"Izuku had never known who his father was but his mother had let enough things slip that he thought he figured it out. But when he asks the centuries-old villain if he is his father, the other must admit he has almost no memories of before his head trauma from All Might, leaving both to wrongly assume he truly is his child."
Are you my dad?
is a My Hero Academia fanfic by treegirl15 which features Izuku and All for One mistaking each other for family. An alternative link can be found here.
Are you my dad? contains the following tropes...
- Accidental Murder: Izuku taking the Slime Villain's Quirk kills him as the villain's body was separated into pieces when it happened.
- Adaptational Badass: Due to having a Quirk that is functionally similar to All For One, and getting All For One’s help in acquiring a variety of Quirks, as well as taking them from the villains he takes down, Izuku is far more powerful than he is in canon, possessing dozens of Quirks at his disposal, which he can use in combination for some devastating attacks.
- Adaptational Heroism: While still a villain, All For One legitimately cares about Izuku rather than being pure evil.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- All Might is revealed to have cheated on Inko in the past and has been an absent father for six years after he stopped having a good reason. He is also a huge asshole throughout the story.
- Inko also cheated on All Might.
- Ambiguous Situation: While the main thrust of the story is that Izuku is All Might’s son, who merely thinks that he’s the son of All For One due to the similarities between their Quirks, the situation becomes much more uncertain with the revelation that All For One, aka Hisashi, also slept with Inko. Further complicating things is that a blood test meant to determine Izuku’s parentage ends up being inconclusive, due to Izuku’s DNA containing genetic markers from every person he’s taken Quirks from, of which there are several dozen.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Izuku has the ability to take Quirks from others, which causes him an unhappy life after he takes Bakugo's.
- Black-and-White Insanity: All for One paints Yoichi as naively idealistic, hating him for using his Quirk to protect metahumans, not caring that the quirkless were murdering metahumans left and right with the authorities not helping, even encouraging the slaughters. To the point Yoichi sold out his organisation, leading to the death of All for One's friends, wife, and child. That said, we only have All for One's word for it.
- Combo Platter Powers: Izuku has a lot of Quirks in his arsenal. Many are useless or weak on their own, but in combination, Izuku can do incredible things.
- Calling the Old Man Out: When Izuku finally speaks with All Might again after getting into U.A. as part of the vigilante rehabilitation program, Izuku viciously rebuffs All Might’s attempts to justify what he did, by pointing out that several heroes have children whom might be targeted by their enemies, and that there are systems in place to help mitigate that risk, which All Might didn’t take advantage of in favor of just up and leaving. Izuku then points out that All Might claims to care, but apparently not enough to learn what his own son’s face looks like.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The whole fiasco that comes from Izuku getting arrested and later becoming a vigilante could have been avoided if All Might was a better enough father that he could recognise his own son when they met in the flesh for the first time. Izuku makes sure to point that out when he tells All Might to go to hell on his first day at U.A.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: All Might stayed away from Inko and Izuku because if All for One found out they were the former's family, they would be in great danger. Inko concedes it is a good reason, but it stopped applying after All Might believed he killed All for One, meaning the six years he spent away after the supposed death is all on him.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: This story introduces another issue from All for One's injury: he has significant memory loss. He is missing large amounts of time from before his fight with All Might and he genuinely can't tell whether he is Izuku's father.
- De-power:
- A lot of Quirk users voluntarily give up their Quirks to Izuku for various reasons such as the Quirk being highly inconvenient to, in at least one case, to throw law enforcement off their trail.
- In the process of his vigilante activities, Izuku takes the Quirks of Endeavor, to punish him for his abuse of his family, and Dabi, whose usage of his Quirk was gradually killing him. He also goes on to take Himiko Toga’s Quirk, due to it causing her issues with her addiction to blood.
- Detrimental Determination: All Might is determined to bond with Izuku and reestablish his place as Izuku’s father in the boy’s eyes. However, his complete refusal to admit any real fault on his part, combined with his heavy-handed approach to the matter, only serve to drive Izuku further and further away from him.
- Didn't See That Coming: All for One is blind-sided by Izuku asking if he is his father.
- Entertainingly Wrong: All for One matches what little Inko would tell Izuku about his father: Tall, light hair, and it would be dangerous to be a family with him. Izuku himself notes that the similarity of their Quirks is the most convincing factor. All for One agrees with the assessment and notes he can't be sure because of the brain damage caused by his fight with All Might.
- Flaming Sword: Incredibly, Izuku manages to combine the effects of several Quirks to create a sword for Dabi that is permanently on fire.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: One of Izuku’s favorite Quirks is Chair, a Quirk that allows him to…turn himself into a chair. It actually proves quite useful, as Izuku can alter his appearance to blend in with the furniture wherever he happens to be, which causes the Quirk to be extremely useful for hiding and eavesdropping.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- Despite having been accidentally rendered Quirkless by Izuku’s Quirk, Katsuki is still Izuku’s bully, due to him playing up his victimhood and capitalizing on the prejudice the teachers have against Izuku’s “villainous” Quirk, allowing him to beat Izuku, while Izuku is unable to fight back without getting expelled as a consequence.
- Izuku’s conversation with All Might on the rooftop still takes place, with All Might telling Izuku that he can’t become a hero, though, in this case, it’s because he thinks that someone who’s unwilling to use their Quirk would not be able to accomplish anything.
- Irony:
- All for One ends up taking All Might's son under his wing and bonds with him as a father figure. Aside from the role reversal of canon, All for One would adore the opportunity to do this to torment All Might, but his bonding with Izuku is genuine and he has no knowledge of Izuku's parentage.
- Izuku got his Quirk from the way One for All combined with his mother's Quirk. One for All was accidentally used to create a weaker/worse All for One.
- Mistaken for Related: The entire premise of fic is that Izuku and All for One mistake each other for family.
- Person of Mass Destruction: All For One and All Might are this, as per canon. But Izuku also qualifies, due to possessing dozens of Quirks that, while individually weak, can be used in devastating combination with one another. One notable example is a Quirk that allows Izuku to shoot Eye Beams, which he can combine with a Quirk that allows him to create an eye in the sky, which he then combines with a Quirk that creates Extra Eyes, which he then combines with a Quirk that allows him to transform his eyes into the compound eyes of an insect, allowing him to create a beam spamming Kill Sat, which is capable of decimating a small city…and that’s just one combination Izuku has come up with so far.
- Personality Powers: Certain Quirks have the capacity to affect their holder’s personality. Specifically, in Izuku’s case, his Quirk gives him possessive instincts that border on kleptomania, particularly when other Quirks are involved. This tendency grows stronger the more he uses his Quirk, which results in him needing counseling to channel his urges in a more positive direction.
- Point of Divergence:
- Instead of being Quirkless, Izuku is the son of All Might, with the coincidental combination of All Might and Inko’s Quirks giving rise to a Quirk that is functionally similar to All For One, which causes several major changes to the plot.
- Izuku’s first accidental use of his Quirk results in him taking Katsuki’s Quirk, rendering Katsuki Quirkless, which results in Katsuki aiming to become the first Quirkless pro-hero.
- Izuku winds up accidentally killing the Sludge Villain, due to taking his Quirk while his body was scattered, which results in Izuku getting arrested for vigilantism, by his own father no less, and sent to prison, where he’s subsequently broken out by All For One, with Izuku coming to the conclusion that All For One is his actual father, due to the similarities between their Quirks.
- Instead of training to receive One For All and enter U.A. through the regular exam, Izuku instead becomes a vigilante and seeks to enter U.A. through the Vigilante Rehabilitation Program.
- In the process of his vigilante activities, Izuku winds up destroying several villainous organizations, including the Shie Hassaikai, which results in Eri being rescued before Izuku even comes to U.A.
- To help Izuku succeed as a vigilante, All For One reveals that he’s still alive to All Might well ahead of canon, and subsequently plans an attack on All Might at a charity event specifically for Izuku to thwart so that Izuku can firm up his public support by standing up to his father, while simultaneously creating the impression that Izuku is severing ties with him.
- Simple Solution Won't Work: At one point Izuku is given a paternity test to determine whether All Might or All for One is his father. Because of his ability to take Quirks, Izuku has genetic markers from so many people that the test results are inconclusive.
- Smash Cut: Izuku is introduced to Melissa Shield, who might be his half-sister via All Might and David (David is trans). Upon meeting her, Izuku attempts to explain how they might or might not be related, which only serves to confuse her as he explains his family situation (four different father figures, two adopted siblings, and Melissa herself). The scene then immediately jumps to Melissa having made a diagram on a whiteboard in an attempt to make sense of everything.
- Super Powerful Genetics: Izuku's Quirk is a combination of One for All's ability to be passed on and Inko's attraction ability: the ability to attract Quirks.
- Superpower Lottery: Izuku is a clear winner since his ability to take Quirks from a distance caused All for One to treat him as a potential threat before they came to the wrong conclusion they are family.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Aizawa gives All Might a scathing telling off for getting so involved in Izuku’s case, being Locked Out of the Loop regarding Izuku’s status as All Might’s son, noting that All Might has never gotten involved in investigations looking for teenage runaways with supposedly “villainous” Quirks before, with his only excuse being that All Might is worried that Izuku could become the next All For One, and doesn’t seem to have any solution beyond either locking him in Tartarus or killing him.
