Toshinori POV:
I was in Recovery Girl's office being treated for my injury I got from defeating All for One when I started thinking, 'Who's going to remember me? The real me, not All Might. Who's going to know that Yagi Toshinori existed? Who will I affect?'. My mother and father died years ago, my only friends are heroes who care more about All Might as opposed to Toshinori, my master is dead, and I'm not sure how much time Gran Torino has left. I'm not even sure how much time I've got left.
That's when I knew I wanted to have a family.
A few hours later I woke up to Mirai, Nedzu, Gran Torino, and Recovery Girl sitting around me. I feel weak, my side is killing me.
"Let's talk about your injuries." Recovery Girl looks at her clipboard with a frown.
"Muscles were torn, several of your ribs were broken, your right lung was punctured, and I had to remove your stomach because it was so badly torn up that if I left it in you would've burned yourself from the inside out. I want to make it clear that you almost died, and we doubt you'll make a full recovery. All Might, you are in no shape to be doing hero work right now." Recovery Girl stares at me, expecting a rebuttal.
"I understand." I nod my head in agreement as I touch the bandages that cover my wound.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, Gran Torino looks at me like I'm crazy. "Are you feeling alright? Normally you're more dumb and stubborn than this." Gran tilts his head in confusion.
"G-Gran Torino! Don't give him any ideas." Mirai whispers.
"I'm serious, I don't think I'm in any way ready to go back out and fight again. Not yet anyways. I think... for now, I want to focus on my private life." I blush and look away from the group of four, who stare at me with shock.
"Private life?" Nedzu says as he looks at me with curiosity.
"Yes... I-I want to start a family!" I shout as I feel myself turn three shades reder.
"A family!?" They repeat.
"Uh huh, a family!" I try to smile but at this point I don't think I could get more embarrassed.
"Do you have a crush, Toshinori?" Gran Torino teases me.
"N-no! But... I don't want to be alone when I'm at home. I don't want people to only remember All Might and not Yagi Toshinori." I mumble.
"Starting a family would take up time that you normally use for fighting crime. It might be a good way to rest." Mirai smiles and nods to Recovery Girl who laughs to herself.
"You'll have to get in the dating scene." Nedzu giggles.
"Please, I took down All for One! Dating will be a breeze." I sit up in the bed as I look at the others.
"Good luck to ya, and don't come crying to me to hook you up with someone." Gran Torino sighs.
"Yeah right, you're the guy I think of when I think about finding someone to date." I huff, which gets me a kick to the knee from a disgruntled Gran Torino.
"If starting a family will help distract you while you rest from hero work, then consider me ready to help!" Mirai smiles. I can tell that he must've been very worried about me, more worried than anyone else.
"Okay, then from here on out I'll only go by Yagi Toshinori!" I pump a fist into the air only to regret it moments later when I cough up blood and steam rolls off my body.
"Right, I forgot to warn you that when you overdo it... that will happen." Recovery Girl points to me with a small mirror.
"Gah! What the hell happened, I'm small, a-and my muscles!" I pout as I look at just my face in her mirror. I look like a dead person, the dark circles under my eyes and the permanent frown on my face doesn't help.
In a moment of panic I start to try to use One for All, in case something happened to the quirk during the fight. I power it up and I'm back to my happy buff self.
"Careful,Toshinori. You haven't fully recovered yet!" Mirai inhales sharply.
"I'm not going to fight anything! I'm just... making sure I can still use One for All." I sigh as I power down and return to my devastatingly weak form.
"We can worry about your quirk later, you said you wanted to start a family, right? So let's go over your dating type." Nedzu looks at me with a mischievous grin.
"M-my type!? I don't know, I guess I'm not really picky... men or women are fine and I'd prefer if they liked Toshinori and not All Might." I blush as the room stares me down.
"That's very broad. That's okay! We'll start by cleaning you and your house up, after that you'll be date ready!" Mirai claps. He's also got a mischievous look to his face. It's kind of scary.
—————
"Toshinori! You've got a giant house where's all the damn furniture?" Gran Torino complains from his seat on top of my kitchen counters.
Mirai, Gran Torino, and I left for my house as soon as Recovery Girl let me leave. She said I couldn't eat solid food for a week, and after that I can't eat anything too crunchy, too spicy, too big, too warm, or too cold. I basically can only eat unseasoned rice. I'm not even allowed to drink alcohol, not that I drank much to start with.
My diet isn't the real problem right now, the real problem is the fact I've never been on a date before! At least not a real one. Sure I went out a few times in high school, and I don't think Dave counts...
"There's nothing to worry about. You're a fantastic guy, in and out of your hero costume." Mirai tries to reassure me with a smile. "But Gran's right. You have four pieces of furniture in your house! I didn't take you for a minimalist." Mirai sighs.
"I'm not a minimalist! I only put furniture in the rooms I use a lot. Putting it in all the other rooms felt like a waste." I rub the back of my neck.
"This is a four bedroom, three bathroom house, with fantastic views, and an acre of forest behind the house, and the only things you put in this beautiful building are a sofa, two barstools and a king sized bed, WITHOUT THE FRAME!" Gran Torino shouts as he hits me with his cane.
"Alright, alright! I'll go shopping! Just stop being so critical." I sigh as I move over to the kitchen and pull my laptop out of my backpack. It's not really my laptop. Mirai bought it for me for my birthday, and in the months that I've had it I learned how to turn it on and how to access the internet!
"Here, try this store. It's local and it does deliveries so you can stay home and rest." Mirai types rapidly on the keyboard as he pulls up some website for me to explore. "Just click on the things you want to know more about and when you find something you like, hit the shopping cart icon." Mirai points to all the buttons as if he's instructing a child. I've been shopping before! Even if it wasn't online, it can't be that different.
"Right, while you two shop for furniture I'm going to grab us some grub. You can't eat solids, so I'll get you some of those flavor pouch thingys, the uh, protein pouches. As for us, Mirai, I'm going to grab Ramen and dessert. Hope that's good with you." Gran shrugs.
"That sounds fine, thank you." Mirai smiles.
"Once I'm back and we've eaten, we're checking out your wardrobe, Toshinori. I don't want you wearing that damn yellow suit you wear everywhere!" Gran yells as he walks towards the front door.
"I like that suit..." I sigh.
"But it's recognizable since All Might's worn it. It might be smart to change it up." Mirai reminds me.
"I guess you're right. Let's just focus on shopping, I'm not sure what type of furniture I'm supposed to buy." I scroll through the website looking for anything that catches my eye.
"You've kind of got a traditional western theme going on so maybe something with that American flair would go nice." Mirai inspects my barstools.
"It's all western because I bought this stuff when I lived in America..." I mumble.
I keep scrolling through the online store with Mirai and by the end of it I've purchased two bed frames, a mattress, a chair to match the sofa in the living room a coffee table, a very fancy new dining room table with four chairs, a matching set of three lamps, two bedside tables, a TV stand, and a new television. Mirai helped me find some coupons so a lot of it was discounted! Mirai also had an old desk and bookshelf he was planning on throwing away that he said he would give to me. So when he brings those over, the third bedroom will turn into an office. Who knew shopping could be so easy and fun!
Gran Torino came back with dinner and I'm not sure how anyone stomachs this stuff! It's some how bland and over powering with its flavor. The worst part is, this is what I'll be having for every meal for a week!
"Alright, enough sitting around. If you even think about going out with anyone, you've got to have the right outfit! Let's see what's in your closet, Toshinori." Gran commands us to follow him up to my room. I'm not sure why I trust Gran Torino's fashion sense, he wears giant belts and oversized tee-shirts everywhere. Even in the summer he wears some big belt, with a big button up, and a pair of jeans with his boots tucked in. Maybe I should've called Best Jeanist over instead...
The moment Gran opened my closet, he and Mirai went on a rampage of ridiculing every piece of clothing I've ever owned. My suits were 'too big' and 'the ugliest eye sore I've ever bared witness to'. They said I needed to throw half of my closet away! And I'm not allowed to wear the other half out of the house.
Once they finished bullying me, Mirai directed me to an online clothing store. Two of them actually, one sold casual clothes and the other did more formal attire. I bought more from the casual store because it was cheaper and seemed more versatile. Not that money is really an issue, I just think I could spend it in better places, like charities or that really nice grocery store down the street with the fancy bread! I did end up purchasing a light gray suit with a green button up to go underneath. It made a good combo and the shirt was on sale, I just had to buy it.
"I think that about does it! Once your furniture and clothes get here, Yagi Toshinori will be ready to make his dating debut." Mirai cheers.
"Yeah, now all that's left is to work on your presentation. But that comes with experience." Gran Torino nods.
"Thank you, both. It means a lot to me to have this help." I smile at the two of them who smile in return.
"I'm glad I get to help." Mirai says as he collects his bag.
"It's clear that you needed my help!" Gran laughs.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Toshinori." Mirai waves and Gran Torino follows right behind him.
"See you tomorrow." I repeat.
Tomorrow, it's uncertain what the future will bring. I'm not sure if I can do this dating thing, but I'll keep at it. Mirai and Gran Torino believe in me after all, so it'd be a shame for me to give up. One day at a time, I'm going to give it my all.
I'll go beyond and go plus ultra in the dating world!
—————
Doing nothing is hard, especially when you really want to do anything! It's Recovery Girl's orders that I stay in bed until 9:00 AM, and it's just so hard. I used to get up at 4:30 AM on the dot, everyday. Now I have to stay in bed until 9! Unless I want to face Chiyo's wrath, and I really don't want that. So here I am, at 6:47 AM, on a perfectly good morning, laying in bed, doing nothing. I hate this. It makes me feel so useless, it makes me feel like a child. Not that I ever slept in as a kid.
I wanted to be a hero really badly so I woke up early and trained every day of my life. I only trained in the mornings, because any other time of the day and I was just asking to be bullied. They always told me that a quirkless person couldn't be a hero, but I was too stubborn to give up. I'm glad I didn't give up but looking back on it now those kids kind of had a point. They might have just been acting like jerks for no reason but, they brought up some good points. A quirkless person would have major disadvantages on the battlefield compared to someone who does have a quirk. I'm lucky I met my master when I did, if I had become a quirkless hero there's no doubt I would've either gotten my dreams crushed or I would've been killed. I've lost too many good friends and colleagues because they weren't strong enough, a quirkless person being a hero is just asking to get killed. It's a hard truth, I wish the world were more fair.
Why the hell am I even thinking about this stuff?
I've got a quirk now, so I shouldn't be so stuck in the past. Maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic, I used to have a lot of free time when I was a kid, and now I've got free time again. Maybe I should try to do stuff that I did as a kid, that might be fun.
I start to get out of bed when my phone buzzes, I pick it up and see I've gotten a new message. Maybe it's Mirai!
Recovery Girl: You better be resting in bed, or I'll start coming down to your house to keep an eye on you!
Right, I'm not allowed to leave my bed until 9.
Damn it.
After reading Recovery Girl's threat, I slumped back into my bed. I am very aware of the fact that there's no way I'm falling back asleep. I'm just not that lucky. So I'll have to lay in bed, alone. With my thoughts. This is awful. How do other people do it? Staying in bed until 9 is going to drive me crazy!
But...
Maybe I need some time to think. After all, I'm changing my life entirely just to start a family. Do I even know how to care for a family? What if I'm putting my future family in danger? My master had to give up her family so she could be a hero. Is it smart for me to drag people into my mess? There could be a high chance that at least one villain would find out about my family, then they'd be in harm's way. Is it selfish for me to want a family?
I wish I could get up from bed and distract myself, but I have to stay. These are important things to think about! If I ignore them, people might get hurt. I need to take responsibility for the things that I want to do. If I want a family then I have to be ready in case something does happen. Which means I have to be open about my hero life.
Not during the first date! Maybe not even the second date. But if I find myself in a steady relationship, I've got to be able to be honest with my partner. It's their choice to stay with me and potentially end up on the receiving end of a villain. So I have to make a promise to myself.
If I find someone, someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, I have to tell them about All Might. I also might end up telling them about All for One. That way, they can choose.
Gee what a productive morning! I better get up and have breakfast, all this deep thought takes energy after all. I turn to look at my watch and it's still only 7:13 AM. I've got 2 more hours until I can get out of bed.
Now what do I think about?
I could think about who I want to date. But I'm really open to dating anyone. Maybe I'll think about children? Nope! That's way too soon! I mean... I want kids, but I don't even have a partner yet so it's weird to think about.
How am I going to be a hero again? The world needs the symbol of peace, if I disappear then evil doers win.
The symbol of peace... I can't abandon that. But Recovery Girl and Mirai knew that I wouldn't be in any condition to fight as it is. Maybe... I'll start slow. I can start to relearn with One for All and practice keeping myself in buff form. Then I'll do small time rescues. Nothing big and flashy until I can handle it! I just hope I can heal up quickly. If I take too long, the world might suffer.
Now I'm depressed. Great going Toshinori, let's think about sad stuff. Being sad is the most comfortable way to rest after all! Ugh. What am I doing wrong? Sleeping in should be easy, I've taken down entire villain organizations in less than hours! Why is this so hard?
"Move it in quicker!" Someone yells from the living room, causing me to jump out of my own skin. I run to the door and peek at the intruders.
"Shh, Torino. Toshinori is still sleeping. And he'll be asleep until 9:00, sharp!" It's Mirai, he and Gran Torino are moving boxes into my living room.
"Yeah, whatever. If he's asleep we can move all the furniture in. That way it looks good." Gran Torino laughs.
"Just stay quiet, it's important he rests. That's the only way he's going to heal. Plus we're moving this stuff in because Toshinori isn't supposed to lift anything heavier than 5 pounds for the next three weeks." Mirai mutters as he sets a box next to the sofa. That must be the chair I ordered. They sure got here quickly.
With a silent sigh I move back to my bed. Mirai's right. I gotta rest up so I can heal fast. If I heal faster, I'll be back in the hero scene in no time! So I need to rest. I will rest more than I ever have! I tuck myself into bed and start to work on clearing my mind and going to sleep.
I can do this, I have to.