@chapelseed

As the sight of the hospital crept closer, Izuku couldn’t get off the bus fast enough. Tearing through the crowd and out the back doors with little heed for anything other than finding the receptionist and making sure his friend was alright.

His anxiety had been eating away at him the whole trip over, the last couple days ramping up his usual paranoia a few notches. Ever since his mother was taken a seed of fear planted itself in his gut, would Overhaul be satisfied with just his mother? Would he target anyone else he cares for? 

The sheer contempt Overhaul had grown for him and shown during the phone calls Izuku had gotten was not something to underestimate, there was no telling what a criminal of his type would do if he felt justified and slighted.

Hearing Uraraka was hospitalized sent his panic into overdrive, and until he could determine that she was alright nothing else mattered.

“For the final time, I am not here for my physical therapy!”

The familiar voice snapped Izuku out of his laser focus, whipping his head to see All Might arguing with a nurse a full 3 heads shorter than him…and losing.

“You can’t be serious, you’re all skin and bones! You should be in a wheel chair not rumbling about!” She took a firm hand on his forearm and started to tug, “Now come on-”

“Excuse me!” Izuku shouted, coming over to the arguing duo, Toshinori visibly relieved at the sight of his student, and a little white lump peering from behind his legs at the sound of his voice, speaking to the nurse. “You do know this is All Might, don’t you?”

The nurse raised an eyebrow, before looking at Toshinori again more closely. 

The retired Symbol of Peace raised one of his own.

The way her eyes widened in panic was almost enough to make Izuku laugh. “I am so-so sorry about that Mr. All Might-san!”

All Might took this with a surprising amount of grace, sighing calmly. “No need for that, but if you honestly want to make up for that little mix up…” He grinned widely, images of his many TV appearances springing to Deku’s mind as he did. “Could you please direct us to the room of Uraraka Ochako?”

The nurse rushed off to get the name of her doctor and room number, leaving Toshinori and the extremely nervous Eri with Izuku…who just noticed her presence, eyes nearly bugging out of his skull, “Eri-chan!?” He whipped his head to look at her idol, “All Might-san! Why is she here and not at the school!?”

“Calm yourself young man, we’re in a hospital.” Toshinori gestured to a few nurses and doctors milling about the entrance hall of the hospital giving the hero student dirty looks, which he reacted to by rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “And as for Eri-chan…I tried to convince her to stay at UA…but-”

“O-Ochako-san helped me when I woke up at UA!” Eri spoke up of a sudden, a great deal of worry in her eyes, “so I want to help her too!” She took in the fear in Izuku’s eyes as he looked at her and curled inwards slightly, “…please don’t be mad…”

Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself and went down on one knee to look Eri in the eyes. “Eri-chan, I’m not mad,” he put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I was just worried, you’re safe at UA but going out like this, even with All Might is-”

“But now you’re here!” She shouted again, a hopeful look in her eyes, “and you said I’m always safe when you’re here…right?”

Izuku took in her eyes, so full of trust and desperate hope, and something swelled in his chest, something bright and warm that made a lump grow in his throat, “y-yes, Eri-chan,” he stated thickly, “you’ll always be safe with me…that’s a promise.”

Toshinori felt a tiny smile tug at the corner of his mouth as he watched his successor comfort the young girl, a shadow of the hero he would one day become cementing itself in front of his eyes.

He cleared his throat to catch their attention, the young girl wiping at her eyes, “I’m glad you’ve settled that young man…but now that you’re here, I must ask…any results?”

Midoriya’s eyebrows pinched in thought for a moment before realization rose on his face with a firm nod, “yes All Might-san, I managed to gather some info.” He thought back to his talk with All for-…with Suukikyou, “have you ever heard of Yabinshi temple?”

A look of intense concentration dawn on the retired hero’s face, “hmm…possibly, I’ll probably need to go over some of my old reports, but it sounds similar to something I’ve dealt with earlier on my career.” He nodded, a bit more haltingly, to the boy, “it would also be wise to contact…Nighteye-san about this, he might remember this better than I.”

Izuku nodded, putting a hand on Eri’s head as he rose to his feet, “I will,” he chewed his lower lip for a moment, “All Might…there’s something else-”

“Excuse me?” A professional voice cut through what Izuku was about to say, the owner being a fairly young doctor striding over with his clean white coat and the nurse from before at his heels with a rather embarrassed look on her face, “are you the visitors for Uraraka Ochako?”

Toshinori turned to the doctor with a curt nod, “yes, I am Young Uraraka’s teacher, I came over to check on her well being,” he gestured at Izuku, “along with one of her close friends from school and…” he paused for a moment as he went to Eri, “…and someone rather close to them both.”

The doctor raised an eyebrow at the young girl for a moment, before he smiled politely and nodded at Toshinori, “very good.” He offered his hand to the teacher, who shook it, “I’m doctor Soro, I’m the one assigned to Uraraka-san.”

Izuku lept up to the doctor, “is she alright!?”

“Calm down kid.” Soro raised a hand calmly, “she’s a bit banged up from her mission, but she’s fine other than…” Soro hesitated for a moment before he pointed behind him, “perhaps it’s best if she told you herself.”

Toshinori and Izuku looked at each other before nodding and turning back to the doctor.

“Right, follow me this way please.”

He turned and the two walked a couple steps behind, Eri taking hold of Izuku’s hand as they walked.

“Tell me the rest of your findings back at school.” Toshinori whispered to his young charge, “for now let’s focus on young Uraraka, shall we?”

Izuku nodded briskly, and when he felt Eri squeeze his hand he looked down with a smile and squeezed back.

But still, the seed in his gut grew, little by little, as they walked down the hall to her room.