Remaking

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/28063821.

Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

Gen

Fandom:

僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Relationship:

Midoriya Izuku & Yagi Toshinori | All Might

Character:

Midoriya Izuku, Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Tsukauchi Naomasa

Additional Tags:

Medical Conditions, Medical Jargon, Serious Injuries, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Reality Bending, Midoriya Izuku Has a Healing Quirk, In application at least, he has a reality altering quirk, Toshi Deserves Nice Things, do not add to collections

Collections:

Pure. Unadulterated. Fluff.

Stats:

Published: 2020-12-14 Completed: 2021-03-25 Chapters: 2/2 Words: 7519

Remaking

by Selador

Summary

Toshi runs into a boy who, without much thought or hesitation, heals him of his injuries.

Notes

I just want good things for Toshi, and really, who wouldn't?

I've been listening to a lot of Magnus Archives. The Spiral inspired Izuku's powers in this, but that's all it has to do with this.

Chapter 1

Yagi Toshinori moves to Musutafu almost a full year before All Might begins at UA as a teacher, several months before the announcement is supposed to take place. Toshi has no friends who do not already know his true identity, but there’s always the chance for a neighbor to note the odd coincidence and piece it together.

And plus, he’s been thinking about a change of scenery anyway. It feels appropriate, timely, even, assuming he can find a student at UA to pass down One for All to. He hopes he lasts long enough to fully train his student, whoever they end up being. One for All is a terrible burden to place on anyone, and greater still if Toshi isn’t around to train them.

Nighteye’s email about a promising intern who’s in the middle of his second year at UA remains flagged but unanswered. It’s the first contact he’s had with the man in years. He’s not sure if he’s ready to talk to him again… but he needs a successor. One for All cannot die with Toshi. If Sasaki saw promise in his intern...

He coughs carrying up a box to his new apartment, too unexpectedly to put it down or take out his handkerchief. Some blood splatters on top of the box, and Toshi eyes it in dismay. He hopes it doesn’t get through the cardboard.

The entire moving process takes one trip, with Naomasa’s assistance. His friend called movers for him to get some furniture and medical equipment into the apartment ahead of time. He can’t bring himself to sell his old apartment just yet, so he keeps it for storage. Growing up in a group home makes it difficult to get rid of things, and over the decades he’s accumulated a collection of pro hero merch of his various associates that he can’t bring himself to get rid of. (There are too many who aren’t around anymore.) He also gets free samples of his own merch, which makes for good donations.

Really, the medical equipment takes up the most space. They practically need their own room.

“This is a nice place,” says Naomasa, when they reach the apartment and start unsealing the boxes. “Pretty central. It won’t be too hard to get around.”

“That was the idea,” murmurs Toshi, taking a seat to rest. He watches Naomasa unpack his kitchenware. After a minute he can’t take watching, and he gets up to assist.

It’s harder than it should be, and leaves Toshi out of breath or coughing too often. Naomasa is kind enough not to comment on it.

They’re both called into work before they can finish, and by the time Toshi gets to his new home, he’s forgotten he hasn’t unpacked his bedding yet. Rubbing his face with a tired hand, he picks up the straight razor and unpacks the box with BEDROOM scrawled on it.

As soon as his bed is passably fixed up, Toshi collapses into it. He’s overdone it today. (He always does.)

…

Toshi finds himself nostalgic as he explores Musutafu for the first time since he was a student himself. He meanders to the Takoba Municipal Beach Park, which he knows from word of mouth and news articles has a pollution problem and is no longer the beautiful place of his youth. Knowing this does not prepare him for the experience of seeing it, and he feels his age on a deeper level than his injuries. At long last, he takes out his phone and calls Sasaki.

Sasaki answers immediately. After a moment of silence, he says, “Toshi.”

“Sasaki,” he greets. The beach is absolutely covered in trash. Pollution ended up on shore due to the currents, and no one did anything about it. It was only natural that people would start to take advantage. He wonders how much criminal evidence is hidden on this beach. How many bodies.

All Might isn’t enough. He can’t keep up.

He has to pass on One for All. The sooner the better.

“I wanted to hear more about your intern,” he says. He hears Sasaki take in a deep breath before he speaks.

The conversation only runs smoothly when it’s about Sasaki’s intern, awkward silences filling in the spaces between. On Toshi’s end, he wants so badly for Sasaki to apologize, and thinks that’s what the man is waiting for in return. But what does Toshi have to apologize for? For not stepping down from hero work when Sasaki told him to? If it had been anything else, anything at all, Toshi would have given it up for Sasaki. He can’t give up All Might. Not even for Sasaki.

If he has it his way, he’ll have All Might until he dies.

(There isn’t any other way this can end.)

…

Toshi hesitates. Despite everything--reaching out to Sasaki, agreeing to meet his intern, the encroaching end to his time as All Might draws tight around his neck--he hesitates. Speaking to Sasaki was difficult enough. The prospect of facing him in person is daunting.

(All Might cowers before no foe. But Toshi is barely All Might anymore, and Sasaki has never been his foe. He was his friend, which is in many ways much more frightening.)

He starts to make his way to Nighteye’s agency many times and doesn’t quite make it. There are always easy excuses, as hero work is never truly done. He is trudging his way there once again, getting farther than he has before and Toshi idly thinks that he might as well get this over with when something bowls him over.

Toshi curses, spitting up blood as he coughs. It’s mostly surprise because he hadn’t seen a threat nearby, and he wasn’t prepared for the impact. He can feel his lung bleeding anew as he hacks up the fluid into his arm. He has to stop, he has to see, he has to get it together or it might be too late--!

“Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going and I’m running late and Kacchan yells when I’m late and he’s going to let me take notes on his quirk today so I was looking down at my bag when I should have been looking ahead and I didn’t and I’m so sorry! I’m so so sorry, are you okay? Do you need any help up?”

This isn’t a villain. It’s a teenaged boy, maybe thirteen or perhaps a short fourteen year old, staring at Toshi with wide, guilty eyes. He is inexplicably wearing a shirt that has SHIRT printed on it. Toshi is thankful that his coat is black, so the blood doesn’t show. No need to distress the boy.

“It’s fine, my boy,” he says, allowing the boy to help him up. “It was an accident. But please watch where you’re going, next time.” He affects what he hopes is a stern expression, the one he’s been practicing in his mirror for when he has to teach. The kid at least seems genuinely remorseful and serious, so Toshi thinks it works.

The kid is short, and Toshi wonders if he’s even younger than he initially thought as he looks down at him. The boy pats his hands against his coat to get the dirt off, but it does very little against the smear of dust there.

Toshi tries to wave him away, since he’s fine, but there’s blood in his lung again and instead of reassurances that the boy should go, he doubles over, hacking and coughing.

The boy’s face morphs into alarm, which is exactly what Toshi didn’t want. He can’t speak through this attack, though, so he resigns himself to wasting the boy’s time.

“Here, let me help,” says the boy as he touches Toshi’s shoulder. There’s an disquieting moment of vertigo, but it may very well be due to his coughing and the lack of oxygen. He’s dizzy, but that’s not unusual either.

The small hand leaves his shoulder. “Okay, you should be fine now! Sorry again, I’ve really got to go!” Toshi peers over his arm as the kid darts away, hopefully keeping a better eye in front of him this time. It takes a minute or so for his coughing attack to fade, and it’s all Toshi can do to keep himself away from the gazes of concerned passerbys. There’s nothing quite as wretched as a stranger stopping to help when it’s hopeless.

Even when his coughs die down, Toshi finds himself still dizzy to the point where he leans against the wall of the nearby building. Worry and fear crawls up his throat, but Toshi forces it down. He’s survived worse than this; a child running into him isn’t going to knock him out.

He calms down, but the dizziness doesn’t fade, like he still can’t get enough oxygen. Oh god, what if he fucked up his remaining lung even more with this?

Focus. Control his breathing.

The dizziness remains. If anything, it grows worse. Something is wrong.

Mouth sour with bitterness, Toshi takes out his phone and calls his doctor.

…

His doctor checks Toshi’s chest with a stethoscope before whisking him away for scans. Dr. Saino has been his primary physician since he returned to Japan, and he’s always appreciated her bedside manner. Not even grievous injuries or losing half of his organs caused her to show alarm. Toshi’s not sure if he would have had the will to go on after his fight with All for One if not for Dr. Saino’s pragmatic approach and unruffled exterior.

So her eyes widening in surprise as she listens to his chest, even if slight, is concerning. As is the fact that she orders scans for him immediately.

Toshi’s not sure what else could go wrong in his body that he’d manage to live through, and he genuinely doesn’t want to know.

The scans take a while. Toshi thinks he ought to be used to the wait, but he’s not sure that’s something anyone ever gets used to. After the scans, they take some blood and urine samples as Toshi’s other doctors, the specialists who helped patch him back together again, begin arriving. He resigns himself to a night in the hospital when Dr. Saino tells him that they need more samples to ensure their initial results were correct.

The next day, they take more samples. Toshi has grown to hate needles over the years.

He’s been there for almost a full twenty-four hours when Dr. Saino sits down with him. There’s not a trace of her initial surprise, and Toshi’s nerves feel soothed by the familiar stoicism.

Nerves that are decidedly less soothed when she begins with, “Yagi-san,” and stops. “Did anything happen yesterday?”

“Only that a boy ran into me. He might have used his quirk on me, but I’m not sure what it was.”

“I see,” she says. She hands him a print out of his chest scan. He stares at it, eyes not able to pick out what she wanted him to see. “It appears that you’ve been hit by a powerful healing quirk. Your missing lung, stomach, and kidney have regrown, as well as the missing portions of your liver and digestive tract.”

Toshi stares at the scan, taking it in. “What?”

“You have all of your organs again. Congratulations,” she says, tone flat. In fact, she looks worried. “Is it possible that someone else hit you with a quirk?”

“I don’t--no,” says Toshi. He hadn’t had any other encounters that day, and he clearly felt something wrong after he ran into that boy. It had to be him. “That’s--I’ve never heard of such a strong healing quirk.”

“Neither have I,” agrees Dr. Saino. “Where did you meet this boy?”

Toshi tells her, and asks, “Do quirks like this tend to be… permanent?”

“Healing quirks usually are,” says Dr. Saino. “Unfortunately, we can’t know for sure unless we are able to get into contact with the boy and confirm the details about his quirk.”

“I’ll talk to Tsukauchi,” says Toshi. He stands up, taking in a deep breath with his two lungs. It makes him dizzy. “Does this mean I can eat real food again?”

“I would prefer you maintain your current lifestyle until we know more about this quirk,” she says, “But this is unprecedented. I would advise you to listen to what your body tells you it’s ready for. Losing any organ is a shock to the system, but getting a missing organ back is just as disruptive to your system.” She flips through his thick medical file. “Your dizziness when you came in was likely from too much oxygen, rather than not enough. Your body isn’t used to the oxygen levels a complete set of healthy lungs can provide anymore.”

Toshi takes that in. “You’re kidding.”

“I’m not,” she says. “It may take some time to get used to, so you’ll want to limit your activity as All Might as you have already been doing so the adjustment comes gradually. We’ll have to keep an eye on your liver and kidney levels. There’s a risk your liver will overcompensate given the state your body has been in for the past five years, and overproduce its enzymes. I’m less concerned about your kidney function--having two functioning kidneys shouldn’t mess anything up in your system. Plenty of people get healthy kidney transplants and are fine, and you don’t even need to worry about surgery complications or your body rejecting the organ.”

She taps her pen against her chart, considering. “I want you to continue to log any symptoms you have. It’s difficult to predict how your body will react to having a stomach again, and we’re conducting further tests to see if the organs you have now are new or if they show any age.”

Now that was an odd thought.

Naomasa picks him up from the hospital to give him a ride back to his apartment. His reaction to the news is incredulity.

“That’s a powerful quirk. And you said the kid did it with a touch? I’ve never seen any reports on anything like that,” he says as he drives. “You’d think a healing quirk like that would have made some waves earlier.”

“We can’t be sure it is a healing quirk,” says Toshi. “It could be many things with healing as just one application.”

“Even still,” he insists. “A quirk like that should have been noticed. If it can heal that much damage, we could be looking at the next Recovery Girl. And that kind of healing capability would make the kid at high risk for kidnapping if a villain found him first. If he hasn’t already been found by villains. He did unlicensed quirk usage after all.”

“He’s a kid,” says Toshi, exasperated. “I doubt he thought anything of it.”

Naomasa hums non-committedly. “Once we get to your apartment, I can send out a notice to the local police for the kid. It’ll make finding him a lot faster.”

Toshi frowns. “I’m not pressing charges for unlicensed quirk usage. In fact, I’d like to thank him.”

“I know, I know. I’ll make it clear that our interest is for protective reasons, and not related to a crime. But we still need this to be quick. We don’t know if this quirk has a time limit, or any unusual side effects. The sooner we find this kid the sooner we can prepare.”

He’s right, of course. Toshi doesn’t like the idea of the kid falling into the wrong hands. And he really wants to be able to thank him in person.

…

Hope is a tentative, unfamiliar beast, so Toshi prepares himself a meal the same way he has for the past several years. Not quite ready to push his luck and not quite ready to believe that his body is actually healed.

He hears in the background Naomasa put in a call to his contacts as he cooks them a simple meal, but only half-listens. “We’re looking for a teenaged boy who potentially has a healing quirk capable of regrowing entire organs with a touch. Have you happened to have heard of anyone with a quirk like that? … That’s alright. No, he’s not in any trouble. He actually helped someone, but we need to get in touch with him. … I’m glad you understand. The boy we’re looking for is approximately between thirteen to fifteen, short, wavy green hair, freckles, and green eyes.”

Toshi swivels around when he hears Naomasa gasp. “What?” Their eyes meet, and he takes the phone away from his ear and puts it on speaker.

“--oh my god, that’s Midoriya Izuku. I didn’t know he had a healing quirk.”

Naomasa frowns, face tense. Toshi feels unsettled as well. It’s a bad sign if the police are already familiar with the boy. “You know who I’m describing?”

Toshi turns off the stove top fan to hear better. “Yeah, that’s the Midoriya kid. I’m sure of it. He and his friend tend to run right into trouble. Drives us mad and scares the hell out of their parents, but they keep themselves safe and don’t use quirks, and recklessness isn’t a crime.”

Naomasa nods, even though the only one who can see him is Toshi. “Interesting. So you’re not familiar with his quirk?”

“No, it’s never come up.”

“Could you forward me Midioriya’s file? I need to get in touch with him and his mother.”

“Sure. Your email still the same?”

“Yes, thank you, Sansa-san.”

“No problem. Let me know if you need anything else.”

He hangs up. “Well,” he begins, when Toshi doesn’t know what to say. “It seems that this kid of yours is a hero in the making.”

Absurdly, Toshi feels proud of this kid he’s only met once. It’s brave, but, “That’s dangerous.”

Naomasa nods, distracted and keeping an eye on his phone. “Hopefully, his file will provide us some more details about his quirk. Although if it’s not explicitly dangerous or a risk to the public, the description will likely be short.”

“But we’ll have contact info.”

“We’ll have contact info,” says Naomasa. “That’s not a guarantee that the kid and his family will be willing to give us answers. And if this kid is running straight into danger…”

Naomasa’s logic is a familiar path. “You think he might already have been noticed by unsavory characters.”

“I’m saying we should be careful,” he says instead, diplomatically. Toshi doesn’t bother to hide his skepticism. “I would find it more surprising if he hasn’t gotten on any villain’s radars. If he hasn’t, it would be solely due to the fact that he hasn’t used his quirk during these escapades. A brave kid who runs into danger without a useful quirk isn’t going to be worth the effort for a lot of villains. If that same kid demonstrated that he had an uniquely powerful quirk, then any trouble he’d cause while kidnapping him would be worth it.”

Damn. Naomasa is right. Toshi sighs. “We’ll just have to get to him first, then, and keep him safe.”

“Of course.”

Toshi taps his fingers against the coffee table. “Given how casual he was about it, I would be surprised if he wasn’t healing wounds at a smaller scale regularly. For him and his friends, at least.”

“I agree. People use their quirks in public all the time, as long as it’s harmless and not disruptive. I am concerned, however, that this boy is using his quirks on others.” Naomasa doesn’t meet his gaze here, so Toshi knows he won’t like what he says next. “Especially since we don’t know the side effects or potential complications. From your description, it doesn’t even sound like this Midoriya was aware of what exactly he was healing.”

“He hasn’t done any harm,” Toshi cuts in.

“Not that we know of. But he could have. With the kind of carelessness you described, do you think he’d even realize it?”

“It doesn’t help anyone right now to assume the worst,” snaps Toshi. “He’s a child. We owe it to him to listen to him first before jumping to conclusions. Treating him like a villain for no reason is only going to make us a villain.”

“I understand, Toshi, I really do, but you tend to think the best of everyone,” Naomasa protests, crossing his arms. “It’s my job to think of these kinds of things. And it’s yours, too.”

“All young Midoriya has done is healed me, and I can’t bring myself to be upset about that, even if it doesn’t last. I hope it does last, and if it does, it’s a miracle, and I’m going to go on an absolute bender with my new stomach and liver.”

Naomasa bursts out laughing. “Oh, man! Just don’t go on a bender as All Might. I think Japan would crumble.” Toshi joins in on the laughter, although he absolutely means it; he misses real food. if the healing is permanent, he’s going to go on a bender and eat all of his old favorite foods, and no one will be able to stop him.

Chapter 2

Chapter Summary

Toshi passes down One For All and contemplates the future.

Chapter Notes

See the end of the chapter for notes

A hero’s work is never done, and Toshi finds himself out to save people that afternoon.

And he feels… great. For the past six years, staying in his One For All form was like holding his breath, painful and desperate for an end. But now, Toshi accesses the power of One For All and its power with an intoxicating flush. Nothing hurts, not anymore, though breathing too deeply still makes him feel dizzy.

It’s been so long since he’s been without any pain. It barely feels real, and Toshi half expects his lungs to burn with effort, his meal to come back up on him, or his legs to give out on him.

They don’t. In fact, it’s almost too easy to throw a punch. He has to scale back the amount of force he uses, and fast, or he’ll accidentally punch a villain to smithereens.

Villains vanquished and spectators saved, Toshi finds that he’s not even tired. In fact, he could stay for a post battle interview. Like he used to before his injury.

“All Might! All Might! How does it feel to be named the number one hero for the tenth year running, the longest any one pro hero has held the title?”

“All Might! Boxers or briefs?”

“Are you dating anyone?”

“What is your official statement on the latest accusation against Endeavor for poor treatment of his staff?”

Well, he definitely isn’t touching either of the last three questions, even if he had a hazmat suit. “I am honored that the people trust me to keep them safe! And,” he says with a brilliant smile, “I intend to keep the number one spot until the next generation of heroes are prepared for it!”

Chatter erupted from the journalists, but he heard one question over the others. “Are you saying you have no plans to retire?”

“I do not,” he confirms.

Noise bursts from the reporters, but All Might has no intention to stick around. With a jaunty wave, he backs away and launches himself across the city. He spots smoke from a small fire in an apartment complex; he stops and helps the firefighters make sure they’ve evacuated everyone.

He feels great. Like he used to before his fight with All For One. Toshi smiles, all too aware that cameras are everywhere when he’s out in costume, even though his throat tightens and his eyes water at the thought. He feels better. He never thought he would get better. He never thought he would feel like this again.

It’s exhilarating. He could cry. Toshi just might, when he’s home in private.

He doesn’t go home for quite a while, happily bounding across Japan for hero work. When it’s finally time to call it quits for the day, Toshi arrives at his apartment pleasantly tired. The fact that he’s only tired and not at all in pain thrills him.

Not being in pain means there’s no reason to collapse into bed, using the last vestiges of his energy to set up his CPAP machine. Heck, the lack of pain makes focusing so much easier that he sits down on his couch to get paperwork done.

His email is a mess, as it always is; requests for statements for court proceedings, his official input on cases, updates on people he’s saved forwarded by his secretary, updates on people he’s arrested, both good and bad, also forwarded by his secretary, and so on, but two emails catch his eye immediately. One from his doctor about his test results, and one from Naomasa on Midoriya Izuku.

Toshi clicks on the email from his doctor first.

He gets as far as can start introducing regular food into your diet, slowly and keep a food diary when he finally does cry. Sliding his laptop away to the couch, Toshi leans over and hugs his chest.

He cries for quite some time, until the notification chime of another email occurs and drags him back to reality. Reality, where he wants to be in.

Toshi scans through the rest of the email, and he emails back, Do you think I could drink alcohol again too? and sends it before he can overthink it. Dr. Saino has been with him through his absolute worst--there isn’t any question he can’t ask her.

The new email is from Nighteye, asking when he’d stop by his agency to meet his intern. Toshi ignores it. He clicks on the email from Naomasa regarding Midoriya.

Naomasa has an address, as well as a short record including trespassing and noise disturbances. Toshi doesn’t just want to meet the boy who’s changed his life--who’s the reason he’s not in pain anymore--but he needs to, to determine the effects of the quirk on his body. It’s unlikely that Midoriya will fully understand the extent of his quirk at his age, but any information will be useful for Toshi and his doctor.

And there’s also the important issue of keeping the boy safe. Healing quirks are in high demand. They’re rare and often energy intensive. The amount a body can be healed by an external source is usually limited. Before his meeting with Midoriya, Toshi would have said that some injuries cannot be healed by quirks at all. If Recovery Girl can’t do it, then no one could.

If word got out… if Toshi had been someone unsavory...

He replies to Naomasa that they need to visit the boy as soon as they can. That afternoon, if possible. A quirk with the potential to heal won’t go unnoticed for long, especially given Midoriya’s casual use of it for perfect strangers. The boy must get the appropriate security. He needs to speak to Recovery Girl, whose own pro-hero career has largely been a protective measure.

He hopes the boy wants to become a hero. That would make everything far easier.

…

They visit the Midoriya residence that afternoon after school is out and Midoriya’s mother is not on shift at the hospital.

Naomasa rings the buzzer, and a sleepy woman’s voice answers, “Hello?”

“Hello, Midoriya-san? I am a detective with the police department, Tsukauchi Naomasa. I would first like to reassure you that nothing is wrong, but I am here to ask your son a few questions. May I come in?”

There’s a gasp over the intercom before the door unlocks with a loud, humming sound. Naomasa sighs. “I think we were going to panic her no matter how I introduced myself.”

They head upstairs, but Midoriya Inko meets them halfway on the stairs. Her son greatly resembles her, and she was clearly sleeping when they woke her up; she’s in pajamas, braless, and hair mussed. Her eyes are wide and tearful, expecting bad news.

Naomasa smiles calmly, pulling out his badge to show to her as he does. “Your son is fine, Midoriya-san. And he’s--”

“What did he do?” she asks.

Naomasa shakes his head. “He’s not in trouble. I’m very sorry for disturbing you like this, and it would be best explained in private. May we speak in your home?”

She nods, distractedly, glancing at Toshi who has yet to say anything but mostly disregarding him.

Still, she lets them in and shows them to the couch before excusing herself for a few minutes. When she returns, her hair is brushed and she’s dressed. “Would you like any coffee? Or tea? I think I have some tea bags somewhere…”

“Just water is fine, thank you,” says Naomasa.

Toshi, who recently couldn’t have coffee, says, “I would love some coffee, please.”

Midoriya nods, and gets herself and Toshi coffee and Naomasa some water. Then she sits down and stares at Naomasa expectectly, not even sparing Toshi a glance.

“What’s happened to my son?” she demands.

“Three days ago, your son ran into my associate here, Yagi Toshinori,” says Naomasa. With a little smile, he adds, “Literally. And because of some chronic illnesses Toshi had, it began a coughing fit.” Midoriya looks alarmed and confused, glancing between the two of them.

“I’m fine, I assure you,” says Toshi, trying to reassure her. She doesn’t look reassured, but she puts her attention back on Naomasa.

“We’re here because when your son saw Yagi-san in distress from what he must have assumed were his actions, he used his quirk on Yagi-san to fix the damage.” Now she’s fully alarmed. Illegal quirk usage is a big deal, even if casual usage such as this doesn’t usually bother anyone.

“Oh my god--I am so sorry, Yagi-san, Izuku didn’t mean to--he never should have--what happened?”

Naomasa looks at Toshi, who takes a deep breath. “He cured my chronic illnesses entirely.”

Midoriya’s mouth slackens.

She shakes herself a little bit, and takes a sip from her coffee. “I didn’t know he could do that.”

Naomasa nods his head. This is what they expected. If either Midoriya knew what this quirk is capable of, any responsible parent would have reached out to pros immediately to seek protection and assistance for their child.

“So you’re not pressing charges?” she asks.

“No, of course not,” says Toshi. “In fact, I’d like to thank him.”

“Midoriya-kun is quite lucky that it was Yagi-san who he encountered,” says Naomasa. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but human trafficking for quirks and quirk breeding has been a growing problem in Japan.” She pales considerably. “We would like to speak to you and him about protective measures and quirk training.”

“Of course, I--Izuku’s at his friend’s house, but they just live down the street, let me call them--”

She stands up while pulling out her phone, walking to the kitchen to make the call. The kitchen is not that far and does not obscure her conversation in the slightest, providing only the illusion of privacy.

“Hi, Mitsuki, are the boys there? … I need to speak to Izuku, can you put him on? Thanks. … Hi, Izuku, honey.” Toshi’s coffee is warm in his hands. The steam wafts up to his nose enticingly, and he savors every rich, bitter taste, mitigated only slightly by a dash of sugar and cream. The drink warms his throat and his stomach--his stomach!--pleasantly. “I need you to come home right away--no, nothing’s… wrong, but… No, don’t bring Katsuki-kun with you. There’s a policeman here to see you, sweetie. I need you to come home right now.”

She gets off the phone and comes back to the living room. None of them say much as they wait. Midoriya seems too preoccupied to make small talk, and neither Naomasa nor Toshi feel the need to push her.

They only wait a few minutes before the front door swings open, and the boy who ran into him just three days ago and changed his life rushes into the apartment. Upon spotting Toshi, his mouth opens in shock. “Oh, fuck.”

“Language, Izuku,” reprimands Midoriya.

“Oh, shit,” says Midoriya Izuku, still staring at Toshi. His mother doesn’t bother correcting him again. Alarmingly, tears well up in his eyes. “I didn’t--my quirk shouldn’t have done anything to hurt you, and I swear I can fix it if you let me--”

“Calm down, son,” says Toshi, trying to smile and put the young Midoriya at ease. It doesn’t work, and the boy looks at his mother helplessly. She nods, and the boy sits down on the couch, still looking like he’s going to cry. “You’re not in trouble.”

“Midoriya-kun,” starts Naomasa. “I’d like to ask you a few questions, if that’s alright.”

Young Midoriya glances between the two of them, and then to his mother, who nods encouragingly at him. “I guess so.”

“Can you describe your quirk to me, with as much detail as possible?” ask Naomasa.

Wide eyed, Midoriya stares at them blankly before saying, “Sure!” Inexplicably, he springs up off the couch and runs off to another room. They don’t have an opportunity to ask his mother why he ran off because he’s back a moment later. “This is my notebook on my quirk,” he says, offering it to Naomasa.

Naomasa starts to flip through it. Toshi cranes his neck over his shoulder to get a look as well.

There’s a lot. Descriptions and surprisingly good drawings of experiments for his quirk.

“You did all of this yourself?” asks Toshi, impressed. A very good habit for a potential young hero, although perhaps not handing the notebook to anyone who asks...

Young Midoriya nods, his enthusiasm taking over any fear. “Yeah! I like analyzing quirks! And my own quirk isn’t very clear cut, but I wanted to know what I can do and how to improve! Oh, uh, actually--there’s notes about Kacchan in there too, I probably shouldn’t share those.” He reaches out for the notebook, and Naomasa hands it back.

“That’s fine. We’d really like a summary of your quirk, if you don’t mind, although the notebook is impressive,” says Naomasa.

“Well, I can change how people perceive things,” says Midoriya. “Like, um,” he looks down to the table, and puts his hand on it. It changes color from a dark brown to white. “See?”

That--does not explain at all how he healed Toshi’s injuries.

Naomasa is frowning, but not like he does when someone is lying and his entire body tingles. He’s frowning like he’s thinking through a particularly interesting puzzle. “Are you changing how the object is perceived by a person, or the object itself?”

Izuku opens his mouth to reply but nothing comes out. He tries again, “I… I don’t know?”

“Because if you were changing how others perceive the object, wouldn’t you have to affect the person, not the object? Unless you’re changing how light refracts around the object so it’s distorted for everyone around.”

“That’s--it’s definitely the object I’m affecting,” says Midoriya. “Like… I convince the table that it should be white instead.”

“You convince the table,” echoes Naomasa.

“No, I know that sounds dumb,” says Midoriya, “but just because the table looks white doesn’t mean it is. And also,” here he touches the wall, and a door appears. “Like this. I can make a door but it’s not a real door.”

Naomasa stands slowly and walks up to the new door. He reaches out to touch it, but his hand sinks through its surface. He swivels around so suddenly that both Midoriyas startle. “But can you convince the wall that there’s a door there?”

Midoriya’s stares at Naomasa. Toshi does as well. It’s a simple leap, and yet--

Midoriya stands up and touches the wall again. This time, when Naomasa reaches out to the door, his hand stops on its surface. Emboldened, he grabs the door knob and yanks the door open. “Wait a sec--” begins Midoriya, but the door is already open, showing a large living room where a blond boy about Midoriya’s age is reading on a couch.

The boy jumps up to stand on the couch upon hearing Midoriya, fists in front of himself like he’s prepared to punch anything that’s startled him. His face scrunches up in anger and confusion. “What the fuck--Deku?”

“Hi, Kacchan!” calls out Midoriya, with a little wave.

This Kacchan stares at them all for a beat. “WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO OUR HOUSE, DEKU?”

“SORRY! I’M SORRY! I CAN FIX IT!” yells out Midoriya, who rushes forward and closes the door. The handle jiggles and the other boy’s confused demands are still clearly audible. Midoriya flinches a bit, and then says, “I should, um, probably explain to Kacchan…”

Naomasa nods at him, looking a bit befuddled by the interaction, and Midoriya opens the door and steps across the threshold quickly, shutting it behind him.

“Sorry about that,” says the remaining Midoriya. “Izuku and his friend can be rather loud.”

“It’s no problem,” says Naomasa. “Just unexpected.”

“Anyone would be surprised to find a new door in their house,” agrees Toshi.

Young Midoriya steps back in through the door, holding it open for his friend, who stops to stand in the middle of the doorway. “Fucking awesome, Deku,” he says. He reaches up to touch the top of the door and proceeds to hang off it. “This is so much cooler than your shitty illusions!”

A woman who looks much like the blond boy shouts out from the background, “STOP MESSING AROUND! Can’t you see that they have guests? Get your ass over here!”

The boy scowls, but he sideyes Toshi and Naomasa. “Are you really police?” he asks Naomasa.

Naomasa smiles and shows the boy his badge. “Yes, I am.”

The boy’s mother, despite her previous words, crowds in through the doorway. “Wait, why are the cops here? Are you having legal trouble? Inko, Izuku, don’t say anything, I’ll call my lawyer right away--”

“No one’s in trouble,” Toshi says quickly. “I came here to thank Midoriya-kun for helping me.”

“Izuku’s quirk healed his illness,” says Midoriya softly to the blond woman, but it silences the whole room.

“I did? But I just--” his brow furrows. “When I used my quirk on you I told your body that it wasn’t injured. I only meant from running into you, but--are you saying that I convinced your body that it wasn’t injured at all?”

“It certainly seems so, young man,” says Toshi.

“Wow,” says Midoriya. “What were the injuries? How old were they? But wait, Mom said it was an illness? I definitely thought about injuries, not illness, so I don’t see how that would have still worked. Are you sure it was my quirk? Did the illness vanish immediately or did it take some time? Can you tell that there used to be an injury, like is there a scar left? How did you--” The blond boy reaches over and punches Midoriya in the arm. “Ow! Why’d you do that?” He looks to his friend, eyes teary again.

“You were being weird.”

Naomasa clears his throat, interrupting. “Well, we’re very sorry for interrupting you, but we do need to speak with Midoriya-kun and his mother further, and the topic is personal. If you wouldn’t mind?”

“Yeah, fine, come on, brat,” says the blond woman, grabbing the boy by his collar and pulling him along. She calls out as she goes through the door, “INKO, CALL ME IF THESE BASTARDS TRY ANYTHING, AND MY LAWYER WILL SUE THEIR ASSES!”

Midoriya closes the door behind them, and it disappears with a touch.

“Quite a family,” says Toshi, to break the silence.

Midoriya Inko smiles slightly at that. “Yes, they are. Izuku and Katsuki have been friends since they were babies.”

“Mom,” says the young Midoriya. He sits back down on the couch, across from Toshi. “Did I really heal your illness?”

“According to my doctor,” he says. “And while I had chronic illnesses, they were caused by an injury.”

“I wonder if it would have worked on an illness. Maybe I could make colds go away,” says Midoriya. “How bad were your injuries?”

“I had taken a bad hit to my left side several years ago,” says Toshi. “I was missing several organs, including a lung and my stomach. They’re back now.”

Neither Midoriya has anything to say in response to that.

“I regrew your organs,” says Midoriya. “I--wow, I--not even Recovery Girl can regrow organs. Well, she did regrow a bunch of skin for someone injured by the Skin Suit but that was over a period of weeks, and skin regrows naturally.”

“Yes,” says Toshi, well aware of the limits of Recovery Girl’s powers. “So you can understand why we wanted to speak to you and your mother as soon as possible. You have an incredible gift, but it also puts you in incredible danger.”

The boy gets such a serious look on his small face. Toshi is struck suddenly by how young he is. One For All is a terrible burden to place on a child.

But it may help keep the boy safe, too.

“I’d like to offer to sponsor you for UA,” says Toshi. Young Midoriya stops breathing, and his mother frowns besides him. Not sure what to make of that, Toshi keeps going. “ And mentor you in hero work. Are you interested in hero work?”

The boy still has breathed. Toshi exchanges a worried look with Naomasa, and says, “Midoriya-kun?”

“YES, I WANT TO BE A HERO,” yells Midoriya. His mother frowns harder. “YES! YES! YOU CAN SPONSOR ME FOR UA?”

“I can,” says Toshi at a much more reasonable volume. Midoriya’s mother has yet to say anything, but she is distinctly not pleased. “I have some pull--”

“DID YOU USED TO BE A HERO? I DON’T RECOGNIZE YOU, WHEN WERE YOU ACTIVE?”

He takes in a deep breath, face flushed, and his mother finally interrupts with a, “Volume, sweetie.”

“Yes, I accept! I accept!” He says, standing up and jumping up and down from excitement. “I want to be a hero! I want to be the greatest hero ever, like All Might!”

That brings a smile to Toshi’s face before he can stop it. “Wonderful.”

“Did you use to be a hero? Before your injury?”

“Ah,” says Toshi, “that’s a bit complicated.” He looks towards the elder Midoriya again. Toshi should, by all rights, inform Midoriya of his identity and One For All now, but there’s something about the look on her face that makes him hesitate. “Let us arrange a training schedule. Recommended students still have an exam to pass, after all.”

“That went well,” says Naomasa, when they leave. “Cute kid.”

Toshi nods. “It went far better than I could have hoped. Really, everything about this situation is beyond what I ever could have imagined. Having a working body again is…” A dream come true. He’s not in pain anymore. Before meeting Midoriya, Toshi couldn’t remember what it was like to not be in pain.

“Did you ever hear from your doctor if you can have alcohol?” asks Naomasa.

“I did!” says Toshi, brightening. “She recommended that I exercise caution but there’s no physical reason why I shouldn’t.”

Naomasa grins. “Alright, change of plans. Let’s go out and celebrate.”

...

Toshi does not exercise restraint.

He gets the most disgusting, ludicrous cocktails he can and drinks them much too quickly. It’s the most fun he’s had in decades.

He meets with Midoriya on the beach, and among the mountains of trash, reveals his identity.

The boy says nothing, staring at him in shock.

“So you see,” says Toshi, aiming for his hero voice, and fearing he just sounds awkward. “I am All Might.”

“Oh my god,” says Midoriya.

Toshi nods encouragingly.

“I’m going to be trained by ALL MIGHT!” he yells, jumping up. Sand goes everywhere. “Holy shit, you were injured? When? And I healed you! Holy shit, I healed All Might! Your number of public appearances have been going down these past few years and people have been theorizing that you were considering retiring, but was it really because you were injured?”

Toshi breathes out a sigh of relief. One part down.

“There’s more,” says Toshi, stopping Midoriya’s ensuing deluge of questions. “What I’m about to tell you must be kept secret. Only a very select few people even know about it.” At Midoriya’s solemn nod, he continues, “My quirk is called One For All. It was passed down to me by my sensei, Shimura Nana. And I want to pass it down to you.”

As he tells young Izuku about the legacy of One For All, Toshi feels lighter. Death is no longer hovering in the corner of his eyes, and he will not be leaving his successor before he can train him properly. And his successor is young, but Toshi won’t leave him before he’s prepared.

All Might has wondered often over the years what Nana saw in him. Why she picked him over anyone else. Looking at Izuku’s determined face, eyes bright and sharp as he explains One For All, Toshi finally understands.

Chapter End Notes

I don't have plans on writing further in this AU, but I imagine things would overall go much like canon but a little better. All Might can be more hands on and available because he's not chronically ill, which is a full time job, so he won't end up retiring when Bakugou gets kidnapped. AFO would be pretty surprised by how spry All Might is too. Maybe All Might would beat him for good that time.

Izuku having a quirk would probably mean his body would adapt to a second quirk a bit easier, so perhaps he wouldn't destroy his arms as quickly.

Or, AFO figures out that something is sus because of All Might's increased activity, tracks it down to the most likely cause, and aims to kidnap Izuku to force him to heal him too... and then Izuku would convince his body that it's dead, actually. And AFO would be defeated! *victory tune*

Bakugou and Izuku still have issues to work out, because while Bakugou would have more respect for Izuku in this AU and wouldn't feel betrayed/abandoned by him by being quirkless, they still fundamentally misunderstand each other on a few levels. So they'd have stuff to work out but would eventually sort it out and become the best pro hero couple.

I think Bakugou would figure out something was fishy about Izuku's quirk a lot faster since they're closer in this. Izuku might go ahead and just tell him right away directly.

Izuku's quirk is a little like Overhaul's in this, but Overhaul is a tool who only uses his quirk to kill people when he could probably cure people of their cancer.

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Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Afterword