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When he woke up that morning, Izuku had absolutely no idea that today would turn out to be a massive clusterfuck if he did say so himself. Many thanks to Bakugou for teaching him about that wonderfully descriptive word.
Honestly, the day had started the same as any other. He woke up to the sounds of his All Might alarm chanting Morning Is Here, blinking the tiredness out of his eyes as he tried to remember if being a hero was really worth leaving his nice warm bed. He’d been up late the night before updating his quirk notebook, so he’d not got quite as much sleep as he should have. Well, no rest for the wicked, or the aspiring hero, as they say.
He staggered to the bathroom, taking care of business quickly before he set about his usual morning routine. First brushing his teeth before moving on to try and tame his mess of green hair. After a few minutes of that losing battle, he gave up and went to slip into his uniform.
The tie, as always, gave him fits but he was used to it by now and just accepted that the quirk he would be most known for would be looking like a total mess no matter what he did. The good thing was, he didn’t care overly much. He wasn’t out to impress anyone with his appearance, just his deeds. Plus his costume had a hood, so that helped.
With this thought in mind, he headed down to the kitchen/common area, hoping he wasn’t the first one up again. It was always eerie when it was just him down there. As luck would have it, it seemed that a fair few of his classmates had decided to get up early, some even already seeing to breakfast.
Just the slightest whiff of food made Izuku realize just how hungry he was, his stomach growling in response to his thoughts. Eggs sounded good, and they were relatively hard to screw up. Eggs it was then.
He met up with Iida at the fridge, where the taller teen was gathering the ingredients for his usual morning health smoothie. It wasn’t horrible really and didn’t taste too bad, but it looked like swamp sludge so most of the class avoided him when he was making it. He tended to want to share, something about it being a ‘Class representative's duty to make sure his classmates were taking good care of their health’. Honestly, it was really nice that he cared about them all so much, but it was also a little overwhelming.
“Good morning, Midoriya.” Iida piped up as he gathered the last of the required greens. “I trust your night was productive and restful?”
“Yeah, I slept pretty good. How was yours?” asked Izuku, setting about grabbing his own eggs. Three should be good. Ooh, and there was still some ham leftover from breakfast the morning before. Maybe he’d make an omelet...
“It would have been better if Bakugo hadn’t insisted on shouting halfway through the night.” Iida nearly growled this, and it was enough to make Izuku look up from where he was drooling over the ham.
“What was he yelling at?”
“I don’t have any idea, really, but it was very rude.”
“What was rude, you four-eyed prick?” Came a voice from just behind Iida. They both froze like deer caught in the headlights of a particularly reckless and explosive semi. Bakugo stepped around Iida so he could stare him down, height difference be damned. “Well, got something to say to me?”
Iida visibly pulled himself up to his full height, tapping into the mighty power of Class Rep. “It was rude of you to be shouting like that while others were trying to sleep,” he answered, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“Yeah? Well, for your information that wasn’t me. I was asleep by eight-thirty, and that loud ass bullshit woke me up too. Now move will ya, some of us have shit to do,” He grumbled as he shoved past them, digging through the cupboards for something Izuku couldn’t see.
“Actually, that screaming was moi,” Chimed in Aoyama as he made his fabulous way down the stairs. How one person could radiate that much sparkle without actually having a disco ball quick was a miracle. “I was almost done painting my toenails the most beautiful baby blue when my hand slipped. It was très tragique!” He pressed a hand to his chest as his lip trembled. No actual tears fell though.
Izuku cracked his eggs into a pan and set about making the best omelet he could. Which pretty much just meant not burnt.
“Nah, Aoyama your scream was way too high for the one I heard,” said Kaminari from his spot face planted on one of the tables. It seemed like Jiro had dragged him out of bed early again, and he was not happy.
“It was me,” came a deep voice from the stairs. They all looked up, almost in unison, to see Tokoyami looking flustered. Well, as flustered as someone with a bird head could. “I apologize. The sink in my bathroom refused to shut off and spilled water nearly everywhere. I became far more...vocal in my distress than I intended.” If he could be blushing through his feathers, Izuku figured he would have.
“Oh, Tokoyami that’s ok!” Izuku said, not liking to see his friend look so upset. “I think we all understand frustration. Everyone here’s lost control of our reactions at some point. And a flooded bathroom had to be a horrible thing to wake up to, so I don’t think anyone here will blame you for your reaction.” He paused, blushing when he realized that he’d just ranted in front of pretty much everyone.
The blush only got worse when Bakugo spoke up from behind him. “Yeah nice speech, Deku, but can you come get your fucking eggs. They’re burning.”
He turned quickly, all but sprinting the few steps back to the stove. Sure enough, his eggs were burnt. Not badly enough that he couldn’t eat them, but still. That’s what he got for turning the heat up to cook them faster. Annoyed with himself he scooped them onto a plate and took a seat at the table with Iida, Uraraka, and Todoroki.
Todoroki slid his plate over a bit to make room for Izuku even though there was plenty of space, and it made Izuku smile at how considerate Todoroki really was now that he was being himself. He was just getting settled and deciding how best to salvage his eggs when he heard Iida mention something about a break-in.
“What?” he asked, looking up.
“I said there was an alert at the water treatment plant last night, but they found no signs of an intruder,” answered Iida, his hands moving in that little robot motion of his. Izuku would never say it was cute, but it was at least in the general vicinity.
“That’s weird, I wonder what set it off then,” There was hot sauce on the table and at this point, he had nothing to lose. He poured some on his eggs and dug in. Surprisingly, they weren’t horrible.
Before Iida could answer, Uraraka was chiming in, “The official story is a security system malfunction. They did an upgrade last week and they figure that something in the coding got screwed up. But that still doesn’t explain why they called in heroes,”
“If they suspected someone was on the premises that shouldn’t be, they may have wanted to take precautions,” said Todoroki quietly as he took a sip of tea.
“True, but wouldn’t it make more sense to simply bring in the police instead of heroes?” asked Iida, seemingly deep in thought, though that was a pretty typical facial expression for him.
“It would normally, but with the League showing up everywhere, I think they’re all just on high alert. Everything is seen as a potential threat,” said Izuku with a shrug, licking some sauce off his lip. He noticed that Todoroki was looking in his direction so he smiled. The small smile he got in return he’d definitely classify as adorable. Not that he’d ever tell Todoroki.
“You’re right of course, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that,” Iida’s hands were chopping even harder now. “I need to work on my situational analysis skills!”
“It’s fine Iida, this is just really new is all,” said Uraraka, a spoonful of rice hovering halfway to her mouth. “None of us really know what’s going on. But, at least it was a false alarm!”
Izuku was just about to answer when Bakugo sauntered over, hefting a giant plate of pancakes. He huffed, looking menacingly out the window. If the downpour had been capable of sight, thought, or emotion it may have fled in terror of that murderous expression. As for the occupants of the table, they were too busy eyeing the pancakes. Ever since they’d all teamed up to save him from All For One he’d been doing things like this for them. Though every time he did, it looked like it was actually killing him. Except for when it was for Kirishima, that is.
“Well don’t just stare at ‘em, eat up you damn bastards,” Bakugo growled, hands clenched into fists at his sides. Then he was stomping away back to the kitchen. Without further ado, Izuku, Iida, and Uraraka dug in like they were starving children who’d just been let loose at a banquet. Only Todoroki remained calm, though the look in his eye told of a deep internal struggle with his baser need to dive headfirst into the heavenly stack. The eggs lay forgotten.
***
The pancakes had blown most talk of the break-in out of their minds by the time they got to class. Now they were focusing more on how such a cold, bitter heart could make such amazingly fluffy and delicious pancakes. Bakugo was shouting about murdering ‘the whole fucking bunch of your ungrateful asses’. He froze and fell silent, however, when Kirishima thanked him. Then he turned as red as a cherry and almost all of class 1-A would swear that they saw smoke come out of his ears.
It wasn’t until he was on his way to lunch that Izuku’s day took another turn for the strange. Well, strange wasn’t really the right word. Awkward maybe? Yeah, that felt better.
He’d ducked into the bathroom on the way to lunch, telling his friends to go on ahead, and on his way back out he’d run nearly headfirst into a girl he’d never seen before. That wasn’t the strange part, there were plenty of people at UA he’d never seen before. No, the strange part would happen the second she tilted her head back.
She was around his height, maybe an inch shorter, with really long metallic blue hair, pointed ears, and the oddest pale blue eyes he’d ever seen. They had no pupil, and almost looked to have cataracts they were so milky. The way she looked at him, though, suggested she had no problem seeing. Her eyes were eerie, seeming to stare through him. He took an instinctive step back.
“Oh, uh, sorry,” he stammered, holding up his hands. She cocked her head, mouth curling in a smile that would have been sweet if it weren’t for the strange edge to it.
“No worries! I should have been watching where I was going!” She sounded chipper, but in a gratingly fake way.
“No, I should have been, uh, watching. Sorry...” he couldn’t stop stammering. Way to be an awkward nerd, Deku. “I should, uh, get to lunch...”
“Yeah, you should. I should too,” She nodded slowly, still not looking away from him. She blinked and looked around, seemingly for a path through the other students. “See you around, Midoriya Izuku.”
It took until he was sitting down with Tsu, Todoroki, and Iida to realize that he’d never told her his name. Maybe she’d know it from the sports festival? Yeah, that had to be it.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Todoroki leaning into him just enough for him to be able to be heard over Iida and Tsu going over something about their math class. “Are you alright, Midoriya? You look worried.”
He started, instantly trying to wipe the look off his face. By the small, amused smile he got from Todoroki, whatever his face looked like now must have been worse. “Yeah, I’m good. Just...thinking.”
“About All Might’s retirement again?” Coming from someone else, the way Todoroki phrased it would have been rude, but Izuku knew that he was just worried and didn’t quite know how to show it.
“No, not this time. I just ran into someone in the hall. She was…a little intense. Nothing to worry about,” he answered, shaking his head. That was the truth, nothing had happened, so then why did he feel so uneasy?
The feeling was pushed to the back of his mind, however, when Uraraka came limping towards the table. She sat down with a wince, taking a second to arrange her bag, and it was then that Izuku noticed that her shirt was wet.
“Hey Ochako, are you alright?” Tsu asked, leaning around Iida to get a better look at her. Uraraka huffed out a breath, pushing damp hair out of her eyes.
“I’m fine Tsu, I just slipped on a puddle in the bathroom. It looked like the sink leaked or something, but I didn’t see it in time. I landed on my knee, but it’s not too bad.” she answered, a blush coloring her cheeks. She was probably embarrassed that she’d fallen despite her zero-gravity quirk.
“That’s strange. First Tokoyami’s sink and now this. Could it have something to do with the storm?” Iida was back in his thinking pose, tapping his chin rhythmically.
“It’s possible but unlikely,” said Todoroki, setting his bowl of soba down. “There are safeguards to keep pipes from backing up, and storm drains aren’t connected to water pipes. It is possible that it’s just a coincidence. A lot has happened lately, what with the new buildings and the adjustments they must have required. Perhaps something went wrong?”
“I mean yeah, that totally could have happened. They built the dorms in, what was it, three days? There’s bound to be tons of room for error. Did you let anyone know about it?” Izuku asked, his mind racing now. There was something niggling, something just beyond his reach. If he could only think a little harder…
“Yeah of course I did, Deku. They said they’d look into it. Anyway, like I said it’s not that big of a deal. We’d better eat up, we have English after this and those conjunctions always make me extra hungry.”
They all laughed at that, even Izuku who actually didn’t mind English. Yeah sure, it was hard to figure out sometimes, but he loved a challenge. It helped the Present Mic was a hell of a good teacher too.
“Why do they have to have so many different ways of pronouncing things?” muttered Todoroki, almost low enough as to go unnoticed.
“Ugh, I know right? And what’s with the words that sound the same but mean different things! Like, produce; the food kind, and produce; like to make something. It’s so freaking confusing!” Uraraka’s voice deepened into a growl of unbridled rage at the unfairness of the English language. A nod of agreement passed through their group.
“Oh come on guys, it’s actually not that hard once you get the hang of it,” Izuku said without really thinking about it. In an instant, four sets of eyes landed on him, all out for blood. Preferably his.
“We get it, Midoriya, you’re a masochist,” said Tsu, wide dark eyes boring into his soul.
“What? That’s not what I-”
“I mean it does make sense, considering his quirk,” Iida interrupted, sliding his glasses up his nose, his eyebrows raising menacingly.
“And it would explain why he spent his childhood following Bakugo around,” Todoroki added, head cocked ever so slightly, the red section of his hair falling away to reveal his scar in more detail.
“So, tell us Deku. Are you a masochist?” This came from Uraraka, who was pushing herself across the table to hover over him. Izuku could feel himself starting to blush.
“I’m not...you guys I’m not a masochist,” he said, voice cracking.
“That’s just what a masochist would want you to believe,” Uraraka’s eyes narrowed as she leaned closer, but her lips were twitching. A second later she burst out laughing. Iida and Tsu were quick to follow, holding their sides as they giggled. Even Todoroki was chuckling softly behind the noodles he’d resumed eating.
“You should’ve seen your face!” Uraraka gasped between giggles.
“Yeah yeah, really funny guys,” Izuku grumbled, trying to sound angry. He couldn’t pull it off, though, and soon he was laughing right along with them.
***
It was after class and he was just gathering up his things with the rest of 1-A when an announcement came over the loudspeaker. “Could Midoriya Izuku please come to the nurse's office. Midoriya to the nurse's office. Thank you!”
Izuku knew the voice, but he couldn’t place it. It wasn’t Recovery Girl, so it must have been one of her assistants. But why would they want him? Had something happened with All Might?
“Want us to come with you, Deku?” asked Uraraka as she slung her bag over her shoulder. He shook his head.
“No I should be fine, you guys go on. I’ll be there soon. Don’t forget we’re working on English tonight,” There was a groan from half the class, who all hated the language and everything it stood for with a passion. He grabbed his things and headed out the door, making his way to the nurse's station as quickly as possible.
It didn’t take him long to get there, the path burned into his memory by now, and in no time at all, he was knocking on the door. Recovery Girl’s reedy voice was calling for him to come in, and he braced himself for whatever he would see when he pushed that door open.
What he saw was...nothing. No All Might. No disaster. Nothing at all except Recovery Girl in her chair at her desk, looking at him with that all too familiar expression of worry and exasperation.
“Oh, it’s you. What is it this time, Midoriya?” she asked, annoyance just barely creeping into her voice. He fought a wince.
“What? But you...you sent for me, ma’am. Didn’t you?” he asked, eyebrows lowering in confusion. She looked just as confused, shaking her head.
“No, why would I do that? Are you injured?”
“No, ma’am. I’m fine. Sorry to bother you,” he turned, ignoring her pleas for him to wait. Something wasn’t right.
He made his way back towards the exit, wondering if he should go see All Might, but even if he did what could he do? Without One For All, All Might was too weak to fight now, and anyway, Izuku wasn’t even sure there was anything going on.
He’d just stepped outside and was cursing himself for forgetting his umbrella when he heard it. A girl was crying somewhere close by. All thoughts of the rain forgotten, he followed the sound, careful not to slip on the wet grass.
It took him longer than he expected, considering how well he could hear her over the howling wind, but eventually, he saw a pale, metallic blue shimmer of hair behind a set of bushes towards the back of the school. Soaked to the bone and shivering he almost cried with relief.
“Are you alright?” he called, loud over the wind. She froze, curling in on herself.
“H-help me! I slipped on the grass and I fell,” she cried, shoulders shaking. He took a step towards her when something that was niggling in his brain finally pushed to the forefront. Her hair wasn’t wet, and neither were her clothes. Now, that could just be part of her quirk, he didn’t know, but what was she doing all the way back here? And how had he heard her over all this wind?
“Are you injured?” he asked, not wanting to jump to too many conclusions in case she really was just an unlucky student, and he was reading too much into a perfectly normal situation. Still, though, he didn’t get any closer just in case.
“I think I rolled my ankle,” she answered, still not facing him.
“Just stay here, I’ll go get a teacher who can help us,” he said, taking a step back. He didn’t see her tense, didn’t see the way the rain froze around her as he turned to run, all he saw was the rain solidifying into the shape of a person behind him before a punch was landing solidly in his stomach.
Izuku grunted, doubling over as all the air was knocked out of him, pain radiating through his torso. He had just enough time to look up, to see the strange girl from earlier, only this time half of her face was made of water in the vague shape of features before a punch was landing on his cheek. His head snapped sideways, causing him to stagger. Somehow he managed to keep from falling over, but only just.
“Aww, poor Izuku. You’re not going anywhere,” she whispered, and it was only then that he realized he could hear her voice through the rain.
“Wha-” Was all he got out before a foot, or water in the shape of a foot slammed into the side of his head. Reflexively he tried to grab it but his hand just went right through. She laughed, high and grating, and he wanted to cover his ears but he was too busy trying to see where she was.
“You know, I thought about trying for All Might, but there was no way I was winning that fight,” she said, suddenly above him with a spinning kick. He managed to duck out of the way and she splashed, formless, onto the ground. “Now, though, I get no points for killing a useless old husk. But you, Midoriya Izuku. I get so many points if I kill you.”
He dodged back just as she leaped out of a puddle with a punch that was aimed for his throat. Again he tried to retaliate, and again she just wasn’t there. Merely splashing to the ground.
“Points from who?” he asked, wiping rain out of his eyes. He scanned the area for her, but he had no idea what to look for.
“Why the League of Villains of course. Who else?” she muttered directly behind him before her knee hit his back. He went down gasping, sharp pain radiating up his spine.
Think, think, think! Where is she? But it was no use. The minute she was there she was gone again. He could barely even dodge let alone track her, and there was no way he could get a shot in with her turning into water like that. In that case, he just needed to be faster.
He took a deep breath. One For All he exhaled Full Cowling. Green light burst from his skin and his muscles felt like they were on fire. He shook with the effort to control it, but he knew now that he could.
“Neat trick!” Izuku turned towards the sound of her voice just in time to dodge another punch. He hopped backward, throwing a punch of his own that had no hope of landing. He was just starting to think, to try to figure out what to do, when he heard the sound of uneven footfalls and labored breathing.
“Young Midoriya!” All Might rounded the corner, fear in his sunken eyes as he took in the scene in front of him. Izuku powered up and prepared for a fight with no obvious opponent. In the split-second distraction, the villain seemed to almost coalesce from the rain, twisting to land a solid kick to Izuku’s abdomen. He doubled over, coughing, all thoughts of Full Cowling lost as pain wracked him. He had just enough time to right himself to see the girl almost skipping between raindrops, half in and half out of water form. In mere seconds she was in front of All Might, a wicked smile on the solid half of her face.
“So glad you could join us, All Might! Or do you still call yourself that now that you’re worth less than the mud you’re standing in?” she questioned, her voice full of false interest. “Wait, never mind. I don’t care! You’re not why I’m here!” She raised a hand and in an instant the rain pulled together, forming a bubble around All Might. He floated upwards in it, eyes wide with panic as he scrambled to try and get free. It was clear he couldn’t breathe.
With a groan of pain, Izuku pushed himself up. It hurt sure, but it was hardly the worst he’d ever felt. Another deep breath, and then green light once again flared over his skin. Full cowling.
While she was focusing on All Might, he channeled his energy into his legs. Shoot style. He had to end this quickly. There was no way All Might could last long in there, not in his current state. He jumped, rocketing forward with as much speed as he could muster. He was inches away from her when cold water closed around him.
Izuku flailed, trying to get his bearings and unable to breathe, and it only took him a second to realize what had happened. She could control two of those water prisons? Wait, no, she’s more solid now.
Where she was now, between them, only her legs were still water. Her torso and face were solid once more, and judging by the tightness in her eyes maintaining both prisons wasn’t easy on her. Ok, new plan.
He thrust his hand out behind him, releasing the built-up energy he’d been planning to use on his shoot style. The sphere of water broke, reforming an instant later, but it was enough. He saw her teeth clench with the effort it took to reform it.
Izuku thrashed, sending out as many hits as he could, making her reform the bubble over and over again until he could see her arms shaking. All Might was still struggling, trying desperately to claw at the wall of his bubble, but Izuku could see he was losing strength. He had to hurry, not just for All Might but for himself too.
Lungs screaming, head pounding, he focused as much energy as he dared into his legs. Water was more solid than air. If he was fast enough he could use the shock wave of his shoot-style to propel him forward. If he could hit her upper body, he didn’t think she could get away in time. It had to work.
Eight percent. Just enough, he hoped, but not too much.
He kicked off, surging forward though not as fast as he’d hoped. Still, it was enough. With a gasp, he broke the surface of the bubble and hit the ground with a roll. He came up with a roar that ripped at his throat and put everything he had into a kick aimed at her still smiling face.
She gasped, smile fading just slightly before his foot connected with a crunch of splintered bone and cartilage. There was a soft, wet thump and she dropped to the ground, blood pouring down her face only to be washed quickly away by the downpour.
All Might fell a second later, dropping into a puddle left by the water prison. To Izuku’s horror, he was still. He knew at that moment that he should check on the villain to make sure she was really out. Tie her up, or figure out another way to restrain her, or something so she couldn’t get away.
He ran to All Might.
Beneath that mustard yellow suit jacket and nearly see-through white dress shirt, his thin chest was still. Izuku pressed his ear to it, breathless himself. He almost started crying when he heard a soft thump, thump, thump.
Using his rescue training, he tipped All Might on his side and hooked a finger in his mouth to get his tongue out of the way. Almost instantly a flood of water came out followed by a few wet, spluttering coughs. All Might pulled in a shaking breath before his eyes opened, fixing on Izuku’s.
The prickling, burning heat of fresh tears welled up behind Izuku’s eyes once more and this time they were too strong to resist. He all but collapsed onto All Might’s thin, still heaving chest, gripping onto him like a child.
After a silent, shocked second All Might’s arms were wrapped securely around Izuku’s shoulders, shifting them so they could sit a bit more comfortably. He pressed his face to All Might’s chest, shaking with sobs as his mind showed him an entirely different outcome. One that left no arms to hold him like this.
***
“The girl is Namikawa Isui, also known as Water Nymph to the riff-raff she works with. She’s a thief who’s quirk allowed her to control the water around and inside her. She’s especially powerful in the rain, or when submerged. It seemed that she was looking to up her game by joining the League of Villains, though. As far as we can tell, she got in through the pipes and has been using them to get around the school pretty much unnoticed all day. That’s all we know so far.” Aizawa said, reading from the report on his phone. He’d been given the information be the police when they’d come to arrest Namikawa.
He was standing between All Might and Izuku’s beds in the infirmary, looking very much like a drowned rat. His long black hair was plastered to his face and neck, and he kept trying to push it back only for it to fall forward again.
Not five minutes after the fight had ended, Aizawa and most of class 1-A had stumbled upon All Might and Izuku, still on the ground and shaking in the freezing downpour. It turns out that Iida had been suspicious, as had Todoroki when the call had come in from the nurse’s office. They’d gone to inform Aizawa, who’d told them that no such announcement had been made, meaning it had only come through the speakers in the classroom. Together, though he’d told the class to go back to the dorms, they went to see Recovery Girl. When they’d learned that Izuku wasn’t there, they’d gone on a hunt to find him.
It was Tsu who’d been the one to do it, as she was the best at navigating in the rain. She’d then used her phone to call Uraraka, who’d informed the rest of the class what was happening.
“Well, at least it wasn’t your quirk this time,” griped Recovery Girl as she planted the last of her kisses, and placed the final bandage. “Now you two stay here for a bit, I’ll come to get you when you can leave.”
Aizawa shifted out of her way, eyes locking with All Might’s. Some kind of understanding seemed to pass between them, and then he was turning on his heel and heading for the door. “Be ready for class tomorrow, Midoriya. We’ll be working on honing your quirk again. Oh, and nice kick.” With that, he was gone.
Izuku nodded, still not quite ready to speak. Normally he’d be ecstatic at receiving praise from the typically withdrawn Eraserhead, but right now it was all too much to process. He’d had a lot of things running through his head since the fight, and he wasn’t sure how to deal with them just yet. He wanted to talk to All Might, but he didn’t know how to start. Turns out, he didn’t have to.
“I’m sorry I was so useless back there,” came All Might’s quiet, subdued voice. Izuku started, not expecting him to talk.
“What? No! I should be the one apologizing! I never should have let her get that close to you!” he said, voice pitching up embarrassingly high but he didn’t care right now.
“It shouldn’t have to be your job to protect me, young Midoriya. I’m your teacher. I should be able to protect you.” There was a deep sadness in All Might’s dark eyes.
“But sir, with One For All gone-” But All Might cut him off before he could finish.
“Don’t you think I know that, kid? I know I’m useless now. You don’t need to tell me that I’m nothing but a burden in a fight!” he snapped, muscles going taut under thin skin.
“That wasn’t what I-”
“Wasn’t what you were going to say?” The laugh that came out of All Might’s throat was sharp and humorless. “Yes, it was. Maybe not with those words, but it’s what you would have meant.”
There was nothing Izuku could say. It was what he was thinking, if not in so many words. All Might was frail now, and with no quirk to fall back on, he was far more in danger during a fight than he ever had been before. Izuku’s fingers clenched tight on his pant legs. Tears ran hot down his cheeks, that sense of dread he’d felt earlier welling up inside him. He didn’t want to lose All Might. He didn’t know if he could come back from that. Today, with Water Nymph, it was just a horrible reminder of what was waiting for them. Whether tomorrow or ten years from now. All Might wasn’t immortal, and Izuku absolutely fucking hated it.
He didn’t realize he was shaking until All Might’s hand was on his. “Hey, Midoriya, listen. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’ve been frustrated lately, but that doesn’t give me the right to take it out on you.” Izuku shook his head, sniffling, trying to make the tears stop.
“You were right though. That’s what I was thinking,” he said, voice trembling. With a soft sigh, All Might’s warm arms were once again wrapping around him, pulling him close. He pressed a quick, soft kiss to Izuku’s muddy, soaked green hair.
“Well, it’s not like it’s not true.” he paused, “Thank you, Izuku, for saving me.”
Izuku gasped, pulling back just enough to look into All Might’s face. He’d never called Izuku by his first name before, not to his face at least. And the fact that All Might was thanking him for saving him…
He felt a fresh wave of tears spill down his cheeks. All Might sighed, though not without affection. “Ok, kid, time to pull yourself together. Don’t want you crying in front of the police when they take our statements. They need to be able to understand you, after all.” Izuku nodded, wiping a hand across his eyes.
“Alright. Don’t worry, All Might. I’ve got this!” His voice was still shaking, and there were still tears in his eyes, but he stood tall as they walked to the room where the police waited. The future was unknown, for himself, his friends, All Might, but he knew that at least for now he could get through it.
All Might rested an arm across his shoulders, pulling him in for a quick side hug.
“That’s my boy,” he said with a smile. Not a picture-perfect, All MightTM smile, but a genuine smile filled with warmth and love. Izuku couldn’t help the swell of pride and happiness that filled his chest.
There was just one last question niggling at his mind, though. “Hey All Might, how did you know where I was?” he asked.
“Hmm, oh that? I saw you running past the teacher’s office window. I was wondering if you’d decided to try to do some training in the rain and I was going to offer my services.” he answered with a slightly more crooked version of that same smile.
It struck Izuku then that no matter what the future held, no matter how much joy or pain, heartache or happiness he would welcome it with open arms. Because whatever future he got meant that he could have this moment, right now, living his dream with friends he never thought he could have, with a quirk he thought impossible, and with All Might as not just his hero, but also his mentor. And despite everything he’d faced and everything that was still yet to come, he wouldn’t change a thing.