family // bnha

fifty-two

Was it hypocritical to think such a thing? Of course, Eli knew this, which was why she did nothing but encourage them. 

She watched them as they grew on the training mat, watched how they laughed with one another, how they all shined when they talked about wanting to be heroes. 

Eli didn't want to take that away from them. 

She remembered when she first began teaching self-defense, then eventually combat itself. She remembered the mixed emotions she had while watching Hitoshi literally dropkick Katsuki, and when Katsuki managed to wrestle himself out of Izuku's oddly firm grip and lock the boy in a headlock. 

When he realized he won the boy screamed out curse words and basically pranced about the house as if he'd bought it. 

She was so proud, yet the following night, she stared in the bathroom mirror so long that she'd actually begun crying. 

Taking the feather from its hiding place, she rubbed it softly with her finger before feeling it slither and wriggle around a bit more. 

"Alright, let's hurry up and get going. We're on a schedule honey," she told them both, patting their backs before putting her hand in Kota's. 

"Mama, can we go to the park this weekend?" Kota asked. 

Eli smiled lightly, a warm feeling consuming her before she looked down and nodded. 

"Of course, honey," she told him. 

Behind her smile, she worried about her ability to even go to the park. There was so much work to do, it was hard to think about doing anything but work until the semester began. 

Not to mention, Eli was still preparing Kota for returning to school, so there was that to worry about as well. They made their way to the front of the store and Eli paid for their things before they loaded up the car and were on the road back home. 

"Mama put on the song!" Kota shouted from the back. 

"No need to yell," she told him simply before passing her phone to a chuckling Izuku in the passenger seat. 

"¡Feliz Navidad!" the boy shouted from the back. 

Kota had heard this song maybe once in a random ramen shop just outside the hospital, which Keigo and Touya took him to cheer him up once things had settled down and his family was ready to be discharged. Christmas was a bit ways away, but it wasn't uncommon for songs in foreign languages of all genres to be played in places where it'd be uncommon to know such a language. 

Not to mention, listening to foreign music and understanding foreign languages were on two different levels of difficulty. 

So, when the two of them brought him back from getting ramen, feeling much better with a full stomach after frequenting a hospital for the past couple of weeks... Kota had returned with a new favorite song in his vault. 

And he was going to let everyone know it was his favorite too. 

"Pfft," Shoto laughed subtly as he watched Kota try his hardest to replicate what they were saying without a care in the world about whether it was right. 

Eli bit the inside of her cheek with a wiggling smile on her face as her hand clenched and unclenched the steering wheel. 

After 10 full minutes of listening to Feliz Navidad, they finally pulled into their driveway with exasperated expressions, but Kota just smiled as he waited for the car to turn off so he would be allowed to take off his seat belt. 

"Whew, thank God, alright," Izuku breathed as he instantly got out of the car. 

Eli burst into laughter as she too got out of the car.