Chapter Text
"No, Shouto, not like that!"
Shouto froze mid-motion, just as Natsuo called out from the couch: "What'd he do now, 'Yumi!"
"Shut up, you're banned!" Shouto replied, reviewing his knife form hastily to try and pinpoint where he'd gone wrong.
"It's chop and then pull, you have to keep the pressure on the blade or else the chives don't get sliced all the way through," Fuyumi explained, taking the knife from Shouto and demonstrating in a series of quick, precise movements.
Shouto wondered if Fuyumi had a secondary speed Quirk, because he could hardly distinguish what she was doing. Maybe if he chopped faster…
"Please hurry, Shouto-outo, the soup's almost ready! Natsu, is the table set? Natsuo!"
"Right, right, I'm on it!" The soft sounds of the news that had been running in the background, muted by the bustle of the kitchen, shut off and were replaced by Natsuo's noisy raid on the silverware drawer. "Hey, did you two hear --"
"I'm home!" The sound of heavy boots and a fiery voice sounded from the genkan. The siblings' good mood immediately dropped into a habitual wariness.
"Welcome back, Dad!" called Fuyumi, cheerfulness only the smallest bit forced. Shouto knew she looked forward to their bi-weekly dinners, as much as he and Natsuo dreaded them, but came anyway for Fuyumi's sake. "How was work?"
"About that --" Natsuo stage-whispered, but was cut off again.
"Fine." Endeavor appeared in the doorway, flame beard still alight despite his civilian clothes.
"Dad, what did I tell you about --" Fuyumi started to chide him, pointing at the fragile paper artworks on the nearby walls.
"Shouto."
Shouto met his father's pointed glare with a dead-eyed stare of his own.
"Hmph. You got taller. Why are you still so skinny? They're going too easy on you at UA, I should have known."
"What?" Fuyumi's confused outburst said what they were all thinking. "What do you mean? He hasn't grown since last week. And you don't usually complain about UA's teaching methods any more."
Natsuo was waving hands full of chopsticks and mouthing something dramatically in the background. Shouto tried to make it out, but the only word he was sure of was Quirk.
"I'm 176 cm now," he supplied, in case it would help. "The school nurse assures me I'm an appropriate weight for my age, height, and Quirk type."
"Hey, but I put on a ton of muscle weight like you wouldn’t believe!" Natsuo turned his waving into posing. "Didn't grow upwards any, but I'm already plenty tall!"
"Why aren't you training?" Endeavor's attention was still solidly on Shouto.
Shouto held up his knife pointedly. "I am."
Endeavor scoffed. "I didn't raise you to learn women's work. Get to the dojo at once!"
Shouto frowned, because first of all, he'd love to hear his father describe cooking that way to Bakugou's face, and secondly. "No."
Endeavor's face reddened as his eyebrow flames shot up. Fuyumi squeaked in alarm as her favorite scroll was endangered. "What did you just say?"
"Hey, hey, cool your tits old man." Natsuo stepped in, having exchanged the cutlery for a fire extinguisher. "So, I heard on the news about your rough day. Hit by a Quirk, huh?" He flashed his siblings a meaningful glance at that.
Oh. So that's what Natsuo had been trying to say.
"They were fuzzy on the details, but it affected your memory, right? What kind of amnesia are we talking about? A couple years, cuz you must have missed most of Shouto's delightful encounter with puberty."
"Delightful?" Shouto echoed, disbelieving. Hellish was more like it, even without the hellflame. And he still hadn't caught up in height to Natsuo.
"Oh, no." Fuyumi realized the implications first. "Dad, you… you don't remember anything? Since Shouto's been at UA, since you promised…"
To not be such a flaming pile of shit, Shouto finished in his mind, generously interpreting Fuyumi's intent.
"Since you were the Number One hero?" Fuyumi changed tracks quickly to a safer topic. "They did tell you that, right?"
"Yeah, congrats Pops, lifelong ambition fulfilled, no need to drag Shouto into it anymore, let's eat and then quickly go our separate ways!" Natsuo chimed in.
"They told me I'll have no recollection of the last three years for about a week," Endeavor growled, before raising a clenched fist and looking intensely at it. "And to become the Number One in such a shameful way…"
The siblings exchanged glances. They all knew what that meant.
They let out matching dramatic sighs and had a quick huddle while Endeavor went on a monologue about his usual schtick.
"This is bad," stated Shouto bluntly.
"This is great!" Natsuo gave the counterpoint. "I already froze the wifi router."
"You absolute heathen."
"Chillax, Shou! Use your data to message your friends. Don't you see? Now we can tell the old man literally anything about the past couple years and he'll have to believe us."
"Natsuo," Fuyumi hissed. "Take this seriously! Shouto's in danger!"
"My evening is in danger!"
"Lies, you never actually enjoy yourself at these dinners."
"Don't worry, I can handle myself," Shouto promised, interrupting the nervous bickering. He wasn't looking forward to reliving life from three years ago, but he was intrigued by Natsuo's suggestion. Now that he was old enough and wise enough to mess with his old man, he realized he had a lot of years of missed opportunity to make up for. "Go on."
In the background, Endeavor's speech reached a dramatic climax which meant they would soon have to act impressed. Or Fuyumi would, because Shouto couldn't act to save his life and Natsuo was used to being ignored.
"Don't worry, outo-outo, I got your back. Follow my lead," whispered Natsuo before dutifully arranging his expression to match Fuyumi's.
"Wow. Yeah. Totally," Natsuo agreed sarcastically yet enthusiastically to whatever that had been about. Legacy something something, surpass All Might yada yada, minor mention of eugenics, general treatment of his children as objects.
"Mmm." Fuyumi made a determined noise, in case, as was likely, Endeavor wasn't listening to Natsuo.
"Good thing I spent those last three years at university, on the medical fast track. And as a doctor specializing in Quirk-related illnesses and injuries, I can tell you that recovery is up to twice as fast with total bed rest as opposed to --"
"There's no time to waste!" snapped Endeavor, looking at Shouto again.
"Says the man who just lost three years of it," Shouto droned.
"Bed rest," Natsuo reiterated, stepping in front of his younger brother. "And soup. Mmmmm, just smell that delicious soup of Fuyumi's. It's your favorite! Doctor's orders. Ten out of ten would prescribe."
"Have you acquired flashfire yet, or are you still insisting on limiting yourself to your mother's power?"
Shouto felt his eye twitch.
"Hey, hey. Feeling ignored here. Nothing unusual, but what you've forgotten is, I've got five extra letters at the end of my name now, and they're M-D P-h-D, so, you might wanna listen to me," Natsuo went on.
Shouto struggled not to call bullshit on that, since Natsuo was barely passing organic chemistry, but fortunately his face gave nothing away.
"Shouto?"
"Um, Dad, Natsuo's got a good point, and you must be hungry after a hard day of work! Why don't we all sit down to dinner and we'll catch you up to speed. There's so much great news from the past three years that we'll get to tell you all over again!"
"Yeah! Uh, we finally fixed that one faulty smoke detector!"
More like they'd uninstalled it once Shouto hadn't needed an advance warning system for incoming Endeavor anymore. Speaking of which…
"UA students live in dorms now," Shouto offered.
"WHAT?!" Endeavor roared.
Whoops.
"I, uh, qualified for the Olympic ice hockey team!" Natsuo blurted.
"I'm married to Miruko!"
"Touya's not dead! Hooray, you're not a murderer! Of your own child at least. Oh, and he's the villain Dabi. Which means nothing to you ha ha because the League of Villains didn't really show up till this year, my bad."
Shouto shot what he hoped was an alarmed glance at Natsuo, but Endeavor barely reacted to the siblings' greatest discovery from the past months. It clearly didn't shock him as much as the thought of his masterpiece straying from under his control.
"Shouto. This is unacceptable. How are you supposed to train properly to become the Number One hero without my personal supervision?"
"I'm confused, why else would you send me to UA if not to learn from the best? By the way, All Might teaches there now."
Fuyumi screamed as her favorite piece of calligraphy turned to ash, and Shouto and Natsuo expertly dodged an enraged burst of flame.
"Bro. I thought you knew better than to use the A. M. word," Natsuo whisper-hissed in Shouto's ear as they took cover behind the kitchen island.
"Yeah, but… did you see his face?" The corner of Shouto's mouth was twitching upwards against his own best efforts.
Natsuo stared wide-eyed and proud at his little brother. A cold, heavy hand clapped down on Shouto's shoulder.
"Respect," said Natsuo solemnly, although he was biting back laughter. "You truly are one of us, terrible coping mechanisms and all. Although I hope you know what you're getting yourself into."
"I'm not afraid of getting into a little hot water," Shouto said peeking over the counter to watch Fuyumi scream at their father over the artwork. "Where should we start?"
He looked over at Natsuo, only to find his older brother dragging a hand over his face and groaning. "Are you sick? We haven't even eaten the chives yet."
"No, no, it's not that, kiddo… just… ugh." Natsuo shook himself then stood up. "C'mon. Let's go rescue 'Yumi."
Fuyumi was cowering now under Endeavor's flaming, looming form, and doing far less shouting and far more being shouted at.
"Hey!" Shouto yelled, feeling a slight thrill run through him. Had he ever yelled at Endeavor back when he was twelve? Oh how times had changed. "Did I tell you I'm in remedial training for failing the Provisional License exam?"
"Fuck, Shouto, no," hissed Natsuo.
It worked though, so Shouto had no regrets.
"You're what?!" Endeavor's voice had gone dangerously quiet as he marched over to glare down at his youngest.
"Hey, asshole, cut it out!" yelled Natsuo. "You know they don't usually even take that exam till second year, and Shouto's still a first-year! And the top student in his class failed, too, it's not like it was easy!"
"YOU'RE NOT THE TOP STUDENT IN YOUR CLASS?"
"I am, too!" Shouto protested, although his words were directed towards Natsuo. "And it was easy, I just --"
"Dinner is served! Now! Itadakimasu!" declared Fuyumi, shoving a tray of soup into the middle of the conflict and Endeavor's direct line of vision.
Silence fell for a moment, and the siblings glanced cautiously at each other. That had really done the trick? Good to know for the past.
"Who cut these chives?" asked Endeavor, a thunderous expression on his brow.
Shouto raised his hand.
"These are TERRIBLE!" Endeavor roared. "Clearly, you've learned nothing at that pathetic excuse for a school! You'd better be in the dojo in five minutes, ready to prove me wrong, or else it's homeschooling for you, young man!"
"Are they really that bad?" Shouto wondered into the shocked silence Endeavor left in the wake of his storming off.
"They're… they have character!" Fuyumi tried.
"I guess I really do have a lot to learn," said Shouto, disappointed.
"Hey, don't listen to that bastard!" cried Natsuo. "And we only have five minutes to fake your kidnapping, death, or some drastic personality change, so what about we work on that for now."
Shouto frowned. "No, it's okay. I'll go."
Natsuo and Fuyumi exchanged worried glances. "Please don't, Shouto-outo."
"I know we weren't around before, and we weren't… we were always too scared to stand up to him for you. But that was wrong. We shouldn't have left you alone like that, Shouto. You never deserved any of that pain."
"He can't hurt me anymore," Shouto said earnestly. "Because he's wrong. I'm not weak, and I'm not useless, and I can and have fought real villains, and won. And it's not his power, it's my power. Besides. He doesn't know about Flashfreeze Heatwave, does he?"
Fuyumi blinked at him in alarm. "Shouto… I'd hate to have to move…"
"Your body like we did Touya's," interrupted Natsuo angrily. "Don't be stupid! Also, please just run, I'll make a distraction. I saw a YouTube tutorial on Molotov cocktails once."
"I mean it, though," Shouto protested. He didn't want to sound unappreciative of his siblings' offers, but couldn't they see how much they'd already done for him? "His words can't hurt me anymore. But he doesn't know that, so I'm going to kick his ass."
Fuyumi shook her head, but let him go. Her soft murmur followed him out of the room. "It's not the words I'm worried about."
So maybe it had been a little arrogant of him to challenge the Number One hero, Shouto thought, spitting out a mixture of blood and saliva. It would seem there was a large gap in skill between minor villains and major hero killers, and the top hero in Japan. Still, it had been a little bit worth it (he'd check back in with his ribs for their opinion once the adrenaline wore off) to see the look on Endeavor's face when Shouto had knocked him on his ass with a miniaturized Flashfreeze Heatwave (which he had absolutely not figured out how to do by studying Bakugou's AP Shot).
The retribution had been flaming and intense as expected, and Shouto supposed he'd held up well enough against it. If he could have held up better, his body would have thanked him for it, but now Shouto could kind of see why some people chose to break their own bones as proof of friendship. Getting a little beat up for his siblings' sake was really the least he could do, and validated his twelve-year-old self who'd feared sharp words more than blows.
But it sure did hurt like a bitch.
Because they were doing their best to be good siblings, Fuyumi and Natsuo did not say I told you so.
Shouto knew it was what they were thinking, though.
"This is so unhealthy," Natsuo tutted, fluttering uselessly around as Shouto wiped the blood off his face and wherever else it had ended up and Fuyumi dug through the medical kit. "As an aspiring doctor, I can say that with authority."
"Yeah, well, as an aspiring doctor, your bedside manner is lacking, and I'm not seeing much practical clinical skill to make up for it," snapped Fuyumi.
"Sorry," she apologized a second later, after seeing the look on Natsuo's face. "I'm just… upset. It's not your fault."
"Three years into my studies and I'm still practically worthless," Natsuo groaned.
"You're not," Shouto objected, poking gingerly at the skin on his arm to try and determine just how cooked it was. "I thought your idea was a good one at the time."
"Yeah, and now look at you!"
Shouto couldn't argue with that. "It could have been more worth it," he allowed.
"I can't believe I… fuck! I'm so sorry, Shouto. I was too caught up in my own issues back in the day that I convinced myself it was okay to just fuck off and leave you all stranded. I decided to become a doctor to help people, but who was I even helping by running off like that?"
"You deserved help, too," Shouto argued. "And I never held it against you. I was jealous, a little. I think."
"Me, too," added Fuyumi, quietly. "I was never brave enough to do what you did."
"Stop making it sound like it was a good thing!" Natsuo cried in exasperation. "How can this be a good thing?" He gestured at Shouto.
"Did I tell you how his dumb fire-beard went out for a second after I knocked him on his ass?" Shouto asked.
Natsuo stared at him. "Bro. No way!"
"I've been wanting that thing gone for years, and I finally guilt-tripped him out of it six months ago," Fuyumi mourned. "Seeing it again just reminds me of how much I always hated it."
"I never really minded it as much as I --" Shouto started, and then was interrupted by the thing he really hated with a passion.
"SHOOOUUUUTOOOOOO!"
Natsuo swore, Fuyumi swatted at him, and Shouto suppressed a flinch reflex he was certain he'd gotten rid of years ago.
"WHAT?!" he yelled back. Beside him, Natsuo and Fuyumi had gone instinctively silent.
"You've made some progress, but your flames are still not hot enough! I expect to see you bright and early tomorrow morning to continue control drills!"
Natsuo was holding up the middle finger at the closed and locked door, and with his other hand he was having a finger-battle with Fuyumi to try and get her to do the same.
"I can't!" Shouto shouted, before ruining his blunt honesty by making something up. "I… have sparring tomorrow morning!"
"At six-thirty?"
Okay, so he'd need to come up with something more believable… unless…
Shouto grabbed his phone and sent a quick message:
Shouto:
Fight me.
"Yes!" he called through the door. "He's an early riser with an impressive work ethic!" Words flowed more freely once he didn't have to make things up.
His phone dinged.
Bakugou: Half-ass
Bakugou: You gonna throw the match?
"Make sure to learn from him, Shouto! I'll be testing you later in the week!"
Shouto turned back to his phone after flashing his own middle finger at the door.
Shouto:
yeah, into the fucking powder keg
The response was almost instantaneous.
Bakugou: you're on, Icyhot. I'll kill you
Shouto almost smiled. That would probably be too much of a favor to ask, but he appreciated Bakugou's offer.
6:30, Ground Beta. Don't be late, he sent, before turning the screen to his siblings. "Look! I'm not even lying!"
Fuyumi shook her head, sighed, and patted down the last piece of tape holding the bandage in place.
"I'll drive you back to UA, kid. You're going to need your rest," Natsuo offered, and Shouto accepted with a small nod.
Fuyumi smiled at her two brothers before standing up and clapping her hands together. "But dinner first!"
The soup was delicious, even re-heated, but it took Shouto an instant to pin down what was off about it.
"Huh," he said, looking at the sad collection of uneven and slightly ripped greenery slowly mutating from garnish to swampy mass. "These chives really do suck."