Safe
CW: S*icidal thoughts, jokes about s*icide, abuse. Hurt/comfort Shigdabi? dabishig? idk
Toya’s eyes fell to the barely illuminated pavement below him. The street lights had come on some time ago signalling that he probably was supposed to go back inside. Despite that, he remained sitting on the top of the building, letting the blue flames dance along his fingers. This was the routine, if that damn man was on the news then Toya would be up here.
He had arrested some infamous villain within hours of his agency being tasked with the cases. His popularity in the polls was rising because of it, the reporter had gone on and on about how amazing he was, praising him for almost the entire time slot.
Toya only felt sick to his stomach. No one knew, of course, no one knew that the man they were praising was a selfish, abusive man. Who harmed his own family just for the sake of some damn ranking.
“Hey…” A raspy voice came from behind him.
Well, Almost no one knew that.
Toya glanced over his shoulder and killed the flame in his hands, “That reporter done yapping?”
Tenko sighed and made his way closer to the other. “Yeah, finally. I’m surprised they didn’t cut her off early. Praising the flaming asshole must be more important than timeslots.”
The ebony-haired boy sat down beside him, having his legs dangling from the edge. This was also routine. Tenko was the one to come check on him, he was really the only one who knew why he came out here anyway. The others in the class only figured he was embarrassed. That was true, but not nearly for the same reason.
He was embarrassed to have that man’s blood flowing through his veins, to know that no matter how much he did to be a hero in his own right, everyone would only see Endeavor’s oldest son. The oldest son that he had rejected, the one that he had deemed too weak. If one is hurt by his own quirk then there was no chance he’d be as strong as his father made him to be.
The words of that night echoed in Toya’s mind every time he saw him on television, or heard his name. He hadn’t been back home, he had run away and was determined to prove the man wrong. Now he was here at UA, and despite his attempts to keep his connection a secret, his last name was still evidence of what family he came from.
A gloved hand holding a can of soda entered his vision and pulled him from his thoughts. He took it with a small ‘thanks.’
Tenko had his own soda by the sounds of the can opening to his right. Though, Toya’s eyes remained fixated on the pavement.
“You can’t take revenge against him if you jump.”
It was so abrupt and nonchalant that it forced a laugh out of Toya, as well as the sip of the soda he had just taken. “The hell Tenko?” He said through a mix of coughs and quiet laughs.
Tenko was laughing himself, as he wiped off the residuals of Toya’s spit take that ended up on his sleeve. “Just sayin. It got you to stop looking at the damn ground didn’t it?” He stated with a sly grin.
Toya rolled his eyes, but Tenko was right. He wasn’t sure if he was really contemplating jumping, but it wasn’t like the thought had never crossed his mind. This Tenko also knew. His goal of sticking it to his father felt hopeless. It wasn’t like he’d be believed if he did go public with the information.
He sighed and got off the ledge onto the pavement of the roof, only to lay down on his back again. The cool cement felt nice on his burns. The nighttime wind was beginning to pick up as well, the breeze reminding him that winter was going to set in soon. “Not gonna jump.” He muttered, more to himself than to Tenko.
“Good. It’d be sad if your last game of smash bros was you getting your ass kicked.” Tenko joked as he followed Toya’s movements, and laid down beside him.
Toya only laughed but kept silent, he had let Tenko win that time anyway. However, that wasn’t the point of Tenko’s statement and he knew that.
The two laid in silence for what felt like hours, holding space for each other. Tenko wasn’t always outright about what was bothering him, that was something they both shared. Toya wasn’t any good at comforting but he knew that it was helping the other to just be here, with him. If he had to admit it, it did the same for him. Every time.
Toya’s mind was once again filled with words and memories, but instead of them being ones of his father, it was ones he shared with Tenko. Nights like this that were too frequent to count, days where neither spoke, but were together the entire time, training sessions that ended in gaming too late into the night. The common thread was the feeling these memories brought up.
Safe.
Tenko felt safe.
It wasn’t just because Tenko was training alongside him to be a pro hero, or that he was in the care of the number one hero and presumably getting more training tips from him, frankly Toya was sure he was stronger than the other when it came to fighting. It was because they could do this, and sit in silence whenever the other needed it. Hold the space while they process whatever traumatic memories decide to rear their heads.
It wasn’t something he wanted to let go of, ever.
“Let’s make our own agency when we graduate.”
The silence that followed Toya’s statement was the first time that safety was gone. He wasn’t what one would call anxious, he always just kept his walls up, his fangs bared at anyone who tried to get close. He told himself that he was content with being alone all of his life.
He knew that was a lie when Tenko had first sat up on the roof with him.
“Yeah… Let’s do it. We’ll be our own heroes.”
Toya could hear the grin in Tenko’s voice. That almost crazed smile he got when he was really excited about something.
It was infectious.
That’s the only reason Toya was smiling too, at least that’s what he told himself.