Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 70: Quirk Theory

Denki sat on Izuku's bed and let him ramble about a recent hero fight as he tried to ignore the anxiety that had been growing in his gut for the past three days. All Might's offer had come out of nowhere and he just couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't deserve it. Like seriously?! He'd just barely learned to control his own quirk, what had he done to deserve All Might's power too?! He felt like he'd fooled All Might somehow into thinking he was this great hero student with a lot of potential, so what would happen when he realized Denki was just average or even a little bit below? Would he take back his offer? Would he be mad? Would Denki still be able to be a hero if All Might hated him? Knowing that those questions were probably ridiculous didn't do anything to stop the thoughts, especially since he had absolutely nothing to compare this whole situation to.

In addition, Denki just couldn't stop staring at Izuku. If anyone deserved an awesome quirk like All Might's, it was him. He was a lot smarter than Denki was and he was a better fighter, so there was no doubt in his mind that Izuku would make a way better successor than he would. With everything that he knew about quirk theory, Izuku probably wouldn't have any problems learning how the quirk worked and if he had a quirk, there would be nothing holding him back from being one of the best heroes Japan had ever seen. It just seemed like it would be a really jerk move to accept All Might's offer when he already had a powerful quirk that he wouldn't even be able to control without Izuku's help.

Of course, that was only one of the reasons why Denki had told All Might he needed time to think about his offer. He had been understanding, as expected of the number one hero, but he had seemed a little disappointed by Denki's hesitation. It was the offer of a lifetime, he knew that! It was just...a lot and Denki didn't know if it was even possible. He'd never heard of a quirk that could be transferred before. What if All Might was lying to him?

Denki jumped with a yelp as Izuku poked his cheek, "Hey, you've been spacing out more than usual today. It's not a bad thing! I just...you can lie down for a while or we can just watch tv or something."

"Um..." Denki gave a smile that he didn't feel was very convincing. "No, don't worry about it, it's nothing."

Izuku frowned and jumped onto the bed beside him, "Ok."

"Ok?" Denki narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You're not gonna push?"

Izuku shrugged, "I have bad days where I don't really want to be pushed, so I figured I'd just be here for you? Sorry if that's awkward or not the right thing, I was just trying..."

"Your mom's at work, right?" Denki interrupted suddenly.

Izuku's eyes widened, "Um...yeah?"

Denki took a deep breath and hesitated. All Might had told him that he shouldn't tell anyone about One for All, but...Denki's brain had been racing in circles for days now and he still didn't know what to do. Maybe if he told just one person, it wouldn't be so bad? And it was just Izuku and Denki knew he could trust him! It wasn't as if All Might had to know...

But he'd promised All Might that he wouldn't tell! How could he be All Might's successor if their entire relationship was built on lies?! But he really did need advice and Izuku was looking at him expectantly now, so he couldn't just say nothing! Maybe he could talk around the issue? Like in those movies where they treated something as a hypothetical or something?

Yeah, that might work.

"Um..." Denki bit his lip nervously. "You know a lot about quirk theory, right?"

"I mean, I wouldn't call myself an expert." Izuku said. "But I've got a basic understanding of it. What does that have to do with Mom being at work."