apathy

family fun time with the cops

Tsukauchi is almost twenty coffees deep into paperwork and case files when someone raps on his desk to get his attention. The sound nearly goes unnoticed by the overworked detective in the midst of the hustle and bustling chaos that is the precinct right now. With the Stain attacks on top of everything else, no one has much free time to spend. 

"Yes?" Tsukauchi asks, not taking his eyes off the form he's been staring at for about fifteen minutes now. He thinks he can still see the words, if he just squints a little.

"Someone said to tell you that your kid is here?" One of their college interns says hesitantly. Tsukauchi does look up at this, mind turning like one of those buffering symbols on HeroTube, as he tries to figure out if he has a child. After a moment his brain brings up a memory of Izuku sitting in the interrogation room and he stands up, pushing his chair back with a bit of a loud screech. 

"What did he do now?" Tsukauchi mutters to himself, grabbing the Izuku File from an open drawer before striding out of the bullpen, leaving behind a confused intern. Tsukauchi knows the way to the interrogation room they always put Izuku in by heart, so he flips through his Izuku File while he walks. It's a thicker file, filled with every incident that Izuku has ever been involved in, which is a lot and yet surprisingly not as many as Tsukauchi feels he's been through. Mostly, the folder consists of reports on the kind of people Izuku has stopped with his reckless vigilantism—rapists, robbers, murderers even. And of course, the limited knowledge they have on Shigaraki Tomura and the USJ incident is in there. Thinking about it, thinking about Izuku in a hospital bed, sends a grim shiver down Tsukauchi's spine.

The door to the observation room is open for him when he arrives, so he walks to one of his fellow officer's side without looking up from the file. Sansa would usually be here to complain about the mess that Izuku has gotten himself into this time, but he's off today, so Tsukauchi has to rely on this detective for the report. 

"There you are." The other detective says, scratching at his neck like there's something living under the skin. "Midoriya got into a scuffle with a few gang members tonight. He says he fell asleep on a bench at the park and when he woke up they were threatening a man with knives. When he approached, they threatened him and one swung, and that's how the fight started. He didn't say if he saw what gang the people were from, but they did get away."

"I see... I'll talk to him for any more details about it. Maybe he did see," Tsukauchi glances up through the mirror at Izuku, and then does a double take, works dying in his throat. 

Izuku sits in the chair like he always does, slumped a bit and staring blankly at his hands where they rest on the table. There's a untouched first aid kit next to him, which Tsukauchi quickly understands, because Izuku looks terrible. His hair is a mess, even more than usual, his knuckles are red, and there's bruises and still bleeding cuts on his visible arm. His nose is bleeding, one cheek is all scraped up, there's a dark bruise under his right eye. 

Tsukauchi shoves the Izuku File at the other detective and rushes out of the observation room to burst into the interrogation room. Izuku looks up without raising his head and Tsukauchi falters, but only for a moment.

"What happened?" He asks, springing into motion again. He opens the first aid kit, receiving no resistance when he takes Izuku's knuckles and gets to work cleaning them. After a minute of silence, he glances up to meet Izuku's eyes again. The bleakness he sees in them punches Tsukauchi in the face with memories of one of the first times this boy had ever been at the station.

In the two years that Izuku has been making frequent visits to the police station, he has changed. It's a slow process. The first time Tsukauchi meets Izuku, he's a vegetable. He doesn't talk or acknowledge anyone. He just peers up with these eyes that look more like they belong to a corpse than a child.

But he grows, over time. His eyes become lighter, and he starts talking to them, even if only enough to get out of the interrogation room. Sansa and Tsukauchi come to know more about him, and it's not hard to get attached. Izuku is a smart kid with a real knack for helping people out, and even if he still looks like he's not really alive, he touches people's hearts. From what Tsukauchi has seen, Izuku has even found a small group of friends finally.

So why, he has to ask, looking up at Izuku, does he look like the corpse of a kid from two years ago? 

"Izuku." Tsukauchi says softly, setting aside the cotton ball he's using in favor of taking both of Izuku's hands in his. "What happened to you?"

"I had a bad week." Izuku replies, dropping his eyes to stare at their hands. "I'm fine." 

Tsukauchi studies his face and makes a decision. He lets go with one hand to pick up the cotton ball with disinfectant again and gets back to patching Izuku up.

"Alright, I'm going to ask you the routine questions, and then I'm driving you home." He tells Izuku. He gets no objections, but Izuku's shoulders lose a bit of their tension. "And since my shift ends soon, I hope you don't mind if I stay for a midnight dinner?"

"...That's fine." Izuku whispers. Tsukauchi glances up and smiles.

He doesn't notice until he gets back the next morning that the Izuku File is missing.