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It all started a few days after the Sports Festival. Toshinori burst into 1A’s classroom that morning as All Might with his usual dramatic flair. “I AM HERE, with a special treat for you today!” He announced, holding up a box full of folders and papers. Midnight and Aizawa followed behind.
All the students perked up, surprised and excited to see him before their afternoon hero class. He couldn’t help but notice how Midoriya’s eyes lit up as a huge grin broke out over the boy’s face. Toshinori had to fight the urge to roll his eyes in equal mix of fondness and exasperation at seeing the boy’s hero worship was as strong as ever.
“What’s in the box All Might?” Ashido asked, bouncing in her seat.
He grinned, “You’ve received your first fan mail, young heroes! After your impressive performances at the Sports Festival, we’ve been collecting the letters coming in the last few days to hand out.”
Most of the class let out a cheer at this news, though he could see some looked skeptical. “I didn’t place well or stand out at all, doubt I got anything.” He heard Hagakure mutter from her seat in the front row, the shoulders of her uniform slumping forward.
He reassured the girl with a smile. “You should all be proud of your efforts. While not all received personal mail, there were plenty of letters praising the entire class for your hard work. You’ll all get copies of those, and those of you with individual letters will get yours too.” He placed the box down and started to take out folders. “But take heart, you all are still just starting your hero careers, there will be time for fan mail in the years to come!”
“If you’re in the hero business to get praise from fans then you’re doing it wrong.” Aizawa retorted as he zipped himself up in his sleeping bag and and took refuge under his desk, leaving the other two teachers to pass out the packets to each student.
Midnight ignored him, the teaching staff knew he kept a small binder of fan mail in his office, and continued on. “We’ll give you time to read your letters, then we’ll be talking about how to handle fans and the media now that you’ve tasted your first bit of publicity.” She explained as she sorted through the packets.
“So that’s why Aizawa’s not taking part, he probably just scares all of his fans off.” Sero muttered.
“Those techniques work equally well on students.” A muffled threat came from underneath the desk.
And yet even their homeroom teacher’s usual dour mood could not stop class 1A’s excitement as letters were passed out, read, and shared. Toshinori was happy to stand back and give his students time to go over their fan mail, taking joy in watching their expressions.
He already knew what each of the letters contained, all incoming fanmail was carefully screened to ensure there were no dangerous substances or threats. Some of the harsher letters of criticism were also removed. Bakugo had received a large pile of hate mail for his attitude and poor sportsmanship, Aizawa had included some of the milder rebukes in the student’s packet but All Might had agreed with the fellow teacher that most of the vitriol would do more harm than good in correcting his behavior. Uraraka had also received some harsh letters, mostly arguing that she was too weak to be a hero and should leave that sort of work to the men. Midnight took great relish in destroying those herself.
Toshinori glanced at his successor, thankfully Midoriya didn’t seem bothered over not receiving any personal mail of his own and was currently busy laughing at a rather crudely drawn picture of Tokoyami and Dark Shadow that made them look more like chickens. Toshinori had been upset himself to find out Midoriya had only received negative mail, mostly from people saying someone with so poor control over such powerful Quirk had no place in the hero department. Toshinori was just glad he had been out of time in his muscular form or he probably would have broken something while reading those letters.
He spoke up, not wanting to dwell on that. “I’m glad to see you’ve enjoyed your first bit of fan mail. While what Aizawa said is true, you should not depend on praise to drive yourself as a hero, I have always taken heart in the gratitude and support I receive from my fans. Hopefully this can help you all drive yourselves on as well.”
“Hey All Might, do you remember ever getting my letter? I wrote to you when I was eight!” Ashido called out cheerfully.
Toshinori gulped, this what not the direction he was hoping to take the conversation.
Multiple other students spoke up at once before he could speak, talking over themselves.
“I sent a few drawings over the years! Did you see them?” Kaminari shouted.
Aoyama called out. “Surely you must remember my dazzling correspondence.”
“I too wrote to him while young, asking for his advice on facing the darkness.” Tokoyami replied in his usual stoic manner.
“I think I wrote to him twice, even included a drawing I did when I was six or seven. I’m sure it was terrible.” Ojiro admitted, looking embarrassed. “Probably better if he never saw it.”
“I wrote to him not long after I got my Quirk, saying I wanted to be a hero.” Sero grinned wider. “Now we have him teaching us how to be heroes, how cool is that?” Several other students smiled and added their own agreements to the mix.
“I sent a few letters myself All Might!” Uraraka shouted cheerfully before turning to smile across the classroom to her friend. “Deku, you must have written to him loads of times over the years!”
“Uh, yeah. I wrote to him a few times.” Midoriya smiled back but Toshinori could tell it didn’t have his usual enthusiasm. He looked over with concern at his successor, the boy did seem a bit withdrawn, perhaps the the lack of letters was now getting to him?
Unfortunately he didn’t have time right then to help his successor as most of the class were still waiting on his answer. He brought a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. “I’m grateful to hear so many of you wrote to me, but in truth I don’t know if I read any of them. I get and read so many that it’s hard to remember them all.”
“How many do you get?” Kirishima asked.
“I’m not sure of the exact number, but last year it averaged to about three thousand a day.” He admitted. The amount of fanmail he received was something that always shocked and even embarrassed him a little bit. Not just for some of the frankly bizarre letters he received that included marriage proposals, conspiracy theories, and more but also he never felt like he deserved so much.
The classroom was still for several heartbeats as the students tried to process such an amount.
Kaminari was the first to find his voice. “How on earth do you have time to read and sort through them all?”
Toshinori sighed before smiling again for his students. “Unfortunately I would never be able to read all those letters and still have time to be a hero so I have my staff do that for me. I have a whole department that reads and processes every letter I receive.” His smiled dimmed a little. If there was anything he regretted from his hero career, it was that he didn’t have time to read more of the letters himself.
Jiro frowned. “So you don’t read any of the letters people write to you?”
“Oh no, not at all my girl. I don’t have time to sort through them all, but I have my staff select ten a day to send to me. While I’d love to read more of them, I just can’t handle so many.” He grinned back but he could sense a mild gloom had fallen over the class. “I still appreciate every letter and drawing I receive, even if I don’t look at them all personally.”
“You probably never saw my letters then.” Uraraka sighed, looking down at the pages in her hands.
“Only ten out of three thousand…” Kirishima muttered. “It’s just a bummer to realize so few letters that get sent to heroes actually get read. I sent a couple to Crimson Riot back in the day.”
The pro hero was now regretting that he agreed to help Midnight with particular lesson, he never wanted to disappoint fans, especially his students. “Well, each hero gets differing amounts of mail and have their own ways of processing them.” Toshinori replied neutrally.
“Oh All Might is being too modest.” Midnight spoke up. “He receives far more fan mail than any other hero, why he gets more in a day what I might in an entire year.”
Toshinori always felt embarrassed when being compared to other heroes, especially in rankings and fan support. Really he wished so many didn’t see it as a competition, they risked their lives and worked just as hard as him. “And not all of mine are just fan mail. Some are people who need help and they don’t know who to ask. They probably just write to me as I’m the most well-known hero. Anything related to heroes or villains or Quirks, people assume I must be some sort of authority. ” He chuckled lightly and continued on more seriously. “I’ve had people write about losing their home in a villain attack or having a kid develop a Quirk they couldn’t control. For those sorts of letters, I had special teams that either directly respond or get the person in touch with an organization that could help.”
“That’s so sweet you have something like that!” Ashido practically gushed.
“You big ol’ softie.” Midnight teased with a playful nudge, careful to avoid his left side. “That’s one thing we’ll talk about today. When you start out, unless you right away pair up with a more famous hero, you won’t get much in terms of fanmail - enough that you or a secretary at your agency can take care of. But as your career continues and you either sign on with a larger agency or start your own, you’ll have to think about how you want to handle fan mail, the press, and all those other lovely things that comes with being in the spotlight. I remember in my second year as a hero…”
Toshinori mentally thanked Midnight for turning the conversation back on track. The mood was lifted and the rest of the lesson was enjoyable as he and Midnight shared stories of some of their more overzealous fans and how to craft responses to letters of both support and criticism. As Midnight had the class laughing over the tale of how two men challenged one another to a duel for her hand in marriage, Toshinori looked over to Midoriya, thinking of how one young fan had grabbed on to him right as the hero had bounded into the sky and changed both of their lives forever. Thankfully his successor was looking more like his usual cheerful self and was fully engaged in the lesson, it seemed Toshinori was fretting over nothing.
A vibrating alert from his phone shook him from his thoughts. That was his alarm to leave the rest of the lesson to Midnight. If he wanted to have enough time in his muscle form for hero classes that afternoon, he had to depart now and power down. With a rushed excuse to his students, Toshinori inwardly sighed and stepped out of the classroom. He hated how he couldn’t spend more time with his class, his shortening time limit was quickly growing to be a problem in getting through a regular day of classes. Still he smiled softly as he returned to his normal form in the hallway and remembered how his many of his students spoke of writing to him.
“I couldn’t read them back then, but I can now.” His smile grew brighter as he dialed his hero agency’s correspondence department. While he knew he’d never get a chance to read them, he couldn’t bare the thought of throwing away all those letters his fans had taken the time to write to him. Instead, he had everything archived and stored away deep in the basement of his hero agency building.
After a quick phone call posing as All Might’s personal assistant, ‘Mr. Yagi’ had given the department the 20 names of class 1A and general time frame to look for any mail from them. He was assured they’d get going on but it could take a while to sort through all the old archives. He was fine with the wait and ended the phone call in high spirits.
And that was the last he thought of the matter for several months The next day he found out Gran Torino had submitted an internship offer for Midoriya and the resulting shock and panic drove the thought of fanmail completely from his mind.
Months passed. Toshinori fought One for All, lost the last of his strength, officially retired as a pro-hero, and devoted himself to training Midoriya and the rest of 1A. He sighed as he walked out of yet another meeting one Thursday evening, feeling stiff and tired.
He was in the middle of teaching a unit on learning to fight without Quirks and he had been a bit too eager today demonstrate some lessons firsthand. Nothing had been too strenuous for the students, he had mostly focused the day’s lesson on how to block or redirect a hit and quickly grapple to subdue an opponent but Toshinori had been happy to prove just what was possible without a Quirk (and maybe show off a little bit too) and he was paying the price now.
Still he grinned as he hobbled down UA’s mercifully empty sidewalks to his apartment and remembered the looks of awe and surprise on his students’ faces as Toshinori had managed to flip Shoji around and throw the large student to the ground. The warmth from their admiration almost made up for the fact that he had certainly overexerted himself and his side was throbbing in protest. He had meant to go back sooner for some stretching and ice packs to relieve the pain but had been called to a meeting about the security at UA with Nezu and the other pro-hero staff right after his class had ended.
Finally free, he now wanted nothing more than to take a nap but he was failing behind once again in his grading and he had promised to meet with Midoriya that evening for some extra training as well. Here he thought teaching would be an easy gig compared to heroing, how did the others handle being proheroes and teachers with all the paperwork involved with both jobs?
Toshinori stepped into the building of the teachers’ apartments and was glad to see the hallways were empty, he really didn’t want any of the other staff seeing him right then as he gingerly made his way to his apartment. He stopped short as he noticed a large cardboard box sitting by his door, that certainly hadn’t been there before his afternoon classes. Who sent him a package? He didn’t really have anyone close to him that would send something to him unexpectedly. At least he knew the box would have been carefully screened by UA’s security before being allowed to be sent on to him but he still approached it with caution, mistakes did happen after all and he had plenty of enemies that would be happy to see even a retired hero dead.
He blinked in surprise when he saw the package was sent from his own agency, his correspondence department to be exact. He still kept up the tradition of reading 10 letters a day but those were scanned and sent by email everyday, so what could they have to send to him? With a rush, he remembered last time he discussed his fan mail and a smile broke out across his face. They had finally tracked down all the letters sent to him over the years from his students.
He heaved the box inside, surprised at its weight and set it down on his coffee table in the living room. He half-heartedly debated with himself for a few seconds that he really should do his grading first before he opened the box anyway. His students had been waiting to have their letters read by him for several years after all, they could wait one more day to get their graded papers back.
Everything was neatly organized with every student having their own folder with all their letters and correspondence filed away inside. Warmth flooded through his thin chest as he realized every single student of 1A seemed to have written to him at least once as he pulled out folders and stacked them on the table,. He chuckled as he noticed one large stack of paper in the folder neatly labeled, “ Midoriya, Izuku”. There were so many sheets that the folder could barely contain them all. “Fanboy.” He muttered with a fond smile as he picked up the hefty pile and put it off to the side, he’d save his successor’s for last.
Eagerly he dove into the letters, cards, and drawings his other students had sent him over the years. Many of the letters were similar, thanking him for his work and saying how he inspired them to be heroes. Uraraka as a little girl asked to work for him, saying that even though he’s very strong she can make things lighter to make it easier for him. He found the two letters from a young Ojiro, in one he asked All Might if he studied any martial arts and if so what ones as the young boy wanted to take some lessons. Sure enough there was a childish drawing of All Might and a little Ojiro wearing a martial outfit very similar to his current hero suit. Toshinori smiled and put it aside to hang on his fridge. There was also a very glittery card from Aoyama and a letter from a 13 year old Mineta asking how many girls All Might had ‘scored’ with (Toshinori put that letter aside too, to be thrown out.)
And there were still more letters, at least one from every student in 1A. Iida’s was very formal but filled with reverence for the hero while Ashido’s greeted him like a long-time friend, full of jokes and doodles. Koda (in small, cramped lettering as though almost wishing they’d be unnoticed) wrote to say All Might gave him courage and he wished he was brave enough to express himself more. Bakugo had several, the early ones full of childish admiration while the ones dated from the boy’s late middle school years practically a threat that the boy would one day surpass him as a hero. So many mentioned that his own words and actions had inspired them to be heroes themselves.
He wiped his eyes, surprised to find them full of unshed tears. This, this is why he had accepted One for All and worked so hard to become the Symbol of Peace. To be a inspiration for others, to help bring out the hero in everyone. He had many other young heroes come up to him over the years and tell him he was part of the reason they became heroes, that part was nothing new. But knowing that he had impacted these kids, his kids, touched him deeply.
He still had one pile to go. He picked up the packet, wondering what his successor had written to him in what seemed to be dozens of letters. His file was easily larger than the rest of the class’s combined. As he opened the folder, he was relieved to see his correspondence team had even organized them all by date with the earliest on top.
Dear Mr All Mite Might,
Yur my favrite hero! I dont hav my Quirk yet, but I shuld get it soon! I hop its cool like yurs! Can I be yur sidci sidkik when i do?
Izuku
He smiled in bittersweet fondness, eyes lingering over the simple, childish block letters and horrible spelling. His future successor couldn’t have been much older than 4 when he wrote this. If only the little boy back then could know what was ahead for him.
Dear Mr All Might,
My frend Kaachan has a grate Quirk! He wants to be a hero to! Can he be yur sidekik too?
Izuku
Dear Mr All Might,
Do you like Cats Katsudon? My mom is making it for diner tonite, do you want to have diner with us? My mom says heros need to eet lots of vegtabels to be strong. I will make sure she makes lots.
Izuku
Dear Mr All Might,
When did you get yur Quirk? All my frends have theres but I dont yet. Do you think mine will be really strong?
Izuku
Dear Mr All Might,
Did you like America? I kno you started as a hero there. My dad works there now and he hasn’t ben home in a long time. If you go bak, can you find my dad and tell him I miss him?
Izuku
His heart clenched, reading those simple words of loneliness. The boy never talked about his father and Toshinori had never wanted to overstep any boundaries to ask. Was the man still working abroad, did he have any contact with his son? The few times he had been at the Midoriya’s, he couldn’t recall even seeing any pictures of the man, it had always been just Izuku and his mother. Toshinori was surprised at the anger he felt rising towards this man he had never met. Midoriya deserved so much more. More than a half-dead retired hero too. He thought regretfully, continuing on in his reading.
Dear Mr All Might,
My mom let me stay up and wach you fight Magman on TV! She said it wuld be too scary but it wasnt. I new yud win! You always do!
Izuku Midoriya
Toshinori was smiling as he read through several more letters that continued with similar childish one-sided conversations. There were drawings included with some of them too, most showing a bright colorful blob of primary colors and yellow on top next to a slightly smaller blob of green. He added those to the pile of drawings from his other students, handling them with special care.
The next page however had shaky, crooked lettering even though the boy’s writing had been improving steadily through the series. In some spots the ink looked smudged as though water had dripped onto the page.
Dear Mr All Might,
I do not have a Quirk, the doktor says i am Quirkles. Is it possibl to still be a hero? I want to save and help peeple like you do. Im going to try real hard.
Izuku
Toshinori stared at the page for some time, guilt gnawing at his nonexistent stomach. Midoriya had asked his hero for validation and Toshinori had unknowingly neglected the boy throughout his childhood years and then crushed those dreams when they had their first fateful meeting. The guilt slammed into Toshinori as he thought again to how dismissive he had been when they had first met, when Midoriya had asked him that burning question he had been waiting over 10 years for an answer to.
The retired hero wiped at his eyes and carefully smoothed out the slightly crinkled paper, placing it tenderly with the rest of the read papers. At least I can make it up to him now. He vowed and moved on. The next few letters were thankfully back to the old format, chatting about little Izuku’s day and asking All Might questions about his own life.
Dear Mr All Might,
I started to keep a hero journal! Im going to study other heros Quirks to help me be a hero. Your my favorite still but there are alot of cool heros and Quirks out there I want to learn from.
I’m glad to see you didn’t lose heart for too long kid. Toshinori smiled, seeing the same determination and passion that had made him chose the boy as his successor in the first place. The guilt was still there, but he was glad to see little Izuku moving forward.
Dear Mr All Might,
Do you know Eraserhead? He’s a hero but in secret. I think he worked with you on the big villain bust last week but the news don’t talk about him. I want to know more about his Quirk, can you send this other letter and qustions to him? You’r still my favorite tho.
Izuku Midoriya
Sure enough, stapled to the letter was another letter addressed to ‘Mr. Eraser’ asking how his scarf worked and if he could still use his Quirk in the dark. Aizawa was a fairly new hero at the time, and an underground one at that. The fact that little Midoriya had figured out the man had indeed helped All Might with a case despite the man avoiding all media attention was impressive, his heart swelled with pride. And the boy already trying to work out Aizawa’s Quirk’s weaknesses showed just how bright Izuku was at even such a young age. His spelling is improving too. He thought with a chuckle.
Dear Mr All Might...
More pages, more letters from this wonderful, tenacious little boy. He never seemed upset or even mentioned the lack of replies from his hero, he simply continued to write and pour his heart and soul out in ink. Little Izuku wrote to ask for homework help, to show off the drawings and Quirk analysis of other heroes, or just asking about All Might’s day and how a recent fight went. Over time, the boy dropped the endearing “Mr” from his greetings and the quality of writing improved as he matured.
Reading through these letters was like opening a time capsule of young Izuku’s life. He learned that the boy’s favorite ice cream flavor was mint chocolate chip, won 1st place in his school’s science fair for two years in a row, he liked cats more than dogs, and missed being able to go to the local beach with all the trash piling up on it. He also found out the boy had been the only one not invited to a classmate’s 7th birthday party, his fourth grade teacher had laughed in his face when he said he wanted to be a hero, and he frequently went years between seeing his father, usually only getting cards and the occasional phone call on birthdays and holidays.
It's a miracle you never lost your light, my boy. He rubbed one thumb tenderly across the page where Izuku offhandedly mentioned going to see the premiere of an All Might documentary alone, no doubt because none of his classmates wanted to go with him. Toshinori looked down and was surprised when he realized he had made his way through the whole pile, the last letter sent when the boy was 12. The letters had decreased in frequency as the boy had grown up, the writing more formal as well, but the admiration was still clear in every page sent.
What did I do to deserve you?
“All Might? All Might! Are you in?” A familiar voice and tentative knocking jolted Toshinori out of his thoughts. His elbow bumped the box with the rest of 1A’s mail he had placed back inside and it fell to the floor with a thud, the sheets spilling out onto the floor and disappearing into shadows. He blinked, since when had it gotten so dark? The room was lit only by a small lamp in the corner. Had he been reading for so long? That would explain the burning itchiness in his eyes.
Another knock at his door, more frantic this time. “All Might, are you in there? I thought I heard something. Are you okay?” Midoriya’s concerned voice helped bring Toshinori back and he picked himself up off the couch, grunting a bit from the stiffness in his side.
Toshinori opened the door to reveal his successor, one hand raised to knock again. Large, green eyes looked up at him filled with worry. “All Might! I’m sorry for intruding and for all the knocking but I was getting worried. We had talked about meeting for training today but when you didn’t show up I thought I had gotten the day or time mixed up. I tried calling and texting but when you didn’t answer I thought something might have happened. I was worried you-” Midoriya’s rambling cut off as he seemed to really look at his teacher, no doubt seeing the distress on his face. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
Toshinori’s heart squeezed. He really didn’t deserve this kind boy. “I’m fine Young Midoriya. I’m sorry for worrying you. My phone must have still been on silent from my meeting today and then I got distracted with something and lost track of the time.”
Of course then his traitorous body decided to rebel and his left size seized up, not doubt in protest from the day’s earlier activities and then him sitting hunched over reading for so many hours. He grabbed the door frame to keep from doubling over and bit back a bloody cough.
“A-All Might!” Midoriya was at his side in a heartbeat, strong hands carefully holding him up.
“I-I’m fine. Just spent too much time sitting still and getting stiff.” He offered a weak smile and a small pat on the head before settling his arm around the boy’s shoulders. “Do you mind helping me back inside?” He hated having to ask for help but also knew it would help ease Midoriya’s distress to have something to focus on and do.
They both carefully made their way back the couch with Midoriya at his side. “Thanks.” He said a little stiffly as he bit back a groan while sitting back down. He didn’t like showing anyone just how frail he’d gotten, especially his student. The boy needed him to be strong.
He was surprised when Midoriya sat down on the couch next to him, their sides just barely touching. He must have worried the kid more than he realized for him to be this close. The young hero in training shuffled nervously. “Do you need anything, water, tissues?”
Toshinori massaged his tender left side with one hand and with the other ruffled his student’s hair. The boy happily leaned into the touch. He had been quick to notice than while Midoriya was hesitant about most physical contact, he never shied away from Toshinori’s touch and it warmed his heart every time. “No my boy, I’m fine. Just need to remember to do my stretching so I don’t become a stiff old man.”
Midoriya chuckled and Toshinori expected a quick remark in his defense about his age but the boy suddenly went tense under his touch. Lifting his hand from his successor’s head, he saw what had caught the boy’s attention: his own childhood fanmail spread across the table.
“You found my old letters.” He said quietly, pulling away from the man’s side slightly.
For some reason Toshinori felt a bit embarrassed now, feeling as though he had broken some breach of trust or privacy now that he knew how vulnerable the little Izuku in those letters had allowed himself to be. “Not just yours, all of your classmates’ as well.” He admitted. “After our talk about fan mail after the Sports Festival, I was inspired to track them down since I never got a chance to read them before.”
“H-have you read them?” Midoriya was looking down at the floor.
He swallowed thickly. “I have.”
“Sorry.” Toshinori blinked in surprise at the small, vulnerable voice. “I’m sorry to have bugged you with so many letters. I don’t remember a lot of what I wrote, just childish stuff. They must seem so stupid, you don’t have to keep them.” The last sentence was muttered in a rush as the boy withdrew further in on himself. Toshinori thought back to the young, lonely boy in those letters, looking for acceptance and receiving nothing but rejection from his teachers and peers and his heart broke just a little bit more.
“My boy, you have nothing to apologize for.” He brought his arm back up to place gently around Midoriya’s trembling shoulders and continued in a softer voice. “In fact, I should be the one saying sorry. Sorry for not reading them sooner. Sorry… sorry for never replying.” Sorry for not being there when you needed me.
“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” Though he still wouldn’t look Toshinori in the eye, at least he leaned back into the man’s side a little bit. “You couldn’t have known. As you said before, you received thousands of letters a day. I was another kid out of millions that wrote to you.”
Toshinori saw the truth in his words. Midoriya was just another fan back then, how could he have known how precious the boy would grow to be to him?
He still couldn’t drive away the lump of guilt he felt clawing at his heart, now that he had a clearer idea of the boy’s lonely childhood and just how badly his initial rejection must have hurt Midoriya.
He also thought back to the few times the boy mentioned his father, or more notably the man’s absence in his life, how often did Midoriya make excuses for his own father now being around? He pulled his student just a tad closer in his one-sided hug.
“But you are far more than that now, my boy. And I would never, never throw away those letters.” Midoriya ducked his head lower in embarrassment but Toshinori gently lifted the boy’s chin to look him in the eyes so his successor could see the sincerity in his face.
“Those letters show me a kind, brilliant, brave boy determined to be a hero. Those same traits that I saw the day I picked you to be my successor and I see in you every day after.” He knew the boy had self-confidence issues and often questioned his worthiness for One for All, and now after reading those letters he understood a bit of where those feelings came from after a childhood of rejection. But he was happy to remind his successor as many times as it would take.
“I don’t say this enough... but I’m so proud of you, and everything you’ve accomplished. Never forget that.”
Green eyes watered up and Midoriya slumped back into the man’s side, pressing his forehead against a bony shoulder. “Thank you All Might, thank you.”
He just hummed in reply and wrapped his arms around the boy. He couldn’t go back and change the past, but he could do better for the future.
“I think we both could use a break from training. How about we go get some ice-cream? Mint chocolate chip still your favorite?”