Chapter Text
“Kacchan, what groceries did you get? My mom had me buy some–”
“Did I say you could speak to me?! Get fucking lost, Deku!”
Izuku flinched at his former friend’s biting tone, face falling. The grocery bags at his sides felt like weights dragging him into the sea as Katsuki speed-walked away, and he suddenly felt very stupid.
Of course Katsuki didn’t want to talk with him. Not about groceries or anything else. It was dumb to have even tried. His eyes flickered down lamely to the bags of celery and onions and carrots in his hands, not wanting to offend Katsuki by staring at the back of his head.
They hadn’t been friends for a really long time, and it wasn’t like this was anything new. Ever since being diagnosed as Quirkless when he was four he had been a social outcast, but it always hurt a little more when it was Katsuki who was rejecting his attempt to reconnect.
Or when it was him mocking Izuku.
Or when it was him beating up Izuku.
Or when it was–
The sound of tires screeching yanked Izuku out of his self-pity party in an instant, head jerking up from the sidewalk in shock and alarm. People screamed around him as a massive eighteen-wheeler barreled towards the stoplight, already ducking for cover. Izuku was safe, having not yet reached the crosswalk, but–
“Kacchan!”
Izuku’s body moved on its own as he saw Katsuki in the middle of the road, completely unaware of what was about to happen to him. There were no thoughts, just action.
With what little strength he had in his body, he dropped his grocery bags to the pavement and surged forward, hands outstretched to do what little good he could with his short, miserable life.
“What the–?!” Katsuki cried out in indignation as he stumbled forward, completely unaware of his surroundings until hearing the blare of the truck’s horn cut through the new wave of screams from horrified onlookers. His head snapped back, eyes shrinking to pinpricks as he saw Izuku.
As he saw Deku, arms outstretched, right in front of the incoming truck.
It didn’t slow down.
As their eyes met one last time, Izuku smiled.
Because he knew, at that moment, that he’d been a–
–
“Police announced this afternoon that the suspect behind a devastating hit-and-run has finally been captured following a prolonged fight with heroes Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady.”
Izuku… didn’t really expect to wake up.
He kind of figured that he was dead. Or going to die, at least. He wasn’t really sure how this whole dying thing worked, but getting hit by a truck going at least a hundred kilometers an hour felt like a pretty cut and dry case.
“The villain had been caught committing petty theft before being noticed robbing an old woman by Kamui Woods on the hero’s morning patrol, she told the Tokyo Inquirer, and she immediately began the chase.”
But here he was, somehow still thinking. And in his body.
He knew that because everything hurt.
“The villain stole a WcDonald’s delivery truck before beginning a high speed pursuit with the heroine, running several red lights and nearly striking several pedestrians before hitting a young male shielding his friend, who remains in critical condition. Several more heroes were called to the scene, before finally being subdued by rookie hero Mt. Lady. The villain has been charged with three counts of theft, one count of vehicular assault, and one count of endangerment of a male.”
Izuku’s ears strained to pick up the muffled noises around him. There was an incessant buzz in the back of his head that felt like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once, but that was far from it. He could hear the sound of muffled cries echoing faintly, as well as the soft ‘pop’ of nitroglycerin explosions.
Wait… what?
His eyes twitched slightly beneath their lids, flickering in discomfort as he tried to rouse himself. His fingers twitched once, twice, three times before he regained feeling in them, hands clenching experimentally at the soft blankets beneath him. A keen whine left his lips as he struggled in vain to–
“Izuku!”
A strangled gasp left his lips as a weight rocketed into his chest, body going taut as pain shot through his system. The cries were louder now, closer, and a damp spot was rapidly forming on his torso.
He knew that voice.
“M-M-Mom,” he choked out, voice laced with relief (and a lot of pain), “I-I’m okay. Too t-tight. Hurting me.”
At his whimpered cries, his mother instantly let up on her hold. She pulled back slightly, hands remaining around his torso as she bawled her eyes out. “B-Baby, I’m s-sorry,” she stammered, voice breaking, “I-I’m sorry. I’m just so r-relieved, the d-doctors said that you might not–”
She cut herself off with a broken sob, and Izuku couldn’t take it anymore. He groaned weakly in pain as he tried to sit up, arms burning as they buckled underneath the weight of his upper body.
His mother was on it in an instant, guiding him to a sitting position as she piled up the pillows behind him to allow him to relax. “Shh,” she whispered shakily, “I’ve got you. It’s okay, Izuku. You’re okay. Let me help…”
“T-T-Thank you,” he wheezed, his body falling back against the wall of pillows now behind him as he tried to rub his (now wet) eyes, smearing eye gunk and tears before she helpfully wiped his face with a tissue, “W-Where a-am I…?”
“You’re in the hospital, baby,” his mom whispered, brushing stray curls of his hair out of the way, “I came as soon as I heard. You were so brave, honey… K-Katsu–”
“K-Kacchan!” Izuku’s eyes shot open like a bat out of hell, at the reminder, before whimpering in pain at the way the bright lights assaulted his eyes. “W-Where is–”
“I’m here, Izuku.”
His head jerked sharply to the side at Katsuki’s voice, the tone gentler than anything he’d ever heard from the blond. Izuku’s vision was blurry with tears as he took in the form of his had-been friend. His posture was soft, shoulders small and…
…hair was let down to his torso?
Izuku rubbed his eyes. Twice. Then three times.
Katsuki did not have hair that long. Or a voice that soft. Or a gaze in her eyes that didn’t show disdain for him.
Or boobs.
“…Kacchan?” Izuku’s mouth opened and closed slowly in disbelief, voice strangled as his eyes went as wide as saucers, “W-W-What…?”
Now, he was obviously referring to the fact that Katsuki had somehow turned into a girl, but it seemed like that fact was lost on both of them. “We were walking home together from the supermarket,” she(?) explained gently, her gaze inexplicably soft and warm, “T-Then… that truck appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t even see it coming. Y-You pushed me out of the way, a-and…”
The girl’s throat tightened, eyes misty and the hands at his/her/their sides clenched into fists. Before Izuku could even blink, she was in front of him, pulling herself down into the tightest hug he had ever been in.
“You’re such a fucking idiot,” not-Katsuki whispered, tears dripping from her cheeks onto Izuku’s shoulder, “I’m so sorry. Thank you.”
Izuku’s brain was currently melting. When had Katsuki ever said he was sorry? When had he ever given Izuku a hug?
This was not fine.
He struggled in her grip, arms weakly trying to push the girl off of him. She seemed to get the memo pretty quickly, releasing him from the hug and stepping back even as her eyes flashed in hurt.
“I-Izuku?” His mother called worryingly, sensing the distress. She was at his side in an instant, eyes full of worry. “Baby? What’s wrong? Is something the matter?”
He shook his head shakily, still unable to pull his eyes away from the girl in front of him. “W-Who… who is that?”
Both women went still at the question. The blonde not-Katsuki actually flinched, her body curling back like she’d been struck as her eyes flashed with hurt. His mother’s hands went still for a moment, before gently reaching up to stroke his hair.
“I-Izu, baby,” she whispered, her voice soft and frail, “What… What do you remember? About what happened?”
He tried his best to ignore the fact that she just brushed his question off, a pang of hurt in his chest from being ignored by his own mother. “I-I…” he trailed off, eyes clenching shut as he tried to recall the events from earlier today. They felt distant, fainter than usual as his head churned like slush. “T-There was a truck… a-and Kacchan…”
Her gaze softened immediately, cradling his face in her hands. “Izuku…” she whispered, “You must not remember everything.”
The girl stepped forward again, a not-small amount of relief evident on her face as his mother smiled.
“That’s Kacchan,” she whispered encouragingly, “She’s your friend. Katsumi Bakugo.”
…
“N-No,” he choked out weakly, shaking his head as tears began to pool, “T-That’s not– I-I don’t– but–”
His head was swirling, and it felt like everything he’d known was wrong. Why were they both acting like this was normal? This couldn’t be Katsuki. Was this some kind of prank? Why was she being nice to him? What was happening? This couldn’t be real and he must be hallucinating but it all felt so real and why was his mom and this girl both going along with it it wasn’t funny and his head hurt and he couldn’t feel his whole body and–
“Easy now,” a soft voice soothed, cutting through the static in his head in an instant, “It’s alright. You’re safe, Midoriya-san.”
For some reason, her words actually seemed to help. The turmoil raging inside his mind cooled, his shaky, shallow breaths slowing to a normal rate as his chest rose and fell evenly.
It must have been her Quirk. No way anyone else could ever make him feel so… okay. Like his mind and body were at ease, tension seeping out like a wrung sponge.
“I-I’m alright,” he whispered, voice still tight despite the calmness washing over him, “I-I’m sorry…”
The doctor cooed softly at his tone, her hand moving up to gently ruffle his hair. “Oh, Midoriya-san…” she whispered, “You have nothing to apologize for. You went through a very harrowing experience. It’s natural to feel confused or panicked.”
He couldn’t help but feel emotional at the doctor’s comforting words, and wasn’t that embarrassing? Izuku couldn’t find it in himself to care at the moment, but to hear those simple words - ‘you have nothing to apologize for’ - meant more to him than almost anything he’d heard since he was four years old.
Izuku raised his head to meet the woman’s gaze - she had soft, violet eyes and long indigo hair that fanned out behind her. Her smile was warm and gentle, reminding him quite a bit of his own mother’s gaze. The white coat she wore swayed slightly with each movement as she retracted her hand (which was watched like a hawk by this ‘Katsumi’ as it departed from his hair), moving to write something down on her clipboard as his mom returned to worriedly doting on him.
“H-He doesn’t recognize Katsumi,” she whispered to the doctor, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear it, “I-Is it amnesia? He remembers the accident, a-and pushing her out of the way, but…?”
“Amnesia?” A familiar voice repeated in surprise, “What? Brat, what is Inko talking about?”
Izuku’s head snapped up instantly. “A-Auntie?!”
Mitsuki’s eyes lit up as she met his gaze, a million different emotions running through her face as she sauntered over to his hospital bed. “Icchan!” She practically swooned, leaning down and pressing a kiss to his forehead (something that sent an explosion off behind them), “I’m so glad you’re okay… thank you for keeping my brat safe, even when it’s supposed to be the other way around.”
“Can it, hag!” Katsumi sneered, “And this is bullshit! How can Izuku remember your wrinkled face but not me?! I’m his best friend!”
Despite the bite to her words, there was some pretty clear distress simmering beneath the surface. Her voice was taut like a wire, ready to snap at a moment’s notice.
The doctor raised her hand softly. “Please, calm down,” she advised gently, “You could put a lot of stress on Midoriya-san. While I can’t say for certain what happened without taking some proper scans, amnesia can come in many different forms.”
Her gaze fell to Izuku once more, soft and nurturing. “Midoriya-san, can you elaborate on what you don’t remember?”
Izuku swallowed thickly. “I–I remember Kacchan,” he forced out, the words jumbled and ugly, “B-But, I-I just… you’re supposed to be a guy!”
Everyone in the room looked at him like he’d grown a second head.
“Izuku,” Katsumi began slowly, “I don’t know what that truck did to you, but I have always been a girl.”
Inko nodded quickly in agreement, backing up the girl’s claim. “You two have been together since you were in diapers, Izuku! A-And the idea of your best friend being another b-boy…”
Izuku was at a total loss. That.. this… it just didn’t make any sense. Before he could even get a word out (not that he knew what he would have even said), the door opened to the hospital room to welcome yet another person into the clusterfuck of a day he was having.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting,” a soft, svelte voice began, “But I was told that Midoriya-san had woken up?”
The five occupants of the room turned as one at the sound of yet another visitor, the tiles of the hospital wing clacking loudly beneath the boots of–
“K-Kamui Woods?!”
Except it wasn’t him.
It was her.
Just like Katsuki.
The costume the individual wore was just about the same as he remembered Kamui Woods having - blue spandex and wood-themed boots and protective gear - but there was noticeable room in the front for a woman’s… parts. Her shoulders were narrower than the Kamui Izuku knew, hips slightly wider, and she also had hair.
And, again, it was a woman. That was a pretty clear reminder that reality was not how he remembered things.
Izuku’s inner turmoil went mostly unnoticed. ‘Katsumi’ gave him a slightly concerned look, but even her glance was swallowed up by the presence of the heroine in front of him.
“I’m relieved to see you awake, Midoriya-san,” she said, her eyes filled with gentle warmth and concern, “When I found out what had happened to you due to my shortcomings, I was beside myself with guilt. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to prevent what occurred.”
The woman bowed at the waist, causing even more confusion to the poor verdette. “Y-Your shortcomings…?”
Katsumi nodded tightly from her spot at his bedside. “The truck that… that you protected me from. The one you got hit by,” she bit out, still clearly affected by the fact that he hadn’t recognized her, “A villain was driving it. They were trying to escape after getting caught robbing someone. Fucking pathetic scum.”
The word was spit with such vitriol that Izuku half expected her to blow up. As it was, her hands merely clenched into fists so tight that he had no doubts her nails would break skin soon.
“It’s okay, Katsumi,” his mother said, her tone incredibly soft, “You’re okay. Izuku is okay. That’s all we could have asked for.”
That last bit seemed to be directed at the woman in Kamui Woods’ costume just as much as it was to Katsumi, though neither of them seemed to relax very much.
He cleared his throat hesitantly, trying not to wince at the sight of everyone’s gaze snapping to him like a magnet. “I-It’s okay,” he stammered, warmth creeping up his neck, “It’s not your fault. Y-You were doing your best, right? I-It’s not like you were driving the truck, o-or wanted me to get hit… ah…”
Izuku trailed off slowly, feeling just as much of a Deku as he knew he was. He couldn’t even tell a hero (assuming this was Kamui Woods somehow, or his sister or something) that it was okay that a worthless person like him was a casualty in a much bigger incident.
…
…
…
Oh, right.
Katsumi hadn’t even called him Deku.
She called him Izuku.
This was definitely not his Kacchan.
The female Kamui Woods looked like he’d just hung the stars for her. “You… Midoriya-san…” she whispered, eyes blown comically wide, “You’re too kind. If… If there’s anything I can do for you - anything at all - please, let me know.”
Now, Izuku had a lot of thoughts swirling around in his mind at the moment. From ‘how am I not dead’ to ‘why was Katsuki and also Kamui Woods somehow female’ to ‘are hospital beds normally this comfortable’, just about anything could have come flying out of his mouth at the woman’s offer.
“Can I have your autograph?”
Of course, it was never in doubt. Even when his world was crumbling around him, his love for heroes stood head and shoulders above everything else.
Katsumi burst out laughing at the question. “Fucking dork,” she barked out between snorts, the words carrying no heat whatsoever, “Of course that’s what you say.”
Kamui Woods looked even more stunned. “I… Of course, Midoriya-san!” She said, sounding almost eager to hand out what most heroes would consider a trivial gift to their fans. Her eyes darted around almost frantically, before landing on the doctor. “Doctor Shinso, do you have a pen?”
The woman nodded and pulled one out from one of the many pockets of her white coat, offering it to the heroine as she produced a full-size headshot of herself. She scrambled to the nearest wall to scribble something down, hand flying across the picture before rushing back to his side.
“H-Here!” The woman said, her voice quivering slightly as she handed him the photograph, “I hope it’s up to your expectations, Midoriya-san!”
Izuku’s eyes went wide. Not because of the fact that she seemed to hold such an urgency in fulfilling his request, but because of what she wrote.
There was a lot of jargon written down, but all that mattered to him was the signature.
Kamui Woods’ signature.
It was the exact same as he remembered it. He’d studied hero signatures before, both as a way to verify authenticity of products he purchased as well as as a hobby (you’d be surprised to see just how intricate and beautiful calligraphy could truly be), and this…
This was a dead ringer for Kamui Woods.
The male Kamui Woods.
And he didn’t know what to make of that.
His eyes glossed over the rest of the photograph as Kamui Woods quickly bade them all farewell - something about an emergency response to cats in trees that didn’t quite reach his ears. All he could think about was how both Katsuki and Kamui were somehow women.
And how nobody was even questioning it.
“Let me see that!”
Katsumi quickly snatched up the autograph from his hands, and Izuku couldn’t help but flinch. Would she really burn, or perhaps blow it up, right in front of their parents? He knew she (again, still hard to call Katsuki a she) was acting strangely, but she seemed a lot less openly hostile to his existence.
Maybe… she wouldn’t blow it up?
His hopes proved to be well-grounded when Katsumi’s eyes flickered across the page, no sign of smoke rising or the smell of burnt sugar. She seemed relatively calm, eyes narrowed as if searching for something–
The blonde’s eyes narrowed to slits as she got to the bottom of the photograph. Izuku instinctively leant back in fear as she practically snarled, hands moving faster than he could track as she tore a piece of the photo off the bottom and turned it to ash.
“H-Hey!” Izuku cried out in protest, eyes wide in alarm and hurt, “That was mine! Why would you destroy it, Kacchan?!”
The girl seemed to be taken aback by his outburst, cringing slightly as her shoulders hunched in guilt. Mitsuki was right behind him, swatting her daughter on the back of the head in anger.
“Seriously, brat?!” She scolded, “Icchan just woke up from a serious accident, and you can’t even be nice for three minutes?!”
“Shut up, hag!” Katsumi bit back, unbothered by the blow. Her visage was angry, but there was no mistaking the slight red hue creeping up her neck. “I wasn’t destroying anything! That sorry excuse for a hero put her number down, and I was just making sure there wasn’t any funny business about to go down. You know how Izuku gets about heroes!”
At that revelation, the mood in the room did a complete 180. Mitsuki’s harsh glare disappeared instantly, replaced with a content smile as she pat Katsumi on the back.
“That’s my girl!” She declared proudly, “Looking out for what’s hers!”
His own mother just looked relieved, letting out a soft breath as her posture relaxed for the first time since he had woken up. “Thank you, Katsumi,” she said gratefully, smiling up at her from her seat beside his bed, “You’re always such a sweetheart, looking out for Izuku.”
Izuku was just confused. “H-Her phone number…?” He whispered in disbelief, even as Katsumi returned the damaged headshot to his hands with surprising gentleness, “Why… w-why would she do that…?”
She stared at him like he’d just grown a second head. “Of course you know why she’d put her number, dork,” she said, “Were you born yesterday?”
“N-No…” he mumbled, feeling like he had said something wrong, “B-But… I’m serious. S-Since when do heroes do… t-that?”
All four women shared a hesitant look. “I-Izuku,” his mother said carefully, “You… you really don’t remember? Like how you… you don’t remember Katsumi?”
The doctor clicked her tongue softly at his nod. “Oh, dear…” she murmured softly, “That isn’t good.”
Her gaze landed gently on Izuku again, who was starting to realize that maybe something was wrong - though, this time, it felt like it was because of him. “I-I’m sorry…” he whispered, curling in on himself in guilt.
“Oh, sweetie…” his mother whispered, reaching out to wrap her arms around him snugly. “You did nothing wrong, you hear me? You never have… D-Doctor Shinso?”
“It’s possible that you received some sort of mental damage from your injuries…” she said softly, leaning down to flash a light in his eyes momentarily, “Alongside the leg fracture, the nurse in charge of healing Izuku-san did note some head trauma… hmm.”
She nodded to herself after a moment, indigo locks bouncing slightly. “Amnesia could be a possibility. Izuku-san, can you tell me exactly what you remember happening before the accident?”
He bit his lip and nodded. It wasn’t like he had any reason to lie. “W-Well…” he began hesitantly, leaning into his mother’s embrace, “I…Kacchan and I were both at the supermarket. O-Our moms had asked us to get groceries, a-and so we both wound up at the store together. K-Kacchan kind of, um, brushed me off whenever I tried to talk to, uh, him… so I eventually stopped asking and left him alone… hah…”
Izuku’s face fell as he spoke. It hurt just to be reminded of how much Katsuki hated him.
As for her part, Katsumi looked like she was ready to murder someone. Maybe him.
“A-Anyways…” he mumbled, “I remember hearing, u-um, tires screeching, and that made me look up. I saw Kacchan in the middle of the r-road and, um, tried to push him out of the way. A-And then I woke up here.”
Everyone was silent for a moment, before Katsumi finally spoke up. “That doesn’t make sense,” she whispered, voice low, “I never brush you off, Izuku, and we were walking together. You were in the middle of the road with me. And I’m not a boy! I don’t know where that’s coming from, but it didn’t happen!”
Doctor Shinso raised her hand gently. “It’s okay, Katsumi. I think I understand what happened. Izuku-san, you recognized Bakugou-san and your mother, right?”
“Y-Yes…”
She pursed her lips. “It’s possible this is a low-level case of retrograde amnesia. Perhaps Izuku-san’s memories weren’t destroyed completely, but… blurry. Faded.”
“Faded?” Katsumi scoffed, “He thinks I was a boy, doc. That’s not faded, it’s–”
“Katsumi, please,” Inko pleaded softly, cutting her off before she could say something too bad, “Let the doctor speak.”
The girl grumbled at the request but remained silent, crossing her arms like an angry toddler. Izuku would die - by his own hand if he had to - before admitting it, but…
This female Kacchan was kind of… kind of… cute. It helped that that she was nicer to him than anyone other than his mother or auntie had been in the last decade.
Doctor Shinso smiled in amusement, but chose not to comment on her attitude. “As I was saying, imagine your memory is like a house, always playing events you can recall on TVs in every room. In severe cases of retrograde amnesia, it can be like the entire house is just… gone. Not a trace left. Sometimes the house can be found, sometimes it can’t. In milder cases, like I suspect Midoriya-san’s to be, imagine simply being locked out of it. The house is still there, and you can peek through the windows, but you might not be able to get as well of an understanding of what is on the television than if you were directly in front of it. Perhaps those little missed details accumulated into things like this - not remembering Bakugo-chan’s gender, or certain… attitudes women have.”
She scribbled a few lines of doctor scribble onto a small receipt, before handing it to his mom. “I recommend another day or two of rest here before taking him home. I’ve got a few prescriptions that might be able to ease the pain and help restore cognitive function quicker, but the best medicine in this case would be to just be around friends and family. Reintroduce yourselves if need be.”
The woman finally took a step back, her eyes soft as she gazed down upon the prone form of Izuku still laying in the hospital bed. “Feel better, Izuku-san,” she echoed softly, “The nurses and I will be close. I’ll come check on you in a few hours, but if you need anything just hit the call button on the side of your bed.”
She turned to leave, but stopped one last time as she opened the door. “And be proud, Izuku. Not every male would have been as brave as you were.”
And with that, the four of them were alone. Himself, his mother, auntie Mitsuki… and Katsumi.
He didn’t think he had amnesia… did he? It was hard to reconcile the idea that he had simply ‘made up’ the idea that Kacchan was a guy… and seemed to hate his guts. This Kacchan was just… too nice to him. Too soft.
Too… too not-Kacchan.
And wasn’t that sad?
Katsumi coughed into her fist as they were finally left alone. “This is bullshit,” she grumbled, “Izuku remembers his mom and the hag just fine, but he doesn’t remember me?! I mean come on!”
“Stop shouting!” Mitsuki shouted, eyes narrowed, “You’ll startle Icchan! Now, you heard the doctor, right? No point in crying over it, reintroduce yourself!”
“Bite me,” Katsumi sneered, before forcing herself to turn towards Izuku. Her gaze softened immediately (to the point it almost seemed apologetic), the fire in her eyes dying into scant embers as she walked up to his bedside. “Izuku… It– I’m Katsumi. Katsumi Bakugo. Kacchan. Fuck, this is so weird.”
She grumbled that last part under her breath, but all of them could hear it. “I… I’m your friend. Your best friend, okay? And I’m going to be the Number One Hero!”
“Ah-ah,” Mitsuki said, almost teasingly, “You’re forgetting the most important thing, Kats.”
“What?!”
The spiky-blonde leaned in slowly, wagging a finger in her face before gesturing towards Izuku. “Were you really going to neglect to mention the fact that you two are husband and wife?”
…
…
…
“W-W-WIFE?!”
Izuku’s eyes rolled back into his head.
The world went dark.
–
As it turned out, Katsumi was not his wife - though both his mother and Mitsuki seemed to enjoy the girl’s reactions every time it was brought up by them afterward.
Izuku stayed in the hospital for two days after waking up, and for most of that time Katsumi was by his side. In fact, there wasn’t a moment that he wasn’t with either her or his mom at his side.
It helped. His mother told him stories about the two of them when they were younger - her standing up for him against bullies, how she always loved showing off her Quirk - Explosion, still - to him, things like that.
Katsumi was more reserved. Subdued. She didn’t talk much, her face constantly shifting between relief, fear, helplessness, guilt, and a million other emotions. Eventually, she got the hint that all that observing was starting to make him feel a little uncomfortable, and awkward small talk took its place.
It was still better than being hit.
Than being mocked.
Than being burned.
So he didn’t mind too much.
Physical therapy was rougher. His only real injury (outside of the ‘amnesia’) was his fractured leg, and learning to walk with crutches was a lot easier said than done. Even if it was only for a few weeks, it sucked.
At least, until Katsumi finally got tired of watching him struggle.
“Izuku.”
He yelped softly in surprise at her flat tone, nearly falling on his face as the crutches wobbled shakily beneath his arms. “Y-Yes, K-Kacchan?”
Kacchan. It still felt weird calling her that. Like it was wrong, despite knowing that this girl, based on her attitude the past three days alone, deserved an affectionate title far more than the Katsuki he once knew.
Her face softened imperceptibly at the nickname, stomping her way over to him with a dramatic huff. “You can’t do this.”
Oh.
You can’t do this.
Izuku’s face fell miserably, and he tried to mask it with a pitiful laugh. “I-I know… I’m p-pretty embarrassing–”
“That’s not what I meant.”
Katsumi’s eyes were narrowed, but her tone was gentler than just about anything. She wrapped her arm around his waist, and Izuku was so stunned by the action that he just let the crutches fall to the floor.
“I’ve got you, dork,” she whispered, pulling him even closer against her for his support, “I’m going to keep you safe. You… you might not remember it anymore, but I promised you that when we were kids. And I always keep my promises.”
Izuku’s eyes welled up with tears. “K-Kacchan…”
She averted her gaze, unable to meet his wide, teary eyes. “...Don’t Kacchan me, Izuku. I can’t carry you everywhere, and you’ll still have to be able to use at least one crutch whenever I’m not around, a-and this is only while you’re hurt and because it’s my fault, got it?”
Despite her words, her body pressed more firmly against him. It was like her mouth and brain were on two separate wavelengths, but neither of them wanted him too far out of arm’s reach.
But Izuku was perfectly fine with this.
Because for the first time in his short, miserable life, he had a friend.
–
Finally being able to leave the hospital was nice. It meant that he could breathe in some (relatively) fresh air, feel the sun on his cheeks, and enjoy the breeze through his hair for the first time in a long while.
“Can I sign your cast? That looks like such a serious injury!”
It had only been a week, but it felt like a lifetime. Normally they would have taken the train, but Katsumi was very vocal about walking being preferable to all of them, much to his confusion.
“Oh, goodness! Get well soon, honey!”
As much as it had hurt to say goodbye to Doctor Shinso (the woman was far and away the nicest doctor he’d ever had), it was nice to be free. Katsumi walked beside him, her eyes constantly darting about as if eyeing up potential threats to him whilst one arm remained around his hip to help him walk. His mother and auntie walked a few paces behind them, speaking in hushed tones about something or other.
“Ah! You’re the man from the news! I saw you save that girl, you’re such a hero!”
He couldn’t help but let his own eyes roam (albeit not as warily as Katsumi’s), enjoying the familiar… presence of… Musutafu…?
“If you ever need a fun time with a real woman, here’s my–”
Something was wrong, and it wasn’t just that Katsuki was a girl anymore.
“I hope your son heals soon, ma’am!”
Women were going out of their way to talk to him - their eyes landed on him like they were pulled in by gravity, and never seemed to leave.
And there were a lot of women. Katsumi snarled and glared at just about anyone who got within ten feet of them, but that didn’t stop the lingering gazes and big smiles.
In fact, it almost seemed like there were only women - Izuku hadn’t seen a single guy out on the street, and he hadn’t even seen one during his entire stay at the hospital.
Izuku didn’t like that.
Not one bit.
The real concern was how everyone else was completely unfazed by it - while Katsumi was clearly displeased, she wasn’t at all surprised. His mom and Mitsuki were even less bothered, not even batting an eye at most of the comments (though it didn’t seem as if either of them loved that Izuku got so much attention).
That just made it worse.
Katsumi scoffed as she kicked a can down the road, before quickly realizing just how bad of an idea that was as she nearly caused Izuku to stumble. “Stupid whores,” she grumbled, her grip on his waist tightening protectively, “With all this attention, you’d think you secretly had a Quirk called ‘attracting women’.”
Izuku blushed hard in embarrassment, ducking his head quickly. In doing so, he conveniently missed the way everyone’s faces, Katsumi included, locked up at her words. For a moment everyone was silent, almost hesitant…
…and then the moment passed.
Izuku looked up just in time to catch the lingering relief on Katsumi’s face, the girl smiling almost gently at him as she noticed his gaze.
Funny. The Kacchan he knew would have put him in the dirt for that same look.
That thought was the final straw for Izuku. No matter what the doctor or Katsumi or his mom said to him, this just wasn’t normal. It wasn’t right for people to be so nice to him.
“H-Hey, Kacchan?” Izuku whispered hesitantly, “Can… c-can I ask you a question…?”
The girl nodded quickly - too quickly. “‘Course you can, Izuku,” she whispered back gruffly, “What is it? Forget something back at the hospital? I can make the hag go get it.”
He shook his head meekly, chewing on his lower lip. “N-No, not anything like that…” he mumbled, “J-Just, um… w-where are all the boys?”
Katsumi just gave him a blank look.
The look she was giving him slowly contorted from confusion to concern. “Are you being funny…?” She asked, her bullshit detector clearly going off before her eyes widened in sudden realization, “Oh, fuck. Wait. Memory loss.”
She leaned in close enough for Izuku to count the individual blonde lashes sprinkled across her eyelids, causing Izuku’s face to heat up yet again. “Women are ninety-eight percent of the population, Izuku. You’re the only boy I know, and the only boy pretty much anyone we go to school with knows.”
…
…
…
The crutch slipped from his grip. Izuku fell flat on his face.
“Izuku!”
All three women called his name in shock as he went splat, but Katsumi was the first one to act. She dropped to the ground and yanked him up before he could even blink, gazing down on him in concern and gentle worry as she held him in a princess carry.
“Stupid fucking sidewalk,” she growled, her gaze softening as it fell to him, “Are you okay, Izuku? Shoulda fuckin’ known better than to let you walk like that…”
“Oi, brat!” Mitsuki instantly shouted, “If you’re gonna carry him, do it properly! Don’t risk hurting my precious Icchan again!”
Veins pulsed on Katsumi’s head. “Shut up, hag! I’ll do whatever the fuck I want with him!”
Even as she said it, she maneuvered him so that instead of giving him a bridal carry, he was being securely held in a piggyback ride. His chest pressed against her back–
“S-Shit,” Katsumi hissed, “Fuck. Me. T-This isn’t–”
She cut herself off abruptly, though her entire body seemed to warm up. “W-Whatever, this is fine. D-Don’t you dare fall off, nerd!”
The words went in one ear and out the other. Izuku was in a world of his own as he tried to process what had just been told to him.
Ninety-eight percent of the world. Women.
It was improbable. Unbelievable. Impossible.
He knew it couldn’t be real.
And somehow, it was. He was the only boy as far as the eye could see.
…
…
…
…great. Just great.
Now, he’d be even more of an outcast.
–
Home sweet home.
It was just as Izuku remembered it - except not at all, because they no longer lived in a slightly-cramped apartment building, but rather a nicely-sized house that Izuku couldn’t have even imagined living in at any other point in his life.
And guess who was next door.
“Oi, Izuku! Why are you staring all confused again– oh, damn it.” Katsumi punched her palm with her fist as she watched him stare slack-jawed around his house. “Stupid fucking memory loss. I swear, I’m gonna figure out how to fight amnesia, and then I’m gonna blow it the fuck up.”
Izuku barely heard her. He was too busy being stunned. Everything was perfectly wrong - he remembered most of the photos adorning the walls, but the scenes were just slightly out of place. A background of their ‘home’ instead of the park, wearing the hoodie of a hero he somehow couldn’t recall the name of instead of an All Might-themed one, minor things. Of course, there were also plenty of pictures that included Katsumi and Mitsuki, and those ones he didn’t remember at all.
He had never told his mother what happened between him and Katsuki, but the pictures of the two of them as children had quietly disappeared from their apartment many years ago.
That wasn’t the case here.
“K-Kacchan…?” Izuku whispered, almost afraid to hear the answer, “Do… Do you know where my room is?”
She perked up instantly at the question, torn from her thoughts the instant his voice reached her ears. “Of course I do!” She proclaimed proudly, “Let’s go!”
The blonde stomped forward boldly, though it was clear by her pace that she was waiting for him to catch up with the crutches before leaving him in the dust. Izuku appreciated that - Katsuki would never do something as small as that for him.
He was hardly the considerate type… though he also wouldn’t be caught dead around him, or carry him when he fell, or act like he was anything less than a waste of oxygen.
Izuku felt a sense of dread creep up on him as Katsumi led him through the halls of this familiarly unfamiliar building. The route from the door to his room was just as he remembered, but it was longer and there were far more doors on either side of the hallway. The pictures of his grandparents had been reduced to pictures of his grandmother alone, and it felt like her eyes were following him as his… friend guided him along.
“Here,” she grunted, stopping in front of the door he knew was his own and opening it with a gentleness that Izuku didn’t really think the Explosion-user was capable of.
His pupils shrank as he stepped inside.
“Did someone steal all my All Might stuff?”
Katsumi blinked at the question, before snorting after a moment and shaking her head. “What? Of course not, Izuku.” She waved a hand around the room, his gaze following with rapt, almost clinical precision. “Look - your posters are still up, you still have that one pillow, and in your closet I’m sure that– yep, you still have all your action figures and plushies.”
Izuku shook his head so fast his eyeballs nearly rolled out. “N-No! That’s not true! My sheets are– were– a-and my chair!” His head swam as his eyes darted around the room, eyeing up every inch of wrongness he could find. “A-And I don’t see any of my Golden Age™ figurines! Or my limited edition All Might calendar!”
As Izuku ranted and raved about everything wrong, Katsumi went still. “...Golden Age?” She whispered hesitantly, eyeing Izuku with a degree of caution that definitely wasn’t there before, “Izuku, there isn’t any Golden Age All Might stuff.”
His head whipped around to her in a mix of anger and disbelief. “What are you talking about?!” He nearly screamed, “We’re in the greatest period of heroism in history, and they aren’t making merch of the Symbol of Peace and Number One He–”
“All Might is dead, Izuku.”
The words hit him like a shotgun to the head. He froze mid sentence, his entire body going rigid as the words echoed in the suddenly too small room that was too hot and too empty of air and–
“S-Shut up,” he whispered, voice shaky, “T-That’s not funny, K-Kacchan. Y-You can’t say that.”
Katsumi’s face was dead serious. Her eyes held a softness for him, but there was no cruel mockery or sick amusement. “I’m not joking. I wouldn’t lie about something like that. You know that–”
“Y-You’re lying!” Izuku insisted, “A-A-And I don’t want to hear it!”
And he truly believed it. Even if everything he had been going through in the past few days - the hospital wake-up, the world full of really nice women, the fact Kacchan was a girl too and Kamui Woods and the fact his home wasn’t his home anymore - was different, this couldn’t be.
Katsumi was silent for a moment, before simply pulling out her phone. She typed something in, and then showed Izuku the screen.
Number One Hero All Might pronounced dead, HPSC confirms.
- 15 years ago
…
…
Izuku fell to the floor.
Katsumi went down with him.
His body began to shake, wet-hot tears abruptly beginning to stream down his face in ugly streaks. His breathing became shaky and shallow, hiccuping breaths barely getting out of his lungs as he gasped and broke down.
“Shit, fuck, fucking shit,” Katsumi hissed to herself, her hands finding his shoulders and gently forcing his body to tilt towards her own.
It wasn’t very difficult. Izuku was as limp as a reed in the breeze.
“Izuku. I-Icchan. I’m here. It’s Kacchan. Okay? Okay. Look at me, Icchan. Good boy. No, me. Eyes on me. It’s okay. I’m here. Breathe. Breathe, okay? I need you to breathe, Icchan. I’ve got you.”
He didn’t know how long they sat on the floor together, Katsumi doing her damndest to keep Izuku from going totally catatonic as he sobbed.
It felt like an eternity and no time at all.
Eventually, his breathing calmed enough to focus on the world (and the girl) in front of him, eyes still blurry with tears. “H-H-How…?” He croaked weakly, shuddering harshly as the stammered word left his lips.
Katsumi’s eyes darkened slightly, a scowl settling on her lips as she thought about the question. “...It was a villain fight,” she murmured softly, “The HPSC didn’t release the details about the fight. They just said he died saving Japan from the greatest threat the world had ever seen, and did it with a smile on his face. It happened before we were born, Icchan.”
He sobbed at her words, sniffling in pure misery. “B-But that’s not true…” he whispered brokenly, “I– we– A-All Might c-can’t just… He’s All Might.”
She just hugged him tighter.
“I know, Icchan. I know.”
–
Having to go to school was nice.
It meant Izuku didn’t have to think about it.
It was all he could think about while recovering from his broken leg.
Katsumi was with him pretty much all the time, trying to distract him from it, but there was only so much she and his mom could do.
He still appreciated the effort.
He didn’t like thinking about it.
“Stupid bitches,” Katsumi mumbled under her breath as they walked, her hand gripping Izuku’s tight as she led them away from the train station. Izuku had figured the ride to Aldera (which was still his school, by the way) would be quick and easy, but the moment the pair had stepped onto the train every pair of eyes in the cart snapped to him.
He now understood why they didn’t take the train home on the way from the hospital.
Even though his leg had healed, Katsumi still remained close. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to say it aloud - partially since he was still afraid she’d suddenly become Katsuki again and hit him if he said the wrong thing - but he was secretly grateful for her presence.
If it wasn’t for her, he didn’t think he would have been able to cope with it.
It was still a herculean task to do anything but try not to think about it.
Katsumi’s eyes flickered to his face, gaze softening instantly. “Nerd, stop. Gimme your backpack, I can tell it’s too heavy.”
“H-Huh? But–”
She didn’t give him time to protest. Her arm struck out and nabbed him by the collar, forcing Izuku to an instant stop. “Backpack, nerd. Fork it over.”
Izuku couldn’t help but flinch. The move reminded him too much of Katsuki— of threats and burns and bullying and of Deku—
The backpack slipped off his shoulders without any resistance. Katsumi held it over her shoulder with one hand, alongside her own bag, and intertwined her fingers with Izuku with her free hand.
“C’mon, Izuku,” she muttered fondly, “Or we’re gonna be late to class. No skipping today.”
Her voice cut though Izuku’s spiral like a hot knife through butter, her touch grounding him in reality as he stumbled along before falling in beside her. “S-Skip?” He stammered, “W-Why would we do that?”
Katsumi slowed down at his words, eyes narrowing suspiciously as she turned to look at him. “What are you talking about? You always try to beg me to—“ Her mouth slammed shut as realization dawned on her face. “Stupid fuckin’ amnesia. Again. I hate brain damage!”
She stomped forward, fingers tightening around his own protectively as they turned the corner to Aldera. The school building loomed over the pair - and even if Izuku’s memory was some kind of damaged, he remembered this perfectly. “Don’t worry about it, Izuku. Just— just remember what I said in the hospital, yeah? I’ve got you. I’ll keep you safe from all those stupid bitches!”
Izuku blinked. He felt something warm and fuzzy in his chest flutter about at her words, but there was also plenty of confusion. “Thanks, Kacchan… but why would you have to protect me from—”
“Izuku-chan~!”
Before he could make heads or tails of what he just heard, a hundred pairs of eyes landed on him from the school’s courtyard.
Every last one was female.
Izuku yelped in surprise as every girl in the vicinity suddenly rushed towards them - towards him. He could practically see the hearts in their eyes as they stampeded, ready to–
“BACK THE FUCK OFF!”
An explosion boomed through the excited chattering and squealing, everyone going silent the instant Katsumi set off her Quirk. “Did I say you fucking extras could get near Izuku? Huh? Huh?!” She snarled, eyes alight with fury, “He just got out of his cast, and you fucking bitches wanna put him back in it! I’ll kill you if any of you try that again!”
If looks could kill, Katsumi would be far more than six feet under. Every single one of his classmates looked ready to strangle her, their gazes having gone from loving to murderous in an instant.
“Bakugo!” One of the girls shouted in indignation, “You can’t do that to us! We haven’t seen Izuku-chan in weeks! We just wanted to say hi!”
“Can it!” Katsumi sneered, “As if I’d trust any of you skanks with Izuku! You think I haven’t heard all the shit you’ve been saying about him over the last few weeks! Get lost!”
There were several murmured words at that declaration. Izuku heard more than one girl mutter the words ‘main bitch’ under her breath, loud enough for Katsumi to hear.
She didn’t seem to care. If anything, she wore those words like a badge of honor. More than one girl tried to approach Izuku from behind, but it was as if Katsumi had a sixth sense on detecting women near him. Her head snapped backwards, arm reaching out to catch the girl’s wrist well before she got to Izuku.
“Did I fucking stutter, Takada?” She whispered dangerously, “Because I don’t think I did.”
Katsumi shoved her back, wrapping her arm around Izuku’s waist protectively. “Out of the way, extras. Now.”
The girls were clearly not happy about it, but they parted like the Red Sea as Katsumi walked Izuku inside. Their gazes were a mix of longing, hatred, and–
Oh.
Lust.
A lot of lust.
Izuku suddenly felt like Katsumi was right to keep them from getting on the train earlier.
The worst part about all of it wasn’t that they were looking at him like that. It was that he recognized them, despite whatever brain damage he’d accrued from the accident. He remembered his classmates, down to the girl with floating hair and the girl whose eyeballs could extend out of her head.
And he remembered half of them as guys, which made the feeling that much worse.
He shifted imperceptibly, leaning fractionally into her embrace. Katsumi’s eyes widened for a split second before softening immensely, rubbing small circles into his hip with her thumb. “That’s right,” she murmured, her tone softer than it had been all day, “I’ve got you, Icchan. Don’t you forget it.”
He couldn’t help but believe her.
–
After that debacle on his first day back, things mostly fell back into routine.
Not a routine Izuku was at all familiar with, instead something strange and unfamiliar, but a routine nonetheless.
Classes were pretty much the same - though instead of being picked on or ignored, it felt like everyone’s eyes were on him at all times, teachers included. Katsumi was probably the only one not shamelessly ogling him every period.
Speaking of teachers, they were nice to him now.
Way too nice.
He was used to intentionally getting some questions wrong on tests to avoid having them think he was cheating, but nowadays even if he missed a question accidentally it was still marked as correct. He hadn’t gotten a grade less than an A since he came back to class. Something in the way they talked to him was off as well - like he wasn’t quite just a student anymore.
Izuku was just happy Katsumi was basically glued to his side, dragging him home before any teachers could ask him to stay after class or any girls could try to get him over to their house.
It was weird being cared for like this. For Kacchan to like him, to look out for him - but he wasn’t about to complain about someone being nice to him (especially if it was his best and only friend). They even went out together sometimes! After their second day of school, she had shown up at his house unannounced and told him to get dressed for a run. He was more than happy to join in - and almost brought to tears by the gesture - and even though he was gasping for breath only a quarter of the way through, he had a really nice time.
Based on the way she had smiled and encouraged him, Izuku liked to think she did too.
He still wished he knew why she and everyone else were women now, as well as what happened to All Might. It didn’t make sense. It couldn’t make sense. It just–
Izuku took a deep breath. He couldn’t think about that right now. He had bigger things on his mind (if that was even possible).
Because he had to survive a day of school on his own.
Katsumi had, unfortunately, gotten terribly sick - and Izuku was pretty sure it was because she had insisted on going to train in the middle of a downpour last night. He had begged and pleaded for her to stay inside (with him), but she was just too determined to train for UA.
UA. Izuku wanted to go to UA too. He hadn’t had much time to think about it, considering his entire world had been thrown upside down, but he still wanted to be a hero just as badly as he did before getting hit by that truck. It was nice that UA was still the same as he remembered it - if the school had suddenly been wiped off the map as well, Izuku wasn’t sure how he’d be able to cope.
There weren’t many things that remained the same as he had believed. It made him all the more grateful for what there was.
Maybe moreso, if he was being honest. He wasn’t in it for the recognition or anything, but the way Mitsuki and Katsumi had thanked him, and had been so nice to him ever since…
It made something warm flutter in his stomach. A feeling he hoped never left.
“Hey, cutie!”
Izuku flinched as yet another woman cat-called him, ducking his head and speeding up his pace as attention was brought back onto him. He was wearing a hoodie over his uniform to try and help disguise himself (at Katsumi’s insistence once she realized she couldn’t force him to stay at home all day), but it was so hot he couldn’t help but take the hood down to breathe every once in a while.
It was pretty rough. But at least he hadn’t had anyone actually try to–
Something shifted out of the corner of his eye. Movement in the alley he had just passed.
Izuku’s feet came to a standstill.
Katsumi’s (and both of their mother’s) warnings echoed in his ears. ‘Don’t go into places you can’t be seen, don’t investigate stuff that seems suspicious, don’t let any girls take you anywhere.’ He could practically feel the blonde dragging him forward by his arm so they weren’t late for school.
‘Sorry, Kacchan.’
Izuku slowly backpedaled on the sidewalk, peering into the dark alley. It looked relatively normal, boring even, but he could see something shifting behind the dumpster, small rattles and hissed words accompanying what almost sounded like whimpers.
His body moved on its own. He ran into the alley, pulling out his phone and turning the flashlight on right as he yelled–
“H-Hey! What are you doing?!”
Whatever movement was going on behind the dumpster suddenly stopped, revealing–
Izuku froze. There was another male.
Surrounded by three very aggressive-looking women.
The guy was clearly older, probably older than his own mom. He was balding, pudgy, and overall kinda gross looking, but the fear in his eyes and the way he was clutching his waistband was all that mattered to Izuku as he pressed himself against the dumpster.
One of the women, an orange-skinned lady with dark, beady eyes and scales along her arms grinned dangerously. “Well, well, well,” she said lowly, voice dark with amusement as she stepped forward, “Looksss like it’sss our lucky day, girlsss. A little boy, delivering himssself to usss on a sssilver platter.”
The next woman, who was more an amorphous sludge creature than anything resembling a human, grinned wide and exposed her maw full of jagged, ugly teeth. “Oh my God. He’s so fucking cute, I’m calling dibs. Dibs!”
“Hey! No fair! I want him! He’s so much cuter than the other guy we got,” the last woman complained, her crab-claw arms clicking in irritation, “I want him first!”
Izuku’s blood ran cold. Here he was, running in like an idiot to try and do something when he didn’t even know what was going on, with no way to defend himself, and now he was staring down three very scary women.
He took a step backwards instinctively. “L-Let him g-g-go–”
The snake-woman’s arm shot out like lightning, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him uncomfortably close. “Let him go?” She almost crooned, her free hand tracing along Izuku’s cheek, “I think not, handsome. We women have needsss too, you know, and it’s just ssso nice of you to come offer yourssself up to usss~!”
“Shelly! Give him to me! I said dibs!” The sludge woman complained, “I said I want him first!”
Crab-claw lady elbowed her accomplice in the side. “And I said that I want him first! Do you know the last time I’ve seen a cute boy, let alone got my claws on him?!”
“Enough.” Shelly’s tone brought both of them to silence in an instant. “I grabbed him, ssso I get him first. You two will just have to make do with–”
Her gaze flickered to the other man.
Or, rather, where the other man had been.
Izuku’s heart dropped. He had helped the man get away, but it was clear that he had no qualms about leaving him behind and at the mercy of these villains.
He began to shake in the woman’s grip. He was so stupid. He should have stayed home with his mom and Kacchan and Mitsuki and gotten sick with her and let her hold his hand and he was scared.
He was going to get hurt.
Shelly’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “He ran away while you two were bickering like children,” she hissed, whirling around on her comrades in anger, “And now he’sss probably going to go call the police! You two are lucky thisss male showed up to replace him - let’sss go somewhere more private and–”
“Oh, I don’t think you three will be going anywhere.”
All three women froze like deer in headlights. Their eyes went past Izuku, to the opening of the alleyway, and the snake-woman dropped Izuku like a sack of potatoes onto the grimy alley floor. He immediately scrambled backwards as fast as he could, not even registering the pair of legs that he bumped into.
“H-Horizon!” The crab-lady exclaimed, shuddering in fright, “I-I– you– w-we– he asked to come with us! W-We were just going to show him a good time, just like he–”
“You people make me sick.”
Before Izuku could blink, a gust of wind sent him tumbling to the side, landing gently against the side of the alley. He scampered to his feet, torn between bolting out of the alleyway (which he really should have done by this point) and staying to watch and see which hero it was that rescued him.
As it turned out, that decision was made for him.
The woman who had intervened took no time in dispatching the three villains - snake-lady and crab-woman were taken down in a single punch, and while the sludge person attempted to escape through one of the grates in the end of the alley, the hero simply punched the air.
Just like All Might.
A miniature tornado formed from the punch, catching the sludge woman by surprise and hurling pieces of her body into the walls of the alley. What was left of the disoriented villain was quickly scooped up into a mason jar and sealed tight, before the woman turned to face Izuku with a warm, comforting smile on her face.
Just like All Might.
His heart leapt into his throat. He knew who this was.
Izuku hadn’t heard of this heroine before his accident, though everyone else in Japan somehow did. She was apparently the Number One Hero after All Might’s–
Nope. Don’t think about that. Don’t think about that.
“Hey there, kid,” she said softly, squatting down slightly to meet Izuku’s height, “Are you okay? Any injuries? I know that must have been a horrible thing to go through, I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”
Izuku couldn’t believe his eyes.
Or his luck.
Standing in front of him was the Boundless Sky Hero: Horizon.
“I-I-I– y-you– I–” He stammered like a broken record, eyes wide and shoulders shaking.
Horizon’s eyes softened, her long dark hair gently framing her pale complexion. “Hey, it’s okay,” she soothed, reaching out towards his shoulders before quickly thinking better of it, “You’re safe now. Let’s get out of this crummy alley, yeah?”
Izuku nodded tightly, letting the taller woman guide him out. As they reached the entrance of the alleyway, he could make out several police cars gathered around the street, female police officers rushing out past him and into the alley. Their frames softened visibly at the sight of him unharmed, though they pressed on into the alley to arrest the villains.
Horizon nodded at who he could only assume was the chief of police, looking back to make sure Izuku was still following as she shielded him from the prying eyes of the crowd to somewhere more subtle.
He felt a mix of emotions at that - gratefulness at the way she held her cape out in front of him to hide his visage, shame from being in this situation in the first place, and a little bit of embarrassment at the irony of the situation.
If he hadn’t wound up as the victim here, he would have certainly been in the crowd watching to see what had just happened. It made him feel a bit guilty.
As if sensing his inner turmoil, Horizon reached out and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder with her free hand. “That was a brave thing you did there, kid,” she said softly, shaking her head in a mix of fondness and disbelief, “Really, really foolish, but brave nonetheless. You’re lucky I was flying by and saw you run into that alley. Why’d you do that?”
“I-I’m sorry…” Izuku finally whispered, her gentle admonishment reminding him just how stupid his decision had been, “I-I didn’t, um, k-know what was going on. I–I just, I saw something, a-and I don’t even know what, but m-my body just, sort of… moved on its own. A-And when I saw that guy in danger, I j-just… I’m sorry. I-I know it was stupid and reckless, M-Miss Horizon.”
He was being completely truthful when he said those things - he knew it was stupid and reckless and everything everyone had warned him exactly not to do, but he couldn’t help it.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell the heroine he wouldn’t do it again.
Izuku knew that if he were in a similar situation, he wouldn’t be able to help himself.
Horizon seemed to notice, too. Her gaze softened for a moment before turning critical, looking him up and down with an appraising eye that made him fidget. “Your body moved on its own, huh…?” She repeated slowly, a knowing gleam in her eyes, “...I’ve heard that one before. What’s your name, kid?”
“M-M-Midoriya I-Izuku, miss,” Izuku stuttered out, “U-Um… am I in trouble…? I-I understand if I am, b-but, um, please don’t tell my mom… she’s already got enough to worry about with me…”
The woman’s gaze turned thoughtful the moment he uttered his name, seemingly ignoring the second half of his statement. “Midoriya Izuku… where have I heard that name before… oh!” She palmed her fist as her eyes lit up. “You’re that boy who pushed his friend out of the way of that truck!”
Heat flooded Izuku’s cheeks immediately - not only did she somehow recognize him, but she knew him through the second-dumbest thing he’d ever done (first being the little stunt he pulled today). Granted, he would also push Katsu-whichever one was real out of the way of that truck a million times out of a million, but that didn’t change the fact he did so with no regard to himself. “Y-Y-Yeah…” he whispered in embarrassment, “...That was me.”
Horizon just snorted. “Same thing? Body moved on its own, tunnel vision in the moment, and you only realize just how dumb it was to try that after everything turned out okay?”
He shrunk in on himself in embarrassment. “...y-yeah.”
Her hand landed on his shoulder gently, squeezing and grounding him as she shook her head. “Hey, Midoriya. Look at me.”
Izuku wasn’t sure what to expect when he forced his eyes up to meet the heroine’s gaze. Disappointment, probably. Disbelief too. Maybe even irritation at the fact that he was so reckless.
He did not expect to see warmth and pride filling her piercing grey eyes. “I knew someone who acted just like that once,” she said softly, a beaming smile on her lips, “And he was quite the man. Let me guess… you wanna be a hero, Midoriya?”
Izuku’s heart leapt into his throat.
He’d talked about being a hero with Katsumi the day after he’d woken up.
She hadn’t told him no… but he was pretty sure she was just being nice.
His mom had said the same thing.
They both knew.
“I–” His breath caught in his lungs. Water began to well up in his eyes - not at what he feared she was going to say, but at what he hoped he was about to hear. “Y-Yes. More than anything in the world. I-I’m Quirkless, b-but that doesn’t matter! I–I want to make people feel safe. I want to save everyone with a smile. L-Like All Might!”
Tears began to fall at those words. Horizon stepped back, hands on her hips as she looked down at him. The sun framed her perfectly, casting a shadow down onto his quivering frame as she pointed. “Well, Midoriya-shonen, guess what?”
“You can be a hero.”
Izuku started bawling. Full on ugly tears smeared his cheeks as her words hit him right in the heart, shoulders shaking as he fell to his knees.
“Hey, hey, no crying! It’s a good thing! Are you listening?!” Horizon’s hands wrapped around his shoulders, shaking him out of his stupor (literally) as he remembered he was sobbing in front of the Number One Hero.
“I-I-I’m s-s-s-sorry–”
“Nuh-uh!” She waggled a finger in front of his face. “No apologies either, got it?”
He just nodded weakly, reaching up to wipe his eyes. “O-Okay. Sorry.”
Horizon just sighed “…we’ll work on that. Anyway…” her eyes darted around the area as she straightened up, looking for any eavesdroppers before she leant back in towards Izuku. “As much as I hate to say it, it’d be pretty much impossible to be the kind of hero All Might was without the power he did. Fortunately for you, I might have a solution.”
Izuku hung onto her words like they were the gospel. “Y-Y-You do?!”
She laughed. “Easy there, tiger. I said I might. You know where Dagobah beach is?” At his frantic nod, she grinned. “Good. Be there tomorrow at six A.M. sharp. We’ll talk more then. And just in case you get into any trouble before then…”
Horizon pulled out a piece of paper and pen from her uniform, quickly scribbling something down on it before handing it to Izuku. “Here’s my number. Please don’t give this out online.”
He nearly died right then and there.
A hero.
Giving him her number.
And Katsumi wasn’t here to blow it up this time.
“I-I-I won’t!” He nearly shouted, “I-I swear! I’ll take this information to the grave! A-And beyond! T-T-Thank you so much, Miss Horizon!”
She laughed again, waving off his praise like it was nothing. “Don’t worry. And Midoriya?”
A soft, gentle smile graced her lips. “When we’re alone, you don’t have to use my hero name. You can call me Shimura - Shimura Nana.”