After everything was said and done Izuku would argue that none of it had been his fault. For once. Aizawa would even have to agree with him. The blame for this particular incident-and all of the consequences that followed- rested with one person and one person only.
With the demonstrations over his training with Aizawa didn't slow down, but Izuku felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. No one had spoken at the end of his speech. He didn't know what he would have done if they had. When Endeavor had stepped up Izuku had been furious. Aizawa had warned him beforehand that the hero would be his biggest problem. The others, they would be skeptical but they wouldn't openly argue with Nedzu. They would wait until they were alone with their students to complain about the ridiculousness of Nedzu's decision.
Endeavor though- He was the only one with enough of an ego to make a scene and not worry about Nedzu's reaction. Izuku could feel the eyes of the other sponsors, the other students, as he stared at Endeavor, but he refused to acknowledge them. The only difference between them and Endeavor was that they were keeping their comments to themselves. But that was fine. Izuku would have time to show them what he meant.
The principal had been quick to dismiss them after Izuku's declaration saying that he would be sending them more information about classes and official press release. Izuku made sure he was the first one out of the room, Aizawa right behind him. They had only stopped to grab Hizashi from his office (You called him Todoroki to his face!) before going to meet Inko at a restaurant to celebrate. All in all, Izuku thought he could count it as a success.
With his grounding officially over and the demonstrations out of the way Izuku felt fine taking a day to spend more time with Mei. Aizawa had some paperwork that he hadn't been able to avoid for the weekend despite his lack of students, and Izuku had promised that his phone would be completely charged before he left the apartment. If they thought they could get away with it he was sure that Aizawa, Hizashi, and his mother would have made sure that he never went anywhere alone again. Villain attacks could happen anywhere. Locking him up in the apartment forever wouldn't do anything to protect him. Knowing his luck they would probably just have a villain move in next door.
To start the day the two had decided to visit their normal cafe for ice cream before wandering the city, their only plan to stop at whatever stores caught their attention at that moment. They had both agreed that the mall was out of the question, both for their parents sake and because they didn't want to push their luck. The Terror Twins had been successfully returned to prison but there had been no announced leads on how they had gotten out of their cells in the first place, especially since Kell wouldn't have been able to use his quirk. There were other places they could shop. Better to be safe than sorry.
After the cafe, each of them sipping on an iced coffee loaded down with sugar and whipped cream, they wandered. Mei rambled as they walking, outlining all of the projects she had started since the last time they had talked, the work that her mother had been doing, the heroes that had stopped by the workshop, all of the upgrades she wanted to do to his own tech before they started classes.
"I'm just glad that all I have to do is the academic exam. I've heard rumors about the hero course exam. Waste of technology, if you ask me," she said. "They have those robots and they what? Let some teenagers destroy them for the funsies of it? Yuuei is the best academy in the country. I'm sure they could find something a little less destructive for their testing."
"What do they even do with them?" Izuku asked. "After the exam's over."
"Repurpose them, is what my mom said." Mei stood hunched over a table of jewelry shaded by the shop's awning. "But that's still a waste of metal. And time. Those robots don't even have any kind of A.I. If the point is to simulate how their quirks can be used against villains then it doesn't make sense to have them fight those unsophisticated hunks of nonsense. Not to mention the fact that it limits the types of quirks that can get through, like you were talking about before."
As Mei turned to examine another shelf with a sigh, Izuku quickly handed over a bill and slipped the charm into his pocket. The woman winked at him but didn't say a word.
"I would prefer another standoff with Endeavor than those robots, to be honest," Izuku said, following Mei to another booth.
"Oh wow, just imagine what Aizawa-san would do if you had to take that test!" Mei turned to face him as she walked backwards, hands clasped behind her. Izuku gently pulled her away from an on coming stroller. "He would probably jump down in that arena with you! Everyone would have to pass because Eraserhead destroyed all the robots himself."
"We talked about how we would handle it. Before Nedzu made the extra spot. I think he was going to try to see if i could bring the tech in with me since I couldn't use a quirk, but they might not have allowed it. I was going to have to make do until the rescue portion of the exam."
"Rescue portion?" Mei flipped back around, skipping along the edge of the sidewalk to fall back to Izuku's side. "There's more than one portion of the test?"
"They don't advertise it," Izuku said, "but video of all the previous tests are available if you ask. The type of robots and the course change from year to year, but there's always a section at the end where the students could be in actual danger. I got curious and tallied points. The only way some of the students who were accepted got in was if there were points for helping people over destroying robots. I asked Aizawa-sensei about it and he didn't outright agree with my explanation, but he didn't disagree which was as good as a yes."
"Of course you would watch the videos enough to notice something like that. How long did it take you to calculate all of their scores?"
Izuku looked away, taking another sip of his drink to avoid answering. "It counted as part of Aizawa-sensei's homework."
Mei rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it did. But speaking of school, I've been working on some things for you to add to your arsenal. You can pick them up the next time you stop by the workshop. I got everything else on your list ready too. Well. Everything you're cleared for at least. The rest I can at least start working on the designs for."
"Don't keep me hanging! What have you got for me?"
"Mostly I've been trying to build up a stock of Wonder Balls-"
"We still aren't calling them that," Izuku cut in.
"Because I'm sure I won't have as much time once I start working on Yuuei projects. The Sports Festival is my best chance to get noticed this year and I don't have nearly enough time to prepare all of my tech. So you have about ten cases of each. Plus a new one. Yellow, the color of anxiety! And your brand new pocket sized flash grenades!"
"I'm sure Aizawa is going to love being there when I try those out."
"He's the one who made me realize I should have included them in the first batch," Mei said with a shrug. "Lots of quirks are vision based. Smoke is good in a pinch, but best to be prepared just in case. I also have some new rods ready for you, although those you can't have until the new school year officially starts." She closed her hands into fists, holding them close together as she mimed twisting them. "They slot together. Twisting them locks them together and activates the charge. The zap will give you a few extra seconds, but no lasting damage. I can add different level charges once you get your provisional license as long as Aizawa signs off on it."
"You're the best, you know that right, Mei?"
"I know, but it's always nice to hear it again. Just wait until I tell you my ideas for your costume design."
Toshinori knew it was a terrible idea. A horrible idea. Possibly his worst idea in months, and he had made a hobby out of making bad decisions. Off the top of his head he could list at least ten reasons why he should have kept walking and not looked back. But he couldn't. Not when he had so many questions he wanted answered. Privately, he thought Nedzu's real job was being an annoyance to every pro hero he knew. His position as principal was just a means to an end.
The main reason, the most important reason, would be the fact that he had long since used up his time for the day. A slime villain had wandered into his path by chance and Toshi had had no choice but to get involved. It had taken less than a minute to get the villain trapped in a bottle he had been carrying with him, but the trip to the station had eaten up the rest of his time. All Might so rarely dropped off villains himself everyone had wanted to speak to him before he left. He had barely made it out of the station and around the corner before he had been forced to change back.
So when he saw Midoriya Izuku walking down the street, laughing, with who must must been his friend from the mall, Toshinori should have continued on his way.
Curiosity, though, was a powerful thing. Midoriya wouldn't recognize him when he didn't look like All Might. There would be nothing stopping him from doing a little scouting. For safety purposes only, of course. Tsukauchi had been bothering him nonstop about what had really happened with the Terror Twins. He had known Midoriya had lied to him, that much had been obvious. What he didn't know was why Toshinori had covered for him. Toshinori hadn't offered an explanation.
When he had first seen the video of Nedzu's test he hadn't known what to think. Being a hero without a quirk? Impossible. He had seen firsthand the danger that came with being a pro, had suffered the consequences of not being prepared. Midoriya held his own against students older and better trained than himself, but that had been in a fairly controlled environment. No matter what Nedzu said he never would have let the situation get out of hand. The moment it looked as though Midoriya was in real danger he would have been out of that arena.
The kid had potential. It was unfortunate that he had been born without a quirk, but Toshinori refused to see the reason that Nedzu had wanted him to see that video. You couldn't be quirkless and a pro hero. Toshinori had been forced to learn that lesson. Midoriya would too, eventually.
But then the incident at the mall had happened and that...that gave Toshinori pause. The mall wasn't Nedzu's carefully watched test, and the Terror Twins certainly weren't expelled high school students. Somehow Midoriya and Hatume had managed to handle the situation on their own. Midoriya had even come up with a decent cover story for his actions. If the questioning officer had been anyone other than Tsukauchi, Midoriya might not have even needed Toshinori's help. Interfering should have ended in disaster and yet Midoriya had managed to stop a bad situation from getting worse.
That wasn't even touching on the fact that Aizawa, the Yuuei teacher famous for expelling students he didn't believe in, had personally agreed to train him. Toshinori wished he could have been a fly on the wall for that initial conversation.
So really, Toshinori couldn't be blamed for wanting to learn a little more about the new recommendation student. Anyone in his position would do the same. He needed to get a feel for Midoriya's personality and the best way to do that was when he was most himself. For a moment Toshinori felt bad for following the two friends, but it was necessary, he told himself. If he was really considering- He cut the thought off. He wasn't considering . Curiosity only.
Toshinori had no problem keeping up with the two. They stopped every few stores, one always dragging the other by the hand to look at something they had seen the front window. They had to have been friends for years, he thought, waiting the easy way they moved into each other's space with a familiarity that couldn't have been easily learned. Watching them as they walked, laughing at something without words, he could almost understand how they made it through the incident with the Terror Twins together. The level of trust Toshinori could see between them was rare. When was the last time he had had a friendship that close? Before he had One for All at the very least.
That continued on for half an hour, but Toshinori didn't leave. Instead he inched closer, for once reveling in the anonymity of simply being Yagi Toshinori. He watched as they stopped by a stand to get ice cream, making sure to keep far enough back that they wouldn't notice him. He didn't know a lot about Midoriya Izuku, but the boy's skills in observation had been clear from Nedzu's video. The last thing he needed was for Midoriya to wonder why he was being followed.
If someone had asked him why he was still following Midoriya in that moment he wouldn't have been able to answer. It felt like he was waiting for something. Toshinori had no idea what he was looking for in Midoriya, what he expected from a kid he had only had a single conversation with, but he knew that if he waited just a little bit longer he would find it. The answer to the question that he didn't want to ask himself just yet.
He knew that was part of the reason Nedzu had invited him once again to teach at Yuuei, just like Nedzu was under no illusions about the reason Toshinori had finally said yes. He had given Toshinori the files of a few promising second years as a welcoming gift with his teaching materials. Toshinori hadn't looked through them yet. He let himself move even closer to the pair, straining to hear what they were talking about.
"I'm just saying, there are plenty of ways to come up with your superhero alias. Taking the thing you're afraid of and adding 'man' to it is kind of lazy. Not to mention lame." From Midoriya's tone it was clear he was trying to get Hatsume to argue with him. She didn't disappoint him.
"It's intimidating! Villains cower at the sound of his name!" Hatsume argued, but she laughed as she said it.
"Choosing a name based on an alien hero is much cooler though."
Toshinori couldn't see her face, but Hatsume had to have rolled her eyes by the affronted look on Midoriya's face. "It's not a competition, Izuku. They can both be good names."
"If it was a competition though-"
"But it's not!"
Were they...Were they arguing about old comic books? Pre-quirk comic books at that? How had they even managed to find those? They had been out of print for years. Decades. They had been easier to find when Toshinori was a kid, but even then it had been a struggle. It wasn't until he had started his career as a pro that he had had the funds to read the more completed series, and by then reading comics-It had seemed a little silly with everything that had happened, everything that he had to do. Still. He thought of the box tucked carefully away in storage. He couldn't give them to Midoriya himself, but maybe Aizawa would be willing…
Toshinori was sure the argument would have continued if the street hadn't suddenly started shaking. A cloud of dust rose from what looked like the next street over, the sound of screeching metal and concrete smashing to the ground clear over startled screams.
The shaking cut off just as suddenly as it started but the sound of a crumbling building continued. It could have been an earthquake, but something didn't sit right about that explanation. There had been no sound of an explosion, and if it had been as simple as an earthquake it had been small enough that it shouldn't have caused that kind of damage. If a quirk had been the cause…
Turning to where Midoriya and Hatsume had been standing, Toshinori froze. They were already gone, moving quickly through the crowd towards the dust cloud still rising from the other street. He should have known.
Following them to the scene whatever had just occurred was easier than tracing them through the crowded shopping area. The two middle schoolers were the only ones moving towards the crumbling building and not away. Toshinori let himself move closer to them again as he strained to hear what they were talking about as they turned a corner and the building came into view.
It was an apartment building, Toshinori could recognize that right away. A crack spread in a jagged line across the seventh floor. The levels above it littered with what looked like craters, holes almost punched into the siding surrounded by fractured concrete and peeling paint.
Definitely not an earthquake then.
Authorities seemed to have just arrived, a harried looking police officer holding back a man who couldn't have been older than his early thirties. He fought against the officer's grip, but the man held him back.
"My son!" He said, voice breaking. "He was just sleeping. I needed to run and get something from my car… I thought he would be fine until I got back. I was only gone a minute!"
"Sir, you need to stay back. The building isn't stable right now. Rescue trained heroes are on their way. They'll get everyone out."
"There's no time!" The man argued. "That's my son's quirk! He must have woke up and I was gone...The whole building's integrity is compromised, and it won't get better if I can't calm him down! You can't leave him stuck in there! Those people are all in danger!"
Toshinori knew he shouldn't have followed Midoriya and his friend, because here he was face to face with another disaster and unable to do anything about it. All because he had wanted to talk to a few people at the station. If he hadn't stayed to talk he would have had plenty of time left to get everyone out of the building.
Rescue heroes were on there way though. They didn't need All Might. No one seemed to be in any immediate danger, no matter what the man had said. All Might had seen his fair share of destruction over the years. The building looked as though it would hang on until the rescue teams could arrive.
"Izuku!" Hatsume's voice jarred Toshinori from his train of thought. "What are you doing?"
She had one arm thrown out in front of her friend, the other holding his shirt sleeve in a death grip as she tried to pull him back, the scene almost identical to the man and the officer only a few feet from where they were standing.
"I have to help, Mei!" Izuku said, and Toshinori almost had to take a step back at the raw emotion in his voice. "You heard what that man said. There's at least one kid in there, and plenty of other people who may be trapped and unable to get out."
"But what about your promise!" Hatsume said. "You told Aizawa-san that you wouldn't get involved-"
"This isn't a villain attack, Mei."
"You know that he specifically refused to leave you even that loophole," Hatsume cut in. "You promised him you wouldn't get involved in anymore dangerous situations. Not without him there."
Midoriya didn't fight against Hatsume's hold, but she hadn't let go either.
"I'm not going to go into the building, Mei. I know what we did at the mall...I won't say it wasn't the right decision at the time, but Aizawa-sensei was right. We could have made it a lot worse. This though? We might be able to help here without me breaking my promise. Those people are probably terrified. That kid is probably terrified. The officer seems convinced that everything will hold out, but didn't you hear what his dad said? Every second that passes without help that kid could still be using his quirk. The building already looks the it could collapse and it could be getting weaker without us even knowing it."
Toshinori wished he could have been able to see Midoriya's face as he spoke because his voice… He hadn't heard conviction like that in such a long time.
"I may not be able to go into that building and get those people out myself yet, but there has to be something that I can do to help them, something I can do to make this situation easier and faster for them when the real help does arrive. What kind of hero would I be if I didn't take advantage of that chance? I can't just stand here and watch knowing people's lives could be in danger. That's not the kind of hero I would ever want to be. So I better start now."
He turned now, looking at Hatsume straight on. Toshinori could finally see his expression, see the wide grin that Hatsume couldn't resist responding to with one of her own. There was a calmness in that smile that almost reminded him of someone, although he couldn't quite put his finger on who it was.
Hatsume sighed, dropping the arm stretched out in front of him, although she didn't let go of his shirt sleeve. "Okay. I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing. You know I would kill you if you died on me. And then I would have to invent some way to bring you back so Aizawa-san could kill you again."
Midoriya laughed. "Like you're ever getting rid of me."
Watching them walk towards the the scene together, Toshinori couldn't describe what he was feeling, the grip that had taken hold on his heart. It tightened, crushing and painful. Then suddenly, it was gone.
The world shifted.
Toshinori could breathe once more.
He disappeared around the corner and back into the shadows.
The building collapsed moments before the rescue teams arrive.
All Might had long since gotten everyone to safety.
Izuku couldn't remember the last time he had felt so exhausted. Somehow, miraculously, All Might had arrived at the apartment building before it caved in. There had only been a few minor injuries as a result, and Mei and Izuku had spent the better part of two hours distracting the children that had lived in the building while their parents had been checked out and figured out what they were going to do next.
He hadn't expected to see All Might in person so soon after the mall incident, but he had appeared out of nowhere, his usual catchphrase instantly putting everyone on the scene at ease. The man who had been in near tears over his son had been so relieved to see that that he really did start to cry, hurriedly telling the number one hero where his room was located. All Might had answered with a grin and a thumbs up before charging into the building only to reemerge mere minutes later, the people from the upper floors draped over his shoulders.
Trying to talk to the hero hadn't worked out as well as he would have liked though. All Might let out a shaking cough the moment Izuku approached him-dust from the building maybe?- and ran off, calling over his shoulder to explain that he had been on his way to an appointment and couldn't stay. Because that was just the kind of person he was. Saving ten people was a normal afternoon activity for All Might, nothing unusual to him at all.
Izuku was reminded once again why All Might had been his hero growing up.
Once the kids were settled back in with their parents Mei and Izuku had decided to head home for the day with plans to meet up later at the workshop so Izuku could pick up his new gear. He had almost made it home with no other distractions when a man stepped out onto the road in front of him.
A plain white t-shirt hung limply over his gaunt form, his skin thin and sickly. Izuku wondered briefly if he had somehow managed to escape from a hospital, but quickly pushed the thought away. The closest hospital was still too far away for this man to have wandered that far. He looked as though one strong breeze would knock him over.
Izuku slowed, stopping short a few feet away from him. The man watched him, brilliant blue eyes blazing from the dark sunken in circles that surrounded them. Something about his eyes...that color…
"Sir?" Izuku asked. "Did you need help?"
"That's what you do, isn't it?" The man said, his words almost going unheard through the sound of his coughing. "You help people?"
"Yes?" Was that supposed to be a trick question? And yet something about his voice almost sounded familiar too. Like he had heard it before, just slightly off. The inflection ringing a bell but the tone falling too flat for Izuku to place.
"Young man," the stranger said, taking a step towards him. "I've been watching you."
"That doesn't sound creepy at all," Izuku responded, taking a step back. Aizawa would never let him live if he managed to get himself kidnapped a second time in as many years.
"You throw yourself head first into danger, not because you're arrogant, but because you have an instinctual need to help people. Isn't that correct?"
"I don't see how that is any of your business," Izuku said, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He didn't think he would need to reach for his rods if the man became aggressive, but he had Aizawa and Hizashi on speed dial for a reason.
"I'm not here to hurt you," the man continued, raising both hands to show that he was unarmed. Izuku didn't buy it, not when his quirk could be anything. "This wasn't how I would have wanted to do this, but I couldn't wait. I'm running out of time, and I've waited long enough as it is."
"That doesn't make this any less creepy and stalkerish, you do realize that, right?" Izuku had already pushed the button for Aizawa's mobile, taking another step back, but he didn't hold the phone up to his ear as he waited to see where this was all going.
"I know this is going to be hard to believe," the man said, "but I need you to hear me out. I know that I don't look it right now, and there's a reason for that. My name is Yagi Toshinori. You might know me as All Might. And I'm here to make you a hero."
Someone had to be playing a trick on him, because this could not be Izuku's life. He refused. There was no way this was real. He could hear Aizawa's voice through the speaker now, a low buzz.
"I'm sorry," Izuku said, finally raising the phone, a hand pressed carefully over the speaker. "And I mean that as sincerely as possible under the circumstances. But. What the fuck?"
AN: Changed my outline a little bit, and here we are! Canon events! Kind of. Before anyone asks about what Toshinori decided to reveal at the end, I promise there's a reason for it. This is an AU after all, and his reasoning will be explained eventually.
Thanks to everyone who commented on the last chapter! It really helps keep me motivated and I really appreciate it.