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[That's not heroic... but he's off duty, so it's fine? It's for the comfort of All Might, national celebrity and savior?? So it's probably fine.

Anyway, this does indeed give All Might the necessary time he needs to try and drink water competently, with a shaky hand and not totally able to sit up without that extra pillow. He gets two sips in with only minimal spilling, which is... great, that's just fantastic, this is the life he's been reduced to, god—

And he coughs on sip number three when Aizawa suddenly reappears, shaking his head to convey that he's just fine, really, this is not a bleeding cough. Just a stupid one.

So the recovery is going great.]

When did you— [ahem] You didn't have to come see me.

[He blinks just once, registering the coughing and lack of blood, before coming forward to offer the pillow. If he notices that spilling, he makes no real fuss over it.

Sitting down once more, he finally frees himself entirely from his tie. The top two buttons of his shirt are next, and that gives him enough time to consider All Might's statement.]

A few hours after you were brought here.

[That's when. And . . . his mouth twists, uncertain as to how to phrase this.]

I know I didn't have to. I wanted to. It's . . . easier, when there's someone around when you wake up.

[Well. Thanks for the pillow, anyway; he can at least prop himself up more comfortably with this. All the better for looking at Aizawa for this rather awkward conversation; leaving aside all the heavy implications of his fight with All for One, All Might isn't... sure what to do here, with Aizawa sitting there, trying to empathize with him.

He appreciates it, on some level. But responding?]

You've been here all night! [Go home, he wants to insist, let him stew in this on his own— but.] That is to say... thank you.

[He rubs the back of his neck. He can definitely feel the awkwardness tonight, but he ignores it. He's not going to just cut and run and leave All Might alone with his thoughts.]

Out of everyone here tonight, All Might, I think you've least reason to say that. I should be the one thanking you.

Japan already is. There's not a station or airwave that isn't thanking you tonight.

[Please do that, instead of whatever this is. No, no, he's glad Aizawa is here; surprised, yes, very much. But he's a familiar face and a strong voice of reason where All Might is drifting, whether he voices any of his thoughts or not. So.

Okay.]

Mmm. [He settles back on his pillow stack, considering his water.] One last time isn't so bad.

[He watches him for a moment, debating on whether or not to say anything, but bites his tongue. That isn't self-deprecating. He'll . . . hmm, not allow it, but at least not say anything.]

. . . is that really it?

[He asks it softly.]

[Ah, this is why he systematically removed everyone who would have stayed up to wait for him from his life, now he remembers. Aizawa isn't accusing him of anything, or making loud objections, but even such an innocuous question gets under his skin almost immediately.]

For what? [...] There's nothing left in me.

[It's just that he's never heard of a Quirk simply being used up like that. Broken, yes, or disabled, but used up . . . it's as if his bicep suddenly decided to give up the ghost.

But he won't say that. He's not an idiot. He'd been full of despair when there'd been the possibility he'd lose his vision; he can't imagine what All Might is going through.]

Mm.

[What to say? What on earth does he--]

At least you'll have more time to train as a teacher.

[That might actually be teasing.]

[That's... close enough to teasing that in any other situation, All Might would have laughed his usual way, boisterous and too loud and probably with a smack on the shoulder or five. This time it's all he can do just to look at Aizawa, and he certainly doesn't laugh.

It's not that he's offended; far from it, he's terrified for the future of the students. All for One knows about his successor, which makes an already dangerous situation even more so, even with the villain put away for good. And he can't protect anyone anymore, certainly not a new generation of heroes; the best he can do is prepare Midoriya for the long road ahead, and then...

Well, the outlook is grim.]

Yes, I suppose that's true.

[Awkward!]

After all your lecturing, I finally have the opportunity to teach full time...

[y...aaay]

I could use the help.

[He really could. He is so tired, and they are so many, and honestly, having All Might as a counterpoint can only do good. He'll finally be able to devote his all to teaching, rather than only ducking in and out.]

And they could use the expertise.

[As much as Aizawa wanting his help warms his heart (and boy, does it), he's probably still going to waste away as a pathetic shell of his former self, so. He'll try to keep it until after graduation, maybe, but that's a stretch.

What he says is nothing like that, and still nothing lighthearted (his heart would have to be in it), but instead-]

We're running out of time. These villains won't wait for them to be ready.

[That's . . . an odd statement to make, and he frowns.]

Which is why there's plenty of pro heroes around to ensure they don't have to be ready just yet.

[But that's not right, is it? He's not really talking about all of class 1-A. Oh, perhaps he means to, and it's true they've all gotten caught up in villainous attacks, but--]

You're talking about Midoriya.

[Okay, don't read him like that, like apparently everyone else has by now— He flinches, but he's just too tired to start protesting and insisting it's about everyone.]

Midoriya is... a student, like the rest. [Well, maybe a little insisting.] They've been targeted more than any other class at UA.

Yes. But they did it first and foremost to get at you.

[And then to try and convert one of the students. For what reason, Aizawa still has no idea, but that's neither here nor there. The focus was always All Might-- and All Might's focus has always been on Midoriya.]

You think they're going to try to kill Midoriya. Yes or no?

[His first instinct, as it always has been when it comes to the business of his quirk, is to lie. He's done it enough times, so what's one more?

But, he reasons with himself, he can't do this on his own anymore. It's a humbling thought— and Aizawa is the only one who sat at his bedside all night long.

He sighs.]

Yes. [.....oh, right,] Well, can you keep another secret for me?

[Replacing the old secret about this worn out body, now that it's not a secret anymore.]

[He actually stops to think about it for a few seconds. He certainly can casually, he knows that for a fact. But under duress . . . he nods slowly.]

Yes.

[He can't deny he's curious. But nor will he pressure All Might into blurting out more than he wants to.]

[And now, to recite his life story. No, no, keep it simple. He finishes off his cup of water first, turning it in his hand while he thinks. Hmm.]

Midoriya's quirk... is mine. I passed it on to him, the same way it was passed on to me. One for All is a quirk that moves from one holder to another, accumulating power as it travels... I was the eighth. What was left of it after I gave it to Midoriya is gone now.

[And here he is, even worse off than he was before he inherited the quirk in the first place—]

You can probably guess that All for One is involved. Originally, it came from a quirk that he created. So he knew about my predecessors, and about me, and now he knows about Midoriya.

[. . . ah.

That's all he can really think for a long half minute. Ah, and it fits, of course it does, but still Aizawa has to think about it, process it and understand it and reexamine all the little mysteries that have piled up over the past year or so.

A quirk that can be passed from user to user, accumulating power . . . god, no wonder All Might has been so strong all these years. No wonder no one stood a chance against him; he had the power of seven superheroes in addition to his own strength. What petty criminal could hope to stand a chance?

No wonder, too, he's so invested in Midoriya over the others. His favoritism is getting to be a bit of a problem, honestly, but at least now it has a logical beginning.]

He can't control it because it's too powerful. Because it's so much power for a child to handle . . . that's why he keeps breaking things. That's why he has no idea how to begin to control it.

[Or, well. Had no idea. He's grown enormously the past few months, going from clumsy and inept to gaining a masterful sense of control. He still has a long way to go, but he's a far cry from the boy who broke all his limbs in a mere training exercise.]

Why him?

[Oh, good, Aizawa can piece together the rest on his own. All Might nods, an odd expression on his face; he's still terrified, that much hasn't changed, but he's thinking the same thing about Midoriya's progress. The boy isn't ready, not at all— but his faith in him hasn't shaken since the beginning.]

Ah— well, that's a little embarrassing... [Truly it was not his finest hour, the day he and Midoriya met.] He outshone me as a hero, despite not having a quirk of his own to speak of.

[It becomes less and less surprising that Midoriya's recklessness is chronic, now. Oops!!]

He wanted to be a hero, without a quirk... I remember what that's like.

You were quirkless?

[A stupid question, he chides himself after a moment, but it's just so bizarre to think of. All Might-- but no, he wasn't All Might then, was he? He was just . . . a person. A boy, or perhaps a man, quirkless and ordinary, and yet for whatever reason, his predecessor had seen something worthwhile there.]

Haha, that's right.

[At least this ridiculous question makes him smile a little, instead of just looking dismal like he has been since he woke up. Of course that would be the thing that surprises people the most; even passing on a quirk doesn't seem so strange for someone like All Might as being totally quirkless. He gets it, he does.]

My predecessor thought I was a little nuts, to tell you the truth...

[Ah, but that's a sappy story for another time. He shrugs.]

Well, now you know more about me than most of the world!

[That's very true. It's a little stunning to realize, frankly, and more than his exhausted brain can really process. It's just another thing to add on the pile: the kidnapping, All for One, the rescue, All Might's fight, and now this. He'll need weeks to process it.

Better to just focus on the here and now. That's about all he's capable of doing.]

I don't know your name.

Oh! [Well, shit, that's—true? That's true and until today it was necessary, but now...?

He almost waves it off, dismisses it with a laugh at changes the subject. But Aizawa will figure out his name sooner or later- dozens of people he worked alongside at his own agency won't be able to keep their mouths shut, and he can't blame them- and suddenly he wants Aizawa, at least, to hear it from him rather than someone else.

He'll think about that later.]

Yagi. Toshinori Yagi.

Yagi, then.

[Toshinori, but that feels like an intimacy he isn't allowed just yet. It's strange, thinking that name and applying it to the man before him. He'd only just gotten used to All Might being small and skeletal instead of the enormity that he used to be; to have a new name is . . .

Well.

Perhaps it's helpful.

Because All Might was the superhero, really. All Might was the one who strode around with a grin and a wink, constantly posing for pictures and signing autographs, such a steady and ongoing presence that it seemed impossible that he'd ever not be there. God knows Aizawa had grown up with him as a constant-- god, he'd had a damned t-shirt of the man when he was fourteen, after his mother had tried to encourage his interest in becoming a hero in the only way she knew how.

(It was black. A pretty comfortable sleep shirt, actually. but that's neither here nor there).

All Might was the hero that Aizawa had despised at the beginning of the year. Loud and boisterous, useless and irritating. He'd respected All Might, but he'd never once willingly spent an extra minute with him.

But Toshinori Yagi . . . that's the man that Aizawa had bothered to stick around the hospital for. Quieter, wryer, a better sense of humor and an inclination to see things on the positive . . . he likes that man. He's intrigued by that man, clever and experienced as he is.]

. . . I like it. It's a good name.

[Oh, and it's something else, hearing his name in someone else's voice. Gran Torino and Tsukauchi have for years been the only people to know both of him, as it were; everyone else has been passing familiar with one or the other, All Might or Mr. Yagi, and that's...

Well, it's the way he's lived for a long time, but that doesn't stop a warmth spreading through his chest when Aizawa says his name— and that he likes it, which is an interesting touch. He doesn't think he can tell the world to address him as Yagi from now on, not yet, he isn't prepared for that - so when Aizawa says his name, it's something different.

And oh, he realizes quite late, Aizawa doesn't actually dislike him, does he? That shouldn't surprise him, and yet for a powerful few seconds, it certainly does.]

Hahaha! [He isn't sheepish, this is an injury face. Don't speak.] Don't look so surprised that I have a name at all!

[How does one take a compliment when not in front of a camera...?!]

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