Izuku felt the tile of the bathroom floor kiss his cheek coldly. He wanted to leave, to forget everything that happened, but he knew he would never get those images out of his head. He knew he looked pathetic. He felt pathetic. He tried to urge his body to do something... anything, but he couldn't even will his hands to move. He couldn't do anything more than lay there on the ground, feeling the floor sap the heat from his body.
He couldn't even force tears from his eyes. His throat was hoarse, and he quietly rasped in and out. All he could do was stay there and wait as an eventual and sudden rush of nervous energy seized his body, forcing him to convulse into a fetal position and shake uncontrollably.
The green-haired boy felt his stomach twist and turn, screaming at the boy that he needed to empty its contents in the nearby toilet. His body instinctually clamored over to the porcelain furniture, as he weakly grasped the rim. He tried to vomit, but as all the times before, he couldn't force anything out. He had already emptied his stomach long ago. However, the boy's abdomen wasn't convinced. He couldn't help but try to purge, despite nothing coming out.
The boy heard a quiet sigh on the other side of the bathroom door. He knew Kurogiri was there, but the man did not speak to the boy. Izuku had locked the door long ago, and the bartender made no attempt to break in and get the boy.
Izuku grunted as he fell back to the floor. He couldn't get the memories out of his head. The look as the man who chased after him with a knife and a savage grin on his face. His breath that smelled of rot and decay as he grabbed Izuku by the collar and forced him to a wall. The laughter as the man covered the boy's mouth and dragged him into an alley so remote no one would find them. The taste of the knife as it was placed on Izuku's tongue. The feeling of blood spattering on Izuku's face as a small air blast opened a hole in the man's stomach-
Izuku fell into another panic spell, curling up as he shook violently. His hands weren't sure as to whether they should clutch at his stomach or head, and so they just wavered between the two. Izuku gritted his teeth as he weakly gasped in air.
The boy vaguely heard the sound of a warp gate opening up in the bathroom. He didn't react at all.
He felt himself getting lifted up in Kurogiri's arms, who unlocked the bathroom door and exited. Izuku could barely recognize the back room of the bar. The two travelled up the stairs to the upper floor, where the entrance opened into a spacious, albeit sparse bedroom. A twin sized bed was placed in the corner, with thin sheets and a blanket. Kurogiri lightly placed the boy down, before walking away and bringing back a chair. Kurogiri sat next to the bed, watching the boy. Whenever he would seize up, the bartender would just rub the boy's back until he calmed down and his breathing relaxed from strained hiccups into steady but shaky breaths.
Once Izuku had been calmed, Kurogiri reached into the boy's pocket and pulled out his phone. He tapped around for a moment, before the phone buzzed, indicating that a text message had arrived. The bartender sighed in relief, before tapping on the phone for just a little longer before putting it in silent mode and placing it on a small nightstand nearby.
Izuku wanted to force himself to go home. His mom would worry about him. But he still remained as still as a statue. He felt fatigue pull at the corner of his eyes. He wanted to stay awake, but it stung to keep his eyes open and he knew he wouldn't last long. Kurogiri quietly rubbed his hand through the boy's hair, calming him down and coaxing the boy into a deep sleep.
It wasn't long until the bartender heard the front door to the bar open and close. Tomura walked up the stairs, looking at the scene in front of him. Before the teen could open his mouth, Kurogiri put his finger to the place where his mouth should have been. The other villain nodded.
Kurogiri tentatively stood up, motioning for Tomura to walk down the stairs with him. As they walked into the main bar, the bartender spoke in a hushed whisper.
"I take it everything has been disposed of?"
Tomura nodded. "Body, clothes, and weapon. All disintegrated. He didn't carry any notable loot on him."
"Midoriya is staying the night. I talked to his mother and she is fine with it. I need to leave to get groceries."
"But you just bought stuff yesterday." Tomura replied, confused. "You even got some of Izuku's favorite snacks."
"I know. But what happened today... I'm going to get something blander."
The teen raised an eyebrow.
Kurogiri continued. "When you're in a state like that... you don't eat things you like. Flavors change. He'll just end up hating what he used to think his favorites were. I know it sounds counterintuitive but when you can't enjoy things you liked before... it makes things much worse."
The bartender opened the front door. Before he left, he turned around, saying "Please watch over Midoriya while I'm gone. Being alone is the worst thing for him right now."
Tomura walked back up the stairs, sitting down in the chair that Kurogiri was on just a moment ago. He stared down at the boy, unsure of what to think. He'd seen Izuku take naps in the bar occasionally, but the expression on his face was nothing like it was now. Back then it was serene, with the boy's lips curled into an ever so slight smile. This time, he looked almost dead. All of the muscles in the boy's face looked as if they sagged slightly with gravity. Tomura realized how much he hated how this face looked on Izuku.
Almost immediately after this thought, the teen jumped as the boy gasped awake, curling himself into a ball once more. Tomura reached out his hand... but pulled it back. He wasn't wearing his gloves. He'd just hurt the boy further. He remembered placing them down next to the console at the bar.
As Tomura stood up to get it, he felt something almost immediately pull himself back down onto the chair. Looking at the disturbance, he realized it was two fists desperately clutching onto his shirt. He traced the arms back to the sobbing body of the boy in the bed. He was looking down, refusing to look at the older villain. The fists clenched even tighter onto Tomura's shirt. Izuku pulled hard, using the leverage to crawl out from under the covers and onto the teen's lap. The green-haired boy buried his face into the other's stomach, pulling tightly as if to try to force as much of his body onto the older villain's lap as possible.
Izuku kept gasping for air, with Tomura unsure of how to deal with this. After a while, he settled with petting the younger boy's head, making sure not to touch him with all five fingers.
It seemed to do the trick, with Izuku's breathing slowing down and regaining composure. After a while, all Tomura could hear were the shallow breaths of a sleeping Midoriya.
They stayed like this all night, with Shigaraki watching as the boy in his lap would wake up to an episode. When dawn broke, the two were woken up gently by Kurogiri, who presented the boy with a bowl of oatmeal with a small drizzle of honey. Izuku slowly ate it, staring blankly at the meal. Neither villain spoke for a while.
The bartender was the first one to talk.
"I called your school. I told them you weren't feeling well and that you were staying home. Your mom won't receive a call about this, so you have the whole day to spend here."
Izuku slowly nodded.
Kurogiri continued, slowly. "How are you feeling, Midoriya?"
The boy tensed up slightly, feeling a whine build in his throat. Kurogiri reached over and rubbed circles into the boy's back.
"It's okay... we're here for you."
The boy opened his mouth, weakly replying. "I..." he trailed off. "I feel weird."
Kurogiri nodded. "That's normal. Can you explain how you feel?"
Izuku slowly nodded. "It's... all cold. My stomach... it's like its doing flips. My..." He cut himself off, clutching his shorts in an iron grip. "My chest feels empty."
He clenched his eyes shut, trying his best to fight the nervous energy screaming at him to curl up and shut himself off from the world. Tears began to well up at the corners of his eyes as he began to hiccup once more.
Kurogiri continued rubbing the boy's back, quietly telling him that everything was okay.
"He ju-just dropped! His eyes... Hi-hi-his eyes looked like a fi-fish! I..." The boy covered his mouth, as tears streamed down his face. "I killed him!"
Izuku broke into sobs again, as Kurogiri and Tomura watched.
"It's okay..." Kurogiri spoke softly, "Let it all out, Midoriya."
After he had calmed down, Izuku barely spoke again. He at least managed to pull himself out of the bed and around the bar. Tomura sat in one of the booths for the majority of the day, with Izuku sitting right next to him, usually leaning directly onto the teen's side. Tomura seemed a little uncomfortable by the constant contact that the boy desired, but instead of moving away he swallowed his discomfort and gave the boy all the attention he wanted.
When dusk began to settle in, everyone knew what it meant. Izuku couldn't just ask to stay another night, his mom would get too worried. As he stood next to the door, Kurogiri leaned down to speak to him at eye level.
"Midoriya, if you can't force yourself to act as you normally would, then just tell your mother you aren't feeling well and head into your room. If you want, I can call you in sick again and you can spend all of tomorrow here again. Make sure you eat enough food, I don't want you to starve yourself, okay?"
Izuku weakly nodded. Kurogiri opened the door and the boy wordlessly left.
After some time, the TV next to the bar flickered to life. The familiar voice of Sensei reverberated through the room.
"I see Izuku has learned what it means to end someone's life." Sensei calmly noted.
Kurogiri nodded. "It is unfortunate that it was so unexpected, Midoriya will likely need a lot of time to recover from this. Did you ever find out who it was?"
"Yes. A search through the police's database reveals two other kids in the last year who were found dead in Musutafa City in similar circumstances as Izuku's. They were dragged into an alley and stabbed repeatedly. Both were found a few days after their deaths discarded in dumpsters. No official name was given to the killer."
"Then Midoriya was very unlucky yesterday."
"I would say the killer was the unlucky one. Are you concerned about Izuku's recovery?"
Kurogiri shook his head. "As long as he is cared for, he'll likely recover. Of course, it will be unlikely that he'll remain exactly as he once was. But that's an unreasonable expectation for anyone, let alone a fourteen year old child."
Sensei paused for a moment, before responding, "You know, you weren't so different when you killed for the first time."
Kurogiri walked behind the bar, mindlessly polishing some of the highball glasses. "I know."
The two didn't speak for some time, silence weighing heavily in the air.
Finally, the bartender spoke up again. "I'm going to take some of the treasury funds to re-upholster the furniture down here. The booths are a pain to sleep in."
A/N: Hey, everyone! Sorry for the late upload. I've been working through some issues and I found it really hard to get myself to start writing. That being said, the moment I started, I couldn't stop!
Again, I want to thank everyone for their support and comments. I know I sound like a broken record but you guys really don't know how much it helps me knowing that there are people who legitimately enjoy what I do. I hope everyone has a great day, wherever you are!