Take Your Dad to School Day:
Author's Note: Another snippet after the epilogue of Custody Battle, this time with some father-son bonding.
Yuuto passed Izuku his backpack. "Have you got your water bottle? Your textbooks? Your emergency button in case your father tries to kidnap you or conquer Japan?"
"Hey!" Hisashi glared. "What have I done to deserve that?"
Yuuto snorted. "You know what you did to deserve it." He waved at them from the doorway, shouting, "Have a great father-son bonding day!"
Hisashi parked his silver Mercedes. The banner over the brick building read "Take Your Dad to School Day." Inwardly, Hisashi rolled his eyes. He'd spent a small fortune sending his son to a highly exclusive private middle school, because it was the least Izuku deserved. For some odd reason, the more money school tuition cost, the more frequently they came around begging the parents to give them even more money. Hence silly events like these.
The entire day would be an excuse to ask him to open his pocketbook. But Hisashi kept his scorn internal, because this thinly veiled fundraiser would still let him have a bonding day with his son.
Izuku nudged him. "Thanks for coming along. I know this will be pretty boring, and you're busy with your campaign to become Prime Minister."
Hisashi smiled. "Izuku, you're significantly more important than Japan. If it was a choice between you and the entire country, I'd nuke Japan and roast marshmallows with you over the radioactive ashes."
Izuku laughed. That hadn't been a joke, though?
A line of fathers with students waited in line to be greeted by the middle school principal. It was unimaginably tedious to listen to the man brownnose each one.
Finally, it was their turn. "So you're Midoriya's father," the principal said, not sounding very interested. He did a double-take. "Is that a Chi Hajime original suit?"
"What a good eye you have," Hisashi said.
The principal's eyes scanned Hisashi's fancy watch and diamond cufflinks. "What business did you say you're in again?"
"Politics."
"You look familiar…"
"I should—I'm running for Prime Minister of Japan."
The man jumped so hard his toupee nearly fell off. "Hisashi Shigaraki! But your son's name is Midoriya…"
"He goes by his late mother's name. He prefers to avoid publicity." Hisashi's teeth gleamed. "I hope you'll be discrete."
"O-oh, yes, of course, it's such an honor."
Around them, parents' heads turned. With Hisashi leading in the polls by a historic margin, they scented future power and influence.
One man shouted, "Mayor Shigaraki, I'm so pleased to meet you. My son is great friends with yours."
A tall, muscular boy with bleached hair made a face. "With nerdy Izuku? You must be kidding me. Ow!" He rubbed his head where his father had smacked him.
Another father rushed forward to shake Hisashi's hand. "It's such an honor to meet the future Prime Minister. We all know you're a shoo-in, of course. And your brilliant son is a chip off the old block. My daughter has such a huge crush on him."
The pigtailed girl next to him said, "Uh, Izuku is a great guy, but I only like girls."
"Except for Izuku, who's the sole exception to your sexuality and my future son-in-law, right sweetie?"
The girl turned bright red. She looked so humiliated that even Hisashi felt a little sorry for her. Parents should protect their children, not sell them out for political connections at the first opportunity. Also, what possibly made this ass-kisser think his daughter would be good enough for Izuku? Whatever favor this man wanted, he wouldn't get it.
Izuku was starting to look uncomfortable. Hisashi said, "Could all of you give us a little space? We're here to learn about our children's daily lives, not talk politics."
Some instinct deep in their hindbrains that had prevented their apelike ancestors from sticking their hands into fire made every single person back away.
Chairs had been added to the classroom so that each parent had a place to sit next to their child's desk. Everyone in the room stared at Hisashi as he sat down. Not that this was anything new. They'd better not make Izuku feel uncomfortable. He glanced at his son, who was muttering under his breath as he wrote in his notebook.
The history teacher clicked through PowerPoint slides. "Sandstorm, Japan's first female professional hero, launched her career when she defeated the evil villain Silt."
Hisashi snorted. With so many eyes watching him, it was immediately noticeable. Shrugging, he said, "Sandstorm and Silt were the same person. The government staged a fake fight when they decided they wanted to recruit her as a professional hero, to whitewash her rather nasty past. They could hardly admit a 'hero' had killed a few hundred civilians."
The history teacher glanced at his PowerPoint nervously. "There is that conspiracy theory, yes, but the government has vehemently denied it."
"I was there," Hisashi muttered.
"Whoa, this is fascinating." Izuku wrote even faster. "Why did Sandstorm decide to become a hero?"
"For a huge pile of money. It backfired on the government very quickly when she took her ill-gotten gains and fled to America."
Loudly, the history teacher said, "Sandstorm died in battle just a few months into her career. A noble martyr. They never found her body…" His words lost their confidence as he realized what he'd implied.
Hisashi tried to let the rest of the white-washed government propaganda pass without comment, in hopes of getting this history lesson over with. But then the teacher said, "One of the most famous vigilantes in the first generation of quirk-users was the Evil Eye Cursed Dark Lord." Hisashi laughed out loud.
The teacher glared.
Hisashi laughed even harder. He couldn't stop himself. "The Evil Eye Cursed Dark Lord was a chuunibyou comic book fan with rich parents and no quirk. He bribed real vigilantes to leave his name at the scene of their heroics in hopes history would remember him as the type of person he lacked the courage to be in real life. I thought he was a complete moron, but it actually worked! This is priceless!" He wiped a tear of mirth from his eye.
"That explains several historical inconsistencies I'd wondered about," Izuku said, flipping through his notes. "Please, tell me more."
The history teacher tried to ignore them. He continued, "Although it's universally acknowledged that the Japanese government made many mistakes during the first appearance of quirks—"
Mistakes, what a polite euphemism for murdering people, Hisashi thought.
"—one of their greatest triumphs was defeating the villain who took all of Kyoto hostage using poison gas."
Hisashi leaned over and whispered to his son, "That was your Uncle Yuuto, actually. The government showed up too late and claimed all the credit. Typical of them."
"Very cool. Clearly I need to pick your brain about the dawn of the age of quirks more often." Izuku's eyes gleamed. "Why did my uncle never tell me that story?"
"He might still be bitter about how it ended." Hisashi let the implication be that Yuuto was angry about having his credit stolen, though more likely he'd been sore about his big brother showing up to recapture him while he'd been injured. As if the ungrateful brat could be trusted to get himself medical care without being forced.
The teacher glared, but didn't have the nerve to tell the candidate for Prime Minister to stop talking.
Next on the schedule was a tour of the school. As the amorphous mass of people trooped down the hallway, a tough-looking boy with bleached hair approached Hisashi and his son. "My dad says I have to make friends with you, but we're not friends, got it, nerd?" He punctuated his insult with a sneer.
"I'll live with my disappointment," Izuku said calmly.
As they rounded a corner, Hisashi nudged the boy. He responded with a curse and a glare.
Izuku tugged on his father's sleeve, pulling him aside from the group. "Dad, I saw that. Give his quirk back."
"What?" Hisashi tried to look innocent.
"I appreciate the thought, but what he said didn't bother me at all. He's just a pathetic person with an inferiority complex he takes out on everyone else. He wouldn't be able to survive quirkless discrimination. Please give back his quirk."
Given the boy had the ability to throw up glitter, no wonder he had an inferiority complex. Hisashi certainly didn't need that. Returning to the group, he let his hand brush the boy again.
"Thanks." Izuku rewarded him with a pure, brilliant smile. Enough to make this whole day worth it.
At the cafeteria, the staff passed around boxed lunches while hinting loudly that they were just waiting on donations to add another food station and some more vending machines.
Nearly every parent crowded around Hisashi's table, offering well-wishes for his political campaign, flattering him, and hinting at favors. On any other day, he might have taken the opportunity to cut deals, but today was about bonding with his son. He studiously ignored them while telling Izuku a few more entertaining historical stories.
Just as he'd finished eating, a muscular man with a stupid-looking mustache strode over. Wasn't that the Flame Hero? Hisashi vaguely remembered his hero name as Endeavor.
"Enji Todoroki, head of the PTA," he introduced himself. "I'm here about your unpaid PTA dues."
"I'm not a member of the PTA." Hisashi wondered if this man was deranged. Or perhaps drunk. His breath reeked of whiskey.
"Of course you're not." Endeavor slapped his forehead in an exaggerated manner. "You wouldn't be."
Hisashi stared. Did this brute imagine he'd scored a point? Why was he picking a pointless fight with someone much stronger than him?
Perhaps Endeavor was jealous. He'd expected to be the father everyone fawned over, since no one had known about Izuku's parentage. Then Hisashi had shown up and overshadowed him.
How ridiculous. If this fool wanted a pack of hyenas making pitiful attempts to mate their children with his own far superior offspring, he was welcome to it.
Izuku said to Endeavor, "It's great that you're helping out the PTA, with all the free time you have on your hands."
That reminded Hisashi that Endeavor had recently lost his slot as number one hero, no doubt wounding his sensitive pride. He caught the cue his son was feeding him. "I, too, value family over my career. Your priorities are clearly in the right place, nobly devoting so much time to the PTA that you even let your hero ranking slip."
Endeavor stared at them, trying to figure out if they were mocking him. Father and son gazed back with identical innocent gazes. Finally, he snorted and stormed off, smoke rising off the top of his head.
Giggling, Izuku held out his hand under the table. Covertly, Hisashi gave him a high-five.
Hisashi wondered if he'd need to take over this school's PTA. An insignificant task, but he couldn't leave any organization with sway over his son's future in the hands of an imbecile.
A boy with hair half red, half white walked over. He rubbed his neck and looked at his feet. "I'm sorry about my father."
"It's not your fault, Shouto," Izuku said. "You have nothing to apologize for."
"I'm fine," Shouto said. A very tiny flush crossed his cheeks. "I meant to say, how are you?"
"Fine," Izuku said.
"That seems unlikely. If I'm fine, then I'm fairly certain you must be perfect." Shouto blinked. "Sorry, did I just say that out loud?" His face was still so blank it was hard to tell if that had been a joke. Except the slight tremors in his hands betrayed his awkwardness.
Izuku waved a hand. "This is my father, Hisashi Shigaraki."
Shouto tilted his head. "So only one of your dads came?"
"Ha-ha! Let's change the subject. So how about the weather?" Izuku laughed loudly.
What other dad? It was possible the boy could mean Yuuto, who had been acting as Izuku's legal guardian for years, though it would still be a strange way to refer to an uncle.
Izuku's eyes fixed on the bandages on his friend's arms. His tone abruptly shifted. "Your dad again?"
"A training accident." Shouto's voice became even flatter.
"Have you thought about my offer at all?" Izuku asked.
"He's been drinking more ever since the Hero Commission found a new poster boy." Shouto clutched at his arms. "He threw a bottle at Fuyumi. Yeah, I think it might be time for more drastic measures."
"I'm glad to hear it." Izuku seamlessly changed the subject. "Did you know our history book is riddled with inconsistences? My dad was telling me all about it."
As they drove back home, Hisashi asked his son, "Did you have a good time?"
"I was quite entertained. Especially with how you put down a certain professional hero."
"His son is a friend of yours?"
"My best friend."
"His father did that to his arms?"
"He's rough with his hero training." Izuku stared at the window. "Rumor has it his eldest son died in a training accident."
Hisashi hesitated, hand on the steering wheel. Cautiously, he said, "If something happened to his quirk, I suppose he wouldn't be able to train his son any longer."
Izuku smiled.
OMAKE TIME!
Omake: Conspiracy Theory
Shouto: It's a pity you and All Might still have to keep your father-son relationship secret, probably because of his many enemies. I hope you can bring both your dads next year. Perhaps by then, the stress of the divorce will have faded and they'll be able to coparent amiably.
Izuku: Shouto, I know you love conspiracy theories, but please lay off that one. I just saved you from your dad. I'd rather you not get killed by mine.
Shouto: Okay, I do have some other interesting theories about the mysterious disappearance of the head of Japan's underworld. Have you ever heard of All for One?
Izuku: SHOUTO STOP.
#
Omake: Ironic on Many Levels
Hisashi: Hey, little brother. I know this is an extremely delicate subject between the two of us. Please believe that I'm not trying to start a fight. Now that you don't have a quirk, would you ever…that is to say…do you want another quirk from me?
Yuuto: For your information, I am 100% secure with myself as a quirkless hero. I don't need jackshit from you. Neener-neener.
Hisashi: Look, I will level with you. I have no desire to give you more means to get your idiot self into trouble. But I've spent ages acquiring an immortality quirk and creating two fully-functional copies of it. Of course there's no chance you'll react to my wonderful gift with any sort of gratitude. But you know me well enough to know this isn't something I'm capable of compromising on. This will happen. I know you function on spite and perversity where I'm concerned, but I also know you don't want to start fighting again any more than I do. So look at it this way: you have me over the negotiating barrel. This is the only circumstance where I'd offer you a quirk after the last disaster. Tell me what quirk you want in exchange for accepting the immortality one without throwing a century-long temper tantrum.
Yuuto: (Mumbles) I still kinda want a fire quirk.
Hisashi: …Any other quirk? Anything at all?
Yuuto: Fire quirk! Fire quirk! Fire quirk! Fire quirk!
Hisashi: (Sighs) Fine.
ONE WEEK LATER:
Yuuto: Wasn't it such a strange coincidence how Endeavor's quirk vanished around the exact same time I got my new fire quirk?
Hisashi: (Already has his story planned.) Izuku's friend Shouto Todoroki was being horribly abused by his father under the guise of "training" and the Hero Commission covered it up. But Shouto didn't quite want his father dead, so this was the best way to save him and his poor, innocent siblings. I deserve a medal.
Yuuto: I'm not concerned about the child-abusing monster. I want to know why the media has credited my recent vigilante activities to the supposedly deceased Touya Todoroki.
Hisashi: …
Yuuto: Fuyumi and Natsuo Todoroki are chasing me all around the city shouting that they just want to talk.
Hisashi: …
Yuuto: Rei Todoroki nearly caught me under a net. She always seemed like such a calm woman, but she most definitely did not "just want to talk."
Hisashi: …
Yuuto: Some villain named Dabi cornered me in an alley and tried to set me on fire for ruining his big reveal.
Hisashi: Actually, I have no idea what's going on with any of that. I just had a vague intuition I could screw you over by giving you Endeavor's quirk. This is even more hilarious than I hoped.
Yuuto: I know you have every bit as much spite and perversity as me. But is there any chance at all you'd be willing to take back this quirk?
Hisashi: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Yuuto: Yeah, I didn't think so.
#Shouto, who knows everything, is panicking trying to figure out how to tell his family that his dead older brother hasn't come back to life #Only to find out he has #There's a happy ending to this story where Dabi ends up reunited with his family #Natsuo threatens him that if he ever even looks at villainy again, they'll replace him with Yuuto
Author's Note:
I almost called this story "How Endeavor Lost His Quirk" but that would have been a spoiler.
I considered whether Endeavor would be better in a world where he didn't have his rivalry with All Might or worse in a world where heroes are more corrupt in general and he had less oversight over his actions. I went with "worse" partly because if Endeavor wasn't obsessed with quirk marriages then Shouto wouldn't exist, and Shouto is one of my favorites. In this AU, Endeavor became number one hero, but everyone knew that All Might would have been number one if the Hero Commission hadn't sabotaged the rankings. This drove Endeavor to alcoholism.
FYI, Hisashi slipped the immortality quirk in along with the dozen quirks he already gave Izuku. He didn't tell his son, so there will be a lot of fallout to that. Izuku won't notice he's stopped aging until adulthood, then he's going to freak out.
Next up: Grandma Nana teaches Izuku how to fly. (Another Custody Battle epilogue piece.)
Since Sealed with Love is now complete, I'm starting two new stories. Here's my new update schedule:
Tuesday evening: A Life Not Lived
Thursday evening: Five Times Darth Omnus Found Out He Had a Son and One Time He Succeeded in Turning Izuku to the Dark Side—The Dad for One BNHA Star Wars AU.
Sunday: Karma Quirk—When forcing a quirk on his younger brother, All for One accidentally switches their bodies. Both of them are about to learn valuable life lessons…mostly, All for One learns that it's very frustrating not to be able to murder people.
Other oneshots posted miscellaneously