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“Can you come spend the week here?” Tenya’s voice is tinny over the bluetooth in Tensei’s helmet speaker.
“Um,” Tensei starts. When his secretary told him his brother was calling and it was urgent, this wasn’t what Tensei was expecting. “Sure?”
There’s a pause, Tenya’s heavy kid breathing the only thing in Tensei’s ears. “I’m worried about Izuku.”
Tensei curses in his mind, stepping off the sidewalk to rest by a building. His patrol can wait for a couple of minutes.
“Yeah?” He prompts, hoping Tenya will pick up the thread.
Tenya does. “I don’t think he’s sleeping, but he won’t talk to Mama or me about it.”
Izuku has never been a good sleeper, but he’d gotten better in the two years since the Iida’s had adopted him. Still, it worries Tenya that Izuku, only eight years old, is a chronic insomniac. Maybe a change of scenery could help?
“What if I did you one better?” Tensei says, and he can hear Tensei’s answering smile.
The Iida family cabin is a small, two-bedroom affair in the Japanese countryside. Tensei spent many summers here before Tenya and Tensaku were born with his two little brothers —Tengo, and Tenka—and his parents, running amok in the woods and swimming in the lake and, generally, being a kid. He’s hoping Izuku and Tenya get something out of it.
His mother had been skeptical about Tensei taking Izuku and Tenya here by himself. “Just don’t run yourself into the ground for those boys.”
Tenya had remembered how exhausted his parents had been, three boys to mind and another on the way, the last summer they’d been here.
But he’s hoping that same kind of exhaustion— tired from play and sun and an abundance of good food and family—will let Izuku finally sleep. Tenya had underplayed how tired Izuku was. He’d been quiet in the car, reading a book with narrowed eyes, as if his head hurt. Tensei had only managed to get a few words out of the kid before he felt too bad about badgering him.
Even now, as Tenya runs around the cabin, flinging his duffle down on his preferred bunk, and sorting through the video games in the old tv console, Izuku is just sitting on the couch, eyes a million miles away.
Tensei places a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, and his worry rekindles deep in his gut as Izuku just blinks up at him.
“Do you boys want to explore a but while I get dinner on?”
Tenya hops up from where he’s crouched on the carpet. “Yes!” His eyes flick warily to Izuku. “Uh, that’s if you’re up for it?”
Izuku’s eyes brighten a little. “Yeah,” he says, mouth quirked up in a tiny smile.
Tensei lets them disappear outside, ignoring the pang in his chest when they get out of sight. He doesn’t know how his mom does it, how she can handle five boys—six with Izuku—running out in the world, outside of her reach. How she doesn’t go insane with worry. Tensei goes insane with worry, being the eldest. But two of his brothers are full grown adults with real, non-hero jobs, and Tensaku is studying at an American boarding school that feeds into the Ivy’s. Only Tenya and Izuku want to be heroes, only they are still kids, fragile and vulnerable in a way that makes Tensei want to keep a tracker in their clothes at all times.
Tensei distracts himself by making fried rice. It’s not a hard meal, but it takes most of his attention to make sure the eggs don’t overcook and the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the wok. He’s just pulling it off the stove when Tenya and Izuku come back in. They’re sweating, and both have mud splatters on their legs. Tensei doesn’t have to tell them to take off their shoes, both of them putting on the house slippers and going to wash their hands.
Tensei has to hand it to his mother, she knows how to raise kids.
“Izuku can you get the bowls? They’re in the cabinet by the fridge.”
Izuku does as he asked, grabbing three glazed ramen bowls in a deep green. Tenya grabs the chopsticks from the utensil drawer, and Tensei does the tedious affair of dragging the giant wok over to the table, careful not to bump anything with the hot pan.
Done, the three of them settle down to the meal. Tenya rattles off what he and Izuku got up to in the hour or so Tensei was cooking. It sounds like the path down to the lake is still maintained, and they’d taken turns catching and releasing pond frogs.
“Do you think Mama would let me keep one?” Tenya asks, and Tensei has to hide his smile behind his bowl.
“No,” Tensei says, failing to smother the laughter in his tone. “And she’d kill me for letting you bring it back with you.”
Tenya pouts, before launching into several questions about their plans for tomorrow. Tensei fields them easily, not missing the way Izuku is pushing his rice around in his bowl instead of eating it. He looks exhausted, deep bags ringing his unusually dull green eyes. Tensei fights a sigh, knowing that the whole point of this trip is to try and fix that and they just got here. It's too soon for Izuku to be better already.
Still, he hopes to bully them into an early bedtime. Tensei is exhausted just from the drive, and he suspects Tenya’s excitement will let up soon into an early sleepiness, if the yawns that break up Tenya’s chatter are any indication. After dinner, Tensei sends Izuku and Tenya to go take baths, while he tackles the dishes. The sun is starting to set, and Tensei lets himself zone out to the hum of cicadas as he scrubs the bowls and chopsticks. He has the windows open, pleased by the sweet-breeze that blows in the window.
As much as Tensei loves being a hero, he does miss having this kind of time to himself. Time away from Hosu, away from the city and all its responsibilities.
He’s just finishing up with the wok when Izuku appears in the kitchen. His hair is damp from the bath, skin dewy and flushed. Tensei smiles at him, opening his arms for Izuku to nestle into his chest. He hugs Izuku tightly, picking him up and spinning them bodily around. Izuku laughs through it all, the sound like tinkling bells.
“How you doing, kiddo?” Tensei asks, after he’s put Izuku down.
Izuku’s grabbed a towel to dry off the dishes, and he bites into his lip at the question.
Tensei waits him out, using the other dish towel to dry the wok down and put it back under the stove. Izuku is rubbing intently at the bottom of the ramen bowl, even though Tensei is sure it’s already dry.
“I’m worried about sleeping in the same room as Tenya,” Izuku admits.
Tensei folds himself into a chair at the table, and Izuku takes his lead. His hands, now free from dish-duty, twist the hem of his shirt up and down in a nervous cycle. Tensei tries to keep his face open, even as that familiar worry — bright like burning coals in the center of his chest—sparks back to life.
“Why is that?” It’s Tensei’s most neutral tone, and it seems to work because Izuku’s keeping eye contact with him.
“I-I keep having…nightmares.”
“Oh, kid.” Tensei can’t help the concern that effuses the words, and Izuku winces.
Tensei is not unused to Izuku’s nightmares. He’d found the kid in an alley for All Might’s sake. But they’d seemed to go away for the most part after several months of therapy. He wonders if there’s something that’s brought them back around, or if this is just part of the cycle of healing.
“I don’t really remember them, but I wake up and I can’t fall back asleep. I don’t want to wake Tenya up, if that happens.”
Tensei’s heart, already too fragile, breaks a little further. He’s seen enough during his tenure as a hero to know that the world is far from ideal. But Izuku’s story, the things he’s had to live through—and Tensei doesn’t even know the full extent of the abuse Izuku’s been through—reminds him how deeply flawed it is.
“Would it make you feel better if you slept in my bed?” Tensei asks. He’s shared a bed with Tenya before, and with Izuku too, in the couple of days Izuku stayed at his one bedroom apartment before Detective Tsukauchi gave the go-ahead for Tensei’s mom to take Izuku in. He’s more than happy to lose a little sleep if it makes Izuku feel better.
Izuku’s frozen in his seat, spine so straight Tensei is surprised the kid doesn’t creak when he drops his head to draw circles on the surface of the table. “Um,” Izuku’s voice is very small, “you wouldn’t mind?”
Tensei reaches out take Izuku’s hand, and Izuku’s eyes are watery as they swing to look up at him. “To have a sleepover with the coolest kid I know--well, tied with Tensei--no, I wouldn't mind at all.”
Tensei isn’t sure that he’s handling this right. There’s a reason he begged his mom to take in Izuku instead of trying to raise the kid by himself, but he must not be messing it up too badly, because Izuku smiles and agrees to have a sleepover in Tensei’s room.
He sends Izuku to move his pillow and All Might plushie into the master bedroom while he talks to Tenya about the plan.
“Do you think—” Tenya muses with a maturity far beyond his years that makes Tensei want to cry— “that you can make Izuku better?”
Tensei takes in a breath he hopes isn’t too shaky. “I’m going to try. And, hey, you did the right thing by telling me about Izuku. We’re going to work on it, together, okay?”
Tenya nods and then yawns. His eyes are drooping. Tensei pushes him under the covers, tucking him in too tightly just so he can hear Tenya laugh through a complaint.
“Goodnight, Tenya,” Tensei says.
Tenya blinks up at him, his voice already slurring with sleep as he tells Tensei goodnight back.
Izuku’s already asleep when Tensei enters his bedroom. Apparently, he’d only gotten one sock off before he dropped off, half-draped on the bed. Tensei takes a couple of photos to send to his mother, before kneeling to finish taking Izuku’s socks off and repositioning the kid so he’s actually asleep on his side of the bed.
It’s still a little early, so Tensei gets himself ready for sleep and then reads a little of the paperback he brought with him, sitting up against the headboard. It’s probably a good thing he stayed away, because after about an hour Izuku’s breathing picks up and he flips from one side to the other.
“Izuku?” Tensei whispers.
Izuku is flushed, and his hair is a little sweaty when Tensei threads his hands through the curls. Izuku whines deep in his throat, gasping a little. Tensei keeps petting him.
“Izuku, hey, come on kid you gotta wake up.” His voice, while still quiet, is enough to rouse Izuku this time, and the kid shoots up with a strangled gasp. He’s trembling all over, limbs faintly shaking. Tensei pulls Izuku into his chest, rubbing one of his hands up and down Izuku’s back as he sobs lightly into the crook of Tensei’s neck.
“You’re okay, it was just a dream.”
It takes a while, but Izuku manages to fall back asleep in Tensei’s arms. It doesn’t look restful, in fact Izuku still seems semi-tortured, tossing and turning in the bed where Tensei has gently lowered him, but he’s not making any more of those horrible gasps, and Tensei supposes the rest is probably still good for him.
Still, by the morning Tensei has gotten next to no sleep and Izuku doesn’t look much better. Tensei hopes the lake trip they have planned might do something.
He’d sent Izuku back to the bunk room to get ready sometime around dawn, and he can hear Tenya chattering away about the weather from down the hallway. Tensei lets the kids chat and play while he packs a beach bag with sandwiches and drinks, an ungodly amount of bugspray and sunscreen, and a couple of books and a radio for himself.
“Tenseiiii,” Tenya sing-songs as they make the short trek down to the lake.
Tensei is struggling a little under the weight of the beach bag and the three camping chairs he’s trying to carry.
“Whaaaat?” Tensei replies, dragging the word out in an imitation of his brother.
Izuku giggles from beside them, and Tenya is happy to see the kid has a little more energy than yesterday.
“Will you play Kaiju with us in the lake?”
Tensei stares at Tenya, who is already starting to burn a little under the sun. He makes a mental note to slather both the boys in sunscreen the second they get to the lake. He hums lightly, pretending to think about Tenya’s question, like he isn’t going to give in the second that Tenya turns his puppy-dog eyes at him.
Kaiju is a game Tenya’s Dad invented as a way to basically get as much energy out of his over-exuberant children as possible. The goal is for the Kaiju, in this case Tensei, to stay standing as long as possible while the fighter pilots (the kids) climb all over them.
It is Tenya’s favorite game.
Tensei has waited a suitable amount of time to hit the annoying brother wall, because Tenya dramatically whines at him. “Please! I’ll even help you set up all the camping chairs.”
Tensei narrows his eyes at Tenya. “Because you weren’t going to do that already?”
They hit the small beach and Tensei thrusts a camping chair at each boy, still pretending to mull over the decision to play Kaiju. It works as intended, as Tenya gets his chair up in record time, setting down the beach towel under an umbrella they stick in the sand to create a homebase. He even digs around in the bag Tensei brought to fish out a couple of waters and press one diligently into Tensei’s hand, puppy-eyes dialed up to eleven.
“Okay,” Tenya breaks, laughing, “Yes, we can play Kaiju once you and Izuku put on some sunscreen.”
“Yes!” Tenya crows, dumping too much sunscreen into his palms and slapping the excess over Izuku.
Tensei rolls his eyes but helps Tenya rub sunscreen on his back before moving onto Izuku, who also seems excited about the process of knocking Tensei over in the water. As Tenya scouts out the best place to mount his attack against the Kaiju, Tensei takes the chance to check in with Izuku.
His swimtrunks, red, blue, and yellow like All Might’s costume, are a little loose around the kid’s waist. It reminds Tensei how scrawny the kid was when he picked him up a couple of years ago. At least now Tensei can no longer count Izuku’s rib bones, and the awful bruising has long since healed, even if the scars are still there. Tensei, for the millionth time, feels a great appreciation for his mother. She’d raised Tensei with so much love, and still has enough to extend to Izuku, whose lifetime quota needed catching up.
“How are feeling?” Tensei broaches.
Izuku is smiling fondly at Tenya, and he looks a little surprised at Tensei’s question. His cheeks turn a little pink, but he Tensei trusts that he’s answering honestly when he says, “I feel a lot better,” and then rocks Tensei’s world by continuing with: “Thank you for taking me and Tenya here, I’m having fun.”
Tensei is so overcome that he misses Izuku getting up to join Tenya in the water until they’re both yelling at him to come at them in all his monstrous kaiju glory. Tensei cracks his knuckles and laughs lowly in his throat. It’s time to show these kids just what a pro hero can do.
Tensei gives a valiant effort, but in the end, Izuku and Tenya succeed in knocking him over into the freezing lake water. He comes up sputtering and tackles Tenya, who shrieks with laughter before plugging his nose with one hand.
They play a few more rounds of Kaiju—Tensei takes turns tackling each boy under the water after he’s ‘defeated’--until it’s time for lunch and some sunscreen reapplication.
They trek, waterlogged, to the beach towels. Tensei directs Tenya and Izuku to dry off and smother on more sunscreen while he takes out the sandwiches and apple slices from his bag. He also plies the kids with more water and some juice boxes.
Izuku looks like he’s flagging as he slowly picks at his sandwich. Still, he looks happy. His cheeks are a little sun-burnt, despite Tensei’s best effort, but his eyes are sparkling and he’s colluding with Tenya about their next strategy to take down Tensei when they next play Kaiju.
Tensei will just keep an eye on them, unwilling to cut the day short. After lunch, Tensei lets the boys wander while he reads a bit more of his book.
Tenya and Izuku are gone for around a half an hour before trekking back, looking dead on their feet. Even Tenya, who has been sleeping more than Izuku and with less stress, is ready to drop. So Tensei packs everything back up and they walk tiredly back to the cabin, where he sets the boys up in the living room for a nap to avoid getting the bedsheets dirty. They can all shower later, for now, Tensei is just happy to let the kids sleep off the afternoon while he tidies the cabin of the clutter that’s already accumulated.
Again, how his mom does it, Tensei doesn’t know.
Izuku sleeps well through the nap, which is maybe why Tensei lets his guard down for the rest of the evening. They eat some instant ramen for dinner, and then play a couple of board games until its properly time for bed. Tenya goes to take a bath, leaving Izuku in the kitchen with Tensei as Tensei packs some more lunches for the morning and tries not to fall asleep on his feet.
“Can I help?” Izuku asks, when Tensei’s eyes are closed for a quick ‘rest’, halfway through filling a cooler with grape juice.
“Oh, uh.” Tensei stumbles over the words as his mind reboots. “Yes, can you grab the extra sunscreen from the mudroom?”
Izuku nods, and sets off. Tensei keeps an ear out, which is why he knows the exact moment that Izuku’s feet slow, and then fail him. He’s already running before the thud echoes across the cabin, shooting into the mudroom as Izuku is trying to push himself up on weak arms.
Tensei’s knees scream as he slams them into the carpet, heedless of the pain as he throws stabilizing hands on Izuku’s shoulders, levering him back down to lay flat.
“Let’s stay down for now,” Tensei says, his voice pointedly flat even as his heart threatens to leap right out of his throat.
“Okay,” Izuku says, voice thick with exhaustion. He shuts his eyes and Tensei grits his teeth against the nobadstayawake that rings out through his brain.
What if Izuku hit his head? But, Tensei doesn’t see any blood and, after prodding gently around Izuku’s scalp, he doesn’t feel any bumps or bruises. He’s pretty sure the exhaustion has just caught up with the kid, after all the running around they did today.
“Do you think you could make it to the couch with help?” Tensei asks, after some of color has returned to Izuku’s face. He’s still pale, but there is some pinkness to his lips and cheeks that weren’t there just a couple of minutes ago.
Izuku nods, and Tensei fights back the urge to insist Izuku speak to him. The kid’s eight, and Tensei doesn’t think he could stay calm while asking that. So he just scoops Izuku up and drags them to the living toom.
Tenya is still in the bath and Tensei thanks every god that Tenya wasn’t around to see this. Tensei doesn’t think he could handle Izuku passing out and Tenya panicking at the same time.
Izuku comes a little more awake now that he’s on the couch, finally opening his eyes and Tensei runs a soothing hand through his hair.
“Talk to me, kid.” Tensei pleads.
Izuku’s eyes swing to his, and he looks a little embarrassed under all the exhaustion. “I’m just tired.”
“What happened?” Tensei presses, keeping each word gentle. Radiating as much calm as he can.
“I got dizzy,” Izuku admits, biting at his lip. “And then I fell over.”
Okay, Tensei thinks, that’s okay. He’s pretty sure Izuku fainted, but considering how tired the kid is, that isn’t inherently dangerous. Tensei also remembers how little Izuku’s eaten the past two days, and wonders if that has come with the insomnia. He’ll do better at getting more calories into Izuku.
“We’ll do an early bedtime tonight, and see how you feel in the morning. I think we’re due for a movie day, tomorrow, what do you think?”
Izuku nods, rubbing some wetness from his eyes as his breathing hitches. Tensei pulls Izuku up into a hug, awkwardly shuffling the both of them so Tensei is on the couch with Izuku tucked up against his side.
“I don’t want to make Tenya mad,” Izuku says.
Tensei feels close to tears himself and he’s glad Izuku can’t see him where his face is smooshed into Tensei’s chest.
“I don’t think Tenya will mind. He looked beat today too. It’ll be a good rest day, for all of us.” Tensei says.
Izuku’s mostly calmed down, enough that when Tenya finally emerges from the bath, Tenya doesn't immediately panic. Instead, Tenya settles onto the carpet in front of the couch, clearly aware something happened, but trusting Tensei has it taken care of. These kids Tensei thinks, as his chest aches.
“Movie day tomorrow, Ten?” Tensei pitches.
Tenya, far too perceptive for his age, darts his gaze to Izuku and then back at Tensei’s waiting expression. “Sure,” he says. “Can we watch Godzilla?”
Tensei mock-groans. “Taunting the Kaiju, I see.”
It helps break some of the tension, and Izuku unfurls himself from Tensei’s side and crawls onto the ground next to Tenya, who pulls him into his own hug.
“Monster marathon tomorrow,” Tensei says, “then another beach day on Friday?”
Tenya nods, and Izuku, finally, cracks a smile as he agrees too. The tension Tensei’s been carrying around for an hour bleeds out of him and he yawns loudly, snickering a little as Izuku and Tenya follow suit.
He takes the opportunity to bully them all to bed. He has Izuku clean up with a rag in the bathroom, not trusting him to not fall asleep in the bath, and he has to carry Izuku to bed with how tired the kid is. It’s not all bad, their activities today and the fainting—not that Tensei will ever be able to be grateful for those few heart-stopping moments when Izuku had dropped out of his sight—have zapped all of Izuku’s energy. He’s out before Tensei even turns out the light, and, as Tensei blearily works his way through his book, his sleep is undisturbed by the nightmares Tensei saw last night.
Tensei lets himself pet Izuku’s hair gently as the kid sleeps, smiling fondly to himself. As much as he hates to see Izuku suffer, still, from whatever childhood he had before Tensei took him in, Tensei is profoundly grateful he can be there for him now.
That Izuku gets to have summers at the lake cabin and winter at their family ski lodge. Tenya’s there for Izuku as a best friend and basically twin brother. He’s got Tensei’s parents looking out for him and Tensei as an older brother, Tensei’s hero friends as Aunts and Uncles, and the kids at Tenya’s school to hang out with.
He’s got a good support system, and Tensei is sure that these nightmares will just be a blip. A bump in the road they can get through. If Tensei needs to plan movie nights, if Tensei needs to take time off as Ingenium, if Tensei needs to be there for Izuku and his brother, he’ll do it.
Izuku deserves it.