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“I’m really horrible, aren’t I?” Tenko leans his cheek into the man’s hand.
“You are.” All For One chuckles, “But it’s okay. It’s not your fault.” and smiles.
“It’s not?” The boy asks, even as his emotions well and sniffles. Grabbing a hand around his sensei’s wrist, he looks up and a few tears escape without permission.
“No, dear Tenko, of course not. Your family-”
Hana runs. It was too late for his grandparents. His mother came closer, and Mon-chan never moved away. The scream of his own name from his own father acts as a high and makes him tingle all over. He stands above the pool of his father’s blood and heaves.
“-and this cruel society we live in-”
When he decided to walk away, it wasn’t like he’d escaped a trance. No, it felt more like it was a part of him now. Like it always had been. An unsettling realization that settled on his shoulders, something that soon replaced the ecstasy with a lulling numbness, like pins-and-needles. He’d walked away, because there wasn’t anything else he could do. He’d walked away, because he’d done something wrong, and nobody would forgive him. He’s disoriented when he enters the city, almost out-of-body as people pass him like he’s a ghost. He doesn’t know if they’ve seen him, he’s too out of it to notice anything but the rushing feet on the pathway.
An old woman stops him and he finally looks up. She pales and walks away. Tenko feels the itch return and wonders if he’ll rip this very street away with his quirk now, and take everyone else with him, just like back at the house.
He finds a bridge, sits under it and waits for it all to end.
“-... those are the ones you should blame.”
Before he knows it, Tenko’s crying, a complete mess in sensei’s hand as he reaches a small fist up to wipe at his face. Closing his eyes hurts. His eyes hurt. Scratching beneath them makes the pain inside hurt a little less, a strange mix of pleasure and pain.
Seeing this, All For One simply smiles a little wider.
“They shouldn’t have hurt you, Tenko. They shouldn’t have ignored you. It’s all just a little too much, isn’t it?”
Another hand finds its way into his hair, untangling the curls and stroking the back of his head. The child doesn’t know whether to lean into the touch or stay still and wait until he stops, but for how long he’s gone without a kind touch (like his sister’s hand holding his own, like his mother’s comforting on his back), the former wins and he leans in.
His sensei’s smile is kind of creepy, but it’s okay. He’s just different, like him, like Tomo-chan and Mikkun. And that’s not bad. Sensei is nice, and careful, and took him in when no one else would.
He’d like to say the same about the doctor, but ever since that man wheeled in those hands, he hasn’t been able to look him in the eye.
(He fights the urge to vomit.)
All For One tuts and speaks softly.
“You look tired. Why don’t you rest for now, Tenko?”
It’s true, Tenko’s eyes are drooping. All these emotions and visions are taking it out of him. He wants to forget and sleep.
He nods and lets his sensei carry him to bed. Drifts in and out as the man tucks him in, and is only half aware of the fact All For One is still staring at him. Tenko doesn’t hear the door to his room click shut until a few minutes later, and finally gives in to sleep.