Checkmate (ShinDeku)

13

Warning: Death, Panic Attack

I cried writing this lol.

"Izuku."

Fog clogged his senses. Dragging him deeper into its suffocatings depths. He couldn't see. Couldn't breathe. Every second was dragged out painfully.

There was nothing to cling to. No sense of self to keep him above water. 

"Izuku."

The voice was closer this time, something nearly tangible close to his ears. He couldn't control his body, but he could feel the fog morphing.

There was a lightness to it now, like lightning flashing in a storm cloud. It blurred in and out, slowly becoming more visible. The fog didn't clear like he thought it would, but it continued to change, overwhelming and underwhelming his senses all at once.

If he could just speak, or even lower his eyes, things might make more sense. He needed it to make sense. When was the last time he wasn't in control of something? Years ago. That much was obvious. Although it was difficult to pinpoint when exactly with the fog still clogging his thoughts. 

He wanted to be angry. Maybe insult the faceless world around him until it had had enough of him. But it seemed even his emotions remained just out of reach, no longer his own to control.

An unsettling neutral spread through his limbs, invading his mind. 

"Izuku," the voice was warm and nostalgic. 

It took him by surprise. He couldn't fight quickly enough to stop the fog from fully overcoming him. 

---

"Izuku? Are you alright?" his mother asked. Concern was plastered across her face, disrupting her usually relaxed features.

"Sorry," Izuku felt himself say. His voice was light. Laughter. He was laughing with his mother in their old living room."Guess I just got caught up in my thoughts again."

She smiled sweetly. "Thinking of your next plan?" she asked. She'd taken on a hint of playfulness, lightly bumping her shoulder into his.

Plan? Right. Like the ones he used to make before deciding to focus on support gear instead. There had been hundreds of them, detailed outlines on the hero's approach, speech patterns, interviews after.

 He'd created so many versions of himself. 

Midoriya: First quirkless hero to enter the billboards. 

Small Might: The hero who saves everyone with a smile on his face. 

Adroit- the intelligent hero. 

"Yeah. I was thinking it might be better for me to go without a cape. Most heroes use it for diversion or to catch someone's eye. But if I want to take them by surprise, it's best to look as powerless as possible. The only way to prepare is to look unprepared." The words flowed out of his mouth. 

Even if the words weren't truly his own he knew this conversation. Not from ones similar. He knew this conversation- down to the exact way his mother titled her head or the flutter of the curtains from the window they always left open. 

Izuku knew the exact words that his mother would say next. It was a memory of his second to last year of junior high. Before he'd meet Tsu and the others.

Only you would come up with something like that. You're incredible sweetie.

"Only you would come up with something like that," his mother laughed. Her eyes shimmered. She was an emotional woman, tears always on hand when he shared his plans with her like this. "You're incredible sweetie."