mightyshield au because i am WEAK for this ship:
All Might is away on a special mission in Northern Japan when his world comes crumbling down around him, and his worst nightmares come true.
His wife is dead, his son missing.
He returns to Tokyo as fast as humanly possible, a black hole in his chest where his wife used to be, and he just knows that if he loses his baby too, he’ll never be able to survive.
The very world trembles under the weight of his fury as All Might combs through the streets of Tokyo, looking for what has been taken from him.
There’s unease in the air, the people of Japan hiding away in their homes because for the first time ever, their Symbol of Peace isn’t smiling, and there’s something like terror in their hearts.
All Might finds them within the hour, and the moment they see him descend upon them like an avenging god, they put up their hands in surrender. They get on the floor and beg for their lives. And All Might wants to kill them, wants to make them pay for what they’ve put his family through.
But there’s little six-year-old Izuku, stumbling towards him on unsure feet, arms outstretched and cheeks streaked with tears.
And no matter how badly he wants these villains to suffer, that’s one side of him he never wants his son to have to see. So All Might sweeps his precious boy into his arms, and turns away, leaving his sidekick and the police to do the cleanup.
After that day, there’s a change in All Might. He packs up his lovely little home in Musutafu and moves into a condo in Tokyo, near his agency.
He lives alone these days, and when a reporter asks him once where his cute little son has disappeared to, All Might’s face clouds over.
“Somewhere safe,” he says, and it’s all he’s willing to reveal on the matter.
(If he had been anyone else, this is when alarm bells might have started ringing. But this is All Might, and the people’s trust in him is absolute. So it never once crosses anyone’s mind that he’s telling anything but the truth.)
He doesn’t smile anymore either. Or at least, not as much as he used to.
He’s still the same gentle giant he’s always been - he carries civilians with the utmost care, comforts crying children in the soft voice of a parent, grins and gives interviews for the cameras.
But there’s something diminished about him, something quieter and more weary.
Every once in a while though, he’ll go away for a week or so, and no one will begrudge him that. It’s difficult work, being the number one hero. He deserves the break.
And when he comes back, for a short while it’s almost as if he’s gone back to the man he used to be, before he’d lost his wife.
Three years pass in the blink of an eye, and another monumental shift takes place.
All Might fights and defeats All for One, and the world loses its Symbol of Peace.
The injuries are too severe. He announces his retirement, his agency closes, and no one sees him again.
Half the world is convinced he’s dead, and as the public mourns the loss of their Symbol, one little boy celebrates the return of his father.
Midoriya Izuku, nine years old.
Three years ago, he had moved to I-Island to be with his beloved uncle Dave and his big sis Melissa.
He still misses his mum of course, but he loves his new life too. He has an awesome new school, and he has friends, and his big sister is quirkless just like him!
He only gets to see his daddy for a week every few months though, and that sucks, but he gets lots of cuddles from his uncle Dave, so that makes it a little better. And whenever his daddy comes to visit them, he brings lots of presents for Izuku and Melissa, and they do all sorts of fun stuff!
At first, when Izuku had found out that his daddy had gotten in a really bad fight with a villain and had almost died, he’d been horrified.
But before long, All Might had healed enough to come home, and there had been a small, selfish part of Izuku that had been quietly thrilled when he found out his daddy would be living with them all the time now.
It’s hard, at first. After decades of fighting villains and saving civilians, All Might doesn’t even know who he is anymore. But he has his best friend at his side, and his lovely son to cheer him up.
He doesn’t quite know yet what he wants to do with the rest of his life, and with all the money he’d made over the years as the number one hero, he’s in no particular rush to jump into a new career.
He starts keeping a journal, and before he even realizes, it’s somehow turned into a memoir. It’s slow going, but he doesn’t mind - it’s more for the catharsis than for any real desire to become published.
He wonders if perhaps he should find a successor - All for One is gone, after all. But there’s nothing to say someone just as bad (if not worse) won’t show up some day. He takes his time deliberating, and that’s when he takes notice of Izuku.
His precious son who, despite being quirkless, has never once given up on his dream of being a hero. And maybe he’s a bit biased, but All Might soon finds there’s no one he’d rather pass One for All to than his little number one fan; the boy who, for a long time after Inko had died, had been All Might’s sole reason for living.
All Might confides in Dave, tells his friend about the truth of his quirk, tells him about his intentions of passing it on to Izuku when he’s old enough.
Dave is, understandably, not too thrilled at the idea of his son gaining such a dangerous quirk, and going into a career that had almost killed the love of his life.
It takes him a moment to understand why All Might is staring at him with red cheeks and a gaping mouth.
He laughs awkwardly, starts babbling apologies for calling Izuku his son, it’s just he’s been looking after him for almost four years now and he’s come to love him dearly, and “look Toshi, you can just forget what I said about, ahem, the love of my life, and- uh-”
He’s cut off when All Might pulls him into his arms, plants a gentle kiss on his lips.
After that, things get impossibly better - All Might Toshinori spends his days writing his memoir and helping Dave with his research, occasionally playing guinea pig.
Toshinori eventually convinces Dave that Izuku will only ever be happy if he can be a hero - it’s what he’s wanted all his life after all - and he can only do that if he has a quirk.
When Dave finally gives in with a sigh, the two sit their kids down one day and explain One for All to them. They tell both kids about Toshinori’s intent to pass it on to Izuku.
Izuku is, understandably, over the moon.
And Melissa, though a bit concerned about her baby brother’s safety, and sad that he will inevitably have to leave I-Island to attend UA, is delighted for him as well, causing her fathers to breathe sighs of relief.
So Toshinori starts training Izuku to inherit One for All one day. Nothing too strenuous, he’s still young after all, but enough to get him in shape, and to slowly start putting on a bit of muscle mass in preparation for his real training to start.
Toshinori and David get married when Izuku is twelve.
Toshinori passes on One for All when Izuku is fifteen, three months before he has to take on the UA entrance exam, so he can get used to using the quirk.
The day of the exam arrives, and Izuku passes with the top scores.
And after nine whole years hidden carefully from the public eye, Midoriya Izuku returns to his beloved Japan to carry on his father’s legacy.
tangentwithtanner
dailybridgerton
andulkaphoto
areudirty
vaporwave
