Chapter Text
Izuku released a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. He puffed up his cheeks, held it for a second and then slowly let it escape. How was he supposed to react to seeing a different version of himself being brutally murdered on-screen?
The rest of his class wasn’t fairing much better. Uraraka, next to him, slipped her arm around his shoulder in comfort, and Todoroki did the same from his other side. Most of the kids in 1-A had fallen silent. Katsuki had twisted his face into something resembling both a grimace and a sneer.
Shigaraki whistled a low note from the other side of the barrier. “Other me really went ape-shit, huh. Cool.”
Izuku struggled to contain his emotions. Who knew if these other versions of himself really existed? Was he just watching different fictional variations of his and his friends’ lives? Or were they watching alternate universes that were, or had actually happened? Meanwhile Shigaraki was talking about how ‘cool’ it was that another version of him had nearly died?
He hoped that he would have some answers about other-him’s fate soon, or else something was going to burst.
[The narrator softly narrates over a scene of Alley Cat, in civilian attire and Aizawa Eri walking towards the hospital]
As many a villain can attest to, an angry Alley Cat is a murderous Alley Cat, and right now he’s beyond angry, he’s furious, he’s frustrated, he’s scared. Emotions have always been difficult for him, especially after The Gap. He will admit it’s not the fanciest name, but it’s exactly what it says on the tin.
Aizawa Shouta, has memory problems. He knows this. He can remember his childhood, then a three year gap where his teenage years should be, and the rest of his 20’s to his 30’s.
But right now? All of that doesn’t matter. All that matters is getting to the hospital to see if Izuku is alright.
“Wow, a narrator! We haven’t heard him before.” Satou said while he raised an eyebrow. “Also, is it just me or does he sound like Yamada-sensei?”
“Oh, it was Mic-sensei! I thought he sounded familiar.”
“We have lessons with him three times a week, Kaminari-kun. How do you not recognize his voice by now?” Shouji asked, bewildered.
“Actually a lot of people can’t recognize voices, it’s called phonagnosia.” Kirishima added thoughtfully.
“Huh, never knew, my bad for assuming.” Shouji said apologetically, as he ducked his head.
[Aizawa Hitoshi is seen sitting in the waiting area of a hospital. The rest of the seats are all unoccupied. He is trembling slightly. The sound of the double doors opening has him standing on his feet in a defensive position, but he soon relaxes as he spots his dad and little sister]
Hitoshi’s lip starts to tremble as he collides against his father’s broad chest. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I couldn’t protect him.” he sobs as his father rubs comforting circles on his back.
“Shh,” Aizawa says as he hugs his son. “It isn’t your duty to keep him safe, it's mine. Think about it rationally, the only ones to blame are Yuuei for creating the possibility to slip in and attack the USJ like that.”
Eri meanwhile, has latched on Hitoshi’s leg and is hugging him fiercely. “Izu-nii wouldn’t want you to be upset, Toshi-nii.”
“Huh, what would I do without you.” he says as he lets his father go and scoops Eri up in his arms. “My little emotional-support sister.”
“I’m gonna go get you some water, all right?” Aizawa asks as he eyes Hitoshi.
“Thanks dad.” Hitoshi says as he sits back down with Eri on his lap.
[One of the doors in the hallway opens to let out Yamada Hizashi. His hero costume is gone, and he’s dressed as a civilian. He sees Hitoshi sitting in one of the chairs and comes over.]
“Hey there, little listener, and oh? Who’s this?” he asks as he squats to be on eye-level with Eri.
“This is my sister, Eri. My dad brought her along.” Hitoshi says as Eri shyly waves at Yamada.
Yamada frowns. “You’re dad’s here?”
[The double doors to the rest of the hospital open and Aizawa walks through, but he freezes as soon as he sees Yamada.]
Yamada croaks out a broken, “Shou?” and barrels straight into Aizawa’s chest and unravels .
Aizawa looks like he’s expecting an attack and awkwardly hovers his hands above Yamada’s back. “I’m sorry,” he finally croaks out. “but do I know you?”
Yamada lets out a confused sniffle. “Huh, what do you mean, Shou, it’s me Hizashi!” he says as he searches Aizawa’s face for any sign of recognition. “From Yuuei?” he tries. “I was your best friend.” he says as he steps backward. “You are Aizawa Shouta, yes?”
“I went to Yuuei?” Aizawa says instead, dazed.
“Uh, I don’t understand.” Yamada admits as he worries his lip.
“His name is Aizawa Shouta, yeah, but dad has amnesia.” Hitoshi says in lieu of his father, who still looks like he’s lost in thought. “He has no idea how it happened, but he can’t remember his life from 14 to 17. It hurts him to think about it, too.”
“Oh, oh I’m so sorry this must look terribly inappropriate.” he apologises to Hitoshi, with half a look to Aizawa. “I knew your father from Yuuei. He was my best friend. He disappeared in his second year during a mission. We thought he died, but there was no body to confirm. I had always hoped he would come back, but…” Yamada trails off at Aizawa who is awkwardly wringing a water bottle.
“Let’s start over. My name is Yamada Hizashi, I’m the hero Feedback Loop. I teach your sons English, and I know you from Yuuei.” Yamada says as he sticks out his hand.
“Aizawa Shouta, nice to meet you...again.” Aizawa tacks on at the end. “Wait, you teach at Yuuei?” He doesn't wait for an answer before he has his quirk activated and all the nearby pencils and pens are floating. “How the hell could this USJ fiasco have happened? My son is in critical condition.”
Yamada’s face turns serious. “I’m very sorry for what happened to your sons. Villains attacked the USJ. It appears that they used the break-in on Monday to get their hands on class 1-A’s schedule, and planned to attack All Might. We offer our humblest apology, Yuuei failed you.” he ends his statement with a low bow.
Whatever Aizawa is going to say in retort is interrupted by a nurse with a clipboard coming in through doors. “Ah good, you must be Aizawa-san.” she continues at his nod. “your son Izuku just came out of surgery.”
[Yamada and Aizawa exchange a look. Aizawa motions for his children and both latch on to one of his hands. All four of them make their way to Aizawa Izuku’s room.]
[They get to the room. Aizawa Izuku is bandaged from head to toe, looking like a mummy with a mop of green hair sticking out.]
“Oh Izuku,” Aizawa says as he sits in the chair next to his son's bed. “my brave boy. I was so worried for you. Please don’t scare me like that again.”
“Sorry dad, I had to.” Izuku sobs as he puts his head against his dad’s.
“You are such an idiot.” Hitoshi says through tears as he clutches Izuku’s bandaged hand.
“Got you out safe, though.” Izuku comments cheekily, before his smile wobbles dangerously and turns into a sob.
“Group hug.” Eri cries as she tugs on Hitoshi’s pant leg to be lifted up.
[Izuku lets out a quiet sigh of relief, because amongst these people he is safe, safe to drop all pretenses and be a 15-year-old child, safe to cry openly without fear or shame.]
As the three of them unfold from their group hug Izuku’s eye shifts over to Yamada who has awkwardly placed himself near the door. “Uhm, hi Yamada-sensei.”
“Hiya, little listener. Sorry for intruding on such a private moment.” Yamada says sheepishly as he tugs on the loose ends of his bun.
“Oh, we should probably give Yamada-sensei and dad some time alone, Izu.” Hitoshi says as he pets Izuku’s hair.
[Izuku raises an eyebrow but doesn’t question it, and instead just nods at his dad to go do his thing.]
[Aizawa and Yamada make their way to the still deserted waiting area.]
Yamada sits down and wrings his hands together nervously. “We were so worried for you, Shou. Oboro and I, I mean.” he says at Aizawa’s blank look at the name.
[Yamada pulls out his phone to show Aizawa a picture of the three of them. In it, the three of them are sitting on the stairs at Yuuei. Shirakumo is in the middle mouth open mid-laugh. Yamada is on the right, making finger guns at Aizawa, who is on the left, looking like he would rather be somewhere else and holding a book, but with a small smile gracing his lips.]
Aizawa takes the phone, face unreadable as he flips through more photos of the three of them, or sometimes just him and Yamada. “I feel as though I should say sorry for not remembering you, but that’s irrational.”
Yamada makes a strangled sort of sound that has Aizawa looking up at him. “I’m sorry.” he says. “It’s just that you used to be all about rational thought. I see that hasn’t changed.”
Yamada fiddles with the edges of his sleeves for a bit before he asks. “Did you try? To find out what you lost? Or did you just...assume it didn’t matter and go on with life.”
“I did, at first, try.” Aizawa admits. “I woke up in a random hospital room one day, and they told me I had come in unconscious as a nameless Gonbei. I knew my name just fine, just not the date, or anything specific about why I was in the hospital. I spoke with a doctor after, who told me that it was three years later than I thought it was.” he falls silent for a while before Yamada nudges him to continue. “Thinking about the past hurt. I told my counselor, she said I should try not to think too much about what I had lost but about what I could still achieve.”
“Well, you adopted three fine kids, and you look healthy. I think you did pretty good.” Yamada says through a wobbly smile.
“Then again.” Aizawa says as he looks at the last picture where he and Yamada are sitting on the train, sleeping on each other and holding hands. “I might have lost some good things too.”
The screen cut back to black and the stark white INTERMISSION reappeared.
“Ugh, that was sickeningly romantic.” Dabi said as he pretended to gag. “Brb, gotta go rinse out my eyeballs with bleach.”
“Ahh c’mon Dabi-kun. Love isn’t gross. Love is like that fuzzy feeling I get inside when I wanna be someone.” Toga cooed as a blush spread over her cheeks.
Izuku decided to ignore that statement and looked up at his teachers. Aizawa-sensei and Yamada-sensei were holding hands now too, and whispering in each other's ear while unconsciously mimicking the photo.
“I’m glad they found each other here.” Iida said suddenly. “It would be horrible to lose someone you love for such a long time, don’t you think?”
“Iida-kun, I never took you for such a sap.” Uraraka said as she stood up and stretched.
“I always thought that they fit well together.” Todoroki added. “I just never suspected them to be a couple.”
Izuku snorted. “Not even your conspiracy theories could have cooked that up, huh, Todoroki-kun.”
Todoroki shrugged unapologetically and turned away towards the snack table.
“Anybody else feel kinda weird after watching these alternate somethings?” Kirishima piped up. “Like you just watched something really personal that you shouldn’t have?”
Shinsou let out a laugh. “Tell me about it. I sure didn’t sign up to see proto-villian-me.”
“It does feel like a breach in privacy, doesn’t it.” Yaoyorozu said as she daintily munched on a rice ball.
“I just wanna know what all of this is for.” Ashido added as she laid on her back with a blanket strewn over her. “Like, what do we get out of watching these?”
“Bold of you to assume they’re for anything.” Jirou said from her place a couple of seats over. “Not to be a downer, but there’s every possibility that we're trapped in this Theatre,” she rolled her eyes at that. “for no other reason than somebody else’s amusement.”
“Man, that really bummed me out, Jirou.” Kaminari whined.
Jirou retaliated by jabbing him in the stomach with an elbow, while Asui hopped over and took a spot next to her.
“Maybe this isn't for anything, maybe it is, we don’t know. The least we can do is stay positive and try to learn as much as possible.”