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Toshinori didn’t know it was possible to feel so happy and sad at the same time, but weaving through the halls of U.A. Highschool on the day of graduation proves so. He spots a headful of green hair among the students, standing outside of 1-A’s designated classroom with young Tenya and young Ochako.
“Izuku!”
Izuku turns from his conversation with his friends with a smile rivialing the sun. “Hi Toshinori!”
Toshinori sighs half-heartedly, shaking his head fondly. “Your friends really let you do your own uniform?”
Izuku blinks and glances down at himself as young Ochako and Tenya chuckle. He’s wearing the standard U.A. uniform, save for a red and white pin on his chest and his bright red shoes (it took a week to convince the school board to allow him to wear them). It looks great, really, except for one small part…
Ochako wraps her arm around his shoulders. “It’s okay, Deku! We all have troubles with certain things! Your’s is tying ties!”
Izuku pokes at the offending item, his face as red as his shoes. “I thought it wasn’t that bad…”
Toshinori chuckles, gently grabbing his hand away from the tie. “Trust me, my boy, it is that bad.” He turns to the other two. “Why don’t you two go on ahead? I believe there is thirty minutes before the ceremony starts.”
Someone in the room that sounds suspiciously like young Denki screeches, “THIRTY MINUTES?!” Ochako and Tenya wave and laugh, entering the classroom.
Toshinori leads Izuku down the hall to a nearby bathroom. Voices and laughter float through the halls from the gym as they walk, bright balloons and banners around every corner. The staff had decorated amazingly for graduation, if he did say so himself. Each student had their own poster that they had made about themselves hung on the walls, which, on top of everything else, made it impossible to not be looking at something. Izuku’s walk slows as they approach their class graduation photo, tears shining in the fluorescent lights. There’s several of them: individual class photos and a photo with every XXXX graduate.
Izuku giggles softly as he presses his fingertips against the glass above 1-A’s photo. Where every other class photo is lined up and serious, their class looked like they were rushing the camera man, expressions ranging from joy to manic grins. Izuku’s mouth wobbles and he blinks harshly. “I’m don’t know if I’m ready to leave.”
Toshinori places a hand on his back, leading his away from the photos. “Let’s go get ready.”
They enter the bathroom to Eijiou and a comically large bottle of hair gel. “Uh,” he says intelligencely, half of his hair up half of it dripping wet on his face. “Hi?”
Izuku laughs, a little wetly and tight. “Didn’t Kacchan come in with you?”
Kirishima winces, glancing to the stalls. “Well…”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP SHITTY HAIR!” A voice yells, but cracks and tears in his voice are clear as day.
Kirishima glances down at Izuku’s uniform and huffs a laugh. “Come to help Mido-bro tie his own tie, All Might? The guy can take out villain single handedly but his greatest weakness is a piece of fabric.”
Izuku sputters, “That- no- you’re wrong!” at the same time Toshinori says, “It seems so.” Izuku snaps his head to him, completely betrayed. Toshinori smiles back, untying the tie around his neck. “Don’t argue with me, my boy, you know it’s true.”
Izuku pouts as Toshinori reties the fabric in familiar looping and twisting motions. After he’s finished, he pats Izuku’s shoulder. “There, now you can show the world who you are.”
Izuku’s eyes glisten when he grins. “Only if your beside me the whole time.”
Toshinori pulls him into a hug. “Of course, Izuku.”
“Um.”
They both look up so fast they nearly headbutt each other. Kirishima fidgets. “Sorry, just, uh, need the dyer.”
Izuku lets go of him, stepping back for Kirishima. A lump of emotion builds in Toshinori’s throat, his vision blurring. “I’ll see you after the ceremony. Go on, go be with your friends.”
Izuku shoots him one last smile. Before he leaves the bathroom, he shouts, “It’s okay to cry, Kacchan!” An angry series of cursing and demon summoning gibberish follows as a reply as the door shuts behind Izuku.
“All Might?” Toshinori turns to Kirishima, who holds his fist out to him. “Thanks. For everything.”
Toshinori grabs the fist and pulls him into a hug.
On the way back to the gym he gives and recieves too many hugs and “thank you”s to count (including a red-eyed Katsuki, eventually). Now he sits next to Inko and watches his students, his students, walk across the stage with blurry vision. One memorable moment was when Tenya was recieving his diploma when, in the complete silence, Tensei screamed “YEAH GET IT BABY BRO!!”
Of course, Toshinori had gotten it all on video.
Izuku glances down at him, bouncing on his toes as he waits after young Koji for his turn. Toshinori grins and sends a thumbs up with the hand not holding his phone, getting a wobbly smile in return. He crosses the stage and though Toshinori can’t hear it, he can see his mouth mumbling “right then left, right then left”. Toshinori chuckles. That’s his boy.
When Izuku bows with a wide smile and diploma in hand, Toshinori’s heart swells with pride. Izuku had come so far from the small, trembling middle schooler he had met. He was growing to be- no, he is a strong young man that fills the room with joy just from his presence. He is the shining symbol of hope and love. He is his son.
Toshinori finds himself blinking back tears at the thought. Maybe not in blood, no, but in all things that count Midoriya Izuku was his son. From the good moment to the bad, Toshinori swears to himself that he will be the best father figure he can as Izuku continues to grow.
The rest of the ceremony goes quickly after that, with the class president’s speech and the singing of the school song. If there was anyone not crying before, they were surely crying now, practically screaming their school spirit for the last time.
Finally, all of the students gather onto the stage and, in a burst of confidence that makes Toshinori’s heart swell, Izuku shouts, “1-2-3!”
”PLUS ULTRA!!!!!!!” everyone else follows, a loud, booming chorus that seems to shake the very walls. The families and friends in the audience cheer just as loud.
The former students then break off to find respective family and friends. Izuku finds them, tears chasing down his cheeks. Toshinori couldn’t explain the feelings that well in his chest then, not if he had gathered all of the words in the universe. Nothing could describe the love when Izuku leans down to wipe a tear off his mother’s cheek, or the pride at seeing how much his boy has grown. The only thing he knows is that when Izuku crashes into him with a tight hug he feels one thing: right. Inko squeezes them both just as hard from behind.
Izuku leans back just enough to look them in the eyes. “I’m going to miss you,” he chokes out.
Toshinori smiles widely, the tears that had been collecting in his eyes spilling down his cheeks. “Don’t, my son, I’ll always be with you.”