It's only been forty minutes, but it was long enough to completely topple any trust All Might might have had in the government prior to this. The hero sipped at his cooling coffee, trying to piece together what he now knew with the world he knew before.

"Train me."

Toshinori almost choked on his coffee in surprise. He set the cup back down, wiping the coffee and blood from his face. "Excuse me?"

"Train me," Izuku shrugged, taking a long drink of his third cup of coffee before continuing. "I'm nowhere near as strong as you, but I can theoretically do most of the same moves you do. Just at my own level." If Izuku had to estimate, he would put his strength at a little less than a quarter of All Mights own. Not enough to be the top hero, but enough to be a good hero. A category one hurricane compared to a five. "So, what do you say?"

"Well," Toshinori paused thinking it over. This paranoid kid certainly wasn't going to end up being his successor, but he didn't see a problem with training him. Maybe it would be good for him to try teaching someone before he did find a successor. Before he could answer, Izuku grinned at him across the table, already knowing the answer.

"Really?" Izuku's voice held a small note of hope, a hope he hadn't had for quite a long time. "Do you mean it?"

Toshinori sighed, "I'm going to have to get used to that, aren't I?" He didn't think he could get used to the mind reading, but he would have to try.

"Yep." Izuku downed the last of his coffee, glancing towards the empty pot the moment he was done. He wanted more coffee, but he always wanted more coffee. The coffee maker was the only machine that he trusted, it didn't have any overly complex circuitry, there were no microphones and no sort of device that could be hacked at all. And the coffee maker kept him awake on the nights when everything just felt like too much.

He drummed his fingers anxiously, continuously glancing to the side and through the wall, checking for movement.

Watching the fidgeting and twitching escalate, Toshinori had to ask, "are you alright?"

Izuku hesitated before answering, sighing softly. "Just anxious. Well, it's more like, paranoia ." Izuku fiddled with the coffee cup, trying to decide if he wanted to share more of his personal life. "It's the uh," he tapped the scarring behind one of his ears, the bone beneath the scars jagged and ridged from the repeated breaking but was now all but impenetrable. "Whatever they implanted, the chemicals aren't meant to be there." He glanced through the wall again, watching as cars passed by. "Too much cortisol and adrenaline being produced and a cocktail of other random hormones. It's a constant thing."

That sounds miserable. Toshinori knew that a large amount of the world's population had some issues with their quirks, but the backlash was generally directly linked to quirk use, not a constant effect. "Should you be drinking coffee then?"

Izuku shrugged, "probably not." But anti-anxiety meds didn't work, nor did soothing teas or any herbal remedy. But coffee made it bearable. Enhanced his focus and cut through the stress enough for him to function. "You should probably meet my mother, you know, tell her about training."

Toshinori had so many questions about the heavy tone that Izuku's voice had taken on at the mention of his mother, but he didn't ask them. Chances were Izuku had already heard them. "Would she be alright with you being trained by me?"

"She doesn't really… care. " Izuku struggled to find the words that defined what he wanted to say, taking a moment to organize his thoughts. "She didn't take the news of Project Bloodlines well, and we haven't exactly talked since then."

"When did you," he gestured vaguely, trying to convey the idea of the conversation he had just been involved in.

"A little under two years ago." Izuku shook his head, closing his eyes as he remembered how that discussion had gone.

His mother hadn't wanted to believe him at first, but once she had seen the scars and seen that he had more than just one 'quirk,' she had been forced to see the truth. She blamed herself, but Izuku saw the thoughts that she didn't even know she was thinking, the worst thought spiraling just below the surface.

My son is a monster.

He's not normal.

This isn't natural.

Is he even human anymore?

Those words had changed the dynamic, even if they hadn't been said or heard and the two of them hadn't had a real conversation since.

"You haven't talked to your mother for almost two years ?"

"I just… she's right," Izuku's voice went whisper low, barely audible but his words still carried, words that nobody should ever think about themselves always do. "I'm not natural."

Did she really say that to her own son? Who could do that? Toshinori knew that his words could never convey exactly how he felt learning that, but he still had to try. "I'm… I'm sorry."

"Hmm." Izuku nodded, understanding the words behind the apology. "Thanks."

The air over the table grew slightly tense, Izuku breaking it by standing suddenly, staring past the walls and to the parking lot. "Were you followed?"

"What?"

"Police car, one person." Izuku paused, tilting his head as he listened to the police officers thoughts. "They're looking for you."

Oh shit. Toshinori patted down his pockets looking for his phone. "It's been more than an hour, hasn't it?"

Izuku grabbed his sunglasses and put them back on as he watched the figure approach the door, "yes, why?"

The fading hero sighed, "it's alright, it's just Detective Tsukauchi. I texted him that if I didn't text back in an hour I was…" He looked down at the dark screen of his phone, thinking about what he had sent his friend, a guilty expression appearing on his face. "Oh. That was probably stupid of me to say, wasn't it?"

"...what did you say?"

Toshinori wrung his hands, trying to figure out the best way to phrase this, even though he knew that Midoriya had probably already read what he had done, but he still needed to tell him. "I said that I might have… maybe, been murdered if I didn't text him after an hour?" Looking back, it had definitely been the wrong thing to text someone before turning off your phone for over an hour.

Izuku rubbed his hands over his face, his fingers pushing his sunglasses on to his forehead as he pressed against his eyes hard enough to see spots. "Wow, the number one hero is an idiot." He couldn't bring himself to feel bad about saying that, who only gives themselves an hour time limit for an in-depth conversation?

There was a knock at the door, the sort of knock that you just know belongs to an officer of the law. Assertive and loud.

"You should probably answer that." Toshinori turned to see Izuku already climbing out the window, a conflicted look on his face.

Izuku shook his head frantically, green curls bouncing around his face as he continued to climb out the window. He knew he could trust All Might, but he wasn't sure about anyone else. "How about no, I'm going on the roof and running away, you can deal with this." He balanced on the window ledge, "you can't trust anyone!"

The doorknob rattled and Izuku almost slipped from the window ledge, staring through the walls as he watched the detective pace for a moment before knocking again. "Yagi-san?" That idiot better not be dead.

"Heh." Izuku struggled to keep his balance and contain his laughter, the absurdity of the situation catching up to him all of a sudden. "This is insane," he muttered, climbing back in the window and closing it behind him before heading to the door, shooting a glare at the hero in his kitchen before opening it. "He's not dead, just dumb," he said instead of a greeting, sifting through the officers' mind before opening the door the rest of the way. His trust of the officer was still up in the air, but he liked what he had seen in his mind. Straightforward, determined, hardworking and a healthy appreciation of baseball.

"Oh." Naomasa still had his hand raised, ready to knock again when the door had been opened by a small green haired boy wearing the darkest sunglasses he had ever seen. "Why did he say he might be murdered?" He glanced over the boy's shoulder, seeing Toshinori peering around the corner of the hallway, a guilty look on his face.

"I don't know, let's ask him." Izuku waved the detective inside, closing the door behind him. "Shoes at the door, phone off, thanks. More importantly, how did you find him?"

"I had the technicians in the computer forensics lab check the last location of his phone then cross-referenced the traffic cams in the area to trace his steps here." Naomasa followed the teenagers' instructions, sure there was a method to the madness before following him into the apartment, taking in the lack of family photos or personal effects that suggested a teenager even lived there. "He disappeared for a while, then reappeared outside your door."

"Told him he should have came in through the window." Izuku had mapped his route specifically to avoid the possibility of being recorded, but he hadn't thought about the hero having left the GPS on his phone active. Sometimes he forgot that other people weren't as paranoid as he is. "Well, he's not dead, so…" Izuku gestured towards the hero, watching the detective with an unreadable expression hidden behind his sunglasses. He still hadn't made up his mind, but he was getting there.

Toshinori waved awkwardly, "Tsukauchi, it's great to see you." If only it wasn't because I was being an idiot.

"Tch," Izuku rolled his eyes behind the dark lenses. "I'll make coffee, don't mind me," he said sarcastically, prepping the coffee pot and trying not to listen in to the conversation going on behind him, focusing instead on watching the bones move in his hand as he finished up the coffee pot and let it run. He looked through the layers in his hand, skin bone and metal all in one layer of washed out grey.

"Midoriya?"

"Hmm?" Izuku blinked rapidly, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Damnit."

He's lost almost ten minutes this time, he didn't even know it was happening, just like last time less than three hours ago. "Sorry, I just…" he shook his head, "nevermind, don't worry about it."

"If I'm going to train you I'll need to know what's going on." Toshinori knew it was a low move to threaten to not train the boy, but he was worried. This kid had gone through so much and didn't seem to be able to open up to anyone or even trust himself.

Izuku sighed, glaring from behind his sunglasses before leaning against the kitchen counter and beginning to put things straight. "Sometimes if I try to not hear others thoughts I end up hyper-focusing on my vision and lose time." He shrugged, nonchalantly pouring himself a fresh cup of coffee and filling two mugs for his guests. Handing off the mugs, he continued his explanation. "It's usually about ten minutes, but the episodes can last up to five hours if I'm blocking both my hearing and vision."

Forced sensory deprivation. I think that's actually classified as a form of torture.

"You would be right to think that detective." Izuku didn't mention that sometimes he wouldn't even know he was beginning to hyperfocus until he was halfway into an episode and only pain could bring him back out of it.

"That's unsettling." Naomasa was used to being the person that made others uncomfortable with his quirk, not the other way around. Speaking of, what even was this kids quirk? Some sort of enhanced perception? Telepathy?

"I've been told I have that effect on people." Izuku clasped his coffee in both hands, inhaling the aroma before chugging half of the scalding brew in one go. "That hits the spot." He looked back up at his guests, not used to spending so much time with people outside of his classes. "You can clue him in on my tragic backstory if you want to, he's trustworthy enough."

With that, Toshinori realized that he had been misunderstanding the boys' standoffish attitude and paranoia. He didn't let many people in, but those that he did, he trusted completely, doing no things by half measures. "Only if you're sure."

Izuku nodded, "I'm sure." He had gone through the detectives' mind a few more times, looking for any reference to Project Bloodlines and finding none. He hadn't even heard the lie that the program had been hiding behind. "But do it somewhere other than here, it's getting late." Izuku gestured to the front door, waving goodbye as the adults just stood there in the kitchen looking at him like he was crazy. He had waited until they were both done with their coffee, so what was the problem here?

"Wait, we need to set up a schedule for your training." Toshinori had to admit that he hadn't been expecting this level of trust in only one day. Hell, in less than an hour. It was a hell of an ability, to know in only moments if you could trust someone with your greatest secret and what was essentially your life.

"Don't worry, I'll find you," Izuku said cryptically, pouring another cup of coffee and setting it by the pot.

That's terrifying.

What have you gotten yourself into Toshinori, this kid is scary.

"Bye!" Izuku pushed them both towards the door, their lack of shoes giving them no purchase in the wood flooring of the hall. "Go, and watch out for the cat across the street!"

What about a cat?

What's the cat got to do with anything?

The moment they were both out, Izuku locked the door, leaning his back against it as he tried to sort out his emotions. He had people he could trust now. He hadn't had something like this… ever. He slid down to the floor, cradling his head in his hands and wishing once again that he could still cry.

Rubbing at his eternally dry eyes, he grinned weakly. He was going to be a hero, starting his training tomorrow. The monster was going to be a hero.