When he woke up next, Takuma felt like he was trying to catch smoke with his bare hands. A fruitless attempt... until he actually succeeded. Something was wrong with him. For a while now, he was only starting to piece it together after the wrongness returned in full force.
Mei was still holding onto him, and he was glad she did, even as he slowly pried her arm from his side until he could stand up from the bed without bringing her with him. He wanted nothing more than to stay close to her; she was warm when everything else was cold. But he had something important to do. He didn't know what yet, he just knew he had to do it. Walking out of the room, he closed the door behind him and headed straight to the kitchen. They had missed dinner because of him; he would make it up to her at breakfast. Or he would try to; his cooking skills could be considered 'good enough' and nothing more.
Pouring himself a glass of water, he downed it in one go before breathing deeply. "All Might."
The word was innocuous, the name of the number one hero. Still, he felt a twinge of irritation, not that he cared much about the man himself. Then why did his mood take a turn for the worse when saying his name?
"Yagi Toshinori," he said next, talking to the void. This time he felt nothing. "I don't even know if anyone knows his real name."
This was something he knew, from the show. Not something he liked to think about. Which meant he needed to dig deeper.
"One For All."
Pronouncing the name of this fateful Quirk for the first time in his life, a need he didn't know existed until now bloomed in his gut.
o-O-o WANT o-O-o
Takuma wanted it like he never ever dared want anything else.
'Not true,' he corrected his own thought, strangely enough. 'He had wanted Mei to fight for him, to break down every argument he had as to why he shouldn't be with her. And she had done it, she had allowed him to be weak and accept her feelings. He still felt guilty for what he did and could only hope she would forgive him for tricking her into caring for him.'
One For All was nothing compared to how much he wanted to be with her. To see her cackling like a gremlin when she succeeded in her experiment or the shape of her love when she looked at him. This was what he wanted; the Quirk barely even registered... until now.
This desire wasn't his own. He would never touch this Quirk with a ten-foot pole, and yet something in him twitched at the idea of taking it, wielding it, and... something else... something he couldn't distinguish the shape of. It was his goal, what he was meant for. But it was obscured, crooked and broken. Forgotten even, if he ever knew what it was in the first place.
His thought experiment continued. "All For One." The word tumbled out of his mouth. A name he hadn't dared utter to anyone, ever.
o-O-o SUBMIT o-O-o
With it came the need to bend, to change. It made his skin crawl as he stopped himself from kneeling.
"So something is definitely wrong with me," he told no one in particular as the wrongness enveloped him, slowly sinking into his thoughts, muddling his mind. "Remember, remember, remembe-o-O-o-"
He blinked, somehow now busy cleaning the counter, still something was wrong. He knew it, how? What was he doing?!
'Remember, remember what?!' he seethed internally, slamming the counter with an open palm in frustration. 'Was Mei doing something to him?'
There was nothing she could do, not to his mind. Her craft was her domain of expertise, mischievous she was. But this was a far cry from what was happening to him, and the ability to Zoom wasn't the best tool to play with his mind.
Where did this all stem from? Mei. Asking him to go to U-o-O-o-A-o-O-o-
It was happening again, his head felt like it was splitting open as he fought whatever was happening to him. It hurt. But it was worth it. SHE was worth it.
"Mei wants me to join U.A." he said out loud, the blood trickling down his nose not lost on him. "Mei-o-O-o-wAnT-o-O-o-"
A whimper escaped him as the splitting headache grew even worse until he felt like begging for mercy. Still, he couldn't stop. There was something there. Something he wanted, a thought, a need. An idea he refused to let go of.
"Mei is going to U.A."
The pain lessened. His girlfriend wasn't the reason for his pain. She was the reason he noticed in the first place. She was the reason he kept going.
"Izuku Midoriya," he whispered, the heir to The Symbol Of Peace. "He's going to be there, at U.A."
o-O-o REMOVE o-O-o
"He's going to bring the villains there, like moths to a flame," he realized. The U.S.J would be the first time All For One struck; it would certainly not be the last. "How long until the fighting spills out to the other courses, the other students?"
Would she be safe there? How long? He couldn't know. His knowledge of the future didn't extend farther than the aftermath of the U.S.J., the first season of the show. The part he learned through his Quirk-induced fit pushing knowledge straight into his thoughts didn't show him anything relevant about the future of the school. Yet.
There was only one way he knew how to keep her safe: it was to be there with her. But doing so wou-o-O-o-he-o-O-o-
o-O-o SUBMIT o-O-o
His eyes were bleeding, Takuma didn't understand why. Did he have a fit? He needed to clean himself off before Mei saw him.
He remembered. "She won't be safe there, not alone."
"I have-o-O-o-...I-o-O-o-...I" his thoughts were muddled, his words barely a whimper as something in his mind tugged, like a fishhook in his brain. Something was tearing apart. "I. HAVE. TO-o-O-o-
o-O-o SUBMIT o-O-o
'NO!' he raged at the violating feeling trying to reap his thoughts from him again. 'SHE WILL BE SAFE!'
"Even if I have to fight All For One myself," Takuma said nUmBly aS sOmEtHiNg iN HiM bRokE.
His eyes opened, one halfway, the other not at all. Crusted-over eyelids weren't fun, and he was glad the sink was close by so he could wash his face off. The cold water was heavenly, and after a few minutes of scrubbing, he looked himself over with a spoon lying on the counter, making sure he hadn't missed a spot. Blinking away the tears in his eyes, he was confused as to what he was doing in the kitchen in the middle of the night. Did he have a fit? There was no one around, and he didn't have any new information seared into his brain, so he doubted it was what had happened to him. He felt floaty, and he realized how much his hands were shaking. Why, he didn't know, and to be honest, he didn't care. He wanted to sleep. So he went back to the bedroom. Mei was still sleeping. He joined her, slipping her arm around him like it was before he...
He didn't know anymore. He was tired. He hugged her close to him and fell asleep. A second later, or what felt like to him, Mei's phone started to vibrate, her alarm aptly named Wake The Dead started to play as his heavy sleeper of a girlfriend started to stir in his arms. Again she squeezed with all her strength before opening her eyes, something he was quickly growing fond of. Takuma hated being cold; Mei was warm. He liked that about her. "Good morning, sleepyhead."
Mei let out an unladylike snort. "Is that your catchphrase in the morning?" she yawned at him.
"Might be," he answered noncommittally. "It's not the worst, I could have greeted you with 'The Gremlinth hath risen!'"
She giggled against him. "Showing you Fred'Ricks was a mistake."
"A good one," he commented as he laid a trail of kisses along her jawline, stopping just short of her lips. "Did you mean it?"
"Did I mean what?" she asked with a small twinge of panic at the sudden turn. He felt guilty for it, he could have worded his question better.
"That you thought I could be a hero."
"Of course!" she jumped right after his last word. "You could do so much with a Quirk like yours, even taking into account the... downside. Imagine what you'd be able to do with the help of a Pro-Hero. The sky is the limit!"
"Okay."
She was floored for a second. "Okay?"
"Yes, if you believe in me, then that's enough for me," he answered boldly, his mind felt clear, and he could actually word his thoughts on the subject for once. "Mei, can you help me study for the written exam?"
She inhaled sharply as somehow her entire body turned into a vibrator. Mei gripped his collar with both hands, bringing him even closer to her. "You mean?!"
"If you think I'd make a good hero, then I'll just have to live up to your expectations and prove you right."
She held on a squeal for half a second before she woman-handled him from side to side on the bed as she shook him with joy. "YesYesYesYesYesYes. Oh, I can make so many babies for you!"
He let her exult for a few more seconds before he grabbed her and pulled her close to him. This time he was the one doing the hugging, and he didn't leave her a second to breathe before he locked lips with her. His tongue ravaged her mouth, dominating her until she was turned into a blushing mess melting in his arms.
"You bring out the best in me. I know there are things I can't do alone, but if you're there, I don't think anything is impossible," he said, his thoughts spilling from his mouth as he brushed an errant lock from her face. "I told you, you make me want things I'm not supposed to want. A cute girlfriend. And now a future. All because of you."
She grabbed both sides of his face and kissed him in turn. It was needy and clumsy yet all the more meaningful. She broke it off after a few more seconds of basking in the feeling. "I love you."
Her words hit him like a truck, and he fumbled his words for a long second before he could reply with what he truly felt. "I love you too," he said, looking her straight in the eye. "We are absolutely running all over how a relationship is supposed to go, but I'm here for it."
"Same, normal is boring," she quickly added with a smile he wanted to remember until the day he died. "If I can't cuddle my cute, loving, hard-working, lip-lovin-"
He cut her off with a kiss in an attempt to stop the creeping blush on his cheek. "Hey, that's my thing," he complained without any heat.
"I am an irredeemable thief," she joked, sticking her tongue out at him.
"How long ago did your alarm ring?" he asked, suddenly hit by the fact.
"Don't know, don't care. Cuddle now!" she demanded, and he obliged.
"Five more minutes, and then we get up."
"Boo!"
He laughed, his mind clear and his goal set. He would keep her safe, and if it meant going against All For One, then so be it. He had spent his whole life hiding from him, running at the merest mention or clue the old monster was near. And Takuma had nothing to show for it. He was done running; it was time to use his knowledge and skill for something that truly mattered. And if he ended up helping a few people along the way, then it couldn't be so bad.
So... my boy has some problems. Probably nothing important.