Chapter Text
Izuku was the biggest All Might fan of all time, and he and everyone around him knew it. His only real “competition” was Kacchan, but ever since middle school had begun the bullying has become insufferable. What used to just be exclusionary practices, choosing him last for teams in gyms and encouraging others to do the same, never choosing him to be on his group assignments, not that anyone else did either. Thankfully the “cooties” myth of touching Izuku and becoming quirkless was put to rest by a particularly comforting teacher their last year of elementary school, still no one went out of their way to include the Deku. The loser. The freak. The All Might obsessed nerd who could only vicariously live out his dream by hyper fixating on the greatest hero of all time, which a Deku would clearly never amount to be. Despite the bullying, which was tolerated by most teachers and often went without repercussion, Kacchan was still as straight-laced as he could be, intent on eventually applying for UA high school, the most prestigious hero academy in the country, and Izuku would argue in the world. Nothing would get in the way of Kacchan’s path to victory, least of all being associated with a quirkless Deku. So because of this, his best friend is gone, and since Izuku has ever really excelled at focusing on one thing at a time, it’s not like the repository for other friendships was well-stocked. In fact it was bone dry.
Izuku had loved and lost more than he cared to admit in his short life. His dad he never really got the chance to see and then his best friend who had felt like an extension of him, was now out of reach. Izuku’s one reprieve was his online communities. It had started with YouTube, rewatching All Might’s greatest moments over and over again until Inko was sure that at least 1/3 of the video’s 875 million views were courtesy of her own son. YouTube had satiated Izuku’s need to absorb any and all information about the greatest hero of all time, until he began wondering about upcoming documentaries, quirk analysis that went deeper than the click-bait and obnoxious voices of the ever-popular videos on the web. But he had been brave enough to find love again in the community. If he couldn’t love a person without them leaving, then he would love this online community. He would give it his all, his dedication, his expertise and knowledge. Eventually he would get to see All Might in person (again) and he would someday work up the guts to show off his work, his notebooks will be published and Izuku will be known as the world’s greatest quirk analyzer, he knew it in his bones.
It didn’t take Izuku long to go from lurker to debater to moderator of several sub threads in the All Might community online. A chronically online child had become a chronically online preteen, to the point that it was no longer surprising for Izuku’s phone to ping at any and all hours of the day and night, weekday or weekend. Most of the interactions were of praise, he was one of the most thorough analyzers on the forum. Thanks to his experiences in school, the online trolls didn’t really get to him. He had his receipts and could and would cite his sources thank you very much. And if you can’t handle being proved wrong and admitting it, then that’s what the block button was for.
Because Izuku never lost his admiration for All Might, nor his dream of someday, somehow becoming a hero like All Might, his screen name was appropriately MightyBoy, or MB for short, as some of his frequent followers would refer to him.
One of the particularly interesting things about moderating several sub threads for the All Might community was the ongoing game of determining if a poster was an adult or a preteen/teen like him. Some instances it was very obvious, grammar was the biggest giveaway, correct punctuation and spelling would sometimes make or break the decision to intervene in an argument for Izuku. If it was clearly a kid that was spouting off on the horn about something they were clearly wrong about, Izuku would kindly remind them that while All Might has fans of all ages and all are welcome to read within the community, that guidelines indicate that users must be age 12 and older to interact with people in the forums. More times than not this resulted in a ghosting by the user, proving Izuku to be correct again.
Not to be smug, but Izuku was pretty efficient at weeding out the people who knew their stuff and were worth the effort to debate with, and which were online blowing off steam as an outlet for their own lives. Not that Izuku was above that either. This was his place, his domain where people respected him, cared about what he had to say, complimented his analysis and built up the confidence he had had shattered by the peers of his age.
He had met a few other teens from around Japan and the world through his forums. One user in particular he would go so far as to say was his favorite lurker, AllMightsProtege, or AMP as Izuku referred to him. Like many frequent flyers and users of the forum, AMP started out by simply upvoting and reposting a lot of the solid reviews, theories, and analysis. Several times AMP would squash a debate before Izuku had to put the hammer down with his big moderator threats, and for that Izuku was grateful.
In one particularly heated exchange with another user, an adult that couldn’t accept defeat in this scenario, AMP had come to Izuku’s aid in the comments, listing a wall of text proof of the other user’s flaws in his analysis of All Might’s ultimate move against the heteromorph that destroyed another bridge. The whole exchange, while slightly raising Izuku’s blood pressure because how in the hell could anyone not realize that the Delaware Smash is the precursor to the Massachusetts Smash and call themselves an All Might Fan, was thrilling. Izuku was teaming up with one of his favorite forum users and defending not only Izuku but the original poster who had simply said that the Massachusetts Smash was the best way to handle the villain with the least amount of collateral damage to the load bearing structure of the bridge since the villain had already decimated the support cables.
Izuku had wanted to personal message AMP for months, but AMP was one of those users who you could tell was either a slightly mentally unstable adult, or a much more belligerent, but equally All Might obsessed nerd such as Izuku. While Izuku was hoping for the latter of the two options, the looming threat of a creepy weirdo on the other hand was enough to keep Izuku placated with stalking AMP’s profile to see if he ever updated his age (he didn’t, though neither did Izuku at his mother’s request), uploaded an IRL profile picture (he didn’t, but neither did Izuku so he couldn’t really fault him there either), or updated any identifying characteristics such as a college, job, hero agency, anything.
AMP was an enigma to Izuku, but he was his friend. His notifications always made Izuku grin. “Go get em MB”, “You’re good at this”, “Do you put this much analysis into other heroes? I bet it’s all spot on”, the praises never ended, and it made Izuku’s heart swell. Inko would compliment Izuku on his analysis of recent events, sure. She would listen intently as he described the most recent discourse or praise in the communities he managed, but she was surface-level understanding, which Izuku never minded, but he longed for the days that he knew would never return of him and Kacchan rushing to the store to get the newest All Might comics, rip through dozens of packs of trading cards, and watch every documentary they could get their hands on together. Kacchan was “too cool” for that stuff now, and regardless he wouldn’t dream of hanging out with Deku again if his life depended on it.
But that was in the category of things Izuku could not control as his therapist put it. When you’re looking at the grand scheme of things, there are some that you can control, and some that you cannot. Inko had taken Izuku to a therapist the last year of elementary school when she began to suspect Izuku had too strong of an attachment to his online community and not enough to the real world. Luckily the therapist understood Izuku’s predicament of being quirkless in a world of amazing quirks and put Inko’s worries to rest about his online obsession. It was an area of Izuku’s life where anonymity reigned supreme. He had respect, he had community, and even though it was a superficial relationship that was not yet built on trust, as Izuku’s identity was unknown to other users, it was still a source of positivity and control that he had.
He may not have a social life or friends outside of the forum, but at least online he had AMP, and AMP always had his back.
To stave off the angry inbox messages, Izuku had his set so that only members of the community who had been there at least six weeks could private message him. There were anonymous messages for concerns or bugs that needed fixed, but rarely did Izuku receive personal messages.
Until one Friday night he did, from none other than AMP himself. Izuku and his mom had just arrived home from an outing for ramen for dinner when Izuku stepped out of the shower to see his notifications flashing. His heart pounded against his ribcage nearly in an attempt to escape his chest when he saw “3 Unread Msg from: AllMightsProtege”. With shaking fingers he taps the bubble.
AllMightsProtege:
8:30pm
Hey.
Sorry, don’t know if this is ok with you or not, but I wanted to run this by you before instead of submitting it to the sub. It’s an analysis of All Might’s early years in America and how a future prohero could emulate that experience here in Japan. There’s not a lot like it on the subs, but it also feels a little stupid, like clearly there’s not going to be a great comparison of All Might’s American internship here in Japan, but at the same time I figured maybe it’ll start some talking about the Hero Commission and future heroes and stuff. I dunno, now it seems a little dumb. But I already typed this much so I’m going to go ahead and send you the file. Thanks MB, if you don’t want anything to do with this or if I’m way off in my theories then feel free to ignore this or if you find fault in stuff I’d really appreciate your looking it over.
Document attached: Future_Hero_Internship_to_Mirror_AM.docx
Izuku’s breath was coming about as quickly as his heart was pounding, excitement electrifying every nerve in his hands and he hastily opened the document, a thorough and organized listing of agencies, tables comparing American cities that All Might had interned at with comparable Japanese cities and towns. Continuing education in America that All Might had participated in and if those classes were available here. AMP had also found stats for the rising crime rates in America and if they were applicable here in Japan too with the profound difference between the societies and laws. It was flawless. It was a masterpiece of becoming the next All Might, for all intents and purposes.
MightyBoy:
8:55pm
Hey! This is amazing! Like, seriously your organization and the research you put into this must have taken forever!
It’s essentially a blueprint of how to follow in All Might’s footsteps to the nth degree!
Like, how were you able to find some of this data? I thought a lot of the continuing education courses that All Might did were American-exclusives or not applicable to Japanese use, such as borders dispute and such.
Aaacckk I’m sorry I’m rambling, this is just super impressive! I’m honored you would share it with me (^u^)
AllMightsProtege:
8:57pm
Heh, thanks, it was a lot of research but if you of all people think it’s legit then it was worth it.
What about you? All Might aspirations as well?
MightyBoy:
8:58pm
Something like that.
Izuku stopped and took a deep breath on his bed. This was it. This was the moment he’s been waiting for, but how much of it had to be true? AMP had sent him a plan for future hero interning and prohero work, but those things would never apply to Izuku. It was now or never, whatever response he gave to AMP now would determine if he was going to live out a lie in his domain of peace and acceptance, or if he was going to come clean with it and potentially lose it all…again.
Maybe a half truth wouldn’t hurt? Surely he could make that work, just make it seem as if he hasn’t really decided? He would have to watch his replies to others in the future to avoid accidentally becoming a hypocrite of his own excuses…
AllMightsProtege:
9:00pm
Well it’s definitely mine. I’ll become number one just like him. I bet you can get close too, maybe second because I’ve got the number one spot claimed 😉
MightyBoy:
9:01pm
Ohhh is that how it is then?!
I give you flawless critique and praise for your hero plan and I’m booted to second place in the hero rankings? Dang AMP, that’s rude af!
XD
AllMightsProtege:
9:02pm
HAHAHAHAHA
Whatever, fine, you’re like one of the few people I trust when it comes to this stuff, maybe we’ll just team up or something. AMP and MB Agency!
MightyBoy:
9:02pm
But why am I second?!
AllMightsProtege:
9:03pm
Because I’m the one who said we should start an agency, so I go first!
Or we could come up with other names, idk.
Thanks for looking it over btw. I’ve been nervous as hell to send that to anyone.
I know I don’t “know” you, but you take this shit seriously and know your stuff.
MightyBoy:
9:05pm
(*^o^*)
Thank youuuuu!
You’re so kind!
I’m going to start drafting ideas now!
Izuku blushed and kicked his feet in the air. He had avoided it. He had managed to not lie OR tell the truth about his quirklessness! And now AMP was talking about starting an agency together! As fleeting as the logistics are, Izuku now knows a few things about AMP. He’s in Japan. He’s got to be an aspiring hero or someone around Izuku’s age who is mapping out their future too. And he believes in Izuku.
What more could he ask for?
The knot that had been festering in Katsuki’s stomach for weeks had dissipated in a matter of minutes. Not only did MB reply, but he agreed with Katsuki’s analysis! All that hard work was paid off! AND to top it all off, MB had continued the conversation with him! Katsuki had spent the better part of the last two years following MB’s every post. Notifications for new comments or posts turned on so that he wouldn’t miss a thing. While the other heathens that tagged along with him all the time—no, NOT friends—were out doing things that could negatively affect their futures, Katsuki had been at home, furiously researching and culminating a plan for his future.
But then the crippling self-doubt set in. The surety that he was missing SOMETHING. He had overlooked SOMETHING, and the only person qualified enough, short of All Might himself, that Katsuki had access to was MB.
AND HE HAD ACCEPTED THE DOCUMENT!!!!!
Katsuki was over the moon, but also beyond ready for bed.
AllMightsProtege:
9:10pm
Haha, awesome, let me know what you come up with ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )
G’night.