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Natsuo’s life has always been built on routine - first, the routine imposed on himself and his siblings when he lived with his father, then the routine he’d fallen into when leaving for high school and staying with a friend, and now, his routine in college. Sleep as late as he can, attend his classes, hand everything in on time, go home, go to work, spend a few fleeting minutes relaxing or working out, and eventually flopping back into bed to redo it again the next day. Somehow, even with his crammed schedule, he finds it comforting. Perhaps it’s just how he’s been conditioned to work, but doing things at random seems... daunting.
Sure, his bedroom is an exception to his ritual, but cleaning it is optional. Shoving dirty clothes aside from where they lie in heaps on the floor instead of picking them up is easier than constantly going through the motions. Not to mention, it started as a sort of rebellious act against Endeavor, who would yell and raise his hand to strike should any of his children leave so much as a single sock on the floor. And in Natsuo’s eyes, any jab at Endeavor is a worthwhile act.
So the messy room is a constant.
He’s just rolling out of bed in an oversized All Might t-shirt and grey boxers when his banged-up cellphone vibrates from where it sits on his nightstand. He pauses, blinking groggily at the phone for a few moments, then mumbles unintelligibly to himself and slogs over to it. Pulling the charging cable from the phone, he lifts it to his face and unlocks it.
Fuyumi [ 10:07 ]
Good morning, Natsu! :D
I was thinking about Shouto again over the past couple days and I had an idea. Hear me out?
Natsuo blinks. A text from his sister isn’t anything new, in fact, he texts her almost daily, but there had been an unspoken vow to avoid talking about Shouto for a while after the whole legal shitshow that had gone down. He’d only been moved into his new home a month ago, and Natsuo’s surprised Fuyumi’s already talking about him. It’s not unpleasant, just startling.
Me [ 10:08 ]
Sure!
Any news on him?
Fuyumi [ 10:08 ]
Nothing in particular, no. But Mrs. Midoriya contacted me yesterday through Shouto, and gave me her address and cellphone number. She says Shouto’s adjusting slowly, but he’s doing well.
But I recall you saying a while ago that you really wanted to try getting closer to him.
Me [10:09 ]
...yeah??
Fuyumi [ 10:10 ]
I was thinking, you and Shouto should arrange something. Take him out for a day, go have fun, give him a little insight into what it’s like to be a kid, you know? Try to give him a taste of what it’s like to have siblings like normal families do.
Natsuo reads the text over a few times, mind whirring with equal parts nerves and excitement. On one hand, yes, he’d absolutely love to take the kid out, show him some Disney movies, tell him some crappy jokes that used to make Touya groan in exasperation, the works. But on the other...he’s not sure he really deserves it. After all, there hadn’t been much he could do to prevent the horrid things Endeavor had done to Shouto, and he’d scrambled out of that house as soon as he could, leaving his last two siblings at the man’s mercy.
Just as he’s starting to doubt himself, a voice that sounds strangely like Fuyumi’s scolds him at the back of his mind, ‘If you beat yourself up over us again, I’ll come and superglue glitter all over your favorite sneakers. The expensive ones.’
And while he’s not opposed to glitter on his stuff in the slightest - one of his roommates had actually used glitter glue to make his toaster a lot less bland a few months ago - he’s managed to keep his favorite pair of Nikes absolutely pristine for four months and would like to keep it that way as long as possible.
Me [ 10:12 ]
I don’t have Shouto’s phone number, but I’d definitely be down for it if he’s willing.
Think you could arrange something?
Fuyumi [ 10:12 ]
Sure, I can do that! When have you got a free day?
Me [ 10:13 ]
I don’t have any classes or work tomorrow, so I was planning on taking it easy, sitting on my ass, and playing Skyrim all morning. But if Shouto’s free tomorrow I can hang out with him.
It’d be preferable to yelling at virtual dragons.
Fuyumi [ 10:14 ]
Sounds good! I’ll let you know what he says!
With that dealt with, Natsuo runs a hand through his tangled white hair and lets out a long sigh. He’s not entirely sure he’s mentally or emotionally prepared for this, but what the hell. No time like the present, he supposes.
He doesn’t hear back from Fuyumi until his phone hums in his pocket as he takes notes that afternoon. He waits for his professor to focus back on the board before leaning back and letting his gaze flit downwards at the muted light of his phone’s screen.
Fuyumi [ 13:24 ]
Shouto says he’d like to spend tomorrow with you. I’ll give you the Midoriyas’ address so you can meet him tomorrow morning - is nine okay?
Nervous anticipation roils in his gut as he taps out a reply.
Me [ 13:25 ]
Sounds good to me. I’ll be there at 9
It’s a few minutes past nine when Natsuo pulls up in front of the Midoriyas’ apartment in his car. He sits there with the engine idling for a few minutes, hyping himself up for a day that could either go really well or really badly. Finally, when he’s convinced himself it can’t possibly go as bad as he’s imagining, he runs his fingers through his hair and shuts off the car.
He walks up the stairs to the little apartment building, hesitates, and then rings the doorbell. Almost immediately, he hears an unfamiliar boy’s voice shout, “Coming!!” followed by rapidly thumping feet approaching the door.
Midoriya Izuku throws open the door with wide green eyes and a completely new level of bedhead that catches Natsuo off-guard. There’s a single cheerio stuck to the corner of his mouth, and the boy grins awkwardly as he wipes it away. “Y-you must be Natsuo, right?”
“Yeah, that’s me.” Natsuo replies.
Midoriya holds the door open to usher Natsuo in, and he lets himself be guided by his brother’s friend through the house to a large room that houses the living room, kitchen, and dining room. And he barely has a moment to breathe and take in his surrounding before he notices Shouto sitting on the couch with an almost empty bowl of cereal in his lap.
He certainly looks a bit different, with hair almost as wild as Midoriya’s, a red and black plaid button-up, and a slight roundness to him that had never been there before... but there’s still that shadow in his eyes that never seems to leave. Once again, Natsuo feels like he’s seeing an old soul trapped in the body of a teenager, and doesn’t know what to say.
After a few seconds, however, he smiles and gives a small wave. “Hey, Shouto.”
For a moment, Shouto just watches him with a look in his eyes that Natsuo can’t quite decipher. Thankfully though, he just spoons one last scoop of cereal into his mouth and returns the wave tentatively. “Hi.”
Some of the tension seeps out of Natsuo’s shoulders and he feels himself relax. Jabbing a thumb over his shoulder with a grin, he asks, “You ready to go?”
“Yeah, just let me…” Shouto begins, standing up and heading for the kitchen. Before he can get there though, Midoriya stops him with a gentle hand on his arm.
“I’ll do the dishes, it’s fine,” Midoriya says, to which Shouto blinks at him in surprise.
“I don’t want to make you-”
“You’re not making me do anything, Shouchan. I want to do the dishes - you can go!”
Shouto looks at him, unsure, then glances at Natsuo and lets Midoriya take the bowl from him. As Midoriya heads cheerily for the kitchen, Natsuo gives Shouto a playful grin and turns. “Alright, I guess we’ll be off.”
Shouto nods, and Natsuo feels the last lingering bits of his awkwardness fade out when the tiniest ghost of a smile plays at his younger brother’s lips. From there, Natsuo and Shouto say goodbye to Midoriya, slip on their sneakers, and head out the door. As they make their way down the stairs, Shouto’s voice drifts up behind Natsuo, tentative and unsure, “So, um. What are we doing today?”
Natsuo hums, chewing the inside of his lip. Pulling his car keys from his pocket, he replies, “I had a few ideas, but before we get to any of those...” he glances over his shoulder to see Shouto watching him curiously, “Is there anything you’ve always wanted to do? Something the dumpster fire never let you do?”
Shouto’s quiet for a long moment then, head lowered and brows furrowed. Natsuo doesn’t press him, instead walking up to his little silver-blue car parked in front of them and unlocking the doors. After pausing to make sure the doors aren’t still locked, he circles around to open the driver-side door and flop down in the front seat.
It’s not until the car rumbles to life that Shouto quietly says, “I’ve... I’ve never been to an arcade before. Some of my classmates said I needed to visit one at some point.”
“Ahhh,” Natsuo hums as he flashes Shouto a smile and turns into the street. “Well, I suppose we’d better cross that one off the bucket list.”
The drive is spent in relative silence, punctuated only by Natsuo’s occasional questions or Shouto’s shy comments. It’s quite nice, though - Natsuo had been expecting something uncomfortable, awkward, and tense when he’d parked in front of the Midoriyas’ apartment. This is going a lot better than he’d expected.
When they eventually pull into the parking lot, excitement starts blooming in his chest and he begins to chatter about all the things in store for Shouto.
“-this one’s probably the best arcade I’ve come across in the city. It’s got everything - retro arcade machines, newer, high-tech machines, air hockey, amazing prizes, and a little snack bar with the best soft pretzels I’ve ever had. You’re gonna love it.”
With a nod of his head and a glimmer of anticipation in his eyes, Shouto replies, “It sounds like fun.”
Natsuo parks the car as close to the brick-walled building as he can, and then the both of them are clambering out of the car and up to the tinted-glass windows. The whole time, Shouto’s face doesn’t change - that is, until Natsuo pushes open the door and he sees just what they’re going to be doing.
The room is dim, most of the lights dimmed so that they can hardly be considered ‘powered on’, but what the fluorescent lights lack is made up tenfold by the flashing neon and screens cramming the room. Videogames blast music loudly, people in the arcade shout excitedly as they play, and the sound of virtual lasers, pinball machines, and clacking air hockey pucks immediately wash over Natsuo and Shouto in waves. Suddenly worrying about whether or not the noise and lights will overwhelm Shouto, Natsuo casts a quick glance at him.
His fears are quelled, however, when he sees Shouto’s wide eyes and amazed expression. He heaves a sigh. This is good.
He places a hand on Shouto’s shoulder. When his younger brother looks at him, Natsuo gives him a lopsided grin and asks, “You ready to get absolutely crushed at skeeball?”
“What the hell is skeeball?”
“Ohhh, you’ll see soon enough, young grasshopper,” Natsuo says, patting Shouto’s shoulder teasingly and heading for the token machine.
As Shouto jogs to catch up, he says, “You’re acting weird.”
“I’m always weird. It’s my best quality.”
Shouto snorts at that, and Natsuo finishes feeding money into the machine. An unholy number of tokens starts falling into the tray under the machine, and Natsuo calls, “Come grab as many as you can fit in your pockets. We’re gonna be here a while.”
When the machine finishes spitting out tokens and Shouto and Natsuo’s pockets are weighed down with dozens of arcade tokens, Natsuo turns and leads the way to the skeeball machines. Shouto eyes the machine in front of him curiously, scrutinizing it as if it’ll tell him exactly what it does if he glares at it hard enough. With a chuckle, Natsuo pulls a couple tokens out of his pocket and feeds it into the machine in front of him. The machine spits out a few rubber balls as Shouto slowly walks up to the skeeball machine on Natsuo’s right and crouches down to insert some tokens.
When both machines are ready, Shouto asks, “So what do I do? Throw the balls at the holes?”
“Yep. That’s pretty much it.”
Shouto wrinkles his nose as if to say, that’s way too simple to possibly be fun, but doesn’t speak his thoughts. Instead, he sighs and picks up one of the balls his machine spat out.
For the first few seconds, he merely watches Natsuo try his hand at hitting the marks, probably evaluating strategies and the best ways to go about this. Then, he glances back at his machine and rolls the ball up the ramp. It sinks into the lowest hole, the screen above lighting up with a flashing ‘25’.
Natsuo hums, “Nice one!”
“That was the lowest-scoring hole, though,” Shouto replies flatly with a glance at Natsuo.
Natsuo tosses another ball that sinks into the 50-point ring. “So? You still got 25 points. You don’t need to be the best at everything, kiddo.”
As he gathers a few more balls into his hands, he’s acutely aware of Shouto watching him, wide-eyed and frozen in place. He’s not entirely sure how his sibling will react if he looks at him right now, so he pretends not to notice and continues tossing balls into the machine. After a long while, Shouto reaches for another ball and takes a breath.
“I suppose I can only get better from here, right?” He mumbles.
“Yeah, that’s right!” Natsuo laughs, reaching out to muss Shouto’s hair. “Now show me what you’ve got!”
The tiny upward quirk of Shouto’s lips tells Natsuo that this is exactly what Shouto’s intending to do.
“You’re on.”
After three hours of playful teasing, a few joking bets, and a lot of soft pretzels, Shouto and Natsuo dump their armloads of tickets on the arcade counter. With a smirk, Natsuo slams his hand down on the counter and barks out, “Bet I got more than you, newbie.”
“After your pitiful air hockey performance? Bullshit.” Shouto retorts flatly, although his eyes glitter with a joy Natsuo’s never seen before and his lips twitch with the threat of a smile.
Natsuo gasps in an exaggerated fashion, clutching at his heart with wide eyes, “I’m hurt , Shouto! You cut me deep- wait, did you say ‘bullshit’?”
Shouto’s smirk tells him all he needs to know.
“ Jesus, little brother, watch your fucking language.”
The underpaid worker counting their tickets gives the brothers a strange look, but doesn’t say anything. She just heaves a sigh and continues sorting them out while Shouto and Natsuo continue their lighthearted bickering.
As it turns out, Shouto does end up with more tickets than Natsuo - a whole 34 more - and picks out a green plush rabbit as his prize. Natsuo has no clue what the strange look in his eyes is as he takes the plush rabbit from the worker and holds it under his arm, but if Shouto’s happy then he won’t press. Natsuo, on the other hand, sees an absolutely ridiculous plush prize, bursts out laughing, and chooses it.
Shouto doesn’t ask about it until they’ve scrambled back into the car, which is about the same time Natsuo finally stops laughing at his prize.
“Natsuo.”
He takes a breath to compose himself, which only barely works. “Shouto.”
A pause.
“Why the hell did you pick a plush sriracha bottle.”
Natsuo wheezes, reaching into the backseat to drag the plush back into his arms. Laughing almost too hard to talk, he says, “ It’s just so fucking funny!”
“It... it’s really not,” Shouto says, but his voice wavers like he’s trying not to laugh. Regardless of whether Shouto’s laughing at his stupid prize or the fact that Natsuo is losing his shit, Natsuo considers it a win that his previously stoic younger brother is on the verge of being a cackling idiot like himself.
When Natsuo once again regains his composure, he takes a breath and grabs the steering wheel. Drumming his fingers on the wheel, he glances at Shouto and asks, “So! Where should we get lunch?”
Shouto chews at the inside of his lip for a few moments - Touya used to do the same thing - before he lets out a huff that might be a laugh. He leans back in his seat, replying with, “McDonalds.”
Natsuo’s confused for a whole of three seconds before he cocks an eyebrow. “Is this because…?”
“Do you know how pissed off the old man would be?”
Pressing on the gas and easing out of the parking lot, Natsuo barks out a laugh. “ God, he’d skin me alive if he knew I was on my way to buy you McDonald’s. I can see the headlines now: Pro Hero Endeavor Spontaneously Combusts And Destroys Entire City Block. The Cause? Two Traumatized Idiots Grabbing Mickey Dees.”
“That’s too long and informal to be a newspaper headline,” Shouto says, but once again he’s definitely trying not to laugh.
“Details, details,” Natsuo clucks. “I think it’s totally fine. I’m a journalism major, I should know.”
“But Fuyumi said you were studying social services-”
“I have a theoretical degree in journalism.”
Shouto snorts. “Sure, Natsuo.”
The nearest McDonalds is only a five minute drive from the arcade, and Natsuo pulls into the drive through. There’s another vehicle before them, so Natsuo glances at Shouto and asks, “Whatcha want?”
“I’ve had burgers, but I’ve never had chicken nuggets before. I’ll try those.”
“How many?”
“The full 20.”
Natsuo stares for a moment. “Are you sure you can eat that many nuggets.”
“Out of spite for the old man? Absolutely.”
The monotone reply catches Natsuo off-guard, and he chokes on his own spit. He’s still coughing when he pulls forward to order, and he’s wheezing too hard to order, so Shouto shouts over him at the speaker. Somehow, he manages to make out what Natsuo’s trying to say and orders properly, which is a relief.
When he finally catches his breath, Shouto glances at him. “You laugh a lot.”
“Oh? Yeah, I guess I do.”
Shouto chews his lip again. “How do you manage to be happy like that? I mean...we both went through the same thing. How’d you, you know, forget about all that and live like a normal person?”
Natsuo’s smile fades. His eyes flick up to make sure of the space between his car and the truck ahead before sighing and adjusting his grip on the wheel.
“To be fair, you went through a lot worse than I did, kiddo. Sure, if I got in his way, he’d kick me or yell or give me a mild burn, but he never…” he trails off, knowing there’s no need to elaborate. “...I got lucky. I got away, because he never cared about me. Not like you and Touya. In a way, I guess that made adjusting to normal life easier.”
The vehicle ahead of them moves up, and Natsuo pulls up to the window to pay and take their bag of food with a smile. After that, he pulls into a parking spot and continues, “I’ve also had a lot more time than you to adjust. I was out of there as soon as I turned fourteen, and I’ve had five years to learn about life. You’ve only really had... what, a month? Two months?”
Shouto nods solemnly, still looking at his lap. Natsuo reaches out and rumples his hair with a smile. “You know, none of us can truly forget what he did - nobody just forgets stuff like that. And that’s fine. We’ll all have scars that won’t go away, but we can grow and begin to heal. We can become something new in spite of what he wanted us to become. You just need to be patient with yourself and give it time.”
Natsuo doesn’t miss the way his brother’s throat bobs and the way he has to regulate his breathing. He doesn’t reply for a long time, but when he does, there’s a renewed clarity in Shouto’s eyes that puts Natsuo’s worries to rest.
“Thanks, Natsuo.”
“No problem. Now,” he takes a breath and begins rummaging through the grease-stained takeout bag, “Let’s see you make good on that promise of eating 20 McNuggets.”
A small smile finds its way to Shouto’s face. “Sure.”
“You know, I think we should go watch a movie or two.” Natsuo comments as Shouto sucks the last of his soda through the straw.
Shouto cocks an eyebrow. “Like what?”
“Well... that new animated Spider-Man movie is apparently good, and if I remember right, you weren’t allowed to watch movies at all. I think it’s high time I introduced you to the wonderful world of animation,” Natsuo replies with a grin.
Putting his empty cup in the change-filled cupholder, Shouto shrugs. “Midoriya showed me some Disney movies but that’s about all we’ve managed to watch.”
“Oh? Which movies have you watched?”
“Um.” Shouto furrows his brow thoughtfully. ”We’ve watched a lot of Disney movies, I can’t name them all.”
Natsuo chuckles. “Okay, then which one was your favorite?”
“Mulan. And Tangled. And Coco.”
“Oh my God, Coco almost made me cry,” Natsuo groans as he drives, mind already wandering back to that damned final scene.
“Midoriya cried... I kind of did, too.”
With a surprised noise, Natsuo steals a quick glance at his brother. “You cried??”
“Just a little. During the last couple scenes.”
Natsuo lets out a low whistle. “That movie fucked me up.”
“Yeah.”
“In a good way, though. It was really good.”
“Mmhm.”
A comfortable silence falls between them as Natsuo takes the exit ramp towards the movie theatre. There’s still a little bit of time left before they reach it, so Natsuo turns to a game he and his college friends sometimes played during long drives. “I spy, with my little eye, something that is... green.”
Shouto gives him a confused look before realization passes over his gaze and he glances ahead. After a few moments, he points and asks, “Is it that car?”
Natsuo nods. “Yup. Your turn now.”
For a moment, Natsuo’s convinced Shouto’s going to pass it up as some childish nonsense, but soon enough he says, “I spy something red.”
Still focusing on the road, Natsuo lets his gaze flick around every once in a while, searching for what it could possibly be.
“Your hair?”
“No.”
“That stoplight?”
“Nope.”
Natsuo chances a dozen or so more guesses, all of which are dismissed by Shouto. After what must’ve been the 20th guess and Natsuo pulls off the road into the theatre parking lot, he heaves a sigh. “You’ve stumped me. What was it?”
“Your dumb sriracha thing.”
“Seriously?!”
Shouto snorts. “I’m surprised it wasn’t the first thing you guessed. You were laughing so hard at it I was sure you wouldn’t have forgotten about it so soon.”
“I haven’t forgotten about it! It was just in the backseat so I didn’t think it was a possibility!”
“Sure.”
As he pulls into a parking spot, Natsuo protests in an overdramatic manner, pulling another small smile from Shouto. When the car’s powered down and Natsuo’s jammed his wallet in the pocket of his jacket, he opens the car door and says, “You ready to go?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Natsuo laughs, leading the way up to the doors of the theatre. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic.”
“You’re the dramatic one.”
Their decision doesn’t take too long, with both brothers agreeing on seeing the animated Spider-Man movie Natsuo had mentioned earlier, and after a quick stop at the snack counter, they’re on their way to see the movie. Natsuo observes Shouto the whole time, curious about how he’ll react. And while it’s not as evident as it was when they first stepped into the arcade that morning, it’s easy to see that Shouto’s excited about the theatre. So much so that he even draws ahead and begins leading the way to the cinema their movie is playing in.
He chooses seats almost right at the front - Shouto had originally chosen the front but Natsuo had warned him about a sore neck - and as they wait for the movie to start, Natsuo pulls out his phone. Shouto blinks at him. “I thought you’re not allowed to use your phone-”
“Ah, those are more like guidelines than actual rules. Besides, it’s not like I’m recording the movie - oh, Fuyumi sent me a text.”
Natsuo taps on the notification and reads the text, Shouto hovering over his shoulder to read as well.
Fuyumi [13:00]
How are things going? You guys having fun?
Me [15:24]
Things are great! We had some fun and talked some shit about the crotchety old dumpster fire
We’re seeing a movie now
Fuyumi [15:25]
I...see…
Well as much as I dislike you all talking about people behind their backs, I won’t argue and say he doesn’t deserve it.
Me [15:25]
Oh I’d say it to his face and you know it :P
Fuyumi [15:25]
That’s true.
What movie are you two seeing? And how’s Shouto doing?
At her words, Natsuo grins and switches to his camera app. Throwing an arm around Shouto’s neck and catching him in a headlock, he holds up the phone and says, “Say ‘Endeavor sucks’!”
Shouto still claws halfheartedly at Natsuo’s arm, but the older brother simply positions the camera properly and says, “Endeavor sucks!”
Below his arm, a muffled ‘Endeavor sucks’ comes and Natsuo takes the photo. He takes a couple more, most of which are blurry as Shouto struggles against his grip, but he eventually settles on one where Natsuo is definitely trying not to laugh and Shouto’s squished face peers up from the arm holding him.
Natsuo snickers at the image and sends it to Fuyumi.
Me [15:27]
Into the Spiderverse is what we’re seeing
And Shouto is doing great - he ate an entire 20-pack of chicken nuggets to prove to me he could do it and I think that’s a hell of an achievement. I’m impressed.
Fuyumi [15:28]
You’re going to get him sick!!
Me [15:28]
Builds character
Oh shit the movie’s starting gtg
Fuyumi [15:29]
No more junk food! You’re both going to get sick and I’m not going to help either of you!
Well I’ll help Shouto, but you deserve it if you get yourself sick
Me [15:29]
Yumiiiiii,,,,you’re the only one who cares about me when I’m sick thooooo
Fuyumi [15:30]
Then perish
The cinema darkens and the screen lights up with colour. Natsuo releases Shouto, who shoots him a faux glare before leaning back in his seat and glancing up at the screen.
As the previews start rolling, Natsuo heaves a sigh and relaxes into the cushions of his seat. His mind wanders back to his sister and he sends out a mental note to her.
Thanks for setting this up, ‘Yumi.
They ended up seeing the movie twice.
After they’d finished the movie once, Natsuo had asked if there were any other movies Shouto was interested in. And to his surprise - and excitement - Shouto had asked if they could watch it again. So they did.
By the time they walked out of the theatre, the sun was dipping below the horizon and Shouto was talking about how much he liked the movie. The sight made Natsuo smile, knowing that despite the long way his brother still needed to go in his healing process, he was starting to feel more comfortable and happy.
“...I didn’t think I’d like Spider-Noir that much, but I did. He stands out a lot, but I like him.”
“I think my favorite character was Spider-Ham.” Natsuo laughs.
Shouto snorts. “It’s because he’s just like you.”
“How?”
“You’re both ridiculous.”
Shouto narrowly ducks Natsuo’s hand as he reaches out to muss his hair, sidestepping as the vaguest smile dances at his lips. It’s nice to see - Natsuo’s not sure he’s ever seen Shouto smile before today.
“Stop bullying me, you rat.” Natsuo laughs.
Shouto shrugs, reaching the passenger-side door of Natsuo’s car and hopping inside. “Stop making it so easy for me, then.”
Natsuo checks the time as the car rumbles to life, and immediately feels his spirits drop a bit when he realizes there’s not much time left in the day. With a sigh, he glances at Shouto, “Is there anything else you wanna do before I gotta drop you off?”
There’s a moment as Nastuo pulls out of the parking lot that Shouto remains silent. Before Natsuo can drive much farther, Shouto replies, “Not in particular. I’m not that hungry right now either.”
Natsuo’s mind flits back to the overwhelming amount of popcorn and junk they’d eaten while at the theatre. “Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t be hungry.” He pauses to think. “Well, I guess we’ll start on the way back home and if we see something, we’ll stop and check it out. Sound good?”
“Sure.”
The drive this time is filled with comfortable chatter, mostly on the topic of the movie they’d seen. After a time though, Natsuo asks, “So how’s school going?”
“It’s fine. I like it.”
After waiting a few moments for him to continue, he taps his fingers on the wheel and prods, “Oh come on, kiddo, give me some more than that. You’ve got friends now, right? Some cool hero teachers?”
Shouto nods. “Yeah, I do. My classmates are nice, and the teachers... they’re a lot better than Endeavor is.”
“Glad to hear it,” Natsuo says, relieved. After a moment though, he gets hit with a stroke of mischief and teasingly says, “Soooo, any crushes? Fuyumi was telling me about a vice-class president you’re friends with.”
Shouto tilts his face away, and Natsuo lets out an excited exclamation as he catches the way his little brother’s ears flush red. “Oh ho ho, you like her do you?”
“N-not... not her.”
“Another girl, then? Spill it, come on!”
It’s about then that he catches the way the line of Shouto’s shoulders grows tense and he wrings his fingers nervously. Natsuo takes a breath. “If it’s not something you want to talk about, don’t feel like you need to answer. I’m just teasing you, kid.”
“What if…” Shouto says quietly, “...what if they’re not a girl at all?”
Natsuo is quiet for a moment, his mind slowly trying to figure out what he means. After a time though, it clicks and he asks, “You like a boy?”
The silence that follows confirms it.
“Huh.” Natsuo hums, searching for his words. “Well, if you like boys, there’s nothing wrong with that. Love who you love, and all that. I think it’s cool.”
Shouto’s head snaps up. “You don’t think it’s... I don’t know, weird?”
“You know what’s weird? Marrying someone just to make kids with powerful quirks. That’s weird. You liking boys isn’t weird at all.” Natsuo says firmly, but with a smile on his face. His words seem to do the trick though, seeing as Shouto slumps back into his seat with a sigh.
“Thanks, Natsuo. I... haven’t really told anyone about me being…” He trails off.
“Gay?”
“I don’t know if that’s it, though. I overheard a couple of my classmates talking about other orientations, but I don’t know what any of them are.”
Natsuo hums. “Shoot.”
“What?”
“Lay em on me. I’ll see what ones I know about.”
A pause. Then, Shouto slowly says, “There was ‘pansexual’. What’s that?”
“Pansexual means you love people of any gender, sexual orientation, what have you. People confuse it with bisexuality a lot. That sound like you?”
Shouto shakes his head. “No, that’s not it.” He reaches up to push his fringe away from his face. “There was ‘asexual’ as well.”
“Ahh, that’s me!” Natsuo exclaims with a grin, which gets him a surprised look from Shouto.
Noticing the confusion in his brother’s expression, Natsuo explains, “Asexual means you don’t feel sexual attraction to anyone at all. I’m asexual.”
“Ohhhh…” Shouto hums, “...but you had a girlfriend once, didn’t you?”
“I did - being asexual doesn’t mean I can’t date or love anyone, it just means that the farthest I’m willing to go with physical intimacy is a hug or hand-holding. That’s what it’s like for me, anyways. Every ace person is different.”
Shouto makes a thoughtful noise, nodding slowly before lacing his fingers together in his lap and murmuring, “That... almost sounds like me, but not quite. The last one my classmates mentioned was something called ‘demisexual’, what’s that?”
“Demisexual, huh?” Natsuo chews on his lip as he sifts through his memories of high school, when he started researching these things. “If I remember right, demisexual is when you don’t feel any real attraction to someone until you’ve formed an emotional connection with them. That sound any closer to what you feel?”
“That sounds almost exactly like it, actually. I think that might be what I am.”
Natsuo makes an imitation of fanfare with his lips as he reaches out to teasingly poke Shouto in the shoulder. As Shouto tries to evade his clumsily-flailing fingers and snaps for him to keep an eye on the road, Natsuo laughs, “We’re learning so much today, damn! This is more educational than my four-hour Modern Japanese lecture!”
They exchange a few lighthearted quips, falling into a comfortable little bout of bickering that only fades when they draw closer to the Midoriyas’ neighbourhood. Shouto falls silent first, glancing out the window and resting his forehead against the glass. Natsuo ends up filling the silence by flicking on the radio and letting the quiet beat of some vaguely familiar rock song play.
The road weaves out of the small community they’re passing through and in the gaps between the small stores lining the road, Natsuo catches glimpses of the moon reflecting off the ocean. He smiles at the sight, flicking his gaze over towards his brother.
“Hey, Shouto, look. You live pretty close to the ocean now, huh?”
No response.
Natsuo blinks in surprise. “Hey, kid.”
Still nothing.
He heaves a sigh, leaning slightly over to catch a glimpse of Shouto’s face. And just as he’d suspected, Shouto is fast asleep with his face pressed against the glass. Natsuo lets out a soft chuckle.
All that stuff must’ve wiped him out.
About five minutes later, Natsuo pulls to a stop in front of the Midoriyas’ apartment and turns off his car. Shouto doesn’t so much as twitch in his sleep, shoulders still rising and falling rhythmically. After a moment’s consideration, Natsuo lets a small smile flit across his face and steps out of the car. He grabs the green rabbit Shouto had won as well as his own prize and tucks them under his arm, then quietly shuts the back door and circles around to the passenger door.
He opens it, catching Shouto with one hand to prevent him from falling out the door and reaching over to unclip his seatbelt. Now confident in what he’s going to do, Natsuo tosses the two plush toys on Shouto’s stomach and slides an arm under his shoulders and his knees.
Natsuo hoists Shouto up and shuts the door with his foot before turning and making his way to the door.
He rings the doorbell with Shouto’s limp foot and waits.
After a few seconds, Mrs. Midoriya answers the door and blinks at him in surprise. When her eyes settle on Shouto, though, she lets out a soft laugh and ushers him in. “You must be Natsuo.”
“And you must be Midoriya Inko. It’s nice to finally meet you.” He glances down at his sleeping brother. “Thank you for being there for Shouto and giving him a place to call home. It means a lot to all of us.”
She waves a hand dismissively. “It’s no trouble at all - he’s a wonderful person. And it seems like you’ve completely tuckered him out.”
“Yeah, we did a lot of shit- stuff, stuff, sorry for the language- we did a lot of stuff today he’s never done before.”
Inko laughs at how he stumbles over his words, then gestures for him to follow her. “You must be exhausted, yourself. I’d love to speak with you more, but you should be getting home and resting. I’ll show you where Shouto’s room is.”
He follows her down the hall and past a door decorated with an All Might nameplate, which judging by the name, belongs to Midoriya. They pass a bathroom and a closet before Mrs. Midoriya stops in front of a door with another All Might nameplate - this one with the name ‘Shouto’ emblazoned across it in bold lettering.
Mrs. Midoriya notices the way Natsuo stares and chuckles softly. “Izuku bought that for him shortly after he moved in. I think Shouto quite likes it.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he does,” Natso comments as she opens the door.
Natsuo doesn’t bother flicking on the lights, instead making his way quietly across the room and setting Shouto gently down on the bed there. He doesn’t move the plush prizes from where they still balance on Shouto’s stomach either - there’s really no need to, seeing as they won’t cause any harm - and when he turns around, Mrs. Midoriya is gone. He hears her puttering around in the kitchen, so he’s not too concerned about where she is, and instead rises to leave.
Before he leaves the room, however, he catches sight of something on the small desk along one wall and pauses.
A black marker rests atop a closed textbook.
Natsuo’s face splits in a mischievous grin.
Shouto sleeps fitfully, not waking up even once until the mid-morning sunlight filters through his bedroom window and bathes the room in bright light. When he does finally open his eyes and sit up though, he notices that the green rabbit he’d won is resting on the floor beside his bed and Natsuo’s stupid sriracha plush is wedged between his hip and the wall. He gives it a narrow-eyed look before rubbing at his eyes and swinging his legs over the edge of the bed.
He slogs down the hallway, eyes still bleary with sleep, and emerges into the kitchen, where Izuku sits at the table and chews on a piece of toast. At Shouto’s arrival, he glances up and opens his mouth to call out a greeting. But, strangely, he inhales sharply and nearly chokes on a mouthful of toast. Shouto is awake in an instant, making his way across the room and asking, “Are you alright?”
“I’m... I’m fine, it’s fine, I just…” He takes a breath. “...go, um... go look in the mirror.”
Suspicion rises up in Shouto’s throat, and his thoughts immediately go to Natsuo. He spins on his heel, speedwalking back down the hallway and flicking on the bathroom light.
When he sees that his face is marked with bold black marker in the shape of an elegantly curled mustache, he lets out an exasperated groan. Dragging a hand down his face, he grumbles, “ Jesus Christ, Natsuo.”
Me [ 09:00 ]
How pissed do you think Shouto’s gonna be when he notices I drew a mustache in sharpie on his face while he was sleeping
Fuyumi [ 09:00 ]
You wHAT