I do not own My Hero Academia or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Life had been hectic as of late for Toshinori. Well, it was always hectic, but more so than usual recently. Of course, it was to be expected considering a random villain that nobody had ever heard of before almost defeated All Might in a direct fight, and the only reason he didn't was because of pure, dumb luck. The media was going crazy, with there being a lot of talk about how perhaps society shouldn't rely so much on a single person as they did with All Might. As a result, the Hero Commission was apparently pushing most heroes to start working harder and more diligently. They had also issued an official response pointing out how the villain, Noro Kakehi, had basically been on his last legs, and another hero or group of heroes were ready to step in and stop him, but he died from falling debris before they needed too. Some people were saying that they were just trying to save face, but Toshinori knew it was true. Noro's quirk wasn't some unstoppable power that only All Might would have a chance of going up against. Certainly, it was incredibly strong, but if you knew what you were going up against, it would be possible to defeat him. In fact, some heroes might actually have an easier time than he did due to their different quirks.
After the battle was over, Toshinori had to rush to the hospital. Covertly, of course, the public didn't need their view of the Symbol of Peace shaken anymore than they already had, so Toshinori pretty much had to sneak into the E.R. He had gotten quite the tongue lashing from Chiyo over that, with her telling him that there was always a possibility of him dying because he decided that he didn't actually need to get treatment as soon as possible.
And then, he talked with Sir Nighteye for the first time in years. At first, he thought his old sidekick had come to convince him to retire again. And while he did try to convince Toshinori to retire again, it turned out that wasn't the main reason for his visit. He had found a piece of information that he felt Toshinori needed to know as soon as possible. Noro Kakehi had multiple quirks. One quirk was officially registered, it let him find structural weak points, Nighteye concluded that it was probably how the villain knew to attack Toshinori's left side repeatedly. The other one was the power that he used to almost kill All Might, the ability to increase the friction that an object experiences. It almost seemed like the perfect counter to All Might, someone who's only ability was increased physical strength. Both Toshinori and Nighteye knew exactly what multiple quirks meant. The only problem was trying to figure out if Noro was simply one of All For One's old minions who had been laying low, or if it was possible that the monster was somehow still alive. Or, the possibly even more terrifying idea that he could have passed on his own quirk to someone else before All Might killed him. Nighteye had proclaimed that he would begin investigating all of these possibilities as immediately.
By now, Toshinori was incredibly stressed out and needed a break. So, he sighed in content as he sat down at the table in a fast food restaurant with a cheap hamburger and fries. He knew he shouldn't be eating like this, especially considering that he just got out of the hospital, but he needed some comfort food. Also, he'd been doing very well at following Chiyo's meal plan as of late, so he deserved a treat. Besides, no one would know.
Just as he raised the burger to his mouth to take a bite, there was a sudden, loud banging on the window he was sitting next to. Startled by the noise, he sprung out of his chair like a jack-in-the-box, and dropped his hamburger. Thankfully, the last several decades of Pro Hero work didn't leave him with nothing to show for, and he was able to easily catch the sandwich before it hit the ground.
Looking towards the window to see what caused that unholy racket, he was surprised to see young Midoriya with his palm pressed against the window and a frown on his face. At least, Toshinori assumed he was frowning, it was a little hard to tell due to the sick mask covering most of his face.
The boy removed his hand from the window and walked towards a nearby door leading into the restaurant. Once he was inside, he made his way over to Toshinori's table. Toshinori sat back down, and young Midoriya followed suit, sitting on the opposite side of the table. All the while, he was still giving Toshinori the same disapproving glare.
"Young Midoriya, can you please not do that in the future. I don't need anymore stress in my life." Toshinori said. Midoriya's face changed (though again, it was a little hard to tell) to more sheepish expression, and he ducked his head slightly. Taking a bite out of his hamburger, Toshinori waited for Midoriya to say something. The boy looked back up, and his eyes narrowed again.
"You shouldn't eat that." He said, and he sounded absolutely terrible, like he was trying to talk while choking on sand. Well, now Toshinori understood why he was wearing a sick mask. Should he even be out and about if he sounded that bad? Toshinori had half a mind to tell the kid to go home, eat some chicken soup, and then go to sleep, 'Is eating chicken soup actually a thing that sick people do? It happens all the time in TV shows and the like, but I've never actually seen a sick person eat chicken soup in real life.'
He was so distracted by how sick Midoriya sounded, that it took him a moment to process what the boy said.
Oh, hell no.
Toshinori was not about to be lectured about his eating habits by a teenage boy. He got enough of that crap from Naomasa. He's a grown man, he could decide what he eats. The only person who's allowed to lecture him about his diet is Chiyo, and that's because she's his doctor, and also really scary.
Toshinori narrowed his eyes right back at Midoriya. Making sure to not break eye contact, he took another bite of his burger. Never let it be said that All Might can't be petty. He was starting to wish he hadn't told the boy about his various health problems. The only reason he knew that Toshinori shouldn't be eating fast food was because he complained about it to the boy in the past.
"S'not healthy." Midoriya croaked quietly, breaking eye contact and looking off to the side.
Toshinori sighed. He probably shouldn't be giving the boy such a hard time. He was only trying to look out his friend. Though, that fact in of itself kind of bothered Toshinori. He wasn't really comfortable with people trying to look out for him, he felt like they shouldn't need to. He was All Might after all, it was his job to look out for other people, not other people's jobs to look out for him.
"Midoriya, I'll be fine. You don't need to worry about what I eat, I have a doctor for that." He said in a placating tone, "Besides, I don't eat like this very often." Not anymore at least.
"Sorry." The boy mumbled, barely loud enough for Toshinori to hear.
"It's okay. I was kind of rude, myself." Toshinori replied. Midoriya looked like he was bout to say something, but instead began to cough loudly. Some of the other people in the restaurant shot the boy dirty looks, annoyed that he was coughing so close to their food, even with his sick mask on. As for Toshinori, he wished he could help the boy, but couldn't think of anything to do. He did pull his food a little farther away from Midoriya though.
"Are you okay?" Toshinori asked once the boy stopped coughing.
"Just sick." Midoriya answered, his voice sounding even worse now.
"Should you really be out and about? It'd be better if you were at home resting." Now it was Toshinori's turn to worry about Midoriya's well being.
"I had school." The boy responded. It would figure that Midoriya would be diligent enough to go to school even when he was very sick. But there was one part of that explanation that didn't make sense.
"School got out awhile ago, though." Toshinori pointed out. And while he had never been to Midoriya's house, the boy had mentioned that he lived pretty close to his school.
"...Taking a longer route home." Midoriya spoke after a pause while staring at the table, not meeting Toshinori's gaze. At this angle, the boy's curly green hair obscured his eyes, preventing Toshinori from seeing any of his face.
The way young Midoriya answered worried Toshinori. It made him suspicious, the way he was so hesitant to answer the question. While he doubted that the boy was mixed up with anything bad, that didn't rule out the possibility that something had happened to him. Toshinori recalled that the boy's mother said he didn't have many friends, was it possible he was being bullied?
"Any particular reason?" Toshinori asked and hoped he wasn't being too blunt. You need to tread carefully when asking about these sorts of things.
"I'm worried." Midoriya answered. He seemed to start, as though surprised by his own answer, "N-never mind. It's stupid."
"Young Midoriya." Toshinori said quickly, before the boy could try to make any more excuses. Now he was really concerned, due to both Midoriya's answer and the fact that he didn't want to tell him, "What's wrong?" He asked softly, trying to convey that whatever it was, he could come to Toshinori for help. Finally, Midoriya looked him in the eye, and spoke after a moment of silence.
"I ran into a creepy guy." The boy said. A surge of protective anger flashed through Toshinori, but young Midoriya kept talking before he had a chance to say anything, "He was in an alley. I can't remember why I was there. He got really close to me, and started talking about we were destined to meet. I started coughing and he left. I'm taking the long way home, cause I'm worried he might follow me." As soon as he was done speaking, the boy started coughing roughly, probably because of all the talking he had just done.
Part of Toshinori wished there was something he could do to help him stop coughing, but the rest of him was focusing on what he had just said. The older man tried to force himself to stay calm, but it was a bit difficult since his anger was practically simmering over. Just the idea that someone like that would try to go after young Midoriya made his blood boil.
"Did you tell the police?" Toshinori asked through clenched teeth, trying to keep his anger under control. As much as he might like to immediately go out and find the person, that wasn't really a viable option at the moment.
"He didn't do anything illegal." Midoriya answered, once again looking away from Toshinori.
"Midoriya, you're clearly scared, and you think he might try to follow you home. If he even tried to do something-" Toshinori started but was cut off.
"He didn't though. I just... got a bad feeling from him." Midoriya said, followed by a small cough.
"You mean your quirk?" Toshinori asked, to which the boy shook his head.
"No, just a feeling." Midoriya replied, "Something about him creeped me out."
"Sometimes you should trust your feelings." Toshinori said.
"That wouldn't be fair. Just cause someone seems creepy doesn't mean they're bad." Midoriya pointed out, "You like kind of creepy, but you're a good guy."
Wow. Okay, ouch.
Toshinori knew he didn't exactly look pleasant in his current form, what with his skeletal figure and sunken eyes, but being called creepy looking still hurt a bit.
However, the kid did have a point. There were plenty of people who seemed threatening but were ultimately good people. He once saw a drunk Gang Orca break down crying over the fact that small children were afraid of him, that had been a memorable evening. Perhaps Toshinori was letting his protectiveness keep him from thinking properly.
It amazed him that it was young Midoriya who was was defending this stranger, considering that he was the one who had been unnerved by them in the first place. It made Toshinori smile at how compassionate the boy was.
"Perhaps you're right." He said with a small smile, "However, if you're still worried, I can walk with you to your home." He had just finished eating his food.
"Thanks. I know it's silly, but I'd like that." Midoriya said bashfully. He stood up and Toshinori moved to do the same, but the boy suddenly thrusted his arms toward him, "Wait!"
"Is something wrong?" Toshinori asked, confused by what he was doing.
"My quirk buzzed." Midoriya replied. Toshinori scanned the restaurant, but didn't see anything going on. He tried to stand up again to get a better look, but Midoriya rushed towards him and grabbed his shoulders to stop him from getting out of his chair, "Don't! I- I think you'll hurt yourself if you try to stand." He let go of Toshinori's shoulders and leaned down slightly. He moved to touch the older man's chest, but stopped before actually doing so, "Did you hurt your left side?"
Toshinori stiffened, "You can tell that from your quirk?" He asked, slightly nervous.
"I can tell that it would hurt if I poke you here." Midoriya gestured to generally area of where All For One had wounded him, "What happened?"
"I- um... burned myself making breakfast." Toshinori gave the first excuse that he could think of. He had never been a very good liar, especially when put on the spot.
"You, burned yourself?" Midoriya parroted back, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.
"I'm not a good cook." Toshinori replied. That much was true.
"You should see a doctor." Midoriya said, moving away from Toshinori's chest and standing up straight. "It seems pretty bad."
"Maybe later, it's not an emergency right now." He responded, "Can I stand up now?"
"Not sure. Try it slowly." Midoriya told him. Slowly, Toshinori began to stand up when the boy suddenly held up a hand, "Um, it'll still hurt, but not as much."
"Best to just get it over with. I can't sit here all day." Toshinori said as he went to finish standing up.
He felt a sudden stab of pain in his left side, like someone was jamming a needle into his scar. He placed a hand on the table to steady himself, and took in a sharp inhale of breath. Holy crap! If this was less painful, he was glad he didn't try to stand up earlier.
"Are you okay?!" Midoriya asked frantically.
"I'm fine." Toshinori smiled despite the pain. It was something he was good at, "Thank you for your concern." He stopped leaning on the table, and stood up fully. There was one last flash of pain as he did so, but once he was standing it stopped. He went to take a step forward, but paused, "Am I good to walk?" He asked, turning to Midoriya.
The boy nodded in response, and they both made their way out of the restaurant. Once on the street, Midoriya lead them both in the direction of his home. As they walked, Toshinori kept a look out for anyone who might be following them, but ultimately didn't see anyone.
Izuku: I'm going to treat everyone fairly. Just because someone is creepy doesn't mean they're a bad person.
Overhaul: Oh boy, I can't wait to get home and torture a small child!
Sorry, Izuku. It was a nice sentiment at the very least.
I'm kind of upset that Sir Nighteye never got an actual name, so I just have to keep referring to him as Nighteye. I feel like Toshinori would probably refer to him by his first name considering that they were friends for years, but I can't exactly have him do that, since Nighteye doesn't have a first name.
I don't think sick people eating chicken soup is actually a trope in Japan, but I'll just hand wave that by saying Toshinori mostly consumes American media.
It's kind of odd how I have no problem describing a character getting shot and stabbed, but even implying the possibility of sexual assault or pedophilia makes me feel uncomfortable while writing.