Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
Izuku’s trembling hand hovers above the doorknob to his home. He flashes back to earlier when All Might asked him, Izuku Midoriya, to be his successor. He broke down crying after he was asked, but that was out of pure joy. Now……he was not sure he would be able to stop himself from crying…because he knows that he doesn’t deserve to be All Might’s successor…he doesn’t even deserve to be a hero. The boy knows his father hates the number one hero; for a good reason, his father is All for One. Izuku knew all of this, all of it—and he still could not bring himself to refuse All Might’s offer to be a hero, he still holds some hope, but hope for what? What point is there to any of it? He didn’t know anymore, maybe he never even did.
He didn’t even know why he said yes, he acts too often without thinking, and always on his father’s behalf. He didn’t know if he said yes to All Might’s offer for himself, and his desperation to be a hero against all the odds…or because he knew that this would provide the perfect opportunity to help in his father’s revenge. Despite the fact he wants to help in his father’s revenge plot, he never is able to bring himself to hate All Might, or to actively plot to kill him like his father… Izuku doesn’t care what All Might did to his father, he knows his father is a villain. It just is the way that things are…and…in the grand scheme of things, it’s what his father deserved, and still deserves…then again, the people the current One for All holder has saved easily outweighs every evil of the man, many times over, and then some.
Izuku covers his mouth with a shaking hand, tears pricking in his eyes, he can’t breathe, not with these bitter, strangling thoughts. The greenette knows he must tell his father…he knew that his father would use him against All Might when he agreed to be his successor not even an hour ago. No matter what, Izuku couldn’t disobey his father, and now he is in a horrible place because of it...he just didn’t want to be punished…He would get locked in that room again, he just couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t…not again…no…no…no…no!
There is more to be afraid of than being locked in the room…The worst of it comes from his father’s disapproving looks and chilly indifference when he’s done something wrong…or the creative plans his dad would come up with when he determined it was time to correct his behavior…even with that dread looming over his head, Izuku could not bring himself to betray and plot against his hero.
The young man bits his lip, and it bleeds; he licks up the blood and prays that his father wouldn’t notice. He isn’t even sure how he would, he’s blind…the paranoia of that 'what if' disturbs him and knots his stomach more than it already was.
“It’s my father’s fault, not mine…” he thinks to himself, no, he lies to himself and he knows it, but this was so much better than suffering the truth, “Yeah…it’s okay, Izuku! You can do this. It’s not your choice. You’re not to blame.” He put on a fairly realistic smile that would have fooled most people, but Izuku isn’t sure it would fool his father, blindness doesn’t matter when you probably have an empathy quirk...
With his smile, he takes a deep breath and opens the door, hands still trembling from his nerves. He didn’t want to say anything, but he knew he had to. Saying nothing would be far worse than saying something. Izuku was afraid to think about what his father would do to him if he didn’t tell him about this. He doubts he would have the will to go through the whole punishment, but his father would force him to, and he would have to suffer knowing that it was his fault for not saying anything. Izuku would know that he deserves it. His father is always right.
“Dad! I’m home!” Izuku calls out cheerfully as he slides his shoes off. “Where are you? W-we need to talk?” The cheerfulness fads as he walks further into the house, heading to the office where his dad probably is, and Izuku was loud enough to let him know he is home… He took a deep breath as he stood in front of the door, putting his hand on the cold metal handle.
The door creaks as he opens it, and his father must have been waiting from him, he has infrared sight and could see him through the door. “Ah, Izuku, you said you need to talk?” He motions from his lounge chair to an identical one next to it, separated only by a small end table.
“Y-yeah…” He walks over to his lounge chair and sits down, these seats were big enough for his dad, and they made him feel very small and weak, insignificant, which he was compared to his father. Shaking his head to get out of his thoughts, Izuku looks at his father, eyes as wide as saucers, he knew the man is waiting for him to tell him what he needed to. “I-I…ran into All Might today.” He flinches when he sees his father’s lips press together, a drastic change from the wide smile they always held, “I, there was a villain, and I went to save Kacchan…and well, A-All Might saw, and…he offered me, me, t-to—to be his successor, and…”
His father puts his hands together and hummed, giving off no information on how he felt about this matter. After a long pause, he began to smile again and spoke, “This is perfect Izuku. Why don’t you tell me the entirety of your meeting?”
Izuku began to sweat, trying to come up with a doctored string of events so that he wouldn’t get in trouble, and a convincing enough one so that he wouldn’t get in trouble for leaving things out. He shivers, and begins praying that he does this right, he couldn’t wait too long either, he would get in trouble for that also…he feels like he is trapped into telling the whole truth, but he couldn’t, so he wouldn’t, “I was attacked by a villain on my way home f-from school, and All Might rescued me. I then asked him if I—if I held value without a quirk. He said no, and right after he ran out of time showing his true form too! The nerve,” Izuku melts and shifts back into his chair, he hated even the slightest digs at his favorite hero, but his father loved them, the faint chuckle from his lips was proof enough, “But then there were explosions in the Tatooine shopping center, the monster that he rescued me from, it had escaped his custody…I ran to the scene to take notes, but then I realized that it was Ka-Chan that the villain attacked. None of the heroes weren’t doing anything!” The boy starts to shake from genuine anger but calms himself quickly, “Before I could think I jumped in and threw my backpack at the monster, then All Might showed up and recaptured the villain, once again ‘saving the day.’” Izuku added sarcasm to the last bit to make his father happy.
“Before the heroes could reprimand me, I slipped into the crowd and started to go home, in the suburbs not far from here, All Might found me and then asked if I could be his successor, that he’d give me his quirk!” Izuku couldn’t help but feel happy at that, he’d always wanted to have a quirk again and be a hero! It was like his dream come true…his mood dampers as he realized it soon might become his nightmare. He looks away from his father with a scowl on his face. Go figures that the only good thing to happen to him turns into a nightmare once you look under the cover. “I said yes, and he gave me his number, and I gave him mine. He said he’d text me once he’s ready to train me for UA next year.”
“Thank you for telling me all of this. Even if you left out quite a bit…” Izuku froze and looked at where his father’s eyes should be. He struggled to swallow and to breathe, “because you left out so much you will be spending two hours in your time out room, that is unless you want to share more with me?” Izuku shook his head, knowing that his father would be more upset if he admits to holding onto All Might, just to ask him a silly question. “Consider it three hours then.”
Izuku whimpered and bowed walking out of the office with his father’s dismissal. He made his way to the time out room, what he referred to as his second bedroom. He opened the door and was hit bright light strong enough to give anyone a headache, in the windowless room. The walls are painted a pure blindingly white, no color to be found anywhere in the room, everything is white, the desk, the bed, everything. The worst was the bright fluorescence light that hummed loud enough to drive anyone insane. He closed the door behind him, and it locked automatically. He walked over to the desk, on it is a stack of practice sheets, he always has to complete 10 for every hour he is punished.
Each sheet was different and randomly selected sentence he had to write:
“My father is always right. Because of that, I must obey him always.”
“I put myself into this room because of my disobedience. I should always listen to my father.”
“All heroes are worthless, they are a tax to society and a crutch. Epically All Might.”
“I don’t want to be a hero. Why would I? I’ve always wanted to be a villain.”
“I love my father and hate All Might. I’ve always felt that way.”
“I will always tell my father the truth, and I will not withhold any information.” He sighed, his father would like it if he focused more on those tonight.
Izuku sits down at the desk and starts to write. The buzzing of the lights is driving him mad. It is so noisy, he can’t think. He can’t stop hearing them! Their buzzing! The bright lights, and pure whites, only served to amplify his headache, it all just wouldn’t stop throbbing. The boy started to cry in frustration as he finished his 23 sheet. Izuku hopes he would be let out soon, he hated this room,. He couldn’t handle this room any longer. It is going to drive him mad! The buzzing it just won’t stop. It’s all his fault! He locked himself in this room again! Why does he have to be such a bad child? He starts to whimper. He can’t disobey his father, not again. He never wants to see this room again.
Izuku bit his lip drawing blood once more, the pain silenced the buzzing, and dimmed the lights. The greenette closes his eyes and puts his fingers in his ears, finally blocking it all out.
He stays like that for a long time.
The boy wants to stay that way till it is all over, but he needs to finish the sheets. But to do that he would have to open his eyes and unplug his ears and start to live in this hell again. Why didn’t he just tell his father everything? He just wanted this to end, the pain…it’s all his fault…he locked himself in this forsaken place... He starts to sob, as he took his hands off his ears, and opened his eyes to continue writing. He would have to spend more time in…the time out room…if he didn’t complete the assignments. He can’t disappoint his father more than he already has. His father is always right. Because of that, Izuku must obey him. He put himself into this room because of his disobedience. He should always listen to his father. But over it all, he should always tell his father the truth, and never withhold any information no matter what it is. He must remember that.
His hands shake in pain as he finishes the 30th sheet. He reaches to grab another to continue his work. His father would be glad if he did another. Izuku tried to smile, his dad would be happy if he did another. The greenette wants nothing but his father’s happiness. One led to two, two then three and finally five extra sheets. Izuku sits the pencil down shakily. The buzzing makes him want to scream, and the bright light made his eyes hot and tired.
Izuku stands up and begins to pace the room, eyes closed, he knew this space well enough to know how many steps it took to cross from a painfully white wall to the other painfully white wall. The boy is muttering things to himself it a pitiful attempt to drown out the now faint buzzing, and it was just barely enough to do that. The maddening noise could still be heard faintly, and that’s what he hated the most, there was nothing you could do to get it to stop. All he wanted was for it to stop. Please make it stop. It’s all his fault…after all his put himself in this room, didn’t he? He did. He must listen and trust his father next time, then he won’t suffer anymore.
The boy was startled by a loud knock on the door, and it opens soon after, revealing his smiling father, who holds a large suitcase with his mobile medical equipment in it. “The three hours passed quickly, didn’t they?”
Even though it seemed like an eternity in hell Izuku nods, and stats without wavering or questioning, “Yes it did pass quickly,” then Izuku adds something on the end of it to prove he was no longer bad, “I’ve learned my lesson dad.”
His father smiles, “Well, I’m glad now, will you tell me what you left out?” Izuku opens his mouth to say something but nothing could come out, his father grabs his shoulder roughly, “Well, boy?” He says coldly, which made Izuku’s heart race, another second passes where the boy couldn’t say something, and his father took him by the collar of his shirt and effortlessly tossed him back into the room, he hit and bounced off the white wall on the opposite side of the door, probably bruising in the process. “Look’s like you’ll be spending the night, another 9 hours.” He shuts the door as Izuku jumps up, pounding on the only way to freedom.
“DAD! DAD! I’M SORRY! FORGIVE ME! I’LL TELL YOU, FATHER!!! FATHER!!!!!!” Izuku screamed through his sobs, pounded on the door so hard his fist bruised, he was about to pound on if for the tenth time when it opened, and he fell forward just barely able to stop from hitting his father. He stumbles backward and bows, “Thank you, father. I-I will te-ll you, I t-took and—”
“Why don’t you tell me over dinner, my little Izuku?” His father openes his arms, and Izuku rushes to hug his father, tears streaming down his face, and his father then pets his hair to comfort him, “It hurts me more than it hurts you…Izuku…I love you and hate to see you suffer…but you force my hand. You were the one who locked yourself into that room Izuku.”
“I know! I’m sorry for being such an awful son!” Izuku believes it. He knows his father loves him and would always care for him. The only reason he did any of this was to make Izuku a better person, for him to be the best he can be! Izuku had put himself into the room. It was his fault for disobeying and trying to keep information from his dad. He must always trust and tell his father the truth and be punished when he does not do what he must do. His tears intensified, his heartaches, “Please forgive me!”
“You’ll be forgiven as soon as you tell me what you were hiding…let’s go eat.” All for One pushes Izuku away from the hug, and the boy wipes away the tears from his eyes and follows his father to dinner.