When Izuku Midoriya asked, "Can I become a hero?" Toshinori Yagi's heart sank to his stomach.

Those frequently heard words provoked a reaction in him that bordered on PTSD. Ever since Toshinori had become Number One Hero, he'd been asked that question on a daily basis. At first, he'd enthusiastically encouraged the dreams of all his young fans with career advice and suggestions on how to use their quirks. But some of the questioners weren't just looking for encouragement—they quickly followed up with requests for recommendations, training, and his personal contact information. After he'd just answered yes, it felt very awkward to explain that he wasn't going to give a U.A. recommendation to every random middle school student who showed up at a handshake event.

Since then, he'd learned to be vaguer in his replies. A quick "Sure! Anyone can become a hero!" satisfied most of his fans, and he learned how to detach himself from the ones who got pushy.

On the rare occasions when he'd seen something in a youngster that made him want to offer more help, he'd always been disappointed. One kid had sold information about him to the media. One had turned out to be investigating his unusual quirk on behalf of the Hero Public Safety Commission. The absolute worst case had been a quirkless middle school girl. He'd seen himself in her innocent eyes and big dreams. He'd trained her for three months and been planning to give her One for All. Then Sir Nighteye had touched her and told him that she was a plant from All for One. She hadn't even been quirkless before All for One had given her a mission to worm her way into his sympathies and obtain his quirk. The villain had even used a disguise ability to make her look like Nana.

The betrayal had come as such a deep blow to Toshinori that he'd barely even been able to think about finding a successor for a decade afterward. And his answers to that cursed question had gotten even more lackluster. Few people noticed when his yes was accompanied by a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

On any other day, Toshinori would have tossed off a quick reply to Izuku, something along the lines of You can do anything if you believe in yourself, with including win the lottery and that's equally likely left unspoken. But he was in a very bad mood that particular day. His old injury from his fight with All for One was acting up. Yesterday Sir Nighteye had called him about finding a successor candidate for him, it had been their first conversation since their argument, and it hadn't gone well. Toshinori was in a great deal of physical pain, he felt lonely and isolated, and lately even his beloved hero career had turned into a chore. Then a crazy kid had grabbed onto his leg after he leapt into the air and he'd almost lost hold of the villain he'd captured in his distraction and exhaustion.

The old injury in his midsection throbbed. He barely managed to stop himself from deflating to his regular form. The effort of holding on gave him a piercing headache and an equally bad mood. So Toshinori opened his mouth and gave Izuku a frank assessment of his chances of becoming a hero.

To his surprise, the kid took it like a champ. Even thanked him with a fake smile covering up his obvious hurt. As Toshinori headed to the police station and turned over the Slime Villain, he was left with a hollow, empty feeling inside his chest. He'd let out his bad temper on an innocent boy, and it had left him feeling far worse instead of better.

Izuku Midoriya couldn't have possibly been another All for One agent—All for One was dead. He'd just been a young, idealistic boy who hadn't deserved to be the butt of a rant that had been more about Toshinori's own disillusionment with heroism than his innocent question. Toshinori had to make this right. Perhaps he'd even try to believe in a kid who wanted to become a hero one more time.

Toshinori deflated into his skinny form in an alleyway, with a huge sigh of relief. Then he staggered down the sidewalk toward Izuku. He stumbled sideways, faking a cough. Mostly faking. Real blood came out.

Izuku grabbed his arm and helped him to a bench. "Can I call an ambulance, sir?"

"No need." Toshinori dabbed his mouth with a handkerchief. The first test had been passed with flying colors. "Thank you for your help. Aren't you a natural hero?"

The light in Izuku's eyes dimmed. "Thank you, but, uh, I don't think heroism is for me. I'm quirkless."

Toshinori winced. He'd hoped that the boy wouldn't have taken his words too badly to heart, but deep down he'd known better. When you were Number One Hero, you couldn't afford to have bad days, because one careless word could cause deep harm.

Time to repair his mistake. "Is that what quirkist people have been telling you? What nonsense. Anyone can become a hero, because anyone can beat people up with the right training and equipment. These days, a good piece of support equipment is far more useful in a fight than most quirks. Yet every fool with a quirk that lets him waggle his ears at a three hundred and sixty degree angle thinks he's superior to someone who's quirkless but has the martial arts training to kick his ass."

Izuku's eyes widened and he laughed out loud.

Toshinori held out his hand to shake. "My name is Toshinori Yagi. I've worked with heroes my whole career. I'm a certified teacher." As of yesterday, at U.A., a process which hadn't required anything more of him than showing his hero license. But everything he'd said was technically true. "As gratitude for your help, would you like me to train you to pass a hero school entrance exam?"

Izuku looked overwhelmed. "I didn't do anything, really. Your offer is too generous. I couldn't accept so much of your time for free."

"If you'd like to repay me, you can help me clean up the beach near my house." In reality, Toshinori intended this work as strength training. "I'll bring a business card and introduce myself to your parents tomorrow so you know that I'm legitimate. But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. If you're not interested, then I could give you a café gift card in gratitude instead."

"No, no, I'd love for a chance at professional training. I tried every dojo in the city, but none of them accepted quirkless kids." Izuku sighed wistfully. Then he straightened and shook Toshinori's hand. "My name is Izuku Midoriya. I'd be honored to be your student."

Toshinori smiled. The second test had also been passed.


Izuku showed up on the beach wearing a T-shirt with All Might's face, an All Might backpack, and a blue-yellow-and-red All Might watch.

Before he could stop himself, Toshinori blurted out, "Is that the limited edition House-the-Homeless charity auction backpack?" The glittery yellow hair tufts poking off cloth All Might's head gave it away. Only a dozen of those had been produced and randomly gifted to a lottery held for those who'd donated to his charity.

Izuku laughed sheepishly and rubbed his hair. "I wore all my favorite gear for good luck. I don't usually take this backpack to school because it's too valuable. A good thing too, because yesterday I encountered the real All Might, and I would have been embarrassed to look like an obsessed fanboy. I think I humiliated myself enough in front of him already. Most people don't even recognize the backpack…if Kacchan had any idea how valuable it was, he'd have stolen it years ago. Are you a big All Might fan?"

Realizing he might have made himself look suspicious, Toshinori rapidly covered up his mistake. "Not at all! All Might always seemed fake to me. I bet he only donates to charity to make himself look good."

Izuku scowled. "No one donates ninety percent of his salary to charity just for appearances. All Might hasn't merely given money, he's used his political influence to lobby for more affordable housing. Let me show you the impact on homeless rates on Japan." Izuku whipped out his phone.

Secretly a little touched by this loyal defense, Toshinori pretended to listen to Izuku's lecture. Then he explained his training plan involving cleaning garbage off the beach. Izuku seemed sincerely pleased to be doing something useful, another test passed.

As Izuku lifted a broken television off the sandy beach and onto his back, he complained, "And then All Might said I couldn't become a hero without a quirk. I normally expect that from everyone I run into, but I truly expected him to be different. I've listened to all his lectures about quirk discrimination. He founded the largest nonprofit advocating for rights for the quirkless in Japan."

Toshinori said, "Lift with your legs, not your arms." He demonstrated the motion. "Yes, that's better. Personally, I've always thought that All Might is overrated. The news acts like he single-handedly stopped crime in Japan, ignoring all the hard-working underground heroes behind the scenes."

Izuku frowned. "You're not wrong about the media neglecting underground heroes, but if anything All Might deserves more credit for falling crime rates in Japan. His ratings only take into account villains he directly stopped, not the impact of his charitable work lowering poverty and homelessness. Tackling the underlying causes of crime is even smarter."

"The man always seemed like a meat-headed idiot to me," Toshinori said. "His hair tufts make me feel stupider just looking at them."

Izuku stopped carrying trash and wagged a finger. "No one talks smack about All Might's hair tufts in front of me."

Toshinori laughed. He couldn't help himself—Izuku's expression looked so adorably indignant. "Endeavor works way harder than All Might. He ought to be number one."

"Endeavor?" Izuku shrieked. "Have you seen his collateral damage statistics? He's more an arsonist than a hero! For your information, he—" Izuku stopped his lecture as he caught Toshinori's chuckle. "Sorry, I know you're commiserating with me. As you can see, I currently have very mixed feelings about All Might. Even though I'm pissed about what he said to me, I'm still a fan."

Toshinori grinned. He was having entirely too much fun with this little joke of his. Honestly, he was enjoying the chance to take off his mask as the perfect Number One Hero and goof around. It would be so amusing after he revealed his real identity. He couldn't quite trust Izuku yet, not when he remembered how convincing the past spies had been, but he was getting there. "Everyone is entitled to their own personal preference in heroes. I've always thought that All Might's smile seemed fake and creepy. But since you like him so much, I'll do a little more research into his charities. In the meantime, we have a meeting with David Shield in an hour. I pulled some strings to obtain permission for you to use support equipment at the U.A. Entrance exam. And I promise you'll have the best."


"First place!" Katsuki screamed. "How did shitty Deku score first place on the entrance exam? He's just a quirkless nobody!"

"Sit down or I'll expel you." Aizawa didn't even look up from his podium. "He got first place by destroying a lot of robots, the same as every other student."

"BUT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" Katsuki's face kept getting redder and redder. "The shit nerd must have cheated—"

Aizawa finally looked up, and his stare froze Katsuki in place. "One more word, and it's expulsion time."


Later, Izuku told Toshinori, "And then our homeroom teacher threatened to expel Kacchan. I didn't even know it was possible for his face to turn so blue without him passing out. It was glorious."

Toshinori said, "I have an important secret to tell you. I have a transferrable quirk. Now that you've proven that you can pass the U.A. exam without a quirk, would you like to obtain one?"

"Whoa. That's so generous of you. I'd love to hear all about your quirk and analyze it. But…" Izuku bit his lip. "It's very important to me to prove to Kacchan and the world that I can become a hero without a quirk. Especially Kacchan. This is super-personal now."

"Of course, my boy. I completely understand." Toshinori smiled to cover up his grave disappointment. The last thing he wanted was to pressure his student into taking a dangerous burden. Still, Izuku had been so perfect. The boy even had the correct naming theme with the previous holders because of the "nine" pun in his first name! Toshinori supposed he'd better give in to Sir Nighteye's pleading and go talk to Mirio Togata.

Izuku said, "All Might is a teacher at U.A., too. I was excited at first, but he's actually very bad at it."

"Oh, that is exciting—" Toshinori frowned. "All Might is a bad teacher?"

"Yeah, he doesn't even seem to have lesson plans. He just shows up and rambles at us."

"I thought that was what a teacher does. I've never heard of lesson plans. I'll have to look them up."

Izuku continued, "He kinda smelled like he hadn't changed his clothes or bathed in several days."

Toshinori winced. "Maybe there were so many villain attacks recently that had he hadn't slept in nearly a week. Maybe he didn't think anyone would notice. Maybe very few people are frank enough to tell the Number One Hero when he smells."

"All Might is very smart, but that's part of the problem. He explains things too fast and he skips over important parts because he doesn't realize that what's easy to him is hard to the average student."

Toshinori reached into his backpack. "Wait, give me a moment. I need to write this down."

Over the next couple weeks, even Izuku had to admit that All Might's teaching had improved drastically.


The very first day after receiving One for All, Mirio's hair started falling out. By the second day, he'd lost his appetite. At the end of the week, he looked like a pale ghost. All Might had warned him that the power could break his bones the first time he used it, but Mirio hadn't actually been able to summon up a single ember of his new quirk. The evil monstrosity had decided to kill him slowly and painfully instead.

Mirio hated One for All. He had a perfectly good quirk, Permeation, and he'd been very proud of how he'd developed it into something he could use as a hero. He'd wanted to make it to the top using his own abilities. But Sir had made it obvious that it was important for One for All to be preserved and he'd be very disappointed if Mirio didn't accept All Might's offer.

By day ten, Mirio's optimism and smiles had been completely worn away, replaced by constant shakes and pain in every joint of his body. On his way to class, his knees went out from under him. He collapsed to the grass.

"Excuse me? Are you feeling well?" A green-haired boy leaned over Mirio's fallen form.

Mirio croaked, "I hate this quirk."

"Is your quirk hurting you?"

"It's not my quirk," Mirio growled, irrationally angered by the question. Pain running down every nerve had eroded his brain to the point where he'd reverted to a toddler-like mentality. "I don't even want it! I never once wanted it!"

"You're shaking very badly. I'm going to call for Recovery Girl." The green-haired boy pulled out his phone.

Mirio grabbed him by his collar and screamed, "CUT THIS UNHOLY QUIRK OUT OF MY BODY! BURN IT WITH FIRE! CUT IT OUT CUT IT OUT CUT IT OUT!"

"Okay?" Izuku said as he tried to dial the phone number.

Mirio's spittle from his screaming transferred into Izuku's open mouth. Only a small bit, but one strand of DNA and the will to transfer the quirk was all it took. Later, the vestiges would debate about whether Izuku counted as the second person to have One for All forced on him or if his confused "okay" qualified as consent. Regardless, Mirio felt terrible about the whole thing after his recovery.


Toshinori said, "I had no idea that my quirk could only be safely given to quirkless people. None at all. I'm sorry you got dragged into this mess, my boy."

His mentor looked so hangdog that Izuku hastened to reassure him. "I'm just happy that Mirio made a complete physical recovery. If I'd had the full information, I would have agreed willingly to take your quirk since it was the only way to save his life."

Toshinori said, "Please apologize to young Togata on my behalf the next time you see him. I still can't go near him without him cursing and throwing things at me. I'm sorry you ended up with the quirk despite not wanting it. I brought you more All Might merchandise as an apology."

"Don't be sorry, One for All is amazing," Izuku said. "But I'll accept any merchandise." He examined the shopping bag with glee. "Whoa, it's a tenth anniversary poster! And this figurine won't even be sold in stores for another couple months. Everything is signed, too. How do you always have so much All Might merchandise even though you're his anti-fan?" Izuku felt guilty accepting so many valuable items for free. Toshinori brought new gifts almost every time they met.

"I obtain it through my job," Toshinori said. "I've got no interest in it. You're doing me a favor by taking it off my hands. Your happy expression is all the reward I need."

Izuku did not require further encouragement to take home more hero merchandise. He gathered everything up in the bag. "I know I ought to register my new quirk at school. But I wanted so badly to be the first quirkless hero. I suppose I could just not use it." But as soon as the words left Izuku's mouth, he knew he couldn't possibly resist using One for All. He loved quirks too much. He already had half a dozen ideas to test it. "Ugh. If only I could create a second identity as a vigilante." Izuku glanced at Toshinori, convinced he was about to get in trouble for even joking about breaking the law.

Instead, Toshinori beamed. "What a wonderful idea! Did I ever tell you that I used to be a vigilante in my youth? I think all heroes should have a vigilante phase. It shows you a different side of society that you won't see as a professional hero. I'll help you design a second costume and come up with a new hero name. It will be fun!"


Izuku didn't think that many people in the modern era would understand his name choice. The Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog was a Monty Python reference, a movie he'd only seen because his father loved old films from the dawn of the age of quirks. Since Izuku's hero name was Deku, he'd been in the mood for something flashy and badass for his vigilante name. He'd debated between a white costume as a tribute to the white murderous rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail or a black costume for better camouflage, and eventually settled on the practical option. One of his metallic rabbit ears contained an air blast for defensive purposes and the other had a miniature rocket launcher. Metallic black armor covered his body with frequent joints for mobility. A dark visor hid his eyes.

After flicking the switch for night vision, Izuku ran down a steel beam, then hopped across the gap between warehouses to land on a window sill. He punched through the window, revealing a shipment of drugs below and triggering a blaring alarm.

"Holy hand grenade!" Izuku cried, even though he knew no one would get the reference. Then he twisted a button and launched a rocket from one of his rabbit ears. Dozens of briefcases full of cocaine went up in flames.

Green lightning danced down Izuku's legs as he fled the scene of his arson. He hopped down a lamp pole and landed on the roof of Toshinori's car.

Toshinori opened the door to let him in, then stepped on the gas. "How did it go?"

"The plan went perfectly," Izuku said, clinging to the handle over the door. "You were right—you do tackle different crimes as a vigilante. With the police being bribed to ignore that drug shipment, I never would have even heard of it without street contacts. Clearly more should be done about police corruption, too. All Might gave a lecture about that today."

"How was the lecture?" Toshinori asked, in a tone trying a little too hard to sound casual.

"It was his best one yet—he's definitely updated his topics and gotten more focused. These days, he's a great teacher."

"Oh, thank you." A small sigh escaped Toshinori's lips.

Izuku shrugged. "Still, I couldn't see All Might ever helping me carry out vigilantism. He'd flip out if he knew what we're doing."

"He's just not cool like me," Toshinori said cheerfully.


Izuku climbed the wall and slipped through his bedroom window. He got home just in time. His phone rang, the caller ID from Hisashi Midoriya.

Trying not to sound breathless, Izuku answered the call. "Hi, Dad! I'm glad you could get away from work tonight." His father had missed their last couple calls.

"Ugh, you have no idea the stress I've dealing with lately," Hisashi growled. "Several million yen down in flames tonight alone…I could use some good news. Have you given up on becoming a hero yet?"

Izuku sighed. "I've been doing well at U.A., actually. I aced my last exam."

"If they treat you badly for being quirkless, you'll let me know, won't you? I have a lawyer on speed-dial to sue the school."

"Of course," Izuku lied. He'd never told his father about his difficulties in previous schools because he knew Dad would overreact. "Everything has been going great. My teachers came down hard on anyone who spoke even slightly critically of my lack of quirk."

Hisashi asked, "Have they come up with a suitable curriculum for you? They can't let you take part in battles, of course."

"Oh, yes, I join the support class for lessons instead whenever we have mock-battles." This was an even more blatant lie. Izuku had been doing great in the mock-battles with the aid of his support equipment. But Izuku already dealt with enough overprotectiveness from his mother. Thus he was happy to encourage his father's delusion that becoming a quirkless hero would somehow be safer.

Yet the patronization in the question still stung. Izuku thought, You'd know I was lying if you came home on occasion, Dad.

When he'd been a young child, Izuku had loved his daddy who always brought him the best gifts. As he'd grown up, he'd started to wish Hisashi would be more present. He'd noticed that other children's parents acted like partners whereas Hisashi treated Inko more like a nanny under his employ. It had become more and more obvious to Izuku that Hisashi enjoyed the fun parts of fatherhood, like extravagant birthday parties and cheerful quirk analysis conversations with his son, but he let Inko do all the hard or boring parts like arranging doctor's appointments or cleaning up after messes. It was fair for Inko to do more, since she was a stay-at-home mother, but not everything. Izuku had never seen his father clean a dirty dish once in his entire life, not even on Inko's birthday or when she got sick. When he'd tried to call his father out on that, it hadn't gone well. His mother had begged him to drop the subject, hinting that Hisashi paid all the bills.

By high school, Izuku had reached the point where he accepted that Hisashi was being the best dad he was capable of being, and having his father in his life meant working with his limitations. It went easier as long as Izuku didn't expect more from Hisashi than he had the capacity to give, so he wouldn't be disappointed.

Hisashi said, "I'm glad to hear that your school is going better than my work life. I've been plagued by some young delinquent with an old-fashioned movies obsession. Great taste in movies, though."

Sure enough, the conversation had quickly turned back to Hisashi and his problems. Izuku hesitated to diagnose other people, but he was fairly certain his dad was a narcissist.

"Uh-huh. Tell me all about it." Izuku switched on his computer so he could surf the internet while listening to his father's rants with half an ear.


After spending the day training Izuku on how to use One for All, Gran Torino cornered Toshinori. "You still haven't told your successor that you're All Might?"

Looking away, Toshinori rubbed the back of his neck. "I meant to tell him when I offered him my quirk, but he turned me down. Then he got One for All accidentally. There never seemed to be a good moment to bring it up, and now it's gone on for so long that it's gotten awkward."

Torino snorted. "It's only going to get more awkward the longer you put it off." He jabbed Toshinori in the chest with his cane. "Tell him today."

Toshinori knew his old teacher was right. As he drove Izuku back home, he cleared his throat several times, struggling to find the words. Eventually, he said, "My boy, I have a confession to make. I haven't been completely honest with you about my identity."

Izuku laughed. "I already know."

"Oh, you know?" Toshinori's nervous chuckle turned into a relieved guffaw. "I should have known you would figure it out! You've always been fast on the uptake. You're not angry?"

Izuku said, "No, I understand why you kept it secret that you're All Might's secretary."

Toshinori's laughter abruptly cut off.

Oblivious, Izuku smiled. "It was a dead giveaway how you kept giving me All Might merchandise with the autograph still wet. I'm sure all the important work you do for All Might requires you to be discrete. Plus, in the beginning you probably didn't want to risk me using you to get a connection to him. You two are related, aren't you? Brothers or maybe cousins? I get the vibe of brothers from how you rag on him. Your quirk is very similar to All Might's, except for the eldritch whip and the smokescreen and the floating and all those ghosts."

One for All has what now? Toshinori thought, completely distracted.

Izuku continued, "You didn't tell All Might any of the stuff I said about him, did you?"

"No, I didn't tell him," Toshinori answered with technical truthfulness.

"What a relief!" Izuku half-laughed, half-groaned. "If All Might ever found out about me talking shit about him behind his back, I'd die of embarrassment. I'd never be able to face him again. I'd probably change my name and move to America and never speak to either of you for the rest of my life."

Toshinori's attempts to explain died in his throat. He cleared his throat a few more times. "Uh…that would be…surely unnecessary. All Might is very laid-back and understanding…"

Izuku said, "Nope, I'd run away to America, that's not even a joke."

Toshinori smiled weakly. "Lucky thing you'll never need to do that!"

For the rest of the car ride, Toshinori cursed his own cowardice.


The next day, Torino said to Izuku, "It's about time Toshi told you that he was All Might. I hope you made him grovel a bit before you forgave him."

The pterodactyl screeching coming from the other room informed Toshinori that he'd just been busted.


Author's Note: Credit goes to gentrychild's cursed quirk AU for making me think that Mirio dying of OFA could actually be played for laughs. I'm a slightly more horrible person than I was yesterday. And that's saying something! There wasn't much lower I could sink since the BNHA 1984 AU.

This story's big divergence from canon was that Toshinori didn't lose the bottle holding the slime villain and never deflated to his skinny form while talking to Izuku. Also, because All for One tried to trick Toshinori into picking his minion in the past, Toshinori was too paranoid to reveal his identity to Izuku right away.

I wouldn't be surprised if All for One has attempted that trick at some point in canon. Since One for All can't be taken by force, the next logical tactic would be to seed the lives of the holders with bright, eager wannabe hero kids who owe All for One a favor. Imagine if every generation, All for One carefully crafted half a dozen perfect successors, only to be thwarted every time because every single One for All holder picks some random kid they met on the street. Then, as the crowning jewel of this bullshit, the Eighth picks All for One's own son. No wonder All for One's hair fell out.