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I suffer from this condition called having good taste
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Published:
2020-11-15
Words:
1,281
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
23
Kudos:
685
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108
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3,960

outlive, outlast

Summary:

Much too soon, Izuku is gone, leaving Toshinori with the task of finding the next One For All holder.

Izuku had a few people in mind, and Toshinori fully intends to honor that. If only the people Izuku chose actually wanted the quirk.

Notes:

this has been in my wips for months please god just take it

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Toshinori is beginning to believe that there is some sort of divine and all-powerful being whose entire purpose is to make his life hell.

Because Midoriya Izuku is currently laying in a puddle of his own blood on the sidewalk.

And it’s not because of a villain attack or anything. He wasn’t even saving anyone. It was just an accident. A simple instance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The fact is one that fills him with rage, white-hot, because what kind of world would let someone so good die so offhandedly?

(It isn’t supposed to happen like this. Izuku is supposed to outlive him.)

Through bleary eyes, Izuku watches as Toshinori attempts in vain to stop the blood flow. Using what is likely his last reserve of strength, the boy raises his arm, plucks a single hair from his head, and shakily holds it out to Toshinori.

Toshinori looks at it, lets out a sob as he shakes his head. “I don't want it,” He says vehemently.

Izuku, visibly confused, thrusts his hand forward again, pleadingly.

“My boy, I don't want it.” He repeats, voice cracking.

Izuku allows his arm to drop, then. To Toshinori’s horror, the boy’s eyes begin to fill with tears.

“Oh, no,” The man says, voice shaky and surely not at all reassuring. “It’s okay, my boy. It’s going to be okay.”

The boy shakes his head, then blinks rapidly as if the motion confused him. “I-” Izuku starts, sucking in a sharp breath when Toshinori adds more pressure to his wound. “I’m sorry,” He bursts out, tears finally overflowing.

“Don’t,” Toshinori says firmly. “Don’t apologize, you have nothing to apologize for, you’re going to be fine.”

Izuku’s body begins to slacken as his consciousness wanes.

“Dad,” Izuku says. Toshinori chokes on a sob. “I love you. I love you.”

The light leaving Izuku’s eyes has Toshinori foregoing the effort to keep his blood inside of his body in favor of grabbing the boy’s face in his hands.

“I love you too,” Toshinori says, “My boy, Izuku, I love you too.”

Izuku’s eyes crinkle as he smiles for the very last time.

After the funeral, a somber Inko approaches him with an envelope addressed to Toshi.

“A failsafe,” She says quietly. Her eyes are uncharacteristically dry. Toshinori figures that everyone must reach their limit eventually, even when it comes to Midoriyas and crying. “He wanted me to give it to you if anything… happened.”

He takes it with trembling hands. That night, he opens the envelope. Inside, there is a single piece of paper with a list of five names. There is no further explanation, but Toshinori doesn’t need one.

Along with the note is a single strand of green hair.

The next day, he approaches Number One—Izuku’s First Choice.

First Choice hears him out with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. His glare intensifies the longer Toshinori speaks. After his long-winded spiel, the man shakes his head, taking no time for contemplation.

“I don’t want it,” First Choice says plainly.

Toshinori fumes.

In his anger, he demands how he could just deny Izuku’s wish—his final, dying wish—so easily. How could he deny such a power? Deny the opportunity to possess a strength so magnificent that only those who wield it can begin to fathom its full might?

First endures Toshinori’s verbal lashing with a characteristic indifference.

“I will not take it.” He says, voice monotone.

Nothing Toshinori says changes First’s mind. He turns to leave when it becomes clear that Toshinori has run out of protests. He pauses when he reaches the doorframe. “Let me know who takes it.” He says, emotion finally seeping into his voice. “While you may have been perfectly content keeping this a secret from me the last time, I will not allow that to happen again.”

And with that, First Choice leaves. Toshinori crosses him off the list, and then cries he realizes he has covered Izuku’s handwriting with his own pen stroke.

Second Choice declines as well, though not with so many words. A half-step back, a vehement shake of her head. Wide eyes quickly filling and overflowing.

“No,” She says, voice shaking. “No, no.”

Toshinori reaches out, her name on his lips, but the girl slaps his hand away and flings herself backwards.

“No!” She yells, one last time, before she turns and flees the room. And that’s that.

There are three names left on the list.

Third Choice had been doing a valiant job at keeping her emotions in check so far, even through everything that had happened. Toshinori should have known that she was soon to crack.

Third Choice stares up at him in open curiosity as he explains the quirk to her. The sight is familiar enough to twist Toshinori’s gut.

But then, Toshinori gets to the part where he actually offers the quirk. The girl stands abruptly, knocking back the chair she had been sitting on against the adjacent wall.

“Stop,” She had said, lisp present in the way that it only is when she’s upset.

Toshinori begins to plead, because the list is getting shorter and shorter. Please, please, he’s running out of options.

The girl slams her hands on the table “No.” She says, voice not loud, never loud, but large in a way he’d never heard from her. It startles him into silence. She leaves.

Two choices left.

For a second, Toshinori actually thinks that Fourth Choice will take it. The boy is quiet throughout his entire explanation, and remains so for a while afterwards. Toshinori tells him, with a hand on his shoulder, that he can think about it. But then the boy shakes his head.

“I’m sorry.” The boy says, eyes downcast. “I won’t take it.”

Toshinori doesn’t even have it in him to beg.

One more. There is only one more person on the list.

He does not go to Fifth Choice immediately. It’s not time yet.

So he waits. Long and agonizing, he waits. Nearly a decade passes before Toshinori touches the envelope again.

His feet feel like lead as he walks to where he knows Fifth Choice resides. He had spoken to Fifth’s guardians beforehand—something he hadn’t done with the others.

Because Fifth is different.

Fifth’s guardians had heard him out stoically. The two of them had conversed amongst themselves, and returned with a verdict.

“If she says yes,” One had said.

“Then it’s yes,” The other finished.

So here he is. Knocking on Fifth Choice’s door.

First Choice answers the door, hair greyer than Toshinori remembers. It makes sense, as the last time he saw First was when he offered One For All to him eight years ago. With pursed lips, First allows him in, there is no need to exchange words.

The second he sees Fifth Choice, his throat closes up.

Because what if she says no?

No would mean that Izuku is allowed no legacy. No would mean that Izuku, all that he is—was—is gone.

Toshinori is not religious. But in that moment, he prays.

She says yes.

Fifth choice says yes.

Toshinori cries, loud and relieved and for a second it makes him feel as if the spirit of Midoriya Izuku himself has possessed him.

Fifth is a slight thing, years of trauma having permanently stunted her growth. She is much like Izuku, in that respect, and in so many others. The similarities between the two make his chest ache.

But he is proud. Of him and of her, he is proud.

More than anything when, three years later, the pro-hero Five debuts, silver hair gleaming, and a single horn atop her head.

Notes:

ok, so i put the technically unnamed characters in the tags. i debated leaving it a total secret and allowing yall to interpret it however you see fit, but ultimately decided against that. you can still interpret it however you want to if you don’t like my take!

for clarification, here is the list!:
1. Aizawa Shouta (yea that’s right you can pry dadzawa out of my cold dead hands mf!!)
2. Uraraka Ochako
3. Asui Tsuyu
4. Kirishima Eijirou
5. Eri

also, i know this is short and not as developed as my other works, i just wanted to get rid of it i guess? i might not keep this up, idk how i feel about it. we will see
anyway! please leave a comment!! i would love to know what you think!! also, don’t be afraid to ask me to tag something!