Chapter Text
Goodbye... One for all
The gruelling battle with All for One was over and rescue operations had commenced, All Might had extended his words of hope to the people of the world and a warning to all other villains alongside a hidden message to Izuku. The fabled hero of peace now stood deadly still in the aftermath as the world scurried around him, he was a pillar of hope to all, yet his celebrity status had created something he didn't realise.
He was untouchable. No one looked and saw a human even in this withered form, he was nothing more than a symbol, an idea or a feeling, but not a human. His body burned, exhausted from the fight and his injuries, he was loosing blood faster than he had ever known, he wanted to cry for help, but who would think to help the number one hero? His answer came begrudgingly- Endeavor.
All Might’s physical state made the flames on his body burn hot, yet he endured the rising anger to keep from exploding. Blonde hair so blood soaked the colour resembled his own red hair, a once glorious suit hung in shreds from thin bones, this man truly was a pillar; the only thing keeping All Might standing was his willpower to keep his knee's locked in place, “Look at you,” He said in a gruff voice, not sure if the number one hero was even conscious enough to be listening, “You've given everything to these people, yet no one will take the time to ask if you're doing alright.”
Toshinori chocked a laugh, he had just been thinking the exact same thing, was that selfish? “I think the answer is pretty evident by looking at me.” He joked.
Enji had a million questions, how had everything come to this? His life's goal, his obsession to be better than this man. They were realised, but in the worst way possible, it left a bitter taste.
“I'd give you my blessing to be the number one hero,” Toshinori raised his head to try and make eye contact, he wanted to give this man answers, he deserved answers. Even though Endeavour had seen their relationship as bitter rivals, Toshinori had always respected Endeavor, but he couldn't escape the reality of the current situation, “But here and now? Under these current conditions I don't believe it is correct.” Not that his blessing would count for much, Endeavor would probably reject it.
Enji groaned, “Shut up,” He decided he had heard enough and All Might was wasting energy by talking, “I don't need anything from you. But right now I need to get you to a hospital.”
Endeavor's words came as a surprise, was he actually being kind? Toshinori had been lucky enough to catch his expression. It was softer than his usual crazed or angered contours, was this his fatherly side creeping out? Whatever is was, it allowed Toshinori to feel safe enough to relent his stiff composure, and fall into a set of arms that weren't exactly welcoming, but not pushing him away either. Toshinori noted Endeavor quelled the flames on his body so he wasn't burned, he was unbelievably warm.
All Might was tiny, weak and brittle. As All Might finally gave out, Enji pulled him up to rest against his large shoulder, his bones felt so thin he feared he'd break them. Like this, All Might felt no bigger than one of his children, no heavier than any women he had carried, it was a pathetic image, and the media seemed to agree. He heard a TV reporter approach him, the camera clearly pointing in his direction.
“-And here we have the world’s second best hero seemingly carry All Might from the battle. Endeavor! Will you be taking the number one spot as the Hero of Peace now that All-Might is out of commission?”
A brunette woman waved a microphone towards him, but he ignored her advances, answering with a flat, “No comment.” Before taking his leave.
...
He ended up not taking All Might to the hospital, too many people would hound him for pictures and stupid requests for autographs. So he took him to U.A high school. After Todoroki's battle in the summer sports festival, he knew they had a hospital ward. Once he arrived, despite the current chaos, it was surprisingly quiet, but he was greeted by a rather sour-faced Eraserhead and a concerned looking anthropomorphic mouse who he had never bothered to learn the name of.
“You brought him here?” Aizawa asked, his tone clearly judgemental, “Wouldn't the hospital have been a better-"
“No,” Enji interrupted, beginning to slowly lower All Might’s form, “Too many people already being treated.”
Aizawa raised a quizzical eyebrow, “Was that to save All Might's dignity or your own?”
If Enji wasn't trying to delicately handle a dying man, he would've punched Eraserhead's half-smirk right off his face, “Oh, you're welcome by the way, no one else was going to bloody carry him out of that hell hole.” He rambled, becoming more irritated by the second. He was just about ready to drop All Might at their feet before the mouse started squeaking.
“Gentlemen, now is not the time to quarrel! Endeavor, I extend our gratitude for bringing All Might to us, we will ensure he gets the best of care from this point forward.”
This mouse talked too much as well, in fact, Enji might be mistaken for being genuinely concerned about All Might's deteriorating condition as no one seemed to have the urgency that you would expect in a life or death scenario. Then he figured out why, they still needed him to carry All Might inside. So without a word, he repositioned All Might back on his shoulder, and began walking towards the entrance.
Enji got all the way to the hospital bed, even placing All Might on said bed, still no words, no action, no nothing. He turned to the room, medical staff standing still, dressed the part but stood in awe and fear of the man that was laying in a loose bloody shawl of what was the hero of peace's infamous costume, he exploded, “Are you serious?!” He yelled, his voice causing everyone to jolt, “This man is dying! If you don't do your job's right fucking now I'm going burn this place to the ground!” His flames exploded to create a heatwave throughout the room.
Once the shouting ceased, the room burst into action. Finally Enji saw All Might being worked on, all the correct equipment being hooked up, all the right words being spoken. He was still fuming, he turned to the white mouse and spat, “Your staff are shit. Maybe I should've taken him to a hospital.”
“I assure you Endeavor, that you did the right thing by bringing All Might here, we have Recovery Girl on route to assist as well.”
“Well thank fuck for that,” His voice returned to a low monotone growl, but he was still royally pissed off by how everyone had acted. Eraserhead caught his eye, the man had a hand clutched to the reins at his neck, his expression hard to pin, Enji had hoped it was concern, so why did it look so much more like distain? “I'm leaving, don't expect anymore favours from me.”
The mouse kept chirping as he left, he ignored it. Pulling the door almost off it's hinges with his exit, he was glad to see the back of this place.
...
The recovery was long and arduous. Toshinori woke with his muscle's spasming violently due to the sheer expense of his battle, and after that initial ordeal he noticed some patches of skin had become numb. Over time he waited for feeling to return but in many places it didn't, he had crushed nerve endings, torn tendons and his skin scarred roughly over all injuries. Any operations he needed were completed whilst he was unconscious, Toshinori gained the general understanding from the surgeons that they operated only to allow his body to function, not to make him look pretty. But hell, you could at least try to keep the entrance and exit wounds clean, he already had enough scars to put any other pro-hero to shame, but it wasn't like he wanted them.
Tough to imagine the hero of peace like this, so cynical. As Toshinori lay healing in the empty hospital bay, he recalled his and Izuku's first meeting. Not the handing down of One for All part, but rather when he cruelly crushed a young boy’s dream of becoming a hero atop a skyscraper. He was a lot like that now, his younger self was still alive, bit he was tired, exhausted even. He was tired of smiling, tired of taking damage for others, tired of everything. His body refused to work the way it used to and at times it was agony, he knew he had always pushed himself too far for the pursuit of peace, it was his fault, but it was easier to curse the world around him.
Yet, eventually he had to get up and keep moving forward. The first step had been convincing the student's parent’s to allow their children to live in dorms. Next was a personal pursuit. He stood at the door of a traditional japanese house, hiding under the small landing to try and shield himself from the rain. After knocking a few times, he got an answer.
A young woman answered the door, sporting glasses and a dumbfounded expression. Her hair was white with red flecks, she was clearly the daughter of the new number one hero, “A-All Might, sir! What are you?... Come inside, you're soaking wet!” She stammered, taken by surprise.
Toshinori took the invite, the tip tap of water rolling off his clothes onto the wooden floor, “A-ah, thank you,” He was suddenly feeling unsure of himself, should he really be doing this? “Sorry for the intrusion, I came to speak to Endeavor, is he here?”
The lady blinked, “Errm.. yeah, he is,” She replied bashfully, some nervous laughter followed, “Let me get him for you.”
She walked away with an animated stride, Toshinori noticed he had that effect of people, they usually didn't know how to act within his presence. It wasn't long before the man in question appeared, no flames in sight but instead adorning towels. He had some thrown at him, they was soft and warm, had he heated these up?
“You look like a drowned rat.” Enji huffed. He was dressed in evening attire of a white vest and grey jogging pants, whilst All Might was in a silly yellow suit. It was almost seven at night, why would you wear a suit at this hour?
Toshinori had expected a ‘what the hell are you doing here' instead of the comment he received, it caused him to chuckle as he dried his golden bangs, “I know, but a little rain never hurt anybody.”
“Come inside, and take off that jacket, Fuyumi will dry it for you.”
Before All Might could thank him, he had already left the room. After removing his jacket, he followed to find Endeavor knelt at a traditional japanese table, two steaming mugs already placed at either side. He had also removed his shoes at the door, but felt the need to apologise, “You'll have to excuse me, I cannot kneel due to an old injury,” In the process of apologising, he had already lowered himself into a cross-legged seated position, not allowing any offer of a chair, he wouldn't allow himself to be completely hopeless. Before speaking, he took the mug of hot liquid into his lap. Taking a sip, he had honestly expected coffee or tea, but the taste was incredibly sweet. Hot cocoa? Seriously? He hadn't had this since high school. He peeked over to Endeavor's mug, he seemed to have the exact same.
“So,” Enji spoke up, “You're looking better than the last time we met.”
Toshinori agreed, “Except for the drowned rat part, yes, I am considerably better,” Since Endeavor wasn't asking, he decided to cut to the meat of his reason for coming here, “I feel I need to apologise to you for that exchange, and your kindness has not gone unnoticed, I don't know if I can thank you enough.” He referred to Endeavor helping him off the battlefield.
Enji scoffed, “I just did what others weren't doing.” He had a tendency to speak his mind, the truth was always faster, All Might seemed to understand what he was saying but didn't address it.
“Yes, well,” He glossed over the subject, “I also owe you an explanation. I, in your shoes, would be angry at my display. I've hidden this side of me for so long, I forgot how it would effect people like yourself.” He thumbed the rim of his mug, never did he imagine having such a heart to heart conversation with this man, he thought he'd be turned away at the door.
“How long?”
“Five years.” That caused Endeavor to go silent, but his expression was judging, had he overstayed his welcome?
Enji was getting tired of the apologies and excuses, he decided to see who All Might really was, “...I have no idea who I'm talking to right now.”
"W... what?” Toshinori stammered, stunned and confused, but Endeavor’s tone was deadly serious.
“You do realise I've only ever known you as your ‘other self', the hero.”
“Ah! Yes! It must be quite a shock-"
Enji slammed his fist on the table, causing All Might to jolt, “Let me finish,” It was true, the All Might he knew, the one he aspired to be better than, wasn't the one sat in from of him, “Tell me, you're talking as if you're two people split in half, which one is the real one? Have I been chasing after a fake this entire time?”
Toshinori’s jaw hung open. Of course, he'd never even seen it that way. So then, has Endeavor's kindness all this time only been pity? But at the same time, he wasn't even sure how to answer his question. It was true, it was his dream to be a hero, and he had happy memories of his golden years. But at the same time, ‘All Might’ was a character to be played, that's what he had told Nana and it was the character he lived up to. But how much of it was true anymore? Where did ‘All Might’ end, and where did Toshinori begin? “I... I'm not sure how to answer that,” However, despite the differences between his two personalities, he tried to keep his optimism in-tact, “Without telling you my life story at least, I fear there's not enough time in the evening to even begin.”
All Might's adlib comment stopped Enji's frustrations becoming full blown anger, the hollowed-cheek goofy grin helped too, “Fine, was there anything else you needed to say?”
Toshinori was relieved the tense moment had passed, “Only advice, but only if you wanted it, did you have any questions for me?”
Enji impatiently tapped his fingers on the table, “No.”
Toshinori hesitated, “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Okay. Maybe now he had overstayed his welcome. He reached into his pants pocket to hand Endeavor a card, “Well, if you think of anything, you can contact me on this number.”
Enji flipped the piece of card between his fingers, reading the typed words aloud, “Toshinori... Yagi,” Enji looked up from the card to find All Might beaming, he concluded that must be his name. He continued to read, “All Might's agent-"
“Oh crap! I forgot to remove that part.” Toshinori didn't have time to explain as Endeavor erupted with laughter. It was a baritone laugh, the kind that would cut through any static silence and could be easily heard with great effect at the other side of the room. It caused his chest to tighten with glee, and he chuckled along.
“So, this is who you are, I see,” Enji joked. After days of anger and frustration, he was thankful to be laughing, and it looked like All Might-no, Toshinori, had needed it too. With all the fun and games, he was quickly forgetting his trademark stoic attitude, “No promises I'll call, but I’ll respect your help if needed.”
That made Toshinori happy to hear, however there was one more issue, “Thank you. I'd take my leave now, but it seems my legs have become locked in place.” He scratched the back of his neck coyly, he truly was hopeless, and without the bout of laughter they had just experienced, he would've been ashamed to ask. But he felt now as he did when he last requested for help in a time of need. He felt safe.
There was no way to help Toshinori up on his own accord with one arm in a sling, so Enji decided on hooking his hands under his armpits and just lifting him to his feet. Enji wanted to keep somewhat of Toshinori's dignity intact, so as soon as Toshinori was on his feet he stepped away, but a hand came up to stop him, holding him in place. Golden lock's hung low, hiding his expression, but it was clear that the times of fun and games had suddenly disappeared. Enji did something he didn't do often; he second-guessed himself. Should he have asked for permission before lifting?
The heat. Toshinori remembered, the blinding heat of Endeavor's body. It was so soothing against his aching bones, he didn't want to let go. Just for a second, please, he just wanted to be weak. He wanted someone else to be his hero, “Let me warn you,” He masked his true desires with the sick reality behind them, “Do not let your body become like mine, I pushed myself beyond my limits too many times and I'm paying the price.”
Enji could tell admitting this killed him inside. He lay a hand on his shoulder, pushing him away, “I'm not afraid of you,” Toshinori’s pained face rose to meet him, “I'm not afraid of becoming you either.”