Chapter 8: Called Out

"So his mask was a hand, and he kept calling it father?" Thor asked, biting into Inko's cooking as the three of them sat around the table. "Hmm. Trust me from all my years in battle with Loki... whoever that villain is must be plagued with what you Midgardians call, 'daddy issues.'"

Midoriya snorted into his rice. "Izuku!" Inko scolded, though she was smiling herself. Though her tone and expression became more somber as she picked at her own plate. "Still...this is the second time I've had to get notified of an incident. Isn't UA supposed to be a safe facility?"

"The USJ is an offsite facility, mom," Izuku assured her, "and they've tightened security a lot since the incident with the reporters."

"Well... okay," his mother conceded. "But I hope I don't see anything further about break ins or endangerment or..."

She was interrupted as Thor reached over and grabbed her shoulder, gently. "Inko, if I may be so bold... young Midoriya here has chosen a life that entails many dangers and hardships."

She turned red. "I... I know. I can't help but worry. School should be the place where he is the safest."

"Well, I suppose that makes sense," Thor conceded. "I will keep an eye on things in the next few days. Make sure there's no trouble."

Midoriya nearly gagged. What exactly did that mean? He just hoped Thor wouldn't go picking fights with anyone.

"I appreciate that," Inko sighed in relief. "I do admit, I feel better when you're around."

"I'm going to vomit," Midoriya put his head in his hands. "Please stop flirting."

The two adults laughed. As he cleared the dishes, Midoriya whispered that he needed to ask Thor something about what had happened at the USJ. Thor, to his credit, nodded solemnly, and invited Midoriya to take a walk with him after he had finished cleaning up.

"Don't be gone too long, you have homework to finish," Inko advised, but her tone wasn't overly stern. She knew very well Midoriya was a diligent student.

Once outside, Midoriya made sure no one was in earshot, before turning to his mentor. "So, I told you about helping All Might, and the villains, but... he said he knew about you. About you choosing me. It sounded like you guys go back a ways?"

Thor's expression stiffened, and he looked away. "Aye, yes lad. I met Toshinori back when he first started his Heroics and he started calling himself the Symbol of Peace. Bit of a brag, a name like that," Thor added, with a sneer, "and I go around announcing myself as God of Thunder."

Midoriya looked ahead. It was nice to have confirmation of his suspicions. But that wasn't the only thing bugging him either. "It's just that... well..."

He stopped in his tracks, and Thor walked forward a bit more before turning and realizing his young ward wasn't next to him. "Yes?"

"He... lifted Mjolnir." Midoriya admitted. "I don't... understand."

Thor signed, closing his eyes and looking downwards. After a few moments pause, he turned to a bench nearby, and sat. "I don't think I explained properly, but... Mjolnir is not bound to just one soul."

"Well, you said I could lift it because I'm worthy, right?" Midoriya asked. "Does that mean more than one person can be worthy?"

Thor nodded, a small smile flickering across his face. "You learn quickly. Loki was right; you're so different from how I was when young. He likes that about you." He looked to the sky. The sun was setting, bathing the two in orange and pink hues as they spoke. "Yes. It's exceedingly rare for someone to be worthy. But even as I wielded Mjolnir, I knew a few others who were worthy. Captain America included."

"I... I see." Midoriya frowned. Even as rare as it was, he couldn't help but sense the familiar feelings of self-doubt set in. "But... how do we know I'm the right one? Maybe someone better is worthy -"

"No," Thor replied bluntly.

There was a heavy pause. After a minute, Deku said, "Uh... can you elaborate?"

Thor laughed. "There is no one better out there right now to wield Mjolnir than you."

"How do you...?"

"How do I know?" Thor chuckled again, stood up, and placed a hand on Deku's shoulder. "Because I know you, young Midoriya. I trust you and your heroic spirit."

Heat climbed to Midoriya's cheeks, and he sniffed a bit, but held back the tears. "So... what does that have to do with you and All Might?"

Thor frowned and turned, the two continuing their walk. "It was probably twenty years ago or so. Maybe more. Early during All Might's career... I offered him the chance to be my successor."

Midoriya tripped over his own feet in surprise. "You wanted All Might to be the God of Thunder?" He asked, clamoring back to his feet.

"Aye, lad." Thor nodded. "He had just emerged onto the Hero Scene, and his abilities and drive to make the land a better place resonated with me. I appeared before him and his own mentor one evening, and tested him to see if he was worthy. When he lifted Mjolnir, I assured him he could have the powers of the God of Thunder at his disposal. And..."

"...and?" Deku asked, gently. The topic seemed sensitive.

"He said no." Thor answered, trying to keep his cool, but Midoriya could see from the Asgardian's clenched fists that he was still bitter over the whole ordeal. "Said he didn't need it, and that he believed it was too much power for one man to hold in addition to his own abilities."

"Oh..." It was about all Midoriya could think to say, and it was a lot to process.

Certainly All Might didn't need any abilities to be the Number One Hero. Then again, he had also suffered a game-breaking injury and could only perform heroics for a limited time each day. Maybe if he had chosen to accept the position things would have been different?

It also wasn't hard to see why Thor might have chosen All Might in the first place; they were more similar the more Midoriya got to know them; boisterous blonde powerhouses that saved people and protected society with power.

"Midoriya."

He could see why Thor would be upset about the whole thing too; the offer to be God of Thunder would be something of a dream come true, no matter what your Quirk was. To turn it down would have had to have felt like one of the biggest snubs in existence.

"Midoriya, you've been muttering this whole time." Thor interrupted, less than amused.

Deku looked up, surprised. "Oh shoot, I was saying all of that out loud?"

Thor nodded. "Yeah, you were. You need to knock that off, it's weird for you to talk about me like I'm not here. Look, that stuff doesn't matter. Ultimately, it works out. Because I met you, and you've taken up the mantle."

Deku gave a sad laugh. "Are you sure? I mean... I'm not really anything like you, Thor."

"One might say that's a good thing."

Both Thor and Deku jumped at the voice. The tree that had been next to the bench they were sitting on earlier suddenly began to change, shifting back into Loki. Deku beamed at seeing him, but Thor just rolled an eye. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Eavesdropping on emotional conversations falls under the realm of God of Mischief," Loki smirked. "Besides, I do love to revel in your failures, brother." He turned to Deku. "You being unlike this oaf is probably the best thing that hammer has done in one thousand years."

Midoriya laughed nervously, and to his surprise, Thor did too. "You know," Thor said, "for once, I agree with you, Loki."

At the look of surprise on his brother's face, Thor continued. "I made many, many mistakes as a hero, young Midoriya. Loki here was... well, the brains of the family. I caused a lot of problems with my approach of zap first, questions later. I trust that you will be much more than I ever could be."

Midoriya's eyes watered, and he was rendered speechless. Thankfully, Loki broke the silence with a scoff. "Way to make my insult into an emotional speech."

Midoriya wiped his eyes and smiled. "Right. I'll... I'll do my best, you guys! We should head back. I need to think of a Hero name; they're going to have us pick them by the end of the term. Half the class things my name is actually Deku."

Thor scoffed. "Isn't that the thing Kachow calls you?"

"Y-yeah, Kacchan has been calling me that since we were kids." Midoriya sighed. "His way of calling me a Quirkless nobody."

Loki's expression soured, "He what?"

Thor grinned. "Well, I certainly bet he regrets telling you to kill yourself now that you've shown him up so much."

A knife slid out of Loki's sleeve, and he began scanning buildings. "Where does this Kachow fellow live? Maybe we should give him a talking to."

"N-no that's not necessary!" Deku blurted out as Thor bellowed with laughter.

As they followed the God of Mischief, Thor turned to Deku and asked, with a mischievous grin of his own, "So tell me about this Tsuyu girl. Sounds like you're rather taken with her."

Deku's face burned brightly. "S-stop!"

--

Later that night, Midoriya laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. To think All Might could have been God of Thunder and the Symbol of Peace all this time. He rolled to his side and wondered what would have become of him if that had happened, what would have changed.

Unable to sleep, he stood up and walked over to his desk. He reached in one of the drawers to find a list of Hero names he wanted to use as a kid, most of them ripoffs of All Might's name: Small Might, All Might Jr., The Second Coming of All Might, The All Mighty One, Might Kid, Dyno Might, Brawl Might, and Guy Might. "I can't believe Mom never threw this out," he whispered to the darkness of his room.

Still, he had a few months to worry about it. By that time, maybe he'd make it known he'd inherited the title of God of Thunder.

--

"Young Man and Young Lady, aren't you part of Class 1-A, the ones that were attacked?!" A reporter screamed in Deku's face as he turned the corner to approach UA. Asui had met up with him on the walk over, and the two did their best to ignore the newscasters questions, as they had for the rest of the week following the USJ incident.

"Kero, it can't be THIS slow of a news week," Tsuyu grumbled, loud enough for everyone to hear.

It did nothing to dissuade the paparazzi, but it drew a laugh from Midoriya. "I-I know. I c-can't wait for these walks to become quiet again."

Ever since the USJ incident, a few things had changed for the kids of Class 1-A, and the media attention was the biggest of those changes. While Aizawa and their principal encouraged the children to leave any media contact to the school, a few classmates seemed to revel in the spotlight (Ashido, Hagakure, and Kaminari in particular).

"GET THAT MICROPHONE OUT OF MY FACE BEFORE I BLOW IT UP YOUR ASS!"

Asui and Midoriya looked up to see Bakugou entering the gate, threatening the reports as he had every other day that week.

"I think he used that one already, kero," Asui quipped, drawing a laugh from Midoriya.

While not all the changes were positive, Deku certainly didn't mind having company on his morning walks. "There's only so many places he can say he'll shove a microphone, Tsuyu." He mentally congratulated himself for remembering to use her given name.

Once inside, more exciting news awaited them: "You may need to deal with the press a bit longer," Aizawa yawned from his sleeping bag. "They're going to resurge, I'm sure, as we begin preparations for the Sports Festival."

Midoriya's heart jumped into his throat as the class cheered.

He...

LOVED THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!

It was one of his favorite televised events of the year! Watching the brilliant students of UA fight each other with unique Quirks and techniques was one of the driving factors of him choosing UA in the first place. He glanced around the class his classmates felt about the same way he did.

"Finally, a chance to show off on the grand stage!" Aoyama declared, tossing his hair in an attempt to seem elegant.

"Yeah... sure, whatever," Aizawa sighed. "Your internships will be coming up after the Festival, which will gear you towards valuable experience towards finals. Lots of Pros and their organizations will be watching, so make sure you have a good showing and you'll get some better offers."

Murmurs went around the class, but they were interrupted as Present Mic opened the door, "WHO'S READY FOR SHAKESPEARE?!"

The murmurs were replaced with groans, although not from Midoriya. He was still too excited to let even The Bard himself get him down.

--

The day had come to an end, and students of class 1-A were packing up. Midoriya still had a wide grin on his face as he got ready to walk home with Uraraka, Iida, and Asui, as he did every day. But today, as he stood up, someone else called out for him.

"Midoriya."

Deku looked around, confused, before realizing the call had come from Todoroki, standing in the back of the room. He realized he didn't recognize it because usually Todoroki spoke in a low voice, and this might have been the first time Izuku had ever heard him project. "What's up, Todoroki?"

"I am going to crush you at the Sports Festival," he declared in an icy tone that through Midoriya off. The students around him all fell silent and looked on; this was some fresh drama for sure.

"I... what?" Midoriya responded, confused. "Me?"

"You're All Might's favorite, aren't you?" Todoroki sneered.

"Todoroki, what are you even talking about?" Kirishima asked from a few desks away.

"All Might told me to stay away from the villains at the USJ," the boy with the two-toned bowl cut answered, "but when Midoriya steps in to help, he pats him on the shoulder."

Midoriya heard Bakugou stand up behind him and stomp towards the door. Now why is HE pissed off? "Todoroki, I was just in the right place at the right time."

"It doesn't matter, either way," Todoroki said with a shrug. "I'm going to make an example out of you, and prove myself as the next Number One Hero."

With that, Todoroki grabbed his bag and walked towards Bakugou at the door. But both of them stopped as Bakugou threw it open.

About twenty students stood outside the door, staring in at who they could see. Midoriya and his friends moved behind Todoroki and Bakugou to see what the commotion was. These twenty students had expressions ranging from anger to nervousness, though a few looked rather bored about the whole thing.

"So, this is the, 'famous,' class 1-A, is it?" A blond boy towards the front said, feigning admiration. "The talk of the whole school?"

"I'LL SCHOOL YOUR FACE IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Bakugou screamed, but this just made the crowd of students close in tighter.

"What's your problem...?" Todoroki asked, impatiently.

"Kind of hypocritical, right?" Midoriya whispered, prompting Tsuyu to snicker.

"Our problem is how much stock everyone is putting into class 1-A!" The blond boy exclaimed, pointing dramatically. "No one is even talking about what we can do in Class 1-B."

"Monoma, this is stupid," sighed a redhaired girl in the back of the crowd.

Iida cleared his throat, clearly feeling the need to flex his Class President status. "I'm sure there is an amicable way we can resolve any hostilities -"

That was as far as he got before Bakugou shoved the boy named Monoma aside, "Whatever. I'm going to kick EVERYONE's ass anyway. Move it, nerd!"

The rest of class 1-B got out of his way, but they all stopped to glare daggers at the rest of class 1-A as they walked out of the room.

"Great, now we're all going to have targets on our backs compared to the rest of the first years," Uraraka sighed as they reached the front of the school.

"It sounds like we already do," Iida said. "I don't think Monoma is the only one who thinks we're gloryhounds after our first real encounter with real villains."

"I've gotten recognized on the train a few times, kero," Tsuyu added. "I can see why they'd be jealous. Exposure is important for being a Pro Hero." She turned to Deku. "Still, if that's the case, I wonder what Todoroki's problem is."

"Yeah, Deku, did something happen to you guys at the USJ?" Uraraka asked.

Midoriya shook his head. "Nope. We've never even had a conversation before now."

"He's not someone to take lightly," Iida sighed. "Remember Aizawa's testing of our skills. He's the strongest person in our class."

"Deku can take him!" Uraraka fist pumped. "But none of that matters, because I'm going to win the whole thing!"

The friends laughed and began talking more about the Sports Festival, but Midoriya couldn't get what Todoroki had said to him out of his head. That he would make an example out of Deku.

He looked down at Mjolnir. I think I'll train with Thor and Valkyrie some more tonight.