Father Figure (BNHA)

Izuku's gift

Izuku placed all of his stuff in the small room that AFO had provided for him. It was the same room he always stayed in but, despite how often he had been there, it had never felt familiar to him.

Tomura had already tried to call him twice and it had been only a couple of hours since he arrived.

Izuku glanced down at his phone, wishing, for a moment, that he was allowed to call Tomura but it had been made clear to him.

Tomura could call him but, under no circumstances, was Izuku to call him.

The light in the room flickered, the bare bulb, swinging from a wire, shattered and Izuku sighed.

He enjoyed what he learnt from these trips, but even that was barely worth everything else that came with it.

He grabbed one of the candle on the side and lit it, holding it in front of him as he felt his way back to AFO.

Apparently, they couldn't get proper electricity in here as it would look suspicious so, instead,they got so.e electricity from AFO's quirks and, apart from that, they had to use candles and whatever else.

Izuku had to pray his phone wouldn't run out of batter, because AFO certainly ly wouldn't charge it again.

He reached the room where AFO sat and he smiled slightly, looking forward to whatever he was going to learn.

"I'm back, Grandpa."

He didn't need to say that. AFO had almost definitely been tracking him using whatever quirks he had, but he had been taught to announce himself whever he entered the room anyway.

He wasn't sure why he had to, but that was how it had always been. Enter the room, announce yourself. Even entering the bar, he had to announce himself if the monitor was turned on.

AFO didnt turn to look at him, instead facing the monitor, that was still turned off. The only light in the room was the candle that Izuku held, which showered  the room in dim light.

He found himself wished to see the sun again. He knew it was still day time, the clock on his phone had told him that, but this place seemed for far from all that. So far from sunlight and warmth. Like an eternal night.

"Good. Then we can get started."

That was the phrase Izuku always dreaded to hear when at AFO's.

Usually, it was followed by violent training, screaming, pain and regret. This time, however, AFO must have been feeling nice as he pointed to a seat and told Izuku to sit.

Great, Izuku thought, we're doing psychological pain this time.

"Izuku, you are not aware of this, but I gave you a gift the last time you visited me."

Yeah, a coma. Thanks for that.

"Oh?" Izuku pushed the thoughts away. "What gift?"

AFO didnt respond, a signal which Izuku recognised as "figure it out yourself". This was going to be a long evening.

So, a gift that he was given without his knowledge. It can't have been physical. He would have noticed something in his bag or pockets, so something non-physical, whatever that could be.

His eyes suddenly lit up in realisation and his mouth dropped open as he looked at AFO.

"Y-you gave me a quirk?"

AFO nodded slightly and Izuku's eyes, somehow, opened wider as he stared speechlessly at the faceless man.

"Indeed. Unfortunately, your quirklessness made you a poor vessel for a quirk, leading to you passing out for a few days while it settled. Now, I presume you can tell me what the quirk is?"

Izuku shook himself out of his stupor, crashing g back to reality as he heard AFO's request. Guess his own quirk. He really hated playing this game.

His last visit to AFO had been around 7 months ago. He didn't remember most of it. He had trained a bit and played some of AFO's mindgames before passing out and waking up again with Tomura asleep by his bed.

He had felt strange when he woke up, like he was powerful, more powerful than he had ever felt before. He had felt so strong. He put this down to begging refreshed, due to the long sleep, but, apparently, it had been something completely different.

Since then, he could only recall a few events that seemed strange and may have been due to his quirk, events that, while they seemed to make sense at the time, really didn't, thinking back on it.

Why had Tomura allowed him to go to UA afterall, when he had been so against it before?

Why had Todoroki so willingly become a villain, despite being a hero in training?

Why hadn't Tsukauchi refused to tell them if Shinso was lying or not, despite knowing the person asking was a villain?

Why had half of the ridiculous plans he'd tried even come close to working?

He looked up at AFO, trying not to look apprehensive.

"Some sort of mind control or manipulation?"

AFO grinned and Izuku knew he was right (though he wasn't sure how he knew AFO was grinning with the big mask and the darkness).

"Emotinal manipulation." He said, and Izuku knew he had finally gotten to the part where stuff actually made sense.

"You can change people's emotions in your favour when they make decisions, however, the strength of your quirk relies on both your emotions, and the emotions of the person being manipulated."

Izuku resisted the urge to start writing down everything he was saying, listening with excitement about the power he had always dreamed of having.

"Quite simply, it's your emotions versus theirs. The stronger your emotions, the more likely they are to do as you ask, they stronger their emotions, the stronger your must be."

"Generally, the best way to control them is to find a way to influence their emotions without your quirk, to weaken their emotions, their defence. For example, persuading them that you are right, or bringing in their love or hatred of certain things into the equation."

Izuku nodded. "Oh, so with Tomura, he let me go to UA because I felt strongly about it and used my quirk on him?"

"Yes, though Tomura also had strong emotions on the subject. If you hadn't decided to join the general studies class, you would have failed."

"And Shoto joined the villains because I brought his hatred of his father into it?"

"Yes. Though you should probably know that, should Todoroki feel a strong emotion against being a villain, that will break your control."

Izuku nodded slowly, contemplating what would be able to break his control over Todoroki. It didn't seem like something g he would have to worry about.

"Good, now you understand," Izuku really didnt like AFO's tone of voice and suspected he could probably predict what came next.

"Its time to train you."

***

I'm sorry this isn't a very good chapter, I couldn't think if how to explain Izuku's quirk without it turning into a monologue.

Anyway, if you have any questions about his quirk, or things I need to to clarify, comment on this paragraph and I'll answer them all in the next chapter.