Work Text:
Her husband was never coming back.
It took years for Midoriya Inko to realize.
Sitting at the dinner table, Inko held a worn and weathered package in her hands. Delivered through international waters, the package had made a long and arduous journey that finally reached her. Knowing only one person who could ever send something from that distance, Inko felt a little strange and even a tad bit relieved that he still remembered she existed.
That was until she opened the sealed package and was met with a stack of divorce papers.
No note, no explanation. Nothing.
She held the papers, body frozen and hands clenched around the official statement of separation.
Time stood so still, only broken from the sound of young Izuku coming back from a grueling day of middle school.
At the sight of her pale face and stiff fingers, Izuku scampered to her side filled with worry and distress at his mother's almost catatonic state.
She tried to break the news to him gently, worried at how her little boy would take it, but Midoriya Hisashi had been away long enough that even after hearing that his father would most likely never return back home, Izuku had barely felt anything.
Mostly, he just felt concern for his mother. He asked Inko if she was alright, but she merely put on a smile and shook her head.
"Oh, it's fine, Izuku. Your father and I were having plenty of marital problems before he decided to work overseas. I suppose it was only a matter of time."
"Oh…" Izuku nodded. "Alright."
"Mmh!" Inko's smile stretched even wider across her face, unnerving Izuku to no end. His mother only smiled like that when she was putting on a façade. "I'm gonna make katsudon for dinner, so don't snack too much!"
Izuku watched wearily as his mother scurried around the kitchen, humming obnoxiously loud and smiling, smiling, smiling as if her face was forever frozen in that position.
Midoriya Hisashi was never coming back.
It may have taken years for Midoriya Inko to realize, but Izuku had known the minute his hero had walked out the door.
Dinner was loud. Inko tried to fill every moment of silence with a little story or a question to get Izuku to keep talking.
Izuku tried to keep up with her energy, realizing that this was his mother's way of coping. He started summarizing All Might's story, starting from his debut and by the time they had finished up the last of their rice, Izuku had covered the bronze and silver ages. He managed to cover most of the golden age while they washed dishes.
The two of them spent the rest of the night cuddled under the same red and blue All Might themed blanket watching a random episode of Izuku's favorite All Might cartoon.
When Inko noticed Izuku drifting in and out of sleep, she gave him a little nudge and shooed him off to bed with a kiss on his forehead.
But Izuku was a light sleeper and by the time he was curled up in his own bed and the lights were off, he could make out the light sobs of his mother through the thin walls of their small home.
Her sobs were quiet, so as to not wake up her child, but Izuku heard it all.
He clenched his fists under his covers, feeling nothing but hatred for the man who broke his mother's heart.
He would never ever allow a man—anyone—to hurt his mom. Not if he could help it.
So, a year later, when Inko brought home her new boyfriend for Izuku to meet, he swore to do everything he could to protect her.
Izuku glared at the tall stranger in their living room who sat across a table filled with a platter of cookies and mugs of warm tea.
He cleared his throat. "So, Mr. Yagi—"
"Ah, you can just call me Toshinori if you want," the skinny man laughed light-heartedly and waved his hand dismissively, "It's been a while since I've heard anyone call me by my surname."
How dare this man interrupt him?
That was incredibly rude. Izuku noted to himself, inwardly (and outwardly) glowering. He wondered if this man treated his mother like that as well. Was he always interrupting her and never letting her speak? Was he always putting himself first?
"Mr. Yagi," Izuku continued with a glare. "What is it that you do for a living?"
"Izuku," Inko admonished, before turning to the yellow-haired person, "I'm so sorry, Toshi, he's usually more well-mannered than this."
Izuku squinted. Toshi. She called the man Toshi.
"I don't hear an answer, Mr. Yagi."
"Ah, well, Izuku," Toshi began.
"You can call me Midoriya," Izuku spat out.
"Izuku!" Inko cried out. "What has gotten into you?"
"Inko, my dear, it's quite alright." The weird-haired freak turned to Izuku. "Young Midoriya," he addressed properly. "I currently work at All Might's agency. Your mother told me that you are a fan of his?"
"That's neither here nor there."
The man reached down into the gift bag that he had brought along with him and pulled out something that piqued Izuku's interest. "I did bring this limited edition merchandise from one of All Might's older lines if you were interested, but I suppose I can always take it back."
Izuku's eyes widened. It was an All Might scarf from his winter line that was sold out immediately once it was put up for auction. It was the one thing from his winter line that Izuku hadn't been able to get his hands on.
Until now.
Reaching across the table, Izuku snatched the gift up immediately, being careful not to damage the hand-stitched fibers. "No, no, I'll take it."
Inko raised an eyebrow. She had taught her son better than that. "Say 'thank you' Izuku."
"Thank you, Mr. Yagi," Izuku reluctantly grumbled.
Toshinori smiled brightly, oblivious to Izuku's internal conflict. "You're welcome, my boy."
"I am not your boy!" Izuku was quick to jump in at that; the two adults in the room subtly flinched at the sudden change in volume. "Don't think you can bribe me with this scarf. As soft and bright and perfect, as all All Might merch is, it's certainly not enough to make me trust you. You can't just say you work for All Might and leave it at that. You might be trying to scam my mom and me, and I, for one, am not going to fall for your tricks."
He stood from the couch and stomped over to his room, slamming the door shut so hard that his big All Might themed name plate shook.
Inko laughed nervously, taking a sip from her cup of tea. "I think he's just having a bad day today, Toshi. I'm sure he'll warm up to you soon."
Toshinori watched wearily as the All Might name plate swayed back and forth before gently coming to a stop. "I sure hope so."
The next time Izuku was forced to talk with his mother's new boyfriend was when said boyfriend was invited over for dinner.
Except, this time, Inko had a plan in mind.
As soon as Toshinori entered her home, she sent him and Izuku off with a grocery list of items to buy to make dinner.
"So the grown man doesn't know how to navigate to a store on his own?" Izuku commented sarcastically.
"Izuku." Inko's voice was stern in a no nonsense kind of way and immediately Izuku conceded.
"Sorry, mom," he muttered, before guiding the way to the grocery store nearest to his home.
The walk there began in silence with only the shuffling of feet and the sounds of cars to keep the two of them company.
"So… Young Midoriya," Toshinori hesitated as he tried to make conversation. "What else do you like besides All Might?"
"Nothing."
The two of them stepped into the grocery store and Izuku grabbed a shopping basket, immediately tossing items into the cart. He hoped they could get in and out as soon as possible, so he could spend as little time with Mr. Skeleton as possible.
"You don't like anything other than All Might?"
"No." Izuku raised a brow. "Have a problem with that?"
"N-no problem, Young Midoriya… I… well, alright, do you have a favorite movie?"
"All Might Rising."
"Dream job?"
"To be a hero like All Might."
"Favorite vacation spot?"
"Minato, Tokyo, where All Might's agency is."
Toshinori sighed. "Favorite color?"
"Red and blue…" Izuku squinted, before unnecessarily adding, "Which are All Might's colors."
As if it wasn't obvious.
Toshinori tried not to be too fazed by Izuku's obvious vitriol towards him.
"So you wanna be a hero, huh?"
At that, Izuku's demeanor brightened, if only by a hair. He nodded and immediately began talking about his plans to be a future hero and hopefully even intern for All Might himself one day.
Toshinori couldn't help but smile at the young boy's bright spirit.
As they stood in the check-out line, Toshinori remembered, "Oh, your mother never told me what your quirk was, Young Midoriya."
Izuku's eyes widened frightfully and it was like the light turned off inside him once more. "I- Tha- that's frankly none of your business."
"I didn't mean to offend you," Toshinori said quickly, "But I apologize if I did. Whatever your quirk is, I am sure you will make a fine hero."
"R-right," Izuku grumbled. He bagged the groceries, while Toshinori paid and thanked the cashier.
When the two of them started on the path back home, Toshinori spoke up again. "I really am sorry if I offended you. I know I haven't known you for long, but I can tell you have the spirit of a hero." Toshinori decided a little flattery could help. "Maybe one day you could even surpass All Might."
Izuku gaped at him, completely appalled. "All Might is the number one hero! Nobody can surpass him!"
"I just mean that, maybe, one day when you're older—"
"When I'm older, All Might will still be the number one hero!"
"Kid…" Toshinori regarded him weakly, "Even All Might is just a person… and one day, he'll have to retire… and maybe, you know, he could settle down peacefully… maybe even find a nice woman to be with… even if she has a brat of son."
Toshinori coughed towards the end, so Izuku couldn't make out the last of his words, but he was too full of anger to care. "All Might is not just a person! He's a hero! He's the Symbol of Peace! If he retired the whole world would fall apart!"
"It won't!" Toshinori exclaimed, finally losing the calm he had tried to maintain the entire trip. "The world won't fall apart just because All Might wants to finally live a life for himself! It won't fall apart if he decides to take a damn break for once in his life! It won't fall apart because All Might isn't as great as you think he is!"
Izuku swallowed roughly, taking a few seconds to collect his thoughts. "Not as great as I think he is?"
Toshinori tried to back-track immediately when he saw the middle school boy's eyes fill with angry tears. "Kid…"
"Don't call me kid. In fact, don't call me anything! I hate you!" Izuku screamed loudly in the middle of the sidewalk and plenty of passersby turned their heads to what they presumed to be an arguing father-son duo. "All Might is a better man than you'll ever be and he'd probably be a better boyfriend for my mom than you! Why don't you stay out of our lives, huh? My mom doesn't need you and I don't need you! So go away!"
"He… he's just a man, Young Midoriya…" Toshinori weakly argued. "I promise you, he is just a man."
"No," Izuku shook his head, wiping his face with his long sleeve. "You are just a man. All Might is a hero."
Izuku began walking back home, not looking over his shoulder to make sure stupid Toshi was following.
Just then, a loud crash could be heard in the distance and the sound of screaming pedestrians began to grow. Nearby, a few people commented loudly on a car crash that occurred a few streets over.
Toshinori cleared his throat. "Tell your mother that I'm sorry I have to miss dinner."
"Whatever." Izuku kicked a small pebble as he kept walking home; he was too bummed to even see which hero may show up to help with the accident.
Breaking his vow to not look back over his shoulder, Izuku turned to acknowledge the man, but he was nowhere to be found.
Typical, Izuku thought. He ran at the first sign of trouble. Just like I knew he would.
Inko was not too surprised when Izuku told her that her loser boyfriend bailed on dinner.
"I'm sure he had his reasons, sweetie," Inko placated.
That was how it started with father too, Izuku reminisced. I'm sure she thought Midoriya Hisashi had his reasons too. For skipping family dinners, then skipping bedtimes, and then not coming home for days and weeks, before finally booking a flight overseas to get away from them completely.
"Reasons?" Izuku barked. "More like excuses."
Inko sighed. "Help me set up dinner. We can eat in front of the tv if you would like."
That did placate Izuku, even if it was only by a smidge, and he quickly began to grab the cutlery from the drawers.
While his mom brought them both water from the kitchen, Izuku began to channel surf before one event suddenly caught his attention. It was a news update on an accident that occurred very close to their residency.
The reporters praised All Might for coming to the rescue so quickly.
"Oh, Izuku, that happened so close to us! I'm so glad you're okay."
Izuku nodded absent-mindedly, leaning in closer as the news re-played a clip of All Might pulling an unconscious driver out of an overturned truck. "I heard the crash while Mr. Yagi and I were coming back from the store. I can't believe I was so close to All Might!"
"Closer than you think," Inko said wisely, as she took a sip of her water.
"Hmm?"
"Oh, nothing."
At night, Inko went into Izuku's room to tuck him in. She hadn't really done it in a while and if Izuku was surprised by Inko's sudden need to see him to bed, he didn't show it.
Inko tucked him in real tight, cocooning him in just like he loved when he was in pre-school.
She jostled him back and forth pretending to be a villain trying to break into Izuku's protected agency, growling playfully when the blanket fortress didn't release the hero.
Izuku laughed joyfully at the rocking sensation and sighed happily when Inko stopped the roughhousing, preferring to run her hands gently through her son's soft hair.
Hisashi has curls just like that, Inko reminisced.
Both Hisashi and Izuku hated the way their messy hair flew all over the place in the wind, but Inko loved how wild and free they were. She loved… him.
She had loved. She wanted to love again.
"Can you please give Toshi a chance, Izuku?" Inko asked softy as she continued to sit at the side of his bed, running her hands through his curls. "He makes me happy."
"Mom, I want you to be happy. Truly, I do. And- and you're free to date whoever you want. But… him? You want to date this… skeleton man? He doesn't even like All Might!"
"Shhh," Inko cajoled, still scratching gently at his scalp. "Toshinori works for All Might and he even brought you that All Might scarf you've been wearing so often. Why do you think he doesn't like All Might?"
"He… he said that All Might's just a man."
Inko stilled in her comforting gesture, letting her hand sit in Izuku's curls. "Izuku…"
"He's not, mom. He's not just a man."
"Izuku," his mother repeated once more.
He turned away from his mother's soft look, not being able to bear the sinking guilt that was growing in his chest.
"Toshinori makes me feel less… lonely," Inko explained rather plainly. Her son was the one with big words and notebook after notebook of thoughts and observations. Inko, on the other hand, could never put those feelings into words. She just knew what she felt.
Toshinori brought a change in her life that she so desperately needed. He brought back laughter, and conversation, and vitality.
"You have me," Izuku's feeble voice came out. In her reminiscing, she didn't realize that Izuku had burrowed himself under the covers to hide from her.
Inko chuckled patting lightly at the comforter. "I do have you."
Izuku didn't respond to that and after a few minutes, Inko assumed that her child had fallen asleep.
She stood up and took a few moments to look at all the All Might memorabilia in her son's room.
She remembered the first All Might figurine Hisashi gave to Izuku.
It was for his third birthday and it was a gift that was bought last minute. She knew because she had seen that same figurine in the toy store she walked by every single day to get to work. The entire toy store window was full of that All Might figure because everyone wanted an All Might figure.
Hisashi had put no thought whatsoever into the gift and didn't even bother wrapping it before basically throwing it at their toddler. Baby Izuku, not knowing the utter disregard his father had shown him, had immediately squealed in delight, happy to receive a hero from his very own hero.
When Inko had admonished her husband, Hisashi had merely rolled his eyes. "Who cares, Inko. He's three. It's not like he's gonna remember any of this."
Inko thought that maybe that was when their marital problems began and she knew that it only got worse after Izuku's quirklessness was confirmed.
Izuku would always be first in her life. No matter what.
She hoped that Izuku and Toshinori could get along.
After all, Inko smiled gently as she ran finger down Izuku's first All Might figurine, they had a lot more in common than Izuku thought.
But, if worse came to worst, Izuku would always be the number one person in her life, even if Toshinori held the number one title elsewhere.
When she reached the door to exit Izuku's room, she heard a shuffle and Izuku's head finally popped out of the covers. Inko couldn't help but compare the imagery to a little bunny coming out of its burrow.
"Mom," Izuku called out.
"Yeah, sweetie?"
"I… I just don't want you to get hurt again."
She couldn't see her son well in the dark lit room, but she saw the shadow of him duck his head, hiding what she presumed to be a blush.
She could promise that she wouldn't be hurt again.
She could promise that everything would be alright.
But she vowed to never lie to her son, and she couldn't make him any false promises.
"I think I would rather be hurt again than be afraid to get close to someone again."
Her son didn't say anything to that, so she took it as a sign to leave, giving her son a final "goodnight" before shutting the door closed.
The smooth pebble skidded once, twice, thrice, before finally sinking to the bottom of the river.
Just as Izuku was about to bend down to pick up another rock, something whizzed right past his ear splashing one, two, three, four, five times before plopping into the water.
"I win," a smug voice behind him stated. "Shitty Deku."
Izuku brightened immediately. "Kacchan! What are you doing here?"
"I came here to train, loser. Unlike you, I'm actually going to become a hero."
"Oh."
"You're here pretty early." Katsuki tried to act nonchalant towards the other boy and picked up another rock to send it flying across the stream. "Not that I care."
"Oh, yeah," Izuku ducked his head. "I… didn't wanna stay at home this weekend."
Katsuki frowned and raised a brow. "Hmm?" He still didn't care though. At all.
"I just… I don't like my mom's new boyfriend and I told my mom that last night and I think I made her sad and I didn't want to face her this morning and I wanted to be alone to collect my thoughts… n-not that I mind you being here, Kacchan! It's always great when you're around and—"
"You don't like your mom's new boyfriend?" Katsuki gruffly interrupted, already annoyed with Izuku's rambling.
"Uh, yes."
"Why?"
"Um, he—"
"In ten words or less, nerd."
"He told me… he told me I could surpass All Might," Izuku spat out.
Eleven words, Katsuki thought. Stupid nerd.
He paused for a moment before finally turning to look Izuku in the eye. "Isn't that what you want to do?" Not that he could, of course. Katsuki was going to be the one to surpass All Might and become number one.
"Well, yes… but he can't say that!" Izuku defended himself, clenching his fists.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Does Auntie like him?"
"Yes."
"Is she happy?"
Izuku huffed before finally resigning, "…Yes."
"Then stop being a shithead, Shithead." Bored of the conversation, Katsuki tossed a pebble up in the air, caught it, and skipped it on the river nine whole times before it fell.
Izuku watched the act in awe. "Kacchan's amazing."
"You're just an idiot," Katsuki scoffed, though the tips of his ears still turned red at the sound of the compliment.
Kacchan may be right, Izuku considered.
Maybe Izuku really was being an idiot. His mom was happy and Mr. Yagi seemed to be the root cause of it.
Perhaps it was time that Izuku made some amends.
Standing in front of the large front desk, Izuku felt judgy eyes loom over him.
"Sorry, kid." The secretary at the desk said, leaning back in her chair and inspecting her nails. "All Might isn't seeing fans today."
"Oh, um, n-no that's not why I'm here."
"No?" the lady said. "Then why exactly are you, a nerdy looking boy, at All Might's place of work this early on a Saturday morning?"
"Um, well…" Then Izuku straightened his back, and said with more determination. "I'm here to see Mr. Yagi."
The secretary raised a brow. "Who?"
"Mr. Yagi?" Izuku said again, with considerably less determination. He nervously wiped his sweaty palms on his pant legs. "I heard he works for All Might?"
The secretary squinted at him, trying to think if this was another ploy by a fanatic tween to see the number one hero. "Yagi, you said? Can I have a first name?"
Izuku pursed his lips trying to remember the man's first name. Tall, Skeleton, Skinny… hmmm, "My mom calls him Toshi."
The secretary's eyebrows flew to the top of her head. "T- TOSHI?!" she all but screeched.
There was a loud thud and an even louder bang and bursting out one of the rooms was… All Might himself.
"A-a-a-a-all Mi-mi-mi-mi—"
Two sets of eyes widened considerably as they stared each other down.
"Young Miii-manly boy! Wha- What are you doing here?"
Izuku immediately began a cycle of bowing deeply, raising himself up to look at the hero and then bowing down once again. "My name is Midoriya Izuku, sir, and I was looking for someone who works for you, sir! It's so amazing to see you!"
All Might put a hand on Izuku's shoulder to stop him from the never-ending bowing and it looked as if the young boy was about to faint on the spot.
"I'm sorry, Young Mi- Izuku. It looks like you just missed Toshinori. He left work early today to go see his… girlfriend."
"Ah," Izuku nodded, his face displaying his conflicting emotions. "I see."
"Toshinori seems happy, you know. I don't think I've seen him that happy in a long time. Must be… must be the girlfriend, right?" All Might laughed nervously, which then devolved into a tiny cough.
"Does he talk about her to you?" Izuku asked, completely bewildered by the fact that his mom could be known by someone like All Might.
"Mm, yes, we think – I mean, talk about her all the time!"
Izuku couldn't stop himself from making a questioning face. Now that was a little weird.
"I mean, not all the time! Ha ha. We just talk about his life sometimes like, um, like normal work colleagues."
"Right…"
"So, anyway, let me walk you out. You should get home since your mother is probably worried with you being so far from home."
"How do you know where my home is?"
"Ah! Oh. You… you're Toshinori's girlfriend's son, right?"
"Mr. Yagi told you where we live?"
All Might scratched the back of his neck, trying hard to not make eye contact. "It is my responsibility as a hero and boss to know the residency of my employees and their loved ones in case of emergency… right?"
The secretary at the desk, who had been witness to the whole interaction, snorted at that statement and went right back to playing solitaire on her computer when the two turned to look at her.
"Anyway," All Might said, gently putting a hand on Izuku's back to guide him to the glass door exit, "Let me walk you—"
"Loved one?" Izuku asked softly. "My mom is his loved one?"
All Might furrowed his brow, taking a few moments to collect his thoughts. "Of course she is. She means so much to him."
"Oh." Taking a few wobbly steps forward, Izuku plopped down on the bench in front of All Might Agency. He curled his hands together, rested them on his lap, and leaned forward, still seemingly in shock.
All Might took in a long breath, looked up at the sky, released the breath, and then hesitantly took a seat beside the young fan.
"Why did you think Toshinori didn't love your mom?"
"I thought my father loved my mom," Izuku scoffed, "and look where that took us."
All Might didn't exactly know how to respond to that.
"And I know that Mr. Yagi isn't my dad. He's a lot taller for one," Izuku glanced over at All Might as if to compare heights and then shook his head, "and a lot skinnier."
All Might laughed nervously. "Right."
"My dad was my hero… before he…" Izuku cleared his throat. "But then he left and he called once a month, and then once a year, and now I can't remember the last conversation we had. I feel like All Might had been more present in my life than my dad ever was."
Izuku's eyes widened once he realized who he was talking to. "N-not in a weird way! It was just that you were always around, on my TV and the news and billboards and-and I just thought you were really cool—"
"I understand, Izuku."
"You… really?"
"Yes." All Might nodded. "You feel as if Toshinori is trying to replace your absent father."
"My father being absent hurt my mom. I don't want her to get hurt again."
"I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure she will never get hurt again. I will protect her with my life."
Izuku blinked owlishly at the hero.
"I mean, speaking for Toshinori, that is. Um, it's what Toshinori would say… if he was here. Which he is not. Not that he wouldn't be here had he been given the opportunity, you know? I, um, Toshinori is not afraid of commitment—"
"I understand, All Might."
"You do?"
"You're really amazing, All Might."
All Might blushed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "Thanks, kid."
Izuku was just about to turn the knob to enter his home when the door burst open and revealed a slightly sweaty, slightly out-of-breath Yagi Toshinori.
"Young Midoriya, welcome home, I was here the whole time."
Izuku smiled nervously, shrugging off his shoes and looking past the man to find his mom. "I'm home."
Inko peeked out from the kitchen. "Welcome home, Izuku. Did you have fun playing with Kacchan?"
Izuku shuffled his feet nervously, not making eye contact with his mom. "Yeah, it was fun."
Toshinori gave him a knowing look that Izuku tried to ignore. Maybe he knew where Izuku had really been today. Maybe All Might told him…
Izuku looked at the man anxiously, but Mr. Yagi merely shook his head, a silent promise to not reveal Izuku's secret.
"Well, Inko," Toshinori began, "I should leave now."
"W-wait!" Izuku said before he could stop himself. "You should stay for dinner. If it's alright with mom?"
Inko beamed. "Yes, I would love that."
Gaping slightly, Toshinori gave mother and son a nod. "I could eat."
Dinner was relatively silent, but Izuku still hadn't apologized to Mr. Yagi for his behavior and was trying to work up the courage to do so. So once dinner was over, Izuku insisted on having a movie marathon.
"Ah, sweetie," Inko smiled softly, "I think it's getting late and Toshi probably has to be up early tomorrow—"
"I can take off!" Mr. Yagi immediately spoke up. When the two Midoriyas stared at him, he clarified sheepishly. "I mean, I don't have to work tomorrow. I have a lot of PTO, so…"
"Great!" Izuku began to set up the movies in the order he wanted—a chronologic viewing of All Might's story, of course.
Inko and Toshinori settled themselves on the couch and once the movie started playing, Inko made some room beside her for her son, but Izuku made the impulsive choice to sit beside Toshinori.
"Hmm," Inko hummed thoughtfully, giving Toshinori a subtle (but not really) nudge in his side. She smiled up at the man before resting her head against his shoulder and curling her feet up on the couch where Izuku's spot once was.
Nobody, especially Toshinori, decided to comment on Izuku's choice of movie in fear that the young middle-schooler may take his silent white flag back.
They got through the first fifteen minutes of the movie before Inko's light snores began to fill the room.
Toshinori looked at his girlfriend with a sort of reverence, brushing away a few hairs that had fallen on her face. Not moving his eyes off the screen, Izuku passed Toshinori a frayed but soft blanket that was beside him for Toshinori to wrap around his girlfriend.
Once Inko was effectively cozied up under the blanket and knocked out for the rest of the night, Toshinori returned his attention back to the small screen.
"She fall asleep here often?" Toshinori asked softly.
"Mmh," Izuku said, eyes still following the All Might on the screen. "We've seen this movie plenty of times, so she's not really missing anything."
"Hmm."
"You know," Izuku continued, "this movie shows All Might's first move as Texas Smash, but his first recorded move was actually the New Hampshire Smash."
"Was it?"
Izuku nodded, and then began to go on a spiel about the movies, explaining in-depth what parts were real, not real, and parts he thought could be changed or edited to be more realistic.
All Toshinori could do was nod along and make noises of affirmation to promise the young boy that he was still listening.
They had gotten through three and a half movies before Toshinori felt his head drop. He shook himself to try and keep himself awake, but it had been a long day and, frankly, it was past his bedtime.
Izuku, noticing the man's struggle, turned to him with a small grin. "You lasted a lot longer than I thought you would."
"Well, I have to admit that I stayed awake more for your commentary than the actual movie."
He had seen that movie plenty of times anyway, since it had to be approved by him through every step. But hearing Izuku's passion and admiration for the movie had him seeing the re-telling of All Might's life through a different lens.
Izuku had spoken of All Might's dedication. He had spoken about All Might's love and kindness.
Most fanboys and girls that Toshinori met usually only praised All Might for his strength and power, but Izuku saw past that.
"All Might's catchphrase—I am here—is a way to reassure everyone that he will save them no matter what. He's a hero that doesn't back down in danger and would risk everything to save everyone. He truly is the symbol of hope because he's not in the shadows and won't run in the face of danger. No matter how big or scary the villain is. It doesn't even matter if he doesn't have back-up or hasn't perfected his moves, All Might will always put others first."
Izuku looked at the All Might actor on the screen emerge out of the burning building holding the last civilian that got caught in the flames. "That's who I want to be like when I become a hero. That's what a true hero is like."
Izuku then turned his head to the man who sat beside him. "And that's why I think that All Might is more than just a man. It's why I admire him so much. He's here for everyone."
Toshinori sniffed and then startled when he felt something wet hit his hand. Tears.
"I… I had forgotten what having a symbol means. I forgot why people need it." Toshinori tried to subtly wipe the small tears from his eyes. "Thank you, Young Midoriya, for reminding me what a hero means to people."
"So…" Izuku looked at Toshinori timidly. "Does that mean you're an All Might fan now?"
Toshinori chuckled wetly and through his tears he nodded. "I'm an All Might fan now, but I hope you won't be offended when I say that when you become a hero, I'll be your number one fan instead."
Those words were spoken with no derision, as Toshinori felt true admiration for Inko's young son. Izuku carried with him all the ideals that All Might had when he was just starting out. He was young, possibly naïve, but full of hope and ideals and dreams to change the world for the better—all the makings of a brilliant future hero.
"Number one fan?" Izuku blushed, trying to hide his smile while looking back at the television screen. "I suppose that will be fine." He settled deeper into the couch, curling closer to Toshinori's warmth, so the older man could feel the heat of both Midoriyas from either side of him. "You and mom can share that spot."