Chapter Text
He still remembers the day he saw his nephew for the first time: in a Hospital room, right on the maternity ward, a newborn being held by his brother. Hisashi was weeping with joy, just like the woman by his side – both smiling with all the happiness in the world. Yoichi also remembers feeling confuse, with his head spiralling, of how he yelled curses at his brother, calling him an imbecile and a bastard, making it clear that the mysterious woman deserved better than a 200 years old liar.
But what he really remembered was his nephew smiling at the holders of One for All, looking directly at them with his green eyes.
At first, he didn’t think much of it, it was probably a coincidence. But that theory went out the window whenever Izuku tried to interact with them, moving his little arms where they were. When it became clear that the baby could see and hear them, everyone had to watch their mouth around them, and Daigoro started chancing curse words to names of flowers.
When Izuku learns to crawl, he tried to go in his direction – leaving him completely overwhelmed. And his first word? Hisashi was trying to make his son say “papa” for weeks, but his very first word was his uncle's name. Ichigo had to hug him while he cried tears of joy while Hisashi was having a mental breakdown.
Now, Izuku is playing with his mother, who is making silly sounds while holding a toy. The woman didn’t know that En and Hikage were pretending to fight each other near the kid for his entertainment – and he was loving. He always enjoys watching them play Hero vs. Villains, every holder showing off their originals quirks on that little theatre. It was worth it just to see him laughing, his white curls bouncing on his head.
“Honestly, he reminds me of Mochi because of his hair. It’s white and fluffy.”
“Besides, he has the most pitchable little cheeks I have ever seen! Oh, and his cute little freckles! Who is a cute little Mochi? You are!”
“Nana, you are using your mum's voice.”
She elbows him. But really, “Yoichi and Mochi” had a nice ring to it.
Speaking of ringing, the phone was doing it. Inko had to put Izuku in the baby playpen. The second he realizes his imprisonment, the toddler pout and decides to use his secret weapon: calling Yoichi.
“Yoichi! Yoichi!”
I am not going to move. At all.
“Yoooichii!”
Not. Moving. A. Muscle.
His nephew's eyes began to water, so he bolted to the baby playpen. Izuku shouted completely happy little sounds and started clapping his hands. Shimura and Daigoro are rolling on the ground, laughing their asses off, only Ichigo had a spark of empathy and decided to help his friend. Inko finished her call and she went to tend her son, who was already distracted with him and Ichigo.
⋯ ◊ ⋯
Izuku pressed the replay icon once again, practically vibrating on his chair because of how excited he is. And Nana is so proud because that is the debut video of her boy saving people with a smile, just like she taught him. All the other holders expected great things from All Might.
“He is so cool! Almost as cool as you guys!”
Nana’s smile became wider.
“Don’t let him fool you, Zuzu-kun! He is a dork at heart.”
The boy gasp, horrified.
“Nana! All Might can’t a dork! He is the best pro-hero ever!”
Shimura laughs and asks if Izuku could keep a secret. He could, of course, he could – he kept them a secret from his parents.
“Do you want to know why he is so cool? Always saving people with a smile?”
He nodded with quite the enthusiasm.
“Because that was the first thing I taught him as his teacher.”
With wide eyes, Izuku looked at Nana with adoration. Suddenly, he ran to his bed to grab one of his notebooks – his very first one, full of notes about them. Whenever Izuku saw a hero on TV or on the radio, the boy’s eyes would shine with wonder. Being naturally curious, the boy would speculate how the pro-heroes quirks worked, sometimes classify their moves and attacks. So one day, Ichigo suggests to the child he should write down his thoughts.
Think as it a hero analysis for the future, it will definitely help you if you want to become one. Trust us, we know.
Really?
Of course. We are all heroes, after all.
That only lead to his nephew making a ton of questions about their quirks and what they used to do. At first, Izuku began to write in messy handwriting, but they propose he creates a code. What would happen if a villain finds his notebook?
Things would get ugly if Hisashi ever sees those notes – how would a villain like him react if by seeing the drawings of six specific people you hunt down and killed, one by one? Daigoro recommended that Izuku should write about them in another notebook and that he hide it well. Only Inko knew about them, but to her, they were her son’s imaginary friends.
Kinda true, if you think about it.
⋯ ◊ ⋯
Dr. Tsubasa or Garaki Kyūdai or whatever he is calling himself now! He can rot in Hell for all they care. What kind of doctor just straight up tells a four-year child to give up his dream of being a pro hero just because he is quirkless?! Quirks are only 200 years old, and back in his day, whoever had them wasn’t even considered human! Now it’s the opposite. Besides, he is probably wrong anyway – Izuku had more chances of not having a quirk at all, that's what happens when your dad is a first-generation quirk user. But how could his nephew see and hear them without a quirk? Daigoro joke, saying that it was all because of a paranormal or supernatural reason. But all he got was a smack on the head.
Honestly, the best hypothesis is that all of that is possible because Izuku is related to Yoichi. One for All worked through the genetic code of its host. Not that his nephew had Yoichi’s quirk – thank God for that! But still, they share 25% of the same DNA, and that probably counts for something. There has to be a reason, something they aren't seeing at the moment.
However, they don’t have time for that – because things changed so much the morning after: young Bakugou start to treat Izuku like some kind of outcast; started to call him “Deku”… Started to hurt him. Hisashi and Inko tried to solve things like adults – with talking, deep breaths, and the occasional lawsuit threat, mostly by Hisashi’s part.
But the worse parts are the nights when Izuku cried himself to sleep. Always thinking that his father went overseas to escape his son’s quirkless when in reality Hisashi was recovering from his fight against Toshinori, even though it happens five years ago.
It was torture to see his nephew being reduced to a frightened boy, which made him smaller every day for almost ten years since his diagnosis.
One of the small comforts is to know that Izuku still writes his analysis.
At least that stayed the same.