Rain's Writing Archive

that moment when you have to relive high school... cringe

Originally posted to Ao3 on 3/30/2022. Last updated on 3/30/2022.

A/N: The World Turned Upside Down has a similar storyline to this one, but its more silly and joking, despite the angsty backstory in the beginning. im gonna try to make this one more serious, though (with hopefully less 14 year old angstiness lmao).

Chapter 1: The First Day

A/N: edits made on 3/31/22 to fix grammar and spelling errors, and to change to present tense
edits made on 6/26/24 for screen reader compatibility

Izuku's eyes snap open, limbs flailing and tangling in his sheets. He hits the hardwood floor with a thud and a groan. The blanket that traps his arms and legs also covers his face, robbing him of his sight.

He sighs before attempting to extricate himself from the labyrinth of soft fabric.

It takes a few minutes to free himself, but he somehow manages. However, the sight he's greeted with when he removes the blanket from his face is not one he's expecting.

The entire room is decked out in All Might merch; posters on the walls, action figures on the desk and bookshelf, even a few framed photos. The color scheme is all red, white, blue, and yellow. On the bookshelf, analysis notebooks numbered one through twelve sit in order, pristine. A thirteenth lays open on the desk, flipped to a page titled "Kamui Woods".

And as Izuku takes in the state of the room, he can only think one thing.

"This isn't the UA dorms…"

Izuku scratches at the place where the scars on his hand and arm should be, the scars that proves he's saved people. That he'd saved Shoto and Kota.

The place where unblemished skin now sits, almost mocking him.

So, he scratches at it. Having red, blotchy skin where his scars should be is better than having nothing there at all. It has something of a calming effect. It makes Izuku wonder if this is why Shigaraki scratches his neck all the time.

Izuku sits on his bed thinking and absentmindedly scratching his arm. His nails bite deeper and deeper into his skin the more he gets lost in his thoughts. Those thoughts, and by extension, the scratching, comes to a crescendo.

Then, there's a knock at the door, and he stills.

"Izuku!" his mom calls through the door, "Get up or you'll be late for school!"

"Coming, Mom!" he calls back. Izuku waits until the sound of footsteps fade before looking at his arm once more.

He's bleeding. The reddened skin is inflamed, and blood dribbles lazily out of his newly acquired scratches. A few drops had already stained his sheets. Izuku lets out a quiet swear before grabbing the first-aid kid from under the bed.

He applies bandages to the cuts, carefully ensuring that they'll stay on all day.

Izuku finally gets up and begins changing into his school uniform. Aldera's school uniform, that is, not UA's. Because he thinks he's finally figured out what's happening.

He's been sent back in time.

Izuku doesn't know why, or how, and his memories from before he woke up were fuzzy, but something in the back of his mind convinced him that's what's happening. And Izuku's always been one to trust his instincts.

Not to mention the calendar on his phone also supports the theory.

In any case, it's best to just roll with the punches for now.

So, he gets dressed in Aldera's school uniform, and makes sure his yellow backpack has everything he needs. Before zipping the bag up, he looks to the desk where notebook number thirteen sits.

On one hand, having the same notebook would keep up appearances. On the other, as long as he's the only one sent back, no one else would know if he uses a new one. Honestly, he isn't sure anyone pays attention to the numbers on the covers of his notebooks anyway.

With that in mind, Izuku grabs a fresh, unnumbered notebook from the shelf. On the cover, he writes "Hero Analysis for the Future" in large, bold letters. Below it, slightly smaller, is "No. 14".

Satisfied, he slips that into his bag before closing it up.

He leaves his room and greets his mom in the kitchen. Moving fluidly around her in the small kitchen, he grabs a slice of bread and puts it in the toaster.

"Morning, Mom," he says, leaning against the counter.

"Good morning, Izuku," she says back, not looking up from the bento she's putting together. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I slept fine." His eyebags beg to differ. "How about you?"

"Oh, about as well as I can." Izuku doesn't have to imagine, he's spent many sleepless nights over breaks sitting with her on the couch until the sun rises. Or, more accurately, will spend. Being from the future is weird.

The toaster dings. Izuku grabs the toast and shoves it in his mouth. He hadn't realized it before, but he's starving . Maybe it's a side effect of the time travel? Or maybe his past self hadn't eaten the night before?

Trapped in his thoughts, he walks to the door and puts on his clunky, well-loved red sneakers. He stands up, finishes eating his toast, makes sure his bag is secure on his back, and opens the door.

"Izuku! Don't forget your bento!" He turns around to look at his mom, who holds his bento out to him.

"Sorry." He takes the bento with one hand and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly with the other. He puts it in his bag before closing it up and securing it on his back once more. "Thanks, Mom."

"You're welcome. Now hurry up, you're going to be late!" Izuku laughs and runs out the door.

"Bye, Mom!"

"Bye Izuku! Have a good day at school!"

Izuku did not end up having a good day at school.

First, he headed in the direction of the train station that would take him to UA. Which also happened to be in the opposite direction of Aldera. So he had to run to make it to class on time.

Second, there was a villain attack on the way, which blocked his path. He had to make a detour that added ten minutes to his walk, and he'd been quick .

Third, when he finally maked it to school, Kacchan's lackeys decided it was a good idea to taunt him all the way through the school and up to their classroom. Kacchan refrained, however. Interesting .

Fourth, they were told about their applications for high schools. The teacher called out how he wanted to go to UA right after saying Kacchan was going to apply. Which Kacchan didn't go on a rant about like Izuku remembered him doing last time.

And then to top it all off, they had a test on material he had absolutely no recollection of . He struggled his way through, bullshitting his answers the whole way.

After school is much better, however.

He stays in his seat after the bell rings, scribbling notes in a seven-step cipher as fluently as if it's his first language. They're about the day, observations of things that were out of place.

Most of the notes are on Kacchan.

From his oddly quiet demeanor to the way he'd hardly seemed mad at all when he yelled at Izuku for applying to UA, it isn't the way he's supposed to act. it's almost as though his entire personality took a 180 degree turn.

He's snapped out of his note-taking by a hand - not exploding, fortunately - slamming onto his desk.

"Deku," says the gruff voice of Kacchan, "Meet me on the roof, got it?" Izuku only manages a belated nod before Kacchan is storming out of the room.

Wondering if Kacchan is going to explain what had him acting off all day, Izuku throws all his stuff in his bag and makes it up to the roof as quick as possible.

When he opens the door to the roof, he finds Kacchan resting his arms on the rail, looking down at the drop below without fear. He makes no move at the sound of the door opening, nor of Izuku's approaching footsteps. He doesn't even look up when he matches his posture and leans on the rail beside him.

They stand in silence for a few minutes, staring off into the city.

"Everyone would've been devastated if you actually jumped, y'know." Izuku's head snaps to Kacchan.

"...What?"

Kacchan meets his gaze, somber and regretful.

"Auntie Inko, Mom and Dad…" he lists, "...me."

Izuku can't manage any words as he stares at him in shock. Kacchan huffs a bitter laugh.

"I honestly think I mighta died during the sludge villain attack if you weren't there."

"There wouldn't have been a sludge villain attack if I wasn't there," he surprises himself by saying.

There's silence for a moment.

"Whadda ya mean…?"

Izuku sucks in a sharp breath, but pushes onward regardless. He deserves to know.

"I accidentally made All Might drop the bottle the sludge villain was in when he captured him the first time."

Kacchan stares him down, searching for a lie. When he finds none, he turns back to look over the city skyline, shoulders tense. The sun is still high and there are few clouds to be seen. There are no huge towers of smoke to obscure or taint the view. No heroes leap across rooftops or fly between buildings. A light breeze tousles their hair and caresses their faces. It's a peaceful scene.

Izuku's stomach is twisting itself into knots.

Kami, why did he say that?! Kacchan's going to hate him! The friendship they'd fought to rebuild over the years would be ruined. The rivalry they'd created would turn into just being one-sided enemies. Kacchan would go back to beating him hurting him burning him it hurts it hurts it hurts-

"-ku! IZUKU!" There are hands on his shoulders, literally shaking him to pull him out of his downward spiral. He blinks, his brain finally registering what's happening in front of him. Kacchan leans over him, hands resting on his shoulders, red eyes peering into green. His face holds no anger or resentment, only compassion and understanding. The emotions feel like they should look foreign on his face, but they don't.

"Listen." He leans closer, complete conviction in his eyes. "I don't care if you, on accident , made All Might drop the sludge villain. You saved me anyway, didn't you?" Izuku nods. "And not to mention I definitely deserved it."

"You-!"

"If you're gonna say I didn't deserve it, don't bother." Izuku's jaw snaps shut. "I bullied you and got away scott-free for over a decade . It was about time I got what was coming to me."

Izuku lowers his gaze, preferring to stare at his shoes over the unbridled emotion on his childhood friend's face.

He feels it when his shoulders begin to shake under the other's hands, and he feels the pressure building behind his eyes. He's intimate with the signs that show when he's about to cry, so it's no surprise when his vision blurs and hot tears spill over onto his cheeks.

Once the first sob tears free of his throat, there's no stopping the ones that follow.

Before he knows it, Izuku is a bawling, hiccupping mess, the only thing keeping him standing upright being Kacchan's grip on his shoulders.

He distantly notes he's being pulled forward, and that his face makes contact with the fabric of Kacchan's school uniform. The hands on his shoulders become arms wrapped around his middle, holding him close.

His own arms that hang limply at his sides rise up to grab fistfulls of the back of his friend's uniform. He clings like it's the only thing keeping him from falling apart completely.

It probably is, if he's honest.

He feels Kacchan rest his head on top of Izuku's own, and it only makes him cry harder. This was what they did when they were little. Before Kacchan got his quirk, before the bullying, before "Deku". They would stay like this until Izuku calmed down, and then they'd go back to playing like nothing happened.

He doesn't know how long they stay like that, arms around each other, Izuku's face hidden in Kacchan's uniform, and Kacchan's chin on Izuku's head. It must be a while though, because the sky is tinted yellow when Izuku sniffles and finally pulls away from the embrace.

Kacchan releases him, but doesn't stop hovering worriedly.

"Thanks. I think I needed that," Izuku laughs.

"Don't worry 'bout it," Kacchan says, words gruff and uncaring but tone anything but. "We should get home. Bet your mom's worried 'bout you."

"Walk home with me?" Izuku asks with the biggest puppy-dog eyes he can muster. Kacchan only rolls his eyes.

"Sure, whatever, nerd."

A/N: hey! thanks for making it all the way through! that conversation on the roof kicked my ass for days lol. and i dont have anything other that this chapter written rn, i was too excited to get this posted 😅. if you liked it, consider leaving a comment, they inspire me to keep writing!

Chapter 2: All Might??!?!??!!?!?

A/N: in case it wasn't clear in the last chapter: katsuki was sent back in time like izuku was (and they aren't the only ones)
edits made on 3/31/22 to fix grammar and spelling errors, and to change to present tense
edits made on 6/26/24 for screen reader compatibility

Izuku and Kacchan walk back to their homes, side by side. They live fairly close to each other, only a few blocks apart, which makes it easy to walk home together.

They're talking about their mornings, how they each tried to figure out why they weren't in their dorm rooms, to their mishaps on the way to Aldera, and how much the surprise test sucked.

"How'd you figure out I was from the future, anyway?" Izuku asks, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.

"The number on your notebook was different," Kacchan replies as if it's the simplest thing in the world. Izuku can only gape.

"You actually pay attention to that stuff!?" Kacchan shrugs.

"You were also acting different than normal. You mumbled about how dumb the test was while we were taking it." Izuku looks at him with eyes as wide as saucers, clearly horrified.

" I did? " Kacchan shamelessly laughs at him as he begins muttering about changing his name and starting a new life in America.

They come up on another street that intersected the one they're walking on. It's the same as any other street, and has no reason to stand out at all. However, random streets tend to stick out when the Number One Pro Hero comes barreling down them wearing, not a hero suit, but a t-shirt and cargo pants.

All Might skids to a stop in front of the two of them before deflating with a poof of smoke into the much more familiar form of Yagi.

"Good evening, young Midoriya, young Bakugo," he says, blood dribbling out of his mouth and down his chin. Izuku sighs and digs around in his bag to see if he has any tissues while Kacchan starts berating the man. He quickly tunes out the two blonds.

"You didn't even think about what would happen if we weren't from the future, did you?!" Izuku finds the tissues he's looking for and tunes back in to Kacchan's yelling. Yagi at least seems to have the decency to look somewhat ashamed of his thoughtlessness.

"I knew you were both trustworthy," he tries to argue, but that just sends Kacchan into another bout of yelling.

Izuku brushes past his friend and hands the tissues to Yagi, who gives him a quiet thanks and cleans up the blood that's beginning to dry on his chin. Kacchan apparently runs out of things to be mad about for the time being, and stops shouting.

Yagi shoves the bloody tissues into his pocket - which, gross , but the only alternative is littering, so he'll excuse it - and hands the unused ones back to Izuku.

"I'd still like you to have my quirk, if you are willing, young Midoriya," Yagi says, forgoing any fanfare, "You will have to retrain you body, but you are still the only one I could ever think of as my successor."

For the second time that day, Izuku finds himself tearing up.

"Of course I still want to be your successor, Yagi!" Izuku throws himself at the man, though is careful to avoid the giant scar on his stomach. Yagi, for his part, only hesitates a moment before wrapping his boy up in his arms.

A cough startles the two from the bubble they'd created, and they both turn to look at Kacchan. He has a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Y'know," he says, "I think IcyHot's theory might actually have some merit."

"Kacchan!"

When Izuku gets home, his mom immediately rushes to check him over and make sure he isn't hurt. She squishes his cheeks in her hands and makes him promise to call her the next time he decides to stay out so late.

He drops his bag off in his room and changes out of his uniform and into a t-shirt and sweatpants that are much more comfortable.

Dinner is a quick affair. His mom sets the food on the table and Izuku eats it so fast he's practically inhaling it. The once slice of toast and bento had not been enough food for him in the slightest.

After dinner, Izuku bids his mom goodnight and heads for his room. When the door clicks shut behind him, he leans his whole weight against it and heaves a heavy sigh. The day had been unreasonably emotionally and mentally draining.

But it isn't over yet.

Izuku pushes himself off the door and drops into his desk chair. He grabs the new notebook from his backpack and opens it to the next blank page. There, he writes down his interaction with Yagi and any theory he can come up with about why they were sent to the past.

The first, and most obvious, solution would be the effect of a quirk. Time related quirks are rare. The only ones Izuku's seen in action are Eri's Rewind and Nighteye's Foresight (which doesn't actually manipulate time). This doesn't fit the description of either quirk, so Izuku decides this probably isn't caused by either of them.

So, assuming it is a time manipulation quirk, it's probably not someone he knows that's causing this. Fan- fucking -tastic.

Another solution would be a dream quirk. However, dream quirks usually have a few dead giveaways to determine if they're dreams. Number of fingers is a good indicator, but he'd never seen him or anyone else with too many or too few fingers. Another indicator is inability to read or write, but he managed both. Izuku scratches dream quirk off the list.

This would be so much easier if he had access to the quirk database. Unfortunately, the thing is guarded impossibly well, and Izuku would get booted from the system as soon as it found out he wasn't supposed to be there.

He knew this because he'd tried to get in many, many times before. More times than he'd like to admit.

Izuku tips his head back and grumbles. He hasn't even touched on the why yet.

There are loads of potential reasons. Putting the former Number One and two (or more) powerful hero students from UA out of commission could benefit many villains. It could also be because whoever did this is trying to help them.

Or it could've been a complete accident.

Izuku is tempted to slam his face into his desk.

He continues to write notes and theorize in his notebook, unaware of the hours ticking by faster than they have any right to.

In the middle of his notes, his eyelids slip shut and the pencil falls from his hand. He faceplants onto his desk, but the impact of his forehead on the desk jolts him awake again. He groans into the notebook his face is squished onto.

Blearily, Izuku lifts his head and forces his eyes open. A quick glance at the window tells him that the sun is already rising. If he wants to get any sleep at all, it would be a good idea to get in bed now.

He shuts his notebook, stands from his chair, takes two shuffling footsteps to get from his desk to his bed, and promptly collapses into it.

Never before has he felt so overjoyed to be in a bed. Despite not being under the covers and having his breathing restricted from landing face-first on his pillow, Izuku is sure this is the most comfortable thing imaginable.

His eyes slip closed with a content sigh, and he is completely dead to the world for approximately eight seconds.

And then his alarm goes off.

Izuku sends himself tumbling off the bed and onto the floor in a last-ditch effort to put himself in a coma so he doesn't have to wake up.

It doesn't work. He still has to get up and go to school.

Damnit .

A/N: ive been writing nonstop for six and a half hours because i really wanted to get this chapter out of my brain. how izuku feels at the end is exactly how im feeling right now btw. i am reeeaallly tired haha

Chapter 3: Exam Day (Draft)

Summary
the long-awaited chapter three!!! sorry for disappearing for a year, i got kinda stuck and fell out of the fandom for a bit, but i have returned! do not, under any circumstances, expect this to update regularly. considering i updated twice in one day and then left for a year, y'know.... dont get your hopes up lol

A/N: exclusive draft chapter :3c

Cleaning Dagobah Beach is no easier than it was the first time. It isn't surprising, he needs to train his body all over again from the start, but Izuku still resents it. The work is exhausting, and balancing school, cleaning the beach, and also trying to find out why and how they are in the past in the first place does not help in the slightest.

Luckily though, not exhausting his body allows him to obtain One For All a week before the entrance exam as opposed to mere hours.

Reacclimating to having a quirk after ten months of not having one is… weird, to say the least.

The slight hum that always resided under his skin - the one that's been missing for months - returned with a vengeance. It felt like bugs were skittering under his skin for hours . Just thinking about it makes his skin crawl.

He doesn't break any of his bones upon activation, luckily. Having full cowling activated even stops the bugs-under-the-skin sensation, instead replacing it with static electricity that danced over his skin.

Unfortunately, his mom walks into his room right as he activates it, giving her ample time to watch as the green lightning crackles around him.

She bursts into tears.

Izuku tells her the truth about One For All and All Might, and touches briefly on the whole time travel conundrum. He doesn't want to bombard her with too many truth bombs in one night, but he would feel awful if he kept it from her.

They sit on the couch, talking with a movie playing in the background until the morning sun shines through the windows. By some stroke of luck, they don't have work or school to go to. Instead, they both doze on the couch all day, and they even order food.

And a week later, Izuku wakes up at five in the morning the day of the UA entrance exam.

Anxious and unable to fall back asleep, he eats a light breakfast and goes on a run.

The air is crisp and bites at Izuku's skin, and overhead are purple-tinted clouds against a brightening indigo sky. There are very few people who dare to venture out this early; a few businesspeople, some people walking dogs, and a few others who are also jogging. Just the way Izuku likes it.

His run lasts until the sun rises properly, coloring the sky orange and the clouds pink.

On his way home, he grabs a canned coffee from a vending machine and downs the entire thing in under ten seconds. He's going to need every bit of energy he can get.

Once he's back in his apartment, he takes a shower and gets dressed in his school uniform. He runs to his room, packs his bag, throws it over his shoulder, and runs back to the living room.

His mom is making his bento when he gets there. She finishes it and wraps it up before handing it off to Izuku. He takes it, slips it into his bag, and hugs her goodbye.

He puts on his shoes and opens the door to find Kacchan and Yagi waiting for him. He grins at the both of them and they all attempt to pile into Yagi's truck.

Key word: attempt . The truck was not designed to fit more than two people at once.

Izuku and Kacchan are forced to squeeze themselves into the same seat. Their bodies are squished together awkwardly, and Izuku is trying and failing to give Kacchan as much space as possible. Kacchan, in contrast, decides to use Izuku's shoulder as an armrest, defeating the point of his struggle entirely.

Was it legal? No, but none of them wanted to take the train when they had already decided on taking the truck.

Luckily, the drive to UA was relatively short. They get out of the truck and they part ways. Yagi heads for the test observation room while Kacchan and Izuku go to the testing room.

On the way there, Izuku sees Mina and Kirishima talking excitedly with each other. He grabs Kacchan's wrist, ignorant of his loud - and explosive - protests, and walks in their direction.

As soon as they enter Kirishima's line of sight, he raises his hand in greeting and starts to call out to them, but Mina slaps a hand over his mouth and shushes him harshly.

That's the only confirmation Izuku needs to drag Kacchan over to them.

They get the whole "You're from the future, I'm from the future," deal over and done with swiftly, and Kirishima wastes no time in latching himself to Kacchan's side. The blond huffs and acts annoyed, but it's half-hearted at best.