Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“How tragic…”

Wide, red eyes wandered up from the disembodied hand laying uselessly on the floor. His vision blurred with unshed tears, as he stared at the tall, dark figure.

“You’ve been in need of saving this whole time… yet no one has rescued you…”

A large, gloved hand reached out from the shadows. Red eyes zeroed in on it, the boy’s body flinching automatically, expecting pain. None came.

“Aren’t heroes supposed to save those in need?”

The tears broke free, and the small child shook with small sobs. It was true, heroes were supposed to protect others. They saved people. Why didn’t they save him? Did they hate him? Was he a bad kid, like his father said? The brightness of those red eyes dulled a little, as the boy stared down at his shaking hands.

He hurt his father… he didn’t mean to… But, that still made him bad… didn’t it?

“You do not need to fear, child… I am here now. I will take you away from the pain. I will show you true heroism, I will show you a new world, where children like you are not left for dead…”

The boy looked up again at that. The hand was still outstretched, waiting to be taken. The child shakily lifted his hand. He knew this wasn’t a good idea, his insides twisted at the thought of being taken away to wherever this man was talking about.

Just before the boy could take the hand, there was a loud, yet tentative knock on the door. The child jumped, startled, and retracted his hand, hugging himself tightly. His eyes were wide in fear, the loud knocking made it worse. It sounded too much like the banging when Father was mad. More knocking, and the boy clamped his eyes shut, crying harder.

“H-Hello?”

His eyes snapped open at the small, womanly voice. It sounded… worried.

“Is anyone home? I was just passing through, a-and… I heard a child crying.”

The boy stared over at the front door of the house. The voice was scared, yet strong. The woman on the other sighed knocked again, not giving up. Why?

“I just want to see if I can help…”

Red eyes widened further.

Help… Someone wanted to help him...

The small, frail child’s body started to move, lifting himself onto his trembling feet. He took a step towards the door, the woman’s concerned voice luring him in. He didn’t mind though, her voice was nice, and comforting, something he’d never felt before.

“Child.” the shadowy man said sternly, causing the boy to pause. “Come here.”

The only thing he felt when hearing that voice was fear.

The boy shook his head, waddling towards the door on his shaky legs. He wanted to go to the woman. He wanted to feel comfort. The boy let out a shriek when the shadow man lunged, grabbing his arm roughly.

“You are coming with me, you brat!”

“Hello?! Are you alright?! Please, open the door!”

He let out a sob, reaching towards the door desperately. He wasn’t that far away, he could get closer! The boy tugged and pulled against the man’s grip, his small hand was less than an inch from the door.

“H-h-help me!” he managed to grasp the doorknob briefly, gripping it tightly with his tiny fingers, until there was nothing to hold onto anymore.

The knob fell away into dust. The man’s hand disappeared just before the door swung open. The boy fell to his knees, sobbing as the woman rushed inside, crouching in front of him.

“Oh my- are you alright, sweetie? What happened? Are you hurt?” A soft hand grazed his face, and the boy flinched, shaking tremendously. “It’s… it’s alright… I won’t hurt you, I promise. You’re safe now, child…”

He sniffed, lifting his gaze to look at the woman. Her bright green eyes were wide with worry and concern, but they also held… something akin to determination. He felt his fear slowly fading, and hesitantly reached out to the woman, but stopped, retracting it quickly.

His hands were dangerous. They were bad. He didn’t want to hurt anyone else.

Instead, the boy leaned forward, burying his face in the woman’s chest, keeping his hands tucked away for her safety. The woman carefully wrapped her arms around him, fingers carding through his sweat-soaked, pale hair.

“It’s alright… you’re safe now.” she said softly. “Can… can you tell me your name, sweetie?”

“...T-T-Ten… ko…” he choked out, clamping his eyes shut. “Tenko…”

“You’re okay now, Tenko.”

The woman's voice was firm, yet gentle. Reassuring.

“I’ve got you… I am here…”

Chapter Text

“Never felt a feeling of comfort

All this time, I've been hiding

And I never had someone to call my own…”

It should go without saying, that this was the last thing Inko expected when she went out to buy her baby boy a present for his birthday. Admittedly, the shop she’d been on her way to was in a rather… rural area. She’d expected a few sleazy characters, dark alleys she should avoid at all costs, some troublemaking teens.

She had no way of predicting she’d be here , with a small child sobbing into her chest as she held him tightly. This was obviously not the way she thought her evening would play out. If that wasn’t life in a nutshell, though…

Inko took a deep breath, staring down at the tiny boy in her arms. He was obviously malnourished - no child should be that skinny and pale - and his body was littered with bruises and scrapes. Her heart clenched painfully, her eyes narrowed.

How could someone abuse this poor boy?

She knew it wasn’t just a one time attack either, there were so many scars on this little one’s skin. It reminded her too much of the past, when she and Mitsuki were just kids. How Inko ignored the bruises and wounds her best friend tried to cover.

This time, she would act , not ignore .

That’s what a hero would do! , she could practically hear her son’s voice ringing in her ears. She wasn’t a pro-hero by any means, but she would help this hurt little boy if it was the last thing she did.

“Tenko… Is it alright if I pick you up?” Inko asked gently, smoothing the boy’s light colored locks. “Can I take you somewhere safe?”

The little boy, Tenko, trembled in her embrace, peeking up at her hesitantly. His bright crimson gaze met hers, and stared for a long moment, before nodding shakily.

Inko let out a small sigh of relief, carefully pulling the child closer to her chest, supporting his bottom with one arm, and holding him close with the other as she stood to her feet. The woman gazed around the small house, nose wrinkling. It was a mess, there was trash and cans littered about. Her attention then fell on something on the floor a few feet away, and her eyes widened.

A hand. A human hand was on the floor.

What in the world had happened?

Inko glanced down at the boy in her arms, who couldn’t be more than five or six years old, and was avoiding touching her, his small hands tucked desperately to his chest. The woman swallowed thickly, tearing her gaze from the mess around her, and hurrying out of the door.

She had no idea what to do, in all honesty. Should she go to the police? A hero? No, they’d take the boy. If she was correct in thinking this boy caused something to happen, they’d take him from her, and he’d possibly be put into a worse situation. What else could she do, then?

“Um, T-Tenko, do you have any family I could take you to-”

“ N-no… ” Tenko mumbled against her shirt. “N-no one… h-he’s gone… there’s no one… I-I-I didn’t mean… t-to… I-I-”

“Shh, it’s alright, sweetie.” Inko soothed, rubbing the boy’s back when he started to hyperventilate. Her eyes scanned the practically desolate street. Where was she supposed to go? She couldn’t just take him home, that would technically be kidnapping, wouldn’t it?

“I-I dunno… what h-hap-happened…!” Tenko whimpered, more tears flowing down his grimy face. “I-I-I just… t-touched him… a-and he was gone … I-I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I’m s-s-sorry-”

“It’s okay, Tenko,” Inko whispered, gently wiping the boy’s tears away as she continued down the sidewalk. “You’re safe. You’re not in trouble. It’s okay.”

Tenko whimpered again, still trembling, but quieting down. Inko’s eyes scanned her surroundings. This wasn’t good. She didn’t have a plan, she’d just barged into that house, her legs just moved on their own , she couldn’t think-

Tenko suddenly squeaked in terror, and Inko froze, looking down at him. The boy had apparently been looking over her shoulder, and was hiding his face in her sweater, breathing becoming erratic. Inko quickly spun around, eyes widening when a dark figure suddenly dropped from above.

The figure grunted softly when they landed, before standing straight, staring directly at her. Inko’s heart jumped into her throat when she saw the glow of red eyes. The woman took a step back, holding Tenko tighter.

Was this a thug? A criminal? A villain?

“St-stay back!” Inko managed to squeak, loosening the arm around Tenko, just in case she had to resort to using her quirk for self-defense. She wasn’t very strong, but that didn’t matter. She wasn’t letting the boy in her arms get hurt anymore.

“Relax,” a gruff, yet young voice drawled. The figure stepped closer, and Inko narrowed her eyes, her hand shaking as she lifted it.

“I-I mean it, stay awa-”

“I said relax .” The figure stepped into the light of a street lamp, and Inko blinked. The young man was dressed in all black, a strange scarf was resting around his shoulders, and he was staring at her through bright yellow goggles. He… he was just a kid .

What in the…

“You can calm down, I’m a Pro-Hero.” the man sighed, lifting his goggles, brows furrowed. “Care to explain what’s going on here?”

Inko blinked, holding Tenko protectively as he started to tremble harder. The poor boy was just so scared, she wished she could make all of his fears vanish. She knew she literally just found this child five minutes ago, but she needed to be there for him. Maybe it was her motherly instincts kicking in, or maybe she had just lost her mind… All she knew was that nothing was going as planned. Not that there was a plan anyway, but...

“I-I… I found this boy… he w-was screaming for help, and I couldn’t just ignore him, so I…” Inko took a deep breath, standing taller, fixing the man - Boy? Possibly a Pro-Hero? She’d never heard of him before, though - with a determined gaze. “I saved him. He’s obviously been hurt by whoever he’d been with, and something happened at the house I found him in.”

The young, supposed hero raised a brow, staring at Tenko with a strange look.

“What kind of something ?” he wondered. Inko glanced down at the boy in her arms, who started to silently cry again.

“An accident.” the woman replied, giving the young man a firm look. “I don’t know the details. All I know is that this boy is all alone, and I’m not ignoring a child in need.”

The strange male narrowed his eyes, staring Inko in the eyes. The greenette stared back, refusing to tear her gaze away. The dark-haired stranger looked away first, staring up at the evening sky and letting out a long, suffering sigh.

“You should really take him to the police, lady.” he stated.

“I know that, but-”

“You don’t want anything else bad to happen.” the young man finished, giving her a blank stare. Inko swallowed, nodding. “God… this is why I deal with underground crime, and not… this .”

“Are you offering to help me?” Inko asked suspiciously, taking another step back.

“It’s not an offer, I’m taking you to the police station so we can sort this shit out.”

Inko couldn’t help but gasp softy, covering one of Tenko’s ears. The supposed hero rolled his eyes.

“He’s probably heard worse. Now, hurry up. Please .” he added the last part after a second of hesitation.

Inko bit her lip.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” she asked, causing the male to pause. “I’ve never seen or heard about you on the news. There’s also the fact that your obviously just a child yourself. How do I know I can trust you?”

The man narrowed his eyes, an emotion resembling offense passing across his features.

“I’m not a child, I’m- Just- Ugh.” he groaned, digging through his pockets, grumbling softly as he pulled out a card. Inko stared when he held it up for her to see. A Pro-Hero license. She cautiously stepped closer to read the words on it.

Erasure Hero: Eraserhead

UA Graduate of 20XX

The woman glanced back up at the young man, who took his card back and stuffed in his the pocket of his tracksuit.

“You’re fresh out of high school.” Inko pointed out. The hero - Eraserhead, apparently - scowled, burying the bottom half of his face in his scarves.

“Yeah, a high school that literally trained me for three years on how to be a Hero.” he reminded. “ Now do you trust me?”

“Well, I could do without the attitude,” Inko scolded lightly. “I’m just trying to make sure this little boy is safe.” She glanced back down at Tenko, who has staring back up at her, his red eyes even redder from his crying earlier. Inko smiled reassuringly at him, Tenko stared for a long moment, before burying his face again.

“He’ll be fine.” Eraserhead grumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets and turning. “Come on already. I’ve been on patrol since noon, and like I said, this isn’t my strongfield.”

Inko scoffed softly, but followed, hugging Tenko a little closer. The boy whimpered softly, hiding his face in her neck. Inko sighed. She’d have to call Mitsuki to let her know she’d have to deal with the ‘wonder duo’ a while longer.

 Tenko stared down at his lap, refusing to look up at the man across the table from him. He didn’t like it here. He wanted to leave. Where was the green-eyed woman? Why did she leave him? Did…

Did she just leave him here alone? He hated being alone… Where was she?!

“Hey...” His eyes snapped up at the man sitting in front of him, who was smiling reassuringly. It was fake, he could tell. It wasn’t real like the green lady’s smile. “My name is Naomasa Tsukauchi… Can you tell me your name?”

Tenko clenched his hands into little fists in his lap, shaking his head.

“Okay… Well, do you remember your name?” the man wondered. Tenko kept his eyes trained on his hands, hesitantly nodding his head. “That nice lady said your name is Tenko… is that right?”

Another nod.

“Do you know your last name?”

Nod.

“Do you mind telling me? I just need to know who you are, exactly.”

Tenko gazed up through the pale bangs hanging in his face. The man was still smiling, it was still fake.

“...I…” Tenko swallowed, voice soft and broken. “I-I want… the g-green lady…”

Naomasa frowned a bit, biting his lip. Tenko looked back down at his hands.

“If she’s in here with you, do you think you’d feel more comfortable?”

Tenko nodded immediately. Naomasa nodded back, and seconds later, the green-haired woman stepped into the room, smiling at Tenko. The boy stared at her, feeling his shaking subside, even if just a little. The woman stepped closer, until she was in the chair next to Tenko. She placed a gentle hand on Tenko’s arm, and he tried not to flinch or wince at the contact.

“Do you feel better now, Tenko?” the lady asked gently. Tenko nodded, absentmindedly scooting closer to her. “Do you think you could talk to Mr. Tsukauchi now?”

Tenko glanced warily up at the man. The boy looked down again, clenching his hands.

“...Shimura…” he mumbled, jumping when he heard the man gasp audibly. Naomasa stared wide-eyed at him.

“Sh-Shimura…?”

Tenko nodded, hunching his shoulders at the look on the man’s face. The green lady looked between the two of them.

“Is… is something wrong?”

“N-no, not at all!” Naomasa quickly replied, chuckling nervously. Tenko narrowed his eyes. “I just… know someone associated with that name…”

Tenko blinked, hunching his shoulders more. He didn’t like this. He wanted to go away from here. He wanted to leave already!

“It’s okay, Tenko.” the green lady was smiling at him again. “I’m here, you don’t have to be scared, okay?” Tenko stared at her, looking away after a long time.

“...C-can… I leave now…?” he asked softly. “I-I wanna go…”

“Almost, Tenko.” Naomasa answered, picking up a pen and reading over the paper on the table. “I just need you to answer a few questions. Is that alright?”

Tenko shrugged. If he could go after, he was fine with that. He could answer questions.

“Okay… Miss Midoriya here said she found you alone in your home… Where are your parents?”

But not that question.

Tenko shook his head rapidly.

“No!” he yelled, the volume of his voice startling himself as well as the other two in the room. Tears filled his vision. “D-don’t… I-I don’t like this! I wanna go!”

“Hey, hey,” Naomasa soothed. “It’s okay, if you don’t wanna answer that, it’s fine…”

Tenko took a deep breath, focusing on the green lady’s hand - her name was Midoriya? Midoriya brushed her fingers against his skin a bit, and it somehow relaxed the boy. He swallowed, wiping his eyes with the back of one hand, coughing a bit when he sniffled.

“Do you want some water?” Midoriya wondered, bringing a clear cup of water closer to Tenko.

Tenko stared at it, throat burning. When was the last time he was allowed to have a drink? The boy reached out without thinking, grasping the cup, desperate for something to finally soothe his dry lips and throat. But the second his fingers closed around the plastic, the cup fell into a pile of dust, and the water splashed onto the flat surface.

No one spoke, the two adults stared with wide eyes, as Tenko’s breathing became erratic. It happened again, he didn’t mean for it to happen, he didn’t want it to happen-

He didn’t want to hurt anyone else. He didn’t want to make someone disappear again.

“I’m- I’m s-sorry…” Tenko gasped, tears streaming down his face. He choked on his own sobs, feeling his throat burn.

Father was gripping his neck tight, yelling and screaming at him, he couldn’t breathe, it hurt, it hurt so much, he couldn’t -

Tenko scratched at his neck desperately, he needed to get the hand off, he needed to, he needed to make the pain stop, he wanted it to stop-

He grabbed Father’s arm, trying to push it off so he could breathe .

Something happened.

Father screamed.

Father’s arm disappeared.

He was gone.

He was gone.

He was gone.

He hurt Father.

“Tenko !”

He gasped in a lungful of air, choking on his tears as he stared into wide, scared green eyes. He was shaking, his neck hurt. Tenko glanced down at his hands, Midoriya was holding his wrists tightly, her fingers rubbing his pulse, trying to make him feel better. But Tenko barely noticed, his gaze was locked on his fingertips.

Red. His fingers were red. Red like the spot Father had fallen to the floor, screaming.

Tenko let out a choked, despaired sob, hanging his head as more tears fell.

“I-I didn’t - I didn’t wanna - I-I don’t know what h-happened!” Midoriya gather him in her arms, and Tenko desperately kept his hands away from her. “M-my hands - th-they only touched him - they weren’t s’posed to - They’d n-never - I-I-I’m sorry! ”

Naomasa stared at the scene, Miss Midoriya holding Tenko close to her chest, her own tear streaked face buried in his dirty hair. Tenko keeping his hands away from any contact, like they were dangerous weapons. The man swallowed, pulling out his phone and stepping out of the room, leaving the woman and child alone as he dialed.

“Naomasa ?” Toshinori’s voice answered, confused. “ You never call this late- ”

“Toshi. You need to get down here. Now. ”

Chapter Text

“She tells him ‘ooh love’

No one's ever gonna hurt you, love

I'm gonna give you all of my love

Nobody matters like you…”

Inko stared down at the pale figure currently napping in her lap, her delicate hands threading through his hair as she gently and carefully untangled the light strands. A small frown and worried brows were etched into her features, as she watched Tenko’s chest rise and fall at a normal pace. She’d been terrified earlier, when the little boy seemed to suffer a major panic attack; all because of his quirk, too.

It was safe to say, - she and Naomasa had discussed it after the boy practically passed out from exhaustion - that Tenko’s quirk had just manifested that day, and a horrible accident occurred as a result of it, if the child’s reaction to his quirk activating and his fear of using his hands were anything to go by.

Inko bit her lip, fighting back tears at the memory of just about an hour ago, as she stared at the bandages wrapped around the boy’s throat. Tenko just - he just started hyperventilating, then screaming , and Inko hadn’t been able to do anything until she’d managed to yank the boy’s hands from where they’d been digging into his neck, scratching at the skin incessantly . She’d felt helpless. There she was, insisting how she’d help this boy no matter what, and she’d just sat there in shock for a full minute, at least !

Tenko stirred, brows scrunching together for a moment, small whimpers escaping him until Inko rubbed his arm reassuringly. The child quieted, snuggling even closer to the woman. Inko smiled fondly.

She would have to try harder, then. She would put one-hundred percent of her effort into ensuring Tenko had a happy, smile-filled future.

The door to the room opened, and Inko jumped slightly, relieved when she saw she hadn’t woken Tenko with the sudden movement. The woman looked over, eyes widening at the man in front of her. At least, she thought it was a man ? He was a thin - almost skeletal - older male, with strangely styled blonde hair, and baggy clothes. Honestly, not that Inko meant to be rude, but he looked like a hobo .

“U-uhm…” The man’s deep blue eyes darted from the boy in Inko’s arms, to the woman’s face. Inko frowned. “M-may I… help you?”

“What?” the blonde man blinked, his eyes widening. “ Oh! I just-”

“Shhhh! ” Inko hurriedly held a finger to her lips. The man immediately shut his mouth when Tenko stirred again, but thankfully, he remained asleep.

Good . He needs the rest.

Inko sighed in relief, then turned her attention back to the blonde man.

“Who are you, exactly?” she whispered, eyeing him up and down. The man fidgeted awkwardly, clearing his throat quietly before speaking.

“My name is Yagi Toshinori.” he answered, obviously trying to keep his voice down. Key word: Trying . “I’m… Well... T-Tenko is… His grandmother, she was a close friend of mine.”

Inko stared, narrowing her eyes slightly as the blonde rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Wait…

“A-are… are you Tenko’s grandfather?”

“His WHAT- ”

“SHHH! ”

The two adults’ eyes darted to Tenko, who was somehow still fast asleep, snoring softly.

“I-” The man - Toshinori - coughed into his fist, face a bright red. “ No , no, I’m not - I’m just - Me and another friend of mine… were basically entrusted with him, if something was to go… wrong .”

Inko blinked, brows furrowing.

“So... His godparents.”

“You could say that, yes.”

Inko’s eyes narrowed further, her arms tightening around the boy in her arms protectively.

“If you were entrusted with him,” she stated, voice steely, “then why did you allow him to suffer in the situation he’d been in?”

Toshinori blinked rapidly, taken aback.

“I- Well, she… She didn’t exactly want us to be in contact with-”

“So ,” Inko said, voice slightly harsh. The man flinched, staring at her. “You left him alone. ”

Toshinori’s eyes widened a fraction, and he visibly deflated a bit, shoulders seeming to sag with guilt. Inko watched as he opened and closed his mouth, failing to produce words. The man gave up a moment later, staring sadly at Tenko, who’d buried his face in Inko’s neck as the conversation progressed.

“I know I did… And I wish I could go back and change things, many things.”

Toshinori sighed, glancing at the chair across from Inko. The greenette followed his gaze, then gestured for him to sit. She should let him explain, even if she didn’t exactly want to. Toshinori nodded, sitting down, lanky arms folding over the tabletop.

“Since you’ve been pulled into this whole… thing , I feel obligated to explain things.” Toshinori mumbled.

“That would be appreciated, yes.” Inko replied, a noticeable edge still in her voice.

“His… Tenko’s grandmother was a Pro-Hero, many years ago,” the blonde started, staring at the table. “A powerful enemy… targeted her family, and killed her husband. Before she fought her last battle with that enemy… she wished for my friend and I to keep her son and his family away from the dangers of hero work.”

Inko’s lips drew into a thin line. Last battle…

“To respect her wishes, we reluctantly obeyed. We didn’t pursue any contact with her son, we just… let things be.” Toshinori swallowed thickly, hesitantly staring up at Tenko. “I see now, that had been a great mistake…”

Inko bit her lip, staring down at the child as well. This was a lot to take in, she knew she should be shocked, but she just… All she could think and care about at the moment was Tenko’s future , not the past.

“Will you be taking him?” she finally asked after a long moment of silence. Toshinori blinked, gaze redirecting to hold hers.

“I…” He looked off to the side, his grip tightening on the sleeves of his shirt, which were more like a sweater on his thin frame. “I’m not in any position to take in a young child at the moment, I’m afraid… I also don’t believe I… deserve to be the one to raise him. I allowed him to live in a terrible situation for most of his childhood.”

Inko swallows, staring at the man.

“Who will take care of him, then?” she wondered softly. “An orphanage is no place for him in his current mental state, and there’s the possibility of him being placed somewhere worse … Where will he go?”

Toshinori stared for an uncomfortable amount of time, causing Inko to fidget nervously.

“Miss Midoriya, isn’t it?” he finally asked. Inko nodded slightly. “Well, Midoriya-san… may I ask your profession?”

Inko blinked, taken aback at the question.

“I… am a nurse at the Musutafu General Hospital,” she answered. “But, why-”

“Do you have a significant other? Children?” Toshinori wondered, seemingly happy with where this conversation was going, judging by his wide smile.

Inko blinked in shock. Who did this man think he was, asking such personal questions?!

“Well, I… I have a four year old son.” she replied slowly, “My husband, he left… almost a year ago. I - Why exactly are you asking me about my personal life-”

“You seem well off, and have the experience for motherhood.” Toshinori said standing. “I don’t see any reason for you to be unable to take care of Tenko!”

“I- I’m sorry ?” Inko stared wide-eyed at the man. “I- I-I mean, you can’t just-”

Her words were interrupted by a sharp gasp from the child in her arms. Inko’s attention immediately focused on Tenko, whose eyes snapped open, his red gaze darting frantically around the room as his breathing became heavier.

“Tenko,” Inko said gently, brushing the boy’s hair from his face, rocking gently back and forth, trying to sooth him. “Tenko, it’s alright, I’m here. Everything’s okay, just breathe for me, okay?”

Tenko stared at her, his breathing slowly calming down, as he peered down at the tiny bracelets clasped around his wrists. He furrowed his brows, looking up at Inko, who smiled softly.

“Those are just some special bracelets to help control your quirk.” she explained. Tenko bit his lip, nodding slightly as he peered around the room. His eyes widened when they landed on Toshinori, who smiled, waving shyly.

“Hello, Tenko.”

The pale boy stared, then whimpered, burying his face in Inko’s shirt. She held him tightly, running her fingers through his hair.

“It’s alright, sweetie. This is Yagi-san, and we were just talking about some things.” she reassured. Tenko peeked up at her, shoulders trembling.

“...W-w-wh-what…” he swallowed thickly. “What th-things…?”

“We were discussing where you could stay from now on,” Toshinori answered, catching the small boy’s attention again. Tenko’s eyes narrowed in confusion, then widened.

Inko was somewhat shocked when the child clung to her, fisting her sweater in his small, shaking hands, and buried his face in her neck.

“N-n-not back there !” Tenko cried softly. “I-I don’t - I wanna stay - but not here or there , I-I just-”

“ Tenko ! Tenko, just breathe… You don’t have to go back to that house again, I promise.” Inko said firmly, holding the boy tight, burying her own face in his hair. Tenko sniffled, pulling back slightly to stare up at the woman, more tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

“D-don’t… don’t leave me here …!” he begged, choking a bit on his tears. “I-I wanna… st-stay - stay with… y-you! Don’t leave m-me… P-please …”

Inko stared into those crimson eyes, and she didn’t even need to think before she uttered her next words.

“ I won’t . I’ll never leave you, Tenko.”

Tenko stared at the creepy man walking beside Midoriya as they traveled down the sidewalk. Midoriya was carrying him, and Tenko had no intention of leaving her arms any time soon. He knew where they were going, Midoriya was taking him to her home. He was staying with her. She wasn’t leaving him .

But… that didn’t answer why he was here.

“Is this really necessary, Eraserhead?” Midoriya sighed at that moment, looking over at the creepy man. He glanced over lazily, rolling his eyes.

“It’s literally my job, so yeah.” he replied, adjusting the scarf thingy around his neck. Tenko narrowed his eyes, holding onto Midoriya tighter.

“An escort seems excessive. I’m a grown woman, and can take care of myself.” the woman stated firmly. “I might not be very strong, but you’re still only a kid-”

“Lady. Seriously .” the guy grumbled. “Can you stop . I don’t care, okay? I was told to escort you, I’m doing it, I’m getting paid for it .”

“You’re very blunt, I’ve noticed.” Midoriya mumbled.

“Good for you, I guess.” the man scowled, eyes narrowed.

Tenko swallowed. He looked mad … When Father was mad, he’d hurt him… What would this creepy man do?

“You also seem to have an attitude problem.” Midoriya chuckled. “The quieter kind of attitude… snarky .”

The man scoffed.

“Lucky for me, I’ve dealt with worse for most of my life.” the woman continued, hiking Tenko higher up on her hip.

“S’at so.”

“Yes. you should prepare yourself if you’re really planning to escort me to my own doorstep, though.”

“Hm. Whatever.” The man’s arm lifted, and Tenko couldn’t help but violently flinch, hiding his face. He didn’t want to be hurt again! He felt Midoriya pause her steps, her arms around him hugging tighter.

“Tenko…”

Tenko kept his eyes clamped shut, trembling, waiting for some kind of pain. There was always pain when Father lifted his hand… Where was it ?

The boy stiffened when something gently landed on the top of his head, ruffling his hair a bit. Tenko’s eyes shot open to stare at the creepy man, whose mouth was still pulled into a frown. But, Tenko saw his eyes. His dark eyes - dark like Father’s - weren’t filled with anger. They were calm. Tenko felt himself relax, his eyes still trained on the man.

“Relax, kid.” the man muttered. “Yer fine. Got it?”

Tenko stared, blinking in response. The man shrugged.

“Good enough. Let’s hurry up already.”

They soon arrived at an apartment complex, it was way nicer than the ones Tenko remembered seeing near… there .

The door flung open before they even reached the door, causing Tenko to tense in surprise, grip tightening on Midoriya’s shirt.

“Inko ! Hell, it’s about time!” a feminine voice exclaimed.

Too loud. Loud like Father’s voice .

“I’m sorry, Mitsuki.” Midoriya - Inko? He liked ‘Inko’ better, it was easier to say. - sighed, rubbing Tenko’s back reassuringly. “I got… a little held up.”

“No shit.” the other lady groaned. “Jeez, you go out for a toy, and come back with a kid ?! Inko-”

“MAMA!!!”

Tenko flinched, heart jumping into his throat at the shout.

“Izuku-”

“Mama, you were gone for so long ! I was getting super worried, and Kacchan was too, but kept saying he wasn’t, and- and… Who’s that?” the cheery voice asked.

Tenko trembled harder at the sensation of multiple gazes zeroed in on him. He didn’t like this- he didn’t want them staring! Tenko whimpered, burying his face deeper in Inko’s shoulder.

“...The hell? Auntie Inko had another kid?!” a different voice spoke up, sounding a lot like the loud lady’s.

“No, you brat! She-”

“Wait, Mama had another… Mama?! You had another baby?! ”

“No, Izu, honey-”

“He shakes a lot! Worse than Zu-Chan! And Zu-Chan shakes a lot !”

“Kacchan…! ”

“Mitsuki, hun, maybe we should-”

“Whaddya think I’m doing , Masaru-”

“Everyone, please, calm down-”

“Everyone shut up . ”

Silence. The scarf man’s hand was on his head again, and Tenko stared at his calming eyes through his tears, trying to breathe. Once he calmed down enough, the man took his hand away, eyes narrowed at everyone in front of them. Tenko hesitantly followed his gaze, still clinging to Inko tightly.

Everyone was staring at him .

Two adults with spiky hair, and two other kids - one with the same spiky hair, and the other with curly green locks, like Inko. The adults were obviously tense, they’d been trying to calm the kids down. Speaking of, the spiky kid was glaring slightly, and the curly head beside him was staring up at Tenko with wide, curious eyes.

Tenko swallowed thickly, meeting each of their gazes, before burrowing back into Inko’s embrace. She and Eraser-man were the only safe ones, he decided.

“Everyone,” Inko sighed, rubbing Tenko’s back. “This is Tenko. I helped him while I was out in town, and he’s going to be staying with Izuku and I for a while.”

No one spoke for a long moment, until the spiky kid suddenly piped in.

“What about this creepy fuck?” he asked, pointing a pudgy finger at Eraser-man. Tenko blinked, staring at Eraser, who scowled. “He staying too? ‘Cause he’s fuckin’ creep-”

“Don’t be rude, you little ass!” the spiky woman growled.

Tenko shrank into himself a bit as the spiky lady and who he assumed was her son started arguing. Inko sighed heavily, walking past them as she called over her shoulder to Eraser.

“Thank you, Eraserhead!”

“Whatever. I’m leaving before I end up having more work to do.” the man sighed, his gaze catching Tenko’s before he turned. “See ya, kid.”

He closed the door behind him, and Tenko looked away, only to lock eyes with the curly haired boy, who was waddling after Inko, staring up at Tenko with curious green eyes. He was pretty sure this was Inko’s son. They looked alike, and Tenko got the same sense of reassurance he felt from the woman when he stared into her son’s eyes.

“I-I’m Izuku!” the boy suddenly exclaimed, beaming. “Do… do you like heroes?”

Aren’t heroes supposed to save those in need?

Tenko shuddered, remaining silent as he hid his face from the boy’s view. He didn’t understand this- he didn’t like it. He wanted to go , but this was the only place he could go.

“Izuku, honey, would you please gather some of your clothes for Tenko? I’m going to give him a bath.” Inko stated, and Tenko watched as the boy nodded determinedly, rushing off into another room. Inko carried him into the bathroom, and Tenko hesitantly unlatched himself from her sweater, so she could set him down.

Tenko stared at the tiles as the woman started the bath, then she smiled at him.

“That was a crazy introduction, huh? I’m sorry you got scared, Tenko.”

Tenko bit his lip, shaking his head as he looked over at the water filling the tub. When… when was the last time he had a bath? More than a few days, he knew… Tenko turned back to look at Inko, who was rolling her sweater sleeves up, checking the temperature.

“I… H-how long can I-I… stay with y-you?” he whispered, wringing his hands together. Inko smiled at him.

“As long as you want, Tenko. I’m going to take care of you for however long you want me to, and everyone else you met is willing to help too.” The woman turned the water off, holding out a hand for Tenko to take. He did so, very hesitantly. The special bracelets were on right now, so he couldn’t hurt her. Inko held his small hands in hers, squeezing gently with one hand as she lifted the other to tuck a strand of pale hair behind Tenko’s ear. “You don’t have to be scared here, nobody wants to hurt you. You’re safe, just like I promised.”

Tenko stared at her, down at their joined hands, at the floor, and finally back Inko’s face.

“I-I… wanna stay safe… forever.”

Inko smiled, her thumb brushing gently against Tenko’s cheek. Her touch was warm - so different from Father’s cold grip - that Tenko couldn’t help but lean into her hand, closing his eyes.

“You will, Tenko. I’ll make sure of it.”

Chapter Text

“Could you take care of a broken soul?

Will you hold me now?

Oh, will you take me home?”

“This is friggin’ weird,” Kacchan muttered, peeking around the corner. Izuku bit his lip, holding onto his best friend’s arm, peering into the hall as well.

“Kacchan… You’re being mean.” he pouted. Kacchan glanced at him, gaze sharp.

“That kid’s weird, Zu! I don’t trust ‘im.” he said firmly, crossing his arms. Izuku rolled his eyes.

“He’s not weird, he just needs help!”

“Auntie said she just found him! You don’t just-”

“What’re you brats doing, huh?”

The two boys gasped, spinning around to see Auntie Mitsuki standing there, arms crossed. Izuku gulped, while Kacchan crossed his own arms in retaliation.

“None of yer business, old ha- OW!” Kacchan turned his glare to Izuku when the smaller boy elbowed him in the side. “The fuck-”

“Stop being mean!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

“Well, I won’t have to if you’d just-”

“ Knock it off .” Mitsuki warned, causing both boys to shut their mouths and look at her. Kacchan growled softly, jutting out his bottom lip in a pout.

“Why’s that weird kid staying here?” he asked. “Why’s Auntie keeping him? He’s creepy! Just like that scarf guy-”

“He’s hurt , Katsuki.” Mitsuki stated, sighing when both toddlers stared at her. “Didn’t you see all those scars? How scared he was?”

Izuku saw Kacchan deflate, brows furrowing. The green-eyed boy looked back at his Auntie, frowning worriedly.

“So… he needs help!” His eyes brightened when Mitsuki nodded.

“Yeah, he really does. You brats think you can be his heroes?”

“HELL YEAH!” Kacchan grinned, happy to take on the challenge. “Zu-chan and I are gonna be the Wonder Duo when he finally gets his quirk! We can take on any challenge!”

Izuku beamed when his friend slung an arm around his shoulders, cheering excitedly.

“Yeah!” he agreed. He had that appointment with that special doctor in a few days, actually. Hopefully they’d find a way to finally unlock his quirk! Maybe it would be just as awesome as Kacchan’s!

Mitsuki ruffled both of their heads, grin reflecting her son’s. Seconds later, the bathroom door opened, and Izuku’s mother stepped out, the pale boy - Tenko, Izuku remembered - clinging to her hand as he walked behind her, hiding himself slightly. Izuku glanced at Kacchan, who looked back at him with a determined glint in his eyes. Izuku beamed, dashing up to his mom and peering past her to look at the other boy.

“Hi, Tenko!” he greeted excitedly, waving. Tenko flinched, and Izuku frowned. “Uh… O-oh! Auntie Mitsuki mentioned you being hurt, are you still hurt? Do you need help? I can help! I help Kacchan when he trips and scrapes himself all the time! I’ll…”

Izuku’s smile faded when he noticed the look in Tenko’s eyes. Fear . Confusion and fear.

Oh…

“Uhm…Izuku, sweetie, maybe you should-”

“Hey, Mophead!” Kacchan suddenly called, striding up next to Izuku.

Tenko froze, clamping his eyes shut tightly. Izuku’s frown deepened. He was really scared. What had hurt him so much? A villain?

“You hungry?” Kacchan wondered, voice surprisingly somewhat gentle. Izuku blinked, just as surprised as Tenko seemed to be. The pale boy’s eyes shot open to stare at Kacchan, who stared back expectantly. Tenko finally nodded after a moment.

“Oh! Do you like katsudon?” Izuku asked, tilting his head.

Tenko blinked, brows furrowed.

“...K-kat...s-sudon?” he pronounced, voice shaky and raspy. “W-what’s… that?”

Everyone stared at him, silently shocked. Finally, Kacchan turned, yelling as he dashed to the kitchen.

“PAPA! MAKE ANOTHER BOWL FOR MOPHEAD!”

“Katsuki, please, you don’t have to scream, son.”

“The weirdo needs it now ! Hurry up!” Kacchan replied, tugging on his father’s pant leg as the man served another bowl. Izuku tore his gaze from the two and looked back at Tenko, who was staring on in fear, but also curiosity.

“I think you’ll like the dish, Tenko!” Mama suddenly piped up, turning so she could look down at Tenko. “It’s Izuku’s favorite!”

“Yeah! Uncle Masaru’s isn’t as good as Mama’s, though!” Izuku giggled, bouncing on his heels. Tenko stared between the both of them, then looked down at the floor, nodding slightly.

Once they were all sitting down to eat, Izuku watched Tenko expectantly as the pale boy stared at the food in front of him. Mama had pulled his hair back into a sloppy ponytail, to keep the long locks out of Tenko’s face. The boy sniffed the food, looked at Mama, glanced at Izuku, then back at the food, picking up a spoonful (he didn’t know how to use chopsticks, apparently).

Izuku beamed when Tenko’s eyes widened, chewing the food in his mouth slowly, experimentally.

Tenko had two more bowls after that.

He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t breathe, or see, or feel anything except the tight grip around his neck, and the burning tears cascading down his face. He could hear muffled yelling. A booming voice screaming furiously in his face. He was scared, he was so scared .

Why was he here again? Why wasn’t he with Inko? She said he’d never go back here! Why did she lie?!

He was slammed against the wall a few times, causing him to choke on a sob. Everything hurt, yet felt numb at the same time. He felt another sensation as well, but barely noticed it until it got worse.

His fingers felt… weird. Numb and fuzzy. His attention was ripped from the strange sensation to the hand still around his neck. It was squeezing even tighter. The yelling became louder.

He gasped and squirmed, searching for air that he just couldn’t get.

Desperate, he grabbed the arm suspending him in the air, trying to yank it away.

His fingers buzzed with a pins and needles sensation. The arm disappeared, a hand was all that was left, and he stared as it fell to the ground. A scream was ringing in his ears, but he couldn’t tell if it was from himself or someone else.

“Tenko! Tenko, wake up! Sweetie, wake up !”

He gasped in a lungful of air, eyes snapping open and body jolting upright in shock. He was aware someone was holding him by the shoulders, and green eyes were staring at him in concern. Tenko didn’t get a chance to look up into Inko’s comforting gaze, as he immediately had to bend over the side of the large bed, everything that he’d eaten that day coming back up. His shoulders shook with sobs, tears burning his eyes.

“Oh, Tenko…” Inko sounded like she was crying too, rubbing small circles on his back as she held his hair out of his face.

Once Tenko’s stomach was emptied, he let out a weak sob. His throat felt like it was on fire, and he couldn’t stop shaking. Inko’s arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly as he tried to calm down and just breathe .

“You’re alright… I’m here. I’m right here, Tenko.” the woman whispered. Tenko shuddered, clinging to her tighter.

“...M-Mama….?” Tenko heard a small, hesitant voice call out from the doorway to the bedroom. “I-is everything okay…? What’s that smell?”

Tenko sniffled, scrunching his nose as the stench of his vomit reached his senses. Gross. Why did he have such a weak stomach? It had just been a bad dream, he was so… so weak . He shouldn’t be scared… he’d been here for… a couple days? Yeah. He’s had two breakfasts. Two days. He felt safe. At least, he thought he did. Was he safe?

Tenko’s mind continued to scramble with different thoughts as Inko and Izuku spoke to each other.

“Izuku, do you think you can take Tenko to the kitchen to get some water? I’m going to clean this up.” Inko stated, brushing away some of Tenko’s tears.

“...I-I… I’m sorry , I-I didn’t m-mean…” The boy trailed off when he felt something soft press against his forehead. He froze when he realized it was Inko’s lips. Tenko stared up at her once she pulled away, that reassuring, comforting shine in her eyes.

“You don’t need to apologize, Tenko. I’m not upset at you.” she stated firmly. Tenko swallowed thickly, wincing at the strain it took. Inko smiled sadly, releasing Tenko from her embrace. “You go get something to drink, then we’ll all go back to bed, okay?”

Tenko nodded slightly, watching through his bangs as Izuku skipped over.

“Okay, Mama! Come on! I’m thirsty too!”

The curly-haired boy reached out, and before Tenko could process and react, Izuku was holding his hand, tugging him along to the kitchen by three fingers. Tenko’s eyes widened in shock and panic, his hand impulsively jerking out of the younger boy’s grip when they reached the kitchen. Izuku frowned, looking at him as Tenko stared at his own hands.

He didn’t have the bracelets on while he’d been sleeping, he’d had gloves on instead. Except, one glove had apparently come off when he’d been thrashing around during his nightmare. His hand had been bare, and Izuku had been holding it .

How…? How was Izuku… not hurt ?

“What’s wrong?”

Tenko blinked, staring up at Izuku, whose brows were furrowed in worry.

“Y-you’re… not hurt…?” Tenko breathed out, looking back down at his slightly shaking hand. Izuku tilted his head, examining himself.

“Uh, nope! I’m fine! Why…?”

He stepped closer to Tenko, whose red gaze darted between his ungloved hand and the boy in front of him. How was Izuku okay? Why wasn’t he hurt? Did the monster in his hand go away?

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay? Should I get Mama? Are you hurting?” Izuku continued to ramble on worriedly, reaching out towards Tenko’s hand. The pale haired boy flinched slightly when he noticed, but didn’t move, holding his breath as Izuku’s fingers closed around two of his. Tenko let out a soft gasp, eyes wide, mouth hanging open in surprise.

Izuku wasn’t screaming. He wasn’t in pain. He wasn’t hurt. Tenko wasn’t hurting him!

“What’s wrong?” Izuku asked nervously, staring at Tenko’s expression. Tenko blinked out of his shock and slowly pulled his hand from Izuku’s, worried something might go wrong if he wasn’t careful. The pale boy studied his hand again, biting his lip thoughtfully.

What was different? Why was it suddenly safe? What was happening?

Tenko narrowed his eyes, gaze shooting around the house. His attention landed on one of the forks in the sink, and he walked over and stepped up on the stool in front of it, peering down at the utensil. Tenko reached down, hesitantly poking the fork with one finger.

Nothing.

He applied his second finger. Nothing. The same thing happened even when he touched it with four fingers. Tenko stared down in wonder, holding his breath as he pressed all of his fingers to the metal.

It turned to dust instantly.

“Oh my gosh…” Izuku had been watching, standing on his tiptoes in order to see into the sink. “Is… is that your quirk ?”

Tenko shakily brought his hand to his chest, staring at the dust pile in the sink. His breathing was becoming erratic again. The monster wasn’t gone. His hands were still dangerous. He was a monster -

“Hey, i-it’s okay! Calm down! What’s wrong?” Izuku reached out again, and Tenko startled when he felt a hand on his forearm.

“D-d- don’t !” Tenko gasped, tears filling his vision. “D-don’t touch it, i-it’s not gone …! It’s still here! It’s s-still… i-it’s gonna hurt you, I-I don’t wanna hurt y-”

“ Ko-chan .”

Tenko gasped in a breath when he realized arms were around him, someone was squeezing him in a hug. It was like Inko’s embrace, but… different . Tenko sniffled, blinking away tears as his brain registered what was happening in that moment.

Izuku was hugging him tightly, arms wrapped around his midsection, his freckled face buried in Tenko’s shoulder.

“Don’t cry, Ko-chan!” Izuku begged, even though he was obviously crying himself. “It’s alright! Don’t be sad! Your quirk is amazing , it’s not gonna hurt me unless you want it to! And I know you’ll never wanna hurt anyone!”

Tenko stared at the wall, eyes wide. Izuku… wasn’t scared…

“I… Y-you’re not… w-wait…” Tenko rasped, brows furrowing in confusion as Izuku’s words processed. A cough escaped him when his throat burned again. Izuku pulled away from the one-sided hug and rushed over to move the stool, dragging it so he could climb onto the counter and retrieve some cups for he and Tenko. “W-who’s… ‘Ko-chan’...?”

Izuku looked over his shoulder at Tenko, eyes portraying slight confusion at Tenko’s question.

“O-oh, well… I thought I could give you a nickname?” the greenette mumbled, face turning an embarrassed pink that made his freckles stand out much more. He filled and held out a cup of water to Tenko, who took it with his gloved hand and guzzled most of it in one gulp.

“N-nickname…” he echoed softly, relieved that his throat didn’t feel like it was on fire anymore.

“Y-yeah! Like what I call Kacchan! I can’t pronounce his actual name, s-so...”

“...Kacchan isn’t his n-name?” Tenko mumbled, blinking in great confusion. Izuku stared at him for a moment, then started giggling profusely.

“N-no, it’s… Heh, it’s not,” he snorted, taking a sip from his own cup. “But I’ve called him Kacchan my whole life! He’s always called me Zu-chan too! Some of the other kids call me Deku, but… It’s not the same…”

Tenko ‘s eyes widened slightly as Izuku trailed off, a hint of sadness and pain in his voice. Deku… useless… can’t do anything…

You’re fucking useless, Tenko… a shitty deku who can’t do anything!

His crimson gaze stared at Izuku, who was staring at the floor, seemingly embarrassed.

“Do… do you not want me to call you ‘Ko-chan’? I just thought…”

Tenko blinked away his memories, shakily setting his cup on the counter before hesitantly stepping closer to Izuku. He bit his lip, keeping his one ungloved hand away as he wrapped his arms around Izuku, awkwardly trying to hug the other child. Izuku blinked in surprise, then started laughing. Tenko scowled slightly.

“W-what?”

“You… you need to work on your hugging, is all.” Izuku giggled, setting his own cup on the counter behind them and hugging Tenko back.

“I-I… n-never really…” Tenko didn’t finish, his words trailing off when he noticed the feeling growing in his chest as he and Izuku continued to hold each other.

Warmth. That was what it felt like. Tenko didn’t know what it was, or what it meant, but… it was nice. Tears gathered at the edges of Tenko’s eyes, and he buried his face in Izuku’s shoulder.

“W-wait, are you crying?! I-I’m sorry! A-am I hurting y-”

“N-no… I… I-I just… like this. A lot… it’s nice…” Tenko whispered, holding onto Izuku a little tighter. Izuku was silent for a moment, then Tenko felt him burying his own face in Tenko’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” he agreed. Tenko let out a shaky breath, closing his eyes.

A small smile found its way to his lips. He liked feeling warm.

Tenko didn’t like this. There was too much white, too many crying infants, too many fake smiles. He’d never been in a clinic before this. At least, he was pretty sure he’d never been. But either way, he hated this place.

“C-can… we go back yet?” Tenko asked, looking over at Inko desperately. Inko smiled sadly, tucking back the hair that had fallen out of the ponytail in Tenko’s hair. He liked when Inko did his hair like this, it made him feel… lighter?

“We’ll be done soon, Tenko. The doctor should be seeing Izuku soon, and once we’re done here, maybe we can go get some ice cream?” the green eyed woman suggested.

“Ice cream!” Izuku cheered from the other side of Tenko. The pale haired boy glanced at him, frowning at how differently the mother and son were acting.

Izuku was bouncing in his seat, kicking his legs as he played with that action figure he loved so much. He kept muttering every once in a while about quirks he might have. Tenko glanced at Inko again. She had a tight frown on her face, her was body stiff, and her hands were fidgeting with the loose threads on her sweater. She was nervous. Tenko didn’t really know why. He didn’t even really know why they were here in the first place. He just wanted to go back… back to the house. Back home .

They were finally called back minutes later, and Tenko followed, feeling out of place during the whole appointment. He stayed close to Inko, not only seeking comfort for his own nerves, but also attempting to find a way to calm her down as well. Her nerves only seemed to get worse as the three of them waited for some kind of results.

The doctor finally came back, sitting heavily in the seat across from them. He looked at Izuku, but the old man’s eyes traveled over to Tenko as well. Tenko didn’t like how long the man’s gaze was on him before his attention returned to Izuku.

“Listen, kid… it’s not gonna happen.”

Silence met that statement. Tenko didn’t know what that meant, so he didn’t have anything to say anyway. But, Inko and Izuku seemed shocked. Tenko frowned, staring at Izuku, whose eyes looked… blank . That… that wasn’t right. Izuku’s eyes were always bright .

“Not going to… y-you mean he’s…”

“ Quirkless .”

Tenko jumped a bit at the clatter of Izuku’s toy hitting the floor. He didn’t… like this at all.

“I…” Inko swallowed thickly. “A-are you sure? None of his relatives were quirkless, that I can remember. I-I have telekinesis, his father can breathe fire… he should have one…”

The doctor hummed thoughtfully, his eyes zeroing in on Tenko again. Tenko tensed. Why did he keep staring at him?

“What about his brother?” the doctor wondered. Tenko blinked. Brother?

“Oh, um, he’s… adopted.” Inko stated softly. What the heck is ‘adopted’?

The doctor finally looked away from Tenko, and continued on to explain something about Izuku’s feet. Tenko didn’t listen, he could only focus on Izuku, whose eyes were still glued to the floor.

Izuku was silent as they left the clinic. He was silent on the car ride back home. He was silent as he took off his shoes, and sat on the couch, staring at the wall. Inko went to the kitchen to make katsudon, while Tenko just sat and stared at the other boy.

What was going on?

Tenko flinched when the front door was practically kicked open, and a head of blonde spikes zoomed over to the couch.

“Zu! Zuzu! Zu-chan!” Katsuki yelled, jumping onto the couch to join them. Izuku hunched his shoulders, but otherwise didn’t acknowledge the blonde boy. Katsuki scowled, poking his arm repeatedly. “Heeeey! Don’t ignore me, damnit! What’s your quirk, huh? What’s it gonna be? What- hey! ”

Katsuki yelped in surprise when Izuku pushed his hand away and dashed out of the living room, his bedroom door slamming seconds later. Tenko stared after him with wide eyes. That wasn’t like Izuku at all…

“What the hell?!” Katsuki growled, looking over at Tenko. Tenko stared back, blinking. “What’s his problem?! What the fuck happened?!”

Tenko shrugged slightly, biting his lip as he absentmindedly played with the hem of his gloves.

“That weird doctor… s-said something about him being ‘quirkless’?” he replied, frowning when Katsuki’s eyes widened in shock and horror. Tenko tilted his head slightly. “I dunno what’s-”

“ WHAT THE FUCK ?!”

Tenko nearly fell off the couch when Katsuki’s hands sparkled with small fireworks. The blonde jumped off the couch, rushing down the hall.

“THAT’S BULLSHIT!” Tenko heard pounding against Izuku’s door, and he hesitantly followed Katsuki. He was worried about Izuku, and really didn’t know what was going on. “Zu, open this fuckin’ door!”

“Why’s Izuku sad…?” Tenko asked softly, trying to stay calm at the sound of Katsuki’s angry shouts.

“‘Cause his doctor’s a piece of shit who don’t know nothin’!” Katsuki growled, kicking the door. “Izuku, I swear to God! Open the door !”

Tenko frowned, staring at the doorknob, an idea forming. He didn’t like it, but he didn’t want Izuku to be sad…

“St-step back…” Tenko said, gently nudging Katsuki away from the door as he removed one of his gloves.

“What?! Don’t tell me what to… the fuck? ” the temperamental blonde trailed off, eyes wide as he stared at the doorknob that was now nothing but dust. Tenko ignored him, tugging the glove back on and pushing the door open.

He heard people talking, screaming, and furrowed his brows in confusion before he realized. Izuku had shown him the video he loved so much yesterday. He was watching it on repeat, not saying a thing.

“Hey! Don’t fucking ignore us, Izuku!” Katsuki shoved past Tenko and forcefully spun the chair around. Izuku had his legs tucked against him, curled into a ball on the chair. Panic spiked in Tenko’s heart when he heard Izuku sniffling. “Zu…” Katsuki’s eyes were narrowed, but Tenko could see them shining with wetness.

“ Deku …” Izuku finally choked out, Tenko froze. “I’m r-really… a deku… l-like everyone says…” Katsuki scoffed, punching Izuku’s arm lightly.

“ Don’t you fuking say that! ” he shouted, tugging on Izuku’s arms and legs, trying to uncurl the other boy from the position he was in. “ Don’t you dare say that again, or I’ll kick your ass! ”

Tenko watched with tears in his own eyes as Katsuki broke down as well, tugging desperately on Izuku’s shirt.

“You’re Zu-chan ! You’ve never listened to those assholes before, and you’re not fucking starting now! ” Katsuki growled, wiping furiously at the tears streaking his cheeks. “Fucking stop it! You’re Izuku! ”

“How… How am I supposed to b-be a hero…” Izuku whimpered, finally lifting his head. Tenko’s chest clenched. His green eyes weren’t supposed to be that dull. They should be bright, and happy, and never losing their light. “How can I s-save people… w-without a quirk? W-without powers? Without anything ?”

Katsuki and Tenko stared at him, not knowing what to say. But, then it dawned on Tenko. He realized something he never really did before.

You’ve been in need of saving this whole time… yet no one has rescued you… Aren’t heroes supposed to save those in need?

He had been saved. He was rescued. He did have a hero.

“Who… who says you need powers to save someone…?” Tenko asked, voice only wavering slightly. “Who says you need a quirk to be a hero? I… I wasn’t saved by a quirk… I was saved by… by Mama .”

Crimson met green as Tenko stared in Izuku’s eyes.

“Mama was my hero ‘cause she wanted to help . Izu’s already my hero ‘cause he wants to help .” Tenko took a deep breath, wiping his tears away and narrowing his eyes determinedly. “Heroes help those in need. Heroes aren’t quirks or powers . They’re people who want to help .”

“I-I…” Izuku’s lip quivered as more tears filled his eyes. “B-but, I…”

“Deku doesn’t mean useless.” Katsuki suddenly whispered, clenching his fists as he met Izuku’s eyes. “Deku means I can do it. Because Deku is Izuku.”

Izuku stared between both of them, bursting into fresh tears seconds later. Katsuki immediately hugged his friend. Tenko only hesitated for a small moment, before rushing over to hold both of them.

Tenko didn’t feel sad as he cried with the younger two. In fact, he’d never felt happier .

He loved the warmth home brought him.

Chapter Text

“Take me down to the river bend,

Take me down to the fighting end,

Wash the poison from off my skin,

Show me how to be whole again…”

Katsuki grinned proudly as he slapped his notebook down onto the floor, squishing in between Tenko and Izuku. Tenko startled slightly at the noise, scowling at Katsuki, who just stuck his tongue out, grabbing the red crayon and scribbling onto the paper in front of him. It had been a couple hours since Izuku’s doctor appointment, and the three boys were on the floor in the living room, drawing and watching television together. Izuku and Tenko watched Katsuki doodle, Izuku giggling when Katsuki finished, while Tenko just stared in confusion.

What the heck was that?

“Really, Kacchan?” Izuku snorted, hiding his face in his hands when Katsuki lightly punched his arm.

“Yes, really, ya little shit!” he growled, crossing his arms. “King Explosion Murder is gonna be the best number one hero in the whole friggin’ WORLD!”

Tenko tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at the red on the paper. Izuku and Katsuki continued to chatter and tease one another, and Tenko couldn’t help but feel left out. He didn’t understand what was so funny. What did Katsuki write? Or draw? Was that thing on the paper a word or a picture? It looked… familiar? Should he know what it is?

“Ko-chan?” Tenko blinked, looking over at the other boys, who were frowning. “You okay?”

“You got somethin’ against my hero name, Mophead?” Katsuki asked, eyes narrowed indignantly. “You come up with a better one, then!” Tenko furrowed his brows, tucking some hair behind his ear.

“...I-I… dunno what that is…”

“A hero name? Seriously?”

“N-no,” Tenko sighed, rolling his eyes and pointing at Katsuki’s paper. “ That. ”

Katsuki and Izuku stared at him, eyes wide in bewilderment. Tenko bit his lip, lowering his head to hide behind his mess of hair self consciously. Why were they looking at him like that?

“You don’t know how to read or write.” Katsuki suddenly muttered, causing Tenko to tense slightly. He hesitantly shook his head. Katsuki didn’t say anything else for a long while, and Tenko whimpered, laying his face on the floor miserably.

“S-sorry…” he mumbled. “I-I… w-wasn’t taught, so-”

“The hell you apologizing for?” the blonde scoffed. Tenko looked up, only to yelp softly when he was flicked on the forehead. “This means I get to show off my amazing teaching skills!”

“Kacchan’s super smart!” Izuku agreed, nodding as Katsuki jumped up to his feet.

“Damn straight!” the explosive blonde grinned, hands on his hips. “By tomorrow, you’re gonna be a freakin’ genius , Moppy!” Tenko scowled slightly at the nickname, but pushed himself upright.

“R-really?”

“Hell yeah!”

Katsuki ran off to get more supplies, and hours later, there were millions of scrawled on pieces of paper scattered around the living room. When the time for dinner came around, Tenko excitedly showed Inko and Katsuki’s parents all of the words and names he knew how to write.

“Hey… Mama?”

Inko froze momentarily, turning away from the stirfry she was cooking at the moment to stare down at Tenko, who was sitting at the counter, practicing his writing. She watched him, tears gathering at the edges of her wide eyes.

Did… did he just call her…?

Tenko looked up with her - his crimson eyes somehow looked brighter , she noticed - and Inko quickly blinked away her tears, smiling lovingly.

“Yes, sweetie? Do you need something?”

Tenko bit his lip nervously, hiding his eyes behind his bangs. Inko seriously needed to get him a haircut soon, that mop of blue on his head was starting to get out of control. Tenko finally stared up at her again, after a few moments.

“W-what’s… what’s ‘ adopted ’...?” he asked softly, hands fidgeting as he rubbed his neck bashfully. Inko blinked once. Then again, a few more times. She completely forgot that she’d said Tenko was adopted when Izuku’s doctor asked about the pale haired boy, and she had meant to discuss it with Tenko, but due to the shock and emotions of that day, it had slipped her mind.

“O-oh… Well…”

Inko took a deep breath, turning to quickly finish making dinner before taking the pan off the heat and walking over to the counter, sitting down across from Tenko. She studied him for a moment, still processing the fact that this sweet little boy just called her his mother. Tenko’s complexion was still rather pale, but Inko was pretty sure that was just his natural skin tone. He didn’t look as sickly as he had when she’d first found him though, which made Inko so glad. His hair also seemed brighter, it was bluer than before.

Then, there was Tenko’s eyes - which were the most noticeable difference. They weren’t dull and broken like that fateful June night, a few weeks back. The red irises were so vibrant now, full of life. Inko was sure she’d never seen a more beautiful sight than the hope-filled eyes of her two boys.

“Adopted means that… When a child doesn’t have their parents around to take care of them anymore… Someone else volunteers to take care of the child, and becomes their new parent, if the child wants to stay with them.”

Tenko stared for a long, silent moment, and Inko could practically see the gears turning in that little head of his.

“So…” Tenko fidgeted, playing with his gloved fingers. “You a-adopted me?” he looked at her with furrowed brows, and Inko realized she was stuck .

Truthfully, she hadn’t stopped thinking about the possibility of adopting Tenko, ever since she brought him home that night. She would happily do whatever was necessary to officially make Tenko a part of her family, but the problem was… she couldn’t . Or, at least, she didn’t know if she could.

Yagi Toshinori was technically Tenko’s legal guardian, or something akin to that. She had no right to just take him as her own child, not when Tenko’s grandmother’s trusted Toshinori to raise the boy if anything was to happen to him. Hell, Inko was lucky Toshinori hadn’t ripped Tenko out of her arms the second he stepped into the police station - she’d been a complete stranger, for God’s sake .

So, what exactly was she supposed to say here? What was she supposed to tell Tenko? If she denied it, there was no doubt in her mind that that brightness in Tenko’s eyes would fade away, like it had never been there to begin with. But, if she confirmed it, what would she do when Toshinori eventually stepped in as Tenko’s real caretaker? She was just temporary… wasn’t she?

The thought caused a large lump to form in her throat, which she swallowed down when she realized how nervous and confused Tenko’s expression had become. Inko cleared her throat, reaching out to take Tenko’s gloved hands, smiling slightly at the fact that Tenko didn’t even tense at the physical contact. He’d grown so much in only a few weeks, and Inko couldn’t have been more proud.

“Tenko… it’s hard to explain, sweetie…” Inko sighed softly, trying to form the right words. Of course, when she didn’t need to really talk, she rambled on and on, but the second she needed to speak very important words, she couldn’t even remember what Japanese was.

“D-do… you not… want to adopt me?” Tenko whispered, staring at the top of the counter. Inko’s eyes widened, mental curses that could make even Mitsuki blush rushing through her head. She was screwing this up so much!

“N-no, Tenko, that’s not what I meant,” she insisted, reaching out and gently turning the boy’s face towards her again. Tenko stared at her, his eyes seeming to be searching for something - Comfort? Truth to her words, maybe? “Tenko… you have to understand that, more than anything, I would love to adopt you. I really would. But… technically, Yagi-san…”

“I-I don’t want him to adopt me!” Tenko suddenly exclaimed, eyes wide and panicked. “I don’t w-wanna leave here! I wanna stay… w-with you , ‘n Izu, ‘n even ‘Suki!”

“Tenko…”

“Y-you said… you said I-I could stay…!” Tenko’s eyes filled with tears, the hand he had been nervously rubbing his neck with started to try to scratch the skin there, and Inko quickly got out of her chair to rush over, scooping the boy into her embrace. “I-I don’t wanna go! Don’t… don’t make me go, M-Mama! ”

“I won’t,” Inko choked out, brushing her fingers through Tenko’s hair. “I want you to stay too, Tenko… I really do…”

Tenko clung to her, as if she’d disappear if he let go, tears streaming down his face. Inko swallowed thickly, holding him tighter.

She had to talk with Toshinori about this…Thank god she’d insisted on exchanging numbers with the man, despite how clearly flustered he’d been about it.

Tenko stared at the ground, following behind Izuku and Katsuki, feeling sort of… numb. It had been a few days since he asked Inko about adoption . He decided he hated that word. It brought too many bad feelings along with it. It made him feel… unwanted .

He didn’t understand. Inko said he could stay, she said she would keep him safe. She was his hero , so why… why did it feel like she was abandoning him?

“Hey! Mophead, keep up!”

Tenko blinked, slowly looking up at the other boys. They were at the edge of a wooded area, the little forest behind Katsuki’s house.

“Are you alright, Ko-chan?” Izuku asked, frowning worriedly as he studied Tenko’s blank face. Tenko managed a nod, rubbing his arm absentmindedly.

“Yeah… what’re we doing here, exactly?” he wondered, knowing that would distract both of them from asking if he was okay.

Because he wasn’t okay…

“Ya think we’re just gonna sit around in my house until Auntie Inko’s done talking with that creepy skeleton?” Katsuki soffed, spinning on his heels and leading the way. “No way! We’re gonna go on the best fucking adventure while the stupid adults are stuck at home!”

“Don’t call them stupid, Kacchan!” Izuku chided. “That’s mean!” Katsuki just ‘tch’ed in response, and Tenko continued to follow the two, dragging his feet slightly.

The only reason they were at Katsuki’s house, was because Yagi-san was at home, talking with Inko. Tenko didn’t like it. He didn’t want that man taking him away from home . He just found home, he didn’t want to leave it so soon. He wanted to stay .

“When do you think they’ll be done talking?” Izuku wondered after a few silent minutes of walking down the dirt path. Katsuki turned, walking backwards as he grinned at both of them.

“Who cares? We’re gonna be too busy making our awesome hero base, anyway!” he declared. Izuku’s eyes lit up excitedly, while Tenko frowned.

“How are we gonna make it, Kacchan?” Izuku asked, dashing closer to the blonde and walking right next to him as he rambled. “Are we gonna make a treehouse? Oh, but we don’t have the materials… OR! Or , is it gonna be like that bat guy’s hideout from your dad’s old comics?! What if we…”

Tenko tuned them out, looking around at the scenery. It was nice, but… overwhelming . The area was so open , and Tenko felt vulnerable and… scared , almost. Definitely nervous. He didn’t like these woods. At all.

“Oh! Oh, Ko-chan!” Izuku dashed over to Tenko, skipping along side the slightly taller boy - he’d gained a little bit of height over the last few weeks. “Have you thought of a hero name yet? You can be an amazing hero with your quirk!”

Tenko hunched his shoulders slightly, shaking his head. He had tried , honestly, but…

“I don’t think I’d be a good h-hero…” he mumbled. Izuku’s smiled fell immediately. “M-my quirk… hurts people. I can’t save anyone with-”

“Th-that…” Izuku cut him off, shaking his head fervently, “That’s bullshit !”

Tenko froze, eyes widening, while Katsuki literally tripped over his own feet.

“What the hell?!” Katsuki whirled around to stare at Izuku, whose face was a bright red, his green eyes wide in mortification. “Watch your fucking language, Zu! Bloody hell!”

“St-stop! I-I didn’t mean to - I-I - don’t tell Mama !” he squeaked, covering his face. Katsuki snorted out a laugh, while Tenko rolled his eyes, walking past the greenette.

“You must be proud.” he stated as he passed Katsuki, who was still keeled over, laughing his ass off.

“ Ko-chaaaann! ” Izuku whined, chasing after the older boy. He planted his feet a few steps ahead of Tenko, blocking his path when they reached a small cliff, a log covering the gap of distance. “You can be a hero! Your quirk is perfect for it, even! You can be, like… Like the rescue heroes! If someone’s trapped, you can turn what’s got them stuck to dust!”

Tenko stared at him, blinking thoughtfully. He had a point, but… Tenko didn’t know how to save people. He wasn’t All-Might, or Eraserhead, or even Inko…

“Izu… I don’t kn-” Tenko froze mid-sentence, a chill running down his spine, body beginning to tremble in fear. Izuku seemed to experience the sensation too, and Tenko could only assume the same of Katsuki.

What… what was this?

“Such foolish youth… Hopelessly corrupted already…”

Tenko’s blood ran cold. He… he knew that voice .

“Yet… There might be hope for one.” The voice seemed to circle all around them, until it finally stopped right in front of the boys. Tenko’s eyes widened when he saw him. The shadow man… He was right there, just staring at them. What did he want?! How did he find them?! Who was he?! “I just need to… get a hold of him.”

Before any of them could react, the shadows around them twisted and writhed, until they literally shot out and suddenly Tenko was restrained - shrieking as shadows wrapped around his small body like a cobra, pulling him closer to the man.

“ KO-CHAN! ”

“ Get the fuck away from him, shithead! ”

Tenko could barely hear the sound of an explosion over his own screams and sobs. He couldn’t get out, he couldn’t escape, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t-

“ Let go of Ten, you BASTARD! ” Katsuki practically screeched, and Tenko gasped when he felt a blast of heat close to him. He toppled to the ground, yelping in pain when he hit the dirt - he hadn’t realized he was so high up in the air.

Another explosion set off in front of Tenko, the boy yelping again and shielding his face with his hands. He realized with a start that Katsuki was in front of him, large explosions emitting from his palms as he chased away the shadows with the bright flashes of light. Tears could be seen streaming down the blonde’s face, and Tenko’s eyes widened further when he realized blood was dripping from Katsuki’s palms.

Tenko couldn’t speak, couldn’t even scream as Izuku rushed over to him.

“Ko-chan! Ko! T-Tenko, are you hurt?!” Tenko didn’t answer, eyes glued to Katsuki when he let off another explosion, sobbing as he did so.

“Z-Zu, get out of here and get help!” the blonde gritted out, voice filled with pain.

“What?!” Izuku exclaimed. “No! No ! Kacchan, we all have to run! We-”

“ Get out of here, Deku! ” Katsuki screamed, glaring over his shoulder, eyes shining with determination and…

And Tenko could suddenly see himself in those eyes. A scared little boy, who was lost, confused, desperate for help… The only difference was that Katsuki was fighting . He was fighting to keep them safe, he was protecting them, despite how much he wanted - needed - help. He was being their hero.

I just want to see if I can help…

“FUCKING GO, ALREA-” Katsuki’s shout was cut off by his short scream as one of the shadows caught him off guard. The next second, a shadow was coiled around the blonde’s neck, dragging him towards the man.

“KACCHAN!” Izuku sobbed, frozen in place with fear. Tenko stared at Katsuki’s suffering form, tears pooling in his own eyes.

What could he do? What was he supposed to do?!

“Now, now, children,” the shadow man tsked, seemingly using his hand to command the shadow to move as he walked backwards, onto the middle of the log. The shadow held Katsuki out above the rushing river below. “You should cooperate.”

“L-let Kacchan go! Let him go! ” Izuku cried, reaching out as if he could grab Katsuki that far away. Tenko clenched his fists when the shadows tightened around Katsuki, who let out a weak sob.

“I’ll let him go… But only if I aquire what I came for.” Tenko froze when he felt a cold hard gaze on him. “You want this boy to remain alive? You’ll have to come with me, child.”

Tenko felt his body trembling, and he stared down at his hands, breathing erratic. He noticed that most of the glove on his right hand had been torn apart - it was barely hanging onto his wrist anymore.

What could he do? What… what would a hero do?

Tenko sniffled, staring at the ground as he forced himself to his feet, tearing the rest of the glove from his hand. He looked up at the shadow man, taking a deep breath.

“Y-you’ll… leave them a-alone… if I go?” he asked softly.

“Absolutely.”

“N-n-no!” Izuku grabbed Tenko’s shirt, tugging desperately. “K-Ko, don’t-”

“Let go, Izu…” Red eyes met green, and seconds later, Izuku released him, dropping to his knees and crying harder. Tenko tore his gaze away to look at the shadow man again, as he stepped toward him. The man chuckled softly, holding out a hand when Tenko got closer.

“Such a smart boy…”

Tenko’s eyes zeroed in on the hand, reaching out and grasping it with his left. The boy nodded slightly.

“Yeah…” he whispered, gaze snapping up to the man’s masked face. “I’m a freakin’ genius.”

With speed Tenko himself didn’t even know he had, his right hand shot out as he kept a tight hold of the man’s, all five fingers clasping around the arm the man was using to control the shadows. He didn’t hear a scream, but the shadows suddenly evaporated, leaving Katsuki suspended in the air for a small moment, before the blonde starting hurtling towards the water below.

Tenko dashed forward, jumping out without a second thought and grasping Katsuki’s wrist just in time, using his ungloved hand (minus one finger) to grip a branch on the log. Tenko breathed in and out harshly, adrenaline coursing through him as he stared down at Katsuki - who was clutching onto Tenko’s forearm desperately with bloodied hands - then, back up at the shadow man.

Tenko’s eyes widened at what he saw, his grip on the branch suddenly feeling much weaker. The man’s arm was still there, not in dust, not disintegrated.

“That was quite the stunt, little one… How pitiful, though. You forgot that there’s another weakling that will need saving.”

Tenko’s breath caught in his lungs when the man directed his attention to Izuku, who stared back in utter terror.

“N-no… I-Izu, run…! RUN! ”

Izuku didn’t move, but Tenko knew he was trying to. Was… was the shadow man doing that? Did he freeze Izuku?!

“I-I can’t - K-Ko-chan!” the greenette remained in place as the shadow man towered over him, reaching out.

“IZUKU!”

A sudden flash of white and black, a loud grunt, and the shadow man was sent crashing onto the log, somehow maintaining his balance. Tenko whimpered, gripping the branch tighter. He wouldn’t let go, he couldn’t let go.

“Oh, how invigorating!” the man cackled, straightening his suit. “Another child.”

What…?

Tenko heard a low scoff, eyes growing wide when he saw the dark figure on the other side of the log, their eyes glowing a bright crimson under their goggles.

“Get the hell away from these kids.” Eraserhead sneered, pulling more of his scarf away from his shoulders. “ Or else .”

“Is that the only threat you could think of?”

“Nah, I can think of plenty more,” the dark haired hero replied, shooting his scarf towards the shadow man and restraining him before anyone could blink. “Just can’t say ‘em in front of impressionable brats.”

“Oho, is that so?” another bone chilling cackle. “Then, by all means, go ahead, hero. Defeat the terrifying villain and save the helpless children…”

A sudden snapping noise filled the air, and Tenko and Katsuki yelped as they realized the branch was breaking.

“But, it appears you can only achieve one objective.”

Eraserhead let out a loud curse when the rest of the wood snapped. Tenko shrieked, automatically wrapping his arms around Katsuki, turning so he’d hit the rocky surface below first. Except, before they could get any closer to the water, white cloth was wrapped around both boys, stopping their descent.

They were pulled up to the grass, collapsing onto the ground. The two boys didn’t let go of each other, crying harder when Izuku practically tackled both of them and started bawling into their chests.

“Shit… You kids alright?” Eraserhead asked, kneeling down next to the pile of sobbing children. Tenko sniffled, looking up at him.

“S-Suki… Suki’s hurt…” he choked out. Eraserhead sighed, nodding as he carefully peeled the other two away from Katsuki, who he carefully picked up. The hero turned to look at Izuku and Tenko.

“Let’s… get you three home.”

Chapter Text

“ Fulfill the prophecy,

Be something greater,

Go make a legacy,

Manifest destiny,

Back in the days

We wanted everything, wanted everything... ”

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfu-

Curses continued to circle around inside Shota’s mind, as he tried to keep his demeanor calm and collected - the three kids he had with him were already panicking, he needed to be the adult he technically was - but holy fucking shit he just fought an actual villain. Yeah, he was a Pro-Hero, he engaged in combat daily , but it had only ever been with low-life criminals, thieves, and maybe a couple drug lords.

That… that thing that had attacked these boys was something else entirely. That man wasn’t just any kind of villain either - No, he was worse than the stories Shota had heard of those who constantly threatened their peace. That man had struck enough fear into Shota, that the young hero nearly fucked up his attempt to save and protect. But even when Shota had stopped him from hurting that curly haired kid, it hadn’t been enough.

Because that thing had more than one quirk. Not just a dual quirk either, there were multiple. How was that even possible?!

Shitshitshit-

And now he had a sobbing kid clinging to him, his arms trembling and palms bleeding, even after Shota had sloppily bandaged them with that stupid handkerchief Hizashi had gifted him for his birthday last year - and no, he most definitely had not been wearing it underneath his tracksuit ever since then.

Shota was very much aware that he was shaking himself, only slightly less than the blonde child in his arms. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins, his whole body seemed to be buzzing, he felt numb and aware of everything at the same time. He couldn’t keep his anxious mind silent, the short-lived fight he’d been engaged in replaying over and over again.

He’d hesitated back there, he’d almost let fear consume him, he’d almost missed the chance to cancel that villain’s paralysis over the curly kid. Not to mention the fact that he’d let that guy escape . He’d faltered when he realized the other two kids were falling, he’d taken his eyes off the villain, and in the blink of an eye, the suited man had vanished.

What the hell was wrong with him?!

He was an excellent strategist, he had so many perfected techniques at only the age of nineteen. Yet, he’d acted without thinking. He’d been scoping out the neighborhood around the forest - No, he hadn’t been planning to inconspicuously check on the Tenko kid, shut up - when he’d heard the kids screaming their lungs out and a loud explosion every three seconds.

He hadn’t come up with any sort of plan, he’d just rushed towards the screaming as fast as he could. He’d just… His body had moved on its own…

Stop thinking and focus, dammit!

Shota glanced down at Tenko and the curly kid, who were running beside him, clinging to each other like a life lines. He had to get these kids home, the blonde in his arms definitely needed to get to a hospital. He needed to block out his panic and anxiety and concentrate.

“What happened?” Shota finally forced himself to ask, as they turned the corner. He’d thankfully memorized the way to the Midoriya household that night he escorted the woman and Tenko back home.

Tenko didn’t answer, he kept his gaze on the ground, his hair blocking any view of his face. The greenette beside him sniffled, wiping his face before speaking up.

“Th-that scary bad guy… j-just showed up, a-and, and he tried to hurt K-Ko-chan, but Kacchan… K-Kacchan tried p-protectin’ us, but the b-bad guy hurt him! H-he tried taking Ko, and I-I…” The kid let out a whimper, more tears accumulating and rolling down his freckled cheeks.

Shota groaned inwardly - he didn’t know how to deal with toddlers, dammit! Were kids supposed to have these many tears in their head? The only crybaby he’d ever had to deal with was Hizashi, and the only way that loudmouth stopped wailing was if he started laughing instead. Shota was not resorting to those measures and tell the kid a joke, or freaking tickle him.

Jokes and tickles were reserved for Zashi only.

“I-I… didn’t do anything …”

Shota blinked, snapping out of his thoughts and staring at the curly haired boy.

“M-my… my best friends were g-g-getting hurt… a-and I just stood there! ” he sobbed.

Oh, for the love of all fucking holy-

“ Stop crying .” Shota deadpanned, giving the kid a stare when teary green eyes looked up in shock. The young hero felt the tiny fist of the boy in his arms lightly slug him in the chest, but ignored it. “There’s no use in bawling your eyes out right now. It’s over, you’re fine, so get a grip.” He tore his gaze away from the little boy’s as the apartment complexes came into view. “‘Sides… if ya cry until you run outta tears, you’ll just get yerself dry eye.”

He didn’t look back at the boy, but didn’t hear anymore whimpers or sobs. They hurried towards the Midoriya’s floor, and the green bean all but crashed through the door, yelling to whoever was inside.

“ MAMA !!!”

“Izuku?! What’s wrong?! You’re supposed to be at Mitsuki’s-”

“Th-there was a bad man, and- and he- he hurt K-Ko-chan and Kacchan!” the freckled kid - Izuku, apparently - rambled on, and his mother clearly wasn’t following.

“They were attacked by a villain near the river.” Shota finally inputted, walking through the doorway. Tenko remained outside - he still hadn’t looked up from the ground.

“ WHAT?! ” Midoriya gasped.

“ A villain?! ”

Shota glanced over, just now realizing there was a thin, almost skeletal blonde man sitting at the table - His sunken eyes blown wide. The young hero groaned.

Fucking fantastic, this day turned out to be.

“Look, I’m not explaining everything, all you need to know is that Tenko and this one need to get to a hospital.” Shota nodded down to the blonde he was still holding, who was still trembling, clearly trying to keep his tears in. “So, enough chit-chat already, and go .”

Midoriya frantically nodded, rushing over to Shota and carefully taking the blonde from his arms. The kid immediately clung to her, shaking with pain and held in sobs. The woman started rushing around the house, grabbing her purse and keys, and she was out the door a second later, already talking into her phone to who Shota assumed was the blonde boy’s mother.

Tenko and the other boy immediately followed her, and Shota sighed, knowing he’d need to be present for questioning.

Fantastic.

The young hero turned to the thin, blonde man, who was staring at him, eyes still wide.

“Uh, sorry for ruining your tea party, or… date, or whatever.” Shota shrugged, turning away to follow after the woman and children.

“D-d-d- I-I - No! You misunderstand -!”

“Sure.” Was Shota’s only response as he closed the door behind him.

“They both are perfectly fine,” Recovery Girl reassured. Everyone in the room collectively relaxed. “I healed both of them, but obviously I can’t take away their trauma…”

Shota zoned out the rest of the old woman’s report, crossing his arms as he leaned heavily against the wall. He’d already given his account of what happened, so had all three kids.

So why was he still here? Hell if he knew. He’d tried leaving a while ago, turned towards the exit, ready to go home and sleep , but then he caught green eyes staring at him through curly bangs.

He’d turned the other way and went to the bathroom instead.

Shota figured it was probably just curiosity. He just wanted to make sure Tenko and the other kid - Katsuki, he learned - were fine, then he’d book it back home to take a much needed nap.

Twenty minutes later, all of them were huddled in Katsuki’s room, the blonde hadn’t been discharged like Tenko yet, since he’d been injured the most. Both of the kid’s hands were bandaged, and other than the noticeably dark scars littering the boy’s neck - god, what kind of quirk was that - Shota thought he looked perfectly fine.

So why the fuck hadn’t he left already?

“Are you sure you’re okay, Kacchan?” Izuku was obviously holding in more tears, resting a hand on his friend’s arm carefully, like the other boy was a delicate, breakable antique.

“I’m fuckin’ fine.” Katsuki growled, glaring at nothing in particular. The blonde then looked over at Tenko, who was standing next to Izuku, staring intently at the floor. Shota watched curiously as the blonde’s glare hardened, and he reached over to flick Tenko’s head. “The hell’s up with you, Moppy? I’m not dead, dummy! Stop pouting!”

Tenko stared up at him, hugging his gloved hands closer to his chest.

“...Y-you could have been…” the boy mumbled, sending the room into a tense silence. Shota narrowed his eyes. “Y-you almost died… all ‘cause of me … I-I… I’m sor-”

“If you apologize, I’m gonna kick your scrawny ass.” Katsuki interrupted, eyes stern. Tenko opened his mouth to retort, but stopped when the blonde’s glare hardened. “ I’m serious, Ten. Don’t you dare friggin’ blame yourself. ”

“B-but… I-”

“I’m sorry…”

Everyone’s eyes shot over to Izuku, who - surprisingly - wasn’t even teary eyed as he stared into both sets of red eyes.

“Zu, I swear to god-”

“ No. ” Izuku insisted, furrowing his brows. “I… I just stood there, when you both needed help … I was useless .”

“I-Izu-”

“And that’s why,” Izuku continued, ignoring both boys’ protests as he gave a firm nod to himself. “That’s why… I’m gonna get stronger!”

Shota rose a brow.

“I’m gonna work hard, and get stronger, so I can really help people! I’m gonna try harder, ‘cause I’m Deku !  ‘Cause I can do it! ” Izuku declared, punching his fist into the air. “‘Cause Deku is Izuku, and Izuku’s gonna be a hero!”

A short silence met his decree, the parents in the room staring at him - A certain green eyed woman was close to tears, of course. No one spoke, until Katsuki suddenly punched the air as well, grinning. Shota could see something in those crimson irises. Pride, definitely, but there was another thing… Determination. Raw, hell-bent determination.

“ Hell yeah! ”

Both boys stared expectantly at Tenko, who glanced between them, unsure, for a long moment. Then, those red eyes zeroed in on Shota, who met the gaze head-on, his constant, indifferent facade on his face.

“Will you teach us how to be strong?”

He felt the mask crumble instantly, like it was decayed right off his face. Shota stared at the pale haired child, eyes wide in shock and confusion.

“... What? ”

“You’re strong.” Tenko stated, never breaking eye contact with the pro-hero. “Can you teach us to be strong like you?”

You’re strong…

Shota clenched his fists tightly, mind buzzing, ears ringing slightly.

You’re so strong, Shota… you’re always so strong.

You can take away quirks? Why would you do that? That’s so mean!

You’re just gonna be a weak villain one day, and we’re gonna be the heroes to take you down!

Weak… weak… weakweakweakweak-

Be strong. Always stay strong…

Shota blinked, his head and senses clearing. He crossed his arms again, staring into the eyes of the three boys in front of him. A small smirk played at the corner of his lips.

“Depends,” he shrugged, the smirk growing into a grin, “Think you problem children can handle it?”

As he watched the three kids smile at each other and nod firmly, Tenko pumping his arm into the air like the other two, Shota could tell...

These three were going to be the most troublesome heroes he’s ever known.

On the other side of Musatafu, as the now wintery sky turned even darker, a small, frail figure was curled up on his floor. Everything hurt, everything burned . He wanted it to stop, why wouldn’t it all just stop? Why couldn’t he be better?

You are a failure… Your weak body can’t even handle your own quirk…

The redheaded boy let out another sob, holding himself tighter. Why was his life like this? Why was life unfair? He didn’t deserve this… did he? He knew his family didn’t. His mother didn’t deserve to be hurt. His siblings didn’t deserve to be neglected. His father didn’t deserve the title of a hero.

Heroes were supposed to save and protect. His father only caused pain and suffering.

“It is a cruel society we live in, is it not?”

Turquoise eyes flew open, and the boy bolted upright, despite the pain it caused. Who said that? No one was in his room… he didn’t see anyone, at least…

“Heroes are supposed to protect others… yet the man who is supposed to be your hero, is the one who hurts you the most.” The shadows in the corner of the room suddenly moved, and the boy’s eyes widened as a suited man stepped forward, his hand outstretched. “You wish to be free, don’t you? You want more than anything to expose that man for the hero he really is? Come me, then… I can take you away from this pain, I can help you achieve what you most desire… all I require is your loyalty.”

The boy stared at the outstretched hand, more tears leaking out of his eyes. He… he didn’t know what to do. But his mind flashes with images of the past, the present, the future. Pain, suffering, nothing changing …

“Real heroes change the world into something greater than it is,” the man stated. The boy’s lip trembled, and he hesitated slightly, before taking the large hand.

He gasped when he felt his body heat up, his quirk activating without his consent. The child let out a scream of pain as the flames licked and burned his skin. The fire spread, everything was burning now, but he barely noticed, too focused on the images now coursing through his mind. His family’s smiling, happy faces. His father nowhere to be seen. Peace . That’s all he wanted, really. He just wanted peace.

The boy didn’t even flinch as the man carefully lifted him into his arms. He was aware of shouting beyond his locked door, it sounded like his father’s. He didn’t care. He just wanted to leave. He wanted to make that future he saw, where he could bring his family true peace.

The last thing he saw were snake-like shadows around him, before the darkness consumed him

“ TENKO, YOU ASSHOLE! ”

Toshinori sighed, shaking his head as he sipped his tea. Years ago, he surely would have spilled his drink all over himself at the loud shout that echoed through the Midoriya’s apartment. Now though, he had grown used to it.

There was a loud shriek - most likely Izuku - and the sounds of thumping feet down the hall, before they traveled into the living room. A flash of blue rushed past Toshi with a quick ‘hey, uncle Toshi!’ , and the scrawny man rolled his eyes as Katsuki stormed into the room.

“GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!” the blonde shouted, palms popping with small explosions. What seemed to be whipped cream was smeared all over the teen’s face. Toshinori raised a brow, glancing over at the sixteen year old hiding on the other side of the counter, smirking at Katsuki.

“And what if I don’t? Huh, Sparkler?” Tenko teased, tossing the can of sugary cream between his gloved hands nonchalantly. Katsuki growled like a feral dog.

“You got one hell of a death wish, Mophead.” he snarled, looking ready to pounce. “Now give me that, so I can pay you back for your stupid fucking prank!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t fall asleep on my bed then.” Tenko shrugged, eyes narrowed. “Or kick someone in the gut when they try to move you.”

“You’re fucking ridiculous!”

“I’m not the one who has cream on his face.”

“THAT’S IT!”

Toshinori watched the two chase each other around the kitchen for a while, before Tenko dashed into the living room, vaulting over to couch and swiftly dodging Katsuki’s attack.

“Come on, is that the best you got, Suki-nii? ” Tenko laughed, sprinting around the living room. There wasn’t much space for a chase in the apartment, so Toshinori knew it wouldn’t be long before their little play fight ended - Despite the two’s stubbornness. “Gotta be faster than that!”

“Fuck you and your fucking inhuman speed, you jackass!” Katsuki yelled.

Seconds later, the explosive boy successfully tackled the older teen to the floor, and their wrestling match began. Toshinori rolled his eyes again, turning his attention back to the news he was reading on his phone.

The man frowned slightly. Crime rates just kept growing higher and higher these days, it seemed. He wished he could work longer each day to prevent that. Toshinori was pulled from his thoughts when another pair of feet dashed out from the hall. The man snorted softly.

Whipped cream covered the top of Izuku’s dark curls, and the half-pout, half-scowl on his face was just too much. The greenette stormed over to the other two teens, who were still wrestling.

“Aha! Izu! Izu, help me out here!” Tenko said, trying to get the upper hand and pin Katsuki down.

“No! Don’t you fucking dare, Deku!”

“Ignore him. We both know you love me more, anyway.”

“Like hell he does! I was here first, you motherfucker!”

Izuku just scowled, scooping the whipped cream out of his messy hair.

“Kacchan, I don’t appreciate you smearing cream on my face.” the greenette grumbled. Katsuki nervously laughed, trying to squirm away from Tenko. “Especially when I’m innocent, and had no part in Ko-nii’s prank!”

“See? This is what you get for being over-dramatic, Katsuki.” Tenko smirked, holding the younger boy down. “Hopefully, you’ll learn your less- ACK!”

Toshinori was surprised, along with Tenko and Katsuki, when Izuku flung the cream right into his brother’s face. Izuku laughed, crossing his arms.

“Looks like your prank didn’t go quite as you planned.” he grinned.

“Oh, you are so gonna pay for th-”

“What in the world is going on here?!”

All eyes turned towards the front door, where Inko was staring wide eyed at the mess the boys made. Aizawa’s head peeked over the woman’s to look inside, and the man sighed.

“Ya damn problem trio...”

“Oh heyyyy,” Tenko greeted, blinking the cream out of his eyes. “How was work, Mom?”

Inko rolled her eyes, taking her shoes off before walking into the kitchen.

“It was fine, sweetie.” the green eyed woman gave Toshinori a pointed look. “I see you were enjoying the boys’ little show, Toshi.”

Toshinori chuckled softly, setting his phone down on the counter.

“I figured extra training wouldn’t do any harm.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Aizawa muttered, looking over at the three teens, who were getting up off the floor. The dark haired man gave them all a look. “Whipped cream again? Seriously?”

“Shitty Mophead fuckin’ started it!” Katsuki growled, elbowing Tenko in the side. The older teen elbowed back, smirking playfully. Aizawa rolled his eyes.

“Whatever. Just clean your mess up.” he ordered, crossing his arms. “And hurry it up, or I’ll replace training with studying for the next week.”

The boys immediately got to work, Tenko quickly washing his face off so he could pull his messy blue locks into a lazy ponytail.

Toshinori watched with a fond gaze as Tenko continued to banter with his brothers as he cleaned, a familiar grin on the teen’s face.

The people in this world who can smile are always the strongest…

Those words now held more meaning than he ever thought they would.

Chapter Text

“Th e things I want to forget they can never be forgotten,

The path to heaven starts at the bottom of hell,

Even the tiniest spark can start a raging fire,,

So I'll keep going there, the way towards my future... ”

 “You do remember the plan, correct?”

His burning turquoise eyes shot over to the misty man behind the counter. He narrowed his gaze, shoving his hands into his pockets as he turned towards the door.

“Yeah, mom , it’s been the same one for months.” he replied gruffly. “‘Sides, it’s just a little stalking. Pretty sure I can handle being a fuckin’ creep, learned from the best after all.”

The yellow eyes were clearly unamused, but the teen could care less. Seriously, he just needed to watch the stupid target tonight. The real deal didn’t happen for another few days, at least.

“Just make sure you do not fail.” the man said, causing the teen to pause on his way out of the bar. He sighed in annoyance, glaring at the wood floorboards beneath his feet. A soft huff of laughter escaped him.

“What if I do?” he asked, his stare sliding over to the bartender. “He gonna kill me? Tellin’ me ya don’t wanna see the wrinkly old shit try ?”

“We both do not wish for a repeat of last time, do we?”

The teen scowled, shrugging as he continued towards the door.

“Nah,” he muttered, “I’d prefer he actually finish me off instead.”

“Don’t slam the door, either. I just repaired its window-”

He made sure to slam the door behind him hard , a small sneer on his scarred face.

 Shota observed with critical eyes, arms crossed over his chest as he watched his three proteges spar on the beach. Katsuki and Tenko were trying to tag-team Izuku, who expertly dodged each of their attacks - the kid could predict practically all of their attacks by now, the freaky genius.

“Dammit, stop dodging, Deku!” Katsuki complained, throwing a punch. “Fight back already!”

“You sure you want that, Kacchan?” Izuku laughed, rolling out of the way of his friend’s fist and narrowly avoiding Tenko’s kick. “I don’t think you’d like another broken nose.”

Katsuki growled, trying to lunge for the smaller boy. Izuku just skirted around the blonde and kicked him in the back, sending the other teen to the sand. The curly haired boy then turned to his older brother - Tenko just smirked.

“Bring it.”

Shota glanced over when someone approached, raising a brow when Toshinori stood next to him, watching the boys train. The younger man eyed him curiously, glancing back at the teenagers when Izuku proudly declared his victory.

“Bullshit!” Katsuki grumbled, dusting sand off his shorts. “We’re going again! This time, we’re against Mophead, Deku.”

Tenko and Izuku both smirked, before they went right back to sparring.

Shota covered a small, proud smirk with his scarf, but scowled when he noticed the other man beside him was frowning. Something was definitely bothering him… and the erasure hero had a small idea of what it was.

Toshinori had revealed to him years ago who he really was - something about how Shota was practically family now, and therefore trustworthy with his greatest secret. But, Shota hadn’t been that surprised, in all honesty - he’d been theorizing ever since he got to know the skeletal man better, plus it wasn’t like Toshinori and All Might were very different personality wise.

He may or may not have suspected Toshi was just secretly the little brother or son of the Number One Hero, at first.

Shota had been told the story of One For All and All For One, of All Might’s origin story and approaching end, and who exactly Tenko Midoriya was.

“You can’t decide,” Shota mumbled, ignoring how Toshinori jumped nearly five feet in the air when he broke the silence, or how the older man looked at him in shock. “Can you?”

He heard Toshi let out a long sigh, and the scrawny blonde turned his attention back to the sparring match still going on - Tenko was putting his agility to good use, dodging, skipping, and flipping out of the wonder duo’s reach.

“I have no idea what I should do.” Toshinori stated, voice quiet. “All three of them are practically perfect to inherit such a great power… How am I supposed to choose between them?”

“Hell if I know.” Shota mumbled, leaning against the railing they were standing in front of. He closed his eyes as a warm summer breeze blew, keeping them shut to ease the painful dryness. “I understand the difficulty, though… I can easily recommend one of them for UA, there’s no doubt in my mind they’d be accepted with their skills. But, it seems impossible to pick which twerp to represent. All three of ‘em are way too good.”

Toshi nodded in agreement, leaning forward with a contemplating look as he watched Izuku and Tenko wrestling in the sand, both brothers trying to get the upper hand. Katsuki joined in on the roughhousing seconds later, and neither of they were taking the training seriously anymore. They should probably stop soon, before Shota had to drag three half-asleep teenagers to their homes.

“Katsuki is an amazing fighter, I know he would be able to unlock OFA’s full potential… But he is already so powerful with the quirk he has.” Toshinori rambled quietly. “Izuku probably deserves to inherit my power the most, he’s worked so hard these past ten years to get stronger. He reminds me of myself at his age… Quirkless, powerless, yet wants to be a hero more than anything in the world…”

“...And then there’s Tenko.” Shota added when Toshinori trailed off. Toshinori nodded solemnly.

“Nana… She wanted to prevent her family from experiencing the dangers of hero work. She wanted her descendants to live happy, safe lives… I can’t break the promises I made her, I can’t betray the trust she put into me, but… Tenko would be such an amazing hero.” Toshinori sighed dejectedly, staring up at the darkening sky. “The entrance exam is just days away, Shota… I want to help them achieve their dreams, not just stand by and watch them push themselves when I could guide them too…”

Shota hummed softly, burrowing deeper in his scarf. He was pretty sure he sucked at giving advice, despite literally being a teacher .

“I don’t know what you expect me to say, it’s not my power I’m passing on.” he finally said, shrugging. “The only thing I can do is remind you that those three would no doubt die for each other. So, if you’re concerned about causing a rift in the bond they have, whether it be due to jealousy, or resentment, or whatever… Don’t be. ”

Toshinori stared over at him, eyes widened slightly. Shota stared back blankly.

“Nothing’s stopping those three from achieving their dreams. You should know that by now.”

 “I think I’m gonna puke.”

“If you puke on me, I swear to god, I’ll kick your ass.”

“You’re not helping!”

“Who says I’m tryin’ to help?”

Tenko rolled his eyes, grunting when Izuku was shoved into his side. He shot a glare at Katsuki, who was pushing the greenette away from him.

“If you’re gonna barf, use the literal fuckin’ mophead beside you! He can soak that gross shit up.” the blonde grumbled.

“You do realize those jokes have gotten old by now, right?” Tenko asked, eyes narrowed. Katsuki just flipped him off without even sparing a glance. “Real mature.”

“Go fuck yourself.”

“No thanks, not in the mood yet.”

“Oh my god, I will punch both of you in the mouth if you don’t shut up.” Izuku groaned, hugging his bag tightly to his chest as the train jostled. Tenko looked down at his brother with a concerned frown.

“You don’t have to be so nervous, Izu.” he sighed, ruffling his little brother’s curls. “You’re going to be fine, and you’re going to ace the exam.”

“I-I just…” Izuku clamped his eyes shut, hiding his face. “Sh-should I have accepted Uncle Toshi’s offer?” he whispered miserably.

Tenko sighed, glancing at Katsuki, who was scowling deeply at the smaller male. Tenko honestly couldn’t believe Izuku was rethinking the decision he’d made, he’d sounded so sure of himself when he turned down the once-in-a-lifetime offer their honorary uncle gave him yesterday - Then again, this was Izuku , who nearly burst into tears when he’d dropped an egg and ‘killed it’ , just a few weeks ago.

Katsuki just made it worse saying it was a better death than cooking it alive, the little shithead.

I appreciate it, but I can’t accept it , is what Izuku had said to Toshinori, somehow keeping his calm when faced with the details of the extraordinary quirk their uncle apparently had, I want to be strong and prove myself on my own. I want to show the world I can be a hero, that the determination to help is all it takes.

“Ya don’t need it.” Katsuki grunted, elbowing Izuku lightly, causing the other boy to lift his head enough to look at the blonde. “Like you said, you’re strong on your own. You don’t need a shitty quirk to be a hero.”

Izuku stared at him, then smiled softly, leaning his head on his best friend’s shoulder. Katsuki glared halfheartedly, but didn’t move away. The blonde self consciously tugged his by now worn out, signature black and gold handkerchief higher up his neck, effectively hiding the dark scars that still littered his throat after ten years.

“Thanks, guys…” Izuku muttered, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

“Whatever. As long as it stops your shitty anxious mumbling, nerd.” Katsuki grumbled.

Tenko smiled fondly at the two, knowing fully well that Katsuki was just as anxious as Izuku - the explosive boy was grinding his teeth and picking at some calluses on his palms. Hell, Tenko was freaking out internally too. He sighed softly, absentmindedly digging in his pocket for his chapstick and applying it to his dry lips.

Not only was his quirk dangerous and a pain in the ass, since he had to wear gloves all the time and only use four fingers for everything he did, but it also made him look like a dried up raisin most of the time. Thank god for Aunt Mitsuki’s impressive knowledge of skin products, she’d gotten him some great moisturizers and chapsticks a while ago.

Tenko’s gaze dropped to his gloved hands once he finally leaned against his seat to relax. They were basically just fancy biker gloves that Toshinori gave him for his birthday, fingerless except for his pinkies; comfortable, strong, breathable material, with a good grip.

His eyes narrowed at his exposed fingers. He’d have to use his quirk for the practical of the entrance exam, which made him feel… uneasy. He didn’t have a heroic quirk, it wasn’t like he could just decay villains when he showed up on the scene.

He was screwed, wasn’t he?

  Yep… He was definitely, royally, and utterly fucked.

He knew he didn’t ace the academic test, he wasn’t as great at retaining so many hero and quirk related facts as Izuku and Katsuki, but he knew he didn’t fail .

But he knew he was going to fail this.

Because how in the ever living fuck was he supposed to get close enough to giant fucking robots to touch them with all five of his damn fingers?!

Okay, yeah, he had ten years of a pro-hero’s training under his belt, but he had always been more focused on not relying on his quirk. He was excellent at hand-to-hand combat, he was fast and agile, but so were these gigantic metal fuckers that were strong enough to kill him and these other applicants!

Tenko growled to himself, vaulting over a large piece of rubble, out of sight from the machine trying to track him down. He breathed in deeply, trying desperately to contain his anger and anxiety.

How the hell was this fair? What about the people with non-combative quirks? What about those - like him - that could only use their quirks in close range? What were they supposed to do? How were they supposed to earn points? How were they supposed to pass?

Tenko clamped his eyes shut for a moment, trying to stay calm, only for them to snap open again when the rumbling of the ground beneath him gave him enough of a warning to dodge away from his hiding spot.

The place he had been seconds ago was destroyed by the giant robot above him. Tenko grit his teeth, skidding back a few feet.

For fuck’s sake, this was ridiculous! How could he possibly get through this and pass - Much less, live ?

The machine finally noticed Tenko, and the teen clenched his fists, waiting for the next move. He needed to calm the hell down, he could handle this. He, Katsuki, and Izuku were going to pass, they’d make it into UA, they’d grow to become great heroes, and Tenko could finally be the one to do the saving, not the one being saved.

That was what he wanted more than anything from this school. He wanted to know how to be someone’s hero. The past ten years, those around him have saved him more times than he can count, whether they knew it or not. And what had he done when those he loved needed help? He stood by, he did nothing, or made things worse.

Images flash through his mind as Tenko sprints through the maze of alleys in the faux city, turning around to see the machine’s huge arm hurtling towards him.

Mom sitting at the table, bags under her teary eyes as she looked over the bills, but a soft smile on her face when she looked at him.

Toshinori coughing up blood into a napkin, trying to hide the red from sight, forcing a cheerful smile.

The obvious hurt and pain in Aizawa’s eyes when he fails a mission, that he hides behind a blank expression. Or the sadness and regret that he buries with a stand-off demeanor when he gets into an argument with the mysterious ‘Zashi’ he mentions more than he seems to notice.

Katsuki sobbing and screaming as a five year old, staring right at him with fear and desperation in his usually confident gaze. An older Katsuki, staring at the scars around his neck shown in his reflection, eyes filled with regret and defeat - a look that never belonged on the cocky blonde’s features, that he replaced with his determined grin.

Izuku staring at him, his bright green eyes dull and hopeless … But a wobbly, wide smile on his face nonetheless.

His hand curled into a fist, and he thrust it forward reflexively.

A wide, determined smile stretched across Tenko’s lips, not even faltering when he felt a rush of familiar numbness through his arm.

“ Smash. ”

Before he could blink, what felt like a wave released from Tenko’s limb, as his fist stopped just shy of an inch from the robot, and then there was just a massive pile of dust on the ground.

Tenko blinked in shock, brain finally processing the last few seconds. What the fuck…What the hell just happened?! He jumped when the alarm sounded, and Present Mic’s voice boomed around the city, alerting them that the exam was over. Tenko’s eyes widened, and he looked around. A few scattered plates of armor were buried in the dust, and that’s when his eyes landed on it.

One.

He only got one goddamn fucking point.

 Tenko glared at the device that had fallen out of envelope and gave him his exam results. He knew it wasn’t the small hologram machine’s fault, or even the stupid - still somewhat unfair, mind you - practical exam.

It was his one fault he failed. He was the one who’d disregarded training his quirk. All for what reason, though? Truth be told, and he knew deep down it was still true, Tenko was terrified of his quirk. He didn’t want to use it, so he failed. It was fair. He shouldn’t be so upset. He was still going to be in the general education class, anyway.

Yet, here he was, hiding in he and Izuku’s shared bedroom, staring out at the night sky. He refused to come out for dinner, even spent energy keeping himself in his bed when Katsuki tried to yank him out. It was harder to ignore Izuku’s sad, apologetic words, but he somehow managed.

His mind just kept buzzing, and throbbing. Why didn’t he try harder? Why did he have to have this damn quirk anyway? With that thought, came another one. What happened back in the exam? He remembered running from the robot, seeing its fist hurling towards him, then… there was just a big pile of dust on the ground. What happened?

Tenko couldn’t take it. He needed… he needed out . He needed air .

The pale figure pulled his hair into a sloppy side ponytail, tugging on a beanie and his favorite dark grey sweatshirt before slipping out of the bedroom window. He didn’t even bother taking the three sets of stairs down the fire escape, he just jumped off the railing, landing in a roll on the grass.

He stood, dusting off his pants, as he pulled his hood up. Tenko wandered aimlessly, his mind blank and empty for the first time in a long while.

He was such an idiot.

Why did he ever think for a second he could be a hero? What made him think he could save people, like he’d been saved?

Fucking idiot .

Tenko sighed, passing a back alley without much thought. Until he heard a frightened and pained yelp. The tall boy froze, his ears picking up on the distinct sound of someone choking, gasping desperately for breath.

That was too familiar. Way too familiar. He lifted a shaky hand to his own throat, resisting his panicked urge of scratching at the skin there. He wasn’t the one getting hurt here .

Tenko’s feet were moving before he could even think about it - he was turning and rushing into the dark alley. It was pitch black, except for small bursts of blue in the corner behind a dumpster. Someone was there, gagging, blue flames flickering in and out of their palms. Some kind of liquid form was suffocating them, some kind of sludge.

“Such a powerful quirk too…” the sludge cackled, causing a muffled scream of protest from the victim.

Tenko didn’t think, he only moved. He dashed behind the sludge creep before the thing could react, yanking off one of his gloves with his teeth before slamming all five fingers into the large yellow eye visible between the muck.

The criminal howled in pain, slinking away from his victim quickly, blood pouring from his half decayed eye.

“ WHAT THE FU- ”

“ You have three seconds to run. ” Tenko sneered, holding his palm out threateningly. The sludge freak growled in fury, before vanishing into a gutter.

Tenko breathed heavily, the original adrenaline wearing off quickly as he pulled on his discarded glove. Fuck. Shit. What the hell did he just do?!

“Crap…” he sighed.

“ Holy shit. ” The sudden gasp of breath caused Tenko to spin around, staring wide eyed at the figure of the person who had just been attacked. “You just- holy fuck - you…”

“Uh…” Tenko blinked, trying to locate the person - definitely a guy, judging by the deep gruffness of the voice. “Y-you’re okay, right?”

“Wh- y-yeah… holy… fuck , that was close.”

He heard the sound of movement, and Tenko blinked in surprise when a blue flame suddenly lit up the dark alleyway. He squinted at the raven haired boy in front of him, noticing he didn’t seem much older than Tenko himself. The most noticeable thing, however, was the dark burn scars that littered the other teen’s face. One under his left eye, like he’d been punched by a fiery fist, and another one snaked up the right side of his face - from the chin to the ear.

“O-oh my… a-are you sure you’re alright? You look-”

“Like shit?” the guy chuckled, coughing a little. “Don’t worry, had these beauties most my life.” the boy shrugged, gesturing to his face. Tenko stared, eyes still blown wide. How was he supposed to respond to that?

“Do you need to go to a hospital? You were just attacked.” Tenko said instead, brows furrowing. The guy shook his head, tilting his head to the side.

“‘M fine, dude… Thanks, though. You totally kicked ass, like whoa, holy shit. You just swooped in like some kinda of hero!”

“Um, I- Th-thanks…?” Why the hell was he stuttering so much? Why was this guy such a… he didn’t even know what to call him! “I-I’m… I’m not a hero, though.”

The dark haired teen snorted, sighing as he turned to leave the alley.

“Yeah, well… you should be.”

Tenko blinked, staring as the guy seemed to disappear into the shadows. Wow, okay… that was… what was that?

He watched as the pale dork stared around in confusion, before the other teen slowly and carefully wandered out of the alley, probably heading towards home. He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully, as his accomplice slid up beside him.

“God damn, fucking hell! Stop staring after the shithead so I can fix my eye, Dabi!”

The dark haired male ignored the sludge’s whining, staring contemplatively before turning on his heels, a scowl on his face. That dude was who the old fucker had been obsessed with for over ten years? Who he’d forced him to keep tabs on for almost a week now? Who the wrinkly shithead expected him to find a way to recruit or something? What the hell was the asshole playing at, exactly? He wished he knew all the details of this fucking plan.

He didn’t know what to think of all of this, except for a few thoughts that bumped around in his mind for a moment.

He’d been forced to obey for almost nine fucking years. Forced to live in a place worse than what he’d considered the worst as an eight year old. Put through torture, and pain, and near-death… Unable to run back to his family, see them again, hold onto them for dear life - no matter how shitty it was under that roof.

He’d been forced to change himself. He’d been molded and manipulated into a puppet, to the point he himself barely knew who he was anymore.

And for what? Well… he thought it would be for tearing down and creating a world where things were different. Where things were better. Of course, that wasn’t possible. He should’ve know that. Should’ve burned that motherfucker’s hand the first time it had been offered to him.

A small smirk played at his lips, a huff of laughter escaping him when all he really wanted to do was scream.

Nah… burning the old geezer wouldn’t have worked or changed things. No…

Touya should’ve burnt himself to ash years ago, instead.

Chapter Text

Here's a pic of Touya/Dabi I drew :3

“ Now I know there's no one I can trust,

I used to think there was...

Feel the fear and swallow back the tears,

Let weakness disappear,

There's nobody but me here,

The killer in the mirror... ”

I’m not a hero, though…

You should be.

Those words continued to circle through his head, and he barely processed when he reached the apartment complex. His mind was buzzing again, everything spinning around and mixing together inside like his brain was a fucking blender.

He wasn’t strong enough to be a hero, despite his training. The school that created almost every one of Japan’s top heroes rejected him, judged that he wasn’t good enough. Hell, he didn’t even know how to control his own quirk! His mind supplied the image of the dust pile that used to be a robot in the entrance exam. He didn’t even remember doing that!

So… how could he possibly be a hero? The thought of his dream for the last ten years being crushed - how hard he worked, how much effort he put into becoming stronger, abandoning his past, his weak, terrified self… To know it wasn’t enough … The feeling sucked. It fucking sucked .

He didn’t even really notice the wide eyes of his family as he stepped through the door, too consumed by his own thoughts. That was, until he was smacked upside the head by a familiar, sweaty hand.

“Ow! The hell-”

“Where the fuck have you been ?!” Katsuki yelled, glaring up at the - much - taller male. Tenko blinked, looking around the room as he rubbed the back of his head. Izuku was on the couch, staring at him with wide, relieved eyes, Katsuki was still yelling in his face. He didn’t see Mom, which meant she wasn’t home yet, or was just in the other room. The former was more reasonable, she’d been working later shifts the past few months. Fucking landlord raising the rent.

“Jeez… I was just taking a walk, you twat.” Tenko grumbled, avoiding another smack from the explosive boy in front of him.

“ Taking a walk , my ass!” Katsuki growled, chasing after the older boy as Tenko paced towards the hall. “You’re clothes are a fucking mess!”

“That’s just my aesthetic.” Tenko shrugged in response, only to yelp when he was suddenly tackled to the floor from behind by a ball of green. Izuku pinned him down and ripped off one of Tenko’s gloves, inspecting it and the pale hand it belonged to. He hadn’t realized before, but bits of that gross sludge were soaked into his glove - most likely from when he put it back on his hand - and some of the sludge criminal’s blood was on Tenko’s fingertips.

Tenko swallowed thickly at the look Izuku gave him after his little brother quickly scanned over his neck for fresh scrapes that weren’t there. It wasn’t just worry that his eyes conveyed, oh no, it was baby brother worry - which was worse than Mom’s disappointed look, which was worse than Aizawa’s rage and Toshi’s guilt-filled gaze combined .

“Ko-nii…” Izuku’s voice was barely above a whisper, but it still made Tenko’s chest clench with guilt and fear . Because that wasn’t Izuku’s soft-spoken, shy voice. It was his I’m about to fuck shit up, including you if you don’t explain. “...Ko, what the hell .”

“I… ran into some crook.” Tenko mumbled, carefully taking his hand out of Izuku’s. “He was attacking someone, so… I taught him a lesson.”

Izuku narrowed his eyes, looking down at Tenko’s glove that was still in his vice-like grip, then into Tenko’s red gaze, searching. Tenko stared back, unrelenting.

“...How bad didja fuck him up?” Katsuki broke the awkward sibling staring contest, a clearly forced grin on his face as he walked over. Tenko turned his head awkwardly to look at the blonde - Izuku was still sitting on his back.

“Decayed his eye and sent him running with his tail between his legs.” he said, a smirk grazing his lips when Katsuki’s grin became genuine. Izuku glanced between them, frowning at Tenko.

“You’re an idiot.” the curly haired boy sighed, dropping the glove onto Tenko’s face before getting to his feet. He held out a hand to Tenko, who took it once he replaced his glove. The pale teen was tugged to his feet, yelping when Izuku suddenly punched his arm. And Izuku had one hell of a punch.

“OW-!”

“Don’t scare us like that ever again!” Izuku admonished, and god, he looked just like Mom, it was kind of scary . “Do you know how worried we were?!”

“I’m guessing really freaking worried, considering you probably just broke my shoulder.”

“I called your phone twenty times , Ko!” Izuku continued to rant, pacing back and forth. Katsuki and Tenko glanced at each other. Oh boy, here we go. “I was about to call the cops, or Mom - Mom would have wanted to know you were gone first, so yeah, her first, then the police, and I had to stop Kacchan from blowing up the whole damn town trying to find you-”

“I was not about to use so much energy for this shithead!” Katsuki interjected, but was ignored as Izuku just kept rambling.

“-For all we knew, you ran away because of the entrance exam and weren’t going to come back, wanting to carve your own path like in those stupid dramatic movies-”

“I’m not that dramatic.” Tenko put in, a small scowl on his face.

“-What were we supposed to do?! The most obvious thing would be to try and chase you down, and yes, I was thinking ahead, and I told Kacchan about it, but he just said you didn’t fucking run from anything, and I just-”

“You gonna turn him off or what?” Katsuki growled, eye twitching slightly in annoyance at his best friend’s seemingly endless rambling. Tenko shook his head, leaning against the back of the couch.

“I did it last time.”

“Fuck you, he’s your brother!”

“Fuck you, I just got my arm nearly ripped off by his fist, I’m wounded.”

The two glared at each other, before raising their fists, and bringing them down into their palms. Tenko smirked triumphantly, while Katsuki snarled like a rabid dog.

“Best two outta three!”

“Nope. Paper beats rock.” Tenko snorted, gesturing towards a still pacing Izuku - was he even taking breaths between sentences?

“You motherfucking… Fine !”

Tenko watched as the blonde stepped over to Izuku, grabbing the freckle faced boy by the shoulders and shaking him.

“Shut the fuck up already, Deku! And breathe already, god dammit!”

Izuku blinked rapidly, finally snapping out of it. He rubbed his arm self consciously, face flushed in embarrassment.

“O-oh… Sorry…” he glanced at Tenko, eyes narrowing into a half-hearted glare. “I’m still mad at you, though. You could’ve gotten hurt!”

Tenko rolled his eyes, lazily flipping backwards and flopping onto the couch behind him. Yeah, right... All he got was some weird encouragement from some random dude. Speaking of that random dude… That whole encounter was just… Weird. The guy didn’t seem to be using his flames to defend himself against that sludge guy, for one thing… And the scarred boy hadn’t even seemed scared or surprised to see Tenko, he just… It was like that dude was…

“Hey, hey , what the hell are ya staring at, Moppy? Hey! ”

Tenko flinched when he was flicked on the nose, glaring upside down at Katsuki, who glared back.

“What?”

“What do you want for dinner? Jeez! What’re ya doin’ staring off into space like some pothead?”

“I wasn’t-”

“Doesn’t fucking matter, what do you want for dinner, already?!”

Tenko scowled, rolling his eyes as he thought.

“I dunno, soba?”

“You’re fucking useless, I’m just making katsudon.” Katsuki scoffed.
“You asked me!”

“Yeah, and your answer sucked dick.”

“Huh, surprised you didn’t like it, then- oh shit !” Tenko laughed, rolling off the couch to avoid an explosion aimed for his head.

“I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU , YOU SON A BITCH!”

Izuku remained in his spot on the couch, watching his brother and best friend wrestle around the living room, laughing and insulting each other, a small smile on his face. He’d been worried obviously, but not just because he didn’t know where his brother was just a bit ago, or when he was coming back.

He’d been scared , because all three of them had shared the same dream, had been striving towards it for a decade. And Tenko was possibly going to miss out on that dream. Katsuki was obviously accepted into the hero course, and shockingly, Izuku was too - with the exception that he had to take the support course as well, to make his own gear and equipment. It seemed fair enough, and Izuku really liked planning and building things anyway.

But, Tenko failed the practical exam, and was stuck in the general studies course. Of course, he could technically move up to the hero class if he proved what he was really capable of, but Izuku couldn’t tell if Tenko was alright with that.

His brother was disappointed, there was no doubt about that. Izuku had been able to read Tenko for years , could always tell how he was feeling. But… he couldn’t figure out what Tenko felt about this at all . And that terrified Izuku.

What if Tenko resented he and Katsuki for getting into the hero course, when he didn’t? What if he’d ran away and planned never to come back because of them? Hell, Izuku was quirkless and he somehow managed to pass, when Tenko had one of the craziest, amazingly heroic quirks Izuku had seen. He was surprised Tenko hadn’t blown up at them, yelled, screamed, done anything remotely hateful. All Tenko was doing was being his usual self, though. His regular happy, snarky self. Izuku just hoped Tenko’s wide, reassuring smile was genuine.

He didn’t know what he’d do if he lost his brother.

Touya gripped the handle of the door tightly, his knuckles turning white. He didn’t want to go in there, he didn’t want to see that bastard’s ugly face. His grip tightened further, and he felt the knob melting slightly under his hand. God dammit…

The teen clamped his eyes shut, willing any sign of fear away, and taking deep breaths. He dispelled the vulnerable look from his eyes that he knew for a fact would give him away - the shithead’s blindness be damned. He wouldn’t be weak - even if he was painfully aware of how weak he truly was. He was strong . He wasn’t a little kid.

He was Dabi .

Dabi opened his eyes with a soft sigh, pushing the door open without a second thought. His boots thumped heavily against the tiles as he strolled into the dark room. The only light source seemed to be the Doctor’s computer screens - the Doc himself turned in his seat and fucking beamed at Dabi, before turning back to his work. The raven-haired teen ignored the small feeling of churning in his gut, narrowing his glowing irises at the old fart.

Creepy little fucker.

“Dabi.”

The young villain straightened slightly, staring at all the equipment surrounding a large bed - and, in the middle of it all, the man he hated more than anything. That was saying something too, since his father was a huge piece of flaming shit.

“ Sensei .” Dabi replied; the word felt like acid on his tongue. “You look like shit, All For One .”

The barely alive man huffed out a humorless chuckle, and Dabi ignored the urge to shudder and cower.

He wasn’t weak.

“I suppose I do… But, do not worry, Dabi,” Another chuckle, this time dripping with mirth. “A little old age will not take down something not even All Might could defeat.”

“That’s tragic.” Dabi scoffed, crossing his scarred arms over his chest. “So… had a little run-in with a certain target .”

“Oh? And how did that play out?”

“Dunno, you tell how you think the guy I’m supposedly s’posed to recruit kicking Viran’s ass went.” Dabi stated, smirking slightly at the memory.

Honestly, he’d hated that sludge creep since the day he was hired. Viran deserved to get his ass handed to him, and Dabi wasn’t complaining that the freak’s time to be of use to AFO was up. Good riddance, in Dabi’s eyes - Touya admittedly had a very opposite view, but he needed to shut up for the moment .

Dabi reigned his anger and irritation in, narrowing his eyes at the bedridden man.

“Ya made this sound life-changing , Sensei,” he said, remembering the words that had been used to describe that kid’s - he was just a kid , just like Touya himself - quirk.

Extraordinary power, a quirk that has a chance of finally destroying All Might.

“So the twerp can turn shit to dust, whoop-de-fucking-doo .” Dabi sneered.

Nine years. Nine years without his mother’s cool hands carding through his red locks. Without hearing his sister’s voice singing softly, trying to calm him after another nightmare. Without Natsuo playing imaginary and so many made-up games with him. Without little Shouto hanging off his back, smiling despite the pain he’d share with him, because of something as stupid as a superpower. Without… without the rare gentleness his father would show when he was burning , and the usually booming voice morphed into something soft and reassuring. Just breathe, Touya.

Dabi sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He never thought he’d listen to the shitty old man’s advice so much, if not at all. The teen lifted his gaze to stare at All For One again, who had some sick form of a smile on his face.

“Oh, Dabi… You shall learn soon enough that not all is as it seems at first glance.”

Well that was ominous as fuck…

“What the hell’s that supposed to-”

“The next phase of your mission begins now,” AFO interrupted, causing Dabi to grit his teeth harder. “You will continue to observe the young man… And, once opportunity presents itself to you, you will find a way to earn his trust.”

Dabi bristled, glare hardening. What the fucking hell…

“Befriend him, influence him, do whatever you can to give him reason to trust you more than those that ripped his true destiny from him.” the man continued, his no-longer-existent eyes seeming to bore into Dabi’s soul. “And do not fail, Dabi. This is too important to be ruined by you .”

Touya scoffed now, teeth baring subconsciously.

“If you don’t trust me , then don’t fucking give me the job.” he snarled. “What makes ya think I’ll even follow your shitty plan, huh? Last I checked, yer just a shriveled up, weak piece of shit, that can’t do nothin’ to me now.”

He realized his mistake before the words even finished flowing from his mouth.

In a matter of mere seconds, the teen was collapsed on the floor, screaming in agony as images flashed through his mind in vivid detail. Logically, he knew it was just a quirk, just an illusion, but that didn’t stop the utter fear that consumed Touya in that moment.

He saw his home, his family … They all were standing around him - even father - but before his very eyes, they each let out a scream of pain and anguish, crumpling to the floor in heaps of blood. Their screams died out, just like them, leaving only Touya to desperately try to escape the nightmare, screaming his lungs out the whole time.

Finally, the horrible vision vanished, leaving only its traumatizing memory.

Touya remained on the floor, collapsed to his knees, breathing erratic. His body shook with silent sobs as burning tears trailed down his scarred face.

“You seem to forget I am the one that has raised you the last nine years, Dabi,” the shitty bastard chuckles - fucking chuckles . “I am aware of your facades, and of your masks… I know your weaknesses.”

An unwanted shiver ran down Touya’s spine as All For One’s aura dripped with power and pure malevolence.

“You will do as I say, because I have power not only over you , but also your poor family’s fate.”

He fucking hated this sick bastard…

“I expect you to follow my orders and report to me next week… You are more than aware of what will happen if you refuse. Is that understood?”

Touya held in a new onslaught of tears, willing his body to evaporate the tears from his face.

Just breath, Touya…

Dabi took a deep breath, forcing himself to his feet but keeping his head bowed to the awful man in front of him.

“... Yes, Sensei .”

Tenko stared up at the surprisingly large door of the classroom, eyes wide. Okay, wow… Wow, okay…

HI, ANXIETY, HOW THE FUCK ARE YOU TODAY?!

The pale teen sucked in a lungful of breath, shaking his nerves away. He was fine, there was nothing to be anxious about anyway. It wasn’t like this was literally the first public school he’d been to. Not like he was homeschooled by Toshinori and Aizawa all these years, since his mother had always been working. Yeah, this was fine, it was cool, he was fan-freaking-tastic .

Tenko groaned, slapping a gloved hand to his face.

“ Calm the hell down, you idiot! ” he hissed under breath.

“...Uh…”

Tenko startled, whirling around and jumping when he saw another student standing behind him, and - wait… His red gaze narrowed, brows furrowing.

Was he staring at a mini purple Aizawa…?

“... What? ” the guy suddenly asked, snapping Tenko from his thoughts. The other teen seemed irritated, running a hand through his purple, obviously gel-coated hair, and letting his hand drop to the back of his neck.

“Huh…?” Tenko tilted his head slightly, hair falling from his half-ponytail. The guy groaned, gesturing behind Tenko.

“The door - class - are you, uh…” the guy sighed, gritting his teeth. “Are you going inside or not? You’re in the way of the door…”

Tenko blinked, then blinked again, and oh my god, this kid’s a socially awkward, anxious mess like him.

“O-oh! Um! Y-yeah… sorry…” he stepped to the side, allowing the guy to go in first. Purple - he decided to call him that, for obvious reasons - did so, shuffling past Tenko quickly.

Tenko followed him inside, immediately feeling a rush of new anxiety.

Everyone was staring . There weren’t that many students in the class, less than ten , actually - and they all just had to be staring at him .

The teacher wasn’t there yet, so Tenko swallowed thickly, scanning the room for an empty seat assigned to him. He spotted one, in the back, between Purple and a blonde girl. He briskly walked past the other two students in the front, plopping down into his assigned desk. He glanced at his two row-mates.

Purple was staring out the window, avoiding any type of interaction, while the ash blonde girl was staring intently at the sharpened pencil twirling in her hand. Her yellow eyes portrayed something of a mix between boredom, sadness, and… fascination ? What was fascinating her exactly?

“You stare a lot.”

Tenko blinked, and oh, shit, she was staring at him .

“Uh…”

“I don’t mind though!” the blonde reached out and grasped Tenko’s hand before he could react. “You’re kinda cute, so I really don’t mind a little staring!”

“W-whoa, wow, um… thank you ?”

“I’m Himiko Toga!” the girl declared, shaking his hand gleefully. “What’s your name? What’s your quirk?! Are you super strong? You look strong!”

Tenko stared, eyes wide, jaw slack. So many questions… god.

“I-I’m… Tenko-…” he answered after a moment. “M-my quirk isn’t… r-really-”

“Hey anyone hear about that kid? Midoriya? ” One of the kids in the front of the class turned in his seat to look around the classroom. Tenko furrowed his brows. “The quirkless one?”

Tenko’s fists automatically clenched.

“You mean the quirkless one that snagged a spot in 1-A?” the pigtailed girl scoffed, glaring at the wall as she twirled a pencil between her fingers. “Still can’t believe they pulled bullshit like that on us.”

Don’t do it, stay calm…

“Ha! Yeah!” another boy, in the middle row, laughed. “I saw that twerp in the exam, he’s such a fuckin’ wimp! Who wants to bet he won’t last a day whole day?”

“They probably only let him in since he’s handicapped.” another student snorted. “Good publicity enrolling a charity case.”

Don’t… don’t do it…

“Well, if ya ask me,” Toga piped up, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “I think that’s better than being forced to attend this stinkin’ school!” Her lips formed a pout, as she seemed to be ignored by the rest of the class.

“God, I don’t know how I’d be able to live without a quirk. That sounds like torture.”

Izuku wouldn’t want you to… he’d feel bad for the kids literally bad mouthing him.

“Yeah, without one, we’d all be completely useless at everything .”

“I swear, if I was him, I would’ve jumped off a roof the second I found out.” the girl with pigtails giggled.

… Fuck it. He was so damn weak when it came to shit like this.

His seat scraped against the floor when Tenko abruptly stood from his desk, giving the other teens a wide, friendly smile. He walked over to the pigtailed girl, who gave him a confused stare.

“I never introduced myself to the whole class, that seems more polite, don’t you think?” Tenko asked, holding out a gloved hand to the girl. She glanced at his hand, then scoffed.

“What’s with the freaky glove? Oh, and there’s no way I’m shaking your hand, you weirdo.”

Tenko hummed thoughtfully, tugging one glove off. The whole class was watching the exchange with varying looks.

“Yeah, sorry about that, my quirk is kind of… dangerous. ” he smirked when the aura of the class shifted nervously. Tenko reached out with his ungloved hand, taking the pencil from the girl’s hand, holding it out of reach with four fingers.

“Hey-!”

“Oh, sorry, that was rude of me,” Tenko chuckled. “But, y’know… so is talking shit about people you don’t even know.”

The aura switched from anxious to confused. The pigtailed girl scowled.

“Just who do you  think you are, crusty ?”

Tenko grinned widely, tilting his head to the side innocently.

“Oh! Right!” he suddenly slapped his free hand against the girl’s desk, glaring down at her. “Name’s Tenko Midoriya, and I would appreciate if you’d never talk shit about my little brother again. Sound good?”

“You think you can tell me what to do!” the girl growled. Tenko hummed, shrugging.

“True… Yeah, how silly of me… here, here’s your pencil back.” he smiled politely, waiting for the girl to hold her hand out expectantly, before he held her writing utensil out…

And applying his fifth finger.

Collective gasps filled the room as Tenko let the dust fall into the girl’s awaiting hand. The pale teen’s smile never left his face as he pulled his glove back on.

“Nice to meet you, yeah?” Tenko gave a soft huff of laughter at the expression on the girl’s face as he traipsed back to his seat.

Toga and Purple stared at him with wide eyes, silence filling the room, until Toga started giggling almost maniacally.

“Oh my god , you are officially my new best friend, Ten~kun!”

Tenko smirked, rolling his eyes and shrugging. Though, he was nearly exploding inside out, because holy shit he’d never done that before and it felt awesome , and now he had an actual friend that he made on his own !

“Sure, okay.” Tenko glanced over at Purple, who narrowed his eyes.

“I’m not here to make friends, so don’t even think about trying.” the guy grumbled, turning away again.

Tenko blinked, then laughed, quieting when the teacher finally showed up. But he still whispered loud enough for Purple to hear.

“Good luck telling my brother that.”

Chapter Text

Meh Tumblr

“ Everything is grey,

His hair, his smoke, his dreams,

And now he's so devoid of color,

He don't know what it means,

And he's blue,

And he's blue...”

“I’m sooo hungry, omigod! I’m gonna need like, two trays of food, I’m starving! ”

Toga continued to chatter away, skipping ahead, while Tenko and Purple - Hitoshi Shinsou , apparently - followed behind her. They maneuvered around a couple other groups of students, Toga somehow managing to do so while walking backwards.

“Hey, we’re gonna sit together, right?” Toga asked cheerfully, skipping back over to them and slinging an arm around each of theirs. Tenko smirked, shrugging.

“Sure, sounds fun.”

“I’ve already told you,” Shinsou sighed, trying to pull her arm away from Toga’s grip. “I have no intention of making friends .”

“Yet you’ve been sticking with us since we left class.” Tenko pointed out, tilting his head. Shinsou sent him a glare, grumbling as he looked away.

“I’m going the same place you are. It’s not like I’m following you.”

“Uh-huh… Whatever ya say.” Tenko snickered, but paused when he heard something behind him.

He knew the sound of those squeaky shoes anywhere…

Tenko quickly pulled away from Toga, bracing himself seconds before a weight crashed into his back, legs wrapping around his torso and arms clinging to the pale boy.

“Ko-nii, hurry !” Izuku was laughing, out of breath from running. “Kacchan’s catching up! Go, go, go! We gotta win!”

Tenko blinked, but didn’t even ask, as he made sure he had a grip on his brother before dashing off.

“ Whoa! Wait for us, Ten~kun!”

“Pretty sure we’re not supposed to run in the halls-”

“ DEKU!!! YOU DON’T GET TO HITCH A FUCKING RIDE!!! ”

Five seconds later, Tenko sped into the cafeteria, laughing along with his brother at the sound of Katsuki’s raging. Izuku dropped off of his back, a huge grin on his face as his best friend ran into the large room seconds later, immediately trying to teach Izuku a lesson.

“You little fucking cheater! Fuck that shitty bet, you ain’t getting nothin’ from me for cheating !”

“You didn’t say I couldn’t use a speed boost!”

“ How did you do that?! ” Toga was suddenly all up in Tenko and Izuku’s faces. “You were so fast , Ten~kun! And you!” she started pinching Izuku’s cheeks, giggling maniacally. “ You were so freaking adorable! You looked like a koala on Ten~kun’s back, it’s was so cute !”

Tenko snickered as Izuku’s face turned red, and Katsuki scowled.

“Hey, Bun Chick, don’t rip his face off!” the blonde male growled, swatting the girl’s hands away from Izuku’s cheeks. Katsuki huffed out a laugh at Izuku’s embarrassment, rubbing the greenette’s cheeks to ease some of the obvious pain from the girl’s pinching.

Tenko rolled his eyes as the three started introductions and whatnot. He plopped down at the nearest table, Shinsou hesitating before sitting down across from him. Tenko raised a brow, smirking again. His classmate just rolled his eyes, pulling out some lunch from his backpack.

“Shut up, this is the closest seat.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were thinking it.”

“It’s not like I’m complaining. Besides, you wouldn’t have lasted anyway with two Midoriya’s wanting to be your friend.” Tenko stated, setting his own bento box - courtesy of Inko Midoriya.

Shinsou narrowed his gaze almost skeptically, glancing over when Izuku and Katsuki finally sat at the table; Toga skipped off to get in line for lunch.

“Sorry for jumping on you like that, Ko.” Izuku smiled sheepishly, breaking apart his chopsticks. “But Kacchan bet his pocky on that race, it was necessary!”

Tenko rolled his eyes, shrugging.

“It’s fine, that was fun leaving ‘Suki in the dust, anyway.”

“Fuck you, you’re both cheaters. I hate you.” Katsuki growled, adjusting the bandana around his neck, showing off the golden goggles illustration on the cloth. Tenko snorted, while Izuku just nudged their friend playfully.

“...Uh…” Shinsou suddenly spoke up, and it seemed he was staring at Katsuki with wide eyes. “Is… is that an Eraserhead bandana…?” he wondered.

Katsuki blinked, swallowing the food in his mouth and nodding once.

“Yeah… Why, got a problem with that?”

“N-no!” Shinsou defended quickly. “I just… he’s my favorite hero, too… Um, 1-A has him as a homeroom teacher, right?”

Tenko smiled slightly as Izuku burst into one of his Hero Rambles . Shinsou’s expression turned into one of surprise and slight discomfort as the greenette continued on, not even stopping when Toga came back and started giggling and whispering to Tenko how adorable his brother was. Tenk agreed, of course, because hell yeah, his little brother was fucking precious .

“-and it really did turn out to be some kinda logical ruse at first, which I totally should’ve expected, honestly, but then Aizawa-sensei actually expelled that purple ball kid, and I didn’t expect that at all -”

“The little grape fucker was a sick pervert, he deserved it.” Katsuki sneered, seemingly snapping Izuku out of his tangent when he elbowed the other boy. The blonde glanced up at Tenko as he stabbed his chopsticks into his curry. “So, Mophead… what’d ya turn to dust this time?”

Tenko scowled, glancing down at his gloved hands, which he just realized had dust on them. Greatttt.

Izuku was giving him a concerned look, and Toga took that moment to speak up.

“ Ooooh , you should’ve seen it! Our other classmates were being total meanies, and talking bad about Izu~kun, and Ten~kun just disintegrated this one girl’s pencil, right in front of her face ! She was so scared !” the blonde giggled.

Izuku and Katsuki both stiffened at her explanation, but for different reasons.

“ Ko-nii! You can’t just scare people like that!”

“ I want names .”

The greenette gave Katsuki a glare.

“Kacchan, no .”

“Kacchan, yes .” A grin appeared on Katsuki’s face, a wild one that always meant trouble.

Izuku groaned, resting his head in his hands.

“You guys know I hate when you do stuff like this… You can seriously get in trouble!”

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Katsuki scoffed, crossing his arms and glaring at the freckle faced boy. “Ya think we’re gonna let some assholes get away with fucking bullying you?”

“They’re not bullying me, they were just… stating their opinions.”

“Bullshit.” Tenko snorted, earning a disapproving look from his brother. “ What ? It’s my job as big brother to protect you-”

“I don’t need protecting, Tenko.” Izuku stated firmly, conviction in his bright eyes. Tenko scowled, giving his little brother the same look.

“That won’t stop me from defending you. You don’t deserve all the shit people give you.”

“I’m not helpless -”

“Um…”

All eyes immediately flew over to Shinsou, who froze under all of their gazes. The violet haired teen awkwardly coughed, then met Izuku’s gaze.

“Uh… I just think, maybe… You shouldn’t care what others say now,” Shinsou bit his lip, rubbing the back of his neck. “Because… You’ll be able to prove yourself to them when the Sports Festival comes around, so…”

Tenko blinked. Oh… right . That was technically, true but…

“ Still , though… Heroes protect others. That’s what we’re here to learn how to do.” he said softly, picking at his food absently.  

Izuku continued to stare at him as Tenko finished the rest of his lunch. He didn’t look up even once to see what emotion was shining in those bright eyes. The tense moment quickly passed however, when Izuku suddenly cleared his throat, smiling at Shinsou.

“Yeah, you’re right! Shinsou-kun, right?” He received a nod from the other boy, which only made his smile wider and bright - if possible. “Well, Shinsou-kun, Toga-san… I have a feeling we’re all gonna be great friends!”

There was the sound of Shinsou nearly choking on his food, Toga giggling uncontrollably, and Tenko tried not to snort.

“Uh… what is it? Did I say something funny?”

“ Ten~kun was right! Omigod, he wasn’t kidding! ”

Tenko glanced over, a smirk directed at Shinsou - who was staring with wide eyes at the tabletop, still recovering from near death by rice.

“Told ya.”

Shinsou just groaned in response, faceplanting onto the table.

“ God dammit. ”

“I still can’t believe you nearly beat Katsuki at the ball throw.” Tenko laughed, glancing over his shoulder as they walked down the sidewalk. They were headed to the convenience store on the way home from school - Mom needed some ingredients for dinner, since Toshi and Aizawa were coming over later. “And what exactly happened in the support class to cause this ?”

Tenko gestured to Izuku’s ash covered, somewhat charred blazer. His little brother sighed, while Katsuki continued to laugh.

“Some girl - Hatsume , I think? One of her babies just randomly exploded when she was showing it to me.”

Tenko snorted, bending over as he laughed hysterically.

“It’s not funny! I could’ve died !” Izuku frowned. “Well… Okay, the explosion wasn’t as powerful as Kacchan’s, but…”

“Lemme guess,” Katsuki managed through his mirth, “You wanna be her friend.”

“...She knows a lot of cool stuff about building and mechanics…” Izuku grumbled.

“Called it.”

“Oh, shut up!”

Tenko rolled his eyes as the younger boys started to bicker back and forth playfully. That was, until Izuku suddenly gasped, startling the pale teen. He spun around to see Izuku tugging on Katsuki’s arm, excitedly pointing at the comic store across the street. Tenko followed his brother’s gaze, smiling slightly at what he saw.

A new All Might action figure and a special edition All Might baseball cap.

“Do you even have the money for-”

“YES!” Izuku cut Katsuki off, tugging on the blonde’s hand. “We’ll be back in a few minutes, Ko!”

Tenko and Katsuki shared a look before the younger two crossed the street. They both knew it would be way more than a few minutes. Oh, well. Tenko could handle the shopping by himself, it was just a few things, anyway.

The bell above the door jingled as he entered, his eyes focused on the list his mother texted him. Some sauce, noodles, etc… Yeah, he could do this on his own. Tenko started to wander through the aisles after grabbing a basket, finding everything relatively easily… Until he got to the noodles.

Because of course they didn’t have their usual brand.

Tenko sighed, stepping back a bit to take a picture of the options available, then sending it to Mom, asking what he should get instead of their regular.

He barely registered the sound of the bell above the door jingle again - too busy texting back and forth with Inko. He loved his mother, but damn, she was so indecisive . Tenko was typing out another response, giving hardly any notice to the thumping of boots down the aisles.

Until he felt a presence right behind him.

“ Hey. ”

Tenko reflexively spun around at the unfamiliar whisper, arm raised for a hit - only for his fist to be caught in a scarred hand. Red eyes widened when they met glowing blue.

That guy he saved in that alley?! What the fuck?!

“Wow, I know I don’t got the prettiest face, but damn . Didn’t think I was that scary lookin’.”

The dark haired teen in front of him smirked, his hand still holding Tenko’s fist. The pale boy blinked once, twice, then gasped, yanking his hand from the boy’s grip.

“Shit - I-I didn’t mean… I’m really sorry.” Tenko groaned, rubbing his face as it burned with shame and embarrassment. “It’s just… instinct.”

“Well, obviously.” the guy snorted, shoving his hands in his pockets as he grinned a bit. “Ya could’ve K.O.’d me with that left hook.”

Tenko chuckled nervously, taking a small step back, realizing how close they were standing - what the hell . He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Yeah, I’m really sorry. Training kind of… instilled that into me? To just react when I sense danger…?” he rambled. “N-not that you’re dangerous! At least, I don’t think you are? B-but, uh…”

Damn Izuku and his contagious habits!

The guy didn’t seem offended though, only amused.

“Wow, and to think I came over here when I saw you to officially thank you again.” he said, obviously mocking hurt. “My poor, fragile heart has been insulted.”

Tenko couldn’t help but snort softly, absentmindedly tucking a loose strand of blue behind his ear.

“But, seriously,” the guy continued, smiling gratefully. “You didn’t have to risk your own neck to help me out, but ya did anyway… So, really . Thank you… uh...”

Tenko bit his lip slightly, staring at the blue eyed boy. He could tell, from being surrounding by genuine smiles most of his life…

The one on this guy’s face was forced. Fake.

Despite that, Tenko offered his own smile, holding out his hand.

“Tenko. Tenko Midoriya.”

The boy glanced to his hand, then back up at his face, before carefully taking Tenko’s hand with a firm shake. He only hesitated a second before replying, but Tenko still noticed. He said nothing of it, though.

“Name’s Touya.”

Why did that ring a very soft bell in his brain?

The scarred boy gave no surname, and Tenko didn’t ask for one. It was almost as if an unspoken understanding passed between the two - it felt major, yet simple all at once. Neither of them broke eye contact for what seemed like an eternity.

Until Tenko’s ringtone decided to blast at that exact fucking second .

They both jumped, their hands disconnecting, and Tenko fumbled with the phone in his hands, trying to silence and answer it at the same time. Meanwhile, Touya barked a laugh.

“Is… is that the Tetris theme?” he asked.

Tenko shot him a small glare, rolling his eyes as he finally managed to answer the damn device.

“Yeah?”

“ Tenko! Sweetie, you didn’t answer my text… ” his mother’s voice sighed. Tenko blinked.

Fuck, that’s right. He’d been messaging her literally minutes ago.

“Oh! Sorry, uh… I… got distracted.” Tenko cast a quick glance at Touya, who was giving the soba noodles a deep stare, an indecipherable emotion behind his turquoise irises. Tenko did not want to explain this situation to his mother, so he simply bent the truth.

Y’know, like a liar.

“Izu and ‘Suki found some All Might merch, so they’re super excited to show me.” He forced a soft chuckle.

“ Oh! Okay, I just got a little nervous is all… Gosh, I’m too paranoid. ” Inko muttered. “ Anyways! The cheaper brand will work just fine, so if you could get that one. ”

“Alright. I will.” Tenko replied. “We’ll be home soon, so don’t worry. ‘Kay, Mom?”

“ Right. I’ll see you boys soon! Love you, be safe! ”

“Love you too.”

Tenko hung up, dropping his phone into his pocket. He glanced over when he felt Touya’s gaze on him, but the other teen looked away before they made eye contact. The dark haired boy sighed after a moment, grabbing a couple boxes of instant ramen off the shelf and sending an obviously forced smile Tenko’s way.

“Sounds like you have a really nice relationship with your mom.” he observed. Tenko nodded a bit, grip on the shopping basket growing tighter.

That was sadness in his tone, no matter how hard he tried to mask it .

“Yeah… she uh, really changed my life for the better.” he said softly, not exactly understanding why the hell he was telling that to a stranger - acquaintance at this point ?

“That must be where you get your heroic urges from.” Touya snorted. “Didja learn your badassery from her, too?”

Tenko smiled, shrugging.

“What can I say, I just… I can’t stand by while others suffer.”

Touya stared at him for a very long time, those glowing eyes of his portraying several emotions at once, before they seemed to go blank. Empty.

“How heroic.” the scarred teen muttered, another forced grin stretching his lips.

Tenko stared back at him, a frowning tugging on his own lips, only for his attention to be taken by the door to the store slamming open.

“Oi, Moppy!” Katsuki’s voice yelled - probably scaring the shit out of Jin, the store owner. “Where ya at?!”

Tenko scowled slightly, not even bothering to answer, since he knew the younger boys would find him eventually. He turned back to say something - he didn’t even know what, though - to Touya, but the other teen was already walking away.

“I better get going.” Touya sighed, glancing back to smirk at Tenko. “Maybe I’ll see ya around, Blue.”

And with that, the dark clad teen was gone, the heels of his boots thumping against the floor as he got further away. Tenko stared after him, his chest felt tight and almost like it was on fire. He lifted a hand to his heart, brows furrowing.

What the hell just happened…

“Who was that?”

Tenko yelped, spinning around to see Izuku standing next to him - his eyes were trained on the spot Touya had been seconds ago.

“Holy shit , Izu! You gotta stop sneaking up on me like that, god !”

“I don’t recognize him,” Izuku continued, seeming to ignore Tenko’s exclamation. He looked over at the older boy, tilting his head curiously. “Is he from your class? Do you know him?”

Tenko blinked, weighing his options, before shaking his head.

“Nope, never met him before. He just needed help picking out some ramen.” he replied, his tongue immediately feeling like lead when the lie left his lips.

Izuku stared at him for a moment longer, before turning, hugging the bag that held his her merchandise inside it closer to his chest.

“Okay, we better hurry and get home! We don’t wanna keep everyone waiting!”

Tenko bit his lip, watching his little brother walk away from him, before following him to the check-out counter.

Izuku watched his big brother silently look over the designs he made in class that day, quietly buzzing with excitement. He’d spent practically the whole class period planning out the weapon blueprints.

Finally, Tenko looked up at him with wide, surprised eyes.

“You said… this is for me ?”

Izuku nodded, jumping onto the bed next to his brother, pointing at the the different parts of his rough sketches.

“Yeah! Since you need close proximity to really do any damage, it would make sense for your to have a long range weapon! And see, look, it’s not just a staff, it’ll be able to split into three sections! Even longer range!” he explained eagerly. “And now that I think about it, I could probably give it a blade at the end, that can just pop out with the press of a button! Oh! And maybe even-”

“You’d build this for me…?”

Izuku blinked at the incredulous tone in his brother’s voice. He looked up at Tenko, a big smile on his face.

“Yeah! Of course! I mean, if you want me to, that is…”

Tenko’s gaze drifted back down to the sketches, a smile slowly forming on his face. He slung an arm around Izuku, pulling him into a tight side-hug.

“Yeah... I’d really like that, Izu-nii.”

“Awesome! I’ll start working on it tomorrow!” Izuku declared, hugging Tenko around the waist. Tenko snorted, ruffling his thick green curls.

“What the hell did I do to deserve you, huh?” his brother asked, hugging him a little bit closer. Izuku closed his eyes, curling into Tenko’s side happily.

“That’s easy,” he sighed, the familiar warmth of his big brother enveloping him. “You existed.”

Chapter Text

Instagram - @LeeontheNeon

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“ I use the dead wood to make the fire rise,

The blood of innocence burning in the skies,

I filled my cup with the rising of the sea,

And poured it out in an ocean of debris ...”

Izuku could only stare down at himself, a huge grin on his face. The bright green jumpsuit fit his toned body, and perfectly matched his mess of curly hair. A red utility belt was fastened around his waist, and he clenched his hands together repeatedly, staring down at the dark blue, reinforced gloves that covered them - which accompanied the braces around his legs. A golden, metal respirator hung from his neck, and its matching enhanced goggles were resting atop the boy’s head.

The greenette beamed, pulling the goggles down over his face, fiddling with the buttons on the side. His eyes scanned the room, as his sight changed from normal, to thermal, x-ray, then finally night vision. Izuku let out a small squeal, glancing over at his best friend, who was waiting for him by the door of the dressing room.

Katsuki’s costume also consisted of a dark jumpsuit, except his was black with orange and red accents, and short sleeved. Large, grenade-shaped gauntlets covered his gloved hands, and red goggles also covered his face - to protect his eyes from debris caused by a close-range attack.

Izuku smiled at the final addition to his friend’s costume. Katsuki’s cherished Eraserhead bandana was tied around the blonde’s forehead.

“Are you done ogling, nerd?”

Izuku smirked, lifting his goggles back up to his head as he walked over to his friend.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he shrugged, patting the blonde’s cheek childishly as he passed, “You done being a dorky fanboy?”

“Well fuck you, too!” Katsuki scoffed, playfully slapping Izuku upside the head. “Your costume looks like a shitty fusion of All Might and Eraser!”

“Kacchan, you helped me design this.”

“Fuck off.”

They rushed out to training ground beta, joining the rest of their class. Izuku admired all of the other costumed students around him - his gaze lingering on one of the boys. Was… was he dressed as some kind of ice cyborg? Wait, wasn’t that…?

“ ALRIGHT, YA BUNCHA NEWBIES! ”

Izuku jumped, eyes immediately snapping over to All Might - freaking All Might , holy shit - who was standing in front of them, holding a box.

“For today’s training, you will be split into teams of two, and shall be pitted against each other in a mock battle!” The Number One Hero declared, his voice booming. “Each one of you will draw a lot from this box, and those with matching letters will be teammates! So, who’s up first?”

“I’ll go!” the bubbly girl - Uraraka, right? - piped up, skipping up to their teacher and digging in the box.

One by one, they all drew their letters. Once Izuku grabbed his, he immediately checked to see if he was teamed with Katsuki.

“Tch.” Katsuki clicked his tongue, and Izuku could see the disappointment in his expressive red orbs in the fact that they weren’t paired together.

“No one here knows all your moves, though. You’ll totally win!” Izuku replied with a confident grin, which Katsuki mirrored after a second of thought.

“We better hurry and find our shitty partners then.”

Izuku snorted, rolling his eyes as he searched through his class. Everyone was successfully finding their pairs, and the greenette only saw a couple that hadn’t located theirs yet. He watched as Katsuki found his partner - that strict robot-like kid, Iida - and suddenly there was only one other student left.

The ice-cyborg boy. Shouto Todoroki.

Izuku shook away his nerves, approaching his classmate with a small smile as he held up his letter.

“Todoroki-kun! It looks like we’re partners!”

His classmate’s eyes snapped over to meet his, causing Izuku to falter slightly at the cold look. Todoroki glanced down at the greenette’s letter, then at his own, a small scowl forming on his lips. He said nothing, just looked away from Izuku to glare at their surroundings.

….Okaaaay then…

“Has everyone found their teams?” All Might’s voice boomed yet again, “Good! Now, I will draw two teams from these other boxes! One team will be the heroes, while the other is the villains!” The Hero continued to explain the logistics of the exercise, before pulling out the first teams to battle.

Team A - Heroes vs Team D - Villains.

Izuku and Katsuki’s eyes immediately met, grins forming on each of their faces. Hell yeah .

This was not ideal. At all . This was seriously the last thing Shouto wanted.

Of course - of fucking course - he was teamed up with the quirkless kid.

He knew Izuku Midoriya wasn’t useless , there had to be some potential in him, if he was in the hero course . But, still. He didn’t have any powers, and they were going against two of the most powerful kids in their class. He wouldn’t stand a chance.

“So! We should talk strategy!” the freckle faced boy next to him suddenly piped up. They were waiting for the battle to start - their opponents already inside the building, preparing. “Iida-kun and Kacchan are both very powerful, but with the right plan, this will definitely be our win! Now, I was thinking-”

“Just stay out of the way.”

Midoriya paused, blinking as he stared at Shouto.

“...Eh?”

“I said , just stay back, and out of my way. I can end the battle in a matter of seconds.” Shouto explained quickly, arms crossed and gaze locked on the building in front of him.

“I… I mean, I’m sure you can, you’re really strong! But, this is supposed to be a team exercise. We’re supposed to work together-”

“I don’t need help.” Shouto stated firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument. “Especially not from you. Things will be more complicated and trivial if I end up having to protect you.”

“ Who says you’ll need to protect me? ”

Shouto glanced over, slightly shocked to see that Midoriya was giving him a hard stare. The dual colored boy narrowed his gaze.

“You said it yourself. We’re up against two of our most powerful classmates.” he grit out, his irritation growing.

“ And... ?” Midoriya asked, eyes narrowing just as much. And was… was he glaring at Shouto? “I’m not helpless , Todoroki. I’ve been training for ten years , and I know practically all of Kacchan’s attacks and strategies. Honestly, you’re pretty lucky, since I’m probably the best person you could have been paired with for this.”

Shouto stared at him, eye twitching slightly. Lucky…? Who did this guy think he was?

“You don’t-”

Shouto’s words were cut off though, when there was a loud voice from the speakers above them.

“THE BATTLE HAS BEGUN!” All Might announced, “HEROES VERSUS VILLAINS! GO !”

Shouto scowled when Midoriya dashed into the building ahead of him, completely disregarding what he had told the greenette to do. Great . Shouto ran in after him, scanning their surroundings, and gritting his teeth in silent anger when Midoriya turned the corner without him.

Dammit! This asshole thought he was better than anyone else, didn’t he? Thought he knew everything, that he was right, that everyone should listen to him .

Just like the shitty old man …

“Kacchan knows my attacks too,” Midoriya suddenly mumbled, attracting Shouto’s attention. “He’ll most likely come at me , since he knows what to expect. I can take him on, while you go after Iida-kun and the bomb.”

“ Or ,” Shouto griped, pushing himself to run ahead of the greenette. “You can stop making things difficult and just listen to m -”

Shouto was suddenly cut off though, when he was tackled to the side, a bright flash of light forcing him to close his eyes. He heard the echoing of an explosion through the long hallway they were in, and he was aware of a weight on top of him.

“No, you listen to me !”

Shouto’s eyes snapped open at Midoriya’s growl, surprised to see a bright determination in the other boy’s large eyes. He was suddenly aware of the position he was in.

Midoriya was on top of him, hands at either side of Shouto’s head, looking down at him with that look . Shouto was just laying there, staring up at him, barely aware of their explosive opponent preparing for another attack.

“You’re not doing this on your own,” Midoriya continued, eyes seeming to glow brightly in the darkness of the corridor. “ You’re not alone, so stop acting like it! ”

Heterochromatic eyes widened slightly. The words seemed to vibrate his skull - or maybe it was just how hard he’d hit the floor - and he swore Midoriya’s voice seemed to morph into a young boy’s. A boy that sounded Shouto, almost. But he couldn’t remember who he’d said those words too.

He had blocked so many of those memories from his mind, refusing to accept them, preferring to forget.

“Now, shut the fuck up and get over yourself!”

And with that, Midoriya rolled them out of the way of another explosion from Bakugou, and the greenette jumped to his feet, turning to their opponent.

“Oh, so you’re finally done groping the icicle, Deku?” Bakugou teased, a manic grin on his face.

Shouto got to his feet quickly, ignoring how warm he suddenly felt - it was just his damn left side acting up, or had to be heat from Bakugou’s quirk . The dual colored teen made a move to get in front of Midoriya, to take Bakugou on himself - but, before he could even take a step, Midoriya was already attacking, sending a roundhouse kick towards Bakugou’s head. The blonde easily blocked and dodged, jumping back a couple steps.

“You’re just butthurt you didn’t get to sneak attack with your right hook, Kacchan!” Midoriya laughed - he was laughing, what the hell .

The two continued to battle, laughing and enjoying themselves, while Shouto just stood there, dumbfounded.

What… what the hell ? How was Midoriya doing that? How was he… powerful ? Why were they happy about fighting each other? About training ?

“ Todoroki-kun! ”

Shouto snapped himself out of it, eyes darting to Midoriya, who was looking at him with a panicked look. That was when Shouto noticed the immense heat . His eyes shot over to Bakugou, who he could barely see behind the fire headed straight for him.

His eyes widened, his body froze, his heart stopped .

There was heat all around him, it was so hot, there was screaming, so much screaming , but it wasn’t his, it was his brother’s and he was in so much pain , and he wasn’t being saved -

“MOVE, DAMMIT-!”

“TODOROKI-KUN-!”

“YOUNG TODOROKI-!”

You’re not alone, Touya-nii! I’m here! I can protect you, too!

Heh… Thanks, Sho… But, it’s my job to protect you …

TOUYA-

A weight suddenly crashed into him, sending him to the hard floor. Shouto immediately snapped out of it, sucking in a breath as his senses returned. He stared up at the ceiling, vision slightly blurred - whether from the ice on his left side that had melted, or something else, he didn’t know. His breathing was erratic, his heart was still racing, he could hear voices trying to speak to him, but he couldn’t answer. He smelled burning skin - which he was painfully familiar with - and clamped his eyes shut tightly, trying to breathe.

What was going on?! Where was he?! What was happening?! Who was burning?! Why couldn’t he just breathe -

A loud horn blew through the speakers, jarring him for a moment.

“Your superior has ended this battle, due to complications,” All Might’s voice announced, and Shouto slowly opened his eyes. Midoriya and Bakugou were standing in front of him - the smaller of the two crouched down, a slightly singed hand reached out towards him - and Shouto then realized that he was curled up in a corner of the hallway. Did… did he accidentally activate his left side? “I have deemed this exercise a tie, and-”

Shouto didn’t hear the rest of their teachers words. His ears were ringing, his eyes still wide.

Complications...? Tie…? What happened?!

“W… What…?” Shouto choked out, hating the shaky weakness in his voice.

“Todoroki-kun… Are you alright?” Midoriya asked gently.

Shouto stared at him.

“I… Yeah, but… what -”

“You just had a hugeass panic attack.” Bakugou supplied, brows furrowed and mouth in a thin line. Shouto blinked, staring at each of them, then over at Iida when the other boy zoomed into the room, looking around in confusion.

Panic attack… he hadn’t had one of those in years .

Shouto swallowed thickly, hurriedly getting to his feet, ignoring the wetness on his face as he pushed past his three classmates.

He ignored their questions, he ignored their concerns.

He wasn’t weak.

He didn’t need them.

The staff was surprisingly light in his hands, but still had a strangely comforting weight. He tightened his gloved hands around it, smiling softly as he remembered the smile his little brother had given him when he’d handed the weapon over. Izuku had clearly over-worked himself in order to finish it, he’d been so excited to give it to Tenko. He and Katsuki could both tell the greenette hadn’t fully slept in likely two days - Katsuki had told Tenko that after their first official training exercise ended (and Izuku got his burned hand healed), his brother had immediately started working on the weapon when he got to support class.

Tenko’s smile grew, and he squinted as he looked over at the setting sun, which was disappearing behind the sea beyond the beach. Katsuki was making sure Izuku was getting the rest he needed at home, and Tenko had decided to try out his new toy.

He gripped the staff tighter, taking a deep breath before moving into a defensive position. He concentrated, adjusting to the feeling of actually having a weapon besides his hands and fists. He could do this, it shouldn’t be that hard.

Tenko took another breath, before swinging the staff around - carefully at first, to get used to it. It really wasn’t that hard, it only felt weird and different for a moment.

Until he decided to try the other aspects of the weapon. And may or may not have accidentally activated the blades on the ends, almost chopping his leg clean off.

“ Okay …” Tenko grumbled to himself, eyes narrowed at the weapon he’d frantically dropped to the sand. “Just gonna try again…”

He got back to his feet, picking up the staff and getting back into position.

Little did he know, certain turquoise eyes were trained on him, following his movements with their gaze.

Tenko concentrated again, closing his eyes as he just let his body take over. He spun around the staff a few times, swinging it out in front of him, detaching it into his three sections, more swinging-

“Hey, Blu- HRK! ”

The end of the staff suddenly slammed into something, and Tenko’s eyes snapped open at a loud yelp. He looked down, and his eyes widened at the figure on the ground, keeled over, holding his side.

“ Touya?! Holy shit - I… Shit, are you alright?!” Tenko dropped his weapon and rushed over, kneeling in front of the other boy.

“W-whoa…” Touya wheezed, lifting his head with a pained smirk. “Damn, dude… y-ya really got me…”

Tenko groaned, running a hand frantically through his hair - and unknowingly taking out his hair tie in the process.

“Oh my god, I’m so fucking sorry !” he apologized, shaking his head. “I didn’t even see you-”

“Well, ya did have your eyes closed, so…”

“I should’ve been paying more attention, I-....” Tenko blinked, eyeing the dark-haired boy in front of him with a confused look. “Wait, why are you here? How… how did you know where I was?”

Touya grimaced, rubbing where the weapon had hit him, before getting to his feet. Tenko followed him with his crimson gaze, brows furrowed.

“Jeez, maybe I should be asking you that,” Touya chuckled, surprising the pale teen when he patted the mop of blue hair, the other’s warm fingers tussling the thick strands. “I just keep running into ya everywhere, don’t I?”

“Y-yeah,” Tenko muttered, clearing his throat as he stood, putting some space between them. “It’s kinda suspicious, actually…”

“Yeah. Very suspicious.” Touya agreed, tilting his head with a soft grin on his features. “So, gonna spill the tea? You a secret villain that’s stalking me or somethin’?”

Tenko furrowed his brows, crossing his arms as he stared at the other male.

“Nope… what about you ?” he questioned, tilting his head the opposite direction Touya did. “Or are you just a hard-core yandere?”

Touya blinked, clearly not expecting that. He stared back at Tenko, his glowing eyes seeming to understand. And then he was laughing. He wasn’t producing that small, huffed chuckle, he was actually laughing .

Damn, maybe Tenko should stop training after this, he was definitely getting overheated.

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Touya wheezed, a smirk forming on his lips again. “ I’m obsessed with ya, Blue .”

Holy shit, why was it so hot out here? It wasn’t summer yet! What the fuck was happening?!

“Creep.” Touya said, rolling his eyes, and choosing to ignore the small crack of his voice.

“But, seriously, I’m new in town, so I’ve been… adventuring a lot of the city.” Touya shrugged. “Guess we’re both just always at the right place at the right time.”

“Right…”

“But, what was that ?” Touya asked, gesturing to the staff on the ground. “Like, whoa, that was pretty impressive, Blue. Almost K.O.’d me yet again.”

“Sorry about that…” Tenko muttered, scratching his cheek nervously. “I was trying to learn how to use it and figure out a rhythm, and… yeah. Sorry.”

“Wait…” Tenko glanced up through his bangs at the other male, who was giving him an astonished expression. “You’ve never used one of those before? Dude, you looked like a pro!”

Fuck you, climate change. Stop making my face burn!

“Th-thanks…”

“But your form did seem a little off.” Touya frowned thoughtfully, walking past Tenko to pick up the staff, examining it. “Well… I’m not the best with weapons, I’ve only ever trained my quirk, honestly.”

“...Okay…? Why are you-”

“But,” Touya smirked at him, holding the long staff out to him. “I know enough to teach ya some techniques, if ya want.”

Tenko blinked in shock, mouth slightly agape. He was… offering to train him?

“Um…”

“It’s just a suggestion, chill.” Touya huffed, and oh another fake smile . Were the ones before real, though? Who knew… “you don’t gotta agree to anything you don’t wanna… Just… Figured it’d be nice to hang out some more, too, y’know?”

Tenko’s eyes widened.

“Like… hey, maybe this is destiny, or somethin’?” Touya shrugged, anxiously rubbing the back of his neck. “I dunno… but we do keep encountering each other. That’s somethin’, right?”

Holy shit… Holy shitshitshitshitshit-

“S-sure!” Tenko immediately wanted to strangle himself - because what the hell voice, stop pubertizing! “I-I mean, yeah… that sounds cool.”

“Cool.” Touya replied, smirking as he held his hand out for Tenko’s phone.

The pale figure fished the device from his pockets, placing it in the awaiting hand.

“ Cool .” he repeated, nodding.

Touya handed his phone back seconds later, a small grin on his face, as he pulled out his own device. Tenko coughed awkwardly, sending a quick message to the new contact.

Hey

Heya, Blue ;)

Tenko smiled slightly, rolling his eyes.

“Really, with that nickname?” he snorted. Touya grinned, winking at him.

“Hell yeah, Bluebell.” He then glanced down when his phone vibrated. The blue eyed boy scowled slightly, sighing before shoving his phone away. “Well… gotta go. We can text later, yeah?”

“Y-yeah…” Tenko nodded firmly. “Yeah. i… I guess I’ll see you around again eventually.”

Touya just huffed out a laugh, giving a slight wave before turning and walking away. Tenko watch him go, gripping his staff tighter in one hand, eyes wide.

He just… did he really…

He just gave a guy his number… And it was an admittedly hot guy, too…

Fuck.

Everything was burning.

There was so much heat, and screaming, and tears.

Someone was holding him, he recognized his mother’s cool arms wrapped around him as they ran.

And then they were outside, and his heterochromatic gaze stared at the blue inferno in front of him.

Why… why was their home burning? Why was Touya-nii burning it…? His gaze snapped over to his siblings. Fuyumi was crying, holding on tightly to Mother’s shirt, while also holding onto Natsuo tightly. Where… where was Touya-nii…?

“T-T-Touya…” his small voice spoke up, but no one looked at him - their eyes glued to the rapidly spreading flames. “Wh-where’s Touya-nii…?!”

He could barely hear Father’s yelling and shouting over the crackling fire, calling out for Big Brother as well. Father was a hero though, he could save Touya-nii! Touya would be fine! He’d be ok-

Their big house started to collapse. His eyes widened in horror as - just before it all came down - Father dashed out to join them on the street.

He was alone.

Touya wasn’t there.

Touya was… Touya-nii…

Big Brother was… gone…

His body jerked upright with a harsh intake of breath, and he stared at his shaking hands with wide eyes. He could feel the tears streaming down his cheeks, but didn’t wipe them away. He only sat there. Frozen, panicking, scared.

And useless .

Shouto grit his teeth, yanking his pillow over to bury his face as the sobs escaped his throat.

Useless. Weak. Helpless…

And all alone.

Chapter Text

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“ What if I wanted to break,

Laugh it all off in your face,

What would you do?

What if I fell to the floor,

Couldn't take all this anymore,

What would you do, do, do?... ”

“I have to say, Aizawa… I’m rather surprised.” Nezu peered up at him, taking a sip of tea as the Hero shuffled his feet a bit. “You seem to be very fond of Tenko Midoriya, considering you’ve never shown much interest in the general studies program.”

Shota sighed, shrugging a bit.

“I’ve trained him and his brother for years. I know he’s capable of more than what was shown in the entrance exam.” he stated firmly, yet kept that lazy tilt in his voice. It was habitual by now.

Nezu hummed, looking over the files on his desk.

“I had the same feeling, he has such a powerful quirk, too… Maybe we should look in to changing up the practical test a bit.” the creature adjusted his tie, looking back up at Shota. “I can understand your belief in him, however I do not see any of that relating to Hitoshi Shinsou or Himiko Toga.”

Shota frowned slightly, but it was well hidden behind his scarf.

“Hitoshi Shinsou failed the practical exam for the heroics department, and Himiko Toga somehow managed to get a perfect zero on her exam for the business department.” Nezu continued, laying the paper down so Shota could see it.

The homeroom teacher didn’t look at it - he’d already did his research on the kids that had been hanging out with his honorary nephews. Instead, Shota stood up straighter, looking Nezu straight in the eyes.

“You’re aware - as everyone else here is - that I wouldn’t do something as cruel as letting a kid keep dreaming of something that will never come true.” he stated, eyes narrowing slightly at the picture identification on Tenko’s form. “I don’t waste my time on kids I saw zero potential in.”

Nezu tilted his head into his hand, a small grin on his face.

“Oh, yes, I am very much aware… So what exactly are you saying, Aizawa?”

The little rat was gonna make him say it, huh?

“I’m saying ,” Shota drawled, “Those other two have the potential for great heroism, they just need the skills … And it’s my job as a teacher to give that to them.”

There was a soft breeze that continuously tickled their sweaty skin, but the bright evening sun had a much stronger presence - beating down on their exhausted, slightly shaking bodies. They both were panting heavily, staring up at one another with flushed cheeks.

“Had enough yet?”

“Ya kidding? I can go for a few more rounds.” Turquoise irises sparkled with a challenge. “What about you , Blue? Ya look like you’re gonna pass out any second now.”

A small snort of laughter, and the pale figure looming over him, pinning him down to the sand, smirked.

“I could do this all night, Creep .”

“Name calling? How alluring .”

“ Fuck you . You just don’t wanna get your ass kicked again .”

“I might not mind if it’s you who’s- Ow! ” Touya yelped when his forehead was flicked, and the weight on top of him quickly vanished. He gazed up at Tenko, who was now standing.

An obvious blush painting his pale cheeks.

“How about instead of being a sicko ,” Tenko suggested, “You explain to me how training with you is helping me.”

Touya huffed out a laugh, pushing himself off the ground.

What if I told you it isn’t supposed to , and I’m probably going to lead you to the physical manifestation of Death itself?

“What if I told you it was an excuse to get to see ya more often?”

Tenko rolled his eyes, turning away to pick up his staff, and hide another deep blush  before staring at Touya with narrowed eyes.

“I wouldn’t buy that excuse, and call bullshit.” he casually replied, positioning himself into a fighting stance.

“Oh, really?” Touya scoffed, mirroring the other teen. He ignored how sick he suddenly felt, knowing it was either from his weak constitution, or from guilt. Most likely the latter - since guilt was literally his main emotion, besides anger. “What do you think the truth is, then?”

Tenko narrowed his eyes contemplatively, before rushing towards the slightly shorter boy. Touya blinked in surprise for only a moment, quickly dodging out of the way, avoiding the swing of the staff. He watched - slightly impressed - as Tenko quickly recovered, spinning around to face him, barely a second after Touya evaded.

The staff connected with Touya’s gut, knocking the breath out of him for a moment, but he managed to jump and roll from another attack.

“It’s pretty obvious, actually.” Tenko suddenly spoke up, continuing their conversation from moments earlier. Touya’s brows furrowed in confusion, his hands clenching as he rolled away from another swing - but Tenko’s staff extended into its three sections, the closest end smacking Touya’s arm.

“Ya don’t say.” Touya grit out, flipping backwards to evade a downwards swing of the other end of the weapon.

Tenko’s gaze sharpened with… with something . Some kind of look that send a chilling sensation down Touya’s spine - despite the strange heat of the evening. It was almost familiar, something the scarred boy knew he’d witnessed before, long ago, but not enough .

Was it pity? Sadness? Disappointment?

Or was it understanding?

Tenko moved swiftly, giving Touya no time to really react and counter. Damn, he was good. Or maybe Touya was just weak …

Weakling. Disappointment. Failure.

Another hit to the gut caused Touya to keel over, and then he fell backwards when the staff swept under his feet. His back hit the sand, the weight was on top of him again, pinning him down.

Touya blinked open his eyes, staring up at the boy above him. Tenko had his staff pinned against the dark-haired male’s arms - which were stretched above his from the way he fell - and the legs were straddling Touya’s hips. The pale boy loomed over him for the umpteenth time that day, staring down at him. A bloody crimson met a fiery blue gaze, and there was that damned look again.

“ You’re looking for an escape. ”

Touya froze .

What the fuck…

He blinked, eyes narrowing at the figure above him. Tenko just stared back, a surprising calmness washing over his features. Neither of them moved, just stared, and continued to stare, and why the fuck were they still staring?!

“What would I need to escape from, then?” Touya finally managed to say, voice soft. He felt vulnerable. He felt open, and raw. Like he was being stared at and overlooked at the same exact moment. He hated it .

“I have no idea…” Tenko replied, voice carefully gentle. “All I know is that you want to avoid it as much as possible. You want to be free, even for a little while. You feel like you can actually live when you’re nowhere near it.”

Countless nights where he was left on the floor, laying in his own vomit and blood.

Hurtful words that drowned out the encouragement.

A hand stretched out, offering an escape .

“You never want to go back, but know you can never really get away from it. Even if you do escape for good, it’s still there. It’s just as haunting as when you were still trapped.”

The walls that were supposed to break down only growing.

The chains that were supposed to disappear only tightening.

The pain that was supposed to go away only getting worse .

“Trust me… I understand .”

Glowing blue eyes became misty, his throat clenched painfully.

Weak…. Weak… weakweakweakweakweakweak-

The weight on top of him vanished, and Touya immediately bolted upright, fists clenched painfully tight. Tenko didn’t seem to notice how much those words impacted their listener - and if he did, he said nothing of it.

Touya took and deep, shuddering breath. No tears flowed, but they were still there .

Trapped inside of him .

“Touya…?”

“...I’m-”

His words were cut off by the loud ringing from his jacket pocket. Touya snapped out of it at the sounds. Only one other person knew his number. The dark-haired teen jumped to his feet, rushing over to where his jacket had been dropped, and fished his phone out.

“Yeah?” Dabi answered.

“You are needed.” Kurogiri’s voice replied firmly. Dabi scoffed, but could tell by the mist man’s tone that there was no room for argument.

“...Fine. I’ll be there soon.” he grumbled, ending the call without a second thought.

“Everything alright?”

Dabi blinked, having completely forgotten there was another person around. Fuck . Touya cleared his throat, turning and giving Tenko a reassuring smirk.

“Yeah, I just gotta get home right away. My, uh… Dad needs me…” he explained briefly, gathering his stuff and walking away without looking back.

The words that flowed from his mouth made him feel sicker, but he didn’t let it show. He was good at hiding.

“... Hey .”

Touya paused, glancing back over his shoulder against his better judgement tenko was leaning on his staff, staring at him with that god damn look . A soft breeze grazed over them, the wind tousling the blue bangs of the boy in front of him.

“Just… You can text me… If you need to talk, or anything.” Tenko said, shuffling his feet awkwardly. Touya swallowed thickly, holding in the guttural scream he desperately wanted to release at… everything . He only stayed silent, though, nodding once before continuing his exit. He locked everything away behind his walls, knowing that was the only way he’d survived this long.

He was good at hiding everything.

Except Tenko could apparently see right through his concrete walls, like they were merely glass.

“ Have you made any progress, Dabi?”

“...Yeah. The twerp is definitely starting to trust me.”

“Good… You haven’t disappointed yet.”

Dabi’s fists clenched, his teeth grit.

“Whaddya want, old man?” he growled. “You have a creepy as all fuck grin on yer face…”

All For One chuckled darkly, the sound seeming to echo through the teen’s soul.

“I have another mission for you, Dabi… It involves that boy.” Dabi scowled as the wrinkled fucker continued. “You know of our plan to make him join us…”

Dabi’s eyes narrowed further. What was this jackass getting at…?

“What better way to destroy his idolized view of this rotten excuse of a society, than to cause a distrust in its very structure?”

He did not like where this was going…

“What’s that gotta do with me, huh?”

“You… Are going to be the cause.” the old man’s words were like a dagger cutting through the boy’s expectations.

The… the cause…?

“Someone very useful has assisted us in obtaining some valuable information… And you , Dabi… will carry out the rest of the mission with their help.”

“What-”

“You will rally a small army of villains… You will attack the famous school U.A… And you will not only erase the futures of promising young ‘heroes’... But, you will end the Symbol of Peace as well.”

“Oh my goooood! I can touch the ceiling from up here!”

Tenko rolled his eyes, grunting when he had to steady himself and the girl currently hanging on his back like a freaking koala - who didn’t seem to realize gravity was still a thing.

“Toga, seriously! ” he wheezed, scowling when his friend started playing with his hair, still wiggling all around. “I should have never agreed to this…”

“This is so much fun though! Now I know why Izu~kun does it all the time!” The blonde girl laughed, twirling his blue locks between her fingers. “ Ooooh! Hey! Hey, Ten~kun! Can I braid your hair?!”

Tenko sighed miserably, glancing over at Shinsou when the other boy snorted. He easily elbowed his other friend in the side, only to be elbowed back.

“I mean, sure?” Tenko finally answered, rolling his eyes again when Toga cheered. “But wait until we get to the cafeteria, so you don’t end up falling off my back.”

“Psshhh… fine … Hey, Shinsyyy -”

“You’re not touching my hair.” Shinsou immediately said, sending the girl a serious look. “ Ever .”

“Is that a challenge?” Toga giggled, leaning her chin on the top of Tenko’s head.

“No-”

“I accept!”

“ It’s not a challen -”

“Oh, hey!” Toga interrupted, pointing over at the farthest corner of the cafeteria when they entered. “Why’re Izu and Kat~kun all the way over there?”

Tenko frowned in confusion, following her finger. His head tilted when his gaze landed on his brothers, who were indeed at a different table than usual. Wait… who was that other kid?

“Onwards, Ten~kun!!!” Toga slapped his head a few times, bouncing on his back enthusiastically. Tenko groaned irritably, but started walking to join the table.

Izuku was trying to speak with a boy across from him, with interesting hair. One side was red, the other white. He looked familiar? Maybe?

“Seriously though, my hand was fine!” Izuku was rambling - of course - as he smiled brightly at the dual colored teen. The other boy didn’t even seem like he was paying attention. “I’m more concerned about y- Oh! Ko-nii!”

The three boys at the table immediately looked over at him, Izuku furrowing his brows when he saw that his older brother was apparently Toga’s personal transportation, while Katsuki started laughing his ass off. The strange boy’s expression didn’t change much, though.

“I’m dropping you now.” Tenko warned, turning his head a bit to look at the girl on his back. Toga just giggled, and jumped down before she could be dropped, bouncing on her heels.

“Can I do your hair now?! Can I? Can I? Can-”

“Eat first.” Shinsou cut her off, nudging the blonde in the direction of the food line. Toga blinked, then excitedly ran off to get her lunch. Tenko sighed, a small smile on his face as he plopped down next to his little brother.

“She’s like a damn toddler.” the pale boy snorted, ruffling Izuku’s hair.

“So… gonna introduce us, or…?” Shinsou nodded towards the quiet boy next to him. Izuku’s face lit up.

“Oh! Oh, right! This is our classmate from the hero course!” he explained. “Todoroki-kun!”

The bi-colored boy - Todoroki, apparently - said nothing, just glanced at each of them before continuing with his food.

The other males at the table blinked, glancing at one another.

“Fuckin’ rude, but okay, I guess.” Katsuki grumbling, shoveling rice into his mouth.

“ Anyway !” Izuku cleared his throat. “How are your classes going today, Ko-nii, Shinsou-kun?”

They started to chat while they ate, Toga joining them seconds later and practically inhaling her food. She immediately started to play with Tenko’s hair again, but he wasn’t complaining. It actually felt really nice.

Their conversation continued. Izuku and Toga taking the lead with the topics of discussion, Katsuki and Shinsou silently listening and only putting in their opinions when necessary, and Tenko smiling softly as he watched his friends and family interact around him. The Todoroki kid still remained mute.

“Done!” Toga grinned, pulling her hands away from Tenko’s hair, which she apparently braided - she used her own hair ties too, and Tenko honestly thought she looked prettier with her hair down. Apparently, Shinsou thought so too, if the bright flush on his face and awkward glances were anything to go by. “Here! Look, look, look!” Toga pulled out a compact mirror from the pocket of her skirt and held it out to Tenko. “You like it?!”

It was a messy, yet stylish french braid, and Tenko couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, I like it.” he grinned, handing the mirror back to her. “Thanks, Toga.”

“My pleasure! I’ve been wanting to do that since the first day of school!”

Their chat was interrupted abruptly though, when Aizawa suddenly showed up at their table. Tenko blinked, exchanging glances with his brothers, who both shrugged.

“I didn’t do anything!” Izuku whispered earnestly.

“I’m innocent, don’t look at me, Mophead.” Katsuki added.

Tenko gulped, looking back at their sensei. Aizawa nodded at all of them, but his gaze landed on - not only Tenko, thank god - but Toga and Shinsou too.

“I need to have a little chat with you three.” the teacher drawled. The three gen ed students looked at one another confusedly, before followed Aizawa out of the cafeteria and into the empty hallway.

“Are we in trouble?” Toga immediately questioned. “Whatever it is, I have an alibi!”

“You’re not in trouble.” Aizawa sighed, leaning against the wall.

“Then… what is it?” Shinsou wondered.

Aizawa fixed his gaze on the purple-haired teen.

“Hitoshi Shinsou, why did you fail your entrance exam?”

The question surprised all three of them, and they almost thought the man was joking. But, nope. Tenko would be able to tell if his honorary uncle was joking - which was a very rare occurrence. Aizawa was completely serious.

Shinsou cleared his throat, standing taller.

“My quirk is Brainwashing. I wasn’t able to brainwash the combat robots, sir.”

Aizawa nodded, his gaze sliding over to Toga.

“And Himiko Toga, why did you fail the business department’s test?”

“Uh… W-well…” Tenko realized this was the most flustered he’d ever seen the girl. “I… didn’t study for it at all. I didn’t want to go into the business course like my parents wanted… I want to be a hero, instead. Even if my quirk isn’t the most… useful in that field.”

Tenko tensed under the teacher’s eyes, even though he had grown used to those not-what-they-seem cold looks.

“And you, Tenko Midoriya?”

“I… only was able to get one point in the exam, since… I wasn’t able to get close enough to those robots to use my quirk.”

The Erasure hero pushed himself off of the wall, standing right in front of the three students.

“Exactly. You all have the potential, it’s obvious.” the man stated firmly. “You just need guidance. You need to expand your knowledge of ways to use your quirks. None of you are useless or unheroic.”

Tenko met his eyes, a familiar look was in them. One he’d seen for the first time, ten years ago.

“What you need is training , to become stronger.”

“I… w-wait, are you…” Shinsou blinked rapidly, a hand running nervously through his hair. “Are we transferring to the hero course ?”

“Not yet.” Aizawa replied, shaking his head. “But I’ve got the permission to teach you necessary skills that you can use to improve yourselves… And maybe, come next year, maybe even next semester … You’ll be a part of my class.”

The three students continued to stare in shock, and a slight smile quirked up at the edge of Aizawa’s mouth.

“Tomorrow, you three will be joining my class on a trip to the USJ, in order to learn what you need to, for success.”

“ Really?! ”

“Holy shit- ”

“Seriously?!”

Aizawa sighed as the kids started celebrating right there in the middle of the hall.

He sure hoped he didn’t just make a huge mistake...

Chapter Text

Izuku and Katsuki Costume Designs

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“This maze is tangled, so tangled—are you really still planning to go?

The sound of a bell, played by a tiny adventurer, signals a new beginning!

Even your destination: DON’T KNOW DON’T KNOW! Are you sure you aren’t scared?

But each step you take will change you: THE DAY HAS COME!”

“So… You’re the informant?” He tilted his head to the side slightly, eyeing the person in front of him up and down. They… Did not look like the villain type. Honestly, everything about this person in front of him seemed normal - they actually reminded him of some kind of hipster older sibling. The only thing out of place was probably the giant block of rock they had fastened in a holder on their back.

“Me? Ha ! Sweetie, you think I coulda snuck into a school full of heroes? That’s adorable.” They giggled, and Touya frowned, narrowing his eyes.

The last time a villain called him adorable, he’d nearly died. Again .

Touya took a small step away from the villain in front of him, fists clenching subconsciously as they started to shake. The person’s brows rose behind their sunglasses.

“Hey… Calm down, sweetie. You’re as stiff as a board.”

Dabi’s glare hardened at the affection that dripped out of those words.

Touya, sweetie, you’re alright… Mama will cool you down...

“ Stop calling me that. ”

“...Oookay… Well, I don’t know your name. We haven’t gotten that familiar with each other yet.” They held out their large hand - Touya withheld a flinch. “Name’s Magne, but feel free to call me Big Sis Mag!”

Touya blinked, eyeing the woman’s hand before hesitantly taking and shaking it.

“...Dabi.”

“Never heard of ya before.” Magne said thoughtfully, tilting her glasses down to stare at the noirette. “You a small time villain, then?”

“You could say that.” Touya replied bitterly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

In all actuality, Dabi had only ever committed special missions for Sensei - which consisted of secret hit jobs for those who pissed the old shithead off. Touya obviously hated it, especially since he knew he had no choice but to do what AFO told him now. Not only was his family continually being threatened, but even if he did find some way to escape his current hell…

Why would his family want a murderer back? Why would they want to even see him again? He could never find a home with them again, he wouldn’t have a place… His fate had been sealed when he was only eight years old.

“Hm. Anyway, no, I’m not the informant.” Magne stated. “I was just recruited by the Mist Man, there.” She nodded her head towards where Kurogiri was rounding up the rest of the ‘villains’ he’d apparently found.

Touya hummed in acknowledgement, narrowing his eyes at the large creature lurking in the corner. He’d known of the Doctor’s experiments, of course… But holy shit , that thing was just… Ew .  

“Well, then,” Magne continued, adjusting the weapon on her back, grinning a bit. “Are we ready to fuck shit up yet?”

Kurogiri turned and stepped to an unoccupied corner of the bar, activating his quirk a second later. His misty body enveloped the rest of him, forming one, large warp gate.

“I’ll take that as a yes?”

Touya swallowed, taking a deep breath. He couldn’t show fear, he couldn’t show weakness. He just had to go through with the plan.

He wouldn’t risk getting his family hurt… He just hoped the horrible feeling in his gut would go away - the one that rooted a deep fear inside of him.

Telling him that, no matter what he did, his family - the only reason he had for fighting to stay alive - were going to get hurt anyway.

The dark-haired boy let out a small sigh, pulling out a beanie cap and his go-to mask from the pockets of the black trench coat he was wearing.

“Yeah,” Dabi muttered, tugging the supplies on. He turned, his glowing eyes staring intently at the warp gate as it opened further. The teen stepped closer, the other villains swarming behind him, allowing him to take the lead. “Let’s get this over with.”

“This is gonna be so awesome !” Toga was bouncing up and down beside him, pulling her blonde hair into her usual messy bun style. “We actually get to do hero things !”

“Don’t you remember what Aizawa-sensei said?” Shinsou mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously. “We’re only allowed to watch the hero class, and take notes or whatever. It’s just observation… We can’t actually participate-”

Toga cut off his words by blowing a loud raspberry. Shinsou glared at her.

“There’s no fun in that!”

“There’s no fun in risking expulsion, either.”

“Both of you need to chill.” Tenko snorted, still trying to adjust the hem of pants. Geez, the largest size of the gym uniform was still too short for him. At times like this, he really wished he was biologically a Midoriya, and inherited his mother and brother’s shorter height.

Fuck you too, genetics.

Tenko stood up, giving up on fixing his clothes - why was he so self-conscious all the sudden, anyway? - and looked at his friends.

“There’s no reason to be so nervous or so excited.” he shrugged, unraveling the headband from around his wrist to push his bangs out of his face.

“That just makes me more excited!”

“Wow, thanks for making my anxiety worse.”

Tenko sighed, rolling his eyes. These two were worse than his brothers when it came to energy vibes. He could tell neither of them really slept well last night either - which just made their usual moods ten times more dramatic. Not that he had fared much better, he was a natural night-owl, after all. The three of them were just… still in a state of shock. Neither of them thought that they would get a chance like this - even if all they were doing was sitting and watching class 1-A’s rescue training.

“Let’s just hurry up and join the class at the bus.” Tenko said, grabbing his messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. His friends followed suit, and soon, they were boarding the bus with the hero class, who were definitely surprised and confused at seeing them before Aizawa explained things.

The general studies students sat in the back, Tenko picking the seat next to the window. Izuku and Katsuki were seated in front of him, his little brother looking back at him with the biggest smile he had. Tenko squinted slightly, smirking.

“Are you trying to blind me?” the pale boy asked, earning a giggle from Izuku.

“You could’ve told us you’d be coming with us, Ko-nii! This just makes things ten times better!”

“Wanted it to be a surprise.” Tenko shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the stares the rest of the class was giving him. Oh, right … He forgot he’d literally never met any of these other kids. Well, they’d sat with that Todoroki kid for lunch yesterday and today, but the bi-colored boy ignored them both times.

“I don’t like surprises.” Katsuki grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. Tenko grinned, leaning forward to flick the blonde’s cheek. “HEY!”

“You definitely like this one, though. You just can’t get enough of me, huh, ‘Suki?” Tenko laughed when Katsuki swatted at his hand, the blonde clearly trying very hard to stay angry.

“I’ll kill you, you fucking Mophea-”

“Aww, can I call you Suki too?”

Tenko blinked, looking past Katsuki’s mop of spikes to see another blonde boy with a dark streak in his hair. The guy’s golden eyes were alit with mischief, and he grinned wider when Katsuki started yelling at him instead.

“If you have a death wish, go right on ahead, Knock-off Pikachu!”

“Maybe I will, Suki .”

Katsuki’s eye twitched, while Tenko and Izuku burst into laughter. The explosive boy continued to rage, but the other kid just decided to ignore him, leaning over to get a better look at the gen ed kids.

“I’m Denki Kaminari!” he waved cheerfully, a few yellow sparks of electricity dancing around his fingers.

Tenko blinked in slight surprise. Electrification, huh?

“I’m Himiko Toga!” Toga waved excitedly. “And omigosh your quirk looks super cool! ”

Kaminari laughed, and before Tenko knew it, they were apparently engaged in a conversation with all of the kids on the bus. The electricity user made fast friends with Toga, and Tenko didn’t mind his company either. Shinsou, though…

“What about you?” Kaminari suddenly asked, looking straight at the purple haired teen with shining eyes. “You look like you have an awesome quirk! Oh! Wait, wait wait! Lemme try and guess!”

“Uh...” Tenko could see how tense his friend was, and… wait, was Shinsou blushing?

“Is it something like Aizawa-sensei’s quirk? Like, canceling out someone’s quirk?!”

“Why would it be like Aizawa-sensei’s…?” Izuku wondered, staring at Kaminari in confusion. The golden eyed boy didn’t even turn as he answered - he was still staring at Shinsou.

“You’re obviously somehow related to Aizawa, the resemblance is uncanny! So, you gotta have some type of-”

“Wait, WHAT-” Shinsou gasped, then seemed to choke on his own spit. Tenko let out a loud snort, trying to contain his mirth enough to make sure Shinsou didn’t choke to death. Katsuki and Izuku were staring at Kaminari in confusion, and the electro-kid’s expression mirrored theirs - well, Katsuki expression was more of a you are an absolute dumbass look.

“Whoa, whoa whoa!” Toga gasped, flailing her arms around, her eyes wide in astonishment. “Shin~kun?! You’re Aizawa-sensei’s SON ?!”

“ NO! ” Shinsou coughed out, his face a bright red. Toga blinked in bewilderment, but her attention was soon captured by the fact that their usually stoic-faced friend, the one who always seemed so aloof and uncaring, was freaking blushing .

“Awwww! You’re so embarrassed!” Toga giggled, poking at Shinsou’s face, which he had covered with his hands. “You’re adorable, Shin~kun! I didn’t even know you could blush! Ooooh, I gotta take a picture-”

“I will make you throw your phone out of the window if you even try .” Shinsou threatened, voice slightly muffled by his hands.

“Wait, what?” Kaminari seemed to tune in again at that moment. “ Make her ?”

“It’s his quirk!” Toga chirped, earning a sharp look from both Shinsou and Tenko.

“ Toga! ”

“Oh… Sorry.”

Tenko rolled his eyes. He liked Toga, he really enjoyed her company and she was a ray on sunshine, but god , why’d she have to be hyperactive and lack any form of a filter?

“Your quirk…?” Another kid suddenly chimed in, a redhead with spiky hair and strangely sharp teeth. “How do ya mean?”

“Yeah! Actually, what are your guys’ quirks?” a girl with short brown hair and pink cheeks wondered. “Deku-kun and Bakugou are always talking about Deku’s brother and their friends, but they’ve never mentioned your quirks! And Deku’s super obsessed with quirks!”

Tenko blinked in surprise, only to feel a rush of anxiety. He… he had never actually told anyone about his quirk before. All his life, he’d only ever demonstrated . And it wasn’t like he could just decay something on the bus, that could be dangerous, and… how would these other kids react?

“I’m a vampire!” Toga exclaimed proudly, earning many perplexed looks.

“Uh… is that even…?”

“She’s can copy someone’s appearance if she ingests their blood.” Shinsou grumbled, finally revealing his face again - it was still a light shade of pink. Toga giggled profusely when the class seemed to understand her joke.

Tenko glanced over at Shinsou when the hero students starting questioning the purple-haired boy.

“Um… M-my quirk is…” Shinsou clenched his fists, taking a deep breath. Tenko frowned slightly. He’d had an idea for a while that his friend didn’t exactly like his quirk - or at least, was scared of others not liking it. “I can… brainwash people.”

A moment of silence fell over the bus, Shinsou stiffening as quiet dragged on, until someone spoke up again.

“That… is amazing !” Kaminari exclaimed, eyes wide and starry. Shinsou blinked in shock.

“What…?”

“Yeah, man!” the electric blonde grinned, sending Shinsou a thumbs up. “Like, that’s so useful! Just think of how easy it would be to take down a villain with that power!”

“Totally!” a pink girl with horns agreed. “ So heroic! ”

Shinsou stared at all of the other kids, who nodded along in agreement. His indigo gaze traveled back to Kaminari, who was smiling still. Tenko didn’t miss the way his friend’s face burned brighter when faced with that smile.

Wait a second… did Shinsou have a cru-

“What about you? Ribbit .”

Tenko blinked out of his thoughts, directing his attention to a green haired girl with with eyes. Did… did she just ribbit ?

“Huh?”

“I asked what quirk you have. You’re Midoriya’s older brother, right?” the frog-like girl tilted her head, a finger resting against her chin. “He’s always talking about how amazing you are, ribbit . So… just how strong are you?”

Tenko swallowed thickly. Well, shit, everyone was watching him expectedly. Dammit…

“Uh… I…” his voice cracked involuntarily, and he just knew everyone could tell how nervous he was about explaining his own quirk. He knew what their reactions would be.

Terrifying. Dangerous. Villainous.

“...I c-can… um...”

“ We’re here. ” Aizawa’s stern voice echoed through the bus, catching everyone’s attention. All eyes gazed out the window, widening at the large dome building in front of them.

The USJ…

“Everybody get out, let’s go.” Aizawa called out, stepping off the bus as soon as the doors opened. The students immediately followed his orders, following after their teacher, filing out of the vehicle until the gen ed students were the last ones there.

Tenko sighed, relieved for the distraction Aizawa had caused. He just… hadn’t been prepared for what would undeniably come after everyone knew his quirk. The other hero course students had such… well, heroic powers.

The ability to destroy wasn’t very heroic .

“I love everyone here already!” Toga said happily, skipping ahead of them as they exited the bus. She turned to beam at Shinsou, who was right behind her. “Soooo… Kami~kun is kinda cute, huh?”

Shinsou glared at her, hunching his shoulders slightly.

“The threat on your phone’s life still stands, you little shit.”

“But, Shin~kun!!! If you destroy my phone, I’ll never be able to take pictures of you being a disastrous gay when you finally start dating-”

“ I will break you, Toga .”

“I love you too!” Toga laughed, ruffling the boy’s purple locks, before they hurried over to join the rest of the class.

The inside of the training building was larger than any of them anticipated. There were so many different disaster areas, so many different ways to train… How much did this place spend on training its students?

“Greetings, students! I have been waiting for you!” The Pro-hero Thirteen greeted them cheerfully, earning a chorus of cheers of amazement.

Tenko glanced over, where Izuku and Katsuki were standing next to him, and smirked when he saw how much his brother was fanboying. Katsuki was trying to hide it, but he was clearly excited to see the pro too. Tenko rolled his eyes. His brothers were the biggest dorks he knew.

“Wait, where’s All-Might?” one of the students wondered. “I thought you said he’d be teaching too?”

“All-Might is running a little late,” Thirteen answered. “Being the Number One Hero means that sometimes, important matters come up. Don’t worry, he’ll be here when he can!” Thirteen then began to go into an explanation of their quirk, and the purpose of the USJ.

“Alright,” Aizawa started, turning to the teenagers. “This is your chance to learn more about your strengths, as well as your weaknesses. You’ll use the time we have here to improve yourselves.”

Tenko nodded along, but found himself getting distracted as Aizawa continued. The pale boy frowned slightly, nervously scratching his exposed forearm. Why…

Why did everything feel weird all the sudden?

Tenko glanced around the building, narrowing his eyes at the light fixtures when he thought they flickered for a second. What the…

The lights suddenly burst, causing everyone to freeze - a few of the girls let out small shrieks. Tenko’s eyes widened as everyone looked around in confusion.

“What the hell?”

“Did the power short circuit or something?”

“What’s going on?!”

“Everyone, calm down.” Aizawa said sternly, and Tenko’s uneasiness only grew when he saw the look in the man’s eyes. He’d only seen it once in all the years Aizawa had been a part of their family.

Ten years ago. In the forest. At the river.

Danger. Something was wrong.

The fountain in front of them, in the center of the facility, wavered - until it too stopped working. All eyes were now on that spot, as something… happened . A swirling dark matter appeared, and Tenko’s body froze in fear when yellow eyes narrowed at them all.

“Thirteen!” Tenko jumped at Aizawa’s sudden urgent tone. “Protect the students! All of you, gather together and-”

“ We’re sorry to inform you, but we won’t be giving you that chance. ” a slightly distorted voice stated, appearing to have come from the living portal.

“You think you can stop us, huh?!” the red-headed kid growled, hardening his skin. “You’re nothin’ but some fog! We can take you down in seconds-”

“ P re tt y c oc ky of ya to as su me th at … ” Another distorted voice sneered.

Tenko’s eyes widened as a figure stepped through the the portal, many others following him out, as well as some kind of… of monster . The figure - who could be assumed to be the leader - was covered in all black clothing, a dark trench coat hanging off his lanky form. The person was wearing a mask, with a simple design.

A split down the middle, one side was black, the other a deep purple. And even from how far away they were, Tenko could see glowing blue eyes, staring. Staring at him .

“The fuck is this…?” Katsuki breathed out from beside him.

Tenko blinked when he felt a sweaty hand grasp his wrist. He looked over, eyes wide. Izuku was shaking where he stood, eyes filling up with fearful tears. And Katsuki… Katsuki was frozen with utter fear, his breathing becoming harsher as he stared directly at the shadowy form of the portal. The younger boy was gripping Tenko’s wrist almost desperately. “T-Ten…”

Tenko felt his heart race, seeing the fear on his brothers’ faces.

Katsuki nearly choking to death, sobbing as shadowy tendrils tightened around his five year old body. The blonde absolutely terrified of the dark for years after that.

Izuku frozen in place as danger headed his way, unable to move, unable to do anything but cry for his big brother. The greenette petrified when he was left alone, always wanting to stay by someone’s side.

Tenko grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes at the continuously growing group of intruders. He moved over, in front of Izuku and Katsuki. He wasn’t letting them get hurt again. He was going to protect them, no matter what .

“These are villains … Aren’t they?” Tenko asked, looking over at Aizawa, who nodded only once, pulling his goggles over his eyes.

“I’ll take care of them. Get out of here, all of you. Now .”

Tenko nodded, grabbing both of his brothers’ hands, and the class simultaneously starting moving, ready to make a break for the door. However, they didn’t even get a few feet, before it felt like the floor disappeared under their feet.

“ So rr y , bu t… ”

“ KIDS-! ”

“ TENKO! ”

He felt the hands in his being ripped away from him, and Tenko let out a panicked shout, desperately trying to find them again. No, no, no, no, he was supposed to protect them! He couldn’t let them get hurt! He couldn’t-

“ I c an ’t h av e t hi s p la n g et ti ng fu ck ed up. ”

Tenko felt something cling to his arm, something grip the back of his uniform - and then he was surrounded by darkness.

The last thing he saw during his frantic movement through the black, was a glowing turquoise gaze, boring into his crimson irises.

Chapter Text

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“ And I know that I can survive,

I'll walk through fire to save my life,

And I want it, I want my life so bad,

I'm doing everything I can,

Then another one bites the dust,

It's hard to lose a chosen one,

You did not break me,

I'm still fighting for peace...”

“ KIDS! ”

Panic filled his chest as he could only stand by and watch the portal underneath his students open. Watch them shriek and scream as they fell through the warp, flailing around until they vanished from sight. His eyes landed on the few that were fast enough to get to safety.

About half of his class was missing. The only ones safely beside Thirteen were Iida, Uraraka, Ashido, Sero, Kirishima, Aoyama, Shoji, Sato, Ojiro, Jiro, and Yaoyorozu.

The boys… His boys were missing...

Shota grit his teeth, eyes snapping over to the villains quickly surrounding him. The hero jumped back, narrowly avoiding an attack, and locking his glowing gaze onto his current enemy.

Were they okay? Were they safe? What’s he thinking, of course they’re nt safe, this is a villain attack for god’s sake.

His capture weapon wrapped around his opponent, and Shota roughly flung the bulking man into some other thugs. His heart was racing, he was panicking, he needed to calm down, dammit!

“ Yo u s ee m d is tr ac te d , ” the masked leader’s distorted voice mumbled. “ Yo u’r e on e he ll o f a s of ti e fo r th es e t we rp s, h u h? Cu te. ”

Shota growled, kicking another bulking villain away. He tried focusing, he needed to focus - But he couldn’t stop seeing those three kids he’d witnessed grow up.

Little Izuku beaming up at him, gushing about how ‘cool’ and ‘strong’ and ‘awesome’ he was…

Katsuki’s face lighting up as he tied that precious bandana around his neck, parading around and declaring how he would protect everyone… like oji-san…

Tenko having faith that he can protect everyone .

“ I w on de r… w ill yo ur in sti nc t to pro tec t dr ive yo u fo rw ar d? O r w ill it bre ak y ou do wn? ”

Shota could feel eyes zero in on him, and sent a glare towards the masked figure. Gowling blue irises stared back, fire burning within them - despite how utterly dead the gaze appeared. Eraserhead growled lowly, gripping his capture weapon tighter.

He wouldn’t let anybody hurt his family and get away with it…

Not again .

He didn’t like the dark.

He hated it.

He couldn’t see , he couldn’t move , he couldn’t breathe .

He couldn’t escape.

Where was he? What was happening, again? Oh god, he was suffocating. He was going to die… He didn’t want to die, he didn’t want to die, he didn’t-

He suddenly slammed to the ground, his body scraping painfully against the wet asphalt. What…? He felt droplets hitting his face, hear the hum of… rain ?

Water… water… he was going to drown… he was going to fall into the water and drown-

“K-Kacchan!”

Katsuki’s froze at the familiar shout.

Izuku…?

“ Kacchan! ” Hands gripped his arms, pulling him off the wet ground, and Katsuki immediately panicked. He yanked away, falling back to the ground, breathing erratic. He couldn’t… Air… he needed air, god dammit!

“Kac-”

“ Midoriya! Behind you! ”

A yelp, sounds of fighting - he heard them, but he couldn’t do anything -

“Cover me! I need to help Kacchan!”

Katsuki felt hands grab him again, the panic returning. He tried to yank away, gagging and coughing on air he didn’t have in his lungs.

Get away, let go, let go, LET GO OF ME-

“Kacchan, hey, b-breathe… you h-have to breathe, Kacchan.”

Arms were around him, and Katsuki was now aware of the position he was in, as the darkness slowly started to ebb away. He was in someone’s lap, wrapped in a loose, yet comfortingly tight, hug. His face was buried the crook of a neck, soaking wet green curls tickling his face. Heavy rain was beating down on them, causing a chill to run down Katsuki’s spine.

“...Z… Z-Zu…?” he croaked, the air he desperately needed finally entering his lungs.

“Y-yeah, Kacchan, it’s me.” Izuku sighed in relief, rubbing Katsuki’s back as the blonde recovered from his panic. “It’s alright, you’re safe-”

“ MIDORIYA !”

Katsuki flinched, eyes widening as he became aware of the huge ice wall surrounding the two of them - the ice wall that was being broken through right beside them. The explosive teen let instincts take over, grabbing Izuku around the waist and quickly rolling away just before a giant block of ice crashed through their barrier.

A thug-like villain stepped through the entrance he made, smirking over at the two boys on the ground.

“This is gonna be easier than I thought.” the guy laughed, twirling his hand as he stepped closer. Katsuki’s eyes widened as the falling rain collecting in the man’s palm began to freeze, forming a sharp icicle.

Then the makeshift weapon was flying straight towards them, the point aimed right at Katsuki’s face. The blonde made a move to blow it away with an explosion, even though he knew it was useless - the rain made it nearly impossible to use his quirk.

Fuck-

Another wall of ice shot up from the ground, blocking the attack, saving the two childhood friends.

“Get out of the way, you two.”

“Half n’ half?!”

Todoroki huffed out a breath, dodging to the side when more ice spikes flew towards him. The villain laughed again, as more villains joined him. Katsuki grit his teeth, pushing his fears aside as he got to his feet, tugging Izuku up with him. They both joined Todoroki, getting into defensive positions, ignoring the look the bi-colored boy gave them.

“We need a plan.” Izuku mumbled, eyeing each villain as they stepped closer.

“Great observation.” Todoroki muttered bitterly. Katsuki elbowed him, giving the taller boy a warning glare.

“Stop being an ass and think , Icyhot!” he growled. Todoroki glared right back, but they’re silent argument was quieted when Izuku let out a gasp.

“That’s it!” he exclaimed. “Todoroki-kun! Use your left side-”

“ No. ”

“But, Todoro-”

“How do you expect me to use fire in a rainstorm?” Todoroki growled, pushing ahead of the two friends and preparing his ice quirk. “Just stay back. I’ve got this.”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, glancing at Izuku. The blonde’s smirked when he saw the familiarly infuriating look in his best friend’s eyes.

There’s that hell-bent determination…

“Y’all are adorable ,” one of the villains snarked, before charging forward. An ice wall sprung up in front of them, but the thug easily smashed through it. Katsuki noticed how Todoroki grew tense, his left hand twitching, yet he just kept bringing up ice wall after ice wall.

Idiot.

“That won’t work on me, kid!” The villain was in front of them before they had time to react, Todoroki’s eyes were wide, Katsuki was prepared to defend, but the attack never came.

“ SMASH! ”

Suddenly, Izuku was in front of them, practically flying through the air, as he met the villain’s incoming fist with a kick. The effect was immediate. The vilain let out a scream, reeling back and holding his arm.

“WHAT THE FUCK-”

“Looks like I get to test out my gear, after all.” Izuku stated with a small grin, landing back on his feet. Todoroki stared at him in shock, while Katsuki smiled proudly.

That’s his best fuckin’ friend. Hell to the yeah.

“H-how…”

“The soles of my shoes are reinforced with layers of strong metal.” Izuku said, pulling his goggles over his narrowed eyes. “Whoever these people are… they know our quirks. They’re definitely planning to overpower us when we’re practically quirkless.”

Katsuki let out a huff of laughter, stepping up to stand beside the greenette.

“Time for all these years to finally pay off.” he smirked, readying his clenched fists. His gauntlets would be great for beating these creeps’ heads in. “Oi, Candy Cane. Ya think can ya keep up? Or are you playing the damsel again?”

He could feel Todoroki’s glare aimed at the back of his head, before the bi-colored stepped up as well. He clearly wasn’t confident in his hand-to-hand combat - obviously used to having his powerful quirk to fall back on. Katsuki humphed, nudging Todoroki slightly as he eyed the villains.

“You ready to fuck these extras up?”

His eyes narrowed as he observed the gang of villains getting the shit beat out of them. Damn. Eraserhead was awesome . No wonder Tenko kicked his ass every round of sparring they did the other day. Touya sighed softly. The only good part of this whole thing was being able to see such a cool hero fuck up some annoying villains.

You’re a villain too, dumbass.

Touya’s face fell slightly behind his mask. Right. He was a villain. He was going to be fucked up too. But, hey, that honestly sounded hella better than all the shit he had to deal with before. Besides… it wasn’t like he hadn’t been fucked up before.

“Shoulda brought some popcorn along, huh?” Magne suddenly mumbled, nudging Touya’s arm. He glanced at her, shrugging in response.

At least she was tolerable. He wondered why she decided to take up villainy in the first place… Most likely, it was discrimination. That was the tragic backstory behind a lot of the jerks he’s come across in his life time… Thank god Magne wasn’t like them.

Touya snorted softly when Eraserhead flung another jackass to the ground. Honestly… He wanted the hero to win. He wanted the other pros to show up and save the day. He wanted this to fucking end already.

But, if that happened, who knew what All For One would do…

This was such bullshit. Touya was bullshit. Here he was, ruining lives to ‘protect his family’. God, things would’ve been easier if he’d just burned ages ago.

“Was that supposed to be a challenge?”

Touya blinked, surprised to see that all the thugs were on the ground, unconscious. Huh. Eraserhead did it. Great .

Touya clenched his fists, taking a deep breath. This’ll be over soon...

“You’ve got some impressive moves, pal.” Dabi drawled, uncrossing his arms so he could twirl a wisp of blue flame around his finger. Eraserhead’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. Dabi’s gaze slid over to the bulking monster a couple feet away - the thing was just standing there, like a creepy statue.

The creature immediately snapped to attention, staring at him with lifeless pupils. Eraserhead moved into a defensive position before he could even start speaking, preparing his capture weapon.

“Nomu… Attack. ”

“Is… -ake…?”

“N… -kun, I’m… -ared…!”

Far away words mingled with muddled voices, and he groaned as his head ached. Ow… what the hell?

“-Oriya…!...up, already!” Someone was shaking his shoulder roughly. “Midoriya!.... -enk… -enko!”

He recognized that voice…

“-enko! Tenko! TENKO! ”

He gasped, eyes snapping open when  the surface he was on suddenly jerked. Tenko yelped, slamming into a wall and collapsing back to the floor. He… he was on a deck? He was on a boat ? What the hell ?

“ Ten-kun! ”

Toga?!

Tenko rubbed the back of his head, looking up dizzily. The rocking of the boat - as well as the splitting head ache he had - were making him queasy. Toga was in his face, tears in her golden eyes, her hair strewn about and wet.

“T-Toga…? What the…?” the pale boy glanced over, making eye contact with Shinsou, who he barely recognized when his purple locks were soaked and hanging in his face. “Wh-what’s going…” Tenko trailed off, eyes widening.

Izuku… Katsuki… they weren’t here. They were ripped away from him.

They could be hurt… or worse.

Tenko shot to his feet, panic clenching his chest. His brothers, oh god, they were in the middle of a villain attack, and his brothers weren’t with him, they were somewhere else, they could be dead -

“Tenko, calm the hell down!” Shinsou caught him by the shoulders when Tenko started to tip over. He felt sick, but couldn’t tell if it was due to hitting his head, or the image of losing the two people in the world he loved most. “Now isn’t the time to panic, we need to get out of here, and get back to the class!” Shinsou stated frantically, clearly panicking.

Tenko swallowed thickly, nodding. Okay, okay he could calm down, he could-

The boat jostled, sending the three teens to the deck again. Tenko groaned, blinking when he felt a shaky arm loop around his. Toga’s tears were falling now, trailing down her puffy cheeks as she clung to him.

“T-T-Ten-kun.. Ten-kun, w-what do we do?!” she cried. Tenko grit his teeth, lifting himself and Toga off the floor. He held the blonde girl close, trying desperately to remain calm, as he cautiously stared over the edge of the boat.

His heart stalled for a second, fear nearly overwhelming him. They were surrounded… So many villains were in the water around the them, staring up expectantly. Tenko swallowed thickly, eyes wide.

Holy shit… fuck… this was real . This was actually happening.

They could actually die …

“H-how long was I out?” Tenko managed to croak out, looking over at Shinsou. The other boy bit his lip, hands trembling as he gestured nervously.

“I-I-I don’t… I don’t know? A-a… a few minutes? Maybe? I-I really don’t know -”

“Shinsou-”

“We- we weren’t supposed to be fighting, we were just- just supposed to watch , I…” Shinsou’s breathing was becoming erratic.

A panic attack. Thank god Tenko knew how to deal with those.

“Shinsou, listen to me-”

“ We’re going to die, aren’t we? ” His friend uttered, voice cracking. Shinsou gripped his soaked hair tightly, trembling where he stood. Tenko’s chest clenched. He had a point. They were surrounded, those people were villains . They weren’t the kind to hesitate to kill some defenseless kids.

Except… they weren’t defenseless. Were they?

Tenko forced away his fears, replacing them with determination as he gently pulled away from Toga. He carefully approached Shinsou, who was practically hyperventilating now, gently grabbing his friend by the shoulders.

“ Hitoshi .” Shinsou’s eyes widened and he stared at Tenko, breathing still erratic. “We are not dying. We’re getting out of this, all of us. Didn’t you see Aizawa-sensei? He can take out all of those freaks, we’re gonna be fine . We’re going to be alright, but you have to calm down and freaking breathe so we can get to safety!”

Shinsou’s face scrunched up slightly, and Tenko chose to ignore the tears forming at the edges of his friend’s eyes. The purple haired boy rubbed his hands down his face, taking a few deep breaths, before nodding. His gaze met Tenko’s, and the older boy smiled thinly.

“Now,” Tenko stepped back, looking over the railing of the boat again.

The villains were still just staring up at them, not moving an inch. Like… like they were waiting for something … But what? Tenko’s eyes widened slightly, mind racing. This was a planned attack - these villains knew the USJ’s details, knew an exercise was scheduled for today. It wouldn’t be wrong to assume that this group knew of the quirks they’d be up against too.

Except, bringing three general studies students had been a last minute decision… and if Tenko’s theory was right, these villains got their information the day of that security scare. The teen’s eyes widened, a small grin tugging at his lips. He turned to look back at his friends, who were clearly disturbed by the slight smile on his face.

“They don’t know our quirks.” Tenko said softly, the grin growing. Toga and Shinsou’s eyes widened simultaneously.

“Th-they don’t…” Toga blinked rapidly, realization dawning on her. “Y-you’re right…”

“Are… are you saying we can actually fight those guys?” Shinsou asked incredulously. “We’ll get killed !”

“Not if we have a solid plan.” Tenko replied, staring down at his hands. He hesitated for a moment, before ripping his gloves off and looking over at Shinsou. “I’ve been practicing my fighting skills for years, I’m pretty good at combat. Plus, there’s my quirk… and Toga is flexible and great at making split-second decisions. All of those villains have to have some kind of water based quirk, and if you can brainwash them…”

“I… I can make them take us to safety.” Shinsou finished, eyes wider than before.

“Exactly! You can be our hero, Shinsou.” Tenko said firmly, his gaze snapping back to the water when one of the villains started chatting.

“I’m getting tired of this, already!” he snarled, and before the teens could react, a giant hand made of water was towering over the boat. “Time to end these brats lives!”

“ Shinsou! ”

“It’s a fight you want?!” Shinsou suddenly yelled, body tense, fists shaking. “You think we can’t kick your asses?!”

“I’d like to see you try! You’re just-” the man’s voice abruptly stopped, as well as the water fist that had been prepared to slam down onto the boat. Shinsou grinned, standing taller.

“ Use your quirk to safely transport us out of the shipwreck zone. ” he ordered, all f them watching in fascination as the water fist uncurled and slowly approached. It gathered the teens in its hand suddenly, lifting them off the boat.

“Dude, what’re ya doing?!”

“Stop listening to him! Are ya fuckin’ nuts?!”

“KNOCK IT OFF!”

Of course the plan had to go south. Of course it couldn’t be flawless. Tenko growled as the water around them suddenly disappeared, and the three of them were falling again .

Shit, shit shit shit, think think think-

Toga was screaming, Shinsou was panicking again, and Tenko couldn’t think . He could only act .

His hand lifted as he fell through the air.

He reached towards the large boat they weren’t that far from, but was still out of his range.

The boat suddenly burst into an explosion of dust .

Now the villains were the ones screaming, dunking underwater to escape the attack. Tenko’s eyes widened. He… he just did that… how the hell did he do that?!

“HEY!” Shinsou’s guttural yell scared the crap out of him. “YOU STILL WANNA FUCK WITH US, SHITRAGS?!”

“WE’LL KILL YOU, YOU LITTLE-” another villain fell for it, going rigid as soon as Shinsou’s quirk took affect.

“ FIGHT AND WIN AGAINST YOUR ALLIES! ” Shinsou ordered frantically, just before they all landed in the water. The effect was instantaneous. In a matter of seconds, the waterzone was a battlezone between the villains.

Tenko resurfaced the water, coughing out some of the salty liquid that had snuck into his mouth. Toga and Shinsou appeared beside him, hacking water out of their mouths as well. They quickly started swimming away from the fighting villains, hiding behind one of the large rocks nearby.

“H-huh… Looks like I didn’t need to fight, after all.” Tenko snorted, beaming over at his friends. They stared at him for a long moment, shocked and wide eyed. “...What?”

“What the fuck was that just now?!” Toga exclaimed, surprising both boys with her use of the F-Bomb. “Since when can you do that ?!”

Tenko blinked, glancing over at where the huge boat used to be, before looking back at his friends.

“Honestly? I… I have no fucking clue…”

“That… that was intense …” Shinsou breathed out, the dark bags under his eyes seemingly a million times worse. “I… I can’t believe that worked … We actually… We got away.”

“Yeah…” Tenko chuckled. “Now we just need to ge out of the water, and-”

His words were cut off by a loud, shrill shriek of pain. Tenko froze, eyes widening as he looked over his shoulder - near the center of the building.

Where the rest of the villains were.

Where Aizawa was fighting them. Alone.

Was that scream… Was it his uncle’s…?

His vision was almost completely filled with red. He could barely keep his eyes open. Everything… everything hurt so much .

The pain wouldn’t stop .

“ So rr y it ha d to co me t o th is, Er ase rhe ad… ” the masked villain said, looming above him. Shota could barely even lift his gaze to stare at the guy, his body shaking, convulsing, drowning in overwhelming pain. The villain bent down, kneeling next to Shota’s head, which the hulking monster - Nomu? Was that his name? - still had his head pinned to the ground.

Every limb, every nerve, every part of him was screaming in agony. He was practically broken, he was beaten, and how long had this fight even lasted? It couldn’t have been even thirty minutes yet.

Weak. You’re so weak. You can’t protect yourself, you can’t hold your own, you can’t protect your class, your kids-

“Y’know… I’d really rather not be wasting time doin’ this complicated shit… ”

Glowing turquoise eyes stared down at him, meeting his blurred gaze. So many things were hidden in those eyes, ones that Shota barely recognized.

Waves of different emotions swirled together in the ocean that was those irises.

Hate. Contempt. Fury… Yet, none of them were directed at Shota. Something or someone else apparently deserved such a murderous look.

Those were only what you could see on the surface, though. Deeper down - hidden, withheld, ignored, recessed - was helplessness. Hopelessness. Sadness. Guilt. Loneliness.

Why would a villain feel such things?

“ It’ d be wa y ea sie r if I ju st… ” the villain scoffed softly, shoving his hands in his pockets. His eyes shone with something Shota recognized from years ago, before he had something to actually live for . “ Ye r lu ck y, ac tua lly… I’m kin da j eal ous , ‘Ra ser … Ya ge t to lea ve t his he ll w e ca ll e ar th. ”

Shota felt more intense pressure on his skull, Nomu was pushing him into the ground harder, tugging on his already broken arm. The beaten man let out a pathetic yelp, his sense going haywire. It felt like he could sense everything, yet nothing at once, everything was muddled yet clear at the same time.

“ No mu… Ki- ”

There was a shrill sound - like something metal flew threw the air - before Nomu let out an inhuman shriek, the weight on top of him stumbling away. Blood spilled on his face, but Shota knew it wasn’t his own.

“Get the hell away from Oji-San.”

Shota’s eyes widened slightly, his weak gaze drifting over to a tall figure not that far away. He was soaking wet, his hair was down and messy and the look in those red eyes were one that Shota had never seen before. Dangerous.

“ Did yo u ju st ye et a fre aki n’ m eta l po le a t No mu ? ” the masked villain chuckled suddenly, stepping away from Shota lazily.

Tenko glared, the dangerous look in his eyes turning almost murderous. He moved into a defensive position, staring right at the villain in front of him without an ounce of fear.

“ Shut. Up. ”

Shota weakly tried to shake his head, attempting but failing to speak through the blood in his throat. No… No, Tenko would get himself killed . He couldn’t let that happen, he had to get up, get the fuck up Shota, he needs you, you need to… to help… to save… to protect…

He couldn’t move, god dammit, he could barely even breathe.

Tenko’s gaze met his pleading one, and the kid - the fidgety, nervous, traumatized little boy he saw grow up, the one who always played with his hair, that was practically one of Shota’s sons - the kid was smiling.

He was fucking smiling .

“Don’t worry, Oji-san…” Tenko reassured. “ I’m here .”

Chapter Text

Tumblr

“No matter how far it is, I’ll make it there!

Following that lightened sky, I’ll engrave my path!

No matter how many times I try to scream aloud,

In the end, I’m no one but myself;

No matter if this is fiction, or reality,

I’ll surely manage to go beyond...”

What the hell was he doing? What the fuck was he thinking?! He was going to get himself killed!

His eyes glanced back over at the shaking, practically broken form of Aizawa, heart clenching. His gaze snapped back to the masked villain in front of him, eyes narrowing. He didn’t have the luxury of hesitating at this point, he couldn’t be a coward.

He needed to be a hero.

“ Lis ten, tw erp, ” the masked man drawled, head tilting to the side slightly. The act could almost be described as innocent - if it wasn’t for the venom dripping from the villain’s voice. “ I’ m n ot he re t o de al w ith yo u… A t le ast, not yet . ”

Glowing blue eyes bored into his crimson gaze, but Tenko didn’t dare back down. He may have - if he was years younger, and still a frightened child that couldn’t even handle someone touching him. But he wasn’t. He was aiming to be a hero, and god dammit, heroes didn’t fucking give up! So, Tenko took a deep breath, adjusting his stance slightly, so it was more steady.

“Should’ve thought about that before crashing our school trip, shitstain.” he snarked.

The villain stared at him, lazily rubbing the back of his neck. The guy’s gaze never left his, not even when the monstrous creature behind him easily yanked the pole Tenko had thrown right out of its chest. Tenko eyed the thing as it threw the pole to the side, fighting the urge to shiver at the dead eyes that stared back.

The monster didn’t move though, which only proved Tenko’s theory that it was some time of weapon, a slave . It wouldn’t act without orders from the masked villain.

“ I re all y d on’ t wa nna ha fta sic k No mu h ere o n y a, ” the villain suddenly snorted, taking a step closer towards Tenko. The pale haired boy didn’t move an inch, only clenched his raised fists tighter, keeping his eyes peeled in case the guy made the first move. “ I cou ld pr oba bly han dle ya o n my ow n, an yw ay. ”

“ Dabi... ” The mist man tried to speak up, but the other villain didn’t allow it.

“ Cal m yo ur t its, I’ ll m ake i t qu ick. ”

Tenko’s eyes narrowed, the small details of a plan forming in his head. He could do this. Just hold them off until the Pros get here. He could only hope that the other students found a way to contact them.

“You shouldn’t underestimate me.” Tenko sneered, just before he sped forward, throwing a kick at the villain’s head. What he didn’t expect was for the kick to be blocked, and his ankle grabbed, before he was thrown away like he weighed nothing.

Tenko rolled across the ground, quickly regaining his footing and springing up. He stared at the villain - Dabi? Was that this prick’s name? - with wide eyes. He… he should’ve been too fast for the guy to block. What the hell?!

The masked man turned that chilling glowing gaze on him once again.

“ Tru st me… I know . ”

A chill ran down the teen’s spine. What… what was that supposed to mean?

“ Let ’s ju st g et th is o ver w ith … ” Dabi sighed, cracking his knuckles. Tenko tried to get into a better fighting position, yet before he could even move, the villain was on him, knocking Tenko down with a hard punch.

The pale boy growled, swiping his feet under Dabi’s legs, causing the villain to falter. Tenko quickly rolled away and hopped back to his feet. This guy was stronger than he thought… Well, Tenko wasn’t going to hold back. Not when so much was on the line - his brothers, friends, and classmates safety, his uncle’s life.

He wasn’t going to lose.

Tenko attacked again - kicking, punching, and dodging for what felt like hours. He forced all of his strength into each move, yet Dabi somehow dodged and blocked all of them .

It was almost like he was predicting his moves.

A kick from the villain sent Tenko to the unforgiving ground again, causing him to yelp. Dammit! What was he supposed to do?! The teen’s mind buzzed, he couldn’t think, he couldn’t figure out what to do. Why did he have to be so goddamn useless?!

That was when his hand brushed against something warm. Tenko’s gaze shot over to look at the small puddle of blood that his palm was resting in, but his eyes settled on what else was in the puddle. That pole he’d thrown.

The teen grit his teeth, glancing between a slowly approaching Dabi and the bloodied pole.

Dabi gave him a blank look as he got back to his feet, gripping the pole tightly. Tenko glared at him, before charging yet again, swinging the makeshift weapon towards the asshole.

“ Yo u re all y do n't giv e up , do yo u? ” the masked man chuckled.

“Shut! The fuck! Up !” Tenko shouted, voice becoming shriller the more he tried to hit his target.

“ Yo u'r e s o pr edi cta ble, y'kn ow. ” Dabi easily evaded every swipe of the pole, which only caused Tenko's rage to grow.

What was this guy?! Was it his quirk at work?! Was he able to predict the moves of his enemy?! How was Tenko supposed to beat him if he couldn’t even land a single hit?!

“Why are you even doing this?!” Tenko growled. He continued his attack, swinging at Dabi’s legs, which he barely missed. The teen’s eyes narrowed slightly. Was this dude reacting slower, or was it just Tenko’s imagination?

No, Dabi’s movements were most definitely getting slower. And at that moment, Tenko also realized something else very confusing - Dabi wasn’t attacking him. He was just dodging, moving away, evading. But what was the most shocking thing, was the look in the villain’s eyes. Was it there before? Tenko didn’t know, honestly. He was too caught up in the moment, adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream endlessly.

But… that look was familiar in some strange way. Why…?

His eyes were looking for an escape… he wants to be anywhere but here at the moment…

The realization only caused Tenko’s determination to grow.

“Well?” the boy continued, glaring heatedly at the villain in front of him. He grinned when he managed to brush the guy’s arm with the pole. “Do you even have an answer, jackass?!”

The villain didn't answer, but Tenko could just tell he was losing his composure - becoming more frantic.

“What, don't have an answer? Or is it just not good enough? You just want to have some fun like these other thugs, huh? Don’t you?!”

If you can't find an obvious weakness, provoke to bring it out. That's what Aizawa taught them. That had to be the ticket to taking this villain down.

“ St op a cti ng li ke yo u fucking kno w m e. ” Dabi grunted, finally retaliating. His arm shot out, aiming a punch for Tenko’s face. This guy wasn’t analyzing anymore, he was acting out impulsively, leaving himself wide open. So, he had a temper? Good.

Tenko swung out quickly, nailing the guy in the side with the pole. The small thought of showing at least some mercy crossed the teen’s mind, but the image of his Oji-san’s battered and broken form banished it almost immediately.

Dabi landed to the ground in a roll, trying to get back to his feet. He was leaving himself open again, and Tenko wasted no time in taking advantage. He sped forward, his makeshift weapon connecting with the villain’s body once again, his one ungloved hand reaching out - he was honestly surprised he’d been able to attack with the pole only using eight fingers, but now wasn’t the time.

He used all of his strength to smash Dabi into the ground, holding him down by the face, his fifth finger hovering threateningly over the mask. Dabi’s eyes were wide now - and it was almost like Tenko was staring into the gaze of a completely different person. There was no longer any form of emotion there had been moments before. Only… only fear .

Fear. Anger. Helplessness and hopelessness.

Tenko stared down at the other boy underneath him, who he noticed wasn’t even struggling. Why was he giving up so easily? Why wasn’t he fighting back?

Why did this all feel so damn familiar?

“ Nomu. ”

The mist man’s words only registered when it was too late. A looming shadow cast over Tenko, and he was only able to glance back at the hulking figure, before a large, buff arm crashed into him. The teen was sent flying into a pile of rubble that used to be the fountain in the center of the building - t must have been destroyed during Aizawa’s battle with the villains. He let out a silent shriek when pain blossomed all over his body. His ears rung, his vision blurred, everything just hurt so fucking bad. How was that thing so strong?

“ Ten-kun! ”

Was… was that Toga...?

Tenko blinked, trying to make out the blob of color in front of him. That looked like Toga… what was she doing? What was he doing? He didn’t know, he was just really dizzy and felt like throwing up. Something swiped at his forehead, wiping away what was probably blood, and Tenko blinked blearily. Toga was standing up now, but… something was different… what was different?

“ HEY! COME AND GET ME, BIRD BRAIN! ”

And why the hell did that sound like his voice? Yeah, he was losing it. He was dying wasn’t he? Shit, wait, he couldn’t die yet, he needed to-

“Hang on, I got you.” Tenko grimaced, head swimming as someone slung an arm around him, lifting him carefully to his feet. It took a moment, but his vision began to clear. It was tinted red, but he could see at least.

“...Sh… Shinsou?” he glanced at his friend, who he realized was the one trying to help him away from the battle currently going on.

“Yeah?”

“Why… why is there another… me ?” Tenko managed to point at the person who was currently running and skipping around the open area, dodging and running from the Nomu’s attacks. The monstrous figure was just chasing after them, squealing and clawing like a madman. Chasing after him . But it wasn’t him .

What the hell…?

“R-right, Toga’s distracting him while I get you to safet-”

“Wait, WHAT?! ” Tenko exclaimed, trying to pull away from the arm around him. Shinsou’s words and the situation finally registered, and the pale boy’s eyes widened in horror. “Did you not just see that thing fucking throw me halfway across the building?! ”

Shinsou grimaced, glancing towards where Toga was. He was obviously just as nervous, but was fighting against his anxieties.

“She’ll be fine. She’s not weak, she-”

“ Goi ng s ome whe re ? ”

Ah, fuck.

Both boys’ gazes snapped forward, eyes widening at Dabi, who was now right in front of them. And nothing was different this time, Tenko noticed. The villain’s eyes still held the same emotions as earlier.

They emitted such a dull glow.

“Shit…” Shinsou cursed under his breath. Tenko could feel the shorter boy shaking against him.

“ Nomu … ”

“Shit-!”

Tenko moved within seconds, ignoring the pain that throbbed through his head as he shoved Shinsou to the side - seconds before the Nomu creature appeared. But the thing was still faster than him. It loomed over the pale teen, ready to crush him into the ground, and Tenko just couldn’t move -

The Nomu’s fist lifted.

“ TENKO! ”

It rushed downwards. But Tenko just couldn’t move his feet. He was scared . He couldn’t-

The fist suddenly stopped. The Nomu froze. Literally. The thing was attacking one second, and now it was trapped in freaking ice . What the fuck?!

Tenko let out a shaky breath, stepping back from the monster carefully. He… he could have died . He was so close to death’s doorstep. Holy shit.

“TENKO! Tenko, are you alright?!” Hands were suddenly gripping his shoulders, and the world came rushing back into a blurry focus. Tenko blinked, he had toppled backward onto his ass, and green eyes were staring at him in concern.

“...I-Izu…?”

Izuku sighed in relief, nodding. Tears were in his eyes as he fussed over the older boy. Tenko looked his brother up and down, and besides a few cuts and scrapes, he seemed fine. Where… where was Katsuki, though? Was he okay too?!

“‘Suki… w-where’s-”

A large explosion caught his attention then, and Tenko’s gaze snapped over to where Katsuki was holding down the weird portal thing. The blonde was glaring at the mist villain with absolute rage.

“Try to move again and I’ll blow your ass up! Ya hear me?!”

“We’re both alright, Ko-nii.” Izuku reassured, pulling a roll of bandages from one of the holsters on his hip. Tenko sighed with relief, his body slumping forward to heavily rest against his little brother. “K-Ko-nii! Tenko-”

“Y-you’re okay…” Tenko slurred, weakly hugging Izuku closer. “Th-thank… god, you’re…”

“Tenko?! Tenko! Hey, stay awake, alright?! T-Ten-”

Everything faded to black.

Izuku was used to panicking - he had anxiety, panic was a natural feeling he dealt with normally, unfortunately. But he was pretty sure he’d never panicked this much. Tenko was unconscious, slumped against him, and bleeding from his head. Katsuki was taking care of the warp gate guy, and Todoroki was trying to fight the masked villain - to no avail apparently.

The masked villain was keeping his distance, and was surprisingly a crazy good dodger. He definitely had some amazing reflexes, how used to fighting was this guy? Was he trained? Did villains train like heroes did? Did they-

Dammit, he needed to focus!

Izuku shook his head, focusing his attention on his big brother. The greenette carefully and ever so gently eased Tenko to the ground, and began to wrap his brother’s injured head with some bandages. This was all he could do until the Pros and hopefully some paramedics arrived.

Once the bandages were secure, Izuku cradled Tenko against himself, trying to calm himself down. Everything would be okay… The Pros were on their way. They had to be. Heroes always came to the rescue, everything would be fine. He just needed to breathe-

The terrifying sound of ice shattering behind him caused Izuku’s heart to nearly stop. The boy slowly turned his head, eyes widening at what he saw.

The Nomu… It… It broke out of Todoroki’s ice?!

The thing made eye contact with him, and Izuku froze in absolute terror. But, it was quickly replaced with confusion when the Nomu just… turned away from him. Instead, the thing’s focus seemed to be on the fight going on between the villain and Todoroki. A low, inhuman growl escaped the creature, before it was speeding forward.

Izuku’s eyes widened.

“T-T… TODOROKI! ” he screamed as loud as he could, and it definitely caught the two-toned boy’s attention. Todoroki quickly used his quirk to pull up an attempt at an ice shield.

But it was no use. The Nomu was stronger. Its arm broke through the ice easily, and Izuku could only watch in horror as Todoroki was smacked into some nearby rubble.

Izuku couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even scream. He couldn’t do anything!

The Nomu made a move to lunge towards Todoroki again, but paused when the masked villain suddenly spoke up.

“ Nomu, stop! ”

Izuku was thrown off momentarily because… Why did the villain sound so… Desperate? That wasn’t… what the hell was even going on anymore?!

The Nomu and Villain seemed to have a stare off, the only one portraying any emotion being the masked man. His gaze bore into the creature, never leaving its dead eyes. No one moved for a full minute, it seemed like.

Until the Nomu let out a loud screech, and charged towards Todoroki once more.

Todoroki’s eyes were wide, and it sent Izuku back to just a few days ago, when his classmate just panicked . Except Izuku couldn’t help him this time. Todoroki was going to get hurt and he could do nothing .

“ I sa id… STOP! ”

A bright flash caused Izuku to blink, and when he opened his eyes once more, they widened in astonishment. Blue flames shot out of the masked villain’s hands, enveloping the shrieking Nomu in seconds. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and Izuku resisted the urge to gag.

Then, just as fast as it appeared, the flames flickered out - they left nothing but ashes of what once was that hideous Nomu creatures.

“ Dabi! ” the portal man yelled.

“ Fuck … ” the villain - Dabi? - cursed under his breath, and Izuku could see the guy actually shaking . Was it because of his quirk? Or was it something else?

The villain stared ahead, his gaze locking onto Todoroki’s, whose face was a wild mix of emotions. But the most prominent was shock and… Confusion.

“Dabi, we must escape now !”

“Oh, I don’t think so, fucktard,” Katsuki growled. “Yer both gonna spend the rest of your shitty lives behind fucking bars, you-”

“ SMAAASHH! ”

The loud, booming voice cut off everyone’s words, as one of the walls of the building was suddenly burst through like it was nothing. And there stood All Might, and Izuku never felt so much relief in his life.

“Doubl e fu ck ...” Dabi scoffed, quickly turning towards where Katsuki was. “ He y, as sh ole , un les s ya wan na ge t tu rn ed t o ash , I’d su gg es t yo u mo ve it . ”

Wrong thing to say to a Bakugou.

“Like fuck you bastards are escaping!” Katsuki snarled, threateningly popping off some explosions. Dabi just sighed, and Izuku let out a small yelp of fear when the villain lifted his hands in he and Tenko’s direction.

Katsuki immediately froze.

“ Th at’ s wh at I th ou gh t… n ow scr am. Un les s yo u’d pre fer y our pre cio us f rien ds g et ba rbec ued? ”

Katsuki let out another animalistic snarl, but quickly - yet still begrudgingly - released and jumped away from the mist man.

“Stop right there, villain-”

“ No , tha nks! ”

Before any of them could react, the warp gate villain appeared right under Dabi’s feet, and the masked boy sunk into the abyss. Both villains were gone before anyone could blink.

What the fuck …

Hours later, all of the students involved in the USJ attack were treated and safely at home. One Gen Ed student was in the hospital for a major concussion, but he was the only child greatly injured. Class 1-A’s homeroom teacher was also hospitalized, but was recovering quickly. Overall, mostly everyone was safe and sound.

The same couldn’t be said for the boy who failed his mission.

“I was even generous enough to give you our special Anti-Symbol of Peace,” All for One sneered, disgust and disappointment dripping from his words. “And what do you do?”

Touya choked out a gasp of pain, curling up on the floor. The bastard hadn’t even moved from his fucking death bed. All of this - all of the unbearable pain, the images, the burning - it was only a quirk at work. And Touya couldn’t even handle it after so many years of repeated torture. But he was going to take it, he was going to take all of it, if it meant his little brother wasn't crushed and mutilated by that ugly ass monster. He'd save Shouto a million times over if he had to.

“You decide to obliterate it. The special present I gave you. Is that any way to repay your sensei for all he has given you?”

Touya grit his teeth when the pain worsened. He wouldn’t scream, he was not going to fucking give the asshole what he craved.

“The only one who has been here for you all these years, the one who has shown you true affection and care. ”

Ignore him, ignore him, don’t let him get in your head, don’t fucking-

“The only real father you have ever had.”

Touya saw red.

“You… you’re not…” he fought against the torment, lifting his head weakly to glare at the bedridden man in front of him. His eyes burned with unshed tears, and the fire inside of him that was being forced out. “ I’d rather be in that hell I used to have as a home than look at your ugly ass face every fucking day. ”

All for One merely hummed, a sick smile spreading across his feet. The pain intensified, the images became clearer, the fire inside of him released with a burst.

All Touya could see was the blue flames he hated with every ounce of his being, he could only smell his own burning flesh.

He could hear agonized screaming - yet couldn’t discern whether it was the illusion of his family’s suffering, or his own tormented cries.

“Maybe so… But you are as aware as I am, that this is the path you were meant to take. And nothing you ever do will change that fact, Dabi .”

Chapter Text

“I don't know where you're going,

But do you got room for one more troubled soul?

I don't know where I'm going,

But I don't think I'm coming home,

And I said, I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead,

This is the road to ruin and we're starting at the end...”

The first thing he felt was an annoying throbbing in his head. He groaned as the rest of his senses began to work properly again. Irritating, repetitive beeping grated on his ears, as well as the low murmur of voices and footsteps. And was that snoring?

He forced his eyes to obey him, grimacing at the painful light that assaulted his retinas once he managed to crack them. Why the hell was it so bright? Weren’t the lights in the USJ blown out-

Wait.

Holy fuck.

THE USJ!

A sharp gasp of pain escaped him when he jolted upright, only to collapse back onto the pillows of the bed he was in. Tenko heard a yelp of surprise, a shocked curse, and when he opened his eyes again, all he saw was green.

“Tenko! Oh my god, you’re awake!”

Tenko blinked blearily, his eyes snapping over to the other person in the room when his little brother was yanked out of his face.

“Give him some fuckin’ space, Deku. Jeez.” Katsuki sighed, rubbing his eyes irritably.

Tenko stared at both of them, mind reeling. He remembered he was fighting that monstrous Nomu thing, taking on that Dabi guy…

"W-what… Happened, a-again?" he wondered, coughing as his throat ached. A small cup of water was shoved into his hands, and Tenko accepted it gratefully.

"You, uh… got a concussion, and-"

"You got your stupid ass knocked out, is what happened!"

"Kacchan-"

"No, shut up, I'm lecturing him!" Katsuki snapped, pinning Tenko with a heated glare. "What the hell were you thinking? Not only did you fuckin' charge into a fight with the leader of those fucking villains, you tried to defeat the biggest damn weapon they had?!"

Tenko frowned, brows furrowing.

"Someone had to do something, I needed to help-"

"Would it have been helpful if you got crushed to a shitty pulp? What good would that have done, Tenko?!"

"'Suki-"

"Don't fuckin 'Suki' me, Goddammit!" Katsuki snarled, slamming a fist on the railing of Tenko's hospital bed. "You were a fucking idiot! You could have died! You're supposed to be our Nii-san, you're supposed to guide us and be there for us!"

Tenko visibly flinched at that, watching as Katsuki hung his head, shoulders trembling slightly, Izuku placing a hand atop Katsuki's. Guilt immediately washed over the pale figure. It was true, he could have gotten himself killed. He shouldn't have rushed in like that, he knew it was stupid. But…

"I was scared…"

His brothers looked up at that; emerald eyes widened while crimson ones narrowed.

"I… I didn't know where you two were, and… and when I saw Oji-san, he… it was gonna kill him." Tenko swallowed thickly, meeting his brothers' gazes. "I c-couldn't just stand there, my feet just moved, and… I'm sorry I scared you two, I'm s-sorry I didn't think of a better plan before a-acting… but… But I would still do it all again in a heartbeat."

Katsuki growled, clenching the bed railings tighter, but he didn't speak again. Most likely, he didn't trust himself to open his mouth without his voice betraying him. Izuku, on the other hand, surprised both of them by giving his older brother a hard stare and slugging him in the arm.

"Ow! What the he-"

"The only time you're ever allowed to pull such a stupid stunt again, is if both of us are there with you." Izuku said sternly, a protective shine in those green orbs.

Tenko sighed, but nodded. Honestly, knowing his luck, that would be nearly impossible, but he didn't want to worry his brothers anymore than he already had.

"Yeah… I-"

"Tenko?!"

The pale teen jumped at the gasp, all attention shooting over to the woman in the doorway, emerald eyes puffy and red, green hair tangled and frizzy. Tenko swallowed, nervously waving.

"H-hey, mom…"

Inko immediately rushed over, enveloping Tenko in a desperate hug.

"Oh, thank god! You scared me half to death!" she sobbed.

Tenko frowned guiltily, wrapping his free arm around his mother.

"Sorry…"

"Just… I know these things are bound to happen, you boys wanting to be heroes and all," Inko pulled away slightly to hold her eldest son's face in her hands, "but please, don't be so reckless! You could have… it could've been so much worse, you were so lucky!"

She pulled him into another tight hug, and Tenko's guilt just worsened. He hated worrying his mother, she already had enough to worry about as it was.

But, still… Tenko couldn't help but believe he had no choice but to intervene in that battle.

Especially since there was no one else there to save them.

Especially since All Might wasn't there to help him.

Again .

He faceplanted directly into his pillow, half his body hanging off the bed lazily.

"You alright, Ko?"

Tenko groaned in response, lifting his head to give his little brother a look.

"I've felt like shit many times before this," he sighed, "yet this is the shittiest of shits."

Izuku gave him a sympathetic look, gently patting the older teen's fluffy blue locks - Tenko had finally been able to take a nice, long shower after getting home from the stupid hospital, thank god . He'd been in that fucking uncomfortable bed for too long in his opinion. His concussion hadn't been that bad!

"You get some rest, okay? I'll come get you when dinner's ready."

Tenko sighed, shrugging a bit.

"Sure… yeah."

Izuku nodded as well, but he seemed hesitant to leave. Tenko frowned, lifting himself up when he saw the downcast expression on Izuku's face.

"Izu…what's-"

His words were cut off when his brother suddenly threw himself on Tenko, hugging him tightly. Tenko quickly caught their balance, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, Ko-nii… I-I wasn't there in time, I could've helped you, I could've…" the greenette sniffled, and Tenko immediately wrapped his arms around the smaller teen.

"Hey, no, stop!" he said urgently. "All that would've done is get you injured too. Shota couldn't even handle him."

Their Oji-san was still recovering in the hospital. He'd been wrapped up in tons of bandages when they saw him last. Tenko had earned a small, relieved hug, along with a kick in the leg since that was the only way Aizawa could punish him for jumping into a dangerous situation. He expected worse when the man was fully recovered.

"B-but," Izuku sniffled, clinging to Tenko's sweater tighter. "H-how am I supposed to be a hero… If… If I can't even save my own brother! How am I-I supposed to be like A-All Might, and save everyone?!"

That put a scowl on Tenko's face immediately.

All Might… He didn't save any of them at the USJ. They all fended for themselves, fought off the villains on their own. Hell, the only reason why Tenko had to jump in and protect Aizawa was because All Might was nowhere to be seen.

He'd left them on their own, he wasn't there, he wasn't the one to save them, just like he wasn't the one to save him all those years ago.

He'd left them alone to die-

" You're not All Might. "

The words came out in a slight growl, his arms tightening around Izuku.

"You're still just a kid, all of us are, even with the training we've gotten… and you're not going to be like All Might, Zu."

Izuku lifted his head, a pout on his lips, and cheeks stained with tears. Tenko stared down at him, lifting a hand to ruffle the unkempt green curls.

"You're going to be like the hero Deku, because you're going to save everyone by being yourself."

Izuku stared for a moment, before letting out a tiny snort.

"What?"

"You just… that was sorta cheesy-"

"Oh, shut up! I'm trying to make you feel better, dammit!"

Izuku laughed, the tears seeming to dissipate.

"And it's working. Don't worry, Ko-nii."

Tenko smirked, wiping away some stray tears left in his brother's cheek.

"Only if you stop worrying, too."

"Deal." Izuku beamed.

There's that smile.

"You guys done with your heart to heart or what?" a grumble came from the doorway, and both teens looked over to see Katsuki there, arms crossed, expression one of slight annoyance. "Dinner's ready."

"Oh!" Izuku gasped, pulling out of Tenko's arms to scramble off the bed and towards the door. "I completely forgot! I'll help Mom set the table!"

He rushed past Katsuki, Tenko right behind him, until Katsuki stopped him with a tug on the sleeve. Tenko looked over at the blonde, surprised by the steely-eyed gaze he was greeted with.

"I've known him since we were in diapers…" Katsuki started, voice shockingly soft. He clearly didn't want Izuku to hear. "And I've never seen him as petrified as he was while you were in a hospital bed, refusing to wake up. He was too scared to even cry ."

Tenko swallowed, staring at the ground.

"Kat-"

"I don't wanna see that look on his face ever again, and neither would you. So you better think twice before pulling shit like that again. I mean it."

Tenko lifted his gaze again, looking into Katsuki's eyes as he nodded firmly.

"I promise."

Oh, how easily promises are broken.

Of course he couldn't sleep.

Even though he was tired as fuck, and it was two in the morning already, he was still alternating between staring at the ceiling and the screen of his phone.

He'd tried talking to Touya, since some nights they'd text each other when Tenko couldn't sleep. But… Tenko had been left on delivered.

Izuku was snoring peacefully, Inko probably was too. He was the only one awake. And it sucked .

The pale figure sighed, turning off and dropping his phone. He was tired, why couldn't he just sleep ?

"...Fuck it." he grumbled, sitting up in bed, rubbing a hand up his face. He needed to relax, and there were only three things that helped him do that: video games, music, and walking. Video games were out of the question, since he didn't want to wake his family up.

Tenko sighed once more, swinging his legs over the edge of the mattress to stand up. He grabbed and pulled on a dark hoodie, slipping his phone and earbuds in the pocket of his shorts before quietly exiting the room.

He was out of the apartment minutes later, earbuds plugged in as he strolled down the sidewalk. It was a peaceful, only slightly chilly night, which was already helping Tenko relax. The breeze felt nice, and the teen was glad he didn't bother to tie his hair up.

He soon found himself approaching Jin's corner store, and figured that he'd turn back. He didn't want to stay out too long, and he was actually feeling very calm. He could definitely get to sleep if he tried.

He let out a breath, closing his eyes for a moment, before moving to turn around.

Only to freeze at the shattering of glass and a small scream from behind him.

Tenko spun around, eyes widening as he took in the scene before him. The front window of the store was shattered, glass littering the ground, and surrounding the person on the ground. Red eyes zeroed in on the groaning body.

Holy shit… What in the hell-

"Okay, ow…" the figure suddenly pulled himself upright, seemingly unaware of the frozen teenager not that far away. "Damn, you're pretty strong, dude."

The guy got to his feet, wobbling a little, before dashing back into the store. Tenko didn't even realize he'd followed until he was staring into the trashed store, witnessing three guys locked in some kind of battle.

"Geten, are you-"

"I'm fine, Spin! Takes more than an asshole to take me down!"

…

Oh, for fuck's sake…