"Midoriya? Midoriya what's going on?" Izuku removed his hand from the speaker, pressing his phone against his ear.

"I'm here, Aizawa-sensei. I'm fine, but-"

The stranger-Yagi? All Might?- let out a wet cough deep from his chest. When he wiped a hand across his mouth Izuku thought he saw a flash of red. "You called Aizawa?"

"When a stranger shows up claiming to be the number one hero, you call your mentor," Izuku answered, taking a few more steps away from him.

"Midoriya, who are you talking to? I'm tracking your call."

Well, that solved one problem. The apartment building was almost in sight, but Izuku hadn't wanted to say that. Not when he didn't know what this stranger was really after. "There's this man. He says his name is Yagi Toshinori? And that he's been watching me, which isn't creepy at all. I don't know if that's his real name or not, but he says that he's really All Might."

Izuku had expected some kind of sarcastic comment, a flat dismissal. Instead there was silence at the other end of the line. There were plenty of reasons for him not to respond, Izuku told himself. The most likely being...no. He glanced back at the stranger who still watched him. He hadn't tried to speak again after Izuku's explanation, and he hadn't seemed intimidated by the fact that he had called a pro hero either. He simply waited to see what Izuku would do next.

What Izuku wanted to do next was take a nap and hope that when he woke the world would make more sense.

"Aizawa-sensei?"

"Did he say what he wanted with you, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked. He still sounded worried but not as much as before. Certainly not like he was rushing to find him. Maybe he wasn't in danger of being kidnapped after all. At least not this time.

"He said…" Izuku didn't want to finish that sentence because if Aizawa was taking this seriously, if he wasn't dismissing the stranger as some misguided hospital escapee, then that meant that the person watching him with such an intense stare was actually All Might, and Izuku didn't think that he could handle the situation if that were the case.

"Midoriya?" Aizawa sighed.

"He said he wants to make me a hero?"

"He said what." And that? That was a level of anger Izuku hadn't heard from Aizawa before, although he couldn't be sure what exactly he had said to make him angry. "Midoriya, did he happen to mention why he approached you about this rather than me or your mother?"

"No? Aizawa-sensei what's going on?"

Izuku had always been a frustrated crier. It had been another thing he and his mother had in common, but over the last year and a half, after everything he had been through, Izuku thought that he had managed to get that tendency under control. He had held himself together when he had been kidnapped because he had to, and with the Terror Twins he had had Mei there to keep him grounded. His anger at Endeavor's smug expression had been enough to keep Izuku's eyes clear until they got out of sight. The closest he had come to crying had been Nezu's test, but that had been more out of relief than anything.

Now though, feeling like the world was shifting out of his control again, Izuku could feel the tears building.

The stranger- what was Izuku even supposed to call him at this point- tilted his head at Izuku's response.

"Midoriya, the extremely misguided idiot standing in front of you is who he says he is. As for his offer, I have no idea why he feels his intervention is needed. As far as I'm aware you're doing a great job of that on your own."

Izuku felt torn. Have a meltdown that All Might was standing in front of him(and was apparently a skeleton) or have a meltdown over the the compliment Aizawa had decided to pay him? Unable to choose between the two he decided to do both. Both was clearly the only option.

"Calm down, Midoriya," Aizawa continued, and it was incredibly telling how much Aizawa had learned about him that he knew to say that before continuing with his instructions. "Yagi and I need to talk. Will you show him how to get to Warehouse Two?"

Warehouse Two was another warehouse extremely similar to what Izuku referred to as Warehouse Prime with the exception that it was located on the opposite side of the city. Izuku had only been there with Aizawa a few times before to store some of his extra equipment. It wasn't as furnished as the one they usually met at so Aizawa didn't see a reason for them to spend much time there when they didn't have to.

So Aizawa either didn't trust All Might with the location of his real training facility or he wanted to make a point.

"I can do that?" Izuku needed to stop responding with a question, but he couldn't do it. Not when nothing about this situation made any sense.

"Also. Will you please pass him your phone?"

Pass him his...Pass All Might his…

"Midoriya. Breathe. Pass All Might your phone."

"Right, right. I can do that."

All Might thankfully seemed to realize that Izuku wasn't going to be capable of moving at the moment because he stepped forward, holding his hand out for the phone. He looked resigned, as if he knew Aizawa well enough to know that if he wanted to talk to him in that moment then it probably wasn't going to be anything good.

"Aizawa-san!" He boomed, and if Izuku were being honest he couldn't be one hundred percent sure whether the cheerful tone in his voice had been faked or not despite the pinched look in his face as if he were expecting a physical blow. "I've been meaning to- Well, I thought-" All Might cut off, his tone dropping. "Aizawa, my boy. If I could just-"

Izuku couldn't hear what Aizawa was saying, the volume on his phone turned down too far, but he didn't think he would have been able to focus on it even if it hadn't been. Aizawa was arguing with All Might. All Might who said that he had been watching him. Watching him for how long? Since the mall? Before that? Izuku wanted answers, but he knew he wouldn't get them now, not until they met up with Aizawa.

"I won't-" All Might started to speak again, nodding before pulling the phone away to stare at it. "He hung up on me."

He could do this. Izuku could act like nothing extraordinary was happening. He wasn't meeting the hero of most of his childhood. The stranger was a stranger, and that was all. So his eyes were clearly the same shade of blue as All Might's. So it was easy to see the similarities in his hair style now that Izuku knew to look for it. He was just a stranger that needed directions, and Izuku could handle that. There was no reason for him to cry, there was nothing overwhelming going on at all.

"Aizawa-sensei asked if I would show you to his warehouse," Izuku said, and his voice sounded almost normal. "It's on the opposite side of town, so it'll take about half an hour."

Izuku wondered of All Might could make it that far in this form. Maybe Aizawa was planning on having him pass out before they ever got the chance to continue their conversation in person. All Might didn't seem bothered by the distance though. "Well then, lead the way, my boy."

Aizawa got more satisfaction that he should have from hanging up on Toshinori mid-sentence, but he refused to feel guilty about it. It was a waste of time and energy that he could be putting towards making sure that he got to the warehouse before Midoriya and Toshinori arrived so that he could decide best how to handle Toshinori's ridiculous and honestly offensive declaration. Not that Toshinori saw his actions that way, but Aizawa knew he would have them all on the same page by the time their meeting ended.

Such gross obliviousness was unacceptable for a teacher. Aizawa would have to do what he could to nip that tendency in the bud before his negative influence could affect this new batch of incoming first years.

What could he be thinking, revealing his identity to Midoriya in an open street? Anyone could have overheard him, not to mention the fact that Toshinori himself had stressed the importance of no one outside Yuuei's staff learning the truth about his dual forms. Aizawa was sure All Might would have kept the secret from them as well if it wouldn't have created the possibilities of holes in their security.

The meeting for that debriefing had been awkward, but Aizawa had tried to take the reveal in stride. The Number One Hero had to have been getting up there in age- he had debuted long before Aizawa's own admittance to Yuuei after all- so it would make sense that he would be more prone to injuries, and with the level of villains that wanted to challenge him it would also make sense that those injuries could end up being severe. As long as it didn't interfere with his work or the safety of his students, All Might's secrets weren't any of his business, and Aizawa had been happy to keep things that way.

Now though, he had felt the need to share this information with Midoriya and that...That made it Aizawa's problem now because his student managed to attract enough trouble on his own. He didn't need All Might's trouble added into the mix as well. How had Midoriya even gotten the hero's attention in the first place? Midoriya had mentioned meeting him at the mall after he had idiotically gotten involved with the Terror Twins, but Aizawa hadn't gotten the feeling that he had downplayed the extent of their interactions. He had become fairly versed in Midoriya's tells over their time together, and Midoriya hadn't been lying when he said their conversation only lasted a few minutes.

So why did he want to talk with him now? Why the offer to make him a hero? And what exactly did Toshinori mean by that? Aizawa had a feeling Nedzu was responsible for this whole mess somehow. The principal liked to have his hands in everything, and this seemed like just the type of scheming he would do to try to keep control. Aizawa had no evidence of that, of course, but the moment he found some Nedzu was going to regret his meddling. For now he would just have to worry about whatever nonsense Toshinori wanted to drag them into. He would deal with the rest once he knew what the hell was going on.

Izuku didn't remember much about the journey to Aizawa's backup warehouse, which was probably a good thing. If he had been more aware in those moments there was no telling what he would have rambled on about to All Might (All Might!) in the time it took them to cross town. As it was though, they managed to make the trip without Izuku embarrassing himself too much. He was sure that the hero had noticed the totally obvious way he had been stealing glances at him the entire walk, but he had spared Izuku's already fractured dignity and didn't comment on it. Izuku wasn't sure if that made him feel more or less awkward, but his brain refused to connect to his mouth so he remained silent.

He knew he should be excited right now. He knew that he should be bursting with questions. Izuku had met All Might before, but their conversation had been brief, and Izuku had been more concerned about making sure that he and Mei didn't get in trouble for their actions at the mall. All Might had backed him up when it seemed like he knew Izuku had been lying, and Izuku had been confused about that at the time, but he hadn't given much thought into the reasons why. His relief that they weren't going to be arrested and that neither of them had gotten hurt had been enough at the time.

Now here All Might was again, casually letting Izuku in on a secret that had to have been heavily guarded. Izuku didn't have enough focus in his shock to think through all of the possible scenarios of what could happen if the villains or the public discovered the truth of All Might's health, but he didn't need to think them all through to know that it would be bad. Potentially catastrophic. So why was he doing this?

Izuku had looked up to All Might for years before he met Aizawa, and even though he had come to appreciate Aizawa's style of hero work it was hard to shake that kind of adoration. All Might had been the first person to inspire Izuku to be a hero, and Izuku had spent hours watching the videos of his debut and every encounter that had been caught on record since. Literal decades of fights that Izuku had poured over and memorized and analyzed until he could pick out the exact moments each and every villain's attack had fallen apart under the overwhelming wave that was All Might.

Back then, when he had still held out hope that he would one day get a quirk, Izuku had wanted to be that kind of hero. The kind of hero who could change the atmosphere of a room simply by being there. All Might had a personality that demanded attention and a quirk that held it hostage. He was everything Izuku had been told he couldn't be and everything he had dreamed of. If All Might had showed up like this out of the blue three years ago saying that he wanted to make Izuku a hero he would have cried on the spot. Not out of confusion or frustration, but because it would have been the answer he had been so desperately searching for and unable to find.

There had been so many moments before he found Aizawa when he had considered giving up, when the people telling him his dream was impossible had almost been too much, but Izuku had managed to push through it. He had found Aizawa, and although he still had a lot to learn, he had made so much progress. As much as his anxiety like to tell him otherwise, Izuku was self aware enough to know that he had improved, that he was on the right track.

So despite originally wanting to be the same kind of hero as All Might, Izuku had long accepted that All Might's path wasn't the only one that existed. All Might and Aizawa were about as opposite in styles as it was possible to get, but they were still both heroes. They both managed to help people in ways that suited their personalities and powers. Izuku would never be able to be as visible and obvious as All Might, but that didn't matter. It didn't mean anything in the long run. Aizawa worked best in the shadows, and Izuku knew he could find his home there too, picking apart people's quirks without them ever knowing he was there. He could outmatch brute strength with cunning and tech. He could be a hero, even if it wasn't in the way he had always imagined.

Which was what made it so confusing that All Might had decided to approach him. If he had been watching him-and that declaration had been made no less creepy by the fact that the stranger really had been All Might- he had to have known what Izuku had been doing and why. All Might's style of hero work was perfect for someone with a powerhouse quirk like his, but Izuku couldn't punch his way out of his problems. All Might had to know this.

When they reached the warehouse Aizawa sat waiting for them. Izuku knew the furious expression on his face wasn't meant for him, but he had to wonder if All Might really understood what he was walking into. He didn't seem nearly as nervous as he should be, but then again Izuku didn't know the extent of their relationship. All Might obviously knew Aizawa, but he might not know him well enough yet to read the subtle changes in Aizawa's usually blank expressions.

"Aizawa-san! I hope you weren't in the middle of something! I didn't mean to drag you out here like this with no notice." None of the cheerfulness had slipped from All Might's voice during the walk over, no sign to show that he knew what a careful line he had crossed.

"You should have considered that before approaching my student the way you did," Aizawa answered. "Midoriya, I called your mother. She knows to expect us late to dinner."

And that-Izuku hadn't considered that, although he really should have given everything that had happened recently. If he had been home late his mother would have immediately assumed something horrible had happened. He would have to make sure he remembered that next time.

"I know you're worried about your student, but this is really a conversation best held between Midoriya and myself."

Aizawa stood slowly, his movements reminiscent of a cat prowling towards its prey, although he didn't step away from the chair he had been sitting in. Izuku moved away from All Might as subtle as he could because Aizawa might not have had his scarves wrapped around his shoulders at the moment, but with the furious look on his face Izuku doubted he would have needed them to tear the Number One Hero down a few levels.

"Well, one of those assumptions is correct. Midoriya is my student. He is also a minor. Any other offers for training should have been brought to his mother first and me second. I know that you are new to teaching, but you do not accost prospective students in alley ways, Yagi-san. I would have assumed that was common sense, but it seems I have overestimated the baseline of intelligence here. I'll be considerate of that in the future."

Izuku couldn't breathe.

"I meant no disrespect," All Might started, raising a hand to gesture towards him.

"And yet several people here were disrespected," Aizawa cut in.

"I think that's going a little far, my boy."

"I understand that I must be at least twenty years your junior, but I am still a teacher at Yuuei. Please refer to me as such."

All Might was frowning now. The conversation had clearly spiraled out of his control, and he had no idea where he had first gone wrong. Izuku would have felt more sorry for him if he hadn't still been confused by the purpose of this meeting.

"The nature of my injury and my true appearance are secrets of incredible importance, and I agreed to allow Nedzu to disclose that information to the staff at Yuuei to ensure that students' safety. But the matter that I need to discuss with young Midoriya now is of even greater consequence. I must insist that I share this information with Midoriya and Midoriya alone."

Aizawa crossed his arms, and although his expression didn't change Izuku could feel the tension rising. "Let me get this straight. You have already revealed to my underaged student one secret that could put his life at risk-without the permission of his guardian- and you now wish to reveal another secret that is so dangerous you do not feel comfortable sharing it with me as well. Even though I am his official and legal mentor. Do I have that correct?"

"It's not a matter of trust, Aizawa-san," All Might started again only to be cut off by Aizawa once more. Izuku wondered if anyone had ever interrupted All Might, Symbol of Peace, so many times in such a short time period.

"I don't care if you trust me. I care about whether you are putting my student at risk."

All Might turned from Aizawa towards Izuku, eyes bright and pleading. Was he expecting Izuku to agree with him? To side against Aizawa? Because All Might may have been the hero of his childhood, but Aizawa Shouta had grown to be so much more than that. Between the two of them there could be no contest.

"I'm sorry, All Might, but if you want to talk to me Aizawa-sensei has to stay. I don't know what you want to tell me, but I won't hide things from him. If he leaves, I'm leaving with him."

Ten year old Izuku would have had a heart attack at hearing those words, but Izuku didn't regret saying them. Aizawa had believed in him when no one else had. He wasn't going to brush him aside now. Not even for All Might.

All Might sighed, shaking his head. "If I am to tell you both this secret it must stay between the three of us, do you understand? It is vital that it remain secret. Young Midoriya will be in no further danger as long as it does not leave this room."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "Tell me one good reason why I should allow this risk?"

"Because what I'm about to tell you now may actually save Midoriya in the future." There was no hesitation in his voice, no doubt. He truly believed what he said.

Izuku and Aizawa exchanged a look. Aizawa wanted nothing more to do with this conversation, but he would stay if Izuku wanted to know. And Izuku...Izuku didn't need to know what All Might wanted to tell him, but he was curious, and he could tell that Aizawa was too although he would squash that curiosity in a second if Izuku said he wanted to leave.

"What did you mean," Izuku asked, "that it could save me?"

He had continued to move as Aizawa and All Might talked, and now he stood by Aizawa's side, the two of them across from All Might.

"I'm sure as someone who has spent a lot of time observing quirks that you have wondered about the nature of mine?"

Izuku nodded. No one knew the exact details of All Might's quirk, but everyone who paid attention to those sorts of things had theories for their theories.

"It is a special quirk. If fact, I can say with certainty that it is unique. My quirk is called One for All, and although the obvious effect is strength enhancement that is not all it does. You see, One for All is a quirk that can be passed on from person to person. It takes the holder's existing quirk and makes it stronger, stockpiling that power to pass on to the next so that each holder is stronger than the one before." All Might's eyes burned as he leaned forward as if he could see the disbelief on Izuku's face. A quirk that could be passed from person to person? Surely All Might wasn't intending…

Aizawa looked just as stunned as Izuku, and for once he didn't interrupt as All Might continued to speak. "Nedzu showed me the video of you competing against Aizawa-san's former students. Your mind is sharp, and you have good reflexes. If you had a quirk there is no doubt that you could become a formidable hero. But while I respect what you are trying to do, your goals are simply impossible. You cannot be a hero without a quirk. Nedzu has his games, but in the end the only one who will get hurt from his experiment will be you."

"That's. Enough." Aizawa said, spitting the words as his eyes flashed red.

Every word from All Might had been well intended, but they sat ice cold and burning in the pit of Izuku's stomach. All Might didn't believe in him. He had watched him, had seen what Izuku was already capable of, and had decided that it would never be enough.

"I'm only saying this for his benefit," All Might pleaded. "But if Izuku were to be my successor, if he were to accept One for All-"

All Might could have continued speaking or Aizawa could have interrupted him. Izuku couldn't hear either of them over the ringing in his ears.

Mei and Izuku had spent so much time imagining what it would have been like to be characters in the comics they read, to be heroes in a world before powers weren't the norm. It was so easy to picture this moment as a scene from one of those stories. Izuku, the bold protagonist ready to fight the odds. All Might, his well meaning idol. A sacred mantle passed on from one generation to the next. The perfect origin story for the perfect hero. But Izuku wasn't a character from one of those old comics, and this wasn't the start of his origin story. That moment had happened almost two years ago in an apartment with a tired looking hero and four cats.

All Might's offer...Izuku couldn't begin to express what an honor it was for him to be offered such a power, and maybe once upon a time had things been different he would have accepted it. Not now though. Not after everything he had been through. He had survived a kidnapping and Nedzu's unorthodox test. He had outsmarted a group of villains and stared down Endeavor. Izuku would never be as strong as All Might, but that was okay. That wasn't the type of strength that made a hero special. Aizawa had shown him that. So even though he spoke the word without thinking, it didn't surprise him. There was no other answer he could give.

"No."

Aizawa and All Might must have been arguing because they both froze, eyes locked on him. All Might looked stunned, but Aizawa? Aizawa looked proud.

"What was that, Midoriya boy?" There was a hesitance in his voice that hadn't been there before as he stared at Izuku.

"Thank you for your offer, All Might, but I have to say no. Being a hero isn't about the strength of a person's quirk. It's about what you as a person can do to help those in need. I've been looked down on my whole life for being quirkless, and I'm going use that to show people that there are more important things in life than quirks. Accepting your offer would be the easy thing to do, but I've got to do this my own way with my own power. So thank you, really. It means a lot to me that you think I would be the right successor, but I can't. I owe it to myself to see this through."