A Mess of a Life (My Hero Academia)

Parental Failure

Shoto got on all fours, then raising to his hands and toes, and kicked off the floor, forcing his lower body up. He balanced perfectly, but panted because it was tiring. His legs weren't perfectly straight, but he wasn't faltering. He walked a few steps before dropping down the other way, having done a handstand flip.

Fuyumi and Natsuo clapped, watching his show of flexibility. He smiled at the physical praise. "I can do more flips in a row, but it hurts my toes to do that." He found that some places in his body hurt more than others. And his toes were sensitive. Well, not any more than they had been when he was a normal human.

It was just the rest of his body was more difficult to be painful, so his toes felt like a weakness, while it was just everything else had gotten stronger and tougher. "That's really cool. You did it yourself?"

"Yeah. At first I did it against the wall. I kept hitting my head though. But it's better now. I want to be able to go faster."

"I don't understand why, though. You're nine, you should be doing more fun stuff."

"I have to be good if I wanna be a hero!" Then he pursed his lips together. Thank god Endeavor wasn't there. Fuyumi and Natsuo were surprised. He wasn't training with Endeavor anymore, after all. The man had given up on Shoto months ago. He answered their questions before they asked. "I... want to be a good hero, like All Might. I met him, before. When I left that first time during the day? When I left at night and stayed out? I met him at the park.

"He's super nice! And then I asked him a question on his live stream. Don't tell Endeavor or he'd flip," Shoto said.

Fuyumi looked sad almost, a sympathetic smile on his face. "Will you be able to, Shoto? There are a lot of... difficulties for you."

"That's what I thought, too, but then he said I can be a hero anyways. I just gotta work on myself, y'know? I can't be a hero if I can't even be around blood without freakin' out! And I have lots of time to practice. But you can't tell dad or he'd start yelling or beating. He doesn't know I ever talked to All Might, and All Might doesn't know whose kid I am," Shoto explained openly.

"Well, if you're not like dad, I don't see why you can't be a good hero. I mean, you need sunscreen, but a hero costume could always be a full body suit, hiding the majority of your skin regardless," Natsuo said with approval. It made Shoto happy that at least he was on his side. "Besides, there has to be heroes who are vampires, right?" he asked both of them.

Shoto nodded. "But there aren't in any Japan right now. There have been, but not right now," he replied.

"Then what's the problem?" Natsuo asked their sister with a half shrug. She looked uneasy, but didn't have anything more to complain about. "Besides, by the time that choice even really matters, he'll be over the O negative frenzy stuff! He'd be, what, six years older than now?" Shoto was glad he had faith in him. "And now you have something to help you out." He gestured to his own neck, though neither of them was wearing it.

The bot put his socks back on. "You know, when I was tying the belt around my neck, dad got angry and thought I will killing myself," he said. "He got upset when I ask if he'd really care if I died." Fuyumi looked so sad. Natsuo looked unfazed, face blank.

"And what did you think?" Fuyumi asked quietly, tentatively.

Shoto shrugged and then answered, "I don't think he'd really care that much. He was upset about Touya for... a little bit. But now nobody talks about it, and I never saw him cry. We all cried. I didn't really get to know him much, but he was nice to me after it happened. So, you'd think his dad would cry, right?"