Work Text:
“Midoriya. We need to talk.”
The voice are faint, and far away. They come as if through a haze; a wall of cotton-candy. He strains, but he can only hear them in bits and pieces.
Bits and pieces, bits and pieces—
Naughty little Peter didn't want to brush his teeth
He didn't wash his hands and he didn't wash his feet
When all his little friends didn't like him anymore
Naughty little Peter cried himself to death alone
His father’s voice doesn’t help. Yes, dad, I’ll brush my teeth; yes, dad, I’ll wash my feet, so can you please—
Dad, I can’t hear if you keep singing. I can’t sleep if you keep singing.
…No, dad. I don’t want to die alone.
I don’t want to I don’t want to I don’t—
Naughty little Peter threw rocks at baby ducks
He threw rocks at the kittens and all the little pups
But one day mama wolf came prowling from the dark
She bit off his good leg and left him there to starve
“You don’t understand” Midoriya almost screams. “I can hear him. I know he’s in there, I know he’s alive—”
He sounds like he cares.
He sounds like Hana.
“And yet you killed her, didn’t you?”
Naughty little Petra was playing with her matches
Set her brother's toys on fire and burned them down to ashes
One day her little brother decided to fight back
He locked her in the house and struck a little match
“You almost killed him, too, didn’t you?”
The voice isn’t his dad’s anymore.
“Hush, little brother. Go back to sleep.”
Naughty little Viktor was bullying Peter's friend
Because he didn't have a Quirk, because his dad was dead
So naughty little Peter took Viktor to the bridge
He pushed him off the rail and watched him slowly sink
The boy with the blond hair keeps appearing in dreams that aren’t his own. He keeps making a boy cry. A boy who isn’t him.
He’s seen this boy, but where?
He kills the blond boy, and is surprised when the other screams.
The naughty little Bunny stole from the big bad wolf
He stole what wasn't his, he stole his brother's Quirk
That's why the big bad wolf just couldn't let him go
He opened up his jaws and ate the Bunny whole
“Midoriya, enough.”
“You can’t do this.”
“It’s been five years. It’s the only thing we can do.”
Hey, why are you crying? Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry—
Naughty little Peter had but one little rule
"Don't go into the study, don't make our dad catch you"
But then a little bird told daddy of his trip
He struck his son so hard, he left him with an itch
“He saved me” Midoriya whispers to the cold detective. “He saved us all.”
(He isn’t really cold, the detective. But Midoriya is warm, warm like a summer’s day and warm like a hug, and anyone else in comparison would feel cold, anyone else would be an iceberg—)
“You did that” the detective murmurs back.
“We both did” the boy stubbornly replies. He blinks: did he do that? Did he save anyone? He can’t remember. All he remembers is warm eyes and a warm smile and warm fingers around his own. “And if you’re going to do this to him, then—”
Naughty little Peter no longer touched his food
He wouldn't eat nor drink, said he'd sworn off for good
But his big brother loved him, and so he grabbed his coat
Shot the little Bunny and shoved him down his throat
No, Sensei, stop—
“Fine, then. We won’t do it.”
Don’t touch him!
“We’ll wait for you.”
Don’t touch him, don’t touch him, he’s—
Oh, hi dad. No, I wasn’t in your study, I promise.
Wait, Hana said what?
But naughty little Peter was very naughty indeed
For when the Bunny spoke, inside, he chose to let him speak
"Let's kill him" pled the beast, so close now to his heart
That Peter grabbed a knife and split himself apart
“Young Midoriya.”
All Might steps into view. He’s thinner than last time; smaller. One gust of wind, and he’d blow away like a leaf.
“Do you truly believe this is for the best?”
Sensei’s voice overlaps with his, and the words sound so foreign like this. It isn’t like Sensei to be so sincere.
It isn’t like Sensei to be so kind.
“We can’t kill him” Midoriya whispers, and he desperately wants to ask: who?
“It wouldn’t be killing.”
Who do you need to kill, hero?
“It would be mercy.”
Tell me. Tell me, and I’ll do it for you.
“It would be kindness.”
It’s the least I could do.
“He deserves that in the end, doesn’t he?”
After all, you saved me.
Naughty little Peter, he found a flying kite
He flew it so, so high, and flew it so, so wide
One day the Eastern Wind, it rose with such a might
He took the boy away, on one last little flight
“I’m sorry.”
Why?
“I’m so sorry.”
But why?
“Goodnight, Tenko-kun.”
Oh. Is that all?
That’s fine. If you were tired, you should’ve just said so.
We can play again tomorrow.
Right, Hana?