Izuku was not sure why he felt the urge to drag Hitoshi out with him to get coffee at such a random location today but he knew it was probably important. Hitoshi, now like most of their family, was resigned to the fact that he wouldn't have a say in the matter. Izuku never did anything without a reason anymore now that he was so in tune with his Quirk.
So it was little surprise when Izuku found himself yanking Hitoshi into the police department that Naomasa worked out of. As they entered, they heard panicked shouts to call an ambulance from the direction of his office which kicked them into high gear. Izuku felt a sick feeling in his gut as he met the sight of officer Sansa panicking slightly over the form of a heterochromatic and struggling to breath Naomasa.
Not even thinking, Izuku darted forward to take the man's face between his hands as he searched the man's eyes to try and determine who was in control. He looked back to Hitoshi in the doorway. "Toshi you need to use your Quirk on him now to get his breathing under control."
The lavender haired boy nodded and took Izuku's place on the floor and met this combination of the two men's gazes. "Can you give me a verbal response?"
With two voices from one mouth they spoke. "Yes."
Sansa shivered slightly in shock as the two seemed to hold a staring contest. He turned to Izuku who had found himself starting to relax. "What is going on?"
Izuku winced slightly. Naomasa had clearly never mentioned what had happened to the man. "He and my Dad had a bit of a Quirk accident a few months ago that linked their minds together. My Dad has been trying to separate them but clearly he just has been making things worse. Hitoshi should be able to help them. Do you know if someone called an ambulance for Tsukauchi yet or not? He will need to be put on oxygen if his breathing keeps up like this. It is one thing if my Dad is doing it since he is hooked up to a respirator but Tsukauchi isn't going to get enough oxygen at this rate."
Sansa struggled back up to his feet to rush out of the room. "I'll go check."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hitoshi grimaced as he took in the mess that was Naomasa's mind. Clearly he should have offered to try and help his uncle with untangling their minds sooner. It was as if someone had come through and randomly jumbled up their two minds. Parts that felt incredibly old were stitched to the younger mind of the detective in a haphazard way.
He wasn't sure he could fix this. Not now. Not properly.
He could pull their minds apart and sever the connection but large swaths of the detective's mind had been practically overwritten. Some of this damage was not even fresh from how the mind seemed to have healed around the edges in places.
He felt sick as he was forced to wonder if his uncle even realized what he had done to the other man. The line between their minds had clearly blurred and the Villain's mind had very clearly been a dominant presence.
Still, he had to start. "Breathe for me."
The man's body began to comply with the simple task that the pair inside it had been struggling with. Slowly, Hitoshi reached out with his Quirk deeper than he had ever attempted before in another's mind, and tugged.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Inko was scared as she held her shaking husband in her arms. Beside them, Tomura clawed at his skin in a clear panic. When her husband's weak and shaking voice had called out for help over the intercom as she had been spending time with two of her older boys in their bar, everyone had stopped everything as Oboro quickly flung a hand up to open a Warp Gate back to the apartment. Now the man was deathly still outside of his now steady and strangely slightly stronger than normal breathing.
There was the chirp of a text message from the phone in Oboro's hand. The man relaxed slightly. "Izuku and Hitoshi are with Naomasa. Hitoshi is using his Quirk to stabilize and try to pull their minds apart."
Inko grimaced as she looked at her likely unconscious husband. "Hisashi made things worse didn't he?"
There was a groan from the man in question. "Well that was not fun."
"Father?" The question was weak but the emotions from the one word from Tomura spoke volumes.
"I'm okay Tomura." He turned and buried his head in the crook of Inko's neck. "Remind me to never do something like that by myself again. I think Naomasa's brain must have given me trust issues. It is the only reason I can think of for not asking Hitoshi to help sooner."
Inko snorted. "You've always been a control freak dear. I can't imagine having even more people in your brain was appealing to you."
The man grimaced. "Point. Can someone call Izuku to check on Naomasa for me? I think I might have hurt him during our panic attack."
Oboro looked up from his hand. "Izuku says that they are loading him up in an ambulance right now. Hitoshi is riding with him in case he needs to use his Quirk on him again because of the side effects of what just happened."
Hisashi seemed to bite the inside of his cheek. "But it is Naomasa still?"
"He doesn't know. He is fully unconscious so we will likely not know until later."
Inko felt her husband shift below her as he moved her off and began to struggle to his feet. "Which hospital?"
Inko shoved him back down. "Hisashi! You are in no shape to go anywhere normally, let alone after that!"
Hisashi, the stubborn bastard, ignored her. "Tomura, there should be a few portable oxygen tanks over next to you. Could you help me switch over to one?"
Inko threw her hands up in resignation. "I'll do it. If you die from this though I will never forgive you for this stupidity."
Tomura, now far more relaxed, passed Inko two of the tanks. "You should probably take a spare."
Inko took the offered tanks without another word. She understood that Hisashi was worried and feeling guilty over what had happened with the man but killing himself would not help the other man. Still, if her suspicions that she had been having about the two of them based on how Hisashi spoke of the man now…
…Well she could hardly stop the man she loved from going to check on the one he did.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
When Naomasa woke in the hospital, it was to the strange feeling of emptiness. Something was missing.
…
Hisashi?
…
Nothing.
His breath caught in his throat and he found himself beginning to panic before a large calloused hand grabbed his. "We're okay Naomasa." Truth. "Hitoshi severed the connection." Truth.
Naomasa found his head snapping to the side as he spotted the rather worn out form of his previous headmate sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair beside him. He looked terrible but Naomasa suspected he didn't look much better disregarding the man's injuries.
A small sob escaped him as the man's words sunk in. His mind was all his own again but now the one thing he had wished for when he had woken up those few months ago filled him now with just a feeling of loss.
"Naomasa?"
He hadn't wanted the man out of his mind for good! As strange as it was, their mental dialogue had turned the man into his closest friend.
The man reached out with his other hand to cup his cheek as tears began to roll down. "Naomasa?" His voice shook with worry as he repeated his unasked question.
"Are you still you?"
Naomasa nodded shakily as he leaned into the man's touch.
There was a sigh from the doorway as his wife Inko appeared holding a cup of coffee. "I was afraid of that." Truth.
Hisashi turned his head slightly in their his wife's direction as he removed his hand from Naomasa's cheek. "Afraid of what?"
Inko sat down beside the older man. "That I had lost my husband's sole affection." Truth. "I've been suspicious of the two of you for a while now, you know." Truth.
The man sputtered at the accusation flushing red but made no denials. Naomasa found his heart jump into his throat as his own face heated up. "I一 we don't一"
She waved them off. "The two of you have a deeper connection than likely anyone else alive thanks to that mess." Truth. "Honestly, I would have been more surprised if you both didn't develop some sort of feelings for one another." Truth.
Naomasa felt his heart tighten at how plainly she stated it. "I have no intention of stealing your husband."
Inko snorted. "A bit late for that but the thought is appreciated." Truth. "Don't worry though, I am hardly going to let him go at this point." Truth. "I just got him back after not seeing him for over five years." Truth. "Plus I hardly am any more likely to let him take our kids then he is to let me take them." Truth.
Hisashi gave a nervous laugh. "Inko, you know I love you right?"
Naomasa's heart gave a funny twist at the comment.
Oh.
Well shit.
He was jealous of Inko.
He might actually have feelings for the Symbol of Evil.
Shit.
Is this what a gay panic was like?
He had never really thought much about romance for himself because of his own trust issues but in a weird way, Hisashi had become the person he trusted most.
Hisashi's grip on his hand tightened slightly. Naomasa found himself shifting his gaze to the older man's face. "You back with us?"
Naomasa flushed. "Sorry. I might have gotten used to you derailing my train of thoughts before I could get carried away."
The man chuckled. "As have I." Truth. Oh that was a nice warm fuzzy feeling. "A part of me wishes there was a way to reform the connection without the risk." Truth. "I suppose we will just have to get used to talking to one another aloud like normal people." Truth.
Before they could talk more, there was a sound of hurried feet before Makoto was standing looking panicked at him from the doorway. Oh, right, she was still his emergency contact at the station. "Naomasa! Are you okay?! Officer Sansa wouldn't tell me what happened!" Truth.
Inko gave his sister a bewildered look, clearly caught off guard by her arrival but Hisashi just hummed. "Ah, I was wondering when your sister would get here." Truth.
Makoto seemed to register that Naomasa was actually not alone in the room. "Oh. Um, hi?"
Naomasa found himself snorting as he watched his sister seeming to shift from blind panic to confusion at the sight of the tall near faceless man in an oxygen mask that he was currently clinging to the hand of and the petite green haired woman beside him holding a cup of coffee. "Makoto, these are Midoriya Hisashi and Inko. She is Shouta's older sister."
His sister blinked before narrowing her eyes slightly as she looked at their hands suspiciously. "Uh huh. So why are you here? It would be one thing if I found Eraser here but why would his sister and her husband be the ones keeping my brother company?"
Hisashi sighed. "It is because it is my fault." Truth. "Naomasa and I were caught up in a bit of a Quirk accident a few months ago that left our minds linked." Truth. "My nephew just severed the connection between us and I was worried about the backlash on his end." Truth.
Makoto gave the man a weird look before turning on Naomasa and forcibly taking one of his hands. "Naomasa, explain."
Naomasa sighed knowing he was not going to be able to get out of this. "Hisashi had been picking away at the connection between our minds since we got tangled up together back at the end of June. He realized that the longer we stayed connected the more bleed there was between our minds and I panicked when I realized what was happening. Since Hisashi is significantly older than me, I was scared that if things kept up like they were, I would just be gone." He paused and released Hisashi's hand to rank it through his hair. "My panic attack caused a feedback loop of emotions between us and blurred the line between our minds to the point that for a moment we were both one person in two bodies. Shouta's kid Hitoshi managed to pry us back appart before I was brought here."
"Naomasa stopped breathing properly during our panic attack." Truth. "As you can see, I have issues with that normally myself so I couldn't do much to try and stabilize our breathing." Truth.
Makoto seemed to study Naomasa's face before sighing and releasing his hand reluctantly. "Truth. Naomasa, why did you never call me to tell me what was going on?"
Naomasa winced. "It was mostly because I was hoping all of this would be fixed before I needed to. I sort of wanted to keep you as far away from Hisashi as possible."
Makoto crossed her arms. "Oh? And why is that?"
Hisashi chuckled. "He was trying to protect you from me which I know you know was a bit of a futile gesture Naomasa." Truth.
That startled her. "Protect me from the blind man with an oxygen tank?"
Inko sighed and shook her head. "I've never understood that sort of reaction either." Truth. "Even before his fight with All Might, Hisashi has never been that terribly threatening." Truth.
Makoto froze slightly as she seemed to note how close the man was to Naomasa. "You're a Villain?"
Hisashi waved her off. "Not currently." Lie. "I'm on vacation." Lie.
Yeah, he already knew that.
Naomasa snorted. "You literally have been helping finance the League of Villains and have been plotting to help them go after another Villain group."
Hisashi made a fake gasp at that. "That is just me acting in the best interests of my children." Truth. "That Overhaul fellow and his followers shot two of my kids." Truth.
Inko giggled slightly. "Ah, so Dabi is ours now too?"
The man grinned at her. "He is warming up to the idea." Truth. "He didn't react badly to his name on the credit card I gave him earlier this morning." Truth.
Naomasa found himself smiling too at the thought of having gained another son. His sister however was looking back and forth between him sitting and joking with a professed Villain with a look of slight fear. "Can I speak with my brother alone for a minute?"
Hisashi's grin fell slightly at the tone of her voice. "Ah. Of course." Truth. "I should probably get back home anyways." Truth.
"Yes you should." Truth. Inko made it painfully obvious how she felt about him being here in the first place from her tone. She turned back to Naomasa and offered him an apologetic grin. "Call if you need anything. I am fairly certain that if you are still here in an hour then Shouta will be here to check on you." Truth.
Naomasa nodded to the beautiful woman as she helped his other half her husband to his feet. With a parting wave from the two of them, they vanished out the door. Makoto was quick to close the door and return to holding Naomasa's hand. "Naomasa what the hell?" She hissed out the question as if afraid they would be heard.
"What?"
"Since when are you so friendly with someone you know to be a criminal? What the hell happened to my straight and narrow law abiding brother?"
Naomasa had to consider that for a few moments. "...As much as I want to say I am making exceptions for him purely do to basically sharing a brain with him for a little over two months, I think the week leading up to me realizing the Symbol of Evil was less of a Quirkist then Symbol of Peace might have affected things. Additionally, for all intents and purposes, that was the man who raised Shouta and talking with him for any extended period of time makes that painfully obvious."
Makoto practically fell back into the chair the man himself had been occupying. "The Symbol of Evil?"
Naomasa nodded. "Hisashi has been around for at least a couple centuries so a title like that is not too surprising, especially for a survivor of the Quirk Wars."
"Is that how he got those scars? Wait, what is his Quirk? An immortality Quirk or something?"
Naomasa sighed and shook his head. "No, those came from All Might. As Hisashi has put it more than once, All Might tried to give him a lobotomy with his fist. He survived thanks to a combination of different Quirks in his possession."
"A combination? He has more than one?"
Naomasa ran through his mental catalog of his Hisashi's Quirks. "He currently has 57 in his possession and an additional 86 in storage. His natural Quirk is called All for One. It lets him give and take other people's Quirks, but keep in mind most of those Quirks came from the height of the Quirk Wars when it was dangerous to be Quirked. The only Quirks that could be considered stolen were ones he took from those already dying."
Makoto gave a shaky breath as she slumped back in the chair, releasing her grip on Naomasa's hand to tread her fingers into her hair as she clutched at her own head. "Naomasa, he is the one behind the Villain Factory isn't he?"
Naomasa felt a twist of guilt as he nodded. "He wasn't personally involved with that mess but the man who was behind all of it is technically on his payroll. The Doctor is just as old as he is and frankly a hell of a lot more dangerous. His Quirk might not grant him the same power as Hisashi but he has evidently found a way around that limiting factor for himself. Hisashi has largely been keeping him in check but sometimes that isn't enough. The Doctor brought a man back from the dead and forced two more Quirks on him before Hisashi found out and stopped him. Kurogiri was lucky to come out of that even remotely sane."
She looked green at the thought. "So you think it is better to leave the Devil of the Underworld free to prevent something worse?"
Naomasa nodded. "Unlike some of the characters I now know about thanks to him, Hisashi at least has something vaguely resembling a moral code. You have heard about the League of Villains right?"
Makoto nodded. "Yeah, I am not sure the name is not a misnomer though given they seem to be a group of vigilantes and pranksters." Truth.
"Most of Hisashi's kids make up nearly half of the group. The only one that isn't at least an honorary member is Shouta. The reason they use the name is because most of the members would actually be considered Villains. I am pretty sure the only full members in the group without a body count currently are Kurogiri, Spinner, and Mr. Compress and two of them would not even be classed as Villains. Hell, when he was originally alive, Kurogiri was in the UA Hero course. Wait, I'm getting off track. The important thing about them as a group is that they are holding the line as it were while Hisashi steps back from Villainy for a bit to try and prevent the complete destruction of several future heroes' careers as well as those of Shouta, Sir Nighteye, and now probably Present Mic. By acting as Villains, they are preventing Monsters from escaping the dark like the man Overhaul."
Makoto, still pale, had been nodding along as he spoke. "He shot two of the members of the League I'm guessing?"
Naomasa nodded. "Dabi and Himiko. Himiko's Quirk mostly protected her and she was only grazed by the bullet but Dabi was hit in the center of his dominant shoulder. They were disguised as Compress at the time so presumably, they were trying to remove his Quirk from the equation before attacking the League properly. Thankfully they all escaped unharmed outside of those two injuries but the man behind the ambush is still at large and clearly still targeting the group. We had hoped that the knowledge that All for One was backing the League would get him to back down but he seems set on challenging them if this morning was possibly any indication."
"What happened this morning?"
"Hisashi's youngest son got stalked for over an hour by a currently unknown man with a Quirk that seems to compel the target to truthfully answer any question. It was something Hisashi was planning on looking into this evening. Hyouka had been seen hanging out with the League so we think he might have been targeted for the possible association. His young age and lack of knife throwing likely made him the target."
"Lack of knife throwing?"
"The next youngest is the vigilante Loki. When one of Overhaul's men tried to infiltrate the League the kid threw a knife into the guy's shoulder where Dabi had been shot."
Makoto gave an impressed look at that. "Damn, that is the Quirkless kid right?"
"Medically Quirkless but yes."
That earned him a confused look before realization seemed to dawn on her. "Oh, he gave his son one of his Quirks?"
Naomasa nodded. "It is a passive precognitive Quirk thanks to the mutation it underwent after Hisashi gave it to him because of a dormant gene from Inko's side of the family. The original version of the Quirk just sensed danger in a radius around the holder and acted as an early warning system. It is basically impossible to prove he has it though so he is legally still Quirkless. The last thing we want is for the Hero Commission to connect Hisashi to the rest of the family as All for One so it is not like he can come forward and just say Loki has a Quirk now because he gave it to him."
Makoto messaged her forehead with her free hand. "This is a lot to process Naomasa." Truth. "There is a part of me happy to see that you have relaxed your rigid want of following rules but another is scared at how different this is for you." Truth. "This guy was in your head for a while right? How much of this would the you from before the two of you were linked would agree with the hands off approach you are using here?"
Naomasa felt his gut twist at the accusation towards his other half Hisashi of possibly messing with his mind. But…hadn't the reason this happened in the first place been because of the realization he was hiding the man from the law just because their his son asked? "I originally agreed to not say anything about Hisashi being All for One because I was scared of what the man would do if I did. Eventually keeping the secret got to me badly enough that I pushed past that fear and confronted him. During that conversation I realized that so long as Shouta sided with the man, I wouldn't say anything. At that point, Shouta was honestly my only real friend and with how I was still reeling from the break in trust I had in All Might, I couldn't lose him too…"
His voice quieted as he refused to meet his sister's gaze. "As strange as it is, Hisashi accidentally linking us was probably the best thing I could have had happen to me at the time. I was not in a good place mentally but Hisashi helped ground me. My panic attack today was not my first, just the worst. The only one that got nearly that bad was the one that probably tangled us up together in the first place. He is my friend. He never tried lying to me as much as I wish he sometimes did with his over sharing habit given some of his less then legal actions in the past. He came here because he was really scared that he might have erased me when our minds blended together during the panic feedback loop. Besides, the man is a literal Dragon. Now that he has decided I belong to him, he would hardly let me go without a fight any more than any other member of his family."
Makoto gently reached out to gently bring his face up to look at her's, a thumb wiped away a tear on his cheek. She sighed. "O-niisan, you are lying to yourself." Truth. "He is not your friend." Truth.
Naomasa felt his gut twist. "No…no he is not." He pulled back away to rub away the tears now beginning to stain his cheeks. He offered his sister his hand that she took without comment.
"I think I might be in love with him."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Overhaul was not sure if he was disappointed in Confession's work or not. True, the man had nearly gotten himself caught by a Pro Hero and failed to confront the boy Peppermint himself but he had come back with a lead. This Peppermint kid was friends with Sir Nighteye's nephews. It was not much of a lead to track back to the League but perhaps one of these nephews would lead him back to the boy's place of residence.
To his surprise, it was not terribly hard to discover the identity of one. It seemed a few months ago, someone connected the boy with the hero due to their similar appearance. Midoriya Izuku. Quirkless.
That last fact made him pause. With the disease that was Quirks and heroism, the fact that there was one still so young and uncorrupted by the illness, was surprising. Perhaps he could be of more use then just as a lead…