Convincing the other members of Jikan had gone pretty similar. They were all All Might fanatics, after all, so wanting to help their hero achieve peace wasn't something they'd oppose. As they did their rounds, Izuku was harshly reminded that these were just people. They weren't like the villain masterminds he'd fought in the past, who had world domination in mind. No, these were simply people trying to help and do the right thing, although their idea of the right thing was a bit disturbing. Not as disturbing as wiping out 80% of the world's population in order to get rid of quirks forever, but hey, putting the world in an endless time loop came close.

After convincing everyone, almost all of them had to leave the facility. They had lifes to live outside of Jikan and fixing this time loop trouble, after all. The Assembly itself consisted of a bunch of middle schoolers, for crying out loud! They couldn't skip school because their parents would be notified, so getting home before they started asking any questions was preferable. Even so, Izuku cleared his schedule as much as he could in the coming days, freeing up all of his time in order to help Jikan fix their machine. All Might visited whenever he had the chance to, but he couldn't simply stop being a hero right now without raising questions either.

All in all, it took longer than Izuku would've liked to get the machine back in order. I mean, by the time the calculations were perfected and all parts had been delivered and assembled, Izuku was already a high schooler. He'd gotten into UA on the recommendation of Eraserhead, still registered under his fake quirk analysis quirk. They had decided not to inform the faculty of the situation, seeing as there won't be a situation to talk about soon enough. Still, it felt good to go to school with his friends again. To be able to talk more, to discuss their future plans and where they stood right now. It was easier to plan meetings and keep track of their progress that way.

"You're spacing off."

Izuku blinked, looking at Kacchan, only now noticing they were the only ones left in the classroom. When had that happened..? Even Shouta was gone already, leaving the two boys behind.

"What are you thinking about?"

"It's just... It's almost time, Kacchan," Izuku said, letting out a small laugh. "I can't believe we're actually doing this. That we're actually... That things are going to go back to how they were."

"Yeah, about time we got our lives back," the blonde shrugged, taking his hand. "Now come on, we're gonna miss our train."

And yeah, that was another thing that happened. Kacchan had given him another chance to prove himself. A chance to be his boyfriend. Now that Jikan wasn't actually manipulating his mind anymore, he had no excuse not to communicate his feelings better. At least, that's what Kacchan told him right before kissing him the day after they raided Jikan's base. Izuku had been making progress on that front though! He was more open and honest with himself and others and it had improved his mental health tremendously. And once everything was back to how it used to be, he'll be happy again.

"I can't believe you actually got tickets to the premiere," Izuku smiled as they walked through the hall. "I mean, we've seen that movie a thousand times already."

"It's one of your favorites," Katsuki pointed out.

"Yours too," Izuku said. "Just admit that you're a nostalgic sap, Kacchan."

"I'll murder you before we ever get to the theater if you continue to talk like that, nerd," Katsuki countered, spotting a smile of his own. "Besides, been a long fucking time since we watched it, right? But I bet you still know every damn line though."

"Don't try to act like you don't know the whole script by heart, too," Izuku snorted. "You're a big nerd and I love you.

"That's my line, Izuku," he smiled, squeezing his hand a bit before pulling him closer. "You're a little thief and yet I still love you."

"How generous of you," Izuku said. "I'm so lucky to be loved by such a kind hearted hero~"

Katsuki rolled his eyes, giving Izuku a little shove before they both burst out into laughter.

"Too much?" Izuku asked.

"Never," Katsuki said, pulling him in for a kiss. "But you are slowing us down, so move those feet or we're never getting there before the movie starts!"

Izuku laughed, again, chasing after the blonde as he let go of his hand and started to run. They made it to the train station with time to spare, arguing about who was first while they waited for the train to arrive. They probably shouldn't act like that in public, not with their UA uniforms on, because it got a lot of people staring at them. They ignored them, simply boarding the train when it arrived and searching for some seats next to one another. There, Izuku slumped and placed his head on Kacchan's shoulder, letting out a long breath.

They really came a long way, hadn't they?

From the very first time reality looped around them until now... They'd gone through so much together. Seen so many horrible things, been through hell and back. But they also shared sweet moments, hidden kisses, long hugs. They were friends, lovers, enemies and everything in between. They were children and yet they were older than reality itself, this fake reality, at the very least. It felt strange to know that soon all of it would end. That their mission will finally be over.

"Tired?" Katsuki hummed, his fingers getting tangled up in Izuku's hair as he played with the dark green locks.

"Just happy," Izuku smiled, enjoying the feeling of Kacchan massaging his scalp. Yeah, he was finally truly happy again.

//\\
\\//

Everything was set in place, all calculations more than triple checked. This was it. Izuku was buzzing with nerves and excitement. Finally... They'll finally be able to return back home. Their mission report was going to be a giant mess, he imagined. The Hero Commission probably won't believe half of it, but that was fine. Everything would be okay as long as this worked. As long as he was able to return to his real life, where Kacchan was his partner and he could go home to visit his mom. A world that was once overthrown by chaos and was still slowly recovering from it all. A place Izuku belonged, somewhere he could be who he was always meant to be, a hero. A symbol of hope.

"Are you ready, Deku?" Kohaku asked, as people finished securing him. With Izuku as the new energy source, they had to adjust some parts for him to fit into it. He was connected to the machine by a series of wires attached to his skin, surrounded by the core components, those who needed the most energy. He could barely see outside now that he was locked in, but he could tell people were moving around, could hear orders being shouted as everyone got ready to fire this thing up.

"Yeah, I'm all good," Izuku nodded, checking over the wiring one last time to make sure the cords would stick. "Ready when you are."

"Good," she said, her face disappearing from the gap in the machinery. He could still hear her voice booming outside of it, though. "Places, everyone! Start the sequence at once!"

There was whirring and zooming as Izuku activated his quirk. Green energy cackling around him, dancing over his skin and through the wires, firing everything up. The noise only grew the more energy he released, so much so that he couldn't understand what people were shouting or whether it was directed at him or not. If anything was wrong, the alarm would be all overpowering, so Izuku wasn't worried about it. The only thing he needed to focus on was regulating One For All. he couldn't release too much at once or he'd fry the circuit, and too little energy wouldn't get the machine fired up in time.

Denki had explained it to him in great detail while preparing for this moment. His understanding of electricity was much better than Izuku's, after all. Even if his quirk control was...lacking sometimes. Which wasn't fully his fault, really. His body just didn't have good self-insulation, something all of his electricity wielding family members did have. And thanks to his private lessons, Izuku could now gradually power up the rewind machine without overloading the system.

It didn't take long for bright light to fill his vision.

Bright Green.

Then pure white.

Burning.

He wanted to shield his eyes.

Wanted to blink.

It was too much.

Too much.

Then...

Nothing.

Izuku groaned, trying to blink away the stars in his eyes, trying to ignore the high pitched tune shrieking in his ear. He had trouble recalling what happened, exactly. He knew he was on the battlefield, knew they were trying to dismantle this...this rogue group of villains- vigilantes? There was an explosion, right? That must be why his ears were ringing, why he was down on the ground with his face in the dust. He groaned, again, as he tried to get up. His muscles felt weak and his head felt like it was about to split open. God, he really hoped he wasn't hit in the skull during the explosion.

As his vision cleared, he could see he wasn't the only one on the ground. He could see Tenya a little ahead of him, and Ochako to his left. They didn't seem to be in any better shape. With a deep breath, he pushed himself up, wobbling on his legs as he tried to make out his surroundings. Izuku squinted at the huge shards of metal and steel that bend in all the wrong ways. Sparks of electricity coming off of ripped wires, steam being released from a tube somewhere overhead. Then he remembered he was here to stop a group from using some kind of machine. A weapon of mass destruction.

"Seems like it failed."

Izuku barely heard the voice above the consistent beep in his ears, but then again, Kacchan must be used to the aftermath of big explosions like this. The ash blonde struggled to make his way over to him, clearly struggling with his vision as well.

"Fuckers blew themselves up."

"We need to check for casualties," Izuku stated, hating how rough his own voice sounded. Maybe it was just the damage to his hearing causing the distortion, but his throat did feel sore. "Gotta make sure none of them try to get away."

"Fucking know that," Katsuki grumbled, taking in the scene, as if he was looking for something. "Feels like I'm missing something... Forgot something important."

"Yeah," Izuku agreed. He also had the feeling he couldn't recount past events clearly right now, barely even remembering the mission briefing or what they were doing here. "Same here... Think it could be a side effect of that?"

He motioned in the general direction of the broken machinery, flinching when a loud blast echoed through the space and a part of it caught on fire. They needed to evacuate everyone as soon as possible before something collapsed on top of them or they all died from smoke inhalation.

"We can talk about it later. Gotta get out of this dump first," Kacchan said, voicing what Izuku was thinking. It didn't take long for the others to wake up and start moving around, clearing some of the wreckage and rubble in order to free trapped heroes and villains. Izuku blinked as he laid eyes on a woman with black hair and light skin. Her eyes looked like honey, but set in stone, like... Like amber. It felt like he'd met her somewhere before, but he couldn't remember when or where. Maybe her face had been discussed during the mission briefing. They did uncover some of the members before organizing this take down, so that must be it.

"God, I'm so happy this mission is finally over!" Ochako exclaimed once they rounded up all the villains and handed them over to the police. "Don't know about you guys, but it felt like this lasted an eternity or something."

Yeah, Izuku felt the same. Like this simple take down mission, which couldn't have lasted for more than half a day, had been going on for weeks. No, even longer than that. Like this is what he'd been doing for... For eternity, like she said. As if he'd never done anything else. Which was...weird. Izuku knew for a fact it had only taken half a day, that this was just one of many missions he'd completed in his short hero career. Still... It felt like this lasted for so much longer... Maybe it was because they had been unconscious? Maybe the machine did something to make it seem like they'd been asleep longer than they actually were? The only way to be sure was to have them get checked out at the hospital later in the afternoon.

"They better give us that fucking day off tomorrow like they promised," Kacchan complained as he sat down next to Izuku at the improvised first aid station they set up. It would take a while before the less serious injuries were taken to the hospital, after all.

"It's in the contract, they can't deny it last minute this time," Izuku said, knowing Kacchan was referencing to one of their previous missions where some agencies had demanded their heroes come in the next they anyway, even if they were promised a day to to rest and recover. They made sure to have it all in writing this time around.

"Yeah," Katsuki hummed, leaning back and looking up at the sky. "Wanna stay over tonight?"

"W-What?!" Izuku squeaked, his face turning bright red.

"Stay over," Katsuki repeated, glancing down at the green head. "We've been dating for months now so I thought... You know what, just forget about it."

"No, I- I would love to stay over!" Izuku exclaimed, making Kacchan grin. His boyfriend was right, it was time for the next step in their relationship. And maybe... Maybe nothing would happen tonight, and that would be okay, too! But Izuku felt ready, as ready as he'll ever be. It was time to take another step forward, to enter a new chapter of his life, with Kacchan by his side.

A/N It's done!! You've reached the end!!

Thank you all so much for the comments and likes every week, it really made my day XD Please do try one of my other stories too if you're bored haha