The warp around them receded and Izuku looked up domed ceiling of the USJ. It was magnificent and unruly and easy to get lost in. Izuku argued so much with Tomura over using this place as the setting for their plan. They had little to go on in terms of pictures or maps. All Izuku could glean from the internet was that there were multiple sprawling landscapes to recreate earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, the list went on and on.

There were too many unknowns. They only knew about half of class 1-A's Quirks. Tomura's plan to separate them all and have the low-level villains pick them off one by one was a good plan, but it made his stomach burn with guilt. These people were his age. He hoped they were able to hold their own, but the sheer amount of villains they brought with them was sure to overwhelm the heroes in training.

He stood between Tomura and Kurogiri, and he could feel the Nomu's hulking presence behind him. When he scanned the crowd of faces before him, he jumped when his eyes met Kacchan's. He had to stop himself from reaching for Tomura's hand. His gaze only held for a second before sliding away from Izuku's. There was zero recognition in his eyes, and Izuku once again thanked his lucky stars that he was so plain, and that his mask and hood hid so much of his face. Just like the wolf earlier, it was as if Izuku wasn't worth a first glance, much less a second one. Still, he couldn't keep himself from staring. Even as Eraserhead jumped into the fray, he only had eyes for Kacchan.

He'd always been strong and imposing, but now, standing before him in his hero costume, Izuku was rapt. He was even more muscular, the sculpted form of his chest and arms visible in his thin black tank top. He had the same look on his face. Even after more than a year, Kacchan maintained his bored-yet-angry expression despite having a thinner face and a stronger jaw. Handsome was the only word that came to mind.

"Shigaraki, All Might isn't here," Izuku whispered, only catching his eye for a second from behind his hand mask.

"We're in too deep to back out now. Stick to the plan. Maybe he'll show," he answered in a low voice. Both Izuku and Kurogiri nodded.

The students started running for the exit, and Kurogiri disappeared in a shroud of mist to head them off. The villains that weren't fighting (and losing to) Eraserhead all dispersed across the facility to wait for the students in their designated areas. His stomach twinged again as he thought of the students. The information he was able to pull from the records office would put more students at risk than others. He gave his head a good shake, as if to ward off his bad thoughts.

"You okay?" Tomura whispered, just loud enough for Izuku to hear. Izuku was not okay, but he didn't want to distract Tomura. This was important to him, even if the plan was doomed to fail the second it was clear that All Might was nowhere to be found. Still, he nodded.

"I'm going to break off. Gather more info on the students. Don't underestimate Eraserhead," Izuku said. It was his subtle way of telling Tomura to stay safe.

"You too, brat. Don't get too close," Tomura said, as if he somehow knew Izuku's thoughts were straying back to Kacchan. It was baffling how much they'd come to understand each other, to read each other's intentions and weaknesses without having to speak. Izuku huffed and uneasy laugh.

"Try not to monologue too much, boss."

And with that he slipped away towards the Collapse Zone. He told Kurogiri to send Kacchan there when they were devising their plan of attack. They seemed suspicious of his interest in Kacchan.

"If he has an explosion Quirk, shouldn't we send him to the flood zone? Or even the conflagration zone."

Izuku expected them to question his decision, so he'd thought up a counter argument and shook his head.

"Kacchan wouldn't let water or fire slow him down. No matter where you put him he'd be a problem. That said, his greatest weakness is working in a team. So it would be good to put him with a large group. Send these three with him." He pointed to the UA files he'd managed to copy.

"Why these students?" Kurogiri asked, inspecting the files.

"Aoyama Yuga looks very… punchable. Kacchan's probably annoyed by him. Hagakure Toru is invisible so it really doesn't matter where you send her, and it will be harder to stage large scale attacks with her around. And Kirishima Eijiro has a hardening Quirk. He's probably immune to Kacchan's Quirk. That probably makes him angry, so they'll butt heads."

Kurogiri hummed in acknowledgment, but didn't say anything else. Tomura still looked suspicious and slightly angry, but that was probably because they were talking about Kacchan. He really didn't like him.

"Alright, brat. Let's hope you're right."

Izuku could hear explosions before he even reached the Collapse Zone. It wasn't hard to find the group. Izuku stuck to the shadows, observing the four students. Kacchan was a force of nature. Izuku watched as he bowled over four villains at once with sweeping explosions and absolutely no regard for either the invisible girl or the boy with sharp, jagged skin.

"Damn, Bakugo! Manly," the boy, Kirishima, said while completely disregarding the fact that he was incredibly close to a gigantic explosion.

Kacchan's only response was a chaotic cackle and a bellowed, "Die, shitty bastards!"

"Guys! Hit the deck!" A disembodied pair of gloves jumps out from behind a fallen piece of rubble, and without argument both boys duck and roll almost immediately.

"Aoyama, now!"

At her words, a sparkling beam of light shot out of the blonde's stomach directly into what he assumed was the invisible girl's chest.

Light refraction, he thought as the beam separated and flew in all directions, effectively putting down every remaining villain. It was a huge misstep pairing them together after all. Her UA file said nothing about light refraction as her Quirk, but he should've known better. Hopefully Tomura wouldn't find out. He really didn't feel like dealing with one of Tomura's moods—he was bound to be pissed enough if All Might didn't show.

The invisible girl laughed and high fived the blonde, who looked to be slightly panicking.

"That was awesome!"

Izuku scrunched his nose up. This isn't a game. Take it seriously.

"Get your head in the game, Invisibitch! This isn't a fucking joke," Kacchan snarled. The red haired boy deactivated his Quirk and sent a pointy smile in Kacchan's direction.

"Be nice, Blasty." Kirishima ruffled Kacchan's hair. Izuku was shocked that he only received a half-hearted shove to Kirishima's shoulder. Izuku remembered—bitterly—the way Kacchan shoved him away the time he tried to help him up after a fall. If Izuku tried anything like what Kirishima just did, Izuku wouldn't be able to walk after the beating he'd take.

It seemed Izuku seriously miscalculated sticking Kacchan and Kirishima together. He figured Kacchan would resent anyone with a direct counter to his own Quirk. He didn't even consider the fact that they'd be a great pair.

Something burned in his gut—on some level he knew it was jealousy, but he wasn't ready to admit that. What would his life have been like if he had a Quirk that set him on equal footing with his explosive best friend? If he had a Quirk that allowed him to stand beside Kacchan, would they have been able to see eye to eye? The thought makes him laugh because he did have a Quirk like that now. The irony smarts.

At Izuku's barely there laugh, Kacchan turned sharply in his direction, an explosion rocketing out of his palms. The explosion barely missed him, but the force of the hot air blowing back at him knocked his hood off. Izuku gasped, scuttling backwards into the shadow of a half-collapsed alleyway. He couldn't see any of the heroes in training from his hiding spot, but he could hear them.

"What was that, Bakugo?"

"Another villain?"

"I—I thought I saw…." He'd never heard Kacchan sounds so unsure. Izuku wished he could see his face, just for a second. Kacchan grunted, his voice deepening in a menacing way. "Nothing. Let's get the fuck back to the plaza. I'm gonna kill that smokey bastard."

Once the group left the collapse zone, Izuku crawled out of his hiding place and made his way to the Flood Zone. He couldn't get close to the boat, but he watched the small purple guy climb up the side of the boat with his Quirk. Sticky balls? Seriously? It wasn't the most flashy Quirk in the world, but he supposed it had a multitude of applications. Even from so far away, Izuku can tell the guy is panicking. There was supposed to be another student with him, but for the life of him he couldn't remember who.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning strikes from somewhere beneath the water and spreads along the surface. The villains he could see on the surface of the water convulsed until the lightning abated. More villains floated to the surface, unconscious. It reminded Izuku of the goldfish he had when he was young. He was devastated when he came home one day and found it floating at the top of its tank, completely lifeless.

His somber thoughts were diverted when a UA student crested the top of the water and immediately gave a loopy thumbs up, "Heeeeey!"

"Kaminari, you idiot!" The purple boy threw a long rope of purple balls at the stammering boy floating on the surface. He made no complaints when the balls stuck to his back and he was quickly reeled to relative safety.

Izuku watched whole display with a smile on his face. He couldn't help but laugh as he made a note of their quirks in his pocket-sized notebook.

Kaminari - Electricity Quirk - Braindead with overuse. Small purple boy - Sticky balls - multiple uses - panics under pressure.

Izuku pocketed his notebook, ready to make his way back to Tomura. If All Might was going to show up, he would've. Tomura needed to take his own advice and know when to run. He could only hope he could convince Tomura to listen.

"Hey!" An unfamiliar voice washed over Izuku and he tensed, looking around for a potential attacker. He came face to face with a short boy with curly green hair. The boy was in a fighting stance. His hero costume was… skimpy, especially for a male costume. A touch-based Quirk?

"You're a villain? You hardly look my age," he smirked, his gold eyes sharp.

Izuku took an instinctive step back. Despite the last few months of training with Tomura and the wiry muscle he'd put on, Izuku was not a fighter. He didn't know this guys Quirk either. He couldn't risk getting put down and left with the small fry villains. He'd like to think Tomura wouldn't abandon him, but he didn't want to leave something like that to chance.

"Don't get to close. You don't know what I can do," Izuku said, trying for some bluster but failing epically. His eyes darted and shifted, looking for any way out.

"You don't know what I can do. I'm a UA student. The best of the best." This boy was much better at heroic bluster than Izuku could ever hope for. Or maybe it wasn't bluster. Maybe he really was that confident.

"I don't want to fight you," Izuku said honestly.

"Too bad."

The boy lunged at Izuku before he could make a break for it. He grabbed his wrist in an unforgiving martial arts hold. Izuku tried to rip his arm from his grasp, but it hardly made any difference. As soon as their skin touched, the boys eyes go a little wide.

"Wait! Are you—? Deku?"

Izuku flinched, as if the boy had slapped him. No one's called him Deku in nearly a year. How could he ever know anything about his past?

"That's not my name," Izuku barked, the deep well of anger he keeps chained inside him bubbling to the surface every second. He felt sick. Maybe if he vomited on the boy he could get away from him.

Stay calm. Just get back to Tomura. He'll keep you safe.

"You are! You're Bakugo's f—" Deku knew he was about to say friend, and the thought was laughable and the bitter edge of anger and resentment slashed at his heart. And fear. Fear that if anyone knew he was still alive, he would be taken back to a life where he was defined by being weak, Quirkless.

He thought about Kacchan and the way his friend ruffled his hair. Kacchan didn't need or want Izuku back in his life. He didn't want to be defined as "Bakugo's friend." He never wanted to be Kacchan's anything again. And because of that, almost instinctively, without any real thought, Izuku called his barrier to snake around his forearm and he walloped the strange boy on the temple too fast for him to react. He crumpled to the floor, blood pooling around him from the gaping gash in the side of his head.

Izuku gasped, blood and tears running into his open mouth. He scrubbed at his face as the gravity of what he'd just done slammed into his gut. He didn't want this. He feared for the student's safety in every step of the plan. He never thought he'd be the one hurting them. He stumbled away from the growing pool of blood, away from his shame. Only a few yards away he tripped over his feet and vomited the small meal he'd had before he passed through the warp. He could barely get his face mask off in time.

He rolled away from his mess and curled into a ball.

I killed someone. I killed someone. I killed someone.

It's all he could think about. He didn't even know the boy's name. Then again, would knowing his name make him feel better or worse? The only thing that could possibly bring him out of his downward spiral was the booming sound of the door flying off its hinges.

All Might was here. And he wasn't smiling.

The only thing worse than killing someone was killing someone and getting caught by All Might. So Izuku pushed himself up and put his mouth guard in place. Tomura's plan was back in action and no matter what he thought of it, he needed to be there for him. Izuku set off in a sprint towards the plaza.

Izuku stayed on the sidelines for most of the fight, waiting for an opening to get back to Tomura. Watching All Might and the Nomu trade blows is incredible, and a much needed distraction from Eraserhead's broken body lying in a pool of blood. He desperately hoped he would live through this day. The sheer force of the blows destabilized every small step Izuku made trying to get to Tomura. Izuku could feel himself unraveling, itching to get back to the familiarity of the bar. He needed to feel Tomura's quiet confidence beside him. All Might tried to suplex the Nomu and the blowback knocked Izuku straight on his ass. Luckily, Kurogiri opened a warp gate right below the Nomu, All Might coming out on the other side.

A sheet of ice skates toward the scene, freezing the left side of the Nomu's body. Izuku stayed down, crouching further behind a rock to stay out of sight. Endeavor's son, Todoroki Shoto, looking the picture of calm assisted All Might just long enough for him to get out of the warp. Despite himself and his allegiances, Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to see anymore people die today.

All his relief washed away when the familiar sound of explosions rocketed into the plaza. Kacchan barreled into Kurogiri, a firm blazing palm on the only solid part of him. He could see Kirishima across the clearing and the same jealousy from before pinched in his gut. Focus.

Another blow from All Might blew away all the UA students in the clearing.

"Stay back! Get to the exit," All Might bellowed between punches. He couldn't focus on anything else that was said because Kacchan was blown just a few feet away from his hiding spot. In the few seconds it took Kacchan to recover, Izuku had only taken a step towards Tomura before Kacchan was rocketing toward him.

A blazing fist connected with Izuku's stomach, knocking the air out of him. Izuku was panicking. The familiar heat of the hit clouded his mind with an ugly panic-induced fog. His thoughts were a jumble of Kacchan and help and Quirk! How do I use my Quik?

Kacchan's voice roared in his ears, screaming profanities and it was as if Izuku had been transported back to a year ago. Kacchan reared back, his signature right hook, and muscle memory only told Izuku to flinch. The blow connected and it knocked his mouth guard clean off his face. Izuku activated his Quirk as a last ditch effort to preserve his identity. Black energy covered his face, obscuring his green eyes and freckles and all the things Kacchan would take one look at and know. His hood was still up, thankfully, but Kacchan was still on top of him, screaming and smoking and enraged. All Izuku could do was scream.

"Kurogiri!"

His outburst surprised him. His voice was high and manic, but it was loud enough to draw Kurogiri's attention. He didn't expect Kacchan to falter, his eyes blown wide. Izuku knew his Quirk was still covering his face, he saw it clouding his vision. Did Kacchan recognize him somehow?

"De—" Kacchan started. That was all Izuku heard before he fell into the warp and found himself between Kurogiri and Tomura. His attention was immediately drawn to All Might and the Nomu. Just as Izuku was getting his feet under him, All Might sent a vicious uppercut to the Nomu's chest. It sent him flying up into the roof of the USJ. Izuku chanced a small look at Tomura. His hand mask wasn't enough to cover the burning rage in his eyes. Tomura was smart, but he could be hasty and reckless when he was pissed.

"Tomura," Izuku whispered, trying to tether him to reason. He was shaking in his rage, huffing and puffing like a child. Izuku looked at Kurogiri for any kind of help. The plan had failed, but they could still get away. Kurogiri is the ultimate fail safe.

"Tomura, we have to—" Izuku started, only to be interrupted by a chorus line of pro heroes. Reinforcements had arrived. You gotta know when to run.

In the span of a few seconds, a few things happened. First, Snipe raised a pistol and three shots went off in succession. Second, Izuku gasped, and then his feet were moving without his permission.

"Tomura!"

He tried to put his barrier up, he really did, but he struggled with projecting it away from his body without total concentration. He couldn't even cover himself before the bullets burrowed into his flesh, one in his shoulder and two in his thigh. He screamed. Somehow two bullets hurt more than falling off a skyscraper or having his face disintegrated. Or maybe it was just that three bullets was the most immediate pain.

His momentum had him falling to the ground, but Tomura caught him enough to break his fall. He sagged against Tomura, the pain of being held was excruciating.

"Mido—" Tomura started, then immediate cut himself off, having enough presence of mind to keep his identity a secret. He tried not to jostle his injuries too much while still attempting to readjust his hood. Izuku grunted, trying his best not to scream in agony.

"Is it time to run?" Izuku asked lamely, with something like a hysterical laugh bubbling out of his mouth that made him wince.

Tomura swore under his breath, and gave Kurogiri the signal to retreat.

Izuku woke some time later, the left side of his body especially stiff with bandages and slings. Something was tap, tap, tapping impatiently in the corner. Izuku's head swiveled on his stiff neck to find Tomura tapping his foot anxiously, his arms crossed.

"To—" Izuku started, but Tomura's fury could no longer wait to be expelled.

"What the fuck was that? How could you be so stupid?"

"Wha—? I— My feet just moved. I didn't think too much about it."

The painkillers Izuku was on must've been enough to knock out an elephant. His head was light and fluffy and his body was weak and heavy all at the same time. In that moment, it was easy to forget about the green haired boy at the USJ, the pool of blood Izuku left him in.

"You have a defensive barrier Quirk you idiot."

"I couldn't get it up!" And then he laughed, a soft pffft sound as he tried to hold it in, his heavy head fallen into a gutter. Now was not the time.

"Seriously? I'm gonna kill you." Tomura was pacing at Izuku's bedside, his red eyes manic. Izuku wanted him to sit and be calm.

"Better me than you, Tomura. I have extra lives, remember?" And my guilt is eating me alive, he thought in some painful, half-forgotten place. Better to focus on Tomura.

"Please, sit down. You're worrying me."

"I'm worrying you?" Tomura's voice wavered with emotion. Disbelief? Worry? It was odd to imagine Tomura worried about anything, much less worrying about Izuku. Izuku didn't deserve half the things Tomura did for him, gave him, felt for him.

He practically fell into the chair he sat down so forcefully. Not so long ago, Tomura sat in that chair while Izuku slept off the exhausting of having two Quirks thrust upon him. Was he worried then, too?

"I'm sorry for worrying you, Tomura." Izuku tried to reach out to him without straining his wounds. He failed, his fingers finding nothing to hold but the space between them. He let his hand go limp again.

Tomura scoffed, "Shut up." Then he sighed, his voice softening, some of that anger and disbelief fading, "You shouldn't have to keep dying, Izuku."

Izuku was quiet for a moment, processing—trying to separate real from imaginary. Was anything real?

"You called me Izuku." A little thrill shot up Izuku's spine, the painkillers no doubt making him feel that much fuzzier, his memories of what transpired at the USJ too far away to feel at all now. Hardly aware of his own movements, he reached for Tomura again. This time, Tomura met him halfway, allowing Izuku to wrap his numb fingers around Tomura's open, gloved palm.

"That's your name, stupid." Tomura looked away, hiding his red face in his hair.

Izuku sputtered a laugh, but said no more. He was just happy Tomura was no longer pacing, looking half out of his mind. He felt he could sleep now.

"Next time, I'll make sure you're ready. You need practice with your Quirks. And I'll give you your own Nomu. He can take bullets for you and you'll be safe from your own idiocy."

"Mhmm." Izuku drifted, knowing that even when his hand went limp Tomura would keep them connected while he slept.