Archive of Our Own

There were few things in the world that made Izuku truly sad: cruelty, misfortunes and his own mother’s sadness. This last one had turned into his dear ones’ sadness rather soon, probably when he’d started to understand Kacchan’s family situation. His friend was not one to cry out his emotions, he mostly yelled at the sky or at someone that had ticked him off. He had his problems, though, and he was suffering a bit through his parents’ issues. This saddened Izuku, as knowing about Hitoshi, Ichigo and Masayuki’s pasts had.

Sensible, his mother called him. Weak, his classmates sneered at him.

Izuku didn’t care much about bullies. Thanks to Kacchan, and then to Hitoshi, he wasn’t bullied a lot, just annoyed at times. Some kids had it worse, he wasn’t going to complain because of a few mean words. He was loved, taken care of and sheltered. It was fine…

Until he discovered he was quirkless.

It was the last thing he truly registered before falling into a spiral of denial – how could that be? It was a such a minimal possibility why?? – and then, nothing.

He was almost sure, and hopeful somehow, that life would have stopped there for him – how was he supposed to live? His dream– being a hero– how? It was– his friends and their shared– He couldn’t– He was disappointed and felt so– powerless.

Izuku went through his days with a blank mind and an empty and heavy heart. He was weighted down, sluggish, at times he didn’t even notice when people were speaking to him. And he was very ok with adults and peers not questioning it… but his friends did. They looked at him, he felt their eyes, and Izuku let them, answered he was fine. Hitoshi would just level him with a pointed glare, not that it gained more than a shrug, but Kacchan was very vocal and raging about his reactions.

He simply let him blow out his steam and kept smiling. It always worked. He didn’t care about bullies, what was the issue? They were probably suffering their own tragedies or something.

“Doesn’t mean they can take it out on you,” Hitoshi drawled while gently patting a bruise blooming on Izuku’s knee from his fall.

He shrugged, stood, dusted off his dirtied pants.

Kacchan tried to corner him into an abandoned shack’s wall, “listen, I know you’re sad and everything but you need to–”

“Thank you, Kacchan, Toshi.” Izuku swiftly dodged to the side through the crossroad. “See you tomorrow.”

As soon as he was out of sight, he winced at the many spots the bully had managed to hit. Knee, shoulder and both his elbows. Maybe he should find another way to protect his face instead of curling around himself like a hedgehog. The bruises were taking longer and longer to heal. At least his mom wasn’t noticing them, and going at Tsuna and Shouta’s always lessened the pain, somehow.

He wasn’t sure why he was studying. He didn’t know what the point was. His mom had started dropping hints, like police and accountant and lawyer, that could be summarized into giving up being a hero. She was wrong.

Izuku had already given up.

He was steadily accepting it as he watched the random pickpocket stopped by a hero, as the television bombarded him with broadcasts of major villainous acts, as Kacchan commented on a hero acting stupidly in front of danger, as Toshi mumbled how cool a hero was, as Shouta mentioned a tiring day at the Agency, as Ichigo started studying for the UA’s entrance exam, as Tsuna–

“Izuku?”

He looked up from the first, still blank page of his new journal and blinked up at the brunet. “Yes?”

“You seem bored,” the man smiled, leaning against the kitchen’s door with a towel in his hands, “do you want to learn chess?”

He perked up at the idea for maybe one second in total, then deflated. He’d always wanted to ask Shouta about it, but the man constantly looked so tired and annoyed at the world outside the house that Izuku had not asked yet. His mom didn’t know how to play and Kacchan couldn’t sit still so long because someone always interrupted his valiant try. He didn’t feel very happy about the possibility, in that moment, but it was better than staring at the blank page with the awkward silence his friends had taken to fall into recently.

“Ok.”

Ichigo stood from the couch and stretched, “gonna study a bit.”

“Oh?” Shouta crossed Izuku and Tsuna as he walked out of the kitchen, “does that mean I’m going to go grocery shopping on my own?”

“Take Toshi,” the older boy said, disappearing behind the closed door of the brothers’ bedroom.

“I guess Shiro is sleeping,” the raven shrugged, “Hitoshi, Katsuki, up for a short trip?”

Tsuna took a thick, dark chessboard from the cabinet near the window and set it on the table, “be sure to buy pasta.”

“Aye Italian addict.”

“Hey!” The brunet threw his husband the towel, that hit the other man’s face and hung over it for some seconds before it fell in his awaiting arms, showing an unimpressed arched brow. “Don’t tease my Italian cuisine addiction! You eat it.”

Shouta lifted one shoulder in a shrug, “fair,” and Tsuna caught the towel thrown back at him. “So? You two coming?”

Izuku heard both his friends stand.

“Let’s go,” Kacchan called.

“Yeah, let us carry the heavy weights, the old man might keel over.”

“What did you say, brat?”

The front door closed and some laughter lingered in the sudden silence. Tsuna sat in front of Izuku. Reborn hopped on the table and laid at the board’s side, a paw lazily touching its corner.

“Don’t you dare push the pieces, pest.”

The black cat just yawned. Byakuran took Izuku’s lap to snore the afternoon away. He absently started petting the animal. Tsuna opened two small drawers carved in the board and took out the wooden pieces, a set was dark brown and the other was a dirty white.

“This is a pawn,” the brunet started, placing the pieces on the board. “It can only move forward by one square and eat another piece if it is diagonally placed. Its very first move can be of two squares.” He showed the movements and an example of eating with the pawn, as he gradually did with the other pieces while explaining. “A knight moves in an L-arch, like this. Two squares straight, vertically or horizontally, and one aside. It eats whatever is on the square he moves to. The queen moves any number of squares, in any direction, as long as she doesn’t find another piece. Look, if there’s a knight in her path, she can either stop in any square before or eat it. A bishop moves diagonally, as far as the squares are free. A rook does the same, but horizontally or vertically. And the king is the most impaired, the piece you need to protect with the others. It can only move one square in any direction. If you put the enemy king in threat of being eaten, you call for the check. If the king is in check and any move you do results in another check, that’s checkmate, and you’ve won the game.”

“Uh, ok… it’s not complicated.”

Tsuna chuckled, “not until you start strategizing. Let’s have a quick match to see if you’ve gotten all the moves right.”

Izuku had not, in fact, memorized all the moves yet. He was the most confused by the knights, but he got all of them clear after their first game. At that point, completely destroyed even if the brunet was obviously holding back, he was running a few game’s scenarios in his head, with moves, countermoves and counter-countermoves.

Tsuna just knowingly smiled at him and set up their fourth game in the comfortable silence. It was a nice distraction, Izuku noticed, and he thanked Tsuna for the lessons.

“You’re welcome, Shouta was whining he couldn’t get to teach you.”

“Oh, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be, he is the one who’s sorry, he really wanted to show you.”

But then, “why didn’t he?”

“I asked him to leave it to me,” Tsuna moved his left bishop, looking up at Izuku, “because I wanted to talk to you.”

Izuku eyed the empty living room. “Oh. What about?”

“You’ve grown enough to start deciding on your own, don’t you think?”

The boy was a bit confused, frowning as he threatened the foe knight with his rook. “Yes?”

“Which is why I don’t want to talk to others behind your back about you, I want to talk about you with you.”

He… liked that. His mom spoke with auntie a lot about him, she dodged the painful subjects, treated him like glass… Yes, he liked that.

“Ok,” but, “is there a problem?”

His mind went to the visit, to the doctor, to the diagnosis. He was gripped by fear. Having no quirk had made people sneer at him and push him away even if they’d had a good relationship before. Was Tsuna about to send him away? To break any contact? To ban him from this house? To prohibit him from meeting his friends? To state his hatred and disdain–

“Izuku, I need you to breathe, please, focus on my heartbeat, here.”

He barely noticed the steady thumps beneath his hand. He did as told, controlling his breaths and blinking the world into focus. He saw Tsuna kneeling at his side, gripping both his hands and looking at him with golden eyes.

“Good, like that, in, out. Very good.”

Izuku whimpered.

“It’s ok. You’re not in trouble, you’re safe.”

Tsuna slowly circled his shoulders with one hand, standing. Izuku buried his face in the man’s stomach. Warm hands cradled his head and fingers massaged his scalp.

“Let it out, Izuku.”

Those words knocked the boy off-balance. He wounded his arms tightly around Tsuna. He took a deep, broken breath. He kept it in, kept it in, kept it in– but the warmth and the cuddles and the whispers let the tears out. He wailed, screamed, used Tsuna’s hoodie to let out his frustration and anger and desperation by clinging to him like a damn koala with the gripping strength of a gorilla. He cried and cried and cried until his throat ached and burned. He felt his own arms move, maybe he hit the man, but he was not stopped. Tsuna made him stand and they were on the couch. Izuku yelled something, questions maybe, he was not sure, there was a surge of everything and nothing flowing through him that he couldn’t control anymore.

He hiccupped, wailed again, held onto Tsuna with the last strength he had. It was so unfair and cruel and it was destroying him inside– Why? WHY??

“There is not a reason, Izuku.” Tsuna was lulling him. “We can’t find one, and that’s not what you need to do either.”

The boy shivered, a fuzzy plaid was put around his shoulders. He eyed it, the familiar tiger-pattern. It was Kacchan’s favourite, he often fought with Shiro over it.

“… then what?” He asked, voice sounding like chalk over sandpaper.

He disentangled from Tsuna when he was gently manoeuvred to and blinked his eyes open in front of a glass of water. He sipped from it, unable to take it from the man’s hands. He cleared his throat, drank some more, licked his lips, brushed the lingering tears off his eyes.

“What do I do?” He asked, voice clearer. “I can do nothing…”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Tsuna smiled, massaging his scalp. “I think you won’t like me saying I understand your feelings.” Izuku scoffed, a half-hearted thing that he didn’t regret in the least. “Uhm, adults like speaking as if they know everything.”

The boy hummed, sour and tiredly angry.

“I do know a few things, though.”

… Izuku sighed. It was true. Tsuna knew a lot of things. “Yeah…”

“So, will you trust me? And what I say?”

He steeled himself and looked up at the brunet’s golden eyes. “I always do.”

“And will you answer my questions without lying?”

There was a pause. “… I’ll try…”

“I’ll make do,” Tsuna softly smiled. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

Izuku frowned, took the glass from the brunet’s hands and finished the water. “No one told you?”

“You didn’t.”

Oh. “I… I didn’t?”

“Apparently,” Tsuna sighed, looking a bit saddened, “growing up means keeping things to yourself. I get it, you’re independent and strong and I am only a weight, all that teenager baggage.”

Izuku felt himself blush, but it was short-lived. “Sorry… people seemed to know without me telling.”

The man hummed, taking back the empty glass and putting it on the low table. Reborn was sitting nearby and tried to knock it off. Izuku scoffed.

“I get that,” Tsuna swatted the cat away. “Does this mean that family is thrown into that mix?” The boy swallowed, words suddenly hitting him home. “Or maybe you don’t consider me family, I’d underst–”

“No!” Izuku lifted his hands almost in calming motion, as if he was trying to stop the man from leaving, “no! You’re family! You’re family I just… I… I thought…”

A disarming smile was directed his way, fond, affectionate, understanding. “So… will you tell me?”

“I… yes… ok…” He didn’t feel like talking about it but, strangely, he wanted to. “I’m quirkless… something about my toe joint… I’m quirkless and…” His voice broke and more tears filled his eyes as he looked away, at Byakuran jumping on his lap. “I-I can’t be a hero and I can-n’t be with my friends I can’t join UA I–”

“Who said that.”

There was a hand on his shoulder, comforting him… but he froze all the same at the venom in Tsuna’s voice. At the hard edge around his golden eyes.

“Those are not words I’m used to hear from you,” his tone softened and Izuku looked up. “When Hitoshi was picked on because of his quirk, what did you say to those bullies?”

He swallowed. “Quirks are not evil, pe-people are, so Toshi can be a hero.”

“And when Shiro doubted about people accepting him because of his looks, what did you tell him?”

Izuku held his hands together and Byakuran pawed at them. “That he’s got us and he’ll find mor-re that will accept him as he is…”

“Do you know what I see in you when you say these things?” He simply shook his head once. “I see my kids’ hero.”

Izuku started breathing. “… hero?”

“Society nowadays portrays heroes as flashy youngsters with powerful powers,” Tsuna smirked, making the boy scoff at the clear citation from Shouta whenever he happened across the television. “But what about Eraserhead? Do you know what his quirk is?”

“… Erasure,” he answered, mind slowly cogging into motion. “He erases a quirk as long as he keeps the eye-contact.”

“Is that flashy? Or powerful?”

“… no.”

“But he’s a hero, quite known, too.”

“He… Shouta fights… quirkless?”

“Basically, and there are a few major drawbacks he’s working on.”

Izuku bit his lower lip, finding it salty from tears, “but he still gains something with his quirk,” he analysed, “he puts them on his same ground. I wouldn’t even have that.”

Strangely, Tsuna smiled. “No, you wouldn’t.”

He sent a half-hearted glare at the room’s corner. “I don’t have a quirk, I’m weak, I…” He sighed, finally seeing the trap Tsuna had laid. “What are the chances?”

“The chances are the ones you build, through hardships and learning.” The brunet ruffled his hair. “It will be difficult Izuku, it already is with a quirk I suppose, but it is not impossible. I firmly believe you can be a hero, and so do you, uhm?”

“You’re so sneaky…”

Tsuna chuckled, “I only brought you back. Feeling stubborn again, now?”

He huffed. “Yeah… thank you.”

The man hugged him very tightly. “Anytime. Now! What do you say about dinner in the living room, tonight? With finger food and a good movie?”

Sounded golden, “I like that.”

Tsuna steered him to the kitchen table, where the chess game was frozen from before, a single peon knocked over the board. “Tell me what’s going through your head while I get started. And don’t stand, I know you’re tired.”

He was exhausted, to be honest. He felt drained and weighted, so he just mumbled an ok and watched the brunet glide around in search of ingredients, all the while humming a calming tune.

“I’m not thinking,” he said after a while, in a staring contest with Reborn, who was sitting on the by-then messy chessboard. “I’m… just empty.”

“That’s ok.”

… it was… “Really?”

“Of course,” Tsuna sent him a wink, “you’re going through an experience that’s going to sign you, one way or another, and you’ve just poured yourself out on the couch, you’ve emptied yourself. What you decide to fill your mind with is your choice.” He paused at the stove, a bottle of olive oil in hand, “but I think I know what you’re going to dive into.”

He was reminded of many more times he’d been alone with Tsuna, and the brunet would endlessly listen to him rambling on and on and on about quirks and heroes but– “But I’m…”

“And that’s going to stop you?” Izuku frowned, “is that enough to rip you of your favourite hobby? Which, between you and me, seems more like a professional analytic process.”

The boy looked down, eyes wide and blushing. “I-it’s not… Uhm.. Professional…”

“Oh it is, now enlighten me, which hero has caught your eyes recently?”

Izuku peered up at the brunet, his long silence telling enough because Tsuna rolled his eyes. “All Might?”

“Shoot, ok, fine, ramble on… But don’t force me into liking him!”

He chuckled at the obvious hatred he had yet to understand, but he accepted it and his mind went to the first time he’d ever seen All Might rise victorious against villains. He slowly started talking about it, about the odds of those situation and the lives the hero had saved. He noticed he was crying, at some point, and that he was feeling sad but also stubbornly angry.

What Tsuna had said was true, it always was, and the comments Shouta had dropped recently were, thinking about them, on-point. Flashy quirks, dazzling smiles, lots of merch. His thoughts strayed to Sora, the rumours about a quirk that no one had witnessed yet – illusions, someone said, speed, another whispered – and that he evaded the media like the plague. He wasn’t flashy, or charismatic, or smiling. He was a hero nonetheless, saving countless and still working towards freeing civilians from traffic rings. From what Izuku knew, Sora hadn’t even attended hero school… he’d started as a vigilante.

Vigilantism was not an option for him, but… he had a family. A family made of heroes, his heroes. And they were supportive to a fault. Maybe… maybe he could really… but he was basically hindered by disability and yet… he wanted to. He really wanted to try, to push through, to make the world see and to stand beside his friends as heroes…

He cried a bit more that night, after dinner, and he knew Tsuna had expected it because there was a glass of water on the low table in the living room, where they had ended up setting a camp.

Izuku was quirkless. He had something less than his peers. He was short, weak and untrained. He was bullied, belittled, laughed at…

Izuku opened his eyes to a morning sun glaring at him.

Izuku was quirkless… Yeah, he was quirkless, so what?

He had a family, he wanted to be a hero, he wanted to save people, he wanted to help his friends, he wanted to try.

Izuku was quirkless, and he would become the first quirkless hero.

Izuku almost regretted his determination when he told his mom and she cried. She then hugged and lulled him and he cried, too. As Kacchan always said, they were cry-babies.

“I was so worried, Zuku,” she whined, tears still spilling and using him as her personal teddy bear. “So, so worrieeeed…” She wailed, hugged him again, “I’m so happy you came back to me, uuhh..!!”

Izuku did his best to comfort her, and himself, before telling her it had been all thanks to Tsuna. She cried even more, thanking the heavens for sending them a blessing in the form of an angelic babysitter… He wasn’t sure Tsuna liked being their babysitter… no, he liked taking care of them, but being forced to? Unpaid? That wasn’t very appealing – his mom had told him pieces of that story, he had yet to gather all of them.

“I’ll support you through all of it, at one condition.” His mom finally said after five hours of crying, “don’t keep things from me just to protect me, ok? No secrets, not about school or any of that… and, if you think I might not be of help, you’ll call Tsuna or Shouta.”

He could work with that. Izuku promised and he slowly, very slowly started to feel better. He was back at analysing, filling up his books and planning his life around UA. He had a few options open in case that line went south, but Tsuna’s faith in him and his friends were what kept him afloat.

Izuku blinked at Toshi’s new house, pursing his lips. “I don’t know, it almost seems like your dads are preparing for more kids?”

Water went down the wrong pipe and Ichigo coughed. Shiro laughed and rolled on the floor of the spacious living room. Hitoshi sighed, massaging his forehead.

“I don’t think they actually noticed.”

“Doubt it,” the albino snickered. “It’s fer guests.”

“Which is fair, we have many.” Ichigo wiped the water off his mouth with his sleeve. “But, yeah, maybe they’re not planning for it but, you know…”

“Now they can.”

Kacchan scoffed. “And what d’you think about it?”

“I trust tou-san. / The old man’s a sap. / The more, the merriest.”

He chuckled and his childhood friend rolled his eyes. This family was so crazy.

“Izuku, Katsuki?”

They turned to Shouta, who was watching them with slight suspicion. He was in a grey jumpsuit, looking as tired as ever.

“Downstairs, Tsuna’s waiting for you.”

Ichigo perked up, “are you on bed arrest?”

“Shut up, brat.”

Shiro and Hitoshi stood and beckoned them over, moving the attention from the sass flying around the room between Shouta and Ichigo to the stairs hidden behind the television.

“Don’t ask why they hid it.”

“Prolly cause they want it ta be safe, too.”

Katsuki frowned. “Where exactly are we going?”

There was no answer. They didn’t exactly need one when they reached the bottom. In a well-lit room equipped like a gym Tsuna was waiting for them. Among the equipment there still was enough space to have comfortable spars.

The brunet smiled. “Are you two ready to begin your training?”

Izuku sucked his lips inwards, mind running with those words, hopes getting very high. Kacchan didn’t get it.

“Training?”

“Yep. You two want to become heroes, right?” They both nodded. “Then you need to start, at some point, and I’m volunteering.”

“But… I thought…” Izuku bit his tongue, truly thinking it through.

“Oh,” Tsuna pouted, “you think I’m not good enough to train you? You want Shouta?”

Hitoshi and Shiro tellingly took two steps back. Kacchan arched a brow at that. The albino gave him a shrug.

“Jus’ a warnin’… whatever happ’ns, don’t ya stop runnin’ until he calls fer a break.”

“Yeah, and don’t underestimate tou-san… give it your all, we’ll watch from here.”

“Look’t the bright side,” Shiro sat on a bench.

Toshi smirked, “from here on, we’ll get to spar.”

Izuku found out the hard way why his friends seemed terrified of Tsuna. He left that room after his first ever training feeling sore in places he didn’t know he could feel pain. Even his feet and his fingers hurt. Kacchan was in no better predicament.

Tsuna was the evil incarnate. They ached to know how a café cashier could be so strong, flexible, fast and terrifying… but they respected his privacy and liked his air of mystery. At the same time, Izuku had his suspicions, a thought born of strange coincidences and comments thrown around in the family.

The boy was surprised when Kacchan told him about Shay, a dog that had followed him home, but he’d grown used to animals acting out of normal. Strays coming and going was the norm in the Aizawa household, there were different cats lazing in the garden every day he was over. He could swear he’d seen a snake once, but it had been blue. He was sad but determined when Shay didn’t immediately trust him for cuddles and such, it took him an entire month to build it. Of course, she needed only one look at Tsuna to jump in his arms, the brunet was special like that.

… which raised even more questions when Izuku really, really thought about it. Tsuna had left his job at the café, reason unknown, and a few months later Sora had opened his Agency. Eraserhead was the only other hero employed there, and Shouta had apparently never shown interest in joining any. Underground heroes were a bit of a strange bunch. They worked alone, nightly, with their own rules. Izuku respected that, Sora was the same even if he had reached the spotlight through his deeds. He’d seen Shouta relent to things he didn’t exactly want to do only for Tsuna. It was a big give away, but it was also so crazy a possibility that Izuku kept it to himself and didn’t try to investigate, not even subtly.

His suspicions became facts when Sora was unmasked live on television. He’d expected his first reaction to such a thing would have been surprise or shock or even admiration… They were all present, but what he felt first and foremost was anger and worry. Anger because Tsuna looked caged and forced and alone. Worry because his friends seemed scared and targeted and worried.

It was the second time in all his life he felt powerless. It was awful and he hated it. He could do nothing beside waiting for the mediatic madness to give his family space. Izuku and Kacchan tried to visit, the house was basically surrounded by cameras and reporters. He’d never heard his mom swear before telling her about it, uncle Masaru was the only one that held it back – Kacchan used foul words when Tsuna was not around. They did meet Hitoshi and Ichigo at school, a week later, and they seemed fine if very tired.

They had to wait another full week before the swarm finally retired, and they did so because Sora’s agency’s lawyer had to threaten them openly. Izuku set foot in his friends’ house and a weight was lifted off his shoulders. Shouta was exhausted, Shiro was very annoyed… Tsuna was wary.

Tsuna was wary.

It was wrong on so many levels because Tsuna was warm and relaxed and sure and brave and maybe he could be a bit distant at times, when his eyes went to the window or became golden, but he was never, never wary. It almost seemed unnatural. Kacchan brushed it off, made it look like he was fine with having Sora as a babysitter and that was what had Izuku walk to the kitchen on his own, leaving his friends to brawl in front of the television.

The brunet was sitting at the table, getting through a pile of papers and newspapers, a phone on his left and a pc on his right. He seemed tired, now that Izuku was getting nearer, as if he was not sleeping well. It came to him, then, how important had been for Tsuna to keep his identity hidden. How much it was affecting him that it had come to light, how much it was affecting all of them.

Izuku went to sit opposite of him, eyes scanning the papers he could see: news about Sora, legal papers and the Agency’s paperwork.

“It’s not an easy job,” he commented, just to start the conversation.

Tsuna hummed, shrugging. “It isn’t, but the rewards are worth it.” He tapped an article where victims were dissing reporters. “They are worth it.”

“But.... there must be something you can do, about all this.”

“Of course. I have a very good lawyer. I… hoped I had more time, to enjoy the calm before this storm… For Hitoshi, Ichigo and Shiro, at least.” Tsuna sighed, massaging his forehead. “I shouldn’t have. I’ve attracted too much attention now, higher tiers’ villains are on my case.”

Izuku swallowed, “what does that mean?”

“You’re smart enough to know it was a trap all along.” Tsuna stood to make himself coffee. “They wanted to out my identity… the problem, now, is to know why.”

Yeah… he’d thought about it. “Do you have any idea?”

“Suspicions, mostly. Don’t worry about it, Izuku.” He passed behind him to ruffle his air, a small smile on his lips, “but thank you for worrying about me. It means a lot,” he offered him a mug of choco milk. “If you have questions, feel free to ask.” From how the smile turned teasing, he probably knew what was boiling inside the boy’s head.

“… your quirk… but I know you shouldn’t tell me.”

Tsuna hummed again. “I guess… My power is a bit complicated, I can tell you that I barely use it in emergency cases, no more. I basically fight quirkless.”

Izuku stilled, blinking once. “… quirkless?”

“Yup. You should know I started as a vigilante,” he waited for the boy to nod. “Do you know what a vigilante is?”

Uh, “someone that does hero work without a license?”

“That’s the common knowledge. Technically, and legally, a vigilante is someone who uses their quirk to help people or chase villains without a license. Based on this, I was very careful about using my powers, which is why I wasn’t pursued for crimes. I didn’t commit vigilantism.”

Izuku shook his head, “that’s such a loophole…”

“Shouta’s playing around it so much lately… And he used it to help me, back then. I’m a hero now only thanks to him.”

He had to hug the raven when he came back from work. “Now that… now that your identity is known, what’s going to change?”

“In this house, absolutely nothing,” his eyes shone in clear anger, “I’d be damned if I allow them to ruin my life only because they’re sharks waiting for the next scoup. They tried, one of them stalked Ichigo to school, I’m leaving her broke for that.” He deflated a bit, “as for my job, well… I have a good lawyer, but things have been a bit hectic,” he waved to the paperwork. “I’m submerged by interviews’ requests. However, I have fans, apparently, which is a blessing. Former victims are defending me from every corner, even from overseas. It’s… quite humbling.”

“You saved their lives.”

Tsuna slowly nodded. “Yes…. But I didn’t do it to gain this. I just… couldn’t look away from people in need.”

Izuku privately thought that it was all that mattered, in the end. Someone that cared. Someone that couldn’t look away. Someone that had needed a hero of his own.

“… why vigilantism?”

The man licked his lips. “I was too late for hero school. It’s a long story.”

He nodded. Tsuna was very careful when answering questions about his past, too. It wasn’t like he was hiding it. As always, it seemed he was protecting them by not telling them. Izuku nodded again.

“Why were you scared? Before, when we came.”

The brunet stopped short of signing a document, looking down. He didn’t answer immediately, deciding to drink his coffee first. He let go of the pen and leaned his cheek on his palm, elbow on the table.

“You may have had your suspicions, but knowing it for sure is a shock. Akuro acted differently for a time, after she discovered it. Shouta, too, but I was more afraid of having to skip country in that case,” he chuckled. “I’ve also purposefully hidden it from you, and hiding things from family is something I hate. In your shoes, I’d be very angry.” Tsuna sighed. “I guess I don’t want you to be angry at me, especially because I have no excuses… and I’ll keep hiding things from you. It’s unfair.”

Izuku tilted his head. “But we trust you.” He didn’t give the man time to answer, “when you hide things from us, it’s not because you want to, it’s to protect us. We understand that. We trust you. We were protected, weren’t we? Toshi and Ichigo were targeted not because they knew about you, but because people knew about Shouta working with you. I see the point in not letting us know. We understand. It’s ok if you keep doing it, because it’s work-related and because, if and when we will need to know, you will tell us, won’t you?”

Tsuna scoffed, lips quirking into a brighter smile than before. “That’s basic, I hate lies.”

Oh, they all knew. Izuku smiled, finished his choco milk and offered to wash the mugs, but Tsuna said he wanted more coffee. He was still very tired, but his spirit seemed to have been lifted a bit. His very first hero act had been a success!

“Where’s Tsuki?”

Izuku threw a thumb behind him, at the school. “He’s got to stay an hour or so more, a teacher wants to talk to him.”

Toshi groaned, starting towards the crossroad where they usually split to go home, “again? Will they just stop?”

“Dunno, rumours have it that Mishiara-sensei favours another hero school, one Kacchan hasn’t signed for.”

“Damn money…”

“Kacchan doesn’t want you to.”

Toshi eyed him with an arched brow. “… I said nothing.”

“But you were thinking about it,” Izuku chirped.

His friend shrugged. “Dropping hints at home will get tou-san to act, easy.”

They chuckled. There were few things that could make Tsuna a raging lion, they were all tied to how his family was treated. It made them walk through the streets with confidence, peacefully.

“Oh, old man says we’re having training tomorrow night, not today. Something at the Agency, me and my brothers will be there, too.”

“Everything alright?”

“Uhm, dunno, they are always cryptic… Naomasa is involved, tho.”

“Ok, keep us up to date.”

“Will do, say hi to your mom.”

“Bye!”

Izuku waved at Toshi and walked home, a skip in his steps. He’d heard that All Might was in town, so he wanted to turn on the tv and trace his movements. Maybe he could track him down and ask a few things? He loved All Might, he wanted to ask… to ask if a quirkless person could become a hero, he wanted– needed the boost in motivation. Especially with so few months before the Entrance Exam. Ichigo had already graduated and was attending additional courses to have his teaching license before going pro. He had yet to decide if he wanted to be employed by an Agency or work on his own as an underground hero, while working the day hours as a teacher. Shiro always threw around the idea of letting Ichigo work at school as he took the night patrols. It wasn’t hard to make it work.

He smiled as he passed beneath the small bridge a few houses before home. It was nice to have this family, to have support and company. His mom had auntie, but he had two big brothers – even if Ichigo and Shiro seemed a bit distant, they were there for him whenever he needed – and two best friends – he didn’t dare tell Kacchan that Hitoshi was on his same level, they brawled enough as it was – and the new addition was starting to warm up to them – he still knew nothing about his past but it was fine. He felt blessed in the unluck of being quirkless. And, to be honest, heroes rarely worked alone.

It was something he hadn’t noticed at first. After the talk with Tsuna, about the possibility of being a quirkless hero, Izuku had started to look at things with a new perspective. He kept watching tv shows and interviews, going beyond the simple analysis of quirks. He studied their relationships, behaviours and methods of work, giving much attention to their tactics. Even if quirks made fighting easier, they also had weaknesses, drawbacks and conditions. Eraserhead’s Erasure, for instance, put Shouta’s eyes under pressure. He was often red-eyed and it had repercussions on his sleeping schedule, along with the nightly work. However, the Agency’s technicians were having him experiment a lot of new googles, lens and drops to make it more comfortable for him to use his quirk. Even Izuku had tried to help with a few comments directly taken from his notes.

A strange sound made the boy blink and turn. In the darkness of the bridge, Izuku paled at the mass of goo with crazed eyes and an eery, full-toothed grin. He barely registered the words – guise, size – before he dove forward in a clumsy, panicked attempt to flee the apparent villain’s hold. His stumble made him earn enough time to scream for help, but he was soon enclosed in a mass of goo that clogged his airways.

His eyes watered, he couldn’t breathe but damn if he was going to die he quickly looked at the villain to find whatever weakness he could but he could see nothing except–

Izuku stopped trying to get the goo off his face and put all his strength in his fingers, pushing them right into the eyes he could see. Something different than the goo was squashed by his fingertips– he repressed the urge to puke, and revelled in the screams. The goo let go of his face and he took in a deep, coughed breath.

“HAVE NO FEAR, BOY!”

Izuku kept coughing, sight blurry but aware of just who that voice belonged to.

“FOR I AM HERE!”

He wanted to do many things in that moment – hysterical laughter almost bubbled through his coughs, relief crushed his ribcage, anxiety was sending him into another panic, the road was rough and unforgiving under his bruised palms and knees – but he could only watch in befuddlement as All Might sent a gust of air pressure against the villain, basically cleaning the goo off him, and rapidly collected it in a plastic bottle.

Izuku blinked, once, twice, thrice and a fourth time, hearing but not totally listening to what the hero was saying. He understood that All Might had signed his notebook – which he appreciated and would print for his friends – and that he was leaving but he had questions to ask so he didn’t really think when he jumped forward and grabbed the hero’s ankle and he found himself propelled into the sky with the wind blowing his skin away from his skeleton–

All Might landed on a roof. Izuku let him go and did his breathing exercise to calm down – something Tsuna had taught him long prior. He stood, ignoring how All Might refused to wait, and yelled his question, cheeks heated.

“Can a quirkless person become a hero?!” He eyed the way All Might started steaming but he chalked it up to his quirk. “I-I have no quirk but-t I want to become a he-hero… I just want to s-save people and have a smil-le that knows no f-fear and be–WHAT?!”

Izuku jumped backwards, eyes wide and unbelieving. All Might had suddenly become skinnier than a mummy and was also bleeding from his mouth as if he had an inner cut! He watched and listened, this time, to the story the hero was spewing, a scar covering his left torso left five years prior that had given him a lot of problems. The worst, he couldn’t use his quirk for more than three hours.

“I haven’t told the public about my condition,” which, to Izuku’s waking up mind, sounded like a golden reason to not tell the boy no matter what, “so I ask you to respect it and keep it a secret. I am still the symbol of peace, my smile must never succumb to the forces of evil… this doesn’t mean that I have no fear, boy. My life is on the line, always, and I can’t tell you, in good conscience, that you can be a hero without a quirk.” All Might stood, and Izuku watched him with an emptiness he’d thought he’d forgotten thanks to Tsuna’s words. “There are more professions that are on the line to save people, boy. You need to see reality for what it is.”

The green-haired held tightly onto his backpack’s straps, swallowing nothing. He let the hero leave, waited a few minutes, then climbed down the building, dodging the security of the offices. He studied where he was and silently directed his steps home… Then changed path and went towards Tsuna’s, which would lead him basically back to school. He sent his friends’ chat a message to both ask if it was fine and tell Kacchan about his plan. Hitoshi immediately answered that it was ok, that Shouta and Tsuna were also coming back from the Agency.

Izuku kept his mind carefully empty, wary of pouring his feelings out while in the open. He felt… vulnerable, and he craved warmth. He fastened his pace, but slowly stopped when commotion on the other side of the road was gathering attention. An explosion eerily similar to Kacchan’s quirk made him squint to–

He saw a blond mop of hair poking out of green goo. The explosions coming from the big, gooey hands were destroying the buildings, civilians were safe behind a handful of immobile heroes.

Kacchan’s face was covered, he could not breathe and he was–

Izuku dashed through the sea of curious civilians and threw his bag at the villain’s red eyes. The goo retreated and he grabbed Kacchan’s arm and he pulled–

“YOU?!?”

–their arms were trapped in the slime Izuku kept pulling but–

All Might appeared above them. He sent a punch through the villain and they were free…… free falling into the road. Izuku shielded his face, as did Kacchan, and they tumbled against a wall. It hurt. And it started raining.

“What the actual fuck.”

Izuku couldn’t have said it better, and he wouldn’t have either. He suddenly had all the heroes, minus All Might who had disappeared, scolding him for his rushing in. Kacchan put himself in-between and started yelling. Izuku stood, hugged his friend and they shivered together in both shock and relief. They felt their phones vibrate in missed calls. They ignored the devices and tried to get to the ambulance, but the heroes were very stubborn about their scold. Izuku knew his friend was about to blow a fuse.

“Excuse me.”

A familiar voice cut through the yells like a hot knife would butter. It was cold, the coldest he’d ever heard, yet Izuku and Kacchan sagged against each other in true relief and the feeling of safety overwhelmed them.

“Stand back.”

The small crowd parted. Tsuna and Shouta were there, in their hero getup, glaring at the gaping heroes. The next instant, Izuku saw the brunet kneel in front of them, checking them all over, and he felt like they were back at his home, warm and cuddled and safe.

“How are you?”

Izuku looked into golden eyes and sighed, suddenly exhausted. Kacchan answered for him.

“Tired, and freaked out.”

“Any wounds?”

“Uh…” Kacchan looked at his palms, “bruised.”

“And they’ve not been seen by medics because,” Tsuna slightly turned towards the paling heroes, letting his words linger.

Izuku shivered, then dived forward to hug the man’s neck. “It’s fine, we’re ok.”

“It’s not fine,” he answered, tightly hugging him back. “I’ve seen how it’s gone, but I can leave that to Shouta. Let’s go home, I’ve called your mothers, they’re ok with you staying over.”

Kacchan scoffed behind him. “They’ll want to give you another vacation.”

“They already have. Now, before my husband rids the world of still salvageable heroes… Izuku, are you truly ok?” He refused to let go, felt another hand on his shoulder. “Do you want to go home first?” He nodded and felt Tsuna stand up, effortlessly picking him up as if he weighted nothing. “Shouta, I’m going first, can you–”

“Just go,” someone ruffled Izuku’s hair, “Kaoru’s coming anyway, I’ll have him start the experimenting phase for that new project.”

“Ok, see you in a few.”

Izuku felt the rush of wind around him, but it was nothing compared to how All Might had taken off with him anchored around the massive ankle. It was almost soft, not even cold, and he felt lulled. They arrived at the house in no time. Tsuna didn’t take the door, choosing instead to enter through a window on the first floor, settling him on a cabinet of the bathroom. He let him go and looked around, feeling his eyes raw and puffy from tears he hadn’t shed.

“Ok, let’s get you patched up first,” Tsuna took the first aid kit, looking at his bruises. “Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Izuku swallowed, hissing at the burn of the disinfectant on his wounds, “I met All Might.”

The brunet snapped his golden eyes up, a grim line crossing his forehead. “You mean, before what I’ve seen on tv?”

He just nodded. “I was attacked by that villain on my way home, All Might saved me and… I asked him if I could become a hero, even if quirkless…” He pushed through the sudden tension in the room, and a hiccup, “he told me no.”

The disinfectant broke in Tsuna’s hand. He blinked at the liquid dripping on the floor, glaring at it as if it was at complete fault. Izuku pursed his lips.

“Don’t be angry…”

The man sighed, threw the broken bottle in the sink and took another. “And do you believe him?”

The boy paused, thinking about that question. Did he? Did he believe the number one hero? His favourite hero? The terror-less smile? Did he believe the man that had let him and Kacchan drop to the floor? Did he believe the hero that had punched air through a villain without considering that Izuku could have been hurt in the process? Did he believe All Might, who had probably lost the villain from the plastic bottle?

… Or, did he believe Tsuna? The kind, warm hero that saved lives after lives after lives? The man that babysat him and his friend without putting his job first? The beacon of light in the darkness of the human race? Did he believe the man who had ran to their side, even if he’d not been on work hours? Did he believe the hero that used strength only when necessary and always put the victims first? Did he believe Sora, who had asked about their well-being instead of scolding them?

Izuku sighed, very deeply, and shook his head. “It’s like putting you against him. And you win, Tsuna. I trust you, more than him…”

“But it still hurts.”

He nodded, lower lip trembling and a hiccup trying to escape his throat. “I-I… I just…”

Tsuna hugged him and was hugged back in a tight hold. “Let it out, I’ve got you. And you’re totally right trusting me over him,” he said with the most disdain and hatred he’d ever heard from the man, which tore a chuckle out of the boy. “If I ever meet him again, like hell I’m letting him chat my ears off.”

Oh, he remembered that. Izuku sniffed once and detached from Tsuna’s chest to look at him, scratching one eye in discomfort. The brunet silently brushed a wet, soft towel over his face.

“What was-s he saying, t-that time?”

Tsuna clicked his tongue and gave him a glass of water. “A bunch of useless things. He basically patronized me.” He paused, frowning at the empty glass, “I wanted to punch him.”

Izuku scoffed, “you’re not that strong.”

“Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have hurt him. Nao-kun was begging me to let him go, you know?”

The idea somehow lifted his mood and he chuckled. “Can’t imagine it…”

“Maybe I’ll get to show you, who knows,” he said, helping him on the floor. “Now go downstairs, I’ll start on dinner after I get these clothes off.”

Izuku liked that idea very much, but he hadn’t taken one step out the bathroom that the doorbell rang. He looked back at Tsuna, whose eyes gleamed golden. They both took the stairs, ending up in front of the door opened by Ichigo. Izuku had to hold back a gasp.

“Oh, there you are, I was searching for you.”

However, he couldn’t stop his body from putting himself behind Tsuna. The man gently patted his head, unmoving and warm and safe. Ichigo read the situation and turned towards the smaller All Might with his eyes shining in yellow threat.

“Do I know you?”

In all the years he had known Tsuna, Izuku had understood one important rule: do not lie. No matter what, no matter how, no matter who, Tsuna would recognize the lie and also find out the truth. So, when the hero in disguise offered a well-thought but futile half-truth, the brunet immediately saw it for what it was and destroyed him.

“Oh, you see, I was there when this boy was attacked, I wanted to know if he was ok, we had a… conversation and I’d like to continue it.”

“You mean to say,” Tsuna slowly climbed down the two steps of the stairs, pushing Izuku into Ichigo and thus in the living room, “that you want to tell my kid that he can’t be a hero again?”

Izuku couldn’t see them anymore, he was steered to the sofa, where Byakuran occupied his lap and he was sided by Shiro and Hitoshi. Ichigo sat in front of him, slightly turned to the door, on the carpet. None spoke, too curious about what was being said at the entrance.

“Don’t go assume things, no one told me. What do you want.” Tsuna’s voice was unnaturally cold, detached and harsh.

“I assure you, young man,” and here, Izuku understood what the brunet had said about patronizing, “I just want to talk to that boy, make sure he is ok. Attacking that villain on his own must have been–”

“You’re being purposefully obtuse, you know perfectly well who I am, stop pretending.”

“I must say–”

“What’s going on here?”

Ichigo let out a very relieved breath when they heard Shouta’s voice. Kacchan slipped in the living room with questioning eyes, Toshi simply shook his head in silent answer. Izuku didn’t have a much clearer idea of what was going on.

“Can you call Naomasa? I’m not letting this man in if he isn’t here to mediate.”

“Will do, kitten,” the raven got in the house, sent them a wink and phoned the detective. “I hope you’re near, can you hop by?” He sat at the bottom of the stairs, “we’ll wait, we’ve got a… small situation, you can say.”

“Time?”

“Ten minutes top.”

“Good, you stay there or God help me you’ll leave hobbling, quirk or not.” Tsuna peeked over to briefly check on them, then went in the kitchen to do who knew what.

“I would do exactly as he said, his threats have witnesses, meanwhile,” Shouta looked over them, setting his gaze on Izuku, “debrief?”

“I was attacked on my way home,” he automatically reported, “All Might saved me, bottled up the villain, but he… must have escaped, somehow, and… on my way here, I saw Kacchan attacked, and the heroes were doing nothing but he was not breathing I couldn’t let–”

“Ok,” the man stopped him as Kacchan soft-punched his shoulder, “I know the rest.” He sent a wary glance towards the still open front door. “Makes me wonder about a few things, Tsuna is rarely hostile, and never without reason… Who are you?”

“My name is Yagi Toshinori–”

“Finally some truth,” Tsuna commented as he walked in the living room with a tray of warm milk, home-made biscuits and a bowl of steaming broth. “Eat and drink, dinner will be late today.” He took the bowl.

They all immediately did as told. Izuku searched the golden eyes for comfort and Tsuna smiled at him.

“It’s ok, better to take care of this now than later,” the man said.

“What the– Toshinori-san, what are you doing here?”

Tsuna scoffed, “at least the detective sees my point.”

Shiro snickered and, biscuit dangling from his lips, went to turn on the tv, “up for a game, damsel in distress?”

Kacchan threw himself over the albino in pure rage and embarrassment. Ichigo sighed and Toshi eyed his father.

“Do we need to worry, tou-san?”

“No, we’ll take care of it.”

Hitoshi immediately relaxed at those words and sunk in the couch. “Hey, Shiro?” His brother perked up from the mock-brawl on the carpet, “bro’s up in his room, wanna do that test on your own?”

Shiro positively beamed. He disentangled from the mess of limbs and donned his best feral smirk, casually passing through the entrance to reach the kitchen. He yellow-eyed the man stuck at the entrance. Shouta stood from the stairs and glared.

“Test not passed,” Toshi whistled.

Tsuna went to Shiro and gently pushed him away, growling. “You–”

“OKAY! Time-out! Please, Tsuna, you called me, let me?”

The brunet pursed his lips, Shouta put one hand on his shoulder. “You know what’s better, do that.”

That made him slump back into his husband’s arms. “… I won’t let him near Izuku until he tells me the truth. The whole truth.”

“Now–”

“Toshinori-san, I advise you to not antagonise Sora,” Tsukauchi-san interrupted All Might. “Now, your study? I, too, need a clear understanding of the situation.”

Shouta steered Tsuna to the back of the house, “this way.”

Izuku watched the group of men, Tamakawa included, walk past the living room. All Might glanced at him and gave him a weak thumb-up. Shiro was behind the boy, totally unimpressed, and Toshi completely ignored him. Kacchan didn’t try to ask questions.

“I know we’re still new to the hero business,” Ichigo sighed, “but looking at you as if you’re a villain… Prejudices run deep, huh?”

Thoughtful silence followed his words. Kacchan and Shiro started a videogame, Toshi played chess against his brother and Izuku watched. They heard nothing of the adults’ conversation.

Izuku noticed he had dozed off half-way through his chess game against Kacchan – he played so slow – when Tsuna gently shook him and told him dinner was ready. They ate and the food, the warmth brought back the lost feeling of safety. They had a sleepover, but they fell asleep very soon unlike other times. They got ready to go to school the morning after, and Tsuna told him to come back there once school was over, that Toshinori-san still wanted to talk to him and the brunet would be there if he wanted, which he did.

He did his best to go through the school day without thinking too much over what awaited him. If Tsuna, after all the hostility he’d shown towards All Might, had agreed to this, he was sure he had nothing to worry about. And the knowledge that the brunet would have been there, with him, through it, reassured him a lot. He just hoped this was not going to be about him being quirkless or something.

When they came home, his friends were led to the training basement by Shouta while Izuku was welcomed in the kitchen, where Tsuna was getting started on dinner and All Might was sitting, in his smaller body, at the table, fiddling with his fingers. The boy considered sitting in front of him before deciding he could help Tsuna as well while he listened to whatever this was about.

“I’m home.”

“Welcome back, Izuku. Here, veggies to wash.”

“Hello,” the man coughed in his fist. “We haven’t yet introduced ourselves, I am Toshinori Yagi, also known as All Might.”

Oh, cards completely uncovered. “I’m Midoriya Izuku,” he answered, carefully cutting up the vegetables. “You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes… I first want to apologize about… what I told you, on that roof.” Izuku let go of the knife, as Tsuna had taught him, and moved his attention to the truly regret-looking hero. “I was running out of time, and I still think being a hero without a quirk is dangerous… but I did not think about you and your hopes, I’m sorry.”

The boy bit his lower lip to hide its trembling, “It’s fine,” he said, then cleared his throat. “Really, it’s fine I… Tsuna helped.”

All Might flinched. “Yes, he… Sora told me, in great details.” Izuku carefully glanced at Tsuna, at the way he was stabbing through the meat. “But, before that, I was able to see how great a hero you could be.” This got his undivided attention. “When you threw yourself in the fight, to help your friend… I was blinded by how bright you shone, you made the difference. You, unlike many heroes, have the heart and the right drive to become a beacon of faith for everyone… your body moved on its own before you could think.” Izuku barely kept in the tears, feeling a tissue in his hand and using it to blow his nose. “Which brings me to an offer I’d like you to consider,” All–Small Might smiled, “you remember what I said about my wound?”

He nodded, slow, wary. “Five years ago, a fight. You can’t use your quirk for more than three hours.”

“Yes… that’s not all. My quirk is unique, for years I’ve been searching for someone who could follow in my steps and become the next symbol of peace.”

“T-the next…?”

“Yes,” Small Might looked down at his hands, “I’ve been searching for someone worthy of inheriting my title and, with it, my quirk.”

Izuku blinked, swallowing. “I…”

“My quirk is the power to transfer power, One For All,” he explained, and the opportunity of analysing such a mysterious quirk got the boy’s mind finally working on full-speed. “Through DNA, I can pass the strength my predecessors and me have acquired during our lives, all into you.”

He tilted his head in consideration, “it’s like a stock-piling strength enhancing quirk?”

“Good job,” Tsuna ruffled his hair in passing and Izuku beamed.

“… Yes, indeed. And I want to pass it to you, because I see in you a worthy successor.”

He was almost overwhelmed by the feeling of elation at being acknowledged at such level… almost. Instead, he kept his mind working and shook his head.

“Drawbacks. What are the drawbacks? It’s impossible this quirk doesn’t have one, it’s overpowered for one and completely unreasonable. Sounds ancient, too. Also, through DNA? What’s that mean? I’d need to eat you? And inheriting strength is cool but is my body able to sustain it? Like, I’m training but you still go all muscly when you use your quirk– which wouldn’t suit me much I think but that’s not the point, I don’t have the muscles to sustain such strength, am I in danger of hurting myself using it? My skin was almost being flayed off my bones when you took off yesterday and that’s a high giveaway, I’d need to train a lot, maybe a full regimen or something to build up muscles but–”

“Boy, calm dow–”

“Don’t interrupt Izuku while he’s thinking,” Tsuna hissed.

Izuku blinked, embarrassed, and only then noticed that his notebook and a pen had somehow found way to the table, where he was sitting and had written down his thoughts. “Sorry…”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt, Sora, but the boy has not accepted yet and such information might put him in danger.”

Tsuna turned from the stove with golden eyes. “He’s been in danger from the moment you put your eyes on him, All Might. You think he can forget what you’re saying just because he refuses? You’re so naïve. Reborn would have already shot you.” He stopped, took a deep breath and opened his eyes, a warm brown. “If anything, what he discovers through thinking might even help you, so shut up when he’s gifting us his thoughts.”

Izuku wrung his fingers in his lap in happiness, “thank you…” He cleared his throat and scratched his cheeks, looking down. “I don’t know if I can accept, Small Might– not because I don’t want a quirk!” He clarified, anxious. “It’s that… maybe I want to show the world, I can become a hero without a quirk… Also, I won’t just take a quirk without speaking with my mom first because I made a promise, and I’m… this is a very important decision… Don’t misunderstand, I’d love to have your quirk and become such a good hero,” he looked at Tsuna, who was eyeing him with a small smile, “I’d like to make my way, build it up on my own… Maybe, if you still have not found anyone else,” he smiled at Small Might, who was speechless, “ask me again later?”

Silence stretched, Izuku fidgeted as the number one hero kept looking at him with his mouth hanging open. He also seriously started considering if all he’d known about All Might had simply been a façade, not false but not true either.

“If I may,” Tsuna came to his rescue, “what about a compromise?”

Izuku tilted his head, Small Might finally unfroze. “C-compromise?”

“Yes. First of all, I’m sorry to break your happy bubble, but your secret is not going to hold much longer,” Tsuna’s eyes flashed golden. “Izuku should talk about this possibility with his mother, clearly, not withholding any info on the matter. Inko needs time to process things, it will work in your favour. Meanwhile, Shouta and I will up Izuku’s training, adjusting the schedule and working towards the muscle-building, which won’t be a problem.”

Small Might closed his mouth and caressed his angular chin, “it might work but… can I assist? Or train young Midoriya myself?” At Tsuna’s glare, he fixed his words, “once a week?

The brunet hummed. “I’ll watch you. Now, Izuku, is this ok with you?”

He blinked, “oh, yes, sure… I like it. Better than just disappearing and… yeah.”

Tsuna sighed, “but?”

“… help me with mom?”

His babysitter laughed. Izuku felt betrayed and refocused on the notes he’d taken about One For All, OFA for short. Small Might suspiciously eyed the bowl of broth that Tsuna put in front of him.

“Eat, you’re too skinny. If you’re going to stay in this house more than an hour, you’re not going to do it with only skin on your bones.”

“Ah, but, it’s because of my wo–”

“I need to send you to the doctors at my agency,” the brunet sighed. “It’s true a wound can cause a lot of issues, but no meat on your bones is only your lack of self-preservation. I’ll fix it.”

Izuku happily hummed to himself as Small Might unknowingly accepted his fate of being unofficially adopted into Tsuna’s care. Really, there should be a sign in front of the house: “Do not enter if you’re not ready to be babied.” If the man was able to mother-hen All Might, of all people, then no one was safe from his care.

“It’s not fun when they apologize~…” Shiro whined from his spot against Ichigo, fully pouting.

Tsuna hummed, still not willing to forgive that part of Toshinori-san’s mishap. Izuku smiled, eyes closed, and gently pushed Small Might to the training basement, where Shouta was waiting with a few papers scattered on a bench.

“You owe me big time, small man.”

“Ah, uhm, I–”

“And you too, problem child. Tsuna was out for blood,” the underground hero flipped the folder closed and stood to stretch, “I’ve rarely seen him that angry. Guess what, he is too kind to let him,” he pointed at Small Might, “waste away in self-pity and self-guilt. Which means, if you don’t know, that now he’s outlining a plan for him, too.” He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with both eyes closed. “God, who knew marrying him would lead to adopting half the hero world… Whatever, worth it.”

Izuku held back a chuckle, but smiled ear-to-ear. “Is it only food or…?”

“A whole training regimen, he’s got the Agency involved without truly involving it.” He sighed, “if they didn’t worship the land he walks, maybe I’d have a smidgen of peace… As it is, I’m starting to value the times he bed-arrests me.” There was a small smirk on the hero’s lips, but he refocused on Small Might and took a deep breath. “Ok, ‘nough of me complaining, we’re here to revise Izuku’s training plan, I have this prepared already,” he passed a couple of papers to the number one hero, who read through them. “It’s from the Agency, with some notes from Tsuna, but this is about your quirk so it needs your ok.”

Small Might seemed taken aback by that, but he did nod as soon as he was done reading. “As long as young Midoriya builds up muscle mass, it’s ok.”

“Good, Izuku? Bench.”

The boy shrugged off his hoodie and eagerly got to work.

Although the time until UA Entrance Exam was short, Izuku managed to train enough – and not going overboard thanks to Tsuna’s constant checking – to convince Small Might that he could start receiving his quirk any time he wanted. He still didn’t want to, though his mother had given her consent through a waterfall of tears, both happy and worried. The brunet had been key in keeping her calm.

Izuku couldn’t wait for his Exam but, truth be told, he was also taken by the family’s mission of conquering the new addition through affection. The more, the merriest, as Shiro had said. He kept in the instinct to ask about the scars, the complexion and the situation that had brought him to them. If Tsuna had not told them, it wasn’t a problem and it was Touya’s right to tell them, anyway. No one pushed, no one even thought about it. Tsuna’s word was enough for them to accept him, welcome him and understand him.

In hindsight, he should have known that Touya would have shown such a protective streak. It seemed to be the one characteristic his family flawlessly shared.