Jugram heard the door click as Torino exited. Before unpacking his things, he took a moment to sit silently. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he exhaled softly, letting the tension seep away slowly. After the past few days of constant hubbub, it felt nice to have a moment of peace after all the chaos and trauma.
"Dibs on this bed," Jugram said, flopping down onto one of the beds.
"Alright, I wanted the other one anyway," Yuto said, sitting on his bed in a more dignified manner.
"I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised." Jugram began, his head thoroughly buried into the nest of pillows he had hastily constructed. "Everything seems alright here."
"I think this will be a good opportunity for us," Yuto agreed, clenching his fist. "Living with a Pro Hero. It's practically guaranteed that we'll become strong."
Deliberately ignoring the poor logic behind that statement, Jugram voiced a question to his friend.
"Are you going to ask him to train you?" He asked.
"Of course," Yuto said, looking at Jugram in confusion. "Why wouldn't I? He's a PRO HERO for crying out loud."
Just wait until he learns that Gran Torino taught All Might. Jugram chuckled softly at the thought before pausing. He then eyed Yuto more critically. He hadn't forgotten about his hypothesis that his friend had also awakened his quirk due to immense trauma, but he still needed to test it.
The easy way would be to use his quirk and see, but he still hadn't experimented with the awakening within himself much yet, either. The extent to which he would be able to sense and manipulate awakenings was unknown, but he intended to find out soon. That was one of his goals for the upcoming few years.
However, for the moment, Jugram chose the direct approach. He theorized that Yuto's awakening augmented his physical boost to include the boy's senses as well, so he threw a pillow at his friend when his back was turned.
Yuto, without turning, sidestepped the throw. The pillow flew past him, missing by a hair's breadth and smacking into the wall instead. As the pillow slid to the floor, Yuto turned in surprise and excitement to face Jugram.
"Did you see that!?" Yuto asked, "Without even looking."
"I saw it," Jugram said with a smile, caught up in the enthusiasm, "How did you do it though?"
That gave Yuto pause. He stopped and began rubbing his face.
"Uhh... I don't know how to describe it." He began, "It was like the air told me something was coming."
"The air told you?" Jugram asked, suprised.
"Yeah. It's the same way I can tell you're in the room with me, even when I close my eyes." he explained, "Well, one of the ways at least."
This truly piqued Jugram's curiosity. Initially, he had believed the awakening had been a good, but mostly quality-of-life improvement. Yet, it seemed much more significant than he had initially given it credit to be.
Granted, he had only been thinking about it for a few minutes, but still. He should have known better.
"How exactly can you sense me?" Jugram asked, "Tell me everything. I think it's important."
"Well, I can smell you for one. I can also hear you breathing." Yuto started, counting off on his fingers as he went, "Then, like I was saying, the air feels different. Every breath or movement sends a ripple in the air. Although it's too chaotic outside to sense too much."
Is this guy Toji? What the hell?
For an instant, there was an urge that welled up from within Jugram. It screamed for him to take Yuto's quirk. The physical enhancement alone was already worth having, but this extrasensory ability was just as valuable. When combined-
He pushed down the thoughts with an effort of will. Then, he shook his head as if to rid it of the idea entirely. I am better off with Yuto beside me than possessing his power on top of mine alone.
While Jugram was a fan of the 'Solo Badass Protagonist' trope as much as the next man, it was a story trope for a reason. In almost all circumstances, having more people is better than just one. There are a few exceptions, but on average, it's better to have friends and people watching your back. In no way did that mean he wouldn't acquire all the power he could, but he would throw a few quirks Yuto's way.
It was already shown what AFO could do with his quirks against All Might in Kamino. Jugram could already imagine Yuto with three or four more physical enhancement quirks: a gigantification quirk, a hardening quirk like Kirishima or Tetsutetsu, super regeneration, and a movement quirk like Overclock.
Forget about Gigantomachia. Yuto would be all I need to rip anybody apart. Thinking of that, he quickly reminded himself to try and convince his friend to take on the name Juggernaut in the future. That was a different discussion for a different day, though.
"Well," Jugram said, clearing his throat, "When did you start being able to do all of this stuff? The hearing, smell, and feeling the air, I mean."
"I guess once we ended up in the hospital. I just figured that it was because of the medicine." Yuto said with a shrug.
Jugram opened his mouth to respond, then closed it. There was plenty of time in the future to explain to his friend about quirk awakenings. For now, they needed to get to the other room and learn about their new life. They had already taken enough time loafing around and resting.
. . .
Ten minutes later, he and Yuto walked to Gran Torino's apartment next door. Jugram quickly knocked on the door and stepped back, but Torino simply called out for them to enter, so he grasped the handle and stepped into the room.
The inside was about how he expected it to be. It looked about the same as it would when Deku came to train here in the future, except everything was brand new. Torino sat on a plump couch in the room, so the two boys quickly occupied the surrounding chairs so that they were facing their new adoptive parent.
"First things first," Torino said, running a hand through his white hair, "I'm Sorahiko Torino, but you can call me Sorahiko or Torino, anything you like."
"I'm Yuto...Torino, I guess now." Yuto said hesitantly.
"You don't need to take my last name if you don't like it. That goes for both of you." Torino said seriously before turning to Jugram.
"I'm Jugram Van Hohenheim." Jugram said, preparing to set something straight right from the beginning, "I just want to say that I am not going to take your last name, not because I don't like you, but because mine is simply cooler."
"You are awfully straightforward, aren't you?" Torino asked after a short laugh.
"It's part of my charm," Jugram said dryly.
"Good. I'll tell you two now that I am straightforward, too. I understand your situation, but I would prefer we all get along and you two listen to what I tell you and don't act up, at least until you are older." he said.
"Alright, fair enough," Jugram said as he and Yuro nodded.
"Now," Torino started, looking at Jugram with a new intensity in his eyes. It was well hidden, but there nonetheless. "What is your quirk?"
"What do you mean?" Jugram asked, knowing plainly what the man meant but wanting to see his thought process.
"Your quirk was Exchange. Now it's Blood Manipulation." Torino said seriously, "Can you manipulate quirks, or did someone do something to you?"
Does he think AFO is involved? Perhaps that's part of why he adopted us. No matter the reason, it wouldn't change his answer.
"Yes, I can trade anything. Quirks, memories, experiences, maybe even lifespan, but I haven't experimented much with that yet." Jugram replied honestly.
"So the Blood Manipulation..."
"Really is my Grandfather's quirk that he gave me. I can't take anything forcefully. They have to give it to me willingly." Jugram explained.
Torino didn't respond for a moment. He just sat forward and placed his hands together before rubbing his forehead.
"I don't need to tell you not to tell anyone else this information." Gran Torino muttered, then he turned to Yuto.
"I just have my normal quirk," Yuto said before Torino could ask the obvious question.
"He has an awakened quirk. Same with my Blood Manipulation, but I may be able to transfer the awakening to my other quirk." Jugram said, trying to lay all the information out so that Gran Torino could help him strategize. It wouldn't be helpful to hide the information.
"Awakened quirks?" Torino asked, now rubbing his head thoughtfully, inspecting the two of them. "It seems I have my hands more full with you two than I expected. Sit back and relax; apparently, we have much more to discuss."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This is, more or less, the end of the prologue/set-up. Next, there will be a time skip to the end of their Middle School era roughly, but you all have an option here.
1.) One or two more chapters where he experiments with transferring awakenings, lifespan, objects between people, etc.
or
2.) Straight into the time skip where he has already figured out everything (End the beginning phase of the novel here)
. . .
Also, comment any plot points or storylines you want to see.