Chapter Text
One could argue that Izuku was having a hell of a day.
Sure, it started off well. He made it to work on time, despite being stopped on the way for autographs and selfies from avid hero fans. He stopped a villain from stealing a woman’s purse on patrol, and even managed to make it through a conversation with Todoroki without feeling that his crush was really, really obvious.
It was hard to hide that he was head over heels for his roomate, but Izuku thought that he was managing it. Uraraka had repeatedly encouraged him to confess, but there was absolutely no way Izuku was going to do that. What if Todoroki actually heard him say it?!
Ridiculous crush aside, it wasn’t the reason he was having a hell of a day. It was the afternoon where things started to go pear-shaped.
In the child’s defence, he wasn’t trying to misuse his quirk. When you’re five years old, quirks are hard to control. Not that Izuku knew from experience, but that was what everyone said. In this case, the little boy had managed to hypnotise dozens of people at a shopping centre, and Izuku came across the scene on his way home.
Police had blocked off the area, paramedics were taking unconscious people away on stretchers, and a small little boy was bawling his eyes out, while his mother was frantically trying to calm him down.
“What’s going on?” Izuku asked an officer.
“Ah, Deku!” the officer greeted, before looking at the little boy in sympathy. “The poor kid got upset and lost control of his quirk. All these people just collapsed, but they don’t seem to be in any pain. It’s just as if they’re asleep.”
Izuku glanced at a woman who the paramedics were taking away. “Asleep with smiles on their faces.”
“Maybe it’s a quirk that gives good dreams?”
Izuku shrugged. “Who knows? All I know is that there’s a boy who needs help.” Without another word, he made his way through the crowd of unconscious civilians and emergency workers to the boy and his frantic mother. He knelt down to the boy’s level and sent him a big smile. “Hi there, I’m Deku.”
“Deku-san,” the mother looked at him distressed. “I’m sorry, he just lost control of his quirk.”
“It happens,” he said gently. “It’s gonna be okay. What does his quirk do?”
“It’s called A Little Touch of Magic,” the mother explained. “It lets people see what their lives could be like in other dimensions, but he’s lost control and affected everybody here.”
“It’s alright now,” Izuku reached out to put a gentle hand on the boys shoulder. “You’re going to be okay.”
The boy had his face in his hands, but he looked up at Izuku’s touch, blinking his wide, tear-filled eyes at him.
“Can you tell me—” Izuku began.
“No wait!” the mother cried, lunging forward and it was only then that he noticed the sunglasses in her hands. “Don’t look in his eyes!”
Izuku froze in alarm, but the damage was already done. He felt instantly dizzy, the world spun around him and then everything went black.
Izuku woke up with a groan.
What had happened?
He sat up and found himself in his bed. How had he got there? What happened after he collapsed? Were the little boy and his mother alright? What about all the unconscious people? Who brought him home?
Izuku glanced around the room, feeling uneasy. There was a sense of wrongness, but he couldn’t pinpoint what. Everything looked normal, but maybe they were slightly different? Izuku frowned. Did he always keep his limited edition Silver Age All Might figurine on his dresser? Wasn’t it normally on his shelf?
He shrugged and went to get up. Izuku had only made it to sitting on the edge of his bed before the sound of hurried footsteps interrupted him. He looked up to see Todoroki rushing into the room, and promptly forgot how to breathe.
Todoroki looked as beautiful as ever. He’d grown his hair out since their days at U.A, and it was now up in a long ponytail. His expression was a cross between concerned and exasperated, but Izuku couldn’t help the smile that creeped onto his face at the sight of him.
“I don’t think so,” Todoroki said. “You can try and give me that cute smile all you want, but you are going back to bed.”
Izuku blinked. Cute?
Todoroki used his momentary distraction to push him back into bed and pull the covers back over him. Izuku tried to protest, but his words died in a strangled noise as Todoroki ran a hand through his hair. Sure, his hair had changed since U.A. and he was now sporting an undercut, but that had never resulted in this.
“You had a rough day yesterday. I have to go into the office right now, but you are staying here and you have to promise not to do anything all day.”
“Uh,” was Izuku’s elegant response.
“No strenuous activity today, okay, Izuku?” Todoroki paused and frowned at him, putting a hand to his forehead. “Your face is really red. You’re not getting a fever, are you?”
“I-I’m fine!” he squeaked.
Todoroki looked unconvinced, but didn’t argue. “Okay, I have to go. I’ll be back later.” He leant in to press a kiss to Izuku’s forehead. “Take care.”
Izuku stared, frozen, as Todoroki walked out of the room. A few moments later, he heard the faint sound of the front door closing, but Izuku barely registered it. Instead, he put a shaky hand to the spot where Todoroki had kissed him, and tried to reboot his brain.
What...what was that? Todoroki had just kissed him! Well, kissed his forehead, but still! They barely hugged, and now Todoroki was giving forehead kisses? And calling him by his first name? How? Why? When had their relationship progressed to this stage and how had Izuku missed it? Maybe Todoroki—or was it Shouto now?—was just affectionate because he was worried about what happened the day before?
His face felt like it was on fire and his heart pounded in his chest. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, but it didn’t do much. He couldn’t make sense of anything, everything was an emotion overload. Confused, dumbfounded, nervous, and utterly desperate for it to happen again.
Feeling overwhelmed, Izuku laid back down on the bed and stared wide-eyed at nothing. He didn’t think he could get up after that.
Hours later, Izuku was still thinking about it.
What did he do about the fact that Todoroki acted so familiarly with him? It was something he’d wanted for a long time, but it was so unexpected that he wasn’t prepared for it. He liked it, of course, but he was too shocked to do anything about it. He could respond properly the next time, but how did he make sure it happened again?
Todoroki—wait, Shouto, he could call him Shouto—was a notoriously private person and didn’t display such open affection, well, ever. What if he didn’t do it again? How could Izuku make him see that is was okay?
Just blatantly stating it was right out. There’s no way Izuku could handle that conversation. He would stutter and mumble and he’d never get out what he wanted to say. Maybe...maybe he could do something to show that he liked being more affectionate?
But what?
As if on cue, his stomach rumbled and gave Izuku the answer. The way to someone's heart was through their stomach, right? Making Shouto lunch would be a nice, simple way to ease them into couple-ish things.
It probably took Izuku longer to make the bento than it should have, but he was determined to get everything perfect. He also kept looking for things in the wrong cupboards. Had Shouto rearranged things while he was out the day before? Nothing was where it normally was.
Regardless, he made the bento and set out to take it to Shouto. Hopefully, his love and all the care he put into it would come through the food and they’d be able to...well, Izuku wasn’t entirely sure what he hoped to accomplish with it, but hopefully it would be the start of something.
He was nervous when he finally made it to the office. What would he say when he gave it to Shouto without sounding awkward? He’d never brought anyone their lunch before. Was there a precedent for this? Hell, would he even be able to call Shouto by his given name without turning bright red?
Sidekicks and heroes greeted him as he walked in. Some called out to see if he was feeling any better, and others fell into step to ask about the villain attack the day before. Izuku stared in carefully masked confusion. All he did yesterday was stop a bag thief; it didn’t warrant that level of concern. Well, he did comfort that little boy but—
Wait. What happened with the boy? Izuku went to talk to him and then what?
“Izuku,” Shouto’s surprised voice pulled him from his thoughts. “What are you doing here?”
Wordlessly, Izuku held up the bento box. At Shouto’s fondly exasperated expression, he said, “Technically this isn’t a strenuous activity, Sh-Shouto-kun.”
Good. He’d only just stumbled on Shouto’s given name. It wasn’t a big deal. It was only the first time he’d called him that. It was no big deal.
Except it was and his heart was pounding, which was only made worse by the fact that Shouto walked over him, rolling his eyes like he thought Izuku was ridiculous but smiling anyway.
“I thought you’d like some lun—” was all Izuku managed to get out before Shouto cut him off him a kiss.
Izuku gave a muffled squeak of surprise and dropped the bento to the floor. Eyes wide, he went still, all thoughts of lunch disappearing as he finally experienced what he’d been dreaming about since his days at U.A.
He’d never been kissed before. At least, not a kiss that mattered. Dares during their time in the dorms as teens didn’t count, and there’d never been any feeling behind them. But this? This was a kiss that meant something, with a wealth of emotion behind it and Izuku gave himself over to it. His eyes closed, his hands automatically reached to pull Shouto closer, and his head tilted just so to make the kiss perfect.
Well, he hoped it was perfect. Izuku knew he was woefully inexperienced in the kissing department. Shouto, however, seemed to know exactly what to do, which made Izuku wonder how and when he learnt to kiss like that. Shouto’s lips were soft, and his touch was gentle as one hand held Izuku’s neck, and the other sat at his waist.
Izuku had only just begun to properly kiss back, his hand going up into Shouto’s beautifully long hair, when the other man pulled away. It was then that he realised they had an audience and they really shouldn’t be kissing in the middle of the office. Of course, the whole kissing thing was new and it’s not like they talked about doing it in front of other people, but Izuku’s legs felt like they were going to give out and he would have rathered his first kiss to happen where people didn’t see him melt into a flustered mess.
He was sure he was blushing, because his face felt like it was on fire. He also couldn’t believe that had happened. Like, wow, Shouto just kissed him.
“What’s wrong?” Shouto asked, frowning in concern at Izuku’s dumbfounded expression. “Are you feeling shy? It’s nothing they haven’t seen us do before.”
Um. What?
“Tododeku, back at it again with the public displays of affection,” a coworker teased, sounding like it was a regular occurance.
“Who had money on three days before they’d kiss again?” another asked the room in general.
“It is unprofessional to gamble on coworkers love lives,” Iida said, marching into the room with Uraraka on his heels.
Izuku let out a sigh of relief. Good old, morally upstanding, Iida. There was the sense of normality that Izuku had been looking for all day.
“But I was the one who made that bet,” Iida finished, causing Izuku to look at him in equal parts shocked and indignant.
“No fair, Iida-kun,” Uraraka pouted, handing him a wad of notes. “You won the last one too.”
Izuku just stared at them. What was going on? Why were they betting on him and Shouto? Since when were him and Shouto a thing to be betted on in the first place? Why wasn’t anyone reeling with shock that they’d just kissed? Why was Izuku the only one reacting normally?
Just—what?!
“Are you okay?” Shouto asked, still looking concerned.
“I—um—am still feeling a bit out of it,” Izuku replied. “I might go back home and rest.”
Shouto’s expression screamed ‘I told you so’ but all he said was, “Feel better soon. I’ll see you at home,” and then kissed him again.
Dazed, Izuku pulled out of the kiss and made his way out of the agency, calling goodbyes to friends and coworkers as he did. Izuku didn’t remember much of the trip home, but he did remember closing the apartment door behind him and sliding down it. Collapsed on the floor in a flustered heap, he tried to make sense of what had just happened.
Shouto kissed him in front of an office full of people. From the sounds of it, that was a regular occurence, and Izuku should be used to it. No one else seemed to think that Izuku just had his first kiss, and unless this was all part of some elaborate prank, there was something seriously wrong.
Iida, Uraraka and Shouto weren’t the kind of people to prank him, and Izuku highly doubted that Shouto would agree to kiss him in front of a crowd of people for one. No, there had to be something going on. Because although he day has been good—great, even, considering he got to kiss Shouto—it wasn’t right.
He’d been feeling a sense of wrongness all day, but nothing so blatant as to what just happened in the office. He took out his phone, hoping that Google could shed a light on what exactly was going on.
But what was he supposed to look up? Feeling foolish, Izuku typed in every question he could think of.
Google search: Why does the world feel wrong?
Google search: Why does everyone think my friend and I are dating?
Google search: How to tell if you’re dreaming?
Google search: Is it bad if you don’t want to wake up from a dream?
Google search: How to tell if your friends are pranking you?
Google search: Am I going insane?
Google search: Why does everything feel a little different than normal?
Did you mean: Parallel universe?
Izuku dropped his phone and his thoughts went into overdrive.
Parallel universe. The little boy he tried to talk to. What...what had he been told about his quirk?
It’s called A Little Touch of Magic, the mother had explained. It lets people see what their lives could be like in other dimensions, but he’s lost control and affected everybody here.
Another dimension. Izuku was in another dimension.
Part of him wanted to dismiss the notion as ridiculous, but Izuku couldn’t really talk about strange and ridiculous things when he inherited his quirk by eating a piece of his mentors hair. Ridiculous was acceptable in the world of quirks.
It made sense, though. The feeling that something was wrong, objects being in the wrong spot around the apartment, people not acting like themselves. It made sense. However, accepting it was possible and accepting that he’d wound up in a parallel universe were two completely separate things.
What was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to get home? To his mother, All Might, his friends, Shouto?
Wait.
What had he coworker said about him and Shouto? What had he called them? Todo...deku?
Another quick Google search later, and Izuku discovered that he and Shouto had been together since their U.A days. They were one of the most beloved pro hero couples active, and it was clear that their relationship was a happy one. They were engaged to be married and were often found on dates and doting on each other.
Izuku tilted his head back against the door and stared at the ceiling. This dimension’s Izuku was dating Shouto. They were engaged. No wonder he’d been kissed out of nowhere at the office! Of course Shouto carded his fingers through Izuku’s hair and gave him forehead kisses. That kind of thing was normal for people in a relationship.
It was something he wanted desperately.
He’d never acted on his feelings for Shouto. Too scared of rejection and how it would affect their friendship, he kept his mouth shut and swallowed the words he really wanted to say. Was this what he could have if he was just honest about how he felt?
He wondered how the Izuku of this world managed to confess. Or perhaps it was Shouto that did it? Regardless, they were braver than Izuku. Many people had commented that Hero Deku seemed fearless, but in the face of love and potentially losing it, he was a coward.
Feeling overwhelmed, Izuku felt tears building in his eyes. He gave a wet laugh; with everything that had happened, he supposed it was only a matter of time that he cried. Izuku wasn’t entirely sure if he was crying in despair for the situation he was in, or happiness that he finally knew what a relationship with Shouto was like. It was probably both.
Pulling himself together, he wiped his eyes and stood up. Izuku could sit there and wallow bitterly about missed chances and what life would be like if he’d taken them, or he could work out a way to get home.
A dark part of him wondered it he even wanted to go home. The Izuku of this dimension had what he wanted after all: friends, a career as a pro hero and a romantic relationship with Shouto. However, he threw that thought aside as soon as it had come, feeling ashamed of himself. This wasn’t his home, and the only thing holding him back from it happening in his universe was Izuku himself.
This could be his life, if he were braver. If he was honest.
He needed to find a way home. He wasn’t going to steal the life of an Izuku that was courageous enough to confess how he felt. That Izuku deserved his happily ever after; Izuku wasn’t going to usurp it from him. He may not have been engaged with Shouto, but he had people who loved him waiting for him in his home dimension and he owed it to them to make it back.
Izuku padded through the apartment, taking in all the changes compared to his real one. Photos of him and Shouto wedged together, too close to be platonic. One picture had a place of honour on a bookshelf: a photo of Izuku beaming and proudly showing off an engagement ring. Shouto looked down at him, soft and besotted, with a matching ring on his finger.
He picked up the frame, smiling wistfully at it.
“How can I be as brave as you?” he asked the Izuku depicted in it. “I want what you have, but trying to get it scares me.”
Izuku had just put the photo frame back down when a sudden wave of dizziness struck him. He put his head in hands with a groan, but it did nothing to stop the room from spinning.
“What...?”
What is happening? He tried to say, but he was incapable of getting it out. Panic gripped at him, and his pulse sounded loud in his ears. Izuku fell onto his hands and knees, but the sturdy floor beneath him felt uneven. The world swam and he screwed his eyes shut, but it still felt like he was being swept away. His limbs were shaking, unable to hold his weight, and he collapsed on the carpet.
Shouto...someone….anyone…
“Help,” he whimpered.
Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and everything went dark.
Izuku woke feeling like he’d been hit by a truck.
He groaned and sat up, surprised to find himself in his bed. He had a strange sense of déjà vu as he tried to remember how he’d got there, but Izuku was drawing a blank. All he could really focus on was how tired and sluggish he felt.
What happened?
Izuku put his head in his hands. Think. Think. He had to think.
Memories returned in slow segments: the little boy, the frantic mother...waking up to an affectionate Shouto, going to the hero office, his first kiss...coming home, realising he was in another dimension and...and…
His head shot up as he recalled the frantic terror he had felt when the dizziness overtook him. He felt fine now, just exhausted, but he would carry the memory of it from then on. What did it mean? Was he sick? Was it to do with the alternate universe? How did he get into bed? Did Shouto find him passed out on the floor and put him there? Was he back in his own dimension? What day was it?
Urgh. He felt awful and he had too many questions.
Izuku knew he wouldn’t find any answers in bed, so he pushed through his fatigue and got up. Looking around the room, he tried to get his bearings. Everything seemed to be in order. Nothing was out of place, unlike when he woke up in the dimension where he and Shouto were an item.
He padded out of the room, searching for potential changes to the apartment. His hero memorabilia was still scattered around the place, and there was numerous pictures of his friends and of their time at U.A. However, that familiar, uncomfortable sense of wrongness pulled at him; something wasn’t right there.
Izuku made his way to his roommates door and raised his hand to knock. He was desperate to see Shouto, but a single, irrelevant thought made him hesitate.
What was he supposed to call him?
In his normal universe, Izuku called him Todoroki, but he’d become used to calling him by his first name. It seemed like a privilege to be able to call him Shouto outside of their work environment, and Izuku was reluctant to let go of it. The Shouto of this universe wouldn’t be expecting such a familiar form of address, but maybe he’d be okay with it?
Izuku sighed, knowing he was only worrying about names because he was scared to knock on the door. What if this Shouto was different to the one he just left behind? Was it the real Shouto and he was back in his home dimension? Was it going to hurt when he looked at Shouto and knew that this one didn’t feel anything for him?
“Stop hesitating,” he told himself. “Be brave like the other Izuku. Go beyond. Plus ultra.”
It took a few moments for the encouragement to kick in. He could be brave like his other self. He could go in there and confess his feelings, if he put his mind to it. He could have everything he ever wanted, he just needed to take the plunge.
His heart hammered in his chest, but he screwed his courage and knocked on the door. “Todoroki-kun?” A beat passed but there was no answer. “Sh-Shouto-kun?” Still nothing. “I’m coming in, okay?”
Izuku opened the door and his breath left him in a strangled gasp.
The room was empty. Instead of the bedroom he was expecting, Izuku found himself staring at a study. A simple desk with a computer sat in one corner and bookshelves lined the walls, but there was no sign of a bed or chest of drawers. There were no pictures of Shouto and his family or friends. No plant that Shouto meticulously watered because it was a present from his mother. Nothing.
There was nothing to show that the man Izuku loved lived in that room.
Hero merchandise and posters decorated the space, giving it a clear Izuku feel. This room belonged to him and him only. Where was the bed that he and Shouto would sit on and talk the night away? Where was the desk that Shouto accidentally set alight when he had a bad cold and burst into flames when he sneezed? All of this was Izuku’s furniture, but it should have been Shouto’s.
It wasn’t right.
“Shouto?” he whispered brokenly.
The realisation of what the room meant was like a blow to the stomach. Izuku turned and fled back out to the lounge room, finally understanding what had felt wrong when he was there moments before. He looked from photo frame to photo frame, snapshots of precious memories from his time at U.A. and beyond. One person was missing from them all, and Izuku couldn’t stop the tears when he figured out why.
Whatever universe he was currently in, he didn’t know Todoroki Shouto.
Izuku moved on autopilot.
He had a vague notion of getting ready for work and walking to the office, but he barely noticed the people that tried to stop and talk to him. Normally he made time for the random civilians who wanted a photo with the number one hero, but instead his thoughts were consumed with Shouto and the shocking realisation that he wasn’t a part of Izuku’s life.
Why wasn’t Shouto there? Surely they would have met at U.A? It seemed inconceivable that they weren’t friends. It should have been a constant: whatever world Izuku was in, his heart should have belonged to Todoroki Shouto.
Izuku firmly decided that he didn’t like this dimension.
He needed to get out of there as soon as possible, that much was clear. But how in the world was he supposed to make it home? There had been no warning when the dizzy spell hit him and he woke up in the current dimension. There was nothing about that experience that could be used as a way to get back to his own universe; there was just a feeling of dizziness and fear.
Izuku sighed. He needed a coffee.
There was a coffee shop that he frequented on his way to and from the office. Thankfully he hadn’t passed it on his distracted wandering, and Izuku hurried to it. His need for caffeine was a big one, and maybe one of those chocolate muffins the shop was famous for.
He hoped this wasn’t some dimension where muffins didn’t exist, otherwise there was a very big chance that he would burst into tears at the café. The errant thought brought a smile to his lips as he opened the door to the shop, but he really hoped that alternate universe had finished with the surprises it had thrown at him.
Izuku’s smile immediately dropped as he saw who was working behind the counter and he stumbled through the door in shock. This inevitably drew some stares as it wasn’t often that a famous hero acted like an ungraceful madman in cafés, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the person stationed at the coffee machine.
“Shouto-kun?”
Shouto stared at him, a clear mix between surprised and confused. “Hero Deku? How do you know my name?”
Izuku flinched as if he’d been struck. It hurt far more than he expected to hear that Shouto definitely didn’t know who he was. It was confirmation that all the memories they shared never happened in that universe. The past that Izuku cherished and the future he dreamed of were nothing but thoughts in his head; precious mementos of a Shouto that no longer existed.
It hurt. It hurt so much.
“Deku?” Shouto repeated.
More people were staring at him and that wasn’t so surprising; he tended to stick out in his hero costume. However, to his mortification, he felt tears building in his eyes. He needed to get out of there. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t stand there and stare at the curious, confused expression of Shouto as a stranger.
“I’m sorry,” he said, voice choked full of emotion.
He ran from the coffee shop, the power of One For All coursing through his veins to help him flee as soon as possible. Izuku made it home and rang the office, only barely managing to get out that he wouldn’t be able to come in, before hanging up and bursting into tears. He made his way to Shouto’s room—what should have been Shouto’s room—curled up in a ball on the floor and cried.
Izuku knew he would be more comfortable if he was on his bed or lounge, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the room. Instead, he took in comfort by imagining it as Shouto’s. That the study was gone and Shouto was there with him, sitting on his bed and patiently listening to Izuku vent about whatever made him upset. That the musty smell of the study was really the unique smell of Shouto: the fresh scent before snow falls and the remnants of a fading campfire.
That the Shouto he knew, who knew him, was still there.
“A Little Touch of Magic?” he scoffed bitterly. “More like, A Little Touch of Pain.”
He didn’t know how long he stayed there. His tears dried up hours before, but he stayed staring morosely at the ceiling. Part of him knew that he was being ridiculous, that he owed it to himself and his loved ones to get up and find a way home. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find it in himself to move, and instead lost himself in memories.
Izuku thought back over the sports festival, where their friendship had really begun. He remembered trying to push Shouto to accept all of himself. To use his flames and all of his strength.
There’s no way I can know of all your circumstances, or your resolve, he had told Shouto.. But for you to come number one without giving it your all, to completely reject your father...Right now, I think you should stop screwing around!
And then the moment Izuku would never forget. His words and Shouto’s response, forever etched in his memory.
It’s your power, isn’t it?!
The look on Shouto’s face when he caught alight was worth every broken bone. Even amongst the pain coursing through him, Izuku had been in awe of it. Flames, bright and beautiful, and Shouto’s determined grin. Izuku might not have been in love then, but it was certainly the moment where he started to fall.
Shouto finally reaching his potential and looking at Izuku in challenge. Which one of us is screwing around now?
Was that what Izuku was doing now, weeping on the floor? Was he screwing around? Instead of facing the problem like a real hero, he was hiding away at home and crying about it. He was better than that. He could do better than that.
He thought about what Shouto screamed at Iida when they fought against the Hero Killer: If you want us to stop, then stand up! The only words I can say to you are: Look properly at what you want to be!
“Okay, Shouto,” he said, wiping his face and getting up. “I’m standing up. I’m looking.”
Even in a different dimension, Shouto could motivate him to be better.
Because he didn’t want to be stuck a universe away from his friends and family. He didn’t want to be a hero that avoided his problems. He definitely didn’t want a Shouto that didn’t know who he was outside of hero work.
He wanted his little apartment that he shared with Shouto, and he wanted so much more than that. He wanted to share his life with Shouto, the ups, downs, and everything in between. He wanted long, slow kisses and nights snuggled together watching TV, or to wake up beside Shouto every morning and drink in the sight of him. He wanted matching bands on their fingers and to grow old together.
Izuku wanted everything, and he wasn’t going to get it by crying in his apartment. With a new resolve, he decided to talk to the one constant that appeared in each dimension.
He had to go find Shouto.
Izuku’s resolve lasted until he made it to the coffee shop door.
He had changed out of his hero costume so he wasn’t quite as noticeable as he was when he was there earlier, but he still dithered outside the building. What would he say when he went in there? How did he explain the situation without sounding insane?
“Deku?”
Shouto’s familiar voice jolted Izuku from his thoughts and whirled around to stare at him, standing ramrod straight. “Yes?!”
Shouto stood at the door, dressed in his work uniform and clearly unsure about how to proceed from there. Silence reigned between them for a fair while before he answered Izuku’s startled question.
“...Are you...okay?”
“Of course!” Izuku blatantly lied. “Why do you ask?”
“Because you’ve been pacing and muttering outside the shop for twenty minutes?”
“Oh.”
“Customers are starting to ask questions, so my boss sent me out here to talk to you.”
Shouto’s expression was a strange cross between worried, confused, uncomfortable and painfully aware that he’d been sent outside like an unwilling tribute.
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Right. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Is there...something I can do for you?” Shouto wanted to know.
All his worries about how he was going to approach this conversation disappeared, dismissed by that simple question. Regardless of whatever dimension he was in, this was Shouto and he was offering help; Izuku would always be able to trust that he has his back.
He took a deep breath and let his nerves slip away. The tension eased from Izuku’s shoulders and he fixed Shouto was a serious stare, clearly displaying the gravity of the situation.
“Yes, Todoroki Shouto. I need your help.”
Despite the mess he was in, he didn’t drag Shouto away from his work. Instead, he just gave him his address on a piece of paper and went home. Shouto had promised that he’d been there when he finished his shift, which gave Izuku enough time to get his thoughts in order before then.
Armed with his trusty notebook and pen, he sat at his table and tried to write down everything he could think of about what was happening to him.
He was jumping through dimensions because of that young boy’s quirk, that much was clear. Izuku could only guess that the jumps were preluded by the dizzy spell he experienced, and that he would wake up in a different universe after it.
Izuku didn’t know what happened to the Izuku of the present dimension when he jumped into it. His other self just seemed to disappear and Izuku took his place. Nor did he know what happened when he went to the next dimension. Did the other Izuku just suddenly reappear? Did they have to deal with the consequences of whatever Izuku had done during his time there?
Izuku cringed and send a mental apology to his other selves.
The biggest question was how exactly he was supposed to get home. The dizzy spell made it clear that he had no control how or when the dimension change was going to occur, nor did he know what dimension he was about to end up in.
Maybe Aizawa-sensei could help him?
Izuku dismissed that thought instantly. Aizawa was known to cancel quirks, not their effects. There wasn’t anything he would be able to do now that Izuku was stuck in alternate universes. Still, it may be a smart idea to approach his old teachers. They had a wealth of knowledge and experience that Izuku didn’t. Maybe they’d have an idea of what to do.
Lost in his thoughts, Izuku didn’t notice the time passing. It was hours later when he heard a knock at the door that had him jolting in his seat and scrambling to go answer it.
Shouto stood at the door, looking dubious to be there in the first place. “Hello.”
“Shouto-kun, hi. Come in, come in,” Izuku said, unable to stop smiling at the sight of him.
Shouto took his shoes off and followed Izuku through the apartment, looking around as he did. “Is this...your home?”
Izuku blinked at the unexpected question. “Yes? Is that a problem?”
They made it to the kitchen and Izuku gestured for his guest to sit at the table. Shouto sat, his gaze drifting from the notes there, to Izuku and back again. “No, but when I received an address from Hero Deku, I was expecting to go to a hero agency or a safehouse. Not your apartment.”
“Right,” Izuku said, sitting in the chair across from him. “Well, these are...extenuating circumstances.”
Shouto’s eyes narrowed. “Is this to do with my father?”
“No!” he denied vehemently. “No. I would never—! That man is not welcome in my home.”
“Really?” Shouto looked surprised at Izuku’s forceful response. “Then why am I here?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
Izuku took a deep breath and then did his best to explain everything. That he was from another dimension where he and Shouto were friends, heroes, and roommates. That Izuku had been hit with a quirk that sent him from one universe to another, but Shouto was the one person he kept running into every time.
When he finally stopped talking, Shouto just sat there without a word. His expression gave nothing away, and Izuku’s heart hammered in his chest, certain that his friend didn’t believe him. There had to be something else he could say, some other way to convince him—
“Okay,” Shouto said, nodding decisively.
Izuku gaped at him. “You believe me?”
“You’re Deku, the number one hero. You’re not one to lie.” He paused, studying Izuku. “But if you really know me as well as you say in another dimension, prove it. Tell me something only a close friend would know.”
Izuku fell silent, wondering exactly what to say. What could possibly be enough to convince him? He’d had many deep and meaningful conversations with Shouto over the years, where they had told each other many things they hadn’t told anyone else. Izuku had confessed many things during those conversations—feelings and One For All notwithstanding—so surely he could think of something.
He thought back to the conversation he’d had with Shouto during their training camp in their first year at U.A. Back when Izuku was concerned about Kota, and his friend had given him advice.
If the words are going to move someone by themselves, they have to be pretty powerful, Shouto had said. I think words have to be accompanied by action.
Well, he couldn’t burst into action and fight an untrained Shouto in the middle of his apartment, but he could show the consequences of those actions.
“Do you see these scars?” He held his hands out so Shouto could see them, glad the scars had remained despite the dimension jump. “I got them fighting my best friend during the sports festival in our first year, and I would do the same thing over and over again, just to help him. You see, he wasn’t living up to his full potential. He was chasing his dream with just half his strength, denying part of himself to spite his father.”
“What are you talk—”
“The person I fought was you, Shouto. You refused to use your fire, ignored that part of you until the only person you were hurting was yourself. So much untouched potential,” Izuku smiled wistfully. “But beautiful to behold when you finally accepted all of yourself.”
“This is doing nothing to convince me you know me well,” Shouto frowned. “I would never use my shitty old man’s power.”
Gently, ever so gently, Izuku reached out to hold Shouto’s left hand. “It’s your power, isn’t it?” he said, just like he did years before. Then, he said the one thing he knew would prove that he was someone Shouto could trust. “You don’t have to be a prisoner of your own blood.”
Shouto gasped and snatched his hand away. “How do you know about that?! I wouldn’t—”
Izuku reply was soft. “You did.”
“My mother told me that when I was little. She said I could be a hero, but I refused to use my quirk once Father put her in hospital. He thinks I’m a disgrace, but I’m working to save money and get her out of there. To save her from him. I’ve never told anyone that quote, so how do you—?”
“You told me it years ago, in this very room,” Izuku said gesturing around the kitchen. “I told you that Endeavour was not welcome in my home and you’re the reason why. I know what your father has done to you and your family, and I will never forgive him for it. You’ve told me many things throughout the years, Shouto-kun, and I have never breathed a word of them to anyone.”
“Deku—”
“Please, call me Izuku. You’re my best friend. It’s weird to hear you call me by my hero name when we’re sitting here like this.”
“Not as strange as the number one hero saying he’s your best friend in an alternate dimension and telling you to call him by his first name.”
“Okay, you’ve got a point there,” Izuku laughed. “This is all very unbelievable.”
“But I do believe you.”
Izuku blinked at him. “You do?”
“I do. You know too much, and…” Shouto trailed off, averting his gaze.
“And?” Izuku prompted.
“Your eyes are far too honest to be a liar,” he finished, looking back at him with a slight tint of pink to his cheeks.
Izuku let out a sigh of relief, even as he felt his own face go red. “Oh, good.”
“So,” Shouto said, as they both seemed determined to ignore the whole blushing situation. “How can I help?”
“Well,” Izuku began. “I don’t really—”
Izuku cut himself off with a strangled groan as the familiar dizzy feeling struck him out of nowhere. He grasped the table so hard his knuckles went white, but the world still turned around him.
Shouto was at his side at an instant. “Deku?! Uh, Izuku, are you alright?”
“I’m being...pulled to another dimension,” he ground out.
“Is there anything I can do?”
“No, you can’t stop it...I’ll be gone soon and the me of this dimension should be back.”
“What?”
“Explain what happened. Tell him about your Father.”
“I can’t—”
“Let him in...he can help you.”
“Izuku, what—”
“Thank you for helping,” Izuku managed to say as the world blurred around him. Then, he managed to say the one thing he never had before. “Love you.”
“What?!”
But he couldn’t answer Shouto’s shocked question, because everything went dark and he knew no more.
“GET UP!”
The furious voice startled Izuku from his sleep. He blinked his way to awareness, and found himself in an unfamiliar bedroom with an angry Endeavour scowling down at him.
Realisation came to him slowly. He really wanted to have words with whoever had called the dimension jump quirk ‘A Little Touch of Magic’; this wasn’t magical in the slightest.
Izuku did what any sane person would do in that situation. He groaned, “go away,” and rolled over, intent on trying to go back to sleep.
“Get up!” Endeavour demanded once more. “I will not have my son lazing in bed when he could be training! You have five minutes!” The or else went unsaid, but it still didn’t make Izuku keen to be rushing out of bed.
The Flame Hero stomped out the of room and Izuku snuggled back under the covers. He had nearly drifted back off to sleep when what Endeavour said finally clicked in his mind and Izuku’s eyes snapped open.
“Son?!”
He shot up and scrambled out of bed. Stumbling over to the mirror, Izuku had to bite back the scream that threatened to tear from his throat as he took in his reflection.
His hair was as unruly as ever, but it was split evenly down the middle in white and red. His eyes were Shouto's usual heterochromatic and a bright red burn mark marred the left side of his face.
With a shaky hand, Izuku reached up to gently touch the scar. He had always thought it looked beautiful on Shouto, but if it was now Izuku's then that meant he had been pulled into a very unfortunate dimension.
He lowered his hand and looked at it and willed his quirk to activate, wondering if it would be One For All or Hot Cold-Half Hot. After a moment, a small flame flickered to life on his palm, and Izuku immediately turned to conjure ice with his right.
He had Shouto's quirk. He had Shouto's quirk and Endeavour was his Father. He had felt small senses of wrongness in the previous dimensions, but nothing as strong as the wave of horror at being related to that garbage fire.
Izuku hurriedly got changed, desperate to leave before Endeavour came looking for him again. With his heart in his throat, Izuku pushed open the bedroom window and looked at height to the ground. He was in the second story, but he'd rather risk the window than wander blindly around an unfamiliar house and run into an irritated Flame Hero.
He'd made jumps like that plenty of times. It'd be fine. Probably. Hopefully.
“What's another broken bone?” he muttered to himself, before laughing as he imagined the horrified reactions of his friends and former teachers.
Izuku leapt from the window and landed in a roll. Jumping to his feet, he ran away from the house as fast as he could, anxious not to be caught. His heart pounded in his chest, but he kept running until the house was far from sight.
His chest heaved as he looked around. Izuku couldn’t recognise the neighbourhood he found himself in, but anywhere was better than staying in Endeavour’s home. He wandered into a deserted park and sat on a bench, taking stock of his situation.
Izuku was now in a dimension where Endeavour was his father, he had Shouto’s quirk, had no idea where he was, and didn’t know where to go from there. All in all, he firmly decided that it was the worst dimension he’d found himself in thus far.
But still...did he even want to change anything about this universe?
If Shouto was now living Izuku’s life, then he was safe and happy. He’d be far from Endeavour’s reach and have nothing to do with the Flame Hero. He was safe. Izuku couldn’t—wouldn’t—change that. He just needed to spend enough time here before the dimension swap kicked in and he could go somewhere else.
He hoped he could go home, but Izuku really didn’t know how he was supposed to do that. He sighed and put his head in his hands. This was all too much. He just wanted to go back to his universe and where everything made sense. Back to Shouto.
“Hey mister!” a bright voice shocked him out of his thoughts and Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin.
There was the familiar sound of ice freezing, and Izuku blinked at the now-frozen bench he sat on. Apparently, he couldn’t control Shouto’s quirk—his quirk?—when he was startled.
“Whoa!” a young boy stood in front of him, looking at him with awe. “Your quick is so cool! You just froze everything! Are you a hero!? Can you create a castle out of ice?! Can you eat the ice you make?! Is that weird? Would it taste like ice, or something else?” The child gasped dramatically. “What if it tasted like blood?!”
It felt like looking in a mirror. A small, excitable, slightly morbid mirror.
“That’s...gross.” Izuku finally found his voice.
“But your ice comes from inside you, so it could taste like blood!” the kid insisted.
Izuku felt overwhelmed by the entire conversation. “I guess?”
“Awesome!”
“Can I...help you?” Izuku asked, because while he was usually all for debating quirks, he was too mentally drained to argue the finer points of blood or not blood tasting ice with a child.
The boy shrugged. “I just wanted to see if you were okay cause you were sad, but now I know you’re super awesome! You can’t be sad!”
Izuku gave him a small smile. “Awesome people can be sad too.”
The kid’s grin faltered and he looked concerned. “Really? Are you okay? Do you need a hug? Do you want your Mum? Mum’s have the best hugs.”
He continued chattering away, but Izuku didn’t hear him. His mind was caught on one horrifying thought and he jumped to his feet.
“I’m sorry, I need to go,” Izuku said. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
He ran off, but not before hearing the boy call out, “Enjoy your Mum-hug, mister!”
His mother.
Where was his mother in this universe?! If he and Shouto had swapped places, does that mean his mother was locked away in a hospital? Or was Todoroki Rei his mother in this universe? Either way, Izuku was desperate to find Midoriya Inko and make sure she was okay. Getting to the hospital was a good starting point for that.
Izuku sprinted through the streets, dodging people, cars, dogs, and bicycles as he did. He had a vague idea of where the hospital was and hoped he was going in the right direction. He stopped at intersection, trying to get his breath back as he hurriedly looked from street sign to street sign to work out where he was supposed to go.
“Todoroki-kun?” an instantly recognisable voice spoke up from behind him.
As strange as it was to be referred to by that name, it was equally as bizarre to see Shouto with green hair and scarless. He may have looked different, but he was as beautiful as ever and his green eyes were looking at Izuku in concern.
It was strange to hear Shouto use honorifics, but Izuku pushed that errant thought aside to latch onto his friend. “Shouto-kun! You have to help me!”
To his immense surprise, Shouto blushed. “I—um—yes?”
Izuku blinked. “Shouto-kun?”
“Yes?” If anything, Shouto became even redder.
“What’s wrong?”
“You...called me Shouto.”
Shit. Okay. Not on first name basis. Man, Izuku really needs to keep track of all the differences.
“Note to self: get a notebook.”
“What?”
Oh. He said that out loud.
Izuku shook his head as if to clear it, trying to work out how to explain that he was from a different dimension and had no idea where he or his mother was. He soundlessly opened and closed his mouth a few times, but the words escaped him.
Before he could figure out what to say, Shouto spoke up. “What did you need help with?”
Right. Yes. Help. He needed help to find the hospital where his mother was. He need to go check on her and then figure out how to get back home and—
“Shouto?” a new voice sounded from behind him and Izuku went still.
Ever so slowly, he turned to look over his shoulder to see his mother approaching, shopping bags in her hands. Midoriya Inko looked just as kind and and comforting as ever, and Izuku was hit with a strong pang of homesickness.
She reached them and stood at Shouto’s side, smiling warmly. “Is this one of your friends from school? It’s nice to meet you. I’m Shouto’s mother, Inko.”
Izuku tried to hide the flinch at her words, but he wasn’t sure he managed it. It hurt, more than he thought it would, to have his mother look at him as if he were a stranger. This—this wasn’t right. She had his mother’s face, voice and name, but she wasn’t his mother. This wasn’t the woman who tucked him into bed at night when he was little, who lovingly made his first hero costume, or whose hugs could chase away any unpleasant thoughts. This was a woman with no knowledge of Midoriya Izuku.
God, he just wanted to go home. This was all too much for Izuku and, perhaps inevitably, he began to cry.
Shouto and Inko were immediately concerned. They asked what was wrong and how they could help, but Izuku couldn’t get the words out. Nor could he stop the tears from falling down his face.
Which was how he ended up back at his home.
Well, technically it wasn’t his—it was the apartment of Midoriya Inko and Shouto—but Izuku had grown up there. He knew it like the back of his hand. He’d taken his first steps there, said his first words, played heroes with his mother and pretended to be All Might.
It was home.
But there were no traces of Izuku there. Instead, there were pictures all around of Shouto. Baby pictures, to teens, Izuku couldn’t help but smile at them, even when they’d taken the place of his own photos. Shouto looked happy and content in each picture, and Izuku couldn’t begrudge that.
His mother sat him at the table and fussed over him, making them tea while Shouto grabbed him a box of tissues. When they were all seated with mugs in their hands, Izuku decided to just bite the bullet and tell the truth.
“I need your help. I’m from a different dimension and I don’t know how to get home.”
Their concerned expressions morphed to incredulous and disbelieving, so he rushed to placate them. “I can prove it! I know things about you both that this Izuku shouldn’t know!”
There was a silence as they considered him.
“Like what?” Shouto asked.
Izuku turned to him. “Your favourite food is cold soba, you wanted to be a hero since you saw All Might on TV as a child, you like singing but don’t think you’re any good, so you normally just hums things.”
“You’re my friend,” Shouto said, “of course you know that.”
As nice as it was to hear Shouto so openly declare them friends, he needed to prove his point and so he turned to Inko. “Your favourite thing to cook is your grandmother’s katsudon recipe, you always cry at Hachikō because the dog just loved him so much. I know the floorboards creak in your room, but you won’t fix it because you think it gives the place character. You found it hard being a single mother, but you wouldn’t trade it for the world, because your son makes you so proud and you know all the hardships are worth it.”
Inko gaped at him, shaken and clearly taken aback. “How...how could you know that?”
Izuku stared down at his coffee cup and grasped it tighter as he replied. “Because I’m not in the right world and I come from one where you told me that.” He took a deep breath and looked up at her. “Because...because my name is Midoriya Izuku, and I really want to go home.”
If Izuku thought the fussing was bad before the dimension hopping shenanigans were revealed, it had nothing on Shouto and Inko’s reactions after it. His mother made them more tea (despite the fact none of them had finished their mugs), and bustled out of the room to find him a blanket for comfort. Meanwhile, Shouto gave him more tissues and stood at his side, his hand hovering nervously over Izuku’s shoulder, clearly hesitant to put it there.
He reached up to grab Shouto’s hand and put it on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Shouto paused, as if choosing his words with care. “Midoriya-kun.”
He sucked in a breath and looked up. He wasn’t expecting to hear that name. “Shouto-kun?”
Cheeks pinks, he gave Izuku a small smile. “I’m not used to you using honorifics with me.”
“Well, I’m not used to you using them.”
“Or calling me by my first name.”
“Sorry, I’ll—”
“But if Midoriya is your name, then that’s what I’ll call you. No sane person would ever want to be a Todoroki.”
“Oh,” Izuku blinked at him. “You know about Endeavour?”
Shouto moved to once again sit across from Izuku. “You told me during the sports festival. You wanted to win with just your ice, until I said—”
“It’s your power, isn’t it?” they chorused.
Shouto looked at him in surprise. “How—?”
Izuku looked down and willed a little flame to appear in his hand. “You wouldn’t use your fire, and I thought it was such a waste because you could be so much more than what you were letting yourself be.” Izuku voice sounded distant, lost in memories as he watched the fire dance upon his palm. “We fought and I broke so many bones, but it was worth it to see you light up in flames. You were blazing, bright and breathtaking, finally claiming that power as your own.”
Izuku let the flame go out and raised his head. Shouto stared at him, eyes wide and mouth open and looking lost for words. Eventually, he swallowed and said, “That’s how I feel about you.” Shouto looked down at his own hands, rough and scarred. “It was worth it. Every broken bone, every scar, all the pain. It was worth it to help you unlock your potential, to save you with Stain, all of it. I would do it all again, Midoriya-kun.”
“I would do the same,” Izuku stared at him, mustering up the courage to say one more thing. “Shouto.”
It seemed a silly thing, using honorifics when their relationship seemed so much closer than that. Sure, his Shouto was dimensions away, but that didn’t change Izuku’s feelings. As soon as he got home, he was going to call Shouto by his first name, soft and intimate, and confess his love.
Shouto blushed, brilliant and red, but before he could say anything, his mother bustled back into the room.
“Here you are!” Inko said, holding a large blanket and wrapping it around Izuku’s shoulders. It was one he recognised, as his mother often used it to comfort him when he was growing up. He snuggled into the familiar warmth and breathed in its scent.
It felt like home.
His mother sat back at the table. “Now, how to get you home?”
He sighed. “I wish I knew. This is the third alternate universe I’ve been in.”
“Well, what are some major differences?” Shouto asked. “Maybe focusing on those will help you get back to your dimension.”
Izuku gestured around the room. “The biggest difference is that I’m not Midoriya Izuku.”
There was a silence as they all contemplated that.
“I’m not sure it will help,” Inko spoke up, “but maybe you should go see your mother?”
“But—” Izuku began to protest, before he cut himself to consider her suggestion.
But you’re my mother, he wanted to say. Except that wasn’t right and she wasn’t his mother. Not in that universe.
Inko reached out to gently take his hand. “I’ve never met Todoroki-san, but I know what it feels like to be a mother. It might not get you home, but she would be happy to see you.” She gave him a comforting smile. “I’ve only known you for a small amount of time, but I know she would be so proud of you. And for what it’s worth...I’m proud that there’s a version of me out there can call you her son.”
“Thank you,” he said, his voice shaking as he blinked away a wave of tears. “But okay, I’ll go to the hospital.” He turned to Shouto. “Can you please come with me? I know it seems like you don’t know her, but she’s your mother, in at least one dimension, so I think you should come too. Plus, I...I think I need someone there for moral support.”
Shouto nodded. “Of course...Izuku.”
He grinned at the use of his given name. If Inko thought it was strange that they were on first name basis, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she simply hugged them both goodbye and wished them good luck as they went to go find Todoroki Rei.
Izuku’s nerves grew as they approached the hospital. He didn’t know what he was supposed to say to Todoroki Rei when he saw her. She was and wasn’t his mother. How was he going to explain that? Should he even explain it? Maybe the best thing to do was repair their relationship for when the Izuku of that universe came back. Wait. Were the Izuku of that dimension and his mother even on bad terms? Maybe that had made up? What if he ruined it by going there? God, why was this all so confusing?!
Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t even realise he’d stopped walking until Shouto gently tugged on his hand. Startled, Izuku looked at him and Shouto nodded towards the hospital that was just down the street.
“Come on,” he encouraged. “We’re nearly there.”
“Shouto—I don’t know what—I don’t know how to—”
Shouto tugged once more and coaxed him into walking. “It’s scary, but I’ll be right there with you. Think of it this way: nothing bad can come out of this. You can either find a way home, or you have a nice visit with your mother. There’s no downside.”
Izuku was sure that something could go wrong, but he followed Shouto without any further protest. His heart pounded as they reached the hospital, but he didn’t try to runaway. Shouto held his hand as they were directed to his mother’s room, and didn’t let until they stood outside her door.
Instead, Shouto stood behind him, his hands resting on Izuku’s shoulders. “I’m right here with you.” He gently pushed him towards the door. “You can do this.”
Izuku didn’t know what to expect. He’d met Rei before, but that was as Shouto’s friend and roommate. Now he was meeting her as Todoroki Izuku, and that was something else entirely.
With a shaking hand, Izuku opened the door and walked in. “Mother?”
It felt strange to call her that, but she was sure to be confused if he called her anything else. She was sitting by the window and turned at the sound of his voice. She lit up the moment she saw him and broke out in a warm smile.
“Izuku,” she said, voice full of love.
He was unprepared for the wave of emotion that hit him in that moment. This wasn’t the mother Izuku knew, not the one he had grown up with, but was as if his heart—the heart of Izuku of that universe—recognised her even if Izuku himself didn’t.
Unbidden, tears streamed down his face. To his surprise, he saw that Shouto was crying too and he looked at him in concern. “Shouto?”
Shouto wiped his eyes and looked at his wet fingers in confusion. “I don’t—I don’t know why I’m crying?”
Huh. Maybe’s Shouto’s heart recognised her too.
Rei approached them with outstretched arms. “It’s good to see you, Izuku.”
“It’s good to see you too, Mother.” Izuku sniffed and walked into Rei’s waiting embrace.
The moment he hugged her, Izuku felt the telltales signs of the dimension change. Short on time, he turned to Shouto. “The dimension change is coming. Please explain everything to them; I don’t think the Izuku of this universe will know what happened.” He turned to Rei. “Thank you for being my mother. I’m sure the me of this dimension loves you very much.” He looked back at Shouto. “And I’m sure he loves you, too.”
Rei looked at him in confusion and steadily growing distress, while Shouto just looked gobsmacked at his confession. But Izuku couldn’t say anything more to them. Instead, his vision swam and he groaned as the uncomfortable sensation of the shift overtook him.
Please let me go home, he thought desperately.
Then everything went dark and Izuku knew no more.