Chapter Text
After the inside joke revival that only two of the four people present knew about, Izuku’s guard completely dropped, and the floodgates opened as he and Hizashi fell into a deep conversation about hero pop culture. Shota and Nemuri watched with bright amusement in their eyes at the high energy way the two nerds conversed.
“I think they’ve forgotten we’re here.” Nemuri joked.
Shota nodded in agreement, and watched Hizashi throw his head back in boisterous laughter, before leaning forward again, and talking faster than before.
“The first time we saw Izuku match Hizashi’s conversational speed in the End was… frankly terrifying.”
Nemuri’s eyes bogged out as the two began to talk even faster. “I’ll bet! They could probably set a world record. Are they even breathing?”
Shota ran a tired hand down his face. “Considering the fact that Izuku once nearly passed out during one of their conversations, I’m gonna go with no.”
Nemuri let out a startled laugh. “He WHAT?” Her face quickly swapped to concern. “Is he okay-?”
A wry smile formed on Shota’s face. “He just asked Hizashi to train him in increasing his lung capacity and the rest is pretty much history.” He sighed. “Though, Izuku’s probably forgotten that he might have to train that up again. I really don’t know how he can use his quirk to the same capacity when his current body is nowhere near as strong as it was.”
‘Quirk’ was always a magic word for Izuku who finally paused in his nerding out with Hizashi and perked up like a pet hearing the treat bag being shaken.
“I have a theory about that!”
“Oh so you do remember the rest of us are here.”
“Shhh Dad- anyway- I have a theory!” Izuku stood proudly, staunchly ignoring Nemuri wheezing after he shushed his dad. “I normally think of One for All fitting inside a cup, where the cup is my body and the water is the quirk. If it contains too much then the cup- or vessel- cracks, and I break my bones!” He grinned
All three adults stopped emoting in the background to stare blankly at the cheerfulness in which this child spoke about breaking bones.
After a slightly awkward pause, Izuku cleared his throat. “Anyway- I have a theory that quirks, and One for All in particular, are much more esoteric than what we currently think. There is of course, a body component, hence why I broke my bones, or why Dad gets dry-eye, or why Mic-”
“Uncle Hizashi.”
“...Uncle Hizashi-” a very loud, happy cheer unnaturally dropped in volume with his dad’s quirked glare- “Doesn’t get ear damage, or why Midni-Auntie Nemuri doesn’t need to sleep much.”
Nemuri beamed at the address, then smirked. “To be fair, your dad sleeps enough for the both of us.”
Izuku steamrolled ahead in his explanation. “So yeah, body component, and of course, psychological components but that kind of ties in with the body with brain stuff. But then there’s another element, something to do with what people would probably call a soul.”
All the adults listened with rapt interest. Hizashi tilted his head slightly.
“Of course, it’s much more clear with One for All because of the vestiges in it-”
“Hang on,” Hizashi held up an ‘X’ with his hands, then spun his finger in a ‘rewind’ motion. “Let’s backtrack. What do you mean by vestiges?”
Nemuri piped in. “Yeah, you mentioned them in the first meeting we had but none of us really understood it.”
Izuku paused. After a moment’s thought, his mouth quirked in a very familiar, feral manner which had Hizashi and Nemuri reeling. Much like what he did to Gran Torino and Detective Tsukauchi, Izuku let little tendrils of black whip frame him menacingly, with flickers of green lightning and a tiny bit of smokescreen for extra effect. He gave them his version of his dad’s “logical ruse” grin.
“The ghosts that haunt my quirk.”
Hizashi and Nemuri stood stock still, paralysed, before simultaneously screeching, and jumping to hide behind Shota, whose shoulders were shaking suspiciously. Of course, they both couldn’t fit behind Shota so they crashed into each other, and ended up falling in opposite directions on the floor.
“The WHAT?!” Nemuri screeched after taking a moment to fix her glasses and collect herself.
Izuku waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, so One for All at its core is a stockpiling quirk, which stored power, or energy, quirks, and apparently, imprints of other users which is cool.”
Hizashi and Nemuri just gaped at Izuku who was getting into mumble territory on his explanation as he dropped his quirk and continued.
“So the imprints of other users could be to do with this human ‘soul’, which brings up the possibility that, as quirks can acclimate to bodies, they can also acclimate to souls. Since Dad and I have our memories and minds, but not the bodies we had in the future, it basically confirms that there’s a part of us not inherently connected to our bodies.”
Hizashi stood up and waved his hands about wildly. “Wait wait wait wait listener- are you saying there’s GHOSTS here right now?!”
Izuku turned sad, wide eyes onto Hizashi. “No… they’ve been gone for a while now.”
All three adults felt the heartbreak in Izuku’s voice in their chests. Mic deflated sadly. “Oh, listener…”
Shota gave him a sad look, already knowing Izuku’s feelings on it, and Nemuri subconsciously clutched her hand by her chest.
Izuku smiled warmly in response to their empathy. “But it’s okay! We’ve got so many people back now, there’s no point in dwelling on those who were already passed anyway.”
None of them called him out on the fact that it seemed like he was trying to convince himself more than them. Shota made a mental note to gently bring it up later.
“But, back to my theory.” Izuku had thankfully returned to speaking at a normal pace. “Even though the vessel is still a bit small, it’s like the water has learned to utilise the space more efficiently as it has a sort of… shape memory of the vessel.” Izuku brought a hand up to his chin in thought. “A cup and water really isn’t the best analogy, even before so I’ll keep thinking on a way to properly describe the quirk, more for my own sake than anything, but basically, even though my body is out of alignment, non-physical parts of me are more integrated with the quirk, and there’s something going on that current science can’t explain.”
“...Huh. You’ve thought about this a lot over the past week haven’t you?” Nemuri tilted her head.
Izuku smiled, and Shota piped in. “He can’t get enough of quirk theory. Haven’t you seen his notebooks?”
Hizashi gasped excitedly. “I didn’t realise those were about quirks! Do you like talking about them too, Green Bean?”
Izuku vibrated on the spot excitedly, and Shota let out a fond groan. He let out a mutter to Nemuri. “If you think they didn’t shut up about hero pop culture, wait til you hear them talk about quirks.”
Nemuri raised her eyebrows in interest, and then slight fear as the pace in which the two talked rapidly descended to incomprehensible speeds.
Shota sighed fondly. “There they go again.” He wouldn’t say out loud that he missed it but he didn’t need to.
She flung her hands in the air. “I didn’t even know Hizashi was that into talking about quirks!”
Shota gave her a strange look. “You don’t hear him announcing people and details on their quirks like we’re characters to profile in an anime?”
She crossed her arms petulantly. “Well, yeah, but I thought that’s just 'cause he likes talking and not because he particularly cared for quirks.”
Shota huffed. “Fair enough. I didn’t really put it together until we started travelling together and saw them get into a conversation about this for the first time either.”
The conversation tapered off, and they simply basked in the moment. For the sake of speed, Izuku and Hizashi were no longer speaking full sentences, and while Shota was numb to it, Nemuri struggled to find the bandwidth to comprehend it.
She shook herself out of it, and her thoughts wandered to earlier that afternoon.
“Hey, Shota?”
Shota hummed.
“Earlier when the bean and Hizashi were teasing you,” that got her a raised eyebrow she ignored, “just… you don’t need to share the details, but what was it really about?” Her eyes locked on to Shota’s searchingly.
Shota sometimes forgot that Nemuri was a genuinely good, sharp, Pro hero. If it was anyone not currently in the room asking, he wouldn’t have answered, but he knew that it came from a place of care, and nothing else.
Shota hesitated, not sure how to frame his thoughts. “Earlier… when we were on the train to get here… we talked about how it felt to recover the friendships we thought we’d never get back.”
Nemuri raised a hand instinctively to place on his arm and comfort him, before pausing, and letting it drop again. Shota didn’t seem to notice, looking off in the distance as though there was something he could see that she couldn’t.
“It’s different for Izuku than it is for me. I’ve got fifteen year’s worth of friendship and history with you and Hizashi. Izuku’s come back from knowing his friends for a year, only to be met with versions of them that have only known him and each other for three months.”
Nemuri let out a heartbroken “Oh…”
He sighed. “Izuku’s been holding them at a distance, partially to protect them from what he saw, but also to protect himself. The class was actually really close, so to lose that really, really hurts him. And…” Shota’s voice dropped in volume. “He actually saw a good half of them die, Nemuri.”
She gasped in horror, and brought a hand up to cover her mouth.
Shota’s face was downcast. “He’s been acting like everything’s okay, but he’s always been like that. Plus, I think we’re both still in a sort of honeymoon period, feeling all the good after coming back. It’s going to wear off.” He rubbed the side of his face tiredly. “I don’t think he considered this before, but I told him that he can love and miss them, and not reconnect with them as they are now.”
Nemuri’s voice was shaky. “I mean… yeah… who would fault him for keeping his distance with memories like that haunting him all the time. My god.” She then frowned. “But… he really doesn’t seem like the type…”
Shota nodded in agreement. “Hence why I thought it’d be a good idea for you two to come over. He had a strong bond with Hizashi, and Hizashi is… how do I put this? One of the most consistent people I know.” Nemuri made an agreeing sound. “So, I thought that perhaps by talking to Hizashi outside of a classroom setting again, they would stumble onto their shared interests, and show Izuku the potential to recreate old relationships as he is now.”
Nemuri’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Ohhhh.”
Shota huffed. “I just didn’t expect them to recreate the exact same inside joke that we had when it was the three of us plus Kurakumo in the End.”
Nemuri’s eyes went wide. “The one about grumpy rainclouds and raining cats but not dogs?”
Shota nodded.
“The exact same inside joke?”
“Yeah.”
She shook her head in amazement. “That’s… wow. That’s insane.”
“It certainly does insane things for my heart.” Shota groused. He let the unspoken thoughts settle in the silence. The thoughts that he never expected to hear that joke again.
Shota’s eyes wandered to Izuku, and Nemuri watched as her friend subconsciously relaxed at the sight of his kid’s smile. She couldn’t help but let a soft one form on her own lips as well.
Shota’s eyes looked more reflective than normal, as though there was something behind them. Like a window. “I wonder… if there’s something to be said for the human soul that Izuku was talking about before.”
Maybe something deeper connects us all, is what he didn’t say.
This time, when Nemuri’s hand reached out to rest on Shota’s arm, she didn’t stop it. And he didn’t shrug her off, either.
Maybe it was time for him to see more potential in letting old friends in as well.