Midoriya Izuku, followed by a disgruntled Bakugou Katsuki and a tired Aizawa Shota, walked towards the front entrance to U.A. where a tall, quirkless Mirio Togata waited with the bubbly, young Eri. As soon as the young One for All user spotted the duo he waved and exclaimed, "Good morning Mirio-senpai! Eri-chan!"

"Tell me why the hell I'm here with this shitty nerd, again?" Bakugou grumbled.

Eraserhead blinked at him tiredly and sighed, "You're the one who decided it was a good idea to try and fight him because of something he said in the Common Room, which, need I remind you, ended with almost all of the furniture charred beyond recognition."

Bakugou let out a 'tch' and pointedly looked away. The two heroes interacted animatedly with Eri, which caused Bakugou to scowl once more and return his attention to the pro-hero.

"...just be thankful you're not suspended from class like last time."

Bakugou rolled his eyes, "That still doesn't explain why I have to hang around Deku all day. Especially for this dumbass excursion…"

"Personally—and professionally—I believe you need to learn some civility, so this is a perfect, and unironically opportune, opportunity to do so." Aizawa deadpanned.

The explosive teen was about to retort, but the other, older blonde beckoned them over.

"We're gonna have lots of fun!" Eri cheered, pumping her fist into the air repeatedly.

"Yeah!" Midoriya exclaimed, mimicking the girl's enthusiasm, which only seemed to exasperate his classmate further, "Let's go!"

The odd grouping of persons crowded the map of the mall. A white-haired girl was on the target's shoulders, leaning forward and peering at the list of stores curiously. After a few minutes, she huffed and sat up straight, declaring that the sign shouldn't be so difficult to read. The target laughed and offered to tutor her. The winner of the First Year's U.A. Sports Festival gave him an amused look and taunted him, which was rewarded with a half-hearted chop to the head from the homeless-looking man. The winner of the Third Year's U.A. Sports Festival laughed heartily and pointed to each store, reading them to the girl and describing generally what each one sells.

The observer steadied his breathing and prepared to shoot. They chose a store. They turned to begin walking. He took the shot.

The muffler quieted the shot significantly, but apparently not enough. He had startled the target and wasted his only bullet laced with Trigger.

He hit the girl instead.

He did not know what followed because he fucked up and didn't know what would happen, so he got the hell out of there.

They had just chosen a store to visit first when, all of a sudden, a glint caught Bakugou's eye and he attempted to move to get a better look. Apparently Shitty Deku had also noticed something and attempted to get out of the way. Instead, however, a bullet landed right in Little Girl's shoulder.

Her expression became panicked and she looked like she wanted to cry.

That was the last thing he knew before everything dissolved from chaos to nothingness and… (eventually…) back to chaos.

The Pro-Hero already had doubts about (his) students going off-campus to have fun with the child, but he agreed to chaperone regardless. His reasoning? Who was he to deprive this sweet, but no longer innocent, child of such happiness? (He really should have thought more rationally. Class 1-A was rubbing off on him, clearly.)

He noticed a sniper on the second floor of the mall and activated his quirk. Unfortunately, the man was not relying on his quirk for this hit—a fact made evident as the teacher's actions changed nothing. The Problem Child and the Arrogant Child both seemed to have noticed a sign that gave away the sniper's existence, (he was proud of them—) but not much could have been done that they did not attempt in that small window of time.

Everything seemed to unravel, halt, and then finally prepare to be re-woven in a different arrangement.

Mirio had been distracted by Eri-chan's smile, something he would never forgive himself for. Becoming ignorant to your surroundings is the first step to failing as a Pro-Hero—he'd have to do better. He hadn't even noticed the presence of the sniper until it was too late; Eri-chan was shot and the culprit got away.

Then, everything changed out of proportion: out of control.

As Midoriya turned on his heel, he thought he heard the distinct click of a gun being prepared to fire. His eyes trailed upward and identified the perpetrator before locking his eyes on the scope. He attempted to move out of the line of fire, however the rifle was too fast to completely avoid at such a close range.

He was fine.

She was not.

She slid off his shoulders and into his arms as he spun around with the force and struggled to keep a hold of her.

He recognized this expression on Eri-chan's face—specifically from the raid. It was evident, to him at least, that she was losing control of her quirk. But, in the time it took him to reach that conclusion, it was already too late.

It felt like everything he had ever felt all at once…

… except in reverse.

Bakugou startled awake. That was an odd nightmare—he didn't particularly care for that child, why would he dream about her and Deku of all people? When he moved to sit up, he wobbled and struggled with his balance. Frustrated, he tried to make a small explosion, as that usually helped him vent. The blonde looked down, confused, when he felt none of the tell-tale signs of his quirk.

His hands were soft and small.

His head snapped up and took in his surroundings. He was most definitely not in the U.A. Dorms. Actually, he was in his room. His room from a time of innocence and regret.

It was silent and dark.

"What the fuck…?" Bakugou whispered to himself.

The analog clock next to his bed read 08:30.

"What the fuck…?!" He couldn't help but whisper over and over again, glaring at his hands as his mind reeled in an attempt to make sense of this reality.

Bakugou, still processing his realization, was interrupted by the old hag walking in the room. His head whipped to her, his hands hanging there forgotten.

"I should've known you'd be up early on your birthday, Katsuki!" she smiled at him in a way he hadn't seen directed towards himself in a long time.

Bakugou hoped she wouldn't notice anything different about him, but as annoying as she was, he knew she was very observant. Her eyebrows furrowed as she took in how he was sitting on the bed with his hands still in the position they'd been when he had been staring at them.

"Are… are you alright, Katsuki? Is there something wrong with your hands?" the hag pitied him.

He hated that so much, "Nothing's wrong you ol—" he cut himself off, wondering if this was out of character for himself at this age. He looked back at his lap as he set his hands on his obnoxiously short legs.

The old hag closed the door quietly and sat down next to him softly, "You know you can tell me anything, my precious little victory."

Bakugou had forgotten about that nickname, as it had soon been abandoned and replaced with brat. He pointedly looked away from his mother, hiding his expression. The old hag cupped his hands softly.

"Is it your quirk? Did it come in while I wasn't looking?" she teased, "You're too independent at such a young age, silly!"

Bakugou bit back a growl, still not looking towards his mother.

"Anyway, are you still sure you only wanted to invite Izu-kun and Auntie Inko to your birthday party? I'm sure I could ask Tsubasa-san last-minute, I don't think she'd mind!" she rambled on, reminding Bakugou of Deku.

Wait—shit. Deku.

How was he supposed to deal with that little shit? He would also be about three, almost four years old. He wasn't sure if he could face him again. And he would be even worse as a child than as his teen-aged self.

But… he did miss the innocent boy of his memories. Even so, maybe… maybe he could make things better…

Fix this.

Fix them.

Fix him.

He looked at her and said softly, "I'm sure."

Though his mother believed him, she had noticed an odd determination in his eyes that did not seem to have anything to do with birthdays or quirks.

After that, his mom left him to his own devices in order to prepare breakfast. Bakugou was partially surprised that his mother either didn't notice anything strange about his behavior, or didn't think it to be significant enough to warrant confrontation.

Regardless, he had plenty of time to himself to carefully consider what he plans to change in the next decade, and beyond. He knows all about those time-travel theories—the butterfly effect was the least of his worries—but he didn't want to repeat the same steps he had ignorantly followed in his first chance. (He didn't want to be the reason for the end of All Might. He couldn't—)

He knew his circumstances would change, but how much would that affect the Shigaraki's decisions? But how much would stay the same if he did nothing? How much would his choices change Deku? If Bakugou wasn't an asshole this time, would Deku still have his stutter? Would he still flinch at every glare, still be hesitant to trust, still consider himself useless? Bakugou didn't want to be the reason that All Might's successor might fuck up.

But would he still end up All Might's successor in the first place?

There were so many world-shattering thoughts racing through his head, he didn't know where to start.

This must be what Deku feels like all the time.

He paused.

Maybe he could take a page from Deku's book and write it all down.

(In code of course, he's not an idiot. He understands the probable consequences of someone finding out.)

Then the pun registered and he felt like bashing his face against the wall, though just as he was considering doing exactly that, his weakling of a father opened the door to tell him that breakfast was ready. His stomach growled and his face flushed in embarrassment. He hated being four years old again.

He would have to continue this later.

Bakugou hated sitting around doing nothing. That was one of the worst feelings in his opinion—being useless. After an entire day full of wasting time that he couldn't object to without seeming suspicious, his nerves were strained and he couldn't seem to stop fidgeting. The old hag brushed it off as excitement, though not before teasing him about it first, which only made things worse.

His head was full with thoughts about the future and Deku. All of his decisions will have to be made by the time his Auntie and Deku came over to celebrate his birthday. He couldn't overthink or underthink this because of how intertwined their fate had become. Why must everything revolve around Deku, dammit?!

He swung his short-ass legs (they didn't even reach the floor) as they ate lunch. Bakugou acted like he was oblivious to the consistent worried looks that his parents exchanged. They could worry for all he cared, it wouldn't change anything. Not like he was planning to. By the time the Midoriyas were about to arrive, he too had arrived: arrived at a conclusion for his contemplations.

A knock at the door brought him back down into reality. He shuffled slower than he would have liked over to the door—his previous long strides replaced by short, but fast, steps—and opened the door only to be greeted by his Auntie and… was that Deku's dad…?

That was a weird feeling, because Bakugou didn't remember very much about the older Midoriya, and only knew that he had gotten a job in America and had left to help support his family. But that was unimportant.

Where was Deku?

After searching for a few moments (his shorter than normal stature made it more difficult), the blonde finally located him. He was uncharacteristically hiding behind his mom's legs. In the past (or would it be the future?), Bakugou had known Deku to cower and attempt to hide or look smaller than he was, but that was after years of torment from him, so as a child?

Something was wrong.

Deku finally met his eyes and it all melted away. He squealed as he did often as a child and ran up to Bakugou excitedly and started talking about everything and nothing at the same time—in that special way he did—gesticulating wildly. The explosive (not yet?) teen couldn't even deny it to himself that he had missed this Deku, but even so, he forced himself to tear his eyes away to look at his and Deku's parents seemed a little worried, but mostly relieved now. He made himself appear to be interacting and giving his full attention to Deku, but he was actually listening to the adults, as he was sure they'd be more interesting and important than the ramblings of an almost four year old.

After a little bit of focus he heard some phrases, "...acting weirdly…...I suppose he…..excited for…..he still can't wait…..they should….soon right?"

He was broken out of eavesdropping by the familiar inflection of a question. He hastily focused back on Deku who blinked at him expectantly. He blinked back.

Deku's eyes…

He continued, "Nevermind! Your cake is All Might! Ours are always All Might! We promised, right?!" He leaned in and looked serious in the comical way a kid would, "You'd never break a promise, right?"

Bakugou's heart clenched, "Yeah, we promised. I'll never break a promise." (Not again…)

Dek—Midoriya—looked up at him with a pair of hopeful, wide eyes, "Then I promise I'll protect you if you promise to protect me! We'll take down the bad guy together!" He paused, thoughtfully, "Promise me that you'll never stop believing and trusting me?"

Bakugou's breath was stolen as he thought of their middle and high school years. Did… did he make this same promise before? It'd been so long that he couldn't be sure.

"I… I promise…"

As much as he hated to admit it—not that it was seen as weak for a child to admit happiness, so why did he care so much?—he really enjoyed the small birthday celebration. It was nice to be relieved of the pressure caused by the League of Villains and the long, winding road towards being a Pro Hero. He almost wished he wouldn't have to follow that road again—maybe he didn't?—but the future was not something he was willing to gamble with fate for.

But life's always a gamble, why should he be forced to act according to its design, when he's already so clearly defied it? Was the continued nightmare fuel really something worth putting himself through again?

He shook his head to clear his traitorous thoughts.

But what if this present, existing in the past, isn't even permanent?

Oh shit.

Oh shit.

Before his thoughts could spiral again, he slapped himself across the face and growled, "Sleep, you complete dumbass!"

He proceeded to do just that.

Over the next few days he had re-acquainted himself with his four-year-old body. His movements were more fluid and his spatial awareness was back to its previous state. The only thing missing was his quirk, Explosion. Although, if he remembered correctly, it would appear very soon.

As one might expect, a few days later Bakugou could feel the indicative signs of his quirk. The sweat had always been slightly thick and sweet-smelling, but over the days it had slowly been getting thicker—smelling a bit sweeter—and now he could finally feel the triggering mechanisms activating. A maniacal grin appeared on his face.

Finally!

As soon as he was sure he could produce a small, controlled explosion at will, he decided to show his moth—the old hag. His mother was delighted and yelled for his fath—the old man. He showed off his new (over a decade-old) quirk and was pleased by the positive attention. His mother ran to call Auntie and tell her the good news.

He didn't have to only imagine the second-hand excitement Deku had for him, he remembered as clear as day from before. The thought of that had made him smile softly to himself after they made plans to go out for ice cream the next day. He could get used to this simple life—free of villains, nightmares, and pressure.

But how long will this peace last, in the end?

The next afternoon, his parents dropped him off at the Midoriya household. They were waiting for him to arrive, and Deku was practically vibrating with energy. After waiting a few minutes for Auntie to gather her things, they set out for an ice cream street vendor.

The Midoriyas were essentially walking masses of sunshine with extreme anxiety, although the anxiety wasn't noticeable at that moment. All of their faces were full of smiles and laughter as they made their way down the busy streets of Musutafu.

When they finally reached the vendor, Bakugou realized that this was just down the road from where the sludge villain had attacked him…

Or rather would attack him… no, maybe would have attacked him?

Regardless of verb tenses, bad memories surfaced, and his happiness dulled significantly, even if only for a moment. Then as his attention returned to the menu, Deku ordered the United States of Sundaes flavor (in a cup, not a cone—Midoriya Inko was not that foolish). Bakugou quickly scanned the menu and ended up favoring the same order as Izuku had chosen.

As soon as their treats were paid for, Auntie insisted on spending time at the park. Bakugou didn't particularly want to, seeing how likely it was he would run into other extras that he didn't know how to deal with at the moment. However, he didn't vocalize his disagreement as it could be seen as suspicious to his Auntie, who he knew was very prone to severe anxiety and would worry about it for a long period of time.

As they made their way towards the local park, loud crashes and yells echoed down the street. Further ahead, a villain was lashing out with his quirk at civilians. The villain was launching spikes from some part of his body (Bakugou was too far away—and too short, dammit!—to make out exactly from where) into the crowd wildly. He tried to lead Auntie away from the chaos, but she was frozen in fear.

Suddenly, a hero (Who the hell? He didn't recognize that hero?) appeared to apprehend the villain. Unfortunately, when she used her quirk (what the hell could that quirk be to have made this situation worse?) on him only made the spikes increase their discharge rate. He once again tried to get them away, but it was too late. The villain tried to escape and fled in their direction while the spikes were still flying out. It happened in seconds. A stray spike flew straight into Auntie's chest and lodged itself there. She collapsed with a guttural scream and passed out. Deku cried out as she bled out rapidly.

What the fuck.

What the fuck just happened?

This didn't happen last time, what had he done, what had he done whathadhedone?