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Standing upon the ruins of Kamino fist raised, the final embers of One for All finally burned out. He had done it Toshinori had finally vanquished his nemesis, the murderer of his mentor along with so many others. He watched as the police took him away to tartarus. Every security measure they had at the ready to stop All for One from ever getting away. He had completed his mission. He should be over the moon, he should at least feel victorious. He knew the world was watching, could hear the distant cheers and cries. He knew he'd once again given hope to the world, given people some peace like he’d always dreamed of but there was a sick churning in his gut, the ache of emptiness where his quirk used to be. A jagged wound like something essential had been cut out of him. It hurt more than the removal of his stomach and lung had. All Might had saved the world once again but all he could feel was panic, standing amongst the debris he was 15 again, he was worthless again, he was quirkless again.
He was four when they had told him. Sat in a doctors office mother and father either side of him as the doctor talked about toe joints and appendices. He didn't really hear any of it, he’d heard the only thing that mattered…he was quirkless. He knew what that meant, knew what the other kids would say, knew it was already rare about 35%, mostly coming from the older generations and it was constantly declining. He knew the words they called kids like him, a whole new list of slurs now applied to him. He knew this would be his life now.
The car ride home was a tense one his father was a large man like Toshi was already getting to be. He knew he had a powerful quirk and the other kids at school thought he was scary, but to Toshi he was always the gentle giant. A loveable dad who always had cuddles waiting and doted on his mother.
That all changed that afternoon in the doctor's office.
When they got home Toshinori had run to his bedroom and gotten under the covers and pulled out one of his favorite comic books. Those heroes always made him feel better, safer. That’s when the screaming started Dad was enraged throwing things, destroying the living room screaming in Mum's face.
“He’s a blank, quirkless! That didn't come from me. Who is he?”
“Honey what are you talking about” Mum replied in a small voice. Dad exploded.
“Whoever is it is you've been fucking. I’m a fourth generation quirk user that is no kid of mine”
Silence fell over the room. His mother was so taken aback by this accusation. She was disappointed too, worried for her little boy she knew what people did to quirkless kids, they were the first targets. She’d heard the hushed statistics kidnappings, murders, witch hunts and the ever increasing suicide rates. But this, how could her husband accuse her of this Toshi was basically his little clone. He’d never betray him like that, she knew he must know that really.
“I’m gonna pretend you never said that.”
Time moved in slow motion the first time he hit her. Well it was more like it sped up, it was all so quick but she was able to take everything in, in that split second. It should have been impossible but she saw his hand as it spun her face, her body following and falling to the ground. She saw every detail of his face, the anger, the outrage and as she fell she saw Toshi her sweet baby boy, his face poking out the side of his bedroom door, his mouth hanging open. She saw the moment it happened that her son realized his parents weren't perfect magical gods that fixed everything, they were just people. People who could get hurt and do the hurting.
“Mum!”
Toshi ran to her as she wiped the tears from her face pushing up from her place on the floor at his fathers feet. He hadn't thought about it. If he had he might have thought about how his father was so huge, how his mother was so much stronger than Toshi and dad had knocked her down as effortlessly as a house of cards. But he didn't think his feet had moved without his permission, throwing his small body in front of his mother, ready to shield her, to fight back, to do something, anything to protect her.
It hadn’t meant anything, not really. His father had seen red, beat Toshinori black and blue whilst his mother screamed and begged for him to stop till her voice was hoarse. But Toshi felt proud he’d stopped his mum being hurt he felt…like a hero. His mother had bandaged him up, rocking him in her arms and whispering again and again.
“I am here”
Life had gone on, his father was still violent, still ranted and raved about how Toshinori was no kid of his and Toshi took it all. Mum would never leave him, she loved him too much. He was always big for his age but he worked hard to build muscle. He had to be strong to protect his mother. He made himself the target for his fathers anger. He would sacrifice himself again and again to protect her, to protect anyone. That’s what it meant to be a hero right?
It was obvious to anyone with half a brain that Toshinori Yagi was being beaten to hell and back but the teachers didn’t care. Why would they? He was the useless, worthless quirkless kid. Destined for nothing and trailing behind in every class. Why should they bother with what was happening to him at home? It's not like he wouldn't get the same in any foster home, so they ignored it and him.
And then one rainy afternoon he’d met Nana, and somehow convinced her that he had the heart of a hero if not the quirk of one. He’d told her of his dream to be a symbol so strong that villains wouldn't even try. She’d laughed of course but had trained him all the same.
Toshinori knew he wasn't exactly a genius. He’d always been the big lumbering idiot even as a child. Other people always seemed to know what to say and when. Things clicked for them when they didn't for Toshinori. The other kids in school called him stupid in middle school. The teacher's eyes passed by him. They snorted at his wrong answers but would never tell him how to get them right, he tried so hard but they laughed at him for that just like his dreams of being a hero one day. In a way he knew it wasn't possible there wasn't a hero course in the country willing to repeal their no quirkless applicant policies yet, but he wanted it so badly. He wanted to give people hope, he wanted to be like the heroes in the pre-quirk era comics. He wanted to comfort people with his presence like his comics had done for him on his darkest nights. He couldn't give up, he had to find a way.
Then he got One for All, a quirk of his own. Stupid, quirkless, worthless Toshinori Yagi had a quirk…and for the first time in his life he was good at something. He took to his new quirk like a duck to water. He knew it was unusual, that Nana had expected his body to have more backlash to all the power. But Toshi felt amazing, he must have been meant for this quirk. He was finally good at something. Suddenly he was on top. He got into U.A. grades barely scraping through but nobody cared about that anymore, now he was the most promising hero student in generations. He won his sports fastival and his father clapped him on the back and said.
“Thanks my boy, I always knew you’d be something great” He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about that. He wasn't sure how to feel when his mother and father died in his second year either. Nana and Gran had been parents to him for so long by that point. When Nana died he thought he’d be broken forever. He threw himself harder into his training.
He graduated, went to america, debuted with a bang. He had climbed the ranks with speed. He was the symbol of peace. He’d achieved his greatest dream. When he showed up, victims sighed in relief. He didn’t really have a life or friends, mainly colleagues but this was his job, it was worth it, it had to be.
But now here he was quirkless again with an explosive teenager yelling at him to be careful. It had been so long since he’d been this since people had looked at him and seen weak,defenseless, in the way. It hurt more than he cared to admit. He tried to stave off the near continual state of panic he was in. He was desperate to help to be useful again. He couldn't go back to being useless.
Toshinori needed to calm down, he sat on a bench outside under a cherry blossom tree. He tried to take deep breaths, the same way he’d get young Izuku to do when he was panicked. He couldn't let any of the students see him like this. He wasn’t the number one hero any more but he still had a job to do, an example to set. Had to give everything he did have left even if it wasn't much anymore. He had to keep it together. He had to-
“All Might?”
Oh no. Toshinori knew that voice. It was the last thing he wanted to hear when he was like this.
“All Might are you okay” He could feel the gentle hands of his successor checking him over for injuries for something that was wrong.
Izuku didn't know what to do. His d-All Might was hunched over head between his knees, breaths coming out in fast labored pants. He looked. Well he almost looked like Izuku’s did mid panic attack. But that couldn’t be the case this was All Might. The symbol of peace. The strongest, most steadfast person Izuku knew. He didn't panic, he wasn't like Izuku.
Izuku rubbed his mentor's back crouching down to press their foreheads together, whispering gently. “I am here” Yes he knows saying All Might's own catchphrase to him wasn't the brightest idea he'd ever had but it kinda just happened the words that brought him the most comfort spilling out.
Eventually his breathing evened out returning to normal. Or at least as normal as it gets for a man with half a lung left on a good day. Toshinori felt embarrassed, he was the one who was supposed to comfort his student, not the other way round. He was just a kid.
“All Might are you okay” the young boy asked him again, his voice gentle and soothing.
“I-” Toshinori didn't really know where to start. He couldn't exactly say his usual I’m fine my boy , I mean his boy had just talked him down from a panic attack for god's sake.
He decided to choose honesty for once, he was tired and bursting with feelings. He sighed.
“I guess I’ve just been struggling adjusting to my newly returned quirklessness, my boy” Toshinori said it, but he couldn’t look at his boy whilst he was so scared to see his face.
“Oh” Well that was one way to react he supposed.
Midoriya was kicking himself oh …really? That was all he had. God what could he say. He was saved when All Might, as awkward as ever, spoke again.
“I don't want you to feel guilty, I handed my quirk over willingly, I knew I'd have to eventually and. And I can’t imagine anyone better than you, you've already done so much good with it and get better every day I’m so proud”
Izuku blushed the way he always did at praise but especially from this man he’d come to view as a father…not that he’d ever tell him that. All Might may be proud of him as a successor but that was a far cry from seeing him as a son.
“I suppose it’s just…difficult. The way people look at me now. I was used to it once when I was quirkless and everyone treated me like I couldn't walk in a straight line without help, but I've spent so many years now being looked at as more than human. Put on a pillar. Nothing bad could possibly have ever happened to All Might right?” the end of the sentence turning into a bitter tired laugh.
“I-” Izuku's mouth bobbed open and closed like a fish.
“Ahh you forget too that I was also the bullied quirkless kid before I was ‘All Might’ The Symbol of Peace?” Izuku flushed guiltily. He often forgot just how similar he and All Might really were. It was hard to think of the great towering All MIght as a kid dodging bullies and looked down on by teachers. Of course Izuku knew he had been quirkless before but that had been long before Izuku had even been born. He’d only known him as the greatest hero in the world
“I’m sorry. It’s just you're you know…All Might” Izuku nervously scratched the back on his neck knowing it was a lame excuse.
“That's okay my boy, I’ve never really been a person to people” He said looking out at the setting sun. Izuku froze. He’d said it so casually with no trace of him trying to guilt Izuku or expectation that he deserved anything better. It made Izuku want to cry his classic Midoriya tears for him. Izuku tried to protest to tell him that wasn’t true.
“I went from nothing to a god. Invisible to unapproachable” All Might had a sad smile on his face. Izuku had never thought about it really, how isolating it must be to be All Might. Everyone in the world knew who he was but he was still such a mystery in so many ways.
“You’re a real person to me, you are actually my favorite person” All Might chuckled lowly in response.
“Thank you my boy, I suppose I also forget I’m not alone in this. You’re probably the only person in the world that could understand this” Izuku rested his head on Toshinori’s boney shoulder. They sat in silence for a while, Izuku trying to convey that All Might could trust him with his feelings too. He wanted to help him mentor too.
“All Might you know you aren’t worthless without a quirk right?” Izuku said with such sincerity that there was no way Toshinori could convince himself his boy was lying to spare his feelings.
“I-”
“No really” Izuku interrupted his protests before he could even get them out. “It’s true, you mean just as much to me, you help me and support me just as much. I need you All Might. I always will.” Toshinori couldn't help but think his boy always knew exactly what to say
The last of the sunlight was fading when Toshinori spoke again.
“I don’t think I’ve ever properly said it but I’m sorry for what I said to you on that roof” Izuku sucked in a breath they hadn't talked about this since that day. “You did catch me at an inopportune time, I should have been kinder.” All Might sighed looking at Izuku and seeing how he looked that day. He’s grown so much since that day but he still has the same empathetic determined eyes. “I actually just told you what Nana said to me when I first asked her if i could be a hero without a quirk.” Izuku stiffed the gasp scared to interrupt All Might never talked about his mentor if he could help it. He knew the wound was still deep there.
“Of course it was literally impossible back then I didn't know they’d finally changed the rule till after I met you that day. I still don’t know if it would have been possible for you to be a hero without a quirk. The HPSC decides who gets a license or not I wish I could say I believe they’d be fair about such things but I won't lie to you my boy” and, well Izuku had never really thought of that being a hero meant cutting through a lot of red tape would any of them allow a worthless deku to even try?
The truth was Toshinori wanted to spare the boy. He’d been thinking about what at the time he’d believed was the final battle with All for One. How even with the perfect quirk the one made for this job he’d been butchered. He’d thought of every battle he’d just scraped out of. He’d seen the way the boy was still heaving from the sludge villain. A villain he could take in one punch had been seconds away from murdering this child. He’d felt protective and hoped the boy would give up like he never did.
“I thought being a police officer would be the best thing for you, I planned to call Tsukauchi, hoped he’d take you under his wing and help you become a detective” Izuku was struggling to pick his jaw off the floor. Even then when Izuku thought everything was shattering, All Might had thought of him, he was the best dad ever.
“But then-”
“But then you jumped into that villain fight and I saw that you’d never give up, you were too like me for that” All Might interrupted. “You changed me that day Izuku” All Might stared down at Izuku with such fondness in his eye it almost hurt.
All MIght clapped him on the back. “Anyway enough of my oldman ramblings we should get you back to the dorms, don't want you to miss dinner” All Might was always so considerate in the little moments. He wasn't the best teacher in the world but he cared more than any teachers Izuku had before. He sent All Might one of his kilowatt smiles. So grateful to have this man in his life.
“Thanks, I love you dad”
Izuku Paled. Oh god he’d said that out loud hadn't he? Oh no he was so stupid that was an inside thought. He quickly started sputtering out an excuse.
“I- I didn’t- I mean- and its not like-”
Izuku was roughly pulled into a tight embrace from the larger man.
“If only I should be so lucky. There is nothing that could honor me as much as being a father to you” Izuku lit up again “Now let’s get you some dinner my boy”
Toshinori knew this wasn’t the end of his fears of being a useless bother, knew they’d be more days of desperately trying to prove he could help and crippling shame at not being able to do more. But as they walked back to the dorms laughing and making jokes he knew he'd be okay. He’d always be needed to the person who really mattered. His son.