Wow, thank you all for the incredible response on the first chapter! I have been reading every single review and I really appreciate the support.
A special thank you to Obrist, who made some really good points and is a stellar example of how to give constructive criticism while still being encouraging.
Now, I noticed in the last chapter that the line breaks I put in place had disappeared mysteriously. As a result, I'll be changing the line breaks from "~" to "***".
Please enjoy!
KEY:
"Speaking," he spoke.
'Thinking,' she thought.
"***" serves as a line break.
Izuku awoke on a soft cot, his head pounding.
'Ow. My head feels like mashed potatoes,' he thought distantly, beginning to take in his surroundings.
It looked like a hospital, but he couldn't be sure. Glancing down and noticing his lack of gown, his suspicions were confirmed.
'I wonder if… I can just go?'
As he began to sneak out of his bed, he heard two angry, arguing voices rapidly approaching.
"I'm telling you! My boy does not have a Quirk! And furthermore, I find it offensive that you're being so rude to him after what was clearly an act of bravery!"
'Mom?' Izuku recognized.
"Ma'am, that was not my intention, and the boy did indeed do something incredible." The deep, male voice was clearly Death Arms. He could hear the exasperation in the man's tone, as if they'd been arguing for a while.
"The scene with the villain put me under serious duress, and I apologize again for what I said to your son before. But if what I saw was correct, then your child does indeed have a Quirk, and while he used it for good, using Quirks against others is illegal without a hero license. I am not going to punish him. I am required to reprimand him, just as I will praise him for his heroics. We just simply cannot have kids running about trying to do what young Izuku was able to accomplish."
The door opened.
'Shit, shit. Do I pretend to be asleep, and not have heard their conversation?'
"Izuku?" his mom gasped.
"Um. Hi, Mom. Hello, Death Arms," Izuku said, abashed, scratching his head.
"Ohhh, my baby boy!" Throwing herself into Izuku's arms and sobbing, Inko Midoriya did a complete 180 from her previous, momma bear persona.
Death Arms watched impassively.
"Assuming you heard part of our conversation in the hallway, I think you can understand what is going on?" the hero asked, turning away from the parent and child.
"I'm okay Mom, really. Yeah, I heard some of it. I'm in trouble, right?" Izuku said, trying to escape his mother's death grip.
"Well, before we determine that, we have a question to ask you. Right, Inko?" Death Arms queried, turning and raising an expectant eyebrow.
"Oh! Yes." Releasing Izuku and taking a seat on a nearby chair, Inko let out a deep breath.
"Izuku, do you have a Quirk?"
Inko Midoriya was not stupid. She was very aware of the changes she had been seeing in her son, both physical and mental-the diet and workouts he imposed on himself, the newborn confidence he handled quietly-and chose to ask no questions.
One thing Inko deeply regretted about raising Izuku was not supporting him in pursuit of his dream, despite how unlikely it might have seemed.
It was not her job to deny the dreams of a child, much less her own. So, when she saw these changes occuring, this fierce determination, she began to back off. She didn't know where it was stemming from, or why this particular moment, but silently, afraid to interact, she encouraged him.
She bought every piece of workout equipment he asked for, within reason, no questions asked. She cooked healthier meals and silently bought protein powders and supplements. Desperately wanting to ask her son why but too terrified to break his heart and his dream again, she settled for the best she thought she could do.
"Izuku, do you have a Quirk?"
Oh boy.
He had planned to reveal his Quirk to his mom literally that day but… he glanced nervously at Death Arms. His mind whirled.
"I understand the need to punish me to make sure I don't and kids like me don't do this again, but…"
He looked directly at Death Arms, who met his gaze seriously. He was banking on this hero's morals, and if he didn't agree-forget punishment, his life might as well be over.
"Please don't let anything I tell you today leave this room," Izuku breathed.
Death Arms eyebrows narrowed again.
"I work for the government, you know. It depends on what you tell me-"
"I swear that whatever I tell you won't involve hurting anyone including myself, or involves anything other than myself," Izuku said firmly, maintaining eye contact. Inko, beginning to confirm her suspicions, squirmed nervously.
Death Arms was silent. Taking his lack of response as a confirmation, Izuku took a deep breath.
"When I was five years old and yet to manifest my Quirk, I took a trip to the doctor with my mom. They examined my pinkie toe, and diagnosed me as Quirkless."
Before the bulky hero could interject, Izuku stopped him.
"Please, let me finish. I didn't let this get me down though, and I persevered with my dream of, one day, becoming a hero, Quirkless or not."
Izuku hesitated, looking at his mother.
"Four years later, and five years late, my Quirk manifested."
To her credit, Inko did not scream, or get angry, or bawl all over Izuku again. She placed both hands over her mouth, looking at her son, and wondered when exactly it was she thought supporting him from a distance was okay.
Death Arms, however, was not convinced.
"You received official documents from your doctor, I'm guessing? I'll need to see them," the hero said sceptically.
"And I will happily provide," Izuku responded. "But do you understand why this is such a big deal-why I would hide this from everyone, including my own mother?"
Not waiting for Death Arms to respond, Izuku continued.
"If this got out-that my Quirk manifested so late-I would be treated like a lab rat. They would cut me open, searching for what it is exactly that made my Quirk manifest the way it did… There's no conceivable scientific explanation for how exactly it happened and I really don't want to die I just-" Izuku began to ramble.
Inko, no longer able to contain herself, stood suddenly and gave her son a long, hard hug. Leaning into the embrace, Izuku whispered, "I just want to help people."
Finally taking a seat, Death Arms mulled over what he had just heard.
"I understand the need for secrecy and why you may have hidden your Quirk for so long, but you're in no threat of government scientists snatching you away and experimenting on you," Death Arms explained.
"However, assuming you're going the hero route," the hero gave Izuku a look, "I would be cautious of villains that might want to get an edge over modern day scientists. As this information isn't relevant to the sludge villain incident, I will keep what I heard in here to myself. I will treat this case as if your Quirk had indeed manifested but you never attempted to use it until now."
Death Arms nodded at Izuku, who weakly nodded back, his mother still holding him.
"Going forward, assuming you're going to be using your Quirk more frequently now, just say you were hiding it and practicing in secret. No one should call you out for that. And kid?"
Izuku looked up, and his mother detached herself to glance expectantly at the pro hero.
Said hero smiled slightly.
"You did a good thing out there. I may have been mad at first for putting yourself in danger, but that's what being a hero is all about. Thank you for recognizing that, but also, never do it again."
Death Arms paused.
"Until you get your hero license."
Turning to leave, Death Arms stopped again.
"Oh, before I go. I should probably tell you that All Might has been looking for you, to thank you personally or something… Not sure what that's about, but I'd keep an eye out for him as well as the press once you head out. This is a pro hero medical bay, so you're free to go whenever you feel well enough. If you wish to spend the night here, you are welcome to. I'll leave the decision to you and your mother."
With a hand raised in farewell, Death Arms left the medical bay.
"Izuku."
He gulped. He knew this was coming since the moment he woke up.
"Mom, I was about to tell-"
"Izuku, I am so incredibly sorry."
Wait, what?
"I haven't been acting like a good mother lately, not for a long time. I knew something was going on, that something was troubling you, and I was afraid to interfere when I really shouldn't have been."
Inko looked up firmly, tears still streaming.
"And Quirk or not, I am going to absolutely be here for you, and promise never to leave you to deal with anything on your own again!"
Izuku cringed slightly. Anything...?
Inko laughed, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Well, no, not everything. But I promise I will always be here for you when you need me. I might have been a little frustrated that you didn't come to me when something was wrong, but I understand you were afraid and that…"
She paused.
"I hadn't always given you my one hundred percent when it came to supporting your dreams."
"But you did help!" Izuku insisted. "You bought me everything I needed to train, cooked for me, cared for me-"
"But I knew something was different and I never asked you why," Inko finished.
Izuku fell silent. There was no winning this battle.
"But you will now, right? That's what matters. That, and maybe some tonkatsu when we get home…?" Izuku pleaded.
Inko laughed again, glad that her son held no remorse for any of her past actions.
"We'll see. I'm supposed to be feeding a future pro hero, aren't I?"
Izuku grinned widely, standing up from the cot and opening the door.
'Well, that went a lot better than I thought.'
That night, over a bowl of tonkatsu with vegetables, Izuku asked every conceivable question about his mother's Quirk. While he had entered the conversation with very low expectations, he found out quite a bit about his Quirk and how it was different from his mother's.
Firstly, he found his mother had never bothered to train or discover the combat abilities of her Quirk-something that was bizarre to him, someone who never used his Quirk for anything beyond training. Instead, she used it solely for its handiness, but she used it well. Before they had started their dinner, Inko invited her son to watch her cook, something he had never done before.
He stood in the kitchen, waiting for the demonstration.
Idly, he wondered how good his mom would be at using her Quirk-after all, she never trained it, so how good could she be?
Putting on her apron with a flourish, Inko smiled.
"You're probably going to need to back up, sweetie."
Frowning slightly, Izuku backed out of the kitchen… just in time for the pantry door to swing open behind him and the bag of panko to come flying out.
The refrigerator door opened and pork, vegetables, soy sauce, butter all came dancing out one after another.
In the middle of it all, his mother stood, swirling around the kitchen. She was chopping vegetables while the oil poured itself into a floating cast iron pan. Izuku watched in awe as the pork literally walked itself into the egg wash and swan dived into the panko crumbs.
'Are you fucking kidding me? This looks like a scene out of a Ghibli movie,' Izuku marveled to himself, staring at all of the simultaneously moving objects and astounded at the amount of time his mother must have trained-or rather cooked-for.
So, while his mother was incredibly skilled in multitasking and dividing her concentration, where she was lacking was her strength. She had to physically pick up the rice cooker, heavy pans and objects, whereas Izuku could pick it up without a second thought. If Izuku really tried, he could probably pick his mother up for a good couple seconds too.
Furthermore, her range didn't expand much further than the distance of her kitchen, while Izuku had practiced moving objects from room to room.
But this was perfect-the area Izuku was lacking in, his mother specialized in-ideal for training, and now he had a whole summer to work on it. Ah yes, school was finally over…
Suddenly, he froze, his last bite of tonkatsu halfway to his mouth.
"My bags! I left my bags in the city!" Izuku moaned, already dreading the trip back there and the press he might attract. "If they haven't been stolen already."
"Well, what did you have in there that you really needed? Most of the school stuff you won't need anymore, and your computer is here at home," Inko asked, curious as to what he had with him.
"My hero notebook. I only had two heroes down for that one, so it's not a major loss but I wish I still had it. And…" Izuku cringed. His dart. His dart was still in his bag.
Full honesty. Full honesty with his mother, she wouldn't be mad.
"I had, um, a weapon of sorts in there that I was using. To fight the villain," Izuku cringed, hoping he could get away with it.
Inko frowned, looking at her son.
"Was it expensive?"
"Uh, no, not really. I'm not going to be getting into more trouble, so I don't really need it."
"But you do need a weapon to train with," Inko assumed. "I don't think your bag is going to be there any more sweetie, but we can check if you would like."
Inko smiled innocently in her chair, looking at her pensive son.
"But also, I could give you a way to train and make some money at the same time, and you could probably buy something much better," Inko's smile finally slid into a smirk.
Training, and money on the side? She knew she had him hooked.
"How?!"
"You know, I saw an ad for a job I think would suit you pretty well, with your new Quirk and all…"
"This," Izuku panted, "Is not what I was expecting!"
A giant bag of newspapers around his back, Izuku booked it down the street, sending articles flying to land perfectly at each house's doorstep.
Getting the job was pretty easy once he explained his Quirk to the newspaper company, and how his Quirk was more efficient and effective than a kid with a speed Quirk.
What was not easy was sprinting down the street with a big bag of paper on your back. He felt like a damn hunchback.
Exhausted, but with his bag empty for the day, Izuku headed back to the newspaper station. Dropping the canvas bag off at his new little cubby area, Izuku collapsed onto a couch and filled up his water bottle.
"First day over?" his boss laughed from the other room. "You look dead on your feet."
Too tired to argue, Izuku just sipped his water, forcing himself not to just chug it.
Chuckling to himself, Izuku's boss opened the door to his office.
"Come have a seat, we gotta talk about something."
'Shit. Have I done something wrong already?' Izuku wondered.
A short but built man in his late forties, Alan Suzuki was the head of the newspaper depot in Musutafu, Izuku's home city. The man's Quirk, Speed Read, allowed him to quickly read entire editions and check for grammatical errors in the days before computers. He was the head of the very depot he used to work at back in the day, but still had an admiration for hard workers.
"I know this was your first day, but I didn't have the chance to talk to you since your interview. Now isn't a bad time, is it?" Alan asked.
Izuku shook his head, wondering what his new boss could want.
"I spoke to your mother just after we made the decision to hire you, and she spoke to me a little bit about you using the job to train as a hero. That's all fine and good, but you need to remember that you are representing your company both when you're handing out newspapers and when you're not."
Oh. He knew where this was going.
"That means no more stunts like this."
Pulling the newspaper out from a drawer in his desk, Alan dropped it in front of Izuku.
"It was very admirable of you to save that boy, but it was technically illegal and put you and him at risk. I'm sure you've gotten chewed out for it already, but please remember that you have a company to represent if anything ever arises."
Teen Boy Saves His Hostage Friend! read the title, picturing Izuku and Bakugo collapsed unconscious on the floor next to the crushed villain.
Alan inwardly smirked at the boy's stunned look. He hadn't seemed to notice the very papers he had been handing out that morning.
Izuku was shocked for many reasons. Firstly, Bakugo was going to be furious whenever he saw him next. Secondly, and much more importantly, after looking briefly at the article, it spoke a tad about what his Quirk could be and who Izuku was. If his teachers were asked for a quote or any of his previous heroics, they would have little idea of what to say, if they even knew who he was. And if they did, they would absolutely say he was Quirkless.
Not good. Not good at all.
"Um, sir, would you mind if I took this home? First time being in the newspaper and all," he said, laughing nervously.
"Sure, go ahead my boy. You understand what I said though, correct?" Alan said, squinting and trying to meet Izuku's mildly frantic eyes.
"Yes, yes sir, I do," Izuku rushed, rising to leave.
Somewhere in his head, he knew it wasn't that big of a deal. The newspaper was already distributed (by his own hand, albeit unknowingly) and it's not like he expected it to not get out eventually. What was important was to make sure to keep an eye out for villains if-or rather, when he got into U.A.
Alan eyed the still standing Izuku.
"Get out of my office, kid."
"Oh! Um, yes sir." Leaving in a hurry and closing the door behind him, Alan cursed as he heard the door to the building close.
"Damn! Forgot to tell him he had someone waiting for him outside. Must be getting old…" Alan muttered, scratching his head.
As Izuku began to head home, a voice croaked from behind him.
"Hey, you. I've been looking for you."
Izuku turned to look at the tall man in front of him and immediately scrambled backwards.
'Oh god. No. Not yet. I'm not ready yet, I can't fight off another villain. I don't even have a weapon.'
Frozen to the floor with the newspaper in hand, Izuku turned to run.
"I know you don't think you know me, but uh. I'm All Might." The tall, blond, and incredibly skinny man winced at the bluntness of his statement. "I was supposed to be a little less up front about it, but you looked like you were about to run away."
The green haired boy didn't run, but still took several steps backwards.
"You? You're All Might?" Izuku looked him up and down. "Is this some kind of joke?"
The blonde man winced again. "Could you keep it down? Also, ouch. Isn't this style supposed to be in fashion nowadays?"
Izuku frowned and began to walk away.
"Hey, hey, wait. I can prove it."
Izuku continued to walk, starting to speed up.
"That sludge villain, he attacked you under the bridge. I showed up and blew him apart. You asked me about being Quirkless and if you could be a hero too."
He stopped. There was no way this guy was actually All Might.
"How the hell do you know that?"
The skinny, sunken man glanced around.
"I just told you," he hissed quietly. Slinging the bag off his shoulders, he handed it to Izuku. "You left this at the scene, if you want more proof. Now just let me tell you what I have to say."
His backpack? Was this actually All Might?
The skinny man let out a deep breath.
"I feel that I owe you an apology for not properly listening back then. You asked me about Quirkless people being heroes, but what you were really asking was if people could have an impact without having a Quirk. I didn't get it then, but I clearly get it now."
He paused, smiling and shaking his head slightly.
"Yes, of course they can. And instead of letting what I told you discourage you, you saved someone! You saved their life without hesitation but also with careful analysis, a plan, and a cool head." The grin that had slowly built on the number one hero's face slipped off.
"Not the heroes at the scene, not me who was rooted to the spot. But you. And because of your heroics, I wanted to offer you something, something special."
Concentrating, he held a hand out to the awed Izuku. A bright light shone in his palm, the energy twisting and curling around.
"My Quirk, One-For-All, has the ability to pass down my power to others." All Might waved a hand at himself. "And clearly, I'm not fully able to wield that power at 100% like I used to. What I saw that day was a kid who not only had an admirable creed to drive him, but a good analytical mind, a brain for strategy, and the morals required to make a pro hero."
Izuku began to tear up. "But… but…"
All Might continued, smiling kindly.
"I know it's a lot to take in, but I want to see what you've got this summer, and train you properly. If you meet my expectations, and throw yourself completely into it, I feel you're more than deserving of One-For-All. I don't need an answer about this today, but I do need it soon, so here," the hero said, ruffling around in his pockets and producing a slip of paper, "is my number. Please call me if you have any questions or have come to a decision."
Smiling, the hero turned around and walked away.
"I look forward to hearing from you!" he called.
Hand left outstretched, the gobsmacked Izuku stood frozen on the pavement.
'God, what am I gonna tell mom?'
And that's it for chapter 2!
Should Izuku get One-For-All, or prove himself to be the future #1 hero without it? Let me know with a review!
Also, any suggestions or missed grammatical errors are welcome!
-Wishy