Tenko was never quite sure why, but after that day when Touya helped Izuku, things started to take a turn for Tenko as far as friendship went. Especially with Touya.

Maybe it had something to do with how much more Izuku liked and trusted Touya now, and how much more the little bean would say hi to Touya and would talk to Touya more freely.

But for whatever reason, Touya gradually became more comfortable and open around Tenko, teasing and playfully bickering with him. In turn, Tenko relaxed more around him and started hitting right back, letting his more snarky side show.

The two of them were gradually getting more comfortable with each other, and it helped Tenko to relax more around Keigo and Rumi too. They definitely noticed the change, but never commented on it.

Touya put more effort into including Tenko in conversations and activities and things with the group. They even sometimes hung out just the two of them.

For once, Tenko felt like he was starting to understand what friends really were.

A few weeks after they first met, their class was given a project, and everyone needed a partner.

Tenko glanced back and already saw Rumi reaching to high five Keigo in the desk behind her. They were partnering, which made sense.

Tenko glanced around, wondering who he would partner with, when there was a sudden hand on his desk. He looked up to see Touya looking at him, seeming almost conflicted.

Tenko had noticed his hair was very slowly gaining more white than red. When he'd asked, he found out the boys hair was originally red and had started turning white as he got older.

"So," Touya said, not meeting his eyes. "You wanna partner up?"

Tenko blinked at him before shrugging. "Sure, not like I've got anyone better."

Touya gave him an offended look, then looked smug. "Duh, cause I'm the best."

Tenko rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say. My house or yours?"

Tenko tries not to start at the realization that this would be the first time he either went to a friends house or brought a friend home. His parents would probably freak.

Tenko see's Touya grimace for a second before smoothing it back into neutral. "Yours?"

Tenko nodded, ignoring the reaction for now. "Izuku's going to Hitoshi's house tomorrow for a little while, you can come over then so we can focus better."

Touya nodded and smirked. "Avoiding the little bean now, are we?"

Tenko huffed and hit his arm playfully. "You know as well as I do that he's adorable. And that's the issue. We won't get anything done if he's around."

Touya laughed. "Fair. I know what's that like."

Tenko raised an eyebrow at him. "You do?"

Touya nodded. "I have a little brother about his age. Shoto. Light of my life, but vain of my existence."

Tenko laughed out loud, thankful that all the other kids were talking too so it didn't draw much attention. "Ok, that's a pretty good description. Hey, maybe we should introduce the two sometime. Izuku could use more friends, he pretty much just talks to Hitoshi."

Touya nodded. "Shoto too. He's homeschooled, so he has pretty much no contact with kids his age. He just has me and our other brother and sister, Fuyumi and Natsuo. But it's just not the same, y'know?"

Tenko nodded understandingly, remembering when Hana was the only other kid he knew.

"I think Izuku would be good for Shoto," Touya muttered under his breath.

Words entered each of their heads, finishing the sentence but not daring to be shared out loud.

Like how you were good for me.

—-

Izuku is jumping up and down excitedly, running in circles around the tree they always say by out front of the school.

"You're excited, aren't you?" Tenko chuckled from where he sat on the grass beside the tree.

Izuku stopped in front of him. "Of course I am! I'm gonna be spending all day with Hitoshi! At his house!"

He continued jumping. "We're gonna play games, and eat snacks, and play outside, and watch movies, right Toshi?" He came to an abrupt halt, grinning down at Hitoshi, who was also sitting on the grass with his legs crossed.

Hitoshi blinked up at him several times in bewilderment. "Yeah, uh, I don't know if we'll have time for all of that though. You're going home after dinner."

Izuku plopped down on the grass next to him. "Well, that's alright, we'll still have lots of fun! Cause I'm gonna be with my best friend!"

Izuku reached over and basically flopped on Hitoshi in the ruse of a hug. Hitoshi looked very conflicted before wrapping one arm around him too and hesitantly patting Izuku's back.

Touya, who'd been leaning against the tree trunk, laughed at the little boys. Apparently he was going to be at their house with Tenko working on something for school while Izuku is with Hitoshi, so he and Tenko were waiting for mommy.

Izuku and Hitoshi were waiting on Hitoshi's mommy. Or, his faster mommy? Something like that. Apparently it wasn't Hitoshi's real mom, but it was who Hitoshi was living with. The boy promised him she was really nice.

The four of them waited for a few more minutes before a car pulled up and caught Hitoshi's eye.

"Oh, that's my moms car," he looked up at Izuku. "You ready?"

Izuku nodded excitedly and scooped his bag up over his shoulder, running over to Tenko. He wrapped his arms around his big brother. "Bye, Tenko!"

Tenko patted his back. "See you, Zuku. Be good and remember what mom told you, ok? And get Mrs. Shinso to text mom if you need anything."

Izuku grinned and nodded. "Ok! Bye!"

Then he energetically followed Hitoshi towards a white car pulled up beside the street. Hitoshi opened the door and slid in the back seat, and Izuku slid in after.

A woman up front with curly, short red hair turned around in the front seat and grinned at him. "Hello! Your Izuku, right? I'm Tanya, it's nice to meet you."

Suddenly, being faced by the stranger, all his excitement drains as something hits him. He's about to spend several hours in a completely new home, with completely new people, adults nonetheless, and with absolutely none of his family anywhere near. Hitoshi was the only one he knew.

He understood now why his parents and Tenko had asked him so many times if he was sure he wanted to go by himself. He'd been completely fine with it up and until now. But now he just felt nervous and anxious.

He swallowed hard and looked down. "Y- you too, miss."

Hitoshi glances at him in the sudden change of mood, but doesn't say anything.

Hitoshi's mom laughed lightly, which helped Izuku's nerves just slightly. "Oh no need for that, just call me Tanya, ok?"

Izuku nodded and glanced up at her quickly, then at Hitoshi who was watching him curiously.

"Ok!" Tanya settled back into her seat and started the car. "Buckle up, folks! First up, I've gotta run and errand or two."

Hitoshi groaned.

"But," Tanya pulled out of the parking lot, "After that, how do we feel about grabbing some snacks for you guys? I'd make something, but I'm a terrible cook and my husband doesn't get home till late tonight."

Izuku perks up slightly. "Ok," he says.

Tanya's light and airy tone helps him fell a bit more comfortable. She's very relaxed and cheerful, she's funny too. He decides that if it's just them and her the house, he'll probably be fine.

"Ok," Hitoshi turns to him and smiles. He doesn't smile often, so Izuku grins back. "So, you really like heroes, right?"

"Yeah!" Izuku says, his excitement seeping back in. "Heroes are awesome!"

Hitoshi nods. "Good. We can play heroes in the park by my house. Who's your favorite?"

"I like All Might! He's the coolest!"

Hitoshi pouts slightly for a second, then shrugs to himself. "Cool. All Might's fun. I like Erasurehead."

Izuku cocks his head to the side. "I've never heard of Erasurehead."

Hitoshi nods excitedly, his smile widening a bit. "He's an underground hero, so he's all mysterious and stuff. Almost no one knows about him. I only heard of him because he saved one of the other kids in my old foster home when they accidentally got lost at night and a villain tried to attack her."

Izuku's eyes were sparkling. "Woah, really?"

Hitoshi nodded again. "I found a forum for all the people he saved on the internet. He uses this super cool capture scarf to capture villains."

"What's his quirk?" Izuku asked excitedly.

"They're not completely sure, but people have said his eyes turn red and his hairs stops floating and his opponents can't use their quirks."

Izuku's jaw drops. He definitely had a new research project for his analysis when he got home.

—-

Inko unlocked the apartment door and stepped inside, Tenko and Touya following suit. Tenko and Inko both slipped into their own slippers, and Touya into the guest ones.

"Are either of you hungry?" Inko asks, stepping further in to the apartment and towards the kitchen. "I can make cookies."

"Oh, yes!" Tenko calls before turning to Touya. "Inko's cookies are the best."

Tenko thinks he catches Touya blink at the use of his mothers first name, but doesn't comment, instead shrugging. "Sure."

"Alright then, I'll let you boys know when they're done. Hisashi should be home in about an hour."

Tenko nodded and turned to Touya. "So, my room?"

Touya seemed distracted, gaze drifting around the apartment observingly. He ignored Tenko's questions. "It's… small."

Tenko huffs. "Well, yeah. Not all of us have a lot of money."

Touya grimaced slightly and Tenko wondered if he shouldn't have said that.

He started towards the hall, gesturing for Touya to follow. "Come on, let's go to my room."

About an hour later the two were in the bedroom floor, a plate of cookies between them, and definitely not doing school work.

"Take that!" Tenko smashed about three different button on his console, grinning.

"Game over," came from Touya's console in a deep, scrutinizing tone, while victory music played from Tenko's.

Tenko cheered and Touya groaned, flopping over in his back. "Not fair, I've never played this before."

Tenko smirked at him. "You'd think after the fifth or sixth time of losing you'd get the hang of it."

Touya glared at him playfully. "That's not how that works."

Tenko laughed. Eventually, Touya started laughing too, and they both laughed until they had tears in their eyes.

Suddenly, they both heard the door front door close outside their room, and Inko's light voice took turns with a deeper one.

"Oh, Hisashi's home!" Tenko stumbled to his feet. "You wanna meet him?"

Touya blinked up at him, then at the door, looking hesitant but nodded and stood up.

Tenko opened his bedroom door and walked out, seeing Hisashi on the couch while Inko prepared coffee.

He looked tired and had his eyes closed. Another long day at work then.

With a grin, Tenko turned around and out a finger to his mouth, telling Touya to be quiet. Then he, as quiet as possible, stepped towards the couch.

Inko glanced at him but just smiled and continued.

He made it to the back of the couch and raised his hands over the white hair, preparing to come down and scare him.

But just before he could, the head of white snapped up and red eyes met his with a smirk. "Boo."

Tenko startled, stumbling back with a squawk.

Hisashi laughed heartily, Inko was chuckling and even Touya was smirking at him. He pouted.

"Not fair, how did you know I was there?" He grumbled.

Hisashi's laugh died down into a chuckle as he turned to better face him. "A magician never tells his secrets."

Tenko rolled his eyes before wondering if maybe it was some kind of quirk.

Hisashi's eyes flickered to Touya and he smiled. "Hey there. Touya, right?"

Touya's smirk fell as he looked at Hisashi and nodded.

Hisashi stood up, stretched for a second, then stepped over to them. Touya tensed slightly as Hisashi crouched down in front of him and held his hand out.

"Hisashi Midoriya, but just call me Hisashi. I'm Tenko's father, nice to meet ya."

Touya glanced at the hand once, then at the man it was attached to and the wide smile, and relaxed slightly, giving his own small smile as he took the hand.

Hisashi grinned back and stood up, heading into the kitchen where his coffee awaited him. "Well, I won't bother you two anymore. I understand you have an assignment to complete."

Both boys glance at each other. The assignment. Right.

Tenko nodded. "Right, we'll do that. Bye mom, dad!" Then he dragged Touya back to his room, completely missing the wide grins shot at him from both his parents.

The two boys eventually got their work done and played a few more games until dinner was ready, then the four people ate dinner together. It was a little weird not having the constant chatter of Izuku at the table, but his parents made up for an absence with jokes and questions and teasing.

Tenko didn't miss the way Touya watched his interaction with his parents, especially with Hisashi. His expression was unreadable. But he did laugh and have fun with the rest of the family, eventually joining in a bit on the teasing.

Once they finished, the boys helped clean up and then they got ready to go. Inko was gonna drop Touya off at his house and then head to pick up Izuku, and Tenko was coming with.

Once they reached the Todoroki house, Touya started to unbuckle. Then he glanced up at Tenko. He looked like he wanted to say something, but was hesitant.

Finally he spoke. "Would- would you step out with me, just for a second?"

Tenko raised an eyebrow at him and Touya glanced at Inko in the front seat. Tenko, understanding, started to unbuckle as well. "Sure."

Tenko opened his car door and Touya reached to do the same when Inko glanced back at them. "Touya, could you stay for a just a second?"

The two boys glanced at each other, and Tenko just shrugged and hopped out of the car. Touya's hand came back from the door, and Tenko shut his.

The cool, night air brushed through his messy hair, the moon was bright and full above him. He glanced around. They were on a hillside, not far from the city but far enough to look secluded. Tree's came up on all sides, surrounding the property. They just looked like large shadows in the darkness.

He leaned against the car and looked the building up and down. It was big, definitely look like someone with a lot of money. One level, maybe two, it was a bit hard to tell, but it stretched far. Took on an almost modern cabin look. He wondered what the inside looked like.

His eyes caught on some movement from on of the front windows. Curtains were drawn, but he could see the shadows of two figures standing. Just from their figures he could tell they were having an argument.

Suddenly, the curtain split apart, just barely enough to see small eyes peeking through. One was a stormy grey, the other a teal blue like Touya's. They were looking right at him, curiously.

He raised a hand in a lazy wave and smiled.

The small eye blinked at him, then the curtains split apart a little more to reveal more of his face and hair, which was partially red and white, like Touya's. But his was split perfectly down the middle. The small boy raised a hand and waved back, but didn't smile.

Then large hands pulled him away from the window and slid the curtains shut again.

Tenko wondered if that was the little brother Touya mentioned being about Izuku's age. He'd looked it. Shoto, was it?

Then Touya's door opened and he stepped out, walking over to him.

Again, Touya looked hesitant to speak, not meeting his gaze. Tenko decided to help him out and prompted, "So, what'd you want to talk about?"

Touya glanced up at him and took a deep breath before meeting his eyes, expression neutral.

"Thank you."

Tenko blinked. "For what?"

"For letting me come to your house," Touya was quiet. "And eat dinner with you guys."

Tenko waved him off. "Oh it was no big deal, Inko's the one that made the food. Besides, I had fun playing games with you."

Touya smiled and glanced back at his house. His next words were near silent, as if he hadn't fully meant to say them out loud. "I feel like I finally know what a family is supposed to feel like."

Tenko blinked again.

Well wasn't that bittersweet.

Touya seemed to realize he'd said that out loud as he looked back at Tenko, and quickly rubbed the back of his neck and stepped towards his house. "Well, um, I really do need to get going now. Thanks again, see you tomorrow!"

Then he ran to his door, opened it, stepped inside and shut it quickly.

But not before Tenko heard the yell during the second it was open.

"YOU USELESS-"

Tenko flinched as words from his father flooded his mind.

"You useless child! I told you not to talk about heroes in this house!"

Tenko shivered slightly, but was more focused on trying to see the figures through the curtain again.

What was going on in there?

He had a bad feeling about this.

"Tenko?"

He jumped as he realized Inko had opened her door and was looking at him, confused and concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine," Tenko muttered, moving to get back in the car. He glanced one more time at the house before getting in, and kept watching that window as they drove off.

Just before the house was out of sight, he glimpsed the figures again.

One swiped at the other, who fell to the ground.

He gasped, eyes wide. "Mom-?"

"So," Inko cut him off, oblivious to the tremor in his small voice, "You never told me your friend was the son of Endeavor."

Tenko's world froze, then turned a cold red.

"What?"