Ties that Bind

by Mirrond

All Might left his home that evening hoping to find a successor. Instead he found his old lover (that he thought died years ago), discovered that he has a son, offered him his quirk... and adopted a few additional children. After all, the best answer to All for One being a stepfather to your son is becoming a stepfather to his children, right? [Dadmight or Dad for One? Yes.]

12. Chapter 11: Power of Friendship

Crimextar06 - Yeah, although those supervillains are significantly better off in this continuum. So they are much less... villainous, I guess. Also be aware that the MLA didn't attempt a coup in this AU (unlike the Cure to Evil one), meaning that its existence is still a secret. Which greatly helps PLF in maintaining a low profile.

TheGreatBubbaJ - Maybe. Time will tell ;)

Trixuny - Not quite. He does know a lot of things and people, but his focus is on becoming a hero. Of course, until the life pushes him back enough...

Detrametal - Yes, they are like canon Eraserhead and Present Mic. So Shinsou is clearly exasperated with her antics, but would totally die for her. Cute.

(***)

Despite it being absolutely impossible (and illogical, to quote someone), Eraserhead does show up to the class the next day. He looks like a mummy, but stalwartly deflects worries of the students (especially Izuku, Hitoshi and Himiko) by claiming that wasting time is illogical and he is perfectly fine, or at least fine enough to work.

Uraraka is almost certain that she heard Himiko mumble something close to 'mom is going to kill him', but she certainly heard something wrong, right?

What follows is an announcement that despite the attack, the school festival will still happen. Uraraka is super pumped-up! This is the occasion that she was waiting for, a chance to show her skills to people. The starting point of her hero career!

"Two more things." Aizawa-sensei says. Despite the bandages on his face, he is more or less audible. "First: whoever is planning to become an underground hero and doesn't want to show their quirks to the world is free to opt out of the festival. Second: Midoriya, as the person who got the top score on the entrance exam, you are supposed to make a speech at the start of the festival."

Oh. Well, that's not good at all. Izuku almost slumps off the chair.

"If you are going to overthrow a government with your speech, at least do this to a foreign one." Aizawa adds dryly. "Dismissed."

Izuku stays quiet and shocked until the lunch break. Then he suddenly mumbles something like 'Wait, overthrow a government?" before his face lights up and he bolts off somewhere. Shouting to his friends that he'll catch up with them after the break is over.

His friends exchange some rather worried glances. This can't be anything good, right?

(***)

"What do you think Midoriya is talking about with All Might?" Uraraka asks Tenya two days later. All Might just borderline kidnapped their friend for the duration of the lunch break, after offering him to eat some rice with him (Uraraka found this almost girlish behaviour incredibly amusing).

"I have no idea." Tenya replies, while doing some weird hand-gestures and almost hitting Shouto who was just passing by with his lunch tray. "However, as Asui pointed out, their quirks carry some similarities. Mayhaps he is personally interested in Izuku due to that?"

"Hmmm, maybe?" Uraraka isn't convinced. She doesn't notice the stare that Shoto gives them.

(***)

Momo Yaoyorozu is deeply conflicted about her class president. His manners are unrefined, his tendency to slump down chairs when someone tells him that he did something good (not to mention, the shrinking routine that goes alongside that) is worrying, and he apparently knew some if not all of the Rehab Course students ahead of time.

At least the last part makes sense, ever since Shinsou told them all through the chat (to Midoriya's constant complaints) that he was the person who persuaded Principal Nedzu to create the Rehabilitation Course in order to let the two kids he saved become heroes.

The problem is that Momo Yaoyorozu has been educated into brilliancy. And she met many smart people from her own social strata (and way more people that were, frankly speaking, way higher than they should be, but such is life), and seeing someone who evidently didn't have the same support as her but was her equal (at least in the written exam) is…

Humbling? Humiliating? Odd? Momo is yet to figure that out herself, really. The discovery that Nedzu decided to give Midoriya private lessons (while Momo wasn't even mentioned as a possible student of his) only made things more complicated. Because it added jealousy to the mix.

She realized the stupidity of it almost immediately. She is conscious enough about herself to figure out things like that. Sure, she had two good plans - using Kaminari to cast a wide-scale stun while the rest was hidden under an insulation sheet, and having Himiko impersonate one of the villains for safe passage. Principal Nedzu, the police and the faculty actually congratulated her for it.

But Midoriya, in the meantime, knew the head villain, saved Thirteen's life and let half of the class escape by dissecting the abilities of one of the strongest villains (that he saw for like twenty seconds beforehand), conjured a plan to escape the Flood Zone, and then apparently helped All Might escape from the pinch.

Jealousy is pointless. Wanting to get better to match someone is certainly not pointless. She would also rather enjoy getting to actually know Izuku Midoriya, but she had no idea how to even start with that. He was way too… different. Especially the part where any degree of praise directed at him resulted in Izuku trying to immediately deflect it to others or downplay his own achievements was baffling. And confusing.

Momo and Izuku were pretty much creatures from two completely different planets. Who had serious problems trying to translate each other's language.

It didn't mean that they couldn't work together, when needed. Momo was still slightly distraught by not becoming the class president - considering her certainly non-skittish presence, she still felt that she would be better in that role, although she would without a doubt listen to Midoriya's advice - but she was a vice-president, and that was almost the same.

"Midoriya." She approached him right after the class ended. He was about to leave the classroom with Uraraka and Tenya. "I need to talk with you about official matters."

"O..oh?" He is slightly startled for a second after hearing her talk to him out of the blue. Yeah, one of the things that she finds odd in him. "W...well, I'll see you later." He says to his friends who nod and leave them. "What is it about, Yaoyorozu-san?"

"You don't need to be this official." She replies. "I'm your vice-president, call me Yaomomo." He is clearly distraught by the very idea. She sighs internally. It's not going to be easy, isn't it? "It's about Mineta."

His face falls flat.

"What did he do?" He asks.

"He was irritating before the USJ." She replies. "But after it, he… well, he isn't touchy, but he is… staring a bit too much. Kyoka Jirou is almost certain that he was trying to sneak into the girl's changing room but he bolted away when he realized that he was about to get caught." The sound of his little feet was rather recognizable. But Jirou didn't make a recording, so she had no evidence to get him expelled.

"Great, I guess it's time to have that talk." Izuku says, mostly to himself. "Ok, Yao…Yaommomo." He almost manages to say it correctly. "I'll deal with him."

"Am I allowed to be present when it happens?" She asks, and he is clearly uncomfortable with the idea. "I'm not going to say anything, I'm just interested in seeing how you are going to deal with the issue."

Part of her wants to see Mineta expelled at this point. A big one. He is a shame to the UA, and if he keeps acting like this after graduation, it's only going to get worse. She has no idea why Aizawa-sensei let him survive the Quirk Apprehension Test.

"Alright." Izuku Midoriya looks slightly dejected.

(***)

They catch Minoru Mineta, the scourge of the class 1-A girls, right after the class ends. Izuku tells him that they need to have a serious talk about his behaviour, and Mineta tries to wiggle around. Midoriya asks him if he would prefer to have that talk with Aizawa-sensei, which immediately silences all opposition.

They take over an unused classroom. Izuku and Minoru sit on the opposite sides of a single school table, while Momo chooses to sit behind (and slightly to the left) of the class president.

"So, uhm… what is it about?" Mineta is clearly uncomfortable. Momo is wondering how Izuku is going to handle it. She has some ideas (most of them based on pointing out how Mineta's action can get him expelled), but…

"Mineta." Izuku says. "Why did you apply to the UA?" Momo had that approach within her list of ideas. Going through the motives and comparing what he is doing right now to them makes sense.

"I…" Mineta is clearly uncomfortable with the subject. "I mean, I… heroes are… heroes are all cool and strong, yes? So I wanted to be like them."

Frankly speaking, she didn't suspect any greater motivation than that. She should probably be happy that his explanation wasn't 'to be popular among the girls'.

"But… after USJ I… kinda figured that I was wrong." Mineta decides to add, while looking down. "Becoming a hero doesn't make you cool. It's the cool people that become heroes. And I, uhm…"

"And you think that you don't belong to that group." Izuku says, and Mineta nods faintly. "I happen to have an uncle that likes to say that people show their true faces when they think that they'll die. I believe that you showed me yours aboard that ship in the USJ, and I'm… actually worried for you, Mineta."

The talk has officially left Momo Yaoyorozu's expectations. And it barely started! Izuku was worried about Mineta? What exactly happened on that ship? And who was Izuku's uncle to have such a saying attributed to them?

"We were surrounded by villains, but instead of trying to come up with a plan to fight or escape, you immediately proceeded to belittle your own quirk. And you were shocked out of your words when I said that it's going to help us win." Izuku takes a deep breath. "Mineta, did someone ever tell you that you might be suffering from depression?"

What?

"D...depression?" Mineta blinks a few times. "I mean, I'm sometimes sad, but…"

"No." Izuku shakes his head. "Depression not as 'oh this rainy session is so depressing and sad' but as an actual disease. Have you ever heard of diabetes?" Mineta nods faintly. "Well, clinical depression is something similar, but instead of having problems with hormone regulating sugar, you have problems with the hormone that tells your brain that you are happy. Unreasonably low self-esteem is a symptom."

"Then I don't have it." Mineta lashes out suddenly, startling Momo completely. "I mean, look at me! I'm baby-sized! Everyone looks down on me, and they ARE RIGHT! And my quirk?! It just made me a laughingstock, especially when I said that I want to go to UA! How's that unreasonable?!"

"Mineta…" Izuku tries to interject (Momo is too stunned by the scene she is witnessing to say anything, seriously where is this all coming from) but Mineta continues.

"I bet it's nice to be able to lecture me like that." He is glaring at Izuku. "Cool quirk, principal's attention, girls all over you, All Might's scurrying around you like you are his favourite, I bet you had tons of friends in the Junior High School, huh?"

"Mineta." She doesn't see his face from her position, but whatever expression Izuku makes, it makes Minoru not interrupt him. "I was a late bloomer. My quirk didn't manifest until a month before the UA entrance exam. How do you think kids reacted when I, the quirkless kid, said that I want to become a hero?"

Izuku was what?

"You… what?" Mineta is just taken aback as Momo is.

"My only quote unquote friend told me to take the swan dive off the roof and pray for a quirk in my next life." Izuku continues. Momo briefly wonders if he realizes just how incredibly bitter he sounds. It's… unlike him, to say the least. "And I, due to some incredibly dumb reasoning, pretended that everything was alright in front of my parents for years, instead of asking for help. So I'm not lecturing you because I feel that I'm better than you, Mineta. I'm trying to help you. Because you clearly have issues, and your main way of coping with them is going to get you expelled sooner than later. Or at the very least it's going to make you a pariah within the class. And I don't want to lose a member of my classroom that way, especially if I get to hear a while later that you killed yourself over it. Got it?"

"Y...yes." Mineta takes a deep breath. He seems to be even more confused than Momo, and that's an achievement if she ever witnessed one. "If… that's true, then… w...what am I s...supposed to do?"

"I'm not a trained professional, and we'll need some of them to deal with it." Izuku says. "Or to even confirm it, that would be the start. I'll have a talk about you with Hound Dog and Recovery Girl. The latter will probably run some tests on you to exclude other eventualities, before referring you to a specialist. Hound Dog will in the meantime help you find healthier ways of coping."

"Heroes… go to psychologists?" Mineta looks like he isn't sure what to think or talk about at this point.

"Well, I plan to become one and I do visit Hound Dog regularly, so… yes?" Izuku replies, while scratching his head a bit. "I mean, heroes risk their lives and sometimes arrive too late to save people. Their training doesn't make them immune to PTSD and so on. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"Oh." Mineta looks down again. Momo realizes that he is on the verge of crying. "No one has ever... I mean, th… thank you?"

"You don't have to. I'm your class president, right? Your well-being is sort of my job." Izuku replies. "If you need to talk, I'm all ears."

Mineta scurries off. Momo is still stunned when Izuku stands up to walk away from the room (Mineta is already going through the door). Then he notices Momo being there and actually jumps back, startled.

"Did you… forget that I was here?" Momo asks and Izuku awkwardly nods. "You're really the strangest person I ever met."

"E...ehhh?!" Izuku lets out.

"Not in a bad way, though." Momo stands up from her seat. "You just made me realize that I simply wrote off Mineta as a pervert and if I was the class-president, I'd probably have him expelled. So there is a possibility that I would kill him due to my own misjudgment." She sighs. "I had my doubts about you, but if the elections happened tomorrow, I'd vote for you."

There is a lesson to be learned in this. About not hurrying with judgments too much. Even if someone looks like they are doing their best to be as disgusting as possible.

Izuku Midoriya is obviously struggling with receiving the praise. She is almost certain that she knows why he is visiting Hound Dog. But she isn't going to pry, for as long as he DOES receive professional help. And, honestly, she isn't in a mood to jump into assumptions after what she just witnessed.

"How did you know?" She asks, because frankly, she is still taken aback by what she saw.

"Uhm, well I mentioned having problems in my old school, and…" In Momo's opinion, the word 'problems' is an understatement of a century. "... I, well, kinda retreated to the internet. I spent a lot of time on forums for the quirkless or other victims of discrimination. So complex mutants and villainous quirk bearers, mostly. After a while, you… learn things like that. And start noticing symptoms."

Momo suddenly recalls her own treatment of the Rehab Course students. And how she was distraught by Himiko's quirk. How she acted on the chat as if Himiko needed to somehow prove to people that she was useful to be accepted.

Her teachers taught her a lot. About science, history, mathematics, literature and so on. But what she just witnessed was somehow never mentioned. And Momo found herself woefully unprepared to deal with it.

Something she'll need to change. Thankfully, she is a hard-worker.

(***)

Class President Support Brigade Chatroom

SmallMight: Uhm

SmallMight: so

SmallMight: I know that you are busy preparing for the school festival

SmallMight: but

GaleForce: ?

GravityGirl: C'mon just say it

GravityGirl: We don't bite

Vampire: I do!

GravityGirl: ( -_-)

Vampire: sorry ochaco-chan, didn't figure out that this was a metaphor

GravityGirl: *pats head* it's ok

Vampire: :D

Vampire: *purrs*

SmallMight: basically my mom says that she wants to meet her son's friends because someone Nedzu told her about me and my friends 'solving' (that was mostly you really) that cafeteria incident

SmallMight: and I didn't have a lot of friends in my past school so, uhm, yeah

SmallMight: any of you want to drop by? just for a while

SmallMight: we would watch a film, eat something, errr, I'm not sure really, I don't have a lot of experience with that?

GravityGirl: yes

SmallMight: Ehhh?

GravityGirl: Just tell me when and where.

Vampire: Well, me and Toshi are out because, well, house arrest. On school grounds.

Mindhack: yeah, but we already visited your home and your mom knows us, so we can wait to meet her again ;)

GaleForce: as much as i would love to meet your family, i'm absolutely dedicated to crushing the school festival right now, i'm alright if it's after the festival though!

TurboMan: The same as the GaleForce, I'm dedicated to showing my mettle to the world and making sure that my brother isn't disgraced with my performance. So while I'm looking forward to spending time with you after the festival, right now is a bit of a problematic moment.

Froggy: I'm alright with going. I heard you have younger siblings, and I have experience with those. Looking forward to deepening it.

Mindhack: oh boy, this is going to be hilarious and I'm really looking forward to hearing what happened.

Froggy: ?

Mindhack: One word. Aiko.

Mindhack: You will understand.

Froggy: ?

SmallMight: What are you on about, Toshi, she is lovely! My parents absolutely cherish her, and so do I.

Mindhack: I have no idea why her family members fail to perceive what an eldritch horror she is, but whatever. I heard the tales and I'm not looking forward to meeting the seven years old girl that stalks Aizawa-sensei's nightmares.

Froggy: Eldritch horror?

GravityGirl: Stalks Aizawa-sensei's nightmares?

SmallMight: Toshi is overexaggerating.

Mindhack: I am not. But you'll learn for yourself.

GravityGirl: So it's me and Tsuyu. SmallMight where and when

SmallMight: Ehhh?

Mindhack: give him a second to figure it out, he probably expected you all to say no

(***)

Hitoshi knew Izuku well, despite the two mostly interacting through the internet (at least before the Rehab Course started officially). He was clearly fidgeting and clasping his hands uncontrollably while welcoming them to his house.

He was, honestly, kinda adorable. Uraraka knows that it's due to him terminally lacking confidence in himself (while being confident in everyone around him), and that it's generally a bad thing, but seeing him like that DOES kinda recharge her batteries.

They barely managed to make it to the anteroom when Uraraka is suddenly attacked. Okay, it's more of a surprise hug than attack. When she looks down, she sees a pair of really large, red eyes (and a small horn on the forehead) looking at her from under an All Might-themed onesie's hoodie.

"G...good morning!" The little girl (omigosh she is so cute) says before breaking the hug and repeating the routine on a slightly surprised (people tend to react weirdly to her appearance, not hug them right out of the blue) Tsuyu. "Good morning!"

"Good morning, ribbit." Tsuyu replies and the girl beams at her.

"Eri, what are you doing?" Izuku decides to ask and Uraraka learns the name of the girl that part of her wants to kidnap and bring home.

"Mom says that when you have guests, you need to make them feel welcome." Eri replies. "Hugs make me feel welcome. So I'm hugging the guests."

This logic is incredibly adorable. And cute.

Izuku tries to find a way to reply to it (probably some variant of 'yes, but you have to ask them first'), but that's when Eri hugs him and tells him 'good morning, Izunichan!'.

It's not even morning. It's afternoon, they finished their school for today. Izuku doesn't look like he is in the mood to point this out. Or to continue his earlier attempts at explaining the social cues to his sister.

(***)

The second member of the Izuku's family that they meet is Asa, Izuku's younger brother. He looks like a smaller Izuku with messy - like Izuku - but white hair. He is wearing some casual but clearly Miruko-themed clothes.

He is also, somehow, more skittish than his older brother. Uraraka didn't think that it was possible, really. He can barely look into the guest's eyes before redirecting his own eyes to the floor.

Eri is following them. When they run into Asa, Uraraka can see the gears in her head turning. Eventually they arrive at their destination, and Eri suddenly hugs her second brother and tells him good morning. When inquired about it, she says that she didn't want to make him feel bad by being excluded from the hugs only because he was already present in the house.

Uraraka lets out a faint 'awwww' and Tsuyu looks like she just joined the Kidnap Eri Because She Is Too Cute team.

Asa looks startled by it, but is probably used to Eri being Eri, so he just hugs her back and pats her head. She lets him go after a few seconds, and then smiles at them all like she is super happy because she did her job well.

They are about to leave the room when Izuku freezes suddenly.

"Asa, what did mom tell you about stealing things?" Izuku asks, and Uraraka freezes as well. What brought this up? Asa suddenly stands at attention.

"To always provide a sufficient distraction, and have an escape plan on the ready!" He recites and Uraraka barely restrains her laughter. The look on Izuku's face is hilarious. Tsuyu looks more worried than anything.

"No, the other thing she told you." Izuku decides to continue the subject.

"To… uhm… Rabbit is confused…" Asa says, mostly to himself. Suddenly, his face is lit with understanding. "To not do this, or at least give everything back!"

"Yes." Izuku replies with a stern face that's just sooo unlike him but Uraraka still likes it. "So give them their wallets back, because we aren't repeating what happened when you stole Present Mic's house keys and forgot to give them back before he left."

What? Uraraka realizes only now that she didn't even notice when her wallet vanished from her pocket. When did Asa...

"Sorry for him." Izuku says while Asa (still not looking at them, but at the floor) gives them their belongings back. "He has… a bit of a kleptomaniac streak. He gives everything back, but… uhm. Yeah."

Uraraka is slightly weirded out. But doesn't have the time necessary to say anything, because that's when she hears another voice cut in.

"Onichan brought friends." Another little girl says. Uraraka didn't even notice her arrival and… what the hell?! "Good."

"Aiko, there you are!" Izuku says with a smile on his face, making the guests realize that they finally met the dreaded Aiko. And, well, she had quite an entrance.

"Hello there." Tsuyu says before deciding to take one for the team. "Uhm, why are you standing on the ceiling-ribbit?" Uraraka has the same question, but Izuku and Asa act like it's normal. Only Eri looks sad, probably by not being able to hug her sister, due to her being out of range.

"Because the floor is too crowded." Aiko states flatly. "And you should cut Izu-nichan's hair. It's so messy because it's full of secrets." Uraraka is trying to find a way to answer that, but she finds none. "I like frogs." Aiko adds, looking at Tsuyu.

"That's great-ribbit." Tsuyu decides (with suicidal overconfidence, Uraraka just knows it) to strike some sort of conversation. "What do you like about them?"

"Many of them are poisonous." Aiko replies and Uraraka does a dry version of a spit-take. Tsuyu is similarly taken aback. Aiko's head suddenly turns to face on the walls. She is looking at something, and Uraraka is almost certain that it's something behind the wall. "My cartoon is starting. I'll be going. Have fun."

Then she walks through the wall. Eri shouts something about the cartoon starting and follows her sister (but uses the floor AND the door).

Uraraka and Tsuyu exchange slightly worried glances. Hitoshi might have been more correct about Aiko Midoriya being an eldritch horror than they thought.

(***)

Look, I'm not saying that canon Mineta is like that. I'm just saying that when I had depression, I coped in a very similar way (except less grope'y, but that was probably my anxiety and the fact that I was bullied so I avoided people in general). While also performing academically way beneath what I actually could due to how hard it was for myself to motivate my ass to do about anything save for breathing (and just so you know, Mineta has the second highest int stat among 1-A students according to wiki, but is still 9th during the theoretical exams - that guy is smarter than Bakugou and Midoriya).

I decided to throw him a bone and give him character development. Instead of, you know, having him kicked around the school (or kicked out of school) for laughs. Do something unique with him. This event is pretty much his start line. It gets... odd, as time passes. Like, seriously odd.