Work Text:
“Come on, please! I promise she’ll be gone all evening,” Izuku (or was it Ume now?) pouted. It had been two weeks since they truly reunited. Two weeks since she had remembered everything.
“I still can’t believe my sweet sister wants to sneak behind her mother’s back and let a boy into her house,” he replied with a teasing smile.
“Eww, stop trying to make it weird,” she said as she lightly smacked his arm while he laughed.
Oh, how easily they had slipped back into old habits…
They had taken to meeting up as she walked to and from school to make up for lost time when Tomura (or was it Gyutaro?) was able to slip away. He usually could, but he didn’t feel like telling Sensei about his sister just yet and the excuse of “visiting a video game supply store” only worked so much.
Speaking of his sister, her current crusade was to spend an evening at her apartment doing stupid (ei. non-gaming) things.
“You can bring your Switch and I’ll play it with you,” she offered before her tone turned more sombre, “It’s just… we’ve missed so much time with each other. Is it so bad that I want my brother?”
That got him hook, line, and sinker. There was absolutely no way he could say no now.
“Fine, fine. No need to twist my arm. Just tell me what time you want me there.”
Her smile immediately made it all worth it and they spent the rest of their walk with her talking his ear off about heroes, gossip, and other inconsequential things. He loved every minute of it.
Soon, the time for them to meet at her apartment came. She let him right in and, as promised, her mother was gone. The pictures on the wall showed what looked like a kind enough, short and slightly stout middle-aged woman.
The emphasis was on looked. You could never tell a person’s character by appearance alone, after all. Hopefully, she had never mistreated his sister. If not… well... his quirk was very convenient for taking care of things like that.
He quickly shook his head. No point in thinking about that right now. He had a sister to entertain.
They played video games first, as agreed while eating more food than either of them could have imagined in their previous life. Ever since Gyu-mura’s (which he had taken to temporarily call himself while he sorted out his identity crisis) memories had fully awakened, the luxuries of this world had never ceased to amaze him. Though he didn’t care for too much of it himself. It was simply more to pamper her with.
After she had gotten bored with video games, Izu-ume (for similar, identity crisis-related reasons) sweetly enticed her brother to her room. He knew the mischievous glint in her eyes spelt trouble, but he would fall for it every time.
That didn’t mean it was fun though when she put new makeup on his face as he half-heartedly attempted to resist.
“Sorry nii-san, I want to see how this shade of lipstick actually looks on someone before I put it on myself. I have so much makeup to test now, after all.”
It wasn’t a lie. The stacks of new beauty products that hadn’t been there when he first visited which now cluttered her nightstand and bathroom were proof of that. Their awakenings had left them with new interests, habits, and traits. Remnants of their old life.
“You look beautiful!” she insisted, holding up a mirror so he could see her work.
“I look like a clown.”
“You can wash it off now if you don’t want it,” she replied with a sigh.
“No. I’m keeping it.”
After that, they just talked. All those years apart had left a lot for them to catch up on. Well, it was more Izu-ume doing the talking while he listened, but that was fine. There were things he wasn’t ready yet to share with her. He wanted to keep his two worlds separate for as long as possible.
At some point, Izu-ume looked outside and noticed how dark it had gotten. She turned to him with the smile she always had when she wanted to show him something new.
“Come with me,” she said as she took his hand and led him outside, “There’s something I’ve been wanting to show you and sky is clear enough for it tonight.”
He let her lead him with minimal protests to the roof of the apartment complex. It was decent, with a garden and enough space to hold a well-sized party. One of the first things he noticed were stars.
It had been so long since he took like to just gaze at the heavens. He couldn’t see as many as he would have in his past life due to light pollution, but it was still undeniably beautiful.
“Sit,” Izu-ume said, gesturing to the ledge she had already settled down on. Gyu-mara shoved down the worry of her falling and joined her. They sat in peaceful silence as they stargazed. He would have been fine spending the rest of the night, but then she spoke.
“Who are we, brother?”
He was taken aback. She was staring at the sky with a calm expression, but the waver in her voice made clear her confusion, her fear, her frustration.
“What exactly do you mean by that?” He replied, trying to get more information so he would know exactly what to say.
“I was Ume for thirteen years. Then, I lived as Daki for over a century while constantly changing my identity to blend in. After we died, I lived eleven years as Izuku. I forgot everything. I was so different. Now that I remember everything… I just don’t know!” She said with irritation. Tears were starting to spill from her eyes. I don’t want to go completely back to how I used to be as Daki or Ume. I’ve changed too much for that. Izuku is kinder. I think I want to keep that, but I don’t know… I don’t even know what name I should go by now!
She went quiet for a moment before beginning to speak again. “Well, maybe that last part was a lie. Would you… hate me if I said I want to stay mostly as Izuku?”
That hit him like a ton of bricks. He loved her, raised her, had been waiting for her for so long. How could his baby sister ever think he could hate her? Had he done something to make her think that? Did she not trust him anymore? Was she scared of hi-
Then, he saw her eyes. She was waiting for an answer. He could see have nervous she was. He needed to say something before either of them spiraled further. He had come this far. He was not going to lose her again.
“Of course not. I could never hate you,” he said, completely genuine with every word, “I don’t care what you want me to call you. All that matters is that we’re together now. I would never let something as stupid as a name keep us apart. If you feel you’re Izuku now, you’re Izuku. I’ll never call you Ume again if you don’t want me too.”
Izuku immediately threw him into a hug as tears streamed down her face. “Well… you can call me Ume sometimes when we’re alone. Thank you.”
He just held her and stroked her head as a soft smile crossed his face, “Any time. I’m just happy I found you again.”
“Do you have a preference for what I call you?” She asked him.
That made him pause. To be completely honest, he had avoided thinking about this for a while because of how much of a headache it was. That was why they both temporarily resorted to those stupid combined names. Did he care what she called him? He didn’t have a particular attachment to any of his names at the moment. Looking back, he didn’t feel like anything inside him had truly changed, even with their reincarnation.
Hadn’t it though?
“No,” He found himself saying, “You can call me whatever you want.”
With that settled, they were able to enjoy just looking at the stars
“It really was a good idea to come up here,” he told Izuku as she laid her head on his lap.
“See! I have a brain sometimes,” she said with a laugh before her voice became quieter. “I love you, brother.”
He couldn’t help but smile at that.
“I love you too, Izuku.”