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Tenko is five years old.
He is a short, scared five year old who couldn’t remember why he was in this bar or who these men in front of him were. The tall man in the suit makes Tenko afraid; he reminds him of
Father
, with the way he spoke and the twisted smile. The other man is made of smoke, he’s wispy and reminds Tenko of fire
where had he first seen fire? Why couldn’t he remember?
Tenko likes the wispy man, he spoke softly and looked at him with concern. The man in the suit’s eyes were blank when he saw Tenko.
He’s like a robot
, the young boy thought,
I saw those in a picture book once!
Tenko is so busy trying to remember the book and why it makes him happy that he almost misses the wispy man kneeling down next to him
the man in the suit is gone where did he go?
“Hello, child. My name is Kurogiri, I’ll be looking after you for a while. You must be-” Tenko sees Kurogiri’s glowing eyes furrow with concern, and what the little boy identifies as regret, “ Tomura , right?”
“But my name’s Tenko!”
“No, I- you must be mistaken, Tomura. Your name is Shigaraki Tomura.”
Tenko- no, Tomura is confused by this. He almost wants to protest, but he vaguely remembers hearing somewhere that adults know best. Adults know more and they know what to do, so Shigaraki Tomura understands that Kurogiri must know what his name is!
“It’s nice to meet you, Kurogiri! I’m Tomura, and I’m five years old! Aren’t I big?”
“Yes, of course. You’re practically an adult! It’s nice to meet you, Tomura…” Kurogiri seems less sad now, and Tomura is glad! He loves when people are happy
it means he won’t get hurt
-
Kurogiri leads him over to a musty bathroom, where Tomura sees his reflection for the first time in- well, he can’t remember how long! Tomura’s hair goes to his shoulders and is a light blue color he really likes! It seems alien on him, though… Tomura thinks that at some point, his hair wasn’t like this. He hardly recognizes himself in the mirror, especially with the red stuff on his arms that Kurogiri is washing off with careful misty hands. The feeling of Kurogiri’s touch is like static on his skin, it feels temporary but nice. Everything about Kurogiri feels temporary.
Then, in what feels like the blink of an eye, Tomura is fifteen, and Kurogiri isn’t temporary. Not in the slightest. He’s always there, just behind the bar whenever Tomura needs him- and Tomura needs him a lot. Tomura needs him when the battery in his 3DS is low, he needs him when he forgets to eat or drink, he needs him when Sensei is angry and leaves Tomura without communication for weeks on end.
Tomura will never admit it, but Kurogiri doesn’t feel like a servant or a ward to him. Tomura doesn’t know why he’s afraid to say the word Kurogiri feels like to him- it starts with F and ends with ather- but it’s a potent, and permanent, feeling.
Tomura likes walking around the bar, and finding new things Sensei had hidden decades earlier. One day, after Sensei reminds Tomura he needs to grow and defeat All Might to save society, Tomura goes searching again, game console in his back pocket. He finds a crate hidden in the back of a storage closet, filled with- oh god, are those human hands ? Tomura represses a scream and reminds himself that he’s a villain, and he shouldn’t be scared of regular old gore.
Kurogiri appears like magic just behind Tomura as he looks with horror into the crate. The older man’s eyes widen and he hurries to try and explain this away how Sensei would like it. “They’re- They’re for decoration. Sensei used to use them as an intimidation tactic. I-” Kurogiri hates this part, it makes him sick to shove this horror onto the boy he had raised for ten years, “think Sensei intended you to wear them as your villain costume.”
Tomura is silent for a second, and Kurogiri’s not sure how the boy is feeling, but Tomura turns his head with a twisted grin. “Cool. That’s a real final boss look, huh?” he says, and walks away.
Oh god, Kurogiri thinks, What have I done?
In that moment he’s sure of one thing, more sure than he’s ever been in his whole life: he needs to protect this boy. He cannot leave him alone.
But in the end, Kurogiri wasn’t able to stop his own absence.
Tomura is twenty now, and he’s suddenly alone. Sure, he’s still got the rest of the League, who he won’t admit he’s starting to see as family, but none of them are Kurogiri. The man was a constant presence in his life, and now he doesn’t know what to do, or how to lead, or how to deal with the truth .
The hands aren’t decoration, and his name isn’t Shigaraki Tomura. Shimura Tenko is alone again.