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Despite being sick, Toshinori would always make time to sit down outside.
He liked nature, and anyone who ever set foot in his apartment would easily be able to tell. All the windows had little plants on them, all the rooms had at least a hint of greenery, and his balcony was filled with flowers.
To be fair, he never went after the harder plants, mostly because love doesn’t equal skill, and Toshinori was both the Number One Hero and the Number one brown-thumb.
Such is life. And he wouldn’t be risking with any other plants since the ones he managed to keep alive were hard enough to find as they were.
Which is why, even with the worst cough he’d had in weeks, Toshinori was standing out in a windy day under a large tree.
The small plants in his apartment couldn’t compare to the peace he felt while surrounded by trees. And that peace also allowed him to think clearly. More specifically, about where he stood, and where he was heading to now.
Being retired felt… Wrong. He knew there was no other choice in the matter, he knew it was impossible to keep going, but it still felt wrong. Now, all he could do was teach the next generation and hope.
As a cough wrecked through his body, Toshinori thought back to what he promised young Midoriya. A promise to live and guide him. And as another gust of cold wind blew past him, he decided to head back inside. It was good while it lasted.
The battlefield was no longer the only threat to him, after all.
And that was another thing that felt wrong. This fragility he carried now. Sure, he had the skill and mind of a hero, but physically he could only take so much. Before, visits to the hospital happened once every two months, gradually coming closer and closer, to the point that, when he started teaching he would take leaves every week.
So many changes in such a short time, Toshinori felt lost.
“All Might! Hey! WAIT UP!” He turned around, covering his mouth, so blood wouldn’t spew everywhere. “WAIT!” Young Midoriya really improved a lot on how to use One for All, as in one moment he was so far down the path Toshinori could barely see him and the next he was standing right before him. “I… Have something… to tell you…” Though even he had to get tired from running this distance so fast.
Toshinori patted his back as Midoriya caught his breath, which happened rather fast. “You don’t need to break a world record to do that, my boy!” He said with a small laugh.
“Sorry, but I-” He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I really need your help…”
“Well, what happened?” Midoriya used his arm as support and started talking right after.
“After class today, Kacchan and Kirishima went to train, but something happened with Kaminari, so Kirishima went to help, which left Kacchan with no partner. I offered to spar with him, but he said it wouldn’t even be a challenge, even though it doesn't make any sense since we’re both evenly matched and I don’t want to sound overconfident but I’m sure I could be a decent opponent to Kacchan-”
“Midoriya, back on track.”
“Right. Sorry. Anyway, we were discussing that and then Shinsou walked in, he said he was waiting for Aizawa-sensei so they could train his quirk which then prompted Kacchan to scream that Shinsou needed to try and brainwash the both of us while we fought and then Aizawa-sensei walked in-”
Right before he finished, the tall lanky teen from the sport’s festival showed up. Though, he didn’t look as lanky as before. He looked alive, whereas back then he could be mistaken for a corpse. Even then, the run took its toll. “When did you get this fast…”
“Young Shinsou, isn’t it?” A weak nod while the teen still tried to catch his breath. Toshinori turned back to Midoriya, who was almost vibrating. “Well, what happened now?”
“He’ll only agree to it if we can find someone else to supervise too, so I thought you’d be perfect for it!”
Shinsou looked at them and snickered. “Truth is he wants bail from the two resident problem children,”
Toshinori laughed, placing a hand on Midoriya’s back. “That sounds about right! Let’s go then, see how the three of you can improve!”
As he walked towards the gym, Toshinori couldn’t help but smile as the two teenagers bickered away. It was only friendly banter, mostly coming from young Shinsou’s snark. Not quite like what young Bakugou and young Midoriya were like, this wasn’t as deep-rooted, but he could see the two of them competing for a long time to come.
When they reached the gym, Midoriya was the first to dart towards Bakugou, while Shinsou went to talk to Aizawa.
“All Might. Don’t know if I should have guessed-” He looked at the two boys in the middle of the gym, then to Shinsou. “Or if I’m surprised.”
The kid just shrugged and went to sit down with a water bottle. “He was faster,” Aizawa rolled his eyes.
“I’m guessing they already caught you up, right?” He said, sitting down next to Shinsou.
Toshinori sat down with them as well, looking at the two who were ready to fight. “Midoriya did,” He smiled.
“Hm. Simple rules, no quirks for you, keep fighting until time’s up or someone is on the floor,” Shinsou grinned clearly happy to not be the one being beaten today. “And Shinsou doesn’t stop talking. All Might will keep tabs on who gets under brainwash the most,” He then turned to Shinsou with a too wide grin. “And if someone half asses this, I have an entire hour available to guarantee it doesn’t happen again.”
With an audible gulp, Shinsou got up. “Damn what was that punch Midoriya? I’ve seen newborns do more damage than that!”
“H-”
“HA!” Bakugou punched Midoriya in the face, breaking Brainwash and stunning him for a moment.
“Oh wow, Bakugou knows how to do something other than yell and explode things! Who could have guessed!”
“You little-”
And so it continued, with Shinsou free to provoke them while the two tried to throw each other to the floor.
Bakugou was easier to get a reaction from with the right words, but he was also stubborn, while Midoriya wasn’t as easy to provoke but loved to talk. It was balanced, and they wouldn’t react twice to the same thing, so Shinsou needed to think fast and big on the spot. It was good training for his quirk, although he imagined Aizawa had something a little harder in mind.
Seeing his two pupils gradually become stronger and stronger, from the first day all the way to here, facing each other without quirks and a third party to make it harder so the fight could be fair, it really made him proud.
“I don’t know what you did, but it’s working.” He looked at the man. Aizawa had both arms crossed and wasn’t looking at Toshinori.
“Huh?”
He motioned with his hand towards Bakugou and Midoriya. “It’s hard to get results from these two, but despite the ‘teaching for dummies’ book you have, you’re doing alright.”
Toshinori laughed nervously, instinctively bringing his hand to his pocket. It was there- Ah… his bag. Phew. Not lost and not in the hands of Aizawa, who would be extremely tempted to rip it to shreds. “Thank you, Aizawa.”
“Mhm…” Aizawa reached in his bag, grabbing two juice pouches, and threw one to Toshinori. “You can have those, right?”
“Yes, shouldn’t give me issues.” Though he would never say it, those juice pouches were hardly what Toshinori would call a pleasant meal.
As he finished his own pouch, Aizawa frowned, then looked at Toshinori. “I thought you had an appointment this week.”
“Ah, actually, well…” Toshinori really forgot. Wallowing in his own misery and drowning in the things bad that happened, he truly forgot the good things that happened. Because even if his hospital visits were more frequent, bad days were becoming rarer, and so, “The doctor said I could go two weeks just fine, unless of course I feel unwell.”
“That’s good,” Aizawa said, watching as the two got too close to Shinsou and forced him to quiet down for a moment and step aside, then got right back to provoking them.
The match ended with Bakugou finally throwing Midoriya over his shoulder and Shinsou crawling towards his water bottle. Both him and Aizawa stayed back while Bakugou and Midoriya accompanied him back to the dorms. They were both pretty beaten up, but neither looked bothered by it. If anything they were ready to go again.
Toshinori had to smile. Maybe if he really gave himself to this, to teaching, to mentoring the next generation. At least as a main task to ground himself. This made him happy, it made him proud, it was a good thing.
In the future, maybe, hospital visits could be so far apart he would need to set reminders,
And maybe even turn his brown thumb a little greener too, that would be nice.