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the19thduckpotato · 4 years

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The Ties That Bind Part 4 (MHA Fanfic)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

In which Tsukauchi arrives and there are consequences.

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Izuku felt Toshinori's bangs come down to tickle his shoulders, and knew he was hanging his head. He tightened his arms around his mentor a little more, whispering, "You're the best person I've ever known...." Before, or after this? The sinister voice was back. Both. He answered firmly, standing up against the sneaking thread of doubt. You Are Wrong. I don't care what mistakes he's made, I love him and I trust him. Even if they're dead? What happens the next time you fight a villain? What happens if you die? Nothing would be safe. Yeah, well... nothing's safe from me, either, if I flipped my lid. Izuku's face was grim, hidden against Toshinori's chest. I'd say I'm in pretty good company. ...Heh. He's better than I am, anyway. If I could be a tenth of what you are, All Might... I'd be so happy. He hugged tighter, rocking back and forth a little. I wish you knew, I wish you could see....

Are you certain he knows? Who could ever witness what he did and still think that? "Fanboy," he chuckled in a strained voice.

"Maybe." A tiny twitch of the mouth. "But I'm right. I know it." His voice was soft and confident. He lifted his head and looked up at his mentor. Still his hero. Always his family. I don't have to like what happened. But I love him more than any of that. And I'm more than a fanboy. He almost wanted to take it back, to shout the thought into submission for daring to claim something so great as his own. But he persisted. It's just... true. I've been given a place here, and I will never leave it. Leave? What does that have to do with anything, you were never going to do that! Well I know, I just meant like... this is forever. Or as long as he wants it, I guess... but he doesn't seem to wanna change his mind anytime soon.

In response, one arm wrapped around the boy, long fingers resting in his hair. "Izuku..." There's so much I need to say and explain and to make up for so you never repeat my mistakes. He hesitantly raised his other hand, to fold his kid in his arms, protect him, even with these hands, to tell him everything. Then his phone hummed softly and he dropped his second hand to fish it out. Tsukauchi. What timing.... "Ok kiddo," he said, guiding Izuku back to his bed once more. "Eat up, rest up, I'll be back later."

When the phone buzzed, Izuku had startled a bit, but he followed Toshinori's guiding and laid back down, relaxing a bit as he leaned back into the pillow. He quickly glanced at the phone's caller ID as Toshinori pulled it out of his pocket. Ah. Tsukauchi. His brain ticked the "Safe" checkbox, and he relaxed further. Ah-- Officer Tsukauchi, I mean. No-- Detective-- wait, do I call him Detective Tsukauchi?? Is that his last name, or his first--? Which is it, oh dear.... He slipped into a stream of confused and dazed wondering, completely forgetting that he didn't need to know just then... and also that he could probably ask Toshinori in a few minutes anyway. His eyes blinked lower and lower, One for All coming back strong again, pulling him back into sleep as he watched Toshinori answer the phone and shut the door. He closed his eyes. I'll just... doze lightly for a minute....

"Over here." Tsukauchi waved Toshinori over to the room the officer stood in front of. "I can give you five minutes. Any more and it starts to look suspicious, even for All Might." Toshinori nodded. "I understand." Tsukauchi caught his friend's hand as it reached for the door. "Before we get started, I just want you to know they're expected to make a good recovery. The thug you hit--" Toshi winced. Tsukauchi, ever the blunt one. He must have noticed because his face pinked but still, he plowed on. "Fortunately, he has a Quirk called Putty. His body is pliable and can be manipulated quite easily so don’t be too alarmed by what you see." At that, Toshi shoved the door open...then stopped short at what he saw. The first man was slumped in a chair, mostly intact other than a few bandages and one bruise. His buddy in the bed was another story. His face was covered with multiple bandages straining to keep his skin together. Blood oozed here and there between sickly colored bruises and swellings. The imprint of All Might's fist was sunk a quarter of the way into the man's face. Like some horrible cartoon physics brought to life, his jaw jutted out to one side. His face was shifted to echo the impact; there were even one or two knuckle dents on the opposite side of his head. Toshi paled and Tsukauchi caught his arm. "I warned you," the cop whispered. "Trust me, he looked a lot worse an hour ago." "Whoff dere?" the bedridden man asked. His friend glanced up at their visitors then jumped from his chair. "Officer, please, don't bring him here! I swear we've told you everything!" "Sit down," Tsukauchi ordered. "If I was going to interrogate you, we'd be down at the station, not here. Instead, All Might has graciously allowed you to--" The bedridden gave a muffled screech of panic as one of his eyes rolled in Toshinori's direction. "NNHH!! NNHHH!!" He tried to roll to the opposite side of his bed. "FREEZE!" Tsukauchi barked and both men complied immediately. The man in the chair trembled, arms over his head protectively. The bedridden man gave a low wail, knowing he couldn't defend himself. The looks of sheer terror froze Toshi's heart. It was one thing if he had been acting within reasonable bounds but this? Not like this... Toshi remained where he was, his reaction lost in the shadows of his face. Tsukauchi glanced at Toshinori then at the other two. "All Might has something he wishes to say." "No, please!" The man in the chair squirmed. "Please, make him go away! Or better yet--" He thrust his wrists out. "Lock me up right now! I'll go willingly, I'll be good, I swear, just--" He tried to look at Toshinori for a moment, the lanky skeleton hiding a demonic giant, what a Quirk, how stupid he had been-- Toshinori met his eyes and the man quailed in his chair. "--please dont make me talk to him." Toshi's mouth parted in faint shock and Tsukauchi felt his friend's hand grip his sleeve. Not good. This is hurting his spirit. "C'mon, friend," he murmured to Toshi. "I've heard all I need to." "No." The single word dangled in the air. The sitting man still shook in his chair, the bedridden man softly whimpering. "Let me apologize." A pause. "Please." "S-sir," the sitting man sputtered. "We were absolutely in th-the wrong, we-we had no business doing w-what we d-d-did--" He whined as Toshinori took a step toward. "Please I'm begging you, make him leave and we'll never breathe a word of this to anyone, I swear it!!" The bedridden hooted his agreement, trying to roll to the opposite side of the bed again. "All right, you boys wait here a moment," Tsukauchi replied as he escorted Toshi from the room. Behind him, both thugs slumped in relief. Tsukauchi grinned. "I should have you work more interrogations with me." Beside him, Toshi made a noise that caused Tsukauchi to put a hand out. "Too soon? I'm just trying to lighten the mood." "Those men..." "Like I said, they're healing just fine." "They shouldn't have ended up there." "Yeah, well, they shouldn't have been breaking the law, either." Toshi frowned at his friend. "I overreacted and they suffered for it." Tsukauchi furrowed his brow back. "Well it's a good thing All Might was out of practice, then." The blond whirled on Tsukauchi, one hand gesturing back at the room. "What if he hadn't had that Quirk? That could have been so much worse!" And the cop patiently stood his ground, staring back at his friend. "You're right. It could have. But it wasn't. Thank the heavens for that and move on. You've done all you can do." "But..." Toshi looked down at his hands. "I know. It's not the answer you want." Tsukauchi sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "But it's the one you're going to get. You have to make peace with that." He reached up and squeezed Toshi's shoulder. "How about you go back to your kid?" Toshi jumped guiltily at that and Tsukauchi half smiled. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Hey," he added. "He's a great kid. You should be proud." "Yeah. He is. He really is." They walked back to Izuku's room in companionable silence. "See you soon, All Might. Hope he gets better quick." The cop waved and strode down the hallway, leaving Toshi alone with his thoughts.

Izuku floated in the dark haze of hibernation once again. He was vaguely aware of a murmuring voice somewhere outside... outside where? Outside... him? Somewhere Else.... Sad voice. Something bad happened. I know. Sleep. Just sleep, Izuku. Okay? Noooo.... He whined, arguing with himself in his mind. I don' wanna.... Why? Dunno. Just don't.

Toshi stood outside Izuku's room. The absolute fear on the thugs' faces burned into his memory. "--please dont make me talk to him!!" With a soft groan, the former Symbol of Peace rested his forehead against the door.

What... was that noise...? Izuku started to breathe faster, his eyes twitching slightly. Wake up.... I wanna wake up.... His heartbeat sped up, and One for All seemed to increase with it, the prickling energy under his skin growing stronger.

Maybe I should just go home. Let him rest. Yeah...

The prickling energy of One for All was almost burning him... it was definitely burning. A low noise escaped from Izuku's throat. "Nnnnnhhhh.h......"

His head rose at the sound from within and he pressed his palm against the door-- Izuku And then the screaming, oh God, the screaming His breath drew short and he stepped back from the door. Yeah, home. I cant hurt anyone there. ...You promised to never leave him, remember? You promised. He sighed. "I'll just check on him, then," he told himself. "If he's asleep, then I'll just come back later." So saying, he pushed the door open and peeked his head in.

Izuku's breathing was fast and heavy, and he shifted uncomfortably, wanting to wake up but trapped in One for All's healing state. He made a tiny noise. All Might... come back... please come back, where are you? Is that you outside? WakeupwakeupWAKEUPIzuku-- what's happening, please let me wake up-- He whimpered, eyes seeming to be glued shut, his thoughts spinning and loud. Help me, please--

Asleep. All right, let's get out of here and-- Something seemed wrong. He didn't like the way Izuku was breathing, the way he thrashed in his sleep. In one step, he was back in the room; two more found him at Izuku's side. "Hey kid," he whispered, brushing back green hair damp with sweat, that cant be right

Izuku’s eyes opened at the cool touch of Toshinori’s hand, but his vision was blurry and unfocused. One for All was still trying hard to pull him into a resting state, but Izuku was fighting harder even as his heavy, sticky eyes fell shut again. I don’t wanna sleep, I don’t— All Might! He belatedly realized. All Might, you’re here, you’re here! A wave of relief swept over him, and one shaky hand made its way to Toshinori’s arm and held on.

"There he is," Toshi chuckled. He pat Izuku's hand reassuringly. "But you should rest. Stop fighting One for All, it's only doing what's best for you."

Izuku made a sound somewhere between a pitiful whimper and a protesting whine. "Nooooo...." He frowned miserably, turning his head, pressing his face into Toshinori's hand. I don't want to... please, it hurts, I don't want to give in... it might get worse.... His burning skin seemed to throb with his heartbeat, every touch of the blankets, of his own limbs when he moved, even All Might's comforting hand felt too rough, too present, too... loud? But-- no, wrong word-- must be, touch isn't... loud.... One for All tried to drag him back to sleep even harder, and he pulled against it one last time, a small, exhausted sob bubbling up from within him as he tried to win a battle with himself he didn't even know why he was fighting.

"H-hey," Toshi stammered, wondering if he should fetch a doctor. "What's going on?" His free hand hovered, unsure what to do, fear mounting up again. Plus side, he told himself with dismal humor, there's no one for you to punch to "fix" things.

"Don'... don' wanna sleep...." Izuku's voice was weak and mumbly, almost more breathing than words. His entire being seemed to grow heavier the harder he fought.

"I'm right here. You're safe. You can sleep." His throat constricted in panic but he only showed Izuku a warm smile.

Izuku heard something off in Toshinori's voice, but the thought was quickly overwhelmed by the feeling of helplessness against his own quirk. He whimpered again, thoughts growing fuzzier.

His teacher knelt down and cupped one hand beside his mouth, toward Izuku's ear. "Hey," Toshi whispered almost conspiratorially at his kid. "I am here! ....to make sure you get taken care of, ok?" He winked and settled back. "You're safe." The two thugs How had they managed to Toshi's other hand dropped below Izuku's line of sight and curled into a fist. you could always go "visit" those two again His jaw clenched and he forced his fist back open. "Young Midoriya, what can I do to convince you to sleep?"

Izuku's inner dialogue had mostly devolved into wanting to cry, fuzziness taking over against all his efforts. He was scared. He didn't understand why, but he was scared. But.... He recalled a blurry version of Toshinori's reassurances. Maybe... maybe it's okay... to sleep.... ...why. why is it okay.... Fear still squirmed in his middle and One for All still pulled him ever deeper, but he forced his mouth open and whispered with clumsy, half asleep lips, "Please... please stay." His hand on Toshinori's arm, now completely limp, slipped off against his will. His last clear thought was a small, frightened Please don't leave

As his scarred hand slipped down to hit the mattress with a soft thud, Toshi's panic spiked. no no no NO no NO Breathe, he's sleeping he's fine calm DOWN STOP PANICKING He took a deep albeit very shaky breath, let it out slowly, burst into coughing, then checked Izuku to make sure he was sleeping. just down the hall Shut up, he snarled at that voice. I'm staying right here. As I've been asked. And for a tiny, frightened moment, he realized Izuku had just saved those mens' lives with his quiet plea.

As he was falling deeper and deeper into sleep, Izuku felt like the was plummeting through the air towards the golden mass of One for All. Falling. With no safety net. And no one that could catch him. His mind gave up a wordless cry of please help me And as he fell, his resistance disintegrating... the burning... eased. A cool peace slowly grew as he stopped fighting, his fears of future pain proving empty. He still fell... a small part of him still felt afraid... but it was closer to a normal, healthy drifting off. His mind-self closed his eyes too, and Izuku finally truly fell asleep. Toshi shifted in his chair, determined to keep vigil for as long as the hospital would allow. as long as those men are here, I will not let them near you you insisted they get medical attention He grimaced and shifted again. Felt his head buzzing a low grade, sleep deprived headache. Decided against laying his head on the bed. Stay awake He moved Izuku's hand to the kid's side and felt a ghostly prickle of One for All reaching out. Sleep. He pulled his hand back and the prickle disappeared. No more contact. I'm staying awake no matter what. to protect him He leaned back in the chair, still struggling to get comfortable and propped his head up on one arm. Watching Izuku and watching over Izuku.

((TBC))

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