It wasn't strange for the government to specifically request him for a private case considering his meteoric rise to the position as number one hero. His services were inevitably going to be in high demand, and he was never one to turn down a call for help no matter how big or small. Unfortunately, the government's requests were never small.

Toshinori's stomach churned at the thought of his last collaboration with the Public Security Intelligence Agency. He had been part of a high stakes group mission to infiltrate China and rescue the Japanese nationals that had been kidnapped and smuggled away for their powerful quirks. The Chinese government had feigned ignorance on the matter and, had their mission not gone successfully, there had been talks of greater military retaliation. These were the types of nation-shaking missions he had to bear responsibility for as the government's number one hero. Because he was not only a hero, but a military asset.

At first he had only rarely gotten these types of cases, maybe one every other year, but recently, the government was looking more and more towards quirk users to solve their problems. It had only been three months since the China operation, and now, the hero All Might found himself in the same round table meeting room all too soon.

"Thank you for coming, All Might." The minister of defense was the first to greet him upon his arrival. Itsunori Onodera was a familiar figure to Toshinori as his preferred point of contact with the government. The man reminded him of his sidekick as both had unbreakable poker faces as well as similar quirks that gave them glimpses of the future, but the two were - oddly enough - on bad terms. Sir had chosen to stay in the office today to wrap up other affairs.

"It's my pleasure," Toshinori replied with his trademark smile. The usual greetings and pleasantries were quickly exchanged among the other occupants of the room as well. Toshinori quickly noticed that among the occupants of the room, he was the only combat hero present. Among the other heroes he noticed were the mind hero, Vision, and Nezu, accompanied by the ever reclusive Eraserhead. It seemed as if this mission was yet again going to be a discreet operation.

"We'll begin then. As you may have noticed, the file in front of you contains the profile of the subject of our meeting today. We apologize for being unable to compile and send this information sooner, but we ask you to please review it now."

A pause was given for everyone to peruse the contents. Toshinori noticed that Nezu, who was sitting to his left, had frowned immediately upon opening the file. With a bad feeling in his gut, he turned his attention to his own file and flipped it open.

Staring at him was the happy face of a child with the most unruly hair he had ever seen.

Subject: Midoriya Izuku

Age: 7

Quirk: Quirk Genesis - Midoriya Izuku has shown an unprecedented range of quirk abilities that include, but are not limited to, telekinesis, generation of fire from most bodily orifices, wind manipulation, limited hydrokinesis, elasticity, accelerated regeneration, and muscle augmentation [See Appendix A for full documentation]. The boy has also been noted to regularly generate a quirk every 2-3 months with no known cause. Sometimes there is correlational concurrence of headache symptoms prior to the development of a new quirk. Moreover, the boy's current quirks seem to readily combine and mutate with each other.

Originally, the boy was thought to have a telekinetic quirk that was a mutation of his mother's quirk which had allowed her to attract small objects. Izuku's telekinetic quirk appeared to be a stronger version of this that allowed both push and pull of objects of varying sizes up to a 6 ft bookshelf per anecdotal observations. However, at the age of 6, the boy began manifesting a pyrogenesis quirk similar to his father and has since continued to manifest new quirks. There have been no notable correlations between the Midoriya family tree and the more recent quirk manifestations. All the manifestations fall under emitter or transformation quirks; he has not yet manifested a mutant-type quirk but the possibility cannot be discounted.

Unlike users of copy quirks, young Midoriya has been able to demonstrate use of multiple quirks such as combining his elasticity and muscle augmentation to jump at greater heights than using each of those properties individually.

The true limits of his quirk at the moment seem unfathomable. Further research is, unfortunately, limited due to lack of access and parental consent [See Appendix B]

The file continued at length into a startling amount of detail on Izuku's personality, socialization, and the lengthy legal battle between Midoriya Hisashi and the government for the privacy of his son's amazing quirk. There was also an attached profile and image of the father. The family resemblance was uncanny; Izuku had inherited the same deep shade of green in both his hair and eyes. Midoriya Hisashi, on the paper, genuinely seemed like a concerned father, but Toshinori's stomach churned at the picture of the man's face. It was obviously familiar to him, giving him such a sense of foreboding he rarely felt at anything but the greatest of obstacles, and yet he couldn't recall where he had seen such a face before.

"As you can see, the boy you have read about has a truly groundbreaking quirk." Onodera's voice drew everyone's attention from the files once more. A low chorus of both agreement and disbelief rung out. Louder, the official continued, "Normally in these cases we would enroll such kids in a special program to help them better explore and manage their quirk responsibly. However, the senior Midoriya has fought tooth and nail against this, citing his own vast resources as sufficient for raising and training his child independently. This matter has already been taken to the highest of courts, and we unfortunately do not have much of a leg to stand on considering the precedent set by an earlier case with the hero Endeavor and his son."

"Excuse me!" Nezu hopped onto the table so he could be better seen. The tiny creature cleared his throat and fixed his eyes on Onodera. "I believe the senior Midoriya to be in the right in this case, considering the government's poor history of ethical oversight of such programs during the early age of quirks. Endeavor's case is nowhere near the first case to touch on these matters, and I doubt Midoriya's will be the last."

There was an edge to Nezu's voice that silenced the whole room at the not too subtle reminder of his own history. Onodera seemed ready to speak out against Nezu's outburst, but the small hero was quick to continue before he had the chance. "However! I believe there is more you have yet to tell us about this case. Obviously, I do not believe you have gathered us here to strong arm young Midoriya into anything. Yet there seems to be an unstated reason for the government's concern into the welfare of this young boy seperate from the nature of his quirk."

Onodera nodded. "That is the second part of this briefing. What you are about to be told is the reason each of you had to go through a security clearance before attending. The true purpose of this meeting is ascertaining Midoriya Izuku's connection to the villain known as All for One."

Crack!

Toshinori's chair broke from just the speed at which he had stood up. His fists were clenched and every inch of his body seemed coiled up with a tension that was thick enough to choke the room into dead silence.

"For...For the less informed," Onodera started again, gathering himself together from the shock of All Might's reaction to that name alone. "All for One is a villain who has been wanted by the government for over a century. He has been implicated in a list of crimes far too long to go over in this meeting alone. We have not disclosed information about him to the public due to the possible consequences of fear and hysteria it may cause, but we have been on his trail for a long time. The reason he is so dangerous is not only due to his vast influence in the underground world, but also his quirk: the ability to steal and transfer other quirks."

Whispers erupted in the room; all at once there were accusations against keeping such information private, demands for further details, and conjecturing about the nature of his quirk. Rising above everyone else, All Might's voice drew the most attention. "What is young Midoriya's relation to All for One?"

"We aren't sure," was the immediate response. "Hisashi Midoriya has been suspected of having links to All for One in the past, but our previous investigation into him was unfruitful. Currently, we have three main theories. Firstly, there is the off chance that Midoriya Izuku's quirk is a completely unique mutation and is completely unrelated to the villain."

Toshinori found himself relaxing just a bit at that thought. The smile on the boy's picture had been genuine and innocent. It made him yearn for this optimal scenario, even if it meant the loss of their lead to his main nemesis.

"For our second theory, we think Midoriya Izuku could be someone to whom All for One is granting quirks as an experiment, though it is odd that they would be so public about registering his existence with the quirk registry. Last of all...there is the possibility that Midoriya is a blood relative of All for One, thus explaining his quirk, but we are unable to confirm this with any blood samples and are still looking into possible matches for victims who may have lost similar quirks. We have gathered you all today to get your insight into these theories and forge a plan of action."

The discussion only intensified from there on out. Half of the members of the meeting had been invited for their analysis, and those members were the most vocal in the debate on how to proceed. The other half were heroes with particularly relevant quirks who were here on standby, and they were more reserved in the discussion. Eraserhead was notably on the verge of falling asleep once the discussion started to turn away from any drastic confrontation and veer more towards surveillance.

Toshinori wished he had insisted harder with Sir about attending; the man was much better than him at analyzing these types of situations rationally. Toshinori could admit he himself was more a man of emotions. He honestly just wanted to see young Midoriya for himself and talk to the boy.

When he brought this up, everyone had just stared at him.

"All Might, you don't have enough tact," Eraserhead had spoken up for the first time in the whole meeting because no one else seemed willing to jump to criticism of their favorite hero. "It would be highly suspicious for the number one hero to randomly show up in a district with the lowest crime rate around and personally talk to a single child." It was practically screaming to the villains that something was up.

"Ah...you...have a point," Toshinori conceded, visibly slumping.

"Perhaps we could work on increasing patrol in the area in general," someone else interjected. "Although Midoriya's quirk is not publicly known now, it is inevitable that the news will get around and he may be at risk if he is truly innocent. In that case, All Might would be one of the strongest choices for reacting to the developing situation quickly."

Eraserhead shot the person a look with his bloodshot eyes, not quite activating his quirk but looking menacing nonetheless. It was obvious he disapproved of what he perceived to be pandering at play.

Regardless, the idea met with some approval and a few heroes including All Might were assigned an increased patrol range to keep an eye on the situation. Toshinori stayed fairly quiet during the rest of the meeting, his thoughts spinning between the words of his late mentor and the image of the boy.

"A true hero saves not only their lives, but also their spirits...that's what I believe."

"The people in this world who can smile are always the strongest!"

Toshinori did not know why, but he felt a deep instinct within him that protecting that boy's smile would be vital to this whole convoluted case.

Ever since his first park outing, Izuku felt like a butterfly emerging from his chrysalis. He hadn't fully realized how sheltered his life had been until then. He had been satisfied with his books, the television, and his dad being the center of his universe. And those things still largely consumed his life. The difference was that now his universe was expanding and encompassing bright new interests like his friends, his neighbors, the internet, and so much more.

Recently, Izuku would start his mornings with a jog. He felt pride that his dad entrusted him to take care of himself in these runs alone with only a cellphone in hand. The morning route took him through the local shopping district and the train station. If he was lucky, he would catch some of his friends on their way to school. Izuku never made consistent plans to walk with them as he got far too distracted on his route, but it was nice to occasionally catch up with them outside of their usual weekend meetup at the park.

There was never a shortage of interesting events and friendly faces in his mornings. Hero sightings were more common than Izuku expected. The first time he had spotted a hero, his dad had scolded him on using nearly half of his phone's memory by frantically taking pictures. He had considerably calmed his reaction to heroes since then, but he could never resist snapping at least one photo to review for later analysis. Quirk analysis, thankfully, was something his dad did encourage.

The green haired, doe-eyed boy was becoming a common and welcomed sight around the area. Izuku was alway eager to step in to help whenever anyone asked, and even when they didn't. It had all started with helping Mrs. Kitagawa adjust her restaurant's overhead sign after he had noticed it knocked down by the latest villain attack. The old shop owner had been lamenting about how long it took for damage claims to be processed by the local hero agency and Izuku had been wanting to test the maximum weight his wind quirk could carry. She had been so impressed by the display that she had turned a blind eye to the blatant public quirk usage and invited him in to chat over a plate of baked goods.

His dad had ended up picking him up at the shop much later because Izuku had been far too invested in their conversation about her quirk - sticky fingers, much like those of a gecko - and her life as a former hero manager to check his phone. Izuku was only slightly repentant for his lateness, distracting his father instead with the discovery that he could breathe out steam just as easily as fire which combined so well with his wind manipulation in creating powerful updrafts. In the end, his dad had forgiven him, as he usually did, but in exchange, Izuku was saddled with a new phone that had an ungodly loud ringtone which only grew worse the longer he waited to answer.

Word spreaded fast about the sweet wonderchild on the block. It wasn't that people particularly wanted to ask a child for help, but Izuku always somehow got involved and helped anyways with just the right quirk for the situation.

Izuku's busy mornings were always followed by a packed afternoon of studies and quirk training. His dad was a strict taskmaster, drilling into him that he needed both a strong mind and a strong body to handle a strong quirk like his own. Contrary to the disbelief of his friends, this was possibly Izuku's favorite time of day.

His dad was the only person Izuku knew who shared his love of quirks, and he was a treasure trove of information and ideas. In the safety of their reinforced basement training room, they tested Izuku's new quirks with the gusto of two kids in a candy store.

(( "How do you always know everything," Izuku had asked one day after his dad had, yet again, correctly predicted the outcome of their latest quirk experiment.

"Science," Hisashi had replied at first.

And then as Izuku repeated the same question day after day, his answers grew more ridiculous. "It's my quirk," he replied the next time, face completely deadpan.

"Dad!...is it really?"

"No, I am actually just a 200 year old quirk researcher."

"You're not that old!" ))

By the end of the day, if Izuku wasn't completely worn out, the two would curl up on the couch and watch something out of the old stash of animated movies belonging to his mom. They were old classics, his dad had explained, made during a time before the era of quirks and heroes. Still, the settings of the movies could be just as fantastical as their quirk filled world today and the messages of love and friendship central to each one was timeless. When he watched these movies, he felt he understood his mother just a little better.

As much as Izuku liked the humor and action of "Mulan," his favorite had ended up being "Lilo and Stitch." Lilo was his kindred spirit and Stitch gave him hope that even Kacchan could turn a new leaf and become friends with him.

And really, when it came down to it, Izuku just loved his small sphere of family and friends. It was little and maybe a bit broken, but still good.

The people around him were changing, and Katsuki hated it.

His so called friends were growing distant and even people he had deemed useless nobodies were now daring to challenge him, trying to protest that no, their quirk was not useless - Izukkun had said so!

And Katsuki was forced to reconcile with the humiliation that Slimeball, the kid everyone had made fun of, had embraced his moniker and managed to trap him in a sticky mess that took him forever to escape. And everyone had left him there, not even bothering to look back. Katsuki had felt more livid than ever before that day, but he also felt something else that he refused to acknowledge.

Katsuki much rather preferred to dwell on his anger and the root cause of his anger. Izuku had also grown bold over time, treating him so casually when he had no right to do so. Katsuki just wanted to punch the other boy in the face every time he caught the creepy kid staring at him from afar, All Might collection be damned.

The two of them had come through a mutual, silent agreement over the years to avoid each other and that was literally the only thing saving Katsuki's collection.

Except one day, Izuku broke that agreement and came right up to Katsuki in his usual spot in the woods to show him a piece of paper.

Bakugo stared at the paper Izuku was holding up, not knowing exactly what to make of it. It was a figure with spiked hair and teeth - was that supposed to be him? - and the figure was colored almost completely red. On the bottom corner of the paper, there was a key of some sort.

"This is your badness level, Kacchan." Izuku explained, pointing to the top of the red area. "It's unusually high for someone your size."

Bakugou snatched the sheet of paper from the other boy's hands, crumpling it in his hand. "Just what are you trying to say here you piece of shit?! Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

Izuku was already up in the air laughing, far out of Katsuki's explosion range. "Do you want me to, Kacchan?" He asked.

"Better than fucking running away all the time!"

"Your mom would be mad if we fought," Izuku pointed out. "You could always chase me, but you never do. Are you sure you really want to fight?"

"I want to put you in your goddamn place," Katsuki shouted back, palms sparking. The paper was already on fire.

"Huh, so you do have a fire resistance factor as part of your quirk...I always thought you did, but I wasn't sure until now."

He was muttering again, much to Katsuki's annoyance. "What are you even going on about now?"

Izuku jerked back to attention, then fixed his gaze on Bakugou again, green eyes sparkling with mischief. "Hey, Kacchan, do you think you could use your explosions to fly?"

Katsuki was surprisingly silent for once. There was a brewing conflict within him because on one hand, that would be fucking cool, but on the other hand, he would be taking advice from Midoriya Izuku of all people.

"It would be hard to get your balance at first, but you would definitely gain a lot of maneuverability and speed," Izuku continued. "Since you want to be a combat-type hero, aerial ability would boost your profile a lot. And you prefer fighting in close quarters, so it would let you close distances easier."

Really it's so obvious that Izuku is sure Katsuki would have figured it out for himself eventually, but he couldn't help but speak his thoughts out loud when he got excited.

"Shut. Up."

Izuku does not shut up. Instead, he says, "I'll help!"

Before Katsuki can even shout that he doesn't need anyone's fucking help, he felt an invisible force pulling him straight up in the air. And just as quickly as it came, it left.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME," he screamed, automatically firing up his quirk to stop his fall. His body jerked once again; he had applied far too much pressure far too quickly and at a bad angle to boot. But just before he was about to be sent hurtling to a tree, he felt a pull on his body that stabilized him in the air.

"Izuku, when I get to you, you are dead !"

And just like that, Bakugou started to experiment with his explosion output to propel himself toward Izuku with varying levels of success. Neither of them commented on how Izuku occasionally stepped in to prevent any unfortunate crashes, and Izuku knew better than to give the proud Katsuki any other advice.

Really, Izuku didn't say much of anything for the rest of the day because holy shit did Kacchan just call him by his actual name for once.

"I think I understand Kacchan better now," He said to Tsubasa days later as he caught the other boy on the way to school. "I think violence and threats are the only way he knows how to communicate."

"Izukkun, what did you do? "

"I pretended to try to kill him and then he tried to kill me and now I think we are friends," Izuku positively beamed with satisfaction.

"He tried to chase after me in the air yesterday, at school," Tsubasa accused. "You've created a monster."

Izuku hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe that's his way of saying he wants to be friends with you again." The two boys had been on bad terms since Tsubasa's "betrayal" in hanging out with Izuku and they had largely avoided each other as well. Tsubasa had learned for Izuku that it was easier to just take advantage of his mobility and flee rather than put up with Bakugou's bullshit.

Tsubasa seemed to consider that. Then, a bit quieter, he replied, "I'm not sure I still want to be friends with him. I never said it, but I don't like him being mean to everyone."

"You don't have to," Izuku pointed out, "but I think everyone deserves a second chance, even Kacchan. Plus, I have a theory that as he grows up, his badness level will become more proportional to his size."

"Izukkun, you're weird ," Tsubasa said, and then hastily added, "but a good weird, I guess."

"It's because my humor is over a hundred years old," Izuku replied solemnly. He saw the confused look on his friend's face and quickly switched gears. "Sorry bad joke. By the way, Koucchan, I've always wondered...wouldn't it be uncomfortable for you to sit at a normal desk in school since you can't retract your wings at all?"

"Oh!...yeah, a little. Sometimes I get a special desk but most of them usually break because of other students by the end of the year and the school doesn't have money for new ones."

Izuku wrinkled his face in disgust. "That sounds awful."

Tsubasa nodded, "You're lucky, Izukkun. I wish I could be homeschooled."

"I always thought school sounded cooler," Izuku admitted.

" Hero school is cool. But that's only for high school. We're not even supposed to use our quirks in school right now."

"Lame," they both agreed as they approached their departure point at the train station. Just as they were exchanging farewells, Tsubasa noticed that Izuku had suddenly turned stiff and alert. When he asked what was wrong, the boy shakily raised his finger toward a figure in the distance. Tsubasa turned around and immediately understood everything.

"Is that All Might?!"

Hisashi's phone buzzed for the third time today. Another hero sighting from Izuku probably. They were growing more frequent lately and he wasn't foolish enough to think it was a coincidence. Izuku, Hisashi mused, was one of his best inadvertent spies who never failed to notice the activities and patrol patterns of all local heroes. Everyone around would freely pass on any information they heard to the boy, knowing about his interest in the subject.

He opened his phone.

"I SAW ALL MIGHT AGAIN!" The message read. Attached was a hastily taken snapshot of the horizon with a blur of yellow and blue in the distance.

"Don't forget to be home by noon," he texted back.

Izuku probably didn't even suspect that has favorite hero's frequent visits were inspired by his own existence. "You've certainly reeled in a big one, Izuku," Hisashi said to himself. Perhaps too big. His son had an admiration for the hero that could easily be taken advantage of, and as his father, he had a duty to protect him from such situations by any means necessary.

Toshinori knows he shouldn't be doing this. He's an adult now, a professional hero, not a fresh U.A. student who let his curiosity get the best of him. And yet here he is, half hidden behind a signpost just to try to catch a better glimpse of a child.

The boy was animatedly talking to an elderly woman while effortlessly carrying at least 4 bags of goods for her. His companion seemed embarrassed at first, but then Izuku put on that smile , it was far too contagious for her to resist. Even Toshinori felt himself warmed by the scene.

From just watching the boy's interactions with everyone who passed him, it was obvious Midoriya Izuku had the good regard of the locals and easy to see why. He had the innocence and excitability of a child his age, but paradoxically, he carried himself with a sense of selflessness and maturity beyond his years.

Satisfied with his observations for the day, Toshinori turned to head back towards his usual route, but had to quickly pull back to avoid hitting an unexpected presence from behind. Dressed in an immaculate black suit with green hair that was much more tamed than his son, there was no mistaking who this figure was.

Shit.

Toshinori had taken some care to come in civilian clothing with One for All turned low to reduce his form to that of a less bulging appearance, but despite these precautions, the man's cold, sharp green eyes seemed to pierce through his disguise and send shivers to his very core.

"Imagine," Hisashi drawled, "the scandal that would erupt if the media found out that All Might, the beloved hero of children everywhere, was actually just another child predator."

"I'm not- It's not-"

"Of course, you could easily deny that. But you can't deny that you were here, on camera might I add, hiding in the shadows and staring intently at an 8-year-old child. Suspicious, isn't it? The media does love to speculate."

Toshinori subconsciously took a step backwards and found himself pressed against the metal of the very post he had been trying to hide behind. There was no way to verify the man's threat of a recording, but he didn't doubt that the man's threats were serious. Unsure of how to respond, he ended up saying the first thing that came to his mind.

"I'm only trying to look out for his safety!"

Hisashi looked at him incredulously. "Ignoring your insult to my capacity to look after the safety of my own child, I must inform you that you are a threat to my child more than anything."

All Might was visibly shocked by the venom in the father's words. "How am I a threat?" He couldn't help but ask.

"You mean you don't realize the effect you have on children, mister number one hero? They look up to you. Idolize you. Want to be like you and become heroes themselves. Except heroics is, quite frankly, a horrible career for self preservation."

Now it was All Might's turn to be incredulous. On some level, he understood the concern, but to blame him for inspiring heroism in the next generation? He had never even heard of such a complaint before.

He was saved from having to respond when a new voice entered the conversation. "Dad! What are you doing here?"

Izuku had somehow spotted them and approached while they were absorbed in their talk. The boy looked at his dad and then looked at the other man. His eyes widened. "Is that...are you…"

Toshinori suddenly felt very self conscious about his disguise. It usually worked so well for avoiding the press because the fact that he augmented his muscle density with his quirk was nearly unknown. Everyone was blinded by their expectations of the hulking figure of All Might that no one tended to notice him in his leaner form with his bangs hanging down to frame his face. He had even added glasses and a hat for extra safety, but it seemed to be doing him no good today.

"Dad, why are you talking to All Might?!"

"I was just advising him regarding some legal matters," Hisashi said lightly. He put a hand for Izuku's shoulder, signaling that he wanted the both of them to leave. "You'll find the appropriate paperwork filings forwarded to your office tomorrow."

Izuku did not move, and instead whined, "Dad, wait! I have so many questions I want to ask All Might about his quirk!"

" Izuku ."

"Ah...maybe another time, young Midoriya," All Might said cautiously, barely just recovering from his internal panic at Hisashi's implied legal threat. He made a split second decision to pull out his business card from his belt and held it out to the young man. "I would be happy to answer any questions you might have."

The boy just stared at the card, wide eyes filled with marvel because not only was All Might talking to him, he possibly knew his name was offering his contact information o h my god was he dreaming.

And then Hisashi sneezed, setting fire to the aforementioned card.

"Sorry," Hisashi said flippantly, "must be my allergies."

" Dad you don't have allergies, " Izuku choked out, because what even is his life right now.

"We're going home now, let's not bother All Might any further." He said this with a tone of finality that managed to get Izuku moving.

"It's really no bother," Toshinori quipped, but he was ignored by Hisashi who had already herded Izuku back towards the main street. Izuku took one last look over his back at All Might, gave a tentative smile, and then turned back away to rejoin his father.

A/N: So i actually had this chapter like a week ago on my AO3 account but forgot to upload it here oops

For extra pics and memes featured for this chapter please find this story on ArchiveOfOurOwn instead, it reads so much better because ff.n is lame and does not allow me to post images

Thanks for reading, any feedback/comments are appreciated :)