Chapter Text
Mikumo isn’t sure how he got here, tied up to a chair with his ex-best friend while all his secrets get broadcasted to the world as Handsy-McFucks big grand plan to overthrow the world, but whatever. He’ll figure it out. Probably.
Actually, he knows exactly how he got here, and it’s all his fault, really. Mikumo is the only one to blame for the steaming pile of shit he got himself into.
It all starts with a Hero gala and one Yagi Izuku.
Yagi Izuku tries to fix his tie, staring miserably at the mangled cloth. Fuck, he thinks. I can’t go out like this, despite the fucked-up tie being one of hie defining characteristics to the public. It’ll be embarrassing, as if the public hasn’t been staring at every move he’s ever made since he was 8—he’s 12 now, by the way. He could just ask his Dad to tie it for him, but he really doesn’t want to bother him— Dad’s great, just always so busy! And he’s certainly busy right now, the gala starts in a few hours and they have to be out the door soon if they want to arrive on time.
But… Izuku has barely even seen Dad these past few weeks, despite him promising to be there for his birthday 2 weeks ago… And yeah, he understands, there was an emergency (in Deika or something, a landslide?) and the Number 1 Hero can’t skip out on emergencies but… Izuku wanted to see him in person, you know? Not just a five minute video call and a box of art supplies shipped to their too big house. Even if they were the good kind that Izuku likes working with.
Izuku heaves a sigh, instead gazing at the door of his room. He can hear Dad shuffling around, with his light footsteps and rasping breaths. His Dad: Yagi Toshinori. Izuku’s Dad, who is old and gaunt and can’t drink coffee because he’s down about half a stomach. Yagi Toshinori, who is Izuku’s Dad. Not All Might, that Quirkless kid-celebrity Yagi Izuku’s father who fights villains and makes people safe with just a smile.
Fuck it, Izuku resolves. He wants his tie to look nice! And Dad actually knows how to tie the damn things!
On light feet and shallow breaths, just like Yokota-sensei taught him to. He creeps around the door and creeps through the hallways, passing by portraits and photos and the old, barely used butsudan. (Why do they even have it? They aren’t religious, they don’t believe in anything of the sort, and yet they still have it and they still tend to it like they are. For what? Some societal reason? Fuck, it doesn’t matter, does it?) Before he skids to a silent stop, peering around the corner and into the kitchen. He sees Dad moving around—he’s probably looking for his protein shakes, the kind that are flavored. You shouldn’t bother him, Izuku—
Shut up, Izuku snarls to the voice inside his head. Let me have this.
“Izuku?” Dad asks to open air. Izuku can feel his ice blue eyes on him as he stares at his feet on the hardwood floor. “Is there something you need?”
Before he can stop himself, he shakes his head. Already backing out, like a coward— “No, Dad, just wanted to see—”
“You wanted me to tie your tie, didn’t you?” Dad questions, cutting Izuku off. He’s right, because he’s Dad, and Dad knows Izuku more than he knows himself. So, Izuku nods meekly, and Dad gestures for him to come closer.
“And I assume you also wanted to see my face again?”
Izuku, who now stands little more than a foot away from his father, nods again. Dad reaches forward, undoing his tie and redoing it with a gentle tug and then pat on the head. His tie isn’t a mangled mess anymore, and he leans into the touch.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually, hotaru.” Firefly.
Only then, does Izuku allow himself to look at Dads face—and it’s Dads face, it really is! His eyebags are dark and his cheeks are hollow, his skin is sickly pale, but it’s still Dad. He’s been like this since as long as Izuku could remember, aside from a few times when he was small. This is Dad. He’s pale and thin and tall as hell, but he still feels exactly how he did when Izuku was tiny, four years old, and waiting for something that would never come: safe, happy, and strong enough to take on the entire world. (Izuku remembers, being five years old, waiting with Mom in the hospital room as nurses and doctors and surgeons rush in and out. He remembers a tall man with dark green hair and streaks of blond, he remembers an old lady and he remembers crying because he wanted his Dad so, so, so much.)
Suddenly, his Dad breathes out an aching breath, the kind where he wants to start a conversation. “I’m sorry for missing your birthday.” Dad says, deep and sorrowed. “I know I promised I would be there.”
This is their family now, with Mom gone. Dad never has enough time and there's a hole in their wall that keeps drafting cold air in and they swear they’ll fix it, they swear, but Dad is busy and Izuku isn’t skilled enough to do it himself. Usually, when Dad was busy, Mom would take over. And it would work. But now it’s just the two of them, and one man can only do so much.
“12 is such a big number afterall, but…” he cuts himself off. “Yeah.”
“It’s fine.” Izuku tells him (even though it really, really isn’t). Really, it is. He understands! He does! Even if he feels a little sad and depressed about it— any other kids' Dad wouldn't miss their 12th birthday, but then again, most kids' Dad's aren’t the Number 1 Hero. “The art supplies are enough, I think.”
There’s a watercolor piece abandoned on his desk midway through, Izuku has no idea what he was painting, which is why it was abandoned.
“Izuku,” Dad asserts, slouching more than he already was before. “You’re allowed to be mad at me. Birthdays are important, and I missed it. Number 1 Hero or not, I shouldn’t have done it.”
“You didn’t have a choice.” izuku reports back, a slight huff in his voice.
Dad gives a small smile, the sad and soft kind. “Doesn’t mean I should’ve missed it, hotaru.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Izuku says. “Crises don’t don’t stop just ‘cuz it’s the day I was born… can we just hurry up and go now?”
Dad sighs, but lifts himself up anyway. “Something, but think on it, okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” Izuku mutters, trailing after him.
The Hakumei Yoriai is one of the most popular Hero Gala’s in the modern-day, hosting upwards to 500 guests, many of which being in the top 200 Heroes, the rest being legacy kids, reporters, support companies, and anyone else associated with a Hero that may have an invite. The Top 2, All Might and Endeavor have always attended every time without fail during their careers. True to its name, the gathering is held at twilight while the sun sets.
Izuku started attending when he was 10, and needed something to do other than mourning his newly deceased mother.
Overall, the place isn’t really that bad. The security is real tight, all reporters go through an intensive background check, and you aren’t allowed to record or take pictures without asking for permission first. Well, unless you were willing to go against some top of the line lawyers from the hosts of the event.
It’s one of the only Gala’s he actually enjoys, let alone looks forward to, for a multitude of reasons.
Number 1: the food.
Currently, Izuku has separated from his head with a quickly exchanged enjoy the party! And meandered his way over to the food area. He sips some canned coffee as he sits at a seat, well aware that drinking in public might be seen as ‘rude’. In his lap, is a warm plate of something. Some type of skewer, Izuku doesn’t feel like putting in the brainpower to identify it other than it tastes good.
His eyes scan the crowd, looking for 3 very distinctive people. There? No. No. Not there. Oh! Red hair! Wait, no, false alarm— oh! There!
“Izuku.”
Number 2: his friends.
Making friends as a legacy kid is hard, and Izuku would know that first hand. Before it got out to the press that he like, existed, he went to a normal elementary school. He was 8 at the time, and incredibly lonely, because no one wanted to play with the Quirkless kid. Soon after he was outed as “All Might's Secret Son”, suddenly, everyone wanted to be friends with the poor, weak, Quirkless kid. 8 year old Izuku was very smart, however, and kept crying about how everyone was faking being his friend again! Yes, again. Mom and Dad decided to get him some private tutors, after that, and then bring him to a few meetups with other Pro-Hero families to see if he could make some friends.
Too bad most other legacies have just as many problems as he does. Case and point: Todoroki Shouto, son of Endeavor.
The first thing he did when they met was spit on his shoes and insult him because ‘your Dad is the reason why my Dad is such an asshole! Don’t tell him I said that though, he doesn’t think I know that word.’
They became fast friends after that.
And where Shouto goes, Momo follows. Where Momo goes, Tenya is soon to come. Thus making the perfect friend group for legacy kids. Well, it would.
But Shouto’s dad, as he so eloquently put it that one time, is a bitch. He hates the idea of Shouto having friends, let alone being friends with All Might’s Quirkless son, but he lets it slide because of good PR. Tenya lives too far, being in Hosu, and Momo’s always too busy to hang out. If it weren’t for the invention of phones, Izuku would be a very lonely child.
“Still obsessed with those skewers, aren’t you?” says friend No. 1: Shouto.
Izuku shrugs into his canned coffee. “They’re yummy.”
“Is that coffee?” Momo asks, appearing close behind Shouto. Izuku raises an eyebrow in response.
“Yeah.” he says, adjusting the can so the words can be more easily read. “Actually what it says on the tin: canned coffee.”
“Izukun!” exclaims Tenya, popping up from somewhere. “I must insist you stop drinking coffee! You are only 12, which is certainly not old enough to drink coffee…” he trails off at Izuku’s blank, I don’t give a shit stare. “Do you want to stay short forever?”
“No.” Izuku deadpans, slightly annoyed. He is not short. He’s just… slightly below the average height for his age by a few inches. Not short. “But it’s worth the risk.”
“There's something off about you.” Shouto mumbles, clearly thinking to himself. “Did you get replaced by aliens or something?”
Behind him, Tenya squawks indignantly. “Shouto! You can’t just go around asking your friends if they’ve been replaced by aliens!”
“But… If he’s an alien, then he is a stranger. AKA, not my friend, which thus means I can ask him if he’s an alien.” Shouto says logically, not even blinking, not even embarrassed by what he’s saying. Meanwhile, Izuku grabs another canned coffee from his bag, which sat at his feet.
“You don’t accuse anyone of being an alien!”
“Okay, but he isn't just anyone. He’s an alien—”
During Tenya and Shoutos arguing, Momo has been staring at izuku intently. He’s getting a bit worried, like he might spontaneously drop dead from how hard she’s doing it.
“I know what's wrong.” Momo states, catching the other two's attention. “His tie is… tied.”
“My tie is always tied!” Izuku exclaims, very carefully not throwing his hands up in the air. He only packed two cans of coffee, he doesn’t want to lose this.
“No,” says Momo, growing. “Your tie is always mutilated.”
“I-”
“Alien.” Shouto whispers.
Tenya pokes Shoutos shoulder, scowling. “Even if he was an alien, it is incredibly rude to accuse such a thing!”
Shouto hums thoughtfully, and for a second, Izuku feels hope that he might suddenly regrow a braincell in the dead, burnt wasteland that Endeavors training left in its wake. “So you’re saying he could be an alien?”
Izuku wants to scream.
“I-”
“I’m not an alien.” Izuku mutters to himself, sipping his coffee. “I am not an alien.”
“Tenya.” Shouto holds up a finger. “Yes or no, could Izuku have been replaced by an alien?”
“Wait— hold on!” Tenya stops mid sentence, words dying on his tongue. “Yes…? No…? Do aliens exist? Shouto-kun, do they exist?” (His first mistake was trusting Shouto to be able to tell the truth.)
“Yeah,” Shouto says, devoid of all emotion.
“Then yes!” Tenya says. “He could be an alien!”
Clearly, Tenya has lost his brain cells.
“So,” Momo says, holding all the brain cells in her metaphorical brain cell holding hands. “Why is your tie like… normal?”
Izuku shrugs. “I got Dad to tie it for me.”
“My dad would never do that for me…” Shouto scowls, truly a rare expression of emotion on such a creature.
“Your dad is literally a bitch.” Izuku sighs, much like a gossiping housewife in 1800’s England.
“Izukun!” Tenya gasps, affronted, sounding like a scandalized Victorian woman about to fake-faint on her fainting couch to make a point. “You cannot go calling the Number 2 Hero… a bitch.”
“Is he wrong, though?” Momo cuts in, morphing into gossiping housewife No. 2.
“Not really,” Tenya admits. “But it’s still rude and you shouldn’t say it.”
“He’s a bitch.” Shouto deadpans, causing Izuku and Momo to double over in laughter.
Hakumei Yearly @薄明Official
they asked us to caption this “suck it old man”
[Image ID: a photo of Yagi Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, Yaoyozoru Momo, and Iida Tenya huddled up to fit in the frame. Todoroki stands in the middle of the group, emotionless with his arms crossed. Meanwhile, Yagi hangs off of him, flashing a peace sign towards the camera with a wide smile. Iida has been caught mid hand-chop as he says something to Yaoyozoru, who is leaning heavily against the wall.]
After they finish taking their photos, Izuku gives Momo the print outs to hang on until later. God knows that Izuku would lose them first thing if he kept them, even though he’s typically the one to take them home and hang them on his wall.
Currently, they are making their way over to one of the quieter rooms to hang out. The parties getting sort of loud, especially since speeches are coming on in about 10 minutes or so, and the reporters want to be there to record it. Plus, the quiet rooms have board games, and Izuku wants to get back at Momo for that stunt in Monopoly she pulled 2 months ago.
She is going down.
EMERGENCY ALERT!!! NOT A DRILL!!!
An A-class villain attack has been reported at your location!! Please calmly evacuate to the nearest exit!!!
The heat swelters against Izuku’s skin as he runs along the burning hallway, Shouto follows close behind. TheGala is in chao, the venue is barely holding up, the building crumbles with each slam and hit of the villain fight going on outside. If it could count as that, at this point, considering the walls are more air than wall at this point. The flames are a mix of Endeavors, a villains, and something electrical. Izuku doesn’t feel like investigating it at the moment.
“Fuck!” Izuku shouts, skidding to a stop and throwing himself backwards from a flaming debris. Izuku's eyes go to the fight in the sky, where Shouto’s father attempts to fight fire with fire, grappling with an equally on fire villain. Who, unsurprisingly, is also immune to fire. They aren’t close to the battle, by any means, but they aren’t near any rescue areas either, and that's a problem. Especially since they got separated from the group they were evacuating with.
The debris caused a deadend. It is too dangerous to climb over.
“Other way!” Izuku announces, wincing at the nervous energy leaking into his voice as they turn to a new direction. Fuck, izuku thinks. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he’s breaking almost every evacuation protocol right now, but he’s pretty sure that if he doesn’t, they’ll die either from smoke, rubble, or a Hero’s supermove gone wrong.’’
“Izuku!” Shouto shouts, catching him by his collar and dragging him away from a roof that suddenly collapsed, inches from where his head had been. “Watch out.”
Shouto is doing fine in the heat, either it’s his Quirk, or he’s just so used to flames that he’s become immune. For a few seconds, they stand, watching and trying to figure out what to do.before Shouto shifts his feet and tenses his right hand. His left is being used to try and pull some of the heat and fire away from Izuku, and although it’s working, it’s not working enough.
“We’re going over.” he says, monotone, but Izuku can still hear the panic in his voice.
Ice spreads from his food, to the collapsed roof, to the ground, reinforcing the wobbling piece of fallen concrete in a now rapidly thawing bridge. Now, it is Shouto’s turn to drag Izuku through the building.
They go over.
Izuku nearly trips on half melted mush, Shouto simply tugs him over and gives Izuku enough momentum to catch himself and transfer into a run.
And they run.
And they run.
And they run.
It feels like the building keeps growing with every breath and getting destroyed with every other blink, going on forever like some perpetual purgatory just for Izuku personally. In reality, it’s probably only been about 10 minutes since the fight started.
“SMASH!” the distant sound of his father echoes, before a shuddering boom shakes the building.
Izuku sees it before Shouto does, a cracking floor and a sagging ceiling, the incoming shockwaves of the smash putting more and more pressure onto the already crumbling wall. Izuku does the math quickly in his head.
A shockwave hits.
Izuku’s body moves before he can think.
He cannot think.
He cannot think because there is his best friend trying his damned hardest to make it out alive, who is in danger and doesn’t realize it. He cannot think because Shouto’s about to have a wall blown into him, and a roof fallen on his head, and Izuku cannot let that happen. Shouto has siblings and a future, and some would say Izuku has a future too, but what's a Quirkless kid over the promising future Hero?
Izuku sprints forward right as the ceiling cracks and rocks fall from the top, he yanks his hand away from Shouto’s and uses his elbows to push him forward right as the wall explodes. He stumbles, right himself, but by the time he’s turned around, Izuku’s body is already on the ground, slumped over as concrete weighs him down and bricks pierce his stomach. Izuku’s body is already screaming at him to just rest already, his bones ache and he struggles to breathe. His vision blacks out, but quickly returns. Izuku wheezes, all shoulders and chest, and breathe goddamnit, even if you have to do it with your entire fucking body!
“Izuku!” Shouto cries as he sees him, rushing forward. “Izuku— Izuku are you alright?”
“No shi—” Izuku coughs and something red ends up on the ground. “No shit, sherlock.”
Shouto’s indifferent mask has fallen, worry is etched on his face and his concern only grows deeper with every shake of the ground.
“Y-you’re going to be okay.” Shouto stutters, and Izuku almost laughs from the sheer hilarity, Todoroki Shouto, stuttering! “I’ve just gotta… Just gotta get this offa you—”
Izuku places a warm and sweaty palm on Shouto’s shaking arms. “No.”
“No!” Shouto reals back. “I’m not leaving you!”
The building shakes.
“Go,” Izuku insists, flashing what he’s sure is a bloodstained smile. “I’m like, impaled anyway— moving someone… moving someone while they're impaled isn’t a good idea, remember Shou-kun?” he coughs again, fighting off the darkness of his vision. “‘Sides, I’ll be fine. The paramedics will find me, and then I’ll get all fixed up and then I’ll have a killer scar and we can say I got it while fighting a bear or something—” another wheezing cough rattles through his body. “But I can’t—” he chokes on his own spit as tears fall down his cheeks, along with something dark that blocks his vision. “I can’t do that if you’re dead. So leave Shou-kun. Save yourself first before you start worrying about me, got it?”
Shouto nods, clearly hesitant, but all it takes is one more “leave, Shou-kun” for him to turn around and disappear into the distance.
And Izuku lets himself lay limp.
He feels bad for lying to Shouto, he really, really does, but he’s not making it out of here alive and he knows it.
Another boom shakes the buildings.
And Izuku does not regret it.
Hakumei Yearly @薄明Official
20XX, July 30th, marks the date of the Hakumei Tragedy. May the families of those lost in the battle grieve peacefully. A memorial opens up in a week (August 6th), where official attendees will be giving speeches.
yagiii @therealyagiizuku
There’s going to be a public funeral for izu btw, since he’s like… a mini celeb. it’s in kyoto. come if u want. i’ll b giving a speech w some friends. -shoutokun
Posted by: Riley G: Hakumei Memorial, All Mights Speech (Eng/Esp Sub)
[Video Transcript]
[Video opens up to the tailend of clapping. 20 seconds in, All Might (civilian name: Yagi Toshinori), walks up to a raised platform and sets his hands on the podium. Behind him, is a wall of names. He is wearing a black suit. For once, he is not smiling.]
AM: *clears throat*
AM: What happened at the Hakumei Yoriai was a tragedy.
[He pauses for a few seconds before continuing.]
AM: It was, ultimately, a fatal oversight from us Heros, that caused the night to end how it did. We did not think about the collateral damage, nor the environment around us when we were fighting the villains that invaded the venue.
…
AM: If we were simply more observant and more thoughtful about our attacks, this would’ve never happened.
…
AM: As you all know, I recently lost my wife two years ago for a similar reason. It may seem strange that I, a Hero, am mentioning this. Especially one as protective about my personal life as I am, but talking about it helps put in perspective another side of the Heroics industry. The more human side of it.
AM: And now, I’ve lost my son for the same reason I lost my wife: the Hero’s did not think about their own surroundings. Except this time, I was the Hero. The last thing I said to him was “enjoy the party, haruto.” Now, due to my own, and other Hero’s negligence, he is no longer here.
AM: This sentiment applies to everyone else that lost a friend, a family member, a significant other, or just someone they cared about today. This sentiment applies to everyone who has lost someone, is losing someone, or might lose someone in the future thanks to a gross failure of the Hero system to not only defeat the villains, but also protect the people.
…
AM: I am not free of fault here, but I have learned a valuable lesson. I cannot go back in time to fix this mistake, and I cannot raise the dead. I may be a pillar, but I am still human and humans make mistakes.
[AM heaves a heavy sigh, and gives the crowd one of his signature smiles.]
AM: And I promise to learn. I promise to try my hardest to make sure that something like the Hakumei Tragedy never happens again. Thank you.
[AM bows, and walks off the stage. Video ends.]
Comments
ニャニャ • today
o(TヘTo) it’s been such a sad time recently but…
this speech gives me hope for the future of heroics!!
Takahashi S.
Well spoken!
babi gelle ✔
hakumei is a cautionary tale of what can go wrong in heroics.