Timeloop Trouble

Chapter 12 - A loop is Circular

"I thought we could work on it together," Izuku shrugged. "Combine our thoughts and theories and possible actions... We don't have to if you don't want to, of course! I just thought it would help us communicate about this stuff."

"...Oh," Katsuki breathed. That was actually...kinda sweet. That way Katsuki wouldn't have to worry constantly about Izuku overthinking, he wouldn't have to prompt him to tell him the most basic shit. It was a big obstacle in their past life when they were figuring this Jikan bullshit out, something they still didn't fully understand, so if this notebook could actually help with that then who was Katsuki to say no? "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I accept your shitty gift, Izuku," Katsuki snorted, wacking him on the head with it. "But I'm still angry you kept me in the dark about this."

"I'll make it up to you."

"You better," Katsuki huffed, looking down at the notebook again. He flipped through it, seeing Izuku had already written down the basics of what they knew. Details about Jikan, an explanation about the memory loss and memory regain mechanics, and with it the specifics of certain people. "Starting with a sleepover."

"A sleepover?" Izuku asked, a little surprised. "Won't your parents-"

"Shut up, I don't wanna hear your lame excuses. Wanna make it up to me or not?" Katsuki asked, giving Izuku a playful glare.

"...Sleepover it is," Izuku smiled, glad he didn't have to deal with a distant Kacchan anymore. Yeah, having to watch them grow apart again wasn't something Izuku liked. To be honest, he was kind of surprised he was able to keep himself from telling Kacchan everything up until now. It had been hard, harder than he would've liked. Because how do you go from inseparable to barely being friends? How could Izuku face the one person who understood what kind of trauma he went through, knowing he didn't remember any of it?

Luckily auntie Mitsuki wasn't too hard to convince of their whole sleepover idea and they spent the night huddled together inside a blanket fort, shining a flashlight into their shared notebook as they read and added things. They must've fallen asleep at some point, but Izuku didn't remember when. He remembered Kacchan being skeptical about his whole 'time is linear' theory, reminding him he didn't actually have any concrete proof or evidence.

"It's a time loop, Deku. It's circular," Kacchan had huffed. "The same fucking circle over and over again."

Izuku must've fallen asleep sometime after that conversation, because one moment he was staring down at the badly illuminated lined paper of his notebook and the other he was looking up at a dark night sky. He was sitting up on a roof in a city he couldn't name, his body that of an adult, dressed in the familiar greens and blacks of his hero outfit. He was out on patrol, his subconscious supplied. A night shift, both packed with the most action and the least public recognition. Izuku didn't hate it, though, and it was quiet this evening.

"Think we can actually see that shitty comet from here?"

Izuku turned around, seeing Kacchan walk over to him before sitting down next to him on the edge of the roof. The comet..? Ah, so it was this memory, then. Back when they weren't dating yet, when they'd ran into each other at random during their night patrols. It wasn't that unusual they happened to find each other that way, not back in the day. Izuku wondered whether Kacchan had set those seemingly random meetings up, though. Definitely this one. People had been going off about this comet in their group chat, a piece of space debris that only soared past the earth every hundred years, give or take. It was supposed to be romantic to watch it together, but Izuku hadn't been giving that aspect a lot of attention.

"Don't know," Izuku shrugged. "You can barely see the stars from up here."

Katsuki grunted, a sign he was listening as his eyes scanned the surface below. There were barely any people out at this hour and it didn't seem anyone was going to try and start any trouble.