Hey, teacher, leave them kids alone

[strikefirster]

Who: Johnny, Daniel, Ortus, Gideon Nav's Exquisite Corpse, Paul, Kaworu, Deku, Harrow, Maybe more?
What: Kidnapping, Forced Adoption, Getting these kids away from the Emperor
When: Shortly after boatgate
Where: The Bone House and Cobra Kai

Content Warnings: Probably references to Murder, Manipulation, Johnny Lawrence.

Prompts and Mingle will be in the comments.

Comments

[terriblepurpose]

"He almost won."

Paul's self-control is nearly perfect. He doesn't blurt things in a rush, with his face crumpled by thwarted concern and eyes heavy with an emotion he will no longer even allow himself to define as he looks at Midoriya trying to hide his tears. His hand doesn't rise in a reaching out cut short, or curl back on itself as he withdraws.

So someone else must have done all of those things, and it is this person who continues, gaze flitting to Danny with brittle fierceness: "He's a great fighter. He never gave up, not once. Never faltered or flinched."

He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know why he's doing it, or who he's defending Midoriya from, or what good can possibly come of it, but it's somehow vitally important that Daniel be told that Midoriya is not so easily defeated. That this sorry, sad state of Midoriya isn't who he is; that he's brave and skilled and relentless.

(That nothing that happened was because he didn't fight hard enough.)

[miyagimagic]

The way Midoriya suddenly bursts into tears tugs on Daniel's heartstrings in absolutely every single way possible. How could it not? Daniel thinks it'd sure take someone to be able to remain stone cold in the face of teenagers experiencing such pain, even when they aren't your own teens. It doesn't help that so soon after his own arrival here and departure from his home, it makes him think even more of Sam and her recent pain, of Anthony, of Robby, of Demetri and Chris and Nate and Eli—

He pulls himself out of those thoughts, forcing himself to focus on the teens that are there here and now. Even though he can't physically reach over towards them with how he's trying to carefully drive this car through streets that were never meant for it, the least he can do is reach out emotionally. To show that someone cares.

"I believe it," he says, a gentle edge to his tone. There's a faint smile on his face as he looks into the mirror, crossing gazes with Paul, but it's not quite as much exuberant as it seems to be understanding.

At least he does sound like he believes it. Daniel would never see tears as a sign of weakness, after all. Sure, it hurts to hear Midoriya cry, but on the other hand, it's better for him to actually let these feelings out right now than to crop them all up. And seeing Paul stick up for him.. it's sweet. A sign of a good quality.

"I guess I'm dealing with some pretty impressive people here. But I guess that makes sense, if Johnny picked you guys up."

Will Daniel trash Johnny into eternity and back? Of course. It's what the two of them do, as eternal rivals.

But he's never say a bad word about kids that just happen to be Johnny's students. There's no such thing as a bad student, those words always echo through his head, and for all of the blonde's faults, it does seem like he always tries to pick up kids who could use the help. Who can bloom into beautiful full potential.

"But if I can say one thing.. It's that you don't have to apologize for crying. No one here should have to feel ashamed for feeling bad." Under such overwhelming circumstances? Please, Daniel is pretty sure not a single person could keep their head cool under those. "You can let it out, I won't judge."

oh no i think he's done... rip broccoli boy...

[wannasmash]

On the ship, Paul went against everything Midoriya believed in. Midoriya would have stopped him by force without hesitation if he had been able to at the time. Now Paul comes to his defense against the fear that Midoriya will be seen as weak, in a reflexive manner imprinted on him by how he was raised, as if that vigilance will protect anyone from the pain within.

It's Midoriya's kindness that gives him strength, not weakness, but it hurts so much.

He still feels terrible for being a bother when he originally came along to help. Instead, he failed to get Kaworu to leave with him, and now he's crying in the back of this man's truck. With Paul so close, Midoriya's body expects to be enveloped in the arms of someone who loves him. (And Paul still loves him, or he would not have spoken these things at all.)

Inertia wins out. He doesn't want to get into it with Paul here in front of poor Daniel, because he doesn't know if he will hurt Paul with words or--what he wants more--weep in a clutching embrace unable to let go. He wraps his arms more securely around his buried head as if that will make up for the absent hug his body craves. He has told Paul this very thing, that it's okay to cry. Midoriya tends not to hold things in. If he does, something is terribly wrong, and there are too many things wrong already today.

He does as Daniel suggests and lets it out.

[terriblepurpose]

Don’t be sorry for feeling sad.

Midoriya told Paul that once. Hearing a version of it echoed back by this stranger he’s heard so much about, but knows so little of, who looks at him with gentle understanding (because he doesn’t know what Paul has done, that he’s the architect of Izuku’s misery) before he devotes his attention to the wounded hero – it’s almost too much. The feelings he’s been holding down by the throat buck under his grip, and hot citric salt opens on his tongue.

He watches Midoriya bury himself in his folded arms, weeping in a loneliness that is untouched by being around so many people, and he remembers the closed swelter of a tent at the end of the world.

Paul doesn’t say anything as he slides down the truck bed, letting the rattling of the vehicle conceal most of the sound of his movement. Midoriya had been the only one who knew he held back to protect them. Everything Paul had done, and he had told him to go before anyone tried to kill him. He hadn’t listened. He could walk away only so far before he turned back.

He's the last person who should be doing this. There is no one else. He has always been so much like his mother.

He touches Izuku’s shoulder with a delicate lightness, breath stilled in his lungs.

[miyagimagic]

Thankfully Daniel does have some sense of tact and what's appropriate. Sure, sometimes he can still be a little bit out of touch with these cues, being an old man and all, but this time he fully understands it the moment he sees Paul moving closer to Midoriya to touch him like that.

So Daniel, of course, goes silent. This isn't a moment to ruin with talking. There's probably not much he can do anyway, being a stranger to them and being busy driving the car.

He'll leave these two to hopefully find some comfort in each other, gaze lingering only a moment before he instead focuses on the road ahead.

[wannasmash]

He cries out as if touched by a sun-hot brand, but he remains still except for a small jolt of muscle under fingertips. His cry extends into a keen. He is only what his body is doing. He loses track of where everyone is and who is touching him. (But he knows, he'd know that touch anywhere, and it's only this person who would touch him so hesitantly.)

"Kaworu-kun!" he gasps as he jerks up, turning, possessed by a fleeting urge to leap out of the truck to go back for him. He does not. There is someone in his way, close, blocking his vision. He arrests himself and crumples like a useless doll, his body understanding the futility of going back before his mind does. His face and shoulder thump gently against him.

Once, he was caught in the pouring rain as he collapsed and passed out. Today, he is still awake. Sobs convulse through him with double their strength.

[terriblepurpose]

Paul half-starts upward as Midoriya does, wrenching another jolt of alertness out of overworked adrenal glands like it's nothing, his heart hammering in averted readiness as Midoriya slumps helplessly against him. His long arms are around the shorter boy's shoulders before thought can halt him, every instinct attuned to the heartbreak in those wracking sobs.

There was an instant where Paul thought he had burned him. It takes so much not to now, extinguishing flickers that spark into his fingertips on the cresting wave of fear. His hands are hot and dry as one curves around Midoriya's upper arm, another coming up to cradle the back of his head. He turns his face against messy green hair tucked against the crook of his neck where he settles him, and he lets himself feel the tears Midoriya weeps for both of them.

For all three of them.

There is nothing Paul can say, so he still says nothing. He rocks Midoriya softly back and forth as he sobs, counterbalancing the jarring of the truck bed, and if a trace of saltwater disappears into the verdant forest he hides his face in, who is there to know?