Chapter Text
Izuku sat on a bench in the park. His hands were still trembling from the encounter. Kacchan had been in danger and therefore he had thrown his backpack at a villain that grown Pros were avoiding because it was too dangerous. He had tried to save his best friend, his worst bully, and had almost died in the progress. Kacchan had not even acknowledged him.
And really, what had he actually done? Disctracted the villain for a second. It did not matter. All Might had come in just seconds later and done the actual saving.
Izuku had been a useless Deku. Just like All Might had said, being a hero was not something he could actually do. It was beyond him.
So he would just have to give up his lifelong dream. No biggie. Just find something else to obsess over. Just find something else to write notes about, doodle about, daydream about. Something else that would fill him with ambition and excitement and make it feel like everything would be okay someday.
If it was not for heroics, was there anything Izuku wanted?
“Are you okay, sweetie?” A woman asked. She was in her late forties, blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She was wearing work-out clothes. Izuku may have seen her running before, but he had not been paying too much attention.
“No, not really.” Izuku said.
“Yeah, that’s what I figured. My quirk is picking up on your negativity.”
Izuku perked up just a little, wanting to ask a dozen questions, but then deflated quickly. What use was hero research if he was not going to be a hero? “I’ll try to keep it down.”
She rolled her eyes and sat down next to him. “Yeah, that didn’t really help. But not to worry. Auntie Yume can fix you right up. It’ll just take a second.”
Izuku did not really want to have his problems solved by a quirk. That would only add insult to injury. “I think I should go. My mom’s probably waiting for me.”
“Don’t worry. I guarantee you that you’ll feel better.”
Yume reached out and tapped his cheeks twice.
And suddenly Izuku was no longer sitting in the park. He was on a tree trunk surrounded by tall trees. There were vines and moss all around him. It did not look like any forest he had seen in Japan before. The only thing that he had seen that even looked vaguely similar to these surroundings were pictures of the Amazon Rainforest.
“Aunty Yume!” He tried, but his voice echoed around him. A few birds flew out from the sound, but there was no other response.
He pinched himself. He had to be dreaming. This was just an illusion to make him feel better, right? But then why did he feel the heat so strongly? It did not feel as a dream at all. His arm hurt where he had pinched himself. He did not feel in control of the situation at all.
He tried not to cry as he looked around. There was nothing to base a direction on. Nothing that stood out. What the hell was he supposed to…
There was smoke in the distance, coming up over the trees. Izuku made his way there.
It was hard to move through the dense forest. He found a thick branch and used it as a walking stick. It also helped him push vines out of the way and sweep through bushes to make sure they were safe.
It took him a few hours, but then he got to the source of the smoke. It was a crashed airplane. It looked like it had been there for a few days, caught up in the trees and vines and resting half a feet above the ground. There was a small collection of fold-out chairs and tents half set-up out just besides it, with a smouldering fire surrounded by rocks in the middle, like survivors had been trying to set up a camp. And then he noticed a trail of blood.
It was only the adrenaline causing hyper awareness that let him jump away in time. A massive black beast had leapt towards him. If he had not moved when he did, the claws would have cut him into pieces. Izuku wasted no time diving into the space under the plane. The beast chased him, but was too big to follow him. Just his paw, stretching until it was less than a dozen inches from Izuku’s face. The beast tried to keep going, but the metal construction was too strong.
Izuku’s heart was beating a million times a minute. That thing had not looked like any animal he had ever seen. There was an uncomfortably high chance he was going to die here.
“Mom… Kacchan…” He cried, trying to make himself as small as possible. There was just enough room under the plane for him to hide.
Eventually the beast retreated its paw. It kept stalking though, from side to side.
Izuku put a hand over his mouth, trying to breathe as silently as possible. Trying to force the sobs to stay inside. After several minutes, the beast went away. Izuku must have stayed perfectly still for another hour or so before he dared to come out.
The sun was setting. Izuku did not know what to do, except that he needed to find shelter and fast. The plane had a door that was ajar, with a few footholds to get to it. He climbed inside of the plane and had a look around. It was a small private plane with just a few seats. The door could close and lock, which was exactly what he needed.
There was some food and water in several locked cupboards that he was able to open with a screwdriver he found in a toolbox. The cockpit was deserted and most of the equipment was ruined. He saw a radio and tried to work it. It was as dead as everything else around here.
The cockpit had a view of the area next to the plane. The beast did not seem to be around. Izuku got out of the plane and put all of the equipment back inside. He wolved down some of the food and drank to his heart’s content. He should figure out if the food would spoil. Anything that would not, he would have to ration out. But that was a problem for the next day. If he made it to the next day.
There was one sleeping roll that he unfurled and got into. He did not know what was happening to him. But he was going to get through this.
Just like any bad dream, he would fight through this and wake up.
But the next day came and he was still just there. Inside of a metal plane. Inside a rainforest. With a terrifying beast somewhere nearby. He felt like crying again.
He made himself breakfast and started going through the documentation on the plane. There were a lot of books there. Some about the rainforest, some about Columbia, and some about electronics and flying. The one that stuck out though, was the journal.
This flight had been to transport a lady called Alice and her husband John. The English gave Izuku some problems, but he had been on the internet long enough to get the gist. He was a photographer and she was a biologist. They had many expeditions planned throughout the region and had to cut their travels short because she had gotten pregnant. They had booked an emergency flight, and Alice’s brother had come to get them himself. There was a small entry in the end. Alice had noted down the coordinates of where they had gone down for when they had to locate the plane again and mentioned sighting a small village nearby that they would journey to. She figured that it would be easier to make the trek there rather than spend weeks fixing the radio. Unfortunately, she did not mention which direction the village was.
Apparently all three of them had been alive when the plane had gone down. All three of them had been ambushed and taken while setting up their equipment outside. And still the beast had gone after Izuku. The fire had still been warm and smoking when Izuku saw it. That beast had taken three humans and had still gone on to hunt a fourth one.
He realised then that he would not be safe no matter what he did. The plane held enough food for a week at most, potable water to last him two. He needed to go outside to gather fruits and get more water. He needed the outside to survive.
Useless quirkless Deku was going to have to go up against that monster.
He thought back to the slime villain. To throwing his backpack at the villain’s eyes and hoping for the best. To failing, because he did not have any strength to fall back on. He did not have anything that would allow him to fight and win.
But being defeated was not an option.
But even though he was alone, he had more than a backpack to work with this time.
But unlike with the slime villain, this time he would have a plan.
~*~
Izuku poked at the rekindled fire. He kept looking around, wondering when the beast would show up. And then it was there. In the corner of his eyes. Just barely showing its glowing eyes before sprinting. Izuku abandoned the fire and ran towards the plane again.
The beast was fast. It swiped.
Izuku dove down to the ground, rolling under the plane. He had to curse as he noticed the blood along his side. No time for that now. The beast was swiping its paw again. Izuku shoved the bear trap right in its path. It snapped struck around the beast’s wrist.
The beast howled in pain, trying to pull its paw back, but the bear trap had been chained to the underside of the plane. The beast was going nowhere.
Izuku cocooned himself in fire safety blankets and then pulled a wire, dropping the buckets of engine fuel he had suspended by the plane’s side so that they emptied over the beast. The way they were positioned, half of it spread towards the fire, igniting all of the fuel.
The beast thrashed and almost tore its own paw off trying to get away. Izuku stayed within his blankets, ignoring the sounds. Smoke and heat was filling up the area under the plane, so he took out the portable oxygen mask and stayed right where he was.
Waiting was easier this time, knowing that he was safe. He made sure that the fire was out before he crawled back into freedom. The beast was thoroughly dead, which Izuku was able to check by giving a few hard kicks to the cadaver. Satisfied, he undid the chain on the bear trap and pulled it away from the beast’s paw. It might come in use later.
He had worked two days to set up this trap and it was strange to realise that it was only part of the list of things he had to do. He had thought he would feel more accomplished. That he would feel it as redemption. But he was just left with the realisation that there was no time to celebrate. He was too worried about identifying edible plants and about finding a source of water. He was too worried about finding his way away from this place.
As his anxiety threatened to overwhelm him, he forced himself to look at the beast again. He had already crushed the first impossible challenge.
~*~
Izuku snacked on some berries, prodding the radio. He promised himself to make another water run before it got dark, so he only had a few more minutes. But his experiments with electronics had given him some inspiration and he thought he had a shot of finally getting the machine to work.
After four months in the jungle, he deserved the lucky break.
But even as the radio lit up, it took him a long few moments to realise that he had gotten one.
“Excuse me, is anyone there?” Izuku said.
After a few seconds, an English voice greeted him. “Can you repeat that?”
Izuku tried again in English. “I need help.”
“Tell me what happened.”
Izuku explained that he was in a crashed plane and what the coordinates were. There were many questions that he could not answer in his broken English and some he did not even fully understand. He did manage to apologise for his lacking skills, asking if anyone happened to speak Japanese.
A helicopter came for him just a few hours later. When he saw it, at first he was sure he was hallucinating. He hugged the hero that came to save him, Tiger Man, even if he had never heard of him before. He was crying and happy and was finally going to be okay.
“What the hell happened there?” The man asked, pointing at the remains of the giant creature.
Izuku had tried to drag it away, but it had been too heavy. And after the first scavengers had started eating it, after the rotting had started, it had been too gross. Izuku had mostly learned to ignore it. He shrugged to the hero.
He shook his head. “How did you end up in Southern America, kiddo?”
“Teleportation?” Izuku said. He only knew that word from Star Trek episodes, and did not know the English words to explain a warp quirk. “Something like that?”
The man frowned. “Don’t worry. We’ve got a Japanese translator flying in. We’ll get you sorted out in no time.” He pulled out his phone and called some people. Izuku did not catch all of the conversation, but it seemed he was just reporting his success.
The strange thing was the phone. It was an older model, ancient really, but it looked brand new. Maybe it was a retro fashion wherever he was?
It did not really matter. Izuku beamed. And then he sat down in the helicopter for the ride of his life. There was a police station where they brought him in and let him wait in the waiting room. He rifled through magazines, hoping to find something he could read. But most of it was in Spanish, with only a single magazine in English.
The surprising part was how old they were. All of them were dated from about thirty years ago. When he looked around, more things seemed out of place. The computers, the televisions. They had all been out of date before he was even born.
When he finally made it to an interrogation room, greeted by a very polite older man in very formal but accented Japanese, he started by asking about the date.
Just as he had feared. It was twenty years earlier than it should be. It was supposed to be impossible. Time travel quirks did not get that powerful. Not so powerful that an unknown woman could just send him back twenty years on a whim. But there was no denying the evidence. Izuku had been worried sick about his mother worrying about him, but he supposed that was wasted energy. There was the added concern now, of course, that he might change the future. And that opened up a new sort of panic.
When they asked what was wrong, he said he had not expected that he had been gone for so long. And then he started talking. He called himself Sato Izuku, adjusting his date of birth so that he would be the proper age. He said he had been talking to a lady on a bench and that she had used her quirk and suddenly he was here. He told them about their time in the rainforest and everything that had happened.
They called him brave and set him up in a hotel room. Izuku savoured the ability to take an actual shower. To have a hot prepared meal with real meat and more salt than was good for him. He was in the past and he had no idea how he was going to survive, but thank the gods for small mercies.
He had been given a laptop and an internet connection and with that he figured out this was not just the past. The news looked wrong. And when he went looking through a list of Japanese Prime Ministers, he had not heard of about half the people on it. More concerning, he did not recognise half the people on the top Hero boards. All Might was still the number one, but Endeavor just did not exist. When he looked for the legendary fire hero, he got nothing.
At least this explained the quirk. Though travelling in time was exponentially more difficult, jumping into an alternate reality was relatively easy. A lot of quirks relied on a connection to alternative realities to function. Izuku had never heard of the ability to shove someone else into a different reality and leave them there, but there had to be a first for everything.
Izuku had annoyed ‘Auntie’ Yume and she had made him disappear. Like he was just a dream and with two slight slaps she could chase Izuku away.
All this time he had been blaming her, but it was his own fault. For being too negative. He had been sent to another world, because he was a useless Deku. Could he really blame her for getting rid of him?
Once there was no more risk of breaking the time line by admitting who he was, Izuku came clean to the detectives. They had been having trouble finding him, and a parallel universe was as good a reason as any why they had not been able to. Especially if he was not born until five years later, but he left out that part.
He was still Sato Izuku, because otherwise they might contact his mom. And he would have to see a version of her that was not his real mother. Or worse, she might not exist at all.
He was still not telling them about the time travel, because Izuku knew that even in a parallel universe, that kind of knowledge might get you locked away in a lab to be studied just in case he did know something useful they could exploit.
Even without the time travel, it surprised them to hear about Yume’s quirk. Because they too had not heard of anything like dimensional travel happening in the history of quirks. And that meant they had no way to undo it. Izuku spent a week in a hotel in Colombia, researching the world he was now in, coming to grips with the fact that none of his friends had even been born with. Well, Kacchan was his only friend and he had not been born yet. If Kacchan could even be counted as his friend. He had looked so angry after Izuku had tried to help with the slime villain. Part of him, no matter how horrible it made him feel to admit it, was relieved he did not have to talk to Kacchan again and have him blow up just because Izuku had tried to help. Not seeing Kacchan again would be nicer, in a way.
“I’m afraid none of our leads have led anywhere.” Tiger man said, aided by the translator. “Though our quirk scientists have taken on the challenge to try to get you back to your own reality, we will need to find a place for you in the meantime. Japan has extended its invitation. Do you want to go?”
If he was really in the past, it would have been smarted to stay in Colombia. But he wanted to be back with people who spoke his language. He wanted to be back as close to home as he could be. “I really do.”
“We anticipated that. We have the paperwork to register you as a Japanese citizen right here. To start with, what is your quirk?“
“I… I don’t have one.”
“Really?” Tiger man looked very strangely at Izuku.
And Izuku withdrew within himself. Of course they had just been helping him because they thought he had a quirk. But he was just a useless Deku. This was where he would start saying mean things. This was where he was going to throw him out and make him fend for himself. Where he was going to say that Japan would not need any useless…
“That’s so impressive.” Tiger man said. “I’m sorry, I just assumed because you said you wanted to be a hero and because of how well you did in the wilderness. You did all that by yourself? Without a quirk to help you at all?”
Izuku nodded dumbly.
“The Japanese Hero association is going to be happy to have you.”
The rest of the paperwork was filled in quickly. And then before Izuku knew it, he was saying goodbye to the amazing hero that had found him, getting on a plane back home. The plane would have reminded him of the rainforest, except this one was commercial and enormous. Nothing like the small private plane that had been his home for four months.
He was greeted in Japan at the airport by a hero in black suit Holding up a sign that said ‘Soto Izuku’ and dozens of reporters trying to take his picture and asking questions. Whether it was true he had survived in the rainforest, whether it was true he had defeated a mutated jaguar, what his quirk was.
Izuku was dazed as the hero in black suit loudly yelled that they would not be answering any questions to the press at this time, before dragging Izuku away from the crowd. He introduced himself as Felix, a junior hero of the agency Izuku would be staying at, and the appointed guardian until Izuku got of age. In the car ride, Felix said he realised Izuku was a teenager and that his role as guardian would be limited. They would be as close as Izuku wanted to get and would stick up for Izuku’s interests whenever it was needed.
When they arrived at the agency, Izuku’s jaw dropped to the ground. He was going to be staying with the Wild Wild Wildcats, a famous rescue agency that had inspired the creation of one of Izuku’s favourite teams, the Wild Wild Pussycats.
Felix had a small apartment in the agency itself, with a room that he had emptied out for Izuku.
“I understand that it’s going to be difficult to adjust. We’ve arranged for weekly sessions with a psychologist, there are clothes in your closet there, and we’ve arranged for a school nearby to take you in. You’ll start a year lower than you left off, so you will have enough time to catch up. Especially until we have more information how much our world differs from yours. If you need tutors, just let us know and we’ll set to work. Most of the information is there on your desk as well.”
Izuku nodded.
“There are also some journalists who want to interview you. And some other press events. We would appreciate it if you attended those and will give you all the coaching required. However the decision to participate is entirely up to you.”
Izuku stared at the piece of paper. “Why me?
“What do you mean? There aren’t many boys found across seas and in need of adoption. It’s not like we had a selection to choose from.”
“No, I mean, why are you helping me so much? What is in it for the Wild Wild Wildcats?”
“Izuku, you already noticed the journalists. You’re a bit of a media sensation at the moment. Any average fifteen year old in your situation would have died.”
“I just did what I had to.”
“You are a survivor, Izuku.” Felix said. “And when we heard about what you had done, we knew you were going to be a great hero. So we knew we had to invest in you. We’re going to train you and give you whatever you need to become a strong hero. If you want to help us with media events that would be nice, but it’s not our main aim. We hope you’ll join our agency when you’re older, but if not then at least we’ll get to say we helped you become great. We are in the business of rescuing people. And you seem like the kind of person that is going to rescue a great number of them.”
“Even if I don’t have a quirk?”
“Some people have a quirk that makes them special. But you’ve managed to become special without having a quirk at all. And to us, that makes you extraordinary.”
Izuku felt tears coming to his eyes.
“We got you a laptop for your room, but I wasn’t sure what else to get. For all the information about how much you’ve accomplished, there is very little about what you like.”
Izuku’s first instinct was to ask for All Might posters. But then he remembered a conversation on a roof. He remembered being told that All Might thought Izuku would never make it as a hero without a quirk. And it still hurt thinking about it. “Do you have any Wild Wild Wildcats merch?” Izuku asked.
Felix smirked. “I think I need to take you to visit the warehouse.”
~*~
Izuku had not applied for UA yet. He had brought it up once and Felix had laughed it off. UA had a bias for flashy quirks and frontline heroes, he had said. He would be free to apply, just like Izuku had been free to do what he wanted most of the time, but Felix recommended a local college together with internships with the hero agency he was literally living in.
It made sense, considering how much they had already taught him. Living with Felix and the other Wildcats was fun. He got dragged along with most of the training exercises, being shown the ropes. His hunting skills were further polished and after he had expressed an interest in survival techniques, the Wildcats had made it a challenge to teach Izuku as much as possible.
Izuku’s muscles had grown too, with all the physical training they had encouraged him to do. In the jungle it was a necessity and he had often cursed his own frail body for not being stronger. Getting it into shape now on his own schedule for fun was liberating.
Felix was… Felix. He acted responsibly and mature whenever Izuku needed anything of his life sorted out, like when he had needed to get a full medical examination for any tropical diseases he might have picked up. But he also showed himself to be just a teenager all the time, like when he was cooking and burning the food again, yelling at the stove for betraying him. Izuku would eat take-out on those nights with a smirk on his face.
Sometimes, he would be watching a movie with Felix and the man would fall asleep on top of Izuku and start purring. Izuku always felt warm inside when that happened, wondering if this was what it was like to live with an older brother.
It was nice and sometimes Izuku forgot about the big hole of pain that was inside of him.
He was two months from choosing college when he snuck out to visit his mother. He had looked her up to make sure she existed. She did not know about him. How could she? The whole world still knew him as Sato Izuku. And there were hundreds of families sharing his new surname who were speculating whether Izuku was theirs in another life. But why would Midoriya Inko think that?
Inko still worked at the same firm. She looked so young that Izuku hardly recognised her, happy and tired from work and so very human. So very real. She met up with a grown up female Kacchan… or rather, a young Mitsuki. They went to a diner together and ordered drinks. They were laughing so loudly that Izuku could hear them all the way across the street.
His mother was so close… but she was also not his mother. She never would be. He had hoped seeing her would help, but as he had feared it just made everything hurt more.
When Izuku came home, he filled in the paperwork to get into UA. He loved staying with the Wildcats and learning from them. But they were not on television unless there was a big disaster. And even then they were not getting any media attention, because the focus was on what had happened.
It might have been selfish, but he wanted to go to the Sports Festival. He knew his mom watched it religiously, had watched it for years. Even if he could not be anywhere close to her, he could be somewhere she watched. And give her a little joy.
Felix was surprised by his decision, but fully supported it. He got in tutors and martial arts specialists to get him prepared.
~*~
All the newspapers were covered with his picture after he got his acceptance letter. The Quirkless Boy That Had Survived The Amazon. With his year held behind, he was a little older than the other students. He thought they might resent him. But they had all been in awe. His age did not matter. Not even… not even that he was quirkless. They respected him all the more for getting where he was without a quirk.
UA was crazy. They expected their students to reach their limits and then go beyond. ‘Plus ultra’ was not just a battle cry, but the expected norm. Izuku often needed Felix and the Wildcats to help him, but together they made it through.
The newspapers were filled with his picture again when he got in Third Place in the Sports Festival. He had been allowed to take his hunting knives with him throughout the competition. It had been technically against the rules, but UA’s principal Nudze had made an exception for him. Just as they had predicted, it was good for PR to have Izuku get far in the competition. It just was not good enough against a hero with a flashy quirk that used her ice to capture Izuku before he had made a single move.
His internships had been with the Wildcats and it felt like he could finally start paying them back for all the hard work they had done for him. His speciality was on rescue, still, but he also learned to use more weapons and how to neutralise quirks. Rescue often meant people were panicking and letting their quirks get out of control. A good hero needed to be able to calm them down or at least keep them from hurting themselves and others.
With Izuku’s knowledge about quirks and his experience analysing them, he made it his specialty. In his second year he won the Sports Festival. In his Third Year, he demolished it. He got a reputation as a demon and most of the newspapers speculated that maybe Izuku had a quirk after all, cancelling other quirks. Izuku had quickly looked up whether Erazerhead existed in this world, but had found no record of him. Part of him had been tempted to take the hero name as a little joke for himself. But he had already chosen his name. Felix had given it to him, looking at his green hair and claiming what good fortune it was that he had been allowed to look after him.
After graduation, he joined the Wildcats fulltime. He was always on the frontlines, finding where children had hidden themselves in the confusion and pulling them away from the wreckage. He was the first one to engage looters and any villains trying to take advantage of the confusion to try to perform some crimes with attention diverted.
Any time they were on stand-by, Izuku was researching. About architecture so he could more easily understand how buildings fell apart. About electronics so he knew how to fix machines and tools for rescue operations. About languages so that he could talk to anyone who might need help. And, if he was bored, about ways to survive in harsh climates. He used his fame to educate people, hosting a television special a few times a year where he would throw himself into a jungle or a marsh or a desert and then let a film crew follow him as he survived. He often ended those programs with a simple declaration.
“If I could survive the jungle for four months when I was just fifteen, anyone can do it.”
After five years with the Wildcats, he founded his own agency. They waved him off with tearful goodbyes, reminding Izuku that he would always be a Wildcat. Izuku tried not to cry too, even as he promised he would return as often as he could.
But he had had too many offers from heroes who wanted to cooperate or wanted to be his side-kick, to remain a junior member of the Wildcats. Izuku founded his Survival agency in the outskirts of a big city, with large training facilities built in. There was an advantage to being a celebrity and that advantage could be counted out in Yen.
The heroes he partnered with all had useful quirks, but none of them matched Izuku in the areas where he shined. Which was fine. He still had a rescue agency, after all, and many hours of down-time waiting for disasters to strike. He spent all that time mentoring and training. He sparred with his equals and beat them mercilessly, before explaining exactly how they could improve themselves.
Some stayed, loyal to Izuku’s cause and addicted to getting their asses kicked, while others moved on to create their own agencies. Izuku was out drinking with one of his former partners that he learned just how much time spent at the Survival Agency was valued by other heroes. It had become the highest point in a hero’s favour if they had had lessons with Izuku.
“But why?”
“Working with you changed me forever, Izuku.”
“I just gave you some pointers on your quirk.”
The boy shook his head. “You made me change the way I thought about my own quirk. The ways that I could train it to do impossible things. You inspired me to be my best self, just by believing with your whole heart that I could be like that. How was I supposed to walk away from all that and not be changed, for the better, for the rest of my life?”
Izuku needed a lot more alcohol to deal with all the tears that were coming unbidden.
~*~
Izuku’s twenty fifth birthday was spent at a park. He was feeding birds as an excuse to look at the happy family playing in the distance. Inko had rounded out with age, much like the mother Izuku remembered. But instead of one child, she had four. One boy and three girls. He had listened in long enough to hear all their names and the boy of around seven years old was not called Izuku. The boy had the Midoriya green hair, but that was where the similarities with Izuku stopped. His age was wrong. His face was wrong. He did not even have any freckles.
And, when Inko used her quirk to pull a ball towards herself, the boy used his own quirk to pull it back. The girls were playing along too, all using variations of telekinesis quirks to move the ball between them. It was nice to see a slice of life as it could have been. If Deku had not been born without a quirk.
One of the girls spotted him and then ran towards him before he could get away.
“You’re Emerald Herald!” She swooned. “The only Pro hero without a quirk!”
Izuku scratched the back of his head. “One of three, at the moment, actually.”
“You’re the most famous one! Can I please have your autograph!” She pulled out a notebook and Izuku hurt just a little as he saw ‘hero research #4’ written on the cover.
“Of course.” He went to an empty page. “Do you want to be a hero too?”
“They say my quirk is useless, but I really want to. That’s why I’m doing all this research. It’s like you always say, a prepared hero counts for two.”
Izuku smiled and put his autograph there. Anyone can be a hero.
She beamed as she carefully took the notebook back, like it had become a holy item.
“Thanks for indulging her.” Inko said, sliding into the seat next to Izuku. “She’s been a fan of you for years. There aren’t many heroes with green hair, you know.”
Izuku swallowed through the lump in his throat. “I know. Most people assume I dye it to fit in better with the trees.”
“How silly.” Inko chuckled. “But it really means a lot that you’ve made it so far. I was always so worried about her, trying to become a hero with her quirk. I wanted to be a hero myself when I was younger, but I could never train my quirk into anything strong enough. I wish there had been a hero like you when I was younger. I think I would have tried harder.”
“That’s kind of you to say.” Izuku said. “But I hope you’re still happy with the life you’ve chosen instead.”
“I couldn’t be happier.” Inko said. “They’re a handful sometimes, but they have really filled in my life. I love having a big family.”
Izuku looked at them and could see it. He had always been Inko’s only son and he thought he had been enough. But how much nicer would it have been to have siblings? He imagined himself playing Small Might with his mom and Felix chasing him as Endeavor. “I’m a little jealous.”
“With all your fans, I think you have a bigger family than you realise.” Inko smiled. “But if you’re lonely, there are easier solutions to that. The papers all say you’re still single. Why haven’t you looked for a nice girl of boy to settle down with?”
“Guess I haven’t found anyone yet.”
“Then go looking.” Inko said, before flushing. “I’m sorry. I’m not sure what came over me being so forward to a stranger.”
“No, there’s no need to apologise.” Izuku smiled, standing up. “I think this was just what I needed. Have a good day.”
Inko waved him off and then went back to her children.
Izuku looked at them one final time. His mom was right. Family was everything, but this was not his family. If he wanted to fill the big hole inside of himself, even a little bit, he would need to find someone to start a family with.
~*~
It turned out, looking for a romantic partner was hard. He went on many dates, but all of the men he met up with were either fanboys that worshipped him or pretentious douchebags that were more interested in claiming a Pro Hero as a boyfriend rather than actually getting to know him.
He was thirty years old and still single. Part of him wanted to just ask Felix to find him someone, like Felix had found him tutors and a PR person and support staff. Being set up on a blind date would be so embarrassing, but to keep wasting his time with his own poor selection was sounding more and more like the less appealing option.
He had a break from thinking about it though, with a big sea operation planned that Izuku was treating as a small vacation.
Three weeks at sea with Pro heroes, patrolling and making appearances. Izuku was the number 5 hero in the country, and they had been glad to get him. After a few days, Izuku had made friends with the whole crew. Even Gang Orca, who made Izuku vibrate with excitement every time Izuku saw him. He was only the number eighteen hero at the moment, a travesty to the counting system.
A travesty that Izuku was explaining to Gang Orca over drinks and cards in his quarters.
“You’re one to talk about strong quirks.” Gang Orca said. “Considering you’re higher on the rankings without one.”
“That’s exactly why I know what I’m talking about. I’ve had to beat people with the most amazing quirks, so I know good quirks when I see one. You’re strong and fast and there are no downsides to your quirk at all.”
“Besides the obvious one.”
Izuku stared at the man. “At the risk of losing my reputation as an analyst, what downside?”
Gang Orca sighed. “You don’t have to sugar-coat it.”
“I’m really not… I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“My appearance, Izuku.”
Izuku tried his hardest to understand how Gang Orca’s appearance would make it harder for him to fight villains or save civilians. “I don’t understand why that’s a downside.”
“You really don’t understand?” Gang Orca said. “People have been making fun of my appearance since I was a little kid. Even as they’ve learned to respect me, they look at me and all they see is a monster. A nice monster, but a monster all the same.”
“Funny.” Izuku said, looking at the man. “All I see is a hero.”
Their card games became a regular thing. And Gang Orca slowly became Kugo in Izuku’s mind. A man that could talk a big game, but would come crying to Izuku anytime he accidentally broke some equipment on the boat, begging Izuku to fix it before he would get into trouble. A man that could take charge of a situation and keep up with Izuku’s pace of thinking, but would also anxiously go over everything he had said to his colleagues and wonder whether they hated him now that he had spoken so harshly to them.
And then there were the pictures. Kugo had pictures of every hero he had ever mentored. He had news paper clippings and whenever he talked about them, there would be a shine of prideful tears in his eyes. It was in the middle of one of these stories that Izuku kissed him.
And suddenly their daily meetings to play cards were spent without playing cards. Kugo was gentle with him, always so gentle, like the smallest bit of inattention might break Izuku. And Izuku had to keep reminding him that he was a hero. He would not be broken by a little buggering.
Izuku should have been looking for a Pro all along. Izuku was married to the job, and he needed a romantic partner who not only understood but fully supported that. Someone who, in fact, was just as devoted to their own job of saving lives. And dating Kugo was fun. They could actually do things Izuku enjoyed doing, like training or visiting schools to talk to kids about becoming heroes, instead of boring things like bars where the music was playing too loud or public movies where Izuku spent more time worrying about other people than enjoying someone else’s company.
Kugo and Izuku just fit together. Izuku did not know what such a powerful hero saw in a useless Deku. Izuku was so afraid that he would reveal himself too much one day, and Kugo would realise his mistake. Instead, the more time they spent together, the more often Kugo told Izuku that he loved him.
They got married within the year, all of their Pro hero friends in attendance and an equal number of reporters, capturing the union of the high-ranking heroes.
Izuku was truly and utterly happy and wished it could last forever.
It could not.
~*~
“I’m just saying it would have been even better to retire as the number 2 hero.” Izuku laughed, sipping his coffee. It helped keep him warm in the cold air. He was restless, but he had to wait behind the police cars. Had to wait until it was safe to move closer.
“Number three is nothing to scoff at.” Ingenium said. “Though we are going to miss you.”
“I’ll still be troubling you enough with all the heroes I send your way.” Izuku smirked. “I’m going to turn my brats into monsters.”
He had already seen the applicants for next year’s UA class. The exams were just a few weeks away and he honestly could not predict who would get in. There was too much solid competition. The way things were going, they would have to make a third hero class this year. That would be fun to see. Though maybe not, considering Nudze would make Izuku teach it. The utter bastard. Teaching one class would be trouble enough for him. He did not want to be a homeroom teacher his very first year as a teacher.
“I’m getting a message from the main team. They’re about ready to engage.”
Izuku nodded. He was supposed to help analyse the quirks to make it go more smoothly. Problem was that the slippery villains had yet to show themselves. So he would have to show off his specialty on the go.
“I’m going to call in to get their cameras on our screens.”
Izuku nodded. And then suddenly there was chaos. An explosion sounded as the villains attacked pre-emptively. And Izuku should have been paying attention to the fight, little of it he could witness. But his eyes were glued to a little girl, almost hyperventilating because she had jumped from her hiding spot at the explosion, and because there was a large piece of debris that was now leaning against her body and trapping her.
Izuku was running before he knew what he was doing, moving himself under the debris and lifting it up for her to get away.
“Emerald Herald…”
“It’s okay, sweetheart.” Izuku said. “Run off to the nice policemen, they are going to take care of you, okay?”
“But they might see me.” She whispered.
And Izuku could see the shadows of the villains now, coming closer. “I’ll need you to be brave and to trust me. You know I’m a rescue hero, right? And I’ve chosen to rescue you. So you are going to stay rescued even if it’s the last thing I do. Nothing bad will happen to you now. I’ve got your back, okay?”
She nodded. She mustered up all of her courage and then started running. One of the villains wanted to go after her, so Izuku used all the strength he had to shift the debris into the villain’s way. The villain jumped out of the way, had one good look at Izuku, and then smirked evilly.
Izuku froze. His muscles all clamped up. With the way the villain was staring, it had to be a sight-activated paralysis. That meant he could move during the blink. He might only have a moment, so he needed to be ready for it. There was dust near his foot. If he could just kick it up, he could…
There was a knife in his stomach. The villain kept smirking as he pushed it out and then stabbed Izuku again. “Easiest hero on the board to take out. I’ll be so fucking famous. Guess this was a good…”
A foot landed against the villain’s head and kicked him against the nearest wall. “Izuku!”
Izuku collapsed without the villain’s quirk keeping him in place. He felt himself being picked up and carried back to safety. He was being checked over by ambulance personnel and they were refusing to take him to the hospital. Ingenium was insisting they try, but they confirmed what Izuku already knew. What he could already feel was happening.
“I want my husband.” Izuku said. “Tensei, you’re the fastest. Get him.”
The world was sludging. Like he was sinking into the Slime Villain’s quirk. Tensei had moved away.
“Izuku!” Kugo shouted, running towards him.
Ingenium had been fast. It could not have been too long. How did he get his husband so quickly? Oh, Kugo was going to pick him up after this. They were going out to dinner. “I’m sorry. You’ll have to cancel the reservations. I know how much you were looking forward to trying the sushi.”
Kugo held Izuku’s hand tightly. “We’ll go when you’re better.”
“Darling…” Izuku said, his voice breaking.
“There has to be something we can try. I’m a Rescue Hero, my love. Let me rescue you.”
Izuku swallowed. It tasted like blood. “Tell Nudze to hire someone competent to replace me. Someone who’s interned with me.”
Kugo tried to protest again, but Ingenium put a hand on his shoulder. Instead the Orca nodded. “I will.”
“There are adoption papers in my nightstand. I wanted to surprise you. F-for our anniversary. It’ll do you good to have kids around the house. I’m sorry I won’t be able to help you.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I do.” Izuku said. “I’m sorry that I don’t get spend more time with you. I’m sorry that it had to end. I’m sorry that haven’t told you enough that I love you.”
“You say it every day.”
“It should have been every minute.” Izuku said. His eyes were getting blurry. Were those the tears? Why didn’t his vision improve when he blinked them away?
“I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”
“You’re going to do great, like you always did. My Great Orca, my darling Kugo.” Izuku said. “C-can you do me one more favour? Can you take out your phone?”
“Who do you need to call?”
Izuku shook his head. “Make a video.”
Kugo struggled with his device. Ignenium took over, pressing the buttons. “It’s recording.”
Izuku felt so hurt. He felt so lonely. But this was for his legacy. And for that only one face was appropriate. He put on a big smile, wondering if he looked as much like All Might as he felt. “It seems my saving days have come to an end. There was more that I wanted to do, but so is the fate of the hero. I’m going to miss all of you. My fellow heroes, my interns, the students I should have had.” He stared at Kugo. Because he was going to miss Kugo most of all. “But now it’s your turn. Be the heroes that you want to see in the world. Be your very best self. The Emerald Herald believes in all of you. I believe in all of you. If I could be a hero, anybody could.”
The camera lowered and Izuku’s smile fell with it.
“Baby, stay with me.”
Izuku closed his eyes. “Maybe I’ll see you again in another life.”
And then everything went to black.
~*~
Izuku was sad because he was dying. Because he had left his love behind and because his life had been cut short by a surprise villain. And now that he was alone, he could let the tears flow.
Izuku was also confused, because he was very much not dead. Because he was sitting on a bench in a park. Because his body was tiny and because it was daytime instead of night. Because everything around him was familiar, like a dream he had forgotten about. Was this reality? Was this the afterlife? What the hell was going on?
“That’s weird. It looks like it didn’t work. Let’s just try it again real quick.” Aunty Yume said, before tapping Izuku’s cheek twice.