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Grandma Lilia died last month.
Grandpa Sin'ichi.. He never really got over it. He was devastated. Though, one upside, is that Ryuu's quirk had manifested. It was just like Lilia's. Multi-jaw, a quirk that granted the user the misfortune of many mouths across the body. Ryuu hated it, but Sin'ichi loved it.
Too much, some would say.
"Ryuu, did I ever tell you how much you reminded me of your grandmother?" Sin'ichi smiled, his blue eyes staring down at the boy, who was no older than 6. "Really grandpa? Is it cause Grandma and me have the same quirk?" Ryuu grinned up at him. "Of course, you're so smart, my precious boy." The old man smiled, ruffling the little boy's hair. "And you know, seeing your grandmothers face again.. It makes me quite happy." The smile turned to one of greed. "Follow me, Ryuu. Noemi is napping, so let's hang out for a bit, yes?" Ryuu happily complied, following his grandpa to his room.
An hour went by, and nothing was the same after that.
As Ryuu was being put to bed that night, his grandpa leaned down and whispered, "Don't tell mom and dad, hm? You can keep making grandpa feel not so lonely if you do." Sin'ichi winked. Ryuu nodded. "Okay grandpa. I promise I won't." It was just grandpa loving him a lot, right? Grandpa just missed Grandma a lot, right? It was just grandpa doing regular family thing, so it was okay. That night, he went to sleep, thinking he did the right thing.
and this continued for weeks.
One day at school, a particularly cold day, where snow was just starting, Ryuu had been cornered outside by school bullies. They hated his quirk, thought it was horrifying and disgusting. Looking at it made them want to gag. So they had cornered him. They pinned him down into the snow, and shoved ice and whatever rocks they could find into his spare mouths. He kicked and cried, but he was too scrawny to fight back. So there he was, for nearly an hour or two, just being beaten up for looking different. When he walked home, he was covered in snow, and was bruised around his mouths. His grandpa saw, and patched him up. "Hey Ryuu, let grandpa cheer you up, okay?" And it soon happened again. And next time he was beat up, it would happen then as well. And again and again. It was to, "Cheer him up" after all.
A few years passed, and this routine became normal. Go to school, get made fun of, come back home, cheer up grandpa. monotonous. Though, it almost got better. He had made a friend. A close one. another boy the same age as him. Eleven, the both of them. At a moments notice, his grandpa forced him away from the friend. "Ryuu, you know you can't like other boys, right?" his grandpa scowled down at him. "But, I do like him! He's nice to me grandpa! I love him!" Sin'ichi's expression soon turned to anger. And that night was worse than others. Possibly the worst one. And just like that, he never once thought about defying his grandfather again. Never, again.
The bullying had gotten more intense, daily nurse's office visits. And one day, somewhere around the age of thirteen, everything just snapped. It was like he heard a rope in his mind, twist and fall apart from itself within the blink of an eye. His mouths started talking to him. "You're useless! Even grandfather thinks so!" The mouth on his neck berated him. "Oh gosh it'll all get worse! everything will just end!" The mouth on his stomach whispered in a hurried tone. Multiple voices, all at once, talking to him about everything he didn't want to hear. Some voices trying to persuade, some begging revenge, and some just screaming.
But then, they stopped. And one spoke calmly.
His hand went up to his forehead. "You know what grandfather is doing, isn't love. You know that and you still choose to endure. Even your sister can see this from a mile away. How pathetic you are." The voice spat out horrible, horrible words. His eyes stung with tears, and he curled up. He knew it wasn't love. He wasn't stupid. Atleast not anymore. But what choice did he have? He had nowhere else to go, so he was truly stuck exactly where he was. He cried into his pillow, hugging himself tightly. He gasped, as even trying to hold himself felt awful. He just sobbed, and all the voices started up again.
And so he just to ignore it. Just be positive. Be quiet and comply. Maybe if you don't give a reaction, the bullies will get bored. And if you just do what grandpa says, you'll be okay.
So he did. He pretended to not know. Pretended it was all okay. He sat in perfect silence, and just covered his mouths to not hear the voices. just don't think. Just do it. It's fine. Don't think. It's fine. He spent his days repeating this mantra, over and over in his head. And this continued, even into UA. The only thing that stopped was what his sick grandfather would do. And he was happy. Content. For the time being.