Work Text:
fuyumi likes the winter. maybe it's because of her quirk, or maybe it's because of her mother, but it feels like home. fuyumi feels safe in the snow.
the landscape coated in white, the cold weather, the puffs of white she sees whenever she speaks, they all feel like home to fuyumi. and not home like her actual home which is messy with tension, but home like she is right where she is meant to be.
and here, on a perfectly winter white day, with hawks, fuyumi agrees that yes, she is exactly where she is meant to be, she is exactly where she wants to be.
fuyumi has always done her best to look after her brothers, as much as they have let her. and then, she has become a teacher to look after other people's kids, to make up for how she hasn't managed to protect shouto.
fuyumi has always done the looking after.
and then he came into her life.
fuyumi doesn't remember when hawks became such a constant in her life, one day he was at their house to visit her father, and the next thing she knew he was with her almost every day.
he works, both as a hero and a model, and she as a teacher, so they don't see each other a lot. but they do their best, and it's okay. it's nice.
fuyumi has never had anyone in her life who hasn't needed something from her. her family is her family, and they're a mess, so fuyumi does her best to look after them. the kids at school are a responsibility of hers she signed up for.
natsuo is older now, good company, but at the end of the day he's still her little brother.
hawks is different.
he doesn't let fuyumi look after him. not in the physical sense, because he'll look forward to fuyumi treating his wounds, and he'll cuddle for hours. it's more the emotional side, he won't open up to her, and fuyumi can't blame him for it even if she wanted to. she has her own secrets after all.
they're both cautious with their hearts, with their pasts and their secrets, but they still enjoy each other's company, they still like each other enough to not run away.
fuyumi doesn't know how she expected dating hawks to be, but it's oddly peaceful. he works, and she worries, but worrying about heroes she's close to isn't something that's new to fuyumi at all.
he always comes back to her, at the end of the day.
her brothers are wary at first, like they would be, but fuyumi puts them back in line, because a secret of hers is that hawks is the first thing in her life she wants and has for herself, because he cares about her and he makes her happy.
family is family, and work is work, but what she has with hawks is something she wants, something that is a want before it is a responsibility. fuyumi thinks that for all the looking after she tries to do, she deserves a little love and a little happiness too.
for many reasons, they take things slow between the two of them, partly because they're scared and partly because they want to savour each moment. it's a mutual agreement, so fuyumi is happy, and she knows hawks is too.
but right now he isn't.
fuyumi sees his frown, clear as day, and lowers her arm, forgetting about the snowball she was about to throw at him.
he's staring at the grey sky with something that looks both like a frown and a pout.
"what's wrong?" fuyumi asks, the worrisome side of her that hawks makes her forget about reappearing.
"it's almost nightfall." is all he says.
fuyumi looks up at the sky with him, and understands.
it's their only day together for the next few weeks, then fuyumi will be busy with school and hawks with work.
and they have spent the entire day together, savouring the only day they have together for a while, and it's been one of the best days (because every day with hawks is the best day) but it's coming time to go back home and hawks still hasn't see the snowfall he's been wanting to see ever since they arranged this day.
fuyumi stands up, from behind her wall of snow she had built as a shield for the snowball fight they were having, and starts to walk across what was their no man's land, towards hawks, who's still crouched down, hiding behind his own snow shield.
fuyumi has always done the looking after. since their mother had been taken away, since touya had gone, fuyumi has done her best to do the looking after. and she had been so young, she shouldn't have had to do the looking after, but she did, and then she was guilty that she didn't manage to protect her baby brother from the man who was the number two hero, and it made her so guilty she chose a career path, a life choice, to battle that guilt.
hawks seems to have forgotten about the snowball fight, because now he is looking at the ground, making shapes in the snow with his finger, (looking and probably) feeling like a little kid.
fuyumi has always done the looking after, but hawks is the first person in her life to look after her.
he lets her worry whenever he comes back from a day of hero work in wounds, and calms her, assures her he will always heal and he will always return. he takes her out for snowball fights and jumping in puddles when he notices she's feeling down. he's so attuned to her, looking after her like she looks after her brothers, and it is hawks, it is him, that reminds fuyumi of why she even took on the responsibility of looking after all those years ago.
if hawks isn't zoned out enough to not hear fuyumi's steps in the snow, he shows no indication of it. even when fuyumi stands right by him, he shows no acknowledgement of it.
you look after the people you care about.
you look out for them and pay attention to them and take care of them and it is not easy to do, it is draining, tiring, especially when you have no one else to rely on, no one to talk to, fuyumi knows, it has been her whole life, but you do all of it because you care about that person.
fuyumi raises her hands, in a position above his head, in a way that if anything were to fall from her hands it would hit her boyfriend on the head, but also fall in his line of vision.
you want to see them happy and healthy and when they are not at their best, you stay with them, you tell them they will be okay, you look after them because you care about them.
it takes a few seconds for hawks to register the sparse snowflakes falling onto the ground where he is looking. he lifts his head to look straight ahead, and snowflakes pass by his face but in the distance there is no snowfall.
why is it only snowing where i am?
and then he notices fuyumi.
he looks up. she's standing next to him, hands over his head, snowflakes falling from her hands like water droplets off a tap. he watches her in awe.
"i can't make it snow," fuyumi says, her voice a little stiff, like the way people talk when they are too cold, "but--" the snowflakes become so sparse that they disappear altogether, "ah!"
hawks stands up slowly as fuyumi clenches her fists, squeezing like she is massaging.
she doesn't get to for long, because very gently and very slowly, hawks takes fuyumi's hands in his, and watches them like he is studying them, running his thumbs over her palms.
"i didn't know you had a quirk." his voice is just as gentle and delicate as his hands.
"it's not a very stable one," fuyumi admits lowly, "i don't use it a lot."
fuyumi doesn't need to say more to confirm but hawks can already imagine a much smaller fuyumi in pigtails cheering up her little brothers with simple, small tricks like this.
he smiles, even her quirk, even her unstable quirk, is an absolute testament to the person that fuyumi todoroki is.
fuyumi is a person that does a lot of looking after, this is something that hawks has noticed about her ever since he had first encountered her. and as time went on, he noticed that while fuyumi does a lot of looking after, there isn't really anyone who looks after her.
but despite that, the person that fuyumi todoroki is looks after as much as she can. she dedicates her life career to help nurture and protect hundreds of children, she takes care of her family, stays a mediator, a peacemaker. even her unstable quirk, a part of a person that anyone else would be ashamed of if they had it, fuyumi todoroki uses it to look after, to give, to care.
hawks thinks himself to be so lucky to get to look after her, to care about her, to love her.
because he does, he loves her, he loves her because every single part of her, even the odd unstable parts of her, is so giving and caring.
there are a lot of giving people in the world, but very few of them give and care with every inch of them -- like fuyumi todoroki does -- and even less do it like it's second nature to them -- like fuyumi todoroki does.
he loves fuyumi todoroki, caring heart, unstable quirk, funny hair and all.
but he can't say that yet, he has known for a very long time now, but he can't say it yet, because they're taking things slow.
so he takes her hands, places one of her palm on his cheek, leans into it, smiles at her, and says the next best thing.
"thank you."
fuyumi smiles back, relieved, tearing up a little.
hawks thinks yes, he is so lucky to get to love her.
fuyumi thanks him back in her head, for reminding her of how good and freeing it is to give and care, for not making her feel like her efforts to care are wastes.
"i'm sorry it didn't snow." she still says.
"it's okay," he replies, just as softly, "it snowed enough."