#DONT WORRY IT'S ACTUALLY WHOLESOME.... QUALITY DAD SON & GF BONDING

[feralquirks]

“Are you sure about this?”

“Um… Absolu- uh, A-absolutely nn-not.”

“Is this safe?”

“Ff-for us? Nuh-, uh, no.”

“Okay…”

“…”

“…”

“Let’s do this.”

Hand in hand, Kaede and Izuku stood at the edge of the newly re-fixed nature pool that Korosensei had rebuilt after the whole Itona Strikes Again fiasco not too long ago. Not surprisingly, Korosensei managed to fix it again. “Again” because a day later, it had been un-fixed by some no-good delinquents - by total accident! It was an accident. Deeefinitely wasn’t Izuku trying to test how fast Megu and Isogai could swim and which one was the fastest. Totally NOT his fault, in fact, it was destiny, dare he say! Of course those two would go barreling toward the dam so fast, they couldn’t stop, and well wouldn’t you know it, how’d that dam break??

Ahem.

Anyway. There they were, almost a month later (they had stalled the entire time) standing by the edge of the nature pool, swimming tubes around their waists, floaties strapped around their arms, noodles held in both their hands—both green, as well—with goggles donned over their eyes, swimming caps keeping their forest hair concealed and of course, swim fins fastened to their feet. And if anyone thought that wasn’t overkill enough, they also had kick boards waiting on the sideline with snorkels and other character-shaped float devices already blown up and ready for use in case all else failed. (Kaede picked out the giant swan while Izuku brought up the flamingo)

“One,” they both counted together. “Two… Three!”

“Not so fast—” came a voice just as two hands grabbed the back of Izuku’s shirt and Kaede’s one-piece swimsuit right before the two tried to jump into the water.

They were held in the air like cats by the scruff, All Might holding them with his signature smile never leaving. In fact, Izuku would venture to say he had a rather smug glint to his teeth. Cheeky. How nice.

“Aaaaall Miiiiight,” the children whined.

“Now, now, you both know the rules when using the Class E pool! Always have adult supervision!” Slowly, the hero-slash-teacher set the two down, but never let go of them—instead transferring his hands to both their shoulders to keep them in place. “Especially you two.”

“But Aaall Miiiiiiiiight,” Kaede whined some more while Izuku groaned in dismay. It was no secret Kaede and Izuku were the worst swimmers in class—they knew why Kaede couldn't swim after her whole… thing, but only a spare few had any real guesses as to why Izuku couldn't. It was traced back to his childhood trauma—the sludge villain.

Those who had eavesdropped when he had explained himself to Korosensei that day with the pudding explosion knew at least. No one brought it up to Izuku, though, of course. What would they say anyway? Hey, Izukun, real quick—is the reason why you can't swim because of that run in with that one sludge villain when you were tiny? Are you afraid of drowning, is that why you never learned how to swim? Yeah, like that'll go over well. Sure, just casually bring up Izuku's trauma like that, mhm.

Izuku never would confirm nor deny it anyway. He was an enigma like that, which was fine—it was his business and no one else’s.

Izuku kicked at the grass, his arms crossed in indignation. "Then why nn-not you sup-ss-suh, um-"

" Supervise ,” Kaede offered softly.

Izuku pointed at her. "Yeah, tha'."

All Might stared at them for a solid ten seconds, making them squirm in their skin almost. Then he clapped loudly. "EXCELLENT IDEA, MY BOY! Give me a moment to change my clothes, then!"

"Oh, that's not-"

And he was off, hiding behind a tree to change into his one-piece secretly.

"Oh, he's gonna do it like that, huh…"

"Don't look!"

"S… Sir, did-did you, uh, come here wuh-with the, uh. In-intuh-in… mmm… Why??"

"A hero is always prepared for anything, my boy!"

Izuku and Kaede shared a look before dissolving into giggles. All Might then stepped out from behind the tree, his one-piece swimsuit a dazzling red-white-and-blue with a large white star on his chest. How patriotic, and yet completely unsurprising. He had his hands on his sides, boasting his muscles proudly, as if that would help them feel better about him being their temporary lifeguard.

“Well, then children! How about it?!” he offered loudly, taking large strides back toward them. “Ready to jump in now?!”

Izuku opened his mouth, then paused. Both students glanced back to the water just behind them, and they could just feel the irrational fear beginning to crawl from their stomachs to their throats. Izuku swallowed and glanced to his friend. All the bravado and blind bravery they previously held had diminished after All Might had interrupted them and they had the chance to calm down.

Both students turned back to All Might, who smiled with them with the innocence of a waiting dog.

“Uh…”

“W-well, uh- y’see, All Mmm-Might, um…”

“Yes? Yes?” his voice came out so eager, ready to serve and teach something valuable or something. So excited.

They gave a strained smile. Well…

As if finally catching onto the air of the two, the hero snapped up straight, clapping his hands once. “OH! You must be waiting for me, aren’t you?! Fear not! I will guide you into the water! After all, no one expects an infant to simply jump into water for the first time!”

Did he just call us infants…? Kaede and Izuku glowered at All Might’s direction as they watched him ready himself with simple stretches.

“However; First thing’s first, children!” he began as he stretched his legs in a runner’s stance while his arms were pulled over his head. “It’s best to do your stretches before going in the water! Follow my lead, my students!”

And so that’s how they spent the next fifteen-twenty minutes after the two stripped themselves from their floating devices. Then after, they spent another three minutes putting everything back on while All Might drew himself into the water. It wasn’t even all that deep—only going to All Might’s belly button, if Izuku were to guess. All Might was a tall man, afterall (which, unfortunately, that would mean the water would go up to Izuku’s shoulders if he was lucky—not to mention Kaede would still be completely underwater if she stood from the bottom, huh…). But even so, staring at water and being in it were two different things—and being in the water and actually swimming in it were also two different things. It was… daunting. Yeah, he’ll say that.

All Might gestured for them to approach. “Come now, I’ll be sure to catch you!”

Kaede squirmed in her floaties, pulling at the straps of her swimsuit while Izuku wrung his hands and rolled his shoulders with anxiety. Kaede cleared her throat, “U-um, well—could, er—”

“We, well— it- is’lah-huhm-the fr’k-wat’r—fer-fer-fer-frick,” Izuku tried to assist before his brain started to once again trip his tongue over into dirt and he practically shoved his fist in his mouth to stop it from continuing to tumble down its hill.

Kaede pursed her lips and glanced away, obviously trying not to laugh at her friend’s stumble, but even Izuku seemed to be struggling with not laughing at himself as he looked down and pretended to kick something with those large flipper shoes of his. All Might paid it no mind, but there was no doubt there was any amusement in his expression as he wadded closer to the edge.

“Worry not!” All Might’s voice boomed again, giving both his hands to the children. And then, there was softness that came from his voice as his fingers just barely tapped on the students’. “Didn’t I say I would guide you through it? Give me your hands, everything is alright. I am here!”

There was hesitation, a stir of icky worms made of anxiety that squirmed in both their stomachs, tangling together into knots and adding a weight to their feet. Izuku swallowed down the feeling of choking and itching all over his body, while Kaede struggled to push away the feeling of stickiness wrapped around her body. It was completely irrational—there was nothing, absolutely no reason for them to behave this way, feel this way, and yet… All Might was being so patient with them, smiling encouragingly and waiting for them to make a decision, make a move…

Kaede sucked in a deep breath then, puffing her small chest up and tightening her hold on her swimsuit before taking All Might’s hand and letting him guide her slowly into the nature pool. He muttered softly to her as she gave sudden yelps of fear as she entered the water, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Don’t worry about touching the floor, just trust in your floaties. Keep holding my hand. That’s right, you’ve got it!”

Izuku pursed his lips in discomfort, his hands clenched tightly into the fabric of his shirt. How on earth did he think jumping in without any supervision was a smart idea before? Oh, no, that’s right, he knew it was stupid, they were just riding on high energy—the kind of energy that makes you think you can take down a tiger and then climb Mt. Everest. Yeah, definitely stupid.

All Might drifted Kaede to one of the noodles floating nearby, where she scrambled to reach for it before hugging it tightly to her chest and making grunts like she thought she would fall over, but the pro hero never stopped holding onto her hand. “You’ve got it?”

Kaede nodded, though she seemed like a terrified rabbit—frozen and just waiting.

“Good, good,” All Might then turned to Izuku, his other hand gestured toward him. “Are you ready, my boy?”

“Uh- um, um…” Izuku started to fidget a lot more then. His shoulders rolled this way and that and his jaw clenched and unclenched while his hands went from wringing each other to pecking and pulling at the thin skin on the back of one of his hands. Okay, Izuku, it’s now or never, right?! Now or never! And it’s just water, right!?! Like, it can’t KILL me, right?!?!?????  

He paused mentally.

Actually, me, don’t answer that!  

The curly haired boy swallowed then, clenching his hands to his sides before nodding and taking his mentor’s hand. Just like with Kaede, the teacher helped Izuku into the pool slowly, instructing him to sit on the edge and then slide in— and don’t worry about falling into the water, your floaties will help you, and so will I. Just keep holding my hand, I’ve got you. We’ll guide you over to the noodles, and I’ll get you the water boards too, if you want.

Izuku felt his stomach flip when half his body went underwater, but it never went past his chest. He couldn’t feel the bottom, and the water made the gravity of his body weird, but he supposed that was normal since water has a different density and did weird things anyway but—anyway.

“Kick your feet to move, alright?” the pro hero instructed patiently. For a moment, it seemed like Kaede nor Izuku wanted to even move, in fear of slipping from the safety of the floaty around their chests and arms and into the water, but then Izuku started to kick his feet underwater. One kick, two kick—he wasn’t angled right, so he wasn’t going anywhere fast, but it was a kick in the right direction and he had edged toward the noodle he wanted to grab with his left hand while his right hand was clamped tightly around All Might’s.

All Might smiled proudly at the two—it didn’t seem like either of them were really going to be learning anything just yet, but the effort they were displaying was more than enough to show that they were hard workers and ready to learn. And facing a fear like this, no matter how small it was, was a big step on its own, and the hero couldn’t have been more proud of them.

The three of them spent a good while in the nature pool, not really swimming or learning how to swim, but just getting used to the water—just learning that it wasn’t a danger. It wouldn’t bite them, wouldn’t try and kill them… just that it existed and was there. So they floated around each other, still attached to All Might’s hands or arms and once in a while batting the other with their noodle and laughing over how when Izuku blew into one end of the noodle, water would jet out the other suddenly and hit Kaede or All Might in the face.

When that had happened the first time, that’s when All Might knew they had broken the ice with their fear of the water, and he couldn’t stop smiling with his two students.