Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku stared at his hands. He bit his lip, and glanced around.
He couldn’t believe it. This... Wasn’t real…
Right?
(It is, the voice in his head whispered It is.)
Midoriya Izuku had never been sure of many things. This, however, was different.
He knew it simply by the slight distance he had off the floor, knew it by his hands, which slid through anything.
He knew it when he passed a puddle and his reflection wasn’t there. The puddle didn’t even move as he ran his fingers through it.
He’d always wondered what came after death. But now he knew. There was nothing religious about it. No God to bring you to Heaven, no Valhalla, no Underworld and no reincarnation.
You just existed. You existed as an intangible and invisible being, unable to affect the world around you. Simply there to observe.
He didn’t remember how he died. All he knows is that it happened, anong other things.
It was very jumbled in his head, and he shook it as he trailed into an alleyway.
He leaned as best as he could against the wall, though it was closer to a hunch over himself than anything else.
He couldn’t quite sleep, at least no like the average person would. His being no longer needed the time to clean his body of toxins, so it was a matter of restoring energy. He’d rest for a few minutes and after that, he’d float slightly higher.
His eyes would be pure white if anyone could see them, and he’d be slightly more translucent as he floated in the air, suspended by an invisible force.
Then again, wasn’t he an invisible force? Or, at least he would be, if he could touch anything.
He sighed once more before zoning out, and time seemed to pass more quickly.
He wondered what had caused him to die. Perhaps it was a villain attack? Maybe it had something to do with the word ‘Kacchan’? He remembered it, but not what it meant.
The sun rose as the moon passed overhead, and Izuku blinked, not realizing how much time had passed howl he was zoned out.
He decided to go further down the alley and noticed a cat. It was pretty cute, having white fur and heterochromatic eyes. One green, the other blue.
They purred, wrapping themselves around Izuku’s leg and rubbing themselves against him.
Izuku blinked. Could the cat see and touch him? He reached down and tried to let it, but his hand went through. The cat’s eyes widened and it dashed off, out of the alley.
He followed after it, hoping it wouldn’t run into the road. He’d feel terrible if a cat died because of him, and it would be all his fault, and the cat’d hate him and-
It was safe. The cat was safe. It was wrapped in a grey scarf, and alarmed but it was safe.
A black haired man with stubble and noticibly large eye bags stopped to pink the cat up, and the scarf seemed to belong to him. The cat seemed to calm down and stare right at him while burrowing closer to the stranger’s touch.
He owed this man. He would’ve had the blood of a cat on his hand if he didn’t interfere, and to Izuku that was just as bad a as person’s.
He decided to follow the man around for the day, as he was dressed oddly. He had a black sweater and the grey scarf obviously, but in addition he also wore some sweatpants and some boots. They seemed rather quiet, and Izuku was intrigued.
He wondered if the man’s Quirk was related to the scarf, which defied the laws of physics.
He strained himself to try and touch the cat, but didn’t go fast enough to go through it if he didn’t touch it.
His hand manages to touch it, and the cat purred softly, curling its tail.
He smiled, and followed the man.
He hadn’t meant to find his house, really. He’d assume he’d take the cat to the shelter, then continue on with his life.
Appearantly not his guy. He took the cat to a rather worn down area of town—not quite somewhere you’d check over your shoulder every second, but you wouldn’t leave you car door unlocked for a grocery run either.
He unlocked the door to apartment 403, and Izuku gasped as he saw the inside.
It was magnificent, with the clean floors and decorated walls! The modern but practical furnishing caught his eye, and Izuku decided that, if he ever got a house, he’d have furnished it like this.
The gray color had a tint of blue on it, so it wasn’t monotone, and-
Oh. He hadn’t realized the blonde man sitting in the couch. He had one of the cats resting atop his lap with his long hair pulled into a half-up, half-down hairstyle with a bun.
“Hey, Shou- Another cat? You seem like you’ve just become a magnet for them now!” He said. The black-haired man—Shou?—stepped into their kitchen as he grabbed the bag of cat food.
“He was about to run into a road. And his fur is matted, most likely a stray. I’ll take him to the shelter though, if you want.” His last sentence was nearly frowned out my the clinking of pellets in the plastic bowl.
The cat eagerly chomped on it’s meal after Shouta had placed it’s bowl down, and Izuku smiled.
The cat was safe, he could go now.
So why didn’t he?
“Hizashi, what’s up with the cats?” He asked, and Izuku locked up from where he was letting a calico to see-
Oh. That’s right, they didn’t see him, so the cat probably looked crazy.
He stood up, and the cat flared for a few moments before resting on Shou’s lap, as he’d moved to the couch.
“Cats?”
“Yeah. The one eating was like that too, purring at nothing. I was going to have that one checked up, but Pumpkin Spice had his appointment yesterday, right?”
“Yeah, and he was fine. What’s causing this then?”
“Ghosts!” ‘Zashi made spooky noises, which Shou just stared at him for.
“Hizashi, ghosts aren’t real.”
Izuku grew upset. A draft came through, and the cats quivered, leaping onto their owner’s and hiding behind them, because they knew they had to run, run, run, get out, get safe, run!. One hid behind ‘Zashi, and the other burrowed into the gray scarf around Shou’z neck.
He frowned when he realized what happened and stopped it at a door down the hall slamming.
He floated out, going through the door and running out until he could safely express his emotions.
The trees scratched at the sky as Izuku sobbed, a silent scream escaping his mouth.
“Yo.” A figure beside him said, and Izuku turned on him, and the wind did as well. “You doin’ that to the wind?”
“No.” He growled out, and the figure raised an eyebrow.
“Alright, it’s just a freak nature occurrence?”
“What do you want?” He crossed his arm and narrowed his eyes rows, tone sharp, like a kitchen knife.
He remembered it for some reason, how sharp a kitchen knife was. He didn’t know why.
“I was just curious! Chill man.” He raised his arms. “Call me Hino. What about you?”
“Izuku. Why are you still here?” He tapped his foot on the air, which really didn’t work the best.
“Because you,” he pointed at Izuku, “just changed the weather. No one I’ve met is able to do that, and those with Quirks who could do that aren’t able to use them InBetween.”
“InBetween? We’re in Musutafu, not some made up place!” Was this guy crazy?
“No, InBetween is where you are, dude. The ghost world!” He stretched arms out with the palms upward, as if to say ‘Welcome to Paradise!’ which was only added to by his laid-back expression.
“Alright, then. Not gonna question it, bye.” He began to push himself away, but was grabbed on the wrist.
“Dude. I’m not joking. Weather doesn’t just do that and go with the anger of a dead person. Those freaky winds were definitely you. Only one I’ve met can do something like that, and he was an Unstable, so I want to know how you did it. That’s it.”
Izuku sat for a moment. He was Quirkless. That he knew, and he knew he couldn’t have done that. The Doctor had said so.
Right? He had two pinky two joints, shouldn’t he be Quirkless.
There are rare chances where Quirks can manifest, but that’s mostly over since we know other things do check. Your son is Quirkless. Sorry kid, it’s not gonna happen.” He’d directed the last part at him.
Izuku’d dropped something, he couldn’t remember what. He remembered yellow, and that moment—could he be remembering more?
But he couldn’t be doing that and he Quirkless. The Doctor had told him to give up on his dreams—whatever they were—himself, so they were not achievable, right?
It couldn’t be him.
“It is you, dude. You gotta learn how to control that.”
The final words struck Izuku, and he couldn’t bring himself to regret taking their hand with a smile at their simple words.
“I can help you control it.”