Work Text:
There was an old cherry blossom tree in one of the far corners of UA’s grounds, hidden from public view by the tall walls that surrounded the campus and obscured from student and faculty eyes by a shabby-looking bush that had grown to extreme proportions. In its lifetime, the tree had been home to many different creatures; birds being the main culprits as they built their nests and laid their eggs, and cared for their families before moving on, as all things eventually do. Beneath the low-hanging branches, safely hidden in their cool shade, a wooden bench sat alone.
It wasn’t always alone. But it had been quite a while since someone had last relied on it to give them rest from the grueling work the school demanded of both their students and staff.
Two pairs of footsteps could be heard ever so faintly along the overgrown path, slowly getting louder as their owners approached the secret place. As they grew closer, one of them began panting heavily from the exertion.
“Are you alright?” A young voice asked, its owner hovering over their companion who was doubled over with their hands on their knees. “Do you need to rest?”
“I’m fine, Young Midoriya,” A deep, older voice, filled with fond emotion for the teen, responded between breaths. “Or I will be, once we reach our destination,” the older of the two amended when Midoriya’s face scrunched up in disbelief. The ninth holder of One For All let his shoulders droop slightly.
“But how long will that take?” he asked no one in particular, taking a good look around them. Raising his hand to shade his eyes from the light of the noonday sun, Midoriya tried to identify which distant speck in the distance was his class’s dorm building. He hadn’t known walking from one side of the campus to the other would take half the day when his mentor had asked him to accompany him on a “little” hike that morning. And of course, when the boy suggested he use their quirk to speed up the process and get to wherever they were going faster, All Might had laughed a good, hearty laugh and shook his head without giving any sort of explanation.
“We’re almost there, my boy,” All might said, straightening up and reaching out to ruffle Midoriya’s fluffy green hair. He was rewarded with another look of disbelief and a few skeptic words.
“I’m beginning to think you’re a terrible judge of distance, All Might.”
The man responded with a laugh similar to the one from earlier that morning, but not exactly the same thanks to his breathlessness. All Might turned away from Midoriya to hide the grin sneaking its way onto his face and continued along the old path he’d memorized from his time as a hero course student at UA. “Yes, well, when I was younger I didn’t have to take so many breaks,” He said, then paused as he heard the teen sigh dejectedly before jogging to catch up with him. “But I promise it’s close,” the man continued speaking once the green of Midoriya’s hair could be seen from the corner of his eye. The boy took in a breath to say something, his face already twisted in doubt, when they rounded the far side of the large bush and the man was able to shout “We’re here!” before another sound could escape the teen’s mouth. A quiet sigh of relief left All Might as he went to sit down on the bench. He closed his eyes for a moment and let himself revel in the cool air and the twittering of birds flying overhead. When his eyes opened again, he spotted Midoriya looking around with the same expression of skepticism that had been there since two hours after they left 1-A’s dorm.
“What’s wrong, my boy?” All Might asked. “Is it not nice here?”
Midoriya hmmed. “It- it’s nice , but . . .”
“‘But’?” All Might prompted, leaning forward in his seat and desperately trying not to show his anticipation of what the boy would say about his favorite spot to relax.
Midoriya frowned. “It doesn’t make sense.”
All Might raised an eyebrow and the teen explained.
“Who put that tree there? It’s right next to the wall. And this bush is way too big!” he began waving his arms around the secret space. “It’s all dark and cold and I don’t think the sun has touched this little . . . nook in at least a hundred years!”
“Nook?” All Might questioned the choice of word. Midoriya gave him another disbelieving glare and waved his arms around one more time.
“Well, it’s obviously not a ‘cranny’,” he said, matter-of-factly. The man nodded his agreement and looked around.
“So you’re saying you don’t like it?” All Might said. It was more of a statement than anything else.
“Wha-? I-” the teen shifted his weight from foot to foot and managed to stutter out some variation of, “That’s not what I meant,” All Might scooted over and patted the spot on the bench beside him for Midoriya to sit down, to which the teen obliged easily. “I do like it, All Might, I just . . .” he frowned again as his mind searched for the right word. “I don’t understand what it’s doing here,”
“Are you saying it should be somewhere else?” In all honesty, All Might was having far too much fun leading the boy through this conversation.
“Er, no . . .” Midoriya slouched in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes roamed their surroundings as he tried to spot the thing that didn’t quite belong. He wasn’t the kind of person who really cared about the placement of plants, so the tree, bush, and other various flora wasn’t the problem. The wall didn’t look too good, aesthetically speaking, but it did belong there. Still, the teen had an odd sensation pooling in his gut that said something about the place was off somehow.
All Might smirked. He could almost see the gears turning in his boy’s head. Midoriya was a very smart kid and his analysis skills were off the charts, but sometimes he could be a bit too observant. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Knowing your surroundings was very important in hero work. The boy had simply developed a habit of subconsciously noting his surroundings and using them to his advantage, without thinking too hard about them, which led to him sort of missing things. Like the time when Present Mic arrived at class wrapped in a blue sleeping bag and while his friends were freaking out that the blond was turning into Aizawa, Midoriya simply noted how obvious it was that their sleeping bags were different colors so they wouldn’t accidentally get them mixed up.
All Might chose to let the boy think while he reached over for his yellow water bottle. He unscrewed the lid and drank about a third of the refreshing contents inside.
Midoriya’s frown deepened and he sat up a little straighter. The palm of his right hand moved to rest beside his leg and his fingers made a tap-tap-ta-tap-tap sound on the wood. No matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t find the one thing that didn’t belong in the hidden little nook. Midoriya groaned and rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands, hunching over in near defeat. He was just glad he had a place to sit and relax. The bench, though it looked old, was actually quite comfortable and . . .
Wait . . .
Just . . .
One . . .
Minute . . .
“It’s the bench!” the teen shot up, turning to his mentor like he’d just accomplished an amazing feat. All Might, who’d been in the middle of taking a rather large gulp of his H2O when the teen made his exclamation, spat out the liquid in his mouth and spent the next few moments hacking his lungs out. When he finished, he glared at Midoriya and the boy had the decency to look abashed. The former number one hero raised his eyes heavenward and shook his head.
“What about the bench?” he asked, ignoring the raspy way his voice sounded to his own ears.
Midoriya, having calmed himself, sat back down and explained. “This place is so far away from everything else on campus and that bush hides it from view,” he said, pointing. “It’s obvious people don’t come around here very often, and yet they put a bench here so you could rest, which means they are aware that this place exists. So . . . you know . . .” he trailed off.
“‘Why is there a bench here when no one’s going to use it?’” All Might finished for him. Midoriya nodded, peering up at his mentor curiously. The man took in a deep breath and leaned back. “To tell you the truth, Young Midoriya,” he said, draping his arms across the backrest. “I don’t know why it’s here. It just is. Has been since before my second year at UA at least.”
“How did you find it?”
All Might chuckled and tactfully turned away from him. “I was, uh, hiding from . . . someone .”
“Gran Torino?”
“Let’s not get into specifics here,” All Might waved away the thought. “The point is, I found this little haven where I could be sure no one would find me. I liked to come here and think when the world got too loud for me,” He paused as his eyes drifted to the teen beside him. “And I’ve decided to show you it in the hopes that if you need somewhere to get away from everything, you’ll know that this one is always available.”
Midoriya listened to his words in silence and let himself feel the calm energy that surrounded them. He listened to the birds singing their sweet melodies, interrupted only by a light breeze that rustled the foliage. The musty smell of the outdoor air filled his lungs with each breath he took before releasing it back into the world. He felt the cool sensation the shade provided, complemented by just the right amount of warmth All Might’s living, breathing body produced. Midoriya turned to his mentor and beamed.
“Yeah, this place seems like a good spot to relax,” he said, slowly leaning against his mentor’s side. “But, you know, if you still need it, I wouldn’t be opposed to sharing.”
All Might smiled and put an arm around Midoriya, pulling the smaller body closer and letting him rest his head on his shoulder. “Thank you, my boy. But are you sure you-?” he stopped as he realized Midoriya’s breathing had evened out. One look was all it took for the man to see his eyes were closed.
Midoriya had fallen asleep.
All Might breathed a sigh of contentment. His special place was working already.