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Izuku didn’t know where he was. One second, he was at U.A.
All it took was one blink. Dust everywhere, blood coating his skin. Everyone was gone, Izuku saved for last. Kacchan was gone. ‘I will be soon too,’ The hero thought, as a misstep allowed Shigaraki to come close. Too close.
Izuku figured he should be dead. But instead, he was sitting on the sidewalk of a city that was in ruins not even five minutes ago.
Nobody seemed to notice his sudden appearance, walking past him easily. Everyone had a carefree air, it had put Izuku on edge at first; he thought maybe they had been affected by a quirk before he remembered that he knew what this was. Peace.
Izuku was still in his hero costume, though not the one he was wearing before, evident by its pristine condition. He also noticed that he himself was clean. Dried blood out of his hair and off his skin.
He stood silently, walking with the crowd in slow confusion. He walked by a store front and saw newspapers displayed in the window. He almost continued before registering the date he read.
He doubled back, reading the date again as if expecting it to change. It did not.
The month and day looked correct. The year, however, was one year before Izuku was even born .
He stared wide eyed at the paper through the window, realizing belatedly that he probably looked ridiculous to the citizens behind him.
He must have been gaping for at least a few minutes before his trance was broken by the sound of a child crying.
His survival instincts kicked in immediately, knowing something was severely wrong by the way the child whimpered.
He located the source quickly, a boy kneeling in an alley, clutching his hands to his chest, shaking and absolutely drenched in blood. There were clumps of dust stuck to his skin. The sight made bile rise in Izuku’s throat. He swallowed it and approached, crouching down to match the boy’s height.
“Hey there,” He spoke softly, fighting down the urge to scream, to fight. He didn’t have to here. Maybe with Shigaraki Tomura, but this is Shimura Tenko. A scared little boy who needs help.
The boy didn’t appear to hear him. He kept his head down, hands to his chest protectively, body trembling violently.
Izuku remembered his classes on trauma victims and forced himself not to touch the boy lest he make it worse, despite how much he wanted to put a hand on his shoulder and pull him into a hug. It was surprisingly easy, he found, to forget the monster that was Shigaraki when faced with this ghost from the man’s past.
“I’m a hero,” He said, recalling what Shigaraki mentioned about his heroic dreams. It seems it was the correct thing to say, as the boy finally glanced up at him, red eyes meeting his own green.
“…A… hero…?”
“I’ll be sure to send you straight to heaven myself, hero!”
Izuku smiled as sweetly as he could manage. “Yeah, a hero!” He repeated with faux cheeriness. “My name’s Deku, it means you can do it!”
The boy tilted his head. “Deku..?” He parroted, gears in his brain moving slow, but that was okay, because at least his eyes held some clarity now.
Izuku nodded. “What’s your name?” He asked, knowing the answer, but wishing he was wrong. Please, please be wrong. Of course, that would be too easy.
“My name..?” He muttered, “..oh. I’m Tenko,” He said quietly.
“Oooh that’s a nice name!” Izuku complimented, impressed with his own ability to keep the strain out of his voice. Tenko didn’t reply, just stared at the ground in silence.
Izuku was sifting through the little information that Shigaraki admitted of his childhood, searching for the right thing to say, when suddenly he remembered that little Tenko might have walked in this alley alone, but he left with company.
Company Izuku was not keen on meeting any time soon.
Izuku didn’t know how much longer he had before All for One showed up to steal poor Tenko away. To groom him into a villain.
“Hey Tenko, do you want to come with me so we can work on getting you some help?” Izuku asked, praying the boy was cooperative.
Tenko met his gaze again, one hand reaching up to scratch his neck. The eerily familiar habit sent a shiver down Izuku’s spine that he ignored.
“Where will you take me?” He asked. An unfortunate question, because Izuku didn’t have an answer. “Somewhere safe,” He promised.
Tenko looked nervously from side to side. “Are you really a… hero?” He asked softly. Izuku nodded, pulling his ID from his pocket and holding it where Tenko could see. He belatedly realized Tenko probably couldn’t read, but before he could say anything Tenko nodded, seemingly satisfied. He stood up, looking at Izuku expectantly.
“Is it all right if I pick you up Tenko? I don’t want to lose you in the crowd,” Izuku explained. Wrong question; Tenko threw himself back, shaking his head back and forth frantically and curling in on himself again.
“No!” He shouted, “If you touch me, you’ll disappear too!”
Izuku’s heart clenched at the sight of tears in the boy’s eyes. “Hey, don’t worry,” Izuku said, pulling off his gloves. “These are much too big but they’ll be fine for now. Put them on your hands and nothing will disappear,” He assured.
Tenko peered up at up, tentatively grabbing the gloves and inspecting them carefully. Slowly, he put them on. Once both his hands were covered, Izuku extended one of his own. Tenko shakily accepted the hand, pulling away quickly when contact was made only to realize no damage was done.
He looked up at Izuku, mildly awed, and Izuku’s responding smile was real. “See? I’m okay, I didn’t disappear.” At this revolation, Tenko untensed. More tears welled up in his eyes and he sobbed, but Izuku caught the relief in his voice.
“My- My fami-“ He gasped, “They all- They’re all gone… It was- It was my fault! I touched them and they-“ Tenko stuttered out before stopping, opting to cover his face in his hands as he cried.
The boy cried silently, Izuku noticed.
“It wasn’t your fault Tenko, you didn’t do it on purpose,” Izuku reasoned, already knowing the story. His hands fluttered around the boy, not wanting to touch him and startle him but not knowing how to comfort outside of a hug.
“It was,” Tenko rasped, voice hoarse, “Mon, Hana, Mom… I didn’t mean to hurt them but I did. “I killed-“
He couldn’t finish his sentence before another round of sobs wracked his body. Izuku pointedly did not think about how Tenko’s father didn’t make the list of accidental manslaughter.
“No Tenko, you didn’t do anything wrong. There was nothing you could have done, it was a horrible accident,” Izuku said, tone certain and leaving no room for argument. As if he was simply stating the grass was green and the sky was blue. “It was absolutely not your fault.”
Tenko simply cried harder.
Izuku let him. He knew that sometimes crying was all you could do. Eventually, Tenko’s tears ran dry and he wiped his hand over his face, sniffling. Izuku opened his arms wide, “Can I give you a hug?”
Tenko hesitated, but Izuku didn’t retract his invitation, giving the boy time to think. Slowly, with his hands firm to his own chest despite the protection of the gloves, Tenko came to him. The tear tracks slicing lines through his dirty, blood stained cheeks was a sour sight, Izuku thought that no child should have to look like that.
When Tenko was in reach, he wrapped his arms around the boy carefully. Tenko leaned into him and Izuku held him there. “Is it alright if I pick you up, Tenko?” He asked. The boy nodded and Izuku stood, hoisting him up so he was secure on his hip.
As Izuku left the alley, trying to blend in with the crowd as much as possible he heard a quiet whisper, “Thank you.”
Izuku smiled and held him tighter.