At thirty-seven, Yagi Toshinori had long since made peace with the fact that he would never have a soulmate.

After all, when you're one of the twenty percent of the population born without a quirk, you learn not to pin your hopes on being one of the five percent of people with soulmates.

And so, as he sat in his office on that fateful day, and as he watched those wobbly marker lines appear on his arm, there was a moment of complete and utter disbelief. He half expected them to disappear when he blinked. But they didn't, and he couldn't help but wonder.

Why? Why now, after all these years?

And then, as his brain caught up to the fact that the lines were drawn in the unsteady hand of a young child, there came the panic. Not only did he have a soulmate, but his soulmate was a child.

And dear god, he could only imagine what the child's parents would think, when they found out that their child's other half was a pro hero. The number one pro hero.

He picked up his pen drawing a simple little flower a little further up his arm to get the child's attention, and already thinking of how to keep the little one safe.

'Mama? Papa?' he wrote, thinking that there must be a parent of some kind nearby. First things first, they had to lay down some ground rules, to make sure the little one stayed safe.

Despite how shocking the development had been, and despite much more complicated it made his life, Toshinori never once disliked the sudden turn his life had taken.

Very quickly, he grew unbearably fond of his tiny little soulmate, and he found himself looking forward to the doodles the little one would leave all over his arms, for him to discover once his patrol was over and he could finally peel off his hero costume. And then, once he had learned his characters, Toshinori grew to love the little nonsensical jokes and notes the boy would leave for him throughout the day.

It wasn't exactly a rare sight for Sir (Sasaki, he insisted on being called when off duty) to walk into Toshinori's office, and find the man with his hero costume stripped down to his waist, paused in the midst of changing into his civvies just so he could read all the writing on his arms.

Sasaki would roll his eyes in exasperation, before reminding Toshinori to finish changing before someone came in and saw him.

Despite his tough act, Toshinori could tell that even Sasaki had grown fond of the little one over time.

Over the years, Toshinori grew to love the little one as an extension of himself; his well-being took priority over Toshinori's own, and if that meant that Toshinori took more care to not get injured while on the job so that it wouldn't cause unnecessary worry, then that was killing two birds with one stone.

Then the fight with All for One happened, and everything went to shit.

Toshinori's first thought, when he woke up in the hospital bed and found three concerned faces (plus a deliberately unconcerned Gran Torino) staring back at him, was that he needed to find a marker. Immediately.

As soon as he started trying to sit up however, Recovery Girl swooped right in and started lecturing him about opening his stitches back up and that if he didn't lie back down immediately, she would not hesitate to tie him his damned bed.

Deciding that it would be in his best interest to obey her, Toshinori lay back down, and looked helplessly over at Sasaki, who rolled his eyes in exasperation at Toshinori's pleading look (Toshinori politely ignored the tears in the corners of his eyes, the way his shoulders sagged with relief) and gestured towards Tsukauchi.

The man was looking more dishevelled than Toshinori had ever seen him, with dark smudges under his eyes that betrayed how little sleep he'd had in the past few days.

Despite his evident exhaustion, Tsukauchi grinned widely as their eyes met, and Toshinori could swear he saw a hint of smugness in that gaze.

"Your boy is doing just fine, All Might, so just calm down and relax before Recovery Girl kicks us out of here for getting you too riled up. I checked on him myself; he's a little shaken, but doing pretty well."

Toshinori froze, his eyes going as wide as dinner plates.

"You met him?" he demanded, unable to wrap his mind around the fact. Tsukauchi had seen his little soulmate? The same boy that Toshinori had been dying to meet since that first fateful day all those years ago?

Tsukauchi nodded. "We got a call from his school about a soulbond showing potentially deadly injuries, and I thought they sounded too similar to yours for it to be a coincidence, so I offered to go and question him."

Toshinori opened his mouth to argue, indignant at the idea of his little one being interrogated.

"I didn't though," Tsukauchi interrupted before Toshinori could say anything. "But I did have to go, to not arouse any suspicions and to make sure he was alright of course. The kid's a strong one, and he's got a good head on his shoulders."

Toshinori smiled, beaming with pride at the compliments.

"He's also completely adorable!" Tsukauchi continued, and Toshinori felt the smile on his face slowly slip into a pout. "And so polite! Oh, you should have seen him Toshinori, he's absolutely delightful!"

"Oh, piss off," growled Toshinori, swatting in his direction. "Boasting does not become you, Tsukauchi."

The next few days were rather hectic, between all the tests and surgeries and healing kisses from Recovery Girl. And even in the few moments of privacy that he could snatch in between to talk to his boy, Toshinori was constantly on edge, always ready for the door to open and a nurse to walk through.

He tried his best to be vigilant, to keep his arms clean of any damning evidence, but at the end of the day, no amount of care was able to stop the inevitable from happening.

Almost one week after Toshinori first got injured, he woke up to Sasaki sitting at his bedside with a sombre expression on his face.

Toshinori immediately sat up, his eyes wide. He recognized that expression on his sidekick's face, the expression that said he had bad news to share.

"Before I start, I just want you to know they've already caught the one responsible for this," said Sasaki, his voice grave. "He's in police custody, and is awaiting his trial."

"Responsible for what?" demanded Toshinori.

Sasaki hesitated another moment, then passed his phone to Toshinori, who took it with a feeling of trepidation.

And there, on the screen, was a photo of him.

In this hospital bed.

With an arm covered in marker.

It took everything Toshinori had not to crush the phone in his bare hands.

"I've already talked to his mother," said Tsukauchi later, when they had all gathered in Toshinori's room again and were discussing their next steps going forward. "His entire class saw the injuries appear on him, and I'm sure the rumours have spread all across his school by now. With the recent revelation of All Might's injuries, as well as the fact he has a soulmate, this is bound to make people suspicious, so we think it's best he tells everyone that his soulmate died that day."

Toshinori felt a painful pang in his heart at the suggestion.

Sasaki nodded in approval of the plan. "The photo of All Might was released several days after the fight happened, so we have some leeway with the timeline here. If we tell the press that the fight happened three days after the actual date, that takes some of the suspicion off of All Might's boy."

Tsukauchi nodded in agreement. "I'm sure we can fake some documentation for him too, to prove that his soulmate really is dead. I'm sure there was at least one villain attack that day that we could pin it on. And even then, it's not like he will be expected to reveal all the information on the circumstances of his soulmate's death. The reason he stayed home from school for a week can also be explained away as a grieving period as well."

Gran was nodding in approval. "The child will have to be extra careful from now on, to convince everyone he truly does not have a soulmate anymore. And of course, the All Might agency will have to prepare a press conference as well. You have to decide what you must reveal to the public, Toshinori, and what you will fabricate. It is vital that we distance him from any possibility of being connected to you, especially with the inevitable spike in villainy that will come, now that the public knows you are weakened. It wouldn't do to have him be taken as a hostage after all."

Toshinori agreed silently.

He didn't like the idea of his little one having to hide the fact he had a soulmate, but he had to admit that this was the most logical course of action, and the best way to make sure the little one stayed safe.

After that, the days passed surprisingly peacefully. All Might faced the media storm that resulted from the reveal of his soulmate with a grace and calmness that was to be expected of the number one hero.

Five years came and went, and the identity of the Symbol of Peace's soulmate remained a mystery.

Five years came and went, and found All Might standing on the roof of a building, saying that no, a quirkless person could not become a hero.

And the pain, the utter devastation that crossed young Midoriya Izuku's face right then haunted Toshinori. It haunted him long after he had left that roof, and it haunted him after he looked at that same quirkless boy, and said, "Young man, you too can become a hero."

It was something more than the pain of being rejected by someone you looked up to, something deeper.

It was months before Toshinori understood that pain, and it all ended the same way it had begun.

It happened on an unremarkable afternoon, when Toshinori was least expecting it.

Young Izuku was hauling a broken television back to the pick-up area, and had managed to trip over his own two feet, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Young Midoriya! Are you alright, my boy?" asked Toshinori, concerned for his young protégé. Leaning down, he picked the television off him and threw it to the side.

"Oof, yeah, sorry All Might, I'll be fine. I just need to keep a better eye on where I'm going," Izuku insisted, absentmindedly bringing his arm up to inspect the scratch he had acquired there.

"Perhaps we should call it a day," said Toshinori, reaching out to inspect the cut and make sure it didn't need any stitches.

As he did so however, his eye caught on a line of bright red on his own arm, and he felt his entire world come grinding to a halt.

"No, no, I'll be totally fine!" insisted Izuku, not immediately noticing Toshinori's reaction. "The cut isn't that deep, and beside I don't have that much work left for today anyways."

All Might didn't respond as his sluggish brain tried to connect the dots right before him.

Finally, Izuku seemed to notice Toshinori's strange behaviour.

"All Might?" he asked, sounding concerned. "Is everything alright?"

He followed Toshinori's gaze to the red cut on the older man's arm, a perfect mirror to the injury that Izuku himself had just sustained. Toshinori watched as all the blood seemed to drain out of young Midoriya's face, and he squeaked out a quiet, "Oh."

Toshinori stared at the young teenager, his features pulled into utter disbelief.

"You're him…" he said quietly, softly. "You're my boy."

Izuku ducked his head shyly, refusing to meet Toshinori's eyes. "Yeah," he admitted quietly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Toshinori, still in that too soft voice, and Izuku flinched back.

"I'm sorry," he said, shrinking in on himself. "I promise I wasn't trying to deceive you or anything. It's just…I wanted to earn your quirk by my own merits."

He looked up, and his eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"All my life, I've looked up to you, even more so since I found out that we were soulmates. You're such an amazing hero, an amazing person, and I just wanted to prove that I was worthy of being your other half. I wanted you to give me One for All because you thought I deserved it, not because you felt obligated to."

By now, the tears were running down Izuku's face, and he didn't bother to wipe them away.

"Oh Izuku, my dear, dear boy," breathed Toshinori. "You already proved yourself that day you ran headfirst into danger to save your friend, despite being quirkless. And you've continued to prove yourself worthy, every day since then."

He pulled Izuku into his arms, and the boy immediately melted into the embrace, sobbing.

He was so small in Toshinori's arms. So small and precious and good.

At thirty-seven, Yagi Toshinori had long since made peace with the fact that he would never have a soulmate. And now, at nearly fifty, he held his soulmate in his arms, and thought that it had been worth the wait.

Chapter 6: He was worth the wait.