Himiko found herself enveloped in an embrace warmer than anything she had ever felt before.
It felt like love.
She just sobbed harder, the sound of her own voice smothering the sound of her parents trying to comfort her. No one approached them, not even the paramedics. They all seemed to understand to let them have their moment.
She had never been held like this before. Like she meant the world to someone. Like someone wanted to pick up her pieces. Her old parents had never done this not once in her life.
"I-I thought they were going to kill me. Kill all of us. I was so scared dad. I-" She stumbled over her words, gasping for breath and clutching her rib cage. Hizashi brushed her bangs out of her face and kissed her gently on the forehead.
"You did such a good job baby." He said, meaning every word. "They're all alive, and everything's going to be fine. Its okay.". Shota nodded silently, clutching the girl closer to him. The 17 year old had never looked so small. So fragile, like the wind could blow her over.
"Zashi's right, Himiko. You did an amazing job." Shota said, trying to console the girl. She nodded absentminded, wiping her tears on Shota's nice suit jacket in the process. He couldn't find it, even in his deepest darkest depths, to mind.
The trio slowly approached the trio of ambulances. It was Eri that moved first, jumping out of the ambulance and running towards them. She hit Hizashi's knees with so much force he nearly fell over.
"You came back." The girl said, her eyes watering. Shota didn't hesitate to scoop the tiny girl into his arms, sandwiching her between him and Himiko. "Of course we came back. That's what families do." He said, his tone matter-of-fact but a bit wet with tears.
Eri's eyes sparkled at the mention of the word. "Family." She repeated to herself, before diving back into Shota's chest, cuddling closer to him. She reached out her hand to grab Hizashi's and the pro hero accepted it gladly.
When her tiny fingers could only hold three of his larger one's the blonde nearly sobbed all over again. He just wanted to protect them all.
"Hey, sit back down!" Someone said. Shota looked up. It was the paramedic that had been treating Hitoshi. The boy himself had gotten up and was walking towards them, coughing once or twice as he did so.
Hizashi, never letting go of Eri's hand, opened his arms for Hizashi to fall into. And oh he did. Falling into his father's embrace felt perfect. Like nothing could hurt him there.
It felt like safety.
He felt as cared for and loved as the first day he met the couple, back when he was living alone. They had shown him his worth, shown him that he was someone worth loving and someone worth giving a chance to.
It was then that Shota realized he was wearing the capture weapon. Hitoshi seemed to be able to read his mind and just smiled, coughing a little as he did so. "I needed it." He explained, "We couldn't find an exit-the stairwell was on fire and the elevator wouldn't be safe. I got it to work. I did it.".
The weight those words held was immeasurable. Shota had been trying to train him to use it for so long now, but it just wouldn't respond to Hitoshi. But he had done it. When they needed him to he had pulled through. Shota pulled Hitoshi and Toga into another group hug, Eri still in the center.
The last person to get up was Miki. His legs wobbled uncomfortably and the couple couldn't help but notice that blood was all over his shirt and arms. But he didn't have any open cuts-Hizashi sucked in a breath.
Miki looked at his family, pressed close together like someone was going to tear them apart. He looked down at his bare, blood spotted feet and wondered if that person was him.
"I-" He couldn't even get the words out before the hot sting of tears began again. He felt one leak down his cheek. Then another. He took a shaky, shallow breath and looked up at them. All he saw was love. Adoration.
It hit him like a ton of bricks. They all loved him. They were his family. He knew that. But the look they all gave him screamed 'unconditional' and 'forever'.
They weren't going to leave him like everyone else.
He sobbed loudly and Shota wasted no time handing Eri to Hizashi and wrapping his arms around Miki. The boy broke out in what could only be called a wail. Shota shushed him gently, bringing him towards the group.
And they hugged him. It felt secure. It felt loving. It felt so, so warm.
It felt like home.
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The car was quiet. They all had to find new accommodations since their apartment was deemed unsafe and the teacher's dorm had burned down. After the hospital visit no one had dared to suggest Eri stay back or that Hitoshi should go back to the gen studies dorm. Miki hadn't really been paying attention. All he could really think about was what had led them to this point.
He had a family. A full family. He had a grandma, even if she was gone, he had two fathers, a big sister and brother and a little sister. Sure, he was only related to one of those people but that didn't change a thing.
He had a family and they felt like home.
Like the type of home he imagined in winter, when he was buried under the city's most recent snowfall. When he had been left under a blanket of ice, forgotten by even the sky. When the cold set into his bones like tiny needles, pricking until numbness.
He dreamed of a house. Sometimes it was an apartment, but more often than not it was outside the city. The lights were on, casting a soft yellow glow on the snow outside. At first Miki would always be outside, he was used to looking at buildings from the outside, but he would suddenly be welcomed in. The scent of coffee shops at Christmas would envelope him and warmth would smother the frostbite on his fingers.
He thought that was the only home he deserved after he lost his grandmother. An imaginary one with faceless residents who weren't scared of his quirk or addicted to drugs.
But he had found a real one and it came with a loud and chaotic family attached. In fact, they were home. All of them.
"We're here." A voice called softly. Someone tapped Miki on the shoulder and he sluggishly opened his eyes. The car had stopped moving, stopped in what had to be a driveway. It wasn't a parking garage like at their apartment, the fresh air spoke to that.
"Come on sleepy head." Hizashi said, opening Miki's car door. The cool air danced across the pink haired boy's cheeks. He stepped out of the car barefoot since he hadn't been wearing shoes during the attack and all his possessions were likely unsalvageable.
He didn't even register the cold and wet feeling under his feet until something hit his nose. He scrunched it, still half asleep. Was it raining?
"Eri, look." Shota said. He was pointing at something above them, so Miki looked too. Small white dots fell from the sky and it took Miki a moment to realize it was snow. He gasped when he did though. It was only November, but he supposed global warming made the planet do strange things.
His eyes followed the snow all the way to where Hizashi and Himiko were walking. They were further down the driveway, closer to something. Suddenly Miki heard the clicking of a doorknob and his sleepy vision finally cleared.
Lights flickered on and Miki's eyes went wide, his breath getting caught in his throat.
It was a house. A warm, yet modern looking house. It had warm yellow light that cast a glow onto Miki and his whole family.
"Its a rental." His dad explained, Eri still in his arms, half asleep herself. "We were looking at it after Zashi took you the nature reserve and you liked it so much. You should see the rest of the world, not just the city." He explained. When the boy didn't respond, his brows furrowed. "Minnie?".
But Miki couldn't talk. His voice box was gone, out the window, rendered useless. There were no words to express how he felt.
So he cried. He dropped to his knees in front of the house he had dreamed of all those cold nights. At the sight of his family in front of it, he nearly forgot how to breath.
It was too much.
But it was all he ever wanted.
Someone once theorized that to have a good story, you must remove the parents.
Think about it-how many protagonists have dead, missing or absentee parents? Most of them.
Obviously Miki's story would be pretty fucking great. To have both parents saddle him with a stupid name and ditch him-now that he considered a talent. His grandmother dying must just be an added bonus.
But Miki himself couldn't agree with the theory anymore.
No, in his mind the best types of stories where the ones with parents in them.
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ITS OVER OMG I'M CRYING SO HARD
I never intend to love my stories as much as I do, but they carve themselves a little place in my heart as I write them.
Its been an excellent 41 chapters and I've enjoyed reading all your comments and seeing all your opinions!
The good new is, today also marks the launch of the second poll option, the Midoriya x OC I've decided to title 'Because'!
Go check it out now! https://www.wattpad.com/1136247713-because-bnha-x-male-oc-info-meet-iwamoto-chiharu