Hisashi Midoriya was a man of means, to a certain point. He was a man who possessed a potent quirk, had a woman whom he loved dearly, and a son that did him proud with his marvelous mind.

Hisashi was not happy though, why would he be? His work kept him away more often than he'd like, regardless of the good it brought, his wife was left alone to raise their son more often than not- a son whom he'd incidentally become distant to.

And apparently, the son of a close family friend had been tormenting his son, without him even knowing!?

Smoke rose from the nose of the green haired man, his sharp steel coloured eyes burning holes into the table as he picked at the food his beloved wife had provided, his beautiful son was quivering in pure terror at the sight of his anger.

A frown burned across his face like a flash of fire, "Izuku." He spoke, his voice deep and rich, making the boy jump.

"I want to preface my thoughts thusly, I am not angry at you. I'm not disappointed at you in any way, and I need you to understand that." Hisashi's boy nodded quickly, too quickly for his taste, when had his precious sunshine child become this whipped pup?

Had he been so blind to his own home life? Or was his son an exceptional liar?

Neither of those things he enjoyed the prospect of.

"Why is it, that your mother and I are only finding out about this situation now?" His steel eyes pinned his son in his chair, Hisashi could swear he heard his son's heartbeat.

Izuku stumbled over himself for a few moments, and tried his best to get his tongue untied, "I uh, didn't want to bother you or mum with my problems-your already doing so much, you work so we can live an-and I didn't want coming home to be more a chore for you!"

Hisashi's eyes softened, and his breath was stolen away, a chore? The boy thought himself a chore?

"I've clearly been a worse father than I'd thought…" Melancholy flooded Hisashi's chest, placing a hand on his face, Izuku panicked visibly as his mother just shook her head and pat his hand.

Hisashi looked at his son again and Izuku saw something he'd never seen.

His father, this titan of strength and a man seemingly born from the word 'dedication' was crying, tears streaming down his face, though it seemed the rest of his face didn't acknowledge it, he kept the same melancholy expression, but apparently Hisashi Midoriya wasn't cursed with the 'Ugly Cry' like so many other people.

"Izuku, coming home has never and could never be a chore for me. I'm sorry if I've led you to believe such, I thought that… if I worked hard enough, and did enough that perhaps you could live a happier life than you've clearly led… no, it seems. I was wrong. You are the most precious thing in my life, son. Forgive me." Hisashi bowed his head, he was no talented hand at fatherhood, and his naivete on the subject had caused his progeny to suffer.

"D-dad no! You're amazing!" Izuku plead quickly, "D-don't bow your head to me I don't des-"

Hisashi's sharp eyes cleared immediately, "Don't you dare finish that thought, Izuku."

His brisque order made Izuku's back straightened, instead of wilted as that tone would have from anyone else, something that the little green haired boy was slightly mystified by.

Hisashi looked to his wife, "Have you spoken to Mitsuki?"

"I was going to do so tomorrow." Inko informed gently, "I got a little advice from someone on how to handle- or at least start to handle - the situation."

"Our wayward neighbour, yes?" The Midoriya Patriarch asked thought already knew the answer, "He seems to have inserted himself into a situation I should have dealt with… my own blindness has lead to this situation, but I see others that must share the blame. What have your teachers done to curb this attitude of your peers, my son?"

"They uh… they try their best but you know how kids are? Haha…" Izuku attempted weakly, humour was not his strongest point and he was very aware of that.

Hisashi looked murderous, "Excuse me for a moment, I'm going to call work. We're dealing with this tomorrow."

Inko glowed with pride whilst Izuku looked horrified, "So-so quickly?!"

Hisashi took back to his food with gritty determination in his eyes, "Gonna kick some asses."

Inko smacked his arm lightly, "Language at the table."

Finishing his bowl in two more enormous mouthfuls Inko watched with amusement as her husband swallowed like a pelican and got up with his bowl in hand, kissing her temple and placing his bowl in the dishwasher after a quick rinse.

"I am now not at the table." He said, almost petulantly, getting a giggle from his wife, who snorted at the burning look in her husband's eyes, "I'm going outside."

As the door closed Izuku looked at his mother for help, "When you've known your father for as long as I have, you learn this is probably the best result."

"B-but I didn't want anyone to be burdened with my problems! Mum please tell Dad he doesn't need to worry about this, n-neither do you!" Izuku all but begged.

Inko, instead of accepting his very reasonable wishes, rubbed his head, "Sweetheart, we're your parents, and we'd be quite poor parents if we left you alone, we're just so sorry that you felt that you couldn't speak to us."

Outside

Hisashi opened his phone and sent a text to one of his partners, he wasn't going to be coming into work for a few days, and if someone had an issue with it, they could explain to his son why it was more important that Hisashi be at work, instead of helping with a serious familial issue.

It was not wise, nor was it an even vaguely good idea, his co-workers would think he didn't take his job seriously, and his superiors would doubt his dedication, but it all paled in comparison to the look on his son's face when Izuku thought Hisashi didn't want to come home because of his issues.

Rain suddenly set it, a light sprinkling seemingly from nowhere, much to his confusion.

He heard music, and saw the light of a phone at the other end of the two apartment complex, their neighbour, it seemed, was out of his home.

Hisashi looked at the young man, his acid green eyes seemed to glow in the dark, and frankly that was what drew the firebreather's gaze to begin with, as the phone's glow seemed superficial in comparison.

There was a magnetic pull in the air that all but forced Hisashi to walk towards the younger man, acid eyes looked up to meet the figure, the young man stood and pocketed his phone, offering his hand.

"Evenin' Mr. Midoriya." Gideon greeted, without hesitation Hisashi clasped their hands and shook firmly, extreme Dad Energy™ seemed to be exuding from the man.

"Thank you for the kindness you showed my son." Hisashi wasn't someone who beat around the bush.

Gideon felt himself grin once more, he'd been doing that a lot recently, "Happy to help."

Hisashi looked him dead in the eye and said, "Is there anything I can do to return this kindness?"

Blinking the Aussie chuckled, "You don't gotta worry about that, Mr. Midoriya, like I told Izuku and the missus, I'm just doing the right thing. Heroes help people, that's what I'm doing."

The man with short green hair and eyes like steel looked to the man with dyed purple hair and acid green, "Have you found work at a hero agency yet?"

Gideon looked slightly soured, not at Hisashi but more at the circumstances, "No, people don't really want an outsider mucking about with their affairs, there's a lot of cultural things I'm not exactly good at either."

Hisashi nodded in understanding, placing a hand under his own chin in thought, "What is your Hero name, Lennon-san?"

"Paladin, the Bright Knight." Gideon had a little half-smile on his face, mostly because his hero name was designed specifically to be as unhelpful as possible for villains to find out about his quirk.

"I've heard of you." The man said, nodding as he began thinking quickly, "A few of the local heroes have spoken highly of your candour and general ethic, I have a few contacts in the hero scene. If you'd like I could put in a good word for you."

Generally speaking it was who you knew, who got you through a door, and what you knew that kept it closed behind you.

Gideon was slightly taken aback, "Ar-I mean, yes! That'd be amazing, I-really though you don't have to go to the trouble, I'm just doing my job."

Hisashi noted the similarities between the young man before him and his own son, the stuttering and stumbling with their words, perhaps it was a thing with the youth, their brains moved too quickly for their tongues to keep up.

The older male waved his hand, "Nonsense. You have gone beyond the call of duty, and thusly deserve a reward, however small. I'm sure you'll fit in well with the agency I have in mind, Lennon-san."

"What one would that be?" Gideon felt compelled to ask, there were not many heroes around Mustafa but there were a decent amount.

"The duo Agency of Golem and Drake, two less renowned heroes but if renown is what you were seeking I'm quite certain you'd have given up at this point." Hisashi noted, the small apartment, the general lack flair, Paladin was a street-known name, if you saw him you'd know him, and even then it was only those around Musutafu and perhaps in the young man's home country, but not in the grand scheme, he didn't have rank on the Hero Board and was mostly unknown.

But Hisashi knew this name, he knew many upcoming heroes, he kept his ear to the ground, and made sure to keep his eyes open at all times for potential.

Paladin was a flashy hero, it made sense given his bright and showy quirk, but he seemed less involved in the side of hero work that was media presence, he simply did his duty, assisted when he could, and left.

Something Hisashi, respected greatly.

"Why though? I haven't even done anything." Gideon asked, eyes filled with confusion as he scanned over the man before him.

"Because even if you do not meet your promises, you've already set my family on a path to recovery. That alone, is enough for me." Hisashi said, crossing his arms and his gaze fixed upon the young hero.

"My son is a boy that has been done an injustice, he assumed I would not want to hear of it, but told you, and you told my wife. I can now fix my sons problems, as a father should." Hisashi explained with an ironclad determination.

'God help whoever this man gets in front of.'