From across the cafeteria table in the busy lunchroom, Shoto watched Izuku stare blankly at his untouched lunch, occasionally stirring the ramen with his fork.

Shoto glanced to his left at Hitoshi, who also watched their friend with a concerned expression. He at least had eaten most of his lunch, Shoto had only taken a few bites of his.

They had never seen Izuku so quiet. He was always the most talkative of the three, whether it was cheerfully chatting about his day or muttering about his most recent analysis, it was usually pretty hard to get him to be quiet.

But Izuku had been strangely quiet since he arrived at school that morning. He still spoke and tried to act normal, but he kept zoning out. Not to mention he was clearly exhausted, slumping and yawning all day.

Hitoshi and Shoto tried to get him to talk, but they couldn't lead a conversation on their own no matter how hard they tried. They were used to Izuku doing all the talking, so without his help, they quickly trailed into silence during lunch. The bustling loud chatter and laughter of the other kids around them was a stark contrast to their table.

They didn't know what to do, or how to help their friend. They hardly even knew what was wrong. They knew what about his dad, of course. Hitoshi had told Shoto what Izuku had told him the other day (he still thought it was a misunderstanding, Hisashi would come back, surely). But this didn't seem to be from that. He hadn't been this bad before, even after that had happened. Something else had changed, but he wouldn't tell them what.

Shoto sighed through his nose as he watched Izuku finally take a small bite of his ramen. Then he took a bite of his own sandwich. He still remembered all too clearly how it felt when his mom left, and then when Touya died. When his family fell apart. He couldn't help but feel like he was watching that happen again.

He didn't know what was really going on with Izuku's family, but he knew he didn't want Izuku to go through anything like what he went through. He didn't want that for any of them. No one deserved that kind of pain.

He was worried. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. He didn't even know what was happening. He couldn't do anything.

He couldn't lose this family too.

—-

When school ended, after a mostly silent day between the three friends, they were sitting outside on the front steps.

Izuku sat with his knees against his chest and his arms crossed on top of them, his chin resting above. He blinked lazily, trying to keep his tired eyes open. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Shoto sitting on the step beside him try multiple times to make a shape with the ice in his hand, something like an anchor. In front of them Hitoshi stood leaning against the railing watching the cars on the road, tapping his foot on the pavement.

The sun was bright, it was a warm day. Hardly any clouds, just the rays of sunlight on their skin as they sat in silence, kids all around them moving and talking as they left school or waited for their parents like they were.

Izuku knew he'd been too quiet today. Too lost in his own head, too disconnected. He'd drawn suspicion from his friends that something was wrong even though he hadn't told him about Tenko leaving. He could see it in their faces all day. They were worried.

But they didn't need to be. He was fine. He was just thinking.

Tenko hadn't come back last night. He hadn't asked mom why, just pretended everything was normal.

But everything was not normal. Nothing was normal. The house was way too empty, even more empty than before. They were two in a house for four. They were both alone in rooms they had always shared with someone.

He hadn't slept a wink last night. He'd never slept completely alone before. He was ten, yes, and it probably made him a baby for not being able to sleep by himself. But he'd never slept in a room without Tenko. And his mind couldn't stop racing, wondering where he was. What if he really had gone with dad? What if neither of them were coming back?

He'd tried to shake them away but the thoughts never left him. So he'd been trying to bury them with other thoughts. Trying to come up with other ideas. Because he was being ridiculous, his thoughts were being ridiculous. It was impossible. Tenko not coming back? That was even more crazy than the idea of dad leaving. They would be back. At the very least Tenko would be. He had to be.

"Uh- hey, guys?"

Izuku was snapped out his racing thoughts so suddenly it was almost jarring. After a second, though, he realized it was by Hitoshi's voice.

He looked up to see Hitoshi now standing straight and pointing. "Is that who I think it is?"

Izuku leaned forward to try and see where he was pointing as Shoto stood up. Eventually Izuku got up too, and he spotted the bright red wings first and blinked a few times before his face scrunched up in confusion.

Keigo Takami and Rumi Usagiyama, standing a little ways away from the staircase in the field to the side of the path. They were both scanning all the kids walking and sitting around, seemingly looking for someone.

He hadn't seen either of them at all since they started high school, and hadn't talked to them in far longer. Probably since not long after the funeral, now that he thought about it. What were they doing in front of the elementary building?

Voicing his thoughts, Hitoshi muttered beside him, "What are they doing here?"

Just then, Rumi caught sight of them on the staircase and her eyes lit up. She immediately reached her hand up and waved, and Izuku went slightly stiff, not sure how to react as he glanced between his two friends. Rumi then shoved Keigo's shoulder and pointed. When he saw them, he grinned and waved too. Izuku gave a smile and a small wave back as both Shoto and Hitoshi just traded confused looks.

The winged boy and bunny eared girl then started through the bunch of kids and up the stairs towards them.

"Hey!" Keigo called as they approached.

"Uh, hey," Izuku said, just before he was wrapped up in two strong arms.

"It's been so long, green bean!" Came Rumi's voice in his ear as his cheek was pressed to hers.

"Hey, Rumi," he mumbled, just accepting it. He'd never been able to fight her hugs before, and now she was way taller and bigger than him.

Eventually, she set him down and looked him over. Then, she examined the other two. "You're all bigger."

"Yeah. Time does that," Hitoshi muttered, his purple eyes glancing around them, a light pink to his cheeks. The two tall teenagers, one with huge wings, running up to three of the most well known students in the school, drew attention. There were plenty of kids shooting glances or openly staring at them, whispering.

Izuku did his best to ignore them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to find you three. You specifically, Izuku." Keigo said.

Then they traded glances, and Rumi continued, slightly more hesitantly. "It's Tenko, we haven't seen him at school in a few days but we were uh, hoping to talk to him. We were just hoping to find you so we could find out where he was and when he would be back, you know?"

Izuku blinked at them both. They were both smiling down at him expectantly. He missed the confused looks his friends traded behind him entirely.

He didn't answer for a long second, Rumi and Keigo traded glances again as their smiles wavered slightly. Keigo spoke again. "Is he like sick or something? Any idea when he'll be back?"

"Could you maybe at least let him know we wanna talk?" Rumi asked after.

Finally Izuku shook his head. "I don't know."

They both blinked at him. "What?"

He sighed. "No, he's not sick. No, I don't know when he'll be back. No, I can't tell him anything for you both."

He met both their eyes blankly, their smiles were completely gone now. "No, I can't tell you where he is. Im sorry." Then he walked past them down the staircase.

Not when he didn't even know.