Izuku wanted to cry.

"What do you mean, doctor?" Inko asked in that small voice she put up when she tried to put up a brave face, but in reality she was freaking out. Izuku knew that tone all too well, unfortunately. It's not what he wanted to hear right now. He didn't want this to happen, not again. Please, not again.

"You see this here, it's an extra toe joint," the doctor explained, as if Izuku didn't already perfectly know what to look out for. "In people with quirks, like yourself, it's gone. But your son still has it, meaning he's very unlikely to develop a quirk."

Izuku glared at him. This man was despicable. Absolutely despicable! Izuku hated him! Hated him from the moment he met him and for what he had done ever since! How he used corpses, how he manipulated bodies and people and put up this goddamn good doctor act! But being angry at him right now was pointless, wasn't it? He hadn't done those things yet- Well, most of it. Because Izuku had bigger things to worry about.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but your son is quirkless."

Yeah, big shock! Izuku already knew that. And he also knew this meant he'd have an absolutely horrible childhood! One he didn't want to relive again! Okay, big breath. Think. The blast was similar to the one he saw the first time he was sent back in time, but this time he was right in front of it. And he remembered everything, which meant the machine still didn't work like it was supposed to, even if Jikan had gotten a second chance at building it.

Time travel is complicated, he supposed.

He was snapped out of thought when his mom nudged him to say goodbye to the doctor before leaving. Izuku didn't even spare him a glance, simply clenching his All Might plushie and tugging at his mother's hand, wanting to leave as quickly as possible. Inko went along with it, nervously apologizing to the doctor before leaving with Izuku.

"That wasn't very nice, Izuku," she scolded him.

"He's not a nice man," Izuku countered, surprising his mom. He'd never been a kid with an attitude, always the innocent little sweet boy, so Inko wasn't used to him talking back like that.

"Izuku!" she gasped, kneeling down in front of him so she could look him in the eye. "That is not how we talk about people! I get that you're upset. It's not nice hearing you won't be having a quirk, I know that. And I'm sorry-"

"You don't have to be sorry," Izuku told her. She didn't. She shouldn't have to feel that way. And she definitely didn't need to tell him. "It's not your fault, mom."

No, it was Hisashi's fault. His oldtimer of a father had given his old world quirkless genes to him as a fun parting gift. A man who was roaming free right now. His big fight with All Might, the one where his mentor received that nasty injury, hadn't even happened yet. Which meant that All Might had only just debuted. Still just Toshinori Yagi and not the symbol of peace. And Izuku was just a little quirkless child, years away from becoming something even close to a symbol of hope.

"It's okay to be upset, Izuku," Inko said with a soft smile, wiping away the tears that had started rolling down his cheeks. "It's okay to be upset about this."

"But I don't wanna be!" Izuku whined. He didn't want to be upset about this! He shouldn't be! He was a pro hero and he knew the risks of his mission, knew Jikan was building a rewind machine, had experienced it first hand. He knew he'd get a quirk, that wasn't the problem here! No, the problem was- "I don't wanna be here!"

He knew the risks but that didn't mean he wanted to take them! Planning to raid Jikan's base didn't mean he was planning on being sent back in time for a second time! This was the absolute worst thing that could happen and Izuku didn't want to go through that hell again! And so he cried. Inko picked him up in her arms and he cried. Sobbing throughout their walk back home as reality set in. His mom had to comfort him the rest of the day, wanting him to feel better. She made katsudon, put on his favorite old timey hero movie, even allowed him to stay up later than usual. Not that any of it was really helping, but Izuku had enough experience to put up a front and act like everything was okay, if only not to worry his mother.

It wasn't until the next morning, when he saw Kacchan at kindergarten, that he felt slightly better. If he could make him remember then maybe it wouldn't be so bad..? Maybe they could grow up together like Izuku always wanted, have the childhood Izuku dreamed of having. Maybe this time, they'll do things right. Maybe this time they'll actually fix the timeline. And so, with that positive attitude in mind, he ignored his teacher's spiel about how he was quirkless and vulnerable and that the other kids should be careful not to hurt him with their quirks and went straight to Kacchan afterwards.

"Is it true? You're not gonna get a quirk?" Kacchan asked, pouting as Izuku nodded. "But you promised me we'd be heroes together!"

"We'll still be heroes together," Izuku assured him. "Don't you remember, Kacchan? Assembly exists for a reason! And I promise I'll talk to you, no more secrets or hiding away or shutting down- I'm gonna share everything with you this time around, I swear! So please remember... Please remember how much I love you and admire you and-"

"Deku," he snapped, making Izuku realize he'd been tearing up a bit. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on Kacchan, try your best," Izuku pleaded. "Don't you remember Kirishima and Kaminari and Ashido and all of our friends at UA? How grumpy Aizawa sensei gets in the morning, how bad of a teacher All Might actually is-"

Izuku paused, an idea popping up in his mind. Oh, Kacchan was not gonna like this. But it was the only thing Izuku knew would bring him back for sure.

"Remember when you told me to jump off the roof and pray to be born with a quirk in my next life?"

Izuku could see the moment confusion turned into realization before turning back into confusion.

"Oi, talk to me," he demanded. "Is this..? Did it happen again?"

"I'm afraid so," Izuku sighed.

"Fuck," Katsuki cursed, immediately getting scolded by their teacher for his foul language. They both knew she wouldn't be able to keep that up forever. If Izuku remembered right, she stopped trying to correct his tone a few weeks from now. "So what do we do now?"

"Get everyone back together, make a new plan," Izuku shrugged. "It's the only thing we can do."

Katsuki groaned and Izuku couldn't blame him for it. He'd spent over a year of his life in that other timeline in order to fix it, to complete the mission they were given, and now they were supposed to do it all over again. Except now he'd be here from the start. This time, Kacchan would endure a decade together with Izuku. It wasn't exactly something to look forward to...

//\\
\\//

"What's on your mind?"

It had been a few days since they were brought back in time and they had tried to settle in. But trying to act like they were actually four years old was a little harder than expected, definitely for Kacchan. That's why he sought refuge with Izuku more often than not, whining and begging his parents to go see him and let him play with him. That's how they got here, in the park, with their moms supervising from a bench at the edge of the playground. Both Kacchan and Izuku were currently building a sand castle in the sand pit.

"Downplaying my abilities sucks," Katsuki huffed.

"I know," Izuku agreed. "But that's not what's gotten you to go quiet on me."

It's true, Kacchan had been quiet all day and Izuku didn't get what was wrong. Was this how Kacchan felt whenever Izuku shut down on him? When he told him he was fine when he really wasn't?

"Talk to me," Izuku said, using those same words Kacchan had always used on him in the past. Katsuki huffed in response, probably thinking about the irony of it all. Or maybe he thought Izuku was a hypocrite for using those words when he himself was always closed off about his thoughts and feelings. Because that was the real difference between the two of them, wasn't it? Izuku was in touch with himself, but didn't share with others, while emotions confused Kacchan, but he was always brutally honest about what he was feeling. Maybe that's why Izuku found the silence so unsettling.

"...I can't fucking look at Tsubasa," Katsuki confessed. "Not when knowing what will happen to him."

Izuku knew Kacchan had always held his friends in high regard, at least at this age. It dwindled down during middle school and rose again in high school. It shouldn't have come as a surprise he felt attached to these people, why hadn't Izuku thought of that before? Maybe it was because they were mainly Kacchan's friends? Because they helped him bully him all throughout elementary school..? Still, what happened to Tsubasa- will happen to him- It was horrible. Izuku didn't wish that fate upon anyone.

"We could try to help him," Izuku suggested.

"There will be consequences, though," Katsuki frowned. "And how would we even go about it? We're four, Deku."

Yeah, that really limited their options, didn't it? Izuku wished he'd regain his memories at a later age, that his quirkless diagnosis hadn't been the one thing that defined him as a person, the core memory that made everything else make sense. But there wasn't anything he could do to change that, because right now they're four. And one of their friends was destined to be turned into a Nomu by his own grandfather. The very same Nomu that would be unleashed by Shigaraki in Hosu City, the one that singled Izuku out, the one Stain killed. The winged Nomu, as he would later be called in the news.

Kacchan was right, how were they supposed to stop that? They were four. No adult would believe them if they told them the grandpa of one of their classmates was conducting inhumane experiments on dead people, turning them into monsters. They would just write it off as a fantasy, a game they played. No, they needed evidence. That's all they could do at this stage, wasn't it? They couldn't confront him head on, but they could snoop around and steal little bits of information. Maybe make an anonymous report? Give their intel to the police so they would open up an investigation? But then they'd need access to Tsubasa's house, to Garaki's house-

"We could make him remember," Izuku said.

"What?"

"We could make Tsubasa remember," Izuku repeated. "Think about it, Kacchan. We don't have any idea what happened or when it happened. The only person who knows where the real information is, is him."

"Exactly! He's fucking traumatized!" Katsuki hissed. "If we make him remember, he'll go mad! He's just a kid, Izuku. He's not like us."

He's not a hero, he didn't ask for this. That was the underlying meaning of Kacchan's words. And it was true, Tsubasa didn't ask for this time rewind, but it was his only chance at having a normal life, wasn't it? It was the only way to help him.

"Then I don't know what we could do," Izuku sighed. Katsuki frowned, staring down at the sand, the quiet returning. Izuku sighed, grabbing a random stick and plunging it on top of the castle as if it were a flagpole.

"...How would we do it?" Katsuki asked, not making eye contact.

"What?" Izuku asked, only half-hearing what Kacchan had said.

"How would we make Tsubasa remember?"

Izuku's eyes widened before a small smile rose to his lips. It wasn't often that Kacchan changed his mind about something.

"Well, I was thinking something along the lines of..."