Chapter Text
A press conference? Now?
Izuku supposes that makes some sort of sense – UA losing a student to the League isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence – but he can’t help feeling a little bit miffed that Aizawa is being forced into public speaking instead of looking for his missing student. Izuku grabs onto that vague annoyance and clings to it. It’s the only thing that keeps him from drowning in the sheer terror of realizing that if they have to tell the world he’s still missing, then there’s a good chance he’s going to stay missing for the foreseeable future.
The villains know it too. Proud, sharp grins. Smirks. A haughty set to their shoulders and the glint of possessiveness in their eyes when they glance at him.
He can feel the low growl of defiance growing in his chest and the back of his head; it sounds like Kacchan. But Izuku had always been good at taming Kacchan. So, he clamps down on the swirling miasma of defiance and fear and little flares of annoyance. He puts on his mask.
Helpless little healer.
It would be nice if more people didn’t think that that was his real face. But he supposes he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth when he’s surrounded by villains who are only letting him walk around and watch TV with them because they think he’s harmless.
As expected, when there’s blood in the water the sharks come swimming. Soon enough the reporters who attended the press conference to ask legitimate questions are drowned out by a wave of shock jockeys just looking for a good reaction clip and a clickbait headline. Izuku lets the questions wash over him, prickles of disgust swept away in the already suppressed boiling emotion that he absolutely could not release. He’s pretty sure he would just break down and cry if he did.
Eventually – and Izuku is a bit surprised at how long it takes – Aizawa has had enough. He snaps, in the way that Aizawa does: low, quiet, with a vicious undercurrent of danger. He speaks of Izuku’s strength and unwavering tenacity with a certainty that allows no room for argument.
It’s perhaps the nicest thing Izuku has ever heard.
Unfortunately, the villains heard it, too.
Shigaraki grabs his chin with two fingers. Izuku lets his head be turned, heart hammering in his chest hard enough that he can hear his own pulse. Logically he knows that no one else can, but there’s yet another stab of fear through his heart when he wonders if maybe Shigaraki can.
He breathes shakily, eyes flicking everywhere but Shigaraki, but he can’t escape his burrowing gaze. It takes a few moments and a little shake to his jaw, but finally Izuku forces his gaze to meet red eyes.
And then… he lets his grip on the miasma slip a tiny bit. It’s a dangerous idea, but he has little else to weaponize; as the tears fill his eyes, he struggles to tamp down the rest of PanicAngerTerrorDisgustFearFearFearFear----
By the time he’s fully back in his own mind, Shigaraki has let go of his chin and said something in an overconfident tone with a casual swagger to his step. Izuku doesn’t allow himself to smile. The tears are hardly an act. But he can’t let them know it’s an act at all.
He wipes his face with his sleeve before realizing that the white thing in his periphery is Spinner holding out a tissue. Izuku takes it with a hand that he allows to shake for just a moment and gives a wobbly smile. Spinner nods solemnly.
Knock knock. “Hello, this is Pizza-La. Kamino Store.”
Wait. What? Izuku glances down at his plate with food that was more pushed around than actually eaten. He glances back up at the door. This was weird, why-?
Oh.
Izuku throws himself off the barstool. He hits the ground at the same time that the door – and a good chunk of wall – explode inward.
“SMASH!”
Well, THAT was excessive and a little dangerous. What if Izuku was near that wall? He could have been killed! There is only one person he knows that could be that reckless, that loud, that caring, that destructive. (No, that isn’t true. There are two people that reckless, loud, caring, and destructive; but if Kacchan is here, then Izuku’s gonna kill him. Truly.)
Red, white, blue, gold. There he is.
All Might.
There are more pro heroes, yelling, violence. Compress says something about the press conference being a ruse. Dabi is knocked out. Izuku can’t even see Kurogiri. But he doesn’t care about any of it. Is this it? Is he really being rescued? He had just been scheming and acting and desperately trying to stay alive, stay afloat. Facing more days and nights alone, fighting for what little control he could get.
Now? He’s on the ground, the only one in a den of villains unrestrained, staring up at his hero.
All Might sees him on the ground, takes a step forward and reaches out with one hand.
Izuku flinches hard enough that he scoots back almost a foot. Away from All Might. He couldn’t help it. He didn’t know why he did that. It was just instinct, but-
Everyone in the room goes still and everyone’s eyes land on him, villains and heroes alike. He could see just out of the corner of his eye that Spinner briefly looks hopeful. The old hero in yellow and white looks grim.
All Might?
All Might looks shocked briefly, then a little hurt. Then his face relaxes, eyes going kind and exceedingly gentle. He reaches out one hand slowly and stops, palm turned up and fingers relaxed.
“Young Midoriya.” His voice rumbles warmly as his eyes flick to the cut on Izuku’s lip; he kneels but doesn’t come any closer. Quietly enough that Izuku wonders if anyone else in the room can hear, All Might says, “I am here.”
Never mind. THAT’S the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to him.
Izuku launches himself forward, arms wrapping around All Might’s neck; he could feel the sobs building in his chest as all the heroes in the room breath a sigh of relief. Spinner lets out a choked cry of betrayal that he tries and fails to turn into a growl.
But then Izuku’s hand lands on All Might’s neck, the part not covered by his costume, and Izuku’s quirk activates. It’s not doing anything, but all of a sudden, he can feel the energy swirling through All Might’s body. And he can sense exactly where it’s missing. Reality comes crashing back in like a wave trying to drown him.
All Might is here. All Might is here!
“You have to go!” Izuku chokes out, pulling back. “You have to go now!”
“Young Midoriya.” All Might reaches out to grab his hands as Izuku tries to push him away, toward the door (where the door was), towards the hole in the wall.
“He’s here. He’s here!” Izuku might as well be trying to move a building for all the good pummeling All Might’s chest is doing. But it’s not like he can give up. “All for One- he’s- you don’t understand-”
Villains start talking. Heroes start talking. All Might starts talking. Izuku doesn’t hear a word over the rushing blood in his ears.
“All Might!” Izuku’s strangled cry brings his Hero’s eyes back to him. His throat is killing him. “I- I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! I didn’t want to! Please go!”
Now All Might’s eyes widen a little bit, but his voice is steady when his asks, “Didn’t want to? Want to what?”
Izuku’s voice fails him, a rasping squeak is all he can get out. All for One is healed. Not fully. But neither is All Might. There’s no way to know who’s in better shape. Who would win if it came down to a brawl.
“All Might,” the old hero growls. “We need to get him out of here.”
Izuku’s Hero nods, gently grabbing his upper arm and dragging him to his feet, clutching him to his side. Izuku thinks, for a moment, that he can feel the release of simmering desperation in how All Might exhales once he has Izuku held close.
“Shigaraki Tomura,” All Might says. His voice drops the gentleness. “Where is All for One?”
Shigaraki is talking, but Izuku has had just about enough of listening to his voice. Instead, Izuku focuses on the fringes of despair that start to creep past the firm hold he has on his panic.
No! All Might absolutely cannot face All for One. Not now that Izuku’s betrayed him, healed his greatest enemy. But maybe-
Izuku steels himself and reaches into the reservoir of energy he feels pooled in his stomach. It’s running dangerously low – over years of draining himself day after day, he had gotten a very good sense for exactly how deep that well runs – but Izuku can’t allow himself to think about that, grabbing All Might’s hand and pushing a burst of energy into him.
Evidently, the fact that it’s more of a burst than the normal stream of energy is just as noticeable to his patient as it is to himself, and All Might snatches his hand away. “What are you- How? You’re injured!”
Izuku ignores him, grabbing at All Might’s hand. “Please!” Izuku begs, and All Might is just stunned enough that Izuku latches on, pushing his energy in another burst through the brief connection before All Might pulls away entirely. He doesn’t look any better than he did before – as a matter of fact, he looks a little bit worse – but Izuku doesn’t have much left to give after----
“I healed him.” Izuku sways where he stands and stumbles toward All Might. “I’m sorry. He forced me to and I- I need to heal you right now!” Izuku feels his legs give out, but his knees never hit the floor. All Might swoops down and catches him carefully. Very carefully as it turns out. Izuku’s hand are trapped against All Might’s chest and can’t reach any skin.
“You aren’t healing anybody right now.” All Might swings Izuku up into his arms. “You’re exhausted and your quirk will only make that worse.”
Izuku is almost tempted to headbutt him to get the skin contact necessary to heal, but he figured that would inflict about as much damage as it fixed. Just a little more energy! Just a tiny drop of energy in that void in All Might’s chest might be enough to tip the scales and-
Wait. The voids!
“He’s got weak points!” Izuku gasps. Shigaraki starts screeching in the background, but that’s hardly Izuku’s concern. He continues to babble. “I felt them when I healed him! He’s not healed all the way! Right hip, left hand, left knee! They’re still energy voids- I mean, he’s injured there! I haven’t fixed those yet!”
Yet. More guilt, monstrous guilt, mixes into the miasma. Never.
All Might looks more shocked and terrified than Izuku’s ever seen. He’s less carrying Izuku now and more clutching him desperately to his chest. Squelching fills the room. It’s a disgusting sound, but it’s followed up with a bone chilling shriek that’s so much worse.
“Nomus!” Kamui Woods exclaims.
Oh shit, Kamui Woods is here? Izuku has so many questions for him! Not that he could really ask any – his throat is raw and painful. It almost feels like it’s closing up.
Izuku chokes. Izuku can feel All Might’s arms tighten around him; any more and his vicelike grip would become painful. But that sensation is lost as the sludge covers Izuku’s body and climbs up his face, covering his nose and eyes. The last thing he sees before he’s warped away from All Might’s arms is his Hero’s horrified face.
“Now that wasn’t very nice of you.” All for One. He heard. He heard Izuku tell All Might about his weak points.
The miasma stills under the icy weight of abject horror.
The next minute passes as fast as a second. Or maybe as slow as an hour. Izuku can only act on instinct, dodging, kicking, rolling, slipping, punching. Shigaraki is his main problem – even though the entire League was warped, Shigaraki doesn’t let anyone help him.
Which is probably the only reason that Izuku lives long enough for that instant eternity to come to a screeching halt.
Izuku punches Shigaraki in the throat and looks up at All for One --- and his outstretched arm. And suddenly Izuku is painfully aware of the passage of time and what’s possible in a split second and what isn’t. He can’t dodge. He can’t fight back. He’s just a helpless little-
All Might is there. An eyewatering blur impacts All for One and an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. The result shockwave is enough to throw Izuku thirty- forty- fifty feet, rolling until he comes to a stop in a cloud of dust. His ears are ringing but it’s all he can do not to laugh hysterically. This is it. What he had tried so hard to prevent, to warn away. They’re talking, he can see their mouths moving. All Might attacks. He’d rebuffed and sent flying through building after building. More dust hits the air as some of them start to crumble, the landslide roar of toppling buildings shaking the ground.
Shigaraki and All for One argue about what to do with him, shouting at each other across the battlefield, Izuku trapped between them, his back to a wall and his only escape routes blocked by League members recovering from the shockwave. Shigaraki wants All for One to drain Izuku to heal himself. All for One wants Shigaraki to take Izuku and run. Izuku doesn’t want to do either, but neither of them care; All for One demands Shigaraki run.
And then All Might is back, crashing into All for One as Shigaraki and every conscious member of the League turns to Izuku, determined to take him back.
The resolute and angry voice in his head that sounds like Kacchan is back.
Fuck that!
So even though he’s exhausted, even though his reservoir is almost empty and he can barely stand, he slides into a familiar stance. Offensive. Not defensive. If he’s going to go down, he’s going to go down swinging.
He doesn’t stay on the offensive long, but it’s enough to get him closer to the edge of the fight. He can see the streets he could run through, lose himself in, lose the League in. He’s so close, but he’s on defense now; dodge that kick, slip past that punch, roll, block, take that hit to his body so he can duck under the next one aimed at his head. Pivot his legs so Twice can’t get a leg behind his knee. Always dodge Compress. Duck beneath Shigaraki punching at his face – again! Isn’t a broken nose enough? Toga gets his thigh with a low swipe with her knife. Izuku push-kicks her in the face and does not feel a speck of remorse. She doesn’t either, apparently, throwing two knives that he barely has time to dodge. One slices his cheek and the other catches his arm.
He takes a step backwards and – oh shit. They’re pushing him toward All for One. Why would they-?
So Izuku would distract All Might. Even in the brief second that he’s looking that way he can see All Might glance at him. Calculating how to get to him without leaving himself exposed.
This is a risky move by the League, but they’re counting on their numbers to win this sick game of keep away. Get Izuku close enough and in enough danger to distract All Might, but far enough away and in a tough enough spot that All Might can’t get to him without potentially getting them both killed. It’s twisted.
Just twisted enough that Izuku can take advantage of it. But how? He continues to dodge instinctually while desperately trying to drag his brain from fight or flight to strategy. Keep trying to get away like he planned? Or get close to All Might so he can get them both out?
Izuku barely has to think, as it turns out. Run away. Even though it stings his pride a little, he knows he’s a distraction when he’s in danger. And he doesn’t know how All Might’s healing stacks up against All for One’s. A split second could decide that fight either way. Izuku knows he’s certainly not a liability in a fist fight, but this outnumbered by villains with very strong quirks... he’d just get in the way.
He dodges a swipe from Compress that actually ruffles his hair. He needs to focus. He adds his own machinations to the dance, trying to maneuver himself farther away from All Might. To get out. That’s all he wants.
But he is outnumbered and his range of motion is already reduced. Not to mention his energy. The cut on his leg is bad. It’s already staining his pants darker in the night and he can feel the warm, sticky sensation of rivulets of blood creeping down his leg. He’s running on pure adrenaline and spite. It’s not enough. Staying out of Magne’s range, avoiding Compress altogether, tracking whether Shigaraki is coming at him with a clawed hand or a wild punch – he can’t avoid all of it and get where he wants to go.
He’s getting close to All for One, who seems to have realized what the League is doing and put his back to Izuku, blocking All Might’s fastest route to him. All for One gives some ground to All Might though, backing up and coming closer to Izuku and-
No no no no no no no--- he can’t. He won’t!
But then the wall behind All Might explodes and a giant ramp of ice shoots into the sky. And then something very reckless, loud, caring, and destructive explodes off of it.
“EYES ON ME, FUCKERS!”
Of course. Of course, it’s Kacchan.
Once their lives aren’t in danger anymore, Izuku is going to kill him. The others clinging to him – looks like it’s Iida, Kirishima, and Yaoyorozu – will get off with only a stern talking to. They are all absolutely insane, though, and look it. Yaoyorozu is making flash bombs, Kirishima is yelling over the sound of the airhorn in his hand, and Iida’s recpiroburst is flashy and loud enough to remind Izuku why mufflers are a thing in the first place. They look ridiculous.
It’s the most beautiful thing Izuku’s ever seen.
Everyone stops and stares. And then a sheet of ice covers the ground and the League is falling and so is Izuku and then someone catches him-
Izuku looks up in horror, already knowing what he’s going to see. All for One, clearly injured, smiles down at him; the hand not gripping Izuku’s arm turns black at the tips of his finger and starts reaching toward Izuku’s chest. Izuku doesn’t dare breathe. Or look toward the direction the ice came from. He hopes Todoroki runs. He hopes he doesn’t see what’s about to happen.
The long, distended fingers pulse with energy as they collide with Izuku’s chest and then he’s swung around. All for One’s left arm is around his neck in a choke hold, while his right arm is wrapped around to Izuku’s chest, fingers still embedded in his chest.
All Might looks furious and launches himself at them, but freezes ten feet away when All for One says, “I could kill him right now.”
Izuku can hear more pro heroes arrive on scene, but they stay well back when they see what’s going on. He can see Todoroki over All Might’s shoulder now. His eyes are wide and burning. Almost literally. Ice creeps over his whole body, growing in jagged fractals before cracking as tongues of flame spread like lightning, sublimating the ice. The flames are smothered by more ice, still growing, briefly lighting it from the inside before fading to almost nothing and then exploding outward again. It is a beautiful, terrifying ebb and flow of elemental power.
The shattering ice, crackling flames, and hiss of water vapor permeate the air, which is thick, silent, and still.
No one moves. No one breathes. Izuku waits, suspended in the air, mostly supported by the fingers in his chest but still held a little bit by the chokehold at his neck. His pulse beats in his ears and he realizes his vision is blurring black at the edges. He inhales raggedly and his injured throat shreds the silence to ribbons.
He swears he can hear every hero there tense up.
“You don’t want to do that,” All Might says. His words are a warning, but the tone… The tone is something else, something careful and hopeful. His words are for All for One. His tone is for Izuku.
All Might takes a step forward.
All for One doesn’t retreat, but tenses and sends a pulse of red energy along his bloated fingers and into Izuku’s chest. For a moment Izuku feels nothing, but then a slowly growing burning sensation fills his lungs and he chokes on a gasp. Was that smoke coming out of his mouth? Were his lungs on FIRE?
The red light recedes from his chest along All for One’s fingers. Izuku can’t help the wry thoughts about smoking and emphysema that fill his head. It’s the wrong type of smoke of course, but his barely conscious mind enjoys a good pun, apparently. He chokes again, this time on a cynical giggle. How is this his life? How did he even get here?
And more importantly, how is he going to get out? All for One has to be truly desperate to take his one hope of recovery hostage. Desperation makes people dangerous; that danger is compounded when the desperate person is also casually murderous.
“You don’t want to do that,” All Might says again, tone harder. Words louder. But he doesn’t move this time. “You don’t want to kill your one hope of recovery.”
That’s what Izuku thought! But apparently...
“Maybe not,” All for One mused, tightening the chokehold. Izuku can still get air, but only if he focuses entirely on breathing. His vision blurs even more. His leg hurts. His lungs hurt. He wants to go home. All for One lifts him up higher with the fingers in his chest. For a moment the pressure on Izuku’s neck reduces ever so slightly. But then the chokehold comes back harder. “But I might want to kill your one hope of recovery. Do not test me.”
The blur of light behind All Might flares and Izuku hears a shaky shout of protest from Todoroki; he sounds as scared as Izuku feels. (The adrenaline is starting to fade now that he’s still, and the miasma is starting to build. So much of it is FearFearFearFearFearFearFearFear---) The light stumbles forward, sending shadows flickering across the battlefield and dancing across the mosaic that’s become of Izuku’s vision.
“Stay back, Young Todoroki,” All Might commands. The light stays in place, but the shadows still dance. “This fight is not yours. Run after your friends. Keep them safe.”
“Todoroki?” Izuku can hear the slimy smile in All for One’s voice. “This can’t be the Todoroki Shoto I’ve heard so much about. What a natural talent you are, child. Of course, with a quirk like that-” he pauses and Izuku shudders, thinking about where this might go “-you’re almost limitless. Too bad I don’t have time for you right now.”
Izuku almost sighs in relief, but stops himself. He needs all the oxygen he can get right now. He feebly reaches up with his left hand and tries to pull All for One’s left arm away from his neck. Of course it doesn’t work. Even if Izuku’s right arm wasn’t trapped against his side, he doubts he could budge All for One’s iron grip. He lets his left arm fall to the fingers in his chest pulls at them uselessly. It’s not going to do anything. He knows that. He tries anyway. He can’t kick. His leg hurts too much.
All Might shifts, not forward, but sideways ever so slightly. The light spot in the mosaic dims dramatically as he moves between All for One and Todoroki.
“Let Young Midoriya breathe, All for One. He’s no danger to you-” Izuku still has enough presence of mind to be a little put out at that comment, however true it was “-He’s a child. You’re surrounded. You have your- your hostage.” All Might chokes a little on that. “Let’s talk.”
The silence returns, even the crackling sound of Todoroki’s fire and ice seems farther away. Echoey.
Oh. It might not actually be that quiet, then. And maybe the mosaic didn’t dim just because All Might moved…
Oh. Oh no.
Izuku clings to consciousness with both hands and gasps for air, struggling desperately past the chokehold. Damn it, damn it, damn it! He can’t let himself pass out. He can’t! He wants to go home and pet Sushi and hug his mom and play videogames with Kacchan and finally go to the mall and hang out with his friends and go to class and learn to be the best healer ever and boss his friends into healthier habits and cuddle on the couch with whoever wants to come over and tell his crush who is watching him die that he likes him oh god oh god oh god-
“I think the time for talking has passed.”
The fingers in his chest burn again, but differently. Pain pairs with a pulling, tearing, ripping sensation that feels like something in his soul is being torn out through his heart. It feels like the worst part of forcing his quirk as he feels his energy being grabbed and yanked out.
No.
Not again.
Never AGAIN.
Izuku senses his quirk, where it’s activated, where the connection is, where the choke point is. All for One may be able to activate it, to grab it, to take it, but Izuku hasn’t been training for nothing. This is his quirk. NO ONE ELSE GETS TO USE IT. He grabs that connection point and cuts it off, the same way he did during his exams. The same way he had learned from Nejire. All for One fights to open the connection again, but-
Then All Might is there and the chokehold is gone and Izuku is falling because the creepy fingers are gone too and then he hits the ground face first but there isn’t any air to knock out of his lungs and---
He rolls to his back and props himself up, ready to spring into action. Only years of self defense training and the sudden resurgence of adrenaline from the impact keep him going as he crouches on his injured left leg and watches those same disgusting fingers dig into All Might’s side – his injured side.
Ah. So that’s what All for One wanted.
All Might stumbles, gasps. The League and the pro heroes spring into action, the heroes trying to get to Izuku and All Might, the League doing a surprisingly good job at keeping them back.
Izuku is trapped between two fights; one at a stalemate and the other, right in front of him, hurtling toward the worst possible outcome.
But this fight? The one that’s so dire? He’s looking at it from knee height.
So he does the one thing he knows he can. He take his right leg, which is just about the only part of his body that isn’t in a stunning amount of pian, and kicks. All for One’s left knee buckles, but his left hand shoots out to catch himsel-
No, not catch himself. To catch Izuku, black fingers extending toward his undefended chest. Izuku can’t dodge or run, so he does the only thing he can think of.
Lunge.
Izuku leaps forward, arms extended, left hand grabbing All Might’s right. It was the only exposed skin close enough for Izuku to grab. This was his only chance. Their only chance. Force his energy into All Might before All for One could steal it.
This could very easily kill him.
If he lives through this, he is going to owe Recovery Girl a very long apology letter accompanied by a box of very expensive chocolate.
Izuku activates his quirk.
It’s perhaps the most bizarre thing he’s ever sensed. All for One has some of those disgusting quirk-forcing fingers in both All Might and Izuku, and Izuku had just completed the circuit by directly connecting himself and All Might. Izuku senses all of their energy, all of their injuries. This is the first time – he suddenly realizes – that he has ever looked at his own energy from the same perspective as anyone else’s.
And it is dangerously, dangerously low.
Izuku has always figured his quirk is like a dam that lets water out whenever the river on the other side gets too low. That’s why it always automatically activates when it senses an injury – an area of high pressure flowing into low pressure. And that’s why it doesn’t work when he’s injured; the reservoir needed to fill itself up before it could fill anything else. The pool of his own energy flowing outward, into whatever was lacking on the other side – missing energy, broken bones, missing tissue, missing organs.
All Might is still missing a lung, but he’s sustained a lot of smaller injuries in the fight with All for One. And he’s exhausted.
Izuku takes one look at All for One’s energy and ignores it; even looking at it makes him sick.
He has never realized it before, but their energy is different. And his own. He’d never had the chance to compare before, side by side. All for One’s feels like angry lightning trapped in shards of obsidian. It feels sharp and rancid. Almost alien.
All Might’s energy feels… so welcoming and warm and momentous. Like sitting on a porch on a summer night and watching a thunderstorm roll across the sky. Lightning and rain and the smells of ozone. His energy feels like going inside when the rain gets close, curling up in bed and listening to the drops hit the roof and the window pane. Lightning close enough to hear the rumble of thunder, but never close enough to rattle the windows.
Izuku’s own energy feels like… well, it feels normal. Nothing special. But that’s probably because he’s used to it. He wonders if the people he heals can feel it. He wonders what it feels like to them.
Not that it really matters. Izuku takes his quirk and forces open a connection with All Might as his Hero’s eyes widen with horror, realizing what’s about to happen. He feels himself connect to the summer thundercloud beneath All Might’s skin. He gives himself over to the storm.
But then the strangest thing happens.
Izuku’s pool doesn’t budge. It doesn’t pour, burst, or swirl. It lies dormant. But All Might? His injuries were healing – Izuku doesn’t even need to rely on his quirk to tell that. He watches in awe as All Might’s wounds close rapidly, faster than Izuku has ever seen. And then All Might tears himself away before lunging forward and scooping Izuku up, launching himself backward.
“My boy, are you alright?!?”
“I’m okay.” Izuku rasps out the lie as he takes stock of himself. He’s still horribly injured, exhausted. But he should feel a lot worse based on the energy he just gave to All Might, and they both know it. But they hardly have time to look at each other in confusion before a faint thud distracts them.
All for One is on the ground, apparently unconscious.
“Don’t move!” All Might demands, and then immediately contradicts his own order by shoving Izuku bodily at Todoroki, who grabs his hand and drags him to the edge of the battlefield.
The fight doesn’t last very long after that. Todoroki tries to drag him farther away, but Izuku mumbles that All Might told him not to move. Some of the League escapes, but the day is won. Apparently? All for One is quickly taken into custody, but as pro heroes begin to approach Todoroki and Izuku, All Might waves them away and rushes to their sides.
“Please, Young Midoriya, I need to ask you something now before anything else happens.” All Might glances at Todoroki. Who stares right back, unblinking. For a moment, All Might looks to debate sending him away, but then sees how tightly Todoroki and Izuku are clinging to each other.
“What is it?” Izuku doesn’t want Todoroki to leave. Or if he does leave, Izuku wants to go with him. He never wants to leave his friends again.
“Did- In that last attack, when All for One-” All Might stops himself and struggles to choke out his next few words. “Your quirk. You can sense injuries on contact, even if you don’t heal someone, correct?”
“Y- yes.” Izuku wondered where this was going.
All Might held out his arm. “Do not – I mean this, Young Midoriya – do not try to heal me. Just… try and sense… anything.”
Izuku held out a trembling hand and placed it gently on All Might’s. And there it was, that gentle thrum of rumbling thunder. So familiar. Safe.
All Might’s bigger injuries are still there, and the void where is lung should be is as empty as ever. But most of the smaller injuries are gone and what energy is there is stronger.
“You’re okay.” Izuku attempts a reassuring smile, but he’s quite sure it comes off as a grimace. “Did he do something to you? In that last attack?” Izuku could feel, beneath every other emotion ever, his anxiety swirl and rear its ugly head.
Ugh. NOT NOW, ANXIETY!
“Yes,” All Might said, “And no. That last attack… it troubled me because I thought that… when you healed me during the fight. It didn’t feel like before. It didn’t feel like the first time, in the alley. It didn’t even feel like when you tried to heal me in the bar.” All Might’s grimace almost makes Izuku feel guilty again. Almost. “This time it felt like… it felt like stepping on shattered glass. I thought that, when you jumped forward and All for One connected with you, he…” All Might stops and shudders.
Izuku grips All Might’s hand tighter in a feeble attempt at comfort. It’s the only thing he can do right now. But something about what All Might said-
Izuku gasps and suddenly his anxiety towers over everything else. “You thought he stole my quirk.” Todoroki tenses and grows several degrees warmer beside Izuku, but Izuku is anxious and exhausted and can’t stop rambling, “And because he was already connected with you, and my quirk activates automatically when it senses an injury-”
“I thought that he was healing me involuntarily. And you-” Whatever All Might was about to say way consumed by a sob and suddenly both Todoroki and Izuku were crushed to All Might’s chest as he clutches both of them. “No matter, my boy. No matter. You’re safe. You’re safe.”
“Shattered glass…” Izuku mumbles against All Might’s chest. “I think… I think I…”
Todoroki shifts just a bit, wrapping one arm around All Might and the other around Izuku, burying his face in Izuku’s curly hair.
Izuku stifles a small sniffle. If he breaks down, he won’t be able to do anything else. And there are still so many pro heroes around and--- was that a news helicopter?
“All Might, people are watching.” Izuku’s wounded leg lets out a pulse of pain, just to remind him it’s there. “And I think I need a doctor.”
At least this time Izuku’s able to remember his All Might Express ride to the hospital, but he wishes it was under better circumstances. Then again, he can’t really think of any good reasons that would lend themselves to an All Might Express ride to the hospital. Maybe he can ask him to fly him around a bit when Izuku’s healed up a bit. It would be fun under almost any other circumstance. He decided to ponder that instead of the growing tide of emotion that is swelling in his heart, violently threatening to burst.
The next few hours are a whirlwind of fading in and out of consciousness, the smell of blood and antiseptic, and the rush of nurses and doctors and orderlies. His nose is set. His leg is stitched and wrapped. All of the doctors and nurses wear gloves. But sometimes an exposed wrist catches Izuku’s skin when they aren’t paying attention. He can sense the energy of each person. Read it like a book. One nurse’s energy is like the rush Izuku gets after drinks a particularly caffeinated soda. One doctor’s energy reminds him of a big, sleepy bear. Sensing people’s energy so distinctly, reading it, is fascinating. And just enough to keep him awake far past when he probably should have passed out.
They let Todoroki in to see him, which is a welcome surprise.
“Oh.” Izuku’s mind shudders to a halt. “I’m sorry. My quirk. It’s been acting so weird, I-”
“Don’t apologize. I really couldn’t care less right now.” Todoroki gives Izuku a wry smile from a scarless face before wrapping his arms around him in a hug that’s half hot and half cold.
Izuku’s heart beats a little bit quicker and he really hopes Todoroki doesn’t notice the jump in the beeping of the EKG. “Your quirk- it was acting weird, too, wasn’t it? It wasn’t half and half, it was-”
Todoroki presses their foreheads together and whispers, “I do not want to think about that right now.”
But anxiety is Izuku’s base emotion and he’s still trying to keep the rest of the miasma under wraps, so he keeps rambling, but in a different direction. “I think… All Might said the healing was like shattered glass, and when I sensed All for One’s energy it was like… I think… I think I might have…” Committed a grievous sin against the art of healing is what he wants to say. But he already knows how that would go over, and he’s not sure he can get his exhausted tongue and flayed throat around the words anyway. “I think I stole his energy. I think I gave it to All Might. I think-”
Izuku didn’t know what to think, really. Why had All for One’s energy healed All Might? Because even if he didn’t know why it had happened, that was undoubtedly what had happened. Was it because of that weird quirk-forcing power? Was it because Izuku had used his quirk on All Might at the same time that All for One had tried to use Izuku’s quirk? Or had All for One actually tried to take Izuku’s quirk while he was already using it and it rebounded somehow? Was it because All for One and All Might were connected by the weird quirk fingers while Izuku tried to heal one of them? Was it some combination?
Is stealing energy just something he can do now? Is it another quirk? Did All for One accidentally give him another quirk that’s interacting with Izuku’s so that he can steal other people’s energy?!?
But it wasn’t quite stealing because – Izuku felt a twinge in his leg – that energy couldn’t heal him. Maybe… maybe his quirk was never just healing energy to begin with. Maybe it was just- just energy transfer. He could pull from a reservoir and… it didn’t matter what the reservoir was. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t his reservoir or not.
Izuku had never tried to heal two people at once, had never tried to heal an injured person with one hand on an uninjured person. Maybe this was just something he had always been able to do.
The thought is terrifying.
“Hey, hey. Come back to me, Izuku.”
Izuku’s heart hammers in his chest again. Todoroki has to be able to hear it, EKG or no EKG. Izuku throttles the terror, reaches for anything else to focus on.
Wait a minute. Todoroki just called him Izuku. He can’t help the smile that cracks across his face at that thought.
“You were lost in your own head again,” Todoroki continues, evidently completely oblivious to the summersaults Izuku’s heart is doing in his ribcage.
He very suddenly remembers the list he made when he thought he was dying. The last thing on there was…
Well. No time like the present! And no inhibition-remover like severe blood loss.
“He-y.” His voice cracks mid-word. He’s going to blame it on his throat, even though there’s a pretty good chance his injury has nothing to do with it. “I have a crush on you.”
There. A sufficiently huge thing to focus on and distract him from the mounting terror of the EVERYTHING that just happened to him.
Todoroki freezes. Almost literally. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” And that’s when the inhibitions come crashing back in, riding on a wave of generalized anxiety disorder. “But you don’t have to like me back or anything because I thought I was going to die and I thought of all the things I wanted to do and telling you was one of the things but if you don’t like me back it’s no big deal, I like being you friend, I just wanna spend time with you and I don’t want to pressure you or anythi- MMPH!”
Todoroki was kissing him.
Izuku didn’t activate his quirk, but just like with All Might and the doctors, he could feel Todoroki’s energy without trying. It was like watching a crackling campfire on a sandy beach while standing in freezing water, the waves pushing and pulling at his feet, the sand slipping away beneath his toes but knowing he’ll never fall. Behind the campfire is a wildfire. On the ocean’s horizon is a massive glacier. Todoroki’s energy is boundless. It is a world in and of itself.
Just like Todoroki.
The kiss is awkward, no doubt about it. But still, he was definitely kissing him…
But what if it was just because of how pathetic Izuku looks and the fact that he almost died and Todoroki just feels bad for him and doesn’t want to let him down while he’s injured and-
Todoroki – Shoto? He called Izuku ‘Izuku’, so maybe he should call him by his given name too? – pulls back and looks him in the eye.
“Stop that. I can hear you worrying.”
“When did you get a telepathy quirk?” Izuku jokes weakly.
“Don’t need one,” Todor--- Shoto says evenly. And deadly serious. “Not with you.”
Oh. Well then. How did he make dry and serious comments sound so dang romantic? Izuku tilts his head forward again, but just to press their foreheads together.
Okay. Don’t think. Don’t worry. Don’t think. Don’t worry. He can do that…
The miasma starts to build again, and he feels the wave start to crest FearTerrorIsolationFearGuiltFearHateFearFearFearFearFear------
Uh…
No. No he absolutely cannot NOT think. He opens his mouth tell Shoto, ask for help, say something, say anything but the door opens at the same time. Shoto’s head whips around and he scrambles off the bed with all the grace of a newborn giraffe. “Midoriya-san.” Shoto bows quickly and then scrambles out the way as Inko runs to the bed.
“My baby!” Izuku is reaching for her before he knows what he’s doing, wrapping his arms around her as she wraps her arms around him, so warm and safe and kind.
Her cheek presses to the side of his head, pinning his ear back uncomfortably as she whispers little comforts to him and cries into his shoulder.
And her energy feels like home.
Finally – finally – the wave crests, the dam breaks, and so does Izuku.