Chapter Text
All Fuyumi ever wanted was a family.
It didn't matter if it wasn't as perfect as the ones she would see from the doors of the school.
A family where everyone would sit together on the dinner table, giggling, complaining, or even having conversations in whispers while filling their bellies with delicious food would have been enough to seal the sinkholes of her heart.
But she knew her mother might never come back again. She knew Natsuo would never speak around that man. She knew Shoto would only drift further into the distance. She knew, that in this reality, only she would be waiting for the table to be filled by this family.
But one day, on an unexpected night where she had been too lazy to cook, he knocked on the door.
In front of her was her father. The man, ever towering over her, had an unreadable expression on his face. He stood as still as a statue, unable or refusing to move, she still didn't know after years had passed.
It was the first time he had ever asked to eat dinner with her. He didn't say anything that day, choosing to silently nod to her attempts to have a conversation. She thought that it was for his own convenience that he had eaten with her.
And yet, she was surprised by the man outside her door the very next day. Subsequently, it became a daily occurrence.
Slowly, over weeks, those silent dinners established a fragile routine. It took a short time before he progressed from a simple nod to asking about her health, and soon her job, and then about her students. In a few months they had begun to talk like old acquaintances that barely knew about each other.
But it made her hopeful, more than ever she felt hopeful that she could finally have her family back.
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On her 21st birthday she was allowed to see her mother. Even though the woman's eyes were warm, her presence was as cold as her Quirk itself.
But her mother had thawed much quicker than she had expected. Natsuo and she became her frequent visitors, bringing gifts and stories that she would be able to smile about.
Fuyumi knew in that short span of time, a fleeting gleam of the future was only an achievable but distant light. She could also see the tight rope she was walking on. Between the better and worse, a single misstep could send her into the abyss.
She thought she had crossed that line when she accidentally mentioned Endeavor in front of her mother. She thought her mother would react like in the episodes she had when she was home. She didn't dare to look at her mother. She waited, for the quick breathing, the tears, the cries and the fear that seemed to radiate everything.
But none of that came. Her mother simply had asked how he was.
She has been careful since then. But she could see her mother growing more comfortable talking about Enji, even if it was only for a few minutes.
On the first of July, Fuyumi and Natsuo ended the night in a fight. In her sorrow, Fuyumi went to the only place where she could feel an ounce of comfort. The hospital with its slightly bitter antiseptic scent felt like solace.
In the arms of her mother, she didn't dare cry. But held onto the memories of her untainted childhood as her mother patted her hair.
Rei complimented that her hair felt like snow that day.
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When Natsuo turned 18 he moved to college dorms. Shoto mostly stayed in his room or anywhere besides the house, only eating at home when Endeavor was doing hero work or when she mentions cold soba.
The home felt empty instead of quiet. She went about her life like clockwork. School, lesson plans, grading, Mom, dinner, calls from Natsuo and Shoto, repeat, repeat, repeat.
An inescapable routine that offered her only silent moments in thoughts between the gaps.
She barely had any true friends. Even if she spoke regularly with her co-workers, it was obvious her bonds only reached the surface.
Fuyumi’s one best friend, Minori Kato, followed her dreams to America after their high school graduation. Initially they would speak almost everyday. Laughing and smiling through calls, promising to keep the friendship strong.
But people get busy. Fuyumi understood that. Minori has started to see success in her career. An incredible achievement of her hard work that Fuyumi is very proud of.
Minori also was very successful with her love life. Her friend had shown her photos of the man she was interested in during her 2nd year in the states.
Fuyumi couldn't help but feel a hint of sadness as she scrolled through the recent Instagram posts of her friend about the many dates she and her boyfriend of three years.
Of course she loved to have a partner. She also wanted to go on cute romantic dates, to receive beautiful flowers, to laugh and smile, to taste test her weird food experiments with that special someone.
She would day dream about the handsome man that would jump from the skies or fight the world for her like in her favorite soap operas.
But when she receives any confession, she would turn them down. They wouldn't stay if they knew who she truly was anyway.
The worst of the men she was with was the one who tried to use her. Dating the daughter of No.2 hero has its perks after all.
Only a fool like her would fall for it.
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When she turned 23, Shoto departed to UA.
Enji and Fuyumi began to form a closer relationship in the months of spring. Even if her attempts of helping Enji form a respectable relationship with her brother was futile.
As much as she wished her brother would hear out Enji, she knew Natsuo would never forgive his father.
And she was alright with it.
Sometimes she thought she was masking her own selfishness with kindness.
Shoto also would never forgive Endeavor.
She knew the only reason they sat in the same room as him at dinner was only for her. It was perhaps selfish to use that love for her dream.
But she could argue, wouldn't it be better. Only she would never explain to anyone for no particular reason.
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During a particularly hot summer day her Quirk proved to be less effective to chill the air around her. In an attempt to cool herself, she reached for the freezer for a little ice. To her fate, she found no ice. But the freezer remained filled with various flavors of ice cream.
She knew that only one man could have placed those in this house. That night she served a solid scope of the brought ice cream to the man who melted it with a simple touch.
Her co-workers had begun to compliment her cheerful mood in those days. It was the truth that the smile now painted on her face had a sparkle of genuine happiness.
She knew something had begun to change within that man. She was willing to forgive everything if it meant anything.
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Then on a normal evening when she had just packed her bag after her hours of the school, her coworker showed the fiery man along with the no.2 hero, Hawks, fighting a creature that could only be described as a demon.
Her heart dropped lower as each second passed with her eyes glued on the small screen. Soon, she was reunited with Natsuo in a cab.
She had never seen her father fight. Even when glimpses passed by on the news, she didn't care about that area of his life. She wondered if he had ever struggled like the man on the screen that moment.
Black and long arms pierced into his head. He was dead, fuyumi thought. She covered her mouth to silence the gasp. It was over, she had thought.
Endeavor only burned brighter. But only for a second. The man had sustained deathly injuries enough to put out his flames.
“... you can't be like Allmight. So why don't you give up and run away ?” Natsuo had asked.
She knew it wasn't to her but in her mind he had never given up trying to surpass Allmight.
For the majority of her life, she had seen only the prideful, violent, ambitious hero Endeavor behind the doors and thin walls.
She wondered if it was his last moments, would he have thought about them. She wondered if he truly regrets his life in his last moments.
But he only burned brighter and higher. He flew above like a star and ended the fight as a dying sun.
Falling as a ball of flame, for a moment, she had thought Endeavor had finally burned too much. But no, her gut was right. He was as stubborn as magma. His dream to surpass Allmight never stopped burning.
It was the most heroic light she had ever seen on him.
A part of her hated that.
Natsuo left as soon as the broadcast moved on to interview the civilians. She didn't bother to ask if he wanted to come to visit their father, she knew the answer. She felt too heavy to ask anyway.
She decided to continue watching the news on her way where Endeavor was supposedly transferred after his surgery.
Civilians old and young praised the hero in tears. A particular pink haired boy spoke about how that event proved that Endeavor was worthy as the next symbol of peace. The crowds applauded, more and more praise about that man filled her ears.
She didn't realize why at that moment it made her sick.
Endeavor had finally reached his dream.
At the cost of everything else.
Touya. Mom. Shoto had it the worst. She and Natsuo were broken enough by his silence. Would Endeavor finally have enough of his happy dream?
Would that man revert into the same hero chasing the tails of the next big hero?
She cried at the thought, her father was finally beginning to correct his path to the person she hoped he truly was. She was afraid, so very afraid.
She turned away from the hospital that day.
But she was weak. She was too weak to let go of her anger, too strong to still hold on to her own dream.
So the next day, she went back. She followed the doctor who briefly explained the health status of the hero. All she understood was that he would live fine with a bad scar on the face. Ironic.
She went to his side. Softly announcing her presence as she placed a bag of fruit she brought.
Enji, who lay painfully bandaged on the bed, held her hands and asked if she was well. He didn't touch her hand, only hovered over it. But even the radiant heat felt so warm, so substantial, that for a moment she thought the air itself had been replaced by his skin.
The following words rang her ears for many nights.
“Fuyumi, I want to say, I do not deserve your forgiveness and I will not ask for it.”
“Yesterday I had truly burned my past self. And I wish to repent for my mistakes.”
“Thank you for everything, Fuyumi.”
On that hospital bed, she found a new man. No, it wasn't a new man. But a mixture of the old and ugly and something that had just begun to rise from the ashes.
She stayed the night despite the weak protest from her father. But a smile never left her face.
Fuyumi thought about how it was the beginning of that old man again. The man who used to hold his children and wife before his overwhelming obsession.
The father who used to look after the burns of his first child. The father who used to sneak her small scoops of ice cream before dinner with a deadpan face. The father who used to love his children very dearly.
Even in the ocean of uncertainty that drowned her before, she could now finally float, holding onto hope that she won't let go.