AN: This idea came to me as I was looking through the "Two Inches, Too Late" comic on YouTube. It's easy enough to find if you want to go check it out. Know that while the idea for this comes from that comic, the way it will play out and the message that will be sent is going to be different.

That being said, enjoy!

Preface

—

Five years ago…

"You're lucky, Toshinori," the voice of Chiyo Shuzenji, Recovery Girl, was quiet in the small hospital room. The imposing figure of All Might, the number one hero, seated upright on the hospital cot.

"Are you kidding?" All Might retorted, "I haven't been injured this badly since college."

"You're not wrong," Recovery Girl replied worriedly. "But any deeper and you could have been crippled for life."

"I beg your pardon?"All Might's otherwise boisterous vocalization of how unlucky he was to have been injured at all was quickly tempered by Recovery Girl's somber tone.

"Like I said, Toshinori, you're lucky it wasn't a direct hit. Even as your injury is now, there is only a thin layer of muscle tissue between your left lung and your stomach and the air around us. You're little more than a couple inches away from spilling your organs on the floor in front of me."

"But we got him, didn't we?" All Might replied worriedly. "It's not as though he'll be back to fight again ever again. He's down forever, never coming back. I've made sure of that."

"You know better than anyone alive today how well he can pull the strings when no one is looking."

" Really? Do you think he could come back again? After what I did to him?"

"I honestly don't know, Toshinori. I wouldn't put anything past the plethora of quirks that man has amassed over the past decades."

"Come on, Recovery Girl, you're a doctor, you must realize that there is no way anyone could have survived this power that sensei passed on to me. One For All's power is greater than even he could have predicted."

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself, Toshinori. I just don't want to see you back in here with something I can't treat for you."

"Well, if he comes back to haunt us in his next life, I'll be ready to beat him again."

With that, Recovery Girl stretched her lips out ridiculously far and planted them on All Might's cheek. Immediately, the effects of her quirk took effect as All Might's eyelids dropped and the raw, open wound under his rib cage closed over before their eyes and began to fill back in, the missing flesh growing back rapidly. With one last look at the now half-asleep Symbol of Peace lying on the hospital bed, Recovery Girl muttered under her breath,

"That's what I'm scared of, I just can't shake the feeling that he will be back in another life to haunt us…"

—

Present Day

The lazy haze of sleep slowly began to lift as someone repeatedly tapped the side of Izuku's face. Why? He didn't want to get up yet.

"Hey!" The person tapping him had a unique voice; it was deep and filled to bursting with power. "Hey — Oh! Good!" The person stopped tapping as Izuku's eyes flickered and cracked open, letting in the light.

The memories came rushing back, the villain! It had erupted from the sewer grate and had tried to take over Izuku's body. He remembered the suffocating feeling of the villain's aqueous body forcing its way into Izuku's lungs and taking over his body. He had been drowning in another human being! Despite his best efforts, Izuku had been unable to fight back against the villain as his hands simply passed through the villain's form. He had seen someone approaching as he was suffocating. Who had it been? Either he hadn't gotten a good enough look, or the lack of oxygen had been preventing him from registering any distinguishing features.

Izuku slowly forced his eyes open fully. Adjusting to the bright light around him and focusing his vision, he became aware of All Might, the number one hero, standing, bent over in front of him, staring directly into Izuku's face. He couldn't have been more than a couple of inches away.

Izuku screamed as his heart clenched painfully. In his surprise, Izuku launched himself away from the towering figure of All Might and stopped a good few meters away.

"I'm glad you're okay, young man!" All Might half-yelled as he stood up to his full height, one hand raised in front of him in a talkative gesture. "Sorry about getting you caught up in my villain fighting. I don't usually make mistakes like this, but I was in high spirits in a new place and had my groceries that I didn't want to lose!" He burst into laughter, deep and bellowing. "Thanks for your help! I captured the villain safely!" he finally belted out, holding up two soda bottles with a green, viscous liquid inside."

"The number one hero, All Might! The real thing!" Izuku managed to squeak out, his voice was quivering with awe. "He looks completely different in person! Oh! An autograph! Where can I —?" He quickly spotted his notebook on the ground a few paces away and launched himself at it. Opening it to where the first empty page should have been, he screamed in delight at the sight of All Might's giant signature scrawled across both pages of the notebook. "He already did!" Izuku was getting dangerously close to breaking down in his delight. He shot to his feet and began bobbing up and down in deep bows, his hair flying all around his face. "Th — thank you so much!"

"Okay!" All Might laughed as he stuck his hand out in a 'thumbs up' position. He gestured to his pockets and the soda bottle hanging out of it. "Well, I've got to get this guy to the police! See you again on the other side of the screen!"

All Might bent down, stretching slightly as he prepared to leap off again, back into town. Seeing this, his mind running through all the different questions he had to ask, he called out to All Might again.

"Wait! Mr. All Might Sir… I have so many questions to ask you personally."

"Well, I am incredibly busy and should really get this guy to the police, but I suppose you can ask me one question."

"Just — one?"

"Hey, that's one! Well then, I suppose you can ask two!"

Understanding that All Might was indeed busy and was only allowing the time for one real question, Izuku nodded gratefully. He paused for a moment, thinking about how to phrase his question,

"Can someone like me…? Can someone without a quirk ever become a hero like you?"

All Might paused and looked back at the boy, thinking for a moment.

All Might burst into quiet, shaking laughter at the question, but he quickly sobered as the hurt expression on Izuku's face. He seemed to fade away for a moment as though looking at something far away. He quickly snapped out of it and answered Izuku's question with a bit of a sheepish expression.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh, inside joke." He muttered by way of explanation. "Young man," he started hesitantly but paused. He looked down at his hand for a moment but looked back up at Izuku and began again, "Young man, no. I don't believe that a young man or woman without a quirk could, or really should become a hero like me. It would put you in too much danger and I won't be able to sleep at night if you were to die on the job."

At his words, Izuku found he couldn't move. It was one thing to have an old, ex-friend tell him no, especially after he had been tormenting him for years. Even Izuku's mother hadn't really supported him, but he had been holding out hope that he could prove them wrong. To have a pro tell him no, the number one hero and his greatest idol no less, Izuku could feel his dream fizzle out in his chest.

"I'm sorry young man, but that is my honest opinion. If you want to fight the good fight, being a police officer can be a fine job." All Might bent down again, preparing to launch. He made one last side-lunge and Izuku launched himself at his hero just as he blasted off. Crying out in desperation, but his hands slipped past All Might's baggy pants and he wasn't able to get a firm hand-hold.

After a moment of watching the hero fly away, Izuku fell to his knees and broke down into tears. After all these years of hoping, dreaming to become a hero and it was all dashed by a single answer to a question.

"What is there even left for me…"

—

He saw it on the news that night, the villain that had attacked him had seemingly escaped the confines of All Might's temporary prison. He had come across the three boys from Izuku's school and had a go at suffocating Kacchan. It was the same as when the villain had attacked Izuku, only this time, Kacchan's explosions were destroying the surrounding buildings and holding the heroes off as well.

Holding the populace away from the fighting were a few heroes including, but not limited to, Death Arms, Kamui Woods and Mount Lady.

Do you see this, All Might? Even with their powerful quirks and their training, they can't do anything more than I could have done. It's not a question of quirks if they won't even try to save Kacchan; it's a question of whether or not the hero will go through the effort of fighting to save him. It's no about winning the fight; it's about sacrificing your own safety to get civilians and people who can't defend themselves to safety. Something that those heroes aren't doing at all.

The villain was thrashing around in the alleyway where he had attacked Kacchan and his friends. Nobody could get anywhere close to the combat thanks to the combination of the liquid villain and the Kacchan's explosions. Not that any of the heroes were really trying very hard to get close. They were occupying themselves by holding off the people who had stopped by to watch or get some firsthand photos for whatever news outlet they worked for.

Izuku could understand that most of them didn't have much that they could do against this particular combination of quirks, but they could have at least tried to help in some way. It wasn't like they couldn't touch Kacchan and try to pull him away from the villain. Mount Lady wasn't even getting within a block of the destruction.

It wasn't looking good for Kacchan, but Izuku knew that All Might was likely on his way and would show up and fix the problem at hand.

Of course, as soon as All Might showed up, it only took a single, all-powerful punch to obliterate the villain and free Kacchan. The air pressure from All Might's fist blew the villain apart, scattering them all over the alleyway. The change in air pressure even caused the evaporated water in the air from the fires to condense into clouds and develop into a sudden downpour. It would surely be a pain for whoever would be responsible to collect and reassemble the villain.

Izuku watched the television bitterly as, in the chaotic time after the fight, the heroes visibly praised and congratulated Kacchan on his courage and tenacity in fighting off the villain. All Might, meanwhile, faced the media and proclaimed the value of the "brave and noble heroes who protect the innocent, even when danger blocks their way."

Izuku searched his room for the clicker, ready to turn the television off. He didn't want to listen to All Might praise the "brave" men and women who fought the good fight. The news program kept playing as he searched, but he couldn't find the clicker.

He threw back the sheets from his bed, nothing.

He dug around in the cushions of the chair in the corner of his room, nothing.

When he went over to his desk, however, his hands froze over his old hero-costume designs. Tuning out the television's noise, he opened the notebook. Inside, there were costume ideas from way back in his early years of school. The older ones bore designs just like All Might. He wouldn't have needed many support items if he had developed a quirk as strong as the number one hero. As he flipped through the book, though, the designs became more realistic, attuned to someone who didn't have a quirk. They were designed with Izuku in mind.

Glancing down, he noticed the lighter his father had given him a few years ago for his birthday, not that he was around much, especially nowadays. Izuku grabbed the lighter and held it up to the notebook but paused before he lit it. He set both items down, and, gripping the notebook securely, tore out the last page he had filled out. The page was covered with notes and ideas regarding possible support items that would render him able to keep up with some of the other heroes.

He set the page down, and then proceeded to burn the rest of the notebook. As it burned, he held it by the open window to let the smoke out, and when he couldn't hold it anymore, lest it burn his fingers, he tossed it out. It fluttered sadly as it fell in wide, swooping arcs, and when it landed in the street two stories down, it was little more than ash.

He returned to his final design and finally became aware that the television was still playing. All Might was just finishing up his interview with some sort of speech to the gathered fans.

"...fought with me today. But remember folks, young and old, heroes and those who aspire to be one, it is not one's strength and prowess in battle that makes the hero, it is the willingness to fight to protect others that makes one worthy of being called a hero!"

Izuku's heart clenched as he heard All Might. He could have even been calling out to Izuku directly, taunting him, and saying to the, mostly super-powered, public that anyone could be a hero if only they were willing to try. But to Izuku's face, All Might had laughed at the very idea.

Izuku clenched his fist and crumpled the final design he had made for if he was to be a hero and tossed it in the trash. He found the clicker and shut the television down. Izuku glared around the room, every grinning face of All Might taking on a new light as they seemed to sneer down at him.

Izuku leaped at the closest poster, tearing it down and ripping it into dozens of pieces. He glared feverishly around the room, a manic gleam in his eyes and his chest rising and falling in quick, panting breaths. He flew around the room and repeated the process until the only All Might left intact in the room was the mannequin in the corner.

Making his way across the room, he clenched his fist tighter, his fingernails drawing thin trails of blood over his palms. When he reached the mannequin he threw his fist in the strongest punch he had ever thrown; nevertheless, the mannequin just bounced back and whacked him in the face. After he had blinked the spots out of his vision, he looked back at the unharmed All Might mannequin.

"Izuku?" the confused, slightly frightened voice of his mother sounded by the door, behind Izuku. "What happened? What are you doing?"

"M — Mom?" Izuku's voice was cracking around the edges as he strode shakily away from the mannequin and over to where his mother stood in the doorway before he wrapped her in a huge hug. "I — I don't want to become a hero like All Might…"

Tears were streaming down his face by this point, dripping from his chin and soaking the back of his mother's blue and white shirt.

"Baby? What happened?"

"He said — he said that I could never be a hero like him, and just now said that the quirk didn't make the hero."

"Baby," she croaked out, her own tears almost audible, "I'm sure that's not what he meant."

"But it is. He said that I couldn't be a hero but he also said that it didn't matter what someone's quirk was so long as they tried to help. I won't become a hero like him, I see now that I need to make the title of hero one that is earned through sacrifice. I can't win it through beating up villains. I won't stand up for the little guys like me, there are enough heroes around to do that." he spat out the word "hero" like it was a rotten bit of fish. "I'll teach each and every one of us that we can stand up for ourselves. We can be our own heroes."

They stayed there, locked together in an embrace for a while before Izuku spoke up again quietly,

"I won't be a hero like him."

They were both silent again for a moment. Both of them were quivering with their sobs. Izuku had tears running down his cheeks and his breathing was shaky. His mother, for her part, was worriedly stroking his back in circles, trying to alleviate the emotional pain her son was working through.

Izuku looked up over his mother's shoulder at the one poster in his room that didn't depict All Might in all his glory. It was an image of a man holding a basketball with the quote,

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." Underneath the quote was the name Tim Notke.

"I'll be better."