In Her Name [BNHA x Reader]

[63] The Meaning of Fate

Mr. Might has a surprise for me.

That was the thought repeating in your head when you step off the bus.

You hear it when you get to the dorm, when you change your shoes for slippers, and when you arrive in front of your door.

"Mr. Might has a surprise for me," you said.

Curiously, you hadn't seen All Might this whole time. You chalked it up to the surprise. After all, it wouldn't be a surprise if you were expecting it.

Long metal fingers reached out to punch in your passcode. Then you opened the door.

In the center of the room sat a box.

Brightly-colored balloons floated about above the box, attached by thin string.

You had never seen a balloon before.

This must be the surprise.

You walked forward and closed the door without looking back once.

Carefully, cautiously, you approached the foreign objects.

You poked the red one and it bounced away haphazardly.

Backing off for the moment, you observed the balloon. It rotated on a constantly tipping axis. A second later, it made a slow return to its brethren.

Your gaze tracked downwards.

The string kept the balloon attached to the box. In order to separate the red balloon from the others, you'd have to get rid of the string. When observing a new entity, using a single subject was best.

You saw a note.

You crouched, swiftly retrieved the paper, and retreated to a safe corner of the room to read it.

How do you do, my bionic boy?

At the time you're reading this, I expect it to be some time in the evening.

I apologize for not giving this to you myself. I had something come up today and won't be returning till very late.

So that was why you hadn't seen him.

You kept reading.

Anyway, enough of that!

Let this old man give you some wisdom.

When I was your age, I felt the fate of the world was on my shoulders. You must be feeling the same way.

You tilted your head.

What is fate?

The new word rolled around in your mind.

You took a second to search it up.

Fate: the course of someone's life, or the outcome of a particular situation for someone or something, seen as beyond their control.

The rest of the note was a brief telling of All Might's youth. He had long trusted you with the secret of One For All, so now he was going into a bit more detail about his past.

At one point, he'd been in Midoriya's place. He'd strived to meet the expectations of his master and of the world waiting for its new savior.

All Might went on to tell you about the feelings he experienced. The near-overwhelming responsibility, the pressure to be flawless. And even now, he was having trouble letting go of his former identity as the Symbol of Peace.