Chapter 2: Reality Sets In

Izuku – caught between no man's land of consciousness and unconsciousness – struggled to get some rest after his last fight nearly killed him. To his misery, a voice called out to him from within his mind, and it wasn't too thrilled with his last performance in the war against the infamous Symbol of Evil; All for One.

'Get up, kid. Rest doesn't exist for people like us, and nothing is going to change till you put that ugly bastard down once and for all.'

The wonderful and motivational speech did the complete opposite of what it intended, forcing Izuku to ignore the man's irritated tone. Some might question if the young man was going insane for hearing a voice inside his head but the last few months have been anything but normal for him. Truth be told, the sudden appearance of a voice was real and came from deep inside a quirk named One for all. Everyone who ever wielded this power before him hoped it would become strong enough to defeat the infamous Symbol of Evil, and Izuku was chosen to be its ninth and final user after his mentor, All Might, passed it down to him.

It was a responsibility he chose to take on without hesitation, understanding a hero should always be able to save all those they can. If he was asked to take on such a powerful foe, Izuku knew he had no other choice but to do so with a smile on his face.

'Momo would kill me if she even heard a single one of those thoughts,' The young man knew his girlfriend wasn't too fond of the weight he placed on his shoulders on a regular basis. The latest stunt he pulled cemented her opinion on the war between One for All and All for One.

Thinking about his girlfriend made the young man come to a realization about his current situation. 'Where am I?' He asked himself, feeling the soft sensation underneath his body, and came to the conclusion it was a bed. More questions began popping into his mind, specifically concerning the status of his beautiful dark-haired girlfriend, Momo Yaoyorozu.

Immediately, Izuku managed to force his body to shake off the heavy feeling of exhaustion plaguing it. He was met with a strange sight after managing to gather enough strength to do. Izuku expected to see his room filled to the brim with All Might merchandise, showcasing his long-time admiration for the larger-than-life hero and mentor. Instead of his room, the room he woke up in was considerably larger than the one assigned to him by Aizawa. It seemed almost the complete opposite of his room in a number of ways.

The lack of furniture stuck out like a sore thumb as there was hardly anything other than the bed, a night tight, and some chairs around a small table. Another eye-catching feature was the darkened window acting as a wall.

Before getting a chance to further ponder on why he woke inside a random bedroom, Izuku heard what sounded like a shower through a nearby door. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the noise, 'Is Momo in there?' He silently asked himself, praying that it really was his girlfriend inside there.

He contemplated knocking on the door to see if it truly was her inside. A part of him was definitely trying to find something or someone familiar. Deep down, he wanted to make sure he wasn't going crazy or having a really weird dream. Those doubts, however, were put to rest by a certain beat-up costume on the back of a chair. The torn-up green and black costume made him forget about whoever was inside the shower and forced his body to move despite the aches he felt affecting him.

'So it was all real?' His blood ran cold at the thought of what happened. All he could think about was everyone else, wondering if they managed to get out during the fight. 'Did...Did she escape with the others in time?' A series of terrible images came to mind, painting a grim picture in his mind. The mere thought of someone like All for One finding his mother was almost too much for him to bear.

He tightened his grip on the costume, fear gnawing at his insides like a parasite. A moment later, breathing started getting harder for him as he put the colorful piece of fabric back on the chair. His body was still rather weak, and forcing it to get from the bed and move around was already pushing it to the limit. Meanwhile, he never paid any attention to the bathroom door opening up and revealing a girl around his age in some casual clothing.

The dark-haired girl saw him standing by the chair and saw him leaning on the back of it for support. It didn't take long for her to suspect something was wrong with him. Quietly, the girl heard his breathing grow ragged. She made her way towards Izuku with the hopes of calming him down.

Then, after closing the short distance between them, she proceeded to gently wrap her arms around his chest. The sudden feeling of arms must have spooked him, but Momo manages to rest her head on one of his shoulders. "I'm right here, Izuku," She whispered into his ear as calmly as possible. "Just listen to my voice. Everything is fine. We're safe now. I...I can promise you that much."

The room became silent as Momo waited for Izuku's response. To her relief, the dark-haired girl could hear his breathing normalizing. He seem to be calming down, and Momo was just thankful he was with her right after everything they've been forced to deal with in the past two days.

"I'm sorry," He quietly muttered. "Didn't mean to worry you."

"It's alright. You just woke up and found yourself alone in this room," Momo was mentally beating herself up for leaving him alone. She knew Izuku was bound to wake up at some point. It's not as if he was completely unconscious or anything, "If I'm being honest, I should be the one apologizing to you. To wake up and find yourself in a random bedroom, anyone would be worried."

Izuku heard the guilty tone hidden underneath her words. He turned around to face Momo. Like him, she wasn't wearing her hero costume either. However, the real thing catching his attention was the tears in her eyes. Izuku stared at her with wide eyes, "W-What's wrong?" He placed his hands on her cheeks, worried as to what might have happened while out of it. "Are you hurt?"

She answered his question by simply shaking her head. "Nothing is wrong," Momo quietly replied, appreciative of the concern from him in so many ways. She leaned into his hands, "I'm just...I'm just happy you're okay. I was so worried you wouldn't wake up and I...I didn't want to be alone here without you."

The last few months have proven to be some of the difficult times she's been forced to experience, and witnessing the dark path Izuku planned to go down was probably the hardest of all. She refused to let a maniac like All for One take him from her. That's why she almost didn't hesitate to keep a firm grip on Izuku throughout the night, fearful someone might come along and try to take him away from her. Or, a far scarier possibility, he might try to rush headfirst into whatever the villain had planned for him.

'Damn it, I'm not supposed to be emotional right now,' Momo scolded her behavior, remembering there were quite a few questions about their current situation.

Yet, no matter how hard she tried, the dam holding everything back was about ready to burst. Izuku, as per usual, seemed almost ready to try and plug up the cracks starting to show. His growth as a hero and as a person was something almost everyone in their class could admire. The biggest lesson he seem to finally take to heart was realizing how his reckless actions can easily be just as devastating as the many villains popping around Japan.

"And you're not alone," Izuku mustered what little energy he had left for a smile, wanting to comfort the girl in front of him. "I'm standing here, aren't I? Safe and sound because of you, Momo."

Expressing his feelings was never an area of expertise for someone like him. If anything, people like Momo and All Might helped him in ways he could've never imagined. It's why he'll forever remain grateful to them for as long as he lives, and he was more than willing to make sure Momo was happy for the rest of her life, even if it might kill him.

The simple words and smile manage to get a positive response from Momo, who smiled back at him. She leaned forward, tears still in her eyes, and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips, "You're still the same cheeseball I fell in love with a year ago."

"I always will be your cheeseball...till death do us part," Izuku said confidently, a far cry from how his younger self might have reacted if a girl kissed him on the lips.

Being romantic was never a strong suit for him. In fact, Izuku sometimes wondered if the past year was nothing more than a fever dream running wild. What stopped those thoughts in their track were moments like these, helping to put his mind at ease. To think their journey together kicked off because he decided to apologize for handing off the student council president role to Iida.

Ironically, the next day proved to be the end of the beginning, and no one could've predicted how much everything changed over the course of their first year at high school. The chance to savor their feelings for each other was something they took advantage of whenever an opportunity popped up. It's why he didn't hesitate to get even more intimate with Momo.

He slowly moved his arms downward and wrapped them around her waist. The girl – realizing what he wanted right now – went along with the idea. Momo's arms went around his neck while her head rested on his shoulder. A few classmates of theirs liked to tease them about how she was taller than Izuku, but the recent growth spurt he's been going through has closed the distance between them.

"You really shouldn't be walking around," The dark-haired girl was still concerned about his health in light of recent events. "Rest is what you need."

"Someone would disagree with you about what I need."

Momo looked at him with a confused expression.

"The second user isn't too happy with my performance during the attack," Izuku explained, thinking of the little spiel from the man. "Said I can't afford to rest with All for One after the attack. No rest for the wicked, he said."

"Screw what he has to say," Momo scoffed at the ridiculous words from the second user. "You can't do anything if you're exhausted beyond belief or heavily injured."

Her harsh tone got an awkward chuckle from Izuku as he commented on his girlfriend's words, "I think Jirou rubbed off on you too much."

"Darling, I refuse to apologize for wanting you, my boyfriend, to stay alive and see tomorrow."

Izuku came to learn a very important fact about the beautiful girl in his arms; Momo had a tendency to act protective over him. "I don't think I would ask you to apologize to him. Plus, I doubt he cares what you have to say anyway," He said, recalling the conversations he's had with the previous users of One for All.

"Still, their opinions don't matter unless we can get back to Japan."

"Wait, what?"

"You don't remember last night?"

Izuku shook his head, "Nothing, I can barely recall any real details. The most I can remember is feeling the rain and hearing loud rumblings of thunder. Other than that, I don't know."

The dark-haired girl could only speculate her boyfriend's reaction to learning they woke up on the other side of the Pacific. She lifted her head off his shoulder and looked at him with a serious expression, "To be honest, I'm still surprised myself about where we ended up. All I can tell you is we're in the state of California."

"Are you serious?!"

Momo took his question in stride and answered it, "I was just as surprised to learn where we ended up. The last thing I expected was to wake up across the Pacific."

She continued to share what little information was available to her, especially after the conversation she had with those people. "We did get lucky, however. The people who came across us – during a deadly storm from I could tell – were kind enough to offer us a place to stay for the night," Momo summarized what she could remember about it.

"Do you know who they are?" Izuku couldn't resist asking, a serious tone behind his words. The time he spent trying to fill the void left behind by All Might made an impact on he looked at things around him.

Momo pursed her lips, "No, I don't know who they are. All I know is the man who owns this home is very, very wealthy and claims to be a hero."

"A hero?"

The excited tone behind her boyfriend's question managed to crack a tiny smile on her face. "It's what he claims to be anyway. Maybe you might be more familiar with him," She told him, recalling his love for heroes and quirks. "As for his claims about being wealthy, I saw a sign saying Los Angeles was a few miles away. My best guess is we're near Malibu. My theory was only strengthened after seeing the exterior of the home we're in."

"And you would be correct, miss."

The two teenagers froze as they heard a voice coming from somewhere. Izuku, without hesitation, was about to use One for All until Momo placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to face her, silently asking why she was stopping him. She merely shook her head, answering his question.

Momo glanced around the room, looking for potential hiding places but couldn't seem to find one. Then, there was the voice itself. It sounded like a British accent, and it very much confused the young girl. "Who's there?" Momo demanded.

"No need to be nervous, miss. I apologize if I surprised you and your partner. It was hardly my intention to scare Mr. Stark's guests," The mysterious voice said.

"Is that who owns this home? A man named Mr. Stark."

Momo needed to learn everything she could about these people. There's no telling if something might go wrong.

"Yes, this is the home of Mr. Stark, my creator."

Those final words caught the two teenagers off guard. Izuku's eyes went wide as he tries to figure out what the mysterious voice meant by those words. On the other hand, Momo took a second to search the room once more and came up with a possible conclusion.

"AI?"

"Correct again. Intelligent for a human your age, aren't you?" The AI replied with humor in its voice. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Jarvis, created by Mr. Stark to run not only his home but Stark Industries."

"Is...Is that even possible?" Izuku, while not as smart as his girlfriend, knew AI capable of managing a company's systems was quite a ways away. "I don't even think Dr. Shield was that far along in such a field."

"Dr. Shield?" Jarvis, hearing the name muttered by the young man, did a quick search and found no individual with that name involved in the research of AI or anything closely related to the field. "May I inquire who that individual is? I seem to be unable to find any information about an individual in such a field."

How could anyone not know about Dr. Shield? Both teenagers were familiar with everything he's done in the field of quirk research. Very few people could even claim half of what he knows, and Izuku was the most vocal about this confusion.

"W-What do you mean by that?"

"It is as I stated earlier...there exists no records of an individual named Dr. Shield involved in such a field," Jarvis told them. "I'm quite certain SHIELD would have information on them, and they seem to have nothing as well."

Neither teenager responded to those words from the AI named Jarvis. Lots of questions started popping up in their heads, but Izuku decided to ask what's been on his mind since talking to Momo.

"Mr. Jarvis...may I ask something about your creator?" There was some level of hesitation on Izuku's part. To be fair, he was speaking with an AI.

"Certainly."

"Your creator said he's a hero. Is that true?"

The AI sighed before answering, "Yes, as difficult as it is to believe, Mr. Stark has made a turnaround in his behavior, well, in most situations, anyway."

"Do you think he can help us get home?" Izuku used to think heroes were almost unbeatable. Then, after being accepted into U.A High, he was exposed to what they faced on a regular basis and got to learn how fallible they really are. His recent experience working alone really put it into perspective for him. "We...We really need to get back to Japan."

"I'm sure it would be better to ask my creator that question," Jarvis said. "I can only assume what the man might say. If you wish to speak with him, he is downstairs in the kitchen with Ms. Potts, his assistant. Mr. Hogan, his bodyguard, is currently out getting breakfast, mainly for you two."

The young couple turned to face each other, a silent question hanging in the air as they knew what awaited them if they went back to Japan. Izuku could remember the words from Gran Torino about needing to train with One for All and to get as far away as possible from the Symbol of Evil. But his responsibility as the ninth and, as he understands, final user.

"Can you give them a heads up about us being up and awake?" Izuku was never a big fan of meeting new people. All his years of suffering as a quirkless child was something he could never truly get over. Learn to accept? Probably, but he knew he was damaged deep down.

Yet, despite the hesitation, people were relying on him and Momo to find their way back home.

(X)

"Ugh, I can't believe this gunk is keeping me alive."

Tony was starting to believe Jarvis was just screwing around with him. While he's used to drinking strange combos of fruits and vegetables, whatever the AI said to stuff into this particular blend is easily the worst thing he's had to drink in his entire life. Still, it's not like he had much of a choice given the unfortunate news he received just a few weeks ago.

'To think...the damn arc reactor is just slowly killing me,' Tony found the entire situation to be ironic. He's spent a large chunk of his life being nothing more than a drunken asshole and womanizer without any repercussions, but the minute he tries doing some good for the world...

He finds out the palladium powering the reactor in his chest was poisoning him.

After taking another swig from the large sports bottle, Tony heard the front door to his estate being swung open as if some wild animal busted through it. "Hey, try not to damage the door!" The billionaire yelled, suspecting it was his personal bodyguard Happy. "I'd rather not have to replace it."

"Knock it off," Pepper, his long-time assistant, scolded him as if he were a child. "I'm going to give Happy a hand with the food. So I suggest you go see if those two kids are hungry."

The man rolled his eyes, "Fine."

When the beautiful redhead walked out of the kitchen, Tony couldn't resist taking a peek at her ass before remembering the life-threatening problem plaguing his life. 'God, I think I finally have a chance at being with a good woman and then life decides to screw with me over again,' Tony was tempted to laugh at the misery continuing to follow him ever since the death of his parents nearly two decades ago.

He got up from the kitchen table and headed for the living room. Like the rest of his enormous estate, it reeked of his vast wealth with some paintings hung on a few walls, a large television built into a stone wall, and even a fireplace to add some charm.

'And then there's this empty spot,' Next to the living room was a little space out of the way. It used to be where his piano was until he ended up destroying it in an accident during his first test flight as Iron Man. Now, it has no real use. 'Could always use it as one of those hatches that allows me to fly away in my suits,' Tony saw the benefits of the idea and decided to worry about that later.

Soon, the genius billionaire made his way upstairs to the second floor. He can already hear his two employees/friends speaking talking downstairs. Happy and Pepper got along quite well, and he didn't need to be a genius to know they complained about the same thing...him.

"Jarvis, buddy, these two kids awake?" He asked out loud, wondering if the AI was around. To his relief, the familiar British accent was heard through some of the speakers he built into the house.

"Yes, they are awake. In fact, they seem rather in a hurry to speak with you," the AI said, making Tony raise a brow upon hearing those words.

"Is that so? Anyway, did you scan their faces while they were sleeping?" In the days following his reveal as Iron Man, Tony learned to be quite careful with those he trusts. There was no telling if someone might be getting close for the sake of hurting him or his friends. It's why he could somewhat live with asking his AI to do such a thing, even if others may disagree like Pepper.

Unfortunately, the news he received from Jarvis was less than ideal.

"I did, sir."

"And?"

"I've come across a problem," Jarvis told him. "It seems as if they don't exist. No medical reports or any police reports in Japan mentioning any teenagers that fit their age, description, or relationship. I even took the liberty of checking with Japanese government databases and it seems as if these two appeared from out of thin air."

That information did not make Tony feel better. In an experiment, one has to take into account every variable or risk something going horribly wrong in the process, and learning his two guests didn't exist in any database made even someone as carefree as him have to stop and think twice.

"What did they want to ask me?"

"They seem rather desperate to get back to Japan," Jarvis mentioned, looking through the recorded conversation between the two teenagers. "It seems as if they're in danger, specifically the young boy from what I could understand."

Tony didn't comment on the last piece of information from his AI. Instead, he allowed his mind to go to work as he thought about what it could mean. Teenagers sometimes like to exaggerate stories or make a lot of things seem like a bigger deal than it should be. He wondered if that was the case, but something in the back of his mind was telling him otherwise.

Upon reaching the door to the spare bedroom, the world-famous billionaire proceeded to knock on it.

Knock! Knock!

There was a moment of silence before he got a response from someone on the other side of the door.

"Y-Yes?"

Instantly, Tony knew this wasn't the girl from yesterday. He could tell the voice was much deeper and could even tell the slight differences in how they spoke English. Years of experience in board rooms, business negotiations, and being forced to interact with people made it quite easy for him. Still, Tony wanted to roll his eyes at the person's response.

'Guess the guy is up and about if he's responding to me,' Tony deduced. 'Well, I should introduce myself. I do have somewhat of a newly patched up reputation to uphold as a hero.'

He cleared his throat before speaking up, "I'm letting you guys know we have breakfast downstairs."

"Oh, uh, thank you for telling us. Can you give us a moment? We'll be right out."

Looks they were taught some manners, Tony thought, which was far more than he can say about himself. The billionaire couldn't help but recall the information Jarvis told him about the two teenagers being nonexistent in any database either in this country or Japan. More questions were starting to pop up in his brain.

He did recall a suggestion from Pepper to talk to Fury. A suggestion quickly shut down as the famous billionaire refused to do business with a man like Nick Fury and the rest of SHIELD. His first-ever meeting with the man led to Tony having a number of doubts, including that idiotic Avengers Initiative.

Whatever misgivings Tony had against Fury, those were quickly put away as he heard the door in front of him open.

Immediately, his brain picked out the various details of the two teenagers. They were roughly the same height, but the girl was slightly taller by about an inch at the most. Although, the oddest thing was the boy's hair color. For some reason, it looks black except it wasn't at the same time. A tinge of green could be seen.

An odd sight, he thought, but a teenager dying their hair was far from the weirdest thing these days. Either way, the billionaire decided to lighten things up with his usual sense of humor.

"I see you guys are refreshed. Hopefully, you didn't have too much fun and ruin the sheets in there."

Wow, this got a lot more support than I expected. I just gotta say thanks to everyone who made it quite clear they want really want to see this story move forward.

As for this chapter, nothing really happened. All that mattered was setting things up for the next chapter as a very, very strange conversation is about unfold, and I promise it will be a lot longer than this chapter. I did – at the very least – show the relationship of Izuku and Momo cause I do have to warn you guys...I will be writing a decent amount of fluff into this story.

Now, I gotta go start writing this next chapter while my brain is still good after watching the Packers-Bengal game. Conversations about coming from a different universe aren't exactly the easiest thing to write. These conversations ain't supposed to happen in the first place. XD

Other than that, I'm starting to really plan big plot points for future stories. And, before one of you guys ask me, they will be participating in a number of MCU films. Won't spoil the list, but I am pretty excited to see what I can do with Momo and Izuku.

Anyway, I'm gonna play some Cities Skylines after this. Let me know what you guys think about this chapter!