Archive of Our Own

At this point, Shouta was seriously weighing the pros and cons of just wrapping Midoriya and All Might in bubble wrap to keep them out of trouble.

His most problematic student and most meddlesome coworker-- of course they just happened to be the two people who naturally gravitated towards each other. So of course, when a field trip went wrong (and really, Shouta didn't know why Nedzu kept authorizing those, they always seemed to result in some catastrophe), they were the ones who got into some complication.

Then again, maybe he was being a little unfair. Several other students had also been caught by the villain's Quirk-- but they hadn't passed out. They'd sat there, heavily disoriented for a few minutes, then recovered and jumped back into the fight. (At least their provisional licenses meant they didn't need to be given permission to defend themselves, now finally including Bakugou and Todoroki. No, he wasn't still bitter about the training camp, whatever did you mean?)

But of course , when Midoriya had been hit, All Might had been there, and reached out to catch him before he could fall. The moment they made contact, they'd both dropped like stones. 

Shouta spat a curse that made the nearby Iida look at him aghast, enlisted Kirishima's help to get his unconscious classmate back on the bus, struggled to drag All Might into the seat next to him (seriously he was missing half his organs how was he so heavy), and cleaned up the ragtag bunch of na'er-do-wells so fast it was almost a little insulting. They shouldn't have had the chance to do any damage, but Shouta wasn't paying enough attention and All Might was being a soft-hearted bastard as per usual, and now there was a mess to clean up.

The really unfortunate part was that nothing actually seemed to be wrong. He was no slouch when it came to field medicine, but mental Quirks were far outside the wheelhouse of even the average medical professional.

It was a good thing the one they had on campus was a little more than just "average."

Still, even once they got their two dead-weights up to the infirmary, Recovery Girl only hemmed and hawed instead of giving him any real answers.

"By all accounts, they should have woken up a while ago," she said, squinting at the readouts on the machines she'd hooked the two of them up to, wires trailing from both cots. "Heart rates normal, respiration-- well, normal for the two of them. Even their neural oscillations are fine. Almost a little too fine, actually. You said this was the effect of a mental Quirk?"

"Pretty sure, at least. The other students aren't reporting any lingering physical symptoms."

"Hm." She stared at the machines for a little longer. Then frowned. "Aizawa, do me a favor. Go stand by Midoriya's machine. Flip the blue switch, there, and then when I tell you, flip it again."

Not one to ignore a doctor's orders when they didn't pertain to him, Shouta did as told, flipping the aforementioned switch and noting the way the rows of lines on the screen stopped short. At Recovery Girl's nod, he flipped it again, and the lines started up their trailing paths again.

"Huh," Recovery Girl said. Then, again, not sounding alarmed but perhaps intrigued; "Huh."

"What?"

"I'm not sure," she began, "but I think their--"

Midoriya stirred, cutting her off, and blinked awake with a dazed look on his face. He glanced up, at the wires stuck to his head, then over at Shouta, who was watching him expectantly.

"...Aizawa-kun?"

"Excuse me?"

"No, wait," Midoriya immediately backtracked at Shouta's bewildered response to the familiarity of his greeting, brow furrowing as he looked up at the ceiling again. "No, not-- That's not right. Sorry, Aizawa-sensei."

"It's... fine," he said, slowly, because it wasn't but he supposed he could forgive a little weird behavior right now. "How are you feeling?"

"Odd. Good, certainly, but-- odd." Certainly. Like it was obvious. Midoriya closed his eyes as he continued. "A little dizzy, maybe? And tired. Way too tired. Seriously, what-- Sorry, sorry. It's not-- It's a work in progress."

Shouta looked over at Recovery Girl. Recovery Girl pursed her lips and went to type at her computer. All Might was still dead to the world.

"Midoriya," he prompted. Midoriya didn't react. "Midoriya Izuku."

"Hm?" Finally, Midoriya looked at him. Realization crossed his eyes. "Oh, right. Yes? What's wrong?"

"I think we should be asking you that," Shouta said, slowly. Pupils weren't dilated, and he apparently felt good , which should have ruled out a concussion, but he also wasn't immediately responding to his own name. Like he'd forgotten he was supposed to. When Recovery Girl just kept typing away, Shouta decided to take initiative, pulling over one of the visitor's chairs and taking a seat at the side of the cot. "You seem a little disoriented. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

Midoriya sat up and smiled. It... didn't look quite right. "Of course! Ask away."

"Do you know where you are right now?"

"Ah... The infirmary? We've certainly ended up here enough times to know it by heart, haven't we?" He laughed, sheepishly, raising one hand to rub at the back of his head. The other settled on his knee, patting it a few times. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I really am trying to do better!" 

"...I'll believe it when I see it," Shouta replied, tone dry, and Midoriya laughed again. It was louder this time, almost boisterous. He at least seemed to be in good spirits. Though it could be delirium. "Can you tell me the date?"

"It's December, right? Right. The fifth, if I'm not mistaken." He started, shifting slightly where he sat, staring off into the middle distance. Shouta immediately took note. "Oh, it was David's birthday a few days ago, wasn't it? I can't believe I forgot to reach out. Perhaps I'll... Oh, hm, but..."

"Midoriya," Shouta said, and truly he was a paragon of patience, "David who?"

"What? David Shield, obviously. His-- birthday is December first?" Midoriya sounded confused, as he should, but he hadn't earlier. "I should-- Oh, that would be lovely, actually. I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose. Recovery Girl cleared her throat pointedly. "Aizawa, would you come take a look at this, please?"

"Sure. You," he said, jabbing a finger at Midoriya, "stay put."

"Of course, of course," Midoriya replied, making a pacifying gesture. "Not going anywhere."

With one last glare in his general direction, Shouta stood, making his way over to lean down behind Recovery Girl and peer at her screens. "What's going on?"

It looked like the same readouts from the machine he'd seen earlier, a thin set of lines trailing along a colored row, though there were twice as many this time. Halfway down, the colors in the background started over from the first one in the pattern. 

"Their EEG readouts," she said. "Both of them."

He didn't see the point, until he actually took a second to process what she meant. "What? These are--"

"Two different people. You wouldn't know that just from looking at it, though, would you? Especially since one of them appears to be unconscious. His brainwaves say otherwise." She pointed at the line where the colors restarted. "All Might should be showing reduced brain activity, given he's still asleep. Instead, his and Midoriya's are perfectly aligned. And I do mean perfectly. It's really quite odd."

He needed the police to get back to him about the Quirks of the villains they'd arrested right this minute.

He turned back to Midoriya, mouth already open to ask what the hell was going on in that head of his, though paused the moment he did. Midoriya's gaze had settled on All Might's sleeping form, and his face was pursed in a frown that looked a little too heavy on his face. Digging wrinkles where there shouldn't have been any, young as he was.

His muttering was almost too quiet to hear, but Shouta was a highly trained underground operative, so he noticed when Midoriya mumbled under his breath; "Is this what they see? God. I think I get why--" He sat bolt upright, expression twisting again, this time into a very unhappy downturn. When he started talking again, it was louder; "Don't say that! It isn't excusable, no matter what."

Two expressions, one visibly displeased and the other pitying, seemed to war on Midoriya's face for a few seconds. Until it went oddly blank, and he leaned down to bury his head in his arms.

"Midoriya," Shouta said cautiously. "Are you okay?"

No response, which Shouta probably should have predicted. With a huff, he marched over, reaching out to set a hand on Midoriya's shoulder--

--And found his wrist grabbed before he could make contact, Midoriya's head snapping up to glare at him, green lightning flickering over his skin. His Quirk wasn't in full effect (otherwise Shouta probably wouldn't have a functioning wrist anymore), but Shouta could feel the drop in air pressure that always accompanied its activation.

A beat passed. Then Midoriya blinked, glancing down at where they were joined, and went very pale.

"I'm--" He let go, immediately, ripping his hand away like he'd been burned. "I'm so sorry, Aizawa-sensei, that-- It's my fault, really, don't-- But I-- No, don't, I shouldn't have--" He groaned, reaching up and curling his hands over his head. "This isn't working!"

"Midoriya--"

"You're not helping, Aizawa," Midoriya snapped with a sharp look in his direction. One hand stayed tangled in his hair, though the other dropped to curl into a fist around the disturbed sheets he was sitting on. "I apologize for raising my voice, but just-- give us a moment. Please."

Shouta stared.

...Had he said us?

Midoriya-- or whoever he was-- took several deep breaths, the hand that had been doing its best to tear holes in the sheets settling instead on his chest. His fingers tapped out a rhythm, one that Shouta belatedly recognized as a breathing technique he'd seen Midoriya make use of before. Though it seemed... oddly stilted? 

A pause. Midoriya huffed, a faint smile on his face, and started again. This time, his breathing was smooth as silk. 

"Sorry," he said, quietly, finally opening his eyes and glancing over at Shouta. He let his hands fall into his lap. The dim glow was gone. "You startled us."

"Who, exactly, is us?"

Midoriya bit his lip. He first glanced over at Recovery Girl, then All Might's unconscious body, then looked down at his hands. Finally, he sighed. "Yes, alright. This was clearly a mistake. My fault, I'm afraid-- I thought it would be easier, but-- No, I should've-- Let's just agree to equal blame, alright?" Before Shouta could protest that he had absolutely nothing to do with this, Midoriya dragged a hand down his face, suddenly looking years older. "Sorry, Aizawa-kun. It's a bit hectic in here right now."

Shouta did his best not to react to the completely inappropriate honorific, but probably failed based on the way Midoriya winced.

"Sorry."

"Quit apologizing," Shouta said, pretty much at the limit of his patience for this nonsense, "and explain what the Hell is going on."

"Right. Yes. Explanations." Midoriya sighed. "It was-- I really wasn't trying to-- Shouldn't have-- Been paying attention-- No, no, this isn't working either. You do it." He blinked. "Okay, um. Right. Sorry, Aizawa-sensei, I promise I'm not doing it on purpose. Um, first off, the villains that we were fighting-- Did that one with the red jacket hit anyone else with their Quirk?"

"They did, but no one else reacted like the two of you."

Midoriya's grimace deepened. "I was afraid of that. Have you figured out what it did, yet?"

"I'm waiting for a response from the station."

"Right. Well, I can-- Can tell you kind of what it did. Maybe. Or I can tell you what I think it was supposed to do." He took a breath. Shouta could recognize the start of one of his infamous Quirk rants a mile away. "Okay, so, you know how it's not really clear whether a person's consciousness is separate from their brain? Like-- sure, all our thoughts are because of electrical impulses, but there's a lot of theories out there that there's more to it than just-- um, neurons and stuff. Metaphysics, right? Astral projection? It's a little bit like that. Which sounds kind of fake, but there have definitely been Quirks that have proved there might be a point to it, so you'd think people would be a little less skeptical given-- You're right, I'm getting off topic, sorry."

Shouta definitely hadn't said anything, but he wasn't about to interrupt when he very much wanted Midoriya to stay on topic.

"Anyway. The villain's Quirk. It had something to do with manipulating people's minds. Separating their consciousness from their body. What happened to the other people who were affected by it?"

"They all seemed dazed. Like they... weren't really all there."

Midoriya grinned. It was... shaky. "Exactly."

"Right. That sounds plausible." Shouta narrowed his eyes. "Still doesn't really explain why it reacted differently with the two of you, though."

Immediately, Midoriya made a fantastic impression of a clam-- pale and sweaty, his mouth snapping shut. Which was beyond suspicious, and Shouta definitely would have prompted more questioning from that, if Recovery Girl hadn't picked that exact moment to interrupt them.

"Aizawa! I think I've figured out a way to help them. You need to leave."

Shouta stared at her. "What? No."

"Yes, Aizawa. Don't argue with me. Which one of us is the nurse, here? Get out!" She snapped, waving her cane in his general direction. "I need quiet to work, and you're making entirely too much of a racket!"

This did not make sense. He looked back to Midoriya, who seemed... pensive.

His mouth moved, and though no sound came out, Shouta was also pretty damn good at reading lips.

Are you sure? He asked no one, brow furrowed. We don't have to. We can let Chiyo-- (or maybe he wasn't pretty good, because that couldn't be right, could it?) -- kick him out. 

No, his expression changed, determination settling in the set of his jaw. I should have. It's been long enough.

Settling back in his seat, Midoriya sighed, shaking his head. "Alright. It's your decision." He glanced up, looking... tired. "It's alright, Chiyo. Let him stay. We'll explain."

Recovery Girl stopped short, staring at him for several long seconds. Then she grumbled under her breath, turning to switch off her computer monitor and trundle over to the bed. She smacked Midoriya's shoulder. " Now you decide to listen to me. You couldn't have done this before? When it would've been easier for everyone? You're hopeless, you know that?"

Now, Shouta was not the pinnacle of being kind to his students, but that seemed a little harsh-- "Hey--"

"Zip it," she snapped. "I'm leaving you three dunderheads to sort this out yourselves. Aizawa, call me if anything about their situation changes." And she marched out of the room.

Shouta looked back to the sheepish student sitting before him.

He said; "Three?"

All Might, despite being technically present, wasn't exactly contributing to the situation.

Midoriya grinned, still visibly embarrassed, and reached up to tug at his hair in a way that gave Shouta some serious deja vu. Because his bangs weren't actually long enough to pull off the move he was going for, and he knew Midoriya idolized the blond idiot, but going so far as to copy his nervous habits was--

"Like I said," Midoriya began, "it's a little hectic up here."

Shouta stared at him.

Shouta glanced past him, towards where All Might was lying; theoretically unconscious but with the mind of someone perfectly awake and aware.

Shouta looked back, scowling.

The connections he was drawing were not, perhaps, the most subtle. Midoriya definitely picked up on the lines he was drawing between the dots he'd been provided, and winced.

"Yes," he said, confirming Shouta's unspoken theory. "Precisely. It's-- complicated, I'm afraid."

"As things with you tend to be." Shouta was going to poke his eye out with the degree to which he kept sticking his fingers near them, pinching at the bridge of his nose to ward off his encroaching headache. "...All Might."

"That is what they tend to call me, isn't it?"

"What," he said, "the Hell," he continued, voice rising, "are you doing?"

"Sitting here," All Might-in-Midoriya's-body-with-Midoriya's-voice answered. "I thought that was obvious."

At which point Midoriya went bright red, burying his face in his hands with a high, reedy sound. "Sorry! I'm sorry, I'm not-- We're being rude!" One hand stayed curled over his face, but the other smacked the bed next to him. "I think we've earned the right! If not now, then when-- Never!! How about never? I like never!"

These two. These chucklefucks. They were going to give Shouta an aneurysm by the end of the year.

"Midoriya," he said, almost pained, "I'm not mad. Though I don't appreciate the snark, All Might, not when I'm only trying to get this sorted out. To help both of you."

"Right," Midoriya-- No, that was definitely All Might-- said, sighing, and their whole body slumped. "No, you're right. Yes, you too. This situation is-- unorthodox, to say the least. I suppose I got a bit excited, being..." His left hand twitched. His eyes went wide. "Oh," Midoriya said, "oh, yeah, I'm-- That makes sense. I didn't even think-- Yeah, I can imagine."

Now that he knew the stilted speech was almost certainly because it was actually two people trying to talk through one mouth, the whole thing was a little less concerning. He could pretty safely rule out a concussion. Though, less concerning did not mean less of a problem. 

If nothing else, having a fifty-something-year-old man sharing the mind of a high schooler had to raise some ethical concerns, right?

"You were explaining what happened," Shouta said, trying desperately to get this speeding trainwreck-in-progress back on its rails. "And why it only happened to you."

"Yes, we're getting to that. I'm not exactly sure where to start." His expression thinned, mouth a grim line, and he looked over to make pointed eye contact with Shouta. "Aizawa-sensei, you have to promise something."

That was vague. And did not bode well. But Shouta needed answers more than he needed to ignore the alarm bells his words raised. "Alright. What is it?"

"Do not say anything," Midoriya stressed, "to anyone. About what-- you're told. Here. It's your job to report problems. Especially if-- if there's danger. But this is. Complicated." His cadence was completely off-kilter. If it really was All Might sharing a head and a voice with Midoriya, they couldn't seem to agree on how they wanted to say their piece. "More complicated than you know. Than pretty much anyone but a select few people know. We-- You're trustworthy. You protect the people you care about. You've proven that time and time again, Aizawa-kun." This time, Shouta really didn't react to the honorific. "So if you can promise that nothing we're about to say leaves this room... You can know everything."

Midoriya and All Might had always been a bit of a puzzle, to Shouta. 

One he could never quite solve. He was collecting the pieces, but he had no idea what kind of picture they'd make, if he were able to put them all together. His accusations of favoritism were mostly a smokescreen to try and pry real answers out of either of them. Decades of interviews had made All Might a master at dodging questions, though, and despite Midoriya's propensity for mumbling anything that crossed his mind, he could talk circles around any subject he didn't want to address. He panicked when he lied, but he also panicked all the time, and there was really no difference between his various states of unrest. 

Now, Shouta was being offered answers. Practically on a silver platter. All he had to do to get them was to completely disregard procedure and agree to keep the secrets of two victims of some very obvious mental alterations.

No, corrected that infuriatingly loud irrational part of his brain. Keep the secrets of your student and friend.

Ugh, his sentimentality couldn't even be gracious enough to stick to calling All Might his co-worker? He really hated that part of himself. 

Still, it had a point, this time. 

"Alright," Aizawa said, with a heavier sigh than this probably demanded. "Your secrets are safe with me. Promise."

Midoriya's form visibly relaxed. While earlier it had seemed more like a defeated slouch, now he just seemed at ease. Had this really been weighing on him so badly? Which one? (Or had it been both of them, a shared burden that even their combined strength wasn't enough to shoulder forever?)

"We trust you," they affirmed. Shouta couldn't tell which of them said it.

He took a deep breath.

"Our Quirk," they said, "is called One for All."

Our?

The word slipped out, unbidden; "Our?"

"As mentioned, it's complicated. And this is-- more so." He exhaled. "So, I know you figured it out already, but to lay everything out plainly-- I'm still Midoriya. But, um, All Might is here, too. And we can-- trade, sort of? Or share. Sometimes one of us is in control, sometimes the other, but most of the time it's kind of both."

Score for Shouta's intuition. "Right. And you're going to tell me why a Quirk that was just supposed to separate your mind and your body instead did this."

"Okay. Um. It's-- Hard to figure out where to start. To tell you about what's happening now, we kind of have to tell you about what happened before, but that's harder like-- Like this. We can't--" He made a frustrated noise, mouth working. One hand settled on his chest again, once more tapping out that pattern, and Midoriya relaxed slightly. Took a deep breath. And he said; "Midoriya Izuku was born Quirkless." 

 ...Which was not what Shouta was expecting to hear at all.

To show he was listening, but to avoid interrupting, Shouta simply nodded.

"Right. So, two hundred years ago, when Quirks first came about, there was a man who called himself All for One." He stopped, frowning. "No, that's too far back. Where do I start? The tunnel. It's as good a place as any. Okay," the conversations between them were starting to get kind of irritating, "not that long ago, All Might met his successor beneath a bridge, being attacked by a villain made of slime."

If he were to interrupt, what would he even say?

"He asked if he could be a hero even while Quirkless. I said no," definitely All Might behind the wheel said. "Later, he proved me wrong, and reminded me of what it meant to be a hero in the first place." A pause. "It's okay. I don't mind. We're laying everything out, right? You go ahead." 

Ugh. Neither of them were fantastic at giving succinct reports. Together, they were worse.

Midoriya's expression shifted, a small but infinitely warm smile settling on his face. "Young Midoriya proved the strength of his heart later that same day, going toe to toe with the very villain that had attacked him earlier for the sake of a friend. It made me realize a few things, and we don't really need to get into all of it now, but the point of it all is that I agreed to train him to become a hero. Part of that involved giving him my Quirk." 

"...One for All?" See, he'd been listening.

"That's right. Before me, it belonged to my master, a woman named Shimura Nana. There were several holders preceding her. I think-- How many was it? Six," they said. "Yes, and that made her seven, then eight and-- Ninth, they called me. I guess they don't count... Well, I can't blame them for that." 

"Please get to the point," Shouta wasn't begging, because he didn't beg, but... Ah, who was he kidding. He was begging them to stop going on tangents.

"We're working on it! Patience, Aizawa-kun." Nope, even though he knew it was All Might back there, it was still weird hearing that from his student's mouth. "This is relevant, I promise. See, One for All is already strange by virtue of its ability to be passed down, right? It gets weirder. One for All is, by nature, a stockpiling Quirk. When it's passed down to someone new, it brings along with it the strength of its previous wielder. Both literally and figuratively."

Literally passing down strength. Which would explain--

"Hence," Midoriya said, then lifted one hand, shadowy tendrils dancing at his fingertips. "This is, um, kind of a new development. And we're not really sure why it happened? But I was able to train One for All enough to be able to unlock the previous user's Quirks. I'm gonna get... Five more? Yeah, five more." 

Hm. That math didn't add up.

"Because the first user-- His Quirk is kind of embedded into it, now. He's what gives the power the ability to be passed on. But there's Second, Third, and Fourth-- Blackwhip is Fifth's. And Sixth's is a mystery, too. Seventh's was-- Nana Shimura, my mentor-- She had Float." 

Shouta paused. Looked at him sharply. The math--

"You--"

"Hard to believe, isn't it? That the Number One Hero for thirty-odd years was born Quirkless. The media would have a field day," probably All Might said with a sigh, turning that "probably" into a "definitely" when he gave Shouta a weary look. "I'm starting to see why you despise attention so much." 

"Just because he didn't pass down a Quirk doesn't mean All Might contributed any less," Midoriya interjected, frowning. "He's the reason it's as strong as it is now. The reason I'm-- Now, you can't give me all the credit, you were-- But it's thanks to you that I--"

Shouta put his head in his hands. He wasn't going to start crying, really, but he did kind of feel the urge. Not because this was like-- endearing, or anything. But because he was just so tired. Their nonsense was hardly palatable when they weren't literally talking over each other to be the first to offer sappy reassurances. This was so much worse.

"Oh, we're still-- Right, let's just-- Almost done, I promise," Midoriya-All Might said. (Midorimight? Alldoriya? Nevermind, this was stupid.) "Anyway. The Quirk passes down strength, and former users Quirks. Along with that, it kind of passes down a... vestige of the holder themself. An imprint of their personality. Echoes. A bit like a ghost? I never saw them beyond fleeting glimpses, but-- They first showed themselves to me during the Sports Festival. When Shinsou brainwashed me. But it wasn't until a while later, after Overhaul and all of that, that I saw them in my dreams."

He set a hand on his chest. "All Might may not have had a Quirk to pass down-- but he did leave a vestige. And it won't be entirely present until I die-- which will be a very very long time from now," Midoriya interrupted sharply, and gave a wearily fond smile a moment later, "of course. But it is still a piece of All Might in Midoriya's head. Our guess is that when the villain's Quirk was activated, and both Midoriya's consciousness and All Might's were separated from their bodies, that connection meant they sort of... got a little lost. Mixed up."

Finally, an explanation. It was a bullshit explanation, and Shouta wanted it on record that he hated literally every part of it, but it was an explanation that justified all the strange parts of the situation at hand. 

"We probably could have both been All Might, too," they said, nodding towards the-- Hell, the empty body one cot over-- "but we-- I decided it would be best if we... didn't." He grimaced. "Existing in my body isn't an experience I would wish on anyone. Much less a kid." All Might, then. Shouta understood, much as he still didn't like it.

If they could avoid giving Midoriya the experience of coughing up blood and breathing through a single lung, they probably should. 

"Right. Well. Thanks for finally explaining... all of that." The inexplicable closeness between them. Midoriya's bizarre lack of experience with his Quirk. How bizarre Midoriya's Quirk was in general, with its multiple components despite reading like straightforward strength enhancement on paper. Why All Might continued working despite his injuries literally destroying his body from the inside out. However winding and hard to follow, their story served as a pretty good reference image for that puzzle he'd been trying to solve. "I guess the question now is; how do we fix this?"

Midoriya-All Might paused. Froze, more like, going very still. 

"What do you mean?" they asked.

For some reason he couldn't quite parse, Shouta had to stifle a shiver. "I mean, how do we separate the two of you?"

The person/people across from him blinked. They tilted their head, not unlike a bird. He couldn't tell if it was just a reflection of the overhead lights, but he would almost swear there was a faint glow to their eyes. A bit like All Might's, actually.

"Now why," they said, slowly, quietly, "would you try to do that?"

"Are you serious?" Shouta stared. They stared back. Apparently they were. "Midoriya-- All Might-- this cannot be a permanent thing. Best case solution is that the Quirk wears off soon enough, but we have to consider that it might not and start looking into other solutions."

Midoriya tangled his hands together. It was an odd gesture, like each one was moving at a different speed, with a slightly different rhythm. Until Shouta considered the implications and reached up to cover his eyes with one hand. 

Of course. They were going to be like this. He himself had noticed how touchy they tended to be multiple times, hadn't he? 

Ughhhhhhhhhh.

"Don't even try to tell me you'd rather stay like this," Shouta deadpanned. "Midoriya, are you really okay with having an adult in your head at all times for the rest of your life? Did you consider what impact this might be having on All Might's body, leaving it without a consciousness for this long? And All Might-- what about your career? You can't make public appearances like this." Wait, no, it had turned out he actually hated the limelight, hadn't it? An excuse like this would be a godsend to him. Shouta switched tracks; "And you can't teach classes, either. Are you really okay with existing only in a teenager's head? With giving up any semblance of independent living you had left?"

"Stop it!!"

Shouta stopped. 

The more he'd talked, the more they'd seemed to curl in on themselves, head bowing and arms coming up to wrap around their chest. One hand was shaking slightly, the other rubbing a comforting pattern along their arm. 

(That unfortunately sentimental part of Shouta ached. Trying to offer someone comfort, but being physically unable to do so except with their own hands... It sounded horrible, actually. He didn't understand why they were so resistant to the idea of fixing it.)

"You don't understand," they whispered, as though they'd read his mind, looking up at him through messy bangs. "It's-- Being alone, is-- it's awful . For both of them. Us. It's-- Toshinori, Izuku, we aren't built to be by ourselves. But we are , all the time." 

Shouta scowled. "Now that's just categorically untrue. All Might is a part of this staff, and Midoriya is friends with a third of the kids in his grade."

"And you've all been so welcoming to All Might, right? So understanding about what he's going through? Treated him like a person, not made assumptions about him based on the show he puts on for the cameras?" They leveled him with a narrow look. Based on the pronouns, it had to be Midoriya speaking, right..? But Shouta had never heard this level of ire from his student. Sure, he'd grown a pretty sturdy backbone over the course of the semester, but he still seemed allergic to confrontation with authority figures. Most of the time, Shouta had to drag it out of him if there was an issue to be solved. 

Maybe Midoriya was borrowing some of All Might's confidence? Or his jaded honesty? Shouta really wished the lines between them were drawn a little clearer. 

"Alright, fair. We haven't. He didn't exactly make it any easier for us, though." Shouta should not be having this conversation with his student. Even if All Might was giving his permission just by virtue of not interrupting. "Would you have preferred we were pushy about it?"

They deflated. "No, no I suppose not. You have a... point."

Eyes darting away, Shouta could see the gears turning behind their eyes. Their brows furrowed, mouth twisting up. They opened their mouth-- 

Then stopped, glancing over at Shouta. More specifically, noting the way he was watching them. 

They closed their mouth again. Shit. There went his advantage. 

"We're-- better, like this. Stronger." They began, and curled their hands into fists. "I don't-- I still can't use One for All at its fullest potential. Not without hurting myself. But All Might-- He understands. He just-- knows. And I--" Their left hand twitched again, this time moving to rest on their side. "I can't save anyone, the way I am now. And it's selfish, I know, but-- Young Midoriya, he-- We--" 

Midoriya wrapped his arms around himself again, looking up at Shouta with watery eyes.

"Please don't make him leave," one of them said, and for the life of him, Shouta couldn't tell which. "I need him here." 

It was almost pitiable.

Almost.

Unfortunately for their-- rather polished acting skills (probably from a combined half a century of playing a part either for the media or their concerned friends and family), Shouta knew better.

"No," he said, tone flat. "This is not sustainable. Finding a way to get your minds back where they should be is our immediate priority."

They stared at him for a moment longer. Then sighed, wiping their eyes, and shook their head. "I guess we should've seen that coming." Their expression lost its sad downturn immediately, shifting to a mildly pained grimace. "For what it's worth, we are sorry."

"What--"

Shouta's turn-- he should've seen this coming. 

A crackle of green sparks was the only warning he had before Midoriya's body vanished from in front of him, and by the time he looked up, eyes ablaze and hair drifting around his shoulders, they were already crouched on the ledge of the open window. The lightning vanished the second he looked at them, but he'd almost forgotten how clever the both of them were, because--

They grinned, a little too sharp for Midoriya's face. "Are you sure that's entirely wise, Aizawa-sensei? We might fall."

They could catch themselves-- if their Quirk was active. Shouta had his capture weapon, he could try to grab them, but he couldn't guarantee it was fast enough to catch them before they dropped. And he knew the both of them, which meant he knew they both considered personal injury an acceptable loss. Though he couldn't imagine All Might was okay with Midoriya being the one to actually bear the brunt of the damage. Did he forget whose body it was they were piloting? 

Shouta narrowed his eyes. "We're three stories up. Are you actually willing to risk Midoriya's neck like that?" 

Midoriya's expression twitched, enough that Shouta could imagine some kind of internal debate happening between the two of them. The kid would consider it an acceptable loss, obviously, and even if All Might didn't, it could be called into question whether he had the wherewithal to argue his point. 

Time had proven that Midoriya would get himself hurt no matter how much anyone tried to beat a little self-preservation into his head.  

They shifted where they were kneeling, shoes scraping on the window frame as they leaned back. The only thing keeping them braced was one hand curled around the wall.

"Are you?" they asked.

God, was he?

His damaged Quirk decided for him, and a knife-sharp ache behind his eyes forced him to blink. A millisecond of closed eyes was all they needed, and by the time Shouta opened them again, they were gone. Lightning trailed in their wake. When Shouta scrambled over to the window and peered out, he could see a spot of color in the distance already growing smaller as it leapt from rooftop to rooftop. 

Midoriya may not have had perfect control of his Quirk, but what control he did have gave him an edge on speed that would've let him keep up with Iida, even. All Might had been using the same Quirk for thirty years. Suffice to say, Shouta knew that if they didn't want to get caught, they weren't going to be. 

He put his head in his hands and sighed.

Then went for his phone, pulling up Recovery Girl's number and hitting call.

As soon as she picked up, he said; "I lost them."

Silence. For several long seconds, and Shouta did not start to sweat, thank you.

"What do you mean you lost them??" she finally snapped. 

"I suggested we should look for a way to get them back where they should be," he explained, "and they jumped out a window about it." 

More silence, though he could hear the incredulity in it. He envied her ability to make a complete lack of words sound like an accusation. "You are an idiot," she said, and he supposed that spoken accusations worked just as well.

"Probably." Shouta knew Midoriya, and he sort of knew All Might-- he'd kind of supposed that meant he'd still know them, even in whatever strange state of combination they occupied at the moment. He'd kind of forgotten that he'd only just learned about the depths of their connection to each other this afternoon, and even then he didn't really understand its gravity. That they both spent the majority of their time keeping secrets from someone. Which was... his bad, maybe. "What do you think? Search party? I can limit it to the other teachers, try to keep this from getting out of control."

"It's already out of your control, Aizawa."  

He grit his teeth. "Yeah, I'm sort of trying to fix that."

Recovery Girl sighed. He could feel her disappointment through the phone. "I know a few places where they might've ended up. If you want help finding them, there are two people you can ask-- Gran Torino, and Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa."

"That's it?"

"That is it. "

It wasn't hard to put the dots together. "You're telling me they've gotten this far with, what, three people knowing the truth about them?"

"Technically six."

"Uhuh. And why can't the other three help?"

"One of them is Bakugou Katsuki, and I'm not about to let you get another student involved with this. Another is the Principal, and do you want to be the one to ask for his help?" No, Shouta did not. "The third was Sir Nighteye."

That shut him up.

"...Oh."

"Yes, oh."

"...I'll find them by myself."

"Don't let them run away again." She huffed. "The first place you ought to check is Takoba Beach. It's a municipal park not far from here."

"Isn't that place a dump?"

Recovery Girl snorted into the speaker. Shouta pulled the phone a little further away from his face. "You haven't been over there in the last year, have you? Check the beach. If they aren't there, call me back, and I'll send you somewhere else." She hung up before he had the chance to complain at her. 

Staring out the window, Shouta said to no one; "I hate their nonsense so much."

The train ride took longer than Shouta really wanted, and then he had a fifteen minute walk on the other end of it, so by the time he reached the stairs leading down to the (sparklingly pristine) beach, he was more than a little annoyed. All Might and Midoriya should've both been smarter than this. He knew they were stubborn, but they weren't stupid, much as the former liked to pretend. Neither of them would've gotten this far in life if they were.

(Not while Quirkless. Shouta knew the statistics.)

At least the whole trip hadn't been for nothing. They'd shed their uniform jacket at some point, probably lost in their mad dash across the city, which meant the rough scars ripping their way up Midoriya's arms were clear as day in the mid-afternoon sunlight.

They didn't look up as Shouta approached (only after sending a quick text to Recovery Girl letting her know he'd found them.) Instead they just kept staring out at the water, expression contemplative.

He didn't know which one finally opened their mouth and asked; "Here to bring us in, hero?" 

Shouta sighed, taking a seat next to them. Probably All Might. Even in his snarkiest moments, he couldn't imagine Midoriya being so openly contentious with a teacher or a Pro. It just wasn't in his nature. 

"I probably should," he said, and they tensed up, so he immediately continued talking, "but I don't actually care. Either this will wear off eventually, or it won't. You'll have to get used to your new normal. I give it maybe a week before one or both of you decides that not having privacy in your own head isn't all it's cracked up to be."

They finally looked over at him, then laughed, tilting their head to the side. "Yeah, we're realizing that. It's-- I like having him here. Really. I'd keep him with me all the time, if I could. But..." One hand twitches. "It's funny, you know? Toshinori thinks Izuku deserves to live his own life without some old has-been dragging him down, regardless of how much he wants to be here. Izuku thinks Toshinori has spent enough time alone, and shouldn't have to go back to that for his sake. They both care so much about each other. And they know they can still spend time together once they're each other again, but they're always going to feel the distance, now that they know what the alternative is like."

Shouta glanced over, brow raised. "Is there a third person in there I don't know about?"

Midoriya laughed softly. "No, no, it's still just-- us. It's getting fuzzier the longer we're like this, though. Thoughts muddled, memories all tangled together. It almost feels like we're someone else. Someone who loves both of them, without any of that self-deprecation mucking up the works." 

There was a comfortable ease to the way they sat that was a clear deviation from either of the people that could've been in the driver's seat. All Might was always hunched over, trying to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible, as though he wasn't seven feet tall with hair like the sun. Midoriya, meanwhile, sat like a hair-trigger, ready to move at the shortest notice. He always had. It had actually gotten better over the course of the semester, despite all the Villain attacks and everything that should've put him on edge. (Shouta wasn't complaining, it was just-- worth taking note of.)

Though the whole "loss of identity" thing was a little concerning, if he thought about it for more than a moment. Regardless of whatever good it was doing for their combined mental health. 

"We know. We can't stay like this." They placed a hand on their chest. The other reached up to twine their fingers together. "I don't think we'd want to, not forever. But we'd do it. Toshinori would do anything he asked, really. And Izuku... He tries not to think about it, but he's scared. All Might doesn't exactly take the best care of himself. He knows it, too. If I could keep All Might here, I wouldn't have to worry anymore." His eyes went a little wider, cheeks reddening. "But I-- I wouldn't. That's not-- That's not something a Hero would do. It isn't fair, to him or me."

Ah. There was Midoriya. Familiar fluster and all.

Only for a moment, though; they shook their head, and their face settled back into its earlier tranquility. "We know we can't stay like this forever. Just give us a little more time. Please, Aizawa."

No honorifics at all this time. He wasn't sure if that was better or worse. 

Shouta sighed. When did he become such a pushover? 

"You've got ten more minutes," he said, dully, "and then--"

"We'll go back to the school with you," Midoriya-All Might-whoever they were said, very quietly. "We won't kick up a fuss. Promise."

"Fine." 

He crossed his arms over his knees. Sitting in the sand wasn't the most comfortable place, and it was chilly outside despite the sun glaring down at them, and he wasn't in his winter uniform because he'd thought he would be spending the day inside, where they had central heating. But. Despite all that, he had to admit there were worse ways to spend ten minutes. The beach was pretty nice now that it wasn't piled with trash.

That had been them, hadn't it? He couldn't think of any other good reason they'd come here, of all places, and All Might had said he'd trained Midoriya to be a hero before he'd gotten into U.A. Community service plus getting his strength and endurance up to par-- it was a good idea. He just hoped All Might hadn't made the kid do it all on his own.

(Ah, who was he kidding? All Might practically embodied Plus Ultra. He'd definitely made a Quirkless Midoriya clean the entire beach by himself.)

Their ten minutes were up probably sooner than they wanted, but true to their word, they made no fuss when Shouta stood and offered them a hand. They even took it. 

They kept holding onto his hand for a moment longer, murmuring; "Sorry for all the trouble." 

Shouta stifled another sigh. "It's... Let's just get back to campus. We'll talk more there."

They nodded. They let go.

The security system didn't seem too happy letting them back in with Midoriya's ID, given he'd never officially checked out of the system. Before Shouta could call Nedzu and give a bad excuse around the situation, the system cleared, and he decided he was better off not thinking about all the ways their principal had to keep an eye on things.

Thankfully, the halls were empty as they made their way back to the infirmary. Instead of sitting back down on his cot, Midoriya-or-All Might-or... Whoever they were together paused, making their way across the room and stepping up to All Might's body. Still lying right where it had been, entirely unmoving, save for the barely-visible rise and fall of his chest. The lights were on, but no one was home. (And oops, Shouta had definitely left him here unattended. Oh well.)

Shouta saw their expression twist into a grimace. Then it smoothed itself out, almost forcefully, softening into something... else. Exasperated fondness, if he had to call it anything. (He'd probably worn the same face himself, on more than one occasion. He did care about his kids, even if they were gonna give him a heart attack by the end of the year.)

"Don't forget this, when it's all over," they said softly. "That's how I-- I know." They bowed their head, clasping their hands together over their chest. "I know. You might have to tell me again, but-- I'll be here." 

Kindly, Shouta looked away.

At least until he heard a sharp gasp, at which point he snapped to attention, turning back just in time to catch Midoriya with his hand on All Might's, eyes rolling back into his head as he dropped like a stone. Shouta immediately flung his capture weapon across the room, catching Midoriya around the chest like a lasso and pulling it taut. He flopped over like a dead fish, but didn't smack his head on the edge of the cot, so Shouta called it a successful maneuver. 

He'd just barely made his way over and was in the process of lifting Midoriya up onto said cot when there was the shifting of fabric from one over, and looking up let him meet All Might's unreadable gaze.

"...Hello, Aizawa-kun," he said.

"You," Shouta said, holding onto Midoriya with one arm, freeing up the other to point an accusatory finger in All Might's direction, "are a terrible influence."

All Might laughed. 

(Was it really that simple? Skin-to-skin contact? Ugh. It made sense, he supposed, that the Quirk had been caught halfway activated, and all they needed to do was complete the circuit, but-- still. Annoying that the solution had been so straightforward.)

"He never talked back to me before today. Not once. And you had him being sarcastic," Shouta continued, stepping back only once he was sure Midoriya wasn't about to slide off the other side of the bed. Then he turned to All Might with his arms crossed. "If the snark keeps up after this, I'm blaming you for it."

"I think I can live with that guilt." His expression softened a bit as he glanced over at Midoriya. Ugh. They were both gonna be really annoying about this, weren't they? "...Sorry about the window thing."

"Uhuh. Whose idea was it?"

"His. I... perhaps, should have argued." He looked away. "I should have approached a lot of this differently, I believe. Should have stood for your point of view from the beginning. But I--" Mouth a thin line, he shook his head. "You're a stronger man than me, Aizawa-kun." 

Shouta... found that hard to believe. "In what way?"

"Several, now that I'm like this. The way that I'm referencing, however?" He met Shouta's eyes again. "You're a lot better at saying no. When your students want something, but you know quite well it's bad for them... You won't bend. Won't give in, no matter how much they plead. That's an important skill in a guardian. And it's one I-- lack." Fidgeting with the sheets, he continued; "Perhaps it's a holdover from my time as a Hero. Saying no to kids doesn't look very good to an audience, not when your image is... accommodating, to say the least. And, of course, for him..."

For him, Shouta knew, All Might would do anything. They'd said as much, back on the beach. (He'd known it anyway.)

Ughhhh. He looked like he was about to start crying.

"You're not-- a bad teacher," Shouta managed, and it felt like the verbal equivalent of trudging through mud. "You're nicer than me. That's not-- You don't have to... change that. It's true that you can't be a pushover. They're teenagers, they'll rip you to shreds if you let them. But there's a line. Between being like me, and being smart about being yourself." He looked away. Inspirational speeches really weren't his strong suit. "The difference between us is... It's helpful. They should have someone on their side. If a kid gets told no by every adult in their life, they'll do what they want anyway, they just won't tell anyone about it. If they know you're likely to say yes, they're more likely to ask in the first place. Then at least we aren't in the dark. And if something does go wrong, we'll actually be able to help, instead of being completely clueless." 

They'd been clueless. When the kids had gone to save Bakugou. When Iida, Midoriya, and Todoroki had fought Stain. If those situations had gone even slightly worse than they did, there was nothing any of them could've done.

"Don't be an idiot," he said, harsher than it needed to be, perhaps trying to make up for the rest of this infuriatingly sentimental display, "but you shouldn't be like me, either. You're doing fine."

All Might blinked.

"Oh," he said, very quietly, and looked away. He sniffed loudly. "I-- Alright. I understand." 

Almost on cue (and it wouldn't surprise Shouta if it turned out Midoriya really was that tuned in to the emotions of the people around him, or even specifically tuned into All Might's emotions), Midoriya blinked awake. He sat there dazed for all of a few seconds until he glanced over, noticed All Might doing his best to wipe the tears off his face, and immediately clambered up to practically throw himself across the gap between their cots. Shouta wisely moved out of his way.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Midoriya rifled through his pockets until he unearthed a packet of tissues, which he promptly shoved into All Might's hands. "Are you okay??"

"I'm fine, my boy, everything's alright," All Might said, managing a smile, even if he was still a little weepy. He took the tissues, freeing one before tucking the rest away, and the gesture was practiced enough that Shouta could safely assume they'd had that exchange a lot. "Aizawa was just giving me some-- much needed words of wisdom."

Midoriya blinked, then looked back, finally noticing that Shouta was still standing here.

He squeaked, jumping to his feet and practically launching himself into a bow. "I-- I'm so sorry, Aizawa-sensei, I-- It was-- We were--"

"Stop apologizing," Shouta said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look. These were extenuating circumstances. It would be irrational of me to hold you responsible for everything that was said when you weren't the only one responsible." (All Might rubbed the back of his neck, looking away sheepishly.) "The problem is solved. We're moving on."

Midoriya opened his mouth, probably about to argue a case against himself. Then he paused, glancing back at All Might, who gave him an odd little half-shrug. There was an entire conversation happening there that Shouta wasn't privy to.

No longer being in each other's heads apparently didn't stop them from talking without needing words to do it.

"...Right," Midoriya finally said. He stood up straight, cleared his throat, shifted awkwardly in place. Apologies were usually his go-to. He looked to be at a loss, now that they'd been ruled out as an option. "Um, still. Thank you for-- having our best interests in mind. It means a lot to u-- uh-- me."

(He was definitely about to say "us." This wasn't actually solved just because Shouta said so, was it?) 

"It's my job," Shouta said, dully. 

Midoriya twitched, like he was stopping himself from saying something. In his silence, All Might piped up; "An obligation to care is as easy to ignore as any other responsibility, Aizawa-kun." (Midoriya's eyes went wide, though he very precisely didn't move.) "You wouldn't be the first teacher to fail on that front."

Slowly, Shouta looked over at him. All Might kept his face intentionally neutral, and didn't look at where Midoriya was silently panicking. 

...Right. 

(Hadn't he himself noticed how Midoriya could never bring himself to talk back to a teacher? How standing up to authority figures wasn't a skill he seemed to possess?)

"Do you have a point to make?"

"No," All Might said, passively. "Simply stating a fact."

"Sure." 

Whatever. That was a can of worms Shouta could open another day. (He had a feeling he wouldn't be able to close it, once he did. But he wouldn't forget.) 

"I'm going to tell Recovery Girl the situation was resolved," Shouta pivoted, wanting nothing more than to get the logistics over with so he could go back to his room and lay on the floor for several hours. "You should give the police your statements. That being said, technically , no one besides Recovery Girl and myself knows how that Quirk affected the two of you."

All Might blinked. "You didn't tell anyone else?"

"No. And I'm not going to." Shouta set a hand on his head, sighing. This wasn't logical, but... "Look. This was a situation that literally could not happen again. The villain who did it was taken in by the cops, but even if they weren't, the connection between the two of you that caused it in the first place doesn't exist anywhere else. Explaining it might help someone else in the future. Or it might just cause problems for all of us that we could have avoided if we kept our mouths shut. So unless you want to tell someone..." 

The two glanced at each other. Then looked back at him and shook their heads in tandem.

"The caveat to this is that it can't affect either of you going forward." He pointed at each of them as he continued; "All Might, a pre-existing relationship can't lead to differential treatment between your students. Midoriya, you cannot prioritize an adult's safety and health above your own well-being. If it does, this won't be a secret anymore. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sensei," Midoriya said.

"As crystal," All Might agreed.

"Good." The two of them looked strained. Why did they look-- Oh, wait. "And I do mean this incident specifically. I promised I would keep the truth about your Quirks to myself, and I'm not going to go back on that just because you piss me off. I know better than most people how important it is to be cautious about letting this kind of information get around." That was part of being an Underground Hero a lot of folks tended to forget. How easily they could skirt the edge of a need-to-know basis. "People could get hurt if that gets out. And as I already said, it's my job to have your best interests in mind." 

They relaxed. It was a little uncanny, how even separated as they were, they still acted like two halves of a whole. But they'd already sort of been like that, so Shouta wasn't especially worried.

"I believe I speak for the both of us when I say we appreciate your discretion, Aizawa-kun," All Might said, tilting his head and grinning. Midoriya nodded his enthusiastic assent. "It's nice to know our trust in you isn't misplaced."

I'll try to keep deserving it, Shouta didn't say. "Sure, whatever," was what he did.

He'd reached his limit on sentimentality for the day.

"School day's over, so, go back to your dorm," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Midoriya, don't worry about the assignment you were supposed to do on the trip. I'm not making those a part of your grade."

MIdoriya blanched. "Oh, the assignment, I totally forgot--"

"I just said don't worry about it. Seriously. Your classmates probably didn't do theirs either." They loved avoiding school work, and a villain attack was an actually reasonable excuse. "Go back to your dorm. We're back to normal classes tomorrow, unless for some reason you aren't prepared for that, in which case you're going to be the one to tell everyone else why you're skipping." Midoriya winced. Good, his point was made. 

"Um. Right." 

He should have immediately left. Instead he glanced back at All Might, who made a mildly pained expression.

Shouta rolled his eyes. These two chucklefucks. He may have had a better understanding about why they were so attached to each other, but he didn't have to like it. "Okay, or I'll leave, and you two can make your way back whenever. All Might, have him back by curfew, or I'm taking you off his emergency contact list."

All Might coughed into the tissue he was still holding. Midoriya went bright red.

"All-- All Might is on my--"

"Okay, right, yes, I'll have him home before then, Aizawa-kun, thank you--"

His piece said, Shouta turned and left the room before he had to listen to their stammering any more. He didn't even bother putting in the time or energy to hope this was the last time those two got involved in some ridiculous sort of trouble.

And if Nedzu ever sent them on another field trip again, he was gonna wring the little rat's neck.