Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So,” the Teacher drawled as he idly straightened out several sheets of paper on his podium, “as third year students, it’s time to start thinking seriously about your futures.”

Katsumi rolled her eyes. The other extras might start thinking for once, now that it was almost too late, but Katsumi? She knew exactly what her future would look like; she had it planned since the moment her quirk first erupted from her palms.

“I could pass out some career aptitude tests, but…” Teach paused like a dramatic tool and snatched the entire stack off the podium, grinning as he did so. “Why bother?”

With an excessive flourish, Teach threw the entire stack of papers into the air, uncaring of where any of them landed. “I know you all want to go to the hero track!”

Right on cue, all the extras around Katsumi activated their quirks and cheered loudly, showing off what pathetic little they could do. Even the pervert behind her tore straight through his damn shirt, again. She made a mental note to remind him what happened last time he thought she would be impressed by his weak-ass strength quirk.

“Settle down, class,” the Teacher halfheartedly admonished. “You all have very impressive quirks, but you know the rules about quirk usage in school.”

Katsumi couldn’t help the derisive snort that escaped her. Impressive quirks? These idiots? Half of them were completely useless in a real fight, and the other half definitely hadn’t been trained at all since the day they came in. “Oi, Teach,” Katsumi called out, finally silencing the morons around her. “Don’t lump me in with these bunch of losers. I’m the real deal, but they’ll be lucky if they end up as sidekicks to some washed up D-lister!”

Predictably, the rest of the class erupted in angry protest, shouting weak threats and insults. Katsumi let her quirk crackle violently in her palm as she shot them all a vicious grin, daring them to act on their threats. She could handle every one of them at once with one hand behind her back! “Let’s go, I’ll take you all on!”

Teach ignored the chaos Katsumi caused, again, lazily thumbing through some papers he had pulled out from within his podium. “Huh… You do have some rather impressive test results. Maybe you will get into UA High.”

That finally shut the extras up. Shock, awe, and fear washed over every face in the room, and Katsumi didn’t bother to hide her victorious smirk as she listened to the weaklings around her murmur about her goal.

“She’s gonna try for the national school?!”

“That school has a 0.2 percent acceptance rate!”

“It’s impossible to get in!”

“Only if you’re WEAK!” Katsumi barked automatically, throwing a glare in the direction of the last extra who spoke, silencing the classroom yet again. With all eyes on her, she stood up and used her quirk to hop on top of her desk in one fluid motion.

“I aced all the mock tests,” Katsumi declared proudly. “Out of everyone at this crappy school, I’m the one with the best chance at getting in! I’ll become even more popular than All Might himself! People all across the world will know who I am, AND IT ALL STARTS WITH UA HIGH!”

“Oh yeah, Midoriya, don’t you want to go to UA, too?”

The entire classroom fell dead silent.

A beat passed.

Then laughter erupted from every single asshole in the room.

“Midoriya, really? There’s no way he’s getting in!”

“You’d look like a piece of roadkill once the exam was finished with you!”

Katsumi ground her teeth as she listened to the usual slew of insults thrown at Izuku. Day in and day out, these nobodies did their damndest to make school hell for her childhood friend. Years ago, Katsumi would have been one more bitch trying to step on Deku, but not anymore.

She still remembered the day they were suspended for fighting in the hallway; the day Izuku proved just how strong he really was.

Despite only being 30 centimeters tall.

She’d never admit it out loud, but he was her first —and really, only— friend, and Deku standing up for himself was the perfect excuse to patch things up between them.

At first glance, Izuku Midoriya looked like a rabbit, if rabbits walked on two legs. The only thing that distinguished him from an actual rabbit, aside from his obvious intelligence and bipedal gait, was the fact that the fur coating his body was a forest green, only a couple shades lighter than the messy head of hair hiding the base of his ears.

Katsumi looked over her shoulder at the boy in question. Being so damn short, Izuku needed to sit on top of his desk to see the board. He was surrounded by papers and books bigger than his body, his much more appropriately sized papers lost in the mess of normal sized school work. His ears were pulled back in frustration, and his shoulders hunched as if he wanted to make himself even smaller.

Yet his large emerald green eyes were not shining with tears, as they were prone to do once upon a time; they were burning with determination.

Without wasting another second, Izuku scrambled to his feet and shouted back at the losers around them. “Go ahead, laugh while you still can! You won’t be able to laugh once you see me at the Sports Festival! Just you all watch, UA won’t know what hit it!”

His eyes found Katsumi’s.

She smirked.

His expression brightened, his ears perking up and swiveling to face her. She wondered if his tail was wiggling.

Izuku’s declaration only caused the extras to laugh even harder, and Katsumi quickly tuned out their bleating. She hopped off her desk, careful to ensure her skirt didn’t flare up as she did so.

And of course, she threw the most malicious glare she could at the shirtless pervert that sat behind her. She took no small amount of satisfaction at how quickly his face paled and his muscles deflated. The pervert quickly rifled through his school bag for a spare shirt. At least he’s barely smart enough to put his clothes back on, Katsumi thought as she sat back down.

“Alright, alright, settle down, everyone,” the damn Idiot that taught homeroom finally called out. “We have a long day ahead of us, even without those silly tests.”

Katsumi hoped the rest of her day was more important than the shitshow that was homeroom.

“…probably all over the hero news forums by now, her debut seemed fairly successful, though there was a bit of property damage, and Kamui Woods looked really distraught,” Izuku muttered to himself as he carefully stacked his school books and normal sized papers at the corner of his desk, as usual. “As soon as I get home, I’ll need to borrow the computer and check the news, see if anyone had a video of the incident, and I’ll definitely need to finish my notes, maybe I can fill them out more if I go home with—”

The familiar aroma of smoke and caramel paused the rest of Izuku’s thoughts and caused a smile to bloom on his face. He looked up at his best friend and chirped, “Kacchan!”

Katsumi Bakugou returned Izuku’s smile with a cool, confident smirk, and Izuku could feel his tail wiggling with delight. She always looked prettier with a cocky grin than she did with a malicious sneer.

"One of these days, Deku," Katsumi said as she gathered up the school work Izuku had set aside, "you'll need to carry your own shit."

Izuku shrugged and gathered up the more appropriately sized papers and supplies. "I’ll gladly carry my own stuff when it stops being bigger than I am. I can’t exactly put our math book under my arm like you.”

Although, it’s nice being able to rely on you for these things, Izuku thought to himself as Katsumi stuffed the last of Izuku’s textbooks into her bag. Yet another reason why Izuku was so thankful he and Katsumi had made up.

She swung her bag up onto her shoulder and leaned against Izuku’s desk, giving him a sharp smile. “Looks like I’ll have to carry what’s yours forever, huh?”

“Y-Yeah, guess so.” Heat rose to Izuku’s cheeks for some reason, and he had to force his ears to remain upright and locked onto Katsumi. Some days, he hated how expressive his ears were. He already sucked at lying, he didn’t need his ears selling him out as well! At least his fur hid how red his face should be. “Might be nice if I could get taller, though. Then maybe we could—”

“Hell no.”

Izuku looked up and noticed the scowl on Katsumi’s face. “Kacchan?”

Katsumi jabbed a finger into Izuku’s chest, forcing him to take a step back. “If you were taller, you’d be a lot more like your old bastard.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!” Izuku barked as he shot his own glare at Katsumi. “Looking like my father doesn’t make me like him.”

Katsumi’s ruby red eyes widened as she realized what she had just said. She didn’t even try to hold Izuku’s glare and looked away. “Shit, sorry…”

“Kacchan, what’s going on?” Izuku asked in a compassionate tone. He walked to the edge of the desk and tried to draw his best friend’s eyes again. “You’ve been even more combative than usual, and have been since Saturday.”

She sighed and ran her free hand through her hair. Izuku blinked when her fingers sunk into her fluffy blonde hair, much deeper than it usually would. Or her hair is getting longer, Izuku mused.

“You remember that the hag forced me to go with her to that fashion expo out in Chiba?” Izuku nodded, and Katsumi continued her explanation. “Some dipshit there mistook me for her. And when I corrected them, they had the balls to call me a ‘Mini-Mitsuki’.”

Izuku winced and allowed his ears to fall. He knew how much Katsumi hated being compared to her mother. Despite looking almost like twins, the younger Bakugou always insisted that she would “never live in the hag’s shadow”. “That explains why you’ve been growing your hair out.”

Katsumi snorted and sat down in the seat of Izuku’s desk. “Of course you would notice. By the way, we still on for Friday?”

“As far as I know,” Izuku confirmed. “Mom took an earlier shift that day, so we’ll be able to host at our apartment this time.”

“Awesome. Auntie’s food’s almost as good as mine.”

Izuku rolled his eyes and hopped off his desk, bending his knees slightly to cushion the impact with the ground. “As if, Mom’s cooking blows yours out of the water.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, Deku,” Katsumi said challengingly as she rose from the seat. “Come on, we’re gonna hit the arcade with the two simps today.”

“With them?” Izuku thought for a moment. Then shook his head. “Not today. They’ll definitely bring up homeroom again if I tagged along.”

Katsumi groaned but didn’t argue. They both knew neither of them wanted to talk about their idiotic classmates after school had let out. “Fine. But we’re definitely doing something tomorrow.”

“Deal.” Izuku bounced beside his best friend as they left the school, already excited for the next time they were together.

Izuku’s jog home was mired in an uncomfortable silence. While he and Katsumi didn’t always go home together, it happened often enough for him to feel her absence. It usually didn’t bother him too much, since he was able to fill in the silence with reviews of hero information or classwork out loud.

At the time, however, he was distracted by the jeers and laughter of his classmates.

He knew Katsumi would yell at him for paying any amount of attention to “the pathetic extras that don’t know anything,” but Izuku didn’t need to anymore. Everyone always said the same thing.

“You’re too small to be a hero.”

Izuku sighed as he approached the underpass that was on the shorter route to his apartment. He was always thankful to be born with a quirk like Miruko’s, despite who it came from, but there were days where he wished he was quirkless instead. At least then, he could carry his own school supplies and open doors the normal way and a hundred other things people with normal heights could do.

He knew he would face bullying just about everywhere if he didn’t have a quirk at all. It was the reason why Chikamishi left Musutafu Elementary the day before he fought Katsumi. But he has already faced plenty of bullies for being a mutant with a dream, and Katsumi was always there for him. Kacchan would be there for me if I was quirkless too, Izuku thought to himself with a slight smile. I could handle it.

A foul stench invaded Izuku’s sensitive nose, scattering the rest of Izuku’s thoughts and making him gag. He hurried his pace through the underpass and muttered to himself, “Ugh, another reason to be quirkless…”

The smell didn’t dissipate as he left the sewer grate behind. In fact, it got much worse, much faster than it should.

Izuku only realized something was wrong when the worsening stench was accompanied by a disgusting, slimy sound behind him. His ears picked up on it first, then he whirled around to face whatever was ruining his senses. A terrifying amoeba made up of sludge and sewer water rose from the grate, slowly coalescing into a form that towered over Izuku.

A quirkless Izuku might have frozen in fear, allowing the being that could only be a villain to form completely. This Izuku listened to instincts found within rabbits of all sizes and sprinted as fast as he could in the opposite direction, swiftly reaching a flower bed and lunging inside of it.

A real villain, Izuku thought as his heart pounded with instinctual terror. An actual villain without any heroes around. He listened to the villain fully leave the sewer and groan to themself.

“Dammit, why did he have to show up? And here of all places?” the villain lamented. His voice was deep, scratchy, and warbled like the sludge he was made of. “It was supposed to be a quick cash grab, and now I gotta find a meat suit to hide in.”

Meat suit?! Izuku didn’t dare make a sound. He covered his mouth and desperately tried to avoid rustling any of the flowers that hid his body. The rabbit boy could only guess what the villain meant, but every guess he had was bad news and worse.

The sludge villain squelched and growled wordlessly for a moment. Izuku listened as the villain hurried away in the opposite direction as the cowering rabbit boy, taking his awful odor with him. Silence fell upon Izuku, broken only by the boy’s ragged breathing.

Izuku’s heart stopped when the sewer grate suddenly burst from its hole and slammed into the roof of the underpass.

And a booming laugh rang out. “HA HA HA! HAVE NO FEAR!”

Izuku brushed aside a couple of flowers. (Tulips, perhaps?) His heart skipped again.

All Might himself (IN THE FLESH! IT’S REALLY HIM!) leapt from the sewer entrance and struck a heroic pose, his enormous muscles rippling with power beneath his casual t-shirt. “FOR I AM…!”

It felt as through the whole world hesitated, just waiting for All Might to finish his catch phrase. (Izuku was no better. He was certain he wasn’t breathing.)

Instead, All Might appeared to deflate in disappointment. “Far too late. <Shit,>” the living legend sighed.

Izuku wanted to laugh. First a new hero debuted on his commute to school, then his classmates laughed at him for wanting to be a hero, then he almost gets attacked by a villain, then he sees All Might himself, now the Number One Hero is swearing in English. Izuku had no idea how his day could get any more wild.

All Might coughed harshly and clutched his side, groaning in pain. “Dammit, not now!”

Izuku promised never to challenge fate again.

“How pathetic…” All Might laughed to himself. Unlike his usual reassuring laugh, this one was much more upset, resigned even. Izuku hadn’t heard a laugh like that since his mother—

Izuku stopped thinking and stepped out from the flower bed just as a cloud of smoke burst out from All Might, obscuring him from view.

When the smoke cleared, a sickly old man with gaunt features stood in All Might’s place. He was wearing the same outfit as All Might, and he has All Might’s grocery bag, the hair is the same, if wilted, but that can’t be All Might, it has to be an imposter, but he blew that manhole cover into the ceiling, unless there’s another one, but he was chasing that sludge villain, and—

It was only then that the gaunt man (All Might?) noticed Izuku muttering to himself. Izuku’s thoughts stuttered to a stop when the two locked eyes.

The blonde man spoke first. “A rabbit in a middle school uniform?”

It occurred to Izuku that if this really WAS All Might (how could it be when he’s so thin like that?) then All Might himself thought he was an animal. A flash of indignation ran through Izuku and his mouth moved on its own. “A middle schooler with a bunny quirk, actually.”

“Oh,” said All Might(?) intelligently.

Then he coughed up blood.

Izuku finally screamed.

Chapter Text

Izuku could hardly believe it. He WOULDN’T believe it, if it wasn’t for the fact that he had seen it himself.

The Number One Hero, All Might himself, was injured so badly, he couldn’t even use his quirk for more than a few hours each day.

“I can’t imagine how that must feel, sir…” Izuku murmured and looked up at the man sitting next to him in the dirty underpass.

All Might shrugged. “You don’t need to worry about me, my boy, I’ve grown used to it.”

“Still, to lose your whole stomach… To lose your quirk! There must be so many things you miss doing, so many things you took for granted. I wouldn’t even know where to begin with a loss like that.” Izuku ran his hand over his ears yet again in an attempt to calm his aching heart. “Well, maybe that’s not entirely true.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, carefully grooming his fur as he did, and explained, “I was born with my rabbit features, but I wasn’t always this small. When I turned four, I started to shrink.

“Well, shrink isn’t the right term, I was actually being condensed when my quirk came in, because my quirk isn’t just being a rabbit, like Miruko’s, it’s actually being the size of a bunny as well. It took my body and crushed it, shrinking and strengthening everything: My arms, legs, internal organs, even my brain I think, even though I don’t feel that much smarter. Though, I guess it’s also why I’m still just as intelligent, really sentient, as Kacchan, because my brain was condensed as well, so I didn’t lose any intelligence, which explains why I’m the size of a bunny but much stronger and much smarter, b-but not that much smarter! I’m not the top of my class or anything and—” Izuku suddenly realized he was rambling and closed his mouth with an audible click. “Sorry, I do that sometimes.”

All Might laughed lightheartedly. For once, it sounded somewhat genuine rather than practiced. “It’s quite alright, Young Midoriya, there’s nothing wrong with being passionate! Your quirk is truly fascinating, for so many reasons.”

“Really? Mine?!” Excitement raced through Izuku’s veins and his legs felt full to bursting with electricity. All Might! Liked! His quirk!!! He leapt to his feet, unable to remain sitting on the ground.

“Of course!” The Number One Hero gave Izuku a beaming smile, one even brighter than the one he had in his muscle form. “You would be perfect as a rescue Hero. You could slip between cracks and rubble and find any trapped victims, or assess the damage from the inside, if you’re careful.”

Izuku’s ears wilted and the laughter from that morning chased away the energy. He looked down at his red shoes, unable to meet the gaze of his second favorite hero. “I, uh, I wanted to be a battle hero, though. Like Miruko. Sir.”

At first, All Might didn’t respond. Izuku was prepared for the usual jeers and worried remarks whenever he brought up his dream. He was pretty sure All Might, the Number One Hero, wasn’t quirkist, so he probably didn’t have to worry about any anti-heteromorph language from him. He hoped.

“When you said you were stronger, how much stronger do you mean?” All Might’s tone was different from what Izuku expected.

Izuku blinked and looked up at the man. Instead of the pinched look of pity he usually got, All Might appeared contemplative.

It took a moment for Izuku’s brain to reboot before he responded in a rush, “C-Comparatively, sir. It’s like density, I should be as strong as a normal person, but I’m about a tenth of the size of them, so I’m around ten times as strong as I should be, kinda like an ant if you think about it, but as a rabbit instead. And no, I don’t have any bug quirks in my family, I checked. Oh, and I’m a lot more durable than I look, so falls and blows and my own strength doesn’t hurt nearly as much as anyone would think.”

“I thought so,” All Might hummed. “Young man, I can already tell you are going to be a fantastic hero one day.”

That did it. Izuku bounced straight up, pumping his fist as he did so, and squeaked victoriously, drawing a laugh from All Might. The instant Izuku landed, he threw himself into a deep bow. “Thank you, All Might, you have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that!”

All Might let out a reassuring laugh that would fit his muscle form perfectly. “Think nothing of it, Young Midoriya! By the way, why do you—?”

Whatever All Might was about to ask was cut off by an explosion off in the distance. Both the hero and the rabbit turned toward the direction of the blast. “Oh dear…” All Might mumbled.

As All Might scrambled to his feet, Izuku turned back to the hero and gave him a deep bow again. “Thank you again, All Might, I promise I won’t let you down!”

Not wanting to waste another moment, Izuku bounded off toward where he could hear more explosions setting off. Oddly enough, they almost sounded familiar.

“Young Midoriya, wait! You shouldn’t be running toward—! Goodness, you’re fast!”

Izuku could hardly believe his luck. Not only did he meet All Might (ALL MIGHT!!!) in person, but he was COMPLIMENTED by the man! All Might thought Izuku was going to be an amazing hero! Kacchan’s going to be so jealous when I tell her what happened! He thought as he flipped over a stray soda can.

It felt like nothing could ever relieve the energy racing through his legs. No matter how many times he bound into the air to shake out the energy, his excitement was renewed when he thought about All Might’s words.

If this was what he felt when All Might spoke to him, Izuku felt like he should be worried if he ever met Miruko. He hoped she would understand his instincts. Maybe she felt them too, even if she wasn’t as much of a rabbit as him.

Finally, Izuku was approaching the site of the villain attack. A crowd had already formed, and the gargantuan form of Mount Lady loomed over them all, her face pinched with frustration.

Idly, Izuku wondered if this would be a good time to get her autograph. He missed the chance at her debut, having needed to hurry to school and the press swarming her uncomfortably close.

Wait. Izuku slowed to a standstill.

“I FORGOT TO GET ALL MIGHT’S AUTOGRAPH!” he lamented.

“Ha,” a fox woman in a jade green dress laughed as she passed the bunny boy.

Izuku took a deep breath to calm his frustration and let it out harshly. He’d get All Might’s autograph some other time, then. If he was lucky enough to meet the man again.

Another explosion erupted in the alleyway that the bystanders were crowded around, one so powerful it kicked up a gust of wind that ruffled Izuku’s clothes. His sensitive nose picked up smoke, burned plastic, and an unfortunately familiar odor of sludge. The last jolt of electricity in Izuku’s legs died out and was slowly replaced by a pit of dread in his stomach. He hurried his pace toward the fight once again.

As Izuku approached the sea of legs between him and the villain fight, the foul smells wafting from the alleyway assaulted his senses and made the pit grow bigger. Too much of the odor was familiar, even beyond the sludge, but Izuku just couldn’t figure out why.

His fears were realized when he reached the crowd and peered between the forest of legs; The sludge villain was in the middle of the destroyed and burning alleyway, writhing maliciously in all directions. Another explosion set off from a tendril that vaguely looked like a hand and destroyed a boarded-up, abandoned storefront, sending chunks of wood in all directions.

“Why aren’t the heroes doing anything?” a civilian asked.

Heroes? Plural? Izuku thought and glanced up at Mount Lady. From so low to the ground, it was extremely difficult to tell who was a hero and who was just another bystander. Maybe they’re closer to the action?

Another civilian shrugged. “It looks like they’ve met their match. Plus, the villain captured a kid.”

Ice shot through Izuku’s veins and he found himself weaving between calves to push to the front of the crowd. As he moved closer, the smells became stronger, and Izuku finally identified the one scent he couldn’t place beneath all the sludge.

Caramel.

No. Please, anyone but her, Deku begged in his mind.

The universe wasn’t listening to Deku’s plea, and the sludge villain whipped around to destroy another storefront with an intimidatingly large explosion. Dead center in the middle of the villain, with all her limbs restrained and her mouth covered, was Katsumi.

Deku felt nothing but horror as he watched Katsumi struggle to free herself, to draw a single breath of air. She wasn’t thrashing nearly as hard as she could have been. As she should have been.

She was dying.

Deku’s mind raced as his gaze jumped around the broken alleyway, looking for any of the heroes the civilian had mentioned. Mount Lady was behind me and that looks like Homerun, neither of which are doing anything when they could try to stun the villain, Homerun can throw a ball into the villain’s eye which should help her, does Mount Lady have another size, something smaller so she can fit in this alleyway? Kamui Woods is up on the rooftop, he can grab Kacchan if it wasn’t for the fires, either the fire department is here or Backdraft, either of which can make Kamui Woods resistant to the flames, except the explosions would be an issue, can the villain control them, or is Kacchan still—?

Katsumi’s eyes found Deku’s.

They were full of unshed tears and raw terror.

Izuku lunged forward, passing by Homerun in an instant.

“What the—?! Hey, get back here!”

Izuku ignored the hero and dropped to all fours to race toward Kacchan. He couldn’t afford to delay even a second longer.

He heard the villain laugh as he bounded closer, dodging debris and fire as he went. “Maybe you should call animal control as well, someone’s pet rabbit is a little lost!”

Okay, maybe he could afford half a second, just long enough to grab a smoldering piece of wood to use when he got to Kacchan.

Remember Miruko’s parkour videos.

The moment he got into the villain’s striking range, Izuku leapt and bounced off a metal store shutter. He jumped off the top of a dumpster and bounced off the bottom of a neon store sign. Finally, with enough height, he dropped onto the villain and jammed the smoldering piece of wood into the bastard’s eye.

The villain roared in pain, and Izuku heard Kacchan gasp and cough. “D-Deku? What the hell’re you doing here?!”

The instant Izuku’s shoes touched the sludge villain, he felt them start to sink in and he instinctively jumped back. He couldn’t afford to get trapped surrounded by several heroes ( Death Arms, Backdraft, Velocity Raptor, Izuku noted as he leapt from above the villain) who wouldn’t save him. “You couldn’t breathe, Kacchan!” Izuku shouted as he landed on the dumpster. “I won’t just stand there and watch you die!”

“Get the hell out of here before you—!” Katsumi tried to say before the sludge villain recovered enough to shift his slime over her mouth. Izuku’s eyes jumped around the villain, desperately searching for anything else he could do to free Katsumi. Jumping above him wouldn’t work a second time, but Kacchan got some air, so she just needs to be freed, maybe starting with her—

Izuku’s muttering was cut off by the villain turning his malicious gaze toward him. “You damn stray!” he spat. “I should have killed you the moment I saw you! I WON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE!”

The sludge villain swung an oversized tendril down at Izuku, and animalistic terror raced through his veins. The bunny boy distantly realized he had miscalculated just how difficult it would be to dodge a blow that big when his legs were quivering with fear. Damn you, instincts, this is going to hurt.

Living sewage met flesh with a wet SPLAT!

But the pain never came. Izuku cracked an eye open. Then blew them wide when he saw All Might, in his muscle form, standing between him and the tendril of sludge.

“I must thank you, young man, for reminding me of the values I should have embodied when I arrived,” All Might said in a hushed tone. Izuku was almost too awe-struck to realize the living legend was talking to him. Without waiting for the middle-schooler to respond, All Might glared at the sludge villain with the intensity of a hundred suns. “As for you, evil-doer, I have only two words!”

In one swift move, All Might broke free from the tendril of sewage, scooped up both Izuku and Katsumi, and unleashed his unbridled fury on the villain.

“DETROIT SMAAASH!!”

Katsumi sat at the back of an ambulance grinding her teeth as she watched the press swarm All Might.

She had dreamed of the day she would meet All Might in person. He would be able to see how hard she worked to be as strong as she was. Katsumi would issue her challenge right to his face, telling him how she’s going to overthrow him as Number One, and he would laugh and issue the challenge right back. In her more unreasonable fantasies, he might even offer to spar with the explosive blond to assess just how good she really was.

She hadn’t even considered the idea of meeting her favorite hero when she was at her goddamn weakest.

It was pathetic, being caught off guard by some shitty villain and almost dying to him. She was supposed to be the best, the strongest, the one Izuku looked at like the Symbol of Victory she was! Not some helpless little girl crying her eyes out just because living sewage sealed up her mouth or rotten sludge writhed disgustingly up and around her legs and her arms and she couldn’t breathe she couldn’t move she was weak and pathetic and helpless.

The worst part wasn’t even the slimy tentacles restraining her. It was the washed up, two-bit, nobody bastards just standing there and WATCHING her suffocate to death. Death Arms was the only one to even try to get at the villain, and he gave up the moment his one trick failed.

Completely useless, every damn hero in that alley.

“Man, you’re tough, kid!” one of the nobodies exclaimed after the medics released her. “And that quirk is something else! When you wanna go pro, head over to my agency first, I’d love for you to be my sidekick while you’re training.”

And they had the balls to ask her to be their sidekick when she gets her license?

Katsumi scoffed audibly. Fat goddamn chance.

And of course Baseball Face took that as a sign to try his luck. “No no, you’ll want my agency. With a quirk as strong as yours, we’ll knock so many villains out of the park!”

Katsumi couldn’t even muster the energy to give a shit about this D-lister. None of them really gave a shit about her anyway, just like the simps that ran the moment the villain showed up. It was always about her quirk, how flashy and powerful it looked. It let her get away with too much bullshit, and no one ever bothered to look beyond her strength.

“You moron!”

Everyone but the one guy that was being called a dumbass. As usual. Katsumi’s eyes wandered over to where Izuku was kneeling and being chewed out by the Knucklehead and Twiggy.

“Do you have a death wish?!” Twiggy said in an exasperated tone.

“There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourself in danger like that!” the Quitter scolded.

Katsumi’s limit capped out and erupted instantly. “At least someone here was willing to do your job!”

The Loser whirled around and threw a glare in Katsumi’s direction. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me, you damn extra!” Katsumi yelled back and returned his glare in full force. “While you were just standing there with your thumbs up your ass, Chewtoy there was the only one to give a shit that I couldn’t goddamn breath!”

“Now just hold on one second,” Punches-for-brains said and stomped up to Katsumi. “I was doing what I could—”

Katsumi scoffed loudly.

“—the villain was resistant to my punches. Our quirks didn’t help the situation, and the alleyway was too dangerous to—”

Izuku finally spoke up from where he was kneeling. “You would have been fine, Death Arms, if you were trying to help Kacchan instead of just punching the villain mindlessly.”

Katsumi saw the pathetic “hero’s” eye twitch. She smirked.

Izuku continued, emboldened by Katsumi’s anger. “Homerun could have bought you enough time to pull her out if he could hit the villain’s eye with a rock or a stick like I did. That would have done it. Kamui Woods, I know fire isn’t your strong suit, but even just a simple splash from Backdraft could have made you resistant enough to go for Kacchan.”

“H-Hey, I still feel it when my limbs burn, you know!” Barksalot defended pathetically.

Katsumi rolled her eyes. “So damn glad to know you’re too damn scared of a little bit of pain to save a girl’s life.”

The blonde bimbo Katsumi didn’t know the name of used that moment to pitch in her stupid thoughts. “And how were we supposed to do any of that without the villain getting wise? Hostage situations are delicate things, you know.”

Hostage situation. What an interesting way to pronounce ‘attempted murder of a child.’

“Forget this.” Katsumi had enough of the extras that are officially unworthy of her time. She hopped out of the ambulance and shouldered past the losers crowding her, ignoring their incessant whining.

Izuku blinked when Katsumi walked up to him and squeaked when she scooped him up. Before he could get settled in her grip, she opened up her bag and moved to put him inside.

“Wait NO!” Deku latched onto the edges of her bag like an asshole, his feet hooked outside of it.

Katsumi continued to ignore all the protests around her and kept shifting Deku to deposit him in her bag. “Quit your squirming, Zuzu.”

The nickname that rolled off Katsumi’s tongue was a new one, one she’ll most likely never repeat again, but it also caused Deku to freeze in confusion. “I— What!?”

Katsumi stuffed him in her bag and zipped it up before he could escape.

“HEY! Let me out of here!” Her bag thrashed as she slung it over her shoulder and took off in a dead sprint in the opposite direction as the useless pricks that called themselves heroes.

Chapter Text

“You didn’t have to do that, you know,” Izuku called out, his arms crossed as he sat on what felt like their history textbook. Not the most comfortable book in Katsumi’s bag, but he didn’t want to ruin any of the papers stuffed haphazardly around him.

Izuku felt Katsumi shrug. “I didn’t do it for you, they were pissing me off,” she deflected.

“Sure, Kacchan.” It wasn’t the first time Izuku had heard that line, and definitely not the first time he found himself tucked away in Katsumi’s bag. After all, it was much easier and safer for her school record to simply pick him up and put him in her bookbag than it was to get into a fight.

Although, Izuku still had trouble figuring out the real reason why she even bothered. Usually whenever she kidnapped him, it was when he was being picked on by some “extras” at Aldera, and she defended her actions with that same line. The only question was why did it only bother her after their fight?

Izuku shook his head. Whatever her reasons, he was glad Katsumi had been curbing her violent tendencies. As annoying as her new habits were. “Can you let me out now?” he asked.

Katsumi grunted in response and swung her bag off her shoulder before opening it up. Izuku had to blink at the sudden flood of light for a moment, then hopped up to the zipper. With practiced ease, Izuku crawled up Katsumi’s arm and sat down on her shoulder, carefully gripping her uniform to avoid being jostled as she walked. “Thanks.”

A comfortable silence washed over the two middle schoolers as Katsumi kept walking toward their neighborhood.

After a few minutes, however, it was broken by Katsumi whispering, “Thanks, by the way.” When Izuku’s ears swiveled to face Katsumi, she continued. “For, saving me from that bastard. I would have been fine if any of the dipshits at the scene had even tried to do something, but…”

“But they didn’t.”

“And you did,” Katsumi added. “I’m… grateful. That you were there for me, I mean.”

Izuku ignored the slight tinge of pink on his best friend’s face. He knew she was still getting used to the idea of accepting help, so he decided not to tease her about it. “Of course, Kacchan. Remember our promise? Me and you, the Number One hero duo, at the top of the charts forever!”

Katsumi laughed lightly, for once allowing a genuine smile to stretch across her face. “Japan won’t even know what hit it!”

Izuku did his best to suppress the energy that flooded his legs again at Katsumi’s declaration. While he would be fine if he fell off the blonde’s shoulder, she absolutely would tease him if he performed a binky off of it. Again.

Before the two middle schoolers could continue their journey, a familiar gaunt man stepped out of a side street and smiled brightly. “There you are, Young Midoriya! I’ve been looking for you!”

“All—!” Izuku closed his mouth with a click. He’s not All Might in his thin form. Come to think of it, what IS his name? Until he knew it, Izuku decided to play it safe. “Hello again, sir.”

That earned him a look from Katsumi. She looked over the Number One hero in disguise and openly sneered in disgust. “You know this guy?”

Izuku nodded while his mind raced for an excuse. Anything that might satisfy Katsumi without giving up All Might’s identity.

“Your friend and I crossed paths earlier today,” All Might answered first. “We spoke of his motivations, and I was hoping we could continue that discussion. I had a question or two for him that I didn’t get a chance to ask before we were interrupted.”

That worked. Now that Izuku thought about it, he did remember All Might starting to ask a question before they heard Katsumi’s explosions.

Katsumi crossed her arms, but ultimately said nothing in response.

Before All Might could be intimidated by Katsumi, (and wasn't that something weird to think about) Izuku spoke up. “You had a question for me?”

All Might nodded. “I did, and it’s a simple one. Young Midoriya, why do you want to be a hero?”

Katsumi opened her mouth, most likely to snap a scathing insult, but Izuku touched her cheek before she could say anything. Too often, that question was asked with a heavy layer of doubt in Izuku behind the words. He knew there were definitely safer options for someone of his size, as way too many people reminded him.

But he didn’t care. Not anymore.

“Ever since I learned what a hero even was, I wanted to be one,” Izuku answered. “There was an old clip of— of All Might. His debut. He saved more than a hundred people that day, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.”

“I know of that clip,” All Might hummed.

Izuku nodded and allowed a small smile to bloom on his face. “Yeah. I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be the kind of rabbit that everyone could look up to. When everyone sees my fearless smile, they would know they were safe.”

All Might returned Izuku’s small smile and hummed thoughtfully. “Yet when we spoke, you said you wanted to be like Miruko, not All Might.”

Izuku’s gaze fell to the ground. “Yeah… After my quirk activated, I started shrinking, as I said before. Condensing. Life got… difficult.”

Katsumi tensed beneath Izuku. She looked away from him.

“I nearly gave up my dream to be a hero,” Izuku continued. “I thought no one would look up to a boy that fit in the palm of your hand. But two people helped me see I was being dumb. Three, including Kacchan.”

The explosive blonde Izuku was perched on stood up a little straighter.

“One of them was Miruko. When she debuted, I loved how little she cared about everyone else’s opinions. She lived her own life, and everyone that doubted her could go to hell. A rabbit like me, kicking ass and forgetting names.”

All Might chuckled. “She certainly does have a rather fiery spirit. I can see why anyone would want to be like her when they grow up.”

Izuku shrugged. “Sort of. Miruko showed me that it was okay to not care about what other people thought of you, but I still want to be like All Might.”

“Number one?”

“Inspirational.”

“As I thought,” All Might said with a beaming smile. “Young Midoriya, there is one more thing I want to discuss with you in private. Do you—?”

“Not happening,” Katsumi interrupted with a snarl.

Izuku’s attention snapped onto Katsumi’s defensive scowl. “Wh— Kacchan, it’s okay! He’s—”

“I don’t give a shit,” Katsumi snapped back, her eyes never leaving All Might. “We dealt with one shitty villain already, and you damn well know Auntie’s gonna flip when she hears about that.”

“ If she hears about it,” Izuku tried.

Katsumi scoffed. “When, Deku.”

“When she hears about it,” Izuku conceded, his ears wilting slightly. He could practically hear the lecture already, especially if Katsumi told her exactly what he did.

When Kacchan will tell her.

All Might chuckled, causing Katsumi to bark at him, both her palms crackling like firecrackers. “Oi! The hell’s so funny, you dried-up sunflower?! Beat it before you give me a reason to beat you!”

“K-Kacchan, don’t threaten him! He’s not a villain!” Izuku couldn’t even imagine a world where Katsumi would willingly call All Might a villain. If she knew who she was talking to, she wouldn’t be nearly as hostile.

That’s it!

Izuku jumped up to his feet, his hand resting against Katsumi’s head for support and looked at All Might. “Sir, show her the scar. You can trust her.”

Katsumi looked between her best friend and All Might, the gears in her head turning rapidly. Meanwhile, a serious look crossed All Might’s face. “Young man, you are asking a great deal of me.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, but I trust Katsumi with my life. More than that.” Katsumi stilled when she heard her given name. Izuku was being serious, his tone demanding attention. “If you can trust me, you can trust her. I guarantee it.”

The middle schoolers and All Might stared at each other, and it felt like the world held its breath.

Finally, All Might sighed. “Very well. It’s admirable that you have such faith in her, Young Midoriya. I should place that same faith in you, if our discussion is to mean anything.”

“Young lady,” All Might began, turning his attention to Katsumi. “We haven’t been entirely truthful to you about who I am.”

Katsumi raised an eyebrow. “We?”

Izuku ran his hand over the fur of his ears a couple times nervously. “Yeah. I, uh, I already knew.”

“Know what?”

Right on cue, All Might inflated and struck a heroic pose. “That I am here.”

“W-What the HELL?!” Katsumi stammered and took a step back in shock. Her eyes danced erratically across All Might’s form, taking in everything at once. “All Might?! No goddamn way!”

“It’s true, my girl! I am—!” Whatever All Might was about to say was cut off by a puff of smoke that dissipated immediately, revealing the gaunt man once again. He coughed harshly into a fist, and Izuku noticed a trail of blood on it. “...still out of time,” he finished anyway.

“Oh HELL no, you do NOT get to impersonate All Might around me!” Katsumi growled. Her palms ignited once again, powerful sparks popping in malicious anticipation. Rage twisted her face into a vicious snarl as she stomped toward All Might.

Izuku’s heart leapt into his throat, panic racing through his veins. Without a moment to spare, he bounced from Katsumi’s shoulder to All Might’s chest, allowing the older hero to catch him while he focused on his enraged best friend. “Kacchan-Kacchan-wait-waIT-WAIT! I swear he’s really All Might!”

“Bullshit!” Katsumi spat viciously. “Get off him, Chewtoy, I’m killing this villain right now!”

“It’s his quirk! He’s like Kyojou!” Izuku said hurriedly.

Katsumi stopped. Her eyes narrowed. “...who?”

Izuku couldn’t stop his ears from folding back in disappointment. He forgot Katsumi didn’t bother remembering anyone she didn’t consider worth her time. “The… Pervert that sits behind you,” sighed Izuku.

All Might gently set Izuku down on top of a nearby stone fence and muttered under his breath, barely loud enough for the bunny boy’s sensitive hearing to pick up, “I can’t say I’ve ever been compared to a pervert before…”

Good enough for Katsumi. Realization washed across her face, and she finally cut off her explosions. “Seriously? One, did you seriously expect me to remember his name? And two, All Might isn’t a damn extra! He’s the real deal!”

“For a few hours, you are correct, Young Katsumi,” All Might interjected.

Katsumi’s fists released black smoke as she clenched them and she snarled at the Number One Hero. “That’s Bakugou to you, you limp balloon reject.”

“Young Bakugou, forgive me,” All Might corrected. “But I swear to you, I am All Might. I was injured in a fight five years ago, and—”

Once again, Katsumi interrupted her idol in a harsh tone. “Don’t even try that shit with me, Skeletor! The only fight big enough to hurt All Might within the last five years was against Toxic Chainsaw, and that extra barely drew his blood! Who the hell are you really?!”

All Might blinked, clearly caught off guard by finding a second person who could list his major fights off the top of their head. “Wow… you… also know your stuff. But no, the fight I was injured in was one I asked to be kept from the public.”

“Kacchan, please,” Izuku interjected and gestured toward All Might. “It’s really him, and he has the scar to prove it.”

“Then prove it, asshole!” Katsumi shouted. “Show me the damn scar, if you’ve really got it!”

Without any fanfare, All Might lifted the hem of his shirt to reveal the large, web-like scar found on his left side.

Every ounce of Kacchan’s inner fire was instantly replaced with unadulterated horror. She was frozen in place, her face pale and her eyes blown wide as she stared at the scar. Izuku could even see her start to tremble before he had to look away from her. “W-What…?” she whispered.

He hated how pained her voice sounded. He hated that he was the one to cause it, having insisted All Might show off his scar. Izuku couldn’t imagine what might be going through Kacchan’s head, if anything.

“Pretty gross, right?” All Might sighed and let go of his shirt, letting it hide his scar once again. He coughed into his fist for a moment before explaining, “My left lung was almost completely destroyed, and I lost my whole stomach. All the surgeries afterwards took its toll on me, and now these days, I can only do around three hours of Hero work a day. The rest of the time? I look like this.”

“But… But All Might doesn’t lose…” Kacchan whimpered in a quiet voice. Izuku resisted the urge to cover his ears. He knew it wouldn't help.

The man in question shook his head and offered Kacchan a sad smile. "I have lost plenty of times, in several ways, Young Bakugou. All heroes have. It's the nature of hero work, I'm afraid."

Kacchan finally ripped her eyes away from the space where All Might's injury was, her gaze dropping to the concrete under her feet. "And the villain?"

"He's been dealt with. I won that fight, and he won't be hurting anyone any longer."

Katsumi released a relieved breath. Izuku didn’t blame her. A villain strong enough to not only hurt All Might, but cripple him like that? Neither of them would ever want to see such a villain in real life.

All Might coughed and cleared his throat. “So, Young Bakugou, do you believe me now?”

Izuku prided himself on being able to tell what mood his best friend was in, what she was thinking, at any given moment. But when she simply nodded without a word, her fists clenched to keep them from trembling visibly, he hadn’t the slightest idea what was going through her head.

Oblivious to Katsumi’s distress, All Might grinned. “Excellent! Now then, Young Midoriya, may we speak alone?”

Katsumi’s ruby red eyes snapped up to All Might again, her usual scowl fixed upon her face. “You’re still not going anywhere, All Might. Anything you can say to him, you can say to me.”

“I’m with Kacchan on this. I’m comfortable up here, and Kacchan’s trustworthy,” Izuku agreed and idly swung his legs. The owners of the fence must have recently washed it.

All Might shook his head. “I’m afraid this is something that I must speak to Young Midoriya about on his own. Only him.”

Katsumi snapped. Her palms crackled involuntarily, and she snarled, “Why him?! Am I not good enough for you? You’d trust me with this shit, but not whatever the hell you want now?!”

“That’s not it at all, my girl!” All Might exclaimed, throwing up his hands in a placating gesture. When he tried to explain himself, a wet cough cut him off, and he reached into his pocket for a pack of tissues.

Izuku spoke up in his stead. “Kacchan, I promise I’ll tell you what it’s about tomorrow, so just—”

“Now just a minute, Young—”

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!” Katsumi roared with a sharp explosion from both her palms. “I DON’T WANT YOUR GODDAMN PITY, DEKU!

She pointed at All Might, who instinctively took a step back. “AND YOU! DON’T YOU LOOK DOWN AT ME EITHER! I’m gonna be BETTER than you, YOU HEAR ME?! You’ll be NOTHING compared to me! Mark my goddamn words, you shitty, has-been, wrinkly old BASTARD!”

With that final declaration, Katsumi whipped around and stomped away, a string of curses filtering past her lips.

Izuku sighed, letting his ears relax from their startled position. There was the world famous Bakugou Pride finally coming to the surface. Truth be told, Izuku was surprised it took so long for her to snap like that. Maybe she had spoken with his mother the previous day?

“Well, that could have gone better…” All Might hesitated before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I do apologize for causing such a rift in your friendship.”

Izuku shrugged and stood up, hopping from foot to foot to work out the nervous energy buzzing through them. “It’s alright. Even you can’t come between us. She just needs a little bit of time to cool down and process today.”

A large explosion ripped through the sky a few streets over, swiftly followed up by Katsumi screaming, “GODDAMMIT!”

“Okay, maybe a lot of time to cool down. It’ll be fine. We’ll talk tomorrow. You wanted to talk now?”

It took All Might a moment to register what Izuku had said, and another moment to shift his thought process from guilt to whatever he wanted to ask Izuku. A serious look overcame his face, giving Izuku pause.

“Young Midoriya, I wanted to speak to you about my quirk.”

Apparently, everything Izuku knew was completely wrong.

All Might isn’t nearly as invulnerable as people think, AND he has a quirk that could be passed on? A quirk that HAD been passed on several times, and he wanted IZUKU to be the next holder of it?

In the back of Izuku’s mind, he wished Katsumi had insisted on sticking around. He knew such a secret was not something to be spread lightly, but at least Kacchan wasn’t hiding anything from him. She would be a good stabilizing presence to the bunny boy.

“H-Hold on, hold on,” Izuku stammered and groomed his ears. “Kacchan had an excellent question, why me? Why are you telling me all of this? Is it because I already saw one of your secrets in that underpass?”

All Might hummed and leaned against the wall that Izuku was sitting on. “You are correct in assuming I made this decision because of the underpass, but a successor is not something to be chosen lightly. In the underpass, I saw that you had a great quirk and an unparalleled analytical mind, two excellent qualities for a successor.”

Izuku felt his cheeks heat up at the praise, but remained silent, sensing All Might had more to say.

“You showed a good heart when you interfered with the sludge villain earlier, and a drive to save so strong, your body moved all on its own. On top of all of those perfect qualities, your motivations for being a hero are, as you put it, inspirational.” All Might looked up at Izuku and gave the tiny boy a bright smile. “You are the perfect candidate to become my successor, should you accept.”

Tears welled up in Izuku’s eyes, such high praise coming from All Might swiftly overwhelming the green rabbit. He had no idea what to make of today, and Izuku resolved to deal with processing everything that night. “Th-Thank you, sir. I’m honored beyond belief that you would choose me, and I accept... ”

All Might laughed lightheartedly. “An immediate answer! Excellent! Now—”

“On one condition.”

All Might coughed up blood. “Ah… One condition?”

Izuku rubbed the last of his tears out of his eyes and stood as tall as he could manage. All Might turned to face Izuku, and the boy leveled him with a stony look. “If you want me to accept One for All, then you will come to my apartment Friday evening for dinner and repeat everything you said to me again.”

All Might’s eyes blew wide. “You cannot be serious.”

“I am.” And god, did Izuku feel like an asshole for making demands of the Number One Hero. He wasn’t sure if Katsumi would laugh at him, applaud him, or kick his ass for the stunt.

His mother would totally laugh.

“Both Kacchan and my mother will be there, and both of them will need to know about One for All.” Izuku held up a hand to cut off All Might’s protests. “I’ve known Kacchan my whole life, even before my quirk came in. She knows what my quirk is, and what it does. We’ve trained together for years, both with and without quirks. If I suddenly get a second quirk out of nowhere, she’d never buy any story we give her, and that WOULD cause a rift in our friendship. As for my mother…”

“My mother is everything to me. She raised me, alone, and helped me deal with this damn quirk and all of its handicaps. We’ve been through a lot, just the two of us, and I owe her everything, even more than you, Miruko, and Kacchan combined,” Izuku explained before he leveled a harsh glare at All Might that would make Katsumi proud.

“I can’t lie to Kacchan. And I won’t lie to my mom. If you can’t accept that, then I won’t either.”

All Might sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “You are asking a great deal of me, Young Midoriya.”

Izuku nodded. “I know. I promise, if this is a deal breaker, I understand. I’ll never tell a soul about One for All, not even to Kacchan, if you can’t accept this.”

All Might hesitated. Izuku held his breath.

“…I’ll think about it,” the number one hero finally said, and Izuku released his breath. “This Friday, correct? What time?”

“We should be eating around seven.”

“I’ll have your answer well before then. May I see your phone?”

Izuku faltered, his ears wilting naturally. “I, uh, don’t have one. They’re too big.”

All Might blinked. “Ah. My apologies.”

An awkward silence fell upon the two of them. Izuku couldn’t blame All Might for touching yet another handicap of Izuku’s. He probably should look into getting something that would fit in his backpack, but the damn stares he gets from all the phone store employees get to be too much for him.

An idea hit All Might, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card, offering it to Izuku. “Here, my boy. On Thursday, call this number and ask for Toshinori Yagi.”

“Toshinori Yagi on Thursday…” Izuku muttered as he accepted the card and looked it over. He recognized one of the two phone numbers as the main line for Might Tower, the other labeled a more private line for All Might’s secretary. “Who’s Mr. Yagi?”

All Might grinned. “That would be me, my boy.”

“Oh.” A beat passed. “WAIT THAT’S YOUR CIVILIAN NAME?! I KNOW ALL MIGHT’S CIVILIAN NAME!?”

“Indeed you do.”

Izuku couldn’t stop the binky in time; the overjoyed energy that filled his legs and the rest of his body forced him to bounce straight up, use his whole body to pump a fist victoriously, and completely miss the stone fence on the way back down. All Might laughed like the asshole he was.

Chapter Text

Too many thoughts and emotions raced through Izuku's mind as he ran toward his apartment. So much had happened that day, many of which were things Izuku never would have imagined would happen to him of all people.

The debut of a new hero, Mt. Lady, should have been the highlight of his day. Her quirk, Gigantification, was relatively simple, but it gave Izuku so much to think about. Analyzing heroes and their quirks had always been a hobby of his, and new heroes were always a gold mine of new information to put into his notebooks back home.

Additionally, the possibility of growing in size as much as Mt. Lady gave the tiny bunny boy several new ideas with his quirk. And with the several new ideas came several old emotions. Even if the ideas worked, something within Izuku kept him from being excited. It was easy to pinpoint the feeling, of course.

He didn't want to remind his mom of his bastard of a father.

Izuku shook his head as he ran through a yard, mindful to avoid the flowerbed.

The less he thought of that man, the better.

Izuku allowed his racing mind to move on, and it immediately latched onto All Might, and with it brought a whole torrent of new emotions.

He could still hardly believe that he had met the man himself. If Izuku remembered correctly, his agency was in Tokyo, so it was a mystery why he was in Musutafu. (Grocery shopping in Musutafu, if the plastic bags he was carrying were any indication) Regardless of the reason, Izuku would forever be grateful All Might had spared some time to talk to him. He always seemed larger than life on TV, a living god, so to find out the number one hero was friendly and approachable in person was like a dream come true.

Yet the excited energy that should have raced through his legs was stifled when Izuku remembered the two secrets he had found out. All Might’s injury would no doubt haunt Izuku’s nightmares for days to come. What sort of monster could possibly injure All Might enough to affect his quirk? What could that monster do to Izuku? He may be more durable than people assume, but punching a hole into All Might was a bit much.

More importantly, Izuku had absolutely no idea what to think of One for All. A part of him was ecstatic that All Might had chosen Izuku to be the next bearer of the quirk, to be trusted with such a sacred and powerful ability. He could have the strength and speed of All Might himself on top of his own. Izuku would easily be able to keep up with Katsumi, maybe even surpass her in power!

Another part of him was terrified beyond belief. There was so much responsibility and expectations behind One for All, and merely thinking about it threatened to overwhelm Izuku. Not to mention the concept of a transferable quirk could shift the very idea of what a quirk even is, and wasn’t that more than a headache and a half to think about. What would the quirk even do to his own? There were so many unknowns, so many questions running through Izuku’s head, he wasn’t sure if he could ask them all in a single evening, let alone get answers for them.

With a conscious effort, Izuku put all of his thoughts out of his mind once he arrived at his apartment complex. He could think about it all once night time came.

He hopped up the stairs and raced down the walkway before stopping in front of his own apartment. With practiced ease, he climbed up the grooves he and his mother had carved into the door frame to function as a ladder for him up to the doorknob. He still remembered the first time his mother had suggested it; He cried for at least a half hour. It sure beat waiting around for his mother to come home.

At the top of the ladder was a small platform his mom had installed, barely more than a tiny shelf, but plenty big and strong enough for Izuku to stand on. He shrugged off his backpack and shifted the contents around, searching for his house key. Inko should still be at work, so Izuku will have plenty of time to process everything that happened that day.

“Ah, here it is!” He pulled out his house key and stood at the very edge of the platform, unlocked his front door, and put the key back into his backpack. Donning it once again, he opened the door and hopped down to the rug below.

Some days he wished he didn’t need to go through such a complicated procedure just to open his front door, but—

An invisible force pulled at him, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying directly into Inko’s waiting arms. “Izuku, baby, you’re okay!” she cried.

“M-Mom?!” Izuku exclaimed, his voice muffled by his mother’s crushing hug. “Why are you home? I thought you were at work!”

Inko pressed a kiss into Izuku’s hair and kept hugging her son. “I received an alert on my phone about a villain attack here in Musutafu, and when I checked it, I found that it was happening on your usual route home.” She ran her hands over Izuku’s ears, petting him to calm herself down. “Inukai noticed and offered to cover the rest of my shift. I hurried straight home, and I am so glad I did.”

For a moment, Izuku regretted showing his mother how to check the hero news apps he frequented.

Inko finally released Izuku from her hug and held him up to eye level. Izuku shivered at the stern look his mother gave him. “Katsumi came by earlier to drop off your school work, and she had quite the story to tell…”

Izuku sighed and nodded, allowing his ears to wilt slightly. When Mom finds out, he reminded himself as his mother carried him deeper into the apartment. Thanks, Kacchan, you're a big damn hero.

As soon as Inko set Izuku down on the kitchen table, he told her everything about his day, leaving out nothing but All Might’s alter ego. Inko remained silent as Izuku told his tale, listening carefully.

He noticed her fists clenched when he told her about his unruly classmates, and he heard her murmur something about reminding the principal about something violent. Izuku was swift to move on to his two encounters with the sludge villain.

“I’m so glad you managed to avoid him the first time, honey,” Inko breathed. “Even if All Might was nearby, I don’t know what I would do if you got hurt by that brute.”

Izuku laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I don’t know either. Guess my quirk’s instincts are good for something, at least.”

“Izuku…” Inko chastised.

“I know, I know, no self depreciation at the dinner table.”

“If I have to follow that rule, so do you, young man.”

“I got it, really!”

When Izuku explained the second encounter with the sludge villain, Inko groaned. “Of course those good-for-nothings had no idea how to think critically. Did any of them even try to rescue Katsumi?”

Izuku shook his head and thumped his foot against the table out of frustration. “When I got there, they were all just standing around waiting. None of them had the balls to even try anything, and of course they all wanted the credit for themselves, so they weren’t communicating.”

Inko sighed sharply. “Of course… Still, you almost got seriously hurt. You were right to hide the first time, but did you have to run out the second time?”

“Yeah, I did. No one else was doing anything, and Kacchan couldn’t breathe.” He paused as the memory of her face invaded his mind, his ears naturally folding back behind his head. “I’ve never seen her so scared, Mom. I couldn’t stop myself even if I wanted to.”

Inko smiled slightly. “She’s always been a bit of a weak point for you, huh?”

Izuku gave his mother a weird look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Inko cooed and waved off Izuku’s concern. “Back on topic, All Might was nearby, as you said. He saved both of you, and you knew he was close. Why did you have to run in instead of waiting for him?”

“He wasn’t—” Izuku cut himself off before he blurted out the one thing he couldn’t share with his mother. Damn, keeping this secret until Friday will be harder than I thought. If he even agrees to my condition.

“Wasn’t…?” his mother prompted.

Internally, Izuku warred with himself. He couldn’t live with himself if he lied to his mother, right to her face. Even if he could get away with it, (and he couldn’t, he knew she would see through any amount of bullshit he tried to feed her,) it felt wrong trying to deceive the one person that had been in his corner since his birth. As much as he wanted to share everything with her, he made a promise to All Might, the Number One Hero himself.

It wasn’t his secret to share.

With a pinched look, Izuku eventually said, “I… want to tell you. But… I know one of All Might’s secrets.” Two of them.

Inko’s eyes blew wide, but she didn’t interrupt.

“Something is going on with him, and I found out by accident. But I promised him that I wouldn’t tell anyone. So, I can’t tell you what exactly I was thinking. All I can say is… I knew no one was going to do anything, so…” He trailed off, unable to continue defending his admittedly stupid and dangerous action.

At first, his mother said nothing. Then she nodded. “I understand. There’s a lot I can’t tell you due to nurse-patient confidentiality, so I guess we’re both keeping secrets that don’t belong to us.”

Izuku loved his mother more than anything. He didn’t even try to stop himself from hurrying across the table and hopping into her arms for a hug. “Thanks, Mom. You’re my number one hero.”

“And you’re my number zero hero, Izuku,” Inko murmured into his hair and pressed another kiss into the curly green mess.

The two stayed like that for a few moments before Izuku leaned away from Inko, signalling he was ready to return to the table. Inko released him, and the bunny boy hopped back to his backpack. It was then that he remembered the golden ticket that waited within it. “Oh, Mom, one last thing happened today, and it’s something I actually need your help with.”

Inko blinked, then smiled slightly. “My help?”

Izuku rifled through his backpack again, swiftly finding the business card All Might gave him and pulling it out. “Yeah, All Might gave me his secretary’s card.”

“He WHAT?! Why?”

Izuku froze. “Oh yeah, Kacchan wasn’t there for that.” He really hoped Katsumi wouldn’t be mad at him for hiding what All Might had told him. I’ll tell her what to expect on Friday if he agrees, Izuku internally decided.

“What does Katsumi have to do with this?”

“She was there when All Might followed us after the second incident with the sludge villain.” Izuku said and turned around to face his wide-eyed mother and offered her the card. “She stormed off before she could hear what he wanted with me. He, uh, told me to call Mr Yagi on Thursday. Oh, that reminds me, can I bring someone to our apartment Friday evening?”

Inko took the business card gingerly and looked it over, as if she was checking if it was real. After a moment, she leaned forward and rested her hand on her temple, as though she was trying to keep her head up. Izuku hurried to her side, worried his mother was about to faint. “I’m fine, I’m fine,” she assured him in a breathy, clearly not-fine voice. “I’m okay, and this is All Might’s card. That he had given you himself. Oh, I need a drink.”

“Please don’t,” Izuku begged. He knew his mother wasn’t a lightweight anymore, but he really didn’t want her to turn one drink into two, into three.

“Okay.” Inko carefully set the card down on the table and pressed her palms into her eyes. Izuku could see her counting silently down from five. Once she reached zero, she took her hands away from her eyes, blinked the stars out of them, and picked up the card once again. It was still real. “So, Izuku, why do we need to call All Might’s secretary on Thursday?”

Izuku winced. “It’s related to the secret that I can’t tell you about.”

“No getting around that, huh?” Inko idly inspected the card, careful not to damage it. “Alright, I’ll make sure I’m home on Thursday. Now what was—”

“Ah, you don’t have to do that!” Izuku said hurriedly, waving his arms in a panic. “You can still take a shift that day, I can make the call myself!”

Inko shook her head. “This is something I want to be there for. If this secret is going to continuously involve you, I want to be included.”

“And you will!” Izuku assured her, then flinched. Damn, he’s really bad at keeping secrets from his mother. He hoped All Might could come to the dinner on Friday. “Maybe. If he… If his secretary agrees to dinner on Friday.”

“You were going to invite Mr. Yagi to dinner?” It was a wonder that his mother hadn’t fainted yet, with how many shocks and scares she had gone through in that brief conversation.

“…yes?”

The two Midoriyas stared at each other for a moment. Then Inko set the business card down, folded her hands, and sighed. “Izuku.”

Izuku’s ears wilted and he looked down at the table. He knew that tone of voice. His mother was serious, professional even.

“I’m so proud of you.”

Izuku’s ears perked up and his eyes snapped up to his mother. She was smiling, her eyes growing watery with pride and love. “I knew you were special ever since the moment you were born, and I’m so happy that someone so important can see that too. If he agrees, I would love to have Mr. Yagi over for dinner.”

Now it was Izuku’s turn to cry. He lunged at his mother once more, and the two embraced yet again. “You’re the best, mom, thank you!”

Neither Midoriya could wait until Thursday.

The next couple days flew by Izuku faster than a bullet train. He could hardly concentrate during class, his mind constantly wandering back to All Might’s secrets. It had gotten to the point where even the teachers stopped trying to make him pay attention in class. Embarrassingly, he knew he needed to beg Katsumi for her notes after both days.

Speaking of the blonde spitfire, she was understandably very mad at Izuku. She nearly left him behind during lunch the day after the sludge villain incident, and when he caught up, she refused to speak to him the entire lunch period.

When she finally deemed him worthy of her attention on Wednesday, one of the first things out of Katsumi’s mouth was a demand for an explanation. (Well, right after a string of insults Izuku had heard before.) If Izuku really trusted her with his life, she had said at the time, then he should spill whatever All Might had talked to him about, leaving nothing out.

Again, Izuku was beyond tempted to betray All Might and tell Kacchan everything, to avoid having to keep anything from his best friend. In the end, he managed to swallow his words by promising to explain everything at the dinner on Friday. And he truly meant it. Even if All Might rejected Izuku as a successor and failed to show up at the dinner, Izuku knew that Katsumi would still want to know everything.

Both of them hated keeping Katsumi in the dark.

Besides, she would probably forget about One for All if Izuku didn’t receive it. She wouldn’t even consider taking it for herself, he figured. Katsumi was always more than a little prideful about every accomplishment she had achieved through her own power.

At the end of the day, Katsumi accepted Izuku’s lackluster explanation, though the bunny boy could tell she wasn’t pleased about it. Her wrath had been delayed just a little longer, for which Izuku was very grateful.

He was less grateful when Katsumi’s rage was only delayed until Wednesday afternoon, and blossomed into a nearly unprecedented fury during their weekly sparring session. He wasn’t sure if the smell of singed fur and the sight of ruby red eyes full of spite was worth it.

Finally, it was Thursday afternoon. Izuku found himself perched on Inko’s shoulder as she dialed the number on All Might’s business card into their home phone. He swung his legs to work out some of the nervous energy that raced through him. He had absolutely no idea if All Might would accept his condition.

Izuku knew he was demanding an awful lot of All Might, essentially asking him to reveal his two biggest secrets to a handful of people for basically no reason at all, save for getting a very tiny successor. He couldn’t blame the number one hero if it was too much baggage to accept.

Without asking if Izuku was ready, Inko called the number on the card and put it on speaker phone. They both knew what his answer would have been: “No, I’m never ready to call the personal number of the Number One Hero.”

The phone rang once. Izuku wanted to hang up.

It rang twice. Izuku was tempted to lunge at it, but kept his spot on his mother’s shoulder.

It rang three—

Someone picked up. Izuku swallowed his heart.

“Greetings!” A terrifyingly familiar voice responded in a friendly tone. “My name is Toshinori Yagi, the personal secretary of All Might. How may I assist you?”

“Hello, Mr. Yagi,” Inko replied, “My name is Inko Midoriya, and I am the mother of Izuku Midoriya.”

“Ah, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Midoriya! I spoke with your son the other day, and I must say, you have done an amazing job raising him. He’s unlike any young man I’ve met, and he spoke very highly of you!”

Inko looked over at Izuku, who’s face felt much hotter than it should have been. “Did he now?”

“Oh yes! It was very clear to me that he adores you more than anything in the world. I dare say even his admiration of heroes paled in comparison.”

“What can I say?” Izuku chimed in with a shrug as his mother chuckled, “I love my mom.”

“Ah, hello, Young Midoriya!”

“Hello, sir.”

Inko cleared her throat to draw attention back to herself. “Now, Mr. Yagi, I spoke with my son a couple nights ago, and he had informed me that he wished to invite you to dinner tomorrow.”

Here we go… Izuku thought nervously.

All Might hesitated for a moment. In the background, Izuku could barely hear the man cough away from his phone. “Yes, I remember. There is… much that I would like to discuss with him.”

“With everyone, Mr. Yagi,” Izuku corrected quickly.

All Might hesitated again, and Izuku took a deep breath. Had he gone too far with that? “Yes. With everyone. With that in mind…”

Silence fell over the call. Izuku had no idea what was going through the number one hero’s head, and he again felt the urge to leap at the phone to hang up.

Finally, Izuku heard All Might sigh, then replied, “I am honored to accept his invitation, and I truly look forward to meeting you in person, Miss Midoriya.”

Izuku released his breath. Success!

Inko smiled and chirped, “Oh, wonderful! I look forward to speaking with you as well, Mr. Yagi.”

“Excellent!” All Might cleared his throat. “Now, is there anything else I can assist you with?”

“No, that’s all,” Izuku’s mother replied. “Everything else can wait until tomorrow. We will be eating at seven, so please be on time. Did Izuku tell you our address?”

"Ah, it did not come up in our conversation. Give me a moment to find a working pen."

"Of course. It's always the first one you pick up that doesn't work," Inko laughed.

When All Might confirmed he had found a pen that had ink in it, Izuku's mother told the him the address to their apartment. With a smile in his voice, All Might replied, “Thank you, Ms. Midoriya! I will ensure that I arrive promptly! Stay safe, now, and I will speak with you more tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow, sir!” Izuku piped up and waved the phone goodbye. He ignored his mother’s teasing smile.

“Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. Yagi. Goodbye.” Inko hung up.

Anticipation raced through Izuku’s veins. All of his thoughts, all of his questions, everything he had been through the past few days would culminate into a single evening, and he was finally ready for it.

Chapter Text

Toshinori Yagi’s time as the Symbol of Peace had shown him a great many things. He had seen countless children grow up into promising young professionals, each one influenced by his legacy in one way or another. All Might had crushed numerous criminal empires beneath his fists of justice, some more easily than others. He had seen far too many quirk awakenings and quirk accidents, villains just trying to get by and criminals hellbent on malicious intent. The man had even seen quite a number of things that had truly surprised him, things he never would have expected in the moment. Toshinori thought he was prepared for anything and everything.

And then one young boy, one green-furred boy with a heart of gold pumping liquid determination running through his veins, had put Toshinori so far on the back foot he was surprised he hadn’t fallen over yet.

Time and time again, Young Midoriya had surprised him, starting from the very moment the two had met in that filthy underpass. Toshinori had never seen such an extreme heteromorphic quirk before, and he never would have expected the boy to literally hide inside a flower bed no taller than All Might’s shin.

In the short time they had spoken, Toshinori realized several things about the miniscule middle schooler: He wore his heart on his sleeve, and held such compassion within it. Toshinori could see that the story about his scar had touched Young Midoriya deeply, and the boy felt a great deal of concern for the older man. The tear-filled look of horror on his animalistic face was not something Toshinori would forget any time soon.

Some of that, of course, was likely related to the fact that he was something of a dedicated All Might fanboy. Like Young Bakugou after him, Toshinori was surprised that Young Midoriya had immediately referenced his fight against Toxic Chainsaw. It wasn’t even covered that well, if Toshinori remembered correctly. The fight itself was far too dangerous for any civilians, reporters or otherwise, to get close enough to record with any decent quality.

Even after the two had finished discussing All Might’s thinner form, Young Midoriya continued to make an impression on Toshinori. It wasn’t just his words that were filled with passion and determination. His whole body was like an open book to those that could read him, from the tips of his rabbit ears to the subtle twitches and bounces of his feet. It was clear to All Might that when the boy felt, he felt with every square inch of his body, and then some.

Naturally, before Toshinori could ask about Young Midoriya’s motivations, they were interrupted by a villain attack. At the time, All Might had cursed his rotten luck and his time limit for rendering him so utterly useless in the face of disaster.

And yet while Toshinori stood on the sidelines, whining to himself, Young Midoriya had rushed in to save Young Bakugou’s life. He was the only one to do so, all because all the heroes present, All Might included, were too cowardly to risk life and limb like the middle schooler. The young man had reminded All Might what heroism was supposed to mean, what he should have done the moment he arrived on the scene.

Following and revealing himself to Young Bakugou was, admittedly, not one of Toshinori’s proudest moments, but he simply had to finish his conversation with Young Midoriya after his rather pathetic display at the sludge villain incident. He simply had to find out what motivated the young rabbit.

Toshinori knew his efforts weren’t in vain when Young Midoriya’s heroic heart revealed itself to him. He knew, in that moment, he had found the one. A young man with a powerful, if unique, quirk, and a heart at least a hundred times the boy’s size, every centimeter of it dedicated to saving and uplifting those around him. Finally, he had found the perfect successor for One for All.

And then Young Midoriya had all but demanded that Toshinori reveal his biggest, most career-altering secret to not one, but two people, neither of which Toshinori himself knew!

To say that Toshinori was conflicted was like saying All Might was strong. He had spent his whole life keeping One for All a secret, from the moment Nana had found his scrawny, middle school self. The number of people that knew about the quirk could fit on a single hand, just as All Might prefered. Every single person that knew about the quirk, Toshinori trusted with his very life, sometimes in a literal sense.

If anyone else had given the same ultimatum as Young Midoriya, Toshinori would have turned them down in a heartbeat.

But it was Young Midoriya that gave his condition. Many might call him foolish, but Toshinori felt the boy was everything he needed in a successor. And he truly meant everything.

Toshinori had never understood what his Master had meant when she had claimed that One for All was a very spiritual quirk, not until he had finally felt that all important spark when he met Young Midoriya. No other possible candidate had felt as perfect as the young rabbit boy.

Never before had All Might missed his Master as much as he had in the three days he was considering his possible successor's condition. He yearned to be able to speak with her and ask for her advice. Toshinori even spent several hours speaking to the picture of Nana he kept in his private office, for goodness sake! It never responded, but it did make Toshinori feel better, and ultimately helped him come to a decision.

If he was going to name Izuku Midoriya as his successor, he needed to trust the boy.

Besides, it would be unforgivably villainous of him to get in between a boy and his mother figure.

By the time Friday had come, Toshinori was nothing but a bundle of nerves. He couldn’t recall the last time he was this nervous. Even when he had finally tracked down and geared up to fight his nemesis, he felt too much righteous fury to be anxious.

What was it about the meeting that was making Toshinori so nervous? Was it the idea of sharing his two biggest secrets with a bunch of strangers? Was he worried about whether or not Young Midoriya would turn him down at the last second? Or perhaps the fact that he's about to meet the parent of his chosen successor when he knows for a fact there's going to be a level of protectiveness between them?

Toshinori swallowed as he climbed the stairs up towards Young Midoriya's apartment. Probably all of the above. The boy had said he would accept One for All, provided Toshinori told the boy’s mother, but who knows what could go wrong at the meeting.

That said, why did Young Midoriya emphasize his mother? If the dinner was a family event, surely he would have at least mentioned his father?

Upon arriving at Young Midoriya's apartment number, Toshinori shook his head to clear it. He needed to be focused if he was going to be prepared for the meeting.

Toshinori was immediately distracted by an odd construct just outside the front door. It was a simple platform that jutted out from the door frame, just barely lower than the doorknob, with a series of equally spaced grooves cut into the frame itself that fell all the way to the ground.

"This must be for Young Midoriya," Toshinori mumbled to himself. Considering the boy's unique stature, it would make sense that he required assistance with entering his own home. For a moment, Toshinori wondered why they didn't simply install a pet door for Young Midoriya, but he swiftly discarded the thought. Even if they could get permission from the landlord, Toshinori could only imagine the embarrassment and indignation that being compared to a pet would cause.

A cough rose from the depths of his chest, and with it the taste of blood. The fit knocked Toshinori's thoughts loose, and he used a tissue from the pack he brought to wipe the blood from his lips. It wouldn't do anyone any good to see him bleeding, regardless of how often it happened.

If anything, the fact that it did happen often was more concerning to those in the know.

Before Toshinori could find something else to distract him and delay the dinner even further, he found the apartment's doorbell and rang it without hesitation.

He didn't have to wait long before the door opened part way, revealing absolutely no one on the other side. Before Toshinori could question the odd sight, a familiar voice chirped from the ground. "Ah, All—! Er, Mr. Yagi! You made it on time!"

Toshinori looked down to see Young Midoriya standing on a welcome mat that read ‘Burrow Sweet Burrow’. He crouched down and offered the boy a bright (and hopefully bloodless) smile. "Of course, my boy! I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

Young Midoriya was quick to return Toshinori’s smile with one of his own. “Come on,” he said as he pushed the door all the way open for the much taller man, “you’re the last one to arrive. My mom’s already set the table, so as soon as you come inside, we can all eat together.”

“I thank you for your hospitality, Young Midoriya,” Toshinori said graciously and stooped down to avoid hitting the top of the doorframe. “And, of course, I’ll be sure to thank your mother as well.”

Once inside, Toshinori took a moment to look around. The apartment felt well lived in, with furniture that barely showed hints of wear and plenty of odd constructions at each major piece. Some of them appeared to be forms of ladders for Young Midoriya to scale, while others were little more than a series of platforms for the boy to climb up. Or perhaps hop up? Young Midoriya did have a rather impressive jump height thanks to his quirk.

Along each of the walls were plenty of pictures of various sizes, each one showing a different image of a Midoriya. Some were of Young Midoriya at various stages of his life, from kindergarten all the way through middle school, while others appeared to focus on a thin woman with long green hair done up in a half bun, the same style that Nana used to wear while in costume. Toshinori paused and stared at a photo that depicted the woman in work-out clothes, flexing her bicep for the camera. Young Midoriya was standing on the green haired woman’s shoulder, striking the same pose as her. She looks so similar to my Master, Toshinori thought wistfully.

“Mr. Yagi?” Young Midoriya called out from below. Toshinori blinked back to awareness and looked down at the boy, who was giving him a concerned look, both of his ears trained on All Might. “Are you alright?”

Toshinori gave Young Midoriya a reassuring smile and crouched down to be respectful. “Don’t worry about me, my boy, I was merely admiring the photographs. The woman with the long green hair, is she your mother?”

“Yeah, that’s Mom,” Young Midoriya confirmed. He turned around and hopped up a nearby set of platforms to stand on a small table just below the picture that Toshinori couldn’t take his eyes off. “She’s always insisted on taking lots of photos over the years. Sometimes to remember the good times, sometimes to show how far we’ve come. That one?” Young Midoriya pointed to the photograph of the two of them flexing together. “Mom made Masaru take that one when she upgraded her dumbbells to twenty pounds. She was really proud of how strong she was getting. She can almost lift them with just her quirk!”

“I can see she’s not the only one who’s proud,” Toshinori teased, an easy smile fixed upon his face.”

Young Midoriya kicked at the table shyly. “Well, yeah. I love my mom, and she’s done a lot to improve both my life and her own. I’m allowed to be proud, right?”

“But of course!” Toshinori laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling proud of the ones you love!” And perhaps some day, All Might could feel a similar pride for the small boy in front of him. It all depended on how the dinner went. There he went again, worrying about the dinner. He hadn’t even been this nervous when his team finally tracked down All for One.

Young Midoriya smiled and happily bounced on his toes for a moment. Toshinori couldn’t help but think of how adorable the tiny boy was at that moment. Public relations would be a cinch for him.

"Now then," Toshinori said as he held his hand out to Young Midoriya, "let’s go meet your family."

The rabbit boy nodded and scrambled up Toshinori’s arm with practiced ease. The Number One Hero couldn’t help but chuckle as his (hopefully future) successor sat down on his broad shoulder, practically vibrating out of his fur. He could only imagine what fanboy-ish thoughts were running through the boy’s head as the two proceeded toward the living room.

When All Might stepped into the living room, his eyes scanned the room quickly. It was a fairly simple 2LDK layout, standard for an apartment built for two, with even more pictures on every wall. His eyes fell onto the rectangular table tucked into the corner of the room, covered in various dishes that looked delicious. If Toshinori still had a stomach, it would have rumbled loudly at the sight of it.

Sitting at the table were four people, only two of which Toshinori recognized. At one end of the table was Young Bakugou, idly staring at the arrangement of food with her arms crossed. Two spots to her left was Ms. Midoriya, and Toshinori couldn't help but imagine his Master in her place. She was fit, and still had her hair up in that same half-bun. Her expressions were just as open as Young Midoriya's, and had the same kind, motherly face as Nana. However, Nana was even more muscular, and had black hair instead of Ms. Midoriya's green, but they were close enough to almost bring tears to Toshinori's eyes.

He couldn't afford to reminisce, however, as there were still two more people in the room. To Young Bakugou's right was a kind-looking man with brown, fluffy hair and rectangular glasses, and to his right was a young blond woman that looked like the spitting image of Young Bakugou, albeit slightly older. Young Bakugou's older sister, perhaps?

Young Bakugou's sister(?) was loudly telling a story when Toshinori entered the doorway to the room, saving him from discovery momentarily. "And I said 'Oatmeal? Are you goddamn crazy?'" Ms. Midoriya and the man across from her laughed at the apparent punchline.

If Toshinori were a prouder man, he would have denied that he felt anything at that moment. Thankfully, he was not, so he would gladly admit to those that he trusted that he was overwhelmed by panic.

He took a large step backward, hiding himself from view once again, and plucked Young Midoriya from his shoulder. "You didn't tell me that there were going to be more than just Young Bakugou and your mother here!" he hissed quietly, his eyes blown wide.

Young Midoriya squirmed in All Might's grasp, and he had the decency to look chastised. "I know, I know, and I'm sorry for not telling you. I swear I wasn't trying to trick you or anything. But we're all family here." Young Midoriya stopped squirming and stared down at Toshinori's wrist, his ears folded back behind his head. "My life would be so much different without Mitsuki and Masaru. My mom is everything to me, but she isn't the only one responsible for why I'm here right now, in your hands."

Toshinori faltered. He hadn't considered the rest of Young Midoriya's family. He brought Young Midoriya back up to his shoulder and remained silent.

"If this is a dealbreaker," the boy said quietly, "I understand. But I promise, if you can trust me, you can trust them."

At first, Toshinori said nothing. What could he say? This young rabbit was supposed to be the perfect successor. In a way, he still was. Deep down, Toshinori could feel a part of himself yearning to connect with Young Midoriya. He wanted the boy to be the one to bear his legacy, and Toshinori wished he could watch it happen.

Finally, he spoke aloud. "If I cannot trust my own successor, then I have chosen very poorly." He looked over at Young Midoriya and gave him a calm, reassuring smile. "I do trust you, my boy."

With that, he squared his shoulders and stepped back into the living room, prepared for anything.

"Jesus," the blond woman hissed the moment she noticed Toshinori. "What the hell happened to you?"

Almost anything.

"Mitsuki!" Ms. Midoriya snapped in a chastising manner, and the now named Mitsuki winced. Ms. Midoriya sighed and stood up before bowing to Toshinori. "I apologize for my friend's behavior, Mr. Yagi, she has a habit of speaking before her filter can stop her."

"Hey, Masaru stops me plenty of times!"

Toshinori couldn’t help but chuckle at the exchange, and raised his hands in a placating manner. “Not to worry, Ms. Midoriya, I’m not offended. I understand that my appearance can be rather unsettling to many.”

Young Midoriya poked Toshinori’s cheek and gave him an obviously exaggerated glare. “Hey, we have a rule in this home: No self depreciation at the dinner table.”

That got a lighthearted laugh out of Toshinori as he approached the table. “A very good rule to follow! I shall keep it in mind!”

When the duo got close enough to the table, Young Midoriya leapt from Toshinori’s shoulder onto his mother’s shoulder, crossed over the back of her neck, and hopped onto the table by a place setting between Ms. Midoriya and Young Bakugou.

“Now then,” Toshinori said as he sat down at the table across from Young Bakugou, “Shall we eat?”

Chapter Text

Over the course of the evening, Toshinori became acquainted with both families at the table. Ms. Midoriya was every bit as motherly as he had expected, and she did everything with great care for those around her. It took a great deal of willpower not to call her Master, and even more energy to avoid asking if she was familiar with, or perhaps even related to, anyone named Shimura.

The Bakugou family sat on the other end of the spectrum, with both mother and daughter as loud as a person could be in seemingly every aspect. They yelled often (usually at each other), laughed loudly, and always had a colorful comment about anything they disapproved of. The father was clearly the peacekeeper of the Bakugou family, soft spoken but firm whenever he did speak. It was an odd dynamic, in truth, but the family still worked well and clearly held great love for one another, despite whatever nicknames the two women would sling back and forth.

When it came time for Toshinori to introduce himself, he had considered revealing his true nature then and there. He had ultimately decided to save all the serious talk for after the dinner, as not to spoil the night. He was retroactively glad about that, as the food itself made for the best dinner Toshinori had had in a long time. Perhaps Ms. Midoriya was a connoisseur, with a secret ingredient she used just to Smash Toshinori’s taste buds into heaven itself, or perhaps it was the jovial atmosphere that everyone was bathing in. Most likely the latter, but Toshinori didn’t know Ms. Midoriya well enough to discredit the former.

Before long,dinner was finally over, and Toshinori helped clear the table of used and empty dishes. The time had come for Toshinori to fulfill his end of the bargain.

“Ms. Midoriya,” Toshinori started as he returned to the now clear table. “When we spoke on the phone yesterday, I mentioned that there was a great deal of information that we needed to discuss with Young Midoriya present.”

“With everyone present, Mr. Yagi,” Young Midoriya chimed in from his spot at the table.

Young Bakugou raised an eyebrow at the correction. “So you two assholes are finally gonna tell me what’s been going on?”

“Language,” Ms. Midoriya chided from the kitchen. She dried her hands and turned toward Toshinori with a serious look on her face that sent a chill down his spine. “But yes, I do remember.”

Ms. Bakugou’s eyes bounced between the occupants of the room and cocked an eyebrow. “Should I be worried that Inko’s gonna commit another murder or…?”

Toshinori choked on his own spit at the comment, which swiftly turned into a coughing fit. He was swift to retrieve the pack of tissues from his back pocket and coughed into one of them to hide the blood. He wiped his mouth as subtly as he could and ignored the look of concern on Young Midoriya’s face. "Goodness, I hope not," Toshinori said after his fit subsided. "I have quite a lot that needs to be done after tonight."

Ms. Midoriya chuckled and returned to her spot at the table. “Don’t worry, Mr. Yagi, you’ve been an excellent guest.”

"Not as excellent as you think, I'm afraid," Toshinori refuted. He couldn't put off the purpose of his attendance tonight any longer. "After all, I haven't been entirely truthful about my identity to you all, save for Young Midoriya and Young Bakugou."

The other adults frowned, confused by Toshinori's confession. "What do you mean by that?" Ms. Midoriya asked with a wary edge.

"It might be easier to explain if he shows you," Young Midoriya interjected.

Young Bakugou scoffed. "'Easier' my ass. I damn near attacked this jackass when he tried 'show, don't tell' with us.”

"With you, you mean. I already knew," Young Midoriya shot back almost smugly.

Ms. Bakugou's eyes bounced between the two children before settling on her friend across the table. "Hey, Inko? Do you still keep my bat in the same place?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Ms. Midoriya said in a calm, even tone of voice. It was an eerie calm that Toshinori didn't trust for a moment. "Now, Mr. Yagi, just what are our kids talking about?"

Toshinori had thought very hard about the previous incidents that revealed his identity over the past few days. The first time was an accident; He had no idea that Young Midoriya was hidden nearby when he had dropped his muscle form. The second time was, admittedly, a mistake. All Might is invincible, untouchable, the Number One Hero for more than a decade. To compare him to Toshinori Yagi, a man that suffered from chronic pain and looked more like a skeleton than a hero, would be futile at best.

He would need to lead into the reveal carefully this time.

“The first thing you all need to know,” Toshinori began, “is my real profession. I’m a pro hero, despite how I look right now.”

Ms. Bakugou opened her mouth to, most likely, count with a snide remark, but Mr. Bakugou placed one of his hands on her own, silencing her with a touch.

Toshinori nodded to the man graciously and continued. “There was a fight with a villain five years ago that I participated in. I won that fight, but it cost me part of my lung and my entire stomach. The countless surgeries and loss of my stomach wore me out over the past few years, resulting in how I look now.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry…” Ms. Midoriya said gently and reached out to touch one of Toshinori’s hands.

Ms. Bakugou crossed her arms with a pained expression on her face. “At least you got the bastard.”

Toshinori nodded and offered Ms. Midoriya a thankful smile. “Indeed. Better yet, I had discovered a new way to use my quirk to continue hero work!”

“‘Better yet’?” Ms. Midoriya interjected incredulously. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t possibly think that continuing hero work in your condition could be a good idea! At least—”

“Mom, please,” Young Midoriya interrupted. Toshinori mentally thanked the boy for sparing him the unfortunately familiar lecture. “Hear him out to the end. I promise everything will make sense.”

Ms. Midoriya’s gaze jumped between her son and Toshinori a few times before she sighed and sat back in her chair, allowing Toshinori to continue again.

“As I was saying, I found a way to replicate a transformation-type quirk, and that allowed me to continue performing hero work. Unfortunately, I’m unable to maintain my quirk for as long as I used to, only three hours per day. But during those three hours?”

Moment of truth. Toshinori pushed away from the table, stood up, and inflated into his hero form. “I am here.”

Surprise immediately overtook the faces of all the other adults in the room. Ms. Bakugou stammered, unable to formulate a full sentence. Mr. Bakugou’s hand flew to his mouth, shocked into silence. Worryingly, Ms. Midoriya looked just about ready to faint. She had braced herself against the table as she stared wide-eyed at All Might.

Young Midoriya cleared his throat and crossed the table to stand in front of All Might. “Mom, Mitsuki, Masaru. Meet All Might. All Might?” Young Midoriya bowed. “Thank you for accepting my invitation.”

“W-Wait a damn second,” Ms. Bakugou stuttered and pointed at All Might. “You can’t be serious. There’s no way in hell you’re All Might. I mean, for one, All Might wasn’t hurt five years ago. Toxic Chainsaw nailed the guy a couple times, but he barely even drew blood, let alone whatever shit you’ve gone through.”

All Might could do nothing but blink at the woman. “Goodness, was that fight really that memorable? Is that what my PR department did?”

Young Bakugou barked out a laugh. “Surprise, surprise, hag. You should see his scar, it’s absolutely disgusting.”

“Katsumi,” Ms. Midoriya hissed automatically. Young Bakugou looked away with a ‘tch.’

All Might chuckled and deflated with a puff of smoke. “She isn’t wrong, Ms. Midoriya. It’s not pretty to look at, so I would prefer to not show it off on a full stomach.”

“I see…” Ms. Midoriya replied breathlessly. “So… This is the secret you couldn’t tell me about.”

Young Midoriya nodded and sat down, idly running one of his hands over his ears. “Yeah. As unbelievable as it is, All Might was injured in a fight five years ago, badly . It wasn’t Toxic Chainsaw, but another villain no one knows about. They didn’t reveal that fight to the public.”

“I can understand why,” Mr. Bakugou finally said. “If people knew that All Might was injured as badly as he is, there would be a public outcry.”

“And villains would pop out of the woodworks,” Young Bakugou added.

Ms. Midoriya frowned, and her eyes fell to the table. "Mr. Yagi, I greatly appreciate your honesty, and I swear that all of us will keep this a secret." She looked back up at Toshinori, her eyes full of confusion and an uncomfortable amount of wariness. "But why are you sharing this with us at all?”

This is it, no backing out now, Toshinori thought to himself. Out loud, he replied, "To answer that, I must tell you one more secret, one that's even bigger and more personal than my injury."

“Even bigger than…?” Ms. Bakugou’s eyes blew wide. “What the fresh hell is even bigger than this?” she snapped, gesturing to Toshinori’s side.

“My quirk,” Toshinori answered. “There is a reason why I always dodge questions about it, or deflect with a joke.”

“Just a minute.”

Toshinori watched as Ms. Midoriya rose from her seat and padded over to the kitchen area, making a beeline for the refrigerator. The moment she opened it, Young Midoriya scrambled to the edge of the table to look around Toshinori. “Oh, Mom, really? Please, not right now.”

Ms. Midoriya removed two glass bottles of a fairly popular brand of beer from the fridge and closed the door with her hip. “Young man, if you honestly expect me to handle two world shattering secrets back to back without needing a drink, you have another thing coming.”

Young Midoriya’s ears folded back, chastised. “At least keep it to just one drink this time?”

“Of course,” Ms. Midoriya replied and gave her son a practiced reassuring smile. Not like one of Toshinori’s, but one that Nana used to give him . Never let it be said that the Number One Hero was immune to envy.

Ms. Midoriya spent a moment opening both bottles of beer, leaving the caps on the countertop for later, and returned to the table. She held one of the bottles out to Ms. Bakugou, who accepted it and immediately took a sip. Ms. Midoriya sat back down at her spot and took a much larger swig from her own bottle. “Okay,” she said finally. “I apologize for interrupting, Mr. Yagi. You were saying?”

Young Midoriya hurried across the table to return to his own spot, but not before quickly hugging his mother’s arm as he passed.

Toshinori chuckled lightly. “It’s quite alright, Ms. Midoriya. Your reaction is completely understandable. Now, back on topic. Officially, my quirk is listed vaguely as an enhancement quirk, but that’s only partly true. The real name of my quirk is One for All…”

Izuku’s gaze wandered between all the people in the room after Mr. Yagi finished talking. Mitsuki was staring at her beer bottle, swirling it around idly. Masaru wasn’t much better, also staring at the table as they processed the truth behind All Might’s quirk. Katsumi and his mother had contemplative looks on their faces, their minds no doubt racing.

They were handling the truth a lot better than Izuku had thought they would. His mother hadn't even fainted! Of course, she did finish her beer in record time, and Izuku had needed to convince her to avoid grabbing a second one. He only managed to talk her down to a bottle from her non-alcoholic stash.

After a painfully long silence, Inko finally spoke up. "So… you want to make my son the next Symbol of Peace."

Mr. Yagi nodded, his hands folded in front of him. "I believe he has every quality I've been looking for in a successor. Make no mistake, I have no doubt that he would make for an excellent hero in his own right, but I believe he can be so much more with my quirk."

She looked over at Izuku, who sat up straight, his ears trained on his mother. "And has he mentioned this to you, Izuku?"

"Yeah. After Kacchan stormed off, All Might told me about his quirk, and offered it to me. I, uh, I said I would accept it only if he came to dinner and told you all about it." Izuku fought to keep his ears from wilting out of embarrassment. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get over giving the Number One Hero an ultimatum.

"I knew there was something fishy going on with you two," Katsumi huffed to herself.

Inko smiled at her son, briefly reaching out to run a couple fingers through the boy’s hair. “Thank you for that, Izuku.” She turned back to Mr. Yagi with a serious expression. “But I have to ask, did you tell him about the drawbacks of your quirk?”

Mr. Yagi blinked. “Drawbacks?”

“Every quirk has drawbacks, even mutant types,” Mitsuki explained before she took a swig from her beer bottle. “I think I speak for all of us when I say you don’t have to tell us how to take you out, but what sort of repercussions would Izuku face if you gave him the quirk?”

Mr. Yagi grimaced. “Well, I certainly wouldn’t give it to him right away. I’ve held One for All for a very long time, and it’s certainly gotten stronger with me.” For a moment, he hesitated. “If I gave One for All to him right now, it… is entirely possible the quirk would hurt him. Severely. Like, ‘blow his limbs clean off’ severely.”

The room exploded into a cacophony of sound. Inko choked on her drink and fell into a coughing fit. Both Katsumi and Mitsuki started yelling at the Number One Hero for even suggesting that Izuku take such a dangerous quirk, while Masaru was doing his best to calm down his wife and daughter. Izuku was the only one who was silent, trying to process the fact that he very well could die if he accepted One for All tonight. He wasn’t doing a very good job.

“Everyone, please!” Mr. Yagi called out above the noise. “That was the reason why I had no intention of offering him my quirk immediately!” That was enough to calm down the room, though Katsumi was still glaring at All Might with every ounce of her fury. “Young Midoriya will need to strengthen his body further in order to accept my quirk without injuring himself! In fact, before I arrived, I had been working on a plan to help grow his strength as quickly as possible.”

“I will be looking over that plan of yours, mister,” Inko demanded, pointing her bottle at Mr. Yagi.

The man raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, as if that could save him from Inko’s wrath. “Of course, of course. There’s several details I will need you and Young Midoriya’s help with, as I’ve never met someone with a mutation quirk as unique as his own. If I’m going to help him get stronger, I’ll definitely need to know more about his physique.”

Inko hummed in acceptance and drank the last of her beer, setting the empty bottle down with a clink. “Is there a diet plan to go with all of this?”

“There is. I actually brought the first draft of it with me, if you’d like to look it over?”

While Izuku’s mother and Mr. Yagi talked about the finer details of Izuku’s new workout plan for the foreseeable future, Izuku heard Katsumi scoff under her breath. “Damn, now I’ve gotta step up my game too…”

Izuku hopped over to his best friend and sat down in front of her. “What’s wrong, Kacchan, afraid I’ll be able to lift you one day?”

For some reason, Katsumi’s cheeks turned pink, yet she snarled at Izuku. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Chewtoy, just ‘cause you’ll be training with the Number One doesn’t mean you'll leave me in the dust. The UA Entrance Exam is in ten months. We’ll see who’s better than who there.”

Izuku smirked. “How about a bet then? Whoever places higher in the entrance exam wins.”

Katsumi’s eyes narrowed. “And the loser?”

“Has to follow every single command that the winner issues for a day.”

Katsumi’s face split into a malicious smile that made Izuku’s rabbit side tremble and his heart beat faster. “You’re so on, Deku. I look forward to making you my pet for a day.”

Izuku laughed. “Who’s to say you won’t be my pet one day?”

Katsumi launched Izuku off the table with an explosion. He deserved that.