Chapter Text
Shirakumo Tenko didn't intend to come home with a small child after helping at a search and rescue in another city. But here he was, the child sitting on his lap as he waited for his train stop for the next city over. His messenger bag at his feet(internally cursing call ins after he just got out of classes for the day) and his hands in writer gloves to avoid his quirk activating. Was it making him just a tiny bit uncomfortable that the small girls bandaged arms and legs were drawing stares? Yeah, it was. But he didn't do that to her and all he had to do was glare for people to look away.
He still couldn't believe that someone would scare her this much. With a soft sigh, knowing it'd be another hour or so of a ride without stops and longer with them, Tenko leaned his head back and closed his eyes.
...
It had been a routine thing at this point. A villain had collapsed a building and Tenko had been called to help due to his decay quirk. Nothing out of the ordinary and hell, saving lives that wouldn't have otherwise been saved in time was always nice. He'd only stayed about two hours, long enough to get everyone that was still alive out of the rubble, and started walking towards the train station after that.
He had been in the middle of texting the cute guy in his class, Natsuo, about a group project behind their third partner's back. Not because he wanted to exclude them. But because he had already gotten Natsuo's number after spending several lunches at the same place solely for the fact that they were both outcasts among most of their fellow students. Both had their own friend groups, sure, but no one they'd go hang out with outside of school hours unless they got invited.
So they'd been quick to bond and Tenko had been surprised when Natsuo had given him his number, telling him that they should hang out somewhere else at some point. It was nice to have a friend outside of those he had at home.
Regardless, he'd been in the middle of texting him when a small form had barreled into his legs and sent him stumbling back. He never did have the strongest physical build...
"Hey! Watch where you're-" the soft whimper had stopped him from continuing and instead looked down. The small child clinging to the end of his shirt and shaking in fear reminded him of Kaminari when he had first been brought home by Oboro. He'd dealt with more than one scared child since then. Kaminari with occasional nightmares from when he was a child and Izuku with things he wouldn't say, but that Tenko had guessed were night terrors that he didn't remember.
He let out a huff, brotherly instincts taking over as he crouched slightly. "Hey, kid, what're you doing out here on your own?" he asked, taking note of the bandages. His tone was never the softest nor was it the most comforting, though at least he tried by lowering it more to a whisper. The look on the girl's face set off alarms in his head. The broken, helpless, look that he recognized every time he looked in a mirror after a bad night's sleep.
"Is my daughter bothering you?" Tenko didn't miss the way the girl tensed up when he shifted slightly to stand again. "Your daughter? You look a little young to have a child." he said, shifting to hide the girl behind him. He didn't like the vibe he was getting from the other man who had appeared in the alleyway. He gave off the feeling of acting polite and nice but actually being the farthest from it. Just like him. his mind offered and Tenko narrowed his eyes slightly. He didn't like the comparison his mind had supplied him with.
"High school wasn't kind to me, I'm not proud of it." Tenko didn't like his tone of voice at all, narrowing his eyes further. "Listen... I'm not entirely sure you're telling the truth here..." he said, stepping into the alleyway but keeping the kid close to him, slipping his phone into his pocket. "So I'll only say this once, alright?" he raised his arms, pulling off one of his gloves and stepping to be about two arms lengths away from the other man.
"You either stay the fuck away from this kid." he grabbed a pipe that was resting on the top of a metal trash bin, keeping his pinky finger off of it. "Or the next thing I touch will be your face." he gripped the pole and felt more than saw the thing disappear into dust. "And you better believe that whatever you try to do to me is going to fucking miss." he pulled his glove back on, turned around, picked up the small child and proceeded to leave.
He did not know he had just scared the leader of a yakuza group. He didn't know that he had just rescued someone that would've completely indirectly caused someone's death months from now had he not done what he did. He had no way of knowing that even choosing the path he was, he was sparing Denki and Izuku pain later down the road.
He'd made it to the train station with little issues and got two tickets instead of one, boarded... And that's how he found himself with a tiny child asleep in his arms as he walked up to the well used top floor's communal rooms. The one they all hung out in until they had to go to sleep. He was usually the first one home at this point and figured it'd be better to get her food and rest before everyone else returned.
Tenko would deal with whatever Oboro had to say about it later. For now he was just glad that the small child was safe. From what, he didn't know and certainly didn't care. All he cared was that she was safe and he wasn't going to let anyone hurt her again.