Yagi Toshinori started into the ally that had swallowed the two boys long after they had left. Something icy was running through his veins now, joining the adrenaline that had spawned as he'd narrowly avoided hitting the taller one.

He'd reconsigned the short one immediately. The same face that he had seen on the grainy security footage the night before. The same face that was wedged into the vanilla folder on his passenger seat. That was Midoriya Izuku alright. But what was he doing in Musutafu?

Not to mention the other boy he was with. There was nothing Toshinori had read before that mentioned an accomplice of any sort. And all though it wasn't impossible, there was something about that boy that was familiar, as if it was right on the tip of his tongue… what was it that Izuku had called to him…

"Are you alright sir?" Toshinori looked up to see a handful of cops walking towards him, and then...a few feet back.

Todoroki?

There was a sudden pit in his stomach as Endeavor looked his way. Toshinori knew that he couldn't be recognized in this form but...the number two hero's gaze felt just as intense for a perceived stranger as it did when they were rivals.

"I'm fine," Toshinori said finally, pulling away from the officer closest to him. "Just a little shaken."

"The boy you saw," Endeavor said, "Could you give us a description?"

There had been two boys. Did they not know that? Then all at once, Toshinori realized where he recognized the second one from. It had been Shoto Todoroki, he was sure of it, one of his future students, and the son of the man that stood before him now.

What had he been doing with a villian? Toshinori debated whether or not it would be wise to let Endeavor know that little detail. He hadn't mentioned anyone else, and they had no reason to be looking for anyone other than Midoriya. But to hide the truth….but was it really lying? If he could just tell Naomasa later...

"He had green hair," Toshinori said, "Plain looking, a little scrappy."

Endeavor nodded, pleased. The fire in his eyes wasn't just a reflection. His drive to find the suspect was a little disconcerting, considering he was just a child, and from what Toshinori had read in the file….

"Did you see which way he went?" he asked.

Toshinori looked down at the ground, catching a glimpse of a square black bottle clutched in an evidence bag in Endeavor's hand. Peroxide maybe? Had one of them been inquired? The thought of it made his skin crawl.

"No, I didn't see, sorry," he said. "I was still trying to make sense of how he escaped my car. It was a close one."

Endeavor smiled coldly, and Toshinori realized that it would have been better for the investigation if he had hit the kid, forcing them to stop. Was that what Endeavor had been hoping for? Surely not.

"Shame." he said, turning away, "Have a good day."

The police looked at him apologetically, then followed his lead. Toshinori watched them go, then got back in his car. This case was going to be a lot more complicated than he thought.

Shigaraki relaxed only slightly as Izuku left, closing the door to the bar behind him. Mind Bender would arrive in only a few hours, but by then Izuku would be long gone, a few cities over at least. That was one thing he didn't have to worry about. But that didn't mean that this little villain to villain talk was going to go well.

They had decided to close down the bar to normal customers, making sure that no one would be around to listen in on the conversation, or get caught up in a fight. That was the worst case scenario, Shigaraki reminded himself. It wouldn't come to that, especially since they agreed that Kurogiri would be going most of the talking.

Shigaraki had held an awkward meeting with All for One the night before, and been told it was better to take Mind Bender at his word, even if it meant swallowing their pride. This wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation, he knew that for sure, but once it was over, they would at least have a plan in place to keep the kid from going off the deep end again. Even so…

Shigaraki could tell that his pacing was starting to wear on Kurogiri's nerves. He threw himself down into a chair, glancing at the clock. Only five minutes until they were to meet.

"I bet he'll be late," Shigaraki said, though he really had no way to know.

"You're still hoping he won't show up at all," Kurogiri sighed, half scolding and half hopeful himself.

Shigaraki shrugged, placing his food against the bar and twisting his stool this way and that, trying to dispel his growing anxiety. He was told to accept any price that wasn't ridiculous. Adhere to any demand that was in his power. He was going to have to hold his tongue too, which might be the tallest order of them all.

The minutes slipped by and Shigaraki found himself hoping that mind bender wouldn't come, even though that would make things even more complicated in the future. Then, exactly on time, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The conversation was more difficult to navigate than Shigaraki would have liked, and time seemed to be moving incredibly slowly. Every time he glanced at the clock above the bar he could hardly believe that only a few more minutes had passed, as though Mind Bender's intensity was warping time around them, creating a pocket that Shigaraki would never escape.

He did his best to keep his smirks and eye rolls to a minimum, thought every once and awhile one would slip though he cracks, and he would see Mind Bender's eyes narrow, before continuing on with his demands like nothing had happened. He must really need that money.

Finally they reached an agreement, with Shigaraki only having a few days to come up with money he didn't have, and a set date for their next meeting, this time with the brat in tow.

Shigaraki didn't relax until Mind Bender was out of the bar, the door securely shut behind him.

"That went better than expected." Kurogiri said.

"We'll find out when he comes back." Shigaraki said, turning away from the door.

"You should call Izuku back home," Kurogiri said, "Have you seen they put Endeavor on the case?"

"It's his own fault for doing something so stupid." Shigaraki said, but he was already pulling out his phone. "Get ready to make a portal. I don't want the kid passing through town in broad daylight."

"As you wish."

Katsuki could hardly believe his eyes. He had just been out to pick up a few things from the corner store when the door was opened, and he'd seen a flash of a hair color that he'd thought had all but faded to memory.

He told himself that it wasn't true. That it couldn't be true. That Deku had been gone for five long years, and he was never going to come back. That's what he'd been telling himself for a while now, everytime he had a bad dream, or pictured that alley where he had been taken…

He still had the scar on the back of his hand to prove it… the only evidence that anything he even happened at all. He often wondered what he would think if he didn't have the scar there. It would be even more like Deku had just popped out of existence one day, leaving nothing but a memory behind? As if he had only been something that Katsuki had made up, an imaginary friend that had never really existed at all.

And yet…

There he was, standing just one aisle away from him, talking with some freakish kid that looked like he'd been split down the middle. Like nothing had ever happened. Katsuki had half a mind to storm right up to them and demand that Deku tell him what was going on, where he had been, what the hell he was doing in Musutafu, only a block away from his house long after the police had stopped searching for him.

He felt a pang of anger deep in his chest, bleeding out and mixing with his confusion and hurt. How dare he show up here after all this time, stumbling into some convenience store like it was nothing. Katsuki's fingers twisted at his side. Should he call the cops? Tell them he had found a missing person? Would any of them even still remember him?

No. it would take too long to explain. He had to follow him, see where he was hiding. Make sure he couldn't slip away. Not again. Katsuki took deep breaths and lingered on the other side of the shelf where the two boys were talking. It didn't seem like they were friends.

Then, for reasons that Katsuki didn't entirely understand, the other one left all together, leaving Deku alone. Was this his chance? Should he try and talk to him now? Get him the help he needed? Or would it frighten him to see an old friend so out of the blue?

Before he could decide he heard someone shifting on the other side of the shelf, then footsteps. He'd waited too long. Deku was leaving. He peered out from the mouth of the aisle, watching as the familiar mess of green curls bobbed their way out the door.

Katsuki stood there, watching for a moment, before breaking out of his haze and following. It had been five years since he'd seen Izuku last. He wasn't going to let him get away this time. He followed after him.

Once he was out the door, Deku pulled out a phone. Katsuki felt a little sick. If he'd had access to a phone, then why not call someone? Why not come back before now? Deku bent forward, taping out a message, though Katsuki couldn't fathom who it was for.

If anything, at least the phone seemed to be distracting him enough that he had yet to notice he was being pursued. Katsuki didn't know Deku to be the most alert person as a kid, but he still expected him to turn around and notice him at any moment.

After a few minutes of careful walking, Deku ducked into an alleyway that Katsuki knew would only lead to a dead end. The back of his neck seemed to tingle with the promise of danger, but he didn't let it stop him.

Izuku was stopped at the end of the alley, facing a large dumpster, still typing on his phone, then apparently receiving a response, he shoved it back into his pocket, and shifted his weight from foot to foot as if he were waiting for something.

Katsuki took a deep breath. He hadn't wanted to scare him, but Deku could turn around at any moment now. No reason to keep sneaking around.

"Long time no see."

Izuku froze, then turned slowly. It was the first time that Katsuki had gotten a good look at his face, and it wasn't a pretty sight. His old friend looked like he was going to be sick, or run screaming, his skin eggshell white under his freckles. Eyes fixed on Katsuki.

"How-"

"I followed you from the store." Katsuki said, he could feel his cool slipping away from him. After all these years, he just showed up out of the blue? If he was able to walk around, why hadn't he called the cops, or heroes or someone…

"You can't be here," Deku said, his hands moving in towards his face, wrapping around it as if he expected himself to fall apart. Has he ever done that before? Katsuki couldn't remember.

"I could say the same to you. What the hell kind of-"

"You need to leave. Now!"

Katsuki blinked. Had Deku just...yelled at him?

"I'm not going anywhere!" he said, taking a step closer, "You can't just show up after all this time and-"

"I can do what I like," Deku said, "it's none of your business, so just go away."

"You've been missing for years!" Katsuki protested, "your mother-"

"Don't you dare-"

But he stopped talking as the temperature in the alley dropped a few degrees, turning away as a swirling purplish mist began to coalesce out of nowhere.

"God damn it."

"What the hell-"

Deku turned around once more as the mist became more solid behind him. "Forget you saw me. It will be better for us both."

Before Katsuki could even come up with a response he stepped backward into the mist, and disappeared within it.

"Wait!"

But then it was gone, leaving no trace that Deku had ever been there at all.

I did have a quote for this one, but it has major spoilers for the Infernal Devices series which I highly recommend you check out. the short version is that two people meet on Blackfriars Bridge after a really long time apart, and it's heart breaking and I cry. that is all. thanks for reading.