The creator of the "Number One Hero: All Might" comic franchise is struggling, almost dying, of stomach loss from a dreadful accident, and is slowly giving up on his series ...
Izuku is a huge fan of the All Might franchise and is an aspiring artist with a natural talent for bringing characters to life. Although his near-constantly angry boyfriend doesn't appreciate the talent and is determined to snuff it out to teach him his place, Izuku can't help but pick up a pencil when he thinks of the joy and strength that All Might gave to him in his dark hours, inspired to do the same.
Through his art, Izuku's future may yet be bright.
Also on Ao3 for those who prefer it there.
"-and don't forget the copyright folders or I'll have you back here until you've pulled enough weight to carry this office!" the door slammed hard enough to rattle the dry walls, and heavy footsteps strode away with purpose. Even in an empty office, hours after all employees had left he still felt the need to strut like he was cock of the walk.
Heterochromia eyes closed as the man's steps disappeared into silence, and released a breath of relief and annoyance. Did his Father actually deem it necessary to pile more work upon him that on anyone else? It wasn't like their publishing firm needed a future CEO do pull work ranging from the applicant's calls of a receptionist to CEO meetings and arrangements, the constant push for greatness was exhausting …
Thoughts of doubt and thoughts of revenge bubbled under his skin, when he was in charge, after his old man retired, he could flush this horrible place away. He could bankrupt it, sell it, destroy its reputation with the truth of Todoroki Enji's home life and the abuse he always burdened his family with-
But then, he opened his eyes and saw the only good thing that had come out of his Father's company, and it may be the only redeeming feature of his future slavery, the All Might latest comic chapter. One hundred pages plus ten for advertisements and five for future releases, news about the author and the upcoming 'final' book signing that had had Enji practically radiating satisfying joy like physical heat.
Yes, final as in Last, End, Concluding.
Shouto silently hoped to talk the author out of it.
A conundrum. The young man ignored the pile of copywriting he had to leaf through for loopholes and irregularities and chose to reread his favourite part of the All Might fight. Yagi-san had outdone himself as usual, and Enji had been fuming at the reader's responses and the money the ever popular series continued to rake in. Enji hated his company's biggest financial success. He hated All Might.
Todoroki Shouto, son and youngest child of Enji Todoroki, found himself in as big a conundrum as his Father, though he loathed to acknowledge it. He was a big fan of the All Might franchise and a venomous hater of his Father for all the wrongs he had been dealt throughout his life in the name of preparing him for his company's future. His desires to dash his Father's dreams were utterly enthralling, he imagined it would be a sweet, sweet revenge … tainted only by the bitterness that he'd be destroying All Might's franchise along with it.
That fact alone had made him stray a harmful hand more than once. He'd signed documents correctly because of it, called the right people, put his soul into persuasion because of All Might … and his Father had benefitted.
While he was torn, he tried to content himself with watching his Father's unending frustration as none of his other prepped, and invested projects came close to knocking Yagi-san's inspiring series off of its earned number one spot week after week.
Shouto recalled the silent laughter in his mind as he watched his old man seethe and Huff in a fiery red rage until he was a shed away from spontaneously combusting. The sight had been a balm upon a deep burn. Enji's favourites or 'preferred' series weren't doing half as well. He had no instinct for what readers would find popular and invested his resources all wrong.
The boy closed the book, recalling the awful 'Endeavour' series that Enji had bent over backwards trying to promote, rebooting the series four times in different styles in an attempt to draw in the crowds as All Might had.
Shouto, however, had relatively good instincts compared to his Father and when Enji finally noticed that Shouto was slightly better than him at picking out a good sales hit he began his son's training. Endless paperwork, experiences at every level of the company, research, and charts, meetings, and interviews; all for the purpose of one day having his son uproot All Might's consecutive number one spot by offering something that Enji approved of at last.
Bullshit, Shouto thought, as if we can predict how the readers will react to new manga.
In recent times, when All Might had been his only light in the awful tunnel he was forced to walk through. He wondered if he'd ever become jaded enough to leave that inspiration in the dust as he intended to do with his Father? He was rethinking his plans to usurp his Father's company; why not make All Might even more popular? Make it the company's central piece?
The future CEO was well aware that All Might was overdue for more media avenues, anime, CDs and movies were all offered to lesser published works under Enji's company, why not this? Why not promote what Shouto was interested in. As the next generation, he was well aware of small domains like webcomics, self-funded comic strips and a variety of other Kickstarter-type projects that required only a small donation from loyal readers who were willing to pay.
He knew many talented obscure artists he'd like to hire, or at least commission if they weren't up to a dedicated serialisation. There were so many he'd love to take a chance on … the one thing he actually enjoyed about this forced labour was the amount of talent he had the power to raise up into the spotlight. The pride he felt when he'd found a golden egg was indescribable.
He shook his head with a sigh. All plans for times many days away from this, maybe even years!
Taking the first of the intimidating pile of paperwork, Shouto resolved to power through the work before he found himself asleep at his desk. Dreams could be left for his sleep, for now, presently he was much to overworked for a dream-like reality.
Right. So Kōji Ōji wanted to seal the right to …
Hours later, it was done. He left the work on his Father's desk, the CEO's desk, and walked tiredly through the office space to the elevator. Everyone had left hours ago, and no one was close enough to Shouto to knock on the door for coffee or a conversation.
Shouto didn't think he had a bad relationship with his co-workers, he was just kept so busy. He swallowed a swell of bad emotion when he felt an unrighteous blame rear its ugly head. It was no one's fault but his Father's, the office workers had no need to bother with him and no reason to because of Enji.
He took the elevator down, glad that it was one without the stale chimes of music most others decided was a trendy feature, and sighed when he saw that even the receptionists were gone.
How late was it?
He saw the midnight mark and sighed, typical.
Reaching across the desk he swiped up an abandoned umbrella, perhaps a gesture of kindness or perhaps plain old carelessness, and he stepped out of the building making sure to lock the door behind him and set the security for the night.
The recent rain made the night air remarkably crisp and refreshing, he breathed it in with appreciation after hours smelling nothing but ink, paper, and files stained with spots of cheap coffee.
As he walked he noticed that the clouds were showing signs of another shower, his hand held a briefcase and his acquired umbrella, and he quietly considered himself lucky for the latter. The walk to his mansion was one of the few pleasures he regularly enjoyed, whether late at night and quiet or busy in the day it was calming nonetheless.
Shouto cut through a local park after half an hour of walking, the physical movement and the darkness of the night soothed his eyes from the strain of reading complex documents, and yet it took almost tripping over a stranger's leg to spot him.
The future CEO wheeled on one foot to keep his balance and the umbrella fell from his grip, the other individual squeaking and stuttering an apology, pulling in on himself under the dual-coloured eyes.
Shouto was silent for an awkward amount of time as he considered why anyone would be out here this late, unnerved that his solitary walk had been randomly disrupted though he was not emotional about it.
After the young man's stuttering faded into silence Shouto asked softly "Are you alright?"
"Um, y-yeah- Sorry," the young man made no attempt to move, sitting with his back to a tree, knees pulled to his chest with what looked like a book held between his heart and his legs.
In the dim light of a half-moon and stars, Shouto could only make out the stranger's messy hair. He didn't appear drunk, intoxicated or injured, but when Shouto went to ask if he needed help, a shrill noise pierced the quiet night.
The stranger squeaked again, sounding startled and unusually scared. With shaking hands, the young man pulled out their ringing phone and, after briefly checking the number, answered. Shouto noted the bit lip and light trembling, and the man barely got out a syllable before what sounded like a loud and worried response began shouting out of the quiet speakers.
The man got to his feet, Shouto realising that he was taller than the stranger, and the light of the phone gave him a spooky profile of the stranger's chin and cheekbones.
He shifted uncomfortably as he observed the conversation before him. He should have walked away by now, the man said he was fine, and this was a private conversation, and yet he was still here. He was standing around while the stranger had a private phone call, listening to something he wasn't supposed to and still he made no move to correct his intrusiveness.
After cringing and softly answering 'yes' a few times before the person on the other end of the line abruptly hung up, the man pocketed his phone and whispered "Sorry for the interruption," and hurried off with a posture akin to fear in his step.
Shouto was tempted to call after him, but he was gone within seconds at his almost-run, and he was left alone like he normally was. He glanced down at the spot where the man had been sitting as if the old tree could tell him more.
Such a strange encounter … he took a step, bending to pick up the umbrella he'd dropped, and his foot pressed on some unknown object.
He pressed a hand to the spot and scooped it up; it was the man's book, a notebook to be specific, or perhaps a sketch book? Shouto brought out his phone and shone a light on it, wincing at the sudden glare in the dark night.
Save for his boot print the cover was slightly charred and ill-treated or well used, but there was no name so it didn't tell him much. When he opened it he discovered, to his surprise, several sketches of character designs, the parts of the pages without drawings were covered in notes and other doodles. The entire page was endearing and fascinating, he took a moment to read some of the notes about 'Mount Lady' and fought the urge to chuckle. Damage cost versus helpfulness, combat abilities, size control, features including sex appeal?
He glanced the design over, it was strongly skin to the manga designs he was always working with. She had all the characteristics of a stereotypical heroine.
That stranger, he thought, was very talented. He skimmed a few pages, seeing more of the same and absorbing it quickly through habit, trying to find a name or address to return this to, but stopped flicking halfway when he spotted something very familiar.
He blinked a few times. Was this … was this the cover page to 'City of Heros: Chapter 13', a small obscure webcomic series that Shouto had been following for months since he discovered it?
He looked closer. If memory served, it was identical. The non-profit webcomic had been pencil drawn too, posted through camera images and not scanners. He prided himself on recognising quality and his gut told him that this was the real thing, the eraser marks and smudges of age seemed to agree with his deduction.
With increasing interest, he turned the pages to the back of the sketchbook and saw, to his delight, the design of the most recent page he had viewed just an hour ago when he received his email notification. On the previous page were little notes, plot points, a small description and even plans for the future of this new chapter- this shocker of a page had been the beginning of a Hero's evolution to dedication, to shame him from the fun and fame and put him into a role of responsibility with a moral code.
And, Shouto thought as he silently spoilt himself the plans of this future webcomic story, this Hero was about to go through a hell of a transformation, his heart ached for the character's hopes and dreams. Just imagining it was causing an emotional reaction, suspense, and renewed investment.
That was the final clue, he had just met the author and artist behind the non-profit webcomic that he loved so much. Even the little bunny-eared avatar icon was dotted randomly around the pages was the same, smiling widely out at the audience as if wishing them nothing but smiles of their own.
Although … he reasoned rationally, it would be wise to keep an eye on the blog for a while to confirm this theory as a fact. If the storyline in this sketchbook were true for later updates, then he'd have to seek this artist out. No. He Had to.
Shouto's awe melted into frustration. He had just met a man who was oozing talent, and now he was gone. No name, no address, no contact details or even a face to be recognised by! Just a voice full of stutters and messy green hair …
Shouto's shoulders stumped, he pocketed his phone and carefully packed away the sketchbook. He'd find this stranger, he'd send an email on his blog should this man be the real deal, such talent should be invested in.
Once his eyes had adjusted again, he began the rest of his walk home. Eager to see his bedsheets and get some shuteye. Tomorrow, in the near future at least, may prove to be a fascinating waiting game.
Randomly updated, also on Ao3!
Easter egg in this chapter! I've included an author of one of my loved series, which I also ship from the ducking dock and back. Kōji Ōji is the creator behind 'High Speed', also known as "Free! iwatobi swim club" - there may or may not be other easter eggs laying around in future chapters, keep your eyes out for familiar names or series! (Disclaimer, do not own!) I'm not counting it as a crossover because it's just an easter egg.
Big thanks to everyone for all your comments, and a special thank you to Shadow_Woof_13 On Ao3 for the tip towards understanding a publishing office and the procedures! It was a big help and I learned a lot, almost exactly what I was looking for. (But I'll be taking a bit of creative licence with it too)
Leave a comment if this struck home or if you have questions.