#skell writes

"What was your big dream, back when you started UA?"

The question comes in the later half of an afternoon patrol, both of them perched on top of a high building in the shopping district of Shizuoka City. Izuku had stopped to admire the sun hitting the buildings just right, allowing his intern a moment to catch her breath while pretending he totally isn't monitoring her. He has to protect what little pride his interns have, after all.

"What do you mean?"

Mika kicks her legs from where she sits on the ledge of the building, looking out at the city below. "My classmates all have these big goals. They talk about them a lot, and Sensei says we have to have some kind of solid motivation in order to make it through UA. So I was wondering what yours was."

Izuku tilts his head in thought, considering.

"Hm...I wanted to be a hero like All Might," He admits."I wanted to arrive on the scene with a smile and have people feel safe, because I was there. And uh. Well I kind of got all that before I graduated, so. Goal met."

"Huh..."

Mika leaves it, for just a moment. Probably thinking over all the war footage.

"Do you have a new one? Now that the first one is done with? Though I guess every adult has career goals, like my mom gunning for a promotion..."

Izuku's next answer is instantaneous.

"Sesame Street cred."

Mika's legs stop moving.

"...what?"

"Sesame Street cred," Izuku repeats. He does not break his gaze from the horizon so he can at least pretend he's being an adult right now. "The ultimate way you know you've made it is by being invited to guest star on Sesame Street. All Might was on twice."

"Your big career goal is...to be on a children's puppet show?"

"You don't understand this because you're young but every single person who is ever invited on to that show has been thrilled. It's the highlight of people's careers. The ultimate honor. The literal only ranking higher than that is working with The Muppets."

Mika stares at him and he knows she still doesn't quite understand it.

"I feel like you're lying to me."

"I'm really not. You can ask around."

"A puppet show for toddlers," she emphasizes, and okay. He's being judged. Super unfairly, even.

"It's a very good puppet show!" Izuku defends. "It teaches important lessons! All Might's second appearance was him teaching kids about how to cope with people who have chronic health issues! I cried!"

"You cried because you saw a pigeon with one eye yesterday," Mika points out.

"I have a big heart with a lot of feelings."

"About puppets."

“Knowing us, this is bound to go wrong.” 

Coming from the mouth of a boy who can wield bad luck as his magic, it doesn’t make Marco feel any better about what lays before them. In the distance a burst of fire erupts and the faint sound of screaming can be heard. Eren and Marco make no move to leave their spot at the front gate. 

The both of them really don’t want to move. The building in front of them is a giant mass of ramps, flaming hoops, and deathtraps. There’s evil laughter coming from somewhere inside and Connie’s voice can be distinctly heard going “My leg!”. 

“Can you sabotage it? That’s your specialty, right?” Marco asks. He winces as more screams come from inside, praying the inside of it all doesn’t look as bad as what he can see on the surface. 

“Too many variables. We’d end up causing a domino effect and I’d rather not kill someone because I was careless.” Eren purses his lips, squinting into the depths of the school with a frown. “Jean inside?”

“He was in the home ec room when the building changed,” Marco sighs. “What do we know about the victim?”

“Upperclassman. Failed her attempt to get onto some extreme sports show. Don’t know what her trinket is.” Eren lists off the information without much enthusiasm. He only knows the details thanks to Hitch’s grip on the school gossip, it wasn’t hard to piece together what happened after the building changed. 

“Alrighty then.” Marco takes a moment to breathe, nodding to Eren as they raise their arms and prepare to change. “Guess we’ll just wing it and hope we don’t die.”

Eren snorts, muttering under his breath before he signals his ring to begin the transformation. 

Chapter 13 is HERE

Fic summary: Twenty years ago, Midoriya Hisashi walked out on his wife and Quirkless child. Three days ago, Midoriya Inko received a phone call informing her of his demise and when his funeral would take place.

Sometimes you're a 25 year old war veteran, making a difference one day at a time in a post-All For One Japan that's still feeling the repercussions of your high school days. Other times you're simply the forgotten child of a deadbeat, left to clean up your father's messes because he was too much of a coward to take any responsibility.

And now, you're a full time big brother, because the biggest mess left behind was the child your father replaced you with.

Chapter summary: There is a tendency for parents to view their children not as their own person, full of depth just like anyone else, but as an extension of themselves. Of their legacy. Of their worth as a person. An infant is dependent on their parents for every facet of care, so it's easy to forget--easy to let that acknowledgement drift away in a sea of teaching this child the basic lessons on how to live in this world, how to talk, how to walk, how to participate in life alongside everyone else. Every lesson is the parent imparting their own wisdom upon the child in the hopes the child will become the vision the parent imagines of what a proper person is.

But, then, it always comes as a surprise when the child is no longer dependent on the parent for lessons. And the truth comes in the form of the child developing opinions their parents don't agree with.

15 year old Midoriya Izuku, just got into UA, wakes up in a strange bed in a strange apartment. The quirk deaged him 10 years, mentally and physically.

How does he react? How does Hinata react?

"So there's a code for that."

Hinata blinks, surprised, and freezes with her rice halfway to her mouth. "Really?"

"Oh yeah," Izuku says, like he's talking about the weather. "Time dilation Quirks are super useful for getaways so it's never surprising to have them pop up. There's a protocol in place and everyone's taught it for when it inevitably happens mid-mission."

"Huh." Hinata wrinkles her nose, thinking. "What should I do, then? If it happens to you?"

"Code 1985. Call someone like Tenya, or All Might, and tell them Code 1985. They'll take it from there," Izuku instructs while poking at his fish, finding a bone he missed while cooking it. "Time dilation or displacement can go in a ton of directions so just stay calm, there's a protocol to fall on. Not that I think you'll really need it, but it's good to be prepared."

Famous last words, Hinata thinks, but doesn't say. Instead she eats her dinner and drifts off to the next conversation topic.

.

God fucking dammit.

"Of fucking course," she mutters, staring at her teenaged brother who's panicking and trying to hold up sweatpants that are too big for his smaller body. Sure it took a few months, but here they are. Just like she thought would happen. This bloodline must be cursed or something for him to be such a chaos magnet.

"I-I'm sorry, I just--I went to bed in my own apartment, and now I'm--" Younger Izuku stutters out, turning in circles as he looks around an unfamiliar home and panic clearly taking over all rational thought.

"This is your apartment. You got hit by a time dilation Quirk, sit down on the couch before you drop your pants," Hinata orders. She must seem pretty mad because he immediately does so and clams up. Hinata walks back to her room to grab her phone, scrolling through her contacts list and debating who to call before settling on the option that will work fastest.

"Hinata? Is something wrong?" Tenya's groggy voice greets her.

"We got a Code 1985," Hinata replies. She patters back to the living room, keeping an eye on the younger Izuku who is staring at the collectibles with wide, star filled eyes. "He's been turned into...hold on--yo, how old are you?"

"Um--15?"

"He's 15."

"...WHEN at 15?" Tenya asks her, suddenly a thousand times more awake and serious.

"What's happening in your life right now? What are you supposed to be doing today?" Hinata tilts the phone down to ask her brother, who snaps back to attention nervously.

"Going to school? I just--I just started at UA, we're supposed to have our first lesson with All Might today. Actually--if this is my apartment is he around? I see photos--"

Hinata turns away and completely tunes out his nervous rambling, going back to Tenya. "First week of UA classes."

"Oh god." There's the sound of rustling, and Hinata can tell he's rolling out of bed to try and throw some clothes on. "Do NOT let him leave. I'll be right over. No Quirk use either, if he actually has One For All right now."

"Is that possible?" Hinata asks, eyeing the boy on the couch. He's muttering to himself and fidgeting up a storm, a far cry from the footage she's seen of him in his prime with that Quirk.

"He's either been shrunk to his teenage body or they've swapped places, these Quirks can be tricky, so it's a toss up. Keep him there and don't move."

"How much am I allowed to tell him?" Hinata asks, knowing Izuku probably has a thousand questions lined up for the nanosecond she gets off the phone.

"Nothing. You're a civilian, so you have no authorization. Use that loophole until I get there and can assess things."

"Got it. Breakfast will be ready when you get here," she agrees, then ends the call with a sigh. "Ingenium will be here within a half hour."

"INGENIUM is coming to my APARTMENT!?" Izuku shrieks.

"Stop yelling, we have neighbors."

"Oh, right, sorry." Izuku shrinks down, ashamed and flushing red, before his eyes dart back up toward her. "...um. Not to be rude but. Who are you?"

This is exactly why she asked Tenya. This subject was hard enough the first time they met.

"I'm your kid. And you screwed up the chore chart today so now I have to make breakfast." Hinata passes by him to go to the kitchen, leaving him gaping on the sofa. Since he's left her in the breakfast lurch she doesn't feel too bad. Fuck it. She's making shakshouka today. She deserves a treat.

It takes a full two minutes after she's started pulling out the eggs and tomatoes before the Izuku in the living room comes back online.

Chapter 15 is HERE

Fic Summary: Twenty years ago, Midoriya Hisashi walked out on his wife and Quirkless child. Three days ago, Midoriya Inko received a phone call informing her of his demise and when his funeral would take place.

Sometimes you're a 25 year old war veteran, making a difference one day at a time in a post-All For One Japan that's still feeling the repercussions of your high school days. Other times you're simply the forgotten child of a deadbeat, left to clean up your father's messes because he was too much of a coward to take any responsibility.

And now, you're a full time big brother, because the biggest mess left behind was the child your father replaced you with.

I know you wanted all of them but this got longer than expected. More to follow pending how well this lands.

1. Yuki-onna

An understated aspect of heroics as a business is that what school you attend to get your training really does have an impact on how your career pans out. UA’s strongest point isn’t their training facilities or staff—it’s their networking opportunities. Students at UA get to establish themselves with seasoned pros as early as first year, so when it comes time for them to leave the nest and spread their wings they have no shortage of professional connections to draw on.

Shiketsu isn’t as good at networking, but it does buff up their students combat abilities to match UA pace for pace, and instills a professionalism in its students that makes them stand out among other applicants to sidekick positions.

Ketsubutsu lacks the intense prestige of the country’s top two schools, but it maintains an intense connection to the community that allows its graduates to ingrain themselves with the ground floor, so to speak, and allows their alumni to shove their foot into as many doors as it takes for them to succeed.

Northern Tokyo Heroics Academy did not have any of these high points.

Yukimoto Yuri graduates at the top of her class with perfect scores all across the board. She worked hard all three years in that school to achieve her flawless record. And what does she get for it?

"Yeah, no, I don't think we'll be doing the elf again next year," Izuku explains to his mother over the phone, poking around the living room to find the missing remote so he can tune in for that new documentary on the history of vigilantes.

"Well why not?" Inko asks. "I thought it was cute when you sent me that photo, with its little Christmas sweater."

Izuku thinks back to the past few days of finding the elf around the apartment.

First in the kitchen cabinet in a miniature Water Cube trap. Izuku had chosen to close the cabinet and eat cereal out of a coffee mug.

Then again in the bathroom with an Eye Vacuum trap, which Izuku didn't actually notice until after he'd started his shower, so he had to wash his hair knowing it was there.

Then once more in the hall with the elf done up on...Izuku thinks it's called The Rack, but frankly it just looked like the poor little Elf on the Shelf was being crucified. He pointedly ignored it but couldn't really turn his back to the door that night.

"I'm just getting a feeling that Hinata doesn't like the elf," Izuku says diplomatically. "I think she objects to the surveillance angle."

He lifts up one of the couch pillows, and oh! The remote!

And the elf!

In a reverse bear trap! Only miniature!

"Well that's a shame. But some families do find it creepy, so I guess I get it." Inko says, oblivious to Izuku's turmoil staring at the poor suffering elf on his couch. How did she even make this? Wait, no. Hinata plays tabletop. She's got the miniature market cornered.

Izuku carefully tries to extract the remote from the elf, only for the tiny bear trap to snap and him to pull his hand away with a shriek.

"What was that?" Inko asks, concerned.

Chapter 16 is HERE

Fic Summary: Twenty years ago, Midoriya Hisashi walked out on his wife and Quirkless child. Three days ago, Midoriya Inko received a phone call informing her of his demise and when his funeral would take place.

Sometimes you're a 25 year old war veteran, making a difference one day at a time in a post-All For One Japan that's still feeling the repercussions of your high school days. Other times you're simply the forgotten child of a deadbeat, left to clean up your father's messes because he was too much of a coward to take any responsibility.

And now, you're a full time big brother, because the biggest mess left behind was the child your father replaced you with.