Archive of Our Own

When Izuku knocked on Hanta’s door with a smile on his face, the boy suspected nothing.

When Izuku informed him that Aizawa-sensei had told everyone to train the endurance of their quirks for next weekend’s physical exam, Hanta smiled back and thanked him for passing the message on.

Later on, when Hanta noticed almost a hundred yards of the tape he’d painstakingly produced was missing, he was confused.

Next Saturday, when Hanta dragged himself out of bed and to U.A’s training ground, he was surprised to see that no one was there.

Looking back, he should’ve known something was up then..

><><><

“DEKU YOU SHITTY NERD, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Katsuki yelled. He tried kicking his feet, desperately attempting to create some sort of momentum so he could get out of the chair and kick Izuku’s ass. Unfortunately for Katsuki, Hanta’s tape held strong, keeping him bound to the steel chair that Izuku had procured. His legs were fastened at the bottom, and his arms to his sides, keeping his hands pointed straight down. Izuku had even looped the tape around his wrists to ensure he couldn’t turn his hands and angle an explosion upwards.

“Since you’re so bad with everyone’s names, I thought I’d turn it into a game to help you get better!” Izuku replied. He dropped his laptop onto Katsuki’s desk and turned the screen to face him. “I knew you wouldn’t want to play though, so I kinda had to take some.. extreme measures. Sorry,” Izuku laughed awkwardly.

“What. The. FUCK does that mean? Let me out of this damn chair now, and maybe I won’t kill you!” Katsuki snapped, rocking forward in the chair. Izuku shot out an arm to stop it from tipping over.

“Calm down, Kacchan! You’re going to get yourself hurt! Once you answer all the questions right, I’ll call someone to let you out!” Izuku assured him. “They aren’t that hard, just the names of your friends!”

“I’m NOT playing you stupid game, Deku. Let me out of this goddamn chair, or I’ll blow this fucking room apart!”

“I knew you’d do that!” Izuku said quickly, confidently; but most of all, he said it calmly. He dug through his pocket, retrieving something. “I didn’t want to involve anyone, but I had to ask Nezu if I could have some of the quirk erasing bullets! He has some in his office for emergencies,” Izuku explained.

Katsuki’s eyes widened, and his jaw set. “You. Wouldn’t. Dare. Deku.”

Izuku sighed, slumped a little in defeat. “He told me no, and I didn’t think I could steal it right from under his nose after I just asked for it.” He laughed a little. “So! I got something better!” He revealed what was in his hand: an All Might trading card. It had a laminated sleeve surrounding it, keeping the card in good condition.

“This one is mine!” Izuku declared. He held it in one hand, his other diving back into his pockets. “You remember when we got these? You still have yours, don’t you?”

Katsuki scoffed, his eyes narrowing back to their normal slitted glare. “As if. I don’t need something stupid like that. There’ll be a Dynamight card out soon anyways, I’ll fucking buy that one.”

Izuku nodded. “I will too. I bet they’ll give you a super cool pose!”

“Those extras better,” Katsuki spat. “Now, let me out of this stupid chair so I can shove your dumbass off this balcony.”

“Nuh-uh!” Izuku said. He pulled his hand from his pocket. “Also, you shouldn’t lie to your friends, Kacchan.”

In his hand, pinched between his forefinger and thumb, was another All Might trading card. It too had a sleeve around it, though this one was dirty. Like someone cared about the card enough to protect it, but found the sleeve to be expendable, replaceable.

“My fucking card?!” Katsuki pulled at the tape again, lunging forward. “Deku you better put that thing down NOW.” There were beads of sweat gathering in his palms, small sparks making themselves known.

“Okay, okay!” Izuku said hurriedly. He leaned down, dropped Katsuki’s card on the floor first, then his own. They were both positioned under the blonde’s hands, defenseless against any attacks. “I think you know what would happen if you make any huge explosions!”

Katsuki grinded his teeth together, eyes focused on the cards beneath his hands. He tried to kick at them, move them out of the way, but with his feet taped to the legs of the chair, he couldn’t. “You know this’ll blow your shitty card sky-high when I blow mine up too, right?” he asked.

Izuku shook his head. “You won’t though, because those are the cards we’ve had since we were kids!” he replied, showing Katsuki a smile. “Okay!” Izuku clapped his hands together and spun around, ignoring the string of curses Katsuki was throwing at him.

“SHITTY FUCK. DAMN EXTRA–”

“So, I made a kahoot for you! Since you can’t really use your hands right now, I’ll click on the answers for you.” He pulled the desk to the middle of the floor, sitting it in front of Katsuki. Izuku moved behind it, leaning over the laptop so Katsuki could still see.

“GODDAMN YOU, YOU BASTARD. I’M GOING TO KILL YOU–”

“First question, who is this? Give me a name!” Izuku said, pointing to the screen. “You’re timed, by the way. I gave you sixty seconds to think of the name. We’re starting easy though, so you got this!” Izuku cheered. Beneath him was a picture of Katsuki.

“That’s me, you stupid bitch. Bakugou fucking Katsuki.”

“I know you know your name, this is just so you understand the format. Tell me the color or shape, and I’ll hit it. If you get less than 80% right, you’ll have to restart!”

“Red, you dumbass. Hit the red fucking button.”

Izuku hummed and hit it. The screen changed, showing that he got the correct answer. “See?” Izuku asked. “One of those for everyone, just so you know their names! It’s nice to remember everyone!”

“I know everyone’s damn names, you didn’t have to do this!” Katsuki snapped. He seemed less angry after getting one right, even if it was his own name.

“Well,” Izuku said, taking on a devious smile. “Maybe I don’t think you can.”

Katsuki all but snarled in reply. “I can, and I will. Then, you’ll cut me loose, and I’ll murder you.”

“Okay!” Izuku cheered. He hit the button, moving to the next question. A picture of Izuku was there, with the answers: Midoriya Izuku, Deku, Shitty Deku, and Broccoli.

“Green, you bitch. Shitty Deku.”

“Are you sureee, Kacchan? This one will affect your total. Less than 80% and I’ll restart it!” Izuku reminded him.

“..yellow, Midoriya.” Katsuki said his name like it was sickening to even think about, and Izuku pouted.

“Mean,” he decided as he clicked the yellow box. “But good job! Next one!” He hardly lingered on the correct screen, letting the quiz continue. A girl with shoulder length brown hair and a smile appeared, pink tinting her cheeks and the tips of her fingers as she held up a peace sign.

“Pink cheeks,” Katsuki observed. “What’s her name again?” He squinted at the answers: Jirou Kyoka, Uraraka Ochako, Asui Tsuyu, and Hagakure Tooru. “The k in pink is for Uraraka and the one in cheeks is for Ochako, that’s right,” he grumbled.

Izuku blinked, but silently clicked the red answer. “You have a way to remember everyone’s names based on their nicknames?”

“Why the fuck would I call people that if their names didn’t match, idiot.”

Izuku hummed and clicked to the next question. A boy with red and white hair was on the screen now; he was giving a little smile.

“Easy as fuck. Half and half bastard,” Katsuki said. He didn’t spare the answers a look. “Todo-roki Sho-to. Two syllables for two hair colors and two shitty quirk halves. Couldn’t beat me if he had two full non-shitty quirks, but it’d be a fun fight anyways. Hit the damn button, nerd.”

Stifling an amused laugh, Izuku did as told and clicked onto the next question. A grinning boy with bright yellow hair and electricity between his fingers showed up on the screen. His sunglasses were tipped up on his head, covering part of the lightning bolt in his hair.

“Dunce Face. Fuck, what’s his name. It’s a stupid one.. Oh, yeah, Dunce, like Denki. Same amount of letters.” Katsuki looked through the options. “Blue, Kaminari Denki.”

- - - - -

By the time the test had finished, almost an hour had elapsed. Most of that was spent wrestling Katsuki into the chair and taping him down, then arguing with him, but the Kahoot was finally completed. Izuku looked down at the screen, amazed, then back up at Katsuki.

“100% accuracy,” Izuku finally said. He smiled brightly. “Congrats, Kacchan!”

“I told you I knew them all,” Katsuki replied. His situation was semi-forgotten as a smug smile made its way onto his face. Then, he remembered it. “Now, let me THE FUCK UP.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Izuku said, nodding his head quickly. He shut his laptop and picked it up from the desk, then moved to grab his card off of the floor. “Thank you for not blowing it up,” he said sincerely. “Once I’m far enough away, I’ll text Aizawa-sensei and ask him to untie you! He can erase your quirk so you don’t accidentally blow both of you up, after all.”

Before Katsuki could say anything, Izuku was running towards the glass door. He jumped from the balcony, and Blackwhip sprung from his back, grabbing onto other student’s balconies to guide him safely down. It sank back into him once he had landed on the ground, and Izuku took off.

He had to start on the powerpoint now!

><><><

Izuku took a seat at the counter, setting his laptop down in the open space. He loaded up PowerPoint, smiling to himself. From the ceiling, he had hung a white sheet he brought from home. He didn’t know what he was expecting a villain’s base to have, but a clean white sheet wasn’t it. On the white sheet was the projector screen. He’d had to go upstairs and find a table to set the machine on first—the one he eventually found was retrieved from a room full of scorch marks and cigarette butts; he had to wipe the ash off of it before moving it from the room, but he made it work—but now it was all set up.

The lights were turned off so the projected screen really popped, leaving him to sit in the faint light of his PowerPoint presentation until the League of Villains returned to their base. He wasn’t sure how long they’d be out, but hoped it wasn’t long enough to kill his battery. Izuku pulled the charger cable from his jacket and began using the little light he had to locate a power outlet. It was better to be safe than sorry!

“Man, this would be easier if I had some more light..” Izuku mumbled. “Oh! Yeah, thanks for getting that. You’ll have to turn it off in a second so you can see the screen though.” He plugged the cable in and moved to connect it to his laptop.

“What?” Shigaraki rasped out. Izuku looked up at him and waved with his free hand. Kurogiri followed him in, but said nothing.

“Sorry to intrude!” He started.“I just needed to set everything up first.. and Kacchan is still mad at me for making him play Kahoot. When I went back to the dorms to grab my protector, he was waiting in my room in the dark, and tried to blow me up. I got it though, don’t worry!” He gestured grandly to the white sheet.

Dabi was next through the door, and instantly, Izuku could see his hackles raise. The man rushed forward, a blue flame lit in his hand.

“Don’t burn the sheet!” Izuku said. Blackwhip lunged from his back, wrapping itself securely around Dabi. Shigaraki moved forward then, hand outstretched towards Blackwhip. “Wait, wait, you don’t want to miss and hit him by accident!” Dabi was flung up into the air as Blackwhip retracted, keeping both from being decayed.

“Oh what the fuck?!” Dabi hollered. He landed on his feet, eyes wide. Twice and Spinner rushed through the door at that.

“A hero kid?! Oh, hi!” Twice yelled.

“Calm down, everyone!” Izuku shouted back. “I’m here to show you something.”

Toga poked her head in the front door, looking around curiously. “Izuku!” she cheered. “What are you doing here? Are you joining us? That’d be sooo nice of you.” There was a grin splitting her face. Izuku thought for a moment.

“I’ll let you guys try to sell me on being a villain if you want to, but I want to give my plan a try first. I just need you all to sit down and let me show you this PowerPoint Presentation.”

Toga was the first to the set of stools Izuku had prepared for the bunch. She picked the closest one to the boy and pulled a knife from its holster, rotating it in her hands like she was playing with it, as she watched him. Twice dropped down on the stool next to hers. He watched Izuku too, though with more suspicion than anything. Kurogiri followed suit, then Shigaraki and Spinner.

Dabi still stood by the door. “We’re seriously fucking doing this?” he asked.

“Do you want One For All’s apprentice on our team, or would you rather fight him when we get to the final boss?” Shigaraki asked. He removed his hand mask from his face so he could better see the screen. Dabi groaned and took the seat furthest from Izuku.

“Are Mr. Compress, Magne, and da- uh, Hisah- damn it, All For One going to be here?” Izuku asked. Because yes, maybe he’d done some snooping around U.A.’s files at one point, but frankly, if no one knew, then it wasn’t really a problem. Or so he thought, at least. Nezu and Aizawa-sensei would probably have some choice words.

“Nope! Yeah, they’ll be here soon!” Twice replied, giving Izuku a thumbs-down. The boy raised an eyebrow.

“Twicey means they’re not here right now!” Toga filled in. She smiled at Izuku, who thanked her and turned to his laptop again. He could feel her eyes linger on the back on his neck, but he decided it didn’t matter unless Danger Sense started going off.

“Okay,” Izuku said, nodding to himself. “Can you hit the lights, Touya?”

No one moved.

Izuku turned around. “Oh! Sorry, I was reading case files before this. I meant, can you hit the light, Dabi?” He turned back to his laptop, hooking his clicker button up to it so he could change the slides while standing away from the computer.

Shigaraki burst out laughing. “You have a stupid name like Touya?” He raised a hand to his face, wiping away tears that had hardly started forming yet. “I knew you were full of it when you said Dabi was your real name!”

“I’ve read up on all of your files, Tenko,” Izuku said. “It was to make sure the PowerPoint was suited to everyone through their own sections! And don’t mock him, it’s mean.”

“Ha! Yeah, Tennnko,” Dabi hissed. “Drop everyone’s names, brat. Crazy is the only one who was stupid enough to share!”

“Hey!” Toga turned to face him. “I have a cute name, that’s why I use it. Yours isn’t and that’s probably why you changed it!” She stuck out her tongue at him. When he merely rolled his eyes, she tossed a knife his way. He dodged it with ease, then proceeded to flick her off as he moved to the light switch. The room was thrown into darkness again. Izuku moved to stand to the side of the sheet.

He cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. “Ignoring all of that, I’m sure you all can read the title of this.” He pulled a collapsible pointer from his jacket and pointed it up towards the projector screen. The words he tapped the end of the stick to were the bold words on the title card: Why Villainy is Harmful.

Spinner scoffed. “Tell that to Stain. He’s trying to thin out brats like you who don’t know how the world works. Not everything will get better because you tell us how hard the heroes are trying.”

“I’m not trying to do that,” Izuku said, waving his freehand placatingly. “I just want to help you all. I can get you into a reformation program, and get you the help you need.”

He clicked the button in his hand before anyone could say anything else, and the slide clicked forwards. Pictures of AFO dotted the screen, interspersed with bullet points. “I took inspiration from my classmate, Tsuyu. She’s really passionate about graphic design,” Izuku said. “But, that’s not the point; these are. All For One is a controlling, manipulative, lair.. Uh, sorry, that’s supposed to say liar. He’s exactly what you want to avoid: a figure with power who uses it to command the people beneath him, guiding them away from their best interests and using them solely for his own gain. In other words, he’s found a bug in your system and won’t stop exploiting it.”

Shigaraki’s eyes went wide at that. “That bastard..” he grumbled. “Report him. Now, brat! I’m the developer here, and need evidence to ban him.”

Izuku nodded and clicked to the next slide. He’d anticipated a reaction like this. He just needed to channel his inner Senator Armstrong and back it up with a source.. Ah, wait, no, he might want to pick someone else.

He glanced at the slide, refreshing himself on his next talking points. “I’ve seen how he’s acted through One For All; he’s..” Izuku paused, regarded the slide with a final look, and went off script. “I was spectating him through One For All, I watched him PvP people, but he third-parties a lot. Someone will be low and he’ll just come to clean them up. He sees a quirk he wants and he just camps it,” Izuku said with a shrug.

Everyone, save for Shigaraki and Spinner, looked confused. Dabi seemed to be annoyed with the way Izuku was trying to convey the point. In the latter’s eyes though, if he could cut the head off the beast, his plan would work better. If the League is loyal to Shigaraki, and Shigaraki is loyal to All For One, then Izuku just needed to break that second link. Maybe.

“The master would never, he’s too courageous. He took me in and helped me,” Shigaraki replied. His eyes narrowed at Izuku, conveying distrust.

“He’s just using you.” His voice lowered, gaining sympathy. “You’re coming up on an impossible jump, Tenko. He’s Mario, and you’re Yoshi. You know how he’s going to get across?”

“A shell-jump,” Shigaraki snapped, standing up. “He wouldn’t just throw me away like that!”

“All he wants is what you can give him, he doesn’t want you. You need to face it, Tenko. He’s bronze. If you stop duoing with him, you can reach grandmaster.. gg ez..”

He stared at Izuku for a moment, his eyes flitting around the boy’s face like he couldn’t keep still. Like he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. The rest of the League watched him, a mix of concern and confusion. Izuku felt angered looks drifting towards him, but couldn’t tear his gaze from the broken man. Even Toga had stopped spinning on her stool, instead watching the others carefully. Spinner’s hand stretched out, resting on his boss’s back as the gecko-man guided him back to his stool.

“He’s got a point,” Spinner mumbled. “He keeps making you do shit, never letting you relax and have an easy day. When’s the last time we got to sit down and think of ways to convince Toga to kill some poor sucker just to use their face to wait in line at a video game launch? We haven’t gotten any new copies recently..”

Shigaraki looked pained as his eyes tipped down to hit the floor. “You think I’d stop at grandmaster, brat? I’m Top 500 material,” he mumbled.

Izuku nodded, despite not having Shigaraki’s attention. “You are, I think. I’m only Plat right now, but I’m training to be Top 500 too. You’ve got a full team here though. Blizzard is bringing back 6v6 for a few weeks now.”

The man looked up, eyes wide. “They took it away when Overwatch 2 launched.” Spinner seemed interested too.

Izuku nodded. “They’re seeing how many people want it back. Two tanks, two dps, and two healers again. There’s six of you here, you know.” Izuku held out his hand, smiling softly at the man, unafraid. Shigaraki took it hesitantly, his thumb and pinky jutted out awkwardly to avoid decaying Izuku. Izuku pulled him up from his stool, towards the projector. “Do you need to pack before we go back to U.A.?”

Shigaraki nodded. “When we get there, I expect to have enough room to showcase all my figures again.”

Izuku chuckled. “Of course! I’ll make sure you guys get everything you need. I promise.”

When Shigaraki moved to walk away, Spinner stood up, following him towards the stairs.

“Oh, wait, I haven’t showed you your part of the slide yet!” Izuku said.

Spinner shrugged. “Our wifi isn’t good enough to play Overwatch here. I’m going with him.”

Izuku smiled, conveying his understanding with a nod of his head. “I’ll skip past yours, but let me know if you want to see it later!”

“Are you finally done with the dumbass gamer talk? It’s hard enough having to figure out what he means by it, I don’t need the headache of figuring you out too,” Dabi groaned. “Get my part over with so I can tell you just how wrong you are, and fuck off.”

The boy clicked through the slides in reply, moving past the final slide of Shigaraki’s, then the three he’d made for Spinner. The next one displayed pictures of the Todoroki kids. “Luckily, you were next!”

“You’re not gonna convince me by showing me pictures of annoying brats,” Dabi hissed.

Izuku hummed in reply, raising his pointer to smack the sheet where the words were. “You know they miss you, right? I’m classmates with Shoto. He says he doesn’t remember when you were there, but he’s seen pictures and videos of you holding him. I’m not saying you should go back to make them happy, or to make yourself happy, I’m telling you to go back because this,” he gestured to the building they were in, to Dabi himself, “is selfish. You know your mother can’t speak against Endeavor, and that your brother and sister won’t. You know Shoto is still a kid, and that he’s in your father’s care.”

“Oh, so what the fuck do you suggest?” Dabi asked. His jaw was tight, teeth grinding together. Izuku wondered if the gradual increase in temperature was a product of his anger.

“Take him to court,” Izuku said simply. “You’re so worried about killing him, about thinking that the only way you can get him out of your head, and out of your life, is by killing him. But you’re thinking too small, Dabi. Take everything he owns from him, legally. Make it so he can never see his kids again, legally. Make it so he’s a broken shell of a man, whose career is over, whose money is gone, and who can’t even step foot into his family home without breaking the law. Do it all legally so he can’t fight back. If he does, then he’s liable to get sent to prison. And, I think you know what prisoners would do to a child abusing, ex-hero, who’s responsible for a lot of them being in there.. Death is short. It’ll be over in a minute, an hour if you push it, but this? This will ruin his life. Years and years and years of trying to get back to something he once had. He’ll drown in the knowledge that he caused this. That it’s all his fault. Not a villain named Dabi killing him, but his own son, Touya, who’s been hurt again and again by a man who’s never deserved the title of hero.” Izuku clicked onto the next slide; on it was a wide-shot of the courtroom from Ace Attorney. Dabi and Endeavor were edited in on opposite sides. “Just think about it!” Izuku said.

There were several long beats of silence, where Izuku smiled at Dabi, and the man looked back at him. His expression was unreadable, but Izuku could tell there was something going on in his mind. The corner of his mouth twitched, pulling up into a crazed smile. “You think my dance routine would still look good behind the counsel table?”

“I think you should stand closer to the middle of the courtroom, the table would block a lot of the footwork,” Izuku said. He tapped a finger to his chin. “Would you have enough space if you stood on the counsel table?”

He nodded, standing up. “I might. I’ll come back to your stupid reform program as long as I can take Endeavor to court without him getting me thrown in Tartarus for murder or something.”

“It’ll take a few months, but I’m positive I can get you a pardon as long as you stay quiet and show them you’re not doing crime anymore,” Izuku said. “You’d have to wait to press charges until after that, or he’d just get the judge to dismiss your case because you’re a villain, or arrest you on the spot.”

There was a roll of his eyes in return, a few mumbled words that Izuku couldn’t hear—but his annoyed tone and the way he looked at Izuku made it seem like words of thanks—before walking upstairs with his parting message: “You put too much damn time into thinking about us. Kurogiri will follow Shigaraki, and you just gotta offer Crazy some blood and she’ll follow you like a damn dog. Twice is a family man, so he’s coming along since everyone else is.”

“I love you guys, is that so bad?” Twice asked. “Stupid asshole! Why would I want to follow you?”

“Eh,” Dabi said, his voice bouncing around and echoing down the stairs. “Could be worse.”

“Wait,” Izuku looked between the three of them. “That’s it?” He pointed at Kurogiri. “You’re going because I convinced your leader.” Then to Twice. “You’re going because I convinced the rest of your family to.” Then finally to Toga. “And you’d just agree if I offered you blood?”

He received a pair of “Yeah”’s and “Sure”’s, followed by a “Depends on who’s blood”.

“I..” Izuku looked down, hanging his head in defeat. He looked back up at Toga. “I had six different slides and a few cards with talking points about your childhood, you know. I thought you wouldn’t want to come back because it’d limit your freedom.”

She hummed. “If I’m getting your blood and Ochako’s– wait, you’ve got to convince Ochako to give me some of hers! I love you and her so much, so I want both, okay? If I get to hang out with you two and all your friends and I get to have their blood and love them, then I’ll know they all love me back and we can be friends!”

Izuku was silent for a moment. “I can’t make her, but we can go talk to her when we get back?” he offered. He saw the comment she was going to make next before it left her mouth, and cut her off. “If you took it without asking her, then it wouldn’t mean as much as befriending her and her giving it to you, right? Me and Ochako are friends, so I can vouch for you. Maybe you two can talk over the phone some before she meets up with you? I mean.. last time you saw her you tried to cut her up..” He trailed off, mumbling to himself about the logistics of having them meet-up. “Oh, but you can have my blood, that’s fine,” he added, waving his hand.

Toga grinned at that, jumping up from her stool to ambush Izuku with a hug. “This’ll be great! Everyone at U.A. seems so nice, so I’m sure we’ll all be friends!”

He smiled softly and patted her on the back. “That’s a good way to look at it! You should go pack, I’m sure you have a knife collection or something you want to take back with you.” He looked over at Twice and Kurogiri. “We’ll probably be leaving in an hour or two, so you might want to get started gathering your stuff.”

- - - - -

“Hm, I agree. A villain reformation wing would do wonders here,” Nezu said. He picked up a cup of tea from his desk. “Though I find that conversation a tad boring, especially when there’s such a large elephant in the room,” he laughed lightly. “How did you manage to get the entire League of Villains into my office without setting off any alarms?”

Izuku blinked. “The door.” There was a pause, then he continued. “I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as you make it sound though, Nezu. I have a few conditions that you’ll want to listen to, otherwise, Japan’s Most Wanted will be out of here and back to crime. They’ve agreed to quit, so long as we can meet a few requirements.”

“Such as?” Nezu asked. His hand stopped, the cup not reaching his mouth. His eyes were narrowed at Izuku.

“Wifi, a console, and a copy of Overwatch 2,” he began. Spinner cleared his throat loudly. “Two consoles, and two copies. Make sure there are two controllers too. Secondly, a full pardon from all their crimes, granted they can prove that they’re trying to be better. Third, some time away from school so I can help Dabi in court. Fourth, a phone. Toga wants to be able to call people, I sort of told her I’d make it happen already. Well, I said all of this would happen, so it needs to now,” Izuku laughed awkwardly. “Finally, they all need to stay together, in the same area of the same building, so they can still interact.”

Nezu looked to be thinking, as if he wasn’t sure if meeting the strange demands would be better or worse than getting them off the streets. “What about the suppression of their quirks?”

Izuku nodded, hooking a thumb over his shoulder towards Shigaraki. “A pair of gloves for him.” He moved his other arm up, pointing back towards Twice. “And as many masks as he needs to help with the side effects of his quirk. Nothing more, nothing less. We need to trust them if we want to work together.”

><><><

There was a court order on Endeavor’s desk when he returned to his agency. He balked at it, eyebrows shooting up. A nasty look settled across his face, one where his teeth were bared at the paper. Izuku thought he was going to rip the thing to shreds. He read over it, anger evident on his face.

“WHAT IS THIS?” he roared, slamming his fist against the desk. “SHOTO IS MY SON. HE WILL STAY UNDER MY CARE, UNDER MY ROOF.”

Izuku spun around in the man’s office chair, nonchalant. “It’s a document. You need to sign it. You’ve lost custody of him.”

“His mother is not–”

“Nope!” The boy waggled his finger. “Dabi has custody of Shoto now. I guess they thought a reformed villain was better than you. Maybe they would’ve thought higher of you if you actually showed up instead of just sending your lawyers. Dabi was disappointed that he couldn’t show off his dance.” Izuku spun around again, arms crossed over his chest. “Well, there’s always next time. We aren’t done with you yet.”

The chair spun again, but when the seat faced a seething Endeavor, Izuku was absent. Trails of black hoisted him up, helped him weave around the rows of desks and stay away from Endeavor’s line of sight. The man yelled, cursing lawyers and courts and judges, his fire bursting from him. Izuku wondered if he’d set off the smoke alarms or trigger the sprinklers.

He had a PowerPoint to give though, so that couldn’t happen.

- - - - -

“All For One,” Izuku said calmly. He looked at the man, his eyes trailing over the straps that held him down, and the machines that kept him breathing. “How’s Tartarus been treating you?”

“Fine, child,” he replied. “Why is a hero student paying me a visit?”

“To break you out,” Izuku said. “Are you going to cooperate?”

All For One looked on—as best someone with no eyes could do—with surprise. His chest stopped rising and falling for a moment, before everything returned to normal. His smile came back, previously faded when Izuku started talking.

“Earlier than I expected. Tomura wasn’t schel–”

“Tenko,” Izuku said quickly, sweetly. Like he was correcting a small child who misremembered a name.

“He’s never had such a name, never been such a person,” All For One replied.

“Oh, yeah, you changed his name when you took him in after leaving you son behind, didn’t you, Hisashi?” Izuku asked. There was another long silence, one where Izuku stared at the man; not with malice or hate, but with curiosity. To know the life of a man who left him behind, to learn the reasons why he left Izuku’s mother behind. Because, to Izuku, this man wasn’t his father. This man hadn’t betrayed him, hadn’t cut him loose and left him behind. But his mother? The woman who worked three jobs to raise a growing boy?

Izuku reached into his jacket, pulling something from the side. All For One—Hisashi—Izuku wasn’t sure what he’d prefer to call this man; was he more demon than human now? Izuku wasn’t sure. Either way, the man hadn’t spoken since Izuku asked his question. It was more confirmation than question though, and Izuku knew it was true.

“Cat got your tongue?” Izuku asked, his eyebrow raising. “Oh well.” He produced an air tank, one that looked similar to All For One’s. “Hold your breath.”

All For One scowled at him, but did as told when he saw Izuku reach for his air tank. The boy disconnected it, and hooked the tank he’d brought with him up instead. He watched All For One take another breath, then noticed his chest stop rising again.

“You can’t hold your breath the entire time! I know it’s probably weird, but it won’t kill you. It’s just a mixture of chloroform and air,” Izuku said. “I got a blast to the face while making it, and I’m still here! Just keep breathing.” He retreated to the wall, taking a seat on the floor beside it.

“Y’know chloroform doesn’t work instantly like it does in fiction? It takes a few minutes of breathing it in. It's lipid-soluble, so it likes to just dissolve in fats. Like, uhm, oh! Like oil and water. Have you ever tried to mix them together? They just don’t mix! But this isn’t like that, actually the opposite! This is like mixing two oils, and in that case, they mix together really well. Did you know your brain has a high concentration of fats? That’s why the chloroform likes it there instead of the other places in your body. When it gets in your brain, it activates something called a GABA receptor. They’re light switches for your neurons, basically, and when chloroform attaches to a GABA receptor, the lights get shut off. When you breathe in enough to shut down a whole grid of these light switches, you get.. Well, you’re asleep now, you know what it does!”

- - - - -

“I’m sure you two know why you’re here!” Izuku said. “Well, maybe you don’t..”

Endeavor and All For One stared at him. Both silent with rage. He could see it boiling under their skin, but wasn’t entirely bothered by the anger.

“Oh, I changed your tank back, All For One! It’s just air now! Don’t worry!”

The old League of Villain base was a great spot for this, Izuku figured. The place had been empty for almost five months, and the police had long since raided the place for everything the members didn’t take from here.

In steel chairs, wrapped in an absurd amount of tape—in roughly the same set up Izuku had trapped Katsuki in all those months ago—sat Endeavor and All For One. Wrapped around their wrists, instead of the tape and card trick Izuku had previously used, were quirk suppressing handcuffs. Funny the things you could find in a maximum security prison.

“So, about why you’re here,” Izuku began. He was quickly cut off by Endeavor’s booming voice.

“YOU. You’re the one Shoto fought in U.A.’s Sports Festival. I thought you were a good influence on him, you convinced him to rise to his full potential, but he retreated back into his shell. I thought you’d smash the shell of his, give him no place to hide, yet here you are, a vil–”

Izuku patted down the layer of tape, making sure it fit over Endeavor’s mouth. “Like I was saying! I’ve prepared a presentation for you two! It’s about paying child support and being a good father! Mostly the former, since neither of you have kids anymore.” He clapped his hands together. “Do I need to tape your mouth too, or can I speak?”

All For One was silent for a moment. “You have the floor, child.”

Izuku smiled and shot him a thumbs up before pulling his collapsible pointer from his jacket. “So,” he tapped the pointer to the white sheet. It had never been taken down, so he only ever had to bring his laptop and projector back. That was an easier task then when he carried the unconscious people here, so he wasn’t complaining. “This one is titled Children: Why You Two Shouldn’t Have Them.”

Endeavor made an unintelligible noise, something like a growl mixed with a grumble. Clearly something to tell Izuku how little he cared.

“Fine, extreme measures,” Izuku said. He lowered his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a gun.

A water gun.

Full of ice water.

He lined it up, spraying Endeavor in the face.

“I’m trying to give my presentation here! Okay, so, first slide!” Izuku clicked the button, causing it to appear. “Children are a big responsibility, you have to be able to feed them, house them, and give them everything else they need—physically, mentally, and emotionally—to grow.”

The screen showed a picture of the Todoroki children and Izuku side by side. There were three boxes of different colors, each listing a trait, forming a triangle around the two pictures. Izuku hit a button, causing an animation to play on the slide. A PNG of Endeavor slid across the screen, taking the box labeled “emotional” with him. Another PNG of All For One joined in, sliding in and stealing the “mental” box.

“Now, we have kids without everything they need!” Izuku gasped, smacking the screen. “Let’s see how these kids grow up!”

He clicked onto the next screen, smile fading. “Now they all seem hurt. They all grow up thinking they’re lesser, not worth the time, thinking they need to have a use to stay around.. They can’t trust anyone. They’re constantly trying to prove themselves. They’re bullied, told that their lives aren’t worth living.. and they try to prove everyone wrong but they just can’t.” He threw down the pointer, breath uneven. “They can’t no matter what they try. They can never be good enough to win back that love that they need from their parents.”

Izuku stared at the ground for a moment, eyes unfocused. He leaned down slowly, picked up his pointer and cleared his throat. “Sorry, I went a little off-script. Next up, paying child support! Now, this one this especially important, Enji, since Dabi has custody of Shoto, but no source of income! And, Hisashi, you owe Inko 16 years worth of child support! I hope you can cough the money up!”

His smile was back up, but he lacked the same sparkle in his eye.

><><><

Izuku laid in his bed, sleeping peacefully. He was safe, warm, and away from Katsuki, who was still doing petty things like flicking water at Izuku after the blonde had washed his hands. His room was a safe haven, outside the reaches of Dabi’s pestering, Shigaraki’s constant trash-talking, and the potentially recent development of Toga and Ochako flirting. (Yeah, he wasn’t exactly sure how long that’d been going on, but the last time he’d visited the Villain Reformation Wing, Ochako had already been over there, smiling as she leaned against the counter and talked to a red-faced Toga.)

But basically,, he was very happy right now, laying in his bed.

So obviously, Danger Sense pinged, and Izuku sat upright.

It was too late though, as a scarf already wrapped around his leg, hoisting him into the air. Blackwhip jumped from his back, but was dissipated just as quickly. The scarf wrapped him up like a cocoon, leaving only his face visible. He stared back at glowing red eyes that cut through the darkness of the room.

“Oh, Aizawa-sensei,” Izuku said. “Uhm, can you turn me right-side up? I can feel the blood rushing to my head.”

His teacher sighed and flipped him around, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to give you your quirk back, but if you try to use it, I won’t hesitate to take it again. Better not give me dry eye, brat.”

Izuku hummed. “So, what is this about?”

Aizawa didn’t say anything as he applied eyedrops. “You should know,” he finally said as he pocketed them again. The scarf cocoon hit the ground, startling Izuku, but not harming him. Aizawa grabbed it and began pulling Izuku across the dorm floors.

“You taped your classmate to a chair and made him play Kahoot, and called me to deal with him. Then you tracked down the League of Villains—on your own—and showed them a PowerPoint that made them come back to U.A. with you, willing to give up crime. I’m relieved that you’re okay, and I think that maybe you’re leaving this problematic behavior behind, but months later, you kidnapped the number two hero, and the most wanted villain in Japan’s history, and gave them a PowerPoint to try to convince them to pay child support,” Aizawa sighed. “Do you know how much paperwork I’ve had to do? How many questions I’ve had to answer for that rat because I’m your homeroom teacher? You know I could be sleeping next to my husband right now, right?”

“You didn’t have to do this in the middle of the night,” Izuku said.

They seemed to arrive at their destination, if the way Aizawa groaned and tossed the Izu-coon onto the couch was any indication. He stood in front of the television in the common room, his arms crossed in front of him. Izuku could see his laptop resting on the arm of the loveseat a few feet away.

“You like Kahoot, don’t you?” Aizawa asked. “I’ve made you one called How Not to be a Problem Child.”

“Oh,” Izuku said. “Okay!”

Aizawa looked at him, his eyes narrowed. “You want to do this?”

Izuku immediately furrowed his brow, smile disappearing. “Heck no! Let me out!”

“That’s not convincing at all,” Aizawa decided. “Fine though, I’m not letting my hard work go to waste.. Maybe you’ll still learn something..”

He sat down and pulled up the Kahoot on the laptop. After adjusting some cables, it appeared on the television screen.

Question One:

When you—a hero-in-training—see a villain on the streets do you:

1. Run towards them, screaming about how you’ll “murder you, you bastard” and attempt to explode them, causing the buildings nearby to SUSTAIN DAMAGE and FALL ON CIVILIANS

2. Try to save the civilians nearby, endangering yourself in the process and SHATTERING every BONE in your body, making you A LIABILITY

3. Tell your teacher, Aizawa, who is a PROFESSIONAL HERO and able to VERY EASILY defeat this villain BECAUSE I’M TRAINED FOR THIS

4. Attempt to freeze the villain in a block of ice, and freeze YOURSELF in the process because it’s mid-winter and you won’t use your DAMN FIRE QUIRK FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SHOTO IT WON’T MAKE YOU LESS OF A HERO, IT’LL JUST SAVE YOUR LIFE

Izuku read over the answers for a moment. “Those answers are a little.. specific,” he said.

Aizawa sighed into his hands.

“I made a PowerPoint on mental health and how to deal with stress, plus I have one for parents who are feeling overwhelmed,” Izuku said softly.

“..share them. Now, Problem Child.”