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Izuku is almost twelve when his cousin comes to live with them.
He doesn't pay much attention at first, ignoring the whispered conversation by the front doors. The report on a recent hero fight held most of his attention.
But then his mom enters the room and says-
"Izuku, dear, can you set up the guest futon?" When he glances back at her, she's wringing her hands nervously, a small, blackhaired boy standing at her side. She pats him on the head, and the boy brings his shoulders up just a tiny bit higher. "This is your cousin, Tamaki. He'll be staying with us for a while."
"Okay!" Izuku closes his notebook but leaves it behind for now. Approaching the boy, he offers him a hand with a smile.
Tamaki hides his arms behind his back instead. Izuku notices the bandage around the wrists, and figures that's fair enough.
He chatters about the hero fight he just saw as he leads Tamaki to his room. The boy clutches his backpack as he perches on the edge of Izuku's bed, watching as he sets up the futon.
Tamaki says nothing then, even when Izuku asks questions - "who's your favourite hero? do you wanna play figurines? how long are you going to stay?" - and Izuku doesn't know it yet, but Tamaki won't say a word for weeks still.
Izuku doesn't know what Tamaki does all day, other than the fact that he doesn't attend school for the last few weeks. He lived a prefecture over, before. It makes sense to wait until the start of another school year.
The holidays pass in silence broken only by Izuku's monologues and his mom's responses.
He can't help but wonder why Tamaki refuses to speak. His quirk, perhaps? Izuku's not sure what it is, and he has no guesses, other than the certainty that Tamaki does have a quirk. Mom would have told him if they had that in common.
The bandages never leave Tamaki's wrists, either, even long after whatever they hid should have already healed.
Izuku doesn't ask about it, just like Tamaki doesn't ask about his scorched uniform and other miscellaneous wounds that litter his skin every day. He can feel the silent gaze on the injury du jour every time, though. Gathering the wherewithal to ask.
It boils over the day after school lets out. Tamaki straightens at dinner, knocking on the table to ask for attention.
Izuku trails off on his story, and mom looks towards Tamaki with hope in her eyes.
Tamaki clears his throat, opens his mouth. All that comes out is a raspy squeak at first. His third try is more succesful.
"Can... Izuku... come to school... with me?" He asks, voice a whisper.
"Of course!" Mom agrees without hesitation, even though Izuku knows the logistics are going to be difficult. He was going to attend Aldera Middle, a sister school to the primary he attended, while Tamaki's parents were arranging to have him attend a better school, one that would need a bus ride for them to reach.
Izuku doesn't mind the change. He doesn't mind departing from his classmates. He feels a bit sad about not being able to see Kacchan in class, but they could always visit the Bakugous' in free time.
He does ask about it, later, as both him and Tamaki lay in their beds - Tamaki's parents brought him more than his small rucksack after that first week of his stay - the All Might-themed nightlight leaving long shadows around the room.
"Why did you want me to go to school with you?" Izuku asks, head turned towards his cousin.
He doesn't expect an answer. He gets one anyway.
"Because... they hurt... you," Tamaki whispers. Izuku can see him fold his arms, hands covering the bandages of opposing wrists. "I... don't want... you to... be hurt."
Tears well in Izuku's eyes. Before he can really think about it, he jumps out of bed, moving towards Tamaki. He doesn't dare hug the boy - Tamaki doesn't seem much fond of physical contact - but he kneels by his bed, laying head down on the edge of the mattres.
"Is that what happened to you?" He asks in a whisper, barely audible. He's looking away, too, so that Tamaki can ignore him if he likes.
"In... a way," Tamaki responds anyway. "I just... wanted... a reprieve... from it. I didn't... mean..." He trails off, changing his track. "I don't... want... you... to try... what I did..."
"Thank you," Izuku tells him. For sharing that. For wanting to bring him along. For noticing the need to. For caring. "That's very hero-like of you."
Tamaki doesn't respond to that. Izuku thinks he might have fallen asleep, that the conversation is over now. He almost starts to get up to return to his bed when a hand moves to rest on top of his head, petting through his hair.
"Wanna... Know... A secret?"
"Of course!"
"I... want to... become... a real hero..."
Izuku straightens out at that, looking at Tamaki with shining eyes. "You can do it!" He tells him. "I believe in you!"
Tamaki averts his eyes, but his hand never leaves Izuku's hair.
After a moment, he raises his blanket: an invitation. Izuku accepts instantly, crawling into the bed but leaving a fair amount of space betweem them.
"To me," he whispers to Tamaki. "You're already a hero."
