'I can't breathe!'

"Grab all you want, my body's made of fluid." A middle school student was having a villain shove themselves down his throat. He'd decided to take an alternate route home so he didn't run into any of his bullies. But that quickly backfired when a villain made of sludge, shot out of the sewer and chose the young boy as his 'body suit'.

This young man was commonly referred to as Deku in place of his real name, Izuku, in part due to the fact he was Quirkless. The lack of meta ability that came as the next stage of human evolution and 80% of the population possess.

"Just a little longer and this will all be over, really you're my hero." the sludge villain mocked but his voice turned to annoyance, he was in a rush. "I didn't know he would be in this city. I'll need to be quick so he doesn't track me down." the boy's body highjacker groaned, but his mind was preoccupied with staying conscious, his hopes dwindling that someone would save him until...

"Oh, so he is in this city? Intriguing, I knew I could sense him."

Both Izuku and the villain's attention went to the end of the underpass where a man had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. This voice was Izuku's saving grace, he was lightheaded due to the lack of oxygen and on the verge of passing out. So, he could only make out a few details. Standing there was a tall man in a suit and a hat, the light at the end of the tunnel making it impossible to see his facial features. Izuku barely made out a mask over the lower part of his face, connecting to a floating device.

The Sludge Villain was ready to attack the stranger, but the man simply raised his hand and suddenly a large gust of wind was sent towards Izuku and the boy's attacker, breaking the sludge apart but the force was enough to knock both of them out.

When Izuku came to, he instantly felt something being pulled out of his throat, he shot up and began to throw up, most of it was sludge though. After hacking up what was left of the villain, and his lunch, he saw something move into his peripheral, a bottle of water. "Take deep breathes, and use this to wash out your mouth my boy." The voice of the man who saved him spoke. Izuku followed the man's instructions before turning to his savior. He saw him sitting up against the wall, on leg outstretched and his arm sitting on the medical device, his other leg bent with his other arm resting on it... He also found the man was in fact not bald. The majority of his head was taken up by scar tissue, from his upper lip up. He had no hair, nose, ears, or eyes, and the only thing alluding to eyes were indentations where they should've been.

Izuku was of course shocked, but in a world filled with superpowers, it wasn't all that surprising, but still unsettling nonetheless.

"E-erm. T-thank you for saving me s-sir." Izuku stuttered out.

"It's no probl-" his sentence got cut off when he began coughing. After clearing his throat, he finished his sentence "It's no problem my boy."

Was this man sick? How did he get that injury, or was it just part of the man's quirk? What kind of villain would he have had to fight for it to be that? Was the medical machine he was carrying essential so he didn't die? Wait, the machine was floating, so how did he make that wind pressure? What kind of quirk did he have? Or-

"You're muttering my boy?"

Izuku panicked and quickly bowed. "I'm so sorry!" He apologized profusely; the man just told him it was fine. "Um. I-if you don't mind me asking... b-but are you a retired h-hero by any chance?" He nervously asked, assuming the scar tissue was due to an injury during a villain attack. Yet the man only chuckled and began having another coughing fit. Izuku grabbed the bottle of water and offered it to the man but he raised his hand and declined.

The man could maybe see where the boy got the idea from: he did save the boy from being turned into a bodysuit, and he himself was quite old. "No my boy. It's quite the opposi-" The man's sentence was interrupted when a new arrival leapt out of the sewer.

"Have no fear for you are safe. Why? Because I am-"

"Late." the man next to Izuku interrupted.

The person now entering the scene was none other than All Might, the no.1 hero, and the man Izuku had spent most of his life idolizing, was now standing right there in front of him. In all honestly, if it weren't for the fact he would be dead had the still unnamed man not shown up, then he'd definitely be nerding out.

"My apologies, usually I'm better at keeping civilians safe, but the sewers in this city are pretty hard to navigate! AHAHAHA!" All Might exclaimed. "Anyway, who took down the villain?"

Izuku gestures to the man next to him, "O-oh! Um, Mr. ... I'm sorry I d-don't know your name."

All Might was taken aback by the man's appearance, more specifically the heavily scarred face. "I-I see. If you wouldn't mind me saying you look like you need medical attention. If you'd like once we gather this sludge, we can help you to a nearby hospital." All Might offered, even though he felt something off about the stranger. The man just declined the offer assuring despite his appearance he was fine. Although accepting the man's assurance, something still felt off but he wasn't quite sure what it could be. The feeling he got around was oddly familiar, but why? It didn't help feeling pain from his injury, he'll have to be done quickly. "Young man, would you mind helping me gather this Villian?"

"O-of course!" Izuku sputtered out, quickly helping his idol collect the sludge. When they were done the villain was miraculously contained within just a soda bottle, 'This doesn't look secure at all.' Izuku thought, thinking of the possibility the villain might and/or will escape.

"Anyway, thank you, young man! But now I must get going" All might began stretching to jump off.

"W-wait, I still have something to ask you..." Izuku trailed off. The stranger encouraged the young man to speak up. "C-can someone without a quirk b-become a hero?!" that question stopped the pro in his tracks even the man who has now gotten up looked surprised.

"Well, this certainly is interesting." The stranger spoke up first. All Might didn't say anything. "It's been a long time since I've met someone who's quirkless... Cat got your tongue All Might?" He turned to the hero.

Hearing his name being said mockingly made the Hero flinch. What was he supposed to say? Yes? In the current society, quirkless are considered obsolete, fragile, worthless even disabled. Even if he did make it into a hero school, he would face a lot of discrimination just for being different. Saying yes may just send the young man to an early grave. But saying no could crush him, he probably faces bullying a lot, so his answer may be the literal, last nail in the coffin. His jaw just hung ajar, not entirely sure what to say.

The boy fidgeted with his notebook in hand, almost squirming and his idol's gaze. To say he was both nervous and uncomfortable would be an understatement. He wanted to help others, but no one, even his own mother, believed in him. He was useless as far as they were concerned. All Might's silence was becoming unbearable, and he wasn't the only one that thought as much.

"Oh for goodness sake, it's not that hard Yagi, It's a simple yes or no. If you're just going to stand there maybe I should answer." The suited man spoke, his smile showed his grinding teeth through his oxygen mask.

"S-sorry, I spaced out there for a mome-" All Might froze, his head turned to the man in an almost mechanical manner. His voice shook, "W-wait. W-what did you s-say?"

"I said that I would answer the question if you didn't. I know I took your stomach, but did your memory also go with it? Then again you always did 'Smash' first, and think later, if memory serves." The man's smile contorted to a malicious grin.

Izuku's head whipped around, hoping he had sludge still in his ears. He mentally freaked out.'W-what did he s-say?!' The pressure the man now gave off was crushing, Izuku felt like he was going to die.

"I-I thought I beat you!" All Might's voice trembled, something the fanboy had never heard from the Symbol of Peace, he was actually terrified. "A-All For One"

The stare-down was interrupted by a stuttering Izuku, "W-w-what-s going o-on here?!" he mentally panicked 'These two clearly know each other, and if All Might was this scared of this man then he must be very powerful.'

"Young Man! Leave now as fast as you can." All Might ordered, but the young man was frozen in fear. He couldn't move. His body refused his will to get as far away as he could.

But before the situation could be escalated the now-named All For One raised his free hand. "Oh, please let's not get ahead of ourselves. We're both old here."

"Don't give me that crap All For One!" The Blonde furiously spat.

"Do you honestly think I would know you were here? Would I honestly show up with this if I wanted to kill you?" he stated, patting the machine by his side. The hero just stood silent, he had a point. All For One turned to the trembling Middle Schooler. "I apologize my boy, you're probably confused, I guess we should be honest with you. Right, All Might?"

Izuku's eyes darted towards the No.1 hero who didn't disagree, so he turned his attention back towards 'All For One'. "To answer your earlier question. No, I'm not a retired hero, but a villain. Tell me, are you familiar with 'The Merchant of Quirks'?"

"We'll, yes, but some fairy tales are based on reality. I'm the true story of that myth." The man proclaimed, watching the young boy almost squirm under his gaze. "My Quirk, [All For One], is reputed as the most exalted meta ability to exist. With it, I can take someone's Quirk and use it as my own. Alternatively, I can take stolen quirks and give them to others."

"You're muttering again my boy." the suited man pointed out.

"O-oh! S-sorry." said boy apologized, but both the symbols of Peace and Evil noticed him flinching instantly.

All For One turned to his supposed enemy. "I suggest you drop this form for your real one. Don't you think All Might?" He asked.

The boy looked to the mentioned hero for some kind of response. But instead of saying anything, he sighed as he went up in a puff of smoke. When the smoke dispersed it revealed a very different-looking man.

Izuku began freaking out at the No.1's deflation. Something that clearly amused the now standing All For One, if the large grin on his face was anything to go by. He then gestured to the skeleton to speak.

"Okay before I can answer any questions, let's go back to your first one." He referred to the question of being a hero without a quirk. "But before I do, let me ask you. What does being a hero mean to you?"

Before the boy could answer, they heard a car screeched to a halt nearby, and out from it stepped three people.

The first was a man with short black hair, he wore a tan overcoat and matching hat, underneath which he wears a black suit and tie.

The next was an extremely short, elderly man with heavy wrinkles and a scrawny build. His hair was grey and spiked with some bangs hanging forward and a beard. He wore a white full-body suit along with a yellow cape, a belt with the letter "G" on it, very thick yellow gloves and boots, and a dark domino mask.

The last was another short man with a scar over his right eye. He appeared to be a combination of several animals, namely a dog, mouse and bear, making him a chimera. He sported a white dress shirt, a dark red tie, a black waistcoat and matching dress pants.

"Well, it would appear the cavalries arrived." All For One joked. "Gran Torino, it would seem you've gotten even shorter, now what did I tell you about these pastries"

"Cut the crap All For One! We got Toshinori's distress signal." The elder man growled at the villain.

All For One gave Toshinori a look that said "seriously", with the said man rubbing the back of his neck. All For One cleared his throat, "Well whether you want to believe it or not, I'm not actually here to fight if my current state is anything to go by.

"Tsukauchi?" Nezu asked the detective.

"He's telling the truth." The detective confirmed. That didn't stop the Gran Torino from glaring daggers at the villain.

"Fortunately for you. What would the three of you even do to me? Especially as All Might has already reached his time limit." All For One asked, the three seemed to get a little embarrassed having not planned far ahead.

"W-wait, is that because of you're i-injury All Might?" the middle schooler asked. Izuku was met with looks of utter shock and All Might coughed up blood. Hell, even the veteran villain seemed to be caught off guard. Tsukauchi and Gran Torino only now notice the presence of the young boy while Nezu just smiled at the boy.

"My apologies for not addressing you earlier, but if you wouldn't mind me asking, how you came to know of All Might injury as it is supposed to be a government secret?" The mouse? Dog? Bear? asked the young man.

Having all eyes on him was definitely nerve-racking, but he did his best to stutter out and answer. "W-well, a few months after his fight with Toxic Chainsaw five years ago he d-disappeared for a few months. The Hero Commission released a statement that he went on an undercover mission... but u-um..." Izuku pointed at the now Small Might as both All For One and Gran Torino stifled their laughs, Nezu continued to smile, Tsukauchi just shook his head while smirking, and All Might sulked.

"After his "undercover mission," he began to spend less and less time doing hero work, dropping to six hours, four and a half, and recently about three if we're lucky. On some hero forums, people speculated that maybe he was trying to slowly get other heroes to pick up the slack because he's been doing hero work for about 35 years at this point. So people questioned if retirement was in the question soon, but after I watched various fights it became clear that wasn't all. He became more protective about taking hits to his left side. So I figure that he must have gotten injured and was keeping it secret from the public didn't lose faith in heroes who-"

Izuku immediately shut his mouth as he could feel five sets of eyes on him, he shakily looked up to four mortified expressions and All For One smiling like an idiot. "My boy, you're right on the money."

The boy did clarify that he kept this to himself so as to not potentially cause trouble earning a sigh of relief from for of the men.

'The fact this young man figured all of this out from publicly available information isn't good. We should all be glad this was never released any of this to anyone or it would lead to lots of trouble.' Nezu mentally thanked that the boy kept his deductions to himself.

"Jeez kid, you got some kind of detective quirk?" Torino questioned.

Hearing that Izuku tensed up. "E-erm, no. I-I'm actually Quirkless," He spoke in a low voice, clearly a little uncomfortable about the joke.

"I see. Sorry for bringing it up kid." Torino said with the young man telling him it was okay.

"I'm sorry I forgot to ask, but could I ask what's your name?" Tsukauchi asked.

"O-oh! I'm Izuku Sh-"

BOOM!

Izukus's reply was interrupted by a large explosion coming from the distance. All For One turned to All Might and "looked" at him for a moment before speaking up. "All Might, the Villain?" All Might looked to his pocket and saw a capless soda bottle without the villain.

"Crap."

Author's Note: So this is my first time posting a fic on this site, so I'm not the most confident in how well this fic may be received. I've been posting on both AO3 and Wattpad, and it has been doing well in my opinion, so I decided to try cross-posting here too.

This is my first fic and I'm still relatively new to this so if there are things that either don't make sense or mistakes then that's oversite on my part.

But please, any criticism that can help me improve is welcome, I hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!