Izuku chuckled fondly at his brother's antics in class.
About a year and a half had passed since he and Katsuki brought up Izuku's rage-fueled outburst, and the latter had made great strides in controlling his power and temper. He wasn't perfect by any means; that took much more time than they had, but he had gotten good enough to keep the bullies at Aldera in line without going over said line himself.
Of course, such training didn't just hone his ability to suppress his chi and control his emotions. Training in raw strength and chi techniques with his father resulted in Izuku needing a new wardrobe that better fit his physique and handled his bursts of power when he slipped up. That was nothing to say about how far his technical skill had come during sparring sessions between him and Katsuki, though, and the two against the elder Saiyan. Katsuki was confident they could compete with less-experienced heroes and legacy children their age.
That same cocky attitude brought Katsuki and Izuku to where they were now, the former standing atop his desk and proclaiming that he and Izuku would be the only ones to make it into the heroics industry out of their entire class.
Izuku floated up to Katsuki – such a common occurrence at Aldera now that nobody batted an eyelash anymore when he decided to just not use his legs – and flicked him in the back of the head, earning him an indignant squawk and a venom-less glare for his effort.
"Don't get too worked up there, Kacchan. We're not in it to 'break into the industry,' right?"
Katsuki stared at the half-Saiyan before sighing with a small, genuine smile. "Yeah, yeah, it's to fuckin' save people, I know."
"Good," Izuku replied triumphantly while floating back to his seat, letting his blonde best buddy get down on his own.
Their teacher cleared his throat to regain the attention of the class. "Alright, settle down, everyone! Let's get back to the lesson now."
He hid his smirk at the collective groan by facing the whiteboard as he began writing.
/
"What do you need from us, Mr. Kawahara?"
Katsuki looked out the window with an annoyed glint in his eye. He had a feeling what their stupid brown-noser of a teacher wanted from them.
Their teacher cleared his throat, prompting Katsuki to face him now. "I won't keep you long, boys; You two must be busy with your hero preparations."
Katsuki narrowed his eyes and leaned toward Kawahara. "Yeah, we are, so make it snappy, teach!"
Before he could add any insults, Katsuki was pulled back by Izuku, who just shook his head with a small smile. Katsuki crossed his arms and grunted.
"Er, yeah…" Kawahara continued, standing up and giving the two boys a quick bow. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank both of you for helping the school's environment. Since you two enrolled in our school, we've had the lowest rates of bullying and bullying-related incidents!"
Izuku scratched the back of his head with another smile. "N-no worries, Mr. Kawahara, it's what heroes would do!"
Anyone else would have seen Izuku's smile and words as nervous humility, but Katsuki knew better. He knew his brother's tells more than his brother himself did. That was a strained, annoyed smile. His voice was similarly strained, wanting to leave the situation.
Katsuki just growled out a response, leveling an unamused glare at the teacher, who stiffened. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Are we good to go now?"
Not wanting to receive any more of the blonde's ire, Kawahara nodded without a word, gesturing to the open door for the both of them.
"See you tomorrow, Mr. Kawahara!" Izuku said with little enthusiasm as he walked out behind Katsuki.
Once out of earshot, the explosive teen wrapped an arm protectively around his green-haired brother. "I never thought the fucking loser would shut up. You good, Izu?"
Izuku nodded with a sigh that left his body more relaxed. "I hate those kinds of empty words…"
"It's infuriating, is what it is!" Katsuki barked. "We've stopped so much bullying just because they're afraid of us beating them up. It'll rise again once we get to U.A."
Izuku nodded as they exited the building. "They don't do anything to stop these bullying cases; they just let us handle it and call the problem solved."
Katsuki playfully slapped Izuku's back with a cackle. "Maybe we need to bully the staff; that'll make them do their godsdamned jobs!"
Izuku chuckled. "I know you'd looove to do that, Kacchan, anything to get your hands dirty."
"Can you blame me?" Katsuki raised an accusatory brow that Izuku suspiciously avoided looking at. "Considering you and Uncle 'Sashi bulldoze me even when I use my quirk. You don't even need to use your chi!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Kacchan."
"Whatever, let's just get to Takoba before the sun starts to set."
Before Izuku could reply, he felt a change in the air and turned to the manhole cover.
/
Dammit! How did I let him escape? Toshinori thought as he coughed into his fist as he sped through Mustafu's sewage system.
Toshinori Yagi, otherwise known as Japan's – and the world's – top hero All Might, had been out grabbing groceries when a villain made of sludge ran by with bills of money trailing behind.
Despite him running out of time and being off-duty, he immediately transformed using One For All and gave chase after the villain. Unfortunately, even with Gran Torino's… brutal training, nobody is immune to the folly of hubris. When he went to grab the slimy criminal, the villain squirmed out of his grasp and into the sewage underneath the city.
Toshinori just barely saw where the villain rose out of the system. Panic shot down his spine as he heard desperate shouting and pushed himself further. He jumped up, slamming his fist against the manhole cover and sending it into the air as he landed above the uncovered hole, ready to face the sludge villain.
"HAVE NO FEAR, CITIZENS, FOR I–"
His universally-calming catchphrase was cut short as an enraged shout shook the entire block, knocking even Toshinori himself off his feet and onto his ass and cracking the archway he was under. Looking at where the sound originated, his eyes understandably widened in disbelief.
A green-haired teen had apparently been the voice of the shout, given the fact that he was the one standing. He was posed with an open hand held out toward the villain now splattered against the wall. His eyes held a controlled yet blazing fury, teeth bared as he panted, and his uniform unkempt.
On his hands and knees, right next to the greenette, was a blonde wearing the same uniform with specks of sludge spotting it. His reddened face gave credence to Toshinori's assumption as he was panting much more heavily.
Neither boy noticed the veteran hero as the green one found two empty bottles. In the span of only a couple moments, he held two sludge-filled bottles in hand.
Toshinori thinks he should be forgiven for being shocked, especially considering the boy seemed to have a quirk relating to his monkey-like tail that was swishing around angrily.
Finally breaking out of his stupor, Toshinori simply cleared his throat, properly gaining the attention of both boys. Unfortunately, he was once again surprised as the young man with bottles in his hands suddenly appeared directly in front of him with an ecstatic grin plastered on his face: a stark contrast to the venomous glare not a minute prior.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod ALL MIGHT!" The greenette muttered excitedly.
Taking a few seconds to gather his bearings, Toshinori put his All Might mask back on and gave a boisterous laugh, ruffling the hair of the fanboy. "Yes, young man, I am here! And I see you've… contained the villain I was chasing, too!"
By this point, the blonde teenager finally collected himself and ran up behind his greener companion sporting a similar fanboyish grin, although much more aggressive-looking due to his wild red eyes.
The other teen looked down at the bottles in his hands, and his demeanor shifted to a much more humble one. He raised them up for All Might to take. "S-sorry, All Might, he was attacking Kacchan, and I didn't know any heroes were around. I just did what I could to help him."
All Might's smile grew slightly and appeared more genuine as he took the bottles from him and placed them in his pockets before ruffling his hair with a soft chuckle. "Don't worry, young…?"
"Oh, Izuku Midoriya, All Might, sir!"
"Have no fear, young Midoriya! You aren't in trouble! Even if I had made it in time – and I am truly sorry for not arriving until he had already attacked your friend – self-defense and good samaritan laws would have protected your actions!"
He then looked around the general vicinity, noting the arch and the road around them had cracked. "I would try to reign in your power next time, though."
Young Midoriya had the decency to look a bit embarrassed at the damage his shout caused. "Usually, I can control my temper and chi output, but when the villain attacked Kacchan, I lost it."
The blonde teen – Kacchan, All Might's mind supplied, though he suspected that was just a nickname – placed a hand on young Midoriya's shoulder. "It was a fucking villain attacking someone you care about! Of course, you're gonna lose your shit."
"Your friend is right, Young Midoriya!" All Might continued. "I wouldn't use such colorful language exactly, but he is correct that it's understandable your control would slip the first time or few you experience these incidents. Do you two plan to be heroes?"
Both boys smiled widely once again and nodded so fast All Might was concerned their heads would fall off.
"Yes, sir!" Young Midoriya excitedly proclaimed. "We plan to be the best hero team we can be!"
It appeared the blonde had an epiphany before the hero could respond as he grabbed a notebook and a pen from young Midoriya's… wait where the hell did he even have that?
"Hey, All Might! Could you sign the nerd's notebook for us before he forgets until it's too late?" Apparently, this had happened before with other heroes considering how Young Midoriya looked away with a blush.
All Might simply gave another signature laugh and took the notebook and pen in hand, signing one page for Young Midoriya.
He stopped for a second and looked at the blonde. "Who should I make yours out to, young man? I assume you don't want 'Kacchan' in your signature?"
"The name's Katsuki Bakugou, sir," Katsuki answered with restrained enthusiasm.
"Very well, young Bakugou!" All Might quickly signed another page, realizing he could barely write out two signatures in the same time young Midoriya took to scoop up the sludge villain.
All Might didn't notice, but Izuku caught a minute twinge in the hero's smile. His eyes narrowed slightly, wondering what was wrong, but he lost that thought when All Might returned the notebook.
Young Midoriya's wide fanboy grin returned as he bowed over and over excitedly. "Thank you so so so so much, All Might!"
All Might nodded, internally amused by young Midoriya's quick-shifting in demeanor and young Bakugou's facade of "cool." Fans always sincerely warmed his heart.
The pro turned around, back facing the two as he crouched down. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I must bring this villain to the police. I'll be keeping an eye on you two as you start your journey to be heroes! FAREWELL, CITIZENS!"
As he said goodbye, All Might rocketed into the sky and quickly disappeared over the horizon, leaving the two boys in awe.
/
After being unnecessarily fretted over by both their parents following the incident, Bakugou found himself and Izu once again at Takoba Beach that evening. It had been a few weeks since they started training and cleaning up the beach.
Thankfully the city gave permission to use their quirks on the beach. It would've been a nightmare if they were caught training without permits. Cleaning the beach was something Izu had planned on doing anyway, so having that as the caveat for being allowed to do quirk training was no issue. It'll help build strength and endurance, Katsuki thinks.
The two almost immediately began sparring once they cleaned up the required trash. They had until the sun set over the horizon, so they probably had about twenty minutes to wallop one another.
…or rather, Izu walloped him while tanking his own attacks.
On the bright side, it helps Izu with his chi control, raising and suppressing his power dynamically, and it helps him with large explosions. Another bright side is it lets them both work on maneuverability.
Using chi to just fly for as long as he wanted felt absurdly broken to Katsuki since the half-breed could already shrug off fucking energy blasts, never mind bullets, and could shake a lot of shit up just by screaming.
In either case, it still helped Katsuki at the end of the day, so he didn't care much. Explosion could still do things Izu's chi couldn't.
For example, he could stun his foes with concussive force from a concentrated, explosive clap. Yeah, Izu could do that, but it was limited to his higher chi output, and it was a spherical, non-discriminatory attack. Katsuki, by contrast, could focus it in a single direction or a small wave.
This was especially fun when Izu tried to fly out of range and was instead met with an invisible force and sand in his face for his troubles.
"Fuck you, Kacchan." Izuku groaned as he got up.
Fucking hilarious.
Today continued to get weirder, though, as Izuku whipped his head to the beach's entrance. Katsuki followed Izu's confused expression to see a tall, gaunt man watching from the bench with a surprised smile. Upon being noticed, his expression grew flustered as he got up and walked over. Both boys kept on their guard, though something seemed familiar about him.
"S-sorry for watching like that, young men. I wondered who was cleaning up the beach and came to see if I'd find the ones responsible." He flashed them a disarming smile, keeping enough distance to pacify them.
While Izu relaxed, Katsuki noticed the tension still in his shoulders and kept on his own guard, though he took a more relaxed pose. "Yeah, we got permission to use our powers to train as long as we cleaned up the place." He kicked a can in front of his feet closer to the dump the city supplied them with. "Illegal as shit, but we can't do anything about it except clean it up."
The tall golden-haired stranger – those bangs seem familiar – looked wistfully to the beach's horizon. "I remember coming here all the time. It's a shame that people thought it was okay to turn it into a glorified dumping center."
Katsuki glanced at Izu, who had relaxed by this point, so he followed suit.
Not receiving a response from either boy, the man continued. "Thank you both for your contribution to the community. Maybe someday I'll be able to return to this beach and relax like the good old days."
Izu replied first. "It's no problem, sir! We're just doing what heroes would do. Clearing the trash is good for training, too."
The man raised his eyebrows in surprise, though Katsuki knew better. The wrinkles from the expression were indicative of faking it. "Still, I'm sure many hero hopefuls in the neighborhood haven't tried. You two are actually doing it, though. I think you two will make fine heroes with your attitudes!"
As the man flashed a smile and an approving thumbs-up, Katsuki noticed it. Izu did as well if his genuinely surprised expression was anything to go by. The blonde hair, the bangs, that damned smile.
Is this man fucking All Might?! Could his quirk be a transformation type?
The two boys schooled their expressions while the man they suspected to be the Number One Hero still had his eyes closed with his smile. When he opened his eyes to continue, the surprise and suspicion on their faces disappeared.
"I should probably get going; it's getting dark. I should grab some dinner."
The two teens nodded, Izu giving the man a small smile while Katsuki grunted.
After exchanging goodbyes, Izu leaned in and whispered. "You noticed it too, right?"
Katsuki nodded in response. "Is his chi the same?"
Izu replied in kind. "It's exactly the same, just much smaller. It's weird, though… I can just barely feel multiple signatures within his chi."
Katsuki froze and stared at his brother. "What?"
Izu shrugged and narrowed his eyes. "I can feel seven other energies mixing with his. It's very faint, but it's there. I've never felt this kind of energy before. Should we ask Dad?"
Katsuki hummed. "Probably. Either All Might has a much weirder quirk than anyone thought, or this man is a very convincing impostor."
Izu lightly shoved him with a knowing smirk. "I know what I felt, Kacchan; That's definitely All Might. I doubt he's trying to impersonate him if it's not All Might. That's practically asking to wind up in trouble."
/
Toshinori smiled as he entered his apartment. To think the boys from the sludge villain incident were behind the cleanup effort at Takoba, too! They even managed to get approval to use their quirks for cleaning and training! He's sure most would look the other way if they didn't get city approval, but the fact they went above and beyond like that told Toshinori even more about these boys' heroic spirits.
He pulled out his phone and dialed an old friend to update him.
"Hello, Toshinori!" A jovial voice sounded on the other end of the line. "It's quite late for you, isn't it? I hope you're not calling because of something bad!"
"Of course not, sir," Toshinori replied. The principal's voice never ceased to put him on edge and at ease. "I'm calling because I think my search is over."
"Oh? Do tell, have you found a successor already?" Nedzu asked.
"I believe I've found two perfect candidates. I can only hope one of them says yes."