Hellspawn - Catlady5001 - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

When Izuku wakes up, the first thing he registers is the lack of pain. The second thing he registers are the strands of hair that floppdown in front of his face. He brushes them away impatiently, then pauses. His hands… the scars are gone.

Not faded, as if such a thing could happen so quickly when they’d been so prominent the day before, but gone . Almost as if these are someone else's arms.

Izuku quickly brushes off the thought; no one he knows has a quirk like that, after all.

Izuku sits up, quicker than normal thanks to the odd lack of pain.

His hair falls into his eyes, and he groans in annoyance before freezing once more. His hair hasn’t been this long in years.

Maybe Class 1-A is playing a prank on him? Izuku wouldn’t be surprised, honestly. It would be remarkably easy for Yaoyorozu to make a wig and some temporary glue.

Izuku sighs and runs a hand through ‘his’ hair only to pause when it doesn’t come off as he’d expected. He tugs a little harder, but the wig still doesn’t come off. Izuku frowns.

Glue isn’teasy to get out of hair, per se, but it shouldn’t have been this hard either. Izuku would know.

Izuku swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up, then wobbles on his feet. For some reason walking is disorienting, but Izuku isn’t particularly concerned.

He sleepily walks over to his dresser only to realize that it isn’t there . Izuku whirls around and spots his dresser on the other side of the room. The longer he looks, the more inconsistencies he sees.

Not only is his dresser misplaced, his All Might dolls are rearranged. But that doesn’tstand out to Izuku. No, what stands out is the item removed .

Izuku’s limited edition All Might poster is missing. Not moved.

Missing.

That is what tipped Izuku off that this was not normal. The other things could be excused with his classmates' clumsiness, but they know better than to remove his merch. Even messing with it is toeing the line, but they know better than to remove it entirely.

Izuku cautiously creeps towards the doorway. He is certain that his classmates weren’t out here, so he wants to be careful not to disturb his kidnappers- or whoever else is in the house. If it’s even real.

For all Izuku knows, this is all an illusion, but it is better to proceed with caution then with haste.

He slowly turns the doorknob, wincing at the loud creak when he pulls the door open. He takes a few cautious steps into the hallway. It looks just like Izuku’s actual house.

An illusion? Or am I back home, somehow?

“Izuku-kun? Is that you?” Someone calls from downstairs. They soundexactly like Izuku’s mother. “Izuku?”

After a moment of hesitation, Izuku calls back, “I’m fine!” Then he jolts at the sound of his own voice.

He sounds so… so young .

Izuku inhales, suddenly stricken by a revelation.

Everything weird about this morning, from the various mishaps with Izuku’s body to his things being gone all point to one thing. Is it even possible, though?

Izuku switches directions and heads to the stairs- still on the right, just as he remembers.

“Mom?” Mom -or at least a look-alike- glances over her shoulder and hums questioningly. Izuku swallows the lump in his throat, then asks, “Can I hang out with Todoroki-kun today?”

“Oh, Izuku,” Mom smiles softly. “You didn’t tell me you made a new friend!”

Well...that answersthat , then.

Something is definitely wrong, here. Wherever here is.

(Izuku thinks he knows. The implications are terrifying.)

"Y-yeah," Izuku says, doing his best to keep his voice from catching, from letting his thoughts show in his eyes. "He likes All Might, so…"

His mother- and oh, if Izuku is right then this is his mother, not some imposter, just… -laughs at his comment, smile showing a hint of teasing as she asks, "Is that so?"

"Yep!" Izuku reaffirms, holding in his wince when his voice squeaks in his ears. Then, tilting his head, ignoring how his hair brushes against his neck with the motion, "Oh, is breakfast done? Do you need any help?"

It is, and she doesn't, but she doesn't mind at all. The meal is pleasant, too, as good as Izuku remembers his mother's cooking to always be. It tastes like home in a way that can't simply be replicated, and for some reason, that feels like another nail in the coffin.

And so once breakfast is done, Izuku thanks his mom before quickly racing away, heading into the bathroom, and finally getting a good look at himself.

He's not surprised by what he sees, but it's still jarring all the same.

Young, bright green eyes stare back at him, from a face far too small and much too pale, with dark green hair pooling around, only contrasting against his skin and making him look unhealthier. Eyes narrow in his reflection as he takes in limbs that are tinier, scrawnier than they've been in years, scarless and pain-free. He looks, quite frankly, like he's ten years old.

Because he is .

And that... what ? Izuku doesn’t know how it's possible, or who did this, or why . Just that he's here, so many years in the past, and that it's likely a permanent change.

And what does that mean for Izuku, anyways? What can he do , in a situation like this?

' Figure out the facts, ' a voice much like Aizawa-sensei's whispers in his ears. ' See if there are any differences, if anyone else remembers .'

If anyone else...oh! Kacchan! Izuku can surely ask Kacchan, see if the boy remembers- but he can't be too obvious, he has to be somewhat subtle. Because if Kacchan wasn't sent back with him...well, it won't go well.

Part of Izuku wants to race over to school now, to see if Kacchan is the Kacchan of the current or the Kacchan of the...future? Past? Where Izuku was, mere hours ago.

But it's Sunday, and Izuku knows this because his mom is still home. She hasn't left the apartment, hasn't called out a goodbye, so she must not have work.

So Izuku stays in the bathroom, stares at his reflection, and continues to think. What could have changed? What was different between ten year old Izuku, and the Izuku he just was.

His missing scars are the first thing to come to mind, his muscular figure the second.

The third should have been the most obvious, but it takes Izuku a second to actually think of it.

One for All.

Does he have it, anymore? Or did it leave him, unable to stay with him now that he's no longer at the time when he was made the ninth?

There's only one way to find out.

Carefully, cautiously, Izuku wills One for All forwards, closing his eyes as he concentrates on the idea of having less than a single percent in use, knowing his body would break with any more. And then, slowly, he opens his eyes.

A form covered in green lightning stares back at him, and Izuku grins with unhidden glee.

One for All has stayed...and oh , how that can change the future.

It's time for a restart.

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

After Izuku's mom drops him off at the park, Izuku pretends to scan his surroundings until she leaves. He feels bad about lying, but there's no way that Todoroki would show up here.
Even if he was brought back in time with Izuku, he wouldn't know to come to the rusty old playground that sags on the corner of Echo and Thirteenth.

Only the playground isn't rusty. The seesaw sits in the corner, as bright as ever, while Izuku remembers the day it was torn down because of safety concerns. The paint almost shimmers in the sunlight. Just last weekend, the paint was slowly but surely being weathered away and replaced with rust.

A lot can change in six years, Izuku supposes. Still, it's odd to see the park so... so shiny. Izuku allows himself another moment to take in the nostalgic view, then he races off to the big oak tree that lays just outside the park boundary.

Izuku has always liked the tree. It's large branches and thick leaves always seem to arch protectively over him. He plops down under its vibrant foliage with a grin and produces a yellow notebook from seemingly thin air. Izuku slides the pen from his ear and hums thoughtfully.

The pen glides across the paper as he writes in careful kanji; What he knows.

Izuku sighs at the pitiful list he manages to create. There are only two bullet points listed: He's from six years in the future, and He still has One for All.

All in all, he doesn't know much.

That list is especially depressing when he makes a list of things he doesn't know.

He doesn't know who, if anyone, was sent back with him. He doesn't know why he was sent back at all. Why he still has One for All. Why send him back six years as opposed to two, five, ten? Izuku could go on and on.

It's the last bullet point that nearly breaks Izuku.

Will he ever get home?

If Kacchan doesn't remember -if no one does- then Izuku doesn't know what he'll do. Since starting U.A. he's grown close to everyone in Class 1-A, and losing them would sting more than Izuku wants to admit. Even if Izuku could find them, without their memories they'd be no more than a stranger.

He shakes his head and pushes the thought out of his mind. He didn't come to the park to wallow and feel sorry for himself.

Izuku came here to make a plan in peace.

He doesn't have the time to worry about this.

'Okay,' Izuku thinks, grounding himself, clutching the grass beneath him. 'I have six years- no, five- until I'm back to Yuuei. I need to prepare, to get better. A lot of our successes have had aspects of blind luck ingrained in them...if I'm stronger, won't that make a difference?'

It will, Izuku knows, and so he flips to a new page, and begins to mark down ideas for training. Cleaning up the beach, of course, is the first to go on his list- it's a tried and true method, and will help him gain a fair amount of muscle mass back. But Izuku isn't content to just do the same thing a few years early, no, so he starts thinking of his friends, his teachers from U.A., and thinks about what skills he could use from their arsenals.

Asui’s rather flexible, and Ashido's dancing helped improve her fighting. Gymnastics could probably help- I think gymnasts are more open to Quirkless people, too, since gymnastics is one of the few sports that stuck to its Quirkless roots… Aizawa-sensei always tried sticking to higher grounds, and running across rooftops is a skill I should learn. Yeah, parkour is a must.'

And it keeps going, Izuku’s pencil scratching on paper as he realizes just how many skills he wants, no, needs to know in order to improve.

Ojirou knew martial arts, although Uraraka did learn some, too. Yaoyorozu showed the reason Izuku should train with a weapon. Todoroki is a reminder to refresh on his first aid knowledge, and learn even more. Shinsou makes him think of acting lessons, on disguises and personas that the boy was learning for his underground training. There's so much to think about, so many things.

But even as his mind runs through different ideas, different things he needs to do, training programs he needs to create, a part of him questions if he should. He could change the timeline for the worse, after all, couldn't he? If he becomes strong enough to take down one villain, what stops another, stronger one from taking their place?

That's not how it works, his brain reminds him, yet still his heart is at odds for a moment.

But only for a moment, and then his mind is quickly made up for him...in the form of a villain attack.

Izuku looks up just as Sensei- Present Mic is thrown from a building with a gaping hole in the side. Mic manages to slow his descent with an ear-splitting "YEAH!" directed towards the ground below.

Izuku tries not to remember the last time Mic had to do that.

Mic lands in front of the playground with a skid, just in time to dodge a second villain's attack. The first villain -Purple, thanks to their purple outfit- leaps from the building and lands with no audible sound.

Izuku's feet are screaming at him to rush in, to fight the villain. But as much as he doesn't want to admit it, he'd only serve as a hostage. A ten year old with a volatile quirk who's too small to do any real damage can't do much.

Izuku doesn't even know how to fight quirkless- not without his capture weapon.

A scream draws Izuku's attention once more, and he looks up to see Present Mic roundhouse-kick the second villain- Tiger, because of their stripes- into Purple. Purple is knocked out while Tiger seems awake but dazed.

The crowd cheers, and Izuku is among the loudest. The villains are beaten!

Then Present Mic turns around to inspect the nearby property damages and Izuku nearly misses it. Tiger makes a desperate lunge for Present Mic and their silver claws leave a gash in his pant leg.

Mic staggers backwards, and Tiger seizes the opportunity. He leaps up, surprisingly nimble until Izuku remembers that he has a cat quirk, and bowls Mic over. The two fall to the ground, and struggle for a moment.

Then, Mic goes limp.

For a moment, Izuku assumes the worst. But then the hero throws the villain off easily, and Izuku yelps in surprise as the villain comes flying towards him. Mic’s strategy of playing dead worked well, but now Izuku is in danger of being hit. He scrambles out of the way and behind another nearby tree. Tiger crashes into the oak tree where Izuku was sitting. He falls to the ground, dazed.

Mic comes over to make sure that Tiger is really knocked out this time. He locks a pair of handcuffs around the villain’s wrists, then straightens up as if looking for something. When he doesn’t find it quickly he runs to secure Purple. He’s still looking around, though.

But for what?

Then Izuku sees Present Mic glance in Tiger’s direction and he realizes- Mic accidentally launched Tiger right at Izuku. He’s probably worried.

Izuku bites his lip and thinks. On the one hand, it’d be smart to figure out which version of Mic is here- his Mic or this timeline’s? On the other hand, Izuku doesn’t know how he’ll react if Mic doesn’t recognize him. It was hard facing Mom when she didn’t have half of her memories, but Present Mic?

Yamada-sensei? The kind, fun-loving teacher who Izuku sees everyday? The one who teaches him English? The one who cheers him up when he’s sad?

Izuku can’t handle that without crying, and that’ll just make everyone more concerned for him.

Instead of going to Present Mic, he turns on his heels and runs. He faintly hears Mic shout, “Wait, kid!” but he knows that the hero can’t get far on a wounded leg. Izuku runs and runs until he reaches the small corner store.

Inko comes out just as Izuku reaches the door, and he crashes into her, crying, “Mom!”

The cart slips from Inko’s hands as she wraps them around Izuku. “Izuku! Oh, honey, what’s wrong?” She pulls away from Izuku to brush his hair out of his face.

Izuku just shakes his head and clings to her, trying to ignore the thought that runs through his mind.

He doesn’t succeed.

No matter what, people are going to get hurt.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

Monday comes far faster than Izuku had expected, the day before lost in a whirl of tears and undeniable, heartbreaking clarity. Now he’s here, again, at his old elementary school that he’d long chosen to forget about, as best as he could, as content as he possibly could be to ignore the past he had been given.

A past that he is reliving, yet undeniably changing already simply by existing.

But that was Sunday, and this is Monday, and Izuku needs to focus , already. He needs his head in the game, to keep his cool- it won’t do him any good to slip up, should he be right and his hopes be wrong.

Kami, he hopes his hopes aren’t wrong. (He can’t stand the implications, the idea, of being truly alone in this- even if the vestiges technically prevent that from being an actual outcome in this world.)

Head held high- no, head ducked carefully low, eyes seeing nothing but the ground and the path before him, scanning endlessly for outstretched legs and angry faces- Izuku heads through the halls, slips through a path he’s had to relearn through buried schedules within his desk, and makes it to his classroom.

The room is familiar, at least. The setting in another of his early nightmares for him to know where he sits.

Right in the back, next to the window. Out of everyone else’s sight, out of the way, nothing but a forgotten issue.

It’s unsettling. Izuku misses his seat from Yuuei.

(He knows that it will be a long, long time before he ever sees it again. But he will. He will .)

Izuku takes his seat, pulls out a lone notebook- not the one from yesterday, a plain, boring one with illegible handwriting and shaky drawings already in the first half- and a pencil, and waits.

And waits.

Then he doesn’t have to, because students are arriving. But Kacchan isn’t the first to show, and so Izuku ducks his head, holds his breath, and runs through every technique Aizawa taught him in the past, every lesson that he’s learned on disappearing in plain sight, on erasing his own presence.

His peers don’t even glance at him. Izuku feels relieved.

He doesn’t want to deal with any….discouragement, today. The looks and remarks that he always knew.

He doesn’t think he has the patience for it, here, but it won’t do any good to ‘suddenly’ gain courage here. Not now.

Not yet.

Kacchan doesn’t enter until half of their peers are in the room, likely intentional, because Kacchan didn’t want to seem too ‘nerdy’ when he was younger. It wasn’t until middle school that Kacchan would allow himself to be one of the first in a room, if only to gain more attention from the start of the day. This, of course, interferes with Izuku’s need to talk to his ex-but-possibly-current friend, but that’s fine.

Izuku can wait a day.

And he does, exceptionally well for someone who is six years past the curriculum, and could recite everything being taught with his eyes closed. Still, he plays the part, scribbling in his notebook. If anyone were to pay him the slightest bit of attention, he still looks like the dutiful student he always has been.

(If they were to glance into his notebook, they’d see notes written in English, plans for what may be. Backup plans, training schedules. Anything, everything that the boy can think of, while the day stretches on yet flies away.)

And then the day is done, and Izuku finds an opening.

He lunges for it.

“Kacchan, wait!” Katsuki was just about to turn the corner after his lackeys- Izuku doesn’t want to call them that, but they certainly aren’t Kacchan’s friends, and as much as he hates to admit it, he doesn’t remember their names.

“Hah?” Katsuki turns around, metaphorical hackles raised. “What do you want, Deku?”

Izuku can’t quite tell if there’s any hidden meaning in Katsuki’s words. He bites his lip nervously when Katsuki’s lackeys double back to see what held up Katsuki.

“Oh, it’s Deku, ” the long-fingered one sneers. Izuku flinches back, and the other one laughs meanly.

He bumps his shoulder into Katsuki’s and asks, “What’s he doing here?”

Izuku grits his teeth and waits for Katsuki’s answer. If he says something like, It’s none of your damn business, extras! then Izuku will know that his Katsuki is back.

But if Katsuki doesn’t know… If Katsuki genuinely doesn’t remember…

Izuku doesn’t know what he’ll do.

So when Katsuki says, “Get out of here, extras,” Izuku can’t help the small grin that creeps onto his face as the “extras” leave. His Katsuki is here. His Kacchan. Ithas to be him, right?

When Katsuki turns to face Izuku with a genuine scowl, that smile drops.

“So,” Katsuki drawls out. “What do you want, nerd?”

“Huh?” Izuku startles.

Katsuki rolls his eyes. “I’m not a dumbass, you know. You’ve been staring at me all day. More than usual,” he adds after a moment. Izuku winces. He wasn’t really that obvious, was he?

“Kacchan, I,” Izuku starts, unsure. Maybe Katsuki is just messing with him? Kami, Izuku hopes so.

“You what?” Katsuki snaps. “Spit it out.”

That solidifies it for Izuku. Kacchan wouldn’t keep the joke going once everyone was out of sight; this was too serious a situation for that. Katsuki… well, he still doesn’t like Izuku, but he’s been better recently. He wouldn't joke about this.

“Nothing,” Izuku mumbles, eager to leave this day behind now that he knows Katsuki isn’t Kacchan .

But Katsuki isn’t content to let sleeping dogs lie.

“Nothing? Really?” Katsuki snorts. “You chased after me for nothing ?”

“Yep,” Izuku exclaims nervously.

“I don’t believe you,” Katsuki says seriously. Izuku starts. Katsuki goes on, uncaring, “You wouldn’t just chase me down for no reason, you’re not that dumb.” Izuku grins a little; from Katsuki that’s nearly a compliment. Katsuki crosses his arms and leans forward intently. “So tell me the truth this time: what do you want ?”

“Nothing,” Izuku stutters out. It’s almost painful to feel this scared when he knows that he could knock Katsuki over with a flick of his fingers. But that was when he was in the future; when he didn’t have this small, weak body that held a secret identity no one knew about.

And now that Katsuki has proven that he doesn’t remember the future, no one can know. Even if he tried to tell someone, no one would believe Izuku, so it’s better to stay silent, to hide his extensive knowledge of events that haven’t even happened yet.

So Izuku backs away, watches Katsuki who watches right back, and then he bolts the moment he can. For a second, he thinks Katsuki will give chase.

But he doesn't. Because Katsuki is ten, and that was when it wasn't cool to have to chase down the person you wanted to hurt.

Something to be grateful for, surely. Izuku doesn't want to have to dance around his mother's questions, soothing concerns that truthfully shouldn't be brushed aside, quelling the fears that he knows aren't misplaced. He hated having to lie to her, and he hates that he has to do it again.

Wait. Why does he have to do it again? Why should Izuku sit through years of bullying for a second time?

He shouldn't. He doesn't want to.

He won't .

Why go through unnecessary struggles? Why torment himself again, when there is nothing in his school to keep him there?

Izuku won't kid himself, he knows his past well. He had no friends. He had no one there on his side, no one there to support him. The only ones to pay him any mind were those who ridiculed him, made fun of him, bullied him. Why go to a place like that? Really, school was just a place to learn.

But Izuku has already learned all that they have to offer. He's well ahead, too, years of academics retained. So why stay with his elementary school, why go all the way through Aldera just to get neverending refreshers on old studies?

Why not switch to a method that works better, one that will work around his training, rather than the other way around?

Walking into his house, Izuku thinks the answer is clear.

And so the first major change has Izuku walking away from the path once taken, with a plan to switch to online school.

Fate changes, then relaxes.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

When Izuku finally reaches home, he runs straight in the door. It’s… it’s unusual. When Izuku was ten -really ten, not this sixteen-year-old-mind-in-a-ten-year-old-body craziness- he remembers stopping just before he walks in the door, wiping tears and straightening singed shirts and then heading inside with as wide a smile as he could manage. He can recall perfecting his grin by eleven, no cracks to be seen, like there weren't faults in the seams or chips taken out of him by those who looked down on him for the sake of it. He knows the days well, when he'd lie to his mother with far too little hesitation, assuring her that of course, he was fine, or that the scrapes on his knees and bruises on his face were his own fault, his own misdoing.

But today Izuku doesn’t do any of that, instead running inside with tears still pouring down his face.

“Izuku? Is that you?” Mom twists her gaze over her shoulder and gasps. Izuku flings himself at her and she drops to catch him. “Oh, Izuku what happened?”

In stuttering, halting words Izuku tells her. He leaves out Katsuki’s involvement -even now he doesn’t want to see Katsuki punished- while still telling her what happened. He keeps the details light, both because he doesn’t want to overwhelm Mom more than he already has and because he doesn’t want to report incidents that are yet to happen.

(He remembers a lot, after all- he could never quite manage to forget, even with a Quirk, even with Yuuei- but even he can't remember times. Nothing but the major things get dates, get official places on the timeline, in his life.)

His mom takes it well. Well, okay, that's a blatant lie if he's ever told one, and he's told quite a lot in his life. But she takes it well enough, accepts the news as calmly as she could be expected to, and it's a start.

And it's with this start that his mom wipes her tears away, dutifully ignoring the ones that quickly follow, pasting a shaky smile on her own for once, a clear mask as she asks, "Izuku, do you want to stay at your school?"

There's so much that she's asking in that single question, Izuku knows. Is he happy there, at all? Is there someone worth staying for, someone who will miss him as a friend and not as a punching bag? Will the change simply be too stressful to be worth it?

There's only one answer, to all of those.

"No," Izuku says, and she nods, desperately trying to keep up, to do her best. "Actually, I-"

Her eyes widen; she's clearly listening, taking in his every word. "Yes, Izuku?"

"I want...to try online school," Izuku lets out, lets his eyes gain a hopeful shine that he's known how to weaponize since the 'cat incident' at the end of his third term.

"Online school?" His mom asks, confused. "Won't you be lonely?"

"I already am," Izuku admits before he wonders if he maybe shouldn't, and then he speaks in haste to move past the topic, because he can only watch his mother cry for so long without feeling like he's worse than Shigaraki. "I just- no one wants to befriend the Quirkless kid, mom. They'll just pick on me- it's just how it is. Teachers don't help, they don't see a reason to. If I don't go to a school, no one can hurt me."

“Oh, Izuku,” his mom breathes. She inhales once, then says, determined, “I’ll call Aldera and get a copy of your transcript for the new school. Do you have one in mind?”

“Not yet,” Izuku admits. “I… I hadn’t really thought about it before.”

“And I wouldn’t have thought you did,” Mom says. “If you want, we could research schools later tonight?”

“That sounds amazing,” Izuku agrees. Bouncing on his feet, he says, “I wonder what sorts of programs they’ll have.”

“Lots of them, I bet,” Mom says with a small smile. “Now, how does Katsudon sound?”

“Katsudon?” Izuku repeats, surprised by the sudden change in the conversation.

“For dinner,” Mom says. “I know it’s your favorite food, and, well. I think it sounds perfectly delicious tonight.”
Izuku easily picks up on the hidden subtext; how bad she feels for missing his pain; how she wishes she hadn’t let herself be blinded by imperfect grins and stitched-together clothes.

So Izuku easily allows himself to smile and exclaim, “Katsudon sounds amazing!” He hugs his mother tight, holding on a moment longer than he usually does.

And then his mother stands up with a small groan and says, “Now, run along to your room, Izuku.” Izuku tilts his head in confusion- did he do something wrong?- and his mom adds enticingly, “Someone at work said that there’s a new hero in town!”

“Really?” Izuku grins.

Mom chuckles at his enthusiasm and nods. “Yep! Their name is Starlight, I hear.”

“Woah,” Izuku says. “Thanks, Mom!” He hugs his mom again, then runs up to his room to research.

As cool as Starlight sounds, though, she isn’t the focus of his research. Instead, Izuku is looking up schools on his own.

Yes, he and his mom are still going to look through them together, but he wants to have some preliminary options, as well as curriculums that will entertain his sixteen-year-old brain.

Eventually he compiles a mental list of about three schools, though they each have a few pros and cons.

Izuku’s favorite school is Sasuke, which has courses from sixth grade to twelfth. The main drawback is that he’d have to wait a year before starting, since he’s in fifth grade now. Although… Now that he thinks about it, Izuku could probably pass the fifth grade courses at a different online school, then go to Sasuke for the remaining grades before U.A.

With that figured out, Izuku decides to actually research Starlight a bit, and he’s intrigued by what he finds. A debut hero with an earth manipulation quirk and a reported knack for analysis.

Eventually his mom calls him downstairs for dinner, and Izuku leaves his research abandoned on the desk.

After they’ve eaten Katsudon and Izuku has cleaned the dishes, Mom turns to Izuku with a smile. “Are you ready to start researching schools?”

“Actually,” Izuku begins, “I’ve already looked at a few schools and I think I found some good ones.”

“Oh? Which ones?” Mom asks curiously.

“Well, there’s this really cool one called Sasuke, but I have to be in sixth grade to go there, so I was thinking maybe next year? Uridon has a good fifth grade program that I think could work!” Izuku rambles on and on, excited as can be. His mother listens intently and whenever Izuku pauses to get his thoughts together again she interjects with questions and comments on their program, how she thinks they’d work for Izuku.

In the end, they do decide on Uridon for fifth grade, and Sasuke for the rest.

Mom hugs Izuku and whispers, “I’m so proud of you, for telling me what those kids did.”

Izuku, naturally, bursts into tears. Mom just laughs and pulls him closer, holding her baby tight.

The future Izuku knows is clashing with the one he’s staring down, but he somehow, somehow knows that the two will merge, paving a better way than the one Izuku lost.

Chapter 5: New Normal

Chapter Text

It takes less than a week for Izuku’s instructor- someone Izuku only met once, through a single, fifteen minutes voice call- to notice the rate at which Izuku is getting through the course work. They send him an email, asking him if he's always moved through subjects as fast as he is now.

The truthful answer would be no, that this is just a refresher, although Izuku has always found it rather easy to pick new things up. The lie he tells simply omits the first half, with Izuku emphasizing that he's a quick learner.

The instructor says nothing more on the topic, but it's clear that they're watching, seeing how rapidly Izuku moves through the work.

And a part of Izuku wants to speed through it all, to let the little cry of 'Plus Ultra' in his veins out into the world in any manner possible, but he knows that skipping ahead in school would only make it so that he has less time to prepare for Yuuei.

Not to mention that he'd end up in a completely different year, with a different class that likely wouldn't be able to help in the fights against the League and-

Izuku takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. Now isn't the time (it never is). He focuses on the positives, on other things, instead.

With less time to be spent on school- because, really, Izuku doesn’t need to finish the coursework quite so quickly- Izuku is able to spread out his training. Yoga, for one, takes up the beginning of his day, a good way to wake up his mind and his body.

Unsurprisingly, it's when Izuku’s thoughts run most wild.

'What if I did end up going to Yuuei early?' Izuku thinks, knowing that the idea is completely hypothetical and probably not worth the amount of time he'll give it. 'Would I end up in the A or B class? Didn't Aizawa expel all of the students in the year ahead of us? Oh, he would throw me with the masses, wouldn't he?'

Yeah, it's best to stay on course. As fun as the idea of being Aizawa’s only student sounds, he doesn't want to risk being expelled for being ahead, along with all of the other risks being ahead would bring.

Oh, well!

Instead, Izuku makes a schedule and sticks to it.

Yoga comes first, then breakfast, which is a healthy meal as close to Izuku’s diet plan as he can manage.

He doesn’t have quite the same supplies as he did the first go-around, because honestly, a ten-year-old on a diet plan is a bit odd, but Izuku manages. Granola bars, GoGurts, and orange juice are close enough to his previous diet of beef jerky, plain yogurt, and protein shakes.

Izuku works on school for an hour or two after that, breezing through the material.

His mom packs lunch for him every day, even though he isn’t going to school anymore. “Just because you’re home for lunch doesn’t mean that you need to make it yourself!”

Sandwich, apple juice, fruit. Simple and delicious. Mom always leaves a note for Izuku too, and it never fails to leave him smiling. His mom is the best.

After lunch Izuku cleans up his eternally-messy workspace, which takes a good half hour or so, and then he’s off to Dagobah beach.

It’s eerily reminiscent of his early days training with Yagi-san, minus, well, Yagi-san. Izuku likes it a lot. It’s calming work. He listens to true crime shows and documentaries as he works. It’s nice.

He simply heads home after that, and the night is quiet. Showers and dinners and night after relaxing night.

One night, a few days later, Izuku decides to switch up his routine for once. It’s late, 10 in the evening or so, and Mom’s already gone to bed. Izuku takes a chance and sneaks out to Dagobah beach.

He makes sure to leave a note for his mom, though. He’s not some delinquent who’d worry her unnecessarily!

Izuku walks briskly and finds himself at Dagobah beach in no time. He’s walking down the sidewalk, making his way to where he’d last left off.

Izuku is nearly there when he spots someone coming down the opposite end of the sidewalk. He flips up his hoodie and walks ever-so-slightly faster.

As the man draws closer, Izuku can make out his face. He stops abruptly when he realizes who the man is.

It’s.. it’s Aizawa-sensei. Izuku takes two running steps, then leaps over the railing and into the middle of a pile of rusty fridges. (Cleaning up a beach twice did wonders for Izuku’s spatial awareness, and he lands neatly in the middle of a pile of trash.)

Izuku glances up in concern. Did Aizawa see him? Izuku holds his breath for several long, drawn-out moments.

Eventually, Izuku looks away, letting out a sigh. Aizawa hadn't noticed him, hadn't tried to approach him.

Good. Izuku doesn't know what he'd do, what he'd say, when his previous teacher inevitably couldn't recognize him.

Cry, probably.

Well, at least Izuku won't have to deal with that encounter for a while.

Either way, Aizawa is gone, and Izuku is here...sitting in a pile of trash. Kami, if this is how he reacts to every person he recognizes from the past, someone is going to catch on and he’ll get a reputation for this kind of thing.

Yet another thing he’ll have to train, but this one is one to train out of himself, not in. Fun!

Shaking his head at himself, Izuku makes quick work of climbing out of the pile, careful not to cut himself on anything- he doesn’t know how he’d explain the need for a tetanus shot to his mom, and he really doesn’t want to try. It’s easier to just, well, not get hurt.

‘Like you’re good at that,’ A voice that suspiciously sounds like one of the past holders whispers to him, and Izuku snorts, glancing down at unscarred hands.

Yeah, he’ll do better this time. No reason to become the Problem Child yet again, not when he can prove his potential from the very beginning.

Huh. Maybe that’s another good thing about getting sent back in time! Not only will Izuku be able to get stronger, to catch up with his peers before the League attacks them, but he’ll be able to start off on a better beginning. He’s gained a good amount of confidence since his first year, and he has no doubts that he’ll be able to befriend his peers even quicker, this time around.

The bright side is nicer to look at, Izuku thinks, compared to the reminder of just how long he has to wait, to see them all again. And the fact that he’ll know them, care for them, long before they’ll even greet him.

Bright sides. Look at the positives.

Izuku sighs, climbing the stairs, reaching solid concrete instead of sandy shores yet again. He glances around the empty street, then lets out another sigh before making the trek back home.

Training can wait until daylight. For now, Izuku’s fingers itch with the urge to go over his notes, to find more solutions to fix the future before it happens.

He only wants the best, for the best people he’s ever met, and he’ll do whatever it takes to give them that future.

Plus Ultra, yeah?

Chapter 6: An (Un)familiar Face

Chapter Text

The following weeks pass quickly, the days blending into each other. Izuku grows used to his squeaky child's voice and the long hair that brushes against his neck. He might even let it grow out, this time around.

Izuku's routine is so deeply ingrained into his time nowadays that it's a shock when summer comes.

Izuku doesn't find out until he logs into class only to find that the site is blocked.

Closed until September 1.

Izuku frowns and reloads the site. This doesn't make any sense.

He emails his instructor with a screenshot and description of the site, but all he gets in response is a short reply.

School’s out for the summer, kid. Have fun.

Izuku doesn't believe it at first, but a quick glance at his calendar- All Might themed, of course- tells him that it's true. It's July twentieth- the first day of summer.

How did Izuku miss this?

He runs downstairs, calling, "Mom?"

"Yes, Izuku?" she turns from her paperwork and tilts her head. "Is everything alright?"

"It's summer!" Izuku exclaims.

"Yes, and?"

Izuku runs his hands through his hands. "You didn't tell me it was summer already!"

"Oh, Izuku," Mom sighs. "Is school really that interesting?"

Not really, no. "Kind of?" he offers. "It's not like it's hot outside or anything, so how was I supposed to know?"

Mom shakes her head and laughs a little. She opens her arms for a hug and Izuku eagerly falls into her arms. Even in his other timeline, he's always fit perfectly into his mothers hugs and today is no exception.

"We can plan a few summer activities for you, if you'd like?" she offers.

"Like what?" Izuku asks. He's curious, if a bit hesitant. The only camp he's ever been to was the one at U.A., and that wasn’t exactly fun, to say the least.

"There are a few daily programs offered through the local dojo, if you want to try them! They look like a lot of fun," she remarks. Izuku bites his lip.

"Is it in person?"

Mom sighs a bit. She's smart enough to know why Izuku is hesitant, and it shows when she answers. "It is, but the dojo says that it's inclusive to everyone."

"That's what Aldera said too," Izuku reminds her. He doesn't want to be this grim, doesn't want to have to assume the worst of everyone, but he's had too many bad experiences and he'd rather be over-prepared than under.

Besides, Izuku would be perfectly happy to spend his days at Dagobah beach. He wouldn't be able to work all day- he learned his lesson when he passed out under All Might's tutelage. His mentor had been disappointed in him and Izuku had to miss a day of training as a result.

Even with how little Izuku's managed to complete this go-around- between school and everything else- Dagobah is still a hell of a lot cleaner.

"Izuku? Hon, you're mumbling," Mom points out softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Izuku apologizes immediately.

"You're fine," she reassures. "Did you hear anything I said?"

"No," Izuku admits sheepishly.

His mom shakes her head, but she's smiling, holding back a laugh. "That's alright," she says, her tone so soft and sincere that Izuku could never doubt otherwise. "I was just asking you to give it a week."

"A week?" Izuku repeats, and Mom nods.

"Just one. Try out a couple of classes, see what you like. If the instructors or students aren't… good enough," they wince in sync, but his mom recovers faster, "then you don't have to go back."

Izuku bites his lip, thinking it over. A week, huh? It's the same amount of time as an internship...and if Izuku was able to face getting beat up by Gran Torino for a week, he can face some kids and teachers for the same amount of time.

"Alright," Izuku agrees, determination filling him, leaving him whole. "I'll- I'll try out the dojo."

Mom's eyes well up with tears, but Izuku knows she's not sad.

No, this time it's good.

-----

It stays that way. Good, he means.

He doesn't start at the dojo right away, but he does change up his routine as soon as it clicks that he won't have classes for a while. The warmer days begin with runs through the city, dutifully avoiding Katsuki's street in order to avoid any sort of confrontation.

He cuts it close enough, passing a couple of his old peers on the street, their group seemingly heading to the nearby arcade, but Izuku is faster and knows his route like the back of his hand, and they're not interested enough to hunt down the old school reject.

Morning runs lead to cool down stretches, which turns into yoga on one of the clear spots that Izuku made on the beach. No one else arrives there, the shore still piled high with mounds of garbage, but Izuku has long grown desensitized to the smell. The mountains of trash provide protection, hiding him from the world, and allow him to remain at ease.

Yoga shifts to a break, a moment of silent relaxation, and then Izuku takes on the harder aspects of training. Lifting heavier objects, basic conditioning, the works. Izuku wants to start working on parkour, soon, and the trash piles act as a good beginner course.

There's a lot to do, and time to do it. Izuku is content.

He goes to the dojo on his second week of summer.

He arrives ten minutes early and changes into a gi that the dojo provides. It barely takes him any time, and when he walks out most of the students seem to have arrived. Izuku glances over the crowd, more out of habit than anything, and he nearly yelps when he spies a familiar face.

Ojiro Mashirao must have arrived while Izuku was changing, because Izuku surely would have noticed him.

Now, he hesitates, debating whether or not to join Ojiro. Izuku knows that he's kind from his experiences in the future, and even though Ojiro (probably) won't remember him, Izuku thinks he'll survive it. He and Ojiro weren't particularly close in the original timeline, after all.

Izuku makes up his mind, and just as he begins to think of ways to approach him, Ojiro spots him and waves him over.

"Hey, you! With the green hair!" Ojiro's unfamiliar greeting makes it quite clear that he doesn't recognize Izuku, who glances behind him to make sure that there isn't another green-haired kid hanging around.

'Me?' he mouths, just to make sure. Ojiro nods, and Izuku makes way through the crowd.

"Hello," he greets cheerfully. "I'm Midoriya Izuku!"

"Ojiro Mashirao," he returns. He awkwardly twists his tail around his legs. "Nice to meet'cha. I'm sorry to bother you, it's just that everyone else seems to know each other already, but you don't seem to know anybody?" His voice hitches up at the last second.

Izuku rushes to reassure him, "No, no, you're fine! I was working up the courage to come talk to you, so it works out well, really."

"Nice," Ojiro nods. "You can call me Mashirao, by the way."

"Call me Izuku, then," he grins. "How long've you been here at the dojo?"

"This one? Not very long. I've taken classes back home since I was seven, but I'm doing the summer program here while I stay at my aunt's house!" Oji- Mashirao- explains eagerly. "What about you?"

Nakamura-sensei, their teacher, calls for attention then, which is a relief. Izuku probably should've been prepared for this question. What sort of fighting education would an eleven-year-old need, to know how to throat-punch someone?

Either way, Izuku is saved by the beginning of class. Nakamura is kind as she goes over the rules. Izuku is pleasantly surprised when Nakamura reveals that she's quirkless and emphasizes their policies on bullying.

Sure, Izuku may not actually be quirkless, but he is in the eyes of the law, and that's all anyone cares about.

When Nakamura is done with the rules, she demonstrates two kicking variations before releasing them. They're allowed to work solo but encouraged to stick together. Izuku and Mashirao use that as an excuse to train in tandem, of course.

And it's nice. Really, really nice, getting to work with Mashirao. The two help each other, offering criticism when one moves a little too slowly, or ends in the wrong position, but there's smiles and silly comments in between each critique.

"You're good at this!" Mashirao compliments when Izuku pauses. "Have you trained before?"

' At Yuuei, some, ' Izuku thinks, recalling late nights spent on his own outside of the dorm, trying to recreate the moves of so, so many of his peers, wanting to catch up and be better than he was. He remembers wanting to use Black Whip to imitate Mashirao's tail, trying to mimic a move of the blond's.

But he can't say that, of course, so instead he smiles and shrugs. "I watched some videos at home," Izuku offers. "I'm a quick learner, is all."

"That's impressive," Mashirao says earnestly, and Izuku wonders why they never became close in the original timeline.

He's glad to have a second chance, here.

They move on, and so does the conversation. Nakamura calls them back not ten minutes later, asking them to show their progress. Izuku watches carefully as each person goes, keeps an eye out for anything he can try to copy. But most of the others are rather average, and no one changes anything in a way that screams of personalization.

Which is….sort of the goal, Izuku realizes, and so he smiles to himself and lets himself relax, no longer concentrating so intensely on those around him.

He's here to train, yes, but…

But he's also a kid, even if an older one in mind, in an odd sort of way.

So Izuku just lets himself be, following Nakamura's instructions and moving in tandem with Mashirao, the two bantering all the way.

And when the lesson ends, and Izuku leaves, it's with a smile on his face and a new contact in his phone. It's not one he ever used, before, but things are changing.

And it's for the better, Izuku thinks, and that's enough for him.

Chapter 7: A friend and a beach

Chapter Text

The rest of the week- and then the summer- seems to pass by in a flash.

After that first day Izuku gushes to his mom about how cool the training is and how amazing Nakamura-sensei is ("Mom, she's quirkless too!"). Bringing up Mashirao seals the deal. Mom makes sure he stays cautious just in case but Izuku can tell how pleased she is.

The next few days go just as well, and that's enough for Mom to sign Izuku up for the rest of the summer. Classes are free, after all, and in any case his mom would never deny him this. She knows how much he longs to be a hero, knows how much this opportunity means to him.

He and Mashiaro continue training together, and a week later Izuku tells Mashirao about his quirklessness. Well, "quirklessness." One for All still hums under his skin, still sings through his veins, but that's going to be a well-kept secret until U.A.

Certainly, All Might will confront Izuku about his quirk. He hasn't decided whether or not to reveal that he's a time traveler, but Izuku has time to come up with a reasonable explanation for One for All suddenly transferring to him.

Izuku might even tell Aizawa-sensei this go-around. Izuku won't have the same setbacks, but having an Underground Hero's perspective would certainly be helpful. (Kami, Izuku hopes that Aizawa-sensei is still his teacher at U.A.).

Either way, Mashirao reacts well to Izuku's revelation. It's a Friday night. Izuku and Mashirao are sitting on Izuku's porch (Mashirao having been brought over to finally meet Mom. She had gushed over him in the way that only a mother could, and Izuku would be embarrassed if he weren’t so pleased).

"I'm… I'm quirkless," Izuku admits. (He ignores the way his gut twists at the half-lie.)

"I'd kinda figured," he reveals.

"What?!"

Mashirao shrugs. "I don't know how to explain it. A hunch, I guess? Besides," Mashirao's smile sharpens. "That would explain why Nakamura-sensei favours you so much!"

"She does not," Izuku protests. Mashirao tilts his head back and looks at Izuku out of the corner of his eyes.

"You don't see it?" Mashirao asks softly.

Izuku shakes his head. “What’s there to see?”

Mashirao frowns, then shrugs. Lifting his gaze upwards, he admits, "It's the little things, I think. She picks you for demonstrations almost every time you raise your hand. She moves into a more….peaceful position whenever you walk over, and you always seem less tense the moment she lowers her fists or gets out of a defensive stance. She'll pat your shoulder when you do a job well done, and I caught her bragging about how much you've improved the other week." Chuckling just a bit, Mashirao admits, "Honestly? The class was starting to spread a rumor that you're her little sibling. She cares for you that much more."

"Oh," Izuku replies, oh so elegantly. Mashirao laughs.

"Yeah," Mashirao says, and for a moment it looks like he might push the topic, might ask something else.

But then he just smiles that familiar smile, and asks Izuku about his shirt, saying, "How did you manage to find so many shirts with different variations of 'shirt' written on it?"

And just like that the topic is dropped, and the day continues.

And days turn into weeks, and all too soon Mashirao is heading back to his home, the summer break over, and Izuku remains in the world he's always known. He's left to his own devices, to his yoga and online courses and the training that never seems to end. He's alone as he wonders who will come next, if anyone will, that Izuku will recognize and have to meet again.

Mashirao alone hurt to meet for the second time, but their friendship has gone past the one they had, in the timeline Izuku once knew. But there are people that Izuku doesn't think he'll be able to face, friends he can't bear the thought of not truly knowing.

People like Uraraka, like Todoroki, like Iida and Asui and-

And the amount of people who Izuku misses is way too large, and Izuku so small, but he shrugs his shoulders and carries on nonetheless.

Because life continues on its own, with or without him, and Izuku refuses to be left behind.

Not this time.

Izuku begins training later and later at night, begins sneaking out again, begins pushing himself to and past his limits. Mom can tell, he knows, but he doesn’t know how to stop. He has to get better, faster, stronger. It’s with his future-past classmates in mind that he keeps going.

Izuku sprints across the beach until sand is hidden in every crevice of his shoes and his legs can’t hold him up, remembering the way Tenya ran so, so fast to save them at the USJ. The way that Hanta would snatch classmates out of the way, quick as a whip, during attacks.

Izuku hauls bigger and bigger pieces of junk. He even goes so far as to try and lift the fridges that it took him nine months to move even though it’s only been half that time and he started off with a weaker body than before. (Ten-year-old Izuku was even shrimpier than his middle school self, not that that’ll be an issue this go-around.)

Izuku does this with Fumikage in mind, remembering the way Dark Shadow defeated Moonfish with a massive burst of power. He remembers the way that Rikido pushed himself at the training camp, trying to get stronger.

Izuku is glad that his classmates are such good role models.

Mom watches him more and more, and Izuku has a sneaking suspicion that she knows (or at least suspects) something about his nighttime activities. Still, Izuku trains on. And then, on a drab and ordinary Thursday, something shifts.

Izuku hears someone- or something- move behind him.

He whirls around before he can think.

Something jumps out at him.

Izuku reacts.

Chapter 8: Who would have thought?

Chapter Text

It’s a cat. A cute one at that. The noise that Izuku heard was it rustling around in the garbage, and Izuku’s rapid turn-around had it leaping at him in fright.

Izuku shakes his head and grins. Of course something as small and harmless as a kitten would startle him!

Izuku caught it, at least, and he’s giving it a bath in the ocean now. Izuku’s heard that cats don’t like water, but that’s probably false information because this cat seems to like it just fine. Izuku gently rubs the back of it’s head and it preens. He smiles.

“Hmm,” Izuku murmurs aloud. “I bet I can convince Mom to keep you, so you need a name! That’ll help! But what to name you?”

The cat shifts then, and Izuku notices something he didn’t before. There’s a thin, faded scar underlining the cat’s right eye. That’s a… pretty odd placement, Izuku thinks, then shrugs it off. That combined with the strange band of white fur that wraps around its neck reminds Izuku of Aizawa-sensei, and the perfect name suddenly comes to mind.

And just like that Izuku is lifting the feline up and racing home, ignoring the soreness in his legs, forgetting that it's the middle of the night, honestly quite closer to the beginning of the morning, and that he has an armful of dripping wet soon-to-be pet in his arms, mind only focused on one goal.

Getting this new companion home.

Izuku pushes the door open with glee, beaming because his mom is already up and that means he can introduce their new housemate that much sooner.

“Mom, meet Catture Weapon!” Izuku exclaims proudly, lifting the cat, newly dubbed Catture Weapon, into the air in a way that reminds him of a pre-Quirk movie that Izuku had watched with Eri. His mom quirks an eyebrow, curious.

"Catture Weapon..? No, nevermind that. Izuku, sweetie...where did you find that cat?"

"The beach!" Izuku answers truthfully, and maybe it's the joy coursing through him at the sight of such a cute cat, or the fact that he's half asleep and half caught up by how much the cat reminds him of a future Izuku can’t wait to see, but he doesn't process the look his mom gives him.

But she's processing his words, faster than he'd like.

"The beach?" His mom repeats, and Izuku nods. "Honey, do you mean Dagobah Beach? The trash dump?"

"Yep!" Shifting Catture Weapon in his arms, Izuku asks, "I found her in some rubbish! Isn't she cute?"

"Yes, dear, absolutely adorable. But Izuku, what on Earth are you doing at the beach at three in the morning?"

And just like that, Izuku's brain returns to reality.

Oops.

"Uh…." Izuku starts, because, well, he needs to figure out just how much of the truth he can reveal. He can't exactly tell his mom about One for All, of course- the Quirk has to stay hidden, so that no one finds out too soon. She'd probably be upset if he just says 'training'- he is ten in her eyes, after all, and his body matches that assumption.

So Izuku doesn't have much to give, except, "I'm cleaning the beach!"

His mom blinks at him, then asks, slowly, "Why?"

That gives Izuku pause. Somehow, this never came up in the original timeline, and he doesn’t think that, I need to get stronger so that my quirk I’ve had for two one year doesn’t break every bone in my fragile body, is going to cut it.

Izuku frowns, trying to think of a reasonable explanation, when it hits him.

“It’s just,” Izuku starts, trying to figure out the best way to word this. “It’s just that heroes today are driven by villains. They focus more on fighting villains and stopping tsunamis than they do on the little things, like helping the little old lady cross the street safely. Like cleaning up the local beach that’s overrun with trash.”

“Oh, Izuku,” Mom sighs fondly. “I suppose I see your point, but still. What am I going to do with you?” She doesn’t sound mad, at least, so Izuku is going to count this as a win. Mom ruffles his hair and gently lifts Catture Weapon out of his arms. “We’ll deal with… Catture Weapon in the morning, alright?”

“M’kay,” Izuku murmurs sleepily, tired now that the adrenaline rush from Catture Weapon’s entrance has died down.

Mom laughs a bit, then wraps her arms around him and pulls him in close. “It’s time for bed now, okay?”

“Mhm,” Izuku nods, and he reluctantly pulls away from his mother’s warm embrace to trudge upstairs. Mom follows shortly, and Izuku falls asleep quickly thereafter.

In the morning, Mom sits him down for a talk over breakfast. She’s made scrambled eggs, which are delicious as per usual. Catture Weapon sits in Izuku’s lap.

“Izuku, honey, we need to talk about last night,” she starts.

About my sneaking out or the cat? Izuku wants to ask, but knows that it’ll be better to let Mom lead this conversation.

And indeed, it starts about how he’d been expecting. “We definitely need to discuss your… nighttime activities,” which is a rather mild way to put it, all things considered, “but I think we need to talk about Catture Weapon first.”

“Please, please, please let me keep her!” Izuku exclaims immediately. “I promise to take care of her and feed her and clean her litter box and-“

“Izuku,” Mom interjects. He falls silent, slightly ashamed of his outburst (but he’d be more ashamed to let Catture Weapon slip from his hands without a word, he knows). “I know you mean well, but if she was outside before, how would she adjust to apartment life?”

“... I didn’t think about that,” Izuku admits. He does want to keep Catture Weapon, of course he does, but not at the expense of her happiness.

“And I’m not sure if our landlord even allows cats,” Mom continues.

Izuku stares down at his empty plate, crestfallen.

Catture Weapon reaches up and bats his nose then; though Izuku has no idea why. He laughs a bit in surprise, and he adjusts his grip on her.

When he looks up at Mom again, her gaze has softened, just a bit.

“Still… If you’re committed to taking care of her, we’ll find a way to make it work,” Mom promises.

Izuku grins, unbelieving of his luck. “I am, Mom!” he swears.

Mom’s grin says it all. “I’ll make it happen, then.”

And she does. She comes home that night with written proof from their landlord that Catture Weapon is allowed to stay, so long as she doesn't manage to disturb the nearby neighbors. A rule that should be easy enough to follow, seeing how remarkably well Catture Weapon has responded to being indoors all day after living outside.

She also comes home with some items for the cat.

"It's just food," she admits. "You've been taking the cat outside to use the bathroom, right?"

He has been, because Catture Weapon seems to prefer such a method. It's odd, because Izuku is pretty sure that cats normally go in litter boxes, but she did live in a trash dump before Izuku saw her, so it makes sense.

"Yeah," Izuku agrees, and his mom nods back.

"Alright. We'll go pick up some stuff on the weekend, okay? So you better find out what your little girl needs before then, alright?"

"Alright!" Izuku agrees, and he does exactly that. The rest of the week is split between school, training, looking into what Catture Weapon will need, and giving Catture Weapon the attention that she keeps asking for.

And the week passes quickly, going in such a manner. It's not long until he and his mom are walking into the local pet store, and Izuku can't help but to be excited when they do.

More food is the first thing to go into the cart, a variety of cans being grabbed in an instant. Cats can be picky, Izuku has learned, but it's best to learn where her tastes lay right away. If she doesn't like a can, well...at least he'll only have a couple remaining, instead of a full case.

Dry food also gets put in the cart, a brand that Izuku saw numerous shoppers recommend online. So do a few treats, but Mom forces him to move on from the food aisle when he starts to get indecisive on how many treats he should get his new companion.

It's her mistake, however, because she pushes him right into the toy aisle, and that's a whole new mess in and of itself.

(Picking out cat toys is serious business, after all.)

But, luckily, they're only in that aisle for a touch over ten minutes before Izuku is satisfied, sure that Catture Weapon will love most, if not all, of the toys he has picked for her.

A small cat perch is grabbed, mainly for the base where Catture Weapon will be able to run her claws on. Beds are passed, since Catture Weapon seems to like sleeping on Izuku's bed, and Izuku doesn’t mind her company whatsoever. A brush is grabbed, and so is some shampoo- which Izuku didn't even know existed for cats, considering that they groom themselves, but he has a feeling that it could come in handy given their first meeting.

Then, Izuku grabs a litter box, some litter, and a scoop, because Izuku can't guarantee that he'll always be there to take her outside when she needs to go.

Finally, a collar, leash, and name tag end up in Izuku’s hands, a way to safely allow his new pet to come to the beach with him, should she want to, and Izuku is finished.

"Are we ready to check out?" Mom asks. Izuku nods excitedly.

Checking out, as it turns out, brings its own set of affairs.

The woman sitting behind the counter looks oddly familiar, though Izuku doesn’t recognize her until she turns around and he sees the nametag, which reads [My name is Kouda Hanako.]

Kouda.

She has to be related to Kouji in some way, though Izuku’s pretty sure she must be an aunt or something. (Izuku’s met Kouji’s mom before, she’s kind and sweet and the woman in front of him is just slightly too different to be his mother, even taking the six year’s difference into consideration.)

“Good morning,” Kouda greets cheerfully. “Did you have any trouble finding anything?”

“I think we might’ve had the opposite problem,” Mom says, glancing at Izuku’s full basket of cat toys and such.

Kouda- and Kami, it’s weird to call anyone other than Kouji that- laughs, taps the counter twice, and looks down at Izuku. “Set your stuff here, dearie.”

“Okay!” Izuku hauls the overflowing basket up and carefully dumps the items onto the counter.

Kouda laughs again and begins scanning items. “Are you new pet owners?”

“How could you tell?” Izuku asks, bouncing from side to side.

“It’s easy,” she grins. “Besides the fact that you’ve got so much stuff, you’ve got a variety of brands. If you’ve had a pet before you’d have a general idea of what they want.”

Izuku blinks at that; technically, he has had a cat before! Actually, Izuku probably could’ve drawn on that experience to pick out cat toys. Oh well, he thinks. Catture Weapon probably has different preferences anyways.

He rouses when Mom places her hand on his shoulder and says, half-teasing, half-scolding, “We’re adopting the cat Izukun picked up at a trash beach.”

Kouda pauses at that, cat toy still in hand. “Really? How’d that happen?”

Izuku grimaces and glances at Mom pleadingly, hoping she’ll spare him, but no such luck. “He was sneaking out to clean the beach at night, and he found Catture Weapon.”

“At least it’s for a good cause,” Kouda offers lightly. She rubs the back of her neck and smiles. “Honestly, it sounds like something my nephew would do.”

“Your nephew?” Izuku repeats, daring to hope.

“Mhm! He’s brought home more than a few pets in his years,” Kouda recalls fondly. “He’s real good with them too- it’s part of his quirk. Masaki and I can understand animals just fine, but he can respond.”

“Really?” Izuku asks, practically vibrating in his excitement. He’s sure his mom thinks he’s just happy to hear about a new quirk- which he is, of course- but he’s really overjoyed because he’s found another classmate of his!

After Mashiraou and Katsuki’s reactions, Izuku knows that Kouji won’t remember him, but Izuku is excited nonetheless.

“Yeah, and he’s only gotten better with them over the years. We were hoping he’d want to be a vet here,” she jerks her thumb at the door behind her, labeled Animal Clinic, and continues with a sigh, “but Kouji’s dead-set on becoming a hero.”

Mom chuckles a bit and pulls Izuku closer. “He sounds just like Izukun! He’s wanted to be a hero for- oh, as long as I can remember!”

“Just like Kouji-kun!” Kouda exclaims. She leans back in her chair and hums thoughtfully. “He’s always been a bit shy, but I think he might like to meet Izuku. If you’re interested of course,” she adds, waving her hands frantically back and forth. “I don’t mean to assume!”

“That sounds amazing,” Izuku agrees happily. He looks up. “Mom, can I?”

“Of course,” she agrees. “Kouda-san, if you’d like, we can exchange telephone numbers and set up a time for them to meet?”

“Oh, none of that nonsense,” Kouda starts. “Call me Hanako! I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot of each other.”

They exchange numbers as suggested, and Mom and Izuku are leaving the shop, bags in hand, not five minutes later. He can’t help but have a pep in his step.

He’s going to be reunited with another one of his classmates.

Chapter 9: Make "new" friends

Chapter Text

Izuku doesn’t get to ‘meet’ Kouji for quite a few days, but that’s understandable, if he’s being honest. It’s not like everyone has a schedule as adjustable as he does, so it’d be rather silly to assume that others could rearrange their plans as easily as Izuku can.

‘It’d be illogical,’ a voice that sounds oddly like Aizawa says in his head, and Izuku snorts, shaking his head and forcing the thought away. Instead he looks to Catture Weapon, who is happily batting at a toy mouse on the floor.

“Hey,” Izuku murmurs, and Catture Weapon looks up with a soft mrrplike sound. “Guess who gets to see an old friend today?”

Catture Weapon blinks at him, soft and slow, and Izuku smiles back.

“I can tell you a secret,” Izuku says, just because he can, because Catture Weapon is the only one in his life who Izuku can spill this all to without changing the timeline irreparably. “I haven’t technically met my friend yet. I’m supposed to meet him for the first time in a few years, but because I met you, I’ll get to see him early.”

Catture Weapon meows, high pitched and short, and Izuku laughs.

“Yeah, I know it sounds confusing. It feels that way, too. But Kouda- that’s the friend- is really nice, and I’m excited to see him. I’ve already re-found Mashirao, and I think this second chance is worth having to get through all of the stuff from my first year all over again.” Smiling wryly, Izuku adds, “Even if that means waiting for Katsuki to get over himself all over again. I miss having Kacchan around, you know?”

Catture Weapon looks back to her mouse toy, then to Izuku. Izuku sighs and tosses the mouse for her, and Catture Weapon gives chase.

“You haven’t met Katsuki yet,” Izuku notes, “but you will, one day. Well, I hope you will. He’s not very polite- not polite at all, to be honest- but he’s strong and protective once he’s your friend. He’s a Symbol of Victory, to me….I used to want to follow in his footsteps. Kind of like how I wanted to be like All Might, in a way.”

Catture Weapon trots back over, mouse in mouth, and drops the toy in front of him. She looks up at him, eyes wide, and meows again.

“I’m trying to be myself, now,” Izuku declares. “But I also want to be like everyone who inspires me. I’ll take cards from their deck and make my own game, and then I’ll win. How does that sound?”

Catture Weapon puts her front paws on his legs and lets out her loudest meow yet, and Izuku laughs.

“Glad to hear it,” Izuku says, and then he hears his mother’s voice calling his name.

It’s time to meet Kouji.

He lives closer than Izuku expected, no more than a ten-minute drive away. He’s glad for that; as long as this goes well he’ll have a friend who lives nearby all year round. (He loves Ojiro, but he doesn’t exactly live down the street anymore.)

Izuku is, well, he’s fairly confident in his ability to make friends at this point, between his companions from the future and meeting Ojiro in this timeline, but he’s still nervous.

By the time they arrive at the Kouda’s house, Izuku is sitting on his hands to keep from biting his nails off. Mom laughs a bit, reassures him, and gently pushes him out the car.

“Go on and head in,” she waves. “I’ll see you after! Text me if you need me to pick you up early, alright?”

Izuku nods and squares his shoulders, takes a deep breath, then turns towards Kouji’s house with his head held high. He made friends with the Kouda Kouji in class 1-A, and he can make friends with the younger version of him now.

Kouda-san opens the door right as Izuku’s hand raises to knock, and she looks just like Kouji. He keeps the surprise off his face and smiles up at her- and oh, she’s rather tall, in fact- and she welcomes him in with warm arms. He follows her to the kitchen, where she directs him further.

“Kouji’s in the living room if you want to go say hi, hon. I’ll bring you boys some snacks,” she adds happily, already bustling around.

“Oh! Thank you Kouda-san!” Izuku exclaims. He bows his head, then darts off. A second later, he pokes his head in sheepishly. “Where is the living room, exactly?”

She chuckles and points down the hall. Izuku’s gaze follows and oh, there’s the living room.

“Thank you!” he chirps again, then scampers off into the living room.

It’s rather cozy, and if Izuku squints it rather reminds him of the dorm’s layout. A couch against the back wall with a small television in front, a single poster of Miruko, a rabbit cage- for Little Yuwai, if Izuku remembers his name correctly- in the corner and Kouji nearby.

“Hello!” Izuku waves, and doesn’t use sign language- at least, not yet. For all he knows, Kouji hasn’t learned yet, and in any case he isn’t supposed to know that.

Kouji’s gaze darts up to meet his, then slides back down to his rabbit. “I’m Midoriya Izuku! You must be Kouji, right?” He nods, and Izuku grins. “Nice to meet you!” “Nice to- nice to meet you too,” Kouji mumbles quietly. He scratches Little Yuwai behind his ears and Izuku recognizes it as one of his nervous tics from the dorms.

He takes a step back and gestures to the couch, “Can I…?” Kouji hesitates, then nods and Izuku sits. He waits for a beat, then says “So, you like Miruko?”

Kouji startles, eyes darting over to the Miruko poster before locking onto Izuku once more. Slowly, hesitantly, Kouji nods, as if he's afraid that Izuku will judge or dismiss him.

Izuku does neither. Instead, he offers his brightest smile, leaning forward and saying, "Yeah! She's so cool, isn't she? I mean, her Quirk isn't a perfect match to a rabbit's abilities, but what she did get is amazing! Did you see her battle against, ah, what was his name? The Hunter?"

Kouji nods, and Izuku laughs.

"It reminded me of an old, Pre-Quirk cartoon I watched when I was younger. Something about….looney people?" Izuku tries to recall the name, then shakes his head, dismissing the thought. "It's not important! But the way she kept getting the jump on him was like something straight out of a story, and- oh, I'm rambling, aren't I? Sorry, I just really like heroes." Izuku smiles apologetically, then asks, "What do you like most about Miruko? Is it her Quirk- yours is related to animals, right? Is that why you like her?"

He tries to leave obvious openings, knowing that Kouji works best when support is offered. And he thinks he's guessed the answer- Kouji loves animals, after all, so it would make sense that he favors someone like Miruko, someone with a mutation Quirk that reminds him of his gentle companion Yuwai.

But Izuku is pleasantly surprised that he's wrong.

"I admire her...her confidence," Kouji murmurs, and Izuku perks up. "I'm always so scared, but she's brave. It's inspiring."

And Izuku gets it, because, well…

"That's what All Might is to me," Izuku admits, and Kouji blinks at him. "He's a symbol of safety, of peace. When he smiles, you know that everything is okay. I want to help people feel like everything will end up fine in the end, even if it takes time to get there. I want to inspire hope in people like All Might does in me, all over Japan!"

"That's a big dream," Kouji says, but he doesn't sound dismissive, but rather intrigued, interested, and, dare Izuku think it, somewhat inspired.

"The best dreams are," Izuku replies, and then smiles wider. "Want to make our dreams come true together? So we can become like our idols with a friend to support us?"

Kouji smiles. “I think I’d like that.”

Izuku beams.

When Kouda-san walks in a few minutes later, mochi in hand, Izuku’s seated on the floor next to Kouji and they’re petting Little Yuwai together.

“Oh, aren’t you two just adorable?” Kouda-san gushes. She practically glides over, then nudges Kouji. “I’m glad you’ve made friends with my little Kouji-kun so quickly!”

Kouji flushes red, and Izuku laughs and rubs the back of his neck with his free hand.

“It’s only because he’s so easy to get along with,” he responds easily enough, and grins at Kouji. “Plus, we’re both into heroes!”

They’re both going to be heroes, Izuku knows, but he wisely doesn’t say that. If he were going to reveal his accidental-time-traveler status, it wouldn’t be to someone he’s only just met (in this timeline, anyways) who wouldn’t give him a second glance.

Kouda-san grins, and it’s a kind, fierce thing. “I take it that you want to be a hero, then? Just like my little Kouji-kun?”

Izuku nods once, and glances at Kouji again. “Yeah.”

“Well, you two better stick together then. The best heroes are the ones that look out for each other,” she says, and for some reason it reminds Izuku of Aizawa-sensei. Heroes who are strong enough to stand on their own but are far stronger when they work together.

“That they are,” he agrees.

Kouta-san nods, satisfied, and sets the mochi on the table. “I’ll leave you to it,” she says, and glides out of the room, calling, “Holler if you need me!”

Izuku waves at her retreating backside, then grabs the mochi plate from the table and passes one to Kouji. “It was nice of your mom to grab these for us!” he exclaims happily.

“Mhm,” Kouji agrees, a faint smile on his face.

Izuku glances at the clock that hangs on the wall, then looks sideways at Kouji. “You know… my mom isn’t gonna pick me up for a while, and I’m pretty sure they’re airing a Miruko special on HNN today,” he says, although he knows that it’s today because he asked Mom to record it for him.

Kouji’s eyes sparkle, and he nods furiously, remarking, “I didn’t realize that that was today!”

He pulls up the channel listings, and they furiously scan the various pages until they find the special again.

Rabbit Hero Miruko: Kicking Her Way To The Top!

It’s full of puns and corny jokes, but it has real footage of Miruko fighting and giving villains and assholes alike a piece of her mind. It’s fun and fresh and inspiring, and Izuku and Kouji have fun calling out her special moves in sync with the television- and each other.

They don’t even realize how much time has passed until Izuku’s phone vibrates off the couch.

“Oh, it’s my mom,” he tells Kouji, then answers the call. With a sigh, he informs his new-old friend that Mom’s here to pick him up.

Kouji nods sadly, then perks up. “What if- do you want to exchange phone numbers?”

“Oh, of course!” Izuku exclaims. “That’s a great idea!”

Kouji waves off the praise, but he’s smiling. Izuku saves him in his contacts as Snow White, and he catches a glimpse of Kouji’s name for him (Bunny Boy) and can’t even bring himself to argue.

(If he keeps his costume the same, and he thinks he will, then that will only add fuel to it, never mind the fact that his hood is meant to mimic All Might’s hair antennae, not rabbits.)

“Bye Kouji! See you soon!” Izuku pulls Kouji in for a quick hug, then heads for the door.

As he steps onto the porch, he hears Kouda-san remark, “What a nice boy. I think you’ll be good for each other.”

Izuku smiles to himself, glad, and hops in the car. Kouji waves as their car pulls away.

His mom is already glancing in the rearview mirror from the moment Izuku is buckled, and Izuku smiles at her curious expression.

"So?" Mom asks. "How was it?"

Izuku beams.

"Kouji is amazing!" Izuku says, because he is and Izuku should say it. "He likes animals and Miruko and wants to be a hero, too! We both want to get into Yuuei- oh, and we even traded numbers!"

"Aiming for the top together, huh?" She asks, and Izuku nods with a laugh.

"Of course! It'd be lonely up top without friends."

"It would be," she agrees solemnly, then smiles, looking much cheerier. "I'm glad that you're finding friends, Izuku."

"I am, too," Izuku says, and the topic ends there.

That is not to say, however, that their conversation ends short, forcing the rest of the ride home to be filled with a stilted silence. No, it just means that Izuku and his mom talk of other things, everything from Catture Weapon to Izuku’s classes, to his mom and her job.

"They want me to take more night shifts," mom says, then gives him a jokingly suspicious glance. "I pray that you won't be cleaning up the beach all night again."

Izuku laughs and shakes his head. "I won't," he assures. "Promise."

Because training is for the afternoons.

The nights will be something more, soon.

Sooner than Izuku would have expected.

And this is a realization that is striking, one that doesn't fully click into place until much later, when the sun is set and Izuku is in the bathroom, brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed.

Because as Izuku sets down his toothbrush, he locks eyes with his reflection, and something buzzes within his veins. An urge that wants to be let loose, an energy that does not want to be contained for much longer.

Izuku takes a deep breath, then activates Full Cowl, careful to keep it below five percent.

And the lightning that crackles over him is invigorating, adrenaline inducing in a way Izuku hasn't felt in quite some time, the vestiges singing in his ears, cheers of victories and racing through cities in order to fight, to protect, to save.

Yes, Izuku will be ready sooner rather than later.

He cannot wait to get back into the world of heroics, even if on the less legal side of things.

It will only be an extra source of excitement, after all.

Plus Ultra style.

Chapter 10: do crime

Chapter Text

Introducing Kouji and Mashirao to each other when it’s impossible to meet up in person anytime soon is a bit of a challenge that Izuku isn’t quite sure how to handle. Then he realizes… he doesn’t really have to!

Izuku just texts both of them one day, smiling to himself as his username, ‘Izuwu,’ pops up, and asks if they’re up for meeting a friend of his.

Mashirao is immediately up for it, responding from his Discord account nicknamed “Mashed Ojiro.”

sounds great! Will it be a call or,,?

Izuku marks the conversation as read then turns to Kouji’s (aptly nicknamed “Mister Rabbit”) hesitant response.

‘ You like Mashirao and I trust your judgement, and it’ll probably fine, so I guess so’

Of course Kouji guessed who he’s meeting. (It’s not like Izuku has any other real friends to introduce, either.) His reply isn’t the excited response Izuku would’ve hoped for from anyone else, but then again, he’s known Kouji for a year and a half month, so coming from Kouji it’s about as good as Izuku’s going to get right now.

Izuku makes a group chat with the both of them and sends the first message.

‘Hey guys!!! Kouji, I’ve told you about @mashed-ojiro , my friend from the doji!! Oji, @mister-rabbit is my new friend I met a bit ago!! I’ve talked about him!!’

Mashirao is the first to reply, simply saying, ‘oh neat. Heya!’

‘Hello!’ Kouji responds after a moment. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you!’

Mashiraou sends back a smiley-face emoji, then, ‘for all izuku told me about you he still hasnt sent a pic if youd be interested in an exchange?’

‘I guess that’s fine,’ Kouji replies, accompanied by a selfie of him, Izuku, and his little rabbit Yuwai.

‘so cute!!’ Mashirao responds, along with a picture of himself and Izuku at the dojo, arms slung over each other and hair damp with post-training sweat.

Kouji responds in kind, and from there their conversation continues with only minor prods from Izuku to help it along. They talk of their hobbies, each mentioning how they met Izuku and how he fit into that conversation. Mashirao is the first to bring up talk of how his school year is going, while Kouji is the one to bring up Yuuei.

' Izuku said he plans to go to Yuuei, and that you're hoping to get in, too. Is that true? ' Kouji sends, and Mashirao responds instantly.

' Yeah! I want to be a hero when I grow up. '

' Me too. '

Mashirao sends a smiling emoji, and then a laughing one. ' Izuku is just collecting hero hopefuls, huh? @ izuwu is that your goal? Are you trying to pick out your own class?'

Izuku stifles a laugh as he sends a keysmash in response. If only Mashirao knew how close he was to the truth.

' Oh, totally. I'm finding the perfect class 1-A for Yuuei, just wait and see.'

Both of his friends react with laughing emojis, and Izuku shakes his head, smiling at the screen.

' Alright, ' Mashirao starts, and then continues in a new text with, ' so you're making our future class. Will you tell us some others who will be there, oh wise one? '

Izuku pauses, wondering if this conversation will be one that could bite him in the ass one day.

He decides that future him can deal with it. For now, he's having fun.

' I suppose I can grant you this knowledge. ' Izuku sends. ' Let's see..what does fate whisper in my ear? '

' Is he a prophet now? ' Kouji sends, and Mashirao sends a shrug in response.

' I see it now, ' Izuku writes, ignoring the banter and letting it slide. ' A boy who can control elements...a girl with the power of gravity….and a literal f*cking frog. '

‘ A frog? Really?’ Mashirao sends.

Kouji sends an eye emoji, then, ‘A frog?!’ excited even over text.

‘A frog!’ Izuku confirms, biting back a chuckle at Mashirao’s squinty eyed response. From there their banter devolves into memes that have Izuku cackling.

After that first ‘meeting,’ the chat stays relatively active, each of them texting the group whereas they would have texted Izuku. It makes his heart happy to see his friends getting along. Plus, it’s always fun when Mashirao sends a particularly cute picture of his dog, Lucky, in the chat and Kouji’s squeals are practically audible.

But… Izuku can’t spend his days like this forever. Goofing around on discord in between studying and sleep… it just isn’t sustainable for someone like him, someone used to the constant go go go of the hero course.

And while his mom warned him against sneaking out to the beach, she said nothing about going out for groceries and ‘accidentally’ stumbling upon some crime!

Just as Izuku is thinking over various disguises and whatnot, his phone buzzes.

It’s Kouji. ‘My ‘izuku is doing something dumb again’ senses are tingling!’

‘good it isnt just me then,’ Mashirao replies.

Izuku fondly rolls his eyes and defends, ‘hey, I don’t do dumb stuff that often!!!’

‘Are you sure about that?’

Mashirao jumps in, ‘i distinctly remember you voting to *roofhop home* instead of taking the train like normal people.’

‘It would have been faster!!’ Izuku insists.

‘How come I haven’t heard of this misadventure before?’ Kouji asks.

‘ill tell you all about it if you send me something to,’ Mashirao proposes.

‘Sure!’ Kouji says mischievously. ‘Did you know that the first time he met

‘Nooooo,’ Izuku says, though he really doesn’t mind it. ‘Don’t share my secrets!’

Kouji and Mashirao share a laugh, but before they exchange stories, Mashirao sends, ‘im not sure what youre up to izuku, but stay safe!’

‘Seconded,’ Kouji sends.

‘Guys! I’ll stay safe, promise. ily!’

They both echo the sentiment, and Izuku logs off with a smile on his face. He’s glad he’s got such good friends looking out for him (although it does make him feel a tad bit guiltier for what he’s about to do).

It’s with them in mind that Izuku returns to his browsing, and he suddenly has the perfect costume in mind for his vigilante debut.

After sending a quick text to his mom and receiving the go-ahead, he places an order for a brand new Miruko hoodie, along with colored eye contacts. For some low-key cosplay, of course, but it’s real use is far more fitting of her favorite saying.

‘I live every day of my life like there’s no tomorrow so that when my number’s up, I can check out with no regrets!’

Izuku isn’t going to regret one moment. He has the chance to change things for the better; he already has. Izuku’s going to do the best he can with the time he has, and that’s never going to be something he regrets.

He’s going to go Plus Ultra, all the way.

' Aizawa would be so proud, ' Izuku thinks, only half kidding with himself as he slips out of his chair, sinking to the ground and moving into his usual stretches.

And who knows, maybe Aizawa would be proud. Izuku knows the man had a soft spot for his class, despite the amount of time they took up. And while that had been an odd realization to have- Izuku had never had a teacher care , after all, especially never so deeply and sincerely, for reasons beyond Quirks, beyond facades and pre-made beliefs due to characteristics decided on genetics alone- it is one that Izuku firmly believes in, a fundamental truth that came with time and was there to stay (until the world was reset and so was Izuku, five years back and all the ready to climb his way even higher, to scale the mountain of challenge with record speeds to pave the way for his peers, for their lives, for their all).

There were truths, back then, in the future that never may be. The grass was green, the sky was blue, Izuku was the ninth successor of One for All, and Aizawa cared for his students.

And now Izuku is the ninth, despite having never met the eighth, not yet, not quite, and the grass is still green and the sky holds the very same blue, but Aizawa does not hold Izuku and his peers with the same regard that he once did, because Aizawa has not known the class and will not know them for quite a bit longer.

And Izuku may not know what the future holds, not when he has changed so much already and has so much more to do, has a belief of Plus Ultra ingrained in his soul and heroism in his heart, but he hopes that his actions don't force the familial type of bonds that Izuku had once known to be impossible.

Izuku wants to change the future, wants to make it better.

He just hopes that he won't be risking his friendships in the process, won't completely change the dynamic of the class.

But Izuku can't back out of his plans. Not here, not now.

He just has to hope that everything goes according to plan, no matter how vague that plan may be.

Kami, Aizawa would give him detention for his recklessness, wouldn't he?

(He absolutely would.)

Izuku sighs wistfully at the thought. What he wouldn’t give to be back in the dorms, Aizawa scolding him for his recklessness, his friends standing off to the side, half-amused, half-horrified.

But Izuku is here in the past, and he’s making due with what he can, and he’s doing rather well if he does say so himself.

If Aizawa knew what he was up to- if anyone remembered, if anyone knew- Izuku thinks the man would be proud of him. And when he prepares his disguise, puts on his shoes, steps onto the porch?

Izuku feels like a hero. Izuku feels ready .

Chapter 11: an unexpected surprise

Chapter Text

Izuku steps out of the grocery store and promptly trips over his own two feet. Not the ideal way to start the night, certainly, but he’s always been clumsier than most, so he doesn’t let it phase him.

Instead, Izuku tightens his grip on the veggie cans and keeps a closer eye on where he’s going.

And yes, he knows how ridiculous it is. Vegetable cans? When he has One for All at his disposal? But in Izuku’s opinion, it’s the best choice he’s got. One for All is too noticeable, knives too vicious, and martial arts alone aren’t going to be enough to help him. Why vegetables, specifically? Well, Izuku did need an alibi in the instance he got caught, and if they don’t get too dented up, well. Cooked carrots do make a great side dish.

He glances over his shoulder to see Yamamoto, the kindly old cashier, waving concernedly. He smiles at her to show how fine he is, then darts off right quick. Now that he’s here, now that he’s actually about to go on a ‘real’ patrol, Izuku is just about bursting with energy.

Izuku hasn’t been able to show off, hasn’t been able to harness the same strength he uses to haul refrigerators and pickup trucks alike across a sandy beach, hasn’t been able to go beyond, Plus Ultra!

But against real villains?

Izuku is going to have a blast.

Because there are level caps, to follow a villain that is yet to be's terminology, level caps that decide how much Izuku can show of himself, of the person he became and will become again, the person he is now thanks to a future only he can claim. There are rules on how strong Izuku is allowed to be at any certain moment, and Izuku has to abide by them.

Because when Izuku is Izuku, he is supposed to be Quirkless. And Quirkless used to mean powerless, back when Izuku went to an in person school, back when Izuku knew Katsuki- the Kacchan to be but not Kacchan yet- but now Izuku does not go to the same school, does not get held to such a standard. Because now Quirkless does not mean useless, but rather something calmer, kinder. Izuku is not defenseless, as Izuku, but rather a young boy growing steadily stronger, learning martial arts to add a skill to his set, a way of sticking out and increasing the odds. As Izuku, he is a young boy who is decently strong, and that is all he is supposed to be.

Because the Izuku that the world currently knows has no Quirk, does not have the strength of eight predecessors poured into his very being, and this Izuku could never do the things that Izuku truly can.

But a random vigilante, darting through the night? Vigilantes are wild cards, everything from their morals to their moves completely unknown until they reveal their tricks. Vigilantes can have however much power as they please, because they are masked, identities unknown except for the personas they portray, and so there is no background knowledge, no expectations being placed. There are no guidelines to break, only laws, and even then it's meant for the greater good.

With his true identity unknown, with his past a mystery to the world, his future unclear...Izuku can let himself be strong, can be fierce and fast and powerful, much like he was once before.

And so with a bright smile and a determined feeling coursing through him, Izuku gives himself one last glance over a mere few hours later, when the apartment has gone still and silent and his mother is asleep, and then he is leaping through the window, Full Cowl just high enough to give him propulsion without crackling green or red.

And then he is on the next rooftop over.

He's begun.

Izuku’s heart pounds as his feet hit the concrete and the streetlights blink sleepily overhead.

None of the villains notice him at first, too caught up in their argument about who screwed who over to pay any attention to the slip of a kid at the alleys’ end.

And then he whacks one of them over the head with a can of carrots.

The other two stare blankly for a moment, clearly caught off-guard by this turn of events, but like sharks, they won’t be distracted from their prey for long.

“What was that for, kid?” one asks, his nails too clawed, his eyes too sharp for comfort. “I wanted to f*ck Takashi up myself.”

“Yeah,” the other echoes, which might be funny if she didn’t sound equally dangerous. “We don’t need no two-bit pipsqueak to take down our enemies.”

“Well,” Izuku hesitates, or at least appears to, then rushes forward. “Good thing I wasn’t looking to help you, then!”

Izuku sweeps the man’s feet from out under him then gives him a good, hard shove, and he topples over. He grins triumphantly, not that anyone can see it, then goes for the woman.

Unfortunately, she is far more prepared than her partner. When Izuku runs at her, she immediately goes on the offensive, spitting something that hisses and sizzles at the concrete.

Acidic. sh*t.

Izuku will just have to do his best not to get hit, but knowing his luck that’s pretty much impossible. He kicks off the alley wall and launches himself at the lady, releasing as mch of One for All as he dares to give him momentum. She just barely dodges, then spits venom once more. It hits Izuku square in the jaw, and he can feel the sting even through his mask. He’ll have to be sure to take care of that tonight before bed. Hopefully that’ll be enough to stop it from scarring.

Izuku winces, then focuses again in time to see her darting out of the alley.

Not on his watch.

Izuku springs forwards, jumping over the trash can that the villain shoves his way, all but throwing himself at his opponent. The villain inhales sharply, something between a hiss and a curse, and then she is spinning around, spitting venom in a wide arc that reminds him of Ashido, of training sessions and important exams.

But now is far from the time to reminisce, and so Izuku forces himself out of his head and back into the moment, with the villain once more making a break for it, gaining distance between them as she runs away, something of a scurry but far too fast for Izuku’s liking.

And then she isn’t running, because something falls from the sky and knocks directly into her, the impact rendering her unconscious instantly.

Or rather...someone fell from the sky, and Izuku cannot help but stop short as he locks his own eyes with red ones that stare right back. Eyes that Izuku never expected to meet, not out here, not on his first f*cking night of vigilantism.

And yet here he is, and here they are. And suddenly they’re shaking their head, one hand reaching up and pushing their long hair out of their face before opening their mouth.

“You’re new at this, aren’t you?” They ask, and Izuku blushes underneath the mask.

“I- what gives you that idea?” Izuku asks, and they snort.

“Well, you left the other villains unrestrained.”

Izuku freezes at the realization, and they laugh.

“Come on, let’s go tie these bastards up, mini me.”

And what else can Izuku do, except follow Miruko’s lead?

Nothing, not really, especially when Izuku isn’t quite sure whether or not he’s risking arrest with every second wasted, and so Izuku listens, trailing behind the Rabbit Hero and taking the Quirk suppressant cuffs that she hands him.

“Do you know how to cuff someone properly?” Miruko asks, and Izuku sputters before nodding. Going to the first one he knocked out, Izuku is quick to pull the man’s arms behind his back, latching the cuffs on and checking that they’re secure.

“Well, how about that,” Miruko says. “So it’s your first night out, but you’ve done some research. Is that it?”

Izuku doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t need to, not with the way that Miruko is already smirking, self-assured.

Kami, what were the odds that he’d run into Miruko today, anyways?

Izuku can’t bring himself to do anything but follow her steady lead, and soon enough rapidly approaching sirens appear. He freezes on instinct, and Miruko gives him a little push.

“Get out of here, kid,” she says. “You’ve got no business being caught on your first night out.”

Izuku blinks, shocked, then takes the opportunity for what it is and dashes. He doesn’t go far in favor of ducking into a nearby alleyway to catch his breath. That… was a lot, and Izuku isn’t sure how to proceed.

Miruko found him, could’ve turned him in easily, but instead let him go. She even seemed approving of him, which is something Izuku can’t even begin to comprehend.

Although… he distinctly remembers the shock of finding out she used to dominate in underground fighting rings when she was in school, and was even a vigilante herself for a bit, so with a bit more thought it’s really not that shocking.

Izuku’s just about finished processing when a shadow appears at the other end of the alley, a familiar face stepping into view as he shifts into a more escape-ready position.

“I guess you really do need some pointers, if you’re chilling so close to the fight scene. Do you want to get caught?” Miruko asks, leaning against the wall, arms crossed. She raises an eyebrow, and Izuku ducks his head.

Then something she said registers. “...some pointers?”

Miruko shrugs casually. “Can never hurt to have someone more experienced on call, right?”

“What are you saying?” Izuku asks.

“Come on kid, you seem smart,” Miruko jeers, then says more seriously, “You need someone on your side, and I’m a pretty good ally, if I do say so myself. What do ya say, kid?”

And there’s only one answer, really.

“Yes, Miruko-san! I accept your offer!”

Chapter 12: Ready, Set, Jump!

Chapter Text

“Great,” Miruko says, and claps her hands together. Izuku unconsciously stands up straighter. “First order of business: you need a name. A pseudonym, if you’d like, but I can not keep calling you ‘kid.’ Do you have one in mind already or do we need to brainstorm?”

“I have a name,” Izuku says immediately, like he has any planned clue of what to call himself.

“You do.”

“Mhm,” he hums, trying futilely to stall for time. “It’s… Kitten.”

“Kitten,” Miruko repeats dubiously. Izuku nods. She shrugs. “If that’s what you wanna go with, fine by me. Next thing: what are you capable of? Let’s see what I’m working with.”

“Alright,” Izuku nods, rocking back on his heels. He’s had to prove himself before, and he’s familiar with nearly all of the standard assessments. Miruko, of course, has her own little test planned.

And that’s how Izuku takes one step forward, a mere shift in position, and then finds himself leaping back, the hero’s fist right where his stomach was.

“So you’re quick,” Miruko notes. “Or you got lucky. Luck is good in the field, ‘kitten’, but you can’t always rely on it. That’s what gets you killed, got it?”

“Got it,” Izuku agrees, then dives out of the way again, adrenaline on high as Miruko follows through with a kick.

Izuku may have been a hero-in-training before, but he’s still small right now. One kick from Miruko, and Izuku can kiss his bones goodbye. And to think, he has such a good streak going for his unbroken limbs.

Izuku isn’t losing his streak. Especially not when his limbs don’t hurt every morning this go around.

But Miruko seems to want to make that difficult, or just wants to make him sweat, and she clearly has no problems doing the dirty work to get the results that she’s after. And so Izuku is stuck lunging, dancing around her blows because Miruko may have Rabbit for a Quirk but she hits stronger than a bull, and Izuku isn’t a matador, thank you very much.

And Izuku is stronger than he was, when he first came back to the past, but he doesn’t quite want to risk hitting back. Not that he thinks he’ll hurt Miruko, no. No, not when Miruko is such a high-ranking hero, not after all Izuku has seen her do.

No, Izuku is more afraid that he’s not strong enough at all. One hit may be enough for Miruko to change her mind, and Izuku doesn’t want to lose such a new opportunity.

(Distantly, a part of him remembers that Miruko never offered a single kid an internship, not even for Izuku’s class.

Maybe she was just too busy with kids on the streets.)

Miruko notices his lack of attacks a lot quicker than Izuku would hope, a realization that leads to her snorting and asking, “What, kitten? Afraid to hit me? You can’t win a fight by dodging! Show me what you’ve got!”

And Izuku may have his uncertainties, yes. But a direct order from the Rabbit Hero herself?

Izuku would be a fool to ignore her words.

So Izuku takes a deep breath, lets One for All activate, pooling through him so softly that he does not even glimmer, does not glint or crackle in the darkened alley. No, he merely feels stronger, faster, more.

Izuku lunges at Miruko, swings his leg back and then brings it forward, a kick with a perfect arc.

Miruko moves out of the way.

“Good form!” Miruko notes. “Do it again, kitten, let’s see how it goes.”

Izuku pivots to face her, pushing off of the ground and careening towards her, a human bullet.

One that misses, with Miruko springing out of the way.

“Not so fun when you can’t hit your target, huh?” Miruko asks. “What’ve you got, a speed Quirk?”

“General enhancer,” Izuku says, a truth of sorts but not quite, and Miruko hums.

“For your sake, I hope that’s not the full truth. You’re a vigilante, I technically work for the law. Telling me information like that could get you caught. Be vague.”

Izuku debates whether or not to tell her that he is in fact smarter than that, but that would just prove her point. In the end, he just nods and says brightly, “I’ll keep that in mind, miss!”

She snorts. “No need for semantics, kid. Call me Miruko.”

Izuku nods, and with a tiny hint of intuition barely manages to dodge her next kick, which hits against the brick wall behind him with a thud and a sprinkling of freshly-ground concrete on the alley floor.

“Still didn’t catch you off guard, huh,” she says, a ferocious smile across her face. “Guess I’ll just have to try harder.”

“Or you could just accept that you aren’t going to catch me,” Izuku shoots off.

Miruko laughs and falls into what looks like a relaxed position. “You’re that confident? Well then, try and hit me.”

Izuku takes her words at face value and launches himself at her, fist forward, using the wall behind him as a springboard. She nimbly ducks under him and his fist drives into the brick where her head should have been.

“You’ll have to be quicker than that!” she jeers.

Izuku juts his chin forward, determined. “I’m just getting started, Miruko-san!”

“Show me!” she commands. Izuku almost launches himself forward again, but then he thinks better of it, instead leaping to the nearest fire escape and ricocheting off the walls to get higher and higher. “That’s an odd strategy,” Miruko says, a shrug clear in her tone, “but hey, if it works for you.”

Izuku hauls himself onto the roof, then peeks over. She’s still on guard, and who wouldn’t be?

Still, it’s not helpful for Izuku.

And then he comes to a realization - she just said to hit her. She never specified a time limit. With someone else-- Aizawa-sensei, for example--, he might be more skeptical, but Miruko is well known for her mischievous manner and if anything, she’d be frustrated that she hadn’t thought of it first. Hopefully.

Izuku lurks on the rooftop for what ends up being ten or so minutes-- according to his watch, at least-- and follows Miruko after she gives up and leaves.

The wind carries her disappointed words into Izuku’s ears; “And here I thought he had potential.”

It gives him pause for a moment, because Miruko thought he had potential? Then Izuku comes back to himself and realizes that this is the perfect time to jump Miruko. No one’s around to catch or report him (besides Miruko herself), and she’s hopefully off-guard enough that he can get at least a glancing hit in. Hopefully.

And so when Miruko is just a little bit further down the path, a little more resigned and a little less focused, Izuku moves.

Later on in life, Izuku will claim that the way he rocketed towards her, percentage a bit too high, a bit miscalculated, was perfectly planned out. Because he managed to hit her, and that is all that was asked of him.

Of course, he truly, sincerely doubts that he was expected to act as a human bullet, unstoppable in the sense that he both could not be stopped from reaching his target, and that he could not physically stop his momentum, but he reached his goal.

And Miruko, all in one big, massive hit.

Izuku hears Miruko sputter more than he sees it, but perhaps that’s because he, too, is on the ground, gasping for breath.

‘Who knew becoming a living cannonball would be so exhausting?’ Izuku thinks, and then he wheezes out a laugh. It was kind of exhilarating, that drop.

Izuku thinks he just found his new favorite Super Move.

Miruko shifts, getting up from the ground in one fluid motion, and Izuku races to follow her lead, stumbling with how fast he gets up. And the adrenaline that had been surging through him just seconds before dies out, because Miruko is staring at him with an unreadable expression.

And then she laughs.

“You actually had me fooled!” Miruko exclaims, and then she’s picking Izuku up so quickly that he can only let out a yelp. Holding him at eye level, she adds, “I knew you had spunk, but damn. That was clever, kitten.”

“So-” Izuku sputters, not used to being held up like this- usually he was the one lifting his peers, his endless muscles too heavy a weight for most to handle- so easily. “Does that mean I proved myself?”

“Hell yeah you did,” Miruko agrees, no vagueness behind her enthusiasm. “Welcome to the colony, little kit. We’re gonna make a great fighter out of you.”

And that is all that Izuku could ever ask for.

“I’ll make you proud, Miruko-san!” Izuku vows.

“I’m sure you will,” she says, then sighs, “Now get out of here, kid. You look dead on your feet.”

“Yeah,” Izuku says, awkwardly rubbing his neck. “‘Night, Miruko-san!” He starts to jog away but pauses. “What about tomorrow? When should I meet you? Where-“

“You’ll have to come and find me,” Miruko says mischievously, then waves him off. “Get going kitten. You’ve got a long night ahead of you.”

Izuku nods and heads out, and his makeshift mask hides the pleased smile crawling across his face.

Truly, this night has gone as well as it could.

Chapter 13: yet another familiar face

Chapter Text

The next morning, Mom is home to greet him when he wakes, and despite her warning against leaving to clean the beach, she doesn’t seem to suspect anything— beach related or otherwise. Izuku is glad— lying to her by omission is bad enough.

Izuku cooks eggs and toast while Mom talks about her most recent night shift and one of the newer patients, and when it’s time to actually sit and eat Izuku gets to talk about his upcoming plans with Kouji as Catture Weapon climbs up his legs and claws at his pajamas.

It’s nice. Really nice.

The rest of the day seemingly flies by, between running errands with Mom, talking with Mashirao, and working on his online courses, and soon enough she’s leaving for the night shift and he’s back alone again.

As he dons his costume-- Ingenium hoodie instead of a Miruko one, because as kind as the hero had been to ignore it last night she won’t do so again-- Izuku remembers Miruko’s words from last night.

You’ll have to come and find me.

Izuku remembers where he met her last night, and has a pretty good idea of where Miruko patrols, so it shouldn’t be too much work. Unless she tries to make him work for it, which he suspects she will, then he will have to figure something out.

He decides he might as well try the easy way first— he makes his way back to that same alley from the night before and searches for Miruko, scrambling to the roofs and spiraling his search out when she isn’t immediately visible.

Izuku leaps from rooftop to rooftop and keeps a keen ear out for any signs of Miruko— or danger.

What kind ofherovigilante would be if he ignored someone in trouble?

A bad one, that’s for sure. So Izuku pays attention, keeps his eyes wide open as he scans the skies and streets, looking both for trouble and a certain rabbit-eared heroine.

And he finds trouble, certainly.

He just also happens to find something else, as well.

A familiar face, if with differently styled hair. Black hair falls flat but the facial structure, although more rounded from youth, is similar enough that Izuku does not even need to see the boy’s bright red eyes to know that he has found Eijirou Kirishima wandering the streets.

Yet Kirishima seems unaware of the man following behind him.

Izuku doesn’t hesitate to stray from his initial mission, instead taking to a new path, following Kirishima as well, a protector from the rooftops. The longer they go, the more that Izuku realizes that Kirishima is most definitely lost, considering the ways that the future redhead keeps glancing around, from his phone to the street signs. A fact that makes sense, since Kirishima has never mentioned living in this area. He lives a ways away, going to the same school as Ashido, much like how Izuku was with Kac- Bakugou beforehand.

He must be visiting someone. A friend, family, Izuku doesn’t know.

But the person following Kirishima is only getting closer, and Izuku knows that the way they’re watching his future friend is anything but good.

So Izuku hops down, lets himself spark for only a second with the landing, a show of flair that dims immediately, an aftereffect that earns Kirishima’s interest.

“Woah!” Kirishima exclaims. “Hey, uh...how’s it going?”

“Better than your night, it seems,” Izuku says. “Are you lost?”

“How could you tell?” Kirishima asks, and Izuku snorts, careful to keep his body posture loose, untense, even as he eyes the still approaching man from the corner of his eye.

“You’ve already walked this block a few times,” Izuku admits. “I have to keep an eye out for the people here, and you seemed like you needed it. Want help getting back where you need to go?”

“Are you like...a vigilante?” Kirishima asks, and Izuku nods. “That’s so cool . Yeah, I’d appreciate the help man! Wait, did I-?”

“You’re right,” Izuku assurses, and Kirishima sighs with relief. “Here, let’s go by rooftop. Hop onto my back.”

Kirishima seems surprised by the invitation, but follows Izuku’s directions, and no more than a minute later they’re hopping up, into the air and then back on the roofs.

“So, where’re you headed?” Izuku asks, twisting around to look at Kirishima.

The teen rubs his neck awkwardly. “I was just heading home and got turned around.”

“I do that sometimes,” Izuku says, both to make Kirishima feel better and because it’s true. “Which prefecture?”

“Uh, Takoba," Kirishima says, and points vaguely westward (a fact Izuku only knows because of Aizawa’s insistence every hero learn the cardinal directions, if only to make things easier on each other). “I can put it into GPS?” he offers.

Izuku laughs and springs onto the next rooftop. “I can find my way to Takoba-- it’s not too far from here, if my memory serves-- and from there you can tell me where to go, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Kirishima says, emboldened by Izuku’s confidence.

“Perfect,” Izuku says, then takes off . If the panicked way Kirishima’s grip tightens is any indication, his passengering skills are as shaky as he remembers.

(And he remembers.

The first time he met All Might, and the tornado of a ride to some random office building.

Training sessions in Ground Beta turned to whirlwinds as he and Ochako took turns flying classmates around or— if they were feeling particularly adventurous— going up together.

Izuku remembers zipping around school with Eri on his back, scared yet excited to be helping her hero hone his skills. Izuku remembers.)

Izuku is startled from his memories by Kirishima’s panicked shout, “Can you maybe slow down a bit?”

“No can do,” Izuku laughs, even as he slows down the slightest fraction. He wants Kirishima safe back at home, after all, not cursed with the same cracked lips that would have plagued Izuku for days afterwards, if not for the slime villain.

Soon enough, Kirishima recognizes a landmark close to home and directs Izuku down another few streets to his house. He hops off the building and lands squarely on the sidewalk— careful not to leave any cracks.

“Well, thank you!” Kirishima exclaims, falling into a hasty bow. “I really appreciate it!”

“Any time,” Izuku tells him genuinely.

Kirishima grins brighter. “Say, what’s your— ah, there’re my moms!” And indeed, two women are storming out of the house, their faces a clear painting of concern.

Kirishima dashes over to meet them, and Izuku subtly climbs up the nearby fire escape, unwilling to interrupt the reunion but curious as to what Kirishima’s parents were like.

“Where’ve you been?” one of his moms scolds, even as she draws him into a tight hug. “You should’ve been home half an hour ago!”

“I got lost,” Kirishima admits abashedly. He turns around to gesture to Izuku, then pauses when he’s not there anymore. “He- Mom, a hero saw me and took me home!! I don’t know where they went though.”

A… hero? Kirishima thinks Izuku is a hero?

Oh.

Izuku blinks, a rapid motion, sure, but he can’t let the Midoriya family tears overwhelm him right now.

It’s not safe to go roof-hopping when you can’t see, after all.

Izuku turns away when Kirishima hugs his mothers, ready to leave and offer them privacy.

And nearly falls off of the roof when he finds himself staring directly into Miruko’s eyes.

“Don’t look so surprised,” Miruko says instantly, voice unusually quiet as she grins. “Come on, follow me.”

Izuku doesn’t hesitate to obey the command, following Miruko as she leaps away, giving Kirishima and his family the space that they deserve. Miruko doesn’t speak for a few moments, just bounding away, not waiting for Izuku to catch up until she finds the right rooftop. And then she’s turning, just as Izuku makes the final leap, lands on the roof and rolls to a stop.

“The man who was following that boy,” Miruko says, voice toneless as she speaks, “is a Quirk trafficker who has been evading the police for three months now.”

And just like that, Izuku’s blood feels like ice, freezing cold in his veins. Hands clenching, he says, “I- I didn’t get the man, I-”

“I know,” Miruko says. “I did. You focused on the civilian, on their safety.” Getting on one knee, Miruko says, “That’s good , kit. You’re young, and don’t you dare try to deny it. But you’re young, and you’re inexperienced. That man has a dangerous Quirk. If you make eye contact with him, you’re done. It’s a mental one, and eye contact lets him take over your body for up to four minutes. It’s not a lot, but a lot can be done in that time if you have bad intentions.”

Izuku tries to remember the man, how he had looked.

And he can’t remember any hints that would indicate that he should avoid eye contact.

“I would have been beaten,” Izuku realizes, and Miruko nods.

“Maybe. Probably. You didn’t have the information needed to counteract that power. I did. I’ve been trying to hunt him for the past few weeks, ever since I was informed of the case. Good job finding him, Kit.” One hand reaches out, brushes through his hair. Izuku can’t help but lean into the sensation ever so slightly, drawing a snort out of the Rabbit Hero. “You did good.”

And Izuku takes a moment to just bask in the praise, even if he only did half of the work. Because right now, as he is, half is all that is expected of him, all that can be expected of him. Because Izuku is young, and he is still growing, still learning.

He just needs to learn faster, if he wants to do more.

So Izuku stands up straight, lets Miruko’s hand fall off of his head, and asks, “Can we start training?”

And Miruko laughs.

“Damn right, we can. Follow me, kit.”

She takes him somewhere he never would have guessed.

“Dagobah beach?” Izuku gasps. Is this the ‘hero illegally mentoring a vigilante/random child they just met’ hotspot?

Miruko interprets his shock differently, however. “I know, kid. It’s the trash beach, it needs to be cleaned, and whatever else people say. But it’s also great for training, especially with this nook I’ve got carved out here.”

“If you say so,” Izuku says, trying to mask his shock with disdain.

Miruko frowns. “Come on, kit. You’re not up for a late-night spar?”

“We're sparring?” Izuku gasps. “Here?”

She gives him a weird look. “Yeah. What else would we do? Make your scrawny ass clean the whole beach?”

“Ha ha ha,” Izuku says nervously. “Wouldn't that be crazy.” If only she knew.

“Sure, kid. Now, show me what you’ve got,” Miruko exclaims, powering right through Izuku’s nervousness.

“Right now?” he blinks.

“No, next year! Of course right now,” she says, then falls out of her fighting stance. “I thought you were ready to go fast, kid. I’m not going to push you, not when you’re green around the gills and barely out the nest. But you could go far.”

“I’m ready,” Izuku promises fervently. “Please, Miruko-san, I'm ready.”

“I believe you, kid. Get ready. And hey, call me Miruko. Miruko-san is my mother,” she jests, and darts forward. Izuku ducks out of the way and bounces off a nearby fridge, whirling around to kick her-- or, well, attempt to.

For anyone else, perhaps, the fight would be hard to follow. Rabbits are speedy little creatures, after all, and with One For All coursing through his veins at a measly two percent, Izuku isn’t exactly slow.

They take a break ten minutes later, both sweaty and exhausted.

“You’re doing good, kit. Better than I thought you would’ve,” she admits shamelessly.

Izuku just nods and lays in the sand. Washing this out is going to be a pain in the ass, he briefly reflects. Ah, well. You win some, you lose some, right?

“Anyways, I’ll give you another few minutes to rest, then we’ll go again,” Miruko says.

They follow that pattern for the next hour or so. Fight, drink, rest, repeat.

At the end of the night (or really, the beginning of the next morning), Izuku is worn out but satisfied.

“Same time tomorrow?”

Chapter 14: how does this keep happening?

Chapter Text

Normally, Izuku is sure, when someone agrees to meet at a certain place at the exact same time as the day before, that is when they arrive. At that time, or maybe a touch early, ten or twenty minutes or so.

(Izuku is anxious, after all, and sometimes twenty minutes early still feels late- but perhaps that feeling was only heightened thanks to Iida’s high standards. Kami, Izuku misses Iida.

And Uraraka, and Todoroki, and Asui and Tokoyami and Kacchan -

Kacchan doesn’t exist, yet. Not in this world. Not the Kacchan Izuku wants back.)

But Izuku knows that ‘same time tomorrow’ generally indicates a meeting at a time within the hour of the day before.

So when Izuku finishes his classwork, perhaps a bit early for the day but unsurprising, given his excitement for the night, he decides to head to the beach to get some more cleaning done.

And cleaning is something he does as Izuku. Izuku, not Kitten, which, wow, Izuku needs to come up with a better name, although ‘Kit’ does sound like a nice nickname, especially when used by a hero- almost like an actual name, better than Deku, which...wow, does that name hurt again, given that Uraraka hasn’t been around in this world, hasn’t technically ignited that spark of hope, that revolutionary idea.

He’s getting sidetracked. Shoot.

But he cleans as Izuku, so he goes as Izuku. Just some normal clothes, no fancy mask to hide his face, no way of keeping his identity from the world.

So when Miruko shows up unexpectedly?

Izuku nearly gives himself away from the start.

“Kit?” Miruko calls out, just as Izuku turns around, a crushed microwave in one arm and half of a bicycle in the other, and Izuku’s inability to process the moment is the only thing that keeps him from properly responding.

So instead what Miruko gets is a wide eyed child staring up at her and saying, “Huh?”

Miruko peers down at him, and Izuku just blinks back, letting himself look as lost as he feels until Miruko snorts, jumping down from one of the piles and landing in front of him with a thud, sand kicking up into the air, creating a small dust cloud around her feet.

“You’re too young to be a trash collector,” Miruko says, and Izuku blinks again.

“I’m not collecting it?” Izuku replies, and then winces, because that came out as a question when it wasn’t. Miruko just raises an eyebrow, and Izuku sputters before admitting, “I’m training.”

“Training? What are you, eight?”

He is not. He is not eight, physically or mentally, and Izuku sputters in indignation.

“I’m not!” Izuku says, and Miruko nods.

“My bad. Nine, then?”

Izuku huffs, but keeps his mouth shut. Because Miruko doesn’t seem to realize that Izuku is Kit- or she’s being nice and not letting him know he blew his cover so fast- but if she does realize, the last thing he wants is for her to realize just how young he’s supposed to be.

Miruko takes his silence as frustration, though, and laughs, one foot thumping a few times with the sound before settling. “So you want to be a hero, eh?” Miruko asks, and Izuku nods.

“More than anything,” Izuku admits, and Miruko hums.

“So you’re cleaning a beach?”

“It’s good muscle training!” Izuku says, and then, “And the beach is a dump. It needs cleaning up, anyways.”

“You think you can clear all of this?” Miruko asks, and Izuku nods.

“Not all at once, but I’ve got a while to train. I- I might as well try, yeah?”

“That’s the spirit!” Miruko agrees, and just like that Izuku is being pulled up, tossed into the air before getting caught. “Man, you little runts have a whole lot of hope, don’t you? Why, I met a kid just like you recently- good times!”

Just like you, she says. If Izuku weren’t so scared of getting found out, he’d laugh.

“I’m not that little,” he mumbles instead, and Miruko chuckles.

“You are, but that’s ok. I was small when I was your age,” she says consolingly. “You’ll get your growth spurt.”

“Sure I will,” Izuku scoffs, then slaps his hands to his mouth. He didn’t mean to say that aloud.

Miruko laughs, deep and full. “You’ve got spunk, kid. But hey,” she starts, suddenly serious, “be careful around here, especially at night. The worst monsters live in the shadows, yeah? Save your training for the daylight.”

“Okay, Miruko-san,” Izuku agrees, although he has no intention of doing so. “I’ll stay away in the future.”

“Oh, don’t lie to me,” she says disapprovingly, and sighs. “I can already tell you’re gonna keep coming around. At least keep a pocket knife on you or somethin’, kid.”

“Bold of you to assume I don’t already,” he quips.

She laughs again. “Fair point, kid. While I’m still here, want some help with any of that?” she offers, glancing dubiously at one of the many abnormally large fridges this beach has to offer.

“Nope, I’m good,” Izuku says, hauling another chunk of trash metal over his shoulder and heading towards the storage truck he got for all this.

(It all gets sent to an industrial recycling plant. Izuku doesn’t drive of course, his face too young and his skills unrefined, but he does ask the nice old woman next door to help, and she’s happy to.

“I’m glad to see that someone cares about this old beach,” she’d said. “It’s been so long since I’ve properly seen the horizon.”)

Miruko keeps pace alongside him, leaving large footprints in the sand, and the occasional dent when she has to hop from trash to trash.

She doesn’t say anything though, just observes, which is almost worse. At least in a conversation Izuku knows when he messes up. Still, she doesn’t run away screaming or try to arrest him, so all in all pretty good.

After he reaches the truck, though, she excuses herself. “As much fun as this is, I’m afraid I can’t hang around too much longer— places to go, people to save. Don’t stick around here too much more, okay? It’s not worth it. Not tonight.” She doesn’t give him a chance to respond, instead leaping back into the city with one of her iconic jumps.

Izuku allows himself a moment to fanboy, before her words sink it.

Not tonight.

Is it just because his vigilante counterpart is meeting her here later, or is there something she’s not telling him?

Either way, Izuku needs to keep an eye out.

Something isn’t right.

"Alright, now I've really got to bounce, but if you see me around say hi!”

“For sure,” Izuku agrees, although he has no intention of doing so. (Any interaction that doesn’t occur at night will be under his mother's supervision, most likely, and Izuku doesn’t want to lie to her more than strictly necessary.)

Miruko gives him a funny salute, and bounces her way off the beach.

And just like that, Izuku is alone again, with nothing but the song of the seas to greet him. Izuku hums, then smiles. Miruko’s sudden departure is almost nostalgic, familiar in a way that reminds Izuku of powerful legacies nine people strong, blond hair and blue eyes and stories of being a symbol. It reminds him of a horizon cleared once, after ten months of torture, a beach so desperately cleaned with an endless desperation only a Quirkless boy could have. There's familiarity in their dynamic, a young boy being given an incredible opportunity by a hero that made it to the top and became part of the sky itself.

Except it's different. Because Miruko is a star, but All Might was the sun. One a guide, the other a chance like no other. Izuku is grateful, certainly, that Miruko has taken him under her wing, that she is willing to believe in Izuku when he is seemingly so young, so new to heroics. (Which is...fair, because Izuku is not as young as he appears but he was still too new, too naive to be given such a world as his, but now he must simply adapt to the times and make them his own, overcoming whatever challenges that may come.)

But All Might gave him One for All. All Might gave him a Quirk, gave him a chance into 1-A. And sure, Izuku could have tried to get in Quirkless, could have done what Aizawa did and gotten in through the Sports Festival.

He never wanted that, though. All Might made it so he could get in from the start- and given the circ*mstances, what would have happened if Izuku wasn't there? If Izuku hadn't had One for All, if he had been in 1-C instead of the U.S.J.. Would Asui and Mineta have made it? Would All Might?

Would Aizawa be alive? Would anyone?

Izuku doesn't know. All that he knows is he's grateful for One for All, grateful that All Might chose him.

Grateful that One for All stayed with him, granting him the opportunity to be ready , to be better so that he can better protect his friends, his family.

Izuku takes a deep breath, then looks at the sky. The sun is already beginning to set.

He's got a few more hours before he has to get into his costume. It's time to get back to work.

The beach won't clean itself, after all.

Chapter 15: another important conversation

Chapter Text

This time Miruko is out in the open when Izuku arrives at the beach; not sneaking up on him like she had earlier.

“I was wondering if you would make it,” she calls out in lieu of a greeting, her eyes filled with mirth.

Izuku ducks his head as he jogs the rest of the way over. “I’m fifteen minutes early, Miruko-san!”

“Just Miruko,” she reminds him, and ruffles his hoodie. “Now, let’s get started.”

“Yes, Miruko-san– Miruko,” Izuku corrects himself. “What are we doing first?”

“Warm-up stretch,” she says. Izuku blinks, and she rolls her eyes. “I’m guessing you’ve just been throwing yourself into whatever physical activity you’re getting up to?”

“Yes?” he replies after a moment.

“Well, it’s time to stop that,” Miruko says, and claps him on the shoulder. “Do you want to have working joints when you’re thirty?”

“Yes?” Izuku answers uncertainly.

“Then you’d better warm up before you just jump into things,” she exclaims, “Or your working muscles are going to disintegrate before you graduate high school.”

“Geez,” Izuku murmurs under his breath, and rubs his forearms. By the end of his first year at Yuuei, they’d been constantly aching. He’d assumed it was only from the copious amounts of bone breakage he’d subjected them to… although this does make a lot of sense.

By warming up and activating the muscles before putting them under large amounts of stress, it would reduce tension, thereby keeping Izuku healthier overall!

“Genius,” he whispers.

Now, Izuku isn’t saying that he’s completely forgotten that he should be stretching. He starts his days with yoga, for Kami’s sake! Izuku is far more flexible than he ever has been in his life…but having said that, he can admit that he usually doesn’t wait to hop into what he wants to do.

Sue him, alright?

Er…please don’t. Izuku doesn’t exactly have money- vigilantism doesn’t quite pay.

Anything.

“What’s with that look?” Miruko asks, just as Izuku bends down to touch his toes. “Too much work already?”

“No!” Izuku squeaks, embarrassed that his expression was read so easily just through his eyes. “I’m just having a crisis!”

Miruko stops. “A…crisis?” She asks. “What about?”

“My existence,” Izuku responds, feeling as if he is doing the figurative version of digging himself a hole, a feeling that only worsens the longer Miruko stares at him.

But then she laughs, smile bright and eyes practically shut from the force of her joy. “That’s a good one, Kit!” She compliments, and Izuku lets out a weary chuckle in response. “Now, let’s finish up this warmup, so you can get moving!”

Now, that’s what Izuku likes to hear!

Izuku goes through a few more stretches, just to make sure that everything is ready- and that Miruko won’t tease him for being too impatient, because he knows that’s exactly what the Rabbit Hero would do- and then bounces up, all but vibrating as he locks eyes with his mentor.

“I’m ready!” Izuku chirps, and Miruko grins.

That’s the only warning Izuku gets before there’s a hero-sized attack lunging right at him, a human bullet with a manic grin.

Why is he even surprised?

Izuku sighs, and that’s enough of a delay for Miruko to jump at him, startling enough that Izuku can’t help but power up One for All more than usual, green sparks emanating for just a second before disappearing.

And in the daylight, that would be fine. In the daylight, it’s hard to notice the lower percentage sparks.

But it’s nighttime, and the only light sources are the street lamps at the stairs, their presence mostly blocked by piles of trash that feel miles high. The moon is covered by clouds, and it’s a starless night.

So when Izuku sparkles green, Miruko sees.

And Izuku knows, because his mentor actually stops.

“New trick?” she asks, and Izuku pauses.

He inhales sharply, and takes a moment to gather his thoughts.

Think before you speak, he remembers Midnight saying once, during some lecture or another. It’s better to say what you need to say with a straight face then to stammer your way through. Especially when it comes to press conferences, or for those of you going underground, when you’re undercover. A few moments of thought could be the difference between life and death– literally or otherwise.

Izuku may not be at a press conference, but this is certainly undercover work. He inhales sharply.

“You could call it that, I guess,” he finally says. It’s not an excuse, not really, but it’s leagues better than the nervous, stammer-filled response he might’ve given. “I’ve got to keep some tricks up my sleeves, right?”

The corner of Miruko’s mouth hitches into a smile. “Smart thinking, kitten. How good is your fine control? For underground missions that could be really helpful.”

Miruko thinks I could be an underground hero?

Izuku bites his tongue, simply nodding instead. Then he remembers Miruko asked about his control over it as well, and says, “I don’t want to give away too much, ha. I do have a decent amount of control, though.”

Miruko narrows her eyes, easily spotting the not-quite lie, but not bothering to pursue the topic further. “Since I already know about it, do you want to practice and gain better control? Or just do the same exercises and spars?”

“I’d rather keep up what we’ve been doing, if it’s all the same to you,” Izuku says.

Miruko shrugs. “Not my quirk. Now that I’ve seen you’ve got hidden tricks, though…” she trails off, letting the silence speak for her.If Izuku won’t tell her his secrets, she’ll find them out herself. That might worry Izuku more, but honestly?As long as she doesn’t try to scare them out of him– as she’d inadvertently done with his sparks– Izuku will be fine. As long as she doesn’t scare him.

She scares him.

In her defense, Izuku doesn’t think that Miruko means to scare him, nor does she realize that what she’s doing can be considered scary. No, scratch that, Izuku is sure that she knows how intimidating she can be- she’s in the top ten for a reason, after all, and her efficiency and pure, raw strength is only part of it. He just thinks that she isn’t trying to scare him right now.

Unfortunately, and against Izuku’s own defense, his accidental reveal of his green lightning has left him timid. He’s skittish around secrets, he knows, he always has been. It’s how he slipped up, his panic making him move, making him reach out to Kacchan- the Kacchan he had, not the Bakugou that exists now- and tell him about One for All on the very first day of Yuuei.

Which…yeah. Izuku doesn’t know how to think about that. Because Kacchan was Kacchan in that timeline, later on. And Izuku’s slip up made Kacchan understand the connection of One for All on his own, and that secret gave them something new to bond over. One for All was something that just the two of them knew, and it made them better allies, better teammates.

It made them better friends, something they hadn’t been since they were four. Over a decade of trial and endless error, and yet it was a legacy worth nine generations that finally brought them back together, the Wonder Duo once more.

But…but did Izuku want to make that ‘mistake’ again? Did he want to tell the Bakugou of this world? Did he need to?

Miruko must notice when his attention wavers, because she doesn’t even bother to throw a hit, instead just standing tall and asking, “What’s got your head in the clouds, kit? Must be something real serious, if you’re distracted from training with me.”

And Izuku looks up at Miruko, sees the way her eyes show concern, red eyes softer than those Izuku had seen for years.

Red eyes that didn’t need to be told dangerous secrets to still be compassionate, to care.

Izuku speaks.

“I’ve got a friend,” Izuku says, and then he pauses. “Had. He’s not my friend anymore.”

“Got into a spat?” Miruko asks, and Izuku shakes his head.

“He’s my…bully. He doesn’t like me, at all. Hasn’t since we were four.”

“Do I need to go give him a friendly visit?” Miruko responds ‘casually’, but Izuku sees the way her ears are twitching, and he shakes his head.

“No! No! I don’t see him anymore, it’s okay! He doesn’t hurt me now.”

“He used to?” Miruko grinds out, and Izuku blanches.

“This isn’t what I was hoping for,” Izuku whispers to himself, and then, “That- that’s not the point! I- We were friends when we were kids. We were always together, no secrets between us. We wanted to be a hero duo together.”

“Then something…changed. And he didn’t like me for that. He thought I wasn’t good enough to be around him. He got mad when I was. We were in the same class, so I was always around him.”

“Are you still sharing classes?” Miruko asks, and Izuku shakes his head.

“I don’t go there anymore.”

“That’s good,” Miruko states. “Then what’s the issue, kit? What’s got you worrying over this?”

“I…” Biting his lip, Izuku slowly liessays, “I met someone with a Quirk that let them see the future. They said that he and I could be friends again, that he could change and be kinder again. But part of that future had me telling him a secret that I don’t know if I want to reveal. Especially not to him.”

“Why don’t you want to reveal it?” Miruko asks, but she’s just…asking. There’s no judgement, no inclination to what Izuku should do.

It’s refreshing.

“Knowing about it could put him in danger,” Izuku admits, and Miruko’s eyes shine with understanding. “And I…don’t know if he deserves to know. He- he hurt me, but I want him to be better. I like being friends with him.”

“But he’s done nothing to prove that he should be told your secret,” Miruko finishes, and Izuku nods. “Well, that’s tough, kit, but you know what I think?”

Izuku shakes his head, and Miruko crouches down. One hand reaching up to ruffle his hair, she says, “I think you should trust your gut. If you think he doesn’t deserve to know, then he doesn’t. He hurt you, not the other way around, so he’s the one who needs to shape up and fix what’s broken if he wants that friendship back in the future. It’s not on your shoulders to make everything right again.”

“But what if he doesn’t change?” Izuku asks. “What if the secret was what pushed him to change?”

“Then it’s better that he doesn’t hear it,” Miruko says, firm in her belief. “If that kid is only changing because he gets to hear something he doesn’t deserve to, then he’s not really good on his own. You don’t want to have people around who only want you when you give them a part of you. There’s plenty of people who will accept you without knowing your secret.”

And that makes sense, Izuku thinks, and so he nods. “I understand,” Izuku says. “Thank you, Miruko.”

“Of course!” Miruko says, and then she ruffles his hair again. “And if you ever need to talk about it, let me know. I get how hard it is to keep secrets, too.” Giving him a wink, she adds, “You’re not the only one who’s had a vigilante identity, kit.”

Izuku laughs, and Miruko beams. “That’s the spirit! Now, how about we get back to training?”

Izuku sparks in delight, and Miruko spares him a single fond look before she kicks his ass. They spar for a bit, grab some water, Izuku hauls trash, then they take a break and do it all over again.

By the time they finally part, Izuku is drenched in sweat and exhausted, but Kacchan has slipped from his mind and that’s good enough for him. Miruko claps him on the back, tells him to get some rest, and sends him on the way.

He falls asleep the moment his head touches the pillow, dead to the world.

Chapter 16: someone old, someone new

Chapter Text

The next week or so passes quickly. Izuku talks to his friends, trains with Miruko, and spends his free time cleaning the beach. The routine of it all is nice, if unsettling. He’s still unused to the calm of it all, after two years of Yuuei’s daily chaos.

Miruko comments on it, once, after the clang of a trash can falling over has him flinching. “You good, Kit?”

“Fine!” Izuku squeaks. “I’m good!”

“You sure?” she checks. “You seem kinda… nervous.”

Izuku shakes his head rapidly. “Nope! I’m, uh, I’m good!”

She doesn’t quite seem convinced, but she doesn’t ask again either, so Izuku takes it as a win.

To take his mind off things, Izuku plays with Catture Weapon more and more, even going so far as to buy a kangaroo hoodie. It’s a dark purple, and it’s fluffy, and instead of having a pocket for Izuku’s hands, there’s a sizeable pouch in the front. Catture Weapon goes feral for it, and takes to the new mode of transport like a fish to water, the next time Izuku goes for a jog.

He wonders if it’s an animal thing, to get so excited over the idea of a clothlike carrier that lacks the constriction of gates or doors.

Izuku wonders what that says about Nedzu’s love for Aizawa’s Capture Weapon, then shuts that thought out. What his principal- past principal? Future principal??- does in his free time isn’t Izuku’s concern….does Aizawa teach at Yuuei already?

Has Nedzu already regained that habit?

“Hey, kid,” a voice calls, and Izuku whips around, eyes wide as he stares at Miruko. Miruko looks back down at him, then snorts.

“You’re the trash kid, yeah?” Miruko asks, and Izuku glances down at himself. His purple hoodie, Catture Weapon holding self.

Catture Weapon lets out a rumbling noise. She seems amused.

What a cheeky little sh*t.

“I- yeah,” Izuku says, and Miruko laughs again.

“You seem unsure,” Miruko says, then hops down. “Who’s the little fellow?”

Izuku beams, opening his hoodie pouch even wider so Miruko can see his friend better. “This is Catture Weapon!”

“Cat…ture?” Miruko asks, and Izuku nods.

“Yeah! Her fur reminded me of one of my favorite heroes, and his weapon is this cool binding cloth!”

Miruko blinks at him, then her eyes widen. “Wait, sh*t, kid, do you mean Eraserhead? You know about him?”

“You know about Eraserhead?!” Izuku responds, and Miruko cackles.

“I work night shifts every so often,” Miruko says, which is a bit of a lie but Izuku won’t call her out on it- he’s lying by omitting the fact that he’s Kit, after all. “Eraserhead is the most antisocial little sh*t I’ve ever met- but he gets his work done and done well. If he asked me to kill, I’d do it.”

Izuku blinks. “That’s…not very heroic,” Izuku squeaks out, and Miruko beams.

“Yeah, well, when Eraserhead says jump, you leap.” Patting his hair, Miruko says, “I’ll tell him he’s got a fan if I get the chance- I’m sure he’ll be excited. I’ve heard rumors that the guy loves cats, so make sure your little Catture Weapon doesn’t get stolen by him, alright?”

“Alright,” Izuku whispers, and then she’s gone, laughing and leaping away.

Oh dear.

Maybe Izuku should stop bringing Catture Weapon on walks with him.

Catture Weapon bats him with a paw, as if she knows what he’s thinking. Izuku changes his mind.

Still, he wonders just how many people will recognize what she references.

He supposes that he’ll find out sooner or later.

Izuku readjusts his cat pouch, pats Catture Weapon fondly, then continues on his jogging route. He stops at the grocer’s on the way to get the eggs Mom had requested, and that’s when everything goes wrong. Izuku has a carton of eggs in his hand, and is striding towards the check-out line when his phone blares. He barely keeps ahold of the eggs, and scrambles to see what the notification is.

It’s a J-alert. A young girl– only five or six years old– with braids, rainboots, and a bubble-making quirk has gone missing, last seen being led away by a figure in a hoodie. Last seen in the back lot of the grocery store.

sh*t.

Izuku momentarily debates with himself– should he run home and change into his vigilante outfit; search for the girl himself? Or would his efforts only hinder the heroes’ effort?

The choice is made for him when a small hand tugs at his sleeve, attached to an even smaller girl, with brightly colored braids and yellow rainboots.

And perhaps Izuku acts on instinct, here, remembering a little girl who is yet to be, one who had run straight into him and had begged to never be let go, one who Izuku had failed before returning, bound by laws more than morals.

But Izuku isn’t a provisionally licensed hero in training, not yet, not in this timeline.

Izuku is not bound by the rules that most play by.

No, Izuku is a vigilante, and this is a little girl who is shaking and scared and so, so desperately in need of saving.

And Izuku has a savior complex a mile wide, if not more.

So when the girl looks up to him, when she whispers a broken, “Please help me,” with pleading eyes, well…

Izuku wastes no time, lifting her up, careful not to hit Catture Weapon, who now hides in her pouch, and glancing around. “Who are we running from?” Izuku asks, and the girl points to the right. Ah, a man is exiting another shop. He looks frantic.

Good. People will notice frantic.

They won’t notice Izuku, who moves in the other direction, back from where he came, away from the man. “Were you with your parents?” Izuku asks, and the girl shakes her head.

“He took me first. We were at the park.”

“How long ago was that? Do you remember when you left for the park?” Izuku asks- it’s okay if she doesn’t, but he’ll work with whatever she can offer.

And she has something, at least, frowning before whispering, “We left for the park at…nine?”

It’s one. Someone must have spotted her at the store, and made the report. Perhaps a friend of the family, or someone who had seen an earlier alert. Izuku doesn’t know, and now isn’t the time to care about every little detail.

“Right. Do you know your address?” The girl nods, but then she frowns. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m not allowed to tell strangers my address,” she says, and Izuku doesn’t push. The poor girl just escaped getting kidnapped, after all, and Izuku won’t risk her losing trust in him so quickly.

“That’s smart,” Izuku says. “How about we get you to the nice police station, then, and they can help you find your parents?”

She agrees to that, and Izuku sighs with relief.

And then he nearly dies on the spot when a hero leaps from the sky.

Or perhaps it would be better to say they run from an alley.

“Halt!” The hero shouts, and Izuku almost cries on the spot at the familiar tone because here he is, staring at the older brother of one of his best friends.

And Ingenium blocks his way. “This girl has been reported as missing,” Ingenium says. “You don’t look like the type to cause such a problem, so why don’t you-”

“He’s helping me!” The girl shouts, and Ingenium stops immediately. He doesn’t seem surprised, from what Izuku can see in his posture, but it’s a relief when Ingenium nods along, the girl continuing. “I was at the park, and then this guy came up, and he took me and he said he’d- he’d hurt mommy if I said anything, so I didn’t and then we kept going and I got hungry so he bought groceries but I saw one of daddy’s friends! And he tried to help me but the guy didn’t like that- but he was hurting me and I cried and he got mad and I ran and then-”

“She ran into me,” Izuku continues, and later on he will realize how he had automatically started soothing the girl, one hand patting her head and his voice automatically softening, but for now he just speaks, ignorant to his acts. “I was taking her to the police.”

Ingenium nods again. “My apologies for stopping you, then,” the hero says, and Izuku smiles.

“No, I’m glad you tried. If my-” Izuku frowns; Eri isn’t his sister, especially not here, even if she seemed like one- “If I had a sister, I’d be heartbroken to know a hero just let her go.”

“I’d be the same,” Ingenium consoles, then, taking off his helmet, adds, “Let me walk you to the station, alright? You seem young, and there will be less trouble if I’m here.”

Speaking of, Izuku can’t help but ask, “You’re based in Hosu, right? How fast did you run to get all the way here?”

Ingenium laughs.

“I’m actually on loan,” he says. “I’m here to help out with another prolific case, and it just so happens that I was able to help.”

Is it just Izuku, or are a lot of heroes popping into Musutafu recently?

He smiles at Ingenium, and says, “That’s really cool.”

“I’m glad you think so, little hero!” Ingenium says.

If not for the girl in his arms, Izuku would’ve fallen over. “Me– a hero?– You can’t–” Enrolling in the hero course did nothing but bolster his fanboy tendencies, and for Ingenium, someone Izuku has admired for years, to call him a hero? It’s enough to make him bawl.

Ingenium’s heroic grin softens into something real, and he clearly sees how much the compliment meant to Izuku.

The girl, though, has no clue, and she pokes Izuku’s face in confusion. “He made you sad?” she asks.

“No! No,” Izuku repeats, softer. “He made me happy. Really, really happy.”

She beams up at him, and he returns the grin. Ingenium pats him on the shoulder, reassuring and kind, and Izuku wishes he could live in this moment forever.

But soon enough they’re at the police station, and that’s another moment Izuku wants to savor.

“Emi!” shouts an unfamiliar woman.

The girl wriggles in Izuku’s arms, and cries, “Mommy!” and he sets her gently down. Emi runs into her mother's arms, and Izuku can only watch as they embrace.

It’s sweet, incredibly so.

The mother cradles Emi in her arms, and walks to meet Izuku and Ingenium. “Thank you so much, Ingenium-sama, stranger-sama. You saved my Emi. I don’t know what I’d do if… if—“ she cuts off, a sob forming at the words.

“Hey,” Izuku says softly. “It’s okay. We saved Emi. She’s safe now. She’s safe, and here, and you don’t have to worry anymore.”

She probably does have to worry, he thinks privately, but she needs comfort more, right now.

Ingenium nods along, smile gentle before fading into a more serious expression. “Your daughter is fine, but we’d like to ask you some questions.” Izuku almost questions the usage of ‘we’, then notes how Emi is still shaken, still scared.

She probably needs all the company she can get, right now. Especially if-

“What about?” Emi’s mother asks, and Ingenium clears his throat.

“The man who kidnapped Emi. I’m sure my little helper here could give a physical description, but did you see him?”

“Only for a moment,” the lady says. “And- and if you’re going to ask, no we don’t know him. None of us recognized him.”

Ingenium nods along; Izuku thinks that may have been the hero’s next question, given the way his eyebrows furrow. “I see. So you don’t know him. Little hero,” Ingenium says, and here Izuku realizes that Ingenium is asking him something, but Izuku can’t help but cut in to say-

“Midoriya.”

“Huh?”

“I- my name is Midoriya. Sorry.”

“That’s quite alright,” Ingenium assures. “I should have asked. Midoriya, would you be able to give us a description of the man.”

“Yes,” Izuku says, and then he’s rattling off everything that he can remember. And everything seems worse, because Ingenium doesn’t seem to recognize the man whatsoever.

And yet Izuku cannot help but feel as if they are familiar. The face had been rather unrecognizable, sure, but there had been something about how the man had walked, his gait…

Izuku stiffens, and everyone sees it.

“What is it?” Ingenium asks, but Izuku doesn’t respond to Ingenium.

Instead he turns to the woman, who stares right back, and he asks, “How old- how old is Emi?”

“She’s six,” Emi’s mother responds.

“And- and what’s her Quirk?” Izuku gets out, and the stares only get worse.

“Emi’s…Emi doesn’t have a Quirk.”

Izuku takes one deep breath, then another.

“I think I need a trash can,” Izuku says, and then it’s a mad rush for a matter of moments before Izuku is losing all of his last meal to the plastic bag within. Catture Weapon cries out in his hoodie, worried, but Izuku can barely focus on what is happening around him.

Because Izuku is sure, now, of exactly who he had just run into.

One of Overhaul’s main henchmen.

The kidnapping was planned.

Chapter 17: panic attacks and alibis

Chapter Text

Izuku returns to the group shortly after his… hasty departure, and forces a sheepish smile to his face.

“Sorry about that,” he says awkwardly. “Today’s been… a bit much for me, I suppose.”

“It’s quite alright,” Ingenium says, still frowning.

Emi’s mother doesn’t have the same restraint. “I’m sorry, dear. It’s been getting colder recently, you know. Have you been wearing the proper clothes for winter weather? Colds are no laughing matter, you know,” she says, wagging a finger disapprovingly.

Izuku vaguely remembers Recovery Girl saying what was essentially the same thing last winter when he collapsed during training. He barely holds back a snort.

“You’re right,” he says. “I’ll be more careful in the future. I should probably get home, though. My mom’s got to be worried sick.”

Or she will be, once she hears the news, Izuku thinks.

Emi’s mother nods in approval, but he sees Ingenium hesitate.

“I won’t stop you from leaving, Midoriya-kun, but we will need to conduct an interview with you at some point,” he says. Izuku’s eyes widen, and Ingenium rushes to add, “Not because you’re in trouble, of course. We just want to make sure we get all the facts right.”

We? Izuku wonders. What are the odds of Ingenium actually being the one to interview him?

He shakes his head to clear the intrusive thought, and asks, “Do you want my mom’s phone number, or something?”

“That’d be perfect, actually,” Ingenium says, and grabs a small notecard. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Izuku rattles off her number, says goodbye to Emi while fielding her mother’s well-meaning concern, and darts out the door. He runs all the way home, cradling Catture Weapon to his chest, not remembering or caring about his unsuccessful trip to the grocer’s.

He slams the door behind him, and sinks to the floor.

sh*t.

sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!

Izuku forces a breath into his lungs, ignoring how they protest the urge. He needs to breathe, damnit, or else he’ll pass out and Catture Weapon is already meowing at him rather frantically, looking quite anxious as he wheezes like a broken chew toy. If she could talk, Izuku is sure that she’d be mothering him, smothering him with ‘are you okay’s and ‘breathe with me, Izuku’s, which might honestly be helpful right now but she can’t talk, she’s just a cat, and Izuku isn’t going to blame her for that, of course not, but he definitely needs the support but he can’t bring himself to reach out for anyone.

Because how could he? How could he reach out, how could he call someone, knowing that they wouldn’t understand? How could he talk to anyone about this oncoming panic attack, this stress lodged in his chest and making it so he can’t simply breathe, when he can’t talk about the cause?

How can he explain the fear he feels, knowing that Overhaul’s reign of terror is already beginning, before Eri is even old enough for her Quirk to have manifested?

Izuku isn’t a fool. He’s not. He’s never dropped below fifth in his class rankings at Yuuei- and even now, he’s soaring through his work. Learning is fun, and Izuku prides himself on his intelligence, even if his social smarts aren’t the best.

He knows that Overhaul took over the Shie Hassaikai when Eri manifested her Quirk. He heard the truth- how Overhaul sent the former head into a never ending coma in order to get his hands on the man’s granddaughter, because poor Eri had been given a blessing, and Overhaul had mistaken it for his own blessing. Izuku knows this.

But he never considered that Overhaul would begin his work before he was the head of the yakuza. He never thought Overhaul would have the chance to, that he would have the followers.

But Izuku remembers that man, even if he does not remember that face. That had been one of Overhaul’s main followers.

Shin Nemoto. The man who Overhaul had fused with.

The one who would do anything- everything- for Overhaul.

And Overhaul has already found him.

Izuku takes a deep breath, which turns into a laugh, something hysterical and horrified. Catture Weapon bumps her head into Izuku’s chest, and Izuku picks her up, ignoring how his eyes prickle with tears.

“He’s back,” Izuku whispers. “He’s back, and I am stronger and weaker than ever before.”

Catture Weapon lets out a noise, tilts her head to look him in the eyes, and Izuku stares back.

He had only beat Overhaul because of Eri’s power- had planned to wait until it was time to save Eri in order to intervene.

What will he do now?

Play it safe? Stick to the shadows, stay out of it, abandon Eri and Emi and every other little kid to a horrible fate until it’s the right time to save them?

No. Izuku won’t do that. He can’t. If he has the knowledge and resources to help, and chooses not to, he may as well be the one kidnapping and experimenting on them. He can’t leave them.

That begs the question, though, of how to go about saving them. Even before he was sent to the past, it had been months since the Shie Hassaikai operation, and his memory has grown fuzzy. He’s not sure the specifics matter— what room Eri was kept in, or what the original layout of the building had been, before Mimic’s interference— because it’s years prior. As far as Izuku knows, Eri’s still safe. And the Shie Hassaikai might be at the same base the raid took place— or it might not.

Izuku doesn’t have any way to find out, not without researching himself. He doesn’t have a problem with that— there’s no risk he won’t take, not when it comes to Eri and a dozen kids just like her— but word travels fast underground, and Miruko’s sure to find out.

When she hears what Izuku’s doing, will she offer her help, or throw caution to the wind? Her advice could be invaluable, but if she turns on him it’s all over. Izuku isn’t sure he could evade her, if she really wanted to turn him in, and even if he did, he’d always have to check over his shoulder.

But then again, Miruko knows what it’s like to be in his position— she was a vigilante herself, after all. The more Izuku reflects, the more sure he is.

He’ll tell Miruko himself— he won’t wait for the news to pass through the underground, and he’ll ask for her help first. If he takes the initiative she’ll be more likely to help, Izuku thinks, and if she says no then he’ll do everything on his own from the start. He’ll find his own sources, pay off his own informants, and come up with a plan entirely on his own.

Izuku really hopes Miruko says yes.

—

Finding Miruko isn't hard, not when they have a set meeting point at a vaguely set time. When the sun goes down, Izuku- or rather, Kit- goes to the beach, where Miruko already is or soon will be.

And Miruko is already there, waiting as patiently as a hero like Miruko can, foot thumping and ear twitching. And maybe she's already heard him, can already pinpoint where he is, but that's not the hard part, either.

No, the hard part is getting the courage to ask.

But this isn't about Izuku, nor his courage or comfort levels. It's about Eri and Emi, and anyone else who may be at risk for every moment that Overhaul is left unstopped. So Izuku clears his throat and jumps down from one of the remaining piles, then puts his hands up before Miruko can begin their sparring.

An immediate surrender.

Miruko looks at him oddly. "What's up?" She asks, and Izuku grimaces behind his mask. Now or never, he supposes.

"I need your help," Izuku says, and Miruko’s eyebrows shoot up.

"Anything," Miruko agrees in an instant. "Bullies at school? They're done. Bad parents? Taken care of, and don't worry about foster parents- most heroes get emergency licenses, and I'm no different. Bad-"

Izuku squeaks, and Miruko stops. Adoption?!

Izuku shakes his head, and promptly decides to ignore Miruko’s automatic offer to foster him.

Well…

"You thought my parents were bad?!" Izuku squeaks, and Miruko shrugs.

"When a kid is going out as a vigilante at night consistently, you have to wonder how he's getting out so easily."

And that's fair…he thinks. Either way, Izuku shakes his head. "It's not for me," Izuku says, then winces. "Well, no, I need help but it's with something not about me."

"Okay," Miruko says. "Lay it on me."

Right. Izuku can do that.

"There's a yakuza group called the Shie Hassaikai somewhere between here and Yuuei, and I don't know where their base is but they tried to kidnap a little girl the other day and I think it's because of her Quirklessness."

Miruko blinks, then nods. "Alright, Kit. I believe you, and I'll help you, if you can answer two questions."

Izuku winces, but nods nonetheless. He needs the help. "What- what is it?"

"Why do you think it's her Quirklessness that they're after?" Miruko asks, and Izuku jumps to respond.

"I heard a rumor that one of their members wants to make a weapon to destroy Quirks, and thinks Quirkless DNA could help create it." It's a lie, one based on a world only Izuku knows, but Miruko only nods along, expression hardening.

"Okay. And why do you know about this, Kit? Because I only know about one recent Quirkless kidnapping case, because I was nearby when it happened."

sh*t. sh*t. Izuku can feel his panic rising, and blurts out the first thing he can think of.

"Izuku Midoriya!" Izuku shouts, and Miruko raises an eyebrow. "He's my friend- and he's diagnosed as Quirkless."

And just like that, he has two things.

An alibi and a plan.

Because if Overhaul wants Quirkless people…Izuku will be the perfect target.

Chapter 18: not again

Chapter Text

Izuku knows he’s struck gold with this idea. Using himself as bait… this will make everything simpler. If he can get Miruko to go along with this, that is.

For now, he doesn’t dare say it aloud, scared that she’ll reject the very idea out of hand, or worse, figure out why Izuku is so willing to sell out “his friend” to the yakuza. More likely than not, he’ll have to reveal his identity at some point for this whole scheme to work, but he’s not quite ready to make that irreversible decision.

“Got a plan cooking in that brain’a yours?” Miruko asks, cuffing him on the head.

Izuku startles, and manages to squeak out, “Maybe?”

She raises an eyebrow, but doesn’t bother pushing him further. “You let me know if you think of something good, yeah? I’m sure you know where my agency’s at– you come find me.”

Izuku can hardly believe his ears. “Won’t your sideki– ah, secretary be suspicious?” Miruko gives him an odd look at the slip, which is understandable. He’s a hero fanboy, and he knows she knows he’s a hero fanboy, but he sometimes forgets that he’s in the past now. Before he’d left, Kacchan had just signed on for an internship with her, and with Class 2-A, an ‘internship’ is more or less a trial period as a sidekick.

Here in the past, Miruko’s still presenting as a lone rabbit.

She shrugs off both his slip of the tongue and his concerns: “I pay them too much to go to the police. If they’re really worried, they know to talk to me first.” Perhaps seeing the question on the tip of his tongue, she adds, “And they know better than to go to the HPSC.” Her gaze turns stony, and Izuku doesn’t dare ask any more questions. “But yeah. If you have any ideas, urgent or not, come to me. In the meantime, our nightly jaunts are going to be a bit… different, for the time being?”

“Different how?”

“Well, for starters, we’ll only be training like this ,” she gestures to their little beach setup, “two or three times a week, to keep your stamina up. The rest of our time, we’ll be tracking down information. I wanna catch these yakuza bastards while I’m still in town to enjoy it,” she says, grinning viciously.

And oh, if that isn’t an idea that Izuku can get behind.

(Because if Miruko is so eager to help, then all Izuku needs to do is find the right way to lead her into this plan, and it’s as good as gold. Because if Miruko has that gleam in her eyes, something that is predatory in its need to win , Izuku knows that they will be safe, Eri and Emi and all who came before or between or could have even come after.

Because Izuku is used to seeing such a feral look in crimson eyes, and even if it is not the eyes Izuku grew up with, the need for victory is the same.

Truly, it is no wonder that Izuku’s Kacchan became Miruko’s Dynamight.)

Izuku beams, and Miruko may not be able to see it behind his mask but she can surely see the way he all but vibrates, eager to move , and she’s smirking like the cat who caught the canary already.

“Right,” Miruko says. “What about we go on a patrol, then? See what’s around town?”

“Okay!” Izuku squeaks, and Miruko nods.

And then she’s leaping away, leaving Izuku to squeak once more before hopping after her, looking all too much like a baby rabbit trying to follow its mother considering the conversation that has just passed- not that Izuku is still thinking about the adoption comment, of course.

“I can hear your thoughts from here!” Miruko shouts as she leaps onto a rooftop. “Quit thinking and move , Kit!”

Izuku yelps, nodding despite how she can’t see him. Moving without thinking is his speciality, he can definitely do that.

‘ I wonder if All Might has a foster license? ’ Izuku thinks, and then the idea that All Might could have, in another, alternate universe, adopted Izuku nearly sends him off the top of the building.

Then he realizes that Aizawa probably has an emergency license.

Miruko finds him in a garbage bin. She laughs.

Izuku is too flustered to complain.

What a start.

—

At first, their patrol route is relatively normal. Every other time they’ve done this, Miruko’s chosen a path through town, and they’ve circled it a few times before calling it a night.

Today, they only make a loop and a half. Miruko stops at a random building Izuku’s never paid much attention to. Understandably so, since from an outside perspective it’s a normal office, but inside, deep in the basem*nt, lies a hidden bar. It makes Izuku think of All for One’s underground hideout– he never went there in person, but footage was leaked after Kamino, and the rooms were relatively similar, even if this one was a bit bigger, with booths and bar seats.

Before they descend, Miruko has them stop at the restroom.

“Make yourself inconspicuous as best you can, Kit,” she says. “I’ll meet you back out here in a few minutes.”

“Okay,” he says, and obediently ducks into the restroom. He’s really not sure how much more inconspicuous he can be– he’s already in a plain, dark hoodie and a mask. His hair is tied back so it’s out of his face– he still hasn’t gotten a haircut, so it’s been getting longer by the day. He really should do that at some point.

But yeah. Not much he can change about himself. For lack of any better options, Izuku settles for switching into his “stealth mask;” one that’s plain and black instead of Miruko themed.

It’s times like this that he remembers Aizawa and Midnight-sensei’s course on disguises– the way they’d so completely changed themselves that for a moment, even he was blind to their identities. Of course, he and the rest of Class 1-A had figured it out eventually, but that day had been a wakeup call. He’s not sure how far Miruko’s going to go, but if it’s anything like that day…

As it turns out, she’s going all in (not that Izuku expected anything less from who he knew as the number five hero). She’s tied her hair in a messy bun (that reminds Izuku of Aizawa-sensei’s during the Kamino Ward press conference), and applied eyeliner and false freckles across her face and arms. She also got a pair of (presumably fake) glasses from somewhere . Izuku doesn’t know how she keeps all that in her hero costume. Although he does remember Midnight-sensei mentioning some sort of disguise kit available only to Pros…

“You look… different,” he finally manages, then realizes how that could be taken rudely and backtracks. “Not in a bad way of course, I just mean that—“

“It’s fine, Kit.” Miruko laughs. “I do look different don’t I? You’ve got nothing to apologize for. Now come on. We’ve got some intel-gathering to do.”

“Of course,” Izuku agrees, and Miruko’s grin softens.

“Hey,” Miruko says, gentler now as she crouches before him. “This is a stressful situation, and you’re young .”

He’s not, not quite how she thinks, but Izuku bites his tongue and lets her continue to speak.

“There’s going to be a lot of villains, and very few vigilantes, down here. If you need to leave, let me know and we’re gone , okay?”

“Okay,” Izuku agrees. “I can do this, Miruko.”

“Uh-uh,” she says. “In here, I’m Jackrabbit. Now, come on, Kit.”

And Izuku follows.

It’s dark, or perhaps dim is a better word. Few lights shine in the bar, all purposely low in light, creating a muted atmosphere that leaves Izuku’s nerves skyrocketing. That’s not to say that it is quiet- no, no it is loud, to be certain- but that only seems to make it worse. Mixed with the sheer volume of people in the room, many of whom Izuku remembers seeing on the news as the losing parties against heroes, and Izuku cannot help but worry about how the night may go.

And then he feels someone bump into him.

‘ Am I about to get murdered? ’ Izuku thinks to himself. ‘ Because this feels like a setup to get murdered.’

He does not, in fact, get murdered, but rather has a hand touch him on the shoulder, a sort of condolence as someone tries to pass.

“Forgive me for the intrusion,” a voice says, and it’s so familiar that Izuku wants to tense, because why would a voice be familiar in a place like this?

But Izuku doesn’t tense, doesn’t flinch, instead merely turns to the side, letting the man walk past.

And he seems…recognizable, in a way that doesn’t make sense.

It’s not the way the man walks, no. No, the man’s back is straight and shoulders set, a sense of pride and confidence in his gait that Izuku could never find for himself. His hair is tied up tightly, a long ponytail of dark black hair, pulled perfectly out of the way. And the mask that Izuku had caught a glimpse of is not one that has ever opposed him in battle, so why does the man’s voice itch at his head so fiercely?

“Kit?” Miruko’s voice comes in, and then she’s sidling back over. “What’s got you so lost? Find something interesting?”

“I’m not sure,” Izuku murmurs. Then, chancing it, he tilts his head in the man’s direction and murmurs, “He looks…familiar. Who is he?”

And Miruko looks up, eyes scrutinizing the man before glancing back down.

“I don’t know,” Miruko murmurs. “But I’m going to find out.”

And just like that, she’s disappearing, off to the other side of the room to converse with the man. Izuku tries to keep an eye on the pair, distant traces of Danger Sense frantically buzzing within his head, but there is so much to do and so many people to observe, conversations that need overhearing if Izuku has any hopes of finding some useful information.

So Izuku trusts Miruko to her work, knowing that she will do the same.

—

It doesn’t feel like much time passes, or maybe it feels like Izuku has been down in the basem*nt bar for hours, when Miruko sidles up to him, pulling him away from the conversation he had been tentatively dancing through with ease.

“We need to go,” Miruko says, and Izuku nods. The two leave the bar, gaining no attention.

But gaining a follower, in the form of the man who Izuku was curious about.

“Why is he-”

“He’s coming with us,” Miruko replies, and Izuku nods along.

The three make it further away from the building, up to a rooftop where none of the villains will spot them. Only then does Miruko speak.

“He’s a rather…vengeful vigilante,” Miruko says, voice clear of emotions but eyes full with bitter regret. “But he’s exactly what we’ll need for a case like this.”

“Allow me to introduce myself,” the vigilante says with a polite bow. “I am a mere man who wishes to help better society in the ways that the heroes of today lack, much as you two wish to do the same. Vigilantes Jackrabbit and Kit, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. You may call me Stendhal.”

And just like that, it all clicks.

Because Stendhal is Chizome Akaguro…the Hero Killer who nearly ended the life of one of his closest friends.

It seems that Izuku has more than one worry to deal with, now.

Why him?

Chapter 19: a stained oath

Chapter Text

“It’s a… pleasure to meet you,” Izuku forces out.

If Miruko— if Jackrabbit notices his sudden reticence, she doesn’t mention it, instead rocking back on her heels. “Since you came out, I’m assuming you agreed to my offer?”

“I have,” Stendhal says, nodding solemnly. “I believe it to be fair.”

“Great,” she says.

Stendhal unsheathes his sword. For a second, Izuku thinks he’s picked up on Jackrabbit’s sarcasm. That he’s tasted Izuku’s fear.

Instead, he draws the blade down his palm, a trail of blood welling up. He offers it to Jackrabbit, flipping it so she can take it by the handle

“A blood oath, to seal the deal,” he says. If this was a movie, Izuku would laugh right now. A blood oath? No one actually uses those in real life.

No one except Stendhal, apparently.

Jackrabbit doesn't hesitate, accepting the blade and slashing it down her palm. The pair shake hands, and with that the deal is sealed.

“I will see you again, here, in two night’s time,” he promises, a glint in his eyes. He sheathes his sword, nods once more, and vanishes.

Izuku doesn’t even see where he goes. He’s just gone.

Miruko turns to face him, her face grim. “I’m sure you’ve got some questions, Kit. Mind if I take a stab at ‘em?”

“Please,” Izuku says.

She ticks off her fingers as she goes. “Who was he? Why am I working with him? What kind of deal did we make? Am I on the right track here?”

“Yeah,” he said. “All of that.”

She sighs, and leans against the wall. “I wouldn’t if we had any other choice. But since we’re doing our own research, our options are rather limited. You sound like you’re twelve, and,” she says, forgoing Izuku’s concerns, “even if you aren’t, perception is everything. As Jackrabbit I don’t have enough of a presence to get good intel on the Shie Hassaikai— not without paying a f*ck-ton of money. As Miruko, I’m too recognizable.

“As for who he is… Stendhal is a vengeful vigilante. He resents heroes— thinks they don’t do enough to discourage villainy. He likes to… take these things into his own hands.” Izuku has a pretty good idea of what she means, considering his eventual motif as the Hero Killer.

Everything would be so much simpler if he weren’t Stendhal. How he went from murdering villains to murdering heroes, Izuku has no idea, and now it’s another problem on his already-full plate.

His knowledge of Stain is working against him as well— sure, they are the same person, but Stendhal’s clearly at a very different stage of life. In this case, Izuku’s “foresight” is more hindrance than help.

“So that answers your first few questions,” Miruko murmurs. “As for the others…it’s not clear. He wants support, just as any vigilante would want. He views his work as his life’s purpose, and as such needs others to have his back. He views this as a way to…have a higher chance of succeeding in his next ‘mission’, and this means we, if push comes to shove…might have to look the other way if he takes things further than a hero should.”

“You mean you’d let him-” Izuku starts, and Miruko grimaces.

“I don’t want to,” Miruko says. “I truly don’t, Kit, trust me. But heroics is a f*cked up world, at times, and I’m sure a kid like you has started to see some of what festers underneath.”

Child abusers, fame seekers. Missions regarding child abuse and Quirk trafficking.

You can’t be a hero if you’re Quirkless.

Izuku knows.

“He’ll kill them, if we don’t stop him,” Izuku states, and Miruko winces.

“Yes. We’ll stop him.”

A good kick to the head will certainly work.

“The last question,” Izuku says. “You’ve yet to answer it.”

Miruko chuckles, but it’s a dry sound. “I don’t know the answer to it, Kit,” Miruko admits. “By all means, I wish I did, but I’m just a mortal at the end of it all. We all are, Kit, and right now a beggar can’t be a chooser, too.”

And Izuku understands.

Still, when Miruko calls patrol to be over with, and Izuku is back in his room, he cannot help but stare at his ceiling and wonder what he is doing, why he had to be the one sent back.

What path is he taking, now that he’s strayed so far from the one he knew?

Izuku doesn’t know.

—

It seems he’s less-than subtle when it comes to hiding his worries.

“Are you okay?” Kouji asks him one afternoon, while on a three-way video chat with him and Mashirao. “You seem… stressed.”

Izuku flinches. “No, I… I’m fine, Kouji. I just didn’t get enough sleep last night, or something.”

“Really?” Mashirao asks doubtfully. “You’ve been kinda nervous for a while. I don’t wanna pry if you really don’t want to talk about it,” he adds hastily when Izuku fails to meet his eyes through the screen, “but if there’s something stressing you out, you can talk to us. We’re here for you, Izuku.”

That’s the thing, though. Izuku can’t talk to them about this. There’s too much to explain; the cause of his stress so laden with history Izuku can’t even begin to explain.

“Thank you for offering,” he says after a moment. He forces a smile. “But I’m fine. Really.”

“You know it’s okay if you’re not, right?” Kouji asks seriously. “If you say you’re okay, then I believe you. But it’s okay if you’re not.”

That… that gives Izuku pause. Because that’s something he’s been told dozens of times, and it’s never once been true.

“It’s okay if you sit this battle out.”

“It’s just a dumb school festival.”

“You can choose to stay behind and focus on schoolwork.”

But how would things have gone differently if Izuku hadn’t interfered? If he hadn’t fought Shouto, hadn’t saved Eri, hadn’t taken an internship?

But this time, Kouji is right. He doesn’t have to be okay, not right now. He can complain and mope with his friends (leaving out any major details, of course), and nothing will change. For today, Izuku can afford to be tired.

Can’t he?

He can, Izuku decides, and so he sighs and shakes his head. Offering a sheepish smile, he admits, “I…I don’t think I’m okay. Not completely, at least.”

Neither Mashirao nor Kouji seem surprised, not that Izuku expected them to be. But the admittance makes their faces less taut, expressions showing hints of relief that make Izuku think, ‘Yes. Yes, this was the right choice.’

And it is this thought that keeps the words flowing, carefully letting them loose into the world in order to let his friends ‘in’, as much as he can.

“I’m tired,” Izuku carries on. “I’ve been stressed about the future, with Yuuei and all…” The two nod, and Izuku shrugs. “I’m worried about getting in. I know it’s so far away, but I’m, well…”

From the future. Izuku is from the future, and he has One for All, and he’s not afraid about getting in but rather about what will happen once he is there.

But Mashirao and Kouji do not know this.

And so when Izuku lets his voice trail off…they think that he is referring to his Quirklessness.

“You’re going to get in,” Mashirao proclaims. “You still have a couple years before we go back, and you work harder than anyone I know. I still remember how you kicked everyone’s butt at the dojo when we met!”

“That wasn’t until the end of the lessons!” Izuku yelps, and Mashirao laughs.

“That just means you could beat us all when we were the most experienced!”

“Mashirao is right, Izuku,” Kouji agrees. “You work hard, and you’re really smart! Yuuei would be stupid to do anything but accept you!”

Izuku sniffles, trying to force back the usual Midoriya Tears that are currently pushing at the edges of his eyes, just begging to be released. He smiles at his friends, ignoring how blurry their faces get as his eyes water even more. “You guys…” Izuku starts, but he can’t find the words to express what he feels.

In the previous timeline, Izuku was never really close with either Mashirao nor Kouji. The two were friends, in their own sort of way, but Izuku was never really friends with them.

The Izuku of this time, well…clearly, he is a much luckier Izuku.

“You know we aren’t afraid of your tears, right Izuku?” Mashirao asks, and Izuku blinks at him. “It’s okay to cry, bud. You look like you need a good cry.”

And Mashirao is absolutely right, so Izuku wastes no time in offering one last smile before bursting into sobs. Catture Weapon bolts over to him at the noise, frantic in her meowing as she tries to calm him down, and Izuku laughs through his tears.

Kami, he’s so happy.

This is what he needs to save.

This is why he will keep going, Plus Ultra style.

Chapter 20: a worrying interview

Chapter Text

When Izuku’s tears are dry and he and his friends finally hang up, he doesn’t let himself continue moping around. He scratches Catture Weapon behind her ears, scoops her onto his lap, and turns to his computer with a fervor (he’d been on his phone before, so he could lay in bed while talking to his friends).

Izuku’s first and most important task is to catch up with the Shie Hassaikai of today, five years removed from the monster he’d fought.

He knows that Chisaki is the current head of the whole thing- post-op investigation showed the shift in focus once he… took care of the old head. Chisaki was the bastard intent on ‘ridding the world of quirks,’ and he’s clearly started already.

The list of what Izuku doesn’t know is significantly lengthier.

His internet searches prove fruitless, for the most part, which is about what he expected. If everything could be solved with a quick Google search, he and Miruko wouldn’t need to deal with Stendhal and the other dangers bargaining for information brings.

He finds articles on the reform of the Shie Hassaikai— apparently they’ve done quite a few community service projects recently, helping to improve the face of the yakuza.

Izuku remembers learning about that during their investigation. Do good so you can redirect attention away from the bad.

If Izuku’s honest, it reminds him of Endeavor and Shouto, with one crucial difference. At least Endeavor knew what he was doing was f*cked up, and tried to make amends.

Chisaki was too rooted in his own self-righteousness to give a damn.

But Izuku digresses. Anger will only distract him in the moment- even if it’s a hell of a rush during a fight- and he needs to be logical, rational.

Not the emotional mess that the mere mention of the man reduces him to.

Nothing pops up, past the community service parts. No signs of abductions, no hints of attempted kidnappings. Nothing shows Izuku whether or not he’s caught everything, or if people are slipping through the cracks, defenseless and scared not because they are Quirkless, but because they are humans and they are victims.

And it is so, so odd to be wanted for one’s lack of Quirk, when they are the ones typically discarded and left to rot. When Quirkless means useless in the eyes of the many, the few- the one- who wants it to remain?

Yes, Izuku is sure that Chisaki is a shock, to whomever he may come across.

But he won’t be a shock for Izuku. Not for Izuku, never for Izuku, because Izuku isn’t Quirkless anymore, isn’t weak or defenseless. Izuku is a hero, and if he could take down Overhaul once, he will do it again.

He will just have to supplement his smaller body with the aid of a hero and a future murderer-

If Stendhal is not already a murderer. Izuku has his doubts, and his suspicions.

And a reasonable fear that Stendhal will try to murder Izuku at some point or another, even if this version of the man has offered no signs of violence towards him. It may be a trauma response, but Izuku is certain that his trauma has left him with better instincts and a stronger gut feeling than most.

…or maybe that’s Danger Sense.

Yeah, that makes sense.

“Focus,” Izuku whispers to himself. “You won’t get anywhere if you don’t focus.”

But there’s nothing for him to focus on. Overhaul has no traces, no tracks, and the public offers nothing in terms of Quirkless support. No one looks out for the little guy, and if they do, they’re not coming up with anything that Izuku can see.

Or maybe they are, Izuku decides as his phone buzzes. It’s a notification, a text, but not a number that Izuku recognizes.

‘Is this Izuku Midoriya?’ The notification snippet reads, and when Izuku opens it up there’s far more. ‘This is Ingenium. Your mother passed along your number- she said that you would be far from upset if I were to contact you directly.’ She was right, Izuku can admit to himself, unashamed in how excited he is that Ingenium- Iida’s older brother- offered to text him. Him! ‘I hope you understand that mine cannot be passed around, but I wished to ask when you are available for that follow up on the investigation for Emi. Thank you.’

Ah. Mom must not have remembered Izuku’s schedule- which is fair, because for all of its consistency it is rather hectic, and Izuku can’t begrudge his mother in the slightest as he sends back a response.

‘I can be at the station in forty minutes? It’s a bit of a walk, so…’

Izuku wonders if that was too mundane of a response. This is a hero, after all, and Izuku cannot help but wonder the correct level of calm that a text would allow.

Ingenium responds before Izuku can think it over any more.

‘Perfect! Do you want us to send someone to pick you up? You are rather young, kid.’

‘I’d rather walk, thank you.’ Izuku adds, and then, ‘I’m sure you understand why I wouldn’t want a stranger to pick me up.’

‘I get it,’ Ingenium responds. ‘Still, you’re pretty young. If you’d prefer, I can pick you up? I’m not a stranger, after all.’

‘No, but you are a hero,’ Izuku replies. ‘I’m sure you have better things to do then pick me up when I’m perfectly capable of walking.’

‘I’ll spend the same amount of time waiting if I don’t drive you,’ Ingenium points out. ‘But I won’t have the peace of mind knowing that you’re safe.’

‘Alright,’ Izuku finally concedes. ‘You can pick me up. I’ll text you my address.’

They arrange for Ingenium to arrive in half an hour, which gives Izuku (barely) enough time to take a quick shower, throw on an Ingenium T-shirt, and blow-dry his hair before the hero arrives. Ingenium texts as he’s slipping on his shoes, and Izuku stumbles on his way out the door.

“sh*t,” he curses to himself.

“Language,” someone calls out the window. Izuku looks up to see Iida Tenya leaning out the window, eying him with disapproval.

Ingenium laughs. “Tenya, leave the kid alone. He just came outside.”

“But, brother,” Tenya protests.

“Shush,” Ingenium says, and mimes pinching Tenya’s lips. He leans forward to see around him, and calls to Izuku, “You can get in, you know!”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” Izuku says quickly, and hops in the backseat.

Ingenium glances over his shoulder. “Let me know when you’re buckled in, yeah? And sorry, I forgot to warn you about Tenya. I may be a pro hero, but I’m also a big brother, and I couldn’t leave little Tenya home alone.”

“It’s okay,” Izuku says, even though it’s really not. He wasn’t prepared for this at all. His friend is so small.

And yet Izuku can already see who Tenya is going to be, all angles and rules until he finds the reasons to shatter expectations- reasons like his brother being hurt and-

Thankfully, it’s a short drive to the station, and they bid farewell at the entrance as Ingenium leads Izuku to an interrogation room, grabbing two water bottles along the way.

“Nice to see you again, little hero,” Ingenium greets kindly. “I hope you’ve been doing well?”

“Yes, I have,” Izuku replies. “And you?”

“Fine, fine,” Ingenium replies half-heartedly. “But I’d be a lot better if Emi’s kidnapper wasn’t walking free right now.”

Izuku feels the same, and he says as such. "I hope I can help you find him," Izuku says, and Ingenium smiles.

"Alright. Let's start with some questions then. These will be recorded, is that alright?"

"It's alright."

"Great. Now recording testimony from Izuku Midoriya, who helped save Arakawa Emi from an unnamed kidnapper."

Shin Nemoto, Izuku almost says, but he has no way to explain that knowledge. He bites his cheek, staying silent as Ingenium continues.

"Midoriya, will you please give us a recount of the events from your perspective?" Ingenium asks, holding the recorder between them, and Izuku nods.

"Yeah…I was walking home when-" Izuku quickly relays everything, from first contact with Emi to running into Ingenium, all the way to returning her safe and sound. Ending it off, he shrugs and says, "And now we're here."

"Thank you. Can you give us an official description of the man who you saw going after Emi?"

"Y-yeah," Izuku agrees, and then rattles off a quick description. Nemoto isn't very special looking, admittedly, and Izuku winces as Ingenium seems to remember this fact as well.

Still, he offers what he can.

Ingenium asks a few more questions, all of which are rather easy to answer, and then he grimaces before speaking once more. "This is our final question. In the initial moments after the victim's reunion with her parents, you asked the parents what the victim's Quirk was. Upon hearing the response, you threw up. You seemed rather shaken by the response, why was that?"

It's an odd line, and if Izuku didn't know any better he'd think that Ingenium was worried Izuku was Quirkist, which would just be ironic at this point. But he most likely means in terms of the investigation and, well….Izuku needs allies on the case.

“When the J-alert went out,” Izuku starts, “it said that the girl- Emi- had a bubble-making Quirk. But when Emi ran up to me…there was nothing. I saw no signs of bubbling, which, for a six year old, was surprising. People react when they’re scared, and when you’re younger, it’s always Quirks that are the first real indicator of stress. But Emi had nothing…so I had to ask.

"Emi is Quirkless," Izuku breathes out. "And people rarely want someone who is Quirkless. No one bothers to look for a Quirkless kid- that’s got to be why her parents had the alert sent that way. Because then people would search for her…because she’s Quirked. But the kidnapper didn’t go after a Quirked kid- they showed no signs of wanting a child for their Quirk. For someone to want a Quirkless person- and especially a Quirkless child, there are only a few reasons for it."

Ingenium looks angry and worried by his wording, but prompts Izuku anyways, asking, "What are these reasons?"

"To kill them, for one," Izuku says, and Ingenium doesn’t flinch but his eyes do widen quite a bit. "If not that, then to worship them like old relics from a 'forgotten time'. We're a dying breed, which makes us rare and collectible."

"We're?" Ingenium repeats, and Izuku nods.

"Or there's always the experiments. We don't have Quirks to get in the way of human testing- the perfect control group. A younger person could be raised in an environment of the kidnapper's choosing, and the Quirkless are less likely to be searched for. We're the perfect group to go for."

"You're Quirkless," Ingenium says, and for once the words don't feel like a threat when coming from a hero's mouth.

"Yes," Izuku says. "And that is why I was worried. Are there any more questions?"

There are not. Ingenium ends the recording, and finishes his water bottle in a single gulp.

“Well, that’s all I needed from you,” he says, vacantly flipping through his notes. “This should be enough to get us a decent lead, or at least help us more accurately document Emi’s case. Thank you, Midoriya-kun.”

“It was really no problem,” Izuku dismisses easily, then smiles a bit. “Besides, I’ll have to file reports like this all the time when I’m a hero.”

“I like the confidence, kid,” Ingenium says brightly. Izuku waits with bated breath (“So, can you be a hero? Not without a quirk”), only exhaling when Ingenium continues, “I’ll be watching out for you at the sports festival in a few years!”

“Wha– the sports festival? But that’s a Yuuei exclusive!” Izuku exclaims.

Ingenium raises an eyebrow. “And? You seem like a smart kid, so chances are you have the grades and motivation to get in. Besides, I know people aren’t kind to the quirkless. What better way to prove them wrong by getting into the top school in the country?”

Izuku’s eyes widen. This is the first time someone’s acknowledged that he can be quirkless (well, ‘quirkless’) and a hero. And coming from Ingenium, a hero Izuku’s admired for so long… it’s enough to flood his tear ducts, even as he tries to hold himself together. “Thank you for the support, Ingenium-san! It means a lot to me.”

“What kind of hero would I be if I didn’t support you?” he asks. “Besides, you’re already a hero, aren’t you?”

“Wha– no, I’m not, I wasn’t–” Izuku starts to protest, remembering his many late night ‘adventures.’

“I’m sure Emi would agree with me,” Ingenium adds. “You saved her, after all.”

“Oh. That’s right,” Izuku says quietly. He can’t decide what to feel– embarrassed that he forgot the entire reason he’s here in the first place, or proud that Ingenium insists he’s a hero. In the end, it doesn’t matter.

Ingenium stands, and the tension is broken. “Come on, kid. Let’s get you home.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Izuku says quickly, even as he follows Ingenium to the front of the station. “I don’t want to be a bother, and I’m sure you and Ten– you and your brother have places to be.”

Ingenium side eyes the slip-up, but otherwise ignores it. “We can spare fifteen minutes to drive you home, Midoriya. And I’ll sleep better tonight knowing you’re at home, safe and sound.”

Izuku debates protesting again, but ultimately gives in. Chances are Ingenium would convince him anyway, and he can’t waste more of the hero’s time. They collect Tenya, hop in the car, and head out.

Neither brother tries to talk to Izuku, so he stares out the window and thinks.

Sure, Izuku had the existential crisis of seeing Tenya out of the blue, even if that crisis is still being firmly pushed to a later date for him to properly panic over, but he's also been able to give Ingenium a lead on one of Overhaul’s men….even if that offers Izuku the risk of having to evade the Pro during his own patrols around Overhaul’s potential domain.

But, all in all, today didn't go too badly.

"Oh, and kid?" Ingenium calls out, the driver-side window rolled down. Izuku perks up. "Love the shirt!"

Nevermind, Izuku wants to die.

He lets out a hiss, feeling rather like a deflated balloon, and scurries into his house, Ingenium’s amused chuckle following until he slams the door behind.

Chapter 21: why did you say that name?

Chapter Text

It takes Izuku an hour to process the day that has occurred, and another forty minutes to remember that the day isn't even over yet. Izuku has training, after all, and then he has patrol with Miruko and Sta- Stendhal at night.

Which.

Oh dear.

Yeah, Izuku isn't sure how emotionally ready he is for patrol, now that he'll be working alongside the vigilante-slash-future-villain who attacked both Ingenium and Tenya, but he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it.

For now, Izuku shuffles his way down to the beach, giving himself a minute or two to appreciate the progress that he's made before hopping right in to make even more progress.

He's an hour in, one microwave tightly clasped in his arms, when he gets an unexpected visitor.

Unexpected for Izuku, that is.

"Hey brat!" Miruko chirps. "Long time no see."

Izuku saw her during their last patrol, but he keeps his mouth shut on that matter. "Hi!" he says instead, simple enough.

"Just a hi?" Miruko asks. "Damn, and here I pegged you as a hero fanboy, what with your cat and all."

"Oh, I am," Izuku squeaks out, cheeks heating up at the callout. "I'm just trying not to spontaneously combust on sight."

That earns a laugh out of Miruko, something full and surprised. "Good one, Midoriya," Miruko says, and Izuku-

When did Izuku tell Miruko his name?

Miruko seems to notice Izuku's sudden nerves, because she tilts her head and asks, "Hey kid? What's wrong?"

"I never told you my name," Izuku says, and Miruko blinks before gasping.

"Oh yeah! You didn't!" She seems impressed by this realization; Izuku fidgets when she doesn't say anything else.

"Who told you?" Izuku prompts, and Miruko laughs.

"A little buddy that I patrol with is familiar with you," Miruko says, and Izuku wants to facepalm because, oh. He told Miruko who he is. Yikes. "I had to look you up in the database because I didn't know the name, and lo and behold it was trash boy! Say, where's your cat?"

"At home," Izuku says.

"Damn, that's lame."

“First of all, rude,” he says, mock-offended. Miruko laughs, then motions for him to continue. “Second of all, I realized it might not be a good idea to bring Catture Weapon here when I’m heavy lifting. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if she got hurt on accident.”

“That’s probably for the best,” she murmurs, giving him a meaningful glance. “Who knows what could happen to her if you didn’t keep a close eye on her? Being crushed isn’t the only worry.”

Maybe it’s only because he’s listening so closely, but Izuku feels like she might be trying to tell him something. He opens his mouth to respond– with what he isn’t sure– but Miruko interrupts.

“Did you say her name was Catture Weapon?”

“Uh, yes?” Izuku says, confused. Then he remembers and groans. “I forgot you’ve met Aiza– Eraserhead-san before.”

“Mhm,” she says, a new glint in her eyes. “Do you know him?”

“What? Noooo, why would you think that?” he asks.

A bead of sweat slithers down his forehead and falls onto the sand with a quiet splat.

“It sounded like you were about to say his name,” she says carefully.

“Not even a little bit,” Izuku says, too quickly, his eyes wide. “I’ve never met him before.”

“You do realize that’s even more suspicious, right?” she asks, eyebrow raised.

Izuku squeaks, and looks at his wrist. “Well, would you look at the time! It’s getting pretty late, so I really should–”

“You’re not even wearing a watch,” Miruko points out, half-amused and half-threatening. “Are you sure you don’t want to explain yourself before I video chat Eraserhead and ask him?”

sh*t!

“Uh, about that,” Izuku squeaks.

“Yeah?” Miruko asks, one eyebrow raising as she leans forward. “What is it, kid?”

Kid. She called him kid, not kit, yet the sound is just one letter off and Izuku has to remind himself of its existence in order to keep breathing in and out, the motion repetitive but vital as he tries to keep his calm and think.

He knows Aizawa’s name. Of course he does- Aizawa was his teacher.

In a separate timeline. In the future that doesn’t exist, not here. A future that Miruko does not know about.

No, no this Izuku isn’t some unlucky time traveler. The boy she’s staring at is a fanboy, a stupid little fanboy with a cat named after a very hidden underground hero’s signature weapon and a mouth far too big for his well being. He’s just-

He’s got it.

“I- I didn’t mean to find out,” Izuku rushes to get out, and Miruko pauses. “I was just- Eraserhead is so cool and it’s so hard to find things online, but going out at night is dangerous so I dug deeper into some forums, and eventually I found an old link to a Yuuei Sports Festival video- and I think it was meant to be taken down but the site was last updated ages ago, and they announced his name and his Quirk was the same so I realized that it was him…but it’s dangerous to know an underground hero’s name so I try to say I don’t know it because I don’t want him to get hurt, because then it would be all my fault and-”

“Okay, okay!” Miruko cuts in, eyes wide as she holds out her hands. “I believe you, kid, just breathe.”

So Izuku breathes, taking note of her expression. She seems flustered, caught off guard by his sudden panic and winding explanation. Too caught off to know that Izuku is lying straight to her face.

He never found the video- or, at least, not on his own.

No, it was Present Mic- Yamada-sensei- who hinted at the video’s existence. Izuku may have found it, but it wasn’t his own idea, and it wasn’t how he learned the man’s name.

The best lies are made of truths, after all.

And it’s not perfect, but it works, and Miruko is much more at ease when Izuku finally settles.

“I’m sorry for thinking bad of you, kid,” Miruko says, an apology Izuku quite frankly never expected, and as such blinks dumbly in response. “You’ve got a good head on your shoulder- and yeah, do your best not to say his name, that’s the best plan, okay?”

“Of course,” Izuku promises. “I don’t want to get Eraserhead hurt.”

Miruko hums at that, then smiles. “I’m sure you’ll do great at that,” she says, and the words pierce his chest.

He’ll do better this run, to make sure Eraserhead doesn’t get hurt.

He promises.

Izuku jolts when a rock hits his arm. “Hey, what was that for?” he protests.

Miruko shrugs. “Dunno. Felt like you could use a distraction.”

“Gee, thanks,” he says, rubbing his bicep despite the fact that he feels exactly no pain. Miruko squints, and he drops the act with a sigh, before glancing meaningfully at the large pile of trash beside them. “Well, I’d better get back to work. This beach won’t clean itself, and while I don’t exactly have a deadline, I’d like to finish sooner rather than later.”

“Fair enough, kid,” Miruko says easily. Izuku can only stare as she turns and picks up a stray microwave. She shoots him a look that’s part-searching, part-teasing, and entirely saying, ‘Well?’

“Miruko-san! What– uh, I mean, why, I, uh– you’re taking the microwave?” Izuku stammers.

“To the trash, yes,” she says. “Unless you think this hunka junk can be scrapped?”

“I mean, probably. If you set it with the other pile of big stuff I’ll figure something out,” he shrugs. (This time around, he’s been trying to do better about the waste by delivering it to Hatsume instead. She lives ten minutes away by car, and thanks to Izuku’s hard work at the beach, one of the locals offered him his truck for an hour a week, which is how he gets all the trash and scrap off now that he doesn’t have Yagi-san to figure it out for him). “But, what I meant was, why are you staying?”

“I thought you might like some help,” Miruko says. “And I hafta admit, I’m kinda curious about you, kid. I figured we could work and talk, and maybe grab some ice cream afterwards. Every kid likes ice cream, right?”

“Not a kid,” Izuku says automatically. Miruko shoots him a look, but doesn’t interrupt. “And, really? You want to buy me ice cream? And help clean up this– this garbage?”

“It’s not my ideal way to spend a Saturday afternoon,” she says shamelessly, “but I do call myself a hero, and that includes all the gross sh*t too.”

It’s an honest answer, much more open than All Might’s original description of this project. Miruko doesn’t want to clean up the trash beach, doesn’t really care for the junk around her, but she does it regardless because she sees that it’s important.

Because Izuku is doing it.

Izuku smiles, lifting up a microwave of his own and tucking it under one arm. Miruko raises an eyebrow at him, and Izuku quickly readjusts, holding it with both hands as if he needs the support. “That’d be nice!” Izuku agrees, and Miruko huffs in amusem*nt.

“Well then, let’s get this show on the roads!” Miruko says, and then she tosses her microwave right into Izuku’s pile. Izuku winces as he hears glass shatter, as does the Rabbit Hero.

“Probably shouldn’t throw things here, huh?” Miruko asks, and Izuku slowly shakes his head.

“I, uh, wouldn’t advise it.”

Miruko laughs. “Got it! Come on, then, let’s put our muscles to work.”

And so they do, and it’s…nice. Miruko asks him questions, anything from his favorite color- red, although sometimes he likes a nice green or pink or icy blue- to his favorite meal- which is and has always been katsudon, specifically his mother’s, although Auntie Mitsuki has always made a killer spicy katsudon that Izuku wishes that he could recreate.

Izuku does the same, albeit far more hesitantly, only asking questions that brush the surface. She likes red, too, but says that the gold of a victory medal is always appreciated. Carrots are her favorite snack, but she doesn’t have a favorite meal. She does well in the cold, but hates water.

“Why come so close to the water, then?” Izuku asks, gesturing to the point where land meets ocean, and Miruko shrugs.

“You can enjoy something without liking it in its entirety,” Miruko says, and…it’s a fair point, Izuku supposes.

Miruko defaults to offering ice cream because she once found a kidnapping victim, and that’s the first thing that she said that really calmed the kid down and distracted them. Izuku offers company when someone is sad because he never had it when he was younger- a fact that he probably shouldn’t have let slip, given how fiercely protective Miruko seems to be of those she deems as needing of her help, but one he couldn’t help but say when Miruko offered her admittance.

Miruko’s closest hero friend is probably Hawks, she declares, and Izuku happily tells her about Mashirao and Kouji, barring names for their privacy.

The two go on and on this way, a back and forth that varies between far too deep for comfort and so surface level that Izuku can’t bear it, until a few hours have passed and the hero and hero-to-be have made a sizable dent in their respective piles.

“So,” Miruko says, “ready for ice cream?”

He sure is.

They leave the beach in search of dessert and end up at a local shop not three blocks from the beach. It’s right near Nakamura-sensei’s dojo, funnily enough. Izuku commits the location to memory for the next time Mashirao is in town, and savors his ice cream.

Miruko offers to walk him home at the end of the day, practically insists when he immediately turns her down, but he refuses.

“I’d like to use the time to decompress, y’know?” Izuku says. Miruko doesn’t look convinced, even though it’s the truth, so he adds, “Besides, what would my mom say if I came home with a hero in the top 100?”

“She couldn’t possibly think I’m a bad influence,” Miruko says, laughing a bit. “But sure, kid, I’ll leave you to your vices. Stay safe, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Izuku agrees. She gives him a goofy salute, then turns and bounds away.

He sighs to himself. If only she knew how safe he was.

Tonight, especially.

So safe.

Chapter 22: the search continues

Chapter Text

“Kit,” Miruko calls, bounding three rooftops over to reach where he sits. “You’re late!”

“A he– vigilante never arrives late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”

“Nerd,” Miruko snorts, and Izuku pretends to be offended for a moment. “But, seriously, where were you?”

“Got held up,” he says by way of explanation. “Ran into some assholes trying to mug a dad out with his kids– I couldn’t just ignore it!”

“Good,” she says. “My time’s less valuable than their livelihood– it kinda comes with the hero gig. It’d be nice if we had a way to communicate, so I’d know you aren't just ignoring me, but…” she trails off.

Izuku ignores the obvious dig for information and says earnestly, “I’d never abandon you, Miruko-san! You’re too cool.”

“Damn straight,” she says with a hint of pride.

“Anyways,” Izuku says, before Miruko can get any silly ideas like offering him a burner phone or something- Shouto tried that once, a mixture of a need to spend Endeavor’s money in random ways and to make sure his friends were never out of reach, and Izuku had to catch Ochako before she collapsed on the ground from the sheer ‘rich kid’-ness of it all. “Ready for patrol?”

“I always am,” Miruko responds. “Come on, Kit; we’re working with you-know-who today.”

Stendhal. Right.

Is it bad that Izuku would rather go back to the awkward interview with Ingenium?

Probably, but…jeez, tonight is going to be tough. Izuku is going to have to face the man who will eventually try to kill him and his two friends in an alley, a man who will succeed in killing countless others before if Izuku can’t stop him in time-

Wait.

Izuku is back in time.

Stendhal isn’t Stain yet- he hasn’t gone down that path in this world.

Izuku could stop him- or at least stop his murders, even if not his change of heart.

Can’t he?

He can. He can because he has to. It’ll be tough- Izuku may have been a hero fanboy, but he wasn’t always the best at keeping track of villains, especially not their debuts, so he’ll have to keep a close eye on the vigilante to make sure he never goes rogue. Because-

Because the other heroes that Stain murdered are alive. Because Ingenium is still an active hero in this world, and he is good

Because Tenya is happy, right now. Happy and sure that he will one day fight alongside his older brother, the heroes Ingenium and…whichever name Tenya would have chosen. He is certain that this outcome is guaranteed, that the world is traveling in such a perfect path, and Izuku cannot let his friend down.

He’ll make everything right.

Everything.

“He’s here,” Miruko says, and Izuku nods, resolute.

He’ll do it all, if he has to.

He’ll be their Atlas and hold up the sky.

Stain- no, Stendhal- is as terrifying the second time that Izuku approaches him as he was the first. There’s a sense of…finality…around the man, an encompassing and suffocating aura not unlike the murderous, confident intent that Izuku remembers back in Hosu, so many years from now. It’s a feeling that makes Izuku want to freeze, flee, and scream all at once, but Izuku can’t be Izuku right now.

Because he’s Kit, a vigilante who is here to save everyone that he can. He’s Kit, mentored by Miruko for the sake of helping whoever he can.

He’s a hero on a mission, and Stendhal is a key component of this plan. He cannot run away.

So Izuku stands tall but loose, posture casual but not unguarded as the vigilante approaches. He nods in greeting, and Stendhal nods back, the movement far more clipped on the older male.

Kami, he’s going to hate these next few weeks, isn’t he?

“Alright, guys, listen up,” Miruko says. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover tonight. I have a few leads on possible bases, and we’ll be checking them out over the next few nights, as well as any new ones. I want us to be swift, but effective. Don’t cut corners, yeah? Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, and all that,” she says with a flippant wave of her hand.

Izuku nods. Stendhal doesn’t acknowledge the words beyond a slight tilt of the head.

It’s good enough for Miruko, who produces a manilla folder.

“We’ll split up to cover more ground. I’ll check the one on 37th and Main, you two can pick the next target.”

“Us two,” Izuku repeats slowly. “I thought… you said we were splitting up?”

“Yeah, we are,” Miruko emphasizes with a sigh. “Look, I get that you’re used to doing things on your own by now, but two sets of eyes are better than one. Besides, look at it this way. You two together will let you check almost as thoroughly as me. You guys aren’t heroes, and I assume neither of you are secretly detectives. You haven’t taken classes on how to scope buildings out. Trust me, Kit, this is the most practical way.”

She’s only half-right; it may be the most practical way, but that doesn’t negate the fact that Izuku has taken those same classes.

Still, he doesn’t argue. “Alright, Miruko-san. See you on the flip side, I guess.”

“Seeya, Kit. Stendhal.” She nods at each of them, then backflips off the building.

Izuku only lets himself watch her bound away for a moment before turning to Stendhal. “So. Any preference on where we start?”

Stendhal stares down at him, gaze so steady that Izuku wonders what could possibly turn his eyes away. It’s…alarming, to be quite blunt, and unnerving in a way that Izuku would consider uncanny if he doesn’t still have nightmares about Hosu.

Izuku not making it in time, arriving just as the life drains from Tenya’s eyes.

Izuku messing up with Full Cowling, breaking himself and becoming something even worse than useless- a liability on the field.

Izuku not sending his location in time, Shouto never arriving to save them in response.

Not getting up fast enough.

Not moving fast enough.

Not being saved from the Noumu, and being flown away to Shigaraki and whatever could possibly come after.

Being freed from the Noumu’s grasp, and plummeting helplessly to solid ground.

Being freed from the Noumu, but forever stuck in Stain’s horrid aura as the man declares that only All Might can kill him.

Yeah…Izuku doesn’t think he’ll ever forget how horrifying Stendhal became.

But it’s a little easier in the present, Izuku notes, to handle the way Stendhal eyes him, analyzing him for every breath that he dares to take. Less vicious, less vindictive…this is a man who is seen as a dangerous vigilante, but not a mass-murderer of a villain. Terrifying, but to a slightly lesser degree.

Stendhal reaches out, and Izuku suppresses the urge to flinch. The vigilante isn’t reaching for Izuku, after all, but the folder in his grasp.

“You never opened the folder,” Stendhal says, oh so wisely, and Izuku wonders if the vigilante can just hurry up and murder him now.

It’s better than the embarrassment that currently is trying to do him in.

Izuku groans under his breath and flips the folder open. Stendhal peers over his shoulder for a better look, and Izuku’s vision blurs.

By the time he’s gotten his breathing under control, the man has seemingly come to a decision. “Let’s say we check out this location, Kit.”

Izuku glances down at the name of the place– some random address in Jakku– and nods. “Sure. Sounds like a plan.”

He’s familiar with the area, at least. It’s westward, and not too far from here. (And it’s near Chisaki’s old/future base.)

He momentarily debates showing off his directional skills, but it really doesn’t matter, and by the time he decides Stendhal is on the move anyways. Izuku huffs under his breath and follows suit, hopping from rooftop to rooftop behind the man. He could easily overtake him, even without One for All– Stendhal is around Aizawa-sensei’s age, best Izuku remembers, and wears heavy armor.

But there’s no point in running ahead and waiting around, and he doesn’t want to risk setting Stendhal off. He needs the man on his side– now, for sure, and hopefully in the future.

They arrive soon enough, and from there it’s not too difficult to find the address listed in Miruko’s folder– which Stendhal stored in a pocket in his armor (Izuku hates to admit it, but it’s pretty badass).

The bottom floor is a coffee shop of some sort, and the top two are nondescript.

Nothing interesting, to be certain, but such blandness is almost unnerving. Izuku knows how this works, how the game is played. Villains take to two methods, when it comes to their bases- loud and proud or quiet and discrete. The former is what anyone with two brain cells can recognize, and that’s almost always the point. If a villain’s base location is obvious, then they want to be seen. They want to be noticed, want their message to be heard and screamed across the nation. They want to intimidate, to inspire fear, to invoke silence or rage or whatever they may be after.

And those are the villains who get caught. The ones who broadcast themselves for a boost in recognition. Those are the ones who open their front doors, almost quite literally, to their own arrests. Heroes don’t have to hunt down a villain who never hid themselves in the first place, after all, and that just cuts down the villain’s time before they’re behind bars.

Leaving the latter to take up the majority. Those who hide in plain sight, creating little pockets for themselves among the greater good. The ones who put up fronts, who choose cutesy little houses or tiny, quaint shops and make themselves fall in line with the majority during the day, so that they can cause problems at night.

Those who hide their fights behind closed doors, away from recognition because they know that the spotlight is just a target, lined up for the heroes to fire.

And a store like this would be the perfect place to hide.

“What do you think?” Izuku asks, and Stendhal does not react, not verbally, only staring at the place.

“We can’t make any assumptions yet,” Stendhal says. “It could be a front, or a perfectly normal shop.”

He’s right, and Izuku had just told himself the same thing, but the idea that he’s agreeing with the vigilante still leaves a bad taste in his mouth.

But this is for the greater good, so Izuku will just have to wash his mouth out later.

Izuku places a hand to his chin and lets himself think aloud. “It’s too late for them to be open, so we can’t pretend to be patrons, and in any case we aren’t dressed for deception. There might be windows we could look through, if we’re going the ethical route. Otherwise, we’re probably going to have to break in,” he muses.

Stendhal regards Izuku, his head inclined curiously. “Is the risk worth the reward, young Kit?”

Izuku hate, hate, hates the way that reminds him of All Might.

“I think so,” he says finally. “If he’s taking innocent children away from their families to play God and experiment, I think it’s worth the risk of breaking somewhere we shouldn’t. Because if we don’t do this and we’re wrong? Who knows how many children we’ll lose?

“Besides, we’re already here. We have Miruko’s support on this– if push comes to shove, she’d back us,” Izuku says, with more confidence than he feels.

Stendhal nods. “I trust your judgment. I’ll follow your lead.”

Izuku blinks at his easy compliance, but it really shouldn’t be surprising. Stendhal has been easygoing this whole time– and Izuku is the one with (far too) intimate knowledge of what they’re really looking for. Of course he’d defer to him.

Still, it leaves Izuku wrongfooted and stumbling. He forcefully inhales, then leaps off the edge of this building and onto the next, the wind whistling in his ears.

Before, they had been perched on a building relatively far, not wanting to discuss their super-secret-spying-plans right in front of their target, but now they hover right next door, studying the front to find a weak entry point. If everything goes as planned, they’ll be in and out with nary a trace of their existence, so it’s important that whatever they break to get in will be easily brushed off as some sort of accident, or so out of place that the owners won’t notice at all.

Which is more of a challenge than Izuku would have presumed, given how many windows the coffee shop has.

Really, one would think that at least one would be a better option than the other, but all of them are right in the open, just showing off the little dining area and front counter, and a variety of options on a menu that Izuku can barely read.

It looks worryingly legitimate, and Izuku really hopes that there’s something shady that he’s about to find out about, because otherwise he’s going to feel awful and then he’ll have to ask Miruko for help replacing the window until he gets the money to pay the people back, or at least frame it as a villain fight so that the shop owners get an insurance payout- and oh kami what if they don’t get insurance? What will they do then, will they be upset that Izuku did this? What if they aren’t doing well this month, and this shuts them down and then no one gets to enjoy their little local shop? Will they-

“Kit,” Stendhal says, and Izuku blinks. “They’ll be fine.”

Oh. Oh no. Izuku has been muttering. And just when he thought he finally had a grip on his own vocal cords.

“Sorry,” Izuku whispers, and Stendhal shrugs.

“It’s quite alright. Dangerous, yes, but everyone deals with problems in their own way.”

Izuku stares at the vigilante, struck with disbelief. He’s never had someone brush his muttering aside quite so easily, nor reason it away as a stress relief mechanism.

What is his life?

“If you prefer,” Stendhal continues, either oblivious to Izuku’s internal screeching or just choosing to ignore the open staring that Izuku is doing, “there does seem to be a vent up there. I would not fit, but you are still…rather small.”

“I’m not small!” Izuku automatically refutes, and Stendhal just….looks at him.

Okay, fair.

“I’ll go through the vent,” Izuku says, and Stendhal nods, pulling out a small blade.

“Use this to unscrew the vent, so that you can open it,” Stendhal says. “I’ll keep guard from outside. Do not be afraid of property damage if you’re in danger.”

“Got it,” Izuku says, loathing every moment that he has to take orders from the could-be future murderer, but also finding relief in the fact that he doesn’t have to toss ethics to the wind in order to smash open a potentially innocent person’s property. He takes the knife, darting up to the vent in question before glaring at it.

It’s out of his reach.

“I need a boost,” Izuku manages to force out, and Stendhal nods, easily walking over and cupping his palms together, a perfect place for Izuku to step up. He does so quickly, unscrewing the vents and then pulling himself up and in.

Izuku would rather not think much about that trip through the vents, especially with how cramped he felt the entire way shuffling through, but nothing is more relieving than reaching the other side.

It’s shut, of course, but the confined feeling all around him is more than enough motivation for Izuku to reach into One for All, pulling the smallest fraction of a percent possible and shoving the vent straight off. How he’ll get that fixed, he’s unsure, but surely it’ll remain unnoticed for a little bit…or Izuku will ask Miruko if they can do an anonymous donation of some sort.

Either way, Izuku throws himself out of the vent, letting himself drop to the floor with ease before getting up. It’s dark, yes, but Izuku has more than enough experience of running through the dark due to Yuuei’s love for random nighttime training, and so Izuku only needs a few seconds before he’s off and searching.

And there’s…nothing. Nothing that Izuku could consider to be out of the ordinary, nothing that screams, says, or even whispers, ‘I’m an important detail. I’m your proof that this business is run for nefarious purposes.’

There’s absolutely nothing.

Izuku agreed with, ew, Stain for nothing.

Well…

At least he didn’t break any windows?

Stendhal voices as much, as they check and double-check each crook and cranny. (For Izuku, at least, it’s a desire to check Stendhal’s work and his motive. If there’s something obvious he ‘missed,’ well…)

Neither of them finds anything, and so they leave, disappointed but at least glad to have avoided walking into a trap.

Izuku helps Stendhal up the window (the man is surprised by his strength, which isn’t exactly unfair since Izuku is tiny now, but it still gives him a burst of vindictive pleasure). He’s about to hoist himself out when the new angle lets him see something he hadn’t from the floor.

One of the ceiling panels is dislodged.

“Kit?” Stendhal calls. “What’s happening?”

Izuku pauses. For half a second, he forgot he was there.

“I think I saw something,” he finally says. “Give me a minute?”

”Sure,” says Stendhal. “I’ll be here.”

Chapter 23: the name of a hero

Chapter Text

“And then what happened?” Miruko asks, bouncing from foot to foot. It’s an ingrained habit more than a nervous one, but it still makes Izuku want to fidget himself.

He fiddles with the loose cuff on his sleeve as he considers how to word it.

“I… investigated. I got the panel out of the way to check it out, and made sure to put it back in the right spot.”

All true, of course, just excluding his use of Blackwhip.

“There was a bird mask in the vent,” he says.

“And you’re sure that’s connected?” she asks. Not doubtful, but considering.

“The style,” Izuku gets out, words jumbled in his mind but far more certain in his heart, flashing images of scared red eyes and pin prick scars on far too frail arms. “It’s too outdated. Plague doctor style, ornate, prestigious. They like the best of the best, for- for their group.”

For Overhaul. For Chisaki.

But never for Eri.

Miruko can tell that Izuku is altering his sentences before he even says them, he can tell with how she eyes him up and down, appraising and analyzing and filling in the blanks. She looks curious, like she wants to ask him how he says everything so certainly, but she doesn’t say a word. She assumes that it’s because of Izuku’s ‘friend’, his lie of his Quirkless self being something other than his own identity, and assumes that he knows this out of a desperate bid to stay ahead for his friend’s safety. Someone Quirkless but older, someone not trapped and experimented and crying out to be saved and-

“It’s a base, then,” Miruko concludes, and Izuku hums before nodding.

“Most likely. Almost definitely. It could be a trick, of course, if they knew someone was looking. Hidden enough to seem smart, but open enough that the whole setup could have been intentional. I don’t know which it is, Miruko…but I can’t sit by and say that it’s not worth looking into further.”

Miruko nods along, eyes proud even as her expression remains firm and unrelenting. “I trust you then, Kit. I’ll see what I can do, who to contact to get the proper warrants and such. To proceed on a more formal level, it’ll take time. Rules, you know? They’re quite the hassle when you go pro, Kit, so savor your time now.”

“You think-”

“That you’ll be a hero?” Miruko asks, then snorts. “Kit, you’re bound to be. Best of the best right here, and I’ll have nothing less from my little sidekick. Got it?”

“Got it,” Izuku whispers, and Miruko smirks.

“Perfect. Now, while you can still work around the law, let’s get to our next plan of action.”

As they discuss Izuku learns a few interesting tidbits:

Firstly, that she’s got Elastigirl on speed dial. She’s one of Nighteye’s current sidekicks (which is wild, to Izuku, but Bubble Girl is still a student, and Elastigirl always had been cool), and apparently a close friend of Miruko’s.

Secondly, that even though none of the buildings she checked out were bases, she managed to get some helpful intel from a passersby, who told her that there had been “strange people with bird masks” lurking in that area, and that a few days ago, there had been chunks of unnatural crystals scattered on the ground outside their apartment building, and that she planned to investigate deeper as soon as possible.

Thirdly, that she went and got Eraserhead.

It’s such a shock that Izuku can’t even respond, at first. He just stares at her.

She stares right back, curious at his response, then blinks. “Your friend knows him somehow, right?”

“Uh, yes?” Izuku squeaks.

She sighs to herself. “I can’t believe I forgot to mention his cat.”

“Oh my god,” Izuku says, mortified. “Please don’t. I think he would actually die of mortification.”

Miruko laughs.“I’m sure he’d survive somehow, but that would be quite unfortunate,” she agrees. “Fine, I won’t tell him.”

“Thank you,” Izuku says, more relieved than he probably should be.

“Yeah, yeah, no problem,” she says, and drags a hand through his hair. “You did good work tonight, Kit. Keep it up.”

He will. By whatever gods reign above, he will.

Izuku won’t let her down. He won’t let anyone down.

Because Izuku may not be Deku, not right here, not right now, and he may not be the boy he was not long before, the one with far more training, far more muscle, and the license to back it up…but when has that ever stopped him?

Deku is the name of a hero.

And so is Kit.

Chapter 24: burner phone

Chapter Text

Izuku wakes up to the sound of a text message coming through, an unfamiliar chirping sound that Izuku knows he didn’t set as his ringtone.

Just as he knows that the noise is coming from somewhere odd, not from his phone beside his bed…but from within a drawer in his dresser, where he had hastily stashed his vigilante gear the night before.

Izuku glances at Catture Weapon, nervous. The cat blinks at him, slow and sure, then lays its head back down to rest.

Alright, then.

Izuku gets up, slipping out of the sheets as quietly as possible, making his way to the dresser. He lifts up a hand, willing only the softest, smallest amounts of One for All to course through him, faint flickering light that leaves his heart pounding but head clear. He pulls open the drawer.

A simple black phone sits, half tucked in the pocket of his pants. A phone that Izuku is not the owner of.

The phone lights up again. The number is pre-programmed. Bunny.

Miruko?

Izuku clicks the phone, letting it open. He goes straight to the message, and reads it.

‘Hey, Kit. Surprised? Slipped this in your pocket when you were rambling about a Quirk you saw the other day- least observant I’ve ever seen you, by the way! Anyways, this is your brand new burner phone! (Don’t worry, the location is turned off. I’ll respect your privacy, as I’m sure you’ll respect mine.) Feel free to toss this after the mission, or return it back, if you don’t want it after, but with a case like this I want better contact with you. Don’t give this number out to anyone- I’ll let you know if there’s a different number I want added in. See you on patrol.’

Ah. That would do it.

Izuku debates on whether or not to respond, then agonizes over what to say. Finally, he responds,

‘Got it. I won’t make you regret this, Miruko-san! See you on patrol.’

He waits a few minutes to make sure Miruko doesn’t respond, then carefully tucks the phone back into the drawer and slides it shut.

Izuku flops back onto his bed and grins, excitement coursing through him.

Catture Weapon lets out a curious mrrp?

Izuku turns to her and smiles even wider. “I can’t believe I have Miruko’s phone number!”

Catture Weapon tilts her head. He laughs a bit, and watches with wide eyes as she climbs up onto his stomach and kneads her paws.

“Aww, baby,” he croons, reaching out to scratch behind her ears.

She settles down, languidly stretching out her limbs as she begins to purr.

Of course, that’s when Mom knocks on his door, startling Catture Weapon.

He pouts, but calls, “Come in!” and she does so.

Mom glances from the pile of fur on his belly to the door Catture Weapon just darted out of and frowns. “Did I scare her away? I’m sorry, darling. I just wanted to touch base about, well, everything that’s been going on lately. I know it’s been a lot.”

‘More than you know,’ Izuku doesn’t say.

“It’s all kind of scary to think about, especially considering how much luck was involved. Emi’s such a good kid,” he sighs. “What if the kidnapper didn’t stop for groceries, of all things? What if I hadn’t been there? What if the kidnapper tried to fight?”

Izuku is rather adept at martial arts, it’s true, but the Shie Hassaikai fights dirty. If it came down to abandoning Emi or revealing his Quirk he’d choose the latter every time, but who knows what kind of consequences that could have?

“Oh, Izuku,” Inko sighs. She sits down on the bed next to Izuku— who’s since propped himself up— and wraps her arms around him.

And it’s nice, Izuku will acknowledge, just as he has every time that she’s hugged him since his return. Sure, it’s rather odd how her arms encompass him so much easier now, that lack of extra reach due to his lesser mass and muscular physique. And her stress seems lessened, even with all that is going on with Emi, compared to how his mother was after the U.S.J., after Kamino, after every single villain that his mom was aware that he had faced.

It’s not the first time, too, that Izuku thinks of what ifs, of never going to Yuuei, of sticking to the shadows and working as a vigilante, giving up his second family for the sake of his first, friends and a dream in the light, a face in the fight against discrimination, and instead focusing on his mother, supporting people in the night in ways that also matter, just far more personal, the cases individualized every time.

A thought Izuku knows he won’t follow through on, no, but one he considers nonetheless. A butterfly effect, a ‘what would be safer’?

But only the safety of others. Never Izuku’s, no.

If it were Izuku’s own safety that was kept in mind, after all, he never would have become Kit in the first place, never would have been in the place he is today.

Never would have worked for the future he hopes to make better.
So Izuku enjoys the embrace from his mother, enjoys the way she can pull him just a little closer, and hides in her arms just a bit longer, knowing that he will throw himself into danger the moment that the sun disappears and the stars come out, when his mother is asleep and unaware of the risks her son takes every single night.

For the sake of the future, and her future safety, and that of his friends and all of Japan…Izuku Midoriya thinks that it is alright, to break a few rules.

What is curfew compared to future safety, after all?

Tonight is the first night in forever that Izuku has gone on an actual patrol.

It feels that way, at least.

Izuku will never begrudge Miruko for her intense focus on the Shie Hassaikai– how could he, when he himself has helped to inspire it.

Still, Izuku has missed the simplicity of regular patrols.

Bounding across rooftops, alternately running ahead of or falling behind Miruko as they hunted down crime. Occasionally they’ll stop to help a college student make it to the bus stop safely, or return the wallet someone dropped, or even to feed a few stray alley cats.

What he’s missed most of all, though, is the sensation of fighting side-by-side with someone he trusts.

When he fights with Miruko, Izuku is at least 30% less stressed (a number that would be higher if he left his ever-present anxiety out of it). He can yell out sarcastic remarks or turn his back on his opponent without the overwhelming sensation of dread because Miruko is there to support him.

(And she really is there for him. As skilled as Izuku is, and as many villains as he’s managed to take down, he is still a student with a lot to learn, while Miruko is a Pro Hero with years of experience. She doesn’t need Izuku. She gains nothing for her invaluable help.

And yet she does it anyway.)

Tonight, as he baits a would-be murderer deeper into an alleyway, the perks of having a Pro Hero as backup are abundantly evident.

Because it is her presence that encourages Izuku to taunt the man, someone with an unknown Quirk but a very obvious knife, something sharp and almost cliche in how it glints in the light, bold and threatening in its silent existence. It is her presence that makes him laugh under the mask, arms outspread as he backs further into the alley.

“Are you looking for a dance or something?” Izuku asks, not his best starter, but, eh, he’ll go with it. “I’ve heard it’s rather rude to try to drag someone in when they’re tired. Let me get some time off my feet, yeah?”

“Don’t worry, kid,” the man responds. “You’ll get plenty of time off of your feet when I’m done here.”

Oh, so they’re both just doing poorly at this whole witty commentary thing, huh? Well, that’s embarrassing for both of them at this point. Especially when they’ve got some company.

“I think I’ll pass,” Izuku says. “I don’t think we’ve got the same meaning for relaxation, to be quite honest.”

“And what will you do about it?” The man asks. “You’re cornered, kid. Nowhere to go but six feet under.”

Izuku’s back hits the wall, and he chuckles. “What about six feet up?” Izuku asks, and then he sees a flash of white. Instantly, he leaps upwards, just enough of One for All powering the movement so that he’s far out of reach, the man desperate to land a hit but still too slow, always too slow to evade someone like Miruko.

Miruko doesn’t do being evaded. No, instead she lands right on him, a kick that leaves the man winded as he drops to the ground, only to go for another hit before the man can even attempt to regain himself.

He’s unconscious before Izuku even reaches the ground.

“Good job being bait, Kit,” Miruko says, and Izuku laughs.

“Thanks. Need help tying him up?”

“That’d be great, thanks kid.”

The two do quick work, tying him up, and then it’s easy enough for Miruko to just lug the man over her shoulder, making sure to stomp on the knife and break it in half before waving for Izuku to follow. “Come on, Kit, we may as well just drop him off at the station. It’s just a few blocks away.”

And that’s fair, Izuku thinks. Much easier than leaving a note and a call and making the officers go out to retrieve the man. Except…

“I can’t go in with you, Miruko,” Izuku says, to which Miruko scoffs.

“That’s nonsense! You work with me, you’re fine!”

“Your ruling on my acceptability is based on the fact that you’re okay with vigilantes,” Izuku reminds her, and Miruko huffs.

“Right. Laws.” Miruko sighs, then shrugs. “Right, okay. Slight change of plans. I go drop him off, and you wait right here and don’t get killed before I come back. Got it?”

“Got it,” Izuku says, and Miruko smiles, wide and bold just as she is.

“Good! No getting into trouble without me!”

Izuku nods, and she bounds away.

And, in his defense, Izuku lasts a whole two minutes without her before he hears a cry for help.

He leaps onto the nearest rooftop, sending a mental apology to Miruko as he does.

It takes Izuku three minutes to find the source of the scream– after that first cry, the person had wailed again, then fallen silent. It only pushes Izuku to search harder.

When he arrives on the scene, it takes all of his willpower to stay on the rooftop instead of diving headfirst into the situation, entirely unprepared. His stop is short enough that it sends a small handful of pebbles scattering down into the alley.

Luckily, none of the criminals seem to notice them. There are four figures dressed in anthropomorphic costumes– a dinosaur, fox, frog, and raccoon respectively. Izuku would suspect that they’re pretending to have mutant Quirks, but he can’t discern any true effort. These costumes could easily have been made by Izuku when he was younger, playing at being a Quirked hero.

Izuku would almost be tempted to laugh, if not for the man lying prone on the ground in a pool of his own blood.

He hides against the shadows of the rooftops and searches for anything that could give him a concrete advantage against these villains. He doesn’t know their Quirks, he doesn’t know what weapons they have, and he is ultimately outnumbered.

Izuku has to take the time to plan out his route, even if it kills him to stand idly by.

The raccoon-themed member of their group nudges the man in the stomach with his foot.

“You think he’ll make it back to the boss?”

“He’d better,” groans Fox. “f*cker took more effort than it was worth.”

“For you, maybe,” Dinosaur snarks. “He had a sh*tty f*ckin’ Quirk and he still landed a hit on you.”

“Do you wanna go?” Fox demands, stomping forward to shove Dinosaur in the chest.

Dino rears her fist back, but Frog forces their way between them.

“Guys, chill the f*ck out,” they snap. “We need to get this bastard to Boss before he bleeds out. We don’t have time to waste on your playground fight.”

Neither Fox nor Dinosaur look particularly chastised, but they appear to set the fight aside. Great news for them, Izuku supposes.

Terrible news for him, especially considering that they’ve given no hint to their Quirks.

They could all be Quirkless, Izuku supposes, but the few Quirkless people he’s met have been few and far between, and have never been so derisive about Quirks, ‘weak’ or not.

From their talk, it sounds like the man had at least put up a fight. If he were awake, Izuku’s chances of success would be much higher– either the man would fight, bringing Izuku’s odds to 4-on-2, or he’d run, causing a distraction that Izuku could use to more slowly pick members off.

But Izuku can’t really blame someone for being unconscious, especially when they’re bleeding out on the alley ground, and so he focuses on the task at hand, squinting as he tries to look for something useful, a hint of a Quirk or a weak spot or anything.

There’s nothing, though. Just the four villains reaching for their target, one pulling out a cloth as another pulls out rope.

Definitely preplanned, then, if they had the materials to tie up a hostage.

How unsettling.

Izuku grimaces, leaning forward without thought.

A pebble falls from the rooftop that he resides on, nudged by his slight movement.

It hits the ground. The four freeze.

sh*t.

“Did you guys hear something?” Frog pipes up, and Fox nods slowly.

“It sounded like it came from over there,” Fox says, pointing to where the pebble fell. “But I don’t see anyone.”

“Wait. What if it came from abo-”

Izuku moves.

Lunging down, Izuku throws himself off of the edge of the roof, spinning into a kick that knocks Frog right in the jaw. The villain grunts as he collides with the floor, still conscious but hopefully dazed, at least. Izuku doesn’t have time to check, already whirling around, slamming himself into Fox, the most lithe of the group, and hopefully therefore the most moveable.

He’s right. Fox stumbles back, enough for him to ricochet into Raccoon, who is unfortunately ready for the blow, catching his fist with a huff and then a chuckle.

And Izuku watches, horrified, as the man’s hand turns to pure flame.

“What?” Raccoon asks, holding tightly onto Izuku’s fist as it heats up more, more, more. “You didn’t actually think my Quirk was Raccoon, did you?”

He didn’t.

He just didn’t think it’d be fire.

Izuku lashes out, kicking with his left leg and pulling his right hand out of the burning hold, cradling the burned limb close, lunging backwards, aware from the villain as he becomes more and more enveloped by his Quirk.

“Ahh, is the little runt scared of some fire?” Raccoon taunts. “Smart. Though you weren’t smart enough to avoid us. Or to keep your eyes open enough to track all of us.”

What?

Izuku glances around, eyes catching onto Fox’s now standing form, Frog as they rub at their jaw, Raccoon’s loose posture even as he burns, a living candle.

But where’s-

Izuku feels a blow to his head, strong and firm. He feels himself collapse just as heavily, feet unsupportive to the sudden weight in his own limbs, heavy and tired and immovable.

His ears are ringing. Or maybe that’s laughter, the villains triumphant.

It’s been years since Izuku was in over his head, years since he was so unaware.

“Frog’s passive Quirk,” Raccoon says, voice smug and cutting through the fog. “Allows him to minimize someone’s awareness. Comes in handy when dealing with little sh*ts like you.”

Oh.

Oh.

“He’s still conscious. Dino, hit him again. We can bring him, too. Boss needs more test subjects, anyway.”

Izuku can barely hear the footsteps behind him, but he certainly feels the second hit to his head.

And perhaps Izuku is just imagining it, but he’s certain that he hears Miruko screaming for him just a block away.

But the world falls dark without sight of his mentor, and Izuku falls into nothingness.