Chapter Text
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It was quiet. When Hinata Shoyo opened his amber coloured eyes and saw only black, his first thought was that it was still nighttime and that he should go back to sleep. The boy went to turn to his side and look at the red numbers of the alarm clock when he realized it. He wasn’t laying on his soft warm bed anymore, but something cold and hard. So, he must have fallen to the floor, that has happened before. His hand reached blindly around but instead of finding the bed, the wooden side table or even the discarded backpack he had tossed somewhere near his bed, he felt absolutely nothing. Only air. Now the boy was sitting up, furiously rubbing his eyes.
“ H-have I gone blind?” He sputtered and looked at himself.
No, he could see his hands, all of his toes and his wrinkled uniform. Hinata had been so tired when coming home that he hadn’t even managed to change into something more comfortable. Okay so becoming blind over night was clearly ruled out. This had to be some sort of weird dream. He slowly got on to his feet and looked around, completely puzzled. There was absolutely nothing, only inky blackness in all directions.
“Hello!”
He tried to listen, one hand propped behind his ear, but nobody called back. Not even his echo. The boy wasn’t sure whether to be happy about it or not. He tried again.
“ Is anybody there!?”
Silence once more. Then he tried slapping himself in the face, but nothing changed. Well nothing except now he had a red cheek which hurt. Shoyo huffed in frustration but decided to walk to a direction he deemed to be east. He had once learned from a teacher that that’s the way you are supposed to go to if lost. Or was that north? It was impossible to remember.
His mind kept wandering as he made his way through the darkness, feet moving on autopilot at this point. What was this place, how could he get out? Did somebody break into his room and abduct him? And how long has he been missing, his mother and friends must be worried! And Natsu, was she okay or did they take her as well?
Shoyo tripped over his own feet and landed face first on the floor. Cursing his clumsiness he got up and dusted his shirt off when he saw it. The floor seemed to rattle, like water in a pool then you drop a rock in it. It was like stepping on one of those children’s lava tiles he once saw at a mall. But when he went to touch it, everything became still again, and it just felt like cold steel.
This place was really odd. It wasn’t cold but it wasn’t hot either, in fact it was just right. There was a faint smell of pine and laundry detergent he recognized. As he noted before there was no sound, but when he spoke earlier he could hear himself loud and clear. He pondered is he should yell out again.
His train of though was cut when, at least one volleyball courts away, Hinata saw something on his path. During this stroll he hadn’t seen anything apart from the shiny black floor and occasional mist floating in the air. No indication of where he was, no doors, no signs, not even a road. But now almost in front of him sat a black mass that looked exactly like a person huddled into a ball. They had on these really cool red sneakers, he had to wonder if this person played any sports. Shoyo walked closer, excited and relieved by the presence of another person.
“ Hello!”
The person jumped and turned to look at him with startled eyes. Once they finally faced Shoyo he could see that it was a boy, possibly the same age as him. He wore a dark blue track suit with white stripes and his green hair looked tangled. He had freckled cheeks that reminded Hinata of the night sky with its thousand stars, and there was also a pen behind his ear.
“ Hello. Are you trapped here too?”
“ W-what?” The boy stammered. Hinata crouched down.
“ That’s a nice jacket! Do you play sports? What school do you go to?”
The green haired kid stared and then rubbed his eyes.
“ Where am I?” He then asked shaking his head.
“ Beats me, I just woke up. I’m Hinata Shoyo.”
“ Izuku Midoriya. Um, so you don’t know where we are?”
“ Nope! I fell asleep at home and then woke up here! I have been walking for a while and there’s nothing anywhere. It’s like we're in space!”
Izuku was rather confused when, instead of Iida or Todoroki waking him up, it was an unfamiliar orange haired kid. Or maybe he shouldn’t be calling him that since they seem to be the same age… Midoriya had just finished the days training and come to his room to do some more studying when he had fallen asleep on the floor. The next thing he knew, he was in a dark void with a boy.
“ Oh, is this your quirk?” He asked, already trying to come up with solutions to fixing their predicament.
“ What’s a q-qui-quirk?”
Izuku tried to see if Hinata was serious or just trying to make fun of him. Shoyo though looked completely honest.
“ Y-your quirk? The, well, the power you’re born with.”
“ Like Spiderman?”
“ Who?”
“ Like in the comic books. You know, the one that goes like whew and spoosh.” Hinata made motions with his hands, imitating what he thought Spiderman would do. Izuku was confused, he hadn’t heard of a hero called Spiderman before. While he was trying to think, Hinata mumbled something about “no wait he wasn’t born with it”, and then sat down next to him.
“ Alright, we can figure this out. What’s your moms quirk?”
“ Like her power? She does make a pretty good spring soup. And she always knows when I’m lying!”
“ So lie detector?”
“ She says that once I’m a parent, I’ll know too. But I don’t want kids and I know that I suck at lying so she’s just being kind.” He muttered the last part.
Izuku hit his hands against his head. That’s not a quirk but parental instinct! How could he not know what Izuku was talking about.
“ Okay let’s try this again-“
“ Y-you’re seriously asking if I know anyone with superpowers?”
“ YES!” Midoriya raised his voice.
Shoyo shook his head.
“ So your family doesn’t have quirks?” He was given a shake.
“ Your friends? Neighbours?” Double shake.
“ Where do you live? In, like, a secluded village?”
“ No I live in Yukigaoka, in Japan. And I’m pretty sure if there were superpowers, I’d know.”
Izuku looked even more bewildered. This boy just said that there was an area in Japan with no quirks at all. That can’t be right.
“ That’s not possible. I live in Japan, and I’d know if there was an area with a large quirkless population. Do you know any heroes? Like All Might?”
“ Who’s that?” Izuku paled considerably. How could he not know who All Might is?
“ It’s like were from different worlds.” Hinata commented and Midoriya could only agree.
After a while of trying to figure things out, Midoriya slumped to the ground defeated. They had no idea on how they got there or how to get out. He also chided himself for falling asleep in the middle of studying. If he kept being so lazy he would never amount to anything.
The ginger poked his shoulder.
“ Uwhaa Midoriya-kun! You have real heroes in your world?! That’s so cool!”
“ Y-yeah, they are super awesome! But what about you Hinata-san?”
“ Just call me Shoyo. Oh, I just play volleyball.”
“ You can call me Izuku then. And volleyball? That sounds fun. I go to a prestigious hero school called U.A. There we learn to fight against evil!”
“ Oh man and I only go to a normal school. Karasuno is the school the Tiny Giant, a legendary volleyball player, went to. That’s why I chose it.”
“ Just like me. My all-time favourite hero went to U.A.”
“ How old are you Izuku-kun?”
“ I’m fifteen.” He gave Shoyo a big smile.
“ No way me too!”
Suddenly there was a distant sound, like the beep of an alarm clock. It started out almost impossible to hear but gradually grew louder and louder. Shoyo’s form started to fade and Izuku panicked.
“ Wh-what’s going on?!”
They tried to hold each other’s hands, but it just felt like grabbing air. The last thing Izuku saw was those pools of amber, wide, and scared.
...
Then he opened his eyes, and he was back in his dorm, on the floor, surrounded by papers. He took note of his surroundings as he slowly moved to a sitting position, counting the pens on the table, and the textbooks on his side. Something felt weird and so he touched behind his ear, finding a red pen there. Then he glanced at the clock. It was only six in the morning, but he knew he had to get going. Izuku took a couple of deep breaths and then sighed.
“ What a weird dream…” And with that he got up and headed for the showers to start the day. He had a morning jog ahead.
Shoyo sat on his bed thinking about the green haired boy. He must have watched enough cartoons to have them come into his dreams like that. The ginger held his blanket close, smelling the laundry detergent his mother used. It smelt like home, like security. After he got up, Hinata washed his face and got dressed, mentally preparing himself for another long day.
...