Chapter Text
Izuku is having another One For All vision. He’s in that weird, dark place full of spirits of past users, but none of them are present this time. He isn’t some mouthless observer, and this isn’t the result of some new quirk awakening or anything like that. It’s just…a dream. He went to sleep, and now he’s here. However, this is far more vivid than any dream he’s had before.
Izuku wanders the dark, liminal space for a while. Walking through darkness. He feels like he’s looking for something, but he has no clue what that could be. He just has some deep, intense need to find something and wanders around to accomplish that instinctual goal.
Eventually he discovers what that thing is, or rather, who. There’s another person wandering around in this dark space, same as him, and looking just as confused. Izuku notices the other person first and begins walking towards them, and soon the other person does the same. As they get closer together, Izuku can pick out features. Faded blue hair, a hero costume that looks similar to Nana Shimura’s (although the gloves are much smaller and only cover the man’s pinky and index fingers). He eventually notices that the colors of the costume are in All Might’s colors, and the man has his hair tied back in Nana Shimura’s style. Finally, as they get close enough, Izuku notices that the man is tall and buff, with red eyes under his shaggy bangs and a small scar running perpendicular to his mouth.
He doesn’t look like any of the past users of OFA he’s met so far, but he can’t think of who else could possibly be in this place. “Which user of One For All are you?” He finally asks as they get close enough to talk.
The other man smiles, he’s an adult and seems to be more used to this situation than Izuku is. “I’m the ninth user.”
Wait, what? Izuku frowned. “No, I am. Who are you?”
The man straightens up a bit. “I’m the number one pro hero, Valor! Just hit the top spot on the JP billboard yesterday!” He grins smugly. It’s wide and off putting, Izuku is sure it probably frightens any child fan the hero might have. Conversely, it probably frightened at least a few of the criminals the man opposed every day.
There’s something weirdly familiar about this guy. Parts of him seem so familiar, but they don’t line up with anyone Izuku knows. “I’m…”
“You’re Izuku Midoriya, right?” Valor says, tilting his head a bit. “What’re you doing here?”
Izuku blinks. The man knows him? How? “Endeavor is the current number one, after All Might had to retire after his fight with All For One.” He’s not a past user, then. He knows Izuku, but all the facts seem wrong.
Valor nods. “Right, he was number one while I was in high school after Uncle Toshi retired after fighting All For One. Now it’s me.” He narrows his eyes. “Why are you in a hero costume?”
Izuku can’t help but feel annoyed. What the hell does he mean, what’s he doing in a hero costume? Izuku had had to work so hard to be a hero, it was annoying that this guy was claiming it was odd he was one. “Because I’m the ninth user of OFA, not you. I don’t know any pro hero named Valor.” He frowned.
Valor nods. “I think I know what’s going on, this is like in comic books when different versions of characters from across universes meet.” He grins, looking excited. “It’s a crossover!”
Izuku blinks. “Ah! That makes a lot more sense!” He finally decides to sit down, whatever this vision is for it seems they’re going to be here for a while. This alternate user seems nice, and even a bit nerdy and awkward like Izuku. Maybe since he’s older he’ll have some sage advice to give.
Valor sits cross legged in front of him. “Yeah! So I guess in your universe Uncle Toshi made you the ninth user instead for whatever reason.” He grins and leans forward. “In my universe, you’re in the business course. That’s why it’s weird you’re in a hero costume, I’m used to seeing you in a nice suit since you’re the analysis intern at my agency.”
“The business course was my fallback option for if I didn’t get into the hero course.”
“You’re quirkless, though, right?”
Izuku nods. “I was gonna at least try the hero course, even without a quirk. Are you?”
Valor purses his lips. “No, but my own quirk is really dangerous, so I only use it in emergencies. Can you use any of the other users' quirks yet?”
“Just the one, and I can’t really control it yet. Can you?”
Valor nods, smiling. “I can, but I only publicly use Float since it’s my favorite, I keep the others on the down low so as not to draw suspicion. So…I guess that’s where our universes divulge, is that Uncle Toshi didn’t pass OFA on to me.” Something feels strange about all of this. Why does Valor call All Might Uncle Toshi, like they’re related? If All Might was this close with someone, Izuku would have heard about it by now, right?
“I guess so…” Izuku isn’t really sure if that’s where the split happened. “But you said that All Might retired after his fight with AFO? Which one?”
“What do you mean, which one?” Valor frowns. “He only had one, and then retired and gave OFA to me. My guess is that me and Uncle Mirai weren’t able to convince him to retire in your universe?”
Izuku’s frown deepens. Mirai…did he mean Sir Nighteye? “No, in my universe All Might and Nighteye broke up around that time.” He shook his head. If the guy was close to Nighteye, it would definitely be a bad idea to tell him the man had died in his own universe.
Valor’s face falls. “I’m sorry to hear that. They really love each other, but I know Uncle Mirai got really angry that Uncle Toshi wasn’t going to give in and retire.”
“Loved each other? I didn’t even know they were together.” Izuku frowns. All Might hadn’t even told him he had any interest in men. He felt a bit hurt that his master didn’t seem to think Izuku would be accepting of that. Izuku himself was trans, and All Might knew about that. “Why do you keep calling them uncles?”
“They’re not technically my uncles, they’re my adopted dads, but that’s what I’ve been calling them since they took me in at five.” Valor smiles. “Are we friends in your universe since you’re the ninth user? I probably led a normal life in your version of things.”
Izuku frowns. He has a sinking feeling this man didn’t. His voice sounds so familiar, but the build and size of him is all wrong. His face is almost clear with minimal scarring, and it’s so much more bright and happy. “I’m not sure. What’s your legal name?”
Valor blinks, then holds out his hand to shake. “Oh yeah, sorry about that. Uncle Toshi might have been really secretive about me. I’m Tenko Shimura.”
---
Toshinori had decided not to obey his master.
He knew he was supposed to cut ties with her son and never go looking for him. He mostly obeyed that desire for his protection. However, he had checked up on the kid every so often, just to see how he was doing. Just to see what remained of his master after she had died. He had been glad that the man had done well for himself, and that made Toshinori sleep a little better at night after all the shit he’d been through.
He knew it was dangerous. He knew that if All For One managed to find out about it it would kill Kotaro. But he couldn’t do it. Something in him needed to see her son do well.
That is, until he had watched the man hit and push his son into the backyard one night. Toshinori had been watching from his car with binoculars, trying to look as subtle as possible despite being the number one. The little boy, Tenko, fell to the wet grass sobbing. Kotaro yelled something and slammed the back door shut, leaving the little boy outside.
It had been a few years since his last checkup on Kotaro. He remembered Tenko, the little one had been around two then. He would be what, five years old now? Goodness…they grew up fast.
Young Shimura sat in the wet grass, crying his poor little heart out. It took all self control not to get out of the car and spirit the little one away. When did Kotaro become like this? Why was he treating his son this way? He felt his heart sink at the horror that Nana’s son was abusing his child. Normal parents didn’t force their children to be alone outside at night like that. Normal parents didn’t yell and hit and shove like that. Normal children threw tantrums, sure, but Tenko’s cries had sounded genuinely terrified.
As the little boy began hugging the family dog, Toshinori lowered his binoculars, rubbing his eyes. This was awful. What would he do? He couldn’t just sit and let Kotaro do this to his son. But if he intervened that could cause even more trouble. Could he report this to the authorities? But what proof did he have? And that would just end with the boy going into foster care.
It seemed fate had other plans. As he sat debating what to do, there was a rumbling and the house…erupted. That was the best way to describe it. A nice home became wreckage in barely a few minutes. Toshinori got out of the car and began running to the scene. “Young Shimura!” He shouted as he began going through the rubble and debris.
After climbing over some rock, he found the boy. The area he stood in seemed stable, however the boy himself did not appear to be. He was hunched over, and on the ground around him there was blood and…pieces. Ashes? No, it was too wet. Whatever it was, the boy stood over it, heaving and covered in blood. His black hair was now a faded blue.
“Young Shimura!” Toshinori managed to jump over the remaining rubble and get to the boy’s side. “Are you hurt?”
The little boy’s arms hung loosely by his side. His hands twitched.
“What happened?” Toshinori knelt down, taking the boy’s arms gently to inspect him.
The boy ripped his arms away and began screaming. “DON’T TOUCH ME! MY HANDS! DON’T!” He sobbed and fisted his hands in his hair, sinking to his knees. It was like Toshinori had managed to pull him out of a trance the second he took the boy’s arms.
Toshinori looked around, trying to take stock of the situation. The boy seemed to be the epicenter of the destruction…oh no. “Young Shimura, did your quirk do this?” He hadn’t had any knowledge of what the boy’s quirk could be, since the last checkup had been before the boy would normally develop one. He was a bit late, but…this was the only logical explanation.
Tenko sobbed and began scratching his neck. That was an answer enough. The boy had accidentally killed his family and caused all of this destruction with his quirk. It was aweing, how destructive the boy’s power was. If the wrong people got a hold of a quirk like this…it would be bad news for Young Shimura. It was far too easy for the criminal underbelly to take advantage of people with mutation quirks like this. They were useful tools of destruction rather than people to the thugs of the underworld.
Toshinori scooped the crying child into his arms, ignoring the whimpering protests. “Let’s get you someplace safe and warm, okay? You don’t have to worry, I am here!” He grinned down at the boy.
That seemed to quiet him down a bit, and while he still scratched his neck, his sobs had been reduced to soft whimpers as Toshinori carried him out of the wreckage.
He had made a promise to Nana, and had broken it tonight. But that didn’t matter right now, what mattered was making sure the crying child would be safe. He brought him to his car (He’d need to get a carseat on the way home) and buckled him in the backseat. “Don’t worry about anything, Tenko. I’m going to talk to some people, then we can go home.” What would he even say when the paramedics and cops came on the scene? Hell, what would he even do with this kid? He worked constantly, he didn’t have the time to raise a child. Toshinori’s mind floundered for a moment.
Tenko sniffled. “How do you know my name?”
He looked back at the little boy. Whatever he did, Tenko couldn’t catch on to his uncertainty. After what he had just been through, he needed to believe that he was safe and everything was going to be okay. “I…I was a friend of your grandmother’s.”
Tenko blinked, scratching his neck. “The grandma that was a hero?”
Toshinori nodded. So he’d known about Nana? Had Kotaro told his family about it? There were so many uncertainties right now, his normal ease and composure was difficult to maintain. He wanted to try and reassure the child some more, but the flashing lights of an ambulance interrupted him. “I’ll be right back, okay? Just wait here. Once I’m done we can go to McDonald’s and you can get a toy.” He wasn’t really sure what else to reassure the kid with, he didn’t usually stick around for the long term when it came to tragic survivors.
He got out of the car and approached the first responders. Something in his gut told him to lie about what had actually happened. If Young Shimura’s quirk and this accident became public knowledge, that could draw the attention of All For One and put the boy in even more danger.
Toshinori ended up explaining that he had been patrolling the area and a villain had managed to attack where the Shimura household was. They had caused all the wreckage, killing the family in the process before escaping. The only survivor had been little Tenko, who he was going to take care of until they figured out what to do with him. Being All Might meant that they all pretty much bought the story, although seemed very concerned about the villain escaping. He assured them that he was going to pursue the villain once Tenko was stable.
It was all a lot easier than he expected. The hard part was going to be figuring out what to do with the boy. He had no idea what the quirk even was , let alone how to prevent Young Shimura from further causing damage.
There was only one person he knew who was a master at quirk training, and Toshinori prayed to any god listening that the old man wouldn’t try to kill him for breaking Nana’s promise as he drove to the man’s house.
As soon as the front door opened and Gran Torino got a look at the boy standing next to Toshinori, his eyebrows furrowed. “Who’s this?” His tone was gentle, yet inquisitive. Toshinori could tell he was keeping his tone calm for the little one’s sake.
Young Shimura looked up at the old man with wide eyes, then scooted behind Toshinori’s legs to hide. Toshinori chuckled nervously. “This is uh…Young Tenko Shimura.”
Gran Torino’s eyes widened as he stepped aside to let them in. “I…I see.” His expression became grave. “So after we went to all that trouble of changing the family registry to cut ties to Kotaro…”
“I didn’t talk to him, I just kept tabs on Kotaro from a distance.” Toshinori walked in and sat on the couch in the old man’s living room.
Gran Torino folded his arms and scowled at Toshinori. “You know that’s still risky, if All For One had been watching you he could have been killed.”
“I know!” Toshinori clenched his fists and teeth. “I…I knew it was risky, but he was the only thing that was left of Master! I was careful and made sure neither he nor anyone else knew what I was doing.”
“Then why is his kid here?” Gran Torino looked over at where Tenko had been standing and scratching his neck, staring at them with wide eyes. “Hey, you can sit down if you’d like.” He smiled reassuringly at the boy.
Tenko walked over to the couch Toshinori was sitting on, and as he crawled onto the couch, the area where his hand touched began to fade and crack. Toshinori stood up, eyes widening as the thing began to disintegrate before his eyes. He watched as little Tenko began to fall into the ashes his quirk had just created and reflexively reached out to catch the boy before he fell flat on his face. “That’s why.” Toshinori said as he held the boy under his armpits, helping him back into a standing position.
Tenko sniffled, eyes welling up with tears. “I’m s-sorry, p-please don’t hurt me…”
Toshinori’s heart, not for the first time tonight, broke. “Young Shimura, it’s okay. You’re still learning about your quirk, Gran Torino is going to help you so we don’t keep having accidents like that, okay?” He smiled.
Tenko sniffled, wiping his eyes. “Okay…”
He set the boy down. “Now just sit on the floor and…try not to touch anything.” Toshinori turned back towards Gran Torino. “Sorry about that, but that’s what happened to Kotaro. The boy’s quirk activated and…I didn’t see everything firsthand but he must have accidentally killed them all.” The old man didn’t need to know what he had seen happen to Young Shimura before his quirk had manifested. He didn’t need to know that Nana’s son had become a cruel father.
Gran Torino stared at the boy in wide-eyed terror. “Dear god…if you hadn’t been there to find him…”
“He would have probably run from the scene and onto the streets,” Toshinori replied.
“Maybe it was a good thing you broke her promise.” Gran Torino whispered. “Otherwise we would have never found out about this and the boy could have been picked up by All For One.”
“Who’s All For One?” Tenko mumbled, eyes wide as he scratched his neck again. Toshinori would need to take him to the doctor about that…
Gran Torino pursed his lips, thinking for a minute. “A very bad man who would want to hurt you if he knew you existed.”
Tenko’s eyes widened. Toshinori frowned and put a protective arm around the boy. “Don’t scare him like that. All For One isn’t going to find you, Young Shimura. We’ll make sure of that. As far as the registry knows, you’re quirkless.”
Tenko blinked. “But…I just…” He hiccuped, his eyes welling with tears again.
“I told the authorities that was a villain. Gran Torino will help you control your quirk and we just have to make sure no one ever finds out about it, okay?” Toshinori smiled down at him.
Even though Toshinori had volunteered the old man without asking, Gran Torino didn’t seem to protest. He simply grinned down at the boy. “We’ll figure it out in no time, okay kid? And you can call me Grandpa!”
Toshinori smiled at him. “Thank you.”
“Consider it my civic duty. I can’t imagine what All For One would do if he got his hands on this kid.”
Toshinori picked the little one up and into his arms, holding him on his hip. “I’m going to grab some McDonalds and take him home for the night, I’ll drop him off tomorrow before I go on patrols.”
Gran Torino nodded. “I’ll work with the kid, in the meantime we’ll need to have him homeschooled until he’s stable enough to go to school again. How old are you?”
“Five,” Tenko answered.
“Perfect, I’m sure I’ll be able to have you ready for elementary school in a year!” The old man pushed himself out of his chair and hobbled to the kitchen. “Gimme a minute, I’ll give you a cookie for the road!”
While Toshinori had understood the brevity of the situation, in retrospect he had had no preparation for the impact this evening would have on his life. He had thought that Little Tenko would stay in his home for a little while, then he’d figure out what to do with the boy once his quirk was controllable and things had died down. He wasn’t really sure what he’d been planning to do with the boy once that happened.
But every day that he picked the boy up from Gran Torino, the boy smiled a little more, he spoke a little more. His neck scratching became more of a strange and harmless habit rather than a nervous compulsion. He was an odd looking kid, but he was earnest and kind and frankly, the most adorable little thing Toshinori had ever met. He had happy cried when Toshinori had brought home some hero figurines he had gotten a few colleagues to donate so that the kid had some toys in his home. He had been enraptured by a TV in an electronics store demonstrating a video game, and it had taken every shred of Toshinori’s self control not to splurge and buy a gaming system for the kid. Mirai would have killed him. Despite this, his boyfriend seemed to be growing fond of the little one as well. There was a distinct good cop-bad cop routine forming between them, with Toshinori being the former and Mirai being the latter.
Eventually, he’d had gloves made for the little one that only covered his pinky and index finger, as Gran Torino discovered that the boy’s quirk only activated if he touched something with all five fingers. Getting a five year old to not touch things a certain way was a bit like herding cats, so the gloves were a lot easier. Once Tenko remembered to wear them everyday consistently, then he’d be ready for elementary school. And… he’d be ready to go to a foster home and leave Toshinori and Mirai behind.
It had all felt temporary until Nigheye had slammed a pile of papers in front of him at his agency. “What’s all this? Reports?” Toshinori said, frowning.
“Adoption papers,” Mirai replied curtly. “For the kid. They’re already filled out, you just have to drop them off at the proper administrative offices.”
Toshinori’s frown deepened. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. The amount that I work-”
“He already lives with us, Gran Torino babysits him and seems to enjoy it immensely. The media has already been picking up on it. If you don’t commit and adopt him, you’re putting him in danger.” Mirai straightened his glasses. “Not to mention we’ve already gotten attached.”
Toshinori groaned and rubbed his eyes. He was on the tail end of a 72-hour shift, Mirai had been the one picking up Tenko and caring for him in the evenings. He hated to admit that he missed the little guy’s happy smile and screaming laughter when he picked him up and tossed him around. He wanted to go home with his boyfriend and the kid they’d been taking care of. To his…to his adopted son.
He took the papers. “I’ll take them when I get off.”
“Yeah, right now.” Mirai looked at his watch. “It’s 9 a.m., so the offices should be open. You can go home and rest, then tonight I’ll pick up Tenko when I get off.”
Toshinori pouted. “I’m supposed to go for another seven hours yet!”
Mirai shook his head. “Not anymore. You’ll need to rest so we can celebrate with Tenko tonight.”
Celebrating with Tenko did sound nice. He hated the idea of cutting a shift short and the guilt that came with it. The thought that there could be people out there, suffering because he wasn’t there…but Mirai was right. One For All or no, he was still a human being that needed to sleep. And he really really wanted to see Tenko’s face when they told the boy they were adopting him. “Fine…” Toshinori groaned and stood up. “I’ll drop these off and go home.”
“Pick up some milk on the way home.”
Goodness, when did Toshinori become so domestic? What happened to being hip and cool and young? He missed the days when he’d get off a shift and go clubbing. That had ended when Mirai had inserted himself into his life. “Alright.” He huffed, wondering how the younger man had managed to tame him.
“I love you.” Mirai said the words so automatically, like it was second nature. He had never been particularly romantic, but he was reliable and capable, two things Toshinori had always needed. That was how he’d wormed his way into Toshinori’s heart.
“Love you too…” Toshinori grumbled in defeat as he reached the exit of his agency.
“And no telling the kid before tonight! It’s supposed to be a surprise!”
Toshinori groaned as he pushed open the door. “Fine!” How did he know Toshinori was planning on checking in on Young Shimura? Was it his quirk or had he just gotten that good at predicting Toshinori’s behavior?
Whatever it was, he’d need to make sure he kept his mouth shut about tonight when he visited the boy and Gran Torino. He dropped off the papers and got milk like Mirai had asked of him, and as he soared over the city he caught the old man sitting on a bench at a local playground.
He landed next to the old man. “Mirai shooed me off my shift early, I decided to stop by and check in on Young Shimura before heading home to rest.”
“What about me?” Gran Torino whined in mock offense, earning a frown from the larger man. “I’m just kidding, the kid’s over at the seesaw with some other children.”
Toshinori grinned, relishing that he was going to make Tenko the coolest kid in the neighborhood by showing off his association with him. “Have no fear citizens, for I am here! To check on Young Shimura!”
“SHHHH!” He heard at his feet and looked down. Young Shimura was crouched behind the seesaw. “It’s a bank robbery! I have to sneak in to rescue the hostages!”
Toshinori raised his eyebrows. “Oh! My bad…”
A little girl ran over to where he was standing, pointing a squirt gun at him. “Hands up! You’re joining the other hostages!”
Toshinori did as he was told, grinning as he played along with the children. “Oh no! But I’m just a bystander who happened to be passing through! Please let me go!”
“Fat chance! Get over here with the others!” The little girl motioned with her squirt gun and Toshinori had no choice but to follow her motions to a small group of children sitting on the merry-go-round. He obediently sat next to it, knees pulled up to his chest as he watched the young one prowl around, pointing her squirt gun in random directions.
A little boy sitting next to him leaned over. “Are you really All Might?”
Toshinori nodded. “You want an autograph when we’re done being hostages?”
The kid grinned. “Yeah!”
He was genuinely impressed when Young Shimura managed to jump out from behind the slide in front of the girl. How had he managed to sneak all the way over there from the slide? “Stop, villain! You’re going right to jail!” He yelled as he charged towards the girl, and the chase was short since he’d utilized the element of surprise.
“Noooo!” The little girl yelled as Tenko tagged her.
Tenko took her squirt gun (disarming the perp, that was good) and ran over to the hostages. “Okay! Everyone, remain calm, for I am here!” Tenko grinned wide, raising his arm in All Might’s signature pose. Toshinori’s heart squeezed so hard he thought it was going to explode. So cute!
“Hold on! Stay in that pose while I get a picture!” Toshinori yelled as he pulled out his phone. “Mirai is going to lose his mind when I send this!”