Chapter Text
Izuku’s heart pounded, full of adrenaline, as he sprinted towards Bakugou, green lightning sparking against the pavement. Both heroes in training held out a hand to one another, and their connection slapped together as they used one another for momentum.
Bakugou shot off an explosion behind them both, dragging Deku with him through the air, and towards their target. At the same time that Bakugou began to shift to swing Deku in a circle, Deku used the leverage from the hand he was holding to pull himself forward and flying towards the villains.
He came colliding right into the huddled group of villains that a few of their classmates had been holding off. Their formation easily crumbled as the small ball of lightning rocketed through them like a high powered bowling ball through regular old bowling pins.
Izuku somehow managed to tuck and roll himself back into a standing position, and he quickly turned back around to see the villains laid out on the pavement and stunned.
“Oh my god Deku! That was so dangerous!” Uraraka ran up to him, while a few of his surrounding classmates nodded.
“Sure but they looked super cool and manly while doing it! And they got the job done.” Kirishima added.
“Nice job Deku! Next time you’ll have to throw me at those villain bastards.” Bakugou smirked, throwing an arm over Izuku’s shoulder. He rolled his eyes at the fist bump Kirishima offered him, then unenthusiastically reciprocated it, turning his attention back to Deku. “I think I have some design changes I wanna make to my gauntlets so they're better for areal spins that’ll account for the extra weight of another person like that. If you have time later-”
That's when they noticed their teacher approaching, an exasperated look on his face, “I have to agree with the dangerous part, problem children.” He let out a tired sigh, “Did you even bother to coordinate that plan with the other heroes on site?”
While they were real villains, it had still been a fairly controlled training exercise. They were spread out on Aizawa’s normal patrol route, with a couple added pros/teachers there to supervise and guide them. Uraraka and Kirishima’s group had intercepted a bank robbery and hostage situation, managing to retrieve the hostages, but the villains had grouped together and threatened to use their quirks on anyone who came close.
That's where Izuku and Bakugou had come hurtling in. And now the villains were being taken into custody, still barely able to stand from the human bowling ball incident.
“We kind of just did it? There wasn’t really time to even say it out loud to each other, I think we just both sort of knew what the other was thinking.” He got quieter as he finished his explanation, watching the look of exasperation grow on his teacher's face.
“While I’m overjoyed at the strides you two have made towards being better teammates,” He didn’t look overjoyed, “you have to work on your communication- and not just with each other.” He reached a hand out to settle it into Izuku’s curls, giving them a ruffle, turning to face the rest of the class, “I’m proud of all of you, you all played your roles and are making great improvements. I’ll have feedback from myself and the other teachers for each of you next class.”
Speaking of other teachers, that's when Izuku noticed All Might coming towards him, a proud look on his face. While the man was confined to his skinny form, he still had priceless experience and knowledge.
“Nice work young Midoriya and young bakugou.” All Might's voice still boomed like it had when he was at full power, though not quite matching the skinny frame it came out of. Especially to anyone who didn’t know the man personally. He turned to the rest of the students in the vicinity, giving a bright smile despite his tired face, “All of you, great work. Everyday you’re getting closer to becoming pros. I’d say you’re all already heroes in your own right, but remember to keep moving forwards and growing to become pros.”
Looks of determination and self satisfaction crossed the young heroes faces, and they let out excited cheers. They’d been through enough to know what real dangerous villain fights were like, and they were glad to have some normal training for once.
The class stayed close, not quite done with the reports they’d have to give to the police on site. Izuku still felt some echoes of adrenaline from the fight flowing through him. Once they all got back to the dorms he had plans to watch movies with Uraraka, Iida, and Todoroki. There were a lot of movies that Todoroki had never even heard of, so they all picked some of their favorites and were planning on watching one every night until Todoroki had a favorite of his own.
Izuku looked at Bakugou, smiling, the next morning they’d train together, then probably work on those modifications Bakugou wanted to make.
All Might looked at Midoriya fondly, while he discussed battle techniques with Bakugou. The boy had come a long way from their first meeting, and while the kid was a determined and caring hero, he wasn’t just a successor anymore. All Might couldn’t deny the responsibilities the boy now had, most of which Izuku would have to persevere through on his own, but he also had grown fond of the boy. He knew Midoriya didn’t really have a dad in the picture, and he was more than happy to fill that role in any way that he could.
“Hey Kacchan, is tomorrow a good time to discuss modifications to your gauntlets? We’re having a movie night tonight.” Izuku interrupted.
Bakugou let out an annoyed huff, “Yeah whatever, that’s fine. Gotta go hang out with the idiots tonight anyway.” He meant Kirishima, Sero, Mina, and Kaminari. Izuku knew he was fond of them, even if he wouldn’t admit it outright.
“If you wanted to-” Izuku was interrupted mid sentence by the sudden loud shouts coming from the police cars.
He thinks he heard All Might and some of his nearby classmates yell for him.
Before he realized what was happening Bakugou was reaching out a hand for him, eyes wide and angry as a shout of, “Izuku!” left his mouth, but it was too late.
One of the men that Izuku had previously laid out had escaped police custody. The guy seemed to realize that he wouldn’t be able to escape the area, as it was crawling with heroes. So instead his hand swung out, slapping Izuku’s face hard and making skin to skin contact, which must have been the activation requirement for the guys quirk.
A gasp of air forced its way out of Izuku's lungs, and the last thing he saw was Bakugou’s panicked expression, before his head snapped to the side from the force of the slap.
An ice cold tingling radiated from his cheek quickly spreading to the rest of his body. His eyes forced shut from the slap.
He jolted back towards where Bakugou was reaching his hand out, ready to strike back at the villain together, “Kacchan!” He shot his arm out, the movement causing him to slide off something solid that he was leaning on and fall to the floor.
He rapidly blinked his eyes, taking a moment to adjust. He hadn't landed on the pavement..? How was he on tile? His eyes landed on a pale gray seat laying sideways on the tiled floor, next to- ..Is that a desk he just fell off of?
“Deku! What are you doing, sleeping in class?” His head shot up towards the - teacher?- yelling at him.
“W-wha-”
“The class is almost over, I couldn’t care less if you sleep.” The man glared, and looking around Izuku realized he was in a classroom. His world screeched to a halt as he realized he recognized the people in the classroom- including the teacher. “But stop interrupting my class.”
His eyes widened, and his breath picked up. Ok calm down, there’s no way. These types of quirks were incredibly rare, it was more likely that this was some kind of illusion quirk.
“Dumbass Deku.” His gaze shot towards someone that he knew would be in this setting, yet it still caught him off guard.
An expression of anger and hatred that completely contrasted the one of fondness and worry from just moments ago, was directed at him from a boy he barely recognized. It was Kacchan of course, he would know him anywhere, but at the same time it wasn’t Kacchan .
“Did you hear him just yell that weird nickname,'' one of Bakugou's old middle school friends laughed out. The other’s in the class joined in, loud laughter assaulting Izuku's ears as his eyes shot around the room, trying to calm himself down. “He really is obsessed with you oh my god.” The kid had tears in his eyes from how hard he was laughing.
Bakugou looked pissed off and disgusted. The teacher didn’t seem to mind this interruption, as he sat back and said nothing while the class laughed and threw insults at Izuku.
Izuku shakily got up to his feet, leaning on the desk, not bothering to pick up the chair he had tipped over.
His thoughts were racing, and he was freaking out. He shook his hands out, ignoring the comments asking what was wrong with him. He needed to calm down and assess the situation.
If this was a simple illusion quirk within his own mind then he wouldn't be able to feel all the movement he was doing. This felt very real and not like a dream at all. So maybe it was confined to a certain area.
Either way he didn’t want to stay in this classroom. He shakily walked towards the door, steps growing more steady as he went.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going Deku?” Bakugou sneered at him, the teacher joined in then, telling him he couldn’t leave, but Izuku ignored both, breaking out into a jog and leaving the classroom.
Then the school.
Then the front gates.
Then he was down the road, all so familiar, yet so distant. He never planned on coming back here. And it didn’t look like this was an illusion quirk.
Everything felt too real, and he remembered being hit with the quirk too clearly. It wouldn’t be a very effective illusion quirk if he knew it was an illusion. Which left him with a much worse explanation.
His chest filled with dread. He didn’t know what he’d do if this really was a time travel quirk. Maybe he could talk to Nezu? The rat was smart, maybe he’d know what to do. If he believed him.
Well it was a place to start. Izuku began heading towards UA.
Halfway there he felt a buzz from his pocket. He reached in and pulled out a phone, noting the time he realized that the class he’d just run from, and the entire school day had just ended.
Wait. His steps halted, catching the date staring up at him from his middle school phone.
“Fuck.” He turned back the way he had come and sprinted towards his old school. It felt slow and sloppy to run as he was, untrained and quirkless. Another sign that this was actually a real time travel quirk.
Even if it wasn’t, there was still a chance that it was.
He ignored the burning ache in the lungs that weren’t accustomed to running this fast for this long. But he couldn’t afford to slow down.
As he approached the tunnel near the school where he had first met All Might, he saw flashing police and ambulance lights. He reached the scene, slowing to a walk, breathing hard. There was no sign of All Might, or of the sludge villain. From his memory he could only assume that the hero had managed to capture the villain, and left because of his time limit.
That's when he notices Bakugou, sitting in the back of an ambulance next to one of his old friends. They both look unharmed, which Izuku doesn’t doubt as he knows that All Might was just there.
Bakugou looks off, more hollow than angry, which isn't something Izuku ever remembers seeing on the blonde during middle school. He makes his way around the small crowd of people, wondering where he should go to find his mentor.
There wasn’t going to be a second sludge villian incident because Izuku had missed the first one.
If he found the man, maybe he could talk to him. He needs one for all. If he was really in the past then he needed to make sure he didn’t change anything too much.
He doesn’t know how he’ll be able to prove himself to be a hero now, or even how he’ll get All Might to believe him, but maybe the lie detector detective could-
His thoughts come to a screeching halt when he finally sees it, the black tarp. He nearly stumbles over his clumsy, now shaking legs.
What? Who..? That's when he really looks. Bakugou was sat in the back of an ambulance, the wrists of his school uniform singed. One of the two kids who used to follow him around, the one with long fingers, is sat next to him. But with a sinking feeling Izuku realizes that someone is missing.
The other old friend. The one who had been calling Izuku obsessed with Bakugou less than a half hour earlier was missing. Izuku’s eyes dart back to the black tarp.
The long fingered kid looks like he's mumbling something through his quiet sobs, but Izuku can't make it out, then the kid looks at Bakugou and seems to snap.
He grabs him by the collar and hauls him up, screaming into his face, “You let him die! Why did you let him die?!” Snot and tears cover the kids face, and Bakugou can only stare in shock, he says nothing to refute the kids claims.
“All I have are these useless fingers, but you!” He shakes Bakugou after every word, enunciating his point. “You have literal explosions! Why didn’t you save him!” That's when the nearby paramedics and police pull the kid off of bakugou. “You talk a big game about becoming a hero but look at what you let happen.” The kid finally slumps down in defeat, loud sobs racking his frame.
Bakugou looks like he’s about to be sick, and his hands begin to pop in anger, but go out after a moment.
Izuku stands frozen. Cold dread filling his chest. This was his fault. He let himself get hit by a quirk, then he let the past get changed in the most horrible way.