Shoto woke to the smell of something quite appetizing.
His eyes fluttered open and blinked to hopefully remove the sleep from his eyes, his body laid sidewards yet his chest laid quite close to the mattress.
His face lay sidewards and a small drool line was seen. Quite faint though. A hand laid in front of his face on the pillow.
He sat up and looked around. He looked around the room swiftly. He saw clothes on the floor. It seemed it was his. Or was his. It was the clothes he had given to a friend. His best friend, as his friend thinks. He saw his shirt on the floor. It was a plain black shirt. He quickly wiped his drool and placed his shirt back on him.
He walked down the stairs yawning. It was a late night. But he was able to sleep fine. With the help of Thirteen of course. It was morning.
Around 8 at most, maybe late 7 am. He yawned once again and saw his siblings sitting on the table, seemingly waiting for something. There was light music. It was up beat but not to lively. It seemed strange.
Shoto's never heard this music before. In fact, the house was always too quiet for there to be music. There was no lyrics that held the steady tune. Only instruments. He looked to their sibling as they chatted amongst themselves, as their father read the newspaper.
Old man... he thought. It definitely matched with his being. Well what Shoto would feel. He sat next to his sister who was indulged in a chat with his brother. "Good Morning Shoto" His sister greets smiling, before going back to her conversation with his brother.
Strange...
"Morning..." he said barely above a whisper. "Anything interesting in the paper Uncle Enji?" He heard a sweet voice. He looked and saw someone in the stove that had been rarely used by any one of the Todoroki family. The figure swayed it's hips to no tune. It wore a beautiful blouse that was tucked into a long skirt.
The blouse' sleeves went until just above the elbows of the arms that seemed to be moving. It seemed the someone was wearing an apron and heels, hearing the clacking of heels ever so slightly and the ribbon that tied around the waist of the person. "Nothing interesting at all," he heard.
It seemed to surprise him. His father...acting normal? It wasn't something he was used too. "Hmm? How so?" He heard the voice hum out a reply, the sizzling of food never leaving his ears. "Just this stupid All Might again" his father complained, before he heard a ring. "Ah! Darling, I've got to take this. Work. I'll be back," his father says before walking out.
His eyes followed the man before seeing another man come through the door. He had purple patches that seemed stitched to his skin and had black hair. The man looked to his father before walking towards the table. "Morning guys," The man greets. "Morning little bro" the man said ruffling Shoto's hair before sitting next to him. "Morning!" His brother greets happily. The boy stared at the mysterious man.
"Uhm...who are you?" Shoto asks the man beside him. The table went quiet. The only sound was the music in the background, the slight humming of a tune from some Sonata and the up beat music that Shoto finally identified was coming from a mint green record player.
"Ex...Excuse me?" The man asks. "Shoto, are you feeling okay? How could you forget your older brother?" He heard the figure say. "Older...brother?" Shoto questions. "Older brother? Impossible. I've only got two and the other died years ago" Shoto says, almost in a demanding tone. "Shoto, your being silly. Surely, you remember Dabi," his sister asks the boy. "Dabi..? No my older brother is Touya-" he heard a clatter. He looked to see the figure had stopped moving.
The man beside him stiffened.
"Totoro. Don't be rude-" the figure got cut of by the man. "It's fine. Really. He's probably just tired. But uh yeah that's-that's me but I go by Dabi. You know that, Shoto," the man, now identified by Dabi (or Touya) says chuckling awkwardly.
"Ah! I'm back!" His father came back. He sat next to Dabi and groaned. "Was there a problem uncle?" The figure asks. "Another problem. Nothing to bad though," the man replied.
The figure finally turned off the stove and placed what seemed like eggs and bacon on to a plate. "I'm quite glad." The figure says placing the pan in the sinks. "Where is that- AUNTIE REI!" The figure screamed making Shoto jump. The others seemed not to be fazed at all. "AUNTIE REI! AUNTIE REI," the figure sighed. "Uncle will you please call Auntie?" The figure finally turned to them as his father went up the stairs.
"Thirteen..?" His eyes were wide. Thirteen in all his glory right in front of him. "Oh hello Totoro. Suppose you slept well?" The boy smiled before walking towards the table kissing the forehead of his siblings placing a plate in front of them as he did so doing the same to Shoto once he had gotten to him before placing two other plates in front of the unoccupied chairs before walking back.
To the kitchen to grab the plate of left over food from the stove for if we wanted more food. He placed it on the table and also placed a pitcher. "Hey Thirteen, can I have some OJ?" Shoto's so said brother asked. "Mhm!" The boy chirped before pointing to the fridge. Almost magically, the fridge door opened and out came the bottle of orange juice. A cupboard opened as well taking out a long clear glass. It was upside down before it went right side up.
The OJ poured into the glass as if an invisible man were pouring it itself and floated to Dabi who caught it and took a sip.
He stared at Thirteen who sat on the counter, crossed legs, and silently read a book while humming to himself. "Good Morning! Sorry, Dear. Late night." He heard.
Mom..?!
Shoto was surprised. He stared at the woman who sat herself down in front of Dabi and started eating as did his father. It seemed she noticed he was staring before looking at the boy chuckling. "What?" She asks. "Mom..? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" He asks. The woman giggled, confusing the boy. What's so funny?
"Why would I be in the hospital? I'm on leave today. Didn't I tell you?" The woman smiles before eating once again. "Leave? What do you mean leave? Your discharged today?" He asks the woman. "Discharged? From the mental hospital? Shoto, your mother and I may be divorced but that's not because she's from a mental hospital" his father chuckles.
"What?! You sent her there! You did that! Why are you acting-!" Shoto was cut of by Thirteen. "Love, no shouting at breakfast,"
Love?!
A piece of toast wormed it's way forcefully into Shoto's mouth making him silent. "Thirteen, your not eating any?" His sister asks the male. "No thank you" The boy replied. Before going back to the book he was reading.
The book was what lulled Shoto to sleep last night. He fell asleep to Thirteen's voice reading the book. It was based of an old film from back the early 21st century.
The film was called Gretel and Hansel. It was a nice film and it was an even better book. "Okay! What's happening? Why is mom here? She should be in the hospital? And why is dad acting so normal? Why are you all acting like this? This never happens! Why-?"
He was cut off by a glitch. The place was dead silent. He looked around him and saw all his family members were staring at him. A sickening grin on all of their faces. The table seemed empty.
Nothing was on the table but the arms of his family. Each on held a utensil. A knife on the left a fork on the right. The music turned back on but it was going backwards.
"Let. me. tell. you. a. story." His face snapped to Thirteen who slowly stood up. He had a creepy grin on his face teeth out wide. He slowly started walking towards Shoto.
"There was 2 then 3 then 5 then 6 then 7 then 8 then 1" Thirteen started creepily. "10 then 12 then 9 then 10 then 11. Then 1" he
continued.
The music grew creepily louder with each number. He wanted to move but he couldn't. His eyes were stuck on Thirteen. He could see in the corner of his eyes his family. Staring at either of them. He didn't know who though. "There was Katie, there was Belle There was Wan There was Mitsuha There was none. All but one. All but little Thirteen" the clicking of his heels stopped.
He stood right in front of Shoto. He trembled, he wasn't one to tremble. His face jerked forward. A hand squeezed his face painfully. He felt tears build up before they fell.
"I made this world perfect. Just for you. So be a dear and let. it. happen."
Shoto's eyes fluttered. He felt his heart beat, it was beating hard. He could hear his heart beat, it was beating loud. He sat up. Everything seemed like it was from the beginning. He gasped and placed on a shirt and quickly went down the stairs, tripping as he did so. He went down and let out a breath.
There was no cooking happening. His father wasn't there either. His sibling were though. He ran up to his sister and hugged her. "And then- Shoto-!" His sister gasped before hugging back.
"Shoto are you-?" "Where Mom?" He asked her urgently holding her shoulders.
"Shoto- What?- are you-?" "Where's. Mom?" He questioned again. "Ah-At the hospital! Why?" He didn't answer. He just asked a question again. "Where's Thirteen?" The girl looked at him before sighing. "Look," she started removing gently his arms of her. "I don't what's wrong but Thirteen is in the shower." She said before looking at him.
"And Touya?" He asked. "Touya? He's dead. We don't talk about him anymore. Especially you so why are you asking?" He sighed, Thank you Kami-sama he thought falling back.
"What a dream..."