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Officially, Izuku’s favourite hero’s All Might. The man is so cool and saves everyone with a smile and he’s so strong! It’s easy to like him; it’s easy to adore him. Almost every child loves this man who’s been the number one hero for more than two decades now and adults respect his presence as well as All Might’s charismatic appearance.
Which is why he’s the perfect decoy.
Don’t get him wrong! Izuku has always been a fan of All Might – as much of a fan as he is to almost all of the other top ten heroes – but he isn’t even close to being his favourite hero. Although ever since he’s met the man behind All Might, the gigantic gap between his personal number one and the pro has been slowly closing with each day they spent together as mentor and protégée.
And yet, he will never replace Izuku’s favourite hero.
Unofficially, Izuku’s absolute favourite hero isn’t even a hero, actually. Not one that’s acknowledged as such by the commission, even if the general public has been treating her like one for the longest time and the police have stopped trying to really catch her years ago. (They still keep it up for appearances but they’re very obviously giving her the slip from time to time.) Izuku’s favourite hero is a vigilante but not just any of them, no. She’s the best – her record and career mirrors All Might’s to an uncanny degree – and she was the reason for an enormous increase in vigilante activity in the last twenty-five years. Truly, her impact is so incredible that they’re calling the current period the New Age of Vigilantism.
Izuku’s favourite hero is the vigilante Psytrip.
Who just so happens to be his mom.
Growing up with the underground and slightly illegal (also female) version of All Might as his mom was so, so cool. (Like so cool.) And, of course, a little bit terrifying. Okay, no, scratch that. It was very terrifying. Every time Inko went out, Izuku knew that that could’ve been the last time he saw his mom. He’s always known how dangerous his mom’s job was and she made sure he was aware vigilantism/heroism could go wrong quick. (She showed him every possible way to immediately injure or kill a person. Psytrip may have one of the lowest rates of fatalities but that doesn’t mean she never had to use lethal force before. Izuku has obviously picked up on the fact that all of those methods could easily be applied to him as well. And that? That was a wake-up call for seven year old him.)
Other mothers teach their child table manners, kindness and compassion. Midoriya Inko taught him all of that and then so much more. Body training, strategy, analysis, ciphers, solo and team battle plans, dirty fighting, martial arts, fighting with weaponry and, last but definitely not least, ethics. All of these disciplines were part of young Izuku’s childhood lessons and when he got his quirk from All Might, well... after a tirade on the, ah, “absolute irresponsibility of that useless knock-off Easter Bunny” Inko incorporated quirk training as well. (And, man, Izuku’s never been so glad to have gone through extensive training in his formative years and that he was thusly strong enough to receive One for All seven months before the entrance exam. He would have probably blown his arm whilst trying to fight the robots otherwise.)
Man, he loves his mom. He loves everything she stands for and he loves how she raised him. On top of being a notorious vigilante Inko’s also a single mom and a cashier. She’s... well, there are no words to describe how much Izuku loves his mom. (The only person to have ever believed in him, despite his quirklessness. The only person who’s never left his side throughout the years.)
(Yeah, maybe there’s a whole other reason for why Psytrip’s his favourite hero – a reason that has nothing to do with her being an amazingly strong force of justice.)
The only downside that comes with being the son of Psytrip is the fact he can’t really explain himself very well. Yeah, here and there he can say stuff like: “Oh, that’s something I picked up from watching pros on the net.” or “I know that because I once read up on Yakuza hierarchies.” Most of the time, though, he’s desperately scrambling for any sort of explanation that would account for, let’s say, his intimate knowledge on money laundering schemes. (Like, what’s he gonna say? “I know so much about money laundering because my mom thought I’d need it in the future and she once had a case that almost went awry due to her lack of info on such operations”?)
However, he’s somehow managed to convince his classmates not to look too much into it. Aizawa-sensei always gets this very constipated look on his face when Izuku’s yet again caught doing or saying something he shouldn’t be able to do or say but the man usually just ignores him or even goes with the flow in rare occasions. And he gave Izuku the name Problem Child for his trouble, which is fair retribution in Izuku’s humble opinion.
So, when he’s called to the principal’s office, he doesn’t expect... this.
“Um.” he says rather unintelligently as he eyes Nedzu, his homeroom teacher and some random man in a beige trench coat. (Wait. Beige trench coat... why does that ring a bell?)
“Ah, welcome, Midoriya. Do close the door and take a seat. This will probably take a bit. Or not. Depending on your own person.” the principal greets him cheerfully. Izuku follows his instructions hastily and wrings his hands when he notices the whole set-up is basically a thrown together interrogation room. He feels a little bit disconcerted under the combined gazes of the three but does his best to ignore the tingle of alertness that crawls up his neck. It’s better, his mom told him, to look confused and innocent in such situations. (That came up during their lesson on interrogation and torture. Man, he hopes this conversation will only contain the former – he’s so not prepared to dissociate right now.)
For a moment, the silence weighs down heavily on him. Izuku persists. Whatever they will ask of him, he’ll give his best to come across as at least decently clueless... unless he somehow accidentally went on a murder streak he currently can’t remember. Then he’d let himself be gently put into Tartarus’ care.
Aizawa-sensei sighs when the silence stretches too long to be intimidating and crawls into the awkward zone. “I’m not going to beat around the bush.” Izuku’s homeroom teacher says, “We are almost a hundred percent sure there’s a traitor in UA and you’re one of our prime suspects.”
Izuku presses his lips together to suppress the frankly maniacal laugh that wants to burst out of him. He, a traitor? He – Mr I Accidentally Offered My Body When All Might Said How His Quirk Transfers (and, oh god, that’s a story both of them will take to their graves) – a traitor? He, Psytrip’s and All Might’s kid, a traitor?
A thought strikes him and he sobers rather quickly. Of course. Of fucking course they think he’s the traitor. Izuku’s so damn suspicious he screams traitor. He even-
-he groans when he recalls the lecture on infiltration that he gave Todoroki, Hagakure and Tsu at like three at night in the common room.
“For that purpose, I am here. My name’s Tsukauchi Naomasa and my quirk lets me know when someone lies.” (BEIGE TRENCH COAT. MOTHERFUCKER, THAT’S THE GUY WHO’S THE DETECTIVE FOR PSYTRIP’S CASE.)
Izuku internally deceases.
“So, I will ask you rather briskly: Midoriya-kun, are you the UA traitor?”
Izuku revives. He can do this. It’s just a single question and then he’s done and can return to the dorms and spend the rest of his day maniacally mumbling under the shower with the temperature turned all the way to cold. A single question and afterwards he’ll never have to see the guy who almost got his mom jailed on multiple occasions again. Great!
“No, Tsukauchi-san. I’m not the traitor.” he answers with his heart thundering in his chest and a slight trickle of nervous sweat on his neck.
“True.” There. There it is. Now please let him go, okay? Okay?
Oh shit. Aizawa-sensei frowns. Izuku’s fucked. Izuku’s done for.
“Don’t take this the wrong way but I kind of was pretty sure you were.” the teacher says. “So. That you aren’t the traitor is great, mind you, but I wonder... How do you know all the stuff you know?”
He swallows down bile. “Um... I... have familial connections.” he hesitantly answers.
“True.” Tsukauchi confirms.
Sensei groans. “Okay. Familial connections? Like what? Your mom’s a cashier and your dad’s gallivanting around the USA as a merch designer, if your file’s correct.”
“Yep. That file is definitely correct.”
“True.”
“As for my... familial connections. Uh... please don’t make me do this.” Izuku winces. Wow, way to go.
Aizawa’s eyes narrow and all of a sudden he reminds Izuku of a shark that’s sniffed blood. “Make you do what, Midoriya?”
He bites his bottom lip and shrugs. “I don’t want to answer.”
“Midoriya-kun, it is vital that you disclose all available information or else we will have to contact your mother and ask her what that is all about.” Principal Nedzu speaks gently and takes a sip of his tea afterwards.
“No! No, please don’t involve my mom!” is out of Izuku’s mouth before he can stop it and he wants to slap himself because that sounds so damn suspicious it’s not even funny anymore (if it ever was).
Tsukauchi’s eyebrows shoot up. “Does your mother have to do with those familial secrets of yours?”
Izuku can either deny it and be outed as a liar, tell them the truth and endanger Inko or... or...
He does a full one-eighty. “Um. It’s really not my story to tell. I mean, can you please get my mom here?”
(Maybe it’s throwing her under the bus a bit but his mom always said he could count on her if it ever came down to managing her secret identity.)
Nedzu claps his paws in delight. “Sure! I’ll call Midoriya-san and send a chauffeur.”
What follows after a short conversation on the phone between the principal of UA and Midoriya Inko is perhaps the most awkward twenty minutes of Izuku’s life. Like there’s uncomfortable and then there’s this. He’s gulped down three additional cups of tea and eaten half of the offered cookies by the time his frazzled mom bursts into the door in her 7-Eleven uniform.
“Izukkun!” she greets him and gives him a quick kiss on the temple.
“Hi, mom.” he mumbles, scratching the back of his head.
The door clicks shut and Inko takes the seat to Izuku’s right.
“Well, what’s this about, Principal Nedzu, Aizawa-sensei and...?”
“Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa, quirk: Human Lie Detector. Now, Midoriya-san, we called you here because we frankly suspected your son to be involved in betraying the trust of UA. We’ve cleared that suspicion since but Midoriya-kun has shown a rather large amount of sensible knowledge he simply should not have as well as physical skills that are too honed for them to have been gained in an informal environment, as Aizawa-san told me. Your son said he has familial connections and we thought therefore you might be able to tell us more.” the detective lays the case bare.
The shift in Inko’s entire person is just as sudden as it is scarring. Gone is the humble blubbering single mom, gone is the nine-to-five working cashier. In their stead are steel-eyed determination and unshakeable pride. Izuku’s not exactly used to seeing his mom like this either but he sure as hell isn’t looking as shocked as Tsukauchi or as weirded out as Aizawa-sensei. (Or as intrigued as Principal Nedzu.)
Inko smiles broadly and it’s somewhere between sensei’s Logical Ruse and All Might’s I-Am-Here smile.
“Nao-kun.” she says and Tsukauchi’s entire body freezes, “Naruhata, sixteenth street three years ago.” The man visibly pales.
Then she fixes on Aizawa-sensei. “Eraser-kun. Musutafu, eleventh street four and a half years ago.”
Izuku’s never seen his homeroom teacher so shell-shocked.
Psytrip lets out a good-natured laugh. “Come on, boys! Don’t look so horrified!” She immediately switches back to her intimidating side. “Seriously, though. I’m calling in the favours. I want none of you threatening my son over his parentage. Now you know why my Izukkun is so special and isn’t it in your best interest to keep hush-hush about it, hmm?”
The detective slowly thaws until his limbs once again seem to cooperate. “Ye- uh, I mean... yes ma’am.” he croaks out.
Eraserhead bites his lip, eyes flickering between Izuku and his mom until he finds what he’s searched for, groans quietly but ultimately also confirms by saying: “Alright, senpai.”
“Se-senpai?!” Izuku squeals quietly but everyone ignores the small outburst.
“And you, Principal?” Inko asks.
“Oh, I knew from the beginning Midoriya-kun’s your son. Your fighting styles are eerily similar! I won’t keep you any longer, Midoriya-san. Thank you for clearing that up!”
“You knew?!” Izuku throws in and is, once again, largely ignored. (Wow.)
His mom stands up, gives him another quick kiss before bowing politely. “Thank you for taking care of my son, Eraser-kun, Principal. I’ll see myself out... oh, wait. Here, for you!” She tosses a bundle of simple bright yellow and pink hair ties right into Aizawa-sensei’s lap. He holds them up like they’re highly explosive and every tiny jostle could make them go off.
“Uh?”
“Honestly, please tie your hair down, it’s such a dead giveaway for your quirk activation, dear. Izukkun told me all about how long your floaty hair has grown and how he could bash your face in, if he times it right and grabs you by it when it's down.”
Izuku blushes.
“O-okay, thank you, senpai.”
Inko nods with a small but genuine smile and bids her farewell. She leaves behind two men in shambles, one mischievous stoat and her son, who, for the love of god can’t make any sense of this entire exchange.
“So, yeah.” he says into the quiet of the office, “That’s um. That’s my mom.”
Aizawa breaks the plastic string holding the ties together and quickly binds his hair into a bun. “I can’t believe you, Problem Child. Psytrip as your mom and All Might as your dad? How the hell did that happen?”
Izuku splutters out a vehement: “All Might’s not my dad!”
“Lie.” Tsukauchi almost sobs and buries his face in the palms of his hands.