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The water was frigid, and rushed fast around Natsuo as he tried desperately to stand up again. Fortunately, it wasn’t deep, but it was moving at a rapid pace, making him drift down the length of the river toward a cluster of rocks quicker than he realized.
After he fell on his butt for the fifth time, he started to panic a bit. He yelled out, and a hand grabbed the back of his shirt, tugging him up toward the riverbed. It seemed like it was working, until he felt the pressure release, and a large splash behind him.
“You fell in too, huh,” Natsuo said with a sigh as he turned his head to see Tenko pouting and just as soaking wet as he was.
Tenko grabbed onto a rock to help him stay in place. “Yeah, it’s hard to get a good grip when I can’t use all my fingers, you know. You’re lucky.”
Natsuo managed to get his arms on top of the rock as well, and he stopped drifting down the river. “I guess so. Thanks for trying, at least.”
“How are we going to get out?” Tenko asked, disregarding the thanks.
Natsuo shrugged. “I don’t know, I thought you’d have a plan.”
The cold was starting to get to him, and he started shivering. His clothing clung to him like glue and weighed him down so he couldn’t pull himself up onto the rock. They weren’t very far from the shore, but it would be difficult to make it there without being whisked away yet again.
“Oh, wait, I thought of something. Would it work if we held onto each other while we walked back to the shore? We might be too light on our own,” Natsuo suggested.
Tenko thought about it, then nodded. “It might work.”
“Let’s try it then!”
It, in fact, only sort of worked. They were both still fairly small, being eight and nine years old respectively, so even with their combined weight they were hardly the weight of an adult. The rapids still jostled them as they awkwardly walked to the side of the river, and they ended up at least a meter away from the rock they were at before. But they made it, and were able to pull themselves out of the water.
It was windy on the surface just as it was in the water, and the cold of the water dripping from their clothes and skin did not help the fact of how chilly they were. It was then that Natsuo wished he had the temperature regulation that his little brother had.
“I think I have a blanket in my bag,” Tenko mentioned, and began looking through his backpack. He pulled a small blue throw blanket form his bag and draped it over Natsuo’s shoulders.
Natsuo raised an eyebrow at him. “Aren’t you cold?”
“I’m fine. You’re shivering. Funny since you can literally make ice from thin air, but I’d assume you get colds like anyone else. So you can have the blanket while we walk back.”
“Oh, okay,” Natsuo mumbled as he pulled the blanket closer around his shoulders.
---
About halfway back to Natsuo’s home, they were still in the forest, and Tenko asked, “Have you heard the stories about this forest?”
“Hm? No, I haven’t? What stories?” Natsuo felt a chill run up his spine when he asked, because knowing Tenko, the stories were going to be meant to scare him.
Of course, the expression on Tenko’s face twisted to become maniacal, and he began telling the story. “There are spirits in this forest, and they only come out when the water is high and the current is strong. They were once the people living in this forest, before civilization took over and they died from the pollution and smoke from the new factories. They refused to leave their home, because they wanted to protect it from the people who were ruining their land. Now, they haunt the forest and any civilized person who enters it. But they only come out when the conditions are right, which is right now .”
The chill grew stronger and Natsuo hid his head in the blanket, stopping his walking and crouching down to the ground so he could hide under the blanket. “Tenko…” he whined, tears springing to his eyes. “Don’t scare me.”
Natsuo couldn’t see Tenko’s expression while he was crouched on the ground and cowering under the blanket, but he could imagine it was a pretty wicked smile. That was confirmed when he heard the cackle that followed. “It’s fun, though.”
“I’m not having fun,” Natsuo huffed. He felt a hand on his back, so he whipped the blanket away from his face and glared at Tenko’s stupidly pleased smile. “Let’s just go.”
Tenko shrugged. “Sure. Don’t want the spirits to get you.”
“Stop!” Natsuo shrieked and lightly smacked Tenko’s arm.
---
When they arrived at Natsuo’s home, they were still damp, and the blanket Tenko had given Natsuo had been soaked through. “Sorry about your blanket…” Natsuo said as he held it out in front of him.
“It’s fine, it’s just a blanket.”
Natsuo hummed, but the blanket was snatched from behind him by his sister. “You’re soaking wet, what were you guys doing?” she scolded.
“Oh. We were just walking in the forest and I fell in. Then...Tenko also fell in. And he gave me his blanket because I was cold,” Natsuo explained, but he knew it wouldn’t alleviate any of the scolding he’d be receiving for going somewhere mom told him not to.
Fuyumi sighed and began walking toward the laundry room to wash and dry the blanket. Then she said, “I won’t tell mom if you guys go bathe and change. You’ll need to find Tenko-kun some dry clothes too.”
Natsuo nodded and sighed in relief. “Got it, we’ll go do that now.”
---
They managed to both bathe and change into clean clothes before mom came home, and Tenko’s blanket was also washed and dried in time, so there wasn’t any evidence of them adventuring in the forest. Natsuo would have to remember to do something nice for Fuyumi in return for saving him from mom’s punishments.
They came back down to the living room, where there were toys strewn about and the toy chest settled between the couch and recliner. Mom was in the kitchen talking to one of her friends, and Shouto’s friend was also over, dragging a toy car around in a circle on the ground.
Natsuo climbed over them and sat on the couch gesturing for Tenko to join him.
“Who’s this kid?” Tenko asked Natsuo.
“Oh, my mom is friends with his mom, so he comes over sometimes when they want to talk.”
The little boy looked up at them with wide green eyes and fluffy hair of the same color, as he picked up a figure and threw it in their direction. It hit Tenko in the knee and he immediately yelped and stood up from where he’d just sat down, glaring at the boy sitting on the floor a couple feet from Shouto.
“What the hell?” he growled and went to pick the toy up and throw it back, but Natsuo grabbed his wrist to stop him.
“Stop! He’s just a little kid,” Natsuo said, trying to reason with him.
Tenko was still glaring at the kid, who had already started getting teary eyed and was likely about to cause a scene. “Does Shouto do that to you too then?” Tenko asked, slumping back into the couch and bringing his knees up to his chest.
“Not exactly, but I don’t think he was trying to hurt you.” Natsuo slid off the couch to sit on the ground next to the two little boys. He poked at the green-haired one and asked, “Why did you throw that?”
The little boy only shrugged, and started crying, which alerted his mother from the kitchen to come out and see what was going on. “Izuku, why are you crying?” his mother asked in a soft and worried tone as she pushed through the couches and knelt next to her son.
“He yelled at me,” the little boy--Izuku--said in a watery voice.
“Did you?” his mother, who Natsuo knew as Inko, asked Tenko.
“Yeah, but he threw that thing at me.”
Inko turned back to Izuku and wiped the tears from his eyes. “You shouldn’t throw things, okay? You’re okay, he isn’t mad at you.” She wrapped him up in a hug.
Natsuo turned to Tenko and said, “See? It’s fine.”
Tenko only huffed and sunk deeper into the couch, too stubborn to agree with what Natsuo said.
Inko dried away Izuku’s tears again and picked him up and turned him to face Shouto. “Play with your friend now, okay?” Inko turned to the two of them and asked, “Can you keep an eye on them? I think Rei-san wants to leave soon, and your sister is doing homework now, but she’ll be here if you need something, and we’re just a call away.”
Natsuo nodded, and confirmed, “We sure can.”
She smiled at them, then pat Izuku’s head before walking back to the kitchen where Natsuo’s mother was still sitting, and within ten minutes, they left.
“Why did you say yes?” Tenko asked once they’d left.
Natsuo raised an eyebrow at him. “I always babysit my brother when mom is gone, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want to watch after some kids, that sounds boring,” Tenko complained. “Why can’t your sister do it?”
“Inko-san just said she’s doing homework.”
Tenko shrugged. “She can do it while she watches them.”
“Isn’t that a bit rude, Tenko? We’re already here they’re not going to bother us.”
Tenko didn’t seem to be budging from his stance on the subject, which Natsuo couldn’t understand, since he knew this wasn’t the first time Tenko had been around kids or watched over kids; he had a younger sister at home and there had been a few times Natsuo was over and it was just the three of them. Was it because he didn’t know Izuku?
“I’ll just watch them then.” Natsuo sat beside the two of them while they played with their toys and leaned forward toward each other and spoke in excited broken grammar. “What are you playing?”
Shouto was the one who answered, and muttered, “Hero.”
“That’s cool, is this your All Might toy, Izu-chan?”
Izuku nodded, his hair bouncing around in a fluffy mass on his head. “Yeah, he’s the best!” He held the figure in his fist and pumped it into the air, jumping up with his whole body in the process.
Natsuo smiled at him, then turned his head around to look at Tenko. “Are you still gonna be grumpy?”
Tenko sighed and decided to sit down on the floor next to Natsuo. “Fine. But I still think it’ll be boring.”
Natsuo only shrugged and returned his attention to his baby brother, who wasn't really a baby any longer but he still thought of him as one, and Izuku.
They spent a while just following along with whatever Shouto and Izuku came up with to play, with the two of them babbling hardly coherent sentences at Natsuo and Tenko. Natsuo was enjoying himself, but he started to get hungry.
"I'm gonna go ask Fuyumi to make lunch," Natsuo announced as he got up to find Fuyumi in her room.
---
By the time Natsuo convinced Fuyumi to leave her homework for long enough to make something for all of them to eat and returned to the living room, all hell broke loose.
He could've sworn he only left Tenko with Shouto and Izuku for less than ten minutes, but he returned to the couches pushed back against the borders of the room and a large circle in the center of the room made from string. Tenko was holding Shouto up in the air, his legs kicking and his face twisted into a frown, his eyes becoming watery.
"What're you doing?" Natsuo shrieked and grabbed for his baby brother.
"I was bored. Don't you think it'd be fun if they battled against each other?" Tenko said, his expression completely serious as his arms fell to his sides when Natsuo grabbed Shouto away.
Natsuo stared at him. "I don't know why I'm friends with you." He put Shouto back on the ground and started pushing the string into a pile.
"You're no fun," Tenko huffed. Then he knelt next to Natsuo and leaned in close to his ear. "The spirits will get you if you don't listen to me."
Natsuo shivered but said, "Why would they follow you?"
"Because I believe in them but you don't. They'll do anything I say," Tenko answered, his breath pushing over Natsuo's neck, making him shiver.
Natsuo frowned. "So they want my brother and Izuku to fight? Those are weird spirits."
Tenko shook his head. "Oh, you just don't get it. You'll never understand. They'll get you before you can."
"I really don't know why I'm friends with you."
Tenko laughed, and poked at the string on the ground, beginning to shape it back into the ring it was before. "What do you think?" he asked Shouto and Izuku.
They both stared at him, a blank expression on their faces.
“Do you really think they understand what’s going on?”
Tenko shrugged. He picked Shouto up from under his arms and placed him in front of Izuku, where their feet were touching and they were sitting across from each other. “Now fight,” Tenko said with a rather concerning edge to his voice.
Natsuo sighed and sat down on the couch. As long as his mother wasn’t home, then they wouldn’t get into any trouble, and seeing how confused Shouto and Izuku looked, he really doubted they’d get hurt.
“They’re not doing anything,” Tenko said with disappointment, even as he held their arms and attempted to push them to hit each other.
“Did you expect them to actually fight?”
Tenko laid down on the ground and dramatically cast his arm over his eyes. “Maybe.”
Natsuo watched as Shouto scooted backward and grabbed at the All Might figure held in a death grip in Izuku’s tiny fist. Izuku pulled his arm away and held the figure close to his chest, making an upset grunting noise in protest. Shouto leaned forward and swatted and tugged at Izuku’s forearm to retrieve the toy. “I want it,” he grumbled.
Tenko sat up with a dangerously excited look in his eyes when hearing a fight between the two beginning to break out.
“Hey,” Natsuo said as he knelt next to Shouto. “It’s his toy, you have your own toys, see.” He placed a plush cat in Shouto’s lap, even as he continued to tug at Izuku’s arm to retrieve the figure.
Izuku was standing up to get away from Shouto’s grabbing hands, and tears were forming in his eyes again as he started to yell at Shouto for trying to take his favorite toy.
And that’s when Fuyumi returned to the living room, leaving the lunch she’d been making in the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“Shoucchan’s being mean,” Izuku pouted as he ran up to Fuyumi.
She sighed and pat Izuku’s head. “What’s he doing?”
“Stealing,” he sniffled.
Shouto was still sitting on the ground with the plush cat in his lap. He looked confused more than anything. Tenko was whispering something to him, so Natsuo flicked him on the head to get him to stop, sure it was going to be something about the fighting ring he’d made out of string.
“Ow,” Tenko muttered. “I’m just trying to have fun.”
“You can’t make my little brother fight his friend, that’s just not right.”
Tenko sighed and resigned to the words of Natsuo. “Fine. I’ll leave them alone. But next time…”
“You’re not gonna do that next time either.”
Tenko slumped into the couch again in defeat. “You’re no fun, you know.”
“Don’t you want to keep your sister safe? It’s the same thing.”
“I don’t know, don’t pay attention to her.”
Natsuo picked Shouto up from his sitting spot on the ground, though he was getting a bit big to be carried around much, and motioned for Tenko to follow him into the kitchen, where Fuyumi had taken Izuku. “Maybe you should talk to her more.”
“Maybe.”
—-
After lunch, mom and Inko returned, and Izuku went home, his All Might figure in tact and still practically glued to his hand. Shouto lost interest in taking it, and played with his own toys instead, to the despair of Tenko.
“Do you need to go home too?” Natsuo asked.
Tenko nodded. “Yeah, before it’s dark.”
Fuyumi volunteered to walk with them to Tenko’s home and back to their home. Mainly because Tenko had brought up one of his spirit stories, which sent Natsuo into near tears yet again, and Fuyumi couldn’t handle him walking back on his own with those thoughts in his head. That, and mom didn’t like how often Natsuo walked home alone.
On the way back, when Tenko had been dropped off, Fuyumi asked, “Are you sure he’s okay for you to be friends with? He seems like…” she trailed off as she thought about the right word. “Like he’ll cause trouble. Like with the scary stories and falling in the river and not bothering to help you with Shouto, or his own sister.”
Natsuo only shrugged. “He’s my friend. I don’t think he’s trying to be mean. I think he’s weird.”
“That sounds right. I’m just a little bit worried. If he does anything that worries you, talk to me, okay?”
“Sure.” Natsuo could understand why his sister was concerned, but he still didn’t think Tenko was a bad friend. But he’d really need to make sure Tenko didn’t try to pit Shouto and Izuku against each other. Because his mom would be furious if he let that happen.
Tenko was just a little strange, and Natsuo thought that was okay.