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“I’m definitely not a hero and I’m not going to arrest you, if that’s what you're asking,” the dark haired man smirked towering over the trembling villain. He leant forward unbuttoning his suit with a practiced hand as squatted low enough for his face to be level with the other mans. A low rumbling sound that Izuku first thought to be an earth moving quirk but turned out to be the sound of his fathers chuckling laughter had the teenager staring in complete shock: he’d never heard his father laugh before. It sounded emotionless and cold.
“I’m so much worse.” The black haired man whipped out his hand; his long cold fingers covering the villains face who screamed in terror as bright light engulfed his body. Anyone looking had to turn away from the light lest they be blinded.
In place of the villain stood a statue of frozen terror made of gleaming white stone.
“Ah that’s a much more fitting tribute,” waving a careless hand the statue blinked out of existence. The man stood again to his full height and turned back to the injured green haired teenager clutching an injured arm on the ground behind him. “Hello son.”
—-
There is actually a long list of things Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya could agree on: no swearing in front of Mrs. Midoriya, All Might was the greatest ever hero, merch is sacred, Kirishima is an endangered species and Hisashi Midoriya wasn’t spoken about. Ever.
The worst part for the two boys was the unknowable tension the man created. His very presence intimidated them, making the children cower even as the man smiled at them. He’d never done anything to earn the distrust and fear from the two boys. In fact he’d done nearly the opposite by barely being present in his son's life.
The boy could remember every time he’d seen his father since he was three: the memories were brief, each less than half an hour but burning vividly in Izuku’s mind. At each of the four visits his father had been dressed in a well fitted black suit, his curly hair a mess around his shoulders and had only touched his son once, a single brief pat on the shoulder when he was four and had just been diagnosed quirkless.
Nevertheless; Katsuki and Izuku were terrified of the man.
His very presence caused their muscles to shake, their minds screamed in primal fear to run hide run-live-hide; their bodies fought their minds in a desperate bid to save them from the seemingly harmless man. It was one thing Katsuki never mocked the shorter boy for, one subject he never touched to ridicule the other boy and if ever he saw the man or had that feeling of primal terror he sought out his childhood friend unsure of what he’d find.
It had been years since he’d last seen his father that Izuku had been gifted his quirk from All Might. Long enough for the man to fade into the background of his memories: not gone but nothing he’d want to think about regularly.
In fact if pressed Izuku would say he’d forgotten about his father if not for the conversation concerning fathers that 1-A decided to participate in during one of the dorm's movie marathons.
“So we all agree Todoroki wins ‘worst dad ever’ right?” Mina jokes, throwing a piece of popcorn at the other hero in training. “We’ve got all our ‘normal dad neutral parties’ over this side,” she waved to the half dozen students arranged to her left with the popcorn bowl “the ‘does sucky things but a good guy’ dads here.” She kicked a foot out at Denki and six others on the floor. “And you guys the ‘undecided or really shitty dads’ league.” The teen threw more popcorn at Todoroki and the two others sitting at his back watching the excited girl.
“It really shouldn’t be a competition Mina,” Izuku stuttered out, curling himself smaller against his friend. He didn’t like the conversation or where it could lead but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself by leaving either.
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed we don’t know anything about your dad Deku!” Mina exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement while zeroing in on the boy with a maniacal gleam in her eye. “Cmon spill! What’s he look like? Is he good or a villain? What’s his quirk?”
Izuku started shaking as his thoughts flashed to the last time he’d seen his father almost four years ago.
Luckily Kacchan came to the unlikely rescue.
“Fucking hell you shitty excuse for a knockoff barbie,” Kacchan grumbled as he stormed into the room. He’d only been gone for ten minutes to go to the toilet and came back to a childhood friend turned enemy turned reluctant friend again on the verge of a panic attack. “Didn’t anyone teach you to mind your own fucking business or are your horns cutting off circulation to your brain?”
Everyone stared in shock: Bakugo did have a caustic tongue but he’d calmed down over the last few eventful months and wouldn’t usually attack any of them verbally like this without a damn good reason.
“Damn bro that’s harsh,” Kirishima started to stand, obviously ready to spring into his role of Bakugo handler when the blonde pushed past causing the redhead to unbalance and fall back into the couch.
Bakugo ignored all of them squatting down in front of Izuku whispering so quietly and quickly that even Todoroki sitting next to the green haired teen didn’t appear to hear what was said.
Within seconds Bakugo was manhandling Izuku past all their stunned friends and watching as the boy practically ran to make his escape out of the room.
“You know people call me all kinds of names for being rude and callous but sometimes you guys are so much worse with your thoughtless games.” The blonde teen steps forward to follow his childhood friend but stops to speak to the stunned room without turning back. “We don’t know basically anything about his dad except that he’s terrifying; just scarier than any of the villains we've faced. He’s never done anything bad to us but he feels like the kind of person who would walk over your corpse to get a glass of water.
“He only visits once every three or four years and he’ll come by soon. He’ll stay for less than ten minutes and if any of you see him run. Hide and get away before you catch his attention.” The teen turns back to the room, eyes scanning the expressions of his classmates trying to gauge their understanding. “Don’t ask Deku about that man. Don’t joke about it and hell don’t even apologize about this. Pretend nothing happened and if you see something pretend you didn’t.”
The normally explosive teen sighs a long soft exhale before sparing a glance across the assembled class and at his teacher hiding in the shadows off the edge of the room, red eyes filled with unspeakable emotions as he locks his gaze on the pro hero eyes pleading for understanding.
“All of you. If you see Hisashi Midoriya run.”
—-
While none of the students of 1-A mentioned that disastrous movie night none of them forgot; the panic riddled Midoriya, the unusually protective Bakugou or the ominous warning.
So when a group of villains decide to attack the hero course while they are on an educational excursion to the city museum intent on kidnapping some students to make a name for themselves.
The students of 1-A are less surprised than they should have been when a man in a well tailored suit and messy black hair steps forward to deflect an attack at Midoriya that the injured teen hadn’t noticed coming.
The strangled gasp of “dad!” Told everyone present who the man was.
The newcomer proceeds to quickly and singlehandedly overpower the villains that the class had been struggling with before approaching his son in a casual and almost friendly manner. After hearing that he was Midoriya’s father and receiving confirmation from the student that he was mostly unharmed Aizawa called the rest of the class back to give the two a few moments of privacy. Bakugo argued against the order until the older Midoriya asked politely for a moment alone with his son.
Then another well dressed dark haired man the same age appeared from nowhere to speak to the older Midoriya in a low whisper as dark eyes locked onto the teen hero in training.
“Ah yes, Izuku, this is my brother,” Hisashi flicked a hand to the teenager who had appeared now standing beside him in an introductory manner.
The black haired Japanese boy his father waved at looked to be around the same age as the class watching; wearing a grey striped hoodie and tattered jeans. Izuku dropped into a respectful bow feeling the same unnerving presence that he did from his father.
“Good to finally meet you Izuku,” his soft voice murmured; his fathers brother smiled, smoothing a hand over his own brown suit jacket. The two didn’t look like brothers with this man having much fairer hair and deep laugh lines around his blue eyes.
Appearing to be the older of the two his newly introduced uncle smiled gently at his nephew.
Izuku frowned for a moment as his mind scrambled to remind him of something, some detail scratching at his thoughts. He shook his head to dislodge the feeling; needing the physical action.
“You too Sir,” Izuku murmured taking a careful step back as he rose from the bow to distance himself a little further from the two; although the feeling wasn’t as strong as it had been as a child the presence of the two brothers still unnerved the hero in training causing the hairs on the back of his neck to prickles uncomfortably in primal warning. “If you’ll excuse me I should return to my teacher.”
“Don’t you want to talk to your Dad Izuku?” Hisashi asked, smiling down at his son.
“Of course Sir,” the trembling teen answered, not daring to meet the man’s eyes.
“Don’t Lie To Me Izuku.”
“You’re not my dad,” the boy's hands flew to his mouth. He couldn’t believe he’d voiced the thought that had been niggling at him louder and louder for the last few years.
“What Do You Mean Izuku?” The man’s tone brokered no chance for the teen to lie or take back the words. The stern voice wasn’t filled with any recognisable emotion indicating if the man was hurt or angered by the words which left the boy scrambling for an explanation.
The words came easier than he would have expected; almost a drunken babbling.
“You might be my father but you’re a stranger,” feeling lightheaded and with a surge of strength that came with being a hero and being brave encouraging him the teen stared up at his father meeting the man’s eyes in defiance. “I’ve barely known you for three hours my whole life, this is the most we’ve ever spoken and you don’t know anything about me. A dad is someone who is a part of your life and cares about you. You’re just the man that married my mum. I don’t know you.”
Staring defiantly at his father Izuku was trembling with nerves waiting for any kind of reaction.
Instead his attention is caught by a snickering choking sound coming from beside his father.
His uncle was bent, almost doubled over in amusement, his long grey hair covering his face as a weathered hand smothered the sound of his laughter; leaning on his walking stick and wobbling with the force of his amusement Izuku was concerned for his elderly uncle but the tension of waiting for his fathers reaction was stopping the teen from moving.
Ignoring the mocking laughter from his brother, Hisashi rubbed a hand across his mouth deep in thought. He didn’t appear angry but he hadn’t appeared bothered while he was fighting villains either so the boy had nothing to judge the expression against. The man was a true stranger and Izuku didn’t know how to gauge his moods.
“I admit that those words can’t be anything but the truth but only as you see it,” the man replies after a lengthy silence. His voice is even and tone emotionless. “But you are very, very young and do not understand all that there is. I know all there is to know about you and all your secrets. Even the ones you don’t know yourself.”
“What secrets?”
“Maybe it’s time to explain the family to him Brother,” came the amused voice of his uncle. The man was standing straight yet again having controlled his laughing fit. “But not now. Our brothers have called a meeting.”
“Yes.”
Hisashi stared down at his son with an expressionless face while chaotic thoughts swirled. Eventually he nodded, throwing a glance over the assembled class and pro hero standing vigil only a handful of meters away.
“I will return swiftly and explain everything; it has been too long that you have been ignorant of your own history.”
Without another word to the teen the two brothers turned and walked away disappearing into the hallways of the museum.
As soon as the adults had turned their backs Katsuki Bakugo shoved away the restraining hands of his classmates and sprinted the distance to Izuku’s side; laying a comforting hand on the other teens shoulder the explosive boy didn’t need to say anything as he steered his shaking mute childhood friend back to their classmates and teacher depositing him with the more emotionally well equipped.
Eventually the police arrived and separated Izuku from his classmates to question him about the events of the attack.
Unable to give the police any more information on his father other than the man’s name (which wasn’t in any database) Izuku was quickly released from police questioning and returned to the dorms and his classmates who were bubbling with the kind of invasive questions only teenagers would voice about the man’s brutal fighting style and abrupt appearance.
Pausing to prepare himself for the onslaught before entering the lounge area the returning teen could clearly hear the loud and excited voices of his classmates arguing about the attack:
“What the hell was that?”
“Is his dad a villain?”
“What’s his quirk? He froze that guy and then transported him too!”
“Do you think Midoriya knows?”
“Does it matter?”
“Pretty fucking sure it does. Do you think his mum knows?”
A loud explosion interrupts the excited babbling of the class.
“I’m pretty sure all you fuckers heard the conversation between them since I sure as hell did,” Came Kacchan’s angry growl. “If even I can be fucking decent human being to the fucking nerd regarding his drop kick father why the hell can’t you extras trust him?”
A hush falls over the room-
“Bakugo I insist you do not swear so casually: it invalidates the excellent point you’re trying to make!” The direct snap of Iida’s voice breaks the momentary silence of the room causing Izuku to giggle to himself while walking into the room to face his classmates.
“Hey guys!” As the subject of all the gossip the teen couldn’t help but take advantage of the charged atmosphere to mess with his friends. “What’s everyone talking about?”
He rocks back and forth on his heels smiling guilelessly at the surrounding people enjoying the awkward tension until predictably Kaminari breaks the silence.
“Midoriya! Hey, we were just talking about you!” Sero smacked the blonde upside his head but it didn’t stop the flow of words. “We’ve got questions about your dad: Is he a villain, what’s his quirk, how old is he, what happened to the villain he killed, did he kill that guy and what does your mum know?”
“I don’t know,” the green haired teen shrugs, scratching his head. “He’s supposed to be a businessman overseas, I thought his quirk is fire breath, I don’t know how old he is but mum is thirsty-five so it’s probably close to that, I don’t know what happened to that villain but it didn’t look good and I don’t know what my mum knows but I’m starting to suspect it’s nothing.”
“I know you all heard us talking and it’s cool; I don’t care that you know what he’s like as long as you don’t pity me. He’s just another absent father.” He shrugs, locking eyes with Kacchan. “But in all honesty as much as he said we’d talk soon or he’d ‘return swiftly’ I probably won’t see him for another four years and by then we’ll have all graduated so it’s unlikely you guys will ever see him again.”
Talk quickly diverted to seeing if a Momo made bullet proof vest if it would be Bakugou proof as the class settles quickly back into their normal carefree selves. Blissfully trusting that they wouldn’t have to worry about the overpowered man who’d promised to visit their classmate again.
Their home room teacher and main guardian sighed in exasperation as the majority of the future pro hero’s took Midoriya at his word and didn’t question the ominous display they had witnessed just hours earlier.
The teacher didn’t ignore the way the green haired teens' laughter was louder, that he held his arms close across his chest or the way Bakugou carefully threw a stray look his way every so often to check on him.
A handful of classmates stayed vigilant for the following weeks but they dropped like flies as the days passed, Bakugo fell back on his routine of now friendly harassment and as the month ended and as they got busier the class completely forgot the museum incident. Their teacher kept the unsettling information in the back of his mind with every interaction with his student but eventually even he dropped his wary vigilance.
That was how on a calm and sunny day two months after the museum incident Izuku Midoriya was sent alone back to the dorms to get changed out of his paint splattered uniform and never rejoined his classmates.
—-
A helpful half brother has explained that time moves differently in their father’s realm. That a week could pass and only a few hours would pass in the real world or minutes: he wasn’t really big on maths which wasn’t helpful. It wasn’t an exact science but his newly found family promised he wasn’t even missed yet and he’d been wandering his fathers palace lost in a daze of information for almost three days.
He’d met six of his half brothers but apparently there were at least a dozen more living in their fathers realm as demigods.
Because that’s what he was too: a demigod. Because his father was a God. The specifics seemed to change depending on what region was calling on him or where he was needed on that particular day but the immortal being had explained that prayers for help being brave, strong or to better themselves were his favourite.
Ironically he spent a lot of time as a patron for the lost and confused. While he explained he was the essence of thunder and lightning, the crack of summer storms and the bite of winter rains he was also the encouraging whisper in the ear of a test taking child, the spark of inspiration in a musicians heart or the excited twitch in an athletes legs as they stand at the starting line. Those that spare a moment to wish, hope or pray that they can achieve their wildest dream call upon him without knowing the ancient being that watches over humanity.
He wasn’t the only god either: the uncle he’d been so briefly introduced to was the God of Death, decay and ultimately healing. There were three others he’d called brother or sister without any seemingly discernible indications to what they governed over except that they all shared the intimidating aura of otherness. Of difference.
It was all a bit mystical, mythical and to be completely honest mad. All Izuku wanted to do was return home, back to the dorms and his friends. Even knowing they wouldn’t have missed him yet, that this visit wasn’t governed by the laws of science, he missed them with a fierce and sharp ache.
He missed breakfast with Todoroki murmuring by his side, walking to class with a group of people who pushed and pulled like a tide, he missed seeing his teachers enter the class and knowing he was safe. He missed Denki’s unwavering spontaneity, he just wanted Kirishima to slap him on the shoulder in excited encouragement.
He missed Bakugou Katsuki; Kacchan, his childhood friend who knew him best even now, there was a hollow ache in his chest at the loss of the ease of familiarity when you’ve known someone for your whole life. He didn’t need to explain himself to the other boy, they could share a look of excitement or challenge and speak without words.
Even now surrounded by his supposed siblings all the green haired boy wanted to do was return to his family.
But he couldn’t leave; not until his father returned him home. And his father was nowhere to be found.
For three months.
——
“You had no right!” The boy yelled at his father completely aware of the dangers but uncaring. “You had no fucking right to bring me here and not let me go home!”
“I have every right,” the man almost sneers in dismissal. “I am your father and a God. I was across the ocean guiding coral to grow and volcanoes to erupt. Your insignificant time means nothing to me and you shall be honoured that I’m sharing mine now.”
“Can you hear yourself talk?” Izuku barely restrains from screaming at the man. Instead his words come out as a caustic hiss. “I don’t want anything to do with you I just want to go home and be with my family” he waves a hand glowing with green lightning at the surrounding gardens they’d met in. “You said you’d explain everything and instead I get sucked into some weird ass portal and wake up surrounded by people claiming to be my siblings. And you don’t show up for three fucking months! I don’t even know how much time has passed back home but they must have noticed me gone by now!”
“It is still the same day. I doubt they would have noticed you gone yet-“
“The same day? As in ten minutes or ten hours?” The teen was ready to start pulling out his hair in frustration. “There’s a huge fucking difference there ‘dad’. I am a hero and I attend an academy full of pro heroes and heroes in training. If I hadn’t returned to class within half an hour they would have noticed!”
“Look I know you are my father and that’s just whatever,” he pinched the bridge of his nose to calm down; already the lightning of his quirk was stinging his skin. “But you can’t just tell me when and where I can be, what I’ll be doing and you can’t just kidnap me and expect me to wait around idly until you decide to speak to me.”
“Why not? I am a God. I am everything you see around you. It’s all my power and a part of me. This is my power manifested,” the man raises a hand to indicate the elaborate buildings and gardens surrounding them casually. “And you are a part of me; a part of my power resides in each of my children as an eternal blessing by their father. You belong to me and keeping you in my domain is my right; that little life you left behind isn’t important.”
“And you don’t understand. You can’t understand why I value my mortal life filled with all my simple things like friendship, school and hero work because we don’t live the same lives; I value things that make me happy right now. You value yourself. You can’t see that what I care about is important because it’s not important to you. But that shouldn’t matter because it’s my decision what to do with my short mortal life.”
“If you feel so strongly about those people and that life then I can just return you to them now.” The god thundered face turned down in a foreboding scowl.
“K, bye then.” Izuku replies casually, hands in pockets and rocking back on his heels expectantly. He was so far past terrified that he’d hit some kind of sweet spot of not caring. If his father decided to kill him now there was nothing he could do, quirk or not, to defend himself.
Not that he knew if his father would hurt him. He seemed to care about him in some twisted way; Izuku could see that he just didn’t want to justify everything else for that.
When nothing happened the teen met the man’s eyes and raised an eyebrow expectantly.
“Are you going to return me then?” He asked, keeping his voice as carefree as possible. “I’ve got things to do and people will start to worry about me.”
“Just like that you wish to return?”
“Just like that,” Izuku ran a hand through his curls to calm down. “Look if you actually want to get to know me, you know your son, you can do it on my terms: you can come to where I live when I’m free and talk to me.”
“Your siblings are content here. In my realm your life would be immortal.”
“Just because they’re happy here doesn’t mean I would be. Please can you just send me home.”
——
Shota Aizawa knew he’d made a mistake the second he’d sent Midoriya away from the classroom alone. Subconsciously it seemed his classmates hadn’t left the boy alone except to sleep for the previous two months but when Sato tripped and covered the green haired teen with paint everyone was too amused by the sight to give sending the boy back to the dorms alone a second thought.
However the moment the door shut the pro hero felt a shuddering chill down his spine.
Not wishing to alert the class and spread his unease, the man casually walked over to the window and leant against the glass, easily spotting the young hero using his quirk to sprint to the dorms.
Glancing back at the quiet students he realised proudly they’d spotted the change in his behaviour and were reacting cautiously to it.
“It seems we need a spontaneous lesson and since Midoriya has left the classroom let’s make him the test subject,” the pro hero stood tall gesturing out the window with a tilt of his chin. “A suspicious individual whose movements we need to track, what do you do? Go.”
The assembled class murmured for a moment before Jiro stepped forward.
“We need immediate surveillance,” she gesturing to herself and several classmates. “Koda, Hagakure and I should head out immediately to secure visual and audio tracking. We can use our phones to report back.”
The students chorused their agreement before looking to their teacher for approval.
“Why are you hesitating? This is your operation: Go!”
The three teens sped from the classroom leaving behind their anxious classmates who were already splitting themselves up into teams with Yaoyorozu standing at the centre creating earwigs for communication while directing her classmates. As much as anxiety niggled at his instincts that something was wrong he was proud of the heroes his class were already becoming; they were statistically unlikely to all make it as top heroes but they would definitely start a new standard for all pros.
Ashido’s phone lay on a desk at the front of the room on speaker with Jiro who was currently silent upon approaching the dorms after reporting Midoriya was still yet to come out. The teacher could verify this as it had only been moments since he had entered the building- not enough time to change his clothes let alone re-emerge since he was banned from using his destructive quirk inside.
Koda quietly reported being ready to deploy several birds in the trees surrounding the dorm for aerial surveillance while Hagakure slipped inside the front door to scout the common areas and Jiro plugged herself in to listen to the teens movements.
“Target acquired; leaving his room now. Awaiting instructions over.” Came the level and quiet voice of Jiro over the phone speaker.
At their teachers nod Yaoyorozu answered:
“This is a stealth surveillance mission: track and follow the target to his destination. Report suspicious activity over.”
“Copy that over.”
The class breathed a collective sigh of relief along with their teacher and began to relax a little as they waited for their classmates to rejoin them.
Aizawa himself shook his head imperceptibly at his own overreaction and still buzzing nerves; his student was safe and his class had the situation under control.
Until they didn't.
“Target has disappeared. Repeat: Target location unknown.” Jiro’s voice came across the open line jarring in its urgency. “Hagakure investigating the area. Over.”
The teacher strode forward to stand beside his students as he simultaneously sent a distress call to the pro hero teachers to report to his classroom.
“Jiro situation report over”
The line was silent for a tense moment as the classroom doors opened and several teachers entered the room.
“He’s gone momo. I was actively tracking his progress through the building, the only other occupants were Hagakure and sensei’s cat. There were no sounds of struggle, conversation or of a quirk being activated. No breathing, heartbeat or even a body falling. Nothing. Hagakure is on his floor with visuals on his last known location. She reports nothing looks out of the norm, nothing disturbed and is asking permission to investigate closer.”
“Denied. Retreat to the front foyer and report when all three are on the front steps together.” Aizawa spoke before Yaoyorozu could reply. “A student is missing from campus grounds. This is now a priority for all pro hero’s to attend. Backup is on its way. Stay alert, stay together and don’t do anything reckless. Over.”
Handing the phone over the homeroom teacher looked over the faces of his students and the pro heroes gathered at the doorway.
“Yaoyorozu assign each team to a pro hero. Class listen to who you are assigned to. This is now a missing persons case and I expect you to treat this as a serious situation. Your classmate is missing. We move out immediately.”
Nodding to the pro hero’s already prepared to head out to the dorms, Eraserhead launched himself out of an open window quickly scaling the side of the building and sprinting towards the dorms followed by the sounds of his assigned team leaving the school building the same way.
Not who he would have chosen as his team but Uraraka, Bakugo and Todoroki were at the least efficient at keeping pace with the pro.