A Different Path

Chapter Nine - A Dark Night

All-Might arrived home after a late night of grading papers. God, if he knew being a teacher would be this tiring he never would have become one. As All-Might arrived at the front door, he noticed it was ever so slightly ajar. This was very unusual, as both him and Tomura were pretty vigilant about keeping everything locked up. All-Might entered the home, closing the door behind him, before calling out for Tomura,

"Tomura! Hey Tomura! You home?"

No response. All-Mights concern grew. He began to make his way up the stairs, continuing to call Tomura's name to no avail. As he arrived at Tomura's closed door, he could hear the faint sounds of sobbing on the other side. All-Might felt his heart drop into his stomach. He knocked quietly on the door,

"Tomura, are you ok?"

There was no response.

"Tomura, I am going to come in now ok?"

When no response came again, All Might began to open the door slowly. Inside the room was dark, but enough light shined in from the full moon outside the window to illuminate the scene. The room was completely trashed. Items and furniture were strewn about. Among those items, various piles of dust also lay, telling All-Might that Tomura had used his quirk. Finally, All-Mights heard the sounds of retching coming from the bathroom attached to Tomura's room. The lights were on and the door slightly ajar, letting All-Might know Tomura was in there. Quickly, the hero rushed to his aid.

Tomura's head was buried in his knees as he sat on the bathroom floor next to the toilet, but the faint sounds of muffled sobbing could be heard. As he hears the door creak, he looks up and makes eye contact with his uncle. The concerned look on his uncle's face only caused Tomura to start to sob harder and bury his head back in his knees. All-Might rushed over to Tomura and crouched next to him.

"Tomura, what happened?"

Tomura didn't say anything, he only continued to sob.

All-Might reached out to touch Tomura's arm, but as his fingers made contact Tomura flinched away.

"NO! Don't touch me."

All-Might flinched back, moving away from Tomura to give him space.

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry"

Tomura sobbing continued, he spouted incoherent mumblings about being dangerous and a monster. All-Might did the best he could to calm Tomura down.

"Tomura, listen to me. I need you to take deep breaths with me, ok? Just like we practiced before. Remember the triangle method?"

Tomura nodded, tears still streaming down his face.

"Ok, breathe in for three. Hold for three. Out for three."

They continued doing this together for a while, tracing an invisible triangle in the air each time until Tomura's sobbing began to fade and his body relaxed. All-Might tried asking again.

"Tomura, what happened?"

At first, Tomura didn't want to tell him. He didn't want to reveal the memory he uncovered because he feared it would make his uncle flinch away. He feared looking up and seeing a disgusted look in All-Might's eyes. He didn't know if he could survive seeing such a thing. Yet, he knew that he had to tell someone, or it would eat him alive. Plus, his uncle had an uncanny ability of getting Tomura to tell him the truth, no matter how terrible it was. So, Tomura told him. He told his uncle the story about the mall, his memory, and how he had made a fool of himself in front of his friends.

To Tomura's relief, his uncle didn't flinch away. He didn't look at him with disgust. The only look he saw in his uncle's eyes was that of compassion and love, and he couldn't have been more thankful. Still, Tomura's self-hatred was steeped deep in his soul, and he couldn't help but imagine his Uncle was only hiding his disgust.

"Do you think I am a monster?" Tomura whispered despairingly.

"No Tomura, I think you are a scared kid who went through something terrible. Anybody with half a brain would think the same"

Tomura looked at his uncle's face, searching for any sign of deceit, but he found none. He only found the eyes of a man who cared for him very much, and that was exactly what he needed. Tomura, for the first time in a long time, was the first to reach out for a hug. Of course, All-Might obliged, wrapping Tomura in his arms with one of his world class bear hugs. Even in his weakened form, All-Might was always the best at hugging.

"Everything is going to be alright kid, I swear it"

Tomura closed his eyes and wished with all his soul for that to be true. If the universe cared about him even a little bit, it would be.