Blink.

It was a basic function of the human body. Eyesight, in general, was such a complex system that something like blinking being a part of its functionality made sense. While eyesight did a majority of the work, a blink was a reproach, a break from the continual stream of sensation. Something that the mind naturally did to orientate itself or adjust the picture. Even if it was for only a split second, it gave enough time to heal your eyes and keep them from drying out.

But as Izuku felt time slow, his body moving without taking time to think, the ability to blink gave him time to accept what was going to happen. The next thing he knew, he stood right before the slimy villain, desperately clawing at its body to try to free Bakugo from the aggressor's clutches. He fought vainly at the surface, but couldn't break the monster's gooey but thick skin.

The villain chuckled at the display of helplessness but still wasn't sure when the kid had approached him. Honestly, this kid should have just run when he could have earlier, but his sadistic side was happy that he came back. "You're quite the sneaky brat!" The glob of a villain bellowed, smirking as his attention turned to the kid, "If you want your quirk to be taken so much, you should have asked!"

Izuku let out a squeamish noise and tried digging his fingers into the deep liquid, mindlessly tearing into the thick fluid in an attempt to free his once-friend. Even in his perilous situation, Bakugo's eyes somehow managed to beg for help, and refuse it at the same time.

Bakugo gasped for air his eyes peering through the sloppy liquid. He glared at the green-haired boy, "Deku?! What the hell are you doing here, you idiot!"

Despite how serious the circumstances were, Izuku paused to look at the closest thing to a friend in the eyes, a serious undertone.

"You looked like you needed help… how could I refuse?" He said, feeling an odd wave of peace wash over him, before going back into his frantic state.

After watching and experiencing many hero fights, Izuku was surprised when his eyes could hardly track the large figure that blasted past him and into the aggressor. Whatever it was, it did a good job blowing away the slimy villain into tiny pieces, before collecting it in the soda bottles like All Might did previously.

As it turns out, it was all night who had saved them… though how confused Izuku. Thankfully, by holding onto both him and Bakugo, they didn't get blown away by the awe-inspiring wind that was a repercussion of All Might's punch.

"I really am pathetic," All Might's eye gleamed as steam drifted off of him, showing how strained he was holding this form. This was one of the only times he had ever been stressed to hold this form, considering he hadn't thought it was possible for more than a second. He set the young teenagers down as he checked the surroundings. The other heroes had protected the civilians from any danger that may have come from his wind, parts of the villain sprayed all over the street. He wasn't likely dead, seeing as he survived the first time but it went without saying that he was glad that wasn't a real person.

All Might considered the young man who had just run out into the clearing to oppose the insurmountable task. He chuckled, "To criticize you about not being able to be a hero? Then not follow my own guidelines? How hypocritical!" All Might gave his appraisal with booming laughter.

Eyes wide, blinking to clear the dust from his eyes, "All Might... I thought you couldn't.. You know..." Izuku kept his voice down so Bakugo, who was several feet behind him, couldn't hear him. Not that he was paying them any mind, seeing as he was still catching his breath.

All Might huffed, his exhaustion clear for anyone to see. "I didn't think I could either, and normally, no, but… Hero's put their lives on the line for others all the time, right?" He gave a thumbs-up, before dropping it slightly and rubbing the back of his head.

"Now fanboy… Do me a favor and uh… Put some clothes on before the media gets here, ok?"

-x-x-x-

Midoriya was beet red while walking home, embarrassed to show even himself in public. Normally the random encounter wouldn't have garnered so much attention, but because All Might had been involved, it had drawn more eyes than normal. Making it for some news companies their main headline. Unfortunately or fortunately, they had no real name for him in the story, so he became "green hair boy." Thankfully, they only had footage before he arrived.

He sighed as he passed a large screen playing the footage again, with reporters interviewing All Might and an uncooperative Bakugo. Midoriya had no clue how they even convinced Katsuki to even appear on the screen, let alone answer questions. If you didn't know him, you'd think he was just shocked after what had happened, but Izuku knew that he was just frustrated that he couldn't save himself.

Due to his musing, he hadn't expected All Might to appear around the corner, making a sudden stop to face him. He definitely had a flair for dramatics.

"A-A-All Might?!" Yelled Izuku. He figured that the hero was done with him, considering all that had happened.

"Fear not! For I am he- ACK" The legendary hero spewed blood out, transforming to his weaker and skeleton version of himself.

Midoriya took his coughing as a good time to ask questions. "Wha… what...your- Why are you here? All Might?"

All Might took a second to turn to him, tuning down his charisma down to match the serious look that came with his skeletal form. Loud and boisterous was Big Might's thing, not Toshinori.

"I came here to thank you." The skeletal figure locked with him in the eyes, sighing. "I apologize for not coming sooner. The media can be a struggle to escape sometimes. I never did thank you for reminding me of what a hero is."

"No…" Izuku broke eye contact, turning his face away. "I should be apologizing. I took your time up when I held on like a useless, good for nothing fanboy." his snapped his now tearful eyes to All Might. "That villain, he was freed by me, right? Things could have been way worse by my actions- like a bystander getting hurt or even dying!" He said, raising his voice.

Izuku wiped his left eye, and then his right. He hung his head in shame, as he realized his idol had apologized to him when it really should've been the other way around. Wasn't it because of him that All Might dropped the bottles and released the villain? If All Might couldn't have actually transformed, could Bakugo be dead by now? What if it went on a rampage with Bakugo's powers, and killed the pro heroes? Or worse, the observers? He realized he started muttering again but didn't stop his dark thoughts.

All Might just stared as he watched the kid in front of him create new art. "NONSENSE!" All Might laughed in his creepy way. "Sure that could have happened, but it did not. If anything you saved me time!" Toshinori turned to his side, facing 90 degrees from the young man, peering at him with his right eye. "Despite my apologies, that is not the only reason I am here."

Izuku raised his eyebrow at this show of movement. "W-why else would you be here?" Izuku decided to bite.

Ignoring what he just said, All Might continued. "Before becoming Pro heroes, most tell a story, and they all share the same thing," he started, showing the kid his smile from the angle that he stood. "Their legs moved before they could think, and put themselves before others."

"That, young child, is what a hero is about." He chuckled. He waited for a second for that to sink in. "As a fanboy, you should know about how mysterious I keep my quirk? Because, there is no way that a quirk as power as mine isn't natural-born, right?" He gave a smug look, letting the implication of his words and theatrics of his actions overwhelm the green-haired kid.

"NO! My power was a torch, passed onto me by my predecessor! One for All, strength beyond imagination!" the boney man smirked, putting his hands out like he was giving Izuku his power, inviting him.

"You said you were quirkless? Despite this limitation, I can help you become a hero!"

At this point, the boy was in tears, and had a lost look in his eyes, "wha…?"

-x-x-x-

Izuku didn't know how to feel about All Might's power. Before he knew its secret, he had actually assumed it was just a permanent strength increaser, like how some people can't change their appearance due to their quirks, like a leopard person or rock-human hybrid. After it was revealed that he activated it on command, Izuku realized that it made sense that it was a transformation technique, because then he would probably be seen at local supermarkets, rather than exclusively at fights or interviews.

He checked his phone contact listed again. He named All Might's contact info as A.M. as a proxy to unwanted onlookers, but still felt giddy after knowing he had All Might's contact information. He would never give it out, without his permission, of course. It felt strange, to feel close to your idol, and yet only know a little more about him than others. He still wasn't sure why the two-faced man had found him a suitable successor. All Might said it was the heroic, unhesitant insistence to help that attracted him to Izuku. But to him, that sort of unthoughtful plan of attack would have made him seem unfit to be a hero.

It didn't matter, considering he was going to do his best regardless. There must have been a reason why All Might hadn't given his power to him immediately. Maybe the process took months? It was only 10 months before the U.A. exams...

But he still felt bad about lying to All Might, considering all that he's done for him. He wasn't completely sure if All Might had seen him when he went to fight the villain. From what the large man had said he hadn't realized the truth. If he had, then would he still assume that… Midoriya shook his head at the thought.

Apparently, his part of the story was only told by some of the pro-heroes, who were undoubtedly flustered that he had decided to forgo most of his clothing to fight. He still went red at the thought. Fortunately, since there was no footage, people couldn't recognize him, but at the same time, how many "green-haired boys" were there?

That was two days ago. The day after the event, yesterday, he had a run-in with Bakugo. Surprisingly, he was only sort-of mad. He had tears, an obvious sign of feeling humiliated that his alias was now basically 'slime victim.' He ranted about how Izuku didn't owe him anything, yatta yatta. Izuku wasn't the type of person to hold something like that against him, anyway.

His own mother had her own thoughts on the situation, but he decided to keep her in the dark. If something went wrong with his 'reveal' then he didn't want to disappoint her. That seemed to happen often to him.

Throughout all of these thoughts, Izuku had been making his way out to the beach as per All Might's instructions, which asked Izuku to meet him there at 6 A.M.

He had gotten there early but was surprised when his thoughts were interrupted when he heard All Might's booming laughter greet him. "Young Midoriya! Glad you didn't chicken out on me!" He turned back into his skinnier, more depressing version. "Now, if you want to inherit my power, you must first train your body." The skeletal man internally scoffed at the pathetic sight of the skinny boy. It really wasn't much to work with, but he supposed it wasn't impossible. As much as the teen wanted to be a hero, he obviously didn't put as much effort into the physical aspect as the mental part.

Toshinori decided to be straightforward with the young man. Honestly went a far way. "At your current strength, One for All would just blow your limbs off," he said, nodding as if he agreed with himself.

"My... WHAT?!" Izuku cried hysterically. Did he not really intend for him to receive One for All?

"Never mind that, for we will be training your body to be conditioned to not only use my power but to master it. This will take years, but eventually," he reformed into his strengthened form, and walked over to a broken down car, "you will be able to wield my power, and master it." he said while crushing the car down.

All Might spat out blood while changing back into his true form. "It must be nice, finally getting a quirk of your own," he questioned him, carefully prodding for an answer.

"About that…" Izuku carefully responded, twiddling his thumbs, "I think I should tell you, uh," he looked up into All Might's eyes, catching him off guard. "This won't be my first quirk," he said with perfect seriousness.

-x-x-x-x-x-

*Edit's

So hi! I've decided that I didn't like some of the original writing, so while I haven't exactly changed a lot of it, I have changed/added more onto the dialogue. As the chapters progress, you can expect to see more scenes and other things I have in mind to slow down some of the pacing. I thought I would originally drop the series, but I found I have a hard time not thinking about it. If you have a problem with anything, please write it out in a comment! I enjoy reading and considering things, so go ahead.

(original conclusion)

And that's about it for today! Sorry, I want to try for longer chapters, but I felt like I needed to tell you before I drew out the 'mystery' for too long. I won't reveal anything in this chapter, but Izuku's quirk is going to be an interesting one, at least in my opinion. The way I am presenting it is going to make it hard for it to not be overpowered, like really hard.

I am sorry for any weird character moments or OOC things, I try to stay as close to canon character (if any of what I put in here would affect how they are.)

If people think that Izuku would become less of a shy, tame nerd because he owns a quirk, keep in mind that his mom also has a quirk, and acts almost identically.

If I make a ship, I will keep it light, unless I decide otherwise, later. No yaoi. There is too much of that on this particular subsection of FF, anyway.

PS: I have another chapter almost finished after publishing this one, but keep in mind that it won't come out for a couple of days due to trying to write ahead so if I can't write, I'll have some chapters in reserve. School is starting soon for me anyway

Criticisms welcome

-MLY