Work Text:
The following is an excerpt lifted from the upcoming autobiography, One For All, of famed hero and legend, Toshinori Yagi, loved by all as All Might.
Love is a peculiar thing, something that every person has the right to experience and enjoy, but is often denied to those of us that feel we are undeserving of it’s warmth. As a hero, it feels selfish to allow one’s self to receive the precious gift of another’s heart. As I have grown older, recontextualized my priorities as a former hero, and learned from my mates, I now know that it was never truly selfish to give in to my desire to be love and be loved.
Family is a concept that always struck me as a moldable thing, being a child of divorce and brought to a foreign land at a young age. My family was my mother, a kind woman who did her best to do right by her only child as she left the country she once lived in as my father decided to give up on us. A Quirkless unpresented child, a Quirkless alpha mother, and a resentful beta father made my broken family. America did not treat us poorly by any means, but Japan was my mother’s home, and soon it became mine, as well. Adapting was something I learned to do early on and my mother’s love kept me going through the adjustment of a new school, new language, and a new beginning.
When I presented as an alpha, my mother was proud, telling me she always knew that I would follow in her footsteps. There were hopes and dreams in her eyes as she looked to me, an unfulfilled future taken from her, and now she held those dreams for her son. She made sure I had access to plenty of opportunities to further my education, which helped me get into a great middle school, of which I will be forever grateful. I met my mentor on my walk from school one Spring evening as she caught sight of me, a villain unknowingly stalking my journey. She saved me and I knew that I wanted to repay her, wanted to be like her, and eventually she allowed me to train under her. In the beginning, I believed she simply took pity on the Quirkless child begging for her attention. She soon became just as much of “Family” as my mother was.
At the end of my middle school days, summer seemed to be the end of any dreams I had at becoming a hero or attending the Hero Academy at UA. My mentor gifted me her Quirk, something I believed to be impossible, yet by the next term, I was enrolled in UA as a student in class 1-A. There I learned that heroes of all kinds would make up the future saviors of this country, as well as mentors to those who come after us. I met my first love there, and when I met their mate, I was enamored by the two of them. They were amazing, talented, smart, and beautiful. They have since become legends in their own rights, heroes that have easily saved my life more than they realize. It is now an open secret that I met heroes Present Mic and Eraserhead in my school days, eventually graduating with them and continuing our hero journey as a secretly mated. I no longer wish to hide my affection to those who matter most to me, as I know that previously All For One could have used anyone to get to me. My two mates are strong and can protect each other, can even protect me and my third mate. They can protect our children and home when I am unable to. Being a hero was everything to me, but now being a loving mate and father is what I have learned to embrace in the absence of what I believed my true calling to be.
I have never fathered a child of my own flesh and blood, I have never held my baby in my arms, and I have never imagined that my three children would come into my life as they did. My two oldest came to us in very different ways, the first being the child of my third mate, a sweet and shy boy that made me a parent without me even realizing it. Fatherhood does not come with an instruction manual when a preteen enters your life, already full of memories before you, and opinions of the person they think you are. To love one, you must love the other, and it came as no hardship for me. My son is a light in my life, a vision of the future, and I could not be more proud of the person he has become and continues to strive to be.
The second son that was brought into my life came through UA, unbeknownst to me and the rest of my mates. My beloved mate became their mentor, their lifeline in those walls, and eventually brought them home, informing us that he would be staying. While I know that time will bring closer memories and sentiments, I cannot imagine what my life would be without him. A broken home can break those who cannot reach help, but my son is strong, unwilling to break under the pressures that life has thrown onto him. My mate has revealed his hidden nurturing side with our second son, loving our first no less, but giving extra care where it is needed. Hardship does not end at home and my son has fought long and hard to protect what is and who is important to him. Villains have terrorized my entire family and my children are not immune.
My third, my daughter, came to us through tragedy. Already connected deeply to the presence of my first son and one of my mates, she officially became part of our growing family with hesitance, but hope. I was quick to love her and knew that she belonged here. I looked at her and saw my daughter, my sweet girl who I would do anything for, as I did with my sons. I know the trope amongst parents on the “girl dad” and believe my first two mates and I fall under that, to the amusement of my third mate. She was grateful to have another girl in the home, teaching her things that I nor my other mates would not have known to share. Their bond is beautiful, as is the bond all my children have my all my mates.
When we discovered one of my mates was infertile due to his Quirk, I wanted to accept never becoming a father wholeheartedly. This was years before I met my third mate. As my health began to decline, my doctor confirmed my suspicions that my fertility was also a moot point. I foolishly kept that little dream alive within me, unbeknownst to my mates, hoping that by some miracle it could still happen. Ashamedly, I was devastated. My family had already gone through the same realization as I had, already accepted that it was not in the cards for us, yet I kept my heart open for the possibility and I hurt myself because of it. I knew that this dream could never be mine, could never be our family’s, and it was through meeting my third mate that the once broken dream became our reality.
In truth, I could have gone my entire life without having children, I could be happy with that. I have my mates, of whom I love, my friends who are like my family, and that is enough. It will always be enough. But when children were brought into my life, something in me changed, and I couldn’t go back to where I was before them. Children change you, they mold you into something else, someone else. As a father now, I have different priorities, just as I had as a hero. Now a former hero, I no longer jump up to fight crime within the city, I no longer watch the late night news just in case I am needed. Now I tuck my daughter in at night and make sure my sons are going to bed at a decent hour, I’m planning on when my boys return from UA for breaks, I’m packing lunches for my daughter before she heads off to school, and I’m happy with that.
Not every person is fit to become a parent. My children had to learn that the heard way, but I am here, no longer in my All Might outfit, no longer in the same body I once had, but still with that same feeling of wanting to protect them that I have always felt. They are now my priorities, they are now my reasoning for getting up in the morning. My mates seem to be happier as well when we are all together, and for me, it feels right. For the parents that my children left behind, they are happier, healthier, and they are loved.
The full release to One For All is still to be announced...