Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So, Izu. On a scale of one to ten, how much do you think Nabu will suck this year?” Hitoshi asked conversationally as they walked towards the school. He grimaced automatically.

“Depends on whether they’ve finally figured out my lack of Quirk and if they’re actually willing to start messing with us again after the stalker-basket incident that no one can actually prove was us.”

“Fair.” Hitoshi snickered. “I will never forget the look on Ito’s face when he saw that basket and its contents. How did you do that?”

“Oh, just a little research,” he said primly, though his chest warmed with pride at a job well done. “It’s his fault that he tried to lock you in a closet.”

Hitoshi snorted and shook his head.

“You’d think they’d have caught on by now, considering we’re in junior high now.”

“You’d think so, but then again—” he put on his innocent face and smiled sweetly at his best friend. “How could anyone with this face be so devious?”

Hitoshi snorted again, then sobered as they came up to Nabu’s doors.

“Ready for another year of hell?”

“Not really, but at least we’ve only got two more years here before UA.” He glared at their school before sighing in defeat. “It’s better than Aldera, anyway.”

“That terrifies me more than you could possibly believe.”

“Fair enough. Well, let’s get it over with—at least we’re still in the same class.”

                                                                                                    ****

Their homeroom class was just the same as the year before, and he wanted to roll his eyes at the monotony. At least their sensei was new.

Maybe they won’t be as bad as last year’s?

Then the woman made them introduce themselves with Quirks—like they didn’t know each other already—and he was cured of that delusion. At least his old excuse of ‘you can’t legally make me divulge my Quirk if I don’t want to’ held up again.

Whoo boy. This is going to be painful, I can already tell.

He glanced over at Hitoshi, who dramatically rolled his eyes. He quickly buried a snicker. 

Their sensei gave them all a sickly sweet smile once introductions were finished, but before she could do more than open her mouth, the door opened and the secretary poked her head in. 

“You have another student, Miyata-san. He just transferred this year.”

Miyata-sensei sighed and waved a hand. 

“Well, send him in. We hadn’t really started yet anyway.”

The secretary nodded and disappeared behind the door. Then it opened a minute later, revealing a blond boy with a familiar black streak in his hair. He froze as the boy waved with a bright smile.

No way. . .

“Well, come up to the front and introduce yourself and your Quirk,” Miyata-sensei said. The living ghost bounced up to the front of the class and waved again.

“I’m Kaminari Denki, and my Quirk is Electrification! I hope we can all be good friends!”

. . .Shit, I don’t think this will be good for my mental health—what’s left of it, anyways.

“Thank you, Kaminari-kun.” Miyata-sensei glanced over the classroom before sighing. “There’s an empty seat next to Midoriya-kun—Midoriya-kun, raise your hand so Kaminari-kun knows where you are.”

He lifted his hand in a daze, and Kaminari grinned at him before trotting over and taking a seat. He determinedly fixed his eyes on the board, ignoring Hitoshi’s attempts to get his attention. 

This is going to be. . .interesting, to say the least. Ah well, here we go again.

                                                                                                     ****

Denki was absolutely pumped for this!

Sure, new schools were a little scary, but his classmates all seemed nice enough. 

(He wondered how long that would last before they started making him the target of ‘class idiot’ jokes.)

What really caught his attention, though, were Midoriya and the purple-haired boy next to him. Said purple-hair kept trying to grab Midoriya’s attention, but the greenie was staring at the board like it held the secrets of the universe while fidgeting with something around his neck. 

It was decidedly odd, but he loved a good mystery—and besides, they looked nice. 

When the bell for lunch finally rang, he turned in preparation to start a conversation, but found himself being blocked by another student. 

“Hey, Kaminari, right?”

“That’s me!” He grinned up at the boy, though he caught sight of Purple and Midoriya watching the scene. Strangely enough, they looked. . .nervous. 

Huh. I wonder what’s up with them.

“Cool—we wanted to warn you about these two.” The boy jerked his thumb backwards, towards Purple and Midoriya. He tilted his head to the side, confused.

“Why? They seem nice enough.”

The boy scoffed.

“Shinso’s Quirk is Brainwashing; if you interact with him, he can make you do anything he wants. And Midoriya’s just weird—he hangs out with Shinso despite knowing his Quirk. If you ask me. . .” the boy leaned in close, although his voice was clearly loud enough for both Midoriya and ‘Shinso’ to hear. “I’d say that either Shinso brainwashed Midoriya and permanently messed with his brain, or that Midoriya’s Quirk is even worse. No one knows what it is.”

He blinked twice, trying to parse through the boy’s mini-speech. A brainwashing Quirk sounded pretty neat, come to think of it, and besides, who cared? He was more interested in their knowledge of memes and video games.

(And possibly if they could help him with his schoolwork. That was always a bonus.)

“Okay, and?”

The boy’s jaw dropped.

“Shinso’s a villain in the making! Midoriya is either his puppet or just as bad!”

Okay, that’s just rude.

However, before he could say anything, a voice rang out from behind the other boy.

“You do realize that we’re still here, right, Ito-kun?”

The boy—Ito?—whirled around and pointed at Midoriya.

“You stay out of this!”

Midoriya raised an eyebrow.

“You’re the one talking about us like we’re not here. And need I remind you what happens when you go too far, Ito-kun?”

Ito blanched, then scoffed and whirled around, storming out of the room in a huff. He stared after the boy before turning to Midoriya and Shinso, putting on his brightest smile.

“Man, he’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”

“You could say that,” Midoriya sighed, leaning back and shutting his eyes. “Sorry about him—he likes approaching new kids to try and blacken our names.”

“Originally he tried to turn Izu against me,” Shinso added, propping his head up on his head. Then the purple teen smirked. “It did not work, and the fallout was extremely entertaining to watch.”

“Huh.” He dug around in his bag for his lunch and plopped it on the desk before shifting so he could face Midoriya and Shinso more easily. “Is everyone here like that?”

“Pretty much.” Midoriya shrugged, going through his own bag. “They’re scared of Toshi and have no idea what to think about me.”

“Ah—Toshi?” He tilted his head, and Midoriya facepalmed.

“Right, sorry, I forgot. I’m Midoriya Izuku.”

“Shinso Hitoshi.” Shinso gave Midoriya the side-eye, but didn’t say anything else. He made a quick mental note of it.

What’s their deal?

. . .Ah well, that’s what questions are for!

“So, you guys are good friends?” He wanted to smack himself as soon as the words fell out of his mouth.

Obviously they’re good friends if they have nicknames, you dummy!

Luckily for him, neither Midoriya or Shinso made a fuss about his idiotic question.

“Yeah. I’ve known Zu since he moved here three years ago and he saved me from bullies.”

Midoriya flushed slightly.

“You make it sound so dramatic, Toshi.”

Shinso turned to Midoriya and gave him a withering look. 

“You appeared in an alleyway, verbally eviscerated my bullies, and threatened to call the cops on them. It was incredible. And that’s not including your multiple verbal smackdowns against Ito.”

“I—” Midoriya hesitated, then let his head hang with a groan. “Okay, fair.”

“Actually—” he nervously broke in, “what did you mean when you told him to remember what happened when he went too far?”

Shinso snorted, and Midoriya covered his mouth with one hand. But he could still see the way that the greenie’s eyes crinkled at the corners. He glanced between them with a furrowed brow.

“Uh—”

“Don’t worry, Kaminari-kun,” Midoriya said calmly, though his eyes were still sparkling with what looked like mischief. “I was just referencing an incident last year. No one is even sure we were behind it.”

“Oh please, they know,” Shinso drawled, grinning toothily. “They just can’t prove it.” Then Shinso turned to him. “Last year, certain individuals in our grade received baskets filled with very personal information on themselves, their families, and family history, as well as any infractions they’d committed. This happened after they attempted to lock me in a closet over the weekend.” Shinso’s smirk widened. “They haven’t tried that since. Most people are sure that we had something to do with it, but there’s no proof one way or the other.”

He slowly sat back in his seat. Then, once he’d finally processed this revelation, a slow smile grew on his face. 

“Wicked. That’s so cool, dudes!”

Shinso raised an eyebrow, then nodded.

“Alright, you don’t seem too bad. Welcome to the Lunch Club.” Then Shinso turned to Midoriya and started poking him repeatedly in the shoulder. “As for you, what was going on earlier? You looked like you. . . oh.” Shinso paused and stared at Midoriya. “Was it one of those things?”

Midoriya nodded slowly, letting out a long sigh. 

“. . .I’ll give you the details later.”

“Got it.”

“Uh—”

Midoriya glanced at him and smiled—although it looked oddly pained. 

“Don’t worry, Kaminari-kun. It’s not anything bad. You just. . .remind me of someone.”

“Oh? Who?” Then he wanted to smack himself again.

Real tactful, Denki.

Midoriya shrugged.

“An old friend of mine. Like I said, don’t worry about it.”

“Fair enough.” As curious as he was, he wasn’t going to push any harder. Instead. . .

“How’s your meme knowledge, you two?”

                                                                                                     ****

By the end of the day, he’d been fully accepted into Midoriya and Shinso’s little bubble and he couldn’t be happier. Midoriya was a bit of an oddball, but also an absolute sweetheart and brilliant to boot; the greenie deciphered his Quirk like it was child’s play and gave him some genius training suggestions after he said he wanted to be a hero. He was a little awed by Midoriya’s intelligence. If he got the chance, he was definitely going to pick his new friend’s brain during a study session.

Shinso was quieter than Midoriya, but when he did speak up, he did so with a sharp wit and sarcastic commentary. The brainwasher was also really, really funny—he was in stitches by the end of lunch. 

Oh, I like them. These two are great.

The other students in class kept giving him worried or disbelieving looks whenever they thought he wasn’t paying attention. So did their sensei, which was really uncool.

(Besides, he was always paying attention.)

When the final bell rang, he snatched his bag off the floor and hopped out of his seat, bouncing in place.

“We should totally hang out after school!”

Before he could get a response, Ito reappeared, this time with two other students at his side. 

“Shinso hoodwinked you, too?” Ito sounded both disappointed and disgusted somehow. He scowled at the other boy, but Midoriya casually stepped in front of him and stared Ito down with a sweet smile on his face. 

“Ito-kun. Do I have to remind you again that Toshi isn’t a villain?” Midoriya clasped his hands in front of him and rocked forward on the balls of his feet. “It’s getting very tedious to say the same things over and over.”

Ito audibly swallowed, his face going pale. Without a word, the other boy turned around and left the room, his cronies trailing along behind him. As soon as they were out of sight, Midoriya sighed and turned to face him and Shinso. Then the greenie pointed towards the door.

“That is starting to bother me.”

Shinso just shook his head.

“They should know better by now, but with luck, they won’t do anything more than bluster.”

“Fingers crossed.” Then Midoriya looked over at him with a brighter, more real smile. “Want to come with us to Toshi’s house, Kami-kun?”

“I—Sure!” He started bouncing again in excitement as Shinso raised an eyebrow.

“Why did you volunteer my house?”

“Do you really think your parents will be upset?”

“No, they’ll be ecstatic. That doesn’t answer my question.”

Midoriya looked Shinso directly in the eyes, face falling into a deadpan expression.

“One word: Dabi.”

“Ah. Point taken.”

He glanced between them once again.

“Who?”

“He’s sort of my adopted brother?” Midoriya shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

“. . .Noted.” They left the classroom and headed towards the front doors. As they did, Shinso suddenly came up behind him and lightly tapped his shoulder. 

“Hey, Kaminari? When we get out of the school, we’re going to start running.”

He glanced over at the taller teen with an eyebrow raised. 

“. . .Why?”

“Bullies.”

Ah.

He nodded twice to show he understood and picked up the pace slightly. Sure enough, as soon as they were out of the doors, pouding footsteps started up behind them. Midoriya and Shinso both gripped an arm and started running.

“Let’s take a bit of a detour to get them off our tails, shall we?”

                                                                                                    ****

They didn’t stop running until they reached a little clearing in the woods. As soon as they came to a halt, he collapsed onto the ground and dramatically gasped for breath.

“How. . .are. . .you. . .two. . .so. . .fast?”

There was a moment of silence, then Shinso spoke up.

“I now understand why you were amused every time I fell over after a workout.”

“See?” Then Midoriya came over and hauled him to his feet. “Are you alright, Kami-kun?”

“. . .Kinda dying. . .but I’ll be fine,” he wheezed. Shinso snorted. 

“If you want to join a hero course, you need to be in better shape.”

“You were no better when I met you, Toshi,” Midoriya said, raising an eyebrow. Shinso turned red and glanced away. 

“Shush.”

As he finally got his breath back and his legs felt a little less like spent rubber bands, he processed this and turned to his new friends. 

“You guys know a lot about training—do you want to be heroes too?”

“Yep.” Shinso gave him a wave while Midoriya nodded, his curls bouncing with the motion. “We’ve been training together since Izu moved here, and I can say that it does pay off.”

He mulled this over, then fell to his knees and clasped his hands together.

“Can I train with you? Pleeeeease~?”

Shinso and Midoriya shared a look, then Midoriya grinned at him and held out a hand.

“Sure thing, Kami-kun!”

Then Shinso snorted. 

“Hope you like tasting soil, sweat, and blood, dude.” A feral grin appeared on the teen’s face. “This is going to be brutal for you—trust me, I would know. Izu’s unreal.”

“I think I can handle it!” he said boldly. Midoriya’s grin grew bigger and he was suddenly filled with a sense of impending doom.

. . .I hope I can handle it.

Chapter Text

“So, who was Kaminari Denki during your first runthrough of life?”

He turned to Hitoshi with an arched eyebrow.

“. . .First runthrough of life? Really?”

“Am I wrong?”

He scowled under his mask before hopping across a building gap.

“Fine. He was Livewire.”

“Oh.” Hitoshi went quiet for a moment. “That’s the last member of the group that was supposed to go back with you, right?”

“Yup.” He hopped across another gap and turned back to Hitoshi. “That means I’ve met them all now—Piper in you, Blank in Eraserhead, and Livewire in Kami-kun.” He let out a soft sigh and tilted his head back so he could look at the stars. “. . .I can hardly believe it’s been three and a half years. It still feels like yesterday, some days.”

He heard Hitoshi land next to him, then felt a hand settle gently on his shoulder.

“Are you going to be okay? Sitting right next to him?”

“I managed fine sitting next to you, didn’t I?” he joked half-heartedly. “Besides, it’ll be easier now that I’m a little more used to it. And some days will be easier than others.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that.” He heard Hitoshi shift in place for a moment. “Ready to start patrolling?”

“Almost.” His eyes never left the sky. “Did you know, when I first came back from the future, I crawled out my window almost every night just to sit on the roof and stargaze?”  

“Really? Why?”

“I’d forgotten what they looked like.” He slowly raised a hand and traced lines between the tiny pinpricks of light. “Back there, the sky was always full of smoke—towards the end, it was so thick that sometimes even the sun couldn’t pierce it. When I came back, I actually woke up on the roof once because I’d fallen asleep while re-memorizing the stars.” Then he chuckled sadly. “Piper and Livewire liked stargazing, too. It was one of our bonding rituals—at least, it was before things really went to shit.”

Hitoshi was quiet, just squeezing his shoulder slightly. Then a soft thump came from behind him and he sighed, turning around.

“Hey, Eraser.”

“Paradox, Enigma.” Aizawa nodded to them before reaching into a pocket and pulling out two foil-wrapped packets. “I bought sandwiches.”

“Not hungry at the moment, but I appreciate the offer nonetheless.” He accepted the packet he was handed and shoved it into his hoodie pocket. Beside him, Hitoshi did the same. “Did you need anything in particular, Eraser?”

“Is it so odd that I’d just want to check on you, Problem Child?” Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “. . .But yes, I wanted to tell you that Tsukauchi hasn’t found anything else out yet, but there’s definitely been a number of kidnappings recently, and their Quirks are decently strong. Tsukauchi should be emailing you soon with the details.”

“Dammit.” That was not good news.

Is he starting already? I need to up my game. . .

Aizawa raised an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you a little young to swear?”

“Not really.” Then he folded his arms across his chest. “Anything else?”

Aizawa opened his mouth, then paused and tilted his head.

“What’s up with you? You’re in a bit of a mood.”

He let his arms fall with a sigh.

“. . .I met another of my old bunkermates today. I’m still off-kilter.”

“Ah.” Aizawa thankfully didn’t push any farther.

It’s times like this when I’m extremely grateful that I gave him enough information to keep him from asking too many questions.

 Instead, Aizawa only gestured carelessly to the roofs. “Are you actually going to patrol tonight, or am I going to end up arresting you at last?”

That surprised a snort out of him. 

“No chance.” He held one hand behind his back and quickly signaled Hitoshi. Then, before Eraserhead could blink, they dashed past him and lunged over the roof. Aborted swears floated through the night air and he couldn’t help snickering.

Nothing better for fixing a bad mood than messing with Aizawa.

They didn’t stop running until they heard the sounds of a scuffle below. Then they skidded to a halt and began to silently plan their attack.

                                                                                                    ****

“So, Izu, do you plan to tell Kaminari about all this?” Hitoshi asked as they sat on the roof of an apartment building with their sandwiches. He shrugged as he took another bite. 

“I have no clue. I don’t exactly have any objection to it, but I want to get to know him—the younger him, not Livewire—first. And besides, I need to make sure he can keep a secret.” He stared off into the distance as he lowered the sandwich. “Livewire knew how, but I’m eighty percent sure that it took him a war to learn that skill. Ergo. . .”

“You want to wait for a bit,” Hitoshi finished. “Fair enough. Will Kaminari be joining us on patrol as well?”

“Who’s Kaminari?”

It was only the years of training to keep himself from jumping when startled that kept him from falling off the roof. Hitoshi had no such buffer and toppled forward, only to be pulled back by a familiar white scarf. He quickly pulled his mask on and turned to glare at Aizawa.

“Was that necessary, Eraser? We’re on break here!”

“Sorry.” Aizawa pulled the scarf back once Hitoshi was firmly on the roof. “I thought you’d heard me coming up.”

. . .Okay, can’t blame him for that one.

“Still, be careful,” Hitoshi grumbled after fixing his mask in place and taking some deep breaths. “My whole life just flashed before my eyes.”

“Again, my apologies.” Then Aizawa tilted his head. “Why are you using the masks? I’ve heard both of your actual voices by now.”

“Secret identities, Eraser. Haven’t you ever heard of those?” he snarked, wrapping up the remains of his sandwich and pulling out his phone to check the time. 

One in the morning already?

He managed to catch Hitoshi’s eye and tapped his wrist twice. His partner nodded in understanding and ducked around Aizawa, heading for the opposite end of the roof. 

“Paradox, Enigma, wait!”

He eyed Aizawa warily. 

“What?”

“I do genuinely want to help you two with your fight against the Boogeyman, but I can’t do that without information.” Aizawa slowly approached him, hands held up slightly. He sighed heavily.

“What kind of information are you referring to?”

“Do you know where he’s supposed to be?”

He scowled automatically. 

“I know where he’s going to be in three years’ time, but so far, I’m not hitting any leads. I’ll let you and the detective know if I find anything.”

“Fair enough.” Aizawa backed off, and he jogged over to join Hitoshi at the roof’s edge. “Be safe, you two.”

“We’ll do our best.” Then he and Hitoshi leapt off the edge and to the next building. As soon as they were a decent distance away, Hitoshi twisted to face him. 

“Time to head home?”

“Most definitely. I’d rather not give Dabi any more ammunition to tease me with—and he absolutely will if I accidentally doze off during our hero-critique session again.”

Hitoshi snorted, and he glared at his best friend. 

“Shush.”

“Never.”

                                                                                                    ****

The next day at school, he had to beg off of Kaminari’s offer to hang out at his house, instead sacrificing Hitoshi to the blond without remorse. When his friend tried to protest, he just held up his hands and quickly signed.

/You can start his training if you want. Nothing extreme, but work those muscles./

That got an evil grin out of Hitoshi and a nervous question from Kaminari, which was promptly ignored.

(Learning sign with Hitoshi had definitely been a valuable use of time in the first year of middle school—much more useful than re-visiting content he’d already learned.)

As soon as the bell rang, he, Hitoshi, and Kaminari left the room as quickly as possible to avoid Ito. Then, once they left the grounds, Hitoshi and Kaminari veered off towards the park. He just continued straight home. 

Dabi looked up as soon as he opened the door.

“What are you doing home so early? Normally you train with your friend for a few hours after school.”

“I have some research to do.”

Dabi blinked, then understanding flitted across his face.

“Ah. Got it.” Dabi returned to his book, waving a hand casually. “Carry on, then. And by the way, Inko-san will be back in an hour or so.”

“Thanks, Dabi.” He headed for his room and closed the door with a sigh. After taking a moment to change and shed the stress of the school day, he yanked out his homework and flew through it so he could get to work on the important things.

Alright, let’s look into these kidnappings. . .

He lost himself to the void of the Internet within minutes. Just by looking at the files of the kidnapping victims, he couldn’t recognize any of their Quirks, but that unfortunately didn’t mean that they hadn’t been taken by All for Shit. He highly doubted that the Nomus from USJ and Hosu had been created on the first try, after all. 

So he turned to the statements, looking into where each of them were last seen. Then he went to the nearest security cameras to that location. In some cases, they were in more public places. In others, they were taken straight from their own homes, which was more than a bit. . .problematic, but he could deal with it.

Hopefully.

He sorted through what felt like hours of fast-forwarded footage from security cameras, looking for license plates, suspicious figures, or distinctive black-purple smoke. However, every single one was a dead end.

All but one.

When his eyes were starting to feel rectangular from however long he’d been staring at the screen, he finally caught a glimpse of something on some footage. He immediately paused it and referenced the corresponding file again. 

Let’s see—name is Saito Rekka, 42 years old, gang member and petty criminal, disappeared two weeks ago in Hokkaido. . .Quirk is Shock Absorption.

He swallowed roughly and re-wound the footage, watching it intently. Sure enough, there was a single flicker right as Saito turned into an alley. His fingers started flying across the keys. 

There’s got to be another camera with a better angle. . .

He nearly let out a victorious shout when he found another camera. He hunkered close to the screen and stared at it intently. 

Come on, come on, come on. . .there!

As soon as Saito was far enough in the alley to be invisible to any passerby, someone lunged from behind a dumpster and whacked him over the head with a piece of wood. Then the attacker hefted Saito over their shoulder and pulled out a phone. Moments later, a sickeningly familiar swirl of purple-black shadows appeared in the alley, and the attacker stepped through. 

He downloaded the camera footage and added it to his evidence folder—which was pitifully small at the moment, but oh well. Anything was good at this point. Then he started drafting an email to the detective.

‘Detective Tsukauchi,

Saito Rekka was definitely taken by All for One. I’ll include the appropriate footage in this email. The portal is the work of Kurogiri, a Nomu with a Warp Quirk. Kurogiri is. . .complicated, so I’ll go into more detail in another email, but for now, we at least have a definite sign of activity. I’ll keep in touch and update you if I find any evidence of other All for One victims.

-Paradox’

He linked the camera footage and sent the email off with a sigh, checking the time. His eyes went wide.

Six hours?! No wonder my eyes feel like rectangular prisms now.

He finished saving all the crucial information before he finally shut his tabs and turned off his computer. He yawned fiercely and rubbed his eyes.

I’m gonna call that a night.

He organized his papers and turned in his chair, only to nearly scream as he caught sight of Dabi lounging on his bed. When his heart returned to its normal tempo, he glared at his sort-of-brother.

“Dabi, what the hell?!”

Dabi raised an eyebrow, absolutely oozing amusement.

“I’ve been in here for almost two hours, how have you just now noticed me?”

His cheeks began to flush, but he steadfastly ignored it.

“I was a little busy. Now out!”

“Fine, fine.” Dabi peeled himself off the bed and stretched. “What had your attention, anyway? I’ve never seen you so focused—I literally tried shaking you to get your attention for dinner, but you didn’t even blink. You’re welcome for keeping Inko-san off your back, by the way.”

He looked away with a sigh.

“Thanks, Dabi. And it’s just something related to preventing a dystopian future.”

“Huh.” Dabi shrugged and headed for the door. “Sweet dreams, brat. Might want to get something to eat before you go to bed.”

“I will.” He shut the door behind Dabi and let his head thud against it, groaning. Once he was satisfied with his wallowing, he changed into pajamas and grabbed a protein bar from his drawer. As soon as he was finished and took care of basic hygiene, he face-planted into the bed. He was unconscious within moments.

Chapter Text

“This is torture~” Izuku whined as he jogged out of his house. Hitoshi raised an eyebrow.

“What, going to school? Can’t say I blame you, but—”

“No.” He pouted as he fell into step beside his friend. “I spent two decades learning to control myself and my body, and yet here I am, all control gone out the window!” His voice cracked on the last word and he let out another whine of frustration.

Hitoshi stared at him for a moment before understanding dawned on his face.

“. . .You’re talking about puberty, aren’t you?”

“What else would I be talking about?!”

Hitoshi had the audacity to snort.

“Everyone goes through it, Izu, you’re not special.”

“Yes, but I’ve already gone through it once!” He hid his face in his hands and groaned. “And it was awful and awkward and why do I have to do it all over again?!”

Hitoshi just laughed at him like the jerk he was. He gave his friend a venomous glare from between his fingers.

“It’s not funny, Toshi.”

“No, it’s hilarious.”

He flipped Hitoshi off.

“See if I have any sympathy for you when you complain about it.”

Before their bickering could continue, the sound of pounding footsteps approached, followed by a bright laugh.

“Hey hey hey, my dudes!” Kaminari tackled them in a hug, nearly tipping them all over. It was only through war-honed—or vigilante-honed, in Hitoshi’s case—reflexes that they managed to avoid falling down in a heap. “How are you guys today?”

“I’m fine, Kaminari. But Izu here is pouting.” Hitoshi readjusted his stance to maintain balance and smirked. Kaminari turned to meet his eyes.

“Are you good, dude?”

He just let out the longest, most exasperated groan he could.

Blank would be proud. . .

“Don’t worry about it, Kami-kun.”

                                                                                                    ****

“Group work time, everyone!” Miyata-sensei chirped with a large, fake smile. He closed his eyes to keep himself from rolling them. 

Fingers crossed we’ll get a group together. . .

“You’ll work in pairs, which I will assign!”

And there goes that hope. 

Miyata-sensei began to read down a list, and he wanted to bang his head into the wall as his name was called out.

“Midoriya Izuku and Ito Kai!”

You have got to be kidding me.

At least Kaminari and Hitoshi were partnered up. It was a small mercy, but at least Hitoshi wouldn’t end up mocked or blamed by another classmate.

He tried not to notice the way Hitoshi looked towards him with immense worry and sympathy. 

Finally, Miyata-sensei actually passed out the papers for the assignment and dismissed them to work in their groups. Ito strutted over, but he could see the poorly-hidden nervousness in his body language. Before the other boy could say anything, he decided to speak up.

“We don’t like each other, Ito-kun, but let’s get this done to the best of our ability so we can spend as little time in each other’s company as possible without jeopardizing our grades.”

Ito looked like he wanted to protest, but eventually pressed his lips together and nodded. 

Let’s get this nightmare over with.

The assignment was a partner quiz based on what they’d been taught the year before; it was easy enough—they could probably finish by the end of homeroom if they worked quick enough. He fully approved of the idea. It helped that Ito didn’t actively antagonize him for once; instead the boy kept his mouth shut unless it was to contribute information to their assignment. 

They just managed to finish by the time homeroom ended, and Ito scurried up to the front with the sheet. He elected to put his head down and force away the urge to throw up.

Working with a bully. . .how far I’ve fallen.

(Was he being dramatic? Yes. Did he care? Absolutely not.)

Classes continued as normal, although he never lifted his head from the table. His hours on the computer the night before were taking their toll and worsening his already-poor mood; and that wasn’t taking his unwilling partnership with Ito into account.

I’m going to need to train hard this afternoon to get my belligerence out.

Then their sensei’s sharp voice interrupted his thoughts, along with the sharp smack of wood on wood.

“Midoriya!”

He lifted his head off the table to see his sensei standing right in front of his desk, holding a ruler. As soon as he met his sensei’s eyes, the man sneered.

“Since you seem comfortable enough with the content to not pay attention , why don’t you come up and answer the question on the board?”

Snickers came from the other students, but he couldn’t care less. It was only through intense force of will that he kept himself from rolling his eyes. 

“Yes, sensei.” He got up and wove through the desks to get to the board, where he scanned over the problem. Internally, he scoffed.

Easy.

He quickly scribbled the answer onto the board and returned to his seat. His sensei read over the writing, already opening his mouth with a smug gleam in his eyes. Then, as he watched, the smugness was replaced by shock, and then by frustration.

It automatically made his day better.

“. . .Correct.” His sensei growled, stalking back to the front of the class. As the lesson resumed, he set his head back down and tried to calm his nerves. 

Kami, I hate middle school.

                                                                                                    ****

“Mido, are you okay?” Kaminari gave him a concerned look as they settled onto the roof to eat. He heaved a sigh and flopped backwards onto the roof. 

“I just really hate middle school sometimes.”

“No kidding,” Hitoshi mused. Then his friend’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “It’d be a shame if someone had to do it twice~”

He glared venomously at Hitoshi, but Kaminari just laughed.

“Ooh, man, that’d be a special kind of torture! But hey, once we’re done, we’re done!”

You’d think that, wouldn’t you?

He made sure to meet Hitoshi’s eyes and made sure to slowly and distinctly mouth the words ‘You’ll pay for that later’. Already he was drafting up a way to get his revenge.

Maybe I’ll blast really bad pre-Quirk-era music while we train today. . .

“Earth to Zu!”

He startled out of his thoughts and looked over at his friends. 

“Yeah?”

“You started muttering again—something about music?”

“Don’t worry about it, Toshi.”

Luckily for him, the bell rang a moment later, and they hurried to pack up their food. As he got up to head downstairs, he sent up a prayer to any being that might be listening.

Please let nothing else happen today. . .

                                                                                                    ****

Of course, he never could be that lucky. 

As they headed for the doors at the end of the day, he found himself being jerked back by his backpack strap. He quickly regained his footing and whirled around, barely stopping himself from putting his hands in a defensive position.

There aren’t any villains or Nomus here. Just asshole middle schoolers.

Once he determined that there was no actual threat, he tightened his grip on his backpack straps and glared at the other students.

“What do you want now?”

Whatever they were about to say dissolved into thin air as he had a staredown with them. Slowly, they backed away without ever breaking the silence. 

. . .Huh.

He shook his head with an irritated huff and turned to face his friends once again. 

“Honestly, they are really starting to become a nuisance. One of these days, I am going to lose it.”

He looked up in confusion when he didn’t get any kind of response, only to see that Kaminari was substantially paler than before and Hitoshi looked both amused and concerned.

“Um, are you alright, Kami-kun?”

Kaminari shook his head sharply and smacked his cheeks. Then the blond offered him a shaky smile.

“Y-yeah, just. . .you got this really intimidating aura for a moment and I might’ve feared for my life a bit.”

He turned to Hitoshi for an explanation, and without ever changing expression, his best friend lifted his hands to sign.

/You were giving out your vigilante-slash-hero student-slash-war rebel vibes again./

Well, shit. 

“Oh, heh, sorry about that.” He felt his cheeks start to warm and dutifully ignored it. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Kami-kun.”

“All good, my dude.” Then Kaminari brightened. “Hey, can you teach me how to do that? And the whole hand-talking thing?”

“JSL? Sure.” He considered the other half of the request for a moment.

. . .Come to think of it, satiating my inner chaos gremlin has always put me in a good mood. . .

So he nodded.

“And if you want to learn how to do the whole intimidating-aura thing, then yeah, I’ll teach you. Toshi, do you want in on this?”

The grin he got would have made Shigaraki quake in his shoes.

“I think you already know the answer to that.”

“Then let’s get going!” He sidled past his friends toward the door. “I need to get out of this school, anyway—I’ve had enough of middle school for the day.”

For two lifetimes, really, but who’s counting?

“No kidding!” Kaminari flung himself to the side. He reached out and managed to snag the blond before he overbalanced and ended up on the ground. Hitoshi walked on his other side, shaking his head with a small smile.

“You two are something else.”

“And you say that like you’re not just as crazy as we are,” he retorted, elbowing Hitoshi playfully. “Now come on, let’s pick up the pace before we get interrupted yet again .”

“Oh, yeah. Good idea.”

                                                                                                    ****

Later, while Kaminari was just out of earshot, Hitoshi leaned in close to whisper in his ear. 

“You know, I would think that taking Dabi home like a stray cat and reforming him via kitten eyes and ruthless logic would be harder than dealing with a bratty middle schooler for half an hour.”

He glared at his best friend and elbowed him hard in the ribs. 

“Quiet.”

(Hitoshi wasn’t exactly wrong, but he was going to stick to his dramatics, dammit. Besides, reforming villains was much more rewarding in the long run than dealing with a bully.)

“Doesn’t make me wrong,” Hitoshi rasped once he got his breath back. He intensified the glare.

“Shush.”

“But—”

“Shush.”

Chapter Text

Something was going on with Izuku again, Hitoshi was certain of it.

His friend had started staring out windows while fidgeting with his fingers and muttering too fast to be comprehensible, even for him—and he was an expert at deciphering Izuku’s mutters by now.

Is it something to do with the timeline again? I’ll have to ask him about it when Kaminari isn’t around.

It came to a head one afternoon while they were chilling out at Izuku’s house, enjoying the break between school years while avoiding the torrential rains currently pouring down on Saitama. It was quite peaceful, despite the odd mood Izuku was in.

Which, of course, meant that it was high time for something to go wrong, apparently.

“Hey, Mido, what’s this?” Kaminari asked. He glanced up from his phone and tilted his head to see what was going on. 

Is that a photo?

“Hmm?” Izuku looked away from the window, blinking quickly. Then his friend’s eyes fell on the photo and Izuku froze. “. . .Where did you find that?”

“It was on the floor, almost under the desk.” Kaminari traced a finger over the photo. Then the blond’s eyebrows went up. “Hey, some of these people look like us!”

That got his full attention, and he quickly got to his feet to peek over Kaminari’s shoulder.

The photo was worn and slightly faded, but the details were plain as day. Ten people were sitting on and around a couch. One of them looked a bit like Eraserhead with an eyepatch—at least from what he could see of the man; he was enclosed in a bright-yellow monstrosity of a sleeping bag. Then his eyes slid to the rest of the picture.

Woah. . .

An older Kaminari with lichtenberg figures down his arms was sprawled out over an older Izuku’s lap. The older Izuku was being given bunny ears by the unfamiliar blond sitting behind him, and an adult version of himself was doing the same to the blond. 

. . .Okay, this is really weird to see. 

“What is this?” Kaminari asked. A heavy sigh came from the bed.

“It’s a long story—you’re going to want to sit down for this one.” Izuku rearranged himself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. “But first, I’m going to warn you that it sounds absolutely crazy and impossible. I swear, I’m not a lunatic.”

Kaminari tilted his head. 

“I don’t think you’re a lunatic.”

“Not yet, you don’t.” Izuku smiled wryly and gestured for them to sit down. “Seriously, you’re going to want to be sitting down.”

“Fine.” Then Kaminari turned to him and shoved him back into his seat.

“Hey! What was that for?!”

Rather than answer him verbally, Kaminari just took a seat on his lap. He blinked down at the human Pikachu that he called his friend, then promptly decided to just go with it. It wasn’t like this was the first time Kaminari decided to use him as a chair. 

It’s the curse of being the tall one, I guess.

“Alright, hit me with it, Mido!”

Izuku raised an eyebrow, lips twitching up ever so slightly. 

“If you insist—I’m a time traveler from a dystopian future that ended up in my younger body and I’ve spent the last four years trying to find a way to stop a 200-year-old supervillain from taking over Japan and destroying society as we know it.”

There was a long moment of silence. 

“. . .No way.”

“Way.” Izuku got to his feet and headed over to the closet, rummaging around for a moment before tugging out a bag with yellow accents and a poorly-stitched lightning bolt on the flap. Then Izuku handed the bag to Kaminari. “This belonged to the older you, back in the original timeline.”

Kaminari opened the bag and pulled out a worn journal. Slowly, the blond began to flip through it, eyes widening with every page turned. He could practically hear the buffering sounds inside Kaminari’s head. 

“Holy. . .”

“It does sound insane, doesn’t it?” he said, leaning over Kaminari’s shoulder to peek in the journal. “I balked, too—but at the same time, I’d also just witnessed Izu having a flashback, so I knew something was up. Still took me a solid five minutes to move past outright denial.”

“I—” Kaminari shook his head and looked over at Izuku. “Okay, I believe you. This is. . . really weird.”

“You have no idea,” Izuku deadpanned, leaning against the wall. “It’s a bit less overwhelming than it was when I first came back, but there are days when it feels like yesterday.” His time-lord friend let out a long sigh and stared at the ceiling, the melancholy from earlier making its return. He tilted his head, nudging Kaminari a bit until he could get a clear view of Izuku. 

“Is today one of those days?”

“Not exactly.” Izuku sighed again and flopped onto the bed. “It’s just that. . .this marks the year where things started changing for me in the original timeline. So now I’m wondering how all of that is going to work.”

“Hold on, hold on!” Kaminari said suddenly. “I’m going to need a little more explanation here. According to this—” the blond waved the journal wildly, almost smacking him in the face. “Whoops, sorry, Shin—but according to this, there was a war going on? And genetically engineered monsters?”

“Those would be Nomu. There might be some drawings in there; if not, I’ve got some in my own journal. They were nasty to deal with.” Izuku let his head fall back against the wall. “Let me start from the beginning.”

                                                                                                    ****

“And so, here we are,” Izuku finished, flopping back onto his pillow with a huff. “Any questions?”

Kaminari was perfectly still for a moment. Then, in the span of a blink, he slithered off of Hitoshi’s lap and face-planted on the floor. Then the blond let out a single guttural screech before falling silent again.

“Uh, Kaminari? Are you good?” He knelt next to Kaminari and poked his shoulder a couple of times while Izuku watched from the bed with an expression of concern. 

Finally, Kaminari lifted his head and turned to meet his eyes with an anguished noise in the back of his throat.

“My brain hurts now. . .”

He couldn’t help snickering. 

“Yeah, that’s reasonable.” He offered Kaminari a hand and dragged the other teen to his feet. “You get used to it eventually.”

“It does explain a lot of things,” Kaminari admitted. “Like why you’re always so jumpy, Mido.”

Izuku pouted a little.

“I lived in an active war zone for a decade; what do you expect?”

Suddenly, the door swung open. Dabi poked his head in, eyebrows arched.

“What’s going on up here?” 

“Izu spilled the beans,” he explained, nudging Kaminari to a proper chair. Dabi let out a hum.

“Ah, that explains the shriek. Inko-san was worried.”

“Oops.” Kaminari finally shook off his shock and winced. “Tell her I’m sorry about that.”

“Sure. Welcome to the insanity, Kaminari.” Dabi headed out of the room without another word. Once the no-longer-future-villain left, Kaminari turned back to Izuku.

“So, the reason you’re so good at fighting is because you’ve been training so much to be ready to fight this All for One character?”

“Well, partially,” Izuku hedged. Kaminari raised an eyebrow, then beamed.

“Would it also have anything to do with the fact that you two are the vigilantes that have been prowling around Saitama these past few years?”

His jaw dropped. So did Izuku’s. Kaminari started cackling like a hyena.

“HAHAHAHAHAHA—oh my gosh—your faces—”

“H-How?!” he choked out. Kaminari finally got a hold of himself and folded his arms across his chest with a smug smirk.

“One, I look at forums, and there are some people who manage to catch really grainy photos. Not many, mind you, and they’re awful quality, but you can get a general idea of height and color scheme, and they match you guys perfectly. Two, you’re way too good at fighting and quick takedowns. Even with how much we practice, it wouldn’t make sense, especially considering that gyms around here won’t let you in. Three, your instincts are insanely sharp, and that comes from experience—which, knowing what I do now about your backstory, Mido, makes a lot more sense.”

He stared at the smug blond for a moment before slowly clapping. 

“Remind me to never, ever underestimate you.”

Kaminari snorted.

“Aw, you’re sweet, Shin.” Then Kaminari sobered a bit. “So. . .this All for One person. He’s that dangerous?”

Izuku scoffed slightly.

“Oh, he’s undoubtedly worse. It’s hard to describe just how dangerous he is.” Izuku was quiet for a moment, then steepled his fingers. “Basically, he’s got an unknown number of Quirks, at least one of which is a healing or regeneration Quirk, and he knows how to use them. He can also take or give said Quirks at will. In addition to this, he has no sense of morals and I doubt he cares for anyone other than himself and his goals—which are the total takedown of hero society.”

He involuntarily shuddered at the reminder. Kaminari went several shades paler.

“O. . .Okay then. Do you need any help. . .?”

“I think Eraserhead would murder us all if we brought another person into the group,” he deadpanned. Izuku snorted.

“He would certainly scold us.” Then Izuku snapped his fingers. “You might be able to help in a different way, though!”

“Oh? How?”

Izuku grinned, his smile holding a distinctly manic edge to it. 

“You’re a top-notch hacker, right?”

He blinked, then craned his neck to stare at Kaminari. 

“You're what now?”

Kaminari went from very pale to very red in the space of half a second, staring at Izuku in shock.

“How did you—”

Izuku tapped his temple, smirking. 

“I lived in an enclosed space with future-alternate-you for almost nine years and shared dorms with you for another year. I know a lot about you.”

“. . .Well, that’s not creepy or anything.”

“It’s not like I can help it, Kami-kun!”

“Just call me Denki at this point. We’ve known each other long enough.” Then Kaminari grinned again. “Besides, after all this secret-sharing, it only seems right!”

He does have a point.

“You can call me Hitoshi, then,” he said. Izuku beamed. 

“Then call me Izuku!”

                                                                                                    ****

Once they’d gotten the secrets all out of their systems, they all ended up on Izuku’s floor, staring at the ceiling, and he decided that it was finally time to ask Izuku a certain question.

“Hey, Izu, what was nagging at you this afternoon? You’ve been a little bit off for the past few days.”

“Ah. That.” Izuku was quiet for a moment, then continued. “Well, you see. . .things took a major turn around the start of my last year of middle school. I met someone very important, and they—argh!” Izuku groaned, and he turned his head to see the other teen dragging his hands down his face. “Stupid national secrets. . .”

“National secrets?!” Denki almost screeched. He couldn’t blame the blond when his reaction was pretty much the same. 

“Shh! Pipe down!” Izuku flailed his hands around desperately for a moment. Then Izuku sighed. “You know what? Fuck it. You guys can keep secrets, and this won’t make sense without context.”

He propped himself up on his hands and watched as Izuku sat up and crossed his legs, leaning back against the bed. 

“Okay, so in the original timeline, I met All Might towards the beginning of my third year of middle school. He saved me from a villain, and I tried to ask him if someone who was Quirkless could be a hero, but he said no and ended up leaving me on a roof—which is a bit of a story in and of itself, but I’ll go into that later. Anyway, he left, and I ended up running into the same villain again because he’d escaped All Might and taken a hostage.”

He immediately knew where this was going and groaned, burying his face in his hands. 

“You ran in to save the hostage, didn’t you?”

“Uh, yeah, pretty much.” Izuku turned red, but continued his story. “Anyway, All Might showed up again and stopped the villain right after I’d gotten the hostage away. After I’d left the scene, he came after me and offered me his Quirk.”

I’m sorry, say what now?

“Yeah, what Hitoshi said,” Denki added, meaning that he’d apparently spoken out loud.

Whoops.

“His Quirk is transferable. Back to the story—I accepted and he trained me; the power ended up turning my bones to mush several times before I got it under control; and apparently it was created by All for One and given to his rebellious younger brother. My dilemma is thus: I lived in Musutafu in the original timeline, which is what allowed me to meet All Might in the first place. Now, I have no idea if I’ll have the opportunity to get it, or if I should accept it if the opportunity comes—it caused a lot of problems the first time, and I know that I can be a Quirkless hero, but at the same time, it’s an incredibly useful tool in my fight against All for One. Besides. . .” Izuku trailed off into a mutter storm, indirectly giving him a moment to process. One look at Denki told him that the blond was in the same boat. 

“Should we just. . .wait for him to come out of it?” Denki asked cautiously after a few minutes. He shook his head.

“Nah, that’ll take hours.” Then he reached over and shook Izuku’s shoulder. “Hey, Izu, slow down. We can’t decipher Midoriya Mutterspeak when you talk that fast.”

“. . .which could potentially have lasting impacts on society—wait, Midoriya Mutterspeak?” Izuku glanced up in surprise.

“I mean, yeah?” He ruffled Izuku’s hair, reveling in the yelp the action received. “When you talk that fast, it’s like you’re speaking another language. Knowing you for three and a half years has definitely helped, but even I can’t always figure it out. Slow down a little and we’ll try to help with whatever it is, alright?”

Izuku pouted, but sighed and nodded.

“I’ll give you more details on the Quirk itself in a bit, but in my mind, the big question is—do I even take it if I get the chance? I can be a Quirkless hero, and I would love to follow that path—but at the same time, can I really refuse that kind of power when my entire reason for coming back is to defeat All for One?” Izuku bowed his head, twisting something under his shirt. “I’m not here to follow my dream of being a Quirkless hero, as much as I would like to.”

He took a moment to process Izuku’s info-dump, then hummed consideringly. 

“Well, you said you weren’t sure if you would even get the opportunity this time, right?” he asked. When Izuku nodded, he continued. “In that case, just keep doing what you’re doing—if you do end up with the opportunity to get the Quirk, take it because it’ll be a big help, and just use it as an extra skill to keep in your toolbox in case of emergencies. If you don’t get the chance, oh well—you’re still perfectly capable of kicking anyone’s ass.”

“Agreed!” Denki chimed in, beaming. “Whichever you choose, you’ll make it work!”

Izuku looked between them, a smile slowly appearing on his face. His eyes shone suspiciously brightly, but tears never fell.

“Thanks, guys.”

                                                                                                    ****

Bonus:

“By the way, where did you get that bag?” Denki asked.

“Oh! Livewire—that was the codename that other-you chose when Japan fell—was supposed to come back with me, along with Blank and Piper, who were Eraserhead and Toshi respectively. But a raiding party found us before we could go, and the other three went to buy me time. I took their bags along with me because they had their journals and a few other things.”

He nodded, then froze as a realization hit him.

“Wait—does that mean you have Piper’s bag?”

“Yes. . .?”

He whipped around to stare at Izuku, scandalized.

“And you never showed me ?!”

“Oh—sorry.” Izuku chuckled sheepishly and got up, rummaging through the closet again before pulling out another worn bag. This one had purple trim and a stained white spiral on the flap. “Here you go.”

He snatched the bag and immediately pulled out his counterpart’s journal.  It was admittedly very strange seeing words in his own handwriting that he had no memory of ever writing, but no matter. 

“Are we getting him back?” he heard Denki ask.

“Probably not, no.”

“Shut it, you two.” He flapped a hand at his friends, then yelped as he turned a page and came face-to-face with a drawing of a horribly twisted and malformed figure that was nearly-but-not-quite quadrupedal and had a human face. “What the hell is that?!”

“Ah. That’s what a Nomu looks like—a Hound, to be precise.”

He stared at it in horror.

“Oh my stars, it’s hideous.”

“I did tell you they were nasty, didn’t I?”

“It can’t be that bad, can it?” Denki asked. The blond peeked over his shoulder and immediately winced. “Okay, never mind.”

“Try fighting those things,” Izuku said dryly. Then the other teen winced. “Actually, no, I take that back. I hope you never have to face a Hound.”

“Yeah,” he breathed, still gazing at the drawing. “Me too.”

Chapter Text

The ringing of his phone startled Toshinori badly enough to start a coughing fit. Once it subsided and he got the blood cleaned up, he hurried to answer it.

“Hello, Yagi Toshinori speaking.”

“Hey, Toshi, you’re looking for a successor, right?”

“Naomasa!” He said warmly and settled back in his chair. “This is a surprise. And yes, I am looking for a successor, but I haven’t had much luck. Apparently Nighteye has a candidate, but I haven’t met them yet.”

“Well, I might have another one.”

“Oh?” He picked up his tea again and took a quick sip. He then bit back a gag as the salty taste of blood filled his mouth again.

Dammit, some of the blood must’ve gotten into my tea. . .oh well.

“Yep. I’ve not seen them personally, but I’ve heard about them from Eraserhead, and we’ve been corresponding via emails for the past year or two.”

“Eraserhead?” His brow furrowed in confusion.

“Ah—the potential candidate is a teenage vigilante.”

He automatically winced, taking another sip of tea.

“Vigilantes are very illegal, Naomasa—”

“They know about All for One.”

He spat his tea—and more blood—out in shock.

“W-w-WHAT?!”

“Yeah. . .do you remember how I told you that All for One might have survived since we never found his body?”

“Yes. . .?”

“It’s been confirmed. He’s alive and kidnapping people. The vigilante confirmed it.”

“And. . .who is this vigilante?” he asked faintly, mopping up the mess. The sound of a facepalm echoed through the phone.

“Right, right, sorry. They’re called Paradox; they’ve been active for about four years at this point. They’ve also got a partner called Enigma, but from what Eraserhead’s told me, Paradox is the one with all the information on All for One.”    

“ How does this vigilante know about All for One, exactly?” he asked slowly. Naomasa sighed.

“Because according to Paradox, they’re a time traveler that came from the future to stop All for One from taking over Japan.”

He only just managed to keep from spitting out blood yet again.

“And you believed them?!”

“Not at first, but after sharing a few emails, the doubts began fading—and Eraserhead overheard them talking about it with their partner. Paradox knows things, Toshinori—things that they couldn’t have known without some kind of prior knowledge. And according to Eraserhead, they’re skilled and they have a good heart.”

He hummed absently as he mulled Naomasa’s words over. Then he made a tentative decision.

“Where does Paradox patrol?”

“Saitama. Occasionally they dip into Shiozuka, but that’s extremely rare. Usually, they stick to a few cities in Saitama—I can text you the details if you want. Why do you ask?”

He gazed pensievely out of the window. 

“Well. . .if you truly believe that Paradox would make a good successor. . .then I’d best see them in action myself, shouldn’t I?”

                                                                                                    ****

Admittedly, he was extremely nervous about the whole business.

He’d never been in Saitama at night, much less in his small form, and it set him on edge. With his injuries, he wasn’t exactly up for a fight if trouble should find him, and he’d already used his time limit for the day. 

Now, where could Paradox be. . .?

He got his answer a few minutes later when the sounds of a scuffle echoed from a nearby street. Before he could stop himself, he started running towards the sound, only barely managing to catch himself and hide behind a building. Carefully, he peeked around the corner and his eyes went wide as he saw two darkly-dressed figures leaping down from a nearby roof. 

In less than two minutes, the situation was dealt with, and the taller of the two figures pulled a phone out of their pocket while the shorter figure knelt down and began restraining the perpetrators. Then they suddenly snapped their head up, and he barely managed to duck back around the corner.

Did they see me?

He remained still as a statue for a few minutes before he dared to poke his head out again. The vigilantes were gone, leaving several criminals unconscious and bound on the ground. He stared at the scene for a moment, then turned as sirens began to draw closer.

So they’re certainly capable fighters, the both of them. . .I wonder which one was Paradox. It seems I need to keep an eye on them.

                                                                                                    ****

Over the next few weeks, he kept a careful eye on Paradox and his partner—Enigma, apparently—by showing up whenever he could to watch them on their patrols. He was pleasantly surprised by what he saw.

Paradox was clearly a highly experienced fighter, despite apparently being a teenager. They took criminals down quickly and with minimal injury to themself, their partner, their opponents, and the victims they protected, which was incredibly impressive—he knew experienced Pro Heroes that weren’t so careful.

(Endeavor was the first one to come to mind.)

In addition to their raw physical skill, Paradox seemed to be quite good at dealing with victims and calming them down. Often, they would sit with the victims and talk with them while Enigma worked on restraining the perpetrators. On one occasion, he even managed to get close enough to hear what the vigilante was saying.

“Hey, are you hurt? No? That’s great. The police are going to be here really soon, okay? They’ll take care of everything.” There was a pause, then Paradox spoke up again. “Ah-hah! Here!”

“U-um, a. . .a lollipop?” a trembling voice asked.

“Yep! Nothing like a little sugar to act as a pick-me-up! It's perfectly safe, I promise.”

There was another pause. Slowly, the sound of police sirens made itself known.

“That’s our cue; we’ve got to go. Stay safe out there, all right?”

He hurried away before the vigilantes could come near his hiding place, slipping into another alley so he could think.

Paradox certainly knows how to treat civilians after villain encounters. They’re a good fighter and they have experience with teamwork. And their Quirk is most likely based on agility or mental abilities, since they haven’t shown any obvious signs. All in all, they seem like a splendid candidate for One for All. 

Perhaps I can convince Naomasa to set up a meeting. . .

                                                                                                    ****

“Hey, Izuku, why have you been so twitchy these past few weeks?” Hitoshi asked as they all sat in his room. Denki looked up from where he was playing with Gidget on the floor.

“That’s a good question. Why have you been so fidgety lately?”

Izuku glanced up from his notebook and turned to his two friends.

“Oh, Yagi’s been following us on patrol in Small Might form and I’m trying to figure out why.”

There was a beat of silence. Then,

“Wait, WHAT?!”

Hitoshi shot up, staring at him with wide eyes and a slack jaw.

“How long have you known?!”

“Since the first day he tried it, honestly.” He turned back to his notebook, recording details of a recent hero fight. “He’s a Limelight hero and he’s not stealthy by nature. Besides, those bangs are distinctive, even when they’re not in their normal bunny-ear form.”

“Were you planning on telling us this?” Denki asked. He paused in his writing.

“I mean—I kind of forgot? I doubt he meant any harm—he’d be in All Might form if he did—and I wanted to know why he was seeking us out.”

Before Hitoshi or Denki could respond to that, his phone dinged, and he quickly fished it out of his pocket and checked his notifications.

An email from Tsukauchi?

He held up a quick finger to signal his friends as he pulled up his emails and clicked on the new one. He scanned the email briefly, feeling his eyes go wider with each word.

“Well, this is unexpected.”

“What?” Denki got to his feet and came over to peek at the phone. He tilted his head so the blond would be able to see.

“Tsukauchi asked me to meet a ‘friend’ of his; said ‘friend’ has an offer for me.”

“Should we. . .should we be concerned?” Hitoshi asked. He quickly shook his head.

“Nah—unless I am greatly mistaken, the friend in question is Yagi, and he wants to talk about his Quirk.” He paused for a moment, then shrugged. “That, or Yagi wants to arrest me. One of the two.”

Hitoshi and Denki shared a look, but eventually shrugged.

“Do you need company?”

“Nope, he’ll want me alone.” He glanced up and caught their pouts. With a chuckle, he reached out and grabbed Hitoshi’s walkie-talkie, wiggling it. “Relax, you two, I’ll bring my walkie-talkie and you can listen in. Toshi, you can even wait a few roofs away if you’d like, just keep hidden. That way, if things go sideways, backup is ready.”

“. . .Alright, compromise accepted.”

                                                                                                    ****

He got to the meeting place fifteen minutes earlier than the time Tsukauchi asked for; it allowed him to scope out the territory and gave Hitoshi time to find a hiding spot. Then it was just a matter of waiting for Yagi to show up. 

After almost thirty minutes without any sign of Yagi, he finally caught a glimpse of tell-tale blond bangs on the street below. He quickly ducked down out of sight and waited.

As he watched, Yagi buffed up into All Might form and leapt to a rooftop across the street. Then the Number One Hero jumped buildings until he came to the correct roof. 

Hmm. . .should I expose myself now, or should I wait. . .?

He decided to wait for a little bit, just to see how Yagi reacted. 

The minutes ticked on, and as they passed, Yagi began to grow visibly agitated, pacing around the roof and constantly looking around at the surrounding buildings. Finally, the man reached into a pocket and pulled out a phone, holding it to his ear.

“Erm, Naomasa, you did email Paradox, correct? Because I don’t see them anywhere—”

He barely hid a snort as he stepped out of his hiding place. Then he very audibly cleared his throat.

Yagi jumped over a meter in the air and spun around, nearly flinging the phone off the roof. He had to bite back a snicker as he watched the man fumble with it for several seconds before finally getting a good grip on it and putting it away. Then Yagi pasted on his trademark smile.

“Ah, you must be young Paradox! I’ve heard great things about you, and I’ve seen some of your work—”

“I’m aware, All Might.” He made sure to keep his voice as measured as possible—the voice modifier definitely helped—and dutifully ignored his inner fanboy. He could have a weird geek-out/breakdown later.

(Of course, his attempts to remain calm were made harder by the frankly hilarious expression Yagi made when he said that.)

“Uh—and how would you know this?”

“Because I have eyes and good situational awareness. You’re not exactly inconspicuous.” He laced his hands together behind his back to keep himself from fidgeting. “Now, Tsukauchi said you wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes!” Yagi brightened again, striking his iconic pose. “I wanted to make you an offer, young Paradox!”

He bit his lip.

Here it comes. . .

“You see, over the past few weeks, I’ve been keeping an eye on you, and I must say, you’ve impressed me,” Yagi continued, oblivious to the memories flipping through his brain. “You’re a skilled fighter, even without a visible Quirk, and in addition to that, you’re comforting to civilians and seem to have the true heart of a hero!”

“Thank you.” It was still high praise, after all, and even after all he’d been through, All Might had always been one of his idols. 

Yagi’s smile somehow grew wider as the man continued.

“With all of this in mind, I wish to offer you my Quirk!”

He tilted his head to the side.

“. . .I’m sorry?”

The hero laughed boisterously, making his ears ring. 

“My apologies, young Paradox! I understand that it must be hard to believe, but I can assure you that it’s true. My Quirk is a sacred torch, passed down through generations. . .”

As Yagi continued telling the highly-edited and shortened story of One for All, he tuned the man out.  After all, he knew it intimately already. 

Will he tell me about All for One this time, I wonder?

Then he realized that Yagi had stopped talking and hurried to tune back in. 

“Uh—sorry, this is a lot to process. . .”

Nailed it.

Yagi laughed again.

“It’s quite alright, young Paradox! I did dump a great deal of information on you all at once!”

At least he admits it.

“I actually have a couple of questions, if you don’t mind me asking,” he said cautiously. When Yagi nodded encouragingly, he started with the big ones. “Firstly, what’s the catch? Is there some kind of serious drawback to this Quirk? Is it something that will make me a target or cause me harm? How could I pass off the effects when it shows itself?” He already had the answers to those questions, but Yagi didn’t know that.

Let’s see how he answers this. . .

Yagi’s smile faltered. Then steam erupted across the rooftop and he immediately flapped his hands in front of his face to wave it away.

Okay, I did not see that coming.

When the smoke cleared, Yagi stood there in all his withered glory. Then the man promptly spit out a fountain of blood and he jumped—even if it wasn’t the first time he’d seen it, it was always a shock.

“Uh—”

“Ack. . .sorry, young Paradox.” Yagi dabbed at his lips with a handkerchief and tucked it away before turning back to him. “You see, this is why I need to pass on my Quirk. I sustained a severe injury several years ago, and ever since, the time I can spend in my muscled form gets less and less.” Then the man lifted the edge of his shirt and revealed a familiar weblike scar. “This scar was given to me by a truly despicable villain about five years ago. I believe you know of him?”

“All for One.” He nodded slowly. Yagi raised an eyebrow, but returned the nod.

“Correct. Although— how exactly do you know of him?”

“I have. . .experience with him,” he said cautiously. Yagi tilted his head.

“Naomasa did mention something about you being a time-traveler. . .”

He froze.

Okay, Tsukauchi must be serious about this if he full-on told Yagi about my secret. Which makes me wonder, why did he volunteer me in the first place? Is it because of my time-traveling, and therefore my experience? Or is it because—

“Uh, young Paradox? Are you alright?”

He snapped out of his head and shrugged, letting a sheepish laugh escape him.

“Sorry, I was muttering again, wasn’t I?”

“Correct.” Yagi fidgeted in place for a minute, coughing up a few drops of blood. “. . .Based on your reaction, I suppose Naomasa was correct?”

He nodded.

“He is. I understand that you probably have several questions for me, but I need to leave soon; my patrol’s almost over. I’ll ask Tsukauchi to set up a day where we can meet—we can go over the details in more depth, and that gives me time to decide on whether I want to accept this Quirk or not.” He’d already made that decision, but Yagi didn’t know that. “And besides, you should probably know who I actually am before you decide on me as a successor, but I don’t feel comfortable revealing myself in the middle of patrol.”

I also need to exact promises from Tsukauchi that he won’t put any of this in my case files—or at least that he won’t put up a fuss if Denki erases it later.

Yagi looked a bit disappointed, but nodded and gave him that same iconic smile.

“Very wise, young Paradox! Until we meet again!” Then the man puffed up once more and leapt off the roof. 

He waited until Yagi was well and truly gone, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the walkie-talkie. 

“Alright, he’s gone.”

Chaos immediately erupted from the device, and he rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Fingers crossed that this goes well.

Izuku took a deep, steadying breath before heading for the door. Dabi glanced up from where he was working at the table.

“Where are you off to?”

“An important meeting. I’ll give you some of the details later.”

“Fine.” Dabi waved absently as his attention strayed back to his work. He rolled his eyes fondly and left the house.

As he walked, his phone buzzed in his pocket, and he quickly pulled it out to check it. 

                                                                      No one would believe us

                          (Merlin): is it time yet

                         (Professor_X): Denks, stop spamming him

He chuckled to himself and paused at the street corner, typing a quick response.

                       (Time-Lord): Yep. I’m off to the meeting now, so I won’t be available for a while.

                       (Professor_X): Ah

                       (Professor_X): Good luck

                       (Professor_X): I’ll keep denks occupied with some sparring

                       (Merlin): save me zu

                       (Merlin): pls

                       (Time-Lord): Sorry, I need to get going. Good luck, Denki!

                       (Merlin):  nuuu

                      (Professor_X): :)

He snorted at the chaos that was the group chat, then pocketed his phone and jogged across the street. He still had a meeting to get to, after all.

                                                                                                    ****

His jaw dropped as he stared at the address Tsukauchi had sent him. 

“Of all the places they could’ve chosen for a secret conversation. . .they chose a cat café?! ”

(Not that he had anything against cat cafés, but this was a conversation he really didn’t want any strangers hearing.)

However, he could already see Tsukauchi in his trench coat and Yagi with his drooping bangs, both sitting in a small booth and buried in cats. He rolled his eyes and stepped in.

At least I’ll get to pet cats while I traumatize the adults.

He bought a pastry and a small hot chocolate at the counter before meandering over to Yagi and Tsukauchi. Without any ceremony, he slid into the open seat they’d left for him and set his dishes down with a quiet thunk.

“Um, young man—”

“You already know who I am,” he interrupted in a quiet voice, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a blurry photo of himself that Denki had given him. Apparently, the blond had found it while searching camera footage and printed it off before deleting said footage.

(Honestly, having Denki on his side was an absolute godsend. He was fairly certain that the blond could get an entire city under his direct control if he put his mind to it, and he did not want Denki as his enemy.)

Understanding dawned on Yagi’s and Tsukauchi’s faces as soon as they caught sight of the photo. Then Tsukauchi cleared his throat. 

“So, your name is. . .”

“Ah ah ah.” He held up a hand as he fixed Tsukauchi with as serious of a glare as he could muster. “First things first—no recordings or photos of this conversation. And Detective, none of my personal information can go into my file. This is fully off the record. Are we agreed?”

Yagi nodded immediately, but Tsukauchi grimaced.

“. . .Since it’s related to a national secret, fine.”

Good enough.

“Alright then.” He bowed his head. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, I’m fourteen years old, and I’m Quirkless.” He pulled his ID out of his pocket and set it on the table in front of him, allowing both adults to see it. “I’ve been—”

“Wait, WHAT?!” Both adults stared at him in disbelief, and he quickly gestured for them to pipe down.

“Yes, I’m Quirkless. It’s why I felt comfortable going the vigilante route in the first place.”

“Because there’s no way you could’ve been charged as a vigilante,” Tsukauchi groaned as comprehension dawned. He snickered and nodded. 

“Q-Quirkless?” Yagi still looked like he’d been slapped in the face with a fish and it was incredibly amusing. “B-but—”

 “So?” He waited for Yagi to say something Quirkist—he was still a little suspicious after what he said the first time—but Yagi said nothing. So he continued. “As I was saying, I’ve been training to get into UA since I was ten years old and I’ve been a vigilante almost as long. My main goal at the moment is to get into UA so I can stop All for One.”

“Ah—how did you even get involved with All for One?” Yagi asked slowly. He sighed heavily.

“In the original timeline, All for One started going after you—or the alternate you, I guess—during my first year at UA. Since I was your successor in that timeline as well, I became involved, and since All for One’s successor started attacking my class, the rest of them became involved as well.” He ran a hand through his curls as he took a steadying breath. “Things went downhill pretty quickly after that.”

                                                                                                    ****

“And so, here we are.” He took a gulp of his now-cold drink and glanced back up at the adults. They both looked utterly flabbergasted.

Can’t blame them, really.

Finally, Tsukauchi found his voice again. 

“Well. . .my Quirk didn’t catch any lies, but how can we be sure that you actually came back from the future and that you’re not just delusional? I have what Aizawa told me, but. . .”

. . .A fair enough question.

He stroked the kitten in his lap as he thought about how best to prove himself. Then he remembered the chain around his neck.

That might do it. . .

So he set his drink down and reached down his shirt, tugging off the necklace and holding it out so Tsukauchi and Yagi could see it.

“Blank gave this to me right before I was sent back so I could prove my authenticity to his past self—also known as Aizawa Shota.”

Tsukauchi’s jaw dropped. Slowly, the detective reached out and took the rings, bringing them close to his face and squinting. 

“. . .Yeah. These are legit.” Tsukauchi shook his head slowly. The detective passed the chain over to Yagi before burying his face in his hands. Yagi tilted his head with a look of confusion.

“Naomasa, what are these?”

“They’re wedding rings. I saw Aizawa just this morning and he still had his, so unless you—by some miracle—managed to steal both of them before arriving, there’s no other way you could’ve gotten them.” Tsukauchi gestured to him before heaving another sigh. “Kami, I need more coffee.”

That is such a mood.

Then his attention was stolen by the kitten on his lap, which had fixed its gaze on the rings still dangling from Yagi’s hand. As he watched, the kitten crouched, its butt wiggling as it stared at the rings. It wiggled a few more times, as if calibrating, then lunged off his leg and toward the rings. He bit back a shriek as tiny needles dug into his thigh.

Ow ow ow why does that hurt so much what the hell—

However, his pain was easily forgotten in favor of holding back a howl of laughter at the gobsmacked expression on Yagi’s face as the kitten overshot the rings and ended up clinging to his shirt.

“. . .Huh?”

He barely managed to stifle a cackle at the man’s utter confusion, especially as the kitten turned around and launched itself at the rings again, eliciting a squawk of pain from Yagi. Tsukuachi facepalmed, but he could see the grin tugging at the detective’s mouth. 

“Yagi, maybe you should stop shaking the shiny things on a chain,” the detective said with poorly hidden mirth in his voice. 

“Er—perhaps.” Yagi nearly threw the chain at him, and it was only years of honing his reflexes that allowed him to catch it and put it around his neck again. Then he had to quickly hold out his hands to catch the kitten. 

“Well, aren’t you a lively little thing?” he cooed, settling the kitten on his lap and pulling his keys out of his pocket. He shook the keys just above the kitten’s head and giggled as it batted at them.

So precious. . .Toshi is going to be green with envy when I tell him.

It was only Tsukauchi’s pointed cough that roused him from his kitten-induced trance, and he turned to give the detective the most venomous glare he could, because cats were sacred and how dare he interrupt their moment?!

(Across the table, said detective had to fight back a smile. The kid—no, Midoriya was clearly trying to go for anger and danger, but instead he looked like a pouty kitten himself. He barely restrained himself from taking a picture to send to Eraser.)

“Sorry to interrupt, kid, but we still have things to discuss,” Tsukauchi said. He let out a dramatic sigh, but nodded his acceptance.

“Alright, what else do you want to know?”

“What’s your current plan involving All for One?”

He sighed again, drumming his fingers and absently stroking the now-settled kitten. 

“That’s a tad complicated, but the bare bones are as follows: I take One for All to increase my chances of winning against him, I get into UA’s Hero Course, and then I stop him in his tracks.” He took another sip of cold cocoa and grimaced. “I’ve been searching for any trace of him since I got back, but it wasn’t until this year that I got anything—and I only have concrete knowledge of where he’s going to be next year; that’s when all of his plans go into motion. With any luck, I’ll be able to slow him down substantially at the start, but that won’t stop him.”

“Alright.” Tsukauchi nodded solemnly. “Thank you, Midoriya.”

“Of course.” He managed to let a small smile out. Then he turned to Yagi. “So, what’s the plan regarding you-know-what?”

“You-know-what. . .? Ah! Right!” Yagi brightened. “Hold out your arm please!”

He raised an eyebrow, but did as Yagi requested—only to stiffen as the man grabbed his wrist and started feeling up his arm. 

“H-hey! What are you doing?!”

Tsukauchi groaned.

“Toshinori, quit grabbing the minor. You’re making a scene and skirting legality.”

“Oh.” Yagi thankfully let go of his arm, looking sheepish. “I merely wanted to check your musculature, Young Midoriya.”

That’s not exactly an appreciably better explanation.

“You could’ve asked!”

“Mew.”

All eyes turned to the kitten on his lap, who was now staring up at him and purring softly. But before he could melt from the cuteness, the kitten suddenly started climbing his shirt and he sucked in a breath through his teeth.

“Ow ow ow—needle claws—ouch that hurts—lots of tiny needles—owowow. . .” He quickly scooped up the kitten so it would stop climbing him, but it let out a pitiful squeak and waved a paw at his hair. He stared it in the eyes for a moment before it bopped him on the nose with a purr. Then it started squirming again, reaching pitifully for his hair. 

What in the world?

He hesitantly lifted the kitten higher until it was just above his head. It started squirming fiercely until it finally nipped his finger and he let go in shock.

OUCH! Why does that hurt so bad?!

He was distracted from the new pain in his finger by the feeling of. . . something curling up in his hair. Moments later, he felt vibrations reverberating through his scalp. 

. . .Did that just happen?

He slowly looked over to Tsukauchi and Yagi, helplessly gesturing to the kitten.

“Are—did that just—” Then he caught sight of the phone camera pointed at him and glared at Tsukauchi. “Hey!”

“Kid, Aizawa would murder me if I didn’t show him that.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but paused, thought it over, and finally sighed in defeat. Tsukauchi had a point.

Come to think of it, Toshi and Denks would riot if I didn’t bring them a photo. . .

He huffed and pulled out his own phone, holding it up and snapping a quick selfie before texting it to the chat. He put it away just as it started buzzing frantically and returned his focus to the two adults, determinedly ignoring the purring ball of fur on his head.

“Now, where were we?”

                                                                                                    ****

One long discussion and several slightly-bloody scratches later, he left the café with another number in his phone and a plan to meet Yagi in two days’ time to make certain he was ready for the transfer of One for All. That meant he had to figure out a new transfer plan and come up with a way to explain his probable new Quirk to Dabi.

He shook himself out of his whirling thoughts and plans as he crossed a street. Then he paused for a moment and pulled out his phone on a whim. As he read the notifications, a maniacal cackle built up in his chest. 

                                                                              No one would believe us

                                  (Merlin): awww so cute!!! <3 <3 🥺

                                  (Professor_X): APXLNCLKN EAORFJAF

                                  (Merlin): toshi? u gud?

                                  (Professor_X): OPEWUIAHAFJLAFN

                                  (Merlin): you broke him zu

                                  (Professor_X): YOU LUCKY BASTARD

                                  (Professor_X): Tell me you have more photos

                                  (Professor_X): And I want that kitten

                                  (Professor_X): Gidget could use a friend anyway

                                  (Merlin): calm down hito

                                  (Professor_X): HOW CAN I POSSIBLY CALM DOWN WITH THAT?!

                                  (Professor_X): Izuku answer your phone

                                  (Professor_X): I want more pictures

                                  (Time-Lord): :)

                                  (Professor_X): IZU I SWEAR TO KAMI

                                  (Merlin): yes?

                                 (Professor_X): Not you Denks

                                 (Professor_X): But Izu, I swear

                                 (Time-Lord): :)

                                 (Professor_X): IZU

He clapped a hand over his mouth as he put his phone away again, his whole body shaking with repressed laughter. He was having more fun stirring up chaos than he probably should.

Oh, I missed this.

He finally let a few giggles escape as he continued walking home. Patrol would most definitely be interesting tonight.

Chapter Text

“I hope you realize just how this could be seen, All Might,” Izuku drawled as he leaned back against the junkyard fence, shirt off and muscles on full display. Off to the side, he could hear Tsukauchi snort. 

“He has a point, Toshinori.”

“I merely want to make sure you can handle One for All!” Yagi protested. He let out a soft huff.

“I’m aware of that. At the same time, telling a minor to take their shirt off so you can see their muscles sounds incredibly questionable. You’re lucky that we’re the only ones here.”

“I—” Yagi paused, then deflated—metaphorically this time. “I see your point, young Midoriya.”

Good.

“So, what do you think, Toshinori?” Tsukauchi asked, coming a little closer and shaking him from his thoughts. Yagi hummed for a moment.

“. . .Frankly, I think he’s ready for it now.”

Eight months before the exam, huh? Well, that gives me plenty of time to get it firmly under control and maybe even talk to the Vestiges. Their help would be invaluable. . .

“Midoriya?”

He blinked and focused on the people he was with, then cursed quietly and facepalmed.

“I was muttering again, wasn’t I?”

Considering that I managed to break that habit before, it should be much easier to break it again. Yet somehow I keep backsliding.

“You were indeed.” Yagi patted his shoulder—very forcefully—before reaching up and plucking a hair. “Now then, young Midoriya—eat this!”

He stared at the hair for a moment, then looked up at Yagi and raised an eyebrow. 

“Wouldn’t it be easier if you pricked your finger and added the blood to a bit of water? Besides, human DNA is only found in the hair follicle, so rather than DNA, I’d be ingesting mostly keratin. It’s much more practical if the DNA is transferred another way, such as through blood.”

Less disgusting, too.

“Again, he’s got a point.”

“Well—” Yagi floundered for a moment, then sighed and nodded.

“Yes, I suppose that is a good point. If you’ll go grab your water bottle. . .?”

He quickly jogged over to his things and grabbed his water bottle before running back. Yagi proceeded to bite his knuckle hard enough to draw blood, then dipped his finger in the water. 

“There you are!”

He grimaced slightly as he watched the blood discolor the water, but drank it down quickly. 

“Now what?”

“Now you wait for the power to settle in!”

He let out a huff of breath, but nodded and went to lean against the junkyard fence. He’d waited this long, he could wait a little longer.

                                                                                                    ****

After about two hours went by, he could feel the telltale stirrings of One for All in his gut. So he quickly put his phone away.

“I think it’s settled!”

“Splendid!” Yagi boomed. “In that case, my boy, it is time to try it out!”

He got to his feet and stretched out.

“Alright, what’s your advice?” He technically already knew, but maybe Yagi would have different advice this time around. 

He really should know better at this point.

“Simple—clench your buttocks and yell ‘SMASH!’”

He stared at Yagi before slowly shaking his head. 

“Uh—no, thank you. There’s got to be a better way.” He promptly sat back down and closed his eyes to focus on the faint feeling of One for All.

Alright, how did I do this all those years ago?

He took a deep breath and tried to relax his muscles; tension would do nothing but make his job harder. Moments later, he felt the familiar rush of energy through his veins and he immediately reeled it back. 

Okay then. . .let’s dial the power back to 1% to start with, then make sure it’s not concentrated in one limb because I don’t want to turn my bones to soup again.

So he took a careful hold on One for All’s power and slowly spread it through his whole body. 1% was a tiny amount, but it was still enough to make his nerves tingle ever so slightly.

There we go. 

He carefully stood up and stretched again.

Let’s boost up the power a bit.

He gradually pushed up the power, from 1% to 3% to 6%, until his bones began to creak. Then he dialed it back to 5%. 

That’ll do for now.

He opened his eyes, unable to keep the smile off his face as he saw the familiar green lightning of Full Cowl. He limbered up a bit more to make sure he could still move, then crouched down and blitzed forward. 

The rush of wind against his face and the thrum of blood in his ears was a welcome sensation as he parkoured around the junkyard. He couldn’t help laughing wildly as he flipped off a particularly tall pile and turned on a dime, racing past Tsukauchi and Yagi. 

I had no idea how much I missed this. . .

Finally, he (reluctantly) came to a stop, letting One for All die down and shaking out his limbs. Then he looked between Tsukauchi and Yagi with a beaming smile.

“That was awesome !”

Tsukauchi snorted, even as Yagi’s jaw hung slack. 

“Well, you picked that up quickly.” 

“Yeah. . .like I said, I was the ninth holder of One for All in the original timeline as well,” he said with an awkward laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s how I knew that ‘clenching my buttocks’ wouldn’t work—I tried that last time, and I ended up breaking my arms so badly that I started losing use of them.”

Both adults winced. Then Yagi cleared his throat. 

“Well. . .this is a bonus! Rather than focusing on training up your strength or on controlling One for All, you can focus on upping the power!”

That’s one way to put it.

“Wait, Midoriya,” Tsukauchi said suddenly, grabbing his attention. “How are you going to explain this sudden power boost to your partner? If you’re as close as you seem, they must know about both your Quirklessness and All for One—they might think you’ve gone to him!”

. . .Oh, that.

“That definitely won’t be an issue,” he drawled. “One, because Enigma wouldn’t believe that I’d go to All for Shit for a Quirk. And two, Enigma already knows about One for All.”

“Enigma knows?!” Yagi squawked. He tilted his head, putting on his most innocent expression.

“Of course. I trust Enigma with my life, and besides, they’re incredibly perceptive. They would’ve figured it out on their own eventually. And Enigma knows that this isn’t something that can get out—but I needed to tell them about it when I told them about my plan to deal with All for Shit.” He paused for a moment, then brightened as he was hit with an idea. “If you’re worried, I can text everyone who’s in the know about One for All and you can meet them to make sure they’re trustworthy. Although, Detective—same rules apply. Nothing about them goes on record.”

“Deal accepted.” Tsukauchi looked a little dazed, which. . .was understandable, really. “And yes—please text them so we know who we’re dealing with.”

He nodded pleasantly and pulled out his phone, hiding his smirk behind the screen. This was bound to be entertaining. 

                                                                                                    ****

“Young Midoriya.”

“Yes?”

“Why are there two extra children here rather than one?”

“Well~” he chirped, giving the adults an innocent smile as he gestured to his friends, “The purple beanpole is Enigma.” He cheerfully ignored Hitoshi’s offended squawk as he pointed to Denki. “And the human Pikachu here is another friend of ours who’s in on the secret! Don’t worry, he’s not a vigilante.”

“Thank Kami for that,” Tsukauchi muttered, dabbing at his forehead with a handkerchief. “I don’t think my sanity would survive—nor would Aizawa’s, come to think of it.”

He snickered before turning to Hitoshi and Denki. An evil grin appeared on his face. 

“Let’s spar!”

Denki immediately paled and backed away, while Hitoshi just huffed out a resigned breath and fell into a fighting stance. 

“Try not to break my face too badly, okay, Izu?”

He let his grin widen.

“No promises.” 

The fight was over in less than a minute, and it ended up with him pinning Hitoshi to the ground, green lightning flickering around them both. Hitoshi just groaned.

“And here I was so close to being able to beat you. . .”

“Eh, there’s always Quirkless sparring!” he chirped, getting up and offering his best friend a hand. Hitoshi took it with a fond sigh. 

“I suppose. . .”

Then he turned to Denki and grinned, taking two steps forward.

“Your turn~!”

However, rather than stoically accepting his fate, Denki chose an alternative option: screaming in falsetto and sprinting away.

Ooh, fun, a chase!

A cackle bubbled up in his throat as he crouched to the ground. Then he took off, Full Cowling glowing around him. 

“You can’t run, Denki~”

“WELL, I’M DAMN WELL GOING TO TRY—AAAHHH!”

                                                                                                   ****

Naomasa watched the chaos unfold silently, rubbing his temples slowly. He could practically feel the gray hairs growing.

Good luck, Aizawa. You’re going to need it.

Chapter Text

“Sweet Kami, Izu,” Hitoshi said, staring at the destruction with wide eyes. “What did those poor punching bags ever do to you?”

He chuckled sheepishly as he tossed the torn carcass of a punching bag onto a pile with the rest of them. Denki poked his head out from his makeshift shelter and came over.

“You’ve got a little something in your hair, Zuku.”

He raised an eyebrow and raised one hand, running his fingers through his hair for a moment. Sure enough, he felt the distinct fluff of stuffing caught in his curls, and he groaned.

“Sorry. . .I got a little carried away.”

“A little?” Hitoshi raised an eyebrow. “You demolished every single training structure we put up. You tore five punching bags at the seams.” The brainwasher shook his head in obvious disbelief. “One for All has made you too powerful.”

“Still going to need it to deal with All for Shit,” he countered, picking the last of the stuffing out of his curls. Then he turned to his friends with a grin. “But now that’s over, wanna spar?”

They both stared at him in disbelief, and he sighed.

“I’d fight mostly Quirkless if it makes you feel better, but entrance exams are only eight months away and I want to make sure you guys do well.”

“What is the exam going to be, anyway?” Denki asked, plopping down in a car with the doors torn off. “You haven’t really told us yet.”

Hmm. . .Should I? It might be cheating. . .ah, what the hell. It’s just making use of available information, right?

“Unless they change it from what it was the first time around, we’ll be fighting robots for points during the practical portion of the exam,” he said, pulling away the last bit of debris. Hitoshi stared at him in disbelief, then threw his head back and cursed. 

“Seriously?! Talk about biased. . .”

“Well. . .” he turned to his best friend and patted him on the shoulder. “I’ve been looking in UA’s rulebook, and there’s no rule that says you can’t use weapons. There’s an obscure form you’ll need to fill out, but you can get a waiver to bring in a weapon so long as it isn’t support equipment. I’d recommend bringing your bo staff or your taser. Also. . .” he beckoned them in close and lowered his voice to a whisper. “There’s at least one other method of gaining points. There’s also Rescue Points—I assume you can guess what those are.”

“ Oh, ” Denki whispered, his eyes sparkling with understanding. “Oh, that’s sneaky. Thanks for the insider info, Zu~”

“Any time.” He pulled both of his friends into a quick hug before backing up, smirking at Denki. “Now, let’s practice with your Quirk a little—you’ve gotten much better at holding a low voltage over your whole body, but I want to see if you can use your Quirk to physically enhance you, potentially boosting your speed or even letting you use electrolocation.” Then he turned to Hitoshi. “As for you, once Denki gets going with his Quirk, I want to work with you to see if you can grab and hold control with smaller responses. Sounds good?”

Denki started bouncing in place, nodding wildly, and even Hitoshi smiled slightly. 

“Sounds good to me, Izu.”

So they began. Denki jogged off to a separate corner of the junkyard in case his sparks went out of control, with strict orders to call out if he needed anything. In the meantime, he and Hitoshi found a nice spot to sit down and get to work. 

“Alright, whenever you’re ready!”

Hitoshi hummed, picking absently at a loose thread on his shirt.

“So, I’m just going to keep trying to activate my Quirk, and you’ll keep minimizing your responses, and we’ll see how much it takes for me to activate Brainwashing?”

“Pretty much—and I still think you should change the name.”

His friend snorted.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Now, back to work?”

“Right.” His mind was immediately awash in Hitoshi’s Quirk. He floated there for a time, then felt the fog lift. He blinked rapidly to clear his mind, then nodded at Hitoshi.

“Next one!”

“Got it. Are you ready?”

He hummed in agreement this time, and sure enough, he was pulled into Hitoshi’s Quirk for a moment before being released. As soon as he was free, he clapped his hands.

“Good, let’s keep going!”

Before they could continue, however, there was a loud yelp, followed by a thump. He spun around in a minor panic, then huffed out a sigh and got to his feet. 

“Dabi, what are you doing here?”

“What, I can’t come check on my pseudo-brother?” Dabi sassed, even as he slowly got to his feet with a wince. “Jeez, Kaminari, you pack a punch.”

“Uh, sorry?” Denki smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck—a habit he’d clearly picked up from Hitoshi. “In my defense, you startled me.”

“Mmf—can’t argue with that.” Dabi stretched slowly, the expression of discomfort fading. “Anyways, what are you gremlins up to?”

“Quirk training,” Hitoshi drawled, coming up to join the conversation and startling him into a jump. “Whoops—sorry, Izu.”

“You’re fine.” He clutched his chest as his heart rate slowed down. “Seriously, though, did you want something, Dabi? You don’t crash training very often.”

“Eh, nothing much.” Dabi shrugged before his eyes glinted with mischief. “Think you brats are ready for UA’s entrance exam? I’ve heard it’s pretty biased.”

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at his pseudo-brother. 

“Dabi—have you forgotten that I’ve gone through the entrance exam before? And I’ve done my research this time around; as of right now, the exam hasn’t changed from what I remember. So I know exactly how to train for it.”

Dabi stared at him, then nodded slowly. 

“Right—time traveler. That would do it.”

“It would. Now, if you insist on spying on us. . .” he smirked evilly at Dabi. “Then surely you won’t have a problem with acting as a guinea pig?”

Dabi raised an eyebrow, then spun around and started going towards the exit.

“Nope. I’m outta here.”

He glanced over to his friends and tilted his head in question. The evil glints in their eyes told him all he needed to know, so he held up three fingers and counted down slowly. When the last finger was put down, they pounced.

                                                                                                     ****

“I expect to be compensated for this,” Dabi groaned as he lay facedown on the ground. “And I accept payment in candy and baked goods.”

“You’re the one who tried to spy on us,” Denki countered. Dabi groaned louder, slowly lifting his head and glowering at him and his friends. 

“You used me as a guinea pig . I expect rewards for this.” Then the man’s eyes glinted. “I can always tell Inko-san. . .”

He raised an eyebrow and stared Dabi down. 

“Dabi. Those are fighting words.”

Dabi held the stare for a long moment, then flopped down with a sigh.

“I’ll get you for this. Mark my words. I won’t forget this.”

“Uh-huh.”

                                                                                                     ****

“You’re going to become one with the chair if you keep this up, Zuku,” Denki said, looking up from his homework. He hummed distractedly as he flicked through tabs. 

Hitoshi snorted.

“He’s got a point, Izu. What are you even doing?”

“Searching traffic cams in Kamino to see if the warehouse has been set up yet—and yep, there it is.” He smirked as he finally caught the warehouse and quickly noted down the coordinates. “I doubt there’s much there right now, but I can at least put it on the heroes’ radar.” He saved the links before clicking off and going onto his next project—the Shie Hassakai.

“Now what are you doing?”

“Checking the whereabouts of another enemy; they’re going to be crucial later and I need to get information on where they are.” He huffed in irritation. “I’d have dealt with it already, but there are. . .certain things I’m waiting for that will make other objectives easier.”

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow. 

“Such as?”

He grimaced at the screen.

“These people. . .they used one of my old bunkermates to make Quirk-destroying bullets when she was little.” He ignored the gasps from behind him in favor of flicking through more camera footage. “A huge part of me wants to rescue her right away, but. . .those bullets, even before they’re perfected, would be a major boon against All for One, and I don’t have the chemistry knowledge to make them myself. Besides, I’d feel sick doing so.”

“So the plan is to. . .” Denki asked slowly. He rubbed his temples with a sigh. 

“Right now? Wait. If I end up running into her or her captors early, then I’ll take action, but for now, I plan to wait until I know they’ve got at least the bullet prototypes done—which should still be several months away.”

“. . .Okay then.” Hitoshi got up and came around to the desk, peeking at the screen. “. . .Wait, who exactly has this girl?”

He turned to Hitoshi and smiled ruefully. He had a feeling that he knew what response he was about to get, and he raised his hands to his ears in preparation for the inevitable screeching.

“Uh. . .the Shie Hassaikai yakuza?”

There was a beat of silence before his friends erupted. 

“SAY WHAT NOW?!”

He clamped his hands over his ears, wincing at the volume. As soon as the shouting stopped, he tentatively lifted his hands away and snapped his fingers by his ear to make sure his hearing was still intact.

Thank Kami that Mom and Dabi are out right now.

“Yeah. . .”

Hitoshi’s head hit the desk with a loud thunk.

“Zu, I swear. . .”

He laughed sheepishly and rubbed Hitoshi’s back. Really, the fact that his friends put up with him was a miracle sometimes.

“Don’t worry, Toshi. I only ended up facing two villain organizations.” Then he paused as he remembered the MLA. “Actually, make that three—or maybe two and a half, since a separate group ended up merging with the League. . .”

Hitoshi groaned louder.

                                                                                                     ****

Ding! Ding! Ding!

He glanced over at his phone in surprise as it nearly vibrated off his nightstand.

What on earth. . .?

When he picked it up, he saw that all of the many, many notifications were from a support forum he’d joined a few months ago. With a raised eyebrow, he opened the forum and scanned through them, a smile growing on his face. 

                                                                                        Mad Lab

                                                   Evangelion: @DrBeckett

                                                   Evangelion: @DrBeckett

                                                   Evangelion: @DrBeckett

                                                   Evangelion: @DrBeckett

                                                   DrBeckett: I have been summoned?

                                                   DrBeckett: Can I. . .help you?

                                                   Evangelion: yeah, by sharing those amazing bby ideas!

                                                   DrBeckett: . . .Baby. . .ideas?

                                                  Evangelion: ur ideas for quirk-replicating tech r amazing! R u in support?

                                                  DrBeckett: No, I actually want to go into a Hero Course. 

                                                 Evangelion: thn u have 2 let me make ur gear!

                                                 DrBeckett: If we end up in the same area, then be my guest.

He smirked as he closed out of the forum. Finding Stark—no, Hatsume—before UA was an unanticipated surprise, but now he had a slight rapport with her.

All in all, things were going well.

Five months to go. . .

                                                                                                     ****

 “So, Problem Children, what are you planning for high school?” Aizawa asked one night as they loitered on a rooftop. He raised an eyebrow—not that Aizawa could see it from under his hood.

“Why? Are you that desperate to know where we’ll be?” he mocked. Aizawa scoffed.

“Trying to keep you out of trouble is more like it, brat. But seriously—I assume you have a plan?”

He rolled his eyes.

“Of course I have a plan, Eraser. I’ve been planning for this since I was ten years old—this timeline, anyways.”

That’s still so screwy to think about—being in a fourteen-year-old’s body while having an adult’s mind is very, very strange.

“Do you intend to let me in on this plan?”

He smirked behind his voice modifier and gave Aizawa a flamboyant bow. 

“Don’t worry, Eraser! You’ll know soon enough!” He reached one hand behind his back and gestured to Hitoshi. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got crime to stop!” He bounded over the roof and leapt to the next, Hitoshi at his heels. 

                                                                                                     ****

“Zu, was it entirely necessary to throw glitter bombs at the cops?”

“They almost grabbed you!”

“I could’ve gotten out. Probably.” Hitoshi shook his head. “Not the point. Where did you even get those?”

He beamed as they parkoured to his window.

“I remembered one of Stark’s old concoctions! Fiendish, aren’t they?”

“You could say that.” Hitoshi knocked twice at the window, and it was opened a moment later by a clearly-sniggering Denki. 

“Izu, my dude, you are a force of chaos.” The blond helped them through the window before pointing to the desk, where the police radio channel was playing. 

“Paradox did what now?!”

“He covered us in glitter and paint! It’s all over the cars, too. . .it’ll take hours to clean out.”

“*sigh* I’ll mark it down in their file.”

He snorted. That was another plus to having Denki on his side—the blond could hack into the police channels, allowing them to hear all the gossip. It also let him view their reactions to his chaos, which was just as fun if not more so. 

Hitoshi sighed dramatically, although the smirk on his face gave him away.

“You’re a public menace, Zu.”

“You’re just realizing that now?”

Chapter Text

Pencils? Check.

Eraser? Check. 

Phone? Check.

Tracksuit? Check.

Duffel bag to hold everything? Check.

Exam ticket and ID? Check.

Okay, I think I’m ready.

“Izu, your friends are here!” his mother called. He quickly stuffed the last of his things into the duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Coming!”

He dashed out of his room and skidded across the wood floor. When he arrived at the door—somehow not falling over in the process—his mother was waiting with a small bento box. To his mild surprise, Dabi was also waiting. 

As soon as he was within reach, his mother reached out and yanked him into a hug, already bawling into his shirt. He awkwardly patted her back.

“Uh, Mom—”

“When did you get so grown up?” she sobbed. He shot Dabi a desperate look, but his jerk of an adopted brother just smirked at him. He glared at Dabi, then awkwardly patted his mother on the back.

“Mom, I love you, but I need to go—”

“Right, right.” His mother backed up, sniffling as she handed him his bento. “Here, you’ll want this. . .and I want you to promise to be careful, alright? No being reckless!”

“I’ll do my best.” He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and grabbed Dabi in a short hug before the man could protest. “See you guys later!” He bounded out the door before either of them could linger any longer, waving to Hitoshi and Denki as he jogged down the walkway to get to them.

“Sorry I took so long.”

“Relax, we factored Mamadoriya’s send-off into our departure time,” Denki teased as they started heading towards the train station. He whacked his friend lightly upside the head, giving the blond a faux glare.

“You’ve gotten sarcastic. Maybe you’re spending too much time around Toshi.”

“Hey, I resent that!” Hitoshi squawked. He turned to face his other friend with a raised eyebrow.

“Am I wrong ?”

“Oh, I never said that. I just said I resented your comment.”

                                                                                                    ****

“So, this is Musutafu?” Denki asked as they got off the train. He nodded, readjusting his bag.

“Yep. Hasn’t changed much, from the look of it. I can show you around sometime if you like, but for now, let’s get to UA, it isn’t far.”

“Then lead the way, Green Bean!”

He rolled his eyes fondly, but guided his friends through the streets until they made it to the massive UA gates. Then he paused, taking in the gleaming gates for the first time in years.

It’s just like it used to be. . .

“Izuku?”

He shook himself sharply.

“Sorry, guys. I was just. . .admiring it. It’s nice to see it in its prime.”

Hitoshi and Denki let out soft noises of understanding, but nudged him through the gates anyway. He squeezed their hands in thanks.

Then he abruptly remembered that one brick and immediately fixed his eyes on the ground so he could avoid it. He did not need to nearly faceplant again—his friends would never let him live it down.

“Izuku? Are you good?” Denki asked, sounding extremely confused. He nodded, never looking up from the ground. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. There’s a brick that sticks up from the ground around here; I don’t want to trip on it.”

“Did that. . .happen before?”

“. . .Maybe.”

As he expected, both of his friends started snickering up their sleeves at him, and he rolled his eyes fondly. But then they were at the door and he put himself in his exam mindset.

“Alright, since we all went to the same middle school, we’re probably in the same room for the written test. I know the layout pretty well, so just follow me and I’ll get us there. Denki, don’t throw yourself into a spiral. You are not dumb, no matter what anyone else says. You made it the first time, and with all the studying we’ve been doing, I’m sure you’ll do even better.”

Denki gave him a wobbly smile.

“Thanks, dude.” Then the blond turned to the door and visibly steeled himself. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

                                                                                                    ****

The written exam was a breeze—for him, at least. It helped that he’d studied much farther ahead in the curriculum due to sheer boredom, and that he still remembered the prompts for the analysis portion of the test.

(Not that he really needed any help with that part—analysis was still one of his passions, after all.)

He was easily the first person to finish, even with the time he took to check his work, and he awkwardly sat there for a few minutes while trying to decide if it was worth it to get up and turn it in early. Finally, he decided to just get it over with.

Then I can figure out where we’ll be sitting, since I think it’ll be different now that I went to Nabu and not Aldera.

So he got to his feet and brought his test to Cementoss—who was sitting there calm as ever, not beaten and bloodied—

No, bad Izuku. Have a breakdown after the exam.

Cementoss raised a single eyebrow as he came up to the desk, but accepted his test without a word and handed him his exam site ticket and the exam guide. He quickly bowed and hurried out of the room, keeping his eyes down to try and avoid the disbelieving stares that bored into him.

He slumped in relief as soon as he was safely outside the room, then shook himself and headed for the auditorium. He still needed to find out where they were supposed to sit. And. . .he also needed to find the auditorium itself. 

Forgot I haven’t been in it in over ten years, I only went there for the practical exam briefing and I never really had to go there again.

It took him less time than he expected to find the auditorium—namely due to the signs scattered around—and finding Nabu’s seating area took even less. So he settled in to wait for everyone else, and started idly flipping through the exam guide.

Hitoshi ambled in about fifteen minutes later, already snickering.

“You should’ve seen the looks on everyone’s faces when you left after forty minutes.”

“I’m sure they were all scandalized.” He patted the seat next to him. “Do you have your taser and your bo staff?”

“Yep—I’ve got the forms, too, just in case.”

“Good.” He held up the exam guide and lowered his voice as more students started trickling in. “By the way, I found something.”

“Oh?” Hitoshi leaned over, bringing up his hands to sign. /What is it?/

He flipped the guide open to the pages on the 1, 2, and 3-pointers. Then he pointed to a tiny line of fine print at the bottom.

/It’s right here. I completely missed it the first time around, but it’s there. A way to defeat them without using a Quirk was there the entire time./ He watched Hitoshi’s eyes widen as his friend read the fine print.

Each of the robots has an ‘off’ switch set in a specific place. The 1-pointer’s switch is in its neck, the 2-pointer’s switch is at the base of its tails, and the 3-pointer’s switch is in the middle of its back. Attacking or flipping the switch will disable the robot.

“It’s that simple?” Hitoshi whispered. He nodded slowly and lowered his voice further as he heard footsteps approaching. He tensed up ever so slightly in preparation.

“I think that’s your ticket, Toshi.”

“Agreed.”

“What are you two whispering about?” Denki asked. He immediately relaxed. 

So that’s who was coming closer.

He glanced over his shoulder and gestured for Denki to lean in. Then he leaned back to show Denki the exam guide and the fine print. “I think I just found Toshi’s key to victory.”

Denki scanned the page, then whistled softly. 

“Yeah, that should do it.”

They continued planning in whispers and signs as the auditorium steadily filled up. Finally, the lights dimmed and the stage lights turned on. Then a familiar voice rang throughout the room.

“HOWDY, LISTENERS! CAN I GET A 'YEEEAAAHHH?’ !”

He faintly heard Denki yell back beside him, but the sound was drowned out by buzzing static as he hurtled back to the ruins of Musutafu.

He let out a near-feral growl as he grabbed a broken pipe and stabbed it through the roof of the Hunter’s mouth. Finally, the Nomu fell to the ground, twitching. He shoved it off his legs and slowly staggered to his feet, roughly clearing his throat. 

“Is everybody okay?”

“We are alright,” Revenant said, appearing from behind a ruined wall. Dark Shadow hovered beside him, golden eyes ever watchful. “The ruins provide ample darkness for us to withdraw to, and no Hunter can stand against Dark Shadow’s claws.”

“I’m unharmed, too,” Entropy added, freezing the Hunters to the ground. Then the bicolored man glanced around. “Chimera? Echo? What about you?”

Utter silence. Then a wheezing cough came from just down the street. He shared a glance with his teammates and broke into a run, heading right for the sound. 

He turned a corner to see Chimera slowly getting to his feet, tentacles shrinking back down into fingers. Then the older man whirled around and started digging in a pile of rubble.

“Echo!”

His heart dropped into his stomach, and he immediately rushed forward, powering up Blackwhip and using it to toss rocks and pieces of concrete aside. 

“What happened?!”
“I—Echo and I were fighting off a couple of Hunters, but one of them. . .one of them was made from Grand’s body, I think. It, it hit the ground and made it shake enough to knock down a wall. It took itself and its Pack out, but it would’ve killed me too if I hadn’t used my mussel shields.” Chimera swallowed roughly. “I, I didn’t realize Echo hadn’t gotten out of the way!”

He opened his mouth to say something—a reassurance, maybe? Chimera had always been anxious—but then one of the rubble chunks moved aside to reveal bloodied golden hair. He immediately redoubled his efforts to shift the debris.

No, no, no, not Echo. . .Blank would be devastated. . .

Finally, they managed to get rid of enough of the rubble to uncover Echo’s upper body, and he had to clamp a hand over his mouth. The man’s ribs were obviously broken, he could see peeks of bloodstained bone through the tattered leather jacket. Slowly, Echo’s eyes opened, gazing around dully. 

When their eyes met, it took almost two minutes for any recognition to appear in Echo’s eyes. Finally, the man let out a wheezy laugh, followed by a wet cough.

“Deku. . .you made it.” Echo’s stare flitted over the rest of the assembled group. “You all did. . .”

“Yeah, we made it. Hold on a few minutes, okay? We’ll get the rest of this off you and call for reinforcements—”

“No. . .no point,” Echo gasped, coughing again. “I. . .I can’t feel anything below my waist, and besides. . .” Echo gestured weakly to his ribs. “I’m pretty certain I’ve got a punctured lung.” The man raised a shaking hand to his neck, tugging weakly at something. Finally, he heard a soft snap and Echo held out a broken chain with a bloodstained ring dangling from it. “. . .Bring that to Sho, would ya, listeners? He should have it.”

“Zu?” A soft shake to his shoulder made him slowly turn his head to the side. Livewire sat next to him, gazing at him with obvious concern. “Are you back with us?”

He blinked slowly at Livewire, not comprehending what he meant. But then his eyes drifted down to the blond’s arms and he paused. The lichtenberg scars weren’t there anymore.

How did that happen?

“Zu, hey,” Livewire whispered, shaking him gently again. “You’re not. . . there , wherever there is. You’re not in a war zone. You’re here in the UA auditorium; we’re sitting through an explanation on the practical exam to get into the Heroics course. Hitoshi and I are right next to you. Present Mic is up on the stage, explaining the robots, which you were absolutely right about. . .” The blond continued prattling on, still in that near-silent whisper, and he slowly focused on it. 

Bit by bit, he came out of his head and returned to his seat in the auditorium. But then he was nearly sent spiraling back when a loud voice rang throughout the auditorium.

“Sir!” A familiar navy-haired man—boy?—shot to his feet, one arm chopping up and down. “The screen and the exam pamphlet show four robots, yet you have only told us about three! Is this an error? Such things are highly unbecoming of an institution as prestigious as UA! And you three!” The bespectacled male spun around, pointing accusingly at him and his friends. “You’ve been whispering since the explanation began, and it’s distracting everyone! If you will not take this seriously, then leave!”

He blinked sluggishly, and he opened his mouth to try and respond. Before he could, however, a familiar voice rang out.

“One, you’re on the other side of the auditorium, you can’t possibly hear us. Two, not that it’s any of your business, but we were trying to calm him down when he started to panic. We’re helping a friend, not trying to distract people. And third, if you have an issue with us, don’t bring it up in front of an entire auditorium of stressed teenagers; you’re causing a bigger scene than we are. Now sit down and let Present Mic-san finish; you’re interrupting his explanation and wasting everyone’s time.”

Silence hung heavy for a moment, then Echo—no, not Echo yet, it was still Yamada, still Present Mic—cleared his throat and started again, his smile noticeably a bit thinner. 

“A-Anyway, listener, I was just getting to the fourth robot! That one’s the 0-pointer; it’s more of an obstacle or a hazard, and you’re better off avoiding it! Now, it’s just about time for you to find your buses, so check your tickets and head to your designated buses! Go Beyond!”

“ PLUS ULTRA!” The shout made the walls quake a bit, and it was that phrase that fully pulled him back to the present. He pushed himself to his feet, staggering a little. Immediately, he was steadied by people on either side, and he glanced over to them, mustering a small smile.

“Thanks, guys. . .”

Hitoshi let out a whoosh of breath, looking extremely relieved. 

“Glad to have you back, Zu.”

Denki let out a slightly-hysterical laugh. 

“Very glad.” Then the blond’s smile turned slightly manic. “Now, let’s go crush these exams!”

                                                                                                    ****

“Whoo, those listeners were a tough crowd today!” Hizashi complained, flopping into his seat in the viewing room and checking his microphone. Shota snorted from behind his scarf.

“You know that not many people answer your shouts.”

“Well, I got one this time! But then there was that argument with the examinees.” Hizashi shook his head, his Present-Mic smile falling. “I gotta admit, I got a little worried about the green listener—he went totally blank out there. I saw him go stiff when I first went out on the stage, and he didn’t ease up until almost all the way through my speech.”

“Green?” He snapped to attention, then slid his chair across the floor to one of the security feeds for the auditorium. He rewound it for a moment, then stopped and let it run. “Which area was he in?”

“Uh, Nabu’s seating section.”

He narrowed his eyes as he found the section. Sure enough, the fluff of green hair was awfully similar to the photo Tsukauchi had shown him.

So that’s Paradox. . .

“Is that him?” Hizashi asked, suddenly right behind him. It was only through years of being together that kept him from jumping out of his seat. Instead, he nodded.

“Yep, I think so. I wonder what happened.”

I’ll ask on our next patrol. . .assuming we still patrol, that is.

“Alright, everyone!” Nedzu’s cheery voice broke through his thoughts, and he turned to see the mammal sitting in the large armchair he commandeered every year. “It’s time we begin! Yamada-san, if you please?”

“You got it.” His husband headed to his microphone and tapped it twice. “GO!”

In all the camera feeds, the examinees stayed still, milling around in obvious confusion. However, in three grounds—Beta, Delta, and Gamma—one figure in each dashed forward without hesitation. He quickly zoomed in, hiding a smirk in his scarf as he caught sight of Paradox.

So, the purple one’s probably Enigma. I wonder who the blond is, though. . .they sat together in the auditorium as well. . .oh, god, tell me there’s not another vigilante.

“What are you all waiting for? There are no countdowns in real life! GO!” Hizashi’s words pulled him back to the present, and he turned to his screens, picking up his pad and pen. It was time to actually get to work.

                                                                                                    ****

He wasn’t often impressed, but he could say for certain that at least three students would stay in his class this year—because they would be in his class. There was no way he was letting Kan get his hands on them.

Paradox was zipping around as quickly as he ever did on patrol, beating robots to pieces with the same ease and grace he had when he fought criminals in the dark of night. The only new thing was the occasional flickers of green light that surrounded him. 

Probably-Enigma was much the same, except he’d pulled out a bo staff and a taser and was going directly for the robots’ weak points. Kan pointed at the screen just as the purple boy darted in and saved a pink girl from a 2-pointer that snuck up on her.

“Are those authorized?”

“They are indeed! He filled out the forms for them some weeks ago!” Nedzu chirped. He narrowed his eyes at his boss, but turned his attention back to the monitors. Then Snipe whistled.

“Hey, look at blondie over here on Screen 3.”

He glanced over and was granted the sight of the blond who’d run out at the start lighting up with golden electricity. Then the boy dashed forward unnaturally quickly, striking a bot with an open hand. It buckled immediately, crashing to the ground. 

Ectoplasm hummed.

“He’s got excellent Quirk control; to use it as an enhancement and weapon at the same time is no easy feat.”

He nodded to himself and made a note on his pad. Those three were brimming with potential.

“Young Midoriya seems to be doing well,” All Might said, catching his attention for the first time. He turned to face the shrunken hero with a raised eyebrow. 

“He’s the only one that’s caught your attention?”

All Might shook his head, laughing that booming laugh of his. 

“No, I just couldn’t help but notice that he seems to be using his Quirk very little, and it’s quite impressive! He must have trained very hard.”

He stared at the hero with narrowed eyes, but finally grunted in acquiescence and turned back to the screens. He was no fan of All Might. . .but knowing what he did about the enemies the man had faced, he had a much less begrudging respect for him. 

“I think it’s time to release the 0-pointers,” Powerloader said, bringing him back to the present. Nedzu cackled and clapped his paws.

“Yes, yes, I quite agree! Make the five-minute warning call, Yamada-kun!”

His husband did as he was told, and as soon as he was finished, Nedzu pushed the big red button that released the 0-pointers.

Here we go. . .let’s see how they all react.

At first, it was very underwhelming. As soon as they realized what was happening, examinees started fleeing. Which. . .was fair enough; they had been told to avoid it, and it was gigantic and causing a lot of damage, but they wanted to be heroes. They couldn’t run from the first huge threat that came their way. 

But then Paradox, Enigma, and the blond kid surprised him again. All three started out by heading for the exits, though they paused to help any other examinee that had been trampled or gotten stuck. Then Paradox froze and wheeled around, shooting off towards the robot. Moments later, Enigma and the blond did the same thing.

“Why in tarnation are they going towards the robot?” Snipe asked incredulously. Ectoplasm tapped away for a moment, then pointed to the screens. 

“There are some kids in the way of the robots. It looks like they’re going to help.”

He took a look at the screens for himself, and sure enough, there were people trapped in the 0-pointers’ paths. On Paradox’s screen, there was a brunette girl pinned under rubble. On Enigma’s screen, it was a boy with a broken ankle. And on the blond’s screen, another blond with a fancy belt was curled up in a ball, clutching his stomach. 

Hmm. . .what will their strategies be, I wonder?

He wasn’t left in suspense for long. Paradox immediately ran to the girl and knelt down, seemingly talking to her for a moment before simply lifting the rubble off of her with more of that green lightning flickering around him. Then he scooped her up in a bridal carry and dashed away in a flash of green.

Enigma had gone a different route and flagged down another examinee, this one with six arms. The two worked together to get the boy up and to bring him to the exit. And the blond stood in front of the downed examinee and sent a bolt of lightning right at the 0-pointer. Then he turned and helped the other examinee up, leading him away from the robot.

The timer beeped and Hizashi went back to his microphone.

“And that’s time! The exam is over, listeners! If anyone is injured, please make your way to the medical tents so you can be treated!” Then his husband turned the mic off and slumped into his seat. “Well, that was exciting.”

“It was indeed!” Nedzu crowed. He shot his boss another suspicious glare, but filed it away to deal with later. For now. . .

“Those three—the ones who went up against the 0-pointers. Who are they?”

“Ah, yes! Midoriya Izuku, Shinso Hitoshi, and Kaminari Denki!” With a few moments of typing, the three files were projected for the room to see. “Three of our highest-scoring examinees—-Midoriya and Kaminari both got high numbers of both Villain and Rescue Points, while Shinso’s score is skewed heavily towards Rescue while still including a decent number of Villain Points, which is impressive considering he never used his Quirk once!” The mammal typed away for a moment before letting out another cackle. “Yes, yes, in fact, we have the scores right here! Add in the points for aiding their fellow examinees against the 0-pointers, and we have Midoriya as our top scorer at 115 points, followed by Kaminari at 95 and Shinso just behind him at 94.” Nedzu rubbed his paws together gleefully. “I believe Midoriya broke your record, All Might—he also happened to break the record score for the written exam. I look forward to meeting him!”

Sweet Kami, that’s going to give me nightmares for days.

With sheer force of will, he shoved away the terror that immediately followed the idea of Nedzu and Paradox meeting , instead giving his boss a deadpan stare. 

“I’ll take the three of them.”

Kan immediately started protesting.

“What—Eraser, you can’t take all three—”

“Of course, Aizawa-san!” Nedzu chirped, ignoring Kan completely. “I’ll make a note of it!”

He nodded and settled back in his chair with a huff of satisfaction, chuckling under his breath at Kan’s sputter. Then he turned back to the images on the screen.

Well, this year’s class is going to be. . .interesting.

Chapter Text

“So. . .on the count of three?” Denki asked, drumming his fingers on the envelope in his lap. His friends nodded in unison, and he clapped his hands together. “Then one. . .two. . .three!” He picked up his envelope and tore it open, blinking in surprise as a thick black disk fell to the grassy ground. 

Huh?

Then it lit up with a hologram of All Might and he jumped back with an undignified squeak.

“GREETINGS, YOUNG KAMINARI!”

“GREETINGS, YOUNG MIDORIYA!”

“GREETINGS, YOUNG SHINSO!”

He glanced up to see Izuku and Hitoshi with their own disks. Izuku flipped his disk over and fiddled for a moment, cutting All Might off mid-speech. 

“There’s a pause button on the bottom. That way, we can listen to them one at a time.”

“Good call.” Hitoshi paused his own message before turning to him. “Go ahead, Denks.”

“Uh, okay?” He glanced back down at his projection, which was now showing clips from his exam. 

I think I missed something—ah, well.

“OVERALL, YOU EARNED 65 VILLAIN POINTS, WHICH IS PLENTY TO GET YOU INTO THE HERO COURSE. . .BUT WHAT KIND OF HERO SCHOOL WOULD WE BE IF WE ONLY JUDGED YOUR POTENTIAL ON COMBAT?” The clips switched to show him rescuing various other test-takers. “YOU SACRIFICED OPPORTUNITIES FOR MORE POINTS IN FAVOR OF AIDING YOUR FELLOW EXAMINEES, WHICH IS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF TRUE HEROISM! FOR YOUR SELFLESS ACTIONS, YOU HAVE EARNED A FURTHER 30 RESCUE POINTS, PLACING YOUR FINAL SCORE AT 95 POINTS TOTAL AND PUTTING YOU FIRMLY IN SECOND PLACE AND GETTING YOU A WELL–DESERVED SPOT IN CLASS 1-A! KAMINARI DENKI, WELCOME TO YOUR HERO ACADEMIA!” Then the projection cut off, leaving him gaping at the disk. 

Se. . .second place?!

He only came back to the real world when Hitoshi started shaking him violently.

“You did it, Denks!” His friend’s eyes were gleaming with a rare unfettered excitement. When he looked at Izuku, he saw the same light. 

“It gave your academic exam score, too,” Izuku said, grinning broadly. “Tenth overall.”

No. Way.

“Way.” Izuku’s grin widened.

Huh. Guess I said that out loud—oh well, who cares? I got into UA!

He grabbed Hitoshi into a hug and squealed in joy.

“I did it!”

“You did. Now, Hitoshi, your turn.”

Hitoshi quickly let go and scrambled for his own disk, starting his projection again. All Might popped up again. 

“I AM HERE—AS A PROJECTION! NOW, YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING WHY I’M HERE, AND THE ANSWER TO THAT IS—I WILL BE TAKING A POSITION AS FUNDAMENTAL HEROICS TEACHER FOR THE FIRST-YEAR CLASS THIS YEAR! AS FOR YOUR SCORES—IN THE ACADEMIC EXAM, YOU MADE FIFTH OVERALL, WHICH IS EXCEPTIONAL AND DEFINITELY SECURED YOUR ADMITTANCE! AND AS FOR THE PRACTICAL—YOU EARNED 39 VILLAIN POINTS, WHICH IS NOT QUITE ENOUGH TO GET YOU TO THE HERO COURSE. HOWEVER, WHAT KIND OF HERO SCHOOL WOULD WE BE IF WE ONLY JUDGED YOUR POTENTIAL ON COMBAT?” Just like before, clips of Hitoshi’s exam performance played on the projection. “YOU SACRIFICED OPPORTUNITIES FOR MORE POINTS IN FAVOR OF AIDING YOUR FELLOW EXAMINEES, WHICH IS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF TRUE HEROISM! FOR YOUR SELFLESS ACTIONS, YOU HAVE EARNED A FURTHER 55 RESCUE POINTS, PLACING YOUR FINAL SCORE AT 94 POINTS TOTAL; PUTTING YOU IN THIRD PLACE AND GETTING YOU A WELL–DESERVED SPOT IN CLASS 1-A! SHINSO HITOSHI, WELCOME TO YOUR HERO ACADEMIA!”  

This time, he was the one to lunge forward and grab onto Hitoshi.

“You did it!”

“. . .I did,” Hitoshi whispered, staring at the projection with misty eyes. “I really did it.” Then Hitoshi seemed to snap out of it and scrubbed at his eyes for a minute before looking over to Izuku. “Alright, your turn, Izu.”

Izuku nodded silently and picked up his disk, unpausing it. Once again, All Might appeared. 

“I AM HERE—AS A PROJECTION! NOW, YOU MIGHT BE WONDERING WHY I’M HERE, AND THE ANSWER TO THAT IS—I WILL BE TAKING A POSITION AS FUNDAMENTAL HEROICS TEACHER FOR THE FIRST-YEAR CLASS THIS YEAR!”

He raised an eyebrow. 

“Is he on a script or something?”

“Yes.” That was all Izuku said, his green eyes fixed steadily on the projection. “Hold on, here it comes.”

“AS FOR YOUR SCORES—IN THE ACADEMIC EXAM, YOU GOT AN UNPRECEDENTED 100%, WHICH MORE THAN SECURED YOUR ADMITTANCE! AND AS FOR THE PRACTICAL—YOU EARNED 55 VILLAIN POINTS, WHICH IS PLENTY TO GET YOU INTO THE HERO COURSE. . .BUT WHAT KIND OF HERO SCHOOL WOULD WE BE IF WE ONLY JUDGED YOUR POTENTIAL ON COMBAT? YOU SACRIFICED OPPORTUNITIES FOR MORE POINTS IN FAVOR OF AIDING YOUR FELLOW EXAMINEES, WHICH IS A SHINING EXAMPLE OF TRUE HEROISM! FOR YOUR SELFLESS ACTIONS, YOU HAVE EARNED A FURTHER 60 RESCUE POINTS, PLACING YOUR FINAL SCORE AT 115 POINTS TOTAL, PUTTING YOU IN FIRST PLACE AND BREAKING MY OWN RECORD! THIS IS ALSO MORE THAN ENOUGH TO WIN YOU A SPOT IN 1-A! MIDORIYA IZUKU, WELCOME TO YOUR HERO ACADEMIA!”

He let out a triumphant shriek as he fell into Hitoshi’s lap, punching the air in sheer glee—and nearly punching Hitoshi in the face, but that was irrelevant.

(Hitoshi would probably disagree, but eh. He was excited; Hitoshi would understand.)

“We all made it! And we’re all in the same class; that’s awesome! Isn’t it great, Zuku?” When no response came, he paused in his celebration and twisted to check on his friend. Izuku was sitting with his head in his hands, breathing harshly. “Zuku?”

“Izu, are you alright?” Hitoshi asked, reaching out to tentatively pat Izuku’s shoulder. Izuku was silent for a few minutes longer, then lifted his head and met their eyes. A wobbly smile grew on the time-traveler’s face. 

“It’s done,” Izuku breathed, eyes going slightly shiny. “This. . .this is a huge step.” In a blindingly fast motion, Izuku shot to his feet and started pacing around the clearing. “Five years of waiting, of training, of searching street cameras and records of black-market dealings. . .it’s all come to this. I’m finally getting somewhere.” Izuku turned to face them, his smile growing and arms held out to the side. A hysterical laugh bubbled from his friend’s chest. “I can finally do what I came here to do.”

He got to his feet and cautiously approached Izuku, holding out his arms for a hug. Izuku fell into it, clinging tight and burrowing his face into his neck. Moments later, another pair of arms circled them both. The hug lasted for a few minutes before Izuku pulled away, wiping surreptitiously at his eyes.

“Right. . .there’s still lots to do. This is a big step, but that’s all it is. A step. I’ll need to review my schedule to make sure everything’s on track and my plans are in place, and we’ll have to adjust our patrol schedule so we don't burn out at UA—”

“Later,” Hitoshi interrupted, bapping Izuku on the head. “You can do that later. For today, let’s celebrate—we made it into the Hero Course, after all.” Then Hitoshi tilted his head and his face softened. “Maybe we can have a sleepover tonight. We can even stargaze.”

He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that reference, but it clearly meant something to Izuku—besides, it sounded fun. So he beamed and grabbed his friends’ hands.

“Sounds great to me!” Then his stomach growled and he chuckled sheepishly, flushing. “But maybe we should bother Dabi for snacks first.”