Good Men Don't Die AU one-shot dump

Checkmate Pt. 1

"You can't just leave us Hisashi!! What about Izuku?!"

"That thing is not my son!!"

"How could you say that??!"

Izuku ignored his yelling parents as he played with his toys, used to the constant arguments by now. He wondered what triggered the change in his formerly loving mother and father, Inko would burst out crying at random moments, especially when she laid eyes on Izuku and Hisashi...well, Hisashi wouldn't even look at his child anymore and when he did, it was with a cold detachment.

"Please Hisashi" Inko begged, coughing slightly "I can't raise him on my own-" her coughs grew more violent and she doubled over on the table, clutching her chest as Hisashi instinctively fretted over her. Izuku got up worriedly, rushing over to his mother in concern and patting her arm in a childish attempt to help "I'm okay, I'm okay" she wheezed, coughing subsiding. Hisashi glanced down at Izuku and his eyes grew cold once more. The boy flinched and scurried away back to his toys, covering his ears after a while when their argument resumed and escalated.

He looked up at the sound of a door slamming, watching his father march towards the front door from the bedroom, two suitcases in hand and Inko at the kitchen table crying quietly. Izuku got up from where he was, hurrying over to his father at the door, knowing something was off.

"Daddy?" he looked up at the man towering over him, clutching the lime green stuffed rabbit in his arms tightly "Where are you going?" Hisashi stared down at the boy, gaze softening ever so slightly as he sighed, running a hand through his dark curls. He got down on one knee and looked into Izuku's teary green eyes with an icy gaze of his own.

"This world... is going to try and kill you. It hates the weak and loathes the strong. Society is full of hypocrites, fickle and ever changing" he warned the child softly "If you want to make it, take every advantage you can. People will try and tell you they're friends- don't listen to them. There's no such thing in this world."

"B-but I have friends" Izuku pointed out. Hisashi smiled cruelly

"Do you?" he asked and the boy faltered, looking down at the floor as he remembered how those so-called friends treated him "No. You don't. Because people are manipulative and will always try to take advantage of you. That's just how it works little one."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Izuku whimpered, frightened of the intense power his father was emanating

"You use them first" Hisashi replied, getting up and brushing his suit off "That's all humans are good for anyway." He smirked a little, eyes as emotionless as ever "Use those "friends" to your advantage and maybe, just maybe...you can survive."

"Like how you do?" Izuku asked, recalling the countless phone calls he'd overheard. Hisashi nodded, picking up his suitcases as he opened up the door

"Precisely." He agreed "You don't have friends Izuku, only pawns. Use them wisely. If there's anything at all you have in this life, it's the brains."

"Only pawns??"

Hisashi looked away, fixing his hair a little before setting his hat on his head, obscuring his face in a way so that only a single grey eye gleamed in the shadows

"Remember Izuku, pawns can change into what you need them to be. Keep them close. And if the time comes" he sneered "Well, sometimes to win, you need to sacrifice a piece or two"

The door shut behind him, final and resounding as the house went silent, Inko's quiet sniffles the only sound in the overwhelming stillness.

~~~