Everything happened so fast, and all at once, everything was a bit of a blur for Keigo afterwards.
There was a scream, he remembered that clearly. Kaimatsuo had screamed, a shriek of pain as he'd doubled over and curled in on the arm Tenko had touched.
Tenko, on the other hand, stumbled back and fell to the ground immediately, shaking hard and staring wide eyed at the boy he'd just gripped onto. Izuku was at his side in an instant, and so was Touya a second later.
Kaimatsuo's shriek faded into broken gasps of breath, voice shaking with the rest of his body. He slowly looked up at Tenko with wide, tear filled, pained eyes. He was looking at Tenko like he was some villain trying to kill him. "What did you do?" His voice was cracked and pained. "My arm…!"
The boy, painstakingly slow, pulled the arm away from against his chest to look at it. And that's when everyone around got a clear view of the damage.
Keigo's stomach dropped and he felt like throwing up, he heard Rumi gasp beside him and Izuku whined. The blonde kid sucked in through his teeth, and Touya just stared.
The spot around where Tenko had gripped was black fading out, and cracks originated from the center and spread like a spider web across the whole arm. The skin looked hardened and was chipping, revealing raw exposed flesh and blood underneath.
Had Tenko done that?
Eyes flickered over to their friend on the ground, but mostly stayed glued to the arm. Especially Kaimatsuo's wide, terrified gaze.
"I'm sorry," Tenko suddenly choked out from the ground, and Keigo's eyes finally broke away. The boy looked like he was practically in hysterics, his face a waterfall of tears as one hand clawed at his neck with vigor. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so so so sorry," he kept repeating under his breath, eyes trained on the arm.
Instinctively, maybe, Tenko reached towards the boy, maybe to try and help in some way. Before Touya or Izuku could pull Tenko's arm back down, though, Kaimatsuo's eyes darted to the outstretched hand, gaze suddenly angry.
Kaimatsuo slapped Tenko's arm away, purposefully avoiding the hand, and he flung himself back towards the wall, trying to get as far away from Tenko as possible. "Get away from me, you- you freak! You villain! How dare you, what did you do!?"
Tenko flinched and shrunk back in on himself, glancing at his exposed hands and at the people around him, and suddenly jumping to his feet and copying Kaimatsuo's actions, darting to the opposite wall as everyone and pressing himself against it to get as far away from the others. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please, I'm sorry! I can't - I didn't! I- I'm sorry!"
The teacher that had been about to run in, but had froze down the hall at the scream, suddenly jumped in and straight towards Kaimatsuo who was crying against the wall, still hugging his arm. Keigo looked away and turned towards Tenko just before the teacher saw the arm and gasped.
Touya was on his feet and trying to move closer to Tenko now, moving slowly and speaking quietly like he was talking to a scared puppy. "Hey, Tenko? It's ok-"
"No!" Tenko slid to the ground and curled in on himself further, sitting on his hands. "No, no, stay back! Please!"
"Tenko." Izuku sounded heartbroken, he looked heartbroken, crying with a devastated and terrified look on his face from where he still hadn't moved on the ground, where he'd been next to his big brother, trying to help.
"N-no! I'm sorry, please! I'll hurt you! Stay- stay away, I don't want to hurt you! I'm sorry!"
Touya glanced up at Rumi and a Keigo with a grimace, clearly at a loss for what to do. Keigo was too. Tenko was clearly having a panick attack, he wasn't thinking clearly and wouldn't let anyone get close to him. What could they do?
More staff were arriving now, all circling Kaimatsuo, but none laying them hardly any attention.
Then, Keigo caught sight of two black things on the ground behind him. Gloves. Tenko's gloves. The ones he always wore.
He knew why now, and he still felt like throwing up.
"Tenko!" He called, picking the gloves up. Just as the panicked eyes flickered to him, he threw the gloves forward and they landed in front of the crouched boy.
He hoped beyond words that Tenko had enough of his mind left to recognize the gloves and out them on, and he hoped beyond words that they'd help calm him down.
He could've laughed in relief as red eyes widen in recognition and Tenko practically dove on the gloves and pulled them on. His hands were shaky and he struggled for a minute, but eventually had them both on.
They all waited with baited breaths as Tenko stared down at his now gloved hands. He was still shaking, he stilled breathed heavily, and his face was still soaked with tears, but he wasn't pleading with them to stay back or muttering apologies over and over again, so that was good.
"What's going on over here?" Keigo turned to see a teacher, it looked like the librarian, walking over to them. Finally. "What's wrong with him?"
"Panic attack," Touya muttered, standing back up and not looking away from his friend on the ground.
The librarian hummed and crouched down. "Dear, can you hear me?"
Tenko's eyes flickered up to her, but no other part of him moved.
She nodded and looked back at them. "Would you all do me a favor and cover your ears?"
The four of them glanced at each other before finally covering their ears. They watched curiously as the librarian closed her eyes and didn't do anything more then moving her head a bit. But Tenko's eyelid slowly grew heavier, his breathing slowed, and his shoulders gradually fell. Finally, he slumped and toppled over sideways.
Touya, being closest, reached forward and caught him before he could hit the ground. Keigo pulled his hands from his ears in time to hear the librarian whisper, "Oh dear."
"What did you do?" Rumi asked, eyes wide.
The librarian smiled warmly. She was an older woman, and her face crinkled with the movement. "It's my quirk, Siren. I can make someone relax by humming or singing. It appears he just wore himself out enough that once he was calm, he passed out."
"Oh."
They all took a moment to watch Tenko. They Al knew he passed out from exhaustion after a panic attack, that his face was traced with tear tracks. They'd all seen what just went down, they'd all experienced the realization that there might be more to Tenko and his quirk than they realized.
But watching him, face peacefully relaxed and breathing steady and calm, they could almost believe everything was normal.
Keigo felt a tug and his wing and looked down to see Izuku on his feet now, and gripping onto Keigo's feathers with a death grip. It sorta hurt, but Keigo wasn't about to push the kid away.
Izuku looked up at him with tear filled eyes. "Is Tenko gonna be ok?"
Keigo attempted a smile, but knew it probably didn't work out to great. So instead he just couched down beside him and used his wing to pull him into a sort of winged hug. "Yeah, he is."
He hoped.
—-
Izuku knew he was young. He knew he wasn't supposed to understand, that people talked about things around him like they had no concern with what he overheard, and they spoke to him like he needed things as simple as possible.
It got a bit annoying sometimes, because he did understand. Babe he didn't understand everything or know all the big words he heard, but he could read between the lines and pick out the emotions behind words far better than others realized.
He shouldn't understand, but he did. And he understood even better now.
All the times Tenko had brushed off the topic of his quirk or dodged the questions about his gloves, every time there'd been a pang of fear and anger in his expression when Izuku brought up analyzing his quirk, Izuku understood now.
Maybe not completely, there were still missing pieces. But Izuku had more deductions reasoning than he was given credit for. He could see the big picture. He understood better.
The topic of Tenko's past had never been brought up around him, but he wasn't dumb. It was obvious that Tenko looked nothing like the rest of them. He hadn't always been Midoriya. He'd been someone else. Somewhere else.
Now he was Tenko Midoriya, Izuku's big brother. He'd always be that.
Then there was the fact that Tenko was hurt. He'd been hurt for a long time. There had always been something wrong. Izuku knew. He knew that Tenko got out of bed int he middle of the night after crying from nightmares sometimes. He knew he'd have bad days sometimes, and would be somewhere else.
Something had happened, something no one would tell Izuku. And maybe that was ok. Maybe Izuku didn't want to know the story.
But that, plus the way he'd always been scared of his quirk, plus what had just happened.
The cracked, bloody skin. The scream. The pure fear in Tenko's eyes.
Izuku almost wish he didn't understand.
But he did. And it hurt.
He ran his small hands through his big brothers dark curls. Tenko was sat curled up and head resting on his knees on a chair in the principals office, and Izuku stood on the chair next to him.
Tenk had been awake again for a little while now, but if it wasn't for the eyes half open and lazily blinking every once in a while, Izuku would think he passed out again.
His eyes were staring blankly ahead, attention not focused on anything, even when Izuku waved his hand in front of him. His frame was tense, but his breathing was slow. He looked like he wasn't there, like he was somewhere else again, but that somewhere else was usually accompanied with panicking.
Izuku's never seen this before, it scared him.
He wanted to talk to Tenko. He wanted his big brother to talk to him. He wanted to hug his brother and be hugged back. He wanted none of this to have ever happened. He wanted to go home and everything to go back to normal.
But nothing was normal, and if Tenko's behavior didn't indicate that, the fact that both his parents were in the middle of a yelling match with the principal would.
Izuku hadn't been listening much, in fact, he'd been trying to ignore it as much as he could. The yelling scared him, seeing his parents so mad scared him. But he couldn't help but overhear bits and pieces, and again, he understood.
The principal was mad at Tenko for using his quirk, for attacking another student, for using his quirk to attack another student. The boy who'd stood up for Kacchan was in the hospital, and could lose his arm.
From what he over heard about Tenko's quirk, he could've very easily lost his life. They were very lucky that Tenko had pulled away fast enough and hasn't been fully set on killing.
But Tenko had purposefully used his quirk to attack another student with the intent to harm. Apparently Tenko would be in a lot of trouble.
But didn't they understand? Why couldn't they understand like Izuku did? They didn't see Tenko when he ran forward. They didn't see the look in his eyes. It wasn't Tenko. That wasn't Izuku's big brother. Tenko would never try to kill someone. He wouldn't!
Mama and Daddy were trying to defend Tenko, but it sounded like they were fighting a losing battle, and they knew it.
Izuku felt tears creep into his eyes as he stared at his big brother. At his broken big brother. Couldn't they see that he was sorry enough? Couldn't they see how much he regretted it? Why did they have to punish him more? Wasn't this bad enough?
"I'm sorry, Tenko," he whispered, knowing he wouldn't be heard, especially not above the yelling. But it was still true, and he needed to say it. He had to apologize.
This was his fault. If he hadn't let Kacchan hurt him, Tenko and his friends wouldn't have had to step in and none of this would have happened.
"Izuku, dear." Izuku looked up to see Momma in front of him, looking down at him softly. Sadly. "Could you leave the room, please? Go hang out with Touya and them for a bit, k?"
Izuku grabbed onto Tenko's sleeve, tears finally spilling over. "B- but I don't wanna- wanna leave. I- I wanna be with T- Tenko."
Something broke in Momma's face, and now she looked ready to cry too and she kneeled down. "I know, honey. I'm sorry, but we've gotta talk about things that you're too young to understand, and I know you don't like the yelling."
Izuku squeezed harder. He did understand. He wanted so badly to tell her that he did understand, that he could be here, that he didn't mind the yelling, that he could stay.
But then he looked back at Tenko's blank, devastated expression, and his heart fell. He remembered that he didn't really want to know.
So, with a reluctant huff and a small whine, he clambered down from the chair and walked towards the door.
"You'll see him again, he'll be ok," Inko said from behind him, but even she sounded uncertain.
Izuku didn't turn around, just walked out and kept his head down as he stepped forward. He heard a few hushed voices from a little own the hall. School had been let out early and most kids had gone home after what happened, everyone except Tenko's friends.
"Izuku!"
Izuku looked up in surprise when purple barreled into him.
"Hitoshi?" He asked, stumbling a bit at the impact. "What are you still doing here?"
"I had to come check on you," the purple haired boy pulled away and looked at him with worried eyes. "I was worried after you didn't show up to class, then we heard the scream and the teacher ran out and told us to stay there, then someone came in and told us all school was out and to go home and I saw your brothers friends down here so I asked and they told me a little of what happened and I just-."
The boy grunted and stopped talking abruptly, because now it was Izuku's turn to barrel into Hitoshi, tears spilling down his cheeks.
"Oh, Toshi. I- I was so scared. I still am scared, he- he wasn't responding! He was just- he wasn't, wasn't there! He was awake but he didn't even notice when I was shaking him and talking to him, he was just- he was just-" he broke off with a sob and Hitoshi wrapped him in a hug and squeezed.
If his vision wasn't blurred and his face buried in his friends shoulder, he would've seen the three older kids sitting on the floor a ways away trade worried glances.
—-
Touya felt horrible.
He knew why Tenko hated talking about his quirk now. He didn't know how bad it was, but if it caused that much damage, it probably came with some pretty bad experiences.
Touya had been mad at Kaimatsuo and that blonde kid, Katsuki, right along with Tenko. But something the older boy said must've struck a chord in Tenko, because in a moments notice he switched from angry to… Touya didn't even know what it was. But it was intense. Then he was unresponsive, and then he was charging froward and grabbing Kaimatsuo, and then… well, y'know.
Touya couldn't stop hearing that scream, picturing the arm…
Tenko's quirk was some sort of five-finger activated destruction quirk. No wonder he always wore those gloves.
And then Tenko had completely freaked. Panic attack, a bad one. The only thing that had seemed to help was when Keigo finally thought to give him his gloves back, and then the librarians quirk knocking him out.
Now they'd been waiting outside the principal's office for about an hour, every one of them worried. Izuku's comment about Tenko being completely unresponsive inside didn't help.
Hitoshi had stayed as long as he could, but eventually his mom had to bring him home, so the comforting Izuku job had been passed onto Keigo and Rumi. They were doing a good job at it.
As he watched Izuku laugh at Rumi making a hilarious impression of Tenko, he couldn't help but think back to something he'd noticed while he was at the Midoriya's apartment.
Tenko looked nothing like the rest of his family. Inko and Izuku had green hair and green eyes, and Hisashi had white hair and red eyes, for one. Tenko had black hair and a darker red eyes, almost black at first glance. Maybe Tenko looked a tiny bit like Inko, but they didn't look similar enough for him to be her biological son.
So it had him wondering, who was Tenko related to?
And what had happened that sent him to another family?
With the sudden revelation of his quirk, Touya had a sickening feeling in his stomach that he already knew the last answer.
No wonder Tenko was so scared of his quirk. No wonder he'd freaked out so much when he touched Kaimatsuo.
It all made sense now. Too much sense. It made him sick.
Maybe that was the trauma Touya's gut had told him Tenko had. Anything like what he was thinking would be terribly traumatizing for a child.
But he couldn't help but think back to all the signs he'd seen in Tenko that pointed to abuse. His family now was so nice, but if he'd had another family before…
…Could it have not been a complete accident?
No.
How much did he not know about his friend?