Chapter Text
“Well Young Midoriya, you do not have a say in the matter. I am great with kids, they love me.” Izuku scoffs, great with kids. Complete bullshit.
“All Might, despite your approval by the Hero Commission, I will not have you teaching at my school without a teaching license.” The hero’s eyes go wide again. It is like this man has never heard a no in his life.
“I- Nedzu! You can’t be taking this- this child seriously. He seems to be a little young to even attend high school.” The chimera stiffs at All Might’s insinuation that his own protégée should not be trusted.
“All Might. I run this school as I please. But based on this document, I am unable to totally deny you.” His polite tone barely covers how his tail is quickly whipping violently back and forth. “Due to that, I offer you a Teaching Assistant position for only the third-years.”
“B-but my successor is a second year currently!” He roars this out. It does not sound malicious though, more pure frustration that he is not getting exactly what he wanted. Like a child throwing a tantrum.
“Well, then it looks like you have time to earn a teaching license. I will email the course to you. It should only take a hero like yourself a month since you said you are so good with kids. The document only waived the requirement. There was nothing that said I had to accept you without one. You may return to teach the third years once you complete the course.” Big mistake by the Hero Commission. Should have known to not rely on subtle threats alone.
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“I- but-I” The man starts bumbling around like an idiot.
“Who is your successor? I will make it my number one priority to help them finish off the year.” Izuku speaks up, truly wanting to know what this situation is about. There seems to be more than a mentor-and-mentee relationship happening.
“I- well- that is classified information Young Midoriya.” Yet he has been talking about it in front of him for fifteen minutes. Does this guy really think he can punch all of his problems away?
“Under my contract as a student of the SSQ program and Nedzu’s successor, I am entitled to know crucial information that may alter a student’s learning. So please share All Might, I am under an NDA.” He plasters his face with a dangerously large smile.
“Ah, well, ahem—” The sweat droplets on the man’s face are visible from here.
“Who do you believe it to be Izuku-san?” Nezu speaks up, possible because he was getting irritated with All Might’s stalling.
“Togata Mirio. He mysteriously developed another side of his quirk before summer.”
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One of Izuku’s main assignments in studying for his quirk counseling license is to help the hero students. Izuku has fixed chronic pain from quirk use, dangerous drawbacks, and improved understanding, but his biggest challenge was a certain second year.
Togata Mirio is one of the strangest students on campus. Nothing particularly wrong with him. He is super nice, very friendly, and always has a big smile. The student is like sunshine incarnate and is well-liked throughout campus.
His quirk though, is strange to put lightly, it is inexplainable. It has two parts; one side is permeation that he received from his father. He worked hard during his time at UA to perfect his fighting style with that quirk. The other side just developed, now, as the boy heads into the summer of his second year. Quirk awakings are not unheard of at this age, but his life was not in danger when he developed a whole extra part. A part that is basically a fully-fledged power type. It has to be two quirks; the parts have no correlation. No one really has multiple quirks; many are just named to make people think that. Like the youngest son of Endeavor, his quirk is really just an extremely powerful temperature regulation quirk. Togata Mirio has something else going on and Izuku has all of summer break to figure it out.
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“If it is that boy, you need to tell me All Might. I have been working with him for months. It took him a month following summer to stop breaking his bones! This is dangerous, and if you somehow caused that quirk to develop…” He is having a difficult time being polite. A year of lessons on how to control his emotions should have helped, but in this moment he was furious.
“Young Midoriya, it is none of your business what I do with my successor.”
“Stop saying that like he is an object! He is a person who has permanent damage to his hands. Where did the quirk come from All Might? Maybe I can keep him from destroying his body, or get rid of it somehow.”
“GET RID OF IT?” For the first time, the man is actually angry, and Izuku flinches hard.
Gathering himself, he says calmly. “Yes. Get rid of it. I have done many tests on it. He is dying from the inside out All Might. You basically gave him a parasite. So, if you care about this person at all. Tell me what you did.”
“I- no. No that can’t be. Nedzu. You- you said—”
“I said nothing All Might. Do not blame me for your failures. I do not know what this quirk is or how it works. Just what you wanted to do. Plus, I said to let it die with you. The danger has passed, it has fulfilled its purpose.”
Izuku itches for his notebook. There are so many puzzles for him to solve being thrown around like they are nothing. What danger? Can this quirk parasite actually die? Is All Might able to give it away? There are so many unsolved mysteries, but he only has to know a few crucial parts.
“All Might. If you want to save Togata, you have to tell me what you know.” The conflict in the man’s eyes does not give Izuku a warm fuzzy feeling. This should not be a hard decision.
“I- okay.”
Izuku hears the story of All for One and One for All. The history of the quirks and the fight between Good and Evil. A powerful man who lived for centuries and the people who died trying to defeat him. A stockpiling quirk that grew in strength as it was passed on. All Might’s wish as a child to become the symbol of peace even when he was born as Quirkless. (Which stung, but Izuku does not have time for that now.) He hears All Might’s final defeat of the man as the eighth holder. That the body of the deceased ‘King of the Underworld’ is held in Tartarus, just in case. There were also secret raids of factories that produced bioengineered monsters with multiple quirks and the doctor who made them. The doctor who is now held in Tartarus alive, while continuously being interrogated on the process he used to make these monstrosities.
Izuku has to suppress shudders as he tells the story. Nedzu’s eyes widened a tad anytime new information was added to his understanding of the tale. The mentee does not understand why the smartest being in Japan was not kept in the loop, but that is not an argument for today.
“And that is the story, my boy. I do not understand how that can help.”
“Are you the first holder to be quirkless before receiving One for All?”
“Yes. I do not understand how that is relevant.” The hero huff at him, like Izuku is wasting his time by attempting to save a Togata.
“How much can you find out for me about the previous successors? I need things like their quirk, age when receiving One for All, age of death, and reason for death.”
“I- I think I can get you those. I’m sure Gran Torino has it documented somewhere.”
“Okay. Get that to me as soon as possible. Preferably in person. I think you are getting back One for All.” He sighs at the lack of solutions.
“Me? But I am unable to use it anymore!” Izuku glances up to Nedzu.
“Are you on the same page as me?”
“I believe so. But I agree, we need to see those records.”
All Might stands up and clears in throat. “Okay, I’ll get those to you Young Midoriya.” His eyes travel down to the boy’s shoes and they widen as he looks back to Izuku’s green curly hair. “Young Midoriya…have we met… have we met before?”
Izuku’s glare sends a chill down All Might’s spine, he has been working on it. “We are done here. Come back with the documents and a teaching license.” With that, the student all but storms out of the room.
He was not supposed to recognize him. Tears start to well in his eyes. That man means nothing to Izuku, he should not be reacting like this. It means nothing. He got over it, he does not care what All Might thinks anymore.
His sobs only grow.
He starts running.
Where is he running? Who is here?
He needs someone.
Anyone.
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Aizawa whips around quickly to see the threat slamming through the door of the teacher’s lounge. He drops his fighting stance as he recognizes the small body barreling into the room. “Problem child?”
Izuku startles like spooked prey. Big eyes flash with anxiety but relax when the scruffy man puts his hands up in surrender. Aizawa exaggerates his breathing and taps his foot slowly to give the scared child something to follow.
“Hey, buddy. What’s happening?” Aizawa’s heart is pounding. He has never seen his problem child like this. He always switches between happy and feral. To be witnessing Izuku go through what seems to be a panic attack makes him worry. “Do you remember who I am buddy? Or where you are?”
“I-I- you—” The boy’s hyperventilating only grows.
“Shhh it is okay. I am Aizawa Shouta the underground hero Eraserhead. You usually call me Eraserdad. We are at UA High School, where you attend as Nedzu’s student. I am a teacher here. We are safe.”
“I-.” The boy looks around the room for danger.
“There is no one else here. We would still be safe if there was.” Aizawa slowly sits on the floor. “Do you want to sit on the floor with me Midoriya?”
The boy haphazardly settles on the floor which is a win for Aizawa. At least if he passes out, there will be minimal brain damage. The hero attempts to extract his phone from his pocket, but the moment his hand is out of view the hyperventilation worsens. Okay, no contacting the boy’s mother. He starts to breathe dramatically again. The boy does not appear to be a danger to himself, except for the risk of passing out.
“Your name is Midoriya Izuku. You are fourteen years old. You attend UA High School. Your mother works in the medical wing. I am Aizawa Shouta. I am a pro hero and teacher at UA. We are both safe here.” Between each statement, he demonstrates a deep breath. “Can you tell me your name?”
“I- I am Midoriya Izuku.”
“Good. How old are you?”
“Fourteen.”
“Great. Where are we?”
“UA.”
“Good. Do you know where at UA?” Now to get him to actually take in his surroundings.
“We—” With a quick look around the room, he is able to answer. “We are in the teacher’s lounge.”
“Good. That is great. Okay kid, can you tell me five things you can see?”
“Umm. My shoes… the couch… the lamp… your desk… the paper on the ground.”
“Good. What are four things you can feel?
“The floor… my pants…” They continue until Izuku has gone down the list.
“You back with me problem child?” The kid looks an awful lot better. His breath is steady and has gained the color back to his face. His posture is much more relaxed and does not look like he is about to shake out of his skin.
“Yeah, much better Eraserdad. I’m sorry for worrying you.” Izuku rises quickly to make his escape.
“Kid. You are fine. Please do not leave. Just stay here, okay?” He does not want the boy to wander off and have another panic attack. Without knowing what triggered the first, no telling what could happen.
“No, no really it is okay. I’m fine. I just lost control for a little.”
“Kid. I’m not letting you leave. So, give up now, and save your breath.”
The boy sighs and resigns to his fate of being trapped here until Aizawa decides he can leave. As time passes without saying a word, Izuku slowly inches closer to the man. Eventually, after maybe thirty minutes, they sat side-by-side with knees touching. “Is it weird to ask for a hug?”
“Not at all kid.” He quickly wraps his arms around the boy and pulls him in close. “Not at all.”
Izuku breaks down in tears again, with more control this time. Tears and snot dampen Aizawa’s uniform, but he would not pull away even if the world caught on fire. At this moment this boy was healing, and Aizawa was very content with supporting him through it.
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“Aizawa.” His voice is watery from the time he spent crying, but he needs to get this off his chest. “Even though I do not want to be a hero, and want to be like Nezu. I am still mad at All Might.”
“What for?”
“I wanted to be a hero from the ages of three to nine. It was all I wanted. When I was told I was quirkless, people started being really mean about it. But I still held out hope. And then, when I was nine—” His voice catches in his throat. Aizawa does not push. “When I was nine, I met All Might after being attacked by a villain. I asked him if I could be a hero… he said no. He said I needed to be more realistic.” His cries start back up harder. He knows Quirkless people have been through much worse. Hell, he has worse stories than that. This just hurts him right now, and it feels like it will never stop hurting.
“Problem child, that is a horrible thing to tell someone, especially a kid. I understand why you are mad. Even if you do not want to be a hero in that sense anymore, it was your dream. All Might tried to convince you that you were not good enough. No matter the context, that was what he attempted to do. But guess what problem child?”
Izuku looks up at the man. Already feeling comforted by the usually stoic man’s words.
“You did something much more impressive than being a hero. Nezu’s successor is not an achievement to sneeze at, trust me.”
The boy laughs at the man a bit. “You only say that because you are scared of Nezu. He is really not that intimidating.”
“See that is how I know you have found your calling because I am pretty sure not one person agrees with you. The rat is terrifying in a cute and cuddly kind of way.” This breaks Izuku out into full-fledge laughter.
Aizawa hides a fond smile behind his scarf.
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Inko eventually picked up Izuku from the teacher lounge, once Aizawa had the chance to message her. She immediately wrapped him in a hug and apologized for not being there for him. The two Midoriyas spent the night watching movies, eating Katsudon, and cuddling on the couch. Neither spoke a word about their days or their stress.
Those problems can be dealt with another time.