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Izuku woke up when he wasn’t supposed to.
Something had creaked outside his room.
Izuku pushed himself up, blearily wiping his eyes as he yawned. He clutched his new plushie closer as he blinked into the darkness of his room. Stars glowed softly on his ceiling.
He couldn’t see anything else.
Izuku yawned again, still full from cake and katsudon and still tired from playing so much.
Why had he woken up again?
Was that just something nine year olds did? He was nine now. Most of the time, he didn’t feel different on his birthday, but maybe nine was different? Izuku’s brows furrowed. It would make more sense for things to change on his tenth birthday. Then he would be in double digits!
Some footsteps sounded out in the hallway, and Izuku remembered why he woke up. It was because the floor had creaked, but it had creaked in that special way it only did when Dad was wearing his fancy shoes and leaving for work.
But it was dark outside. Shouldn’t Dad still be asleep with Mama?
Curiosity and concern nibbled at his belly. Despite the tempting warmth of his bed, Izuku pushed aside the covers and let his toes touch the floor.
There were footsteps again.
Izuku frowned. His bed was really cozy but…Izuku pushed off the bed and padded out of his room. He walked softly and slowly, sticking to the walls just like the heroes when they were being sneaky - but also in case of monsters.
He didn’t see any monsters, but when he got to the Kitchen, he did see Dad wearing his big black coat and shiny shoes, just like he was going to work.
“Dad?” Izuku called out, walking into the Kitchen.
Dad jumped, bright red eyes glaring out into the apartment. They almost looked like monster eyes, but that was silly, this was Dad! Dad wasn’t a monster.
“Izuku?” Dad said, his face softening once he looked down far enough to see his son, “What are you doing up, little one?”
“I heard somethin’,” Izuku said, grabbing his pajama shirt and fiddling with it. He looked down at his toes.
Dad huffed, amused, “I’m sure it was nothing, ducky.”
Izuku hummed, then looked up, “Where are you going? Isn’t it late for you too?”
Dad leaned down and ruffled his hair, chuckling, “I have to go for a very important emergency, prince. I will be back soon, okay?”
Izuku reached up and grabbed Dad’s hand, hugging it to his chest, “No.”
“No?” Dad asked, tilting his head, “It’s an emergency, baby. I have to go.”
Izuku’s lip wobbled. His eyes stung. It had been such a good day, the best birthday in a LONG time, but…!
“But you just got here! You can't leave the night of my birthday!” Izuku protested, looking up with wet eyes.
Dad tsked, kneeling down on the ground and hugging him. Izuku burrowed into his big black coat and fitting his head underneath Dad’s chin.
“I know Izuku, but Daddy has to go,” Dad said apologetically, “I was here for the big day, no?”
“You can’t leave because I’m the birthday boy and I said so,” Izuku mumbled. Dad laughed, and Izuku closed his eyes as he felt Dad’s chest rumble.
“Prince, it’s past midnight. You’ll have to wait until next year to pull such a powerful privilege again,” Dad said, “I’ll come back tomorrow morning, alright? I’ll make pancakes.”
“You always say that, then I never see you again,” Izuku warbled, “AND you never make pancakes.”
Dad tsked again, “I’ll be back this time. And on the off chance I’m too busy, I’ll call you, okay?”
Izuku pushed away, looking his Dad in the eyes. Dad smiled back, his eyes and white, curly hair almost glowing in the dim light.
Izuku sniffled, and shoved out his fist - minus the pinky, “Pinky promise?”
Dad chuckled, and wrapped his pinky around Izuku’s, “Pinky promise.”
~
Dad never came home.
He never called either.
~
Izuku glared at his hero notes through the mist of tears.
Another birthday gone. And no call from Dad.
Every year he hoped, every year Mom said maybe, and still…ever since his ninth birthday, nothing .
He should be used to it by now. He should expect it by now. Yet it still hurt every time.
What had he done to deserve this? If Dad had stopped calling or visiting around his 4th birthday, then at least he would have a clear reason but…
Izuku shoved the notebook away, sniffling pathetically. He’d tried to work on an updated entry for All Might to take his mind off…this…but it wasn’t working.
He stood up from his desk and grabbed an All Might blanket from his bed, wrapping it around his shoulders like a sad imitation of All Might’s Bronze Age cape. Then again, All Might also had one in his Silver Age and while while he was in America (which was very hard to find pictures of!) but the point still stood - All Might was a great hero who probably never got stood up by his Dad, and Izuku was a sad 13 year old boy who definitely did.
The door creaked as Izuku shuffled out into the apartment. He peeked around, but Mom wasn’t there. Izuku sighed. He understood needing to go to work on short notice - she was a nurse after all - but it still left him feeling lonelier than ever.
At least she had promised a good surprise when she finally came home.
Izuku stood in the middle of the room. It was summer. There were lots of things he could do, but he didn’t feel like doing any of them. Which is how he somehow found himself on the computer, scrolling aimlessly through a list of streams.
He liked video games, but he usually preferred to play them rather than watch someone else do it. What was the point? All he would do is get frustrated at people pretending to not find secrets for views.
Izuku sighed, staring at the streams of some big name players. He could pick someone with a lot of views, blend it amongst the crowd….but somehow that felt too much like school. He’d rather try to have an actual conversation with someone (like he should have had with Dad -
Izuku scrolled down to the streamers with almost no views. He clicked on the first one that was playing a game he was familiar with. Maybe he would be able to help.
He was immediately assaulted by the scratchiest voice he had ever heard.
“I swear if this fucking enemy doesn’t turn around—”
“You sound like you need some water,” Izuku blurted. He clapped his hands over his mouth, mortified.
“...Eh? What, you join my stream just to make fun of my voice? Ass.”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking, I—” Izuku babbled through his hands.
There was the sound of a water bottle crackling.
“There. Satisfied, NPC?”
“NPC?!” Izuku squawked, and CatchTheseHands975 growled over the stream. “Yes! Yes, I’m satisfied, super satisfied, you sound so much better now,” Izuku lied, since CatchTheseHands975 sounded exactly the same.
“Good. Now shut up, I need to focus, ” they said. Izuku nodded fervently, belatedly realized he wouldn’t have been able to hear him nod , and decided to keep his mouth shut regardless.
Izuku watched silently, until CatchTheseHands975 got to one of the most commonly missed, really good secrets - and then Izuku couldn’t keep his mouth shut.
“Wait, wait! Stop here!” Izuku cried, gripping the computer.
“Hell no. Shut up—“
“Double jump off the wall and into the ceiling right here! It’s a false ceiling! There’s a really good piece of armor up there that will make the next boss fight so much easier!” Izuku said in a rush.
CatchTheseHands975 went silent. He double jumped off the wall and through the false ceiling. He got the armor. The character idled for a bit.
“I like you. You can stay,” CatchTheseHands975 said.
Izuku sat back, letting out a breath slowly. Somehow, he felt like he had just passed some kind of test.
“Thanks? I think? Were you gonna kick me out or something—“ Izuku started.
“Yes, because you insulted my voice, NPC,” CatchTheseHands975 said.
Izuku squawked again, “I said I was sorry!”
CatchTheseHands975 snorted over the speaker.
“Besides, if I can stay, doesn’t that make me part of your team now? I’m not an NPC anymore!” Izuku protested, “also do you have a nickname or something? ‘CatchTheseHands’ is too long to say all the time.”
At that, the streamer laughed. It was a dry sound- more like a cough with a hint of amusement behind it- but it brought a wobbly smile to Izuku’s face anyway.
“If you’re gonna be on my team you have to give me your name first,” they said.
“I guess that’s fair,” Izuku mumbled, “uh, you can call me…I’m. Deku, I guess.”
“... Like a Deku Scrub? From Legend of Zelda?” they asked.
Izuku blinked. “Uh, no. It is similar isn’t it? I play Zelda but I’ve never realized that. It’s actually a uh… nickname?” Izuku floundered, realizing halfway through speaking that if he explained that it was an alternate reading of his given name, he would be giving his real name away to a stranger on the internet. Not ideal.
“Shitty nickname. Scrub is better,” They declared.
“I- okay,” Izuku said, leaning back in his chair. He DID have a username (that had a lot of thought put into it!), but he supposed ArrivalImmanent124 didn’t lend itself to nicknames.
“Then what am I supposed to call you?”
“…Handy.”
Izuku snorted.
“Hey! you wanna stay in the stream or not, scrub?” Handy hissed.
“I do, I do! I just thought it was funny, that’s all,” Izuku said, “cause it's a pun of your user. You know?”
“...Yeah. That was totally on purpose,” Handy said, and Izuku laughed for the first time that day.
~
Another year passed. Another birthday, and no call from Dad.
Izuku sighed as he logged into Handy’s stream, a small smile playing on his face as Handy’s familiar scratchy voice came over the computer.
“Fucking hell, can you just — oh, hey Scrub!”
“Hey Handy,” Izuku sighed, settling into his chair as he dropped the practice tests for the UA entrance exam onto the desk.
“Geez, what crawled up your ass and died? ” Handy asked. Handy’s character stopped as he went to the menu, and switched from the main quest to a side quest.
“Ah, it’s nothing really, you don’t have to switch from the main quest! I know you were really looking forward to this boss fight—” Izuku rambled, only for Handy to interrupt him.
“I do what I want, when I want. Spill.”
“I don’t know, it’s really not that big a deal—”
“Ugh, can you just get to the boss—” said someone who had dropped into the stream.
“Fuck off, NPC,” Handy said, and the new person disappeared before Izuku even managed to see their user.
Izuku stared. “Did. Did you just block them?” Izuku asked in disbelief.
“So what if I did?” Handy asked.
“Weren’t you trying to expand your audience?” Izuku asked.
“Not really,” Handy admitted, “ I only care about this stupid channel because it allows me to talk to you.”
“Whuh,” Izuku said intelligently, “Why?”
“Because you’re my friend. Duh,” Handy said as if it was obvious.
Izuku immediately burst into tears.
“What the fuck?!” Handy said. Something fell on the other end of the stream, as if Handy had jumped so hard he knocked something over, “Fucking hell, if you dont want to be friends just say so! You don’t have to cry about it—”
“No!” Izuku cried, rubbing his eyes, “No, it's not that, I swear! It’s just..It’s just…I’ve had a rough day, and hearing that…” Izuku sniffled, a wobbly smile coming to his face, “it just made me really happy, that’s all.”
There was some silence on the other end of the stream. Handy’s character idled. Something clunked, as if it was being put back in place.
“You cry when you’re happy?” Handy asked in disbelief, his voice oddly soft.
“Yeah. My mom does too. We’re uh…kinda cry babies,” Izuku said with a wet chuckle. He blew his nose.
“Your emotions are all fucked up,” Handy said, and the character started moving again. “But uh. I’m glad I made you happy enough to cry, I guess? ”
Izuku laughed. “Thanks, Handy.”
“Whatever, Scrub.”
An amicable silence settled. Izuku wiped his face clean, and started working on his practice tests. Handy solved the side quest with some quiet swearing, and started on another.
“You never answered my question,” Handy said.
“Hm?” Izuku said, looking up. Handy was changing his armor.
“You never said what was wrong, dumbass. You just said it was nothing then started crying.”
Izuku spluttered. “Wha— it sounds bad when you put it like that!”
“S’what happened.” Handy pointed out, and Izuku grumbled. Handy snorted. “So. Come on. Spill,” he said.
“It really isn’t that important,” Izuku sighed, tapping his pencil and tugging on his lip.
“S’important enough to make you cry. I don’t like things that make my friends cry,” Handy said.
“I told you it was a happy cry!” Izuku protested.
“Uh huh,” Handy said, “And I said your emotions are all fucked up. Stop changing the subject.”
Izuku groaned. “Fine , but you have to promise not to laugh,” Izuku said, crossing his arms.
“Cross my heart and hope to die or whatever it is,” Handy said.
A weak smile came to Izuku’s face, but it quickly disappeared. He let out a heavy sigh, and tears pricked his eyes again - though this time they weren’t happy tears. He sat back and rubbed at his face again. It was stupid to be crying about this again.
“It’s just…today’s my birthday. And my Dad didn’t call. Again. That’s all,” Izuku said.
“Oh ,” Handy said.
“It’s—it’s stupid! He hasn’t called for years, I should be used to it by now! And I'm gonna have a nice time with Mom once she gets back from work, and I’m hanging out with you and that's really fun and I even have a friend now! But…it still hurts…” Izuku finished with a pathetic sniffle.
Handy said nothing. His character idled. The only sound was the subtle music of the game.
“See, I told you it wasn’t a big deal,” Izuku said, forcing a laugh, “I’m just…”
“Never said that,” Handy said, his voice oddly gentle, “That sounds shitty of him.”
“I guess,” Izuku admitted, grabbing yet another tissue. He sniffled and said, “I mean, I know he must be busy, and he sends me and Mom money to support us but-”
“Still shitty, ” Handy said, “I don’t care what kind of fuckin job he has, he has enough time to call. He just sucks.”
“I guess,” Izuku relented, balling up his tissues.
“He sucks. End of story. It’s his loss, Scrub, not yours,” Handy said with certainty.
Izuku huffed a weak laugh. “Thanks Handy,” he said quietly.
“You can thank me by using that big brain of yours and helping me pick artifacts for this character,” Handy said.
Izuku pushed his practice tests aside as his smile widened, “I guess I can do that.” He had all year to work on those tests anyway.
~
Izuku almost didn’t want to admit how much of a relief it was to finally sit down and log into Handy’s familiar stream. Between studying for UA, studying for school, and training with All Might, Izuku barely had time to sleep, much less play or watch video games.
But, after getting reprimanded on the importance of rest by All Might after literally collapsing during training, Izuku figured he could beat two villains with one hero by combining his rest time with his missing stream time.
He hadn’t been able to wipe the smile off his face the whole day once he’d realized that.
“Hey Handy!” Izuku said, a grin on his face as he finally entered Handy’s stream, “I’m sorry it’s been a while!”
For a moment, Handy didn’t say anything. Then—
“Where were you?” he asked, voice somehow flat.
Izuku’s frown fell a little. “Just been really busy. Third year is taking up a lot of my time.”
Handy snorted, but he didn’t sound amused. "Busy? "
Izuku shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah.. just... school… and some... other stuff."
Handy laughed bitterly. "Stuff. Right. Turns out when you find something even slightly more interesting, you suddenly think it's the main quest and ignore everyone else.”
Izuku’s smile dropped off his face. His heart skipped a beat.
Handy continued, his voice a hateful hiss, “I bet this shit's why your dad stopped calling- you found some new shitty baby show to grab your attention and ignored him until he learned that you're just not fucking worth the effort of reaching out!”
“W...what?” Izuku stammered, his eyes stinging. His chest hurt. Handy had never- why-?
“Check your FUCKING DMS, ASSHOLE!” he snarled.
“Oh my God,” Izuku mumbled, frantically getting his phone out and opening Discord. He had too many notifications, largely from hero servers he had joined and wasn’t terribly active in.
It was also the app he and Handy used to set up their streams.
Izuku opened his DM’s with a shaking hand, the other covering his mouth.
Handy had sent him hundreds.
'yo where you been?'
‘Busy on some side quests scrub? Been a while.’
'are you good?'
'if you're dead ill never forgive you'
'dude just say something, i saw you were online'
'did I do something wrong'
‘Pick up your damn phone’
‘SAY SOMETHING’
Izuku kept scrolling, but at this point his tears were blurring his vision too much to be able to read the messages.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I—I,” Izuku stammered, dropping his phone and running his hands through his hair. “I messed up. Oh, I messed up, I—I hadn’t cleared my discord notifications in forever and they just — your messages got buried ,” Izuku rambled, looking up at the blank stream as if Handy could see him even though they never turned their cameras on.
Handy said nothing.
“I was just - God, I’m making excuses aren’t I?” Izuku said, letting his head fall as he laughed wetly, “But Handy, I swear it wasn’t on purpose! Third year has just gotten so insanely busy, I just - I just - I was so busy getting ready for entrance with taking practice tests and studying for all my other tests and homework and training for the physicals ‘cause I’m so far behind and UA is already so strict -”
Handy made some kind of noise. It didn’t sound good.
Izuku barely held back a whine. Or a sob. He couldn’t tell.
“B-But I’m sorry! I really am! I really am just making excuses for my poor behavior, I should’ve checked your messages, I should’ve made time during the weekends, I should’ve - I should’ve-”
“Shut the fuck up,” Handy said, his voice low.
Izuku’s mouth clamped shut. He swallowed heavily. Despite all the wet tears pouring down his face, his mouth felt horribly dry.
“Did you just say fucking UA?” Handy demanded.
Izuku swallowed again.
Why did he sound so mad?
“Yes?” Izuku whispered.
“You abandoned me for HEROES?” Handy hissed, rage palpable through the screen. Izuku scooched his chair away minutely.
“I didn’t abandon you!” Izuku protested. It felt weak to his ears, despite how strongly he meant it, “I just…hadn’t realized how long it'd been.” Izuku sniffled, “I got carried away with all my other stuff and was so busy—”
“Busy with hero training?” Handy snarled.
“...yeah,” Izuku said.
“Because you wanna go play the big fucking hero?” Handy mocked.
“Hopefully?” Izuku said, wringing his hands.
“Fuck you,” Handy snapped.
“What?” Izuku asked, his voice cracking pathetically as his tears restarted anew.
“Fuck. You.” Handy hissed, and Izuku flinched, “Go, run off and be a hero then. Forget about me. Abandon the one person who ever fucking cared enough to be your friend to go play pretend with a bunch of showboating whales who pretend they want to help so they can jack off their own egos while doing LESS THAN NOTHING to help people who actually need help!”
“What? No, Handy, listen to me, plea—”
“Fuck off.”
The stream cut.
Izuku stared at the screen in disbelief.
‘CatchTheseHands975 has blocked you.’
Izuku pushed away from his desk and wobbled to his bed. He then fell face first into his pillow, and sobbed harder than he had in years.
~
It’d been about a week since Handy blocked him. Izuku had cleared out all his other discord notifications and checked the app every night anyway, just in case Handy decided to give him another chance.
Izuku knew he was blocked.
And that basically said that Handy wanted nothing to do with him anymore and that Izuku was just a hopeless kid hoping for a miracle.
But…if All Might himself could give him a miracle, was it so wrong to hope for another?
Even so, Izuku hadn’t been expecting it when he heard that distinct ping from Discord. He yelped, dropping the tire he’d been dragging off dagobah beach like it was a hot potato and scrabbling for his phone.
“Young Midoriya?” All Might called, “is everything alright?”
“Ah, uh, maybe?” Izuku said breathlessly, grumbling as his phone refused to identify his sandy fingerprints.
All Might’s footsteps crunched in the sand as he came closer. “Does this have to do with whatever was making you so down?”
Izuku looked up in shock, blinking dumbly, “I’ve been down?”
All Might gave him a wry smile, a large hand settling on his shoulder. “You haven’t been as talkative as usual my boy! I was getting worried.”
A wobbly smile crawled onto Izuku’s face. “I uh, well I guess I have been kind of out of it. Um, an old friend of mine had a bad argument recently, and I thought he didn’t want anything to do with me anymore,” Izuku said softly. He looked down at his phone, mumbling as he finally opened discord, “but I just heard Discord and he’s the only friend I have that talks to me there so oh my god it is him.”
All Might’s hand tightened comfortingly as Izuku but his lip, finger hovering over Handy’s DM. “Go on, my boy,” he whispered.
Izuku sucked in a deep breath and tapped the DM.
‘I still think heroes suck.’
Izuku’s heart fell.
‘but maybe you wouldn't suck as much as all the others.’
Izuku’s heart pulled out of its nose dive for the Earth’s core.
‘stream tonight? your pick’
Izuku’s heart soared in the clouds.
He was being given another chance!
‘I unblocked you btw’
‘which you would already know because im sending you messages’
‘fuck. ignore those last two’
Izuku couldn’t help but giggle at those last messages. They were just so… Handy.
A giddy grin quickly took over his face, and a weight lifted off his shoulders. He felt like he could float.
“He seems a little ah… rough around the edges,” All Might said. Izuku jumped, his head whipping around to look at his mentor as he clutched his phone to his chest. All Might gave him a slightly apologetic smile, “Sorry, my boy. Would you like me to look away?”
Izuku blinked. Then smiled, “No! No, it's fine.”
“Ah, I assume heroics was the source of your falling out?” All Might said cautiously.
Izuku’s smile fell a little, “Yeah…I don’t really understand why? I mean, heroes are amazing!”
All Might patted his shoulder. “You can’t win over everyone, my boy. Even as popular and loved as heroics is today, there will always be critics and those who are forever unsatisfied. It seems your friend is amongst those.”
“...Maybe I can convince him?” Izuku muttered, “there are so many statistics…”
All Might chuckled. “A little at a time, young Midoriya. In the meantime perhaps, listen to his criticisms! Just don’t let him talk you out of heroics,” All Might said with a teasing smile.
As if Handy could. If being quirkless hadn’t swayed him, nothing would. But... maybe he just wouldn't bring it up around Handy if it was just going to cause arguments.
Still, Izuku nodded, then looked down at his phone again to type out a message.
Only for his fingers to stop a hairsbreadth from the screen.
What if he said something wrong again?
“What do I say?” Izuku said to himself.
“You know him better than I do!” All Might chuckled. “But you do want to” All Might leaned down, squinting at Izuku’s phone, “… stream don’t you?”
Izuku nodded again, and swallowed his anxiety.
It was Handy. He knew how to talk to Handy.
‘of course I want to stream! I'll be home at 6:30 if you're okay with me eating dinner while we talk’
After a moment of hesitation, Izuku added another message.
‘Also, you know you can delete messages, right?’
All Might threw his head back and laughed. “I never knew you could be so forward, young Midoriya!”
“I can!” Izuku protested, even as he kept his eyes glued to his phone.
‘Oh fuck off’
Izuku’s stomach dropped.
‘See you at 6:30’
Izuku’s grin widened uncontrollably.
~
Izuku logged into the stream with no small amount of trepidation. His dinner sat next to him - beef stew - but right now, his stomach was too knotted up for him to even consider taking a bite.
There was a small sound as Handy logged into the stream.
Izuku sucked in a deep breath, straightening his back and feeling his chest inflate. He let it out slowly, trying to press down the ache at the back of his throat and in his chest. His eyes already stung, and neither he or Handy had said anything.
“Hi Handy,” Izuku said, forcing a smile to his face even as his voice wobbled.
“Hey Scrub,” Handy said quietly.
“Um,” Izuku said, wringing his hands. His voice wobbled even more. He took another deep breath, “I’m really sorry -”
“Fuck off with the apology shit,” Handy said.
“Sorry,” Izuku whispered.
“Fucking hell,” Handy grumbled, “Look. I’m not here to talk about Hero bullshit. It makes me mad .”
“Okay,” Izuku said softly, even as his heart fell a little. He’d been hoping to try and convince Handy otherwise, even if it was a little at a time like All Might had said. But if the topic was out altogether….there was nothing he could do.
“But you're my friend. So if you HAVE to do this hero bullshit or you’ll cry or whatever…I’ll deal.”
Izuku gasped, “You will?”
“So long as you don’t fucking forget about me for months again!” Handy snapped.
“I won’t! I won't, I swear I won’t!” Izuku babbled, a smile growing on his face. It was so wide his cheeks hurt. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Izuku sat back and grabbed his phone, bringing up his calendar, “I was thinking before our fight that I could start joining streams again during my rest periods, since uh— my trainer said I had to include rest in my schedule or I would collapse again—”
“Fucking— you collapsed?!” Handy yelled.
Izuku looked up, blinking. “Yeah, I did. But I’m fine now! Is an hour good enough for weekly streams again? Ah wait, but I’d been using that hour to catch up on my analysis…”
“Scrub, you can’t— there’s no potions in real life! You’re dead meat if you collapse in the middle of a fight!” Handy said.
“I know, I know! I promise, I’m resting now! I’ll be okay!” Izuku promised.
“You’d better, ” Handy grumbled, “Look, I don’t care when or how long we meet. Just bring your shitty homework in here. We can just hang out. That’s good enough for me.”
Izuku set his phone down softly, a smile growing on his face even as his eyes stung a little.
“...Okay, Handy. Thank you,” Izuku said, trying to put as much feeling as he could into those few words.
“Yeah yeah, whatever. Didn’t you say you have dinner or some shit?”
Izuku jolted, “My stew! Oh no it’s all cold now!”
Handy burst out laughing as Izuku lamented his poor dinner.
~
“No, nononono, Handy, why would you pick that artifact?” Izuku cried, “It sucks! It's the worst for that character! For all characters! Also it sucks!”
“Shut it Scrub, I thought you were supposed to be working on problem 41 of your shitty algebra,” Handy said.
Izuku groaned, “Okay, I can take a break just—!”
“Problem! Forty! One! The artifact stays on till you get your stupid homework done!”
“Please! It hurts!” Izuku begged.
“I WILL kick you Deku,” Handy threatened, and Izuku squeaked.
“Problem 41, I love problem 41, I’m working so hard right now!” Izuku rambled, dragging his homework back towards him.
“Good, ” Handy said, leaving the menu and going back to gameplay. He grumbled as Izuku’s pencil scratched on paper. He groaned when a character died, and Izuku glanced up. Probably because of that terrible artifact. Izuku tried to focus harder.
“Why the fuck do you need to be doing algebra if you’re gonna be punching out mentally ill people in the streets? ” Handy asked, reviving the character and opening up the artifact menu again, “Seems irrelevant .”
Izuku choked, dropping his pencil and staring at the screen, “Handy NO!”
“No, what?” Handy asked, snorting, “ That doesnt answer the fuckin question scrub. ”
“I’m not gonna—why would I—I’m not gonna be ‘punching out mentally ill’ people!” Izuku protested, “I would be helping them!”
“Yeah?” Handy said, sounding skeptical, “And what about the people who don't WANT help?”
“I’d—!” Izuku huffed. “I’d help them anyway!” he insisted, crossing his arms.
Handy let out a bark of laughter, “God, you're so stupid. ”
Izuku gasped, scandalized, “I'm not stupid!”
“Never change, Scrub ,” Handy said, his voice fond.
“I, uh, okay?” Izuku spluttered, “But I'm not stupid! Even if I know you said that in your weirdly affectionate but insulting trademarked Handy way!”
“Shut up! ” Handy snorted.
“No!” Izuku said, grinning.
“You’re forcing my hand, ” Handy whispered.
“To do what?” Izuku whispered back.
“Remind you about problem 41, Scrub! ” Handy yelled.
“This is more important than problem 41!” Izuku protested.
Silently, Handy put on another terrible artifact on his character.
Izuku shrieked, “NEVER MIND TAKE IT OFF PROBLEM 41 IS SO IMPORTANT!”
Handy laughed. Izuku did too, even as he dragged his practice tests closer.
~
Another year passed. Dad didn’t call.
But between All Might and Mom and Handy - Izuku, for the first time in his life, didn’t notice.
~
Izuku stared at his computer, eagerly waiting for the stream to start.
It wasn’t one of Handy’s usual stream nights. Izuku had asked to stream this night specifically. He had to!
He already knew the results.
Mom already knew the results.
He’d left Dad a voicemail, for whatever it was worth.
The only person that didn’t know now was Handy.
His computer pinged as Handy joined and the stream started.
“Alright, I'm here. Now what? ” Handy said.
Izuku took a deep breath, and turned on his camera. He grinned at himself in the corner of his computer screen. His smile wobbly but excited. It was weird to see himself on the computer like this, but it was the best way to share the news.
“...You’re a bush ,” Handy said after a moment.
Izuku spluttered, “No I’m not!” as he ran his hands frantically threw his hair, “my hair is perfectly normal!”
“Uh huh ,” Handy said, sounding amused, “Says the bush. No wonder you go by Deku Scrub .”
Izuku waved his hands in front of the camera, “I— you— shut up!”
Handy gasped scandalously, “Holy fuck I’m a bad influence.”
“No you’re not! And anyway , Handy, I have something really important to show you!” Izuku said, nerves and excitement starting to get to him as he shifted in his chair.
Handy huffed, “Alright fine. What is it?”
Izuku held his breath, closed his eyes, and held up his acceptance letter to UA.
“I got in!” he whispered
Handy was silent.
Izuku shifted more, hiding behind his letter. He’d wanted to share, so badly. Handy had been a part of his life for so long now, it felt wrong not to. But he knew how he felt about heroes. Maybe this was a mistake…?
“I know you don’t like heroes but…” Izuku took a deep breath, slowly lowering the letter and looking at the screen, “We’ve talked about it a little bit and…this was really important to me. And you’re important to me. So I wanted you to know.”
Confetti popped onto the screen, along with a celebratory noise maker sound effect.
“Congrats, ” Handy said drily, “you’re on your way to being the Exception, the hero.” Handy paused, then hummed thoughtfully. “Make that your hero name.”
Izuku blinked, then a grin broke out on his face as laughter bubbled up.
“Handy, I’m not gonna use that as my hero name!” Izuku protested through his laughter.
“Why not? ” Handy said, “It sounds cool. ”
“Okay, I’ll give you that, but can you imagine trying to explain it?” Izuku asked.
“Yeah? ” Handy replied, “It'd be easy. You're The Hero That Doesn't Suck: Exception. End of. ”
“Handy!”
~
The attack at the USJ was so chaotic, Izuku barely remembered it.
The one thing he did remember was the villain that had walked through that portal first. The one with hands all over his body, and a voice changer.
It felt like he had never stopped staring at Izuku.
As he logged into Handy’s stream to study for the night, he felt like he could still feel the judgemental weight of his eyes.
~
The day of Izuku’s 16th birthday, Dad did not call.
The night of Izuku’s 16th birthday, he woke to the sound of dress shoes walkin in the apartment.
Izuku’s eyes slammed open, his breath freezing in his chest. His lungs had ropes wrapped around it. His body was made of stone. His heartbeat thundered in his ears.
Who was this?
Was Mom okay?
There was the sound of his bedroom door knob turning.
Izuku threw the covers off his bed and hopped to his feet, putting his fists up and settling into a fighting stance.
The door opened, and a hulking man with no face walked in. He smiled, his body language loose and relaxed. Izuku deepend his stance, raising his fists higher. It would be difficult - no, dangerous - to fight here, but -
“Ah, Izuku,” a painfully familiar voice said, “You’ve grown so well. I’ve missed you.”
Izuku blinked, ice water pouring down his back.
Dad’s voice had come from the faceless man.
The man’s smile widened.
What?
“Dad?” Izuku asked, his voice cracking. His fists lowered. His eyes stung.
“Hello, little prince,” Dad said, “I’m sorry I never called.”
Izuku gaped. But then, he closed his mouth and grit his teeth, even as tears fell down his cheeks. Rage boiled in his chest, steam leaking out between his ribs.
How dare his Dad waltz back into their life as if he never left, with no explanation and nothing but a paltry apology?
He could forgive not being here , due to the sudden lack of a face, but to never call, to leave him in the dark, to leave Mom in the dark! It was cruel! It was entitled! It was vile!
“You-!” Izuku started.
Dad’s hand shot out, his palm flat against his forehead. Izuku froze, suddenly unable to move a muscle. His eyes darted around as panic started to well up in his throat. Dad’s quirk was fire breath . What was this?
Izuku’s heart skipped a beat as he felt something grab onto the heart of One for All, and pull . But thankfully, his quirk didn’t budge.
Dad’s smile evaporated, and his lip curled, “I knew I should’ve come sooner. That blond buffoon got to you, didn’t he?”
Izuku couldn’t answer. His jaw was frozen solid.
Dad scooped him up as if he were five, ignoring Izuku’s little sounds of protest.
“No matter. It is good to have little brother’s quirk back in the family, even if I cannot have it,” Dad said, and if Izuku hadn’t already been frozen by some…other quirk? He would’ve.
But before he could truly process the implications of what Dad had said, he spoke again, “shh, go to sleep, little one. It’s late. Don’t worry, Daddy will take care of you.”
Dad smiled in that familiar way Izuku had once loved but now hated.
Izuku fought against the blackness creeping in on his vision.
He lost.
~
The moment Izuku woke up, he pushed himself up and looked around wildly. It felt so good to be able to move again! Even if he had only lost the ability for minutes. Izuku blinked. But his limbs were stiff, as if he had slept too long, which….
He looked up to find a clock, but there wasn’t one.
Because he was in a vault. Like a bank vault - the floors, walls and ceiling all a dull silver, with absolutely nothing to line them. The floor was hard but oddly warm to the touch.
“Good morning, ducky,” a familiar voice said over a speaker. Izuku’s head whipped around to find the sources, but he couldn’t see it. All he could determine was that it was in the corner somewhere.
“Let me go,” Izuku demanded, and Dad tutted just like he had when Izuku spilled his juice all over the floor.
“Don’t be unreasonable, Izuku,” Dad admonished, “You are with me, you are with family. You are at home.”
At the mention of family, Izuku’s thoughts flashed back to last night.
“No matter. It is good to have little brother’s quirk back in the family, even if I cannot have it.”
Back in the family.
All for One.
One for All.
Taking quirks.
The tug on One for All.
Dad had left when he was nine and never came back.
He left at the same time All Might got his injury.
Back in the family.
All for One was his Dad.
His Dad was All for One.
“Who are you?” Izuku asked, hoping he was wrong.
“I’m your father, silly,” Dad said, amused.
“No,” Izuku corrected, pushing himself up to his feet, “ Who are you , really.”
Dad went silent for a little, then laughed softly.
“I think you already know, little Prince.”
Izuku backed up, breath catching in his chest. He closed his eyes, steadying himself. Then, he activated full cowling and kicked at the wall. But there was no satisfying thunk against the metal walls - they just stretched. Izuku stepped back, feeling the floor solid beneath his feet.
“Fascinating isn’t it?” Dad said, irritatingly cheerful, “It’s a shock absorbing quirk that works on objects. Turns them into something like a reverse oobleck, which is already such a fascinating substance. Suffice to say, this place will keep you safe.”
Izuku grit his teeth and didn’t respond. Instead, he kicked at the wall again.
And again.
And again.
It didn’t give.
It was like punching taffy.
Dad tutted, “Such a simplistic methodology. This is below you, Izuku. Did that blond buffoon rub off on you so much?”
“Let me out , Dad!” Izuku said, turning around to glare at the corner.
“Now now, Izuku,” Dad said patronizingly “This is for your own good.”
“For my own good?!” Izuku yelled, “Dad, you didn’t even give me a bed! There’s nothing here! Let me out!”
“You could hurt yourself on a bed, dear. You did so much worse at the sports festival, no?” Dad said, “I’ll give you whatever you want once you’ve earned it.”
Izuku yelled and threw his shoe at the source of all his problems.
The corner jiggled, and Dad kept talking, “I know you were a child the last time I saw you, but really, Izuku?”
“Let me go!” Izuku screeched, his voice cracking.
“Ah,” Dad said, his voice laced with amusement, “you sound just like your Uncle.”
Izuku growled under his breath.
“Truly, it is nice to have the quirk back in the family -”
“You left!” Izuku yelled, “You don’t get to decide what’s good for me when you left for seven years!”
Finally, Dad shut up.
“...if you want to blame someone for my lack of calls,” Dad said, “You can blame All Might.”
And with that, the speaker shut off.
Izuku collapsed to his knees.
The floor jiggled slightly.
He gasped.
Izuku’s tears plipped onto the vault floor.
No one was there to comfort him as he sobbed.
~
Minutes, hours, days passed. Izuku couldn’t tell. He slept. He didn’t eat. He drank some water. He slept some more.
There was little else to do. The only other thing he could do was worry, and worry he did. He sat in the corner, hands tangled in his hair, and panicked.
Was Mom okay?
Had Dad hurt her?
Had anyone else been kidnapped, or was it just him?
Was anyone looking for him? Was Mom? Was All Might? Or did Dad trick them somehow into thinking he came along willingly? They wouldn’t believe that, right?
What would Handy think? Would he think Izuku had abandoned him again? Izuku had never thought to tell Mom to talk to Handy in case something happened to him…
Would UA publicize that one of their students had been kidnapped? Would the fact that his Dad was a villain get out? Would it end his career? Would All Might still want anything to do with him?
The door opened.
Tomura Shigaraki stood in the doorway.
Izuku shot up from the floor of the vault, immediately getting into a battle stance.
“Hey Scrub.”
Izuku froze. Then, slowly, almost against his will, his body relaxed. He knew that voice. Why did he know Shigaraki Tomura’s voice, without his voice changer? Why did he sound like Handy? That didn’t make any sense! But…then…Izuku had never seen Handy’s face, not even once…
“Handy?” Izuku asked, his voice cracking.
“The one and only,” Handy - no, Shigaraki - no Handy - nO
His eyes stung. His cheeks were wet. His mouth opened and closed.
“God, you really do cry over everything, don’t you?” Handy rasped, one scratching at his neck.
“Wha—how— you—?” Izuku stammered. The world was cracking under his feet. First Dad, now this—
Handy threw his head back and groaned, his scratching intensifying, “Can you have the breakdown later? Sensei wasn’t expecting this, but I don’t have all day! Do you want out or not, Scrub?”
“Why?” Izuku whispered.
“You can’t be a hero in here dumbass,” Handy said like it was obvious. He stood aside, leaving the door wide open for Izuku. He didn’t move.
“But you hate heroes. Why would you-?” Izuku asked, uncomprehending.
“I do. But…” Handy growled, shifting uncomfortably, “you... you're not...they're... you're my friend, okay? You'll be the fucking exception.”
Izuku laughed somewhat hysterically. “The only one?”
“Most games only need one,” Handy grumbled, and Izuku laughed more genuinely. His feet were moving before he realized it, and Izuku stumbled into Handy’s chest. Handy grunted, stepping back. “What the fuck?” he said, and it was so familiar that Izuku just laughed harder. He let his arms rose around Handy’s skinny chest and hugged him.
“Thank you,” Izuku said.
“...You realize I could disintegrate you right now, right?” Handy asked.
“You won’t,” Izuku mumbled, “I’m the exception,” and Handy grumbled. A hand faintly patted his back. “Besides, I think Dad would be kinda mad about that,” Izuku said.
“Do NOT mention Sensei right now, Scrub,” Handy said, pushing him away, “Now get out of here. I’m not telling you again.”
“Wait,” Izuku said, letting himself be pushed away but not letting go, “Are you going to get in trouble?”
Handy looked aside.
“You are, aren’t you?” Izuku asked, his heart squeezing.
“It’s fine,” Handy said shortly, trying to tug his shirt away from Izuku’s iron grip, “you need to go.”
“Come with me!” Izuku blurted, and Handy’s eyes widened, “I can vouch for you, we can go somewhere safe, it’ll be okay—”
“No.” Handy said firmly, pushing Izuku’s hand off him again. Izuku let go without any resistance.
“But…” Izuku protested. His heart hurt.
“But nothing, Scrub,” Handy said, “I’m a villain, you’re the hero. That’s the way it is.”
Izuku sniffled.
“Maybe once you fix society, we can stream again,” Handy offered, his voice soft. Then, he turned Izuku around and pushed him, “Now go!”
“Wait!” Izuku said, stumbling, looking back, “Do you promise?”
Handy blinked. He grinned, then stuck his pinky out. Izuku locked his pinky around Handy’s, and Handy said, “pinky promise.”
“Dad breaks those, so you better not,” Izuku said, barely holding back tears.
“Yeah, yeah, now go,” Handy said.
Finally, Izuku nodded, and backed away. He forced himself to turn around, activated full cowling, and darted out of the vault.
Away from Shigaraki, from Handy, from All for One, from Dad.
Towards Mom, towards All Might, towards his dreams.