●~Not All There Anymore |REWRITTEN|~●

|6| (Bad) Karma

Izuku pulled away, wiping the tears from his face. He let off a weak laugh. "Sorry about that. Just kind of broke down." Kerosena shrugged.

"Not anything I haven't done, trauma boy." So the nickname wasn't going away. Oh well.

Izuku looked up as a crack of thunder boomed, the rain pouring down even louder and harder. The roof creaked.

Kerosena shifted. "Don't worry about it. This roof has held up for a long time." Izuku nodded.

They sat in silence for a while longer, content not to say any more. They'd already exchanged names, quirks, and of course trauma. There wasn't much else to be done.

"You mentioned you had a brother." Kerosena said. Okay, so there was still more to be said. Back to the trauma.

"Yeah. Biological son of my foster parents." Izuku shrugged. He hadn't really thought of what he would do about the Terekos. His mom was gone, that was a fact. Maybe he'd get another family, a more permanent foster home. Maybe a decent place would adopt him.

Maybe he'd decide 'fuck it' and become a delinquent living with Kerosena.

Kerosena nodded, adding a bit more kerosene to the fire. "I have - had, seven. They... all had good quirks. Good grades. Friends. Might try to contact them sooner or later."

Izuku thought about it. How weird would that be? Trying to contact your brothers after years, trying to explain that your parents left you to rot?

"I thought you were waiting until fifty to return to humanity," Izuku teased. Kerosena swatted at him.

She reached into a pocket in her cargo pants - girl clothes had pockets? - and pulled out a small package.

"Beef jerky," she said, ripping it open and taking a bite. Izuku nodded. Fair enough.

He shifted slightly at another crack of thunder, and a flash of pain rocketed through his chest. When he was a kid, Mom would always build a small fort in the living room during storms. She would make s'mores with unmelted marshmallows, and tell stories of All Might and various other heroes instead of ghost stories.

He'd never wanted to be wrapped in a fluffy blanket eating a s'more more than now.

Kerosena looked up at something, staring at the door. Izuku looked in the same directions, but didn't notice anything.

"What's wrong?"

Kerosena shrugged, eyes shifting warily. "Thought I heard something. Did ya happen to bring a stowaway?"

Izuku thought back. No, he came completely alone - fucking Ryuko goddamn Horikage. Izuku cursed internally. Did that idiot seriously follow him? He better not have.

Izuku turned to see Kerosena at a boarded up window, peeking through the wood. "Did you see anyone...?" Kerosena nodded, raising a very accusatory eyebrow at him. Izuku felt offended. "What do they look like."

Not even a question. Great. "Uh, tall. They've got something on their head. Looks like antlers. Super flimsy coat." Izuku cursed.

"Ryuko goddamn Horikage, I swear to All Might I will beat you into a pulp," he muttered. The dumbass.

Kerosena looked between Izuku and the window, making a connection. "Wait, that's your brother? Man, I wish mine did that shit."