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Lives of Future Past

Summary:

Midoriya and Bakugou have thought a lot about their near futures: the next two years at UA and the start of their careers as pros. But when they get a taste of what their lives could be in thirty years, they realize some important truths they hadn't taken into account.

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An alternative take on de-aging/swap quirks: Veteran Pro Hero Deku gets swapped into his own past, while his teenage self must navigate an uncertain and mysterious future.

Notes:

Most chapters will only cover one time line, but this one includes both. It has been incredibly fun to write this, so I hope y'all enjoy it half as much as I do. The details of how this type of time travel functions will be covered in the next couple of chapters.

Chapter Text

Present Day


Midoriya landed on an ashy, dusty battlefield with a thud. He blinked his vision clear. "Not so scary all by your lonesome, are you mister hero?" a young woman's voice called tauntingly. The words didn't seem to be meant for him. Her voice wasn't close, and he heard sounds of other people battling. Midoriya struggled to his hands and knees and surveyed his surroundings. The last thing he could remember he had been walking from UA to the train station, headed home for a long weekend. He spotted the source of the voice. Forty meters away, two villains circled a hero like hungry dogs. All three of their faces were obscured by smoke. They didn't seem to have noticed Midoriya.

The young woman cracked a whip at the hero who snatched it out of the air, successfully pulling the woman off balance. With the stalemate broken, her partner lashed out as well. Midoriya could see he had some kind of mutation quirk effecting his hands. Unable to dodge two assailants in close quarters, the hero took a heavy hit on the shoulder from the man's oversized fists. He staggered backwards towards Midoriya, breaking through the thick smoke

Midoriya recognized the gauntlets on the hero's arms, though much of his costume was somehow not right. Choked by smoke, Bakugo's voice called out to him, "Deku! Now!" 

Midoriya wasn't sure what he was supposed to do from so far away, but he leapt to his feet and let out a large Air Force strike. He aimed it for the villain with the huge fists, but he wasn't sure who would or wouldn't be hit by it. As the air blast came hurtling at all three, Bakugou used the whip to throw the woman into her partner and rolled away. The air carried both villains several yards into the nearby warehouse, slamming them against it with a resounding thud.

Bakugou launched himself forward and grabbed a villain's face in each hand. "Surrender" he growled. After a seconds hesitation, they both raised their hands to be cuffed, clearly terrified of an explosion that close to their faces. Midoriya walked towards them, trying to figure out why he didn't remember the start of the battle. He was muttering about head injuries and memory quirks when he realized through the haze that Bakugo was taller than he should be. His hero costume looked different too. He wore new support items on his feet and above his ears. There was more green and less black. Midoriya's steps slowed.

A strong breeze cleared the air more fully as Bakugo turned to look at him. They each registered the nearly 30 year age difference in the same moment. "You're old!" Midoriya squeaked. Bakugou sighed exasperatedly, "Shit. It's today."

 

 

30 Years Earlier

 

Bakugou heard a thud and turned around to make sure Midoriya hadn't pancaked himself in the street somehow. He'd expect to see Midoriya sprawled out or picking up the entire contents of his backpack. Instead he locked eyes with a kneeling stranger. "Oh." The man shrugged picking himself up off the sidewalk. "I guess today's the day". He began dusting off his clothes and muttering to himself.  The person in front of Bakugou looked like he could be Deku's dad or uncle. He had green unruly curls but they were corralled into a much tighter style. He had quite a few freckles, and plenty of scars. The weirdest part was his clothes. Under the ash and dust that covered him, he wore something that strongly resembled Deku's hero costume. Where was Deku anyway? They had been walking to the train station when Bakugo had heard the noise behind him. He certainly felt like something was off, but it didn't feel dangerous. Still, he couldn't afford to be reckless with the Leauge's recent behavior. Bakugou shoved his hand deeper into the pockets of his school uniform and pressed his cell phone's power button repeatedly. He hoped his teachers would get the S.O.S. soon enough. For now, he needed to stall for time.

"Oi, who are you? Where'd Deku go?" he asked loudly. The man was patting himself down looking for something, and checking the side walk beneath them as well. He startled as if suddenly remembering Bakugou existed.

"Oh Kacchan, it's still me. Past me- or is it present me? Your Deku got swapped into the future with you. My you. Sorry sweetie, but you're stuck with me for the next twenty four hours or so. Things will be back to normal soon though. I have something for this, I just gotta find it." The man smiled apologetically raising his hands in a gesture of 'it can't be helped.'

Bakugo's mind sputtered. No one else called him Kacchan but Deku didn't call him sweetie either. Deku also wasn't old, and -some bitter part of Bakugou's mind noted- probably never would be. If this was a trap it was a really weird one. "Prove it" he huffed, trying to scan subtly for other villains.

The man, Midoriya, held out his right hand. It was crisscrossed by faded replicas of familiar scars. There were a couple of new ones too, but this was clearly Deku's hand. On it glinted a gold ring. Bakugou's mind registered the information, but not the implications. He looked up into what were undoubtably Deku's green eyes, but they were framed by small smile lines.

Bakugou eyed him suspiciously, "How do I know you aren't Toga? We don't know everything about her quirk. Maybe she can adjust ages." He crossed his arms, but tried not to look too combative. He needed to keep this weirdo talking, if he was lucky maybe he could get some information about where the League had gone to ground. Bakugou's skin prickled with excitement at the thought of storming a League safe house and finally getting some proper vengeance.

"Wouldn't that be a cool quirk!" the man claiming to be Midoriya said brightly. Then he looked as though he had remembered something and unzipped a previously invisible pocket on his sleeve, retrieving a small white envelope with a look of triumph. "This is for you," he said holding it out. Bakugou made no move to take it. There was no telling if it was coated in some drug or could be a conduit for this guy's quirk. Sensing the issue, the man sighed and removed his gloves dragging the paper across his skin and even touching it to his tongue for good measure. Bakugou's arms remained crossed. "Kacchan has always been a fast thinker," the man said with a chuckle. "My quirk is One for All," he went on and Bakugou's blood ran a little cold hearing the quirk's true name "and at least as far as you know, it's not very good for hurting people through paper." Then the man's body was surrounded by snaking green lightning and his hair stood on end. He winked at Bakugou and fired a small Air Force blast at the clear blue sky. It left a tiny dome shaped cloud hanging far above them and the recoil cracked the concrete under his red shoes.

"Shiiiiit." The word spilled out of Bakugou's mouth as his thoughts whirled. Either this was truly future Midoriya or the League had found a way to duplicate One for All. Both seemed horribly improbable. Maybe it was an illusion quirk. Yeah, that could be it. Then he considered the cracks in the concrete and frowned.  Mind numbed by confusion, he held out his hand for the envelope. If the League had One for All, then there wasn't much worse the situation could really get. As he was deciding whether or not to open it, he heard the roar of an approaching motorcycle. Aizawa's motorcycle. For a second he'd forgotten the SOS he'd sent. Now he wasn't even sure what he wanted his teachers to do when they arrived. A fight could prove disastrous, especially for All Might. 

"What's wrong?" Bakugou hadn't realized he'd taken a battle stance until he saw the Maybe-Midoriya reactivate Full Cowling. Then the motorcycle rounded the corner, carrying Eraser Head and All Might, and the green lighting and whipping wind vanished. 

"Aizawa-Sensei!" the man beamed, turning to wave at the approaching vehicle. The motorcycle stopped sidelong with a squeak of rubber and Eraser Head's capture weapon lashed out at his still waving hand. Erased Head was running at them full speed. Midoriya's older double nimbly ducked the grasping strips, still talking, and Bakugou realized he had done so even without his quirk. "All Might! It's so good to see you. Would you like to come over for dinner? Mom is supposed to be making udon." He dodged another strike, and then another. His movement was practiced and graceful. It exuded battle confidence. 

"Wait Aizawa-Sensei! That's Deku," Bakugou shouted on impulse. "I think," he added more quietly. His fists clenched and unclenched. Bakugou wanted a problem he could blast his way through, but whatever the hell this was, it certainly wasn't that. Eraser Head hesitated for a moment and his eyes drifted to Bakugou. All Might was still sitting on the motorcycle in his smaller form, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of villains or his young successor. He looked the ash covered man over thoughtfully, taking in the big smile and tear filled eyes that were fixed on him. But he didn't move. 

"What do you mean you think, Bakugou?" Eraser Head shouted. His body was still, but he kept his capture weapon poised to strike. 

"I don't fucking know," Bakugou spat, hands sparking. "He has Deku's scars, and his eyes, and his quirk. He knows things that only Deku would know. And he looks like he could do a lot of damage in a fight, so maybe" -he pulled a disgusted face- "we should try talking first."

"You sent an emergency signal specifically reserved for League attacks on students" Eraser Head replied accusingly.

Bakugou rolled his eyes. "Deku vanished and there was a weird dude who knew our names. What the hell was I supposed to wait for? A banner that said Leauge of Villains?" he snapped back.

Eraser Head frowned, taking his point without comment and returning to the issue at hand.

"Why should I believe you're Midoriya?" he said, not lowering his capture weapon. Old Midoriya reluctantly peeled his eyes away from All Might to meet Eraser Head's gaze. 

"Because I'm finally going to tell you about how All Might gave me his quirk" Midoriya said with a grin. 

"Deku, no. What the fuck?!" "Midoriya-Shounen what are you thinking?!" Bakugou and All Might yelled over each other. 

"See? They both confirm it's true. Rational enough for you Sensei?" Midoriya continued smiling.

Eraser Head's eyebrows shot up, but his gaze remained locked on Midoriya. "Is this information that no one in the Leauge of Villains possesses?"

"No," Midoriya replied. Beside him Bakugou shook his head in corroboration. At least All for One knew, likely Shigaraki and the others too. Midoriya continued, "however, Sensei, it's information that the Leauge benefits from us not sharing with you. You could walk head first into a fight against someone with multiple quirks or quirk transference abilities and lose, all because you didn't know it was possible for humans not just Nomu. You should have a chance to find out how this sort of thing interacts with your quirk. So I'm telling you not just because it's something young Deku knew, but because it's something the Leauge would never intentionally share with you. My quirk also can't be stolen, as All Might can confirm. So it's not possible for me to be a shapeshifter with a stolen quirk. And just to clear up any differences you're noticing Sensei, your Midoriya wasn't hit by an aging quirk. I was hit with a time-swapping quirk. Your Midoriya is in my future and I'm here in the past with you. So if you're satisfied, I'd really like to talk to All Might." His voice cracked a bit at the last words. 

Bakugou rolled his eyes. Clearly older Deku hadn't outgrown his rambling. Eraser Head looked thoughtful then blinked his eyes shut and sighed. "Show me your quirk." Midoriya nodded and briefly activated Full Cowling again. Eraser Head relaxed. "Well if it's an illusion quirk you could just vanish, and I think we've covered all the other bases. He doesn't seem like an imposter to me. What do you think All Might?" He glanced back to the motorcycle and saw that All Might was already walking over, arms outstretched. Eraser Head moved out of their way, and Midoriya and All Might collided with a forceful hug. 

Bakugou pretended not to hear all the sniffling and murmuring coming from the two older men. He stayed close enough to intervene, but pretended to study the concrete. Most of it was unintelligible but the words "It was easier knowing I'd get to see you one last time" hit him like a punch to the gut. His eyes pricked, but he pushed the questions it raised out of his mind.

Waiting for the moment to pass, Bakugou finally opened the envelope he was holding. He turned the small slip of paper it contained over in his hand. It read Rules for time travel on the front and To myself, Katsuki on the back. He started with the back.