Word Count: 3596
I wave at Kiri as he walks down the street. Him and I lived quite close, so when Bakugou would walk off to his house, Kiri would take me home. It was a kind gesture I deeply appreciated, but I feel bad sometimes. It gives him an extra five minutes to walk home now.
He waves back before turning around, continuing on his way.
I unlock the door, stepping forward to feel the cool air hitting my skin. I take off my shoes and slide on my indoor slippers, taking myself to the kitchen first.
Usually, my parents would be in here. Mum would be sitting at the table drinking tea and reading the newspaper. Dad would be cleaning the dishes and say that she takes way too long to drink her tea.
Then I would come in and they'd ask how my day was.
"Mum? Dad?" I call, putting my bag on the table, "I'm home! Where are you—"
When I feel a cold hand on my chest, I tense up. It doesn't feel like my warm parents' hands. It kind of scares me.
I grip their wrist and twist it around, kicking their knees in and holding now both of their hands to their back.
My mouth opens to spew out threats like 'if you don't name yourself, I will call the police', or 'tell me why you're here or else I'll break your wrist'.
But I don't get to say that.
I wish I did.
That would've been so badass.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Y/N, kiddo, what the Hell are you doing? Oh my God, when did you become this fast at restraining people?"
"Dad?"
His familiarly coloured hair is stuck up in different areas, as if he's been stressed. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows and his eyes have bags underneath them. What's happened?
After I let him go, I help my father up and go grab a wet towel. Mum used to do this to me after training.
"I'm so sorry, Dad! B—But you shouldn't have snuck up on me like that without announcing yourself! You scared me!" I claim, wrapping his wrist in the towel.
Dad winces a bit before he looks down at me. "Okay, fine, I'll take that bullet." He sighs, "Damn, is this what Bakugou felt during your match?"
I look away from him for a second before taking a breath in. "So... what's this about Uncle?" I ask hesitantly, watching his reaction.
He goes from playfully hurt to a little shocked.
Next thing I know is that I'm being dragged to the living room. Mum is already there, hands clasped together on her lap. She's sitting on the sofa in front of the one person chair. Dad takes the seat next to her, looking at the chair in front of them and then to me.
I sit down hesitantly. I don't like the atmosphere around us at the moment. It's giving me chills under my blazer.
Mum has never looked like this, well except for that time with Dad when he had to have surgery after a big fight when I was around 12. He said his operation was for his arm, which he had said his bones broke into tiny pieces whilst the skin was still intact. I didn't think much of it, until now.
"What's going on?" I ask, pressing my fingers to my skirt.
I watch as Mum's face goes serious. It's scary.
She looks at Dad for a moment. He nods his head sternly.
"I'm not going to waste any of our time here." My eyes drift to hers, trying to remain the intense eye contact she is as well. "I'm sorry for being abrupt with this but... your uncle was in an accident, Y/N." She tells me, "I'm... We're not sure he will make it."
The air around me feels cold.
"I'm sorry—"
"Where is he?" I ask, interrupting my father. "He's still here right now, though? He's... He's in a hospital? M—Maybe he's unconscious or something at the moment, we should go and visit him."
Mum is shaking her head at me.
What?
She sighs, "Y/N, listen to us. We understand that this is hard for you to hear." She plays with her fingers, a habit I've picked up from her. It's strange that there's things I've claimed my own from my family.
Like my quirk.
Like my need to make sure my family is healthy, secure.
"That's why we want you not to go visit him."
Like when to take a stand.
I stand up from my seat and clench my jaw tightly. I hear the chair squeak against the floor as I accidentally move it back a little.
"What? I can't visit him? Why not?" I shout, feeling my heart pump out of my chest, "You can't be serious! He's on his deathbed and you want me to just wait until he's underground to see him?"
My blood is boiling. I can feel my fists tighten and my jaw hurt from holding it down.
Dad runs a hand through his hair. He closes his eyes and says to me, "Kid, this has been our agreement for years. That you wouldn't go out to see your uncle. You haven't had any problems with it."
I suddenly find myself letting out a scoff. This was just ridiculous.
"Now I get that this is a totally different situation but that doesn't change the rule." Dad tells me in a serious voice.
I can't help but let out a bitter chuckle, "Oh my God, that rule was set three years ago! I'm not that idiot girl anymore, can't you see that? That rule might've been fine then but this is just unfair and you know it!" I point at the two of them, neither of my parents' faces changing.
They're as serious as ever. A weird look for my mother to have on.
I step closer to the coffee table and feel the wood against my leg. I shout, "Out of everyone you could have forbidden me to see, you just had to choose Uncle—"
"That is enough!" Mum raises her voice, standing up, "Y/N, you know that you do not speak that name in this house!"
Her tone makes my hand drop and my shoulders lift. My whole wall of endearing confidence has been broken down. Damn it.
I was so close to muttering out his name.
Would I have regretted it?
"This is how we live under this roof." She tells me, pointing to the ground, "There are people we don't like speaking of and people who we just can't."
The look she gives me shows that she's really sorry. The way her frown sits on her lips and her brows are slightly tilted down.
But it's just...
It's just not enough.
"You'll understand soon enough." She claims.
But I want to understand now.
"Okay." I say back, looking at the coffee table in front of me.
Dad walks towards me and places a hand on my shoulder. He squeezes it, not worrying about my personal space.
"You should go and rest for a bit. Hitoshi and his parents are coming over for dinner and I'm sure you're tired from school." He informs me, only getting a nod in return, "Go, they'll be here in two hours.
He leans forward and sets a kiss on my forehead. He pats my back as I move around him.
As soon as I'm out of the room, I hear my mother's voice raise.
"She isn't going to listen to us, you know that." She sighs quietly, "Not with something she's this keen on doing."
I hear footsteps and then something sitting on the couch.
Dad replies to her, "She's a good kid, just take it easy on her. But I suppose we should've eased into things."
There's a slight pause.
"It's just that staying connected to him is important to her. You know how close they were..." He sighs out.
"Of course." Mum lets out a long breath. "But he isn't in the right mindset to let her visit. Who knows what he'll do."
Dad the inputs, "That's fine. Y/N will do the right thing."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Then she'll do the next thing right."
My fingernails dig into my palm. But I leave to my room.
Later . . .
Dinner with Hitoshi and his parents was going swimmingly so far.
"Hiroki, you're embarrassing our son." Hitoshi's mother, Ikeiya, points out to the man sitting at the table beside her. "Look at him, he's all pink now!"
Hitoshi next to me leans further back into his chair. He looks at his plate and grumbles, "I'm not embarrassed, I just don't know why you have to bring it up..."
I smile at Hitoshi.
The Shinso family has always been funny. Hiroki, the father, would always be honest about anything. Ikeiya happened to be the reassuring, peaceful type of parent who would occasionally poke fun at her son. Then Hitoshi became the teasing, somewhat confident guy.
"Anyways, Y/N." Hiroki speaks up, making me turn my head to him, "Hitoshi tells me that you've been working very hard to stay in the Hero Course. Congratulations on winning 3rd place, by the way."
It makes me feel giddish to hear that Hitoshi is talking about me to his parents. He usually kept things private.
"Ah, thank you." I chuckle, spinning my chopsticks in my hands, "Well, Hitoshi is trying his hardest to make his way into Class 1-A, so I thought that I couldn't be left behind." I see 'Toshi move his gaze to me. "If he's working that hard, then I should to."
Dad then takes the spotlight, making both of our parents turn their attention to him. He's talking about some small villain he caught last week. Whilst he's doing that, Hitoshi taps my arm.
"Hey, what's going on?" He whispers to me, "You're usually not this formal with my parents and you're looking like you want to leave. Is everything okay?"
Am I doing that?
Did Dad or Mum notice yet?
Is everything okay?
I wave my hand and give a reassuring smile. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. And I can start making fun of you too if you'd like." I say, liking how his face turned from worried to just annoyed.
He rolls his eyes and scoffs, "Sure, sure. If you dare, I'll bring up the cheerleader uniform again."
He squints at me and I do so back, like a small battle is beginning.
The rest of the dinner goes well. We talk some more, parents stay at the table to joke around and Hitoshi and I go on a walk. It was only around 7:20, so we could go as long as we were back by 8:30.
The air smelt fresher then the tension in the house that I'm sure me and my parents both feel. I relax my shoulders, as if Mum and Dad's gazes on me made them rigid and straight.
"Hitoshi..." I say, staring at the ground with my hands in my pockets, "What would you choose if you wanted to, um... do something that your parents don't want you to?"
It wasn't the best way to ask, but Hitoshi didn't know that much about Uncle. He only knew that I couldn't directly speak about him or mention his name. He never pushed it too far.
Something I really liked about Hitoshi.
'Toshi raises a brow at me as we cross the street. His purple eyes bore onto mine a second longer. "Well, that depends. What, are you getting a boyfriend or something?" He chuckles, slinging an arm around my neck playfully, "Who is it? Come on, tell me, you know I'm gonna' find out sooner or later."
I push him arm away from me and scoff back, "No, I'm not getting a boyfriend right now. Geez, always looking after my love life, aren't you, 'Toshi?" I smile at him, to which Hitoshi shakes his head at.
"You always seem to be getting in trouble with some boy." He states as we wait for a car to pass us, "I wouldn't be surprised if one of those idiots actually began to develop a crush on you." Hitoshi gives me a side eye, a smirk playing on his face.
I cross my arms over my chest and look away to the road beside me, avoiding eye contact.
"Heh, I don't think so. I've only known the boys in my class for a short while. I doubt feelings can stir up in such little time." I claim, brushing my hair out of my face.
There's a second of silence before Hitoshi goes, "Okay. Whatever you say, Kitten."
He then takes a breath in and stops walking, making me turn around to him. His face has changed again, like my parents' faces this afternoon. He's serious this time.
I uncross my arms and mirror his stance. My arms are at my sides and my feet are shoulder width apart. I keep my eyes on his as he goes to speak.
"Y/N. I know I'm usually the one giving you all the good advice but..." He stares at me for a second before looking at the floor, "Look, just make sure that what you're doing isn't going to be something you regret in the future, okay?"
I'm not saying it was bad advice, it's just that it wasn't what I was expecting.
I thought he'd either say 'I'd choose to do it, if it's what I want then I'm going to do it' or 'I wouldn't because my parents want to look after me'.
But... I know that there is a secret Mum and Dad hiding from me.
If it's about Uncle, shouldn't I know?
Don't I deserve to know?
I'm taken out of my thoughts a moment later. I feel a hand against the top of my head, weighing it down a bit. I look up to see Hitoshi giving me a knowing look, like he always seemed to do.
"Okay, enough with that thinking face." He tells me as he pinches my cheeks, "You look like you're planning something really stupid. Stop that."
I push his hands away and laugh back at him, "What, of course not. You said it yourself that I need to start acting more grateful that I got into the Hero Course. So, why would I do something stupid enough to jeopardise that?"
He blinks at me, brows twitching for a second before he rests.
"Right."
The Next Day . . .
We were sitting relatively in seat order on the train.
Today, we were to start our internships. Dad offered to just take me straight to his Hero Agency that I chose, but I told him that I had to sign in with Mr Aizawa and we'd all make our way there.
He had asked me casually if I was okay. Like a 'hey, you look kind of tired, are you okay' sort of thing. He must've caught on, because as soon as I said 'I'm fine', he gave me a once over before returning to his smiley face.
I suppose I'm still hung up on yesterday. I just couldn't get my mind off of it.
Uncle is in the hospital right now, on the brink of death. They said he has a slim chance of surviving. They said they're sorry he won't make it.
I just want to say my 'goodbye's.
Why don't they want that too?
I was beside Midoriya, Kirishima and Tsu behind us and Bakugou and Jirou in front of us. She was listening to music again whilst Bakugou yelled at Kaminari across from them. Midoriya was busy chatting with Iida and Uraraka diagonal from us, so I was left looking out the window.
I feel a tap on my head. Looking up, I see Kirishima smiling down at me.
"Hey, Y/N." He suddenly mutters to me, hands on the back of my seat, "You're going to your dad's agency, aren't you?"
I nod my head and move my body so I can talk to him properly. My neck was already strained.
"Yeah, he was really pushing for it too. It was either Cessation Agency or Kamui Woods, since I take a similar train line close to them." I admit to my friend, "I don't know if I'm near anybody, so I'm trying to memorise the right trains to catch."
Kirishima nods his head, leaning against my seat. "Oh, I get it. Maybe I can hell you with that." He claims, tapping his cheek, "You excited to watch your dad work as a Pro Hero up close? I heard that you and Todoroki are both going to your own dad's agencies."
I furrow my brows a bit. Todoroki had shown a clear disliking to his father. A few times when he'd catch me on break, he'd mention how he hated him for a split second before changing the subject. It was weird.
Then again, he is the Number 2 Pro Hero.
When Dad asked me to accept his internship offer, I was kind of more reluctant to take it. Ever since yesterday, I've felt tense around my parents. More-so my mother than my father.
Dad has his secrets, I know that, he's a Pro Hero. I don't get that upset with Dad when I find that he can't tell me something. I've gotten pretty used to it.
But it's Mum.
She's always been more open than Dad. She would complain to me when he would get home late, trust me to lock the door if I was the last to leave, all that stuff. Mum would be on my side.
I allowed the thing with Uncle to slide away. It didn't seem as important as other things to fight about. But now that I've heard about Uncle's news, it came back. Those feelings of betrayal and suspicion flooding into my system.
This morning, I ran down the stairs as quick as I could because I could hear my mother's singing as she stepped out of the bathroom in her room. I knew she was about to come out of her bedroom, so I quickened my pace to make it to the kitchen before her.
I didn't feel like talking to her.
I tried to act cool and collected at dinner yesterday with Hitoshi. I feel like the only one who saw through my disguise was him anyway.
"Yeah, I'm pumped." I chime, smiling up at him, "I just hope I get some good training out of it."
Kirishima then gasps, leaning over my chair and patting the leather of it, "Wait, did you hear about Bakugou?"
I shake my head slowly, raising a brow at his sudden change. "No, I didn't hear anything. Did he get in trouble again, that moron?" I chuckle, "I wouldn't be surprised, considering how — no pun intended — explosive and also out of control he is."
Before I know it, I feel my collar getting tugged harshly to the right, opposite Kirishima.
Bakugou is yelling.
"THE HELL DID YOU SAY, DUMBASS?" He's calling to me, "YOU THINK YOU'RE SO MUCH BETTER THAN ME, HUH, IS THAT IT? YOU WANNA' FIGHT ME RIGHT NOW?"
I glare right back at him, challenging his look. I give a small smile and say, "I'll beat you the next time we fight, Bakugou, so I'll give you some time to level up too."
Before he can let off an explosion, Midoriya is gripping Bakugou's wrist and pleads, "K—Kacchan, please! We're on our way to our internships, we can't be fighting right—"
"SHUT THE HELL UP, DAMN DEKU!" He screams back at him, "MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS OR I'LL THROW YOU OUT THE WINDOW!"
I'm tempted to taunt him more. I like the way he squints at us like we're enemies, or how he does that smirk when he thinks he's won. Huh.
But I can't. Aizawa already has his capturing device around Bakugou's hands and arms, pulling him back. "Sit down, Bakugou. If you keep causing a ruckus, I'll ask Best Jeanist to give you Hell." He challenges.
As he lets go of my collar, I stare at Bakugou. "Best Jeanist?" I mumble.
Kirishima pats my shoulder and sighs, "Yeah, that was the news about Bakugou. Who would've guessed that he would get an offer from one of the Top 10 Pro Heroes."
I lean back in my chair and play with my skirt. "Damn, I don't know who to feel more bad for..." I claim.
Midoriya looks to me curiously. He asks, "What do you mean, L/N?"
I look to him and chuckle, "Best Jeanist has a line of very obedient and, ahem... well-mannered sidekicks, y'know?"
Midoriya nods his head along with me.
"All of them are seen as angels in the public eye. If Best Jeanist is trying to do that with Bakugou, then I wonder who'll face more Hell." I finish off, see Bakugou's spiky hair move around in the seat in front of me. He's probably not listening to Midoriya and I's conversation. That's the first.
Midoriya stares at Bakugou's seat before he then inputs, "That's true. Do you believe that Kacchan will change much after the internship?"
I shake my head at him. "I doubt even Best Jeanist can tame that wild asshole." I sigh out.
"YOU WANT TO SAY THAT AGAIN, HUH, DUMBASS?"
I guess I was wrong.