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Sometimes, when Mom was gone and everything was quiet, Izuku would play pretend. He knows what pretend means, his teacher said it was to play a game that isn't real. To say something that isn't true. Pretend Dad is a lie, they say, Kacchan burning him is pretend.

(He would be like All Might, saving people with a smile. But that was when Mom was home. When he laughed and didn't stop smiling, because heroes don't cry over the little burns like the ones Kacchan gives him.)

When Mom is gone, and he's alone, Izuku pretends to talk to Dad. Dad never talks back, he just sits across from him, wild white hair and freckles― just like Izuku ―dancing along his cheeks. He whispers in a deep, scratchy voice. Like all of his neck had been torn up. But Izuku doesn't mind, because he knows he doesn't have a real dad, so Pretend Dad is good enough for him. Even if Pretend Dad tells him that he's Real Dad. It confuses Izuku because Real Dad is in America (with All Might! He told Mom that they're probably working together, 'cuz Real Dad's a quirk analyst). Pretend Dad huffs and tells him that he'll understand when he's older.

Izuku is ten when Pretend Dad stops showing up.

(Mom says that he looks just like Dad, the same unruly hair and freckles. Izuku wants to say that Pretend Dad looks like that too, but he was old enough to know that he was likely imagining the whole thing. He'd read enough online articles about childhood neglect to realize that. He might only be ten, but he had a thirst for knowledge. The next thing he searches up is Hisashi Midoriya. He doesn't exist.)

Izuku is twelve when he finds the dark web. He's heard all about it, so he stays cautious in his searches and exploits. Looking up grotesque, undocumented hero fights. Quirk research was easy, he didn't need to tread lightly, and after some time, he'd created a place to analyze quirks. For a price, of course. Mom could always use the money, and he made the inputs to her account as discreet as possible. She freaked out when three million yen appeared in her bank account the first time. He does it at the times she gets her paycheck, just a couple thousand yen to her bank account. She never questions it. 

Izuku is thirteen when he dreams of Pretend Dad again. He's not right. Half of his face is made of scar tissue that Izuku is all too familiar with. He has it over most of his body, there is a ring around his wrists and a bruise on his cheek. Pretend Dad doesn't whisper anymore, he talks now.

"Hello, my boy."

"So― are- are you really him? M-my dad?"

His lips twist down, Izuku thinks his expression might be sour by Pretend Dad's reaction. "Yes, my boy. I apologize."

"Y-you don't work o-overseas, do you?"

"No, I do not."

"Your quirk isn't fire breathing, you aren't a businessman, are you? No, I already know the answer." Izuku looks at his feet, his red shoes are tearing at the seams. "Why did you leave Mom?"

The man, Real Dad, Pretend Dad, stranger, grimaces. "You wanted to be a hero. I couldn't take that away from you. You're so much like my brother, you know. I don't blame you, it's appealing to the masses."

"I don't want to be a hero," Izuku says. His scarred fingers fiddle with the loose string on his shit. (Kacchan wants to become a hero, Izuku does not want to be like Kacchan.)

"I don't want the fame or the glory. I just want to make sure that nobody gets hurt. That the one person that everyone overlooked in the crowed gets saved."

Then Izuku wakes up, and strangely enough, all of his burn scars are gone. All of his injuries and bruises and sear marks have turned to a dream. He scrambles for his uniform. His alarm isn't set for another hour, but Izuku was always an early riser and a late sleeper.