Welcome back to another chapter of "To Be A Hero". I hope that you're all enjoying this story so far. I know updates have been sparse and I do apologize for that. My life can get hectic, especially in these trying times. All I can do is my best and sometimes my best means that I update every few months.

But enough about that. Enjoy!

To Be A Hero

Chapter 3

Seto looked down at his phone and smiled. After the exam he had exchanged contact info with both Kirishima and Tsu. While they still hadn't gotten the results yet, Seto had a feeling that they would become good friends in the end. Over the last week he had been texting with both and he learned a lot about them. And today he had plans to meet them both for a day at the mall.

As he was getting ready to leave, there was a knock on his door. "Come in." He said, thinking it was his mother.

To his surprise, All Might stood at his door and he looked nervous. "Hey..." He greeted, his voice sounding unsure.

"All Might." Seto nodded. He hadn't spoken with his father since the morning of the exam and that was mostly because he hadn't seen his father since then. Not that it mattered to him, he was used to being without a father.

"Can I come in? There's something I would like to give you." All Might asked. When Seto nodded, All Might stepped inside of Seto's room, a first for him. The room was simple with nothing really standing out. There was a bed, a desk with a computer, a book shelf filled with books, a closet, and in the corner there was a small dresser with several pictures on it. And at a glance, All Might could see that all of the pictures were of Seto and Sora and he was noticeably absent from all of them.

"So, what did you want to give me?" Seto asked, leaning against the far wall. He had his arms crossed and his posture seemed indifferent and All Might was having trouble reading him.

"I wanted to deliver the results of the exam personally." All Might began. He was nervous though not because of the results but because he still felt ashamed. He knew that Sora was right and he was going to be there more in his son's life.

"If you're here in person does that mean that I failed?" Seto asked, frowning a bit.

"No, just the opposite in fact. You passed, my boy." All Might reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope with the UA wax seal on it. "You were amazing during the battle portion of the exams and the teachers watching took notice."

Seto raised an eyebrow as he looked at All Might. "You were watching my exams?"

"Of course! Your mother and I were allowed to watch but we weren't judges. I even saw how you worked together with those two participants, Asui and Kirishima, to take down that giant robot." All Might couldn't help but smile. "I can't tell you how proud I was to see you do that, not because you were able to take it down. No, I'm proud because you did what a true hero would do." He placed a tentative hand on Seto's shoulder and to his delight Seto didn't pull away. "That robot wasn't worth any points, there was no benefit to taking it down and you could've run away from it like everyone else did. But there was an opportunity, a chance to shine and show what you were really made of. You, Asui, and Kirishima took down that robot while others ran away and by doing so you three embodied the spirit of a true hero. Because nothing is nobler than self sacrifice."

All Might waited to see what his son would do. Seto simply stared up at him, almost as if trying to find any deception in his words. But there were none, All Might truly meant his words. And Seto must've seen it to be true because he gave his father a small grin.

"Thanks, All Might." Seto said.

"The point of that giant robot was to see how the students would react. A person's true character is revealed when they're faced with danger. While not every hero is suited for every situation, a true hero stands firm in the face of danger while those who can't fight flee to safety. Even without a quirk, you have the makings of a true hero...I'm sorry that it took me so long to see it, my son."

Seto's grin faded away and it was replaced with a frown. "Was that all you wanted, All Might?"

All Might removed his hand and shook his head. "No, there's one more thing." All Might walked out of the room, grabbed a box and brought it inside. He placed it on Seto's bed and turned to face him. "Your mother told me about the secret project that you asked David to build for you. She didn't tell me what it was, only that you had struck a deal with David to pay him back for it when you became a pro hero. I went to I-Island and I paid David in full for it and brought it so that I could give it to you in person. I know that this doesn't even come close to making it up to you but I hope that you see this as me taking a step in the right direction. I'm proud of you, son, and I swear to you now that until my last breath I will support you no matter what."

Seto stared at the box on his bed, unable to meet his father's eyes. There were so many emotions raging inside of him that for a moment he couldn't speak. He began to tremble a little bit and his voice cracked when he spoke. "I didn't ask you to do this..."

All Might was feeling just as emotional as his son. "You don't ever have to ask me. I'm your father."

Hot tears pooled in the corner of Seto's eyes. "You aren't my father..." He had wanted to shout but his voice came out a whisper.

"You don't have to accept me as your father, not ever. In fact, you shouldn't. I've been a terrible father to you...I left six years ago for reasons that I can't explain right now but regardless, I abandoned you when you needed me most and for that I'm sorry." All Might made his way towards the door. "I don't deserve to even call myself your father but I hope that one day I might earn the right again."

And with that, he left, leaving Seto to shed silent tears as he continued to stare at the box.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sora knocked on her son's door. "Seto, dear, can I come in?"

It was evening and she had just gotten off from her shift at the Hero Agency that she worked at. When her son didn't answer, she opened the door to peer inside. She saw her son lying down on his bed staring up at the ceiling and he had signs that he had been crying. Seeing him like that only confirmed what Toshi had told her. She stepped inside and made her way towards his bed, sitting down on the edge.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

"No." Set kept his gaze on the ceiling, not really feeling up to looking his mother in the eye.

"Then how about you listen?" When he didn't tell her no, she continued. "I know that you have a lot of resentment towards your father. And I honestly don't fault you for it...that's why I've never said a word to you before now." Sora sighed. "There's a reason your father had to leave...and one day we will tell you."

"Mom, what's so bad that you can't tell me now?" There were so many emotions in her son's voice. She could hear his pain, his want to understand why his father abandoned him, his need for a father, and his anger towards him. His confusion and conflicting emotions hurt her like a knife to the chest but she knew that she couldn't tell him the truth.

"Oh honey..." She placed a hand on his forearm. "There are some things that you're not ready to know. Please trust that I wouldn't keep this from you if I didn't truly think it was necessary. You know how much I adore and treasure you..."

Seto glanced towards his mother. "I trust you mom..." His voice cracked and it sounded like he was on the verge of tears. "But how am I supposed to deal with this? He's my dad...but he wasn't there for me...and now all of a sudden he wants to be in my life again after he destroyed my dream and abandoned me?" Seto took a shuddered breath before tears spilled once more from his eyes. "I hate him! I hate him so much that it hurts! But at the same time...I just want my dad back..." He covered his eyes with his hands. "But how can I trust him when he cared more about being All Might than my dad? How can I ever trust him again when he wasn't there for me when I needed him the most?"

Sora laid down beside her son and pulled him into a warm embrace. She had silent tears streaming down her face from watching her son's pain. She wanted nothing more than to tell him the truth but she knew that she couldn't. So she just held him in her arms and whispered sweet words into his ear as he clung to her like he used to when he was much younger.

Hours later when her son was spent and he lay sleeping in her embrace, she stared down at him and wondered for the millionth time if she would ever have the courage to tell him the truth. The secret that they kept was known to only four people and it was part of the reason why she was only a part time professional hero. She was nearing her own retirement, which was another reason for being part time, but the main reason was the secret. That damn secret that Nighteye couldn't keep to himself. The prick.

Sighing, Sora used her quirk to bring the extra blankets from the hallway closet and she covered them with the blankets. She wouldn't think about it anymore, her son needed her and she would be there for him. Always.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kirishima and Tsu knocked on the door. Yesterday they had plans to hang out at the mall but Seto never showed up. They tried calling him but he didn't answer until hours later. He texted that he hadn't been feeling well and invited them over the next day in order to make up for the day before.

And as the door opened, they were surprised to see Seto's mom greeting them with such a warm smile. "Welcome, Kirishima, Asui, thank you for being friends with my son."

"Whao! I can't believe that I'm meeting the Cerulean Siren! You're such a great hero, ma'am! You're one of my inspirations for becoming a chivalrous hero!" Kirishima said as he started to fan out. "I still remember watching you on TV when you stopped that villain with the water quirk that caused that tsunami!"

"Oh my..." Sora laughed lightly. "I remember that! That was almost 8 years ago."

"Thank you for having us, Mrs. Kamiya. Ribbit." Tsu said as they entered the apartment. "We were worried about Seto since he didn't show up yesterday."

"I do apologize for that. You see, Seto tends to go overboard with his training and as his mother, I do everything in my power to support him. Yesterday we were sparring and he pushed himself too far and he passed out." Sora explained as she led them towards Seto's room. "He was out for most of the day and while I'm sure that he's fine now, I wanted him to rest for an extra day."

"That's understandable. Ribbit." Tsu nodded.

"But aren't you worried that Seto will get hurt fighting villains without a quirk?" Kirishima asked.

Sora stopped and turned to look at them. "I'm his mother, I would be worried even if he had the most powerful of quirks. But I believe in him and I want to support his dream. After all, what kind of mother would I be if I didn't support my son in his dream?"

Seto opened his door and stepped out. "Mom, are you done embarrassing me now?" He asked with a playful grin.

"Oh honey, you know that I'm never done embarrassing you!" Sora lunged at her son, pulled him into a hug, and planted several kisses on his face. Seto laughed as he struggled to break free. "You're my baby and I love you so much!"

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Seto barely managed to break free and he turned towards his friends. "Sorry about that, let's go into my room."

"I'll bring you some snacks and tea in a bit, honey." Sora said as she made her way towards the kitchen.

As they entered Seto's room, Kirishima and Tsu saw that it was pretty plain looking with only a few pictures of him and his mom. There was even one picture of them the day that they finished the UA entrance exams. They sat down on the floor and they both turned to look at Seto.

"How are you feeling?/Ribbit." They asked at the same time.

This made Seto smile. "I'm fine, really, I just overdid it yesterday when I shouldn't have. Since I'm quirkless I have to work twice as hard as everyone else."

"Seto, your mom is really nice, I was surprised at how close you seem." Kirishima said. "My Mom is okay but she mostly just nags me to clean and do my homework..."

Seto laughed. "Oh my mom does that too. But since it's just me and her, she also dotes on me a lot. I just think that she's having trouble accepting that I'm not a little boy anymore."

"Where's your father, if you don't mind me asking. Ribbit." Tsu asked. She had been wondering for a while about his father since he hadn't mentioned him at all.

"He's working overseas." Seto lied easily. "He works for David Shield on I-Island, who also happens to be my honorary uncle."

"Whoa, you know David Shield!" Kirishima said excitedly. "He's the inventor of some of the greatest support items ever made! He even helped All Might in America back when he first started."

"Is he the one who made your support items?" Tsu asked.

"Actually, it was his daughter, Melissa, who made the items that I used for the entrance exam." Seto explained. "She and I are childhood friends and she wants to be an inventor just like her dad."

"Have you ever met All Might?" Kirishim asked. "I mean, if you know David Shield then you must've gotten to meet All Might at some point, right?"

"Well, I do know All Might." Seto admitted. "But I don't know him that well."

"Man, you're so lucky." Kirishima said.

A flash of emotion passed through Seto's eyes that Kirishima missed but Tsu saw it. It was so fast that she thought she must've imagined it because Seto didn't show any other outward expression. Not long after that Seto's mom returned with some cookies and tea. They talked, played card games which Tsu won most of the time, and eventually they made their way towards his living room in order to watch a movie together.

It was one of the best days that Seto could ever remember having since he never really had any friends. Growing up, most kids didn't have his drive to train like he did. There were a few in his martial art classes that he would get along with but he never stayed in the classes for longer than it took to master the style and move on. And as he got older, when kids finally started to get into training so that they could finally become the heroes that they wanted to be, most were too far behind him or they relied heavily on their quirks. When his classmates saw how skilled he was, they would get jealous of him and call him names behind his back. He was quirkless after all, in their eyes he was beneath them and had no place being at the top of the class. They tried once to bully him directly. Once. When that didn't work, they stuck to saying things behind his back. And for that reason Seto never attempted to make friends because he couldn't trust them.

But when he met Kirishima and Asui, he felt drawn to them. He could tell that they were genuinely good people and that they could be relied on. It's probably why they agreed to help him when he came up with his crazy plan to take down that giant robot. As the movie played on, Seto glanced at his two friends and smiled. It felt good to have friends.

As the three of them were in the living room watching a movie, Sora was in the kitchen preparing their dinner for that evening when she heard a knock on the door. She cleaned her hands on a towel and went to see who it was. Standing outside was her husband in her powered down form. He was holding an envelope in his hands and he seemed excited. Glancing over her shoulder, she made sure that the kids were still watching the movie before she stepped outside.

"Toshi, what are you doing here? I thought that you were going to be busy preparing your syllabus?" Sora asked. She wrapped her arms around him and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. And when she pulled away, she smiled up at him. "Did you skip your school work just to see me? Again?"

All Might chuckled. "Not this time. I actually already finished my work. No, the reason I came here is because Principle Nezu gave me permission to show you this." All Might raised the envelope in his hands. "You'll be the first person outside of the main faculty to see this."

"What is it?" Sora asked as she took the envelope. Inside was a folded piece of paper and when she opened it, she gasped.

"Yea, that's right. Those are the results of the test." All Might couldn't hide the grin that formed on his face. "Our son is truly incredible." He said with pride.

Sora continued to stare at the paper, both shocked and proud of her son for doing so well. He was ranked number one in the combat portion of the exam, beating out the second place winner by a single point. Her son had managed to get 19 villain points for the robots he took down but his defeat of the giant robot had given him 60 rescue points. Scanning the rest of the list, she saw that Kirishima and Asui had also received rescue points for helping her son, though not as many as him since he was the one who actually took it down. They were ranked 4th and 5th respectively with Midoriya ranking 8th below them.

"Oh my god! I can't believe that he actually managed to get first place! Even you didn't get that when you took the exam!" Sora said, looking up at her husband.

"Nope, Endeavor took the number one spot during our exams." All Might laughed. "And what makes this more amazing is that he's quirkless. Principle Nezu says that there's even going to be an article about it in the paper tomorrow."

"Really? I can't wait to read it." Sora then looked over her shoulder back towards her home. "I really want to show this to Seto but he's having so much fun with his friends."

"Are Kirishima and Asui here?" All Might asked.

Sora nodded. "They came to visit since Seto couldn't meet them yesterday." She didn't mention why since they both already knew. "I want him to see this so that he can see that his efforts are finally paying off."

"Then let's go and show him." All Might said.

"Are you sure? Won't Nezu be mad if the students find out before they even enter the school?" Sora asked.

All Might Laughed. "If he was worried about that then he wouldn't have given me a copy of the results, now would he? It's fine, let's go show the kids."

With a smile, Sora took her husband's hand and led him inside. As she walked in, she stopped when she saw Asui standing in the kitchen with a glass of water in her hand. "Oh, Asui, I'd like you to meet my husband, Toshi."

Tsu cocked her head to the side and stared. "Aren't you supposed to be working overseas?" She asked, recalling what Seto had told them.

Both Sora and All Might shared a look. Neither knew what Seto had told his friends about All Might and since she thought that he was supposed to be overseas, he just went with it.
"Oh, right, well, I just arrived today because I heard the good news and I wanted to celebrate with my family." All Might said, laughing awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head.

Seto and Kirishima heard the laughter in the kitchen and they made their way over. Seto froze when he saw his father standing in the kitchen with his mother and Tsu.

"Whoa, are you okay, sir? You look like you're going to keel over any second now!" Kirishima said, concerned by All Might's appearance.

This made Sora laugh. "He's fine, Kirishima dear, that's just how he looks because of his quirk. This is my husband, Toshi, Seto's father."

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be overseas working for David Shield?" Kirishima asked, same as Tsu.

"Yea, dad, why are you back so suddenly?" Seto asked, trying his best to keep his emotions in check.

"Well, I heard the good news from your mother and I took the first flight that I could back home so that we could celebrate as a family." All Might said, this time managing to sound believable. "Also, I brought some good news of my own."

"Look at this, honey." Sora said as she handed him the paper.

Both Tsu and Kirishima looked over Seto's shoulder as he looked at the paper. All three of their jaws dropped when they read over the results.

"No way! Dude, I got 4th place!" Kirishima exclaimed as he pumped his fist in the air.

"Seto, you got 1rst place, congratulations. Ribbit." Tsu said as she patted him on the back.

"Yea, man, you're awesome!" Kirishima said as he playfully punched him on the shoulder.

Seto continued to stare at the paper in his hands. He honestly couldn't believe it. "Is this real?" He asked quietly.

"Yes, honey, it's real. The principal gave a copy of it to your father so that he could give it to me." Sora said.
"Then...I really did get first place overall?" Seto asked. When his mother and father nodded, he smiled. "Then that means that I'm one step closer to becoming the number one hero."

"Don't forget about us, man, we're gonna help you every step of the way!" Kirishima said, clasping Seto's shoulder.

"I'm not sure how helpful I'll be but you can count on me as well. Ribbit." Tsu nodded.

All Might watched as his son continued to speak with his friends. He was feeling equal parts pride and shame because this was how it should have been. He should have been involved with his son's life for the last few years. And now that he had a second chance, he wasn't going to ruin it. He was going to earn the right to be his father again even if it killed him. Yes, even if it killed him.

End of chapter.