It didn't take long for Izuku to fall into a new daily rhythm. Waking up late after his mom had already left for work for the day and eating breakfast during what was everyone else's lunch time. Playing games for a few hours online with Tomura when he woke up before leaving to meet Katsuki at the gym to train and hang out. Dinner with mom before hanging out with his friends in an online call until their bedtimes. Switching to text chats for a few hours to exchange memes. Taking a short nap before eating again and gearing up to be Loki. Helping people and sometimes talking with Uncle Shouta. Short call with Katsuki when he woke up. Bed and repeat.
The most surprising part of this new routine was that he was surprisingly good at vigilante work. While yes he still was not very good at handling straight up fights, he was good with surprise tactics. So long as he was able to catch a villain off guard, he easily won due to his skills in Quick analysis. If he knew how their Quirk worked, he could avoid it while they had no such luxury.
His Uncle Shouta had also stopped trying to bring him into the station too which was nice. Izuku wasn't so naïve to think he didn't still want to but he figured that his uncle was trying to earn his trust so that he could talk Izuku out of going out at night. Or possibly just get more information out of him so he could find him during daylight hours to get him to stop. It didn't really matter to Izuku since all it meant was more quality time with his cryptid uncle. And sometimes snacks on patrol. Which is how Izuku found himself sitting on the edge of a rooftop with his uncle drinking warm drinks the man bought from the small 24 hour store below them.
"Do your parents even know you are out here right now?"
Izuku hummed to himself as he took another drink of the tea through a straw fed under his mask that his uncle had offered him when they had run into one another that evening. "Dad knows. He offered to replace my headpiece I made with a proper metal one so I don't have to worry so much about it breaking if it gets knocked off."
His uncle sighed heavily at that. "Of course your family encourages this. Why wouldn't they?"
Izuku snickered. "Sorry, Eraser but you really don't have to worry about me. My Quirk more than keeps me safe."
"What's your father's Quirk if you don't mind me asking?"
To Izuku's surprise he told the truth. "Dad is All for One. Make of that what you will."
His uncle froze at that, his cup of coffee frozen halfway to his lips. "Your father is the king of the criminal underworld? And is supportive of you being a vigilante?"
Izuku shrugged. "He's not that bad. The only reason he is so feared is because of his Quirk and how long he's been around."
"Problem Child, your father wouldn't have a reputation like he does if that was all there was to it."
Izuku sighed and nodded. "I know he hasn't always been a good person but he is trying to be better. He has mostly stepped back from everything while he recovers from All Might nearly killing him a few years back. Most of his time lately has been spent playing chess I think."
Shouta pinched his brows as he let out a huff of frustration. "Is that why you don't want All Might to know your brother is alive? Because he almost killed your father?"
"Tenko basically had a front row seat to the fight. He and 'Giri were the ones who pulled Dad to safety after it was all over. If it wasn't for Dad's Quirks, he wouldn't have lived long enough to get to the Doctor."
"Giri?"
"Oh, he's sort of like a bonus uncle of mine. He is the one with the warping Quirk. He helped look after Tenko while he was growing up."
Shouta's eyes narrowed at that. "Tenko but not you?"
Izuku shook his head. "Just Tenko. His Quirk was a stress induced manifestation so it's not the most stable. Add to that how destructive it is and can you blame Dad for being worried about us living under the same roof when we were younger? 'Giri's Quirk kept him safe and meant that there was never any worry about Tenko actually hurting him. Dad was fine too since if Tenko's Quirk ever accidentally was used on him, he could take the Quirk away to stop it."
Shouta winced at that. "That was probably a good idea of your father's then. I take it that your brother has better control now though since you are hanging out with him?"
"Yeah, he has less issues with accidently dusting things. Now that his control is better, it behaves more like a normal 5 point activation Quirk so he is harmless enough when wearing artist gloves."
"What do you mean by that? A normal 5 point activation?"
"You know how 5 point activation Quirks normally require all 5 fingers on a hand to make contact?" At a nod from his uncle he continued. "Well when under extreme conditions, 5 point activation Quirks have been known to change to reduce the number of points needed for contact. With how my brother's Quirk was activated, he had to train himself so that it only acted when all 5 points were in contact."
"It's passively active?"
"Unfortunately. He is still trying to learn how to turn it all the way off."
"That must have been a headache when he was younger."
"Speaking of headaches, how's your not-husband doing?"
Shouta rolled his eyes at that before taking another sip of his coffee. "I know you're just trying to change the subject but Mic is still doing fine since you last asked about him. Why do you call him that anyways?"
"Because he is not your husband yet."
"Yet? He is just a friend."
Izuku scoffed at that. "Just a friend he says. Honestly."
Shouta's brows furrowed at that. "Kid, whatever fantasy to have cooked up in your head about the nature of our relationship一"
"It's not a fantasy when it is true! The only ones that can't seem to see the truth are the two of you! If you don't believe me then just kiss him already. If I'm wrong you can just tell him it was a stupid dare or something."
His uncle seemed a bit taken aback at how much Izuku seemed to be invested in this. "I'll think about it."
Izuku felt himself deflate in relief. "Good. How is your son doing by the way?"
Shouta snapped back to full attention. "My son?"
"Shinso Hitoshi."
This uncle looked a bit bewildered at that. "How do you know about him?"
Izuku gave his uncle a look. "I knew you were living together with Present Mic before we met, did you really think I didn't know you had a kid my age living with you?"
"You're 14 then?" His uncle was clearly trying to move the conversion away from Hitoshi.
"Yep, nearly 15 myself too. Don't try to change the subject though. How is the adoption going?"
His uncle's narrowed eyes flickered red slightly as he glared Izuku down. "If you already know about it, why are you even asking?"
"Easy Eraser! I was just guessing that you were planning on adopting him, I didn't know for sure if you had actually started the process. No need to go Papa Bear Mode on me!"
Shouta seemed to stare into his very soul for a moment before breaking his gaze away and downing the last of his coffee. "If all goes well, I should have full custody before the UA entrance exams next year."
Izuku felt a grin explode across his face. Hitoshi was going to be his cousin for real after all. "That is awesome Eraser! Congrats!"
His uncle frowned at that. "Don't get carried away. There is still a lot that could go wrong. There is no guarantee that my application for permanent custody will even be approved."
"Why wouldn't it be? You are a Hero and a teacher at one of the most elite Hero schools in the country. Not to mention that Shinso clearly likes staying with you and Mic."
"I am an unmarried man in a very dangerous career. There could be concerns that if something happened to me that he would just have to go back into the system again."
"Well, one, that is a stupid way of thinking. If the worry is about him having to go back in the system if something happened to you how does keeping him in the system fix anything. Two, you have a pretty good support network from the best I can tell. If something happened to you, he wouldn't be lacking when it came to family to go too, both in blood and in spirit."
Shouta narrowed his eyes again. "Okay, I have to ask, how much about me do you actually know because you clearly know more about me then you really should."
Izuku shrugged. "I know that you changed your name from Sasaki to Aizawa before you started at UA, meaning you are the younger brother of Sir Nighteye and doctor Sasaki Inko so any family of theirs would be yours. Your sister Inko is married obviously and has a son my age. You are not only close with Mic but also Ingenium and Midnight from your time at UA. Tsukauchi would also be considered a close friend of yours."
As he spoke, he watched his uncle Shouta grow paler and paler. "And your father knows all this too."
Oh.
Whoops.
"Yeah but you don't need to worry about it! Despite how much Dad hates All Might, he has no plans of taking out his hatred of the man on any of you because of your connection through Sir Nighteye! He thinks you are some of the good heroes!"
Shouta didn't really look all that reassured by that. "I am not sure how I feel about the Symbol of Evil thinking I am a good hero."
Izuku had to concede defeat at that. "Sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything."
"No, I'm glad you did. While I am not happy to hear that so much information about me is that easy to obtain, it is good to know."
Izuku sighed and pulled himself back to his feet. "I'm going to go. I'll see you around Eraser."
His uncle didn't make any move to get up himself. "Bye Problem Child. Stay safe at least."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Naomasa wasn't sure how to respond to what Eraserhead had just told him. "You're sure he said his father is All for One?"
The Erasure Hero nodded. "Yeah." Truth. "Do you know if All Might fought All for One in the past few years? Loki said All Might nearly killed All for One in a recent enough fight." Truth.
Naomasa could feel a bone deep exhaustion fall over him as he yanked out his phone from his pocket.
Please don't tell me that you are Loki.
Izuku:
Okay I won't tell you
Damn it kid, why do you keep doing this to me?
How am I supposed to explain how I suddenly know that you are Loki to your uncle without admitting I already knew about your father.
Izuku:
Sorry
On the bright side now you know that you don't actually need to arrest me
Quirkless and all
Naomasa groaned and buried his face in his hands. "What was all that about?"
Naomasa raised his gaze back up to the Hero drinking coffee in the chair beside his desk. "I am going to go gray early at this rate but the fight the kid was referring to did happen. It is the whole reason Yagi has a time limit now. Yagi swore up and down that he thought that All for One had died from the encounter but obviously not, even if the man did go quiet afterwards."
Eraser seemed to look through Naomasa at that. "As concerning as that is, should I be worried that you are avoiding my question? That is not like you." Truth.
Naomasa winced at being caught so quickly in his attempted redirection of the conversation. "I was already looking into All for One for another reason that I can't really explain right now." Not without revealing that he had been hiding the truth of the man's brother-in-law slash father figure being the Symbol of Evil himself.
Eraser sighed but seemed to accept that. "Just promise if you start to get in over your head that you will tell me or Mirai what is going on. As you yourself have pointed out on multiple occasions, there is no reason we need to do this sort of work alone." Truth. "It is illogical to think you can do the work alone when you so often insist on the opposite for others." Truth.
Naomasa sighed and nodded. "I think I should be fine for now. All for One is currently not very active on the crime side of things and I don't expect that to suddenly change anytime soon."
Nodding, his friend pulled himself back to his feet. "I'm going to head home for the night." Truth. "You should consider doing the same." Truth. "You've done too many hours of overtime over the past few months." Truth.
Naomasa shook his head. "I've got a few things I need to take care of tonight before I head home. I can take a nap tomorrow if it runs too long."
Shaking his head, Eraserhead left the room. Sighing to himself, Naomasa opened his phone back up.
Are you really?
Quirkless I mean.
Given who your father is I suddenly feel the need to actually check.
Izuku:
I mean technically yes
Dad apparently gave me a Quirk called Danger Sense when I was pretty young after he realized I had been born without one
Since it is a passive Quirk and he didn't tell me about having it, I never realized I had it until recently
We think it is possibly why I have such a high pain tolerance since the way the Quirk normally works is by using pain to warn the user of incoming danger so that they would avoid it
I've just been blocking out the pain subconsciously for years now
You told your uncle it is a luck based Quirk?
That doesn't sound like luck based.
Izuku:
The Quirk mutated since Dad gave it to me
It is now a passive precognitive Quirk which has the fun side effect of making me REALLY lucky
Given Uncle Mirai's Quirk, the mutation to adapt to integrate with me makes sense
Is that normal?
A Quirk changing after your father transfers it onto someone else?
Izuku:
Sometimes?
It depends on the combination of the Quirk and the person
The combination is important or Dad runs the risk of driving the new owner of the Quirk insane if the Quirk doesn't settle correctly
Kurogiri's Quirk is the result of a few different unrelated but complementary Quirks mutating to combine into one to stabilize
I am guessing that they are the Giri who has a warp Quirk that you use to escape from Eraserhead sometimes.
Izuku:
Yep
He works for my Dad though I wouldn't classify him as a Villain
He is more my brother's babysitter
Right, I had forgotten about that. What is this about you having a brother?
Izuku:
You know most of the story already from Uncle Shouta probably
His Quirk came in and his birth family all died
He wandered the streets for a long time without anyone helping him
Dad found him and had Kurogiri help watch out for him so he could learn how to control his Quirk without hurting anyone else and grow up in relative peace
Dad was visiting him over in the States where he had been keeping him squirreled away when he ran into All Might
The fight happened and he recovered Dad's badly wounded body with the help of Kurogiri
He eventually moved with Dad when he was stable enough to come back to Japan
I see.
How long have you known about your brother?
Izuku:
About as long as I have known about Dad
Dad accidentally mentioned him in our conversation
I got most all the details about him from Kurogiri after that in exchange for cat memes
I've only met him in person once but we play online video games most afternoons after we are both awake
He is a nice albeit a socially awkward nerd
You should consider going to bed
It is late even for you
I'll think about it.
Would your father pick up if I called him right now?
Izuku:
Not normally no but he is still awake for some reason tonight
Kurogiri messaged me a little bit ago to warn me that there might be another incident like the secret love child one from the last time he stayed up late
Naomasa had to laugh at that. The completely dead inside look Eraser had worn the evening after that happened had made it hard to not laugh at the complete ridiculousness of the situation. The fact that the other man didn't realize the full extent of the absurdity given who Hisashi even was…
Shaking his head, he gathered up his belongings and headed out the door. As much as he wanted to get the phone call over with, his office was probably the worst place to have the conversation if there was any hope of him hiding the extent of his knowledge of who the man actually was.
He was half way home when he stopped as the realization hit him of what he was doing. What was he doing? Why was he going out of his way to help hide the identity of probably the most dangerous Villain in history? What was wrong with him? This went completely against what he stood for both morally and legally. So why did the idea of telling anyone about the situation feel like the wrong choice?
Slowly, he resumed his walk home. His mind swirled with questions about his own actions for the past few months. Was it his messed up sleep schedule? A Quirk affecting him? As he stepped into his apartment and toed off his shoes, he pulled out his phone and dialed.
"Detective? Is something wrong?"
Oh that was why. This was still the man that had helped raise one of his best friends. A man that he knew fairly well from stories from his family. "Sorry, I'm not sure what time it is for you right now but we need to talk, All for One."
He heard what sounded like the phone on the other end being dropped followed by a string of curses mixing English and Japanese with a spattering of a few other languages that Naomasa couldn't place. A few moments later the other man was on the other end of the line again. "Well that was one way to make sure I was actually awake. You nearly just gave me a heart attack."
"Did Izuku not tell you I knew?"
"No he didn't." The man gave a nervous laugh. "I guess I should have figured that he wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from you at least given your Quirk. Erm, Inko, Shouta and Mirai don't know yet right?"
Naomasa sighed as he fell back onto his couch. "No but it is going to be hard to keep it from Eraser for much longer. Izuku just told him you are his father while he was out acting like a vigilante which is how I now am in the awkward position of knowing that Izuku is Loki and not being able to explain how I know that."
There was silence for a long moment from the other end of the call. "You really haven't told anyone who I am? Clearly you have known for a while if the revelation you had tonight was that Izuku is a vigilante and not一 well一 me being me."
"I've know for nearly as long as he has. Izuku had a bit of an identity crisis after he got back to the restaurant so Shinso knows as well. He talked me into not telling anyone else since he said you promised to come clean on your own to your family before he starts at UA next year. I figured the issue was less pressing than dealing with Shinso's custody case or the investigation into Izuku's old school district. I unfortunately had the realization tonight that now that both of those issues are out of my hands and into the hands of the courts, I should talk to you about the situation."
"Huh. I will be honest, I didn't think I would find you on my side in all of this when the truth came out一"
"I haven't decided that yet."
There was a laugh from the other end of the call. "You say that but you have kept the truth of who I really am from the Heroes. No, I think you decided which side you are really on a while ago."
As much as it hurt to admit it to himself, Naomasa had to concede to the fact that as much as he didn't want to admit it, so long as his friends stood with the man, he was on the man's side. After so long of a silence on his end, All for One spoke again. "If you would like, we could have a meeting face to face. I understand your Quirk doesn't work over phone calls like this. Perhaps you would feel more reassured that you weren't selling your soul to the devil as it were if you could ask me whatever questions you needed and be confident in whether or not I was lying."
Naomasa let the man's soothing tone wash over him. "Yeah that would probably help. You have a guy with a warping Quirk right?"
"That's correct. Kurogiri's Quirk is far more pleasant to use than my own warping Quirk. If you could send me a location tag for your phone, he should be able to open a Gate to your current location."
Sighing, Naomasa hung up and texted his location to the man. He wasn't going to sleep until he finished figuring this out. Moments later, a dark purple mist sprung from the floor a foot away from him and sprouted up into a large doorway in his living room. Pulling himself back up to his feet he hesitated only a moment before stepping through.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hisashi liked to think that he was good at planning but for all the good he thought he was, this conversion with the Detective was going nowhere he had thought it would. The man had known and kept secret the fact he was the notorious Villain All for One for nearly two months without any hesitation just because Izuku had asked him too. Hisashi was honestly not sure what to think about that fact. Was it because it had been Izuku asking or had his son just caught the man at the right moment to catch him so off guard he had complied with the wish without thinking? Regardless, the man had risked his career by keeping this to himself and was clearly starting to feel regret for his inaction. It was the least Hisashi could do to sooth the man's fraying nerves that his gut reaction to the situation had been the right one.
To his continued surprise, the man stepped through the gate without any shoes on. The detective, as far as his Quirks could allow him to see, was a bit of a wreck. Exhaustion hung from his frame and slowed his movements to a clumsy shuffling walk. Still the man did pause and take a sharp inhale when he actually saw Hisashi for the first time. "I knew Izuku wasn't lying when he said you physically couldn't go home but I wasn't expecting…"
"That All Might tried to give me a lobotomy with his fist? Honestly it could have been much worse. I could have lost my memories alongside my face. While it would be nice to not have to rely upon life support equipment, I wouldn't trade it for my memories of my family."
The man seemed to sag in relief at that. "That's true. You do really love them."
"Of course! Family has always been the most important thing to me. Especially after I lost my first one." Hisashi heard his voice crack slightly on those last few words and internally winced.
"I've heard the story of how One for All came about from All Might but I was wondering if you could tell me your side of things."
So, much like he had with Izuku nearly two months before, Hisashi told his story. The detective was more involved with the recounting then Izuku had been, interjecting from time to time with a question here or there but as the story unraveled, the man did seem calmer. By the end of it, the detective had made himself comfortable on the floor with his notebook in hand as he wrote notes of some kind with a manic sort of energy. "So the last person you killed was Shimura Nana after she attacked you despite attempts to de-escalate the situation?"
"Yes, though not for lack of trying with Yagi when I realized how bad the fight was going."
The man seemed to brighten at that. "Which was a clear act of self defense. Okay, this is better than I thought it would be. While there is technically no statute of limitations on things like murder, I think it is unlikely that you would be charged for anything worse then man slaughter since all of the cases before Shimura are long enough ago that unless you admitted to the deaths yourself, shouldn't be able to be connected with you at this point. Yagi doesn't know any of the identities of the previous holders of One for All before Shimura so I doubt that you could be connected to them."
Hisashi felt a sense of surprised relief flood over himself. "Do you really think so?"
"You have been easing out of the crime side of things long enough that you could probably go on live television and confess to everything and not be able to be charged due to the statute of limitations having run out sans the murders. Since you have never actually been arrested, you have never formally been charged as a Villain which would be the biggest issue if you had been. Honestly, given what you said about a lot of your earlier crimes, by today's standards up until your brother's death, you had only committed acts of vigilantism and while I don't condone murder for the sake of revenge, I think that you would be hard pressed to find a jury that wouldn't understand why you felt the need to go after the man who had essentially killed your brother. A murder, that given we have no idea who the man even was, that would be very hard to charge you for given that technically there is not a victim."
The strange laugh that came from the man after he said that last part had a sudden feeling of dread passing over Hisashi. "Detective? Are you okay?"
There was that laugh again. "I'm fine! Everything is fine!"
"Detective, the way you just said that leads me to believe that you are not actually fine."
The other man froze at that. "Oh. I suppose that is true."
Hisashi cursed his lack of true sight at that moment. He couldn't read expressions like this and right now he really needed that ability. "Would it be alright if I use one of my Quirks to check on you? The way you are acting right now is honestly concerning."
The man continued to sit there unmoving, deathly silent. Hisashi was beginning to wonder if asking for the man's permission had been a mistake. "What are you going to do?"
It was a quiet question but the fact the man had not outright rejected the possibility was a massive relief. "I have an empathy Quirk I can use to better understand what is going on. I can't see you properly given my injury so I can't read your expressions right now. There is only so much I can tell from your voice and roughly seeing your body language."
There was silence and stillness again for a long time. "Okay."
Hisashi almost fell out of his chair in relief. Carefully he stood and moved over to the spot on the floor the younger man had made himself comfortable on. He didn't want to startle the man and make whatever this was worse. He carefully reached out and rested one palm on the top of the other man's head and activated the Quirk.
A bone deep exhaustion washed over him. Confusion and fear raked at his mind like claws as guilt like he had rarely felt on this level rained down on him like shards of broken glass. 'Liar!' Repeated around the man's brain as the man's Quirk responded to his own thoughts.
Hisashi jerked back in surprise only to find that the connection didn't sever like it was supposed to. The pain and chaotic thoughts continued to dance through and into his own head. Panic welled up inside him, multiplying as it bounced back and forth over the connection between them. Before he could even think it through, Hisashi had reached back out and triggered another quirk.
Silence.
It took a moment for Hisashi to gather his thoughts back to himself as he held the now limp form of the now unconscious detective. Well that wasn't good.