Chapter 4:
Training with All Might continued after his acceptance. All Might laughed loudly and congratulated Izuku on his acceptance into UA. He had wanted to tell him for a while but the UA board would not take kindly to that.
Izuku understood of course. He did wonder about the girl though, so he asked.
' There was this girl, Ochako Uraraka, the one I saved, will she be in the same class as me?' he wrote down on the notepad as All Might sipped on a bottle of cola.
"Ochako Uraraka," he pronounced each sound - as Izuku signed it - "the name rings a bell - oh right, that was it, wait can I tell you this?" All Might hummed to himself as Izuku looked with pleading eyes, "oh, go on then. She came to visit us after the exam, asking about you?"
'She did?' he signed with his hands. All Might looked intently at his hands, recalling the memory of the signing, "Yeah she did, she asked about the person who saved her from the robot, the boy with no voice and pretty eyes was how she described you," he laughed loudly as Izuku blushed a shade of deep red.
"Now, if she got into 1-A," Izuku supposed that was his class, "I really can't say, I'm afraid." He looked to the side as his hands signed - sloppily - 'yes.' Another grin plastered itself on Izuku's face, underneath the faux grin of his new jumper which he liked to wear as often as possible.
Izuku now had high hopes for UA going forward. "Well then, we best be back off to training, exciting prospects are ahead of us Young Midoriya. After all, my successor must train himself properly."
His what? Izuku froze as All Might strode onto the beach, talking aloud. It seemed it took him a moment to realise he wasn't beside him. 'Successor?' he signed.
All Might tilt his head, "I'm sorry, I'm not familiar."
He grabbed the notepad, scribbling down the word, 'Successor?'
"Well, of course, you are, why else would I train you, you will be the future of heroes," All Might gave a smile.
' I thought I was just a student?'
All Might read the words over once, then twice, then a third time and sighed. "Okay then, I suppose I should come clean."
…
Izuku lay in bed staring up at the popcorn ceiling of his room, his eyes tracing over each bump. One for All. Quirk legacies. A quirk to pass onto someone. It seemed implausible. It was also way too much for Izuku Midoriya.
He couldn't do it, he'd almost broken down at the idea. It was too much for him to take on the mantle of All Might. He couldn't even control his quirk, what gave All Might the idea he could take on One for All too?
There was no way he could do it, All Might had gone mad then. That injury must have caused him to become delirious. Izuku Midoriya wanted to become a hero, but he wasn't that kind of hero. He was just Izuku Midoriya, plain, quiet. Hardly the type of person you would imagine when you said 'symbol of peace'.
Children wouldn't hang pictures of the hero with deformities around his mouth on their walls. Newspapers wouldn't give exciting headlines to a boy who destroyed an entire town aged 4. The boy who couldn't even speak the language his friends spoke.
He couldn't be a symbol of peace if you couldn't symbolise much yourself.
So with heavy eyes, he fell to sleep, holding himself tightly. Wishing to cry out his true feelings.
…
With reflectance, a great amount of fear and anxiety, and an oozing stomach, Izuku made his way to the beach again that day. All Might was already there at the moment he arrived, it was one of their last training sessions before UA started now.
"Good morning, Young Midoriya!" All Might happily call out as his hands signed the motions for the phrase he said. Izuku didn't need to see them himself, but it helped others learn how he communicated with them, so he was thankful all the same.
He gave a wave and signed, 'Morning All Might.' Although, his heart wasn't in it for the moment.
"What's the matter, Young Midoriya, you seem upset?"
Did he tell All Might? He deserved to know the boy he chose to be his successor was a coward and wimp. A boy who couldn't even look the part of a hero.
Also, signing it was pointless, it would probably be pointless to try as he wouldn't understand it. Writing it down made him feel like an idiot too. He just shook his head and carried over to the recent training clearing they had formed.
"Young Midoriya," he turned to face All Might, "I can't imagine the loneliness you've been through, however, your mental ability is just as important to heroism as your physical skill is, one has to be in the right frame of mind to stay heroic."
His eyes wandered to a heap of sand, ignoring All Might's own. 'Quirk' he signed and pointed to All Might.
"One for All?" Izuku nodded. "You're worried about taking it on, it shouldn't harm your body after the fact, Young Midoriya."
He shook his head, 'not that.'
"What's the matter then, you can tell me, I can understand the fears of quirks all too well."
With a struggled breath through his nose, Izuku brought his index finger over the high collar, his finger hooked around the faux smile and lowered it, as he showed All Might his disfigured mouth. Tentacles of burn marks spread from charred lips, and black and brown patches of burns fell around his cracked mouth to below his chin.
He pointed to his mask, 'no smile, no hero' he signed slowly, his eyes downcast.
"I don't see a problem." Izuku's eyes jolted up to him, was All Might looking away? Others had before, so it made sense, he knew how it looked, he knew it was disgusting. "All I see are the scars and marks of someone with a heroic future, we all carry scars, young man. A scar doesn't define you, it shows a part in your life. Those scars can represent people you've saved, and your growth. A smile doesn't make a hero, their actions do. A scar doesn't decide who Izuku Midoriya is, his actions do. And so far, his actions define him as a hero, a promising one."
"Of course, I can smile, I can happily declare 'I am here!' Yet that makes no difference between us. If you save more people, help the world become better. Then you are all the hero I am and more, scars are just a mark on paper, an ink splodge, the words written down can forever evolve and change. Those words are read by the masses, not the small errors along the way."
"You are a hero Young Midoriya, your actions define you as so, and that is far more important than a scar on your face, or a mark on paper."
Izuku was 100% a hugger from that point onward. Tears rolled down his face, a wobbling smile etched on cracked lips as he pressed tightly against his mentor.
*********
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