The rain poured down heavily, splashing off the pavement and flicking onto Izuku's trousers with every step. He trudged up the hill towards school, fingers clasped around the curved handle of a black umbrella, mostly sheltered from the rain.
"Good morning, Midoriya-kun!" Iida called, sprinting towards him with all the energy in the world, wearing a pea-green poncho with the hood cinched tightly around his angular face. "Why are you walking so slowly? You're going to be late!"
Izuku picked up the pace, jogging after him and only slowing when they entered the school. That twist of guilt returned with a vengeance in his gut, even if All Might himself had mentioned that Tensei had a chance of recovering - he'd still been attacked, and that was awful. Iida was quick to place his rainboots into his locker, unzipping his coat.
"Iida-kun, um..."
"If it's about my brother, there is no need to worry." His tone was a little sharper than usual, tersely polite, and his expression was carefully neutral as he glanced over his shoulder, pulling the hood from his head. "I apologise for worrying you needlessly."
Izuku swallowed, then nodded uncertainly. The taller boy hurried off to homeroom without another word.
Everyone was relieved to see Aizawa without bandages when he entered the classroom, brushing a thumb absent-mindedly over the new scar before informing the students that they would be picking their hero names. Izuku wasn't surprised that he had no internship offers, since all he had shown was a terrifyingly self-destructive fighting style; he just hoped that Gran Torino would choose to extend an invitation a little late, just like last time. Midnight dramatically sauntered into the classroom, hands behind her head and her hips swaying a little more than necessary. The class happily presented all their hero names, although Izuku felt a little bizarre since he already was Deku, technically.
"Actually, I've already decided!" Uraraka announced her internship choice to the little group gathered around the boy's desk. "Battle Hero: Gunhead's agency!"
"Gunhead... Oh, that's a really good idea, Uraraka-san!" Izuku praised, giving a bright smile. "Even if you want to be a hero like Thirteen, having extra fighting experience is always helpful!"
"Exactly!" She pointed at him, hopping a couple of times excitedly, causing her pleated skirt to sway around her thighs. "Fighting Bakugou-kun at the Sports Festival made me think – the stronger I get the more possibilities I'll have! If I only do what I want, I'll have a narrower perspective!"
The boy glanced across the classroom, watching as Iida placed down his paper and wrote something on it. His glasses had turned opaque under the lights, but his eyebrows were drawn together and his jaw was set tensely. Even though he knew it would happen, Izuku still felt a cold wave of dread crash over his head, knowing what such a seemingly insignificant decision would lead to. He clenched a hand into a fist on his desk, digging his fingernails into his palm and resolving to help his friend once more.
Late afternoon arrived, and Izuku opened the door to the classroom, intending to walk home with Uraraka after Iida had vanished. All Might skidded down the corridor, coming to a screeching halt in the doorway, doubled over with his fists pressed against his chest and his blue tie fluttering wildly. The girl squeaked in surprise at the man's sudden appearance, staring with wide eyes.
Izuku merely blinked, surveying his mentor and noticing the shaking, coming to a conclusion that brought a faint smirk to his face. "Gran Torino-san?"
A brief look of shock crossed the hero's face before he nodded sheepishly, looking away. "Gran Torino."
The boy patted his muscular shoulder comfortingly, waving goodbye to his friend and heading down the corridor.
*
"Make sure you mind your manners with the heroes at your internships," Aizawa stated with his thousand-yard stare going strong. "Off with you, now. Except Midoriya."
Izuku's classmates stared at him for a moment before going on their way, heading towards the trains they needed to catch. He glanced at his teacher before holding up a finger and bolting after Iida, Uraraka easily falling into step by his side. The class rep stopped, posture pristine.
"If you ever feel hopeless, make sure you let us know," Izuku said softly, eyebrows drawn together with concern. "We'll be there whenever you need us – that's a promise, okay? Because friends always support one another."
Iida's shoulders briefly tensed before he turned around, face set in a scary imitation of a reassuring smile. "Yeah." Without another word, he shifted back towards his train, walking off in silence.
Uraraka and the boy exchanged worried looks before parting ways. He rushed back to his teacher, who raised an impatient eyebrow. The man reached into the piled loops of capture gear over his shoulders, rummaging for a moment before pulling out a sealed envelope and handing it to his student, who took it with a perplexed blink before tearing it open. He skim-read through the contents of the letter, his eyes growing wider by the second. A small rectangle sat in the bottom of the envelope, and he carefully picked it up, handling it like it was a precious artefact.
"A temporary provisional hero license?!" Izuku choked out, his voice high with mingled disbelief and excitement. "Wh-what... I don't..."
"The footage from your fights the other day was reviewed by the board, and while you also needed to show prowess with rescuing, All Might put in a good word, and I mentioned how sufficiently you responded during the USJ incident." Aizawa didn't even react as the boy's eyes welled up with tears at the news. "However, since you're technically underage, it will come with some restrictions. Don't seek out any fights, don't kill anyone, and only pick fights if you're defending someone. Also, don't go flaunting it around, because I'd imagine there would be some severe backlash."
"You vouched for me?" Izuku whispered, still crying uncontrollably.
Aizawa lightly tugged on the boy's scrunched tie, keeping a passive expression on his face. "You have this license so you can occasionally help myself and All Might out with hero work as a way to continue improving your Quirk while supporting the community. We won't involve you in severe fights, because having you die on our watch would be bad PR."
"You vouched for me..." Izuku mumbled again, wiping at his face, only for more tears to fall.
"To keep your identity a secret, we'll have a separate hero costume made for you that you'll receive after your internship," Aizawa continued as if there had been no interruptions. "Since this is temporary, you'll still have to take the exam later in your academic career to get an actual license, which will replace this one. Depending on how things go, we'll start taking you on higher level patrols against bigger villains – you were a Pro Hero, right? What rank were you?"
The boy shook himself out of his daze, humming thoughtfully. "Last time I checked, I was about tenth."
"So, you are experienced. That's good; I didn't want to babysit you." Aizawa said, and it would've seemed mischievous if he was capable of outwardly expressing his emotions.
"I beat you, sensei," Izuku reminded the teacher, faking a glare.
"You beat an injured man, well done," he deadpanned, reaching out to gently shove at the kid's shoulder. "Go on, leave, before you miss your train – I'm not driving you."
*
The building was run-down, with grey paint peeling away to reveal red brick walls, and black bars over all the windows. Izuku came to a halt in front of the cracked steps, staring up at the broken neon welcome sign that hung crookedly above the wooden doors. He shoved the note with directions on it into his pocket, placed the suitcase with his hero costume on the ground, and then swung his yellow backpack over one shoulder to unzip it and look inside. His hand clasped around something cool and smooth, and he withdrew it with an unexpectedly wicked grin.
It was a small pouch of fake blood. Izuku parted his jaws and tucked it against his cheek, getting used to the feeling as he picked up his belongings once more before knocking on one door and cautiously pushing it open.
"I'm here from UA High. My name is Midoriya Izuku... Nice to meet yo-" He trailed off with a faint squeak, morphing his expression into one of forced terror.
There was a small body on the floor, clad in yellow and lying in a pool of red. Some sausages trailed out from underneath his sprawled form like intestines and the shattered remains of a pale plate were scattered on the black-and-white tiles.
"He's dead!" He exclaimed loudly, struggling to keep a straight face.
Torino lifted his head with a vacant smile. "I'm alive!"
He screeched again, "he's alive!"
The elderly hero got to his feet, standing on trembling legs with one gloved hand resting on a wooden cane. "Man... When I was carrying a string of sausages with ketchup poured over them, I fell!"
Izuku bit down on the pouch in his mouth, standing frozen, as if completely catatonic from shock. He made a faint choking noise, causing some of the fake blood to spill over his lips and trickle down his chin. Torino looked up, and his eyes widened comically behind his black mask, all pretences forgotten as he dropped the cane and stepped forwards, raising his hands in a nervous attempt to help.
"Hey, whoa, kid, what-"
The student raised his head, a cheeky, bloodstained grin on his face as he spat out the pouch. "Gotcha."
Torino didn't miss a beat, swiping up his cane and slamming it into the side of the boy's leg. "Did Toshinori ruin the surprise?"
"No," Izuku snickered through the stinging pain, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping away the rest of the blood.
"So, you just have packets of fake blood in your mouth, waiting to scare an unsuspecting old man?!" He huffed, opening up the boy's suitcase to rifle through the outfit. "Toshinori told me you were special, but after watching you in the Sports Festival, I think he's gone mad. Fire off a One for All at me. This is a good costume... Wear it, and fire!"
Izuku pulled on version beta of his hero costume. The jumpsuit was a darker green with charcoal-grey stripes framing his arms and torso. There were supportive braces over his legs and elbows and the face mask had been altered, now made of a grey metal, but he let it rest around his neck instead of putting it on. He shifted into a fighting stance, eyeing the old man and mumbling his doubts about the ethics of the practice.
Torino grumbled in irritation, taking in a deep breath before shooting off, bouncing between walls and whipping past the boy in rushes of air. "I'm losing patience!"
He zipped behind, kicking out a leg and intending to hit the student. Izuku paused before firing up his Quirk, nipping aside too quickly for the elderly man to realign himself and consequently causing him to land heavily on the floor that cracked under the impact.
"Oh, that's different!" Torino exclaimed, removing a foot from the shattered tile before shooting off once more. "But can you do it again?"
Izuku stayed still, barely altering his stance in subtle avoidances before watching as the old man headed for the microwave. He surged forwards in a flash of green, grabbing onto the yellow cape and leaping backwards to stop the old hero from crushing the device. The boy lowered him back to the floor, frowning in confusion.
"Did Toshi-san not tell you?" He asked, blinking in bewilderment.
"That man tells me nothing," Torino snorted, crossing his arms and tapping a foot.
"Oh... Well, I can actually safely control my Quirk up to about 50% of its power. I'm just pretending to be useless to keep up the disguise so the villains underestimate me when they try to attack again, so-"
The man raised a hand, brow furrowed. "You've lost me, kid."
Izuku wrung his hands together for a moment, sighing heavily, before launching into the whole story, as ridiculous as it seemed. Once or twice he dissolved into mumble-storming, but the elderly hero was quick to put him back on track. He pulled out his notebook from his bag, turning it carefully to the pages of time that had already occurred, pointing at the entries on both sides and going into more detail, hoping that he didn't sound completely insane. There was silence after his secrets had been spilled, and he kept his gaze on the ground.
"Alright... So, you don't need help learning how to control your Quirk," Torino commented finally; Izuku winced guiltily and opened his mouth to apologise, but he was cut off. "But you do need my help improving your Quirk."
"I... Yeah, I do. That would be great, thank you." Izuku loosened up, a relieved smile gracing his features.
"Let's talk over taiyaki."
*
Later in the day, they went out on patrol, stopping the occasional petty crime but otherwise having an entirely uneventful walk. A couple of times during the route, they took a break by benches, letting Torino sit down and instruct the boy to throw some punches. He was criticised and altered his movement accordingly, becoming more acclimated with his smaller, slimmer form and trying not to miss the strength of his future self too much.
When afternoon was edging on evening, they started to head back. Izuku hummed softly to fill the silence, his red shoes light against the pavement, stepping with the grace of a dancer. He paused suddenly, tilting his head before abruptly turning a corner, ignoring the confused questioning of the elderly hero.
There was a young woman standing outside a building, tearing her hands through her hair as she stared upwards. Izuku approached her, following her gaze and noticing a fat feline stuck on a window-ledge a few storeys up.
"Need help getting your cat down?" He asked gently, offering a friendly smile with a tilt of his head.
"O-oh, yes, please! She climbed up there earlier and refused to come down." The woman laughed shakily, running her hands over her biceps. "She's always been so stubborn..."
Izuku scanned the terrain, mentally pre-constructing a route before leaping up, hopping onto a low wall and jumping onto the side of the building. He caught himself on a lower ledge before shooting up in a glitter of green, carefully scooping up the bundle of long fur before kicking off the bricks and landing smoothly next to the woman. She gratefully took the cat, burying her face in the fur as a few, relieved tears spilled down her cheeks.
"What's her name?" Izuku inquired, reaching out to lightly pat the animal's head and giggling when he got nudged affectionately.
"Moekasu-chan," she responded with a wet laugh. "We named her that because she got stuck in the chimney when she was a kitten, and came out covered in cinders."
The boy chuckled along with her, grinning at the troublesome cat. "Well, I hope she doesn't get stuck anywhere else."
"Thank you for saving her," the woman said suddenly, raising her head from the fluff. "You're a hero-in-training, aren't you? What's your hero name?"
"I'm Deku," he stated confidently, a note of fond nostalgia woven into his tone as he recalled all the times he'd had to introduce himself before people started to recognise him.
She beamed at him. "Do your best, Deku! I'll be cheering for you all the way."