Chapter Text
“Shou-chan! Are you excited? C’mon, you’re totally excited, right?” Izuku smiled, nudging Shouto with his elbow. “It’s not every day you get to see All Might in action.” Izuku’s eyes glistened with excitement and wonder at the very idea of getting to see All Might, not only the No.1 hero, but Izuku’s.
“Isn’t your brother trying to kill him?” Shouto asked, narrowing his mismatched eyes at Izuku. “What’s so exciting about that?”
“Oh, please. Tomura won’t actually be able to kill All Might, not even with that Noumu. It’s not strong enough yet. So I’ll get to see All Might destroy the Noumu and it’ll be amazing!” Izuku said, already bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.
“Could you be any less reassuring, Izuku?” Tomura asked, scratching the length of his jaw as the villains stepped through a swirling purple portal, stepping out the other side in the Unforeseen Simulation Joint. What an ironic name.
“I’m sorry, Tomura. I’m sure you’ll do great. I’ll be on the sidelines watching All Might the whole time, though. No way I’m helping to kill the greatest hero in the world. Or any of those students. I think it would be too awkward to kill kids my age. I’ll take stock of their quirks and skill level, though, for future reference,” Izuku stated, cutting himself off before he could start rambling.
“You’ll have to try pretty hard to watch All Might, considering he’s not here,” Shouto said, gesturing to the group of students and their two teachers, neither of whom were All Might.
“What?!” Tomura shouted in frustration, his scratching intensifying slightly. “I went through all the trouble of bringing my special Noumu for him,” he pouted. Simultaneously, Izuku’s eyes were drawn to the group over one hundred feet in front of them. “Oh my god! Is that Eraserhead?! I’ve always wanted to see him in action. And–oh my god!–Thirteen! This is the best day of my life!” he exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.
“I am sure All Might will arrive shortly, Shigaraki Tomura. Don’t fret,” Kurogiri, their warp gate and pseudo-protector, spoke next to them. “Until then, we must deal with the heroes who are currently present.”
With that, the horde of petty criminals they had brought along with them lunged forward. Their attacks, however, were quickly nullified. Undoubtedly the work of Pro-Hero Eraserhead. “Deku, deal with him,” Tomura demanded, ceasing his itching for a moment.
“Are you kidding me?! No way! I’m just here as a spectator, this is your game, Tomura,” Izuku said, raising his hands in mock surrender, mostly because he just wanted to watch Eraserhead work instead of kill him. As Tomura huffed in frustration and Eraserhead continued to render the villains attacking him useless, Izuku pulled his notebook out of his pocket, describing each of Eraserhead’s moves and taking notes. Maybe he could use some of these, just without the quirk erasure.
As Izuku did this, he vaguely noticed Kurogiri warping the students of Class 1-A around the facility, separating them so they could be more effectively taken down, but that hardly mattered. Not until Thirteen managed to trap Kurogiri in a black hole. Izuku was torn between the fight with Thirteen and Eraserhead, deciding he’d seen plenty of Eraserhead in action. He flipped the page in his notebook. “Interesting, she managed to trap Kurogiri, pulling his body in with her quirk. Most would be pulled in immediately, but Kurogiri’s quirk makes that incredibly difficult, hence why he’s still standing there. I’m not sure how one might get away from a quirk so effective at capture. I suppose Kurogiri could use a warp gate to redirect the flow of Thirteen’s black hole onto herself…” Izuku trailed off as he saw Kurogiri do just that, diligently noting the result.
“You talk too much,” Shouto said, his eyes roaming over the scene in front of them. Shouto wasn’t contributing to the battle either, likely because his attacks were too large and powerful to be used in a group with so many allies. They were best used under desperate circumstances.
“Don’t be silly, I know you don’t mind,” Izuku said, patting Shouto’s shoulder, an action that would get nearly anyone else killed in an instant. But Izuku and Shouto had been close since they were children, they were the bestest of friends. Izuku was sure Shouto was one of the only things keeping him sane, and vice versa.
“Will the two of you shut up? We’re in the middle of a battle!” Tomura snapped, scratching the skin just beneath his jaw hard enough he tore the skin. Izuku gave him a look, one that said “Correction, you’re in the middle of battle. We’re not really a part of this.” Not that he’d ever dare to say a thing like that out loud. Tomura huffed, flinging himself into the battle between Eraserhead and the Noumu. Izuku hadn’t even noticed the Noumu was absolutely destroying Eraserhead until that moment.
“When do you think All Might will show up?” Shouto asked, shifting his gaze to Izuku again. Izuku knew Shouto was a big All Might fan too. And he didn’t seem very on board with Tomura’s plan to kill him either.
“Probably the most dramatic heroic moment of all time. Like when someone’s right about to die or something. And then he’ll save them. It’ll be awesome!” Izuku said, excited energy practically spilling out of him as his eyes sparkled.
“I don’t know, Eraserhead seems pretty close to death already,” Shouto said, gesturing to where Eraserhead’s bones were being crushed by the Noumu, parts of his skin now being decayed by Tomura. Shouto was right, he looked like shit (for lack of a better term).
“Oh…bummer! Eraserhead’s such a badass, I was hoping to see him again,” Izuku said, a frown taking over his previously cheerful expression. Izuku watched as Tomura and the Noumu continued their pursuit of taking Eraserhead down, and then widened his eyes in surprise as Tomura stopped, just for a moment, before lunging toward the pool of water next to him. Hidden there, nearly unseeable unless you were looking for her, was a girl who seemed kind of…frog-like. And Tomura was about to kill her.
Just before Tomura’s fingers could touch the girl’s face, a fist landed on his side, throwing him away like it was nothing. Izuku’s gaze travelled from the fist to the man it belonged to. A tall man with light hair that seemed to defy gravity, sunken sharp blue eyes, and an everlasting smile. It was All Might himself, in the flesh.
“Shou-chan, Shou-chan, look. It’s All Might,” Izuku said, utterly bewildered, resting his hands on one of Shouto’s shoulders and shaking him, as if Shouto couldn’t already see the tall man standing before them. “I told you he would show up at the most heroicly convenient moment,” Izuku said excitedly, pulling Shouto with him a little further out of the way. The last thing he wanted was for All Might to notice them and start a fight. He just wanted to see All Might doing what he does best. Saving people.
All Might’s fight with the Noumu began shortly thereafter. And lasted much longer than anticipated. Sure, the Noumu was strong. It was made specifically for the purpose of killing All Might. It’s quirks were the perfect counter for everything All Might could throw at it. And yet, Izuku had anticipated All Might winning with more ease. Something was wrong, All Might was wearing out.
Izuku jotted notes furiously, taking note of everything All Might did. Everything that was weaker than it might have been before. Everything that seemed even slightly different. Izuku would figure this out. Mostly for his own benefit, but he could also use it to help Tomura (or his father, he guessed). Tomura was almost like a child, maybe killing All Might would help him grow up. So, even though Izuku didn’t really want All Might to die, he would help Tomura reach his goal. That’s what brothers were for, right?
The fight progressed, with All Might getting himself in quite the predicament with Kurogiri (who was apparently done dealing with Thirteen and the hero students) and the Noumu. The old All Might never would have gotten into such a predicament, Izuku noted, quickly focusing back on the battle. His faith in All Might was slowly starting to wane. Sure, he still thought All Might would win, but at what cost?
“All Might seems less…capable than usual,” Shouto stated, a loud bang drawing his attention to a point close behind the battle. Two students had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. To be fair, though, Izuku tended to focus so much on one thing, everything else just kind of faded away. The first student had brilliant red hair that stuck up unnaturally, either the result of a quirk or hair gel–Izuku would put his money on hair gel, based on the shine–and matching red eyes. His teeth were wicked sharp, too, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. What a peculiar boy.
The second student Izuku recognized immediately. Bakugou Katsuki, his former best friend, and his former bully, and his former…something else. His light hair poked out of his head, hair going in every direction possibly, defying gravity. His eyes were just as red as Izuku remembered. He was wearing a hero suit, though, instead of the uniform he had worn in middle school. It was so…edgy.
As Izuku stared at him, he stared right back. “Kacchan…” Izuku said quietly, Shouto’s eyes moving from the battle to Izuku at the sound of his voice. Izuku took a deep breath, forcing down the memories swirling around in his mind. Kacchan, as a five-year-old, with a quirk that had so much potential. Kacchan, going from a friend to a bully when Izuku never got his quirk. Kacchan, telling Izuku to throw himself off the roof. Kacchan, Kacchan, Kacchan.
Kacchan did all those shitty things, and Izuku still couldn’t think of him as a real asshole. Kacchan’s quirk just filled him with explosive rage all the time. Izuku was weak, he deserved Kacchan’s bullying. And Kacchan was so pretty.
“Izuku? Are you alright?” Shouto asked, but Izuku couldn’t pull his eyes away from Kacchan. He was looking at him with the prettiest wide red eyes, it was intoxicating. Izuku couldn’t quite figure out what the look on Kacchan’s face meant. Maybe surprise, or fear. Maybe it was something else. Maybe it was a combination of a million things. All Izuku could figure out was that Kacchan was just as beautiful as he’d always been, maybe more so.
A series of loud noises forced Izuku’s attention away from Kacchan, his eyes landing on where All Might had managed to break himself free and was now engaging in direct combat with the Noumu. His punches were stronger than before, and faster, more similar to the All Might Izuku had once admired. He was going to win, and Tomura was going to be upset. As All Might punched the Noumu into the sky, a series of loud bangs rang out through the USJ.
A sharp pain ran through Izuku’s arm. He didn’t bother looking down at it, he recognized it as the gunshot wound it was. Hissing in pain, he lunged forward, pulling Tomura into the swirling warpgate behind them, nudging Shouto in as well.
As the portal closed and left them in the bar they were using as a headquarters, Izuku slumped into a barstool. He looked around, a frown creasing his face as he took in the situation. They had lost, as he expected, but worse than he had thought. Tomura definitely needed medical attention, Shouto was already cauterizing the graze the gunshot had left on his right leg, Kurogiri looked (unsurprisingly) mostly alright, and Izuku was going to have to dig the bullet out of his arm. It wasn’t great. And yet, all Izuku could think about was Kacchan.