It was time for the briefing.
Izuku stood outside the meeting room, silently preparing himself. Previously, he had never been allowed to any of the past meetings. Instead, only Tomura would attend them, and later give all the information needed to him. This was his chance to prove himself.
Taking in one last shaky breath, Izuku entered the room.
It was a fairly standard board room, as board rooms went. There was a projector at the front of the room, and a long desk dividing the room with chairs on either side of it. Glancing over the chairs, he noticed that none of them were marked with any specific names. Seeing this, he quickly sat down in a chair closer to the screen.
Since Izuku came in fairly early, there was no one else in the room. Slowly, as the minutes ticked by, more people started to enter and sit down. He didn't recognize any of them. Nobody from the league was here-oh! Izuku smiled as Mr. Compress entered the room. He hadn't yet seen the man today and the last time they had actually talked was at the raid on UA. Waving him over to the chair next to him, Mr. Compress took a seat next to him silently. No one else familiar entered the room after that.
Suddenly, a strange man Izuku had never seen before entered the room. He looked like a bouncer you would see at a bar, tough, buff, bald, and with lots of scars.
"Welcome everyone," the buff man grunted out, making his way to the front of the room, "after the perfect execution of the attack on UA, the League is now in a better position than ever to advance its plan's further. Now, here is our next target. The UA Provisional exam, is a test that is held twice a year where students from multiple different hero schools will work together, or against each other, in order to earn their provisional licenses."
Izuku had heard about the provisional license exam before. Him and Tomura thought it was a stupid needless tradition, that was in the grand scheme of things unnecessary. Why pit other hero schools against each other? It was just going to create unneeded rivalries that could cause them problems if they later kept their grudges with them in the future.
The man then continued on, "We have a month and a half to plan, then it's go-time. Now, someone from the League will be personally selected to go on this mission. We haven't decided who that will be yet, it could be any one of you, or someone outside of this room. Now, if you are selected, you will have to go face-to-face with heroes in training."
As the man said this, he gestured towards the projection behind him which started to light up with pictures. It was a slideshow displaying the faces and stats of different students. Most of them were from UA, but there were a few that were from other hero schools.
The pictures didn't look right though. They kept shifting around. Almost as if...they were moving.
Izuku let out a slight gasp but quickly bit his lip, silencing him.
They were moving. He was sure of it. They were mouthing words at him but no sound was coming out. The blonde angry one, Bakugo, was practically screaming his head off at him. While a much softer one with brown hair was silently crying at him. Slowly, students from UA started to take up all the spots on the screen, and the heroes-in-training from other schools, who's pictures weren't moving, were pushed off screen.
"Now remember, these heroes-to-be are powerful, and completely devoid of conscience. They aren't like you and me. That is why we need to take them out."
The pictures started flashing and changing abruptly. Suddenly, instead of showing the whole class on the screen it was just one student.
Uraraka.
She was screaming at him.
"You have to get out of there, Deku!" she cried out, tears rolling down her face. Suddenly the picture changed and it was someone else.
"Midoriya it isn't safe for you there! You need to leave!" It was the one with glasses and blue hair. Iida Tenya.
The picture changed again.
"Please, Midoriya, you need to get away!" That was Todoroki.
He didn't understand what was happening. He didn't know these people, so why were they acting like this?! He never had one positive interaction with them! Every time they met, they tried to kill each other. Why was this happening?!
His breaths started coming out faster. His hands were sweating.
This can't be happening.
No. No. No.
"DEKU!" Bakugou screamed at him, distressed, explosions were going off in his hands.
Izuku couldn't take it anymore.
"What's going on!" he shouted, scrambling up so fast he knocked his chair down to the floor. Izuku started pulling at his hair, his breaths started coming out faster, and shallower. His vision was blurry. He wanted to cry. Bakugou continued to scream in the background.
"Uh, Villain Deku, You have something to say?" The gruff man questioned, raising an eyebrow at the distressed teen.
"The screen. Why are you showing this? Is this live feed? What is happening!" Izuku cried out, panicked. He started rubbing at his eyes as tears threatened to fall out.
"There's no screen." The man stated.
What.
Removing his hands from his eyes, Izuku looked out between his fingers and saw...no screen. There was nothing there. Just a blank wall with nothing on it. No pictures and no UA students. Not even a projector.
"All the information should be in your paper report. The League can't afford to waste money buying electric screens."
"What report? What is happening?" Izuku cried out as fear started rising in him. He moved his hands towards his face again and gasped. He was holding a paper report. He didn't have this a second ago. They were using a projector, they were using screens!
However, if that was true then why...why did he have this report right here.
Did he...did he imagine everything?
Letting go of the papers, he watched them fall to the floor almost in slow motion. He can't. He can't handle this. Not right now. Why? Why did he do to deserve this? What was wrong with his head! Why was he seeing things that weren't real!
Mr. Compress suddenly reached out to him, gently, hoping to comfort the terrified teen, but before he could, Izuku ran out of the room blindly.
He started running through the dimly lit hallways, no idea where he was going. He just needed to get away. He started seeing flashes again.
"No…: Izuku mumbled, grabbing at his head. He started swaying back and forth as he struggled to keep running. That starved looking blonde man kept reappearing in his mind, he was reaching out towards him. Bakugou, the arrogant teen, was screaming at him indecipherably. Uraraka was crying.
"Get out of my head!" he screamed, ripping at his hair, blood started to drip down his forehead but he didn't care. He kept scratching.
Kept Clawing. Gripping. Grabbing.
Anything to try and get their faces out of his head.
Suddenly, he ran right into someone walking by, "Izuku? Izuku, what's wrong," the man grabbed at him worriedly, pulling the frantic teen's hands away from his bloody head. Looking up, Izuku saw that it was Tomura. His Tomura. Tomura.
"Tomura!" Izuku shouted, desperately grabbing onto his best friend, he knew Tomura would keep him safe no matter what, "there-there was something...something there, I-think." Izuku stuttered out, his voice failing him. He was unable to convey what he wanted to, instead he just miserably grasped at Tomura, trying to keep the other boy as close to him as possible.
"Okay, calm down." Tomura murmured softly, pulling the younger teen flush against his body. Leaning down Tomura brought his face down to Izuku's hair and began nuzzling it. Tomura started sniffing Izuku's hair greedily, as the younger boy continued to panic.
" I can't. There's something wrong, something I keep forgetting, something I'm supposed to fix." Izuku mumbled out desperately, as tears finally started to leak down his eyes.
"I-I remember the attack on UA, the brightness of the fire, the heat, the hero Eraserhead was screaming-so were Bakugo and Todoroki, but why? Why were they screaming again, I can't-" Suddenly Izuku was cut off as Tomura pressed his lips against him. Izuku squeaked out surprised, not expecting the kiss, and Tomura quickly took advantage and deepened it. He tried to kiss Tomura back just as enthusiastically, but he felt like he was going to collapse. He was so tired all of the sudden. Nothing was making sense.
However, the feeling of his best friend's lips on his was calming. At least a little bit.
Suddenly, Tomura broke away from him, a thin line of saliva still connected the two of them though. Tomura was looking at him with heated eyes. Yet Izuku could see that under his arousal, he was in fact concerned.
"What was that…" Izuku murmured, leaning back the spit connecting them broke and flew back hitting Izuku's chin.
"Sorry," Tomura exclaimed, his hands rising up, "you were freaking out and it was freaking me out! Come on, let's get you outside. You need some fresh air." Tomura then grabbed Izuku's wrist and started dragging Izuku behind him.
"No, Tomura, I don't need air," Izuku said, preparing to rip his wrist away from him. Suddenly his vision blacked out and a bright light consumed his vision, temporarily blinding him.
When he regained his vision, he was on top of a tall building in the middle of the city.
"How...how did we get here," Izuku murmured out in shock, Tomura was still tightly gripping his wrist as the two of them looked out over the city.
They were outside. On the top of a building. How did they…
"We climbed up," Tomura said, looking over at Izuku concerned, "like we always do. Don't you remember?"
"I-I don't," Izuku gasped out, reaching towards Tomura, he quickly grabbed onto the villain and buried himself in his chest, "I don't know what's happening to me. It's like I'm losing my mind."
"You just need to relax. You've had a hard time recently. Just let go of all your worries and doubts," Shigaraki calmly muttered, petting Izuku's hair.
"Yeah. You're probably right anyway. You're always right,Tomura," Izuku mumbled, burying his face into Tomura's chest, "I'm fine. Everything's fine."
"Of course I'm right. Everything is perfect. Soon, the two of us are gonna be ruling Japan together, just like we always planned." Tomura then leaned down and kissed the top of Izuku's head.
"Is that what you really want," Izuku said softly, grabbing Tomura's hand and holding it, "to rule the world?"
"Yeah obviously," Tomura grumbled out annoyed, he started slowly scratching at his neck with the hand that Izuku currently wasn't holding, "isn't that what you want, too?"
Another flash of the blonde looking man appeared before his eyes. He was smiling brightly at Izuku.
"I don't know." Izuku said sadly. He wished he knew what he wanted, but his head was so foggy. He couldn't think straight. He tried to bury even closer to Tomura but he was already pressed tightly against him.
"Come on, don't flake out on me now. This is what we always wanted. Everything'll be perfect as long as we stay together." Tomura smiled down at him, leaning in, Tomura gave Izuku a small peck on the lips.
"What...what if we don't stay together? What if it all goes wrong?" Izuku cried out, looking up at Shigaraki as tears started to leak out of his eyes.
"Izuku." Shigaraki said firmly, tightening his hold, "stay with me, okay? You're just seeing things. It's all in your head." As he said this Shigaraki stopped scratching his neck and instead started ruffling Izuku's hair up.
"Shigaraki! Deku!"
Shigaraki paused and suddenly moved away from him, and instead started walking towards the edge of the building where they heard the voice crying out their names. Izuku followed Shigaraki and looked over the side of the building to see Spinner, Twice, and Toga, looking up at them.
"We thought we'd find you up there. We had no idea where you were!" Twice shouted at them while throwing his hands around dramatically.
"Get down here!" Toga yelled excitedly, she was practically vibrating as she bounced from one foot to the other, "we got big news!"
Suddenly a bright light flashed in front of Izuku's eyes causing him to temporarily black out. He couldn't see anything.
Izuku slowly reopened his eyes and found that he and Shigaraki were now on the ground with Spinner, Toga, and Twice.
"What?" he mumbled, grabbing at his head confusedly, they were just on top of the building, how did they get down so fast? Did he blackout? Had Shigaraki carried him down? Maybe it's just his memories acting up again and he actually walked down by himself, but now he just can't remember. God, he's so confused.
"Okay, okay. We just got word, that I'm going to be the one to infiltrate the UA Provisional Exam!" Toga shouted happily, throwing her hands up in the air.
"But...the briefing just started earlier today...we didn't even discuss who we thought should be sent...we just talked about the provisional exam itself." Izuku mumbled nervously, he started wringing his hands together as he started trembling. Toga hadn't been brought up at all in that meeting, there was no way in the small amount of time he had left the meeting that they had narrowed down the potential candiatants to her.
"Uh, Deku…" Spinner said looking sheepish, "that was a week ago."
What. That was...that wasn't possible! The briefing had happened earlier today! There was no way that was a week ago. If it was though...how much had he been blacking out?! What had he been doing this whole time!
"No...no!" Izuku shouted grabbing at his hair, he started scratching his head aggressively again, "I know this is wrong. Can't you see it? My memories don't match. We're jumping around. Things are disappearing and reappearing. It's like time and space aren't working right, and I-" Izuku gasped out as he clawed at his head more, he could feel old wounds reopening on his head. When he had been running through the hallway earlier after the meeting, he had scratched his head to the point of bleeding. Now those wounds were healed and coming undone under his fingers. How had they had time to heal?! There was no way any of this was real. He was still in bed. This was a dream! A hallucination or trick!
"Izuku, stop it! Stop." Shigaraki yelled, reaching for him. Izuku just grunted out in pain as Shigaraki wrapped himself around him. He could feel more of his skin peeling away as he scratched at his head. Toga looked on at him fascinated by the blood coming off him, while Spinner looked disgusted. Twice's emotions were changing so fast he couldn't even begin to pin his feelings down.
"None of this is right!" Izuku cried out in fear as Shigaraki tightened his hold on him.
Flashes started appearing before his eyes. Todoroki and Bakugou were both screaming as the two of them reached for him. The forest was burning. It was so bright. So hot. He was wearing that green jumpsuit outfit again. He was in a bedroom filled with All Might merchandise. No.
"Izuku. Everything's okay." Shigaraki murmured quietly, Shigaraki then bent down to Izuku's eye level and stared right at him.
"Stop saying that. This isn't right," Izuku's voice broke as tears started falling down his face dramatically, "everyone keeps telling me everything is perfect, but it's not."
Izuku then flinched as Shigaraki brought his hand up to Izuku's face, "I think you might need some medicine, Izu." Shigaraki sighed sadly as he started wiping away his tears.
"M-Medicine," Izuku stumbled out, looking at Shigaraki with wide eyes.
"You have been very stressed lately after the attack on UA's Training Camp. We all overlooked it because you always manage to pull through your doubts and conflictions, but maybe we shouldn't have. We'll make an appointment for you."
Izuku looked up at Shigaraki with hopeful eyes, "W-Will this help me get better?" he quietly murmured as he stepped towards Shigaraki. Shigaraki sighed and quickly pulled Izuku into a tight hug.
"Yes, this will help you. You should have no more doubts. No more hallucinations or time skips." Shigaraki stated darkly as he buried his face into Izuku's hair.
Izuku couldn't help but let out a broken laugh at Shigaraki's answer. Finally. Everything will go back to normal. He can be with Shigaraki and the League just like before.
"Yeah, no worries kid we'll help you! You'll be broken forever." Twice shouted while shaking his head at him.
"Yay!" Toga clapped happily bouncing over to Twice, "I love Izuku's medicine! It's the most pretty red colour, just like blood."
Spinner sighed and brought a hand up to his face, "You guys c'mon…" he murmured out, completely done with everything.
Izuku smiled happily at their silly antics. This was his family. This was where he belonged, and soon all of these horrible visions plaguing him would be gone. He could go on missions with them all again. He would make Kurogiri and Sensei proud. Most importantly, he could be with Shigaraki again. He felt a blush rise to his cheeks at the thought of them together in their bedroom.
Soon everything would be perfect.