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Yu had had just about enough of these hooligans. Damned fools, messing with his weather like that!
They helped around the island, sure, and that whole deal years back with the ruffians had been a mess, no doubt of that. He'd heard tell from some of the fishermen that the little lad in green had something to do with stopping it, and to be sure Yu was grateful his fields weren't too badly damaged.
But this was quite enough! His left pinky ached, a sign that things were changing too quickly for his quirk to keep up. Yu had rarely felt that ache before they started coming. At least not since his youth, and he could hardly remember those days now.
A pinch in his right big toe. Wet. Probably a good soaking, and they could use it, sure.
Before he could get a good read on it, Yu felt his quirk change again. Right elbow creaking, windy then and adding a little prickle on the back of his neck meant a typhoon.
That can't be right. Bah!
Yu had survived typhoons before, and he knew there weren't any coming. The heroes weren't that powerful, sure. But the kids did mess with his quirk and no mistake!
He'd have grumbled, if there was anyone to listen. Now Yu spoke to the winds and the fields, the trees and the butterflies and the worms. They were his friends and he the keeper of the land, for such as his time lasted.
The girl Mahoro had helped him, and then her brother Katsuma. Hard workers both, but they had ideas about moving to the mainland, and Yu didn't truck with such things. He'd been to the mainland, sure, once or twice. He'd itched to return to his island the entire time. His island had missed him, and he it.
Now there was no one to help, no one to tend his lands after he was gone. His wife had preceded him in her journey on, and they'd never had any children of their own. His children were the fruit and the grain he tended and harvested each year, the meat and the cheese and the milk and the nuts that all came from nature. He was the man who did the toiling under the sun and the moon, the man who lay awake with a sick foal and nursed it, the man who climbed the ladder to patch the roof and stooped to fix the fence.
And now these heroes were throwing off what his quirk had told him every day of his life: the weather forecast.
Warmth on his shoulders: bright sun. It was pleasant, for about 30 seconds. Then a faint pressure on his lower back replaced it, signaling fog. Fog!? Rubbish.
Yu started up his old truck, the same one he'd been driving since it was new 47 years ago. A wedding present from his wife’s family. Her picture was tacked to the sun visor, a constant reminder to be thankful for the life they had been granted together.
It started with a smooth rumble, ticking over as it had almost every morning of those intervening years. Today, the drive was different.
Instead of his usual path along to the south field and then across the small wooden bridge to the east, making his rounds, Yu drove down the hill. The road was dirt and clay, reasonably well maintained. His trips down to the harbor to get fish and supplies had become a little more frequent since he'd become a widower. He liked watching the local band play at the tavern. They played nice traditional music that reminded him of the old days, sure.
He trundled over northwards, taking a turn to the coast that he'd rarely used. There was a large open flat plain here, owned by nobody but the island itself, and it was the site of communal events that were too large to fit in the town square.
For the last week, the area had hosted some mainland heroes here for "training". He'd not been listening too closely when the names of these exalted visitors were uttered with excited voices at the tavern. Perhaps he should have.
As he arrived at the gravel lot, he saw a few tents set up on a camping site and a couple of people relaxing at the picnic table. Two young ladies in colorful outfits were setting out a table while the two heroes he did know were carrying supplies over.
Rocketti and Tentacole had been heroes in residence for 8 months following their marriage, and had been pretty good ones, sure. After the Incident, the islanders petitioned to have multiple heroes on hand and sure, it was good to have them nearby. It was a year-long posting these days, usually filled by a young couple who wanted to travel together before they settled down.
Tentacole had helped him repair a busted fence, and seemed a fine young lad. He'd heard Rocketti was boisterous, a little Rock'N'Roll, and very American. Some things can't be helped, sure.
Shouto awoke, startling awake in an unfamiliar place. He jerked upwards, trying to raise his right hand, only to find it was tangled in his bedding. Not his normal bedding, not his bed… right.
He was camping.
On Nabu Island, with… he looked down to his left, seeing long dark hair poking out of the sleeping bag. Two bags, zipped together, he now remembered. It looked black in the dark, but it was actually a dark green. The person sleeping with him was cuddled up to his warm left side, her arms embracing him tightly. She stirred, one eye opening slightly.
"Shouto?" It was a whisper that seemed much louder in the quiet of the dawn.
He had his breathing under control now, the result of long exercises. She'd let go of him now, raising up on an elbow, revealing a hint of a shoulder. He stared at her, barely able to see. Visions of his brother danced in his vision, fading away as he blinked.
"I'm sorry I disturbed you." It was all he could think to say.
She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He accepted it, still amazed at his good fortune. He rebooted enough to give her a peck in return.
"Let's get up, kero. I think you'll feel better outside." She paused, throwing on a tank top and shorts over the dark green bra and panties she'd slept in as he watched in silence, eyes tracking her every confident movement. He always admired how self-assured she was on the mornings when they woke together.
As Tsu unzipped the opening to their tent, she looked over her shoulder and added, "Whenever you're ready, I'll be waiting." She smiled and stepped out, leaving the flap half-open.
The faint light was now able to illuminate the inside of their tent. A small pack in the corner with toiletries, changes of clothes, a solar powered light, radio, their phones and a few odds and ends.
Their sleeping bags, zipped together for maximum comfort.
Hero costumes folded neatly. Froppy's and his own, side by side. He smiled at the imagery.
Shouto realized his girlfriend was right. He needed to get moving.
As he rose, he saw Tsu had already finished with the bathroom and Uraraka was heading in. Midoriya was also just now getting up, and he nodded to Shouto as he stretched. Shouto followed suit, realizing now how hungry he was. Luckily, he could get their tea warm in no time.
Later, as they had all had a chance to get cleaned up and warmed up, Shouto and Midoriya took the first spar of the day. A simple series of 90 second sequences, simple body strikes and blocks. Each felt good, and Shouto felt more awake with each cadence as his body came alive. They had a chance to relax, spend time with their significant others, and watch the spectacular sunsets or stroll a welcoming beach as they pleased.
Shouto kept himself cool, and Midoriya had barely broken a sweat when their warm-ups had ended. The ladies took their turn next, and afterwards the four would then walk down to the little Agency HQ that doubled as the Hero House, where each new hero team would live during their year at Nabu Island. Mezo and Pony had painted it a vibrant shade of yellow and re-done the roof, and were in the process of laying a new garden path.
It was a pleasant morning on the island once the sun broke through the cloud cover, their second day of a planned six. They had already said hello to some old acquaintances and had a large dinner with the Shoji family. Pony had grilled American style for them, something Midoriya and Uraraka had become familiar with thanks to All Might, but it was new to Shouto.
Yu found the four interlopers and two heroes-in-residence very welcoming, and he couldn't oppose such friendly hospitality. He even offered to drive back up and grab some drinks from his house, an offer which was politely refused, sure, but in a very respectable way.
As they shared their spread with him, Yu found himself smiling. It was good to see young people enjoying themselves, sure. And he did recognize the lad in green and black, it was Katsuma's old friend. Dekiru or something like that. He never could keep all those silly names straight. Now that he comes to think of it, the others were around back then too. Maybe. His memory wasn’t what it used to be.
After he'd sat down with a sigh, young Tentacole had asked, "What brings you this way, sir? I do hope we were not making a ruckus."
Yu swallowed his rice and grunted. "Well now, that is the matter, I suppose. I came down because your… practicing, training, is affecting my quirk. Going haywire all morning, it was, and no mistake. I'd just come on down to ask that y'all find a way to not mess with the weather too much, sure."
The green one perked up. He started trying to bow so quickly that his head was a blur, unleashing rapid-fire apologies. The man with the red and white hair stood, bowed politely, and offered sincere apologies in a formal language that Yu had only heard as a boy.
He accepted their apologies, and was asked what his quirk was, and how they could be affecting it. "Simple: I can tell the weather. Young Rocketti here knows, I told her it was going to rain the day she started painting and sure, sky was blue as the finest silk and all of a sudden, whoosh! Ocean winds aren't fond of staying the same 'round here, it's always something new. So I can tell the weather over this little island, sure, and I let folks know when it's going to rain or shine."
A young lady with green hair spoke up. "So when they let off 100% Air Force and Heaven Piercing Ice Wall level attacks, it changes the wind currents, kero. Makes sense. But we haven't been using our quirks this morning, sir."
Hmm. "Well, my quirk is certainly going haywire, sure. Right now I feel like a northern wind is coming, and in a few moments it will be something else."
Shouto nodded. "A conundrum. Has this ever happened before?"
Yu nodded. "Once. When there was the hullabaloo some years back, the time all y'all were here before. That crazy storm, you remember, sure."
They did. Izuku shivered a moment at the memory of facing Nine, transferring OFA momentarily and the pain it had caused him, the relief at it still being part of him. Ochako hadn't known about that until a few years later, and she had realized once more just how close they had all come to disaster.
At once, the answer struck him.
“Anyone heard from Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight lately?”
“He and Earphone Jack did mention they wanted to come honeymoon here, kero. But that wasn’t supposed to be until next month.”
Deku facepalmed. “Unless they eloped.” Bakugo had mentioned it as a half-joke, but Jirou seemed interested in the idea.
All of the heroes looked to the sky, where they heard the faint buzz of a helicopter approaching.
Tsu turned to her boyfriend and said in her best deadpan, “Looks like the peace and quiet is over for the next week. I have an idea on how to entertain ourselves, though.”
She tugged Shouto down and whispered in his ear. His left side flared up and his cheeks both turned red.
Uraraka, who had a very good guess at what might elicit such a reaction in her repressed colleague, walked by with her own fiancé in tow and high-fived Tsu as they passed. “Yeah, I think we’ve got the same idea, Tsu. You take yours to the mountain resort and I’ll take mine to the beach house?”
Izuku looked at Shouto as he was dragged along, his other arm windmilling. “Shouto? Should I be worried? Shouto!?”
Shouto considered this. He finally decided it might be better if his friend was surprised.
“Only if you haven’t stretched lately.”
Yu slept fitfully that night, and when he called in his normal morning forecast (for all the good it did) he mentioned to young Meru about needing some earplugs if the young folk were going to keep making that kind of racket all night. All four corners of the island were bouncing like it was an earthquake, and his quirk was still giving him fits.
He found a set of noise-cancelling headphones on his front porch that night as he returned from his fields, with a note apologizing for the disturbances. It was signed by 8 different heroes. The thought that it might be valuable online never entered his mind as he tossed the note on his kitchen counter.
Bah. Young people these days.