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Having saved for almost a full year, Izuku was early to the charter fishing boat line up.
Hours early.
So early the sun wasn't up yet, and the boats were empty.
Well, picking one of the smaller ones, he’d just get on board and wait for the crew.
Being gently rocked by tiny waves he tugged a tarp over himself because it was cold now he wasn't walking, but once he warmed up a bit the motion of the boat had him sliding gently into slumber, knowing a short nap would do no harm at all.
*
An argument woke him.
“Just stand down, right now, easy, do it, no one has to be hurt today.”
‘Good advice,’ Izuku muzzily thought, ‘don’ want anyone hurt today, it’s my birf’day.’
Smiling as he felt a blast of warmth for anyone heading out fishing with him today, a day he’d longed for, saved for, was so excited for, a shared adventure that was so exciting, that warmth spread out as he spread all his good feelings for fellow fishing enthusiasts everywhere.
Of course, that warmth hit the ones on the boat right when a different quirk activated, one far less benign, and Izuku’s unknown quirk gathered all available subjects into it and they all were carried to the destination of the banishment quirk suddenly activated in order to escape two undercover heroes.
*
A rolling tumbling slamming fall and Izuku was up as fast, on his feet assessing the damage, the situation.
Quirkless he may be, hero he might not be, but he was well trained on the streets of life which would have been awesome but he wasn't on a street.
A sandy muddy plain stretched out to one side, cliffs rose on the other, vast forms moved with impossible grace, coming towards them fast and he totally agreed with the ones dressed as boat crew, "Cliffs, run!”
Only a few steps into the sprint he grabbed the other charter fishing trip person who was trying to bolt in a different direction, tugging them along as the crystal white haired person wearing the charter boat uniform sped up and gripped the other arm, growling “Fucker, we are not letting you go right now, or ever!”
Ooookay, ominous but not something to worry about right now, the things getting closer from behind were worth ALL his worrying so he was glad when the cliff came into reach, accepting the thrusting help from one, reaching back to grip and pull and as a group they scrambled higher and higher, handling the odd one out like a sack of potatoes to get them to safety as well.
Relative safety anyway because the cliff chose then to give them no farther way up!
Panting in shock as they spun to watch the animals now passing, huge, limber and lively, unlike anything he’d ever watched animated, one of the boat crew said it for him, "Dinosaurs?”
In an amazed sort of a daze Izuku's mouth took right over, “No, well, yes,” he replied, “but look at them, that's not feathers, or fur, or scales, but it's closest to fur.”
“All the dinosaurs we know about that had a covering at all had feathers, not that, and look, how different they are to known forms, but clearly built on the same lines, those ones, duck billed, and that group holy fuck sauropods, their tails really do crack like a whip, wonder if they have fleas, and ticks, ewww, just the thought!”
“But they weigh tons, look at them, they must weigh tons but they move so lightly, I always said it was stupid to have the ground shake in movies, cause prey would hear ooooooh fuck, speak of the devil and they shall arrive.”
The herd was being paced on their side of the mass of animals by what looked like rug covered T rex, if T rex were bigger, more agile, way more bird-like in their movements, and curious to boot, because the biggest one clearly caught scent of them.
Turned, balanced perfectly on one leg, lifted foot lowering with dancers' grace to cock a head at them, and begin to advance.
Nowhere to get higher, no where to retreat, just below eye level to the now prancing death coming their way, Izuku said in a voice like a prayer, “Does anyone have spray deodorant or cologne or something, please, oh please, its my birthday, I don't wanna die today!"
A bottle landed in his hand, someone saying, “Bought it for pops today, he loves this one.” and Izuku got between them all and the advancing head, “We don't smell right, she wants to know what we are, no sudden sounds, don't move, she just wants to sniff us.”
It clearly did as just then, only inches from Izuku’s shivering body, the great beast inhaled, right as Izuku put the bottle into its nostril and pressed the spray button down as hard and fast as he could and it recoiled with a scream, blasting a desperate sneeze so hard it almost fell, backing sharply with each violent sneeze it hacked and coughed and spun to catch up with its pack and the herd began to run to escape the predator acting so erratically and now the ground did shake as what must have been millions of tons of massive animals stampeded away, chased by fuzzy t rex ish predators, one of them still sneezing periodically.
Standing covered in that first fragrant sneeze, dripping mucus, Izuku began to laugh, helplessly, hopelessly, cause all he’d wanted to do today was catch a tuna of his own!
*
Now he’d recovered a bit, Izuku was listening to two boat crew, clearly NOT actual boat crew, interrogating the man who’d tried to run, the fucking villain who’d tried to run away after hitting them all with his quirk, because of course Izuku’s fishing trip was just a hero sting op that he’d gotten caught up in.
A villain known for disappearing people, who casually laughed when he said, "Yeah, sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't, who cares?”
Agreeing with the one who hauled back to beat the crap out of him Izuku broke in, because nice as it’d be to beat the answer out of the villain, they needed the fucker to get back.
“How long does it take for the ones who do get back to return?”
“Please,” he stared in the cold hateful eyes of a user and sighed, “we clearly need you alive to get back but,” taking out his knife, “unlike these two I’m not a hero so if you don’t answer my questions fully and honestly I’m going to cut you into tiny pieces, and from their expressions, they are not gonna save you.”
“Oh, and your disguises are timing out, I like the new look." Ice blond had turned to black and dark green almost matching Izuku’s own lightened and shifted to purple, and of fucking course, the birthday from hell and he was surrounded by his favorite hero and equally favorite UA student, clearly on work studies for the day.
Never mind, his threat still stood, he didn't need them to like him, or even care if he acted like a villain to get them home again.
Eraserhead was keeping Vex from beating the actual villain to a pulp, said villain was bound and unable to run, and Izuku blocked his entire reaction to them all and said, “Answer me, how long?”
“You ain’t gonnaaaaAAAAAFUCKING HELL!”
Blood dripping from the shallow slash on the man's arm, Izuku repeated, “How long until your victims return?”
“Three days, fucking three days, crazy fucker how - ” Breaking in on what didn't have time to be a tirade, Izuku placed his knife against their cheek and said, “Shhhhhh, right, remember every time I cut you more blood is out there for something with big BIG teeth to smell and get interested in and answer my questions and that doesn't happen. Now, does your quirk feel different for each victim or the same?”
Seeing the intent to lie Izuku turned the knife so the blade now pressed to skin and smiled, making the man yelp, “NO, no, feels the same, always the same.”
“Good, now, is it the same energy output for each victim?
The man tried to kick him then and gained a second slash across his arm and clutched the wound, babbling "Yes, same same feels the same each time!”
“How many is the most you’ve ever banished?”
Not letting the number one impact his focus, Izuku went on.
“Right, do you have to do anything to make victims return or does your quirk do it for you.”
“For me, fucking bastard, it just happens.”
Feeling himself relax a tiny tiny bit, Izuku said, “Then all we have to do is keep you alive and survive three days here, and we all return. If, of course, I’m right about my quirklessness being a fucking joke played on me by a sick universe, because if not we are all stuck here.”
“Oh, you too banishment quirk bastard, you don't get out of here without us, so behave.”
Putting his knife away Izuku backed up, sat down, raised his knees to his ears as he wrapped them in his arms and sank into a mix of panicking and thinking, because he had to be right.
If he was wrong they’d die here.
*
They’d needed to get the bastard away from any possible victims, and they knew he was heading out of the country, it was easy enough to get into place to run the boat to reach the yacht Vanish was meeting.
A simple track and trace, get the name of the yacht they were getting on, make sure they were carrying the evidence, tucked into their signature briefcase, let them get away, do their best not to get hit by the quirk or startle the villain in any way.
Letting him go was part of the deal, they just needed to know where they were, who they were with, where they were going, and how.
Other heroes would take it from there.
If any of them did get quirk hit they were trained, would return safely, and Shouta was their trump card, with even a tiny bit of luck, if they did get made as heroes he’d keep the villain's quirk contained while letting them escape, which was as important as catching the actual villain, because this one would lead to so many others if they just played it right.
Over twenty people had never come back from this villain’s quirk, so they’d do their damndest to not get hit and up to a point it was going fine, but the villain panicked when their escape yacht wasn't waiting for them as scheduled, and Shouta was trying to keep their quirk off, Vex was trying to get their mind and then a green haired kid pushed a tarp off themselves and used their quirk on all of them.
A white light glowed around them all, so faint as to be damned near invisible in the sunlight, the villain panicked utterly as a sharp roll of the boat threw Shouta off his feet just enough and Vex hadn’t gotten a grip on their mind yet, and they all wound up with incoming monsters and ran like hell!
Green kid was a feral little thing, cute as hell, fast as a striking snake, smart as a whip yet this was not the time for panicking.
Kneeling where they now crouched, “Are we back in time?”
Keep the casualty talking, stave off shock, and in this case get badly needed info.
“No, look,” a trembling hand waved wildly at the world, “imagine water, the ocean, right up to over our heads, see the plateau, the shape of the coastline if the ocean wasn't AWOL for some fucking reason.”
Seeing it clearly now the kid’d pointed it out, Shouta huffed at the words, “Alternate Universe, not time travel.”
Looking at it with the new viewpoint Shouta nodded, “Even if we just take the view into account it's clear enough now you pointed it out, but the big ass not-lizards-at-all kinda give it away too.”
“Dinosaurs but different, evolved from ours, well, why not, its millions of years since ours died out, these ones never did, wonder what happened to the ocean though, that’s strange but, maybe if - ”
“Hey kid, focus, as it's got grass on it, I’m not expecting the tide to come in.”
Laughing, he’d gotten a laugh out of the kid, they’d be okay if they could still laugh and then the fucking villain laughed to and asked, “Soooo, my victims just, got what, eaten to not show back up?”
This time Shouta blocked the murder impulse of the not hero student, keeping the kid and knife contained, Hitoshi knelt to gag the bastard.
While the kid might be shivering in his arms, it didn't stop him asking with a cheerfulness totally unfitting to his words, “Yeah, looks like it, heeeey Eraser, how much do you think I can cut away before their quirk stops working?”
The struggling villain went totally still as Shouta replied, “Bet you could take his hands and feet easy, ‘n we still get home.”
Because Shouta had his own kid with him on this so called easy op, and a new kid as well, and was so far from home he had no way to measure it even, and the only way out was through.
****
Cover, they needed cover, shelter, food, fire, water, shelter….
Izuku chanted, "Don't get tired, don’t get stressed, focus on the now Padawan learner, fear not the future, reaching it by living you do."
'Reckon I’m getting a bit loopy, oh, food, shit, four adults and all I've got are a couple of chocolate bars, so, shelter first.' yet the panic was gaining and he giggled as he asked, “Any of you local to the area? Know any good hotels?”
Tipping his head back to look at the cliff as all of it crashed over him, he heard a sound, turned, fell into bliss and smiled, swimming in the beautiful darkness as he reached for the focus, like a flower to the sun Izuku reached, found, touched, hugged!
*
Everyone fought his quirk, even his dads did, although with long familiarity now they simply waited it out, knowing breaking out wasn't an option.
So, everyone pulled back, struggled, kicked and flailed and struggled and soundlessly screamed, Hitoshi expected it with the strange kid too but they were spiraling harder, panicking deeper, needed help.
His own age, so not all the way a kid, seventeen, eighteen, cute as fuck so Hitoshi made a sound, caught their attention, braced, grabbed, and instead of fighting they -
Moved closer, radiant with joy, reaching for him, pushing impossibly closer as they touched, mind to mind, surrounded, hugged and it was Hitoshi who jerked in shock, letting his quirk go and just gaped at the kid who proceeded to blow his mind even more by saying -
“That is the best fucking thing I have ever felt, like, damn, how does it work, you made a sound, oh, call based, but not just call so call and response but I didn't make a sound so it’s intent based, I intended to reply cause you made a sound, got my attention…wow, did you hell.”
“I’ve watched your career in UA, much as I could of course, Unders are a bitch to follow and you are clearly best suited to under, did a good job of it too, no one even knows your quirk, good idea, mind love is wow, just, wow.”
“Mind love?” Dad asked in his careful voice and the still unnamed person gushed, positively gushed, “YEAH, like, so warm, it was like a bath in love, weightless in awesomeness, so good, you are so hot, oh, no, not you but you are, you do look good oh gods sorry I don't mean you don't look nice but inside you're hot and I'll shut up now.”
For them to go from cold logic to blushing flustered mess was less than three seconds and Hitoshi felt himself melt, cause the kid was soooo cute too, hot indeed, he’d felt so good.
“I hate to break this up kiddos, but we need shelter and then quirk talk, hot or otherwise.”
“And no, to answer your question, we are not local and what the hell is your name, cause green isn't good enough.”
“Ummm, it’s kinda gonna have to be, cause I’m Midoriya Izuku.”
Looking at the kids hair Shouta asked with a grin, “Green green?”
“Yeah, never heard that before.”
“Bet not, now, up or down?”
Looking at the options they went with down, because up wasn't an option without climbing gear.
*
Climbing up a split in the rock careful exploration had gifted them with, even the villain sped along now, the carumping roar from behind them adding impetus but at least the gap in the rock was narrow, nothing big could get in.
“This would be enough if it was just a few hours to wait it out but we need water, not gonna lie, we need fire too, drinking here is not safe, not drinking at all is even less safe.”
Agreeing, Izuku struggled up again, braced with bleeding palms, scraped in the original scramble and then reopened in a fall as they climbed, the space opening out a bit, still at least fifty feet of sheer stone above them, the crack ahead still heading upwards, the space large enough for them all to fit, even to lie down, “If it doesn't rain this might be a good place to hide out.”
“Other than the lack of water that is, and no, we are not splitting up for any reason Vex, over my dead body are you leaving my sight, am I clear?”
It was easy to see the clear love on the older heroes face, and in the bashful scuffing of a foot as the younger kicked at the ground, "Yeah, clear, like, if Pop’s was here he’d tie us both up to keep us together so yeah, I get it, ain’t gonna split up.”
Warmth blossomed as Izuku wished, sadly and hopelessly to have something like that, the light curling into the air easier to see and feeling the mingling of emotions now filling him, coming at him, coming to him from outside of him and Izuku opened his eyes in shock, seeing and feeling and said as it faded away, “Oh, it really is me, how about that.”
“Not yet,” Eraserhead said, “let's get to the top, get fire, get water, talk later.”
Struggling onward, Izuku focused on the climb, not the quirk.
*
The crack opened up a bit at the top as well, Izuku remembered walking across it in a different world, over a bridge, water flowing under and into the nearby sea.
No water now, fuck, they needed water.
Looking over the edge of the crack in the stone they could see a wide field-like strip of ground running along the cliff, then thick tangled forest, there was sure to be water nearby but it was getting dark now, and Izuku agreed fully when the hero said, “No, let's go back down, deeper, safer, we’ll survive the night without a drink.”
A bellowing squall and a flight of things overhead had them all turning around, in the aproaching dark they’d be safer without water than trying to find it in a place like this.
*
“Why does not having something make you want it so bad?”
“Cause people are whiny bitches?”
Snorting through his nose Izuku nodded, cause people really were, and he really was, cause he badly wanted a drink of anything!
Listening to Izuku, cause Shouta refused to be formal in Jurassic hell, but listening to the kid was awesome, he got on so well with Hitoshi it was amazing.
No one got on well with Hitoshi, not even his almost graduated classmates.
Oh, yeah, they did pretty good, but no one really got him….
This kid got him.
Was it his quirk or his innate self?
“Hey kid,” - voice just above a whisper - “talk to us, your quirk?”
“Quirkless.”
A sullen resentful expression but Shouta could easily see the hurt hiding behind the mask as he continued, “Well, quirkless all my life, but I clearly have something emotion based but more a tieing quirk, need to use it to learn it, need to learn it to understand it but, fuck sake, bad place to learn about this.”
In the swiftly darkening rocky room-like space they’d checked their pockets and had a whopping total of one flick operated lighter, one pair of hero goggles, eight knives, some twine, quirk canceling cuffs, zip ties, three bars of chocolate, four random screws, two bent nails, about six inches of old wire twisted into a circle, a bottle top, seven bits of sea glass, a seashell, IDs, an empty packet of gum, two at least of the four of them were wearing high tech undersuits, so they at least had some protection….
Not much when facing a brand new world.
“Why the screws and nails and trash?”
“Oh," Izuku clearly blushed, "I pick them up, keeps people from stepping on them.”
“Huh, good answer.”
The villain had given no name, and had been zip tied and bound and needed to be guarded, because he was their ticket home again.
“I think,” a soft tentative voice in the deepening dark, only Shouta able to see now, blessing his tucking his goggles into his pocket last minute, “my quirk….”
“I’ve been thinking but when I was so happy on the boat, I loved you all, not as people I knew but people sharing my birthday adventure…..”
Deep sadness was on that shadow hidden face, but his voice was clear of it. How bad was this kid's life to have that skill, Shouta wondered.
“But when I felt that for you all, it was warm, I felt connected.”
“Connected.”
“Then that jackass did his quirk to banish one of you, two against one and he uses his quirk on one of you, hey, did you plan to hostage the missing one? Let me go or you never see them again?”
“Sick fuck like you, makes sense.”
Shouta nodded, because they knew this one MO, that was exactly what they did.
“Anyway, I tied us together somehow with the quirk I never knew I had, he did his bastard shit move, and wham bam thank you m’am, here we all are.”
“Good fucking thing the sea is missing, just think about trying to swim to shore with dinosaurs.”
“Hey, do you think trilobites still exist here? Or those round shelled things with squidy bits?”
“Ammonites?”
“Wheeee that's the one, think they still swim here?”
“Or devils toenails, loved those things, just oysters but extra cool, bet they still exist here.”
“Super jumbo T fucking rex dino’s still do, thank gods for cologne, we’d be dead and digesting now without it.”
“Or maybe not, we smell wrong, like, she’d have sampled us, probably spat us out again, like sharks taking a single bite, just trying to figure out what the thing in their water is….. do you have a plot of where this one’s lost people? Wonder if they got eaten or fell down cliffs or drowned or what.”
Even in the dark the rage could be perceived, "You really are a bastard, just, if we didn't need you to get back I’d personally stake you out on an ant hill, swear to gods I would!”
Silence fell, other than the sounds of a brand new world, and then as if he couldn't help it Izuku started again, “Three days, not long, we can do it but, my quirk…..”
“Wonder about frightening the shit out of this fuck wad, would that work? Cut bits off and feed them to a dino so the fear of death activates his quirk, last ditch survival attempt, you know the thing, could get home sooner……”
“Hmmmm, no, sadly too risky, is my quirk still active, or can I activate it, and what does it do, exactly?”
Light bloomed in the dark, soft, faint, yet in the utter blackness it was bright and clear and Shouta felt at peace, connected and grateful to have one at least of his loved ones close, to have met someone so nice, and then it faded away with the light.
“Ohhhh man, wow, I felt you all, connected, wonder if it’d be any good for therapy, or physio, or rehab, or preschool?”
“What do you do now?” Hitoshi asked.
“Cleaner, in a high rise office, boring as shit but it pays close to minimum wage, if I work six days a week that is, but I made a thing, let’s me read while I work, they don’t expect a great job, just good enough really.”
“But with a quirk I might step it up, learn something new, wonder if I - ”
“No, stop, do not use it again!”
Keeping his voice soft yet adding hero tone to it, he saw the kid blink in shock, begin to frown, and added in teacher mode, “Can you tell us why?”
A deep sigh, “Yeah, cause tiring myself out is stupid, this is a marathon, not a race.”
“Go on.” Shouta added, because the kid was smart as fuck and clearly understood, but was young so needed to hear it, even if it was his own voice telling him like it is.
And in the dark Izuku rolled his eyes but continued, “Playing with a newly discovered quirk needs supervision, and safety, and I’ll be activating it on day three and keeping it active all day, so I need to save my strength now.”
“Sucks though, wanna play now!”
A soft laugh and Hitoshi said, “Yeah, I get that.”
Silence this time was unbroken, Shouta taking the first watch but he smiled at Hitoshi snuggled against Izuku, helping to keep him warm, although the blush now burning was almost as good as a fire.
The villain they let shiver, cause the man was a walking pile of shit!
*
Waking in a cold stone crack in the ground was bad enough, but to wake thirsty, aching, and starving, yeah, that really was bad.
But as the rest of them grumbled and began stretching, Izuku didn't feel so bad, if they were heroes and stiff as well, then he wasn't too badly off.
The villain complained non-stop, but was hauled to his feet and had his bindings checked, Eraserhead helped them with bathroom stuff which Izuku resolutely ignored as he tended his own, and then they all headed up again.
Food, water, fire, shelter, because it might not have rained but the dew point had them all wet, adding to the general misery.
Because it soaked them but you couldn't drink the damned stuff!
*
Back up where the city had been, mid-sized, built on a bit of flat land beside the sea, hills and mountains surrounding it, jumbled piles of glacial erratics that in the city had marked parks and funky buildings, in this world it was all trees, hills, mountains, the cliff dropping away behind them that was the ocean where they’d come from…..
“How is the ocean five hundred feet lower, I mean, look, I can see it.”
Turning to look, a brief glance so nothing snuck up on them, there it was, glitter of ocean in the distance.
Pretty.
Between them and it was a plain, mostly grassland mixed with glimmers of water, lakes, or ponds maybe.
Not quite sure at what point a pond turned to a lake, was there a volume thing, a unit of measurement, pond times depth plus width -
“Izuku?”
“Hmmmm?”
“How about we table the pond-to-lake conversation for later?”
“Oh yeah, right.” a tiny huff of laughter and they all turned to the trees, Izuku sniffing the air, deep open mouthed almost panting breaths and answered the silent looks, “Humans are evolved to smell water, we are really sensitive to it."
"The ocean might have been a problem but it's an offshore breeze today, so, sniff, smell, for a full minute, and then each of us will say what direction we think water might be in.”
At the end of the minute three of the four said go right, so they went right, very cautiously indeed, awed by the life fairly making the air thrummmm with the sound of insect wings, song-like cries, pterodactyls perhaps but whatever they were they came in all shapes and sizes, birds as well, like, proper birds.
A movement in the trees, they froze to watch a flock of tiny dinosaurs, vibrant colors, only about shin high yet clearly hunting as a pack, working together as they flushed even smaller prey from cover.
“Awesome,” Hitoshi breathed and they all agreed, but once they were past Izuku headed to the stand of thin trees, cutting a staff, stout, sharp on one end, round on the other, and the rest did the same.
At that point they followed the sound of water, finding a small river and Hitoshi groaned with his head in his hands. “You remembered the river from our world, didn't you?”
“Of course, but the smell thing is real, you did smell the water, and it might not have been here, our worlds clearly,” he gestured to the missing ocean, “don’t overlap one hundred percent, and the crack we climbed up in our world had a bridge and a stream so, smelling didn't do any harm.”
Lunging forward, fast as a snake, Izuku plunged his point into the clear waters and pinned the thrashing fish in place, large, salmon-like, Shouta saying “That's it, don't let go, let me get a good hold, now, let go.”
Looking at the beautiful thing Izuku gave a laugh, "Look, I did get a fish for my birthday, well, a day late but it counts damn it!”
Looking to the right, the area nearest the cliff was too stony for the trees to grow right to the edge. It was clearly a highway of some sort, much of the grass and weeds trampled flat, so they felt exposed indeed as they tried to figure out how to protect themselves and still set up a fire.
The river was shallow, ahead was rockier, a jumble of the huge smooth boulders dropped by long ago ice. Izuku said, “How about if we shelter there, build our fire there too, a depression in the rocks is all we need to boil water, heat stones in the fire and drop them into the water, it's fast.”
“Have you done it?”
“No, but I've read about it.”
“Good enough," the hero said, "come on, remember, use your stick on the up-stream side of the water, lean against it, shallow doesn't mean safe, eyes open people.”
*
The new camp still felt unsafe, dangerous, but within the jumble of huge rocks they’d found a shallow scoop in a boulder, and while leaves might not hold water well, they did hold water, if they were large, rolled into a cone and the point folded up.
Fire proved easy enough with the lighter, because huge bodies shoving through woodland left loads of deadwood down on the ground and it was the dry season, making them easy to burn, and fist sized stones from the river did indeed boil the water swiftly, and then with deepest relief they drank the still scalding liquid.
The fish was roasted, eaten, and the remains buried swiftly.
From that point on, it was mostly dragging wood back, boiling more water, and keeping a close eye on the world, because it was fucking dangerous!
*
On his watch of the new day in the stone pile, Hitoshi watched Izuku poke around in the leaf litter, using his stick, smiling as he lit up at each new creepy crawly uncovered, and Hitoshi smiled even more when he watched Izuku weave a kind of little grass basket, one each for the little eggs he’d found, a bit smaller than chicken egg sized, no idea what they were, but as they’d been in a hidden nest it was a good bet what ever hatched would be independent at least.
Looking over at his sleeping dad, curled catlike against a boulder, making sure he was asleep as Izuku tucked the grass protected eggs away near where he was sleeping, well, when he did sleep anyway, eggs probably wouldn't carry anything dangerous, like diseases.
They all had more chance of bringing something deadly back inside of them, like a virus or worse, than little eggs did.
Eleven eggs, mottled green and brown, why not bring them?
But best if dad didn’t see them until they were back though, pops’d protect them at that point, he always was a sucker for a helpless thing, and Nezu’d for sure help keep them safe.
His dad was a sucker for tiny things too but in this instance he was more hero than dad and the rules might not be set in stone but the implication was pretty clear, don’t bring anything back from alternate realities if you can avoid it, and for gods sake don’t carefully make coil baskets to shelter eggs tucked into a pocket, cause we will string you up by your toes and cut you to pieces if you do!
And while dad might not agree, he’d have to at least try to follow that kinda rule, and he’d feel bad, and making dad sad was awful, so hide the eggs it was, cause eggs were exciting, and this place was stuffed with dinasaurs!
*
As night drew down again they had enough wood for a small fire all night, hopefully anyway, their sides and back protected by stone, and a blaze of stars overhead the likes of which they’d never seen.
Light pollution didn't exist here, and the stars were phenomenal!
“Izuku, you sleep, Vex, I’ll take watch for a few hours, sleep now, I’ll wake you when I need to sleep again.”
“What about me? I can take a watch, I’m not helpless!”
Even with voices low to prevent attracting unwanted attraction the anger was clear in Izuku’s voice, and Hitoshi could easily feel the frustration, and hurt that was swelling into something much bigger and more serious that his dad pricked neatly like a balloon, “You tell me why.”
Oh dear, teacher tone again, but now all the emotions from before were mixed with others, and despite the huge surge of resentment, the kid managed to keep a civil tongue in his head and answer the question properly, awesome job indeed for someone clearly not trained as a hero student, “Because I’m important to the missions success, so my feelings matter less than what I can do for you all.”
"Oooops." Hitoshi whispered, cause yes, correct, no, hell no, for how his dad was gonna take that one.
Surprise, suspicion, concern from Izuku and now, for some reason Hitoshi could feel echoes that must be feeding through Izuku's quirk, feelings of Oh Hell No from Shouta who said, “Izuku, what you can do is important, I will not say it isn't, but how about you try that explanation again, kiddo.”
Ooooooo super dad voice, and ow, blinking his own tears away in the darkness because what Izuku was feeling now was exactly what Hitoshi used to feel right back when his dad 'n pops saved him, confusion, hope, dread, anger, frustration, joy, rejection, and aching need!
All of it in a big spiky ball that hurt so bad until he was sure, certain, that they loved him back.
Keeping his face turned to the dark so his tears wouldn't distract from the discussion on self worth, respect, and care going on now, but when it ran down into tears on Izuku's part, Hitoshi began feeding support through the clearly unintentional quirk bond, cause this kid needed help.
Lying down on the hard ground, staring out at the dark, Hitoshi pondered the nature of mental quirks, and emotional quirks, and quirkless lives, and time passed as Izuku shuffled onto the ground beside him, whispering a thanks for helping him feel better.
Rolling over, snuggling closer to help keep him warm, praying they all got home, Hitoshi tried to sleep.
*
The kid had no sense of self worth to speak of, and was clearly attached via a quirk to the rest of them, Shouta was picking up flashes of emotions from him as a low running constant stream, not enough to be distracting and even quite helpful, because the kid was a bit of a mess.
And they did need him, his quirk, and him as a person, because Hitoshi was clearly not just quirk attached but a bit gone on him, as witness his sitting up at an ungodly hour of sun not yet up and whispering….
“Dad, how did it feel when you met pops?”
Fuckssake, it was gonna be one of these, and where the hell was Hizashi when he was needed!
“Same as it felt when I met you, like a piece of my soul’d come home.”
In a desperate attempt to chase away how homesick he suddenly was, Hotishi imitated Pops' voice, “Aaaaaw man Shou, you can’t say shit like that when I can't snog the hell outta you, cause of babies in da room an’ you in tha wrong fucking reality!”
Hitoshi threw an arm theatrically across his face and moaned, and success, Dad sniggered, and even Izuku gave a snort of a laugh as he stretched and groaned, “Gods, I miss my bed.”
Ignoring the villains snarl to shut the fuck up, Shouta offered in the brightening light of the new day, “Anyone wanna go fishing?”
“Not a good idea, first light and evening are the most dangerous for prey animals and right now, that's us.”
As everyone other than the villain was sitting up now Shouta said, “Well, chocolate for breakfast it is, fish for lunch.”
“Oh, ummm, none for me mumble mumble mumblemumblemumble…..” silence and Izuku now looking at his knees rather than anyone else so Hitoshi was pleased when dad used his most unimpressed tone to say, "What.”
Not ask, and a full emotional flinch was an interesting feeling, cause that was dads DAD VOICE that triggered it, and clearly Izuku detected the danger because he tried valiantly to say it didn't matter, he just didn't want any but caved in the end and confessed.
“I’m kinda allergic, like, nothing to worry about, I carry my epi-pen oh, ummmm……”
“Did you or did you not hide a deathly allergy to chocolate and potentially unknown allergens of this world possibly linked to chocolate, and the possession of an epi-pen in our Turn Your Pockets Out evaluation of our resources discussion yesterday?”
“Well, yes, but it doesn't matter, I gave you the chocolate, no one else has any allergies cause you don't have epipens, and I know what to do if…..”
“Dude,” in tones of awe Hitoshi continued, “you haven't just stepped on one of Dad’s triggers, you just jumped up and down on a fucking landmine!”
Because Dad was inhaling like a puff adder, and let go with, "What do you MEAN it doesn't matter!!!” and it went from there, a familiar lecture indeed, but now Hitoshi got to feel what it was like from the inside of someone getting it for the very first time and surprisingly, it felt really…..
Good.
Oh, yeah, kid was crying a bit but he was feeling loved, cause Pops was the worst really, just awful giving a lecture, made you regret something chronic! But Dad was almost as good, so the target of the well earned lecture was learning better but just like all of them his eyes had been on the go, as had Dads, even lecturing, so what Izuku had spotted was a mystery but he lifted his spear staff thing and inhaled through his nose, repeating it and they all did as well, trying to scent the danger they all clearly felt now.
Standing now, poised and spreading his arms to get them all back, deeper into the huge jumble of stones, and like magic....
It was the big beast again, simply melting from the morning fog, head cocked as it looked at them.
“Her,” Izuku breathed, “gotta be a her.”
Simultaneously Hitoshi realized Izuku hadn't said it aloud, and that everyone had heard it, and the thing took three impossibly dainty steps and bent down, studying them with ancient eyes.
“Fuck, so smart, I always said it, they had to be smart, no predator is stupid, they have to be smarter than prey, and prey have to be smarter than them, a circle, an arms race…..”
“Look at her, see her, oh, ohhhhhh fuck,” the spear lifted and the huge toothy thing shifted, “she knows what a weapon is.”
A tiny snort of contempt as the noble head lifted, looking behind itself and then backed into the trees, disappearing utterly.
“Get back, everyone, get back, deeper, no not under, fuck fuck fuck - ” the swearing was a full body feeling, rocking skyrocketing dread and now they all could hear the sounds of an approaching herd of something
“The cliff, it runs right behind us, trees to the side, too much stone between, a corridor for prey, fuck fuck fuck we can’t run, we can’t - ”
What they couldn't do blasted out of Hitoshi’s mind when the oncoming herd came into view, massive, wide shovel heads, armour plating, swinging club tail, nothing could kill something like that with just teeth!
“They don't have to kill, just frighten!”
The concept filled all their heads right as the big beast lept from the woods, low bass rumble, and she wasn't alone, five more burst into view at the same time and like lightning, panic hit the herd
Not the older animals, they stolidly ignored them, no more than a glance and tail swing, idle, off handedly threatening, and padded on.
But the young ones in the herd went insane, leaping and bellowing as they swerved off the safe line, beginning to run…. falling.
Don't have to kill them indeed when falling five or so hundred feet did it for them.
Those that didn't fall ran past the calm older ones in blind panic, and while the one that slammed into their boulder pile wasn't the biggest, only half grown at best, it flung its head side to side as it wedged shoulders deep into the pile of huge boulders, bawling as it tore itself free, embers and ash sparks flying smell of burning meat as it stood full upon the fire and it was away, leaving stones weighing tons rolling and spinning and rocking to a halt behind it.
The herd was disappearing now with a shattering of undergrowth and splintering trees as the big predator gave one more contemptuous sneeze at them and turned to follow her pack.
One foot on the ground at all times, it looked a slow pace but was faster than the humans would be able to run, they too swiftly disappeared.
“Follow the cliff and you find a way down, clearly, as they are clearly heading to their kill, their murder.”
Izuku’s inner voice sounded hollow with shock, and Hitoshi would love to comfort him but the flailing crashing dinosaur flung stones, one'd gotten him, shoulder, damn!
All of them felt him, he could tell, love/comfort/support flooded him from his dad, shock care concern from Izuku, screaming raging panic from villain and then nothing as his dad hit Izuku with a bit of his own quirk and Hitoshi’s head was his own again, as was the pain.
“Holy fuck, Dad.”
“I know baby, easy, let's have a look.”
*
Broken collar bone, arm in a sling, no pain killer to be had, no one would let Izuku do his suggestion of using his quirk to take half his pain away, because he’d be taking it for himself, and “No way, piss off, my pain!”
Sitting as they tried to recover, they’d found a deeper pocket now in the stone pile, boulders the size of city busses had been tossed and thrown by the herd but, what doesn't kill you makes for better housing - his dad broke in on his rambling thoughts, “Focus Toshi, come on, you know this, now, breathe in, easy does it, now….”
Letting Dad coax him through a pain management session, on the reclining bed of sorts they’d made of tossed up dirt and grass, sliding deeper into the softness, Hitoshi let himself sleep, because it was so much better than the alternative.
*
“Not your fault.”
Looking up into Eraserhead - “Call me Shouta, I get being on hero names for this kind of thing, but not any more, you are officially family now, and this was not your fault.”
Izuku was clearly leaking his quirk all over again, the hero clearly reading his thoughts as he huffed a very stern sound at him and said, “No, if you keep this up I’ll prove to you I am bigger, older, better trained, more experienced and come down on you with my fucking mountains of parental know how all over your punk teenage ass, do not test me kiddo!”
Knowing his eyes were huge with shock, and some kind of stupid hope Izuku was blindsided by the wash of return emotions he filled with, support, love, care, threat, resolve, and then comfort! Comfort as he was pulled into a hug, held as he soundlessly sobbed, finally settled in beside “Call him Hitoshi or just Toshi, no more hero names, now, sit down, be quiet, watch fuck-villain while I get some fish, with all that kerfuffle they might be gone too but maybe they are stupid enough to come back, after all, the one you got was stupid enough to play inches from a five hundred foot waterfall!”
A desperate, needy feeling of be careful filled Izuku, and he knew Shouta got it cause he hugged him again, whispering, "Watch my son, yeah?”
Nodding in firm resolve, Izuku said, “Yeah.”
*
Two spears easy to hand, Hitoshi asleep, fuck-villian tied to a new stake and sullenly slumped, looking at nothing, Izuku set about restarting the fire.
Because it wasn't cold, but the great stones of the pile didn't exactly radiate comfort, and the fire was good for morale, as well as cooking the fish.
If Shouta caught a fish, that is, and they’d need to find a new depression for boiling more water, and not get eaten themselves, that was important too, fuck sake he was thirsty.
How did not a single one of them have a bottle on them?
Two heroes undercover as fishing boat crew, villain, and him, he usually had loads of shit on him all the time but of course not when going fishing…..
Most of his little eggs had been crushed, but he’d found three still whole, carefully woven about with grass, smiling he tucked them beside Hitoshi and found a stone, not too much for him to shift, using his staff spear thing, levering it bit by bit to the fire, the depression in it was larger than the one they’d used before, deeper as well, and while most of the big leaf plants were trampled, a few were still good, he’d be able to bring water for Toshi…..
Toshi
Looking at him sleeping Izuku smiled, smiled even more when a fresh gutted fish landed beside him, four feet easy, huge silver gleaming fuck he wanted to eat it raw but no one was that stupid!
Other than fish, it seemed.
“Never even noticed me, just swimming around the bit before the cliff, easy kill, but fucking nightmare to carry the damned thing, you up for cooking it while I bring in some water, good job getting the fire going again, and that rock, things a monster.”
“Not as much as your fish, and sure thing, gods I’m thirsty.”
"Come on kid, I’ll be aquarius and you start that monster cooking, I see you even found a few of the heating stones, good job, I won’t be long."
*
If Izuku had to pick one word to describe being on a totally alien earth, it was fraught.
Fraught just summed it all up perfectly.
Watching his hero ease out and away from their shelter Izuku swallowed and shoved more wood on the fire, if he propped the tail up on two slabs of broken rock he could easily cook the thinnest part pretty fast, get some food into them all, maybe find another dish shaped rock, make some basic fish soup, eating it might be a problem….
Fraught, such a simple word.
Everything was though, because they didn't know the dangers, didn't know the bird cries that meant death incoming, or just meant birds wanted to fuck! What sound in the bushes meant something tiny or huge, big teeth or tiny teeth…..
Everything was dangerous until proven different, and his nerves were on fire as Shouta carefully carried dripping leaf packets of water to his rock to have more sizzling hot stones dropped in with a hiss and whoosh of steam, the fish was looking more meal than dead thing as it too began to sizzle, fire and twigs heaped up around its silver scrummyness, beginning to smell great by the time Shouta brought the final bit of water in.
The last trip was for more rocks to heat with the fish, each one red hot as they dropped it into the water, green twigs used cooking sticks fashion to move them into and out of the water.
And all through it a steady thrum of approval was given to him, and it was enough for him to keep going, to force his panic away, but then Eraserhead, the eraserhead, looked Izuku right in the eye and said, “Good job kiddo, you kept your head, focused, one thing at a time, got it done, well done indeed, thank you, in a situation like this we all need help, and to help, and with you on our side, we have a solid chance of getting home.”
Izuku thought he might die, no one said shit like that to him, and instead of his emotionality and tears getting him disgusted looks and hard words, instead the very same hero pulled him into a fresh hug and felt at him how thankful he was that Izuku was there with him, with them.
Shaking, Izuku carefully held on, just leaned in and let the comfort heal something he’d never felt break or fester.
*
Emotion quirks, incredibly useful, for all kinds of fields really, and Shouta dealt with many of them as he trained hero students, this one was strange, twining tendrils of….. Connection was the best word, getting stronger, and instead of blocking any of it Shouta welcomed it in.
The kid was a mess.
Smart, pragmatic, ruthless, caring, loving, achingly lonely and hurting.
Shouta would have helped him anyway, but now he was as much his kid as Hitoshi was, and as he kept watch while Izuku helped Hitoshi eat, even going on to feed the villain before shifting the fire rather than the huge fish, cooking more of it, good thing he liked fish, they’d eat nothing but it and the odd square of chocolate until they got home.
Why did the kid carry something they were so allergic too they had to carry an epipen?
He’d ask that once they were home, now he let Izuku stand watch as Shouta ate, but even from where they were they could hear the big predators eating down at the base of the cliff, snarls and crunching snapping bones, a bit off putting really but he ate regardless.
Hizashi was gonna love this kid, easing into a lean against the rock he said, "Come on kiddo, with that going on I doubt we’ll see anything dangerous any time soon."
"Yeah, I was thinking about that," Izuku mused softly, "and we might start seeing scavengers, and they can be just as dangerous. From there you can't see the aerial ones, some of them are really big though...."
Sinking back deeper into the sheltering stones Shouta was on his feet with his spear at the ready when something tawny, spotted and stripped and toothy padded past, pausing to look at them and then move on.
"Fucks sake I hate it here."
"Yeah, me too," Izuku said, "but if I had a quirk safety bubble like an impervious hamster ball but for my size it’d be great, awesome even. I wonder if there's a quirk that might be able to bring a team back, link to his one and do it safely, bring samples back, I mean, look at that little flower, it's awesome."
"Yeah, no samples this time kiddo, there are rules against that shit."
"Really?"
"Yes really, now, go eat some more, drink again, and sleep, I’m on such an adrenal high right now I might never sleep again."
*
There might be rules against bringing things from other realities, but Izuku’d seen the egg layers now, and he was fully ready to face any charget to have some of them for his own!
Tiny like a bantam chicken, walking on hind legs, knobbed all over with square diamonds of some kind of scales, narrowish blunt snout, iridescent feathers and fur and long waving tail, he watched a little group of them working the grass and weeds, flushing out insects yet they also snapped up the weeds, dug up roots and grubs, omnivorous, it would be easier to keep them alive if they were flexible as to diet, if they hatched.
And one at a time they slipped into the stones to lay in a new nest, genetic diversity if more than one fem used it, and while it might be difficult to reach them now, Izuku would by damned do it, cause it was his birthday trip, and he deserved a dinosaur.
*
Day three, the final day in hell, Izuku took the chance when he was on watch to crawl into the crack and raid the new nest, sixteen eggs, the first nest must have been the start of the laying season to have so few in it.
Keeping one eye on the world, one eye on the sleeping hero, one eye on Hitoshi who looked like crap, one eye on the villain, one eye on the fire, one of the water level, and one of the fish still cooking away, now the thickest part of it was on the ash and coals of the fire.
He felt like he needed a dozen more eyes as he carefully coiled grass and weeds around each egg, then nestled them into a carry basket he’d woven, tucking the entire thing into his jacket and stitching it in.
Lumpy, clear he was carrying something, but it was darkish in the rocks and everyone was tired.... maybe he'd get away with it?
Worth a try, and what was the worst anyone would do to him, take them away?
Well, even if they did he guessed the heroes might get one at least back for him? And if he didn't try he had no chance at all so why not?
Getting the hasty job done well before Shouta woke from his nap, Izuku watched a parade of animals go past, blown away with how much life there was, a constant parade, and so much of it dangerous.
Rising to stand, spears in hand, he faced off against the interest of something more teeth than face, and gasped in relief when it sloped off and Shouta said, "Good job, go eat, I’ll take watch now."
Obeying, glad he bloody liked fish, he eased down with Hitoshi who said very softly, "Keep your side towards me, don't think to hard about it, and you’ll bloody well give me a few, cause if you stay right there Dad’ll not notice until it’s too late, and Nezu’ll make sure they get the right care to hatch, and to keep control of them, cause they are cute as fuck and I deserve one for the hell of this place!"
Izuku fervently agreed, "Yeah, we all do."
Making sure Hitoshi had some of the remaining chocolate, Izuku dozed, letting time pass.
*
Feeling worried indeed Izuku firmly activated his quirk, imagining it as ropes binding them all, even the shit stain villain, even he was important, he belonged to Izuku, was his, a duty of care, Shouta and Hitoshi were joy, love, relief, his his his thrummming in his blood happy joy love and they gave it back to him, they loved him too, and the feedback loop of care bound them together as the villains quirk timed out and snapped them from the rocks, dropping them onto an undulating wobbling surface and Izuku curled around his hidden bundle, Hitoshi cried out in pain, the villain bellowed in shock and Izuku realized the surface was made of water, stabilized somehow to support them.
"Oh good, you did make it back, very good. Now, all of you, up and into the boat, this poor team is terribly tired out with all the effort of holding the waters still for your return."
Being lifted onto the flat barge like research vessel Izuku watched Hitoshi receiving proper care, the villain taken away, and whispered, "Ummmm."
Suddenly seeing the amused expression being aimed at him, and felt it too, Izuku said, "You know!”
"Plausible deniability," Shouta said with a chuckle, "now, hand them over to Nezu and he’ll make sure they at least have a chance to hatch, and don't think I didn't spot you weaving your protective efforts with seed heads and roots and all kinds of shit, you were not subtle!”
A delighted laugh and a quarantine container was produced and Izuku’s special treasures whisked away, and the humans were decontaminated and given fresh clothing and fed and Izuku too was given a health check and given healing for his various injuries, fortunately all fairly minor.
Tired to the bone, they dozed as the ship headed slowly into port, and then Izuku tiredly got on a plane, and wound up somehow on UA grounds, falling onto a futon on Hitoshi’s bedroom floor.
As fishing trips went, dinosaur eggs and random bits of flora might not be fish but were cool indeed, and Izuku laughed as he fell sound asleep, wondering if any of the eggs would hatch.
___________________________________________
In the end, eight of his eggs hatched into healthy tiny dinasaur-ish babies, and all of his smuggled greenery survived, because a plant quirk was conveniently available to make sure of it.
His little weird creatures were a wild hit, and a team of quirks helped them become a sustainable population, and a tiny bit of tweaking for the aggression issues and the next and subsequent generations were long lived, brightly colored, delightfully funny little pets, easily learning how to be mobility helpers for those challenged enough to need them, and comforting indeed to anyone at all lucky enough to rise high enough on the waiting list to receive one.
Of course, all of UA staff was first on said list, and Izuku himself got one of the very first pet versions, along with a fantastic boyfriend and two surrogate dads, because Shouta wasn’t letting his new kid go and Hizashi fell in love as soon as Izuku stumbled out of the bedroom and face planted into a mug of coffee his very first morning with them.
And Nezu spent five minutes talking to him that same morning and declared as he stood upon his chair, “MINE! My new toy, look Zashi, he’s got brains, eeeeeee gonna love this one so much!”
They’d all watched the fuzzy menace rocket three full laps of the room and then zoom out of the flat, and laughed, trying and failing to explain Nezu to a very confused and clearly hopeful Izuku.
And many things, as they say, changed for the better that day!