First of all, this fic is entirely Rune's fault. She threw out the idea of "villain family AU where Inko's a villain and married to All for One" in a Discord server and plotted it with me for a week, along with several other folks. This story is more of a Discord collaboration between all of us that I got attached to and decided to write.

Secondly, this fic is going to be super long, probably, which is why it's slow build/slow burn. (My other 200k WIP took 30 chapters to get the main ship to admit they're in love with each other... and the main genre is romance.) The main pairing will be BakuDeku... eventually. I promise it will be worth it. (I hope?) There will probably be other pairings that pop up over time, but romance really won't be the central focus of this fic anyway.

Finally, I'm super excited for this story! I really got attached to the idea of Izuku being raised by All for One and all the fallout due to that, so hopefully I don't mess it up! And yes, when the angst comes, I guarantee that I will be cackling at your misery unless I say otherwise. :)

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CHAPTER ONE: THE NORM/THE FAMILY BUSINESS

"FATHER, do you have ten minutes to talk with me or are you busy right now?"

The papers he carried in his arms weighed heavy as Izuku bounced on the balls of his feet. Even though there were only two or three sheets, the weight was in his own head because of the words and phrases that he had written on them. There were twenty five reasons he had carefully written in his best penmanship, with his best pen, each considered just as carefully as he would consider anything else.

Father's gaze was as intimidating as it had always been his entire life, despite the mess of tubes that connected him to life support for the past five years.

Eventually, he sighed wearily and his lips twitched up. "Is this about taking a more active role in the family business?"

Izuku lifted his chin and squared his shoulders. This was it, his opening. If he had been busy, father would have dismissed him instantly or told him to talk with mother.

Calmly, he laid the papers on top of the desk, on top of the other papers that he was surely browsing through for the family business, and then he took a step back. He had rehearsed his speech with Tomura-nii, several times in fact, until Tomura-nii had shouted at him to "stop bugging me already with your whiny insecurity and just say it to him!"

So.

It must be good enough by now.

"Yes, father, it is about taking a more active role. Please listen to me. I thought full every reason like you asked me to, and I truly believe that I would be an asset to the family business."

Izuku bowed at forty-five degrees and then pulled his back straight again, waiting for permission to speak again. The last two times had ended badly because Izuku had mumbled or spoken too quickly; the ones before that he hadn't even considered why he wanted to help with the family business. Really, it was no wonder father told him no instantly.

This time though, Izuku was sure, would have a different outcome.

He even had mother's advice on the reasons.

Father sank back into the chair and gestured with his hand, a little circle—the universal sign to continue on with the explanation. "You have five minutes to present your case. After that, you are welcome to join me for lunch, but I will not listen to insistent pleading if there is no depth to it."

"Right," Izuku said quickly. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. That was less time than he would have hoped for, but that was all right. "Reason one why you should consider allowing me to participate more fully in the family business is that I'm plain. Most heroes would not suspect me of all people to be involved with the family business."

"There are plenty of people who are plain in our family, Izuku. Your mother, for example. Kurogiri."

"Mother is retired and Kurogiri is already known by the heroes," Izuku replied swiftly. "I'm not. It would be easy for me to stay under the radar and get more stuff done quietly."

"You might be unknown now, but that is because your mother and I have kept you out of our affairs. As soon as you step into that world, pro heroes will know you are my son."

Izuku frowned but didn't allow that to perturb him. "I'm also smart and clever. I'd be good at convincing people to listen to our side, to join our mission, without using extortion."

"Why would we need to charm them to listen to us when they respect the power we hold over them?"

"Because we want them to not fear us?" Izuku suggested. He was getting off-track, his points carried away into explanations he hadn't planned, he was losing time to convince his father. "I don't know about you father, but I'd rather they not think our family is cruel unnecessarily. That would just drive them to the side of the heroes or other villains such as Overhaul."

His father sighed, stood, and walked around the desk. "This is why I don't want you involved with the family business, Izuku. You're too compassionate to consider that our less savory business partners would take advantage of that. Your brother understands that, he is far more ruthless than you are, which is why he is the heir."

Izuku frowned, because he hadn't even gotten five minutes and his father had already dismissed his efforts, even though he hadn't finished explaining to him. It didn't look like he was going to change his mind anytime soon though.

"Will you at least look at the list I wrote down for you?" he asked.

"Of course I shall look at it, but I make no promises to change my stance on your involvement anytime soon. You're too young to understand the responsibility of the family business."

Izuku faked a smile and nodded, pretending that he was happy that father was at least considering it. But it was hard to feel happy when he didn't really have a chance to explain.

"Come now, don't be so disappointed," father said, reaching over to put his hand on his shoulder. Izuku tilted his head back and studied the side of his face. "I know you wish to help us, but it's not needed right now, especially since you're quirkless."

"You could always give me a quirk?" Izuku suggested, unable to leave the hopeful tone out of his voice. Father chuckled.

"No, no, not now, Izuku. Later."

It was always later. Even as a child, when Izuku had talked to him about which quirks were interesting and could he have it, father, could he have that quirk, please father? father had always said to ask him again when he was older.

Izuku was fourteen years old now, almost fifteen. And still...

"How about lunch?" father asked, with a smile—or, at least, Izuku assumed it was a smile. It was difficult to tell when his entire face was covered with that breathing mask.

"Yeah, okay." Izuku straightened his shoulders and faked a smile. He didn't want to be scolded for being selfish. "Lunch sounds good."

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Izuku opened the door without knocking and flopped down onto Tomura-nii's bed, throwing his hand over his eyes.

"Hey, get out! I never said you could come in." His brother yelled, kicking at his shoulders with his feet. He was holding a book up between his covered hands, wearing the gloves he had bought him for his birthday to keep stuff from dissolving when he was using all five of his fingers. Izuku sighed dramatically and threw his arm across his eyes.

"He said no. Again."

"Of course he would say no. You're quirkless." Tomura-nii gave up trying to push him off his bed though, pulling his feet up and underneath him. He looked like he had eaten a sour lemon. "Are you going to get out of my room now?"

"I wouldn't be quirkless if father just gave me a quirk."

"Clearly, he doesn't see a use for you having one."

"I wish I had one. Maybe then I wouldn't be so useless."

Tomura-nii's exasperation melted away and his eyebrows furrowed together. He set the book onto his end table. "Is Bakugou being cruel to you again? You only call yourself that word when he acts up."

"You know Kacchan isn't mean to me. He's the only friend I've got."

"He calls you Deku."

"And I call him Kacchan."

Tomura-nii groaned. "You know what? I'm not even going to bother arguing with you about this. You're being too defensive about your so-called best friend. Have you considered dad just wants to keep you on the sidelines to protect you?"

"He doesn't keep you on the sidelines and you have a quirk," Izuku muttered under his breath.

"You have his name. I don't." He stated simply. Izuku didn't have a response to that—it was always so hard to talk to Tomura when the subject of their last names and his adoption into the family was brought up, so he always stayed quiet.

"What are you reading?" Izuku asked instead, propping his chin into his fist. He was still lying across the bed, but now he was laid on his side instead of his back.

"Porn."

"What?" Tomura-nii smirked and Izuku jumped off the bed, landing funnily on his tailbone. He rubbed the sore area gingerly, grimacing when it hurt.

"Just kidding. I'm reading about how heroes started their oppression. The government really spreads this propaganda... they don't even mention how a hero stole from us first in their official textbooks. I mean, what the fuck? They're missing the point of this centuries old conflict."

That rant was nothing new to Izuku by this point. However, before he had a chance to respond to it with his own opinion, someone knocked on the door and opened it slowly.

"Tomura, dinner will be ready in half an hour, so come down when it's— oh, Izuku? What are you doing in here?"

Mom tilted her head to the side and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Her eyes slid away from Tomura to him and her identical green softened as they always did when she looked at him. It was always hard to imagine that his mother was the infamous villain Iron Will, who was rumored to be almost cruel and once reigned with father as his right-hand. Now, she was an ordinary housewife.

Though, to Izuku, she was everything but ordinary.

"I was talking to Tomura-nii."

"I see..." She smiled at him. "Would you like to join me in making dinner? It's katsudon night."

"Oh, sure!" Izuku bounced onto his feet, because the only thing he loved more than katsudon was cooking it with mom as was their tradition, and he tossed a smile over his shoulder at his brother. "Thanks for talking to me, nii-san."

Tomura-nii's lips twitched. To most people, it would look more like a neutral stare than a threatening scowl, but it was as good a smile as he was going to get. "Whatever. Knock next time before you come in though."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Oh, Tomura!" His mom's expression lit up, as if she was remembering something she had just forgotten. "When you're finished with your history assignment, would you mind coming downstairs to help us set the table?"

Izuku watched as Tomura-nii's small, almost not there, smile slip off his face entirely. He always liked talking to father the most, treating mom a bit more coolly for some reason. Izuku rolled his eyes and walked out the door, because sometimes Tomura was petty over the stupidest things.

He never wanted to help with anything—just wanted to stay holed up in his room all day if he could.

"Yeah. Sure. I'll help."

"Thank you dear. We'll leave you alone."

Izuku waited for mom to shut the door with a soft click, somewhat patiently even though he had to stop himself from tapping his foot against the ground. She smiled down at him and ruffled his hair as she passed him.

"So, what were you talking to your brother about?"

"Nothing much," Izuku said with a shrug. "I was mostly complaining because father wouldn't let me help with the family business."

"You know he has his reasons, right? He wants to protect you... our line of business isn't particularly known for its safety."

"I know," Izuku sighed. "I just wish he would let me help sometimes. I'm not a child anymore. I feel guilty because I'm basically useless and I can't do anything, since I'm quirkless..."

"You're fourteen, Izuku." His mom's voice was warm with humor, and Izuku flushed. "You have time to grow into your role as you become older, don't worry."

"I'm not a dead weight, am I?"

"Never. You're our most precious son."

"I thought that was Tomura-nii?"

"He is special to us as well," mom agreed with a nod and a distant look in her eyes.

"Hmm." Izuku studied her for a long moment, but he said nothing. Tomura-nii was... Tomura-nii. He was special all right.

Mom smiled down at him, mysteriously, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she changed the subject to— "Would you like pork or chicken?"

"Pork, obviously."

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Kacchan was waiting for Izuku to arrive at the corner of their street, where they met daily to make the trek to and from school together. His demeanor was calm as he slouched against the wall, earbuds in his ears and phone in his hand as he scrolled through what Izuku assumed was a playlist.

He looked up when Izuku approached and pulled the earbuds out. "You're late, Deku. Like always."

"Sorry," Izuku replied, like always. Kacchan rolled his eyes and knocked his shoulder against his, a bit too hard to be considered friendly.

"Let's get a move on. I can't afford to be late and have it on my record. It'll fuck up my chances to get into UA if something shows up and I'm not going to let your tardiness screw my future over."

Izuku rolled his eyes, because they had twenty minutes before school started and it only took ten minutes to walk there, but he agreed. "Did you read about how All Might saved all those people the other day from that collapsing building?"

Kacchan nodded, setting a brisk pace in the direction of their school. He pulled the earbuds out of his phone, storing them in his backpack, and shoving the phone into the pockets of his sagging pants.

"Yeah. After he defeated the villain who caused that structural damage during their fight, he still had enough time to go inside and save everyone in there. While it was collapsing. It was so cool."

"It's impressive how he managed to save everyone in time," Izuku said, honestly, because it was. He'd never say it to anyone in his family, to anyone who wasn't Kacchan, but he admired the way All Might smiled when he saved those people.

"I'll be like him someday, the number one hero." There was no doubt in Kacchan's voice about it, and if there was anything about his best friend, it was that he was driven and talented. If anyone could overthrow All Might from his status as the Symbol of Peace, the number one hero, then it would be Kacchan.

It was almost a shame that they were on completely opposite sides.

While Kacchan, who was born from a perfectly ordinary family with an unusually powerful quirk, would surge through the hero ranks and eventually become the number one hero, Izuku was the son of the most powerful villain in the underworld, Hisashi Midoriya, who was better known as All for One. It was in his blood and the way he was raised, to become a villain.

But then... it wasn't like Kacchan would accept him, the quirkless Deku, becoming a hero and challenging his story. Izuku was just a side character who he had deemed as not dumb.

"You will," Izuku agreed. "You'll be better than him one day, Kacchan."

Kacchan looked at him out of the corner of his eyes and his lips quirked up. It wasn't a smile, but it wasn't a smirk either. "If you weren't quirkless, maybe I'd let you be my sidekick."

"If I wasn't quirkless..." Izuku echoed. If only he wasn't quirkless. Maybe then his parents would let him help with the family business. He knew he had valuable resources to offer them, wanted to help them; he was smart and he was clever. But he was quirkless, because father wouldn't give him a quirk.

"Did you know that All Might has been spotted apprehending villains in our prefecture?" Kacchan asked, changing the subject. Izuku shook his head.

"No, I didn't," he lied. He'd stayed up to three in the morning reading the articles online and watching the video playback of All Might saving the civilians from one of father's more 'unsavory' business partners. Kacchan smirked, clearly seeing right through him. "I thought he was in Tokyo a couple days ago?"

"Apparently not. The Hero Feed said he just showed up here yesterday afternoon." He mimicked one of All Might's punches, throwing in several small explosions for good measure. "He must have business with UA or something."

"Or something," Izuku agreed. It wasn't like All Might suspected father was alive after that he hurt him so badly five years ago. Any other man would be dead after a blow like that. "Say, did you understand the math worksheet that sensei gave to us? I don't remember learning how to complete them."

Kacchan rolled his eyes. "Sensei gave it to us early because he had to go to a conference, Deku. The substitute teacher was going to explain how to do it today."

"Oh."

Kacchan laughed. It was one of his typical mean, mocking laughs. Izuku might have felt hurt by it, but he was used to it by now. "Seriously Deku, did you zone out again in class? You're not going to get into any high school at this rate."

Izuku tightened his grip on the backpack. "My grades are as high as yours, Kacchan. I just thought I might have missed it somehow."

"You're right, it's not your grades that's the problem, it's your quirklessness. I doubt any high school would take on a quirkless."

Izuku frowned. "That's mean, Kacchan. Quirks aren't everything."

Kacchan shrugged. "They are now. Maybe you'll get into one of those quirkless schools, where you'll learn to be a good housewife?"

He shuddered at the thought of being forced into a marriage just to graduate from high school. Most quirkless people ended up in those by default, but Izuku had no intention to go there, quirkless or not. The only person who might even beat him when it came to grades was Kacchan, and even then, they were pretty much equal in those as well.

He was smart. It was all he had running for him, since father wouldn't give him a quirk.

"No way would I apply to any of those schools."

Kacchan rolled his eyes. "No need to get so huffy about it. You'll probably get into a regular school."

"Oh, look. We're here." Izuku said, instead of responding. Kacchan widened the gap between them and scowled, and Izuku sighed. Even though Kacchan tolerated his presence more than anyone else's in the school, he still had his reputation to uphold.

Which meant not looking like he was enjoying being around the quirkless childhood friend too much.