"You're staying with him, aren't you?"

His mom's voice held none of the hurt or anger Tenko had been expecting. It sounded dull from behind him on the bed, void of emotion, thoughtful if anything. But he shrank in on himself further at the words nonetheless.

He turned around to face her but couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes, looking at the ground instead. "Mom, I'm sorry, I just—"

"Don't be."

Her voice was soft, and he couldn't help it. He finally looked up at her to see her smiling at him, despite her slightly misty eyes. "I get why you want to stay."

He pressed his lips together. "You do?"

She nodded and opened her mouth, but no words came out. She closed it again with a breath. Finally, after a moment, she spoke. "You don't want to leave him. You don't want him to be alone. And if he's injured…"

She looked away for a moment, pained, as if somewhere else. Then she slowly met Tenko's eyes again with a small, sad smile. "He needs you."

Tenko stared at her for a long moment, before he pressed his mouth into a line as tears started to burn in his nose and well up in his own eyes. "But I- I don't want to leave you and Izuku either." He sniffed and tried to blink back the tears, but it only made them spill over. "You need me too."

"Oh, Tenko." Inko stood up and pulled him into a hug as he let out a quiet sob. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed his face into her shoulder as she rubbed his back comfortingly, her own voice wet.

"I am so very proud of you," she whispered in his ear. He closed his wet eyes and focused on the sound, and not on the sickening guilt in his stomach.

He'd felt this feeling a couple times now. He'd felt it when he'd decided to leave Izuku and Inko behind the first time to save Hisashi. He'd felt it again when he'd decided to stay with Hisashi while he was hurt instead of going home and telling Inko what had happened. And he was feeling it again now, deciding to stay with Hisashi again and leave them behind.

Except this time it would most likely mean forever, and he wasn't even telling her why. He couldn't, he didn't know how.

Eventually she pulled away from him, and they met eyes, her hands still on his shoulders. She was still smiling, even though her face was red and wet. She was still trying to be reassuring. For him.

He felt another pang in his chest.

"We'll be ok," she said.

He sniffed again, wiped his face with the arm of his sleeve. "Your really not upset?" He hated how his voice shook.

She took a slow breath, brushing his hair back as her smile slightly fell. "That's not the right way to put it." She paused, eyes looking between his.

Then she pulled him, more gently, to her again. "I'm not in any way upset at you."

Tenko gave a long shaky sigh.

"Besides," she pulled away again and wiped her own eyes, trying to sound a bit lighter, but failing. "You won't be gone forever. And when you and your father come back, everything will be better." She reached down and grabbed his hands, but he looked away. "We'll fix all of this, together. Just take care of your father for me until then, ok?"

He wanted to scream. Or break down crying again. Or laugh hysterically.

But instead he just looked up at her slowly with a gaze he hoped wasn't too hard, and met her heartbreakingly, bittersweet smile with a small one of his own and a nod.

Then he let go of her hands and stepped to the side, facing away from her. "Why don't you, um… just sit down. I'm gonna grab some water, and when I get back I'll tell you what happened, ok?" He said, trying to keep his voice steady and light as he shook his hands out.

"Okay," she said slowly from behind him. Then she stepped toward the bed and started to climb on. He turned toward the door and quickly walked out, closing it softly behind him.

He flipped on the light and walked to the cabinet, pulling out a cup and filling it with water from the sink. As he drank, he thought he heard a noise behind him, further in the apartment somewhere.

He turned around and peered into the dark, where the rest of the lights were turned off. He didn't see anything, and Izuku's light was still off, so he was still asleep.

He shrugged and chugged the rest of the water, then let out a breath. Then his eye caught on something—a magnet picture frame of the family from years ago. Hisashi had an eight-year-old smiling Tenko sitting on his shoulders, and Inko had a grinning three-year-old Izuku on hers, one hand out taking the picture.

He stared at it for a long moment. It wasn't there before he left, so mom must've added it while he was gone.

Suddenly the guilt was back, turning and twisting like a sickness in his gut. It rose, burning like acid in his chest, bile in his throat, and he could taste it in his mouth. Then he was over the sink physically choking it up as it spilled out, a burn in his whole body.

With that thought he suddenly thought of Touya, thought of the fire consuming him, physically burning his whole body to ashes. He groaned out loud, trying to shove the haunting thought back.

"Tenko?" He heard his mother call pretty quietly from the bedroom. With a sudden flash of panic, not wanting his mom to see him like this, he scrambled back up from where he was bent over the sink. "Everything ok in there?"

"All good," he quietly called back. "Just give me a minute."

He turned on the sink to wash the vomit down, which he was just now realizing stank horribly, and filled his cup back up to wash down the taste in his mouth.

Then he took a few deep breaths, willing himself to relax and shaking out his muscles, and finally turned the light off on his way into the bedroom, still with no intention of telling her what had him feeling so bad.

—-

Izuku's shoulders sagged and he let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding as he heard the door click shut. He peeked out around the edge of the hallway.

The light was off, and the room was empty. The bedroom door was closed, the light was on underneath. He could hear muffled voices inside.

So now that he wasn't so paranoid about being caught (why exactly was he worried about being caught again?) he could go back to questioning everything he'd ever known.

Why was Tenko there? How long had he been there for? Why had no one told him he was there? If he was back, where was dad?

He had so many questions.

But something told him he wouldn't be able to just waltz in there and get any real answers.

So he glanced one last time back at his slightly ajar bedroom door, and then started quietly across the house towards the master bedroom door.

Eavesdropping was wrong, he knew that. There were reasons people weren't apart of certain conversations. But he was getting really tired of the lies and games and whatever was going on recently. He was tired of being the only one out of the loop.

If they wouldn't tell him the truth he'd figure it out on his own.

He reached the door and considered opening it, just a little bit, but then thought better of it and just pressed his ear against the wood.

At first he didn't hear anything, just silence, a little bit of shifting maybe. It was a minute or two before he heard the first voice. Tenko's.

"Do you think he'll hate me?"

More silence.

"Who?" That was mom.

A long breath. "Izuku. Do you think he'll hate me?"

Izuku felt himself tense.

There was no response at first, not for a long moment. Everything fell into silence again, and Izuku could only hear his own breathing as he waited.

"No."

Izuku could practically see Tenko's wide eyes turn to her. "Really?" His voice was breathy.

There was no answer. Only another long, long silence.

Eventually Tenko continued. He sounded choked, but like he was holding it back. "After everything, everything we've done, everything that will happen, you really don't think…"

"I think-" more shifting, "-that we both know Izuku. I know Izuku." A sigh. "I think he'll be hurt. It'll take him some time, to understand. But I don't think he'll ever stop seeing you as his big brother. No matter what happens, you know him." She chuckled sadly. "He's too loving for his own good sometimes."

Tenko sniffed and chuckled a little too. "Tell me about it."

It went quiet again, and Izuku stared at the ground, listening to his own breathing and the breathing behind the door.

"Mom?" Tenko finally spoke, so quietly Izuku had to lean in closer to hear it.

Mom just hummed in response.

"Can you promise me that—" he paused, "—that you'll tell Izuku the truth?"

There was another lull, and Izuku clenched his fists. Why did it have to be a secret in the first place? He just didn't understand.

When mom spoke again, she sounded surprised. "But, your father-"

"Is being kinda dumb right now." Tenko sounded frustrated, and it caught Izuku by surprise. Then Tenko huffed. "Sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just- I don't see why we have to keep lying to Izuku. He deserves to know what's going on as much as anyone. But dad, he keeps hesitating or putting it off, and it's just making things worse."

There was a moment of silence again.

"If we don't tell him, he might start thinking of even worse conclusions."

Mom hesitated before finally replying. "Are you sure? He'll know exactly what you and your father decided then. That you chose…"

"That I chose to join dad, yeah." Tenko whispered, tiredly. "That I chose to leave him. I know. But he still deserves to know the truth. You know it too."

At that point, Izuku's whole world felt like it had been tipped upside down, and he could barely make out what they were saying over the pounding in his ears.

He couldn't take standing there and listening to this anymore anyways, he turned and quickly started walking away, back towards his bedroom.

The last thing he heard was his mom say, "Ok."

Then he shut his bedroom door behind him, shut the world out, feeling numb.

—-

"I'll try."

And that was the best Inko could honestly promise. That she would try.

Because she wasn't positive she could tell Izuku. Even if she had both Tenko and Hisashi's approval, could her heart handle looking her little boy in the eyes and telling him everything? Telling him how much and for how long they'd been lying? Telling him what his father really was, what his brother would be? Tell him what had happened in the last week, what his father had done to his idol?

It felt like it would be so much harder than telling Tenko. And… why? It wasn't because he was younger. Was it because he adored heroes so much? Because he loved All Might? Because he looked up to Tenko too? Because she'd have to tell him where his brother and father were as well and why they couldn't come home?

Probably.

Her heart ached at the thought. But then she imagined once it was over, how it could help everything. Tenko was right, Izuku didn't believe her or any of the lies she was telling, so what would he start thinking on his own? If she got it all out there, he'd know the truth and she wouldn't be held down by it all.

She couldn't deny that the idea of letting everything out, of being free from all the lies, sounded wonderful. She could finally let go of the weight that had been on her shoulders for too long. There would be no more secrets.

The idea suddenly filled her with courage and almost eagerness. She would tell him, and it would be the first step to fixing the mess that the last week had created. Laying it all out there. They'd deal with whatever came after.

Besides, had she not just told Tenko that Izuku was too loving for his own good? He wouldn't hate her.

Yeah, she could do this.

With a smile, a real smile, she nodded at Tenko.

He blinked, seemed a bit taken a back for a moment, but then he smiled and nodded back.

"Now," Inko leaned back on the headboard. "I think you still have a story from the last week to tell me."

Tenko's smile fell, and she got the feeling she was in for just the beginning.