Chapter Text
He pulls out a trash bag from his backpack before he really thinks about it.
There’s not much. Just a few cans and some plastic wrappers. The normal stuff thoughtless civilians are leaving behind as the beach starts to regain popularity.
The rhythm of the routine soothes Izuku though. Pulling him farther away from the events of the day even though his limbs still ache and an empty feeling has taken residence in every millimeter of his body. He’s not quite sure if it’s shame or a side effect from the healing.
Izuku sees a tomato juice can closer to the waves and jogs lightly towards it.
Grabbing it from the shallow motion of water, it slips right through his fingers as his hand quakes violently and refuses to stop.
The liquid still in the can splatters against the bottom of his uniform’s pants and he hugs the arm to his body. He rocks a little-hoping over and over not to break down on the site of his only victory.
This little piece of heroism that he brought into being.
“Young Midoriya?”
He startles, swinging around towards the road, “All Might?!”
The familiar man is holding a convenience store bag, lingering just on the edge of the beach where the concrete ends. All Might seems to hesitate before walking on to the sand and asks, “What are you doing out here, my boy?”
Izuku feels the pressure build behind his eyes. Knowing his hero hates when he cries, he turns his head towards the ground and hunches his shoulders in an attempt to block the gaze.
A hand comes to grip his shoulder as his body continues to fall in on itself. All Might begins to speak, “Young Midoriya-“
The sob reverberates through his body. A small earthquake that shudders outward leaving his whole form shaking now. The steady hand is the only thing that keeps his knees from giving.
And as tears break through, he stumbles into his words, his body bowing over fully in shame, “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry-“
“Young Midoriya, please stop apologizing.” Panic lines his tone, “I don’t know what you’re sorry for.”
“I screwed it up. I’m sorry. I failed the UA exam. I’m sorry.” The last words become a moan of pain as the reality fully sets in.
He worked so hard and failed.
He couldn’t do it, just like Kacchan said he couldn’t.
He failed All Might and everything was over.
Izuku feels All Might’s hand press into his other shoulder as well and hears whatever was in the bag drop into the sand. “My boy, you didn’t- You don’t know that you failed yet and we’ll figure it out if you did. There are other hero programs.” The large hands give Izuku a squeeze in comfort, “We’ll figure it out together. I promise.”
He lifts his head up to finally look his teacher in the eye. “All Might, I didn’t get a single point. I couldn’t move. My body just froze and I broke a bunch of bones on a useless robot.” Small tremors continue to vibrate through his body, but the tears slow to small streams down his cheeks.
The robot wasn’t useless, Toshinori wants to say, You did amazing saving that girl. But he can’t say any of that and only one idea pops into his head. Before he can stop himself, smoke emerges as he puffs into his hero form and he yells, “We’ll practice!”
“What?”
“Um- I-“ All Might crosses his arms and put a hand under his chin. “I have a lot of paperwork and appointments for the next week-“
The tears seem to come down even faster. The hero quickly shoots his arms out and waves them, trying to stop the younger boy from spiraling again.
“BUT! I always use my hero time so why don’t you come with me around town. Yes… We can go around for an hour or two after you’re done with school and you can see One for All close up. We’ll figure out the control stuff together. How does that sound?”
Izuku stops breathing. Every nerve in his body, that is coiled tightly in despair, curls tighter as excitement quickly takes over. His back straightens perfectly as he just thinks about getting to see All Might fight with his own eyes.
Finally, he starts speaking, “Really, I can come with you? I need a new notebook. Where are we going to meet? What time do we start?” Stars replace the water in his eyes.
All Might really needs to learn to expect reactions like this from Izuku, but he still looks overwhelmed by the speedy change in demeanor. “My boy, calm down. I’ll- I’ll text you the details tomorrow.” He gives a quick look at his watch and sighs, “Actually, why don’t I walk you home?”
Izuku’s whole body feels like it might just melt into the ground in relief. He takes a step back and it’s his turn to wave his hands at his teacher, “I wouldn’t want to impose. You don’t-“
“Yes, I do. Come along, my boy.” All Might lets out a soft breath as his frame loses its bulk and he picks up his grocery bag.
The last embers of the day are beginning to die out and the pair walks off the beach in silence towards the street lamps starting to buzz to life.
Izuku breathes deeply as he suppresses a small smile from growing larger.
All Might isn’t going to leave him.
They are going to figure this out together. It’s weird how much he’d come to rely on the older man’s support over the past ten months.
How comforting having this support is to him.
A few more drops drip down from the corners of his eyes, while a huge smile breaks through despite his not-quite-best efforts.
When they reach the front of the Midoriya apartment, All Might notices the tears streaking down the Izuku’s face. “My boy? I thought- We talked- “ The hero stutters out.
“No, All Might, I’m okay. I’m just- thank you.” Izuku folds over as low as he can without toppling, “Thank you for believing in me!”
As All Might tries to form an answer, the front door opens.
A frazzled Inko steps into the doorframe, “Izuku! Thank goodness, you’re back! It’s so late. I thought something happened…And you brought someone with you…” She lets the statement linger hoping for an answer to her unasked question.
“Oh, Mom, this is…” He pauses trying to think of what to say before All Might cuts in.
“Yagi Toshinori. I’m Young Midoriya’s mentor. We were just talking about how the UA exam went. I’m sorry to have held him up.”
Inko’s eyes light up as she says, “Oh, you made all the meal plans! Please, you have to stay for dinner! Let me thank you for everything you’ve done to help Izuku.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose- plus I already bought dinner.” Halfway through the motion of lifting his convenience store bag up to show Inko, he realizes how insulting he’s being.
Her stare feels like it is drilling into his soul.
A second ticks, the two. Toshinori is not known for giving up – but he does know when he’s been beat.
“I would love to stay.”
Inko just smiles, “Izuku, why don’t you go and set another seat at the table?”
“Of course!” He says excitedly, moving past his mother into the apartment.
Inko motions Toshinori into their residence with a smile. As she closes the door behind him, she speaks to him, head turned slightly over her shoulder so she can look at him while leading him over to the kitchen, “I’m so glad to finally have you over. Izuku has been talking about you since he started bringing home those schedules and recipes.”
“I was glad to help. I’ve never met someone who’s wanted to help people as much as Midoriya does.” He looks over at the steaming plates filled with food and vaguely thinks that they are probably celebrating Midoriya completing the UA exam. “Oh, this might get confusing.”
“You can just call me Inko.”
His cheeks feel red as he stutters out, “If you really – “
“Please, it feels like I’ve known you for months even though Izuku has been dodging my invitations to bring you for dinner.”
Inko turns her head as Izuku flies past them presumably towards his room. When the door clicks shut, she looks straight into his eyes. Something in theory that should be hard for the very short woman.
Her stance and gaze are firm as she says, “I need to thank you.”
“Inko-san – “
“No,” She cuts him off. “Sincerely, thank you so much. This is the happiest I’ve seen Izuku since he was a child. It feels like this whole town turned on us when they found out he was quirkless.” Her gaze moves away. “I couldn’t find anywhere that would let him take self-defense class or a gym that would let him work out, anyone who would help him – let him become a hero.”
He watches her take in a shaky breath so much like her son just a little while before on the beach.
“No one has helped us for a long time so thank you.”
His chest feels tight as he looks down on the teary mother of his student, so he just replies, “It was my pleasure.”
Izuku comes back in now in a T-shirt with the words Sweatshirt across it, holding the pair of uniform pants he had worn all day.
“Mom, I got tomato juice on the bottom of my pants,” He admits sheepishly.
She gives a tiny huffing laugh and replies, “Toss them on to the washing machine. I’ll see what I can do.”
As Izuku walks over to a door only slightly down the hall, Inko grabs a few plates and starts to transfer them over to the table. Toshinori follows her example with the few others left.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, Yagi-san.”
“It’s no problem and, please, call me Toshinori.” When he says it, he realizes he can’t remember the last time he asked someone to use his given name.
Was it David or Tsukauchi?
The train of thought forcefully grinds to a stop before it can spiral into an echoing loneliness he hasn’t felt since Midoriya crashed his way into his life.
He lets himself take in the dinner table instead, full of bright food and set for three. He watches Midoriya twisting around the apartment to fill up drinks and trying to inconspicuously hide the All Might merchandise he sees spattered around the area. There’s a warm feeling replacing the ache that had started to bloom in his chest as Inko gestures at a spot for him. And the three of them come together at the table, passing plates and offering drinks in a smooth tempo.
Toshinori finds himself hoping, maybe, that they will let him stay a little longer.
Izuku can’t stop himself from vibrating in excitement as he sits next to All Might.
Everything is good.
He has katsudon and his teacher and they were going to go out tomorrow and –
And everything isn’t good –
Because he’s not going to UA.
His appetite disappears and he can’t quite bring himself to pick up his head and look at either his mother or All Might. The chopsticks in his hand can’t seem to do anything, but push around the rice on his plate.
“Izuku is something wrong with it?”
He slowly picks up his head, “No, Mom. I’m just not feeling very hungry.”
“That can’t be true,” Yagi says, “Recovery Girl might have healed your injuries, but you need to replenish, Young Midoriya.”
“Injuries?” His mother asks, voice high.
Izuku feels his gaze jerk towards All Might. His teacher only hesitates for a moment, “Wow, I can’t believe we forgot to tell you, Inko-san. During the exam, Izuku discovered he has a quirk!”
“What?” She asks plainly as one does when a lot of information comes in within a very small amount of time.
“I – “ He hesitates because he doesn’t lie to his mother. “– smashed a robot the size of a small skyscraper today.”
“What?” She asks again as one would when a lot of information comes in within a very small amount of time.
“Also, I’m not getting into UA.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I’m very confused about how these pieces all fit together.”
The two adult voice overlap in replies to his statement.
It’s silent as the room processes everything. Izuku can feel All Might holding his breath as his mom’s face scrunches like she’s calculating a hard math problem.
He’s not quite sure how they are going to pull this off. He had hoped by now he could have convinced All Might to tell his mother, but Izuku knew that was his own fault for putting off any kind of talk that the little voice in the back of his head said would make the older man leave.
Her face finally settles into look of awe accompanied by a smile that looks like it might just become tears given a few more seconds, “A quirk?”,
He knows it’s for him because she never cared if he had quirk or didn’t. Mom only cares that he smiles and is happy. Izuku wishes he didn’t need All for One to be happy, but he says with a smile bright on his face and tears stinging his eyes as well, “I saved someone today, Mom.” And feels so happy.
Their happiness reflects back and forth between them like a never-ending illusion of mirrors and Izuku lets himself feel pride for the first time in a long time.
Because maybe he doesn’t go UA, maybe Bakugou is right in some ways, maybe he’ll never be a great hero…
But today, he saved someone.
He cleaned an entire beach and he saved someone.
Two small victories. Two small heroic deeds.
He, quirkless and anxious Midoriya Izuku, step-by-step, inch-by-inch is becoming a hero.
Toshinori is guarding the area near the sink and the mountain of plates when Inko sends Izuku to go get popsicles from the store down the block.
“What would you like, A- Yagi-san?” Midoriya asks, stumbling a bit over his name.
“I would love a strawberry flavored one, if they have.” He replies and softly stops Inko from pushing in front of the sink.
Picking up the sponge, he hunches over the area so that she can’t help wash dishes. What kind of hero would he be if he let the cook clean as well?
You’re a guest, She had said, but he hadn’t had such a nice night in a while and letting it last a little longer wouldn’t hurt, so Toshinori scrubs the plates and allows Inko to dry them off because she won’t hand over the towel.
“I don’t have a husband,” She says once Izuku has closed the door.
Toshinori looks at her with wide eyes, soap covered hands frozen. This is not where he thought the night was going.
“The story is I feel in love with Midoriya Hisashi, we had Izuku, and he works in America.” She takes a breath and lets it out through her nose, eyes focused on drying the plate in her hands. “I lied because I was twenty-two, I was in a new town, and I didn’t want people to make fun of Izuku because he didn’t have a father. That didn’t turn out too well. This jackass doctor told everyone in Izuku’s elementary that he was quirkless.”
Shocked isn’t the right emotion, but he feels unsettled by the honesty. His mind keeps structuring expectations as she speaks only to crash when they’re prove wrong the next second.
He can’t say he doesn’t understand the need to hide information from other people. The general public has always been his priority, but he keeps All Might a clean and almost non-human figure because people will always find something to hate and the Symbol of Peace needed to be more than that.
“Inko-san, why…” The question hangs incomplete.
“Izuku knows.” Inko puts the plate down and turns towards him. “That’s the deal. We don’t lie to each other. Everyone else is fair game, but we are a team.”
“My son has told me about every bruise he got from bullies. He told me about the teachers who turned their heads from him. He told me he’d rather stay there because it would so much worse if it just happened somewhere else. If the bullying only happens in this one school, he could believe that things will get better in high school.”
It’s Toshinori’s turn to look away. He wishes that Izuku had been angrier sometimes about how Toshinori treated him that day and he finds himself mentally swearing that he’s going to apologize again. Everything he learns about the kid makes him stronger and stronger in his head and Toshinori more assured that he made the right choice every day.
The sound of the sponge scraping against the bowl in his hands cuts thickly in the tension.
“When Izuku started working with you, I was worried, but he was so hopeful.” Her voice fills heavy with emotion. “I think you’re here for the long run, Toshinori-san, and I want you to be. Izuku wants you to be. So, as a part of this team, I need you to know we will always have your back.”
This whole conversation feels like a rollercoaster, but he’s sure he doesn’t want to get off of it though. A ball feels like it’s lodged in his throat and he can’t quite get it out to reply to Inko before she starts again.
“We have this saying – if I don’t know what’s happening, I can’t back you up. Whatever secret you are keeping between the two of you, I need you to know that you’re on this team now. I’m not going to demand you tell it to me, but I need you to know I know. I’m a partner at Safeguard. Do you think we didn’t do a genetics test once the first doctor told us that he was quirkless?”
“So, I don’t need to know it, but I’m telling you exactly what I told Izuku when he was old enough to understand. I can’t help you unless I know everything. I can’t back you up in a lie until you tell it to me. I’m going to have your back always and I expect you to always have mine.”
“I- Inko-san,” A small cough finally forces his throat open. “I’ve never been part of a team before.”
Toshinori feels lame saying it as Inko had just poured her heart out and told him secrets no one but Izuku knew. But this is his truth. He’s never had a team before.
With David and Nighteye, it was always…uneven. Support without reciprocation.They supported him, so that he could support America, Japan, anyone who needed saving.
But this…The Midoriya’s want to support him and he wants to support the Midoriya’s too.
“I want to tell you,” Toshinori says truthfully, “But, Young Midoriya only knows because of an accident and I’ve never told someone I haven’t known for years.” He hesitates and looks down at his hands. “I’m going to need some time with it.”
“Okay,” The ease at which she says it startles him, but Inko just plucks the plate from his hands and looks up at him with a smile, “Welcome to Team Midoriya, Toshinori-san.”
A grin breaks across his face before he can stop it, “Glad to be here, Inko-san.”
Izuku takes the jacket and goggles out of his backpack. The pair of items were a gift from All Might earlier today given to him to hide his identity while they were patrolling.
The hoodie’s design looks like All Might’s most recent costume and had been sold out of stores as soon as it was on the shelves. His mom wouldn’t let him camp out at the store because it had been a school night and he’d thought he’d never get a chance to have one until they did a reprint in a few months.
Even then, he would know that it wasn’t part of the original production.
The goggles are alike those you’d see when skiing. They cover most of the top portion of his face and didn’t have anything interfering with his peripheral vision. The dark blue tint kept anyone from seeing more than a reflection in the plastic gaze.
Izuku cannot seem to move his gaze away from the blue tinted version of himself on the bed. The entire afternoon is tinted blue in his memory. The odd coloring just makes it feel more surreal like a bad dream he can wish away or shake off with enough distractions.
He can’t shake this though. Can’t make it go away.
He remembers standing in three separate alleys, watching All Might hacking blood on the concrete.
He remembers his idol making sure to hold the too large costume away from the bloody spray when it pooled too far from his body so that it wouldn’t stain.
He remembers All Might smiling at him and asking if he was ready to keep going like he hadn’t just ran from reporters and civilian onlookers to hide his pain for a third time in the past hour.
While the experience was supposed to help him figure out more about One for All, all Izuku could think about was All Might doing this day in and out.
How was the hero living like this?
After ten months with him, he’d never seen his physical being so worn than in the hour they spent on patrol together.
All Might needs help. All Might needs his help.
As Izuku opens his computer, all he can think about was figuring out how he is going to do it. After all, a hero’s job is sticking their nose into other people’s business.
Two days ago, All Might thought this was going to be a great idea. Midoriya would figure out how to use One for All with his hero analysis mojo and it would keep the boy distracted long enough for the acceptance letter from UA to show up at the end of the two weeks.
All Might is….
Well, he’s just really unsure about how his plan went so, so wrong.
Instead of heroing, with his cleverly disguised mentee, he’s holding a three-ring binder. The five-pound monstrosity contains information for three online high school programs, the legislation that outlines the requirements to take the provisional license exam, and the already filled in paperwork declaring Midoriya his intern stan his signature.
Sitting across from him, Midoriya is oscillating between watching Toshinori’s expression and tapping his fingers and, as the time passes, doing both at the same time.
He really doesn’t know what to do here. God, he should have just told the kid that he got into UA that night on the beach or when he and Inko-san looked like there were going to burst out into tears at dinner.
Maybe he should do that now-
But Nedzu would kill him-
But Midoriya is giving up on UA-
Bu-
“All-“
He startles out of his spiraling thoughts and shoves his hands over the younger’s mouth. “Kid, names in public,” he whispers harshly. He lets his hands drop and brings them closer to himself so he can put his face in them.
Izuku can tell that All Might is not reacting well to his proposal, but he doesn’t really remember what he planned if the hero didn’t agree or if he actually planned anything at all on the topic last night or the early hours of this morning.
He probably needs to start making backup plans a bigger priority.
“Sorry, Yagi-san,” he says softly.
Another paper is flicked to the side, he watches as All Might resumes reading and catches that the man just started on the statistics section, which begins with a graph sporting the title, “The Decrease in All Might Appearances Since the Approximate Time of Injury.”
Izuku is proud of that graph and the analysis that follows. He spent a majority of the previous night digging through old hero forums pages and news clippings to confirm sightings and approximate time per incident.
He catches sight of a waitress coming near and his eyes flicker over to his empty mug. Maybe he could get away ordering another cup.
Settling on the best way to explain to All Might why he needs a third dead-eye, he finds that the elder is tracing the graph’s declining trend line with his finger.
“Yagi-san?”
His usually intense eyes are soft in a way that you only see after something you knew was inevitable finally happens, “When did you have time to do all this, my boy?”
“Last night…” Finding the coffee spoon, his fingers spin it back and forth, “I just…”
In a soft, almost pleading voice, he asks, “Young Midoriya, why do you think-“ He stops and retries, settling on better words, “Why did you come up with this?”
“I mean, it’s all there. The explanation, the benefits-“
“No, Midoriya, I can see why, but I need more than that. Why did you make this?
“I…“
“Midoriya.”
“You shouldn’t be hurting like this. Your career is already twice as long as the national average, almost three times if you look world-wide. You should already be retired. It’s not fair that no one is helping you and I just- I was one of those people who expected you to always be there when I needed you and… It’s not right that you’re carrying the weight of Japan and with One for All I can take some of that burden now, so please, let me help. “
Every fiber of his being is filled with the determination to help All Might.
The hero meets his gaze straight on. For a second, Izuku thinks that he has won him over. “Midoriya, you got into UA.”
Izuku flinches back.
The new information seems unreal in the way it blooms into every corner of his mind, stopping every train of thought with, I got into UA.
I got into UA.
I got into UA. I got into UA.
I’m going to UA!
It’s odd though when the dawning realization hits, he’s not sad.
Every second of every day since he learned about UA, he’s longed to go there…
…sometimes though there are things that are just more important.
“I’m not going to UA,” He states.
Izuku doesn’t say it with any anger or indignation because All Might is telling him so he’ll give up.
He states it.
Like every time he told Bakugou or his classmates or the people down the street that liked to whisper about him that he was going to go to UA and become a hero.
It’s just fact.
It’s just what he’s going to do.
“Young Midoriya, please, think about what you’re saying.”
Midoriya just looks at him with the same expression he saw when the boy ran into that fire.
“I- Fuck- We- we are going to – “ Stammering out badly thought through ideas had already gotten him in a deep enough hole, “ – talk with your mother.”
Toshinori really needs some help.