#...except the story frames that as all midoriya was doing for that time period. no consulting on hero work. no helping with investigations.

[mathewton-cl]

As An IzuOcha Shipper…

…them not ending up together isn’t the problem.

Horikoshi taking the “leave it up to interpretation” approach and then proceeding to COMPLETELY AVOID ADDRESSING their relationship status is the problem.

Horikoshi failing to tie up that one last loose end for Uraraka’s character arc (not closing off her feelings) is the problem.

Again, I ship IzuOcha. Still do, because I’m stubborn. Would I have liked for them to end up together, even if it was only a somewhat blatant implication that could be handwaved? Obviously. But you know what? Maybe I would be upset if the story went out of its way to explicitly de-confirm any chance of Midoriya and Uraraka being a romantic pairing, but I’d at least respect it and understand it a lot more if the story let Midoriya and Uraraka actually talk about this, or at the very least SHOWED US them talking about this. I’d understand if Uraraka completed her character arc by having a heart to heart with Midoriya and telling him that her feelings have changed, her priorities have changed, and Midoriya understands and they remain good friends. Let’s be real, romance isn’t Horikoshi’s strong suit, despite his many attempts to leave romantic implications throughout the series. I’d completely understand if he just had Midoriya and Uraraka talk and they didn’t end up together, because at least then it still provides both of their characters with closure.

But no, that’s too simple. Let’s just “leave it up to interpretation,” because it clearly wasn’t that important, right?

Well, as many people on the internet have already brought up, if it wasn’t so important, why did you spend so much time putting emphasis on it? Why did you have Uraraka, up until the FINAL WAR, have her crush on Midoriya be a crucial part of her character (it wasn’t her only character trait, mind you, but it was still important)? Why did the penultimate chapter have the class come to comfort Uraraka and tell her that they can talk to her… and then come the next chapter, Uraraka apparently hasn’t done anything regarding her supposed crush on Midoriya? For literal YEARS!?

…see, this isn’t even a shipping problem anymore. This is a character problem.

Horikoshi, for whatever reason, chose not to include a romance for the main character and his supposed love interest. And again, that’s fine, not every story needs to be a romance. Two problems with it here though (well, one problem and an observation):

1) Choosing to not at least address the romantic subplot with a “I think we’re better off as friends” encounter, thus actually concluding the subplot and providing a sense of closure, not only leaves the result feeling underwhelming and frustrating, but also actively damages Uraraka’s character arc. We can have her address the problem that caused people like Toga to exist, but heaven forbid she talks about romance with Midoriya.

2) Despite his supposed aversion to romance, Horikoshi still went out of his way to give Gentle and La Brava wedding rings… he’s willing to establish a side romantic pairing without bringing too much attention to it, but he can’t be bothered to do something similar for the arguable MAIN pairing? It’s the “Togata has special clothes so he doesn’t end up buck naked, but Hagakure’s still gotta go commando” debacle again…

I’ma go ahead and wrap this up ‘cause I don’t wanna keep y’all much longer, but like… being optimistic, this ending was… functional. I’ve got my problems with it, obviously, I don’t think it was BAD bad… but it certainly wasn’t good. It works. Barely. And it’s ‘cause of stuff like this.

Midoriya and Uraraka didn’t need to end up together, truly. All Horikoshi had to do was put the smallest amount of effort and give us something of substance, something with closure. Instead, we got what we got.

I get that he was exhausted and wanted the manga to be over… but that excuse only holds up for so long.

[kiriluvbot]

pros of shipping rare pairs: you have to make your own content, creative freedom, less ship wars

cons: you have to make your own content

so here i am, making my own content. also, manga spoilers ahead.

—

seroroki, post war arc, in the hospital

—

nothing felt real.

not the uncomfortable plastic seat beneath him, not the buzzing fluorescent lights overhead, not the ticking clock on the wall. most certainly not the school uniform clinging almost too tightly to his skin.

he was aware of every loose string of thread, of the sickly scent of sterilizer in the air, of the voices humming in tune with the lights. a door slammed to his left and he flinched.

“we can’t reach them, i don't know what’s going on—“

the battle against all for one and shigaraki ended only a few days ago, but it felt like no time at all and all the time in the world had passed. the number one hero, endeavor, had nearly been killed. half of hanta’s classmates were in hospital beds, unconscious or barely able to speak.

“endeavor, he—he’s down!”

the world had been turned upside down. hero society as everyone knew it was falling apart of the seams. heroes were dead. civilians. classmates. dead. cities were flattened, disintegrated or on fire. the very earth seemed to be crumbling.

“that—that thing. it’s coming this way. we have to move. sero—“

hanta sero wanted to be a hero. hanta wanted to be a hero dammit, but when the time came, what could he do? what could his quirk do? he was not strong enough, not fast enough, not smart enough. he applied to the best hero school in the world and trained until he felt like he was going to die and it was not enough.

the whole thing had felt like some terrible nightmare. the worst nightmare, worst case scenario, and there wasn’t a damn thing anyone could do about it. not as shigaraki during a whole city to dust, not as giantomachia flattened an entire forest, not as endeavor was knocked clear out of the sky. not as their friends lay on the ground dead or dying, not as civilians cried out for help under rubble, not as the bad guys slipped away like they were in no hurry at all.

“just—be careful out there, hanta. please.”

“sero, bub, come on.”

“come back to me in one piece. okay, shoto? promise me.”

a hand rests gently on sero’s shoulder. it makes him jump, immediately turning to search for the source. sero finds it’s just smiling kirishima, red hair down and framing his tired eyes. his heart races as another door shuts a little too hard.

“is it time?” sero’s voice sounds dry and foreign to himself.

“yeah,” kirishima replies. “let’s go see todoroki.”

the name alone is nearly enough to send sero buckling to the floor.

“shoto—where is he? why can’t i see him?”

“you need to calm down, kid. we’ve got everything under control.”

“tell me he’s going to be okay. tell me!”

sero is hardly aware of his own footsteps as a nurse leads them through a maze of blinding white halls. he’s numb and hyper aware all at the same time and it’s awful.

as soon as they’d gotten word that todoroki was awake, a small group consisting of sero, kirishima, satou, momo, and jirou left immediately to go see him. no word on bakugo yet, or midoriya. the three idiots dived head first into the worst of the battle. sero hadn’t known until hours later. he briefly recalls the dull look in kirishima’s eyes, how he merely clammed up and went silent. sero hadn't reacted quite the same. he only remembers falling to his knees, begging for answers.

not much comes to mind after that.

sero wishes now that he could see todoroki alone, that he could scoop him up and run away to some imaginary land where villains and heroes didn’t exist. where they could be safe.

he also considers turning tail and running back to his dorm and never leaving again. sero wasn’t sure how he could stand seeing todoroki in whatever state he was in—

“i am touya todoroki, the eldest son of endeavor.”

the flames, the smell of burnt—

the nurse leading them says, “his voice isn’t completely back yet, but he’s awake and doing well. just be careful, please.”

then the door opens. kirishima leads the way and sero finds he’s okay with that, because he’s quickly realizing that he’s not at all prepared. not even close.

shoto todoroki is leaned up on his bed, wrapped almost entirely in bandages. his baby blue hospital gown is too big for him; it dips off one shoulder. nearly his entire face is bandaged, his right arm, his chest too, it seems. what skin can be seen is dull, but his eyes are not. they shine with unshed tears that sero can see even from this distance.

“todoroki,” kirishima starts. “so glad to see you, man.”

the others chime in, smiling softly and hiding their hands behind their back, keeping a vice like grip on their self control. sero finds, for the first time ever, he can’t say a damn thing.

todoroki opens his mouth. the sound that comes out is horrible and broken, but he rasps out a simple hey, guys.

“you’re gonna need a full time translator,” kirishima jokes, and sero’s lip quirks despite the heaviness in the air.

and after a while, one by one, this little group dissipates. kirishima and sero are left, and then kirishima goes, too. his hand finds sero’s shoulder once more, and he shoots a see you later at todoroki before exiting.

and then it’s just them. sero and todoroki.

just like it’d been before this whole shit show started.

legs tangled, fingers entwined, promises made, confessions unsaid.

“hanta—“ that voice comes out again, raspy and shattered. “i—“

“you came back to us in one piece,” sero says, interrupting. “please don’t start to apologize.”

what he doesn’t say is: i didn't tell you before we left—i didn’t tell you because i was scared. and for a bit i thought i’d never see you again. for a bit i thought i was going to die. i thought you were going to—

sero sits on the bed, todoroki’s legs just barely a ghost behind him. this lighting makes him look paler than usual, makes his scar stand out, makes his hair look like fresh—

stop.

todoroki doesn’t even know where to start. he was sure he was going to die on the battlefield. he was sure he was going to die in dabi’s—no, touya’s arms. he was sure his brother was going to kill him.

when todoroki woke, all he could remember was the sheer terror he felt on that hill, his supposedly dead brother right in front of him, dancing like a mad man, laughing hysterically. it was like everything had been ripped out from underneath todoroki. he had become very unsure of everything he knew about himself, about his father, about his whole family at that moment. even more unsure than he’d been previously.

as much as todoroki wanted to deny it, wanted to scream that dabi was nothing but a meddling lunatic, the sensible part of him knew it was true.

endeavor may be number one hero but he had not succeeded at a single thing except making a monster out of his first born. the rest, well—you know how the story goes.

the truth made todoroki feel tainted, stained. it made him feel contaimniated and heavy and like maybe—maybe he should’ve let dabi finish the job. maybe, by killing shoto, touya would finally be free of whatever he had weighing on him. get rid of the thing that replaced him.

it had been on todoroki’s mind since he woke up. the truth would rage through the world like wildfire. endeavor would be scorned. shoto would forever been stuck in the shadow of his failures. he’d never be free—never—

sero grabs his hand.

sero watches as todoroki grimaces, turns his face away. he watches as todoroki starts to guard himself, starts to clam up—

todoroki pulls his hand free.

“sho—“

“you should go,” todoroki hisses. even as he speaks them, he regrets every word. it all comes out wrong and harsh, rough around the edges.

what he doesn’t say is: you’re too good for me, hanta. why can’t you see that? why can’t you see i’ll only ever weigh you down? my family’s a disaster, i’m a mess, and you’re—you’re you.

there’s a pause. the air is heavy. sero’s hand is cold. he watches as todoroki avoids his gaze, as more tears well in his eyes. nothing feels real.

“you—what?”

“hanta,” todoroki whispers. “go. please.”

and it’s like the world is ending, all over again. if he hadn’t been sitting, sero might have collapsed at the knees again. he wonders briefly if his ears need to get checked, if he heard him correctly, if the world really is ending.

and to make it so much worse, todoroki says, “you deserve better, dammit.” his voice barely raises a single octave. “don't want you getting dragged down because of me. ‘cause of my family.”

he says me like it’s poison on his tongue.

todoroki pulls into himself completely, pulling entirely out of sero’s orbit, leaving the room icy and feeling nearly empty. sero isn’t sure exactly what he’s feeling, but he knows it must be something close to anger. his brows knit together as he tries to keep a tight leash on his emotions, but sometimes even hanta sero loses control.

sero stands so fast his vision blurs for half a second. todoroki looks meek and small beneath him, hands clamped together, eyes dull and face wrapped up. sero’s heart beats all the way down to his toes, the room closing in on him slowly. it’s iciness seeps into his bones, fear and anger and confusion simmering in his veins.

“you’re out of your goddamn mind if you think i’m gonna let you shove me away so easily,” sero cuts out, ignoring the bewildered look on todoroki’s face. “i know you’re hurting, shoto. and i know you're strong, but you don’t have to do this on your own.” sero unclenches his fists but god, his chest feels tight. “we’re just kids, dammit! you don’t have to carry all this weight, just let me help you. let me be here for you!”

“hanta—“

“i’m here because i—“ you know, sho, i really— “because i care about you.”

the room seemed to shrink in that very short time period, sero’s chest heaving with all the things he didn’t say, all the things he wanted to say, all the things he wanted to do. he’d spent nearly every single day in the past year-ish by todoroki’s side, training, laughing, sharing manga. he’d grown close to someone who seemed so untouchable when he first met him. sero got to be there as todoroki brought down his own walls, came out of his own shell, became someone todoroki himself could be proud of.

and now this idiot wanted to push sero away? because he deserves better? because todoroki didn’t want sero to see the ugly truth of his family history? because todoroki thought he himself was too much for sero?

“just trying to protect you,” todoroki mutters, not daring to look away from sero’s face. not yet. “i’ll only—“

“don’t—“ sero snaps. “don’t say it. you know it’s not true. you know it isn’t.”

todoroki finally breaks eye contact, gaze dropping to his hands. his shoulders heave as he takes a shaky breath. if he could just get it into hanta’s thick skull that he hung the stars, that he was a god send, an angel on earth, that todoroki was unworthy and undeserving of someone like him—

todoroki doesn’t have time to reel in the tears as they start to fall. slowly at first, then all at once like the dam had finally broken. sero is at his side in an instant, like todoroki hadn’t just told him to leave, like todoroki didn't just try to make it obvious he’s undeserving of someone as kind and caring as sero. and here sero is, further proving that point as he sits carefully on the bed and gently takes todoroki’s face in his hands, fingers ghosting over bandages. the touch is searing and unbearable and not enough all at once.

“‘m sorry,” todoroki chokes out. “sorry, sorry. hanta—“

sero lifts todoroki’s face ever so slowly, and todoroki finally sees the redness of his dark eyes, the bottom lashes clumped together from a cry that might have happened just before he got here. todoroki can’t seem to get a handle on his own tears, can’t seem to reel in his uneven breathing, can’t seem to stamp out the shaking nerves dancing up his arms. grief rages inside him, grief and guilty and that same achy breaky loneliness todoroki hadn’t felt in so many months.

“please, shoto,” sero whispers, so close todoroki can’t even breathe. “everything is a mess right now but please. let me stay by your side. don't—“ his throat catches, “—don't shut me out, okay?”

“someday you’re gonna realize you don’t have to carry the weight of the universe all on your own, todoroki.”

“sero—“

sunset colors begin to pour in through cracked curtains, washing them in gentle warmth. sero’s gaze doesn’t waver, his touch doesn’t disappear. he’s light and he’s holy—pure and too kind. todoroki wraps hesitant hands around sero’s wrists, trying his hardest to reign in his tears. he lets their foreheads press together slowly, carefully.

promises are made, confessions stay unspoken. todoroki doesn’t let go, not again, not ever.

—

[writermich18]

Record Keeper Part 2

In Izuku’s defense, he wasn’t expecting anybody to conclude from his story that his family was one of the Record Keeper Clans or that he was a member of said Record Keeper Clan.

He would not have told Eri the story if he had known it would have exposed his family. Luckily, the Pro Heroes and students who had figured it out had promised not to tell anybody. They apparently knew how sacred and secretive the Record Keepers are, and how important it is that nobody knows which family is of which clan.

That doesn’t change the fact that Sir Nighteye wishes to kill him.

He stands in one of Sir’s agency’s meeting rooms, getting stared down by Sir Nighteye and his sidekicks Bubble Girl and Centipede, All Might in small form, Principal Nedzu, Aizawa-sensei, Mirio, Rock Lock, and Bakugou (apparently dragged here because they wanted to know if Kacchan, as his childhood friend, knew his secret).

Great. Now, not only will Papa kill me for this, the Elders are gonna drag me through the pit and training course until I collapse then hang my dead body in the Halls as warning towards any other idiot Midoriya who dares to reveal the Clan secret just to comfort a little girl. Izuku thinks as he shifts uncomfortably in his standing position. I am so dead.

“Why the hell didn’t you say anything?” Yagi asks, “Record Keepers are valuable! We could have kept the secre –”

“That’s exactly why,” Izuku interrupts. “We keep our identity a secret because people kill for the things we keep, the history we keep. I ask that you not say a word to anybody because people from all sides will come after me and my family to kill us for the things we know or because of the things we know.”

He turns to look at the door as he finishes, “Nobody knows the Forgotten Hero or his tragic tale at all because the government erased that history and made propaganda up to hide what had actually happened during the Dawn of Quirks. What they had done to Quirked and Quirkless people. They altered everybody’s memory and erased First from existence and memory. The only reason we Record Keepers have his memory at all is because my ancestors were a secret, a secret the Government didn’t and would never have because the People never spoke about us.”

“Izuku –”

He opens the door as he finishes, “First and the society his group, the Rogues, had created is forgotten because the people who used to be in power refused to let the society live, refused to believe that it was better than anything they could create. Can you imagine? Not remembering your own history, your own life, as it actually was because your own government altered your memory and erased that part of you from existence out of a petty need to have control over everything.” He walks out the door.

Nobody tries to stop him as they slump and process what he had said.

 Little did Nighteye or anybody in that universe know, it was because of Izuku’s knowledge and the Record Keepers’ existence that people got out of the fight with only major and minor injuries and nobody dead.

Thanks to the Forgotten Hero’s story, Izuku recognized the signs of a lab experiment and a hurt child, and acted on it as soon as the child, Eri, was within his grasp. No hesitation or daring to listen to Overhaul when he came out of that alleyway, just grabbing Mirio and Eri and running.

Because the alternative had been drilled into his very mind by the stories he grew up on, including First’s story, he had responded to an obvious escape attempt and did what his ancestors would have done.

Stories, especially true stories, have a lot more effect on the world around you and how you perceive it than most people realize.

The Record Keepers know this better than anybody – they have an entire closed off section of the Keeping Library that more than proves this statement to be true.

Izuku wishes he knew how to explain that to outsiders but he doesn’t know how to nor does he think it would have changed their opinion. Either way, Eri is safe, everybody except the Villains got out of the fight alive and relatively death free. No funerals are being planned and no regrets pilled up.

That is enough.

Knowing that Eri is here, and not with Overhaul, slowly recovering and learning how to be a child again, is enough.

Are you proud of me, Grandpa Tsunayoshi? Izuku watches with soft eyes, Eri playing in the playground with Kouta and Mirio (playing slowly to be mindful of his injuries). Though a smile doesn’t grace her lips, her eyes are alight with happiness. Tiger from the Wild Pussycats in casual clothes watches them play on the bench. Izuku sits on the fountain bench, mindful of his shoulder. We managed to stop the Bad Men before they could further destroy her happiness and childhood. She’s escaped and the Bad Men are paying for it.

A wind blows through the park. Plays with his hair.

It smells like oranges, the forest, sunlight, blood, and hope. Izuku didn’t know how the wind smelled like Hope but that’s what it smelled like.

Light fingers card through his hair, laughter rings out around him. He straightens up and looks around. Nobody’s paying attention to him and the others were too far to do that.

A voice whispers in his ear, “You did good, little one. That little girl gets to have the childhood I lost thanks to you. But it’s time to rest and relax now. And remember.”

“Only justice will bring peace,” Izuku whispers the words automatically to the wind, eyes moving to Eri as she comes up excitedly to him, talking rapidly about all the things they were doing. The wind sings around him as he stands up and easily picks her up.

He smiles and hums along to everything she’s talking him, asking questions where needed, letting Eri do the talking. Mirio chimes in every now and again, mostly letting Eri do the talking too, as they leave the park, waving goodbye to Tiger and Kouta.

Unnoticed, a figure appears in the park behind Deku. This figure has the same kind of curly hair as Izuku but shoulder length. It falls and frames his face while also stylistically and purposely covering the left side of his face. Freckles decorate his entire face, neck and arms. The hair is white. His eyes a soft brown with green flakes dancing and sparking inside of them. Tan skin.

He wears a sleeveless white shirt over which is a sleeveless and loose dark-green-and-black jacket – similar to Izuku’s own hero costume but designed a little differently. A white scarf covers his neck with the two ends falling down his chest and back, a design, of a circle broken in pieces on it in which a wyvern dances gracefully inside and clutches one of the broken pieces, in front of the wyvern is a single flare of fire and lighting, is sewn into the end part of the scarf lying on the chest. Wrapped around his arms are hidden-blade gauntlets, white and green fabric bracing the elbows, and bandages covering the fingers with brown fingerless gloves covering the hands. A red utility belt is wrapped around his waist, brown, loose combat pants cover his legs and fall over red-and-black braced shoes. Black-with-green-light-decorating-it fabric also braces his knees.

The figure watches Deku, with Eri and Mirio, slowly leave the park and smiles. He touches the necklace that sits on his chest.

The same necklace swings around Izuku’s chest as he transfers Eri to Mirio who gladly takes her. They run ahead with Mirio laughing as Eri shrieks in joy. Izuku laughs at them.

The necklace glints, Izuku turns and sees the figure. He pauses. The figure lifts a hand in a single, two-fingered salute and points at Izuku. Izuku pauses then gives a smile and returns the two-fingered salute, nodding to show he got the message.

“I understand, Tsunayoshi. She will live the childhood you couldn’t, I will remember your story and pass it on, and this society will one day remember who you are,” Izuku tells him softly, the wind carries it to him. The figure raises an eyebrow. Izuku amends, “After I rest and graduate.” Tsunayoshi smiles, then turns and waves goodbye, fading as he walks away.

“But…” Izuku watches his great-great-great-great grandfather disappear, “Do you want us to remember only Tsunayoshi, only First? Mana deserves to be known too, even though you can’t remember being Mana.” He closes his eyes for a moment, touches the necklace around his neck. Then turns heel and runs to catch up to Mirio and Eri who had stopped and are waiting for him.

Even though Tsunayoshi won’t answer him, he knows what he will do when he’s ready to tell the complete story to the world. Against Record Keeper duty because that is what Grandpa Tsunayoshi wants.

He won’t be telling the Tale of the Forgotten Hero, the public tale the Midoriya’s tell to outsiders.

The tale the world will know when he’s ready is the Tragedy of the Two Lost Brothers.

The Story of Mana, Hisashi, Subject 27: History’s Forgotten and Betrayed.

 Tsunayoshi had learned about what happened to his brother, his true name. Was told it during the final battle by the Secretary of the Science Department who had also been charge of the Lab.

He had learned that his brother, whom he had seen get shot down by 5 bullets during his initial kidnapping, was alive. First hadn’t followed up, too shocked by finally learning the name he had lost and defeating the government that had hurt so many.

Izuku hadn’t wanted to follow up either, especially given that history from that time period had been purposefully destroyed by the 1% the moment they forcefully took control back after Tsunayoshi’s death (the Midoriya’s and many others had tried to stop it, but war and infighting hadn’t been something anybody had planned on doing again except for the 1%. Only the Midoriya’s had been able to keep the history and it is only because none Record Keepers don’t know how to nor have access to the Clan Library). But, after learning about the history of One For All and All For One… The idea has been pecking at him non-stop in the back of his mind.

Against his better judgement, Izuku approaches his mentor and asks if he can visit All For One in prison with his father and grandmother. Explaining that the Record Keepers side of his family need to double check with somebody from First’s time period to see if the memory altering aspect of that history is correct.

He had already informed his grandmother and father about his idea and also the never-happens-after-that-time-period-has-passed chance to check facts about specific events. So, he has already gotten their approval.

Toshinori, predictably, refuses. But Izuku is nothing if not persistant. After the reassurance that it was just a Record Keeper meeting from both his father, grandmother, and himself, with permission from Papa and Granny that his mentor can come with them, he reluctantly agrees and calls it in.

They plan it out to go over the weekend, next week.

Izuku gets official permission from Granny to tell the Tragedy of the Two Lost Brothers in its full form before All For One, Toshinori, the elder Record Keepers, and whoever is listening to their conversation.

           Yes, his father had indeed scolded and grounded him for telling Eri and those other people the Forgotten Hero version of the story without permission. Yes, he was grounded, dorm-school-dorm, nowhere else without teacher permission and older student buddy system, style, for the week and that’s why they’re doing it next week.