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“Look, Babe, we’ve got to tell them.” Fuyumi sighs as her girlfriend brings it up again. Of course, Rumi is right, but that doesn’t change how nervous she is to come out to her family. Fingers continue to play with her white and red hair, her head laying comfortably in her partner’s lap.
They’ve been together for nearly three months now and Fuyumi could not – did not want to – see an end in sight. Which is why she needs to tell her family about Rumi instead of sneaking off every time they have a date with poor lies and weak excuses. Natsuo would be nothing but supportive, Shouto probably wouldn’t emote much of anything, but maybe he’d give her that small nod of his that said he was content, and her mother would be over the moon to meet Fuyumi’s girlfriend.
However, none of them were the reason she is hesitant to come out.
Her father… well Endeavor isn’t exactly known for his upstanding parenting. And she knows he is trying to be better, but no matter how much she wishes it could, that does not erase all his pasts faults. Most notably: Touya. Fuyumi is well aware Natsuo and Shouto blame their father for their older brother’s untimely death and even she cannot quite manage to not see the holes in the official police report. Quirk accident, they said. He was training by himself and lost control. So then why were the flames that brightened the sky that night mainly orange, not blue?
And Fuyumi remembers clearly when Touya, her brave big brother, came out to them over dinner. She remembers the way their father’s eyes went wide with rage, how he’d shouted and snarled for Touya to ‘stop saying such ridiculous things’. Touya had retorted that he could not take back being gay, that that was just who he is.
Father dragged him to the training room, where they heard nothing more due to the soundproof walls the man had installed the year prior. Fuyumi only saw Touya the next morning, quietly offering her icy hands as momentary relief for his new injuries, and as a quiet ‘I love and support you’.
She hadn’t really talked much back then.
Fuyumi figures she has good reason to be nervous. Given her girlfriend is Rabbit Hero: Miruko, she knows she has nothing to worry about. She knows Rumi is more than capable of protecting her should things go horribly wrong. Though her father has never laid a hand on her, she’s born witness to it far too many times to believe he would not hit her if given proper motivation – there was a reason she did her best to be quiet and invisible growing up.
So the fear is still there.
But it is not fair to Rumi to have to sneak around. Fuyumi is not ashamed of their relationship and does not want Rumi to think she is. She sighs and gives a small nod.
“Yeah. I know. Maybe we can start small? With Natsu and Sho? Then Mom?” She peeks an eye open to see Rumi smiling, her long rabbit ears perked like they are when she’s happy.
“You,” a faint tint to her cheeks, “you want me to meet your mom?” Fuyumi sits up, swiveling around to face her partner. She intertwines their fingers, leaning in to press a ghost of a kiss to Rumi’s lips.
“Of course I do. You mean a lot to me Rumi, and I want to share that with the people I care about.” Rumi leans in, kissing her a fair amount more forcible than Fuyumi just did. Fuyumi smiles into the kiss, eagerly reciprocating.
“Oh,” Rumi pulls back, evading Fuyumi’s searching lips. “Does this mean I can tell Hawks? I’m pretty sure he’s going to start stalking me if I keep making up excuses.” Fuyumi snorts. Despite him being the Number Two hero, a title that would make most nervous, she’s eager to meet Hawks. Rumi has told her far too many stories of the embarrassing adventures the two have gotten caught up in for Fuyumi to be remotely worried about meeting Rumi’s best friend. The only reason they did not tell him right away was that Rumi said there was no way Hawks would keep his mouth shut, meaning Endeavor would know in a matter of hours. Since that was not wanted at the time, it was best to just not tell anyone.
However, if they are finally going to tell people, then Hawks gossiping about them to other heroes is no longer a worry.
“Sure. I’m actually pretty excited to meet him, so maybe we tell him first?” She thinks this is a good idea, but Rumi shakes her head with a wide grin.
“Nah. I’ll just start dropping hints and we can see how long it takes his socially awkward bird ass to figure it out.” Rumi looks so proud of herself for deciding to troll her best friend that Fuyumi giggles. Her girlfriend zeroes in on the sound, ears tilting forwards as if to catch it louder.
“God, I love your laugh.” Fuyumi blushes, choosing to drop Rumi’s hand in order to tangle her fingers in long white hair and kiss her girlfriend some more instead of trying to find a way to respond verbally to that.
Fuyumi is in the middle of class the next afternoon when Hawks barges in. No knocking, no asking if he can show up, just straight up lands on the windowsill in full hero costume and cracks open the lock to let himself in. His golden eyes are wide behind his yellow visor as he looks around, gaze locking on her.
Well, if he is planning to have a conversation, he should have not shown up during school hours.
“HAWKS!” Her twenty two kids cheer, and Hawks has half a moment to look panicked before they jump from their seats and crowd him, all yammering excitedly. He laughs, a laugh Fuyumi can tell is fake considering all the video blackmail Rumi showed her. Most of those videos are shaky and poor quality since Rumi is at least as drunk as Hawks, but every once and a while there’s one where they’re sober and just being morons.
“Hey there!” Hawks gives the kids a small wave and they quiet down to listen. She rolls her eyes, kind of annoyed at how easily they settle when it is s a pro hero talking. It took her fifteen minutes to get through a single picture book during story time earlier with the number of times she had to stop and ask for them to use their listening ears.
A tug at her sleeve has Fuyumi glancing down, expecting a child. Instead there is a red feather yanking instantly, trying to drag her over to the group. She debates ignoring it, but Hawks takes that chance to meet her eyes. In that instant she can clearly see the panic and makes her way across the room to save the pro hero from a handful of kids.
“Alright everyone, remember to use inside voices please. Now let’s go back to our seats and Mr Hawks can come up front for the special presentation he prepared just for you today.” Yeah, he broke into her classroom; she’s not letting him off too easy.
It takes a bit of convincing, but she manages to wrangle her kids back to their seats and drags Hawks to the front of the class. He keeps looking around, eyebrows furrowed and lips parted. If she didn’t know better Fuyumi would think he’d never been in a classroom before. But that is a ridiculous thought considering he’s in his twenties and must have graduated from a hero high school at some point, not to mention elementary and middle school.
Despite Fuyumi putting him on the spot, Hawks does an ok job bullshitting his way through a presentation that is really just him doing tricks with his feathers. However, it does keep the kids entertained, so she isn’t going to complain.
A good hour and a half later as the bells rings to signal class is done for the day, Hawks tries to approach her. Silly hero. Fuyumi smirks as three kids latch onto his coat, all gazing up at him with stars in their eyes, babbling some question or telling some story or solemnly informing him they’re going to be a hero someday too.
Like everyday, Fuyumi helps the kids get their coats and pack their bookbags, waving to parents as they pick their kids up. By the time she ushers the last of the kids out the door, it’s much later than it would be on a normal day.
Sighing, Fuyumi finally decides she can’t put it off any longer and turns to face Hawks. He has shoved he visor up to rest in his hair at some point and looks rather confused.
“Was there a reason you interrupted my class?” Fuyumi prompts after a long moment of being stared at.
Hawks jolts. “Oh yeah, right. Well I guess I, uh, Rumi mentioned a ‘Fuyumi’ and I needed to find out who you were. Wait, fuck, that is you right?” As amusing as it was to see a pro hero stumble over their words and act more like a sleep deprived college student (she talks to Natsuo often enough to know that particular brand loses speech skills quick), Fuyumi feels a tiny bit bad for him. It’s clear he’s just worried about his best (if Rumi is to be believed, only) friend, in an overprotective helicopter-parent sort of way.
“Yes, I know Rumi.” But that does not mean she needs to make it easy on him. Rumi really wanted to have fun telling people, so she can’t spoil that by simply telling Hawks that they are dating. “Why? Did something happen?” She widens her eyes, knowing her glasses make them look bigger than they are, and wobbles her bottom lip as if she’s about to cry. “Is Rumi ok?”
“Woah,” Hawk’s wings puff up rather humorously, nearly doubling their regular size. “Hey, no need to panic, she’s fine, promise. I just needed to ask you abou-”
“Oh thank goodness,” Fuyumi quickly interrupts, biting her lip to hold back her laugh. “In that case can you give her a message for me? She’s not answering her texts.” Now, this has not been discussed with her girlfriend yet, but Fuyumi knows her well enough to know Rumi is going to find this hilarious.
“Uh, I guess? I usually run into her during patrol, and I can go by her place later if not.” Hawks scratches at his head, clearly confused.
“Oh perfect!” Fuyumi’s eyes dart around her classroom, gaze landing on the vase of daffodils one of her kid’s parents had brought in for parent-teacher conferences a few days ago. She marches over and picks up the vase, spinning around to shove it at Hawks’s chest. “Here. Thank you, I’ve been trying to get these to her, but she’s quite a busy woman.”
“Y-you’re welcome?” Fuyumi hums, hand grabbing Hawks’s shoulder to steer him back towards the window he entered. He hops up onto the windowsill with a dazed sheen in his eyes.
“If you plan on visiting again, please call beforehand so I can adjust my lesson plan. Thank you and have a nice day.” The instant she shoves Hawks through the window she feels bad about it, but he doesn’t drop far before collecting himself and flying away, removing any guilt she would have had if he face-planted on the ground below.
Once she can’t see him and has searched the room for left behind feathers (Rumi warned her he might try to do that. Something about him being able to listen in with them?) she calls her girlfriend.
“Hey Babe, what’s up?” Rumi’s voice is distorted, so she is probably still on patrol.
“Guess who just stopped by my classroom?” Fuyumi smiles, leaning against her desk, the adrenaline from that whole interaction flooding her with a sort of giddiness.
“No fucking way. I only name dropped you this morning!” Rumi proceeds to cackle, and the way the wind dies down on the other end tells Fuyumi that Rumi has landed on a building. “So? What happened? What’d the bird brain do?”
“Well for starters he broke into my classroom by coming in through the window.” She pauses as Rumi makes a strangled noise that is clearly a cut off laugh. Her own smile widens. “So I made him do a presentation for the kids, and after they went home sent him to deliver a vase of flowers to you. Told him you weren’t answering my texts.” This time Rumi laughs out loud.
“Oh my God. Fuyumi, Babe, I love you. You make chaos so much more beautiful.” Immediately her cheeks dip into the territory of dangerously red, as they always do every time they’ve said the whole ‘I love you’ bit. That had only started a couple weeks ago, so Fuyumi figures she is perfectly in her rights to still get flustered over having such an incredibly wonderful woman say she’s in love with her.
“Love you too,” she replies shyly. “Let me know what he says to you later, I’m kind of dying to find you what he thinks of me.”
“Honestly, me too. I- oh, Babe, I’ve got to hop. Some imbecile decided to start a rampage. I’ll call you back!” Rumi hangs up on her before she can answer, but that is ok. Normal, even. She knows her girlfriend will apologise later, even though it’s not necessary. There’s no point in waiting for a goodbye when peoples’ lives are in danger.
Fuyumi is at home cooking dinner when Rumi calls her again. Answering and tapping the speaker phone option, Fuyumi starts slicing the potatoes she just finished peeling and washing.
“So how’d it go?” Ok, maybe that was a little impatient, but Fuyumi never gets to be involved with any sort of drama. This is exciting.
“Oh, it went amazingly. Hawks dropped off the flowers, asked me to clarify who you were – which I dodged like a pro – and I’m pretty sure he’s on his way to give you the cardigan you forgot at my place last week.” Unable to help it, Fuyumi snorts, the knife slipping dangerously close to her fingers at the action. Since she has no desire to lose any fingers, she sets down the knife.
“So are we just going to make him taxi things around until he figures it out then?” Fuyumi washes her hands quickly then picks up the phone, turning off speaker and tucking it to her ear.
“Absolutely. This is going to be glorious. Plus it’s payback since he still hasn’t told me who he hooked up with last weekend. He might think he’s sly, but the hickeys and that limp speak for themselves buddy! Anyways, I figured I should warn you since there is a solid chance he will want to stay for dinner.”
“Oh, that’s not an issue. I usually make more than enough for leftovers anyways. Dad likes to take them as lunches. Plus maybe Hawks being here will make dinner less awkward.” That is quite the hope, but it is possible. Hawks is known for his people skills, so maybe having him around will prevent the loud silence that is their normal once Fuyumi runs out of yes-no questions for Shouto – when Shouto is here that is – to answer.
“Someday I’m gonna be there to eat your food and will make sure that dinner is loud to an uncomfortable level.”
“Promise?” Now that it is actually happening, Fuyumi can’t wait for her family to interact with her girlfriend. There is no way it’s going to be anything but chaotic, but that is Rumi, so it’s expected.
“Promise,” Rumi confirms.
The door slams open, and Fuyumi tries her best to stop her flinch. She does not fully succeed.
“Dad’s home. I gotta go. Love you Rumi.” As always, her cheeks warm at the words.
“Love you too, Fuyumi.” The click of the phone call ending is daunting.
She returns to cutting the potatoes, used to the silent tension that comes with her father’s return home so her hands do not shake. He stomps by, heading to his office, flames billowing off his hero costume in angry waves. Great. It is one of those days. At least Shouto is at the UA dorms and Natsuo is away at college. It is always easier to weather her father’s tempers when it is just the two of them. This way he can’t drag Touya Shouto to the training room, nor can he and Natsuo get into another argument that leaves scorch marks on the table and Natsuo ghosting them for weeks.
It's long minutes before dinner is finished cooking, promptly at six thirty like always. By the time Fuyumi plates the food and carries it out to the table, her father is already sitting there, dressed in regular civilian clothes. He grunts an acknowledgment as she sets the serving plates down, allowing her father to take his portion first. Fuyumi settles at the table, wondering if it’s smart to leave the silence be rather than risk starting conversation, right as the doorbell rings.
Oh, right. Hawks.
“I’ll get it Dad,” Fuyumi pipes out in a near whisper, as if it was ever a possibility Endeavor would answer his own door.
He does not so much as grunt to show he heard as she stands and speed walks to the door. Flinging it open, her nose wrinkles at the stench of sweaty man. Very yuck. Another reason women were so much better. Rumi’s sweat did not smell nearly as bad.
“Hey again,” Hawks pants out, leaning with one arm propped up against the door frame, the back of the other hand wiping at the sweat dripping off his forehead and turning the hair lining his brow a wet brown. “Rumi promised me dinner. Well, not exactly, but she said you were eating and I am starving and exhausted so please feed me.” His nostrils flare, inhaling deeply. The moment he catches the scent of the meal she prepared, a line of drool beads at the corner of his mouth.
“When was the last time you ate?” She is kind of concerned, given how utterly dead on his feet he looks. Especially considering he seemed fine a few hours earlier.
“I think I ate breakfast this morning?” Hawks tries, blinking as he thinks back. Yep, there it is. Fuyumi knows she was absolutely right to peg him as the tried college student type. Well she was planning to invite Hawks in, but now she simply has to.
She steps to the side, waving him in. “Come in. There’s extra slippers in that basket,” Fuyumi points in case he somehow misses it, “and I’ll go grab you a plate.”
“Uh,” Hawks fiddles with his gloves when she turns back to face him. “Is it ok if I just leave my boots on? They’re pretty clean, considering I just fly around.” Fuyumi just shrugs. It’s cleaning day tomorrow anyways.
“Sure.”
Hawks’s feathers ruffle, relief spilling over his tired features. “Thanks.”
With that the two of them head down the hall, emerging in the dining room.
“Dad, we have a guest.” Her father turns his neck, and his eyes go hard in that cold angry way they tend to when he’s pissed off at someone.
“Hawks.” Endeavor snarls, the flames that he’d put away for dinner flaring to life across his face into that stupid fire-facial hair.
“Endeavor! Good to see you again buddy!” Hawks hops over to take the seat on her father’s left, which is directly across from where she sits on his right. Fuyumi sneaks out to grab a plate, returning quickly in hopes that her father has not turned Rumi’s best friend to over crispy chicken in her absence.
“Here,” she sets a plate down in front of the young hero. “I made lots, so take what you want.”
“Sweet!” Hawks’s feathers puff up, and he goes to grab a serving spoon before pausing. “Oh right, this is yours.” He pulls a folded up beige cardigan from a deep jacket pocket, handing it over to her.
“Thank you,” Fuyumi replies, taking her shirt from his outstretched hand. “I have something for you before you go too, I’ll grab it after dinner.” Her father’s flames burn a tad hotter at her words.
Hawks piles a mountain of food onto his plate, not bothering to take of his gloves before picking up his chopsticks and digging in.
“Oh wow, Fuyumi, you are a goddess among mortals. This is the best thing I have ever tasted. And it’s not even chicken! Just wait till Da- er my friend hears about this. He won’t be able to make fun of me for only liking chicken now.” Hawks’s chatter, while rather meaningless, is a nice change of pace from the dreaded silence dinners usually encompass.
They get through the meal without incident. Hawks talks and talks, Fuyumi adds in a few words where required, and her father continues to try and burn a hole into the younger hero’s head with his angry stare. At least her father has the decency to not ruin her efforts in making the food by turning it to ash with his flames.
The same cannot be said about the new tablecloth Shouto’s loud blonde friend’s mother gifted them last week.
Fuyumi clears the plates with the help of Hawks’s floating feathers, and returns to find it ablaze, her father planting both hands on the surface as he stands, towering over a yawning Hawks.
“How do you know my daughter.” Oh great. Angry interrogation. Tonight is getting better and better. Fuyumi grabs the flaming tablecloth, yanking it off before it can burn the wood underneath, and bundles it up before using her quirk to freeze over the material as to not start a house fire.
“Lets all calm down and take a step back.” Fuyumi uses her best teacher voice, hoping to avoid murder tonight.
“Chill big guy. A mutual friend introduced us, ok? I didn’t like internet stalk her or something if that’s what you’re worried about.” Hawks gives an easy smile, one Fuyumi can tell is strained.
“Hawks needs to go,” she announces before her father can act on his anger even more, rounding the table to grab the guy’s arm and yank him to his feet. “He’s had a busy day and needs to get some sleep.” It probably helps that Hawks still looks as exhausted as he did when arriving.
Her father lets her pull Hawks away, the sound of his teeth grinding accompanied by the sudden increase of the room’s temperature.
“Oh,” Hawks speaks up as she’s halfway through shoving him out the front door. “Didn’t you have something you wanted me to deliver?” Fuyumi forgot about that.
“Yes, I did. Let me go fetch that.” She scurries upstairs and slips into her room, tapping her thigh with an index finger as her eyes wander. Oh, that will work. She grabs the hoodie up off her floor, and hurries back downstairs. “Here, can you give this to her please? There’s no rush, so don’t fly there tonight. Go home and get some sleep first.” Hawks takes the soft purple hoodie with a considering look in his sleepy eyes.
“Sure. Thanks for the food, Fuyumi.” Hawks gives her a two-fingered salute before taking off, zipping out of sight in a manner of seconds.
Sighing, Fuyumi peaks towards the dining room to confirm her father has already snuck back to his office before she heads up to her room for the night. Pulling out her phone as she walks, Fuyumi figures it isn’t a bad idea to update her girlfriend of everything that has happened.
“Hey,” she smiles as Rumi picks up on the second ring.
“’ello.” Rumi is mid-chew, and Fuyumi giggles softly at her girlfriend’s eagerness. She easily could have waited the moment it took to swallow before answering, but clearly did not.
“Heads up, I sent Hawks back your way with one of my hoodies. You, uh, you can keep it, if you want.” That is not something they have discussed yet, but she’s pretty sure it’s ok.
“Yes I want! Thanks Fuyumi. How was dinner?” There’s a clatter as Rumi sets down her chopsticks to give Fuyumi her full attention.
“It was certainly different. I’m not sure if it was Hawks in general or the fact that he smelt absolutely rank, but my father was not happy to have him sitting at the table. Oh,” she’d almost forgotten this little tidbit Rumi was sure to want to hear, “he mentioned a friend. Someone D something. Said they made fun of him for eating too much chicken. Think it is mystery hook-up guy?”
“Ooh, probably. Contrary to common belief, my birb bud does not talk to many people. I’ll investigate further.” That was code for Rumi is going to yell at Hawks next time she sees him in hopes he’ll fold and tell her everything. It is not a good tactic for gathering information, but Fuyumi isn’t going to be the one to tell her that. Instead she just hums, smiling.
A loud bang has her fumbling her phone and accidentally dropping it.
By the time she finds it in her bedsheets, Rumi is already halfway to panicking.
“Yumi? Babe, are you ok? Should I come over? I’m gonna come over. Let me grab my coat, I’ll be ther-”
“Rumi, I’m ok. There’s no need to rush over here, ok? Dad just slammed the door a little too loud on his way out. He’s probably going to spend the night at his agency.” There’s a pause.
“So, do you want me to come over?”
“Rumi, I told you I’m fine- Oh. Oh, yes please do. Finishing eating first though, I don’t want you to starve.” Fuyumi can hear Rumi deciding to argue that. “No sex if you don’t eat. Food is important for big strong heroes who spend all day burning calories.”
Rumi groans, one rabbit foot tapping the floor loud enough Fuyumi can pick it up through the phone. “Fine! Gimme like twenty minutes tops. Love you, bye.” Fuyumi snickers as her girlfriend drops the phone in her rush to hang up, her swearing muffled as she struggles to hit the off button.
Considering no one will be home until much later, Fuyumi cooks Rumi breakfast the next morning. Every time she looks over from the frying pan her cheeks pink. Her girlfriend showed up wearing the purple hoodie that Fuyumi gave her (apparently Hawks did not follow the instructions of sleeping before taxiing that over, arriving right as Rumi was about to take off), and was proudly wearing that over her hero costume (and God, did Fuyumi ever love Rumi’s hero costume).
“It’s nice getting to make you breakfast for once,” Fuyumi murmurs as she brings over their food. Sure, they’ve done breakfast in the past after spending the night, but that’s normally ordered in from the café near Rumi’s apartment. Sitting at the kitchen island, just the two of them, is domestic and sweet and Fuyumi loves it.
“You know,” Rumi glances away from her, shy in a way that is normally so unlike her. “We could do this more often.”
Fuyumi sighs, “I wish. But you know my dad’s usually here in the mornings, and you don’t exactly have much of a kitchen to work with.” Rumi nods, still not looking at her.
“Yeah. But other apartments might. If- if we wanted to look into one.” Fuyumi’s heart skips a beat.
“Are you asking me to move in with you?” Rumi finally meets her eyes, and gives a tiny nod, long ears twitching with nerves. “Yes! Yes, let’s do that. As soon as I get through telling my family we can start looking for an apartment.” There is no reason for her to stay here anymore. When she was of age to move out, she needed to stay to look after Shouto and Natsuo. Now both of her brothers are away living elsewhere. She deserves to move out and follow happiness too.
Rumi grins, ears losing their earlier tension. “Sounds like a plan.” She leans in, gently cupping Fuyumi’s face to kiss her softly, tenderly. Fuyumi melts into the touch, enjoying the soft brush of lips against her own.
They tell Natsuo first.
It’s rather anticlimactic, all things considered. Fuyumi gets Rumi to join her on her weekly video call with her brother, and Natsuo looks surprised for only a moment before nodding.
“Damn Yumi. Please don’t make me try to shovel talk her. I’m pretty sure Miruko would break me without trying.” Natsuo laughs as Fuyumi stares, shocked it was that easy.
“Chill dude. I ain’t gonna break her heart.” Rumi shoots him a thumbs up while slinging the other arm around Fuyumi’s shoulders. Natsuo hesitantly returns the thumbs up.
“So now I’ve got to ask, how’d you two get together?”
With that Fuyumi goes on to explain the not-so-subtle times they’d checked each other out at the hero galas their father dragged her to. How Rumi shoved Endeavor aside to finally talk to her a couple months back. How that led to them making out in a closet ten minutes later. They’d exchanged phone numbers and went on their first official date the next week.
“Wait, back up. You shoved the Old Man?” Natsuo cackles, grey eyes lighting up like they do whenever someone manages to piss off their dad.
“Natsu!” Fuyumi scolds, “that’s all you took from that?”
“Well congrats and all,” he scratches his head, “but seriously. You shoved Endeavor out of the way to talk to his daughter?”
“Nat-”
“Oh hell yeah. It was a great plan on my part. I even bribed Hawks, via KFC, into distracting Endeavor so we’d have more time to talk.” Rumi’s bold grin is on full display, and Fuyumi sighs. At least them bonding over enjoying her dad’s misfortune is better than them hating each other.
Hawks shows up next when she’s at the grocery store.
Fuyumi is minding her own business, pushing her half full shopping cart as she searches for the few spices she’s run out of, when a navy-blue bundle of fabric is shoved into her face. Like any person not expecting it, Fuyumi yelps and bats the fabric away.
“Wow, good reflexes there Fuyumi.” She shoots Hawks a glare, bending to pick up what she now recognizes as a hoodie from the floor. It has a large colorful rainbow printed on the front. “That’s from Rumi.” He nods to the shirt as if she can’t recognize her girlfriend’s favourite hoodie. Fuyumi smiles as she tugs it on over top of the long sleeve she wore to work, loving the way it smelt of her partner.
“Thanks Hawks. Do you need any groceries?” His head starts to shake, “Endeavor is paying.” He pauses at that.
“Actually yeah. My, uh, friend could use a couple things. You sure the old guy won’t mind?” She just smiles and shakes her head. As the Number One hero now and the Number Two for years before that, her father makes more than enough money. He can afford to buy some things for Hawks’s friend as an apology for being such a grump at dinner three days ago.
Hawks goes to turn, only to freeze up. “Uh, I just realized I have no idea where anything is in this store.” Giving a small laugh, Fuyumi motions for him to follow her as she moves down the aisle to gather the last spice, and thing, on her list.
“Just tell me what we’re looking for and we’ll go find it together then.”
And that’s how she spends nearly 100 000 yen at a single store.
On top of her own weekly groceries, Hawks got this friend of his three portable heaters, all the warm looking blankets he could find, and a mountain of non-perishable food items. He also threw in a new camouflage colored Xbox controller, a handful of fashion magazines, a flashy deck of cards, a bottle of sake, a cheap succulent plant, the newest first-person shooter video game Natsuo ranted about a few days back, and after nervously debating with it for a while, a sturdy pair of black combat boots.
The cashier that she pushes her cart up to pales at the sight of the two overfull shopping carts (Hawks had been overjoyed to push a shopping cart of his own, and his poor skills at navigating the thing led Fuyumi to believe he had never used one before). Nevertheless, all the items were scanned and purchased via her father’s credit card.
They walk outside, only to run into the last person she expects.
“Dad?” Endeavor turns at the sound of her voice, and stomps over despite the police officer trying to catch his attention.
“Fuyumi.” His eyes narrow as he takes in her companion. “Hawks.” The name is spat out in a growl.
“Heyo Endeavor! You coming to do some shopping to?” The glare gets impossibly angrier.
“There was a villain attack. I’m heading out now.” It’s then Fuyumi notices the police cars and the kid she’d call a teenager being handcuffed and shoved into the back of one. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye Dad,” Fuyumi says to thin air as her father launches himself skywards with a blast of flames.
“Cheery fellow, ain’t he?” Hawks tries for humor, but it falls flat. “Anyways, thank you for all this. My friend is gonna be really happy. Well, he’ll be a prickly bastard about it, but I know he’ll be smiling on the inside. See ya later!” Hawks takes off, the bags he could not fit on his arms carried by feathers.
Fuyumi just sighs and pulls the hood of the hoodie up. She continues her walk home alone, comforted by the warmth and smell of Rumi’s favourite hoodie.
They tell Shouto the next day when Fuyumi goes to pick him up from school. It’s Saturday, the day they all go visit their mom together. Rumi sits in the passenger seat, finger tapping her gorgeous, muscled thigh as they wait for him to come out front.
Finally, he cracks the door open and pops his bi-coloured head in.
“Fuyumi, Midoriya is coming to.” He crawls in, leaving room for his bubbly green-haired friend to follow.
“Sure,” he didn’t exactly ask for permission, but still. “Nice to see you again Midoriya! I’m not sure if you remember, but we met at dinner over the work study.” Midoriya gives a small wave, stuttering out some sort of nervously mumbled response. “And,” she grabs Rumi’s hand, holding it tight, “this is my girlfriend, Usagiyama Rumi.”
“Just call me Rumi, kid.” Rumi twists to stick her fist back, and after a long moment where Shouto stares at her and Midoriya mutters that he’s supposed to tap it, fist-bumps her back.
Shouto locks eyes with Fuyumi and gives that small nod of his. His dual-coloured eyes flick to Midoriya and back to her. Fuyumi smiles and gives a small nod back, turning to drive them to the hospital.
The second her mom sees Fuyumi holding Rumi’s hand, she breaks down into tears. Immediately they let go of each other’s hands, Fuyumi rushing over.
“Mom,” she goes to hit the button that calls the nurse, but her mother grabs her hand.
“No, I’m ok. I’m- I’m so happy for you Fuyumi. And I know I shouldn’t think it, but I remembered just then that I’ll never get to experience Touya bringing someone home for the first time. I’m happy for you, but sad for him.” Fuyumi hugs her mom, blinking back tears of her own at the words. Natsuo comes over to hug both, while Shouto and Rumi hover awkwardly on the outskirts.
That moment passes somberly, and her mom extends an arm towards Rumi.
“Come here dear. Now, tell me all about how you two met.” So she shares their getting-together story again, and that’s that.
The next time she sees Hawks, he is not trying to seek her out. Rather, she’s stopping in at the café near Rumi’s apartment to grab some of the donuts Rumi likes before heading over for movie night. And despite his lack of massive red wings and hero costume, it’s still obviously him.
So she heads over.
“Hey Hawks,” she greets softly, not wanting to alert all the fangirls that would ruin his date. For it surely is a date, with how he and his friend are holding hands across the table as Hawks gestures wildly with the other, telling some wild tale.
He freezes mid word at her arrival, so she takes that chance to glance at his friend. His friend is wearing a black hoodie with the hood up and an equally dark face mask. Eerily familiar turquoise eyes go wide as they slide towards her to see who is interrupting.
“Oh Fuyumi!” Hawks squeaks, eyes darting between her and his friend. “Uh. I uh.” She pats his arm, and winks at his friend.
“Don’t worry Hawks. I won’t tell Rumi, promise.” He blinks, mouth still agape.
“Right,” he finally manages. “Yeah, thanks. I’d appreciate that.”
“I’ll leave you two to it,” Fuyumi gives a small wave before going over to the counter to order Rumi’s donuts. As she walks out the door, box of pastries in hand, she can’t help but feel she’s seen those eyes someplace before.
The next day Fuyumi decides it’s time to bite the bullet.
Her brothers are coming over for dinner, and they’ve both been nothing but supportive of her and Rumi’s relationship.
So, it’s time to tell her father.
“Hey Dad,” she calls out as she gets home from picking up Rumi, Shouto, and Natsuo. They all trade their shoes for slippers, and Fuyumi frowns at the muddy footprints leading down the hall. Not the time to wonder about that though. “Listen,” she spreads her voice out loud so that he can hear her, and grabs Rumi’s hand for support. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, we do.” She frowns, unsure why he already sounds so upset.
Entering the dinning room, Rumi dropping her hand to hover in the doorway, things click together. Hawks is leaning against the wall and Endeavor, dressed in full hero costume, is glaring at him with enough heat she’s a little concerned for the safety of the more flammable things around.
“How long have you been sneaking around with Hawks?” Fuyumi blinks at the question, gaping.
“What?” She manages as her brothers join her in the dining room.
“You heard me,” their father growls out, pointing a large finger at an equally confused Hawks. “How long have you been seeing this, this imbecile?”
“Wow, imbecile’s a little harsh, don’t you think Enji?” No one bothers to acknowledge Hawks’s scoffed comment.
“I’m not seeing Hawks.” She pushes her glasses up her nose, praying for the calm to deal with this.
“Don’t lie to me!” Their father thunders. “Inviting him over for dinner, going shopping together, him suddenly showing up at your classroom in the middle of the afternoon? Do you think I can’t put things together?”
“Apparently not,” mumbles Natsuo, Shouto holding up his fist for the world’s most monotone fist bump. Natsuo still taps their little brother’s fist regardless.
“Dad, I’m really not dating Hawks. That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about today.” Some of his flames die down. Good, at least he’s listening and not yelling. “I am seeing someone though. And I invited her over for dinner.” Rumi takes that as her cue to enter, walking in with confidence and looping an arm around Fuyumi’s waist. “Dad, I think you already know Rumi from work.” She swallows heavily as silence takes over, her dad just kind of staring at Rumi.
“Well.” He looks from Hawks to Fuyumi and to Rumi, then sighs. “I suppose anyone’s better than that buffoon.”
“Hey!” Hawks squawks in protest before pausing and glancing between the two women. “Wait, you two are together? Alright, I guess I should have seen that coming.”
Rumi just laughs, stepping up to extend her hand in a formal greeting. “Nice to meet you Enji.” Fuyumi’s father considers it for a moment, before shaking her girlfriend’s hand.
“Miruko.”
Cooking and serving dinner flies by, Fuyumi still shocked that it is finally done. They told everyone and don’t need to hide anymore. The relief that causes is a blessing, and Fuyumi cannot wait to move in with Rumi and see where their relationship will go.
“I know right,” Hawks laughs, joking with Natsuo. “Like I can’t even imagine it! Me and your sister? No way!” The whole table, minus her father, joins in on the laughter. “But your brother? Oh yeah.” Hawks takes a sip of his water as everyone stops laughing and stares at him. Shouto edges a step back. “What? What’d I say?” Then colour drains from his face. “Oh fuck, that is so not what I meant. Uh. Uh. I’m gonna go now.”
It’s as he bolts from the table that Fuyumi gasps, realizing where she knew Hawks’s date’s eyes from.
“HAWKS!” She shouts, sprinting after him. “Get back here!” Fuyumi slams open the door, and he’s already well into the air. “MAKE TOUYA CALL ME!” She shouts, smirking as his wings miss a beat and make him drop a few feet before leveling off.
Touya calls her four days later.