19 Don't Run, All Might!

zuku bit his bottom lip, his mind running miles per second, thinking about what he should say, before deciding. "Yes, I have. Other than that, I can't tell you yet. It isn't my secret to divulge, but I'll ask All Might if I can tell you."

Katsuki frowned a little before his expression loosened up. At least Izuku wasn't hiding anything from him. He nodded in agreement.

The green-haired teen inwardly cheered, knowing that his decision not to keep it a secret from Kacchan was the right thing to do. He didn't want to bring lies into their slowly mending relationship. That magazine said that relationships were built on communication and trust, so Izuku was going to try that. Hopefully it would work.

Izuku could feel the trust that was radiating off Kacchan like a lighthouse in the dark and he wasn't going to mess that up. He felt like he could float off the surface of the earth with how happy he was feeling. Kacchan trusted him.

He couldn't help the light laugh that escaped from his lips. He spontaneously gave Kacchan a kiss before he could think too much about it, feeling like a bunch of clouds had replaced whatever braincells he had.

The blonde teen looked delightfully startled at the sudden show of affection. Izuku couldn't stop the grin at how cute Kacchan looked, similar to a startled kitten. Kacchan flicked his forehead, wearing a scowl that looked more like a pout to him. He emitted a sulky air mixed with embarrassment.

Katsuki let out a startled yelp as Izuku effortlessly picked him up from the chair he'd been sitting on moments earlier, not having any time to protest being carried in bridal style before he was dropped onto his bed with a little bounce facedown.

The blonde stayed still, completely blindsided and still uncomprehending of what just happened.

Izuku waited until Kacchan craned his head back to look at him before pressing a kiss to his cheek. Then, he casually straddled the blonde teen, pressing powerful hands to the blonde's back, keeping him down and from bucking him off.

The green-haired teen bent down till his mouth was flush with Kacchan's ear.

"Let me take care of you," Izuku breathed.

Katsuki was immediately sent back into flustered territory by the turn of events. It felt like he was doing math problems and he was so sure of the answers, but in the end, they were something completely different and he was just baffled like what was even happening right now??

Izuku leaned back and watched as Kacchan's ears slowly started changing colors. It started off with a slight tinge of pink before deepening to red very quickly. He kind of wanted to see the blush on Kacchan's face, but he let it go for now. He wanted to try pushing boundaries, but not too hard.

"Toshinori-san!" Izuku called with a grin, eyeing his mentor. He took in how the other looked like he had a good night of sleep, looking slightly better than he did at other times. He had a bit more color in his cheeks as compared to before, although he was still just as skeletal, but as he seemed to be getting slightly better, Izuku let it slide.

Toshinori and Izuku stood in the beach they had been visiting everyday for the past ten months. The beach was clean of any debris and old junk.

"Izuku, my boy! Congrats on passing!" Toshinori rubbed his protégé's hair, silently conveying his pride and affection.

"Thank you!"

"I haven't told the school about our relationship. You seem like you'd silently worry about whether it was favouritism."

The green-haired teen silently basked in how Toshinori felt like a mix of affection and exasperation.

Toshinori had come a long way mentally in these ten months as he was helping Izuku with his training. No longer was he depressed every time he was alone. It still came in occasionally, but he was able to steer himself back onto happier thoughts easier nowadays. He was thankful to the pale boy that had knocked on his door ten months earlier.

The changes had happened slowly, as he was reminded of how he acted when he was younger, desperately doing his best during training as he got ready for One For All.

Toshinori explained to Izuku about how he went through his training in the earlier days, giving him examples about how he went about mastering it.

"You should go about it with caution. Just like how a person who's suddenly grown a tail cannot control it straight away. Your body still needs time to get used to having One For All. The more you temper your body, the better you can control your power. Just like how a cup can only contain a certain amount of liquid, any more and it will overflow. The bigger your cup gets, the more it can hold."

Toshinori paused his explanations, gauging Izuku's reaction.

Izuku had a strange look on his face.

Without saying anything, Izuku bent down and picked up two spray paint cans. He exerted around 1 percent of One For All and crushed the two cans in his hand with a loud crunch.

Both Izuku and Toshinori stared at the flattened cans in his hand, uncomprehending.

"I…is that not supposed to happen?"

Toshinori's eyes moved from the cans to his protégé, shocked.

"I just… I had a feeling, you know?" Izuku stuttered out, not quite sure how to explain it. The teen floundered a little, scrambling for words to describe how it felt. "It's just this like this pool of something inside that I can reach out for, and it goes through this little tube and I just –" Izuku waved his hands about, trying to articulate something he couldn't put into words.

"Izuku." Toshinori put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "That isn't normal," he said, before realizing his words could be taken the wrong way by the green-haired teen in front of him.

"It's not normal, but you seem to have a grasp on how much your body can currently take. That's good. Very good. You must be careful of overloading your body. Too much, and your bones will snap. Your muscles will tear, and your skin will rupture."

Izuku gawked at his mentor. "You could have told me that earlier?!"

Toshinori looked at him sheepishly. "Well…there just wasn't enough time. But everything worked out all right. Or shall I say… All Might!"

Izuku groaned inwardly at the pun, lightly facepalming, but didn't say anything.

"Perhaps this has something to do with your own Quirk."

The two of them paused to take in this statement, reflecting on the past ten months of discovery.

Toshinori suddenly felt a wave of enthusiasm and hope, spontaneously transforming into All Might and striking a dramatic pose.

"Yes! The torch burns bright!"

The two heard the distant screams of them recognizing All Might's form, causing them to set off down the beach at a fast pace.

All Might thought to himself about how he had fulfilled his duty and that now his flame would wither and die.

Izuku felt the changes emotionally in his mentor, feeling the complicated mix his self-deprecation, hopelessness, joy and sadness, glaring at the back of All Might's yellow blonde hair.

All Might could almost feel the weight of Izuku's glare physically and tried valiantly to suppress his negative feelings.

He subtly sped up in his running, feeling the weight of Izuku's glare increase even more.

"I know what you're trying to do! We have to talk about your feelings!"

All Might shuddered.