Work Text:
"Are you done playing Heroes and Villains, son?"
Midoriya Izuku, currently age 35, has dealt with a lot on his plate. He’s met a variety of colorful characters, has had to suffer through the maniacal rantings of multiple dumbass villains who clearly think they’re always in the right and everyone else is wrong over the years of his career, suffered through a midlife crisis because everyone needs to have one at some point in their early-to-mid 30’s, and suffer even more with just the worst types of people currently plaguing the hero society.
However, none of these things come even close to his father, also known as All for One, also known as former “demon king of Japan”, also known as Japan’s formerly most wanted, and currently Japan’s most wanted until Izuku is able to get his dumb ass back into Tartarus V2.0.
Every damn year, on the same damn day, All for One escapes, but not to actually escape and plot his comeback or whatever the fuck would be expected of a normal former supervillain, no; this man likes his steak cooked thoroughly. He loves the useless thrill of a game, a wild goose chase if you will, every year always leaving behind a list of vague clues for a little “scavenger hunt” and every damn year, Izuku has to waste his precious fucking time to find said villain otherwise the threat of “hiding in a place where you won’t actually finds me” might be achieved. And who even knows what would happen if All for One decides to double down on his stupid threat, or so, the Japanese government proclaims.
This year? It’s fucking Hawaii.
Currently, Izuku is hovering over an All for One lounging in a poolside chair on the beach, wearing sunglasses over his horribly disfigured face. All for One does the opposite of frowning when Izuku comes into view, despite blocking the man’s view of the sun, as his favorite person has finally come to the scene of the crime.
“It’s… my job, It’s been my job for the past twenty years,” Izuku answers with a straight face, after taking a few seconds to even mentally process that question. God, he’s going to need to see a therapist after this, else he’ll unhealthily compartmentalize all of this as some sort of fever dream.
“Ah, not quite. You weren’t formally deigned a pro-hero until you were eighteen, as per Japan’s labor laws for minors. Though, the heroes certainly know how to sneak around those laws, don’t they? Technically, you’ve only been a hero for… seventeen years.”
“Are you done treating this like a game?” Izuku snaps. He makes a show of taking off the sunglasses, throwing it on the ground, and crushing it beneath the soles of his hero costume’s boot, a crunchy sound that interrupts the background noise of the crowd, seagulls, and ocean waves.
“I’m not playing at anything; I’m merely enjoying my family vacation here. Have you brought your mother with you this time, by any chance?”
“My mom said the next time you show your face around her, she’ll stab your dick with a fork,” Izuku quotes.
“So, I’m gathering the answer is ‘no’, then.”
“…You need to get back into Tartarus,” Izuku says, voice hardened. “Convicted villains—especially ones of your caliber—do not get vacations. All for One, you are under arrest—”
“Have a drink with me, son,” All for One offers the second glass of martini in his hand.
“—you have a right to remain silent—”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” All for One sighs.
“You also have a right to an attorney—”
All for One stands up, points to Izuku and loudly shouts, “Is that Japan’s number one hero, Deku, offering autographs first come first serve to the residents of this resort?”
“Fuck me,” Izuku groans when of course, the crowd comes running.
Update: it is still fucking Hawaii.
“…Why did you even come alone if you thought I was going to be here?” All for One interrogates curiously. “Don’t you usually have a team of ten-to-twenty with you, ready to force me into the helicopter should I resist?”
“Yeah, well, there’s a crisis going on in Japan right now—”
“—Implying there usually isn’t,” All for One interjects.
“—and all the helicopters are being occupied right now. I came alone to subdue you, though,” Izuku’s expression turns dark, “I really didn’t want to be the one to go. They told me that it was for the best interest of the country if I went because…” Izuku doesn’t even bother finish his reasoning. They all know why he’s here.
“Because I would kill anyone who dares come in your place?” All for One unhelpfully supplements, “Which, for the record, I would.”
“I should be back there right now helping minimize casualties but I have to have my ass dragged out of the country because of you and your stupid fucking childish-ass acts,” Izuku starts to raise his voice, to which one of the waiters at the restaurant comes to inform him to keep his voice down as he’s currently “disturbing the rest of the patrons”.
All for One wipes his mouth with a white cloth napkin, putting down the steak knife in his hand as the plate in front of him is now finished. “Good. You should be utilizing your time better than constantly having to ‘save’ people from their own stupidity. Tell me, Izuku, when the last time you’ve taken time off was.”
“It was when you minded your own damn business,” Izuku grunts. He perfectly knows well how much he’s labelled the workaholic of the pro-hero industry, to the point that even his former classmates always urge him to sit his ass down and go find a hobby to enjoy, preferably something to calm his nerves. It's not like he hasn't tried in the past before, it just never works out. He's given up at this point, resigning himself to the fact that he just... loves hero work in every capacity. It's his literal passion. It is his hobby, at this point.
“Now, now, no need to be so rude. It seems I might’ve hit a sore spot with that one, hmm?” All for One humorously tries to jab, but Izuku’s frown stays. “Have you ever visited Hawaii? It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”
“It’d be a lot more gorgeous if you weren’t in it,” Izuku deadpans. “Even more so if you were in prison again,” he says with a roll of his eyes, “Seriously, you don’t have to do this every. Single. Year. I’m about to lose my mind!”
“Two glasses of champagne, please,” All for One politely tells a passing waiter.
“One,” Izuku sharply corrects.
“Two."
“I’m going to murder you in your sleep."
“Two it is,” All for One gleefully cheers, treating it like a win. “Come, son, it’s not good for your blood pressure to be this angry all the time.”
Of course, when the glasses of champagne arrive, Izuku gracefully accepts his from the waiter just to splash the drink in All for One’s face, ruining his fancy suit and tie and getting the both of them kicked out of the restaurant when the waiter can’t handle the drama anymore. All for One has the courtesy to leave a hundred-dollar bill tip on the table—where the hell did that man even get that money from?
“That was one of my favorites on this island,” All for One petulantly says, “and now we’re banned from it for life.”
Izuku throws his arms in the air, unable to understand anything this man says or thinks, yelling, “You are sentenced to prison! For life!”
How are thing going, Young Midoriya?
When Izuku sees the text from All Might, the first response that comes to mind is, ”I want to die.” Of course, Izuku doesn’t send that, because he hates it when people worry over him and his crippled mental state, and instead texts back, “Everything’s going great, just waiting for backup to come. He’ll be back in his cell soon.”
All for One sees him texting All Might, swipes the phone from his hands, and crushes it with his bare hand.
“Insurance is paying for that,” Izuku says.
“The youth these days and their cellphones,” All for One laments, “Never truly taking the time to appreciate their surroundings, even when in a place unfamiliar to them.”
“I am thirty-five,” Izuku seethes.
“Living in the lower half of your lifespan should be still considered young, no?” All for One blankly asks. “You may not be a baby anymore, but you’re hardly old.”
“People my age already have kids who are about to go into middle school,” Izuku says to make a point, “I am middle-aged. You’re just a senile old man, screw whatever bullshit logic you go by.”
“Yet, you’ve wasted all those years you could’ve spent building a family, and poured all that time and effort into your obsession—”
“Here we go again,” Izuku laughs, “And I can’t believe that you’re the one lecturing me when you were the one who abandoned me and mom like, you don't even follow your own damn advice, you self-righteous hypocrite. You weren’t there for your family when you made one, and now you want to criticize me for doing something I love—”
“At least I was content with what I was doing,” All for One says.
“By fucking everyone else over,” Izuku adds. “Everyone else.” With emphasis. He won't even bring up the fact that hero work is what he loves... it seems everyone has a hard time believing it, save for a few select people.
“I was going to return someday,” All for One mutters, “Sixteen years had gone by without my noticing.”
Izuku smiles vindictively, “Signs of senility, I’d look it up on my phone just to show you but… guess I'll have to wait until insurance replaces my old one.”
“Believe it or not, I do not like that most of our time together is spent bickering over the same points over and over again.”
“Who’s fault is that? I don’t know what you want, because this,” Izuku gestures to the distance between them, “is never going to be what you want it to be. You burned that bridge, buried its remains, and spit on that grave a long time ago. There’s no fixing it now, villain.”
“Perhaps not, but it seems to sour our family vacations,” All for One calmly says. “We should be paying more attention to the various tourist attractions instead of focusing on unimportant—”
Midoriya Izuku is going to kill a man, no matter what anybody says about a pro-hero’s right to murder somebody in cold blood.