Chapter Text
With a running start, Izuku leapt into the air and cannon-balled into the deep end of the pool.
He felt the warmth of the water envelop him as he became buoyant rather than airborne. Unraveling himself from his ball, Izuku let his arms and legs stretch and push him in one strong movement through the water. After so many hours on the plane, his stiff limbs were so grateful to be in motion, his scarred skin glad to be warmed by the Los Angeles sun.
Reaching the other end of the pool, Izuku popped up with a bit of a splash as the water dripped off the upper half of his body. He shook himself off, then brought his hands to his hair to push it out of his face. With it sopping wet now, he had to admit that Toshinori had a point — uncurled, his hair had grown quite long.
His dad had a point.
Turning to the side of the pool, Izuku saw Toshinori lying back in a lounge chair with his sunglasses covering his eyes, making it hard to know if he was asleep or not. His hands were clasped in front of him over his white tee, and Izuku had to keep himself from laughing once again at the man’s ridiculous floral swim trunks. That was when he noticed his toes wiggling within his sandals as they hung off the end of the lounge chair.
“Dad, Dad!” Izuku called out to him, his energy levels still high from being cooped up for so long on the flight. He waited a second as Toshinori lifted his sunglasses off his eyes, pulling them back into his hair into a makeshift headband. He gave Izuku that small smile that made him feel all warm inside as his blue eyes focused on him. “Dad, watch this!” Toshinori gave him a thumbs up.
Needing no further encouragement, Izuku thrust himself back into the water, reaching the bottom of the pool. Placing his hands on the ground, he flipped his legs into the air so they stood out of the water. It was a silly trick he had done as a kid and made Mom watch many times, but there was something so satisfying about it. Something about the light acrobatics had made Izuku feel like he could be a hero somehow, quirkless as he was, and that nostalgic part of his brain wanted to show his dad, the man who had made that wild childhood dream come true.
Even though he was much stronger than he had been as a kid, Izuku still struggled with this trick. He pointed his feet in the air as best as he could, but with the balance of his weight out of the water counteracting the balance of his arms and torso in the water, he couldn’t keep himself up for long. His legs flailed, then he fell in after a solid thirty seconds of holding the pose.
Popping back up out of the water, he quickly looked for Toshinori again.
“Did you see that, Dad?”
“I sure did, my boy.”
Izuku smiled wide, still not over the thrill of All Might watching his childish antics with such joy, the thrill of being in America with All Might no less.
The thrill of All Might being his actual, real dad.
Izuku imagined that, at some point, calling his hero “Dad” so much would lose its thrill. Surely it must. But in the meantime, he’d say it as often as he wanted, as often as the man was okay with it, because it made Izuku so incredibly happy every single time.
He did his little trick a few more times, then grew bored of the repetitive movement. Still energized, he swam up to the edge of the pool closest to where Toshinori sat.
“Do you want to come swimming for a bit?” Izuku asked.
He knew he didn’t. Izuku had to practically beg Toshinori to even put his swimsuit on. What Izuku didn’t know was why. At first, he had thought that maybe Toshinori was taking their “rest between travel days” rule that seriously. It was something Izuku had proposed when Toshinori gave him the plane tickets for his birthday, not wanting his dad to struggle the way he had with their Tokyo trip. Recovery Girl had backed Izuku up on it. It was a simple idea but potentially effective: every time they traveled for more than an hour, they would pad their trip with a day of rest, and since they had just landed a few hours ago, that made today a rest day.
But Izuku also knew his dad better than that. He wouldn’t just rest for the sake of resting, as much as Izuku wished he would sometimes (even if he didn’t bestow that same courtesy onto himself). So he couldn’t quite understand why Toshinori wasn’t eager to swim or do something active today. It was possible the trip had really worn him out and he felt the need to rest, but he looked fine. It was worrisome and perplexing, even if Toshinori hadn’t coughed much at all since they arrived at their temporary house in Los Angeles.
“Maybe after lunch, Izuku,” Toshinori answered, looking at his phone. “It’s after noon, and we’ll want to adjust to the time change as quickly as possible. How about we order some cheeseburgers like I’ve been telling you about?”
Izuku nodded, his anxiety lessening slightly at the suggestion. It seems like a reasonable explanation for why Toshinori didn’t want to swim yet. Besides, if he was being honest, he was getting hungry. So, after Toshinori placed the order for the food delivery, Izuku lifted himself out of the pool, then padded over to his dad as water dripped off of him in a messy trail. Toshinori held out a towel for Izuku, but still feeling playful, Izuku bypassed the towel altogether and launched himself into a hug with his dad.
Wrapping his arms tightly around him to purposefully get his entire tee wet, Izuku rubbed his mop of hair into the man’s face. To Izuku’s delight, his dad chuckled, bringing the towel around his back and using it as an excuse to pull him in closer.
“Oh, do I make a better towel than an actual towel, my son?” Izuku smiled to himself as he rested his head on his dad’s shoulder, his heart warm from the word “son.”
“I thought you might want to swim more if you were already wet,” Izuku said. Toshinori chuckled, letting his cheek rest against Izuku’s curls and rubbing his son’s back. “Are you feeling okay?” Izuku added, a little quieter this time. He listened to Toshinori take a deep breath before answering, waiting to see if he’d hear the rattle in his lungs that indicated an incoming cough. He seemed okay.
“I’m fine, my boy,” he answered, squeezing Izuku tighter. “No coughs or anything.”
Izuku held on tighter in return and stayed in his hold for a bit. He knew there was something the man was leaving out, something he wasn’t saying. But whatever it was, it didn’t seem pressing for the time being. It was completely possible Izuku was overreacting, letting his anxious mind run away with him as always. It had been a long trip, after all, and it could be nothing more than that. So, he let it go.
Sitting up after another minute in his dad’s hold, Izuku brought the towel around himself, then rubbed his wet hair roughly with it while still sitting on the side of his dad’s lounge chair. Toshinori brought his sunglasses back down to his eyes and clasped his hands in front of him again. Izuku frowned.
“Don’t you think you might get cold in that wet shirt?”
“Well, it’s hardly my fault the shirt is wet.”
Izuku gave a weak smile at that which fell soon after. “Yeah, but, maybe it’d be better if you didn’t sit in damp clothes.” Toshinori frowned a little at that but didn’t move in any way. They both knew he was prone to colds, and neither of them wanted him to get sick, on the first day of their trip no less.
Then, Izuku noticed his dad’s hand subconsciously move to the left side of his torso where his scar resided, as if to hide it.
“You know I don’t mind, Dad,” Izuku whispered in sudden understanding. Toshinori lifted the hand that had moved to his scar and placed it on Izuku’s arm.
“I know, my boy.” Still, he didn’t make any moves to dry himself off. So instead, Izuku stood up and went inside the house with a new plan in mind.
Izuku did his best to stop gawking at the house, determined just to find Toshinori’s suitcase instead, but he couldn’t help himself. Never in his life had he stayed somewhere so amazing, so spacious and beautiful and expensive . Sure, he had been to Might Tower in Tokyo, but that had felt different, a little more expected somehow. This place with the wide living room and the plush leather sofa and the enormous flat screen next to the spacious kitchen with the marble countertops and shiny stainless-steel appliances… It felt excessive for just the two of them. He had tried to say as much when they walked down the long hallway and found that each of them had their own bathrooms the size of Izuku’s dorm bedroom, but Toshinori had waved him off.
“We’re here in America, Izuku,” Toshinori had said, wrapping his arm around him and placing a rough kiss on his forehead. “I’m here with my son in America, so we’re going to make this the best trip ever.” Izuku had nodded, wrapping his arms around his dad’s thin torso, but he still couldn’t help but gawk.
Doing his best to get used to the space, Izuku stepped into one bedroom, then saw his own suitcase and realized he was in the wrong one. Stepping out, he went into the other one and found Toshinori’s suitcase there. Opening it up, he took out the bag filled with all sixteen of Toshinori’s pill bottles and placed it gently onto the dresser. Then, Izuku reached for another white tee for his dad.
Heading back outside to the large pool patio that overlooked the city of Los Angeles, he couldn’t help but notice that Toshinori was staring absentmindedly at the mountainous scenery.
“Is it like you remembered it?” Izuku asked, handing Toshinori the tee he had grabbed. Toshinori blinked a few times from beneath his sunglasses, then turned to look at Izuku’s offering. Taking the sunglasses off and setting them beside him, Toshinori sat up on the lounge chair away from Izuku. He lifted his wet shirt off, then quickly replaced it with the dry shirt Izuku brought him, so quickly Izuku would have missed it if he had blinked. It gave Izuku a sinking feeling that he didn’t know what to do with. He decided on nothing for the time being, taking Toshinori’s wet shirt and hanging it over the back of the second lounge chair.
“I only spent one year in Los Angeles, and certainly not in a place as nice as this,” the man said, standing up and walking closer to the view. He didn’t head to the railing like Izuku thought he would. He stepped to the edge of the pool, then sat down, lowering his legs in one at a time to get them wet. Izuku walked up and sat beside him, placing his own legs into the warm water. “I’m sure you know that I transferred from UCLA up to Stanford with Dave after that,” Toshinori continued, “so it doesn’t quite look the same as I remember it.” Izuku thought Toshinori would say more after that, but he didn’t, a vacant look still lingering in his eyes.
“I wish we had time to see the rest of America,” Izuku admitted, swinging his legs in the water. Toshinori brought a hand to Izuku’s head.
“Me, too. But we’ll see plenty, and this doesn’t have to be our only trip here. It’s a big country, after all.”
“You know I heard there’s an island out in the middle of the country that doesn’t allow any cars,” Izuku said. “And apparently it’s in the middle of a lake. Can you believe that? A lake big enough to have an island where people live, and yet there are still no cars allowed?”
“I hadn’t heard that,” Toshinori admitted. “I’d love to see it with you sometime, though.” Izuku, suddenly feeling self-conscious, as if he was asking for too much, brought one knee up to his chin and placed his arms around it as his other leg still dangled in the water.
“We don’t have to,” Izuku mumbled, glancing away. He wondered if the jet lag was starting to catch up to him, suddenly feeling inexplicably grumpy. Then, his stomach rumbled.
Oh. I guess I’m hungry , Izuku thought.
He tried to chalk up his unease about Toshinori’s mood to that, especially after Toshinori wrapped an arm around Izuku, pulling him close. “I’d love to go anywhere with you,” he whispered to him. It brought a small smile back to Izuku’s face, and they stayed like that for a while in silence.
When the doorbell rang, Izuku leapt up in eagerness at the meal that awaited him, his stomach grumbling once again. “I’ve got it!” he cried as he did so, sprinting for the front door. It was the first time he didn’t stop to gawk at every single thing in the house, too single-minded in that moment to attempt to process how much his life had changed in such a short amount of time.
After thanking the delivery driver, Izuku dropped the greasy burger bags onto the counter, then opened one up to reach in for some fries. He shoved them into his mouth before he had a chance to think. When he looked up, he saw Toshinori stepping inside from the sliding glass door, staring at him with wide eyes.
“M’sorry,” Izuku mumbled between his stuffed chipmunk cheeks. “I didn’t mean to start without you. I guess I’m hungry,” he added only half-intelligibly through the mush of potatoes. Toshinori laughed.
“It’s fine, my boy. I could tell you were hungry. Besides, the burgers are the main event.”
Remembering the burgers, Izuku reached inside and found the one without cheese for Toshinori. He took out a plate and a knife, then cut it up into reasonable portions for his dad’s complicated digestion, wrapping up some of it for later since Toshinori couldn’t eat it all in one go. He put that part in the fridge, then placed a few fries on his plate. He carried it over with his own bag that held two cheeseburgers and the rest of the fries and set it all down on the small kitchen table that sat beside the floor-to-ceiling window.
Izuku could tell Toshinori wanted to protest at the steps Izuku took to care for him by the way he clenched his jaw, but Izuku gave him a bit of a challenging look in return. This had also been one of the conditions he and Recovery Girl set for the trip. Izuku got to help take care of Toshinori. With a resigned sigh, Toshinori’s jaw relaxed into a smile as he ruffled Izuku’s damp hair.
“Thank you, my boy.”
They sat down and Izuku shoved the first of his two cheeseburgers into his mouth right away. Toshinori, meanwhile, stared at the bites of hamburger before him.
“Is something wrong?” Izuku asked in a rare moment between massive bites of burger and fries. Toshinori shook his head slightly, then picked up a piece of his burger.
“No, nothing,” he said in a way that Izuku didn’t quite believe. He had that faraway look again as he stared at the bite, and Izuku watched him curiously, wondering what he was thinking. Before he could clear his mouthful of food to ask, Toshinori took a bite of his own burger. He chewed thoughtfully a few times before swallowing, staring at nothing outside as he did.
“So? Is it like you remembered?” Izuku asked a minute later.
Toshinori didn’t answer right away. He still stared out the window, seemingly lost in thought. Izuku wondered if he was trying to think back on how he remembered burgers. He sure seemed to be remembering something.
“Even more so,” Toshinori answered, reaching for another bite and popping it into his mouth. He chewed, then swallowed, then washed it down with his cup of water. “You seem to be enjoying yours well enough,” he teased as Izuku grabbed some more fries.
“Yeah, these are good!” Izuku reached for his soda and took a sip. “I still kind of think yours are better, though,” he added, recalling the makeshift cheeseburgers Toshinori had made for him late one night.
“You don’t have to say that, my boy. I prefer these to my own.”
“I’m not just saying that!” Izuku cried. “Yours are… I don’t know.” Izuku stopped to think about it, trying to find the right words. “It might sound stupid, but… yours are made with love. And that makes them better I guess.”
Toshinori chuckled as he stared at the two remaining burger pieces before him. He reached for one of them and gave it a nibble. “Well, I can’t argue with you there,” he said. “I don’t know if it really makes them better, but they are most certainly made with love.”
Izuku wanted to smile at that, but his cheeks had gone all puffy from shoving the final large bite of his first cheeseburger into his mouth, already beginning to unwrap the second. Toshinori laughed at him again.
When they finished eating, Izuku tossed the trash as Toshinori washed his plate. Refreshed from the meal, Izuku ran outside, planning to jump into the pool again when his dad’s bellowing voice made him pause.
“Hey, hey! You just wolfed down half a cow! Come sit for a bit before swimming again, I don’t want your stomach to hurt.” Izuku stopped himself at the edge of the pool with a bit of a frown. His muscles still felt eager to move, but Toshinori had a point.
“If I do,” Izuku said, unused to bargaining, “will you go swimming with me later?” Toshinori paused.
“Yes, my boy. I’ll go swimming, too.”
Satisfied with that answer, Izuku turned around and walked over to the second lounge chair. Placing Toshinori’s wet tee on the ground, he laid down beside his dad.
After a few minutes of the sun shining on him and allowing the food to settle in his stomach, Izuku realized he was quite tired. Toshinori reached a hand over to card his fingers through Izuku’s now dried curls, and any chance Izuku had of staying awake after that was gone. He didn’t fight it. He let sleep take hold of him readily, not thinking about the odds of what would happen next.
Izuku could have been asleep for a minute or for an hour before he found himself somewhere else, somewhere very different from California. It would have been startling if he hadn’t been here before. But he had, and he was greeted by the same welcoming face he saw every time he visited.
“Hello, Izuku,” Yoichi greeted him.
Izuku blinked his eyes open in the vestige realm.
At first, it had been difficult to access the realm. He was unable to reach it again for weeks after that first encounter with Yoichi. But after the class trip to the beach, Izuku figured out that something about Toshinori’s presence made it easier to access. Whenever he and Toshinori fell asleep together, or even if Toshinori was just nearby while Izuku slept, Izuku realized he was more likely to make contact with the vestiges than when Izuku slept on his own.
Once Izuku had realized this and told his dad, they actively tried to make it happen, scheduling nap times after training sessions. Wildly, it worked. Not every time, and Izuku still couldn’t speak in the vestige realm, half-shadow himself, but the connection was stronger and seemed to last longer.
And every time he made contact, Toshinori’s vestige always stood beside him, watching him with proud, loving eyes.
So Izuku wasn’t surprised to see Yoichi’s smiling face greet him. He even attempted to smile back. But this time, something was different. Izuku couldn’t put his finger on it until he turned to see if Toshinori had the same thought. When he did, the man’s vestige wasn’t there.
Is it because he’s not asleep, too? Izuku wondered. Yoichi’s smile fell a bit.
“Over there,” Yoichi said to Izuku, pointing to his side. Izuku’s eyes followed. There, he saw Toshinori’s vestige standing in front of Nana, staring at her. Even though she smiled at him, it was one of the saddest smiles Izuku had ever seen. He noticed how she held Toshinori’s shadowy hands in her own, rubbing her thumbs along them reassuringly as Toshinnori had done for Izuku many times over.
“He’s been like this ever since you two landed in America,” Yoichi explained, watching Nana and Toshinori along with Izuku. “He hasn’t said anything to you, has he?”
Izuku shook his head, but suddenly his dad’s distant stares made more sense. For the first time, Izuku thought about the timing of All Might’s first arrival in America, along with what he knew about Nana’s death. Toshinori had told Izuku that he had come to America to escape All for One at Gran Torino’s instruction, but somehow Izuku hadn’t pieced together what that meant.
If he left to escape All for One, then that means—
“That Nana was already gone, yes,” En said, joining Yoichi and Izuku. They stared at Toshinori’s vestige a little longer until Izuku couldn’t bear it anymore. Taking a few steps forward, he approached his dad’s vestige. He didn’t react at all. Turning to Nana, she met Izuku’s gaze with glassy eyes.
“Hey, kiddo,” she said softly, looking back at Toshinori’s vestige. “I’m sure he hasn’t said so, but he’s having a hard time.”
He misses you, Izuku thought in understanding, looking back up at Toshinori.
“Yes, but it’s not just that,” she said, bringing a gloved hand up to Toshinori’s cheek. His vestige leaned into the touch, looking down at Izuku as he did so, a tear rolling down his face. Izuku’s own lip began to wobble at the sight of it. “He wasn’t doing so well when he first came to America,” Nana continued. “That, paired with Nighteye’s vision… He can’t stop thinking about what’s going to happen to you when that moment comes.”
Izuku would be lying if he said he hadn’t been thinking about that himself. According to Toshinori, Nighteye’s Foresight saw that Toshinori’s end would come at some point in Izuku’s second year, which had approached a few weeks ago. Izuku grabbed Toshinori’s vestige arm.
I’m here, Dad, he thought to him. We’re going to fight fate together. I promise. Izuku leaned his head against Toshinori’s arm as his vestige brought a hand to Izuku’s shoulder. Nana brought her own hands to each of their shoulders, too, giving them each a squeeze.
“Keep an eye on him, kiddo,” she said to Izuku. “This trip is going to be harder on him than he realized. But this could be good for him, for both of you. It’s a chance for him to have the time with you that he never had with me. Or with his own parents.”
Izuku nodded, then closed his eyes. Before he knew it, he was thrust out of the vestige realm and awake once again.
He blinked a few times, his face pressed against the rough fabric of the lounge chair. Turning over to talk to Toshinori, he realized his dad wasn’t there. Sitting up and glancing around, he saw him lying in the pool. His eyes were closed, arms outstretched as he let himself float. Izuku couldn’t help but stare for a moment. If he didn’t know better, he’d say his dad looked peaceful. But the slight tug at his lips into a frown paired with the short journey into the vestige realm told Izuku otherwise.
His dad was sad.
Before he could think about it, eager to cheer him up, Izuku jumped off the lounge chair and threw himself into the pool with another cannonball, mindful not to land too close to Toshinori. When he resurfaced, he saw his dad’s entire demeanor had changed. He was standing, sputtering a few times at the surprise attack, but smiling mischievously.
“Oh, you’re going to get it!” Toshinori warned him as he dove for Izuku. Izuku laughed out a series of protests, but Toshinori paid him no mind as he grabbed his torso and dunked him into the pool. Izuku flailed a bit under his hold, but Toshinori didn’t put much weight into it. He also didn’t keep Izuku submerged for long. Soon enough, Izuku was out of his hold, and once he resurfaced, he jumped onto his dad’s back. He thought his dad might fight back, but instead, Izuku was surprised to feel him grab his legs, keeping Izuku there.
“Dad?” Izuku asked, concerned about his weight on Toshinori.
“Too old for a piggyback ride?” he answered. Izuku still hesitated.
“No, it’s just… I’m kind of heavy.”
“We’re in the water, Izuku.”
With that, Izuku acquiesced, letting himself lean into his dad’s hold as Toshinori began to take slow steps around the pool. There was something so comforting about being carried like this. Izuku let himself relish in it for a while, pressing his cheek into his dad’s shoulder as the water moved slowly around them. Then, Izuku took a deep breath.
“I visited during my nap,” he said quietly. Visited had become their word for whenever Izuku made it into the vestige realm since it didn’t happen every time he fell asleep. It seemed to only happen if the vestiges had something to say.
Izuku heard Toshinori swallow as he tightened his hold on Izuku’s legs, but he didn’t say anything. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Izuku added when he became convinced Toshinori wouldn’t speak.
“What did they tell you?”
“That you’re sad. You were staring at Nana and crying.” Toshinori sighed, staring down at the water.
“I didn’t want to put my feelings onto you, my boy,” he said, turning his head to Izuku. “I’ll be fine, I’m sure I’m just tired.”
“Nana’s worried about you. They all are.”
“It’s not your job to take care of me, Izuku.”
“What if I want to?”
Toshinori sighed, reaching the steps of the pool. He went to stand up, and Izuku let go. Instead of climbing the steps to get out, Toshinori pulled himself up onto the edge of the pool and took a seat. Hunched over and staring down at the water, he covered his scar with his hand. Izuku pulled himself up beside him, staring at the water with his dad.
“I’ll talk about it if there’s more to tell,” Toshinori finally said, still staring at the water. “I think I… I forgot how I felt when I had been here before is all. I’m sure it’ll pass with the new memories we make.”
Izuku looked up at his dad with that, and Toshinori turned to him with a small smile.
“I’m here, Dad,” Izuku said to him as he leaned his head against his shoulder, unable to think of anything else to say. Toshinori pressed his face into Izuku’s wet hair.
“I know you are, my boy. And I’m here, too.”