Trust Falls

I wish I didn't know now

It took a very long moment for Izuku to process what Nezu was suggesting with that question. It was almost laughable that he was even considering it because there was no way that All For One, the boogyman that most didn't even believe existed, was his father.

Right?

Surely Izuku would have recognized his own father sitting in front of him for the past three years.

"His old man? Ha. I don't even remember what he looks like he split so long ago." Katsuki huffed from next to Izuku, arm tightening around him a little as he stared down the adults.

Nezu's gaze bounced between the two of them before settling on Izuku again expectantly. Like this was one of the logic puzzles they played during their lessons.

"I don't remember much, honestly. He started working overseas when I was diagnosed quirkless. A few years later he cut all contact. I think he was still sending mom money for a little while but I'm not sure? She never wanted to talk about it." Izuku let his own gaze drop down to his own hands, one of them twisting the fabric of Katsuki's shirt between his fingers carefully.

The silence that once again stretched out between the adults was heavy and Izuku couldn't stand it.

This was ridiculous. There was no way he stood in front of his own father and didn't recognize the man. His memories were fuzzy, yes, but not that fuzzy.

Except the man had cut all contact when he was eight years old. Seven, almost eight, years ago. Right around the time All for One was presumed dead by All Might.

And it would be a little hard to recognize someone's face when they didn't even have eyes or hair to identify them with. Would be even harder to recognize someone's voice when for the majority of your life you only heard it through a phone.

"Fuck." Izuku ground out the word, pulling away from Katsuki. He swung his legs down over the side of the sofa and dropped his head into his hands. "This can't be possible. I stood in front of that man for three years, playing his stupid games and listened to him talk."

He could almost feel the look the adults were giving him and fought the urge to shake Hizashi's hand when it came down onto his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. His mind was whirling a mile a minute as he tried to go over every interaction he'd ever had with All For One, desperately trying to make it make sense.

"Hey, hey, calm down. Take a breath for me, Izu." Hizashi's voice was soothing and Izuku couldn't help but lift his head to look up at him. "We don't know anything for sure right now so let's not jump to conclusions."

Nezu, deciding to jump in at that moment finally, nodded and rocked back on his heels again.

"He is correct. I am going to do some digging and see if I can discreetly get a dna sample from All For One. In the meantime..." He hesitated for a moment, the rat's gaze bouncing between Hizashi and Shouta for a moment.

"We're going to have to contact my mother." Izuku finished for him, dread seeping into his bones at the thought.

Shouta, from the corner of Izuku's eye, did not look happy at that prospect. Even Katsuki next to him was tense at the mention of Inko. Izuku didn't like the idea any more than the rest of them but outside of the man himself she was their best bet for information at the moment.

Izuku knew he wouldn't be able to play dead for the rest of his life. This moment was bound to happen sooner or later but he'd really, really, hoped it would be much later.

"That can be handled in the morning. I am sure you are exhausted. I apologize for the need to have the conversation we've had tonight." Nezu said after a moment before giving Hizashi and Shouta a small nod and jumping down from the coffee table. "Rest up. There are a lot of things that need to be handled soon."

No one said anything as they watched the Principal leave. The only sound for a long moment was the soft click of the door and the padding of his feet down the dorm hallway.

Finally Hizashi stood up and flashed the two teens on the sofa a small smile. He turned to offer a hand to Shouta to help him stand as well before turning back to the two teens.

"I imagine neither of you are going to sleep well apart so Bakugo can stay here tonight. I'll go grab him something to sleep in since I'm sure he's not going to want to leave." Hizashi said lightly, winking at the two and laughing at how red Izuku's face got.

"Keep the door open." Shouta cut in, frowning before turning to shuffle out away from the sofa.

Izuku couldn't help but smile a little at the disgruntled noise Katsuki made, instead gently pulling the blonde to stand up with him and following after the two adults as they made their way down the hallway.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Walking into Izuku's bedroom was a surreal experience to Katsuki. The last time he'd so much as stepped foot into a room that was Izuku's personal space both he and Izuku had been children.

And as a child Izuku had so much All Might and other hero merch lining his walls.

What he walked into this time was so far on the other spectrum that he stopped in the doorway to take it in fully. The walls were fairly blank aside for a lone Present Mic poster that looked like both Mic and Aizawa had signed.

Izuku's bed was pushed into the corner furthest from the door, covered in a dark sheets and blankets.

Honestly, the only interesting thing in the whole room was the desk.

It was piled high with notebooks and textbooks. Stepping up to it, Katsuki could see at least one analysis in progress in one of the open note books. It was for a hero that he didn't recognize but that wasn't a surprise. He hadn't really had the time recently to keep up with the rankings and all.

Behind him, Katsuki could feel Izuku hovering nervously. Tearing his eyes away from the notebook on the desk, Katsuki turned to raise a brow at the other teen.

Izuku flashed him a small smile and lifted his shoulders in a small shrug.

"I know it's not much but when I first got here I didn't think this setup was going to last very long, you know? And then by time I settled into the idea that I could stay long term shit kind of hit the fan."

Katsuki didn't have an answer for that, honestly. Luckily he was saved from answering by Mic poking his head into the room and holding out some clothes to him. It was still incredibly weird to see the domestic side of his teachers, honestly, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth right now.

Especially when said gift horse had been completely correct. There was no way he'd be able to sleep in his dorm tonight. Not after the mental image of that building burning was seared into the back of his mind.

Katsuki mumbled his thanks and took the clothing from the man who disappeared back out the door. Presumably to wrangle his husband into bed as well.

Izuku grabbed his own clothes and quickly changed his back to Katsuki as he did so. And even while pulling on the oversized clothing, Katsuki couldn't help but catch small glimpses of Izuku's back as he changed shirts.

His gaze was pulled like a magnet to the handprint scar that peeked over his shoulder. There weren't many people who could make a scar like that on a person. As much as he tried, he couldn't help but imagine how a wound of that size must have felt to receive. And how difficult it had been to heal.

And how lucky Izuku probably was to even be alive right now.

Unaware of the spiraling thoughts of his companion, Izuku finished pulling on his sleeping clothes and turned to the bed to start pulling the sheets down and getting it ready for both of them to sleep. Katsuki pulled himself out of his thoughts and moved to hover next to the smaller teen, earning a bright smile as the other noticed his movement. Without a word, the other teen crawled into bed and scooted all the way to the wall to make room for Katsuki. It wasn't a very large bed, about the size of the beds in the dorms, and he could already see that Aizawa was going to threaten to skin him alive come morning time. That thought, though, didn't stop him from climbing into the bed after the other teen and pulling the covers over both of them. Once Katsuki settled into a comfortable position, Izuku put himself firmly into Katsuki's space. Not that he was complaining, though. The blonde was more than happy to tuck the smaller male underneath his chin and wrap a protective arm around his waist. "It's okay, Kacchan. I'm home. Everything's okay." Izuku mumbled into his shoulder, nuzzling into him lightly. All the response he got was a tightening of Katsuki's arm around him. He wasn't ready to use his words just yet, though he knew that was going to be something he'd have to do sooner rather than later. He just wasn't ready to admit to the terror that coursed through every vein in his body when he'd found out that Izuku had been taken by the League. Nor was he ready to admit how much that fear ratcheted up when neither Mic or Aizawa argued with him about coming. So instead of words, he settled for holding Izuku close and nuzzling his face into his hair. Everything had turned out mostly okay, he reminded himself. They had a lot to deal with in the morning, though, and it was far past his bedtime. He couldn't stay awake all night contemplating what was going to happen when Inko found out that Izuku was alive. Nor the consequences of their theory about All For One being correct. No, there wasn't enough time in the night to dwell on any of that for the moment. "Go to sleep, nerd."