Be realistic.
Midoriya Izuku's world had shattered when those two words had come from All Might's lips. Everything fell away from him as those damn words hit him from the one source he had never expected to hear them from. All Might, who had long been his number one Hero and who would always save the day with a smile as well as had always said that anyone could be a Hero, had just told him the same words everyone else had over the years. Izuku could never be a Hero. A Quirkless person could never be a Hero like he had always dreamed. He needed to be realistic .
Izuku shook with a deep rattling sob as the world slowly came back into focus. The disappearing sun far off in the distance showed that he had clearly been up on the rooftop for at least a few hours. Strange. It had felt like hardly any time had passed at all. Izuku had never disassociated for this long before and the amount of lost time was frankly concerning. But what did it really matter. It wasn't like he was good for anything anyways. No Quirkless was.
"Maybe I should just take your advice Kacchan…" Izuku was standing near the edge of the roof now, having drifted over while thinking. Wondering how long he had been standing at the edge with no one noticing, he looked over the low railing. "Looks like it is less than ten stories. Less than ideal. Not a guarantee at this height…" Still it was probably the tallest building around this part of Musutafu that wasn't a part of the UA campus, if he was going to jump it would have to be this roof unless he wanted to take a train somewhere else. Izuku let out a huff as he pulled back from the edge. "What am I thinking…if I jump, Kacchan will just get blamed for it. I can't screw up that for him…"
The door to the roof was thankfully unlocked when he tried it. The building was some sort of commercial building that was largely empty of people this late in the evening. No one stopped him or even commented on his presence as he passed down the stairs to step back out into the early night air. As Izuku walked home he watched lights flicker on as it began to grow dark, hiding the stars from his eyes. Before he knew it he was opening his apartment door. "Mom, I'm home."
"Izuku baby!" Without warning Izuku found himself wrapped tightly in his mother's arms. "Are you okay? You are never out this late. Did you hear what happened to Katsuki?"
"Mom I'm fine, I just got distracted on my way home. What do you mean, did I hear what happened to Kacchan?"
Tears were pouring down her face he now saw. "I got a call from Mitsuki about an hour ago now that Katsuki is in the hospital. She said the doctors told her he was caught up in a Villain attack."
Ice clawed down Izuku's spine. What were the odds that both of them would be attacked on the same day? "Is-is he okay?"
Thankfully his mother nodded as she released him from her vice like hug. "While he was still unconscious when they brought him in, he's woken up since Mitsuki and Masaru got called to the hospital. Visiting hours would be over by the time we got there, but we should be able to go visit tomorrow morning. From the sound of things he should make a full recovery in a few days, but they are holding him to monitor him for a possible respiratory infection. I can call you out of school for tomorrow, so you can help keep him company while he recovers if you want."
Well Izuku wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand his best friend, who was family in all ways except blood, was recovering in the hospital. On the other hand, Kacchan had just told him to jump off a roof just a few hours earlier. Something that he had nearly done too. Not that he really blamed Kacchan. It wasn't like the suicide baiting was new for Izuku, just new from him. Still if he didn't at least try to go tomorrow, all he would likely be thinking about while at school was Kacchan anyways… "That would be great Mom."
Wiping tears from her eyes, His mother gave Izuku a smile as she moved back from the front door so Izuku would have room to remove his shoes. After removing them, Izuku followed his mother into the kitchen to grab dinner. The pair relaxed in their normal evening quiet as they ate dinner. As they finished up, his Mom spoke up once more. "So what were you thinking about that distracted you for so long?"
Izuku paused with his chopsticks still raised to his mouth to think of how to respond to that. It wasn't like he wanted to lie to his mother but there was no way he could tell her the whole truth without scaring her. "I, umm, ran into All Might on the way home…"
His Mom's eyes widened at that. "Really? Did you get a chance to ask for an autograph? I know you have been wanting to get a chance since you were little."
There was something in her voice that was strange. Like she wasn't as happy as she was pretending to be for Izuku's sake. "Erm― he signed my Hero Notebook…I also got a chance to ask him a question…It, umm, it didn't go the way I expected it to…"
His mother's face fell at that. "Oh, Sweetie… Do you want to talk about it?"
Izuku shook his head. "Not really. Not yet anyways. I am just not sure what I think about him anymore…"
His mother seemed to think about that for a moment. "If it makes you feel better, I don't think your Uncle Mirai knows how he feels about All Might either at this point."
Izuku felt his jaw drop at that. "But―but Uncle Mirai is the one who always bought me the rare and limited edition All Might merchandise! How could he always know what to get and not like All Might!"
His Mom chuckled lightly at that. "Your Uncle Mirai has met with All Might quite a bit over his career. I think the fact he knows All Might on a somewhat personal level is part of the problem. Last I heard from him on the topic, he and All Might were not on speaking terms anymore, though I am not one hundred percent sure as to why."
Izuku's brain felt like it was imploding from this new information, the remainder of his dinner long forgotten. Izuku did not really know much about his mother's two younger brothers outside of the fact that, much like his mother, they were involved in the heroics industry though he had long suspected that unlike her, they were actually Heroes. The fact was that, while he knew their civilian names, he was forbidden from looking them up in the Quirk registry after his mother had outright refused to say one word as to what their Quirks were like. It was much the same with his grandparents on her side of the family, though given that she never spoke about them, that could just be because they didn't get along. Still, the apparent confirmation that his Uncle Mirai had at the very least worked with All Might for likely years, was an earth shattering revelation.
"Izuku, Honey? Are you okay?"
Izuku blinked as his brain rebooted. "So you don't think he would be mad if I sold some of the All Might merchandise that he gave me as gifts over the years?"
His Mom gave him a puzzled smile. "I don't think so? Did you want to redecorate your room then?"
"Yeah. Even if I do end up deciding that All Might is still okay, he probably isn't going to be my number one Hero anymore. Does Uncle Mirai have any Hero merchandise?"
His mother gave a small laugh at that. "I suppose you are old enough that I don't have to worry about you telling everyone either your uncles' civilian identity. Mirai's Hero name is Sir Nighteye."
"WHAT!" The yelp of surprise escaped Izuku's mouth before he could stop it. 'Of the Heroes I've considered he could be, Sir Nighteye never crossed my mind! I never thought he could be Sir Nighteye because Uncle Mirai's sense of humor clashes so much with his heroic persona! But now that I think of it, it makes so much sense! Setting aside the obvious height difference, he shares several physical features with Mom and myself. The difference in eye color is obviously due to his Quirk which is a mental type Quirk like Mom's! The yellow in his hair is likely added highlights and not natural like many think so his hair color and texture most likely matches Mom…"
A laugh from his mother brought Izuku back out of his thoughts. "Wait! Are you telling me that Sir Nighteye bought me his own action figure!"
"I believe the fact that you would want one was the only reason he agreed to All Might's idea. Neither he or Shouta have ever been fond of the merchandising industry part of being a Hero despite how much of the stuff Mirai likes to buy. If it hadn't been for All Might, I suspect that he would have been an Underground Hero instead of Limelight."
Izuku grinned as he latched onto all this new information. He had fished for information like this for years from his mother. It appears that now that the dam withholding the information had broken that he might get more information then he had previously hoped for. "Is Uncle Shouta an Underground Hero then? What's his Hero name?"
The petite woman returned her son's smile a bit sadly. "I actually don't know his Hero name, just that he is actually an Underground Hero. Shouta mostly cut contact with Mirai and I when he started at UA as much as possible while still living with me up until he graduated since he wanted to make a name for himself without having to rely on his connections to us. Outside of the odd phone call once a month and on holidays and birthdays, I personally haven't really spoken with him. We don't normally talk about our work during those times. The only time we came close was when he asked for a referral for a therapist."
Izuku's eyebrows raised at that. "Why not just see you? You see Hero patients all the time."
His mother shook her head. "For the same reason as why a surgeon can't operate on a family member, the conflict of interest would interfere with the patient receiving the best treatment. Mirai sees another therapist for the same reason."
Izuku reluctantly nods at that. "I guess that makes all sense. Do you think you could ask him what his Hero name is though? I am just wondering if I already know who he is? Maybe if you tell me his Quirk I could figure it out."
His Mom seemed to consider it. "I think maybe I should ask Shouta first. Do you think you can wait for a few weeks for our normal call? I might be able to get a hold of him before then if I go through Mirai since he would be able to get ahold of Shouta's patrol schedule. I don't want to risk calling him while he is on patrol unless there is an emergency."
Izuku lights up at that. "You could ask his Hero name when you next talk! I can wait. Oh, maybe, since you don't have to worry about me finding out their civilian identities, you could invite them over for my birthday this year. It would be awesome to thank them for their presents in person for a change."
The greenette woman laughs lightly before jokingly narrowing her eyes. "Are you sure that is the reason you want to invite them over and not the fact that one of you Uncles is in your top 5 favorite Heroes?"
Izuku blushed. "Ahㅡno! Can't a kid just be excited to meet family he hasn't had the chance to meet in person before."
"Well I wouldn't say that is entirely true. Your Uncle Shouta did babysit you regularly when you were little after all."
'I didn't think my face could get even redder. I had forgotten that.' "Wellㅡwell it isn't like I, um, remember what he is like and all. Besides, he wasn't much older than me now the last time I saw him. I'm sure he is loads different now!"
His mother could only smile at that. "I suppose that is probably true at least to a degree, though if I am honest, the last time we spoke on the phone, he seemed just like the quiet and kind soul he always was." She paused as a puzzled expression seemed to cross her face. "Actually now that I think about it, you have met another of your top 5 favorite Heroes in person before. While I am not sure if he still is close friends with him now, while he was in school, Shouta was rather close to Present Mic. He helped Shouta watch you at least one time that I know for sure of, though he might have visited Shouta while he was watching you a few other times. "
Izuku could practically feel his brain short circuit. Present Mic had been in his top 5 Hero list for as long as he could remember. Izuku had been a fan of his radio show since basically the beginning. Present Mic had inspired Izuku early on when he was struggling with the changes to his life in the wake of his diagnosis with his first of what became many anti-Quirk discrimination broadcasts. He was the first and, sadly thus far, only Hero to include the Quirkless in their campaign alongside the Villainous and Mutant Quirks. Izuku found words escaping him before his brain could catch up. "I think he might still be."
His mother seemed surprised at that. "Oh?"
"He, uh, he did a broadcast about Quirk discrimination not long after we visited the doctor…" Izuku trailed off for a moment before shaking his head. "The timing is a bit suspicious in hindsight. You told Uncle Shouta not long after, right?"
Izuku could see the look of understanding the moment it dawned on his mother's face. "I called both him and Mirai after Hisashi got home that day. You are right about the timing being suspicious. I am not really surprised though. It does sound like something Yamada-san would have done from what I do know of him."
Izuku once again caught a new possible fact on a Hero and quickly latched onto it. "Yamada-san?"
"Ah- I forgot for a moment that you wouldn't recognize the name. I have only ever spoken to Present Mic while he was acting as a civilian so I have only ever really thought of him by his civilian name. The fact that he is both the same age as my baby brother and the first time we met he was still just a teenager probably doesn't help."
Izuku considered if he should push the subject more. Maybe if he did he could get a given name also. Unless, of course, his mother had already used his given name and not his family name. Still… "Maybe when you invite Uncle Shouta you could offer him the chance to bring friends?"
His mother laughed at that. "Do you want to extend the same offer to Mirai or did you just want to have Present Mic at your birthday party?"
Izuku felt the blush return. "Uncle Mirai can bring friends too! It would be rude to just invite Uncle Shouta's friends and not his!"
His Mom smiled at that. "I will be sure to extend the invitation. Perhaps it would be good to warn Katsuki tomorrow of what your next birthday party might turn into. It could be something to talk about tomorrow."
Izuku tensed at that thought. He had momentarily forgotten what he would be doing tomorrow before his mother's words fully clicked. The tension in his shoulders vanished. "I didn't think about that. I can tell Kacchan who Uncle Mirai is then?"
"Given that Katsuki would be the only one who wouldn't know that Mirai is Sir Nighteye before your birthday otherwise, I think that it would only be polite to inform him."
"Auntie Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru already know?"
"They were just as much part of my wedding as Mirai and he had his Hero's license by that point, so they have known for years."
Oh yeah. That did make sense. "I guess Kacchan can join me in freaking out over the fact that I have two Pro-Heroes for uncles tomorrow." Izuku shook his head to clear it. "I'm going to go to my room now. I want to take down my All Might posters before I go to bed."
His Mom gave him a sad smile at that. "Do you want any help?"
Izuku shook his head once more. "No. I think I want to do this by myself." As he pushed himself up from the dining room table, he paused. "Do you want help with the dishes first?"
It was his mother's turn to shake her head. "You go ahead. I would rather do the dishes by myself tonight if it means you go to bed on time. Now shoo." She made a small shooing motion at him.
Smiling brightly once more, Izuku headed down the short hallway to his bedroom. He paused at his door as the sign on it caught his eye. After staring at one of his 5th birthday presents from his Uncle Mirai for a moment, he decided to leave it be for now at least. The sign had been custom made for him so even if he took it down, he would have still kept it for sentimental reasons. As he opened his bedroom door, the sheer amount of All Might themed belongings hit him. Contrary to what some might have thought, he did have non All Might themed Hero merchandise but looking around it was harder to spot. After looking around the room for a moment, Izuku decided the best thing to to do was to collect all the All Might merch from around the room and set it on his bed (that had All Might themed sheets that he would definitely be replacing sooner rather than later) to be sorted into four piles: keep (for sentimental items), sell (for more expensive items in good condition), donate (stuff that was still in acceptable condition to keep but couldn't be resold such as clothing and some of the more common toys) and trash (for everything else).
By the time he had finished working his way around the room, Izuku was surprised to find that he still had a good number of items left decorating his room. In hindsight, his room had been rather cluttered but now merchandise that had been partially hidden due to the lack of display space stood on display. The top of his desk now displayed his whole collection of Hero figures along with his limited edition Present Mic portable radio (that he now had a sneaking suspicion might have come from the Hero himself given that it came in the box with his Uncle Shouta's gift for his 6th birthday). Beside the radio stood a figure of the Hero himself (that he had bought himself after that first broadcast) alongside figures of the Heroes Ingenium, his uncle Sir Nighteye, and the Wild, Wild Pussycats action figure collection. The only poster left decorating the wall was a limited edition print of All Might with Sir Nighteye and David Shield on it. That one got to stay for obvious reasons though it would be packed away if he could find another print of his uncle. Despite the number of pieces in his collection of All Might merchandise coming from his Uncle Mirai over the years, the fact that the poster and the sign on the outside of his door were the only two pieces that he would be upset about never seeing again was a bit disappointing. Even the All Might figure that had come with his Sir Nighteye one sat in the sell pile, though it was unclear for the moment if he would be able to sell it without the Sir Nighteye. Most collectors would want the whole set but maybe someone out there would be looking for the All Might by itself.
Over the remainder of the evening he went through the sell pile and photographed each item before moving all of it to the side of his desk. If he had time tomorrow, he would work on listing everything online to sell. He returned to the main living space briefly to collect trash bags for the trash and donated items before he found himself done. The only thing left in his bedroom that remained to be removed was his bedding but that would have to wait for now. Poking his head into his mother's office (that she left the door ajar to when he was allowed in), Izuku cleared his throat to get his mother's attention from where she was working on her laptop.
"Did you need something, Sweetie?"
"I was wondering if I could borrow your credit card to order replacement bedding."
His mother gave him a sad smile but nodded. "Just make sure to put it back after. If you see any other decorations you want for your room, feel free to order them too. Just try to keep it all under 100,000 yen. Any more than that and I will have to call the bank to approve the transaction."
Izuku nodded before going to collect the card. One thing they had never really worried about was money. The one thing Izuku knew for a fact about his father's job in America was that it paid really well. If it hadn't, he doubted his father would have agreed to move overseas in the first place. Despite not having actually seen his father a bit over 5 years now, with how often they spoke on the phone, it was clear that his dad loved both of them. From what he understood, his father worked in the real estate industry but what he actually did was still a bit of a mystery to Izuku. All he knew for sure about it was that every time his father had tried to plan a trip home, someone would do something at or with one of his properties that he would have to deal with personally. It was annoying but there was not much they could really do about it unless his father could sell all his property for full price and buy equivalent property here in Japan. That was unfortunately not likely to happen with the way the market was currently. Or at least that is what his father had said when he asked.
After about 30 minutes, Izuku returned the credit card to his mother's purse and started getting ready for bed. The new bedding he had ordered was made up of a set of dark green sheets that Izuku thought might match his hair and a large black comforter decorated with small holographic stars that he decided he liked. Additionally he added a few Hero posters to the online cart for Fat Gum, Present Mic, Gang Orca, Best Jeanist and a buddy poster of Mirko and Hawks. The Fat Gum poster was actually an ad print for a brand deal with a takoyaki company and the Present Mic poster was technically a "Put Your Hands Up" poster that had a simplified silhouette of Present Mic on it talking into an old style radio mic. The Gang Orca print had apparently been an overstock print from the wildlife conservation campaign that he had been a part of a few months ago at the Tokyo Aquarium and the Best Jeanist was a print from an old photoshoot that the Bakugou's had been a part of. The last poster had been a surprise when he had found it since it was pretty well known that Mirko doesn't do team ups but while Hawks really doesn't either he had mentioned in an interview a few months ago that he got along well with the rank 7 Hero. That interview had probably led to the creation of the poster design.
Smiling to himself, Izuku finally got ready for bed. For the first time in a while, Izuku went to bed not worried about what the next day would bring.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Izuku had been a bit disorientated when he woke up the next morning. The lack of All Might smiling down on him from every surface momentarily confused him until the previous day came back to him. 'Right, All Might turned out to be a Quirkist dick.' As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Izuku felt slightly embarrassed. While he was decidedly mad at the Hero for what he said, that didn't change the fact that All Might had still largely the same man he had looked up to for most of his life. Even if he was no longer Izuku's number one Hero, he still admired the man for apparently working so hard as a Hero that he was clearly physically destroying himself.
No. All Might was not his number one Hero anymore. That honor was now held by his uncle. His Uncle . That was a novel thought. All these years, Izuku had looked up to Sir Nighteye for being the closest he could get to a Quirkless Hero due to the nature of the Hero's Quirk and the man turned out to be his own uncle. Kacchan was going to freak when he found out. Thinking about his top 5 favorite Heroes, Izuku had to pause. His other uncle was a Pro-Hero also, so maybe he should wait to add his previous rank 6 Hero, Best Jeanist, to the 5th place spot.
Humming to himself he ran through the remaining 4:
Sir NighteyePresent MicEraserheadNedzuPresent Mic had only ever been beaten out by All Might and Sir Nighteye in his eyes but there had been times where he had held 2nd place over his uncle. The fact that his radio broadcasts were such a big part of his life had always made him one of his top Heroes. As it was he still wondered if he should rank him over his uncle. Sure, thanks to the nature of Mic's Quirk, Izuku could never be a Hero of the same variety as him, but that didn't make Izuku admire him any less. Eraserhead on the other hand was an easy rank 3. Admittedly, Izuku didn't know as much about him as he would like due to the man being an Underground Hero but there were a few things that put him up over so many other Heroes.
As an Underground Hero, he is clearly in the business to help people before anything else. That was something Izuku had to consider with all the Limelight Heroes.He was a local. Izuku had seen him in person out his bedroom window a few times.He basically fought Quirkless. The only way Izuku had seen him fight was from a few blurry videos that never lasted long online. Even still, it was clear that his Erasure Quirk only worked on emitter and transformative type Quirks. All Erasure did was level the playing field when it did work.He liked cats. While not as important as the other reasons, Izuku was always delighted when the Hero stopped during his patrol to give cat treats to the cat that lived in the alley across the street from his window. It made Izuku happy for some silly reason that the Hero liked to feed the same cat as him.Nedzu's reason for ranking high was different from the other Heroes. While he did not have a personal connection with the Hero, unlike even Best Jeanist, Izuku had a deep admiration for the chimera. He looked up to him much the same way he had All Might. There was not much that was publicly available about what exactly the UA principal had gone through before he became a Hero and teacher, but Izuku couldn't help but feel a kinship from what he did know. As a Quirkless kid, Izuku had, at times, been treated like he was less than human. He was "less evolved" than the other kids. The fact that Nedzu was able to overcome something like that and still seemed to care about humankind as a whole spoke volumes of his character.
So yeah, Izuku was pretty sure all those Heroes were in his top 5 even if he was not 100% sure where they ranked against each other at times. It was a shame that there was not much in the way of merch for most of them but maybe he could make stuff himself.
Izuku hadn't realized how deep inside his head he had been until his mother opened the door to check on him since he still hadn't come out to eat breakfast. With a blush painting his face, Izuku shooed her so he could change into clothes to wear to visit Kacchan.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
It wasn't until they were checking in at the visitor's desk in Musutafu General Hospital that the reality of what had happened to Kacchan struck Izuku. Kacchan had been rendered unconscious during a Villain attack which was not good. Over the years, Izuku had learned a lot about first aid since his mother had thought it was important enough that everyone, not just Heroes and first responders, should know at least the basics. If Kacchan had been knocked out by a head injury or oxygen deprivation, there was a possibility that the boy they were about to see might not be the same Kacchan that Izuku had grown up with. That was a frightening thought.
By the time they had gotten signed in, nervousness was beginning to rack Izuku's body. He was not one hundred percent sure how Kacchan would have reacted to his coming to visit normally but the added worry of his most recent thought did nothing to help with his nerves. Still as they entered the room he was surprised to see a flicker of what looked like guilt and relief of all things when the other boy spotted him. "Why are you skipping class to see me, Nerd? How am I going to make up for the missed work while I am stuck here if you aren't there to take notes for me?"
Whatever Izuku had been expecting from Kacchan, it was not that. Honestly that was pretty tame of him. Maybe it was because his Mom was here too. Kacchan had always adored his Mom. Izuku hoped it was just that and not something worse. "You ask that like you aren't the top of our class, Kacchan." Izuku gave the boy a smile as he allowed some of the tension in his shoulders to fade.
"How are you feeling Katsuki?" The woman smiled at her boys as she guided Izuku into the room and over to the chair nearest her honorary nephew.
"A hell of a lot better than last night when I woke up. Still have a killer headache from the oxygen deprivation but the painkillers they have me on have taken the edge off. I am more pissed off than anything. Did the Hag tell you over the phone that almost all the Heroes on the site of the attack just stood back and watched because they had a bad Quirk match up? I think Death Arms was the only one that even tried to get in close enough to get me out."
"That's fucking bullshit!" The words left Izuku's mouth before he could stop himself. His face immediately flushed red as Kacchan let out a bark of a laugh.
"Damn Nerd, I never thought you would curse in front of Auntie like that!"
His mother chuckled at that. "Honestly you two, you do realize that between Mitsuki and my baby brother I have heard more than my fair share of curses over the years. Not to mention I am just as guilty of saying them from time to time."
A shared horrified look passed over the faces of the two boys before a puzzled look appeared on Kacchan's face. "Wait. Since when did you have a brother, Auntie?"
"She has two actually, I just haven't seen either of them in person since we were really little. You've seen me open presents from them on my birthday before." Izuku's grin from earlier returned. "You are never going to guess what I found out about them yesterday night though!"
Kacchan grinned at the challenge. "Does it have to do with why I've never heard about them before now?"
Izuku quickly checked that the door was closed to the room before leaning in and speaking in a lowered voice. "They are both Pro-Heroes. Mom didn't want us to know until we were old enough that she was sure we wouldn't tell everyone and put ourselves in danger from Villains who want to get back at them. Anyways, I don't know my Uncle Shouta's Hero name yet since Mom doesn't know but my Uncle Mirai is Sir Nighteye."
Kacchan's eyes widened. A quick glance over to his Auntie to receive a smile and nod of confirmation left him with his jaw dropped. "You're shitting me. You, the ultimate All Might fanboy, are blood related to the only fucking Sidekick that All Might has ever had?"
Izuku failed to hold back a wince at that. Kacchan narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously. "Who's ass do I need to kick?"
Izuku jerked back in surprise. "What! You can't just say stuff like that Kacchan!"
Kacchan gave a small angry huff before leaning over and lightly bopping Izuku on the head with his fist. "Nerd, you look like someone just killed your favorite alley cat. What happened with you between when I left you at school and now? …Besides the whole being related to two Pro-Heroes thing."
Izuku had to consider what to say next. First of all, his mother was still in the room and clearly still paying attention to the two of them. Additionally, Kacchan was nearly as much of an All Might fanboy as he had been, albeit not nearly as openly. Still, the Hero had basically crushed his dreams atop that roof and then abandoned him there. If the building had been just a bit taller, Izuku was honestly not sure he wouldn't have jumped. Maybe he should just tell them both everything. It wasn't like he didn't trust them. "Do you want the long version or the short one?"
His mother looked a bit surprised but gave Izuku a sad smile in realization that she would be getting the full story of what had broken her son's heart so badly yesterday that he had basically purged his bedroom of the man's presence. "Maybe you should start with the short one so Katsuki is on the same page that I am…"
Kacchan looked back and forth between the two before nodding. "Start with what you told Auntie. I expect you to explain afterwards in more detail, though."
Izuku considered what he told his mother the previous night before deciding where to start. "So on the way home, yesterday, I met All Might in person. I got to ask him a question I have wanted to ask him for a while now and it didn't go the way I expected it too…" Izuku paused only for a moment to check to make sure that no one outside the room would hear him. "All Might is apparently Quirkist."
That clearly caught both of them just as off guard as it had Izuku when it had happened. Kacchan recovered first. "What the fuck do you mean Quirkist? He is always going around saying shit about how anyone can be a Hero!"
Izuku chuckled darkly at that. "Apparently, anyone doesn't include the Quirkless."
His mother's frown deepened at that. "How on earth could he even think like that? With the exception of for an hour a day, Mirai is essentially Quirkless. If this type of thing is the reason that the two are fighting, I suddenly understand why Mirai is so frustrated with the man."
Izuku shrugged. "You would know better than me. Maybe you could ask him about it?"
His mother did not even hesitate to pull her phone out of her purse. The boys watched quietly as she stood up to momentarily lock the door and move back away from it. Mirai apparently answered on the first ring. "Are you aware that All Might considers the Quirkless as lesser than the Quirked?"
She paused to listen to his response. "So that is not why you are not currently speaking with him? …Izuku ran into him yesterday and while I don't have all the details yet I suspect that when Izuku asked his previous number one Hero if he thought he could be one, the man shot him down because he doesn't have a Quirk as if he had forgotten that you are in the same boat for the vast majority of the day." When his mother looked at Izuku for confirmation, he nodded. "...I told Izuku about your Hero identity last night before I knew all the details to cheer him up…Katsuki was caught up in a Villain attack yesterday. I thought it would be good for the both of them to spend the day together while he recovers." Kacchan frowned at the reminder but didn't interrupt. "Hold on. Izuku, Katsuki, do you mind if Mirai comes to talk with Izuku about what happened yesterday?"
While Kacchan just shrugged in response, Izuku had to think for a moment. "I think I would prefer it if I don't have to talk about it more than once if that is okay…"
His mother only nodded before turning back to the call. "Izuku said he would rather not have to explain it more than once… We are at Musutafu General Hospital. They are holding Katsuki for observation for the next few days." After pausing to listen to Mirai's response she turned back to the boys. "Do you mind if he brings a detective along with him?"
Izuku narrowed his eyes suspiciously at that. Why would his uncle want a detective to come with him? "How trustworthy is this detective?"
Without missing a beat the petite woman turned her attention back to the phone. "Izuku wanted to know how much you trust the detective…He said that he trusts him."
Given the pause his mother had given to listen to his uncle's response, he suspected his Uncle Mirai had actually explained why but it didn't appear that his mother was going to elaborate on the subject. "It's fine."
"Izuku said it's fine. When do you expect to get here? …Alright. We will see you in an hour then." With that, his mother hung up. "So what do you two want to do for the next hour while we wait?"
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
The answer to that was apparently Kacchan helping Izuku transcribe his Hero notes into the new notebook. The boys had played off the damage to the book as mostly accidental, neither of them wanting to go into detail about the actual incident but Izuku had to admit at least to himself that Kacchan had genuinely sounded guilty about yesterday. It did raise the question as to the cause of the guilt though. Izuku felt slightly guilty as he had to admit to himself that if this was the new normal in how his best friend was going to act then he wasn't sure if he cared as to the why. Kacchan was largely still himself, just…calmer. It was like he had his old best friend back from when they were little kids.
Kacchan had scoffed at Izuku's drawing skills and demanded that he take over drawing the Heroes for the notes but he didn't say anything else negative in regards to them otherwise. It was strange… Nice, yes, but strange.
The pair were drawn out of a small relaxed debate over whether Izuku could draw the picture of Mt. Lady (Izuku argued that he should since he had actually gotten a good look at her costume at her debut fight but Kacchan shot him down pointing out that he was both the better artist and that they had cell phones to look up "fucking reference photos dumbass") when a knock sounded on the now once more unlocked door. His mother quickly rose to answer it. Opening the door, the trio saw a man in a plain tan trench coat with a hat in his hand.
"Are you the Midoriya's and Bakugou Katsuki?"
The woman studied him for a moment. "Detective Tsukauchi?"
The man nodded and pulled out a police ID. "Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa, Musutafu police division. Sir Nighteye called and asked if I could sit in on an interview with your son, though he didn't go into details over the phone as to why." After studying the ID for a moment, his mother nodded and moved aside to let the man enter the room. As he closed the door, he spoke up. "Did Sir Nighteye mention when he would get here?"
"He told me that it would be at least an hour from when we spoke so hopefully he will be here anytime now."
The detective accepted that with a nod. "I've only had the pleasure of working with Sir Nighteye the one time but I do recall that his office was in downtown Tokyo. You spoke to him over the phone while he was there I presume."
The smaller woman shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Given the time, he was probably still eating breakfast."
The detective's brows shoot up at that. He seemed to study her for a moment as well as Izuku when he seemed to have a revelation. "Ah, you're his sister and nephew! I should have realized when you opened the door."
It was the trio's turn to look surprised. As always, Kacchan recovered the quickest. "How the fuck did you figure that out?"
The detective gave a bit of a sheepish smile at that. "My apologies, I should have mentioned when I introduced myself but my Quirk makes it impossible for someone to lie to me. Sir Nighteye keeps a framed drawing of All Might and himself on his desk that you gave him for his birthday a few years ago. When I asked why he had a kid's drawing framed on his desk I had been expecting something more along the lines of receiving it from a fan not a nephew that he was clearly trying to keep out of the public's eyes."
Izuku had lit up when the detective had briefly mentioned his Quirk only for his face to fall and be masked with embarrassment. "He kept it on his desk?! It wasn't even that good of a drawing!"
His mother smiled and reached over to ruffle Izuku's hair. "He called me right after it turned up in the mail to tell me how much he loved it. I think the fact that you sent him one of your first drawings of his Hero persona even without knowing it was him made his day."
The detective got a puzzled look on his face at that. "You didn't know he was Sir Nighteye?"
His mother turned her attention back to the detective. "Mirai hasn't seen Izuku in person since he was a baby. We both agreed that Izuku would be safer if we waited to tell him that we were related until after he was old enough to understand and properly keep it a secret. Working as a Sidekick to All Might gave him more enemies then he likely would have collected by himself."
As the detective nodded in understanding, another knock came from the door before it opened on its own. Sir Nighteye looked tense and slightly ruffled as he ducked slightly through the door. At 200cm he was just a bit too tall for the doorway. While the ceilings in the hospital were still tall enough to move around freely, the pediatric wing of the hospital had been built back when the average height was well below 180cm for adults. "I didn't think that I would be recognized by the staff that quickly. Sorry for letting myself in but I thought it would be best if I avoided drawing a possible crowd."
The man's sister and Tsukauchi exchanged amused looks as Izuku tried to cover Kacchan's mouth to smother his laughter at the sight. "It's fine! We were just chatting while we wait― Ew! Kacchan, did you just lick me?!"
Izuku yanked his hand back to wipe it on the bedding. "Like you never licked me and ended up having to go to the hospital."
The detective looked a bit alarmed at that. "What was that?"
The smaller woman patted the man's arm. "Katsuki's Quirk changed the chemical makeup of his sweat to that of nitroglycerin which we discovered when they were rather young is rather poisonous. It was a mistake that once it was made, never happened again. Katsuki is always careful to make sure of it. He has a minor Quirk use license so he can burn off the nitroglycerin when he is in public so stuff like that doesn't happen again."
While the man was still clearly concerned, the truth of her stating that as fact seemed to let him drop it for now. The fact that Sir Nighteye had not reacted additionally calming his nerves.
Izuku was surprised at how calm he actually felt about his uncle actually being in the same room as him. While yes, Sir Nighteye was one of his favorite Heroes, he could easily find the man that he had spoken to over the phone and exchanged gifts with over the years in the voice the man had spoken with. He did have the rather sudden realization that, had he paid more attention to Sir Nighteye in the odd interview he did alongside All Might, he might have actually put the pieces together about the man's identity himself. He was brought back out of his thoughts as the attention turned to himself.
"Izuku would you like me to explain to detective Tsukauchi why he is here or would you like to do it yourself?"
Izuku gave his uncle an odd look at the question. "Why didn't you tell him over the phone?"
"Tsukauchi's Quirk doesn't work over the phone."
The detective in question brows shot up at that. "Whatever this is, is it really that unbelievable?"
"The only reason I believed the Nerd was I knew he would never make up some shit like that." Kacchan chimed in. "Hearing him go from praising the ground All Might walks on to talking about him like this basically over night is just weird."
The detective had a notepad out now with a frown on his face. "Why don't you start from the beginning…"
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
The next hour was filled with Izuku's story of his walk home from school with the odd interruption from the others. They were all rather alarmed when Izuku started to explain the Villain attack that he had been caught up in, especially when Kacchan revealed that the Villain sounded like the one that had landed him in his current hospital bed. The only reason they didn't immediately call a doctor to get Izuku looked over was him asking to at least finish explaining what happened first so he wouldn't have to begin his story again. The revelation that while All Might had rescued him, he had failed at every turn to ensure that Izuku was actually okay after the attack, had almost angered Mirai to the point of storming out to go hunt the man down for nearly killing his nephew.
It was when he got to the point of the story of All Might's answer to his question that Izuku paused. Sure he had probably ruined All Might's standing in the eyes of those in the room with him but he wasn't sure if he should mention the man's weakened form. Thankfully his uncle made the decision for him. "The idiot ran out of time, didn't he?"
Ignoring his mother's and Kacchan's confusion, Izuku nodded. "I didn't notice at first because I wasn't looking directly at him while I asked since I was embarrassed about grabbing onto him like that, but when I looked up, he had already powered down."
Mirai just let out a frustrated sigh before turning to look at his sister. "That is why All Might and I have been arguing. The man was badly injured in a Villain fight about 5 years ago. He refused to give his body time to recover and has been burning himself out by pushing his new time limit on his Quirk to the point that he is slowly killing himself. I refused to be there to watch him destroy himself when he shouldn't have to." He turned his attention back to Izuku. "Sorry. You can continue."
"No! Wait just a fucking moment! You can't drop a bombshell like that and not expect us to react to it!"
Izuku just blandly turned to Kacchan and deadpanned, "Image how I felt up on that roof when he did just that only to follow it up with stomping all over my dreams of being a Hero because it wasn't realistic for someone without a Quirk to be one and then abandoning me up there."
"He what?!" For the first time since this began, Izuku could see visible anger on the detective's face. It was like a switch had been flipped on the man as he dropped the remains of his now snapped pen, ink dripping all over the legs of his pants.
Izuku knew he did not need to repeat himself for the man thanks to his Quirk but did so in increased detail. "After I saw him in his powered down form for the first time, I accused him of being an imposter at first. I only really believed it was him after he explained and showed me his injury―"
Mirai cut him off. "He showed that mess to a child?!"
Izuku let out a huff of annoyance at his uncle. "I'm not a little kid, Uncle Mirai."
Mirai gave Izuku a look through his glasses. "Izuku, teenagers are still very much children. Until you are considered a legal adult, Heroes are supposed to act accordingly since one of the roles Heroes play in society is as role models. Even still, he shouldn't have shown you that even if you had been an adult. That was just a plain act of stupidity."
Izuku reluctantly let that drop for now. "As I said, after he showed me his injury, he told me in no uncertain terms that it would be impossible to be a Hero without a Quirk. He said that if I really wanted to help people, I should set a more realistic goal and just be a doctor or police officer." Remembering the detective, Izuku turned to him a bit apologetic. "Not that there's anything wrong with being a police officer, it is just I've never seen a reason that I couldn't be a good Hero."
Tsukauchi waved him off as he leaned back in his seat, note taking abandoned. "It's fine, kid. If you are anything like your uncles then you will be a fine Hero. Heroics is in your blood, like detective work is in mine."
Izuku smiled at the response. He wondered if he had met the detective without either of them knowing about his relationship with Sir Nighteye, he would have said the same thing. A part of him liked to think he would have. "Thanks. That was basically it. After crushing my dreams he just left. I sort of dissociated until it started to get dark. After that I just walked home." Izuku scratched at the back of his head, a bit embarrassed though he doubted anyone in the room, even Kacchan, would have made fun of him for the lost time.
The adults looked rather panicked now that he looked at them. He quickly found himself wrapped up in a hug from his mother. The moment she pulled back she seemed to study him before speaking. "I know it may be hard but I need you to answer a few questions for me."
"Sure?"
"When you woke back up on the roof were you colder than you were expecting to be?"
Izuku had to think for a moment. "Maybe. It was windy up there though."
"Was your pulse elevated or were you breathing faster or harder than normal?"
"Er, yeah, both but that is normal when I have a panic attack. I was fine by the time I was back on ground level."
Tsukauchi stopped his mother before she could ask the next question. "Kid, do you want to explain why you lied?"
That threw everyone off for a moment. "I didn't lie, I was fine when I got down."
The detective sighed. "I should have interrupted sooner I suppose. I was asking about why you lied about just walking home after you stopped disassociating."
Izuku tensed up at that. He hadn't realized that had registered as a lie to the man's Quirk. As he quickly scanned the room to decide what to say, he noticed he hadn't been the only one to freeze up. And he wasn't the only one to notice either.
Mirai moved to rest a hand on Kacchan's shoulder. "You have an idea of what might have happened, Katsuki?"
Kacchan cast a look over at the detective before slumping in resignation. "The bullying for the Nerd has been getting worse each year. About midway through last year a kid, from our class I think, started telling the Nerd to follow their example every time there was a mention of suicide on the news. I never thought…" His eyes, wet with tears, snapped back up to glare at the adults in challenge. "The Nerd is too smart to do something like that."
The detective looked to Izuku for confirmation. Shaking slightly, Izuku felt the tears on his cheeks as a sob escaped him before he managed to speak. "I'm sorry, Kacchan. I don't know why I was even seriously considering it! The worst part about it is that if the roof had been much higher up, I think I might have—" Sobs cut him off. Not all of them were his own, he quickly realized as he clung to his mother, struggling out apologies to her.
Izuku distantly heard his uncle asking about a doctor before he collapsed into the waiting arms of unconsciousness.