Chapter Text
Izuku holds off the inevitable conversations about both All Might (expected) and, apparently, his quirk (unexpected) until Saturday evening. Apparently everyone has been gossiping about Izuku’s problem with All Might, because everyone is at this dinner.
It was originally planned—Auntie Mitsuki had called and reserved a private room and everything—to close out their first week of high school. All three families coming together to talk and relax. That was the plan anyway. Now Izuku is getting casually interrogated instead. How lovely.
He might have promised to tell everyone but this is a bit much in his opinion.
It’s a huge round table that has just enough chairs for everyone involved. Hitoshi and both his mothers, Yuuzuki and Mayumi. All three Bakugous. And, of course, Izuku, Shouta, Hizashi, and Nemuri.
All of them.
At least the restaurant is nice, he guesses, because the conversation is rather lacking.
“So Izukkun,” Mitsuki starts, and Izuku can already tell she’s going to dive straight into it, “What’s up with you and All Might?”
Sigh. He knew it.
Yet, he still doesn’t really know how to go about answering such a question because there is both so much and absolutely nothing going on in that department. Despite All Might calling him out in class for his ‘condition’, it’s all… mostly been a mental battle? He hadn’t even seen the guy at all between the catastrophic first meeting and then that first class.
So really. Isn’t he the problem?
Izuku almost winces at that thought as soon as it forms. He can practically hear Hisa, his therapist, sighing before launching into yet another lecture about self worth and how the situation with All Might is not his fault especially with all the prior trauma related to the guy.
But! He has no idea how to answer such a… broad question. So he shrugs, scoots some food around his plate as he does so.
Both people to his sides grunt in displeasure. Katsuki and his dad.
He hears his dad clear his throat a little and Izuku mentally braces himself, “All Might has been fighting back against your enrollment to Yuuei. He knew you used to be quirkless, claimed to have met you before the entrance exam.”
Alright. So there is apparently only so much going on between him and All Might. He’s been… trying to have Izuku, what, expelled? That… that hurts. The man already crushed his dreams in a single word and now he’s trying to get Izuku kicked out of a school he rightfully got into? Just because of the measly fucking label of being quirkless?
Izuku takes a deep breath, he has to or he’ll either start crying or catching something on fire. Which he cannot do, they are at a public restaurant. In a private room, maybe, but the point stands. Property damage is not something he wants on his record.
“I didn’t know he was doing that.” It’s a whisper but the entire table hears it because of just how quiet the room is.
Shouta hums, “I never let it reach you. No one else on staff at Yuuei was tolerating it either, so it wasn’t a real problem but it is something I don’t understand.” Shouta pauses and out of the corner of his eye, Izuku can see him tap along the handle of his fork. Like he’s nervous or antsy. His dad never shows such tells unless he’s among people he trusts innately. “Izuku. When did you meet All Might?”
He can’t help the way his breath catches, and his face must do something because Mayumi stands suddenly and walks around the table, coming to kneel just beside Izuku. She slowly, gently, reaches for his hands which have since moved to his lap and started twisting, twisting, twisting together. She holds them between her own, a soft smile on her face when Izuku looks at her finally.
“Sweetheart, we just wanna help. But we have to understand to do that.” Her thumb pets along the back of one of his hands in a way that brings tears to his eyes for a reason he could never name. “Can you please let us help you?”
Izuku’s voice is watery and choked when he says a weak, feeble, “Okay.”
Mayumi smiles at him then, proud and happy. “Thank you, Izuku. Do you want me to stay right here with you?”
“You don’t have to.”
“But would it make it easier for you?”
“I- I’ll be okay. Thank you, Mayumi-san.”
She hums, low and sweet, before standing. She presses a kiss to Izuku’s forehead before ruffling his hair, “Of course, Izuku.”
It’s quiet for a moment. Mayumi walks back around and settles in her seat. Izuku hears the way his dad shifts to the right of him, likely irrationally guilty at making Izuku upset. Izuku feels the heat of Katsuki’s palm come up to trace along the span of his shoulders before sliding down his spine and settling.
He breathes again, gathering both his thoughts and his strength because he knows this conversation is about to get heavier than anyone is probably expecting.
Because they don’t know.
But that’s okay. They will soon.
Izuku just has to say it first.
His eyes settle down onto his own lap again, pulling at his fingers and twisting his hands again because if he doesn’t do something to self-soothe he will not be making it through this.
“I met All Might the day I got my quirk.” The sentence goes through the silence of the room like a gunshot. He hears multiple people gasp, hears the clatter of silverware against ceramic somewhere in front of him.
A hand shoots into his vision and clasps around his own, Izuku lets his eyes flicker up to see the way Hitoshi is leaned across Katsuki’s lap just to reach him.
The smile he tries to send towards his best friend shakes at the corners. Izuku can barely keep eye contact with Hitoshi right now, much less feign happiness.
“I had seen him through the cameras so I knew it was him even… if it wouldn’t be obvious,” Which is vague but he’s not stupid enough to talk about All Might’s alternate appearance. He doesn’t notice the way his dad goes rigid, or how Hizashi and Nemuri do the same. “I went to see him just as me, Hitoshi, and Kacchan were planning to walk home.”
He pauses, his breathing is starting to pick up just thinking about the conversation that occurred because of his stupid awful decision.
Vaguely he registers Katsuki scooting his chair closer to Izuku’s own, to the point they’re basically on top of one another. He can feel the way Katsuki pulls him into his side, grounding. He notices how Hitoshi comes closer as well, hand never having left Izuku’s, and how he offers a gentle squeeze. Izuku tilts forward just a little, curling into himself and shutting his eyes as he fights against the heat building behind his eyes.
“I went to find him.” Izuku whispers, “I told Hitoshi and Kacchan to go ahead without me and then I went and found All Might.” Izuku doesn’t even notice the way he starts acting as the story progresses, how he finally looks up, eyes darting to everyone around him, tears leaking from his wide eyes. He looks just shy of manic and positively terrified.
“I had to ask him. I just- I don’t know- but I needed to know. I had to ask.”
“What did you need to ask him?” Izuku doesn’t even know who asks it but he hears it. Feels the question sear through him as he chokes a little on his own tears.
“I wanted to know if I could be a hero… that even me, quirkless and useless, could be a hero.” He’s shaking, he can feel it. He thinks he hears his dad let out a noise that cannot be described as anything but pained.
“Izuku…”
“And I- I know all of you thought I could. Be a quirkless hero. You all helped me so much and kept believing in me and I’m so thankful but All Might- All Might was the person who made me want to be a hero, once upon a time. I looked up to him so much when I was little and he always said in interviews how anyone could be a hero so I just- I wanted to know if he thought-“
Izuku curls back in on himself, a keen leaving his throat as a fresh wave of tears comes over him.
“He said no.”
“He said what?” And that was Auntie Mitsuki, Izuku doesn’t think he’s ever heard that tone from her.
He can’t stop talking though.
“He told me no. And told me that I would be- that I would just be a liability to those around me, that I needed to be realistic.”
Silence. Heavy and daunting, simmering with sorrow and agony and rage from those around the table.
“I think him saying that broke me.” Izuku whispers. “I left after. I still don’t remember leaving, but suddenly I was in the plaza and I heard- I heard Kacchan and- well-“ His voices breaks and he shrugs helplessly because everyone knows what came next.
Izuku doesn’t try to continue, just curls into Katsuki’s side and cries. Clutching the fabric of Katsuki’s shirt in his hands as the blond does his best to bring Izuku even further into his arms, trying to meld them together. Desperate for the contact and connection.
This is the first time he’s spoken about what happened with All Might that day, it makes the pain of it feel like it just happened. He almost feels like he’s still standing in that hallway, feeling his heart shatter in his chest as the world around him fades out. He closes his eyes and can see the way All Might turns his back and walks away, like he didn’t just kill Izuku in every way but physically.
Izuku doesn’t see the devastation wracking through everyone else present. How the dots connect almost all at once in all of them.
How they all collectively come to the realisation that All Might’s careless words are what led Izuku to sacrificing himself that day. To accepting his defeat and death so easily.
Shouta can still remember watching the broadcast, kneeling on the lounge floor and feeling a piece of himself die as he saw the easy acceptance flit across his son’s face. He remembers how Izuku almost looked thankful-
Katsuki’s own hands dig into Izuku’s back, clutching at the boy in his arms like he’s witnessing him die all over again. All because of that absolute fucking disgrace of a so-called hero. Hitoshi’s fully gotten up out of his chair to stand behind Izuku’s chair and wrap his arms around him in whatever way he can, tears lining his eyes.
Izuku cries and cries and cries until he’s hiccuping into Katsuki’s neck. For a moment he just stays there, safe and concealed, before he sucks in a breath and carefully sits back. Katsuki almost doesn’t let him go, and Izuku can feel the reluctant way Hitoshi loosens his grip around Izuku’s shoulders.
“Sorry…” Izuku whispers.
“Ain’t got shit to apologise for.” Katsuki says, voice rough.
It’s quiet again for a moment.
“Izuku,” His dad’s voice is careful but utterly wrecked, like he’s doing everything in his power not to cry, Izuku shifts to face him almost automatically “I am so sorry that happened to you and that you… that you didn’t think you could come to me about it. Izuku, god, he never should’ve said that to you.”
“No!” The shout bursts out of him before he can help it, startling half the table. Izuku breathes in shakily and tries to steady himself, “It’s not that! I never ever thought I couldn’t go to you, I swear! It was just,” And now he falters again, “So much had happened that day, you know? I… died. And got a quirk. And everyone was dealing with grieving me even though I was still alive, including myself, and… it was just a lot.”
“We all focused on making sure I was alright. Then on training my quirk and preparing for the entrance exams. And Kacchan finally asked me out! I… well, I kind of forgot about it. For a while. It only started to really come back and start bothering me when classes started and I knew he was going to be there. In person. And by then… I just thought too much time had passed to bring it up. Until I had that episode in the classroom.” And Izuku sees the skeptical look that comes over his dad’s face.
“I did! I even told Kacchan and Hito that I would tell everyone! And I am! Right now!”
Izuku doesn’t turn around, still staring his dad down indigently, but he watches the way he looks over Izuku’s shoulder and raises a single eyebrow. There’s a pause for only a second before he gives a long hum. Katsuki and Hitoshi must’ve nodded.
“Okay. I’m still sorry, though. That’s… no one should hear that kind of thing. Even if you hadn’t been as vulnerable, those kinds of words would’ve broken anyone, I think. Especially a child. He’s the number one hero, his opinion holds a lot of weight. What he did was reckless and careless and wrong.” Shouta’s face twists for a moment and Izuku hears the grumbled, “Not to mention quirkist as hell.”
Every single person at the table loudly agrees with Shouta.
“I cannot believe he had the nerve to say that to begin with!” Mitsuki huffs off to the right.
“It’s very… upsetting to learn.” Masaru agrees, “To think he’s hiding those kinds of beliefs behind that persona of his… makes me wonder what else he could think.”
Mayumi leans forward a little, looking towards the two, “Yeah! It’s gonna make it… very hard to hear a bunch of toddlers be obsessed with the guy when I go into work next week.”
“Ew, yeah. Though,” Yuuzuki’s face goes from sour to amused, “You could probably just put up a poster of a different bright shiny hero and they’d switch tracks. Kids are usually easy like that.”
Mayumi grins, “I did manage that same thing last year when I switched out the Endeavour poster for another All Might poster, huh? Who would I put up though?”
This time Hitoshi, who’s since moved back to his chair, leans forward, elbow on the table and hand under his chin as he looks towards his parents, “I mean,” Hitoshi drawls, “We do have a limelight hero at this very table. Who is arguably rather bright and shiny.”
Hizashi squawks from where he’s sitting beside Shouta, “What’s that supposed to mean?! Why’d you say it like that?!”
Yuuzuki and Mayumi nod, playfully solemn. Then Yuuzuki nudges Mayumi and says thoughtfully, “He’s even yellow.”
Izuku can’t help the way he starts laughing, even as Hizashi yells out a desperate and offended Don’t compare me to him!
Nemuri, feeding into the new happier atmosphere, adds on, “He’s just as loud too! Actually he’s probably louder with that quirk of his.”
Hizashi gasps dramatically, hand coming up to clutch his shirt, “Friendship cancelled!”
In the chaos of everyone teasing Hizashi, Shouta leans a little closer to Izuku, “We’ll talk more about everything later. But I promise you now that I’ll try my damnedest to keep All Might away from you and if I can’t, then I’ll be there. You won’t be alone with him.”
He reaches out and takes Izuku’s hand into his, squeezing for a moment, before letting go.
“Okay, Dad. Thank you.”
Shouta nods and gives Izuku a small smile, still a little sad around the edges but Izuku doesn’t think anyone is actually as happy as they’re desperately trying to be right now.
Izuku tunes back into the rest of the table to hear how they’re all debating the fact if Hizashi is loud because of his quirk or if he’s just… like that. Nemuri, and now Shouta, both give the ‘horrible’ news that it’s likely Hizashi is just like that.
Mitsuki’s voice cuts through the table, “Oi! Speaking of quirks, what’s this I hear about my brat being immune to fire?”
Izuku blinks, looks over at Katsuki who just shrugs with a grunt that means ‘I don’t know either’.
“Didn’t say that. Ever.” Katsuki finally grumbles.
“I distinctly remember you saying Izuku cannot catch you on fire. Which means…”
Oh. That.
Nemuri chimes in, “Actually yeah, Shouta mentioned that a little bit to me after the gauntlet mishap on Friday, since when was that a thing?”
“Uh,” Izuku starts, eloquent as ever, “Always?”
“…Always?” Comes a murmur from Mayumi across the table.
“Mhmm. We,” Izuku gestures to himself, Katsuki, and Hitoshi, “Thought everyone knew. It’s not really something I completely control, I don’t think. Kacchan thinks it might be completely subconscious. But we’ve realised if I care about someone and have no desire to hurt them, then I can’t. Not with my fire or any I’ve taken control of at least.”
“Whoa! Really? That’s so interesting… how’d you guys figure that out?” Mayumi asks, both her and Yuuzuki look a little uneasy about the discovery of such a thing. Likely thinking of disastrous scenarios.
Hitoshi answers before Izuku can, “Katsuki and I realised after Izuku had a panic attack back when he was first getting the hang of his quirk actually. He was standing right between us and went up in flames and, yeah, we freaked a little at first but after… well, we realised we didn’t even feel them. There was no heat coming off Izuku despite us being able to see the fire. So a couple days later when he was calmer we talked to him about it and then convinced him to let us test it.”
Yuuzuki stares Hitoshi down, “…Test it?”
Hitoshi gives his poor mother an unapologetic grin as he says, “Yeah. We talked Izuku into letting us stick our hands in it.”
Yuuzuki’s head whips towards Izuku, “How did they talk you into such a thing?!”
The attention makes Izuku squeak, “They were both so sure of it! And they pointed out to me that somehow during spars no one ever walked away with burns despite me throwing around whips made of fire and stuff. It was very convincing.”
Yuuzuki blows out a breath like she just lost at least 7 years off her lifespan, “I guess, kiddo. Were you three at least at Yuuei when you did this?”
“Yes Yuuzuki-san, we were even in the gym closest to Recovery Girl’s office.”
Suddenly Katsuki groans from beside him, sitting up from where he was slouching in his chair and bringing his and Izuku’s hands up for everyone to see. They’ve been laced together since Izuku pulled away after crying earlier.
Katsuki looks Izuku directly in the eyes and gives him a look that says well? do it, already.
And Izuku has always been bad at denying his Kacchan…
Flames burst up out of Izuku’s wrists and engulf both their hands. Katsuki remains utterly unimpressed as he looks around the room.
Yuuzuki looks amazed once the initial shock and horror wear off.
On the other hand, Mitsuki speaks back up, utterly intrigued, “Would it burn any of us, you think?”
Izuku immediately shakes his head no, “I don’t want to hurt any of you, so it wouldn’t harm you.”
Mitsuki grins at Izuku and then holds her hand out towards Izuku, beckoning, “Then come set me on fire, kid. I wanna feel it.”
He laughs a little as he gets up, already walking around the table towards Mitsuki when Katsuki speaks up again, “There’s not much to feel. You can tell something’s touching you and moving but it’s fucking weird. You can’t tell it’s fire at all.”
Hitoshi hums, “Yeah. It’s almost more like sticking your hand in water that’s your exact body temperature. Like it’s there. You see it. But it’s kinda hard to place.”
Mitsuki makes a little intrigued noise, acknowledging but focused more on the fact Izuku is now holding out a hand with a large flame dancing in it.
She doesn’t even hesitate to stick her hand in it.
Masaru also tentatively passes a hand through it as Mitsuki waves her hand around in the fire, looking perplexed at whatever she’s feeling from it. Her eyes skate towards Hitoshi and back, “You were spot on, Hitoshi-kun. It’s like… there’s nothing there but, well, there’s something there. Would never be able to blind guess that it’s fire, though.”
“Mmm,” Masaru hums, considering as he lets his hand hover in the flame as still as he can, “What you can feel though… it’s a bit off, no? Kind of rhythmic. Sorta like-“ The man’s eyes go wide before he squints at the flame for a moment. He leans over in his chair to grab at Izuku’s unoccupied arm, fingers coming to press against the inside of his wrist as he closes his eyes. Izuku stares wide-eyed and confused but doesn’t disturb him.
Masaru makes a little intrigued noise that’s echoed by a mass of confused noises from the rest of the table. The man opens his eyes and immediately smiles at Izuku, “It matches your heartbeat, Izukkun. The only thing we can actually feel from that is your pulse.”
Izuku’s jaw drops, “Really?!”
Masaru nods just as Mitsuki also goes to check if it’s true. One hand in the flame, the other around Izuku’s wrist. “It does! The flicker we feel isn’t the movement of the fire at all, it’s your heartbeat. No wonder it felt so off from what we were seeing.”
This all leads to Izuku walking an entire circuit around the table to let everyone test this new information. Even Hitoshi and Katsuki have a go at feeling the way his heartbeat is matched perfectly within his fire.
“That’s crazy.” Hitoshi says, “Why’s it do that?”
Izuku shrugs, “I have no clue… I don’t know why it would do that.”
“We don’t know shit about shit when it comes to your quirk though, Zuku.” Katsuki says, point blank. “It got hot enough to melt my gear out of existence. It’s never done that before either.”
Izuku watches as that draws the three adults that handle them at school up short, also realising this information. He watches as his dad starts staring dead eyed at a wall like if he does it long enough, eventually it’ll give him answers.
Izuku… also didn’t really realise that. “Does that mean I might be able to control the temperature of it?”
Katsuki shrugs, “Probably. I mean, if it’s completely heatless when it interacts with people you don’t wanna fuck up but can get fuck-off-hot when you want something to go away…”
Which was also selective. Izuku doesn’t point that out though. How it was ‘fuck-off-hot’ while touching Katsuki, who still didn’t feel it at all.
His quirk just gets more and more confusing as the days go by…
“Ah, when you say it like that it does sound kind of obvious that that’s an aspect of it. I… have no idea how to consciously control that though.”
Katsuki raises an eyebrow, “So we’ll fuck around and train until it clicks like we always do.”
“Yeah.” Hitoshi agrees from the side, “We’ve got you, Izuku. Can’t believe you’re questioning that after witnessing this entire table willingly stick their hands into literal fire for you.”
“Hey! I wasn’t questioning you guys helping me or anything! I just have… absolutely no idea where to start for something like that.”
“Me neither,” He shrugs, “But just like Katsuki said: we’ll help you figure it out. We don’t even know if you actually can. This is all just- what’s it called, observation?”
Izuku hums, nodding, “That’s true, I guess.”
Abruptly, Izuku is dragged down and back into his seat. He blinks for a minute just to look over and see Katsuki rolling his eyes at him.
“Don’t work yourself up about this shit. It’s not like we can do anything right now anyway. Eat.”
Which. Oh, yeah. Dinner…
Izuku’s plate is about 70% untouched, meanwhile everyone else is pretty much done, maybe a couple bites left on their plates. Everyone having been eating throughout the various conversations and demonstrations.
Man… and he can already tell it’s cold by now. How lame.
His dad seems to notice his turmoil and gets his attention, “We can take it to go or we can call the server and get you an entirely new plate, kid. We didn’t really give you a chance to sit and eat, huh?”
Izuku thinks about it for a minute, “Or, and hear me out, I take it home to eat later but I also get dessert. Right now.”
Shouta barely gets to open his mouth before Hizashi is reaching across the man and holding his hand out to Izuku, “Deal! We did make you cry after all.”
Izuku sees the way his dad cringes at the reminder and snaps his mouth shut before nodding. Mitsuki does… something and within seconds their waiter is walking through the doors and asking if they need anything.
Almost everyone gets drink refills and a few others also order a dessert.
Izuku himself orders something so sweet it makes Katsuki and Yuuzuki visibly shudder. It’s an ice cream parfait served in a huge fancy glass with a bazillion different layers and toppings. It could be customized even! He chose caramel flavored ice cream and may have went a little overboard on the cookie pieces and chocolate syrup and waffle cone bits. He also said yes when the man asked about wanting mochi pieces on top...
Izuku cannot wait to eat it, doesn’t he deserve something sweet and indulgent?