Work Text:
When Meadow first started her small position at All Might Tower, she never knew how much it would impact her life so much. She had always been good at art. Even if her mother told her to go with her quirk and become a florist like herself. So, when she finished her art degree and found an amazing position overseas, she didn’t hesitate to say no to the job. It was a great opportunity to work for such a renowned hero like All Might. Even if she never met the man himself.
She had gotten a position in his advertisement team. She was grateful though it always seemed a little silly for heroes to have things like adverts. However, she admitted it was much easier to sell merchandise with people like the underdogs handling it. There weren’t very many people in her branch. It was surprising given the popularity of Japan’s #1 hero. Most of the employees worked in the business and financial aspects. It gave her plenty of space in the limited area of the studio.
The studio was amazing! Situated on the outside of the building with quite the large windows to stimulate their creativity, it let them view the entire district of Minato, Tokyo. Within held large tables cluttered with plans and a few samples of the toys in question and there Meadow spent a good portion of her time. Either on her laptop or at the sketch desk planning.
She was just finishing up on her latest venture of a new, limited-time sale poster for the All Might Silver Age action figure the agency re-released every few years when there was a knock on the door. She glanced up as one of the scheduling employees leaned through the doorway and waved.
“Ms. May-dow! Hurry up! They say All Might is down in the cafeteria right now! He just got back from saving a bus!” She huffed and gave her fellow employee a thumb’s up. She was still adjusting to how different her name sounded with the Japanese accents. It was adorable and she still caught herself stifling down giggles every now and then. She hopped off her stool and quickly walked after them. Stealing a glance of All Might in person was always a blessing in disguise. It always helped her get his look down on paper and, in general, just cheered her day up. However, by the time they got off the clock and down the flights of stairs, the hero was gone.
“Oh, I guess we missed him this time.” Meadow sighed out as she looked around the semi-busy area. Her gaze stopped on a man sitting a little to the corner of the room, looking around unconcerned as he drank from a mug. He was quite different looking than anyone she had met in the tower yet. His face was quite gaunt with sharp cheekbones that framed his face heavily. The shadows that his brows left were quite intense. And so where his icy blues, she noticed, as he turned his head and locked gazes with her. “Who’s that?”
“Oh? Have you not met him yet? That’s Mr. Yagi!” Her companion stated matter-of-factly with a wave toward the man in question. He gave them the smallest of smiles and gave a quick wave back. “He works in the second secretarial department. I mean way up the chopping block! Pretty sure he works closely with All Might himself.”
“Wow, that is pretty important. I wouldn’t really have a need to talk to someone so high up though so it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise.”
“It really is though! Mr. Yagi walks around the building a lot and says hi to everyone. He’s really nice. I bet he doesn’t realize there’s a tiny studio hidden on our floor.” Meadow shrugged and then said her goodbyes as she headed back up to finish her design for submission.
~MHA~
The next day brought her some leisure time as her new design awaited approval for print. She sat in a lounge chair and watched the traffic below. It had taken her some time to get used to being this high up. She had always been afraid of heights. The world span at times if she looked out too long though she knew she was safe and sound where she was with the glass protecting her. Nevertheless, it was beautiful and she enjoyed the quiet simplicity of watching birds and people.
“Ah! Ms. Nobuyuki was correct about this studio!” She twisted and looked around one of the support pillars hiding the door to see the gaunt man from the day before. He looked around before their glances met once again. “Hello there! I don’t think we’ve met!”
“Oh. No sir.” She bounced up from the chair and walked over to the tall man. So tall that she felt her head tip back to see his face as she got closer. She knew 5”1’ wasn’t very tall but this was ridiculous. “Ms. Nobuyuki told me your name yesterday when I first saw you though.”
“Mhm! I remember waving to the both of you! I asked her who you were when I stopped by on my rounds this morning. I couldn’t place you and it bugged me. I like to know our employees at least a little bit!” He walked up to one of the sketch tables that had held different poses of All Might in his previous fights. He picked one up to get a closer look. “These are very good. Is this charcoal?”
“Oh…. um... Yes! Good eye! I know most people tend to just work with pencil at most. And these days, it’s more work on tablets and art programs. But I do enjoy the feel of the different mediums. And sometimes it just helps me perceive what would be best for the different scenes or items.” She blushed as her new acquaintance turned his head with a brief grin. He put the piece back down slowly before walking over to the window and turning back to her as she spoke. “Sometimes, if I’m lucky, I can see All Might arriving and heading up to his roof access. It helps creativity.”
“Oh, really? I bet it must get pretty boring after a while of seeing him just jumping.”
“I mean, it makes it really hard to see him. I use him as reference for the pictures sometimes. I don’t think I’d want to go running around town to see every villain fight though!” She laughed and he gave out a huff of amusement.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Ms. ...”
“Oh! Sorry. My name is Meadow Larkin. It was very… nice…to…” She tried to stay on topic but, just behind the skinny man and beyond the window, there was a very large balloon that was floating quite lazily but had slowed and was now spinning. She felt like her breath was stolen from her as the other side of the balloon had a digital clock face that was counting down from three. Two. ONE. “Mr. Yagi!! Mr. Yagi, move!”
She felt her feet move before she was really thinking of her actions. Her hands wrapped around his arm and thanks to the startle she had given the man, she was able to keep the momentum up and yanked him away from the window. It left her now in a precarious area in front of him. The man barely had time to right himself before the air pressure seemed to intensify and the world devolved into reddish-white light and the most horrible screeching explosion of noise Meadow had ever encountered.
The pressure was so great that the both of them were thrown off their feet. She was catapulted right into Mr. Yagi, who stumbled backwards and fell with his arms wrapped around her lower waist to lessen the impact. But it didn’t matter to Meadow because all she could feel was an overwhelming, rippling heat scorching across her back and shoulder.
Meadow couldn’t get her bearings at all. Between the intense pain that ripped at her skin from behind and the ringing that stole her hearing away, she couldn’t move. She felt hands grip her sides harder before the world shifted once again and her back was being slammed into the floor. She felt a scream rip from her throat and she opened her eyes to see Mr. Yagi now above her and the ceiling above them giving way right on them. Then no more.
The next time she was able to get her bearings it was no better. There was black smoke filling the area. They were lucky not to have been buried it seemed. However, Mr. Yagi was laying across her and wasn’t responding to her small pushes or grunts. She was sure he was unconscious and that scared her even more the terrifying situation they were in. She managed to awkwardly flip the man off and over to his back. His head was a little bloody but other than that seemed ok as he could be.
She glanced around the studio. Or what used to be the studio, the windows and walls had been blown to smithereens to leave a gaping hole in the tower. She tried to keep breathing evenly through the pain and terror. She should go get help. However, she didn’t want to leave Mr. Yagi either. She looked over at the man before grimacing. While she wasn’t someone like All Might, she had plenty of strength from helping her mother with landscaping and gardening.
She grabbed him and managed to get the most awkward fireman lift going. She cried out as she tried to stand. The agony was overwhelming and it made her stumble to the side before she caught herself. She could do this. She just had to get to the main hall and find someone. She took measured careful steps to try and distract herself from the pain. The door was so close.
Then came the ominous cracking sound that echoed through the building. Wrenching metallic sounds started up and she felt the floor beneath her shaking violently before it disappeared all together. She had mere seconds where she felt weightless. Then she quickly caught up with gravity as it dumped her back on the now steeply sloped floor that was continuing to break through and crash down into the lower floors. Her feet scrabbled against the sliding debris to try and halt their sliding but nothing slowed them down as they continued roughly into the gaping hole.
She tried as hard as she could to keep her grip on Mr. Yagi but as they started to reach the near end, the compiled floors started to bow in the middle before snapping then flipping up. It threw them both back into the air where she lost her hold on the unconscious man. She was slammed into a wall where she dropped ungracefully to the rubble covered floor below with a hard and heavy thud. She couldn’t help but let out another scream followed by a sob as something pierced her soft, unprotected middle.
After a few more silent sobs of pain and some gagging, she pushed to her hands and knees with a wretched gasp. She let her head dangle between her arms for a minute and couldn’t stop herself from noticing a ghastly sight. A large splinter of wood was currently impaled into her abdomen and was slowly dripping blood. She swung her head back up so she didn’t have to look at it anymore. She couldn’t stop. She had to find Mr. Yagi and find help. Even more so now that she could see the flames growing more into an inferno each second.
She slowly got to her feet, bracing herself with her hands against her knees and looked around. Meadow stumbled around looking for the bright blonde hair and hoped to any gods out there that the man wasn’t buried or worse. Eventually she spotted him and to her great relief no worse for wear other than scratches. She got the man up and back on her shoulders. However, walking was intensely harder than it had been just minutes before.
Meadow trudged on while silently chanting they would both pull through and that she could do this tremendous task. Her knees shook with every other step and she couldn’t help but grunt under the man’s weight. She didn’t understand how this man could be so heavy. Looks were definitely deceiving in this case. She let out another sob but this time of delight as she noticed an emergency exit sign indicating stairs were near.
She took the turn to the exit hard and wound up grinding Mr. Yagi’s shoulder harshly into the interior stone. She looked him over quickly when she received a grunt in return but the man still seemed mostly unconscious. However, she was thrilled at this turn. If he could even unconsciously respond, then he may wake up soon and help her a little. She started with heavy steps down the stairs. Due to the weight of another person, her balance was precarious at best and she didn’t want to end up dropping this poor gentleman for the third time since the explosion.
They had just reached the middle of the second flight when the building made an ominous rumbling sound again. She stopped and braced herself against the wall with her forearm and tried to take calming breaths as much as her stomach would allow. She started to put her foot toward the next step when the following aftershock sent a huge crack through the cement. Screaming a bit, Meadow hitched herself backwards with as much force as possible. It ended up slamming Mr. Yagi into the wall where they both slid to the floor. Her elbow slipped and slammed into his left side rather hard.
Her wish came true. The man gasped harshly and let out a series of coughs that rattled the both of them. She felt him jerk behind her before he was suddenly pushing himself up. A large hand grabbed her shoulder as he stabilized himself. She felt a tang of guilt at the harsh breaths he was letting out.
“Oh thank god! Mr. Yagi! You woke up! YOU WOKE UP!”
The man startled at the harsh yell and swung his head around toward her. She didn’t want to imagine how horrible she must look but it must have been pretty bad as she watched the color leave his face some. She let out a soft sob and grabbed his arm. Once she started she couldn’t stop. She unconsciously brought her hand up to wipe her face but the hand on her shoulder swiftly went to grasp her wrist.
“It’s alright, miss. You shouldn’t touch your face right now. It’s ok. Can you calm down for me and explain what happened. I can’t quite remember what happened to get us here.” He got her to shift forward and managed to get to his feet under him. She watched him look around as she got her crying back under the reigns. He eventually seemed to get his bearings back as well and turned on his heels to direct his serious gaze back to her.
“I-i-it was a b-bomb. You were asking m-me my name and this weird b-balloon just stopped behind you. I tri-ied to get you to move! I just ended u-up throwing myself in front of you-u.” With that the man jerked a bit before grabbing her shoulders gently and turning her to face the stair with the giant crack. He cursed behind her softly and gasp escaped as tingly hot pain rippled through her back at a slight brush of his fingers. “You must have turned us around when we hit the ground because the next thing I kn-know you were out cold on top of me.”
“I’m so sorry. You should have gone ahead without me.” He smoothed his hand over her shoulder for comfort.
“No-oo-o! I couldn’t... “ She sobbed before continuing. “I didn’t even get far with you before the floor just fell through! I don’t know what level we’re on but we just kept going down and down and ... I tried to keep you safe! You wouldn’t have been able to do anything to save yourself alone! I couldn’t just leave you. I couldn’t just leave you there hurt, Mr. Yagi!”
Mr. Yagi looked a tad upset at that. His eyes darted around her figure before it landed where her hand was braced against her abdomen and his face went a pallid grey. He grimaced and sucked a breath in through his teeth. He looked up at the stairwell once more before standing.
“We need to move. If what you said really did happen then the building’s integrity may be compromised and best to move as quickly as possible. Please, let me help you up!” He jumped closer and helped her come to a stand. He gestured to her to wait before testing the step’s stability. He takes her hand after he decides it’s safe and they move steadily but quickly down the stairs.
They managed to cover a rather considerable amount of ground despite her injuries before another small rumble echoed around them. Mr. Yagi’s face was set in stone but determined. He wasn’t scared and it bolstered Meadow’s own spirit a bit just watching him take the lead. He seemed to know where they were going. It made sense if he was one of the upper level managers. Maybe them and All Might alone would really know how well the layout was.
However, no matter how bolstered she was, she was having a harder and harder time ignoring the pain radiating from her belly. The burning was also taking a toll. She was starting to lag. Every other minute, she would feel a tug from their connected hands as she stumbled or started to tire. She also couldn’t ignore the way Mr. Yagi kept glancing back to keep an eye on her.
The next rumble had her tripping over her own feet and she felt her knees buckle but she didn’t hit the floor. Mr. Yagi was there in front of her in seconds to break her fall and help lower her to the ground. She heard these weird whistling sounds and she really couldn’t place it. But she could feel her chest tightening each second.
“You’re flagging fast. Too fast to be a good sign. I want you to do something for me, ok?” He turned around and opened his arms. “I need you to trust me and climb on my back.”
“But I’ll be too heavy…” She managed to pant out through the pain.
“I’m much stronger than I look. I promise. I won’t ever drop you.”
“Ok…” She slipped her arms around the thin neck of Mr. Yagi before gently climbing up, being careful of the wooden piece still stuck in her gut. His arms tightened around her thighs before standing up rather quickly. Then they were off in a snap. Meadow found herself amazed at the frail-looking man. He didn’t just hold her up! He was running with her!
And so they started down the long trek that was All Might Tower’s exit staircase. She was trying to pay attention in case she was needed but her eyes were starting to get heavy and they felt like they were on fire. More than once her chin would hit the man’s boney shoulder before bouncing back up. However, soon it started happening with less time between each dip of her head. Eventually, she let her head completely rest down on the man with a whimper.
“Hey! Hey!” She hadn’t even realized her eyes had slipped closed but she managed to lift her weight lids to get a glimpse at the side of Mr. Yagi’s face. “You know it just occurred to me that we never really finished our introduction! Please forgive me for forgetting your name… But I would certainly like to know the name of my new hero.”
“Ah. Yeah, I can’t really say I blame you for forgetting, Mr. Yagi. My name is Meadow. Meadow Larkin. We’re basically a family of plant people. I was the black sheep and went with arrtt.” She tried to explain with a thick tongue. Even she noticed the slightest slur to her words at the end and tried clearing her throat.
“My name is Toshinori. You don’t have to be so formal in English if it's easier you. Makes me feel kind of old, actually!” She gets a boisterous but strained sounding laugh.
“English? No. No English, I’m talking in Japan… Japani... Japanese, I mean.”
“Hmm, maybe you didn’t notice? You’ve been talking in English since we met. It’s alright! I am very fluent in it. I lived in America for some time, you see.”
“Oh, thas cooool….” She let her eyes drift back closed and felt her face sink more into the shoulder below. She was so tired and she didn’t quite understand why.
“Hey! Meadow!? I need you to stay awake for me, my dear. I know you just want to sleep but you HAVE to stay awake!”
“ . . . Mnn.”
There was a soft curse before her hearing blipped out completely to leave only ringing in its wake. However, Meadow would later swear to everyone that she would bet all of her art supplies to back her claim that Yagi Toshinori grew three times his size underneath her. The world shifted and she felt large arms slip around her. She could just imagine it was her father and his big bear hugs. She muttered her gratitude before the rest of her world slipped away and she knew no more.
~MHA~
Meadow Larkin would say with some certainty that she wasn’t the strongest person in the world. But she made her way through life ok. The following month after waking up in the hospital had been extremely rough. She learned that the wood had clipped her stomach pretty bad. They managed to save most of it but she had to learn what she could eat and what would cause issues. The burns she had gotten from taking the brunt of the blast had been very severe. She was lucky to be alive, they had told her. The skin grafts were a constant. But between the doctors, their various healing quirks, and her stubbornness, she did heal.
During her time outside of the operating room, physical therapy, and sleeping, she learned that the attack on All Might Tower had been the work of a group of villains, disgruntled at heroes and the world. The giant bomb had been made with a highly flammable quirk. It had ripped a giant hole in the side of the building. So many people had been injured. A slightly less number of them had died.
All Might had made an official statement to the press. He was grieving for the loss of his beloved employees and apologized for how he had arrived so late to the scene. He thanked the braved civilians who had risked personal injury to help those around them in the building reach safety. She had been upset but silent through his speech. A nurse had rubbed her back. Beside her, a giant bouquet of fresh flowers sat with a card written out to her from the All Might staff.
Another month later found her being wheeled out of the hospital towards a waiting car that would take her back home. And a few weeks after that she was back in front of All Might Tower. She never was one for just sitting still. What little she could do, she could do anywhere. She was walking hesitantly towards the tower. Anxiety filled her stomach with butterflies. She kept finding her feet stopping and starting like they weren’t sure where to go. She took a bracing breath, pinched her lips, and walked into the lobby.
There she was greeted by a good handful of people in a group. It was no one she recognized until Mr. Yagi stepped forward and started clapping with a small smile. The rest of the group followed suit. Before she knew it, the random people who were meandering about also joined in. Her breath hitched and she could feel tears well up. Her lips twitched up and she returned the smile before walking towards the group of men and women.
“Good morning, Mr. Ya… oh. Um. I mean… Mr. Toshinori.” She got a blinding smile as a reward.
“You remember!”
“Yes. A lot near the end got hazy but I remember.” She ducked her head and made a dramatic hand gesture to cup her mouth while looking around. “You said it made you feel OLD.”
The man belted out a pretty raucous couple of laughs before he wiped a tear away and grinned down at her. He held out a hand and took her own before leading her up to the others.
“I was worried about you! But I think you’re going to end up doing pretty well. And so sassy! I think you knew this before but I work pretty high up in the All Might food chain here at the Tower. The other members and I just wanted to make sure you know how grateful we are to you. What you did was no small feat. You’re quite the hero. All Might himself would have been here but he has a lot of responsibilities due to all this.”
“O-oh, thank you all very much. That’s ok. Mr. All Might is a pretty busy guy! I understand.” She bowed to the others once more before they left to go deal with the continuing fallout. Then she started heading towards her work station. Since that fateful day, she was filled with new ideas about how to go about advertising heroes.
The elevator took her up to her floor and she stepped off with trepidation toward the newly built studio. She smoothed her hands around her midsection to sooth the tremors. She felt herself stop right at the mouth of the door and it felt gapping. It was like she was just a small, insignificant speck as the world expanded. Like the world was exploding.
She didn’t realize she had been backing up until she felt the surface of the wall rub up against her gnarled back. The smell of smoke was stuck in her airway and the world seemed to grey out like plumes. It clashed with the sunlight she was seeing and she choked. She couldn’t catch her breath. She was dying all over again. She was ... She was being pulled into a hug. Her body gave a violent shudder and she mushed her face into the bony shoulder before her as she started to sob. It wracked her entire body and she could barely feel it as a large hand ran up and down her back in an attempt to comfort her. She heard a familiar, low-pitched rumble of a voice every now and then. She pulled away after a while as she got control back on her emotions.
“Mr. Toshinori?”
“I came to see how you were faring, Ms. Meadow. I thought you looked a bit nervous and might need some company to take your mind off things. But instead I found you in the thrall of a pretty nasty panic attack. Talking didn’t seem to work… so I thought feeling something unthreatening would?”
“Yeah, it did a little.” Meadow sniffled then looked down at her hands as she tried to bring her breathing back to normal.
“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It was a traumatizing event. You were quite a hero…”
“No-o, I wasn't!” Her voice crackled with the start of new tears, startling Toshinori.
“What do you mean? Why would you say that?”
“Because I was scared! I was so scared! That it would just be all for nothing and we would die! That I would d-...die!” They stood there in silence for a while as he let her catch her emotions again.
“Can I tell you something? It’s a bit of advice I learned working with heroes all these years. 'Brave doesn't mean you are not scared. It means you go on even though you are scared;' that’s a quote I read a bit ago that heroes really seem to emphasize. You chose to do what you thought was the right thing despite fearing for your life. In the process, you saved not only yourself but me as well. That takes true courage and strength. That's what being a hero is all about.”
“Y-you really think so? I wasn’t selfish for thinking those things?” He gave her a smile and a thumbs up.
“I really do think so.” He let his fist drop down and sighed. “Now, about the studio. I want you to know that if being in this studio is too hard for you, that’s ok as well. We don’t want you pumping out art at the expense of your own health. The board wouldn’t approve and, to be honest, neither would All Might.”
“I don’t want to be a bother…” He shook his head and sidled up to her with a hand between her shoulders to lead her away from the bright, open studio doors.
“I promise, it won’t bother us at all.”
“Mr. Yagi? Maybe it could be somewhere in the middle of the building… Without the windows.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“And an Espresso coffee machine?”
She received a guwaffing laugh as they re-entered the elevator and the door closed, leading them somewhere new for the day.