Chapter 1: Prologue: Stars Know Tragedy
In the entirety of the universe, no being knows tragedy quite like a star. Born to be forever alone. To live a life of eons, only to burn out and collapse under the pressure of their own existence…
A star will shed its life for everything around it, burning too hot to ever be consoled. Shining too bright to ever be looked at… And never finding anything bright enough to see for themselves. Never seeing what destruction they bring. Never seeing what life they give…
They may pull others in. They are strong. But they will never be able to touch them. Planets burn as soon as they get close, and other stars will meet them for but a moment, before they both detonate and collapse forever…
Nothing knows tragedy like a star. For their lives are always cold. Cold until that burst of heat, which is but a reminder that their story is over. There is no one to hear them scream. No one to hear them cry out in anguish and longing. Only those who will watch as they die, and say.
"How beautiful you are…"
->*<-
Earth, Year x783
From the moment he was born, the world had been cold. Perhaps not by way of emotions, for everyone who looked upon him cooed and gave praise as to how cute of a child he was. No, it started with just being cold.
He remembered that far back, sitting in complete darkness for what felt like forever, before he finally saw a light.
Light
It looked so welcoming. So bright. It called to him with a silent voice of unknown words and lullabies. So he let himself fall, headfirst, becoming smaller and more dull.
And after a lot of squeezing, he was greeted by cold. Cold, which was somehow worse than before.
But oh, there was so much light… so much beautiful light. He revelled in it. Basked in it. He was entranced by it.
And through that light, he saw so much. Colors, shapes… things were fuzzy, but somehow he understood they would smooth themselves out and become more defined.
"Does he feel a bit warm to you?"
"No, that's simply normal for newborns."
He grew from there. He learned so much. He watched as shapes grew more firm, as he knew they would. He learned of faces, of smiles. He learned to move. To crawl. To walk.
He learned words and songs.
And despite everything, the cold remained.
When he was two, he learned of quirks. And oh, how beautiful they were. They made people so different from one another…
He couldn't wait to get his own.
He grew up so excitedly, hoping for his quirk as he learned of All Might, a great hero who saved so many with such a bright smile.
He wanted to bask in that smile.
He watched that smile until it was burned into his brain, until he could smile just the same and spread that same light. That same joy and laughter.
But it wasn't meant to be…
When his friend turned four, he found that his hands would pop with bright little stardrops that others called ' explosions' . It was an odd word, but still a beautiful one. Something so beautiful had to be given a beautiful name. That meant explosion was beautiful.
It was bright, and jagged, and smelled of burnt sugar. It as a beautiful light that could jump up and die down quickly, cheering loudly with great big pops.
His friend was so proud.
And he couldn't wait for his quirk to be just as bright.
Just as beautiful
And he waited… and waited… and waited…
But alas…
"Sorry kid, it's not gonna happen."
The world was colder somehow…
"Oh… are you sure? I mean, all of the others have gotten their quirks by now."
"There are a few ways to tell. Typically, a quirk will present itself in roughly eighty percent of the population. That part has a minor mutation that makes their body more streamlined. See this x-ray?"
"Oh… his toe seems a bit longer…"
"Typically, quirked individual will have only one joint in their pinky toe. There are some that have more, but those are from clear mutations that manifest at birth. With how long it's taken, and the x-ray, I can say that without a doubt he will not manifest a quirk."
The world was so much colder now…
"Could you think of anything abnormal about your son? Anything unique?"
"Well, his temperature has always been high…"
"As a result of his father's fire gene. Most kids with a parent who has a fire quirk have high body temperatures. No, is there anything else?"
"Not that I know of."
"I can give you a few pamphlets on raising a quirkless child, and we have a few support groups. But other than that… I'm sorry. We can talk about this more at his next appointment if you'd like?"
"That would be perfect…"
He was destroyed. Shattered. And when they returned home, he let himself fall before the computer to see that bright smile.
A smile that now taunted him
"I'm so sorry…"
Mom… that's not what I needed you to say…
He grew. He found that the world could be colder still. His friend grew mean and hit him. He would lie in bed with bruises and scrapes from kids at school, and while they did burn, it was still
So
Cold…
His mother began to work more as less money came from overseas. From his father. He was a disappointment. Something that required minimal attention.
So cold…
As the sun set on the world, the boy closed his eyes and fell asleep. Nobody would know that for just a moment, his hair glowed white. Nobody would know that for but a moment, the weather changed and became just a few degrees warmer.
Nobody knew that the boy who had no quirk was something so far greater than they could perceive.
Nothing in the universe knows tragedy quite like a star.
His name was Izuku Midoriya.
And nobody, not even the boy himself, knew that he would be one of the greatest heroes in history.
Chapter 2: Nebula (A Mothers Love)
Earth, Year x800
Inko Midoriya loved her son. He was the only real family she had left, and with Hisashi gone, the only family she would get.
Despite his misgivings, Inko's heart belonged to the man. Those who had known him couldn't really blame her. Hisashi was more than a man of fire and brimstone. He was dashing, with curly black locks of hair that belonged to a dark prince, and not a hero. He was tall and lean, with the kindest eyes imaginable.
Many thought that Izuku had her eyes, but it was the opposite. Because not only were they so calm and deep, but they could see the best in everyone…
It had been necessity that pulled the man away from them. They needed money for Izuku, and while Hisashi was a well honored member of the hero track, sidekicks didn't ,ake enough money to raise children in Japan.
So he had gone overseas and made his own agency, sending the profits back to them so that Izuku could live the life he deserved.
He had offered to bring them over to him when Izuku was given his quirkless diagnosis. But Inko acted a fool, and said that he had friends that would help.
They knew that the hardest part would be fitting in, so they tried to make it easy.
It wasn't until the kind Mr Yagi who owned the hero pawn shop down the street came to the apartment with a scraped up Izuku in tow and told her the truth that she knew they had made a mistake.
But it was too late then. Hisashi had been brutally injured in a bad fight years ago, and had been put in a coma. There was less money coming to them then, and so she was on her own.
Well, somewhat on her own.
The kind man who informed her of Izuku's suffering was a light in the dark. Of course, Izuku had yelled at him. Said he had no right to tell his mother. She had never seen him act that way.
Seems he got a bit of his mouth from Hisashi as well…
It took some time to get Izuku to realize that he didn't have to be thought of as less. It broke her heart to know that he thought his father was disappointed in him. She couldn't tell him that the man was prouder than he could ever know, just unable to do anything as he was dead to the world…
So she did what she could. She started looking into the strange genetic mutation he had that made everything seem cold to him. It wasn't a quirk as she thought, but just a disadvantageous mutation shared by children of those who had fire based quirks. It was unfortunate, but Inko still had other ways to help.
She scoured the world wide web and found some martial arts classes to get him a bit more rugged. Rigged like his father had been. Izuku fell in love with boxing as it reminded him of All Might, and went on to win a district title in the sport a few months after he started. She cried as he slept that night, looking at the old picture of her and her husband in highschool. Hisashi sported a black eye but still grinned next to her, holding up his own medal from the district championship.
She decided he was ready to see Mr. Yagi again. It paid off.
Despite their argument, it seemed as though Izuku was really just… embarrassed of himself. He genuinely thought that he was a waste of space and that just caused Inko to crumple in on herself further. But Mr Yagi threw all of that out the window. He quickly took a picture of them and put it on the wall of his store, going on about how proud he was of the boy. He started stopping by to share information on new merchandise he had found. Things that would get Izuku to show that spark and oh how Inko knew her boy would be bouncing on his heels…
Now, she could see a bit of her boy coming back. When he was little, he was like a star. Hisashi's little sunspot… His smile would glitter through their apartment every morning as she made breakfast. She missed those days…
His smile was back again. Only around her and Mr. Yagi. He was… more guarded in a sense. Cold, as cold as he had experienced others treating him. As cold as his little mutation made him feel.
It was that fire and brimstone that her husband had. She could only hope that one day he would wake up and come back to them. That one day, he would be better.
Then, they could look at their little sunspot together again.
->*<-
" - And now for our weather with Toru Miya. Toru?
Looks like we'll be having some higher temperatures today Sansa. A low of twenty seven celsius this evening, but we can expect highs in the low thirties for the rest of the day.
Any rain on the horizon there Toru?
Glad you asked! We've got a cold front sweeping through tomorrow, bringing in some of those clouds that were brewing on the edges of the Philippines. You can expect a quick drop in temperatures through the week as a few storms roll over us, bringing some much needed rain during the dry season.
Well how about that folks? We've got some rain to look forward to aftera-"
*click*
His hand fell on the radio that took up his bedside table. Tan and smooth, except for the small scar on the back of his thumb, where he nicked himself with a knife while learning to cook when he was little.
With a groan, Izuku Midoriya pulled himself upright, letting out a yawn as the morning sun filtered through his window. A bit of dust floated in the rays of morning's greeting, causing the young man to wince as he realized that he had not vacuumed his room in quite a while.
He should fix that.
Jumping up, he gave a shudder as he remembered his pajamas were lighter than the ones he normally wore, and the air in his room was quite cold despite the thermometer reading thirty degrees.
Was the heat even on?
A knock at the door prompted Izuku back into action, as he realized it was a Saturday, and his mother was home for the day.
"Izuku? Are you awake yet?"
"Coming mom!"
The young man quickly stumbled over himself to find some clothes. Fur-lined black jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. As he went to pull off his pajamas, he realized that they were stuck to his skin by a layer of sweat.
' Odd. I never sweat.'
Brushing off the strange sensation, Izuku peeked out of his room to greet his mother.
"I have to shower before breakfast mom. I'll be right there, okay?"
The woman smiled and nodded her head. "Okay dear! Just be sure to get all the right places, okay?"
"Moooooom"
"I know, I know. I'm just being a mom."
Izuku rolled his eyes as he ducked back into his room, opening his closet to grab one of his towels.
The towels were one of the only things Izuku ever liked about showering. No matter how much he turned the heat up, the water still felt cold as it ran down his skin. Then, getting out, it was freezing cold when the water met the air. The towel took that away, and actually gave a bit of a lull in the frigid air of each day.
Walking into the bathroom, Izuku was surprised to see the shower already running. A warm smile broke across his face as he realized his mother must have turned the water on so it would heat up a bit for him.
Izuku loved his mother for those little things…
Though it wasn't as cold as the air on its own, the water was still cold to him. Odd, considering a normal person would probably scream at the boiling heat that splashed across their backs. But Izuku was different. He always had been.
It was too little to be considered a full-on quirk, and since the boy had all of the same physical traits of a quirkless person, it was just written off as one of those spontaneous mutations that people always had. Just an odd little occurrence in many people across the world.
So maybe the normal person would have the same reaction as the green-haired young man.
Izuku still shuddered as he stepped into the water, letting it roll down his skin as he reached for the bottle of bodywash that he and his mother kept on the shower shelf.
A small dollop was all Izuku needed to scrub his body clean. The grapefruit-scented lather quickly washed away with the dirt and dust that had settled on his body, and he basked for a moment as some steam flowed up from the bottom of the shower.
Steam was warmer… still cold, but at least it was warmer than a lot of things he felt.
Izuku moved on to his hair next, fluffing his mop of green curls with shampoo and scratching the foam through his scalp. After getting each lock of hair, he pulled the showerhead from its hook and switched it to a higher-pressure spray, using it to rinse all the way down to his scalp.
"Izuku! You have about three minutes of hot water left!"
He silently thanked his mother for the warning as he finished up, turning off the water and leaping from the shower to wrap himself in that welcoming towel.
By all the stars in the night sky it was cold.
He hated the shower.
Stupid cold water and air.
Izuku quickly began wrapping himself in the towel to insulate himself against the frigid air. He rubbed his head back and forth in its fluffy surface to build up friction, letting the bone-chilling cold ebb away into something more manageable.
A deep breath from Izuku's nose sent some of the steam spiraling away from his face, much to his disappointment. He quickly finished drying his body and pulled on his day clothes, leaving his hair wrapped up in his towel as he walked out to join his mother for breakfast.
"Did you have a good shower?"
Izuku stuck his tongue out at his mother, who giggled in response as she set down their plates. She had prepared western omelettes for breakfast, one of the quicker breakfasts that they could bring together.
"It's supposed to be warmer today. I heard that from your radio."
Izuku gave a sigh. "It's never warm enough."
Inko took a bite of her omelette and rolled her eyes. "I know it isn't. It's because you have such a cold heart."
"I do not!"
His mother giggled, shaking her head. "I'm picking, dear. I know."
Izuku speared a piece of his omelette with a fork, quickly eating it with a frown. "I wish I wasn't cold all the time…"
Inko reached across the table and held out a hand, letting him place his own atop it.
"I think it means you're just too warm for this world, baby. You're kind and considerate. You look around at everything with awe and a thirst to learn. Far too sweet, I would say."
Izuku put his fork down as a bit of a smile tugged at his lips. "Thanks mom…"
She wasn't just saying it either. They had had this conversation every week for years now. It was one thing that kept Izuku going. The rest of the world was always a battlefield, where he was forced to keep looking over his shoulder to avoid bullies and running away to avoid ignorance. Inko was a spot of light in that hellscape, one of the only sources of true warmth for the young man.
"Did you see Mitsuki post about Katsuki's scholarship?"
The smile that Izuku gave didn't quite reach his eyes. "For exceptional promise in future heroics. He definitely earned it."
"If you ask me, he could work a bit on his attitude."
Izuku snorted, spearing another bite of egg. "Understatement of the century. Still, not really anyone else to contend with him in the district. I'm not surprised he got it."
"Me neither." Inko sighed. "I'm sorry that we can't afford a better school for you, honey…"
"It's not really a big deal. It would be the same anywhere else. People are just naturally stuck up like that. Quirks make the man these days."
"Mr. Yagi isn't that way."
"Mr. Yagi is like me. He doesn't have a quirk. He just happened to build up enough savings to buy and trade hero memorabilia." Izuku gave a smirk. "That's not to say he isn't nice. He just… understands it better than most."
The boys mother finished her omelette and stood up to clean her plate. "Speaking of Mr. Yagi. He stopped by yesterday evening after you went to bed. Said he had found something for you to look at."
"Probably another old history book from the pre quirk era. I'll run down to his shop later to check it out."
"I think that he would like that." Inko smiled as she set her now clean plate to dry. "That man has been around for a long time, Izuku. I think he sees something in you."
"Like I said, Mom, he just understands me better than most." Izuku finished his breakfast and got up to clean his own plate. "I'm going to do some of my homework. Once I get a bit done, I'll go and see him."
"Did that math teacher of yours assign weekend work again?" Izuku's Mother raised an eyebrow. "I swear, it's only you."
"It is. But there wouldn't be much difference anywhere else." He shrugged. Seeing his mother sigh and walk to the kitchen, he shook his head. "I promise I'll go see him in a little bit, mom."
"I know. Just don't keep him waiting for too long."
Izuku nodded and went back to his room. There, he finished drying his hair and put his towel in his laundry hamper, before sitting down at his desk and doing some math work on an old beat-up laptop.
Just another day.
Chapter 3: White Dwarf (Burnt Hero)
There are stars that shine so brightly that they slowly shed all of their mass, burning down to a small pinprick that is equal in size to the smallest of planets. Though smaller, they still shine, shedding heat and spreading light, until the bitter end…
Earth, year x800
Toshinori Yagi was a kind man. Not the kind that got taken advantage of without one feeling an immense amount of guilt.
He was tall. Quite so, with his head always bumping into the tops of doorframes, forcing him to duck down whenever he entered a room. Of course, that problem had lessened with his age, as he now sported a bit of a hunch whenever he stood. Those who saw him sometimes mistook him for a skeleton, as he was quite thin. Some thought it a quirk, but he would always chuckle and shake his head, telling them that he in fact didn't have a quirk.
And nobody was mean to him because of it. Toshinori was from a different time. He was older. He had records of work that he had done. Distinctions for boxing and competitive lifting. Anyone who beat out muscular enhancement and mutant types with only their blood sweat and tears deserved some respect.
Toshinori had served as a reminder to many that one was more than their special power. Though they still forgot in their day to day lives, seeing him walk back to his apartment reminded them to do better.
Some did, some didn't. That was the way of the world.
The man had moved to Musutafu several years prior, buying out a small studio space and turning it into a pawn shop which specialized in hero memorabilia. There were rumors that he had ins in the merch markets and was even buddies with researchers from I-island.
Which was true, but not for the reasons they thought.
See, Toshinori had a bit of a secret. He was actually a hero, and he did have a quirk. He had been quirkless once upon a time, certainly, but then he met her.
She was brilliant and strong, with a simple quirk that let her walk on thin air. When they first met, he had been a boy. And oh, how she had laughed as he tried to stand up to some villains with nothing but a foot-long piece of rebar.
But she had seen something in him. Somehow, he had inspired her, and so she shared with him a secret.
And with that secret came power .
With that secret came danger.
Her face still haunted him, how it looked when she died. Teeth clenched in a semblance of a smile. Muscles tense, unyielding, refusing to scream.
Their nemesis hated her for it.
He hated him more.
Toshinori had fled that day, like a coward. But he returned as a champion. The symbol of peace. All Might. The greatest hero in the world.
So yes. Just a tiny secret.
When he had faced his nemesis once more, he had been injured. But he still had the satisfaction of watching the demon in human form lying still upon the ground, with his skull caved in like a broken eggshell.
Still, his injuries were extreme. He shouldn't have been alive anymore, but here he was. Restricted to only three or four hours of hero work a day, and always coughing up blood every so often. It was what prompted his move.
All Might needed a quiet life.
He still maintained appearances here and there. In his trips every year to America, he would stop some crime and show his face. The legend of the symbol of peace was still alive and so the world was peaceful.
But he still felt like he was tearing himself apart. Every day. Every moment he used his quirk.
Every time he played the hero.
Lately, he had been happy to fit into his job as a pawn shop owner. He got to see the future generations come in and out of his store, looking in awe at the bits of support equipment that he had gotten signed by colleagues, and declaring how they'd be the next number one hero.
( He may have unashamedly signed one of his own posters as a front piece for his store, but who could blame him for taking advantage of his fame every once in a while?)
And of course, no matter how hard he worked, Toshinori always kept his eyes on those promising future heroes that came through his store, looking for anyone who could prove to be a worthy successor.
Especially one.
He was a young man who had grown up in the area. Toshinori had first met him when he was but a ten-year-old, who had brought in some money he saved up from birthdays and allowances (Almost three hundred American dollars total) to purchase a unique piece of his. One of the limited edition Puckered All Might figures, modeled after an incident where a boy's quirk had turned a river to vinegar as he struggled to swim.
Midoriya always talked about how it was his favorite moment from the number one hero, as it showed just how caring he was. Anyone could save a single kid from drowning, but everyone deserved to be saved by the number one hero. A hero who was there for everyone .
Izuku Midoriya was his name, and Toshinori had the honor of watching him grow and grow.
He only came in every six months or so for the first few years, until Toshinori pulled him aside to show him an old collection of pre-quirk era comic books. They had sat there for hours, eventually getting scolded because the boy missed school.
That was when Toshinori met the boy's mother. Inko.
She was a nice lady. More high-strung than Present Mic, but still. She was a good mother. The way she looked at her child spoke volumes to the love that she held for him in her heart.
It was for that reason that Toshinori and Izuku eventually had their first disagreement.
See, he was no stranger to abuse, especially bullying. Seeing Izuku walk in more and more, his face downcast before he found a new piece of hero merch, or muttering about unfair teachers, or even griping about kids who looked down on him.
He all but confessed to Toshinori that he had been bullied.
It reached a breaking point when he limped into the store and asked for a place to hide. Toshinori had scoffed and reached under his counter for the baseball bat he had kept for… intimidation. Izuku had ducked behind a shelf as four boys burst into the shop, sneering and making jokes about the "worthless deku".
Toshinori had never felt such rage.
Needless to say, those kids got a lesson. And Toshinori told Inko about everything that Izuku was going through. It was a big discussion, with Toshinori being shouted at by the boy for sharing what wasn't his to share.
He didn't come by the store for almost eight months after the entire situation, something which made Toshinori a bit mad at himself for what he'd done. Still, that was always overshadowed by the fact that Izuku wasn't going to be bullied as easily anymore.
Imagine his surprise when Inko showed up one day, dragging her son into the shop with a band-aid slapped across his nose.
"It took a while to teach him why what happened was wrong." She explained. "He wanted to prove himself before coming back here."
Toshinori had just about openly wept when Izuku showed his junior division featherweight medal for boxing. He pulled out his phone and took a picture of the two, which was quickly printed out and hung on his trophy wall some days later.
And then Izuku was back. He was a bit different. More cynical in a sense, never really trusting of anyone but himself or his mother. Or Toshinori, of course. But holding the boy's trust was something of an honor to him, one that he didn't take lightly.
Because beyond his new mask of distrust and calculating looks, Izuku was still the same. Bright and warm. Too warm for the world around him. In the safety of the pawn shop's storage, or at home with their weekly dinners, the young man was a ray of sunshine. Laughter so pure that it could almost be considered healing.
Izuku Midoriya was a wonder of a young man, and Toshinori could only hope that he would truly be the one he wanted to take on his mantle. He just needed to know one last thing…
And so started a normal Saturday, when he unboxed a few packages that he had shipped from his old storage lockers, coming across the first edition issue of his own feature comic book, "All Mighty Adventures".
He had set aside a special box of pre-quirk comics for Izuku to look through a day prior, and the excitement for finding the old preserved comic paper was magnified by the fact that he knew the boy would be there.
At exactly ten o'clock AM, the bell to the store rang. Toshinori turned with a smile to greet the boy he had come to see as something of a son-
And found himself staring into the wobbly eyes of a grinning individual made of green sludge.
"Just go along with what I say and you won't get hurt."
His chest burned as he was hit with the revelation. He had used up all of his time early that morning.
This was not good.
->*<-
Izuku ran out of his apartment, stumbling as he reached down to finish tugging on one of his shoes. Quickly righting himself, he slid down the railing of the building's staircase, using the momentum to careen through the lobby and burst out of the door.
The sun kissed his face as he took a deep breath, feeling the cold air heat up in his chest as he grinned, looking forward to whatever Mr. Yagi had set aside for him today.
A few of the residents of the apartment complex gave small waves as they walked back to the building, carrying their bags of groceries.
"Mr. Midoriya! In a hurry, are we?"
Izuku stopped for a moment to quickly greet Mr. Romero, a man who moved from brazil to pursue the sport of quirked volleyball.
"How are you today Mr. Romero?"
The man laughed. "Gearing up for the season soon, but I have a date tonight. Mrs. Komori down at the marketplace sold me a wonderful wine for tonight."
Izuku chuckled at the man. "Well, I wish you luck. I have to get over to-"
"Mr. Yagi's place, right? Could you take something to him for me? I finally found that comic book I wanted him to assess… Just a second, I should have it written down here somewhere…"
"HEY! STOP HIM!"
Izuku quickly looked up just in time to see a wave of sludge with two eyeballs and a Cheshire grin barrelling down the sidewalk, carrying a bag full of what appeared to be yen notes. In a blink, he pulled Mr. Romero to the side, keeping them out of the way of the sludgy individual.
"STOP! THIEF!"
"Mr. Yagi?"
The skeletal blonde man huffed and puffed as he ran over to them. "Are you two alright? He didn't hurt you at all?"
"Mr. Yagi, you're bleeding again." Mr. Romero blinked. "Let's get you somewhere where you can sit down."
The tall blonde man shook his head and pulled out a handkerchief, using it to dab the drops of blood that had rolled down his lip. "I suppose… Can't really catch him now, can I?"
"Did he just-"
"All the money in my register. And in the safe under my counter… I've still got a lot at the bank but I won't be able to get cash out until tomorrow…"
"How much did he take Yagi?"
The man winced. "Close to two million yen…"
Izuku gawked as Mr. Romero gave a whistle. "That's a lot of cash, Yagi."
The blonde man sighed. "I invested a lot of my winnings from my boxing days, so I have enough money to go around. But that safe has been building up for a while… I've been using a percentage of my profits for it."
"What do you need that much cash for?"
"It was going to go to new playground equipment for the preschool three blocks over. You know Ms. Kitayama's? Their playground got destroyed when one of the kids got their quirk. Turns out the company that put the old playground in shirked on the deal and didn't install quirk-proofed equipment. It was scrap in less than a minute."
"I heard about that." Mr. Romero blinked. "You were saving up for it on your own?"
"Nobody else was willing to pitch in." Yagi sighed. "Now they'll have to wait until next year…"
Izuku bit his lower lip, looking over at where the sludge robber. The sludge villain had disappeared to.
' There's my college fund. I didn't get the scholarship I wanted but I know mom has been saving for a while…'
"They might not." He found himself saying. The air grew a bit colder as he pushed on. "I-I have a pretty big college fund. Mom's been saving for a while and-"
"What? No! No, young Midoriya, that's quite alright!" Mr Yagi shook his head. "I'm sure I can just dig up some of my old investments and-"
"But that's money that you built up Mr. Yagi. We can't expect you to give up your livelihood here."
"I assure you my boy, I have more than-"
"Then you wouldn't have been saving."
Mr. Romero blinked at the exchange before he snickered and started laughing. The noise caught the two in front of him to stop and turn, looking at him with a bit of confusion.
"You two argue like a father and son, only if they were too nice to have a problem with one another! All apologies!"
Toshinori and Izuku blinked and looked at each other before recognizing the humor in the situation and beginning to laugh as well.
"Here, Yagi. This is all I have on me right now. Take it and start saving again. I think if we get a few people to work together, we can get that playground paid for by next week."
Toshinori shook his head. "Oh no, I couldn't possibly drag everyone here into this-"
"Hey. This is what good people do. We care for each other and help each other out. Now, it's only five hundred, but I'll have some more for you tomorrow. Just gotta talk to a few of my teammates…"
"Mr. Romero… this is really-"
"It's my pleasure, Yagi. Really. Why don't you two go down and fix up your store. I'm sure a robber like that probably made a mess." The man chuckled. "I'll see you soon, and Mr. Midoriya, tell your mother I say hi."
"Of course sir."
The man bid goodbye and began walking back to the apartment complex. Izuku and Mr. Yagi began walking back to the pawn shop.
"What a kind soul."
Izuku smiled. "Right? Reminds me that there are warm people around."
The blonde man chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Hey now, you're one of those people. Mr. 'I'll use my college fund' "
Izuku laughed. "Hey! Maybe not all of it. I'll still take a chunk out to help. It's the least I can do."
"My boy, you offering is more than enough."
Izuku shook his head and grinned. "Not for me. Despite everything, I still want to help people."
The two stopped and stood in front of Toshinori's door, looking up at the sign. "Mr. Yagi. Do you think-? Nevermind. It's stupid…"
"Think what my boy?" Toshinori quirked an eyebrow. "Whatever your question is, I'm sure it can't really be that stupid."
Izuku sighed. "Do you think that a quirkless kid like me could be a hero?"
And wasn't that a question. Unknown to Izuku, the man beside him felt like he was standing before a burning ball of passion. Something that despite it's lifetime of being suffocated, still found a reason to shine light.
' I think I have my answer…'
"I don't want to be the number one, or even number ten hero. I don't want to give press conferences where I just lie to keep the public happy. If I can just make one person smile… I will do it. Do you think… do you think that's enough?"
Toshinori watched as the young man gave him a cheery smile. One that, while heavy with the burden of his life before, still managed to chase away any doubts he had.
He liked to think that nobody could truly see the future. Even Sir Nighteye, his former sidekick, didn't have an infallible quirk.
But standing in that spotlight, Toshinori knew that the world would be a brighter place, where that smile would be like a second sun, chasing away darkness, even in the dead of night.
' My boy… what a wonder you are…'