Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya was making his way to the train station when he first met the man that changed his life. Orientation day for Class 2-A of U.A High was today, and tomorrow was move-in day. He wondered if this was the year he'd get over his fears. Would he confess to Ochako? Maybe she even liked him back. Maybe.
Sometimes Izuku laughed to himself about how he had managed to face the strongest villain the world had ever seen, and yet paled in fear when it came to talking with a girl.
However, the man he was stopped by forced him to leave dreamworld and snap back to reality. “Excuse me sir, are you Deku the hero?” The man asked. He seemed to be in his sixties, a regular salary-man by the looks of it, but the bags under his eyes and disheveled hair spoke a different story.
“Oh, uh, yes sir, yes I am. Technically hero-in-training, but yeah. You want an autograph?” Izuku was used to this by now. After saving Japan, quite a lot of people begin to look up to you. Usually it was someone younger, but he wasn't one to judge.
He chuckled frailly, “Maybe some other time. Listen, when you get there, please, try again. Save my family. In the Final War, save them, please.” He said, stepping closer.
Izuku was startled, but he wasn't feeling anything with Danger Sense. He didn't seem to be in harm's way. “I'm sorry, what?”
“Please, try again.” He said tears began forming in the corners of his eyes, before quickly grabbing Izuku by the wrist and jabbing a red syringe into his own leg.
‘Trigger!?’ Izuku thought, before the man started convulsing, light blue flames jumped from his hand and covered Izuku's body, but they didn't hurt. The man began aging right before his eyes, hair falling out, skin going sallow. “Please.” was the last thing he said, and the last thing Izuku heard, before the world started flashing before his eyes.
It seems that he would have to wait to confess a bit longer.
—
Izuku Midoriya woke up some time later, unaware of when. The sun just barely breaching the horizon let Izuku know that it must be early morning.
‘EARLY MORNING?!’ Izuku thought, ‘Did that guy knock me out for the whole day?’ Izuku checked himself over. He was fine, physically, but that wasn't what caught his attention. He was no longer wearing his school uniform, but rather one of his favorite, ‘t-shirt’ t-shirts, and plain black shorts. Izuku was confused. He was also missing all of his possessions he had, including his phone. ‘Was I robbed?’
There were other early morning commuters around him, staring at the kid who just woke up off the floor. Or maybe it was because he was Deku. Not trying to be egotistical, Izuku hoped it was because he's Deku. ‘I need to get home. Maybe figure out what happened.’ He thought.
—
Once he arrived home, Izuku knocked on the door since he didn't have his key on him. His mom should still be home.
Inko Midoriya opened the door. “Izuku?” She said, “What are you doing outside? I didn't even hear you leave.”
Stepping inside, Izuku went to work quickly consoling his mother. “Honestly, I'm not too sure myself. I was stopped at the train station by this weird man on my way to U.A and-”
“Why were you going to U.A? Don't tell me you were going to go snooping around in there young man!”
“Wha- mom, why would I-” He was cut off by a door opening and closing somewhere else in the house. Danger sense didn't activate once again, but the paranoia in Izuku's mind did. He activated One for All, but his body felt like he was struggling to hold a percentage or two. ‘What's going on?’ He thought.
“Mom?” A familiar voice sounded,“Who were you speaking to?”
Izuku Midoriya entered the room. But… not the other Izuku Midoriya. The other… uh… anyways.
Inko stared at her son across the room with wide eyes. Then she stared at her son right beside her with even wider eyes. She quickly backed away from Not Son with a speed that both Izuku's had never witnessed.
“Who are you!?” She yelled, “Stay away from me and my son!”
Izuku¹ (the first) stared at Izuku² (the second) and quickly realized what must have happened. “Wait, mom, I can explain! It's me, Izuku!”
Izuku² had moved to protect his mother. A look of determination was in his eyes, although Izuku¹ could tell he was afraid. It made him impressed, looking at what he is.
Quickly pushing those feelings to the side, Izuku¹ tried to explain what he thinks happened as best he could. “S-so, I'm p-pretty sure I'm from the future. Please, what's the date?”
“February 3rd, 2214.” Izuku said, still with his guard up.
“The day of the sludge villain incident!”
“Huh?”
“Uh, nothing for now. Listen, I'm from about two years in the future.”
“I look exactly the same two years in the future?”
“What?” Izuku¹ said, before looking down at himself. He noticed the lack of muscle in his chest and arms, and looking around, he realized how things seemed taller than they were before. “No, no no no no no! I just started having another growth spurt! I was sure I was gonna be 180 cm!”
Izuku² cleared his throat.
“Right, right, sorry. I think that being transported back in time also gave me the body I had at the time. God, couldn't I have at least started lifting weights if I wanted to be a hero?”
“H-hey!”
“Sorry, again. Look, on my way to the train today, er- or, I guess, in two years in the future, a man grabbed me by the arm and used his quirk to - speculating here - send me back in time. To now.”
“Prove it.” Izuku² said.
“I've- we’ve been diagnosed quirkless since we were four, and have been bullied for it since. We hide the burn marks and bruises we get from Kacchan because we don't want mom to worry. Also, one time when we were twelve, we wanted to know more about the material used in hero costumes that helped protect the wearer despite seeming thin, so we searched up 'Mirko Leotard-’”
“ALRIGHT, that's enough, I believe you!”
Izuku² looked a little less on guard, and a little more red-cheeked. Inko stepped out from behind her son. “Izuku?” She said, tears forming in her eyes.
“Mom.” He said, tears forming in his as well, “L-listen, I need to get going, lots of things are happening today, and I need to get on top of them. Izuku.” He said, pointing to the him across from himself, “We need to talk privately later. In the meantime, get to school. There's a villain fight you're not gonna want to miss. New hero debut and everything.”
Izuku² almost squealed in happiness, rushing back to his room to get ready for school. And to make sure he brought a notebook. Not that he had to make sure of that.
Izuku¹ quickly kissed his mom on the forehead before leaving. “We'll talk when I get back.”
—
Yagi Toshinori was keeping watch in a park like he usually did. He'd go on walks to keep his frail physique active, and liked to do so while on the watch for crime. It was the least he could do. This was probably his favorite bench in Musutafu park. He could keep an eye on his surroundings while still taking some time to be alone.
Well, he was alone, until some green-haired teen started running towards him. Toshinori didn't get up yet, but he kept himself primed if the kid tried anything. Why would someone run up to a stranger alone anyways?
“Mr. Yagi! Thank God!” That disturbed Toshinori greatly. Why did this kid know his name? Barely anyone did. “I was hoping you'd be here, you told me about this place, afterall.” The kid continued, “I thought I was going to have to wait until the sludge villain incident to talk, anyways-” Toshinori continued to get more and more suspicious.
“I know you're All Might.” Toshinori spit blood.
“Young man, what are you talking about, that's-”
“I know about One for All, I know about All for One, I know about Nana Shimura and the ones before, they say hi, by the way, I know that you're injured and can't stay in hero form for more than three hours.” He stopped to take a breath, and Toshinori took his chance to get in a word. “Kid- you…” he had managed to tell him things that only a few people in the world knew. He glared at the kid. “How do you know that?”
The teen went to sit down beside him. “Name's Izuku Midoriya, I'm the ninth holder of One for All, your successor, but from the future. I think someone sent me back in time to save someone I couldn't save before.”
“Okay, I-” Toshinori was finding it hard to respond to something as wild as this, “I guess I believe you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I mean, you've told me things that no one else should know, so I guess it's really you. I'd like you to meet a friend of mine-”
“Tsukauchi Naomasa, detective, lie detection quirk.” Izuku listed off to a stunned All Might.
“Just to… confirm what you're saying is true. Anyways, you're saying that I'll give my power to you in the future?”
“Actually, not to me, that’s the wild part, watch this.” Izuku let One for All flow throughout his body, red veins criss-crossing his skin, green electricity arcing in the air around him, "I've already got it! Which means that two versions of One for All exist at the same time!”
Toshinori pondered this for a moment. ‘Two versions? This is great news! I could have two successors!’ he spoke up, “So, Young Midoriya, you've seen the future, who should I give it to?”
Izuku immediately started squirming slightly once Toshinori finished. “M-me?” he said.
“What? You want double the power or something!?”
“N-no, not at all, I meant the other me!”
“The other you?”
“Yeah, when I got here, I went back home just to find out that the me from before is still here, meaning that there’s two mes!” Izuku’s tone got more excited as he spoke. “Speaking of, you're probably gonna have to save him in like five hours.”
“Save him! Why?” Toshinori spat.
“He- I- We pass under a tunnel after school today, and when we do, a slime villain comes out of the sewer and attacks us. You save us, and that's how we meet. And then, y’know, other stuff happens, but I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.”
Toshinori took a deep breath before making a big decision. “Okay. Let's do this Young Midoriya. I guess I’m getting two successors, who are the same people, but not, because one of them-”
Izuku put a hand up and interrupted him again before it could get any worse, “Just think of us like we're twins if it helps.”
“Y-yeah, kid, I can do that.”
Toshinori eyed Izuku for a moment before speaking again. “I gave my quirk to someone so… small?”
“I get bigger! Time travel made me small again!”
“All right, all right, my bad, kid. Now, tell me more about the future.” His voice became grim, “You mentioned All for One, now why would you have to know about a monster like him?”
Izuku sighed, mentally preparing himself to speak about All for One, Shie Hasaki, the MLA, and the Final War. Toshinori needed to know everything. “Okay, let's talk about the future.”
—
Izuku² Midoriya was having a weird day. Never in a million years would he have expected himself to show up to the door one day, insisting that he was from the future. At first, he thought that this had to be someone with a shape-shifting or illusion based quirk, right? If so, he had to ask them about it, how it worked, what their limits are, things like that. And yet, the things he said disproved that. He knew what Kaachan did to him, and that he tried to cover it up.
Also, he knew something that he promised to himself to never speak about with anybody ever!
Izuku’s cheeks began to heat up again. He slapped his face with both hands, which gained the attention of his classmates around him.
Also, he knew something that hadn't happened yet, the villain attack on his way to school. He even said that there would be the debut of a new hero, and he was right! He had never even heard of Mt. Lady before this! He had to be a time traveller, that was the only explanation. And he said that they needed to speak privately! What did that mean? Was he going to give him secrets for the future? Would he instruct him? Give him tips on the economy? Tell him who would win the next sports festival?
Izuku was so excited - and a little fearful - that he didn't notice his own muttering. Unfortunately, Kaachan did.
—
Okay, weird day turned pretty bad day. Another him shows up, Kaachan bullies him, blows up, and subsequently throws away his notebook, and he has to fight some fish to get it back. Izuku² was really hoping that whatever Izuku¹ - God, they really needed to figure this name thing out here - was going to tell him was good news, and not, ‘Hey, go in for a check-up now, they're gonna find something.’ Type of news.
Unfortunately for Izuku, pretty bad day turned to worst day as he suddenly found himself the victim of a sludge-based villain.
“Haha, Sorry kid, but-”
“Delaware Smash!”
The villain was reduced to chunks as the sheer wind pressure tore through the tunnel. Izuku was thrown to the side as he looked down to the end of the underpass. There stood his idol, the unstoppable, unwavering, unmatched All Might.
Izuku watched as All Might, The All Might, quickly gathered up the sludge left by the villain into two plastic bottles.
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!”
“Were you like this when we first met?” All Might said to the person by his - wait, Izuku¹?
“Y-yeah. Still kinda am.” He muttered.
Izuku² had so many questions. ‘Do I know All Might? Will I know All Might? Like, Personally!?’
“What's going on!” Izuku² yelled, “Also, Mr. All Might sir, can I please get an autograph?”
“Of course, Young Midoriya!” ‘He knows my name!?’ “But first, let me drop this villain off and hand him over to the proper authorities.”
“Yeah, right, cool, no totally. I'll wait.” Izuku² was positively bouncing on his feet.
—
Fifteen minutes later, All Might was handing the bottles off to a slightly mystified/confused police officer. “I’ll uh, make sure these go to jail I guess? Gonna put these here soda bottles behind bars or somefin’.” he said as he walked off. Unbeknownst to all, the cap on the bottles wiggled and gave ever so slightly.
“Okay, wanna do this on a rooftop or something?” Izuku¹ asked. “Seems about right.” All Might said, “one in each arm?”
Izuku¹ nodded. All Might picked both Midoriyas in each arm. Izuku² was a mess.
All Might jumped, and with one leap landed on a tall office building. “Here, this should do. Should I go first?” he said. Izuku¹ nodded again. “Go ahead.”
All Might looked at Izuku². “Listen Young Midoriya,”
‘It never gets old!’
“what is said here doesn't leave this roof, understood?” Izuku² gave a squeak in confirmation. All Might sighed. “Five years ago, I received a deadly wound in a fight with a villain.”
“Was it your fight with Toxic Chainsaw?”
All Might chuckled. “No, my boy, but good on you for remembering that. No, this villain’s name was scrubbed from the history books. I didn't think that I was going to have to tell you this so soon, but according to your… future self here,”
‘So he told him!’
“You'll end up well acquainted in time, so I might as well tell you now. The villain's name is All for One. He has the power to steal quirks, and he is my nemesis, everything the Symbol of Peace stands against. And he… gave me this.”
In a puff of steam, All Might transformed into his frail, skinny form. Izuku nearly passed out. The new, frail version of All Might lifted his shirt, revealing the massive scar that covered most of his lower torso. “Took out some ribs, a lung, and most of my stomach. Now, I'm down to three hours of hero work a day. The rest of the time, I'm this.”
Izuku¹ grimaced at the retelling of this story. He hated it. Hated what All for One did to his mentor.
Izuku² fared no better, nearly screaming in shock at the image before him. He looked to All Might's left, and saw that his future self wasn't surprised at all. Was this what he wanted to talk privately about? But why?
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the city, smoke appearing a couple blocks away.
“No! I-I thought for sure it'd be different this time! Quick! Grab on!” Izuku¹ brought his other self close and grabbed on, before a tendril of black and green embedded itself into the roof and wrapped around a pipe. Izuku¹ quickly repelled the two down the building before breaking out into a sprint.
Both Izuku's arrived at the scene. Off to the side, the policeman from before could be seen. A trickle of blood was on his forehead, but he seemed to be breathing.
Izuku¹ watched as the past became the present once again, Backdraft putting out the fires, Kamui Woods rescuing civilians, Deatharms being useless, that one bird-looking hero who Izuku¹ never bothered to learn the name of, it was all like before. ‘Which meant…’ Izuku¹ turned his head just in time to watch his past self rush towards the villain. ‘Right.’
Izuku¹ ran with all the power that he could let course through him without causing pain, letting him arrive right after his past self's bag slam against the slime monster's eye. He immediately started ripping the slime off Bakugo, his double having joined him in the endeavor.
Bakugo coughed, clearing the slime from his lungs before speaking. “What the hell! I don't need- Why are there two of you!?”
“I couldn't watch you die, Kaachan!” Izuku² cried with tears in his eyes. The villain suddenly yelled as he raised his monstrous hand up and brought it back down upon them, “Get lost, kids!”
Izuku¹ started grabbing his other and preparing to get away, but before he could, All Might appeared, stopping the slime man's fist, before following through with his own punch, scattering the villain once more.
In the aftermath, Izuku¹ quickly grabbed past Izuku² and made a break for it before they could be scolded for what they had done, leaving All Might to deal with the press.
Eventually he stopped running, allowing the two to catch a breath.
“I never thought this would happen. You?” Izuku¹ said.
“N-never. Seeing my future self, getting attacked by a villain, m-meeting All Might, learning about All Might’s injury, rushing into danger like that, being saved by All Might,”
“Jeez, I really was just nothing but All Might, huh?”
“It all feels… surreal.”
Izuku¹ smiled. “Just you wait.”
“Huh?”
“Hey!” someone yelled, both Izukus turned their heads towards the noise. “What the hell was that!?” oh, it was Bakugo, “Why the fuck are there two of you? Who are you?!” he pointed to the Izuku not in a uniform, “Explain now!”
“U-uh, well, you see-” Izuku¹ mumbled, ‘damnit, why couldn’t this Bakugo be my version of Bakugo!’ “We’re, uh, long lost twins! Separated at the hospital!” Izuku¹ said with a shaky smile. “Yeah!” His other self explained, just as shakily, “T-twins!”
Bakugo stared at them incredulously. “You really expect me to believe that shit!”
“I got hit by a cloning quirk?” Izuku² said.
“Nuh-uh!”
“I'm from the future?” The other responded.
“That’s just as stupid! You look exactly the same, what are you, two days from the future!?”
“Urk!”
“Y'know what, fuck off, I don't want to know about your worthless life! And don't think that I needed your help today!” He yelled as he strode off.
“Will he get better in the future?” Izuku² asked.
“Wellllll-”
Suddenly he was cut off by All Might springing into view. “I am here!” He yelled, before accidentally transforming back to his thin self in a spray of blood. The process caused present Izuku to scream, and future Izuku to flinch.
“Young Midoriya, I wanted to tell you something before we were interrupted, something that I was just guessing about, until I saw you in action. You moved while everyone else stood to the side. Young man, you showed me something today. You showed me that you too can be a hero.”
The entire time, Izuku² seemed to be just barely holding back his tears, but with his words, the kid fell to his knees and wept.
“I hereby name you my successor. My power is yours to inherit.” Izuku looked up from his position near the ground. “Power?”
“What’d you think that was earlier when I got us off the building?” Izuku¹ said with a smile.
“Yes Young man, my power. My quirk. One for All is a quirk that’s been passed down from generation to generation, gaining more strength with each new inheritor. I was the eighth, and I want you to be the ninth. In fact, according to your future self-”
Izuku¹ waved teasingly from the side.
“I chose you in his timeline. I intended to pass my power on to you due to the advice of your future self, but after seeing you act, I am sure of it. Will you accept my quirk?”
Izuku²’s eyes were glassy with tears. “Of course!”