Izuku grunted, his calf muscles tensing as he strained to lift the last, but heaviest, box out of the moving van. The temperature had shot up since that morning, the sun high in the sky with the arrival of the afternoon, casting oven-hot rays over his skin and saturating him in sweat.
“Nerd!” shouted an approaching Kacchan, equally as gross and sweaty. He’d taken his black tank-top off a while ago, the garment now spilling out of the back pocket he’d stuffed it into. He strode up to Izuku with long strides, and the sight of a shirtless Kacchan stalled him long enough he didn’t fight back when Kacchan lifted the heavy box from Izuku’s grasp.
“Wah— Hey! What are you doing?” Izuku questioned, reaching out to take it back.
“Carrying this for you because you don’t know how to relax! Take a break, workaholic!”
“That’s not fair, Kacchan! You’re more of a workaholic than I am. Let me take it.”
“But I’m a workaholic who knows how to take care of himself.”
Oof, Izuku couldn’t really fight that one. “Kacchan, I can do something this simple! Let me carry it.”
“Like hell!” And with that, Kacchan spun on his heels, marching back to the new house with the box held against his chest. Izuku pouted at the defeat, but ultimately just sighed and reached to close the back of the van.
It’d been a little over two months since the incident with his father. In that time, he’d gotten more comfortable living with Kacchan. It was hard, at first, getting over that instinctual fear when people came in for a random hug or when he made casual mistakes — dropping a dish, leaving laundry on the floor, forgetting to set his alarm. It was hard not having a job to go to; however burdensome it had been, it was something to do. It had become routine and leaving it behind left him wondering what to do with all the extra time. Kacchan helped him with that one, grouching at him to stop worrying about it and dragging him off to help cook, or watch a movie, or study, train, share kisses between intense rounds of Mario Kart.
The trial, too, had been hard. Everything had gone smoothly thanks to All Might, and the support of his friends and family empowered him enough to get through it. Nevertheless, walking into the courtroom, staring Hisashi in the face as he was called to the witness stand and confronting him with his story, confessing it to all those people — that had, perhaps, been the greatest test of will he’d ever been put through.
Things had been calmer after his testimony. For him, at least. Kacchan was brought to the stand as another witness, and the judge kept having to bark at him to sit back down and be civil. He’d been seething the whole time, as was everyone else there. He’d thought being surrounded by angry people, ready to strangle his father at any given moment, would be intimidating, but instead, he found himself comforted and safe.
YOU ARE READING
Halfway to the Moon
Fanfiction💛BAKUDEKU💛COMPLETE💛SLOWBURN💛SAD DEKU💛HAPPY ENDING💛 Izuku doesn't know how to handle being depressed, his middle school bullies, the rigorous training All Might has him on, and the burden his mother is under trying to provide for a kid all by h...
