Izuku, using his mom's infinite wisdom, deals with his problems the way she does. By sleeping on them. He feels so emotionally tired he doesn't even look at the clock, just changes into his PJs and conks out in bed for the next few hours. He manages nine, and then wakes up, a little disorientated by the sound of the main door closing.

He gets out of his room and wanders to the kitchen, rubbing out the sleep out of his bleary eyes.

He sees the note. Grabs it. Trashes it. Goes to his room to write another.

Hi mom,
Sorry but me and Shinsou-kun decided to go fusing early today. We've eaten breakfast, don't worry. We'll be at school on time.
Love you,
Izuku 3

That, he thinks, should do the trick.

He packs his backpack, dresses up, and gets out of the house, thinking intensively.

Shinsou-kun lashed out on him. That was bad. He might lash out again if he finds him. But he needs to find him. Who knows where he actually went and whether he actually plans to go to school.

He thinks, where he would go if he needed a break from everything, and there's only one answer in his head.

He directs his steps to the Dagobah beach and finds Shinsou-kun on the shore. He doesn't think much then, just that he needs to resolve this conflict, needs to make him see this way, needs to get him to understand… He feels the familiar now buzzing of fusion and gets an idea. Maybe it would be a violation but… He needs Shinsou-kun to get him. And what better method would there be than making him literally see through his eyes?

He doesn't let the feeling of fusion fizz out, and instead tries to amplify it, as he comes closer to the boy. He feels his hand fizz, then glow, and then Shinsou-kun is glowing and his light is coming forward and— Izuku feels… stronger, fuller, complete. He feels powerful in a way he didn't know he could feel. He feels steady and ready to take on the world. It's like being Diana, except he's actually himself.

And Shinsou-kun is inside him, inside his mind, scared and helpless and…

"Calm down, it's just me," Izuku says aloud and sits down on the beach next to Shinsou's discarded backpack. "We need to talk."

The pressure in his head lessens and he feels no more outright fear, instead there's still anxiety and agitation. Those he can deal with.

"Sorry for force-fusing you. I just needed to make sure you won't escape me," he says sincerely, and feels some of the agitation evaporate.

'I'm sorry too. For using my quirk on you yesterday,' Shinsou-kun answers, and it sounds so different from the inside of his head. Izuku knows it's sincere. He can feel it. He can feel exactly where in his mind Shinsou is, it's like he's standing in the forefront, and is afraid of stepping deeper into it, it's like he's desperately pressing into his eyes to not be made aware of the feeling of his surroundings.

"No need to worry about that," he says instead of all that. "Will you run away if I release you now?"

'I… Don't know,' he replies, once again fully sincerely.

"Then I hope you won't blame me for keeping you there for the time being."

'No…' A beat of silence. 'I suppose it's only fair after I force-fused you so many times.' There's a complicated mix of emotions there, spooling around Shinsou like a thread that's just strong enough to cut if it ever tightens. Anger, helplessness, bitterness, insecurity and hurt.

"I should probably release you in that case, because this is not an equivalent exchange of the same experiences."

Another beat. 'Explain.'

"If we both agreed to a fight then if I hit you and you hit me then it's okay, but if only one of us says it's a fight and the other doesn't agree then I'm just beating you up, you know?"

'But…' he trails off.

"Say a word and I'll release you."

Shinsou stayed silent. It's the silent acceptance. Izuku can feel it.

"Okay, let's go back to the topic at hand. What were you gonna do? If I didn't know better it would look like you're escaping."

There's a moment of silence from Shinsou-kun as he uneasily wriggles in his mind, looking for an escape, but he says nothing about being let go, so Izuku waits patiently until he gathers his thoughts.

'I… Didn't want to have to look at you.' Shinsou eventually says. 'And I didn't wanna be there when you told your mom.'

"Told my mom what?"

'That I used my quirk on you.' He sounds defeated. He feels defeated. Like a chapter in his life is closing and he's helpless to stop it.

"You seem to forget I don't tell her everything." And there's suddenly like a sparkle of hope going off of Shinsou-kun, just a flicker of it, just an ember suddenly burning brighter. And Izuku feels…

Izuku feels sad. Because he can connect the dots between Shinsou's feelings and thoughts, and he knows the boy thought the worst of them again. He feels helpless in changing his mind.

"Shinsou-kun, you are currently at the forefront of my mind. Could you try to… move?" he asks cautiously, wondering if it would even work. Maybe Shinsou is right, maybe it's just his powers that let him freely explore others while fusing. But he has to try and guide him anyway.

'Move… how?'

"Imagine you're physically in a room, there's a sofa in there, maybe a tv, some rug on the floor… it depends on you, but more importantly imagine you're physically there, and that there's a door," he guides him, explaining what he usually feels like when Shinsou force-fuses him.

'There's a room…? Holy shit there's an actual room here now,' Shinsou says, bewildered. 'And I can still see what you see through the tv!' Izuku can't help but chuckle at his words.

"Yeah, welcome to the other side of force-fusing. You can switch the view whenever you want by the way."

'Why didn't you ?' Shinsou says accusingly.

"Well, did you ever want to talk after we force-fused? No."

'Ah.'

"Ah indeed, my friend." He puts extra emphasis on the word friend not to make it sarcastic but extra sincere, and the wave of emotion that he receives from Shinsou says that it worked. "Okay, now go through the door."

'What's gonna happen?' Now he's unsure, scared.

"Only one way to find out."

Shinsou makes an emotional equivalent of gulping, as in there's a jump in about every emotion he feels before it calms down, and then Izuku feels a prying in his head, a feeling that he's somehow gonna be a little violated, a little exposed to the world. He dismisses the feeling and lets Shinsou open the door.

Shinsou gasps, and then there's silence. Izuku, however, feels the impression of his memories pressing towards the forefront of his mind before being dismissed, like Shinsou is looking through them. He most likely is.

Izuku doesn't know how long it lasts. He kind of gets lost in reminiscing the memories at the same time Shinsou-kun looks through them. Some are great, mostly those connected to his mother and Shinsou, some are horrible, mostly those connected to his school. To Kacchan.

Eventually Shinsou retracts his probing and returns to the 'room', then collapses onto the 'sofa'.

'I…. I don't understand,' he says eventually. 'Why would you willingly show it to me?'

Izuku doesn't really have an answer. He just wanted to show Shinsou the world through his eyes, so he did.

"Don't think about it too hard, or do." He shrugs, then focuses on the feeling of unfusing, and lets Shinsou-kun go. The boy sways on his feet for a few seconds, as if he's already forgotten how it feels like to abide by the laws of gravity, but then he steadies.

"I… Let's just go to school, okay?" Izuku nods and gets up from the sand, brushing off the stray grains clinging to his pants.

They barely make it before the second bell.