I do not own My Hero Academia or JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
I'm sorry about how long this took, real life's been kind of crappy for me lately. Also, this would have gotten uploaded yesterday, but my internet connection decided it didn't want to work properly.
By now, Toshinori was fairly certain that there was something that young Midoriya wasn't telling him. Those fears the boy had about losing control of his quirk and possibly hurting someone or causing destruction, they weren't just concerns about something that might happen.
They had actually happened.
It seemed obvious to him that something involving Midoriya's telekinesis had happened at some point. What exactly that something was, Toshinori didn't know, but it was clearly traumatic for the poor boy, considering his reaction to accidentally destroying the truck.
Toshinori knew that Midoriya's telekinesis appeared much later than the rest of his quirk, what's more, he also knew that quirks often change and evolve as a result of trauma. It didn't seemed like a stretch to assume that whatever it was that made young Midoriya afraid of his telekinesis might have happened the very first time it appeared.
He had no plans on questioning young Midoriya about it though. If the boy wanted to tell him, he'd do so when he felt ready. Additionally, there was also the chance that he had misread things completely, though that felt unlikely.
Right now, Toshinori only hoped that he would be able to help the boy overcome his doubts and worries. Being afraid of a part of yourself must be horrible, nobody deserved that, young Midoriya most of all. Further more, he seemed to be limiting his quirk, and that could potentially get him hurt or killed once he became a hero.
After Toshinori got rid of the truck, young Midoriya's training progressed without incident. But Midoriya was a lot more careful, and seemed to pay close attention to his disaster sense, listening for its "buzz", as he put it. Often times, he'd suddenly stop what he was doing, and when Toshinori asked, would explain that he heard a buzz.
As the months passed, portions of the beach cleared. Progress had slowed quite a bit in the time following the truck incident, but Midoriya's efforts were still apparent. By now, a not insignificant chunk of the place was trash free. If you were able to ignore the mountains of garbage visible on your left and right, it would be possible to have a fairly nice beach day there now.
Currently, both Toshinori and young Midoriya were sifting through the junk for a still functioning wireless speaker that someone had dumped here for some reason. Just a minute or two ago, it had automatically connected to Midoriya's phone, surprising the duo by filling the air with the sound of Hotel California. Now the two of them has split up, trying to follow the music through the piles of trash to locate it.
When young Midoriya mentioned that he liked older music, Toshinori hadn't expected the music he liked to be that old. At the very least, he thought the boy would listen to music that had come out this millennium.
Suddenly, the music stopped, which meant that the speaker either died suddenly or Midoriya had found it. Toshinori soon found it to be the latter, as the green haired boy came running up to him with a speaker a little smaller than his head floating next to him. In the last month or so, young Midoriya had become noticeably more comfortable about using his telekinesis. At first, and especially after the truck incident, he had had a tendency to carry smaller objects himself rather than using his telekinesis. Recently though, he has started to use telekinesis when it was simply easier, such as he was doing right now. It made Toshinori glad to see that young Midoriya was coming to accept that aspect of his quirk.
Once the boy got closer to Toshinori he spoke, "I found the speaker." He said, pointing to it, "Looks like a pretty nice one too. Why would someone throw it away?"
"They must have thought it was broken for some reason. Or they dumped it by accident, maybe it got mixed up with other junk they were getting rid of." Toshinori said.
"I'm surprised it still works. You'd think it would've stopped working from exposure to the elements. At the very least, I'm surprised the battery hasn't died." Midoriya said, staring at the speaker.
"It doesn't look it's been here very long. Also, since your phone didn't connect to it last time you were here, I'd say it probably got left here last night." Toshinori replied.
"Wait, so you're telling me that I'm going to all the trouble of cleaning this beach up, and people are still dumping trash here?" Midoriya frowned, clearly annoyed.
"Well, look on the bright side, you get a free speaker out of it." Toshinori said.
"I guess. I'm still kind of angry though." Midoriya replied with a pout.
"Perfectly understandable." Toshinori said with a small chuckle.
They set the speaker aside for later, and then young Midoriya got back to cleaning up the various piles of garbage littering the beach. As Toshinori watched him float a half exploded safe (which just reeked of criminal activity, by the way. He should probably look into that) across the beach, he remembered something that he had been meaning to ask the boy.
"Oh, young Midoriya!" Toshinori called out to him, and young Midoriya paused and turned to face him, the safe still hovering in the air in front of him "I know it's not for quite awhile still, but what hero school are you planning on going to?" He asked, even if he had a feeling he already knew the answer.
"U.A. of course!" Midoriya enthusiastically responded.
"I thought so. It is the best hero school in Japan." Toshinori said with a smile.
"Also, it's where All Might went to school!" Midoriya said like it was the most important thing ever.
"Er, yes, that too." Toshinori's smile became slightly more awkward. Hearing people gush about All Might around him while he was in his shriveled form always felt weird.
Young Midoriya went back to carrying the safe away, and Toshinori was left to think. Even though he was heavily considering asking young Midoriya to become his successor, he had still been planning on taking up that teaching position at U.A. that Nezu had offered him. So, it was good that Midoriya was planning on going there. He had actually been worried that the boy's low self esteem might lead to him not bothering to try applying there. He was especially glad since Toshinori still had no idea when or how he might make the offer of becoming the next holder of One For All to the boy. Though, assuming he does choose young Midoriya to be his successor, he should probably do so before he goes to U.A. The two of them had spent so much time together, that the boy might figure out that he's All Might if he met Toshinori on a regular basis as a teacher at U.A.
So, he should tell him soon. But, dear God, Toshinori felt so nervous, and not even because choosing who to give One For All to would probably be the most important decision of his life. It just felt like a lot to dump on the boy.
"Hey, Young Midoriya, I'm All Might. You know, the guy you basically worship? Anyway, could you please take my quirk, which is a thing you can do, because I'm secretly crippled. No pressure or anything, I just want you to become the next Symbol of Peace. Kay, thanks." Yeah... that was a conversation Toshinori wasn't terribly looking forward to.
-000-
More time passed. Izuku's fourteenth birthday came and went. Slowly but surely, the beach cleared up, though there was still plenty of trash left there. As he cleaned, he started to feel a bit more comfortable using his telekinetic limbs. He no longer felt so nervous about simply manifesting them, and it became common for him to use both arms. Once or twice he had even used a telekinetic leg, though that was rarer, since it wasn't often that he actually needed them.
It felt nice, to be able to use his quirk more freely. But he still wasn't sure if he was ready to fully bring it out.
It was for this reason that Izuku found himself alone on the beach in the middle of the night. The moon provided enough light for him to see by as he made his way down to the water's edge. The part of the beach where he was was completely empty, there was no one in sight and nothing around. Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath. An ocean breeze blew across the sand, rustling his hair, which he had let grow longer.
When he opened his eyes, a green aura enveloped his body. It flowed and danced across his skin like a something halfway between a liquid and a flame. Moving his gaze away from his own body, Izuku stared directly in front of him.
A transparent figure momentarily appeared before him. If anyone else could have seen it, it would've only looked like a brief distortion in the air. It appeared again, staying around this time, rather than immediately vanishing. Izuku could easily make out its outline, one of a humanoid figure, taller than he was. Slowly, it became more distinct, color began to fill its frame. No longer was it see through, it was turning a brilliant green.
But then, Izuku hesitated. He remembered what had happened last time it appeared, how he had been unable to control it. In that moment of doubt and fear, the green aura covering him vanished and so too did the apparition in front of him.
With it gone, Izuku let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.
Someday, someday soon, he'd be able to fully bring it out. Just... not yet.
-000-
"You're all third years now. It's time you started thinking seriously about your futures!" The teach stated with a pissed off face, probably in an attempt to get the class to listen to what he was saying, he even made his voice deeper. Katsuki had to wonder how long the dude was going to keep up the act. The teach picked up a pile of papers, trying to make even that simple action seem serious, "Now, I would hand out these career forms. But..." The man then proceeded to throw the pile in to the air like it was confetti (Katsuki was just a little surprised he didn't go the extra mile and rip them up first), "I know you all want to be heroes!"
And there it was! This was what he'd come to expect from this shitty fucking school. The teachers were all dumbasses who barely did their jobs, and all of the other extras just skirted by doing the bare minimum to pass. Honestly, it felt like nobody except Katsuki knew how to take shit seriously... Except maybe the janitor, the floors here were always spotless.
At the teachers words, the entire fucking class room erupted into chaos. Everyone immediately started showing off their useless quirks while exclaiming how they wanted to become heroes. Honestly, it was amazing that nothing got destroyed with how careless they were being about using their powers. Wait, scratch that, the background mook sitting behind Katsuki just shredded his uniform with his quirk, what a fucking moron.
"Yes, yes, you all have wonderful quirks. But, you know that it's against the rules to use them in school." The teach said, trying to get everyone to calm down. Unsurprisingly, he was failing.
Katsuki decided to speak up now, and unlike his useless teacher, he actually got everyone to shut up and listen to him, "Oi, Sensei! Don't lump me in with these extras! I have no plans on being stuck at the bottom with these rejects and their shitty quirks." He didn't even try to be civil, mostly because he knew that his spineless teacher would let him get away with talking like that.
The reaction to his words was immediate, all his classmates started protesting his statement, complaining about how he was being a jerk or how he was full of himself. Katsuki's only reaction was to laugh. What he said was true, none of those losers could hope to stand in the same ring as him, so why bother to mince words.
"Shut up! You extras should act like extras!" He snapped back mockingly.
"Ah, Bakugou, you're aiming for U.A. High School, aren't you?" The teach said, and there was a brief moment of silence as everyone digested his words. The peaceful quiet only lasted about two seconds though, before they started murmuring to each other about this new information.
"Holy crap, he's actually going for it."
"I know it's Katsuki, but do you really think he can get in?"
"I heard that barely anyone can get into the Hero Course there."
"Oi, quit you're stupid chattering." Katsuki said, jumping onto his desk. He was feeling dramatic today. Considering that this was the first time he'd ever declared his plans of going to U.A. to anyone except his parents, he wanted to make a real impression. And again, it's not like he was in any danger of getting in trouble, "I aced the mock exam. Meanwhile none of you could even dream of going to U.A., I'm the only one here with the stuff for that. I'm going to surpass All Might and become the Top Hero in the world! And one of the top earners."
"Well, Bakugou, you might have some competition there. Midoriya, didn't you also want to try for U.A.?" The teacher said.
Katsuki froze.
The other extras were probably reacting to the teacher's statement, but if they were Katsuki couldn't hear them over the rush of blood in his ears. Slowly, still standing on his desk, he turned the upper half of his body until he could see Deku over his shoulder.
Katsuki wasn't sure what expression he was making, but it caused Deku to flinch and shrink into his seat. It pissed Katsuki off. He hated the way that bastard acted like he was weak, like he didn't have a quirk that was powerful in both offense and defense. There's no reason for the nerd to be fucking cowering just because Katsuki was making a scary face.
It had been a long fucking time since they last interacted, but he was sorely tempted to break that streak by going up to Deku and beating the shit out of him. Unfortunately, even his sorry excuse for a teacher would probably draw the line at Katsuki trying to murder another student during class. Especially since Deku was some sort of teacher's pet, what with his good grades and promising future as a hero. P̶l̶u̶s̶,̶ ̶K̶a̶t̶s̶u̶k̶i̶'̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶a̶t̶ ̶D̶e̶k̶u̶.̶
Fuck, Deku was going to try to go to U.A. There's no way that Katsuki could let that happen. He fucking refused to let that happen. The idea of having to spend anymore time around that bastard made Katsuki want to throw up.
Maybe he couldn't do anything right now, but as soon as school was over, he'd make sure that Deku wouldn't go to U.A. Somehow...
-000-
As soon as school had ended, Izuku left. The bell hadn't even finished ringing by the time he was out the door. He didn't slow down once he was in the hallway either, opting to run to get out of school as fast as possible. He doubted that he would get in trouble, the staff seemed to let the students get away with a lot, as Kacchan demonstrated by jumping onto his freaking desk. Seriously, who does that?
Speaking of Kacchan, he was the reason Izuku was running right now. Sure, he was probably overreacting, but he had no plans on slowing down until he was far away from the school. In all the years that Izuku had known the blonde, he had never seen him react like that. Screams, threats, and demonic growls were all things that Kacchan did quite frequently, but that silent rage that seemed to be physically palpable in the air? That was new.
When Kacchan turned to look at him, well, Izuku was honestly surprised his quirk didn't start buzzing. He had never seen Kacchan that angry before. Why did the teacher have to mention that he was going to U.A. too? And why did he phrase it the way he did? Kacchan never reacted well to competition, viewing it as a threat to his pride or something. Honestly, it was almost like the teacher wanted them to fight.
Once he was out of the school building, he kept running. Eventually, once he was several blocks away, he felt he was far enough from Aldera and stopped to catch his breath. Bent over, hands on his knees and panting hard, Izuku noted that he needed to work out more. He'd been so focused on training with his quirk lately, that he had been neglecting to do any physical exercise.
Right, as soon as he got home, he'd be sure to make up some sort of exercise schedule.
"Deku." Came a growl from behind him.
Leaping into the air in surprise, Izuku almost fell on his butt as he turned around to see Kacchan standing in front of him. When and how did he get here?!
"K-Kacchan!" Izuku said with thinly masked terror. He took a step back from the explosive blonde. And then he took another, and another.
"Listen to me well, Deku." Kacchan's voice was low and threatening. He started walking towards Izuku to make up for the distance that the green haired teen put between them, causing Izuku to back away more. As a result, the two of them started heading down a side street while the blonde talked, "I'm going to be the best, the greatest hero to have ever lived. So I need to show that even when I was younger, I was better than everyone else. And I plan on doing this by being the only person from that shitty school to get into U.A., and I'm not going to let you ruin that. Compared to me, you're nothing, you can't even hope to be in the same ring as me. So, Don't. Go. To U.A. Got it, Deku?"
Izuku tried to get his tongue to move so that he could respond, but it simply refused to work. Even if it did, he doubted he'd be able to say anything coherent. This was the first time that Kacchan had talked to him in years, and it was to threaten him.
Okay, that part wasn't actually that surprising. But even still, Izuku didn't know what to say back. There's no way he'd not go to U.A. simply because Kacchan told him not to, but it's not like he could say that to the explosive blonde's face.
Just as Izuku was trying to figure out if he could outrun the blonde, he heard the buzz of his quirk. At first, he thought that Kacchan had gotten fed up with his silence and was about to attack him, but then he realised that the buzzing was coming from behind him.
Spinning around, he saw green slime bubbling out of a manhole cover just a few meters away from them. More and more of the sludge flowed out, condensing into a massive blob. Two large eyes and a grotesque, lipless, teeth-filled mouth appeared, giving the sludge some semblance of a face. Even though it was (probably) just a person with a mutation quirk, it looked more like a monster.
"What the fuck?" Kacchan said from behind him, malice replaced by confusion.
The sludge creature turned its eyes toward them, and spoke in a weird distorted voice.
"What great luck, two potential invisibility cloaks!"
So, I gave in and did a time skip. I honestly couldn't think of anything else to have happen that wouldn't just feel like padding. Though, I just know that later on, I'll suddenly think of something that I could've done in these earlier chapters and regret not doing so.