Only Tenya, Nothing More
POV Yamada:
Yamada would’ve stayed outside forever if he could. His husband’s head on his chest was so warm despite the weather, and not to mention the fact that they finally had a plan for the children. But he knew that he had a job to do, so he had gone back inside with Aizawa to help Nemuri with the rest of the quirk restraints.
He had previously left the room when he heard the commotion of his husband barreling outside, and when she had told him what had happened with Tsuyu had barely known how to react. First Ochako, then Tsuyu, and now the rest of the kids.
He was finishing up with a kid named Shouji Mezou, who had his many arms bound to his back. It was quite an amazing quirk, Yamada had to admit, perfect for hero work. He had also seen some areas of his orange skin that were lighter than the other, and upon asking about it the poor boy had revealed that they had attempted to bleach his skin. Yamada had learned not to make a scene about their abuse in front of them to avoid another Ochako situation, but it still hurt his heart not to be able to do anything.
It also struck him how many kids were refusing certain aspects of their restraints to be taken off. There were no dramatic situations like Tsuyu or Ochako, but he realized quickly that it could easily spiral into one if he didn’t allow them to keep their suppressants. Shouji had refused to take his mask off, not even letting Yamada see under it. He knows that it’s petty, but he was just so upsettingly curious to see. He had to respect the young boy though and let him keep his mouth cover.
The next kid on his list would be Tenya. The raven hair boy had refuted his previous efforts to help him, insisting that his friends should go first. Yamada had to respect that, especially since Nemuri started oozing over chivalry and what not.
Yamada had watched Shouji return to his friends before calling out to him, “Tenya? It’s your turn bud.”
He was chatting quietly with Izuku on the floor with Ochako peacefully sleeping next to them. The use of her quirk took a lot out of her, calming her down took forever, so he was glad she was finally resting.
The young boy peeped his head up at the sound of his name, looked around the room to see who hadn’t gone yet, and finally made his decision to follow after a nod of confirmation from his green-haired friend. He quickly stood up and made his way to Yamada.
“Hello, Present Mic Sir! My name is Tenya!”
Shouta had described the young boy to him as they had met before, and he had to admit, the whacking hand motions were spot on. In the back of his mind, he did wonder why he would only call himself Tenya and didn’t have a last name, but Yamada decided that wasn’t really his business. Not yet at least.
“Hello Tenya, do you mind coming back with me?”
The boy simply gave a curt nod and followed him back into the small conference room.
Shutting the door behind him, he turned around to look at Tenya. The kid stood strictly with his hands rigid by his sides, back as straight as a ruler. He seemed to be trying to look professional, brave even, but Yamada couldn’t pretend that he didn’t see the slight sheen of fear in his eyes.
He still couldn’t believe that they were here, in a police station full of twenty banged up kids. Looking down at Tenya he still couldn’t quite process that this dirty child was going to be part of his family. Right now he’s a total stranger, but what about in a month? In a year? He has no idea what went on in his past, but he’d make sure that he’ll have a good future. He’ll make sure of it.
None the less Yamada still had work to do.
“Hey Tenya, we’re going to be taking off your quirk restraints, is that okay with you?”
He smiled at him, trying to seem warm, but his efforts were instantly refuted. The young boy stumbled back a few steps, taken aback.
“T-take them off?”
“Well, yes. Did you not see the others? They had theirs taken off-”
“That’s different!”
Yamada was shocked. Tenya had seemed so composed, so mature by letting his friends go before him, but it only then hit Yamada that he wasn’t doing that out of kindness. He was scared. The boy was visibly shaken now, any face of bravery long forgotten.
The pro-hero crouched down to face him. He wasn’t about to force the kid to do anything he didn’t want to, but he at least wanted to see if they could talk about the issue.
“How is it different, Tenya?”
“It just is!”
He looked exasperated now, his outburst had disheveled his dark blue hair. His eyes kept shifting around as if he was looking for something, or someone, to get him in trouble.
Yamada shifted his weight and moved down into a sitting position on the floor.
“What’s different between you and your friends?”
--------
POV Tenya
The boy shifted, looking down at the adult who was now on the floor. He didn’t know what he wanted from him. Tenya desperately wanted to give him the right answer, to make it okay, but he would not let him take off his quirk tools.
He also noticed how the adults kept calling them “suppressants”, but in reality, they were only to help them. His siblings all had frightening quirks, so it was for the greater good to keep them blocked! Tenya didn’t understand why they were insisting on taking them off.
It’s also not like he didn’t notice how shaken everyone was after they came out of the room. He means Ochako was forced to use her quirk. The adults probably thought that they did a good job, but Tenya noticed the horror in his friend’s eyes after Present Mic had grabbed the next kid. She was forced to do the exact thing they were told not to do their whole lives, and they acted as if it was nothing.
“Hey, Tenya, stay with me kiddo.”
Tenya snapped his attention back to the hero down below him. He also didn’t understand why he was on the floor. Wouldn’t that just get him dirty? There didn’t seem to be a point to it.
Present Mic seemed like a nice hero. He hadn’t known much about him, but Izuku most definitely talked about him a lot. Tenya hated his questions though, he just wanted to leave.
“Could you tell me why you don’t want your quirk suppressants taken off,”
There it was again. Hadn’t he answered this already? Hadn’t his siblings? Tenya honestly expected more adept listening skills from a pro hero.
“Or how you’re different?”
Tenya wasn’t different. That’s not what he had meant by that. He and his siblings were all in the same boat, all of them were dangerous.
He guessed he was different because he was there permanently.
He hated thinking about it. He knew it would make him cry, but he just couldn’t help but let his mind wander.
It all happened when he was only two years old, but he remembered it very simply. His big brother didn’t come home that day. Tensei was training at hero school to become one of the best heroes.
He always awaited the turn of the lock in the afternoon, knowing that means his brother would be home to play with him, but the lock never turned. No knock. No chime of the doorbell. Nothing.
His mother called the school. They hadn’t heard anything about it, as far as they knew he had walked home with his friends.
He had tried to ask his mother what was wrong, but she shooed him aside as she dialed 911. They said that they would send out an alert to the local heroes, but that didn’t seem like enough to Tenya. He thought that maybe his mom should call All Might, he’d probably know what to do, but his mom told him to hush up.
His father came home from work a few hours later. His mother had tried to call him, but he had been too busy to pick up. Tenya had tried to hug them before they both scurried out the doors with flashlights but was kicked aside. He wanted to go with them to look for his big brother. He wanted someone to say that it was okay, but he was alone in his house.
He decided that they wanted him to stay just in case his brother came home. Of course, his parents wanted someone to greet him so he didn’t have to come home to the empty house. It made perfect sense, so he waited by the door.
A flurry of hope arose in his chest when the lock turned but was quickly quenched when his parents were behind the door, empty-handed.
His parents looked so defeated, so worn down. He scrambled up to his mother and hugged her legs, wanting it to be okay. But that was the wrong thing to do, he realized.
Tenya will never forget the look in his mother’s eyes. Although usually soft, her eyes squinted into horror. They widened with shame as her brow furrowed, her crows’ feet becoming more pronounced. With a sharp kick of her leg, she threw him off of her.
“You! You look- You are-”
She choked, never letting Tenya know what she was going to say. His father quickly comforted his wife, and led her into their bedroom, leaving Tenya alone to greet his brother once again.
The next few days blurred together. His parents didn’t want to look at him, didn’t even want to speak to him. They just stayed in their bedroom, and whenever they did come out, he was avoided at all costs. He still saw that they were crying anyway.
He wanted to cheer them up, but he didn’t know what with. He couldn’t reach the kettle to make them tea, and they always got mad whenever he dug into the desserts, so he couldn’t give them that either.
He sat on the couch pondering when his father came out of the bedroom. And for the first time in days, he looked directly at Tenya.
“Get in the car.”
He turned around and started walking towards the door. Tenya didn’t even have his shoes on, but the coldness in his father’s voice made him decide against stopping to put them on.
The car ride was quiet. Usually, his mother would turn on music, or his father would hum a song, but the only noise being made was the shuffle of cement under the wheels.
They drove for a while. Tenya wasn’t quite sure how long, but he started to feel tired. The orange sunset started to cascade over the buildings, and the rumble in his stomach let him know that he had missed dinner. Was this a business trip? Did they find Tensei? He started to get excited, although he wished that he could’ve put on shoes if he was going to see his brother.
The building that they stopped in front of was small. It seemed to be only one story, with vines growing over the chipped stone walls and a few windows with large gaping cracks, letting the breeze flow into the inside.
His father didn’t say anything as he stopped the car and got out, but Tenya didn’t really care. He didn’t understand why Tensei would be here, but he wanted to see him as soon as he could. He pushed open his door and hopped out onto the gravel underneath him.
Tenya walked behind his father as they approached the run-down door. The overgrown grass tickled his ankles as he walked by, and he couldn’t help but appreciate the little bugs scurrying over the dirt before his father rammed on the door.
The door swung open not to reveal his brother, but instead a large woman. His mother always taught him to mind his manners, and never to comment on someone’s appearance, but he couldn’t help but notice how wide the woman was.
For a second her face dropped, scowling at his father, before turning that frown into a smile, exposing her orange teeth.
“Hello, Mr. Iida! Thank you for stopping by, come on in!”
Tenya wanted to grab his father’s hand, but he walked with his hands clasped behind his back, paying no attention to his son.
“Thank you for having us, Miss Sasaki,”
For the second time today, his father turned to him and crouched down.
Tenya had never seen his father cry before. Not sadly, at least, as he did cry when Tensei was accepted into hero school, but his mother had said that they were happy tears. Yet right now his eyes were red and misted, looking at him with bleary eyes.
“Tenya, I need you to understand something. Your mother and I-” He choked, took a deep breath, and started again,” Your mother and I love you very much. You’ve done nothing wrong, but you just- you look-”
His father looked away and squeezed his eyes tight. Tenya didn’t understand why he was so sad, weren’t they going to see Tensei? Wasn’t this a good thing?
Whenever he was sad his mother always hugged him, so he decided to try that. He shuffled forward to his father and wrapped his small arms around his shoulders.
“I love you too, daddy!”
He wanted his dad to hug him back. To tell him that it was okay. Just to say something. But instead, his shoulders shuddered as he sobbed harder.
“You’re going to stay here for a while, okay? Not forever, just until, well, just for a while.”
Tenya didn’t understand what he was saying. Staying where? Why?
“You’re not to call yourself Iida, alright. You are Tenya. Only Tenya. Nothing more.”
His father stood up, pushing Tenya’s arms away from his shoulders, and looked away.
“T-Thank you, Miss Sasaki. I’ll be leaving now.”
He turned towards the door and stopped as his hand grasped the handle before pushing it open, not looking back once.
“Tenya- Tenya! TENYA!”
He was brought back from his thoughts as two large hands grasped his shoulders. Looking into his eyes was Present Mic, shaking slightly.
“Oh thank God! Are you alright?”
“Huh?”
His face felt hot. Globs of tears had streaked down his face. Since when was he crying?
“You spaced out there for a minute, bud. I didn’t mean to upset you, we don’t have to take them off today, no worries.”
Tenya didn’t understand what he meant. Present Mic hadn’t upset him at all, he was just thinking in his head. The hero put a hand on his back and led him back out the door.
Tenya wanted to tell the hero that he was fine and that nothing had happened, but he guessed that this was better than nothing.
He thought back to his father, saying that he wasn’t going to be there permanently. Tenya always believed that meant he was going to pick him up one day and his mother would swing him in her arms as Tensei hugged him, but apparently he interpreted it wrong, as the heroes were the ones to save him in the end.