Chapter Text
It was ironic that they stood in the principal’s office like two scolded school boys. Of course, the rat overlord wasn’t their principal while they were at U.A. Had this happened at any other time Hizashi would’ve had a good laugh at their predicament. However, he was currently in ill-fitting clothes with his hair at the perfect height to stab his eyeballs. That and he was absolutely livid with his husband. The husband he loved so very much was dealing with a similar struggle. He had to stick to wearing his pink sweats that he had to roll up so they could fit and a shirt he was swimming in.
If Shouta hadn’t been so reckless none of this would’ve happened, but judging by how the man- no teen- was ignoring him he probably blames Hizashi. It didn’t help that he was scolded for trying to tell their boss about what happened and had to let Shouta take the lead. Apparently he was being too emotional and therefore, loud. Nothing quite like being told to shut up and let the adults handle it.
Nezu was sipping his tea and appeared to be deep in thought. He probably already knew what he was going to do with the two staff members that just so happened to be rewound to their sixteen year old bodies. Eri hadn’t meant to rewind them. Honestly, Hizashi felt bad she had gotten involved in the first place. Shouta had come home after pushing himself too far and the buildup of emotions finally exploded. Their arguing had upset her and she lost control of her quirk.
“What ‘cha thinkin’ Nezu?” Better to get it done and over with. Hizashi tried to push his hair back, but it only fell in his eyes again. He’d forgotten just how annoying his hair was when it was this short. It wasn’t bad when he styled it up, but it wasn’t as if he had the time to fix it.
“Well… It is quite the predicament. With our understanding of Eri’s quirk, it would seem like you are both stuck at that age. Had it been another quirk we could probably just keep it hidden, but seeing as it’s more permanent… We will have to plan accordingly.”
Hizashi didn’t like that. Nope. Not at all. “Are you saying we’re better off starting over? ‘Cause that’s what it sounds like.” He crosses his arms and picks at the skin on his arms. “I can’t do that, Nezu. I have my radio show, I’m a limelight hero, and we’re teachers.” This is bad. “Then there’s the media to consider. What? We go out to them and say Present Mic is now Past Mic and put a target on my back?”
A heavy weight rests on his shoulder. When he looks over Shouta is staring at him before looking down to the blond’s arm. Oh… “Damn it.” He curls his fingers to bite into the palms of his hands. There wasn’t too much damage to his arms so he’d take care of it later. The dark haired man- teen- seemed satisfied as he removed his hand, however he remained close.
“I think the best course of action, at the moment, would be to say that Present Mic and Eraserhead are on leave. Temporarily, it might be best to contact someone you trust at the station and ask them to cover your shifts. It’s likely that we will have to claim you’ve both retired due to unforeseen circumstances in order to protect you both.” Nezu gives them a cheerful look that sends shivers down Hizashi’s spine. “As for your positions here, I think it would be best if we simply integrated you both into the heroics classes. We’ve had long term substitutes and any teaching material you have already prepared can be passed on to them. I highly recommend this option for the both of you as I cannot force you to resign and become students. However, I do suggest you think over it carefully. As you are now, neither of you could spar with any of our second year students and win. Considering that’s where you both would be at this age… well… you can see why I recommend this path for you both.”
There was more, there was always more when it came to Nezu. They also didn’t have a choice. Maybe that’s why he’s staring at the U.A. uniform he was given dreading wearing it once more. It was as if he was accepting that everything he worked for was going to be tossed to the side. He couldn’t even be angry! Eri hadn’t meant to do this to them! However, looking down at himself he couldn’t help but feel defeated. They both lost height and muscle mass. At this age, he couldn’t lug around the weight of his directional speaker let alone… oh this was going to be horrible.
Shouta, quiet as ever, glanced over at him. He’d already changed, but he hadn’t said anything. Even Hizashi was having a hard time saying anything, what was there to say? Despite the baby face, Hizashi could see the concern written all over the neutral expression. “Sorry, Sho.” He picks up the pants and starts dressing himself. His- his husband? Are they still technically still married? They should talk about that. Shouta waits patiently for him, an old habit they both had that neither saw a reason to fix.
When he’s done he gives the undergrou- the other student? a weak smile as he shoves his hair back. It falls back in his face and he lets out a heavy sigh. Shouta pats his shoulder in sympathy before grabbing his upper arm gently and leading him out of the locker room. They walked in silence back to Nezu’s office where Shouta released him and Hizashi knocked on the door. When the door swung open the blond stared directly into emerald green eyes. With a toothy grin he looked over to Shouta who had to tilt his head back to look at Midoriya and him.
“Oh…” The kid’s- no… yeah- kid’s voice was quiet but Hizashi brought his attention back to him. After a few seconds Shouta clears his throat and the green haired kid steps out of the way for them. Hizashi and Shouta take a seat as Midoriya closes the door behind them. Nezu is already at his desk. Rather than taking a seat the kid stands awkwardly beside the principal’s desk.
“Midoriya, as you’ve been informed, Aizawa and Yamada have been involved in a quirk accident that we presume to be permanent, but are hopeful it can be reversed.” Shouta tenses beside him and Hizashi fidgets beside him. The underground hero picked up on something that he hadn’t and it unsettled him. “I will be placing them in your class for the time being.”
The kid’s eyes went wide as he looked between Nezu and his former teachers. “Wait! What? I… They… Umm..” Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck and looked down as if trying to find the right words.
Shouta was silent, which wasn’t too strange, but Hizashi had expected him to say something about all this by now. Instead, he spoke up. “Midoriya. Chill kid.” When watery green eyes looked to him he gave the boy a bright smile. “What’s there to worry about? We aren’t going to judge you! Sho’s probably going to just sleep and I won’t cause you too many headaches.” The uncertainty in the kid’s eyes didn’t waver. “Think about it kiddo! What do you have to teach us? Nothin’! Just let us do our own thing and-”
“But…” Hizashi is surprised by the kid cutting him off, but eyes him curiously waiting for him to continue. “It’s… It’s not that simple. Mi- Yam-...” Midoriya cups his face, takes a deep breath, and when he lowers his hands he has his trademarked determined look on. “I- I can see why you’d think I would worry about you both being my… my st-students. That’s not really it, though. We all know how much I love to study quirks and I’ve put a lot of thought into how Eri’s quirk works. Rewind’s basics are that it uses stored up energy to rewind a person back in time. There are many outcomes that we’ve seen and how with practice she was able to have better control over it. Historically, though, in stressful and less controlled environments her ability to direct her quirk fluctuates. Even when she was with Chisaki he had to forcibly stop her quirk by killing her.” He takes in a deep breath of air before continuing.
“As for what Chisaki did with his quirk erasing and restoring bullets, he had used his own quirk to modify her blood in order to create them. From the data that we were able to collect from Garaki’s research on the rewind drug he gave to All for One, we know that rather than targeting a quirk factor it targeted the physical body. Again, though, the drug was incapable of stopping and being rewound into nothingness was the only possible way for it to stop. So in this case, we’re working more with the sudden stop of her quirk through, what I’m guessing was, Erasure. The reason I bring up both Chisaki and All for One is because of the specifics that we can’t really test without human experimentation. Of course, it wouldn’t be Eri we would be hurting, but other people…” Midoriya mumbles for a moment before snapping out of his thoughts and continuing.
“Pretty much… Since Chisaki targeted only the quirk factor Rewind was only rewinding essentially DNA. When Eri went in to rewind what the drug did she didn’t go in and rewind his quirk factor because it didn’t exist. She had to rewind him to a previous state entirely as his DNA was altered. Point being, she didn’t rewind the drug that used her quirk, she just rewound his body to before the drug was used. All for One was similar and different. As his physical body was selected rather than a quirk factor he went through different changes. People can live with or without quirks, however our physical bodies are pretty different. Rewind on its own doesn’t stop until a target disappears. Erasure likely saved the both of you from being rewound into nothing, which you probably both know. There is a point to all this… bear with me.” Deep breath.
“As All for One rewound physically he went through equal changes in his mental capacities too. The brain is part of the body and while we could discuss the intricacies of the brain, memories, electrical signals, and hormones… let’s just say… All for One retained his memories, however he also didn’t live very long so we have little to no idea what will happen.” Silence follows the green haired teacher’s words. “Oh… I’m done. I'm not a phycologist and the study of memories is nowhere near something I feel comfortable speculating on. Hitoshi would be a better bet.”
Another long silence falls on the room. Nezu quietly and peacefully sips on his tea. Shouta has been staring at the ground and Hizashi chews on his finger until he draws blood. As soon as he does he’s on his feet and opening his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. He points at Midoriya, then Nezu, Shouta, back to Midoriya, and ending on Shouta. Still he says nothing as he throws his hands up in the air, then flings his arms out toward the teen, and turns around abruptly. The blond takes two steps, stops, flings his hands up in the air, takes a moment, puts his hands in his hair, and paces back to where he had been sitting. He covers his eyes with one hand, turns, takes two steps, and throws the hand that was on his face into the air. Yamada looks at Nezu with panic in his eyes, or at least Izuku guesses that’s what the look is.
Then the blond is spinning around and punching the wall. Izuku can feel a part of him withering away as he keeps a soft smile on his face. It’s not a real smile by far, but it’s the only expression he knows how to wear at times like these. It’s his version of Kacchan’s perpetual anger just… nicer. Nezu looks chipper as ever, but he has a lit cigarette in one paw and his desk phone in another. Glancing over to Aizawa, Izuku isn’t sure how to feel about the vacant expression on the man’s face. Before he knows it Ida (Woah it’s been a while since he’s seen him!) sprints into the room, gives a single wave to Izuku, picks up Yamada, and flies out of the room. Papers flutter to the ground as he briefly wonders what just happened.
As if that wasn’t strange enough, another classmate he hadn’t seen in a while is standing in the doorway Ida left open. He’s seen the other one much more recently, though. Denki and Hitoshi wander into the room looking awkward. Izuku smiles brightly and gives them a small wave. The blond grins back at him and Hitoshi just rolls his eyes as if he doesn’t hide a small smile under his capture weapon. Purple eyes land on the dark head of hair and steps behind Aizawa. Their former teacher leans his head back and stares at Hitoshi with an expression somehow blanker than Izuku has ever seen.
“I guess this is why you guys had me pick Eri up and why Recovery Girl says she’s sleeping due to quirk exhaustion?” At Hitoshi’s drawl, dark eyes blink slowly and Aizawa flops on his side to lay on the couch.