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a meal to make it home

Summary:

Toshinori, Nana and the way they show their love to their protegees.

Notes:

for mix's "food as a metaphor for love" prompt! just a short thing i wanted to write for this prompt bc i love nana and toshinori's relationship.

excuse any spelling/formatting errors! i'll be combing through my fic fight fics after the event is over.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

It had been yet another day of hard training with his master.

The ache of his muscles was pleasant, reminding him of the hard work Nana had put him through. She never held back, and he appreciated it. He needed to become strong if he was going to be a pillar.

And, at that moment, all he wished was to go home and rest.

“Good job today, Toshinori,” said Nana, smiling as brightly as ever. “Say, it’s gotten pretty late and you’re probably too tired to take the train. My house is closer, you should stay the night.”

Toshinori shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Nonsense! I insist. Besides, the house feels pretty lonely these days,” she replied.

The reminder of everything his master had had to give up was enough to convince him. He couldn’t get her family back, but he could do his best to be there for her. “Alright then.”

The walk to Nana’s house was short and filled with chatter. She always had something to say, something to brighten up the mood. Toshinori could only hope to one day aspire to bring the same hope to other people that Nana had brought to him.

“Come in! Sit wherever you want,” she said, opening the door for him. “I’ll wipe up some dinner for the both of us.”

“Let me help you with that,” he said. It was the least he could do.

“Sure!” she replied. “I’m not the best cook, but my kids never complained so I can’t be that bad.”

They worked on their dinner together, and it filled Toshinori with a sense of belonging he hadn’t felt since his mother passed away. It felt right, to do these things with Nana, like he once had done with his mother. 

When the food was almost ready, he set up the table while Nana finished everything up.

The first bite of the food felt like coming home. Toshinori barely had time to cook for himself, with all the training and schoolwork. To have a taste of a homecooked meal, something he had prepared with the woman he now saw as a mother, made him feel warm. Loved.

Toshinori didn’t usually cry but, at that moment, he felt his eyes water.

“You alright, kiddo?” asked Nana.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m just fine. It just tastes really good.”

Nana smiled at him and didn’t ask anything else, like she already knew exactly what was going through Toshinori’s mind. From that day onwards, it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence for her to bring him bentos to their training session


 

Many years later, All Might felt nervous as he held a plastic bag with a bento inside, waiting for young Midoriya to finish his day of training at the beach.

“Great job, young Midoriya!” he told him. “At this rate, I have no doubt you’ll be ready to inherit One For All before the U.A. entrance exam. But, here, this is for you.”

He handed him the bag, which young Midoriya accepted eagerly. “A bento ?” he asked.

“Of course! Seeing as you’ve been working yourself to exhaustion, I wanted to make sure you’ve been eating properly. I’m no five-star cook, but I hope it will be sufficient.”

The kid’s eyes widened. “A bento … made by All Might?” he said, voice trembling. He looked like All Might had just handed him the sun on a platter.

“Ah, it’s nothing special,” he said, trying to make less of the situation. In truth, he had spent all morning trying to make it. Years of not cooking for himself really had left him out of practice.

Of course, young Midoriya started crying anyway. Toshinori smiled and patted his head. He would just have to keep bringing him bentos until he stopped making such a big deal of it.

If he could do for young Midoriya half of what Nana did for him, Toshinori would be able to retire in peace.

Notes:

thank you for reading!