Disclaimer: I do not own Boku No Hero Academia.

CHAPTER VIII – NOT HIDING ANYMORE

Later that day, All Might found himself in his apartment, resting on his couch and casually zapping through the limitless number of television channels, not being able to think about anything but his night and the following morning at the villain hospital.
On his drive back home, his notary had tried to call him again. All Might had not been able to take the call, so the man had left a message instead, telling him that his request on muting the microphones on his visits had just been abolished. Additionally, the number of visits had been cut back to twice a month instead of twice a week and no gifts were allowed to be brought in anymore. The man didn't say anything about the items All Might had already given Tomura, he also didn't mention the hand, but All Might assumed that all of it would be taken away from the prisoner as well.
That was understandable, and he wished things had gone different. How would that visit have gone if he hadn't mentioned All for One at all? He knew he was partially at fault, but he was convinced that something like this would have happened anyway, maybe on his next visit or the one after that, but still unavoidable in the end.

"-villain hospital. We didn't know All Might's work wa-", his ears picked up from a channel he had just passed and All Might jumped. He went back and was shocked to see what the news was showing: pictures of him walking out of the villain hospital, taken only a few hours ago. Next thing was one of the nurses, he had seen in the hospital hallway, being interviewed.
She looked very young, not much older than the students at U.A., and therefore still inexperienced, unable to properly cope with the questions she was bombarded with by all the journalists:

"What is an important personality like All Might doing at the villain hospital?", a woman asked.
"I'm afraid I ca-", she tried to answer, only to be interrupted by another reporter.

"Is it true, that he is visiting Shigaraki Tomura, a man that was one of Japan's most wanted criminals?"
"I wasn't finished-", she wasn't able to answer the second one either, and the questions just kept coming.

"Shigaraki Tomura apparently was beaten by two students of U.A., the school All Might used to teach at. Why do you think he visits him?"
"Was the Hero-Killer Stain ever in this hospital too?"
"Is there any connection between Dabi and Endeavor?"
"Why is Shigaraki Tomura in this hospital? Shouldn't he be in jail?"

Suddenly, Kamui Woods came swinging in out of nowhere, landing in front of the reporters and shielding the young woman from the pushing journalists while they both got back into the hospital building. While the cameras filmed them until the doors closed, All Might could still hear people cry for any kind of information:
"Tell us, Miss!"
"Miss, Miss! Just a thing!"

All Might's phone suddenly rang. It was Gran Torino – he must have been watching the news too.
"Hello?", he responded.
"Have you lost your mind, Toshinori?! How could that happen?!", Gran Torino yelled into the phone with his raspy old voice and All Might flinched at his old master scolding him once again. After all these years, one could think he was used to it by now.
"We should meet up, I need to start from the very beginning and I don't think this line is safe. I'll be at your place by 9am tomorrow, is that alright?", All Might asked.
"You better bring some good explanation with you, Toshinori!", Gran Torino hung up, clearly enraged about the situation and All Might couldn't blame him. He was going to bring an explanation, but he was not sure it was as good as Gran Torino wanted it to be. First however, he needed to get some time for himself, digest everything that had happened and get some sleep.

The news had already passed onto the weather when he turned the TV off. A comfortable quiet spread.
Hopefully not the calm before the storm. It was to expect that journalists and paparazzi would now try to follow his every step more than ever – he needed to be careful. He was used to the public and the media always wanting something from him, always in a good way though. Now, according to them, he finally had skeletons in the closet and they would cling onto it like bees to honey.

All Might stood up and walked into the kitchen. He had no appetite, but compromised with himself that he still needed to eat something and settled on a big protein bar. After forcing it down, he let out a cup of coffee and sat at the table, sighing heavily as he run through the day and his last visits with Tomura for the he-didn't-know-how-manyeth-time.

"Why couldn't you save me?"

Why couldn't I?

A knocking at the door pulled him out of his thoughts.
"Great.", he murmured when he tiptoed towards it and although he doubted this was a journalist, reminding himself that his apartment was on U.A. ground where they did not have any access to, right now he still didn't feel like talking to anyone.

"All Might!", a young voice cried as soon as he had opened it.

"Young Midoriya. And young Bakugou.", he greeted them. His own apprentice looked agitated, stepping nervously from one foot to the other, while Bakugou just leaned at the wall, arms crossed and nose wrinkled up.

Bakugou, like he lives and breathes.

"What are you kids doing here? Shouldn't you be in school?", he asked and simultaneously checked the watch on his phone. It was the middle of the afternoon; both of them should have still been in Hero course, even on a Saturday.

"Mr. Aizawa and #13 were supposed to teach us this afternoon, but they had to be somewhere.", Midoriya explained and looked to the ground. It was clear that he wanted to speak about something else but didn't know how to start. He then raised his head to look at Bakugou for support, but the young blonde didn't leave his red eyes of All Might and the former pro hero felt judged.

"I can see you want to tell me something, young Bakugou?", All Might asked him.
It was Midoriya who answered: "We saw the news today. It's everywhere! They're saying Shigaraki is at the hospital and that you were there too. What happened?"

All Might gulped. Was his own apprentice going to judge him now as well?
No. Midoriya sounded concerned, not reproachful. He couldn't say the same about Bakugou – other than his judging eyes, the kid was unreadable.

"Come in, both of you.", the skinny man then invited them, stepping aside. They did as asked and took place on the couch in the living room. All Might sat down opposite to them and folded his hands.

How am I going to explain this to them?

With Gran Torino, it wouldn't be so much the discretion he had to keep as to not wanting to talk about what had triggered Tomura. With them, it really was the discretion and not wanting to drag them into something. Midoriya and Bakugou as well as all the other famous pro heroes had been crowded by journalists ever since they had beaten Tomura, only really able to freely walk around on U.A. ground. The public had never been informed, which students specifically had been responsible for the deed of bringing Japan's most searched villain behind bars, but journalists seemed to have a source of information everywhere. Even on U.A. ground it seemed.

His students didn't have to carry All Might's secrets as well. Knowing too much could get him and them into legal trouble. He needed to protect them. So what was he going to tell them?

Just let them talk first.

"Is there anything you want to tell or ask me? Anything you'd want to see from my perspective?"

"Why, All Might?", it was now Bakugou speaking, his voice as raw and powerful as his personality, but there was a hint of disappointment All Might could filter out. Why, huh? Yes, that summoned up all he had done these past weeks. Why?

"Why? Why won't you just let me rot in here?"

"Shigaraki's family has been a big part of my life. I blame myself for the way he has become."

"So, it's true then? You really visited that guy in the hospital?", Bakugou wanted to hear it from his mouth, but All Might just managed to nod.
"That creep tried to kill us! Multiple times! And you're saying you visit him in the hospital? When was the last time you visited one of the clowns in our class whenever they had an injury?!", the explosive student instantly lost his cool and became loud.

"Kachann..", Midoriya tried to calm him, calling his childhood friend by his nickname, which made Mr. King-Explosion-Murder only more furious.

"Shut the fuck up, Deku! Don't you dumbass get what's going on?", even though Bakugou would have never admitted it, he was looking for Midoriya supporting him, confused on why his friend didn't seem angry at the symbol of peace.

"I..", Midoriya looked at All Might, asking with a facial expression for permission to talk, to reveal that the "news" wasn't really news to him. All Might nodded again and student looked back at his angry classmate: "Kachann, I already knew that."

"What?", Bakugou's voice dropped and he was visibly confused, looking from Midoriya to All Might and back to Midoriya, "What did you fucker say? You knew? What exactly have you known, Deku?!"

"I told young Midoriya about me visiting Shigaraki in jail. It wasn't that long ago-", All Might answered for his apprentice, but couldn't finish because of Bakugou's shouting and attempt to kill the dark haired teen interrupted him.

"IN JAIL?! FUCKING DEKU! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"Calm down, young Bakugou!"

"Don't tell me what to do, All Might!", although the younger blonde did bawl at All Might, he did calm down, letting go of the other teen's collar (as if he was seriously going to punch him), then turned back to Midoriya, "Then why the fuck are you here, Deku?! Don't tell me you're here because you're seriously concerned for that hand-creep!"

Midoriya's freckled cheeks turned a light peach and he shrugged his shoulders.

"Well..kinda.", he managed to say before Bakugou grabbed his collar again.

"Enough, Bakugou.", All Might's voice now stern and Bakugou grumbled something before he let go and sat back, crossing his legs and his arms with a pissed temper.

"I have disappointed you. Both of you.", All Might took a deep breath before continuing, "You're right, Bakugou, I could have been a better teacher. A better hero. What I'm doing is sending out certain signals, I know that."

Midoriya opened his mouth to say something, however All Might raised his hand to stop him. He wasn't done.

"The villain world out there now has seen, that if someone like Shigaraki doesn't have it as bad, with the symbol of peace even visiting him in the hospital, why would they if they happen to get in jail? The public most likely will never approve of what I'm doing and that's fine, but to me, this is the right thing. I know you all have a feeling of revenge towards the League of Villains. I get it, but where would this world go if we, as professional heroes, would listen to those kinds of feelings? What signal would that send? I am at fault that Shigaraki has become like this and I will set things right."

Bakugou just snorted.

"All Might.. what happened?", Midoriya asked again, genuinely concerned about Tomura's well-being but only got a shake of the head.

"I hope one day, when Tomura is allowed to see the blue sky again, he'll tell it to you himself.", he used the villain's first name on purpose, showing the affection he held for the young man to them, an affection that grew stronger with every additional visit.

Around one and a half months later, Tomura was put back into Tartarus und shortly after, All Might was allowed to visit him there. Gran Torino had originally planned on accompanying him, but had different plans the last moment.

They hadn't seen each other since their last meeting, when they had met up to discuss what had happened that made All Might come out of the villain hospital.
He didn't hide anything, not the gifts he had brought Tomura, not what he had spoken about with All for One and he broke his own vow, not to speak about Tomura's father but with the kid. After that, he told him about the villain hospital and about talking with his students.
Gran Torino had either nodded or shook his head but had never said anything until All Might had completely finished speaking.
And then, he hadn't said much.
"You're too far gone now, Toshinori. If you don't manage to reach him now, it will leave a hole in your chest that will never heal."

The days and weeks following that event had been pleasantly quiet. He had managed to avoid the media pretty well but other pro heroes, especially those teaching at U.A., had sought to speak to him as well. He ended up having a conversation with all of the teachers, principal Nezu as the head. He did tell them about his visits to Tomura, although he had kept a lot of details to himself, never mentioning All for One or any other things concerning the prison and the island it was standing on.
The mouse had then complimented him for his efforts and encouraged him to keep going. Yamada had supported him as well, Aizawa hadn't said anything at all and the other pro heroes had just looked unsure throughout the whole conversation.
Still, they had come to the mutual agreement to tell the media, whenever confronted by them, that All Might was working on an investigation they didn't know anything about.
Soon, the whole subject had become uninteresting, with the public thinking All Might had only visited Tomura to further his investigation concerning a crime and with every passing day, less and less media outlets talked about it anymore.

Today was Christmas Eve and on the way to the island, All Might had passed endless trees decorated with colourful Christmas baubles, shopping windows full of fairy lights and young couples strolling in the streets, probably having dinner and then exchanging gifts. After Nana had been killed, All Might had spent some time in the US, where Christmas held a different meaning than here in Japan. He had also been in Europe, where every country seemed to have its own traditions regarding it, sometimes celebrating it a few days later than what they were used to.

Midoriya was going to spend the evening with someone special as well, although he hadn't said with whom. All Might did have a few people in mind, but hadn't pushed the subject, not wanting the teen to feel embarrassed.

Light snow fell from the grey sky. The streets seemed empty and the world around him quiet. For only one second, he felt as there was no more evil in this world.

I want you to see the good things in this world, Tomura.

In the elevator to the lower levels of Tartarus, All Might felt his heart beat faster than usual. Something big was going to happen today, he could feel it.

When he arrived at the block, the guard didn't even notice him. He was staring through the little window into the cell and had his surroundings completely shut out. It was a man All Might hadn't seen yet.

"Hello?", he greeted and the man just waved at him, advising him to come look into the cell as well. All Might frowned but did as asked placed himself next to the man, looking through the glass.

Inside, Tomura sat face to face with another guard All Might didn't know either. In front of each of them laid a Chinese Tangram, a puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes. Next to them was a book showing a default shape.
They were playing against each other. Whoever was able to lay his shaped according to the default one first, would win.
And Tomura beat the guard at every single one, laying the shapes with his left hand only (since the other arm was in a brace because of his gunshot wound). He was fast, taking just a quick look at the book, then immediately creating the default shape and he looked like he was enjoying himself too.
Then, there was a short horn-like sound and the guard inside started packing all the flat shapes and the book into a box and left the cell without saying a word. Tomura didn't move from his place, just lowered his head and hid behind the hair.

After the greetings and the rules, in which he was informed again that there was no muting of the microphones anymore, he asked them about the game.

"Shigaraki has been impeccable these past days in here, as well as the weeks he spent at the hospital. His lawyer has therefore requested for him to have some sort of entertainment for half an hour once a week. Volunteers are not allowed into Tartarus, therefore the job gets stuck with us.", the man who had played the game explained, followed by him smiling.

"You don't mind doing it?"

"Not at all. It makes our job more interesting too.", the other guard who had been watching them through the window answered instead, "Last week, when he had more trouble moving, we showed him some rebus puzzles and he solved them one after the other."

"I see.", he thanked the guards and entered the cell.

"Hello.", to All Might's surprise, Tomura greeted him first – not only that but in for the very first time in a way that was 'normal'. He didn't look up and his voice had something unusually timid about it. All Might liked to believe that this were glimpses of a personality he would have developed if he hadn't been taken by All for One.

"It's good to see you again, young Tomura.", All might greeted him back and sat down where the guard had sat only minutes before.

"That was quite impressive.", he started the conversation and luckily, that got Tomura to raise his head and look at him with the softest his scarlet eyes could be. His forehead was mostly covered by his hair, so All Might couldn't see how well the stitches had healed.

"The game, I mean."

"You were watching?"

"Only the last three or four rounds.", All Might admitted, "You like games a lot, don't you?"

"Yes.", came the short answer and Tomura smiled. Not the creepy evil villain smirk that was too wide to be human: It was a real smile, a childish smile, a smile that could have made someone out there fall in love with him.
Like Midoriya, he could have spent Christmas Eve having dinner, exchanging a gift or two, looking at the fairy lights in the shopping windows and the big colourful baubles hanging on the trees and if the weather was nice, enjoying the view at Mount Fuji—

"How are your wounds?", All Might asked before he lost himself in his thoughts and earned what looked like it was supposed to be a shrug.

"Does it hurt?"
A slow nod.
"Are you feeling ok?", he tried again an something unreadable flashed in those red orbs. His happy mimic changed into a depressive one in a flash.
"Tomura?"
"Have them kill me. I want to die. Please.", Tomura breathed and bit his lip for pleading like that. By now, All Might knew that the young villain hated nothing more than showing his human emotions. Him admitting his feelings so openly, when he knew they were being listened to, could have been meaning only one thing: He couldn't take any of this anymore.

"You don't have to hide from me, Tomura."

All for One's apprentice (former apprentice was more on point now) slowly rose his hand and tried to scratch at his neck, but his facial expression showed that it hurt too badly for him to do it. Pinching his eyes together, he bit down on his lip again, making himself bleed once more. It reminded All Might back to that Saturday at the villain hospital, where Tomura had let him wipe off that mess of his chin. This time, Tomura stood up himself. Shaky on his legs, like a new-born calf, he slowly walked towards the sink to grab the paper towels and then wiped it off. When he turned back, All Might had stood up as well, standing only three feet away. They were both tall and Tomura would've been even taller if it wasn't for his bad posture.

"Tomura."

"Didn't I already tell you it's too late?", it wasn't anger with which Tomura spoke; it was despair. All Might had been a hero long enough to know that under that surface, he was just someone calling for help. But he couldn't see himself anymore, too lost in the darkness All for One had led him into, too lost to find the way back to the light.

But not too lost for someone else not to find him.

"It's not too late. You have to trust me. I will help you."

"A chance to save a child who has lost his way and bring him back to the light."
"And no matter how much you're fighting it, no matter how much you hate me, I will save you from the darkness."
"I think that you hate me because I couldn't save you from your fall."

"I..I can't.", Tomura's eyes were wet with tears again and he was visibly fighting to keep them in, trying to accomplish that by going back to his League of Villains persona.
"I will tear down this world. First this jail, and then all of you. And I will do it all with my own hands, I don't need these other fools.", he put all his anger into these words, but to All Might it was nothing more than an empty threat. He had seen Tomura at his worst, at his most defenceless. He knew what he had to do.

"Shimura Nana, your grandmother.. she was like a mother to me."

At the mentioning of his family name, Tomura looked away, avoiding All Might's eyes at all cost as he carefully patted the bruise on his lip with that paper towel.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be to you what you needed me to be back then.", the blonde stepped forwards and gently took a hold of Tomura's shoulders, the villain still not looking at him. Nana's grandson was one or two inches smaller than the hero, but with his back like that he was small enough for All Might to place his chin on the young man's head. And he did, without asking.
"We may not share the same blood and we never will."

All Might raised his hand to the back of Tomura's head, carefully pushing it towards him while Tomura's fluffy hair caressed that wirnkly skin of his hand.

"But if you ever need someone to be a father to you, a father that won't hurt you.. I'll be there."

When All Might's shirt became wet with tears, he knew that Tomura finally didn't hide anymore.

Answer to Galaxy diamond (user): Thank you for reviewing again! I'm glad you enjoy! : )