All Might watched as Izuku's eyes glazed over and he fell to the ground, limp. The cause? Information overload. Izuku had been given a lot of information in one day, and also fought a Villain twice, something most can't say for themselves, so it was a wonder that he didn't pass out sooner. All Might grabbed the boy's phone from his backpack and went into his contacts, seeing a number with the name 'Mom'. All Might pressed the icon and cleared his throat.
"Izuku? What's taking you so long? Has something happened?" Inko asked.
"Ms. Midoriya, this is Toshinori Yagi. I've been talking to your son. He's a very bright, heroic boy. You've raised him well," All Might said.
"Why are you using his phone? Where is he?" Inko sounded incredibly hostile, with good reason.
"He passed out in the middle of our conversation. If you could give me your address, I can bring Izuku home safely and continue our talk there," All Might suggested.
"Oh! Okay!" Inko exclaimed.
All Might put the address he received into Izuku's map app, and found that the house was a block away, so at least he had that going for him. All Might looked at Izuku's limp body, and decided to not use any of his power for this, deeming it unnecessary.
Ten minutes later, the three of them were sitting on the Midoriyas' living room sofa, All Might sitting across from the mother and son. This was very awkward for Izuku, having All Might in his home, but not being able to let his mother know.
"So, what do you wish to talk about?" Inko asked.
"I want to talk about Izuku's actions today," All Might answered.
Inko looked over at her son. She looked for any sign of guilt on his face, wondering what it was that Yagi meant. She hadn't been informed of anything at school, so it had to have happened on his way home. Inko noticed that he had never been to the store, judging by his empty hands when he was escorted inside by this stranger.
"What did he do?" she asked, noting how Izuku kept his eyes forward, away from her.
"Nothing bad. I'm guessing that he was on his way home, but he was stopped by a Villain that cornered him under a tunnel," All Might could hear Inko's gasp, but continued. "He tried to fight the Villain with his Quirk, but it was ineffective against the Villain's fluid body," All Might said.
"Oh, Izuku! How could you do something so dangerous?" Inko asked, turning to her son.
"I was trapped. I tried to run, at first, but he was fast. I had no choice. I used my Quirk in a brand new way, and I learned some things, but I still wasn't good enough," Izuku said, tears pooling in his eyes.
"Oh, Izuku, don't say that," Inko started to fret over her son.
"Then, I met your son. He told me of his Quirk, and I was impressed, which made me want to keep tabs on him. Later, on his way home, I saw him again. He fought the same Villain that had gotten free of All Might's custody. It was rampaging, and had captured a blond boy with an explosion Quirk," All Might said.
"Bakugo?" Inko asked, and Izuku nodded.
Inko started panicking, and got up to race to the phone. She could be heard dialling as All Might relaxed slightly, knowing he could lessen his act. He looked at Izuku, and saw that he was in his own head. That was never good.
"You know him?" All Might asked.
"Yeah. We grew up together. We're basically brothers," Izuku said with a small smile.
"That's why you rushed in, isn't it?" All Might asked.
"I'm sure it was a factor, but I'm not really sure why I did it," Izuku admitted.
"Well, then. Why do you think you did it?" All Might asked, leaning forward.
Izuku took a moment to think. He thought about what he was feeling as he recognized Bakugo's spiky hair in the Villain's body. As he was running. As he conjured the ball of light to blind the Villain. He realized that he hadn't been thinking about Bakugo, he had been thinking about a person. A living person was being harmed, and nobody was doing anything about it, and that felt wrong to Izuku. He was unable to let it go on, knowing he could do something to change it.
"I couldn't just sit back and watch him die. I had the ability to change something for the better, so I did it. At that moment, I wasn't even thinking 'Save Kacchan!'. I was thinking 'Save that person!'. Is that bad? Is that too impersonal for a Hero?" Izuku thought out loud.
"No. That's my mindset to a tee. Izuku, you have the heart of a true hero. Even I don't consider myself a true hero, but you could be, given the chance," All Might said, leaning back in his chair.
"The chance?" Izuku repeated, taken aback by the praise.
"That's what I was offering you before you passed out. Your Quirk is powerful and versatile, and with it, you could become a top Hero, without a doubt. With my Quirk, One for All, you could be a pillar. A Symbol. You could be the next All Might. The Symbol of a new era. Izuku Midoriya, will you be the next holder of One for All?" All Might said.
Inko heard every word. This was massive for Izuku, but it was world changing for Inko. She knew that she had learned a secret that only a few throughout history could have known. She dropped the phone as Bakugo's mother, Mitsuki, was talking, but managed to drop it onto the base, hanging up on her accidentally. She made her way over to the two still sitting, and awaited Izuku's response.
"You think that I could be like you?" Izuku asked.
"No. I think you could be better. A stronger Symbol than I ever was," All Might corrected.
Izuku shared a look with Inko. She was nodding, urging him to accept. If he was being honest with himself, Izuku had never thought he could crack the top one hundred ranked Heroes, let alone being better than All Might himself.
"I have no reason to refuse!" Izuku said, standing up.
All Might stood as well. He watched as the family before him celebrated, holding each other tightly while they both cried. The excessive tears seemed to be genetic, maybe a Quirk itself, but it would be easy enough to iron out some of the kinks of Izuku's personality given time.
What bothered All Might was Izuku's confidence levels, which weren't bad. He knew exactly what he was capable of, but he simply didn't think that was good enough compared to others. All Might knew that feeling, had been feeling it for a long time, and aspired to cure Izuku of his self-doubt.
"Excellent! We'll get started with your training right away, then!" All Might cheered.
"Training? What will you have me be doing?" Izuku asked, breaking away from Inko.
"Oh! I probably should've asked if you have your own training schedule," All Might realized, looking to his new protege.
"I do strength training on Monday, agility on Tuesday, the little Quirk training I could do on Wednesday, and I do mental workouts on Thursday. I've wanted to be a Hero for a long time," Izuku admitted bashfully.
"Great! I say that we give you more Quirk training, now that you can actually use it offensively, and we give you extra strength and agility training!" All Might said, looking to Inko for approval.
"Sounds good!" Izuku said, Inko nodding along with him.
Satisfied, All Might left the two to celebrate. Something was still bugging Inko, though. How is a Quirk given? Is it like a blood transplant? Who was that man? Was he a Hero? Questions came to Inko as she looked at her son, who obviously knew the answers to some of them.
"Who was that man?" she asked.
Izuku facepalmed, realizing that they hadn't told Inko that the man was All Might. He groaned, disappointed in himself. It would've been funny, if it wasn't so crucial to the point of Izuku inheriting All Might's power.
"All Might," Izuku revealed.
Now, it was time for Inko to pass out.
The next day, Izuku had met All Might at the local beach. The beach was special to him, as it was a passion project of his when he was younger. Over the years, the beach had collected trash from the ocean, and negligent people, and had become a dump. Izuku had taken it upon himself to clean the beach, and over the course of four years, had managed to get it spotless. He was proud of it, the beach being his first major act of heroism.
Now, he was training there. Izuku was hitting a punching bag with Small Might beside him, instructing him on proper techniques and angles to use when hitting the bag. He had been there for a few hours, it being a Saturday. Izuku was getting tired, but he pushed through, managing to keep hitting the bag for another hour before collapsing on the sand.
"That was good. I can see that you've taught yourself how to punch. That's not necessarily bad, but it builds bad habits more often than not. I'm going to get rid of those habits, and teach you how to hit. I'll let you rest for half an hour, then we're going to start training for agility!" All Might said.
"Yes, sir!" Izuku yelled from the ground.
"Enthusiasm! I like it!" All Might cheered.
Izuku sat up, sand sticking in his hair. He still didn't quite get why he was training. Izuku knew that he was probably more physically fit than most his age, on account of his prior training and cleaning the beach, and that he would be more than ready to tackle UA's entrance exam.
"Hey, All Might?" Izuku called out.
"Yes?" All Might responded, turning to look at Izuku.
"Why am I training? I've been doing stuff like this for a few years. I understand the 'bad habits' thing, but why the strength and agility training? My time would be much better spent studying, while keeping the muscle mass I already have," Izuku wondered.
"One for All is the combined physical force of eight people. It takes every bit of strength we ever used and crams it into your tiny body. Truthfully, you could probably handle the bare minimum right now. We don't want the bare minimum, though, do we?" All Might explained.
"No. I want to excel," Izuku confirmed.
"We want to go beyond, plus ultra!" All Might said.
"Yeah!" Izuku yelled.
The next time Izuku went to school, Bakugo was different. He was quieter, calmer and overall less intense. This bothered Izuku, so at lunch, he pulled Bakugo aside, into an empty classroom.
"What's going on?" Izuku asked.
"What's going on with you? Why are we here?" Bakugo asked back.
His voice lacked the heat it usually had, and Izuku knew that something was wrong. The only other time that Bakugo had sounded like this was when he had first found out that Izuku hadn't manifested a Quirk, way back when they were four.
"Something is clearly wrong, and I don't want the others knowing. Tell me," Izuku said.
Bakugo sat in his seat and fidgeted. That was also something that he never did. Bakugo was usually confident in his actions and words, and he never even slouched. He was a being of pure determination, but now he was acting like Izuku used to , before he came into his power.
"What's the deal with you and All Might?" Bakugo asked.
It clicked for Izuku. After the Sludge Villain incident, Bakugo had looked utterly destroyed. He probably had wished that All Might had whisked him away and had a conversation with him. He didn't know the full story, and Izuku was debating with himself over whether to tell Bakugo the truth, or to stick to All Might's warning.
"The less people know about One for All, the better. If people knew about such a power, they would come after you," All Might had said.
"Nothing. He told me off for using my powers to fight that Sludge Villain," Izuku lied.
"Good. What you did was fucking nuts. How did you even do it?" Bakugo said.
"That Villain attacked me about half an hour before it attacked you. I used my powers in a new way and figured out some things. I used that new way of thinking about my Quirk to create that ball of light," Izuku explained.
Bakugo registered that for a moment. Izuku had been attacked as well. He hadn't known, because Izuku had seemed fine. He looked at his friend again, not noticing any injuries. Bakugo had thought he was going to give in only after a few moments, but to think that Izuku had gone through that and be fine gave Bakugo a chill down his spine.
"I've gotta say, that's badass. Crazy, but badass," Bakugo complimented.
"Thanks, Kacchan," Izuku chuckled.
"But do you have to be a Hero?" Bakugo asked, his tone becoming more sincere.
"What?" Izuku asked, stepping back.
"You were attacked. I wasn't there to stop it. You could've died, and that would've been on me," Bakugo said.
"What? How would that be your fault? That's insane and wrong," Izuku told him.
"Your power isn't good enough to be a Pro Hero," Bakugo held strong.
"It is. It's … I don't know … awakened. I've learned that I can do things that I've never been capable of before!" Izuku revealed.
"Like what?" Bakugo asked, his tone becoming more hostile.
Izuku was getting frustrated. He could feel his energy below his skin, flowing through him. He had felt it constantly since his Quirk Awakening. Begging to be let out; to be used. It was almost like it was impatient, like it had a mind of his own. Izuku knew that energy was volatile, and Quirks were extremely volatile, but this was another level. It almost hurt how much his energy wanted to be let free.
In a fit of agitation, Izuku activated his Quirk, letting the energy flow through his arms. He saw in the window's reflection that his eyes were shining green, like in his fight with the Sludge Villain, so he reasoned that it must be tied to his Quirk, and not a one time deal like he had thought.
His arms glowed green, flowing neon green energy pulsating around him. Bakugo jumped back, a small portion of the energy floating away from Izuku and toward him. Izuku changed from the default energy to electricity, his arms crackling with green lightning.
"This is my power. My true power. The power to absorb and emit any form of energy, regardless of how I collected it," Izuku said, switching to thermal energy to accentuate his point.
Izuku had never been able to absorb thermal energy, but had been passively collecting it since his Quirk Awakening. It was only slightly warmer than room temperature, about thirty degrees.
He shut off his Quirk, absorbing the heat back into himself. The first time he had expended heat from his supply, he had felt extremely cold. He had gotten used to this drain, but it could still be a shock to him when he wasn't ready for it.
"That is Spectrum. I'll be a Hero. A Hero even greater than All Might, he said it himself. All Might said that to me, Kacchan!" Izuku blurted out.
Bakugo looked at Izuku like he had suddenly developed a Mutation Type Quirk. His red eyes bore into Izuku's, and Izuku could swear that he could hear what Bakugo was thinking. He was trying to stop himself from saying something mean.
"You're delusional," he finally said.
Or maybe not.
Bakugo stood. He made his way over to the door, walking with a slight limp that Izuku hadn't noticed before. Thinking back on it, he had actively been trying to hide it from Izuku, knowing that it would only incite worry in his friend's mind.
Izuku let Bakugo go. He knew that if he tried to stop Bakugo from leaving, he'd get hit or blown up. Izuku knew that he could absorb the heat from Bakugo's Quirk, Explosion, but he still didn't want to get Bakugo to that point.
"Oh, no!" Izuku muttered.
He hadn't meant to tell Bakugo about his talks with All Might, but it had just slipped out. Izuku started panicking, thinking about the possibility that All Might won't want to train him anymore, deeming him unworthy due to his inability to keep a secret.
Izuku ran out of the room, heading to his next class. The thought of Bakugo's knowledge of his relationship with All Might hung over him all day, distracting him from classes and making him run into a pole when he was walking home.
At the beach that day, Izuku was still distracted while hitting the punching bag, and All Might noticed. After ten minutes, All Might told him to take a break, sitting on the sand with his protege.
"What's wrong?" All Might asked.
Izuku debated with himself about whether or not to tell All Might about his mistake. His fears from earlier were still in his mind, and it paralyzed him. He looked All Might in the eyes, his shining blue irises the only visible part. For Izuku, those irises felt like all of the awesomeness that All Might was; the heroism, the catchphrases, the power. When he deflated, it was all compressed into his eyes. Those eyes seemed like they could see into his mind and hear his thoughts.
"I told Bakugo about you. I told him what you told me about my potential," Izuku said.
"I sense that he didn't share the same opinion," All Might guessed.
"No. He told me to give up," Izuku confirmed.
"May I ask why?" All Might asked.
"He said that I'm not good enough to be a Pro Hero, and that he won't always be there to keep me safe. I can handle myself!" Izuku said, laying down on the sand.
"I'm sure that he's just being protective," All Might assured Izuku.
"That's a bit extreme, though, even if he is being protective. It's like he doesn't want me to be a Hero. I told him what you think I could be. He could be intimidated by our relationship," Izuku thought out loud.
Izuku thought about it a bit harder. Bakugo had only become hostile after he had mentioned All Might. The day of the Sludge Villain incident, he had seen Bakugo's face. He had been a mess back then, and that anger and jealousy must have been festering inside of him for a few days, eating him up from the inside.
"Ever since we were kids, Kacchan and I would watch the footage of your battles online and marvel at your strength. Those moments are some of my favorite memories. He loves you just as much as I do, maybe more. He must be upset that he wasn't chosen. Katsuki Bakugo is hyper aware of his shortcomings, and he's probably been thinking about this since that day," Izuku told All Might.
All Might took a moment to think this over. He was worried that once he passed One for All onto Izuku, that Bakugo would be able to connect the dots, knowing about their relationship. That would certainly be a hurdle to overcome in the future, but for now, it didn't sound like a huge issue.
"I'll understand if you don't want to pass One for All onto me," Izuku said, holding his head in his hands.
"What? Why would you say that?" All Might asked, coughing up some blood as he spoke.
"I know that I'm not gonna be able to keep your secret. I'll be a liability more than anything," Izuku admitted.
"That isn't true. I've told people," All Might revealed.
Izuku snapped his attention to All Might. He was incredulous, looking at All Might with a questioning gaze. All Might chuckled at his ward's reaction. He petted the boy's hair, getting an awkward laugh from Izuku.
"You did? I thought you said that we can't tell anyone," Izuku asked.
"I don't advise it, but you can if you want. The consequences will fall on you and you alone if you do, though. I've told five people during my career, and they're all trustworthy. That's what I was getting at," All Might explained.
"You're not going to change your mind?" Izuku asked.
"No, I'm not going to change my mind. You worrying about this is confirming my choice," All Might comforted Izuku.
Izuku smiled at All Might, who smiled back. They shared a comfortable silence as the two looked out over the ocean. Izuku took a moment to calm himself down, and another question came to his mind.
"When exactly will I be receiving One for All?" Izuku asked.
"I'm planning on passing it on at the end of your first year. That gives you time to truly master your Quirk before getting another one piled on top of it," All Might answered.
"How do you know that's the way One for All will interact with me?" Izuku asked.
"What?" All Might was perplexed.
"Well, how do we know that I'll gain your traditional super strength while retaining my original Quirk? Do you know that's the way it works?" Izuku asked again.
"I guess not. I didn't have to deal with having multiple Quirks, so I wouldn't know," All Might admitted.
Izuku hummed and nodded, looking out across the ocean again. It took a moment, but it hit him hard. All Might only had one Quirk. One for All. That meant that he had grown up Quirkless.
"Whoa. No wonder you donate to so many Quirkless charities," Izuku said, awed by the man's secret.
They stayed like that for a moment, staring out at the ocean as it rocked back and forth. Izuku got the strange feeling that something that he had lost was now found, and he couldn't quite place what it was until he thought about his family.
His father.