[2 years later]˙
"Nee-chaaaaannn!" was shouted in the apartment building making Eli turn around to face the 2, 6 year-olds who stared at her with big eyes.
"Hm?" she asked the boys, crouching down to their level and looking at the two.
"Can we go to the park?" Hitoshi asked. She smiled at him before looking at the 2 boys with a nod.
Laughter bubbled between the 2 before they began jumping up and down around her, excited to go play outside.
"I'll grab some snacks and things okay? Go get ready huh?" she told them. They nodded, excitement evident in their actions before Izuku quickly grabbed Hitoshi's hand.
"C'mon Hito," he said. The lilac-haired boy grinned at his brother before nodding, and they then ran hand in hand to their shared room to get dressed.
Whipping out her phone, she texted her mom even if she knew that she was at work. She told her that they'd be going to the park and that they wouldn't be back late, only telling her this because she knew her shift was almost up.
Eli walked off to the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror as she did so. She rubbed her eyes, trying to seem less tired than she was, but it didn't help much. So with a sigh, she began to do her hair, which somehow gotten even bigger.
It was in its natural state, which was curly black/green afro, so she simply grabbed a black pick and began picking at her roots so that the front covered her face like it usually was when she wasn't home.
She couldn't help but be a little thankful that her little Hito's hair was easier to deal with, even if it still somehow defied gravity because she found that she and Izuku's hair was all she was willing to work with as of right now.
After she'd picked out her hair she looked at her hands, seeing her own bandaged hands. She sighed, wincing at the pain before she began re-wrapping her hands. She attended UA, being in class 2-F due to the flurry of classes she was taking in the Support Course, despite being 15.
Even still, she wore her bandages with or without the training she endured to hide the scarring she had from when she was a kid, back when her training was a lot more brutal than it is now.
U.A. was a school that pumped out heroes, that's what they were known for, regardless of the General Studies and Support Course Department outnumbering them. Her quirk was well suited for the Hero Course, so most of her days at U.A. were spent with teachers trying to convince her to want to transfer.
Though as she existed, her Quirk only grew and grew, so it only made sense to train so that she never hurt anyone, even if she was in the Support Course.
Though, regardless of her feelings about not wanting to be a hero, she still trained and had been training for years. Especially as it became more and more evident that she was doing more than a big sister should have to do.
If it wasn't already obvious, the greenette and lilac boy were the most important things in her life, and with Izu being Quirkless, this just made her train harder.
Her boss, Ren Suzuki, at the tattoo shop was an ex hero, and he trained her. His Quirk was called Double Impact and allowed him to take as many hits as possible and dish it back twice as harder, which made him the perfect sparring opponent.
The society that they lived in has been built to cater and care about those with Quirks, but her baby brother didn't have one, so she knew she had to protect him. It was a harsh world out there and despite their 'Symbol of Peace' keeping the crime rate in Japan below 7%, discrimination against those who were Quirkless or had frightening Quirks was at an all-time high.
So this made both of her brothers' targets. The entirety of their society was based on quirks, and this made her scared for them.
Not that she would hesitate to defend her brothers against anyone who wished them any harm.
She heard what people said about them, she just made sure they didn't. Though they weren't allowed to be ignorant so she told them of the circumstances of the world just to inform them.
They were extremely young, so she couldn't expect them to understand everything she said, so she just summarized it, explaining to them that there were indeed times that people were treated unfairly because of their Quirk circumstances. Even though she knew she'd have to wait a couple of years for them to grow up a bit to understand such things, they seemed to understand.
Hearing shuffling outside, she rolled her shoulders and did a little makeup before she exited the bathroom. Going to the kitchen, she pulled some snacks from the cabinet she'd bought with the new job she had before stuffing them in her tote.
She heard shuffling before the 2 boys were behind her, Izu smiling widely and Hito smiling up at her kindly. They followed her to the couch patiently, allowing Izuku to sit between her legs so that she could do his hair. After putting in a little product, she sealed it with some oil before Hitoshi replaced Izuku to allow her to comb his hair as well.
She couldn't help the sigh she let out as she stared at the two before she smiled and nodded. They took this as their cue, darting to the door, with Eli trailing behind them, briefly looking at what she wore before deciding it was fine.
She slid on some sandals before they made their way to the park. Though they'd gotten older, their hands still held hers, making her smile. She couldn't help but want to keep it this way.
As they always did, they waited expectingly for her when they reached the park. She beamed a little, before she took their little faces, giving each of them a kiss on the forehead.
They smiled brightly, before rushing off to go play, and she couldn't help but chuckle at the two before she sat down on the bench she always sat at and began the sketch her boss wanted for a client that was given total creative freedom.
So, he allowed Eli to cook up something, knowing how good she was with a pencil, which only improved with entering the Support Course due to all the designs for new products she was always designing.
She felt someone sit on the same bench making at them with a small smile before she went back to her notebook. She looked up briefly to check on the boys to see them playing on the jungle gym together making her smile.
Hito looked over at that moment and saw her stare, a large grin appearing on his face as he waved at her frantically. Izu noticed this too, doing the same.
Her smile grew before she waved back with a small chuckle then going back to her drawing after seeing them go back to playing.
"Are um- those your brothers?" someone asked.
She sat up then, looking over to the source of the voice coming from the guy who'd sat next to her earlier.
"Oh yea," she said with a nervous chuckle as she sat up from her hunched position over the sketchbook.
"Are your siblings here?" she asked afterward, trying not to make the conversation awkward, knowing she failed when she saw him flinch back.
"Ah, I'm sorry I just asu-," Eli apologized with a small bow but she was stopped.
"No, it's okay, I guess it is kind of weird that I'm by myself here huh," he said, a humorless chuckle sounding from his voice. She looked at the boy briefly, taking in his dull blue eyes, and his black spiky hair.
She didn't answer, and he only heard rustling, looking over to her digging in her bag before she pulled out two juice boxes triumphantly.
"Well, you're not by yourself anymore," she said holding out a juice box for him to take.
He looked at the juice box and back at her before he took it hesitantly, watching as she popped it open before drinking some. Hesitantly he did the same, sniffing it first out of habit before lowering his face mask to drink it.
Looking over at the boy once more, she noticed the scarring he had under his eyes and on his mouth. Her eyebrow quirked a bit as her mind began to think of the support items that may help with whatever was causing this.
It was symmetrical, so she assumed it was his Quirk, but assuming was bad so she just kept her mouth shut.
Now, it wasn't that she thought he looked bad, honestly, she could care less.
That was a lie, she did really like his many ear piercing because they reminded her of her own. She was just worried that it might hurt him, and with those staples, she knew it did.
Still, she didn't want to pry so she just dug in her bag once again to get out a granola bar, once again handing it to the stranger.
He couldn't help but chuckle.
"What, am I your brother now too?" he asked, a small smirk playing on his lips.
"Might as well be, this is where I got my last one," she said with a small laugh. His own small chuckle followed after hers.
Now that was not something he expected her to say. Still, though, he couldn't help but stare a bit as she laughed. He couldn't see her face clearly, the only thing he could see was her lips which looked smooth with chapstick or vaseline.
As if she read his mind her arm went up, her forearm lifting the front of her afro to give her face some air. Midchew into the granola bar, the boy almost choked upon looking at the girl. She had green eyes, brilliant pine green eyes, with sun-kissed freckled skin.
She also had these calm but kind eyes, and they matched the calmness of her voice that over the last few minutes he decided he also liked.
She looked over at him with her face still out and gave him a small smile. He hastily touched the back of his neck, rubbing the warm spot softly before he decided to change the subject.
"You're really good," he told her, glancing down at her sketchbook.
"O-oh, thank you," she said with another smile. Though, this time he returned it.
"Uhm so, I'm Eli, Midoriya Eli," she told him with her hand out.
"Dabi," he said.
She smiled and nodded. She opened her mouth to say something but a cry rang out across the playground. She stood up abruptly hastily moving her things to the side as she looked around the playground.
Eli spotted them almost instantly and began to rush towards them, unintentionally making her hair float with the green mist that covered her hair from her Quirk which revealed her entire face once again as her body moving almost too fast to comprehend.
She saw Izuku with tears in his eyes with a burn mark evident on his forearm, as he shakily stood in front of a crying Hito who held his knee as he sat on the concrete.
3 boys were around them, 1 with ash-blonde spiky hair who held his hand up to which he released a series of small explosions before the small boy slammed it into his palm. Another had long fingers, and the last had dragon-like wings.
"You wanna pretend to be a hero, you don't stand a chance without a Quirk Deku," the ash-blonde kid said cockily.
"N-Nee-chan says you don't need a Quirk to be a hero," Izu said, his hand clenched tightly to his side as tears leaked from his eyes.
This kid, Katsuki Bakugo. A kid who'd been bullying Izuku and Hito for the past couple of months along with his friends. Now if Eli remembered correctly, they were friends, she even dropped them off one day for a playdate, so what was all this? Even though he didn't see Eli since they'd arrived when he was being awakened from a nap.
"Nee-chan? Wait you have a sister!? Is she as useless as you and your brother here?" Bakugo and his friends laughed loudly.
Eli was fuming, and she could feel her body begin to emit a small green glow, one that indicated that she was angry and getting angrier. She tried to remind herself that these were kids, but none of that mattered as she rushed over.
In less than a second, she stood in front of her brothers, towering over the small group of children as her eyes glowed a menacingly red color.
"I don't know, am I?" she asked, gritting her teeth as she looked at the kids in front of her.
The 3 were frozen as the girl stood before them. Everyone and I mean everyone could feel the kind of power that was coming off her. Little Katsuki was staring at her with his feet planted and his body refusing to move from the sudden amount of fear he felt.
But when he did, he fell, him letting out an 'ouch' as he scraped his hand on the pavement.
Tears came to the little boys' eyes, and he instinctively put his head down as he kept his hand close to his chest.
Oh no.
Her only weakness.
Something in her panged, just like it did with Hito all those years ago. She sighed, her Quirk deactivating, leaving her hair to fall in her face. As soon as her Quirk turned off, the 2 boys behind Katsuki cut and run, their cries following them.
"I'm sorry little guy," she told him softly before she bent down to look at him, seeing the small tears falling from his face, with him wiping them hastily.
"I didn't mean to-" she cut herself off as she sighed loudly, rubbing her face a bit.
"I have bandaids and snacks, could you let me help you?" she asked him. She heard him sniff, and a minute passed before she saw him nod softly.
She breathed a sigh of relief, not even hesitating to pick up the kid before turning to pick up Hito.
"C'mon Izu," she said as she scooped him up as well under her arm, sparing the small blond a glance as he stiffened at the sudden contact. She ignored it, for now, heading over to the bench where she saw the things she'd thrown aside neatly placed back on the bench.
Walking over, she saw a small piece of paper being held down by her 2 pencils and eraser.
Sitting the boys down, she picked up the paper seeing the numbers on it with a '-Dabi' at the end. Her lips twitched a bit before she turned back to the boys, stuffing the piece of paper in her bag and away from their curious eyes.
Dabi didn't know exactly why he gave his number to some random girl he just met, especially given his situation, but he figured it couldn't help. He tried to justify it by telling himself she gave him a juice box.
As you can see, he's kind of hopeless.
Opening her bag, she pulled out a couple of juice boxes and then gave each boy a granola bar and some juice. She then pulled out a bottle of water, pouring it slowly over Hitoshi's knee, grimacing as he winced.
Eli never liked seeing anyone hurt, it invoked powerful emotions. Anger or sadness that could and would stir her Quirk around, especially at the access movement she was doing at the moment.
After putting some medicine on Hito's knee, she then proceeded to do the same to Bakugo who was chewing on his granola bar while grumbling.
'Aw, he's like a little gremlin' Eli cooed in her head.
"Oi? Do you always carry this stuff around?" Bakugo asked the roughness in his small voice from earlier. It almost made her laugh, seeing the little boy try to act tough.
"Well yea, can't have any of my boys getting hurt right?" she told him with a small smile. His face flushed, and she once again held back a laugh.
"Oh, Izu you're hurt too, aren't you?" Eli said suddenly, turning to look at the boy who sat next to Hito eating his granola bar.
"Yea," he said softly lifting his arm, allowing her to do the same process she did for them.
He was hurt, well his feelings were more than the burn. Sometimes he didn't like how kind his sister was, or maybe he was just jealous. For so long she was just his sister, then she was Hito and his sister.
Not that he minded because he thought that having a brother was great, plus he loved Hitoshi, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't want her to himself sometimes.
Izuku loved his mom, he really did, but he only ever saw her once, if he saw her at all, so Eli was always the one taking care of them. Even going so far as to bring them to work with her just to make sure they weren't in the house by themselves.
Everyone knew who really raised them. So to Izuku, Eli was the closest thing he had to a mom, but in sister form, he didn't want to lose that.
Hitoshi eyed the blonde warily, watching as he and his sister interacted. He didn't like it when other people took away took her attention, it made him scared.
Hito placed his drink down at his side, bringing up his hand to scratch his knuckle nervously. Something Eli noticed he did when he was nervous.
So she placed one of her hands in front of Hito for a moment, him instantly knowing what it meant as he began to play with her fingers instead of scratching his own.
"Now, Bakugo, you have to apologize," she told him.
Hito and Izu's heads snapped over to the blonde, a nervous look on Izu's as Hito tried to just continue to play with her fingers.
"What?!" Bakugo basically exploded. Luckily, not literally.
"You have to apologize. You don't tell people what they can and can't do, that's underestimating them, Quirk or not. How would you like it if I pushed you around just because?" she asked him. His crossed arms loosened as he looked at her with an angry expression, knowing she was right.
He muttered something under his breath.
"You have to tell them, not mumble it," she told him. He glared at her harshly, but she only stared back at him with a kind smile as her arm reached up to lift her hair and show her face.
Looking at her, Katsuki flushed at the sight of the pretty girl before he snatched his eyes away from her, looking at the other 2 boys beside him, his eyes meeting theirs only briefly before he looked away.
He had expected her to at least get mad and force him as his mom did, but that never came.
"I'm sorry," he said softly before going back to stuffing the granola bar in his mouth.
Izuku couldn't help the giggle that came from his mouth, never expecting such a thing, especially from Bakugo.
"I-It's okay Kacchan," Izuku said, trying to suppress his laughter.
"Yea, it's okay," Hito said, still playing with his sister's hand as he giggled at the apology.
"AGHHH I TAKE IT BACK, DON'T LAUGH AT ME!" the blonde yelled suddenly.
This makes Eli chuckle a bit, her brothers joining her as Katsuki blushed for the 3rd time today at her laugh. She looked at the 3 boys from her crouched position, a smile playing on her lips before her hands reached up and pat them each on the head, another gesture Katsuki wasn't used to.
She was at least happy that they were still little kids, so that must of made it easier for them to settle something like this with a simple apology.
"Ice-cream?" she asked.
As she thought, the 3 boys screamed in delight at the offer, before each began pulling her towards a nearby store. She smiled a bit, allowing them to drag her to the store, adjusting her bag on her shoulder, peeking to see if the piece of paper was still there to make sure she wasn't leaving it anywhere.
She sighed in content once again as she watched her brothers interact with the explosive blonde. And even though he definitely needed someone to talk to because of all that anger, she couldn't help but kind of like the kid.
He was sweet.