a second to come to terms with the fact that Midoriya has just said that.
“How do you know this.” It takes everything in him to keep his voice steady. He knew his parents: his quirk was a perfect blend of his father’s touch erasure and his mother’s floating hair when she would cry. This doesn’t make any sense.
“Um, he’s not your father by the percentage of DNA. Maybe like… a grandfather.”
Shouta didn't have a grandfather on his father’s side. Then, things start to make sense with this new, terrible, puzzle piece. His grandmother on his father’s side had had the same quirk as his father, so the bastard was probably trying to get a quirk like his own with the adage of erasure. But this was just theory.
“How do you know I’m related to All for One?”
Again, Midoriya looks down at his hand in his lap and mumbles out, “I— um, I borrowed some of your hair for an experiment. This was before I even knew he was my father. I just wanted to test a couple of theories about your quirk, since it's so cool and that somehow it was connected to eyes but your hair raises up when you use it which is super fascinating, so while you were sleeping in class one day I plucked one off and—”
Shouta puts a hand up. That would be a discussion for later— a very weird and obvious one, at that. You don't just steal peoples’ hair from them as they sleep. He’s a third-year for christ’s sake.
“So you are for sure,” he asks once more. For confirmation. Because right now, this feels like a fever dream to him.
Nodding softly, Midoriya looks back at Shouta. “Hundred percent.”
“ Fuck .” This will not be a very fun conversation with his parents.
There is a beat of silence before Hitoshi begins to laugh, almost hysterically. “So you're Dad’s—” he’s wheezing, clutching his stomach hard. “ uncle .” Which is now a sentence that now exists, despite how much he wishes it wasn't. Why of all people to be surprise related to, did it have to be his problem child?
“I guess,” Midoriya whispers out as he tries to hide himself in his shirt. “And I think that makes me your gruncle.”
This only makes Hitoshi laugh harder. Gosh.
Shouta is never going to live this down for the rest of his life. He’ll never tell Hitoshi this, but he’s glad he’s taking this so well— that he’s antagonizing either Shouta nor Midoriya. It gives him some hope that this mess will come out less than a shitshow.
“I honestly thought that your father was All Might.” Hitoshi comments as he wipes away the tears of laughter. “Todoroki has been trying to convince me since first year.”
“He’s the real dad in my heart.” Izuku defends with a shaky smiley.
Speaking of All Might. “Does he know that you're the son of his greatest enemy?” Shouta asks bluntly.
“He was the first person I told and he said he still loves me. That I’m his son, not All for One’s.” Midoriya smiles softly, probably recounting the memory in his brain.
“Did you tell him about me?”
Flustered again, Midoriya raises his hands in defense. “Of course not! You should be the first to know and be able to tell who you want. Since it's your secret, y’know.”
Wow. This kid made a rational decision. What has this world come to?
Shouta nods, scenarios running through his head. “Who else knows about you, then?”
“Just my mom and All Might.” He gestures to them. “You guys now.”
“Do you plan on keeping it that way?”
“Yeah, I really don't want people to know about this.”
“Good, people have secrets for a reason.” Shouta starts to pace back and forth, filtering through scenarios and theories.
Suddenly, Midoriya stands up after reading something on his phone. “I told my mom I’d be home about now. She’s a little frazzled to find out the father of her child is a villainous mass murderer, so I don't want to worry her any more than I already have.”
He’s already halfway to the door before Shouta catches up with him, placing a hand on Midoriya’s shoulder that he hopes is comforting. He really sucks at this. “Kid. Your father doesn't make you who you are. His sins are not your own.”
Midoriya smiles, almost sadly, but nods anyway. “See you guys. Tell Eri I said goodbye. We can talk more about this later, not at school though I’d rather Nezu not knowing.”
“Yes, let's not have him know this.” Shouta almost shudders at the thought. “We can discuss who else might be related to All for One’s due to him- for lack of a better term- being a slut. At a later time of course.”
Midoriya nods, but Shouta can tell he’s trying to hold in a laugh at his phrasing. Hitoshi on the other hand is not holding back.
“See you at school, Gruncle Izuku.” Hitoshi can barely speak through his laughs.
“Bye, Midoriya,” Shouta says, as Midoriya opens the door.
Behind him, he hears Hitoshi call out through his laughter. “Don't you mean Uncle Midoriya? ”
“Shut up.” Shouta snaps, but Hitoshi just cackles louder.
Midoriya gives one last wave goodbye before Shouta closes the door behind him and shuts all four locks.
Why is this his life?