Disclaimer: I don't own anything My Hero Academia!


Different Kind of Hero


"A Hero is someone who, in spite of weakness, doubt, or not always knowing the answers, goes ahead and overcomes anyway."
—Christopher Reeve


It had been a long day and Toshinori was exhausted. He'd taken today off from school, but only after Aizawa had told him at least ten times to just leave the kids an essay and stop fussing. It felt… wrong to him. Like he was shirking his duties as a teacher. He already knew that he wasn't a particularly good teacher to begin with. This just made him feel worse.

What bothered him the most about the whole, stupid situation was that the reason he'd had to take off from school had been because his body had failed him once again. He'd been getting bouts of lightheadedness that even Recovery Girl hadn't wanted to mess with on her own. After his description–and after recording his vitals–she'd simply frowned at him, listened to his chest, and demanded he see his cardiologist.

He stood in thoughtful quiet on the train now, having given his seat to an older man who had entered the car one stop after Toshi had gotten on. His expression fell into the unpleasant scowl that seemed to naturally grace his face in this form, and he rubbed his chest absently with his free hand.

"You have a heart murmur. I'm suspecting it's nothing serious. With your weight and build, the heart is just easier to hear, and tends to have innocent murmurs. But given your medical history, I don't want to take any chances. I'd like you to monitor and log your symptoms and make an appointment to come back for a more complete evaluation in a week. It's probably nothing, but if you notice anything getting worse, call me immediately."

Toshinori frowned. Nothing… Nothing was nothing in his body. Every abnormality and new irregularity was just a new something that his body was doing to make him even more useless than he already was. I can't be a hero anymore. If this turns out to be anything serious, Nezu is probably going to force me to retire from teaching, too. I'll be no use to anyone…

Then again, discounting young Midoriya who defied all logic, Toshinori basically was no use to anyone already. All Might really was just a washed up old memory…

It doesn't matter, old man. Stop moping, and get over it…

But how do you get over losing your purpose in life?

The train jerked a bit at that moment, and a young woman standing lost her grip on the hanging strap she'd been distractedly half-holding and nearly fell. Instinctively, he reached out his long arm and caught her around the shoulders, steadying her.

He smiled faintly at her grateful thanks, his mind still on the appointment that was likely going to cause him to miss yet another class.

Just then he heard a quiet voice from the seat next to him. "Excuse me?"

Toshinori jumped a bit and turned to see a middle-aged man staring curiously at him. The man smiled, appearing a bit nervous. He spoke in a hushed voice. "You're All Might, aren't you?"

Toshi ran his free hand through his mess of blond hair and schooled his expression into something pleasanter and more welcoming. Nothing I do will make me look better, but no need to glare the poor man down… "I am," he replied.

The man's entire face seemed to glow at that. "I thought so! I remember watching you on television all the time when I was in college! I started following you again recently, since you're my son's favorite hero." He chuckled.

Toshinori's smile grew at that, a real warmth twinkling in his eyes. "You'll have to tell your boy that I give him my regards."

The man grinned. "He's in the bathroom right now, but he'll be back soon. He's going to be so excited to see you!"

Toshinori stiffened at that, his eyes flickering to the back of the train in concern. It really hadn't been that long since Kamino had left him with nothing more of himself than this shell. Did the boy really need to see up close what he had been reduced to…?

The man must have noticed the change in his expression, because he immediately responded, "I'm sorry. You're probably tired of having people bother you all the time. It's just you're the only hero my son has connected to in the past few years. And when he saw the Kamino fight…"

Toshinori flinched, but this time the man didn't seem to notice, as caught up in his own thoughts as he was.

"After that, he hasn't been able to talk about anything else…"

The train had stopped by then, letting off a number of people, and giving Toshi a bit of room to stretch his long limbs.

"Ah, here he is!" the man said in an excitedly hushed voice. "Hinata-chan! Come here! I want you to meet someone!"

Toshinori sighed, steeling himself for the boy's disappointment. He did not expect the excitement in the young man's voice.

"Wait! Is that– Are you … All Might?"

The man scooted over so his son could have his seat and be nearer to his hero.

Toshinori was able to finally get a good look at the man's son, ready to play his part as best he could. As soon as he saw the youth, he was struck speechless.

The boy was probably around twelve or thirteen– not much younger than Midoriya. But he was extremely thin and frail-looking. His dark hair was thin and wispy on his head, and he looked like a strong wind could blow his bony frame over. Still, his golden eyes were bright with excitement as he openly gaped at Toshinori. "You're really him!" His entire face was radiating excitement and joy as he turned to his father. "I thought this treatment was going to be the worst, but if I get to meet All Might, I don't even care." He suddenly bent over to start rifling through the bag near his father's feet. "I have to have a notebook in here somewhere. I need to get an autograph!"

While the boy was digging around, his father smiled tiredly at Toshinori, explaining. "We aren't actually from Musutafu. We travel into the city once a month for my son's cancer treatments. Musutafu has some of the best doctors in the area, even though the treatments are taking a toll on him."

"Da-ad," the boy whined, goodnaturedly, finally coming up from his bag with a pen and what appeared to be a school notepad. "You make it sound so dramatic." He laughed a little before turning back to Toshinori, who still seemed to have forgotten how to form words. "Can I have your autograph? You're my favorite hero. You're the best!"

Toshi finally managed to clear his throat and find his words. "Yes, my boy. Of course. If you'll hold the notebook, I'd appreciate it." He smiled. "I don't trust my ability to stand on a moving train these days without holding the strap."

"Of course!" The boy handed him the pen and flipped the notebook open to a blank page, facing it toward Toshinori, and holding it as steady as he could. While Toshinori bent, signing his name, and adding a few embellishments for effect, the boy began gushing in his excitement. "No one is going to believe I met you! I can't wait to show them this! You were already such a cool hero before, but then I saw you on the news during the Kamino fight. And I found out you were sick like me… but you were still protecting that lady. You were still fighting for everyone even though you weren't invincible like we thought!" Toshi's blue eyes snapped up to meet those of the excited youth. "The boy quieted a bit at that. "I mean, I was really scared you were going to get killed there. But it was really nice to know that someone like you could be like me. I didn't think heroes could be like me…"

Toshinori's naturally severe expression softened of its own accord to something more thoughtfully gentle. "I… honestly have never thought much about it, my boy. Mostly I've been worried that people would lose hope when they saw me like this."

Hinata shook his head emphatically, collecting the pen that Toshinori handed back to him. "Oh, no. Everyone at my treatment center thinks you're the best. One girl has like every one of your action figures. We were just talking about how they should make some for how you look now, too… for kids like us…"

The tall blond straightened and reached out to ruffle the boy's sparse hair. "I'll talk to my marketing department about that. It's a good idea," he replied softly.

Hinata beamed. "Is UA off from school today?" He was clutching the notebook and pen to himself. "Is that why you're not teaching? I heard you teach there six days a week."

Toshi chuckled. "Generally I do. But today I had a doctor's appointment as well at Musutafu General."

The boy's eyes popped as wide as saucers. "Wait, Musutafu General! We go to the same hospital! That's so cool!"

"Well, then… perhaps I'll see you again, young Hinata." The train was slowing at that point, and he glanced up at the recorded announcement. "That's my stop. I'm afraid it's time for me to go. It's truly been a pleasure talking to both of you." He looked Hinata straight in the eye. "And for the record, someone like you can absolutely be a hero. I made the mistake once of telling a young man that he had to be a certain way to be a hero. He proved to me that I was wrong. Heroes come in all shapes and sizes." He smiled. "Today, for instance, my own personal hero is a young man who told me his story on a train." He bowed slightly to the awestruck boy and his father. "So, thank you, my boy."

He straightened at that, and after a few more polite goodbyes, exited the train in a much better mood than he'd entered it. Maybe he didn't need to be All Might to be a hero after all.

Maybe just being himself was good enough.


Author's Note: This was just a little story that popped into my head. No beta work done and scratched out in an hour, so I apologize if it's rougher than usual. I just really liked the concept, and I needed to get the story out of my head! I hope you enjoy it.

Sincerely,
Sirius:)