Journey For Trust (Vigilante Deku)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Quirkless

Toshinori walked through the bricked alleys, counted every turn he took, held the medical bag's strap over his shoulder and two lunchboxes he prepared in his hands. If he really wanted to help Izuku, he'd have to do more than just patch up his injuries. Though getting him out of that damn home would be best, Izuku didn't want that. At least not yet. If he wanted Izuku to trust him, he had to help Izuku overcome whatever mental turmoil kept him in that house—with that abuser. Toshinori stopped himself from scoffing. Now wasn't the time to grow more angry with that man. He had to do whatever he could to help Izuku. That didn't stop Toshinori from growing more angry with himself for being so useless he couldn't get Izuku out of that home, though. He almost couldn't do a damn thing.

But giving Izuku a warm meal was something he could do. Even if it was baby steps, it was still something. And it may not be that little either, considering how thin and underweight the kid was. Toshinori's eyebrows furrowed. Why couldn't a kid as sweet as Izuku have an easier life?

On top of everything else, based on Tsukauchi's theory, Izuku also had an eating disorder. He wanted to help Izuku overcome that. No one deserved to struggle with something as simple as eating.

And if he wanted to help Izuku overcome his eating disorder, then he'd have to be better at eating, too. Not that he had an eating disorder himself, but that eating was such a difficulty with his stomach injury, let alone inconvenient with his busy hero schedule. But, now that he had someone else to care for, those weren't viable excuses to not eat anymore. He would do better for Izuku. Hence, the two lunchboxes.

A soft, muffled sniffle came from the alley he was supposed to meet Izuku in. He ran.

In the back corner of the alley, Izuku buried his face against his knees as his hands tightly pulled at his hair. His shoulders shivered, and an occasional small whimper or sharp gasp escaped from the held back sobs.

Toshinori almost lunged forward to envelop the kid in a hug, but stopped himself. He shouldn't be too pushy; he could make it worse, like he did with Tsukauchi. Toshinori squeezed the lunch boxes in his hand. What if he scared Izuku away? What if he hurt him like he hurt Tsukauchi? If he did hurt or scare him, then would anybody help Izuku? Would Izuku be completely alone then? Would he be completely alone then?

Izuku's hand moved from his hair to in between his knees and face, digging his nails into his skin. That kid didn't deserve to believe for even a second that he was alone. Not anymore. And standing there pondering the thousand ways he could screw up wasn't helping. Toshinori walked towards him, careful to watch his steps so he wouldn't startle him. He set the lunches and medical bag down and crouched in front of Izuku.

Izuku was shaking much more violently than he'd thought, and the way his neck tightened after every whimper must've been painful. Sympathy swarmed through Toshinori's chest. Crap, the poor boy was trying to suppress a panic attack, wasn't he?

"Izuku? Izuku, can you hear me?"

His head shot upwards, revealing circular bruises along his chin, a thicker and darker bruise on his cheek, and no bandage on his now-scratched burn. Toshinori would give anything to give a piece of his mind to that shithead of a father. How could someone do that to their own child? And to Izuku, of all people! Izuku's eyes dropped to the cement.

Water dripped down Izuku's cheeks as he rubbed them away with his arm, trying and failing to curl even tighter around himself. He pulled in so much air, though didn't seem to take any of it in. Toshinori's heart clenched. This sweet, innocent boy was struggling to breathe. He'd give anything to pull Izuku into a tight hug and protect him from that abusive monster, but making Izuku uncomfortable while he was having a panic attack was something he should avoid. Maybe he should've avoided trying to hug Tsukauchi, too.