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Sitting at the desk of her classroom, Fuyumi shuffled through the papers scattered in front of her. As she ran her fingers through her bangs, her glasses started to slide back down the bridge of her nose. With a sigh, she gathered the cutouts of police officer hats her students had glued together based on the craft templates she had made.
A smile flashed across her face as she held up one of the hats. Slightly lopsided. Glue applied a little thin. Edges coming a bit undone. Too much glitter along the edge. But it was perfect. Once she set the hat down, her fingers inched toward the landline-style phone at the edge of her desk. Yet as soon as her fingertips approached the dial, she pulled away. Her stomach churned at the thought of punching in the number. She didn’t have it in her to call the fire department as an alternate option just yet.
Letting out a groan, she let her head bump against the edge of her desk. What a mess. How was she supposed to break it to the kids that the original visit plan had gone completely off track? Sure, it could be some sort of teachable moment about scaling your expectations and how you can’t get everything you want. Still, an ache shot through Fuyumi’s chest at the thought of tears brimming in the corners of her students’ eyes.
The clomping of combat boots against linoleum tethered Fuyumi back to reality. Her head whipped around to the doorframe of her classroom as Touya leaned against it. His white hair shone starkly beneath the fluorescent lights. The edge of a phoenix tattoo peeked out from one of his sleeves as he spun car keys around his fingers.
Fuyumi’s gaze drifted toward the clock hanging above the doorway. Huh. Time flew. At least seemingly had the sense to actually bring the car instead of his try-hard motorcycle.
“What’s got your panties in a twist?” Touya asked.
“The visit from the police department got cancelled.”
Touya shrugged. “Eh, the cops are overrated anyways.”
Holding up one of the craft police hats, Fuyumi stared daggers at Touya. “This was going to be important, Touya. The kids were going to get a PSA about kidnapping.”
“Well, you could always reach out to that rabbit girl you thought was hot?”
Heat rushed to her face despite her best to temper it with her ice quirk as Fuyumi evaded Touya’s gaze. She started to fidget with the beads of her necklace in hopes that the sound would be just loud enough to drown out the thumping in her chest. Slowly, she reached for the framed photo at the edge of her desk. A picture of her, Miruko and the entire class beaming for the camera right in front of Fuyumi’s desk. She flipped the photo downward lest Touya catch even the slightest glimpse of it.
“What? I never said I thought she was hot.”
“You didn’t have to. It’s so fucking obvious.’
Fuyumi pouted. She was absolutely not going to humor that comment. Best to at least try and uphold at least some semblance of professionalism. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to take away from her busy schedule.”
“Isn’t she independent instead of having some crappy agency? I’m sure her schedule is flexible enough.”
“She’s still a top ten hero.”
“So what?” Touya said. “If she can make time for those shitty hero galas, I’m sure she can make time for you.”
“And if she says no?”
Touya tossed his keys in the air and then caught them. “Then that bunny isn’t fucking worth it.”
“I don’t have it in me to ask her to take time out of her schedule to visit my class again let alone a date.”
“Is there nothing that’ll make you okay with her making time for you?”
“Nope,” Fuyumi said.
“How about if it is some shit that doesn’t take away time out of her hero work?” Touya leaned against Fuyumi’s desk while flashing a smug grin. “Like if you got mugged.”
“Yes, or kidnapped or whatnot. But that isn’t going to happen.”
With a frown, Fuyumi swatted Touya away from her desk. He was way too close to the framed photo featuring Usagiyama for her comfort.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Touya said.
“Are you wishing a kidnapping upon me?”
“I’m wishing that my sister wasn’t such a fucking disaster whenever she has a crush.”
Standing up, Fuyumi glared at Touya and slipped on her winter coat. Why was he getting up all in her business? Didn’t he have something better to do like bothering Dad or heading to a tattoo appointment? Why did her love life or lack thereof even concern him in the slightest?
“Go home, Touya. I’d rather take the train home if you’re going to be an asshole,” Fuyumi said.
“Suit yourself.”
Holding her chin high, Fuyumi brushed past Touya without a second glance. He truly was the bane of her existence – her other brothers weren’t even in the running when it came to who was the most pesky sibling. If it weren’t for the fact that Touya was the older brother, Fuyumi could have sworn that he’d been born specifically to annoy her. If you annoy the whole quirk marriage thing that is. Which is definitely totally not important since the Todorokis are a normal family that is completely well-adjusted with no issues whatsoever.
Fuyumi gritted her teeth as she wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and made a beeline for the hallway. Even several meters from the door, any icy draft blew her way. Pressing her lips together, Fuyumi braced for the cold. Maybe tomorrow everything would be okay. She could try calling a different police station during business hours and a new visit would fall into place. There was absolutely no need to call Usagiyama and inconvenience her no matter how Touya insisted on it.
Blinking her eyes open, Fuyumi groggily glanced around her new surroundings. Fluorescent lights shone overhead. Framed sketches hung along black walls. Squinting, Fuyumi could not clearly make out the drawings. But after staring for long enough she thought she could spot the outlines of vibrant blue flames – although it was more guesswork than actually seeing the sketches properly.
A figure in a dark trench coat emerged from the shadows. As the silhouette approached Fuyumi, she could just barely make out her silver glasses frame shining in the figure’s palm. While the figure reached out to slide the glasses onto Fuyumi’s face, she squirmed on the cushioned bench-like table she found herself restrained to. The zip ties binding her to the chair pressed into the wrists as she attempted to inch away. There was no way she’d give her kidnapper the satisfaction of her succumbing to their will even if it meant she wouldn’t be able to see properly.
Yet, eventually the figure was able to slide the glasses onto her nose bridge in spite of Fuyumi’s best attempts to kick her kidnapper in the shins. As her surroundings grew clearer, she was able to properly make out the tattoo bench she was bound to as well as distinguish the blue Rindou flowers framed as some sketches on the wall.
And right in front of Fuyumi bright blue eyes stared back at her. Jaw agape, Fuyumi stared at her brother while he proceeded to roll up the sleeves of his trench coat which had a good masking most of his face. Blue flame tattoos ran up his forearms and palms to cover up old burn scars. Random staples were scattered across the jacket fabric – Fuyumi was fairly certain the staples were purely aesthetic and served no functional purpose.
Leaning as far forward as she could on the tattoo bench, Fuyumi sent her kidnapper a death glare. “Touya?! Did you use chloroform on me? What are you doing?”
Touya just shrugged and proceeded to pull Fuyumi’s phone out of her pocket. As he started typing on it Fuyumi wished that she hadn’t just copied her brother's pin code when she had run out of ideas back when she was setting up a new phone.
“What does it look like? Kidnapping you. Duh.”
“Why would you do that?”
“To help you get that rabbit girl’s attention obviously.” Touya gestured toward Fuyumi’s phone. “Who did you think I was texting on your phone?”
Fuyumi went as pale as a ghost before she managed to collect herself enough to send Touya a death stare piercing enough to send enough to even send villains running. Why did Touya think that calling Usagiyama was a good idea? Had his quirk managed to fry his brain enough that he couldn’t think logically anymore? Not that Touya had ever really been able to do well at thinking logically. Touya wasn’t exactly the brightest crayon in the crayon box according to Fuyumi’s judgement as his sister.
“There’s a difference between good attention and bad attention. Did you think this was the kind of attention I wanted? Do I even seem like I want attention?”
“It’s not my fault you were too chicken to ask her out in a normal way.”
“I would have gotten around to it. Eventually,” Fuyumi said.
Rolling his eyes, Touya crossed his arms. “Yeah right.”
Beneath the flickering lights, Fuyumi caught a wisp of hair peeking out from beneath Touya’s hood. It was no longer the shade of freshly fallen snow. Instead it far more closely resembled the coals that flames would dance upon. With her arms still bound to the tattoo bench, Fuyumi nodded in Touya’s direction.
“Also, did you dye your hair?”
“I had to commit to the bit.” Touya’s staples flickered as he grinned at Fuyumi. “I even came up with a villain name.”
Fuyumi sighed. Of course it was like Touya to be as dramatic as possible. Back in high school, she’d kept encouraging him to join the theatre club but no – apparently he was “too good for that lot”. And look where repressing his inner theatre kid for all that time got him? Kidnapping his own sister just for the hell of it was a little much even for Touya.
“It better not be something emo,” Fuyumi said.
“It’s Dabi.”
“Of course it is. I see you never grew out of your Hot Topic phase. That’s why I’m relieved I teach elementary schoolers. I don’t need to deal with preteens or teenagers who act like you did at that age.”
“So this is the thanks I get for being a good brother. Maybe I really should become a villain because that’s the easiest way to disown you as a sister.”
“Oh please. You’d make a terrible villain.”
“First it’s Dad being all like you can’t be a hero and now you’re giving me shit about villainy.” Touya raised his arms in defeat. Arms with old faded scar tissue from back when he used to train his quirk. “I can’t catch a fucking break.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Touya.” Fuyumi nodded toward the tattoo designs plastered across the walls. “You have a perfectly good civilian job and don’t need to be a hero or a villain.”
“Shut up –”
Before Touya could complete whatever retort he was cooking up, the sound of glass shattering reverberated throughout the studio. Loud thumping footsteps echoed until a foot collided with the wall of the tattooing room. Bricks came crumbling down as the wallpaper tore and sketches came tumbling to the floor.
In a blink-and-you’ll-miss it moment, a blur clad in a white and purple costume went soaring across the room. A foot hit Touya in the head, sending him colliding onto the floor. His eyelids remained firmly shut yet his breathing remained steady. He limply attempted to raise an arm but it fell back onto the rubble scattered across the floor.
Usagiyama’s ears twitched as she looked at Touya’s collapsed form before turning around and hurrying to Fuyumi’s side. Without a moment’s hesitation, she ripped the zip-ties from Fuyumi’s wrists. Her brows furrowed as she reached to grip Fuyumi by both shoulders.
“Todoroki, are you, okay?!”
Praying that her face wasn’t flushing, Fuyumi evaded direct eye contact. She tried her best to keep the fluttering in her stomach at bay over how Usagiyama was holding her shoulders. “Yes, I’m fine, Usagiyama. So sorry to waste your time.”
“You’re not wasting my time. You were kidnapped for crying out loud!”
“Umm… so about that.”
Suddenly, rustling sounded from behind Usagiyama. Standing with bits of rubble in his newly dyed hair, Touya raised a hand crackling with what surely was about to be a flame regardless of Dad’s lecturing over how he shouldn’t be using his quirk. Stepping closer to Usagiyama, Touya cackled.
“Oh, you’re going to get cremated for this!”
Not missing a beat, Usagiyama punched him in the side and sent Touya flying onto the floor again. This time his eyelids remained firmly shut. Knocked out cold but still breathing steadily.
“Damn, he doesn’t give up does he?” Usagiyama said.
“So that’s my brother Touya.” Fuyumi took a deep breath. Best to just get the truth over with. “He thought that by kidnapping me he’d get your attention. And I absolutely did not approve of this idea by the way – I’m so sorry that I took up so much of your time.”
“It’s okay, Todoroki. None of my time is wasted if it’s with you.”
Usagiyama marched over to plop herself right beside Fuyumi on the tattoo bench. “Although if you wanted to get my attention you could have just texted and asked me out.”
Fuyumi’s eyes went as wide as saucers. As she mind tried to weave Usagiyama’s words together, she couldn’t help but wonder if her thoughts were still fuzzy from the chloroform. Had her ears been deceiving her? After all, there was no way that a pro hero like Usagiyama could actually be interested in a plain old schoolteacher like Fuyumi.
Then again, the fond gaze that lingered on Fuyumi was as impossible to miss as when students in Fuyumi’s class passed each other love notes in the most obvious way possible.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally managed to muster some sort of response. “That’s what Touya was implying too I think.”
“Eh, then I guess he isn’t a completely horrible wingman,” Usagiyama said. “Better than Hawks when he ‘mysteriously got sick’ before his scheduled visit to your school after he saw the two of us talking at that gala.”
Images flashed through Fuyumi’s mind. Of how Usagiyama had shown up behind the doorframe of Fuyumi’s classroom instead of Hawks. Of how the kids had cheered whenever Usagiyama flexed her muscles or mentioned taking down villains. Of how Usagiyama told her that ice-quirk or not she’d never seen a smile as warm as Fuyumi’s.
Of course that entire encounter had to be the result of match-making.
Glancing at her brother’s now snoring form on the floor, Fuyumi shook her head. From the looks of it when it came to annoying wannabe matchmakers, birds of a feather flocked together. With an eyeroll at Touya, Fuyumi suppressed a smile.
“Those two are kind of insufferable, huh?”
“They deserve each other,” Usagiyama said.
“Maybe if we tried to set them up with each other they’d get a taste of their own medicine.”
“Yeah, that’d be pretty great.” Grinning, Usagiyama placed both hands on her hips. “But enough of our terrible wingmen. Are you going to ask me out or what, Todoroki?”
Blushing, Fuyumi smiled softly. As insufferable as Touya was, it was probably for the best if she didn’t let his misguided matchmaking in the form of kidnapping go to waste. “Will you go out with me, Usagiyama?”
Usagiyama beamed back at her. “Of course. I thought you’d never ask.”
While Usagiyama nuzzled against her, Fuyumi glanced at her brother sprawled across the floor. Maybe she wouldn’t tell him his hair-brained plan had worked. Yet as she leaned against Usagiyama’s shoulder she couldn’t help but notice that Touya’s snoring had gotten conspicuously louder.