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At some point along the way and over the years, Aizawa had started to see him as something almost immortal. For the life of him, Aizawa can’t seem to understand when or where or why he had forgotten that everyone could be killed but he had. It wasn’t at the USJ attack, by that point it was still clear that the boy was very mortal, the same can be said for the Sports Festival. Maybe the first time Aizawa had started to think of him as untouchable was when he and two other students faced off with Hero Killer Stain and lived when others had died. Then there was the summer camp, where he seemed to be able to push through an ungodly amount of pain and suffering to protect others, followed shortly by them going out to rescue Bakugou. The first time though that Shouta can absolutely pin down not being worried about his life though, was during the Shie Hassaikai raid when the boy was able to take down Overhaul while sustaining no damage and carrying a little girl on his back.
Perhaps, Aizawa Shouta was doomed to grow complacent from the start, because how could you not when you had Midoriya Izuku grinning up at you every day and telling you, “Everything will be okay, sensei! And I’m going to work hard and do my best to be the Number One hero, a hero that you can be proud to have taught! I promise!”
So yeah, sue him, but Aizawa Shouta never thought that a light that shined as brightly as Midoriya Izuku’s would ever be snuffed out.
Definitely not in such a mundane way.
When Aizawa had first heard the news, he almost told Nezu off for making a really bad joke. Because seriously, there was no way that Midoriya Izuku would ever be so… vulnerable. A car crash? Was the mouse for real? The kid had taken on Overhaul and come out unscathed but a car accident had left him in critical condition and fighting for his life? What type of joke was this?
Still, the teacher raced to the hospital because even though he didn’t believe it, he wasn’t going to not be there in case it was true. Toshinori had been rushing into the hospital too when Aizawa arrived, both heroes sharing a look before heading up to the Surgery unit that Izuku was on.
The first sign that this might be real was the fact that Bakugou and his family were there, all of them dead silent. That was normal for Bakugou Masaru, but for Mitsuki and Katsuki to be dead silent and pale as a sheet? That was out of character.
All three looked up when the two teachers walked into the room and Katsuki just blinked, a tear racing down his cheek before getting angrily swiped away. “Aizawa-san,” Masaru greeted softly, his tone sad.
“What’s happened? Where’s his mother?” Toshinori asked immediately, looking around and noticing the lack of a green-haired woman.
Mitsuki broke down in muffled sobs at the question and more tears flooded out of Katsuki’s eyes as he stubbornly stared at the floor, like it was the cause of all his problems. “Inko was driving the car and a drunk driver came around the turn too fast. He sent them over the edge and into a lake. Inko died before anyone could get there, despite Izuku-kun pushing through his own injuries to get her out of the car and to the surface to try and prevent drowning. When he did that though, his fractured ribs moved and punctured his lungs. It was ten minutes before any heroes arrived on the scene. They don’t know if he’ll make it. They said that his brain lost oxygen for too long and that there could be permanent brain damage even if he does make it.”
Shouta’s eyes were wide as he slumped into a chair in shock. Toshinori taking the seat next to him mutely.
The next person through the door was a shocking one. Gran Torino stepped through with a bag holding green hair and a note. “Toshinori-kun, I just heard. Izuku-kun wanted me to give you this if he were ever… well, the note should explain it.”
Bakugou looked up, even more, stricken than before as his eyes locked onto a lock of green, curly hair in the bag. “No.” He chocked out, shaking his head, “No! No, All Might, you can’t! Dek- Izukun will be fine. You can’t!”
Aizawa looked between the two in confusion and leaned over to read the note, not getting stopped by Toshinori who seemed to be shell shocked.
Dear All Might or whomever it may concern,
If you’re reading this, then I probably died or am close to death. Hopefully, it’s the latter since I’m not sure this will work with the former. Still, why not give it a go. I realized when I started at UA that it was always possible for my life to get cut short, that it’s not guaranteed as a hero. That’s okay. After the Hassaikai raid though, I realized how precious my power is, and more importantly, how devastating it could be if I died without passing it on. In the instance that I manage to outlive All Might and whoever is reading this is unaware of what the situation is or the gravity of it, I’ll explain. When I was four years old, I was diagnosed quirkless. I have the second toe joint and everything to prove it. For years, and I mean years, I went on with no quirk and just hoping that I could be a hero but not believing it. As a hero student now, having seen other pro heroes fight and observing my classmates, I realize that it’s complete bullshit to say that someone who’s quirkless can’t become a hero when many heroes fight quirkless the majority of the time and every hero has to fight quirkless at least once. But I digress. In my third year of Middle School, a sludge villain attacked Kacchan and I reacted without thinking, racing in to help my childhood friend, even though we hadn’t been friends in some time. All Might ended up taking the sludge villain down and then, on my way home, stopped me and told me that I could be a hero by inheriting his quirk. The quirk I inherited on the day of the UA High entrance exam is known as One For All, a quirk that can be willingly transferred down from host to host and builds its power in each go, incorporating the quirk of each host into itself. I am the ninth holder of this power. I wasn’t always supposed to be though, there were others who were being considered before All Might granted me this power instead, and sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t have been better if they inherited the power instead. Now that you know what my quirk is, you should know that I have no way of knowing if this will work, it’s possible that what I’m trying to do, what I’m trying to prevent from happening in a last-ditch effort is pointless and impossible but with the increased amount of times I’ve been running into powerful villains lately, I figured that at least until I make it pro, this is the best bet for keeping One For All going. I want you to pass my quirk on to one of two options, whichever one is fine, but these two were the only two that stood out as possible candidates for One For All.
The first was the person who was supposed to inherit One For All until I screwed it up, Togata Mirio. Mirio is an incredible hero and I have no doubt that he can still be a hero even without his quirk. It’s something I would love to see, selfish as that is. Still, in the instance of my death or in the case that there is absolutely no way for me to ever be a hero again and that my mental state is not there to make this decision myself, in a stable mind and sound body, I would name Togata Mirio as my successor. And doesn’t that sound weird, my senpai is my successor? Mirio is incredibly heroic and has such a genuine heart. He wants to save as many people as he can and honestly? Lemillion is one of my favorite heroes. I also trust that Mirio will have the drive to do all he can to make this quirk his own, which is something that I have consistently struggled with. He should know as well… Sir Nighteye had wanted to see him inherit this quirk. It was his hope that Mirio becomes the next Symbol of Peace, and honestly? I think he can, and I know that he’ll be able to uphold my desire to save people with a smile on my face.
The other person I thought of is my childhood best friend, Kacchan. Bakugou Katsuki is not what most people consider heroic. He has anger issues, though they have started to get better since we were in middle school, they are still prevalent and he can be quite violent. So, if I’m not dead, if whoever is reading this could not show Kacchan this letter under any circumstance, that would be appreciated. Still, Kacchan has always been someone that I see as a hero. I know that he has the potential to be number one and I think that, if he can stop being so angry all the time, people would feel safe when he arrives on the scene. Kacchan has this confidence about him, he never questions himself and wherewith others, that’s a bad thing, with him he has the intelligence and strategic mind to back it up. Kacchan is aware of One For All so there wouldn’t be a need to explain this to him, but I know that he would work to make it his own and even probably surpass All Might. He could totally do it too, by the way. One more thing about Kacchan? My thing about saving people with a smile on my face? I don’t know if even he realizes this, but whenever he is fighting, he’s smiling. I know that he can make me proud and I can’t wait to see it.
So, reader, I leave it up to you how you’ll proceed from here. I wish I didn’t have to place such a large burden on your shoulders, I really do, but sometimes, life isn’t fair. I learned that young, and this is a way to ensure that the heroes can keep the scales balanced with the villains. People need a Symbol of Peace, and while One For All isn’t the only way to make it happen, it has the advantage of being able to go toe-to-toe with All For One, so that’s nice. Please, don’t let this die with me.
Signed with a clear mind and sound body,
Midoriya Izuku, ninth holder of One For All and successor to All Might
Aizawa looked at the next page, finding a lengthy explanation of All For One and why One For All is so effective in fighting that quirk. Aizawa though had read enough. He’s sure that later, he’ll find the rage that is buried inside him because how dare All Might not tell him about something so important regarding his student? And what the hell was that letter anyways, constantly trashing on himself while praising everyone else? Did the kid not realize? He was an incredible kid who would be a better hero. When he wakes up, Aizawa is determined to remind him of that everyday from here on out.
The millions of questions that were drifting through Aizawa’s head as he gripped the note in a white-knuckled grasp were interrupted by a doctor entering the waiting room, “Next of kin to Midoriya Izuku?” The man asked, looking at the group that stood up. Aizawa set the letter down and pierced the doctor with an intense stare, “We’ve done the best we can, but with how long the brain was without oxygen, he’s brain dead. I’m so sorry, we will eventually need to discuss the next steps, but for now, I can let you back to see him if you’d like.”
No one spoke, but everyone nodded as they followed the doctor up to the Palliative Care Unit where Izuku was transferred to. The unit that would make him comfortable….
When they entered the room, Aizawa sucked in a shocked breath at how tiny the boy seemed on the bed with tubes coming out of him as it kept his body alive, even breathing for him. After teaching the kid and watching him help so many others, becoming the girl who’s basically Aizawa’s daughter’s favorite hero. The kid had become the light of the entire class and many others. When he eventually… when he was gone, everyone would feel it.
“Wake up, Izukun, you damned nerd. This isn’t funny anymore. They’re saying you’re brain dead, idiot. We both know that’s impossible, you’re always thinking and analyzing something. So wake up and tell me how I can make my quirk better.” Bakugou growled as he knelt next to the green-haired boy on the bed. “They’re going to give it away if you don’t. You can’t let them do that, who else could possibly… you have to wake up. I won’t have someone else become my rival for the number one spot. We were supposed to be heroes together, remember?”
Aizawa approached slowly and threaded his hand through the boy’s hair. It was soft and fluffy, it reminded him of his cat’s fur in that way. When the man looked down at the kid, he realized that no matter how strong Midoriya was, he wasn’t going to come back from this.
“It’s okay, Problem Child. I know you’re holding on until it’s done, that you’re waiting for us to be ready. You’ve always been like that, more concerned for others and always the hero, even when you need to give up. Whenever you’re ready though, you can let go. You don’t have to fight for everyone else and put yourself through this. You can rest. We’ll be okay.” With that, Aizawa leaned down and kissed the kid’s head, letting a few tears finally fall before leaving the room, not able to hold it together any longer.
When Aizawa got back to his apartment, he just stood there for a minute before the dam broke and the tears started flowing freely. He stumbled through until he was on his couch, just staring at nothing when the emails started going off.
By this time, most of the class would have heard something and would be looking to their sensei for guidance but Aizawa wasn’t sure what to tell them. Still, he opened the laptop and scrolled through until he paused over one from 8 am this morning. They were on break, all of the students having gone home for a brief time with their families before they were expected back. This was from Midoriya.
Hesitantly, Aizawa clicked it and opened the video link.
“Izuku, baby! We’ll be late to the movie if we don’t leave soon!”
“I know mom! Sorry, I’m just finishing up a project and I’ll be right there.” Izuku looked over and smiled brightly at the camera. “Hey Aizawa-sensei, I realized that your birthday is coming up but that we’ll all be gone for it. I didn’t want you to spend it alone, though I guess you probably have friends and stuff so you probably won’t be but still! I didn’t want you to think that we weren’t thinking of you on your birthday so I had the class all send me videos of birthday wishes and we all have presents waiting for you that Present Mic sensei will give you on your birthday. So, anyway, here we go!”
Mina’s happy eyes were the first on the screen, “Hey Aizawa-sensei! It’s Mina here and I just wanted to say happy birthday! I can’t wait to see you again!”
The screen changed and flipped through each student, who all had their own unique way of telling him happy birthday until it was finally back on Midoriya. “So that does it Aizawa-sensei! I hope you liked it, anyway! I wanted to wish you a happy birthday and let you know that you’re one of my favorite heroes. I don’t think you’ll ever understand how much it means to me to know that you believe in me and want to see me succeed. There weren’t many adults in my life for a long time that were like that, you were the first. I want you to know that I believe in you too, and I trust you and think that you’re an amazing teacher, dropping buildings on us and all!”
“Izuku! Hurry up! Oh, is this a video?” Inko asked as she came into the screen.
“Yeah, mom, my class and I made a video compilation for Aizawa-sensei since we’ll miss his birthday. I’m going to send it to him tomorrow when I finish putting the videos together.”
“Oh Izuku, you’re so sweet baby, happy birthday, Aizawa-san! And thank you for protecting and taking care of my baby for me. I know it can’t be easy, seeing as he seems to enjoy getting himself into stressful situations for anyone who cares about him.”
“Mom,” Izuku muttered ducking his head with a blush.
“What is it, Izuku? You know it’s true!”
“Whatever, happy birthday Aizawa-sensei! Love you, bye!”