Chapter Text
It felt like he was asleep for ages.
He was definitely still conscious, still aware of his body and the events that took place.
Or.. was he?
He definitely still felt like.. him. He also didn't.
His brain was working, but it also wasn’t. It was as if deep down, way down at his core, he knew where he was and what was happening to him. But he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
And his body; his body was... light. Too light.
He felt breathless. In fact, when he really thought about it, he wasn't breathing at all. He was just...
Floating.
It felt like he was floating, and when the realization came, it scared him. Only then did he realize he was scared, and his thoughts started coming back to him.
“The villain…” He recalled briefly, trying to put the pieces together. A vivid image of Todoroki entered his mind, saying something to Bakugou. Something about a quirk… but what exactly?
Deku couldn’t remember, and when he tried, he suddenly found himself not exactly wanting to. His memories were a blur, a giant blob of thoughts and feelings - or rather lack of feelings, since the momentarily fear had faded abruptly - stirring around his head, gently lulling him into a sweet dream. Straining his mind suddenly felt like too much effort, and he couldn’t exactly think of why he would want to do that to begin with. Allowing sleep to overtake him just seemed so… relaxing.
That was, until he felt a sharp pain surge through his back, as if he had collided with something. Something stiff and really, really cold - so cold that it erased any prior feelings of warmth and comfort he may have had, and caused his eyes to snap open.
He blinked. And it was dark.
And then he blinked again.
He was inside, staring up at a ceiling. He had to lay there for a moment and let his eyes adjust to the darkness that surrounded him, and once they did, he noticed All Might through his peripheral vision.
Not the real deal of course, rather his face plastered all over the walls.
Deku felt the familiarity of the place when he had opened his eyes (even though he couldn’t see his surroundings), and All Might’s face fading into his line of sight confirmed his theory. Almost. He wasn’t quite sure at first, so he hesitantly pulled his hands up beside him and pushed his body upward. And then he glanced around and fully confirmed his suspicions.
He was back in his room.
Not his dorm room at UA, but rather his actual bedroom. The same room he grew up in and hasn’t seen in a bit over a month. Which was strange, because he vaguely recalled fighting a villain, but he certainly didn’t recall anything about a teleportation quirk being involved. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t recall what the quirk involved was at all.
Which was also strange.
Deku sighed, frustrated at the lack of control he had over his memories. It felt like everything that had just happened was on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn’t for the life of him remember anything. At the same time, it felt like… nothing had happened to him? Which wasn’t possible, because he swore that a moment ago he was in a battle. He had vividly recalled almost everything prior too. The patrol, the internship, being there with Endeavor and such.
But it also just felt so… distant. Like he knew it had happened, but it was as if he was trying to recall a memory from a distant past. No matter how much he sat there, on his cold bedroom floor, he just could not remember anything beyond the basic details.
And now that he was really thinking about it, he felt… normal. Too normal. Wasn’t he just fighting? Using his quirk at an internship with his friends? Facing a villain? He didn’t really feel stressed, or like he was sweating, or like he was focused on saving people. So could he really have been doing all that?
Maybe it was all a dream?
But that wasn’t right, and Deku knew that.
“Okay, think.” He tried to put his thoughts in order, reassuring himself in his head. “Something is definitely wrong, I know what happened this morning, I can start there.”
His hand subconsciously reached up to his face and grabbed his chin, as he began unfolding his thoughts and very quietly mumbling to himself.
“I remember waking up. I ate breakfast with Kacchan and Todoroki, and then I put on my hero suit and we went out to-”
His thoughts were disturbed as a loud noise blared itself through his room. A noise he hadn’t heard in a while.
“Wake up!”
“Wake up!”
“Wake up!”
His alarm rang out through the silence, startling him and causing him to (instinctively) crank his head towards his bedside table. It was his old limited edition All Might themed clock - one he distinctively recalled breaking a while back.
“Didn’t I knock it off by accident, way back when I was training for All Might…?” Deku’s thoughts echoed, as he hesitated, yet continued to slowly get up and push the ‘off’ button. Only then did he notice his hand.
Bony.
He followed it up to his arm.
Scarless.
And then his eyes darted to his chest.
And his torso.
And his legs.
And the sudden realization dawned on him. He was scrawny. Not just his one arm, his entire body.
He also noticed that he was wearing an old All Might shirt and shorts - sleepwear - but his panic was rising and he couldn’t focus on that.
Deku’s heart skipped a beat, and he slowly raised his arms up and stretched them in front of himself, forcing his eyes to peel away from his clothing and look ahead. He felt them watering immediately, and a single tear managed to slide down his cheek as he turned his arms around, taking in his state.
Then he flailed them around, trying to shake them back into their normal state. The state he remembered. He could hear himself starting to breathe heavily, and he could just feel his heart pounding inside his chest as he felt it shatter into a million pieces.
His muscles were gone. His strength was gone.
“Nononononono this can’t be happening what would.. what would All Might think??”
He couldn’t use One For All anymore. Not unless he was ready for all of his limbs to be torn off of his body. And that terrified him.
Before he could completely lose it and break down entirely, however, it was as if his desperation had been heard and answered. Because he blinked, and his arms were suddenly warped into a green like smoke, alongside the rest of his body. Everything around him was dark again, but in a fading, comforting-like darkness, that was smoking and drawing pretty foggy forms around him. Deku let his eyes dart around instantly, and he locked eyes with Banjo.
“Banjo” He tried to voice, happy to see the fifth, but nothing came out. The name was simply a passing thought. It was then he noticed his mouth was missing too. He was back to being nothing more than a shadowy figure; one that had an upper head and hands, at least, but nothing more.
“Woah kid! Hey hey now I thought you were becoming more sustainable in this realm!” Banjo’s booming voice broke the silence, and he crossed his hands over his chest, huffing.
Deku had his eyes glued on him, but he didn’t know how to communicate his worries to him so he began to blink frantically. He had a thought that One For All had disappeared alongside his buffness, but he ended up inside its spirit before he could really think about that possibility.
Which was good.
“Ah crap,” Banjo continued, noticing the panic in Izuku’s eyes. “This probably means I don’t have much time. Listen here!”
Izuku nodded and watched Banjo take a huge breath in, not that he really needed air as a spirit.
“You were hit by a quirk that transferred your consciousness back to your middle school self!” He boomed loudly. “Now I know this is scary, but I’m sure you can figure out a way out of this.”
Deku’s eyes dropped to the ground.
He was back in middle school..?
All of a sudden, all those memories he struggled to recover came rushing back to him.
“But you can’t be the number one hero if you aren’t even you, can you now?”
There was a brief pause. “Fuck did you just say icy hot?”
”The villain that you were chasing can swap out your consciousness with a you from a different time period. We don’t know anything else though. What time line you end up in, how long this effect lasts, what happens to your present body; it’s all information we don’t have. So tell me, how are you gonna be the number one hero if you aren’t you?”
"WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT GET HIT!" Some pro shouted, diving behind a car for protection. Deku sped up, expanding his blackwhip to grab more people. He knew that if he wanted everyone here safe he'd have to hurry. But before he was able to grab anyone else, he heard the voice of a crying little girl.
"W-where's momma..." She sniffled, standing in the wide open and falling behind the group. In his peripheral vision, Deku saw an orb headed straight for her. His eyes widened, and it was as if everything was suddenly frozen. He carefully dropped all the civilians and launched himself forward, his body moving on its own once more, landing right in front of the girl.
He took the hit for her, absorbing the orb, a shiver going down his spine. Instantly he felt weakened, his consciousness fading away. Fighting to stay awake, he heard screams approaching him and saw the little girl crying even more now.
And then everything went black.
The sudden rush of recollection hit him like a brick, his head aching as a result. That’s why he had been floating aimlessly before he woke up - it was the quirk transferring his consciousness. That also explained why he still possessed One For All. It was a quirk that resided in his soul rather than his physical body, so it made sense that it came along with him.
But that also meant that middle school Izuku was now in the UA-hero-course-student Izuku’s body. Which wasn’t great, since he would wake up confused and, more than likely, scared. But he would probably wake up in a hospital, surrounded by pros and his friends. And Kacchan.
So it wasn’t all too bad, right? If the Deku that got booted into the future had already inherited One For All as well, then he would still have it, and nothing much would change. He trusted himself, after all, and believed in his ability to figure out the situation and adapt accordingly. What he was more worried about was where he was currently. Being in the past scared him. He hadn’t thought about it deeply yet, but he remembered the bullying and the picking he endured. How he was friendless and constantly isolated. How he was lonely. He had put his middle school days behind himself when he entered UA, but now that he was back here, he wasn’t happy to be relieving them in the slightest.
But it was going to be okay. Deku reassured himself mentally that he would find a way to make everything right and get back to his body - his present body.
Deku looked back up, his eyes beaming with determination. But of course his thought process was too… positive. Too good to be true, even.
Banjo saw that look in his eyes, and before he allowed Deku to get too hopeful, he spoke up again. “I have to warn you though,” He sighed, bothered by his very own words. “This is a time before you inherited One For All. And before you ask.. or uh.. eye me questionably, I believe the only reason it stayed with you is because your entire consciousness got swapped, and All For One is a quirk of the soul, not the body.”
All right, so he was right about one thing. The other thing wasn’t great.
Deku swallowed, or attempted to, as fear crawled its way into his eyes. He still had One For All, but the Deku of this time didn’t. Meaning his future self, which was currently inhabited by this Deku, didn’t have it anymore.
His present self was quirkless again.
Izuku’s eyes started trembling, panic rising as his thoughts began to move at a million miles. He was quirkless. He was working under Endeavor, with a provisional hero license, and he was quirkless.
“Woah there easy kid!” The booming voice of the fifth snapped Izuku out of his panic, and he shot his eyes back up in fear. “I know you’re scared, but everything will be okay!”
Banjo tried to rest his hand on Deku’s shoulder, but it didn’t quite work out, so he just put his hands on his hips and kept talking. “The All Might of this time should still have his quirk, and since you two share a connection through him, I’m sure he’ll be able to recognize you and help you!” He gave a thumbs up, to keep the spirits high, before continuing. “Judging by your current state, however, I’m surprised you’ve been able to contain it. Your body is extremely underprepared for the quirk, so even the slightest bit of it can harm you. Avoid activating it and focus on training your body to handle it. You’re lucky that it being inside of you hasn’t been detrimental at this point.”
Deku stared blankly at him, getting lost in his own thoughts all over again. He was in middle school again. He had his quirk, but future him didn’t, and future him definitely needed it more. But that was fine, because All Might still has his quirk in this timeline, right? Maybe he could help Deku?
But wouldn't that mess things up? If he asked All Might for his help, and told him he had his quirk, then would All Might transfer it to him again once the Deku of this time was back?
Then it dawned on him. The butterfly effect.
How was he supposed to get himself out of this mess without changing the past at all, when even the slightest of changes could result in the future being doomed? Okay, maybe not doomed, but changed so severely that it would result in an entirely different set of events? A worse set of events?
As if reading his mind, Banjo brought Deku’s attention back to him. “You don’t have to panic, kid! Since your quirk stayed with you, that essentially solidified your future. And since time isn’t paused in your present, and past you is out there living out your life, once the quirk effect gets reversed you’ll go right back to your own body! The only future that’ll be affected is the future after the past you became the present you!” The buff man in front of him huffed once more, before adding “Although, there is a chance that if you alter the events too much, time could be split and end up creating a brand new future… but you shouldn’t end up in that timeline, so you’re all good!”
Deku took a second processing the words, then squinted at the idea of a whole new timeline manifesting itself because of him. It sounded… dangerous? Even if he didn’t end up in it, he still wanted to avoid creating it. He also doubted Banjo. Sure, there was trust between the two of them, but Banjo’s quirk was black whip, and he also… Well, he just wasn’t the brightest of the OFA users. Deku wasn’t sure if he could trust him when it came down to something as time travel and the future.
Asides from that though, he felt himself become more at ease. Vaguely recalling Night Eye’s words regarding the whole future-set-in-stone thing also helped, and the phantom tension building up in his shoulders eased up (even though he currently lacked shoulders). Izuku suddenly felt a lot more confident and could focus on solely one thing - getting the hell out of his middle school years.
Suddenly he felt lightheaded, and the world around him began fading out.
“Ah, looks like my time is up kid! Remember - do not use One For All, lest you want your limbs to explode!” Banjo boomed, and just like that, got enveloped in the green fog. As this happened, everything surrounding Deku smoked up, and all it took was a blink for him to end up back in his room, in the same exact position he was left standing.
Izuku let out a sigh, putting his hands down and looking at the day and date embedded in his clock. It was a Wednesday, and judging by the time his alarm went off, he knew he probably had class.
“I best get ready for class…” He assumed it would be best to just lay low right now and think about what he can do to get back to his real timeline later.
—- —- —-
Bakugou wasn’t fast enough, just like Deku wasn’t back when he got kidnapped by the league (not that he wanted Izuku to save him or anything). He saw the villain's blast of energy, and he saw how Izuku sprung into action to cover the girl. He wanted to, oh so desperately, to do something - blow the guy away, push Izuku out of the way - anything, but he just wasn’t fast enough.
He didn’t understand why, but he was really bothered by his inability to save Deku. The feeling of watching him get hurt stung so bad that it made his insides turn. It’s not that he felt guilty - why would he ever feel guilty over that damn nerd? Sure, it was Katsuki who had rushed in like a maniac, disregarding the pro’s warnings regarding the villain. But it’s not like he asked Deku to rush after him. How was it his fault that the nerd couldn’t protect himself from a simple blow? It wasn’t Katsuki’s fault he was a self sacrificing maniac with a hero trope.
Maybe it was the worry of what the quirk itself was, that had to be it. Bakugou wasn’t stupid, and he knew the villain’s quirk swapped a person's consciousness with a past version of themselves. He knew Deku got booted into the past, and could only assume that a past version of Deku now resided in present-day Deku.
So many Deku’s.
Honestly, who even cared? The nerd was constantly getting himself into shit and Katsuki sure as hell didn’t care. He didn’t give a rats ass about Deku, and only cared about him rising to his full potential and finally having a fair fight with him. He needed to settle their rivalry and prove, once and for all, that he was better than All Might and would be the next number one hero. Present Deku was smart as hell too, so he’d figure out the effects of the quirk and find a way to reverse it pretty quickly (had he really just admitted that?) - there was nothing to worry about.
He claimed all this with such confidence, yet he found himself sitting in the hospital by Deku’s bedside, who’s been knocked out for over a day now. At first it was actually All Might’s idea. When he learned what had happened over a shitty voice message from Endeavor, he called up Katsuki and asked him to stay by useless Deku’s side.
“You’ve been with him his whole life!” Katsuki recalled All Might beaming over the phone. “He’ll wake up lost and scared, but he’ll recognize you immediately, and you can explain what happened to him!”
Originally, he was only asked to come in after Deku woke up. Waltz on in like some sort of saint and calm down Izuku from whatever freak out he was going to have. But he didn’t feel comfortable leaving Deku from god knows when alone, and chose to stay with him up until he awoke.
“What if he wakes up in the dead of night with no one around and shits hims, ehh?”
“Young Bakugou, you really don’t have to.. The last thing we need is a fight to ensue between the two of you.”
“I know I don’t have to! But then everyone is gonna blame me for not being there and then I’ll be forced to be by Deku 24/7 and I can’t stand that!” He screamed into his phone while pacing outside the hospital. A few bystanders and visitors gave him some looks, but he couldn’t give less of a shit and flipped them off. “I’d rather just be there the second he wakes up, explain everything to him, and move the hell on!”
He recalled himself justifying his reasoning to All Might, but truthfully, a part of him was actually just scared.
He would never admit it, nor so much as acknowledge it. But he didn’t know how far in the past this Deku was dragged from. Hell, for all he knew, this Deku was some stupid toddler and he’d be tasked with babysitting the fucker. Or hopefully, the quirk couldn’t go that far back and dragged Deku from the start of the school year into his stupid body. But the middle ground, the scenario in between the two options, was middle school Deku.
Katsuki’s nightmare.
He took in a heavy breath and leaned back in the chair he was occupying, stiffly propping his leg onto his knee.
Maybe it was a little true that he didn’t really hate Deku as much as he used to, especially not after their sparring session back at Ground Beta all those months ago. He was more used to him being around and working together and such, and Deku was the only person he had ever opened up to, or cried in front of. He’d gotten comfortable letting loose now and then in front of the shitty nerd, and it felt as if he was the only one that understood Katsuki. He didn’t really know what he would do if the Deku he had gotten accustomed to suddenly went back to the defenseless Izuku he told to jump.
That would certainly be awkward.
He also didn’t really understand why he’d been so Deku-centered since the quirk incident - it’s not like Deku was dying. While he was getting his thoughts in order, a knock at the door to the hospital room startled him right before it swung open. It was Todoroki and his father.
“What the hell is the point of knocking if you were just gonna swing the door open immediately?!” Katsuki hollered without really thinking about his words.
Todoroki just stood there with that blank expression of his.
“But Bakugou,” he eventually said. “I didn’t realize you’d still be here. I knocked out of courtesy, but the nurses told me Midoriya was still out so I just assumed I was clear to come in.” He took a pause, considering his next words before asking: “What would you be doing in here that would prevent me from entering in the first place?”
“Shoto, do not talk as if I wasn’t with you. You did not come to visit Deku alone.”
“Haaah?! Nothing you bastard, it's just common descency!” Katsuki exclaimed again, ignoring Endeavor the same way Todoroki was.
The boy was glaring daggers at the other one, and Endeavor sighed. “The nurses told us he should be waking up soon, according to his charts, so I decided it would be best to have a pro supervise him just in case.”
“And why in the everloving hell would Deku need pro hero supervision?!”
Endeavor was about to answer the question but Todoroki cut him off, clearly fed up with his father. “Midoriya has an intense quirk, so if he loses control it’d be best to have a pro here.”
“Are you saying I’m not capable enough and can’t blast Deku’s ass to hell if he does that?!” Bakugou barked in response. No way that damned Icy Hot bastard was calling him weak compared to Deku. “And what the hell is Endeavor gonna do, set him on fire?”
Shitting on the new number one pro hero to his son, right in front of him, did put Katsuki a bit on edge after the words slipped his mouth. But that didn’t really matter, since Todoroki didn’t care and instead responded “something about taking accountability, for letting an interning student get injured in such a way,” while glaring at Endeavor.
“I mean yeah, no fucking shit, but wouldn’t having Aizawa or All Might here or something be way more convenient?”
“Aizawa is at UA and isn’t able to make the trip all the way here,” Endeavor responded this time. “And what does All Might have to do with any of this, he’s been retired for months.”
Right, only Bakugou knew about One For All. Of course he’d assume All Might would be here. “Cause he’s still a teacher at UA, and he’s probably the closest teacher to that damn nerd!” He opted for shouting. He threw his leg back on the ground and crossed his arms over his chest again.
Not like he could sit there and tell them that Deku’s quirk was actually All Might’s and that it would make sense for the previous holder to explain it to him.
It looked like Endeavor was about to say something, but the heart rate monitor speeding up stopped him from doing so. Before, it had been emitting a steady ‘beep, beep, beep’ throughout the room and was going unnoticed by the people inside. But now, the rhythmitic beeping had gone away, and was instead replaced by a sporadic ‘beeeeep, beep, beep, beeeeep, beeeep, beep’.
The three boys - or two boys and one shitty man, as Katsuki would say - snapped their necks to look at Deku. It wasn’t clear if the noise from all the arguing was what startled him, or if it was just him starting to regain his consciousness naturally meaning the quirk had done its job. It was clear, however, that the nerd was extremely uncomfortable, and looked as though he was having a nightmare.
His heart rate was speeding up, and he shot his head side to side a few times. His arm was also twitching, and he had begun to mumble something ineligible.
“Um.. shouldn’t we call the nurse?”
“No fucking shit you should call the nurse, why the hell are you just standing there you half n’ half bastard?!”
Bakugou’s response didn’t waver Todoroki’s expression, but it did make him turn on his heels and run speed walk his way out the room to grab someone.
“Oi, Deku,” Katsuki turned his head and put his hand on one of Deku’s shoulders, nudging him around a bit. “Wake the hell up, you’re dreaming.”
“Bakugou, be careful. You don’t know if it’s the quirk acting up.” Endeavor stepped a bit closer, to stand away from the door and closer to Izuku. He was looming over him now, on the opposite side of where Katsuki was sitting. His words also went unnoticed, as Katsuki just shook Deku harder.
Endeavor looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t even open his mouth before a few things happened at once.
The door swung open again, a nurse accompanying Todoroki rushing into the room right as Deku gasped and shot forward. His eyes snapped open in fear and he frantically looked around, confusion painted all over his face. In doing so, he startled Katsuki, who retrieved his hand back and accidentally knocked a cup of water off a stand. Thankfully, it wasn’t glass, so there was no fear in shattering it, but it still ended up spilling everywhere.
“Fucking hell Deku!” Katsuki’s angry eyes darted from the mess he made to the frightened Izuku on the bed. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Katsuki watched Izuku turn his head to him and blink a few times, absorbing the boy’s crimson eyes. Surprisingly, he calmed down a bit, enough to say a breath-y “Kacchan..?”
“Yeah shithead, who else would I be?” He returned in a growl, as if what Deku said was an actual question rather than just him processing his surroundings. He took the chance to eye Deku up and down, scouting his expression to try and find any sense of what Deku this was.
Suddenly, he shot up to his feet and stood over the green haired boy, pointing an accusatory finger directly at him. “What do you remember,” he exploded, startling Deku a bit more.
Izuku looked down at his hands, then glanced at the rest of himself resting in the hospital bed. “Am I in… in a hospital?” He questioned, and then looked up to a nurse approaching him.
“Yes sweetie, you got hit by a quirk and were hospitalized just in case,” She said sweetly, gently tapping Midoriya’s arm in a peace-making gesture. “While I don’t agree with the way he asked this,” she spared a glance towards Katsuki, hinting at him to sit back down (which he did), “It is important we know what you remember.”
Izuku looked on edge, but he didn’t look particularly scared anymore. “Well, I was doing my homework for the night, and I remember logging in to watch more All Might videos on my laptop after I got into bed…” He trailed off, and Katsuki watched his eyes start to wander the room, as if he was trying to remember the rest of his night.
That didn’t last long though, since Deku’s eyes landed on Endeavor and he absolutely lost his shit.
“ENDEAVOR?” The boy shouted, his eyes damn nearly popping out of his sockets. He brought his arms up to his chest, his mouth agape and his fists clutched. “Ohmygodwhatareyoudoinghere”, he panicked, and then trailed off into his rambling. “I mean this is so awesome I don’t really know where I am nor what happened but the number two hero is standing right here! Oh that’s so so cool, is it okay if I ask you a question or two? I just got to get my notebook so I can write everything down- huh I guess I wouldn’t have it here with me, but that’s okay I’m sure I’ll remember everything! If I’m not mistaken Kacchan said I got hit by a quirk… or was it the nurse? Regardless it must’ve been pretty serious if Endeavor is here-”
“Deku shut the fuck up,” Katsuki growled, flicking the nerd in the head slightly. This made the boy flinch a bit, and he quickly quieted down. Endeavor looked a bit taken aback by Izuku’s demeanor - this boy was nothing like the mostly collected Izuku he accepted into his agency for an internship after all. Katsuki noticed that almost immediately, but let Deku run his mouth for a bit anyways, and would you look at that. He now knew which Deku this was. Almost.
“Oi, nerd,” Bakugou put his hand on top of Izuku’s head and manually turned it to look at him, since he wasn’t sure that words were enough to pry his eyes off of Endeavor. “Tell me, when you went to bed, where were you?”
“Umm I don’t understand Kacchan, I was just in my room..?” Izuku smiled shyly.
“Well no shit you were in your room! Were you in the damn dorm or your house?!”
“Kacchan we’re not even in high school yet, why would I be in a dorm?”
“Tch,” Katsuki clicked his tongue and released Izuku’s head, before turning to the others in the room. Endeavor, Todoroki, and the (very concerned) nurse eyed him as he announced: “This Deku is from middle school.”