Hakamada Tsunagu, better known as the Pro Hero Best Jeanist, was convinced he had to be seeing things. Sir Nighteye was glaring at All Might. While, yes, he had heard that the two had suffered a falling out that led to Sir becoming an independent Pro Hero, Sir had still rather openly been a major fanboy of the other hero the last time their paths crossed. Now, Sir Nighteye looked more likely to strangle the older hero than sing his praises.
The three of them were in the backstage area for this year's HeroCon alongside other heroes that would be hosting panels or doing signings. All Might had come back just moments before to use the bathroom before heading from his yearly panel to his signing when he had crossed paths with his former Sidekick. His former Sidekick who up until now had turned down attending the convention every year since going independent.
The strangest part of all was Tsunagu was certain that the number one Hero looked guilty about whatever was going on between the two. Checking the time to make sure that he would not be late for his own panel, he drifted over to question his colleague. "Should I be concerned that you are glaring holes into our number one Hero?"
Sir Nighteye shifted his gaze away from the door the other Hero had vanished through in a hurry to meet his own. "Possibly. He nearly killed one of my nephews through a textbook case of heroic neglect."
Okay there was a lot there to process. Unlike most, Tsunagu was at least aware of who Sir Nighteye's siblings were if only due to the fact that he had been seeing his sister for therapy for years at this point and he had been high in the rankings for years now. "Nephews? I was under the impression you only had one?"
The man sighed and pulled his glasses off to message the bridge of his nose. "I only have one biological nephew. The other two are adopted or at least are in the process of being adopted in the case of one of them. It doesn't matter, the one you are probably thinking of is the one that was hurt."
Tsunagu nodded in understanding as he thought of the green haired boy that he had seen a few pictures of. His stomach twisted slightly at the thought that something might have happened to him. "What happened then? You are not one to exaggerate."
The man looked quite visibly upset which immediately set off alarm bells for Tsunagu. "You remember the Slime Villain Incident from a few months ago?"
How could he forget with the son of some of his primary designers caught up in it? "That was the incident that Death Arms tore his shoulder during to help Bakugou Katsuki."
He nodded. "Katsuki wasn't the only kid that the Villain grabbed like that. Less than half an hour before that, Izuku was grabbed and freed by All Might. The man used a full power Texas Smash in a partially enclosed area and then not only failed to take the Villain behind the attack into custody properly but failed to ensure that Izuku got any form of medical attention. We were extremely lucky that his broken ribs from the incident didn't slip until he was at the hospital visiting Katsuki the next day."
Tsunagu was never more glad that his costume hid the lower half of his face given that he felt his jaw drop in complete shock. No wonder the man was so clearly hostile with his former partner. "If what you're saying is true, then Katsuki should have never been attacked in the first place."
The man nodded grimly. "Both boys got extremely lucky that All Might's mistakes did not cost them their lives. I have been trying to pressure him into retiring for years but now I am working on getting the Commission to force the issue. What is worse is that the more I have looked into it, the more cases like this I have dug up. Part of me feels guilty for going and founding my own Agency since it is clear to me now that I was the only reason he had been following protocol for nearly two decades."
Tsunagu felt ill at the thought of what had happened to both boys. Desperate to not think about it further for now, he changed the subject. "Is that why you are here? You haven't attended a convention in years."
Sir's face softened. "No. I'm here this year because Izuku asked that I attend." An amused smile crossed his face. "He is here dressed up as me actually."
Tsunagu felt a shaky smile tugging at his cheeks. "That is pretty cute. I will have to keep an eye out for him."
The man's grin widened a bit more. "He is here with Katsuki and a few others in costume. From what I've heard, Katsuki is here as you."
Thinking of the spitfire of a child that he had crossed paths with over the years, Tsunagu felt his smile soften. "Well that is something for me to look forward to seeing then."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Hitoshi was struggling not to laugh as he walked beside Tenya to meet up with the rest of their group. Hitoshi hadn't believed that Tenya would actually do it when he had thrown out the suggestion. He had just been joking.
Beside him, walking fairly confidently in a pair of heels, was Tenya dressed in a Midnight cosplay. Apparently, at some point Tensei had been dared to wear it and given that Tenya was basically the same build and height as his older brother at this point… Well, it saved Tenya a lot of trouble making something.
Of course, Hitoshi himself had literally just taken one of his Dad's extra costumes for the day so he couldn't judge Tenya for just going with what he had easily available to him since Katsuki refused to sew more than the costumes for himself and Izuku outside of making Hitoshi a utility belt. The only pieces he had really needed for his costume himself had been that belt and the costume goggles that Izuku had made for himself back when he had thought he was going to come as Eraserhead.
Tenya spotted their friends/family before he did, likely due to the extra height his shoes afforded him. "Izuku, Katsuki!" He waved vaguely in the direction in front of them.
From the other side of the crowd Hitoshi heard Izuku give a cheer before the pair melted out of the crowd, both looking like spitting images of the heroes they were mimicking, albeit shorter. "There you two are! Have you seen Shoto yet?"
Hitoshi shook his head, feeling the goggles on his forehead slipping down. "We just got here. Tenya attracted a bit of attention on the train ride over so that slowed us down."
"Some of them were rather rude about it. I am hardly the first person to dress as a hero of the opposite gender to themselves never mind the fact that Aunt Nem was the one behind this costume even getting made."
Katsuki shook his head. "Most Extras are idiots. You brought a change of shoes in case you need to get out of those heels though right?"
Tenya nodded and gestured to the bag that Hitoshi had slung over his back. "Hitoshi is carrying them for me."
Izuku nodded in understanding. "Tomura has our stuff at the gaming table he is hanging out at."
Hitoshi's brows shot up at that. "He hates Heroes, what the hell is he doing…" He trailed off as a worrying thought hit him. "He isn't going to ruin the con is he?"
Izuku shook his head. "No, he and the rest of the League are here just to bother Endeavor. They would have done All Might too but I talked Tomura out of it since we only got here after his panel had ended and disrupting the signings would affect the other heroes doing signings at the time."
"Who are the League?" A now familiar voice drifted up from behind Izuku.
Izuku spun on the spot to greet the heterochromatic boy. "Oh there you are, Shoto! The League is just what my brother calls his group of friends. Are you dressed up as All Might or the Skycrawler?"
The boy, who was wearing normal clothes under an All Might hoodie, gave Izuku a puzzled look. "Who is the Skycrawler?"
Hitoshi pulled out his phone and started to pull up an image. "The Skycrawler was one of the Naruhata Vigilantes."
"Oh, I guess I am here as him then. I just bought the hoodie because I wasn't sure I would be able to get anything more complicated past my father. So why are your brother and his friends going to bother my father, not that I am complaining?"
Izuku gave him a soft grin. "Oh it is because Dabi hates your father as much as my brother hates All Might."
The boy gave a slow blink as he seemed to process that. "I feel like that created more questions than it answered."
Katsuki rolled his eyes. "You better get used to that Icyhot since that is just how the Nerd works."
Shoto shifted his puzzled look to Katsuki. "Icyhot?"
Katsuki shook his head. "Like your Quirk dumbass."
"I understand that I am just wondering why you are calling me that."
The reason behind his confusion clicked to Hitoshi first. "Kats gives everyone he considers important nicknames so congrats on that I guess."
Katsuki glared at Hitoshi for that. "Congrats you guess? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
Hitoshi gave the hotheaded boy an unrepentant smile. "Just what it sounds like Kats."
Before they could start really bickering over that, Izuku cut in. "Now that we are all here, why don't we get started looking around? The only panels I want to go to are Uncle Mirai's and the 'Put Your Hands Up' Radio live broadcast panel tonight. What about you guys?"
Hitoshi shrugged. "I don't really care outside of those panels either."
Katsuki huffed. "We are going to see Best Jeanist's panel and are going to his signing."
Izuku nodded before turning to Tenya and Shoto. "What about you two?"
Tenya shrugged. "While I wouldn't mind swinging by to see my brother at either his panel or signing, I wouldn't be upset if we didn't get around to it. I have normally only hung out with him and his Sidekicks at past HeroCon's."
Shoto also shrugged as all eyes fell on him. "If you know when your brother and his friends are going to bother my father, I wouldn't mind seeing that in person."
Izuku pulled his cell phone from his suit jacket's inner pocket and sent off a quick text. A moment later he gave a thumbs up. "Tomura says he will call me when he kicks things off. They are waiting for Himiko to come back to start."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Midoriya Himiko was having the time of her life. It was amazing how much had changed in her life over just under two months. She loved her new family and it was clear that they loved her back which was a major change from what she had been used to. Plus now she could have as much blood as she wanted and no one judged her for it.
She was no longer the eldest sibling which was a bit of a change but she still had little Izuku as a baby brother. And now she had older brothers too! She didn't care what they said, Dabi was just as much her, Izuku and Tomura's older brother from how they all acted around each other. Dabi and Tomura reminded Himiko of her old younger twin brothers who loved to fight constantly with one another but would have attacked anyone who hurt the other. As much as the pair claimed to hate each other, they were constantly watching out for one another when around non family members. Himiko suspected Izuku was of a similar mind.
Presently, she was shopping the various merchant booths dressed in one of her new cute outfits her new Mom had bought her with the newest League member, a thief who went by the name Mr. Compress strolling along at her heels wearing a more lowkey outfit then his norm to blend in. He had turned up in the bar a few nights prior at Giran's recommendation. He had been looking for All for One, following stories that had been passed down in his family of the man, claiming to be interested in following in his great, great grandfather's footsteps. A fact that was exciting enough for Himiko's new Dad to ask that Tomura consider adding him to the League.
Himiko personally didn't care either way if he joined or not but she did have to admit he was fun to hang around despite him being apparently 14 years older then herself. He had a flair for the dramatic in most everything he did that she appreciated. Plus he had smuggled her knives into the Con so there was that going for him too.
Himiko turned and held up a rather nice knife from a merchant's table for him to see, "What do you think of this one?"
The currently unmasked man hummed in though as he took it and flipped it around in his hand. "It is a shame the balance is so far off on it, it has a rather interesting design that would play well with your overall aesthetic."
Himiko took it back and considered the ceremonial knife once more before shaking her head and placing it back on the table. "It would probably snap if I tried to use it anyways."
"Can I help you two?"
The vendor of the booth had finally noticed them. Before Himiko could speak, Mr. Compress gave a wide smile. "Ah, yes, my niece was looking for a good set of knives that she might be about to use for the upcoming entrance exam for UA's hero course. She has a blood based quirk so they are a bit of a necessary support item for her."
Himiko felt a grin pull at her cheeks at the man's quick thinking. "Yeah, I have a set right now that works but I was hoping for an upgrade."
The man working the booth took in her fanged grin and gave one in return. "Ah, I know that feeling. The knife the two of you were playing with was made to be a display piece but we have proper blades here too. Just keep in mind that you won't be able to walk around the convention with them so I will either have to ship them to you later or I can have them held for you to take home at the end of the day if you are sticking around that long."
Mr. Compress nodded beside her. "That is completely understandable."
Himiko let her hands rest on the table as she leaned forward with a grin. "Yeah! Now what sort of pretty blades do you have that I can throw?"
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Tomura was starting to be tempted to Decay Dabi again with how the older man's anxious energy in the chair next to him was starting to distract him from the fighting game he was kicking ass at. "She is fine, Burnt Bitch."
Dabi glared at him but finally stopped bouncing his leg. "I don't trust him."
"Me either but Himiko is more the capable of stabbing him if he tries anything stupid with her. Besides, Izuku seems to like him. I trust his judgment over my own when it comes to new people anyways."
"I just wish that Kurogiri could have come."
"Kurogiri is too distinctive looking, not that you aren't, but unlike the rest of us, he can't fully disguise himself and use his Quirk."
Dabi sighed and slumped farther down into his seat. "I know that. Still I wish you would have waited to test the guy out until after the convention. There are too many people here to make things go wrong."
"His Quirk makes it so we won't have to rely on Kurogiri to get away. Just relax, if you look too tense, you could attract unwanted attention from some of the Heroes."
Before he could argue more, Himiko and Mr. Compress stepped free of the crowd to the obvious relief of the arsonist beside him. Himiko ran up to them before throwing herself dramatically over their laps. "You would not believe how bad the quality of most of the knives here are. I think I might have to take Dad up on his offer to have some commissioned special for me."
Tomura snorted and ruffled her twin messy buns with his gloved hand. "I told you that you probably wouldn't find any good shit here. They don't sell real support items like that to the general public."
"Well I wouldn't say it was a total waste. We did find one set of throwing knives at a booth belonging to another fellow with a blood Quirk. He gave us the contact information to the company that manufactures them so that we could buy more of them in bulk if need be."
Tomura felt his brows shoot up to his hairline. "How the hell did you manage that without raising any suspicion?"
The brunette gave a soft grin. "Oh, you just have to know what are the right buttons to push to sell the narrative. It is the same as with any magic trick. The secret is figuring out what lie the observer wants to believe."
Tomura blinked in shock as he considered the man before him. Beside him, Dabi was looking equally confused. "Handjob, remind me to never doubt your brother again."
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Kirishima Eijiro was pretty sure that this had to be his best HeroCon he had attended yet. While, yes, there was a severe lack of Crimson Riot merch this year, that was made up for by the fact that he was able to come here on his own without his mother hovering nervously behind him the whole time.
He was currently seated in the room that the panel All Might's former Sidekick, Sir Nighteye, would be hosting. It was a surprising popular panel given the topic, Investigative Heroics, but that likely had to do with the fact that Sir Nighteye had been rather reclusive for the past few years, though if the rumors online were true, he had likely been busy enjoying what was left of his son's childhood.
Speaking of, now that the panel was only minutes from starting, a boy around the same age as Eijiro himself wandered up to the table in full, Sir Nighteye cosplay before pulling out a chair beside the hero himself and sitting down. And when Eijiro said full cosplay he meant it. With the boy sitting next to the hero in question, it was like the hero had a smaller clone of himself. The noise in the room petered out as the hero spoke to the boy beside him with a soft grin. "When you said you were going to come here as me, I didn't realize you had meant it so literally."
The boy returned a mirror image of the grin. "Plus Ultra."
The hero shook his head before gesturing to the green haired boy beside him. "It appears I will not be running this panel alone today. As I am sure you all know from the sign outside, I am Sir Nighteye. Beside me today is my nephew that if you have been following the rumor mill is evidently supposed to be my 'Secret Love Child.'" The Hero made air quotes around the phrase as several people in the room chuckled. "My thoughts exactly."
The boy gave a wave. "You can all just call me Junior for the sake of the panel. I know my name is already out there given I have seen the original post online that started things off but this will be more fun."
The hero shook his head. "I hope you aren't expecting me to call you that."
The boy laughed. "Of course not! Do you mind if I just refer to you like normal?"
Sir Nighteye shook his head. "As if I have any hope of stopping you."
The boy held a hand to his chest in mock offense. "I'm not that bad, Uncle Mirai!"
Sir gave the boy a very clear look before turning his attention back to the room. "I think we have wasted enough time, Izuku. Now let us get to the actual topic of this panel…"
As entertaining and unexpected as that had been, Eijiro found his attention pulled to the tall thin blonde man sitting beside him. When the boy, "Izuku" had first appeared, he could help but notice the man become tense. Something that didn't fade over the whole panel. By the end of the panel, Eijiro resolved to himself that he would check on the man afterwards.
"...And with that, I suppose I should open the floor for Q&A. If you have a question, line up at the microphone. Hopefully we can get through everyone before we need to leave for the next panel to set up."
A boy with lavender hair rushed the mic from his seat. "Are the two of you sure he isn't your Secret Love Child?"
To everyone's surprise that earned a groan from the pair. Sir pulled off his glasses before hiding his head in his hands. "Please don't encourage the rumor."
Izuku pulled out his phone and pointed to it threateningly. "I have your Dad on speed dial!"
The boy paled. "Sorry Izu! Uncle Mirai!" He darted away from the mic as quick as he had appeared.
Sir Nighteye gestured in the vague direction he had run. "Since I know it will be asked, that was another one of my nephews. He finds the fact that people think Izuku is my son hilarious."
Eijiro found himself tuning out the rest of the Q&A as the man beside him pulled himself to his feet and basically fled the room. He saw a look of recognition on both the faces of the two hosting the panel but neither acknowledged the man beside that. Too curious to drop the mystery, Eijiro followed the man out. It took a few hallways with how much longer the man's strides were and his head start but he managed to catch up with him. "Hey, dude, are you alright? You left in the middle of the panel."
The man jumped slightly before turning to look at Eijiro. "Ah, my apologies if I worried you young man. I hadn't planned on sticking around through the whole panel in the first place. Places to be and all that."
Eijiro gave him an appraising look. "You and Sir Nighteye know each other right? Is there a reason you tensed up when you saw his nephew join him there?"
The man made a placating gesture. "Nothing bad I assure you! I was just not expecting Sir Nighteye to so openly acknowledge his nephews in public after the fact he never mentioned them over the years that we worked together."
"Oh! Are you a retired Hero?"
The man took on a pained look. "No, just an assistant. I have worked for All Might for decades so Sir Nighteye and I go back a ways."
Eijiro nodded. "That makes sense. I don't know why I never thought about the fact that All Might probably had an assistant to help him out. It is obvious in hindsight."
The man seemed more relaxed now as he offered Eijiro a smile. "Yes, assistants like myself are the unsung heroes of the industry. I am always impressed by the heroes without one that are on top of things to the degree Sir Nighteye is. The fact he is so successful with just himself and two Sidekicks is practically unheard of but I don't suppose I should be surprised given that he was always on top of things back when he worked with All Might."
Eijiro found himself nodding along with the man. "I guess that is something to keep in mind when I become a Hero myself."
"Oh, are you in a Hero course?"
Eijiro found himself sighing and shaking his head. "Not yet. I am aiming to go to UA next year but I am not confident about my chances with the entrance exam." He held up a hand Hardening it. "Don't get me wrong, my Quirk is plenty useful but it isn't exactly the most exciting thing."
The man gained a thoughtful look. "You don't need a Flashy Quirk to do well as a hero though I wouldn't say your Quirk is lacking in that department myself. Are you familiar with the Hero Crimson Riot?"
With that, Eijiro had decided this man was his new best friend.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
As Toshinori spoke with the black haired boy, he found himself cheering up for the first time since Tsukauchi had verbally ran him through the wringer. While Toshinori wasn't sure if the boy before him had the spark he had been searching for, he had more potential then anyone he had seen thus far in heroic spirit at least. The boy had followed him from the panel to check on him which was a testament to his character for doing so with a complete stranger.
Perhaps this would be his successor. His Quirk at least should help protect him from the drawbacks of One for All at the very least. Perhaps that would have to be enough. He was out of time. Come hell or high water, he would not be the number one Hero anymore come ranking time. Mirai had guaranteed that at the very least with his investigation. The Commission wouldn't remove him from the top 10 this next year themselves but the number one spot belonged to Endeavor even if the other man had yet to realize it yet.
Making up his mind, Toshinori found himself cutting the boy off. "You know, if you want help preparing for the UA entrance exam, I might be able to help you out…"
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Inside One for All, the First gave a cry of frustration. "Finally!"