Chapter Text
Tap
Tap
Tap
A foot taps out a count on the flat concrete roof of a building. It’s owner takes a deep breath, releasing it into the metal flute under their lips.
Promise Given by R. Carlos Nakai & William Eaton echoes through the streets below.
A few stanzas pass before the screaming starts.
Gooey black liquid grabs purses left and right, a big toothy grin mocking people from amidst the writhing black void. A few cars receive damage and shattered windows from the villain’s rampage before a hero shows up to stop it.
The reaction time was rather quick, but the sludge makes it’s escape before the hero can so much as throw a useless punch. The hero is persistent, however, and follows the sludge into the sewers.
…
The flute player had also moved to the sewers when the sludge did, using the echoing acoustics to continue with it’s conducting. They exit through a manhole cover under a bridge.
The sludge was able to lose the hero in the winding tunnels, following the music until it can trickle out the manhole. The musician drops the flute from his lips, seamlessly switching to humming the tune while he dismantles the instrument and slips it into his backpack.
Izuku Midoriya had just gotten out of class. Feeling pent up and irritated, he decided to let some of his frustration out using his ink to cause some damage around town. It was a pain that a hero had shown up so quickly, but thankfully he was able to lose the good doer.
At least, he thought he lost them…
Right as the ink is about to rap itself back around Izuku underneath his clothes, the hero appears again and blasts the ink away with a single punch. Izuku stands frozen in shock. He knew there was a hero… but he didn’t notice that the hero was All Might himself!
“Are you alright, kid? Guess I came just in time. I must be off today, lost him for a little while. But everything is A-Okay now!” Izuku gives the man a nod, not able to think of anything to say.
With confirmation of the kid’s well being, All Might quickly gathers together all the ‘sludge’ pieces that were scattered and puts them in an empty soda bottle.
All Might mistakes his shock for awe and signs the notebook that had fallen out of Izuku’s bag during the blast of air. The man hands the book back without comment about it’s contents. Izuku hopes that’s because the hero didn’t notice that it was filled with scarily precise notes on both heroes and villains.
Having notes on heroes wouldn’t cause much suspicion, pro heroes were celebrities so most of their lives were public knowledge. The notes on villains, however, have much more than any average citizen should know, even if they did thorough research.
Before All Might can slip away, Izuku calls out to him. There’s many questions he wants to ask the man, but it’s hard to settle on one to start with. With a moment’s hesitation, he settles on one that will both fit his civilian persona and give a bit of a look into how the man ticks.
“You have such an amazing quirk. Do you think it's possible for someone to become a hero without one?” he asks, giving All Might his best vulnerable puppy eyes.
The number one hero pauses in thought.
“Every day, whether on duty or off, pro heroes are putting their lives on the line. They must be sturdy and strong enough to survive such a dangerous life. I can’t tell you, with good conscience, that you can still do it without a quirk.”
Oh? That’s an interesting answer. Izuku was expecting the man to be all optimistic about things. All Might pats Izuku on the shoulder as he continues. “If you really want to save people, you can always join the police force! They’re not as publically revered, but still just as important!”
And there’s the optimism…
All Might leaves after that, taking Izuku’s ink with him. With a sigh, Izuku sits down on a bench that sits on the other side of the bridge. A silent moment passes before he takes his phone out of his bag. He hits the first speed dial and the person picks up on the second ring.
“Hey. Remember that thing we were planning to do next week? Yeah, I think it happened without us even needing to do anything. Though I'd like to still go through with the second half. Yeah… Where are you? I'll fill you in as I head over…”
…
Izuku steps into a side alley and climbs up the fire escape. It’s creaky, barely able to hang onto the side of an apartment building with a laundry mat on the ground floor.
Someone waits for him on the roof. They stand leaning against one of the cooling units and looking off across the skyline. The person is dressed like a typical delinquent punk. Baggy dark jeans, an orange t-shirt with a spikey, comic-style screaming dialogue bubble printed on the front, and a black medical mask with a drawing of a sharp fanged smile on it. The other boy’s spiky blond hair is pushed down by a snapback that says “DIE”. When Izuku gets closer, the boy turns to him and lowers his mask to send his own smug grin. “You’re so noisy, I had to turn these things down,” he mocks, tapping at a tiny, almost unnoticeable device in his ear.
Izuku rolls his eyes and ignores the comment. “All Might will be walking into the police station soon, I have to take control of my Little Devil before he goes in or I'll be out of hearing range. Are you ready, Kacchan?”
“Fuck you, of course I'm ready! Two streets down on Fifth, I'll be there waiting for it. And you better not go easy on me, Izu! We gotta make it look good!” he snarls back, pushing off the unit and shouldering past Izuku.
Izuku chuckles at his friend’s explosive attitude. “Of course. I should know better than that by now…”
Katsuki leaves with an indignant huff. Izuku takes a moment to soak in the quiet of the rooftop before quickly hopping a few roofs over. He watches below him as All Might approaches the police station that sits across the street.
Before the number one hero can cross the intersection, Izuku starts whistling quietly into the wind. The beginning tune of The Phoenix by Lindsey Stirling carrying down through the streets.
The bottles containing the so-called sludge villain jerks inside All Might's pocket.
Once.
Twice.
Then flings itself away with a harsh lunge.
All Might goes to grab it before it can get away, but the liquid suddenly spikes out and rips the flimsy plastic container to ribbons. The liquid takes advantage of its new freedom, quickly sloshing away into the crowd and rampaging once again.
All Might means to give chase, but he's run out of time and has to duck into an alley for cover. Izuku continues his whistling, splitting his attention between controlling his blob and watching the pro hero dissolve into a skeletal man.
He gives a flippant thought of ‘ serves him right’ towards the older man's injuries before having to make his way down the street with the sludge as it approaches the limit of his range.
The “sludge villain” finds Katsuki right as he exits a small side street. The boy is back into his school uniform and bright orange and black hearing aids so as not to be recognized in his other persona. It attacks him, engulfing him in slimy black liquid.
The boy gives it a good show. He sets off multiple explosions, catching the attention of everyone on the street. Once they realise there’s an attack going on, there’s multiple screams and people start to scatter in every direction. Ones who don’t scatter, move out of the way and pull out their phones to record the event.
People these days. Jeesh. They see a young kid being attacked and they just stand there and record it!
Izuku stays a safe distance away as heroes finally arrive. However, the ones that do show up aren't good for solving the current situation. Things have gotten rather complicated.
It was irritating. The whole point of this was ruined if none of the heroes would help. Izuku slips into the crowd, stealthily keeping a beat by whistling under his breath, just enough to not bring attention to himself but still able to be heard by the ink.
He was getting pissed off, but an idea pops up in his head. A way to kill two birds with one throw of a stone.
Or should he say, “a throw of a bookbag.”
He runs into the fray to save his friend from the “sludge villain”. All while humming the tune of All The Right Moves by OneRepublic under his breath.
This has its desired effect and motivates the heroes to take action. What wasn't expected is that All Might would be the one to do so, inspired by Izuku’s bravery.
Once again, All Might blows Izuku’s ink away with a powerful punch. The man over did it, in Izuku’s opinion, but whatever. Pro Heroes are always making a show out of things whether they think about it or not.
…
He sat obediently while they scolded him but Katsuki got praised. Which is reasonable yet total bullshit at the same time, but Izuku doesn’t let these thoughts show on his face. Now’s not the time to mouth off to heroes.
Izuku and Katsuki leave the scene without even a glance in each other's direction.
...
Izuku is almost to his family’s small apartment when Katsuki meets up with him again. Katsuki starts their conversation by hitting Izuku over the head.
“You damn moron! Why'd you run in like that! It would've been easy for them to hear your music!”
He rubs the back of his head and explains, “they weren't doing anything, so I gave them some motivation. It worked, didn't it? Though I wasn't planning for All Might to step in again.”
Katsuki growls one last time before storming off. Izuku rolls his eyes and goes to continue on his way. He’ll be hearing more shit from the blond later, he just knows it.
All Might slides into view from around the corner, making the kid jump in surprise. Did he hear anything between him and Katsuki just now? Hopefully not.
The hero barely says a full sentence before he is shrouded in some sort of mist.
Izuku does his best to show shock when the man deflates. It's not hard, really, Izuku is a great actor. Gotten plenty of practice over the years. It’s also still a mystery how the man is able to puff up like he does in the first place, so that’s something to be shocked about.
“What are you doing here, All Might? And what happened to you!?” he asks, filling his voice with concern.
“I came here to thank you, as well as take back what I said to you earlier.” Even in his worn out form, All Might still manages to have a grand voice full of showmanship. Izuku wants to roll his eyes, but refrains.
“I don’t understand. Why thank me? I did something stupid and could’ve put people in danger. You were right, I can’t be a hero without a quirk.”
“No, my boy. The greatest of heroes can all be linked together by one fact: their bodies moved without thinking. And you did the same thing!”
He lowers his head, body shaking as he holds in his laughter, but All Might takes it as crying “ of course I thought before running into that, dumbass, you gotta think better than THAT”
“You can become a hero!”
This dude flopped back and fish on land. Izuku would question how he became the number one hero if he didn’t already know exactly how the man got where he was.
Izuku is rambling on in his head when All Might says something unbelievable...
“You're worthy of inheriting my power!”
His thoughts screech to a halt with accompanying record scratches. He slowly raises his head. Is the man serious?!? He only knew the kid for a few minutes at most! Was he seriously considering giving Izuku his power? Izuku could be a total creep and All Might didn’t even think about doing his research first. The man was making a knee jerk decision for something world changing and it was blowing Izuku’s mind.
And before you ask, of course Izuku knows of One for All. Couldn't have a father like his without knowing. The Midoriya family was much more than they seemed. An iceberg, as you will. On the surface, it’s just Izuku and his mom. An ordinary two person household. As far as the world knew, Hisashi Midoriya died years ago because of a car accident in a foreign country.
In reality, Hisashi is very much alive.
Well…
A bit rough around the edges still, but he's getting there. No thanks to All Might. In fact, All Might is the reason Hisashi had to go into hiding in the first place. A mark against the hero as far as Izuku is concerned.
Even their house is incredibly different than what people think. The little apartment is just a front. Their real house is much more secluded and much much larger. They have a training ground area for him and Katsuki to practice on each other and everything.
However, that doesn’t mean everything Izuku has said is a lie. Despite the details of his parents’ quirks, Izuku was born without one. Normally, a child without a quirk would’ve been crushed. Forever cursed to be lower than the rest of the population. But Izuku wasn’t just any kid. His father had the ability to give him any quirk they could find.
Hisashi allowed Izuku to pick his own quirk. A person being able to make their own choices was held in high regard among the Midoriya household.
After a few years of looking, Izuku made his decision. Quirk: Dancing Ink.
This quirk gave him the power to control ink by making music. Be it by instruments, singing, humming, whistling, or just tapping a beat with his fingers or foot. Having such a quirk paved his way to helping out the family’s Villainy business.
But now…
Now All Might stands before him. Standing there saying that he's found his successor in Izuku of all people. The son of his nemesis, a villain, a child . Someone the hero didn’t even know the name of yet.
Should he take it? What would be the repercussions if the truth was found out? Do any of them even compare to the benefits of saying yes?
All of this is rushing through his head as All Might goes on a tangent and tells Izuku all about One for All.
His decision was made for him, really. Of course he said yes…