Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s starting to rain, Izuku notes, as he feels a droplet on his nose.

He’s standing outside one of his favorite hero merch stores, the one his mama usually took him to. He remembers playing with Kacchan outside here. He doesn’t know when he got there. 

Izuku can distantly feel his nails digging into his palms from where he’s balled his hands tightly into a fist, he can feel the raindrops soak his hair, his All Might pajama shirt sticking to his skin, the pebbles pinching his bare feet, the pitying gazes of the people that walk past him, ignoring his sobs.

He thinks of his mama, how she had dove to try and grab and hug him while everything around them slowly crumbled to dust, how she quickly joined their house in the dust the moment Izuku tried to wrap his arms around her—

His eyes dart around, silently hoping, begging, for someone to help. A nice woman crouches down to his level, asking if he was okay, before taking one look at his bloody hands and recoiling away from him, backing away nervously, mumbling something about how a hero would probably come by to help soon.

He almost reaches out to her, but his papa’s face flashes into his mind, how he looked around to find out what ‘villain’ was attacking, how he rushed to grab Izuku protectively, before he realized what was happening, a mix of horror, helplessness and sorrow on his face as he crumbled to dust, Izuku in his arms—

Izuku sniffles, wishing his mama and papa were here. He wants to feel their warm hugs again, and he really hopes this is a bad, bad dream. That he’ll just wake up in a bit, in his bedroom, mama and papa sleeping peacefully in the next room.

He knows it isn’t just a bad dream, though, because he tried to pinch himself, and it didn’t work, and he’s shivering from how cold and wet the rain has left him. He rubs his eyes, turning, and walking straight into the back of someone’s leg.

Izuku stumbles, falling on his behind, making the ‘someone’ turn around, and a man with spiky blonde hair that was vaguely reminiscent of All Might, and blue eyes with black scleras looks down at him, softening the moment he catches their gaze. The man kneels down to Izuku’s level, his tone gentle as he speaks, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Are you alright?” Izuku shakes his head, and watches the man glance down at his bloodied hands, and for a split second, he thinks the man will be just like the lady from earlier; and he braces himself for the disgusted reaction that is sure to come—

But, the man looks back up at Izuku with concern in his eyes, instead of fear or disgust. “What’s your name?”

It takes a moment for Izuku to find his voice, quickly stuttering out his name, his voice hoarse. “I-Izuku.”

“Alright, Izuku, where are your parents? Are you lost?”

“My mama a-and papa… They’re gone…” He pauses, sniffling, his hands beginning to shake. He looks down at his hands and clenches his fists tighter. “I-it’s all my fault…” 

The man furrows his brows in confusion and concern, but when he opens his mouth it's clear that he understands as realization dawns on the man’s face when he glances back down at Izuku’s hands and his eyes widen ever so slightly. Izuku braces himself for the disgust that is sure to be on the man’s face once more, but just like before, the man doesn’t have an ounce of disgust on his face. Only concern and sympathy.

The man tries to reach his hand out for Izuku to hold, but he flinches back and keeps his hands close to his chest, his parents' faces flashing through his mind, mama and papa crumbling away— “No! S-stay back! I don’t wanna hurt you!”

The man pauses, taking his hand back. “Okay, no touching. Would you be okay telling me what happened?” Izuku pauses for a moment, then slowly nods. The man gives him a small, encouraging smile, and leads the boy to a bench.

Izuku stutters through his story, pausing at some points to sob or take a deep breath, but the man is patient, and comforts him, not getting annoyed or rushing him to finish his story. 

By the end, Izuku is a sniffling mess. The man gently rubs circles on Izuku’s back, helping to ground him, and suddenly, he remembers something.

“Um, mister? What’s your name?”

The man blinks, “Ah! I didn’t tell you my name, did I?” Izuku shakes his head in response, and the man chuckles lightly, a soft smile on his face. “Well, that’s not fair at all, is it? I’m sorry, it must’ve slipped my mind.”

“My name is Yagi, Yagi Toshinori.”

Chapter Text

Izuku has been clearly nervous since Toshinori first mentioned the police station, which makes sense, considering everything that has happened to him thus far, but the closer they got to the station, the more nervous he seemed to get, and the more intense his wrist-scratching would get. It’s a bit concerning, to say the least.

“Is something wrong, Izuku?”

“Yagi-san… am I going to go to jail?” 

He blinks down at Izuku in surprise, and quickly scrambles to reassure him. “Of course not! We’re only going to help figure out how to go from here — who you’ll stay with, how to properly train your quirk, things like that.” He paused, glancing at the boy in confusion. “Why would you think that?”

The boy fidgets with the hem of his shirt for a moment, then, “But… it’s my fault mama and papa are gone, right? I k-killed them, that’s a thing villains do, so I should be in jail, right…?”

The confusion on Toshinori’s face softened immediately, “You didn’t mean to do it, right?” Izuku quickly shook his head frantically. “Then, there’s no need to be punished for it. It would be villainous if you did it intentionally, but you didn’t.”

Izuku didn’t seem very convinced, but he slowly nodded, and Toshinori dropped the conversation. He may be dense at times, but even he can tell when someone doesn’t want to talk about something anymore. Although he definitely would have to talk to him about this later. He’d definitely need therapy from this whole ordeal.

Once they enter the station, Toshinori quickly briefs Naomasa on the situation, Izuku sticking closeby, scratching at his wrists nervously. He seems distracted, not fully paying attention to the conversation.

“I’ll go fetch his file so we can check if he has any relatives to stay with. What’s his full name?”

Toshinori opens his mouth, then pauses, and closes it. He looks down at Izuku, and gets his attention.

“What is your last name, Izuku-kun?”

Izuku blinks and looks up at him, “Midoriya.”

Toshinori nods, and Naomasa gives the boy a small smile. “Thank you, Izuku-kun. I’ll be right back.”

The two take a seat, and sit together in silence. Toshinori himself doesn’t mind silence, but the boy seemed to get more nervous, his eyes darting around the station, scratching at his wrist. Toshinori clears his throat to get his attention, and Izuku’s eyes snap up to him immediately. “So, you’re an All Might fan?” 

He immediately brightens up, beaming up at Toshinori. “Yeah! He’s the coolest! He’s my favorite hero!” Toshinori chuckles as Izuku begins to ramble, wondering how the boy might react to the fact that Toshinori is All Might. The pure adoration in his voice is clear, and it makes Toshinori smile.

Izuku’s ramblings slowly descend into mutters that Toshinori has to strain his ears to hear, until a few minutes later Izuku’s mouth snaps shut and his eyes widen. “I was muttering again, wasn’t I? I’m sorry…”

Toshinori frowns, but the moment he opens his mouth to tell the boy he has nothing to apologize for, he notices Naomasa re-enter the room, a grim expression on his face. 

Naomasa approaches the two, and quickly controls his expression into a neutral one before Izuku notices him, too. “I’ll have to borrow Toshinori for a bit. Is that alright, Izuku?” Izuku hesitates for a moment, then gives a reluctant nod. Naomasa scans the office for a moment, then gestures for Officer Sansa to come over. “Sansa! Mind watching Izuku-kun for a moment?” 

Once he receives a thumbs up in response, he gestures for Toshinori to follow him into an empty meeting room. 

Toshinori frowns in concern, “What’s wrong, Naomasa? What was in his file that required such secrecy?” 

Naomasa sighs, handing him the file he was holding. “Izuku Midoriya is the son of Inko Shimura and Hisashi Midoriya. He has no living relatives fit to take care of him, only a grandmother with dementia from Hisashi’s side. Inko was a foster child, along with her brother, Kotaro Shimura, who was reportedly killed by a villain who was assumed to have some sort of disassembling quirk along with the rest of his family 6 years ago.”

Toshinori froze. “You don’t mean…?”

“Yes. Inko and Kotaro Shimura. Nana Shimura’s children.”

Toshinori sat down, putting his head in his hands. “God…” The other man took a seat next to him, patting his back sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Toshi.”

“Fuck, what do I do, Nao? I can’t just send him into the foster system. What if what happened to Kotaro’s family happens to him, too? I wouldn’t be able to protect him. It may have happened before I took All for One down, but what if his followers go after him-?” A gentle but firm  hand landing on his shoulder startled him before he could start to properly spiral, and he lifted his head from his hands to look at Naomasa.

“Calm down. You won’t be able to think clearly if you’re panicking. Take a deep breath, let’s go through everything together….”

∑(ﾟДﾟ)

After a while of discussing, they come to a decision and head back.

They spot Izuku and Sansa right where they left them, the two talking excitedly about something.

As they approach, Naomasa clears his throat to alert the two of his presence, and they snap their heads up in his direction. Sansa gives a quick goodbye, and tells Izuku that they’ll continue their chat next time.

Toshinori takes the now-empty seat next to Izuku, whose mood immediately dims as he remembers why he was at the station in the first place, his smile falling. 

Izuku frowns, scratching at his wrists again. “Um… what’s going to happen to me now?”

Toshinori rubs at the back of his neck sheepishly, a nervous smile on his face. “Well, we believe it to be best for you to stay with me for now. It doesn’t have to be permanent, and you can say no. We can arrange for something else.”

Izuku bites his bottom lip, eyes nervously searching Toshinori’s face for something. A moment or two later, he seems to have found whatever he was looking for, and nods, a strange look in his eyes. “Um, t-that sounds fine. I’d rather stay with Yagi-san than any other stranger.”

Toshinori lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, taking out his handkerchief. Naomasa smiles at the two, patting Toshinori’s shoulder.

“Alright, I’ll get the paperwork ready for you two.” 

Chapter Text

I really should've thought this through better. Toshinori thought, glancing helplessly around his two-bedroom apartment, and at the small red-eyed boy standing next to him, who was looking around the apartment curiously. There probably wasn’t much he actually could’ve done, but still. If Gran knew what he was doing, and of how unprepared Toshinori was, he’d probably scold him to death.

He gives the boy a small tour, letting the boy stay in the guest bedroom. There’s not much decoration, and all of Izuku’s previous belongings were destroyed during the incident. Thankfully, Toshinori’s next-door neighbors had been understanding, and had lent him some of their kid’s clothes, so Izuku didn’t have to walk around bare-foot in his dirty pajama shirt.

There’s also the problem of telling the boy about him being All Might. How would he even begin to explain that…?

Toshinori gives him a while to settle down, take a shower, relax, and get a proper feel for the place, then gets the boy’s attention. “Izuku?” He turns to look up at him. “Would it be alright with you if we went to the mall later today? We’ll have to get some stuff for you.”

Izuku blinks and nods in response, and Toshinori gives him an encouraging smile. “Great! We’ll go after a visit to the quirk registration office— do you want to rest first, or go now?”

Izuku thinks for a bit, scratching at his wrist, then, “Now, please.”

(@_@)

Thankfully, there isn’t much traffic, and they reach the registration office without much trouble. 

Izuku looks around as Toshinori approaches the receptionist, his expression a mix of curiosity and apprehension. So many cool quirks… He spots Toshinori smiling at him from the corner of his eye as he leads Izuku to the chairs in the waiting room.

After a few minutes, someone calls after them, signaling their turn, and they get up to head towards the office.

When they enter, and a woman with dark blue hair smiles brightly at them, gesturing for them to sit down. She adorns a bright green bow and a clownfish hair pin, along with a rainbow bracelet on her right wrist.

“Hello! My name is Matsumoto Hikaru, and you must be… Yagi Toshinori and Midoriya Izuku?” They nod, and Toshinori smiles back at her. Izuku has a small smile on his face, too. Her welcoming smile seems to put him more at ease, the nervousness slowly fading. “Well, then. Let me explain what will happen. My quirk is called Understand. Pretty straightforward, it allows me to learn the basics of what any person’s quirk is. Basically just a surface-level understanding of a person’s quirk and what it requires to activate it.” 

Izuku has to bite his lip to stop himself from blasting her with questions about her quirk, nodding, his eyes sparkling with awe. “Alright, you’ll need to hold still for this. I just need to touch your forehead to use my quirk, okay? You might feel a small pinch of pain, but it’ll go away quickly. It’s just a side-effect of my quirk.” He nods again, trying to be as still as possible. He winces for a moment when she touches his forehead, but as Matsumoto said, the pain goes away quickly.

“There you go. Your quirk is pretty simple — anything you touch with all five fingers will disintegrate. It’ll definitely take a while to get used to, so I’d recommend wearing artist gloves, or you could wrap a bandage around one finger on both hands, especially when going to sleep. Not sure if your quirk can activate when you’re asleep, but it’s likely, as most five-point touch activated quirks tend to. If you ask the receptionist, I’m pretty sure they usually keep a pair that you can use. You can try mittens for when you’re sleeping, a girl that came by a while ago wore those so she didn’t float away in her sleep—” 

He nods in response, tuning out the rest of Matsumoto-san’s explanation, his stomach churning with unease when he hears about the activation requirements. He wants to throw up. If only he’d grabbed mama and papa with four, or any number of fingers less than five, then maybe they’d still be here— “Izuku?”

He blinks, looking up to see the worried expressions on Matsumoto-san and Yagi-san’s faces. “Um, what’d you say?”

They still seem concerned, glancing at his face and then his hands (huh, he didn’t even realize he was scratching them) but they don’t push. “What would you like to name your quirk?”

Izuku pauses, frowning in thought, mumbling to himself. “Hmm… How about…? No… Or maybe… No, not that either… Oh!” He suddenly perks up, making the other two perk up, too, curious and encouraging smiles on their faces.

“Wither.”

Chapter Text

After a short drive, they reach Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. Yagi unbuckles his seatbelt and reaches over to do the same for Izuku. 

The whole drive, Izuku only stared at his new gloves, a weird mix of relief and unease flowing through him as he did. 

At least I can't hurt anyone else like this… 

He catches Yagi-san looking at him with a concerned expression as they walk out, but shrugs it off. 

Yagi-san seems to be contemplating asking something, opening and closing his mouth. Like a fish out of water. Izuku looks up at him, tilting his head curiously. 

He finally makes his choice and asks, “Err, would you be alright if I carry you? I know you’re hesitant to touch anything, but it’d be easier to keep track of you in such a crowded mall, and I wouldn’t want you to get lost. It’s alright if not, though!”

Izuku’s eyes widen, and his gaze darts between his hands and Yagi-san’s. He scratches his wrist nervously, but after a moment of contemplation, he slowly offers his hand to the man, nervousness clear on his face.

He smiles, gently picking Izuku and placing him on his shoulders. Izuku slowly places his hand on the man’s head, one finger at a time. He hesitates at his last finger, but sighs in relief when Yagi-san’s hair doesn’t start decaying. He knew, logically, that the gloves he’s wearing were supposed to make it so he can’t use the quirk, but it didn’t stop him from being afraid of it happening again.

He lets out a small smile as Yagi-san pats his hand comfortingly and walks into the mall.

(๑>◡<๑)

Izuku looks around the large mall in awe. "I’ve never been here before…”

Toshinori chuckles, heading for the clothing store, “It only opened recently, so that’s to be expected! Now, we’ll have to get clothes and basic necessities first, but if there’s anything you want to get, just let me know, alright?”

Izuku nods reluctantly, which means he probably won’t. Toshinori sighs internally as he grabs a shopping basket. I really need to work on this kid’s self-esteem.

“This store isn’t very crowded, so I’ll put you down for now. Just bring whatever you want and put it in the basket, okay?” The boy nods in response, and begins to look around the store, Toshinori following closely behind.

Izuku doesn’t get much — some Miruko, Hawks and All Might merch (it was a little awkward for him when he spotted that, but oh well), a Thirteen space-themed pajama set, a plain tee with only the word ‘PANTS’ written in the center, a light green shirt with a daffodil on it, a pair of jeans, and a dark blue hoodie with a star in the center. 

The boy sure has a strange fashion sense, but Toshinori can’t really judge. His is probably far worse, according to… basically everyone he knows.

They pay quickly, and he catches Izuku eyeing something on display in a shop next to the clothing store. “Something caught your eye?”

Izuku looks up nervously, then nods, and Toshinori gestures for the boy to go ahead.

The two enter, and it’s full of hand-made toys and trinkets. The boy heads over to a shelf full of hand-stitched animal plushies and grabs a light pink bunny plush. It has one button-eye, the other eye having an ‘X’ stitched on. He eyes a dark blue cat plush next to it, with two button eyes, and grabs that one too. He turns back to Toshinori, nervous, “Um, can I get these…?”

Toshinori shoots him a reassuring smile, “Of course! Is that all, or would you like to get anything else?” Izuku glances around the store again, then shakes his head.

As they head to the counter, Toshinori spots a small blue wooden shark, and suddenly gets the urge to buy that, too. As they pay for the plushies, he gives into the urge right before paying and buys the shark. Izuku eyes him curiously, and Toshinori shrugs helplessly, a sheepish grin on his face, making Izuku giggle. 

･:*+.\(( °ω° ))/.:+

The rest of the trip is mostly uneventful. They grab some essentials, a few posters, a nice blanket, notebooks, pens, crayons, spare shoes and gloves, a plain yellow backpack, some All Might themed band aids, and some groceries. 

When they arrive home to unpack, Toshinori asks Izuku about the notebooks he insisted on buying.

“Oh! Um, I really like quirks. I like to learn and write down stuff about them in my notebooks. My old ones all got destroyed when- Um, you know. Oh! Err, I just realized, I dunno your quirk…?” 

Toshinori blinks. “Oh, err-”

…Now would be a good time to tell him.

He sighs, “It’s… complicated. It might be a bit confusing, and… it’s a big secret. Can you keep a secret, Izuku? You cannot tell anyone about it.” 

Izuku’s mouth forms an ‘o’ shape, and he nods, albeit excitedly.

“Try not to freak out?” He probably will, with how big of an All Might fan the kid is, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

Toshinori stands up, and buffs up into his other form.

Izuku gasps, his jaw dropping, and Toshinori is barely able to catch the boy before he falls off the sofa.

Toshinori sighs in relief. “… At least you didn’t pass out.”

The boy blinks rapidly, and quickly breaks out of his shock. “A-All Might?! Or, err- transformation quirk?”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “Ah, no. I truly am All Might.”

“But… isn’t All Might’s quirk some sort of strength quirk? How are you doing… that?”

“Well… like I said, it’s complicated. It’s sort of like… when you flex your muscles to make them appear larger!” Toshinori flexes, then deflates into his skeletal form, coughing blood.

“A-are you okay?!” Izuku jumps up to his feet, hovering near where Toshinori is hunched over, still hesitant to touch him. He waves the concern away, wiping the blood away with his other hand. “It’s alright, my boy, this happens a lot. Not something to really worry about anymore.”

He stands up straighter, holding where his injury is. “Around two years ago, I fought an incredibly powerful villain, one that even I struggled to go up against.” Izuku gasped, and Toshinori quickly rushed to reassure him. “I managed to win and take him down, of course, but I didn’t get out of it unscathed. I ended up with a terrible injury that left me like this. You might’ve seen the reports that All Might hasn’t been as active as before. That’s because I can only be in my stronger form for only a few hours a day.”

Izuku frowned, a sympathetic look on his face. “I’m sorry…”

Toshinori patted his back in comfort. “Don’t worry, it’s all over and done with. I’ve made my peace with it.”

“Still, that really sucks…” He mumbled, making Toshinori chuckle. “It does, doesn’t it?” 

Izuku suddenly blinked in realization, his eyes widening. “Oh. Oh my god.”

Toshinori frowns in confusion. “Is something wrong, my boy?”

“No, no, it’s just— All Might adopted me?!”

He blinks, then bursts into laughter. “Ah, for a moment there I forgot you were such a big All Might fan. I would’ve thought my tale would’ve ruined your view of me.”

“Are you serious? No way! It just made you way cooler!” The boy gives him a determined look, then suddenly looks away bashfully. “I guess it’ll be a little weird though, ‘cause you adopted me… And bought me your own merch…”

He chuckles in response, “No, no, it’s endearing, if a little awkward.” Then he pauses, processing the first part of what the boy said. “You… don’t mind? That All Might isn’t the wonder you thought he was?”

Izuku shakes his head, grinning excitedly, “Nope! Like I said, makes you way cooler! That you’re struggling like this but you still work so hard to put a smile on everyone’s face! It’s super heroic!”

Toshinori blinks, then smiles softly at the boy, ruffling his hair. “Thank you, my boy.”

Chapter Text

Toshinori should really talk to Gran and Mirai.

The only reason he hasn’t told Gran is because he’s still very, very afraid of him, especially of what his reaction might be when he finds out that Toshinori adopted a child. And Mirai… he’s still hesitant to pick up from where they left off last time. It’s been two years, after all. How would he even start?

But Gran deserves to know what happened to the Shimura family, so he pushes away his personal feelings, and decides to call Gran when Izuku goes to bed.

He should also contact a therapist. God knows the boy needs one.

The boy in question perks up when he sees the food, heading over to help Toshinori set the table. “Ah, you don’t need to do that, my boy.”

Izuku shrugs. “I wanna. Mama always made me…” He trails off, scratching his wrist again, and Toshinori’s expression softens, “Alright, go ahead, then. And, please don’t scratch your wrist. I noticed you do that alot.” Izuku blinks, looking down at his wrists. “Oh. I didn’t even realize I was doing that. Sorry.” 

Toshinori pats the boy's head. “Don’t apologize. It’s probably just a nervous habit you have. Just try not to do that if you can.” Izuku nods in response, and he sits down as Toshinori helps set Izuku's plate in front of him.

After they eat, Toshinori helps tuck Izuku into bed, and shuts the lights off. He heads over to the living room and pulls out his phone, his finger hovering over Gran's contact. He hesitates for a moment, but shoves the fear away, pressing the call button.

"Who is it? Do you have any idea what time it is, you zygote?!"

"I-I'm sorry! But, it's urgent!" Toshinori really hopes his voice doesn't sound as shaky over the phone.

"Toshinori? What's so urgent that you had to call me at-" A pause, then, "11PM?!"

“It’s… better to discuss this in person. Um, when are you available-?”

He cuts himself off when he hears a sob from down the hall- Izuku’s room.

“Crap- I’ll text you the location okaybye-” He quickly hangs up and rushes over to Izuku’s room, buffing up incase of a threat.

He dashes into the room and scans it for any threats, but quickly deflates when he sees none — only Izuku’s wide-eyed, teary eyes staring at him from where he was hiding underneath his blanket.

“A nightmare?” A small nod. “Ah. Would you mind if I sat next to you?” Another nod, and Toshinori seats himself next to the boy. “Was it about… that?” The boy nods. “Would you like to talk about it?” He shakes his head. 

Toshinori racks his brain on a way to help, then perks up with an idea. “Would you like a snack? I find that a quick snack can help to calm me down from a nightmare sometimes.” There’s a short pause, but a moment later he hesitantly nods, crawling out from under the blanket. He stands up, gesturing for Izuku to follow.

He leads the boy to the kitchen, taking out a pack of cookies and pouring a glass of warm milk for him. He’s still hesitant to hold anything, but he seems to muster up the courage to hold the glass with both hands after a short while, although he still keeps his pinkies up.

After a while, the boy finally clears his throat and speaks up, a small, grateful smile on his face. “T-thank you.”

Toshinori smiles in return. “Of course, my boy.”

｡ﾟ(ﾟ´Д｀ﾟ)ﾟ｡

To say that Toshinori was afraid of Gran's reaction would be an understatement.

When he heard his doorbell ring, he rushed over and opened the door with shaky hands, letting Gran in and leading him to the living room. He had already informed Izuku that a friend of his was coming over, so the boy was currently drawing in his room.

“Well? Are you going to explain why you called me here?” Gran demanded as they sat.

Toshinori swallowed, quickly explaining the situation with the Shimura family, although he excluded the part about him adopting Izuku in order to let Gran process the information.

“…Shit.” He frowns, furrowing his eyebrows, then looks at Toshinori intently. “Wait. You said almost all the family was killed?”

“Ah, well… the boy that, err, killed, Inko’s side of the family during his quirk manifestation, Izuku, survived.” He pauses, looking down at his shoes to avoid Gran’s eyes. “He’s, err, under my care now.”

Gran stared at him blankly. “What.”

After a moment of awkward silence, Gran proceeded to yell at Toshinori for the next 5 minutes, smacking him on the head with his cane every once in a while, only stopping when they both notice Izuku peeking out from behind his door nervously.

Toshinori rushed to introduce Gran to him, mentally thanking the boy for saving him from Gran’s scolding.

The boy nervously gives a small wave, and after an hour of getting to know Izuku and declaring himself the kid’s unofficial grandpa, Gran notices the time and decides to leave.  “Good luck with the kid. You look like you’ll need it.”

Toshinori sighs when he leaves, sinking into the couch. Izuku glances at him in concern, but more or less leaves him alone and continues drawing something, his new bunny in hand. 

After a few minutes of sinking into the couch, Toshinori perks up to ask, “What are you drawing, my boy?”

Izuku looks up at him, then shows him the drawing. It’s a drawing of Gran. It’s surprisingly detailed, although it’s as realistic as most 5 year old kid’s drawings get. He smiles, trying to hold back his laughter, and make it obvious that he was trying not to laugh. It was adorable, but still incredibly funny, especially because of the ‘>:)’ Izuku scribbled onto his face.

The other drawing simply warmed his heart. It was a crayon drawing of Toshinori holding little Izuku’s hand, both of them with wide smiles on their faces. On top of the drawing, ‘My Hero!’ was scribbled on. It wasn’t even a drawing of Toshinori’s buff, All Might form. It was of his smaller form. Toshinori teared up, patting the boy on the head with a smile.

He remembered how his mother would paste his own drawings onto the fridge when he was a kid, and offered to display Izuku’s drawings on the fridge in the same way. Izuku immediately brightened up and nodded.

The fridge would gain more drawings over the years, and every time Toshinori saw it, it would never fail to make him smile.

Chapter Text

Izuku turned fourteen a week ago, and Toshinori had adopted him about 8 years ago today.

He’s been doing much better these days, thanks to all the therapy and counseling. He’s still having troubles, of course, but it’s gotten better. Less frequent nightmares, and he’s not as afraid of touching people now, but his fear of his quirk has not faded.

He has been using it, but only sometimes, on any sort of trash he comes across. He needs to use it, so it doesn’t build up and go out of control again, but that’s the only reason he uses it at all. If Izuku had the option to never use his quirk again, or the opportunity to just destroy his quirk, he’d take it without a second thought. His therapist says it’s unhealthy to think of his quirk like that, as if it can only cause harm, but Izuku doesn’t really care.

Izuku knows that his quirk can be used for good, that his quirk can be heroic, but everytime he tries to use his quirk, all he can think of is them. His quirk might be able to be used for good, but it’s already done too much bad. He doesn’t need his quirk to be a hero, anyway. Although he’s not sure if he can still be a hero at all.

He’s begun to think of Toshinori as a father, although he can’t bring himself to actually call him that, not without thinking of him. He knows it’s wrong, but it feels like he’s betraying his father by referring to Toshinori as such. It doesn’t really matter, though, since he’s sure Toshinori understands. He said himself, he doesn’t mind, as long as Izuku is comfortable. 

Anyways, it’s the anniversary of the day Toshinori adopted him, and he’s almost a hundred percent certain that Toshinori is planning something. Izuku loves him, but he’s terrible at hiding surprises. Izuku doesn’t mind, though. It’s pretty sweet, and a little funny.

He overheard Toshinori mumbling to himself about a gift earlier, which the man seems pretty nervous about, so Izuku’s a bit excited. Last time he was this nervous about a gift, Izuku got to go to I-Island!

“Izuku! Dinner’s ready!” Toshinori calls out. Izuku jumps off the couch, setting his notebook down on the table before making his way to the dining room.

He gasps once he sees a large bowl of katsudon on the table, grinning and rushing into his seat. He thanks him and quickly digs in, making Toshinori chuckle fondly as he begins to eat, too.

Toshinori was clearly contemplating saying something, glancing at Izuku every once in a while. Izuku raised an eyebrow, a curious look on his face.

Toshinori blinked, then sighed. “My boy, have I ever told you what my quirk is?”

Izuku swallowed his food, then said, “Ehh, not really, you always avoid the question. But from what I’ve seen, it’s some sort of strength and speed enhancement quirk, right?” The man shook his head in response. “Not exactly. My quirk is actually called One for All. It is a quirk that can be passed on, like a sacred torch...” Izuku gasped, his eyes widening more as Toshinori continued to explain.   

By the end of his explanation, Izuku was speechless. “That’s… incredible. How can a quirk like that even exist?” 

Toshinori shrugged nonchalantly. “A lot of quirks are weird like that, One for All is just a different kind of weird, I guess?” 

Izuku thought about it for a moment, then nodded in acceptance. “That’s fair. That’s such a cool quirk… Why are you telling me this now, though?”

Toshinori rubbed his neck, grinning sheepishly, “Well… I’ve told you about how I’m looking for a successor, right?” Izuku nodded, then perked up in understanding. “Oh! Were you looking for someone to give One for All to?” Toshinori nodded in response. “Exactly. And, well, I was… hoping it could be you.”

Izuku choked. Toshinori rushed over to pat his back, which he waved away. “I-I’m fine, don’t worry. I just- Why me? I’m not h-heroic. I can’t be your successor. I can’t even be a hero.” His voice cracking at the word ‘hero’. Toshinori’s expression softened, and he put on a reassuring smile, placing a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You are one of the most heroic people I’ve ever met, my boy. I know you may not think so, but to me, you are. There is no one as worthy to inherit One for All as you. And, even without One for All, you can be a hero.” 

Izuku felt tears welling up in his eyes. He didn’t know how to respond, simply reaching over to bury his face in Toshinori’s shoulder, sobbing. He felt the man embrace him, patting his back soothingly, whispering reassurances as he lowered them to the floor. 

Later, Izuku would accept the quirk, and they would begin to plan out the details of his training together, but for now, they were comfortable where they were.