Chapter Text
His finger hovered over the dial button, eyes glued to the screen of his cell phone, brand new and mailed to him from across the sea. It looked expensive, but to him it was priceless. More than priceless, it was quite literally irreplaceable. He held it in both hands tightly. From now on, this cell phone would be one of his most closely guarded possessions. No harm would come to it as long as he was around.
How long had it been now? He wished he hadn’t been counting each day so religiously. It really said something about how much he cared. Each second used to be jarring. Time spent in the hospital was boring and lonely, even if it wasn’t for very long after the separation. So much blood loss had to be monitored, of course. He was in and out pretty often, yet every bill was covered by the International Hero Society. At least he wouldn’t have to work extra shifts to cover what huge sum insurance didn’t.
“Rody?”
Snap. Right back to reality.
He blinked once, then twice, then three more times after it for emphasis, coming back to his senses and moving his gaze from the phone to the little munchkin who had run up to peek over his shoulder. Pino, who had previously stood just as silent on his shoulder, chirped happily at the new arrival.
“You’ve been here for ten minutes now! What are you looking at?” His brother peered at the screen curiously, reading the label on the contact recently added that morning. Once again he blinked, processing the question before managing to spit out something that resembled an answer.
“Oh, uhm. It’s a phone.” Internally he winced at his own obvious remark. ‘Oh, it’s a phone’? Really? Clearing his throat, he tried again. “It’s what was in that package from Deku.” Well, that and one other thing.
“A phone? Aren’t phones expensive?” He was curious and fascinated. Their beat down motorhome didn’t exactly scream money, and it was the truth. Even with the new honest job, they’d have a long way to go before they got enough for a house.
Rody nodded, a teasing smile on his face as he set the phone down on the ‘living room’ counter, scooping up his little brother and lifting him above his head, his giggle of excitement an angelic sound to his ears as they spun around the main cabin.
“Don’t worry about that, it was a gift! We still have lots of money for our trip to the sweets store today!” The boy whooped with excitement as he was righted back on his feet, quite literally jumping with joy. A bi-weekly trip to the sweets store was something to have joy for, of course. His giggles continued and his hands shook up and down. If he’d been holding maracas, it would have been a sick beat. Something to play for the greatest Kings and Queens across every vast land in existence. It brought a smile to Rody’s face. One of genuine happiness, the cell phone forgotten as he ushered his brother to the door.
“Now go get your sister before it’s too late to go, the sun will set soon!”
“Okay~!” He bounded out the door, leaving it flung wide open as he ran out for his sister who played with the neighborhood kids in a kiddie pool, the water not too cold, as Ortheon is right off the Celtic Sea. It rarely got too hot there, but today seemed to be just enough to warrant some time out of it. A neighbor down the street had been passing out lemonade to the other mobile homers just that afternoon.
Rody watched as his brother chittered to his sister excitedly, her eyes lighting up the same glowy way.
Things had gotten better since Deku had departed for Japan. Rody made an effort to go out and meet people and resolve the prejudices against their family for the sake of his siblings. In fact, they’d really come full circle. The neighborhood loved his siblings, and even seemed to love him as well. His siblings had even received gifts for Christmas last year from other families as well as several birthday party invitations from other children.
After all of that had been fixed, and he began to earn money, he signed the kids up for school, and they had been loving it! They made so many friends, and Rody had left his old lifestyle behind. No more sleight of hand, and no more assisted crime. He was clean through and through. He’d even graduated from his job with the old man to a job more near the city center. He worked at a higher end hotel in the kitchen as a scrub boy, but he knew someday he’d go up from there too and climb the ranks he needed to be a pilot. Even though the jobs seemed completely unrelated, he knew that when he finished his newly acquired accelerated catch up courses for school he would move on to piloting school and be exactly what he wanted in life and for his siblings.
Someday, the world will belong to him.
~~~
“”Midoriya, any messages yet?” Kirishima asked from his spot on the other couch across from the boy. Deku sighed, picking up his phone from beside him and switching it on to his lock screen, his notification box empty. He even opened the phone to his messages, reloading to check, then flopped his arm beside him again. It had been like this since he’d woken up to an email saying the package was delivered at six that morning. They were up early for class at UA, of course.
“No,” he called back dejectedly, “But I’m sure he will when he finds the time. Our time zones don’t match up well though. It’s 14:55 here, so that means it’s 5:55 there. It only makes sense that he hasn’t answered yet. It’s a nine hour difference…” He trailed off, staring at the ceiling for a moment before letting out yet another sigh, this one more with a tone of giving up. He sat up from his spot, eyes moving from the ceiling to Kirishima, from Kirishima to the kitchen where the portion of the class on cooking duty were carrying out their tasks, from the kitchen to the elevator far behind him, then from the elevator back to Kirishima who was watching him expectantly. He simply smiled, rubbing his neck. A habit easily picked out from his many others.
“Besides, we haven’t seen each other in a long time. Almost a year. We’ll start our third year soon. I’m sure he’s very busy. I honestly just hope he still has the same PO box he gave me before we had to leave.” Kirishima nodded, a simple action of understanding. He laid on his side facing Midoriya who crossed his legs, hands on his lap.
“I guess so. I’m sure he probably got it. I bet it was just the former option that he’s busy. 'Wouldn’t give it too much thought,” then he changed the subject, “Dinner smells good though. I don’t remember what they said they were making. Bakugou is on kitchen duty though, so I’m sure it’ll be delicious!” He beamed, excited to chow down. His sharp teeth were on full display. Midoriya matched his smile.
“Hotpot, remember? Tonight, we celebrate!”