---

"Change is hard at first,

Messy in the middle,

And gorgeous at the end."

-Robin Sharma

---

He stared out the window, aimlessly.

Other than a bench drowning in perpetual rust and dust in the need of a deep clean, there was nothing to be seen. While not quite winter as of yet, the chill was already starting to sink down to the earth, freezing everything in its steps. Activity, anyway. He was sure that remnants of life still lurked, cloaked in shadows and similar color pattern-ing. Nature's natural camouflage, or something like that. But it only made the sight before his eyes that much more desolate.

He had been here for half a day now, and he was already growing to hate it.

"Midoriya-san, we'll do some tests now, if you wouldn't mind."

His heart froze in his chest at the sight of a particularly prickly needle in the doctor's hands.

Grumbling, he reluctantly let himself be guided towards the bed.

Indeed, he really didn't like this place.

'Gray, I'm not really seeing the benefits of this one. Like. Really.'

{Ah, right, you can take a sword slicing across your abdomen, but you can't handle shots. Pardon me for forgetting.}

The doctor, seizing his moment of inattention, pricked the damn thing in his vein gently, sucked up some blood, and then speedily withdrew it as quickly as he had punctured his poor arm. The boy hadn't noticed a thing, whether it be the doctor's movement or pain, for that matter.

'...I still don't like this place.'

{Yes, yes.}

With a careful eye, he watched the remaining proceedings of all the testing, but still, the majority of his attention now was directed towards Gray, and more specifically, what the plan was.

'Even if I do... choose to take All Might's offer, I don't want to be restrained here. No, I can take that much, but I do need information, at the very least. What's going on, what All for One gets up to, everything. That's the only way I won't cease to be a player and become a piece instead. You understand, right, Gray?'

If Gray had a face, she would have grimaced.

Even though a part of her knew that this course of action was likely to be brought up by her master...

{I-... I can't leave you undefended again. Not after there's a precedent of someone taking advantage of his chance, no matter how foolhardy.} In her urgency, she blurted out a little something she didn't mean to say. {And besides, you've grown dependant on me messing with your brain-...}

She sputtered, waiting for the fearsome hammer of judgment to descend upon her, but...

'You do make good points, but I'm hardly defenseless. Didn't I take care of Aiko myself easily enough? And All Might is here this time.'

His eyes warmed, smiling for a mouth that couldn't.

'While it's true that I do have somewhat of a dependency on it, I don't want you to be gone for long stretches of time. Just enough for reconnaissance. It may even work in our favor as well; lessening my 'addiction' to it. I've already gone cold turkey once, after all. This much will be simple.'

{You-... You aren't mad?}

He fired a thought back, almost dismissively.

'It was rather obvious. In fact, I figured most of it out during the Sports Festival.'

Varying thoughts such as 'I wasn't even conscious back then, how the fuck' and 'Was I really that predictable...' ran through her head, but the thought she decided to project was only one.

{...This is why you aren't popular with girls.}

'Oh? Despite me not returning her affections, I'd say a certain brunette is quite endeared with me. Somehow.'

{Girls. As in, plural.}

'Touche.'

They were silent, after that, and they basked in it.

It was a nice silence, after all; it wasn't awkward by any means.

If anything... It was comforting.

'Would you mind, Gray? I know it's a lot to ask of you, as your own person, but...'

She sighed.

{Fine, I'll do it. But I'll only be gone one hour tops each time, got it?}

'Thank you, Gray.'

{Yes, yes, you're welcome. Oh, All Might's coming back into the room now... I'll go ahead and split now. Be careful, okay?}

'I will, you do the same.'

He felt the faint brush of acknowledgment slide over his mind and he closed his eyes.

According to Gray, All Might was coming back, after all.

Since he didn't want to reveal Gray's sensing ability to the man, he could only wait patiently in place.

Only...

His eyes opened as the minutes slid on and there was no sign of the man.

'Gray couldn't have been wrong on this matter... She's very particular about my protection after both the sword and the Aiko incidents. Nor would she leave me in the event that I could escape freely from this hospital. After all, this is her best chance for me to be fixed. I know she'd never impede me if I made up my mind, but in truth, I'm a little hesitant on the matter myself... So this... This doesn't match up to her modius operandi at all.'

He heard a creaking sound, to the right of him.

To the window.

Narrowing his eyes, Deku jumped down softly from his bed, not making a single sign as he crept towards the window, but not in front of the window. If something was truly up, he wouldn't be seen. If it wasn't, it was just paranoia and wouldn't hurt anyone. It was an easy choice to make, as he slinked toward the slim glass.

He stared, and sure enough...

A slim, albeit muscular hand pushed up the glass, gently setting a phone on the window still.

His mind flared vaguely in recognition, but he couldn't place it until he saw a branch-like scar between the thumb and the index finger, pale, yet almost glaringly red.

Zero's hand.

No longer hesitating, the moment the hand withdrew, he picked up the phone and practically sprinted back to his bedsheets, and pulled them up and over him like he had never left the thing at all. After all, if his suspicions were correct, All Might would be coming back any moment now. It was simply too coincidental that the very moment Gray said All Might was coming, he didn't— somehow, Zero must have stalled the Symbol of Peace long enough to bring the phone to him.

No matter what, he couldn't let it be discovered.

And sure enough...

"It's good to see you again, Young Midoriya," He gestured to the person beside him as he spoke, skeletal hands twirling, as Deku blinked. Was he who he thought he was? If so... "I thought that I would introduce the two of you today, since you'll be seeing each other a lot from now on."

The blonde-haired student smiled, every bit the picture of friendliness, and heroic, oddly enough.

Looking at him... well, you couldn't help but think: 'This guy... He truly is a Hero'.

It was inexplicable but very, very real.

"Oh, and since you already know to a degree, I figured that it would be nice for him to have a boy around his age to talk to about things like this."

'Just get on with what you're saying, please.'

He smiled, and then...

He dropped possibly the biggest bombshell yet.

"This is my apprentice and the successor of One for All... Mirio."

"Hello! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, err..."

He laughed almost hysterically in the privacy of his own mind, all while wondering what his life had come to.

Lemillion.

And now, All Might Jr.

Along with the Senior All Might—who was looking at him with goddamn puppy eyes, mind you—he was probably looking at the purest force of raw destruction in the city right now. And they were looking right back at him like he was something special. How quaint.

But most importantly...

'I have to use my real name, don't I..?'

He sighed, this time out loud.

"...Izuku. Izuku Midoriya."

 

 

AN: ...Yeah, the procrastination train kinda went *train sounds* and took off.

I was in it. But hey, at least you got the chapter.