Chapter Text
It had been the most confusing twelve hours of Izuku’s life.
The last thing he remembered before somehow waking up at home was Shigaraki’s terrifying grin and his hand around Izuku’s throat. He remembered the feeling of being choked, air refusing to enter his lungs and his eyes going dark. The world around him faded away into nothing as he heard the eight previous One for All holders scream for him to get up. He also remembered Mirio, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot…
He remembered seeing Kacchan’s corpse.
Mangled, bleeding, cold, and dead.
Izuku’s breathing hitched again and he curled his body down into his legs. Twelve hours ago, Izuku died at the hands of Shigaraki, but he also woke up safe and sound in his bedroom at home. He woke up to his old alarm, to his mom knocking on his door to wake him up, to the world being as put together as it had been in the year leading up to the UA entrance exam.
He could no longer feel the comforting presence of One for All flowing through his body. What once was a constant hum of electric power now wasn’t even there. His body was also severely different, without the muscle he had spent ten months building in order to receive his quirk. His right hand no longer had crooked fingers from the damage they sustained during the first year Sports Festival. He only had the small starburst scars from his various encounters with his bullies instead of the many, many scars he accumulated throughout his first year at UA.
Izuku sighed. He thought it’d be a good idea to go to school today. If this was indeed all a dream or some weird afterlife, then he should have no issue observing, right? Well, lucky for Izuku’s mental state, Bakugo (this was not his friend Kacchan, that friend had been killed by Shigaraki) had ignored him all day, probably still embarrassed because of the sludge villain incident from yesterday. In fact, he didn’t encounter any of his bullies. It was just like how it had happened the first time.
During that run, he relished in the quiet and the apparent space his classmates finally gave him, but current-run Izuku had a brilliant thing called hindsight and knew that they’d be back for his skin within the week. And while he knew plenty of quirkless fighting techniques from Aizawa, he couldn’t take on those kids as he was now, with his body as small and lanky as he had known for fourteen years.
He went through the rest of the day in a state of constant confusion at everything he was now noticing with his new perspective. It was strange, to be technically 16 in a class with a bunch of 13-14 year olds. He had almost two years (and a whole lot of experience with villains and war) on them. It felt kind of unfair. But then he remembered that they treated him like shit and proceeded to shove the guilt into the deep recesses of his mind. He deserved to have some sort of advantage on them and if that was the knowledge of the future, he’d take what he could get.
After he had gotten home, he changed into darker clothes and told his mom he was going on a walk. He didn’t mean to be out for nearly an hour, but that was how long it took him to walk from his home to the park. Well, to this specific park, at least. The one he and Shoto frequented. The one they called their own.
It was a fenced-off area hidden between a large apartment complex and a forest. It had a rock pond with some fish, several large trees with plenty of strong branches for climbing, and a carved stone bench beneath an overgrown willow tree that was probably older than Izuku’s own grandmother.
Izuku pulled his feet up to sit cross-legged on the bench, leaning back to look through the swaying branches into the darkening sky.
He wasn’t with Shoto during their fights. Izuku was with Shigaraki, the heirs of One for All and All for One, having the final battle between them. Shoto and his father were put in charge of Dabi- Touya? Izuku wasn’t sure what to call the man, especially after his reveal. Dabi had once just been a fire-user with weird scars and a strange hatred of Endeavor. Looking back, it all made sense now.
“Well, maybe I can find him before the League does…” Izuku thought as he closed his eyes and focused on the sound the leaves made as the breeze swept through them. If he was indeed sent back in time to ten months before the entrance exam, right after All Might offered to train him, then he had to make as many contingencies and plans as possible to prevent the future he knew from coming to pass.
Maybe he’d find Himiko Toga as well. Mom could probably help her, or find a place for her to stay. The others could be dealt with after, since they were all just products of the system. Twice could get some professional help that didn’t give up on him. Spinner shouldn’t fall for Stain’s ideology. Izuku couldn’t remember the names of the others at the moment, but if he could save them too, it’d be a nice bonus.
The real threats were All for One and Shigaraki. The former was just a year away from finishing his new body and the latter was as volatile as a Bakugo being told he wasn’t strong. It’d take a lot of work for him to do it on his own, but he’d make it work.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by the gate to the park opening and closing behind someone. Izuku barely moved his head to look over, but he felt his breathing stop when he saw an all-too-familiar head of red and white hair.
Shoto Todoroki met Izuku’s eyes and stopped dead in his tracks.
“Izuku?” The palpable relief in Shoto’s voice nearly broke him. Izuku stood from the bench slowly, shock covering his face.
“Shoto?”
Within seconds, they met in the middle in the tightest hug they’d ever shared. Izuku felt Shoto’s hand run through his curls and his own hands gripped the back of Shoto’s jacket like a lifeline, as if he could let go and the boy would disappear again.
“You’re here-“ Shoto breathed, “You’re alive.”
“I am. And so are you,” Izuku pulled away for just a second to look at Shoto’s face again. He was younger as well, fourteen in all but mind. He had some bags under his eyes and a busted lip, though, which made Izuku hug him even tighter. He was actually here and he remembered. He remembered who Izuku was. This was his Shoto. They were sent back together.
Izuku was no longer alone in this.
“Do we know what happened?” Shoto whispered, “Because the last thing I remember before waking up this morning was my brother…”
“You don’t have to say it,” Izuku just grabbed Shoto’s arm and led him to the bench to sit down, “I’m assuming our targets killed us and for some reason… we were pulled back? Possibly to fix our mistakes. To actually win this time.”
“Do you think… anyone else was pulled back with us?”
“It’s possible, but since we both died, I don’t want to think about the rest of them dying, too.”
They fell into silence and Izuku found himself fidgeting with the fingers on Shoto’s hands. He weaved them through his own, bent them, and squeezed them. It was a habit that had begun after the Kamino incident. With Izuku’s arms as damaged as they were, they caused a lot of pain when he’d fidget with them. So Shoto offered his own. It was their thing.
They were sent back together but neither of them had any idea who else was here. For all they know it could just be the two of them, but it could also be the rest of their friends, had they also died in the previous timeline. Izuku didn’t want to get his hopes up that they were the same people he spent a year fighting alongside. His mind supplied that he did have Shoto, whatever it was worth (he was worth a lot in this situation and Izuku was sure he couldn’t do this alone).
“Do you have One for All yet?”
Izuku shook his head, his curls falling in front of his eyes a bit, “We got sent far enough back for me to not have it yet, but have started my training with All Might. If I got it now, it’d blow my limbs off.”
Shoto hummed and nodded, “Alright. So we have to not only get you your quirk back, but we also have to plan out how to tackle the next two years with our knowledge. We can change so much.”
“You’re right. I don’t wanna have to live through the USJ, the training camp, or Kamino ever again.”
“Maybe we can stop Hosu from ever happening. Or…”
He noticed that pause, “Or what, Sho?”
“Or prevent Eri’s pain,” Shoto’s head fell to Izuku’s shoulder with a small sigh. That was another thing to add to the list. Izuku was probably just going to kill Overhaul if he ever saw the man again. Eri was such a sweet girl who never deserved what she got. For Overhaul to erase a blinding light was enough to warrant a public execution in Izuku’s eyes. Plus, the sooner they got her out, the sooner they could prevent the quirk-erasing bullets from being perfected and the sooner they could prevent Mirio’s loss and Nighteye’s death.
The two had a sizable amount of work cut out for them, but by all that was green and good were they gonna rifle through and make a plan so complex and intricate, it would make even Nedzu tremble in his rat-sized loafers. Actually, they might even bring him in on this, as he was invaluable in getting through this without causing legal issues. They could get their provisional licenses and go on missions with other pros. They could swerve around going to the Commission for everything. It would make it a lot easier.
But for now, Izuku relished in the presence of someone who cared for him, someone who genuinely understood his inner turmoil and pain. Shoto knew what they’d gone through, knew who they’d lost last time, and was someone to talk to throughout the next two years, even after they told people like Nedzu, All Might, and Aizawa.
It was, admittedly, the nicest feeling in the world.
~~~~~
“Okay,” Izuku pulled out the whiteboard from his closet and made sure it was fully blank before turning to a Shoto who sat on his bed surrounded by newly-filled, highly coded notebooks, “We are approximately ten months before the UA entrance exam. Our last moments were exactly one year after then, in the April-after-next.”
Izuku couldn’t sleep after the realization that they could prevent a lot of unnecessary deaths and pain for their friends. He spent the whole night after their first day in this new timeline writing down everything he remembered of their first year, then spent the morning rewriting it all in a code only they knew (it was made for war communications, Nedzu helped them create it). Nothing particularly exciting happened in these next ten months, besides training with All Might, so they had that time to plan for after they got to UA (which they would get into UA, Shoto made that clear). The two planned to meet at Izuku’s house that weekend to begin their planning.
And thus: The Board of Doom was born.
The whiteboard was split across the middle and two star-shaped magnets were placed at either end of the line. The first was labelled “timeline start” with the day the boys were sent back to and the second was labelled “AFO ambush” with the exact date of their final stand. Shoto had a spare notebook in his lap for his own note-taking and Izuku held up the one he had made specifically for the first week of school.
“So we have this section of the timeline dedicated to what we’re calling my training arc,” he took a marker and boxed around the area in question, just a little piece of the long line after the first star, “Then, we have the entrance exam, the first day, our battle trials, then the USJ.”
“And those last three all happened within the same week. School started on Monday, battle trials were Tuesday, and the USJ was Thursday,” Shoto wrote it all down at the same time as Izuku, “Three weeks later was the Sports Festival.”
“Which also was the day Iida’s brother Tensei got attacked by Stain and paralyzed-“
“Which led to him taking the internship with Manual and going after Stain himself.”
“And so the greatest inside joke was born.” Izuku rolled his eyes at his own words. Him, Shoto, and Iida rarely talked about what happened in that alleyway in Hosu, especially given the legal side of it all. But behind closed doors, with only them in the room and a vague sense of “fuck it” in the air? The three spent a lot of time perfecting the ways they could confuse the hell out of their classmates with references to their fight with the Hero Killer. However, if they had to give that up just to save Tensei Iida, then Izuku was happy to throw the whole joke away.
“After that was exams-“
“-do you think they’ll still make us fight the teachers?”
“Probably,” Shoto shrugged, “Exams, then the mall incident and the training camp disaster.”
Izuku nodded along as he quickly placed small diamond-shaped magnets along the timeline and labelled them with each event. He referred back to his own notes, adjusting them with Shoto’s input, then placed their definitive facts with each event. By the time they got to the Paranormal Liberation Front War, Izuku had gone through three markers and was now using a hot-pink one to write how Midnight had died during that fight.
Recalling the deaths of those he couldn’t save nearly killed Izuku himself. He knew that they were alive right now, maybe grading tests or out on patrol, but the fact that he had to live through a time where they were dead had certainly left damage on his psyche. Nighteye and Midnight especially. The former’s death, mixed with a new quirkless diagnosis, had nearly broken Mirio’s spirit and determination to become a hero. The latter was adored by the girls of 1-A and her death had made Ashido and Yaoyorozu grieve for weeks after, even into the Tartarus prison break. If they could stop those deaths from happening by being better this time around, Izuku wasn’t going to pull any punches.
It had taken the better part of an hour to get the bare bones of the timeline written down, but another three to finalize everything they knew. Izuku capped the marker he had written the final point with and moved to sit with Shoto on his bed to stare at the whiteboard with manic eyes and plotting minds. His notebook found a home at his feet as he lowered his chin onto his hands.
“So…” Shoto started, “That’s a lot.”
And it was. Their first year was nonstop, back-to-back life-threatening events. How they had time to still have proper school between it all was beyond them. It honestly might even be too much for just the two of them to handle.
“Let’s start with what we can prevent now. Me not having One for All kind of negates a lot.”
“Yeah, I doubt you can do much like the stick you are.”
“Shoto-“
“Tiny baby man,” Shoto teased, poking where Izuku used to have muscle and scar tissue, “Tiny man with noodle arms.”
Izuku bit back a laugh and rolled his eyes, leaning slightly away from Shoto’s hands, “God, I hate you.”
“You love me.”
“Uh huh,” he shook his head and turned back to the Board of Doom, “I’ll see if I can find more information around here if you wanna keep an eye out for stuff on your father’s level. I think our priorities right now are my training and… your brother.”
“You’ll have to stop me from punching him if we find him.”
“Good to know.”
This was going to be a very long and tense ten months.
~~~~~
“I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s the difference between the regular entrance exam and the recommendation one?”
“The recommendation one is just a big race, first to the end gets a better score.”
“Really? That’s it?”
“Well, when you’re up against a guy who can control the wind, it’s kind of difficult.”
“Hey, at least you’ve got the tricks we learned from your dad in January. That’ll probably get you a higher spot.”
“Yes, I shall be like the wind, faster than Iida, and better than everyone else.”
“Pfft. Okay, Bakugo.”
~~~~~
“Your mom is the nicest person ever, how did she survive you almost dying every week?”
“Trust me, it almost killed her. I think the training camp was the worst of it, though. She threatened to pull me out of UA if they didn’t get their shit together.”
“Let me guess, she couldn’t pull you out after Overhaul because you technically didn’t get hurt due to Eri’s quirk?”
“That’s what the official reports stated! I never actually told her about what happened.”
“Izuku!”
“What?! Had I told her, she would’ve just made me leave!”
“You’re such an awful son, oh my god.”
“Hey, your brother exists.”
“Touché.”
~~~~~
“Shoto, are you planning on just submitting something as close to your final suit as possible?”
“Yeah. I won’t fuck around with the stupid thing I had on at the beginning of the year. Early-roki no longer exists. He cannot hurt me.”
“EARLY-ROKI.”
“You didn’t have to laugh that hard.”
“I’m sorry-“
“No, you’re not.”
“No, I’m not.”
~~~~~
“Oh my god, you look like death.”
“You try hauling seven million pounds of trash through sand. I’m shocked I haven’t gotten tetanus yet.”
“Yeah, no I’ll take my abusive father’s training over whatever the fuck All Might’s got you going through. Does he not do anything half way?!”
“Nope. I am suffering.”
~~~~~
“You ever think about how Iida literally attempted murder but got away with it?”
“Every damn day of my life, Izu. Every. Damn. Day.”
“Like he didn’t get in trouble for literally taking an internship in Hosu to find and maim Stain. It was premeditated and everything!”
“I know. And he got away with it because Endeavor got the credit for the capture.”
“Fuck Endeavor.”
“Fuck Endeavor.”
~~~~~
“Izuku. You don’t have a quirk factor, right?”
“N-no? Genetically, I am quirkless. Even if I do get One for All.”
“Then would Overhaul’s bullets even affect you? Since they erase the quirk factor.”
“. . .”
“Izu?”
“Holy shit. I don’t think they would.”
~~~~~
Izuku woke up the day of the entrance exam as if it were any other day. He wasn’t shocked by this development, as he had already experienced the nerves of such a day the previous go-around. It was different this time, as he had finished everything the night before, not the day of, so he just had to meet All Might at the beach for the unenviable “Hair Eating Ceremony” as Shoto so-lovingly called it.
He jogged down to the beach before dawn and got there a few minutes before the number one hero.
“Ah, Midoriya! Good to see you here as punctual as ever!” All Might’s wide smile was somehow a beacon in the early-morning dark, “I hope you are okay with such a late acquisition. I had planned to have at least a week of training with the power as to not blindside you during your exam.”
Izuku shrugged, “It’s alright, sir. I’ll try to keep the bone-shattering to a minimum. Besides, ten months of training for this… it’s all worth it for the power to save as many as possible.”
“That’s all I ever ask from you.”
Just like last time, he couldn’t feel anything after gaining One for All (god, he never wanted to experience that again, if this ever happens for a third time, he’ll just become a vigilante and kill All for One himself). He got home in time to change and head to the park to meet Shoto, then take the train to UA.
“Nervous?” Shoto asked as they approached the school.
“Nah, I know the secret to this already, so I’ll just use what I have now to rack up as many rescue points as possible,” Izuku tilted his head and hummed, “Maybe take out the Zero-Pointer just to show off.”
“Try not to kill anyone, especially Bakugo.”
“I make absolutely no promises.”
Shoto gave him one last eye roll before walking off to find a place to finalize some plans while Izuku was doing his exam. Izuku walked onto campus and found his spot for the written portion. It wasn’t hard anymore, as he already knew this stuff from his previous go at the curriculum, so really the problem was the length of the test itself. He finished within an hour and leaned back in his chair. To not give the impression he had finished early, he kept his pencil positioned above the test booklet. His eyes scanned the rafters above the auditorium, but then he noticed movement beyond the giant lights hanging from the ceiling.
He had to stifle a laugh as he noticed the black jumpsuit, grey capture weapon, and red eyes of the one and only Shouta Aizawa. Izuku figured the man would be here, with his ability to erase quirks, it would do well to make sure no one was cheating with theirs. Right as Izuku felt the red eyes meet his own, he cocked an eyebrow at the man. Aizawa didn’t seem deterred by the catch, as he just squinted at Izuku, shook his head, and continued his prowl around the auditorium ceiling. The man had never looked so much like a cat than in that moment and Izuku once watched him knock a glass off the table to piss off Vlad King.
It did cause a pang in his heart, though, seeing his teacher like that. Aizawa had lost a leg and an eye during the war, unable to use his quirk fully for the fight with Shigaraki. It caused enough of a difference that he needed Monoma to pick up the slack with his copy ability. Izuku wanted to prevent his major injuries, especially that of the USJ, if he could. Aizawa wouldn’t trust him to join the fight at the Simulation Joint, but he could stop the elbow and eye injuries by taking Shigaraki out faster.
After another half hour of the test passed, Izuku figured that it was long enough to not raise suspicion and moved to turn in his exam. He felt Aizawa’s eyes on him as he went back to his seat and looked back up at the rafters to spot his teacher. It wasn’t hard when he knew what to look for, namely the red of his eyes.
If they could have a silent conversation with their eyes, they would. He bet that when he got into the school, Aizawa would keep a close eye on him. Maybe it’d help with getting to Nedzu faster, who knows.
The remaining exam time slowly came to a close and the students were then handed their cards for their practical exam. Izuku watched Present Mic’s presentation at half-attention as he tried to spot his friends in the crowd. Iida and Uraraka would obviously not remember him, though he could make himself known during the exam, just to get their eyes on him. If fate was nice enough, then he and Uraraka would be paired for the battle trials again, even if they had to go against Bakugo and Iida once more.
The students were released to change and get to the bus to their exam areas. Izuku was quick to get into his sweatpants and t-shirt, as Aizawa had drilled into them that a second wasted on such matters was a civilian dead (and he was right, when the war started). He spent the remaining fifteen minutes warming up and summoning One for All at smaller amounts. Now that he knew he could summon it so lowly even from the start, he tried to increase it to his former base amount of twenty-five percent. He didn’t get further than fifteen before he was being herded into the bus by the teachers.
Which was fine, as he had done more on less. Izuku was sure that the struggle to control his power from the get-go was a purely mental problem. Now that he had spent a year with One for All, getting used to it and its stockpile, he just needed to get back into the mindset after ten months of being quirkless.
Just as before, Present Mic counted down in his usual gravitas, but unlike before, Izuku was the first one into the city. He knocked down five robots before the final exam taker had even made it in. Izuku jumped through the city and took down as many robots as he knew he needed. The three-pointers were priority as he had to do less to get more points, but he still kept an eye out for exam takers who needed help.
Every once in a while, he would spot a future classmate and give them advice that they would take months to figure out on their own. He spotted Ashido at one point and suggested that she use her pointed acid spout. He found Sato and told him to try more evasive maneuvers to prevent from tiring out as fast. Even those he knew from the future 1-B got assistance from him, as well as some he recognized from the first year Sports Festival who made it into the other classes.
Really, he just wanted to help however many he could be their best selves. Before high school, there aren’t really as many quirk counseling opportunities for kids in combat. Nearly all of the kids he saw had never really thought to apply their quirks in the ways he had been taught for fighting and capture. Most of the time, they think of hero work as All Might’s pure strength or Endeavor’s flashiness. Rarely do these kids think to actually use their quirks like the tools they are.
Izuku chuckled to himself. He called the students who are only two years younger than him mentally, “kids”. He needed to not have this complex over them going into this year, as that would lead to some strange interactions with his classmates.
The buzzer for the final five minutes of the exam rang out and Izuku raced to the top of a building to find the Zero Pointer. It emerged from the back entrance of the arena and began stomping through the city. Many students decided to book it towards the entrance, but Izuku just ran towards the giant green robot. He helped a few people find their footing on the shaking concrete, got a bruised Asui out of a closed-off fake department store, and even assisted a worn-out Sero with getting down from a skyscraper.
He got to where the Zero Pointer was just in time to see Uraraka’s pink jacket under the robot. Izuku summoned his power once more, thankful for his near-mastery of One for All, and launched a kick right into the middle of the face. The sheet metal buckled severely and the robot lost its balance and toppled. Izuku rode the crash out before jumping away to land next to the girl and shield her from the shrapnel.
“You okay?” He asked once the ringing in his ears stopped and the final buzzer rang out.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” her hands were shaking as he grabbed them and pulled her from the broken bit of street. Uraraka glanced back at the destroyed robot and gasped, “How did you… why did you do that? You won’t get points for it.”
“Being a hero is saving those in need,” he gave her a strong smile, “See a need, fill a need, right?”
Her cheeks blushed a light pink, “Right. You’re really strong, I bet you’ll make it into the hero course for sure.”
“I’m sure you will as well! Let’s get you to the medical staff to rest.”
Uraraka’s head nodded against her will and she almost fainted on him, but Izuku made sure to stabilize her and carried her towards the robots accompanying Recovery Girl. The Youthful Heroine was grumbling about how “each generation gets more and more reckless” until she stopped the robots and motioned for Izuku to put Uraraka down onto the gurney.
“Are you injured, boy?”
“No, ma’am. Help her first.”
As a precaution, her eyes still scanned him over, “Alright, kid. Get to the lockers to change.”
“Thank you,” he gave her a small bow of his head and mentally made a note to get her some sort of candy or chocolate for the beginning of the year. The poor old woman really went through it in his first run, so he didn’t want to increase her stress by any iota.
Not that he’d do the same for any other adult in his life. He only felt this way about Recovery Girl. Aizawa had a big storm coming.
The bus back to the school took the rest of the afternoon, then Izuku finally got his phone back and texted Shoto to meet him at the gates. He saw the red and white haired boy waiting right outside, being approached by the very familiar brunette.
“Oh you’re waiting on someone?” Uraraka asked.
Shoto nodded, “I am. Did you happen to see a green-haired boy during your exams?”
She nodded heavily, “Yes! He saved me during the practical. Are you two friends?” She gasped, “Are you also planning on attending?”
“Yes on both counts,” he looked back to the school just as Izuku caught up to them, “Speak of the viridian devil and he shall appear.”
“Funny,” Izuku smirked, then turned to the girl, “I recognize you from the exams. Never got your name.”
“Oh! I’m Ochaco Uraraka!” She smiled sweetly, “You saved me during the practical and I wanted to thank you for that since I was kind of out of it.”
“It’s no problem. As I said, it’s a hero’s job to save people, regardless of if they get a reward for it,” he shrugged, “I’m Izuku Midoriya.”
“Shoto Todoroki. I did the recommendation exam last week.”
“Oh so you must be from a well-known family already. Can’t imagine that test was very difficult for you!” She hummed.
“You could say that. Maybe if we’re in the same class, I’ll tell you more,” Izuku noticed the fondness Shoto normally reserved for his friends. This Uraraka may not have all of their same memories, but she was still the same future hero, Uravity. She was still as bubbly, energetic, kind, and determined as ever.
“I’ll hold you to that, Todoroki-kun!” Her face shifted as her phone rang and she checked the caller ID, “Oh, that’s my dad. I’ll see you guys the first day of classes!”
“If we got in, that is!” Izuku yelled after her. She raced down the sidewalk as she spoke to her dad and Izuku let out a sigh that was a mixture of fondness and exasperation, “The same as ever…”
“It really is strange seeing her like this knowing everything that happened to change it,” Shoto said, “How do you think you did?”
He shrugged, “Eh, I think I did alright. Kind of had a big advantage on the others. Oh, I did see Aizawa during the written. He was hidden in the rafters like a cat to prevent quirk-based cheating.”
“Really? Couldn’t he have done that from the stage?”
Izuku snorted a laugh, “Oh come on, this is Eraserhead we’re talking about. That man would rather be a dramatic bitch than allow anyone to perceive him. We made eye contact. I think he’ll single me out on the first day just for that.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it. Aizawa was always a bit of a problem teacher, even during the war.”
“Just like we were his problem children, then problem soldiers. Now, c’mon, we’ll hit that cafe you like on our way to mine.”
“The cat one?”
“You know it.”
“Hell yeah.”
~~~~~
Nedzu watched from the cameras as the two students walked away from the school walls and out of his range of hearing. The stoat made sure to keep an eye on the green one since Aizawa brought up the fact that he spotted him during the written exam and he wasn’t disappointed by the sheer amount of points the child got during the practical.
Such a student has such an immense potential to become an amazing hero, but this conversation between him and the other boy raised a red flag or seven in Nedzu’s head. Izuku Midoriya was an enigma wrapped in a mystery, as All Might had put it. The boy had severe conviction and determination, training his body to the fullest to take on One for All, but his movements during the practical exam had proven that he had almost certainly mastered it.
No one, not even Nedzu, could perfect such a quirk in a little under two hours. Even with all the knowledge and capability in the world, Midoriya would need at least a year to get to that point. There was more to this child than Nedzu or All Might were aware of and if there was one thing Nedzu hated, it was not being aware of things.
His fur bristled as he rewatched the footage of the practical exam and pulled up the kid’s written test. He had done fantastically on both, earning a perfect score on the latter and the highest score on the former after the rescue points were accounted for. The child had split his time perfectly between smashing robots and helping other test-takers, and he even axe-kicked the Zero Pointer into nothing to save one person!
Yes, Midoriya was a strange child with a strange power and an even stranger understanding of said power. If the Todoroki boy knew about his strange behavior, then Nedzu had two students to keep an extra eye on. And of course they were now his students, as if he would pass up on the opportunity of a lifetime to study such odd children. He briefly wondered if Endeavor knew of his son’s strange behavior outside of his presence, then promptly ignored it at his own mention of the current number two hero.
For now, though, the students were to be put into Eraserhead’s Class 1-A so they could be watched and planned for. Should these two ever step out of line, though, Nedzu was prepared to get rid of them, proven they waste their second chance.
“I hope you enjoy them, Aizawa. It seems like they’ll enjoy you…” Nedzu gently sipped his tea and tried to relax his own unfound anxiety. He resumed his rewatch of Midoriya’s practical exam with a new lens, trying to see if there were any other worrying red flags to point out.
Nedzu thought back to the mention of war and soldiers. Whoever these two really were, whatever they’d really gone through, it was something Nedzu didn’t want to think about, but he needed answers. If he gave up sleep to get them, it was a necessary sacrifice. Being an incredibly intelligent being with vast resources and connections who still couldn’t come up with those answers, it rubbed him the wrong way.
These kids were telling him whether they wanted to or not. That was for damn sure.
For now, though, Nedzu had a hundred acceptance videos to record and five classes to fill. His deep dive into the children’s true identities could wait a few more days, much to his curiosity’s dismay.
~~~~~
Izuku answered the door to Shoto’s own letter from the school in his face, inviting the boy in to say hello to his mom.
“It’s good to see you, Todoroki,” she gushed as they sat on the couch, “I do hope you both got in, I have desserts planned for either result!”
“Mom you didn’t have to-“
“Nonsense, Izu! Just let me go get the tea and I’ll be back for you to open them!”
“She’s excited,” Shoto lowered his voice when she disappeared behind the wall separating the kitchen and living room, “I know you said middle school wasn’t great for you, but she’s… really excited by this.”
“I think it’s a mix of us being friends and my very possible acceptance,” he shrugged, “I let her fuss over me since I know it’ll only get worse.”
Inko returned with the tea and was practically vibrating in her seat as Shoto ripped the envelope and pulled out the small hologram disc. It went alight with All Might’s form as he congratulated Shoto on his impressive technique during the exam. Izuku watched the footage of Shoto leaving everyone in the dust with a smug smile on his face, which earned him a fond kick in the shin.
“Welcome to your hero academia!” The hologram disappeared and Inko clapped her hands together with joy.
“Oh, Todoroki, I’m so happy for you!”
“Yeah, that was a pretty cool move, using your ice. Really made it easy to slip past the competition. Just an on-fire performance. Not a half effort-“ Izuku’s puns were cut off by a throw pillow fulfilling its destiny by being chucked into his face.
“Oh stop it, you. Open your letter.”
“Fine, fine,” the disc hit the coffee table and instead of All Might appearing, Nedzu did.
“Hello, Izuku Midoriya. My name is Principal Nedzu of UA High School!” His tail flicked behind him, “I am here to congratulate you on your performance during the entrance exam! On the written portion, you gained an impressive perfect score and your essay questions were truly something to admire.”
Izuku felt his mom squeeze his hand with pride. She was already crying. He had gone home the night of the exam and told her about his quirk “randomly manifesting during the exam” and how he “knew how to use it like it was second nature”. It was the worst he’d ever lied to his mother. Ever.
Nedzu continued, “That alone isn’t enough to get into our school, however. You still had to complete our practical exam, which you did with a gusto we at UA haven’t seen in a long time. A lot of our prospective students only focus on the fighting aspect, gaining enough points to earn them their spot, but you went above and beyond in this portion. Not only did you fight the objective, but you also assisted many other students. Several were noted to have been talking about a ‘Green Blur’ that helped them perform better.”
“Couldn’t not be a hero, could you?” Shoto whispered with a shake of his head. Now it was Izuku’s turn to kick his shin.
Videos of Izuku’s fights and assists played in a small compilation. For every time Inko saw her son destroy a robot, her hand clenched, but it was followed by a quick relax when Izuku’s assists came in. Then, the clip of him kicking the Zero Pointer came up, followed by him dragging Uraraka to Recovery Girl. The score board from the practical exam, something Izuku never looked at once during the test, appeared next to Nedzu, showing Izuku’s spot at the top right above Bakugo.
“As you can see, we have ample evidence that you are our top scorer in both entrance exams this year. Even before your rescue points were added.” The numbers changed and while Bakugo stayed above the others with one extra point, Izuku’s score nearly doubled, “So, it is my pleasure to welcome you, Izuku Midoriya, to your hero academia. Please submit your uniform size and hero costume draft to our support class by the due dates. I look forward to seeing you in class.”
Nedzu’s little form bowed and the hologram cut out. Even before the shape of the Principal faded, Inko was already grabbing Izuku in the tightest hug imaginable.
“Oh, honey, I’m so proud of you!” She cried into his shoulder. Izuku made eye contact with Shoto, a silent begging in his eyes. Shoto just used his hand to stifle his laughter. The traitor.
He patted his mom’s arm, “Thanks, mom.”
After Inko got her tears mostly under control, she practically floated over to the kitchen to start on a celebratory dinner and dessert. She urged Shoto to stay, as if he needed the extra convincing, and declared that “tonight, we feast!”
The boys left her to her flowery air and made their way to Izuku’s room, instantly hitting the bed with exhaustion.
The entrance exam was the first major hurdle. They had planned for either one not getting in, as if that was at all an issue, but the relief of them still having their spots in 1-A was like a weight lifted off their shoulders. They had another few weeks before classes started, so they decided to just enjoy the time off from school and each other’s company.
Shoto sat up and rested his back against the wall, one of the few places without a hero poster. He eyed the Board of Doom above Izuku’s desk, mentally crossing out the entire time before the entrance exam, as well as the magnet representing it. It was only ten uneventful months off the timeline, but it was still nearly half of their repeated time.
He grabbed his phone and texted his father about his admittance. When Endeavor shot back with an “As expected”, he sighed and resisted the urge to throw his phone out the window.
Izuku swung his legs over Shoto’s crossed ones and rubbed his hands over his face repeatedly, “I need to see if I can contact the previous holders early. Having Blackwhip and Smoke Screen will make the whole Stain fight that much easier.”
“Or we could prevent it altogether.”
“How would we do that without raising suspicion, Sho? Tell Ingenium to ignore his patrol and be at the school anyway?”
“We could put out a tip to the local police about him and suggest they have multiple heroes on patrol?”
“I said without raising suspicion. I’ll think of something as we still have two months before it, but we have to still think of battle plans in case it comes to it.”
Shoto reached over and gently pulled at Izuku’s wild curls, “Careful, your war general is showing.”
“Oh, shut. I’ve been on fight or flight the past ten months and not having Float has really only given me one option,” he sighed, “I need to see if Nana and Yoichi can activate the connection faster.”
“Hmm.”
The sun slowly set and the boys emerged from Izuku’s room to help Inko finish with dinner. They discussed their future school plans, how their hero costumes would look, who they expect to have in class, and the people they met at the exam. The two expertly dodged around the fact that they already had a bunch of answers to “how do you think your first year will go.”
Izuku said, “As any other high school, but with quirk usage, I think.”
Shoto added, “It’ll be like any other high school, except for the fact that the children are allowed to fight each other during specific classes.”
“That, too,” Izuku said, “Not to mention the totally normal high school thing that is the Sports Festival. If robots were the entrance exam, what will they have at that?! A minefield?”
Inko started laughing as the two shared a knowing look across the table, “Izuku, I doubt your school will have something as dangerous as that on live television.”
“No, they’ll just have a bunch of teenagers punching each other for sport on live television. I think it’s our country’s favorite pastime, like how America has baseball.”
“Do you think people have betting pools?” Shoto asked, already knowing the answer. Some business course student was overheard during lunch after the event in the first run saying he had gotten a perfect score on his “betting assignment”. It was an open secret that UA encouraged them to test their skills during major events like the Sports Festival or the Culture Festival. It’s why the business course was in charge of marketing and PR for such events.
Because why hire industry professionals when you could offload the work to a bunch of teenagers and call it experience?
“I’d be more shocked if they didn’t.”
“Maybe the business students do it for a grade. Whoever can accurately guess the final outcome gets a hundred points of extra credit. Like March Madness but for child dogfighting.”
Both Inko and Izuku laughed, though at different volumes. Inko calmed down much faster than her son, “I doubt such a prestigious school would allow betting on children during a televised event, but I bet if they saw some students doing underhanded deals, they’d turn a blind eye.”
“Or it’s a rule that they can’t get caught. If they do, it’s points off,” Izuku said through heaving breaths, “The rubric sections are complexity, secrecy, total money exchanged, and professionalism.”
“Can’t believe it’d only be a month into the term and we’ve already got GAMBLING from the business course.”
~~~~~
“Alright, how much do you think our classes changed?” Izuku asked right when they crossed onto campus. They had gotten there pretty early, as Inko was determined to see them off before she had to go to work. Shoto had also gotten out of his house early to avoid his father’s speeches on ‘weeding out the weak and undeserving’. They waited outside the campus until an acceptable time to go inside.
Shoto gave it about two seconds of thought then shrugged, “I hope not at all. I’d hate to adjust our plans because the others couldn’t make it into the same class as us again.”
They took their usual route down the halls to the 1-A classroom. It was practically muscle memory and they were so confident with their steps that a few other first years mistook them for second years and asked for directions to various places around the school. Of course, having memorized the layout during the war, Izuku was quick with answers, which didn’t help the rumors. Right when Izuku shoved the giant doors open, he hid a small sigh of relief. Everyone he had known to be 1-A was still in the same class.
Uraraka had already met Iida and Ashido. Kaminari and Sero were already joined at the hip. Yaoyorozu was chatting with a very excited Hagakure and a more-toned-down Asui. Shouji and Sato were comparing workout routines already. And there were a few missing as class was still a bit away from starting, like Aoyama, Kirishima, and Ojirou.
Izuku also didn’t see Bakugo here. Not that he was complaining, he would rather deal with anyone but Early Bakugo (or Early-go as Shoto had taken to calling him, much like Early-roki or Early-Iida).
Unfortunately their predicament meant they had to deal with Early Mineta again, but Izuku could just ignore him. How that kid was allowed to stay in such a prestigious school was beyond him, even if he did have some sort of use during the war. Izuku found his spot just a few desks in front of Shoto and slid into the thankfully familiar chair as he always did.
“Oh, Midoriya-kun, Todoroki-kun!” Uraraka said as she almost bounced over to them, “I told you I’d see you the first day of classes!”
“Yeah, and what did I say? Your quirk is amazing, it’s no wonder you got accepted!” Izuku gave her a gigawatt smile, “And everyone else looks like they’ve got cool quirks too-“
“Oh my god, wait!” Sero exclaimed across the room. Izuku had noticed Sero squinting at him since he walked in, possibly trying to recognize him, “I know you! You helped me during the practical!”
“He did?” Uraraka’s head swiveled between Sero and Izuku, “He helped me, too!”
“I believe he also assisted me,” another voice said, this time it was Asui, “Got me out of a tight spot.”
“Well, it’s what we’re here for, to become heroes, right? And that doesn’t just include fighting things,” Izuku said for what felt like the fifth time this timeline. When the others started to mumble their agreement, Izuku heard a small thud noise and his eyes flicked to where Aizawa had just entered the room from, “How about we get ready for class before our teacher decides to be mean during our first day?”
He pointed at the door, which was enough of a sign for his classmates to get into their seats. Aizawa shuffled into the room and stood at the podium just as he did that first day nearly two years ago for Izuku and Shoto.
“I’m Shouta Aizawa, your homeroom teacher,” he threw their gym uniforms at them and told them to get down to the pitch for their assessment.
“Figures,” Shoto said to the class around them as they walked the halls to the locker room, “He’s known for not letting his first years go to orientation. Heard it’s some sort of assessment to see if they truly have what it takes to be heroes.”
“Sounds like him,” Izuku said, “I mean, he’s Eraserhead! He’s got some of the best stats out of any Underground hero! You don’t earn that title without hard work and knowing how to barrel through the worst of society.”
Uraraka hummed, “Huh. I was gonna ask about orientation, but now… good to know.”
“We should probably be fast with this. See if you snails can get down there before me,” Shoto said with a smirk before walking faster down the hall, not quite running fast enough to get in trouble for it. Sero and Kaminari squawked indignantly and sped after him.
By the time the whole class was on the pitch, Shoto and Izuku had already warmed up and were playing an increasingly intense game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It had started including things like Gun, which beat Knife. Then they upped it to Thermonuclear Charge, which beat Skyscraper, Two-Hundred-Year-Old Super Villain, which beat Child with Stockpile Quirk, and Three Teenagers with the Power of Friendship, which beat Mass Murderer with Questionable Morals. Their teacher, standing not too far away from the two, had already tuned them out and was simply waiting for the moment he could tell them to stop.
“Ten minutes, not bad,” Aizawa said, putting his stopwatch away, “Let’s try to half that by the end of the term. Now, Midoriya, throw this.”
Izuku caught the familiar baseball with one hand and stepped into the circle Aizawa gestured towards. He rolled it in his hand for a second before stepping to the far side of the circle and tossing it into the air. When it came back down, Izuku spun on his heel and violently roundhouse-kicked the ball further into the sky. It broke through one of the clouds in the sky and Izuku heard a gasp from behind him. If only he could have done that without breaking a finger nearly two years ago…
“Two thousand, five hundred, and twenty-one meters,” Aizawa said, reading off the gauge in his hands. Izuku then heard a not-so-subtle ‘goddamn’ from somewhere behind him. Knowing the crowd, it was probably Kaminari, “We’ll run through similar tests to see where you are all at with your quirks. And just to up the ante… the person in dead last will be expelled.”
Izuku and Shoto made eye contact. Classic Aizawa.
Honestly, they felt accomplished for having finished the obstacle course and other challenges without breaking a sweat. At one point, Kaminari and Kirishima asked them what training they’ve been through and they answered the same thing at the exact same time: spite. Izuku thought it unnerved them, because every group activity afterwards, the two would stay as far away from the time-travelers as possible.
“So, Mr Aizawa,” Izuku started as he watched the remaining eighteen students struggle with the obstacle course that he and Shoto breezed through in record time (They ran through this as practice during their offtime when dealing with escaped convicts, as it really helped with navigating the destroyed prefectures), “Does your quirk work if you look at yourself in the mirror?”
The teacher sighed, “No. Don’t ask how I know that.”
“Nah, I can see it. Teenage you glaring at yourself in the mirror,” Shoto laughed. They had the upper hand in this argument: they’d asked him this after the Overhaul incident. Izuku had spent a lot of time with his teacher while helping care for Eri, so they had a lot of nonsensical discussions like this.
“Are you two always like this?” Aizawa asked, eyebrow cocked and eyes looking like they were about to activate his quirk.
Ignoring him, Izuku gasped a little bit too dramatically, “Hey, Shoto, do you think that kid with the copy quirk in 1-B could erase Erasure?”
“If he was fast enough. I’m pretty sure Mr Aizawa has his quirk mastered, so if they used it at the same time, it’d probably be Monoma getting his quirk erased.”
“But would the quirk being erased be Erasure or Copy? Aizawa, if someone had multiple quirks, could you choose which one to erase-?”
“Oh, would you look at that, other students!” Aizawa very loudly proclaimed once Iida and Bakugo finally got through the course. Their teacher very aggressively stepped away to keep an eye on everyone else, which made Izuku and Shoto start laughing.
The rest of the Quirk Assessment went by with the same energy. Shoto and Izuku did better than everyone else and hung around Aizawa the whole time while everyone was suffering with the tests. Eventually, Aizawa made a declaration that the first person to finish the 100m dash would run another five laps around the field. Izuku just bolted through the dash and immediately went to run the laps, like he had fully accepted it as a price for coming in first.
“Is this… almost too easy?” Shoto had whispered to him at some point halfway through, right after the long-jump.
“Sho, we’ve literally fought near-gods, I think our first-year quirk assessment is allowed to be easy.”
“Fair.”
The final results were, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, a tie to first between Shoto and Izuku, with the rest of the class following after them. Bakugo was practically smoking with anger at losing to “fucking Deku” and “that Icy-Hot son of a bitch”. Shoto totally didn’t disagree with the kid, but only if you considered the bitch to be his father. Rei didn’t deserve that sort of language.
Kirishima whistled lowly at the scores, “Y’know, I shouldn’t be surprised that they got the top spots, but I kinda thought Mr Aizawa would dock them points for annoying him.”
“I would’ve if I was any more cruel.”
“Says the man who threatened expulsion as a logical ruse to get people to try their best,” Shoto said with an eye roll. The class let out a single “WHAT”, minus Izuku and Yaoyorozu, who laughed and sighed respectively.
“And now you’re in last because you’ve stolen my thunder.”
Another “WHAT” from the class only sent Izuku into further hysterics.
~~~~~
Waiter! More Advil Please!
Pencil: nedzu im actually gonna kill those two
Wine Aunt: Oh god what happened during their quirk assessment
Hearing Damage: ITS THE FIRST DAY???
God.: Interesting. Care to explain, Aizawa? :)
Pencil: wipe that goddamn smile off your face
Pencil: these two are problem children through and through
Pencil: first they completely obliterate their competition and call this FIRST YEAR LEVEL QUIRK ASSESSMENT EASY
Pencil: then they have the GODDAMN AUDACITY to steal my moment of pointing out my logical ruse
Pencil: its like they KNEW BEFOREHAND
God.: Oh dear. They’re certainly two peas in a chaos pod, huh? :)
Pencil: i demand a raise
God.: No.
Small Might: Aizawa-kun, which students?
Pencil: the fuckin midoriya kid and todoroki one
Wine Aunt: You’ll give them nicknames soon enough.
Pencil: yeah like bitch one bitch two
Small Might: Young Midoriya was causing issues? Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）
Pencil: more like being a pain in my ass
Hearing Damage: One bitch two bitch red bitch blue bitch by dr sus
Alucard: Aizawa my class has no such heathens unless you count the Monoma kid. I’m sorry you got dealt two problem children.
Resident Cowboy: That’s a damn lie, and you know it, Vlad. You couldn’t be more happy to see ‘im having to deal with more than one Problem Youngin’.
Alucard: I know. :)
Wine Aunt: Sorry im still stuck on one bitch two bitch red bitch blue bitch
HES A PHANTOM: Wait, Aizawa, was Midoriya that kid that broke the record for most points in the entrance exams?
Pencil: Yes.
Pencil: and todoroki got one of the highest scores on the recc exam
Pencil: Ever.
Ace Hardware: Unsurprising, his father is Endeavor
Hearing Damage: Kayama, what about oh the bitches youll hoe by dr sus
Ace Hardware: Kids probably need a better quirk assessment than what you’ve got
Pencil: ill think of smth before their trip to the usj this week
Pencil: we still on for that, thirteen?
Wine Aunt: no no no hizashi what about the bitch in the ditch by dr sus
Buzz Lightyear: Ofc! The facility has gone through some fantastic renovations since last term! Thanks to Powerloader and Cementoss ofc!!
Ace Hardware: Glad to help, 13
Road Work Ahead?: Happy to lend a hand, my friend!
Hearing Damage: Horton slaps a bitch by dr sus
Buzz Lightyear: Kan’s class is on Wednesday and Aizawa’s is on Thursday, right?
Small Might: That is the plan, yes!
Small Might: And I shall attend both sessions! ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ
Pencil: granted you still have time for either one
Small Might: I shall limit myself on those mornings to allow for maximum I AM HERE!!
Wine Aunt: mr bitch can woo can you by dr sus
God.: Since you are all here: more information about the Sports Festivals has been finalized, everyone! :)
God.: We shall be having a meeting after classes on Friday to discuss post-first-week improvements and the final touches on the Festival!
Pencil: fine
Small Might: Will be there, sir! (￣^￣)ゞ
Alucard: Got it, Nedzu.
Resident Cowboy: Yessir.
Hearing Damage: bitchtholemew and the goonblek by dr sus
Nutritional Facts: There are two very different conversations happening and I am so confused.
Got that dawg in him: Same.
Small Might: I have learned to ignore Kayama and Yamada when they do this. (ㆀ˘･з･˘)
Pencil: good choice, giving them attention only fuels them
Wine Aunt: the bitchass by dr sus
Wine Aunt: he speaks for the trees
Hearing Damage: And for some reason the trees are speaking vietnamese
Pencil: are you done
Hearing Damage: One sec
Hearing Damage: Bitch eggs and ham by dr sus
Hearing Damage: Okay now im done
Consequences: Dear lord what did I come back to
~~~~~
For Izuku’s entire time in this new run, he’s been avoiding Bakugo at all costs.
Not just because this version of his friend is still out for blood and acts like a rabid dog when looked at for more than five seconds, but also because of the fact that the last time Izuku remembered seeing the kid, he was literally lying on the ground after Shigaraki killed him.
One of the last things Izuku remembered before being shunted back in time was his childhood best friend’s corpse. For anyone, that being a core memory would fuck you up. So is it any wonder that every time Izuku caught sight of current-Bakugo, the only image in his mind was a hole in the boy’s chest, his mouth stained crimson, and his eyes as dead to the world as Izuku was not five minutes later?
He tried so hard to ignore that image, ignore that sight, but whenever he pushed it away, it came back ten-fold. It didn’t help that Bakugo seemed to only keep his eyes on Izuku. This version didn’t know about One for All, didn’t know about Izuku’s pain, and didn’t know how to properly express his feelings of confusion and betrayal over Izuku now having a quirk that he’s good at using.
Honestly, he debated just pulling Bakugo aside one of these days and just trauma-dumping everything. But everytime he considered it, Shoto would remind him that this Bakugo would rather become an SS-ranked villain than even listen to Izuku. He reminded Izuku that this version of their friend, the version who hasn’t grown beside them, who hasn’t improved as a person, who hasn’t recognized his mistakes, was never going to give him the time of day.
So playing the long game it was until Shoto and Izuku had more chips on the table and a more solid plan to prevent a lot of the bad from happening.
Luckily, Kirishima and Kaminari latched onto Bakugo rather quickly at the beginning of the school year, then dragged Ashido and Sero into their little “squad”, which made him easier to be around, but the fact that Izuku still couldn’t look the boy in the eyes?
Yeah, he needed to work on that.
But if Izuku has learned anything, he certainly hasn’t learned to not tempt fate like that.
So when he found himself being grabbed by the wrist and pulled into a dark corridor after classes by the very kid he’d been avoiding for nearly a year, he had to consciously attempt to keep his breathing as steady and low as possible as to not rouse suspicion.
Bakugo let go once they were sufficiently away from the classrooms and leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets and red eyes glaring into Izuku’s green. Izuku wanted so badly to leave, to run and never come back, but it felt like his legs were locked in place.
“What’s your deal, huh?” Bakugo sneered, “You avoid me for a year and then you come back with a quirk that you’ve nearly mastered. The fuck’s up with that, Deku? You lookin’ down on me? You think I’m weak?”
Izuku’s throat seized and he could barely manage to let out a very weak, “No…”
“‘No’ what? No, you’re not looking down on me?” He scoffed, “You’ve been nothing but confident all day, hanging out with that half and half bastard, but the moment I demand some damn answers, you suddenly can’t speak? You really are worthless.”
Again, Izuku’s only conscious choices were maintaining his breathing and keeping his emotions in check. If Blackwhip emerged now of all times (Banjou would 100% fuck him over like that), then Izuku couldn’t explain it away. He could feel the dark tendrils pulse under his skin, itching to lash out and grab the child they saw as a threat.
“Can’t believe I thought I’d get answers out of you,” Bakugo rolled his eyes and stepped closer. Izuku felt himself stop breathing, “If you ever pull shit like today again, I will fight you and prove that I have been and will always be stronger than you. Count your fucking days, bitch.”
His footsteps were rough and heavy and shook Izuku’s core until they faded down the hallway. Right when he couldn’t hear them anymore, his back fully hit the wall and he slid down to the floor. He clutched his knees to his chest and willed the tears welling in his eyes to go away, with very little success.
And it had been going well thus far. His training went better than it did the first time, he did amazingly in the entrance exam, he blew the quirk assessment out of the water, but now? Now he just wanted to curl into a ball and imagine what would’ve happened had he not been sent back. Had Shigaraki succeeded in killing him.
Izuku’s vision went dark and his head hit his knees. Whether it was from his hyperventilating or his own trauma responses or this world finally giving up on letting him fix his mistakes, he didn’t know.
~~~~~
“Kid. I swear to God, if you don’t wake up-“
His eyes opened to a familiar sight. Eight fancy chairs, a giant vault door, seven glowing people and one ghostly image of his mentor. Nana Shimura stood before him, her eyes wide and crazed. She seemed to have been in the middle of a rant, with the other vestiges sitting in their chairs with the same exasperated looks and in various degrees of “barely keeping it together”.
Izuku didn’t feel the same static he did the first time and looked down at his body that wore his hero costume from the war. It was still scuffed and bloody and torn in some places along his torso, but for some reason it brought the most comfort he’d felt in almost a year, Shoto notwithstanding.
He sighed, “Finally. Took you long enough, guys.”
“I’m sorry, but we had six months to figure out the connection the last time!” Yoichi yelled, the only other figure out of his seat besides Nana. He had his hands buried in his white hair and looked about two seconds away from tearing it out, “We weren’t expecting to be shunted back into Yagi and lose our tie to you for almost a year!”
“Is there anyway you guys know what happened?” Izuku asked, closing the gap between him and the vestiges, “Cause Sho and I still have no clue.”
“That makes ten of us who have no idea what happened,” Banjou said, “Deku, when you died, so did we, as your heart stopped before One for All could be given to a new host.”
“That’s what I figured. I’m glad you guys were brought back, though. If I had to somehow explain to you all how I knew more than you, I would’ve had a conniption.”
Nana laughed, however strained and uncomfortable it was, “Me too, kid.”
“Well, I guess we can just unlock everything,” Yoichi sighed, “It’s not like you need a reminder on how to use them.”
Izuku nodded in agreement. It would be difficult to explain to Aizawa on DAY TWO why he now had six additional quirks and could use them as naturally as breathing, but having them from the start couldn’t hurt. Maybe he should at least keep most of them under wraps, given how Danger Sense had no off-switch (“Super Anxiety”, as it had been described by Kaminari in the first run) and how most of them were incredibly useful during battle.
He had already gotten used to Fa Jin, too, with Gearshift being his only “last resort” of his stockpile. This was proving to be a bigger headache than he anticipated. Izuku just wanted to go home, ignore the talk he had with Bakugo, and try to mentally prepare for the chance of fighting him in the Battle Trials tomorrow.
“I’ll let Shoto know that I’ve got everything back, then we can continue our final preparations,” he said, “You guys keep an eye on the Big Bad for me?”
Yoichi nodded, “Of course, Deku. Let’s do it right this time, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
With a fistbump, Izuku felt the land inside his quirk fade and when he awoke to the dark hallway again, he had a heavy weight and a familiar, welcome warmth on his right shoulder. Shoto was absently scrolling on his phone when he felt Izuku stir, immediately turning his attention to his friend.
“You okay?” Shoto asked quietly, ice blue eye cutting Izuku to the core.
“I think so… I saw them this time. They also remember, so I have everything again,” he stretched his legs out, as they had fallen asleep on him in the strange position. He held up a fist and summoned a Blackwhip tendril, “Things just got a whole lot more...”
His mind stalled in finding an appropriate word. It could only be described as “more”. If it had been simpler, he wouldn’t be dreading planning their next steps. If it had been more complex, he would’ve had an even worse mental breakdown and probably would’ve lashed out with Blackwhip.
“That’s a good thing, though, that you can talk to them again. I was starting to think we’d have to wait even longer for even Float to appear. Do… they have any idea what happened?”
Izuku shook his head, “No. Yoichi is trying to figure it out, though.”
“Good. Put them to work. Back to the information mines you go, Yoichi.”
With a breathy laugh, the boy let Shoto pull him closer. His left side always ran much warmer, as expected, so in the unusual cold of the dark hallway and the holdover freezing sensation of the world inside of One for All, it was very welcome.
This was probably the worst Izuku had been mentally since being pushed back through time. Being confronted by his once-friend, being told by your mentors that they know nothing, being confronted with everything you now need to do in the wake of the rest of your powers… it suddenly felt like everything had come crashing down onto him at once and Izuku, despite the immense strength the stockpile gifted him, was by no means prepared for it.
At the end of the day, they were still just two teenagers. Sure, they were two teenagers with knowledge of the future and a near-mastery of their quirks, but that couldn’t be useful if everyone only saw them as the high schoolers with volatile quirks they were. Shoto may know Flashfire, he may know how to manage both sides with ease, he may know how to rival the tallest buildings in the city with his Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall, but according to people like Endeavor or Aizawa? He was just one rebellious phase away from ruining his future as a hero.
The same went for Izuku.
Really, if they wanted to truly change their luck, if they wanted to shift the scales and stack the deck heavily in their favor, then they needed to gain the approval and hand of one very specific man.
Or… one very specific stoat.
“I think… we need to enact Plan N.”
Shoto said nothing, only nodding in response. He knew what this meant. They both did.
It was time to inform the rat.