"Hi, All Might"
Toshinori jumped, spraying the front of his shirt with the contents of half his lungs as he coughed in surprise. Frantically looking around, he relaxed when he saw no one had heard.
"Keep your voice down," the emaciated blonde hissed.
Recovery Girl had somehow predicted he'd be turning this particular corner and was calmly leaning against the wall waiting for him. He hadn't expected her to find him this fast; UA entrance exams had only been yesterday. The child prodigy was dressed in civilian clothes, which didn't serve to make her any less terrifying. It was overcast weather, so she had wrapped up in that old leather coat of Eraser Head's even though the thing was far too big for her. Head buried in a scarf, she actually look remarkably like her adoptive father.
In his entire time knowing her, Toshinori had never seen her reveal any skin except her face and fingertips, regardless of whether it was blisteringly hot. He didn't know enough teenagers to understand if that was normal. Young Midoriya definitely didn't count.
The nurse ignored him.
"I always enjoy seeing you because you're the only person apart from my cancer patients who's appearance is consistently worse than mine. You look like shit," she said good-naturedly.
"Hey, I'm just following my doctor's orders. If I look bad, it's their fault. Nice to see you too, Maeve," he replied, setting his groceries down on the sidewalk.
"Touché," Recovery Girl chuckled. "I'm meeting up with Ingenium close to here in an hour and realised I could come and have a little chat with you first. Are you busy?"
For such a tiny person, she could be truly terrifying.
"Um, not that I know of."
"Great, you are now. You have half an hour to convince me why giving possibly the most powerful quirk in the world to a middle schooler with more tears than apparent skills or common sense was a good idea."
Toshinori sighed and ran a hand over his forehead.
"There's a cafe down the road with good cake. How about we discuss in there?"
"Do they have caffeinated cake?"
"I doubt it, but I'm sure we could arrange for coffee as well."
"Well okay then. Lead the way, Mr Natural Born Hero," she chirped. Striding forward, Recovery Girl pressed exposed fingertips into his chest and the bloodstain down his front quickly disappeared.
"Thanks," he said absentmindedly. Toshinori was quickly running out of clean shirts, so if any could be saved he was grateful.
"No worries. Where's this cafe?"
***
"So," Maeve said, digging a fork determinedly into one of the three different cake slices she'd ordered.
"Izuku Midoriya."
Toshinori's fidgeting had increased. Why was he, the number one hero, so terrified of a tiny 18 year old girl he could snap in half like a twig?
Because she's smarter than you and you both know it , he couldn't help but think.
And she was the most pissed off he'd ever seen her, which said a lot about her anger management skills actually.
"There's something special about him. I have trouble explaining it, but I just know he's the one, Maeve."
"Because of that sludge villain incident?" She asked, with her uniquely crooked smile. It both mocked and understood him in a way that was deeply irritating.
"How did you connect him to that?"
"It didn't click immediately because I'd organised away the memory of that news report and he only appeared on screen for 1.5 seconds. But my mind did get there. He ran out, quirkless and powerless, to help his friend, right? Must've reminded you of yourself."
"Yeah, I suppose. I was very inspired by his bravery."
Recovery Girl sighed, and he suddenly realised how exhausted she was. She looked closer to a starving bird than an 18-year-old kid who should be in the prime of her life.
"All Might, every time I look at you, all I can see is the version who just kept choking up more and more of your own blood," she said calmly, pushing around her second cake piece with her fork.
"The hospital staff never told me who you were when they brought you in that night, I could just tell they were terrified. I was called in at one in the morning and told, 'get into scrubs and do anything in your power to save the man about to come through that door, Flea.' Quite a dangerous thing to tell a 13-year-old, but hey, they were desperate."
She closed her eyes, remembering, and Toshinori wondered what it would be like to be able to relive every traumatic event in your life as if it was happening all over again. How she managed to at least keep the facade of being a normal person when as a child it was common for her to be called in at any hour of the day to patch up holes in various dying heroes, many of whom were her friends. He assumed some of them didn't make it, and considered how she coped.
"And then they wheeled you in. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was almost comically sad, in a way, but everyone was taking it so seriously. A tiny figure, so skeletal it looked like you were dead already, swathed in All Might's costume. The red of your blood didn't match its colour scheme. I couldn't understand it. Were you some kind of government official who'd been assassinated at a costume party? But when I touched you, I knew. When you wear a surgical mask, the only visual way to communicate with people apart from hand gestures is with your eyes. And I have never, in my entire life, seen nurses look as afraid as the ones in that operating room were. Some of them were weeping as they worked, and these are trained professionals. They were so sure the symbol of peace was lost. It was hell."
Toshinori patiently waited. Recovery Girl had a habit of talking a lot, telling stories, but it was often for a good reason. He was sure she'd make her point soon.
"I almost killed myself just getting you to weakly hang onto life. Maybe no one told you. Started vomiting up blood everywhere and had bleeding from my nose and ears, they had to inject me with adrenaline to stop me blacking out. It lasted about 6 hours. That kind of surgery was beyond me, probably still beyond me. I hate to say this, but if it was anyone else, I would have let them pass on.
Now, I'm not telling you this to make you feel guilty. I'm telling you this to remind you that you were highly trained, in your prime, and had a very good handle on your indestructible quirk. Yet All For One still managed to tear you apart. What do you think he'd be able to accomplish against, say, a 17-year-old with a couple years of training up his belt, still struggling to manage a quirk that tears his body up before his enemies even land a blow. I didn't even expect him to make it into UA, he broke his bones in 17 places in the entrance exam; but for some reason the panel loved him."
Her voice became more insistent.
"Trust me, you don't want to feel the same fear we felt in that operating room. All Might, if you allow that boy to keep your quirk you're assigning him his own death sentence."
She said all this between shovelling cake into her mouth, so it was actually quite stop and start while he waited for her to finish chewing.
"I'm sorry that my being injured caused you so much suffering, I never meant for that, especially on someone so young. However, I respectfully disagree regarding my successor. Midoriya has a lot to learn, but I have faith in him," Toshinori said with a faint smile.
"Did you even bother to go to that meeting with Mirio? You didn't, did you?" Recovery Girl asked, and there was a dangerous note in her voice, though she remained smiling.
"No. I found Midoriya before the meeting was scheduled, so I cancelled it. How did you know about that?"
"Because Principal Nezu was aware I have known every single student to attend UA for 13 years probably better than they know themselves. He asked for my opinion on who would be best suited to be your successor, out of both pros and students, and I gave him Mirio."
It wasn't just about her thinking Midoriya was inadequate. It was also the fact that Toshinori brushed aside a very talented student she'd hand picked for him.
"It wasn't just based off a 'feeling,' I have never seen anything like this guy. The way he's worked to master an incredibly complex quirk and make it his own, his charisma, his genuine wish to do good. I don't think you realise how rare that combination is. I'm sure Midoriya's heart is in the right place, but if he doesn't have the skillset or personality to be able to reach his goals, it really doesn't matter all that much," She continued. Toshinori began to get irritated.
"Isn't it better, though, to start training someone younger, so when they graduate they already have a good understanding of One for All? You've never talked to Midoryia, you don't know what he's like, so until you do, please reserve judgement. I've made my decision, and while you've made some good points against it, and I commend you for taking the time out of your day to come talk to me, please leave it be."
She stared at him through narrowed eyes, and he winced, bracing himself for the storm.
"All right," Recovery Girl said matter of factly,
"It's your decision to make. But I have a condition. Let's make a deal."
"What kind of deal?" He asked apprehensively.
"You've had at least a year to get know the squirt. I still have no idea what he's like except that he shares your tendency towards stupid acts of bravery and a clear death wish. So, I suggest a trial period. He has a week to prove to me that he deserves your quirk, starting from his first day at UA. If he does, I won't interfere in your plans unless they're ridiculous. If he doesn't, I'll convince my old pops to expel him, which I assure you is not difficult to do. Then I'll go to my many connections across Japanese hero schools and warn them about Midoriya, so no one will accept him. I also have international contacts, so he probably couldn't go to any good schools overseas. I'm saying this," she said as Toshinori's face darkened, "To show you I'm not playing around. This is serious. You've gone off and found someone yourself, but now he needs my stamp of approval as well. I've felt too many unprepared heroes die in my hands, All Might. Too many. I'm not going to do nothing if I see a young guy with a bright future being lead like a lamb to the slaughter."
Recovery Girl stood up and yawned, strands of curly silver hair escaping from her bun.
"Got to run, congratulations on your teaching position by the way. See you in six days. Remember, he has a week, probably best not to tell him he's on trial because from the information I've gathered the kid has mild anxiety. You might want to keep Mirio on speed dial. Thanks for the cake."
And with that, she left. Toshinori groaned, staring at the single cup of tea he hadn't even touched. He'd always thought Eraser Head had influenced his daughter's harsh streak, but now he was considering whether it had been the other way round the entire time. The nurse's thought processes were impossible to follow, they were so lightening fast. Her personality was a bizarre combination of scathing witticisms, delirious fatigue, rough kindness and the ability to laugh at anything, especially things that scared her.
The 18-year-old had saved his life at great cost to her own and never expected anything in return. In a way, Recovery Girl was more heroic than all the actual heroes. She'd probably rescued more people than anyone, barring himself and possibly Endeavor, in her short time working as a surgeon. The sacrifice she made for these people in terms of her health and wellbeing was painfully clear. Most of her income from both UA and the hospital were both syphoned off into charities of her choice, mostly those seeking to end child abuse in Japan. When asked why, she'd merely laughed and said, "Well, I've already set aside funds for a lifelong coffee and ice cream stash, so I don't really know what I'd do with the rest."
Hero society adored her. Because of her childhood spent in UA, she knew all the old heroes and adored the younger generation given they'd practically raised her. Anyone who was anyone knew her personally, but her father had sheltered her so much from the press as she grew up that although the public knew the name Recovery Girl, they didn't particularly care who she really was or what she was up to. It was very rare for her to be actually recognised, especially since she got rid of her glasses and her hair colour faded.
She'd come of nowhere, and nobody seemed fussed to give any explanation. Toshinori assumed she'd been abandoned as a baby, or incorporated into the foster care system before UA discovered her. All anyone knew was she had hit the genetic jackpot in terms of brains and quirk and mysteriously appeared in the halls of UA one day.
And now she'd somehow twisted the situation with Midoriya into one where she held the power. It was his quirk, his decision, yet Recovery Girl seemed to think it was just as much her responsibility as his. Toshinori did understand her viewpoint, empathising that she merely wanted what was best for Young Midoriya and society, but that didn't change the fact she was being a real pain up the...
***
All Might was still hard at thought inside the cafe. Maeve could see through the glass, with a faint smile. She was glad she'd talked with him in his true form, she preferred him that way. His fully muscled self could be.. Intense. The girl glanced down at her phone, tendrils of hair floating by her face in the wind.
The Only Fast and Furious Worth Watching:
do you know if cats can eat banana?
She glanced up again. Closed her eyes for a moment and prayed, to whom she didn't know. If anyone but her best friend had sent her that text she would have blocked them immediately.
Flea:
Do I even want to know?
The Only Fast and Furious Worth Watching:
I found a cat
on patrol in a park
think it's a stray, it's really thin and i want to give it food but all i have is a banana
Flea:
Which park?