Misfits of Yokohama

Elevator

The apartment building was thirteen floors high, so Todoroki would have to do a lot of searching in a short amount of time. He ran around the fourth floor, looking for anything that seemed to stand out. Nothing so far. He sprinted towards the elevators, and saw the doors closing quickly. He stuck his hands between the two doors before they could close, and pushed them open. Todoroki walked in without looking around, and stopped to catch a breath. He looked up when he heard the door's close behind him. "Sorry about that." Todoroki said, in case there was another person in the elevator. "But I have somewhere I really have to be."

Todoroki trailed off when he saw who was standing in the elevator with him. He was in his civilian clothes, not the red uniform he'd been wearing in the picture, but the person standing in front of Todoroki was unmistakably Jouno. Jouno was wearing ripped jeans, combat boots, a t-shirt that looked like it probably belonged to Tetchou, and a leather jacket with many pockets. He wore a set of headphones around his neck, and was moving his head slightly, like he was listening to music. If he was, the volume was down so low that Todoroki couldn't hear it. Todoroki didn't even know what to say here.

"You're Jouno." Todoroki finally managed. "My name is Todoroki. I'm your brother." Jouno switched his headphones off, his expression remaining unreadable. There was something interesting about the way Jouno wasn't quite looking at Todoroki, sort of like he was just pointing in the direction where he thought Todoroki might be standing. The thought occurred to Todoroki. Was it possible Jouno was blind? Todoroki wasn't, and they were twins, but they weren't necessarily identical. The red in Jouno's white hair only streaked the bottom, and he was a bit shorter than Todoroki. But they were still unmistakably twin brothers.

"I don't have a brother." Jouno said, sounding genuinely confused. Maybe the rest of the team had failed to mention the whole assassin thing to Jouno. "Yes, you do." Todoroki said. "You have two brothers, actually. And a sister." Technically, before last year, Jouno had three brothers, but Todoroki didn't feel like bringing up Dabi. "Our father gave you up when you were a baby, because you had an ability, not a quirk. But you're really here!"

Todoroki was talking quickly, and not making sense, and probably creeping Jouno out. But he couldn't help himself. Jouno was here. Todoroki had really found him. Everything was going to be okay. Jouno said nothing, his expression blank. "If that's true, why are you looking for me now?" Jouno asked. "It's been sixteen years." A valid question. "There's an assassin that's threatening everyone in our family. But it's okay. We're strong enough to handle any assassin. Remember Shigaraki? Our class was the one that defeated him, and I brought some of my classmates with me. Oh, and our dad is Endeavour."

Jouno rolled his eyes. "Great. So I go from one annoying father with a silly looking mustache to another one." He said sarcastically. Todoroki wasn't sure what to say to that. In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have mentioned the whole 'Endeavour is our father' thing. Having Endeavour for a father was much more of a curse than a selling point. "Okay, our family isn't perfect, but we're still a family. And I really want you to be part of my family."

Jouno seemed to be deep in thought. This was a lot to take in. "Prove it." Jouno finally said. Todoroki blinked. "What do you mean?" He asked. "Prove we're brothers?" It wasn't like he could take a DNA test on the spot. "The newspapers said that Endeavour's wife can control ice. If you're really their kid, make some ice." Todoroki started to power up. "Are you sure?" He asked. He hadn't been anticipating having to do this. But what did he expect? That Jouno would just welcome him with open arms? Endeavour had given Jouno away as a baby, and he'd grown up in Yokohama. He wasn't going to be overly trusting.

Todoroki started to summon ice. He watched giant pillars of it form and stick to the walls and ceiling, feeling kind of like something out of Frozen. "That's so cool." Jouno said, and walked over to touch one of the pillars of ice. "Make some more." Todoroki did. Todoroki kept making ice, while Jouno kept complimenting him on it, until they ran into one massive problem that Todoroki hadn't thought about. Ice was heavy. Very heavy, especially when he made large quantities of it. Todoroki had just summoned enough ice that the elevator cable sounded like it was about to snap.

"I'd better start melting some of this." Todoroki said, looking around. When he looked back at Jouno, though, his twin was smiling. "Yeah, you'd better." He said. "It's almost enough to drop the elevator." Todoroki's stomach dropped. "You don't believe me." He said. "You think I'm an assassin." Jouno shrugged. "You got me." He said. "But it's not like you can do anything about it. Tell your friends that I won't die so easily. If you survive this, that is."

And with that, Jouno dissolved into a small storm of particles. "Jouno!" Todoroki yelled. "I'm telling the truth. I'm your brother. I'm not the assassin. I came here to help you." Todoroki could hear Jouno's footsteps on top of the elevator. From the sounds of it, he was using a small blade to saw through the already snapping cable. Jouno could dematerialize, it seemed. "Please don't do this." Todoroki said. "If we fight, mom will be sad." A small pause, like Jouno was thinking about it. Then the elevator cable snapped, and Todoroki was sent into free-fall.