Chapter Summary: No greater rift. A sugar spun story. Two voices are better than one. Big verses Little.

Villain!Izuku, Canon-Divergent.

(Warnings for: past kidnapping, past torture, past experimentation and brainwashing.)

This was co-written by kattenprinsen and is cross-posted onto archive of our own.

Chapter two: unchanging opinion, unflinching resolve

Katsuki can think of absolutely zero reasons why he has to be in this shitty little sitting room with his teachers when all he wants, really, is to go home, ice his shoulder and bitch at his mother. Not that she would fucking listen anyway. She had stopped listening to him sometime after he hit ten and had flat out stopped hearing him by the time he got to Yuuei. At least, from the way she rolled her eyes and nodded at whatever he was saying, no matter what he was saying, that's what he got.

So he lunged headfirst into battle. What, was he really supposed to wait for his sensei to give him the all clear? They were already ready to fight, if only in fake rescues, and he wasn't going to get shunted off the field like some first year punk kid. Besides, he ran headlong into shit all the time! By this point he was a well known face around the disciplinary council room.

He could see when his teachers were pissed off at him for fucking around or fucking with property or getting himself in over his head (though that rarely ever fucking happened to him). They would glare at him, annoyed or angry or generally upset with him. It was a common enough expression, a lot of people were often pretty pissed at Katsuki. The expressions these ones wore right now?

They had a worried sort of proud look, kind of like after the first sport festival, when he'd worn his medal to class for a solid week and taunted Todoroki bad enough that he froze his desk solid. Katsuki remembers that with fondness. Solid ice burst so well when it came in direct contact with his explosions. Todoroki's face when he'd blown up the ice fucker's desk had been priceless.

That shit warranted disciplinary action. It also warranted a celebratory ice cream but teachers were never quite so forthcoming on sweets. (Katsuki made due on his own, of course.)

All those looks he was getting were undoubtedly because of the fucking asshole perched on the edge of the couch, a blanket drawn tight around his shoulders and his head of shaggy dark hair even more wild and unmanageable than Katsuki remembered it to be. Not that his memories of Deku were all that crystal clear anymore. It was easier to picture that face on the flyers his mother put up on the bulletin boards in their neighborhood than anything from his memories.

Katsuki had almost completely forgotten about Deku.

Almost.

Deku turned his head slightly, peering up at Katsuki from under messy bangs. His hair was stupidly shaggy and long, like it hadn't seen the right side of a pair of scissors in over a year. It hung around his shoulders, tangled and jarringly dark against the baby blue blanket that Recovery Girl had wrapped around his shoulders.

He narrowed his gaze at Deku. Hauled into the middle of a villain-hero battle, carried around by a giant fucking brain-exposed rage-beast, caught and tossed through the air like a ragdoll and flung out of a fight under the power of zero-gravity and somehow the unlucky asshole was fortunate enough to not have a single fucking scratch on him. Not a single one. Recovery Girl had marveled at him, in fact, making the idiot blush and stumble over his words as he muttered apologies for being uninjured.

First of all, five years and he still is a weak sack of shit?

Second of all, hello, Katsuki got claws to the shoulder and a bruise that covered more of his arm than unbruised skin did, but Deku was the one they fussed the fuck over? Fine. What-the-fuck-ever. No need to get worked up on that. He was resilient. He was properly bandaged up. He'd heal just fine on his own.

"K..Kacchan?"

Katsuki felt his eye twitch. God damn. Five years and that voice- that inane, pathetic little voice- saying that stupid, shitty nickname-

"Kacchan!" A pale, small, too small, hand reaching up for him. The other is braced on the deep blue arm of the creature holding him, holding Deku. Those big green eyes pleading, tears on his face and all Katsuki can think is-

"What the fuck were you doing with those fuckers?" Katsuki snarls, stepping forward. The teachers are keeping their distance, waiting for Deku's mom, and the police, it sounded like, before they really start questioning Deku.

Katsuki has no such qualms.

Deku flinches away from him -as he should, Quirkless bastard- and hunches his shoulders, tight and small. Katsuki takes another step forward, looming over the kid on the couch. "Well?"

"I-I-I didn't-" Deku whispers, "I didn't have a ch-choice."

It's an unsatisfying answer, but probably true. Katsuki has discovered a lot of things that are true are also unsatisfying. He leans back, giving Deku a little space and then asks, "What were you to them? Some sort of bait? A toy? A pet? What did a bunch of fucking villains want with a quirkless little shithole like you? You don't look fucked up enough for them to not give a shit about you." A sneer spreads its way across his face, "I heard what that hands guy fucking called you. Izukun. Why were you on such good terms with that hand covered fuckface villain, Deku?"

Deku ducks his chin down and his hair, his stupid long hair that looks knotted and filthy, all curls and waves and shit, obscures most of his face. Not enough of it, though, not enough that Katsuki can't see the red along his jaw and chin, spreading to his neck. His hands tighten on the blanket he's curled under and Katsuki can barely hear him when he answers. "Th-that's not… I d-don't know… B-but I wasn't-"

"Speak the fuck up Deku, the rest of class can't hear you." The words popped out of his mouth like they were back in grade school together. Katsuki can almost feel that old rage clawing its way out of his gut and into his throat. Everything about Deku was so goddamn annoying. How had he forgotten that? Why had he even bothered saving this stupid fucker?

"Bakugou," Aizawa's voice stops either one of them from speaking. Katsuki looks up to see the adults have pulled out of their other-side-of-the-room-huddle and have returned to paying attention to the two of them. Katsuki gives Deku a meaningful look - we're not done, quirkless-and then steps back. He carefully folds his arms over his chest, his shoulder pulling and complaining all the while.

"Do I really need to be here?" Katsuki asks his sensei directly. "Everyone else got to go the fuck home, why do I have to stay behind?"

"Young Midoriya has been missing for several years," All Might explains with a sweeping gesture of his hand to Deku on the couch. (As if Katsuki was not fully aware of that fact. It was he who had the empty chair in his middle school classroom for almost a full year, after all.) "We have his mother arriving shortly and surely she will want to thank the young man instrumental in her son's recovery!"

Katsuki thinks of Midoriya Inko, once his mother's friend, with a haunted, hunted look to her face, pale as she pressed the smooth paper of her missing son's flyer on a bulletin board. The way she had stopped what she was doing when she heard footsteps and turned, looked at him over his shoulder. The way she had seen him, recognized him, and glared hard at him, as if it were his fault her shitty fucking kid went missing. (Ran away, Katsuki had thought at the time. Ran away because he couldn't face being a quirkless little fuck.)

He shivers. Nah. He'd rather not see her again any time soon.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Katsuki says, "I'm not doing this hero shit to be mobbed by sobbing mothers and weepy kids. I'll leave that to you fuckers." He turns on his heel. It used to sting, talking like that to All Might, turning his back on his childhood hero but… If Katsuki wanted to be number one of all the heroes, that meant beating All Might as well.

He was inches from opening the door when it swung outwards suddenly and he stood face to face with the exact woman he'd been trying to avoid.

Midoriya Inko looks at him with wide eyes set in a pale face. Her eyes are red rimmed, her cheeks flushed and she clutches a handkerchief between her hands. She looks like she's been crying. He stands a moment too long and for that gets pushed aside as she comes racing into the room, crying, "Izuku! Izukuuu!"

Katsuki grimaces. He scowls even harder when a pair of policemen follow her into the room and then slips out. As he does, he catches Aizawa's gaze, his sensei's expression as unreadably exhausted looking as usual, but gets the feeling that there's going to be a one-on-one chat between them later.

Fucking. Fantastic.

There's a moment, right before his mom reaches him, where Izuku meets her gaze and it makes him wince internally. He hates the fear that he can see all over her face, masked only barely with the weight of concern and relief. And then her arms are around his shoulders, her fingers in his hair and she's pressing his face to her shoulder as she shakes with her sobbing.

Izuku leans into her, putting his arms gingerly around her. Remember, you're not supposed to be used to friendly contact. This is the first time you've seen your mother in five years. He takes a shuddering breath and says, just loud enough to be overheard, "Mom."

Inko cries harder. She sinks down onto the couch next to him and she's shorter so it makes him have to lean over. He doesn't care. He just curls closer to her, as if seeking her comfort instead of being the one to comfort her.

"Oh Izuku, Izuku, baby," she cries, petting his hair restlessly. "I was so- so- so scared."

She shakes in his arms so he tightens his grip until they're pressed close. "Mom," he says again, "I missed you so much-"

"I missed you too, oh my baby, my baby boy," Inko cries.

Izuku can feel eyes on them- that's not unusual, really, but in this case he keeps it in mind as he summons tears to shed on his mom's shoulder. Pro Heroes have seen tender family reunions plenty of times, he has to forget himself for a little bit, act as though the smell of his mother's perfume, her soap, her shampoo, is foreign-familiar to him. Act as though he almost forgot it, as though he's not seen her in five years.

Ah, he thinks in the back of his mind, there it is. The emotional switch triggers suddenly and his body begins to shake with his sobbing. He begins to babble- he missed her so much, he thought about her every day, he was so scared, so alone, so hungry, and he wanted her to come save him, come take him away from the bad people.

"Izuku," she says, holding his face in her hands. Her fingers wipe away his tears, "Izuku, I never stopped looking for you. Never."

"Mom-" Izuku can hardly speak around his weeping. He just hugs her again and wishes that he could have turned his head to see All Might's expression. He reminds himself that there are probably cameras in the room and if he really wants to see it, he can, later.

When he finally calms down, when they both finally calm down, it's Nedzu, the principal, who is standing nearest to them, patiently waiting to speak. Inko wipes her face with her handkerchief while Izuku uses the back of his sleeve for his eyes. Nedzu smiles, as much as an intelligent mammal can, and says, "I'm sorry to interrupt your reunion, but there are a great many questions we have for Izuku."

Inko tenses, "He just got back. He just got rescued, and you want to question him? My baby did nothing! He can't do anything!"

"Ma'am," Nedzu says, "Even if he is quirkless, he was missing for a long time. There could be all sorts of information that he knows about his captors. It will be extremely beneficial if we can get him to talk about those villains."

Inko gets to her feet, her hands fists, her body shaking, "You want to question him right now? I just got my baby boy back and you want to take him and-and-" She turns to look at Izuku, "Baby, I won't-"

"Mom," He says, gentle and soft. He reaches for her hands and takes them in his own. "I should- I need to tell the heroes what happened… If I can help stop it from happening to any other kids, then I have to."

"Izuku," she says helplessly. "Even after all this… You want to help others… You haven't changed a bit…"

Izuku smiled at her.

Sighing, Inko sat back down beside him. "If you have to talk about this, I'll be with you the whole time, son."

Nedzu looked over his shoulder to the other teachers and the two police officers. At his nod, they took seats on the couch across from Izuku's, with the coffee table between them. He took the one directly across from Izuku and Inko, crossing his little legs at the knee. "Please be as accurate as you can be, Izuku. The police here will be making an official recording of your statements." He gestured towards one of the cops, who was setting up a recorder on the low table. "We understand that so much of this is traumatizing to you, so if there are any things that you want to avoid talking about, just let us know."

Izuku nodded. He looked anxiously to one of the cops, a man with dark hair and a friendly smile.

"I'm Detective Tsukauchi," the man said, "First, we'd like to confirm your identity as. Please state your name, age, birthdate and quirk status."

Izuku nodded again. He cleared his throat and spoke, "My name is Midoriya Izuku. I'm seventeen years old. My birthday is July fifteenth. As for my quirk status," he felt a smile pull at his lips and let it. "I'm officially registered as quirkless but that's… that's not true anymore."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw All Might tense up, but he kept his eyes straight on Tsukauchi. "During those five years… A man who had access to a lot of quirks and had the ability to transfer them experimented on me with… varying success." Aizawa, standing behind the couch that the other teachers sat on, shifted his weight and hurriedly, Izuku added, "One of the quirks put in me makes my form unstable. You might have noticed it already, but I am constantly using a form retention quirk to maintain my size and shape."

Izuku pressed his palm to his chest and said, "I have an elasticity quirk that makes me extremely, um, pliable? I guess is the right word. Basically, if I don't maintain my form through the use of my quirk, I kind of start to, uh, melt?" He flicked his gaze to Aizawa quickly and then back to Tsukauchi, "So if that quirk gets forcibly stopped, I, uh, can lose my shape really quickly and, um, sometimes it takes a while to reform."

"...How long is a while?" Tsukauchi asked, blinking rapidly. He was shocked. Most of them were, Izuku could see. His mother too, though differently. She clutched one of his hands tightly, sniffling behind her handkerchief. All Might's face was serious, however, and unsurprised.

"The longest time it took me to reform was a week," Izuku said, "The shortest amount of time is a few hours, depending on my exhaustion level. Um, I can maintain it almost constantly, though, and almost perfectly during my sleep too. It doesn't take much energy to retain the shape my body would naturally be in, if, uh, I didn't have that quirk."

"What other quirks have you been given?"

Here, Izuku glanced his eyes downwards, projecting shame and guilt and sorrow with the tilt of his head and the hunch of his shoulders. He felt his mother shudder at his side, heard her whisper his name heartbreakingly, but didn't let up on the emotional influence until he heard All Might say, uncharacteristically softly, "Surely he doesn't have to list them all right now? He might not even know what all of them are…"

"We can come back to the quirks he has acquired after you answer some of our other questions about the villains," Tsukauchi said. He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped it open. "Let's start from the beginning and how you were taken, Izuku. And please, you can take as much time as necessary…"

Izuku brought his eyes up, fixing them on a point beyond Tsukauchi's shoulder, and began to tell the man, the heroes present and the tape recorder everything from the beginning for the first time. At his side, his mother held his hand tightly, silent except for her occasional sniffles. She had no questions, only silent support, as he spun his story.

After all, she had heard most of it before.

Ochako waited nervously in the hallway outside the teacher's conference room. She was alone, having been sent there by Recovery Girl when the elderly heroine had returned to the Infirmary and told her that All Might had requested her presence here. She tugged at her school uniform, straightening it even though there wasn't a single wrinkle in it anywhere, and glanced down the hallway to a clock on the wall. There was only an hour left of school hours, although her class hadn't really had classes since, well, they made it back from EUSJ that morning.

After all, they were supposed to have spent all day at the arena, working on their skills. Instead they had had an extended study hall period, some review classes, and a couple hours outside to work through the post fight jitters. None of them had been allowed to go home early, though, and the injured ones were in the infirmary.

Ochako hadn't been injured herself, but Momo had gotten burnt, Todoroki stabbed (and electrocuted) and a few others had been hurt too. She had visited them rather than sit in class where an injured and absolutely furious Bakugou was.

(Better he was in class than the infirmary, though. Keeping him away from a hurt Todoroki was definitely worth the stress of having Bakugou at his desk with smoking hands and hatred in his eyes. Todoroki needed to focus on healing, without the stress of the mad bomber breathing down his neck. Figuratively speaking, of course.)

Her heart jumped in her chest when the door finally opened. A man in a trench coat- a policeman?- stepped out with another person accompanying him. He lifted his hand in a final wave to the occupants of the room and walked away with only a cursory glance given to Ochako. She tiptoed up to the door and poked her head around, "Excuse me?"

In the room was the principal, All Might and two people with green hair. Ochako wondered if this was where Aizawa had been before he had showed up that afternoon to herd everyone outside. Her gaze lingered on the strangers. The one with curly hair she recognized as Midoriya Izuku, the other one she figured must be his mother.

All Might gestured her in with one hand, "Please come in! There is someone here we think you'd like to meet."

Ochako walked in, shutting the door behind herself, and came over to stand by the coffee table. There were several cups of tea and what looked like a tray of snacks that were only crumbs now. How long had they been in this room? All day? Since everyone had returned from EUSJ? That was nearly five hours ago!

"Midoriya-san," All Might said, "this is the girl who brought Izuku directly out of the fight after young Bakugou got Izuku free of the monster. She protected him until the end of the battle, preventing anyone from getting close."

Ochako flushed, "I was only a rear guard, really. The others did all the fighting!" The modesty was reflexive, making her anxiously wave her hands as though to keep All Might's praise at bay. It always made her feel undeserving when he praised her, especially when she didn't do nearly as much as he made it sound.

"You helped save my little Izuku?" The woman said. Her eyes were red from crying, her face puffy, and Ochako immediately thought of her own mother's tearful face when she'd left them behind for the first time to live on her own for school.

"I did. Yeah," Ochako admitted.

The woman got to her feet quickly and came up to her. She first took Ochako's hands, squeezed them tightly, and then pulled the girl into a tight hug. Ochako let out a woohf of air as she was embraced, but managed to put her arms around the woman. "Thank you, oh thank you," Midoriya said, her voice soft, trembling. "Thank you so much."

"I had a lot of help," Ochako admitted. "All my classmates fought off the villains so I could keep your son safe. It was a team effort."

Midoriya pulled back, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief. "Such wonderful children. You'll all become such wonderful heroes! I just know it."

"Thank you!" Ochako beamed at the woman.

Turning to look at her son, Midoriya said, "Izuku, have you thanked this kind girl yet?"

The boy flushed and ducked his head. "Oh- Really-" Ochako began, "It's not necessary-"

But Izuku stood, the blanket slipping from his shoulders, and he bowed to Ochako. She pressed her hands to her face, flushing at the sight because wow, he was really quite tall, and his face was very cute and his hair looked so sleek and curly. He's so pretty, she thought as he said his thanks to her. He hardly looks like he was a kidnapped kid only a few hours ago.

"Thank you for saving my life and protecting me. I owe you a great debt," Izuku said. He straightened slowly, looking up at her and then glancing down and away. "Please, if you ever need anything-"

Flustered, Ochako waved her hands, "Really. It's fine. I mean. Oh gosh. I'm just glad that you are okay! Especially since you said you were held captive so long and you seemed so freaked out and I was worried you might be feeling sick from the zero gravity motions! I mean that's not really something a normal human can adjust to very quickly and Bakugou did mention you were quirkless and so I'm really just happy that you're alive and unharmed!" She paused for breath, a short one, and asked, "You are okay, right? I mean…" His eyes were swollen like he had been crying too, now that she really looked at his face.

"I am," Izuku said, "And I've felt worse than that before. Floating like that was actually kind of… fun. I guess." He gave a little smile. His hands twisted together in front of him, tugging at the hem of his shirt. It was the same green one he'd been wearing that morning. Ochako distantly wondered why they hadn't put him in some fresh clothes- clothes not given to him by a villain.

"Oh. Okay." She said, blinking. He had a cute smile too. It really was so unfair for someone so tall to be as cute as a little kid! "Um, uh." She looked to the principal and All Might, "What's going to happen now?"

"It's about the end of the school day," Nedzu said, "So you and your class will be dismissed shortly. You don't need to worry about Izuku. He'll be well taken care of."

Ochako looked at the young man again, sadness filling her heart. Were they never going to meet again? That was the way rescues seemed to go and yet…

"Um," Izuku said softly. He had his chin ducked down and he stared at the table, as though he was unable to meet anyone's eyes. "If I could… After the tests in the hospital… If I could… I mean… I always wanted…"

His mother put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. He leaned in towards her touch and said a little more boldly, "I know that the classes have already started this year and I'm way, way too late to start them but- I have quirks… Quirks that could help save people and I- I always wanted- even when I was little and couldn't- I always wanted to be a hero. To help save people. And now. Now that I'm back. Now that I'm free I just-" He finally looked up, tears in his eyes and a smile stretching across his face, "I just want to be a hero and save people like me. I want to save people who are lost like I was! So please, please let me enroll here! There's nothing I want more- I dreamed about it every day! Please let me be a student here! I'll do anything!"

Ochako felt awash with desperate hope. Just from the look on Izuku's face she could tell that this really was his greatest wish. Tears flooded her own eyes, running down her cheeks.

I dreamed about it every day!

Five years. Izuku had been prisoner for five years. All that time…

He just wanted to be a hero?

Ochako turned towards the principal and All Might, "Please!" She cried, "Please, you have to let him! Please let him join us! Classes just started this year and- and- Izuku-kun would be a good hero! I just know it! He'd help so many people!"

Izuku clapped his hands together and bowed over them, pleading along with her, "I'll do anything at all! Please just let me study to be a hero!"

Ochako's vision was blurry with tears as she looked at her own personal hero, All Might. It was embarrassing to be caught sobbing like this, but she couldn't help it! If this was Izuku's dream… If this had been the thing that kept him sane through all those years of torture! There was just no other choice!

Nedzu looked from Izuku to All Might and back. With a sigh, he said, "All right. We'll set up a special entrance exam. If he passes, he can join the third year class."

Night had fallen by the time Inko opened the door to her small home with Izuku, tall and quiet, following her. Even though it was dark, she had seen quite a few people staring. Of course, when All Might himself accompanied a woman and her son to their apartment building, people were going to notice.

Even more so if said woman's son had been missing for five years.

"Izuku," Inko said with a smile, "welcome home."

Izuku laughed and let the door shut, "I'm back. For good this time."

"Oh Izuku, I was so worried," she said, keeping her voice down. "I almost called Father when I heard that you had been caught! I only didn't because they said you were rescued. Rescued! You! I was so worried, so worried! How could you do that to your momma!" She fussed at him, waving her finger in his face. She was so much shorter than him that it looked like a kitten scolding a great dane.

Sheepishly, Izuku scratched at the back of his neck, "I'm sorry. But I had to make it look real, didn't I? And I told you I was going to give a surprise to you soon!" He gestured to himself, "Look mom, I'm all grown up!"

"Grown up!" She pouted, "Is that what that's supposed to be?" Inko huffed and turned on her heel, "You can't fool me with that get up, son! Momma knows exactly what you look like all grown up!"

"I really am sorry," Izuku said gently. "Please forgive me. I just… It had to be like that or else they'd think I was lying to them."

Inko sighed and shook her head. After a moment of silence, she turned back and reached up to pat his cheek. "Are you going to stay around the house looking like this? You're so tall, Izukun, and what is with this long hair?"

"What? Don't you like it?" Izuku blew on a lock hanging in his face, "I think it softens my look up, you know? Otherwise my size would be too intimidating!"

"You don't have to be so tall!" She admonished, "Little Izuku would have been just as adorable!"

"Little Izuku is only good for distracting Katsuki," Izuku replied. He took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Big Izuku needs to catch All Might's attention."

Inko tugged on his hand, drawing him deeper into the house. "Fine. Fine. But every once and a while, will you shift back into your little self? I like being able to pick you up and cuddle you still." She tightened her grip, although she didn't look at him as she took him to the kitchen, "Big or small, with a thousand quirks or none at all, you'll always be momma's baby boy."

Izuku stepped up and hugged his mother from behind, effectively stopping her in her tracks. "I love you, Mom. Thank you so much. For everything."

Inko wiped at her eyes, already tearing up again. She thought that she had run out of tears when Izuku had first gone missing, but she had been wrong. She thought that she had cried her very last when Izuku had returned to her the first time, but she was wrong again. And here she was again, crying over her son. She should have known better than to think she'd ever stop crying.

As long as she was Izuku's mother, her darling son would bring her tears. Inko didn't mind, though, Izuku was her son and she loved him no matter what he did, no matter who he became.

"Izuku," she pat his hands, still around her abdomen, "Are you hungry? How about I fix you up your favorite? You've got to get ready for that test tomorrow, don't you? So you can get into Yuuei."

Izuku picked her up, hugging her tightly, "Yeah! I'm super hungry mom! Can I help you make dinner? Can I?" He carried her into the kitchen like she weighed nothing.

Inko laughed and only pretended to struggle, "Ooh, put down your poor mother! Yes you can help! You're a good son, aren't you?"

"Yes!" Izuku beamed. "And you're the best mother! I love you!" He set her down in the kitchen, by the fridge.

Inko, still laughing, wiped tears from her cheeks and reached up to ruffle the soft hair on her son's head. "I love you too, Izukun, I love you too."

TBC