“I wanna be just like him!”

He shoved his little pointer finger closer to the vicinity of the screen so you knew exactly who he was referring to, the brightest of smiles and the most gleeful gleam in his glistening forest eyes.

I am here!! Said the TV, clipping to the beloved hero, All Might's infamous stance that made Midoriya go absolutely feral with that pure and undeterred admiration. Nothing would've ever made him more happy than to become the hero hes always dreamed of being — who he's looked up to since he first saw that video.

But unfortunately, everyone's sun doesn't rise.

Padding up to his room and opening the door, the least thing you'd have expected was for Izuku to be sat on his chair like it was his new home. Like that's the only place he deserved to be, years lining his overly wide and child-like eyes, smile plastered on his face like the hero he adored.

Turning to you, he tilted his little head. Hands curling into fists in his lap as he fought back the brutal burn in his throat and the relentless urge to sob. His entire world — what he had planned to work up to was crumbling before his eyes. His mom hadn't told him the one thing he needed to hear, but everything was so choked, like he couldn't bring the words to his tongue.

Until

“D-Do you think.. I can be a hero, too?”