All For Some

Chapter 60. Tenya Protection Squad

Izuku snuck out of the house with Shoto and Eijiro. They met the car several hundred meters away just to make it harder in case someone tried to follow it after picking up Tenya. The three quickly got in with a somewhat confused Tenya. Izuku had to summarize the night's events before he could lean back and doze off. The workout had helped him wake up, but that did nothing to the fact he had missed even more sleep than usual.

Except when his eyes were half closed, they happened to point at Tenya who was no longer distracted by Izuku's explanations. The taller teen had also been tired, but as he thought they weren't paying as much attention the darkness snuck onto his face. It started around the eyes and spread as tension on his face. He squeezed his fists.

What really made Izuku worried was that tension. He knew it well; anger, supressed anger, even more than before.

"Tenya, what happened?" Izuku asked, silencing even Eijiro who had been keeping Shoto distracted. Tenya grimaced.

"Tensei had another surgery last night, something they missed before. They say it will be okay now, but that is what they said before." His arm shook and Izuku was surprised his nails didn't make his own hand bleed from how hard he was squeezing his fist.

Izuku reached out to put his hand on top of it; Shoto and Eijiro soon mimicked the gesture.

"He didn't deserve this," Tenya said through gritted teeth.

"The world rarely cares what people deserve," Izuku whispered. "We can only do our best to manage with it."

"The world didn't do this," Tenya muttered more quietly than before. His tone sent chills through Izuku who had to check Shoto to make sure the other hadn't suddenly decided to play air conditioning again without realizing.

The drive continued with a tension in the air that even Eijiro couldn't fully crack. When they picked up Hitoshi the brainwasher took one glance at Tenya and gave Izuku a knowing look. Izuku gave him the summary of the night like Tenya and Tokoyami had gotten but avoided topics that might have made the tension worse until they got to the school. Walking to the class, Tenya was naturally at the front of the group so Izuku hung back with Hitoshi.

"You think he will be okay?" Izuku asked. "It feels worse than before."

"Probably. I'm not sure if he is feeling worse, or just failing to pretend he's better than he actually is. Neither is good. I'm worried he might do something stupid. You of all of us know people might act without thinking if someone close to them is hurt."

Izuku nodded slowly.

"Tenya might not be as... explosive as you," Hitoshi tilted his head as he said that, but Izuku gave no opposition, "but all that... pressure needs to be released somewhere, and I don't think punching Eijiro is going to do it for him."

"Sorry," the redhead walking in front of them whispered. Izuku could only shake his head before responding.

"What do you think he is going to do? Rush out to look for Stain alone?"

"I guess he might, but we are talking about Tenya. Even if he is pushed far enough to break the rules, he would approach it in some organized way, and he wouldn't have much time considering he trains with us after school and during weekends. Not that he would be likely to find Stain even if he tried. All of the heroes in the country have not yet done so. That's good, but might frustrate him more."

"You have really thought about this," Izuku commented.

"And you haven't? I'm surprised you didn't start muttering as soon as Tenya wasn't listening."

"With stuff like this," Izuku said, "It's better for everyone to leave that to you."

"No pressure," Hitoshi rubbed the back of his neck. "Best I can think is to keep a close eye on Tenya while Tensei recovers. He might never be back to normal, but Tenya might be more able to process that once he is out of the hospital and not in actual danger, or at least we can ask for Tensei's help then."