First Chapter of the New Year! Sorry for not updating for almost a month!
Through the entire weekend, only one subject occupies your mind and scared everything else off like the plague. That subject was your family. Everything may sound bad, but you couldn't be happier than to think of what the next reunion may hold in store. Despite the reunion running short, you never realized how quickly one person can grow to love another. They're dysfunctional at best, but if you put all the pieces together you'll have a family. Before then, you were afraid they'd all hate you with every fiber of their being. Most families aren't very welcoming of new members when they're already large as it was! Well, at least you know your stepmother has taken a liking to you, especially towards Shoto. That old woman was all over him like a fly to garbage. Is it wrong to call her a cougar? Best to keep that in mind rather than speech. Same could be said to April, especially when she's married and has a child of her own. What is wrong with those two really? Luckily your brother, Shun, kept his maturity. Sort of... He's salty like a pretzel because of school and all but deep down if you're patient with him he's warm and friendly. Something between the two of you clicked and you can't wait to see him again in particular. Nyah, the oldest sister of forty years, remained cold and disconnected from everyone. You don't even recall sharing a line of dialogue with her. You can't really blame her though thanks to a few words of wisdom that your own father shared with you. Nyah had her interests in the wrong places and too worried about the future since she's on unstable ground. Dad warned you that she was a failing lawyer; almost all of Nyah's cases had lost in court. She's not happy to say the least...
Really, your hopes have skyrocketed as you can't wait to see them again the following weekend. Call yourself impatient, but you've already put in your request to leave school campus and spend the entire weekend with them. The permission hasn't been granted yet, but you're stoked to visit them nevertheless. Now it's Monday and that means only four more days till you can see them again.
Everything was quiet yet peaceful. You had the radio on as background noise while you prepared ahead for the day. The extra minute to groom yourself isn't gonna hurt anyone. Straighten out the hair, maybe do it up, fluff it out, who knows? Gotta get rid of this bed head somehow. The second you sat down before the vanity was when the bedroom door rocked with a heavy force of motion which drew your full attention. Whoever was on the other side sounded eager to get in. "Hey (Y/n)... Are you in here?" You recognized the voice as Shoto's. He sounds alarmed for a change.
You hummed, "Yeah?" You were brushing your hair and refused to open up the door. "I'll be out soon. Door's open by the way!" Without a second to spare, Shoto invited himself into the room quickly and closed the door behind himself with a breath of relief. "Do you need something? We almost always meet up in the lounge."
"You're running late," Shoto signified with himself all roaring and ready to go in his UA uniform. His tie however could use a little work. It wasn't straight, very sloppily done and practically begged to be redone.
Forget about the tie there's other things that are more important! "Sh-Shoot!" You realized how late you were running and threw on the coat to your uniform in a struggled frenzy. "How late am I?"
"There's no time to eat now..." Shoto waited downstairs forever just for you but you never came.
It's that late... "I'm sorry," you puffed out your cheeks. "I'm never like this..." Normally, you're up and ready to tackle the day well before most of the class. You're up early enough that you have the time to help Sato with preparing the class breakfast. If Shoto is ready before you are, then that just says how badly you've fallen behind. Shoto isn't a morning person. He'll sleep in as long as he possibly can and then groggily join everyone for breakfast. When you mean join, he has no choice but to take his meal for the road or scarf it down.
No wonder why Shoto was concerned. "Did you oversleep or something?" Your boyfriend asked with a quick glance around the room. His two toned eyes found his item of interest as he picked up your backpack and threw it over his shoulder to sit atop his own backpack.
"No," You shrugged with confusion. Really, you have no idea why you're falling behind maybe thinking too much is to blame.
"Were you thinking about something?" Shoto assumed since he himself has been bugged with a few things as of lately.
You froze, "Y-yeah... How'd you know?" It's like he read your mind.
"I've been thinking about your brother," Shoto stared down at the floor.
"Freaky..." You marveled his ability to see through you. "Me too."
"Something about him isn't sitting well with me," Shoto willingly spoke his mind but he hesitates to give the explanations why. He fears to upset you in some way if he does so and that's the last thing he wants to do.
"Go ahead... Tell me," you braced yourself for the worst then again not much surprises you as of lately with Bakugou as a friend. "Shun has such a toxic personality but I can't really blame him either."
"I know it's just a coincidence, but he's strangely similar to Shinsou..." Shoto brought a hand up to his face and held his chin. "Are you all related or something?"
You choked just hearing him out, "I hope the fuck not!!!"
"The idea isn't so farfetched right?" The boy stared up at you for guidance. He aware of how he can take things to unnecessary levels.
"I don't know..."
"Bakugou told me to shove the idea up my ass."
"I would've said that too," you snickered as you could vividly imagine that conversation taking place.
"Should we ask him?"
"Ask who?"
"Shinsou..." Shoto suggested. "Ask him if he's related to, well, not you, but to Shun. You did say that you wanted to talk to Shinsou anyways." Midoriya had brought up how Shoto tends to speak his mind on a whim or jump to conclusions without thinking much of anything through. Midoriya was also embarrassed to bring up a past confrontation he had with Shoto as for some odd reason he thought Midoriya was related to All Might. Seriously though, what was going through Shoto's head to make him assume a complete nobody was related to the top hero? But for once, Shoto may just be onto something.
"Fine, fine," you snapped as Shoto had a valid argument. "You go ahead to class, I'll stay back and talk to Shinsou. He's still suspended until further notice so I'll just talk to him now."
Shoto felt great praise as someone listened to his nonsense for a change. He had to come over to you for he gave a one armed hug and a small warm kiss to your temple. "See you then."
"Just make sure you talk to Aizawa and get him to excuse my tardiness..." Before you got the words across, Shoto was gone. At least he was being a gentleman and carried your bag to class not to forget that he was worrying about you as usual. Once that boy gets his mind on something, there's no changing it. Too bad a tardy was now gonna be on your permanent record.
With nothing to lose, you finished your preparations for the day and then headed over to Shinsou Hitoshi's dorm as planned. The light within the room was on as you could visibly see through the crack beneath the door. There was a series of grunts flooding from the bedroom as well which was a bit alarming. What is that boy doing at seven in the morning? Shinsou was up and about that was for sure. No matter what he could be doing, and you hope he isn't doing what the dark part of your mind wandered off to, it's time to make amends with Shinsou. You haven't talked to him once since he edged you on in class exactly one week prior. Aizawa made his point clear that he wasn't going to allow Shinsou back into class until he can learn to have a better attitude and respect his peers. Clearly, the point still hadn't gotten across to him if he hasn't bothered to apologize.
Instead of knocking, well, you kicked the door. You thought the kick was light, but apparently it wasn't as the door shot open. Shinsou just sort of stood there before his bed with this dirty look about his face. Thankfully, all of his clothes were on and he had two large dumbells in both hands. "I'm so sorry..." You apologized for the intrusion.
"Way to wish me a good morning..." The boy blandly sighs as he sat down his dumbbells. "Do you need something (Y/n)? Cause nobody kicks down a door unless they had some beef with the other."
"Are we perhaps... Related?" You bit your lip in expectation to be chided for such a ridiculous question that sounded much worse coming out than anticipated.
Yup, Shinsou was wearing the 'what the fuck' face. "Excuse me... What?"
"Let me explain..." You groaned. What would be the easiest way to put this? "I met my family since falling under the ice. My dad remarried and everyone related to my step mother has purple hair of some sort-"
"Purple hair doesn't mean anything..." Shinsou stressfully massaged his temples.
"Let me explain!" You repeated with a growl. "My step brother in particular really reminds me of you alright. You both look like you could be brothers-"
"Name?" Shinsou spoke over you.
"Huh?" Your head tilted.
"What's his name?" Shinsou crossed his arms. "I'll admit, my mom had a falling out with her sister before I was born so I have a good handful of relatives that I don't communicate with. Us being related doesn't sound totally impossible," he still doubts the idea more than anything however.
"Does Shun Renora ring a bell?"
"No," he shook his head. "Never heard of that name before. I can always ask though..."
"Thanks for being patient with me," you let out a sigh of relief.
"No prob," Shinsou nodded. His cold attitude towards you from day one is no longer apparent. Talking to Shinsou feels more natural. Has he finally accepted you for who you are? Is everything now in the past?
To leave now just doesn't feel right. "Why don't you come to class with me Shinsou?" You suggested and motioned with your head. "Because of my brother, I better understand how you felt when you met me. Just like him, you were rejected from Hero Schools a lot weren't you?"
"More times than I can count," he agreed.
"Then let's put our differences aside and get along," you lay your hand on the doorknob in preparation to close it behind you. "See you in class?"
"Wanna walk together?" Shinsou suggested.
"I'll be downstairs," you closed the door and waited out for him downstairs. Soon enough, Shinsou was running around all excited that he's finally returning to class after a long suspension. You both walked to class, talking like a normal person, not bickering like crazy. Aizawa was skeptical that you both had truly made up but took your word for it as you looked strangely refreshed as did Shinsou. So, Aizawa waved your tardy and got back to instructing the class marking the end to Shinsou's suspension.
-----
"I see you two made up," Aizawa confronted Shinsou and yourself once the school day had came to a close. You both coexisted without error which is odd because you both were at each other's throats not even a week ago.
"Let's just say I better understand why Shinsou acted the way he did," you point out and Shoto nodded to agree with you.
Aizawa had a small paperclip stack of papers in his grasp. "Would the lot of you care to explain to me why you all want to permission to stay off campus this weekend?" Aizawa shifted his gaze between Shoto, Shinsou and yourself wondering if he should be worried or not about your future whereabouts.
Shoto didn't bother to look at Aizawa. Instead, he stared at you with this almost betrayed expression. That's the first time you've seen such a wild expression from the calm and collected boy. "You invited him too?" Shoto began to frown. "I thought it was just us this weekend?"
Your soft hands found Shoto's as they were held in reassurance. "Shun needs support and we all agreed Shinsou is the best guy for the job."
"Are we just gonna ignore me?" Aizawa scoffed.
"Sorry," you apologized. "We're all visiting my family this weekend. They're all really welcoming and apparently they love Shoto more than me. Me and Shinsou could be related too so that's apparently a thing too-"
"Whatever," Aizawa handed all three of you a small sheet of paper one by one. "I granted your permission to leave."
"Awesome," you whistled.
"Now if you'll excuse me-"
"Actually," Shoto caught Aizawa by his sleeve. "Can you look into someone's records for us?"
The teacher snatched his arm back in disgust. "Why?"
"Yeah, why?" Shoto just got your wildest look yet.
"Can you tell us if Shun Renora applied here before?" Shoto took it upon himself to ask.
"We already know he did Shoto," you frowned.
"I still find it fishy that he's gotten rejected from every school he applied for when he overpowered me in a fight," Shinsou blinked hearing Shoto out. Is her brother that much of a beast?
"I'm not so sure I want to know why," you made your point clear.
"That's a lie," Aizawa corrected the lot of you. "I'm not sure where you're getting your facts but Shun's name is well known amongst the staff here. That walking ice machine applied here twice and not once was he rejected."
"What!?" Shoto and yourself simultaneously squawked.
Aizawa had a point to make and he was glad to do so. A march on over to his desk and the sliding bearings of the desk drawer only signified he had evidence to bring forth. "Even though I really shouldn't, I have his file on hand."
"You really don't need to-"
"It's right here," Aizawa whipped out a large manilla folder and dropped it upon his desk. On the face of the folder bared the name Shun Riku Renora. His birthday was on display marking him as age seventeen. Some physical traits listed was his eyes as the color red, hair color violet, Height as 6'1 and a quirk whose name was simply 'Icicles.' The stock photo for your brother wasn't exactly recent as he looked visually younger and less stressed within the photograph, nothing compared to your first encounter with Shun, but everything sounded accurate.
A. N. Alright, I make my own version/OC of the 'Reader' in all of my books. So, the 'Reader' of this book is named Riku. Yes, Shun was given Riku's name as his middle name. Just thought you'd all like to know a little fact about him.
Shinsou's head tilted the longer he examined the photograph. "I see more differences than similarities between him and me," again Shinsou, this is an older photograph.
You picked up the file, "Why do you even have this?" Of all people to have Shun's personal file, why Aizawa?
"Reasons I can and cannot say..." Aizawa scratched his chin briefly. That's not alarming at all... "You probably already knew this, but he was a potential student for the hero program here at UA. It was the restriction of how many students we could accept mid semester that kept him from enrollment. As of right now, he's waitlisted."
"So he was at my entrance exam?" You don't recall seeing him there.
"Sure was," Aizawa agreed. "I would've taken him in too if the class wasn't already full. I'm just lucky enough that Nezu granted me permission to go from twenty to twenty two students."
"I feel wrong going behind Shun's back. He's a jackass yeah! But he's my brother! I don't want to know anything else!" You plugged your ears like an ignorant child.
"If you change your mind, you may keep the file," the teacher slid the file towards you slowly. His actions hinted that this file was the holy grail or something of the sorts. "I trust that you all won't use it for bad purposes," he then specifically called you out. "(Y/n), you show promise as a future hero, maybe even one of the best and I can tell you're just a concerned sister."
"I-" you frowned and thought about the offer. It's so ungodly difficult to gain Aizawa's respect. "Thanks... I guess," you picked up the file and didn't expect it to be as heavy as it was. What is this thing, like five pounds or something? Shoto had your bag again as usual. He understood that you wanted it back and slid it off his shoulder. You weren't careful and shoved the file into it. It's like a curse that you're stuck with! "Let's leave..."
"Actually I won't be at the dorms until tonight," Shoto announced.
"What's up?" You hummed.
"I'm visiting my mom. It's been a while..." Shoto has been too busy with school and helping you get into the swing of things. One thing led to another and visiting his mom got out of reach.
"Can I come along or is this a just you thing?" He hasn't made plans let alone asked if you wanted to come along so you're not gonna get all up in his business if he doesn't want you there. After all, Shoto's pointed out how he's uncomfortable with how similar his mother and yourself looked up until you dyed your hair. Maybe he just wants to keep the two of you separated for now.
Shoto only shrugged, "you can come if you want. I didn't bother to ask since it's just her and she doesn't know you."
"I'd love to meet her," you grinned. "This is where we part ways then Shinsou-"
"Would you mind if I read the file on your brother?" Shinsou's curiosity got the better of him. Ever since he heard his mentor mention that he had his own reasons for keeping the file, Shinsou feels the need to look into the subject personally.
"Go ahead," you handed your entire backpack over to the boy. "The least you can do is take my bag. Also, please don't bring any of it up to me if you do end up reading it ."
"Unless it's something you need to hear, then I'll respect your wishes."
"Have fun with that then," you hooked your arm with Shoto's. "Shall we leave?" Your boyfriend nods his head lightly and lead you to the mental institute of which his mother his lived for the better part of ten years or more.
The place was nice, clean and quiet. If only the class dormitory could be this quiet on the regular. Shoto stopped before a room with a nameplate that had his family name, Todoroki, engraved off to the side of the slightly ajar door. "Don't bring up dad around her okay," Shoto asked nicely of you as a precaution. "Please don't bring up your past with him either. Anything to do with him actually, Mom's sensitive about the subject."
"Don't worry," not like you planned to talk about Enji anyways. "Always worrying about your mom. She's lucky to have a wonderful son like you."
"You're so nice," Shoto felt like anything to do with you would bring him everlasting peace. "I know mom will love you," and so Shoto carefully dug through his bag for a small thermos of tea you made for him during lunch today. You thought it was odd that Shoto asked for you to make him some extra tea today. You knew he loves whatever drinks you make for him, but now he's gifting it to his mother. How sweet of him!!! When you have kids of your own, you hope they're as sweet as Shoto!
"Shoto!" You heard a woman exclaim from within the room. You were too busy daydreaming to realize that Shoto had went ahead of you.
In realization of your mistake, you shyly entered the room and stayed behind a linen privacy curtain as Shoto motioned for you to stay where you are. "I missed you," Shoto flashed a shy smile towards his dear mother. "I brought someone with me today."
Shoto's mother was amused by his words, "Is it your charming friend Midoriya?"
"My girlfriend actually," Shoto held out his hand to you as a silent request. You took his hand whereas he guide you around the curtain for your mother to finally meet you. You felt like a prize to be shown off and wow. Shoto's mother really was as beautiful as he described her to be. Her hair and clothes were as white as freshly fallen snow and her smile was so gentle that no face didn't crease or wrinkle. It was like standing in the presence of an angel.
The woman's grey eyes began to water as she pressed her hands to her mouth and sniffled, "she so beautiful Shoto."
"I-I'm beautiful?" Your eyes began to tear up as well. "You're an angel!"
All of this was an unexpected response in Shoto's eyes. He was quick to sit you down on the small couch within the room that was parallel with his mother's bed and grabbed a few tissues. He handed then out to you both and the waterworks from Mrs. Todoroki showed no signs of stopping. "Your siblings never introduced me to any of their past significants," she was beginning to treasure this moment and you couldn't blame her.
"I... I plan to stay with (Y/n)," Shoto hesitated to say. The two of you haven't been together for all that long let alone known each other either. It's a bit soon to say that you're the one. Thing is though, you were dating Enji for years and never were you as happy with him as you were with Shoto currently. Something about Shoto just felt right and you've felt that way since day one.
The rest of the evening consisted of Shoto talking to his mother about how he felt a connection to you even before he rescued you from that cold icy prison and how he's practically dedicated himself to you since. How he tutored you and cheered you on in preparation for your entrance exam, keeps you warm whenever you're feeling down and cold, checks in with you often and willingly wants to visit your family again. Not to forget the little yet meaningful things you do for Shoto. How you always make him your special coffee and tea in the morning, how you don't shy away from him and don't ridicule him for being dense most of the time. Shoto particularly appreciates how you don't take Enji's bullshit. His words not yours. His mother was dying because of how precious you two are together.
Shoto stood up from the couch with a stretch, "I gotta go to the bathroom."
"We didn't need to know that but have fun!" Mrs. Todoroki enjoyed your playful remark.
Shoto exited the room. His mother turned to you, "thank you for being such a darling to him. Shoto had such a horrid childhood. He's told me on numerous occasions that he doesn't want to get close to anyone but now... Now he's surrounded by those he loves and love him in return."
"I owe him everything," you grinned. "I heard from his friends, Midoriya specifically, that he was cold towards everyone until someone opened up his eyes and heart. I can't imagine Shoto acting like that now. He's too sweet. Like a teddy bear," you both laughed together. "But really, If it wasn't for him, I'd probably still be crying about the past, not enrolled in school with him or anything really."
"I'm glad he's looking out for others," Mrs. Todoroki hummed. "As a child, Shoto couldn't get enough of my hugs. Maybe that information can do you some good."
"We do hug a lot," your cheeks began to heat up. "What I-"
"Hey um... Visiting hours are almost done," Shoto came back at the worst possible time. "Shall we leave (Y/n)?"
"Um..." You paused. "Yeah sure," you just shrugged since your question could wait. "Good day Mrs. Todoroki. You're such a wonderful woman and I'd love to talk to you again."
"Wonderful is just the tip of the iceberg when describing you," the woman opened up her arms and pulled you into a shy hug. You gasped, her body was freezing to the touch. Like laying atop a frozen layer of ice. It felt like a freezing hell against your own body.
"M-Mom don't hug her!" Shoto exclaimed in a worried panic.
"Why not?" His mother parted ways and guilt had hit her hard just watching you struggle to stand and shiver. "What did I do wrong?" Her eyes began to tear up.
Shoto wrapped his arms around you, pressing your body into his, all to force his body temperature to heat up your own. "(Y/n) has an ice quirk too and it makes her sensitive to the cold. Anything really can easily tip her body temperature into freezing."
"I'm so sorry," the woman sat down and heavily replayed the situation through her mind on an endless look. It all reminded her of when she scarred Shoto in her youth.
"It happens more often than you think," you assured. "Even my own emotions make me freeze up. I'm so sorry for worrying you. There's no need to worry..."
"Really mom," he smiled brightly towards the woman. "Don't think too much into it."
"If you two say so," Mrs. Todoroki had reverted to her soft and gentle ways. "I wish you both a safe journey home."
"Goodnight mom."
Meanwhile with Shinsou, he was busy getting caught up with the schoolwork he had missed during suspension. During small five minutes breaks, he'd read over a paper or two from Shun's personal file. It's a bit alarming how a seventeen year old boy has a larger file than most criminals in the system.
"UA, after acceptance, the applicant tried to enroll after the designated enrollment date and was therefore rejected," Shinsou furrowed his brow. "Wait so the first time he was accepted he didn't enroll?" Shinsou looked into when exactly Shun tried to enroll into UA after the acceptance date. The paperwork dated that Shun tried to officially enroll into UA three months after the supposed date. Why would anyone wait that late to enroll into somewhere and still think they are accepted?
Okay, Shinsou knew better than to linger on one subject for too long and moved on. He looked at Shun's other unfortunate rejections from various hero schools in Japan. Reject due to personal injury. Rejected due to personal injury. Rejected due to personal injury... Every school. They're all saying the same thing. "What injury?" Shinsou hummed. Then it hit him. Was it an injury that kept Shun from enrolling into UA on time when he first applied? Three months is an awful long time to recover from any sort of injury.
"Something's not right," Shinsou dug deeper into the file of paperwork all the while completely ignoring his own stack of homework. The file consisted of dozens of rejection letters. One after the other. Then it delved into Shun's medical records, exactly what Shinsou needed. Shun has an allergy to aluminum and cats, has blood type O, his quirk apparently has landed him in the hospital on thirty two different occasions since the age of five for hypothermia and frostbite. That's when Shinsou made his biggest discovery yet.
"He's a bilateral amputee..."