Chapter Text
"Denki, you free to hang around?" Izuku said with a sneeze following up.
"Actually Izuku, I was planning on training myself a bit more, UA is coming up soon and I really want to do good in the afternoon exam, please don't take this as an insult." Denki pretended to cry, one single false tear fell down the side of his cheek as he pressed both straightened hand together asking for forgiveness that wasn't needed.
Izuku, returning Denki's action with a smile, waved his hands about, "it's fine, but I guess that means Fridays is off tomorrow?"
"I need you on Fridays, or else I'll die." He grasped Izuku and shook him back and forth playfully, "Oi, oi Izuku. Don't ditch me now."
"I won't, just kidding, I guess I'll text you when I get home or something." Izuku replied, lightly swiping away his hands away. He sneezed once more and rubbed his nose with his finger. Was he getting ill?
"Izuku— no, the messiah of my grades, I thank you for your help." He clapped his hands together towards Izuku and let's another false tear trail down his cheek as Izuku scoffed at his silly little actions. "But dude, you've been sneezing all day, you sure you good?"
Izuku became flustered when students around him packing away to go to their homes stifled a small snort or giggle.
"Denki, you can stop it now, I'm not some chosen one I'm like you. Good luck on your training now. I won't let you surpass me though." He patted his chest and green eyes glinted with determination, a rosy smile grew on his face as he stared at his friend knowingly. He held out an arm waiting patiently for Denki to reciprocate his desire.
They weren't full on rivals, but comrades with the same ideals as one another to strive for nothing but greatness.
Denki scoffed, extending his arm out and clasping Izuku's hand with his own, he pulled Izuku forward and lightly bumped his shoulders with his own.
UA reared itself at the top of the mountain and Izuku has barely reached the checkpoint in order to get accepted, late bloomers such as himself would never be given a free pass due to his circumstantial situation. He, like everyone else, would have to work hard in order to be at the top of the hill, to stand above others and tower above them.
To show— no to prove that he is more than a quirkless Deku, as Katsuki had liked to phrase it. He's been looking at everyone's back for so long, and the feeling of neediness was something he never wanted to fall back onto. He wanted to run alongside everyone, to work his hardest to become a hero like All Might, not just number one but also a symbolic feature to everyone.
"You're smart, but I won't be beaten by you so easily, Izuku." He smiled and went off, "take care, don't push yourself if you are ill.", tossing his backpack lazily over his shoulders and treading off, leaving Izuku to stand in the classroom alone.
Izuku grabbed the remaining notebooks on his desk and tucked it into his backpack slowly, not necessarily in a rush. He closed the zipper and headed towards the door of the classroom but stopped at the front.
He heard laughter from the next table, as he had always heard for every single time, and Izuku grimaced prepared for their judgement, "Kaminari won't ever be one." The classmate then proceeded to mimic Denki, holding out his thumbs and putting on a dumb face saying 'whey' jokingly.
"Y-You know, Denki's been working hard," Izuku uttered out but his voice held some confidence to it, he thought back to Katsuki's words for a brief moment, pondering what the blonde would ever say, "i-if you can't say it to someone's face, why bother saying it in the end?"
Katsuki would, of course, begin to curse out— that and he'd never defend someone to begin with, but Izuku rephrased what he would do and changed it into his own words.
He left before they could ever respond back to him, closing the classroom doors behind him and chewing the inside of his cheek anxiously. His All Might backpack attached to his back as he had put it on long ago and the handle stayed in his hands, nails digging into the yellow fabric in frustration. It didn't matter, quirk or quirkless, people are always made fun of for no reason other than being 'lesser' or not on the same level as themselves.
Quirkless people may have the worst of it all, but it didn't mean having a quirk it made things better, it only created a hierarchy of people rated from power to power. Whilst Denki 's power is strong there were still major drawbacks from quirk overuse he needed to overcome.
"You'll be amazing Denki, I promise." Izuku softly smiled, he knew what the boy was capable of and even from the blonde, teens quirk drawback he still works harder to make up for his lack of control afterwards. "They just... don't bother to understand you properly."
He looked at his watch and gave a lopsided frown, "still have a lot of time before I need to actually be at home. I could visit Dagobah for an hour, and return, wouldn't actually be doing much."
He missed the place he grew up in, with the exclusion of Katsuki and his quirkless status, he had never associated the area with any negative connotations, nor could he ever since it was his true home whether he had liked it or not. Albeit Saturdays, he still wants to go back there whenever he gets the chance to.
"An hour's fine." He muttered to himself, calculating in his head the time he should departure and the time he should be at the station so he can make it back home without worrying his mother too much. Izuku lightly jogged his way out of the school and to the nearest station that could take him to Dagobah.
He sneezed and had a small coughing fit.
"Woah! All Might was spotted! I thought his agency was in Tokyo?" He held his phone close to his face as he swung side to side from the force of the train, it was amazing that ALL MIGHT of all people is where he lived!
Or rather use to but it still hadn't dismissed the fact that he could probably see him up and in action if he searches long and hard enough, "woah! He captured a sludge villain! Even though physical attacks wouldn't work! Simply amazing!"
Izuku praises went unheard but he still gushed on about All Might, his cheeks flushing red and became ruddy from the coldness.
He prayed that he would spot the man, even just a section for a split second would be enough to blow Izuku away.
"I missed All Might in action," Izuku sighed as he watched the news feed from his phone, lips crooked down in mild frustration. He turned it off and placed it into his pocket disappointedly, lowering his head for a moment. "I could've gotten a signature if I had been a second faster."
He sat by the piles of plastic and the metal metropolis in the beach, sitting down away from the shards on the floor and onto what he believes to be a car roof. Izuku glanced over at the sight of rubbish and felt his nose wrinkle up at the awfulness it had become. Illegal dumping site and the government hadn't even bothered to put any warning or clear up the glory that used to be Dagobah Beach.
It wasn't right, but there's nothing fair and just about the system they had in Japan and nothing could really be done about it.
Izuku blinked and got up from his seat, "there's nothing really stopping me from cleaning it up myself, it'd be nice to stop focusing on my quirk and focus more on strengthening my own body, but that would mean I'd need a vehicle to transport the items away from here, maybe a sizeable van or a pickup truck? It'd cost a lot of money to rent out but if I use my savings right I can probably get it for cheap, though it still means I would need to hire a driver or have my mom drive— not sure if she'd be too happy knowing I go to Dagobah every Saturday."
A loud thud and the wind blew away some of the piling metal down, letting it crumble right by Izuku's feet, he furrowed his eyebrows further and pressed a hand on his chin, "it'd be dangerous to leave the trash here, maybe Uncle Bakugou can help, I haven't seen him in forever but I really don't want to see Kacchan either and cause conflict." He groaned and ruffled his fingers in his hair frustratedly. He rubbed his nose, sniffling a few times and blinking heavily from the short burst of blurriness from his vision.
He closed his eyes and focused for a while, trying to clear his thoughts and find a solution. "Maybe... no, it's disastrous. What about... meh probably not the best option to take."
"Oi! What are you doing here?"
Izuku blinked and whipped around his head towards the face, seeing a skinny frail man jogging lightly towards him, sunken eyes and cheeks that caved into his jaw. He wore an oversize white tee and a pair of cargo pants.
"Kid, you know it's unsafe in such areas, especially with such large heaps of garbage piles all over the place?"
Izuku opened his mouth, and closed it only for a second before reopening it, "b-but you're here?" He regretted the words as soon as it left his mouth, face flustered, form frozen in fear. "I'm sorry for my lack of respect, I-I just found it upset that this once beautiful beach had been reduced to a dumping ground, I wanted to do something to clean it up but I'm finding it more complicated then I thought— I need to rent a van big enough to carry parts of a fridge and maybe a car. It'd be more dangerous for the children who come here thinking this is a playing ground, mountains of trash falls during windy days and it'd be a shame if someone did get hurt from it..."
Izuku bowed quickly, face even more flustered then before, "I'm sorry, I-It's a habit."
The man stared with his eyebrows raised up, mouth parted open. He hummed and smiled, "that's fine, you have a fair point. Someone could get hurt. It does include you too."
"I-I know, I believe I would be fine, I'm careful every time I come here." He smacked his hand over his mouth and stared at the man— would he report him? Is he going to get in trouble, he can't be blurting things out loud, even Denki told him it was a problem.
Silence ensures. Izuku doesn't make eye contact with the man and is expecting a harsh scold from him, what he's doing is essentially dangerous and illegal— usage of quirk weekly in an area that is in a public space. Izuku wouldn't be surprised if...
"I can help you, I have a van big enough to carry items here. And you seem like a good kid."
Now, Izuku is mildly surprised, he smiled at the man, grabbing his hand in the midst of the moment, green eyes glowing in awe and amazement, "r-really! B-but how can I repay you?"
"It's not about me, is it? I wouldn't want children being hurt, and it'd would mean I could supervise over you and make sure you too also remain safe." He turned over to the side coughed out blood from his mouth into his hand, he then proceeded to wipe it with his arm leaving Izuku to screech in shock.
"Mister? Are you alright? Well of course not since you're bleeding? I need to call the ambulance, someone—"
"I'm fine, this happens often, it's a health problem that can't be fixed."
"Oh. W-wait just a second." He leapt away from the man towards his backpack he had hidden underneath the rubble, dusting off some sand and broken, brittle bits before returning back to the stranger, "here, it's my handkerchief, at least clean yourself up mister."
"It's fine."
"I don't use it, so it'd be a shame that it'd be left unused for the rest of its existence." He joked around, offering the handkerchief one last time, waving it in front of the strangers face.
Reluctantly, he took it, wiping off the blood from his face and arm, "I'll clean it thoroughly and hand it back."
"It's fine. S-So when are you free, I can come here Saturdays— and with a bit of rescheduling— I can come Sunday too. I'm a bit iffy with most days but if I try hard I can come here everyday after school for one or two hours except Fridays." He muttered underneath his breath constantly, letting the air flow out of him but not back in as one word follows another and another like a chain and encase him.
"Why do you do this? No one is telling you to clean this up."
Izuku nervously chucked, "no, no one is. But if I don't do it then who will. If a hero has any opportunity at saving someone they won't leave it be right— but of course this situation can't be compared to theirs... so I believe that if I can make someone's day by doing this it's a good enough thing to be doing it. A lot of people liked this beach." He grinned with a fist clenched tightly to chest and hair bobbed to the side a bit as he tilted his head.
"Toshinori Yagi, refer to me as whatever make you comfortable." Smiled the blonde, extending out his hand to Izuku's direction.
"Okay... I-I'm Izuku Midoriya. Feel free to call me Izuku. Or Midoriya, I don't really mind as well, Mr. Yagi." He gripped his hand and shook it feebly.
"I assume you want to be a hero."
"W-What gave it away?" Izuku laughed at his own joke coinciding with Toshinori's own chuckles.
"But, to train, study, and clean up all of this is going to be hard," he reached into his bag and got out a piece of paper, "I can make a training schedule using the beach— so you can simultaneously train whilst cleaning without putting further stress onto yourself."
Izuku blinked.
"Oh! I couldn't, to make a plan would take lots and you're already helping out so much."
"Nonsense, absolute nonsense. You're the prince of nonsense." Toshinori laughed, reminiscent of the memories when he was Izuku's age and just as stubborn, "I'm an old man with too much time to spare, and to see someone give back to the community despite not benefiting from it is rare in youngsters these days. I would be more then happy to help you out any time I can."
Izuku glanced long and hard at the man, "I-I thank you so much." He bowed politely over and over again that you can see the blur of his body. He caught a glance at his watch and quickly hurried over, swinging his bag over to his back and taking out his notebook. "I need to be going now, if it isn't too imposing I would like to have something to contact you by."
"Ah yes, 987-6543-210, or you can email me if phone numbers seem too personal."
"Oh no, I-I'm honestly fine with it. It's convenient for us both anyways." He sneezed once more and rubbed his nose, "but I'll be going now Mr. Yagi, t-thank you very much for you kindness."
"Woah, dude, why'd sound so happy?"
"I-I have a mission on sight that I really want to complete. I can finally achieve it." He grinned, pressing the phone up to his ear and typing away on the computer in search for a Toshinori Yagi.
"Sounds like there's a but."
"Yeah, it was too convenient so I need to do a background check before I can truly see whether or not the person's helping me is suspicious. I feel like I can trust him, but feelings shouldn't mix in with facts so I'm digging a bit to find him." He pressed a few of the top searches and tried to delve deeper to find any bits and snippets of information about this man.
"Ooh, sounds like there's an 'and' there too."
"There's nothing. Every website I've checked there's nothing on him. It's weird since most people would have at least one social media site signed on like he's erased. And on the government website you can't find any crimes relating to the 'Toshinori Yagi' I know off." He spoke further, returning to the homepage and moving onto the next link.
"He could be a hermit, or traditional, even though that's rare."
"Yeah, but if things do go wrong I want to at least make sure I know what I'm doing. People can't always be as trustworthy as you may think."
"Another but?"
"He hadn't said or done anything out of place, most people are reluctant in helping me and he was full on board even though what I'm doing is potentially illegal."
Denki choked on the other side of the line, splurging out the juice from his mouth, "dude, what the hell are you doing? Illegal?! What are—"
"Oh! It's nothing bad, it's just Dagobah Beach, you know the beach I go to with some restrictive access since it's dangerous." Clearing up the misunderstand he chuckled at the sudden choking of Denki, "I use the term restrictive loosely as were technically still allowed there but there's a risk of being reported. You alright?"
"Yeah, just say Dagobah from now on, I thought my innocent little messiah had gotten himself in trouble." He whined.
"I'm not— wait a second! I found him, on the official police website. He's listed as a detective but there's no pictures of him anywhere on the website," he clicked more and more to find only a single picture of the entire force but no Toshinori, only All Might shaking one of the man's hand. "Oh, this was a few years back. I remember this not a big event but since All Might was there it got a lot of attention."
"Found much?"
"Nothing. Except that he's a detective, which in itself is better then finding nothing." Replied Izuku, closing the computer tab and leaning back into the swirly chair comfortably. "Glad though, at least I know it's someone credible enough."
Denki let out a low whistle out his mouth, "well, then I think you're done with research, let's talk. Anything interesting."
Izuku jumped from his chair and stalked off to his bed, lowering himself swiftly and laying his head onto the pillow tiredly, phone still in hand and the other laid across his chest, "All Might was in the area! I was hoping to make it on time for an autograph but of course he's very good at avoiding the media."
"Damn! Number one hero in your old area. But you'd literally die if All Might was even in your line of sight." Joked Denki, letting out a series of chortles and wheeze, "remember Saitama Mall?"
Izuku flushed bright red from the tip of his nose to the corner of his ear, stretching across his cheeks as his smile became wobbled and a hand went to cover his face embarrassed.
"T-That incident, we swore to never speak of it ever."
"Swore to never tell another soul, nothing about bringing it up." Denki said in between more snorts and giggles, "I'm glad that I was blessed enough to witness, not even messiah can be perfect."
Groaning, Izuku rolled around on his bed, swaying side to side and burying his face in his pillow attempting to suffocate himself— it was a better alternative from breathing and hearing Denki continuously insult him over and over again. But eventually, his head resurfaced and he inhaled deeply before bringing the phone back to his ear.
"Hello, Izuku? You done with trying to suffocate yourself."
"Just a few more seconds please." He screams once more into his pillow before returning back to his phone, "I'm satisfied. Proceed."
"Dude, honestly you make it more of a bigger deal then it is."
"If you were in the situation, would you want anyone to know?"
"Hell no, I'd literally cease to exist. But I was attempting to comfort you and make you feel welcomed." He replied.
Izuku groaned.
"Ah, shoot. Mom's callin', gonna go. See you tomorrow?"
"Sure. Bye Denki."
Lonesomely, he gazed out his window from his position on the mattress. A curve growing on his lips from the conversation— this was different from Shizuoka, it was less violent and brutal and he has someone he can — truly — call a friend. So different to the platonic relationship between him and Katsuki, no violence or rude attitude, no one believes that they are superior then others, majority of people are on equal grounds with one another.
Quirks did matter, but it wasn't a huge scale or exaggerated extensively, it was small but not subtle, maybe a hint of prejudice but it was like a flip of a switch and he was living in a parallel universe. Before, becoming a hero was a hallucination— not a dreams, dreams can eventually be achieved but hallucinations were made up by the mind and defy every law of the universe— but now, it can be achieved, he can call it his goal... his dream.
"I'm going to be a hero." He used the term hero loosely, not all those who wear capes and spandex are heroes— some are actually very evil and corrupt, he would want to be someone who saves someone— who can bring a smile to someone's face without even thinking twice about doing so.
His arm reached out to he ceiling, dangling there for a good while as he stared at his fingers wiggle around for a while. Then, he clenched his fist with determination written across his face. He'll take Mr. Yagi's training seriously— no matter how rigorous or tiresome it may be. His goal is to work hard to even be a good enough qualifier for U.A.
"A v a t a r."
Blinking harshly, Izuku rubbed his eyes and looked around, eyebrows scrunched and head pounding. He hummed looking around and reaching for the switch in his room, but is surprised to find nothing. Izuku is encompassed in the nothingness, he yelped and looked down, eyebrows scrunched and eyes narrowed.
"What... is this... a dream?" He spoke slowly.
"A v a t a r."
"Avatar? Who? What even does that mean?" He had gotten up, standing on nothing but still he hadn't yet fallen. Feeling confident, he takes a step forward in an attempt to manoeuvre the dream but he finds himself swallowed up in the darkness. Hands outstretched and eyes dilating in fear. "Lucid dream, lucid dream, lucid dream!" He yelled our, stretching out his hands as he waited for the ground to hit up.
And, there he sees a flash of many things, an ice burg, tournaments, volcanoes, it's different environments he's sure he hadn't been to, all flowing back into his body like they had always been there to begin with. He reached out, attempting to grab the silk white strand that flowed towards him elegantly and eloquently, almost hypnotic with its steady movement but swift flicks. It slips through his grasp the first time around, gritting is teeth his stretched his arm further, from his arm to his fingers— barely skimming the soft waves of the string.
And he awoke, the environments, the people, everything that was there had disappeared, seal shut from his mind and removed forcibly. He wanted to know more, what was that? Who voices was that? Can't he go back?
"What's... avatar?" He groaned and pressed a gentle hand on his head, feeling it burn up and eyelids heavy and forcibly trying to clamp shut. Swiftly he gets up to only let out another groan and buckled to the side wall, dragging himself through sliding across the room and ventured out his room, roaming around the hallways.
"Izuku, you're awake, I was just about to come and wake you myself." Inko said, walking over to Izuku's door but was shocked when Izuku fell down on her shoulders with a pained groan, "go on downstairs now, you've slept enough. Unless you were talking with Denki."
She hadn't gotten a single response, quickly she pulled him away and felt for the temperature of his head, feeling his head throb against her hand and the warmth swamp through every curve and crevice of her hand.
Izuku buckled and fell down onto the ground pained.
Izuku was ill. Very ill. He wheezed and spluttered and his voice could function at the bare minimum. He can see his cheeks are flustered and uncomfortably warm, nose juxtaposed with the rest of his skin seeing as they were a furious red from the tip to the ends.
He hacked over and over, groaning ever so often in response to the pain subconsciously. Mouth open, since his nostrils were clogged with mucus, breathing in and out the air repeatedly for circulation of air. He sniffled twice before sighing softly.
"I called in your school, told them your very ill." Inko spoke. Izuku hadn't even noticed her there and was mildly surprised. "Just rest up alright?"
Izuku doesn't reply but his mother understood him nonetheless. "I'm going to go buy some porridge okay, don't do anything reckless." She brushed back his hair with her hand and place a kiss on his forehead, then put a damp cloth on top of his burning head.
Izuku scoffed lightly, amused that his mother would even think that he'd be able to do anything in this condition. He just prayed that he'd be better by the end of today. She left the room without any further words, leaving Izuku to his own.
Groaning, he got up, "Denki. I-I need to contact him." He picked up his phone and went back to collapse in his bed, going onto Denki's contact information and pressing it. He wasn't thinking logically, Denki was in school and phones are forbidden until lunch or break time, but he couldn't think with the throbbing thudding that plagued his head.
So it should've run bells when someone on the other line had actually picked up. "Denki, I-I can't do today." He answered without even listening to the other line.
"Young Midoriya?"
"O-Oh, Mr. Yagi. I didn't know you had the same number as Denki." Words leave his mouth but there is no more filter, "A-Ah Wait. That's not how it works? Is it? I'm sorry, i-it's a bit boring here."
"It's no problem, I'm not busy right now so if you want anything to discuss I'll give an ear."
"Ah, r-really? You don't need to, it was just about All Might anyways."
"All Might huh?"
"Yeah, the number one hero, amazing person who can calm everyone else with just his presence." He reached out for the ceiling and grasped the air above him, "he's my idol, I'd combust if I ever meet him."
Toshinori chuckled knowingly. "So, what about All Might?"
"W-Well... I had some thoughts about All Might's quirk," he hacked for a bit before bringing the phone to his ear, "and I-I had realised something about it yesterday... that it's likely to be transformation. How else does the number one hero not get recognised during his trip to stores? I-I know it's weird, but hear me out— every time he walked into a venue, somewhere popular there's going to be the media trying to scope him out, and yet he's never seen leaving by any heroes or by the media— even someone like Endeavour would have a hard time doing so. But, if you're able to transform then that problem no longer exists?" He sighed, "it's speculation for now— hah, I almost fell out the shower when I had that realisation."
Toshinori chuckled on the other side of the line, "that is an interesting conclusion, do you normally think about quirks?"
"Uh huh. I-I was quirkless before," he sneezed loudly, and wiped his nose with his forearm trying to take in air through his nose and breathe again, "people tend to not find worth in their quirk but for me back then, I-I realised that there are so many things they could do with them— but I guess for someone lacking I can see the greatness in others. A-And even though I now have my quirk, I still find other quirks just as amazing as my own."
"My boy, what is your quirk?"
"Fire and air. I can manipulate both. But it's weird."
"Why is that?"
"Dad can breathe fire, mom can pull and push small objects. Where does air come in from?"
"There are mutations that can be made. Or maybe your mothers quirk is different from what you believe it to be?"
"Huh?"
"So, she can manipulate the air around the object rather than the object itself? Quirks aren't all that they seem to be."
"Huh." He said in realisation. "I-I never thought of that. Thanks Mr. Yagi."
They talked on for a long time, Izuku going off about speculations, some true and others a bit of a stretch but nonetheless he was more than satisfied to tell someone about it. It made the empty room feel less lonely, though it still would've been better if it had been Denki instead. Izuku doesn't know how long it goes on for but he continues to speak and laugh to the person on the other line.
Mr. Yagi was a kind man, that's what Izuku learnt today as they talked, of course he’d feel embarrassed when he’s not as sick and has to go meet up with a man whom he called and given many bundles of his thought to but he hadn’t even meant to, mouth moved faster than his mind.
How couldn’t have he? The man spoke kindly to him, he listened to everything before responding and didn’t make Izuku aware of his mumbling. Most people did tend to stop him— recently as he gotten his quirk it was more of a tease then pre-quirk— but Mr. Yagi has hung on every word, letting out various hums to make Izuku aware that he is listening and is even able to repeat back the words back for confirmation or to deny them.
But, he wouldn’t say it was the worst thing to happen, in fact, it felt better with the presence of the stranger— who is credible, as credible as a detective can get.