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“Hey Fatgum.”
“Yeah, Riot?”
His younger intern (although maybe not the smaller for long – he was growing fast and Fatgum expected him to tower over Suneater and most everyone else soon) was chewing his lip with those shark-teeth the way he did when he was hesitating to say something. “Come on, kid, spit it out,” he encouraged with a teasing grin. He really had a reputation of taking interns with confidence issues, but man, he just loved seeing them grow stronger and more sure of themselves.
Kirishima blew out a breath. “Okay, so. You and Ryuukyuu both take on interns, right? And Ryuukyuu is a really powerful female hero – not that being female makes someone any better or worse at being a hero, but like she’s just quiet and strong and powerful and super awesome without being, like, a media hero. And you have… well, us,” he wavered, gesturing vaguely between himself and Suneater, who jumped and burrowed his face into his cowl at the even slight attention. “Like, we have some problems or whatever. We’re working on them, but you help a lot.”
He shook his head. “What I’m trying to say is, would you or her take another intern? Or two? I have some friends I think could really use the, like, guidance or whatever. Um.” He seemed to have run himself into something of a wall. “Just a thought. Never mind, it’s not a big deal, I haven’t brought it up to them and I know you’re both pros and way busier than just taking care of some first-year students and–”
“What are their names?” Fatgum interrupted. He didn’t like talking over either of his interns, but Riot was starting to spiral and he wanted to know where this thought was going.
Red Riot blinked. “Yaoyorozu. I mean, Creati. And Sugarman. Creati’s amazing but she’s got as many problems as me, and everyone kinda overlooks Sugarman even though he’s crazy strong and also the best baker in the universe – seriously, Fat, you gotta try his cookies. They’re better than Sashihara-san’s, I swear.”
Fatgum laughed. “Okay, that I gotta see. Or taste, I guess. But tell me, why me? Or Ryuukyuu, since you mentioned her too. What would we specifically give these two young heroes that they wouldn’t get elsewhere?”
“Okay, look.” Riot was talking to the ground now, but at least he was trying. Fatgum was patient and let the young hero collect his thoughts. “I know I’ve got problems with, like, confidence. Self-esteem issues or whatever. Yaomomo does too. We don’t talk all that much directly, but it’s not a secret. She’s the class VP and is a real actual genius, but she doesn’t seem to think so. She can make anything! Her quirk processes fat into other materials, and if she knows how something is made she can just create it. It’s awesome.”
As always, once he was talking about someone other than himself Riot had perked right back up, eyes sparkling as he recounted his classmate’s abilities. “That’s why I think you would be the best mentor for her. Your quirks are similar, on a basic level at least. Yours lets you absorb and deflect energy in fights, and hers lets her make things. But they’re both food- and body-based, and I think she’s been having a hard time with that. She had a mini-internship with Uwabami, but I heard her telling Todoroki that she didn’t like it. Creati doesn’t want to be a media hero – she wants to be combat or rescue. She could do anything, but I think she keeps getting pushed towards more social aspects, and she doesn’t like it but it’s really hard to change that and it’s hard for her to push for it.”
He seemed to have gotten himself stuck again, but once again Fatgum just let him work through it, listening easily as the young hero blundered his way through his thoughts. “I really think you – and Ryuukyuu, I hadn’t really thought about her until we learned that she’s your sister but she’s so awesome and so good with Uravity and Froppy and I think she could help Creati with, like, being a female hero without falling into the mess of being a ‘Female Hero’ – but I think you could really help her, like you helped me! And Suneater,” he added, patting the other hero absentmindedly on the shoulder as he tried to hide harder in his cowl. “Creati is like us, and you’ve helped us. So. I thought you might be able to help her, too. Yeah.” And now it was Riot’s turn to turn red and duck away.
Fatgum could just about cry. When he’d had only Suneater, he could have just blown off their both having similar quirks in terms of food intake need as the reason he’d taken the cripplingly-shy young student under his wing. But once Amajiki brought Red Riot to him, he couldn’t hide it anymore.
Although others had directed criticisms his way, Taishiro had been relatively comfortable in himself his whole life. There had been some times of doubt, but for the most part he’d just brushed off people’s words and been content. It wasn’t always easy, but he’d had support and his own confidence in himself and his abilities, and he’d done well.
When he’d first seen Amajiki, it had been like a magnet linking into place. He couldn’t just leave him. It was a big work, but he was determined to help this young man with so much power but so little confidence. Things hadn’t changed now: he just had two interns instead of one.
Or maybe three. Four? How many interns could Fatgum feasibly take on? He wanted them all, but things weren’t that simple. Maybe it didn’t have to be official internships – maybe he could just host some training sessions, or invite the group out to lunch, or something. Poor Aizawa was far too overworked with his twenty students, he just couldn’t devote the time and attention that each needed. Spreading the work out between a few more pros would help, especially if they could match students to adults with similar quirks or styles. Fatgum had some contacts who might be interested, and between Aizawa, Kirishima, and Ryuukyuu’s first-years there was enough understanding of the group to determine what was needed. Hmm, maybe he could make a real project out of this…
The group got distracted when a man so old he’d practically turned into a cricket came over and pleaded for them to come rescue his poor kitten from where she was stuck in a tree. Fatgum was a professional and held in his laughter at the absurdity, and off they went.
While Red Riot climbed the tree – what he lacked in skill and agility he made up for in enthusiasm – Suneater edged over to stand beside Fatgum. Well. “Beside” for Amajiki really meant “mostly behind and slightly to the side, enough to catch a glimpse of out of the corner of one’s eye like a moth,” but Fatgum was used to it and didn’t turn or react in any way that might startle his anxious intern.
When he spoke, Suneater’s voice was so quiet Fatgum had to strain to catch the words. “He was telling the truth, you know.”
Fatgum waited. With Amajiki, you had to. Responding would likely make him so nervous that either his words would dissolve into nonsense or he’d stop talking altogether. So the pro stood quietly, watching his younger intern haul himself up another branch after the cat, which was actually probably not even really stuck and was watching the Sturdy Hero with a mix of disdain and feline amusement.
“You helped.” Fatgum kept his eyes forward, but returned most of his attention to Suneater. “I know it’s not a lot – I know I’m still… I still have a lot of problems, but it’s better. In my head. I still don’t want to be out there like you and Red Riot, but – Fatgum, you’ve helped me more than anyone. It’s different with Mirio and Nejire. You’re… you’re an adult, a hero, and you chose me. I know two interns is a lot. I don’t know if you can take more. But Red Riot knows you and he knows his friends. I’m sure you could help them, the way you’ve helped us.”
It was one of the longest speeches Fatgum had ever heard from him, even if the whole thing was spoken in a mumbled blur from his four o’clock. And, like before with Riot, the words moved him nearly to tears.
“Of course I chose you,” he said, trying to keep his voice even. He had to say something, didn’t he? “You’re gonna be a great hero someday, Suneater.” He turned just a bit, just enough to catch a glimpse of Amajiki’s face before he could hide it. He smiled. “You already are.”
Suneater’s eyes widened and first his cheeks, then rapidly the rest of his face, grew red until he grabbed his hood and pulled it all the way over his face, hiding everything from view. Fatgum laughed and patted his eldest intern on the shoulder. He decided not to say anything to the mumbled, “Thank you,” that came from the mass of fabric, for fear of making the poor hero spontaneously combust.
The emotional dramatics were cut short by a snap, a loud yelp, and a series of splintering crashes that ended with a thud. Fatgum whipped around, already berating himself for not paying attention to his other intern, to a sight that was fortunately more amusing than concerning.
Red Riot lay sprawled flat on his back at the base of the tree, a series of broken branches rising above him. Fortunately, he’d activated his quirk at some point in the fall and so seemed quite uninjured, although he was lying in a small crater probably caused by the sheer force of a hardened impact. As they all stared at him, the cat gave a little sniff and hopped down the same series of (now-broken) branches Riot had used to climb up the tree, landing squarely on the young hero’s chest. It gave the muzzle of his mask a little headbutt and then leapt lightly off, trotting over to its elderly owner and meowing loudly to be picked up.
“… I guess she wasn’t stuck after all,” the man said sheepishly. He seemed a little embarrassed to have detained three heroes from what were probably important hero things to rescue his cat which, clearly, hadn’t needed the help.
Fatgum shook his head. “It was no problem,” he said diplomatically, “and we’re glad to know she’s safe.”
“And I practiced climbing!” Red Riot exclaimed, getting up and brushing dust off his pants. “Uh… sorry about the tree, though,” he added sheepishly, glancing at the pieces of branch lying scattered on the ground.
The man waved away the damage with a smile, adding that he was just glad to have gotten to see the three around. He thanked them again, the cat meowing at them from her perch in his arms, and that was that.
Fatgum was a pro. He had his own agency. He ran patrols and kept his region safe, lending help to other heroes when needed and calling in others in turn as he needed. He had to keep up media presence, doing interviews and special events along with community visibility and personal networking. He was busy. He didn’t have time to handle more interns – Suneater and Red Riot were plenty on their own. He adored them and wouldn’t give them up for anything, but it really wasn’t reasonable to try to take on even more. Besides making his already-crammed schedule even worse, he could commit the worst mentor crime: not giving them 100% and failing to provide them the best training, help, and mentoring that he could.
But.
The look on Riot’s face as he talked about his friends. The kid was smart and more emotionally attentive than almost anyone else Fatgum knew. If he thought Fatgum could help, he was almost certainly right.
The tone in Suneater’s voice when he told Fatgum how much he’d helped him. There was still a long way to go, but the boy had grown so much already. Fatgum had never lied to him – Suneater was one of the strongest heroes he’d ever seen, even if not many others had noticed it yet. Red Riot, too, was a diamond in the rough (pun so intended), and good lord Fatgum really knew how to pick ’em, didn’t he? And he had no regrets.
The both of them were like sons to Fatgum. He cared for them so deeply, and wanted them to reach their greatest potential. He wanted to see them take on the world and win, and he knew they could do it, even if they didn’t know it yet themselves.
Could he really take more? Riot had brought up two other kids by name: Creati and Sugarman. That would be doubling Fatgum’s intern count. If he couldn’t give every single one his full attention and support, it would have to be out of the question. He could not ever do them the disservice of poorly mentoring them, it would be worse than never taking them on at all.
But. Maybe he could do it. Maybe he could give some of the more-qualified subordinates at Fatgum Hero Agency more responsibilities, let them level up and show what they were capable of. He could reach out to other heroes more, rely on the professional network to help him manage it all. Fatgum would never abandon or neglect his pro-hero work, but raising and training the next generation was important too – all the more so now, with the fall of All Might and the rise in more and more nefarious villains and criminal networks. If Red Riot thought he was the best person to help two budding heroes, if Suneater knew how much he could help kids who needed it…
He’d make some calls, he decided as they walked. Behind him, Riot and Suneater bickered quietly about whether dumplings or sticky buns were better. Meeting the two students couldn’t hurt, he reasoned. He could assess for himself their situations and whether he thought he could really help them. If things looked good, maybe he could take them out on a patrol or two, or invite them over for a couple training sessions. Then he could make a better decision about whether or not it was a good idea to extend a formal internship invitation.
Riot had sticks in his hair and pine needles stuck to his sleeves and pants. Suneater picked at them as they walked, trying to remove the debris as Riot bounced along, distracted by a new thing with every five steps. They had both grown so much, and their progress wasn’t showing any signs of slowing. If Fatgum could help other kids the way he had helped these two… well, he just had to, didn’t he? These boys and their classmates were the future. And Fatgum knew he would do anything to make it brighter.