Chapter Text
Izuku paused at a crosswalk, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets. His breath looked like smoke in the chilled air, obscuring his vision for a moment before it faded away. He assessed the fading paint as the late night cars drove past.
He wished Todoroki was walking home with him. When it was cold, he liked to use the temperature as an excuse to cuddle up closer to his friend’s left side. His friend, Izuku firmly reminded himself. Knowing Todoroki, he was probably already asleep anyway.
His visit with Mom had ended up running later than he had planned. He loved visiting home and it was always nice to see her, so the time had just slipped away. Since he had moved into the dorms, it was still strange to not see her face in the mornings, or when he got home from school.
The light overhead changed again and he started walking. At this hour and that it was a Saturday night, the streets were fairly empty. He had only counted three people since he had left his apartment.
As he watched his smoky breath while he walked, he couldn’t help to think of Todoroki. He had seen him do that thing where he breathed cold air, usually when he was mad or embarrassed. His quirk seemed tied to his emotions. Izuku wondered if the taller teenager could do the same with actual smoke from his left side. He seemed to be getting better control of it.
A smile found its way on his face at the thought of the other boy, to know he had helped him, in some little way at least. Todoroki deserved so much. He deserved so much better, Izuku convinced himself. He pushed down those traitorous feelings again, the smile fading. Todoroki was bound to realize at some point how amazing he was. Izuku could only enjoy their friendship while it lasted and he wouldn’t dare mess it up with something stupid like a crush.
It was more than a crush though.
These feelings weren’t like the quick blushes and excitement like when he had thought he had liked Uraraka at the beginning of the year. That was more of excitement that he had an actual friend, much less a friend that was a girl. Todoroki made him feel completely different things. Everything from heated cheeks while they changed in the locker rooms after training to the breathlessness after he had heard Todoroki laugh for the first time.
The green-haired teenager was so busy in his thoughts, he ran straight into something solid. A man, a good bit taller than him and dressed in dark clothes, he realized as he backed away.
“Oh, sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Izuku apologized quickly. Something about the man seemed off, but he couldn’t place it yet.
He paused, then smiled. It seemed fake. “It’s okay.” The man held up his hand and set it on Izuku’s head.
This was weird. He wasn’t hurting him, simply resting his hand in his green curls. Although, this was some stranger suddenly touching him. “Uh-“
“Don’t worry. It’s okay.” The man interrupted. His hand dropped to his side and he walked past Izuku without another word. The teenager turned and watched the man walk away, almost dazed.
He was rethinking his thought earlier. That was very weird.
It was possible he had used some sort of quirk on him, but he didn’t feel any different. A little tired, but it was getting late. It had been a busy week. It made sense to be tired, even if it was hitting him out of seemingly nowhere.
With a shrug and a scolding to himself to stop overthinking things, Izuku continued walking toward Yuuei. If he was too much later, he might miss curfew.
When he arrived at the dorms, a few of his classmates were still up in the common area. Kirishima and Kaminari were watching some action movie and playing on their phones, Tokoyami was reading in a corner. Koda waved as he walked out of the kitchen, a bag of chips in his hand. Todoroki, it appeared, had apparently already retired to his room, as expected.
Izuku could barely force himself to murmur goodnight to his remaining classmates in the common room. He suddenly felt like he could curl up on the carpet and fall asleep right then and there.
The elevator ride to up to his room was a daze, artificial overhead lights blurring together. He could barely even remember stumbling in his room, without flipping on the lights or kicking off his shoes before he collapsed on his bed and became dead to the world.
“Deku?”
This didn’t feel like his bed. He had fallen sleep there, he was nearly sure of it. Honestly, Izuku couldn’t remember much of last night. He had a splitting headache.
“Deku!” Uraraka exclaimed again.
Izuku drifted into consciousness as his shoulder was shook again, but he didn’t really feel like opening his eyes yet. He felt like instead of his bed, he was sitting somewhere with his cheek pressed to a cold tabletop.
The green-haired teenager groaned softly. He felt really tired, for having just slept several hours.
“Midoriya! I must apprehend you for falling asleep during class! I understand that English is not your favorite subject, but it is unlike you to fall asleep during class, despite the subject.” Izuku could practically imagine the chopping motions Iida was making at him as he said that. His body felt strange, he distantly noted.
He didn’t understand what Iida meant, during class. They were in the dorms, if not his room.
“Izuku.” The sound of his given name said by someone other than his mother surprised him into opening his eyes. His arms were folded on a table. It felt like the desks in their classroom. His face was buried in them and obscured his vision, but that had sounded like Todoroki. The sound of his crush saying his first name made his heart skip in a probably in unhealthy way. “I’ll let you sleep on my shoulder during lunch, but they’re having soba today, so can we go?”
There were several very weird things about that statement. It sounded like Todoroki, especially with the soba comment. Yet Todoroki never offered physical touch so obviously like that, even through Izuku was pretty such he was some version of touch-starved. He was much more likely to just let it happen without words, rather than just say something outright like that. Plus, he called him by his given name. He had never done that before.
“Deku!” Uraraka whined. He guessed it was her who had started shaking him again. “I can hear your mumbling, I know you’re awake. Come on!”
Izuku blinked a few more times, wincing from the bright lights, and finally sat up, arms unfolding. He was met with the sight of their classroom. He didn’t understand how he had gotten to class. It was Sunday, he had gone to sleep in his bed. Yet, here he was. He squinted at them and blinked the sleep from his eyes.
His friends were even stranger. Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki and Tsuyu stood before him. They all looked older. Not extremely, probably only a few years. It was how he would imagine them looking at seventeen or eighteen, but there was a notable difference between them now and yesterday.
Iida and Todoroki both were a few centimeters taller. It wasn’t an incredible height difference, but Izuku noticed it nonetheless. Uraraka and Tsuyu weren’t obviously any taller like them, but Tsuyu’s hair was shorter, the bow knot of her hair now falling just below her shoulders. The long pieces of hair on each side of Uraraka’s face were braided back in a style that reminded him of something Tsuyu would create. They all wore summer uniforms as well, seemingly undeterred by the January chill.
The biggest difference was probably Todoroki, or his hair at least. It was long, long enough that he could tie it up in a bun at the back of his head, a mess of red and white. His bangs were pretty similar to what Izuku was used to seeing, despite the several longer pieces that fell on each side of his face. The line dividing his hair colors was much messier, more of a zigzag than a straight line.
It looked good.
Izuku had never even thought of Todoroki with long hair, but it looked good.
Really good.
His face was getting red, oh no. Oh no, he was blushing at Todoroki’s hair and it was super obvious.
Now was not the time to get all flustered thinking about his crush and how good he looked with long hair. Izuku wondered how soft his hair was and how it looked when braided. He bet it was pretty, with the red and white stands all mixed together.
“Midoriya-kun?” He heard Tsuyu asked from far away.
“Earth to Deku!” Izuku tore his eyes from Todoroki as Uraraka waved a hand in his face. “You’ve been staring at Todoroki-kun for like twenty minutes. Can we go eat now? I’m starving!”
“Yes, let’s go. We don’t want to be late!” Iida announced as he led the girls out of the classroom. The green-haired teenager noticed for the first time that they were alone in the classroom and now he was alone with Todoroki.
An older, even more impossibly handsome, long-haired Todoroki.
“Are you okay?” Todoroki asked, looking concerned in that special Todoroki way. Izuku glanced back at him. He didn’t think Todoroki could get more attractive, he was already the class pretty boy. Although, apparently magically turning eighteen and growing out his hair overnight could do that.
This had to be some sort of quirk. An illusion or mirage quirk, maybe a dream quirk. Who knew who the user was, who they were or why they were doing this to him. For now, he would not say anything.
“Y-yeah. I’m fine.” Just very, very confused. His voice sounded weird, deeper almost.
Todoroki watched him for a second. He had spent enough time with the other student to be able to tell his emotions fairly well. Everyone else said Todoroki was as emotional as a rock, but he could be obvious if you looked for the right things.
Now, the red-and-white-haired teenager was studying him with a expression that said that he didn’t believe him. He knew something was off. But thankfully, Todoroki just nodded without a word.
He took Izuku’s hand from where it rest on his desk. His skin suddenly felt extremely sensitive. He watched, dumbfounded, as Todoroki intertwined their fingers. His right hand was cool, comfortable in Izuku’s calloused hand.
He was holding his hand
“We should go then, they’ll wonder what happened to us.” He said, but the green-haired boy barely heard him.
Todoroki was holding his hand. His very attractive, very amazing crush was holding his hand. He has been the one to grab it. He was holding his hand. Izuku was pretty sure he was going to have a heart attack before he even figured out what type of quirk this was affecting him.
“Izuku?”
“Y-yeah, um. Let’s g-go.” He stood quickly, keeping their hands together.
Izuku was met with another, very strange thing. He was taller than Todoroki. It was only by some several centimeters, Iida was probably still taller than him, but Todoroki fell short. It wasn’t an extreme difference, just enough that Todoroki had to look up to meet his eyes. The other teenager didn’t seem concerned by the sudden height difference, simply pulling him gently by the hand toward the door.
Izuku glanced back toward his seat. His desk, two back and next to the window. He frowned barely, it should be normal, but something was very odd about all of this. His green eyes glanced up and he caught their faint refection in the windows.
It was bright and sunny outside, the pastel sky dotted with just a few fluffy clouds. An older version of himself stared back, hand in hand with Todoroki.
“That math test is going to murder me.” Uraraka sighed. She popped another couple of noodles in her mouth solemnly.
“Momo-chan is putting together a study group for it in the common room on Tuesday.” Tsuyu suggested.
The green-haired girl was sitting beside Uraraka, Iida on the other side of her. Izuku and Todoroki sat across the table from them. Todoroki’s left side was very, very close to him. It made it hard to focus on his food.
“Yeah, but even with her help I can’t get anything higher than like a 76 and my grade’s already low.” The brunette argued. “If I don’t get to graduate because of my dumb math grade, I’ll fight.”
“If you have a problem with your grade, you should talk to our teacher, rather than resort to violence.” Iida scolded gently. Todoroki actually smiled at that, barely, but a smile all the same.
Since they had sat down, Izuku had seen him smile twice already. That was the most he has ever seen his friend smile in one day, ever. He liked Todoroki’s smile, but to see it so often was unusual, and just another sign that something was not right about this whole situation. Along with the sudden age jump he and all his friends had, Todoroki’s long hair and the fact he was at lunch rather than in his bed. The oddities were stacking up.
Izuku was pretty sure it wasn’t a dream quirk. He had discreetly pinched himself a few times and it had hurt, so that was ruled out. Then he guessed it was an illusion, but he knew it was fake, it should have disappeared by now. If it was an illusion, surely the user wouldn’t know all these little things about his friends, like that Todoroki’s favorite food was soba and that Tsuyu used her tongue to eat rather than chopsticks to practice using it and the way Iida sorted his food in odd, perfect squares. Unless it was a stalker, but that wouldn’t make any sense at all, Yuuei had top security, it would be next to impossible for a stalker to get in enough times to be able to know all these details about his friends.
“Deku?” Izuku glanced up at Uraraka and realized the table was staring at him. “You okay? You’re mumbling. Again.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He lied. Todoroki gave him that look again. Tsuyu looked like she didn’t believe him either.
“You seem really out of it today, Midoriya-kun. Did you not sleep well?” Iida asked in a way that reminded him of his mother.
“Uh, yes. Yeah. That’s it, I didn’t sleep well.” The green-haired teenager took a sip from his milk, hoping they would drop it altogether. He needed time to figure this out.
Uraraka shook her head. “Gosh, Todoroki-kun, what are you doing keeping your boyfriend up so late?” Izuku choked on his drink.
“Deku!”
“Midoriya-kun!”
Todoroki patted his back sympathetically as he coughed. He didn’t even seem affected by Uraraka’s statement, simply concerned about him. “We weren’t even together last night, Uraraka. I took a nap at five and didn’t wake up until this morning.” He added, almost proudly.
“B-Boyfriend?” Izuku sputtered. “W-We- we’re not- I m-mean-“
They all looked at him as if he was the crazy one. “Midoriya-kun, are you sure you’re alright?” Tsuyu asked with a frown.
Boyfriend. Boyfriend. Boyfriend.
He really was going to have a heart attack.
“Y-Yeah. I just really gotta go- t-to the bathroom! Rightnowsorrybye!” Izuku jumped up from the table and nearly bolted to the bathroom. He had to suppress the urge to use his quirk to speed up his escape. He could feel their eyes on his back until he ducked inside the bathroom.
The green-haired teenager sighed in relief as he leaned back on the closed door. His heart was going wild and threatening to burst out of his chest. Surveying his surroundings as he calmed down, it seemed that at least the bathroom looked the same, and empty.
Once he recovered and was finally pretty sure he wouldn’t pass out from embarrassment anymore, Izuku wandered toward the sinks and blinked at his reflection in the mirror.
He looked older in the same way his friends did, somewhere around eighteen. He was much taller and a little broader, but other than that, he wasn’t incredibly different from he imagined himself looked when he got older. A little like the rare photo of his father. His hair was just as messy, although it looked a little shorter in the back and on the sides than he was used to. He absentmindedly tugged on a curl, just to make sure it was real.
This was all very surreal. Even after the majority of lunch, he still had no idea what type of quirk could even be affecting him. Maybe he could escape his friends’ watchful gazes and investigate. He had to make sure this was really Yuuei, possibly find a teacher. He should talk to All Might.
Something buzzed in his pocket, tearing Izuku away from his reflection. His phone, of course. He pulled it out and walked into the furthest stall from the door and locked himself inside, then leaned against the door. It was a different model than what he had currently, but not strange enough that he couldn’t use it.
The alert was just a hero news app, but he was quickly distracted by it.
His lock screen’s wallpaper was a picture of him and Todoroki, further validating Uraraka’s claim. In the picture, Todoroki was caught pressing a kiss to Izuku’s cheek. He blushed just looking the photo and pressed his thumb to the home button. Thankfully it opened with his fingerprint. His home screen wallpaper was another picture of him and Todoroki, this time they were dressed in suits and standing beside each other and smiling.
Scrolling through his messages didn’t reveal anything extremely out of the ordinary. There was the class group chat, all normal messages Izuku would expect to find there, although he knew he had never read any of them before. Even scrolling further back, he didn’t remember any of the conversations, or any of his own messages he had already sent. Each of his friends had separate messages, as well as All Might and his mom. The strangest thing, perhaps, was Todoroki’s contact name.
Last Izuku had checked, his contact name was just todorokiroki! with an unoriginal snowflake and flame emoji on the left and right sides of his name. But the name above the conversation that seemed very similar to the usual ones Todoroki and he shared was a simple shouto with a red and blue heart on each side of his name, replacing the snowflake and fire emojis.
Izuku had just opened his photo album when the bathroom door opened. He froze, clutching the phone to his chest. The click of the lock button sounded deafening. “Izuku?” Todoroki asked after a moment. “Come out, please.”
“I’m fine, Todoroki-kun, please just go back to lunch.” Izuku answered.
“No, you’re not. You’ve been acting weird since lunch began.” He said firmly. “And you haven’t called me Todoroki since first year. Come out and we can talk about this.”
First year, it was first year! He ignored that inconsistency for the time being.
Todoroki was stubborn and he probably wouldn’t leave until Izuku came out. Maybe he could use his quirk to get past him, but then he’d have to escape the cafeteria. He didn’t know if he even use his quirk in whatever this was.
Suddenly there was a thump on the door of his stall, startling Izuku from his thoughts. “You’re mumbling. If you don’t come out here, I’ll come in.”
“I have my pants down!” Izuku exclaimed without thinking. He slapped his hands over his mouth, face heating. He couldn’t believe he just said that to Todoroki of all people.
“It won’t be anything I haven’t seen before.” Todoroki scoffed from the other side of the door.
Izuku squeaked, flushing harder.
There was another knock. “Izuku.” The other teenager warned.
“Okay, okay! I’m coming out!” He called. The green-haired boy unlocked the door and slowly opened it to see Todoroki leaning against the sink, his arms crossed over his chest.
“Ready to tell me what’s going on?” He asked, raise his white eyebrow.
“I don’t even know what’s going on.” Izuku admitted. Todoroki didn’t say anything, so he guessed he was supposed to continue. “Last night, I went to sleep, in my bed, and it was a Saturday. It was Saturday, January 28.”
Todoroki looked confused for a moment before he frowned and nodded. “Keep going.”
“Then, I woke up in class and you and Iida and Uraraka and Tsuyu all looked older and your hair is long and you keep calling me by my given name and you’re more expressive, which isn’t a bad thing!” Izuku waved his hands wildly as he began to ramble, his words becoming faster and more expressive as well. “It’s just different, a lot of things are different, like I’m older too, and I’m taller! It’s really weird, I don’t know how tall I am, but I’m taller than you, which is weird because you’re taller than me and I don’t understand if this is a quirk or a dream or-“
“Izuku.” Todoroki’s soft voice caused him to freeze. He looked genuinely concerned. “Are you being serious right now?”
“Of course I am, I’m super serious! I have no idea what’s going on!” He exclaimed, with a nervous laugh.
The red-and-white-haired teenager frowned, glancing at the tiled floor. “Izuku, how old are you?”
“W-What?”
“How old are you?” He asked again, glancing up to meet his gaze. Todoroki’s multicolored eyes were serious.
“I’m sixteen.”
“You believe that?”
“Yeah, Todoroki-kun, can you just explain what’s going on?”
“And what day is it?”
Izuku huffed. “I just said yesterday was the 28th. So today’s the 29th.”
The other teenager frowned more. He dug in his pocket, pulling out his phone. He tapped on the screen and turned to show it to him. “It’s August 15th.” Sure enough, the date on his lock screen read Tuesday, August 15.
Izuku squinted at the screen, then looked back at Todoroki. “I’m really confused right now, Todoroki-kun.” He murmured.
Todoroki nodded, pocketing his phone and tucking a long piece of red hair behind his ear. “I think you need to see Recovery Girl.”