Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The wind was cold and calm. A quiet night that left Shouta on alert. 

Izuku was crouched silently beside him as they eyed the group speaking quietly in an alley below them. Three figures were standing below, hidden in the shadows being cast in the alley.

"Sound barrier quirk." Izuku mutters under his breath, "They're yelling but we can't hear them. They're blocking the noise somehow and I can see a shine for a barrier."

Shouta narrows his eyes to identify the 'shine' and sees it a few feet below them. He unwinds part of his capture weapon and lowers it, grinning when it drops into the barrier, "At least we can get through it."

"There's another one coming." Izuku whispers.

And sure enough another man turns down the mouth of the alley and walks right into the barrier. Shouta glares at the newcomer. The man was an officer under Naomasa, Suzuki Han. Naomasa will be pissed off when Shouta brings the man in. The two heroes on the roof don't wait long before the taller of the two pushes a small button to a pager.

"Take it slow, give it a moment. We don't know the other quirks so be careful." Shouta mutters, earning a stiff nod from his son.

Three fingers drop to two and then one before they fall into the alleyway, a whirl of white and green. The people who’d been in the alley instantly were yelling and trying to retreat. Izuku stalks towards the one that was backing up towards the wrong end of the alleyway. She whips around, hands held in front of her. “Who the fuck are you? Some new ass hero?”

Izuku shrugs with a grin, “Sure.”

He reaches for the blades on his thigh as the woman growls and lunges for him. Blood flies when metal meets skin but that doesn’t slow the lady down when she tries to reach him again. The lightning on his skin lights the alley enough for Shouta to focus on the retreating figures in front of him. His capture scarf darts out and wraps itself around one of their ankles, sending the person face first into the ground. They groan from the ground. Oops, he must've hit his head. Shouta moves on to the last remaining man. Suzuki stands with his gun aimed at Shouta. 

Someone moves to stand behind him. "Other three are out. Police are a few blocks away." Izuku says quietly before changing the volume of his voice, projecting to the man in front of them. "Your coworkers are on their way, Suzuki-san. I'm afraid they won't be your coworkers for much longer though."

The man shakes his head, "I can’t lose my job because of you!"

Shouta scoffs, "A little too late for that, don't you think? Put the damn gun down."

The gun shifts slightly before a blast of pure white shoots out and hits Izuku in the chest. Shouta turns his quirk on instantly but it doesn't stop the light from growing brighter. The three people freeze and watch the light grow and flash on Izuku's chest. Izuku's wide eyes meet Shoutas. The light flickers and expands until it covers him completely. "Dad-!" Izuku's panicked voice cuts off as he disappears and the light goes out.

Shouta stares at the empty space of nothing before slowly turning to the man, "What did you do to him?"

Suzuki has the gun up, it's steadier than it had been. It's almost like he gained confidence when he did that to Izuku. "Sent him away. I told you, I'm not losing my job!"

The same light darts out again just as the sirens turn the corner. Shouta stumbles back with the force of the hit. The light spreads again as Shouta watches Suzuki run back towards the sirens. 

"Oh thank god! Dad!" Shouta is stumbling backwards again when Izuku practically tackles him. 

Even though it had been dark out a few seconds ago, it seems to be dawn already as they stand in the alleyway. Shouta pulls back and looks at Izuku, "Are you okay? Hurt?"

He shakes his head, "No. Do you know what happened? Did he tell you anything?"

Shouta purses his lips, wishing he had information to give. "He did not, and I'm beginning to regret not doing my research on the quirks of officers."

Izuku sighs, "It's fine. We can go check with Naomasa before we go home. Make sure to text Pops, they'll be worried."

Shouta grumbles about being told what to do but slides his phone out from his belt and sends a quick text to Hizashi. 

Cat lover

I'm ok, zash. Me and Izuku are checking with naomasa about something quick.

A second later his phone buzzes. 

Unable to send message. Try again later.

He tsks, and pockets his phone again, "No service. I'll try when we get to the station."

Izuku nods, "How long is the walk?"

"A few blocks probably."

"Race you!" Izuku darts off down the street, green lighting surrounding him.

Shouta grins and throws his scarf out and swings himself after his kid. The light post creaks under his weight but he keeps going, trying to catch up. Izuku flies around the corner and Shouta loses sight of him. He runs around the same corner coming face to face with a barrel of another gun. Great. Izuku is pinned to the ground behind the man, eyes shut and blood coming from his hair. "What the fuck do you want?" Shouta growls.

The man tilts his head and ignores Shouta, "He got a tag?"

Someone tackles Shouta from behind him and pins him. A hand pushes his hair away from his neck. "Nope." The person on him pops her 'p', "Neither of them do. Strays at best, maybe tourers."

"Get off of me." Shouta bucks his body trying to get this woman off his back but is unsuccessful.

The person who had the gun crouches down, "State your name."

"Eraserhead." His voice shakes in anger, "And my buddy there you just knocked out is hero in training, Deku. Get off of us before the police get here."

The man huffs, "Nice alias. You have a quirk?"

"Of course I do. Want to see what it can do?"

The man stands back up, "Knock him out. We're bringing them into AH."

Shouta growls right before something bashes the back of his head and everything goes dark.

<•>

There were people around him talking, voices  seemed to echo as Shouta came out of whatever stupper he'd been in.

"-- deal with him later. Keep the probes on until I'm done here." 

It’s a struggle to gain more awareness and Shouta slowly pulls his eyes open, looking at the blurry shape standing over him. The face seems to fall in focus as the man smiles down at him, "Hello there. Glad to see you awake again."

"Where 'm I?" Shouta tries to turn his head to look around the room but finds a strap digging harshly into his forehead, stopping his head from moving more than a half inch.

"AH. Let me tell you, it truly is a surprise to see you again. Especially considering the last time I saw you, you were dead on my Sensei's table. I would love to hear how you did it. Last I knew, all regeneration quirks were sent to Tartarus."

Fully aware and awake now, Shouta is quickly realizing that he's found himself in deep shit. The man smiles wider, “Come on now. I like hearing stories. Please share with me how years ago you were on a table with a tag, dead, and now you're alive without one. Are you a result of a quirk? I really hope you are, I’d love to track down who made you and scan their quirk.”

”I’m pro hero Eraserhead, and you’ve just made a list to get yourself put into Tartarus. People will come looking for me.” Shouta narrows his eyes the best he can at the man.

”You’ve said that already,” The man leaves his sight but Shouta can hear him moving around behind his head, “A pro hero. Either you’re delusional or you’re something else completely because pro heroes haven’t existed since 2089. That’s quite some time to be confused by.”

”What the hell do you want?” Shouta growls out trying to cover the panic that seems to be settling in his bones.

His head stings from when he was knocked out and he just wants to know what the fuck is happeneing to him. Pro heroes not existing? Tags? AH? 

“To study your quirk. Unfortunately, the old you died too quickly for us to fully understand the extent of your ability but we’ve developed better methods since then and I’m the one assigned to you. AH is very happy, but very confused to see you back with us, Aizawa.”

”AH?”

”Anti-Hero Public Safety Commission. What do you know about the Stance, Aizawa?”

”I don’t know what that is.” Shouta flinches harshly when the man's fingers touch his face right by his eyes. He hates when things go near his eyes.

His finger pry Shouta’s eye open and he watches a metal… something come towards his eye. It doesn’t hurt but it’s uncomfortable when small bars slip under his eyelid and pull them open as far as they can go. The man lets go and Shouta desperately tries to blink. “I think you know more than you’re admitting. I’ll ask again, what do you know about the Stance? Have you worked with Deku before?”

“Deku was the hero in training that was with me when you fucking kidnapped me. I swear to god if you touch him—“

”It’ll do you best to worry about yourself. Deku is not a hero in training as you say. He is the leader of the Stance.”

The fingers come back and pull his other eye open, resorting to the same treatment. His left eye, the one they stuck open first, is starting to burn from air exposure. “Take these things out of my eyes.”

The man ignores him, “I need information on the Stance and you can give it to me. I’ll make this hurt less if you just tell me. It’s okay, we can protect you from Deku.”

Shouta’s vision is starting to go blurry, “I don’t know shit.”

The man sighs, “You did this to yourself. Understand that you are a stepping stone on our way to purity. We thank you for your help.”

A drop of water falls into Shouta’s left eye but his other one is left burning and blurry. He can barely see the scalpel as it is lowered to his eye. He pushes his head back against the table, trying to get out of reach but the blade touches the skin just under his eyes and slices down his face. He hisses in pain but bites his tongue to keep quiet. 

He doesn't scream until the scalpel is touching his eye and cutting deep into the tissue.

• <>•

“—shit. This one’s alive— rooms first then—-“

Shouta groans when he feels rough skin touch his face. “—okay! We’re getting you—-“

“My…kid. ‘E’s ‘ere.” Shouta manages, head pounding too hard to make any clearer words.

”We’ll get him— deep breath—“

Shouta barely feels the straps loosening around him before he’s being pulled off the table and into stiff, hard arms. He blacks out.

• <>•

When Shouta wakes up again it's sudden. One second, there’s darkness and pain around him and then the next his sitting up, staring wide eyed at the man in the room across the bed from him.

Shouta realizes very quickly he can’t see the left half of his vision and the right side is off . He must look murderous because whoever is in front of him steps back quickly, “It’s alright! We aren’t AH, we’re not going to hurt you!”

Shouta freezes when he recognizes the voice, “Iida?”

There's a moment of hesitation, “How do you know my name? Were you mentally aware while you were asleep, sir?” 

Shouta shakes his head, “Where am I? I don’t—“

He cuts himself off. It’s Tensei’s brother in front of him, he’s sure of it. Tenya has a very distinctive way of speaking and even blind Shouta can recognize it. But Tenya doesn’t know who he is, and Shouta does. Something is wrong . He’s beginning to realize this is some sort of alternate reality.

“You’re at one of the headquarters for Stance. I’m not allowed to disclose which one but you are safe here for as long as you wish to remain. If you do have a desire to leave there will be steps taken so you wouldn’t be able to find us again.”

“And my kid? I came here… I came here with a kid.”

”Yes. He’s here as well but until you both are more stabilized you will remain separated.” More hesitation, “I also believe Deku is wishing to speak with you. Are you willing to do that today?”

Shouta's vision is slowly becoming clearer in his right eye, but the left side is as dark as ever. “That’s fine.”

”Wonderful.” Iida, that’s definitely Iida, nods stiffly, “Just give me a moment and I’ll go collect him.”

Shouta must have fallen back asleep because he opened his eyes to meet Izuku’s  eyes right away. He snaps to attention and scans his kid in relief. He looks fine, but he looks off . Shouta reaches forward but pauses at the look Izuku gives him. “So I was right then. He’s me.”

”What?” Shouta winces as his voice cracks.

Izuku passes a small cup of water, never breaking eye contact, “The kid you were with, he’s me. And you really are Aizawa.”

“You’re not Izuku?”

”Not your Izuku, no. But I am Midoriya Izuku, just like he is. I have reason to believe you’re from another reality.”

Shouta sighs, “I had that guess as well.”

Izuku— no Midoriya—leans forward over his knees, “You have a quirk, correct?” Shouta nods. “And so does Izuku?”

Again, Shouta nods. Though, this time MIdoriya furrows his eyebrows, “That’s not possible. If he’s me, then he shouldn’t have a quirk.”

That hits Shouta like a bus. This reality’s Izuku is still quirkless. He’s also still a Midoriya, meaning Shouta and Hizashi weren’t in his life as intensely as they were for their kid. Shouta takes a deep breath, “You’re right. He’s a special case and not one that should be compared. Don’t think too hard about it or it’ll give you a migraine. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience.”

Midoriya nods, “Tell me what happened to you that brought you here.”

”We were out on patrol when we saw a group of shady people in an alley. We got down there and confronted an officer that was down there. He used his quirk on my kid and then me. Suddenly, it was day and then we got jumped.”

”So you really are heroes then?”

”Yes.”

Midoriya wrings his hands, and Shouta notices they are nearly bare of scars so unlike his son. “You also said ‘your kid’ when you talked about Izuku, why?”

“Me and my partner have custody over him. We have for about two years now.” Shouta says calmly, “I have a feeling that’s different from how it is here.”

”It is,” Izuku’s voice is tight, “What happened to Inko?”

Shouta shrugs, “Neglect charges. She dropped custody the second she was questioned about it. Last I heard, she moved out of the country.”

“Mom wouldn’t do that.”

”Maybe not here, kid. But our world seems very different from this one.” Shouta feels bad for the kid, “I would like to see Izuku.”

Midoriya looks up and studies him, “If I bring you, you need to know that we don’t have good healthcare, like at all. Our doctors are mostly volunteers at this point.”

”That’s fine.” Shouta was nervous why he was given this warning. Just how bad of shape is his kid in?

Midoriya stands up and drags over a rusty looking wheelchair, “Climb on in. You’re still not steady enough to walk on your own but I have a feeling that you’ll be an ass if you don’t get to see him.”

Shouta stares at the chair but knows better than to deny it. He slowly stands up and instantly feels dizzy before collapsing into the chair. Midoriya turns the chair and pushes him out of the room. A black haired man is standing outside the door and gives them a wide smile. It takes Shouta a moment to realize this is Kirishima. “Hey man! Good to see you up! You were in rough shape when we picked you up.”

Shouta keeps his mouth shut and nods. The chair is pushed further down the hall, Midoriya and Kirishima now talking quietly from behind him. A door is finally pushed open and Shouta nearly stops breathing when he sees his kid on the bed.

Tubes and wires are attached to nearly every surface of his body. His body , that’s a torso, a head, and a single arm. Stubs fill the other three spots and Shouta can see the red soaking the bandage around the arm closest to him. Shouta chokes back a sob and he lunges out of the chair, his knees crashing into the floor as he reaches desperately for his kid. He lets his hands hover over the kid but he doesn’t let himself touch the spot where he’s missing an arm. He barely registers the other two leaving the room quietly.

What had they gotten themselves into?

<•>

Shouta grunts, taking more of Izuku’s weight as the kid stumbles forward. Izuku’s face is getting paler by the second but he keeps taking slow steps forward.

”You’re doing great!” Iida nods firmly, standing in front of Shouta and Izuku ready to catch Izuku if he falls over, “Just a few more steps until you can sit down.”

Izuku pants, “Easier said than done. It’s nearly to the point where I can’t feel my legs anymore.”

”You got it kid.” Shouta mutters, taking slow steps.

Izuku has been doing physical training to try and get himself back on his feet. The poor kid was going crazy after being bed bound for nearly a year straight. Midoriya hadn’t been wrong when they said their healthcare was shit. Izuku’s legs were completely screwed, at this point they could only hope he’d be able to stand the pain long enough to walk from one room to another.

Stance had enough resources to at least see what shape AH left them both in and while Shouta’s injuries were bad, Izuku was in the worst shape they’d ever recovered someone in. His limbs had been ripped off , leaving the bones and muscles shattered and uneven. There’s nothing they can do to help even out the bones in his legs which makes the pain shoot tenfold when he tries putting prosthetics on and walking. It also doesn’t help that the prosthetics themselves are pieces of metal barely welded together.

Izuku wastes no time on collapsing into the chair at the end of the training path he had to take. Iida reaches down immediately and unclips both prosthetics. Shouta crouches in front of Izuku, “How’s your arm?”

Izuku meets his eyes, “Sore but I can handle it for longer. Goddamn, if I could go the rest of my life without having to do this again, I would die happy.”

Shouta pats the kids shoulder with a chuckle, “And two weeks ago you were begging to get up and move.”

Izuku whines and leans into the hand on his shoulder, “I didn't know it would hurt this bad.”

”I know,” Shouta softens his voice, “But you’ll get through it and we’ll get you more help when we get back home, okay?”

Izuku nods stiffly before turning his gaze to Iida who is now putting the legs away in a small cabinet, “Thank you for taking them off.”

The kid pushes his glasses up with a small smile, “It’s no issue! Now if you’ll excuse me, one of the long term nurses is coming back today and I still have to finish some reports for her.”

With that, he walks out of the room leaving Shouta and Izuku alone. Izuku stays sitting in the wheelchair, trying to get his breathing under control as Shouta rubs his shoulder. The adjustment process from the past year was absolute hell to deal with. Shouta was still trying to get his quirk to click fully into place. He’d been thrilled to find out that, yes, his quirk would still work despite not being able to see out of his left eye. The scars that cover his eye were thick and painful on bad days but were bearable. His right eye was completely better, he could finally see clearly from it. He’d had dry damage to it from having his eye pried open for so long. He’s lucky it didn’t go blind.

”Okay,” Shouta nearly jumps when Izuku speaks, “I’m alright now. We can go back to the room. I know you still have a ton of work to finish.”

Shouta groans, “Don’t remind me. I never thought I’d say this, but I miss filling out your stupid incident reports. At least those were easy enough.”

Izuku just grins, “We’ll have an extra long one to fill out once we get back. So look forward to that.”

Shouta stands up from his crouch, grimacing at the pops his knees make, “I take back what I said. Maybe I’ll just hand it off to you.”

Izuku makes a face. Shouta chuckles and starts pushing the chair towards the hallway. It’s not a far walk to their room thankfully, Shouta’s sure Midoriya did that on purpose to make it easier for Izuku to get around. 

Izuku starts muttering about god knows what and Shouta just shakes his head with a small smile. Shouta just wants to get back to the room so he can get the reports done. He’s been filing missing reports for people with quirks, one that are from the Stance and are probably dead in one of AH’s pits. It’s a lot of digging and looking into things he doesn’t know about. It’s easy enough, but it consumes too much of his time.

Shouta watches Izuku go stiff right before they round a corner and he freezes, “What’s wrong?”

Izuku looks pale again and Shouta forces himself to take a breath. The kid had fought off a heavy infection two months ago and had nearly died from it. If he had worked himself too hard and is getting sick again— 

“That’s my mom.”

Oh.

Oh .

”Where?” Shouta asks calmly.

”Around the corner.” Izuku whispers, “Midoriya said she was good here, right?”

“He did, but kid,” Shouta pulls the chair backwards and steps forward, “You don’t have to see her.”

Izuku swallows, “N-no, it’s fine. It’s okay, just give me a moment.”

Shouta hesitates. While he knows Inko never actually hurt Izuku, she left him alone far too often as a kid, left his injuries to heal on their own, and simply forgot about him. He supposes that him being quirkless there is different than here, at least here it’s a good thing.

“Are you a thousand percent sure?”

Izuku looks up with a small smile, “Yes.”

Shouta sighs and starts pushing the chair forward and around the corner. Sure enough, Inko is standing next to Midoriya outside of one of the rooms. They both look up when they start walking towards them. It’s hard to read the look on Inko’s face but Midoriya smiles, “Hey guys, how’re you both doing?”

Shouta shrugs, “As well as we can be.”

If Midoriya is fazed by the short answer, he doesn’t show it. He turns and reaches an arm out to Inko, “I know you know who she is, but this is my mom. Mom, these are the people from the alternate reality.”

”I know you said that he was you, by my, it’s odd to see it in person.” Inko says softly.

Shouta blinks. He’s talked to Inko before in their own world and she was never soft. She was constantly slurring words and had a harsh edge to everything she said. This Inko seemed like the kind of mother that was kind and understanding.

Izuku seems to also see the difference as his shoulders sag, “It’s nice to meet you ma’am.”

”Oh none of that!” Inko laughs, “I know I’m not your mother but I am still your mother.”

Midoriya rests a hand on her shoulder, “Actually, Izuku is in custody of Aizawa and his husband where they’re from.” 

“Oh,” Inko blinks, “Am I dead?”

Midoriya turns bright red at the bluntness, “Mom! You can’t just say stuff like that!”

But even then, Izuku smiles, “No, you’re not. You gave up custody about three years ago. You… couldn’t keep up with everything going on.”

“Everything going on… that’s no excuse. I mean, look at us here. I’m sure there’s not more going on there than there is here and I’m still here.”

“I was quirkless growing up and unlike here, it’s very looked down upon. We both got a lot of hate from people.” Izuku speaks softly, reaching his arm in front of him almost like he was going to start wringing his hands together before realizing he didn’t have another hand to do it with. 

Inko looks at him sadly, “While I don’t know everything, I will apologize for my actions. And yes, before you say anything Izuku, I know it wasn’t me who did it. But it was still a version of me and I can’t imagine ever hurting you like she did to him.”

Midoriya glances down after the slight scolding from his mother. Inko clears her throat, “Now beyond that horrid topic, it really is amazing to meet the both of you! I’m hoping I can help try to get some of your mobility back, Midoriya-kun. I know Iida is good at what he does but I just have to have more experience.”

”You can call me Yamada if it’s easier.” Izuku says, “Or Aizawa, but I’m not sure if he’ll be going by his family name as well and that can get pretty confusing.”

Izuku looks back at Shouta behind him. Shouta shrugs. He doesn’t have a preference on what name to go by. He’s been called so many nicknames by all his friends in the past that he just answers to anything that sort of resembles him.

”Doesn’t matter to me, problem child.”

Inko smiles and Midoriya nods, “We’ll let you two keep going wherever you are heading to. See you later.” 

Shouta returns the nod and keeps walking forward, pushing the wheelchair. “She’s so different here. She seems happy.”

Not happier because their world's Inko was never happy.

“I’m sorry you missed out on having her as your parent, kid.” As much as Shouta knows Izuku is completely happy under his and Hizashi’s custody, he knows that if Inko had been good , he would have had a good life. The kid missed out on having a good mother figure and Shouta can’t hope but think about how different it would’ve been.

Izuku reaches back and places his hand on Shouta’s, “It’s okay. I’m happy with how things are. Sure, it would’ve been nice to have her in my life, but I couldn’t lose any of you guys.” 

“I’m happy with it too.” Shouta whispers.

They both ignore the thought lingering in the back of their minds, about their family in another world.

<•>  

Shouta was getting horrible Deja vu right now.

Izuku was running, running , beside him down the street as people chased them from behind. It was the middle of the night and Shouta and Izuku were tasked with trying to get information about where one of the Stance members was being kept inside the AH. 

Stance often took advantage of their hero training to do stealth missions and gain access into certain places. Shouta was currently working on a training course to help a lot of them learn proper combat and how to use their quirks. But that last part was Izuku’s specialty. His main job through stance was to develop plans for how members could use their quirks efficiently. Maybe two of the thousand members had ever practiced using their quirks. It was an uphill battle trying to teach them.

But now they had patrollers chasing them after they spotted the smallest glint of green from Izuku’s quirk.

”Fuck,” Izuku pants, “If that one guy wouldn’t have turned around when he did we wouldn’t be doing this! Goddamn it!”

Shouta resists the laugh that creeps up his throat, “Maybe this’ll teach you to not resort to using your quirk everytime you need to do something.”

”Gah!” Izuku screams in frustration as they jump up onto a fire escape. 

It’s times like this that Shouta mourns the loss of his capture scarf, especially being unable to make a new one properly. Izuku has tried for him but has had zero luck making it work the same way. Shouta continues climbing up until he swings over onto the roof. Izuku nods his head to the left silently and they take off onto the next roof. After that, it was easy to get away from the patrollers. 

They both walk once they back down the street and Izuku groans, “Oh I haven’t ran like that in weeks. My legs are going to kill me later.”

“Ice them and just hope you can get some sleep.” He ruffles Izuku’s hair.

The kid, if he can even call him that anymore, is well an adult now. A year and half ago, they weren’t sure if he'd be able to walk down a hall without collapsing but now the kid is pushing himself to run a mile straight. And while it's not good for him, he’s able to do it.

Izuku snorts, “Fat chance. I’ll just look more into Suzuki. Who knows, maybe my sleep represented brain will find a lead.”

”I’ve seen you do some impressive things while sleep deprived,” Shouta grins, “But even that seems unlikely.”

Izuku shrugs, “I guess we’ll see. My last rabbit hole was pretty close. I found a few similar quirks but then again the all ended up being listed as dead or out in like Paris—“

”Shut up.” Shouta grabs his collar and drags him into the alley right beside them.

There were voices laughing loudly from further down the street. They sounded drunk and a little too happy to be out at this time. 

Izuku glances around the corner then takes a step back further into the alley, “There’s five of them. They look college aged and are most definitely wasted. Just give it a moment for them to pass, if we keep quiet and out of sight they shouldn’t—“

“Shouldn’t what, darling?” A voice coos from behind Shouta.

He whips around as freezes when he see a fucking knife being held against Izuku’s throat. His heart pounds in his chest as he takes his hands out of his pockets and leaves them out in the open.

”I don’t think you understand how long I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you, Deku. You have a mighty bounty on your head.” The man behind Izuku leans down and puts his cheek against his.

Izuku flinches but tries to stay as still as he can. Shouta would praise him for knowing to keep quiet, “He’s not Deku.”

The man looks over lazily, “Are we looking at the same person? Last I checked, this was him. Kinda hard to misplace the green haired quirkless man.”

”He’s right,” Izuku says hesitantly, “I’m not Deku. I would never work with him.”

The man snarls and jostles the kid, the blade leaving a red line, “Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not stupid!”

”No, you aren’t.” Shouta says slowly, “We never said that. We know that he looks like Deku. But this is Shinsou Hitoshi, not Deku.”

“I don’t know who Shinsou is.”

”Exactly, he’s just a no name. Just let us go on our way and nobody will know about this, okay?” Shouta doesn’t even need to fake the shakiness of his voice.

The man’s hand had started to sag with his uncertainty but the second Izuku shifts, it goes rigid again, “They want him dead, you think I’ll just let him walk away? Hell no!”

Shouta sees it coming, and Izuku does too if the way his eyes widen is anything to go on. Izuku prosthetic moves quickly, catching half the knife before it swipes across his neck. Even then, blood drips down his neck. Shouta shoves the man away and quickly has him pinned. The man swipes with the knife even as Shouta pins his hands against his back. Shouta wrestles for the knife and jabs the end into his temple. The man goes limp and Shouta whips around.

Izuku is crouched uncomfortably over his knees, grasping his neck. “Kid?!”

Shouta slides to a stop next to him and moves to put his hand where Izuku’s is, “Let me see. God, Izuku, look up.”

He tilts his chin up, tears gathering rapidly. Shouta barely moves his hand to see the depth of the cut and thank god it’s shallow. But it’s still bleeding too much to not get help. “Get up, we need to get you back.”

“I’m okay. It just stings.” Izuku mutters, allowing himself to be pulled to his feet.

”You’re not fine, and we’re getting you help.” Shouta helps him out of the alley and starts walking back the way they had been going in the first place, “You can’t just do that to me.”

Izuku smiles sadly, “At least I still have good reflexes. My hand took the brunt of it.”

”Still.” Shouta huffs, “I’m glad you didn’t die on me.”

”You and me both, Dad.”

• <>•

Shouta didn’t know what he was doing. God, if Hizashi saw him right now he’d be so disappointed.

He couldn’t get the sight of the knife cutting into Izuku’s throat out of his mind. He kept imagining what would’ve happened if his hand had been even a second slower. If the guy decided that stabbing him would’ve been easier. Shouta can’t wrap his head around just how quickly he almost lost the one thing he had left.

He’s sitting at the table, waiting for Izuku to come back to the infirmary. He’d had to stay overnight but was being released this morning. Shouta didn’t sleep. Instead he relished in the pleasant buzz that lingered in the back of his mind as he slowly drank the whiskey in front of him. He hadn’t done this since he was in high school, and god it felt good.

But it didn’t.

Shouta had known he was doing the wrong thing when he grabbed that stupid bottle off the cart downstairs, but he’d done it anyway. Even just to take the edge off. He’d worked himself up too much when they got but it started to disappear once he had a glass or two.

There’s knocking at the door before it slides open. “Dad? Inko told me you came back here last night to take a breather.”

Shouta hums just loudly enough for the kid to hear. Izuku comes around the corner with a smile but he pauses when he sees the glass that Shouta has in his hands. “What the hell are you doing?”

Shouta looks up, “Having a drink. It’s fine.”

Izuku storms forward, snatching the glass from him and grabbing the bottle as well. Shouta growls and reaches for it but Izuku holds it out of range. “Are you fucking crazy ? Please tell me this is some mental breakdown and this wasn’t your own choice. You know how stupid this was!”

”It was just a drink, Izuku.” Shouta sits back down heavily, “Maybe two if you’ll let me finish that.”

”It wasn’t just a drink or two.” Izuku strides into the kitchen and Shouta mourns the loss as he hears it go down the drain, “You nearly finished the bottle. You are in recovery! What the hell were you thinking?”

“I needed to do something and that was what I chose to do—“

”So you did choose it then. Are you trying to kill yourself? Is that what this is? I get hurt once on a patrol and you go batshit crazy? Think about what Pops would say about this.”

”They—“

” Think ! God, for once think.”

Izuku is standing in front of him shaking and Shouta sighs, “Hizashi isn’t here right now, are they? I don’t think they get a proper opinion.”

Izuku laughs harshly, devoid of amusement, “What the fuck. I’m putting you on house arrest. I’ll tell everyone to keep all the booze away from you. If you can’t take care of yourself, don’t bother trying with me. I can handle my own damn self.”

Izuku leaves again, slamming the door behind him. Shouta stays sitting at the table before heaving out a heavy sigh and laying his forehead on the table.

<•>

Shouta was about ready to just fall over and bury himself. 

For months, they’d been chasing lead after lead on Suzuki, only to come up empty handed. He was getting sick of it. They were finally back in the Stance headquarters, though not in the sanctuary of their room as Izuku insisted on going to the main room so Shouta could socialize more. Shouta says screw that.

He’s currently sprawled out on a couch down there, listening to the constant movement of the people around him. He had his eyes closed but made a point to stay awake, if only to listen in on Izuku’s findings. Izuku was at a table with Kirishima, Iida, and Midoriya. The four of them all working on seperate projects, all having different roles. Izuku was still searching quirk sites, Kirishima was working on schedules for patrols, Iida was filling out incident reports for the many daily injuries, and Midoriya was doing god knows what. 

The main room was surprisingly quiet for it being the middle of the day but it was still too busy for Shouta to properly enjoy himself. But, he was content laying where he was if it meant he wasn’t frying his brain trying to understand both Izuku’s mumbling. 

Shouta was almost dozing off when he felt someone come sit right in front of the couch. He opens his good eye and sees Izuku sitting right by his chest, staring away from him, “Kid?”

”I think One for All is gone.” Izuku whispers, not looking back.

Shouta pushes himself to his elbows, “What?”

“I’ve been feeling off all day. Then my head went quiet, which is weird because it wasn’t ever loud . But I guess it was because… I can’t talk to the vestiges and my quirk won’t turn on.”

Shouta furrows his eyebrows, “Did you pass it on?”

Izuku shakes his head. “Did Yagi have left enough to pass it down again?”

”He wouldn’t now. He barely had the last dregs before we left. It’s not possible to pass it down twice.” Izuku pauses, “What if something happened to him?”

Shouta reaches out a hand and runs it through his hair. Yagi would be about fifty two at this point. Definitely past retirement age, but not old enough to die from old age. The only thing Shouta can think of is if his injuries finally caught up to him. “It’s possible. We have no idea what’s happening there. We can hold out hopes that this is just temporary and some odd blip—“

”It’s not. I don’t know how I know but I do. I think it’s actually gone.” Izuku curls up on himself. 

“Well hold on a moment, what else could you do to check?” Shouta frowns.

Shouta waits patiently for the kid to answer. “My quirk factor I guess. There’s nothing else. If I can’t turn it on and the vestiges are gone, there’s nothing else.”

Shouta doesn’t hesitate before turning his quirk on and searching for the quirk factor. He finds it empty, just like a lot of the people’s factors here. One for All really is gone. Shouta blinks and sends his hand further down to grab onto Izuku’s hand. “We’ll get through this.”

<•>

This was hell. Somehow Shouta had found hell.

It was supposed to be an easy raid. Get into AH, grab a few people, and get out. Easy. 

Shouta was sprinting down the hall, ducking under the bullets and arrows flying at him. He rounds the corner, slamming into the wall slowing him down. He pushes forward, gasping for breath. Kaminari peeks out of one of the doors just before Shouta passes and the man grabs his collar pushing him into a run, “An alarm was tripped. We need to get out of here, now.”

Kaminari glances back in panic and swears under his breath in English. The two keep running until Shouta shoves him to the left through one of the stairs doors, “Go up! Go, go, go.”

How this had gone so bad so fast was beyond him. He’d found one of the research rooms and had been snooping through the quirk servers from testing trying to download everyone from Stance who had been there before an army of guards ran into the room and had chased him out. 

Kaminari pulled a radio out of his belt and held it up as he took the stairs three at a time, “Do you copy? Do you copy? This is Sparks and Goner! We have an army of guards chasing us and we need an out! Over.”

the radio cracks a few times before a voice Shouta doesn’t recognize speaks, “Copy. What’s your 20?”

”Uh, East B stairs! About sixteenth floor and ascending.” Kaminari looks over at Shouta for confirmation.

”Ten six.”

Kaminari gasps heavily, “How many floors are there?!”

“Twenty two.” Shouta replies.

Shouta keeps eyeing the radio, making sure Kaminari doesn’t press the off button in his haste before the voice comes back, “Go up to the roof. Jump the building and there's an escort. Over.”

”Roger.” Kaminari clicks it off and slides it back into the belt. “How much do you wanna bet the jump is nearly impossible?”

Shouta would be chuckling if he wasn’t so concerned about the footsteps behind them getting closer. The door a floor up says roof access next to it and Shouta bounds up faster and pushes the door open and shoves it shut right behind Kaminari, “Find the escort!”

Shouta grabs the pipe he’d taken to carrying on his belt for situations like this, or fights, and sticks it through the handle. It won’t stop them from getting through but it’ll slow them down just enough to give them time to jump across the alley.

”Over here!” Kaminari waves from the left side of the roof and points down. 

Shouta runs up and looks over the edge of the roof. About five feet down and about eight feet out. Shouta rolls a shoulder and jogs backwards. He takes a deep breath before sprinting forward and jumping off the edge. He’s always loved roof jumping, he has ever since he was a kid. His feet hit the ground and he tucks and rolls onto his shoulder. He bounces back to his feet and stares up at Kaminari. He nods stiffly and waves for him to come too. Kaminari disappears from sight before he’s flying through the air. He doesn’t land as smoothly but he also doesn’t break anything.

”Holy shit. I think that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever done.” Kaminari bends over and puts his hands on his knees as he gasps for breath. 

“We’re not done yet, come on.” Shouta jogs over to where someone is standing.

He recognizes them but can’t put a name to face. The man nods, “Ready? Try to stay as still as you can until you’re on the ground. Then run as far as you can to get yourselves together.”

Shouta and Kaminari nod just as wind sweeps up from underneath them and carries them over the edge. Kaminari screeches but quickly clamps a hand over his mouth. The ground rushes up quickly and they touch the ground shortly after going over the ledge. The second that they do, Shouta forces himself to bolt forward and away from the flashing building. He pauses a few buildings down and waits for Kaminari to come up beside him. The kid is pale and is clutching the radio again. “We’re so fucked.”

Shouta raised an eyebrow and was about to say ‘no shit’ before Kaminari gasped something else out, “They just killed Deku.”

<•>

The room was silent beside the clicking on Izuku doing something on the laptop. Shouta was currently trying to fall asleep on the couch, attempting to make up for the week of lost sleep. The past week has been absolute chaos trying to keep the Stance alive and up without Midoriya to run everything. Shouta has been doubling his patrols and surveillance trying to help cover their asses. Luckily, Izuku has been able to cover a lot of the behind the scenes things.

"-- just said he wouldn't. The fuck is he doing ? Maybe if he thought before posting he wouldn't get targeted like this!" Izukus endless muttering has gotten loud enough where Shouta can't tune it out anymore. 

He huffs and turns his head to look at his kid, "What the hell are you doing?"

Izuku's head snaps up, "Stalking quirk sites."

"How do you have access to them?" Shouta props himself on his elbows and narrows his eyes as Izuku's fingers start typing at a slower rate, "You went and saw Brava again, didn't you?"

Izuku purses his lips and looks back down at his screen, "You told me not to."

"So why did you?" Shouta hissed.

There was a very good reason that Shouta had warned not to get involved with Brava. The lady had a history with AH, and it wasn't one he wanted Izuku dragged into. 

Izuku huffs and stops typing, “I needed to look more into Suzuki. Every trail we've followed has gone cold and it makes no sense. He has to be registered somewhere. It only makes sense with his quirk that he exists in every reality. The fact that he seems to not exist here, it just isn't right. We're missing something and she can help me find it.”

Shouta raises an eyebrow, tugging at the scars marring the other side of his face, “Explain what she can do that you can't do yourself. You know I told you not to go to her because—”

“—Because she has the AH watching her.” Izuku grumbles, “Yeah, yeah. They're already watching us, so I don’t think it's that big of a deal.”

“Not as closely as they’re watching her.”

They both stare at each other for a moment before Izuku shakes his head, “Look I get it, okay? But… but you have to get that I'm not school aged anymore. I can handle myself in a fight—”

“It's not about that.” Shouta rolls off the couch with a groan before walking over to the table that is occupied with all of Izuku's notes. He pulls out the chair next to Izuku and leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “I know you’re better than you were, but you're still my kid. I’m not going to let you do dumb shit just because you want to get back. Trust me, I want to get back just as much as you do. I know the situation we’re in and I understand we need to get out of here as quickly as possible. Just don’t use Brava. Rumors have been floating around about her ever since we got here and according to them she’s awfully similar to the one where we’re from. You know this, and I want you to understand how dangerous it is to work with her.”

Izuku slumps back in his seat before turning his laptop towards Shouta, “As often as you say I am, I’m not stupid. I’ve been covering my own ass, even against her. I know the stuff she’s done, here and there. Brava cannot be trusted with your identity or anything about you or she will send it to AH. But a lot of people do that and she is the only one who is willing to hand it over at a reasonable price. I’m scoring a deal with her to look into a quirk and personality description.”

Shouta reaches for the laptop and brings it closer squinting at the encoded text on the screen. Sure enough, Izuku was using an anonymous system. “What kind of deal?”

Izuku grins, “Analysis. I’m searching for a few people and figuring out what she can do to ruin them the quickest. It’s not a moral deal at all but it works for me and it's quick.”

Izuku cuts off shortly, almost like he had something else to say but decided against it. Shouta wouldn't put it past him. “Spill.”

”That’s everything.” Izuku spins the laptop back around and continues typing.

”Try that lie again, ‘cause it was shit.” Shouta leans back in his chair with his arms crossed.

Izuku grimaces and refuses to look over, “She wants it delivered in person.”

“Cancel it. You are not meeting her in person.”

“It will help the Stance.” Izuku says slowly, “She has to know Midoriya was killed. She has to. If I show up and make sure my prosthetics are all covered then she’ll think he survived it. Midoriya was brought back here before he actually died, sure he looked dead already but his heart stopped here. She’ll think I’m him and she’ll spread information that the Stance is still up.”

Shouta looks down at his lap. There’s definitely holes in there. Brava could see right through the lie, Izuku wasn’t ever good at it. She’d have him targeted right after that meeting. But at the same time… if she has true and good information, they’d be out of here as soon as they can track down Suzuki. It’s a risk, but then again so is everything here. “When would you go?”

Izuku looks up quickly, eyes wide in surprise, “Tomorrow. As long as we both say we have good info, she’ll meet me about a half hour from here. Deserter part of town, so safer than Main Street.”

”When did you make this deal?”

”Three days ago.”

”It’s a quick turn around. Are you sure she’ll have information about Suzuki?”

”If he’s in Japan or America, then yes. If he’s not, then no. But I have a feeling he’d stick around to the same area.”

”Okay.”

”Okay?”

Shouta nods, “You have a plan, and that’s enough for me in this situation. You also understand just how wrong this can go in the blink of an eye. I trust you.”

Izuku’s eyes well up with tears, “That’s like the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Shouta scoffs and stands up, “Whatever, brat. Get yourself ready for tomorrow.”

• <>•

Shouta waits impatiently at the table, staring at the door. The sun has long since stopped shining on the door and the room is getting colder. Shouta fingers spin a knife on the table in steady circles. He’s eyeing the clock hoping that Izuku walks through the door soon. It’d already been two hours once he left to meet Brava and Shouta was nervous that he’d have to go dig his kid out of the gutters.

Footsteps echo through the hallway, the person running quickly. They stop suddenly and a hurried knocking pounds the door before it’s swung open. Izuku stands there grinning and holding a small USB drive in his hand. “I think she found him! She says she had to dig, which is a good sign because we did too. If she had told me it was easy to find him I wouldn’t be so confident that she found him, but… this is a really good sign.”

He darts over to the table and crashes down into the seat across from Shouta. The laptop that was laid out was pulled open as he got to work. Shouta abandons the knife and stands up. He pushes the door shut that Izuku had forgotten to close in his haste. “What did she have to say about you being, well you?”

Izuku barely looks up, “She was surprised at the start. I think she believed it though, even if not I don’t think we have to worry about it. She liked what I found for her.”

”That’s good. Did you run into any of the patrols—“

”Yes! Holy shit, yes! She found him! Suzuki Han’s quirk is listed as Reality Rush. No wonder I couldn’t find him, he looks different. More meek and plain.” Izuku tugs the screen closer to read the words laid out in front of him more closely, “He lives about an hour from us, so I was right about him still living here. Has a typical life, a covered quirk and an undercover job. He’s a bartender at a local bar.”

Shouta’s heart pounds at the thought of going back home, “If we gather a few strong arms we could get him tomorrow.”

Izuku smiles widely, “If we hurried we could get him tonight. He’s on shift.”

Shouta smiles right back, “Grab your laptop, let’s go find Kirishima.”

Izuku slams the screen down and jumps up. The two leave their room quickly and rush down the stairs. Shouta steadies his breath once they reach the main floor and scans the room for Kirishima. The man usually occupies one of the tables here with someone else. Today that someone else happens to be another person with a strength quirk. Izuku rushes over first and puts his hands on the table looking between the two people. “What are you two doing tonight?”

Kirishima raises his eyebrows, “Nothing? Why?”

Izuku opens the laptop back up and turns the screen to them, “Because we just found the man who sent us here and can send us back. We need help bringing him back here since we’re not suited for it.”

The girl, Shouta really should know her name by this point, leans forward, “Where is he? I thought you searched everywhere for him and hit multiple different walls.”

Shouta finds himself nodding, “We did but we used an outside source and they helped out a lot. He’s at a bar an hour away. It'd be an easy in and out from the sounds of it. He seems less confident in himself than the one we originally knew. At least according to our informant.”

Kirishima and the girl look at each other before Kirishima shrugs, “I’m down.”

”So am I. When do we leave?” The girl smiles and stretches over the back of her chair.

”As soon as you're ready. We don’t need anything if he’s able to send us back.” Izuku looks back at Shouta with a shine in his eyes that Shouta hasn’t seen in years, “We’re ready. There’s a warehouse about a mile from the bar that we can bring him to so we don’t have to haul him all the way here.”

”Let me go change quickly. Kiri, can you grab a few bags?” The girl stands up and starts walking towards the halls.

Kirishima gives her a thumbs up right before she goes out of sight. He looks at Shouta and Izuku and huffs out a laugh, “Man, I’m so happy for you guys if this actually works out.”

Izuku slips into the seat the girl had just abandoned and nods at Kirishima, “Me too, now go grab the bags!” 

“Right!” The man darts off, down the halls on the other side of the main floor.

Shouta sits on the table and looks over at Izuku. The kid is rubbing harshly on his thighs right above where the prosthetics lay. “Are you okay?”

Izuku stops rubbing and goes red in the face, “Y-yeah. I’ve just done a lot of walking already. I’ll be fine to make it there though. Just might be a bit slower than usual.”

”It’s impractical to push yourself so hard when it’s unnecessary. We can bring him back here and you can stay—”

”No!” Izuku sits up from his slumped position, “I’m okay! Really! Just let me come with you, please. I need to do this myself.”

”If you fuck up your legs beacuse you pushed yourself—“

”I’ll deal with that later. I’ve done this before on worse days. I need to know if there's a chance we’ll be sent back.”

Shouta sighs, “Alright, but you're staying at the warehouse. You won’t go to the bar, it’ll do you no good if you're too hurt to help get him.”

Izuku looks irritated but he at least realizes this is the most he’ll get out of Shouta. He nods and rolls his shoulders, “Deal.”

• <>•

The walk talks longer than an hour. 

It was bound to happen having Kirishima and Izuku along. Kirishima seems to be unable to multitask while walking and talking, and damn does he talk a lot. Izuku limps along chatting quietly with the other two. Shouta trails behind them with his hands stuffed in his pockets and hood pulled low. The streets are busier than they usually are, more obstacles to add into their trip.

By the time they reach the warehouse that, true to Izuku’s word, was only about a lie from the bar that Suzuki is working at. Izuku stays behind with a small smile and a whisper of luck. Shouta forces his feet to keep moving. He knows better than to get his hopes up, but he can’t stop his heart from racing at the thought of seeing Hizashi again. This is what they’ve been working towards since they got here and it seems too good to be true. Too easy to find him.

Shouta is the first one who pushes the door open to the bar. Despite the streets being busy, the bar is nearly deserted. There’s a few men there who are either laying out on tables or playing a loud game of pool. The girl that came with them walks up to the man behind the bar, “Hey there, darling. Can I bother you for a whiskey?”

The man turns to look at her and Shouta blows out a breath. “It’s him.”

Kirishima and the girl waste no time jumping the counter and tugging Suzuki across it. Kirishima pulls him to his chest and whispers in his ear, “Look man, we’re not gonna hurt you, we just need some information. Come quietly and quickly and you’ll be back before your shift is done, got it?”

Suzuki nods frantically and Shouta stares. This was not at all the man who had sent them here so many years ago. Suzuki Han from their reality was an egotistical man who thought very highly of himself. He would’ve gotten away from Kirishima by now despite the strength the back haired man has. This Suzuki looks like he’s going to burst into tears.

The trip back to the warehouse was surprisingly easy and quick. Suzuki didn’t fight back at all and allowed them to bring him into the dark warehouse and sit him down on a crate. Izuku was already taking a seat across from him and narrowing his eyes at the man. 

“Suzuki-San, right?” Izuku asks calmly.

Suzuki looks between the four people around him with wide eyes, “Y-yes. Why am I here?”

”We told you,” Shouta mutters, also taking a seat on a crate, “We need information and you're the only one who has it.”

”I don’t know anything! About anything! I swear you have the wrong person—“

”We don’t.” Izuku shakes his head, “Tell me about your quirk, Suzuki-san. That’s all we need to know about you.”

For now.

Izuku’s words cause Suzuki to go still before he speaks very calmly and slowly, “I don’t have a quirk. You can check my registration and my joint. You have the wrong person.”

”Registration is faked by everyone, as is the toe joint. Look, Reality Rush fucked us over and we need to know how to reverse it’s effects.” Izuku sighs, “An alternate you sent us here eight years ago and we need to get back to our reality. So if you’d please tell us what you know about it, that would be a great help.”

Suzuki blinks in surprise, “If you already know my… why am I here?”

”To send us back.” Shouta sighs, “You can play stupid all you’d like but it’s not going to help you in the long run.”

Suzuki meets Shouta’s eyes and looks away quickly, “I don’t know how to direct things. I know where I would need to send you but I’ve never tried to direct it. Chances are you’d end up somewhere random.”

”What do you mean you know where we would need to go?” Izuku leans forward.

”Everyone has a number except me. Yours are different from everyone else’s. My guess is that's your reality.”

Izuku looks over at Shout and they stare at each other for a second before Izuku speaks quietly, “Let’s weigh options then. Best case, we’re sent back home. Worst case, we’re sent somewhere else. We know how to find him now and we have the resources to make it through almost anything. I think we should go for it.”

Shouta nods and looks at Suzuki, “Would you try to send us to our reality? I know you said you haven’t tried before, but would you be willing to now?”

The man nods, “Yes. Nobody deserves to be stuck away from home like that. Nobody.”

“So that’s it then. He can try to send you back and hopefully you’ll get where you need to be.” Kirishima smiles, “I’d try if I were you.”

“We’d get to see them again.” Izuku says quietly.

Shouta smiles, “You don’t have to convince me, I was ready to try the second he said he can send people places.”

Izuku grins back, “Then let’s do it. Are you alright with trying right now, Suzuki-san?”

Suzuki nods. Kirishima sniffs loudly, “I’m so happy for you guys, honestly. But damn am I gonna miss you.”

Izuku pushes himself to his feet and wraps his arms around Kirishima, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. Please pass that along.”

Izuku pulls away and repeats the motion with the girl, “Thank you, Pheebs.”

Shouta makes a mental note of the girl's name and pauses a moment later realizing it won’t matter after a few minutes. “Ready kid?”

Izuku steps away from Phoebe, wiping at his eyes, “Give me a moment.” 

Shouta turns to Suzuki, “Do me first, try to focus on the number that we have. Zone in on that number and that number only, it might help direct.”

The man stands up with a firm nod and reaches out a hand. His fingertips barely brush Shouta’s shirt before a white light spreads slowly. Suzuki keeps muttering what Shouta is guessing is his reality number. Shouta closes his eyes and feels a tug before he opens them again and blinks at the still empty warehouse, this time without people around him. 

His shoulders sag in relief that at least he’s not still there. Suzuki’s quirk worked. He slowly sits down on a crate and waits. He doesn’t have to wait long before a small dot of light appears and erupts suddenly into the shape of a man and Izuku stumbles forward. Izuku’s head snaps up and he smiles when he sees Shouta. “Well it worked! That’s a great sign. Now all we have to do is go find Tsukauchi and hope that we’re in the right place.”

Izuku moves to take a step towards the door and Shouta sees it coming as he lunges forward to catch Izuku as he stumbles. The kid blinks before grimacing, “Well shit. My leg is going numb.”

Shouta sighs and slings Izuku’s arm up and around his shoulder, carrying a lot of his weight, “This is what you get for overworking it today. I told you to let it rest.”

Izuku, wisely, keeps his mouth shut as his cheeks reden in embarrassment. He knows that he should have taken Shouta’s advice more seriously. “Alright, let’s get out of here. It’s a decent walk and you’re going to slow it down. Let’s hope we’re there before it gets too late.”

• <>•

Shouta grunts as he pushes the door to the station open awkwardly. Izuku reaches forward to help push it but Shouta swats his hand away. He instantly dumps the kid into one of the seats in the lobby and Izuku sighs in relief, happy to be off his feet. Shouta drags himself up to the lady at the desk, “Hello, is there a Detective Tsukauchi that works here?”

The lady, her name plate says Fumiha Kaina, nods, “Would you like me to get him for you?”

”That would be great. Tell him Aizawa Shouta is here.”

Fumiha nods again and walks off around the corner. Shouta sighs and goes to sit next to Izuku. “How’re you doing?”

Izuku forces deep breaths, “Sore, like really really sore. I’ll be alright. I just need to take these off soon or I’ll damage the muscles.”

”Hopefully as soon as Tsukauchi sees us you can take them off and we’ll alter a few things. Are those the ones you got a few months ago?”

Izuku nods, “Yup. I’ve been good with these ones but they’re definitely getting worn down. I’ll need an upgrade soon… we’ll figure it out when that time comes.”

Shouta looks up just as Tsukauchi whips around the corner with a frantic look. The man looks even more exhausted than he did eight years ago. His hair has grown out and has waves that must’ve come with the new length. “Aizawa Shouta?”

Shouta nods, “Yes.”

”Aizawa-Yamada Izuku?”

”Yup! It’s good to see you again Tsukauchi-san!” Izuku gives a little wave.

Tsukauchi laughs and runs a hand through his hair anxiously, “You have no idea how good it is to see you both.”

Shouta holds a hand up, “Before we go any further, what happened to us?”

”Do you not remember? You look older—“

”Just answer the question, Naomasa.”

Tsukauchi hesitates, “You both went missing on an early morning patrol eight years ago.”

Shouta feels the tension drain from his body as he slumps in his seat when exhaustion hits him. He’s so fucking happy they’re back. That just secured the fact that this was their reality and not some random one. Izuku seems to do the same thing, “Oh thank god.”

Tsukauchi waves an arm, “Let’s find a conference room.”

Shouta stands up first and reaches to help pull Izuku to his feet and steady him when he sways. “I’ve got it.” Izuku mutters, pushing past Shouta on his own and trailing after the detective.

The conference room has a large oval shaped table in the middle of it with at least ten chairs inking the sides of it. Izuku falls into the closest one and is instantly reaching to unlatch one of his prosthetics. He sets it on the table and starts on the next one. Shouta sits in the seat next to him and leans back, watching Tsukasuchi hover at the door. “I’m going to go send Hizashi a message and get them here. Do either of you need anything?”

Shouta grins and the mention of his husband, “A coffee would be great.”

Izuku hums in agreement and Tsukauchi shuts the door behind him as he leaves. Shouta looks at Izuku, “How’s your arm? Any pain there?”

Izuku shakes his head as he finally gets the other leg off, “No. My legs are just sore from walking so much today. God, I can’t believe we’re actually here again.”

Shouta smiles, “Tell me about it. Are you excited to fill everyone in with a report?”

Izuku scrunches his face and makes a face at Shouta causing him to snort. “That excited, huh?”

”How the hell are we supposed to explain AH to them? The whole system is fucked up enough if you understand it, let alone if you’ve never considered it to exist.”

”Same way they explained it to us when we learned about it.” Shouta grabs one of the legs off the table and starts scanning the joint mechanisms and the inside for damages, “Take it slow and don’t add too many details. They don’t need to know what they do to each quirk type, who runs it, when it started, or any of the other nitty gritty shit.”

“Kiri was the one who told us first,” Izuku pushes the back of his seat backwards and pushes himself in a circle using the table, “That was a very confusing explanation.”

”That’s just him for you. Ignore what I said, explain it like Midoriya and Iida did. We keep everything simple unless they ask more into it. We can go more in depth later on when we have a chance to calm down.” 

Izuku picks at the table, “I don’t want to tell them about what happened to us at AH. They’ll feel bad and pity us.”

”They need to know,” Shouta says simply, he tugs at one of the loose screws and lays it on the table, “Especially about what happened to you. They need to be able to help. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you get your legs and arm fixed to the best of their ability. You need to get proper, suitable help for them. I know Iida and Inko did all they could, but it wasn’t good enough.”

The door clicks open again and Tsukauchi walks in with two coffees in hand. He places one in front of either of the men sitting down. He slowly sits across the table, “Firstly, are either of you in need of immediate medical attention?”

”No, these are all old injuries.” Izuku says softly, grabbing the steaming cup. He doesn’t drink it quite yet, but he holds it close to his chest.

Tsukauchi nods, “I’m glad to hear. I’m going to wait for the story in case you wanted Hizashi here for it but even if you don’t you can always ask them to leave later on and explain everything. But we do need to know what happened.”

Shouta, unlike Izuku, wastes no time on taking a large sip of coffee, “You need to know one thing right now.” He glances at the door to be sure it’s closed, “Suzuki Han was the one who did this. We caught him in an alley doing a shady deal with a few others and he refused to lose his job and resorted to using his quirk on the both of us. We know it was him, we tracked him down where we were and used his quirk to get back.”

Tsukauchi blinks, surely being overloaded with results from his quirk, “Damn. I’m going to send a message to my officers to be aware and be ready to arrest him when called for. I won’t let him know you're here.”

”Doesn’t matter if he knows, his quirk won’t do shit if I use mine on him this time.” Shouta mutters while taking another sip of his coffee.

Tsukauchi stands up, checking his watch, “I’ll go send out a message and I’ll collect Hizashi. They should be here any minute.”

The detective leaves once more and leaves the two alone. Izuku finally sips his coffee, “If he comes in here he’s screwed. Please tell me he’s not stupid enough to show his face to us again.”

”For his sake, I hope he doesn’t.”

They both go quiet as Izuku rests with his eyes shut, gently swaying his chair back and forth and Shouta pokes and proves at the piece of metal in his hands. He’s had to do this a lot since Izuku actually got legs. They were cheaply put together and were constantly folding under the pressure the green haired man put them through. They didn’t have the same resources or access to quirks as they would have here to build proper prosthetics, so unfortunately they were stuck with these pieces of crap that kept falling apart.

The door flies open a few minutes later, crashing into the wall. Shouta looks up and freezes. Hizashi is standing there with tears growing in their eyes. Their hair is shorter than it used to be, thankfully not by much. They look tired and worn, exhausted. They sob and stumble into the room, flinging themself at Shouta. The two embrace each other tightly, tears falling down both of their faces. 

Shouta feels one of their arms move before the squeak of Izuku’s chair moves closer and the kid is pressed against Shouta’s back. 

“Oh my god.” Hizashi sobs, “You’re alive.”

”We’re okay.” Shouta whispers softly, “It’s okay.”

<•>