22. Change of plans

After eating dinner and washing the dishes with his teachers, Izuku goes back to the 1-A dorms in lighter spirits. The conversation about his mother's indictment is still fresh in his mind, along with the official news of having Aizawa-sensei as a guardian until the end of his mom's trials, but after the evening he just had with him and Mic-sensei, he finds all of it weighing way less on him than he expected.

He's greeted with several cheerful calls of his name when he enters his dorm to find most of his class in the common living room with books opened for a study session.

"Mido! Where were you?" Ashido exclaims from where she's sprawled out on the carpet, her own notes in front of her.

"Sorry, I just had a talk with Aizawa-sensei." He sees his classmates send themselves concerned glances, so Izuku quickly tries to reassure them. "It's nothing to worry about! We mostly talked about the work studies!" He half lies.

"That was a long talk," Kaminari pipes and Izuku laughs, a little self-conscious.

"Well, it got a bit out of hand," he admits sheepishly. People laugh with him, probably assuming he ended up going on rants about heroes as he's known to do. His eyes swipe over the group of teens and relief floods him when he doesn't see Kacchan amongst the crowd. He wouldn't know how to react around the other teen, not after what happened yesterday.

"Want to join us?" Uraraka invites him, patting the couch beside her after slinking to the side to make space for him between her and Tsu.

"Ah, um, maybe later?" He offers weakly, and feels a little pang of regret when he sees her smile fall. "I just need to make a call, I'll come back down after," he promises and smiles widely at the cheers he receives from his friends.

"A call?" One of them wonders out loud. Izuku is quick to answer, excitement bubbling up at the very thought.

"Yeah! For the work studies!"

"I can't take you on this time, runt," comes the gruff voice on the line. Izuku is on speakers, gathering his school notes to prepare to join his friends and almost drops the stack of notebooks with surprise.

"Why the hell not?!" He sounds like a petulant child, but, well… While Gran Torino wasn't his favorite choice for the new internships, he was the most logical one, and Izuku really wanted to go, to improve his control over One For All and to catch up to his peers – regardless of what Aizawa-sensei has to say about that.

"I'm busy," the old man answers curtly, and Izuku runs his mouth before he can think better of it.

"But you're retired!"

"Not anymore short stuff." Gran Torina doesn't offer anything more and the line stays silent. Izuku sulking on his end. It drags on, enough to become awkward, until the old hero finally sighs in defeat. "Fine." Izuku's heart soar in delight, but it quickly crashes with the man's following words. "Try to contact Nighteye."

Sir Nighteye.

"OhmygodAllMight'soldandonlysidekickever!"

"Goddamn it, breathe! Yeah, Nighteye is Toshinori's sidekick from a few years back. He knows about One For All." It makes sense. You can't really work with someone for over a decade and not share such an important part of your life. "Talk to Toshinori about it. Oh, and tell that idiot to get his act together."

"All Might? Why?"

"They didn't part on good terms."

"What happened?"

"Ask the idiot." And with that the line goes dead.

When he wakes up the next morning, he's still feeling a little tired. Last night's group study ran later than usual, mostly because they were so focused that they missed curfew. It was Aizawa-sensei who broke it up upon entering the building to check on them before going on patrol. As soon as he and his classmates had seen the hero enter, they'd all scrambled to gather their stuff.

Izuku had sent an apologetic smile his teacher's way, and he thought he saw him give back an amused smirk, very subtle, before the man hid his lower face in his capture weapon. Izuku might have gone to sleep later than was permitted, later than what he was used to, but he'd lose sleep studying over losing sleep from nightmares and anxiety anytime!

Point is, he's tired, but he slept well and he thinks he managed to cram last week's whole lessons thanks to his friends. He's feeling better than he's had in days.

Plus, he has something new to be excited over. If all goes well, he might get to do his work studies with Nighteye. He can't wait to speak to All Might about this!

Excitement has him do his morning workout with enthusiasm, and he's chatting happily away as he eats breakfast with some of his classmates. A lot of them discuss where they want to do their work studies, and Izuku has no qualms on gushing about all the benefits training under Nighteye could grant him.

Homeroom goes as expected. The energy in the classroom is over the top, and Aizawa-sensei doesn't even bother to rein them in, giving the simple but firm instruction to "not put anything on fire" before he disappears in his sleeping bag.

Morning classes steal most of his attention, and he only catches himself thinking about his peculiar situation a handful of times, which is such a huge improvement than last week that it even contributes to his good mood.

As soon as lunch rolls about, Izuku rushes to father his stuff, only stopping to let his friends know he won't be eating lunch with them.

"Got a date with All Might?" Uraraka teases knowingly, which startles a laugh out of him, but then he's beaming a wide smile, all teeth and crinkled eyes.

"Yeah! Nighteye was his sidekick! We have a lot to discuss!" And his friends let him go with handwaves and calls to enjoy his lunch with his mentor.

It all comes crashing down in an instant when All Might cuts through his rant barely ten minutes later with a grim face.

"I'm sorry I can't do that, my boy." It has Izuku sputtering in surprise, not having anticipated such an answer.

"What do you m-mean?"

"I agree Nighteye would be a great mentor for you. He has a good head on his shoulders and doesn't hesitate to use his knowledge in the best possible ways. He could possibly teach you some self-restraint, too."

"That's what I was thinking! From what I gathered, he's super good at analysing, and he always chooses the most advantageous options each time he acts. I'm sure he can help me get a better grip on your quirk!"

"You're quite right about that, my boy."

"Then why? Can't you just call him?"

"I'm afraid it's not as simple…" The hero trails off and drags a heavy gaze towards the window. It's shining bright, sky blue and cloudless, but Izuku feels like it suddenly got colder with his mentor's refusal. Silence is settling over the both of them while Izuku watches the powered down form of the number one hero.

"What happened?" The words leave his mouth before he even has the chance to think them. There's an aura of melancholy surrounding his mentor, and the sadness is evident in his blue eyes when All Might turns to him.

What he learns next is… hard to swallow. The fact that Nighteye had already chosen someone else to be All Might's successor hurts a bit, but it's understandable. That All Might, no, Toshinori, his mentor, the one who brought him where he is right now, has about one year left to live is outright devastating. Foresight truly is a formidable quirk, but Izuku realizes how scary it can be too.

That day, he leaves the office with a heavy heart. He's not as excited to work with Nighteye anymore, even if All Might promised he's ask Mirio-senpai to introduce him to his former sidekick. It isn't so surprising that he feels ill when he returns to his classroom, thoughts swirling with his mentor's coming demise.