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"I don't want to go."
Tenko watches his mother pause as she helps him with his tie, her hands going still against his collarbone. She glances up into his face, frowning softly. "I already told you, I won't be leaving you home alone."
"I'm thirteen, that means I’m mature enough to be on my own. I should be allowed," Tenko protests, with a frown of his own.
"Not when your father wants us all there," Nao replies. She resumes working with his tie, looping it over itself and pulling tight. It’s an absolutely garish thing, bright red and too flashy for Tenko’s tastes, but agreeing to wear a matching tie was the only way he got his mother to let him wear his red converse shoes. "There, done. You really should know how to do this yourself by now,” she gets up from her crouch, smooths out her skirt and then runs her fingers through Tenko's messy dark hair, trying to tousle it into something a little less of a bird’s nest. "But I don't mind doing it for you still."
She gives him a smile, but Tenko refuses to smile back, not ready to let go of his frown yet. He scratches at the skin under his chin as the irritation flares with his mood. "It's going to be boring and full of adults I don’t know. You won't even let me bring a game or play on my phone."
"It won't be full of adults,” Nao says, pulling his fingers away from his skin. “You'll have Hana and your cousin Izuku there to play with."
"Hana is the worst," Tenko grumbles, crossing his arms stubbornly. He’s contradicting his assertion that he’s mature, he knows, but this is something he feels strongly about. "And so is Izuku."
His mother messes with his hair a bit more. “Saying people are the worst isn't very nice."
"But it's the truth!" he says, and he is definitely not whining. "Hana always just follows you and Auntie Inko around, and then I'm left with Izuku trailing after me, being annoying and gross."
"He just wants to spend time with you,” Nao says gently. “Inko told me he thinks you're really cool."
Tenko snorts in disbelief.
“He does!” his mother insists. “You’re his cool older cousin that he looks up to.”
Tenko can’t help but preen just a little bit at the thought of being the cool older cousin, but then he remembers who it is that thinks that and scowls again.
“It’s just for a night,” Nao says, with a smile. “Just a night, Tenko.”
But it’s a night that Tenko can already tell, the moment he steps in the door, is going to drag on forever.
His Aunt Inko hurries over to the door to greet them when they arrive. She’s nothing but smiles and cheery exclamations as she gives him and Hana hugs, babbling about how much they’ve grown. Tenko always used to enjoy his Aunt’s hugs, because even hugs from his mother were never so warm and enthusiastic, but right now it just feels stifling as he endures the squeeze of her arms around him.
“I’m so glad you could come,” Inko gushes, taking Nao’s hands. Then, as if he is an afterthought, she gives a side glance to Tenko’s father, who stands tall beside his wife. “And hello to you too, Kotaro.”
Tenko watches as his father huffs, but gives Inko a respectful nod.
He understands. He thinks if he had to interact with Hana as an adult, he’d want to say as few words to her as possible too.
“Toshinori had to work late, but Izuku should be around here somewhere,” Inko says, pulling the Shimura family deeper into her home and the small crowd of family and friends already present.
They find Izuku sneaking around the edge of the room, near to the kitchen, and he freezes up with wide eyes and a guilty little smile on his face when they all approach.
“I know you weren’t sneaking some snacks before dinner is ready,” Inko says to her son.
“I wasn’t!” Izuku replies.
Tenko hangs back, waiting with just an idle curiosity to see how Izuku will be punished.
Inko only sighs, gives him a pat on the head, and pushes him forward towards the Shimuras. The interaction has Tenko scrunching his nose up and looking away.
“Say hi to your cousins and Aunt and Uncle, Izuku,” Inko encourages.
“Hello,” Izuku says, ducking his head shyly. Tenko rolls his eyes at how spineless he is.
“Izuku here is grumpy because I’m not letting him go upstairs,” Inko says with a laugh.
“Tenko didn’t want to come either,” Nao says, smiling back. “I think boys are just like that.”
They strike up an easy conversation after that, the two moms sharing little stories back and forth. Tenko stands there, bored out of his mind, while Hana and Izuku appear to be listening eagerly. At some point, Tenko doesn’t know when, his father gives his shoulder a squeeze, says “Behave,” into his ear, and then disappears into the crowd to talk to other people.
“Oh, we should move to the sitting room. Nao you will not believe what Toshinori got for the wall–” Inko is saying when Tenko turns his attention back to his mom and Aunt. Inko is pulling his mom away to another room by the hand, and Hana is trailing dutifully after, just as Tenko knew she would be.
Just before she is out of sight, his mother turns around and mouths ‘Play nice!’ to him.
It’s then that he realizes that Izuku is still standing next to him; a tiny, wide-eyed presence.
As always, just like Tenko said, it's just himself and Izuku left.
His frustration with being proved right trumps the feeling of actually being right. So Tenko spins on Izuku and says flatly, “I hate you.”
It’s best to have all his cards laid out on the table right from the start, so Izuku knows exactly how Tenko feels.
“I hate you more,” Izuku shoots back, making Tenko gape in surprise. He hadn’t expected a fiery reaction like this. Moments ago his younger cousin had been the picture of a perfect little wallflower, and the last time Tenko saw him at a family gathering, the boy was even more of a snotty, sniveling little brat. He couldn’t stand up for himself at all.
“You can’t hate me more, I already hate you the most,” Tenko snaps, glaring down into his little cousin’s face.
“Yeah well, I can and I do,” Izuku crosses his arms stubbornly. “Besides, Kacchan has the number 1 spot for hating me already. He said so, and he’s always number 1.”
Tenko wonders how Aunt Inko will react if he wrings Izuku’s neck. Of course she’ll be sad, but she’ll probably get over it soon once she realizes that Tenko has done her a favor. Maybe if Tenko offers her Hana in exchange she won’t be so torn up about it, and then Hana won’t be able to sneak into Tenko’s room and overwrite his save files on his games anymore, it’s a win-win.
“I wish I could kill you,” Tenko hisses.
“That’s not very nice,” Izuku frowns.
“I’m not very nice.”
Izuku glares at him as hard as he can, which isn’t a lot. With his face all red and his chubby, freckled cheeks puffed out, it looks more like he’s about to cry.
“If I had a superpower,” Tenko announces, “it’d be to kill you with one touch. I’d make you turn to dust.”
Izuku scrunches his face up even more, probably thinking he looks very serious and intimidating. Tenko thinks he looks about as intimidating as a marshmallow. “Yeah? Well, if I had a superpower, it’d be to punch you so high up into the sky, you’d never come down!”
They stay locked in their stalemate for a while, just glaring daggers at each other. Or rather, Tenko is the one glaring daggers, while Izuku keeps fidgeting and wavering, his stupidly short attention span not allowing for him to hold out as long. It’s clear to Tenko that he’s the winner here, but he refuses to let up until his victory is completely secured and irrefutable.
Then, from across the room; a booming laugh.
Tenko would recognize that laugh anywhere. It’s one that he loathes with all his being.
Turning his attention to a more hated target is an acceptable reason to break his and Izuku’s glare-off, and Tenko snaps his head around to squint through the small gathering of their family until his eyes zero in on his Uncle Toshinori. It isn’t hard to spot the man – everything about his presence fills and dominates any room he’s in. Like the sun has been crammed into such a small place. The jerk doesn’t even care how many people he’s blinding.
Tenko had been the only one who had tried to stand up and object during Toshinori and Inko’s wedding, but his mother and Hana had both grabbed onto his arms and covered his mouth, then held him down until the ceremony had finished, much to Tenko's endless anger. Uncle Hisashi was – still is – immensely cooler than the huge oaf of a man who is chatting with Tenko's grandparents now, but no one other than Tenko seems to be able to see it.
“Tou-san!” Izuku cheers, also forgetting Tenko in favor of Toshinori. He runs across the room to crash into Toshinori’s monstrously thick tree-trunk legs. “We were waiting for you!”
Tenko narrows his eyes at his cousin. Izuku is already calling Toshinori “Tou-san.” Oh how easily Izuku had betrayed Uncle Hisashi and replaced him. It's disgusting. Does Izuku know nothing of loyalty?
“I’m sorry, my boy,” Toshinori says, his voice just as loud and vibrant as his laugh. He picks Izuku up with ease, nevermind that eight is way too old to be picked up anymore. Tenko’s father stopped picking him up before Tenko could even remember. “I had a bit of work to finish first, but now I am here!”
Izuku grins brightly at his step-father, and Tenko stalks away with a scowl.
Maybe, if he’s lucky, with him out of sight everyone will forget he even came to this stupid party. He’ll disappear, and no one will look for him.
For a few minutes, that holds true, and Tenko is blissfully alone. He basks in it, savoring how muffled and distant the sounds of socialization are.
He’d found himself a small window alcove by the stairway to curl up and idly scratch at his neck in. It was just one of the many options he’d had, because really, there are too many hiding spots in the Midoriyas’ massive new house. They’d gotten to move because Uncle Toshinori is apparently an ‘important public figure’ or some other nonsense Tenko doesn’t care about, but it’s too big for just three people, in Tenko’s opinion. Too big and too nice. Nicer than the mediocre suburban house where Tenko lives with his parents, sister, and grandparents.
He tries to imagine Izuku in these empty halls, probably playing with one of his stupid superhero toys, running around without a care in the world, making as much noise as he wants. The mental image brings a bitter taste to his mouth.
When his mother leans her head into his space, he resolutely hunches his shoulders up, keeping his arms crossed over his knees, and looks away from her.
“Tenko…” Nao starts, in that damn gentle tone of hers. “You can’t tuck yourself away in the shadows the whole time.”
“I don’t want to be here,” Tenko says grumpily. “I told you that you should’ve let me stay home.”
His mother sighs, then takes the time and effort to slide into the alcove beside him. He doesn’t budge to make room for her, and can tell she’s uncomfortable by the way the skin around her eyes tightens slightly, but she doesn’t complain. “What’s wrong?”
Tenko keeps his mouth clamped shut. Nothing is getting out of him, he’s determined to be a steel trap.
“I saw you leave when Toshinori got here," his mother says, somehow knowing exactly what is wrong. She always does. “Do you still not like him?”
“He’s so fake!” Tenko bursts out loudly. So much for being a steel trap. “I don’t know how everyone doesn’t see it. Uncle Hisashi was smarter and cooler, but you all let him barge into our family and ruin it, and now you just stand around laughing at whatever he says. It’s pathetic!”
For a moment, his mother doesn’t say anything, and Tenko buries his face back down into his arms. This is it, I’ve finally made her mad. Really, truly mad, he thinks. Now, all he can do is wait for his mom to finally snap and yell back at him.
If his dad had been the one to find him, Tenko would’ve been punished already, long before he could open his mouth to say anything at all. It’s a small mercy that his dad is busy keeping up appearances and trying to form business connections with some of their more distant relatives. The man could probably care less about the tantrum Tenko is throwing right now, as long as Tenko is out of sight.
He doesn’t expect the way his mother cards her fingers gently through his hair, and flinches out of habit. The fingers still, before slowly, carefully, resuming their soothing ministrations once Tenko’s rapid breaths have calmed. He wonders why his mom always seems to gravitate to his hair… maybe it's as soothing for her as it is for him. “I know you were close to Hisashi, but it isn’t your choice who Inko and Izuku let into their life,” Nao says, in the kindest way possible. “He wasn’t good for them.”
Tenko scoffs. He thinks his dad isn’t good for their family either, but he doesn’t see him getting replaced by a big dumb smiley idiot anytime soon.
Nao sighs. “If you need space, I can make an excuse for you to spend time outside until dinner is ready.”
Tenko stiffens, and turns to blink wide eyes incredulously at his mother.
She’s always too forgiving, always too generous.
“Really?” Tenko asks, wary to be hopeful.
Nao nods. “But if Izuku wants to go with you, are you prepared to take him along?”
Ah, there’s the catch.
Tenko huffs, and thinks it over. He can choose between time away from their bustling family, in exchange for his little cousin’s company, or he can continue to stay trapped in this house where he can hear Uncle Toshinori’s thunderous laugh three whole rooms away.
“Fine,” he grumbles. “If Izuku wants to come, I guess he can, but he better not.”
Nao gives him a smile, and she smooths his hair back to press a soft kiss to the side of his head. “Thank you, Tenko.”
Tenko will never admit how warm just those simple words make him feel.
He lets his mother lead him back to the party, and then hovers near her with a sullen expression while waiting for her to give him his out. Thankfully, his mom doesn’t waste too much time.
“Isn’t there a park nearby?” Nao asks Inko. Tenko perks up. “We should let the kids go there while we wait for dinner.”
Inko glances at Tenko and Izuku, takes in their tired and bored little faces, and hides a laugh behind her hand. “They really don’t seem to be enjoying this, do they?”
“I’m enjoying it!” Hana chirps, ever the suck-up.
“Tenko, why don’t you take your cousin and go spend time out in the nearby park for a while?” his mother encourages.
“Dinner is still going to be a while,” Inko says, “and it's such a nice afternoon.”
It is a nice afternoon, with a cool breeze and gentle pink sky.
Tenko would be able to enjoy it more if he wasn’t wearing stiff formal clothes and didn’t have a babbling little limpet attached to him.
Izuku doesn’t shut up the entire way to the park, and Tenko doesn’t care to listen to what he’s talking about. He’s just an annoying stream of nonstop sound, as he bounces and hops over sidewalk lines in front of Tenko.
He stops when they reach the park, freezing at the entrance. There are a few other kids also there, already playing on the different brightly colored structures, which is something Tenko immediately decides he can take advantage of.
“Hey, how about you go play with those other brats,” he says, giving Izuku a small shove on the back, ignoring Izuku’s little yelp. “And leave me alone, okay?”
Izuku hesitates, watching the other kids nervously. “I wanna play with you though,” he whines.
Tenko raises an eyebrow. “What, are you too good to play with other kids?”
“N-No,” Izuku stammers.
“Or is it cause you’re too much of a baby to make friends that aren’t your mom?”
Izuku winces at the harsh jab, eyes quickly welling up with tears. He turns and runs off into the park before Tenko can say anything else.
Not that he was going to apologize or anything. Nope, he doesn’t regret his words one bit, because they succeeded in getting Izuku away from him.
He finds a bench on the edge of the park and sits down, eager to finally get to log in and play games on his phone now that he’s not being smothered under the watchful eyes of all those adults. It’s easy to lose himself in the large multi-player game that he frequents, letting the stats and strategies fill up his thoughts like water pouring into a glass.
Then a loud shout breaks the air, and that glass is roughly knocked over, spilling everywhere. Tenko’s mind empties, and he looks up with an irritated glare just in time to see one of the other kids who had been playing in the park push Izuku to the ground.
It doesn’t happen in slow motion. Izuku crashes heavily to the ground in a single motion, like an already fragile toy being tipped over, and he breaks into just as many pieces.
There’s a single beat of time between watching Izuku fall and now, where it doesn’t really register to Tenko what he’s seeing. He watches, numb to the violence, an observer on the outside.
Another boy kicks Izuku in the back, and then another leans down to grab at Izuku’s wrists and pull Izuku’s arms open. The bullies laugh like hyenas, loud and obnoxious, and circle Izuku just the same. Predators tearing apart their prey, relentless and cruel.
Izuku cries out in pain, and the sound snaps Tenko harshly back into his body.
“Hey!” he shouts before he can stop himself, launching to his feet. “Hey, get away from him!”
The hyenas freeze, heads swiveling to face Tenko almost as one. Wide eyed and stunned, they hesitate for a moment, like they might actually stop, but then they see that Tenko isn’t much older than they are, and their toothy smiles re-affix themselves. Izuku pleads with him silently from the ground, his eyes shiny and wet.
“Mind your own business!” shouts the boy who has Izuku’s wrists in his hands, holding them apart so Izuku can’t guard his face. He’s kneeling on Izuku’s stomach, and puts more pressure down as Tenko gets closer. Izuku’s stomach caves around the kid’s knee, while Izuku gags and coughs on the air that is being forcefully expelled from his lungs.
“That’s my cousin, so unfortunately he is my business,” Tenko says darkly.
These kids may fancy themselves hyenas, but Tenko knows he’s descended from lions. He has a secret picture of his grandmother – his father and Aunt Inko’s mom – tucked away in his pocket, but he doesn’t need to pull it out to remind himself of her well-muscled frame and her fighter’s confidence. Grandma Nana had been beautiful and dangerous, and Tenko’s been told a thousand times over that he looks just like her.
“I said,” Tenko snarls, reaching for the bullies with his claws, “to get away from him.”
The bullies go pale, blood draining from their faces. Tenko is another skinny kid just like them, but there’s something about the way he's approaching them – the way he’s staring them down with flat eyes, irises swallowed by dark pupils – that has them getting to their feet and backing away. There’s a promise of violence larger than the violence they’d already been committing, a threat in how Tenko shifts his weight.
“F-fine,” one of the bullies bites out. “We were done playing anyway. Let’s go guys.”
They abandon their prey so easily, running away with their tails between their legs.
“Cowards,” Tenko growls, relaxing his stance, letting his hands drop back to his sides. He had almost hoped they’d stick around so he could beat up a few kids, but Tenko knows this is the better outcome. Why waste HP on a useless fight that wouldn’t get him any EXP?
A soft whine from the ground has Tenko remembering Izuku. He looks down, and watches his bruised and battered cousin push himself to his knees on trembling arms.
“What the hell was that all about?” Tenko asks, making no move to help Izuku up.
Izuku keeps his head tilted down, face obscured by his messy dark hair.
Tenko frowns. “Does Auntie Inko know that you’re getting pushed around?”
“...No.”
With a scoff, Tenko turns away from Izuku. “Typical.”
That’s when the sniffling starts.
Tenko does his best to ignore it. He really does. He tries to turn around and walk back to his bench, but Izuku just looks so pathetic. Like some weak and phlegmy baby bird, pushed out of the nest and left on the ground all alone.
There’s another, louder sniffle.
“Darnit,” Tenko hisses under his breath.
He spins back around and, without looking at Izuku, sits down heavily on the ground beside his younger cousin. Then, before he even knows what he's doing, he's thrusting his phone under Izuku’s snotty nose. “Take it.”
Izuku starts violently, flinching like he expects Tenko to hit him, and then stares at the phone with such open and naked shock that Tenko starts to feel self-conscious.
“You’re eight, so you do know what a phone is by now, right?” Tenko asks with a mocking sneer, but he genuinely hopes the answer isn’t a no.
“Y-yeah.”
Tenko very nearly retracts his offering as he watches Izuku drag his wrist across his face, the back of his hand coming away with a gross wet sheen of tears and snot. He grimaces, but still lets Izuku take his phone into his smaller hands.
“Here, you’ll probably like this game,” he huffs, tapping at an icon while Izuku watches. Bright colors fill the screen. “It’s just a stupid Connect 3 type.”
“Where are the games you usually play?” Izuku asks, though his attention is very much already captured by the game.
“You’re too young for those,” Tenko says. “Talk to me when you’re thirteen like me, and maybe I’ll tell you.”
“Are they violent?” Izuku asks, while the screen flashes with confetti, announcing that he’s completed the first and easiest puzzle.
“Very.”
“Are they cool?”
Tenko pauses, and glances at Izuku’s downturned head. There’s still dirt tangled in the back of his hair, but all his sadness is gone now, replaced by simple, childish excitement for a game that Tenko is letting him play.
You’re his cool older cousin that he looks up to.
“Course they are,” Tenko crosses his arms and looks away. “I don’t play shitty games.”
They sit there for a while, and time passes, with neither of them moving to go somewhere more comfortable than the dirt in the middle of the park where they’re planted. Tenko figures the more time spent away from the party and his dad’s glare, the better. Not wanting to interrupt Izuku as he happily plays his game is just a convenient excuse for Tenko to capitalize on.
“Hey Tenko?” Izuku begins quietly.
“What?”
“You said you weren’t nice earlier,” Izuku says. “But I think you’re nice.”
Tenko glares at him, and resists the urge to snatch his phone back. “No, I’m not.”
“Can we be friends, now that you’re nice?” Izuku asks.
“No.”
“That’s okay,” Izuku accepts easily. “I don't know a lot about having friends, but I think being cousins means we’re friends by default.”
“That’s not at all what that means.”
Izuku isn’t listening anymore. He has his little tongue sticking out between his lips, as he focuses hard on his latest puzzle.
They should probably go back to the party at some point, Tenko thinks to himself.
With a sigh, he leans closer to Izuku.
“Here, let me teach you how to do a combo move.”