Izuku hadn't interacted with his father in weeks. It wasn't unusual for them. He was a very busy man and Izuku liked to avoid him as much as possible.

So when there was a hard and precise knock on Izuku's door that he knew right away was his father, he internally groaned. He had almost set a new record for how long he could go without speaking to him. The knock was heard again and Izuku resigned to tell him to enter.

"Izuku," All For One greeted simply.

"Father," Izuku said with a subtle nod.

The man walked into Izuku's room, strolling around like he owned the place (which he technically did, but Izuku would be damned if he admitted it). "I've been meaning to speak with you for a while now, it's about what happened during the break in."

Izuku's heart dropped instantly. Had his father somehow found out he'd hid the intruder? Or worse, did his father discover who the intruder was? The thought of his father getting his hands on Sero, or the family he so lovingly ranted about, made Izuku sick to his stomach.

Oh god, he was going soft.

"What about it?" Izuku asked, his voice and face void of any emotion. Nothing about him gave away his fears and anxieties, just the way his father had trained him. The perfect little weapon.

"I heard about the altercation with one of my men," his father said, letting the statement sink in for Izuku, the meaning behind it.

Izuku scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. Since when did his father care that he put one of his cronies in their place? "What about it?" he repeated.

All For One sighed, turning to his son. "I can't have you undermining my second, Izuku."

The confusion was quickly replaced with shock. "You mean he wasn't just talking out of his ass? He's actually your second in command? That guy? Are you fucking kidding me? I could snap him in half like a glow stick with half a thought."

Izuku was livid. Not only was his dad trying to reprimand him, but he'd made some self righteous, little punk his second in command. Why did he even need a second? Wasn't Izuku enough? What about Kurogiri?

"Tomura is more than capable, his quirk and his mind are exactly what I need," his father snapped, clearly not amused with Izuku's critiques. "I expect you to respect him, following his orders as you would mine, seeing as he is now an extension of me."

Izuku was taken aback by the command. "You can't be serious right now. You want me to respect him? He's done nothing to earn that respect. I sent him one weak, little threat and he ran from here with his tail between his legs. I could end him in a second, he wouldn't even know what happened, and you want me to follow his orders? Hell no. Find someone else to play loyal subject."

He was seething, trying to keep himself under control. He couldn't physically fight his father, not now. He wasn't prepared, there was no way he could win. Beating his father wasn't impossible by any means, but it would take careful planning and preparation. Neither of which he had done.

His father's face hardened into a glare. "He is young and still learning, but that does not mean you get a free pass to walk all over him." The man took a deep breath and turned from his son. "You have gone unchecked for far too long, Izuku. I've let it slide, seeing as you're young, barely even a teenager, but I think it's high time you learned some respect."

Izuku scoffed. "Respect for who? You? You're a piss poor excuse for a father and a villain. You've been hung up on some stupid plan to get back at your brother who, by the way, has been fucking dead for over a century! Get the fuck over it already!"

Izuku was up and yelling, vicious in his onslaught of insults. Things that have been building up for years, words spilling from his lips with little to no choice.

"If you spent half as much time parenting me as you did planning this fucking revenge, maybe I wouldn't be fourteen without ever having a real friend, dad. Maybe I would actually know what an emotion is or how to handle it.

"Better yet, forget your complete failure as a father! How about how the fact there's been nine holders of this fucking quirk and you just now got your hands on it, and only because of me! Admit it, old man, you'd be nowhere without me. You would still be sitting on your ass, half dead, sending mindless goons out to mildly inconvenience your enemies because they aren't good for anything else!"

Izuku and All For One had locked eyes, the younger heavy breathing filling the now silent room. They were sizing each other up, waiting to see what would happen next.

Izuku was so sick of being the perfect son. He was so tired of following along mindlessly with his father's orders.

"You're pathetic," he spat.

That was the last straw.

Before Izuku could blink, his head was jerked to the side, a harsh stinging sensation was blooming across the left side of his face. His father had slapped him.

The anger was boiling over in Izuku, One For All flaring to life with his temper. Green lightning was crackling all around him as he turned to look back at the man in front of him.

Then suddenly it was gone. Izuku blinked as he looked down, the light gone. He strained to pull it back to the surface, but it wouldn't respond. He could still feel the quirk, all of his quirks, but he could access them. It was like they'd been locked in a cupboard he didn't have the key to.

He turned his blazing eyes back to his father. "What did you do?" he hissed.

"I've temporarily canceled out your quirks," the man said simply.

"Give them back. Give them back now!" Izuku shouted, ready to lunge at his dad. He didn't get the chance, invisible hands grabbing all over him, keeping him locked firmly in place. "Let me go," he demanded.

"You have to learn. I regret not doing this earlier," his father said with a sigh.

Before Izuku could shout again, his father snapped and the world went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Izuku missing one day of training was acceptable. Sometimes things just came up, Sero could understand that better than most people, but soon it stretched out to two days. Then three. Four. A week.

He was really starting to panic. Where the hell did that boy get off to? Did something happen? Was he okay?

It was the seventh night in a row Izuku didn't show up. Sero was pacing on the roof they always met at, biting at his fingernails. His mind was running through a million different scenarios, each one worse than the last.

Eventually he came to a decision. If Izuku didn't show up by midnight, he was going to the compound. He knew how to get in without being detected. He knew how to get to Izuku's room. He could totally do it.

He just.... he needed to know Izuku was okay.

With that thought in mind, Sero continued his pacing. Now though, he was checking his phone every two minutes to see the time. At exactly twelve o'clock, he took off in the direction of
Izuku's home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like Sero thought, getting in was easy. For a super villain base, they had surprisingly bad security. He just had to stay out of sight of the few guards posted around, which was a piece of cake after all the training, and he quickly found himself in front of Izuku's room. He didn't bother with knocking as he entered, wanting to get out of danger as quickly as possible.

Izuku's room was as neat and untouched as he remembered it. There was barely anything in it, besides the bed, a desk with a few notebooks and pens, and the dresser. The only thing amiss was the messy bed and lack of Izuku.

After a quick scan, Sero noticed the adjacent bathroom. The door was closed and he could hear the shower running, he had a good idea where Izuku was. Deciding he couldn't just barge into the bathroom, Sero took a seat, cross legged, on Izuku's bed, content to wait the boy out.

The shower shut off shortly after and Sero perked up. He was restless waiting to see the green haired teen.

So when the boy in question walked out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist, Sero was on his feet in seconds.

Izuku jumped, actually jumped, in surprise. A hand was on his chest as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Shit, Sero. You scared the hell out of me." He looked around his room in suspicion, quickly going to lock his door. "What're you doing here?"

Sero didn't answer, too busy looking Izuku up and down. He looked.....

He looked fucking terrible.

Did he get hit by a fucking bus?

He had a busted lip and a slightly faded black eye. There were small cuts littering his face and most of his torso, but what really concerned Sero were the huge bruises, roughly the size and shape of a large male's boot. They were an ugly yellow around the edges, but the centers were still a deep blackish blue. There were at least three Sero could see, two on his back and one right in the middle of his chest.

"What the fuck happened to you?" Sero asked in a breathless voice.

Izuku looked down at himself with a frown. "It's nothing-"

"It's not nothing," Sero said, cutting him off and marching over to where he stood by the door. He crowded into Izuku's space, looking more closely at the injuries. "Is this why you haven't come to training?"

Sero wasn't looking at Izuku's face, just the various marks on his body, allowing Izuku free reign to stare at the other boy all he wanted. He took in the concerned look, something he only ever saw from his mother. It confused him, along with the warm feeling it seemed to cause in his chest.

"I haven't been able to get out of bed until today," he admitted in an emotionless voice.

Sero's hands tightened into fists at his sides, the anger pouring off of him in waves. Izuku had never seen him like this. The happy-go-lucky teen had never been angry, let alone livid.

Izuku watched carefully as he took a deep breath and his hands slowly relaxed again. Then those same hands hesitantly reached out, grazing his sides, lightly sliding up to the bruise on his chest. Izuku fought off his shiver.

"How'd it happen?" Sero asked in a quiet voice.

Izuku had heard that tone before, never from Sero, but plenty of others. It was the calm before the storm. It came from an anger so deep and burning, you had no other option than to be still, lest you burst into flames from the intensity of it.

"I-" Izuku swallowed. He didn't think it'd be this hard to admit. Maybe it wasn't, it was just who he was admitting it to. "My father-"

A harsh intake of breath from the boy in front of him.

"He thought I needed a lesson in respect."

"Did you fight back? You didn't just let him- let him do this to you, right?"

"He canceled out my quirks. Somehow. There wasn't much I could do then."

It hurt Izuku, to admit that he was useless without his quirks. Without it he'd be nothing, worthless. He'd be a Deku.

Sero swallowed, finally looking away from Izuku's torso, making eye contact instead. "I'm sorry... that I didn't come sooner. That I couldn't help you."

Izuku was shell shocked by the apology. How could he possibly be sorry for that? He couldn't have known, and even if he had, it wasn't his responsibility. He couldn't have done anything anyway, not against Izuku's father. It was a ridiculous apology.

He had opened his mouth to say as much, but Sero cut him off.

"Don't," he gave Izuku a knowing look. "Say whatever it is you were about to."

With nothing else to do, Izuku shut his mouth. He stared up in slight awe of the boy in front of him.

Sero leaned down slowly, placing a soft kiss on Izuku's forehead. "I missed you, lightning bug," he mumbled.

Izuku had gone stock still, eyes wide as his mind tried to wrap around what had just happened. Everything was confusing and complicated and his entire body was tired and hurting. He just wanted everything to stop. Just for a little while.

He let himself collapse against Sero, knowing the taller boy would catch him. He clung to the front of his shirt, resting his ear against his chest. Izuku could just faintly make out the sound of his steady heartbeat.

The two didn't talk as Sero carefully directed them to Izuku's bed. He sat against the headboard and let Izuku lay on his chest. He ran a calm and gentle hand through the other boy's hair. It was something his mom did for him and his sisters when they had a particularly bad day. Izuku seemed to be having a pretty bad day.

Izuku didn't cry, as much as he thought he should. He didn't shed a single tear. Come to think of it, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd cried. Was he even able to? Had he ever been able to? Whatever the answer, he didn't think Sero would particularly care.

The boy had broken into the complex. Again. For him. Because he had been worried. About him. He'd been absolutely livid when he found out what happened.

It had almost frightened Izuku, the anger in his eyes. Almost.

i'm unreasonably proud of very specific parts of this chapter, my god.