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Sometimes Fuyumi can’t help but feel like their family wasn’t always this messed up.
In the deepest of her childhood memories she remembers a family that exuded a warmth that had nothing to do with the fire running through her uncle’s veins.
Mother had gone to the hospital to have Natsuo and she and Touya had gone to stay with their Aunt and Uncle until such time that Mother felt strong enough to be a mother of three once more.
Ojisan had been all wide beaming smiles, ruffling her and Touya’s hair, tossing them up high and catching them again in his big strong arms.
Obasan had been much the same, warm smiles and freshly baked cookies and cozy blankets and the tight squeezey hugs.
And a warm family dinner every single night filled with as many ‘how was your day?’s and ‘did you learn anything new in school today?’s that she could possibly want.
Maybe all along Fuyumi even now is still chasing that long lost warmth, trying and failing to fit her current round peg of a family into the square hole from back then.
Father never smiles at them like his brother did and Fuyumi is simply foolish to wish that he would.
But when Ojisan had brought them home, he and father had gotten into an argument about something, she’d never to this day ever got the specifics.
By the time Shouto was born Fuyumi had been deemed old enough to watch over Natsuo as Ojisan had apparently moved away.
It’s not till many years later that Fuyumi would meet him again.
Todoroki family reunions aren't something that happens often anymore.
Fuyumi vaguely remembers missing one as a teenager due her father opting not to take them when she wasn't able to leave the house without permission. She'd raged about it for days, threatening her Father's tyrannical rule over the household, but she never did get her way.
Nowadays, she doesn't even really remember what Ojisan and Obasan look like. She can only remember the vague memory of warmth which always radiated from their household.
Throughout her later teens and early adulthood, though, it simply wasn't something she had mind to consider. She was busy enough just trying to keep herself afloat while trying to break free from Father's control over herself and her finances.
School to become a teacher was expensive and lengthy without help, not to mention the work and studying she had to put in just to make it in and keep up with her studies.
She is passionate about being a teacher, though. It would allow her to help children the way she'd never been helped as a kid.
Her life of relative isolation came to an end with a single piece of mail arriving to her apartment.
She glances down at it from her place at her kitchen countertop, trying to discern the letter's origin.
There, in the fancy handwriting which didn't belong to a single person she could remember, sat her name in blue cursive. The outside of the envelope was otherwise plain and unfeeling.
She opens it up with the edge of her pointer nail, sliding out the carefully pressed letter.
You're cordially invited to the 22XX Todoroki Family Gathering
To be held at 429 E Hero St., Okinawa on July 31
Attire is semi-formal. Food will be provided.
Partners and plus ones are welcome.
For the longest time she simply stares at it, unable to believe that it’s truly there.
Her very own name, with her very own address, on her very own invitation that no one, not even father, can dare to take away.
Slowly she lifts it up and cradles it to her chest. Ojisan had moved away, she knows that. But some small part of her simply can’t help but hope.
And then suddenly it hits her and she’s scrambling for her phone.
If she had at long last received her very own invite now that she has her own mailing address, then maybe Shouto too has gotten one now that he’s living full time at UA.
“The reunion?” Shouto echoes, once he’s finally answered the phone. Wherever he is, it’s noisy and chaotic but he doesn’t seem to mind because he doesn’t leave the room. “I didn’t get my own invite no.”
“Oh that’s a shame,” Fuyumi sighs, absently letting her hair down so she can aimlessly braid the ends as a fidget. “Would you want to go though? Mine’s got a plus one on it, I could come pick you up?”
“Thanks but I’m going with Izuku. His mother is taking us for clothes on Sunday and if I’m not there he’ll probably pick something the girls claim is embarrassing and they’ve already threatened to never let him leave the dorms looking like that ever again.”
Fuyumi blinks and removes her phone from hair to study it like it’s the phone's fault she heard wrong. “Sorry? You said you’re going with Midoriya?”
“Of course, it only makes sense to carpool. My name is already on the list under Endeavor's household so it doesn’t really matter if I bring the invite with or not. Worst case Izuku will just lie and claim me as his plus one, it’s fine.”
A loud voice suddenly sounds through Shouto’s end of the call. “Todoroki you’re up!”
“One minute please,” Shouto calls back before returning his attention to her. “It’s my turn on the Mariocart. Wish me luck.”
And before Fuyumi can say anything else the beep-beep-beep of a call ended rings through her ear.
She has. So many questions.
She knew Shouto had obtained a few friends while he was at school, but the way he was talking it seemed like Midoriya was invited regardless?
She couldn’t remember any Midoriyas in their family tree, but it had also been so long that she wouldn’t be surprised if they were very distant relatives. Even as an adult, she’s still able to vaguely remember attending a large family gathering whilst living with Obasan and Ojisan. If this family gathering was to be as large as the vague one in her memories, it was possible that she hadn’t even met that side of the family previously.
Regardless, though, she needs to find an appropriate outfit and cancel any conflicting plans that she already had with her coworkers.
For as much as she disliked her father, she really did want to see the rest of her family.
If only Touya were also here to come with her-
She brushes the thought away quickly.
There is no use dwelling on the past when she still has a future to attend to.
She sends off a quick text to Natsuo, ensuring that he got his own invite and is going, before sending off a separate text to Shouto to ask what he was planning to wear.
Even if they were divided by the years and their father’s “love”, the least they could do was seem cohesive and matching as siblings.
Thankfully, Shouto is planning to wear a grey suit (as that was what Midoriya told him) and she had a relatively plain formal grey dress to match.
Logistics all taken care of, Fuyumi is now fully free to look forward to the reunion ahead.
And that’s exactly what she does.
The days seem to almost fly by, and in what feels like no time at all it’s suddenly the night of the reunion with Fuyumi is as semi-formally attired as she can be.
Her hair has been straightened into a neat high pony, tied off with a grey bow to perfectly match her dress. She’d opted for her white clutch and heels as well to compliment her hair. (And if they happen to also be her most comfortable pair of shoes, well, that’s between her and her closet.)
She stands off to one side now outside the beautifully lit up building and waits for Natsuo and Shouto to arrive.
Sue her but she hasn’t been to one of these things in so long and her building excitement aside, she’s also way too nervous to go in there without a security blanket family member to hang out with.
Shouto should be arriving any minute now with Midoriya, which is still something Fuyumi can’t fully wrap her head around. Still the more she thinks about it, it kind of makes sense in a weird sort of way. Midoriya might not have a fire quirk or anything else that outwardly ties him to the Todorokis but he still radiates warmth with the same kind of beaming smile that Fuyumi has always associated with Ojisan.
Just the thought of Ojisan has a flare of cautious excitement bursting in Fuyumi's stomach.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see Ojisan and Obasan again after all these years? They probably won’t recognize her anymore but even so. She doesn’t mind breaking the ice and introducing herself if it means she can maybe possibly get her hands on one of those wonderful squeezy hugs again.
From her left, she hears a low voice that sounds like Shouto so she turns quickly.
Indeed, her brother is there next to Midoriya, the pair chittering excitedly.
The pair light up at the sight of her. “Fuyumi!” Shouto yells, giving her a hug. It’d been a while since they’d seen each other given that he didn’t get out of the dorms very often.
She returns the hug quickly, glancing behind Midoriya for his mother.
Midoriya catches her eye, explaining quickly, “My parents are just parking the car. They’ll meet us inside.”
She nods and glances to her right, searching for Natsuo.
He eventually comes into sight from behind a large planter, joining their little group with a ruffle to Shouto’s hair.
They start to head inside but barely make it halfway up the front steps before a voice is calling out to them. “Wait!”
Midoriya turns back first with a jubilant shout of, “Dad!”
And then he leaps off the steps into the arms of his father who catches him in his big strong arms and—
Oh.
Midoriya’s father looks up at them.
Fuyumi’s breath catches in her throat.
It’s no wonder Midoriya’s smile felt so familiar, no wonder Shouto is drawn to him the way Fuyumi was always drawn to her aunt and uncle.
“Yumi-chan” Midoriya Hisashi nee Todoroki beams, his wide beaming smile exactly the same as she’d remembered it. “Wow you got so big!”
Fuyumi is descending the steps and falling into Ojisan and Obasan’s arms before she even fully decides to.
The tight squeezy hug is everything she’d been dreaming of and more.
Natsuo’s jaw drops. “Say what?”