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Hisashi Midoriya is a villain.
Tensei stares at his reflection, horrified, toothpaste dripping from his mouth, his electric toothbrush buzzing away merrily in his hand. As far as locations for monumental, earthshattering revelations go, his en suite bathroom would probably not be his first choice, but unfortunately he has far more pressing issues to worry about.
Hisashi Midoriya is a villain.
Right, of course, he has patrol, he remembers numbly as his body resumes the motions of his morning routine. He is required to go off and be a hero, be a leader, all while knowing his baby brother, his beloved Tenya, is being watched by a villain.
No, not just any villain, he reminds himself, and has to almost physically stop himself from tearing out of the house and across town to where Tenya, blissfully unaware of the danger he’s in, is probably still fast asleep. Hisashi Midoriya is All For One.
And Tensei is perhaps the only person that knows All For One is still alive that is not in the villain’s employ.
His stomach rolls at the idea of breakfast, and Tensei picks up the picture he keeps by his bed and sits down on the mattress to stare, terrified, at the two boys in it. Two best friends, beaming at the camera, absolutely delighted to have found each other. Two little boys that, no matter what, never fail to lift Tensei’s spirit, whom he has watched grow and learn and face the world together.
For all intents and purposes, Tensei has two baby brothers, and then and there he swears he will protect them to his dying breath.
Even if it means facing the might of All For One alone, without the power of One For All.
***
Despite what Uncle Hisashi/All For One/Midoriya might claim, Tensei is not in fact an idiot. He has learnt not only from the best that U.A. has to offer, but also his parents and grandfather, and so he knows that the first thing he needs is information.
After the little “I trust you and my dad was All For One no really pinkie promise” speech (Tensei may be a tiny bit bitter about that), Nedzu helped him learn a little more about All For One and his history. And of course that was helpful (and, in hindsight, terrifying, because he’s not dead), but now – now, Tensei needs to learn what he can about the present and, perhaps more importantly, the future. But he also cannot risk endangering anyone else, cannot risk being eliminated when no one else knows. So it is up to Tensei to figure out whether All For One is working towards some goal, or is simply in hiding. He needs to find out whether the villain has any other minions besides Machia and, possibly, Kurogiri. And worst of all…
…How does Izuku tie into everything?
Really, considering Tensei has just figured out his little brother’s best friend is being raised by All Might’s nemesis, it’s a miracle he hasn’t had a panic attack. As it is, his distraction means it is only a matter of time before something happens to him. When he wakes up in hospital with a concussion and a fractured wrist, he knows he got off lightly, and doesn’t protest when mother promptly bans him from Idaten until he has recovered. Instead, he grabs the most inconspicuous set of clothing he owns and heads off to channel his inner Aizawa.
Unfortunately, being an underground hero is apparently very boring. Uncle Hisashi/All For One/Midoriya does exactly nothing interesting over the next three days, at least out where Tensei can see. Fortunately, there is a very nice café just across the street from Onecore Laboratories’ Tokyo office. So Tensei grabs a table with a good view of the front entrance to the tall building, orders a sandwich and a large glass of fresh juice, and settles in with some long overdue paperwork, because if he can’t tell mum that Uncle Hisashi/All For One/Midoriya (you know what? He’s just going to call the man All For One) is a villain, he hasn’t got a decent excuse.
On the afternoon of day three, he signs off on the latest batch of brand deals and, with a groan, rubs his shoulders. He eyes the pile of documents with some small satisfaction, and is just debating treating himself to a slice of cake (not comparable to Kurogiri’s, of course, but he can’t risk eating anything prepared in Midoriya’s kitchen until he can be certain it’s not poisoned), when he hears a familiar voice.
“…Iida? Te… Tensei Iida?”
It takes Tensei longer than he would like to admit to finally place the woman standing by his table. When he does, however, he smiles. Because she reminds her of – happier times, truthfully, of two friends becoming three.
“Yukiyama, right? Shoto’s mother?”
“That would be me,” the woman confirms and, after a second’s hesitation, she slips into the seat opposite. “…What are you doing here?”
“Compulsory vacation,” Tensei smiles sardonically. “I was a bit slow getting out of the way of an incoming villain. What about you?”
“Coffee run,” Yukiyama laughs. “We’re having a bit of a brainstorm – there was something of an incident last night, and we need to make it sound… not-terrible.”
“Sorry,” Tensei frowns as something occurs to him. “It never occurred to me before, but – what exactly do you do? Jobwise, I mean.”
“Single mother,” Yukiyama shrugs. “But as for what pays the bills – I work in the PR department for Onecore. That’s… Actually how I first met Izuku.”
“…Isn’t he a bit young for a summer job?” Tensei snickers. “I mean, I know he’s cute, but…”
“Honestly, Iida!” the woman shakes her head, but there’s a smile on her face. “No, I… I had to bring Shoto in one day, and he… He wandered off. Hisashi found him and, instead of firing me, he… He introduced Shoto to Izuku, and then invited us to a birthday party. Which, of course, is where I met you,” she chuckles. “He’s a good man, is Hisashi Midoriya. Better than most.”
Tensei smiles, because – he was there, when Tenya first met Shoto. He remembers the shy, polite boy, and he remembers how it took weeks, maybe even months, for Izuku and Tenya to teach Shoto how to… How to be a child. And true, the initial introduction was probably motivated by the desire to give Izuku a new friend, but… In the end, Shoto gained two friends who he adores.
Then Tensei realizes Shoto gained those two friends thanks to All For One, and barely holds back a wince.
“Oh – I think that’s my order!” Yukiyama exclaims and stands up. “I need to get back…”
“How about I give you a hand?” Tensei asks as he twists round and catches sight of the numerous cups, already lined up in their carriers. “After all, that’s my job.”
“Thank you, but I’d hate to interrupt your vacation…”
“An older brother’s job never ceases,” Tensei shrugs as he follows her to the counter. “And anyway – I didn’t become a hero for the money.”
“Why did you, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I don’t,” Tensei frowns as he considers it. “I guess… I wanted to live up to the family name. Not cause of expectations – I mean, people expected me to be a hero, what with being the firstborn Iida son, but… It was more that I admired my family. I mean, grandfather created Idaten, and worked so hard to help it become established… And then there’s mother, who believed and worked so hard to become a hero – she could probably give… Alright, not All Might, but Endeavor a run for his money.”
Yukiyama flinches. And… Tensei feels a pit open in his stomach. But he soldiers on, maintaining the mask, because they aren’t about to have that conversation in a coffee shop.
“And then I found – I like feeling I’m making a difference. And not just to civilians – there are a lot of sidekicks out there with real potential. We give them a chance, provide them with training and resources they wouldn’t have access to. Some of them stay, but a lot of them move on to become independent. I’ll let you in on a secret actually – mum keeps a big map of Japan in her office at Idaten, and marks their patrol areas on it. Her dream is for it to one day be completely covered!”
“That’s… wow!” Yukiyama laughs. “…That’s a truly heroic attitude! You know, I – I think I can see why the boys look up to you so much.”
As previously established, Tensei is not a moron. Not only is he a U.A. alumni, groomed for years to take over Idaten; he is a successful hero, was voted Class President three years in a row, and leads a team of dozens of sidekicks. He has had to learn to read people; to see conflict or tension among members of his team before it affects their performance. To notice when they are uneasy about a plan or lack confidence in their skills, even if they are not fully aware of it themselves. To spot signs that maybe, just maybe, Idaten is their first real family.
And he can put the pieces together now, so clearly. Yes, he may not spend much time with Yukiyama or her elder kids, but he knows Shoto almost as well as Izuku. He can see the admiration the kid has for heroes, not just All Might but others too, and yet… Yet there is one hero that seems to absolutely terrify him.
One hero, who coincidentally had four kids, at least one of which would likely have some sort of Fire Quirk.
But Tensei is not dumb enough to just ask outright, because if he’s right… If he’s right, then it is certainly not something Yukiyama should risk stating in the middle of a street.
“Yeah, it’s… kind of upsetting how many of my fellow ‘heroes’ aren’t in it for the right reasons,” Tensei states instead, and makes sure to wince. “I mean, just look at Endeavor!”
Yukiyama shudders.
“What do you think happened to his family?” Tensei asks. “Me, I think his wife was so beautiful the king of Atlantis took one look at her and fell madly in love. But she refused to leave her children and so he transformed them all into mermaids and now they rule over an underwater kingdom.”
Yukiyama turns to stare at him for a moment, and Tensei just grins at her. Then she shakes her head, a smile forming on her face, as she glances away and seems to come to a decision.
“I think… I think they simply left,” she takes a deep breath. “And I think… I think, even though they live in a tiny apartment, and go to public school… They’re the happiest they’ve ever been.”
“I just hope they have friends they trust,” Tensei sighs dramatically. “Someone they know would protect them from Endeavor. Maybe a hero, who’s at least half as awesome as Ingenium…”
“Nobody’s even half as awesome as Ingenium,” Yukiyama laughs.
“Except for my mother, who is way cooler,” Tensei nods. He pauses outside the office building. “…You know that if you’re ever in trouble, day or night, you can call us? Mother… She likes having a not-work friend. And she can be almost as scary as Uncle Hisashi.”
“Thank you, Iida,” Yukiyama smiles. “…I know now.”
***
Several days later, Tensei is almost ready to return to his duties, and so trailing All For One has to be put on the backburner. That does not mean he has forgotten, however; he is out on his morning run, trying to make sense of All For One’s behaviour, when he hears the sounds of a fight and heads towards it.
A villain is rampaging through the area, a monster of a man tossing cars left and right as if they were no more than toys. Tensei curses that he isn’t wearing his costume and pulls his phone out of his pocket, ready to call in backup, when the criminal grabs an abandoned van, swings and throws it at a cowering mother and daughter. Time seems to slow as Tensei watches the vehicle; he feels Engine roar to life, desperate, even as he knows he will never make it in time…
…and then a strange mass of black mist appears in front of the would-be victims, and the car goes sailing straight through it. Then the portal vanishes, and everyone stares in confusion at where it had just been.
And then there is an almighty crash as the van falls from the sky and smashes into the villain, knocking him out cold.
Tensei laughs at the other heroes’ confusion and decides they are more than capable of transporting the criminal to jail. Instead, he glances around and locates a promising dark alley to duck down. He hurries along, and sure enough his instincts pay off, because halfway down he hears voices.
“…a real hero, kid!”
“Shut up and take your muffins.”
“Hey, Kurogiri, nice save!” Tensei grins as he rounds a corner. Sure enough, All For One’s nanny/taxi/lieutenant is standing there, holding a bag out to a guy that looks so shady Tensei wonders whether he should just arrest him pre-emptively.
“Friend of yours?” the creepy stranger asks.
“Hardly,” Kurogiri snorts. “I just know him from… from work.”
“Hey, I introduced you to your girlfriend!”
That seems to be the worst thing to say, because the guy in the suit tenses and exclaims, “He’s a hero?!”
“You’re not doing anything illegal, Giran, he’s not about to arrest you,” Kurogiri sighs as he once again pushes the bag at him. “Are you, Iida?”
“And risk my supply of muffins?” Tensei snorts. “Absolutely not!”
“He feeds you too, does he?” Giran grins as he finally accepts the bag, showing off the gap in his teeth. “Well, you take care of yourself, brat. Try not to get done for illegal Quirk use…”
“One of the benefits of being a nanny is the excellent legal representation,” Kurogiri snorts. “Stay safe, Giran.”
Tensei manages to contain himself as he watches the man walk away. The minute this Giran has turned a corner, however, he spins and asks, curious, “So, how do you know someone I should probably arrest?”
“Giran’s hardly a hardened criminal,” Kurogiri snorts. “He just… knows things. Or knows how to acquire things, for a… reasonable price.”
“Oh, yes, well when you put it like that, he sounds like an upstanding citizen,” Tensei rolls his eyes, but keeps smiling. After all, Izuku’s dad is All For One. Some small-time information broker is peanuts by comparison. “And you know him because…”
“I owe him,” Kurogiri sighs as he starts walking. “You can probably guess how we first met.”
“I don’t know,” Tensei shrugs as he hurries to catch up. “To be honest, I always wondered how on earth you ended up working for Uncle Hisashi…”
Perhaps this is his chance to learn something. Kurogiri undoubtedly joined not Hisashi Midoriya, but the fearsome All For One, and for some reason was kept on when the villain went into hiding. Machia makes sense both as a means of protection and because of his unquestionable loyalty, but Kurogiri is the mystery here.
“Shino never told you?”
“Huh?” Tensei frowns. “No, all I know about you comes from Ryuko screaming at me for setting her friend up with a former villain.”
“Oh,” Kurogiri smiles, and falls silent.
Tensei examines him from the corner of his eye; the man may be hard to read, but they have known each other long enough he is comfortable guessing at his expressions. And right now, the Warp user looks almost… happy? Perhaps – perhaps he truly does care for Sosaki then…
“…Not everyone chooses to be a villain,” Kurogiri says, and clears his throat. “What I mean is – look, I’m not trying to justify anything, but… Where I grew up – where I grew up, crime was how you survived. You didn’t talk to heroes, didn’t tell the police anything… And then I got taken into foster care, and… It was like a completely different world, and I loved it. For the first time – for the first time I wasn’t constantly afraid.
“And then my father was released,” Kurogiri winces. “I knew it would be only a matter of time before he found me, and – I’d gotten a taste of civilian life. He would drag me back into crime, whether I agreed to or not, so I – I ran away to Tokyo.”
“…How old were you?” Tensei frowns.
“I’m not sure,” Kurogiri shrugs. “Mid-teens – fourteen, fifteen. Too young not to fear being returned to Kyoto if caught by authorities, so I couldn’t find honest work. Giran took pity on me – found me odd jobs that paid cash, steered me away from dangerous characters. He even let me crash at his place when the weather got bad. Whether I liked it or not, I was… Back in the very world I wanted to escape.
“And, of course… Warp Gate is the sort of Quirk any villain would love,” Kurogiri sighs. “Rumours had already started going around. I was a dumb kid, but even I knew it was only a matter of time before I was tracked down. I saw only two options: either I managed to get out of the underworld, or I found someone dangerous enough to offer me protection in return for my services. Of course I would have preferred the first option, but – I had no money, no education – not even a single person to turn to that was not, at best, of dubious character.”
“…So you sought out All For One,” Tensei breathes, as suddenly everything clicks into place. He can’t help the pity he feels as he realizes that he and Kurogiri are of a similar age, and yet when Tensei’s greatest worry was homework – Kurogiri was already seeking out a terrifying villain to sell his soul to. And – he did.
And now… If All For One returns, Kurogiri will have to give up this peaceful life he leads. Does he care more about All For One than Sosaki? Will he be relieved not to have to pretend anymore? Or will it break something inside him, to be torn away from the life he always dreamed of, and dragged back into a world he was so desperate to escape?
“Of course All For One was already gone, but – Midoriya heard I was asking around, and recruited me,” Kurogiri says with a soft smile. “Although – it was more Inko’s decision. She took one look at me, and decided I needed looking after. When she realized I was sleeping rough, she insisted I move in. After she got sick, I did everything I could to help, and now… I think there’s a part of Midoriya that lets me stay because he believes it’s what Inko would have wanted.”
“So in the end you got your happy ending,” Tensei says, and can’t help but hope it’s true. Because – Kurogiri never chose where he would be born. And he deserves a loving family, even if they’re people he has no genetic relation to. And more than that… Tensei is selfish, and doesn’t want to imagine a time when he might have to face a villain with a teleportation Quirk and a face obscured by creepy mist. “You tried going the second option, but somehow – somehow you stumbled into the first, all the same.”
“Yes,” Kurogiri laughs. “I suppose you’re right.”
***
When Tensei actually sees the gravestone, he feels rather foolish.
It was not that he doubted the existence of Inko Midoriya per se, because Izuku obviously came from somewhere. But his conversation with Kurogiri has weighed on his mind, and so he finally decided to visit the cemetery. He doesn’t know what he expected to find, but now that he can see her grave, obviously well cared for and visited regularly – it brings home the fact that she was a real person. She had parents, and a son, and for some strange reason, she married All For One.
“Erm… Hi,” he waves, feeling rather awkward. “…Nice to meet you. I’m, erm… Look, you don’t know me, but I kind of know your son, and… and husband…”
Then he hesitates.
What does he actually know about Izuku’s mum? Most of it comes from All For One, and normally Tensei would just roll his eyes and take it with a pinch of salt, because Hisashi Midoriya is still very much in love with his wife, but…
…But why is Tensei assuming All For One is not? Why is he desperately seeking a different explanation, simply because he now knows Hisashi Midoriya is a villain? It’s not like being a villain automatically means he cannot love his wife, cannot be a good father. After all – if heroes can be bad people, why can’t the inverse be true? Kurogiri – Kurogiri is one of the kindest, most caring individuals Tensei knows, and yet if not for a lucky coincidence, they would be on opposite sides.
Why can’t villains be good people?
Tensei frowns. He hopes he’s a good man, but – he’s more than Ingenium. He may be a hero, but he’s also a brother, a son, a friend. He is a U.A. alumni, was class president – he has so many facets to his personality, as do most people. He is not defined only by his role as a hero, so then… Why is he so determined that being a villain can be someone’s defining characteristic?
Perhaps… Perhaps he is thinking about this all wrong. Perhaps Hisashi Midoriya, loving parent, isn’t just one of the many aspects of the man that for so long was known as All For One.
Perhaps All For One is instead just one aspect of Hisashi.
“…And I’m a complete idiot,” he grins and then laughs. “Sorry, just… finally understood some stuff. Anyway – my name is Tensei, and my baby brother and Izuku are best friends. I don’t know if Izuku ever mentioned a Tenya, but if he did, that’s my brother.
“They met in daycare, you know,” he smiles softly at the memory. “I just got home after a week away, and Tenya runs up to me, this huge smile on his face, and starts telling me about this new boy called Izuku. And Izuku is so smart, and so much fun, and when they went to the park, Izuku agreed to be his buddy! And mother says that if his papa agrees, he can come over for a playdate, wouldn’t that be fun?!”
Tensei winces when he remembers that awful realization that he already knew Izuku. He’d held it together till they got home, and then hid in his room and broke down, terrified that he’d fucked up. Tenya already clearly loved Izuku so much, but after what Tensei and Mic had done – Midoriya would be justified in immediately transferring Izuku and quite possibly getting a restraining order, and Tensei would have to live with the full knowledge that he had cost his beloved baby brother his only friend.
“He’s a good father, your husband,” Tensei clears his throat. He doubts he will ever forget the immense relief he felt when mother got a simple text from Midoriya, suggesting they meet up for a playdate. “He tries to put Izuku first. And Izuku… Izuku has a lot of people that love him. You obviously know Kurogiri, and probably Machia, and there’s me… But also my parents, and the Yukiyamas, and Tenya and Shoto and Hitoshi – those are his other friends, by the way. And there’s Mandalay, and probably the other Pussycats and also Mic and Eraserhead and Nedzu… So I know you’ll probably still worry, but… I can promise you, he’ll probably never be truly alone.”
So maybe Izuku’s dad is All For One, Tensei laughs as he bows to the spirit of Inko Midoriya and then turns to head home. Maybe there will come a day when Midoriya returns to a life of crime.
But Tensei is going to make sure he has his fun before then. After all, he’s probably already going to get murdered if that day comes. The least he can do, as a caring friend, is give All For One a good reason for killing him.
And Tensei is going to have an absolute blast in the process.