Puppet Master

The Calm.

Asa closed the book he was reading aloud.

"Welcome back," he greeted the green-haired boy on the couch sitting next to him. The previously dissociated Izuku rubbed at his eyes. He looked over at Asa. "Morn... ing?" Asa shook his head. "Night. It's," he checked his phone, "9:23 currently." Izuku hummed. He blinked a few times before his eyes suddenly widened.

"Wait," Asa held up his hand, "let me go get your weights and stress ball and you can do your exercises while you explain it all to me." Izuku nodded slowly. Asa did NOT like the dark look in Izuku's eyes.

He got off the couch and made his way to Ei's and Izu's room.

*knock knock knock*

Asa knows that he probably doesn't have to knock since Izuku isn't in there but it has become more of a habit than anything.

"You can come in," Eijiro's muffled voice came from the other side. Asa opened the door. "Hey, bud," he greeted. Eijiro looked up from his game. "Did he 'wake up?'" Asa nodded. "Yeah." Eijiro hummed as Dad went to collect Izuku's things. "Need some support?" the redhead asked. Asa sighed. "No. It'll be fine," Asa replied. "I'll keep him busy while doing his exercises so it won't be too bad. I hope." Asa frowned. "Come to think of it, when was the last time Izuku actually got mad?"

Eijiro shrugged. "Mad enough to dissociate? Probably Christmas." Asa rolled his shoulders. "I don't think we have the data to handle this," he joked. Ei rolled his eyes before pausing. "Does Izu get angry?" Asa looked over at his son from the door. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Surely he does." Eijiro raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound very convinced."

Asa hummed. "I mean, he got angry that time around Christmas so I'm sure he does."

Eijiro frowned. "I know but, like, I've never seen him actually get irked or anything. Every time I got mad or frustrated he would always calm me down but I don't think I've ever seen Izuku himself actually get angry." Asa opened the door.

"That's... not good." He shouldn't be holding it all in.

Asa left the room. He peered into the living room. Izuku was sitting on the couch still, head down and shoulders hunched. Well, his left shoulder was. Hime was rubbing against him, trying to calm Izuku down from whatever caused this sudden shift in demeanor. Maybe she didn't know what to do either because they almost never see Izuku actually mad. Asa signed and entered the living room.

"Alright, bud," he started, crouching down in front of Izuku. The boy didn't lift his head but glanced up at Asa which was fine. Asa was going to press the greenette. Not until he actually knew how the boy reacts when angry aside from running away.

Apparently he broke a table... Izuku may be surprisingly violent when angry. Then again, it might not be all that surprising considering his track record.

Asa moved purposefully slowly, like approaching a wounded animal, when reaching forward and taking Izuku's metal hand. He made sure that his arms were always in Izuku's line of sight. Even if Izuku wasn't angry, it was more of a silent rule to do so. There were a few things like that they all learned not to do. Like never walking up behind him, always rounding to the side. Stuff like that.

Asa turned the hand around and placed the red stress ball in it. Asa met Izuku in the eyes. "Now, how about you tell me what's going on, okay?" he asked.

Izuku didn't talk for a long time, staring down at the ball in his hand before his eyes narrowed and his metal fingers curled around the ball.

"I- I just... He just... I- I don' know..." Izuku whispered. Asa tilted his head. "Alright, let's start from the top then. What are you feeling right now? And before you dissociated?" Izuku swallowed.