#mighty shield

Dave bought him his first piece of off brand merchandise. It was a felt key chain with his face on it that ‘Kachow!’ on it in bold letters. David had been sputtering and red faced as he shakily handed the trinket to Toshi. He grabbed the offending item, tossed it over his shoulder and gave Dave a sound kissing as punishment. But still his boyfriend persisted until it became almost a game.

“Nooooooo,” Toshinori said, torn between laughter and horror as he took in his American boyfriend sauntering around their shared college dorm in a terrible All Might tank top with even worse All Might boxers topped by All Might knee socks. “David Jackson Shield, how could you?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Dave said, giving his behind a little shake to emphasize the horrible miscolored version of him on the boxers. “I’m just supporting my famous transfer student boyfriend.” He chases Dave around, trying to get him out of those offending clothes. And he does, eventually. 

“Why do you waste money on this crap,” Toshinori complains as he dutifully hangs the All Might themed car deodorizer on the Might Mobile’s rearview mirror.

“Because it annoys you,” David chirped, before his expression became sad. “You’re going back to Japan at the end of the semester. I’ll need something to remember you by.”

“I’ll write,” Toshi offered hopefully, “I’ll visit.” 

“Yeah but it won’t be the same,” David shrugged self-consciously, “at least I’ll have Off Might to keep me company.”

“Send me the worst things you can find,” Toshi said boldly, grabbing David’s hand. “The most disgusting, embarrassing merch you can find. Send it all to me.”

“Oh you’re going to regret that Mister Big Shot,” Dave grinned, his nose wrinkling. “You’ll be so famous you’ll have to buy a warehouse to fill with bad merchandise.” 

A few month later, at the airport gate back to Japan, David pulls Toshi down by his jacket in order to kiss him. It’s slow, languid, full of love and pain. When Toshi sits down in his seat, he finds David has deposited a small, poorly stitched All Might plush into his jacket’s inner pocket. He held that stupid plush to his face and cried into it as if that would bring Dave back to him.

True to his word, Toshinori gets packages in the mail periodically with updates on Dave’s life and a bad piece of merchandise. Toshi always groaned, took a selfie with said bad merch and attached the photo in his letter back. The packages became more sporadic as both Toshi and David’s career launched, as Dave married and had a daughter, as Toshi fought for justice an ocean away. When he was injured, Nighteye brought in a package containing an All Might blanket with the colors inverted and Toshi almost cardiac arrested again. It had been the first time he’d laughed since he woke up in a hospital bed.

Toshi began buying his own stuff after that, it made him laugh when so few things did these days. And if he closed his eyes, he could almost hear Dave’s laugh in his ear, feel his kiss on his lips. He had given so much in pursuit of Peace but the loss of his first and only love burned into him. He’d become desensitized to the collection of horrible All Might merch that he sometimes forgot when he invited guests over.

“All Might,” young Midoriya laughed, high pitched and nervous not like Dave’s husky chuckle. “What is all this, it looks like my room only... can’t you afford uh better merch?”

Toshinori thinks of the blanket on his bed to keep him warm when he wakes up alone and afraid. He thinks of the googly eyed mug to drink coffee out of during the mornings he has no one to talk to. He thinks of the worn plushie and the last kiss he never wanted to come.