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Febuwhump Day 7 - Alternate Timeline Self

Tenko already knew, in an off-hand, vaguely instinctual, Probably Checked Once As A Kid sort of way, that his Quirk wouldn’t work on himself. The young Pro figured he probably needed to genuinely want to kill or at least seriously hurt himself for Decay to take effect, but that wasn’t the sort of thing he felt inclined to test, even on his worst days.

Thanks to his villainous self from another timeline, it becomes a moot point.

Notes:

aka Video Gamer Tomura VS. Tabletop Roleplayer Tenko, go!

Work Text:

So.

Tenko already knew, in an off-hand, vaguely instinctual, Probably Checked Once As A Kid sort of way, that his Quirk wouldn’t work on himself. Scratching, tugging on his hair, giving his cheek a wake-up slap in the absence of caffeine, none of it accidentally caused his own disintegration. Also in a vaguely instinctual way, Tenko figured he probably needed to genuinely want to kill or at least seriously hurt himself for Decay to take effect, but that wasn’t the sort of thing he felt inclined to test, even on his worst days.

Thanks to his villainous self from another timeline, it becomes a moot point.

“Huh,” is all that slips out of Tenko’s mouth, when he and Shigaraki Tomura both pause, the latter’s exposed fingers each pressed to the former’s bare arm. “Good to know.”

Snarling, Shigaraki lets go and starts back-pedalling.

Tenko doesn’t let him get far.

“What, no follow-up plan?” He asks, throwing a few punches to test the waters. “Rolled a 1 on your big attack and there’s nothing else to offset it with? That’s a terrible gameplay strategy, dude, my Storymaster wouldn’t ever let me get away with a new character sheet that weak!”

“What are you talking about,” his evil twin snaps, hitting back, but oof his form is awful. Fast, sure, and sneaky enough for his apparently-standard modus operandi of ‘Decay everything within reach’, but useless against someone immune to his Quirk.

“All Strength, zero Fortitude,” Tenko says, shaking his head with a tsk.

And then he really opens up.

Forward jab, double shoulder strikes, gut punch, two downward kicks and an overhead swing, duck low and shove hard, go for the knees, the throat, the eyes, don’t give him a moment to breathe, don’t give him a moment to think, push further and further and further and THERE-!

Rescue specialization aside, Tenko knows how to fight.

It barely takes two minutes for him to hound Shigaraki back across the battlefield, past other duels that slow or even outright stop to watch, the League leader spitting so many sideways swears he clearly can’t spare the brain capacity to consider what Tenko is pushing him towards. Not until it’s too late, anyway. And at that point, there’s only time for one last shouted obscenity before Tenko dropkicks him straight into a cloud of Midnight’s sleeping gas.

As soon as his other self collapses, Tenko spins around to face the majority of the villains who’d come from the universe next door. “Well?” The Pro Hero demands, flinging his arms out, hands flexing to retract his gloves and expose all ten fingers. “Who’s next?!”

Somewhat surprisingly, every League member still standing gives up then and there.

Breathing hard through his nose, Tenko stays put, letting himself serve as a visual threat while his allies and teammates go around handling the actual restraints. Probably for the best, considering all the wary and fearful gazes that remain locked in his direction.

He at least brings his arms down.

And as soon as all the cross-universe interlopers are secured, Tenko exchanges nods with a few people, makes a couple of excuses, and slips out of sight in order to scratch at his arms with a vengeance. Just about the point he’s tearing through skin, though, is when a short figure in green comes leaping around the corner.

Right.

Tenko forgot some UA interns were present for the fight.

His baby cousin not being one of them, the abrupt impact of a tackle-hug takes Tenko by surprise, and he immediately hits the ground with a heavy “OOF! Izu!”

“Sorry,” Izuku mumbles, muffled where he’s pressing his face to the center of Tenko’s chest.

“Are not,” Tenko grumbles. He wriggles a bit, but it’s more to get somewhat comfortable on the ground than to escape his cousin’s tight grip. “What’s wrong?” Somehow, Izuku grips tighter. Enough to force a wheeze from Tenko’s lungs, which thankfully makes the teenager ease up almost right away. Another mumble is spoken into pale blue fabric. “Repeat that, please?”

Izuku picks his head up. Tenko flinches, the narrowed eyes and leaking tears and deep frown hitting harder just for appearing out of nowhere. His mind first jumps to the other UA kids, thinking one of them must have gotten badly hurt in the fight, but then- Izuku growls, “You aren’t him.”

Red eyes blink.

“And he isn’t you, so don’t let it get inside your head, okay?”

“...okay,” Tenko eventually rasps. Green curls bounce in all directions as Izuku jerks his head in a sharp nod, before burying his face against Tenko’s chest again. They don’t get up. Tenko can’t say he minds.

The urge to scratch is gone.

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