Chapter Text
‘Are you ready?’
‘More than I’ve ever been in my entire life. Are you ready?’
‘Absolutely not. Let’s do this.’
Mirai clicked the call button, and the screen lit up, whirring into action, showing them the image of a shy little girl, Sir Nighteye plushie held tightly in one arm and dark blue hair falling into her eyes.
‘Hi!’ she said, a little hesitantly. Around her thumb.
‘Hello Madeleine.’
It’s nice to see you!’ Tsukauchi said cheerfully. ‘I like your doll.’
‘Amy got him for me’ Madeleine replied. ‘It looks like him.’
‘It certainly does’ Naomasa agreed.
The plan had been to wait another year, but once Mirai had read the story he quietly insisted.
‘I’m Sasaki Mirai’ he said, calm and steadily. ‘And this is my partner, Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. We’re going to fly all the way over to America to see you, and become your dads, your real forever dads. If that’s what you want.’
Madeleine blinked.
‘Even though I don’t have a quirk?’ she asked quietly, looking at them with something like confusion and worry.
‘Even though you don’t have a quirk.’ Mirai assured. ‘I know a lot of people who don’t have quirks and I can tell you that they’re the coolest people on earth!’
Madeleine finally smiled, brightly. Fuck, Tsukauchi loved her already.
‘Heroes?’ she asked. Mirai nodded.
‘Do you have a favourite hero?’
Madeleine squirmed a little, excitedly.
‘Uh-huh. I like The Janitor because he says lots of silly things . . . he was American but now he’s in Japan. Like I’m going to be!’
‘Wow’ Mirai replied. ‘My favourite hero is Allmight. He originally came from America too!’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. That’s why he wears Red, White and Blue!’
Madeleine’s face looked like Mirai had given her the entire world on a silver platter. Tsukauchi loved him. He turned to the screen.
‘Madeleine’ he said. ‘We’ll be getting on a plane in one, two, three, four, five days and flying to America to meet you. Then, once we’ve spent a couple of days getting to know each other, you’re going to come on a big plane with us and move into our home. Just in time to celebrate your sixth birthday, two weeks later! How does that sound?’
She nodded importantly.
‘And I’ll make sure Mirai brings his big Allmight plushie that matches yours!’
Madeleine gasped excitedly and a warm voice from behind her- Amy- called out.
‘You have to go now Maddie, say goodbye!’
‘Bye-bye!’ the girl said excitedly and hung up.
The detective and the hero looked at each other, smiling and crying, happy as the sun. They cuddled for a bit, on the couch, in front of the computer, before Mirai stood up, all seven foot of him and pulled a picnic basket out from behind his office desk.
‘I’m sorry, love’ he said. ‘I have a prior engagement.’
‘Absolute baloney, it’s your afternoon off.’
‘It is. What I do have then, is a very educated guess.’
A small rumbling was heard from behind the office door, growing louder and louder until the very floorboards rattled with it as a very excited green ball of energy burst in, almost smashing the door on his way through.
‘I GOT IN!’ he shouted.
Mirai smiled.
‘Really? I never would have known.’
‘I GOT IN, I GOT IN, I GOT IN, I GOT IN, I GOT IN, I GOT IN’ Izuku chanted, pumping his fists and jumping around the office. Centipeder peeked his head in through the door, smiling.
There had not been a single doubt around the agency as to this result. Combined training from Toshinori and Nighteye, as well as a little string-pulling from Nezu had gotten him into the recommendation trials, which he had promptly exceeded with skill. He broke both his arms in the process, but still. It would be avoided in the future, Toshinori had assured them. Midoriya had worried over his performance, in between gushing over a spectacular ice quirk used in the trials and was waiting with baited breath for the letter to come. So, Mirai had packed the picnic basket in anticipation and now picked up the unruly boy by the back of the collar.
‘Come on you hooligan’ he said brusquely. ‘Take your celebrations out of my agency before you destroy it.’
And they did, walking out of the office and through the sunny town while Midoriya danced and shouted and smiled, until they got to their destination, a beach that, until about five weeks before had been deemed unsuitable for public use.
‘You did a good job here’ Nighteye complimented. ‘It’s almost pretty now.’
They set out the picnic together, little boxes of sushi and sandwiches with cream cakes for dessert. Once they had sat down, Midoriya turned to Mirai.
‘How did your meeting with Madeleine go?’
‘She’s wonderful. I can’t wait to see her. I don’t understand how anyone could ever give her up.’
‘I’d hate to see anyone who lays hands on her, they’d get their school burned down.’
Mirai shot him a sharp, disapproving look. Izuku looked back at him teasingly.
He’d never let that go, Mirai knew it.
‘No’ he mused. ‘I’ll just teach her to punch bullies in the face, and then Karen her out of detention afterwards.’
Izuku smiled.
And then shoved him down a sand dune.
Down he went, in a ridiculous little ball of tangled legs and arms until he hit the bottom and spit out a mouthful of sand with an angry huff.
‘The hell was that for?’
‘Remember our deal?’ Izuku shouted back smugly. ‘You said if I managed to knock you down, you’d tell me about your quirk’
‘In sparring!’
‘You didn’t specify, did you?’
Mirai walked back up, grumpy as a bitter cat and collapsed back next to him. ‘Fine. It’s Prophetic Eye. When I activate it on a certain subject I can see into their future for as long as I choose. I can only do one subject over twenty-four hours and then I can pick a new one.’
Midoriya’s eyes widened in excitement and his hands twitched. Mirai smiled fondly.
‘Shall I demonstrate it for you?’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. We’ll make it a getting-in treat.’
‘That’s so cool. What shall we look at?’
‘Hmm . . . why don’t you decide?’
There was a silence, just the sound of the wind in the grass as Midoriya mulled it over.
‘You’ he said finally. ‘What will you be doing in . . . five years!’
Mirai felt tight, nervous panic clench in his gut- the last time he’d done this- looked so far.
But Midoriya’s bright, shining face was looking at him and everything was going to be alright.
He activated the quirk.
‘I’m looking now. I see it like a movie. It’s early evening. I’m in my house . . . good to know I won’t be moving soon. Tsukauchi is in the kitchen, and for some reason Mic and Eraserhead are at the dining table. I can see, Madeleine running around and around the couch with another little girl- I think she must be Shouta and Mic’s daughter, she’s got white hair- and I’m kneeling in front of the tv, turning it on- because the hero billboards are on- Aaaah, I see why we’ve gathered tonight. There’s a very special hero being presented.’
Midoriya flopped back sighing happily. He didn’t catch Mirai’s hint and Mirai didn’t want him to, leaving some things to be a special, wonderful surprise.
‘And all because of you.’
‘Yeah . . . just to think of everything that happened just because I accidentally ran into you one day!’
‘Imagine. I don’t get to see things that might have been. Only what will.
I wonder what we would be?
What do you think would have happened,
.
.
.
.
.
.
If we had never met?’